Loeb vers une nouvelle victoire

Sébastien Loeb se rapproche à grands pas de la victoire en Allemagne. Jari-Matti Latvala et Mikko Hirvonen sont également solidement installés sur le podium provisoire de cette neuvième épreuve de la saison de WRC.

Plusieurs concurrents ont chuté lors de cette deuxième étape du Rallye d'Allemagne, mais pas Sébastien Loeb. Sur les six spéciales du jour, l'Alsacien en a remporté trois et possède désormais 1'42''9 d'avance sur Jari-Matti Latvala. « C’est une avance importante, encore une très bonne journée et aucun problème à signaler, explique Loeb. Dans la spéciale de l'Arena Panzerplatte, nous ne devions pas aller vite car tout peut y arriver. On l’a vu lors du premier passage. On termine le deuxième jour en tête, avec une bonne avance. C’est de bon augure avant le dernier jour. »

Jari-Matti Latvala occupe donc la deuxième place du classement provisoire en Allemagne. Le pilote Ford a vécu un début de journée difficile avant de remonter dans la hiérarchie en profitant des problèmes rencontrés par ses concurrents. Son équipier, Petter Solberg, a été contraint à l'abandon à l'issue d'une sortie de piste dans l'ES9. Alors qu'il rivalisait avec Sébastien Loeb, le Norvégien a cassé sa roue arrière droite en percutant une pierre. Au cours de la journée, Thierry Neuville, Dani Sordo, Ott Tänak ou encore Petter van Merksteijn ont été victime de l'Arena Panzerplatte, spéciale la plus longue du Rallye d'Allemagne (46,54).

Peu à l'aise au volant de la Citroën DS3 WRC sur asphalte, Mikko Hirvonen occupe tout de même la troisième place du classement général, avec un peu moins de 30 secondes de retard sur la deuxième place. En quatrième position, Mads Ostberg a préféré jouer la prudence plutôt que l'attaque à outrance dans son duel face Ott Tänak, qui a fini par abandonner. Chris Atkinson complète le Top 5 pour son premier rallye avec une Mini John Cooper Works.

Sébastien Ogier est en passe de signer son meilleur résultat de la saison au volant de sa modeste Skoda Fabia S2000. Le Français, qui avait gagné en Allemagne l'an dernier avec Citroën, occupe la sixième place du classement provisoire devant son équipier Andreas Mikkelsen.

With Julien Delfosse AUTOHEBDO

OVERALL CLASSIFICATION Pos   No Driver Co-Driver Vehicle Cls Total Time Penalties Diff Fastest (Prev) 1 1 S. LOEB D. ELENA CITROEN DS3 WRC WRC 2:58:51.8 **:**.* **:**.* 2 3 J. LATVALA M. ANTTILA FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 3:00:34.7 +1:42.9 +1:42.9 3 2 M. HIRVONEN J. LEHTINEN CITROEN DS3 WRC WRC 3:01:04.5 +2:12.7 +29.8 4 10 M. OSTBERG J. ANDERSSON FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 3:01:59.6 +3:07.8 +55.1 5 12 C. ATKINSON S. PREVOT MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS WRC WRC 3:05:50.8 +6:59.0 +3:51.2 6 22 S. OGIER J. INGRASSIA SKODA FABIA S2000 2 3:07:02.4 +8:10.6 +1:11.6 7 23 A. MIKKELSEN O. FLOENE SKODA FABIA S2000 2 3:09:12.2 +10:20.4 +2:09.8 8 7 N. AL-ATTIYAH G. BERNACCHINI CITROEN DS3 WRC WRC 3:09:43.8 +10:52.0 +31.6 9 5 O. TANAK K. SIKK FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 3:11:34.9 +12:43.1 +1:51.1 10   52 M. ARZENO R. JAMOUL PEUGEOT 207 S2000 2 3:11:55.3 +13:03.5 +20.4

  

Cal Crutchlow to stay with Yamaha Tech3 in 2013

After having harshly criticized the economic situation that satellite riders face and the fact that on a satellite machine they can’t win, and threatening to leave MotoGP - “There’s no decision to make, I am not going to stay here and earn no money to ride against people who are on 40 times my wages; it’s as simple as that” and “ Why would I stay and bust my balls when I can go somewhere else, earn a decent living and challenge for a title? Cal Crutchlowhas decided to re-sign with Yamaha Tech3 for a third season.

Herve Poncharal will be fielding an all British team next season in MotoGP, because joining Crutchlow will be Bradley Smith whose jump to the premier class was officially confirmed last year (September 2011) and he has a two-year deal.

