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TVS Asia one-make championship trials at Sepang on April 27
Bangi, 20 April 2022: The two-wheeler giant in Indian motorsports, TVS Racing is all set to make it international presence with a one-make championship that that will run alongside FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) beginning in Malaysia from May 29. The trials at Sepang are scheduled for April 27.
Two Wheels Motor Racing (TWMR) announced its partnership with TVS Racing, the factory racing team of TVS Motor Company and the news one-make championship will be name the TVS Asia One-Make Championship.
The championship will see a total of 16 riders from all over Asia who will be finalised on April 27 for the first year. The selection will be held at the Sepang International Circuit where Round 2 of the ARRC will take place in May.
Commenting on the development, Mr. Vimal Sumbly, Head – Premium Business, TVS Motor Company, said, “The engineering and performance prowess in our race machines has been derived from TVS Racing’s race-bred pedigree on the track, proving its mettle across a host of racing formats and has put us on the global map. We are excited about carving our success story internationally. The TVS Asia One Make Championship will play a pivotal role as a milestone in our global journey for TVS Racing.”
“We take this as an opportunity to take our learnings from the Indian tracks and demonstrate our capabilities internationally. We also look forward to having international racers atop our TVS Asia One Make Apache RR 310 motorcycles competing in the future championships.”
Ron Hogg, Promotions Director of Two Wheels Motor Racing Sdn. Bhd. said, “The participation of TVS Racing in the One-Make Championship is a bold gesture that would certainly open avenues in discovering new talents. More importantly, bringing in a new partner and manufacturer will ignite the interest for FIM Asia Road Racing Championship in general.”
On the impact towards the motorsport industry, Ron continued, “Motorsport industry is ever-changing. From a technological perspective, we move very quickly from two-strokes to four-strokes and having said that, we foresee further development of machines to suit the needs of the industry. Being rider-centric, we constantly look for ways that would pave opportunities for riders to pursue professional riding at a higher level. Our collaboration with TVS Racing in this One-Make Championship is part of our strategic plan that would serve the needs of our Asian riders at the regional front consequently contributing to a comprehensive development within the motorsport industry.”
FIM Asia President, Stephan P Carapiet said, “The One-Make Championship collaboration is an important mark in the motorsport championships as it forms yet another platform for the development of future motorsport stars and an opportunity to race the TVS One-Make machines. TVS will now be able to showcase the capacities, qualities and reliabilities of the machine in the racing field and through the technical specifications and data obtained from the races, they will also be able to make forward approaches in developing enhanced features that would better serve the needs of their domestic use.”
“India is a base for motorcycle manufacturers with a sales projection that supersedes the rest of the Asian markets. The involvement of TVS in racing however goes the extra mile to exhibit their advancement in technology and potentially spark interest in motorsport among the 1 billion population. FIM Asia fully supports this initiative and with the financial subsidies and opportunities provided by TVS Racing, we look forward to the participation of over 10 countries for the coming round in Malaysia.”
TVS Asia One-Make Championship will participate in four rounds of the ARRC:
1. 27th – 29th May 2022 Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia
2. 1st – 3rd July 2022 (TBC)
3. 12th – 14th August 2022 Sugo International Circuit, Japan
4. 18th – 20th November 2022 Chang International Circuit, Thailand
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Suhail Ahmed excels with six gold; Uday Ganguli displays glimpses of old magic
Kolkota, 17 April 2022: Eight-time National champion Suhail Ahmed dominated the proceedings winning six out of ten gold on offer in the SR Dirt Track two-wheeler motorsports event held at Singur about 60-km from here on Sunday.
The 34-year from Bengaluru, also became the fastest rider of the event clocking 5minutes, 08.773 seconds in the feature event, the Group B Expert 4-stroke upto 165cc class as he edged out Manmeet Singh Dhanjal who finished ahead of other senior riders Sisir Raha and veteran Uday Ganguli in that order.
On his part, experienced Uday Ganguli, not the one to sit quiet, turned the tables in the Expert 2 stroke class and clinched the gold with a time of 5:34.823 to push aside the challenge from Sisir Raha and another national rider Barno Barman, who recently hogged limelight, beating Yuva Kumar’s time in the Sprint Nationals last year. Barman had to be content with a third place.
Also Uday Ganguli notched up another first in his chequered career as he won the gold in the Electric Vehicle class, one of the first such events being held in the country. In the EV Group invitation class he claimed the overall honours with Dwairath Manna and Sayanthan Seth finishing second and third behind him.
Indrasheesh Roy, a novice rider is the one who caught all the eyes with his riding skills. Amidst other podiums in higher classes, he won the Novice class defeating Hiranmoy Nandan while clocking 5min, 22.363sec. Sudeep Bhattacherjee and Rameez Mullick finished third and fourth respectively. “It is only my second time in such a thrilling event. This is dryland unused and unkempt and the organisers turned it into a beautiful dirt track and I hope this dedicated track will encourage many others to join the sport. I truly enjoyed riding here,” said Indrasheesh to a local paper.
