ThePitcrewOnline

10th June 201910th June 2019

WorldSBK: More Bautista Dominance, Rea From Last to Fourth in Jerez Superpole Race

The Superpole race from the sixth round of the 2019 Superbike World Championship saw Alvaro Bautista (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) starting from pole position as retrospective penalties for Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) after the first race of the weekend saw him start from last in the sprint race.

That meant there was a great race in prospect, with Rea fighting through from the back, whilst the riders starting from the front would be fighting hard for the crucial top nine positions for the race two grid.

Rea was quick to come through the pack, and was in the top ten from nineteenth after the first two laps, while Bautista had cleared off out the front after converting his pole position to a holeshot. At the same time, Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) made a good start, launching ahead of Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK) off the line, and making good his case for a second top-three of the weekend, pulling away from the rest of the pack as they fought behind.

Michael van der Mark and Alex Lowes at Jerez WSBK 2019. Image courtesy of Yamaha Racing

One of those fights was between the Pata Yamaha WorldSBK riders of Lowes and Michael van der Mark, with the two exchanging positions on several occasions in the opening lap. Van der Mark was eventually able to establish himself in fourth place ahead of Lowes after the pair overcame Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK), and not long after the battle came to a close courtesy of a crash for the 2013 BSB champion.

Lowes’ crash promoted Rea to sixth place, which he soon turned to fifth by passing Sykes, and then fourth by overtaking his teammate, Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), just five corners later.

At the same time, van der Mark was closing on Melandri ahead in an all-Yamaha battle for second. Rea was no faster than either of the Yamaha riders ahead of him, so was in need of a battle between the Dutchman and the Italian.

Unfortunately for the reigning World Champion that battle never arose between Melandri and van der Mark, as the #33 was not able to retaliate when van der Mark made his move.

Once again, though, no one could touch Bautista out front, who won by 2.743 seconds over the ten laps. With Rea finishing in fourth, it was a six-point increase to Bautista’s championship advantage, which now stands at sixty-one points.

It was another strong performance from van der Mark to finish second, his second top two of the weekend. There were some strong moves from the Dutchman in the early laps, but once he smoothed himself out it was almost inevitable that he would end up second.

This is in spite of another strong ride by Marco Melandri, who continues his turnaround from the last few races where he has been seen to struggle a lot. Finishing ahead of Jonathan Rea on merit is testament to that.

Álvaro Bautista winner of Super pole at Jerez WSBK 2019, Michael van der Mark second and Marco Melandri Third Image courtesy of Ducati

For Rea himself, fourth place is perhaps as much as he could have hoped for, considering the strength of the Yamaha in Jerez this weekend, an it was another exceptional comeback from a lowly grid position for the four-times champion.

Tom Sykes’ gamble on the SCX tyre was enough to hold off Leon Haslam to round out the top five, whilst Haslam took sixth place ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing); Jordi Torres who is continuing his exceptional weekend for Team Pedercini Racing; Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) and Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) who completed the top ten despite making a step forward in morning warm up, in which he was fourth fastest.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi (BARNI Racing) took eleventh place, ahead of Tommy Bridewell (Team Goeleven) who made steps, like Davies, in warm up. It was Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) in thirteenth, ahead of Yuki Takahashi (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team) and Markus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) who completed the top fifteen. Alessandro Delbianco (Althea Mie Racing Team) was sixteenth ahead of Ryuichi Kiyonari (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team) who was the last of the seventeen finishers.

Loris Baz (Ten Kata Racing – Yamaha) started from pit lane, and was out by the end of lap one, whilst Lowes crashed on lap four of the Superpole race, leaving his team some work to do before the second full length race of the weekend.

Featured Image courtesy of Ducati

9th June 20199th June 2019

Controversial penalty costs victory for Vettel

Sebastian Vettel drove a storming lap in almost perfect conditions in qualifying at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montréal on Saturday, clocking a stunning lap time of 1:10.240. It was a new track record and the 56th pole position of the German’s career.

