Unadulterated bravery is arguably the most critical aspect as Formula 1 heads for its sixth stop of the season; the iconic Circuit de Monaco.
A fixture on the championship schedule since 1955, not much has changed on the streets of Monte Carlo since – aside from some minor alterations to the entry of Rascasse over a decade ago.
The Monaco Grand Prix indeed is a race which provides some of the most exhilarating moments on the calendar, although if overtaking is your thing, you will not find much here.
With the tight streets of sea-abreast Monaco walled with Armco car-killers, aside from the tunnel – one of the few places on the track where drivers can put their foot down – or some serious Daniel Ricciardo-sized cojones, qualifying is arguably the best shot of securing maximum points.
In fact, in its 64 races, pole position has lost out only 10 times, highlighting that grid position is everything on the roads of Monte Carlo.
Speaking of the surface, the Circuit de Monaco provides the lowest wear on tyres on the calendar, which is partly due to the super-slow corners dotted around the track – including the Loews hairpin, which sees the cars drop their speed to around 30mph.
However, although there is no chance of cars hitting full tilt with downforce set to maximum across the paddock, we will finally be able to witness Pirelli’s hypersoft compound for the first time as it makes its debut on the world famous street circuit, which, in testing, has shown to be a full second faster than the supersoft.
“We’ve tested the hypersoft in Abu Dhabi and Barcelona: of those two, Abu Dhabi is a better comparison to Monaco and there we saw that the hypersoft was worth about a second per lap than the ultrasoft; so we could see some more records broken this weekend,” Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Head of Car Racing, told Formula 1’s official website.
“Nonetheless, the hypersoft is definitely a race tyre rather than a qualifying tyre, so it will be interesting to see how it adapts itself to the unique demands of Monaco, and what effect it has on strategy.
“Collecting as much data about it as possible in free practice will be particularly important. The drivers have all each nominated between eight and 11 sets of hypersoft, so we should see plenty of running on it throughout the weekend, if it stays dry of course.”
In my exclusive interview last week, Thierry said that he didn’t think he’d be able to win and was hoping instead for a podium finish. Here the story of an unlikely win on the roads of Portugal, which has lifted him into the championship lead. Elfyn and Teemu also had great events to round off the podium.
Ott Tanak took the early lead in the stage that kicked off this event on Thursday evening. Less than two seconds covered the top ten.
Friday morning dawned a beautiful day and the cars would go into the days eight stages in championship order – Ogier, Neuville, Tänak, Mikkelsen, Sordo, Meeke, Lappi, Latvala, Evans, Breen, Paddon, Ostberg, Suninen.
The first stage of the day – Viana Do Castelo, was won by Hayden, making his first start for Hyundai since February’s Rally Sweden. Evans and Meeke were second and third as well, whilst Seb could only manage eighth, 12 seconds slower. Thierry was ninth at this point. Sadly, for Toyota, Ott stopped in the stage after hitting some rocks. So far, Thierry’s predictions were so far true.
The next stage – Caminha, Kris won and this was enough to move him into the lead with Hayden dropping to second. Seb set a great time considering his road position and with those ahead not so fast jumped to positions into sixth, whilst Thierry also moved up to into eighth. Toyota also saw a second retirement, with Jari-Matti also stopping in the stage! Big drama for Tommi’s team.
The third stage of the day – Ponte De Lima, and the last before midday service saw another change in the lead, with Dani Sordo now winning the stage from his teammate Andreas and moving ahead of Kris by almost 5 seconds. Ogier also showed great pace again, setting the third fastest time and moving up to fourth, but Thierry was keeping close to the French champion in fifth overall.
The midday break was welcome for a few drivers, in particular, Mads Ostberg who was shown a few things by the Citroen team. He put these things to good use in the first afternoon stage.
Stage 5 – Viana Do Castelo 2, was won by Kris with Mads going second fastest, just eight tenths slower. There was drama in the M-Sport camp though with Seb going off and retiring from the rally! A big shock, but he was pushing very hard and when you’re first on the road, things can catch you out. With his stage victory, Kris had moved back into the lead, with Dani slipping back just one place to second. Further back, Elfyn had moved up to seventh. Andreas and Craig were also both on the move, passing Thierry who was now sixth.
Stage 6 – Caminha 2, and Kris got a puncture about 3km into the 18km stage, despite running the hard tyres. He lost 18 seconds and dropped to fifth but was still just 11 seconds from the leader who was once again Hayden. Craig and Thierry were both now ahead of Kris in third and fourth.
There was more drama in stage 7- Ponte De Lima 2, with Craig and Kris both getting punctures, Andreas retiring and Hayden going off and damaging his car too much to complete the stage. Thierry was now in the lead with Elfyn up to second.
The final two stages of the day were won by Thierry, with Dani and Craig also second and third in both.
Thierry had driven brilliantly and very consistently throughout the day letting the others make mistakes. Citroen had reasons to smile, but fortune was not smiling on them with punctures spoiling their efforts. Hayden also was showing pace and had led, only to suffer misfortune. Things were definitely looking better for Elfyn though! The welsh wizard had driven very well!
Classification after Day One
1
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
1:37:30.7
2
E. Evans
D. Barritt
Ford Fiesta WRC
+17.7
3
D. Sordo
C. del Barrio
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+24.3
4
T. Suninen
M. Markkula
Ford Fiesta WRC
+34.4
5
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Toyota Yaris WRC
+45.8
6
M. Østberg
T. Eriksen
Citroën C3 WRC
+48.3
7
K. Meeke
P. Nagle
Citroën C3 WRC
+1:18.7
8
C. Breen
S. Martin
Citroën C3 WRC
+2:27.3
Anyway, lets here from all the drivers after Friday’s stages.
Thierry Neuville
“All in all, I am pretty happy with my day. We have made improvements to the car from one stage to the next, and we have been able to stay out of trouble. The afternoon loop proved decisive with a complicated tyre selection. We opted for six soft tyres, which – in hindsight – was perhaps not the best choice, but we were clever and made it work quite well in the end. Despite incredibly rough conditions, we felt comfortable and pushed as hard as possible. We took four stage wins in a row, and the performances in the Street Stage allowed us to build a decent lead. However, it’s still very early days in this rally, and we’ve seen today that we absolutely cannot be complacent.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally de Portugal 17-20 May 2018 Action Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Elfyn Evans
“It’s good to be in this position at the end of the day. I felt that our driving was pretty good on the whole, but there are still some things we can improve and we’ll be working on that tomorrow. We’ve just got to keep going and fight for the best result possible.”
Dani Sordo
“It has been a very tough day, so I am pleased to be inside the top-three overall and still in the close podium hunt. There is still a long way to go, but it has already been a rally with many incidents. We started the morning loop carefully but built up confidence in the first run through Ponte de Lima to win the stage. For the afternoon, we opted to run soft tyres, which in the end was not the ideal choice. The stages were rougher than expected and we had high wear which prevented us from pushing. We managed the situation reasonably well and had two good runs during the Porto Street Stage to end the day positively. I hope for a smoother Saturday!”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Teemu Suninen (4th)
“I was happy with my pace – especially on the second loop when I did some really good stage times. I was just a bit disappointed with SS4 where I was a bit too careful and lost a lot of time. That tells me that I need to go flat-out all the time, and that’s what we plan to do tomorrow.”
Sébastien Ogier (Rally 2)
“I went just a couple of centimetres too deep into a right-hand corner. There was a bank and I thought it would be okay to touch it a little, but unfortunately there was something there – a small root [or tree stump].
“It was a small, short impact on the suspension, but it was enough to break it. In the next corner nothing happened when I braked – I couldn’t turn and went straight into the trees. It was my mistake and I shouldn’t have touched the bank – those two or three centimetres have cost us a lot this weekend.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Kris Meeke (6th)
“It was a difficult day for us. It had all started so well, I felt so good in the car and we were leading the rally. But in the afternoon, I picked up two separate punctures – I’ve no idea where – and suddenly things were a lot more complicated. In order not to break the rules, which say that you can’t drive on the wheel rims during the road sections, we had to manage the two flat tyres as best we could. In running second on the road tomorrow on the stages that will clean the most this weekend, I’m going to suffer for sure, but you can count on me to fight all the way and give it everything.”
