Moto GP : Aleix Espargaró en pole suite à des qualifications pluvieuses à Assen / Aleix Espargaro takes pole in rain affected Q2

Aleix Espargaró partira en pole position pour la première fois de sa carrière samedi à l’Iveco TT Assen suite à ce que les qualifications aient été affectées par la pluie. Ses compatriotes catalans Marc Márquez et Dani Pedrosa le rejoindront en première ligne.

En tête du classement combiné des trois séances d’essais de l’Iveco Daily TT Assen, Aleix Espargaró (NGM Forward Racing) était parmi les candidats à la pole position pour la huitième manche de la saison MotoGP™ 2014 et a reçu un petit coup de pouce de la pluie pour se maintenir au sommet de la feuille de temps vendredi après-midi à l'issue des qualifications. 

Face à un ciel menaçant, les pilotes sont tous partis en piste dès l’ouverture de la pit-lane et Espargaró avait audacieusement choisi de rester à l’arrière du groupe pour boucler un tour rapide le plus tôt possible. La pluie s’est manifestée juste après les cinq premières minutes, figeant le classement et laissant une piste partiellement mouillée, sur laquelle les pilotes ont pu continuer à rouler mais en n’ayant toutefois aucune possibilité de progresser sur leurs chronos. 

Espargaró s’emparait donc de sa première pole en MotoGP™, la première de sa carrière en Grand Prix, avec un chrono d’1’38.789 bien éloigné du record du circuit qu’il avait établi la veille (1’33.653), qui avait été battu par Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) en séance FP4, en 1’33.462. Ce dernier a signé le deuxième temps des qualifications pour s’assurer un départ en première ligne, juste devant son coéquipier Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda).

Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) s’est qualifié en tête de la deuxième ligne, devant Cal Crutchlow (Ducati), qui avait terminé deuxième de la Q1 pour rejoindre la Q2 et s’en sort finalement beaucoup mieux qu’il ne l'espérait, ainsi que Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3).

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda) et Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) seront quant à eux en troisième ligne, devant Álvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) et les principaux perdants de la journée, Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3) et Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), qui devront partir des onzième et douzième positions.

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The MotoGP™ race at the Iveco Daily TT Assen will see Aleix Espargaro get away from pole position on the grid on Saturday, ahead of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa on row one, after light rain disrupted Q2.

A group of riders were bunched up in an early dash from pit lane as they sensed light rain could become heavier right at the beginning of the Q2 run, with NGM Forward Racing’s Espargaro initially hanging behind that group and judging the conditions best for the first pole of his Grand Prix career.

For full results from an intriguing Q2 session click here.

The 1’38.789 time which took pole was over five seconds slower than the FP4 pace, whilst Repsol Honda pair Marquez and Pedrosa managed to get onto the front row despite trailing Espargaro by 1.4s and 1.9s respectively.

Another good effort from Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) put him at the front of the second row, where he will be joined by Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) – who sneaked through from Q1 and took advantage for fifth despite struggling in free practice.

Crutchlow’s compatriot and former teammate Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) completes row two, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) and Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) who are all on the third row.

Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini), Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) were all four seconds down on the pole time and will therefore all be on the fourth row.

Several riders even switched to wet tyres before the end of the session as the rain got heavier, but fortunately there were no crashes despite the tricky conditions.

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Leg 1 - 2014 WRC Rally Poland

Il reste une Superspéciale à disputer en cette (très) longue deuxième étape du Rally Poland 2014 et Andreas Mikkelsen (VW/Michelin) vient de reprendre la tête du rallye pour une seconde devant son équipier Sébastien Ogier. Mads Ostberg (Citroën) défend sa 3e place face à Jari-Matti Latvala.

Après l’annulation des ES7 et 8 en Lituanie, dont les pistes avaient été ravagées par le 1^erpassage des voitures, les pilotes ont dû patienter près de 7 heures avant de repartir en spéciale. En effet, le départ de l’ES9 (Wieliczki, 12,89 km) a été donné à 19h15 pour Sébastien Ogier, leader du championnat et 1^er sur la route depuis hier après-midi, soit 10 heures après le 1^erpassage matinal de cette spéciale !