The rest of the grid shaped up with a few surprise results, including Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen who was knocked out in Q1 and started in P17. Kevin Magnussen suffered a crash at the infamous Wall of Champions, ruining the lap times of several other drivers in the final moments of Q2, including the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who was forced to start in 11th place.

As a result of Magnussen’s crash, several repairs were required and the Haas team later announced that he would be starting the race from the pit lane, moving every driver up a place from P10 to P20.

The most surprising result of the day, was Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, who drove a stunning lap to secure fourth place, his highest qualifying spot with the Enstone-based team so far.

Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) Renault F1 Team RS19.
Canadian Grand Prix, Saturday 8th June 2019. Montreal, Canada.

With Vettel leading the pack for Ferrari, current championship leader Lewis Hamilton started alongside him, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Ricciardo on the second row. Both Leclerc and Ricciardo were seeking a strong result after experiencing some bad luck in the first six races of the season.

The race began under blue skies, with Vettel stretching out a 1.2 second lead after the first lap, with the top four retaining their initial positions. Lando Norris and Max Verstappen had an exciting scrap for P8, however by lap nine the McLaren driver had retired from the race, after the sweltering heat affected both his suspension and brakes.

Valtteri Bottas was threatened by Verstappen, with the Dutchman using DRS in an attempt to pass.

Antonio Giovinazzi was extremely lucky and miraculously avoided hitting the Wall of Champions as Hamilton closed the gap to Vettel. The Brit got very close, however he then locked up and lost a chunk of time.

Vettel became the first of the leaders to pit when he came in on lap 26. Mercedes, meanwhile, left Hamilton out on track, feeling there wasn’t a big enough gap between the pair for Hamilton to come out of his stop ahead of the Ferrari driver.

2019 Canadian Grand Prix, Saturday – Wolfgang Wilhelm

He would pit two laps later, with both Vettel and teammate Leclerc were told to switch to ‘plan B’ of their strategy. On lap 33, Leclerc pitted, however he found himself stuck in traffic alongside Verstappen in the Red Bull.

Other noticeable incidents saw Giovinazzi spin and Hülkenberg speak of his concerns over team radio regarding downshifts in the gearbox. His teammate Ricciardo brilliantly defended his position against Bottas as Leclerc passed Verstappen for third. Hamilton once again closed the gap to Vettel, and by lap 39 the leaders were less than a second apart.

Hamilton went too deep at the hairpin and lost some time, while Vettel went on to post the fastest lap of the race on lap 42.

Further down the field, Pierry Gasly struggled to pass Lance Stroll, who was still racing with the tyres he had started on.

Vettel voiced his concerns about the temperature of his brakes and, on lap 48, went wide on the grass, almost losing the lead of the race to Hamilton. Hamilton reported the incident to his team.

GP CANADA F1/2019 – SABATO 08/06/2019
credit: @Scuderia Ferrari Press Office

Verstappen passed both Renaults to take P5 and the stewards announced that they were investigating the incident between Hamilton and Vettel. This resulted in a five-second penalty being given to the Ferrari driver, due to unsafe re-entry and forcing another driver off track. This decision was met with much criticism from the German, stating that the stewards were stealing the victory from him.

With just five laps remaining in the Grand Prix, Toro Rosso’s Albon retired, his car having suffered damage during an early clash with Giovinazzi. Leclerc attempted to catch Hamilton, as Bottas dived into the pits in order to seal a bonus point for the fastest lap. Carlos Sainz lost two more places, to Racing Point driver Stroll and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat.

Sebastian Vettel crossed the finish line first, however Lewis Hamilton ultimately inherited the victory after Vettel’s five-second penalty. Leclerc managed to close the gap and just missed out in taking second place from his teammate.

The final result also saw Bottas in fourth, Verstappen in fifth and a stellar performance from Daniel Ricciardo secured sixth, with his teammate Hülkenberg just behind. Gasly finished in eighth with Kvyat in tenth and Lance Stroll securing points in P9 at his home race.

