Zolder : victoire de l'Audi, les protos surprennent

L'Audi R8 LMS du WRT a remporté les 24 Heures de Zolder aux mains de l'équipage Vanthoor-Kumpen-Sandström-Bonanomi, battant au passage le record de la distance détenu par la Porsche victorieuse en 2009. La R8 a en effet couvert 860 tours contre 845 à la 996 que se partageaient Penders, Lamot, Loix et Machiels. Par ailleurs, Anthony Kumpen est désormais seul recordman avec six victoires à son actif.

Après l'abandon de la BMW Z4 du Marc VDS (différentiel cassé vers minuit), la Porsche 911 GT3-R de ProSpeed Compétition a pris le relais pour croiser le fer avec l'Audi. Mais Goossens-Soulet-Redant-Bouvy ont perdu le leadership au petit matin lors d'un changement de plaquettes de freins. Tout en restant menaçante jusqu'au bout et en s'approchant même à une vingtaine de secondes de l'Audi à deux heures de l'arrivée, la 911 GT3-R n'est plus parvenue à inverser la tendance et a donc fini 2e devant une autre Porsche, la 997 GT3 Cup des Derdaele père et fils associés aux frères Thiers.

La 4e place est revenue à la meilleure barquette, la Radical SR3S de Vanthoor-Bailly-Retera-Brutschin qui, sans des soucis de remplissage de réservoir, pouvait revendiquer la médaille de bronze. N'empêche, la Radical et les autres petits protos - notamment les Wolf de Marchal-Haane-Schreurs-Wauters et Maes-Rigole-Dujardin classés 5e et 6e - ont constitué la bonne surprise de ces 24 Heures qui n'avaient réuni que vingt-trois voitures.

with http://sport.turbomagazine.be  

URBAN-MOTOR.de

Ducati 350 built by Mauro di Prospero.

from 8negro.com

Officially official - Chaz Davies joins BMW

The rumors that Chaz Davies would be joining BMW next season more or less came out of the blue a little more than a week ago, after Ben Spies let his pre-contract with the Italian Superbike team expire and more or less confirming that he would be staying put in MotoGP (the announcement that he’ll be riding in Ducati’s Junior team with Andrea Iannone is expected next week at Misano).

After Davies maiden victory in today’s race 2 at Nurburgring, ParkinGO team manager sadly confirmed that the Welsh rider that gave the team the 2011 Supersport title before their switch to WSBK was leaving and that he would be riding for BMW, and now it has been officially confirmed that Davies will be replacing Leon Haslam in the team and joining Marco Melandri.

BMW Italia will be handling the squad after the German manufacturer decided to downsize their official team and transfer factory support directly to Andrea Buzzoni’s squad.

“We are happy that we can welcome Chaz to the BMW Motorrad family. On his way through the ranks, Chaz showed how talented and fast he is. His title win in the Supersport World Championship in 2011 was impressive proof of that. And in his current debut season in the Superbike World Championship, it did not take him long to win his first race,” said Buzzoni, General Manager BMW Motorrad Italia. “We are convinced that Marco and Chaz will form a premium rider line-up, and that in combination with the BMW S 1000 RR, we will have one of the strongest packages in the World Championship.”

BMW Italia is the first team to have officially confirmed their 2013 line-up.

with twowheelsblog

RACE2;Chaz Davies takes maiden WSBK victory at Nurburgring

On the day that will seem BMW announcing that Chaz Davies (and confirmed by ParkingGO team manager Giuliano Rovelli) will joining the team next season, the Welsh rider took his maiden World Superbike in Race 2 at Nurburging in highly eventful race that saw title rivals Max Biaggi and Marco Melandri both crash.

Biaggi had regained the championship lead after race 1 and at the end of the first lap while chasing Tom Sykes and Eugene Laverty - who had gotten the holeshot. Sykes put in a hard pass on Laverty who ended up running into the gravel trap and rejoined in 6th while Biaggi who was right behind him had to overbrake to avoid him and crashed and he was able to rejoin, albeit in last place and had to scythe through the field and finish in 13th and still pick up some precious points and extend his lead to 9.5 points over Melandri.

Marco Melandri who was following in fourth after the incident inherited second place pulling with him Chaz Davies as Sykes tried to escape, but the BMW rider reeled him in an on the 8th lap and passed him to take the lead, only disaster was waiting to strike one lap later and pushing to get away the BMW rider lost the front and crashed out - getting his second DNF of the day and with all the BMW head honchos looking in what they expected to be a much better home race which became even worse as already injured Leon Haslam also crashed several laps later.