In the Expert Group D upto 165 class, it was Manmeeth Singh Dhanjal who claimed the gold winning by a mile ahead of Uday Ganguli in second and Indrasheesh Roy in third. Vishal Das took fourth place, still showing glimpses of his form, which used to thrill the crowds decades back.
Provisional Results:
Class 1: Expert M1 & M2 upto 165cc (2/4 Stroke) Group D: 1. Manmeet Singh Dhanjal 5:17.665; 2. Uday Ganguli 5:26.207; 3. Indrasheesh Roy (Novice) 5:31.139; 4. Vishal Das 5:37.064.
Class 2: Expert M1 & M2 upto 165cc (2 stroke) Group B: 1. Uday Ganguli 5:34.823; 2. Sisir Raha 5:35.603; 3. Barna Barman 5:36.455; 4. Indrasheesh Roy 5:38.619;
Class 3: Expert M1 & M2 upto 165cc (4 stroke) Group B: 1. Suhail Ahmed 5:08.773; 2. Manmeet Singh Dhanjal 5:09.057; 3. Sisir Raha 5:16.408; 4. Uday Ganguli 5:17.685.
Class 4: Expert M3 & M4 165cc to 260cc (2/4 stroke) Group D: 1. Suhail Ahmed 5:14.708; 2. Indrasheesh Roy (novice) 5:17.310; 3. Manmeet Singh Dhanjal 5:18.482; 4. Uday Ganguli 5:22.499.
Class 5: Expert M3 & M4 165cc to 260cc (2/4 stroke) Group B: 1. Suhail Ahmed 5:10.435; 2. Sisir Raha 5:13.663; 3. Manmeet Singh Dhanjal 5:15.901; 4. Subhodeep Ghosh 5:26.940.
Class 6: Open Royal Enfield (2/4 Stroke) Group B: 1. Suhail Ahmed 5:31.014; 2. Kaustab Choudhury 5:36.480; 3. Rameez Mullick (novice) 5:54.014; 4. Koustav Kumar Kolay (novice) 6:34.386.
Class 7: Open Scooter (2/4 stroke) Group B: 1. Suhail Ahmed 6:21.040; 2. Vishal Das 6:27.470; 3. Sumantra Aich (Novice) 6:47.960; 4. Debasish Dutta 6:50.934.
Class 8: Novice Open (2/4 stroke) Group B: 1. Indrasheesh Roy 5:22.363; 2. Hiranmoy Nandan 5:34.936; 3. Sudeep Bhattacherjee 5:43.886; 4. Rameez Mullick 5:45.698.
Class 9: Open Group Invitation: 1. Suhail Ahmed 7:11.544; 2. Uday Ganguli 7:14.908; 3. Manmeet Singh Dhanjal 7:21.111; 4. Kaustab Choudhury 7:46.349.
Class 10: EV Group invitation: 1. Uday Ganguli 5:32.230; 2. Dwairath Manna 5:33.256; 3. Sayantan Seth 5:58.090; 4. Manmeet Singh Dhanjal 6:00.320.
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Fervent Motorsports on Hemanth Muddappa, the 9-time National ‘Hero’
19 April 2022: Currently for anything on motorsports in India, all roads lead to Fervent Motorsports. It is the in-thing for all news, talk-shows, interviews, inside stuff, and what not. Think Motorsports, think Fervent…
Here is a video on Hemanth Muddappa.
“We are delighted to welcome Hemanth (Muddappa) as a new edition to our team. We heartily congratulate him for his recent wins. Muddappa’s presence bolsters our commitment to the advancement of drag racing culture in India which has’nt been explored so far. Drag Racing is the shortest and quickest form of motorsports and the Hero Xtreme 160R, the fastest to 0-60kmph in its segment, is a perfect fit for this racing format,” Ranjivjit Singh, Chief Growth Officer, Hero MotoCorp.
Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters, has signed nine-time national drag racing champion Hemanth Muddappa as a Brand Ambassador for the Hero Xtreme 160R on 8th March 2022.
Hemanth will promote the drag racing culture in India with Hero MotoCorp’s on-going XDrags, a pan India drag racing experiential event organised on the Hero Xtreme 160R.
Hero MotoCorp and Hemanth have already hosted 16 XDrags events so far.
Bengaluru-based Hemanth has been breaking records, including his own, in the drag racing circuit. Earlier this month, he bagged his fifth consecutive title at the MMSC FMSCI Indian National Drag Racing Championship 2021.
Hemanth won two golds in the above 1050cc (Super Sport) and 851-1050cc (Super Sport) categories and races across three classes – 851-1050cc, 1050cc and above, and foreign open unrestricted. He is the only Indian Drag Racer to win in two classes and holds the record for the fastest time across drag strips in India.