Valtteri Bottas snatched the fastest lap of the race with a 1:13:078. Sebastian Vettel was voted driver of the day and in his frustration, after the race, switched the 1st and 2nd place signs in parc fermé. He would also receive two penalty points on his super license.

The 8th round of the 2019 Formula 1 season will begin with Free Practice on the 21st of June at Circuit Paul Ricard for the French Grand Prix.

[Featured image – Scuderia Ferrari Press Office]

9th June 2019

British F3: Race Three – Simmons wins to complete a solid weekend

Chris Dittmann Racing’s Ayrton Simmons took his and his team’s first ever British F3 victory to crown a solid weekend at the office.

Simmons took the win to back up earlier finishes of third and fifth in the reverse-grid Race Two, while Johnathan Hoggard took second ahead of Kaylen Frederick and Kiern Jewiss in fourth.

It was Neil Verhagen and Clement Novalak that took the chequered flag in the top two on the road, but the pair were given five second time penalties

Hillspeed’s Sasakorn Chaimongkol was seventh ahead of Manuel Maldonado in eighth for Fortec. with Hampus Ericsson was ninth ahead of Race Two winner Benjamin Pedersen.

For Verhagen and Novalak, it was a case of trying to extend the gap to Simmons and Hoggard behind, it was always going to be an uphill task with the top five very evenly matched, Kaylen Frederick in particular keeping his counsel to maintain third.

Post race a 10 second penalty was issued by the Clerk of the Course to Nazim Azman for making contact with Lucas Petersson at Stowe, forcing Petersson to spin. Azman receives three penalty points.

9th June 2019

British GT – Loggie – That Silverstone victory was justice

Iain Loggie felt that his and Callum Macleod’s victory at the British GT’s Silverstone 500 even was justice after an unfortunate start to the season.

Loggie was taken out from the lead at Oulton Park after showing excellent pace all weekend, while he and Macleod did not compete at Snetterton after Loggie was injured in an horrific cycling accident.

The Scotsman feels that it was about time RAM had some luck.

“I thought after we went pole at Oulton it would be about getting out of the first two corners safely as we were seven or eight tenths clear so no one would be able to overtake you. So I think it is justice for that and even more justice as we didn’t compete at Snetterton.”

Loggie broke several bones in the accident that ruled him and Macleod out of the Snetterton event, but despite the severe injuries felt fine at the British GT series’ longest race.

“It’s been great, that was five weeks after a massive cycling crash, I broke my collarbone in two places and my wrist in half a dozen places. Five weeks ago I was on the operating table so to be back here at Silverstone and win is amazing, I am really pleased.

“I am all good, the second stint I was starting to feel my wrist a little bit but I am absolutely fine and I will be a thousand percent right for Donnington in a couple of weeks time. Hopefully we can do something there.”

Loggie had an early battle with the racey Shaun Balfe in the McLaren 720S as the two and Graham Davidson battled for the GT3 lead early in the race.

The 56-year-old was never worried about contact behind from behind, with the battle between two experienced Am drivers a very clean affair.

“To be honest we had noticed that the Balfe McLarens had been quick all weekend. I actually didn’t feel the pressure from the McLaren because I know the driver of that was very experienced and he wasn’t going to run into the back or hit you or do anything silly.

“I was happy and was able to concentrate on the track in front but at the same time knowing that I can’t make any mistakes, keep it clean and don’t get any penalties.”

And the Scotsman was full of praise for teammate Macleod and his final stint to take the lead late on, after rival Jonny Adam came to grief against the Ford Mustang GT4 entry of Chad McCumbee.

“Callum did a great job there, he was four seconds back to start with and within five laps it was five tenths. It was unfortunate for Jonny but that was nothing more than sheer pressure from Callum and it meant that the driver in front has got to make a move.”

9th June 2019

British GT – Macleod: That win was for you, dad

Callum Macleod dedicated victory at Silverstone to his late father after a late pass on Jonny Adam saw the RAM Racing Mercedes take victory at the British GT’s crown jewel event.

