Baja Poland: X-raid with four Mini All4 Racing - chase for World Cup continues.

The Monster Energy X-raid Team currently has a busy schedule. This weekend, just two weeks after the "Hungarian Baja", X-raid will be back in action: The battle for FIA Cross Country World Cup points will be continued in the "Baja Poland", with Russian pairing Vladimir Vasilyev / Konstantin Zhiltsov planning to use this event for consolidating and possibly even extending their FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup lead.

At the same time, Poland’s Martin Kaczmarski and his compatriot and Monster Energy X-raid Team driver, Krzysztof Holowczyc, also want to shine in front of their home crowd. The fourth Mini All4 Racing to contest the Baja Poland will be raced by the German pairing Stephan Schott / Holm Schmidt.

In the first seven rounds of the season, Vasilyev acquired a 56-point lead over second-placed Nasser Al-Attiyah and a 72-point lead over Yazeed Al-Rajhi in third position. With another three rounds to go, there still are 120 points to be secured, 30 of the in the forthcoming Baja Poland.

Just as it was the case in the Baja Aragon, Kaczmarski is going to contest the Baja Poland with his new Finnish navigator Tapio Suominen. In Spain, the ambitious Pole finished third behind his team mates Nani Roma and Orlando Terranova.

Meanwhile, Holowczyc hopes to finally make an end to his streak of bad luck. He is going to contest his home event together with Frenchman Xavier Panseri who resides in Poland. And for Schott it’s the first appearance since his very fine fifth place in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.

Other than the short Hungarian Baja the Baja Poland is a three-day event. On the first two days, the service park will be located in Szczecin. From there, the Baja Poland will be started on Friday with an eight-kilometer prologue. On Saturday, the teams will have to complete two 192 kilometer special stages and then, the service park will be moved to Drawsko Pomorskie for the Sunday action, featuring two 65 kilometer special stages.

"We are entering the FIA World Cup home straight," said Team Manager Sven Quandt. "There are another three events to be contested and the Baja Poland could result in a tendency. Vladimir has to stay calm and focused like in the last races. His rivals have to push and take risks if they want to try to close in on him."

"The Bajas are only short events but you have to be extremely focused, nevertheless," said Vasilyev. "The tight, winding roads – often with trees, bushes or rocks on the roadside – are unforgiving. Just as we did in Spain and Hungary, we once again will focus on adding points to our tally." 

Rally dos Sertões: Paulo Gonçalves clinches victory in SS04 - the longest stage / Two X-Rally NWM Ford Ranger in good 2nd and 4th position

The Brazilian "Rally dos Sertoes" arrives at its mid-point with the race’s longest timed special, in a stage run over a variety of different types of track, amidst the distinctive reddish hue of the Brazilian terrain. Wednesday’s 4th stage, with a total of 363.85 kilometers, set off from Paracatu.

Once the 125 kilometer link had been passed, it was pedal to the metal in the timed section - a very well-rounded special that included a narrow, hard and damaged track, that had been at the mercy of the rain and elements. The route also took in a fair amount of sand, as well as creeks and fords of varying water levels. The riders arrived in the town of San Francisco after a ferry-crossing, on the river bearing the same name; thus completing a total stage distance of 585.30 kilometers.

It was first and third place for the two Honda CRF450 Rally riders, and the third time that Paulo Goncalves has marked the best time in a special so far. The Portuguese rider’s aim was clear - nothing less than victory – and not even a slight time-consuming error was able to dent the Honda rider’s continual will to win. In doing so, Goncalves cuts down the deficit with the leader by 1 minute 15 seconds leaving the Honda rider just two minutes adrift of Marc Coma.

"I had a great day today," said Goncalves. "I started from third place and I started to really push. Towards the middle of the stage I made a slight mistake, I momentarily lost concentration and lost a bit of time. I really forced it on the last part and made up time and won the stage. I’m really pleased for me, for the CRF450 Rally and for all the rest of the HRC Team, which is doing a great job. We will continue to work hard over the next few days, as we are now at the half-way point."

Helder Rodrigues performed well, taking third place and moving in on third place Brazilian Jean Azevedo, from the Honda Brazil team, who crossed the line in fourth on the day. "Today was a very long stage with rocks, sand and hard ground... navigation and everything. It was a long day for everybody. I pushed as hard as I could and set a good pace; I had lost a bit of time at the beginning, but I kept trying to push and managed to maintain a fairly fast speed in the final part," Rodrigues said.

Team HRC Team Manager Wolfgang Fischer said about the day: "The HRC Team finished the longest special of the rally. Paul was able to finish the day with a win, and Helder too, was on the podium in third place. Both are fighting to improve their positions. Helder is close to the podium and Paulo too, is looking for victory. There are three days left and we hope to get a good result. The bike is running well, and the riders and the mechanics too. Everything is in good shape."

"Tonight the mechanics will have a lot of work to do. They will be concentrating on the bikes that will have to be ready for the two days of the marathon stage that await. That means that from tomorrow, until the day after tomorrow, it will be forbidden for the mechanics to help. The riders will be alone in the camp, and the bikes in the parc fermé without the mechanics."


Many kilometers of sandy roads made teams and drivers work on tyre strategy for the fifth stage of Brazil´s "Rally dos Sertões", with a total of 585,3 kilometers between Paracatu and São Francisco, where the NWM / X-Rally Team duos made a bet on the power of the Ford Ranger 5-litre V8 to make the difference on the long straights in the way.