Cal Crutchlow:

“I am delighted to commit my future to the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team for at least one more year. Together we have made huge progress this season and achieved some strong results and I am confident we can be even more competitive in 2013. Yamaha and Monster have been very loyal to me over a long period of time and they both made it clear how much they wanted to keep me for next year. That was incredibly flattering and I really appreciate their support. Next year will be my fifth with Yamaha and I am excited to continue my MotoGP career with them. My relationship with Tech 3 also played a big part in my decision. Herve Poncharal and all my crew have given me unbelievable backing since I joined in 2011. Yamaha put together a great package for 2012 and next year it will be even stronger. Hopefully I can reward their loyalty by challenging for the podium throughout 2013, which I know we are capable of.”

Bradley Smith:

“It is an honour for me to get the opportunity to move to MotoGP with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team. I have dreamed about being a MotoGP rider for as long as I can remember and to get this chance with such a professional and successful team is fantastic. It is clear from the results achieved by Cal and Andrea (Dovizioso) in 2012 that together Tech 3, Yamaha and Monster is a very competitive package and I can’t wait to begin this new adventure in my career. I know I have a huge challenge ahead of me but I believe in my ability and I am grateful to Herve Poncharal, Yamaha and Monster for showing a lot of confidence in me to offer me this chance. I already know the Tech 3 Team so it won’t be s uch a huge transition for me and I have a good relationship with Cal. This will be very important because I can learn a lot from him. I am now looking forward to finishing the season strongly in Moto2 for Tech 3 Racing before I get my first chance to ride a YZR-M1 machine in Valencia.”

Herve Poncharal – Team Manager:

“I am really happy to confirm that Cal and Bradley will be with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team in 2013. Cal has done an amazing job this season and I am convinced that he is only going to continue to improve. He is a fast rider but also a big personality and we were determined to keep him with us for next season. We know there was a lot of interest in him, so for us to capture his signature is a big positive. Bradley has demonstrated his high potential in Moto2 and I have every confidence in him that he will be competit ive in MotoGP. Of course he faces a very difficult challenge because the level now in MotoGP is incredible. But he has a great attitude and a big desire to make this new chapter in his career a successful one. What I can assure him is that Tech 3, Yamaha and Monster will give him 100% support to help him show his potential. I have no doubt this is the strongest line-up we could have put together for next season and we can look ahead to 2013 with high expectations.”

Withhttp://www.twowheelsblog.com

Carlos Checa takes home first Moscow Superpole

For the first time after several wet/dry Superpoles today’s World Superbike first ever qualifying session at the Moscow Raceway was dry and it was Carlos Checa who took home his first Tissot watch of the season.

The reigning World Champion who is fourth in the standings was the fastest rider in SP2 with a best lap of 1.34.435, but it was in SP3 that the Spaniard out performed himself when he laid down the best lap of the Superpole session in 1.34.193-

Starting on the front row with Checa will be Tom Sykes and a very impressive Eugene Laverty on the Aprilia RSV4 who was just 0.013s from the Kawasaki rider, while Leon Haslam closed out the fourth spot ahead of his BMW team mate.

Marco Melandri will be opening the second row in fifth spot and he struggled with his usual Superpole qualifying chattering, while Jonathan Rea inserted himself in 6th separating Melandri from standings leader and championship rival Max Biaggi who had tire problems at the start of SP1. Davide Giugliano who led most of the practice sessions crashed out at turn 3 at the start of SP3 and he ended up 8th. Silverstone Race 1 winner Loris Baz couldn’t make it past SP2 and will be starting in 9th while Niccolò Canepa closed out the top ten with his Ducati.

John Hopkins took 11th for his FIXI Suzuki while Hiroshi Aoyama qualified 12th in his first ever Superpole.

WSBK Moscow Superpole Results:

1. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’34.193
2. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’34.549
3. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’34.562
4. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport )BMW S1000 RR 1’35.170
5. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1’35.224
6. Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1’35.237
7. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’35.253
8. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1’34.973
9. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’35.224
10. Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 1’35.255

withhttp://www.twowheelsblog.com 

Jorge Lorenzo breaks record to take pole position at Brno

Thanks to a crash by Danit Pedrosa early in qualifying and Jorge Lorenzo who solve the 4th sector grip problems (using his old data) that he had in this morning’s FP3 at the Czech circuit at Brno, Lorenzo dominated the session and the Yamaha rider on his fourth lap our first broke Valentino Rossi’s 2009 pole position record (1.56.145) and then went on to better himself in the final minutes to post a blistering lap time in 1.55.799 and take his 4th pole position of the season and his 22nd in MotoGP.

Cal Crutchlow -who announced this morning that he signed for another season with Tech3 - also suffered a crash early on, but the mishap didn’t stop the Briton, because when he returned to track he ended up posting the second fastest time of the day - he was just 0.196s adrift from his factory counterpart - and take his fourth front row start.

Dani Pedrosa’s lowside left him lingering around the 5th spot for the most part of the session due to chattering issues and it took his last flying lap and a highly effective fourth sector that pushed him into third and a front row start and pipping Ben Spies by a mere 0.004s for the position.