From being told by doctors that he will hardly be able to walk after meeting with a lifethreatening accident to clinching the title of India’s Fastest Racer, Muddappa’s race with his life has been inspirational and thrilling as well._A Hero release
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WRC resumes for Round 3 on the Croation tar
Zagreb, 17 April 2022: The battle to win the 2022 FIA World Rally Championship continues in Croatia next week (April 21-24) with the first asphalt event of the season free of ice and snow following on from Rallye Monte-Carlo in January.
A newcomer to the WRC in 2021, Croatia Rally proved a huge challenge for the drivers and teams when it took place last April with ever-changing grip levels and surface conditions characterising the first world-level rally in Europe’s eastern region since Rally Bulgaria in 2010.
The Zagreb-based event also delivered a truly memorable finale as Sébastien Ogier beat Elfyn Evans, his Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate, to victory by 0.6s following the winner-takes-all Wolf Power Stage.
Teams prepared for the second Croatia Rally to count for the WRC – and the first for the Rally1 era – during a series of tests on closed-public roads similar in character and challenge to what they’ll experience on the event. However, the unseasonal cold temperatures experienced at the start of the month are likely to contrast to the warm weather expected during rally week.
Nevertheless, the early starts, particularly on legs two and three, coupled with the use of stages in the hills around the city will make for colder and potentially damp conditions in the mornings and could therefore result in tyre strategy becoming a factor in the outcome of the rally.
Official WRC tyre supplier Pirelli will provide the P Zero HA (hard) and SA (soft) tyres for Croatia Rally. The first-choice hard compound tyre is designed for warm and dry conditions. The soft-option tyre is better suited to colder temperatures and damp road surfaces. In the event of heavy rain, the Cinturato wet tyre can be used. A maximum of 28 tyres are available to teams running Rally1 cars during the event including four for Shakedown.
Croatia Rally is the third event of the 2022 WRC season and marks the resumption of action following the lengthy break after Rally Sweden, which concluded on February 27 with a third career victory for Finns Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen, who top the provisional title standings as result.
FIA WRC2 and WRC3 points are also up for grabs in Croatia, while the event is round two of the FIA Junior WRC Championship.
THE 2022 ENTRY
A season best-equalling 11 Rally1 cars are entered for Croatia Rally, including a Ford Puma Rally1 for Pierre-Louis Loubet/Vincent Landais, winners of the WRC2 title in 2019. They are joined in the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team line-up by Irishmen Craig Breen/Paul Nagle, fellow French pair Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria and Briton Gus Greensmith, who is co-driven by Swede Jonas Andersson. Breen completed the Rallye Monte-Carlo podium in January, while Fourmaux returns to the scene of his debut in the WRC’s top-level category last season. Fourmaux was also in action when Mexico hosted Rally of Nations Guanajuato, a round of the FIA NACAM Championship earlier this month.
Four Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 challengers appear on the entry list. In addition to Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT is represented by British duo Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin, Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta and his Irish co-driver Aaron Johnston, plus Finns Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm. While Evans and Katsuta completed the entire Croatia Rally distance in 2021, Rovanperä crashed into retirement on the opening stage, while the event wasn’t part of Lappi’s limited event schedule last season.
Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team starts Croatia Rally boosted by Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe’s Rally Sweden podium and mindful of the Belgians’ performance on the event last season, which they led after leg one before finishing third overall on the back of six stage wins. Estonian pairing Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja drive a second Hyundai i20 N Rally1 and finished fourth in Croatia last year. Swede Oliver Solberg and Briton Elliott Edmondson’s fledgling partnership netted sixth overall on Rally Sweden although Croatia Rally is unchartered territory for the duo.
THE SUPPORTING CATEGORIES
As well as the chase for overall success, Croatia Rally also hosts the latest round of both the FIA WRC2 Championship, for Rally2 cars, and FIA WRC3 Championship, for Rally3 cars.
Yacco ACCR Team’s Erik Cais in a Ford Fiesta Mk II is the best-placed driver in the provisional WRC2 rankings where his opposition will include Frenchmen Eric Camilli (Sainteloc Junior Team), Stéphane Lefebvre, Yohan Rossel in Citroën C3s, Toksport WRT2’s Nikolay Gryazin and Emil Lindholm as well as Kajetan Kajetanowicz or Chris Ingram in Škoda Fabia Evos, M-Sport Ford’s Jari Huttunen, Georg Linnamäe in an ALM Motorsport-entered Volkswagen Polo GTI, Grégoire Munster in a Hyundai i20 N and WRC2 newcomer Miko Marczyk, a double Polish championship who finished third in last season’s FIA European Rally Championship.
In WRC3, 2021 Junior WRC champion Sami Pajari heads the current WRC3 Open order over Lauri Joona and Jan Černý. In the FIA Junior WRC class, seven young talents are taking part to the second event following the opening round in Sweden in identical Pirelli-equipped Ford Fiesta Rally3s from M-Sport Poland. They include title leader Jon Armstrong, William Creighton, McRae Kimathi, Robert Virves and Jean-Baptiste Franceschi, who has recovered from serious injury to take up his prize drive for winning the FIA Junior ERC3 crown in 2021.
