N THE EYE OF THE STORM: WRT AT THE SPA 24

The WRT Belgian Audi Club team have just released this epic documentary on their journey to and through the Spa 24 Hours this year, that ended up with a second-place finish for one of their Audi R8 LMS Ultras. Covering the previous races in the Blancpain Endurance Series and the build-up to the 24 Hours during race week – including the amazing sight of dozens of GT cars running round the public roads of Spa on their way to the driver parade in town – the video takes you on an access-all-areas tour of the Spa 24 Hours. For instance, 18 minutes into the video, you get an idea of just why the Super Pole session was cancelled: Spa-Francorchamps looked more like a sea than a racing track at that stage…

The Audi factory were looking to keep their winning streak going, and lined up both WRT (last year’s victors) and the Phoenix squad to each run a pair of R8 LMS Ultras. The fight for the victory ended up as a straight battle between the lead car of each team, and in the end the #16 Phoenix R8 took the flag ahead of the #1 WRT sister car.

WRT’s film follows in the footsteps of those other great racing documentaries, Audi’s Truth In 24 series, to provide a great combination of on-board shots and behind-the-scenes shots spliced with interviews with drivers and team bosses. It’s a long video, but gives a must-see insight into the enormous effort teams put in during 24-hour races. It’s a great way to burn through a lunch break or train journey. Fire it up, sit back and enjoy the Spa 24 Hours without the storms and lack of sleep!

Valentino Rossi laughs off Casey Stoner's attack

One of the hottest stories ahead of this weekend’s Indianapolis GP is MCN’s interview with reigning World Champion Casey Stoner, which will no doubt make this mid August summer day even hotter and turn tomorrow’s pre-event press conference into a media frenzy.

The Australian launched a brutally honest and very highly critical attack against Valentino Rossi and his two-year, very dismal and almost resultless seasons in Ducati, which finally forced the Italian to swallow his pride and return to Yamaha.

There has never been any good blood between the two especiallly after Stoner took the 2007 crown (and the Australian’s boundless talent wasn’t immediately recognized) and things went even further downhill after the stunning 2008 Laguna Seca race, and the media warfare which Rossi has tried to use to his advantage against his rivals, has never worked against the prickly Australian who has a long memory and not so forgiving character.

Some of Stoner’s scathing comments include, “I think he’s eating enough humble pie at the moment.” and “I just feel completely sorry for Ducat that he has gone there and done nothing but complain about the bike and obviously they now have a bike that can do well because he keeps getting beaten by Nicky and Hector (Barbera) and that is nothing to be proud of.”

The Australian also turned the tables on the Italian by using more or less the same words that Rossi used when he said that Stoner hadn’t been trying hard enough in his last season with Ducati, “Obviously he doesn’t want to put the effort in with Ducati. It is disappointing for them that they’re doing all they can and he is not even trying to get the best out of it, said Stoner.

The Repsol Honda rider also had a biting comment for Jeremy Burgess’ and his 2010 interview with Sportrider where the infamous ‘80 second will fix it’ was made, “They ate their words from day one. Jerry saying that it would take him 80 seconds to fix that bike and that it was a simple issue and now they have had pretty much two years on the thing have not made any inroads.

Rossi responded to the attack via Twitter with a very simple,”sempre molto carino il mio amico Casey ah ah ah” - which translated more or less means, my friend Casey is always so very nice ah ah ah

from: http://www.twowheelsblog.com

CLASSIFIED MOTO KT600

Andrea-dovizioso-to-sign-a-2-year-deal-with-ducati

Several Italian media sources (Sportmediaset, Gazzetta dello Sport) are reporting that Andrea Dovizioso has decided to accept the ‘red challenge’and will replace Valentino Rossi in Ducati for the next two seasons and the announcement will be made during next weekend’s Indianapolis GP.

However, before signing Dovi demanded assurances that the arrival of Ducati’s owner new Audi, will actually bring some important and faster changes in regards to development and that he won’t end up as his previous two Italian predecessors in the team. While Dovizioso isn’t known to the majority of fans as a development rider, he was highly considered during his years in Honda as being fundamental in improving the RC212V, even if Honda had eyes only for Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner.

How did Dovizioso end up being on Ducati’s radar after it seemed that Cal Crutchlow was a shoe-in if Rossi decided to leave? Apparently it was Vittoriano Guareschi’s idea to have another veteran MotoGP rider who not only is fast, but is also a seriously hard worker, rational and constant in his results and very rarely makes mistakes and more importantly doesn’t publicly complain and it seems that he could get some extra help as Casey Stoner’s pit crew who will be out of job at the end of the season when the Australian retires (Marc Marquez wants to bring his Moto2 crew with him in MotoGP) could be returning to Ducati.

Dovizoso knows that he won’t be winning races right off with the Italian manufacturer next season, but he’ll have that extra motivation to try to podium and beat Valentino Rossi’s very dismal two years in Ducati.

 

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