Archive für 31.7.2010
Love Cyprus Golden Stage Rally plans take shape
31.7.2010 von Wolfgang.
With a little more than three months remaining until the inaugural Love Cyprus Golden Stage Rally, more details of the event, which takes place in Cyprus on 7 November, and carries a prize fund of 150,000 Euros, have been released.
Designed to showcase rallying in a new and exciting way by making it accessible, understandable and attractive to a wider audience, the compact, fan and television-friendly format covers a single 25-kilometre mixed-surface stage run twice. The stage will be known as the Love Cyprus Golden Stage in deference to support from the country’s tourism authority.
Regulations for the Limassol-based event, which runs the day after the FxPro Cyprus Rally, the 12th and final round of the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (4-6 November), will shortly be finalised by event organiser the Cyprus Automobile Association, while representatives from Eurosport Events, which is promoting the competition, have completed a thorough inspection of the planned course.
“It will be exciting with most of the stage running in a downhill direction,” said Jean-Pierre Nicolas, the Motorsport Development Manager of the IRC and a former international rally driver. “The gravel section was in a good condition when we visited and the road was not so narrow although bumpy in places, which adds to the challenge for the drivers. But the biggest test they will face will be how they handle the downhill sections because it can be easy to make a mistake under braking.”
The Golden Stage Rally is open to all teams and drivers competing with Super 2000, Group N and Group A (up to A7) cars, in both two- and four-wheel drive configuration. The entry fee will be 2,000 Euros per car and regulations and entry forms will be available from September onwards on the IRC website, www.rally-irc.com, and the FxPro Cyprus rally website, www.cyprusrally.com.cy.
The event begins with scrutineering from Saturday 6 November for cars not contesting the FxPro Cyprus Rally and on Sunday 7 November for crews taking part on the FxPro Cyprus Rally. The reconnaissance will take place on Thursday 4 November when crews are permitted to complete two passes of the Love Cyprus Golden Stage, which starts 31 kilometres from Limassol. The first competitor is due to tackle the stage late morning on Sunday with the second run going live in the early afternoon. The prize ceremony is due to take place in Limassol in conjunction with the IRC End of Season Awards Ceremony.
The event will enjoy extensive live television coverage with a number of networks around the world showing the action as it happens or highlights following the event. Eurosport, Europe’s largest television sports channel, will broadcast the rally live in its entirety through its network, which reaches out to 117 million homes across 59 countries.
Eurosport Events, which has successfully pioneered live coverage from the stages of several IRC rounds, will manage the live production and will also be responsible for the distribution of the worldwide media rights, including television.
Gilbert Roy, Eurosport Events’ Director of Editorial and Programme Development and the man in overall charge of the live television coverage of the Love Cyprus Golden Stage Rally said: “The scenery is beautiful and the changes of surface will lead to a lot of big slides, so it will be very exciting for the TV viewer. The finish is by a lake close to a dam and there is a good view of Limassol.”
Antonios Michaelides, Chairman of the Organising Committee, said: “Rallying is a hugely popular sport in Cyprus and we, the organisers, are always keen to seek out ways to break new ground and bring fresh, new, innovative ideas to the sport. The Love Cyprus Golden Stage Rally promises to be a standout, memorable event this year and shows that not only are we dedicated to stretching the boundaries of world motorsport, but also to making the very best of our island’s beautiful countryside.”
Title sponsor and long-term supporter of international motorsport in Cyprus, Cyprus Tourism Organisation Chairman Alecos Oroundiotis, added: “Every year, the hosting of world-class rally events attracts sports fans new and old to our beautiful island and our rallying heritage has come to play a major part in promoting Cyprus overseas. The Cyprus Tourism Organisation is therefore extremely proud to sponsor the Love Cyprus Golden Stage Rally, which is sure to attract even more attention to our island and provide a thrilling sporting spectacle.”
Cypriot Nicos Thomas hopes to contest the Love Cyprus Golden Stage Rally
Nicola De Marco claims maiden win in Brno opener
31.7.2010 von Wolfgang.
Italian takes assured first victory as Stoneman snatches championship lead
Nicola De Marco claimed his first F2 victory in today’s opening race at Brno, the Italian jumping polesitter Dean Stoneman at the start and looking assured throughout the 20 lap contest.
Once into the lead De Marco set about establishing an impressive early pace that Stoneman could not quite match, building up a gap of around two seconds by lap eight which he then gradually extended during the remainder of the race.
De Marco, who qualified on pole and then slipped up from the lead in last year’s two races here in Brno, was justifiably delighted: "This is a really important win for me - it’s my first in F2 but also because it’s here in Brno where last year I did a mistake when I was first."
