The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya plays host to the seventh and eighth rounds of the FIA World Rallycross Championship. This is the sixth event of the year to be held behind closed doors and only 295 event personnel have been permitted entry, if they produce a negative PCR test result before entering the venue.
Championship leader Johan Kristoffersson has taken three wins this year in rounds one, three and five and the double world champion is looking strong as he is currently 17 points ahead of his nearest rival, Mattias Ekström.
Ekström, the 2016 world champion, has won rounds two and six in this COVID impacted season and has only missed out on being in the final on one occasion. This has led KYB Team JC to first in the team’s standings going into this round. His performances have been supported by his teammate Robin Larsson, who achieved his first podium in the second round in Latvia. He currently sits fifth in the individual standings.
Niclas Gronhölm has achieved one win at his home event in Finland and this has helped him into third place in the standings. GRX Taneco also have Timur Timerzyarnov who came third in his one final appearance. They currently sit in third place behind Team Hansen in the team’s championship standings.
Finishing in first and second place in the event here last year, Team Hansen will be hoping for a similar result this weekend. Current world champion Timmy Hansen sits in fourth place in the standings with two third places and a visit to the final in all but one round. Kevin Hansen lies in sixth place in the standings with his best result of the season coming in round six at Latvia with a third place.
Timo Scheider of ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport has had his best start to a World RX season by making it to three finals and sits in eighth place in the standings. Team owner René Münnich will not be contesting this round and hands over his car to Mandie August who is only the second ever female to start a World RX event.
Monster Energy GCK RX Cartel had a more successful weekend in Latvia by both drivers making it to the semi-finals. Norwegian Andreas Bakkerud has improved to seventh in the standings and Liam Doran sits in thirteenth place.
GCK Bilstein driver Anton Marklund has been suffering multiple technical difficulties but has worked through these to sit in tenth place.
GCK UNKORRUPTED have withdrawn from this event stating that their cars are not race ready and this was the safest decision for their drivers. This means that Guerlain Chicherit and Rokas Baciuška will not be participating in rounds seven and eight.
Joining the permanent competitors this weekend is Tamas Karai in the Audi S1 RX, who also competed in Finland finishing in thirteenth and sixteenth place in rounds three and four respectively. Oliver Bennett returns to World RX action in his Mini Cooper for the first time this year. Patrick Guillerme joins the event in his Hyundai i20 and Enzo Ide will be making his first start of the year in his Audi S1 RX.
The rallycross track is situated around turns 10 to 15 of the Formula 1 circuit and is 1135m long. 60% of the track is asphalt and the remaining 40% is gravel. The safety of the track has been improved this year by introducing a steel guard rail where the rallycross turn three, a long right hander, is replacing a previously used tyre wall.
The event starts a 1030 local time on Saturday and 0930 on Sunday and if the previous events are anything to go by, this will be a spectacular event to watch.
The end of an exciting, albeit very strange, MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season is upon us with one round left in Estoril, Portugal on the 16-18 October.
Chaz Davis at Magny-Cours, WSbK 2020. Image courtesy of Ducati
Round 7 held at Magny-Cours, France on the 2-4 October proved to be full of thrills and spills with Championship leader Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) winning the Superpole Race and Race 1 on the Saturday further extending his championship lead and then Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) winning Race 2 on the Sunday bringing him back into contention for this year’s title.
The conditions were wet on the Saturday and after a tense Superpole Race it was Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) who topped the charts with Jonathan Rea in third position.
Both the BMW’s riders got off to a great start in Race 1 but unfortunately at Turn 1 Laverty was taken out by a falling Sykes after being hit by Garrett Gerloff thus ending what could have been a fantastic race for the BMW riders. Gerloff was able to continue riding but crashed a few laps later thus ending his race also.
Jonathan Rea went on to win the race followed by Loris Baz in second, Alex Lowes third, Chaz Davies fourth, Scott Redding fifth and Toprak Razgatlioglu in sixth.
Race 2 saw Scott Redding fight back to claim a superb victory after an exciting race with Loris Baz claiming his second 2nd place podium of the weekend and after a nail biting duel to the end of the race, Chaz Davies claimed the last podium place just ahead of Jonathan Rea.
Redding is still in contention for the championship title but he will need to win all three races at Estoril in order to stop Jonathan Rea claiming his 6th consecutive world championship title.
With Loris Baz’s double podium, it means that he is still in with a shout of the title in the Independent Riders’ Championship. Baz is 31 points behind Michael Ruben Rinaldi and with three races to gain points from at Estoril, the title could go either way.
As we head to Estoril for what will arguably be a thrilling end to a fantastic season of racing, changes are afoot in the paddock.
After four years at PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team, Michael van der Mark is heading to the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team alongside existing rider Tom Sykes. As yet no replacement for van der Mark’s seat has been announced by the Yamaha team.
Michael van der Mark at the 2020 WSBK Magny-Cours round. Image courtesy of Yamaha Racing
There is also the potential of an independent BMW Team making it’s way onto the grid which could open up the opportunity for new riders to enter the World Superbike paddock.
Replacing Xavi Fores in the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Team is Lucas Mahias who is moving from WorldSSP where he won the Championship in 2017 and finishes 2nd in this year’s championship for the Kawasaki team.
Making his debut appearance at Estoril, a circuit he has not competed at before, will be Belgian rider Loris Cresson for the (OUTDO Kawasaki TPR) team riding a Kawasaki ZX-10RR. The 22 year has competed in WorldSSP for the last three years.
Make sure you set your alarms for next weekend’s racing at Estoril.
The end is near for what has arguably been a fantastic, although highly unusual, 2020 Bennetts British Superbike Championship season which still has three rounds remaining to be held at Brands Hatch on 17/18 October.
Andrew Irwin at Donington Park BSB 2020. Image courtesy of Honda Racing UK
In what was a decidedly wet weekend at Donnington Park on the 3 /4 October, Saturday’s racing turned out to be a washout. After the second aborted start, racing was cancelled for the day with all three rounds of the BSB racing scheduled to take place on the Sunday.
Round 13 saw Andrew Irwin (Honda Racing) take victory after riding a near perfect race with both the VisionTrack Ducati’s of Christian Iddon and Josh Brookes coming in behind in second and third place respectively.
