Marco Bezzecchi takes the first ever MotoGP Pole Position at the Buddh International Circuit, and his third of the season, with the top ten riders being within one second of each other. He is joined by Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia on the front row for both the Sprint and Main Races.
The main shock in the paddock was to see both factory KTM riders, Jack Miller and Brad Binder, having to go through the first round of qualifying. However, neither of these two riders were able to progress through.
Track conditions continued to improve during qualifying one with the best lap time constantly swapping between riders as they passed the finish line. After the second set of fast laps, Binder was at the top of the timesheets, followed by Raul Fernandez.
Binder was replaced by Alex Marquez in the promotion places just before the Spaniard crashed at turn six. A. Marquez went to the medical centre and was sent to hospital for further checks. He has been declared unfit due to fractured ribs.
Fernandez and A. Marquez were the riders who made it through to Q2.
As soon as qualifying two started, all the fit riders headed out to get a feel of the track once more. The first set of runs were completed quickly, and Martin sat firmly at the top of the pile. The time he set was not faster than R. Fernandez’s time in Q1.
Five minutes into the session, Marc Marquez crashed at turn three and was down in the middle of the track. Bagnaia had to take avoiding action to ensure that he did not hit the Spaniard or his Repsol Honda.
Bezzecchi continued to lap at a rapid pace, but he was once again displaced by Martin at the head of the field.
Marquez made it back to the pits and was able to head back out for the final four minutes of the session with the rest of the riders. Joan Mir set a quick lap time on his Repsol Honda, placing him in fourth place before other riders knocked him down the order.
Bezzecchi set his fastest time, a 1:43.947, which gave him the all-time track record at the circuit.
Bagnaia had a few wobbles on his final lap, but still improved, allowing him to join Bezzechi and Martin on the all Ducati front row.
BOTH of these HUGE moments were on @PeccoBagnaia‘s fastest lap! 🤯
Luca Marini heads up the second row and is joined by the two Repsol Honda riders, Mir and M. Marquez.
Johann Zarco leads the third row and is joined by fellow countryman Fabio Quartararo and Spaniard Maverick Vinales. Vinales’ teammate Aleix Espargaro rounded out the top ten.
Feature Image Credit: @VR46RacingTeam on X (formerly Twitter) (https://twitter.com/VR46RacingTeam/status/1705232774561780087/photo/1)
INDIAN MOTOGP, BUDDH INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT – FULL QUALIFYING RESULTS
Carlos Sainz wins the Singapore Grand Prix through some intelligent driving under immense pressure from behind. Verstappen made up places but the Red Bulls were not in good form while the Mercedes team made an impressive strategy call to challenge for the lead.
The Ferrari’s away cleanly at the start. Image courtesy of Pirelli F1 Press Area
Lights out and Sainz got away cleanly but behind him Russell bogged down meaning Leclerc made it past the Mercedes before turn one. The challenge was now on for Leclerc, who started on softs, to keep up with his teammate in the first stint.
Slightly further back Hamilton had a great start to out-break Norris before heading around the outside of Russell but having to take to the escape road and then back on track. Hamilton eventually gave back both places and then settled into his P5 position for a while.
It wasn’t all clean racing on lap one as there was a small amount of contact between Tsunoda and Perez which led to the Alpha Tauri retiring a few corners later. Luckily for the drivers he was able to pull off the circuit safely and the race continued.
Verstappen had gained a place in the first couple of laps and was now on the tail of Magnussen. It was a tight battle between the pair but Verstappen took advantage of DRS to make it into P8. His next job was to chase down Gasly, however, on the hard tyres the Red Bull was still sliding around so Verstappen was told a few times to back off and cool the car down.
Verstappen trying to gain places early on. Image courtesy of Pirelli F1 Press Area
The race began to settle down while we waited for the first pit stop window to open. Sainz was managing the race well by keeping the pack close together, however, this meant that even 15 laps in, if the Spaniard had pitted from the lead, he would have come out in P17.
Just a few laps later Sargent ended up hitting the barrier around turn eight and damaging his front wing. Sargent was able to get back to the pits but not without leaving debris along the track and causing a safety car.
Ferrari took this opportunity to double stack. Most Ferrari fans waited with bated breath as this was the sort of thing that could ruin a Ferrari race, however they managed to pull it off… to a certain extent.
