vendredi 1 mai 2015
WEC, Spa : Porsche et Aston Martin dominent les qualifs / qualifying: a 1-2-3 result for Porsche!
Les trois Porsche 919 Hybrid/Michelin s’élanceront en premières positions des 6 Heures de Spa-Francorchamps 2015 devant deux Audi et deux Toyota. La pole a été signée par la Porsche N°17 (Bernhard/Harltey/Webber) en 1min54s767. Comme à Silverstone, Aston Martin a dominé les catégories LM GTE Pro et Am, et G-Drive la LM P2.
Le circuit de Spa, long de 7,004 km, et des tours de près de deux minutes, ne laissaient pas beaucoup de temps pour les stratégies. Porsche a pris les choses en main et Hulkenberg (Porsche N°19) était le premier dans la file d’attente à la sortie de la pit-lane, devant la Toyota N°1 de Davidson.
Le « rookie » du WEC a signé le premier temps de référence en 1min55s130, mais c’est son équipier Brendon Hartley (Porsche N°17) qui occupait le haut du classement en 1min54s779 après les premiers runs. Jani (Porsche N°18) assurait un top-3 provisoire à Porsche.
Les trois 919 Hybrid sont rentrées au stand après un tour rapide seulement. Hartley a cédé le volant à Bernhard dont le chrono d’1min54s755 (meilleur temps absolu) a permis de qualifier la Porsche N°17 en pole, avec au passage un nouveau record en qualifs à Spa (1min57s884, Bourdais, Peugeot 908, 2010).
« Je dédie cette pole à Stefan Bellof », a déclaré Timo Bernhard, qui porte un casque replica du pilote allemand disparu ici en 1985. « C’est notre 3e pole consécutive, mais attention car nous avons aussi abandonné deux fois de suite. »
Les trois Porsche ont conclu ces qualifs séparées par 0s517, alors que Marcel Fassler et André Lotterer ont fait leur possible pour rester au contact (Audi N°7, +0s773). Les autres protos hybrides ont fini loin derrière.
La bagarre fut très intéressante en LM P2 entre la Ligier JS P2-Nissan G-Drive et l’Oreca05-Nissan KCMG. Nicolas Lapierre a brièvement hissé la N°47 en pole, mais Julien Canal a repris son bien sur la N°26. Les deux protos sont séparés par moins d’1/10e de seconde. La Morgan Evo N°43 Sard-Morand a pris la 3e place.
Après avoir dominé les qualifs à Silverstone, Aston Martin a également signé la pole des 6 Heures de Spa en LM GTE Pro et Am.
Chez les « Pros », Richie Stanaway (2min17s039) et Fernando Rees (2min16s642) ont offert la pole position à l’Aston Martin N°99 avec une moyenne de 2min16s840. Le Brésilien a signé le meilleur temps absolu de la catégorie ! « Les conditions étaient parfaites », a déclaré Fernando. « J’avais un train de pneus neuf Michelin, je pense que notre stratégie sera meilleure qu’à Silverstone. En 2014, je découvrais le team et la catégorie LM GTE Pro. Je crois avoir bien progressé. »
On pensait qu’Aston Martin allait monopoliser la première ligne avec la N°97 (Mucke/Turner, moyenne 2min17s231), mais Gimmi Bruni est ressorti en fin de séance pour améliorer son premier chrono (2min16s420) et hisser la Ferrari N°51 en 2e position !
Fred Mako a tenté la même opération sur la Porsche N°92, sans succès. Les Porsche 911 RSR partiront en queue du peloton LM GTE Pro, derrière la Ferrari N°71 et l’Aston Martin N°95.
En « Am », l’Aston Martin N°98 s’élancera en pole comme à Silverstone grâce à Pedro Lamy (2min17s971) et Paul Dalla Lana qui a conservé l’avantage (2min21s185). Avec une moyenne de 2min19s578, l’Aston N°98 devance la Corvette N°50 (Ruberti/Roda) de plus d’une seconde et la Porsche N°88 (Bachler/Ried) de près de deux secondes. Derrière, les Ferrari N°55, N°83 et N°72 précèdent la Porsche N°77 Dempsey-Proton.
Porsche Team celebrated the anniversary of its first FIA WEC pole here in 2014 with a resounding one-two-three finish in qualifying for this year’s 6 Hours of Spa. The N°17 919 Hybrid/Michelin (Bernhard/Webber/Hartley) will start Saturday’s race from pole position. As at Silverstone, Aston Martin Racing was the dominant team in LM GTE Pro, this time with the N°99 Vantage V8. The British team will also start from pole in LM GTE Am thanks to its N°98 car. LM P2 victor was G-Drive’s N°26 Ligier-Nissan.