Craig Breen (7th)
“Obviously, it’s been a frustrating day for us. We had really got back into our stride again this afternoon. Without the puncture, we could potentially have been leading the rally tonight. I’ll be first on the road tomorrow, but I’ll be doing my utmost to limit the damage.”
Mads Østberg (8th)
“After an up and down morning where I made a few set-up mistakes, I really enjoyed it this afternoon. The car was really perfect to drive, after the team made changes in service. We stopped on the road where Paddon had his accident to see if we could help, so we didn’t contest the longest stage of the day, but that wasn’t the most important thing at the time. The conditions remind me of the Acropolis Rally, in Greece. It was so rough out there today, but we made it to the end of the leg and we’re going to try and do even better in the rest of the rally.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi (5th)
“The morning wasn’t the best for me as I struggled a bit with the confidence. The car itself was fine but I didn’t feel like we had much lateral grip, so I just couldn’t push as much as I wanted to. This afternoon the conditions were some of the roughest I have seen in my career, with so many rocks on the road. We changed a lot of things on the car during the mid-day service and that helped. The first stage this afternoon was immediately better. Then we had a small issue with the damper and we had to manage that until the end of the day, but the times were still not too bad. I think we are in a fighting position for tomorrow.”
Jari-Matti Latvala (Rally 2)
“On the first stage I was a bit too cautious, but on the second stage I started to push more. Then about five kilometres into the stage, in a left-right corner combination, there was a rock in the line, which was in my pace-notes. I went over the rock as intended but immediately the front-right suspension was damaged, and I had to stop. The team has worked hard to fix the car and we will be able to carry on tomorrow. I’m very motivated to continue. I really want to drive now, because I have a very good feeling with the car and I am enjoying driving it.”
Ott Tänak (DNF)
“It was very, very unfortunate what happened to us this morning. Quite early in the first stage we came across a place where the road was full of rocks: there were not just one or two rocks but four or five. We could not avoid them and they caused damage to our radiator. We had to stop soon afterwards with an engine issue, which it was not possible to repair here. We were in a strong position coming into this rally, and like the previous rally I had a really good feeling in the car. It’s a hit for our championship bid but it’s never over before it’s over, so I will still keep fighting. We will aim for a big fight-back in Sardinia: we know we have the performance.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Andreas Mikkelsen (Rally2)
“A day of two halves for us, unfortunately. The morning went reasonably and I felt like we were getting more comfortable with each stage. The car felt good and I was encouraged for the afternoon loop. In SS6, the second run through Caminha, we lost the power steering midway through and had to battle hard to make it to the end of the stage. We tried to fix the problem with the remote support of the team. Although we couldn’t manage to find a solution, we were still able to start SS7. Towards the end of the stage, the engine started to feel strange and I noticed oil on the windscreen, so we had no choice but to stop the car. The team will now assess the car to see if we are able to rejoin under Rally 2 on Saturday. I am very disappointed as we were going well and the car was perfect.”
Hayden Paddon (DNF)
“The day was going well, we were driving within ourselves and to our plan. It was a difficult day for everyone and hard to get the tyre choice right but it was, of course, good to be back on the pace right away. Near the start of SS7 there was a big rock on the inside of the corner, which was concealed. I had to steer out a little for the corner to avoid it, but then the speed was too great and the car ran wide. The problem then was a big culvert on the exit of the corner, which stopped the car instantly. I’m gutted for the team as a good result was possible but for a third year in a row, this stage bites us.”
Day two, Saturday would see the crews tackle six stages. Hayden and Seb wouldn’t restart the rally after the Kiwi was kept in hospital overnight. Seb and Jari-Matti would however be back out, looking to get some points come the end of Sunday’s stages. Kris Meeke’s car was also rebuilt on one side by the amazing Citroen team.
Jari-Matti made a great start to day two winning Vieira Do Minho from Neuville and Lappi who was holding fourth overall. Elfyn and Dan lost a little ground to Thierry but were holding their own near the top of the leaderboard.
Into stage 11 – Cabeceiras De Basto, and it was Elfyn’s turn to win a stage and with that he closed on Thierry by a few seconds. Dani and Jari-Matti were second and third fastest, and this showed just how competitive the WRC is at the moment with three different cars setting times that are very evenly matched.
The first run through the longest stage of the day, stage 12 -Amarante sadly saw Kris and Paul crash out. The car was wrecked and there would be no return sadly. At the front, Thierry took another stage win and with Elfyn 17.2 seconds slower the Belgian now had a lead of almost 30 seconds! Just behind him the remaining Toyota duo were showing the great pace of the Yaris with Lappi closing on Suninen for fourth place.
After the midday service break stage 13 – Vieira Do Minho 2 was won by Elfyn, with Seb second fastest and Teemu with the third fastest time – a M-Sport triple, and with Thierry only fifth fastest, the gap had reduced to a little over 23 seconds. Also, Teemu had now opened up the gap to Lappi. He was being allowed to push as he wanted, and that pace really showed.
The second run of Cabeceiras De Basto 2, stage 14 saw some surprising rain! Latvala, Thierry and Ogier were the top three, whilst further back Mads went off the road after sliding off in the rain! He still held onto sixth place though, as Craig was two minutes behind the Norwegian.
The final stage of the day -Amarante 2, and it was won by Seb with Thierry and Jari-Matti second and third. The lead that Thierry held now was almost 40 seconds over Elfyn with Dani in third. However, the battle for the final podium position was not over with just four seconds between Dani and Teemu.
Classification after Day Two
1
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
3:16:30.0
2
E. Evans
D. Barritt
Ford Fiesta WRC
+39.8
3
D. Sordo
C. del Barrio
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+57.2
4
T. Suninen
M. Markkula
Ford Fiesta WRC
+1:01.9
5
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Toyota Yaris WRC
+1:13.0
6
M. Østberg
T. Eriksen
Citroën C3 WRC
+3:14.1
7
C. Breen
S. Martin
Citroën C3 WRC
+4:53.1
Let’s hear then from the crews!
Thierry Neuville
“We have had a very positive day and can be extremely satisfied with our position. That’s not to say we can relax because we have some tricky stages on Sunday, including the two runs through Fafe. Our focus today was to extend our lead overall but we knew we had to be clever with our strategy on both loops. We had to save the tyres in some places to maximise the performance on the longer Amarante stages. We knew we could make the difference here; it’s a stage I really enjoy and we could give it a really big push. There were a few wet patches at the end of the afternoon, but we made it through and could increase our margin. We will need to remain concentrated because there are still five stages to go – and we’ve seen just what can happen here.”
Elfyn Evans
“On the whole I think we can be pretty happy with our day. It’s not been perfect by all means and I was a bit disappointed with both runs through the Amarante stage (SS12 and SS15). But overall we can be pretty satisfied and we’re in a good position going into tomorrow.”
Elfyn Evans, Rally de Portugal 2018, Photo credit, M-Sport.
Dani Sordo
“In general, I am pleased with our day and to be in the battle for the podium. The gap to the guys behind is close so we need to keep pushing. The only downside to today’s running was the final stage, the repeat of Amarante, which started with a half-spin. I don’t know what happened; something felt a bit strange and I lost the rear, but we kept our focus. We quickly built up our confidence again and worked on reducing the time loss. The crowds at this rally have been incredible and it really gives us the motivation to fight for the podium on Sunday morning. That’s our target!”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Teemu Suninen (4th)
“It’s been a good day for us and I was really pleased to see that we were able to improve through the slower sections which is what we wanted to work on today. Now there are just five stages left and it looks like we have a chance of challenging for the podium too. I’m really happy to be in this battle, and tomorrow I want to continue like this – to show what I can do.”
