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Max Verstappen scores career’s first pole position: Hungarian GP
Max Verstappen (centre) takes pole on Saturday. An FIA image Budapest, 3 August 2019: Max Verstappen scored the first first pole position of his career as he beat Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas to the front of the Hungarian Grand Prix grid by just under two hundredths of a second. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton with start from third place for the 12th round of the FIA World Formula 1 Championship on Sunday.
As soon as the lights went green at the end of the pit lane to signal the start of Q1, Red Bull driver Verstappen made a strong statement, with the Dutchman posting a lap of 1:15.917 to top the timesheeet. It was a time none of his rivals could match in this first segment, though Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton got close with a lap of 1:16.068 to finish second ahead of Bootas and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.
Fifth and sixth places went to Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel. Leclerc hit trouble in this opening phase, however. The Monegasque lost control of his car on entry to the final turn during a flying lap and spun backwards into the barriers. He was able to limp back to the pits where his crew began repairs ahead of Q2.
At the lower end of the order George Russell was the first man eliminated in P16. The Williams driver exited ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez, Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, the second Racing Point of Lance Stroll and P20 man Robert Kubica of Williams.
For the top three teams the yellow-banded medium tyre was the compound of choice for the first runs of Q2. Hamilton took top spot with a time of 1:15.548, but Verstappen shadowed him closely with a lap 0.025s off the Mercedes drive’s pace. Bottas was a tenth further back in third place ahead of the Ferraris of Leclerc and Vettel.
In ther final runs of the segment, the drivers at the top of the order went out again on soft tyres, but after posting purple times in the first two sectors Verstappen, Hamilton and Bottas backed out their laps.
With Ferrari running medium tyres throughout Q2, and with Pierre Gasly matching that tactic in the second Red Bull on his way to P9 in Q2, all drivers from the top three teams in the championship with start on the yellow-banded Pirelli compound.
Eliminated at the end of the second segment were 11th-place Nico Hulkenberg of Renault followed by the Toro Rossos of Alex Albon and Daniil Kvyat, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.
The final segment saw Max become the first man to dip below 1m15s and the Dutchman claimed provisional pole with a super lap of 1:14.958. That left him 0.178s ahead of Bottas and a hundredth further ahead of Hamilton. And there was no denying Verstappen Max in the final run. Bottas pushed the Dutchman hard, but with a smattering of purple micro-sectors across his lap Max pulled clear of the Finn to beat him to the front of the grid by just under two hundredths of a second.
Hamilton too found a substantial improvement on his final lap but it wasn’t enough to lift him higher than third place, almost two tenths of a second off pole. Fourth place on the grid went to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, almost half a second behind Max, with Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel fifth.
Pierre held onto sixth place at the end of qualifying, finishing just over three tenths of a second behind Vettel and improving to a time of 1:15.450.
Seventh place went to McLaren’s Lando Norris, with team-mate Carlos Sainz eighth. The final two top-10 places went to Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen.
2019 FIA Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:14.572
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:14.590 0.018
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:14.769 0.197
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:15.043 0.471
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:15.071 0.499
6 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing 1:15.450 0.878
7 Lando Norris McLaren 1:15.800 1.228
8 Carlos Sainz McLaren 1:15.852 1.280
9 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:16.013 1.441
10 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1:16.041 1.469
11 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:16.565 1.993
12 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 1:16.687 2.115
13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:16.692 2.120
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1:16.804 2.232
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:17.081 2.509
16 George Russell Williams 1:17.031 2.459
17 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1:17.109 2.537
18 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:17.257 2.685
19 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1:17.542 2.970
20 Robert Kubica Williams 1:18.324 3.752. -
Rajiv Sethu records 3rd win; Double for Venkatesan; Rahil Shetty, Anish Shetty, Mikail win
Rajiv Sethu (80), winner of the Pro-Stock 165cc race on Saturday. Photos by Anand Philar Chennai, 3 August 2019: International rider Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) notched his third win in a row in the Pro-Stock 165cc class while Hyderabad’s Rahil Shetty (Sparks Racing) kept his nerves and wits to pull off a brilliant victory in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc category on the second day of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship Round 3 at the MMRT, here today.
Also scoring impressive wins on the day in the National Championship were Bengaluru-based Anish Shetty who led a podium sweep for Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing in the Pro-Stock 201-300cc category and Venkatesan who topped the Novice (Stock 165cc) race.
Venkatesan (59), on way to winning the Stock 165cc (Novice) Race 1 on Saturday. He also got a double later as he won Novice Class RTR 200 Race 1 also. Sethu, who missed the first round due to international commitments, is in a catch-up mode in the championship stakes, and his hat-trick of wins took him to third on the leaderboard with 75 points behind TVS Racing’s Jagan Kumar (94) and team-mate Sarath Kumar (78) going into tomorrow’s second race.
