Vettel takes Silverstone F1 pole, Hamilton 19th
June 20, 2009
Sebastian Vettel took his second pole in a row at Silverstone today with a lap of 1:19.509. Vettel beat out the Brawn of Rbens Barrichello by three tenths. Red Bull is looking strong this weekend with Vettel on pole, and with Mark Webber qualifying third.
Mark Webber was pretty upset in post-race interviews. He could have nipped Barrichello or even had a shot at the pole, but claimed that Kimi Raikkonen hampered his lap. Webber said:
“I would have liked a slightly cleaner run on my last Q3 lap. Kimi was, uh, I don’t know, drinking some vodka or deaming or something. I didn’t know what the hell he was doing, but he should have been on the right and he’s on the racing line and dreaming. So that, uh, wrecked my lap.”
Ouch. Webber’s not happy with the Fin.
But he’s over the moon compared to Lewis Hamilton who will start from the back row after qualifying 19th. The world champ is fighting a bad car, and on the Speed TV broadcast this morning, he seemed to have written off the rest of the season.
The UK Telegraph has more on Vettel’s big day, and Hamilton’s woes.
STARTING GRID
Pos Driver
1 Sebastian Vettel
2 Rubens Barrichello
3 Mark Webber
4 Jarno Trulli
5 Kazuki Nakajima
6 Jenson Button
7 Nico Rosberg
8 Timo Glock
9 Kimi Raikkonen
10 Fernando Alonso
11 Felipe Massa
12 Robert Kubica
13 Heikki Kovalainen
14 Nelson A. Piquet
15 Nick Heidfeld
16 Giancarlo Fisichella
17 Sebastien Bourdais
18 Adrian Sutil
19 Lewis Hamilton
20 Sebastien Buemi
Fabrizio edges Spies to take WSBK pole at Misano
June 19, 2009
World Superbike action resumes this week in San Marino, Italy at Misano. Ben Spies is coming off a double-win at Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, and is closing in on Noriyuki Haga’s points lead in the championship.
But on day one Michel Fabrizio, who sits third in points just behind Spies, put out the fastest lap to take the provisional pole. Spies will have another shot at pole tomorrow in the final qualifying session.
Eurosport: Fabrizio edges out Spies
Q1 TIMES
1. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1098R 1min 37.016s
2. Ben Spies USA Yamaha WSB YZF R1 1min 37.102s
3. Yukio Kagayama JPN Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 1min 37.209s
4. Jonathan Rea GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 1min 37.238s
5. Broc Parkes AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-0R 1min 37.281s
The empire strikes back - FIA to sue FOTA
June 19, 2009
You knew this was coming, but they sure wasted no time. Max is threatening to sue now.
The Canadian Press reports:
“The FIA’s lawyers have now examined the FOTA threat to begin a breakaway series,” the organization said in a statement. “The actions of FOTA as a whole, and Ferrari in particular, amount to serious violations of law including willful interference with contractual relations, direct breaches of Ferrari’s legal obligations and a grave violation of competition law.
“The FIA will be issuing legal proceedings without delay.”
Canadian Press: FIA plans legal action against FOTA
Imagine the tension in the paddock at Silverstone this weekend.
F1 in crisis - The eight elite teams of FOTA to form new series in 2010
June 19, 2009
Either hell just froze over, or the end is nigh. The unfathomable, the unreal, the unbelievable, the insane, has happened. Just as the open-wheel racing split of the 20th century has come and gone, the 21st century open-wheel split has begun. Articles all over the web are rocking the autosports world with news that a Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Toyota, BMW Sauber, Brawn GP, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso have all declined to enter the Formula 1 World Championship for 2010.
Today was the day of reckoning for Bernie and Max, and things certainly did not go their way. The elite teams that really *are* Formula 1, announced that their team assocation will be forming a new series in 2010.
These eight teams make up the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) which released a statement just hours ago that included:
“It has become clear, however, the teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 world championship.
“These teams, therefore, have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners.”
Sky News has more: F1 - Eight teams to form rival championship
BBC Sport has more of the FOTA statement: Ft teams drop breakaway bombshell
Keith Collantine at the F1 Fanatic blog has his take on the situation. His headline: “F1 to split in two as FOTA teams announce their own championship”. I’m not exactly sure the headline really captures the devastation of today’s developments. This isn’t a “breaking in half”. This is *the* elite teams of F1 ripping away and leaving nothing but a few backmarker teams. One half is Mt. Everest, the other is mole hill.
Fan and media reaction is going to be interesting, to say the least.
