WSBK ; Sylvain Guintoli continues to dominate in a decimated field at Istanbul

The first qualifying practice at Istanbul saw a decimated field of partecipants, as five riders were being treated for various injuries and fractures in the medical center following this morning’s opening practice, leaving only fifteen to take part in the provisional qualifying session.

As this morning Sylvain Guintoli was the fastest rider posting a best lap time of 1’56″190 and leaving Marco Melandri again in second, but more than half a second adrift, followed by e second Aprilia factory rider Eugene Laverty, who has also previousl raced in Turkey, in 2007, when he was in the 250cc GP class.

Tom Sykes was fourth and the first outsider of top three, who already have some past experience at Istanbul Park and he had an impressive Toni Elias on his tail. Elias is debuting for the first time this weekend in World Superbikes riding an Aprilia RSV4.

Sixth fastest was Jules Cluzel, while team mate Leon Camier is sitting in a hospital with suspected foot fracture that will probably end his race weekend as that of Max Neukirchner who is out with fractured right hand with surgery waiting for him.

Both Ducati Alstare riders, Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini, were also not present after their morning crashes. Checa has suspected scaphoid fracture, while Badovini has a sprained left ankle.

BMW’s Chaz Davies was 7th and Althea’s Davide Giugliano followed in 8th, while Leon Haslam dropped back to 9th and ahead of his team mate for this weekend Michel Fabrizio, who is subbing for injured Jonathan Rea.

With just 15 riders on the grid the two local Turkish wild cards Tolga Uprak (CMS Eypbike Racing Team) and Yunus Ercelik (Sampiyon 169 Team) were 14th and 15th respectively but a massive 6.8 and 8 seconds from Guintoli’s best time.

2013 WSBK Istanbul QP1 results:

1. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′56.190
2. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 1′56.749
3. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′56.949
4. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′57.170
5. Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′57.206
6. Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′57.222
7. Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 1′57.391
8. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′57.649
9. Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 1′57.699
10. Michel Fabrizio (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 1′58.340

from Twowheelsblog

Australia – Day 1: Ogier takes an early lead / étape 1 : Ogier devant

The first leg of the Coates Hire Rally Australia saw Sébastien Ogier (VW/Michelin) take an early advantage ahead of Mikko Hirvonen (Citroën DS3 WRC) and Thierry Neuville (Ford Fiesta RS WRC).

Au terme de la première journée, Sébastien Ogier (VW/Michelin) est leader du Coates Hire Rally Australia 2013 devant la Citroën DS3 WRC officielle de Mikko Hirvonen et la Ford Fiesta RS WRC de Thierry Neuville.

Volkswagen got its maiden trip to Rally Australia off to a flying start thanks to a score 10 stage wins from 10.

Andreas Mikkelsen – with Paul Nagle now calling out the notes – was quickest on Thursday’s Coffs Harbour super-special. His team-mate Sébastien Ogier then claimed the next eight tests in the local forests. The slippery surfaces meant there was little grip in the morning but conditions improved for the afternoon’s run, although the presence of big stones caused problems among the front-runners. The majority of the Michelin drivers chose the hard-compound Latitude Cross H2 tyre.

Sébastien Ogier completed the day with a lead of 19.7 seconds over three-time rally Australia winner Mikko Hirvonen. The consistent Citroën number one is 18.1s clear of Thierry Neuville (3^rd) who can still prevent Ogier from securing the 2013 crown. The Belgian managed to ease past Kris Meeke (Citroën, +39.3s) after Friday evening’s super-special.

Jari-Matti Latvala’s day kicked off with a spin on SS3 but ended with a fastest time on SS10. The Finn inherited fifth overall after Mads Ostberg (6^th) and Andreas Mikkelsen (7^th) clouted a rock and a bank respectively on SS8. The two Norwegians are split by 2.1s.

Evgeny Novikov, Nathan Quinn and Khalid Al-Qassimi round off the top 10. Ukraine’s Yurii Protasov (Ford Fiesta R5) took control in the WRC-2 class after Yazeed Al-Rahji was halted on SS8. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (Ford Fiesta RRC) and Arman Smailov (Subaru) figure on the provisional podium. Hayden Paddon (Skoda) was eliminated by an electrical problem. Indonesia’s Subhan Aksa (Ford Fiesta R5) has also stopped.

Saturday’s action will start with a 49.90km stage which could be decisive.

