International GT Open : Silverstone !

SILVERSTONE, 2 : CAMERON/GRIFFIN (AF CORSE) SUR LEURS TERRES.

Après le V8 Racing et Corvette le samedi, c'est au tour de la Ferrari F458 Italia/AF Corse de Duncan Cameron et Matt Griffin qui s'est imposée à Silverstone lors de la course dominicale de l'International GT Open. Vainqueur la veille, le tandem Ramos/Pastorelli n'a pas été épargné par la malchance, leur Corvette C6.R connaissant un problème d'alternateur. On trouve tout de même une Corvette du V8 Racing sur le podium avec la troisième place de Diederik Sijthoff et Bert Longin. La deuxième position est revenue à la Ferrari F458 Italia/Villorba Corse de Filippi/Montermini. De quoi accentuer l'avance au championnat.

La course a été animée du côté des GTS, la victoire revenant finalement à la Mercedes SLS AMG GT3/Seyffarth Motorsport de Ranger van der Zende et Miguel Toril. Trois marques différentes dans le tiercé de tête avec une belle deuxième place pour la Lamborghini Gallardo/rhino's Leipert Motorsport de Kox/Hamprecht devant la Ferrari 458 Italia GT3/SMP Racing Russian Bears de Rossel/Mavlanov. Très en verve samedi, la McLaren MP4-12C/Bhai Tech Racing de Pantano/Suzuki n'a pu faire mieux que 4ème de la catégorie sachant que la McLaren sœur de Van Der Drift/Razia a rendu les armes sur un souci d'accélérateur. Les deux Ferrari 458 Italia GT3/Ombra Racing se sont quant à elles accrochées, aucune des deux ne voyant l'arrivée.

Au championnat, Andrea Montermini garde la tête avec 182 points devant son coéquipier Luca Filippi. Son absence sur une course pour cause de commentaire F1 pourrait bien manquer en fin de saison au moment de décerner la couronne. Pastorelli/Ramos comptent 125 points, soit 22 de plus que les vainqueurs du jour Cameron/Griffin. Suite à sa victoire, Miguel Toril prend les commandes du GTS avec un petit point d'avance sur la paire Pantano/Suzuki. Alexander Talkanitsa Sr mène pour sa part le Gentlemen Trophy.

Le classement est ici et les photos là.

SILVERSTONE, 1 : ET DE TROIS POUR RAMOS/PASTORELLI.

Miguel Ramos et Nicky Pastorelli n'ont laissé le soin à personne de décrocher la victoire lors de la Course 1 du meeting International GT Open de Silverstone. Le tandem de la Corvette C6.R/V8 Racing a raflé par la même occasion sa troisième victoire de la saison. Pourtant, c'est bien la Ferrari F458 Italia/Villorba Corse de Andrea Montermini et Luca Filippi qui a dominé durant la première moitié de course mais le handicap de 15 secondes de plus face à l'équipage de la Corvette n'a pas permis de concrétiser. V8 Racing et Villorba Corse ont une fois de plus confirmé leur domination au championnat. Le V8 Racing a même placé une autre Corvette sur le podium avec celle de Diederik Sijthoff et Bert Longin. Sur la ligne d'arrivée, la Ferrari/Villorba a rendu 2.128s à la Corvette victorieuse. Une autre Super GT a terminé au pied du podium avec la Ferrari F458 Italia/AF Corse de Duncan Cameron et Matt Griffin, pourtant partie nettement plus loin dans la hiérarchie.