Losing the lead in the championship standings for the first time this season, was Glenn Irwin after crashing out on the opening lap at Goddards, thankfully he was unhurt. Irwin is now on equal points with Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) who did not fair well in this race, finishing in 14th place ahead of Tommy Bridewell (Oxford Products Racing Ducati).
Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) took fourth place in the closing stages of the race from Ryan Vickers (RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki) who had his best result of the season with 5th place. Teammate, Jack Kennedy, moved up to 7th position in the closing stages of the race and will start on pole position for Round 14.
Round 14 saw Josh Brookes on the top step of the podium having worked his way from 6th to the front of the grid by lap 5 thus taking the championship lead. Despite his best efforts to close in on Brookes, Jason O’Halloran finished a very respectable second place taking him up to 2nd in the championship standings. Teammate, Tarran Mackenzie, finished third putting both the McAMS Yamaha’s on the podium.
The race ended early for Ryan Vickers and Andrew Irwin after crashing together at the Melbourne Loop swiftly followed by Peter Hickman and Danny Buchan.
Josh Brookes (VisionTrack Ducati #25) winner of Race Two at Donington Park 2020 BSB. Image courtesy of Ducati
Claiming his best result of the season for the Buildbase Suzuki team, Gino Rea finished in 4th place ahead of Tommy Bridewell and Christian Iddon. The race was not going well for Glenn Irwin either and we saw him drop down to 7th position ahead of Jack Kennedy and Luke Mossey. Finishing the top ten line up was Joe Francis for the (Lloyd & Bowker BMW Motorrad) team.
Round 15 saw a third different rider to top the championship charts with Tarran Mackenzie taking the race lead with four laps to to for the McAMS Yamaha team.
Josh Brookes had a great start by taking the lead followed by Jason O’Halloran and Tommy Bridewell, with Bridewell quickly moving up to 2nd. Glenn Irwin was moving up the order and it was not long before he grabbed 2nd place from Bridewell. Unfortunately Lap 7 saw a technical problem put an early end to Bridewell’s race.
Lap 9 saw O’Halloran collide with Iddon during a battle for fourth place causing O’Halloran’s brake lever guard to jam ultimately dropping him down to 8th place by the end of the race.
Glenn Irwin was in the lead by lap 10 with Mackenzie behind him and Brookes in third. The McAMS rider made his move on Glenn Irwin at the Fogarty Esses and was able to hold onto the lead and claim victory. Christian Iddon came in fourth moving him into 2nd place in the championship standings going into the final round at Brands Hatch.
Gino Rea finished 5th place with his best result for the Buildbase Suzuki team followed by Lee Jackson for the Rapid Fulfillment FS-3 Kawasaki team.
Round 13 winner, Andrew Irwin, came in 7th place followed by O’Halloran with Luke Mossey and Joe Francis completing the top ten.
Make sure you don’t miss any action that will be coming our way from Brands Hatch on the 17/18 October.
Cast your mind back twelve months, plus a bit more to June 2019. Dani and Carlos took a popular win in the service park. Having not competed since Mexico 2020, the Hyundai crew showed their class to take a very good victory in the delayed Rally Italia Sardegna this season. Here’s the story how it happened.
Thursday as ever saw shakedown take place, and there were a few key moments. In the first run through, Kalle set the fastest time in his Yaris, and then promptly put the car on its roof after the flying finish!
Ultimately, Ott was fastest in shakedown, with Elfyn and Seb second and third. The Welshman set the same time as his former Estonian teammate. There was also a Citroen C3 WRC being driven by former Hyundai, Citroen and Volkswagen pilot Andreas Mikkelsen, running on the new Pirelli tyres in shakedown, the new tyre supplier running in shakedown and then also running in the power stage on Sunday, with 2003 world champion Petter Solberg driving and Andreas sitting alongside him on the pace notes.
Friday
With 95km’s over six stages on the first day, this was the start list for day one – Evans, Ogier, Tänak, Rovanperä, Neuville, Lappi, Suninen, Greensmith, Katsuta, Sordo, Loubet.
At the end of the opening test, SS1 Tempio Pausania 1 – 12.08 km the two M-Sport Fiesta’s were at the top of the field, with Teemu winning the stage by 12 seconds from his teammate! We all know what he said in the interview at stage end! Elfyn and Scott, the first car into the stage, were holding fourth overall, 13.4 seconds from the Finn, and last seasons winner Dani was third. Ott didn’t have a good start, losing 14 seconds in the stage. Oliver Solberg deserves a mention, after setting the seventh fastest time in his Fabia R5, quicker than Thierry, and only 16 seconds from the leader!
Dani moved closer to the front in SS2 Erula – Tula 1 – 21.78 km with a time seven seconds faster than Teemu, and now the gap between them was just five seconds. First to finish the stage was Elfyn who reported that it was a bit slipperier than expected, ending up fifth fastest and holding fourth overall at this point. Sadly, we lost Esapekka Lappi after his car overheated. Seb was now in third overall.
Elfyn took his first stage win of the weekend, winning SS3 Tempio Pausania 2 – 12.08 km from Seb and Dani. A good drive from the Welshman, despite being the first car through! Suninen remained in the lead as he and Dani were very closely matched in the stage and the gap just five seconds between the top two.
Into SS4 Erula – Tula 2 – 21.78 km and Dani won the stage, from Thierry, who was nine seconds slower in the stage, but second fastest and Kalle who was third. Dani was now in the lead, having passed Teemu who was 12 seconds slower than the i20 driver and only fifth fastest. It was going very badly for Ott, who was only ninth fastest in the stage and now almost two minutes from the lead.
After the lunchtime break, we had two stages to complete the day. The break gave the Hyundai team the opportunity to find out what the suspension problem was with Ott’s car.
Into SS5 Sedini – Castelsardo 1 – 14.72 km and it was another stage win for Dani, with a fired-up Ott only nine tenths slower and second fastest. Teemu was third in the stage and remained in second overall. Thierry moved past Elfyn in the stage with the Welshman going only eighth in the stage.
SS6 Tergu – Osilo 1 – 12.81 km ended the day and it was another stage win for Dani, with Thierry second fastest. The Belgians pace lifted them ahead of Seb and into third overall. Ott was third fastest in the stage, making it a Hyundai 1-2-3, and this brought the reigning champion up into eighth overall.