Volkswagen a réalisé un début de course parfait en remportant les dix spéciales du Coates Hire Rally Australia 2013 disputées jusque-là. Andreas Mikkelsen, copiloté par Paul Nagle, avait signé le meilleur temps hier soir dans le premier passage de la Superspéciale de Coffs Harbour.

Puis son équipier Sébastien Ogier a enchaîné huit meilleurs temps consécutifs au volant de sa VW Polo R WRC/Michelin, remportant toutes les spéciales du vendredi tracées dans les forêts australiennes. Les pistes offraient peu de grip ce matin. L’adhérence était mieux l’après-midi, mais de grosses pierres ont causé quelques dégâts parmi l’élite. Les pilotes Michelin ont majoritairement évolué en pneu Latitude Cross H2 (hard).

A l’issue de cette première étape, Sébastien Ogier est leader avec 19.7 secondes d’avance sur Mikko Hirvonen, triple vainqueur sortant, toujours aussi régulier. Le pilote n°1 Citroën devance Thierry Neuville, qui peut encore repousser l’échéance du sacre d’Ogier, de 18.1 secondes. Le Belge a chipé la 3^e place à Kris Meeke (Citroën) à l’issue de la Superspéciale (ES10) pour 0.5 seconde.

La journée s’est mieux terminée qu’elle n’avait commencé pour Jari-Matti Latvala (tête-à-queue ES3, puis meilleur temps ES10). Le Finlandais termine au 5^e rang après avoir profité des ennuis de Mads Ostberg (6^e) et d’Andreas Mikkelsen (7^e) dans l’ES8 qui ont respectivement touché une grosse pierre et un talus. Les deux Norvégiens sont séparés par 2.1 secondes.

Evgeny Novikov (8^e), Nathan Quinn (9^e) et Khalid Al-Qassimi (10^e) complètent le top-ten. L’Ukrainien Yurii Protasov (Ford Fiesta R5) est leader en WRC-2 après l’arrêt de Yazeed Al-Rahji dans l’ES8. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (Ford Fiesta RRC) et Arman Smailov (Subaru) sont sur le podium provisoire. Hayden Paddon (Skoda) a dû se retirer en raison de problèmes électriques. Abandon également de l’Indonésien Subhan Aksa (Ford Fiesta R5).

Demain (samedi), la deuxième journée débutera par une spéciale de 49,90 km qui s’annonce déterminante.

Moto GP ; Marc Marquez edges out Pedrosa in FP2 at Misano

Marc Marquez lowered his best morning time by just a few thousanths of a second after just eight minutes into the second practice at Misano and then lowered it again by almost two tenths and closing on top of the timesheets in 1.34.200 and making a clean sweep of Friday with an enviable race pace in the 1.34.3s.

The Rookie of the Year also had a big moment after the front of his Honda closed up on him, but he managed to save it with his elbow and knee.

Dani Pedrosa put his Honda right on the tail of his team mate and was just +0.033 adrift. Valentino Rossi managed to take third and probably would have been able to shave off an extra tenth or two, as would have Marquez if they didn’t find a slower Lukas Pesek in front of them on their last flying laps.

Jorge Lorenzo was clearly angry after his final lap as he finished fourth ahead of extraordinary Aleix Espargaro who put his ART into fifth, a little more than half a second from Marquez and ahead of Honda rider Alvaro Bautista. Michele Pirro turned out to be the fastest Ducati rider in sixth. The Ducati test rider was faster than factory rider Andrea Dovizioso (7th) and a struggling Nicky Hayden in 12th, even Pramac’s Andrea Iannone finished ahead of the American in 11th.

Stefan Bradl was 9th while Cal Crutchlow who is still suffering from his forearm injury - picked up at Silverstone - closed out the session in an uncharacteristically low 10th place. His Yamaha Tech3 team mate Bradley Smith lowsided out at turn 1 that left him in 14th.

Karel Abraham also crashed and he was seen holding his left hand, which could indicate a collarbone or shoulder injury.

