2021 Archives

26th August 2021

Rookies dominate Austrian Grand Prix

Into Round 11 of the 2021 Moto2 season and it was still all to play for. In Round 10, also held here at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, championship leader Remy Gardner finished a disappointing 4^th, with rookie Ai Ogura looking set for his first podium until a late penalty for exceeding track limits, and Marco Bezzecchi crossing the line first. Would Gardner return to form, and would Ogura shake off his demons to finally gain that elusive podium spot?

After a crash in qualifying – his first of the season – Gardner started from 5^th. Bezzecchi, who also suffered a crash during qualifying, was back in 16^th on the grid. The Austrian Grand Prix was shaping up to shake things up yet again.

Sam Lowes started from pole – his first since Portugal back in April – with the remainder of the front row completed by rookies: Raul Fernandez 2^nd, and Ai Ogura 3^rd. Flanking Gardner on the second row were Augusto Fernandez in 4^th and Aron Canet in 6^th. Behind them were Somkiat Chantra, Celestino Vietti, and Lorenzo Dalla Porta.

Off the line, Lowes held on to first place and looked set to stretch out the lead. Meanwhile further down the field a crash at Turn 1 took out Stefano Manzi and Jorge Navarro. The top 3 kept their positions, but Gardner was held up by the incident and dropped back to 11^th. A few laps later it was announced that USA rider Cameron Beaubier was to receive a double long lap penalty for irresponsible riding.

Back at the front, Raul Fernandez passed Lowes on Lap 2 to take the lead. On lap 4 Gardner moves up to 10^th, with Ogura then passing Lowes for second three laps later.

Somkiat Chantra passed Canet to take 6^th position, bearing down on Marcel Schrotter in 5th, setting the fastest lap of the race so far.

On Lap 5, Augusto Fernandez passed his teammate Lowes at Turn 3 to move up into 3^rd. before Dalla Porta crashed out at Turn 6 on lap six. Bezzecchi ran wide, giving Gardner the opportunity to move up to ninth – which he gladly took.

On Lap 8 Chantra got past Marcel Schrotter, who slid into the gravel at Turn 1, but was able to rejoin.

By Lap 11 Gardner had moved up into 8^th, and on Lap 15 he overtook Canet for 7^th – after a bit of back and forth Gardner made it stick, his sights set on Chantra and Vietti who were battling it out for 5^th.

With five laps to go, Ogura found himself gradually closing the gap on Raul, reducing his lead to under 3 tenths of a second, the gap coming down to 1.5 seconds on Lap 24.

Raul held onto the lead to take his fourth victory of the season, while Ogura claimed his first podium of Moto2 ahead of Augusto Fernandez, who took his third consecutive podium finish.

Further back, Lowes finished in 4^th place, rookie Celestino Vietti claimed 5^th ahead of Somkiat Chantra. Championship leader Remy Gardner crossed the line 7^th, in front of Aron Canet, Thomas Luthi, and last week’s winner Marco Bezzecchi rounding out the top 10.

With 7 more rounds to go, we go next to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 29^th August. Can Gardner hang onto his diminishing lead, or will he be overtaken by his rookie teammate Raul Fernandez? Can rookies Ogura and Vietti maximise on their success? Or will Lowes pull it out of the hat in front of his home crowd?

First fifteen riders

1 Raul Fernandez SPA – Red Bull KTM Ajo – 25 points

2 Ai Ogura JPN – IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia – 20

3 Augusto Fernandez SPA – Elf Marc VDS Racing Team – 16

4 Sam Lowes GBR – Elf Marc VDS Racing Team – 13

5 Somkiat Chantra THA – IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia – 11

6 Celestino Vietti ITA – SKY Racing Team VR46 – 10

7 Remy Gardner AUS – Red Bull KTM Ajo – 9

8 Aron Canet SPA – Aspar Team Moto2 – 8

9 Thomas Luthi SWI – Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team – 7

10 Marco Bezzecchi ITA – SKY Racing Team VR46 – 6

11 Jake Dixon GBR – Petronas Sprinta Racing – 5

12 Fabio Di Giannantonio ITA – Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 – 4

13 Tony Arbolino ITA Liqui Moly Intact GP – 3

14 Xavi Vierge SPA – Petronas Sprinta Racing – 2

15 Hector Garzo SPA – Flexbox HP40 – 1

26th August 2021

W Series Spa preview: Summer is over and the fight is on!