Classification after Day One
1
D. Sordo
C. del Barrio
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
1:12:40.9
2
T. Suninen
J. Lehtinen
Ford Fiesta WRC
+17.4
3
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+35.2
4
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Toyota Yaris WRC
+36.0
5
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota Yaris WRC
+51.9
6
G. Greensmith
E. Edmondson
Ford Fiesta WRC
+1:07.1
7
P. L. Loubet
V. Landais
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+1:33.5
8
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+1:53.7
9
K. Rovanperä
J. Halttunen
Toyota Yaris WRC
+2:32.3
Let’s hear from the drivers
Hyundai Motorsport
Dani Sordo (1st)
“I am happy to be back in the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC and pleased to return to this rally which has so many special memories from last year. I have been feeling really competitive all day and some of the stages have been really nice. We made a good tyre choice and we are in an encouraging position. It is only the first day, so we have to keep our feet on the ground. We want to continue like this for the rest of the rally; everyone is pushing hard but we’re here to fight.”
Thierry Neuville (3rd)
“Honestly speaking I was expecting better from our day. We didn’t have a great start to the rally on this morning loops. We weren’t comfortable with the settings of the car. We did the maximum to improve our times by trying some different things. I was able to push a bit – actually I pushed quite hard in SS4 and that showed as we set the second fastest time. We made the necessary changes to the car for the afternoon and I felt immediately more comfortable. Unfortunately, and bizarrely, we stalled twice today. It never happened to me before, but the second time the car wouldn’t restart. We lost about 12 seconds in all, which is important time in such a close battle. Tomorrow, with the changes we’ve made, I am confident we will have better pace.”
Ott Tänak (8th)
“It has been a demanding day and we’re obviously disappointed. We were getting some suspension issues from the start of the day, and it proved to be something that we could not repair on the road sections with the tools and bits that we had. It is difficult to say what happened exactly, but we could do nothing about it. In the afternoon stages, everything was working fine from our side, just a big amount of cleaning but generally no drama and no surprises. We will try to keep going as we did this afternoon; our position is not great so let’s see. Hopefully the fight is now a bit more straightforward.”
M-Sport WRT
Teemu Suninen (2nd)
“We had a really good morning and I think we proved what we can do. On that first stage I knew it was going to be challenging for everyone and I tried to take as many seconds as I could – which worked out really well. We lost some aero after that which cost us some time, but it was still a good morning.
“Then in the afternoon the tyre choice didn’t really work out for us. We thought it was going to be a bit warmer, but the sun went down just as the last stage started and I wasn’t able to make the most of the hard tyres.
“Still it was a really good day for us, and tomorrow we just have to focus on our own driving and let the others do their own thing. The stages will be a bit faster tomorrow, but the main thing is to do my best – because that’s the way to get the best results.”
Gus Greensmith (6th)
“This has definitely been one of my better drives and I’m pretty happy with the way things have gone. There were a few little mistakes here and there, and I was a bit disappointed with myself on the first stage this afternoon (SS5) as I think we could have really taken a big chunk out of the people around us. But the time wasn’t too bad, and I can definitely see an improvement which was exactly what we wanted from this weekend.”
Esapekka Lappi (DNF)
“Our initial pace was really promising so it’s really disappointing that things had to end the way they did. It was all over pretty quickly to be honest. About 300 metres before I stopped, we got all the warnings on the screen and the steam from the bonnet and we knew then that it was over. We had a good look and couldn’t see any impacts, but there was no water left in the engine and unfortunately we won’t be back out again tomorrow.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier (4th)
“It was a good start this morning. We were all fearing this first stage a little bit, which was very challenging, very narrow and we were happy to make it through with a good time. Overall, the morning loop was good: We were in third and the two cars in front had a big advantage from their start position. The afternoon was more difficult for us like we had expected. We tried what we could but we lost a bit too much time. Tomorrow should be better with a better road position. I’m looking forward to having some better grip hopefully and to try to make some good times.”
Elfyn Evans (5th)
“The morning was quite good for us. The first stage was particularly slippery and I was surprised on the second pass how much grip we had, and we had a good run. There was a bit more loose gravel on the second stage but overall we came through it quite OK and managed to lose not too much time. The afternoon stages had dried quite a lot since the recce and there was a lot more loose than expected and we really suffered a lot. It’s not been an easy day, which we knew would be the case. But tomorrow our road position will be better and hopefully we can look to fight with those around us.”
Kalle Rovanperä (9th)
“This morning we took the wrong tyre choice, with three mediums and two hards. I don’t have the experience here to know how much the tyre will wear, and it was quite tricky to drive with one hard tyre on the car all the time and in the end, we didn’t need them. I was preparing to have a better feeling in the afternoon, with some small changes to the car, but we got a steering-related issue at the start of SS5, so we had to drive slowly through both stages to bring the car back to service. Tomorrow we will have to now open the road so it’s going to be a difficult day.”
Saturday
With 101km’s over six stages in day two, the running order would be key once again, with the leader from day one being the last car through. The running order looked like this – Katsuta, Rovanperä, Tänak, Loubet, Greensmith, Evans, Ogier, Neuville, Suninen, Sordo.
The first stage of the day, SS7 Monte Lerno 1 – 22.08 km features Mickey’s Jump and this year was just 500 metres into the stage. The top three was Seb, Elfyn and Thierry with just 3.6 seconds between them. The two leaders, Dani and Teemu were fourth and fifth fastest, Seb’s pace lifted him up into third overall, and was now just 8.4 seconds behind Teemu.
Dani was back to his best in SS8 Coiluna – Loelle 1 – 15.00 km, winning the stage from Elfyn and Thierry. Unfortunately, Teemu’s run near the front came to an end as he set the sixth fastest time and ultimately dropped two positions into fourth with Seb moving into second and Thierry into third. Ott was also moving up the order, now into seventh.
The rerun of SS9 Monte Lerno 2 – 22.08 km was won by Seb from Thierry and Dani who continued to lead the rally from the Frenchman by a huge 31 seconds. Elfyn was closing on Teemu as well in their battle for fourth overall, the gap now just two seconds between the former teammates.
SS10 Coiluna – Loelle 2 – 15.00 km, and Thierry was fastest from Dani and Elfyn, once again just three seconds covering the top three. Both the Belgian and the Welshman moved up the order, with Thierry moving into second place and Elfyn passing Teemu. The top four cars were Hyundai, Hyundai, Toyota, Toyota. Ott continued to climb up the leaderboard and was now into sixth overall.
