Archive für 3.7.2009
WTCC: FARFUS BEATS HUFF IN TESTING
3.7.2009 von Wolfgang.
Augusto Farfus topped the timesheet of today’s thirty minute private testing session. As the field had chance to re-familiarise themselves with the Porto track, the BMW Team Germany man completed a lap in 2:10.161 on his final attempt.
There was a surge of fast final laps with Chevrolet’s Robert Huff (2:10.590) and Alain Menu (2:10.840) posting the second and third best times. Despite a spell as the fastest Nicola Larini, in his Chevrolet Cruze, was eventually sixth quickest overall. Gabriele Tarquini was the fastest man in a SEAT sport car as he clocked a 2:10.886 with five minutes of the session left. His team-mate and local man Tiago Monteiro achieved the fifth best time (2:11.092). BMW duo Jörg Müller and Andy Priaulx were seventh and eighth fastest followed by a pair of SEATs in the form of Rickard Rydell and Jordi Gené.
Tom Coronel and Stefano D’Aste were the leaders of the Independent category. D’Aste was 12th fastest overall with a time of 2:12.099 but Coronel went three tenths of a second better to claim 11th spot. However the Dutchman went straight on at turn 8 towards the end of the session and did not rejoin. James Thompson had gearbox troubles with his new LADA Priora which meant he had to return to the pits after just one lap. His team-mates van Lagen and Ladygin were 15th and 21st respectively in the old 110 cars.
Augusto Farfus set the fastest time in today’s testing at Porto
THE MAYOR OF PORTO VISITS THE PADDOCK
While the WTCC teams were getting ready for this weekend’s event, yesterday afternoon Porto’s Mayor Mr Rui Rio paid an official visit to the paddock of the Circuito da Boavista.
The Mayor was welcomed by WTCC promoter Marcello Lotti, the event promoter Vitor Ferreira of PA Leading, representatives of the Portuguese National Sporting Authority FPAK and local driver Tiago Monteiro.
After posing for the cameras of the local media inside the FIA hospitality, Lotti and Monteiro escorted the Mayor and press representatives along the pit lane to visit the teams’ stands. Mr Rui was especially impressed when Monteiro showed him his SEAT racing cars.
LADA PRESENT NEW CAR AND DRIVER
The LADA Sport team held a press conference in the paddock today to unveil a new car and new driver. James Thompson will take to the wheel of the LADA PRIORA at Porto for its inaugural outing.
Alexey Sorokin Marketing Director for LADA Avtovaz commented : "From the very beginning of this season we have been working on the car. Each race helped us gather all the necessary information for our engineers. We hope our team will take a step forward."
WTCC APPOINTS PERMANENT SAFETY CAR DRIVER
Bruno Correia has been appointed as permanent safety car driver for the FIA World Touring Car Championship.
Correia, 32-years old from the Algarve region in Portugal, boasts a successful racing CV that includes titles in the Portuguese Formula Ford Championship (1994) and the Spanish Formula Renault 2000 Championship (1996). He also spent seasons in the Americas, taking part in the USA’s Formula Dodge Barber Pro-Series and becoming vice-champion in the Brazilian Superturismos. Last year he started acting as safety car driver for the Club ACDME at the Estoril and Algarve racetracks.
Correia was successfully tested during the WTCC event in Brno, where he performed a number of interventions in WTCC, F2 and the support races.
DOUBLE EUROPEAN CHAMPION JOINS WTCC
Michel Nykjær, double winner of the FIA European Touring Car Cup, will make his maiden WTCC appearance in Oschersleben.
"I can hardly believe that I will participate in a WTCC event. These are the guys that I watch on Eurosport and now I have the chance to test myself against them," said Nykjær, who won the 2007 ETCC at Adria driving a SEAT León and encored last year at the Austrian Salzburgring in a Chevrolet Lacetti.
"Our goal is to compete with the best independents and we hope that the races in Oschersleben may propel our team towards a full WTCC campaign," team manager Kent Bo Steffensen stated.
Chevrolet Motorsport Denmark’s priority for the current season remains the Danish Touring Car Championship in which their drivers Michel Nykjær and Henrik Lundgaard are currently placed second and third behind James Thompson.
www.fiawtcc.com
ABARTH HOPES FOR A CHANGE OF FORTUNE IN RUSSIA
3.7.2009 von Wolfgang.
The factory Abarth team is hoping the luck that has deserted it so far this year will return on Rally Russia, round six of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, later this month.
Abarth’s lead drivers Anton Alen and Giandomenico Basso are both experts on gravel and are looking forward to delivering a stronger showing in Russia.
They hope the gravel event, which is based in Vyborg from July 9-11, will bring about a change of fortune.
Nicola Gullino, the Abarth team principal, said: “We have had a bad start to the championship despite making lots of technical improvements to the car. We have been trying our best but we have not had the luck. Even in Ypres, when we were not in the top three, the final result did not reflect our performance.”
Abarth will be heartened by the fact Alen won the inaugural Rally Russia in 2007 at the wheel of one of the Italian firm’s Grande Punto Super 2000s.
“Anton is very quick in Russia but the road surface is a big factor there,” Gullino continued. “In 2007 the road was very smooth, almost like Finland, but the restoration of the roads last year following a tough winter was not so good and that made the road conditions quite bad in some places.”
Anton Alen and Giandomenico Basso aim for more points in Russia
HANNINEN HOPES RUSSIAN GRAVEL WILL GIVE SKODA ITS FIRST WIN
Juho Hanninen believes he can secure Skoda’s first win in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge when the series resumes on Rally Russia. Finn Hanninen, who won the event last season driving a Kronos Racing Peugeot 207 Super 2000, believes he will be able to make the most of his reputation as a gravel specialist by claiming overall honours.
