Your basket is currently empty!
Author: David Bodapati
-
Rosberg takes third victory of the season in Austria; Hamilton 2nd but keeps championship lead
Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg took his third victory of the season at the Austrian Grand Prix to close the gap to Drivers’ Championship leading team-mate Lewis Hamilton to just 10 points as the Briton finished second ahead of Williams Felipe Massa. It was Mercedes fourth one-two victory of the season.
At the race start Rosberg got the jump on the slower starting Hamilton, who sought to protect his line on the run to the first corner. Rosberg drew alongside the champion and managed to force his way past and into the lead as the pair went through turn one.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel tucked into third ahead of Massa and Nico Hulkenberg but towards t
Hamilton congratulates winner Rosberg after taking second in the Austrian GP on Sunday. A Mercedes AMG Petronas team image he back of the field there was drama as Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen, who had started 14th, tangled with a hard-charging Fernando Alonso, who had started 19th for McLaren. The collision pitched both cars into the barriers, with Alonso’s car squeezed onto the top of the Ferrari. Both drivers, however, emerged unscathed.
The Safety Car was immediately deployed and that allowed Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat, who had sustained some damage at the start, to pit for a new nose cone and to swap his starting supersoft tyres for soft rubber. He rejoined in P15, directly behind team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. McLaren’s Jenson Button and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson also pitted in this period.
The race restarted on lap seven and Rosberg held his lead over Hamilton, with Vettel holding third ahead of Massa, Hulkenberg, Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas. Sauber’s Felipe Nasr was eighth ahead of Carlos Sainz in the second Toro Rosso and Sergio Perez, who had risen to P13 after a 13th-place start. The Mexican was on the soft tyres and defending well ahead of the supersoft-shod Romain Grosjean who had slipped back from P9 at the start.
After Alonso’s accident, McLaren’s tough Austrian Grand Prix weekend was completed when Button was asked to return to the pit lane on lap nine to retire his car. Elsewhere, Marcus Ericsson was handed a drive-through penalty for jumping the start.
At the front, the race was fast becoming a battle between the two Mercedes drivers. After 16 laps Rosberg led Hamilton by 1.7s but Vettel had dropped back to just over seven seconds adrift of his countryman.
Grosjean was the first to make a scheduled stop for tyres on lap 23, taking on soft rubber. He was followed a lap later by Nasr. On track, Bottas made more progress by passing Hulkenberg for P5. The Finn then made his first visit to the pit lane on lap 26, taking on soft tyres.
Hulkenberg too made his first stop and when he emerged it was in front of Bottas, leaving the Williams man to do all the work of passing him again, though the Finn eventually managed the task.
Sainz, meanwhile, had pitted for soft compound Pirellis but a problem with the front-right wheel meant a long stop that dropped him down the order. His race was further compromised by a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane and then ended when he was forced to retire with technical issues.
Rosberg pitted from the lead on lap 33, taking on soft tyres in a 2.7-second stop. Hamilton followed a lap later but his in-lap hadn’t yielded a significant gain and his stop took four tenths longer than the German’s, so he again slotted in behind Rosberg. Hamilton was then handed a five-second time penalty for crossing the white line on the pit exit. It would be added to his race time following the chequered flag.
Vettel made his stop on lap 36 but he too had a troubled visit to the pit lane. A problem with the wheel gun on the right rear left the German rooted to the sport and when he finally rejoined it was behind Massa.
Ricciardo was the last man to pit, swapping his starting soft tyres for supersoft rubber on lap 51. That dropped the Red Bull driver to back to P11, though on a tyre that he could attack with.
At the front, with all the stops complete and 20 laps to remaining, Rosberg now led Hamilton by a comfortable 6.5s margin with Massa a further 16 seconds back. Vettel was just two seconds adrift of the Williams, while Bottas was fifth but 20 seconds down on the Ferrari. Hulkenberg was a lonely sixth, six seconds behind Bottas and seven ahead of Verstappen, while Maldonado was eighth ahead of Perez and Nasr.
Ricciardo, though, on news supersofts was on a charge and running up to 1.5s a lap quicker than Nasr and by lap 61 he had slimmed an eight-second gap after his stop to half a second, within DRS range. He swept past the Sauber into turn three and reclaimed a points scoring position.
At the front, the leading positions remained unchanged, however. Rosberg took his 11th career victory 8.8s ahead of Hamilton, who completed Mercedes’ fourth one-two win of the season with enough time in hand over Massa for his post-race penalty not to affect the result. Vettel was fourth ahead of Bottas, while Le Mans winner Hulkenberg enjoyed another good race with sixth place. Maldonado meanwhile finally got past Verstappen, while Perez held off Ricciardo to claim two points.
Rosberg’s win means he climbs to 159 points for the season so far, 10 behind Hamilton, with Vettel third on 120 points.
