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Lorenzo’s super season continues, takes Silverstone pole

Jorge Lorenzo will start from pole postion for the MotoGP British Grand Prix after setting the best time in today’s qualifying at Silverstone. Lorenzo has rocketed to two wins this year, and is poised to take control of the MotoGP championship if he can win from pole again this weekend.

Randy De Puniet’s run to P2 was surprising as he used is LCR Hond to beat both Repsol Hondas and Both Ducatis.

Nicky Hayden continues to gain confidence on his new Ducati machine, this time edging Casey Stoner for the fifth starting sport. Stoner expressed his nervousness about finding the limit on some of the bumps on the older part of the Silverstone circuit.

“The layout of the track is simply fantastic”, said Stoner after Friday practice. “It is great fun to ride and some of the corners are awesome. Unfortunately there are a few bumps on the ‘old’ part of the track where the asphalt hasn’t been relaid but when they get around to doing it I think we can safely say it will be one of the best circuits in the world. We’ve worked hard on the set-up today and for the moment we are still looking for the right solution. The bike was a little too stiff for the bumps and it was difficult to find the limit or understand how fast we can really go. We’ll make some changes tomorrow and hope the weather is good to us.”

Perhaps those bumps feel a little bit more treacherous to Stoner who has done a lot of crashing this season, and needs to regroup and find his pace in 2010.
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LM24 mid-race update: Risi #82 retires with gear selection issues

LM24 2010 has been tough on a couple of favorites, and the latest major player to fall out of the race is the #82 Risi Competitzione Ferrari. The Risi squad was aiming for their third GT2 win, and looked to again have the right car to do it. The retirement of the #82 car means that the incredible battle between it and the #64 Corvette is over. It was fun while it lasted.

Here’s the presser from Risi Comp:

The No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GTC will have no opportunity in 2010 to challenge for a third consecutive GT2 victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans; the car has been retired in the 10th hour of the race due to gear selection problems.

The retirement is a bitter blow for the team after an intense and exciting battle with the two factory Corvettes in the first quarter of the race. Nose-to-tail racing between all three cars provided heightened interest in the GT2 category, with Pierre Kaffer and Jaime Melo both having hard, but fair, battles on track with Emmanuel Collard and Oliver Gavin.
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Saturday NASCAR update - Almirola wins MIS truck race, Logano looking to make Nationwide history at Kentucky

The Nationwide series is racing in Sparta, Kentucky tonight at the Meijer 300. Joey Logano took his third pole in a row at the 1.5 mile oval, and looks to make history by winning the same race from the pole three years in a row. Kentucky is the track where Joey made history two years ago by setting the record for the youngest winning driver in Nationwide Series history.

The race airs tonight on ESPN.

Almirola Steals the show at the MIS truck stop
I love it when anybody can figure out a way to beat Kyle Busch. Aric Almirola did just that during Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series race at MIS on Saturday when he interrupted a fight between Busch and Brett Bodine. Almirola is in the thick of the championship battle with Bodine, and is now just 55 points out of the standings lead.

Here’s the presser from MIS:

BROOKLYN, Mich. (June 12, 2010) - Out of nowhere, with two others ready to decide the outcome, Aric Almirola decided to make it a three-way affair and all but stole the VFW 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday.

What appeared to be a shootout between points-leader Todd Bodine and Kyle Busch became a three-way battle with Almirola jumping in the middle of a tight, three-wide dice for the lead following a restart with eight laps remaining.

Almirola, not in the most enviable position of the three contenders, went for the lead, got it with seven laps left and held off the hard-charging Bodine and Busch to win for the second time this season and first at MIS.

“I didn’t think it was the greatest place to be, but I knew we were going to run wide open to the corner and we were either going to crash or make it out the other side on that last restart,” Almirola said. “I knew how important clean air was and I knew it was my only shot to get out in the lead, and if I didn’t get out in the lead there was no chance of us winning the race. I went down in turn one and I knew I was going to run a shorter distance than Todd (on the outside of the three-wide situation) so I just tried to hang tight on Kyle’s door and get him loose, which I did. By the time we got off Turn 2, I was almost clear of Todd and then we went through three and four I cleared him. That was the move of the race as far as I was concerned. Our car in dirty air wasn’t as good as it needed to be and that was the key.”