Seb won SS11 Sedini – Castelsardo 2 from Thierry and Ott. Elfyn was sixth fastest, and holding onto fourth overall behind Dani, Thierry and Seb. Going well was Oliver again, setting the seventh fastest time in his Skoda Fabia, and he moved ahead of Jari Huttunen into eighth overall.
The final stage of the day SS12 Tergu – Osilo 2 – 12.81 km was won by Seb as well, and this pace lifted him ahead of Thierry who was third in the stage behind the leader who was still Dani Sordo. Elfyn doubled the gap to Teemu, going 4.6 seconds faster then the Finn and securing fourth at the end of day two.
Classification after Day Two
1
D. Sordo
C. del Barrio
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
2:14:35.5
2
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Toyota Yaris WRC
+27.4
3
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+28.9
4
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota Yaris WRC
+58.4
5
T. Suninen
J. Lehtinen
Ford Fiesta WRC
+1:06.9
6
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+2:25.3
7
P. L. Loubet
V. Landais
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+3:37.0
Let’s hear from the drivers.
Hyundai Motorsport
Dani Sordo (1st)
“We end today in the same way we finished on Friday, feeling very positive and pleased with our performance. We have had to be careful to manage our tyres today, making the right selection for each loop and pushing when we could, while also conserving when needed. At the end of the final stage of the day, our tyres were finished so we had to take it a bit more cautiously. In rally, we know from experience that there is no such thing as a comfortable advantage. We have to maintain this pace and rhythm on Sunday morning if we want to get the job done.”
2020 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally Italia Sardegna 8 – 11 October 2020 Dani Sordo Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry Neuville (3rd)
“I was happy with our morning, even if I feel that carrying an extra spare was not the best option. Our target was to get P2 and to try and increase our gap. We ended the loop with a stage win and were ready to resume the fight in the afternoon. There were different tyre strategies at play and the times were really close. I tried very hard but Ogier seemed to have a bit more speed. Unfortunately, we lost 1.5-2-seconds on the bridge in the final stage, when I was late on the brakes. When you’re pushing to the max, these things can happen. We go again tomorrow.”
Ott Tänak (6th)
“Today was a clean day with no drama. More or less everything was working well and we did what we could. I guess we achieved all that was planned, so there was nothing more we could have done ourselves. The feeling with the car was all good. Tomorrow, we can expect more of the same typically Sardinian stages – narrow and twisty. Our first priority is to get to the Power Stage and then try to push. Every point is critical at the moment.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier (2nd)
“I feel pretty happy with my day today, winning four stages out of six. Unfortunately, the two other stages were not so good and were a bit costly in terms of time: On the first pass I was not on the limit enough and on the second one I really tried harder but I stalled the engine in a hairpin and lost some seconds. But overall, it’s still a positive day. Tomorrow we’re going to fight for second place and put the pressure on the leader until the end. You never know what can happen on these tricky stages.”
Elfyn Evans (4th)
“Overall, the morning loop wasn’t bad. For the most part I was driving pretty well. I just gave away too much time in SS9, being a bit too careful and too focused on being smooth and not pushing hard enough. Then in the first stage of the afternoon I tried to push a bit more and ended up going slower, so in the final stage I just kept it clean. Now we need to keep hold of fourth tomorrow, that will be key. It’s not going to be possible to catch the guys in front on pace alone on such short stages, but we have to keep going until the end.”
Kalle Rovanperä (DNF)
“On the second stage of the day, we went a bit wide in the final part of the stage: It was a narrow section where we had some things to avoid on the inside. We hit a tree on the outside and then the impact sent us into a second tree, and the damage was too much for us to restart tomorrow. It was clearly not our weekend, starting already from the shakedown. We had a bit of bad luck also yesterday which was not our fault, but today was my mistake. It’s been a tricky weekend.”
M-Sport WRT
Teemu Suninen (5th)
“It’s been a challenging day for us. It started okay this morning – we lost a few seconds to the guys at the front but we were on good pace with Elfyn. Then we had some issues with the handbrake and lost a lot of time in the slower sections.
“But we came back again in the afternoon – taking time out of Elfyn on the first stage [SS11] and then losing a bit to him on the second [SS12]. It’s going to be a tight fight tomorrow, and I will give it my best. It’s only two seconds per stage, and we will keep the pressure on.”
Gus Greensmith (29th)
“It was one of the best days of my career yesterday. I was really pleased with the way I was driving and really pleased with the car – everything was working well. It started okay again this morning – maybe my pacenotes were a little bit slow and the second spare wasn’t the best choice, but we seemed to make it work.
“Unfortunately, we then had a low voltage warning on SS9 and as soon as we left the stop line the whole car died – right in the bottom of a dip! So even though we managed to change the alternator belt, we could never get enough momentum to bump start it. After about 45 minutes of trying we had to call it a day, and tomorrow we’ll just focus on continuing the improvements we have made so far.”
Sunday
With 42km’s over four stages, the question was could either Seb or Thierry do anything about Dani? The start list looked like this – Katsuta, Greensmith, Loubet, Tänak, Suninen, Evans, Neuville, Ogier, Sordo.
Seb flew through SS13 Cala Flumini 1 – 14.06 km and with Dani Sordo only fourth fastest behind Thierry and Elfyn, the gap was now just fifteen seconds between the top two. Thierry was right with Seb, just 1.7 seconds between them in their fight over second overall.
The short blast of SS14 Sassari – Argentiera 1 – 6.89 km was taken by Thierry with Dani and Seb second and third fastest. Now the gap between second and third was just one tenth of a second! Dani’s lead was actually increased a little to just over sixteen seconds now. Elfyn was a comfortable fourth both in the stage and overall, as well.
SS15 Cala Flumini 2 – 14.06 km, the penultimate stage was won by Seb, and the gap opened up a little to 1.7 seconds to Thierry in third. What would we see from the Belgian in the final stage? Dani was just bringing the car home for a very good victory, his lead now 9.2 seconds over Seb.
The final stage then, SS16 Sassari – Argentiera 2 [Power Stage] – 6.89 km. The top five fastest were Ott, Thierry, Seb, Elfyn and Dani. Thierry was 2.7 seconds faster than Seb, and passed him for second overall as well. Seb missed out on second position by just one second in the end.
