Tag: featured

Armstrong leads from lights-to-flag for first win; Jehan Daruvala finishes P7

Budapest, 4 August 2019: Marcus Armstrong ruled Race 2 in Budapest with a lights-to-flag finish that saw him cross the line a massive 12s ahead of Leonardo Pulcini for his first ever FIA Formula 3 win.

The PREMA man had spent a mammoth 97 Laps inside of the top three ahead of Round 5, but was yet to have a victory to show for it. He set the record straight on Sunday with a dominant drive around the Hungaroring, ahead of Hitech Grand Prix racer Pulcini and HWA RACELAB’s Jake Hughes

The Kiwi brushed off an attack at the start from the Italian, who attempted to pass him on the second turn. The duo kissed tyres, which forced Pulcini to ease off and allowed Armstrong to scuttle on ahead.

There was little movement in behind, with most of the top ten clinging onto their original positions. Felipe Drugovich in particular was hanging onto 3^rd by a thread. He was being hounded and harried by the dazzling red PREMA of Robert Shwartzman, but just about survived the opening few laps.

The battle continued as the lap tally hit double figures and still Drugovich would not falter. PREMA urged Shwartzman to overtake, but he was struggling to find the speed or the space. Eventually he gathered enough power to pull side-by-side with the Carlin Buzz racer, who remained just millimetres in front.

Just as Drugovich thought he had held on, his tyre was struck by the front-wing of Shwartzman, which tore into his rubber and caused a puncture. He quickly dropped back and would eventually retire from the pits. Shwartzman was momentarily in 3^rd, but his front-wing was battered and his bruised PREMA couldn’t sustain the pace and he too dropped back, before also retiring from the pits. Stewards swiftly deemed the collision a racing incident that required no further investigation.

This handed Jüri Vips the podium place he came so close to clinching in Race 1. Initially, it was Max Fewrtell in behind, but the Briton slowed and fell out of contention. This allowed Hughes into 4^th and a chance at a second podium place. Race 1 repeated itself as the HWA racer bombed down the side of the Estonian on the straight and into the first corner for 3^rd.

The chaos going on behind had allowed Pulcini to put 18s between himself and 3^rd place, while Armstrong topped the pack by 12s, meaning the duo crossed the line unchallenged. In 3^rd remained Hughes, with his second podium of the weekend, as Vips and Christian Lundgaard completed the top five. Yuki Tsunoda finished 6^th, ahead of Jehan Daruvala, who had managed to climb into the points for the first time this weekend. Logan Sargeant, Liam Lawson and Bent Viscaal completed the top ten.

Having missed out on the points in Race 2, Shwartzman’s lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship has been slashed to just 12, ahead of Vips, who is on 112. Jehan Daruvala is only eight behind, while Armstrong has 98. Lundgaard completes the top five with 73. In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA retain their stranglehold with 326, ahead of Hitech Grand Prix on 165 and ART Grand Prix on 147. HWA RACELAB are fourth with 66 and Trident 5^th with 58.

With the title chase closer than ever and just 20 points separating the top three in the Championship, the next round in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium will be unmissable, when racing returns at the end of August.

2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship – Race 2 provisional classification

	DRIVER	TEAM
1	Marcus Armstrong	PREMA Racing
2	Leonardo Pulcini	Hitech Grand Prix
3	Jake Hughes	HWA RACELAB
4	Juri Vips	Hitech Grand Prix
5	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix
6	Yuki Tsunoda	Jenzer Motorsport
7	Jehan Daruvala	PREMA Racing
8	Logan Sargeant	Carlin Buzz Racing
9	Liam Lawson	MP Motorsport
10	Bent Viscaal	HWA RACELAB
11	Devlin DeFrancesco	Trident
12	Niko Kari	Trident
13	Fabio Scherer	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
14	Keyvan Andres	HWA RACELAB
15	Andreas Estner	Jenzer Motorsport
16	Alex Peroni	Campos Racing
17	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport
18	Simo Laaksonen	MP Motorsport
19	David Beckmann	ART Grand Prix
20	Lirim Zendeli	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
21	Giorgio Carrara	Jenzer Motorsport
22	Ye Yifei	Hitech Grand Prix
23	Sebastian Fernandez	Campos Racing
24	Max Fewtrell	ART Grand Prix
25	Raoul Hyman	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
26	Alessio Deledda	Campos Racing
27	Pedro Piquet	Trident

	NOT CLASSIFIED

	Robert Shwartzman	PREMA Racing
	Felipe Drugovich	Carlin Buzz Racing
	Teppei Natori	Carlin Buzz Racing

	OVERALL FASTEST LAP
	Marcus Armstrong (PREMA Racing) – 1:35.307 on Lap 4

	FASTEST LAP ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
	Marcus Armstrong (PREMA Racing)

August 4, 2019

Rajiv Sethu makes it four wins in a row; Double for Anish Shetty, Venkatesan; Ryhana stars

Rajiv Sethu (80), winner of the Pro-Stock 165cc race ahead of KY Ahamed (33) at MMRT on Sunday. Photos: Anand Philar

Chennai, 4 August 2019: Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) showed why he is arguably India’s top racing rider at the moment by scrambling to a heart-stopping win, his fourth in a row in the Pro-Stock 165cc class, as the third round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship concluded at the MMRT, here today.