Leclerc had backed up the pack in order to create himself a gap to allow the double stack to happen. Because of this a queue of cars formed behind him and all filed into the pit lane as the Monégasque needed to leave, so he had to be held in his pit box until there was a gap, which cost him track position.
In an interesting strategy call, Red Bull didn’t pit either of their cars as they had started with the hard tyres. However, Sainz came out ahead of Verstappen after his stop so the plan hadn’t paid off for the World Champion. This meant that he and Perez were on old tyres with everyone else of fresh hards around them at the restart.
The safety car restart. Image courtesy of Pirelli F1 Press Area
On lap 23 the safety car came in and Sainz had the lead from Verstappen who was struggling to defend against Russell. Just behind them Perez had to fend off Norris and Hamilton who were closing rapidly.
Almost synchronised, Russell overtook Verstappen and Norris gained a place on the other Red Bull. Perez nearly left the door open for Hamilton but the Mexican was able to stay ahead for a few more corners before the Mercedes made a move stick using DRS.
This then became the trend for a few laps. The Red Bulls began to tumble with Norris and Hamilton gaining places on Verstappen in quick succession. Perez was at the start of a train of cars which led to an interesting battle between the Red Bull, Alonso, and Ocon.
On lap 37 Alonso dived up the inside of Perez but went in deep and Perez was able to fight back. This opened the door for Ocon to join the fight which was getting closer and closer to the wall. Perez defended the inside of turn eight from Alonso but Ocon went around the outside of the Aston Martin to go side by side into the next few turns.
Ocon was able to make the move on Alonso stick for P8, and was able to pull off a switch back on Perez just a lap later. Alonso then saw his opportunity and overtook Perez a few corners later before the Red Bull headed into the pits for his tyre change.
Sainz at the front had been controlling the race at a decent but slow pace which meant the pack were still quite close together. By the time Perez exited the pit lane, he went from P9 to P18. The story wasn’t much better for Verstappen who came in one lap later from P6 to come back out P15.
Two laps after both Red Bulls changed tyres, the virtual safety car was deployed for Ocon who had stopped just before turn two with a gearbox issue. The top five had already passed the pit entry when the VSC came out but that didn’t stop Mercedes making a bold move.
They double stacked their cars on the next lap for some new mediums to come out P4 and P5 in clean air and only the top three ahead of them. Russell was ahead of Hamilton and it was a very aggressive call but as they headed out the VSC ended and both Brits were on a charge, closing in by two seconds per lap to the leaders.
With 17 laps left it was now an incredible strategy race to see the Mercedes pushing in full force for the podium. Something we haven’t seen for a few seasons. Because of this, it wasn’t long before both cars were within the DRS range of Leclerc in P3.
Out of the corner Russell pulled out a switch back and won the battle of traction against Leclerc to take P3. One lap later and his teammate made a similar move to take P4 from the Ferrari. Now the hunt was on to claim P2 from Norris ahead.
The Mercedes were gaining on the leaders. Image courtesy of Mercedes AMG F1
The Mercedes were closing at an alarming rate, so Sainz came over the radio to ask for the gap to Norris on every lap for the last five laps. When told Norris was 0.8 seconds Sainz replied with ‘that’s the point’. In some very clever driving, Sainz kept Norris within DRS range to give the McLaren some help with speed down the straights. This not only helped Norris but also meant Sainz would likely keep hold of his win.
It was the final lap and the top four were still within 1.5 seconds. Both Mercedes were moving all over the road in a bid to get past Norris. However, with only a few corners to go, Norris tapped the wall on his rear right but came away unscathed. Russell behind him was not so lucky as he clattered the wall with his front right, breaking the suspension and going head first into the barrier. He was ok but had lost P3 right at the end for his teammate to claim the podium.
Sainz was able to break the Red Bull 2023 win streak by taking the win, Norris finished on the second step of the podium while Hamilton took P3.
It was a fascinating race which intrigued not only this Formula 1 fan but many around the world. We are at Suzuka next weekend which will likely see the Red Bulls back on form.
The final day then and 41km’s three stages to decide the result of this event. Thierry and Seb both returned to the starting line-up and the Belgian would open the road.
First up was the classic SS13 Tarzan – 23.37 km and it was a stage win for Elfyn, beating Dani by nine seconds and with that the Welshman was back into second overall. Third fastest was Thierry. In WRC2 there were some changes made overnight with Gus and Andreas being swapped around after some changes to the notional time given to the Norwegian. Nevertheless, he won the stage and reduced Gus’ lead to just 1.1 seconds. Yohan remained in third place.
