Archive für 15.2.2009
Hülkenberg king of Qatar
15.2.2009 von Wolfgang.
Nico Hülkenberg wins an exciting Qatar night race ahead of both Barwa International Campos Team men
The ART Grand Prix racer displayed a brilliant performance tonight in the first-ever GP2 Asia night feature race at the Losail International Circuit to claim a maiden GP2 victory.
However, things did not start so well for Nico Hülkenberg who lost his pole position advantage to Sergio Perez at the start. Further behind the grid, Sakon Yamamoto stalled from sixth and was hit hard by Yelmer Buurman. Rodolfo Gonzalez was also caught in the accident, but fortunately, none of them were injured.
The Safety Car stayed on track for the next five laps even coming through the pitlane in order to let the marshals clean the debris. Vitaly Petrov, then third, was the first of the top drivers to pit on lap 10 and this strategy allowed him to pass his teammate after the latter rejoined the track from his own mandatory pitstop a few laps later.
Almost all the drivers chose to pit early, but one man stayed on track: Nico Hülkenberg took the lead and managed to preserve his tyres all the while matching the pace of those who had already pitted. He pulled away and extended his lead to over 40 seconds. That was enough time to come into the pits, change his left tyres and rejoin the circuit ahead of Perez who earlier had gone past Petrov in a strong move at the end of Turn 1. Hülkenberg claimed victory a clear 13 seconds ahead of Perez. With Petrov finishing third, Barwa International Campos Team had a great result which allowed them to close the gap on team leaders Dams.
Behind the Top 3, Championship leader Kamui Kobayashi finished fourth although his pace was surprisingly slower than what he normally displays. He regained speed in the latest stages, but could not get close enough to Petrov. His teammate, Jérôme d’Ambrosio, finished fifth having fought long and hard with Davide Valsecchi for that position. The Italian, second in the drivers’ championship was followed by Edoardo Mortara and Luiz Razia. Tomorrow’s reversed grid will be an all-Arden front row.
www.bridgestonemotorsport.com
ALEX PALERM PRIMERA PRUEBA DEL CAMPEONATO DE CATALUÑA DE KARTING
15.2.2009 von Wolfgang.
DURA LUCHA Y REMONTADA
En la jornada de ayer sábado el equipo de Alex Palerm se encontró con una
sorpresa que les trajo de cabeza para poder poner a punto el kart. Un cambio
de última hora en la reglamentación de neumáticos hacía cambiar las gomas a
todos los participantes por unas de mayor diámetro, lo que hizo reajustar
los chasis de los karts para buscar el rendimiento óptimo con estos nuevos
neumáticos.
En las primeras tandas de entrenamientos no se pudo conseguir afinar el
motor y los cambios de chasis para adecuarse a los nuevos neumáticos
ocuparon la mayor parte del tiempo de entrenamientos.
En los cronos Alex se clasificaba para la carrera en la posición 20, algo
retrasado pero consciente de que su máquina no estaba dando todo lo que
podría dar. Los mecánicos de MDC Racing trabajon duro tras los cronos para
poder sacar más rendimiento al Kart de Palerm y en las siguientes tandas de
entrenamiento se vio el resultado, con una puesta a punto perfecta, Palerm
salía con el objetivo de remontar todos los puestos posibles.
En la mañana de hoy domingo, la primera carrera ha sido un reflejo del
trabajo realizado, partiendo desde el puesto 20 de parrilla, Palerm lograba
remontar hasta el puesto 9 y rodando en tiempos de la cabeza de carrera todo
hacía suponer que podría seguir su imparable remontada, pero un participante
golpeaba el kart de Palerm sacándolo de la pista y al reincorporarse a pista
rompía la cadena y quedaba fuera.
La segunda manga sería mucho más difícil, partiendo desde el puesto 34 por
no haber concluido la primera carrera, la rabia de Alex Palerm ha salido
vuelta tras vuelta, adelantando en cada giro a sus rivales, Palerm se ha
colocado en un meritorio puesto 14 y rodando nuevamente en unos tiempos de
cabeza de carrera pero con el gran hándicap del tráfico de otros 33
participantes en pista.
Un fin de semana positivo para ver el nivel de esta temporada y muy positivo
para ver las posibilidades reales que tiene Alex Palerm para luchar por los
primeros puestos del Campeonato de Cataluña.
Diabolo Karting Team Alex Palerm piloto Cadete de Karting
16 de Julio, 34 07009 Palma de Mallorca
Tel. +34 971 291 321 M. +34 616 99 26 87
prensa@alexpalerm.com http://www.alexpalerm.com
FIA WTCC NEWS
15.2.2009 von Wolfgang.
MARRAKECH: WORS ARE ON SCHEDULE
The works for building the Marrakech street circuit that will host the third WTCC meeting on May 3rd go on according to schedule. Everything will be finished by the mid of April, in time for the FIA final inspection.
