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  • Double delight for Anindith, Arjun: FMSCI Racing Nationals

    Double delight for Anindith, Arjun: FMSCI Racing Nationals

    Chennai, 20 Aug 2017: Winning both the races today, Hyderabad’s Anindith Reddy extended his domination in the MRF FF1600 class while Arjun Narendran, the Coimbatore-based defending champion in the Indian Touring Cars category also completed a double as the fourth round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Racing Championship concluded at the MMRT track on Sunday.

    With the fifth and concluding round to be run on September 16-17, Reddy, who leads Chennai’s Sandeep Kumar by 29 points, is well placed in the championship whose winner earns a ticket to the Mazda Road To Indy shootout in the United States later this year.

    It was smooth sailing for Reddy in both the races today as he put in a flawless performance to destroy the opposition as he more than made up for a disappointing outing on Saturday when he finished fifth after being forced to pit early in the race for repairs on the nose cone.

    Similarly, Narendran of Red Rooster Performance, with the two wins this weekend, narrowed the leeway to just seven points after championship leader Bengaluru’s Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) dropped crucial points with a non-finish in Saturday’s first race and third place finish in the next outing today. Narendran won both races virtually unchallenged, after the initial jostling for track positions.

    “I had a good weekend. The car felt great, no problems at all. I am happy that my campaign is back on track with the two wins this weekend after the sort of start I had to the season when I failed to score a win in two rounds,” said Narendran.

    Mikhail Merchant from Mumbai (Team Game Over) also scored a double in the Indian Junior Touring Cars category as did Bengaluru’s Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) in the Super Stock class.

    In the Esteem Cup, Mumbai’s Anant Pithawalla (Team N1) consolidated his position at the top of the leaderboard with three podium finishes on the weekend while Mamallapuram’s Raghul Rangasamy, who won two races in the triple-header, completed a fine double.

    Delhi’s Karminder Singh stamped his authority in the Volkswagen Ameo Cup by winning both the races today to enjoy a lead of 104 points going into the concluding round next month when the remaining three races are to be run.

    The results (Provisional):

    MRF FF1600 – Race 2 (15 laps): 1. Anindith Reddy (Hyderabad) (14: 57.509); 2. Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (15: 01.399); 3. Chetan Korada (Chennai) (15:15.305). Race 3 (15 laps): 1. Anindith Reddy (14: 58.193); 2. Sandeep Kumar (14: 58.410); 3. Chetan Korada (15:10.826).

    Indian Touring Cars – Race 2 (15 laps): 1.Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance) (16:52.608); 2. Ashish Ramaswamy (Red Rooster Performance) (16:58.568); 3. Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) (17: 08.741).

    Saloon Cars – Super Stock (Race 2, 12 laps): 1. RP Rajarajan (Performance Racing) (14:30.913); 2. Varun V Anekar (Race Concepts) (14: 31.640); 3. Bala Vijay B (Performance Racing) (14: 49.918). Race 3 (12 laps): 1. Varun V Anekar (14:25.775); 2. RP Rajarajan (14:37.434); 3. Bala Vijay B (14:40.081).

    Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race 2, 12 laps): 1. Mikhail Merchant (Team Game Over) (15:27.157); 2.  Hisham EKP (DTS Racing) (14:27.335+1 lap); 3. Kamlesh Parmer (Team N1) (14:28.859+1 lap). Race 3 (12 laps): 1. Mikhail Merchant (15:20.098); 2. Hisham EKP (14:17.583+1 lap); 3. Prabu AS (Red Rooster Performance) (14:28.191+1 lap).

    Esteem Cup (Race 2, 12 laps): 1. Narendran Sankaran (RAD Racing) (14: 19.391); 2. Sidharth Balakrishnan (Red Rooster Performance) (14: 24.264); 3. Anant Pithawala (Team N1) (14:25.896). Race 3 (12 laps): 1. Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) (14:15.558); 2. Anant Pithawalla (Team N1) (14:22.634); 3. Narendran Sankaran (RAD Racing) (14:29.254).

    Volkswagen Ameo Cup – Race 2 (15 laps): 1. Karminder Singh (Delhi) (17:05.639); 2. Jeet Jhabakh (Hyderabad) (17:19.305); 3. Dhruv Mohite (Kolhapur) (17:20.487). Race 3 (15 laps): 1. Karminder Singh (17:06.047); 2. Saurav Bandyopadhyay (Mumbai) (17:08.962); 3. Dhruv Mohite (Kolhapur) (17:15.446).

    Top honours for Tharani, Jayant in Drag races

    Chennai, August 20: Local racer Karthik Tharani, driving the Volkswagen Ameo, and V Jayant in a Maruti Esteem, topped in the Unrestricted and Indian Open categories, respectively, in the third round of the MMSC fmsci Indian Drag Racing Championship at the MMRT track, here on Sunday.