Sébastien Ogier (Rally 2) said:
“It wasn’t a very exciting day for us, but I wanted to make use of it – doing some work on the car and trying to find some little things to improve the set-up. I’m pleased with that and we were quickest over the second loop – closing the day with a fastest time. Power Stage points is the only thing we can try to push for tomorrow. We’ll be running pretty early on the road so it won’t be easy, but at least we have nothing to lose.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi (5th)
“It has been a pretty good day. The feeling has been nice with the car and I have been pushing really hard. I don’t think I’ve ever pushed as hard for a whole day, especially this afternoon. I gave it everything, and it was really enjoyable. The guys in front of me have been doing a really good job and it has been hard to take any time out of them, but I’m really happy with my driving and that I could stay on the limit for so long. It was a risky tyre choice this afternoon to go with the hard tyres and it didn’t pay off, but we didn’t lose anything to our rivals either. The gap is quite big going into the final day but I want to keep the pressure on.”
Jari-Matti Latvala (Rally 2)
“I’m really, really happy about today. We had two stage wins, so we know the speed is there. I still have a little bit of margin: particularly this afternoon when it was quite rough in places I was a bit more careful not to break the car, as it has been important for me to have a clean day. The car is fast and I have started to find in myself the speed and confidence. All the elements are now there so we just need to bring it to the end. Tomorrow my approach will be to try and carry on in the same way. I want to be competitive and to do another clean day, and then of course in the Power Stage, I will try to attack and try to get some points. The idea is try to and keep building the confidence ready for Sardinia.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Mads Østberg (6th)
“The morning went well for us. I felt full of confidence in my C3 WRC and the times were pretty decent given our position in the running order. Since we weren’t in a close fight for position with anyone, we decided to do some set-up tests this afternoon to try and keep improving with the car. We probably pushed things a bit too far, but that’s part and parcel of the learning process.”
Craig Breen (7th)
“It was a difficult day for us, with a huge amount of cleaning with the dry and sandy ground. It hasn’t rained properly here for a while! But it’s the kind of experience that you have to get in order to fight with the very best one day and I prefer to focus on the very good feeling that I had driving my C3 WRC.”
Kris Meeke (DNF)
“I turned into a fast-left-hand corner a little bit late, missed my line and got onto the loose gravel on the outside of the corner and lost control of the car. Obviously, I’m sorry for the whole team, who clearly deserved better. I’m really very grateful that they built such a strong car. It was my mistake, of course, so I’ll take it on the chin. But the feeling in my C3 WRC was so good here in Portugal that I can’t help but take the positives away from this weekend.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Andreas Mikkelsen (Rally 2)
“First of all, I am very grateful to the team for their efforts in getting us back into the rally after the problems we experienced on Friday. We had to make some adjustments to the engine settings for today to help us make it through. As a result, we didn’t have access to full power, which limited what we could do. We simply had to do our best with what we had at our disposal and I think in that regard it has been a pretty good day. It is important for us to finish the rally cleanly in order to secure manufacturer points for the team, even if we are not at the level we know we could be. We always want to compete at the front and I hope we can fight for some Power Stage points tomorrow.”
The final day then and with five stages to go, it wouldn’t be easy.
The first stage then saw Dani lose third overall with Teemu and Esapekka moving ahead of the Spaniard. Thierry’s lead was really strong, whilst Elfyn was looking good for his best result of the year.
The first run of the famous Fafe stage, with its jump just before the finish line saw Ogier set the best time – a sign of things to come, whilst the battle between Dani and Esapekka continued over fourth, this time the Spaniard getting back ahead!
Stage 18 – Luilhas, saw them swap again and Esapekka was back into fourth! Meantime, Teemu was looking really good in third and likely to score his first WRC podium. Thierry and Elfyn were just stroking their cars to the finish, ticking off the km’s.
Teemu won stage 19 – Montim 2, beating Lappi by 1.7 seconds whilst Dani was third. The overall positions were really set now, with Thierry looking likely to win his second rally of the year, but in the M-Sport camp all eyes were on their young drivers. Elfyn was set for his best result since last October’s Wales Rally GB and Teemu was set for his first ever podium finish!
Time then for the final stage, the re-run of Fafe, with its famous jump. Of course, there were as usual points up for grabs for the quickest five drivers! The winner of the stage was Lappi, and Thierry was second. Dani, Teemu and Elfyn rounded out the top five. Seb had rejoined under rally 2 regs, and had come very close to scoring some points, ending up just 8 tenths away from fifth place.
Thierry had taken a unexpected but very welcome victory, and we also had Elfyn in second place, with teammate, Teemu Suninen taking his first ever podium. Thierry had also taken the lead of the world championship after Seb’s mistake took him out of the points. He’ll want to bounce back at the next round- no doubt!
Final Overall Classification – Rally de Portugal
1
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
3:49:46.6
2
E. Evans
D. Barritt
Ford Fiesta WRC
+40.0
3
T. Suninen
M. Markkula
Ford Fiesta WRC
+47.3
4
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Toyota Yaris WRC
+54.7
5
D. Sordo
C. del Barrio
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+1:00.9
6
M. Østberg
T. Eriksen
Citroën C3 WRC
+3:33.5
7
C. Breen
S. Martin
Citroën C3 WRC
+5:23.0
8
P. Tidemand
J. Andersson
Škoda Fabia R5
+14:10.8
9
L. Pieniazek
P. Mazur
Škoda Fabia R5
+16:17.3
10
S. Lefebvre
G. Moreau
Citroën C3 R5
+16:34.3
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally de Portugal 17-20 May 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Let’s hear from the drivers!
Thierry Neuville
“What a weekend and what a result! We have taken a clever approach to this event, pushing when we could and controlling the pace when we needed. The car has been fabulous all weekend long, and the team has been behind us every stage of the way. I have felt completely comfortable and at ease despite some challenging conditions. My teammates have also been on the pace but were unlucky not to be on the podium. We tried to give it a bit of a push in the Power Stage, to take as many points as we could, but also taking care not to make any mistakes. We have a lot of Portuguese people in the team, so it’s going to be a nice celebration. A fantastic weekend for our team.”
Elfyn Evans
“I’m happy with this result, and a bit relieved too if I’m honest! Everyone knows that our season didn’t get off to the best of starts. Monte started well with the exception of the puncture, but one thing led to another and it quickly snowballed into what was becoming a pretty dismal season.
“We knew coming here that we needed to get some strong points on the board – for the team and for us as well. So, to come away with second place was good. It wasn’t perfect, and there are some areas where we can still improve. I wasn’t entirely happy with my driving through all of the stages, but it’s certainly alleviated the pressure and we can go to Sardinia in a positive frame of mind.”
Teemu Suninen
“It’s really great to get my first podium here in Portugal – the first one is always special and I think it will be a big step for my career. I was really happy with my driving all weekend. We struggled a bit to find the limit on Friday morning as I had to get used to driving this car on these stages, but after that I was able to push and set some really good times.
“I want to thank the team for their trust in me and for the good support that they gave me all weekend. I’m really happy that I could pay them back with these good points for the championship.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally de Portugal 17-20 May 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Hyundai Motorsport
Dani Sordo (4th)
“I am disappointed not to finish on the podium after what had been a very promising and competitive weekend for us. We showed our pace in many stages and were definitely in the fight. The time penalty was frustrating but we put that out of our mind and concentrated on doing the best job we could on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, we had an issue during the penultimate stage when a stone went through our front splitter and smashed the windscreen. This made some corners difficult to see in the Power Stage but we gave it absolutely everything. There are so many fans here and lots of people supporting me, so I was happy to put on a good performance through Fafe. Congratulations to Thierry and Nicolas on a great win, and thanks to the team.”