Stoneman could not quite challenge De Marco for the lead, but nonetheless took an impressive second place in his first ever race on the Brno circuit - his haul of 18 points helping him wrest the overall championship lead from Jolyon Palmer, who finished the race in fifth.
Russia’s Sergey Afanasiev finished a relatively quiet third - his third podium this year following top three finishes at Silverstone and Monza - with Benjamin Bailly looking comfortable in fourth.
Bailly had lost out to the fast-starting Philipp Eng on the opening lap, but went round the outside of his Austrian rival at turn three as Jolyon Palmer also looked to challenge Eng on the inside. Palmer was unable to find a way past Eng, setting up an engaging duel for fifth which saw the pair often separated by just over half a second during the opening stages.
Palmer eventually found a way through on lap 13, completing a well-worked pass on the inside of Eng going into turn three. The Austrian tried to respond with a challenge just two corners later, but Palmer defended well and Eng was forced to back out of the move - eventually coming home in sixth, several seconds down the road from Palmer.
Behind that battle, Kelvin Snoeks - starting from seventh on his return to F2 - was working hard to keep Britain’s Will Bratt at bay. Bratt himself had Tom Gladdis less than one second behind for much of the race, and was ultimately unable to find a way past Snoeks, even when Gladdis fell back to 12th after spinning at turn seven. Snoeks finished seventh, his second best result of the year after a podium at Marrakech, with Bratt finishing less than six tenths of a second behind.
Ricardo Teixeira and Benjamin Lariche enjoyed a race-long battle for ninth, with the Angolan eventually claiming the position by just over six tenths of a second - Lariche settling for tenth to continue his remarkable record of scoring points in every event this year.
Outside the top ten, Mihai Marinescu had an eventful race after clattering cones on the final corner in the opening lap. One cone became wedged in front of Mihai’s left sidepod, and the resulting loss of aerodynamic performance caused him to drop back through the field until he eventually pitted to remove the item.
Jack Clarke and Armaan Ebrahim endured a disappointing opening race as the pair collided on the opening corner - Clarke seemingly spinning on the apex of the right-hander and collecting Ebrahim in the process.
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Stoneman clinches race one pole
31.7.2010 von Wolfgang.
Briton edges De Marco by just 0.045s; Sergey Afanasiev takes third
Britain’s Dean Stoneman sealed his fourth pole position of the season today at Brno, edging out 2009 polesitter Nicola De Marco by just 0.045s.
Stoneman left it late in the session, eventually moving to the top of the timesheets in a frantic last five minutes that also saw Nicola De Marco, Jolyon Palmer and Sergey Afanasiev take spells at the top.
It was Afanasiev who made the best start to the session, topping the timesheets for nearly all of the opening ten minutes before the field pitted for fresh rubber. The Russian resumed his spell at the top with around ten minutes to go, only to be displaced by Jolyon Palmer as the times began to tumble.
Stoneman was next to hold provisional pole, only for Nicola De Marco to capture the position by dipping into the 1m45s bracket for the first time. The response was immediate, Stoneman shaving half a second off his previous best to sit fastest with a 1:45.597s. De Marco tried to respond, but fell agonisingly short - missing out by just over four hundredths of a second.
Stoneman, who has never raced at Brno before, enthused: "I went out there to get pole but I didn’t expect to get that lap out there on a difficult track. Overall I was just chipping away at the session trying to get a quick lap - it’s obviously another new track for me and I only did 19 laps yesterday so it’s been pretty good. I’m fairly confident, hopefully I’ve got the start sussed and the aim is to win - but also to finish in front of Jolyon and Philipp."
Behind the lead duo, Sergey Afanasiev improved late on to capture third, with Benjamin Bailly also rising up through the order in the final minutes to claim fourth, just over one tenth of a second behind the Russian.
That meant championship leader Jolyon Palmer had to settle for fifth, although a late yellow flag period - brought about as Natalia Kowalska spun into the gravel and out of the session at turn seven - prevented him from mustering a final challenge. He will share the third row with fellow title contender Philipp Eng, the Austrian finishing just seven hundredths of a second behind Palmer.
Kelvin Snoeks, making his return to F2 after missing the last round at Brands Hatch with a broken ankle, was an impressive seventh, edging out Tom Gladdis - a points finisher here last year - by less than 0.03s.
The closest margin in the field was reserved for the fifth row, however, with Ricardo Teixeira and Will Bratt separated by just one thousandth of a second - Angola’s Teixeira ultimately claiming ninth, with Bratt rounding out the top ten.
In another typically close F2 qualifying session, Romania’s Mihai Marinescu missed out on a top ten starting berth by less than two hundredths of a second, while the top 17 drivers were covered by less than 1.4s.
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