The summer break is over, and W Series is back for Round 5 at the famous Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. The longest circuit on the calendar, the 18 drivers are ready to compete at a track well known for its blind, high speed corners and changeable weather conditions. This will test the talent on display in the all-female series.

Eight drivers on the grid have previously raced at the circuit including Jamie Chadwick, Alice Powell, Abbie Eaton, Sarah Moore, Vicky Piria, Beitske Visser, Fabienne Wohlwend and Caitlin Wood. Caitlin will be stepping up for a second time as reserve driver this season with the PUMA W Series team after a solid performance in Hungry.

Who’s going to be on top?

Coming into the second half of the season there is a really close battle for the championship with only one point separating Chadwick and Powell, and Nerea Marti 35 points back in third.

Chadwick and Powell have been exchanging wins all season, and with 2 wins each the difference is due to Chadwick’s third-place finish at Silverstone. Consistency in a championship like this is always key to success, but that seems to be common practice for these two so a fight to the end looks on the cards to see who will come out victorious. Just one mistake or no points finish could be pivotal in the championship battle.

The fight for third

Just three points cover the drivers in third to seventh, and with good performances from each driver in these positions, the fight to third is looking very interesting.

Marti put in a great performance as a rookie to stick to the top two of Chadwick and Powell last time out in Hungry, finishing in third and putting herself ahead of Sarah Moore by one point.

Moore herself has had a strong start to the season with a podium in the first two rounds, but only managed P7 at Silverstone and didn’t score points in Hungry. She will be looking for a fight back and to hang on to her one-point lead over Emma Kimilainen.

Kimilainen has had a solid start with a podium and points finishes in three of the four rounds so far and therefore is currently fifth in the standings, only one point ahead of Fabienne Wohlwend and Irina Sidorkova who are tied on points.

Wohlwend has had a very up and down first half of the season, getting two podium finishes but then finishing P10 in Round 2 and suffering a DNF in Round 4. In comparison Sidorkova has only been on the podium once but has had higher points finishes with P8 in Round 1 and P4 in Round 4, missing out on points in Round 3.

This battle for third in the championship looks to go right to the end of the season and could be anyone of the five already in contention. However, Beitske Visser and Belen Garcia, in eighth and ninth respectively, are not too far behind and could really come into play if they can put in some great performances over the last four races.

25th August 2021

F3 Spa preview: can anyone stop Hauger’s runaway title challenge?

After taking several weeks off over the summer break, the 2021 Formula 3 season is back this weekend, with another trio of races around the Circuit Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

There are only three rounds left to go this season — at Spa, Zandvoort and the Circuit of the Americas — and at this point it’s hard to imagine anyone toppling Prema’s Dennis Hauger from the position of title favourite.

Hauger took his third win of the season in the Hungaroring feature race before the summer break and earned himself a 63-point lead over Trident’s Jack Doohan in the standings. That means that Hauger will leave Spa still at the top of the table, unless he fails to score a single point and Doohan performs a clean sweep of wins, fastest laps and pole position in all three races this weekend.

But although Hauger has become something of a runaway train, the positions behind him in the standings are still in flux. Doohan is second for now on 89 points, but Prema’s Olli Caldwell and ART’s Frederik Vesti are within just nine points of the Trident, with all three drivers having shown great pace throughout the season so far.

Doohan will be one to watch at Spa, as it was there that he recorded one of the best results of his debut season last year. But Vesti also has fond memories of the circuit, having finished on the podium in last year’s sprint race while driving for Prema.

The midpack is as tight as ever

Alex Smolyar (Dan Istitene, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F3)

Behind the top four in the championship, there are two incredibly fierce battles brewing in the final positions of the top ten. The first is between Aleksandr Smolyar (P5), Clement Novalak (P6) and Victor Martins (P7), who are only separated by seven points.