Macleod and teammate Iain Loggie were also forced to miss the event at Snetterton three weeks ago after the latter broke several bones in a cycling accident.

Macleod was reflective after the RAM Mercedes’ first win of the season.

“I want to dedicate this to my dad who passed away at the end of last year. This one was for him.

“RAM Racing have been absolutely fantastic since day one and have given us a really fast car at all weekends we’ve had, pre-season testing went really well and if you are going to win a race in the British GT Championship, you want it to be this one at Silverstone, the Silverstone 500.”

Macleod also expressed sympathy for race-long rivals TF Sport and Aston Martin, with driving duo Graham Davidson and Johnathan Adam caught out by the errant Multimatic Ford Mustang of Chad McCumbee.

“It was very unfortunate for Jonny as he drove the whole race very well, I just tried to put as much pressure on him and get him to make a mistake, maybe the Mustang didn’t see him.

“Jonny got onto the marbles and there were a few factors that caused contact, but what a fantastic race and entertaining from start to finish”.

9th June 2019

British GT – Iain Loggie and Callum MacLeod triumph against the odds after battle with Jonny Adam and Graham Davidson

Ram Racing’s Iain Loggie and Callum Macleod took an emotional victory in British GT’s blue riband event at Silverstone on Sunday.

Macleod and Jonny Adam in the Aston Martin were battling hard for the lead right up until the penultimate lap when the two GT3 cars caught GT4 Multimatic driver Chad McCumbee, who was unco-operative through Becketts and Maggots and the two collided as the Aston and Mercedes rushed to pass.

That took Adam out of the race and allowed Nicki Thiim/Mark Farmer and Seb Morris/Rick Parfitt to take overall podium finishes.

The flagship three-hour race was a tale of three GT3 cars early on as Loggie, TF Sport’s Aston Martin racer Graham Davidson and Shaun Balfe battled it out early on.

Sam De Haan and Adam Balon in the two Barwell Motorsport Lamborghinis came to blows on lap one at the loop, and it was a sign of how both of their races were to go as Barwell failed to re-discover their Snetterton sparkle to finish eighth and ninth.

Dennis Lind was fourth in the Lamborghini alongside Michael Igoe ahead of Bradley Ellis and Ollie Wilkinson in the Optimum Aston Martin. Ryan Ratcliffe and Glynn Geddie completed the overall top six ahead of Andrew Howard and Marco Sorensen.

Meanwhile, in GT4 TF Sport once again suffered heartbreak as the seemingly imperious duo of Patrick Kibble suffered two pit-lane timing dramas.

The two stop/go penalties issued for short pit-stops ensured they didn’t convert GT4 pole into what in all probability looked like GT4 victory.

That should have opened the door for Tolman Motorsport duo Josh Smith and James Dorlin, the #4 McLaren was at one point 15s clear in the lead of GT4.

But, mere laps after their final stop, Dorlin was forced to retire the car with an as yet unknown issue from what would have been certain victory.

Scott Malvern and Nick Jones were the eventual overall GT4 winners and took double honours, also walking away with the GT4 Pro/Am trophy to cap a memorable weekend for the Team Parker Racing #66 Mercedes.

They were followed home by Maxime Buhk and Peter Belshaw in the ERC Sport Mercedes ahead of the other Multimatic Mustang of Seb Priaulx and Scott Maxwell, while Martin Plowman and Kelvin Fletcher were fourth overall and took a valuable second in the Pro/Am category.

Tom Canning and Ashley Hand completed the top five for TF Sport Aston Martin.

9th June 2019

British F3 – Pedersen wins Race Two as Hoggard steals the show

Benjamin Pedersen took his first win since coming over from the USA for Douglas Motorsport in an entertaining, and largely clean, Race Two at Silverstone.

Pedersen led away from the reversed grid having had a disappointing Race One on Saturday afternoon, and was never headed as he calmly stroked his way home.