KY Ahamed brought some cheer for TVS Racing on a day dominated by Honda as he topped the premier 301-400cc class by a comfortable margin to move within three points of his team-mate Deepak Ravikumar (101 points) on the leaderboard. Ravikumar finished third today behind yesterday’s Race-1 winner, Rahil Shetty (Sparks Racing).

Also hogging the limelight were Bengaluru-based Anish Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) and Chennai’s Venkatesan I (Moto Maniacz Racing) who both achieved a double this weekend in the Pro-Stock 201-300cc and Novice (Stock 165cc) categories, respectively, while Ryhana Bee (Sparks Racing), also from Chennai, took the honours in the Girls race.

Sethu, who is growing in stature with each outing and scored a double win in the previous round, held off a late-charging KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) despite a bad start and issues with his bike as the duo crossed the finish line in close formation within one-hundredth of a second between them. Sethu’s team-mate and fellow-international, Sarath Kumar, completed the podium. The victory took Sethu to the top of the leaderboard with 100 points, ahead of Jagan Kumar of TVS Racing (94) and Sarath Kumar (93).

The Honda ace, who again failed to capitalise on a pole-position start, yielded ground to seven-times National champion Jagan Kumar who was quick off the grid from third position and built up a commanding lead. However, in the third of the eight-lap race, Jagan retired due to engine issues and Sethu forged to the front with Ahamed hot on his heels. The pair fought tooth and nail and were almost inseparable at the finish line.

Anish Shetty, in notching his third win in a row, cemented his position at the top of the championship in his category with 90 points. Shetty again led a 1-2-3 finish for his team like yesterday with Abhishek Vasudev and Aravind Balakrishnan in tow in that order.

Chennai’s Ryhana Bee, with the win today, her second in three rounds, took a sizeable lead in the championship with 68 points. Defending champion and team-mate Ann Jennifer crashed in the last of the five laps after Ryhana overtook her. Alisha Abdullah (Alishaa Racing) was second followed by private entrant Nivetha Jessica who is now second on the leaderboard with 42 points ahead of Ann Jennifer (40) with two more rounds to be run in the coming weeks.

Later, Md Mikail, the 15-year old from Chennai, won his second race of the weekend riding the FIM Moto3-spec NSF 250R in the Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup, putting in a hot lap of 01:47.974, in the process.

The results (Provisional, all 8 laps unless mentioned):

National Championship:

Pro-Stock 301-400cc (Race-2): 1. KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) (15mins, 32.793secs); 2. Rahil Shetty (Sparks Racing) (15:35.179); 3. Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing) (15:44.637).

Pro-Stock 201-300cc (Race-2): 1. Anish Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (16:13.776); 2. Abhishek Vasudev (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (16:26.707); 3. Aravind Balakrishnan (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (16:31.680).

Pro-Stock 165cc (Race-2): 1. Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (16:07.022); 2. Ahamed KY (TVS Racing) (16:07.032); 3. Sarath Kumar (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing)(16:15.267).

Novice (Stock 165cc) Race-2 (6 laps): 1. Venkatesan I (Motomaniacz Racing) (13:13.563); 2. Lokesh V (Speedup Racing) (13:14.839); 3. Annish Samson (Speedup Racing) (13:21.887).

Girls (Stock 165cc, 5 laps): 1. Ryhana Bee (Sparks Racing) (11:09.174); 2. Alisha Abdullah (Alishaa Racing) (11:12.948); Nivetha Jessica (Pvt) (11:32.874).

One-Make Championship:

Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup – NSF 250R (Race-2): 1. Md Mikail (Chennai) (14:48.615); 2. Kritik Vasant Habib (Gadag) (14:51.398); 3. Kavin Samaar Quintal (Chennai) (14:51.669). CBR 150 (Novice, Race-2, 6 laps): 1. Samuel Martin (Bengaluru) (13:15.112); 2. Lal Nunsanga (Aizwal) (13:15.162); 3. S Deepak Kumar (Chennai) (13:18.127).

TVS – Open (RR 310, Race-2): 1. Aravind Ganesh (Chennai) (16:06.657); 2. Karthik Mateti (Hyderabad) (16:06.806); 3. Anup Kumar (Chennai) (16:07.154). Novice (RTR 200, Race-2, 6 laps): 1. Venkatesan I (Chennai) (13:12.481); 2. Lokesh V (Bengaluru) (13:20.336); 3. Alwin Sundar (Chennai) (13:20.372).

August 4, 2019

Christian Lundgaard’s perfect weekend continues with maiden F3 win; Jehan Daruvala 11th

Danish driver joined on Budapest podium by British duo Fewtrell and Hughes

Christian_Lundgaard_(ART_Grand_Prix) claims his maiden F3 win on Sunday. FIAF3 image

Budapest, 4 August 2019: Christian Lundgaard took his first ever FIA Formula 3 win in style today, marching round the Hungaroring in 1^stfrom lights-to-flag. The Danish driver continued his so far flawless weekend with his third P1 finish of Round 5, ahead of ART Grand Prix teammate Max Fewtrell and HWA RACELAB’s Jake Hughes.

The Dane may have clung onto 1^st at the start, but there was plenty of movement behind him when the lights went out. Fellow Renault Academy driver Fewtrell hugged the back of him off the line to hop up to second. Niko Kari also benefitted from Jüri Vip’s sluggish start from P2, lunging to third whilst the Estonian dropped to 5^th. Championship leader Robert Shwartzman also suffered frustration as he dropped four places to 8^th.