Victoire McLaren en GTS avec la MP4-12C/Bhai Tech Racing de Giorgio Pantano et Rafael Suzuki, cinquième au scratch. La seconde McLaren de l'équipe Bhai Tech de Van Der Drift/Razia avait pris la 6ème place mais une pénalité de 30 secondes à l'issue de la course l'a faite rétrograder au 9ème rang. La Ferrari 458 Italia GT3/AF Corse de Beretta/Lyons et la Ferrari 458 Italia GT3/Kessel Racing de Laursen/Magnussen complètent le podium. Malgré un très beau début de course, la Ginetta G55 GT3/Team LNT Ginetta de Mike Simpson et Lawrence Tomlinson n'a pu faire mieux que 15ème (10ème en GTS). Manque de chance pour la Ferrari F458 Italia/AT Racing de la famille Talkanitsa père et fils, handicapé par une crevaison. D'autres favoris n'ont guère été épargnés avec un abandon à noter pour la Ferrari 458 Italia GT3/Ombra Racing d'Alvaro Barba, mais aussi les deux Mercedes SLS AMG GT3/Seyffarth Motorsport, la Lamborghini Gallardo/rhino's Leipert Motorsport de Peter Kox et la Porsche 911 GT3-R/Autorlando de Isaac Tutumlu et Antonio Spavone.

Avant le second round du week-end, Andrea Montermini prend seul les commandes du championnat avec 164 points, devant son coéquipier Luca Filippi (150). Les vainqueurs du jour (Ramos/Pastorelli) comptent 125 points contre 81 à Cameron/Griffin. En GTS, Pantano/Suzuki mènent avec 34 points devant Beretta/Lyons.

Le classement est ici.

Les photos de la Course 1 sont ici.

Laurent Mercier(Endurance-Info)

2013 Sachsenring: Marc Marquez didn't expect to lead the championship

Even if Marc Marquez is a still a rookie, his victory at Sachsenring was that of an accomplished veteran MotoGP rider as he said, ‘that winning is important but without them [Pedrosa and Lorenzo] the triumph isn’t quite the same.’

The German GP was Marquez’ second win of this season and also his seventh podium out of eight races that has now earned him the lead in the standings.

Even if he dropped to fourth at the start of the race - his clutch slipped - he passed the riders in front of him with ease and on the sixth lap took the lead from Stefan Brad, and the raced away, unchallenged, even if Cal Crutchlow tried a charge in the final laps of the race.

“If I’m honest I didn’t expect to lead the championship after eight races. The circumstances are a little bit special so it was important to take points for the championship and it is my second victory in MotoGP,” said Marquez, who actually lead the championship after the first three rounds.

“In Austin I felt a little bit different, because here without Dani and Jorge on the track. We hope for a great recovery for them. Even so I did a completely different race until now, because this time I led the race and tried to manage the gap to Rossi and then Cal.”

“Even so, it is a good result, since we have taken the maximum points available and ridden a completely different race to those that we’ve had before. We led the race and maintained the gap to second place. It was good experience, although I perhaps prefer races that are a little more of a battle! We should be happy and we have also held up well, physically, at a circuit where there is no time to rest on the bike.

Asked about the upcoming Laguna Seca GP - on a track where he has never raced because the lower classes do not race there, and how he’ll prepare for it he said, “We’ll see how it goes at Laguna Seca, which will be a hard Grand Prix for me because I’ve never ridden there. We’ll take it step-by-step and remain calm while we get up to speed.”

“I’ll watch the videos of the previous races and on Thursday I’ll ride around the track with my scooter and maybe I’ll ask Valentino if I can follow him during the first free practice (laughing).”

Rossi has no doubts that Marquez will have no problems coming to grips with the unknown track, “At Laguna… I expect that this f**king bastard is fast from the beginning! I’m sure Marc will be fast. For him one weekend is enough to be competitive.”

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

24H SPA : LE TRAILER DU BELGIAN AUDI CLUB TEAM WRT.