2015 Austrian Grand Prix – Race
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:30:16.930 71
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0:08.800 71
3 Felipe Massa Williams +0:17.573 71
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +0:18.181 71
5 Valtteri Bottas Williams +0:53.604 71
6 Nico Hulkenberg Force India +1:04.075 71
7 Pastor Maldonado Lotus +1 Lap 70
8 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso +1 Lap 70
9 Sergio Perez Force India +1 Lap 70
10 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing +1 Lap 70
11 Felipe Nasr Sauber +1 Lap 70
12 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing +1 Lap 70
13 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +2 Lap 69
14 Roberto Merhi Manor +3 Lap 68
15 Romain Grosjean Lotus DNF 35
16 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso DNF 35
17 Jenson Button McLaren DNF 8
18 Will Stevens Manor DNF 1
19 Fernando Alonso McLaren DNF 0
20 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari DNF 0ends/FIA release
-
Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif claim overall title at INRC Nashik leg
Nashik, 15 June 2015: As expected, reigning National champion Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif claimed the Overall title by a sizeable margin in the Mahindra Adventure Rally of Maharashtra, the second round of the FMSCI Indian Rally Championship which concluded here on Sunday.
Gill, the 33-year old Delhi-based 2013 Asia Pacific champion sealed his fifth Rally of Maharashtra title after the two concluding rounds of the Spectator Special Stage that were run on Sunday, winning by a margin of three minutes, 59 seconds.
While Gill cruised to victory in the Rally organized by the Western India Sports Association, the drive of the day came from Mangaluru’s Arjun Rao Aroor (co-driver Sathish Rajagopal) who, piloting the Volkswagen Polo R2 made up a 10-second overnight deficit and pipped Mahindra Adventure’s Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) by just one second to finish second Overall.
Ghosh and Aroor were tied going into the final run of the Spectator Special Stage. “I just didn’t think how much time I had to make up, but drove the car to its limits. I am extremely happy that I managed to make one place to finish second,” said Aroor.
Gill was pleased as punch in scoring his 21st win with Sherif over the past eight years. “I just love the Rally of Maharashtra. The Special Stages are very technical and fast which suit my driving style.
Obviously, it is great to start the domestic season on a winning note and we hope to carry forward the momentum,” said Gill.
Finishing behind the top three was Mysuru’s Lohitt Urs (Srikant Gowda) in a Mitsubisihi EVO VIII that arrived in Nashik barely hours before the Rally commenced on Friday.
“Our spares and tyres came only after we completed the first loop of the Stages on Friday. Until then, we were running on street tyres with just 50 litres of fuel to play with. It was tough, but we will do much better in the remaining four rounds of the IRC,” said Urs who came back to rallying after a year’s break.
Meanwhile, Bengaluru’s Rahul Kanthraj and his co-driver of 15 seasons, Vivek Bhatt, driving a Mitsubishi Cedia for Team Yokohama, comfortably won the IRC 2000cc class where he faced little or no competition.
“We had an excellent outing here in Nashik. Hopefully, we will continue to perform for the rest of the season. The car was superb and so were the Yokohama tyres,” said Kanthraj.
Topping the IRC 1600cc class was 21-year old Dean Mascarenas from Mangaluru and co-driver Sudipta Padival in a VW Polo.
“We are extremely happy to have won the title here and a great start to the new season. We had no issues with our car and except for the mistake in Friday’s Spectator Special Stage when due to an under-steer I crashed into the barriers, everything was just perfect,” said Mascarenhas.
In the FMSCI 1600 Cup, Dhruva C (Jeeva Rathinam) took the honours in the Honda City V-Tec, as he easily held on to a big overnight lead.
Provisional, Final classification:
IRC Overall: Gaurva Gill / Musa Sherif (Mahindra Adventure, Mahindra XUV 500) 1 (01 Hr, 31mins, 28secs); Arjun Rao Aroor / Sathish Rajagopal (Volkswagen Polo R2) 2 (01:35:27); Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Mahindra Adventure, Mahindra XUV 500) 3 (01:35:28).
IRC 2000cc: Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama, Cedia) 1 (01:38:06); Hrishikesh Thackersey / Ninad Mirajgaonkar (VW Polo) 2 (01:41:52); Sumit Panjabi / Sagar M (Cedia) 3 (01:43:36).
IRC 1600cc: Dean Mascarenhas / Sudipta Padiwal (VW Polo) 1 (01:38:17); Dr Biku Babu / George Milen (VW Polo) 2 (01:42:12); Vikram Rao Aroor / AG Somayya (VW Polo) 3 (01:44:44).
FMSCI 1600 Cup: Dhruva C /Jeeva Rathinam (Honda City V-Tec) 1 (01:44:49); Ashwin Reddy Daram / Salman Shahid (Rally Cross, Honda City V-Tec) 2 (01:45:43); Adith KC / Harish KN (Kari Sports, Honda City V-Tec) 3 (01:46:10).
eom/FMSCI
Overall winners in the Mahindra Adventure Rally of Maharashtra which concluded in Nashik on Sunday Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif (middle) flanked by second placed Arjun Rao Aroor (extreme left) and Sathish Rajagopal, and third placed Amittrajit Ghosh and Ashwin Naik (right). Image by Anand Philar press release
-
Gaurav Gill-Musa Sherif lead Mahindra Adventure Rally: INRC
NASHIK: Reigning National champion Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) stamped his authority on the Mahindra Adventure Rally of Maharashtra, the second round of the FMSCI Indian Rally Championship, as he all but sealed the Overall title here on Saturday with just 4.06 Kms of the Spectator Special Stage to be run on Sunday.
Although enjoying an overnight advantage of over three minutes, 33-year old Delhi-based Gill, the 2013 champion, representing Team Mahindra Adventure, continued his relentless onslaught to extend his lead to four minutes, two seconds, over team-mate Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik).