The first run of the power stage, SS14 Grammeni 1 – 9.00 km saw Dani take a good stage win, but with Elfyn setting a time just 1.3 seconds slower the Welshman remained in second place. Ott was third fastest and was holding fourth overall as well. Andreas took the lead of WRC2 as he was fastest again from Adrien and Joona. Gus was now in second place in the category.
Well, to the final stage then, SS15 Grammeni 2[Power Stage] – 9.00 km and the Welshman set the pace at the top of the timesheets beating early pace setter Ott and the Welshman confirmed his second-place finish. However, Kalle who had driven through the earlier stages with a measured drive, unleashed his pace which he’d been holding in reserve earlier and came through to win the stage and the rally. Top positions in the stage, Kalle, Elfyn, Ott, Dani and Esapekka. Andreas won the WRC2 category from Gus and Yohan. WRC2 top three in the stage was Joona, Adrien and Andreas.
Let’s take a look at the finishing positions and hear from the drivers.
Final Overall Classification –Acropolis Rally
1
K. Rovanperä
J. Halttunen
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid
3:00:16.7
2
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid
+1:31.7
3
D. Sordo
C. Carrera
Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid
+1:35.9
4
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid
+4:28.4
5
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid
+6:22.3
6
T. Katsuta
A. Johnston
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid
+7:20.9
7
A. Mikkelsen
T. Eriksen
Škoda Fabia RS
+9:41.0
8
G. Greensmith
J. Andersson
Škoda Fabia RS
+9:51.3
9
J. Rossel
A. Dunand
Citroën C3
+11:07.0
10
S. Ogier
V. Landais
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid
+11:43.4
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Kalle Rovanperä
“It’s been a nice weekend, for sure. This rally is always so tricky, and it was a tough week with all the difficult conditions, starting already in the recce. It was a big challenge, and starting first on the road I was not expecting to finish first, so taking 30 points is amazing. Last year we struggled from start to finish in Greece, and this year even as first car we could at least fight with the others. Big thanks to the team, as the car was super strong. We could fight back quite well on Saturday, still staying out of trouble and trying to take care of the car and the tyres which you always need to do on this type of rally. Then I really went for it on the Power Stage, like we always try to do. Now we need to stay consistent and focus on the next rallies.”
Elfyn Evans
“It’s been a pretty up-and-down weekend. If we rewind to Saturday lunchtime, we were very lucky to stay in the rally after the radiator damage. We lost over a minute, so to come back to second place, we have to be happy considering everything. Dani was keeping the pressure on and it was still really tight going into the final stage, so it was good to secure the place in the end and to take some Power Stage points as well. It’s not been a perfect weekend for us in championship terms, as Kalle’s been very strong, so congratulations to him, but we will continue to give it everything. And it’s an incredible result for the team: a credit to everyone for making a leap forward from where we were here last year.”
Sébastien Ogier
“It’s not been the rally we wanted on our side but that’s the way it is sometimes. This is the kind of rally where you need to have luck on your side, with the very rough conditions, and unfortunately, we had an accumulation of issues yesterday and had to stop. Today I tried my best in the Power Stage but starting pretty much in the front was not so easy. At the end, the positive is that we had some good performance this weekend. We were not rewarded for it, but at least the team did another great result with a one-two, both in the rally and in the Power Stage, which is really good for both championships.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Dani Sordo
“I tried everything in that final stage. Elfyn had a little bit of bad luck during the rally, but he has driven very well. I’m not really happy with my performance this weekend, but we managed to finish in third place. Today we were able to go for it, which I really enjoyed, so I’d like to give a big thanks to the team for giving me another opportunity to drive like this. They are striving all the time to improve the car and pushing me to do better, so I will try to continue doing so.”
Esapekka Lappi
“It was good to finish the rally in the way that we did. I was enjoying the final stages, I was aggressively attacking but lost some time as well because of that approach. Still, after two days of problems it was good to have a trouble-free day and an enjoyable drive. Today was ok overall, but it was not our weekend. We need to get better, and next time we will be.”
