Tom Sykes looking for home glory at Silverstone

After the sad and tragic weekend in Moscow, the World Superbike Championship will be back this weekend on the Silverstone stage for ninth round of the 2013 season. Both Kawasaki Racing Team riders have several reasons to look forward with optimism to the second GP of the year on British soil: at the Donington round in May, Tom Sykes had his home crowd going ballistic with the first ‘double win’ of his career, while team mate Loris Baz is about to race again on the track where he clinched his first and so for only win in the WSBK championship, which he later topped off with the second place in Race 2.

With no points scored in the only race of the Russian GP (where he saw his beloved Ninja catching fire), Tom Sykes definitely needs a great result in Silverstone, possibly something better than the eighth and twelfth places he went home with last year. Now 4 points behind reinstated leader Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing) in the standings, Mr.Superpole is definitely eager to get back on track after the ill-fated Moscow round:

““At the previous round we had an issue in the race but we had been fastest in most of the practice sessions and had great race pace. So in that respect I am happy. When you are pushing at the front of races sometimes mistakes or issues come along. Last year at Silverstone in normal conditions the Ninja ZX-10R was good but in the wet conditions of raceday we struggled a bit. I think many people understand that we have made a big step with the set-up since then. I am looking forward to racing again in front of my home crowd and hopefully we can have a similar kind of result as we did at Donington, but we will see. I am going to Silverstone relaxed and motivated and we can look to hopefully get ourselves back on track. There is a long summer break afterwards with three weeks off; then in September the calendar gets really busy again. So a good result at Silverstone would be ideal to enjoy the summer break all the more.”

Partly helped by the particularly unstable weather conditions, Loris Baz last year won Race-1 after a memorable last lap, when he pipped BMW Goldbet’s Italian duo Michel Fabrizio and Aytron Badovini, with the latter who crossed the finish line tumbling after making contact with Jonathan Rea’s Fireblade. Last year the young Frenchman arrived in Silvestone with just five rounds of experience in WSBK - he began filling in for Joan Lascorz at the Donington round - while now he is sixth in the championship but with only one podium finish to its name, the third place in Race 2 at Assen. No wonder he’s hungry for a strong result on one of his lucky tracks:

“I had a short holiday in Spain after Moscow and now I am ready for the Silverstone weekend. After everything that happened in Moscow it will be good to be back racing. I really like Silverstone and after I won a race there last year I had a really good weekend. We are at a moment in the season when I need a strong weekend. I think we can make a good weekend and we need it again. I am not sure why I like Silverstone but I always enjoyed it when I rode it in Superstock and in BSB. It is a really nice track and to go England is always cool because I know the British spectators and I have some good fans there so I am always happy to go to race in the UK.”

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Cal Crutchlow signs two-year deal with Ducati, maybe

We wonder how Cal Crutchlow will react on Twitter when he finds out that he has signed a two-year deal with Ducati?

According to Yamaha boss Lin Jarvis, Crutchlow was likely to decide which team he would be riding for in 2014 before this month’s Indianapolis round, now Spanish websitemotocuatro.com has supposedly jumped the gun and is reporting that Ducati will announce signing the British rider for the upcoming two seasons, within the next 24 hours.

The 28-year old has never hidden the fact that he wants a factory ride, and with the Honda and Yamaha factory seats already tied up for next season - and maybe even longer - the remaining choice could only be Ducati, who tried to hire him even last year.

If the announcement should be true, the British rider will be joining his former 2012 Yamaha Tech3 team mate, Andrea Dovizioso, and replacing Nicky Hayden, after the Anerican’s five year stint with the Italian manufacturer.

Do you think that Crutchlow will be able to help fix and tame Desmosedici?

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INJE : UN PLATEAU DE 11 AUTOS POUR LE COUP D'ENVOI.

A seulement quelques jours du début de l'Asian Le Mans Series, on attend toujours la liste définitive des 3 Heures d'Inje Autopia. Pour ce premier round en Corée du Sud, le plateau devrait se situer autour des dix autos. La victoire se jouera entre deux Morgan LMP2. OAK Racing-Total sera dur à battre compte tenu de son équipage composé de Ho Pin Tung, David Cheng et Jeffrey Lee. Dans le camp adverse des Chinois de KCMG, on fera confiance au duo Thompson/Nandy sachant que James Winslow vient d'être confirmé comme troisième homme. Aucune LMPC n'a relevé le défi.

Il était prévu que les GTE ne roulent plus dans le championnat mais finalement une Ferrari 458 Italia sera de la partie avec un certain Kamui Kobayashi au volant. Le Japonais a confirmé qu'il ne prendrait part qu'à ce meeting sud coréen. Avec seulement deux LMP2 en piste, on aura au moins une GT sur le podium. C'est du côté de la catégorie GTC que l'on trouve le plus gros du contingent avec une belle diversité : Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin et McLaren. On aura même deux Lamborghini Trofeo qui seront engagées elles aussi en GTC.

L'Asian Le Mans Series ne sera pas la seule en piste ce week-end puisque les spectateurs pourront y voir le Ferrari Challenge, l'Audi R8 LMS Cup et la Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. Les concurrents de la série Le Mans prendront la piste vendredi de 9h30 à 10h30 pour les premiers essais libres avant une deuxième session de 13h30 à 14h30. Une dernière séance d'essais libres sera programmée samedi de 8h30 à 9h avant des qualifications de 12h15 à 12h45. Le warm up aura lieu de 17h45 à 18h05. Selon le timetable, le départ des 3 Heures d'Inje Autopia sera donné dimanche à 8 heures du matin mais on penche plutôt pour un départ en début d'après-midi (heure locale). Un live streaming de la course sur un site coréen sachant que le décalage horaire avec le pays est de 7 heures.

