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The 24 Hours of Alonso

The Canadian Grand Prix was a milestone for one of the drivers. Fernando Alonso would start his 300^th Grand Prix in Formula 1 (although some still argue it was his 297^th start as he did not start all of them). This was enough reason to make it a memorable weekend for the Spaniard. Knowing that he doesn’t have a winning car in the McLaren-Renault, the expectations were not that high. Finishing in the points would be more than enough. After a very disappointing qualifying; he only ended up in P14, hoping to get just one point as overtaking at Montreal can be difficult. He didn’t have an amazing start, which doesn’t happen often to the Spanish McLaren driver, but he did fight his way through the field. This ended in vein as he had to retire the car again due to problems with the electronics.

A disappointing 300^th Grand Prix in F1 it was then for Fernando. However, he did have something else to look forward to. As part of his pursue to the Triple Crown, he would participate at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Toyota LMP1 team. He already won the Monaco GP twice, but he didn’t have an overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans yet. The third piece of the Triple Crown is a victory at the Indy 500. Fernando did participate at that race last year and it looked like he could actually win the race as a rookie, until his Honda engine blew up near the end of the race. He thus still has to win both of them. This weekend Alonso had his first try at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Could he get this important victory after another disappointing weekend in Formula 1?

Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Montreal, Canada Fernando Alonso, McLaren.
Image courtesy of Steven Tee/McLaren ref: Digital Image _1ST9206

The Toyota number 8 car with Nakajima, Buemi and Alonso as the drivers took pole as Nakajima posted the fastest time in Qualifying 3 with a 3:15.377, putting them in front of their sister car number 7 with a gap of two seconds. This of course meant that the first ever victory for the Toyota team at Le Mans was within reach.

As Alonso was a rookie at Le Mans, it would be a risk to put him behind the wheel for the start of the race as it can be quite busy. That’s why Buemi was allowed to go first. Their race could’ve ended very early as Buemi had to defend hard to keep his first place, which led to a light touch with the Rebellion number 1 car which then went on and crashed into the Dragonspeed car.

It was at night, with thirteen hours left on the clock, where Alonso showed his full potential. The Spaniard took the wheel over from Buemi who had a good stint, but the gap to the number 7 Toyota kept growing. Fernando solely closed the gap to the number 7 Toyota from 1 minute and 30 seconds to just 40 seconds. Finding his way through the traffic he posted some very fast lap times. With eleven hours to go, Nakajima took over from the Spaniard and the fight for victory would go on between the Toyotas. They didn’t have a complete flawless race, as both cars got stop-and-go penalties for speeding during a slow zone. These penalties eventually got the number 7 car out of the running for the victory as they got two penalties in succession near the end of the race. Toyota, however, decided to not let Fernando take the flag, but the Japanese drivers Nakajima for the number 8 car and Kobayashi for the number 7 car. This was a good choice, as Nakajima finally could get his redemption for the drama in 2016, where the car stopped working with just one lap left. After 24 hours, the Toyotas took the flag in P1 and P2, giving them their first ever overall victory at Le Mans.

#8 TOYOTA GAZOO RACING / JPN / Toyota TS050 – Hybrid – Hybrid / Sebastien Buemi (CHE) / Fernando Alonso (ESP) / Kazuki Nakajima (JPN)
Image courtesy of fia wec

Of course this victory for Toyota couldn’t come without complaints from critics. With Toyota being the only factory team in the LMP1 class, there wasn’t any competition . The privateer teams like Rebellion and SMP couldn’t match the pace of the Toyotas at all. Bykolles retired early in the race after a crash, and Rebellion number 1 with Lotterer behind the wheel knew a difficult start after hitting the Dragonspeed LMP1 car.

Many fans thus say that the victory wasn’t that unexpected and some even say it was undeserved because of the lack of competition. This might be partially true as it was indeed just a fight between the Toyotas up front. However, the last two years the Toyotas retired from the lead, with perhaps the most dramatic finish ever at Le Mans in 2016, But to win at Le Mans you have to battle against Le Mans itself. It was not a battle against an Audi or a Porsche, but a fight against themselves as they still had to survive those 24 hours. An engine problem could end their race in a second, a crash could end their race, a suspension failure could end their race and so on. Even with the fastest car you’re not safe from the wear and tear of Le Mans, hence the comment “to win at Le Mans you have to beat Le Mans”.

And it isn’t just the cars that have to survive, the drivers need to survive as well. Especially with a rookie, in endurance racing that is, it can be tough. Keeping up the pace all 24 hours long, fighting through the always unpredictable traffic and driving for more than two hours straight each stint wears those drivers out. A good example of that were the faces of Alonso and former F1 teammate at McLaren Jenson Button in their cars near the end of the race. They both had very tired eyes and in interviews they looked and sounded very tired as well.

A win at Le Mans therefore is never undeserved. It might be less special without the competition from other factory teams, but it is still a tough race on itself.

#8 TOYOTA GAZOO RACING / JPN / Toyota TS050 – Hybrid – Hybrid / Sebastien Buemi (CHE) / Fernando Alonso (ESP) / Kazuki Nakajima (JPN)
Image courtesy of Joao Filipe/fia wec

Winning at Monaco and Le Mans, Alonso just needs one win to be the second person ever to take the Triple Crown, the Indy 500 victory. The Le Mans win could mean then that he will focus fully on Indycar and this might be his last season of Formula 1. The WEC ‘superseason’ ends with the Le Mans race of 2019, where Alonso potentially could get a second victory there. He already has two wins at the Monaco GP. Could Alonso be the first driver ever to achieve the Triple Crown twice?

Featured image courtesy of Steven Tee/McLaren ref: Digital Image _1ST0758

18th June 2018
Le Mans LMP2: G-Drive takes maiden Le Mans win

The #26 G-Drive of Jean-Éric Vergne, Andrea Pizzitola and Romain Rusinov put in a commanding display at the 24 Hours of Le Mans to take the outfit’s first win at the event.

