Archive für 22.3.2009
FARFUS-PRIAULX WIN FRONT ROW FOR BMW
22.3.2009 von Wolfgang.
ROUNDS 03 & 04 - PUEBLA
QUALIFYING REPORT
FARFUS-PRIAULX WIN FRONT ROW FOR BMW
Augusto Farfus, Andy Priaulx and BMW pushed to the limit and interrupted SEAT’s domination that lasted since the test session in Curitiba.
Farfus won pole position, beating Priaulx by only 0.045 seconds, while Gabriele Tarquini saved SEAT’s honour claiming third position with a one-tenth gap.
Q1 - Augusto Farfus posted the fastest time of the session with a lap of 1:37.981, the first driver to break the 1:38. wall so far.
BMW and SEAT cars equally shared the ten positions giving access to Q2.
Although they sat in the pits until halfway through the session, all five SEAT Sport drivers managed to make the top-ten, with Gabriele Tarquini in second with a gap of 0.065 seconds after having clocked a provisional fastest lap at 1:38.047.
Félix Porteiro topped the Independents again and also managed to advance to Q2 setting the 10th fastest lap at 1:38.972.
Chevrolet and LADA drivers remained all out of Q2; Nicola Larini missed the top-ten by 18 thousandths of a second, while Jaap van Lagen’s session ended prematurely because of an engine leak.
Q2 - Yvan Muller was the first to post a quick lap at 1:37.924, but the reigning world champion was immediately ousted by Farfus with the time of 1:37.682.
Jordi Gené, Porteiro, Sergio Hernández and Andy Priaulx were the last to join the session. In the dying seconds Priaulx managed to jump into second with a lap of 1:38.727, a time which resisted to Tarquini’s last attempt that was worth third place (1:37.793).
Porteiro completed a lap of 1:38.525 that gave him a brilliant eighth position on the grid for Race 1.
www.fiawtcc.com
YVAN MULLER BEATS PRIAULX IN TEST
22.3.2009 von Wolfgang.
SEAT Sport’s Yvan Muller posted the fastest lap in today’s test session, beating BMW drivers Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus by a narrow margin.
A cloudy sky and a fresh breeze from the East made the track very fast and enabled a number of drivers to break the track record of 1:40.808 set by Jordi Gené in last year’s qualifying.
Farfus was the first driver to clock a provisional fastest lap of 1:41.207, but he was immediately ousted by Priaulx who set a 1:40.307 that remained on top for the next ten minutes.
Halfway through the session Rickard Rydell and Gabriele Tarquini began a personal fight to improve the fastest lap.
The Swede clocked a 1:40.211 and the Italian responded with a 1:40.170; then Rydell improved further to 1:40.015 and Tarquini managed to break the 1:40 wall with a lap of 1:39.670 with only thee minutes to go.
However, in the dying seconds, Muller was timed at 1:39.020, demoting his team-mate to second; then Tarquini was pushed further down to fifth when Priaulx (1:39.233), Farfus (1:39.289) and Rydell (1:39.363) crossed the line setting the second, third and fourth fastest laps respectively.
Félix Porteiro emerged as the fastest of the Independents’ with a time of 1:39.770 (sixth overall).
The three Chevrolet men were timed 12th (Larini), 13th (Huff) and 14th (Menu) fastest respectively, 1.5 seconds off the pace, while Viktor Shapovalov set the 21st fastest lap, the best of the LADA cars.
Fastest lap for Yvan Muller in Mexican test session
WTCC DRIVERS GO TO UNIVERSITY
The FIA WTCC drivers took part on Thursday afternoon in a promotional event that officially launched the championship’s second race meeting to be held this weekend in Puebla, Mexico.
Onboard pick-up trucks, the drivers paraded through the city’s main streets - including the elegant Avenida Juárez.
After the parade they got to the campus of the Benemerita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, where BMW, Chevrolet, LADA and SEAT racing cars were exhibited, to meet students and fans for an autograph session that attracted a large crowd.
Alessandro Zanardi signs autograph in the University campus
EXAGON COME BACK WITH MOROCCAN DRIVER
25-year old Mehdi Bennani will join the FIA WTCC for his home event in Marrakech, becoming the first North African driver to race in an FIA world championship.
The young Moroccan driver will be at the wheel of a petrol-powered SEAT León run by Luc Marchetti’s Exagon Engineering that was a regular WTCC competitor in 2007 and 2008.
