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Talented Dean Mascarenhas stops a marauding Gaurav Gill to win INRC opener
Team Champions’ Dean Mascarenhas(L) & Shrupta Padival(R) after winning the South India Rally at MMRT on Sunday. A Team Champions image Irungattukottai (Sriperumbudur), 30 June 2019: Team Champions’ Dean Mascarenhas survived a late but spirited onslaught from three-time APRC winner and WRC2 driver Gaurav Gill to win the opening round of the Champions Yacht Club – FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship here on a nail-biting Sunday.
Going into the third and final leg with a 10-second overall lead and a handy 1.41 minutes over Gill, Mascarenhas (Shruptha Padival) would have hoped for a pressure-free day in the office. But an errant car and a possessed Gill saw his lead being steadily wiped out from both ends, raising the specter of a sensational last-minute upset.
However, Team Mahindra’s Gill (Musa Sherif) who finished second in the day’s first stage and won all remaining four, suffered a massive blow in the penultimate stage. Just as he was racing like the wind, a herd of cows came in his path, costing him anything between 7 to 10 seconds.
Dean gets an affectionate hug from his mother after winning the INRC opening round at MMRT on Sunday. Photo by Anand Philar He was awarded 10 seconds by the Stewards for the unfortunate delay, catapulting him to the third position in the overall category. It was sufficient to win him the INRC category too but not good enough to dislodge Mascarenhas or Fabid Ahmer.
Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt), however, was edged out of the podium in the overall category by a mere one second.
“We worked very hard to make up for the lackluster first two days,” Gill said. “We changed the tyres and the setup at every opportunity and it paid dividends until bad luck hit us,” he added.
Gill’s JK Tyre partner Mascarenhas was, however, delighted with his breakthrough victory. “My car had lost one of the four cylinders on Saturday itself and it kept stalling, adding to the pressure. I, however, held my nerves and came through, making this one of my sweetest wins,” he said.
The South India Rally, Round One of the INRC powered by MRF, turned out to be a thrill-a-minute blockbuster, with the 19-strong Team Champions stunning all and winning almost all the categories.
Dean and Fabid Ahmer (Sanath G) made it a sensational 1-2 for the Shubhakar Rao-owned team, with Dean also taking the INRC 2 and Fabid the INRC 3. Vaibhav Marate (Arjun SSB) annexed the INRC 4.
RESULTS
INRC Overall
1) Dean Mascarenhas & Shruptha Padival – 1:45.10.800 hr; 2) Fabid Ahmer & Sanath G – 1:45:24.400 hr; 3) Gaurav Gill & Musa Sherif – 1:45:27.800 hr
INRC
1) Gaurav Gill & Musa Sherif – 1:45:27.800 hr; 2) Phalguna URS & Srikanth Gowda – 1:48:04.500 hrINRC 2
1) Dean Mascarenhas & Shruptha Padival – 1:45.10.800 hr; 2) Rahul Kanthraj & Vivek Bhatt – 1:45:28.600 hr; 3) Ritesh Guttedar.M & Lokaranjan H.J – 1:53:13.300 hrINRC 3
1) Fabid Ahmer & Sanath G – 1:45:24.400 hr; 2) Arjun Rao & Shanmuga Sundaram – 1:46:40.200 hr; 3) Daraius Shroff & Sheeraz Ahmed – 1:47:40.700 hrINRC 4
1) Vaibhav Marate & Arjun SSB – 1:53:02.100 hr; 2) Rakshith Iyer & Chandrashekar – 1:54:30.700 hr; 3) Shirole Prakhyat. H & Bharath S.M – 1:59:19.700 hr -
Verstappen keeps thrilling Austrian GP win after stewards’ decision; Hamilton 5th behind Vettel
Verstappen wins Austrian GP. An FIA image Spielberg (Austria), 30 June 2019: Max Verstappen recovered from a poor start to take a brilliant Austrian Grand Prix, and to score Honda’s first F1 victory in 13 years, though the Dutch driver’s sixth career win was only officially confirmed following a stewards’ investigation into the overtaking move on Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc that earned Verstappen top spot on the podium in the Austrian GP, the 9th round of the Formula 1 World Championship here on Sunday.
Polesitter Leclerc had led from the start of the race, but with a handful of laps to go Verstappen used greater pace on hard tyres to close up to the Ferrari driver. He tried to pass on the inside into Turn 3 on lap 68 but the attempt was rebuffed by the clam Leclerc who held his line and power ahead of the Dutch driver on exit from the corner.
Undaunted, Verstappen tried again on the next lap, in the same place. This time there was contact and Leclerc was forced wide. As the Ferrari driver slowed, Verstappen raced away into the lead and at the end of the 71stlap crossed the line to take a brilliant win.
Almost immediately race stewards reported that the incident was under investigation and there followed a nervous wait while the officials deliberated.
Some three hours later, Verstappen’s win was confirmed with the matter ruled to be a racing incident.
“Car 33 sought to overtake car 16 at Turn 3 on lap 69 by out-braking car 16. When doing so, car 33 was alongside car 16 on the entry of the corner and was in full control of the car while attempting the overtaking move on the inside of car 16,” read the verdict.
“However, both car 33 and car 16 proceeded to negotiate the corner alongside each other but there was clearly insufficient space for both cars to do so. Shortly after the late apex, while exiting the corner, there was contact between the two cars. In the totality of the circumstances, we did not consider that either driver was wholly or predominantly to blame for the incident. We consider that this is a racing incident.”