2013 MotoGP Misano FP2 results:

01- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’34.200
02- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.033
03- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.258
04- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.295
05- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 0.532
06- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 0.658
07- Michele Pirro – Ignite Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 0.689
08- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 0.701
09- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 0.907
10- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.008

from Twowheelsblog

Ducati S2R 800 - ‘Duc Soup’

What's the opposite of a motorcycle? Have a think about it. Bikes are small, nimble, rebellious, noisy, spiritual and exciting. Now think of something monolithically large, very conservative, whisper quiet, painfully intellectual and about as exciting as a book by Martin Heidegger. That's right, i'm talking about Universities. Naturally, you'd think that the two would have absolutely nothing in common. But you'd be wrong. The bike you see before you exists because of a university. Namely, Madrid's Instituto Católico de Artes e Industrias, which accepted a request from one of its students to build a bike for a final year project. That student was Manuel Ayllón, and the bike is probably the most amazing Ducati you'll see all year.

“My name is Manuel Ayllón and I'm 23 years old. This past June I managed to graduate as Mechanical Engineer from ICAI in Madrid, which is one of Spain’s most prestigious engineerign universities. Right now, like many other graduates, I’m looking for a job abroad without anything too specific in mind, at least in something related to engineering. I basically want to move away from home and discover as much of the world as I can before having to settle down.

I have been passionate about cars and motorcycles since I can remember and that is the reason why I chose mechanical engineering and the reason this bike now exists. We are asked to do an engineering project during our last year and I had the idea of designing and building a motorcycle. The university accepted the idea and it was up to me to make it happen so I started asking literally everywhere I knew related to motorcycles for help, from Yamaha or Ducati and even small builders I found featured in your site.”

“Finally, a mechanic from Roland Sands pointed me to Todd Silicato, owner of Todd’s Cycle, formerly in Huntington Beach and currently located in Hawaii. He agreed to help me with the project without charging me, so I flew over there the summer of 2012 with the bike modeled in 3D on my computer.

I bought the cheapest single-sided Ducati Monster I could find. With the help of everyone at Todd’s Cycle, who managed to answer all my questions and Todd’s friend Anthony Keeling, owner of Chassis Design Co. in Riverside, California, I completed the bike just in time and shipped it to Spain in boxes. I had some basic knowledge about fabrication that I was taught in university and I learnt a lot more. I have to say that both of these companies work to an extremely high standard with every single product; I was very impressed with the quality and effort they put into everything they were doing while I was there.”

“The idea behind the project is to ask the question, ‘why are bikes so heavy and complicated when it is not strictly necessary?’ Using the same ingredients as the original bike: power plant, suspension and swing arm and by using only a minimalism structure to keep everything together, I wanted to end up with a different motorcycle, one that was faster and more enjoyable to ride.

The new bike weighs 155kg with a full tank of gas versus the 195kg it did originally. It's true that the fuel range has decreased considerably and the seat could be softer, but I have ended up with a bike that easily outperforms the original bike in any road and conceptually, I consider I have succeeded in making my point about unnecessary elements in current motorcycles.”

“My future plans for this bike are to paint it and upgrade everything on it to new or better with a proper budget since it is a little rough around the edges. At the same time, I will definitely continue to build bikes with conceptual ideas like this one for myself.

After all of this, I have learnt a lot more about motorcycles and how to build them. Specifically, I have learnt the importance of sharing your passion with others without worring too much about money. Todd, Anthony and their staff clearly are an inspiration to me, as I found two very good people really passionate about what they do and who taught me a very valuable lesson by being willing to share and help other people with the same passion that made their dreams come true.”

“Oh, the name of the bike is Duc Soup, which Todd jokingly suggested to me as a mix of DUCati and soup, as I was always adding a little something here or there.” Like what you've learned so far? Then why not check out a walk-around and start-up video of the bike here.

from Pipeburn

THE 911 THEME

When you hit 50, do you expect to be in the best shape you’ve ever been in? Do you expect to be loved and revered the world over? Me neither. But when we’re talking about Porsche’s 911, this is very much the case. Their iconic sports car has been through seven generations to reach its current status and shows no sign of slowing down, nor declining in popularity. In order to celebrate this anniversary, we’re dedicating the next few days not just to the 911, but to the entire Porsche marque, so we’ll hope you’ll join us in celebrating all that’s great about the brand.

When dealing with a shape as familiar as the 911, you would think that every conceivable angle and every detail has already been covered. But as new generations of photographers emerge, so do new ways of seeing things. Like the 911 itself, it’s a constant evolution. With a little over a week from announce to reveal, the 911 theme has of course continued the trend of re-adjusting my preconceptions of what you are capable of. But enough waffle – let’s get to it shall we?