Aly Horma, president of the event promoter MGP, explained: "We have already built 1,300 4-metre concrete blocks out of the 2,600 needed for the impact walls. We have received 10 km of F1-standard grid fences from South Africa. We are finishing rebuilding the 4.6 km of public road that make the track; we had to dig into the ground for 1.2 metres to rebuild the foundations that were not strong enough for the racing cars."
At the same time the 12-hectar paddock is also taking shape. "The materials for the 3,000sqm pit building are already here: steel frames from South Africa, steel pillars from Germany, glass and wood from Australia. It will be 200m long and will host 30 garages of 60sqm each, the three-floor race control tower, offices and 65 suites. It will be assembled in 45 days between March and April. Twenty temporary structures will be erected, including the media and medical centres, five footbridges and grandstands with 11,500 seats, and everything will be dismantled after the race day," said Horma.
Works progress in Marrakech in view of the WTCC Race of Morocco
LADA SPORT CONFIRM DRIVERS
The LADA Sport team have confirmed their three drivers for the 2009 FIA World Touring Car Championship.
Jaap van Lagen, 32-year old from the Netherlands and the Russians Kirill Ladygin (30) and Viktor Shapovalov (44), who took part in last year’s championship, will start the new season in Curitiba at the wheel of the same LADA 110 cars they drove in 2008.
The team, which is backed by LADA Avtovaz - the first Russian car manufacturer to commit to an FIA world championship - plan to switch to the new Priora car halfway through the season. Two units of LADA’s new model are due to make their first appearance in Brno (June 21st) or Porto (July 5th).
SEAT SPORT’S LAST TEST IN BARCELONA
Yvan Muller and SEAT Sport are ready to defend the World Touring Car Championship Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ titles they have claimed in 2008. Yesterday the team completed their testing programme in view of the season’s opening meeting at Curitiba.
After having tested at Estoril and Valencia, SEAT Sport spent two days at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, where the new livery of the León TDI cars was also unveiled.
During this last test the team paid special attention to the suspension setting and adjustments.
Xavi Serra, SEAT Sport’s head engineer commented: "Test sessions give us the chance to try out technical solutions that can’t be tested on a race weekend. The work and information shared by the drivers are vital for the first races, as they help us to decide the basic set-up we will use in Brazil."
Yvan Muller’s SEAT León TDI sports the number 1
COLAK TO DRIVE PETROL SEAT
Croatian youngster Marin Colak will compete in the full season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship at the wheel of a petrol-powered SEAT León car run by the Colak Racing Team.
The 24-year old from Zagreb is not a new face in the WTCC paddock; last year he was a regular competitor in the SEAT León Eurocup and, following his victory in the Brands Hatch round, he was awarded with the participation in the WTCC event at Oschersleben. Driving a SUNRED-run León, Colak put in a consistent performance finishing the first race in 13th position overall and third in the Independents’ Trophy. At the end of the season he classified second in the SEAT Eurocup with two race wins.
After Tom Boardman, Colak is the second SEAT Eurocup driver who decided to move to WTCC.
www.fiawtcc.com.
NIKI LAUDA wird 60 Herzlichen Glückwunsch.
15.2.2009 von Wolfgang.
Lauda & Geierspichler in "Frühstück bei mir"
Zu seinem 60. Geburtstag hat sich Niki Lauda eine Begegnung mit Rennrollstuhlfahrer Thomas Geierspichler gewünscht.
Persönlichkeiten ganz persönlich. Jeden Sonntag von 9:00 bis 11:00 Uhr im Hitradio Ö3.
Der eine erlebte einen Crash auf der Rennstrecke, war mehr tot als lebendig, aber hatte Glück gehabt. Der andere ist seit seinem Autounfall querschnittgelähmt und musste sein Glück erst wieder entdecken.
Der Airliner und dreifache Formel-1-Weltmeister stellt dem Sportler des Jahres 2008 Fragen: "Warst Du bei deinem Unfall angeschnallt?" und beide erzählen im Frühstückstalk mit Claudia Stöckl im Hitradio Ö3 von Schicksalsschlägen, Glaubensunterschieden und Drogenerfahrungen. Lauda: "Ich habe einmal einen Joint geraucht und habe im Delirium noch einmal die Nahtoderfahrung nach meinem Feuerunfall erlebt. Da habe ich Drogen nie wieder angerührt."
Tipps für Erfolg und Liebe
Und Lauda, der neben Schwarzenegger weltweit wohl bekannteste Österreicher, gibt dem um 27 Jahre jüngeren Newcomer im österreichischen Sport gute Tipps für Erfolg und Liebe: "Viele Frauen wollen nur deine Berühmtheit, nicht dich."
http://oe3.orf.at/