Andrea Dovizioso couldn’t repeat his previous performances in practice (he was 3rd and 4th) and he’ll have to start in fifth. The Yamaha also suffered some sort of technical issue or he ran out of gas, because he had to park his satellite M1 against the fence at the end of session.

Valentino Rossi will be taking off in sixth and on the second row, his best qualifying result this season - he also qualified 6th and finished 6th last year always at Brno. Stefan Bradl was seventh - and the rumors that he could replace injured Casey Stoner in Repsol Honda in the upcoming races have been denied by Livio Suppo who expects that it will be a test rider.

Alvaro Bautista finished in 8th while his Gresini team mate Michele Pirro crashed out at turn 6 when the engine of his CRT Honda suffered a technical issue and then started to billow white smoke. In the last four races Pirro has yet to complete a race. Karel Abraham finished in 9th and he suffered a big crash in the dying moments. Randy de Puniet closed out the top 10 and he too also suffered a crash.

MotoGP Brno Qualifying Results:

01- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – 1’55.799
02- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.196
03- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.528
04- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.532
05- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.760
06- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.936
07- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 1.028
08- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.269
09- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.974

10- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.045o a crash by Dani 

1° Maxima Motors Vintage !

wednesday babe

Voyage moto de caractere : la Transhimalayenne

Cafe Racer from designer

YAMAHA XS 850 "SEARS POINT"

SUZUKI GS 1100 "YELLOW WEAPON"

KAWASAKI Z1 900 "RAGE HARD"

YAMAHA XJ 600 "CONTINENTAL CIRCUS"

HONDA CB 750 "WILLOW SPRINGS" ( Episode III)

http://designercut.blogspot.fr/

Friday wrap: Loeb holds top spot in Trier

Sebastien Loeb holds an advantage of 20.4s in his pursuit of a ninth ADAC Rallye Deutschland victory heading to the overnight halt at the end of a thrilling opening day of action in the vineyards north east of host city Trier.

Loeb, winner of the FIA World Rally Championship for the last eight years, was fastest on four of Friday’s six all-asphalt stages in his Citroen DS3 WRC. Petter Solberg is second with factory Ford team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala third, 9.0s down on the former world champion.

“For sure I am happy,” said French legend Loeb. “We are leading, that’s really good and we started to increase a little bit our lead. I am pushing hard because I am feeling comfortable in the car and I am able to make some differences so that’s good.”

Solberg was hampered slightly by a brake issue in the morning, while Latvala - who outlined the pace of Ford’s Fiesta RS WRC on asphalt with a brace of stage wins in the afternoon - lost precious time in the morning with a few wrong calls on tyre compound choice and set-up.

Despite the recurrence of the gearshift problem that plagued him in the morning, Thierry Neuville completed day one in a strong fourth overall for the Citroen Junior World Rally Team, 5.1s behind Latvala.

Dani Sordo, in a Prodrive WRC Team MINI, snatched fifth from Mikko Hirvonen on the day’s final stage with the third fastest time even though the Spaniard said he struggled to change from sixth to fifth gear. “I had to be careful because of this but the time is coming better and better and that is the important thing,” he said.

Hirvonen, meanwhile, lacked confidence in the morning and then reckoned he had been overdriving so backed off in an attempt to improve his performance.

Ott Tanak is seventh after surviving several overshoots in his M-Sport Fiesta. The Estonian had been faster than Loeb at one point on stage four only to miss a junction and lose time.

Mads Ostberg overcame brake problems in the morning to hold eighth overnight for the Adapta World Rally Team with Chris Atkinson ninth on his debut for WRC Team MINI Portugal. “It’s been good, it’s been a 100 per cent learning experience but it’s been good fun,” said Atkinson. “The team are great, of course I want to be faster but I’ve not been on Tarmac for three years so I know my times can be a lot faster.”

Sebastien Ogier completes the top 10 in his Volkswagen Motorsport Super 2000-specification Skoda Fabia as a right-rear puncture slowed team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen on day one’s final stage and dropped him behind Nasser Al-Attiyah. Sepp Wiegand, in a third Volkswagen-run Skoda, is 14th and the top German driver.

Martin Prokop’s hopes ended when fire destroyed his Fiesta on stage three. Evgeny Novikov damaged the rear of his similar car on the opening test, while an off on stage three resulted in Daniel Oliveira’s retirement from the day. Paulo Nobre failed to get beyond stage two in his MINI.