The #26 initially had a poor start, with Vergne losing places at on the opening lap and dropping to seventh. But after recovering one place to sixth, Vergne then went a lap longer before pitting than the leading group and the offset was enough to bring the #26 out into first, where it remained for the rest of the race to finish fifth overall and two laps up on the rest of the LMP2 field.

#36 Signatech Alpine A470 / Andrej Alesko, WEC Media

Finishing a distant second behind G-Drive was the #36 Signatech Alpine, driven by Nicolas Lapierre, Pierre Thiriet and André Negrão.

For most of the race, the #36 had been locked in a close fight over the runners-up spot with the #23 Panis-Barthez Ligier, with the two cars trading second and third throughout Saturday evening and into the night.

But with four hours remaining on Sunday morning, Will Stevens brought the #23 Ligier into the pits with technical issues—he was kept there for over an hour, dropping him to 11th and allowing Signatech Alpine to finish second unchallenged.

Panis-Barthez’s lengthy stop promoted the polesitting #48 IDEC Sport Oreca into third, until gearbox problems ended the latter’s race within the final hours.

In the #48’s absence, the #39 Graff Oreca inherited third and held the position until the chequered flag, with Tristan Gommendy fending off a late charge by former race winner Loïc Duval in TDS Racing’s #28 car.

#47 Cetilar Villorba Corse Dallara P217 / Marius Hecker, WEC Media

Juan Pablo Montoya ended his Le Mans debut in fifth in the #32 United Autosports after a puncture in the penultimate hour dropped the Colombian a lap behind the LMP2 leaders. Jackie Chan DC Racing’s all-Malaysian #37 car finished sixth while the #31 Dragonspeed, which had started second and led early on, finished seventh.

Racing Team Nederland’s #29 was the highest Dallara finisher in ninth, sandwiched between the #38 and #33 Jackie Chan cars. There were issues for the #35 SMP and the #47 Cetilar Villorba Corse, with steering problems for the former and a late crash for the latter putting them 12th and 13th in class respectively.

As well as the #48 IDEC, there were four other retirements in the 20-car LMP2 field. The #34 Jackie Chan became the first after suffering an engine failure during the night, and was followed two laps later by the #40 G-Drive, which was spun into the Porsche Curves wall by José Gutiérrez. The #25 Algarve Pro Racing also retired, and United Autosports’ #22 car crashed out from fourth with four hours left.

The #44 Eurasia did not retire, but went unclassified as it failed to complete the final lap of the race.

#22 United Autosports Ligier JSP217 / Joao Filipe, WEC Media

17th June 2018
Le Mans LMP1: Alonso adds to Triple Crown bid with #8 Toyota win

Toyota broke its 24 Hours of Le Mans curse with an emotional 1–2 finish led home by the #8 car of Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso.

#8 and #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrids / Toyota Gazoo Racing

The Japanese marque was the overwhelming favourite coming into the 86th running of Le Mans, and aggressive opening stints from both Buemi and the #7 car’s Mike Conway soon put the two TS050 Hybrids well ahead of the privateer LMP1 entries battling for third.

The #7 gained the advantage late on Saturday when Buemi earned the #8 car a 60-second stop-go penalty for speeding in a slow zone. But a pair of rapid nighttime recovery drives by first Alonso and then Nakajima saw the #7’s lead disappear. Nakajima then completed the #8’s comeback in the 16th hour by snatching first place from Kamui Kobayashi on the inside of Arnage.

The #8 went on to hold the lead for the remaining eight hours, while the #7 dropped back after a series of late difficulties that included Jose Maria Lopez spinning at the Dunlop chicane and Kobayashi missing a pit stop and needing to take an extra lap at full course yellow speed to save fuel.

In the end Nakajima brought the #8 Toyota across the line with two laps in hand over Kobayashi in the sister car, which was a further ten laps clear of the #3 Rebellion in third. The win was Toyota’s first at Le Mans after 19 attempts and the first by a Japanese manufacturer since Mazda in 1991. Nakajima meanwhile became the first Japanese driver to win since Seiji Ara did so with Audi in 2004.

#3 Rebellion Racing R13 / Joao Filipe, WEC Media

Behind the Toyotas, Rebellion and SMP Racing immediately established themselves as the chief contenders for best-of-the-rest.

After Andre Lotterer lost the nose of his #1 Rebellion in a first lap collision, it was Thomas Laurent in the sister #3 who took charge of the Swiss team’s race by pressuring the #17 SMP of Stephane Sarrazin for third.

The two Frenchmen and their subsequent replacements swapped third and fourth position several times in the opening hours of the race, although the battle was eventually ended early and in Rebellion’s favour when Matevos Isaakyan spun the #17 into the barriers at the Porsche Curves shortly after midnight.

Isaakyan’s crash came not long after Dominik Kraihamer spun the #4 ByKolles out of the race at the same part of the track. The #10 Dragonspeed was another casualty of the Porsche Curves with Ben Hanley finding the barriers in hour 17, while the Manor-run #6 CEFC Ginetta and the #11 SMP were both waylaid by mechanical troubles to make it five LMP1 retirements by the end of the race.

That left the #1 Rebellion—which recovered from its opening lap crash and several late penalties to take fourth—and the #5 CEFC Ginetta, as the only surviving LMP1 cars outside of the podium.

#6 CEFC Ginetta G60-LT-P1 / Joao Filipe, WEC Media

17th June 2018
First Moto2 Pole for Quartararo

Fabio Quartararo. Image courtesy of Honda pro racing

In 2015, Fabio Quartararo came into the Moto3 World Championship with the Estrella Galicia team as the next big thing, and a double CEV Moto3 champion. The rules were changed for Quartararo, to allow champions of the Moto3 Junior World Championship to graduate to the World Championship from the age of 15, rather than 16 years. But a broken ankle in Misano 2015 pretty much ended his year, and a move to the Leopard team, who won the 2015 World Championship with Danny Kent, as well as KTM machinery hindered the Frenchman’s progress. He had an awful 2016, not even reaching the podium. Fabio then went to Moto2 in 2017 with the Pons HP40 team, but was fired from the team at the end of the year after another tough season. Speed Up was the destination for Quartararo for 2018, and up to now, he was looking pretty ordinary: 20th in Qatar, 22nd in Argentina, 15th in Texas, 10th in Jerez, 8th at home in Le Mans, and 11th last time out in Mugello. There has clearly been progress, but nothing which you might say is pointing to something special.