Bennani, who has progressed in his racing career from the karting to the Formula Renault, the Formula BMW, the World Series by Renault and finally the Euro F3000 Series, will be backed in his WTCC debut by OMNT, Morocco’s Tourism Office.
The Exagon Engineering team will give Bennani the opportunity to test the car in Magny-Cours before the race meeting in Marrakech.
www.fiawtcc.com
DUVAL HOPES FOR IRC RETURN IN YPRES
22.3.2009 von Wolfgang.
DUVAL HOPES FOR IRC RETURN IN YPRES … AND ALL THE OTHER LATEST NEWS FROM THE IRC
DUVAL CHASES DRIVE ON YPRES WESTHOEK RALLY
Francois Duval could return to the Intercontinental Rally Challenge at the wheel of a Skoda Fabia Super 2000 later this season.
Duval, 28, last appeared in the series on Vodafone Rally de Portugal last May, but was forced to retire the Abarth Grande Punto he was driving because of a wheel bearing failure.
He is now targeting an entry on the Ypres Westhoek Rally from June 20-22 in a Fabia supported by the Skoda importer in his native Belgium and hopes it won’t be a one-off outing.
"I would like to try to do two or three rallies in the IRC," Duval said. "It’s where all the drivers are going to. It is more interesting for me than the WRC because there are some opportunities for drivers."
Providing an agreement can be reached, the Belgian Rene Georges Rally Sport team would run Duval’s Skoda. Duval tested a Volkswagen Polo Super 2000 for the squad recently and could tackle a round of the Belgian championship in the car next month.
"It was dry in the morning but the rain came in the afternoon," Duval said of the Polo test. "The car was not so bad although I think we could find some improvements in the chassis and the engine."
DOUBLE VICTORY HAS EXCEEDED VAN DALEN’S EXPECTATIONS
The joint owner of Kronos Racing has said his team’s dominant start to the Intercontinental Rally Challenge season has "exceeded his expectations".
Frenchman Sébastien Ogier won the opening round, the Monte Carlo Rally, in January in a Kronos-prepared Peugeot 207 under the BFGoodrich Drivers’ Team banner, before Kris Meeke, from Northern Ireland, claimed victory on Rally de Curitiba in the same car entered by Peugeot UK.
"It has been especially satisfying, not just because we have been first and second on the opening two rallies but because we have won with the BFGoodrich Drivers’ Team and with Peugeot UK," said Marc van Dalen, who co-founded Kronos Racing in 1994.
"I have been really happy with how we have started and how well our drivers have worked together. But I know it is a very long championship and anything can happen between now and the end of the season. At least it’s good to make the start we have done."
The three Kronos Peugeot 207s are currently being shipped back to Europe from Brazil and are due to be delivered to the team’s base in Belgium, on April 10. They will be rebuilt before the Sata Rally Azores on May 7-9.
CURITIBA TRIUMPH WAS NAGLE’S HARDEST EVER
Co-driver Paul Nagle has described his victory on Rally de Curitiba in Brazil earlier this month as the "best moment" of his career but added it was the hardest challenge he’d ever faced.
Irishman Nagle, who partnered Kris Meeke to first place on the second round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge aboard a Peugeot UK-backed 207 Super 2000, said he had been inundated with messages of congratulations since he and Meeke won in Brazil.
"It was the best moment of my career but it was also the toughest rally I’d ever done," said Nagle, 30. "It wasn’t tough physically but mentally it was very hard, especially on day two when we were leading.
"Although Kris drove very well there was a lot of pressure on us. But even when we lost time being first on the road and the problem with the brakes we were able to remain calm and all credit to the team for all their hard work."
Nagle and Meeke’s next event is Sata Rally Azores from May 7-9. Before then Nagle is planning to contest two practice events in his native Ireland, starting with the Circuit of Kerry Rally on March 29, in order to "keep sharp".
SAFARI RALLY WILL BE INCLUDED ON IRC SCHEDULE
The iconic KCB Safari Rally will form the third round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, even though several leading teams haven’t included the event on their schedules for the season.
Based in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the rally will take place from April 3-5, and will also host the second round of the FIA African Rally Championship. It last appeared on the IRC in 2007, when it formed the opening round of the series. In 2008 it obtained Supporter Event status. This season will herald the 57th running of the rally.
