Ross Wylie to return to the Porsche Carrera Cup GB with In2Racing for 2019
We are excited and proud to announce that Ross Wylie will join In2Racing and make a return to the Porsche Carrera Cup GB for the remaining 2 events of 2019 starting at Silverstone followed up by Brands Hatch in Mid-October.
The 28-year-old Scottish born racer from Dumfries last raced in Carrera Cup GB in 2017 with Slide Sport Racing finishing 10th overall.
Ross started his racing career in Scotland racing Mini Max Karts from the age of 13 years old with great success and numerous championships before moving up to racing Mini’s with Celtic Speed in 2012 with 6 podiums. In 2013 Ross would then move on to Volkswagen Racing Cup racing a Scirocco R-Cup car, but his big break would come in 2014 and the British GT, where he won the GT4 class with Andrew Howard’s Beechdean Motorsport in an Aston Martin Vantage with 6 podiums Inc. 3 wins – 2 poles, plus also becoming BRDC Rising Star.
Ross would carry on his success in the British GT for 2015 – 2016 racing in a McLaren for Von Ryan Racing and Motorbase Performance racing am Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and finishing in 5th place in the Gulf 12 hours behind the wheel of Porsche Cayman GT4. 2017 saw a change of direction for Ross and dove tailing 2 championships the Britcar endurance series and the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, he had great success in both series with 10 podiums – Inc. 4 wins in Britcar and finished 3rd in the Rookie Championship and also in the top ten overall in the Carrera Cup GB. Ross would carry on his winning ways in 2018 but this time with Ferrari and AF Corse racing Ferrari 458 GT3 claiming 13 class podiums and 4 class wins.
In 2019 would stay with FF Corse and race in the GT Cup Championship (GTC class) plus selected Britcar Endurance Championship races in the new and very powerful 488 challenge car.
Nick says “Ross is a highly respected driver whom I have wanted to run in our Porsche for a number of years to have him working alongside Peter Kyle-Henney for the last 2 rounds will be great”
Ross commented “I am really pleased to be joining the Carrera Cup GB grid again this weekend since my series debut in 2017. I have known Nick now for a number of years & its great to finally be going racing together, In2 have been around the Carrera Cup paddock for as long as I can remember & I have no doubt they will do a good job in giving me a quick race car”.
‘From Russia with love’ – there wasn’t much love, however, from Daniil Kvyat when he came together with Kimi Raikkonen at the first corner in Singapore. He may wish to keep his nose out of trouble at his home Grand Prix this time, as he returns to the track which saw his career take a bit of a nose dive, when he collided with Sebastian Vettel and lost his seat at Red Bull in 2016.
And, invariably, Vettel would much prefer to complete this year’s Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrome without incident, to build on his first F1 win in 392 days last time out at Marina Bay.
That victory gave us the hand-rubbing prospect of an intra-team war at Ferrari between Vettel and team-mate Charles Leclerc, with the latter leaving Singapore unhappy at the team’s decision to pit Vettel first. The undercut resulted in the four-time champion winning the race ahead of his upstart team-mate who, demonstrating brilliance and maturity in his debut season with Ferrari and only his second season in the sport, had taken his fifth pole position the day before.
GP SINGAPORE F1/2019 – DOMENICA 22/09/2019 credit: @Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
However, despite the tension at Ferrari, they nonetheless sent a message to Mercedes and Red Bull with their first one-two finish since the Hungarian Grand Prix of 2017, at a track where we expected the Prancing Horses to falter under the superiority of their rivals on what is a downforce-orientated circuit.
This, coupled with the fact that Lewis Hamilton seemed concerned by Ferrari’s sudden upturn, will hopefully lead us into an exciting Russian Grand Prix this weekend.
With lots of 90-degree turns, a couple of lengthy straights, and a twisty middle sector, you would lean towards Mercedes having the upper hand, but Ferrari’s surprising performance last race has tossed things up in the air.
Further down the grid, Carlos Sainz comes into this weekend seeking some improved fortune. He retired from the Italian Grand Prix due to leaving the pits with a loose wheel, and then a collision with Nico Hulkenberg on the first lap in Singapore all but ended his race. He did recover to 12th, though, as McLaren continue to supersede the works Renault team with the French manufacturer’s own engines in the back of their papaya car.
Carlos Sainz, McLaren MCL34
Romain Grosjean did little to back up Haas boss Guenther Steiner’s decision to keep him on for the 2020 season by wiping out George Russell, while Kevin Magnussen will be dodging Russian plastic bags, with a bag getting caught in his front wing in Singapore, costing him a points finish and seeing him finish last of the runners.
Antonio Giovinazzi must now build on his point-score in Singapore with a strong result in Russia, as his seat at Alfa Romeo is still not secure. Nico Hulkenberg, out of a seat next season but continuing to perform impressively, is knocking on a few doors in search of a drive, having lost out on the Haas seat for next season.
The 2019 season had its dramatic flame reignited under the sweltering heat of Singapore, but will Ferrari’s revival cool with the weather as we head to Russia? Mercedes will certainly want to make that happens this weekend.
[Featured image – 2018 Russian Grand Prix, Saturday, Wolfgang Wilhelm]
Despite rain overnight and damp morning sessions on Saturday in MotorLand Aragon, the qualifying sessions for the fourteenth round of the 2019 Moto3 World Championship took place in dry conditions.
In Q1 it was Dennis Foggia (SKY Racing Team VR46) who topped the session with his final lap courtesy of a tow gained by some good track position. Joining Foggia in advancing to Q2 were championship combatant Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team), wildcard and new Red Bull Rookies Champion Carlos Tatay (Andreas Perez Fundacion 77) and Celestino Vietti (SKY Racing Team VR46) who improved dramatically for qualifying having ended free practice twenty-seventh-fastest.
In Q2, it was a fantastic lap from Aron Canet on his first run to win him pole position. The Spaniard was able to find a good tow for the back straight, but more impressive was his first sector, and the move he put on Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) in turn nine – it was this which allowed him to take pole by a mammoth 0.701 seconds and put himself in prime position to close his twenty-two-point deficit to Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) in the championship.
Joining Canet on the front row will be Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) and Carlos Tatay, who both got some good track position for their final laps, bringing them both from outside the top ten to start second and third, respectively.
Row two is fronted by Jakub Kornfeil (Redox PruestelGP) in his best Saturday performance since his pole position in Brno last season. Joining the Czech rider on the second row are Celestino Vietti and Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0), the Spaniard using the tow of Dalla Porta to perfection to line up sixth tomorrow.