Gill came up with another near-flawless drive in the Mahindra XUV 500 as he won all the three Special Stages run on Saturday to move closer to retaining his Rally of Maharashtra title.
Ghosh, also piloting the XUV 500, was in second place ahead of Arjun Rao (Satish Naik) in a Volkswagen Polo (R2) who thrilled the crowd by posting tied fastest timing in the first of the three loops of the Spectator Special Stage along with Lohitt Urs (Srikant Gowda) who was in fourth Overall position.
The event concludes on Sunday when two more rounds of the Spectator Special Stage will be run and it is more than likely that the crews will aim to hold their positions to the finish.
Gill said: “Everything went off well for us today. In fact, I think I was faster than yesterday. I also did a bit of R and D on the vehicle, played around with the set-up trying to find more time. We found something new, but obviously I can’t talk about it!”
Ghosh, the 2013 National champion from Kolkata, who had to overcome mechanical problems on Friday, said: “We had no problems today after sorting out the brakes and the gearbox. We had some 25-second lead over Sunny (Sidhu) and I pushed just enough to keep that advantage.”
Mangaluru-based Arjun Rao too was quite satisfied that he could move up a place from fourth to third, edging past Mahindra Adventure’s Sunny Sidhu (PVS Murthy).
“I happy that we had no problems today, except for the fag end of the third Stage when it was drizzling and the surface was a bit slippery. But otherwise, everything went fine for us.”
Bengaluru’s Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt) who encountered little or no opposition, consolidated his overnight lead in the IRC 2000cc class, but was fortunate to survive a head-on crash with a mini-van that slid into his Mitsubishi Cedia in the slushy transport section after the day’s final Special Stage.
Kantraj said: “I did not drive very hard since there was nobody to push us. But I think we clocked the same timing as yesterday. We had a close call in the transport run to the Service Park when a mini-van slid into us. Luckily, there was not much damage to our car.”
Mangaluru’s Dean Mascarenhas (Sudipta Padiwal) nursed his sizeable overnight lead in the IRC 1600cc class despite crashing into the barrier during the Spectator Special Stage while Dhruva C (Jeeva Rathinam) continued to head the FMSCI 1600 Cup.
Classification (Partial, Leg-2, Unofficial): IRC Overall: Gaurav Gill / Musa Sherif (Mahindra Adventure, Mahindra XUV 500) 1 (01 Hr, 28mins, 03secs); Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Mahindra Adventure, Mahindra XUV 500) 2 (01:32:05); Arjun Rao Aroor / Satish Rajagopal (Volkswagen Polo R2) 3 (01:32:15).
IRC 2000cc: Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama, Cedia) 1 (01:34:43); Hrishikesh Thackersey / Ninad Mirajgaonkar (VW Polo) 2 (01:38:18); Sumit Panjabi / Sagar M (Cedia) 3 (01:40:01).
IRC 1600cc: Dean Mascarenhas / Sudipta Padiwal (VW Polo) 1 (01:34:57); Dr Biku Babu / George Milen (VW Polo) 2 (01:38:40); Vikram Rao Aroor / AG Somayya (VW Polo) 3 (01:41:11).
FMSCI 1600 Cup: Dhruva C /Jeeva Rathinam (Honda City V-Tec) 1 (01:44:49); Ashwin Reddy Daram / Salman Shahid (Rally Cross, Honda City V-Tec) 2 (01:45:43); Adith KC / Harish KN (Kari Sports, Honda City V-Tec) 3 (01:46:10).
ends/
Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) lead on Sat at Nashik leg of the INRC. Image by Anand Philar -
Espargaro takes pole to lead Suzuki 1-2 in record-breaking Catalan GP qualifying
Catalunya, 13 June 2015: Aleix Espargaro continued his superlative pace at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya today as he seized pole position for the Catalan Grand Prix ahead of Team SUZUKI ECSTAR teammate Maverick Viñales.Having been the quickest rider in yesterdaAleix-Espargaro-of-Team-SUZUKI-ECSTAR-takes-pole-at-Catalan-MotoGP on Saturday.A Bridgestone image y’s practice sessions, Espargaro was able to up the ante today and in Qualifying Practice 2 set a lap time of 1’40.546 – the quickest ever lap around the Montmeló circuit, beating the existing Circuit Record Lap by three-tenths of a second. A mere 0.083 seconds behind him in second place was teammate and MotoGP rookie Viñales who secured his best premier-class qualifying result, while rounding out the front row was Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo who set a personal best time of 1’40.646. All three riders on the front row used the medium compound front slick to set their quickest time, and while Lorenzo used the medium compound rear on his hot lap, both Suzuki riders set their best times using the soft compound rear slick in a session in which the Circuit Best Lap record was broken four times in quick succession.