OVERALL CLASSIFICATION Pos   No Driver Co-Driver Vehicle Cls Total Time Penalties Diff Fastest (Prev) 1 1 S. LOEB D. ELENA CITROEN DS3 WRC WRC 1:22:18.0 **:**.* **:**.* 2 4 P. SOLBERG C. PATTERSON FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 1:22:38.4 +20.4 +20.4 3 3 J. LATVALA M. ANTTILA FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 1:22:47.4 +29.4 +9.0 4 8 T. NEUVILLE N. GILSOUL CITROEN DS3 WRC WRC 1:22:52.5 +34.5 +5.1 5 37 D. SORDO C. DEL BARRIO MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS WRC WRC 1:23:04.7 +46.7 +12.2 6 2 M. HIRVONEN J. LEHTINEN CITROEN DS3 WRC WRC 1:23:06.9 +48.9 +2.2 7 5 O. TANAK K. SIKK FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 1:23:35.9 +1:17.9 +29.0 8 10 M. OSTBERG J. ANDERSSON FORD FIESTA RS WRC WRC 1:23:46.7 +1:28.7 +10.8 9 12 C. ATKINSON S. PREVOT MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS WRC WRC 1:24:52.8 +2:34.8 +1:06.1 10 22 S. OGIER J. INGRASSIA SKODA FABIA S2000 2 1:26:01.3 +3:43.3 +1:08.5

  WITH http://www.wrc.com

WSBK Moscow: Davide Giugliano on provisional pole

In today’s World Superbike first qualifying session at the Moscow Raceway, Davide Giugliano took the provisional pole. In the final minutes of the session the Althea Ducati rider posted a flying lap of 1.35.074 and finished 0.210s ahead of his team mate reigning World Champion Carlos Checa.

Following in third was Sylvain Guintoli who made it three Ducati’s in the top three, which seems to confirm the competitiveness of the twins on this circuit. Marco Melandri fell back to fourth and he was seven tenths off pace and could only improve only 0,021s from this morning’s lap time when he led the session with a big gap over the rest of the field.

Chaz Davies continues to impress as he took fifth and was the best Aprilia rider again as factory riders Max Biaggi (who had a technical issues on his RSV4 at the beginning of the session) and Eugene Laverty were only 13th and 17th respectively.

Tom Sykes finished in 6th ahead of Lorenzo Zanetti and once again a surprising Hiroshi Aoyama. Leon Haslam and Jonathan Rea closed out the top ten.

WSBK Moscow QP1 results:

01- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – 1’35.074
02- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 0.210
03- Sylvain Guintoli – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 0.677
04- Marco Melandri – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 0.698
05- Chaz Davies – ParkinGO MTC Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.754
06- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 0.831
07- Lorenzo Zanetti – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 0.906
08- Hiroshi Aoyama – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.914
09- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 0.965
10- Jonathan Rea – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.987

WITHhttp://www.twowheelsblog.com 

MotoGP Brno: Dani Pedrosa vs Jorge Lorenzo in FP2

In this afternoon’s MotoGP FP2 at Brno, Dani Pedrosa once again headed the top of the timesheets with a best lap of 1.56.858 that he posted on his 11th lap, but the Repsol Honda was unable to lower his lap times over the the rest of the 45 minutes, while Jorge Lorenzo moved in much closer to his rival and finished just 0.53s adrift and his runs were much more constant and in the low 1.57s and this despite a crash that he suffered at the ’stadium’ 20 minutes into the session.

Andrea Dovizioso had another impressive practice as he finished in third again and he was a little less than two tenths adrift with Yamaha Tech3 team mate Cal Crutchlow who moved closer to his team mate with one of his last flying laps.

Stefan Bradl moved up to fifth while Valentino Rossi was 6th and he shaved off almost seven tenths from his morning lap times and for the first time this season was a little less than half a second from the top of the timesheets, but he was on soft tires.

Alvaro Bautista and Ben Spies were 7th and 8th respectively, but both suffered lowside crashes. Aleix Espargaro finished in 9th and he too suffered a crash with his ART machine but he ended up ahead of Ducati satellite riders Toni Elias and home boy Karel Abraham.

This session was also red flagged when Yonny Hernandez crashed out and hit an air fence that had to be replaced.

MotoGP Brno FP2 Results:

01- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’56.858

02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.053
03- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.197
04- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.357
05- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 0.392
06- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.457
07- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 0.715
08- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.923
09- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.327
10- Toni Elias – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 2.370

At Monterey Motorsports Reunion 2012 – Shelby Cobra Race

The Shelby Cobra class was a featured race at the 2012 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, held August 16-19 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, California. The headline race offered spectators the opportunity to see 40 competition Shelby Cobras charging around the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course.

The 2012 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Shelby Cobra, and besides those signed up for racing, there were hundreds more in the paddock, surrounding corrals, and even in a museum-quality Heritage Display.

Senior Photographer Tim Scott documented the featured Shelby Cobra historic race at the 2012 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, offering the following pictures that highlight the wonderful selection of competition Cobras at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. To see more from Tim, visit fluidimages.co.uk.

From http://www.sportscardigest.com