Alvaro Bautista and Valentino Rossi collision at Mugello declared racing incident

from Twowheelsblog

Following the crash that involved Alvaro Bautista and Valentino Rossi at the Poggio Secco chicane of the opening lap of the Italian GP, the race direction immediately investigated the incident and came to the conclusion that it was just a ‘racing incident’ and that no action will be taken against either of the riders.

Bautista was on the inside while Rossi rode around him on the outside and was ahead of the Spaniard as the Honda rider tipped in for the next corner in acceleration and found Rossi and the two touched. Bautista immediately slid of his Honda, while his bike remained attached to the Yamaha M1 for several yards and when it snapped off, Rossi jumped off, but he slided towards the air fence where he then flipped into the air to the shocked horror of his fans, as you could almost hear the collective breath holding above the roar of the engines.

Neither Bautista or Rossi required the Clinica Mobile, but the Italian would later say that one of his buttock cheeks hurt as did his right hand and foot, and he was lucky that he wasn’t more seriously injured. He also declared it was possible that Bautista didn’t see him and that it was an unfortunate racing incident, and also stated that he had a bad start because his clutch slipped.

A racing incident with Rossi at Mugello - home of the Italian rider - couldn’t have been easy for Bautista - with everyone remembering what happened at Assen last year. The Gresini rider denied any culpability and said that he didn’t see the Yamaha rider.

This is the statement released by the FIM and Race Direction:

“Regarding the incident between Valentino Rossi (ITA) and Alvaro Bautista (ESP) in the MotoGP race of Mugello on 2 June. The Race Direction has reviewed the incident and held a hearing with both riders where all available evidence was reviewed. Based on this evidence the Race Direction decision is that it was a racing incident and no further action will be taken.”

Jorge Lorenzo's Italian masterpiece at Mugello

from Twowheelsblog

Over 76,000 fans were at the spectacular Mugello circuit today to see Jorge Lorenzo break the current Repsol Honda hegemony and take a forceful and masterful victory in the Italian GP and take his third consecutive victory at the Italian track and his second victory of the season, with Dani Pedrosa and Cal Crutchlow completing the podium.

Pedrosa was the polesitter but at the the first turn at the San Donato ran slightly wide with Jorge Lorenzo taking the lead, but the first dramatic suprise of the race was when at turn 3 of the first lap at the Luco and Poggio Secco, Alvaro Bautista lost the front of his Honda and crashing involved a hapless Valentino Rossi who ended up slamming heavily into the air fence, with the incident being investigated.

At the front Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Marc Marquez broke away leaving a huge gap behind them. Halfway through the race Lorenzo changed speed and began distancing the Honda riders and on lap 13 he hammered out a stunning 1.47.929 that was the game changer, as the Yamaha rider speed away no longer contested, and would win with a highly comfortable 5.4 second margin.

With Pedrosa and Marquez left alone, the rookie began pressuring his veteran team mate who was suffering with technical issues and with just five laps to go Marquez passed his team mate with one of the easiest passes that we’ve seen the rookie do and then peel away only and seem heading for a second place podium only to crash out with three laps to go as he lost the rear and throw away a perfect podium record.

With Marquez out of action Pedrosa inherited the second spot and Cal Crutchlow who was riding in a lonely fourth, until the Repsol Honda’s riders crash, which let him take second podium of the season needed and if the race was just a few laps longer he might have caught Pedrosa as he was fastly closing in.

Stefan Bradl finished fourth spending the entire race with Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden on his tail, but the two Ducatisti never really worrying the LCR Honda rider. Dovizioso and Hayden swapped places twice, but Dovizioso was slightly faster as Hayden began to fade and the two factory riders finished fifth and sixth.

In a very distant seventh Ducati’s test rider Michele Pirro finished ahead of CRT rider Aleix Espargaro while injured Bradley Smith finished 9th and Hector Barbera closed out the top ten.

2013 MotoGP Mugello Race Results:

01- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – 23 laps in 41’39.733
02- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 5.400
03- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 6.412
04- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 19.321
05- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 19.540
06- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 26.321
07- Michele Pirro – Ducati Test Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 38.144
08- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 39.802
09- Bradley Smith – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 40.243
10- Hector Barbera – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 48.392
11- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 48.480

WRC : Acropolis triumph for ‘Grandad’ Latvala: Triomphe grec pour l’expérimenté Latvala

Volkswagen/Michelin’s Jari-Matti claimed the eighth world class win of his career today in Greece. The sure-footed Finn led from SS4 to beat Spaniard Dani Sordo (Citroën/Michelin) by the handsome margin of 1m50.0s. Neuville’s patience was rewarded with third place for Ford/Michelin, while the three Power Stage bonus points went to the championship leader Sébastien Ogier (VW/Michelin).