However, since Quartararo arrived in Barcelona, he has been rapid. He may have been only 23rd fastest in FP1, but that was only 1.1 seconds of the top time; then in FP2 he was third; FP3 he was eighth and in qualifying he took his first ever Grand Prix pole position, and Speed Up’s tenth their relatively short history. It was a brilliant lap by Fabio, and completely unexpected – he has been nowhere for two-and-a-half years and all of a sudden he arrives on pole position, and by over one tenth which is a huge rarity in Moto2. His consistency over the weekend points to promise for Sunday, but he really is an unknown quantity, it is difficult to say what he can achieve.

Alex Marquez and Marcel Schrotter join Quartararo on the front row, Marquez having looked strong all weekend and Schrotter similarly. For Marquez, tomorrow is crucial; with the championship falling away from him he needs to take a lot of points out of the championship leaders and tomorrow offers a good opportunity to do just that, with some unusual names seemingly able to mix it with the typical front runners. A win tomorrow could launch Marquez back into contention.

Francesco Bagnaia, image courtesy of honda pro racing

Championship leader, Francesco Bagnaia, will aim for his fourth victory of 2018 from fourth on the grid – an omen? As you might expect, Bagnaia has looked fairly risk-free and still blisteringly fast all weekend. He may have missed the front row today but this seems to be the type of race which suits Bagnaia perfectly, as he tends to have a little bit extra on his rivals, at least those on Kalex chassis’, when it comes to tyre conservation. This advantage could prove vital tomorrow, and Pecco will be keen to return to the rostrum after missing it at home in Italy two weeks ago.

Brad Binder will line up fifth for tomorrow, and is another rider who has looked consistently quick this weekend. The South African is still without a podium in 2018, and tomorrow’s race seems like it could offer a great opportunity for him to change that, now he has finally made a good qualifying. The final spot on the second row will be taken by Mattia Pasini, who has not been so consistent this weekend, but might just be able to sneak a decent result if he can make a good start and get his defence on.

Xavi Vierge has not had such a stunning weekend, but nonetheless made the head of row three in qualifying, ahead of Joan Mir, who is surely aiming for a third consecutive podium, and Sam Lowes who will just want a solid points haul after a torrid beginning to 2018.

Lorenzo Baldassarri has not had the pace you might have expected so far this weekend, and only managed tenth place in qualifying. He needs to make some changes in warm-up on Sunday morning if he is to take a result which can help his championship. Joining the number seven on row four are Simone Corsi and an impressive Tetsuta Nagashima.

Luca Marini is in better physical condition than in Mugello, where he managed an impressive seventh place, but could still only manage thirteenth place and the head of the fifth row in qualifying. Iker Lecuona and Romano Fenati join Marini on row five.

Andrea Locatelli and wildcard Edgar Pons will be either side of persistently poor qualifier Miguel Oliveira. Fortunately for Miguel, it never seems to matter if he qualifies in the depths of the top twenty, because he always makes a stunning start and first laps. From eleventh in Mugello he won, but tomorrow, from seventeenth will be tough for the Portuguese. He will need to make the most of the long run to turn one from the grid if he is to make a good result tomorrow. But, if he can get to the top ten early, he might just be able to use the KTMs impressive tyre management to his advantage and come through to the top five or even the podium. One thing is for sure, Oliveira is not particularly intent on making these races easy for himself.

Jorge Navarro disappointed with only nineteenth on the grid, but did beat Hector Barbera’s replacement, Augusto Fernandez who has been incredibly quick this weekend but for whatever reason could not replicate his pace in qualifying. Barbera is out because he has been sacked from the Pons HP40 team due to a drink driving incident in the week, and the decision of the team is entirely understandable, and indeed correct.

A little bit about Fernandez: he was riding a Superstock 600 Yamaha R6 in the European Moto2 Championship (effectively the STK600 in European Moto2 is like a race within a race, think European Supersport Cup), and riding it well, until he got on a Moto2 Tech3 Mistral 610 at the Aragon round of the European Moto2 Championship back in 2016, at which point he immediately launched himself into victory contention. Last year, he was drafted into the Speed Up team to replace Axel Bassani, but he was dropped from Speed Up this year and has since been riding a private Suter back in the European Championship again, on which he challenged Jesko Raffin (on a Kalex) for the win last weekend in Barcelona. It’s fair to say Augusto is trying to make the most of this opportunity with the Pons team, and hopefully he does enough for them to keep him. Isaac Vinales rounds out the seventh row.

Khairul Idham Pawi and the returning Remy Gardner are in front of Domi Aegerter on row eight; then Steven Odendaal, Bo Bendsneyder and Danny Kent (1.681 off Quartararo) will make up row nine; Joe Roberts, Niki Tuuli and Dimas Ekky row ten; Stefano Manzi, Eric Granado and Jules Danilo row eleven; and Federico Fuligni is the final rider on the grid and the only one on row twelve.

Interestingly, Manzi on the Forward Suter was only 0.020 seconds faster than Fernandez’ time last week, and his teammate Granado was 0.025 seconds slower than the Spaniard.

17th June 2018
First 2018 Pole for Bastianini

The Qualifying top 3. Image courtesy of Honda pro racing

It’s been a difficult start to the season for Enea Bastianini, he is over forty points off the championship lead and has only finished three races. But, in true “La Bestia” style, he turns it all around in Barcelona, the scene of his first World Championship podium back in 2014. This time, he’s come back with a pole, his first since 2016 and first (obviously) with the Leopard Honda squad. The pace has been there all weekend, too, so perhaps this is the weekend for Enea to recharge his championship challenge.