Tony Arbolino will start tomorrow’s race from seventh as he looks to continue his forward momentum in the championship. The Italian will be joined by the same people he was alongside on last weekend’s Misano podium, as Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC 58 Squadra Corse) qualified eighth, ahead of ninth-placed John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing), who missed the flag for his final lap.
Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas Sprinta Racing) will round out tomorrow’s top ten on the grid, heading up row four, where he will be joined by Dennis Foggia (SKY Racing Team VR46) and championship leader Lorenzo Dalla Porta who was simply not fast enough to challenge for the top positions and has a lot of work to do tomorrow to limit the damage that can be inflicted by both polesitter Canet and Arbolino in the championship.
Albert Arenas (Gaviota Angel Nieto Team) will start from the front of row five in thirteenth, and will be joined by Gabriel Rodrigo (Kommerling Gresini Moto3) and Jaume Masia (WWR); whilst Filip Salac (Redox PruestelGP) heads up row six from Andrea Migno (WWR) and Riccardo Rossi (Kommerling Gresini Moto3) who was last in his first Q2 appearance.
There was no change in condition for Q2, which theoretically handed an advantage to the riders who came through Q1, since it was the only dry session of the day to that point for the lightweight class riders.
The fifth rider in Q1 and therefore the fastest to miss out on Q2 was Stefano Nepa (Reale Avintia Arizona 77), who will start from nineteenth alongside Marcos Ramirez (Leopard Racing) and Raul Fernandez (Gaviota Angel Nieto Team) on row seven; whilst row eight sees Makar Yurchenko (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) start from twenty-second ahead of Niccolo Antonelli’s replacement at SIC 58 Squadra Corse, Davide Pizzoli, and wildcard Gerard Riu Male (Baiko Racing Team).
The ninth row consists of Romano Fenati’s replacement at VNE Snipers, Julian Jose Garcia, ahead of Deniz Oncu, who is replacing his brother, Can, in the Red Bull KTM Ajo team, and Darryn Binder (CIP Green Power). Finally, row ten sees Kazuki Masaki (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) ahead of Sergio Garcia (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and the injured Tom Booth-Amos (CIP Green Power).
Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia) pulled out of the Aragon GP weekend due to pain in his shoulder on Friday, a result of his crash in Misano last weekend.
Qualifying for the Moto2 World Championship riders in Aragon for round fourteen of the 2019 season took place in good conditions as Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) took pole position.
In Q1, Fabio Di Giannantonio (+Ego Speed Up) topped the session to move through to Q2 along with Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team), Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) and Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia).
In Q2, it was Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) who took pole position ahead of his main championship rival, Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40), by over one tenth of a second. The two main championship rivals will be joined tomorrow on the front row by the aggressive Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), last year’s winner of this race, which sets up tomorrow’s race to be entertaining in the battle for the lead.
Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) heads up the second row from Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) who seems to have rediscovered some form this weekend. The final spot on the second row will be taken by Jorge Navarro (+Ego Speed Up); whilst row three sees Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) ahead of Nicolo Bulega (SKY Racing Team VR46) and Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2).
Iker Lecuona (American Racing) completes the qualifying top ten and heads up row four, being joined by Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) and Misano runner-up Fabio Di Giannantonio. On row five, Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) starts ahead of Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Andrea Locatelli; whilst Marco Bezzecchi is with Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) and Somkiat Chantra on row six.
Stefano Manzi (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward) was the fastest rider to not make Q2, and will start tomorrow’s race from nineteenth, alongside Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) and Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) on row seven.
The eighth row consists of Marcel Schrotter’s replacement at Dynavolt Intact GP, Jesko Raffin, in twentieth, ahead of Joe Roberts (American Racing) and Dominique Aegerter (MV Agusts Idealavoro Forward); while row nine sees Jake Dixon (Gaviota Angel Nieto Team) ahead of Simone Corsi (NTS RW Racing GP) and Philipp Oettl (Red Bull KTM Tech 3); and the tenth row has Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing) in front of Xavi Cardelus (Gaviota Angel Nieto Team) and Gerry Salim (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) who is replacing Dimas Ekky this weekend. The back row has only one rider, with Gabriele Ruiu (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) who this weekend is in place of Mattia Pasini.
After a damp FP3 on Saturday morning which saw limited running from most riders, qualifying in Aragon for the fourteenth round of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship took place in perfect conditions.
The first session saw a surprise, as Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) prevented Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) from advancing to Q2 using the tow of Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) who topped the first session.
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was 1.6 seconds faster than everyone in Friday morning’s FP1 session and, although the championship leader had not been close to the 1’46.8 that gave him that advantage since FP1, pole position was almost guaranteed. Once more, Marquez was unable to match his 46.8 from Friday morning, but his 1’47.009 was enough for pole position by 0.327 seconds over Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT).
Fabio Quartararo, Aragon MotoGP 2019. Image courtesy of Yamaha Motor Europe
Marquez’ pace is superior for Sunday’s race, but it looks like the battle for second place will be between Quartararo and Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), who line up alongside the #93 on the front row.
Jack miller (Pramac Racing) produced a surprise by putting his independent Ducati in fourth place in a track where the Desmosedici has not been entirely comfortable this weekend. There is another surprise in the middle of the second row, where Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) will start from tomorrow after a brilliant lap following Marquez at the end of Q2. The last spot on the second row went to Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) who seems to be staring down the barrel of a fourth-consecutive fourth place finish tomorrow.
Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) starts from the front of the third row, highlighting the strength of Marquez on the same bike, who was 1.313 seconds quicker than the #35. Franco Morbidelli and Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) will join the Briton on row three.
Crutchlow’s late lap to go seventh pushed Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) off the third row, and the Italian will start back in tenth which could limit his chances. Andrea Iannone was unable to make much of his Q2 appearance and will start eleventh courtesy of Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) missing qualifying due to a crash in FP4 which could also see him miss tomorrow’s race, which he would start from twelfth.
Thirteenth place went to Alex Rins, the Spaniard being the fastest rider to miss out on the pole position shoot-out. There is a lot of work now for Rins to do tomorrow, but his pace is strong and he can still make a good result if his start is good. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) qualified fourteenth, whilst Danilo Petrucci’s struggles aboard the Ducati Team Desmosedici GP19 continued, the Italian finishing only fifth in Q1 to qualify fifteenth overall.
Sixteenth place went to Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) who is having another tough weekend aboard the satellite Desmosedici. Joining the reigning Moto2 World Champion on the sixth row are fellow rookie Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) and 2014 Moto2 World Champion Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing).
Mika Kallio’s replacement of Johann Zarco at Red Bull KTM Factory Racing for the rest of the season came as a shock earlier in the week, but the Finn has had a decent weekend in Spain on his return to racing after the injury he sustained in Germany last year. Kallio will start nineteenth, ahead of Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) and Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) on the seventh row, Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) will head up a two-man back row from Bradley Smith (Aprilia Racing Team) who is wildcarding this weekend for the first time since Barcelona.