The trio was involved in a thrilling battle that went down to the wire with Sethu, having overcome a poor start from pole position, managed to get past seven-times National champion Jagan on the last lap for a well-deserved win while Sarath followed the TVS Racing ace home. Less than a second separated the three podium finishers.
Equally superb win was that of 21-year old Rahil Shetty who battled not just his rivals but also his own error-filled riding before squeezing past TVS Racing pair of Deepak Ravikumar and KY Ahamed in the last lap. “I made too many mistakes today, but somehow managed to pull through,” said a relieved Shetty who started on P3. Despite the second-place finish, Ravikumar continues to lead the championship in this category with 86 points, followed by Ahamed (73) while Shetty (35) is placed seventh.
Racing on the same grid as the 301-400cc bikes, Bengaluru-based Anish Shetty logged his second consecutive win with team-mates Abhishek Vasudev and Aravind Balakrishnan following him home. Today’s win took Anish’s tally to 65, well ahead of Mathan Kumar of Erula Racing (47) and Vasudev (45).Earlier, in yet another close race, Venkatesan also registered his first win of the season in the Novice class after battling Mohan Babu (Rockers Racing) and Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) over six laps. Lakshmipathy Balaji (Alpha Racing) missed out on the podium by a whisker as the four crossed the finish line covered by less than a second. Abhimanyu, though, continues to head the leaderboard with 80 points, trailed by Venkatesan (73) and Mohan Babu (57) going into the second race tomorrow.
The results (Provisional, all 6 laps unless mentioned):
National Championship:
Pro-Stock 301-400cc (Race-1): 1. Rahil Pillari Shetty (Sparks Racing) (11mins, 41.443secs); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing) (11:41.990); 3. KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) (11:42.201).
Pro-Stock 201-300cc (Race-1): 1. Anish Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:11.667); 2. Abhishek Vasudev (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:20.100); 3. Aravind Balakrishnan (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:20.245).
Pro-Stock 165cc (Race-1): 1. Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:01.973); 2. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (12:02.073); 3. Sarath Kumar (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:02.833).
Novice (Stock 165cc) (Race-1): 1. Venkatesan I (Motomaniacz Racing) (13:06.397); 2. Mohan Babu P (Rockers Racing) (13:06.447); 3. Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) (13:06.628).
One-Make Championship: Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup – NSF 250R (Race-1): 1. Md Mikail (Chennai) (11:04.391); 2. Varoon Sadasivam (Chennai) (11:12.581); 3. Kritik Vasant Habib (Gadag) (11:13.432).
CBR 150 (Novice, Race-1): 1. Lal Nunsanga (Aizwal) (13:16.118); 2. Samuel Martin (Bengaluru) (13:16.240); 3. S Deepak Kumar (Chennai) (13:16.528).
TVS – Open (RR 310, Race-1): 1.S Kannan (Chennai) (11:54.079); 2. Soorya PM (Chennai) (12:02.607); 3. Aravind Ganesh R (Chennai) (12:02.680).
Novice (RTR 200, Race-1): 1. Venkatesan I (Chennai) (13:24.694); 2.Lakshmipathy Balaji (Vellore) (13:25.047); 3.Ullas Santrupt Nanda (Bengaluru) (13:25.380).
Girls (RTR 200, 5 laps): 1. Nivetha Jessica (Chennai) (11:30.986); 2. Lani Zena Fernandez (Pondicherry) (11:31.075); 3. Lakiya Lee Charles (Chennai) (11:32.354).