Verstappen’s sixth career win and the first for power unit partner Honda since the Hungarian Grand Prix of 2006 seemed unlikely when the Dutchman’s RB15 bogged down and he was immediately passed by a swarm of rivals. Leclerc powered away into the lead ahead of the Mercedes cars of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, the Alfa Romeo of fast-starting Kimi Räikkönen, the McLaren of Lando Norris and the second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. Verstappen, though, dropped to P7 and looked to be out of contention. However, both Verstappen and Vettel passed Norris with relative ease and within a handful of laps they had also cleared Räikkönen.
After a dozen laps, Leclerc was a healthy three seconds ahead of Bottas, with Hamilton a further 2.7 seconds back in third. Vettel was now fourth, 4.5s behind Hamilton, while Verstappen was a similar distance behind Vettel. Ahead of the first round of pit stops Leclerc had built an almost five-second advantage over Bottas, who triggered what would for most of the leafing pack would be a single pit stop.
Bottas made a clean stop on lap 21 but there was no such luck for Vettel who stopped at the same time4. The Ferrari driver’s crew were not ready with a set of hard tyres and the German was forced to sit stationary for six seconds as a front left wheel was located and fitted. Leclerc made his stop at the end of the following lap and he emerged in P3 behind new leader Hamilton and Verstappen .
Hamilton was now suffering with degradation to his opening set of medium tyres and as Verstappen closed the gap, the Mercedes driver pushed too hard and damaged his front wing. He pitted at the end of lap 30, not only for hard tyres but also for a new front wing.
The stop saw Hamilton stand still in his pit box for 11 seconds and Red Bull responded by pitting Verstappen on lap 31. He emerged four seconds clear of Hamilton, in fourth place. And it was then, with hard tyres on board, that the race began to come to the Dutchman
He swiftly close on third-placed Vettel and on lap 50, breezed past the German on entry to Turn 4 to take third place.
Verstappen now had Bottas in his sights and on lap 56 her took second place, dismissing Bottas effortlessly with a move down the inside into Turn 3 under DRS.
With 10 laps to go Max was just 3.8 seconds behind the race leader and five laps later the Red Bull driver arrived on Ferrari’s gearbox. The two 21-year-old racers then engaged in the epic battle that ended with Verstappen spraying champagne from the top step of the podium but also facing a stewards’ investigation.
Vettel had also been on the move during the closing stages and he passed Hamilton to take a solid fourth place after starting from P9. Hamilton was left with fifth place ahead of Norris and Pierre crossed the line in P7 to score his seventh points finish of the season to date. Eighth place was taken by Carlos Sainz who finished ahead of the Alfa Romeo cars of Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi.
2019 FIA Formula One Austrian Grand Prix – Race
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 2.724
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 18.960
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 19.610
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 22.805
6 Lando Norris McLaren 1 Lap
7 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing 1 Lap
8 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren 1 Lap
9 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1 Lap
10 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1 Lap
11 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1 Lap
12 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1 Lap
13 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1 Lap
14 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1 Lap
15 Alex Albon Scuderia Toro Rosso 1 Lap
16 Romain Grosjean Haas 1 Lap
17 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso 2 Laps
18 George Russell Williams 2 Laps
19 Kevin Magnussen Haas 2 Laps
20 Robert Kubica Williams 3 Laps -
Jehan Daruvala takes second place after penalty for teammate Shwartzman: F3
Jehan Daruvala (left- in red) takes 2nd place in the F3 race on Sunday. An FIA image Assen, 30 June 2019: Talented Indian racer, dubbed as the next F1 prospect from India, continued his successful run in the Formula 3, albeit in a lucky fashion when his teammates collided late in the race and Jehan Daruvala, who won a race last weekend, garnered important points after he was promoted to second place behind surprise winner Huges.
Jake Hughes claimed his first ever FIA Formula 3 win in controversial circumstances after leader Robert Shwartzman caused a collision with teammate Marcus Armstrong on the final lap of Race 2 in Austria. The Russian had been unwavering for the majority of the morning but lost his nerve when his teammate scampered past him in the dying embers and inadvertently cut the Kiwi’s rear tyre in an attempt to reclaim first.
Despite suffering damage to his front wing, the Russian managed to complete his final tour of the Red Bull Ring in first but was demoted to third after a five-second time penalty was added for causing the collision. This saw Hughes promoted to the top of the podium for his first ever win in the category, ahead of Jehan Daruvala.
The HWA RACELAB man begun the morning in second and failed in his initial efforts to pass reverse poleman Lirim Zendeli who wasn’t prepared to let the position go and toughed it out around the outside of the Brit at Turn 1 to retain the lead. Pedro Piquet suffered heartbreak at the start when he lost control of his Trident and rotated at the first turn, chucking him back to P29 and ending his hopes of a first F3 win.
The front seven positions proved interchangeable in the first lap and Armstrong managed to force his way to third behind Zendeli and Hughes. Shwartzman perched up behind him in fourth, while Jüri Vips and Richard Verschoor clambered ahead of Daruvala for fifth and sixth.
The next few laps played out in a calmer manner until Armstrong took aim at first place going three wide with Zendeli and Hughes around the corner with no room for error. Shwartzman added a fourth car to the mix as Hughes emerged ahead of them all for first, with the Russian claiming P2 in a shrewd manoeuvre.
