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FIA WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP : UNE SAMBA BRÉSILIENNE POUR LES AUDI R18 E-TRON QUATTRO.

Audi n'a pas tremblé aux 6 Heures de Sao Paulo avec un doublé des R18 e-tron quattro où la concurrence ne pouvait venir que de la seule Toyota TS030 HYBRID au départ. Devant 38 000 personnes, Marcel Fässler, Benoît Tréluyer et André Lotterer ont connu une course tranquille en menant quasiment de bout en bout les 235 tours et sans connaître le moindre problème. A l'arrivée l'écart entre la #1 et la #2 est de trois tours. Pour Loïc Duval, Tom Kristensen et Allan McNish, les premières heures leur ont permis se mêler à la course en tête mais une roue perdue en repartant lors d'un ravitaillement puis deux pénalités ont mis à mal les envies de victoire du trio. Chez Toyota, on fondait beaucoup d'espoir sur les évolutions de la TS030 HYBRID de Sarrazin/Buemi/Davidson mais un accrochage avec une Lotus T128 après 35 minutes a stoppé net la progression de la #8, Stéphane Sarrazin devant se résoudre à laisser sa monture sur place. Dommage pour le Toyota Racing qui avait une bonne carte à jouer malgré l'engagement d'une seule auto avec des pneus certainement plus constants que ceux des Audi. Le Rebellion Racing n'en demandait pas tant pour mettre la Lola-Toyota B12/60 de Prost/Heidfeld/Beche sur la dernière marche du podium à 6 tours de la tête. Le trio a fait une course sage et tranquille et ce podium est une belle récompense pour la seule équipe privée qui joue le jeu sur l'intégralité de la saison.

En LMP2, le G-Drive Racing a mené de bout en bout. Après sa disqualification mancelle, Martin/Conway/Rusinov ont rectifié le tir avec une course parfaite pour la ORECA 03 battant pavillon russe. Après Delta-ADR à Silverstone, Pecom Racing à Spa et OAK Racing au Mans, une quatrième équipe s'impose en quatre courses. Le Pecom Racing a longtemps occupé la deuxième place mais avec sept arrêts contre cinq à la Morgan LMP2/OAK Racing #35 de Baguette/Plowman/Gonzalez, c'est cette dernière qui rafle les points de la deuxième place et qui fait la bonne opération au championnat. Malheureusement pour le team dirigé par Sébastien Philippe, les deux Morgan ont perdu le contact avec les LMP2 de tête lors de la première neutralisation longue de près d'une heure en se faisant piéger pour la deuxième fois en quatre courses. Il serait peut-être bon de revoir la règle des ravitaillements sous régime de neutralisation. La #24 de Pla/Heinemeier-Hansson/Brundle pouvait elle aussi bien figurer mais un problème de suspension dans la dernière heure a fortement ralenti la Morgan qui a terminé 6ème derrière la Morgan "Art Car". Très en verve dans le baquet de la Zytek/Greaves, Bjorn Wirdheim a rempli sa mission en amenant la #41 au pied du podium.

Ferrari et Aston Martin ont bien animé la catégorie GTE-Pro mais à aucun moment les Vantage GTE n'ont pu prendre la mesure des italiennes. A l'issue d'une manche rondement menée, la paire Bruni/Fisichella s'est imposée pour 1.4s au volant de la Ferrari F458 Italia/AF Corse championne en titre. L'équipage n'a cessé de regarder dans ses rétroviseurs durant les 6 heures car l'Aston Martin Vantage GTE/AMR #97 de Turner/Mücke a quasiment fait l'intégralité de la course dans les échappements de la Ferrari. Rien n'y aura fait, la F458 étant un ton au-dessus en vitesse de pointe. L'écart entre les deux a le plus souvent oscillé entre une et deux secondes. Une Porsche complète le podium avec la 911 RSR/Porsche AG Team Manthey de Pilet/Bergmeister, mais à deux tours de la concurrence.

Ces 6 Heures de Sao Paulo ont été meurtrières pour la catégorie reine du GT. Porsche a rapidement perdu une auto pour la victoire avec la #91 de Lieb/Lietz retardée suite à un contact. C'est ensuite la Ferrari F458 Italia/AF Corse de Vilander/Kobayashi qui est partie en fumée, le Finlandais se faisant une grosse chaleur avec des flammes tout près de son casque. Aston Martin Racing n'a pas été épargné par les problèmes avec un abandon pour la #99 de Senna/Bell sur bris de suspension. La #98 de Dalla Lana/Lamy/Stanaway a elle aussi subi des dommages si bien qu'elle n'a pu prendre que la 5ème place en GTE-Pro derrière des GTE-Am.