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DAMS driver Latifi secures first win since Round 3, ahead of De Vries and Aitken: F2
3 August 2019: Nicholas Latifi won for the first time since Barcelona with a masterclass on the tight turns of the Hungaroring, bombing ahead of Nyck De Vries at the start and never wavering. Amazingly, it is the first time this season that the Championships’ top two have shared a podium, with the duo finishing ahead of Campos Racing’s Jack Aitken.Despite the downpour in Friday’s Qualifying session, the rain held off on Saturday morning in Hungary and De Vries made the most of the dry surface to get away cleanly off the line, battling off a move down his right from Luca Ghiotto. Or, so he thought! Nicholas Latifi surged past them both on the left and nipped by at the end of the first turn, with De Vries’ locking up.There were plenty of places gained further back at Turn 1 as Aitken jumped three to 5th, while Hubert hopped five to 13th. There was heartbreak for Louis Delétraz, whose slow start when the lights went out saw him drop to 8th, before his Carlin slowed down to a stop.Aitken began hounding Mick Schumacher in 4th, who had fallen off the tail of Ghiotto. The German defended his position well, but lost out in the pits as Campos delivered a perfect stop, which saw the Brit nip ahead of both the PREMA man and Ghiotto.By the time Latifi pitted a lap later, he’d built a strong gap over De Vries and returned in 6th place, directly in-front of the ART Grand Prix man who had already stopped. The race lead was handed to Jordan King who was on the alternate strategy.Latifi briefly put space between himself and De Vries when he passed Ralph Boschung, but he got caught in traffic and the Dutchman began to catch him. There was a brief Virtual Safety Car as Arjun Maini pulled over onto the gravel and became the morning’s second casualty.Nobuharu Matsushita passed Schumacher down the pit-straight when racing resumed, while Latifi zipped by Hubert for second, who was also yet to stop. By the time King pitted from first and handed Latifi back the lead, the Canadian had built up a 6s gap between himself and his title rival.The front three spots were back into the hands of Latifi, De Vries and Aitken, with Ghiotto in 4th and unable to match the Brit’s speed. This sent the Italian into the clutches of Matsushita and sparked a mass brawl for fourth.Ghiotto was able to fend off the Carlin driver, which sent him into the lurches of Sérgio Sette Câmara who had risen magnificently from 12th. The duo went two wide ahead of Turn 3, which put King into the mix. Narrowly avoiding a kiss of tyres, the Brazilian and the Briton edged passed Matsushita.The battles were brought to a swift conclusion when Boschung’s Trident went up in smoke and forced him to pull over onto the gravel. The race finished under the subsequent Safety Car, although Ghiotto and King were handed penalties after the chequered flag for a SC infringement and fell down the order. Latifi safely crossed the line ahead of De Vries and Aitken. Sette Câmara claimed fourth, ahead of Matsushita, Ghiotto, King, Schumacher, Guanyu Zhou and Callum Ilott.The Canadian’s victory sees him gain ground on De Vries at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, with De Vries now on 192 points and Latifi 28 behind him. Sette Câmara moves up to third on 133, ahead of Ghiotto on 130. Aitken completes the top five with 128. In the Teams’ Championship, DAMS have increased their lead and now have 297 points, ahead of UNI-Virtuosi on 237. ART Grand Prix sit third on 198, with Campos Racing behind on 158 and Carlin on 135.Schumacher will start on reverse pole for the first time since Bahrain in the Sprint Race and aim for a maiden win in F2 when action kicks off again tomorrow at 11.25am local time.2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship – Round 8 Feature Race provisional classificationDRIVERTEAM1Nicholas LatifiDAMS2Nyck De VriesART Grand Prix3Jack AitkenCampos Racing4Sérgio Sette CâmaraDAMS5Nobuharu MatsushitaCarlin6Luca GhiottoUNI-Virtuosi Racing7Jordan KingMP Motorsport8Mick SchumacherPREMA Racing9Guanyu ZhouUNI-Virtuosi Racing10Callum IlottSauber Junior Team by Charouz11Anthoine HubertBWT Arden12Nikita MazepinART Grand Prix13Giuliano AlesiTrident14Juan Manuel CorreaSauber Junior Team by Charouz15Sean GelaelPREMA Racing16Tatiana CalderonBWT Arden17Mahaveer RaghunathanMP Motorsport18Ralph BoschungTridentNOT CLASSIFIEDArjun MainiCampos RacingLouis DelétrazCarlinOVERALL FASTEST LAPJordan KingMP Motorsport1:32.436 on lap 33FASTEST LAP ELIGIBLE FOR POINTSJordan KingMP Motorsport -
Marquez puts slicks on pole at a half-soaked Brno; equals Doohan record
Marc Marquez takes pole on Saturday at Brno. A MotoGP image Brno (Czech Republic), 3 August 2019: Pole positions come and go, lap records are broken, and the paddock inevitably marches on. But every now and then, someone creates a moment that instantly gets inked into the history books, and that’s exactly what Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) did to take pole position in the Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky. Slicks in mixed conditions are a recipe for gravel or glory and Marquez threaded the needle to perfection in one of the most stunning qualifying performances in history, annihilating his rivals by over two and a half seconds. If that wasn’t enough, it’s also pole number 58 for the number 93, equalling Mick Doohan’s all-time premier class record. Joining Marquez on the front row are Jack Miller (Pramac Racing), who also took the gamble on slicks, and Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), who took the first front row for the Austrian factory and his first this season.
In Q1, it was also KTM’s time to shine as Zarco reigned ahead of teammate Pol Espargaro, with the two split by just 0.020 and both moving through to contest what looked like a very challenging Q2. And that it turned out to be, with Zarco again the man in the spotlight as the Frenchman took provisional pole with ten minutes remaining, ahead of Espargaro, and a dry line starting to appear on the track.
The drama came first from a fight between Marquez and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), with the two getting a little too close for comfort on track before rolling into pitlane in tandem and exchanging a few words. And that’s when the reigning Champion switched to slicks, heading back out with seven minutes left on the clock, as the rain began to return.