“I am looking forward to Russia because I certainly prefer gravel to Tarmac,” said Hanninen following the recent Belgium Ypres Rally. “It is a surface I have performed well on in the past and I am sure I will be able to do so again. I gained a lot of experience on the [asphalt-based] Ypres Rally, which wasn’t exactly ideally suited to me, and I wish to thank all members of the team for their support and for the excellent preparation of my car.”
Hanninen held third place on the Belgium Ypres Rally heading into the final stage only for a punctured tyre to drop him to fifth overall in the final standings.
“I am glad to have got to the finish of this difficult rally,” he added. “I consider fifth place in the overall rankings to be positive.”
PROMISING YPRES SHOWING GIVES WITTMANN A BOOST FOR RUSSIA
Franz Wittmann Jr believes the experience gained on the Belgium Ypres Rally in June will be highly advantageous when the Intercontinental Rally Challenge resumes in Russia later this month.
Austrian Wittmann will tackle the gravel event based in Vyborg in a Mitsubishi Lancer E9 following a strong showing on the asphalt lanes of Ypres recently. There he was challenging for a top-ten finish until a puncture caused a driveshaft to failure and led to his retirement from the event.
If Wittmann can maintain his impressive start to the season in Russia then it will help the Mitsubishi-blessed Ralliart operation to maintain its second position in the IRC manufacturers’ standings.
“We entered the Ypres Rally knowing that we wouldn’t stand much chance against 19 superior Super 2000 cars and several [of the latest] Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Xs on a 100 per cent Tarmac rally,” said Wittmann. “But we can be a little bit proud that we managed to be 11th in the intermediate classification as second-best non-Super 2000 car after six stages. In any case we learned a lot in Belgium and I hope that I can put these experiences into action in the future.”
Wittmann is the only driver from Austria regularly competing in the series. He is currently 19th in the drivers’ table.
www.rally-irc.com
Tausendstel entscheiden
3.7.2009 von Wolfgang.
Vanthoor im ersten Rennen auf Pole
Im ersten Qualifying des ATS Formel-3-Cup auf dem EuroSpeedway Lausitz entschieden nur Tausendstel darüber, wer sich über die Pole-Position freuen durfte. Gerade mal 0,003 Sekunden lagen zwischen dem Belgier Laurens Vanthoor, der sich mit 1:16,581 Minuten die Bestzeit sicherte und dem Brasilianer Rafael Suzuki (beide Dallara F307 Volkswagen). Doch auch der Kampf um den zweiten Rang ging knapp an Suzuki. Dem Deutschen Nico Monien (Dallara F307 Mercedes) fehlten nur 0,035 Sekunden auf den Brasilianer.
Die Neulinge im Formel-3-Cup zeigten sich auch heute wieder sehr stark. Monien führt ein Rookie-Trio an, gefolgt vom Niederländer Stef Dusseldorp (Dallara F307 Volkswagen) und seinem deutschen Teamkollegen Markus Pommer (Dallara F307 Mercedes). Alle drei haben das Potenzial das Rennen auf dem Siegerehrungspodest zu beenden. Monien könnte einen kleinen Vorteil haben. Bei über 27 Grad Lufttemperatur kamen die Fahrer ordentlich ins Schwitzen. ″Endlich kann ich mich mal wieder richtig heimisch fühlen″, grinste der Deutsche, der in Spanien aufwuchs. ″Ich liebe es, wenn es so heiß ist.″
Wenige Minuten vor Schluss unterbrach die Rennleitung das Zeittraining mit der roten Flagge. Shirley van der Lof und Bernd Herndlhofer (beide Dallara F307 Mercedes) waren sich eingangs der Zielkurve ins Gehege gekommen. Die Reifen berührten sich, van der Lof stieg auf, landete aber wieder auf allen vier Rädern. Die Niederländerin wurde vorsichtshalber in Krankenhaus gebracht. ″Shirley war vor mir und als ich sie überholen wollte, hat sie die Tür zugemacht″, erzählte Herndlhofer. ″Dabei haben sich unsere Reifen verhakt.″
In der ATS-Formel-3-Trophy war der Ukrainer Sergey Chukanov (Arttech F24 OPC-Challenge) erneut schnellster Mann. Nach seinem verpatzten Wochenende in Oschersleben will er wieder zeigen, wer Herr im Haus ist. Rang zwei ging an Francesco Lopez vor Mika Vähämäki (beide Dallara F304 Opel).
Laurens Vanthoor: Es war sehr warm, aber trotzdem lief alles gut. Obwohl ich zugeben muss, dass es nicht so einfach war wie in Oschersleben. Aber ich bin die schnellste Runde gefahren, obwohl ich noch einen Konkurrenten überholen musste. Unser Speed ist nicht schlecht, aber er muss noch besser werden.
Rafael Suzuki: Das Qualifying verlief gut, aber trotzdem bin ich enttäuscht, da ich die Pole nur um Sekunden verpasst habe. Aber wir beginnen das Rennen aus der ersten Startreihe und das ist das Wichtigste. Morgen vormittag kämpfen wir wieder um die Pole. An das Rennen am Nachmittag denke ich da noch gar nicht.
Nico Monien: Es ist relativ eng an der Spitze, deswegen bin ich mit meinen dritten Platz auch zufrieden. Leider hat es für die Pole-Position noch nicht gereicht. Aber wir sind bereit für unsere erste Pole. Wir tasten uns Stück für Stück ran. Auch um den Sieg wollen wir mitkämpfen.
www.formel3.de