A bright, if chilly (11°C) afternoon at Spa-Francorchamps ensured dry conditions for qualifying.
The long circuit length of 7.004km, with lap times likely to be just under two minutes, provided teams with little liberty for smart strategies. However, Porsche was clearly keen to get onto the track, since its N°19 car (Nico Hulkenberg) was first in the queue waiting for the green light, shadowed by Davidson in the N°1 Toyota.
WEC Rookie Hulkenberg went on to the lay down the initial benchmark time (1m55.130s) and appear briefly at the top, but it was team-mate Brendon Hartley (N°17 Porsche, 1m54.779s) who led after the first round of flying laps. Neel Jani (N°18 Porsche) made it a provisional one-two-three for the German make at this stage.
All three Porsches pitted for driver changes after just one flyer. Hartley was replaced by Timo Bernhard whose subsequent lap of 1m54.755s was enough to wrap up the battle for pole in favour of the N°17 919 Hybrid.
In the process, the German established a new qualifying lap record for Spa, amply beating the 1m57.884s of Sébastien Bourdais (Peugeot) that had stood since 2010.
At the end of the session, the three Porsches were covered by just 0.517s, as Fässler and Lotterer did their best to remain in contact in the N°7 Audi (4th, +0.773s). The other hybrid prototypes finished a long way back.
“I dedicate this pole to Stefan Bellof [who died at Spa in 1985],” declared Bernhard after the session. “That makes three straight poles for this car, but also three consecutive retirements… That’s a trend we need to halt.”
The LM P2 class provided an interesting battle between the N°26 Ligier JS P2-Nissan of Rusinov/Canal/Bird (G-Drive) and KCMG’s N°47 Oreca 05-Nissan. The former emerged in front early on but the two cars traded places before Frenchman Julien Canal put the Ligier back on top. The KCMG trio ended up second, less than one-hundredth of a second adrift, while third place went to the N°43 Morgan Evo-Sard (Sard Morand) (+0.294s).
Meanwhile, after dominating qualifying at Silverstone, Aston Martin earned its second LM GTE Pro pole of the season this evening.
Richie Stanaway (2m17.039s) and Fernando Rees (2m16.642s, the session’s fastest lap) put the N°99 Vantage V8 on top with an average of 2m16.840s. “The conditions were perfect,” noted Rees. “I had a set of fresh Michelins and I think our strategy was better than at Silverstone.”
It looked like Aston Martin might monopolise the front row thanks to the N°97 sister car of Mucke/Turner/Bell (2m17.231s), but Gimmi Bruni went back out at the very end to improve on his earlier effort and promote the N°51 Ferrari into second place.
Fred Makowiecki tried the same tactic in the N°92 Porsche but his deficit was far too big to make up and the two Porsche 911 RSRs ended up last in LM GTE Pro, behind the N°71 Ferrari and the N°95 Aston Martin.
As at Silverstone, the LM GTE Am pole was secured by the N°98 Aston Martin thanks to Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana who posted an average of 2m19.578s. Second was the N°50 Corvette, more than a second behind, with the N°88 Porsche in third, almost two seconds back.
MotoGP; Lorenzo retrouve de sa superbe à Jerez / Lorenzo is back!
Le Majorquin est au sommet du classement combiné du Grand Prix bwin d’Espagne après avoir dominé les deux séances d’essais de vendredi.
Absent du podium depuis le début de la saison 2015 alors que son coéquipier Valentino Rossi caracole en tête du classement MotoGP™ avec deux victoires en trois courses, Jorge Lorenzo pourrait être sur le point de faire son retour sur le devant de la scène et occupait le sommet de la feuille de temps pour la première fois de l’année vendredi à Jerez de la Frontera.
Après trois premiers Grands Prix qui s’étaient terminés de manière décevante pour le Majorquin, ce dernier a pris l’initiative dès l’ouverture de la piste vendredi matin et alors signé le meilleur temps de la journée en 1’39.174, avant de se montrer un peu moins rapide l’après-midi, sur une piste nettement plus chaude.
L’Espagnol, qui devrait selon Lin Jarvis aller au bout de son contrat et continuer chez Yamaha en 2016, demeurait cependant le plus rapide en piste et en première position sur le classement combiné, avec 0.049s sur Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar), qui avait lui aussi réalisé sa meilleure performance le matin, en profitant d’un pneu tendre.
Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) a de son côté rassuré ses fans et ne semblait pas être gêné par sa fracture de l’auriculaire gauche, dont il avait été opéré à peine une semaine plus tôt. Huitième d’une première séance au cours de laquelle il est resté prudent et testait une poignée gauche modifiée pour moins solliciter son doigt blessé, le Champion du Monde en titre s’est hissé à la troisième position sur le classement combiné l’après-midi et a affirmé qu’il se sentait aussi bien qu’il pouvait l’espérer.
Derrière les trois Espagnols, Andrea Iannone (Ducati) et Andrea Dovizioso complétaient le Top 5 de la journée, à un peu plus de trois dixièmes de seconde de Lorenzo, tandis que Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Racing) plaçait sa Ducati satellite en sixième position.
Sur le podium lors de la course précédente, Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda) s’est classé septième devant Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3) et Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP). Brillant en course depuis le début de l’année, le nonuple Champion du Monde était sixième le matin puis treizième l’après-midi, à tout juste plus d’une seconde de son coéquipier. S’il n’est qu’à 0.698s de Lorenzo sur le classement combiné, son retard de plus d’une seconde l’après-midi aurait pu être préoccupant si l'Italien, neuvième de journée, n'avait pas révélé qu'il était en fait resté sur le pneu dur alors que le modèle plus tendre s'était avéré bien plus performant.
Derrière Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Héctor Barberá (Avintia Racing) occupe la onzième position et est le premier pilote Open sur le classement combiné, devant Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), Stefan Bradl (Athinà Forward Racing) et Loris Baz (Athinà Forward Racing).
Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) n’est que dix-huitième sur le classement combiné mais a en fait été le pilote Open le plus rapide l’après-midi, dans des conditions chaudes probablement assez proches de celles que l’on peut attendre pour la course, et s’était classé quatorzième juste derrière Rossi.
Les essais libres de la catégorie MotoGP™ continuent samedi matin à partir de 9h55.
Cliquez ici pour accéder aux résultats.
Lin Jarvis, le directeur général de Yamaha Factory Racing, a confirmé que Jorge Lorenzo irait jusqu’au bout de son contrat chez Yamaha.
Lin Jarvis s’est entretenu avec motogp.com vendredi à Jerez et a confirmé que Jorge Lorenzo continuerait de courir pour le team Movistar Yamaha MotoGP en 2016, comme le prévoit son contrat. Suite à un début de saison 2015 compliqué, des rumeurs annonçaient que l’Espagnol désirait changer de constructeur à la fin de l’année.
Jarvis a confirmé que les deux parties avaient décidé d’aller jusqu’au bout de leur contrat, bien qu’une rupture d’un commun accord demeure une possibilité : « Je peux vous assurer et je peux assurer au paddock MotoGP™ que Jorge sera chez Yamaha en 2016. Nous en avons déjà parlé ensemble et tout est clair, il veut rester avec nous et nous voulons qu’il reste. C’est aussi simple que ça, Jorge sera avec nous cette année et l’an prochain. C’est un fait ! »
Jorge Lorenzo rode like a man that had something to prove, while Marc Marquez battled through the pain barrier on the first day in Jerez.
It has not been the easiest start to 2015 for Lorenzo, who has failed to finish on the podium in the first three races of the season for the first time in his MotoGP™ career.
The Movistar Yamaha rider currently occupies fourth in the Championship standings, 29 points behind his teammate Rossi, and knew that a strong showing in the first European race of the season would be essential if he was to have any chance of fighting for the title.
The double MotoGP™ World Champion certainly sent out a message today that he was “back” by topping both Free Practice sessions, and early signs appear to show that he could be once again be challenging for the race win come Sunday. In FP1 Lorenzo was competitive from the outset, setting his fastest time on just his fifth lap and finishing 0.049s ahead of Aleix Espargaro on the Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR. In FP2 he tried out the hard tyre compound to start with but switched back to the medium compound to set his fastest time, beating Marquez into second, a result he would love to emulate when the lights go out on Sunday.
The Spaniard explained how he had turned his fortunes around today: “My mentality from this morning was to go for it and don‘t think too much, just try to ride according to my instinct and it worked very well, especially in the morning. It seems we are coming back stronger. We will have to demonstrate it tomorrow and especially on Sunday. I want to show my form again on the track tomorrow with my speed.”
To add to his performance on track was the news that he had agreed to stay with his Movistar Yamaha team until the end of his current contract, which runs out at the end of the 2016 season.
There had been rumours in the paddock that Lorenzo was looking at another ride for next season, but Yamaha Factory Racing Managing Director Lin Jarvis confirmed that this wasn’t the case: “I can assure you and I can assure the MotoGP™ paddock that Jorge will be with Yamaha for 2016. We have spoken together already and its already clear, he wants to stay with us, we want to stay with him, it’s done, so Jorge will be with us this year and next. It’s a fact!”
However, what about Marc Marquez? The reigning MotoGP™ World Champion came to Jerez trailing Valentino Rossi by 30 points in the standings, so the news that he had fractured his finger in training on Saturday, needing an operation, was not exactly ideal. Marquez was deemed fit to race by the medical team at the circuit on Thursday, but all eyes were on the Spaniard as he took to the track for the first time today to see how his injury would affect him.
The answer? Not a lot! He may have ended FP1 down in eighth, 0.740s off the pace, but by the afternoon it was business as usual for Marquez, as he set the second fastest time in FP2 to finish just 0.128s behind Lorenzo. This left him third fastest overall at the end of the day, and showed that even a broken finger could not stop the Spanish wunderkind: “We can be happy that my hand has responded quite well today - as well as could be expected. It hurts a lot but at least I can put in the laps. We’ll see if tomorrow it is better if it doesn’t swell up.”
On top of all of this, the current Championship leader Valentino Rossi was languishing down in ninth overall when FP2 concluded. This should not worry “The Doctor” though; as his last three victories have come from eighth on the grid, and ninth place is exactly where he found himself after the first day of practice in Argentina…and we all know what happened there. Rossi explained his lack of pace: "It was a difficult practice, especially this afternoon. I think I could have gotten a better position but I decided to use just the harder option and work with just that tyre, because we thought that was the best tyre for the race. Unfortunately the performance is very low and the lap time isn‘t good enough, so I think that also the soft can be an option too, but it will be difficult."
It is always hard to take much from the first day of practice, but with the top ten riders separated by less than a second, and only two seconds separating the top twenty, it looks like Qualifying should be rather exciting on Saturday.
Check out the combined MotoGP™ practice times from Jerez and the riders are back on track on Saturday at 9:55am local time for FP3.
Yamaha Factory Racing Managing Director Lin Jarvis confirms that Jorge Lorenzo will stay with Yamaha for the remainder of his contract.
Jarvis spoke to motogp.com to confirm that Jorge Lorenzo will stay with the Factory Movistar Yamaha team until the end of his current contract in 2016. Lorenzo has not had the best of starts to the 2015 MotoGP™ season, and there were rumours that he might have been looking to move at the end of this year.
Jarvis confirmed that while there was an option for both parties to terminate the contract early if they so desired, they have both decided to see it through to its conclusion: “I can assure you and I can assure the MotoGP™ paddock that Jorge will be with Yamaha for 2016. We have spoken together already and its already clear, he wants to stay with us, we want to stay with him, it’s done, so Jorge will be with us this year and next. It’s a fact!”
Discussing the Dymaxion death-trap, 1933
Rear-wheel steering, an aversion to crosswinds and the profile of a road-going Hindenburg – what could possibly go wrong?
It could all have gone so well. The Dymaxion was the brainchild of inventor, architect and all-round genius Buckminster Fuller, who sought to revolutionise society’s approach to efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Several of his projects carried the Dymaxion name yet, at the height of the depression, Fuller decided his road-going blimp was the most feasible. It was 19.5ft long, could carry 11 passengers and was powered by the brand-new Ford V8; yet it weighed about the same as aVW Beetle, and could achieve up to 36mpg. Impressive, in principle.
Steering from the tail
The first Dymaxion was completed in 1933; the lead image above shows Captain Al Williams (a noted speed flyer and driver) discussing its merits with Marvin McIntyre, secretary to President Roosevelt. However, the discussion might have been a little less jolly had it taken place a few months later: the first car produced had rolled over en route to the Chicago World Fair, killing its driver. The subsequent inquest pointed the blame at the three-wheeler’s steering system, which comprised two driven wheels up front, and a single steerable wheel at the tail. Fatefully, the same car was destroyed in a fire several years later and, due to the bad press from the earlier fatal accident, only two other cars were completed. The proof was in the pudding and, in the Dymaxion’s case, that pudding was a jelly – curious to look at, but disastrously unstable on the move.
Photo: Underwood Archives / Getty
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