Meanwhile, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) had gone the opposite way, and it looked like Marquez could have made a serious mistake as the Ducati man shot up into second to split the KTMs…and the rain started to fall. But then the red sectors started to appear.
First it was a few tenths, and by the end of the lap it was over a second. At parts of the track it was pouring with rain but the number 93 kept on keeping on, eking out the advantage with utter commitment to the cause and taking over on top.
Miller was also seeing red and moved up to second behind Marquez not long after, and that was surely all she wrote? Not so as both men began another flying lap. For Miller, sadly, it came to an early end as the Australian crashed out. But he’d done enough to keep his impressive second place and once again proved a master of rolling the dice, with everything now left to one man and his slicks: Marquez. Could he improve? He didn’t need to, but the reigning Champion was on a mission.
Four tenths in sector 1 became nearly a second in sector 2, before the third sector saw the timing screens light up with a gap of almost a second and a half. The final sector was where the rain was still coming down though; all that stood between Marquez and pole number 58. That, too, was conquered, with Marquez’ final effort pulling him two and a half seconds clear of the field and a second and a half ahead of his previous best. Mission accomplished, history made.
So he heads Miller and Zarco as the Frenchman earns KTM’s first MotoGP™ front row start and his best qualifying result since taking pole in Malaysia last year, with Dovizioso putting himself in a solid position for the race in fourth. Espargaro lines up in fifth for the second time this season, with Rins ultimately set to launch from sixth.
Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) slammed in a late personal best time on the wet tyres to spearhead the third row of the grid in Brno, ‘The Doctor’ leads Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) and Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), who are in eighth and ninth respectively. Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) and Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) completed the Q2 runners.
The Czech Adrenaline Factory certainly lived up its name on Saturday, as Marquez swept away records and rain for premier class pole 58. But Sunday should be dry, and that’s a whole new
ball game…so tune in for it at 14:00 local time, 5.30 pm Indian time. (GMT+2).MotoGP Qualifying top-3:1 – Marc Marquez (SPA – Honda) 2’02.7532 – Jack Miller* (ITA – Ducati) +2.524
3 – Johann Zarco (FRA – KTM) +2.598.ends -
Alex Marquez two seconds clear for Moto2 pole
The Championship leader turned the screw in Q2 and timed it to perfection
Front row from left: Lowes, Alex Marquez (pole) and Baldassarri at Brno on Saturday. A MotoGP image Brno (Czech Republic), 3 August 2019: Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) is on pole for the Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky, but there’s much more to the headline than that. The number 73 timed it to perfection on a difficult, mixed track to take two seconds out his closest challenger, Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2), and pick up where he left off in Germany. Lowes starts second after a nevertheless impressive session, with Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) completing the front row in third…four seconds adrift.
Earlier there was plenty of drama in Q1, with Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) moving up to lead Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) and Brit Jake Dixon (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) in third, with another impressive performer in fourth as Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) joined them to move through. Some first timers, some wet weather specialists…and everything to play for in Q2.
The rain was easing off in the second session and times tumbled. After the first five minutes, the top four were the Q1 graduates, with Marco Bezzecchi leading the way, but there was plenty more to come.
Baldassarri took the leap to dry tyres, swiftly followed by Marquez. Then Bo Bendsneyder took a light tumble at Turn 1, rider remounting, as Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Sam Lowes started to attack. But it was Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up) who took over at the top at that stage, with Friday’s fastest impressing in the very different conditions, and it was clear that whoever set their flying lap last would be making some serious gains as it continued drying out.
It came down to Marquez vs Lowes, with each sector making it increasingly clear that the number 73 was about to absolutely obliterate the opposition. And that he did, although it was also true of Lowes with everyone else.
A late lap from Lorenzo Baldassarri secured him third on the grid and a front row for the first time with Qatar, although the deficit was sizeable it proved enough. Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46) blasted in a lap right at the end to head up row two, turning the tables on compatriot rookie Giannantonio to just pip him on Saturday, with Marco Bezzecchi in sixth making it an all-Italian second row as he took his best Moto2™ grid position since joining the class.
Marcel Schrötter was seventh as he aims for back-to-back podiums, with Bo Bendsneyder in eighth ahead of fellow top performer Jake Dixon. Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40) completed the top ten.
So where’s Championship challenger Tom Lüthi (Dynavolt Intact GP)? Down in P12 despite his previous wet weather win at Brno. He’ll be looking to move forward on Sunday, as will Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) in 14th, Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 16th and returnee Mattia Pasini (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 down in 24th….
Marquez seems on an unstoppable roll of late. But race day is set to dawn dry, and the number 73 had serious company before the conditions changed. Can he do it again? Find out when the lights go out on Sunday at 12:20 local time (IST+7.30pm).