Featured Image courtesy of Jaime Olivares/Box Repsol
Rivalries have been a key part of sport since the beginning. Rivalry inspires competitors to achieve more than their perceived capabilities. This is true for all sport but especially for motorcycle racing, where pushing beyond the limit can have significant consequences.
Throughout the history of grand prix motorcycle racing, rivalries have played a large role in its narrative, whether between factories or riders: from Hailwood and Agostini to Rainey and Schwantz, to the MotoGP era and Rossi’s on-track feuds with Biaggi, Gibernau, Stoner and more – rivalries have taken on an important role in the story of motorcycle racing, to transform it from a cold engineering pursuit of the fastest way to cover a Grand Prix distance to a heated conflict where lap time is the warhead and the motorcycle is the ICBM.
In Misano, we saw the birth of a new rivalry, one which was hard to envisage all of sixteen months ago. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) has dominated MotoGP since he arrived in the premier class in 2013, and his strength continues to grow. The outlook of the future of MotoGP begins to look increasingly bleak when fans are faced with the prospect of one of the most divisive figures in racing cruising to world titles at will until he decides to go and do something else.
Marc Marquez winner of the 2019 Misano GP. Image Courtesy of Jaime Olivares/Box Repsol
In the Superbike World Championship, Jonathan Rea has dominated the last four championships and is now the greatest rider in the history of production-derived motorcycle racing. Similar to the case in MotoGP with Marquez, it was difficult to see an end to the domination of Rea, such was his strength, but this season Alvaro Bautista arrived and has won fourteen races. For the first part of the season, Bautista was not only unbeaten, but completely unrivalled, winning races by over ten seconds as if it were nothing. The middle of the championship did not go to plan for Bautista and now the championship fight is all but over. However, the Spaniard showed that Rea is beatable, and identified himself as the anti-Rea.
This year, we may have finally identified the anti-Marquez, the rider who can challenge the (currently) seven-times World Champion in the future and prevent a monotonous domination of the sport by its most exciting rider. Fabio Quartararo has been enjoying a stellar rookie season aboard the Petronas Yamaha SRT YZR-M1, with several podiums and pole positions, out-classing not only his more experienced teammate Franco Morbidelli but also the factory Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP riders, Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales, on numerous occasions.
The San Marinese MotoGP was no different, with Quartararo finishing as top Yamaha, having led most of the race and fought with Marc Marquez at the end of the race. Although Marquez came out on top of the duel with an outrageous display of braking performance into turn eight and tactically clever defensive riding into turn fourteen, Quartararo finally took the leap of fighting for a race win. The Frenchman was unable to topple Marquez on this occasion, but with Quartararo there is the certainty that he will be there to fight with the #93 on many more occasions across the next ten years or more.
Andrea Dovizioso at Misano 2019 MotoGP. Image courtesy of Ducati
This presents a dilemma for Yamaha. Ducati want to win the World Championship and despite their best wishes and those of Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), it looks perhaps unlikely that the #04 can challenge Marquez over the course of a season and come out on top. Therefore, Ducati might want to sign a new rider for 2021, one who they believe can win them their second MotoGP championship. Fabio Quartararo might be one of the riders they want to sign, but so might Maverick Vinales. If Ducati are considering one of these two riders they will likely try to lock down Quartararo before Vinales, meaning Yamaha need to act quickly to secure the services of Quartararo from 2021 – something they want to do because they, too, want to win the MotoGP World Championship – quelle surprise!
The problem for Yamaha comes with irony strapped to the side like fuel in a 1960s F1 car, just waiting to blow up and cut their legs off. The problem is Valentino Rossi, who wants six or seven races at the beginning of 2020 to decide if he wants to stay in MotoGP for another year or two. Forty-year-old Rossi has not had a good year in 2019, and hasn’t had a podium since round three where an uncharacteristic error cost him the win in Texas. The Italian is undoubtedly capable of fighting at the front of MotoGP with the correct machinery, but the correct machinery is evidently not the one that Yamaha are currently providing him, whereas it evidently is for Quartararo and Vinales. If Yamaha want to secure their potential future star, Quartararo, they need Rossi to make a decision on his future by Jerez, or tell him his services are unrequired for 2021.
If Quartararo were to hold out for Yamaha – a very plausible scenario considering his comfort with the M1 – Ducati could sign Vinales, who must surely be beginning to believe that his success is more likely to be found away from Iwata. During the period of Vinales swapping deep blue for red, Rossi could quite conceivably decide that it is time to go and do something else, leaving two vacant seats in Yamaha, with only one available to be filled by Quartararo, of course.
Franco Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi, together at the 2019 San Marino MotoGP Race. Image courtesy of Yamaha Racing
It would make sense for Franco Morbidelli to take the second factory Yamaha seat, but Morbidelli has the same setup and riding style issues as Rossi, and even then there would be a duo of vacant seats in the Petronas squad.
Fabio Quartararo’s performance in Misano was superb, both for him and for Yamaha. But now, the factory must face some difficult decisions which have the potential significantly impact its future, perhaps for the better but maybe for the worse.
Emotions ran high on Sunday when Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC 58 Squadra Corse) won his first Moto3 Grand Prix at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
The day before, Suzuki had taken his first ever World Championship pole position, which he converted to a holeshot on Sunday. Although Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) led the opening lap, only three of the following twenty-two laps were not led by Suzuki, those outliers being led by Jaume Masia (WWR).
Tatsuki Suzuki leading the pack at Round Thirteen – Misano, San Marino. Image courtesy of Hondanews.eu
It was a hectic race, with many crashes and splits in the pack. Groups were severed and reconnected, and there was much fighting in both the leading group and the chasing pack, leading to a fragmented race with, thanks to the incredibly low grip of the Misano track, a significantly reduced field.
There were only sixteen finishers – only Deniz Oncu, filling in for brother Can Oncu at Red Bull KTM Ajo, finished but didn’t score points after he was forced off track early on in the race at turn ten. Four riders went down on the first lap: Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia) had contact with Darryn Binder (CIP Green Power) in turn one. Toba crashed and took Makar Yurchenko (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) with him. Later in the opening tour, Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas Sprinta Racing) crashed on the entry to turn eight after contact with another rider, and on the exit of the same corner Sergio Garcia (Estrella Galicia 0,0) high-sided and was fortunate to not be hit by other riders.