(Above) The featured image for this theme was a straightforward choice. By combining so many elements into one photograph – a 911, Mount Panorama circuit, a beautiful landscape and a setting sun – David was always onto a winner.

It’s easy to overlook the details but Zach was quick to catch the air scoops on the rear of this wingless GT3 RS. Using a shallow depth of field, along with thoughtful composition, he has created something that is both a true representation and visually interesting.

When working with a location that has varied lighting, it’s always tricky to balance things just right. Younes has done a great job here. The car is perfectly exposed despite lying in both shadow and light.

A simple detail, simply presented. The shadows from the hard light source create a great sense of depth to the badge.

It’s not often you see a 911 jumping, let alone with the nose pointing downwards. This is a great capture considering the car appears to be arriving into frame unsighted.

By shooting with a fast shutter speed, Steven was able to capture the debris being kicked up as this 911 drives away from his camera. The shallow depth of field is often a by-product of a fast shutter speed on a sunny day.

This abstract submission from Roger Egea depicts a Porsche Cup Car entering the famous tunnel in Monaco’s harbour. The super slow shutter speed has created an almost painterly effect.

This shot really jumped out at me. The semi-silhouette nature of the car being lit by a chasing car is dramatic enough, but when you notice the glowing exhaust behind the rear wheel and the dart of flame out the back, you can’t help but be impressed. A shot to be proud of.

The repetition of colour in this one really caught my attention. It’s simple but very effective and required the foresight to see it long before it happened.

The pale blue tones and contrasting orange and black make this something pleasing to look at.

A great capture from Maurice here, peeking through the trees. A shallow depth of field has thrown the foreground out of focus, concentrating your attention on the car.

A strong black and white conversion, with wide dynamic range,  allows us to see all the nitty gritty detail in this shot. Fabulous texture too.

Another black & white, but a completely different approach. The contrast between light and dark areas creates a dynamic across the image, with the shapes being unmistakably 911.

Another shot through the trees, but another way of presenting a point of view.

This shot is all about the composition and contrast between the bodywork and dark ground.

Subtle colour grading and the choice of a cinematic aspect ratio results in an image with a lot of impact.

Beautifully lit, perfectly aligned. How enjoyable is this to look at?

Another superb black and white conversion. Simple framing but allowing strong contrast to do the hard work.

I really quite like how stand out the orange of this GT3 RS is against its surroundings. Plenty of texture and detail too.

And finally we have the last submission for this theme. The leading lines, the colour grading, the portrait aspect. It’s all good and combined makes something even better.

That’s it for this theme, I’ll be back next week with a regular ol’ #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER. Make sure to get your submissions in and be sure to stay tuned for plenty more Porsche content over the next few days.

Safe shooting.

Paddy McGrathTwitter: @PaddyMcGrathSHInstagram: speedhunters_paddypaddy@speedhunters.com

#IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER

About #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER

We created #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER to allow you the opportunity to share your skills and car culture experiences from around the globe with the rest of the Speedhunters audience.

How do you get involved? It’s simple…

Flickr - Join our #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER Flickr Group and share your favourite photos with us and others.
Instagram – Follow us on Instagram at @TheSpeedhunters and tag your own car culture images with #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER
Twitter – Follow us on Twitter at @SPEEDHUNTERS and share your tweets with the #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER hashtag.
Tumblr – Visit our Tumblr page to view the latest #IAMTHESPEEDHUNTER tagged images.
E-Mail – If you’ve been to a cool event and captured some amazing images, be sure to e-mail them to us on iamthespeedhunter@speedhunters.com and tell us a little bit about the event. The images need to be a minimum of 800×533 pixels.

Have you submitted already but yet been featured? Here are some tips to help you…

DO – Tell us your name!
DO – Submit your best work, regardless of when it was taken
DO – Take your time shooting and consider each detail
DO – Try to submit each image no larger than 1000PX wide
DON’T – Put a huge watermark on it. We’ll make sure you’re credited
DON’T – Send us huge image files that kill our e-mail system
DON’T – Send us scary ZIP or RAR files

Do the Ride Thing – The Bikes, the Builders, and the Book -

The motorcycle is back! Similar to the fresh contemporary scene that has established itself around bicycles in the last few years, the motorcycle is currently undergoing an aesthetic resurrection. Gestalten.tv takes you on a visual ride with engines revved-up and roaring. This video features footage and commentary by celebrated bike builders including Roland Sands, Vincent Prat, Ola Stenegard, El Solitario’s David Borras, as well as The Ride’s co-editor Chris Hunter of Bike EXIF. Get an insider’s view of the high-spirited young motorcycle scene, which is extensively documented in our latest release The Ride: New Custom Motorcycles and their Builders.