Andreas Mikkelsen (16th)
“That was not the weekend we had hoped to have but it’s been a positive final morning. The car was working much better in the Power Stage, which allowed us to really give it a push. I’d like to send big thanks to the team who put in a huge effort to adapt the car to get it better suited to my style. I have enjoyed driving this weekend and without our issues on Friday, and the knock-on effects of that, I am sure we could have had a much more representative result. Congratulations to Thierry and Nicolas on their victory, which is thoroughly deserved for them and the entire team. I am looking forward to Sardinia.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Esapekka Lappi (5th)
“Today we just continued like we ended yesterday: flat out all the time. In the end, we just couldn’t catch Suninen. It was a tough, tough fight. He did a good job and deserved the podium. However, I have to be pleased to take five points from the Power Stage as well. I have now won half of the Power Stages this year, and this is important, because I now have 15 points just from these three stages alone. I’m pretty satisfied with the weekend: we didn’t make any mistakes, and that is what we were looking for.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 06, Rally Portugal / May 17-20, 2018 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
Jari-Matti Latvala (24th)
“Today was another good day, with another stage win. Of course, I tried to go for points on the Power Stage and give everything I could. It was a very good run; I don’t think I could have driven much better, but there was a very big cleaning effect on the Fafe stage today and I was the first World Rally Car on the road. I am happy though because the confidence is improving a lot. We had the problem on Friday but at least I could then drive two clean days without any mistakes. We could also learn something on today’s stages, which were more technical than before, about the setup that we need for Sardinia. I feel very positive going there.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT
Mads Østberg (6th)
“This first rally on gravel was informative for us because we learned a lot about the C3 WRC. Although we struggled a bit to find the right set-up on Friday morning, the team quickly worked it out and the car worked very well in the afternoon for the second loop. It’s just that we then had a tough time of it due to our road position. If you don’t have as good a first day as you were hoping for, then your whole rally ends up being affected, but I’m pleased to see that the speed was there whenever we pushed and we had the right conditions.”
Craig Breen (7th)
“Our puncture on Friday afternoon, when we were running third, meant we had to open the road on the next two days and from that point on, it was difficult to hope for a better outcome. But I’m now looking forward to Sardinia to turn the good feeling we had this weekend into a significantly better result.”
Well, after yet another twist in this year’s championship we head to Rally Italia Sardegna held from the 7th to the 10th of June!
Craig Breen, Scott Martin, Rally Portugal 2018, Photo credit, Citroen Racing.
2018 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 6
1
T. Neuville
119
2
S. Ogier
100
3
O. Tanak
72
4
D. Sordo
58
5
E. Lappi
57
6
A. Mikkelsen
54
7
E. Evans
45
8
K. Meeke
43
9
J.M Latvala
31
10
C. Breen
26
11
T. Suninen
23
12
M. Østberg
16
13
S. Loeb
15
14
P. Tidemand
11
15
H. Paddon
10
2018 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 6
The French Moto3 Grand Prix, round five of the 2018 World Championship, should have been all about Aron Canet – how quick could he get through the field and could he get to the leaders. The Spaniard was forced to start the race from last position on the grid following the crash he caused in Jerez and his incident with Makar Yurchenko in Argentina.
But instead Race Direction decided that it was they, who would cause the controversy in this race, and take all attention from the racing. They did this by enforcing penalties, ridiculous ones! They gave each rider who cut either the first chicane at turns three and four or the second one at turns nine and ten a penalty which, in their opinion, was equal to the time the rider had gained.
Jakub Kornfeil was the first to rack up a time penalty (of 1.3s), for going wide at turn nine and cutting turn ten when Jorge Martin came across him in the braking zone, which, to some extent, left Kornfeil with little solution but to go off. Kornfeil then cut the chicane at turns three and four for a similar thing, but no penalty was given for this incident. It was then Niccolo Antonelli’s turn to get penalised for cutting turns three and four, and he got 1.8 seconds compared to Kornfeil’s 1.3 seconds.
Then, critically for the race[result], it was Fabio Di Giannantonio who got three seconds added to his race time for cutting turns nine and ten. The most important thing to point out is that none of the riders gained any positions or time, nor did they hold onto positions unfairly, by cutting the track. The penalty for Di Giannantonio ultimately cost him the race, after he passed Marco Bezzecchi at the final corner on the final lap, and it was entirely unfair. Di Giannantonio gained no time, if anything he lost time, in cutting the chicane – he made sure of it. And if he did gain time it was not anything like three seconds. To give a comparison, Valentino Rossi went off track last year in Austin when Johann Zarco put an aggressive move on him at turn three in Texas and gained three tenths in that sector. Rossi was penalised three tenths, which was fair. The three seconds incurred by Di Giannantonio, the 1.8 incurred by Antonelli (who actually lost several positions when he ran off) and the 1.3 given to Kornfeil are not only unjust but also inconsistent with the precedent the Race Direction had already set in Texas last year. This means that a new precedent has been set, and it is a dangerous one. If something like this happened in MotoGP to, for example, Valentino Rossi, there would be complete uproar, and rightly so. Race Direction need to sort this issue out quickly, before it gets messy.
Thankfully, though, Race Direction did not steal the whole show. Jakub Kornfeil had the save of all saves, when he launched the PruestelGP KTM from the single “whoop” that Enea Bastianini’s crashed Leopard Honda had created in front of him, and somehow landed it in the gravel. Marc Marquez declared it the best save ever, and if Marc says so, on this topic it is true. Congratulations, Mr. Kornfeil, the only person to successfully ride MX on a GP bike.
FabioDi Giannantonio Round Five – Le Mans, France. Image courtesy of HondaNews.eu
After all the penalties had been handed out and Fabio Di Giannantonio had had a little, but well deserved cry, it was Albert Arenas who instead took his first Grand Prix victory. He did not deserve it, really, but either way it was a great moment for the Spaniard, although he will probably still want to win a race by crossing the line first. Anyway, it was nice to see the Angel Nieto name back on the top step of the podium.
The Nieto name was on step two, as well, thanks to Andrea Migno on the second of the Angel Nieto Team KTMs who followed his teammate home for second. Temporarily, Nicco Antonelli was third, but his penalty gave that position to Marcos Ramirez who took his second podium of the season after his third place in Jerez. Ramirez’ third place also gave KTM their second consecutive podium lockout. Back in Qatar, I likened this season, in prospect, to 2013, with three riders dominating. That has not been precisely true, but two KTM podium lockouts in two races? Now that is 2013.
Fabio Di Giannantonio ended up fourth, despite crossing the finish line first. He was eight tenths short of his first victory, but he and his team have maintained that he is the moral winner of the 2018 French Grand Prix. Somehow, the feeling is that in two weeks’ time in Mugello for the Italian Grand Prix, the Roman will have his first winner’s trophy, and probably the first of many.
Niccolo Antonelli’s penalty dropped him to fifth place, just in front of Jakub Kornfeil who returned from the French motorcycle show-jumping championships just in time to cross the line in sixth place. Tony Arbolino was seventh, ahead of Aron Canet who did well to recover so many positions without being penalised for running on, Tatsuki Suzuki and Jaume Masia who rounded out the top ten.
Darryn Binder took his best finish of the year with eleventh place, ahead of John McPhee who also made a decent recovery after he, like Canet, started on the back row. Makar Yurchenko was thirteenth ahead of Dennis Foggia who took his first points of the season, and Jerez winner Philipp Oettl, who has seemingly been unable to build on his debut win and in Le Mans completed the points finishers.
Ayumu Sasaki was sixteenth, in front of Kaito Toba, Kazuki Masaki, who himself had an unbelievable save on lap one at the first chicane, Alonso Lopez, Nakarin Atiratphuvapat and Livio Loi who was 21st and the last finisher.
Gabriel Rodrigo, Nicolo Bulega, Lorenzo Dalla Porta, Enea Bastianini, Adam Norrodin, Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi were the retirements.