Final Overall Classification – Rally Italia Sardegna
1
D. Sordo
C. del Barrio
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
2:41:37.5
2
T. Neuville
N. Gilsoul
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+5.1
3
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Toyota Yaris WRC
+6.1
4
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota Yaris WRC
+1:02.3
5
T. Suninen
J. Lehtinen
Ford Fiesta WRC
+1:33.9
6
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+2:27.5
7
P. L. Loubet
V. Landais
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+4:43.8
8
J. Huttunen
M. Lukka
Hyundai i20 R5
+8:41.7
9
K. Kajetanowicz
M. Szczepaniak
Škoda Fabia R5
+10:02.9
10
P. Tidemand
P. Barth
Škoda Fabia R5
+10:20.9
Let’s hear from the drivers
Hyundai Motorsport
Dani Sordo (1st)
“This is an amazing result and I am really happy to have taken my second victory for Hyundai Motorsport, at the scene of my first one last year. This place is really special, and we have seen a strong performance across the whole team. I am not particularly pleased with my pace today; we had a big lead coming into Sunday morning, but I wasn’t able to set the same times as Thierry and Ogier, so things were a bit too close by the end of the Power Stage. Still, we were able to get the job done and to help the team move into the lead of the manufacturers’ standings. Mission accomplished. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to send – on behalf of myself and Carlos – our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Laura Salvo. We will always remember her.”
2020 FIA World Rally Championship Round 06, Rally Italia Sardegna 08-11 October 2020 Dani Sordo, Carlos Del Barrio Photographer: Helena El Mokni Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry Neuville (2nd)
“I am so happy to finish in second place and to collect four points from the Power Stage. The result moves us to third in the drivers’ standings after a fantastic battle with Sébastien. I really enjoyed it. We did the best we could all weekend after a few issues which lost us some valuable time. Huge congratulations to Dani and Carlos for a beautiful victory, and to the team for this incredible 1-2, which has really helped our position in the manufacturers’ championship.”
Ott Tänak (6th)
“It has been a difficult and disappointing weekend for us. From the suspension problems on Friday, we knew we wouldn’t be able to mount a serious challenge. We still kept pushing and supporting the team as best we could. Aside from the issues on Friday, the car has been OK, but we know we could have done so much more this weekend. We managed to complete the rally on a more positive note with five points in the Power Stage. The team is working really hard, as it has all season long, and they are doing a great job. We haven’t had things go our way, but we’ll push through and surely improvements will come.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier (3rd)
“It’s been very intense for more or less the whole weekend. Of course, at the end, third place maybe doesn’t show the performance that we had here, but that’s how it is. We had to be second on the road for a big part of the rally and a lot of time was lost there. After that it was always going to be difficult. But I think we tried our best and I cannot be disappointed with my performance, I gave everything I had and it’s still solid points for the championship. I’m getting more and more settled in the Yaris WRC and the performance is there. I just need to continue with that and I’m confident about the future.”
Elfyn Evans (4th)
“Today the main objective was to stay ahead of the driver behind and make sure that position was secure. Unfortunately, I didn’t get as many points on the Power Stage as I would have liked, but all in all at least we secured the result and came away with solid points at the end of the weekend. Of course, you always want more than fourth place but we knew coming here starting first on the road was going to be tough, and we were almost out of the fight for the podium by the end of the first day. We continued to push but the times were close and, in the end, I think fourth was realistically the most we could achieve. Going onto asphalt, being first on the road should normally be an advantage and we’ll be hoping that will be the case.”
M-Sport WRT
Teemu Suninen (5th)
“We started this rally really strongly and had great speed in the slower sections – proving that we can be competitive when the conditions are right. But we also had some small issues and were struggling a bit in the faster sections – meaning that fifth was the best we could do this weekend. Still there are a lot of positives that we can take away, and we’ll focus now on the Tarmac rallies where the Fiesta has always been strong.”
Gus Greensmith (25th)
“I think we made some really good steps forward this weekend, and a lot of that was due to the time I spent at M-Sport before the rally. Going through all of the data with my engineer we were able to find a lot of ways to improve and also tried something new with the set-up which gave me a lot more confidence. For me it was definitely one of my better performances. It was pretty disappointing about some of the issues we had, but that’s rallying and we’ve shown that we can fight a lot closer to the top.”
2020 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round six
1
E. Evans
111
2
S. Ogier
97
3
T. Neuville
87
4
O. Tänak
83
5
K. Rovanperä
70
6
T. Suninen
44
7
E. Lappi
38
8
D. Sordo
26
9
C. Breen
25
10
S.Loeb
24
2020 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round six
1
Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team
208
2
Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team
201
3
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team
117
4
Hyundai 2C Competition
8
Warren’s Thoughts
At Hyundai it was a good drive by Dani Sordo. Five stage wins gave him the lead, and he was able to keep his pace high enough so that when others hit the pace that they needed to challenge, he had enough in reserve to hold on the lead and therefore take the victory. Unfortunately, the issue with the subframe being underweight by 24kg’s has slightly taken the shine off the result. The significant fine that the team picked up because of this will set some minds at rest, but others may think more should have been done. Ott Tänak was really held back with his woes on Friday, but once the problems were resolved, he was on the pace. Sadly, it makes it even harder for him to retain his title. Thierry kept his title hopes alive with a strong drive, and nearly took the win from his teammate. He is now Hyundai’s best hope for the driver’s championship.
At Toyota the championship leader, Elfyn Evans did what he could given that he was opening the road on Friday, including a stage win and finished in fourth. His teammate, Seb, did what he could to finish higher up, but third overall could have been second, and a smaller gap to close come the end of the year. Kalle showed well, but retirement beckoned for the young Finn.
Finally, at M-Sport they started really well, holding a 1-2 after the first stage, with Teemu ‘Sending It’! As the rally went on throughout Saturday, the pace was too much for the Finn to hold the faster cars behind and ultimately ended the event in fifth. We didn’t get to see what Esapekka could do, after his engine overheated and he retired. Gus Greensmith went well, setting eleven top ten times. Reliability cost him a decent result, but we shall see what he and Elliot his co-driver can do in the last couple of events.