    Tharani clocked 14.130 seconds while V Jayant, piloting the Maruti Esteem, was the fastest with a timing of 14.049.

     

    The results (Provisional):

    Unrestricted: 1. Karthik Tharani (Volkswagen Ameo) (14.130secs); 2. D Vidyaprakash (Maruti Zen) (14.210); 3. Siddharth Singh Jhala (Maruti Zen) (14.210). Esteem Cup: 1. Fahad Kutty (Team Game Over) (16.394); 2. Imran Majid (Game Over) (16.478).

    Indian Open: 1. V Jayant (Maruti Esteem, 14.049); 2. D Vidyaprakash (Maruti Zen, 14.345); 3. Siddharth Singh Jhala (Maruti Zen, 14.760).

    Indian Touring Cars: 1. Sivaramakrishnan (Maruti Esteem, 15.845); 2. Tharun Kumar (Maruti Zen, 15.957).

    Super Stock: 1. Imran Majid (Game Over, Honda City) (16.410); 2. Swajit (Team N1, Honda City) (16.498); 3. Kashif Kapadia (Game Over) (Honda City) (16.550).

    Indian Junior Touring Cars: 1. Kamlesh Parmar (Honda Jazz) (17.718); 2. Imran Majid (Team Game Over, Honda Brio) (18.014); 3. Kashif Kapadia (Game Over, Honda Brio) (18.177).

    MMSC Support Races – Pro-Stock (Petrol, Up to 1150cc): Fahad Kutty (Team Game Over) (16.737); 2. Arjun Zaveri (Game Over, Maruti Zen) (16.771); 3. Mohammed Ali (Game Over, Maruti Zen) (17.122). 1151-1650cc: 1. Mikhail Merchant (Team Game Over, Honda City) (16.463); 2. Fahad Kutty (Game Over, Honda City) (16.499); 3. Swajit (Team N1, Honda City) (16.752). Petrol (2051-3060cc combined): 1. V Jayant (Maruti Esteem, 14.613); 2. Kasha Sai (Honda Accord, 17.014); 3. Sanjay Madhavan (Mazda Miata, 18.960).

    Pro-Stock (Diesel, 1151-1450cc): 1. Mikhail Merchant (Team Game Over, Ford Figo) (17.995); 2. Uday Nerulkar (Game Over, Hyundai Getz) (18.384); 3. Arjun Zaveri (Team Game Over, Ford Figo) (18.475). 1651-2051cc: 1. Vivek Ramachander (Skoda Laura) (15.010); 2. Rayomand Banajee (Volkswagen Vento) (17.575).

    eom/AP Media Comm. release

  • Narendran capitalises on Chinnappa mechanical failure: fmsci Nationals

    Chennai, 19 August 2017: The expected intense battles in the two premium classes did not materialize as Sandeep Kumar and Arjun Narendran cruised to comfortable victories in the MRF F1600 and the Indian Touring Cars categories, respectively, in the fourth round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Racing Championship at the MMRT track on Saturday.

    In contrast, competition was at its fiercest in other categories. Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) topped the saloon car race after an initial blip, while Bengaluru schoolboy Yash Aradhya, only 14, and Pune’s 18-year old engineering student Aanjan Patodia, both of Team Momentum Motorsports, fought tooth and nail to win a race apiece in both the categories (Open and Rookie) of the double-header Formula LGB 1300.

    In the other categories of the saloon cars, Bengaluru’s Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) and Hashim EKP (DTS Racing) emerged comfortable winners in the Super Stock and Indian Junior Touring Cars, respectively.

    Sourav Bandyopadhyay from Mumbai pulled off a fine win in the Volkswagen Ameo Cup, pushing championship leader Karminder Singh (Delhi) to second place while Sandeep Kumar completed the podium.

    The MRF FF1600 race turned out to be disappointing especially after pole-sitter and championship leader Anindith Reddy (Hyderabad) pitted at the end of Lap 1 to repair a damaged nose cone following a contact with Chennai’s Sandeep Kumar at the start of the race.

    Reddy, on rejoining the race, finished a lap down in fifth while Sandeep won untroubled leaving Chennai’s Chetan Korada and Kolkata schoolboy Arya Singh to scrap for the other two podium spots.

    The spotlight was also on the Indian Touring Cars where Coimbatore-based defending champion Arjun Narendran and Bengaluru’s Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts), the championship leader, were expected to repeat their Round 3 battle which, however, fizzled out. Chinnappa packed up when the timing belt snapped at the end of the first of the 15 laps.