However, the quantity of sand in some stretches held both of the Baumgart brothers´ Ford Ranger 4x4, giving room to Reinaldo Varela / Gustavo Gugelmin (Overdrive Toyota Hilux) win with Guilherme Spinelli / Youssef Haddad (Mitsubishi ASX) 27 seconds behind.

Cristian and Marcos Baumgarts gamble was that the good top speeds the Ford Ranger 4x4 reaches in the straights would have compensated the lack of grip in some spots - and the stage had some of them. But the heavy sand sectors made the specific tyres chosen by Varela and Spinelli work better to open a gap from the yellow Vedacit cars.

Cristian Baumgart / Beco Andreotti came third, 2:42 minutes off Varela. Marcos Baumgart felt the lack of grip even more in some moments of the race, which reflected in his and co-driver Kleber Cincea fourth place, dropping 8:26 mins down, but still in fourth position overall.

"It wasn´t sand the whole stage, but it made a huge difference," said Christian Baumgart. "We were more conservative in terms of tyre strategy, and it cost us some minutes We had an excellent car in hands, and we reached the cars in front several times when the surface was harder, but then we´d find sand in the way once more, holding us back again."

Marcos Baumgart said: "It was a fun stage to drive, but we had little or no grip at some points, and that jeopardized our pace today. There´s still a little bit for me to reach the limit of the car, and I am working on it, step by step. In a rally like the Sertões, you don´t want to rush things up - it always charge its price, and it´s not cheap."

During the night, the NWM / X-Rally Team mechanics and engineers work on both cars looking forward to the marathon-stage on Thursday, which will be the longest day of the 2014 Rally dos Sertões, with 718 kilometers, of which 336 kms worth the stage. After the cars stop at parc-fermé, only drivers and co-drivers are allowed to work on the cars. Any team assistance is forbidden whatsoever.

via http://www.marathonrally.com

Moto GP ; Un rendez-vous pas comme les autres pour Redding / Redding excited to race at Silverstone again

Scott Redding se prépare pour sa première course MotoGP™ en Grande-Bretagne, où il était devenu le plus jeune vainqueur de l’histoire du Championnat du Monde en 2008, en 125cc, et s’était aussi imposé en Moto2™ l’an dernier.

Vainqueur de la course Moto2™ de l’an dernier à Silverstone, Scott Redding arrive sur ses terres après avoir réalisé deux courses encourageantes à Indianapolis et à Brno, où il avait respectivement été le premier pilote de la catégorie Open puis le premier pilote sur Honda RCV1000R.

Le rookie du team GO&FUN Honda Gresini était entré dans l’histoire en 2008, lorsqu’il avait remporté l’épreuve 125cc du GP de Grande-Bretagne à Donington Park, à seulement 15 ans et 170 jours. Six ans plus tard, Redding demeure le plus jeune vainqueur de l’histoire des Grands Prix.

« Tout le monde me demande si courir à domicile est quelque chose de particulier et c’est évident, » a affirmé Redding. « C’est la seule opportunité de la saison que j’ai de courir devant mon public, dont le soutien a été très important durant ma carrière en 125cc et en Moto2. C’était incroyable de monter sur la plus haute marche du podium pour la première fois au GP de Grande-Bretagne de 2008 et ça l’était aussi l’an dernier avec une autre victoire très spéciale, quand je portais une combinaison rouge, blanche et bleu et le drapeau de notre pays sur ma moto. »

« Une fois le drapeau à damier passé, je voyais tout le monde debout dans les tribunes, en train de m’applaudir, c’était incroyable. Cette fois-ci je vais courir en MotoGP à domicile pour la première fois et je suis impatient. Ce sera un week-end difficile parce que Silverstone est une piste où il faut un maximum de puissance et c’est justement ce qui nous manque par rapport à d’autres motos. Je vais cependant me donner à fond, comme toujours, et j’espère réaliser une bonne performance devant mon public. »

The 12th round of the 2014 MotoGP™ World Championship, the Hertz British Grand Prix, is a special event for Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Scott Redding, who will be racing a MotoGP bike in front of his home crowd for the first time.

Redding, winner last year of the Moto2™ race at Silverstone, heads back to England after two strong performances. Top Open class rider in Indianapolis, Redding confirmed his good form at Brno as the fastest rider aboard the Honda RCV1000R, a goal that he will try to achieve once again in his home race.

The Gloucestershire rider of course first made the headlines early in his career in the 125 British Grand Prix of 2008, when still a school pupil, by becoming the youngest ever World Championship Grand Prix race winner at 15

years and 170 days of age. That victory was at Donington and Redding still holds the record as youngest ever GP winner courtesy of that triumph.

He commented, “Everyone always asks me if your home race is special and of course it is. It’s the only time in the season I get to race in front of my home crowd, whose support has been so important during my career in 125 and Moto2. It was incredible to stand on the top step of the podium for the first time ever at the British Grand Prix in 2008, and last year was equally special taking the win in front of a massive crowd wearing red, white and blue leathers aboard a bike with a huge union flag on the sides.”

“Coming round after the chequered flag and seeing everyone in the stands on their feet clapping and cheering was an unbelievable experience. Now I’m going to race the MotoGP bike at home for the first time, and I can’t wait. It will be a tough weekend, because Silverstone is a power track and power is something we’re down on compared to other bikes. But, like always, I’ll be pushing as hard as I can and I hope I can put in a good performance in front of my home crowd.”

rien à dire ...