As those in front looked to consolidate their positions on a dry afternoon in Hungary, drama played out at the back of the field. The rear tyres of Raoul Hyman and Liam Lawson’s machines collided, which sent the former into a dizzy spin. Thankfully, the Sauber Junior driver was able to recover, but Pedro Piquet in P4 wasn’t so lucky, suffering a brake issue which forced him into retirement in the pits.

Out in front, Lundgaard set the fastest lap on his way to collecting a tidy 3s lead, with Fewtrell and Kari still in procession. The Finn was clinging onto 3^rd by the skin of his teeth, but seriously struggling with grip and looked to be fighting a losing battle with Vips in behind. Kari briefly skidded off track as he continued to suffer, but managed to claw it back and fend off the Estonian once again.

The Trident racer would have to do it all again two laps later when he locked up and went wheel-to-wheel with the Hitech man for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, he scrambled back in front, but he was in increasing danger. Vips waited three more laps to eventually make the move stick, as both he and Hughes dashed past Kari. Shwartzman followed through a lap later and Kari started to freefall.

Just when it looked like any further drama had been put to bed, Hughes appeared in the wing-mirror of Vips to steal the final podium place on the penultimate lap, weaving around the Estonian and bombing down the inside.

At the chequered flag, Lundgaard was over-the-moon to cross the finish line ahead of teammate Fewtrell. Hughes took 3^rd place, with Vips settling for fourth. Shwartzman managed fifth, ahead of Felipe Drugovich who scores his first championship points, and Leonardo Pulcini. Marcus Armstrong managed to creep into the points in 8^th, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda and Logan Sargeant.

Shwartzman’s Championship lead has been cut to just 20 points, with the Russian leading Vips who has risen to 2^nd on 104, ahead of Jehan Daruvala on 102. Armstrong remains 4^th on 81, ahead of Lundgaard on 67. PREMA continue at the top of the Teams’ Championship, with 307 points, cleanly ahead of Hitech Grand Prix on 145. ART Grand Prix are third on 141, ahead of Trident on 58 and HWA RACELAB on 56.

With the Driver’s Championship now tighter than ever and a PREMA back on reverse pole, tomorrow’s race will prove to be a tense affair when it kicks off at 10am local time.

2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship – Race 1 provisional classification

	DRIVER	TEAM
1	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix
2	Max Fewtrell	ART Grand Prix
3	Jake Hughes	HWA RACELAB
4	Juri Vips	Hitech Grand Prix
5	Robert Shwartzman	PREMA Racing
6	Felipe Drugovich	Carlin Buzz Racing
7	Leonardo Pulcini	Hitech Grand Prix
8	Marcus Armstrong	PREMA Racing
9	Yuki Tsunoda	Jenzer Motorsport
10	Logan Sargeant	Carlin Buzz Racing
11	Jehan Daruvala	PREMA Racing
12	Devlin DeFrancesco	Trident
13	Alex Peroni	Campos Racing
14	Sebastian Fernandez	Campos Racing
15	Niko Kari	Trident
16	Fabio Scherer	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
17	Liam Lawson	MP Motorsport
18	Simo Laaksonen	MP Motorsport
19	Ye Yifei	Hitech Grand Prix
20	Bent Viscaal	HWA RACELAB
21	Teppei Natori	Carlin Buzz Racing
22	Andreas Estner	Jenzer Motorsport
23	Raoul Hyman	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
24	Keyvan Andres	HWA RACELAB
25	Alessio Deledda	Campos Racing
26	Giorgio Carrara	Jenzer Motorsport
27	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport
28	David Beckmann	ART Grand Prix

	NOT CLASSIFIED

	Lirim Zendeli	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
	Pedro Piquet	Trident

	OVERALL FASTEST LAP
	Christian Lundgaard (ART Grand Prix) – 1:36.055 on Lap 22

	FASTEST LAP ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
	Christian Lundgaard (ART Grand Prix)

August 4, 2019

Lundgaard claims maiden pole; Jehan Daruvala P17

Christian Lundgaard followed up his dominant Free Practice form to secure his first pole position in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, with a stomping tour of the Hungaroring circuit. The ART Grand Prix man finished ahead of Hitech Grand Prix’s Jüri Vips and teammate Max Fewtrell, as ART ruled the morning session.

Marcus Armstrong was the first out on track in dry conditions, but remained wary on his first lap of the circuit, with the tarmac still damp in spots. Once the PREMA man got going, he set the pace at just under 1m 33s, ahead of Alex Peroni.

The Kiwi was able to further secure the position with a storming sector 2 and fend off an assault from stablemate Robert Shwartzman and Championship rival Vips who missed out by a tenth. The Estonian had another shot, but wobbled slightly wide at Turn 10.

Following this, the cars ducked into the pits for a fresh set of medium compounds. Two warm-up laps followed for the majority of the field as they ensured the tyres were at their maximum.

Pedro Piquet was the first to take the lead in the second half, before being quickly usurped by Vips. Out of nowhere, Lundgaard turned on the style when it mattered, and bettered the lot of them, bombing around the Hungaroring in 1:31.761.

With the times flying in, things went sharply downhill for PREMA, who appeared to be suffering a rare off-day. All three drivers were chucked down the order and only Shwartzman was able to make the top ten, netting fourth fastest. Armstrong could only achieve 13^th, while Jehan Daruvala’s final lap left him in lowly 17^th ahead of Race 1.