Smolyar arguably should be in the mix with those ahead of him in the standings, given that he’s won two races this year compared to one each for Doohan, Caldwell and Vesti. But despite scoring points in most races — including two fourth places — Smolyar hasn’t stood on the podium since his second win at Paul Ricard in Round 2. That’s something he’ll need to change if he’s going to break away and join what’s realistically the fight to be this year’s vice-champion.

With Novalak and Martins, their goal for the latter half of the season is straightforward: win races. They’re currently the highest-placed drivers in the championship yet to record a victory. In Novalak’s case, he also hasn’t been on the podium since his second-place finish in the opening round in Barcelona — something not helped by being eliminated from strong positions in two of the Red Bull Ring rounds through no fault of his own.

As for Martins, what felt like an inevitable run to a maiden win after three podiums in the opening two rounds has soured recently. Between the second Red Bull Ring race and the summer break, Martins recorded a run of five races well outside the points. Bouncing back from that in a rookie season is hard, but it’s what he’ll need to do to keep up with the drivers around him.

Clement Novalak, Trident (Eric Alonso, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F3)

The second of the two midfield fights involves Arthur Leclerc, Matteo Nannini and Caio Collet, who are on 44, 42 and 41 points respectively. Nannini catapulted himself into that group by taking his first F3 win in the second race at the Hungaroring. Leclerc, who has a win and a second place but only one other points finish so far this year, will surely be looking over his shoulder in case Nannini’s maiden win turns out to be a breakthrough moment.

And while Collet hasn’t quite been the match of his MP Motorsport and Alpine academy teammate Martins, he’s still been able to get great results — including two podiums — out of his car, and should be just as much a threat to Leclerc and Nannini in the remaining races.

New Charouz lineup, and Frederick to miss Spa

Lastly, the grid will look a little different this weekend for a few reasons. The first is that Charouz Racing System has refreshed its lineup. In place of Enzo Fittipaldi and Reshad de Gerus, the team will run 2020 US F4 champion Hunter Yeany and Euroformula Open driver Zdenek Chovanec in the #30 and #31 cars respectively. They’ll join Logan Sargeant for the remainder of the season.

The second change is that Carlin will only field two cars this weekend, as Kaylen Frederick has tested positive for Covid-19 and will therefore not take part in the event. Given the late timing, Carlin will not replace Frederick for the weekend.

BREAKING NEWS! We have a new team for @FIAFormula3 . This may not be the news you expected for now, but there will be more! We will miss Reshad and @enzofitti in F3 ❤️

This formation will attack the track at @circuitspa and for the rest of the 2021 season. Wish us luck! 🍀 pic.twitter.com/lULhe1SuIo

— Charouz Racing System (@CharouzSystem) August 25, 2021

24th August 202124th August 2021

Extreme E: Arctic XPrix Preview

image courtesy of ExtremeE

Taking place in the picturesque landscape of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, Extreme E returns this weekend with its first ever Arctic XPrix.

Greenland is set to host its first ever motorsport event in just a few days time as the teams and drivers prepare to take on the ice and snow. Kangerlussuaq, where the race is being held, is home to the now greatly diminished Russell Glacier, the remnants of which will provide a good site to host the eight kilometre circuit. Drivers will have to negotiate tricky technical sections around rocks, as well as more open sections, all whilst coping with an icy surface. The Arctic XPrix circuit will host a challenge never seen before in Extreme E

Something else that’s never been seen before in Extreme E is the five car final, which is one of a number of changes to the weekend format. Learning from the last two events, qualifying has had a shakeup, with each of the two sessions awarding classification points, rather than providing a combined time. Now, the fastest team in each session will be awarded nine points, with other teams being awarded eight to one each session respectively. The overall qualifying positions will be set by the highest to lowest number of points, giving teams who DNF in one of their runs more of a chance. Should any teams be on equal points, they will be ordered by their fastest super sector times. It is important to note that these classification points do not count towards the championship.

Once the qualifying classification has been established, the teams will take part in one of three races. The teams that qualify in first, fifth, or sixth will race in Semi Final One, with the top two progressing to the final. The second, third, and fourth qualifiers will race in Semi Final Two. The top two finishers in this race will also progress to the final. The bottom three qualifiers will all face off in the Crazy Race, where only the winner will complete the grid for the final.

