CAFÉ RACER 76

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Lorenzo vainqueur à Brno et nouveau leader du MotoGP™ / Unstoppable Lorenzo wins the Battle of Brno

À égalité de points avec Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo s’empare du statut de leader grâce à son total de cinq victoires, contre trois pour

Auteur d’un nouveau record du circuit en qualifications, Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) a brillamment accompli sa mission dans une course qu’il a mené de bout en bout après un excellent départ qui lui avait permis de rester devant Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda).

Vainqueur une semaine plus tôt à Indianapolis, où il avait suivi le Majorquin avant de le doubler à trois tours de l’arrivée, le Champion en titre a essayé d’à nouveau prendre la roue de Lorenzo sur la piste tchèque mais n’était cette fois-ci pas au niveau de son rival et s’est progressivement fait distancer pour compter jusqu’à trois secondes de retard à cinq tours de l’arrivée.

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) s’était félicité d’avoir assuré sa présence en première ligne mais a malheureusement manqué son départ et a perdu du temps dès le premier tour en se faisant devancé par Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) et Andrea Dovizioso (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP).

Parti sur gomme dure à l’avant comme à l’arrière alors que son coéquipier avait chois les pneus medium, Rossi avait déjà plus de deux secondes de retard lorsqu’il est revenu à la troisième place et n’a pu que poursuivre sa course en solitaire pour s’assurer un nouveau podium, le onzième en onze courses cette saison, six secondes derrière Márquez.

Grâce à sa victoire, Lorenzo revenait à égalité de points avec Rossi et s’emparait de la première place du classement général en vertu d’un plus grand nombre de victoires : 5 pour l’Espagnol contre 3 pour l’Italien. Le double Champion du Monde prenait d’autre part sa revanche sur Márquez, désormais relégué à 52 points, après avoir perdu son duel contre son compatriote à Indianapolis mais mettait aussi fin à l’hégémonie de Honda à Brno, où la marque japonaise s’était imposée ces quatre dernières années.

Andrea Iannone (Ducati) a quant à lui pris une belle quatrième place qui lui permettait de prolonger son record de régularité puisque l’Italien a jusqu’ici fini toutes les courses de la saison 2015 dans le Top 10. Mis sous pression par Andrea Dovizioso par moment, Iannone a pu prendre de l’avance en fin de course lorsque son coéquipier a été rattrapé par Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), parti neuvième et victime d’une lourde chute le vendredi. L’Espagnol s’est battu jusqu’au bout pour arracher la cinquième place à l’Italien, battu de 0.075s.

Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3), Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3), Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar) et Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) figuraient aussi dans le Top 10 à l’arrivée tandis que Loris Baz (Avintia Racing) a pris le point de la quinzième place. Une excellente opération pour le rookie français, qui avait manqué l’épreuve d’Indianapolis et revenait ainsi à cinq points d’Héctor Barberá (Avintia Racing), le leader de la catégorie Open, qui a fini une seconde derrière.

Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) a quant à lui fini en dix-huitième position et repartira à la conquête des points à la fin du mois à Silverstone, du 28 au 30 août, lors du Grand Prix Octo de Grande-Bretagne.

Cliquez ici pour accéder aux résultats de la course et ici pour le classement général.

Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo put on a master class to take his 5th victory of the season at the bwin Grand Prix České republiky.

Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo emerged victorious from the ‘Battle of Brno’ after an imperious ride at the bwin Grand Prix České republiky. The Spaniard was untouchable during the race as he went on to take the win by 4.462s from Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez, with his teammate Valentino Rossi in third. Lorenzo now sits on top of the MotoGP™ World Championship standings, level on points with Rossi, after taking his 5th win of the season.

Conditions were almost perfect for the MotoGP™ race at the 5.2km Automotodrom Brno, with the sun shining and track temperatures approaching 42˚C. Over 138,000 fans had packed into the grandstands at the iconic track to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first GP at Brno, and the scene was set perfectly for a showdown between the top three riders in the championship standings. Adding to the intrigue was the fact that all three riders had gone for different tyre choices. Lorenzo on a medium front and rear, Rossi on a hard front and rear, and Marquez with a medium front and hard rear.

Any hopes of a dramatic three-way battle between Lorenzo, Marquez and Rossi were dashed almost immediately, as Rossi got bogged down at the start. The Italian had worked hard during practice and qualifying to ensure that he didn’t let Marquez and Lorenzo disappear at the start of the race as in Indianapolis. It was all to be for nothing though, as he found himself down in fifth at the first corner.

Lorenzo and Marquez immediately opened a gap at the front, which had increased to 1.5 seconds at the end of the first lap. Rossi found himself held up behind Andrea Dovizioso, and by the time he got past on the second lap, the gap to his rivals was already over two seconds.

Marquez was matching the pace of Lorenzo and they were both lapping almost 0.5s a lap quicker than Rossi and after six laps the gap was up to 4 seconds. Lorenzo even started to pull away from Marquez, opening up a half of a second gap over his compatriot by lap 9. This had increased to two seconds by lap 12, with Lorenzo once again managing the gap perfectly as no one had an answer to his electric pace. The two-time MotoGP™ World Champion went on to take his 38th MotoGP™ victory by the comfortable margin of 4 .4 seconds from Marquez. Rossi eventually crossed the line 10.397s behind Lorenzo to finish third, and continuing his run of having finished on the podium at every race this season.

Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone (+13.071s) finished in fourth as he was involved in an excellent battle towards the end of the race with his teammate Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda). Pedrosa, who was nursing a bruised left foot after his highside in FP2, gritted his teeth to work his way up through the field from 9th on the grid. With 6 laps remaining, he caught Iannone and Dovizioso who were involved in a fight of their own and were 4th and 5th respectively at the time.

After Iannone and Dovizioso almost touched, Iannone made a slight break to take fourth, and left his teammate to deal with Pedrosa. Cue an awesome scrap over the last few laps as each rider overtook each other a number of times. Pedrosa (+0.15.650s) made a move up the inside of turn 11 on the final lap and held on to cross the line in fifth ahead of Dovizioso (+15.725s).

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith once again enjoyed a great start to find himself up into third at the very first corner. Smith could not quite match the pace of the leaders though, and found himself falling back, eventually crossing the line as the leading Satellite rider in 7th. His teammate Pol Espargaro was in eighth, ahead of his brother Aleix on the Team Suzuki Ecstar in ninth, with Octo Pramac Racing’s Danilo Petrucci completing the top ten.

Petrucci’s teammate Yonny Hernandez followed him across the line in 11th, ahead of Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS Racing) and the two Factory Aprilia’s of Stefan Bradl (13th) and Alvaro Bautista (14th)

Forward Racing’s Loris Baz pulled off the perfect result for his team on their return after being forced to miss the Indianapolis GP due to financial issues. The Frenchman crossed the line in 15th to take the Open class victory by less than a second from Avintia Racing’s Hector Barbera in 16th. Nicky Hayden (Aspar MotoGP Team) was next across the line in 17th as the leading Open class Honda.

There were crashes for Eugene Laverty (Aspar MotoGP Team), Cal Crutchlow (CWM LR Honda) and Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) while Alex De Angelis (E-Motion IodaRacing Team) was forced to retire.

Lorenzo’s win sees him replace his teammate Rossi at the top of the MotoGP™ World championship standings. Although both are on 211 points, Lorenzo has the advantage as he has won five races compared to Rossi’s three. Marc Marquez (159pts) remains in third, 52 points behind the two Movistar Yamaha teammates.

Check out the full MotoGP™ Race results and the latest MotoGP™ World Championship standings.

Zarco triomphe à Brno et creuse à nouveau l’écart en Moto2™ / Dominant Zarco takes 4th Moto2™ win of the season

Le Français s’est imposé en solitaire au Grand Prix bwin de République Tchèque et compte désormais 79 points d’avance en Moto2™.

Qualifié en pole position pour la cinquième fois de l’année, Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) a réalisé une véritable démonstration de force en course à Brno lors de la onzième manche de la saison Moto2™ 2015 et s’est imposé avec autorité pour remporter une quatrième victoire cette année et un dixième podium consécutif.

Suite au holeshot du Suisse Tom Lüthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten), le Français a rapidement repris la première position pour faire la différence et ensuite entretenir une avance d’environ une seconde jusqu’au drapeau à damier.

Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS), le Champion en titre, a perdu un peu temps avant de doubler Lüthi et Álex Rins (Páginas Amarillas HP 40) et a ensuite fait de son mieux pour rattraper le Français mais a dû se contenter de la seconde place, un résultat tout de même important après son abandon en Allemagne et sa cinquième place à Indianapolis.

Vainqueur à Indy une semaine plus tôt, le rookie espagnol Álex Rins s’est assuré un nouveau podium en prenant la troisième place. Rabat lui reprend cependant la seconde place au classement général. Les deux Espagnols se retrouvent respectivement à 79 et 80 points de Zarco, qui a continuellement creusé l’écart sur les cinq dernières courses et est le premier pilote de l’histoire du Moto2™ à réaliser une série de dix podiums consécutifs.

Parti septième après sa meilleure qualification en date en Moto2™, Álex Márquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) a confirmé en prenant la quatrième place, le premier résultat notable du Champion du Monde Moto3™ 2014 dans la catégorie intermédiaire.

En perte de rythme à partir de la mi-course, Lüthi a quant à lui fini septième, derrière Sam Lowes (Speed Up Racing) et Jonas Folger (AGR Team), tandis que Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) prenait la huitième place, juste derrière le Suisse.

Xavier Siméon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) a fini seizième, derrière le vice-Champion Mika Kallio (Italtrans Racing).

Louis Rossi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) et Xavier Vierge, récente recrue de Tech3 Racing, ont quant à eux été contraints à l’abandon.

Cliquez ici pour accéder aux résultats.

Johann Zarco extends his lead in the Moto2™ championship standings after taking a commanding victory ahead of Rabat and Rins.

Ajo Motorsports Johann Zarco extended his lead in the Moto2™ World Championship standings after taking his fourth victory of the season at the bwin Grand Prix České republiky. Zarco eventually crossed the line 1.421s ahead of Tito Rabat on the EG 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex, with Paginas Amarillas HP40’s rookie Alex Rins (+1.785s) completing the podium.

The sun had come out for the Moto2™ race with track temperatures reaching 38˚C at the iconic Automotodrom Brno but it was Zarco who would shine in front of the passionate Czech fans. The Frenchman took the lead on just the second lap and after Rabat had a huge moment at turn 9, he went onto open up a 1-second lead at the front. Zarco managed this gap perfectly to take the race win and extend his lead in the Moto2™ standings to 79 points.

Rabat crossed the line in second, after a great start that saw him lead into the first corner. The Spaniard then lost at least three-tenths of a second after his near highside at turn 9 and try as he might, he simply could not make any meaningful dent into Zarco’s lead. Rabat looked comfortable through the race, but found himself coming under the attention of Rins on the final lap. Rins had chosen the harder rear tyre, and appeared to have better grip as the riders worked their way through the final few corners. It looked like he was lining up a move into the final chicane, but Rabat managed to hold him off to cross the line 0.364s ahead of his compatriot. This meant that Rabat moves up to second in the championship standings at the expense of Rins.

Rabat’s teammate Alex Marquez (+2.608s) completed his best result of the season in fourth. The reigning Moto3™ World Champion beating his previous best placed finishes of 8th at Jerez and Assen after an excellent battle early on with his old Moto3™ rival Rins.

Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes (+7.844s) recovered from having to start in 13th to finish in 5th. The British rider experienced technical issues in Qualifying and was forced to fight his way through the pack during the race in a case of damage limitation to secure 11 championship points.

AGR Team’s Jonas Folger (8.056s) finished in sixth, ahead of the Derendinger Racing Interwetten Kalex of Thomas Luthi in seventh. Luthi had actually led the race on the first lap, but found himself dropping back through the field as the race progressed.

Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP), Luis Salom (Paginas Amarillas HP40), and Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing team) completed the top ten. Robin Mulhauser, Lorenzo Baldassari, Florian Alt, Louis Rossi and Xavi Vierge all recorded DNF’s.

Zarco (224pts) now leads the Moto2™ championship standings by 71 points from Tito Rabat (145pts), with Alex Rins (144pts) in third.

Check out the full Moto2™ Race results and the latest Moto2™ World Championship standings.

Jet-setting with Ira von Fürstenberg’s waterski shuttle

When she married Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe in 1955, Ira von Fürstenberg was only 15 years old and considered the ‘enfant terrible’ of European nobility. In her choice of cars, however, Princess Ira (as the actress was correctly called) had impeccable taste – as this beach car shows...

Sardinian beach toys

Others might use an estate car to transport their beach toys to the water. But when Princess Ira von Fürstenberg consented to go water-skiing in Sardinia in the late 1950s, she used a very special beach shuttle: a Fissore Marianella, based on the Fiat Multipla 600. The classic car dealer Franco Lembo has now succeeded in adding the rare, ex-Ira von Fürstenberg beach car to its stock list.

From Turin to the beaches of Porto Rotondo

The open, yellow car with its bright red interior is based, Lembo tells us, on a Fiat-Neckar 600 Multipla and – thanks to its unusual cut-away roof – can happily accommodate a pair of water skis. The Fiat was seen for the first time at the 1957 Turin Motor Show and is now waiting in the Classic Driver Market for a buyer with a suitable lifestyle and, ideally, a holiday home in Porto Rotondo – where there is even a beach named after Ira von Fürstenberg.

Photos: Mathieu Bonnevie / Ullstein Bild via Getty Images