One more thing to mention is that Petter Solberg and Andreas Mikkelsen teamed up in a Citroen C3 WRC running on next year’s Pirelli tyres, with the younger Norwegian on the stage notes as they completed the final stage. We don’t know what time they set, but nevertheless it is a significant moment for the tyre manufacturer.
Petter Solberg (NOR) and Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR) of team Citroen C3 WRC. Photo credit Red Bull Content Pool
Looking ahead, we now have two events left to complete this season. Ypres in Belgium at the beginning of November, and now in December, Rally Monza. This event was announced on Friday afternoon!
Round 10 of the 2020 MotoGP Championship took place on the 9-11 October at Le Mans, France.
The Championship leader, Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) claimed pole position for Sunday’s race having snatched the lead on the final lap of qualifying from Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) with Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) making up the front row of the grid.
With 26 laps of racing, the red lights go out and the racing begins with the pole sitter, Quartararo not getting off to a great start and by Turn 1 he is in third place behind the Ducati’s of Miller and Dovizioso with Petrucci in 4th place but then Petrucci takes Quartararo pushing him down into 5th place. At Turn 3 Rossi goes down and that is the end of what was an extremely short race for him.
A drizzly chaotic start to the 2020 Le Mans MotoGP round. Image courtesy of Yamaha Racing
By the end of a very busy lap 1, three Ducati’s are leading the race with Petrucci now in the lead. As we go into lap 2, P.Espargaro takes Quartararo but he manages to grab the place straight back.
Lap 3 sees Rins take Crutchlow and P.Espargaro has another go at taking Quartararo and this time he manages to make the place stick despite nearly taking Quartararo out in the process. Rins follows P.Esparagaro too and the following lap Crutchlow passes and another place is lost for Quartararo with Smith now having a look to get past and he makes his move down the inside and the pole sitter is now down in 8th position.
Just at the end of lap 4, Marquez goes down the outside of both Quartararo and Oliveira taking him up to 8th place and he is hunting down Smith and on lap 6 he makes a smooth pass up into 7th place.
Rins has put in the fastest lap and is closing the gap on the Ducati’s. Smith goes down in the gravel on lap 10 and we can see him crawling away from his bike.
By lap 12 the gap between Rins and third place Miller is now down to 0.5 seconds and the following lap Rins goes up the inside of Miller into 3rd but Miller fights back and takes the place back but Rins is not giving up and is right on the heels of Miller.
The following lap we see Rabat crash out thus ending his race and Marquez zips past Crutchlow into 6th place. On lap 15 Rins has another go at passing Miller and this time he makes the place stick but not for long as by the end of the lap Miller has the place back again. Marquez has put in the fastest lap and is closing the gap on P.Espargaro and by lap 17 he is right on his tail. Morbidelli crashes into the dirt at turn 4.
At the end of the start/finish straight on lap 18 Dovizioso makes his move on Petrucci and takes the lead and Rins takes Miller but Miller fights straight back and keeps hold of his 3rd place. Crutchlow crashes out ending his race. Just before the end of the lap, Dovizioso, Miller, Rins and Petrucci enter the corner pretty much all together, Dovizioso runs wide allowing Petrucci into 1st place with Rins 2nd and Miller 3rd.
Lap 19 Miller passes Rins into 2nd place but then something lets go on his bike and he pulls over to the side and retires from the race. Marquez has now taken P.Espargaro and is up in 4th place but the following lap Rins crashes at Turn 3 and Marquez is now up to 3rd place.
Alex Marquez at the 2020 Le Mans MotoGP round. Image courtesy of Honda Racing Corporation
By lap 22 Petrucci has a 1.6 second lead over the Dovizioso in 2nd place and seems to have the race under control. Rins has managed to rejoin the race with the help of the marshals but he appears to have a marshals strap caught on the tail of his bike. He is flagged to pull over, he removes the strap and rejoins the race again.
On lap 24 Dovizioso runs wide allowing Marquez to go through into 2nd place, Dovizioso is desperately looking to regain the place but Marquez is holding him off for now. The penultimate lap P.Espargaro takes Dovizioso into 3rd place and Oliveria is having a look too and manages to get past but doesn’t keep the place and goes back down to 5th.
The final lap sees P.Espargaro closing the gap on Marquez but Marquez just needs to hold him for the remainder of the lap. Petrucci has control of the race and takes the chequered flag followed by a very jubilant Marquez in 2nd and P.Espargaro in 3rd.
Phew! That was an exciting and very busy race which unfortunately saw race retirements from Miller, Morbidelli, Crutchlow, Rabat, Smith and Rossi.
Makes sure you set your alarms for the next race which takes place in Aragon on the 16-18 October.
Tom Ingram boosted his title credentials with a win in round 21 of the British Touring Car Championship at Croft. He held off Honda’s Dan Cammish as title contender Colin Turkington had another nightmare race.
Dubbed the ‘King of Croft’, Turkington’s retirement in race two was compounded with a driveshaft issue on lap one. He pitted and rejoined five laps down on the leaders. Scoring no points and falling to third in the title race.
Ingram rocketed from third on the grid past Cammish at turn one, and past Tom Chilton by the end of lap one. Stephen Jelley had a spin in his BMW 125i at turn two.
On lap three the safety car was out as Bobby Thompson’s impressive weekend ended in a horror smash as he got put onto the grass and his car dug in and rolled over multiple times. Thankfully he was unhurt.
On the restart Cammish was fighting Chilton, with both Honda Civic FK8’s struggling with brake temperature issues. The discs were glowing as they were pushing hard. Cammish finally got past him on lap 13 and set about hounding down Ingram.
Ash Sutton, who started 20th after suffering a puncture in race two, was up to sixth, with Tom Oliphant in his way. He got past him and was fighting Matt Neal for fourth.
Cammish was on the tail of Ingram coming into the final lap. Ingram did all he could to keep the Honda behind and held on to take the win. Cammish finished three tenths behind. Chilton rounded off the podium with Neal and Sutton having a drag race over the line. Neal took fourth by 17 thousandths of a second.
Ash Sutton has the championship lead by seven points from Cammish with Turkington in third as the title race hots up going into the final six races of the season at Snetterton and Brands Hatch.
Losses of power, tyre temperatures and tangles made for a thriller of an Eifel Grand Prix. As for Valtteri Bottas, who started on pole, he was hit with reliability issues giving Lewis Hamilton less of a hassle fending off Max Verstappen. The six-time champion was able to bring it home for a record-breaking 91 race wins, matching the mighty Michael Schumacher.
