Moto GP ; Cal Crutchlow: 'this was a true pole' says of second pole position

Everyone loves Cal Crutchlow. The Yamaha Tech3 rider scored his second pole position of the season in record-breaking lap, saying that this one topped his first at Assen, because he beat out the rest of the riders on equal terms.

“It’s nice to take a true pole, because I felt Assen wasn’t with Jorge not able to ride,” said Crutchlow. “Everybody is here and half-fit - a motorcycle racer is never fully fit, they always have an injury somewhere!”

The British rider’s umbrella gesture (up yours in Italian) was evidence on how good his lap time was and his zinger against Yamaha’s Lin Jarvis was later mitigated with, “I appreciate the support from Yamaha, they are still giving me a great bike and doing a great job for me - and I’m doing the same for them. I’m giving 100 percent.”

“I am really happy to be on pole position again and I have to say a massive thanks to my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team,” said Crutchlow. “It has not been an easy weekend while we have been working on improving the bike, but in every session we have progressed and got faster. I felt really good on that lap and to set the circuit best lap is a great achievement for the whole team to be proud of. I am looking forward to the race and the objective is to finish on the podium like last year. It would be great to have a strong result tomorrow so I can go to my home race in Silverstone with some big confidence.”

Yamaha Tech3 Herve Poncharal can also be proud of Bradley Smith. The rookie equalled his best ever qualifying result and he was less than half a second off pace from his team mate’s pole position.

“Today was another great day for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team. It is very exciting to have Cal on pole position again and from my side of the garage it is a brilliant achievement to be in the top six. The atmosphere in the team is great and both of us are really looking forward to the race tomorrow. I am less than 0.5s away from pole position and very close to the top three and it shows the progress I am making. We’ve made some changes to the front-end of the bike and it is really working. Now my main focus will be to remain smooth at the start of the race and not make mistakes like I did in Indianapolis. It is going to be a hard race over 22 laps because this track is very physical and it is very important to keep on a good line. I will try and get a good rest tonight and be ready for tomorrow. Getting a good start like in Indianapolis will be important and then I will try and learn as much as possible,”said Smith.

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Moto GP Jorge Lorenzo suffers from spin, Rossi still having problems qualifying

Jorge Lorenzo will have to start tomorrow’s Brno race in fifth, his worse qualifying position this season, if we exclude Assen and Indianapolis where he was still recovering from collarbone surgery.

The Yamaha rider was unable to replicate his performance in the fifteen minute time attack, suffering with rear tire spinning, and he was slow exiting from the slower corners, but he hasn’t lost hope as his pace belies his starting position and he can fight for the victory, hoping that Yamaha will soon bring some updates.

“I waited for much more because I wanted to improve seven tenths or a second from the pace to make a fast lap but I couldn’t take profit from the power of the new tyre. We had so much spinning and we went slow. The pace from all the top riders is quite similar so it’s going to be important to get a good start and try to overtake some riders at the beginning of the race and then we will see how we are,” said Lorenzo.

Valentino Rossi ended up in 7th, and qualifying has become the Italian’s bete noir and this time he was even slower than Tech3’s rookie Bradley Smith. Rossi’s pace is good, but starting so far back he could again be caught in the middle of field in the first couple of laps and lose the front runners.

The Italian also had some complaints about the qualifying format saying that a lot of riders waste time trying to shake off slower rider who are looking for tow - obviously he was referencing Alvaro Bautista who grabbed a second spot on the grid, thanks to Marc Marquez.

“At the end I’m not so happy because seventh position is my worst position of the weekend and it was qualifying,” said Rossi. “I improved my lap time but the other guys were faster. My target was to start in the first five but unfortunately I have to start from seventh on the third row. Anyway, I have a good pace and was always with the front guys in the free practices. Now we have to make some changes to the bike, we have been competitive all weekend so I think and I hope we can be competitive during the race. Yesterday the harder tyre we used was good but today it was no good, maybe because it was ten degrees less, so I think we will use the soft tomorrow.”

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Leg 3 (Latvala and Neuville crashes) - 2013 WRC Rallye Deutschland

End of Day 3: Sordo emerges in front / Etape 3 : Sordo vire en tête

After starting Saturday’s action in third place, 26.3s behind the leader, Dani Sordo (Citroën/Michelin) has moved to the top of the order in Germany at the end of Day 3. The Spaniard is less than a second ahead of Belgium’s Thierry Neuville with Sunday’s two stages (50km) remaining. Today’s second visit to Panzerplatte (SS14) was cancelled ater an accident on Panzerplatte 1.

Troisième ce matin à 26s3 du leader, l’Espagnol Dani Sordo (Citroën/Michelin) a pris la tête de l’ADAC Rallye Deutschland avec moins d’une seconde d’avance sur le Belge Thierry Neuville. Il reste deux spéciales à disputer demain dimanche. Le deuxième passage de Panzerplatte (ES14) a été annulé suite à un accident.