Two laps later Garcia’s Estrella Galicia 0,0 teammate, Alonso Lopez, crashed out, then Niccolo Antonelli (SIC 58 Squadra Corse) high-sided on the exit of turn five leaving Celestino Vietti (SKY Racing Team VR46) nowhere to go, and five corners later Tom Booth-Amos (CIP Green Power) crashed out, after making up several places on the first lap, and broke his collarbone in the process. Albert Arenas (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) also crashed out on lap three, two laps before mechanical troubles forced Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) to retire, which was important for the championship. The attrition rate of the first half of the race was monumental, but the final rider to go down before the halfway point was Darryn Binder who crashed out with fifteen laps to go. Only wildcard Meikon Kawakami (Fundacion Andreas Perez 77), Kazuki Masaki (BOE Skull Rider Mugen Race) and Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) went down in the second half.
The crash which took out Ogura was an important one, taking place on the final lap. Andrea Migno (WWR) was looking inside the Japanese in turn eight, but adjusted to avoid Tony Arbolino in front and crashed, taking Ogura with him. John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) was able to capitalise on this and move up to third, which he turned into second place at turn twelve, and almost to the lead in turn fourteen but for some excellent defensive riding by Suzuki into the Carro hairpin.
It was a fabulously emotional win for Suzuki and the SIC 58 Squadra Corse, who have backed Suzuki for a while, since the circuit bares the name of the inspiration of the team, Marco Simoncelli. Tatsuki Suzuki finally achieved his goal of taking Paolo to the podium and he did it in perhaps the most perfect place.
The positions gained by McPhee in the final lap brought him his third podium of the season and almost his second win of 2019, whilst for Tony Abolino, third place brought important points for the championship.
Jaume Masia, Moto3 race, San Marino MotoGP 2019 Image courtesy of Gold and Goose/KTM
Jaume Masia put some hard moves in throughout the race and was rewarded with fourth place, although the Spaniard is still without a podium since the Italian Grand Prix in May. Dennis Foggia (SKY Racing Team VR46) inherited fifth place as a result of the last lap carnage in turn eight, leading the chasing pack home ahead of Gabriel Rodrigo (Kommerling Gresini Moto3) who was sixth on his debut, and Marcos Ramirez (Leopard Racing) in seventh.
Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) exceeded track limits one to many times and dropped from fourth to eighth as a result of a three-second time penalty added after the race, which helped Aron Canet significantly as his mechanical retirement prevented him from scoring. Despite Canet’s misfortune in Silverstone and Misano, the gap at the top of the championship is still less than one race win in the favour of Dalla Porta, who is twenty-two points ahead of the #44, whilst Arbolino’s consistency is bringing him into play, just thirty-points adrift now.
Rounding out the top ten in Misano were Filip Salac (Redox PruestelGP) in ninth and Raul Fernandez (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) in tenth.
Stefano Nepa (Reale Avintia Arizona 77) was eleventh ahead of Jakub Kornfeil (Redox PruestelGP) and Migno who remounted for thirteenth after his last-lap fall. Riccardo Rossi (Kommerling Gresini Moto3) was fourteenth for his first World Championship points in his home race; whilst Elia Bartolini (SKY Junior Team VR46) took the final point on his Grand Prix debut.
Formula One heads to the streets of Singapore, for the start of the final flyaway leg of 2019 under the lights at Marina Bay.
Ferrari and Charles Leclerc head to Singapore on the crest of two wins on the bounce at Spa and Monza. But compared to those two high-speed circuits, Ferrari’s low downforce package won’t be anywhere near as effective on the tight Marina Bay Street Circuit.
As has been the case for most of the 2019 season, Mercedes is expected to be the team to beat this weekend. It was in Singapore last year, where Lewis Hamilton took pole position and the race win, that Mercedes finally seemed to understand what was needed to conquer one of its few “bogey” circuits. And judging by the fact Mercedes has won every street race since, there’s every reason for them to be confident about their chances on Sunday.
Paul Ripke / Mercedes AMG
However, Mercedes does have one shadow looming over them this weekend—engine reliability. Since introducing their Spec 3 power unit at Spa three weeks ago, Mercedes have seen uncharacteristic failures in the customer cars of Sergio Perez’s Racing Point and Robert Kubica’s Williams. So far the works team has had no blowouts of its own, but after two demanding power tracks and with Singapore’s reputation for testing cars to their limit, there’s no room for complacency.
The other threat to Mercedes this weekend comes in the form of Max Verstappen and Red Bull. Verstappen has run well in in Singapore in recent years, qualifying second in 2017 and 2018 and finishing runner-up to Hamilton last year.
With the Red Bull-Honda package improving with every race, it would be no surprise to see Verstappen duelling with Hamilton for his third win of the season.
Mark Thompson, Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
As always, the difficulty and unpredictability of Singapore will provide the midfield teams with plenty of opportunities to sneak away with big points hauls.
Renault took a double points finish at Marina Bay last year, but their RS19 has been much more at home on high speed and lower downforce tracks this year. Given their results from slower tracks like Monaco and Hungary, Renault will likely find themselves scrapping with or even behind the likes of McLaren, Alfa Romeo and Toro Rosso this weekend.
Haas will also be bracing themselves for another tough Grand Prix on Sunday. Although their prolonged dispute with former title sponsors Rich Energy has finally come to an end, their struggles with tyre degradation certainly have not. And in the heat of Singapore, there aren’t many worse problems to have.
However, Haas and Renault can both take some optimism from the fact that this is the Singapore Grand Prix. With tempers running high and the walls never far away, Singapore is the place where anything can happen.
Here is my recap of a timely victory for Sébastien Ogier with just three rounds of this year’s championship left. He was joined by his young teammate Esapekka Lappi, whilst Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen completed the podium.
Friday
With almost 160km over six stages, it would be a challenging day indeed. The start list looked like this – Tänak, Neuville, Ogier, Meeke, Mikkelsen, Latvala, Suninen, Sordo, Lappi, Tidemand.
Well at the end of SS 2 – Içmeler 1 (24,85 km), we had a new leader, with Jari-Matti now leading for Toyota, whilst Andreas and Esapekka were within five seconds of the veteran Finn. Meantime, Seb Ogier suffered a puncture at around 18km. Championship leader, Ott was doing okay, holding fifth overall.
Into SS 3 – Çetibeli 1 (38,15 km), and it all changed! Jari-Matti dropped out of the lead, falling to fifth, whilst Esapekka took the lead. Andreas was the young Finns closest challenger, with Seb now in third and Teemu in fourth.
Jari-Matti hit back in SS 4 – Ula 1 (16,57 km), winning the stage and jumping into third. Also moving up the leaderboard was Thierry, whose pace lifted him ahead of Kris. Meanwhile, Ott held sixth place, now 21 seconds from the lead.