Du côté du GTE-Am, Aston Martin Racing semblait parti pour un doublé mais la Vantage GTE suivie par Young Driver AMR qui a dominé les ¾ de la course a rendu les armes après la perte d'une roue. Dommage pour l'équipage danois composé de Thiim/Nygaard/Poulsen qui voulait mettre un point d'honneur à briller pour la mémoire d'Allan Simonsen. Aston Martin Racing n'a pas tout perdu en imposant la #96 de Campbell-Walter/Hall avec 45s d'avance sur la Ferrari F458 Italia/8Star Motorsports de Rigon/Potolicchio/Aguas. On a trois marques différentes dans le tiercé de tête avec la troisième position pour la Porsche 911 GT3-RSR/Proton Competition de Ruberti/Ried/Roda. Cinquième place pour la Porsche 911 GT3-RSR/IMSA Performance Matmut de Vernay/Narac/Bourret, deux places devant la Corvette C6.R/Larbre Compétition de Rees/Canal/Bornhauser.

Au championnat, Duval/Kristensen/McNish comptent 112 points, contre 90 aux vainqueurs du jour, à savoir Fässler/Tréluyer/Lotterer. Sans aucun point marqué au Brésil, Buemi/Sarrazin/Davidson restent bloqués à 63 points. En LMP2, Baguette/Plowman/Gonzalez gardent les commandes avec 94 points. Pla/Heinemeier-Hansson/Brundle comptent 81 points, soit un de plus que Minassian/Perez Companc/Kaffer. Conway/Martin/Rusinov totalisent 46 points.

Tout reste à faire en GTE-Pro. Turner/Mücke prennent les commandes avec 86 points. Lieb/Lietz sont à deux points et Bruni/Fisichella à cinq. Vernay/Bourret/Narac restent en tête du GTE-Am mais Canal/Bornhauser et Potolicchio/Aguas se rapprochent dangeureusement de l'équipage IMSA Performance Matmut.

Prochain rendez-vous au Texas à Austin dans trois semaines...

Laurent Mercier(Endurance-Info)

Jorge Lorenzo celebrates 'one of his best races' at Silverstone; Marc Marquez: '20 points feel like a win', Pedrosa disappointed with Silverstone result

Jorge Lorenzo was able to break Marc Marquez’ winning spree with a stunning victory at Silverstone. The Yamaha rider and Marquez were in a league of their own as the two battled it out on the final lap, when Marquez made a move at Brooklands, but Lorenzo retaliated and barged past when Marquez left the door slightly open.

To counteract Marquez’ never give up attitude, Lorenzo has been forced to become slightly more aggressive - less ‘butter’ and much more ‘hammer’ than he has been in the past.

To celebrate his fourth victory of the season Lorenzo had his hair cut in a mohawk.

“This was one of the best races I’ve ever had. I’m really happy and really pleased. It’s a very important win,” said Lorenzo. “I pushed from the beginning to try and open a gap, even more than in recent races but it was impossible. Marc never gives up, even if he’s a little bit injured after the warm-up. He overtook me three laps from the end so I studied him a little for one lap and I saw he was struggling in some braking so I overtook him on the corner where he crashed. pushed in the last lap to the maximum, I opened a little gap but I made a mistake in braking and almost crashed. When he overtook me three corners from the end I thought it was over again and second place but then he opened a little gap in the last corner so I thought ‘now or never’ and I tried and got it. To be honest I’m not thinking about the championship, I’m thinking just to enjoy this victory which was very special to get the focus on Misano.”

For the third consecutive time Valentino Rossi finished in fourth place. Despite a promising start - he was up to third in the first corner - but as usual with a full fuel tank and some lack of confidence in pushing hard on the first lap sent him back to six, gobbled up the three Honda riders.

Rossi was able to return and found himself battling with Alvaro Bautista again - he laughingly said its practice for when he will able to fight with the front runners - and pipped the Gresini rider again at the wire.

The Italian described his fourth place ‘like going to a party and finding that they won’t let you in,’ and the Italian also had to be taken back to his garage by Cal Crutchlow after running out of gas on the cool down lap.