Of course, Bastianini on pole means Jorge Martin does not receive the Pole Position Award (a genuine surprise) and this was mostly due to traffic. Put simply, Martin got unlucky, and Bastianini the opposite. In fairness, the traffic Martin encountered was, for the most part, doing nothing wrong. But anyway, Martin has the potential to perhaps do what he tried in Mugello: break the pack. In Italy, his teammate, Fabio Di Giannantonio, and Marco Bezzecchi went with him, but they haven’t had such strong pace this weekend. Maybe Bastianini can go with Martin, but that might be about it.

Jorge Martin. Image courtesy of Honda pro racing

Tatsuki Suzuki will be hoping to make more of his front row in Barcelona than he made of his front row in Mugello, where he finished seventeenth. Ayumu Sasaki joined Suzuki on the front row in Italy, and finished one place ahead of the Sic58 Squadra Corse rider, so will have a similar aim. Aron Canet and Kaito Toba – impressive again – round out row two.

John McPhee finally had a decent qualifying, and he will start from seventh place tomorrow on the CIP KTM, and joined by Gabriel Rodrigo and Marco Bezzecchi on the third row. Not a great qualifying for Bezzecchi, championship leader, but he has looked decent this weekend, and will still have hopes of a podium finish for tomorrow and limiting the damage done in the championship done by Martin.

Lorenzo Dalla Porta heads up row four, from Kazuki Masaki and Nicolo Bulega, who is, apparently, back. Bulega has had a miserable year, and actually it even goes back to last year where he had a best position of fourth. But the Italian showed some good signs in Mugello, and this weekend he has been very quick, often in the top ten. Unfortunately, a mistake in the final sector cost him almost one second, and so he will have to do what he can from the back of the fourth row tomorrow; but a podium is not entirely out of the question tomorrow for Bulega, and that is something pretty much everyone expected they would not be saying (or writing) at any point this year.

If it was a bad qualifying for the championship leader, Marco Bezzecchi, it was even worse for Fabio Di Giannantonio. The Italian has been struggling all weekend, never in the top ten, and a crash in the early stages of qualifying got his session off to a bad start, from which he could only recover to thirteenth. He only had one run, in the end, as it took the Gresini team almost the whole session to repair Diggia’s bike. He has a lot of work to do tomorrow.

Jakub Kornfeil and the impressive wildcard, Raul Fernandez, round out row five. Interesting to not that Fernandez, in the Angel Nieto Team, was ahead of both his teammates, Andrea Migno and Albert Arenas.

In fact, Migno finished qualifying in sixteenth place, ahead of Jaume Masia and Philipp Oettl on the sixth row. Albert Arenas heads up row seven ahead of Darryn Binder and Adam Norrodin, whilst Tony Arbolino is ahead of Makar Yurchenko and Alonso Lopez on row eight. Row nine sees Marcos Ramirez ahead of Dennis Foggia and Livio Loi; whilst Vicente Perez and Nakarin Atiratphuvapat complete the grid.

Niccolo Antonelli did not run in qualifying, because he dislocated his left shoulder in a crash at turn two in FP3 in the morning.

17th June 2018
Lorenzo Takes First Ducati Pole in Barcelona

After taking his first Ducati win two weeks ago in Mugello, Jorge Lorenzo today took his first Ducati pole position with a stunning 1’38.680 at the death of Q2 to beat Marc Marquez. It was Jorge’s 40^th pole position in the premier class and 66^th in all classes, and as a result we can fairly safely assume that Mr. Lorenzo is ‘back’. A shame for Ducati; they wouldn’t have minded too much if Mugello proved to be a one-off, but it seems that Lorenzo really has solved the Desmosedici puzzle, and about two weeks too late for him to remain in Ducati. But can the number 99 win tomorrow? Well, possibly. His race pace this weekend has been the best of anyone, and by a reasonable distance. However, tomorrow will show the reality of the situation regarding the effectiveness of the modified fuel tank Lorenzo had asked for so insistently. It worked in Mugello but only tomorrow will we see whether that is transferable to other tracks. If he is there until the end, it works generally, if he falls back again like in Le Mans, there is still more to be done. But, ultimately, Jorge Lorenzo should win tomorrow.

Jorge Lorenzo. Image courtesy of Ducati media

However, it won’t be entirely simple, being MotoGP an’ all. For a start, Marc Marquez is starting alongside Lorenzo on the front row of the grid in second place. Leaving aside the longest front end slide to be save in all of history, Marquez’ day was pretty flawless. Sure, it looked more difficult for him to make lap time than it was for the likes of Lorenzo, but when does Marc Marquez, or any Honda rider for that matter, look as though he isn’t on the brink of a crash at every corner? The answer would be never. From this, it is perhaps possible to say that the Honda is not necessarily a more rounded motorcycle this year, but it is perhaps better at doing what it was already good at. Either way, that save was a stunner, and so was his qualifying, coming from Q1 – after a crash in FP3 cost him a final time attack to make Q2 directly from the combined free practice times – to so nearly take the pole position; if he had done it he would have been the first rider to ever come from Q1 to make pole position in MotoGP (Tom Sykes took pole in Sepang 2016 for World Superbike after coming from Q1).

But the most important for Marquez is that he is in the front row. If he can get in front of Lorenzo and stay in front tomorrow, he can definitely take the fight to Jorge. Perhaps critically, it seems again like Marquez can run the hard rear tyre. He had a few off-throttle slides on it, but his pace was good, so it depends on two things: track temperature and whether Marc wants to take the risk. The second point is almost invalid. It’s also worth pointing out that whilst he was strong on the soft tyre, Marquez also seemed quite comfortable on the soft compound rear that most of the rest of the field seem intent on running tomorrow afternoon. Marquez looks strong, but it will be important for him to break Lorenzo’s rhythm.

Marquez proved to be the Honda meat in a Ducati front row sandwich, as Andrea Dovizioso recovered from a difficult first run in Q2 to make the front row in his second flying lap. He was a way off, three tenths separating Dovi from teammate and polesitter Lorenzo, but Dovizioso has never been a pole hound, and you know that he has been working on race pace all weekend. Again, like Marquez, it seems like he can run either the hard or the soft rear, although you get the feeling he would rather run the soft – as we know, the Ducati works best when there is good grip. With all the glory Lorenzo has enjoyed in the last races, it will be important for Dovi to re-establish his dominance in the factory Ducati garage tomorrow. He can win, but it would be a surprise.