Meanwhile, Niko Pulić and Ivica Siladic will fly the flag for Croatia in WRC2 and WRC3 respectively.
THE 2022 ROUTE
The second WRC-counting Croatia Rally is based in Zagreb from April 21-24 and consists of 20 stages over a competitive distance of 291.84 kilometres. Crews head first to the hills of Samoborsko Gorje, Žumberak and Karlovac west and southwest of host city Zagreb for four stages each run twice either side of service in the capital on Friday April 22. Mali Lipovec – Grdanjci is up first from 08:33 hrs local time, while the 20.77 kilometres of Stojdraga – Gornja Vas is packed full of corners. Saturday’s route, again to the west of Zagreb and featuring four double-use stages, begins with Kostanjevac – Petruš Vrh, the longest of the rally at 23.76 kilometres. The day also includes the new Platak test to the far southwest close to the Adriatic Sea. It’s an early start on Sunday with Trakošćan – Vrbno, another untried stage – and the rally’s most northerly – getting underway at 07:18. The second pass of Zagorska Sela – Kumrovec forms the event-deciding Wolf Power Stage. As well as the new Platak and Trakošćan – Vrbno stages, the 3.65-kilometre shakedown stage, scheduled for 09:01 hrs on Thursday April 21, is also new for 2022 and is located near the ancient town of Okić.
RALLY DATA
Total distance: 1642.18 km
Stage distance: 291.84 km
Number of stages: 20
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Gian Carlo Minardi is new FIA single-seater commission chief
Paris, 15 April 2022: The Italian has been elected after an e-voting process by members of the World Motor Sport Council.
Starting out as a competitor in Hill Climb and Rallying in the late 60s, Mr Minardi switched to management by running teams in Formula Italia. He eventually took his successful Formula Two operation into Formula 1 in 1985 where an engine supply partnership with Ferrari followed.
The Minardi name featured in Formula 1 until it was acquired by Paul Stoddart in 2001. The team eventually morphed into Scuderia Toro Rosso and has been known as Alpha Tauri since 2020. It still operates from the original Minardi team base in Faenza, Italy.
At the Minardi team, Gian Carlo Minardi shaped the careers of a number of Formula One drivers including Gian Carlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli, Mark Webber and current BWT Alpine F1 Team pilot Fernando Alonso.
He is President of the Automobile Club d’Italia (ACI) Land Speed Records Commission since 2004.
In 2020, Mr Minardi was elected President of the Autdodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, better known as Imola, the site of Formula 1’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix to be staged on April 24.
Mr Minardi will oversee a Single-Seater Commission which has been instrumental in reshaping the FIA’s junior racing portfolio while introducing innovative technologies and improved safety measures in recent years.
FIA President, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, said: “I warmly welcome the election of Gian Carlo Minardi as FIA Single-Seater Commission President. He is a major figure in motor sport. I look forward to working with him to further develop the Single-Seater pyramid around the world.”
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Daruvala reflects on positive three-day F2 test at Barcelona
Jehan Daruvala speaks on a positive three-day FIA Formula 2 (F2) Championship test at Barcelona with Prema Team.
By Darshan Chokhani
Barcelona, 15 Aprill 2022: Following the completion of the two rounds of the 2022 F2 season, the teams had a three-day in-season test at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya before the third round to take place next weekend at Imola.
The first day saw Daruvala end up 15th in the standings after setting the best time of 1m29.909s with 51 laps done. Teammate and fellow Red Bull driver Dennis Hauger (1m30.439s) was 19th with 52 laps done.
The second day saw Daruvala in 10th with a best time of 1m30.057s lap where he did 64 laps in all, whereas teammate Hauger (1m30.169s) was 13th with 62 laps in his kitty. The day saw damp conditions in afternoon.
The final day had Hauger finish ahead of Daruvala, with the Norwegian completing 48 laps to be fifth after setting a 1m27.945s lap. At the same time, Daruvala was seventh with a best time of 1m28.019s and 52 laps.
“We got three good days overall in Barcelona with the tyres we had,” said Daruvala. “We had two options and six primes, so when the track conditions were closer to what we will have for the weekend, we used options.
“The pace was there on both the long and short runs, and the car felt good. Compared to Jeddah, it’s completely different for everyone. There is going to be a lot of degradation when we come back here, and it’s going to be interesting. I think we learned a lot over the last few days and it will definitely help us for the weekend.”
Teammate Hauger added: “Day 1 was quite messy overall, but in the other days I feel we made great steps, both on me for the driving and in terms of our feel with the car and everything.
“Then the engine broke down in the last afternoon, but driving wise, in performance mode we managed a good step, which is a confidence boost ahead of the next round. We also had something tested out and that is good as well. Overall, a lot of positive things to take away into the next rounds.”