Well, sadly Jari-Matti dropped back SS 5 – Içmeler 2 (24,85 km) and was now in tenth and fifty seconds from the lead. Kris won the stage from Thierry and Seb. Meanwhile Ott was now up to fifth overall. Teemu continued to knock on the door of the podium as well. Things were going well for the young Finn.
Thierry won SS 6 – Çetibeli 2 (38,15 km) from Esapekka and Seb and this was now the top three, with the Finn leading Seb and Thierry in third. Andreas dropped back after a painful stage for the Norwegian, but eve he didn’t suffer as much as Ott who dropped one minute and 18 seconds, falling to seventh.
The final stage of the day, SS 7 – Ula 2 (16,57 km) was won by Dani, from Jari-Matti and Thierry. The Spaniard moved up into sixth place as well. Meantime, Esapekka and Seb held a one-two for Citroen at the end of day one.
STANDINGS AFTER DAY ONE
Lappi / Ferm (Citroën C3 WRC) 1:59:53.7
Ogier / Ingrassia (Citroën C3 WRC) +17.7
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +18.4
Suninen / Lehtinen (Ford Fiesta WRC) +44.4
Mikkelsen / Jaeger (Hyundai i20 WRC) +1:04.1
Sordo / Del Barrio (Hyundai i20 WRC) +1:25.2
Meeke / Marshall (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1:32.1
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1:37.4
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1:42.5
Tidemand / Floene (Ford Fiesta WRC) +3:45.4
Here’s the driver thoughts!
Citroën Total WRT
Esapekka Lappi (1st)
“Obviously, it’s been a good day for us! We didn’t have any issues at all and I could do what I wanted in my C3 WRC. I think we adopted a smart approach and managed to find the right rhythm, trying to stay in the lines as much as possible. I’m not really a huge fan of slow, technical stages, so I’m pleased with my performance today. But there’s still a long way to go. We’ll just try to keep doing what we are doing and see how we get on.”
Sébastien Ogier (2nd)
“It was a really tricky day and I’m pleased to finish it in this position. I lost the splitter on the front bumper on the opening stage of the afternoon and that probably affected the car’s aerodynamics towards the end of the loop. Although conditions on tomorrow’s leg are expected to be a little less rough than today, there will still be some very tricky sections that we’ll need to get through without incident. I think we can expect it to be another big fight and you can count on us to be pushing hard!”
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville (3rd)
“The morning loop was certainly not the way we wanted to start our rally, especially after our joint stage win with Andreas on Thursday evening. It was just not a competitive loop for us. The car was not working as we needed it and in the cleaning conditions, starting second on the road, we lacked grip and traction. We tried hard but needed a change of fortune for the afternoon. We had a great time through SS5 but it was in the tricky conditions of SS6 where we made up some important time. We actually had a puncture before the stage so had to swap onto the softer tyres. We didn’t give it a thought, we pushed hard and the rain at the end helped us to set the fastest time to get us back in the game. This rally is far from over, but we head into Saturday in more positive spirits.”
2019 FIA World Rally Championship Round 11, Rally Turkey 12 – 15 September 2019 Thierry Neuville Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Andreas Mikkelsen (5th)
“A great start to the rally turned unfortunately into an afternoon of frustration and disappointment. We were pleased to take the super special win on Thursday, and we had a competitive opening loop, clean stages and an awesome car. We were really in the fight and feeling good. It is an extremely complex rally, and you need to know when to attack and when you need to back off and take it easy. It’s so easy for something to happen. We struggled in the afternoon, especially in SS6. The conditions and tyre choice made the stage feel like ice, there was just no grip. The car was sliding and we lost a lot of time. We did our best with what we had.”
Dani Sordo (6th)
“We managed to end the day with the sort of competitive form that we knew we were capable of showing this weekend. Unfortunately, the puncture we picked up in the first stage got our rally off to the wrong start. It’s easy to get a puncture here but I didn’t even realise anything had gone wrong. We decided to try and complete the stage rather than lose the time to change tyres and that was the right call. We lost a lot of time but it could have been worse. I’m not the sort of person to hope for others to have bad luck but this a long and unpredictable rally so anything can still happen.”
M-Sport WRT
Teemu Suninen (4th)
“I think it’s been a pretty good day for us and the car is working well. It’s always difficult to find the right balance between being fast and being careful here, but I think we’re doing okay. There are so many loose stones out there that you have to keep a margin to try and avoid the punctures.
“I don’t want to set myself too high a target right now as I’m happy with the rhythm we have and think we have a good balance. But there is still a long way to go and of course anything can still happen.”
Pontus Tidemand (10th)
“It was really tricky for everyone today, but good for me to get the experience. We had a puncture on the first stage, but apart from that it was a really clean run.
“The pace at the front was really high and for sure the top guys are pushing a lot, but we can already see in some sections that we are getting closer – which is what we need to focus on.
“We’ll be first on the road tomorrow, but in a way that will be nice as it means we won’t have to experience the big ruts that we had today – and I’m looking forward to that.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing
Kris Meeke (7th)
“I had quite a decent loop this morning. The rhythm wasn’t so good on the last stage of the loop, but otherwise it wasn’t bad given my lack of experience here. When the rain came on the second stage of the afternoon, it was really difficult. We were saving two medium tyres for the last stage, when we expected the rain to be worst, and our hard tyres were really worn from the first stage, so when it rained heavily in the middle of the stage, it was like driving on ice. The other two stages were fine, we just lost a lot of time on this one stage. Our speed’s been OK and we’re still here: there’s a long way to go and anything can happen.”
Ott Tänak (8th)
“It was difficult to enjoy the conditions running first on the road, but I felt much better in the car this morning than I did here last year, so the improvements that the team have made to the car have been good. We knew the afternoon would be demanding, as the stages are even rougher on the second pass, and the weather was making it extra tricky. Unfortunately, we had a puncture in the middle stage: it can be a bit of a lottery here and we were unlucky today. Certainly, it was not the day that we were hoping for, but there is still a long way to go so we just need to keep going and see what happens.”
Jari-Matti Latvala (9th)
“It started well this morning. The time on SS2 was surprisingly good, as I didn’t push hard. Then I drove too carefully on the next one, but we were able to compensate a bit for that with a good time on SS4. The car was going well, although we knew the afternoon will be rougher. In SS5 we lost the rear bumper, it got very noisy in the car and I was struggling to concentrate on the pace-notes: I cut a right-hand corner and we had to drive the end of the stage with a flat tyre. We expected the rain to come more for the final stage than for SS6, and so we had the hard tyres on which was the wrong choice, and we lost a lot of time. But this is rallying, and sometimes these things don’t work out. Now we need to look forward as a lot of things can still happen in this rally.”