His time at the front didn’t last long as Shwartzman beat him at the top of the hill, with the Brit’s car unable to match the Russian’s speed. Armstrong followed his teammate through a lap later and handed their team the prospect of a tasty one-two finish.
The Third PREMA machine was running down in sixth, ahead of Vips and Verschoor. The Indian was harrowing poleman Zendeli, but slipped in his pursuit and was punched back to seventh by Leonardo Pulcini who capitalised on his mistake. Daruvala reacted with haste and recovered to pass both Zendeli and Pulcini for fifth and close in on Max Fewtrell. The fourth was soon his after a delicious lunge on the Englishman.
All wasn’t well out in front as Armstrong refused to sit behind his teammate and rattled on in his pursuit of first. Hughes was perched comfortable in behind the combatting PREMA duo when his team foreshadowed future events and told him to wait patiently for one of them to make a mistake.
A virtual safety car brought a brief break in racing when Alex Peroni lost his rear under breaking and ran into the back of his Campos teammate Sebastian Fernandez. Action resumed with two laps to go and Armstrong’s pursuit of his teammate began once more.
The fight went down to the last lap and Armstrong was finally able to muster up the speed to dart down the side of Shwartzman. The Russian was forced to the rear right of his teammate, but swerved too close and nicked the Kiwi’s back tyre. Armstrong was sent dizzily onto the gravel and shunted down the grid.
Shwartzman maintained control of his vehicle to regain the lead and soldiered towards the finish line despite a battered front wing to finish narrowly ahead of Hughes. News soon broke of a penalty for the Russian, due to the collision, which forced him back to third, behind teammate Daruvala and first placed Hughes. The Briton was surprised to be asked to stop by the number 1 panel in the parc fermé before celebrating with his team their good fortune.
Shwartzman maintains his control of the Championship with 90 points, eight points ahead of teammate Daruvala. Juri Vips is third with 63 points, ahead of Armstrong on 54 and Fewtrell on 37. In the Teams’ standings, PREMA Racing dominate with 226, ahead of ART Grand Prix on 76 and Hitech Grand Prix on 71. Trident are fourth with 50 points, ahead of HWA RACELAB on 35.
The Championship will travel to Silverstone in two weeks’ time when the teams will continue their attempts to bridge the gap between themselves and PREMA.
2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship – Round 3 Race 2
DRIVER TEAM 1 Jake Hughes HWA RACELAB 2 Jehan Daruvala PREMA Racing 3 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Racing 4 Max Fewtrell ART Grand Prix 5 Leonardo Pulcini Hitech Grand Prix 6 Juri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 7 Lirim Zendeli Sauber Junior Team by Charouz 8 Niko Kari Trident 9 Devlin DeFrancesco Trident 10 David Beckmann ART Grand Prix 11 Yuki Tsunoda Jenzer Motorsport 12 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 13 Keyvan Andres HWA RACELAB 14 Felipe Drugovich Carlin Buzz Racing 15 Pedro Piquet Trident 16 Raoul Hyman Sauber Junior Team by Charouz 17 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 18 Simo Laaksonen MP Motorsport 19 Marcus Armstrong PREMA Racing 20 Andreas Estner Jenzer Motorsport 21 Giorgio Carrara Jenzer Motorsport 22 Teppei Natori Carlin Buzz Racing 23 Fabio Scherer Sauber Junior Team by Charouz 24 Alessio Deledda Campos Racing 25 Liam Lawson MP Motorsport 26 Logan Sargeant Carlin Buzz Racing NOT CLASSIFIED Sebastian Fernandez Campos Racing Alex Peroni Campos Racing Bent Viscaal HWA RACELAB Ye Yifei Hitech Grand Prix OVERALL FASTEST LAP Christian Lundgaard (ART Grand Prix) – 1:21.234 on Lap 20 FASTEST LAP ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS Jake Hughes (HWA RACELAB) – 1:21.458 on Lap 10 -
Yamaha’s Viñales takes on Marquez and comes out on top at Assen
Vinales wins at Assen 30 June 2019. A MotoGP image Assen, 30 June 2019: Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) has taken a stunning Grand Prix win at the Motul TT Assen, a round of the MotoGP World Championship, stalking the front before striking for the lead and stretching his legs to pull away from reigning Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team). Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) followed up his record-breaking pole position on Saturday with another podium, impressing once again even as he continues to recover from arm-pump surgery.
Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) took the holeshot from third on the grid, the Suzuki man streaking away from the line and soon joined by impressive rookie teammate Joan Mir as he slotted into second. Quartararo didn’t retain P1 but he stayed third after a solid start, with eventual winner Viñales the man initially losing out a little. Marquez was next up, with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) harrying teammate Danilo Petrucci just behind.
At the start of Lap 2 Viñales made his first move to take Marquez, but then all eyes on were the lead as Rins suddenly slid out…leaving Mir under the pressure of leading a premier class race for the first time, and Quartararo in second for a rookie 1-2. The number 36 then headed a bit wide and the number 20 sliced through, with Viñales taking over in second and Marquez up into third.
Mir had been shuffled back into fourth but Dovizioso soon struck, having passed teammate Petrucci to begin his assault on the front, before there was another strike of bad luck lightning as Viñales headed wide from the lead. Marquez took over, stalking Quartararo, with Dovizioso then within touching distance of the number 12 Yamaha as he got shuffled back. Marquez tried to attack, Quartararo resisted, and Viñales was then back on their tail and it was a trio locked together in the lead.