“For me this result is a bit more positive than in Brno because this track is very difficult,” said Rossi. “Every time I come here I have a bad result, this time we worked in a different and better way but unfortunately it is not enough to stay with the first three guys. They were too strong. The fourth place is better than in Brno, but it is still a fourth place. I made a good start but in the first laps the other guys were a lot faster than me between the second and seventh lap, but the second half of the race was not so bad.
When the rear started to slide it is like we put less pressure on the front, where we have some problem, and I could enter the corners faster, but it was not enough.

“We will continue to work hard, we never give up and are not so far now. We have a constant pace and we are nearly there but we need to go a bit faster, we still have to work to improve our pace. We made a modification between warm up and the race that gave me a better feeling with the front. Now we have a week of rest after thre back-to-back races and then Misano, which I like a lot, my home grand prix, where I’ve been on the podium with both the Yamaha and Ducati. I’m always fast at that track so we have to try and improve the result.”

Despite Lorenzo’s tremendous victory Rossi believes that the championship is out of his team mate’s reach as he would have to win the next six races against Marquez.

“The difference now is 39 points. First of all, Yamaha have to bring the gearbox as soon as possible. I do not think it’s possible for Jorge to win six races and Marquez arrive second in six races. The championship has six races to go but it is impossible they arrive one-two every race. If you wanna bet with me, I can bet. It’s difficult because the gap is large and Marquez is very strong. The M1 is a little bit in trouble compared to the factory Hondas.”

Following his crash during warm-up practice this morning their were some doubts that Marc Marquez could race after sustaining a dislocated shoulder - Andrea Iannone is still feeling the after effects of his Sachsenring shoulder injury - but when Dr. Costa said that the rookie arrived in the Clinica Mobile for treatment he was already chomping on the bit ready to return to action, you knew that Marquez was already in his never give up mode - and the hell with his injury after his left shoulder took a 22.55 g impact.

On an adrenaline high he battled with Lorenzo for the victory, but running slightly wide and letting the Yamaha rider through, consigned him to a still an excellent second, and even more accolades over another stellar performance.

“I’m very happy with how things went today,” said Marquez. “This morning when my shoulder popped out I thought that my weekend was over, but the doctors were able to put it back in place quickly and that allowed me to be up there at the front, fighting with Jorge.”

“I didn’t feel much pain, because I received an injection to dull the pain, but I was lacking strength and was feeling tired by the end. Despite all this, I was able to battle all the way until the final corner with Jorge, who eventually emerged victorious today. Congratulations to him! For me these 20 points are like a win!”

For the second time this season Dani Pedrosa could not take advantage of a rivals injury and finish higher up on the podium. Uncharacteristically the Repsol Honda rider had a bad start and was forced to make up lost ground, punishing excessively his tires in the process which did not allow him to entry the fray between Lorenzo and Marquez.

“I’m disappointed with the result today. I rode well but got a bad start and conceded a lot of seconds on the opening two laps, so I had to really push in order to recover ground,” said Pedrosa. “I gradually caught up with Marc and Jorge, but I wore my tyres out in the process and at the end of the race I lacked grip on the right-hand corners. I tried to calm down and slow my pace in order to lower the tyre temperature, although finally I wasn’t able to match their performance. That meant that when I attempted to pass the bike slid out a lot and I was unable to really get involved in the fight for the win. I will have to give it another go at Misano.”

via TWOWHEELSBLOG

Red Bull Drift Party in China’s Tianmenshan Mountains

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Red Bull is an energy drinks maker rather than a Formula One racing team and extreme sports backer. The Austrian energy drink maker’s name is linked to all sort of high energy and highly dangerous sports and activities like the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, Red Bull X-Fighters and the Red Bull Air Race World Championship.

The Red Bull Drift Party joins that list of events that grab headlines for the firm and produces great images. The event was arranged to showcase the abilities of Hong Kong based Red Bull drifter James Tang and Federico Sceriffo from Team Orange Japan. Although they’re not house-hold names that doesn’t matter because the most important part of the “drift party” is the beautiful scenery of the spectacular Tianmenshan Mountains, a natural arch cave mountain that’s five miles from the city of Zhangjiajie (formerly Dayong) in Hunan Province.

Using an area that the local’s dub “Heaven’s Gate” was a great move and the 99 twisting and turning curves helped the drifters showcase their skills. Federico Sceriffo came out as the victor with a score of 96.5 out of 100 and a top speed clocked at 106mph. Afterwards he was awarded the title “Tianmenshan Mountain Drift King”.

Red Bull Drift Show in Tianmenshan Mountain

Red Bull hasn’;t made any plans for a rematch but we’d like to think that James Tang will have a chance to claim the title at some point from Federico Sceriffo.

via EUROCARBLOG