    It left the field wide open for Narendran to exploit with his nearest challenger and team-mate Ashish Ramaswamy from Bengaluru struggling with a car bleeding power. With five others too retiring, Narendran cruised home to victory ahead of Ramaswamy. The win, his second in a row, took Narendran (119 points) within striking distance of Chinnappa (136).

    The results (Provisional – all 15 laps unless mentioned):

    MRF FF1600 (Race 1): 1. Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (15mins, 01.880secs); 2. Chetan Korada (Chennai) (15:10.711); 3. Arya Singh (Kolkata) (15:11.709).

    Indian Touring Cars – Race 1: 1.Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance) (16:50.960); 2. Ashish Ramaswamy (Red Rooster Performance) (17: 02.745); 3. C Raja Ram (Prime Racing) (17:26.277).

    Saloon Cars (Race 1) – Esteem: 1. Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) (17:49.329); 2. Narendran (RAD Racing) (17: 51.486); 3. Ananth Pithawala (Team N1) (17: 59.385).

    Super Stock: 1. Varun V Anekar (Race Concepts) (18:12.176); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Quickshift Racing) (18:33.902); 3. Bala Vijay B (Performance Racing) (18:42.584).

    Indian Junior Touring Cars: 1. Hisham EKP (DTS Racing) (18: 15.268); 2. Mikhail Merchant (Team Game Over) (18:27.330); 3. Prabhu AS (Red Rooster Performance) (18:35.509).

    Formula LGB 1300 (Race 1, 13 laps) – Open: 1. Yash Aradhya (Momentum Motorsports) (16:14.230); 2. Aanjan Patodia (Momentum Motorsports) (16:14.778); 3. Arya Singh (DTS Racing) (16:16.906). Rookie: 1. Yash Aradhya; 2. Aanjan Patodia; 3. Arya Singh.

    Race 2 (Open): Aanjan Patodia (Momentum Motorsports) (16:35.848); 2. Arya Singh (DTS Racing) (16:40.056); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (Wallace Sports) (16:48.463). Rookie: 1. Aanjan Patodia; 2. Arya Singh; 3. Yash Aradhya (Momentum Motorsports) (16:48.495).

    Volkswagen Ameo Cup (Race 1): 1. Sourav Bandyopadya (Mumbai) (16:05.858); 2.Karminder Singh (Delhi) (16:13.204); 3. A Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (16: 14.485).

    eom/AP Media Comm. press release

  • Tanak takes lead: WRC Rally Deutschland

    Ott Tänak has turned a 4.1 second mid-leg deficit into a 5.7 second overnight advantage during the afternoon loop of stages on Rallye Deutschland. Despite a tricky afternoon during which many of the drivers have slid off the road, the Estonian included, he retakes the lead and heads Andreas Mikkelsen who took the surprise advantage this morning despite a poor starting position. Championship contenders Sébastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville have also swapped positions with Neuville now climbing to third when his rival spun in the final stage.

    After torrential rain during the mid-day service, crews headed back out to the same two vineyard stages this afternoon before returning to the super special stage. The repeated Mittelmosel stage was rain soaked and again the crews ran different configurations of tyres, but mostly on full wets. Tänak took the stage win, even though he went straight into a vineyard on a tight hairpin, and managed to overhaul Mikkelsen in the following test. He then got stuck on some mud in the final stage and struggled to get back on the road on the slick tyres but held on to his advantage after a very tricky day of competition. Mikkelsen, in only his third outing in the C3 WRC, has excelled and barely put a foot wrong, showing the true potential of the car on tarmac. Behind him, Neuville climbed from sixth to third during the afternoon; he had a spin in the first stage, struggled with wheel spin and braking and then also ran wide in the final stage but was able to take Ogier when the Frenchman spun and lost 20 seconds, dropping him down to fourth but only 2.4 seconds adrift.

    Elfyn Evans continues to hold fifth after a reasonably uneventful afternoon and the Welshman heads Juho Hänninen who is now the lead Toyota driver after Esapekka Lappi ended up in a wall with broken suspension and had to retire. Craig Breen struggled with confidence this afternoon and then spun into a field. Nevertheless he is seventh and within striking distance of Hänninen. Latvala has moved into eighth but is now nearly two minutes adrift of the lead after his engine woes of the morning. Hayden Paddon admitted to needing to regain his confidence tomorrow and the Kiwi is ninth with asphalt ace Jan Kopecky moving into the top 10 in his Škoda Fabia R5. The Czech driver heads the FIA WRC 2 Championship but is in a close battle with category leader Pontus Tidemand, the Swede only 5.8 seconds behind. The FIA Junior WRC Championship was a close-fought fight until series leader Nil Solans retired with suspension damage. With him out of the game today, his closest championship rival, Nicolas Ciamin, will be looking to capitalise and close the gap in the standings before they head to Spain for the final round of their series.