That was how it would stay for much of the race. Viñales overcooked Turn 1 but reeled them back in, Marquez attacked Quartararo a lap later after a wobble for the Frenchman, and then Marquez had his own moment and the rookie was back in the lead. The trio were once again line astern, uneasily holding station.
With 11 to go, Viñales broke the stalemate. He attacked Marquez and got through before then homing in on Quartararo, pouncing where Marquez had earlier as the Frenchman struggled again with a bit of a wobble at high speed. But a small error soon after cost him and Marquez took over in P1. Would that be the number 93’s chance to pull the pin?
No chance. Viñales sliced back through as swiftly as he could, and the two were starting to gap Quartararo behind. With six laps to go they were still both locked together and there was nothing in it, but gradually then, Viñales started taking a tenth here and a tenth there.
Finally, it seemed the number 12 had broken the Honda rider. The top three had all had their share of mini dramas during the race, but Viñales was then pitch perfect to the flag. Eventually, the gap was nearly five seconds over the line and the Spaniard celebrated in style. It’s his first win since Phillip Island last year, Yamaha’s first of the season and one of his most impressive rides.
Quartararo took his second podium in succession in third as he managed to last the distance, ever-impressive as he continues to makes waves in MotoGP™. Dovizioso was the man behind him, locked in battle with Petrucci and Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) for much of the race and coming out on top. Morbidelli eventually just beat Petrucci to complete the top five and equal his best ever premier class result.
Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) recovered from a moment to take P7 and overhaul Mir’s impressive performance as the rookie finished eighth, with Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) crossing the line in ninth after a more difficult weekend.
Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) completed the top ten for his best result of the season so far and some valuable points, with Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), escaping a battle behind that saw Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) best Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3), Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) and Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) in the points scorers, with all incredibly close over the line.
There were a few names missing from the finishers along with Rins, the biggest of which was Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP). The ‘Doctor’ lost the chance at a ride back through the field as he collided with Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) and both went down, making it a difficult run of three for the number 46 of late.
That’s it from Assen and a classic trio of cat and mouse in the lead. Next up is the Sachsenring and that’s one of Marquez’ signature venues, so there will be some ominous music as the reigning Champion makes the short trip south. But with Viñales on form, Quartararo ever-closer despite his recent surgery and the likes of Rins with speed if not always luck, the last race before the summer break will be unmissable. Tune in as we race again in less than a week, on Sunday 7th July.
Maverick Viñales: “It’s amazing, amazing because I’ve been going through some very tough moments, I’ve been knocked out in three races and had a jump start in Austin, which is the race I felt most prepared. Also in Montmelo I think we had the opportunity to fight for the win. Somehow we found a good step for the races. It’s difficult to believe because I thought I couldn’t make this pace because in the warm up, I was not so bad with used tyres but we were missing a little bit of pace. But finally I was hitting 33s all the time. I was very happy, very happy when increased the line. A lot of press went out, bringing Yamaha to the top is something very special, and in two years we were the only ones to get a victory for Yamaha. I have to say congratulations to the team, they have worked really well since Mugello. What can I say, it’s something unbelievable!”MotoGP Top-3 results:1 – Maverick Viñales (SPA – Yamaha) 40’55.415
2 – Marc Marquez (SPA – Honda) +4.854
3 – Fabio Quartararo* (FRA – Yamaha) +9.738*Independent Team rider
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Quartararo becomes the youngest ever to take back-to-back premier class MotoGP poles:
Fabio Quartararo of Petronas Yamaha SRT takes pole at Assen on Sunday. A MotoGP image Assen, 29 June 2019: ‘Fast Fabio’ is an easy moniker to bestow, but it’s much harder to live up to. And yet, rookie Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) just won’t stop breaking records. At the Motul TT Assen the Frenchman put in the fastest ever lap of the track in qualifying to take his third pole position overall, and in doing that he also becomes the youngest ever rider to take back-to-back poles in the premier class. 0.140 is his advantage over Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) as the pattern of the two taking it in turns at the top continued, with Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) taking third as he blasted from Q1 to the front row.
Before pole was decided, it was that Q1 that would prove crucial for one big name: Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP). The ‘Doctor”s difficult day at the office began earlier in FP3 as his lap that would have seen him move through to Q2 was cancelled for exceeding track limits, and that left him fighting it out in Q1. In that Q1, he eventually finished fourth and will therefore start from P14, with Rins and Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) the two men moving through.
Rins held the advantage first as the Suzuki man started Q2 on provisional pole, but on the second runs Viñales had something to say about it. The number 12 machine put in a stunning lap with a few minutes left on the clock to cut a few tenths off Rins’ best effort, and he was the man with the target on his back as Quartararo began his assault. But then, Quartararo began his assault.
Keeping it together to perfection and able to pull out nearly a tenth and a half by the time he crossed the line, the Frenchman made some more history – and celebrated so hard, it made his airbag go off in his suit!
Behind that little slice of history, there’s one habitual front row starter missing from the top three: Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team). The reigning Champion starts fourth and misses out on a place in the fastest trio for the first time this season, and he’ll be looking to slice through early off the line. Alongside him, rookie Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) put in an impressive effort to take a best-yet fifth, just into the 1:33s, with Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) completing the second row.
Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team), third on Friday, is the top Ducati in qualifying and heads up an incredibly tight third row, with Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) in P8 and Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) locking it out in ninth. The three men are covered by just 0.032.
2016 Assen winner Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) completes the top ten and he was also just hundredths adrift, with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) a few further tenths off the Australian in P11. Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was the final man in Q2 in P12, not far off the Italian ahead of him.
Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) starts just ahead of Rossi, with the number 46 facing down a few of his VR46 Riders Academy proteges in his mission to move forward on Sunday. He’s won ten times at Assen, and he is the Sunday miracle maker. Can he get in the fight at the front?
The front row will all be gunning to be first into Turn 1, and each of them will be aiming squarely for the top step. Marquez will be a threat as always, Dovizioso will need to replicate his stunning starts…and Rossi will be on the hunt. Last year’s Dutch TT was one of the spectacles of the season, don’t miss the rerun in Round 8 with MotoGP™ lights out at 14:00 local time on Sunday (GMT+2).
MotoGP Top-3 qualifiers:
1 – Fabio Quartararo* (FRA – Yamaha) 1’32.017
2 – Maverick Viñales (SPA – Yamaha) +0.140
3 – Alex Rins (SPA – Suzuki) +0.441*Independent Team rider
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Charles Leclerc takes pole; Grid penalty for Hamilton: Austrian Grand Prix
Charles Leclerc after taking pole in Austrian GP. An FIA image Spielberg (Austria), 29 June 2019: Charles Leclerc scored his second career pole position beating Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by more than two tenths of a second to claim top spot in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, the 9th round of the Formula 1 World Championship. However, the Ferrari driver will be joined on the front row by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen after race officials handed Hamilton a three-place grid penalty for impeding Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen in Q1.
Ferrari led the way in the opening stages of the first session, with both Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel using medium tyres. Leclerc topped the order in the early exchanges, setting a time of 1:04.138. Verstappen, on soft tyres, then split the red cars with a lap of 1:04.339.
After a quiet opening, Mercedes were forced into final runs for bioth Hamilton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas and both eventually jumped to P2 and P3 respectively. Verstappen too, optedf for a final outing in the segment and the Dutch driver rose to P1 with a time of 1:03.807, 0.011 ahead of Hamilton and two tenths clear of Bottas. Behind them, Leclerc and Vettel stayed with their medium times to progress in P4 and P5 respectively.
At the bottom of the order Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll were eliminated in P16 and P17 ahead of Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, though the stewards also reported that after the session they would investigate whether the Russian driver had been impeded by 19th-placed Williams driver George Russell who was joined on the Q2 sidelines by team-mate Robert Kubica.
During the opening segment Hamilton exited the pits ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen. Hamilton tried to take evasive action in Turn 3 to avoid tangling with the Finn, but he ended up goping off circuit in front of the Alfa Romeo driver. The matter was investigated by the race stewards and Hamilton was a handed a three-place grid drop. He will now start in P5 following the applicaitons of penalties to other drivers.
“The Stewards reviewed video evidence and heard from the driver of car 7 (Kimi Raikkonen) and the driver of car 44 (Lewis Hamilton) and the team representatives and determined that car 44 unnecessarily impeded car 7 at turn 3. Car 44 had just come out of the pits and was informed of the cars approaching, including car 7,” read the stewards’ decision. “Although car 44 tried to take evasive action when he became aware of car 7 approaching on a fast lap, it was not sufficient to avoid impeding car 7, which had to then abort the lap.”
In the second session, Verstappen was first on track, and with medium tyres on board the Dutchman powered to good lap of 1:03.835. The benchmark was swiftly passed by Leclerc and Vettel, with the Monegasque driver in P1, though both set their times on soft tyres.
Hamilton, also on mediums, then crossed the line to edge verstappen out to P4 by three hundredths of a second. Valtteri Bottas took fifth place behind the Red Bull, and the Finn was the only other driver to progress to Q3 on mediums.
Pierre Gasly made it into Q3 on a time of 1:03.988 set on soft tyres and the Frenchman took sixth place ahead of Räikkönen, the second Alfa or Antonio Giovinazzi, McLaren’s Lando Norris and 10th-placed Kevin Magnussen of Haas.
Eliminated at this stage were the second Haas of Romain Grosjean, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, Toro Rosso’s Alex Albon, Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and the second McLaren of Carlos Sainz.
And there was no moving Leclerc from top spot in the final session. The Ferrari driver set a commanding pace in the first runs to take P1 three tenths of a second clear of Bottas, with Verstappen in P3. And despite improvements from Hamilton and Max, Leclerc found more pace again in the final runs to take his second career pole position with a time of 1:03.003, 0.259 ahead of Hamilton and four tenths ahead of Verstappen.
Bottas was left with fourth place, while Kevin Magnussen was an impressive fifth for Haas ahead of Norris and the Alfa Romeo of Räikkönen and Giovinazzi. Magnussen, though, will drop back due to a grid penalty.
Gasly was unable to improve on his first run time of 1:04.199 and was forced to settle for ninth place. Tenth place went to Vettel, who failed to get out in Q3 due to a mechanical issue.