Andrea Migno, Albert Arenas & Marcos Ramirez Podium Le Mans 2018. Image courtesy of Philip Platzer / KTM Media Library
Bezzecchi and Martin retired together on the final corner of the final lap. Di Giannantonio passed Bezzecchi on the inside, Bezzecchi tried to cut underneath to pass him back in the second part of the final corner, cracked the throttle and threw himself over the top. Martin had nowhere to go and was taken out for the second weekend in a row. Bezzecchi apologised after, at least on social media anyway, but anyway Jorge Martin knows enough about racing to know that Bezzecchi did nothing anyone else wouldn’t do in his position. They are both still well in the championship hunt, Bezzecchi is still leading the championship on 63 points, four clear of Diggia, seven clear of Canet, whilst Martin is eight back of the championship lead.
Featured image courtesy of Philip Platzer / KTM Media Library
Check out the latest video from Mobil 1 The Grid. In this piece, the Japanese driver discusses his win in 2017, how he went about winning the race, whilst laying down a blueprint of the key to success at Indianapolis.
Takuma On Winning The Indy 500: “In my entire life, maybe the birth of my child, that is obviously an amazing day. But besides on that, [winning at Indy] was my significant moment in my life, and certainly the best day of my race career. And that changed so many different things. I just never forget the feeling of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has and how deeply I understood the history and the energy that the Indy 500 has. That was just an unbelievable, amazing, amazing experience for me.”
Takuma On How To Win At Indy: “The key is to stay out of trouble problem, because it’s just such a long race. Anything can happen. Just stay calm, because the race comes back to you.”
Indycar 2017 Round Six: Indianapolis 500, Indiana Credit: hondanews.eu
Takuma On How Heartbreak In 2012 Prepared Him: “Going through all the preparation by yourself and as an athlete, you learn from your faults: What you didn’t go through, and what you know already. Then there is a great chance to learn new things. Moving forward, that’s the name of the sport. 2012 is obviously a bitter experience and but I really appreciate it because I’m proud that I was able to challenge for that. In the end, I failed it. But it’s really made me stronger. Going through every single year, there’s lots of ways you think about it, and of course, before the 2017 start, you’re going through 2012, saying ‘What could I have done? What should I have done? What we will need to do?’ And that’s exactly what I did. That was the moment I really needed.”
Takuma Sato On The Legacy Of Winning The Indy 500: “Indy 500 winner… we knew that’s a big deal. People say that it’s going to be forever, and then like almost every month there is some award or there is ceremonies and the events just it’s go on and on and on. When I go back to Japan, there was almost every week, an event or award. So it was an unbelievably busy winter, but it was a happy busy moment. The Indy 500 is beyond your imagination.”
Indycar 2017 Round Six: Indianapolis 500, Indiana Credit: hondanews.eu
Takuma Sato On Indy 2018: “I can’t imagine how it’s going to be as a defending champion going to the Month of May. I think it will be so cool, so pressured and so busy. I can’t wait [to] go there. But, equally, I think that now everyone wants to win and beat me so, basically, I have to have a huge challenge to do back-to-back race wins. Nothing is impossible, but I think it’s going to be very tough but we will challenge for that anyway.”
The Monaco Grand Prix—jewel in the crown of the F1 calendar, and the sixth round of the 2018 season.
It’s been a topsy-turvy season so far. Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel had the early advantage, winning the first two races on the trot and taking a firm hold on qualifying. But in the last two rounds in Baku and Barcelona, they have been pegged back by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, who now leads the drivers’ championship by 17 points over Vettel.
Ferrari Media
That deficit means Monaco is a must-win race for Vettel. With the next few rounds from Canada through to Germany likely to favour Mercedes, he’ll need to come away with maximum points from Monte Carlo if he is to keep the title from slipping away during the European season as it did last year.
But although Monaco is expected to be another Ferrari track as it was in 2017, Vettel cannot afford to be complacent this weekend. His lost victories in China and Azerbaijan are proof enough that even with the quicker car, nothing is assured.
Perhaps most importantly, Vettel will have to make sure he avoids any more “red mist” moments if events in the race do turn against him. A clumsy attempt to retake the lead, like the one Vettel launched at Valtteri Bottas in Baku, will be much more costly here in Monaco than settling for second.
Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
With Monaco typically not suiting Mercedes, Vettel’s strongest challenge for the win this weekend is expected to come from Red Bull. The RB14 was quick through the twisting final sector in Barcelona—generally a reliable indicator of Monaco pace—and Hamilton has tipped it rather than the Ferrari as his biggest concern on Sunday:
“If you look at Daniel Ricciardo [in Spain] he was much quicker in the last sector, and the last sector is all about downforce,” the championship leader said. “They’re going to be rapid in Monaco, and very hard to beat.”
If Red Bull is as fast around Monte Carlo as Hamilton fears, then Ricciardo is almost certainly going to be a contender for the win. The Australian’s four Red Bull starts in Monaco have so far yielded three podiums, as well as his infamous pole and near-win in 2016.
The same cannot be said of Max Verstappen, however. The Dutchman has a far-from-stellar record around Monte Carlo, finishing there for the first time only last year after crashing out in 2015 and ’16. Verstappen will need to conquer whatever Monaco issues have been holding him back in the past if he is to stay on Ricciardo’s level this weekend.
Steven Tee/McLaren
Fernando Alonso has been upbeat about returning to race at the principality after missing last year’s event for the Indy 500, and understandably so: Monte Carlo has always been a strong venue for McLaren, and became a trusty source of points during their troubled Honda years.
However, qualifying is key in Monaco and so far in 2018 that has been McLaren’s weakness. The team will need to replicate last year’s Saturday performance, which saw Jenson Button and Stoffel Vandoorne qualify in the top ten, or they may find themselves too far back to challenge for more than a handful of points.
Renault will likely be McLaren’s biggest rival this weekend. The Enstone team overtook McLaren for fourth in the constructors’ standings in Spain and has every chance of increasing that gap come Sunday—especially as Carlos Sainz has finished in the points in every race he’s contested around the Monte Carlo circuit, even dating back to his Formula Renault 3.5 days.
Haas should also be quick enough to pose a threat to both Renault and McLaren, given the mechanical pointers the VF-18 takes from last year’s race-winning Ferrari. But even if the American team qualifies well on Saturday, their race is set to be much harder as Romain Grosjean comes to Monaco weighed down with a three-place grid penalty for his first lap collision in Barcelona.
Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team
Outside of the three “Group B” teams, there are a few wildcards who might scrape into the points on Sunday.
Toro Rosso has perhaps the most realistic chance. The Red Bull junior team’s high-downforce designs have served them well around Monaco in recent years, with points finishes in every year since 2015, and the lack of emphasis on engine power will help Honda close up to those in front.
If Toro Rosso is competitive in Monaco, that will please Brendon Hartley enormously, with the Kiwi in need of a good performance as rumours about his future continue to swirl.
Also in the mix with Toro Rosso is Sauber. The C37 has been a surprise points-scorer this season, and with an on-form Charles Leclerc looking to impress on home soil it would be unwise to bet against Sauber adding to their 11 points total in Monte Carlo.
And then there’s Force India and Williams. With Monaco’s downforce demands not suiting either team’s 2018 aero designs, both will be hoping some traditional Monte Carlo madness can bring them into the lower reaches of the top ten.
Thirty years ago, on April 3rd 1988, the FIM World Superbike Championship roared into life at the Donington Park circuit as Italian rider Davide Tordozzi, astride a Bimota machine, claimed the first ever race win in the series. As with the passing of time, manufacturers have come and gone – Bimota being much lamented – and the circuit has changed too. Then the Superbikes diced on the shorter 1.98 mile ‘national’ confuguration. When the lights go out at 13:15 BST on Saturday for race 1, the gladiators will be on the famous 2.5 mile grand prix layout.
Equally, the attitude of the spectators has changed. Where there was intrigue in 1988, there is now expectation in 2018 as Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) seeks to claim the record for number of race wins in the series, this weekend.