    Rallye Deutschland – Provisional results after Section 3

    1.   Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja Ford Fiesta WRC 1hr 07min 23.0sec
    2.   Andreas Mikkelsen / Anders Jæger Citroën C3 WRC 1hr 07min 28.7sec
    3.   Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul Hyundai i20 WRC 1hr 07min 51.2sec
    4.   Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia Ford Fiesta WRC 1hr 07min 53.6sec
    5.   Elfyn Evans / Daniel Barritt Ford Fiesta WRC 1hr 08min 15.1sec
    6.   Juho Hänninen / Kaj Lindström Toyota Yaris WRC 1hr 08min 37.7sec
    7.   Craig Breen / Scott Martin Citroën C3 WRC 1hr 08min 47.5sec
    8.   Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila Toyota Yaris WRC 1hr 09min 17.7sec
    9.   Hayden Paddon / Sebastian Marshall Hyundai i20 WRC 1hr 09min 52.5sec
    10. Jan Kopecky / Pavel Dresler Škoda Fabia R5 1hr 10min 59.2sec
  • Norris claims pole; Jehan starts on P13: F3 Race 1

    Norris claims pole; Jehan starts on P13: F3 Race 1

    Lando Norris (Carlin, 1m28.362s) was unbeatable in the first FIA Formula 3 European Championship qualifying at the 4.307 kilometres long Circuit Zandvoort: the McLaren junior driver secured his sixth pole position of the season.

    Indian driver Jehan Dharuwala of Carlin could clock only 1: 28.940 and will start Race 1 in P13.

    However, the rivals of the British talent followed closely. Team-mate Ferdinand Habsburg (Carlin, 1m28.374s) ended up in second place, only 0.012 seconds down on Norris while Joel Eriksson (Motopark, 1m28.442s) was classified third, 0.080 seconds down on Norris. Points’ leader Maximilian Günther (Prema Powerteam, 1m28.520s) claimed fourth place from Callum Ilott (Prema Powerteam, 1m28.521s) and Ralf Aron (Hitech Grand Prix, 1m28.644s). In total, the lap times of 16 drivers were within one second.

    Eight minutes into the session, Lando Norris got involved in the battle for the fastest time and soon after that, he already topped the time sheets. In the remainder of qualifying, the 17-year-old managed to improve his lap time more and more so that he eventually came out on top. Ferdinand Habsburg was happy with his second place, the best FIA Formula 3 European Championship qualifying result for the great-grandson of the last Austrian Emperor Karl I to date. Behind the Carlin duo, Joel Eriksson came third. In the drivers’ standings, he ranks only eight points behind Norris. The current FIA Formula 3 European Championship points’ leader Maximilian Günther will be starting from fourth place on the grid for the 19th race of the season in the junior category.

    How close everything was at the ex-Formula 1 circuit in the Dutch dunes is reflected by the gap of fifth-placed Callum Ilott, who was merely 0.001 seconds behind his team-mate Maximilian Günther. Ralf Aron (Hitech Grand Prix, 1m28.644s), David Beckmann (Motopark, 1m28.735s), Guanyu Zhou (Prema Powerteam, 1m28.762s), Mick Schumacher (Prema Powerteam, 1m28.766s) and Jake Hughes (Hitech Grand Prix, 1m28.824s) rounded out the top ten in qualifying.

    Lando Norris (Carlin): “It was a close fight for pole position with my team-mate, in which I eventually held the upper hand. For sure, we all assumed that we would be faster compared to free practice, but the track partly was very slippery. Thus, the improvements compared to free practice weren’t too big. I have to admit that I wasn’t certain whether my time would be enough for pole position. In the lap prior to my fastest time, I had quite some understeering in turn eight, but I was able to reduce the tyre temperature with a cool-down lap and then go faster again.”

    eom/FIA press release

  • Patodia, Rangasamy take pole: MRF Racing Nationals

    Chennai, 18 Aug 2017: Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) set a hot pace to grab overall pole position in the saloon cars category at the MMRT track here on Friday as the fourth round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Racing Championship commenced with qualifying and practice sessions.

    Rangasamy, hailing from the temple town of Mamallapuram near here, topped in the Esteem class, while Bengaluru’s Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) was the quickest in the Super Stock Category and Kamlesh Parmar (Team N1 Racing) from Mumbai topped the Indian Junior Touring Cars.

    Aanjan Patodia of Momentum Sports grabbed the pole position in the Formula LGB 1300 category, in both Open and Rookie classes while Mumbai’s Saurav Bhandopadhyay was the fastest in the Volkswagen Ameo Cup qualifying session.