This saw Lundgaard’s searing time unbeatable at the chequered flag as he finished ahead of Vips and Fewtrell. Niko Kari managed fifth, behind Shwartzman in fourth. Pedro Piquet, Jake Hughes, David Beckmann, Yuki Tsunoda and Felipe Drugovich completed the top ten.

The cars will hit the track again this afternoon when racing gets underway at 4.45pm local time. Lundgaard will look to hold on and seal a potential first win of the season, but Vips and teammate Fewtrell will be hot on his heels around one of the shorter tracks of the F3 calendar.

FIA Formula 3 Championship – Round 5 Qualifying provisional classification

	DRIVER	TEAM	LAPTIME	LAPS
1	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix	1:31.761	13
2	Jüri Vips	Hitech Grand Prix	1:31.886	13
3	Max Fewtrell	ART Grand Prix	1:31.897	13
4	Robert Shwartzman	PREMA Racing	1:31.903	13
5	Niko Kari	Trident	1:31.074	14
6	Pedro Piquet	Trident	1:31.987	13
7	Jake Hughes	HWA RACELAB	1:32.037	12
8	David Beckmann	ART Grand Prix	1:32.077	13
9	Yuki Tsunoda	Jenzer Motorsport	1:32.197	13
10	Felipe Drugovich	Carlin Buzz Racing	1:32.356	14
11	Leonardo Pulcini	Jenzer Motorsport	1:32.375	13
12	Sebastian Fernandez	Campos Racing	1:32.376	13
13	Marcus Armstrong	PREMA Racing	1:32.385	13
14	Alex Peroni	Campos Racing	1:32.402	13
15	Raoul Hyman	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	1:32.486	12
16	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	1:32.565	14
17	Jehan Daruvala	PREMA Racing	1:32.593	13
18	Ye Yifei	Hitech Grand Prix	1:32.621	13
19	Logan Sargeant	Carlin Buzz Racing	1:32.692	13
20	Liam Lawson	MP Motorsport	1:32.695	16
21	Teppei Natori	Carlin Buzz Racing	1:32.727	13
22	Fabio Scherer	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	1:32.873	13
23	Simo Laaksonen	MP Motorsport	1:32.945	11
24	Lirim Zendeli	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	1:32.987	14
25	Devlin De Francesco	Trident	1:33.047	14
26	Bent Viscaal	HWA RACELAB	1:33.064	12
27	Keyvan Andres	HWA RACELAB	1:33.093	12
28	Giorgio Carrara	Jenzer Motorsport	1:33.372	15
29	Andreas Estner	Jenzer Motorsport	1:33.469	15
30	Alessio Deledda	Campos Racing	1:35.016	13

August 3, 2019

Max Verstappen scores career’s first pole position: Hungarian GP

Max Verstappen (centre) takes pole on Saturday. An FIA image

Budapest, 3 August 2019: Max Verstappen scored the first first pole position of his career as he beat Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas to the front of the Hungarian Grand Prix grid by just under two hundredths of a second. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton with start from third place for the 12th round of the FIA World Formula 1 Championship on Sunday.

As soon as the lights went green at the end of the pit lane to signal the start of Q1, Red Bull driver Verstappen made a strong statement, with the Dutchman posting a lap of 1:15.917 to top the timesheeet. It was a time none of his rivals could match in this first segment, though Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton got close with a lap of 1:16.068 to finish second ahead of Bootas and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.

Fifth and sixth places went to Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel. Leclerc hit trouble in this opening phase, however. The Monegasque lost control of his car on entry to the final turn during a flying lap and spun backwards into the barriers. He was able to limp back to the pits where his crew began repairs ahead of Q2.

At the lower end of the order George Russell was the first man eliminated in P16. The Williams driver exited ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez, Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, the second Racing Point of Lance Stroll and P20 man Robert Kubica of Williams.

For the top three teams the yellow-banded medium tyre was the compound of choice for the first runs of Q2. Hamilton took top spot with a time of 1:15.548, but Verstappen shadowed him closely with a lap 0.025s off the Mercedes drive’s pace. Bottas was a tenth further back in third place ahead of the Ferraris of Leclerc and Vettel.

In ther final runs of the segment, the drivers at the top of the order went out again on soft tyres, but after posting purple times in the first two sectors Verstappen, Hamilton and Bottas backed out their laps.

With Ferrari running medium tyres throughout Q2, and with Pierre Gasly matching that tactic in the second Red Bull on his way to P9 in Q2, all drivers from the top three teams in the championship with start on the yellow-banded Pirelli compound.

Eliminated at the end of the second segment were 11^th-place Nico Hulkenberg of Renault followed by the Toro Rossos of Alex Albon and Daniil Kvyat, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.

The final segment saw Max become the first man to dip below 1m15s and the Dutchman claimed provisional pole with a super lap of 1:14.958. That left him 0.178s ahead of Bottas and a hundredth further ahead of Hamilton. And there was no denying Verstappen Max in the final run. Bottas pushed the Dutchman hard, but with a smattering of purple micro-sectors across his lap Max pulled clear of the Finn to beat him to the front of the grid by just under two hundredths of a second.

Hamilton too found a substantial improvement on his final lap but it wasn’t enough to lift him higher than third place, almost two tenths of a second off pole. Fourth place on the grid went to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, almost half a second behind Max, with Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel fifth.

Pierre held onto sixth place at the end of qualifying, finishing just over three tenths of a second behind Vettel and improving to a time of 1:15.450.

Seventh place went to McLaren’s Lando Norris, with team-mate Carlos Sainz eighth. The final two top-10 places went to Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen.