Jari-Matti Latvala (Volkswagen/Michelin) a remporté sa huitième victoire mondiale aujourd’hui en Grèce. Le Finlandais a pris la tête du rallye à l’issue de l’ES4 pour s’imposer devant l’Espagnol Dani Sordo (Citroën/Michelin) avec 1min50s d’avance ! Thierry Neuville a été récompensé de sa sagesse par la troisième place finale (Ford/Michelin), alors que le leader du championnat Sébastien Ogier a empoché les trois points de la Power Stage.

Jari-Matti Latvala, 28, may not have been the oldest WRC driver in Greece this weekend, since Al Attiyah, Hirvonen, Sordo and Ogier were all born before the Finn. Even so, along with Hirvonen, the Polo R WRC driver has the highest number of Acropolis Rally appearances under his belt, 10, plus 123 WRC starts. And that experience was clearly one of the ingredients that helped him to forge his success today in Loutraki, near Corinth.

While many of his rivals suffered mechanical setbacks or crashes early on, he produced the necessary blend of speed and mechanical sympathy to emerge in first place on Saturday morning’s SS4 before putting space between his VW and the Citroën of chaser Dani Sordo. The Spaniard did not have the resources to respond and Latvala was able to cruise to his first victory with the German make (and his first since last September’s RallyGB) with zero pressure on his shoulders.

“This victory feels amazing after my tough start to the season,” he beamed as he punched air on the last stage’s finish line. “In 2003, Greece was the second WRC event of my career, so it’s great to have won it at last after 10 years!”

In contrast to Latvala and Sordo, Thierry Neuville (Ford, +2m14.1s), 24, was one of the youngest drivers on the event and, like VW’s Andreas Mikkelsen, had only competed here once before, in 2012. Even so, the Belgian was one of only four drivers to stay clear of trouble and his maturity was rewarded with his second podium of the season (after Mexico). It was a polished performance which will force many of those who believed him to be too hot-headed to reconsider…

Mikkelsen, 23, recovered from repeated braking issues on his Polo to clinch a career-best fourth overall (+3m55.1s), helped by a score of three fastest stage times, all on Sunday. Meanwhile, Dakar expert Nasser Al Attiyah took care of his Fiesta WRC to claim a safe fifth place.

All the other expected front-runners were delayed by a variety of misfortunes and were simply happy to put this year’s Acropolis Rally behind them and start focusing on Rally Italia (June 20-22).

Ostberg, Hirvonen, Prokop and Novikov rounded off the top nine, while Ogier was a lowly 10^thoverall after three days that must have reminded him of his 2012 campaign in the Skoda, especially since his championship lead was under no threat this weekend. After the electrical problem that put him out of contention on Friday’s SS1, he was at least able to look forward to the chance of salvaging some bonus points on the Power Stage. Despite the handicap of running first on the road, he was effectively fastest over the 31.4km test, ahead of the hapless Evgeny Novikov and Mikkelsen.

-Matti Latvala (28 ans) n’était peut-être pas le plus âgé en course ce week-end ;  Al-Attiyah, Hirvonen, Sordo et Ogier sont nés avant lui. Mais il fait désormais partie des plus expérimentés avec 123 départs en WRC, dont 10 en Grèce. Et cette expérience fut un réel atout pour s’imposer aujourd’hui à Loutraki.

Alors que beaucoup de ses rivaux ont souffert d’ennuis mécaniques ou commis quelques fautes de pilotage, Jari-Matti a su trouver le bon compromis entre vitesse et sagesse pour prendre la tête samedi matin (ES4). Le Finlandais a ensuite creusé l’écart sur Dani Sordo pour filer vers son premier succès avec l’équipe Volkswagen.