    Earlier, Hyderabad’s Anindith Reddy (58.149secs) warmed up nicely by being the quickest during practice session in the marquee MRF FF1600 category ahead of Kolkata schoolboy Arya Singh (58.643), ahead of Saturday’s qualifying session.

    In the premier Indian Touring Cars class practice session, Ashish Ramaswamy (Red Rooster Performance) from Bengaluru clocked a best lap of 01:06.121, upstaging championship leader Deepak Paul Chinnappa (Race Concepts) who did 01:06.501, ahead of defending champion Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Performance, 01:06.866). The qualifying round will be run on Saturday.

    The start of the day’s proceedings were delayed due to water puddles in some sections of the track following heavy overnight rains, forcing the organizers, with the consent of the competitors, to use the “short loop” (2.1Kms) instead of the regular full configuration.

    The results (Qualifying – provisional):

    Formula LGB 1300 (Open): 1. Aanjan Patodia (Momentum Sports) (01min, 04.675secs); 2. Yash Aradhya (Momentum Sports) (01:04.870); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (Wallace Sports) (01:05.448). Rookie: 1. Patodia; 2. Aradhya; 3. Bala Prasath (DTS Racing) (01:05.238).

    Saloon cars – Esteem: 1. Raghul Rangasamy (Performance Racing) (01:09.472); 2. Narendran (RAD Racing) (01:09.789); 3. Anant Pithawalla (Team N1) (01:10.013). Super Stock: 1. Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) (01:10.475); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Quickshift Racing) (01:11.174); 3. RP Rajarajan (Performance Racing) (01:11.736).  Indian Junior Touring Cars: 1. Kamlesh Parmar (Team N1) (01:12.418); 2. Mikhail Merchant (Team Game Over) (01:13.917); 3. Prabhu AS (Red Rooster Performance) (01:14.586).

    Volkswagen Ameo Cup: 1. Saurav Bhandopadhyay (Mumbai) (01:06.377); 2. Karminder Singh (Delhi) (01:06.457); 3. A Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) (01:06.680).

    About Madras Motor Sports Club

    The Madras Motor Sports Club has been the pioneer in developing and promoting motorsport in India since 1953, and we look to further improve in the years to come. It is the club’s endeavor to provide more opportunities for competitors and to this end, it has chalked out a progressive program for 2016. From the days of Sholavaram , MMSC built its own racetrack which was inaugurated in 1979 and secured its FIA Grade-2 international certification in 2015, making it the only club which owns such a facility. The club has organised the Porsche Super Cup, Formula Campos, Formula Asia, Asian touring car championships, Formula 3, Tata Prima Truck racing championship, the Asian 2-wheeler racing championships besides a host of other motorsport events over the years. The club also has active participation for its events from vehicle manufacturers who also use the Madras Motor Race Track (MMRT) extensively for testing their products.

    eom/AP Media Communications press release

  • Ducati’s Dovizioso wins MotoGP; Marquez 2nd, Rossi 7th

    Ducati’s Dovizioso wins MotoGP; Marquez 2nd, Rossi 7th

    Spielberg, 13 Aug 2017:  AndreaDovizioso of Ducati produced his best to win a thrilling MotoGP race that produced seat-edged excitement for the 90,400-odd fans at the Red Bull ring for the 11 round of the Motorcycle World Championship here on Sunday.

    Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa scored the third consecutive double podium finish and the sixth of the season out of 11 races as Marquez finished second and Pedrosa followed in third. Valentino Rossi, who was fourth at one point of time, had to settle for 7th as he made a costly mistake and went wide on one of the laps. Rossi’s teammate Maverick Vinales finished ahead of him in sixth.

    With pole-setter Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) slow off the blocks, Lorenzo got the hole-shot and led for the first 11-circulations of the 28-lap race around the 4,318m Austrian circuit, before Marquez took the lead on lap-12. The reigning champion tried to make a break, but was followed closely by Dovizioso, who was using the medium front and soft rear combination on his Ducati.

    After an epic battle with Dovizioso that lasted until the last corner, Marc was edged by the Italian at the finish line by just 0.176”. Teammate Pedrosa completed the podium, recovering from eighth on the grid to gain 16 valuable points in the standings.

    The two combatants then produced an incredible last few laps as they changed places numerous times. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) briefly joined in the fight at the front, but was unable to stay with Dovizioso and Marquez as the race continued, leaving the championship contenders to battle it out at the front. The two had different tyre compound choices from either end of the spectrum on the rear of their respective bikes, but grip, performance and durability never looked an issue for either man as they started the last-lap. Dovizioso led as the race approached the last corner, but Marquez made an audacious and exciting attempt to pass, using all the grip he could find and as much of the track as he could use, but he just couldn’t get the better of the Italian and Dovizioso crossed the line a mere one-tenth-of-a-second ahead of his rival – setting a new race duration record in the process. Marquez’s second place strengthened his championship lead, with Dovizioso now his closest rival, just 16-points behind.