The championship points system remains unchanged for this weekend, as points are awarded for both qualifying and the race. Twelve points will still be awarded to the top qualifier and the rest of the points will be evenly distributed down to four points for the ninth qualifier. Points will also be awarded for the final race classification, with the winner receiving twenty five points, down to the bottom finisher receiving four. Five points will still be awarded to the team with the fastest super sector time of the weekend.

Coming in to the weekend, Rosberg X Racing hold a fourteen point lead over X44 with a total of seventy one points. JBXE are a further thirteen points back, with just seven points separating the remaining six teams.

The Arctic XPrix will also see a couple of changes to the driver line ups. Jutta Kleinschmidt, who raced for ABT Cupra in Senegal in place of an ill Claudia Hurtgen, will make her debut as a full time driver for the team, replacing Claudia, who wanted to put more focus on her other driving roles. Senegal also saw Kevin Hansen replace Jenson Button at JBXE as the Formula One champion looked to prioritise his role as team principle. Kevin will continue to partner Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky at the Arctic XPrix. Veloce reserve driver Emma Gilmour will come in to the team in place of Jamie Chadwick, who is racing in W Series at Spa this weekend.

Every Extreme E event aims to both highlight an environmental issue, and leave a positive impact on the communities they visit. This weekend, the series will discuss melting ice sheets and rising sea levels. The legacy program consists of several seminars and teaching resources, which hopes to transform climate education in Greenland. It is believed around three thousand six hundred Greenlandic children will take part in Climate Week in September, as they learn about the issues surrounding climate change and how they can address them. Extreme E have partnered with UNICEF to make this happen.

The one of world’s cleanest racing series, racing in one of the world’s most beautiful locations. You’d be a fool to miss it!

23rd August 2021

Round 7 WorldSBK Navarra, Spain, Race 2

The earlier Superpole race finished an exact copy of race 1 with Redding (Aruba.it Ducati) taking the win, followed by 2nd Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team)., and 3rd Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha).

wsbk — WSBK Navarra 22.08.2021
Picture courtesy of Ducati Racing

Race 2 saw track temperatures rising to nearly 50 degrees celsius., with riders deciding on a wide range of tyre options. Redding choosing a softer front tyre, while Rea and Razgatlioglu opted for a harder tyre. Could Redding make it a clean sweep of wins at Navarra?

After a delayed start, it was lights out and Redding with another quick fire blast off the line, again got the hole shot, great start. The same couldn’t be said for Rea who slipped back to 5th from his 2nd on grid.

The gloves were definitely off with Locatelli (Pata Yamaha) slicing his way from nowhere briefly taking the lead from a stunned Redding before then going wide into a corner to concede the lead back to Redding.

Starting lap 2 and it stood: 1st Redding, 2nd Locatelli, 3rd Razgatlioglu, 4th Rea, 5th Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team), 6th Sykes (BMW Motorrad).

Then more drama for Davies (GoEleven Ducati) who was having a miserable weekend. He lost the front end of his bike into turn 9, subsequently sending it ploughing into the back of Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) who found himself helplessly sliding into the gravel. Both riders were out of the race.

Onto lap 3 and Razgatlioglu, showing impressive speed, gets through on Redding to take the lead. Then it’s the turn of Rea, who cuts under Redding into the hairpin corner to take 2nd. As in race 1 this trio was again pulling clear of the rest.

The northern Irishman had his sights on the Turk, and wasn’t letting him escape, setting a new fastest lap of 1:37.609. Meanwhile Redding was looking like he was struggling to match the pace and was slipping further back.

Further down the field it was the BMW team mates of Sykes and Vd Mark in 5th and 6th respectively, with Lowes in 7th and Bautista (Honda HRC) further back in 10th.

With 15 laps to go, Lowes comes through on Vd Mark into turn 15 to take 6th.

Rea was closing in on Razgatlioglu, but looked like he was really struggling with front end chatter, the bike visibly bouncing into some corners. Rea held a gap of 0.5 to Redding in 3rd.