Volkswagen has scored six victories from the eight WRC rounds contested so far. However, it will not have the honour of winning its home event, the ADAC Rallye Deutschland, even though Sébastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala both led before making mistakes.

Jari-Matti Latvala was 14.8s clear of Thierry Neuville after today’s first visit to Panzerplatte (SS11), but then rain blew in over the Trier region. The Finn subsequently crashed out in wet conditions on SS12, reportedly due to a mechanical problem, leaving Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo to battle for the win.

Sordo, who is competing on ‘pure’ asphalt for the first time in the Citroën DS3 WRC/Michelin this weekend, got off to a cautious start before upping his pace as the rally progressed.

This morning’s loop saw the Spaniard close to with nine seconds of Neuville and he later eased into the overall lead after SS13 (Peterberg), eight-tenths ahead of the Belgian youngster. “I feel more and more at ease with the Citroën and I think it will be a great fight on the last day,” declared Sordo who is chasing his first WRC victory after 106 world class starts.

“I am caught between wanting to make sure I score points for the championship and claiming my first WRC victory,” noted Neuville. “I’ll have a good night’s sleep and then decide, but I think I’ll try for the win…”

Meanwhile, Latvala’s disappearance provided Mikko Hirvonen with a footing on the provisional podium, even though the Finn is almost a minute-and-a-half down on the current leader. Fourth-placed Martin Prokop (Ford) is a further four minutes adrift.

Mads Ostberg (Ford) was fifth before his off on SS12, while Nasser Al-Attiyah (Ford) crashed out on SS11. Sébastien Ogier (24^th, VW), who re-joined this morning under the ‘Rally2’ ruling, won three of today’s stages and could still possibly salvage some valuable Manufacturers’ points for Volkswagen.

Pole Robert Kubica (Citroën DS3 RRC) is now fifth overall and on top in WRC-2, 7.8s clear of Welshman Elfyn Evans (Ford). New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon (Skoda) is third, but Sepp Wiegand (Skoda) went off on SS13.

Sébastien Chardonnet and Pontus Tidemand are comfortable leaders in the WRC-3 and Junior WRC fights respectively.

Après six victoires en huit rallyes, Volkswagen ne gagnera pas à domicile ce week-end. Sébastien Ogier et Jari-Matti Latvala ont tour à tour mené l’épreuve avant de partir à la faute.

Jari-Matti Latvala comptait 14s8 d’avance sur Thierry Neuville à l’issue du premier passage de Panzerplatte (ES11). Mais la pluie s’est invitée sur le Saarland et le Finlandais est sorti de la route dans l’ES12 – apparemment après un problème mécanique -, laissant Thierry Neuville et Dani Sordo s’expliquer pour la victoire.

Pour ses débuts sur asphalte « pur » au volant d’une Citroën DS3 WRC/Michelin, l’Espagnol Dani Sordo a effectué un début de course prudent avant d’hausser le rythme au fil des spéciales.

Après la boucle matinale, Dani était revenu à 9s de Neuville avant de prendre l’avantage – et la première place du rallye – à l’issue de l’ES13 (Peterberg) pour 0s8 d’avance sur le Belge. « Je me sens de mieux en mieux dans la Citroën et ce sera une belle bagarre », déclarait Sordo qui vise son premier succès mondial après 106 rallyes WRC disputés.

« Je suis partagé entre assurer pour marquer de gros points au championnat et attaquer pour remporter ma première victoire mondiale », avouait de son côté Thierry Neuville. La nuit porte conseil, mais je pense que je vais essayer… »

La sortie de Latvala a promu Mikko Hirvonen sur le podium provisoire. Le Finlandais est à près d’une minute et demie du leader et compte plus de quatre minutes d’avance sur Martin Prokop (Ford).

Mads Ostberg (Ford) était 5^e avant de sortir de la route dans l’ES12. Sortie de route également pour Nasser Al-Attiyah (Ford) dans l’ES11. Reparti en Rally2 ce matin, Sébastien Ogier (24^e, VW) a remporté trois spéciales aujourd’hui et pourrait marquer des points au championnat Constructeurs.

Le Polonais Robert Kubica (Citroën DS3 RRC) est 5^e du classement général et mène la catégorie WRC-2 avec 7s8 d’avance sur le Gallois Elfyn Evans (Ford). Le Néo-Zélandais Hayden Paddon (Skoda) est sur le podium provisoire. Sepp Wiegand (Skoda) est sorti de la route (ES13). Sébastien Chardonnet et Pontus Tidemand sont confortables leaders des catégories WRC-3 et Junior WRC.