Hoggard meanwhile battled his way from twelfth to pick up ten further overtaking points, including a daring pass on the last lap around the outside at Stowe to relegate Pavan Ravishankar to third.

Championship debutant Nicolas Varrone was a solid fourth, with Ayrton Simmons up twelve positions from 17th to take fifth, after another exciting race-long battle with Neil Verhagen in Race One.

Nazim Azman was sixth ahead of last year’s Silverstone winner Josh Mason in seventh, with Ulysse De Pauw eighth.

Championship leader Clement Novalak fought his way up to an impressive ninth for Carlin Motorsport while Lucas Petersson completed the topten.

Kiern Jewiss, fresh from a collision was again the victim of unfortunate circumstances as he sustained rear tyre damage after passing Kris Wright, while a jump start penalty relegated Neil Verhagen to 15th, although the American has pole position for the final race of the afternoon.

9th June 20199th June 2019

WorldSBK: Bautista Back on Top as Rea, Lowes Collide

Race one for the sixth round of the 2019 Superbike World Championship took place in Jerez, as the series reverted to type after the double of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in Imola, as Alvaro Bautista (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) returned to the top step in his home round.

Jonathan Rea made the holeshot from pole position, his first pole in Jerez, but it took Bautista all of five corners to pass the reigning champion. After this, despite the best efforts of Rea, the Spaniard could not be caught.

Alvaro Bautista and Jonathan Rea during Race One at Jerez WSBK 2019. Image Courtesy of Ducati

Soon, Rea had the attentions of the two Pata Yamaha WorldSBK riders, Michael van der Mark and Alex Lowes, to deal with. Van der Mark did not take long to move through on the Kawasaki rider. Trying to go with the Dutchman, Rea lost the front at turn two which allowed Lowes through.

Rea was back at turn six after Lowes had a big slide in T5, and this let van der Mark escape. However, there was no separating Lowes and Rea, who swapped positions multiple times in the final ten laps, and the battle went down to the final corner. Lowes defended the line well, but Rea cut back to the inside, clipping Lowes’ left hand and taking away the bar. Lowes lost the front and his left glove, and looked to be in pain with his left hand. Rea was apologetic when he returned to the pit but, understandably, the Yamaha team was uninterested in the reigning champion’s consolation. The incident was investigated after the race but no punishment was handed the way of the Northern Irishman.

Either way, no one could get near Bautista who, once again, destroyed the field with his Panigale V4R. After missing the top step in both races in Imola, it was the perfect way for the #19 to bounce back in his home round.

The ride of van der Mark, from seventh on the grid, was fantastic. He scythed through the pack in the early laps, dealt with his teammate early on, then dragged Lowes up to Rea. Once he was past the World Champion, van der Mark proved superior to all but Bautista out front.

Third place for Rea was fortunate, as he didn’t have the tyre for it. Either way, out of a difficult race where he had a poor feeling with the front, Rea comes away with yet another podium, one which equals the record of Colin Edwards for consecutive podiums, as he took his twenty-fifth in a row. Perhaps, though, this is not one that Rea will want to remember, and he certainly was not celebrating it on the podium.

Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) has been back on form this weekend after missing confidence in his Yamaha R1 since his podium in Australia. Fourth place, and nineteen seconds off the win is perhaps not precisely where Melandri wants to be, but it represents a step forward from where he has been since the first round, and it gave him the top ‘independent’ award.

Alvaro Bautista, Michael van der Mark and Jonathan Rea on the 2019 Race One WSBK Jerez Podium winners. Image courtesy of Ducati

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) completed the top five, having come out second best of a race-long battle with Melandri.

Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) took sixth, ahead of a struggling Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing Ducati). Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) was eighth, ahead of Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (BARNI Racing) who completed the top ten.

Eleventh went to Markus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) ahead of the returnees, Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing – Yamaha) and Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura). Eugene Laverty’s replacement at Team Goeleven, Tommy Bridewell, was fourteenth, whilst Alessandro Delbianco (Althea Mie Racing Team) was the top Honda in fifteenth, taking the final point.