Order the book here: shop.gestalten.com/the-ride.html

Do the Ride Thing – The Bikes, the Builders, and the Book from Gestalten on Vimeo.

BUELL X1 LIGHTNING BY DEUS

Deus’ Los Angeles outpost is gathering momentum. Design Director Michael Woolaway has now built nine bikes, and this is the latest—an uncompromising reworking of the Buell X1 Lightning, nicknamed ‘Bully.’

Let’s get the name out of the way first. “It’s somewhat to do with its silhouette, somewhat to do with wordplay—take the name Buell and rearrange the letters, and you get close. But it’s really to do with the fact that it just feels like a bully,” says Woolie.

The build started with a post-collision wreck. After a trip to Dr. John’s Frame Straightening—the go-to shop in Southern California for frame work—a new chromoly subframe and swingarm were installed. Then Woolie got down to business in his Venice Beach workshop.

Using as many US-made parts as he could, Woolie has created a fast and capable café racer. “It feels like a well planted, comfortable and smooth riding bike,” he says, “even at extreme lean angles.” Not bad for a relatively heavy machine like the X1.

Pierre Vallaincourt from Works Performance custom-built the underslung rear shock, with a handmade fluid reservoir. And Rizoma USA provided a sprinkling of billet aluminum parts.

The gas tank and seat are both handmade from aluminum, using shapes inspired by the 80s. The tank is a nod to the Yamaha TZ250 racer, and the seat carries hints of 1980s superbike styling. The paint scheme has an unusual provenance: it’s adapted from a pair of Nike high-tops designed by the bike’s owner.

The highlight for me, though, is that amazingly sinuous exhaust system, terminating in a single Burns stainless muffler, offset to the right. It took several days of work to make the equal-length piping, which is TIG-welded and features ceramic coating at the front. The oil tank was positioned in the gas tank to create room around the engine to achieve the equal length pipes.

The Buell is obviously a machine with a mission. “When you sit on that thing, it shakes and it thumps and it pulls,” Woolie enthuses.

I’m sold. I wonder what Erik would think of it?

Head over to the Deus USA website to see more of Woolie’s work. You’ll also find the Emporium of Postmodern Activities on Facebook.

from BIKEEXIF

2013 WSBK Istanbul: Sylvain Guintoli fastest in FP1

The World Superbike riders rode for the first time the impressive Istanbul Park circuit this morning. Since it was the first time the opening practice as extended to a full 90 minutes, so the riders could have time to learn the circuit, and work on set-up as they obviously don’t have any past data to work from.

With this in mind, the fastest rider of the morning session was Sylvain Guintoli - who has already rode on the Turkish circuit both in the 250cc class and in MotoGP. The Aprilia rider posted the benchmark with 1’56″851 lap, six tenths quicker than Marco Melandri who took his first ever victory in MotoGP at Istanbul Park in 2005.

Following in third was WSBK standings leader Tom Sykes (team mate Loris Baz is not racing after his crash at Nurburgring). Leon Haslam put his Honda into fourth ahead of a suprisingly fast Toni Elias.

Elias is officially debuting in World Superbikes this weekend for the Red Devils squad. The Spaniard headed the top of the timesheets for the first 45 minutes until he dropped to fifth and 1,5 seconds from Guintoli, but ahead of fellow Aprilia rider Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies, Jules Cluzel and closing the top ten was Carlos Checa, who suffered a crash.

Michele Fabrizio who is replacing recovering Jonathan Rea was just 14th and he found himself squeezed between Max Neukirchner and Leon Camier. These two riders crashed out and Camier was taken to the medical center with an injured foot and a suspected fracture. Ayrton Badovini was the third rider to crash out in the session. Turn 1 turned out to be the trickiest corner with several riders running off track.