All sessions today were subjected to similar conditions to yesterday, with a mild start giving way to hot temperatures in the afternoon. Today’s peak track temperature was 49°C at the beginning of Free Practice 4, after which temperatures cooled slightly towards the end of QP2. The fine conditions allowed the riders to do further evaluation on different tyre combinations and following FP4 the medium compound front and rear slick combination is likely to be the most popular choice for tomorrow’s race. However, a number of open-class riders look set to opt for the soft compound rear slick, while the majority of Ducati riders appear to favour the hard compound front slick for the race, so tyre choice will be quite diverse for the twenty-five lap Catalan Grand Prix.The weather forecast indicates ambient temperatures could be even warmer than qualifying for tomorrow’s race at 1400 local time (GMT +2). Before then, the riders will have one final chance to finalise their settings for the race in the twenty minute Warm Up session at 0940.Shinji Aoki – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department“The quick and highly competitive pace we saw yesterday continued today and the result was a record-breaking qualifying session. I am pleased that Aleix was able to set a 1’40.5 lap and the top four riders were able to lap quicker than the existing Circuit Best Lap record, as it shows that on a track surface that is getting bumpier and lower in grip every year, our tyre allocation provides excellent performance and control. At this stage, the medium compound front and rear slicks are preferred by the majority of riders but the soft compound rear and hard compound front will also figure on the grid for tomorrow’s race. What is evident after FP4 and qualifying today is that the pace over a single lap and also long runs among the top riders is very close.”Catalan MotoGP QP2 times – Riders that qualified from QP1 shaded in grayPos Rider Team QP2 Time Gap 1Aleix ESPARGARO Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’40.546 2Maverick VIÑALES Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’40.629 0.083 3Jorge LORENZO Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1’40.646 0.1 4Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1’40.754 0.208 5Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team 1’40.907 0.361 6Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1’40.928 0.382 7Valentino ROSSI Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1’41.058 0.512 8Bradley SMITH Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’41.068 0.522 9Cal CRUTCHLOW CWM LCR Honda 1’41.195 0.649 10Yonny HERNANDEZ Pramac Racing 1’41.333 0.787 11Pol ESPARGARO Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’41.385 0.839 12Andrea IANNONE Ducati Team 1’41.524 0.978 -
Yokohama to enter INRC 2015 with Rahul Kantharaj, Karna Kadur
Bangalore, 13 June 2015: In order to strengthen its Motorsports activities in India and further gain a stronger footing for future car rallies, Yokohama India Private Limited, the wholly owned arm of Japanese tyre major Yokohama has announced its team for Motorsports 2015 India.
A press release from Yokohama said: “Team Yokohama will compete in the 1600 and 2000cc categories of the Indian Rally Championships. The team consists of experienced rallyists Rahul Kanthraj and Co-Driver Vivek Bhatt driving a Mitsubishi Cedia, competing in 2000cc and Karna Kadur and Co-Driver M Chandrashekar driving in 1600cc on a Volkswagen Polo. Yokohma also supports Prithvi Domnic and Co-Driver Pruthvi Ithal in 2000cc. Domnic is a Yokohama YCN dealer in Bangalore as well as a regular Motorsports rally enthusiast.
Takeshi Harada, Director (Sales and Marketing), Yokohama India, while introducing the team said: “Yokohama has been part of Motorsports events the world over. I would also like to mention the completion of 10 years as a sole Tyre supplier to WTCC, an FIA World Championship, this is a proud moment. Therefore, for us participating in the IRC was a foregone conclusion as Motorsports is today part of the Yokohama philosophy.”
“The launch of Team Yokohama is a proud moment, we have been providing Tyre support and participating for various Motorsports events in India since 2008 and excellent results have encouraged us to continue in this course,” Sanjay Chatterjee, General Manager, Yokohama India added.
From 2008 -2010 Yokohama had been the official tyre partner to Red Rooster racing for INRC events. The results during that partnership were encouraging. Since 2008 year after year Yokohama Tyre supported cars have always found place on the Podium at Raid De Himalaya, one of the toughest Rallies. Yokohama’s IRC 2014 results have also been encouraging with the Team winner 2000cc, Team winner 1600cc and Rahul Kanthraj as Best driver 2000cc.
Rahul Kanthraj and Vivek Bhatt duo started rallying in the year 2000 and has participated in over 75 rallies. Together they have won 4 Group and National championships and finished runners up on 4 other occasions. They will participate in the 2000cc category.
Participating in the 1600cc category, Karna Kadur, who has been part of over 95 (2& 4 Wheel) events and has won two National Championship titles and 12 National event wins. He has had 80 podium finishes with his co-driver M Chandrashekar.
The three cars: from left: Rahul Kantharaj & Vivek Bhatt, Karna Kadur & Chandrasekhar, Dominic Pruthvi and Prithvi Ithal. The FMSCI was founded in the year 1971. The Indian rally championship (IRC) was renamed in 2014 but started had way back in the year 1978 and ran as the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC).
Globally other than replacement tyres business, Yokohama tyres is original equipment suppliers to many top of the line car manufacturers like Audi, Honda, Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Suzuki and Toyota.
Yokohama India is 100% subsidiary of The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. Yokohama Rubber Company(YRC) is already running in to 10th decade of its establishment in Japan, under its management plan GD100 (Grand Design 100, on completion of 100 years of operations in 2017) decided to foray in to Indian market in 2007. India being one of the fastest growing automobile markets got Yokohama India to invest in land for its manufacturing unit.
Note: Updated from archives
-
Hamilton extends championship lead over Rosberg with Canadian win
Lewis Hamilton extended his championship lead over team-mate Nico Rosberg to 17 points as he took his fourth win of the season in a closely-fought Canadian Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas scored Williams’ first podium finish since last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with third place, while Kimi Räikkönen took fourth ahead of hard-charging team-mate Sebastian Vettel who took 10 points after a P16 start.
When the lights went out, Hamilton made a good start and held his advantage over Rosberg into the first corner. Behind them Räikkönen briefly came under pressure from Bottas but the Ferrari driver held on to stay third, with Lotus’ Romain Grosjean fifth behind Bottas. Hulkenberg, meanwhile, passed Maldonado for sixth.
Unsurprisingly, with Massa, Vettel out of place, most of the action happened at the rear of the field. By lap four Vettel was up to 14th place from P16 on the grid and then passed Fernando Alonso into the chicane to claim P13. Massa, who had started 15th was already up to P12. At the very back Jenson Button, who had suffered a 15-place grid drop due to power unite parts replacement and thus had take a time penalty due to not taking part in qualifying, served a drive through and set off after P19 man Will Stevens.
Vettel’s progress through the order was hampered, however by a bungled first pit stop on lap seven. The German spent 6.6s waiting for his opening new supersofts to be exchanged for another set of the red-banded tyres and rejoined in last position.
By contrast, Massa was prospering. On starting soft tyres he worked a superb overtaking move on the supersoft-shod Marcus Ericsson on lap 10 to take 11th place.
At the front, by lap 12, Hamilton led Rosberg by three seconds, with Räikkönen a further 2.4 seconds back. The Ferrari driver was being shadowed by Bottas who was now two seconds behind in fourth. Grosjean held fifth ahead of Hulkenberg and Maldonado. Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat was 4.7s off the back of the Lotus but was inside DRS range of Force India’s Sergio Perez who had earlier passed Daniel Ricciardo for ninth.
Meanwhile, Massa’s charge continued. He dismissed Ricciardo with ease and then halted Perez’ pursuit of Kvyat by brushing past the Mexican to take eighth place. He then claimed the scalp of Kvyat, who was struggling with his supersoft tyres, on lap 21.
Vettel, too, was making progress after his poor stop. By lap 20 he was chasing down Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz and within two laps he had effortlessly dismissed the power-limited Toro Rossos to rise to P1. And as those around him pitted he was soon into the top 10 and harrying Maldonado, who had pitted for soft tyres.
At the front Hamilton pitted from the lead on lap 28 and in 2.8s had taken on soft tyres. Behind him on track, Rosberg pushed to make up ground during the stop but made a mistake and went wide at the hairpin. The German then made his stop on lap 29 stop for soft tyres and behind him Hamilton too outbraked himself as he tried to maintain the gap to his team-mate. When the pair crossed the line again Rosberg now found himself 2.3s adrift of his team-mate.
Behind them Bottas had risen to third place ahead of Räikkönen after the Ferrari man spun badly at the hairpin on cold tyres after his first pit stop. Massa, who had on lap 32 yet to stop, was now fifth ahead of Grosjean and the hard-charging Vettel.
After the Mercedes drivers’ stops, Rosberg immediately looked more comfortably on the soft tyres and closed the gap to 1.1s. Hamilton responded, however, and pulled out four tenths of a second on lap 34 to make his advantage more comfortable. Rosberg was then told that his brakes wear was “critical” and that he needed to fall back for 10 laps before attacking his team-mate.
Vettel made his second and final stop on lap 35,taking on more soft tyres. The visit to the pit lane dropped him to P9, from where he began his next assault.
Massa meanwhile made his sole visit to the pit lane, for supersoft tyres on lap 38 and rejoined behind Vettel.
On his way to seventh place, Vettel then clashed with Hulkenberg. The Ferrari man pulled alongside the Force India into the final chicane and Hulkenberg spun. Vettel was quickly on the radio insisting that there had been no contact and following investigation the race stewards ruled that no further action was necessary.
A more visible collision occurred moments later when Grosjean sustained a puncture when he closed the door to sharply on Will Stevens after passing the Manor backmarker. Grosjean was quickly handed a five-second penalty for his transgression.
Vettel’s charge continued and on lap 55 he passed Maldonado under braking into the final chicane. The German was now in fifth place and 12.8s behind team-mate Räikkönen, with the Finn now almost 10s adrift of Bottas was comfortable in third. At the front Hamilton had stabilised his advantage over his team-mate at 1.5s.
Further back, Massa passed Maldonado on lap 62, while Grosjean was told that he would have his time penalty added after the flag and that he needed to pass Kvyat for P9 and then gap the Russian sufficiently to claim the two points on offer.
The Frenchman could find no way past the young Red Bull driver, however, with the Russian having an excellent afternoon despite the power deficiency his Renault engine had at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
The order elsewhere also remained static and despite Rosberg’s best attempts Hamilton took his fourth Canadian Grand Prix win comfortably. Rosberg crossed the line just over three seconds afterwards and Bottas took his seventh career podium finish.
Räikkönen claimed fourth ahead of Vettel, with Massa sixth and Maldonado scored his first points of the year in seventh. He was followed to the flag by Hulkenberg, while Kvyat held off Grosjean who took the final point on offer.