2023 FIA World Rally Championship Round 10, Acropolis Rally 07-10 September 2023 Esapekka Lappi, Janne Ferm, Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid Photographer: Dufour Fabien Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Thierry Neuville
“Luck wasn’t with us this weekend; yesterday, we were in control of the lead, had a good tyre strategy, and the car was working well. Everything was going perfectly until our suspension failure, and unfortunately that cost us a victory. I enjoyed the driving today, the car was feeling very nice, so that’s a positive to finish the weekend. This may be the end of our championship title hopes, but now we look ahead and target some victories in the final events of the season.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Ott Tänak
“It was altogether a very challenging time, not only to the organisers but the whole of Greece. It was extremely tricky and was definitely a big job for them, so to come out from that has been impressive. On the rally side, we can see how quickly the weather can change and that it can change everything.
It’s one of my favourite events, the stages are cool, and it’s not actually so rough. The roads have a really nice flow and most of it is quite wide, so they’re stages you can enjoy.”
Adrien Fourmaux
“It was a great start to the rally, when the stages were quite smooth, but then we had some issues with the tyres and punctures. We lost a lot of time after that, and we were 11th (in WRC2) on Saturday morning, and finishing fourth now, so we can be happy with the rest of the rally.
“The car has been good all weekend, it’s been difficult for everybody because it’s such a tough rally. We can be pleased with the performance of the car when we need it.”
Grégoire Munster
“It’s been a good weekend in Greece, I’m happy about the performance and the stage times we did. For sure Adrien is the reference with the Fiesta and we managed to be close to him, so that’s a good point here. We managed to stay out of trouble, apart from two punctures at the end of stages, and with that we managed to secure a strong end position and win in the WRC2 Challenger class.
“About Chile; we’re really excited to be there, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity so we want to just grab as much experience as possible and then look to reuse that back in WRC2.”
Jourdan Serderidis
“17th overall and 1st Greek driver: it was the objective, but you still needed to achieve it! First Greek means so much to me. Fred and myself, had a fantastic week, without punctures, without big moments and with decent speed. So, I am very happy!”
2023 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 10
1
K. Rovanperä
200
2
E. Evans
167
3
T. Neuville
134
4
O. Tänak
119
5
S. Ogier
99
6
E. Lappi
98
7
T. Katsuta
66
8
D. Sordo
63
9
T. Suninen
34
10
P.L Loubet
28
2023 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 10
1
Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team
430
2
Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team
339
3
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team
220
Summary
What an incredible rally then. The roads had lots of surprises for the crews, in particular the single run stages on Friday. It was a good battle throughout the Friday’s stages between Seb and Thierry which continued into Saturday. It did not continue though and with Seb also suffering a problem on Saturday’s final stage, Kalle was there to take his third victory of the year with a drive where he kept out of trouble. Elfyn overcame a tyre off the rim and also the technical problem with his engine to take an excellent podium and also with second fastest in the power stage good points for the championship.
Dani also kept out of trouble as well and took yet another podium. He is a really good driver and deserves the success he took this weekend.
Next round is over the weekend of the 28th of September to the 1st of October in Chile. Look out for my preview just before.
Jorge Martin does the double for the second time this season after winning both the Sprint and Main Race in the same weekend. He was joined on the podium by Marco Bezzecchi and Francesco Bagnaia who suffered a horrific crash last weekend in Barceona.
Martin got a great start from pole position and led from the front into the first corner. Bagnaia dropped down behind Bezzecchi off the start, but the factory Ducati rider was able to get past his compatriot around the outside of turn two.
The Italian pair kept close behind Martin during the first lap and Bagnaia had a look into the final corner of the first lap and second corner of the second lap but was unable to get past.
Brad Binder made his way past wildcard rider Dani Pedrosa on the second rider and the South African was also the fastest rider on the grid towards the start of the race and was even faster than the Ducati’s ahead of him on the track.
Bezzecchi was able to get past Bagnaia once again on lap six. The Mooney VR46 Ducati rider ran wide and was unable to keep the position.
The front four riders began to break away from Pedrosa and Bagnaia continued to trail the rear wheel of Martin, putting pressure on the Spaniard.
On lap 8, Binder crashed out of fourth place at turn fourteen, leaving the leading group being Martin, Bezzecchi and Bagnaia.
Two laps later, another KTM rider went out, this time Jack Miller after being involved in an incident with Michele Pirro. Fabio Di Giannantonio also got caught up in this incident but was able to continue following this.