2013 WSBK Istanbul FP1 results:

1. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′56.851
2. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 1′57.518
3. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′57.735
4. Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) Honda CBR1000RR 1′58.273
5. Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′58.369
6. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′58.445
7. Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK) BMW S1000 RR 1′58.802
8. Jules Cluzel (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′58.805
9. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′58.902
10. Carlos Checa (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale 1′59.237
11. Ayrton Badovini (Team Ducati Alstare) Ducati 1199 Panigale 1′59.675

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

SuperMoto : a weekend in Sicily / escale en Sicile.

After a two-month summer break, the FIM SuperMoto World Championship resumes with this week’s trip to Triscina, Sicily. The penultimate round of the season will be followed by the following weekend’s finale in France.

Après une pause estivale de deux mois, le Championnat du monde SuperMoto FIM a rendez-vous ce week-end à Triscina en Sicile pour disputer l’avant-dernière épreuve de la saison avant d’enchaîner la semaine suivante avec la finale en France.

For the fourth time this year, Italy is hosting a round of the SuperMoto World Championship. After visits to Capua, Vairano and Latina, the series moves on to Triscina, southwest of Palermo, which is organising a round of the series for the fourth straight year.

The championship’s clear leader Mauno Hermunen (TM SHR) has barely put a foot wrong this season, since he has only failed to win the second race at Latina. With 241 points to his name, the Finn is 22 points clear of the defending champion Thomas Chareyre (TM Factory Team) who underwent surgery to his right hand in July.

The latter’s brother Adrien Chareyre (Aprilia-Team Fast Wheels-Michelin) is currently third on 182 points. He would like to take advantage of his improving form to repeat the win he scored here in 2012 over the two races. Ivan Lazzarini (Honda-L30 Racing-Michelin), who is fourth, just five points short of Adrien Chareyre, recently secured his 10^th Italian title.

Fifth-placed Sylvain Bidart (Honda-Team Luc1-Michelin) will be buoyed by his two wins in the recent French championship meeting at L’Alpe d’Huez.

L’Italie accueille pour la quatrième fois de la saison une manche du mondial de SuperMoto. Après Capua, Vairano et Latina, c’est désormais au tour de Triscina, situé au Sud-Ouest de Palerme de recevoir pour la quatrième année consécutive une épreuve du championnat du monde.

Leader incontesté, Mauno Hermunen (TM SHR) a presque réalisé un sans faute depuis le début de la saison. Seule la seconde course lors de la dernière épreuve à Latina lui a échappé. Totalisant 241 points, le finlandais compte 22 points d’avance sur le champion en titre, Thomas Chareyre (TM Factory Team), opéré de la main droite en juillet dernier.

Son frère, Adrien Chareyre (Aprilia – Team Fast Wheels - Michelin) occupe désormais la troisième place du classement provisoire à 59 points du leader. En nette progression, Adrien souhaite renouer avec la victoire qu’il avait décrochée en 2012 au cumul des deux manches. Quatrième à seulement cinq points d’Adrien Chareyre, Ivan Lazzarini (Honda  - L30 Racing- Michelin) débarque à Triscina fraîchement couronné de son dixième titre de champion d’Italie.

Motivé par ses deux récentes victoires lors la dernière manche du Championnat de France SuperMoto à l’Alpe d’Huez, Sylvain Bidart (Honda – Team Luc1- Michelin) complète le Top 5.

Programme :

Samedi 14 septembre :

11 :00 : essais libres 1

14 :00 : essais libres 2

16 :10 : essais qualificatifs

Dimanche 15 septembre :

10 :30 : warm-up

14 :00 : course 1

16 :20 : course 2

WORLD TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP: SONOMA

This was the second time that WTCC has graced North America and my fourth time covering the series. My focus in terms of race series will always be with Formula Drift, but WTCC is a close second. If there were not so many scheduling conflicts I would probably find myself at these races more often. Why you ask?

For one, I have a great friend who competes in the series. Charles Ng has always been a big supporter of Speedhunters and I’ve been following his shenanigans for years now.

I look at the series differently because when Charles is out there battling for positions, I feel like I’m right there with him. I also think it’s a very interesting story to show his struggles as a privateer competing in a world class series.

Last year I tackled the coverage alone, but this year Mike Garrett came along with me to help as we felt one Speedhunter was not enough for this event. Check out his post on the Slammed Society car show.

This round would be hard as ever for privateers like Charles. Last year he had a little bit of a competitive advantage as none of the WTCC teams had data on Sonoma Raceway since it was the first time running on this track.