En 2011, le Belgian Audi Club Team WRT était la première équipe à donner une victoire à Audi aux 24 Heures de Spa. L'an passée, le team de Vincent Vosse, Yves Weerts et René Verbist a bien failli récidiver mais les Allemands du Phoenix Racing ont raflé la mise. Pour cette campagne 2013, le Belgian Audi Club Team WRT a bien l'intention de reprendre le trophée. Pour cela, pas moins de quatre Audi R8 LMS ultra seront de la partie dans les Ardennes belges. La #0 sera confiée à Rahel Frey, Matt Halliday et Niki Mayr-Melnhof. La #1 verra en découdre un certain Stéphane Ortelli, vainqueur en 2003. Le Monégasque sera associé à son compère Laurens Vanthoor et René Rast. Il faudra se méfier de la #2 partagée par Frank Stippler, Christopher Mies et André Lotterer. Quant à la #13, elle sera pour Mattias Ekström, Marcel Fässler et Edward Sandström. Le trailer du Belgian Audi Club Team WRT est disponible.

Laurent Mercier(Endurance-Info)

YAMAHA XT600Z BY PLAN B

By Wes Garcia | Megadeluxe

Lying forgotten in the corner of a garage in Italy, this 1988 Yamaha XT600Z was on life support before Christian Moretti of Plan B Motorcycles decided to apply the defibrillators. Not that he wasn’t up for the challenge. According to Christian, Plan B was born from a philosophy of Nothing To Lose. “Everything can be shaped, improved upon and expanded,” he says.

The first step in the resurrection was his favorite part: dismantling. “Everything away, one piece at a time until you leave the bare chassis.” Once that task was done, there was no turning back.

He started off with a pair of Showa 43mm upside-down forks taken from a Ducati 916, disassembled, overhauled and anodized black. The original hubs were laced to new San Remo aluminum rims with a 18″ front and a fat 17″ at the rear. The new road-oriented wheels and tires required a reinforcement to the XT600Z rear end to eliminate possible twisting. So a handmade truss runs across the top of the swingarm, surrounding a Ducati 1098 adjustable mono-shock.

The clip-ons, bicycle leather grips, and clutch and brake levers were borrowed from an old BSA. Christian then modified them to work with the radial master cylinder that controls a Brembo 4-pot caliper—required for the new 320mm floating discs.

The electrical system was revised and streamlined. Almost all the controls were moved to the top yoke, with three small levers to control the lights. The rev counter was pulled out of the dashboard and slipped into a jug (repurposed from an IKEA tea set!) and securely mounted to the top plate.

Meanwhile, the motor received major first aid. The crankcase and valve cover were completely disassembled and polished. The piston was replaced with a forged high-compression item that increases the displacement to 630cc. With the help of a new camshaft, a machined head, a new exhaust system and a pair of 35mm Keihin FCR flat slide carbs, the old single-cylinder can now handle 9,000rpm.

The headlight came from a Citroën 2CV “found at a local flea market,” with enough room left over to house part of the electrical system. On the top are pilot lights for neutral gear, the turn signals and high beam. The taillight also came from the automotive world, this time from a 1930s Ford Model A. It’s recessed into the Ducati Imola tail.

The tail was modified to adapt to the new frame, and also to make room for the rear indicators. Hidden under the tail is a new gel battery and the other half of the electrical wiring.

The tank comes from a Yamaha XS750, and required hardly any modifications to slip onto the single-beam XT frame. But the new riding position meant the footpegs (now from a Yamaha R1) had to be moved further back, using aluminum supports where the passenger footrests used to be.

The side panels, as well as the front fender, were taken from a Triumph Bonneville, while the belly pan came from a Thruxton. The paint job was done by Barbara of Rumi Custom Paint; she also airbrushed the small logo onto the tank and made a slender thread of gold leaf to separate the burgundy and cream used throughout the bike.

The XT600Z is now christened “Proto-Moto,” and Christian is pleased. “The bike feels light, pushes strong, and descends into corners very well. It seems to have completely forgotten about its off-road past, and likes to consume every inch of tire tread around corners!”

It’s quite a transformation for a bike that was gathering rust and dust in a corner, all but forgotten.

I guess it’s always good to have a Plan B. Head over to Google+ for more images in high resolution.

Wes Garcia is the chief editor of Megadeluxe, an online magazine covering the world of speed, sport and design. Images by Daniele Fontanin.

from BIKEEXIF