 « C’est une victoire incroyable après mon début de saison difficile », a-t-il hurlé en levant les bras au ciel à l’arrivée de la dernière spéciale. En 2003, la Grèce était le deuxième rallye WRC de ma carrière, alors c’est génial de remporter ce rallye dix ans plus tard. »

A l’opposé de Latvala et Sordo, Thierry Neuville (24 ans) est l’un des plus jeunes du plateau WRC et, comme Andreas Mikkelsen, il n’avait disputé cette épreuve qu’une seule fois, en 2012. Malgré tout, le Belge fut l’un des quatre seuls pilotes épargnés par les déboires et sa maturité fut récompensée par un second podium de la saison après le Mexique.

Mikkelsen (23 ans) a été retardé par des ennuis de freins à répétition sur sa Polo R WRC, mais il est remonté à la 4^e place finale – son meilleur résultat en WRC – grâce à trois temps scratch consécutifs dimanche matin (ses premiers en WRC). De son côté, Nasser Al-Attiyah (Ford/Michelin) était satisfait de sa 5^e place.

De nombreux vainqueurs potentiels ont vécu un Rallye de l’Acropole difficile, comme Mikko Hirvonen (direction ES1), Mads Ostberg (jante cassée ES1), Evgeny Novikov (touchette ES4) ou encore Sébastien Ogier (connexion électrique ES1). Tous sont remontés dans le top-ten final, alors qu’Ogier (10^e) a remporté la Power Stage et les trois points de bonus devant Novikov, premier leader du rallye et meilleur performer du rallye (ex aequo avec Latvala) avec quatre temps scratch sur sa Ford Fiesta RS WRC/Michelin.

Prochaine épreuve dans trois semaines en Sardaigne (21-23 juin) avant un break estival et le Rallye de Finlande début août.

Six Appeal – The Newport Pagnell Aston Martins of the 1960s

At the 1958 London Motor Show, an all-new Aston Martin took a bow. The latest 'DB' carried sublime coachwork, designed by Touring but handcrafted at the old Tickford works in Newport Pagnell. Still quintessentially British, the 140mph six-cylinder DB4 was a true Gran Turismo for the world's elite. The car and its successors – the DB5, two series of DB6s and the DBS – were to dominate the company's catalogue in the 1960s. 

The successor to the DB2 started as a working prototype in 1954. Polish engineer Tadek Marek was responsible for Aston's first big-capacity road car engine, an all-aluminium 3.7-litre six.Italian coachbuilder Touring was chosen to provide not only the new car's styling, but also the necessary tooling and bucks for the DB4 (with its trademarksuperleggera construction of light steel tubes supporting aluminium panels) to be made in Newport Pagnell.


The DB4 was an instant hit. As fast and stylish as any Ferrari or Maserati, it soon became a favourite of the wealthy sporting motorist – and this was despite early setbacks of multiple engine failures, eventually solved by nearly doubling the oil capacity and adding an oil cooler.In tandem with the almost four-seater DB4, the company also produced the shorter chassis DB4GT, triple-Weber-equipped, with a twin-plug head. This formed not only the basis for a last hurrah at Le Mans with the Project Cars, it was also the chassis on which Zagato built 19, now highly sought-after lightweight coupés.In its final, Series V form, the DB4 was a DB5 in all but name. The new car, launched in 1964, was available with a 4.0-litre engine and generally equipped with a five-speed ZF gearbox.

The 1966 DB6, particularly the Mk 2, was probably the finest version of the DB4/5/6 series. An increase of 3¾" in wheelbase and 1½" in roofline gave the latest Aston more interior space. And a Kamm tail helped the new car's aerodynamics. Despite an apparent increase in girth, and no longer usingsuperleggera construction, the DB6 weighed in at only 20lb or so more than the DB5. As many were to 'Vantage' tune, it was just as fast as any of its predecessors.From 1961, with the introduction of the DB4 Convertible, to November 1970 when the last Mk 2 Volante was made, the ultimate in stylish open-air motoring carried the winged Aston Martin badge. Buyers included Her Majesty The Queen, who bought Prince Charles a DB6 Mk 2 Volante for his 21st birthday.Pending the imminent introduction of Marek's new V8, the straight-six was to see further service as a stop-gap installation in the William Towns-designed DBS.
In the late 60s/early 70s, the future of the company clearly lay with a high-performance V8.

Related Links You can find Aston Martins from pre-War days right up to the new Vanquish in the Classic Driver Marketplace

Text: Steve Wakefield (Classic Driver)
Photos: Aston Martin and Aston Martin Heritage Trust, with thanks to Tim Cottingham of www.astonmartins.com