Moto2 Qualifying top-3:
1 – Alex Marquez (SPA – Kalex) 2’06.787
2 – Sam Lowes (GBR – Kalex) +2.018
3 – Lorenzo Baldassarri (ITA – Kalex) +3.979Arbolino ahead of the curve for pole in Czechia Italian takes pole in wet qualifying to celebrate his birthday in style Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) celebrated his birthday in style at the Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky, taking pole position by an impressive four tenths in the wet. He’s perfectly set up for race day after also having been fast on Friday in the dry, and he’ll be joined on the front row by 2016 Brno winner John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) and 2015 winner Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse).
But before all that was decided in Q2, after the heavens opened on Saturday morning, Q1 was high risk and there was plenty of drama: Tom Booth-Amos (CIP Green Power) tumbled at Turn 13, Albert Arenas (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) suffered a highside at Turn 3, although he remounted, and Can Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was teetering on the edge of the top four when he crashed out. The Turk held onto his fourth place, however, joining Raul Fernandez (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team), Makar Yurchenko, (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) and Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) in going through to Q2.
As Q2 began, conditions were wet wet wet and remained so, with McPhee leading for much of the session. Fernandez was also looking strong, but Arbolino changed the benchmark with two minutes to go and was the first rider in the 2’18s. Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) then shot into second place in the closing stages, but was pipped right at the end by McPhee. Antonelli then did the same to his teammate, dropping Suzuki down to fourth.
Alongside the Japanese rider is Fernandez despite a crash at Turn 3 for the Spaniard, with Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) completing the second row in sixth place as the Championship contender put himself in a solid position for Sunday. Makar Yurchenko took a career-best qualifying position with seventh, ahead of Spanish rider Jaume Masia (Bester Capital Dubai). Japanese rookie Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) locked out the third row.
Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) completed the top ten, ahead of veteran Romano Fenati (VNE Snipers), Qatar winner Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia) and youngest ever Grand Prix winner Can Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Home hero Filip Salac (Redox Prüstel GP) was just behind them, putting in a solid performance for P14.
So who’s missing from the front? Championship leader Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) had a tough qualifying, and the Italian faces a fight back through the field from P17 – qualifying just ahead of teammate Marcos Ramirez, another usual frontrunner.
How will the conditions shuffle the pack on race day? Can the Leopard duo strike back on Sunday? Tune in at 11:00 (GMT +2) local time to find out.
Moto3 Qualifying top-3:
1 – Tony Arbolino (ITA – Honda) 2’18.020
2 – John McPhee (GBR – Honda) +0.400
3 – Niccolo Antonelli (ITA – Honda) +0.802 -
Toyota 1-2-3 at half-way stage: WRC Rally Finland
Toyotas take lead mid-way through Finland Rally. An FIA image With the first cool and cloudy morning of Rally Finland completed, it was a Toyota one-two-three so far on the team’s home event.
Although he was running first on the road, championship points leader Ott Tänak finished on top after the first five gravel stages.
The Estonian is only 5.4 seconds ahead of his team mate Jari-Matti Latvala, who won more stages than anyone else this morning. The Finn was delayed slightly by a rear-left puncture on SS5, the same issue that affected the third Toyota driver Kris Meeke, who completed the top three at lunchtime, just 0.4 seconds behind Latvala. All the stage wins were shared by Toyota this morning: three to Latvala, plus one each for Meeke and Tänak.
Esapekka Lappi drove back to Jyväskylä for the midday service in fourth place after a fault-free run. This means that the current top four are all former Rally Finland winners.
The leading Hyundai driver is surprise entrant Craig Breen in fifth. The Irishman put in a strong performance on his first WRC appearance this season, despite feeling he had gone too soft on his i20 Coupe WRC’s set-up.
Citroën’s Sébastien Ogier is 3.5 seconds behind Breen in sixth, however he is not entirely clear on the best way to improve the settings on his car for the afternoon’s loop of five more stages.
The reigning champion is ahead of the two Hyundais of Andreas Mikkelsen and Thierry Neuville, with the Norwegian considerably happier than the Belgian, who had taken an early lead after last night’s Super Special stage. Frustrated by his lack of pace, Neuville’s aim was to make some changes to the set-up of his car at service.
Teemu Suninen is the top Ford Fiesta WRC in ninth, despite losing a big piece of his front splitter this morning. The Finn is half a minute ahead of his 10th placed team mate Gus Greensmith, who is on only his second event in a World Rally Car.
Leading the FIA WRC2 Pro category, Finland’s rising rally star Kalle Rovanperä is in 11th overall. But it wasn’t an easy morning for the Škoda Fabia R5 driver, suffering from too much oversteer. Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet is just behind him in another Škoda Fabia R5 Evo to lead the FIA WRC 2 class.