Fourth place in qualifying went, arguably surprisingly, to Maverick Vinales. First of all, P4 for Vinales in a qualifying at Barcelona with 50 degree track temperatures shows Yamaha are making progress with the issues which the M1 has, and this is very promising for them for both tomorrow and the rest of the season. Through all the weekend, Maverick has looked good, and more importantly has been constantly favouring the soft compound rear tyre. Especially in comparison to his teammate, Valentino Rossi, who seems to be edging towards the medium rear for tomorrow. This is positive for Vinales, as the soft rear tyre could give him the grip at the start, especially if many people run the medium or hard rear tyres, as it could allow him to make a decent start, not lose too much in the first stages of the race and finally use his late race pace to charge for the podium, and a factory Yamaha podium in Barcelona would be, to say the least, unexpected.

Andrea Iannone. Image courtesy of Suzuki racing

Andrea Iannone topped FP4, despite being very inconsistent and not really making a long run, but could only manage fifth in qualifying. A middle-of-the-second-row start for Iannone tomorrow gives him a good opportunity to make a good start and put himself in the mix with the Ducatis and Marquez. In the morning’s FP3, Iannone was matching the pace of Lorenzo, high 39s. If he can repeat this tomorrow he can be in the mix for the podium or even the win, it’s just about whether he can make the soft rear tyre last in the heat.

Danilo Petrucci rounded out the second row. It would be a surprise to see Petrucci remain in contention tomorrow, being a rider who tends to be quite hard on the tyre, but opposing that idea is the pace of the Italian, who was running in the mid-1’40s today, which pretty much matches everyone bar Lorenzo and Marquez. Temperature, as for everyone, will be the critical factor for Petrux tomorrow, because of all the rider who are probably looking to run the soft rear tyre, he is the one who will suffer with it the most.

The first spot on row three will be occupied by Valentino Rossi tomorrow as he qualified seventh. The Italian was disappointed because he felt his potential was enough for the second row, but a mistake on what could have been his best lap at turn ten cost him that, and left him with row three for tomorrow. Unfortunately for Rossi, it looks like he can’t make the soft compound rear last the distance and will have to run the medium to get to the end without falling off a lap time cliff. Despite this, Rossi suggests the biggest issues will come from the front tyre, he feels that this is the limiting factor. Many riders have favoured the soft front this weekend, including Rossi, but in his fastest run in FP4, he ran with a medium front and rear. We know that Rossi always likes to focus on the race pace, so maybe he has something for tomorrow, but after Saturday his chances don’t look quite as good as one day ago.

Rossi will be joined on the third row tomorrow by Johann Zarco who has had another quiet weekend, but his pace is mid-1’40s, so he can fight for a good result tomorrow, and Tito Rabat who has been yet again very impressive on the Avintia Ducati. Surprisingly, Tito’s pace is even better than Zarco’s, and arguably even better than Rossi’s. If he can make the soft rear tyre last the distance tomorrow, which it looks like he can, Rabat could turn a fair few heads tomorrow.

Pol Espargaro. Image courtesy of Markus Berger/ktm

Row four is an all-Honda affair, with Cal Crutchlow leading Dani Pedrosa and Takaaki Nakagami. Jack Miller, Hafizh Syahrin and a disappointing Alex Rins complete row five, whilst row six consists of Aleix Espargaro, Bradley Smith and Franco Morbidelli. Pol Espargaro was nineteenth, ahead of Scott Redding and Karel Abraham, whilst the eighth row sees Alvaro Bautista in twenty-second ahead of Mika Kallio and Tom Luthi. Sylvain Guintoli and Xavier Simeon who crashed at turn four complete the grid.

Featured Image courtesy of Ducati Media

16th June 2018
Lowes Takes First WSBK Win in Brno

After his domination of the first race at the Czech round of the 2018 Superbike World Championship, it was difficult to see anyone defeating Jonathan Rea, by this point the most victorious rider in World Superbike history, in the second outing in Brno.

However, Tom Sykes saw to that. On lap three of the race, after starting from ninth place thanks to the reverse grid rules, Rea tried a move on Sykes for sixth place at turn twelve, before the run up ‘Horsepower Hill’, but ran wide. Sykes, as you might expect, squared the corner off and tried to beat Rea out of the corner. Unfortunately, though, the pair made contact and Rea ended up in the gravel. That is the essence of what happened, but it did not end there.

Whilst the race was continuing, Rea stood at the side of the track and offered a sarcastic applause to his KRT teammate, obviously not impressed by what happened, and after the race he explained that he felt that Sykes ran into him on purpose, citing the 2013 World Champion’s line on the exit of the corner compared to Eugene Laverty’s in front as evidence since Sykes was out a little wider than Laverty. Rea also questioned why it always seems to be only with him that Sykes can fight and ultimately blamed his teammate for the incident. Obviously, Sykes himself had a different perspective on the incident and felt that Race Direction were correct in their verdict that it was a ‘racing incident’ and so took no action. Whatever opinion you have on this, you have to admit that there is no a clear rupture in the Kawasaki Racing Team garage, and the unsurprising continuation of Rea in Kawasaki – which was announced the following day – may also indicate that the number 66 is leaving the ZX10-RR at the end of 2018 to look for greener (bluer) grass in another garage.

Back to the race and, one lap later, Marco Melandri took the lead at turn one from Alex Lowes. Two corners after that, the Italian was in the gravel, his victory hopes gone. All of a sudden, the race was blown wide open: Rea, serial winner, was out; Melandri, the Brno specialist was out of contention and the two Yamaha riders were leading from Chaz Davies and Eugene Laverty.