2015 Canadian Grand Prix – Race
1 L Hamilton Mercedes 1:31’53.145 25
2 N Rosberg Mercedes +2.285 18
3 V Bottas Williams +40.666 15
4 K Räikkönen Ferrari +45.625 12
5 S Vettel Ferrari +49.903 10
6 F Massa Williams +56.381 8
7 P Maldonado Lotus +1:06.664 6
8 N Hülkenberg Force India +1 Lap 4
9 D Kvyat Red Bull +1 Lap 2
10 R Grosjean Lotus +1 Lap 1
|11 S Pérez Force India +1 Lap
12 C Sainz Toro Rosso +1 Lap
13 D Ricciardo Red Bull +1 Lap
14 M Ericsson Sauber +1 Lap
15 M Verstappen Toro Rosso +1 Lap
16 F Nasr Sauber +2 Laps
17 W Stevens Manor +4 Laps
18 R Merhi Manor
19 J Button McLaren
20 F Alonso McLareneom/
Hamilton file photo by Mercedes AMG Petronas -
Hamilton on pole for Canadian GP
Lewis Hamilton claimed his sixth pole position of 2015 in Montreal beating out Nico Rosberg by three tenths of a second in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix.
Kimi Räikkönen will start third for Ferrari after team-mate Sebastian Vettel was dumped out early in the session due to power unit issues with his car. Fourth place went to Williams’ Valtteri Bottas.
Q1 began with Ferrari encountering problems as Sebastian Vettel radioed through that he was having power difficulties. The team told him there was an issue with his car’s MGU-H and asked him to return to the pit lane.
As expected the Mercedes drivers set the pace, with Rosberg heading Hamilton but only by the tiny margin of 0.002s.
As the first qualifying segment drew to a close it was Vettel and Massa who were in most trouble.
Vettel still had to set a time and seemed to be struggling. His first lap netted him P16 and he scraped across the line just in time for another last-ditch charge. However, without the power to perform he was also chasing a distant target and in the end the best lap of his single run of two hot laps netted him a time of 1:17.344, some 1.5s adrift off the segment’s best lap.
Massa also suffered power problems and like Vettel he could find no way to bridge the gap to the P15 time of 1:17.012 set by Fernando Alonso. Massa’s best time of 1:17.886 was only good enough for P17 ahead of the Manors of Roberto Mehri and Will Stevens and the McLaren of Jenson Button who did not take part in the session owing to power unit problems encountered in final practice.
Q1’s best lap came from Lotus’ Romain Grosjean, who late in the segment popped up with a time of 1:15.833 to finish ahead of Rosberg and Hamilton.
Grosjean’s time, like those of most of his rivals, was set on the supersoft tyre. The only drivers to make it through to Q2 on the soft tyre were the Mercedes of Rosberg and Hamilton, the Ferrari of Kimi Räikkonen in P6 and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas in P10.
Q2 saw Hamilton take control of P1, the defending champion recovering from a difficult final practice session in which he failed to a get a clean run to register a time of 1:14.661, ahead of Rosberg, while this time out Grosjean was pushed back to third place, four tenths of a second back from Rosberg.
Just a hundredth of a second separated Hamilton from his team-mate and the margins were similarly tight in the battle to make it through to Q3.
Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo was the man to claim the final place in the last segment, his time of 1:16.006 beating out Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz by a mere three hundredths of a second.
Sainz was eliminated ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen, who will drop down the grid thanks to a five-place penalty imposed after his Monaco crash and a 10-place sanction for an overnight engine change in Montreal. Thirteenth place in qualifying went to Marcus Ericsson, which will translate to 12th on the grid as Verstappen moves back. Fernando Alonso qualified 14th, while Sauber’s Felipe Nasr was eliminated in P15.
In the opening runs of Q3 Hamilton drew first blood, setting a first-run time of 1:14.393. That was just over three tenths ahead of Rosberg, whose opening effort was a lap of 1:14.702. The German was quickly on the radio complaining that he had no rear grip. His team responded that the tyres were likely to be his worst set and that he could expect better on his final run.
Räikkönen was third, eight tenths of a second down on Hamilton, while fourth place went to Grosjean, who was seven hundredths of a second off the back of the Finn. They were followed by Maldonado, Bottas, Nico Hulkenberg, Daniil Kvyat, Sergio Perez and Ricciardo, with the Australian Red Bull driver opting to stay in his garage during the first runs.
There was no improvement for Rosberg on his final run, however. Despite personal bests in the final two sectors a scrappy opening third left him in P2. Hamilton too failed to improve but his opening lap was enough to secure his sixth pole position from seven attempts this season.
Räikkönen held third with a marginal improvement but Grosjean was pipped for fourth by Bottas whose final run was good enough to beat the Lotus man by eight hundredths of a second.
Maldonado will line up at the back of row three ahead of Hulkenberg, Kvyat, Ricciardo and Perez.
Vettel’s woes were compounded following the session when he was summoned to the stewards’ room, suspected of passing under red flags in FP3. Vettel admitted to overtaking Manor’s Roberto Mehri between Turns 12 and 13 while the flags were out. He was handed a five-place grid penalty and three penalty points on his superlicence.