There was a Truck Series track record of 20 lead changes up to that point. Neither Bodine nor Busch was going to make it 21 with Almirola winning by a scant 0.111 seconds, or about one car length. Busch was another two car lengths back in third. Ron Hornaday Jr. finished fourth with rookie Austin Dillon fifth.

“We just didn’t have enough,” said Bodine, who posted his fifth top-10 finish in six races at MIS. “We had a great truck. We were a little tight on exit at the end and I could role up and start to go around Aric but I just couldn’t continue. With two to go, I rolled up and did it without lifting and I almost knocked the wall down and I thought Kyle was going to pass us.”

Busch posted his fifth top-10 finish in five races at MIS, but was anything but overjoyed. He was asked what it was like racing three wide for the lead toward the end of the race.

“It’s challenging. You’re all over the place trying to get back up in there, slicing, dicing and everything. I just didn’t have enough. Unfortunately they gave me a good truck and the driver didn’t get it done. I was trying to find some way to get around those guys but I couldn’t find it,” Busch said.

Tickets are still available for Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400, and start at $30 for general admission. Kids 12 and under are free in those sections.

Nestled in the lush Irish Hills of Southeastern Michigan, Michigan International Speedway is the Great Escape, a venerable NASCAR national park where fans can get away and enjoy the very best in racing and camaraderie. It’s the love of racing and the thrill of a great time for race fans and drivers alike.

Hamilton’s brilliant drive yields Canadian GP pole

It’s a busy sports day around the world, especially for people in England and the USA with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a world Cup game featuring both countries, and two NASCAR races to boot. Oh yes, and one more thing, F1 is in North America this weekend as the series returns to Montreal after a year’s absence from racing on this side of the pond.

Lewis Hamilton drove brilliantly today to take the pole. And when I say he drove brilliantly, I just have to believe what I read, not what I see, because qualifying won’t air on TV here for a little while. In fact, with a rain delayed truck race happening now at Michigan, we may never get to see qualifying in the US today.

Lewis somehow beat the wickedly fast Red Bull pair of Webber and Vettel, and even Jenson Button was impressed with his teammate and says that Hamilton usually does well at Montreal.

Michael Schumacher had a terrible day, and will start 13th. He was beaten by both Force-India cars, and whipped by three grid positions by teammate Nico Rosberg. That’s not a good day at the office for Schuey.

DVR Reminder: For all of you that have your DVR set to tape all the F1 races on SPEED, remember that this weekend’s the race will be aired on the FOX network. Set your TiVo accordingly.

STARTING GRID - F1 CANADA

Starting	Driver	Team
1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes
2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault
3	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
4	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari
5	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes
6	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes
7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
8	Robert Kubica	Renault
9	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes
10	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth
13	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes
14	Vitaly Petrov	Renault
15	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari
16	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari
17	Pedro de la Rosa	Sauber-Ferrari
18	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth
20	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth
21	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth
22	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth
23	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth
24	Karun Chandhok	HRT-Cosworth

Le Mans news alert: Peugeot #3 retires, Bourdais out

You didn’t even have to see his face. With a shrug in his shoulders and helmet sagging into his chest, you knew the dejection Sebastian Bourdais was feeling as he found out that his mighty #3 Peugeot LMP1 machine had just dropped out due to a mechanical failure and resulting chassis damage.

Bourdais, who grew up near Le Mans, had put this car on pole, and seemed poised to lead his three-driver team that included Pedro LAMY and Simon PAGENAUD to another 24 Hour victory. It wasn’t to be.

This is sure to give the Audi LMP1 camp a morale boost, because they’ve not been able to keep up the pace. But can they win the endurance battle? There’s 21 more hours left before we find out.

Live Timing and Scoring: http://www.lemans.org/en/courses/24h-chrono-en-direct-2010.html

24 Hours of Le Mans Hour 1 Tweetcast

Hour 1 of the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans has been pretty exciting and eventful despite the Peugeots early drubbing of the LMP1 class. The big story of the first hour was a fairly large shunt by Nigel Mansell in the Beechdean LMP1 Ginetta-Zytek that brought out the safety cars for a long full course yellow period. Mansell was transported to a hospital via ambulance, but SPEED TV reported that Mansell is ok.