2019 FIA Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:14.572
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:14.590 0.018
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:14.769 0.197
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:15.043 0.471
5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:15.071 0.499
6 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing 1:15.450 0.878
7 Lando Norris McLaren 1:15.800 1.228
8 Carlos Sainz McLaren 1:15.852 1.280
9 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:16.013 1.441
10 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1:16.041 1.469
11 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:16.565 1.993
12 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 1:16.687 2.115
13 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:16.692 2.120
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1:16.804 2.232
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:17.081 2.509
16 George Russell Williams 1:17.031 2.459
17 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1:17.109 2.537
18 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:17.257 2.685
19 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1:17.542 2.970
20 Robert Kubica Williams 1:18.324 3.752.

August 3, 2019
Rajiv Sethu records 3rd win; Double for Venkatesan; Rahil Shetty, Anish Shetty, Mikail win

Rajiv Sethu (80), winner of the Pro-Stock 165cc race on Saturday. Photos by Anand Philar

Chennai, 3 August 2019: International rider Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) notched his third win in a row in the Pro-Stock 165cc class while Hyderabad’s Rahil Shetty (Sparks Racing) kept his nerves and wits to pull off a brilliant victory in the premier Pro-Stock 301-400cc category on the second day of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship Round 3 at the MMRT, here today.

Also scoring impressive wins on the day in the National Championship were Bengaluru-based Anish Shetty who led a podium sweep for Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing in the Pro-Stock 201-300cc category and Venkatesan who topped the Novice (Stock 165cc) race.

Venkatesan (59), on way to winning the Stock 165cc (Novice) Race 1 on Saturday. He also got a double later as he won Novice Class RTR 200 Race 1 also.

Sethu, who missed the first round due to international commitments, is in a catch-up mode in the championship stakes, and his hat-trick of wins took him to third on the leaderboard with 75 points behind TVS Racing’s Jagan Kumar (94) and team-mate Sarath Kumar (78) going into tomorrow’s second race.

The trio was involved in a thrilling battle that went down to the wire with Sethu, having overcome a poor start from pole position, managed to get past seven-times National champion Jagan on the last lap for a well-deserved win while Sarath followed the TVS Racing ace home. Less than a second separated the three podium finishers.

Equally superb win was that of 21-year old Rahil Shetty who battled not just his rivals but also his own error-filled riding before squeezing past TVS Racing pair of Deepak Ravikumar and KY Ahamed in the last lap. “I made too many mistakes today, but somehow managed to pull through,” said a relieved Shetty who started on P3. Despite the second-place finish, Ravikumar continues to lead the championship in this category with 86 points, followed by Ahamed (73) while Shetty (35) is placed seventh.

Racing on the same grid as the 301-400cc bikes, Bengaluru-based Anish Shetty logged his second consecutive win with team-mates Abhishek Vasudev and Aravind Balakrishnan following him home. Today’s win took Anish’s tally to 65, well ahead of Mathan Kumar of Erula Racing (47) and Vasudev (45).

Earlier, in yet another close race, Venkatesan also registered his first win of the season in the Novice class after battling Mohan Babu (Rockers Racing) and Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) over six laps. Lakshmipathy Balaji (Alpha Racing) missed out on the podium by a whisker as the four crossed the finish line covered by less than a second. Abhimanyu, though, continues to head the leaderboard with 80 points, trailed by Venkatesan (73) and Mohan Babu (57) going into the second race tomorrow.

The results (Provisional, all 6 laps unless mentioned):

National Championship:

Pro-Stock 301-400cc (Race-1): 1. Rahil Pillari Shetty (Sparks Racing) (11mins, 41.443secs); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (TVS Racing) (11:41.990); 3. KY Ahamed (TVS Racing) (11:42.201).

Pro-Stock 201-300cc (Race-1): 1. Anish Shetty (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:11.667); 2. Abhishek Vasudev (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:20.100); 3. Aravind Balakrishnan (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:20.245).

Pro-Stock 165cc (Race-1): 1. Rajiv Sethu (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:01.973); 2. Jagan Kumar (TVS Racing) (12:02.073); 3. Sarath Kumar (Idemitsu Honda Ten10 Racing) (12:02.833).

Novice (Stock 165cc) (Race-1): 1. Venkatesan I (Motomaniacz Racing) (13:06.397); 2. Mohan Babu P (Rockers Racing) (13:06.447); 3. Abhimanyu Gautam (Sparks Racing) (13:06.628).

One-Make Championship: Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup – NSF 250R (Race-1): 1. Md Mikail (Chennai) (11:04.391); 2. Varoon Sadasivam (Chennai) (11:12.581); 3. Kritik Vasant Habib (Gadag) (11:13.432).

CBR 150 (Novice, Race-1): 1. Lal Nunsanga (Aizwal) (13:16.118); 2. Samuel Martin (Bengaluru) (13:16.240); 3. S Deepak Kumar (Chennai) (13:16.528).

TVS – Open (RR 310, Race-1): 1.S Kannan (Chennai) (11:54.079); 2. Soorya PM (Chennai) (12:02.607); 3. Aravind Ganesh R (Chennai) (12:02.680).

Novice (RTR 200, Race-1): 1. Venkatesan I (Chennai) (13:24.694); 2.Lakshmipathy Balaji (Vellore) (13:25.047); 3.Ullas Santrupt Nanda (Bengaluru) (13:25.380).