However this year all the teams were ready and armed with data from the previous year, which definitely gave an advantage to the top teams. With that said the Liqui Moly Engstler Team was still going to do their best given their meager budget.

The second reason why I love this series so much is the diversity that it brings to racing. There’s someone for everyone to cheer on.

Last year the crowd was much bigger than anticipated and the vendors ran out of food. This year the WTCC organizer made sure to provide enough vendors and sponsor booths for fans to enjoy

This year’s super start and points leader Yvan Muller was back for another shot at a win in Sonoma. With drivers like Yvan and newcomers like Sebastian Loeb running next year, I have a feeling that this series will really take off in popularity.

The third reason is the most obvious of all – the racing is very close and very exciting. The series is designed in a way that encourages passing and at the end of the day that’s really the most exciting thing about wheel to wheel racing.

The first race is always a rolling start, which actually provides for a very packed first lap. Race one belonged to Tom Chilton in the Aon Chevy Cruze.

Not far behind was Tiago Monteiro in the hatchback Civic.

The second race is always a standing start, and the grid order is reversed from first to tenth, which means the fast guys have to move up many places for another shot at the podium.

Race two went to Gabriele Tarquini who won his very first race in WTCC this season in round two.

Because of the standing start format it was not uncommon for the rear-wheel drive cars to make up a few places right from the start, which really provides for some hectic racing action from the beginning.

The ambient temperatures were reaching close to 100 degrees, which proved to be harmful for the endurance of race tires, which gave a slight advantage to the rear-wheel drive cars that weekend.

Most of the time that would not be enough to overcome the horsepower advantage that some of the front-wheel drive cars had, but due to the nature of the track and the short straightaways it became a very good equalizer.

It’s always a very packed weekend for all the drivers, with interviews on local TV stations and other media, but it was especially busy for Charles as he just opened up his first tuning shop.

Over the past few years Charles had been living in Germany close to where the team is based, but he moved back to the California bay area recently to open up Elite Performance.

I was kind of curious so I took a ride with Charles in the shop car after the weekend was over to see what all the fuss was about.

Apparently, they will specialize in building drift and race cars, with a few up coming projects that will see the light of day at the 25 hours of Thunderhill this year. Maybe this is also an indication that he will be making his return to Formula Drift as well.

Some of you guys are probably wondering, why is it that Charles has not had great results so far after coming to an end to his second WTCC season.

Well it took five years for Tom Chilton to win an event, and on top of that the odds were not stacked against him as he was driving one of the fastest platforms in the series.

There is no doubt that the teams running the BMW chassis are struggling. Tom Coronel is one of the few to win in a BMW in the past few years.

His best finish from the weekend was sixth after qualifying seventh overall. I’m not trying to defend anybody, but there are only so many places you can move up in such a competitive series.

Even when you have the best team behind you, it’s very hard. I had the opportunity to follow James Nash a bit this weekend and we did a feature on the Chevy Cruze he was piloting.

It’s very rare to get an inside look at how top teams operate – they’re very secretive because there’s so much at stake.

Currently James Nash is tied for the lead in the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy and the team is in second place for the Yokohama Teams’ Trophy.

The performance gap was even more evident in the pits with the more well funded teams. For example most of the factory teams used electronic alignment equipment, while teams like the one Charles is driving for still uses string to align their race cars.

There was a lot more data and analysis of the driver’s performance throughout the weekend, which allowed for James to correct mistakes faster.

It’s just going to take more time and experience for certain teams to become more and more competitive.

It will be interesting to see how things will be mixed up next year with all new rules and new platforms.

If things go according to plan the performance between the different chassis will be closer than ever before, even with the addition of Citroën entering the series.

I’m also rooting for the Lada team. This year they signed up to be an official manufacturer and they are campaigning the Granta Sport.

The chassis is super lightweight and they have been performing quite well this year.

One of them was piloted by Mikhail Kozlovskiy, one of two Russian drivers in the series, also one of the youngest to ever grace WTCC at only 23 years old.

There was just something about the chassis that made it so fun to watch. It’s much smaller than all of the other chassis in the series.

To add to the show, Yokohama invited a few drivers out from their professional drift team to perform full course drifting demos throughout the weekend.

The next time WTCC comes around to a country near you, it’s definitely worth to go and check it out in person. You won’t regret it.

Larry Chen