Chas Davis. Image courtesy of ducati media

Given the struggles of Davies in the Czech Republic, a round which had not shown an upturn in form for the Welshman after a tough Donington, it was hard to see him getting near the Yamahas of Michael van der Mark and Alex Lowes. The Yamaha riders were the first to try the new, wider, taller Pirelli tyre and it was one of the things which helped Michael van der Mark take the double back in the UK. On the other hand, Davies had struggled since its introduction and it would not be a ludicrous assumption that missing something with this new tyre is a major factor in the number 7’s current struggles – although, it is a surprise that it is he that is struggling, not the diminutive Melandri.

So, with Davies on the limit and with no answer to either of the two Pata Yamaha R1s, it was down to the Anglo-Dutch leading pair to decide who should be the victor: would Lowes take his first World Superbike victory, his first of any kind since the first British Superbike race at Assen in 2013; or would Van der Mark take his third win in four races on his first Brno visit? Judging by race one, it should have been Magic Michael’s all day – he had better pace than Lowes, and by the midpoint of race two he was making an impression on the 2013 British Champion. But Lowes responded. He managed the gap well and with three laps to go he seemed to break Van der Mark’s spirit as the Dutchman seemed to settle in for second place behind his teammate and be content with completing Yamaha’s first World Superbike 1-2 since Portimao 2011 when Marco Melandri led Eugene Laverty home at the Portuguese circuit. And that is how it went. In the end, Michael let Alex go and the Brit took a first win that has been a very long time coming, and a well-deserved one at that, too.

It was a stunning ride from Lowes. So many times we have seen him faulter in promising positions, especially back in the Suzuki days. But on Sunday the #22 showed off the revolutionised Alex Lowes; the rational, calm and consistent rider that began to emerge in the beginning of last season and who has begun to flourish in 2018 and this victory is just deserves for the change in attitude he took for 2017. In the preview for this weekend, I asked the question of whether the motivation Lowes gained from his teammate’s double victory in Donington would be enough to overcome Van der Mark this weekend should they end up in a position where they both had the opportunity to win, and he showed that it was.

Marco Melandri. Image courtesy of Ducati media

Perhaps more importantly, the win showed that the Yamaha is a genuine race-winning motorcycle. For sure, Rea and Sykes (in a separate incident to the one already discussed) crashed, Davies struggled and Melandri cost himself a chance of the win, but Yamaha still had to capitalise and they did so with a stunning 1-2. From now the most important thing for Yamaha is to manage expectations: ultimately they still aren’t quite at the level of Kawasaki or Ducati, but they are getting closer, and perhaps that is the most important thing.

Behind the podium trio of Lowes, Van der Mark and Davies (a great result for Davies, by the way, after another really tough weekend), Eugene Laverty brought home his Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4 in fourth place – his and the team’s best result of the season and proof of further steps forward from the SMR team, despite Aprilia’s limited interest in WSBK. Still, though, Laverty is complaining of his classic rear grip issues and whilst it is improving it is still not where he would like it. Amongst rumours of the team’s switch to Suzuki or BMW for next season, this result is quite positive in terms of the team’s chances of staying with Aprilia for 2019. What is not so positive is the signs coming from Noale, which all point towards furthering their efforts in MotoGP, highlighted by statements from Romano Albesiano after they announced the signing of Andrea Iannone to the MotoGP outfit for next year, in which he spoke of Aprilia’s increased commitment in GPs. Whilst Lorenzo Savadori backed up Laverty’s fourth place with a fifth of his own, you can’t help but feel there will be some different machinery behind the Milwaukee logos for next year.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi . Image courtesy of Ducati media

Following the two Aprilias over the line was in sixth, again impressing on the Aruba.it Junior Team Ducati. Once more, it was tyre wear towards the end of the race that cost the Italian-Venezuelan a chance to finish further up, but his ability is shining through this year. Unfortunately for Michael, he now has a four-week break until his next race in Misano. He is only doing the European races this season so he will therefore miss the next round of the World Championship in Laguna Seca.

Leon Camier will not miss Laguna, and will hopefully be in a better physical condition than this weekend when he arrives in California for round eight of the season. Of course, Leon is still suffering with pain and discomfort from his crash in Aragon back in round three of the series, but that did not stop him taking another top ten on Sunday with seventh place, another good result on the Red Bull Honda.

Xavi Fores completed yet another frustrating weekend, although nowhere near as bad as Donington, with an eighth place on the Barni Racing Ducati. It has been some slump from the Spaniard in the last few rounds, but hopefully he can return to the form that saw him take so many podiums in the first part of the season in the races coming up.

Toprak Razgatlioglu ensured he took two top tens away from his first ever race weekend in Brno with a ninth in race two to follow on from his tenth place in race one. This was the target set for him by the Puccetti Racing Kawasaki team, so despite it not being the stunning second place of race two in Donington, the Turkish rider should be happy with his weekend.

Roman Ramos rounded out the top ten on Sunday, to take his first finish inside the first ten riders of 2018. The new engine revs regulations have hit the customer Kawasaki teams extremely hard because, unlike KRT, they do not have the resources to find ways around the harsh rev limits placed on the ZX10-RR, but it seems that Ramos and the GoEleven Kawasaki team are finding their way, and hopefully the Spaniard can have a better second half of the season.

Loris Baz finished a disappointing eleventh – you get the feeling that both he and Althea Racing cannot wait to get to the end of the season so that they both can see the back of the BMW because they just do not seem to be getting the support they need to make progress.

Twelfth place went to Jake Gagne, again a way off Camier but again at a circuit he does not know. It will be interesting to see what Gagne can do at Laguna, a track he knows well, because he needs to prove himself. He did, at least, beat PJ Jacobsen on the Triple M Honda who finished thirteenth, ahead of Yonny Hernandez and Marco Melandri who, after his excursion early in the race, finished fifteenth albeit without his rear brake pedal.

After a weird crash at turn ten which should have high-sided him but thankfully did not (thus highlighting the lack of grip in the intense Czech summer heat) Tom Sykes finished a lowly sixteenth, no doubt to the minor amusement of his teammate, Rea, but disappointment of Kawasaki, who ended Sunday with no more points than they had at the end of Saturday. Leandro Mercado and home rider Ondrej Jezek were the last of the eighteen finishers. Apart from Rea, only Jordi Torres failed to finish the race.