The first stage of the day ended in retirement for local hero Erik Pietarinen, who hit a bank and had a high speed spin. Emil Lindholm was also reported as having stopped his Volkswagen Polo R5 in the Moksi stage.
In the FIA Junior WRC, Sweden’s Tom Kristensson leads the Fiesta R2T category by just 17 seconds ahead of his fellow compatriot Dennis Rådström.
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Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly tops rain-affected FP2
Pierre Gasly tops FP2 on Friday. An FIA image Budapest, 2 August 2019: Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly topped the timesheet in a rain-affected seconds practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, the 12th round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon crashed out in the rain on Friday.
The session was held under grey skies and the threat of rain and as such there was a flurry of activity soon after the green lights went on at the end of the pit lane with 17 drivers taking to the track in the opening minutes.
One of those was Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. The Finn missed the morning session owing to a change of engine on his car and after the switch he was quickly into gear in the afternoon, taking top spot with a time midway into the 1m19s bracket.
The track wouldn’t remain busy for long though. Within moments of Bottas taking P1, Alex Albon put a wheel on the grass on entry into the final Turn and his Toro Rosso was immediately sent into a spin. The Thai driver went side-on into the barriers on the outside of the corner with his car sustaining significant damage to its left side.
The Toro Rosso driver was unhurt but the incident brought out the red flags and there was a six-minute delay as his car recovered.
When the action resumed, Bottas improved again took P1 with a lap of 1:18.289 set on mediums but that time was quickly beaten by team-mate Lewis Hamilton who posted a lap of 1:18.110s on hard compound Pirelli tyres. The championship leader then went better again, setting a new benchmark of 1:17.995.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen then eclipses that with his best lap of 1:17.909 set on medium tyres. Gasly, though, opted for soft compound tyres and he rose to the top of the leaderboard with a session-best time of 1:18.854.
Rain then began to steadily fall and the conditions, which are not forecast to effect either qualifying or the race, effectively brought the session to an end. Over the remaining hour most drivers took to the circuit on intermediate tyres but by and large it was for brief exploratory runs before returning to the pit lane.
It meant that Gasly held on to top spot ahead of Verstappen, Hamilton and Bottas. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth 0.743 behind Gasly having snuck in a lap before the rain brought meaningful running to an end.
Kimi Raikkonen was sixth for Alfa Romeo, while Charles Leclerc was the highest placed Ferrari almost a second adrift of Gasly. Leclerc’s team-mate Sebastian Vettel used hard tyres ahead of the rain and finished in P13, 1.4s off the pace.
Nico Hulkenberg was eighth in the second Renault ahead of Alfa’s Antonio Giovinazzi and the top 10 order was rounded out by Hockenheim podium-finisher Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso.
2019 FIA Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing 16 1:17.854
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 12 1:17.909 0.055
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 15 1:17.995 0.141
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 18 1:18.184 0.330
5 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 13 1:18.597 0.743
6 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 25 1:18.682 0.828
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 21 1:18.852 0.998
8 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 14 1:18.892 1.038
9 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 25 1:18.909 1.055
10 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 22 1:18.957 1.103
11 Romain Grosjean Haas 19 1:19.149 1.295
12 Kevin Magnussen Haas 21 1:19.178 1.324
13 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 24 1:19.254 1.400
14 Carlos Sainz McLaren 22 1:19.398 1.544
15 Sergio Perez Racing Point 13 1:19.721 1.867
16 Lance Stroll Racing Point 14 1:19.774 1.920
17 George Russell Williams 14 1:19.889 2.035
18 Lando Norris McLaren 6 1:20.401 2.547
19 Robert Kubica Williams 15 1:20.439 2.585
20 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 2 -
Dutchman De Vries flies to Budapest pole; Arjun Maini P15: F2