2019 FIA Formula One Austrian Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:03.003
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:03.262
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:03.439
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:03.537
5 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:04.072
6 Lando Norris McLaren 1:04.099
7 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1:04.166
8 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1:04.179
9 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing 1:04.199
10 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari
11 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:04.490
12 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:04.516
13 Alex Albon Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:04.665
14 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:04.790
15 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren 1:13.601
16 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1:04.789
17 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1:04.832
18 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:05.324
19 George Russell Williams 1:05.904
20 Robert Kubica Williams 1:06.206. -
Matsushita claims first F2 Feature Race win; Arjun Maini 15th
Red Bull Ring, 29 June 2019: Nobuharu Matsushita claimed his first ever Feature Race win in FIA Formula 2, surging past Championship leader Nyck De Vries during a tantalizing final few laps at the Red Bull Ring. The Carlin driver hailed the victory as the best of his career over team radio, as he earned last season’s dominant force their maiden win of the campaign.On his return to F2, Indian racing talent Arjun Maini of Campos Racing finished 15th.The Japanese driver finished ahead of UNI-Virtuosi ace Luca Ghiotto, who followed him past De Vries. The Dutchman lost a further place to Sérgio Sette Câmara, but ended up on the podium when the DAMS’ driver was dropped to fifth after a five second time penalty was added.The race began in calmer circumstances with De Vries making a smooth start off the line to retain first place ahead of Anthoine Hubert. Guanyu Zhou quickly made an attempt on the Frenchman’s position, but ran out of track and swerved wide allowing Matsushita through to third.The Japanese racer was up to second a lap later with a successful assault on Hubert, but he then switched his attention to building a gap between himself and those behind him, ahead of his pit stop when he would switch the prime tyre.Tensions threatened to boil over further back when Sette Câmara’s attempts to pass teammate Nicholas Latifi ended with the Canadian getting thumped from behind and swung full circle. When he recovered, he had been dropped to P19 and the Brazilian was handed a five second time penalty for causing the collision.Those on the option tyres went for Soft rubber on lap 7, leaving Sean Gelael in first, with front five De Vries, Matsushita, Ghiotto, Zhou and Hubert amongst the drivers making the change. Zhou suffered a gearbox glitch upon his return and dropped down to 15th before he was able to get back up to speed.Seventeen seconds separated De Vries and the PREMA man out in front and the Dutchman’s charge began with an overtake on Ryan Tveter. Matsushita followed him through a lap later. Gelael was told to push harder over team radio, but by then the ART and Carlin men had already made their way past Patricio O’Ward and Tatiana Calderon for fourth and fifth, and were fast honing in.With Gelael unable to form a gap out in front, Nikita Mazepin took a stab at the race lead and passed the Indonesian. The PREMA man was then overtaken by De Vries, who had also just passed Arjun Maini. Gelael pitted and a slow stop saw him fall further down the grid.De Vries was joined by Matsushita and Ghiotto in the chase for first and was closing in on his teammate at the front of the field. The Russian still required a pit stop, but the Championship leader refused to wait and retook his place at the top of the pile. However, De Vries’ tyres had already taken a battering as the race headed into its final five laps.Sensing this, the duo behind him pounced at Turn 1 and the Championship leader was dragged back to third in dramatic circumstances, after both Matsushita and Ghiotto made their moves on him stick in one clean sweep.Having suffered earlier in the race, Zhou showed no slowdown in pace from the earlier issues, charging back through the pack to P6 thanks to a gritty recovery. Latifi also managed to dice his way through the field and re-enter to the points’ paying positions, but narrowly missed out on reverse grid pole as he finished in ninth behind the impressive Jordan King – who had started the race as far back as 15th.There was one final course of action when Sette Câmara endeavoured to make the most of his race, with the knowledge of an incoming five-second penalty. The Brazilian set the fastest lap with just one tour of the circuit to go and managed to slide past former race leader De Vries, who was still struggling with tyre degradation. De Vries reclaimed the position upon the chequered flag as Sette Câmara’s penalty saw him drop to fifth.Matsushita crossed the line in first, ahead of Ghiotto, who achieved his best finish since Barcelona. De Vries ran home in third, ahead of Hubert, with Sette Câmara in fifth, followed by Zhou, Louis Delétraz, King, Latifi and Jack Aitken.De Vries stretched his lead at the top of the standings to 140 points, 29 ahead of Latifi in second place. Sette Câmara climbs to third on 92 points ahead of Aitken on 86 and Ghiotto on 85. DAMS’ retain their position at the top of the Teams’ Championship on 203 points, 34 ahead of UNI-Virtuosi. ART Grand Prix are third with 146, ahead of Campos Racing on 116 and Carlin on 97.King will attempt to claim the top honours in tomorrow’s Sprint Race when he starts on reverse grid pole ahead of Louis Delétraz at 11am local time.2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship – Feature Race ClassificationDRIVERTEAM1Nobuharu MatsushitaCarlin2Luca GhiottoUNI-Virtuosi Racing3Nyck De VriesART Grand Prix4Anthoine HubertBWT Arden5Sergio Sette CamaraDAMS6Guanyu ZhouUNI-Virtuosi Racing7Louis DeletrazCarlin8Jordan KingMP Motorsport9Nicholas LatifiDAMS10Jack AitkenCampos Racing11Juan Manuel CorreaSauber Junior Team by Charouz12Nikita MazepinART Grand Prix13Giuliano AlesiTrident14Callum IlottSauber Junior Team by Charouz15Arjun MainiCampos Racing16Ryan TveterTrident17Sean GelaelPREMA Racing18Tatiana CalderonBWT Arden19Mick SchumacherPREMA Racing20Patricio O’WardMP MotorsportOVERALL FASTEST LAPSergio Sette Camara (DAMS) – 1:18.209 on Lap 34FASTEST LAP ELIGIBLE FOR POINTSSergio Sette Camara (DAMS) -
Team Champions’ Dean Mascarenhas storms into lead on Day 2 of INRC
Chennai, 29 June 2019: On a day of stunning upsets and rapidly changing fortunes, talented Mangaluru driver Dean Mascarenhas of Team Champions proved to be the man to watch, as he stormed into the lead in the Champions’ Yacht Club fmsci Indian National Rally Championship here on Saturday.