Girls (RTR 200, 5 laps): 1. Nivetha Jessica (Chennai) (11:30.986); 2. Lani Zena Fernandez (Pondicherry) (11:31.075); 3. Lakiya Lee Charles (Chennai) (11:32.354).

ends

August 3, 2019

DAMS driver Latifi secures first win since Round 3, ahead of De Vries and Aitken: F2

3 August 2019: Nicholas Latifi won for the first time since Barcelona with a masterclass on the tight turns of the Hungaroring, bombing ahead of Nyck De Vries at the start and never wavering. Amazingly, it is the first time this season that the Championships’ top two have shared a podium, with the duo finishing ahead of Campos Racing’s Jack Aitken.

Despite the downpour in Friday’s Qualifying session, the rain held off on Saturday morning in Hungary and De Vries made the most of the dry surface to get away cleanly off the line, battling off a move down his right from Luca Ghiotto. Or, so he thought! Nicholas Latifi surged past them both on the left and nipped by at the end of the first turn, with De Vries’ locking up.

There were plenty of places gained further back at Turn 1 as Aitken jumped three to 5^th, while Hubert hopped five to 13^th. There was heartbreak for Louis Delétraz, whose slow start when the lights went out saw him drop to 8^th, before his Carlin slowed down to a stop.

Aitken began hounding Mick Schumacher in 4^th, who had fallen off the tail of Ghiotto. The German defended his position well, but lost out in the pits as Campos delivered a perfect stop, which saw the Brit nip ahead of both the PREMA man and Ghiotto.

By the time Latifi pitted a lap later, he’d built a strong gap over De Vries and returned in 6^th place, directly in-front of the ART Grand Prix man who had already stopped. The race lead was handed to Jordan King who was on the alternate strategy.

Latifi briefly put space between himself and De Vries when he passed Ralph Boschung, but he got caught in traffic and the Dutchman began to catch him. There was a brief Virtual Safety Car as Arjun Maini pulled over onto the gravel and became the morning’s second casualty.

Nobuharu Matsushita passed Schumacher down the pit-straight when racing resumed, while Latifi zipped by Hubert for second, who was also yet to stop. By the time King pitted from first and handed Latifi back the lead, the Canadian had built up a 6s gap between himself and his title rival.

The front three spots were back into the hands of Latifi, De Vries and Aitken, with Ghiotto in 4^th and unable to match the Brit’s speed. This sent the Italian into the clutches of Matsushita and sparked a mass brawl for fourth.

Ghiotto was able to fend off the Carlin driver, which sent him into the lurches of Sérgio Sette Câmara who had risen magnificently from 12^th. The duo went two wide ahead of Turn 3, which put King into the mix. Narrowly avoiding a kiss of tyres, the Brazilian and the Briton edged passed Matsushita.

The battles were brought to a swift conclusion when Boschung’s Trident went up in smoke and forced him to pull over onto the gravel. The race finished under the subsequent Safety Car, although Ghiotto and King were handed penalties after the chequered flag for a SC infringement and fell down the order. Latifi safely crossed the line ahead of De Vries and Aitken. Sette Câmara claimed fourth, ahead of Matsushita, Ghiotto, King, Schumacher, Guanyu Zhou and Callum Ilott.

The Canadian’s victory sees him gain ground on De Vries at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, with De Vries now on 192 points and Latifi 28 behind him. Sette Câmara moves up to third on 133, ahead of Ghiotto on 130. Aitken completes the top five with 128. In the Teams’ Championship, DAMS have increased their lead and now have 297 points, ahead of UNI-Virtuosi on 237. ART Grand Prix sit third on 198, with Campos Racing behind on 158 and Carlin on 135.

Schumacher will start on reverse pole for the first time since Bahrain in the Sprint Race and aim for a maiden win in F2 when action kicks off again tomorrow at 11.25am local time.

2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship – Round 8 Feature Race provisional classification

	DRIVER	TEAM
1	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS
2	Nyck De Vries	ART Grand Prix
3	Jack Aitken	Campos Racing
4	Sérgio Sette Câmara	DAMS
5	Nobuharu Matsushita	Carlin
6	Luca Ghiotto	UNI-Virtuosi Racing
7	Jordan King	MP Motorsport
8	Mick Schumacher	PREMA Racing
9	Guanyu Zhou	UNI-Virtuosi Racing
10	Callum Ilott	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
11	Anthoine Hubert	BWT Arden
12	Nikita Mazepin	ART Grand Prix
13	Giuliano Alesi	Trident
14	Juan Manuel Correa	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
15	Sean Gelael	PREMA Racing
16	Tatiana Calderon	BWT Arden
17	Mahaveer Raghunathan	MP Motorsport
18	Ralph Boschung	Trident

	NOT CLASSIFIED
	Arjun Maini	Campos Racing
	Louis Delétraz	Carlin

	OVERALL FASTEST LAP
	Jordan King	MP Motorsport	1:32.436 on lap 33

	FASTEST LAP ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
	Jordan King	MP Motorsport

August 3, 2019

Marquez puts slicks on pole at a half-soaked Brno; equals Doohan record

Marc Marquez takes pole on Saturday at Brno. A MotoGP image

Brno (Czech Republic), 3 August 2019: Pole positions come and go, lap records are broken, and the paddock inevitably marches on. But every now and then, someone creates a moment that instantly gets inked into the history books, and that’s exactly what Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) did to take pole position in the Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky. Slicks in mixed conditions are a recipe for gravel or glory and Marquez threaded the needle to perfection in one of the most stunning qualifying performances in history, annihilating his rivals by over two and a half seconds. If that wasn’t enough, it’s also pole number 58 for the number 93, equalling Mick Doohan’s all-time premier class record. Joining Marquez on the front row are Jack Miller (Pramac Racing), who also took the gamble on slicks, and Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), who took the first front row for the Austrian factory and his first this season.

