Motorsport roundup

It’s been a bit since I’ve posted on the goings-on in motorsport but I have been somewhat busy with our own racing circuit to comment on what the big boys have been up to.

MotoGP

There have been 4 meets since my last post here The riders went on to Donington Park for the British Grand Prix, Assen for the Dutch TT and the Alice Motorrad for the Grand prix Deutschland. Team Ducati’s top rider Casey Stoner managed a clean sweep of all 3 with Rossi coming in a close 2nd in Britain and Germany.

 

The doctor stumbled in Assen to come in 11th but returned rejuvenated from a jaunt with a hot brunette on his boat to claim 2nd place in Germany and successive 1st place finishes in the United States and the Czech republic to stand 50 points clear of Stoner’s tally of 187 points.

Still, it’s early days with 6 meets still to go, Stoner luck could turn after crashing out in Brno and he could whittle away at Rossi’s lead in time to take the title in Valencia in October but that’s on a long shot. Dani Pedrosa only 15 points behind is the real threat to Stoner in spite of being in poor form since Catalunya.

Pedrosa has been in steady decline since his win there, something he attributes to his tyre sponsor Michelin. The tide seems to have turned against the French tyre manufacturer with Bridgestones claiming the top 8 places in Brno. With the debate on the prudence of adopting the F1 approach of all race teams using a single tyre brand still raging it would seem that Bridgestone, whose Potenza tyres are on every F1 vehicle are transferring the gains on that circuit on to MotoGP.

Away from the track and on to the paddock, there’s more than just exhaust fumes to make a man all hot and bothered, take a look.

excuse me Miss…..

Guilty as charged

This just in: ROSSI WINS AGAIN AT MISANO (SAN MARINO) AS STONER SLIDES OUT………….AGAIN!!!

Rossi has just led a Fiat Yamaha one-two finish in the 2008 GP CINZANO DI SAN MARINO. Rossi edged out team mate Jorge Lorenzo by 3 seconds to take the top of the podium and break out the bubbly. Toni Elias claimed the last place on the podium to round off the top 3. 

Casey Stoner has had a disappointing weekend. The defending champion’s race became unstuck in the 6th lap after a fairly good showing during both practice and qualifying where he set a blistering pace, probably rekindling memories of his epic win there last year. in the the push for pole position, Stoner is said to have unfortunately inflamed a  pre-existing injury to his left wrist. In spite of this and wobbly Michelins, he managed to lead the race until the 6th lap when he again spun out.

This pushes the doctor 75 points clear of Stoner in the championship standings. It looking like he may just have this seasons’ trophy on his pillion. Stoner in the meantime has to worry about Dani Pedrosa only 2 points behind him. The Repsol Honda team have decided to put Pedrosa on Bridgestone tyres for the rest of the 2008 season after a remarkable performance during his first time out on them. 

See you in Indianapolis on 14th September. Visit MotoGP for more.

F1

The weather in Valencia was fantastic but the European Grand Prix itself was a bit dull with most of the action taking place in the pit lane. Both Ferraris were involved in separate incidents in the pit lane with eventual race winner Felipe Massa dangerously exiting from the Ferrari garage onto Adrian Sutil’s path on the pit lane. It cost him € 10 000 in fines, something to be grateful for as it could have very well cost him the race had the verdict from the race stewards been a time penalty. Kimi Raikonnen then pulled early out of the pits before he got the green light from his lollipop man. He took the fuel hose which was still clamped to his car and knocked down his own mechanic Pietro Timpini in the process. Signor Timpini is said to be all right following the incident.

Any penalties that may have applied were mooted when the scarlet Ferrari blew her engine 11 laps to the finish. This unfortunate incident sees Raikonnen fall 7 points adrift of his team mate and 13 short of championship leader Hamiltion. It may just be the push that will force Ferrari’s hand to choose Massa as the lead driver to take the championship fight to Lewis Hamilton and McLaren Mercedes after all.

Takuma Nakajima would have been a popular target in the La Tomatina tomato throwing festival in Buñol’s Plaza del Pueblo,  25 miles west of Valencia this weekend after he ran into the rear of local favourite Fernando Alonso’s Renault in the 1st lap. The drive of the day undoubtedly went to Robert Kubica who has been in consistent form lately, definitely a man to watch as the series moves to the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium on 5th September.

WRC

With 10 rounds completed so far, the WRC season has only 5 more to go. Sebastian Loeb took  with him a slim 4 point lead over Marco Hirvonen as the WRC went to New Zealand over the weekend. Loeb,  who has won all but 2 of the 10 rounds so far, has been matched in consistency closely by Hirvonen who’s had 8 podium finishes as well.

BP Ford World Rally Team lead driver Miko Hirvonen built an early lead over Sebastian Loeb as day 1 of the rally came to a close. Loeb came in second after a suffering a 30 second time penalty at the end of stage 2 whilst grappling with an electrical fault in his car.  The Citroens and Fords dominated the top 6 places in the overnight standings with Loeb’s team mate Dani Sordo coming in 3rd closely followed by Ford’s Jaari-Mati Latvala.  

Day 2 saw the Fords switch places with Latvala leapfrogging Loeb on the leaderboard by 13 seconds to claim the lead. Loeb had been whittling away at the 27 second gap between himself Hirvonen band by the end of the day his doggedness paid off leaving the gap between himself and the Finn down to only 4 seconds. Breathing down Loeb’s neck 2 seconds away was Dani Sordo.

The Subarus remained out of contention with Petter Solberg down in 7th. The Lad from next door, Chris Atkinson dropped from 5th to 30th place suffering an overheating radiator after he  tipped his car over. and was forced to retire.

Day 3 saw a double shot of bad luck for the Ford team as both their drivers first Latvalla then Hirvonen spun out on the gravelly tracks, effectively breaking the Ford team’s 1-2 formation lead. Latvalla’s car was unable to recover from an oil leak but Hirvonen recovered to finish in 3rd place all whilst battling a slow puncture on his rear right hand side tyre. Dani Sordo who was waiting in the wings pounced to capitalise on the Finn’s ill-luck to take 2nd place in the final standings. But it was Sebastian Loeb once again who stood tall to claim victory in New Zealand even after having dramatically suffered a spin out himself in the opening stages of the last day. 

Loeb now moves 8 points clear of Hirvonen in the championship standings which is a two-horse race between himself and the Ford driver. The next rally will be in Spain  from 2nd – 5th October.

visit the WRC and Rally New Zealand sites for more details.

Subaru images courtesy of the Subaru World Rally Team site

Audiophile: Electric Light Orchestra – Evil Woman
Off my shelf: Goshawk Squadron – Derek Robinson
Midday Matinee: Spartacus [1960]
Starring: Kirk Doulas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Peter Ustinov and Charles Laughton
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick