The sunny conditions of Superpole were replaced with the rain of Saturday morning for race one of the seventh round of the Superbike World Championship in Misano.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) made the holeshot from pole position, whilst Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK) made good progress from row two and was second as the field hit the back straight out of turn six for the first time.
Lowes soon took the lead, but one lap later the race was red flagged. This red flag was the second of the day after the start was delayed on the first warm up lap.
The rain soon cleared and the track dried quickly. Lowes started from pole position but it was once again Rea who made the holeshot. Lowes dropped back to third place behind Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK), but was able to move back up to second place.
Whilst Lowes was behind Rea, the pair were able to move away from the field quite considerably. No one could get much within one second of their pace. Additionally, the proximity of the two on track gave a good indication of their contrasting riding styles, and the contrasting characteristics of their bikes, as Rea and the Kawasaki were faster in the middle of the lap, which is quite stop-start, whereas Lowes had a significant advantage in the first part of the lap which is all about corner speed and flow.
Once Lowes got past Rea with a move done at turn seven as the race approached half distance, he was able to stretch the World Champion and pull clear. However, just as the Yamaha rider’s advantage edged out to 1.5 seconds, he crashed at the fastest corner of the year – Curvone – and his chance of a race win was over. After losing Michael van der Mark to injury yesterday, all of the hopes of the Pata Yamaha WorldSBK squad were pinned on Lowes, and now he too was out.
That left Rea in a fairly comfortable position, with Sykes far behind on the BMW, and no faster than the four-times WSBK champion.
Sykes, too, was lapping alone, but behind things were getting interesting for the final podium spot.
Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) held fourth place for much of the race, and this became third when Lowes crashed. The Welshman struggled to match the pace of Sykes, but was able to keep the riders behind him at bay.
Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was able to pass the #7 rider eventually, though. But the reigning BSB champion’s podium hopes were ended when he crashed in turn eight, allowing Davies back into third.
Davies gave up the final rostrum position soon after, though, when he let teammate Alvaro Bautista (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) through at turn five.
This was followed by some significant time loss for Davies, who also dropped behind Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing – Yamaha) and into fifth. Davies’ pace picked up again towards the end of the race, but it was not enough to improve from his fifth position.
At the front, Rea was untouchable after the crash of Lowes, and recorded his third win of the season and cut his deficit in the points standings to Bautista to thirty-two points. It was a remarkable performance from Rea who, although known for his prowess in damp conditions, had not ridden in the morning’s FP3 session, which was the only wet track time of the weekend for the WSBK riders before the race, after a dry Friday and scorching Superpole. To win by such a margin with little experience of the track in those conditions compared to his rivals was both impressive and important, as the Northern Irishman needed to take advantage of his title rival’s lack of pace.
Alvaro Bautista and Chaz Davies. Image courtesy of Ducati
Indeed, Bautista was able to take third place, meaning that of the races he has finished in WorldSBK Bautista has visited the podium after each one of them. Bautista had dropped as low as sixth in the race, but took advantage of others’ falls and misfortune to arrive on the podium and complete a quite strong damage limitation job. The Spaniard will be hoping for dry conditions on Sunday, ones in which he will hope to have the potential to take the fight to Rea.
Between the two title rivals were 7.756 seconds and Tom Sykes, who took his first podium of 2019 and the first for BMW, since their full-time return at the beginning of the year. It was a lonely race for Sykes, who was not strong enough to go with Rea and Lowes at the start, but was faster and more consistent than those behind him. In conditions where the other bikes cannot make use of their power advantage compared to the BMW, the S1000RR’s chassis can negate its motor disadvantage, and Sykes was able to make the most of that for this third place.
Loris Baz – Ten Kate Yamaha Supported WorldSBK. Image courtesy of Yamaha racing
Loris Baz was the top ‘independent’ rider for Ten Kate, who were able to finish fourth in their fourth race with Yamaha, and their fourth of the season. Before Bautista got into third place, Baz was closing on the championship leader, but towards the end the Spaniard’s pace picked up. With the retirement of Lowes and the absence of van der Mark, this fourth place was also an important one for Yamaha in the constructor standings.
Chaz Davies finished fifth in what was a strange race for the Ducati rider, with his pace dropping off strangely in the middle of the race. But, with Haslam crashing out, Davies’ fifth in conjunction with Bautista’s third place means that the ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati team extends its lead at the top of the Teams’ Championship over KRT by two points.
Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) has a six-place grid penalty for the Superpole Race on Sunday morning, so he had to maximise this first race of the weekend. Unfortunately for the Italian, he ran on in turn eight early on, and his recovery only got him as far as sixth place, ahead of teammate Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK). Yuki Takahashi (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team) took Honda’s best result of the year in eighth, ahead of Eugene Laverty’s new replacement at Team Goeleven, Lorenzo Zanetti. Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) completed the top ten.
Alessandro Delbianco (Althea Mie Racing Team) was in seventh place with five laps to go but ended up eleventh ahead of Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing), wildcard Samuele Cavalieri (Motocorsa Racing), Ryuichi Kiyonari (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team) and Markus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) who was the final finisher in fifteenth and took the final point.
Wildcard Dominic Schmitter (IXS Racing powered by YART) was the first retirement on lap eight, the same lap as Lowes crashed out of the lead. Moments after Lowes went down at turn eleven, wildcard Michele Pirro (BARNI Racing Team) crashed out at the same point. Michael Ruben Rinaldi dropped his BARNI Racing Team Ducati two laps after Lowes, Schmitter and Pirro went down and two laps before Haslam crashed the factory Kawasaki. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) went down on the final lap out of eighth place.
Jonny Adam and Graham Davidson took a hard-earned pole position for the first of two British GT two-hour enduros at Donington Park in 2019.
The TF Sport Aston Martin driver pairing were over two tenths clear of their nearest rivals for overall pole position, with the driver’s times combined to set an aggregate qualifying time.
Dennis Lind and Michael Igoe will start second tomorrow after an excellent effort from Lind took the Lamborghini Huracan pairing from sixth to second, while Rob Bell and Shaun Balfe in the Balfe Motorsport McLaren 720S will start third tomorrow afternoon.
Phil Keen and Adam Balon complete GT3 row two ahead of Barwell Lamborghini teammates Jonny Cocker and Sam De Haan in fifth.
Ross Gunn replaced Marco Sorensen in the Beechdean Aston Martin and took himself and Andrew Howard to sixth ahead of Bradley Ellis and Ollie Wilkinson, Nicki Thiim and Mark Farmer will start eighth ahead of Ben Green and Dominic Paul.
Seb Morris and Rick Parfitt could only manage tenth on a difficult circuit for the JRM Bentley, while Tom Onslow-Cole (Guesting for the absent Adam Christodoulou) and Richard Neary go from 11th ahead of Jack Mitchell and JR Litmann.
The pacey RAM Mercedes of Callum Macleod and Iain Loggie will start from 15th and last after Macleod came to grief at the Fogarty Esses following Loggie’s fourth place in AM qualifying.
Meanwhile for Maxwell and Priaulx it was the second pole position in the GT4 class this year.
James Dorlin and Josh Smith were second, after coming so close to victory at Silverstone two weeks ago before technical issues saw them retire, while GT4 championship leaders Dean MacDonald and Callum Pointon in the Tolman Motorsport McLaren 570 will start from third in class tomorrow.
Mark Kimber and Jacob Mathiassen are fourth ahead of Scott Malvern and Nick Jones, Malvern and Jones leading the GT4 Pro/Am entries.
Next on the GT4 grid is the second Pro/Am entry of Martin Plowman and Kelvin Fletcher in the Beechdean Aston Martin entry, while Jordan Collard and Lewis Proctor in the Tolman McLaren are seventh ahead of Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke and Angus Fender.
Johnathan Hoggard took a trouble-free victory in the opening race of the British F3 weekend to complete a perfect Saturday for Fortec Motorsport.
Hoggard claimed pole position early on Saturday morning, and led away from the start as drivers behind struggled to slot in on a competitive first lap.
Ayrton Simmons made a good start and eventually passed Kaylen Frederick for second on the first lap after three attempts, and both men would stay in their respective positions for the duration of the race.
Simmons would go on to apply light pressure to Hoggard throughout the race, looking slightly quicker but never being in a position to land a blow on the man from Lincolnshire.
A Safety Car for Lucas Petersson’s spin down at the Melbourne hairpin allowed Simmons to close up on Hoggard once more, but the gap stayed at around eight tenths of a second, with Frederick in close attendance but never a threat.
Kiern Jewiss was fourth after starting eighth to make an impressive recovery following a disappointing qualifying earlier in the day.
Championship leader Clement Novalak was fifth after holding off the rejuvenated Belgian Ulysse De Pauw in sixth.
Neil Verhagen recovered to seventh for Double R racing after a below-par ninth in qualifying this morning, Manuel Maldonado was a solid eighth ahead of Hampus Ericsson and Benjamin Pedersen.
Sassakorn Chaimongkol will be disappointed with eleventh having started sixth, Nazim Azman was twelfth with Josh Mason and Kris Wright 13th and 14th.
Pavan Ravishankar fell to 15th having ran as high as tenth, while Lucas Petersson failed to finish.
Fortec Motorsport’s Johnathan Hoggard took pole position for British F3’s Saturday race during an extremely competitive morning qualifying session at Donington Park.
In a session that saw pole position change hands lap-by-lap for the first three-quarters of the session, Hoggard eventually rose to see off the challenges of Clement Novalak, Ulysse De Pauw and Ayrton Simmons to name just three.
Seven tenths of a second cover the top fourteen drivers to tease a mouth-watering opening race of the weekend.
Hoggard’s pole lap was initially four tenths clear of the rest of the field, but by the end of the session Kaylen Frederick, another man to have turns on provisional pole, managed to get within just 0.062s.
Simmons will line up third for Chris Dittman Racing ahead of championship leader Novalak, with De Pauw fifth for one of his strongest qualifying showings of the season.
Sassakorn Chaimongkol will line up sixth after an impressive session for the Thai driver, just three tenths off teammate Hoggard, with Manuel Maldonado seventh.
Kiern Jewiss rescued eighth from a difficult session that saw him spend most of his time towards the rear of the field as a track position became an issue for last year’s British F4 champion, while Neil Verhagen will be frustrated with ninth in the leading Double R Racing car.
Benjamin Pedersen completes the top ten, while Hampus Ericsson lines up 11th as Double R lock-out the sixth row with Pavan Ravishankar 12th.
Nazim Azman and Lucas Petersson in thirteenth and fourteenth are the final two cars within a second of polesitter Hoggard, with Kris Wright and Josh Mason bringing up the rear in fifteenth and sixteenth.
Two weeks on from an action-packed sixth round of the Superbike World Championship, the series moves to Misano this weekend for the eighth round of 2019.
Alvaro Bautista (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) shocked everyone by crashing his Ducati Panigale V4R in a race for the first time in race two back in Jerez, letting Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) off the proverbial hook in a weekend in which it looked certain that Bautista would greatly extend his championship advantage.
Alvaro Bautista at Jerez WSBK 2019. Image courtesy of Ducati
Instead, Rea clawed back two points over the course of the Jerez weekend. The gap between the two title rivals stands at forty-one points in Bautista’s favour. On paper, it still seems unlikely that Rea will be able to overcome his deficit, but Misano could prove a positive round for the reigning World Champion. The Adriatic circuit was the scene of Rea’s first ever WorldSBK win back in 2009. In total, Rea has six WorldSBK wins in Misano, as well as four other podium finishes, which compares to Bautista’s solitary Grand Prix victory back in 2008 in the 250cc race, a third place in the 2009 250 race and a third place in the 2012 MotoGP race. In fact, in that 2012 premier class outing, Rea was also present on the second Repsol Honda. The Northern Irishman was replacing the injured Casey Stoner, and finished eighth. So, strictly speaking, for the first time this season we go to a track where Bautista and Rea have faced each other, albeit in particular circumstances which are unrepresentative of those this weekend and were in no way fair to Rea.
This weekend presents a good opportunity for Yamaha. Their bike has traditionally gone well in Misano – who can forget Michael van der Mark’s tyre letting go on his way to victory for Pata Yamaha WorldSBK back in 2017? Additionally, van der Mark was on the rostrum last season in the second race, ahead of Marco Melandri – then on Ducati, now riding GRT Yamaha WorldSBK’s YZF-R1. Furthermore, Melandri won at Misano in 2017, adding to his double rostrums in 2014, and his third place in the first race in 2011, also on a Yamaha.
Moreover, the Ten Kate Racing – Yamaha team have already been to Misano with the R1, albeit mostly in wet conditions. This should give them a chance of a good result this weekend, and an improvement over their first outing of the year last time out in Jerez where Loris Baz went 12-9 in the two full-length races, but was unable to start the Superpole race of bike problems.
Jerez proved a strong round for Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) who took his second podium of the season – and second in two rounds – with third place in race two. The Turkish rider will need more of the same this weekend to edge closer to securing a factory Kawasaki seat for next year, as Moto2’s Xavi Vierge is rumoured to be a possible teammate for Jonathan Rea in 2020.
Michele Pirro is also in action this weekend, the Ducati stalwart riding the BARNI Panigale V4R this weekend. The Italian has featured inside the top ten in several MotoGP races at Misano in the past for the Italian factory. In 2012, Pirro was tenth in Misano on the Gresini FTR Honda CRT machine, and the year after was tenth once more for Pramac. In 2016, as a wildcard, Pirro finished seventh after qualifying on the second row of the grid, whilst in 2017 he finished fifth in the wet. Pirro’s latest MotoGP appearance was at the Italian GP in Mugello earlier this month where he finished seventh, thirteen seconds off the win. Similarly, his latest WorldSBK appearance at Misano came in 2015, when he was eighth in both races. Additionally, Pirro won both races at the CIV round at Misano earlier this year, so could present a problem for some of the championship regulars.
Daniel Ricciardo’s decision to exchange his Red Bull wings for a Renault Sport beret for 2019 surprised many. Ricciardo began his F1 career back in 2011, racing with Toro Rosso and Red Bull for nine years and showing his abilities with bold overtakes, clean racing, and a grin visible even when wearing a helmet.
Ricciardo’s decision to leave Red Bull was hard news for some. With two strong drivers in that team during the 2018 season, it was becoming increasingly difficult to say who, between Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, held the number one seat.
This isn’t, of course, the first time a talented driver has taken the decision to move to a less-successful team in the hope of making some big improvements. The most recent success story was, of course, Lewis Hamilton’s decision to leave McLaren for Mercedes in 2013. The rest, they say, is somewhat monotonous history.
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) Renault F1 Team on the drivers parade. Canadian Grand Prix, Sunday 9th June 2019. Montreal, Canada.
But why did Ricciardo leave for Renault?
Although Renault have a rich and varied history in Formula 1, their success in recent years has been hit-and-miss. After a few years taking places in the middle of the grid, the decision to sign Nico Hulkenberg for the 2017 season allowed for Renault to become a slightly more permanent fixture in the top ten in qualifying.
Renault’s confidence seems to have been boosted a great deal by Ricciardo’s signing, describing Ricciardo and Hulkenberg as ‘one of the strongest – if not the strongest – driver line-ups on the grid’. The fact that the two Renault drivers are particularly talented is undeniable, which makes it a shame that Ricciardo’s first season with the team has lacked the strength they had initially hoped for.
It has been a slow start for all parties involved, riddled by technical faults, friendly fire and gearbox failures, which resulted in four DNFs so far this season. The Canadian Grand Prix proved to be a great opportunity for Renault, after Kevin Magnussen’s crash in Q2 kept Verstappen out of Q3 and opened the door for Ricciardo to qualify fourth, his best starting position since joining Renault.
Despite this promise, though, the race didn’t result in a podium finish. Ricciardo and Hulkenberg finished P6 and P7 respectively, which is respectable enough. However, Renault’s decision to keep Hulkenberg behind Ricciardo despite Hulkenberg being on fresher tyres seems to have caused a bit of disharmony in the garage.
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) Renault F1 Team RS19 celebrates at the end of the race. Canadian Grand Prix, Sunday 9th June 2019. Montreal, Canada.
According to team boss Cyril Abiteboul, Renault’s position in the Constructors Championship proved more important on this occasion.
“I wanted to make sure that the team’s back in the game, and the drivers will also be back in the game, their own game, from next week onwards,” he said.
Renault are currently 5th in the Constructors Championship, having jumped up from 8th thanks to their result in Canada. They now sit just two points behind McLaren, so it seems that the the temporary self-preservation tactic paid off.
Though Renault’s season has been a little slow to get started, Ricciardo’s optimism hasn’t waned.
“We’re realistic in our approach, but the team should be proud of this weekend [Canada],” he said. “They have that drive and determination to push on now and that’s really encouraging.”
As the Formula 1 train pushes on to Circuit Paul Ricard in France this weekend, it is hoped that Ricciardo and Renault’s fortune will continue on for their home race. Ricciardo’s move to Renault has allowed for that little bit more variety and action in the middle of the pack, something that fans argue has been quite limited in recent seasons.
The French theme is still very potent in the motorsport world. A fascinating Le Mans race is done and dusted, but this coming weekend sees the motorsport euphoria continue as we travel 931 kilometres south of Le Mans.
For the fifteenth time in World Championship history, Formula One arrives at the Circuit Paul Ricard for the French Grand Prix, which made its return to the calendar last year.
The 5.8-kilometre circuit did not exactly go down well with fans last year, with grandstands a fair distance away from the track, and extensive run-offs that allow mistakes to go almost totally unpunished. It’s safe to say that the track has some way to go to re-establish any respectable reputation in the sport.
Last year did, however, see drama on the first lap. Home heroes Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon crashed into each other, while early contact between Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas saw the pair pit as a result of the damage inflicted and come back up through the field with a couple of smart moves. Lewis Hamilton won the race but, apart from the odd moment, it was a race that generally left a lot to be desired. Having said that, we said the same thing about Baku in 2016 and we got an absolute stunner of a race a year later, so fingers crossed!
2018 French Grand Prix – Wolfgang Wilhelm
Following the Canada controversy, which is still not over as Ferrari have officially lodged a right to review of Sebastian Vettel’s penalty, the Prancing Horses will again fancy their chances of springing an upset to the rampant Mercedes party by finally winning a race this year.
A fast circuit with long straights and few slow corners is fairly well suited to the Ferrari car, but Hamilton and Bottas will look to maximise some of the impressively fast corners around the track to continue their stunning start to what has turned out to be a historic season in terms of dominance.
This battle, after an impressive Ferrari showing in Canada, may make for a more interesting spectacle around the Paul Ricard track, but this won’t necessarily change the general consensus of the quality of the track.
Pierre Gasly, who has had to endure a tough start to the year alongside his extremely quick team-mate Max Verstappen knows he needs to put on a distinctively better performance than he has managed so far, and to make his mark on the Red Bull team. The pressure is building as a result of some very handy performances in Red Bull’s junior team Toro Rosso, so his home race provides the perfect setting for Gasly to make such a statement.
Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
The other French driver on the grid, Romain Grosjean, will be looking for an uninterrupted qualifying this time around, as will team mate Kevin Magnussen after his crash at the end of Q2 in Canada. The Dane should hopefully have a better time in France after what he described as ‘the worst experience [he has] ever had in a racing car’ in Montreal, as Haas target a double points finish.
As for Williams, the positive is that it is reasonably difficult for the car to end up in the wall at Paul Ricard, so they shouldn’t have to worry too much about spare parts this weekend. The car, however, is not likely to fare any better at Paul Ricard than it has done so far in 2019.
After some superb drama in Le Mans last weekend in the WEC, will we see the same at the French Grand Prix this weekend? Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes will be hoping the answer to that one is a very firm no.
[Featured image – Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool]
The statistics will say that Dani Sordo won this event, but we know that it was Ott Tanak’s weekend. Here’s the story of how this all came to pass. The event started with a short stage on Thursday evening which was won by Seb. The real stages would follow on Friday.
Friday
It was a warm start to the day and there were eight stages facing the crews. Over a 140km in total as well, providing a big challenge, with a lunchtime service break in the middle. Starting positions looked like this- Ogier, Tänak, Neuville, Evans, Meeke, Suninen, Latvala, Mikkelsen, Sordo.
Starting first on the SS 2 – Tula 1 (22,25 km), a long technical stage, we saw straight away that being in the middle of the line up would allow a much faster pace, with more grip. Teemu starting sixth on the road gave him better grip and he set a very good time, winning the stage from Elfyn and Jari-Matti. Who were fourth and seventh in the lineup.
The following stage, SS 3 – Castelsardo 1 (14,72 km), saw Teemu again set the fastest time, the new co-driver partnership already paying off. Jari-Matti ensured it there were two Finns at the top, and with Elfyn only fifth fastest, the Welshman fell behind Jari-Matti to third. Championship leader Seb was now almost 30 seconds from the lead.
On then to SS 4 – Tergu – Osilo 1 (14,14 km) and Ott took a very good stage win from Latvala and Sordo, who set an identical stage time. Latvala now took the lead as Teemu lost 15 seconds in the stage and fell to second overall, whilst Ott’s pace now lifted him into third overall. But it was Lappi who had the worst stage, picking up a puncture and tumbling down to eleventh overall.
After the lunch service, there was both good and bad news for Citroen. Firstly, Seb hit a rock in the stage, SS 5 – Monte Baranta 1 (10,99 km), and they pulled over and stopped in the stage to attempt a fix, but unfortunately, they were unable to and retired for the day. There was some good news, as Esapekka Lappi won the stage from Ott, who edged a little closer to leader Latvala. Teemu fell back as he ended the stage ninth fastest, dropping to fifth overall.
The rerun of SS 6 – Tula 2 (22,25 km) saw lots of position changes! Teemu won the stage with Dani second fastest and Ott third. All of this meant that Ott and Dani held a joint lead, with Teemu just eight tenths off in third overall. Those falling from the top of the leaderboard included Latvala, who lost eight and a half minutes after a roll in the stage, whilst Thierry was passed by Kris Meeke, but still in the fight.
The following stage, SS 7 – Castelsardo 2 (14,72 km) saw three crews tackle the stage, before it was halted- The reason? Well, the first clue was that an ambulance had entered the stage, and it turned out that a spectator was taken ill.
Well, SS 8 – Tergu – Osilo 2 (14,14 km) saw Dani take another stage win, from Lappi and Latvala. With the previous stage having been cancelled, there was no official leaderboard, whilst the officials grappled with how best to deal with handing out notional times.
The final stage then, SS 9 – Monte Baranta 2 (10,99 km) and we were still waiting. The top three fastest were, Andreas, Esapekka and Dani.
When the leaderboard was finally updated, this is how it looked.
STANDINGS AFTER DAY 1
Sordo / Del Barrio (Hyundai i20 WRC) 1:36:01.5
Suninen / Lehtinen (Ford Fiesta WRC) +10.8
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) +11.2
Mikkelsen / Jaeger (Hyundai i20 WRC) +20.2
Evans / Martin (Ford Fiesta WRC) +20.3
Meeke / Marshall (Toyota Yaris WRC) +29.5
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +57.7
Lappi / Ferm (Citroën C3 WRC) +1:03.5
Hänninen / Tuominen (Toyota Yaris WRC) +2:38.0
Let’s hear then from the drivers.
Hyundai Motorsport
Dani Sordo (1st)
“We have had a great start to this rally, but it is important to remember it is run over three days; we can’t win on Friday! Still, we have found some very competitive pace from the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC, benefitting of course from our road position. We have had to make the most of this opportunity today in order to get the strongest road position for Saturday. It has required us to be very focused, especially in the afternoon loop, because we know the smallest mistake here can have big consequences. We sacrificed a bit of speed in the final stage to ensure we ended the day strongly. Leading the rally sounds good to me, but there’s a long way to go.”
2019 FIA World Rally Championship Round 08, Rally Italia Sardegna 13-16 June 2019 Dani Sordo, Carlos Del Barrio, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Andreas Mikkelsen (4th)
“Our day got off to a bad start when we made the wrong tyre choice on the morning loop – it was clear from the start that it was going to be tough. There was nothing we could do and the car was all over the place. By the final stage, the rear tyres were slicks. We had a much better afternoon. The driving was good, the tyre strategy was correct and we had a great feeling from the car. Road order is going to be really important tomorrow so it’s a shame we couldn’t be even higher up the order, as I am sure we could have been without our morning issues.”
Thierry Neuville (7th)
“We’ve not had the greatest of days, but the important thing is that we’ve survived. This morning although we didn’t opt for the best tyre choice, it was enough to keep us close to the lead. The extra weight was the biggest disadvantage; there are a lot of stones on the outside where the car is dancing, and we struggled to keep the car straight. The afternoon started badly when we had a miscommunication on the pace notes and ended up in a ditch. There’s no one to be blamed, it’s just one of those things but we lost a lot of time. We used a lot of tyre performance on the next stage, which was ultimately cancelled for the other crews, and that left us at a disadvantage. We are going to face an uphill battle for the rest of the weekend, but we don’t give up. A podium is still not out of the question.”
M-Sport WRT
Teemu Suninen (2nd)
“I have to say that I’m really happy with our performance today. I think we did a great job with the whole team, and it was just a shame that we did that one mistake in the morning – spinning and losing over 10 seconds.
“Jarmo has been teaching and coaching me all day and I have to say that I really enjoyed being the student again. I am still young and it’s great to be next to a really experienced co-driver like him.
“I think everyone will be really fast tomorrow, and we need to focus on our own performance. I would be happy with a podium, or even a top-four, but let’s try our best and see what happens.”
Elfyn Evans (5th)
“When the going was good, the speed was there, but we didn’t have the correct feeling with the car for some stages this morning – and that cost us quite dearly.
“Things were looking up in the afternoon but with the cancellation of the second stage [SS7] for the guys behind, we used a lot more tyres. I then made a little mistake in the next stage [SS8], and there was a massive cleaning effect in the last one [SS9].
“We dropped down the order a lot further than we would have liked, but it’s still incredibly close and we’ll fight our way forward tomorrow.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Ott Tänak (3rd)
“It has been a challenging day but I believe we did everything we could. This afternoon we had an extra challenge running first on the road: Some sections were OK but in the narrow sections the ruts were full of loose gravel and it was really hard to find traction. In the last stages it was difficult for us to compete with the guys whose tyres had done one less stage. But we had a good rhythm and I could just try to push on every stage. Tomorrow it will be a big fight but we will have a better road position and hopefully this will make all the difference.”
Kris Meeke (6th)
“These stages today were mostly new for me, and I struggled a bit this morning just to find my way. We maybe could have had a different tyre choice as well, as the temperatures were very high already by mid-morning which was tough on the medium tyres. This afternoon was stronger and we had a decent rhythm. The car’s been near perfect and I’m generally quite happy. Tomorrow’s stages are more traditional from this rally and I have knowledge of them from the past, so hopefully the feeling should be better and we’ll try to take every position we can.”
Jari-Matti Latvala (TBC)
“We had a really good morning. It was very hot and I knew the tyre wear would be high in those conditions, so I took five hard tyres and I think it was a great choice. Then in the first stage of the afternoon, at a hairpin I pulled the handbrake too early, we cut the inside of the corner and rolled. It was a stupid mistake. It took a lot of effort for Miikka and I to get the car back on its wheels. The car was driving fine in the next stage and we could set a good time. But on the last stage, accelerating out of a hairpin the steering locked to the left and we went off the road and couldn’t continue. It’s difficult to take at the moment but hopefully we can come back and enjoy it tomorrow.”
Citroën Total WRT
Esapekka Lappi (8th)
“We had a bit of an up-and-down leg, what with my puncture this morning and the sensor issue that meant we had no engine boost, so we had trouble putting it all together. But we finished the day better than we started it. Unfortunately, on gravel, the opening leg is always fairly decisive and our day means that we won’t have a good position in the running order tomorrow. We’ll have to rely more on endurance to have a chance of moving up the standings.”
Sébastien Ogier (DNF/Rally2)
“The retirement was clearly my mistake. I just cut a little too much on a very tight left-hand corner, hit a big rock and broke the steering arm. I knew exactly where the rock was, as we had passed it three times on the shakedown. There’s a slight crest, a bit blind and perhaps I turned in slightly too early. We tried to do some makeshift repairs, but we couldn’t manage and so we had no other option but to retire. There’s not very much for us to hope for from this weekend now. As one of the early runners, I don’t think we have any chance of scoring five points in the Power Stage, given how loose and sandy the roads are, so we’ll watch what our rivals do.”
Saturday
This would be the longest day of action, with over 150km of stages, including two 28km stages back-to-back. The start list looked like this – Ogier, Latvala, Hänninen, Lappi, Neuville, Meeke, Evans, Mikkelsen, Tänak, Suninen, Sordo.
Straight away, there were changes to the leaderboard after SS 10 – Coiluna – Loelle 1 (14,97 km), with Ott winning the stage and moving ahead of Teemu into second overall. Elfyn started well, passing Andreas for fourth overall, but this battle was certainly not over.
There was more trouble for Seb, who’d damaged his rear suspension and stopped again to fix it in SS 11 – Monti di Ala’ (28,21 km). Ott won the stage, closing on Dani for the lead, the gap now just 2.6 seconds between them! Andreas repassed Elfyn in their fight over fourth place.
An inspired choice of medium tyres for Ott lead to another stage victory in SS 12 – Monte Lerno 1 (28,03 km) and with it the overall lead now by six seconds. Elfyn passed Andreas once more, whilst Thierry didn’t seem to be able to find any pace at all, firmly holding seventh overall, almost 50 seconds from Kris.
The afternoon stages started with SS 13 – Coiluna – Loelle 2 (14,97 km) and Ott continued to build a lead over Dani. Once more the fight between Elfyn and Andreas continued with them setting the exactly same time in the stage, with Elfyn holding fourth from the Norwegian.
SS 14 – Monti di Ala’ 2 (28,21 km) saw Ott open up an even bigger lead, winning the stage by almost seven seconds from Teemu, who was consolidating his podium challenging position of third. Dani remained in second overall.
The final stage of the day, SS 15 – Monte Lerno 2 (28,03 km) and the top three was Ott, Teemu and Thierry. Rally leader Ott had won every stage today, and increased his lead to almost half a minute over Dani Sordo. Thierry moved up as well, as Kris lost two and a half minutes after having to stop and change a tyre having got a puncture, so he fell to eighth.
STANDINGS AFTER DAY 2
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) 3:04:10.3
Sordo / Del Barrio (Hyundai i20 WRC) +25.9
Suninen / Lehtinen (Ford Fiesta WRC) +42.9
Evans / Martin (Ford Fiesta WRC) +1:25.4
Mikkelsen / Jaeger (Hyundai i20 WRC) +1:33.3
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +2:32.4
Lappi / Ferm (Citroën C3 WRC) +2:58.3
Meeke / Marshall (Toyota Yaris WRC) +3:53.3
Hänninen / Tuominen (Toyota Yaris WRC) +7:23.2
Ogier / Ingrassia (Citroën C3 WRC) +1:19:20.6
Let’s hear from the drivers.
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Ott Tänak (1st)
“We’ve had a very strong day, but it was really demanding. We had to fight hard to get into the lead and make the gap that we have now. This morning we had a very good tyre call, and I believe that gave us some advantage. The car was working well and I had the confidence to push. This afternoon the conditions were rough and it was hot in the car. It was tough to push while also managing the tyres, and it would have been easy to get a puncture. But we had a very clean run with a good rhythm. We’re in a great position but we still have a big job to do tomorrow with four tricky stages waiting for us.”
Kris Meeke (8th)
“This morning I had a decent rhythm but I was still hesitating a bit in places, as it had been four years since I’d last driven these stages. Still, we managed to maintain the gap to the two drivers in front of us even though they had an advantage with the road cleaning. This afternoon I improved my rhythm and the first two stages went really well. Then in a fast section we had an impact with something in the middle of the road and it damaged a rim. I always knew this rally would be one of my toughest of the year, so to have been fighting for fourth tomorrow would have been really nice, so it’s really disappointing. Now we just need to bring home some points tomorrow.”
Jari-Matti Latvala (22nd)
“The goal for today was to enjoy the driving, but it’s never easy to be first on the road. This morning was very good, I was actually very happy with the stage times for the road position that we had. The afternoon we tried something different with the setup and to have the car a bit stiffer, but it didn’t work for my driving style: I couldn’t feel the grip in the same way, so the times were not that great. But when I didn’t have that confidence, I knew to stay calm and not make mistakes. Tomorrow we’ll go back to the setup we had this morning with some fine tuning, and hopefully we can get some points from the Power Stage.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Dani Sordo (2nd)
“We have had another good day but we just haven’t been able to match the pace of Tänak. We expected him to be fast based on his performance yesterday, and so it proved. I have been pleased with our own performance, though, as we’ve been able to hold onto second place quite comfortably. We have had to take it easy at times, in order to avoid picking up punctures, but the gap is still manageable to third place. We will try to push as much as we can tomorrow and secure our first podium finish of the season.”
Andreas Mikkelsen (5th)
“The fight for fourth is well and truly on; it gives us all the motivation we need to keep pushing. It wasn’t always possible to find the best times today. We struggled to find confidence on the first pass, as we did on Friday, when the stage conditions are particularly slippery. There’s a fine line in this event because it’s so easy to pick up a puncture on the second pass. My tyres were gone by the end of the loop, so I had to take it super carefully. We lost some time to Elfyn as a result, but we’ll do all we can to get that back tomorrow.”
Thierry Neuville (6th)
“It’s definitely not been the sort of day we were expecting to have. We wanted to show improvements compared to yesterday but we’ve struggled. The morning loop was challenging and I didn’t feel confident in the car. Our tyre choice was again not ideal but we just had to persevere. In the past four or five events, we have really felt confident in the car but that is missing in this rally. Our pre-event test (PET) was obviously not good enough. We have spent today making adjustments to the settings and the differentials, we have learned some things but we’re not where we need to be.”
M-Sport WRT
Teemu Suninen (2nd)
“I think we can be really happy with our performance today. The pace has been really solid all day and we were in the top-three on all of the stages.
“Dani [Sordo] is still some seconds away, but let’s see what we can do. We’ll try to catch him if we can, but I’ll still be happy with third position.
“Also, things with Jarmo are working really well – we have spent 14 hours together in the car today and we’re still smiling so that’s good!”
Teemu Suninen drove to a career best finish of second place with new co-driver, Jarmo Lehtinen alongside him. Photo credit, M-Sport
Elfyn Evans (4th)
“It’s been an okay day for us. I was a bit disappointed with the speed in some places, but overall, it’s been fairly positive and we’re back up to fourth place.
“It’s going to be a close fight with Andreas tomorrow so it was a shame to lose some time with the dust on the last stage. It was coming and going with light dust in some places and thick dust in others where we had to completely slow down.
“Everyone else had a clean run, so let’s see what happens with that. Whatever the outcome, it’s still going to be close, so we’ve got to keep pushing. It’s another tricky day tomorrow, but we’ll give it our best and hopefully come away with another strong result.”
Citroën Total WRT
Esapekka Lappi (7th)
“Apart from one stage where we lost a bit of ground, we more or less managed to keep pace with Neuville today, who was behind us in the running order, so that’s pretty pleasing. I was comfortable in the C3 WRC but we couldn’t hope to do much more with our road position.”
Esapekka Lappi had a good event, held back with punctures. Photo credit Citroen Racing
Sébastien Ogier (44th)
“Our mistake this morning was disappointing, because it then prevented us from really testing ourselves against our rivals on the second loop. We tried to do what we could, but without having driven the stages at full speed on the first run, it was clearly almost impossible to set fast times in the afternoon. SS13 is the only stage where I tried, because we had completed it in normal conditions on the first loop, and the time was okay. Obviously, you can count on me to try and grab some points in the Power Stage, even though it looks like it will be mission impossible. As the stage is rough, perhaps some crews won’t be flat out, but we’ll be pushing as hard as we can.”
Sunday
Well, we had just four stages left totalling 42km’s of action. This was the start list – Ogier, Latvala, Hänninen, Meeke, Lappi, Neuville, Mikkelsen, Evans, Suninen, Sordo, Tänak.
Andreas won SS 16 – Cala Flumini 1 (14,06 km), with Elfyn just two tenths of a second behind him and holding fourth place very nicely from the Norwegian by seven seconds. Ott increased his lead a little more over Dani, who was looking good for his first podium of the year.
FIA World Rally Championship 2019 / Round 08 / Rally d’Italia Sardegna / 13-16 June, 2019 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
SS 17 – Sassari – Argentiera 1 (6,89 km) was also won by the Norwegian and with Elfyn five and a half seconds slower the gap in their battle for fourth was getting close! Ott was still holding the lead. Seb pushed in the stage, looking to get comfortable, ready for later, when the stage would be rerun.
A further stage win for Andreas in SS 18 – Cala Flumini 2 (14,06 km), took him closer to Elfyn, just six seconds separating them. Seb took it very easy through the stage, saving his tyres for a big push in the rerun of the stage, which would be the powerstage, his best hope for scoring points.
Finally, SS 19 – Sassari – Argentiera 2 Power Stage (6,89 km), and there were three surprises! Firstly, Seb set a great time, good enough for second fastest, behind Andreas who’s made it three out of three stage wins! Elfyn could only manage fifth fastest, losing the fight to Andreas, and then lastly with Dani Sordo having already finished, there was drama for Ott, who’d lost his powersteering in the first sector of the stage, the Estonian lost two minutes in the stage, falling to fifth place. All of this meant Dani had won, securing a popular win in the service park.
FIA World Rally Championship 2019 / Round 08 / Rally d’Italia Sardegna / 13-16 June, 2019 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
FINAL RALLY STANDINGS
Sordo / Del Barrio (Hyundai i20 WRC) 3:32:27.2
Suninen / Lehtinen (Ford Fiesta WRC) +13.7
Mikkelsen / Jaeger (Hyundai i20 WRC) +32.6
Evans / Martin (Ford Fiesta WRC) +33.5
Tänak / Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1:30.1
Neuville / Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 WRC) +2:06.7
Lappi / Ferm (Citroën C3 WRC) + 2:59.6
Meeke / Marshall (Toyota Yaris WRC) +4:40.1
Ogier / Ingrassia (Citroën C3 WRC) +1:22:58.5
Well, that was a big surprise, with Dani Sordo scoring his second victory at the top level of rallying!
Let’s hear from the drivers!
Hyundai Motorsport
Dani Sordo (1st)
“This is incredible. I have no words; it’s just an amazing feeling to take my first win for Hyundai and the second WRC win of my career. Of course, I am very sorry for Ott and Toyota to have experienced such bad luck on the Power Stage. At the same time, we knew we had to keep the pressure on in case this sort of situation occurred. I just can’t believe it happened. We have been quick and consistent all weekend. There was no chance to beat Ott on outright pace so we just did what we could and avoided mistakes. It wasn’t easy but we made it through to the end – and we now have this fantastic victory as a reward. Thanks to Carlos and to the team for the support and for sharing this result. I think it will take some time to fully sink in.”
Andreas Mikkelsen (3rd)
“We gave it a massive push on the final morning in an effort to cut the gap to Elfyn Evans. We had to dig deep but we were confident in our chances. The car felt really nice and we were properly in the zone. Taking all four stage wins was a fantastic feeling and we would have been content to take fourth. Unfortunately, Ott had his issues, which then handed us a podium finish, which was an unexpected but very welcome bonus. Although it has been achieved at one of our rival’s expense, we are grateful to score a 1-3 result this weekend.”
Thierry Neuville (6th)
“Absolutely not the weekend we were looking for. We have not been in the fight, so it’s been a case of damage limitation. A combination of incorrect tyre choice and other issues on Friday put us on the back foot from the start, and we’ve not been able to play a role since. We have to put it down to ‘one of those weekends’ and look to regroup and fight back in Finland. We pushed as hard as we could in the Power Stage but we could do no more. Congratulations to Dani; we have worked together at Hyundai for six years now and I am really pleased to see him and Carlos secure their first win for the team.”
M-Sport WRT
Teemu Suninen (2nd)
“I am really pleased with our performance this weekend. We had good speed with some fastest times on Friday, and then we were extremely consistent after that – especially on Saturday where we set the second or third fastest time on every stage.
“Today was a lot more difficult. The plan was to bring the car home, but this car really doesn’t like being driven slowly and we had to pick up the pace to make it nicer to drive. It was really hard to judge the rhythm, but we made it and it’s nice to get my first podium of the year.
“Also, the partnership with Jarmo was working really well. I thought it would be a lot more challenging having a new voice in my ear, but actually this is the voice I heard whilst watching the rally on the TV as a kid – and that gave me some good memories and big smiles all weekend.”
Elfyn Evans (4th)
“It’s really disappointing to have missed out by such a small margin. Looking back, the first stage of the loop was okay but we gave far too much away in both passes of the Power Stage. It’s so rough in there and so easy to make a mistake – but also so easy to make the time if you’re willing to put it all on the line. I wouldn’t say that we didn’t push, but I was definitely too cautious in the hairpins and that’s where we lost it. It’s difficult right now, but it’s still a good result and we’ve strengthened our position in the championship.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Ott Tänak (5th)
“Very early in the final stage, something very strange happened with the steering and basically it was locked. We were stationary for some time, fighting to get the steering working. Somehow, we managed to get going again, but there was a lot of time lost and so was the victory. I’m frustrated, but I also feel very sad for the team. Everybody put so much effort in for this event and in the end to lose it in this way is really a shame. I’m sure that the team will work hard to solve the problem, and we will keep fighting. It’s been a tough season so far but the championship situation is much better than it was at the same time last year. Now it’s time to have some rest and be away from rallying for a bit, and then it’s back to business.”
Kris Meeke (8th)
“I was quite enjoying it yesterday afternoon: We were improving our rhythm and our speed. Then we had the issue in the final stage, and that meant that we didn’t have much to fight for today: We were just focusing on bringing it home to score some points for the team. I knew this would be a tougher event for me, but we can take some positives from yesterday. Now I’m looking forward to Rally Finland and the rest of the year: I know that the team was really strong over the second half of the season and I think everyone’s going to give everything from now until the end of the year.”
Jari-Matti Latvala (19th)
“Today the target for me was to score some points on the Power Stage. I wanted to get into a nice rhythm this morning and keep the speed up. Then, on the third stage, I was just saving the tyres. The Power Stage was always going to be hard with our road position, and I struggled a bit in the ruts, but we had a decent run and we were able to take some points away. Overall it has been a tough weekend for me after the positive start. It’s not been the rally that we were hoping for. But we need to look forward and keep fighting.”
Citroën Total WRT
Esapekka Lappi (7th)
“Obviously, it wasn’t quite the result that we were hoping for. The problems we had on the first leg went a long way to determining the rest of our weekend. We weren’t able to perform at our true level given our position in the running order. It was pretty much impossible to make up ground on these roads, where the grip increases so much with each passing car. We also weren’t helped by making the wrong call on tyres on Saturday morning. But at least we made it to the finish. We’ll now get back to work so that we’re in better form for our home round in Finland.”
Sébastien Ogier (42nd)
“Sometimes in motorsport, you have a weekend where things just don’t go your way and this weekend was clearly one of those. We’ll put it behind us and focus on the future. In running first on the road, the best we could have realistically hoped for would have been to finish around fifth, so my mistakes cost us a few points. But it is still incredibly close in the championship, even though I’m not the kind of person to take any pleasure from the misfortune of others, especially when it’s Ott. I’m now going to have a holiday and recharge my batteries. We’ll be back in Finland and try to do a lot better.”
DRIVERS’ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Ott Tänak – 150 points
Sébastien Ogier – 146 points
Thierry Neuville – 143 points
Elfyn Evans – 78 points
Teemu Suninen – 62 points
Kris Meeke – 60 points
Andreas Mikkelsen – 56 points
Dani Sordo – 52 points
Esapekka Lappi – 40 points
Jari-Matti Latvala – 40 points
MANUFACTURERS’ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Hyundai WRT – 242 points
Toyota Gazoo Racing – 198 points
Citroën Total WRT – 170 points
M-Sport Ford WRT – 152 points
Summary
Well, what a remarkable round! It had everything! First of all, Ott Tänak showed once again that he with his co-driver Martin Järveoja in that Yaris WRC are a force to be reckoned with. The combination is devastatingly effective, just so fast, even when second on the road. They are now in the championship lead. He’ll have to open the road at the next round in Finland, like Thierry did last year. That will be an interesting event.
Dani Sordo drove brilliantly to head into the final day holding second place, and it would have been a well-deserved podium. His first win since 2013, when he was driving for Citroën at that years Rally Deutschland is well deserved! Andreas also found some good pace, and it was a good result for the Norwegian, who is still under pressure I believe to deliver strong results.
Teemu’s performance was really impressive as well, with Jarmo Lehtinen making his return to the co-driver’s seat at the top level for the first time since 2014. Thinking about Elfyn, and his performance over the weekend, he drove pretty well, but it was a surprise to see him lose some much time to Andreas. He’ll want to analyse with Scott, where they went wrong, as it could have been a podium, and to some degree, he was over shadowed by Teemu.
At Citroën, they had an event to forget, apart from a brilliant drive from Sébastien Ogier to second fastest time in the powerstage, despite being the first car. A strange mistake from the Frenchman saw his challenge end, but he’s still well in the fight, and he is a bit lucky that Ott didn’t win as well. Esapekka is still getting used to his C3, but he had a good event, with a stage victory, but a puncture didn’t help him.
We now have a seven week break before the next event, Rally Finland on the weekend of the first to the fourth of August. We’ll then have six events in five months to decide who wins this year’s championship!
Track temperature is often the limiting factor in Barcelona, and it seemed to be the case for qualifying for the seventh round of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship.
Q1 saw Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) recover from his huge high-side in FP3 to top the session from Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar), who both advanced to Q2.
In Q2, Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) took his second MotoGP pole position in response to his first crash on a MotoGP machine in FP3. It was a crucial result for Quartararo because he has had a strong race pace all weekend. If he gets to turn one first it could be bad news for the others.
Marc Marquez at Montmelo Circuito de Montmelo, Cataluña, 2019 MotoGP. Image courtesy of Box Repsol
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) has struggled, by his standards, this weekend in Montmelo. Nonetheless, he positioned himself well on the track for his second run in Q2, and with the assistance of a Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) tow he managed to take second place, and put himself in a good position for tomorrow. He might not have the outright pace of Quartararo or Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), but he might not need it, such is the expectation of high tyre wear in the race and the speed of the Honda.
Franco Morbidelli took third place on the grid, which was quite remarkable considering the size of his crash in the morning. With Valentino Rossi taking his best qualifying since Texas as he took fourth. The circuit is a good one for Yamaha thanks to the long, flowing corners, which allow it to negate its disadvantage in the half-mile straight. Between Quartararo, Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Morbidelli and Rossi, Yamaha has a good chance to take its first victory of the season tomorrow.
In the middle of the second row is Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati). The #04 has also looked strong this weekend, and seems to be in the frame for the podium fight. The nature of the tyres could see Dovizioso take his favoured strategy to hit the front and control the pace for the first part of the race to save his tyres. If his main rivals are Yamaha riders and the Suzuki of Alex Rins, Dovizioso has a strong chance to do just this in the 2019 Catalan GP, a race he won in a similar way from Marc Marquez in 2017.
Danilo Petrucci in the Barcelona- Catalunya MotoGP Qualifying 2019. Image courtesy of Ducati
Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) will start from the back of row two. For both Petrucci and Dovizioso, the start could be crucial to allow the Ducati’s to control the race in the early part to try and save some tyre for what will surely be a battle at the end.
Maverick Vinales’ weekend has been a quiet one. The Spaniard was out of Q2 overnight but made a step in the morning. Third place in qualifying would have been his best since Argentina when he was second on the grid, but a three place penalty for blocking Quartararo leaves him in sixth for the start, which will be a crucial one for the #12.
Alex Rins perhaps has the strongest race pace, and it looked like for once he would be able to qualify well and be able to use that pace to escape at the front on Sunday, but a crash in turn ten on his second run whilst following Maverick Vinales cost him the front row. Instead, Rins will start eighth – not ideal, but better than he has endured in the past. There is still a good chance for Rins in the race to take his second MotoGP victory.
Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) will go from the back of the third row in ninth place after making a step overnight from a difficult Friday.
Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) had one of his best days of the season on qualifying day for the Catalan Grand Prix. He qualified directly to Q2 and will start tenth on the grid, joined by Joan Mir and Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).
Jorge Lorenzo at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit MotoGP 2019. Image courtesy of Box Repsol
It has been a good weekend for Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing), who was fifth overnight. A crash in FP3 saw him go to Q1, which he was unable to advance from. Instead, Bagnaia qualified thirteenth, ahead of his teammate Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) who crashed in the Q1 session, but was unaffected. The two Pramac riders will be joined by Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) in what is an all-Ducati fifth row.
Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) is another rider who has looked strong this weekend, but was unable to deliver on his free practice promise come qualifying, when he ended up qualifying sixteenth. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) and Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) join the Japanese rider on row six.
Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) will head up the seventh row, from the Red Bull KTM Tec3 pairing of Miguel Oliveira and Hafizh Syahrin; whilst the two wildcarding test riders, Bradley Smith (Aprilia Racing Team) and Sylvain Guintoli (Team Suzuki Ecstar), join Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) – who qualified last for the third consecutive race, thanks to mechanical issues with his number one bike – on the last row.
The Moto2 qualifying session for the seventh round of the 2019 Moto2 World Championship took place on a sun-baked Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
In Q1, it was Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP) who topped the session from Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Iker Lecuona (American Racing) and Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team, VR46), with those four advancing to Q2.
In the Q2 session, it was Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40) who took his first Grand Prix pole position in his home race. Perhaps the fact that this is the first track at which Fernandez has raced a Kalex, as he first replaced Hector Barbera in the Pons squad in Barcelona last year, says a lot. Fernandez has been strong this weekend, and will be eager to seize a first victory this weekend.
Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) had a strong session, finishing Q2 in second place, whilst a late lap from Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) propelled the Briton onto the front row in third place.
The second row is headed up by Jorge Navarro (HDR Heidrun Speed Up) who is in search of his first win on Sunday, one year on from Fabio Quartararo’s win on the Speed Up last year and in the Spaniard’s home race. Joining Navarro on row two are HDR Heidrun Speed Up teammate, Fabio Di Giannantonio, and the winner of the previous two Moto2 races, Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS).
Lorenzo Baldassarri (Flexbox HP 40) had the final spot on the second row before Lowes’ late lap for third place. Instead, the championship leader will start seventh – better than Mugello but not where he would want to be.
Fortunately for the Italian, his closest challenger in the championship, Marquez, is only one place ahead of him at the start. Baldassarri’s pace is often stronger in the race than in qualifying, so it will be interesting to see what progress he can make in the race. Joining Baldassarri on row three are compatriot and fellow VR46 Riders Academy rider, Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46) and Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) who ensures row three is an all-Italian affair.
Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) will make it four successive Italians on the grid from the front of row three to the front of row four tomorrow. Although Bastianini has had a strong rookie season so far, tenth in Q2 in Barcelona is in fact his best qualifying of the year. La Bestia has looked good this weekend, and could still be a feature in the battle for the podium tomorrow. Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) suffered a crash in Q2, and will start alongside Bastianini on the fourth row as the Aussie starts eleventh. Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) completes row four.
Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46) will start the Catalan Moto2 Grand prix from thirteenth, ahead of Bo Bendsneyder and Iker Lecuona on row five; whilst Tetsuta Nagashima (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team), Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Team) – who crashed early on and whose only time was 2.792 seconds off the pace – make up row six.
Iker Lecuona, Moto2, Catalunya MotoGP 2019. Image courtesy of Gold and Goose/KTM
Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was the fastest rider in Q1 to not make Q2 and will therefore head up row seven. The South African will be joined on the seventh row by Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Dominique Aegerter (MV Aguta Idealavoro Forward); whilst Stefano Manzi (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward), Jonas Folger (Petronas SRT) and Dimas Ekky (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) make up row eight.
Row nine sees Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) ahead of Jake Dixon (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) and Steven Odendaal (NTS RW Racing GP); whilst row ten consists of Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing), Joe Roberts (American Racing) and Xavi Cardelus (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team).
Red Bull KTM Tech3 take both places on the back row, with Marco Bezzecchi ahead of Philipp Oettl who didn’t set a time.
Meanwhile for Maxwell and Priaulx it was the second pole position in the GT4 class this year.