The safety car “situation” created by the early crash really screwed the Audi P1 effort. Track officials don’t use one safety car, they use four, all seemingly spaced out evenly on the race track. The Audi’s get caught by a different safety car than the leading Peugeot cars, and were put 3 or 4 minutes down due to the ridiculous safety car rules.

The cast of characters on Twitter have been doing a heck of a job keeping the world updated on this years “#LM24″. Here’s some of the best for Hour One’s “Tweetcast”.

TWEETCAST - HOUR 1 - 2010 24 HOURS OF LEMANS

sniffpetrol: Cars on parade lap. For some reason the ACO is pumping out EuroToss music on the pit straight about 1 hour ago via Twitterrific

TheAardvrk: Here we go!! About to start the #24Hours of Le Mans. LIVE on #SPEED. The coolest race you’ll see all year! Good luck to the #ALMS teams!!

MidwkMotorsport: So bloody excited with #LM24 on the flat screen @radiolemans reverberating around the house! Just magic! Come on Nishy & @Audi!
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Risi holds on to GT2 pole for the 24 hours of Le Mans

UPDATE: Risi disqualified during technical inspection, Corvette assumes pole.

Risi Competizione ruled GT2 qualifying in Le Mans today, taking the class pole, and making ALMS fans here in North America proud. The Ferrari F430 piloted by Gianmaria Bruni put up the fast time on Thursday in the provisional qualifying session. Risi was followed by the ALMS GT2 Corvette driven by Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Emmanuel Collard.

The GT classes will again be the race to watch unless Peugeot has some mechanical issues. The Sebastian Bourdais piloted Peugeot is smoking the Audio R15’s by about two seconds per lap. It could turn into yet another massacre by the diesels.
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Graham Rahal - the super-sub of 2010

If you paid any attention to CART/Champ Car in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, you know that Roberto Moreno seemed to be the dude that car owners would tap whenever they needed a substitute driver. Eventually Moreno became known as the “Super-Sub“.

But fast-forward a decade to 2010, and a new super-sub of sorts has appeared in the Indy Car paddock: Graham Rahal.

Since finding himself on the outside looking in for the 2010 season after a drive for Newman-Haas racing fell through, Graham has been able to put together a few runs, including the Indy 500 two weeks ago. He’s driven for Sarah Fisher Racing, Rahal-Letterman Racing, and next week in Iowa he will make his debut with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing as a sub for Mike Conway who was roughed up pretty bad in a crash at Indy.

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Swift Concept 70 - A chassis that is trying too hard to be revolutionary

Swift engineering released yet another Indy Car concept chassis today through a Racer.com story dubbed “Concept 70″. It’s a design that seems to be a mashup of previous Swift designs, including some pretty sexy sidepods and wicked looking shark fin.

However, the front and rear wing look like they were borrowed from a Hot Wheels car, and I’m not sure I can take this design seriously until they remedy that. This evolution still looks a bit like a car for development series to me, not a fire-breathing Indy Car. To me, it’s just trying a little too hard to be “forward thinking” and radical.

But at least it looks like a race car that could be used on ovals and road courses. You can’t say that for the Delta Wing.

Briscoe keeps his cool while others boil over in the Texas heat

Now *that* was an Indy Car oval race. The Indy Car Series exchanged the flat track of Indy for the 24-degree lunacy of Texas, and put on one heck of a show. Ryan Briscoe won from the pole, giving a boost to the Penske team that had a less-than-spectacular race at Indy. And for a guy who was hired by Roger to drive Porsche prototypes in ALMS, Briscoe has unexpectedly become a force on the 1-1/2 mile tracks like Kansas, Texas, and Homestead.

As the race unfolded, the main challenge to a race that Briscoe had controlled most of the night came from Danica Patrick. Patrick started eighth, but moved up into the top five early in the race. Danica even held the lead for a brief moment after she and Briscoe made their first stops. In the end, she just didn’t have the kind of car that Briscoe had, and she finished second.
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