Le rythme est extrêmement soutenu depuis le départ du rallye. Quatre pilotes différents ont gagné au moins une des sept spéciales disputées (Ogier, Mikkelsen, Hanninen, Ostberg), quatre spéciales ont été remportées avec moins d’une seconde d’écart. Jamais l’écart entre Ogier et son équipier Andreas Mikkelsen n’a dépassé 2s8 au classement général et les deux hommes se sont échangés la 1^ère place à cinq reprises…

Le Norvégien a repris la tête du rallye pour une seconde à l’issue de l’ES9 : « J’ai attaqué fort, je ne sais pas aller plus vite, mais on se fait plaisir en spéciale. Demain sera encore une longue journée, mais le feeling est bon pour le moment, » commentait Andreas à l’arrivée.

Parti 5^e ce matin, Mads Ostberg (Citroën) est remonté à la 3^e place et maintient sa position face à Jari-Matti Latvala (VW). Pas en confiance hier, le Finlandais a retrouvé un bon feeling aujourd’hui pour passer de la 8^e à la 4^e place, à 12s5 d’Ostberg.

A l’inverse, handicapé par sa position sur la route et des pistes creusées de rails, Kris Meeke (5^e, Citroën) a été décroché du wagon de tête et complète le top-five provisoire à 38s4 du leader. Idem pour Juho Hanninen (6^e, Hyundai) qui avait pris un départ canon (vainqueur ES2) et qui pointe à 6s1 du Britannique.

Cette 2^e étape fut également plus difficile pour le Polonais Robert Kubica (Ford) qui pointe à la 8^e place (+1min14s9) malgré deux 3^e meilleurs temps, entre Mikko Hirvonen (7^e, Ford) et Thierry Neuville (9^e, Hyundai), victime d’un problème de frein à main à l’arrivée de l’ES9. Elfyn Evans (10^e, Ford) complète le top-ten provisoire devant Hayden Paddon (11^e, Hyundai).

En WRC-2, les deux pilotes Drive DMack sont en pleine bagarre. Ott Tanak devance son équipier Jari Ketomaa de 13s8. Martin Kangur est 3^e à plus d’une minute et demie, alors que l’Estonien Karl Kruuda (Peugeot 208) est sorti dans l’ES9. Sébastien Chardonnet (Citroën DS3 R5/Michelin) pointe désormais à la 4^e place de catégorie.

En Junior, avant l’ES9, Stéphane Lefebvre et Simone Tempestini se tenaient en moins de 10 secondes. Alastair Fisher, Martin Koci et Christian Riedemann étaient en bagarre pour la 3^eplace.

Demain, 10 spéciales sont au programme de la 3^e étape, dont deux passages dans Goldap (35,17 km).

Project 7: The Fastest and Most Powerful Production Jaguar

If there was one brand on a roll with a strong current product catalogue and a rosy future, it would be Jaguar. Now they’ve dropped this, the F-TYPE Project 7 and said get your cheque books ready. This could get exciting!

Cast your mind back to the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed and one of the cars creating a stir up the fabled tarmac was the gorgeous retina piercing blue Jaguar F-TYPE Project 7. The car was a nod to Jaguar’s ‘56/’57 Le Mans winning D-Type from which Project 7 draws its name (the ’57 event was the fifth of an eventual seven victories at La Sarthe for Jaguar, the last of which came in 1990 with the XJR-12)

It was quite clearly a design exercise and nothing more than a bit of fun for a brand on the boil in the public eye. Or was it?!Jaguar have had a bit of history of playing around with roof chopped hot rods, with the gorgeous and thunderous XK180 being a good example. A car that had people stopping in their tracks, but sadly never touched based in a showroom.

History has told us that speedsters versions of products can work. Porsche over the years have been very clever in producing low wind-shield derivatives of their fabled Porsche 911. Stretch that back all the way to the mid 1950′s in fact, when the then Porsche Importer for the USA suggested Porsche might want to create a low spec, Speedster version of the then 356. Became a bit of an icon that 356 Speedster didn’t it? Jaguar are clearly looking to solidify the F-TYPEs position in the market and a halo roofless version to get everyone excited is the perfect route.