The INRC 2 driver, supported by JK Tyre, won Stage 3 and took the second position in Stage 6 to finish the Day 2 on a high, taking a 9.3-second lead. He along with navigator Shruptha Padival needed just 54.48.800 minutes to complete the two legs.
Arka Motorsports’ Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt), also an INRC 2 contender, made the most of his brilliant second-place run on Day 1 to rise to the second position in the overall category. INRC 3’s Fabid Ahmer (Sanath G) took the third position, making it a disappointing outing for the heavyweights.
It began with hot favourite and six-time INRC winner Gaurav Gill, who could only manage the ninth position after struggling with his brand new XUV300. He put up a spirited fight in the latter half of the day, even winning the last stage to show that he was still in the hunt.
Gill, another JK man, managed one second-place and two fourth-place finishes to be 1:41.500 minutes off the leader. His Mahindra Adventure teammate Amittrajit Ghosh slipped into the lead in the INRC category, although he was sixth in the overall pecking order.
The South India Rally, Round 1 of the INRC powered by MRF, got off to a stunning start on Friday evening, with Team Champions’ Biku Babu (Milen George) winning the spectacular Triple S stage. He continued his big push in Day 2’s early stages but he dropped out in Stage 4 with a mechanical problem to miss out on a golden opportunity to make a mark.
Former INRC champion Karna Kadur took the second position and began Saturday on a positive note, claiming the day’s first stage. But he faded out as the day progressed to kiss his chances goodbye in this round.
Team Akshara’s Chetan Shivram (Dilip Sharan) won two stagesbut had to be content with the second position in INRC 3, although he is just one second behind the leader in this group: Team Champions’ Fabid Ahmer (Sanath G).
Results (Provisional):
INRC Overall: 1) Dean Mascarenhas & Shruptha Padival – 54.48.800; 2) Rahul Kanthraj & Vivek Bhatt – 54.58.100 min; Fabid Ahmer & Sanath G – 55:03.000 mins
INRC: 1) Amittrajit Ghosh & Ashwin Naik – 55.26.100 mins; 2) Gaurav Gill & Musa Sherif – 56:30.300 mins; 3) Phalguna URS & Srikanth Gowda – 56.54.700 mins
INRC 2: 1) Dean Mascarenhas & Shruptha Padival – 54.48.800; 2) Rahul Kanthraj & Vivek Bhatt – 54.58.100 min; 3) Younus Ilyas – 55:18.300 mins
INRC 3: 1) Fabid Ahmer & Sanath G – 55:03.000 mins;2) Chetan Shivram & Dilip Sharan – 55:04.300 min; 3) Sahil Khanna & Rajit Kadian – 57.15.700 mins
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Vips claims first F3 race win in Spielberg; Jehan Daruvala finishes P4
Jüri Vips achieved his first FIA Formula 3 win in style in today’s Race 1 at the Red Bull Ring, leaping two positons from third to become the first non-PREMA winner of the campaign. The Hitech Grand Prix racer finished ahead of ART Grand Prix’s Max Fewtrell and PREMA Racing’s Marcus Armstrong, muscling his way past the both of them in the early stages.The Estonian overcame a frantic start and clung onto P3 despite an initial overtake attempt from Indian racing star Jehan Daruvala when the lights went out. Armstrong also came under threat at the start and initially lost first to Fewtrell who was quick off the line from P2. The Brit dashed in-front of the Kiwi and took the racing line, but Armstrong fought back and reclaimed the position down the inside of Turn 2.Having seen such a promising start unravel, Fewtrell was soon fighting off Vips’ Hitech machine, who was having to attack and defend simultaneously thanks to Daruvala’s pace in-behind. The Estonian came out on top of the three-man dice and left Fewtrell to battle off the PREMA man racing in-front, fast catching Armstrong.Vips followed up his move on the ART driver with a searing sweep on the Kiwi racer, soaring down the inside of Turn 3 and into the lead. Fewtrell took a tow and followed him, as the former race leader lost two positions in one move. The poleman looked to react, but a poor exit on Turn 2 gave Fewtrell breathing space and broke up the brawl.Further back, a three-man tussle between Jake Hughes, Pedro Piquet and Robert Shwartzman had begun, with the latter making his way from ninth on the grid showing that there was no hangover from Friday when he had suffered technical issues in Qualifying.The Russian driver further emphasised this with the race’s fastest lap, but couldn’t capitalise on a mistake from Piquet, who had temporarily lost his back end at Turn 1. The Brazilian reacted by setting a new fastest lap himself and confidently took fifth from Hughes who thus dropped to sixth.The Briton battled back and reclaimed fifth at the corner, but soon faced another jaunt on the place as Shwartzman went three-wide with the two drivers and emerged ahead of them both at Turn 3.The race entered its final lap and Daruvala was becoming frustrated with him inability to pass teammate Armstrong for the final podium place. Sensing a now-or-never moment, he took a stab down the inside of the