    Starting the race from seventh on the grid, Rossi slotted into fifth place storming towards turn 1, and quickly fought his way to fourth past his teammate. He withstood the pressure Viñales put on him in the opening laps, as he chased the leading trio.

    The Doctor reached the back of Marc Marquez‘s bike on lap eight, bringing Zarco with him, but encountered a set-back. A block pass from the fellow Yamaha rider pushed the Italian back to sixth behind the chasing Dani Pedrosa. Running wide in turn 1, with 15 laps to go, Rossi soon fell back behind Viñales to seventh. He was eager to follow his teammate, but was unable to keep up a consistent pace in the high 1‘24s and low 1‘25s, and decided to focus on bringing home his bike in seventh place, 8.995s from first.

    eom/Team press releases with inputs from Miche

    Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA
    Ducati Team
    DUCATI
    MotoGP
    GP Austria 2017 (Circuit RedBull Ring)
    11-13.08.2017
    photo: MICHELIN

    lin

  • OC Veiby beats Gill again for MRF 1-2: APRC

    Johor Bahru , 13 Aug 2017: Team MRF delivered another 1-2 result with Norwegian Ole Christian Veiby comfortably winning the International Rally of Johor, the third round of FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, here on Sunday, ahead of India’s Gaurav Gill who made up a deficit of over two minutes to finish second.

    Veiby defeated Gill once again despite the 35-year old Delhi-based defending champion winning all the six Special Stages on Sunday in the Race Torque-prepared Skoda Fabia R5. Gill managed to go past overnight second-placed Finnish ace Jari Ketomaa while Veiby held on to a huge Leg-1 lead to win by over four minutes, also in a Skoda Fabia R5.

    The 21-year old Veiby, Skoda’s factory-backed driver who recently topped the WRC-2 category in Poland, thus scored back-to-back win following his win in the second round in Australia after Gill had taken the season-opener in New Zealand a month earlier. The win also put helped Veiby to consolidate his championship lead over Gill.

    The day that was spared of rains which had marred Saturday’s proceedings, belonged to Gill who had lost a lot of time on Saturday after a run-in with a tree stump and alternator problem as he made up the two-minute, 16-second deficit to Ketomaa over a distance of just 76 Kms and went on to beat the World Rally Championship driver by 18.8 seconds, but finished 04:41.7 adrift of Veiby.

    Gill’s pace was phenomenal as he made 26 seconds on Ketomaa in the day’s first Stage (11.98Kms), 31 in each of the next two (12.21Kms and 13.93Kms) on the first loop. After service, Gill made a further 69 seconds in the second loop of the same Stages to emerge second.

    “For sure, it was one of my best drives, very fast and precise. I didn’t make any mistakes. I was driving at 110 per cent which was what I always wanted do and what all the top drivers do. We had amazing speed, good pace notes and made correct tyre choice. I drove my heart out and pushed the car beyond its limit. But the small mistake I made yesterday cost me the Rally or else, we could have won.

    “Starting the day, we were down by two minutes and 16 seconds to Jari. I wanted to get as close to OC (Veiby) as possible. I made most use of my experience to go past Jari who is not a slow driver and has WRC experience. Yes, it was a satisfying drive today, but not overall. I am still upset with the silly mistake I made yesterday,” said Gill who drew some consolation by topping the FIA Asia Cup category.

    Veiby was pleased as punch with the win and said: “Today was all about getting through without any trouble. We didn’t want to make any stupid mistakes when we were leading by over five minutes. We had some problems with oil leak, but we had it fixed during service and got through the day. I didn’t go flat out today and tried to enjoy a bit.

    “After what happened to Gill on the first Stage yesterday, we were leading the whole Rally and it was kind of boring here. In Australia, it was more fun as Gill and I kept pushing each other, changing positions up and down. But a win is a win and my target is to win the championship.

    “It is good to be back in winning mode after my flip in Finland (during WRC-2 round). I just had to forget what happened and trust in yourself and the car. I prepared my mind as I knew Malaysia was a tough round. I read all about the rally, watched some videos to see what happened last year.”

    Provisional classification:

    FIA APRC: 1. Ole Christian Veiby / Stig Rune Skjarmoen (Team MRF, Skoda Fabia R5) (3hrs, 02mins, 39.1secs); 2. Gaurav Gill / Stephane Prevot (Team MRF, Skoda Fabia R5) (03:07:20.8); 3. Jari Ketomaa / Ville Mannisenmali (Mpart Sport, Mitsubishi Mirage) (03:07:39.5).