With Melandri out of the running Davies began his lonely ride to take a comfortable victory, while the second and third places went to Eugene Laverty and a hard riding Leon Camier who had duked it out during the second part of the race after disposing of a clearly struggling Tom Sykes (tire issues again) who faded from first to fifth and had to fight off the attentions of Carlos Checa in the final two laps.

Jonathan Rea who will be debuting in MotoGP next weekend finished in fourth, Checa was sixth while Davide Giugliano crossed over the finish line in a very distant seventh (more that 7 seconds behind his Althea team mate). Loris Baz pipped Ayrton Badovini for 8th on the final lap while Sylvain Guintoli closed out the top ten after battling for fourth with Laverty, Rea and Giugliano.

WSBK Nurburgring Race 2 Results:

01- Chaz Davies – ParkinGO MTC Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – 20 laps in 39’00.327
02- Eugene Laverty – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 3.022
03- Leon Camier – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 3.222
04- Jonathan Rea – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 5.705
05- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 7.304
06- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 7.541
07- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 14.709
08- Loris Baz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 19.782
09- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 19.925
10- Sylvain Guintoli – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 20.028

with twowheelsblog

EWC: 24 Heures Moto : la victoire à Kawasaki SRC, le titre au SERT

Kawasaki SRC (Pirelli) est venu à bout des 24 Heures Moto au terme d’une course âprement disputée et réussit l’exploit de s’imposer pour la troisième année consécutive. Le SERT (Dunlop), second, accroche une 12ème couronne mondiale à son palmarès. BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent (Michelin) est troisième. Trois constructeurs et manufacturiers se partagent le podium.

La 35^ème édition des 24 Heures Moto a été marquée par des conditions de course difficiles entraînant des chutes multiples. Les pilotes et les machines ont a dû affronter des températures élevées pendant ce marathon de 24 heures.

Jaillissant de sa troisième place sur la grille de départ, Vincent Philippe place la Suzuki n°1 du SERT en première position lors du premier tour. Immédiatement pris en chasse par Julien Da Costa, la Kawasaki n°11 prend les rênes dès le second tour. Une intense lutte pour la première position va alors commencer entre ces deux machines rejointes par la Yamaha n°94 après 1h30 de course.

Kawasaki SRC s’installe en tête mais n’arrive pas à s’échapper. Après neuf heures de course, seulement 30 secondes séparent les trois équipes de tête. Auteur du meilleur chrono en 1.38.562 lors du 276^ème tour, le GMT 94 réussit à accrocher la seconde place au début de la 11^ème heure mais est contraint de rentrer au stand après 13h30 pour un changement de radiateur consécutif à une surchauffe moteur. David Checa reprend la piste en quatrième position avec un handicap de quatre tours.

Le SERT a profité de l’arrêt non programmé du GMT 94 pour recoller à la Kawasaki n°11. Les deux teams vont alors s’échanger la tête de la course au grès des ravitaillements. Julien Da Costa, Grégory Leblanc et Freddy Foray vont réussir à creuser un écart suffisant pour offrir une troisième victoire consécutive à Kawasaki qui égale ainsi le palmarès d’Honda avec 11 victoires. Les 24 Heures Moto 2012 se sont disputées sur un rythme soutenu permettant à la Kawasaki n°11 de boucler 844 tours (3532 km) sous le drapeau à damier et ainsi battre leur propre record de 2011.

Le SERT rallie l’arrivée à 62 secondes du vainqueur. Chutant lors de la deuxième heure de course, la BMW n°99 a été éliminée de la bataille pour la victoire. Ennuyé par des problèmes de freins, BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent monte sur la troisième marche du podium, relégué à quatre tours. Le GMT 94 se classe quatrième.

Jamais en mesure de rivaliser pour les premières places, Honda TT Legends complète le Top 5. Chutant à plusieurs reprises en début de course et victime de problèmes électriques dans les dernières heures, le YART (Michelin) est huitième derrière National motos et la première équipe Superstock, MCP Starteam. Louit Moto et Penz complète le podium stock.

Avec 135 points, le SERT est sacré champion du monde pour la 12^ème fois devant BMW Motorrad France et le GMT 94. Penz 13 remporte la Coupe du monde FIM Superstock.