Joan Mir crashed at turn four on lap 11 and Pol Espargaro crashed at turn one on lap 16. That crash was the Tech3 GASGAS riders fifth crash of the weekend.
By lap 17, Martin had begun to break away from the leading group and slowly extended his lead at the front. However, the Spaniard was given a track limits warning, meaning that if he exceeded them once more, he would need to take a long lap penalty. This would have dropped him out of the lead, so he made sure not to go over the white lines.
Marc Marquez had a relatively quiet race but on lap 17, he started using Maverick Vinales as a marker around the track, looking for a chance to try and overtake the Aprilia Racing rider.
Bagnaia was visibly struggling on the bike and on lap 19, Bezzechi passed him and Pedrosa gained 0.7s to him on the same lap. Pedrosa would have hoped to have found an opening to pass the Italian but was unable to.
Martin increased his gap to Bezzechi to 2.335s on lap 21 and this was the largest gap during the race because the Italian rider started setting faster lap times.
Miguel Olivera was able to pass M. Marquez at turn 8 on lap 22. On the same lap, Bagnaia ran wide at turn fourteen and Pedrosa closed the gap once more.
The battle for seventh place started well before lap 25 but M. Marquez had to block Raul Fernandez and Luca Marini continuously. Marini did get past on the final lap but at the end of the race, M. Marquez had regained seventh.
Jorge Martin stood on the top step of the podium for the second time of the season during the main race and closed the championship lead that third placed rider Francesco Bagnaia had over him. Third in the championship, Marco Bezzecchi also brought home a good haul of points for the Mooney VR46 Ducati team finishing the race in second.
Wildcard rider Pedrosa was the highest placed KTM rider in third followed by Vinales and Olivera, both on Aprilia’s. M. Marquez finished in seventh place followed by Raul Fernandez, Luca Marini, and Johann Zarco.
Glorious sunshine today in San Marino and yet another glorious Moto3 race to match. Rookie teenager David Alonso took his 3rd victory in 4 Grand Prix’s here in Misano.
The Colombian wonderkid Alonso clearly a title contender now and after a thrilling last lap, saw Alonso snatch the win from Leopard Racing’s Jaume Masia and KTMs Deniz Öncü to victory.
Image Credit: Aspar Team
AS IT HAPPENED
A great start from Ayumu Sasaki and took the lead into turn 1, but it was short lived as pole sitter Masia got by Sasaki on the brakes into turn 4. Front row starters Sasaki and Kaito Toba swapped places in the early parts of the opening lap only for Toba to go from 2nd to 5th on lap 1 as Diogo Moreira and David Alonso blasted by.
It was the first front row start since 2019 for Kaito Toba, 51 races. Long overdue from the Japanese Squadra Corse rider.
Masia was keen to get on with it in the early stages of the race and quickly pulled a gap to over a second to the chasing pack behind. The more the group fought and diced with other, the better it was for Masia in the opening stages. Masia just able to concentrate on his own race and mind his own business at the front.
Coming to the end of lap 3, Öncü was now at the head of the pack and had a gap to Masia of 1.229 seconds to chase down. The group started to realise that the more they fought the better it was for Masia, so allowed Öncü to chase Masia down.
Patience is rare in Moto3 and as Moreira set the fastest lap of the race, was up on the back wheel of Öncü and trying to get by. Both Öncü and Moreira gradually starting to reel Masia in.
Meanwhile, Sasaki was being hounded by the young wonderkids Munoz and Alonso, but championship leader Daniel Holgado was 10th. Holgado seemingly not making much progress at the start of lap 6. A long way still to go in the San Marino Grand Prix but Holgado needed to get a move on soon.
Lap 6 and Öncü was clearly dialled in now. Fastest lap of the race and Öncü halved the gap to Masia in front on the opening two sectors of the lap. Masia only had a 0.280 seconds gap to Öncü in 2nd. Öncü was close enough on the final corner to try and go for the lead into turn 1 at the start of lap 7.
A quarter of the race gone now and we had Masia leading with Öncü on his back wheel and just behind those two was Moreira. A lead group of 3 fighting it out for the win in the sunshine in Misano.
Masia’s pace slowing brought the pack back together. At this point it looking more and more likely we will have a big group of riders soon all fighting for the win. Öncü gets it wrong dropping him back to the group with Sasaki and Alonso and Munoz in 3rd. Öncü with it all to do again to catch the leaders.