Laurent Mercier(Endurance-Info)

3 Heures d'Inje Autopia
18	KCMG	Morgan LMP2	Nandy-Thompson-Winslow
24	OAK Racing-Total	Morgan LMP2	Tung-Cheng-Lee
70	Taisan Ken Endless	Ferrari F458 Italia	Kobayashi-Yokomizo
91	AAI	McLaren MP4-12C	TBA-TBA
92	AAI	McLaren MP4-12C	TBA-TBA
77	AF Corse	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Bertolini-Wyatt-Rugolo
26	Taisan Ken Endless	Porsche 996 GT300	Mineko-Taniguchi
007	Craft AMR	Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3	Mücke-Yu
37	BBT	Lamborghini Gallardo	TBA-TBA
1	Lamborghini Trophy car 1	Lamborghini Trophy	TBA-TBA
2	Lamborghini Trophy Car 2	Lamborghini Trophy	TBA-TBA

WSBK: Shocked BMW team heads to Silverstone

The announcement from BMW Motorrad Motorsport last week that it will withdraw from the FIM Superbike World Championship at the end of the 2013 season left in shock the whole paddock, but it goes without saying that those who got affected the most by the surprise decision of the German manufacturer are the guys of the BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK (and STK) team. They probably didn’t see that coming either, but the squad wants to remain focused on claiming more strong results in the remaining rounds of the season.

Poor Marco Melandri is actually quite used to this situtation: this is his third season in the WSBK championship, and for the third time in a row he’s getting the boot from his team in spite of his unquestionably excellent results. It happened with Yamaha in 2011 and with the BMW Motorrad factory team last year. Since the news came out, the Italian press has been linking the 30-years-old to a factoty ride with Aprilia, but it might be just a little too early to get in that sort of speculations.

After riding his BMW S 1000 RR to victory in the only race of the tragic Russian GP, Marco improved to third in the Riders’ classification with 207 points, 32 points adrift of reinstated leader Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing). This means that the Italian is actually a strong contender for the 2013 title, but there can be no doubt that BMW’s great escape is not going to help the cause. Melandri knows that only too well, but will try to give his best to make his crew happy. Read what he and team mate Chaz Davies said right after the jump.

Here’s what Marco Melandri about the upcoming Silverstone races:

“Silverstone is a great and fast track and at the same time it is also very difficult due to its changes of pace and bumpy surface but I still really like it. I hope that the weather - which is always unpredictable in the UK - will be good this time. I’m sorry for the decision BMW has taken but unfortunately I’m used to such situations. I’m not really worried because for us riders it is always possible to find a solution, although, of course, at this important stage of the season it is not good for our mood. I hope that the experience will help me to handle it.”

Team mate Chaz Davies finished second in Russia and is now fifth in the standings with 174 points. Silverstone will be the second home round of the season for the Welshman after the Donington Park round at the end of May, but Davies cannot help to express his disappointment with the recent decision from BMW:

“Of course I feel sorry about BMW Motorrad’s decision, but this year we still have a long season ahead of us with many rounds in which we want to continue to be successful. So we keep being focused and working hard. The next round is my home race at Silverstone. Even though I would not rank it as one of my most favourite circuits, I quite enjoy riding there. It is different challenges because it is quite fast and open. In addition, you find different corners on this circuit than you find anywhere else. It is completely flat but it is very difficult to set the bike up, especially a Superbike, because it is bumpy. There is a lot of work in setting the suspension up and sometimes you get it right and sometimes you can get it wrong. It is a really demanding circuit for the crews. I am looking forward to racing at home. Superbikes are pretty popular in the UK and I hope that a lot of people will come to watch me.”

Serafino Foti, Sport Director of the BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team, commented:

“We have noted and accepted the strategic decision that the company has taken and I want to thank BMW Motorrad for the level of competitiveness we have reached and for the great performance in the season so far. Our riders are doing very well and they will go on this way until the end of the season, keeping their focus on the present because the results we are achieving now are the base on which we will now build our future. All the guys from the team are doing the same and will continue to do their best and, for sure, the decision will not have any influence on the rest of the season because they are real professionals. This year in Silverstone, we will race on the same track layout as we did in 2011, which is quite different from the Moscow circuit, but we’ll do our best and we’ll be competitive.”

Just like Melandri, Technical Director Andrea Dosoli also lost his job last year when BMW decided to get rid of its factory team, and eventually found a place in the GoldBet SBK team, which had become a sort of half-official arm of the Bavarian brand in the World Superbike series. These are his professional thoughts in view of the Silverstone round.

“After the very emotional race weekend we experienced in Moscow, the team also had to learn and understand the strategic decision taken by BMW for the future of the SBK project. The last few days were not the easiest ones for all of us but I’m sure that all the guys will keep working as usual. They are professional and very much motivated to achieve, race by race, the results that all of us deserve. In Moscow we’ve seen that both riders were quite fast in both dry and wet conditions. This will be very important for the next race in Silverstone where the weather can change quickly, as we saw last year.

The British track is one of the longest circuits of the calendar with very fast corners where the riders can use a smooth and flowing riding style, it’s a technical circuit where the side grip is quite important especially in the long turns. Both riders will start with basically the same bike we successfully used in Russia, and we’ll work mainly on the set up. Both the team and the riders are looking forward to the Silverstone races, with a clear target of consolidating what we have shown in Moscow. Both riders are in good shape and they will have extra motivation with it being Chaz’s home race and for Marco his ‘second’ home race as he used to live in England.”

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