After his incident in the final corner, Lowes got back on his YZF-R1 to finish sixteenth, ahead of his 2013 teammate at Samsung Honda in BSB, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team) who was seventeenth and last on his first ever race in Jerez.

WorldSBK debutant, and replacement for Leon Camier at the Moriwaki Althea Honda Team, Yuki Takahashi, was the first retirement, crashing out unharmed at turn one. Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing) was the only other retirement, as he came back into the pits on lap fifteen.

Featured image courtesy of Ducati

8th June 2019

Vettel claims first pole of 2019 at Canadian Grand Prix

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel has taken pole at the Canadian Grand Prix, his 56^th career pole position and his first since the 2018 German Grand Prix, some 17 races ago.

Hamilton had been on provisional pole for much of Q3, but Vettel’s last lap of a 1:10.240 was good enough to beat him into P2 by two tenths of a second. Charles Leclerc was a further five tenths behind in P3 and will start ahead of a very impressive Daniel Ricciardo in P4, and Pierre Gasly in P5.

It was a very messy Q3 for the other Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, who spun coming out of turn two early on in the session and was left with just one attempt to set a competitive time. A couple of lock-ups and a too-deep line going into the hairpin meant his lap was only good enough for P6, ahead of Hulkenberg, Norris and Sainz.

Haas’s Kevin Magnussen did technically make it through into the final stage of qualifying, but he did not take part after crashing heavily on the pit-straight in the final moments of Q2.

The subsequent red flag curtailed Max Verstappen’s attempt to make it through to Q3. The Dutchman had been pushed into the drop-zone relatively early on, complaining of traffic and low grip. He switched to the soft tyres and was on track to make it through to the next stage, only for Magnussen’s crash to put a stop to things and leave him high and dry in P11, but with free tyre choice for the race.

He lines up ahead of Kvyat, Giovinazzi, Albon, and Grosjean down in P15. Grosjean, too, was affected by Magnussen’s crash; he had locked up and bailed out of his earlier lap and, like Verstappen, found himself with just one lap to make it through to Q3. He had been coming out of the last corner at the time of Magnussen’s crash, with just a couple of seconds separating him from a Q2 elimination and progression into Q3.

Towards the lower end of the grid, it was a home qualifying to forget for Racing Point, with both Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll eliminated in Q1. Kimi Raikkonen was also knocked out, with it being only the second time this season that he has been out-qualified by his team-mate. The Williams pair of Russell and Kubica will make up the last row of the grid.

[Featured image – Ferrari Media]

8th June 2019

British F3 – Novalak: Set-up work on Thursday helped Carlin during the race

Clement Novalak took the spoils for Carlin in the first of three British F3 races at Silverstone this weekend.

After a wet qualifying gave way to dry conditions for the race, the British F3 drivers were entering the unknown for what proved to be an entertaining opening race.

“The tyre deg through the race was a lot worse than we thought it would be so I slowed it a little bit to try and manage the tyres as we had a big gap”, The Swiss-British driver began.

“All in all, it’s a great result and we had great pace through the early race so we’re happy.”

Novalak never looked worried throughout the 10-lap dash, as rivals Neil Verhagen and Ayrton Simmons battled on behind.

“Ayrton and Neil battling allowed me to pull away more than if they weren’t, but in the end we saved tyres but Ayrton’s were still in better shape at the end. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”

And the Carlin man believes he’s starting at the back at the best track to for Race Two tomorrow morning, although acknowledging that it still won’t be easy.

“Of course it’s a lot easier to get past and overtake than at Snett and Oulton but we’re still driving cars with a lot of aero and it is still a high speed circuit, so it’ll be easier but not easy. I am still confident given the pace we had in the early laps so we can make up a few positions.

“It’s always hard to adapt and we had two days of running with no dry track running, we had done the set up on Thursday and it wasn’t too difficult to change.”

IMAGE – Jakob Ebrey