In Q1, it was also KTM’s time to shine as Zarco reigned ahead of teammate Pol Espargaro, with the two split by just 0.020 and both moving through to contest what looked like a very challenging Q2. And that it turned out to be, with Zarco again the man in the spotlight as the Frenchman took provisional pole with ten minutes remaining, ahead of Espargaro, and a dry line starting to appear on the track.

The drama came first from a fight between Marquez and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), with the two getting a little too close for comfort on track before rolling into pitlane in tandem and exchanging a few words. And that’s when the reigning Champion switched to slicks, heading back out with seven minutes left on the clock, as the rain began to return.

Meanwhile, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) had gone the opposite way, and it looked like Marquez could have made a serious mistake as the Ducati man shot up into second to split the KTMs…and the rain started to fall. But then the red sectors started to appear.

First it was a few tenths, and by the end of the lap it was over a second. At parts of the track it was pouring with rain but the number 93 kept on keeping on, eking out the advantage with utter commitment to the cause and taking over on top.

Miller was also seeing red and moved up to second behind Marquez not long after, and that was surely all she wrote? Not so as both men began another flying lap. For Miller, sadly, it came to an early end as the Australian crashed out. But he’d done enough to keep his impressive second place and once again proved a master of rolling the dice, with everything now left to one man and his slicks: Marquez. Could he improve? He didn’t need to, but the reigning Champion was on a mission.

Four tenths in sector 1 became nearly a second in sector 2, before the third sector saw the timing screens light up with a gap of almost a second and a half. The final sector was where the rain was still coming down though; all that stood between Marquez and pole number 58. That, too, was conquered, with Marquez’ final effort pulling him two and a half seconds clear of the field and a second and a half ahead of his previous best. Mission accomplished, history made.

So he heads Miller and Zarco as the Frenchman earns KTM’s first MotoGP™ front row start and his best qualifying result since taking pole in Malaysia last year, with Dovizioso putting himself in a solid position for the race in fourth. Espargaro lines up in fifth for the second time this season, with Rins ultimately set to launch from sixth.

Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) slammed in a late personal best time on the wet tyres to spearhead the third row of the grid in Brno, ‘The Doctor’ leads Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) and Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), who are in eighth and ninth respectively. Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) and Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) completed the Q2 runners.

The Czech Adrenaline Factory certainly lived up its name on Saturday, as Marquez swept away records and rain for premier class pole 58. But Sunday should be dry, and that’s a whole new
ball game…so tune in for it at 14:00 local time, 5.30 pm Indian time. (GMT+2).

MotoGP Qualifying top-3:

1 – Marc Marquez (SPA – Honda) 2’02.753

2 – Jack Miller* (ITA – Ducati) +2.524
3 – Johann Zarco (FRA – KTM) +2.598.

ends

August 3, 2019
Alex Marquez two seconds clear for Moto2 pole

The Championship leader turned the screw in Q2 and timed it to perfection

Front row from left: Lowes, Alex Marquez (pole) and Baldassarri at Brno on Saturday. A MotoGP image

Brno (Czech Republic), 3 August 2019: Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) is on pole for the Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky, but there’s much more to the headline than that. The number 73 timed it to perfection on a difficult, mixed track to take two seconds out his closest challenger, Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2), and pick up where he left off in Germany. Lowes starts second after a nevertheless impressive session, with Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) completing the front row in third…four seconds adrift.

Earlier there was plenty of drama in Q1, with Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) moving up to lead Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) and Brit Jake Dixon (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) in third, with another impressive performer in fourth as Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) joined them to move through. Some first timers, some wet weather specialists…and everything to play for in Q2.

The rain was easing off in the second session and times tumbled. After the first five minutes, the top four were the Q1 graduates, with Marco Bezzecchi leading the way, but there was plenty more to come.

Baldassarri took the leap to dry tyres, swiftly followed by Marquez. Then Bo Bendsneyder took a light tumble at Turn 1, rider remounting, as Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Sam Lowes started to attack. But it was Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up) who took over at the top at that stage, with Friday’s fastest impressing in the very different conditions, and it was clear that whoever set their flying lap last would be making some serious gains as it continued drying out.

It came down to Marquez vs Lowes, with each sector making it increasingly clear that the number 73 was about to absolutely obliterate the opposition. And that he did, although it was also true of Lowes with everyone else.

A late lap from Lorenzo Baldassarri secured him third on the grid and a front row for the first time with Qatar, although the deficit was sizeable it proved enough. Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46) blasted in a lap right at the end to head up row two, turning the tables on compatriot rookie Giannantonio to just pip him on Saturday, with Marco Bezzecchi in sixth making it an all-Italian second row as he took his best Moto2™ grid position since joining the class.

Marcel Schrötter was seventh as he aims for back-to-back podiums, with Bo Bendsneyder in eighth ahead of fellow top performer Jake Dixon. Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40) completed the top ten.

So where’s Championship challenger Tom Lüthi (Dynavolt Intact GP)? Down in P12 despite his previous wet weather win at Brno. He’ll be looking to move forward on Sunday, as will Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) in 14th, Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 16th and returnee Mattia Pasini (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 down in 24th….