With 11 laps to go, Razgatlioglu had a gap of 0.5 to Rea in 2nd. Meanwhile Redding had found something, and was now right within striking distance of Rea.

Nine laps to go and Razgatlioglu found a second wind and was pulling clear of Rea, pushing the gap out to 1.0. Meanwhile Honda continued their poor weekend, with Haslam (Honda HRC) sending his bike sliding in a shower of sparks into the gravel. He cut a dejected figure trudging back.

Rea was really under pressure from Redding now and only had a gap 0.3 to the Ducati. The pressure was telling with Rea losing the front end, but as he had in race 1, he somehow managed to save it. Rea was fighting the Kawasaki into the corners and subsequently went wide, letting Redding through.

Redding now had his sights firmly on the Yamaha but with only 3 laps left could he catch Razgatlioglu who was looking comfortable, and held a 1.0 advantage.

Last lap and Razgatlioglu was holding his nerve keeping Redding at bay. He crosses the line to deny Redding a hat trick of wins, Redding getting 2nd while Rea crossed further down in 3rd.

Amazingly enough, the result means there is a two way tie for the lead of the championship between Rea and Razgatlioglu. Surely this season will come down to the wire. Expect more fireworks!

Result top 5:

Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha)
Redding (Aruba.it Ducati)
Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team)
Locatelli (Pata Yamaha)
Sykes (BMW Motorrad)

Riders out: Davies (GoEleven Ducati), Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), Uramoto (Suzuki), Haslam (Honda HRC).

Championship top 3:

Rea 311 pts
Razgatlioglu 311
Redding 273

23rd August 2021

F1 Returns from its summer break: Belgian Grand Prix Preview

After a summer break that never ceases to feel like an eternity, Formula One finally returns this weekend, as we head a 12-hour flight west of our last destination of Budapest to the beautiful town of Francorchamps for the 53^rd championship Belgian Grand Prix.

The formerly eclectic list of winning constructors of this race has recently been taken over by Ferrari and Mercedes, who have between them taken all of the last six victories at Spa, but will there be a new conqueror here on Sunday?

Charles Leclerc took his first Formula One win in Spa two years ago – Courtesy of Scuderia Ferrari Media

Red Bull have continuously proven a thorn in champions Mercedes’ side throughout the first half of 2021, and Max Verstappen would desperately like to win in Spa for the first time.

Though the young Dutchman will finally be able to enjoy a home Grand Prix next week, he always gets a massive following when the F1 circus heads to Belgium, and he will be grateful for that support this weekend.

Red Bull suffered catastrophic races in Silverstone and Budapest, scoring just two points over both races, following contact with Mercedes cars on both occasions. The Silver Arrows and Lewis Hamilton have thus taken advantage to lead both championships entering round 12 of the season.

A chain reaction crash started by Valtteri Bottas ended the race for both Red Bull cars, along with Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris – Courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool

And so it seems that a win has rarely been so predominant on the Austrian team’s list of priorities, so get set for a superbly competitive weekend of action.

This is amplified by what is quite simply one of the most remarkable and stunning racetracks in the history of the F1 championship, with a powerful first and third sector, sandwiching a tight, twisty middle sector that has always extracted immense skill and bravery from our drivers.

It thus gives us an exciting prospect in what has become in incrementally more competitive midfield as the year has progressed, with McLaren and Ferrari dead even on points following Carlos Sainz’s post-race podium in Hungary; a further 85 points separates them from fifth-placed Alpine.

Sebastian Vettel was stripped of said podium following a disqualification for a fuel infringement four weeks ago, as the three-time winner in Belgium seeks to claim his second podium with his new team.

Sebastian Vettel had his Budapest podium cruelly snatched from him after a fuel infringement – Courtesy of Aston Martin Media

As the second triple-header of the year begins, F1 is finally back, as we get ready for one of the great tracks on the Formula One calendar.

22nd August 202122nd August 2021

Josef Newgarden wins the IndyCar Bommarito 500 as title hunt tightens

The Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway did not fail to disappoint in a race filled with plenty of drama with massive permutations for the championship standings.