PT returning earlier than planned, will run at the Glen
June 16, 2009
Paul Tracy’s camp announced today that he will be returning to a KV car at Watkins Glen coming up on Independence Day weekend. The crazy Canuck will be in the #15 car, and will run along side the man with the biggest sunglasses in the paddock, Mario Moraes.
Canada.com - Tracy gets call for Watkins Glen race
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Indy Car can be found on VERSUS
Check out Fanarchy tonight and every Tuesday night at 10:30 p.m. ET on VERSUS!
Here’s what’s featured on tonight’s episide:
Power to run a Penske for five more races in 2009.
June 15, 2009
Good news for Will Power. The super-quick Australian will be back in a Penske machine for five races later in the 2009 season. The exact schedule for power is not yet determined.
Roger wants Power’s prowess on road & street courses to be put to use.
USA Today put out an official story today.
USA Today: Power lined up for five more IndyCar races with Penske
Rossi gets last turn win in Barcelona
June 15, 2009
Rossi won the battle of Team Yamaha today in Barcelona, winning the Catalunya MotoGP by overtaking teammate Jorge Lorenzo in the last turn of the last lap. Yamaha had things figured out this weekend, and beat third place Casey Stoner on his Ducati by eight seconds.
The AFP has a full race report.
AFP: Rossi corners team-mate in MotoGP thriller
Mark Martin best at saving fuel at Michigan
June 15, 2009
Mark Martin has again made Dale Jr. look bad, and won yet another Sprint Cup race in 2009. The old dude won a fuel mileage race at Michigan International (image that) today, beating his out-of-fuel teammate Jimmy Johnson and an out-of-fuel Greg Biffle in the closing laps.
The media has called the finish “exciting”.
I’m not sure how exciting the racing was. Michigan’s 400 miler is always a race to save fuel & Martin showed that he’s the Yoda of fuel saving.
Martin said, “I always come up short in these fuel-mileage races,” said Martin, whose victory was his third of the year. “But I saw the pace they wanted to run at the start and I began saving gas from the third lap.”
So from lap 3 to 200, Martin was saving fuel? Can you feel the excitement?
The Detroit Free Press has more on the fuel saving festivities.
Freep.com: Mark Martin wins at MIS after leaders run out of gas
Peugeot sheds the monkey, Risi wins again for the little guy
June 15, 2009
The monkey is finally off the back of the Peugeot team. The tough-luck team finally was able to dethrone Audi for the first time since 1999 to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The #9 Peugeot driven by Marc Gene, Alexander Wurz, and David Brabham took the over all win. Peugeot also took second place with another 908 had a shot at the win but suffered mechanical issues. Audi managed to put one car on the podium, but their reign at Le Mans has come to an end.
The NY Times has a chronology of Peugeot’s return to glory:
NYT: 24 Hours of Racing
http://formulaone.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/24-hours-of-racing/?ref=global-home
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Risi Competizione - the little team that could
It’s easy to like the Risi team. This little team from Texas really has their act together, and they put together a fantastic race to win The Big One.
The Epoch Times tells of Risi’s Le Man’s glory, how the mighty Audis have fallen, and has the story on the P2 and GT1 winners.
Vision loaning Hunter-Reay to Foyt
June 12, 2009
It has been a tough year for Ryan Hunter-Reay. After a good season in 2008 with Rahal-Letterman, RHR lost his 2009 ride due to team funding issues. This was, of course, after he signed a personal services contract with IZOD that included an Indy Car marketing blitz. Vision Racing put him to work in a second car, but Ryan has struggled with the transition, and barely even made the Indy 500.
The hits keep on coming for Ryan. According to Vision Racing, Ryan will finish out his season in the AJ Foyt car that the injured Vitor Meira was driving. Foyt’s team has had a rough year as well, and it could be a long seaso for Ryan.
Here’s the press release from Vision:
Indianapolis, Ind. (June 12, 2009)— Considered a win-win situation for all involved, Vision Racing driver Ryan Hunter-Reay will be taking over piloting duties of A.J. Foyt’s ABC Supply entry for the remainder of the 2009 IndyCar season beginning at next weekend’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway on June 20-21.
Hunter-Reay, who drove the No.21 Vision Honda Dallara to a second place podium finish in the 2009 season opener at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida, is currently tenth in the IndyCar Series Championship driver points standings. ‘RHR’ will have his driving services transferred to A.J. Foyt Racing as a temporary replacement for the injured Vitor Meira.
Meira, who is recovering from a back injury sustained in the Indianapolis 500 last month, is expected to return for the final race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where AJ Foyt Racing is expected to field two cars for the season finale in October.
Read the rest of the Vision P.R.
MyNameIsIRL.com has more on the shuffle.