We are talking a possibility of 250 units all powered buy Jaguar’s 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine. It’s not strictly the same powerplant we had fun with in the F-TYPE Coupé R, as it is now in 575PS/680Nm form meaning a 0-100km/h sprint is dispatched in 3.9-seconds and an electronically-limited top speed of 300kph.

As you can see from soaking in the images, the key design elements include the D-type-inspired buttresses fairing behind the driver’s head, that chopped down front windshield, a new front bumper, and some rather sexy looking carbon fibre aero mods hanging from all corners. Thankfully the single seater element of the initial concept has made was for two seats, and there are rollover hoops for both driver and passenger which the design team have cleverly integrated into the car so as to not generate an eye sore.

The soon to be renamed ‘Project 7‘ will be available in a choice of five colours (Ultra Blue, Caldera Red, British Racing
Green (all with white decal options), Ultimate Black and Glacier White (both with grey decal options). But with an indicative price of GBP 135,000 ($230,000), it’s certainly not cheap.

But, just LOOK at it! It’s sure to sound incredible too.

GAS DEPARTMENT BULTACO CAFE RACER

The Spanish may have forgotten how to kick a football but at least the two wheeled fraternity are showing the world who rules. The man with the national anthem machine at Grand Prixs must have burnt his mixtape by now and put La Marche Real on loop. Anybody who’s been to Spain knows that motorcycling is ingrained in the nation’s DNA. Whippersnappers tear around in a two stroke fug, nonchalantly weaving around as if motor skills required for riding were picked up in the womb. The rich heritage of motorcycle manufacturers stretches way back too; Bultaco, Gas Gas, Derbi, Ossa and Sherco have all competed at the top level on a world stage. With this in mind the guys from Gas Department in Barcelona wanted to acknowledge the past but put their own stake in the ground.

A chance stumble into a friend’s garage yielded a well worn out 1964 Bultaco Mercurio 155, a fine machine in period but a style very much of that moment and slightly lacking in the buzzing here and now. The brief was to retain as many parts as possible, whilst allowing the creative juices to flow. This meant an inordinate number of hours stripping, cleaning, polishing, plating and painting the original components.

On such a waif of a frame the tank needs to be subtle so one rescued from a Bultaco TTS was given an in-house two tone paint job with neat pinstripe and logo, topped off with a machined ally cap. To match, a TTS tail section was remodelled to achieve the correct proportions and allow for an integrated tail light. Local firm Xtrim made the seat pad and although tricky to see from these pictures they also made a lovely leather strap to keep the tank in place.

Up front the forks internals have been serviced and the springs exposed, reminding us of the mechanical simplicity of older machinery. Brakes are original and adequate for stopping such a light bike. For a touch more ground clearance at the rear, aesthetics winning more than anything, Yamaha Virago shocks replaced the originals, again with exposed springs to mirror the front end.

The simple two stroke motor was completely rebuilt to original specification and maintains its standard louvre-shielded paper air filter. The exhaust though needed restyling so was chopped and shaped to suit the rest of the bike. The result is a pleasant improvement of the engine note, definitely two stroke without sounding like a wasp in a beer can. Subtle polishing of the cast alloy engine cases looks period and shows how engines used to be made before mega mass production got into its ugly silver-painted stride.

The headlight is original with the glass tinted yellow, which works well on this build against the mellow colours and historical feel. Grips are from Biltwell.

For a more sporty feeling ride in the foot department reclaimed Yamaha R1 foot pegs were grafted on with new levers to match. Remarkably the old and new blend well.

As you can see from the quality of the photographs, these chaps are not messing around at this customising lark, to the extent that they had enough time to produce this video of the process. Overall the result is well executed and handsome. But more than anything it demonstrates that if the history and heritage of motorcycling’s early manufacturers is to remain fresh in our minds and on our streets, the young folk in sheds, workshops and studios around the world need to get inspired and involved. Regenerating old brands with little more than a sticker on the tank and a generic factory far, far away will not cut the mustard.

Right, the soapbox has been pushed back under the bench, for now.

via The Bike Shed