Josef Newgarden took a magnificent victory at Gateway, his third at the circuit, and his second of the 2021 season to bring him firmly into title contention. Meanwhile, Patricio O’Ward took advantage of misfortune from those behind to take second place and now leaves with the lead of the IndyCar championship.

Newgarden takes his second win of 2021 to bring himself firmly into the championship fight. Photo Courtesy of Joe Skibinski.

Newgarden initially started in third but assumed the lead after long-time leader Colton Herta suffered a mechanical issue after having led the majority of the race.

The Penske driver was able to fight his way to the front after leapfrogging teammate Will Power and Herta out of the pits during the third safety car period, caused by Ed Carpenter.

However, Herta with incredible pace in the middle stint was able to take the lead from Newgarden until a driveshaft failure ended the Andretti driver’s hopes. This is the second race in three that Herta has retired from a race-winning position after crashing out at Nashville two weeks ago.

Newgarden came under a late challenge from Alexander Rossi for the lead, but it was misfortune for the Andretti driver who made contact with the wall with 60 laps remaining.

On the restart, Newgarden spent the final 50 laps fending off Patricio O’Ward who qualified in fifth place. The gap was reduced to less than half a second on the final few laps, but it was the Penske driver who came out victorious.

O’Ward drove a calm and measured race to take the lead of the drivers championship with a magnificent second place. Photo Courtesy of Joe Skibinski.

Second place for O’Ward now puts him on 435 points with Alex Palou 10 points behind. The win for Newgarden puts him third, a further 12 points behind after Chip Ganassi Scott Dixon’s incident with Palou and Rinus VeeKay.

Immediately after the restart following the fourth caution period, VeeKay charged into the back of the Spaniard, collecting Dixon in the process.

Will Power started on pole position and was in search of his second consecutive win but would eventually settle for the final podium position, with Scott McLaughlin close behind in a fantastic fourth place.

Sebastien Bourdais’s brave strategy call allowed the A.J.Foyt driver to finish in fifth position ahead of Takuma Sato who ran a similar race to the Frenchman. With fresh-tyres they were able to push aggressively on the final restart to take a few extra positions.

Ryan Hunter-Reay was finished in seventh just 5.8s off the Japanese driver while Simon Pagenaud managed to claim eighth after coming back from contact with Newgarden on Lap 16 where he lost a portion of his front wing and was relegated to the back after coming into the pits.

Marcus Ericsson and Jack Harvey rounded out the Top Ten in a remarkable race where only 13 cars crossed the finish line on the lead lap, something we haven’t seen outside of the Indy 500 in years.

Romain Grosjean made his oval debut in impressive fashion, making some aggressive overtakes to find his way into the Top Ten. Unfortunately, after missing a wave-around he would finish a lap down from the leader in 14th.

It was a promising start for Graham Rahal who had qualified within the Top Ten, that was until a collision with Ed Jones on Lap 3 promptly retired both from the race.

22nd August 2021

Round 7 WorldSBK Navarra, Spain, Race 1

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) made it 7 consecutive pole positions, in a first visit to Navarra. Track conditions were dry and hot for the start of the race, with a lot of the grid choosing different tyre options.

Lights out and it was Redding (Aruba.it Ducati) who got the hole shot. Rea in pursuit, followed by 3rd Locatelli (Pata Yamaha), 4th Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team), and 5th Sykes (BMW Motorrad).

Rea cuts across Redding and takes the lead. Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha) was making great progress from a grid position of 8th, and now worked his way up to 4th getting past Lowes. Rea held a gap of 0.6 to Redding, and the two of them were beginning to pull a gap out to Locatelli in 3rd.

The Honda team mates of Bautista and Haslam were struggling again and found themselves in 10th and 14th places respectively. Other notable names included 7th Davies (GoEleven Ducati), 9th V d Mark (BMW Motorrad), and 15th Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team).

On lap 3 and Rea was putting the hammer down, setting a fastest lap of 1:37:351, the gap to Redding now at 0.4 although the Ducati rider seemed to have it all in hand and was keeping up with the pace of Rea.

There was a coming together of two riders on lap 4 in turn 3, Ponsson (Yamaha, and Mercado (Honda), the latter retiring from the race.