Saturday
Well, with 110km over six stages today, it would be a very interesting day. The start list looked like this – Tidemand, Latvala, Tänak, Meeke, Sordo, Mikkelsen, Suninen, Neuville, Ogier, Lappi.
It was a good start to the day for Seb, who won SS 8 – Yesilbelde 1 (33,00 km) by a huge almost 17 seconds over his younger teammate. Esapekka now had a one second lead over his world champion teammate. Just like last year, Thierry had a torrid start to his Saturday, losing almost four and a half minutes and dropping from third to ninth. Now Teemu Suninen was holding third place behind the two Citroen’s.
Into SS 9 – Datça 1 (8,75 km) and Andreas took a good stage win and moved ahead of the M-Sport Fiesta piloted by Teemu. The big drama came from Ott and the Toyota team. The Estonian dropped out of the running, after suffering an electrical problem with his car.
Another stage win for Lappi in SS 10 – Kizlan 1 (13,30 km) going faster than Thierry and Andreas and Seb, who was now ten seconds behind his younger teammate. Further back, Jari-Matti and Kris were battling over sixth and seventh, with the Finn now ahead of his teammate.
Seb hit back in SS 11 – Yesilbelde 2 (33,00 km), winning the stage and reducing the gap to just 2.2 seconds, whilst Andreas was opening up the gap to Teemu in their battle for the final podium spot.
With Thierry, Dani and Teemu setting the top three best times in SS 12 – Datça 2 (8,75 km), Seb was fourth, but crucially seven seconds faster than his teammate, the Frenchman moved into the lead. Kris and Jari-Matti once again changed places in their battle over sixth and seventh after the Finn lost almost seven seconds.
Now, Esapekka won SS 13 – Kizlan 2 (13,30 km), reducing the gap to Seb to just two tenths of a second for the lead after the champion who was third fastest, but four and a half seconds slower. Jari-Matti got back in front of Kris after the Brit lost twenty seconds.
STANDINGS AFTER DAY TWO
Ogier / Ingrassia (Citroën C3 WRC) 3:20:12.0
Lappi / Ferm (Citroën C3 WRC) +0.2.
Mikkelsen / Jaeger (Hyundai i20 WRC) +1:17.1
Suninen / Lehtinen (Ford Fiesta WRC) +1:26.9
Sordo / Del Barrio (Hyundai i20 WRC) +2:24.7
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) +3:14.4
Meeke / Marshall (Toyota Yaris WRC) +3:29.5
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +4:38.2
Tidemand / Floene (Ford Fiesta WRC) +6:55.8
The thoughts of the drivers after day two.
Citroën Total WRT
Sébastien Ogier (1st)
“It was a very good leg for us, with a decent pace and no technical issues whatsoever on our C3 WRC. It wasn’t an easy day, however, but we made a bold call on tyre choice this morning and it paid off. This afternoon, we had to deal with incredibly hot and abrasive conditions for the tyres. I tried to be careful and not take too many risks to minimise any problems. Our goal now is to get to the finish line in this position and if we can add some points in the Power Stage then that would be a bonus.”
Esapekka Lappi (2nd)
“It doesn’t matter if we are leading or second this evening, the main thing is to bring home this result for the team. I’m very pleased with my own performance so far, despite my small mistake on SS12. We set some good times again today by adopting a sensible approach and with a C3 WRC that is clearly quick on this surface.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Andreas Mikkelsen (3rd)
“We have had a good performance today and been properly on the pace, so there are plenty of positives to take away. I made just one small mistake in the opening loop, in SS8, due to the dust, but otherwise it’s been a pretty faultless day. The car has been working incredibly well which has given us the confidence we needed. Tyre management has again played a key role, and I had high tyre wear by the end of the afternoon loop, but all in all we are in good shape heading into the final day.”
Dani Sordo (5th)
“The objective for us today was to remain in front of our closest rivals in the manufacturers’ championship, and we have managed to do this. It has been another tough day but we have made no mistakes. Our overall strategy was good and we made the most of our tyre choice to maximise our performance across the loop. We now have to focus on the final stages of this rally, knowing that anything can happen, and maintain our advantage.”
Thierry Neuville (6th)
“There’s no hiding from the disappointment we are facing from today. We have put so much effort into these fights so it’s hard to take when it could have been easily avoided. It was a very simple thing, a slow right-hander and a tight left; I thought I saw the corner in the dust but it was a small ditch and we ended up on our side. We lost over four minutes of time getting the car back on its wheels. It is what it is, we just have to keep pushing and remain positive. We have seen many times that the situation can turn quickly when the title fight is so close.”
M-Sport WRT
Teemu Suninen (4th)
“I struggled to get into the rhythm this morning, but this afternoon was really good and we found good pace on all of the stages. My tyres were in pretty good condition and I was pleased with that because it’s something I’ve been working to improve. Unfortunately, we had some small damage on the car which meant we couldn’t take full advantage on the last stages – mainly because the driver kept knocking bits of aero off!
“I came here to do my best, and even though fourth place would be nice I think we have to go out there and see what we can do tomorrow – just go flat out and see if we can make it onto the podium.”
Teemu and Jarmo were knocking on the door of a podium by the end of Saturday. Photo credit, M-Sport
Pontus Tidemand (9th)
“I’ve really enjoyed the day and being first on the road meant that I could choose the line, but of course that also means that the times weren’t going to be great. I had to clean a line for the cars behind, and even on the second pass I needed to push through the ruts to open the line. But it’s good learning and in the last two stages I felt quite a good rhythm in the car – so let’s see if we can build on that tomorrow.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Jari-Matti Latvala (6th)
“From the first stage this morning it was very slippery with a lot of loose gravel, running second on the road. It started to get better on the shorter stages, and the third one was really nice: a fast stage that suited me very well and the time was reasonably good. This afternoon, I tried to attack on the long stage to keep the pressure on, but I struggled after that because my tyres were so worn. Tomorrow our road position will be better and that will help us to see our real performance compared to the others. We’ll also try something with the car to help the tyre wear and to learn for the future.”
Kris Meeke (7th)
“It’s been a tough day. There was a lot of road cleaning and that was a factor, but we also have some work to do to improve our pace on this type of surface. We tried our best but those behind us on the road just kept coming through faster than us. Tomorrow, we just need to bring it home and score the points for the manufacturers’ championship. It’s close between myself and Jari-Matti, but whether I’m in front or he’s in front, it doesn’t matter.”
Ott Tänak (Retired/ Rally2)
“On the road section after the first stage this morning, the car wouldn’t fire up ready for the next stage. We worked a lot and we tried to find the reason but it seems it was something internal – an ECU failure – so there was nothing we could do. Of course, it’s frustrating, especially in a moment like this when we
are fighting for our first title. It definitely makes everything a lot harder, but that’s the way it is. It’s not going to come in an easy way, and we just need to accept that and fight on.”
Sunday
Well, into Sunday and could the Citroen team wrap up a 1-2? With 38km over four stages to complete the rally the start list looked like this – Tänak, Tidemand, Neuville, Meeke, Latvala, Sordo, Suninen, Mikkelsen, Lappi, Ogier.
The first stage, SS 14 – Marmaris 1 (7,05 km) would be run later as the power stage, and Ott showed that his was ready to take some good points, winning the stage from Andreas who was going well still and Jari-Matti third.
Into SS 15 – Gökçe (11,32 km) and with Seb taking it easy and looking after his tyres for the final stage, Jari-Matti won it from Andreas, was pulling away from Teemu, and Dani. In fact, the two Citroen drivers set exactly the same time, going fifth fastest.
A good stage win for Andreas in SS 16 – Çiçekli (13,20 km), beating Jari-Matti by just three tenths of a second meant that barring disaster in the final stage he’d be picking up a well deserved podium. The Citroen’s at the front were very much in control and taking it easy.
The final stage then, SS 17 – Marmaris 2 Power Stage (7,05 km) and Ott took maximum points after setting a time that both Seb and Thierry couldn’t beat. The top five in the stage was rounded out by Jari-Matti and Teemu.
Well, what a victory for Citroën! Their first 1-2 since 2015 when Kris Meeke and Mads Ostberg stood on the first two steps of the Rally Argentina podium – Yes, it has really been that long!
The Citroën team celebrate a great result. Photo credit, Citroën Racing
FINAL STANDINGS
Ogier / Ingrassia (Citroën C3 WRC) 3:50:12.1
Lappi / Ferm (Citroën C3 WRC) +34.7
Mikkelsen / Jaeger (Hyundai i20 WRC) +1:04.5
Suninen / Lehtinen (Ford Fiesta WRC) +1:35.1
Sordo / Del Barrio (Hyundai i20 WRC) +2:25.9
Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) +2:59.1
Meeke / Marshall (Toyota Yaris WRC) +3:53.3
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +5:34.8
Tidemand / Floene (Ford Fiesta WRC) +7:22.9
The thoughts then of the drivers.
Citroën Total WRT
Sébastien Ogier (1st)
“We really needed this win if we were to have a chance of getting back into contention in the championship so I’m really happy to bring it home for the team this weekend. We knew that anything could happen at a rally like this where it is really rough but we managed to keep out of trouble by adopting a smart approach. It’s a good morale boost for everyone as we move into the end of the season! We all know that we have to keep working really hard. We’ll savour this win and then get down to work again tomorrow.”
Esapekka Lappi (2nd)
“It was a very demanding event, one which I didn’t really enjoy last year so I’m obviously pleased with my performance this weekend. We managed to have two very good first legs, displaying the same kind of pace as Seb and Julien, which is no easy feat. Today, the challenge for us was to get the car over the line and help them as much as possible. Our C3 WRC was perfect this weekend. We had no issues whatsoever and that was one of the keys to us securing this great result.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Andreas Mikkelsen (3rd)
“It has been a good rally for us and I am delighted to be back on the podium. We have concentrated on staying away from drama, keeping out of trouble and maintaining a good pace, all of which we have managed well. We were particularly strong on the first pass of each loop, but less so on the second runs, which is something we have to look at. Overall, though, we can be happy with this third place. We’ve taken a decent haul of points for the team, which is most important.”
Dani Sordo (5th)
“Our target for today was to bring the car home and to secure our fifth place. With Andreas in third place, we have been able to take some important points for the manufacturers’ championship, which is good news. Without our puncture on Friday morning, we would have been able to put up an even stronger fight but these roads in Turkey can be extremely rough, so to make it to the end of the weekend in fifth place is not so bad.”
Thierry Neuville (8th)
“It has definitely been a disappointing and difficult weekend for us. In the dust on Saturday morning, my instincts told me to go too much to the right and we ended up in a ditch on our side. Four minutes of time loss later and we were in a very different rally. From there, our focus on was on scoring some points in the Power Stage. I gave it everything I could, and there was nothing more. That’s how it is. We have three rounds of the season left, so let’s move onto the next one and see what happens.”
M-Sport WRT
Teemu Suninen (4th)
“This has been a good weekend for us. I think we had the right balance between showing good pace and driving well through the stages without any mistakes or problems. And I think we made a really big step forward from where we were last year – with the pace but also with managing the tyres so that was really good to see. A big thanks to the mechanics also because they had a lot of work to do on the car this weekend.”
Pontus Tidemand (9th)
“This was my first gravel rally with the Fiesta WRC, and actually my first proper gravel rally this year, so I would say that it has been a good weekend for us. The car and the team were working really well and I would say like to say a big thanks to them and to everyone who has supported me so far this year.
“In the last two stages yesterday and also today I felt I had quite a good feeling with the car and was starting to understand a lot more. Okay there was a lot of cleaning and we had to open the road for much of the event, but we have the experience now and can work on looking where to improve for the next one.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Jari-Matti Latvala (6th)
“I tried to keep a good rhythm today and enjoy the driving, and the stages were nice today, much better conditions and not so rocky and rough. We came here expecting that we would have more performance than last year, but it seems that all the teams have made some steps forward. We also did some work but we were struggling in the hard, rocky conditions and were using our tyres too much. This is something we have to learn for the future, but I know that the next rally in Wales will suit us a lot better.”
FIA World Rally Championship / Round 11 / Rally Turkey 2019 / Sep 12-15, 2019 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Kris Meeke (7th)
“Today was just about preserving our position and bringing home the points for the team. It’s been a tough weekend, since the long stage on Friday afternoon when we lost a lot of time in the rain, which put us into a bad road position for Saturday. We’ve struggled for a bit of speed here and it was about damage limitation in the end. But we’ll come back stronger in the last three rallies.”
Ott Tänak (16th)
“We had nothing to lose today and we gave it everything, and we’re happy that we were able to get these points from the Power Stage. I’m sure it gives an extra boost and motivation going forward. Of course, it is still disappointing what happened yesterday. We always want to fight back and fight back hard. I’m sure everyone in the team will keep pushing. There are now three rounds left so there is nothing else we can do, other than push to the maximum and do our best.”