The reigning triple world champion arrives at his home round with a healthy 47-point lead at the top of the standings, following his stunning double last time out at Imola. With its mix of medium and high speed corners, and lack of long straights, Donington Park is a circuit which plays to the strengths of both Rea and his ZX-10RR machine. Having equaled the great Carl Fogarty with 59 race wins, there could be no more fitting venue than here for the record to be broken.
Standing in his way is his team-mate, Tom Sykes. The Yorkshireman has an imperious record around the east midlands track, having recorded a current total of 9 victories. Furthermore, Sykes has not finished outside of a podium position in any of the last 12 races to be held here. The British round of the 2018 season could not have arrived at a more needed time for the Kawasaki man. After the opening five rounds Sykes finds himself in third place in the standings, but a daunting 72 points adrift of Rea. Donington Park is Sykes’ fortress. Nobody can boast as strong a record around this place as he can. Be assured, he will going out all guns blazing to get back into the championship fight, this weekend.
Aruba.it Ducati will be desperate to bounce back after failing to win either of their home races last time out. Despite podium finishes for both Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri, the powers that be in the Ducati Corse department declared the Italian round a disaster, and arranged an ’emergency test’ at the Mugello circuit for the team last week. There is no doubt that the team are now at a crossroads in terms of the development of their machines. Ducati have not been shy of making it known that from 2019 they will field their new V4 Panigale model. As such, the question is now being asked up and down the paddock: how long will the team persist with the 1199 v-twin Panigale, or will they begin to focus their full attention on developing next year’s challenger? With Davies being the closest championship contender, sitting in second place on 162 points, the message from the top brass in Bologna could not be more clear – podiums are not good enough, we’re here to win.
One team who would be satisfied by scoring a podium finish or two this weekend would be the Pata-Yamaha outfit. Michael van der Mark will be desperate to make up for his error last time out at Imola, crashing out in race 2 when he was well set for a good points haul. The Dutch rider has enjoyed a solid start to the season, finding himself in sixth place in the championship with 113 points. Additionally he finds himself leading his team-mate, Alex Lowes (92 points). The Brit had a difficult weekend at Imola, losing a considerable amount of track time during Friday practice, due to a serious mechanical fault with his R1 machine. As a consequence, he was left scrapping across the two races for minor points. Donington is a circuit which the 27-year old has consistently gone well at throughout his British and World Superbike careers. This includes securing Pata-Yamaha’s first podium finish here last year. A repeat performance would relaunch the Lincolnshire man’s campaign.
The battle between the independent riders will be as fierce as always. Whilst it is now a given formality to expect the likes of Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Ducati), Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing Kawasaki) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pucetti Kawasaki) to mix it with the established factory front runners, a new name was catapulted to our attention last time out: Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati Junior Team). Whilst his talent was clear during his time in the Superstock 1000 class last season, nobody expected the 22-year old from Rimini to adapt to life in Superbikes quite so quickly. Unlike the rest of the field, Rinaldi is only competing in the European rounds of the season – a decision made by Ducati to ease his transition into the top class. At Imola he became one of the youngest riders to ever lead a World Superbike race, to underline his potential.
As we’re at Donington this week, there are a number of British wildcard entrants competing this weekend. The most prolific of these being current British Superbike championship leader, Leon Haslam (Pucetti Kawasaki). Having stormed to a podium finish in race 1 last year at this venue, Haslam was always going to return. He also made an appearance a fortnight ago in Italy, manage to secure decent points in both races. At the track where he’s completed more laps than anyone can count, the home crowd will be expecting big things from their local hero. He has the talent and the bike to cause a big upset to the favourites. Joining him will be Mason Law (WD40-Kawasaki) and the young sensation Bradley Ray (Buildbase Suzuki). For Ray, it is a big opportunity to draw the attention of the bosses of the world championship teams. Its no secret that he sees his long term career on the world stage – whether that be in Superbikes or Grand Prix racing. Having secured an emphatic brace of victories here back in April in BSB, he should be competitive from the start this weekend.
World Superbike Race 1: Saturday 26th May – 1315 BST
World Superbike Race 2: Sunday 27th May – 1300 BST
Drama arrived in the Moto2 class for the 2018 French Grand Prix even before the race had started: Xavi Vierge failed to make it out of pit lane before it closed due to a fuel pump problem. He had qualified second on the grid, but would now have to start from thirty-fifth and last.
But, either way, it was the pole sitter, Francesco Bagnaia who took the early lead, making a good start and taking a sweeping line through turn two to leave him out of range of his rivals when they got to turn three. Alex Marquez moved into second place off the start, as he looked to overcome Bagnaia for the first time in 2018.
From there, the pair moved clear of the pack. Many of the ingredients for a classic Moto2 duel were present: they were on equal bikes, with well-matched pace, there was the championship leader looking to further his dominance in the class and one of his rivals looking to take back precious points in the title chase. However, it never materialised. The gap fluctuated, Marquez stealing a tenth here, Bagnaia taking one or two back there, but ultimately Marquez was never able to get close enough to challenge the Italian for the victory, despite Bagnaia struggling with tyres towards the end. With two laps to go, Marquez backed the pace right off, dropped three seconds back and consolidated his second place, leaving Bagnaia free to take his third victory from the opening five races.
It has been a good opening to the season for Pecco, the three wins being enough to put him at the top of the championship by twenty-five points, one race win. But it seems that not many people expected it. There were many people offering sceptical views of Pramac Ducati’s pre-2018 signing of Bagnaia for the 2019 MotoGP season, but it is fair to say that the five-times Grand Prix winner has proven those doubts wrong in the first part of this season – now he just needs to continue like this, and he will be eager to especially in the immediate future, as Mugello is next up, his home race.
The second place of Alex Marquez helped to support the idea that he could be Bagnaia’s closest challenger for the championship this season. The Spaniard has finished in the top five in all but one race and probably would have won in Qatar had he not had the problem with the rear brake. He has been the most consistent rider, pace-wise this season, but is at the minute being let down in the standings by his crash in Jerez. However, things like this usually even themselves out during the season so, although he is thirty-one points back in the championship at the moment, there is still a long way to go for Marquez to make that ground back up. With the way his brother is going in MotoGP, should Alex take the intermediate class crown this year, it could be a full repeat of 2014 with the pair winning their respective championships.
Time is all that was ever going to stand between Joan Mir and most things in racing, and the same can be said for his first Moto2 podium, which he took with finesse and grace as he recovered from a bad start which he claims cost him a shot at the victory. It is easy to believe the reigning Moto3 World Champion in this, too, since he was able to match or better the pace of the leading pair once he got some clear track. The first podium is well deserved, and the first win cannot be too far away and his performances are only strengthening rumours of a move to MotoGP with HRC in 2019 to replace Dani Pedrosa.
Marcel Schrotter took his best finish of the season with an “under the radar” fourth position. But it was his teammate, Xavi Vierge, who took the honour for “ride of the day”, not just in Moto2, but across all three classes. He started thirty-fifth, but within just a couple of laps he was into the points, and well on his way to the top ten. A couple of massive, clean lunges up the inside at the turn 3-4 chicane later and he was deep into the top ten, chasing down Schrotter having just passed Miguel Oliveira. However, his charge was halted by worn tyres, no doubt stressed more than everyone else’s by the charge through the pack he had just conducted. He faced some more pressure from Oliveira’s tyre-friendly KTM at the end but he held on for fifth. The shame is, that he could have won had he started where he qualified.
Sixth place for Miguel Oliveira was not what he would have hoped for coming into the French Grand Prix weekend, but it did show a significant improvement from the previous year’s Le Mans result. It was also enough for Miguel to move into second in the championship, his consistency proving vital in the first part of this season, where the KTM has seemed to struggle compared to the end of last year. What is notable, on this front, is that both the KTM MotoGP and Moto3 bikes have shown significant improvement in the first portion of this season, and perhaps the resources required to make those gains in the lightweight and premier classes have taken away from the intermediate class effort from the Austrian marque. With that said, expect the KTM development train to stop at the Moto2 shed reasonably soon. Anyway, Mugello is next and Oliveira took his, and Portugal’s first Grand Prix win at the Italian track back in 2015 for Red Bull KTM Ajo, so maybe his championship fight back will start there.