Hamilton is now level with Michael Schumacher on 91 Grand Prix victories in Formula One – courtesy of Mercedes Media
A clean getaway for the field meant it was not until lap 9 that the first events took place as Charles Leclerc’s attempt to tame the charge of Ricciardo was swiftly halted and the Monegasque was forced to pit straight after for fresh tyres. The other Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was having another dismal weekend and was not able to compete with his teammate nor the rest of the field, spinning the car into the first corner for good measure.
A costly lock-up relegated Bottas to second as Hamilton capitalised on this opportunity and took first. Not long after it was to get worse for Bottas as he retired and unluckily, after the momentum he was on from last race, saw the the gap increase to 69 points to Hamilton in the Drivers Championship.
George Russell was a sitting duck when Kimi Raikkonen locked up and sent the Williams onto two wheels, ending the race for Russell and bringing out a Virtual Safety Car. Kimi also indirectly impacted the race for Romain Grosjean as the Frenchman reported on team radio that he thought his finger was broken after Raikkonen’s car spat gravel towards the Frenchman’s cockpit.
George Russell was aiming for a competitive race before contact with Kimi Raikkonen ended his afternoon – courtesy of Williams Media
Alex Albon also endured a tough weekend having been pipped by Leclerc on Saturday and he eventually retired the car early. This will be a weekend to forget for the Thai driver who is in a ruthless Red Bull driver market and he will be looking towards Portugal to set more pointers to retain his seat for next year.
Nico Hulkenberg, after jumping in last minute for the unwell Lance Stroll, had a relatively calm weekend following his call up. The German came away with a brilliant 8th, place taking Driver of The Day. This will be valuable in his efforts to get a seat back in Formula One, and the result proved valuable to Racing Point as well. His finish, coupled with Sergio Perez’s fourth, placed them ahead of McLaren and now into 3rd place in the constructors’.
Nico Hulkenberg earned a fantastic eighth-placed finish, deputising for the unwell Lance Stroll – courtesy of Racing Point Media
There was a late safety car as Lando Norris pulled to the side to take to the deck chairs as his “Default Zero 3” wheel setting was not able to get the car home. This however was timely for the rest of the teams and brought forth a new strategy as they jumped into the pits to grab extra points.
The restart gave exciting skirmishes in the midfield and Ricciardo attempted a move up the side of Verstappen to further cement a trip to the tattoo parlour with Cyril Abiteboul. It wasn’t necessary though as he will be looking to his friends back in London after taking 3rd to get one done for Renault’s Managing Director.
It looks like Cyril Abiteboul will be getting a tattoo of Daniel Ricciardo’s choice after the Australian’s podium
The top three crossed the line all improving on their start positions with a surprise podium for the Renault who have not seen the top steps since Malaysia 2011, and Ricciardo’s return to the steps since Monaco 2018.
Renault earned their first podium since Malaysia 2011 with Nick Heidfeld – courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool
A celebration of Hamilton’s achievements was met with Mick Schumacher handing over his father’s iconic helmet in honour of matching the record—rather fittingly at the German’s home Grand Prix with the Schumacher S being named after him. He added in his post-race interview that he remembers playing against the seven time world champion on Grand Prix 3 aged around 13-14 and now it looks ever promising that he will complete his climb to being the most successful driver in Formula One.
The next stop is Portugal, where Formula One has not landed since Damon Hill’s win at Estoril in 1996. The Algarve International Circuit in Portimao will host the Grand Prix on the 25th October. And two weeks on from the Eifel Grand Prix the F1 Drivers’ Championship is shaping to be heavily contested in the midfield and the Autodrome will hopefully maintain the enticing battle with 6 confirmed races in this season still to go!
Josh Cook took his second win of the weekend as Matt Neal was given a 0.7 second penalty for hitting Cook on the final lap.
Cook had led all race but Neal had more pace, and his move three corners from the end was judged to have been gaining an advantage by the stewards, and so the places were reversed.
Meanwhile the two title contenders had a race to forget. Colin Turkington locked up at the start going into turn one and put it in the wall. Ash Sutton had a golden chance to capitalize but made a rash move on Jake Hill on lap seven and suffered a puncture, finishing 20th and out the points.
Hill was holding Sutton off, and the Infiniti driver dove down the inside at the final hairpin. Sutton made contact and punctured his tyre, but he’d gone past the pits before realising his tyre had punctured.
With the two title protagonists stricken, Tom Ingram and Dan Cammish both picked up good points to close the gap.
Towards the end of the race Neal had bags of pace. He passed Hill into second and was soon on the back of Cook. He closed the three second gap in a matter of laps and by the end of lap 14 he was on the back of his fellow Honda Civic driver.
On lap 16, Cook was holding Neal off, with an extra 60kg of ballast on his car, but Neal dove down the inside into the final section of the lap. He tapped Cook on the inside and nearly tipped him into a spin. He passed Cook and finished first on the road but the stewards swapped the positions.
Pos
Driver
Car
Interval
1
Josh Cook
Honda CIvic Type R FK8
2
Matt Neal
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+0.700*
3
Jake Hill
Honda Civic Type R FK2
+1.164
4
Tom Ingram
Toyota Corolla
+1.616
5
Dan Cammish
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+5.202
6
Tom Chilton
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+8.693
7
Tom Oliphant
BMW 330i M Sport
+8.875
8
Bobby Thompson
Audi S3 Saloon
+9.489
9
Senna Proctor
Hyundai i30N
+14.573
10
Stephen Jelley
BMW 125i M Sport
+15.473
11
Aiden Moffat
Infiniti Q50
+17.396
12
Chris Smiley
Hyundai i30N
+19.052
13
Adam Morgan
Mercedes Benz A Class
+22.835
14
Sam Osborne
Honda Civic Type R FK2
+22.976
15
Mike Bushell
VW CC
+23.269
16
Andy Neate
Ford Focus ST
+27.980
17
Jack Butel
Mercedes Benz A Class
+28.900
18
Jack Goff
VW CC
+31.145
19
Rory Butcher
Ford Focus ST
+46.635
20
Ash Sutton
Infiniti Q50
+1 Lap
21
Michael Crees
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+4 Laps
Retirements
DNF
Ollie Jackson
Ford Focus ST
Crash
DNF
Colin Turkington
BMW 330i M Sport
Crash
DNS
Carl Boardley
BMW 125i M Sport
DNS
Nicolas Hamilton
VW CC
*Matt Neal received a 0.7 second penalty for causing a collision.