2015 Canadian Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:14.393s –
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:14.702s 0.309s
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:15.014s 0.621s
4 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:15.102s 0.709s
5 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:15.194s 0.801s
6 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:15.329s 0.936s
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:15.614s 1.221s
8 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:16.079s 1.686s
9 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:16.114s 1.721s
10 Sergio Perez Force India 1:16.338s 1.945s
11 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:16.042s –
12 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:16.262s –
13 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:16.276s –
14 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:16.620s –
15 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:17.344s –
16 Felipe Massa Williams 1:17.886s –
17 Roberto Merhi Marussia 1:19.133s –
18 Will Stevens Marussia 1:19.157s –
19 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:16.245s –
20 Jenson Button McLaren – –eom/FIA press release
Hamilton takes P1. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image -
Arvind KP emerges overall winner in Nashik: MRF MoGrip 2w nationals
Nashik, 1 June 2015:
Yashraj Rathod. Image courtesy FMSCI media office Arvind KP emerged overall winner in the first round of the MRF MOGRIP FMSCI National Rally Championship (2W) – 2015 that was conducted here on Sunday. NareshVS finished overall second, while Abdul Wahid emerged third overall.
Arvind and Naresh won in their respective categories as well.
A total of 48 riders entered the event, while 38 finished. The total distance of the rally was 170 Km with four competitive stages. The stages were mostly broken tarmac with some dirt sections thrown in.
This was the first of the five-round championship and the other rounds will be conducted in Coimbatore, Chikkamagaluru, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. This championship has been revived after a gap of eight years.
Results:
Overall winners: 1. Arvind KP (43 min, 36 sec penalty); 2. Naresh VS (45 min, 56 sec); 3.Abdul Wahid (45 min, 56 sec).Class 1: Motorcycles Group A: 1. Arvind KP (43min, 36sec); 2. Dhaval Toke (56min, 36sec); 3.Ashish Raorane (57min, 52sec).
Class 2: Motorcycles Group B, upto 130cc (M1): 1. Rohit Gowda (1 hr, 14mins, 48 sec).
Class 3: Motorcycles Group B, 131cc to 165cc (M2): 1. Suhail Ahmed (47min, 49sec); 2. Sachin D(51min, 37sec); 3.NishitJhaveri (51min, 40sec).
Class 4: Motorcycles Group B, 166cc to 260cc (M3+M4): 1. Naresh VS (45min, 56sec); 2. Abdul Wahid (45min, 56sec); 3.Yuva Kumar (47min, 42sec).
Class 5: Motorcycles Group B, 261cc to 500cc (M5): 1. YashrajRathod (51min, 58sec); 2. Vishwas SD (54min, 39 sec).
Star of Nashik: 1.AdityaThakkar (50min, 20sec); 2. Parvinder Singh Hunjan (52min, 26sec); 3.AmitSuryawanshi (54min, 15sec).
Scooters: 1.Shamim Khan (53min, 13sec); 2. HitenThakkar (56min, 18 sec); 3. Syed Asaf Ali (56min, 22sec).
Ends
-
Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo tops in Mugello for 3rd win in a row; Rossi takes 3rd, Marquez crashes out
Barberino del Mugello (Italy), 31 May 2015: Thousands of home fans of the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team gathered at the Autodromo del Mugello to see their dreams come true today. Not only did Jorge Lorenzo claim a flawless victory for the Gran Premio d’Italia,Yamaha‘s fifth of the season, but their local hero Valentino Rossi also battled his way onto podium. He secured third in a hard fought race, making it his sixth consecutive podium.After a flying start from second on the grid, Lorenzo tucked in behind Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso to quickly make his intentions clear. He moved up from third to lead the way when he crossed the line for the first time. With a clear track ahead of him, the race went exactly as he planned. As his pit board signaled rival Marc Marquez‘s approach, he put the hammer down, setting a 1‘47.700, the fastest lap of race.
He gradually built a gap and remained untouchable for the rest of the race. Riding consistent laps in the low 1‘48s the Spaniard finished his perfect performance at the team‘s home GP with a 5.563s advantage. This win is Lorenzo‘s third win at the Mugello circuit in four years‘ time.
Starting from eighth on the grid, teammate Rossi lost time when he got caught up in the pack and finished the first lap in ninth. He quickly made his way through the field, hunting for Cal Crutchlow riding in sixth and overtaking him on lap eight. It took The Doctor four laps to close down a 2.5s gap to the group battling for second place. He immediately passed Dovizioso for fifth and went on chasing Dani Pedrosa, Marquez and Iannone.
Rossi had his mind set on the podium and, having watched Marquez crash out, he was quick to make a move on Pedrosa for third. He pushed hard to close in on Iannone, setting a personal best of 1.48.173, but was unable to catch his compatriot and secured the last podium place, 6.661s from his teammate, accomplishing a third consecutive double podium for Yamaha.
Lorenzo‘s 25 point score adds to his total of 112 points, keeping him in second position in the standings. He is six points behind teammate and championship leader Rossi, whose 16 points put him on 118 points.
Jorge Lorenzo said: “I‘m very happy, because I did not expect to escape with such a big margin, but sometimes it happens that you feel great on the bike. Today the track was not so quick so everyone has been a bit slower than we expected. I was the only rider to ride multiple 1‘47s, so luckily for me I was gaining six or seven-tenths per lap, this was key to the win of the race. If someone would have told me before Jerez that I would win three races in a row I wouldn‘t have believed it, but this is what happened. We are in a great shape; Valentino is getting podiums in every race so that means he is strong and also the bike is working really well. It seems that this year could be our year, so we have to take advantage of it. It was a different situation when I was twenty-nine points behind than now when it‘s down to six, but even like that it‘s difficult to close in on Valentino in points because he is always on the podium. Today Iannone stayed in front of him so it‘s four points more and as I said six points difference is much better than twenty-nine, but we can‘t relax and neither can Yamaha. Our competitors are working really hard to fix the problems they seem to have with the stability of their bikes and they will arrive at a point that they will win races, but until then we need to make the most of our potential to improve the bike little by little.”