Marquez seems on an unstoppable roll of late. But race day is set to dawn dry, and the number 73 had serious company before the conditions changed. Can he do it again? Find out when the lights go out on Sunday at 12:20 local time (IST+7.30pm).

Moto2 Qualifying top-3:

1 – Alex Marquez (SPA – Kalex) 2’06.787
2 – Sam Lowes (GBR – Kalex) +2.018
3 – Lorenzo Baldassarri (ITA – Kalex) +3.979

Arbolino ahead of the curve for pole in Czechia

Italian takes pole in wet qualifying to celebrate his birthday in style

Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) celebrated his birthday in style at the Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky, taking pole position by an impressive four tenths in the wet. He’s perfectly set up for race day after also having been fast on Friday in the dry, and he’ll be joined on the front row by 2016 Brno winner John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) and 2015 winner Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse).

But before all that was decided in Q2, after the heavens opened on Saturday morning, Q1 was high risk and there was plenty of drama: Tom Booth-Amos (CIP Green Power) tumbled at Turn 13, Albert Arenas (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) suffered a highside at Turn 3, although he remounted, and Can Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was teetering on the edge of the top four when he crashed out. The Turk held onto his fourth place, however, joining Raul Fernandez (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team), Makar Yurchenko, (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) and Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) in going through to Q2.

As Q2 began, conditions were wet wet wet and remained so, with McPhee leading for much of the session. Fernandez was also looking strong, but Arbolino changed the benchmark with two minutes to go and was the first rider in the 2’18s. Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) then shot into second place in the closing stages, but was pipped right at the end by McPhee. Antonelli then did the same to his teammate, dropping Suzuki down to fourth.

Alongside the Japanese rider is Fernandez despite a crash at Turn 3 for the Spaniard, with Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) completing the second row in sixth place as the Championship contender put himself in a solid position for Sunday. Makar Yurchenko took a career-best qualifying position with seventh, ahead of Spanish rider Jaume Masia (Bester Capital Dubai). Japanese rookie Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) locked out the third row.

Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) completed the top ten, ahead of veteran Romano Fenati (VNE Snipers), Qatar winner Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia) and youngest ever Grand Prix winner Can Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Home hero Filip Salac (Redox Prüstel GP) was just behind them, putting in a solid performance for P14.

So who’s missing from the front? Championship leader Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) had a tough qualifying, and the Italian faces a fight back through the field from P17 – qualifying just ahead of teammate Marcos Ramirez, another usual frontrunner.

How will the conditions shuffle the pack on race day? Can the Leopard duo strike back on Sunday? Tune in at 11:00 (GMT +2) local time to find out.

Moto3 Qualifying top-3:

1 – Tony Arbolino (ITA – Honda) 2’18.020
2 – John McPhee (GBR – Honda) +0.400
3 – Niccolo Antonelli (ITA – Honda) +0.802

August 3, 2019
Toyota 1-2-3 at half-way stage: WRC Rally Finland

Toyotas take lead mid-way through Finland Rally. An FIA image

With the first cool and cloudy morning of Rally Finland completed, it was a Toyota one-two-three so far on the team’s home event.

Although he was running first on the road, championship points leader Ott Tänak finished on top after the first five gravel stages.

The Estonian is only 5.4 seconds ahead of his team mate Jari-Matti Latvala, who won more stages than anyone else this morning. The Finn was delayed slightly by a rear-left puncture on SS5, the same issue that affected the third Toyota driver Kris Meeke, who completed the top three at lunchtime, just 0.4 seconds behind Latvala. All the stage wins were shared by Toyota this morning: three to Latvala, plus one each for Meeke and Tänak.

Esapekka Lappi drove back to Jyväskylä for the midday service in fourth place after a fault-free run. This means that the current top four are all former Rally Finland winners.

The leading Hyundai driver is surprise entrant Craig Breen in fifth. The Irishman put in a strong performance on his first WRC appearance this season, despite feeling he had gone too soft on his i20 Coupe WRC’s set-up.

Citroën’s Sébastien Ogier is 3.5 seconds behind Breen in sixth, however he is not entirely clear on the best way to improve the settings on his car for the afternoon’s loop of five more stages.

The reigning champion is ahead of the two Hyundais of Andreas Mikkelsen and Thierry Neuville, with the Norwegian considerably happier than the Belgian, who had taken an early lead after last night’s Super Special stage. Frustrated by his lack of pace, Neuville’s aim was to make some changes to the set-up of his car at service.

Teemu Suninen is the top Ford Fiesta WRC in ninth, despite losing a big piece of his front splitter this morning. The Finn is half a minute ahead of his 10th placed team mate Gus Greensmith, who is on only his second event in a World Rally Car.

Leading the FIA WRC2 Pro category, Finland’s rising rally star Kalle Rovanperä is in 11th overall. But it wasn’t an easy morning for the Škoda Fabia R5 driver, suffering from too much oversteer. Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet is just behind him in another Škoda Fabia R5 Evo to lead the FIA WRC 2 class.

The first stage of the day ended in retirement for local hero Erik Pietarinen, who hit a bank and had a high speed spin. Emil Lindholm was also reported as having stopped his Volkswagen Polo R5 in the Moksi stage.

In the FIA Junior WRC, Sweden’s Tom Kristensson leads the Fiesta R2T category by just 17 seconds ahead of his fellow compatriot Dennis Rådström.

August 2, 2019