    FIA Asia Cup: 1. Gaurav Gill / Stephane Prevot (Team MRF, Skoda Fabia R5) (03:07:20.8); 2. Michael Young / Malcolm Read (Cusco Racing, Subaru Impreza) (03:18:42.9); 3. Yuva Sumiyama / Takahiro Yasui (Cusco Racing, Skoda Fabia R5) (04:10:42.8).

    eom/AP Media Communications release

  • Marquez takes fifth pole; Dovi P2; Rossi P7: MotoGP

    Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez scored his fifth pole position of the year (and third successive), extending his record of most pole positions in Grand Prix history across all classes to an amazing tally of 70, at only 24 years of age.

    Dovizioso and Lorenzo of Ducati will start in P2 and P3 respectively.

    Marc has been happy with his RC213V’s behaviour since Friday morning and improved his feeling with the bike over the weekend by continuing the good work with his crew and engineers. Today he set the fastest times in FP3, FP4, and QP2, showing a good race pace and dazzling speed. Dani Pedrosa finished in P8.

    The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team barrelled their way into the Q2 session in this morning’s FP3 and followed it up with a hard fight in the afternoon for front row at the Nero Giardini Motorrad Grand Prix von Ostrich. Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi were serious contenders for a top-3 finish until the times dropped at the end of the session, and they secured fourth and seventh place respectively.

    The afternoon in Austria presented good weather conditions today for a high octane shoot-out at the Red Bull Ring – Spielberg circuit. Viñales was the third to last rider to exit pit lane in a dry qualifying, waiting for the majority of the pack to go out. Despite a small mistake on his first hot lap, he set a 1’25.067s to take second in the provisional standings. With his next attempt he temporarily took over the top spot, but was pushed back to fourth place when the pace quickened. His fourth lap shot him back up to third before he entered the pits with more than six minutes remaining.

    The youngster was quickly back on track to have another crack at challenging the competition. Now in fourth place again, he put his head down and jumped to third in the charts, with a 1’23.754s. He was unable to improve on his last lap, but his best time was fast enough to secure fourth place on the grid, on the second row, 0.519s from first.

    Rossi took his time to leave the pits for the qualifying session. He got straight down to business, scoring a temporary pole position on his first flying lap with a 1’24.558s, before being pushed back one place. The next minutes saw various riders claim the top spot in the rankings. The Doctor responded by improving his time on his second and third attempt, but was in fourth position when he entered the pits with seven minutes on the clock.

    The Italian rushed back out a little more than a minute later, and found himself in seventh place. He broke into the 1’23’s with a 1’23.982s to move up to fifth. There was time for one more attack, but he didn‘t improve on his best lap. He was pushed back by a late charge from a rival after the chequered flag went out, leaving him seventh in the results, 0.747s from the front.

    Marc Marquez

    POLE POSITION  1’23.235

    “I’m very, very happy with his pole because here it’s very important for the first corner, and because so far we’ve done much better than last year. We’ve really taken a good step forward with the bike; we already had a good engine, but we were struggling with some wheelying. We worked a lot on this aspect and now I feel much more comfortable with my bike. We also prepared very well for this race. During the Monday post-race test in Brno, we tried many different configurations focused on this track, and that allowed us to start with a good base even on Friday morning. So at the moment it looks like our pace is very good, but as always, it’s the race that counts. We’ll try to give everything again, but it will be very important to choose the right rear tyre. Today we worked with the soft and hard rears, so we’ll probably try the medium in tomorrow’s warm-up and then make our choice.”

    eom/Repsol Honda and Movistar Yamaha press releases

     

     

  • MRF’s Veiby surges ahead; Gill third: APRC

    MRF’s Veiby surges ahead; Gill third: APRC

    Johor Bahru (Malaysia), 12 Aug 2017: Ole Christian Veiby of Team MRF survived treacherous conditions and rode his luck to take a seemingly winning lead in the International Rally of Johor, the third round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, here on Saturday while defending champion and team-mate Gaurav Gill was a distant third following a string of mishaps.

    Veiby, the 21-year old from Norway, driving the Race Torque-prepared Skoda Fabia R5, finished the day marked by incessant rains which rendered the

    Ole Christian Veiby in action at the Malaysian Rally, a round of the APRC on Saturday. An MRF image

    terrain into a virtual skating rink and led to cancellation of a Stage, four minutes, 32.5 seconds ahead of Finland pair of Jari Ketomaa and co-driver in a Mitsubishi Mirage.

    For Delhi-based Gill, 35, it was a wretched outing as he first clipped a tree stump due to “purely a driving error” as he put it in the day’s first Special Stage leading to a bent steering arm and later in the day, suffered alternator problem which fogged the windscreen.