Valentino Rossi said: ``Mugello was very busy, because I am very competitive and all the Italian fans expected a great race from me. It‘s a bit of a shame that it wasn‘t a fantastic race. I wasn‘t strong enough but at the end of the race I arrived on the podium after a great recovery and a hard race. To be on the podium with whole the crowd is always magical with the track being full of people. I‘ve been suffering the whole weekend, I was never strong and didn‘t achieve a good level of speed. In the race I also suffered a lot, especially on the first lap. I think we have to improve, especially with Jorge being very strong, he is in a great shape and to match his level we need to be more competitive.” This concludes the Movistar Yamaha press release.
Battle for second:
As Lorenzo disappeared off into the distance, the real battle would be for second place. This fight was originally between the Factory Ducati’s of Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone, and the Repsol Honda’s of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, although Valentino Rossi would join in the fun before the end of the race.
Marquez had enjoyed an amazing start, moving up from 13th on the grid into sixth at the very first corner. In contrast, Valentino Rossi suffered a disastrous opening lap that would see him down drop down to tenth, before mounting an incredible charge through the field to join the podium fight with eight laps to go.
There was even more drama to come though, as Dovizioso was forced to retire with a damaged rear sprocket and then Marc Marquez, who was once more involved in an excellent scrap with Iannone for second, crashed out of the race leaving the Italian to claim second ahead of the inspired Rossi in third to send the partisan crowd into raptures.
Dani Pedrosa rode a solid race to claim fourth as the only Honda inside the top ten, just over three seconds behind Rossi. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith was the leading Satellite rider in fifth as he benefitted from Cal Crutchlow crashing out of the race with just three laps remaining while the CWM LCR Honda rider was ahead of him on track. Crutchlow went to the Medical Centre for X-rays, but luckily, although he had no broken bones the British rider will need a medical inspection before being declared fit to race in Catalunya. Smith’s teammate Pol Espargaro was next across the line in sixth, while Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar), wild card Michele Pirro (Ducati Team), Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) and his teammate Yonny Hernandez completed the top ten.
Scott Redding again struggled on his Factory spec Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda, finishing down in eleventh. Athina Forward Racing’s Loris Baz took his first Open class victory as he crossed the line in 12th ahead of Hector Barbera, Alvaro Bautista and Eugene Laverty, who claimed the last championship point on offer.
There were DNF’s for Stefan Bradl, Nicky Hayden, Aleix Espargaro, Jack Miller and Alex De Angelis, while Karel Abraham was guilty of a jump-start off the line and had to serve a ride through penalty before finishing in 17th.
ends/
-
Mapfre Mahindra’s Pecco Bagnaia qualifies 8th, ready to fight at home race: Moto3
Mugello, 30 May 2014: The dominance of Italian riders in Moto3 was diluted slightly on Saturday, as a Frenchman led the way in the last free practice session and an Englishman took pole position at Mugello. In the morning the Moto3 times continued to drop. In qualifying the 1.56.999 fastest ever Moto3 lap at Mugello was eclipsed within 5 minutes. Kent, Antonelli, Oliveira and Fenati all exchanged places at the top of the timesheet, until the overall leader of the Moto3 class established an advantage of 7 tenths to clinch pole. Kent established a new fas
Pecco Bagnaia qualifies P8 at Mugello after third sector problems. An AsperTeam image test lap of the Italian track with a 1:56.615 time.
The MAPFRE Team Mahindra riders could well feature in the leading group on Sunday. Pecco Bagnaia took a step back with his setup today after some unsatisfactory tests on Day 1, and regained a good feeling with his bike. The Italian concluded qualifying in eighth, nine tenths off the fastest time. The Italian feels he has the right setup to fight in the leading group during the twenty laps of his home race.
Teammate Juanfran Guevara will start from fourteenth, having set a time nearly three tenths slower. He is confident that his hard work and strong pace will bring a good result tomorrow.
The youngest rider for MAPFRE Team Mahindra, Jorge Martín, ended the final practice session in fifth place, just two tenths off the best time, but lost feeling in qualifying and placed twentieth. He hopes that a comeback is possible on raceday.
8th Pecco Bagnaia 1.57.529 (15 laps): “We are 9 tenths off the best time, but it’s just a shame that on the last lap we lost time in the third sector. In any case we cannot complain, because we set a good time and have enough pace to have a good race tomorrow and be in the lead group. It is going to be a tough race, because many riders are riding quickly and the leading group will be large. We’ll have to be clever on the straight in order to benefit from the slipstream and not be penalised compared to other riders. The only way will be to attack and attack in order to try to get as high up as possible, and try to avoid problems. I hope it will be a lot of fun. Yesterday we tried something we didn’t like, but this morning we took a step back and now my feeling is magnificent. The aim is to fight and try to get the best possible result; we are at home, in Italy, so I hope to get a good result for my family, the team and the fans.”
eom/Mapfre Mahindra team release