DRIVERS’ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Ott Tänak – 210 points
Sébastien Ogier – 193 points
Thierry Neuville – 180 points
Andreas Mikkelsen – 94 points
Kris Meeke – 86 points
Jari-Matti Latvala – 84 points
Teemu Suninen – 83 points
Esapekka Lappi – 80 points
Elfyn Evans – 78 points
Dani Sordo – 72 points
MANUFACTURERS’ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Hyundai WRT – 314 points
Toyota Gazoo Racing – 295 points
Citroën Total WRT – 259 points
M-Sport Ford WRT – 184 points
Summary
Well, this really is a strong result for Citroën, Seb and Esapekka. Closing the gap to Ott in the championship to seventeen points. Meanwhile, Andreas found some great form, gaining a well-deserved podium. Teemu Suninen also had a great event for M-Sport, setting some good times and scoring a brilliant fourth place. Thierry was thereabouts after at the end of Friday, but this event once again bit him hard on Saturday, when he was in a strong position. Whether he can challenge for the title now, is questionable, even if it is on mathematically. It wasn’t such a great event for Toyota, but Ott and the team remain in strong positions in both championships, and they will do well in the remaining events.
The next event is Wales Rally GB in 15 days, on the weekend of the third to the sixth of October. Elfyn Evans is set return, and he will be out testing this week. Look out for my preview in the days before.
Cloudless skies meant high temperatures on the Rimini Riviera, and for the MotoGP riders that meant grip at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli was at a premium as they qualified for the thirteenth round of the 2019 World Championship.
Q1 saw four or five riders all battling for the top two positions to advance to Q2, but in the end it was Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) who topped the session from Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar), the pair moving through to the pole position shootout.
Maverick Vinales celebrating his Pole for the San Marino GP 2019. Image courtesy of Yamaha Motor Racing Srl
The Q2 session was very tight, with four riders fighting for pole position: Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT), Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team). The Yamaha riders had been dominating the weekend, but Marquez had been fast, and remained in touch throughout free practice, although the Honda was proving difficult to manage – especially in the high speed right-handers in sector three.
Marquez was keen to ensure that no one was in his tow, as was Quartararo on his second run. Vinales and Marquez both did three runs, although Marquez’ middle run did not see a flying lap, as he boxed before he started one. This meant both riders were out of sync with most of the rest of the field. Vinales managed to find himself some free space in the final lap, whilst Quartararo was trying to shake Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Marquez was behind Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP).
After slowing on the first flying lap of his final run to try to escape the attentions of Pol Espargaro, Quartararo ran wide on the exit of turn eleven, and lost his lap as a result. Espargaro had remained in the Frenchman’s slipstream, though, and put the KTM on provisional pole position.
At the same time, Vinales in free air and Marquez behind Rossi were both on fast laps that would have displaced Espargaro. Vinales was able to finish his lap cleanly, and took provisional pole from Espargaro by almost three tenths with a stunning lap, making the most of the Yamaha’s strong front end and comfort in the middle of the corner in the second half of the lap.
Things proved more complicated for Marquez, who caught an off-the-pace Rossi early in the lap. The speed of the Honda put Marquez in the position to pass Rossi into turn eleven, but the Spaniard ran off the track and onto the green. The move from the #93 did not impress Rossi, who block-passed the World Championship leader in turn fourteen. There was no contact, but the temperature of their rivalry increased once more, and tomorrow could provide some interesting exchanges between the two.
Valentino Rossi durring Qualifying at the 2019 San Marino GP. Image courtesy of Yamaha Motor Racing Srl
With both Rossi and Marquez ruining each other’s final lap – although Rossi’s wasn’t especially fast in any case – meant pole position was handed to Vinales, his second in Misano in the last three years. The #12’s race pace looks strong, but he will need to start well, as dropping behind the powerful KTM of Espargaro could leave him vulnerable to those behind.
KTM’s best qualifying performance in their MotoGP history was nearly pole position, but nonetheless a second place in a dry qualifying was an impressive performance from Pol Espargaro, especially on a track where Yamaha have been so dominant this weekend.
Fabio Quartararo perhaps should have had pole position, but he was too concerned with those around him. It was a mistake from the Frenchman to not focus on himself, but not one that he is alone in making – even in this session most of the riders were cruising at some point to find themselves some track position. The qualifying was not a disaster, anyway, for the #20, as he will still line up on the front row, and on the inside for turn one which means he can avoid the pinch in turn two.
Franco Morbidelli was close to the front row but didn’t quite have the pace in the second half of the lap compared to his Yamaha stablemates. Fourth place for Morbidelli, though, gives him a good chance tomorrow.
It is rare to see Marc Marquez off the front row, but for just the second time this season it is what we will see tomorrow. His pace is theoretically enough to go with the Yamaha riders, but the effort he has to put in to achieve that is significantly more, it seems. There could be some interesting fights between him and Rossi, all of a stone’s throw from Tavullia, but it is likely that the pair won’t meet each other on track, and that it is the other M1 pilots who Marquez has to worry himself with.
Andrea Dovizioso at Misano 2019. Image courtesy of ducati
A sixth place start for Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) was a surprise, but it was achieved on his final lap of Q2. All Ducati riders have struggled this weekend, so for Dovizioso to salvage a second row start is something he will be disappointingly pleased with.
Missing out on the second row may well have cost Valentino Rossi a shot at the podium, and with a KTM and a Ducati in front of him there could be yet another frustrating afternoon in a home GP for The Doctor. A weekend that started out quite promisingly seems to be falling away from the Italian, who will start alongside Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) who should be expected to make progress from ninth and Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) on his return to racing.
Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) will start tenth ahead of Johann Zarco, who qualified eighth but will start eleventh thanks to his grid penalty from Silverstone, and wildcard rider Michele Pirro (Ducati Team) who, aside from Dovizioso, has been the only Ducati with any real promise this weekend.
The fastest rider to miss out on Q2 was Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing), although he was close with his penultimate lap to moving through to the second session. The Italian will start his home race from thirteenth ahead of a struggling Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) and a frustrated Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) who join the reigning Moto2 World Champion on the fifth row.
Row five sees Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) line up ahead of Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team). The Ducati stablemates line up sixteenth and seventeenth respectively, ahead of the still-injured Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) on row six, which highlights Ducati’s struggles in Misano this weekend, despite winning the San Marinese round last year.
On row seven, the Red Bull KTM Tech 3 duo of Miguel Oliveira and Hafizh Syahrin qualified ahead of Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing); Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) was the slowest rider in Q1 despite a strong weekend for the Spaniard, and will start twenty-second, ahead of only Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) who had to go to the medical centre after a FP4 crash and missed Q1 as a result.
Featured Image courtesy of Yamaha Motor Racing Srl