Kiwi on Turn 4, but got too close and intelligently backed off as the duo came within an inch of Fewtrell’s rear wing.Richard Verschoor managed to squeeze into the final points’ paying position ahead of Bent Viscaal prior to the chequered flag, while Lirim Zendelli snuck ahead of Leonardo Pulcini to give the order one final shake up.Leaving those behind him to battle, Vips ran through the chequered flag in first, with Fewtrell second and Armstrong holding onto third. Daruvala and Shwartzman settled for fourth and fifth, followed by Piquet, Hughes, Zendeli, Pulcini and Verschoor.The top two in the drivers’ standings remains unchanged, with Shwartzman leading Daruvala by 10 points. Vips holds third on 59 points, ahead of Armstrong and Piquet. In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA Racing lead the way with 204 points, ahead of ART Grand Prix on 68. Hitech Grand Prix are third on 61 points, Trident fourth on 49 and HWA RACELAB fifth on 22.Zendeli will start on reverse grid pole in Race 2 ahead of the experienced Hughes, as the teams’ look to continue their charge down of PREMA tomorrow at 9.35am local time.2019 FIA Formula 3 – Round 3 Race 1 ClassificationDRIVERTEAM1Juri VipsHitech Grand Prix2Max FewtrellART Grand Prix3Marcus ArmstrongPREMA Racing4Jehan DaruvalaPREMA Racing5Robert ShwartzmanPREMA Racing6Pedro PiquetTrident7Jake HughesHWA RACELAB8Lirim ZendeliSauber Junior Team by Charouz9Leonardo PulciniHitech Grand Prix10Richard VerschoorMP Motorsport11Niko KariTrident12Felipe DrugovichCarlin Buzz Racing13Bent ViscaalHWA RACELAB14Liam LawsonMP Motorsport15David BeckmannART Grand Prix16Yuki TsunodaJenzer Motorsport17Devlin DeFrancescoTrident18Simo LaaksonenMP Motorsport19Raoul HymanSauber Junior Team by Charouz20Ye YifeiHitech Grand Prix21Alex PeroniCampos Racing22Logan SargeantCarlin Buzz Racing23Andreas EstnerJenzer Motorsport24Sebastian FernandezCampos Racing25Alessio DeleddaCampos Racing26Christian LundgaardART Grand Prix27Keyvan AndresHWA RACELAB28Giorgio CarraraJenzer MotorsportNOT CLASSIFIEDFabio SchererSauber Junior Team by CharouzTeppei NatoriCarlin Buzz RacingOVERALL FASTEST LAPJuri Vips (Hitech Grand Prix) – 1:21.042 on Lap 23FASTEST LAP ELIGIBLE FOR POINTSJuri Vips (Hitech Grand Prix) -
Gaurav Gill bids for seventh INRC title in new avatar
Chennai, 28 June 2019: The all-new Champions Yacht Club-FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2019 got off to an explosive start here on Friday, with a record number of cars led by the country’s most celebrated driver Gaurav Gill squaring up for an epic faceoff.As many as 51 top rallyists from across the country, fielded by five major teams, including 19 by Team Champions, and many privateers, took off in front of a big crowd to set the tone for an exciting season. The clashes began with a first-of-its-kind Super Special Stage at the MMRT, giving spectators a rare glimpse of all the action from close proximity.It’s a new beginning for three-time APRC and six-time INRC champion Gill too as he made the shift from MRF to JK Tyre in the hope of conquering new frontiers. The Mahindra Adventure driver, with Musa Sherif by his side, will be competing in a new car, the XUV300, adding a new dimension to the competition.“I am looking forward to this season as I will not only be in a new car but also on new tyres,” Gill said, at the press conference, a few hours before the opening stage. “I have tested the car and it’s the best in the class. I am sure it’s going to suit my style of driving,” he added.The South India Rally, Round 1 of the INRC powered by MRF, will see the teams fight it out over a total distance of 298.70 kms, with as many as 117.33 kms earmarked for 11 special stages on gravel and dirt tracks. After the SSS on Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 will see five stages each, providing the drivers as well as the spectators ample fun.“This is a perfect start to the championship,” promoter Vamsi Merla said. “We have already had the most number of entries and the biggest crowd at an INRC, making it that much more thrilling for all of us,” he added.Like always, Team Mahindra will have a second car in fray too, with former racing and rallying champion Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) making it a formidable duo for them in the INRC 1 category. They will, however face stiff competition from another INRC champion Karna Kadur (Nikhil V Pai) of Arka Motorsports, who was brimming with confidence.The INRC 2 category also looked highly competitive, with Team Champions’ Dean Mascarenhas (Shruptha Padivel) and Race Concept’s Younus Ilyas (Harish Gowda) pitted against each other. Both are supported by JK, making it that much more interesting.INRC 3 has as many as 22 contenders, with Arjun Rao, Chetan Shivram and Daraius N Shroff among the favourites. Two ladies will also be seen in action, Shivani Pruthvi and Garima Avtar (INRC 4) as they aim to prove their mettle. A total of eight drivers will also feature in the junior INRC category.