The rally will begin with a spectator stage in Nairobi on Friday April 3. For the first leg, crews will then head out to Nakuru and the Lake Elementaita region. The second leg will be based close to Nairobi around the small town of Athi River. The finishing ceremony is due to take place on Sunday April 5.
Marcello Lotti, the IRC’s General Manager, said: "The Safari Rally is a very famous event and very important to the IRC. It will be included on the calendar but we understand some of the teams won’t be taking part. We understand this and we won’t be forcing them to do so."
OUTLINE BARUM RALLY ZLIN DETAILS REVEALED
Organisers of Barum Rally Zlin have revealed outline details of the eighth round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, which takes place in the Czech Republic from August 21-23.
The event celebrates its 39th anniversary this year and will get underway with a spectator-friendly superspecial stage in host town Zlin on the evening of Friday August 21.
It will be followed by two days special stages, totalling 270 kilometres, before the finish in the afternoon of Sunday August 23.
Approximately 200,000 spectators visit the rally each year, which is located 300 kilometres east of the Czech capital Prague and 200 kilometres north of the Austrian capital Vienna. The compact route means the furthest stage is 50 kilometres from Zlin.
A total of 98 crews started the rally in 2008, including 21 Super 2000 cars. Freddy Loix, the current leader of the IRC, and co-driver Robin Buysmans won the event in a Peugeot 207 run by the Kronos Racing team.
The last outing for Francois Duval on the IRC was last year in Portugal. Now Duval hopes to return to the series in his native Belgium
www.rally-irc.com
Bridgestone Motorsport Australian Grand Prix Preview
22.3.2009 von Wolfgang.
Bridgestone starts a new era in Formula One as slick tyres return to Grand Prix racing for the first time in over eleven years when round one of the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship gets under way with the ING Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 29. Bridgestone Potenza slick tyres are just one of the new aspects on the radically overhauled Formula One cars which will line up for the first race of the season, as the latest aerodynamic regulations - designed to reduce downforce - mean that the cars look very different from their counterparts of twelve months ago. Slick tyres require a new method of marking to designate between compounds, as the previous method of painting one of the grooves with a white line no longer applies. Bridgestone has used the opportunity of launching a new system to show its continued support for the FIA’s Make Cars Green campaign, by marking the softer of the two dry compounds available for each race with green sidewall markings. The now renamed ‘wet’ tyre (formerly ‘extreme’ tyre) will also feature a green line in a central groove. As before, two compounds of tyre will be available for every grand prix, with the requirement that both are used in the race. In a change from the previous allocation philosophy employed for the past two seasons, Bridgestone will now bring non-consecutive allocations to most events. For this grand prix the medium and super soft tyres have been selected from the range of hard, medium, soft and super soft. Albert Park is traditionally a challenging venue. In addition to the notoriously variable Melbourne weather, the track surface changes significantly over the course of the race meeting as it is only used for motorsport once a year. The track features 16 turns over its 5.30 km and is a compromise circuit in its layout with low downforce desired down the straights, but higher downforce requirements through the turns. High lateral forces mean high levels of energy and heat are dispersed through the tyres. Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, said: What are the significant changes for 2009 from Bridgestone’s perspective? “The move to slick tyres is significant, although Bridgestone have a lot of experience with these tyres from many different race series so we are confident that we can produce good racing slicks. We are making these tyres to the same sizes as we had with grooved tyres, but this means there is a new front/rear grip balance. The teams will therefore have to work hard to get a good set-up, particularly with the varying surface of Albert Park, and we will be working closely with everyone to achieve this.” How big a challenge will it be for competitors having a non-consecutive allocation? “I think it has the potential to be a big challenge. We received many requests last season to make the difference between the two compounds greater, so we have attempted to do this by not only having a different compound stiffness, but also varying the temperature working range of the tyres. We have sought to allocate one tyre which has a lower working range and one which has a higher working range. This means that, even more than before, competitors will have to think long and hard about how they use their tyres, and there will be good rewards for those who make the best choices.”
Stats & Facts Number & Spec of tyres brought to Australia 1800 (intermediate & wet, medium & super soft dry) Pole position time 2008: 1min 26.714secs (Hamilton) Fastest race lap 2008: 1min 27.418secs (Kovalainen) Top three 2008: Hamilton, Heidfeld, Rosberg
www.bridgestonemotorsport.com