« Félicitations aux vainqueurs, la bataille entre les équipes de pointe a été fabuleuse » déclare Pascal Couasnon, directeur de Michelin Compétition. « Nos pneumatiques se sont montrés performants surtout compte tenu des conditions extrêmes que nous avons rencontrées. Malgré la forte amplitude thermique de la piste, nos équipes partenaires ont utilisé un seul type de pneumatique tout au long des 24 heures. Ceci à démontré ainsi la polyvalence de nos produits.  Je tenais à remercier l’ensemble de nos partenaires pour leur confiance et leurs performances durant toute la saison avec deux motos sur le podium final du Championnat du monde.» 

with MotoRacingLive

Max Biaggi wins Race 1 and Melandri crashes out at Nurburgring

Today’s Race 1 at Nurburgring took a dramatic turn in the World Superbike championship standings when Max Biaggi took a massive and important victory - his fifth of the season - while rival Marco Melandri missed his braking mark after hitting a bump on the track during lap 7 and crashed out which changed the lead in the standings again.

Not only did Biaggi take the victory, the other two spots on the podium were occupied by Eugene Laverty and Chaz Davies who made it an Aprilia 1-2-3 for the first time in Aprilia’s Superbike history.

Biaggi was the pole sitter but at the first turn ran wide letting Tom Sykes grab the lead as Michel Fabrizio had a massive highside on the opening lap - and Biaggi, Carlos Checa, Eugene Laverty, Marco Melandri, Davide Giugliano and Jonatha Rea began chasing the Kawasaki rider.

On lap two the race lost Carlos Checa when he put the wheels of his Ducati outside the racing line and lost the front and crashed - he was able to rejoin and finish in 12th after being pipped by Maxime Berger at the final turn. Jonathan Rea also binned his machine just a few seconds later.

Davide Giugliano also lost the front of his Ducati on lap four which just added more misery to the Althea Racing team and will probably change the minimum weights allowance rule for the twin cylinders, that will be recalculated at the end of this round.

The race continued and on the 8th lap Biaggi tried to his first attack on Sykes, but ran wide and he continued to shadow and study the Kawasaki rider and it took another four laps before he made the decisive pass at the end of the straight and from there Sykes began immediately losing contact with the left side of his A tire accusing excessive wear, while Eugene Laverty and Chaz Davies began closing in on him.

Laverty passed Sykes on the 14th lap and just few corners later Davies did the same and began distancing the struggling Sykes who would finish in fourth.

Further down the field the battle for fifth was on between Sylvain Guintoli, Leon Camier and Leon Haslam and Loris Baz with the Kawasaki taking the spot but he crashed out with three laps to and promoted Leon Camier to the spot, while Guintoli finished in sixth after starting on the grid in 18th and ahead of Leon Haslam.

Lorenzo Zanetti took his best result of the season with his eighth place finish followed by Ayrton Badovini and Hiroshi Aoyama who closed out the top ten.

WSBK Nurburgring Race 1 results:

01- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – 20 laps in 38’52.751
02- Eugene Laverty – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 3.027
03- Chaz Davies – ParkinGO MTC Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 3.127
04- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 12.306
05- Leon Camier – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 14.131
06- Sylvain Guintoli – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 19.523
07- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 27.017
08- Lorenzo Zanetti – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 33.116
09- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 34.937
10- Hiroshi Aoyama – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 39.132

with twowheelsblog

Jakub Smrz to join British Superbikes?

After being pink-slipped ahead of the Nurburgring round and replaced by Lorenzo Lanzi as part of Effenbert Liberty’s reorganization process ahead of next season (but it’s more likely he wasn’t paid like former team mate Sylvain Guintoli) Czech rider Jakub Smrz immediately started looking for a new ride to finish the season.

According to LA7 commentators, Smrz will be heading to the British Superbike championship while other rumors already have him debuting with the Splitlath Redmond team (they field Aprilia RSV4s) in BSB’s inaugural round at Assen - the Dutch race was incorporated in the BSB calendar this year - and takes place from September 21st to 23rd.

The team recently split with John Laverty and replaced him with Troy Herfoss and they already have another WSBK rider refugee Mark Aitchison in their line-up when he replaced Florian Marino, so with a team who often changes riders, the rumor that he will be heading to BSB could actually be true and Smrz already has some experience on the Aprilia after completing the final five rounds of the 2010 WSBK season with the RSV4.

with twowheelsblog

JVB-MOTO DUCATI PANTAH

sunday babe

Max Biaggi breaks record with pole position at Nurburgring

Whether it was Aprilia’s updated electronics package that Alex Hofmann tested at Misano last week or the presence of the Roman Emperor’s long time girlfriend - and mother of his two children - in his pit garage in this German round, or both. Max Biaggi looks like he has had a big boost of confidence and has been very fast straight out of the starting block this weekend.

He took today’s Superpole - his fifth in his Superbike career - and broke the circuit record with Tom Sykes just 0.049s slower - the Italian admitted that his race pace is still lacking something compared to title rivals Sykes and Marco Melandri, but the question won’t be only race pace, but tire management which will be an issue especially it the weather stays hot.