Lap 5 and the gap from 2nd to 3rd was now at 1.7 and growing fast. Razgatlioglu in 4th knew he’d have to get past his team mate in 3rd soon to have any chance to try catch the two riders up front.

Lap 6 and Redding uses the top end grunt of the Ducati to get through on Rea down the straight. Rea hangs onto the rear of the Ducati, and keeps himself within striking distance. Further back the Pata Yamahas were struggling with the relentless pace being set by Redding and couldn’t close the gap.

Locatelli then goes wide into a corner, Razgatlioglu doesn’t need a second invitation and makes the pass up the inside of his team mate. The Turk now had work to do in order to catch Rea in 2nd.

Meanwhile further back there was a three way battle for 4th between Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team), 5th Sykes (BMW Motorrad) and 6th Davies (GoEleven Ducati), with the other BMW of V d Mark in 8th and making progress.

Drama for Davies as he crashes his Ducati into turn 9 and subsequently Bautista loses control of his Honda a few corners further on in turn 12. This bumpy track was catching out a number of riders.

Razgatlioglu was pushing his Yamaha to the limit, and found himself going wide into one of the corners. The gap to Rea in 2nd was now 2.3, while Redding still had a gap of 1.1 to Rea, and looked comfortable leading.

Meanwhile Lowes, and Sykes were having there own battle for 5th and 6th with V d Mark a fair distance behind in 7th.

With 12 laps to go Razgatlioglu was losing time to Rea, the gap now stood at 3.3. Further back there was a three way battle for 9th involving GRT Yamaha team mates, Nozane, Gerloff, and Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati) in 11th. Gerloff made a poor start ending up in 14th on lap 1, but was now past his team mate down the straight to take 9th.

Another rider crashes, this time its the American rider Uribe (Kawasaki). Massive moment for Rea, and one of many this season, as he loses the front end into turn 9, but manages to correct the slide and save himself losing time to Redding in the process.

With 7 laps to go the gap to Redding was still around 1.1, while the gap behind to 3rd was 2.4. Further back it was Locatelli 4th, Lowes 5th and the BMW team mates of Sykes and V d Mark in 6th and 7th, respectively.

Last lap now and Redding had pushed the gap out to Rea to 2.7 and was looking comfortable for the win. Both Rea and Razgatlioglu looked resigned to 2nd and 3rd places respectively.

Redding crosses the line to claim the win, he never looked troubled throughout the race. Rea takes 2nd, with Razgatlioglu coming 3rd, a decent result from 8th place on the grid. Locatelli 4th, and Lowes 5th.

Top 5:

Redding (Aruba.it Ducati)
Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team)
Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha)
Locatelli ( Pata Yamaha)
Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team)

Riders out: Bautista (Honda HRC), Davies (GoEleven Ducati), Mathias (Kawasaki), Mercado (Honda)

Top 3 Championship:

Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) 286 pts
Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha) 279
Redding (Aruba.it Ducati) 241

20th August 202121st August 2021

Terms & conditions of the giveaway

1. The promoter of this giveaway is The Pit Crew Online in conjunction Inter Europol S.A.

2. The giveaway is open for EU and UK residents.

3. Members of the promoter and sponsor and their immediate families are excluded.

4. There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter this giveaway however the following terms apply:
• Twitter: @pitcrew_online and @IE_competition accounts
• like and retweet giveaway tweet

• Facebook: The Pit Crew Online and Inter Europol Competition pages,
• like the giveaway post.

5. By entering this giveaway, an entrant is indicating his/her agreement to be bound by these terms and conditions.

6. Closing date for entry will be 22nd of August 2021 23:59 CET. After this date the no further entries to the giveaway will be permitted.

7. No responsibility can be accepted for entries not received for whatever reason.

8. The promoter reserves the right to cancel or amend the giveaway and these terms and conditions without notice in the event of a catastrophe, war, civil or military disturbance, act of God or any actual or anticipated breach of any applicable law or regulation or any other event outside of the promoter’s control. Any changes to the giveaway will be notified to entrants as soon as possible by the promoter.

9. The promoter is not responsible for inaccurate prize details supplied to any entrant by any third party connected with this giveaway.