If Marcel Schrotter’s ride to fourth place was “under the radar”, Romano Fenati’s seventh place was positively subterranean, made so by Mir’s podium. It’s a shame, really, but it looks like Fenati is finally starting to get on top of his rear tyre wear issues which have been a problem, as they so often are for Moto2 rookies, so far this season. It is a good way for him to go to his home Grand Prix.
Fabio Quartararo managed to take his best Moto2 result since Qatar 2017 with eighth place at his home GP. Whether this is a fluke, or he can build on it remains to be seen, but Fabio is still sitting in the hole dug out for him by his 2015 ankle-break in Misano and it would be nice to see him escape it.
Ninth place went to Brad Binder, who is still having a mysteriously difficult season so far. His race was hampered by Lorenzo Baldassarri’s crash, which he and teammate Oliveira both had to go wide at turn four to miss. But whilst Oliveira recovered to sixth, Binder didn’t, and in the end finished six seconds behind his teammate.
1.8 seconds behind Binder was Stefano Manzi, who had by far his best result since Silverstone last year with tenth place. It was a surprise because Manzi hadn’t looked to be getting on with the Suter at all, but this race might just give him the confidence he needs to push on and aim for bigger and better things.
Hector Barbera took his best Moto2 result with eleventh place, ahead of Andrea Locatelli who did the same as Barbera – encouraging progress for Loka. Sam Lowes was a disappointment as he finished thirteenth, and he will look to get back on track in Mugello, a track he adores. Simone Corsi finished fourteenth and Khairul Idham Pawi, somewhat surprisingly but also promisingly, rounded out the points.
16th place went to Bo Bendsneyder who also got a time penalty, without which he still wouldn’t have finished in the points. Steven Odendaal was seventeenth, ahead of the remounted Mattia Pasini who crashed at Garage Vert early on but continued to eighteenth (a frustrating throwback to the beginning of last year from Paso). Joe Roberts and Jules Danilo, in his home race, rounded out the top twenty.
Twenty first went to the second disappointing British rider of the weekend; Danny Kent, who finished 2.3 seconds ahead of Moto2 new-boy and Finnish Supersport (kind of) superstar, Niki Tuuli. Lukas Tulovic, still replacing Domi Aegerter, was twenty third, ahead of wildcard Corentin Perolari, Tetsuta Nagashima, Xavi Cardelus and the twenty seventh and the final rider to take the chequered flag; Cedric Tangre.
Federico Fuligni, Hector Garzo, Lorenzo Baldassarri, Iker Lecuona, Jorge Navarro, Eric Granado and Isaac Vinales were the retirements. Luca Marini also retired for pain in his shoulder. He was never planning to race, but completed two laps so that he could get use six-place grid penalty from Jerez so that it wouldn’t have to be applied in Mugello.
A fairly dull French Grand Prix resulted in the confirmation of what we already knew: Bagnaia is the strongest, Marquez is just a little bit away, Oliveira is waiting and Mir is scarily fast. Mugello awaits, and after only Italian winners in the intermediate class so far in 2018, you would be hard pressed to find someone betting against a tricolore being hoisted above the top step of the Moto2 Italian Grand Prix rostrum in less than two weeks’ time.
In 2016, Dorna’s vision was realised, where unified ECU software regulations were implemented in the MotoGP World Championship. The regulations had the desired effect, closing up the pack and making the field more competitive than ever before. The last two seasons, 2016 and 2017, have been incredible. Ten different race winners in 2016, followed by a final round championship decider in 2017 spoiled us MotoGP fans, but this year we are paying the price.
Marc Marquez on the 2015 Honda RC213V at Valencia. Image courtesy of hondanews.eu
But that is not anyone’s fault. Whilst Marc Marquez won the last two World Championships, he did not dominate them – at least not in terms of pace. There was no big speed or pace advantage that the Spaniard enjoyed for most of the season, like 2014 for example. But, in 2018, that has changed, because for the first time since that ridiculous 2014 season, Honda have built a motorcycle that does not have a major disadvantage. In fact, it is possible to say that, this season, the Honda is the best bike on the grid. Since 2015, the RC213V struggled with acceleration, initially because the engine was purely too aggressive, but then, when the unified software was introduced, it was marrying that motor with the Magneti Marelli ECU which proved the downfall of HRC. A big change came for 2017, though, when Honda switched from a ‘screamer’ to a ‘big bang’ engine, moving in line with the rest of the grid. The comparative smoothness of the big bang compared to the old screamer engine, which Honda was able to use in the past because their in-house electronics system was so sophisticated, meant that it was much more controllable for the ECU, which negated much of their disadvantage in acceleration from the past two seasons, but it was still apparent. One year on, and the acceleration deficit has almost entirely disappeared. Aside from Austin, where Cal Crutchlow complained about acceleration, and Jerez when Dani Pedrosa had similar issues, ‘acceleration’ has not been a prominent word in the 2018 vocabulary of the factory Honda riders. That has led to one thing: Marc Marquez domination.
From the moment Qatar ended, it was clear that the Spaniard was going to be hard to beat this season, and his pace in Argentina and Texas was simply frightening. But the two continental American rounds were somewhat insignificant, because Marquez is always fast at those two circuits. But, Qatar remained a worrying event for the rest of the field; Marquez had not been on the podium in Qatar since he won back in 2014, so to be less than one tenth of a second off the victory was something of a warning shot from the reigning champion to his rivals. That was born out in Jerez, where he took a commanding victory at a circuit where, again he hadn’t won since 2014. Le Mans became something of a final hope for the championship, especially with the non-score of Andrea Dovizioso in Jerez. Le Mans was another circuit where Marquez had not won since 2014 – he had struggled a lot post 2015. It was the chance for his rivals to hit back.
Marc Marquez ahead of Valetino Rossi. MotoGP 2018: Round Five – Le Mans, France
However, from Friday it became clear that it would not be the same as the past for Marquez, finishing FP2 on Friday in second place, just 0.168 seconds of Andrea Dovizioso despite setting his fastest time of the session on the hard rear tyre. And, whilst Dovi showed promising long run pace in FP4 on Saturday, the pace of Marquez on the hard rear tyre in warm up on Sunday morning was worrying ahead of the race. But, as you might expect, with the hard rear tyre Marquez suffered with temperature in the early laps of the race, and dropped a few positions at the start. As soon as he passed Danilo Petrucci, though, for fifth place, he jumped straight onto the back of the leading trio of Jorge Lorenzo, Johann Zarco and Dovizioso. Dovi knew the score, and he moved past Zarco and Lorenzo quickly, but just as quickly, he folded the front at La Chapelle; Dovi just got in there, too hot trying to make as much of a gap as he could before Marquez got through Zarco and Lorenzo behind. Unfortunately for Dovi, it was too much and it has probably ended his championship chances. But Marquez quickly got through Zarco and Lorenzo, helped by a crash for the Frenchman[Zarco], but by this point Danilo Petrucci had caught the leaders with Valentino Rossi in tow. Petrux was soon past Lorenzo, partly because he was after Marquez but also because he wanted to put a little bit more of his authority on the second 2019 factory Ducati contract. Rossi moved through on Lorenzo too, a lap later, and still had his sights set on Petrucci, though he knew Marquez was too far. That was the end of the action at the front.
From there on, Marquez kept Petrucci at a safe distance, Petrucci managed the gap to Rossi until the Yamaha rider had a couple of bad laps which cost him some time, after which Petrucci let Marquez go completely to conserve his second place. But the most important, of course, was the win of Marquez. The race had a real 2014 feel to it, with an explosive start after which Marc had to recover, and then a dull second half where the highlight was a, now, relatively routine save for the number 93 at turn three. This is worrying. We have had three years where Marquez has either not won the championship, or not won it with ease but 2018 seems different. Now Honda have sorted out the RCV, the reigning champion is reminding us of the reality, and in devastating fashion.