Josh Cook took his second win of the season at Croft in the British Touring Car Championship with Jake Hill second and title contender Colin Turkington third.
Power Maxed Racing’s entry Jac Constable was set to make his first ever BTCC appearance but had to pull out before the race as he felt unwell.
Cook led from lights to flag despite pressure from Hill. Ash Sutton recovered from a first lap spin to finish fifth. He was promoted to fourth as Butcher received a penalty for the spin.
Coming into the final complex, Sutton was tapped by Rory Butcher and spun, falling to 11th. Hill got close to Cook on the end of lap one, but didn’t get another chance to take the lead.
Bobby Thompson, who qualified an impressive fifth, had some slight damage concerns as his wheel was rubbing on some bodywork, but it fixed itself and he powered on.
Tom Ingram and Senna Proctor were both disqualified from qualifying yesterday for ride height issues, and both started to fly through the field. Ingram fought back to 13th with Proctor finishing 18th.
Sutton’s favoured move throughout the race was to dummy into the final hairpin and dive down the inside. He did it to three drivers before finding veteran Tom Chilton a little harder to pass. He finally did it on lap 13 and finished fifth.
Jack Butel retired from the race for his first DNF of his BTCC career. Nic Hamilton and Sam Osborne also failed to finish.
Cook took the win but as is a common theme this season Sutton takes the plaudits for his surge through the field. Sutton and Turkington are now tied at the top of the standings.
Pos
Driver
Car
Interval
1
Josh Cook
Honda Civic Type R FK8
2
Jake Hill
Honda Civic Type R FK2
+0.653
3
Colin Turkington
BMW 330i M Sport
+3.573
4
Ash Sutton
Infiniti Q50
+10.348
5
Rory Butcher
Ford Focus ST
+10.592*
6
Tom Chilton
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+13.245
7
Matt Neal
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+13.436
8
Bobby Thompson
Audi S3 Saloon
+16.909
9
Adam Morgan
Mercedes Benz A Class
+17.248
10
Dan Cammish
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+17.663
11
Tom Oliphant
BMW 330i M Sport
+17.890
12
Chris Smiley
Hyundai i30N
+21.148
13
Tom Ingram
Toyota Corolla
+21.553
14
Ollie Jackson
Ford Focus ST
+23.441
15
Stephen Jelley
BMW 125i M Sport
+23.748
16
Aiden Moffat
Infiniti Q50
+25.347
17
Jack Goff
VW CC
+27.187
18
Senna Proctor
Hyundai i30N
+27.663
19
Mike Bushell
VW CC
+28.220
20
Carl Boardley
BMW 125i M Sport
+40.219
21
Andy Neate
Ford Focus ST
+55.454
22
Michael Crees
Honda Civic Type R FK8
+1 Lap
Retirements
DNF
Jack Butel
Mercedes Benz A Class
Crash
DNF
Nicolas Hamilton
VW CC
Mechanical
DNF
Sam Osborne
Honda Civic Type R FK2
Mechanical
*Rory Butcher received 2 second penalty for causing a collision.
Valtteri Bottas absolutely smashed the competition from his teammate Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to take pole at Nurburgring on a chilly Saturday afternoon. With yesterday’s practice sessions washed out, the little running that did happen in FP3 suggested that there would be a close fight for pole and things exactly unfolded that way.
Mercedes’ 72nd front row lockout will certainly be a welcome result for them but missing out on pole here means Lewis Hamilton’s quest for the famous 91st win is still set to continue. Verstappen held provisional pole during the first run of Q3 but the Dutchman complained of lesser grip during the second run which ultimately saw him end up in P3.
It looked set to be an all-Red Bull second row after a decent qualifying run from Alex Albon but an amazing lap from Charles Leclerc saw the Monegasque driver finish P4, repeating a similar story from the previous races this season where he has been driving his red car to the limits, sometimes even over. Things were not that good for his teammate Vettel after his qualifying effort saw him finish only at P11 and miss out on Q3 by over three tenths of a second.
GP GERMANIA F1/2020 – SABATO 10/10/2020 credit: @Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
It was another excellent qualifying session for Renault after Daniel Ricciardo overcame his bad first run in Q3 and managed to qualify at P6, just ahead of his teammate Ocon in P7. This result in qualifying means that Renault will have a slight advantage going into the race, especially considering third place in the constructors championship seems to be anybody’s between McLaren, Racing Point and Renault.
Racing Point found themselves in a similar situation to Silverstone earlier this year with the team needing to call up Hulkenberg again, this time for Lance Stroll who has been taken sick and missed out on FP3 earlier. The German driver was luckily in Cologne and was readily available as a replacement. The outing proved quite tough for him after he could only finish last but nevertheless, a commendable effort. Sergio Perez in the other Racing Point finished 9th, splitting the McLarens with Norris in P8 and Sainz in P9.
Both the Alpha Tauri cars could not manage to get into Q3 which was slightly surprising given Gasly’s amazing form this year. They are set to start with Gasly in P12 and Kvyat in P13. A surprise entrant into the top 15 this year is Antonio Giovinazzi, who has finally managed to get into Q2 in his Alfa Romeo and will be starting in P14. His teammate Kimi Raikkonen will start his record-breaking 323rd Grand Prix , the most by any driver, in only P19.
Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean are set to line up 15th and 16th in their Ferrari-powered Haas cars after a flurry of deleted lap times for both drivers in their Q1 runs. Williams are set to line up with George Russell in P17 and Latifi in P18 with Russell, despite being unhappy with his lap, maintaining a 100% qualifying record versus his teammate.
A three-way fight for pole ensured a tight Saturday in the very cold temperatures of the Nurburgring and with conditions set to become more cooler and damper compared to today, a similar fight could pan out for the race win. A slight possibility of rain is also set to be in the mix for the race which can only make things that much unpredictable. Hamilton would be very eager to make it 91 wins on Schumacher’s home soil but his party might be spoiled by either his teammate or by Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, all pointing towards the prospect of a classic German Grand Prix.
image courtesy of WRC 