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Max Verstappen suffers second retirement in three races: F1 race analysis
By Malhaar Khaladkar
Charles Leclerc took his and Ferrari’s second victory of the season as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez finished P2 after his teammate Max Verstappen retired midway through the race, second such retirement in three races. Mercedes new boy George Russell achieved his first podium for the German team by finishing P3.
New Delhi, 12th April 2022: Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen shared the front row again after the Bahrain grand prix with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez as the rear gunner for the Dutchman. After an absence of two seasons, the Australian grand prix got underway with everyone getting away fairly cleanly.
Both Mercedes gained positions as Lewis Hamilton dove down inside of Perez to run in P3. Meanwhile, teammate George Russell went past Lando Norris’ McLaren. Sainz who had had a lowly qualifying on Saturday, starting the race in P9, chose the hard tyres whereas the majority of the grid went with medium tyres. The Spaniard suffered a slow start, dropping to P14 by lap 2. On lap 2, he tried to get past Zhou Guanyu at the fast turn 9 chicane. As a result he went off track, spun and beached his car into the gravel, marking his first retirement of the season. A safety car was called out.
As the safety car was called in on lap 7, Perez was right on the gearbox of Hamilton. By Lap 10, using the Red Bull’s superior pace he the Mexican was able to get past the 7-time world champion to run in P3. Behind, Russell was running in P5 followed by Norris and teammate Daniel Ricciardo in P6 and P7 respectively.
Both Red Bull cars struggled on the mediums with tyre graining as Verstappen fell away from Leclerc and Hamilton closed up, almost within a second of Perez. Verstappen was called into the pits for hard tyres on lap 18 with Perez doing the same on lap 20. Leclerc and Hamilton pitted on lap 22, for hard tyres as well. While Leclerc emerged in a comfortable lead, Hamilton emerged just under a second ahead of Perez on colder tyres. Perez made full use of the situation in getting past Hamilton for the second time.
The situation could not have been worse for Hamilton as a safety car was called out just after Perez went past, this time due to Sebastian Vettel spinning his Aston Martin into a barrier. This allowed Russell to pit under the safety car and emerge in P3, ahead of Perez and Hamilton.
The racing resumed on lap 27 with everyone on hard tyres, drivers like Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon were yet to pit, running in the top 10. Leclerc had a shaky start as Verstappen drew alongside but the Ferrari driver managed to hold on in the lead. Meanwhile, Perez attempted to get past Russell for P3 which he succeeded on lap 36. Russell tried to defend but had no answer for the Red Bull’s pace. Ahead Leclerc was leading by 5s over Verstappen with both of them trading fastest laps in the process.
Gremlins struck Verstappen as he pulled over on lap 39 with smoke billowing from his RB18. This was his second DNF in three races and his championship hopes took a deeper dent. This allowed Leclerc to cruise to victory and take home an additional point for the fastest lap.
Leclerc won his second race of the season as Perez gave achieved another podium for Red Bull while Russell bagged his first podium for Mercedes in P3. Hamilton was unfortunate with the timing of the safety car so had to settle for P4. McLaren duo of Norris and Ricciardo finished in P5 and P6 respectively. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished in P7 ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas in P8 and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly in P9. Alex Albon put in a mammoth 57 lap (out of 58 laps) stint on the hard tyresto get first point of the season for Williams.
Rookie Zhou Guanyu just missed out on points ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in P12, who finished in points position but lost it due to a 5-second time penalty given to him for weaving on the straights. Both Haas cars finished out of the points, Mick Schumacher in P13 and Magnussen in P14. Yuki Tsunoda could only manage P15 for AlphaTauri, with Williams’ Nicholas Latifi finishing in P16. Alonso was the last of the finishers in P17. Verstappen, Vettel and Sainz were the three cars unable to finish the race.
Ferrari looked dominant in Australia, especially when it came to race pace. Even though they suffered more porpoising compared to the first two rounds, Red Bull could not match their pace. Had Sainz not had the problems suffered in qualifying he might have been second behind Leclerc in the world championship. Red Bull lacked pace, even to the Mercedes at certain points in the race. Majority of the blame lies with the set-up direction they chose. They opted to protect rear tyres compared to the front. As a result the front tyres suffered graining and the car lacked overall pace. Compounded with Verstappen’s DNF they have a steep mountain to climb if they want to be back in the championship battle. Mercedes struggled in qualifying but made a positive improvement in race pace. They were outqualified by McLaren and should have been by Alpine as well had Alonso not crashed in Q3. Race pace wise it was positive as once tyres phased in they had similar pace to the Red Bull cars.