Already thirty six points clear of Maverick Vinales, the championship fight is over. You could say that this is a negative perspective to have, but, be honest, can you see anyone being able to claw back the deficit they already have? Vinales is 36 points back, and he just finished seventh; Zarco is 37 back and on a satellite bike; Rossi is 38 points adrift but bad results await the Italian in the next races and Andrea Dovizioso, who was the main threat to Marquez coming into this season is already nearly two wins back in the standings. Now, you can say that good tracks are coming for Ducati, but even if Dovi wins many races in the remaining part of the year, realistically he is going to need Marc to make mistakes, and in races Marc does not make mistakes, generally. So, essentially, without a major anomaly, Marquez has the championship won.
The next question is: can anyone beat him in the remainder of the season? Maybe Danilo Petrucci could. He finished second yesterday, with an outstanding ride. It is debatable how much Marquez was pushing after he extended his lead, but nevertheless, Petrucci kept Marquez within reasonable range for the majority of the race, which, as was proved in Jerez and Austin, is not an easy task. Furthermore, Petrucci took the points neither Dovi nor Lorenzo could pick up for Ducati. When the pressure has been put on Danilo, when contract season has arrived, Petrux has turned up, and he is making it difficult for Ducati to let him go. Mugello is next, and it was third place for Petrucci last year and after this result, he will be full of confidence that he can take the top step this time round.
The third place of Rossi came as a surprise. He lucked into fifth two weeks ago in Jerez, and it was a similar case this weekend. However, unlike in Jerez, it was individual mistakes that gave Rossi the podium in Le Mans. It has to be said that he deserved the podium, the weekend had gone in a similar vein to Jerez, although not as extreme, for the Movistar Yamaha team. They were fast in the cool temperatures of the morning, but in the afternoon they struggled. This was highlighted on Saturday, when they were first and third in FP3 in the morning, but only managed eighth and ninth on the grid. Modifications made in warm up on Sunday morning proved a success for the number 46 and they gave him the grip and acceleration gains required to allow him to fight. But the problems for Yamaha are not over, not nearly, and Rossi was under no illusion about the struggles he and the Movistar Yamaha team are going to face in the next races, but he will hope the test in Barcelona this week will help them continue the progress.
Maverick Vinales will be hoping for progress, too, after his seventh place in Le Mans. He is second in the championship after the French Grand Prix, but nobody really knows how. The Spaniard has finished fifth, fifth, second, seventh and seventh, so his current standing is a surprise to everyone. The problem in Le Mans was the same as usual for Maverick: a poor qualifying followed by a poor start and average pace on a full tank limiting the damage he could do at the end of the race to nothing. The frustration is that at the end of the race he is always fast, he and his team just need to find a way to make him comfortable on a full fuel load, and that has to be their focus in Barcelona for the test. The fourth place of Jack Miller in France was the result of a stunning ride. He ended the race just six seconds behind Marquez, one second behind Rossi and, importantly, two positions and four seconds ahead of Lorenzo on the factory bike. As Petrucci, Miller is making it difficult for Ducati to turn him away from the factory seat for next year. Furthermore, Miller reckoned that with an extra lap or two he could have passed Rossi for the final podium spot. Unfortunately, Jack made a couple of mistakes and they ultimately cost him, but for sure he will be wishing the organisers did not shorten the race by one lap for this year. Dani Pedrosa took fifth place in France. He put a move on Jorge Lorenzo for that fifth position which was very similar to the one which he tried in Jerez, which resulted in him colliding with Lorenzo and high siding. This time it was more successful for the number 26, though, and he made the move as clean as you like. He will be hoping for improvements in the future, but right now Dani just needs to find some consistency after a disrupted start to the season.
Jorge Lorenzo, at Le Mans whilst leading the race. Image courtesy of Ducati
There was no positivity for Jorge Lorenzo, though. He started the race well, leading nine laps, but after he was passed, he collapsed, falling to sixth by the end of the race. Lorenzo blamed ergonomics of the Ducati GP18, saying that the fuel tank doesn’t offer him sufficient support in braking, which leaves him too tired by the end of the race. Being beaten by both Pramac rider won’t help his chances of staying in Ducati in 2019, but with his favourite track up next, Mugello, he could redeem himself at the Italian Grand Prix.
Cal Crutchlow MotoGP 2018: Round Five – Le Mans, France – Image courtesy of Hondapronews
Cal Crutchlow spent the night in hospital on Saturday after his high side in Q1 at Garage Vert. He had blood in his lungs, and several other internal injuries, but just six hours after he was discharged from hospital he was on the grid and he finished eighth, just two seconds from last year’s winner, Vinales. Before Mugello it will be important for Cal to recover, especially for a circuit which is so physical, with many changes of direction. Ninth place went to Aleix Espargaro, who will have just been happy to finish after such a difficult start to the season. It was a good finish, too, ahead of Alex Rins on the factory Suzuki who rounded out the top ten, and the finish was just as important for Alex as Aleix, as the number 42 had also only had one finish from the opening four races. The pair will hope that from now they can build some consistency into their seasons, although there is nothing to lose for either of them, as they both have contracts for next year to stay put in their respective teams.
Pol Espargaro. Image courtesy of Philip Platzer/KTM
Pol Espargaro took KTM’s best finish of the season in eleventh place, and the result showed the progress KTM have made since Le Mans last year, as their race time was 20 seconds faster than 12 months ago. Hafizh Syahrin took twelfth place as he returned to more regular form after a difficult Jerez where he suffered with injury. Thirteenth went to Franco Morbidelli, who was running
as high as ninth before his tyre let go. The final result is not what he will have been after, but the weekend shows continued progress for the reigning Moto2 World Champion. Bradley Smith and Takaaki Nakagami rounded out the points, and fifteenth will be a welcome result for Taka, after an injury sustained on Friday. Andrea Iannone’s slim Suzuki chances for 2019 perhaps went up in smoke on Sunday when he crashed at La Chapelle on lap one. The next lap Iannone was joined on the side lines on the next lap by Alvaro Bautista, who felt he had the potential for a top ten, and then Dovizioso two laps later. Zarco fell with 19 laps to go, and the final fallers came on lap ten when Scott Redding and Tito Rabat fell.
Marc Marquez. Image courtesy of Honda pro racing
A race which started with a stunning double overtake from Johann Zarco in turn three and turned into a fairly dull affair has potentially decided the championship. There are still fourteen races to go, but the worrying thing is that they could all follow the same path. The 2018 MotoGP field is perhaps the most competitive in years, but it is at risk of producing one of the most predictable seasons. Maybe something will change when the paddock arrives in the home of the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello in two weeks time.
Check out the latest video from Mobil 1 The Grid. The piece features Daniel Ricciardo and Christian Horner as they look back on the achievements of the team since the first race in 2005.
The week of practice and qualifying is over. We had some surprising results across the weekend of qualifying at the Brickyard.
Ed Carpenter stole the headlines though with a 230mph+ starting lap and broke up the Penske party. The oval specialist got his third pole, and his fourth front row start in six years, he’s yet to convert any to tasting that iconic milk and taking the flag.
Sebastien Bourdais may of had the fastest car last year and had that horrific crash but didn’t let it faze him as he qualified fifth.
Danica Patrick in her last racing outing starts seventh. She got through to the fast nine and as others had difficulty she succeeded. Castroneves who ran last felt loose throughout his run much like Dixon who complete the third row with her.
The shock of Saturday was that James Hinchcliffe who will not be on the grid due not being in the fastest 33. Alexander Rossi who won the race on his debut in 2016 is starting 32nd. He had terrible vibrations which restricted his speed.
Ed Carpenter. Image courtesy of http://media.gm.com
The Indy 500 Qualifying Grid
1. Ed Carpenter, 229.618
2. Simon Pagenaud, 228.761
3. Will Power, 228.607