Drama and intrigue surrounded this race, but the biggest talking point is still Yamaha and their resurgence, this time spearheaded by Alex Lowes. Laguna Seca is next, previously a very good circuit for Ducati, but also for Rea and even Aprilia – Laverty is eyeing a podium. Can Yamaha win again in California, or will normal service be resumed by the World Championship leader and record breaking Jonathan Rea?

Featured Image courtesy of Ducati media

16th June 2018
Bagnaia Still on Top as Moto2 Heads to Barcelona

This weekend the 2018 Moto2 World Championship heads to Barcelona and the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for round seven of the season, with Pecco Bagnaia leading the championship from Miguel Oliveira and Lorenzo Baldassarri. Major changes have occurred in Montmelo since the World Championship was last there: firstly, the entire circuit has been resurfaced after riders claimed that they would be unable to return to Barcelona last year when the track was in a terrible condition – fortunately the new surface offers plenty of grip. Secondly, for the first time since Luis Salom’s fatal crash in 2016, the World Championship will be using the original layout, with the two high speed right-handers to end the lap. Adaptations have been made to the track in the corner which Salom crashed (was turn twelve, now thirteen), the whole corner has been widened, as has the run-off area, which has also been given a healthy coating of gravel to satisfy safety demands. However, the old turn ten will still be unused, because of the issue with run-off on the exit of that corner which is unavoidable thanks to the F1 chicane that has been used by all MotoGP classes for the last two years, so the tighter turn ten will be used, meaning the left flick at turn eleven will also be used, so for the first time the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya will consist of fourteen corners.

Coming into this round, Miguel Oliveira will be hoping to continue his winning form after picking up his first victory of the season last time out in Mugello to break the Italian domination of the intermediate class so far in 2018. Miguel last won in Mugello in 2015, a win which launched his championship challenge after a difficult start to the season. Pecco Bagnaia is unlikely to buckle in the way that Danny Kent did in the second half of 2015, but in turn Miguel is much closer to Bagnaia in the championship than he was to Kent back in the Brit’s World Championship year and as has been said many times since 2015, when Oliveira starts winning it is hard to stop him – the last part of 2017 is testament to that.

But Oliveira could have a tough job to beat Alex Marquez, who won in Barcelona in superb style last season, beating Tom Luthi by 4.452 seconds and 5.322 ahead of Oliveira. It has not been the start to the season that Marquez would have been hoping for: no wins and only three podiums, in Qatar, Texas and Le Mans. Furthermore, Alex has started to be shown up by his rookie teammate, Joan Mir, who took his first podium in Le Mans and took another in Mugello last time out where he beat Marquez by 3.203 seconds. Tyre wear seems to have been the major issue for Marquez this year, losing out in the final stages in the battle with Bagnaia in Austin, as well as in Le Mans, and in Mugello he fell away in the final five laps also. If he wants to win this weekend he is going to have to address this issue.

And that is assuming that he has the speed to go with the tyre longevity. Particularly, whether Marquez has the speed to beat his teammate. Joan Mir has made huge progress in the first six rounds of the 2018 season, his 2019-2020 MotoGP deal with Suzuki is testament to that, and the next step for him is to take his first intermediate class victory. Mir was victorious in the Barcelona Moto3 race last season, a win which included a tough move on Jorge Martin in the entrance to the chicane section of last year’s layout. A repeat of his Moto3 result of last season would propel the rookie into genuine championship contention, and would also be a huge worry for anyone trying to beat him to that title.

“Anyone”, such as Francesco Bagnaia. The Italian has been sublime this season, with only a ninth in Argentina providing any blots on his copy book. He may have missed the podium last season and, whilst that was not ideal with Oliveira winning, it was important points for the championship fight which looks as though it could go all the way to Valencia with so many riders involved in the scrap. Furthermore, Bagnaia was one of the two fastest riders on the track in the last five laps of the Mugello race, only Mir able to match his pace. Being faster than the KTM of Oliveira in the final laps with the conditions how they were in Italy was very impressive, and positive for the future. Unfortunately, it was not a great weekend for Bagnaia last year in Barcelona, when he finished over twenty seconds away from the win in thirteenth place. He will, not just want, but need more than that this season. This weekend, Bagnaia needs to be on the podium; he needs to stabilise the championship.

Bagnaia’s fellow VR46 Academy rider and flatmate, Lorenzo Baldassarri, could really do with another win this weekend if he is to be back in genuine championship contention. Of all the contenders, including the rookie Mir, Baldassarri is the one with the biggest question mark over his head – you just do not know what he is going to do. For example, he could be dominant like in Jerez, or maybe he will struggle to be in the top ten like in Austin. Realistically, Balda should have won in Mugello, but a mistake on the exit of Borgo San Lorenzo on the final lap gave Oliveira the only chance he needed to take victory away from the number 7. Perhaps that disappointment will fuel Lorenzo’s charge to the podium or maybe even the victory this weekend, similarly to how the eagerness to bounce back from a difficult Austin round led to his dominance in the Spanish Grand Prix.

In injury news, Remy Gardner is back this weekend after his motocross crash before Jerez in which he broke both legs. However, it is uncertain whether Gardner will be able to complete the weekend, so don’t be surprised to see Hector Garzo once again hanging around the Tech3 garage this weekend. Last weekend, Garzo finished fourth and seventh in the two European Moto2 World Championship races in Montmelo, so he is in tune with the track and at a decent speed – he is ready to come in if he needs to.

Featured image courtesy of Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool

15th June 2018
Bezzecchi Heads the Lightweight Class as it Arrives in Barcelona

The 2018 Moto3 World Championship arrives in Barcelona this weekend for round seven of this season, and to the old circuit layout – the two fast right handers ending the lap.