McLaren had their best race weekend of the season so far, finishing best of the rest and entering Q3 with both cars. For the first time it looked McLaren had made progress with their car. Though, both drivers admitted that their car is “very track dependent” so repeat of such performances will be difficult. Alpine had a weekend of ‘what ifs’. Alonso had a great Q3 lap, almost challenging pole position before hydraulics failure resulted in a crash. According to the Spaniard Alpine were faster than Mercedes on race pace too, but safety cars ruined the strategy. They had a silver lining as Ocon managed to finish P7. Alfa Romeo showed impressive race pace once again as Bottas managed P8 while teammate Zhou just finished on the cusp of points. AlphaTauri managed to score points with Gasly but lacked the pace to match the Alpine and McLaren cars, with both cars unable to make it to Q3.
Williams did not have the qualifying or the race pace to challenge for points, but Albon managed to pull off a crazy strategy which resulted in P10. Haas struggled to covert their early season form into pace in Australia. They struggled for both qualifying and race pace. The team blamed it more on their setup issue rather than a natural pace deficit. It remains to be seen if they will recover back to form in Imola. Aston Martin had a dismal weekend with their cars crashing four times and achieving no points. Their car has balance issues which is making it difficult for them to extract the pace.
Saturday Qualifying results were:
P1: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P2: Max Verstappen- 1 (Red Bull) P3: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P4: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P5: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P6: George Russell- 63 (Mercedes) P7: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P8: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P9: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P10: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P11: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P12: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Alfa Romeo) P13: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P14: Zhou Guanyu- 24 (Alfa Romeo) P15: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P16: Alex Albon- 23 (Williams) P17: Kevin Magnussen- 20 (Haas) P18: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P19: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P20: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) Note – Albon penalised three grid places for causing a collision at the previous round; disqualified from qualifying for a fuel infringement – races at stewards’ discretion. Stroll penalised three grid places for causing a collision during qualifying; failed to set a time within the Q1 107% requirement – races at stewards’ discretion.
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FIM MiniGP India Series to begin with trials in Bengaluru on July 9
Bengaluru, 14 April 2022: India will host the inaugral FIM MiniGP World Series with the Garden City Bengaluru hosting three of the five rounds and the grand initiative will kick-start with selection trials on July 9 at Meco Kartopia, th 1.2km track at Bagaluru in North Bengaluru.
Road to MotoGP is a series to promote racers to get a chance to the ultimate Road Racing event, the MotoGP World Championship. The MiniGP India Series too, will have the winner take a shot at the Road to GP series. The Indian riders will be compete on Ohvale GP-0 160 mini-race bikes shod with Pirelli Tyres, who will be the only tyre supplier. All the five rounds will be held on Karting circuits approved by fmsci, the Indian Federation – Meco Kartopia in Bengaluru and Chicane in Hyderabad.
Chicane circuit in Hyderabad will host two rounds. “Our efforts to bring in international events to India are starting to bear fruits, thanks to fmsci. It is an excellent opportunity for Indians to get into international racing. Our goal to catch them young and train for international exposure is fulfilled and the MiniGP India series will create a right platform for riders in the age group of 9 to 14 years to showcase their skills and gain the much-needed experience,” said Sujith Kumar BS, the FIM ASIA vice-president and the 2-wheeler Racing Commission chairman of fmsci. This is the only series in the world which is providing everything for free to the riders to encourage youngsters in India. Ohvale will be the single-make machine for the series and the transportation and excise duty charges are being waived for the riders.
S.# DATES 2022 CIRCUITS CITY LENGTH Remarks 1 9 July Meco Kartopia Bengaluru 1.2km Selections 2 16 & 17 July Meco Kartopia Bengaluru 1.2km Round 1 3 20 & 21 August Chicane Hyderabad 1.2km Round 2 4 27 & 28 August Chicane Hyderabad 1.2km Round 3 5 3 & 4 Sept Meco Kartopia Bengaluru 1.2km Round 4 6 10 & 11 Sept Meco Kartopia Bengaluru 1.2km Round 5 The inaugural 2022 FIM MiniGP India Series calendar as per Dorna, the Promoters. The World Series began in 2021, culminating in an incredible first FIM MiniGP World Series Final at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, just ahead of the MotoGP season finale. In 2022, the series is expanded to include more National Series, with a number of new countries including INDIA joining up.
The 2021 Series was held in Alpe Adria, France, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, North America, Portugal, Spain and the UK. This year apart from India, Australia, Austria, Indonesia and Qatar join the MiniGP. The top two riders from each of these competitions will be invited to join the 2022 FIM MiniGP World Series Final. In the inaugural year of the FIM MiniGP World Series, the winner of the World Final will, subject to minimum age and location/nationality, secure a spot in one of the Road To MotoGP programs on the next rung of their career ladder.
The calendars for each of the Series comprising the 2022 FIM MiniGP World Series can now be announced, with competition underway in many already.