Budapest, 2 August 2019: Nyck de Vries continued his so far flawless weekend to claim an emphatic pole position in the wet, in today’s FIA Formula 2 Qualifying at the Hungaroring. The ART Grand Prix ace picked up where he left off in Free Practice to finish ahead of Championship rivals Luca Ghiotto and Nicholas Latifi.The rain threatened to derail the session right from the start, as Nikita Mazepin succumbed to the slippery circuit and spun at Turn 7 on his out lap. The Russian was unable to get going again, which prompted a red flag so that the marshals could quickly whisk him off track.At the restart, De Vries was the first back out there, but focused on testing the track limits with rain still pouring down, and lapped the Hungaroring in 1:50.820. Guanyu Zhou and Mick Schumacher opted for a similar strategy and nestled into third and fourth, with Luca Ghiotto coming closest to the Dutchman. The UNI-Virtuosi man lapped just 0.061s slower, eying up P1 with his next tour.The Italian duly set a purple first sector, but a wobble in the third proved his undoing, as he was unable to beat his prior time. He had the same issue on his next lap as the rain began to take its toll on the field.Latifi held his lap together and stole P1 from the clutches of his rival by 0.242s, as he coveted his first ever pole position in the category. Meanwhile, Schumacher had looked pacey in practice and nipped in-between the traffic at the start of a flying lap in his own bid for pole. The German was unrelenting in the rain and despite a slightly slow second sector, snatched second place with a searing lap.It was then that De Vries came into his own, displaying his undeniable ability over one lap. The Championship leader smashed out three perfect purple sectors to break the 1m 50s barrier and take an unassailable lead at the top.Ghiotto improved upon his time prior to the chequered flag, but couldn’t match the sheer speed of De Vries in the rain, who held on for pole position ahead of Latifi, Schumacher and Louis Delétraz. They were followed by Callum Ilott, Jack Aitken and Nobuharu Matsushita while Anthoine Hubert and Zhou completed the top ten.Racing will resume on Saturday morning at 10.10am (local time) when De Vries will aim to continue his perfect start to Round 8 and add to his Championship lead. Following closely will be title rivals Ghiotto and Latifi, in what could be the tightest battle of the season yet. Don’t count against further downpour which would add extra spice to an already tasty looking race.FIA Formula 2 Championship – Round 8 Qualifying provisional classificationDRIVERTEAMLAPTIMELAPS1Nyck De VriesART Grand Prix1:49.809132Luca GhiottoUNI-Virtuosi Racing1:50.036133Nicholas LatifiDAMS1:50.578134Mick SchumacherPREMA Racing1:50.748125Louis DeletrazCarlin1:50.853146Callum IlottSauber Junior Team by Charouz1:50.871137Jack AitkenCampos Racing1:50.962138Nobuharu MatsushitaCarlin1:51.408149Anthoine HubertBWT Arden1:51.5131210Guanyu ZhouUNI-Virtuosi Racing1:51.5731311Jordan KingMP Motorsport1:51.7171312Juan Manuel CorreaSauber Junior Team by Charouz1:51.7881313Sergio Sette CamaraDAMS1:51.8171214Giuliano AlesiTrident1:52.6441315Arjun MainiCampos Racing1:52.7181216Ralph BoschungTrident1:52.9561317Sean GelaelPREMA Racing1:52.9951218Tatiana CalderonBWT Arden1:53.9971219Mahaveer RaghunathanMP Motorsport1:55.21712NOT CLASSIFIEDNikita MazepinART Grand Prix -
Fabio Quartararo ousts Marquez on Friday
Fabio
Quartraro tops Friday practice. A MotoGP imageBrno, 2 August 2019: Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) had a fairly quiet Friday morning at the Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky, but the Frenchman was more than back in business as the day started to come to a close, pulling 1.7 seconds out his pocket near the end of FP2 to snatch first from reigning Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team). The gap was small though, with just 0.023 separating the two by the end of play…something that’s becoming a recurring theme. Just behind them, it was an even smaller gap between third and fourth: a non-existent one. Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) set identical laptimes. but the Australian’s second quickest lap means he takes third.
With rain forecast for Saturday morning, Friday took on even more importance than normal in terms of Q2 entry; the top ten on the combined timesheets potentially already decided if the weather changes. In terms of times, Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) was the first major improver in FP2, soon 0.590 clear of the field in the afternoon, with his fortunes soaring early in the session as bad luck hit the other side of the Yamaha garage.
Five-time premier class Brno winner and teammate Valentino Rossi had to nurse his M1 back to the pits with just over 20 minutes of FP2 to go after a mechanical issue and at that stage, the likes of ‘The Doctor’, Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team), 2016 Czech GP winner Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) and even Quartararo were languishing outside the top 10.
That would all change in the last 10 minutes, however. Soft tyres came out to play and Marquez stuck his Repsol Honda top of the pile, with the likes of Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) and Miller also improving just before the reigning World Champion went quickest. Then, enter Quartararo. The rookie sensation was 18th in FP1, and somehow then suddenly seared around Brno 1.7 seconds quicker to move up from P17 to take over at the top in FP2. ‘El Diablo’ is back in business and very close to fully fit after his arm pump surgery and then shoulder dislocation.
The Frenchman heads Marquez by mere hundredths then, ahead of the two Ducatis of Miller and FP1’s fastest man Dovizioso, with earlier FP2 leader Viñales pushed down to fifth overall. Rins, another who’d already bothered the top earlier in the session, ends Friday in sixth, with Petronas Yamaha SRT’s Franco Morbidelli jumping up one place from his P8 in FP1 to take P7 in FP2.