Coming into this seventh round, Marco Bezzecchi still holds a slim lead in the standings after his impressive start to the season for PruestelGP. Second place in Mugello was the best he could manage with the KTM on the limit with the front tyre for almost the whole race, in almost every corner. For sure, the KTM lost a lot of time in the corners, and Bezzecchi was the only rider who could manage that to be able to fight for the win, but the straight line speed advantage that appeared for the Austrian bikes in Le Mans was apparent once more, and that kept the Italian in the game. He would have been disappointed to miss out by so little – just 0.019 seconds in the end – in his home GP, but, really, did even he expect to be leading the World Championship after six rounds? It was only fourteenth for Bezzecchi in Catalunya last year, but of course he was on the CIP Mahindra and as in every other round it is difficult to read too much into Bezzecchi’s result last year. We will see what the number 12 has this weekend during Free practice.

It was Jorge Martin who took his third win of the season in Mugello. Both he and his teammate, Fabio Di Giannantonio, looked fabulous all weekend long and clearly had far superior pace in the main body of the lap compared to Bezzecchi. In fact, being able to hold off the number 12 KTM in the final run to the line was impressive in itself, and ultimately Martin deserved the victory. He probably also deserves to be leading the World Championship at the moment but the DNFs of entirely not his making in both Jerez and Le Mans have prevented that from happening. Jorge is surely the favourite this weekend, too; he lost out in the final corners to who else, but to Joan Mir in last season’s race[at Barcelona], the move of the eventual World Champion also costing Martin a place to Fenati. But what Martin showed in Mugello was that, even with the slipstream, he can break the pack. Sure, Diggia and Bez caught him, but only because they had pace to match him, not because of slipstream. If Martin can split the pack like he did in Mugello again in Montmelo this weekend, it will likely be the same trio from the Italian Grand Prix, joined by maybe a few others, who contest the win, and that will work perfectly for the number 88 who would be able then to exercise his pace better than in a twenty-bike group more typical of Moto3. With his Red Bull KTM Moto2 deal in his back pocket for next year, when he will replace Miguel Oliveira, Martin will be looking to confirm that the Austrian factory took the right decision in picking him by making a good weekend in Montmelo.

So Martin is the favourite, but after being denied his first win in Le Mans for absurd penalties and being, for the third time in three years, denied by less than one tenth from victory in his home GP, Fabio Di Giannantonio will be desperate to win this weekend. This could end in one of two ways: it could power him to victory, or it could leave him in the gravel. It was only seventh place last year for Fabio in Barcelona, so for the championship – in which he is only eight points adrift of the top spot – it will be important for him to better that result. In fact, considering the consistency of both Martin and Bezzecchi, it will probably be important for Diggia to find the podium, and he is well capable of that.

Of course, in Spain, all the Spanish riders will want to do well, especially Aron Canet, who since his crash in Jerez which took three others with him has been quite under the radar. He was impressive in France but due to his grid penalty it only got him as far as eighth place, and in Mugello he was almost transparent again, only managing eleventh place. He is not out of this championship, sitting in fourth place, only 22 points away from Bezzecchi, but his results need to pick up quickly before the championship becomes out of reach for him.

In wildcard news, a common thread in Spanish races, Raul Fernandez will be in attendance for the Angel Nieto Team this weekend. In the week following the Barcelona round of the Moto3 Junior World Championship last weekend, there has been much said about Andreas Perez in light of his tragic accident last week, and there is no doubt that every rider will be thinking of Andreas this weekend, but perhaps especially Fernandez, who shared the grid of the CEV Repsol with him at the beginning of this season, so expect a passionate display from Raul, who first came to the attention of Grands Prix back in 2016 at Valencia where he made his debut in the World Championship. A difficult season last year with Aspar on the Mahindra kept him away from GPs, but now he is back atop the Junior World Championship standings and will be hoping to be in and around the fastest riders this weekend.

Featured image courtesy of hondanews.eu

15th June 2018
Toyota can’t fail this year

Le Mans 24 – Iconic. Photo credit Toyota Gazoo Racing WEC

Toyota have never won the 24 hours of Le Mans which is one of the world’s most demanding races. They are massive favourites this year and they have got the best chance through various reasons!

Toyota are the only team in the leading LMP1 Hybrid class, as Porsche withdrew from the series last year. They have no realistic competition and you could say the LMP1 rule book gives them an advantage that places Toyota in firm control.

The number seven car will be piloted by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López. Photo credit, Toyota WEC

The handicaps that the privateer LMP1 teams are as follows. They are not allowed to lap faster than the hybrid class, and if the privateers do, they will get a drive through penalty. The others involves the pit stops, in that a hybrid car can go a lap longer of 11 laps on fuel, whilst the privateer cars can only go 10 laps. Finally the hybrids also have a minimum pit stop time of 5 seconds which shorter than the other class. Toyota therefore will spend much less time in the pits than any other team. So realistically reliability is the only thing that would prevent them.

Toyota have come so close in recent years and it was reliability that stopped them. The team came closest in 2016, it was leading for 23hrs 55mins until a failure happened on the penultimate lap. Porsche overtook them for victory, it was heartbreaking for the Japanese team. To add insult to injury the car took them over 11 minutes to finish the last lap which meant they were not even classified. In the race you have to complete the last lap in under 6 minutes by regulation 10.5 to be classed.

Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Le Mans rookie Fernando Alonso pilot the number eight car. Photo credit, Toyota WEC

In their #8 challenger, they have Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso, who is driving for them as well McLaren in Formula 1. Alonso has taken to endurance racing like a duck to water as it was his car that took victory in the first round of the World Endurance Series in Spa, Belgium. It was his first win since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix in F1.

To have without a doubt the fastest car on the grid, rules restricting the limited opposition they have and an increased calibre of drivers is it just a matter of the #7 or #8 taking victory?

It would be embarrassing for the manufacturer to lose this year, they would become a laughing stock. If they fail to win I also see the end of the LMP1 Hybrid category. To have one team in that field is also just ridiculous.

We’ll find out! Follow @PitCrew_Online as we’ll have commentary throughout, and get the kettle on for the early hours.

14th June 2018