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Masia back on top after classic Moto3 finish at COTA
The Spaniard takes his first win of the year ahead of Foggia and Migno as Garcia crashes out
Austin, 10 April 2022: For the first time since the 2021 Qatar GP, Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) is a race-winner after coming out on top of a classic Moto3 battle at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, the fourth round of the Moto3 World Championship. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) takes the World Championship lead and with some margin after a second place finish, the Italian beating compatriot Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) to the second step on the podium. Former points leader Sergio Garcia (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) suffered a DNF, with his place in the standings taking a dent.
Polesitter Migno was able to hold onto P1 as the lightweight class field piled into Turn 1, but Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3) was soon the race leader, the Turk through with an aggressive move at Turn 7. Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI), after contact on the home straight with Öncü, took over in the lead on Lap 2 though, and there was big progress for Garcia as he picked his way through to P8 from P15 on the grid. Foggia was going in the wrong direction early doors, meanwhile, the Italian had been shuffled down to P10.
Xavier Artigas (CFMoto Racing PrüstelGP) took his turn leading for a couple of laps, but then came the drama for Garcia. On Lap 6 at the exit of Turn 13, there was contact between the Spaniard and compatriot Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Garcia was down and out of the running for points, as Holgado himself then tucked the front at Turn 20. Izan Guevara (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team), after jumping the start, had to take two Long Lap penalties.
A lead group of seven had formed at the front: Masia now led from Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max), Öncü, Moreira, Artigas, Foggia and Migno with nine laps to go. With seven to go, Foggia hit the front for the first time, but a lap later, Masia was back through.
With five to go though it was a costly Turn 12 for Foggia, the Italian shuffled down to P4 behind Masia, Migno and Sasaki after running slightly wide. It was all to play for with two laps to go in Austin, the top seven all locked together.
Heading onto the last lap, Moreira highsided out – unhurt – at the final corner, as Masia and Migno scrapped for the lead. Foggia was P3, Sasaki P4, Öncü P5 – it was between these five riders for victory. Migno led onto the back straight but Masia grabbed a nice slipstream and made a move stick into Turn 12.
It was advantage Masia heading into the final sector, and Migno dived up the inside at the penultimate corner but went wide, allowing both Masia and Foggia through. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider made no mistake at the final corner and took victory ahead of Foggia and Migno, with Sasaki missing out on a podium by 0.096s in P4.
Öncü was in the fight for victory throughout but just lost touch on the last lap and the Turkish rider came home in P5. Artigas also lost touch in the closing stages, the Spaniard finished P6 ahead of Guevara, who did well to recover to P7 from his two Long Lap penalties. Carlos Tatay (CFMoto Racing PrüstelGP), Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) rounded out the top 10.
Rookies Ivan Ortola (Angeluss MTA Team) and Scott Ogden (VisionTrack Racing Team) produced great rides to pick up P11 and P12 on their first visits to COTA, the duo finished ahead of Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team), Adrian Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Tech3) and the final point scorer Lorenzo Fellon (SIC58 Squadra Corse) – that’s the Frenchman’s first World Championship point.
With Garcia eventually retiring after his crash, Foggia takes a 16-point lead to Portimão as the European leg of the season now appears on the horizon. And the Portuguese venue is one we’ve seen the Italian master. Will he extend his lead next time out?
Moto3 Podium:
1 Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo)– KTM – 38’58.286
2 Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) – Honda – +0.172
3 Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) – Honda – +0.394 -
Enea Bastianini masterclass at display in Austin: MotoGP
Austin, 10 April 2022: Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP) is now a two-time MotoGP race winner! The Beast delivered a Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas masterclass to retake the title lead heading to Europe, taking Ducati’s first win at the venue and staking his claim on a serious charge for the crown at the fourth round of the MotoGP World Championship here on Sunday.
Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) scrapped it out on the last lap for second, with the Suzuki rider coming out on top with a late lunge – and thus securing Suzuki’s 500th podium. Miller, nevertheless, took his first rostrum of the season.
Behind the fight for the win, there was also an almighty comeback ride from Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team)…
As the lights went out, Miller got the best start of the leading Ducati trio on the front row and grabbed the holeshot ahead of Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), but thus began the drama for the number 93. The eight-time World Champion suffered an issue off the line, plummeting through the order to the very back of the field. He got going, and then the race was on.
From left: Miller, Bastianini and Rins at the Podium celebrations on Sunday. A MotoGP image Up ahead, Bastianini got the better Bagnaia for P3 on Lap 1 as Martin lunged for the lead at the penultimate corner. Miller instantly retaliated though and it was the Australian who held the race lead baton on Lap 2. It was a Ducati 1-2-3-4-5, with Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) scrapping away with Pecco for P4, followed by Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) and Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Rins and Joan Mir in P6, P7 and P8 behind the Desmosedici quintet.
The fifth round of the MotoGP World Championship in Algarve, Portugal is on April 24.
By Lap 5 meanwhile, Marc Marquez had climbed his way up to 13th. Lap 7 saw him pass teammate Pol Espargaro at Turn 12 and in doing so, the number 93 was inside the top 10 – 0.6s off Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) in eighth and just five seconds off the lead.