Crutchlow, Rossi and Petrucci also all put in late personal best laps to earn top 10 positions, something that could prove crucial. Crutchlow was eighth overall – a big improvement from the Brit, who managed 15th in the morning – with Rossi recovering from his mechanical issue to place ninth, one better than his FP1 effort. Petrucci climbed three places to complete that potentially crucial top ten.
Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was the man to just miss out as he ends the day in 11th, just ahead of Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu). The Japanese rider is close to being back to fully fit on the bike and put in a solid showing despite a crash in FP2, rider ok. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) also crashed, rider ok.
Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3), meanwhile, impressed once again. The Portuguese rookie was fourth in FP1 and ends Day 1 in 13th overall, as well as being top KTM. Another impressive FP1 performer was Suzuki test rider Sylvain Guintoli (Team Suzuki Ecstar), who ended the first session in fifth. He was P17 overall.
Finally, another headline from Day 1 was some of the updates on show ahead of the post-race test on Monday. Marquez tried two chassis at the Sachsenring and – despite liking the new one – opted to race the old one. But the carbon reinforced chassis could be used for the first time in race trim at Brno. Meanwhile at Ducati, Dovizioso and Petrucci sported updated aerodynamic fairings, and Alex Rins had a new aero fairing on his Suzuki on Friday, too. Jack Miller said he had some updates but didn’t specify what, and the Aussie says he’s expecting new aero in Austria…
The likes of Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) will be casting nervous eyes to the skies on Saturday, with the Spaniard down in P22 after Day 1 and looking for much more. Will it stay dry or is it a trip to Q1 for those who missed out? The top ten after FP3 will go through to Q2, and that final chance to move up the timesheets starts at 9:55 (GMT+2) on Saturday morning. Qualifying then begins at 14:10 to decide the grid.
MotoGP Friday’s fastest:
1 – Fabio Quartararo* (FRA – Yamaha) 1’55.802
2 – Marc Marquez (SPA – Honda) +0.023
3 – Jack Miller* (AUS – Ducati) +0.269
4 – Andrea Dovizioso (ITA – Ducati) +0.269
5 – Maverick Viñales (SPA – Yamaha) +0.282 -
Lewis Hamilton sets best time ahead of Max Verstappen in FP1: Hungary Grand Prix
Budapest, 2 August 2019: Lewis Hamilton went quickest in a closely-matched opening practice session for the Hungary Grand Prix, with the championship leader finishing just under 1700ths of a second ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who finished second and third respectively.
There was trouble, however, for Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, with the Finn failing to set a time after his car suffered and early engine issue.
Bottas’ power unit issue was identified after the Finnish driver had completed just two installation laps and after Mercedes elected to complete and engine change, Bottas failed to run for the rest of the 90-minute session.
Hamilton set his benchmark time of 1:17.233 a third of the way into the session, despite spots of rain falling on the track. With a little over half an hour remaining Vettel then closed in, the German putting in a lap of 1:17.399 to set 0.166s behind Hamilton.
The Ferrari driver held on to P2 on the timesheet until the final quarter of an hour, when Verstappen found a small improvement that edged him one thousandth of a second ahead of the Ferrari. Verstappen was not happy with his RB15, however, complaining that it was overly sensitive throughout.
Fourth place in the session went to Verstappen’s team-mate Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman put in his best time of the session half an hour from the end of the session, using a new set of soft tyres to post a time of 1:17.682, 0.449 adrift of Hamilton.
While Vettel ended the session in third place, team-mate Charles Leclerc found himself well off the pace in the first session, taking sixth place almost a second off Hamilton’s pace after a less than perfect lap on soft tyres.
Leclerc’s lapse allowed Haas’ Kevin Magnussen to slip past and claim fifth, seven tenths of a second Hamilton and more than two tenths clear of the second Ferrari driver.
Seventh place in the session went to Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, though the German was closely followed by the two customer Renault-powered McLarens of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz. The top 10 order was closed out by Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen who was 1.5s off the pace.
2019 FIA Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 41 1:17.233
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 28 1:17.398 0.165
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 25 1:17.399 0.166
4 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing 25 1:17.682 0.449
5 Kevin Magnussen Haas 31 1:17.942 0.709
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 29 1:18.188 0.955
7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 31 1:18.417 1.184
8 Lando Norris McLaren 34 1:18.531 1.298
9 Carlos Sainz McLaren 23 1:18.702 1.469
10 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 32 1:18.787 1.554
11 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 30 1:18.894 1.661
12 Romain Grosjean Haas 32 1:18.973 1.740
13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 33 1:18.982 1.749
14 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 28 1:19.223 1.990
15 Sergio Perez Racing Point 20 1:19.325 2.092
16 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 24 1:19.488 2.255
17 George Russell Williams 33 1:19.649 2.416
18 Lance Stroll Racing Point 34 1:19.722 2.489
19 Robert Kubica Williams 30 1:20.322 3.089
20 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 2