10. The prize is as stated and no cash or other alternatives will be offered.

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14. The winner will be picked at random from all complete entries.

15. The promoter also reserves the right to cancel the giveaway if circumstances arise outside of its control.

20th August 202121st August 2021

“I hope we will fight for the top positions in the general classification until the end” – the interview with Kuba Śmiechowski

Polska wersja: https://www.thepitcrewonline.net/2021/08/20/mam-nadzieje-ze-bedziemy-walczyli-do-konca-o-czolowe-pozycje-w-klasyfikacji-generalnej-wywiad-z-kuba-smiechowski

Many motorsport fans get a thrill at the thought of the LeMans 24. As every year, we celebrate this legendary race with great enthusiasm. This year we have a special honor to cooperate with a team from Poland – Inter Europol Competition.

The team were second in the European Le Mans Series in 2018, 2019 and 2020.

On this occasion, we had the pleasure to talk to Kuba Śmiechowski. This is the third race at Le Mans for Pole and he is still hungry for successes. Currently, in the WEC classification (LMP2), the driver from Poland is 6th with 37 points. Kuba has had great success in the past – winning the Asian Le Mans Series (LMP3) in 2019 or finishing second in the European Le Mans Series (LMP3) in 2018.

Julia Paradowska: Comparing to your preparations for LM24 for last 3 Le Mans – have they changed? Have you discovered something new about you?

Kuba Śmiechowski: Have I discovered something new? I’m not sure about it.

The preparations are getting easier every year because now I know what to expect and I am more and more mentally prepared for this race. When I started in LM24 for the first time, I didn’t know what it looked like because at that time I had never competed in such a long race.

Now I know what awaits me, also the preparations are easier for me to adjust and I know better what I have to work on.

JP: What do you think about Circuit de la Sarth? Do you have a good memories from this place?

KŚ: The track is really great – it is one of the best I have ever raced at. It is truly unique, it is wonderful.

Do I have any good memories? The previous two Le Mans 24 hour races didn’t go as we planned. We had a car that was not quite able to keep up with the others, so I don’t have particularly good memories, but … The first stint was something special and at the moment it is probably the best memory of this event.

JP: This season the team has had really good form, do you think it will be an advantage during LM24?

KŚ: Yes definitely. We have an experienced team. Alex and Renger have been in Le Mans many times so they know very well how to drive in a race like this. Unfortunately, we had some bad luck during the qualifications. I believe our pace would have been good enough to make it into the Top 10, but unfortunately we weren’t able to put together a clean lap. It was especially bad in the third sector – GT cars or other LMP2 cars were jumping out in front of us, which prevented us from completing a lap that was satisfactory for us.

We are a bit disappointed after qualifying because I know we have a good car, so we should be in the lead.

JP: The forecast says that it’ll rain during the race. Do you think that It will bring more action at the track?

KŚ: Definitely – it can always mix up a lot. Especially when it comes unexpectedly.

At a some stage of the race, there are drivers from different experience levels in cars. When someone is inexperienced, they are more likely to make a mistake, but even experienced drivers do so.

Rain is especially important for such a long track – it can happen that at one part of the track is raining and the other is completely dry. Then it is not known what to do with the tires and what strategy to choose.

JP: You said that one of the most important decisions in your motorsport career was switching to endurance racing. Why? When did you come up with this idea?

KŚ: I feel very comfortable here in endurance races and I like driving very much here. I think it’s a really great part of racing.

How did it happen? At one point, we knew we just had to finish our single seater career. We had to choose something else. By pure coincidence, we headed towards the LMP3 cars and decided that it would be the right choice.

JP: You’re really close to 4th place in championship. Do you think that this battle will continue until the end of the season?

KŚ: I hope so. It is well known – in Le Mans you can get more points than for a regular race. I have a feeling that what’s going to happen here might define the last two races of the seasons and the championship a bit, so it’s hard to say. I hope we will fight for the top positions in the general classification until the end.

I am a bit disappointed that we did not make it to the podium at Monza because during this race we lost the opportunity to fight for third place due to a very late neutralization. I hope it was not our last chance and our car here and in Bahrain will be able to continue fighting ahead.