Further up the road, Rins had pounced on Pecco and the Ducati stranglehold had been breached on Lap 6. Rins was an absolute demon on brakes into Turn 11 and the Spaniard picked off Zarco on Lap 9, crucially holding the Frenchman at bay coming out of Turn 12 too. Rins then latched himself onto the coattails of third place Bastianini, diving up the inside of the ‘Beast’ at Turn 11 on the next lap but Bastianini able to power back past.
Meanwhile, Marc Marquez had picked off Aleix Espargaro and had Quartararo next on his list as the number 93 set the fastest lap of the race on Lap 11 of 20.
Lap 12 saw Bastianini slice past Martin into second at Turn 1, and Rins followed Bestia through and into third. Up ahead, Miller had opened up a 0.7s lead as the Australian pushed on doing the leg work of leading, with Bagnaia, Mir and Zarco battling it out as the top nine riders down to Marc Marquez were split by five seconds – and the latter, once again, set the fastest lap of the race.
It was all happening. Lap 14 saw Quartararo push his way past countryman Zarco as the number 5 dropped backwards, and Marc Marquez then passed Quartararo on the back straight as, up ahead, both Mir and Pecco made their way through on Martin. Bastianini, in second, then set the best lap of the race as Miller’s lead was cut to 0.3s, the race for the win very much on. The top two also had 1.4s in hand to Rins, who in turn had 1.3s to teammate Mir. Could the Suzukis bridge the gap?
With five laps to go, it looked like it was only a matter of time before Bastianini took the lead off Miller. Sure enough, ducking into the slipstream of the Australian, Bastianini then sliced up the inside of the number 43, hitting the front at Turn 12.
How would Miller respond? Bastianini eked out about three tenths and with three laps to go, the gap was half a second. From there, it only grew – and Rins was closing in fast, too. The Suzuki was now 0.7s behind Miller, Mir was a further second down the road, Bagnaia 0.8s off Mir, and Marquez and Quartararo were getting their gloves off as they shoved Martin down to P8.
Starting the final lap, Bastianini had 1.6s in his pocket and it seemed his to lose. Miller was now on defence duty against a charging Rins, with Mir not too far off the podium fight either. Bagnaia was in a lonelier fifth, and Marquez vs Quartararo was a sensation in the battle for sixth.
For second, the fight started at Turn 11 as the Suzuki got by, but Miller got his Ducati hooked up on the straight and the Aussie was back into P2. Rins then got a great run out of Turn 18, and at Turn 19, the number 42 went for it and dived up the inside. Stopped and turned to perfection, there was no way back for Miller and that was that: Bastianini a MotoGP™ race winner once more, Rins taking second and making that history for Suzuki, and Miller forced to settle for third but still taking a first podium of the season.
Mir’s podium attack didn’t quite come to fruition in the end but it’s a second consecutive P4 for the 2020 World Champion, with Bagnaia also taking a second successive result, his of fifth. And then came Marquez…
From 24th to sixth was a truly stunning comeback, enough even without threatening the podium for it to be a serious warning shot for the rest. Quartararo gave it some elbows to try and deny the number 93 though, taking P7 in the end but the top Iwata machine by some margin.
Martin slipped to P8 as the Pramac duo struggled in the second half of the race, with Zarco just behind in P9. Maverick Viñales got the better of Aprilia Racing teammate Aleix Espargaro as the Aprilias pick up P10 and P11 from P13 and P14 on the grid, with Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) coming home in P12 on a difficult weekend for KTM.
A fatigued and under the weather Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) saw the chequered flag in P13, just ahead of Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu). Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) crossed the line in P15 but was demoted one place, handing Andrea Dovizioso (WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP™ Team) the final point.
Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) and Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) crashed out, the former headed to the medical centre for a check-up and was declared fit.
What a way to celebrate 500 GPs of racing together, with Bastianini putting on a show to remember at the Circuit of the Americas. The Beast is back on top and in winning race #GP500, joins Cal Crutchlow (400th), Casey Stoner (300th), Valentino Rossi (200th), Kenny Roberts Jr (100th) and Mick Doohan, the first winner of the era back in 1992, with a nice little milestone.
Now the stunning Autodromo Internacional do Algarve awaits, with a very different looking Championship table to the one on MotoGP™’s last visit. What will the rollercoaster bring? Find out in two weeks!
MotoGP podium:
1 Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) – Ducati – 41’23.111
2 Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) – Suzuki – +2.058
3 Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) – Ducati – +2.312Enea Bastianini: “Fantastic day! It has been really hard this race. The first part of the race Miller put a very fast pace, but then during the middle of the race when I saw Rins very close to me trying to overtake me many times I decided it was time to push for the front because also the temperature of the front tyre was too high. In the end I pushed like a bastard. It’s incredible to win here in America it’s a fantastic track, fantastic people and now it’s time to eat some hamburgers.!”