    These mishaps cost him precious time, yet, he came up with a superb drive to make about five places, overtaking two cars on different Stages in the process to finish the day third, some 12 minutes behind Ketomaa,

    Veiby, who leads Gill by two points in the championship standings, has all but clinched the title here with just two loops of three short Special Stages to be run on Sunday.

    “It’s been a good day overall. But for sure, it was not easy as it is my first time down here. I have never driven in such conditions. It was so slippery. I was a bit lucky in some places. On the first stage, I went straight into a tree and after that I used the grass to see how the grip level is. Now I know how fast I could do. In these conditions, it is so easy to do mistakes.

    “We have a good gap, but can’t just roll down the Stages tomorrow. My aim is to try to make it to the finish, but I have to keep the pressure up. I am so lucky to be here at the finish today,” said Veiby.

    Looking back on his day, Gill said: “Obviously it was not my best day. About 18 Kms into the first Stage, I hit a tree stump which I didn’t see. It was purely a driving error. It bent the steering arm. On finishing the stage, I had to go under the car and repair the steering control arm. It cost us a lot of time. Thereafter, we made time on others in spite of the bent steering.

    “Overall, we were down to seventh or eighth, but had some good times. In the day’s third Stage, we had alternator problem and almost immediately, caught up with Sumiyama who held me up for about 30 seconds before I nudged him to pass. But with the windscreen fogging, I had almost nil visibility and had to slow down which again cost us time. So, one drama after another!

    “Thereafter, we again made time on others, and I passed Young on one of the Stages and we are now placed third, but with one Stage cancelled today and only short Stages to be run tomorrow, I have to settle for what I have. The gap is too much to make up.”

    Classification after Leg-1 (Provisional):

    FIA APRC: 1. Ole Christian Veiby / Stig Rune Skjarmoen (Team MRF, Skoda Fabia R5) (1hr, 58mins, 27.9secs); 2. Jari Ketomaa / Ville Mannisenmali (Mpart Sport, Mitsubishi Mirage) (02:03:00.4); 3. Gaurav Gill / Stephane Prevot (Team MRF, Skoda Fabia R5) (02:15:17.6).

    Asia Cup: 1. Gaurav Gill / Stephane Prevot (Team MRF, Skoda Fabia R5) (02:15:17.6); 2. Michael Young / Malcolm Read (Cusco Racing, Subaru Impreza) (02:18:19.5); 3. Yuva Sumiyama / Takahiro Yasui (Cusco Racing, Skoda Fabia R5) (03:13:44.6).

    eom/AP Media Communications release

     

  • MRF’s Gill sets early pace in Rally of Johor: APRC

    MRF’s Gill sets early pace in Rally of Johor: APRC

    Gaurav Gill (right) and Ole Christian Veiby during FIA press conference a Johor on Friday. An MRF image

    Johor Bahru (Malaysia), 11 Aug 2017: India’s Gaurav Gill and Norwegian youngster Ole Christian Veiby set the benchmark while showcasing their pace in the International Rally of Johor, the third round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship as the Team MRF duo topped the time sheets during this morning’s shakedown here ahead of the ceremonial flag-off and the Super Special Stage later on Friday.

    Delhi-based Gill, 35, was the quickest of the lot as he put in six laps around the 1.6 Kms dirt track clocking a best of one minute, 39 seconds as against 21-year old Veiby’s 01:39.6. The pair was well ahead of the pack that included WRC regular Jari Ketomaa from Finland and Swedish ace Robert Blomberg.

    “Since this is my first drive in the Skoda Fabia R5 in nearly three months, I was keen to put in as much seat time as possible and am happy with how everything went today,” said Gill during the pre-event FIA press conference today. “However, the Malaysian Rally is the toughest of the championship with changing conditions and high humidity, but I am well prepared for it.”

    Veiby, who is driving a brand new R5 which came here straight from the factory, said his goal was to maintain his lead in the championship, referring to his two-point advantage over Gill who had won the first round in New Zealand while the Norwegian took the next in Australia.

    “My target here is to stay ahead in the championship. I know Gaurav is very quick and has the experience driving in these conditions, while this is my first time in Malaysia. I hope to do well,” said Veiby who recently won in the WRC-2 category in Poland.

    After tonight’s Super Special Stage which will be run at the same premises as the shakedown, but with a few modifications in the track configurations, the cars head to the nearby palm oil plantations for the Special Stages spread over the next two days.

    Shakedown results: 1. Gaurav Gill / Stephane Prevot (Team MRF, Skoda Fabia R5) (01min, 39secs); 2. Ole Christian Veiby / Stig Rune Skjarmoen (Team MRF, Skoda Fabia R5) (01:39.6); 3. Yuma Sumiyama / Takahiro Yasui (Cusco Racing, Skoda Fabia R5) (01:41.2).

     

    eom/AP Media Communications