Halfway through the race and after Masia’s early getaway we now have a lead group of 7 lead by Masia all interchanging positions especially at turn 4 which is a favourite spot for overtakes.
Onto lap 11 now and coming out of turn 10 Masia makes a mistake and opens the door for the rest to come through. Öncü and Munoz don’t need a second invitation and pounce on Masia with Öncü now taking over the lead of the race with Munoz 2nd and Masia in 3rd.
Through the fastest section of the track turns 11, 12 and 13, Masia chases down and gets by Munoz. A great overtake and Masia was eager to get back in the lead.
With 8 laps to go Öncü was leading as Masia set the fastest lap of the race in 2nd, with Munoz 3rd. Holgado looked like his championship lead of 13pts was going to shrink in Misano as Holgado was currently in 11th place.
7 laps left and the pace was heating up with Alonso setting the fastest lap of the race just as Öncü received a track limits warning mid way through the lap. Öncü lead from Masia 2nd, Alonso 3rd and Munoz 4th. This quartet of riders all still had a great opportunity to take the victory. Öncü now with his track limits warning had to be inch perfect for the remainder of the race.
Munoz at the end of lap 15 on the last corner made a great move up the inside of Masia. Munoz now hunted down Öncü and we know after Öncü wiped out Munoz last weekend in Barcelona. Munoz would be looking for revenge in the final few laps to take the victory away from Öncü.
Masia hadn’t given up though and through his favourite fast section of turns 11, 12 and 13 gets by Munoz and up into 2nd.
With only a couple of laps left now in the race, Öncü lead with Masia close behind in 2nd. Alonso and Munoz needed to get up to the leaders if they still wanted to win the race.
Öncü on the penultimate lap of the race resisted the pressure from Masia and Alonso as we headed into the last lap it could of been any of the top 3 to take the win. Munoz after a scare earlier settled for 4th.
THE LAST LAP
Öncü lead into turn 1 as Alonso set the fastest lap of the race. Alonso got by into 2nd place with only 6corners left of this San Marino Grand Prix.
Onto the final few corners of the race, Masia went up the inside of Alonso just as Alonso ran wide. Masia then dove up the inside of Öncü. 3 of them side by side through turn 14. Masia managed to block Öncü to take a position but opened the door for Alonso to swoop into the lead and hold on to take the win in Misano. What a last lap and what a win for the Colombian wonderkid David Alonso. The 3rd victory in the last 4 races for Alonso and took this win by just +0.036 seconds to Masia in 2nd. Öncü taking 3rd.
With Daniel Holgado finishing way down in 16th place, its set the championship alight. Only 21pts now separate the top 5 riders in the championship. With a brief break next week before we then set off to India. Sasaki, Masia, Öncü and now Alonso will all be thinking they can overtake Holgado and take championship glory.
Pedro Acosta wins the San Marino Grand Prix ahead of Celestino Vietti and Alonso Lopez. Acosta finished the race with a lead of 6.3 seconds and extended his championship lead by 12 points. Tony Arbolino, his closest championship rival, finished the race in fourth place after starting in ninth.
Vietti and Manuel Gonzalez had a good start from the front row, but Acosta took the lead into the first corner and didn’t look back from there. All the riders made it through the first corners without any issues. Aron Canet made up one place to third place at turn three.
Although he had a good start, Gonzalez had dropped down to fifth place by the end of the first lap. Filip Salac gained four places on the first tour of the circuit to cross the line in sixth place. This pair started to compete for fifth place.
Teammates Arbolino and Sam Lowes were battling with each other for space on the track with the Italian coming out on top and matching the race leader for lap times.
Senna Aigus crashed on the third lap causing a yellow flag in the second sector. Vietti and Canet started to work together, following the yellow flag, to catch up with Acosta with all three of these riders setting lap times in the one minute 36 second ballpark.
Arbolino successfully got past Salac for sixth place on the road on lap four just before another yellow flag came out due to Dennis Foggia and Zonta van der Goorbergh crashing in sector 4.
At the front of the field, Acosta continued to set fastest lap after fastest lap and kept increasing the gap to the chasing field behind him.
Further down the field, Somkiat Chantra and Joe Roberts were fighting for ninth place.
On lap 9, Aron Canet crashed out of third place at turn fourteen causing another yellow flag. On the same lap, Vietti set the fastest lap to attempt to close the gap to the leading rider.
Rory Skinner had to retire the bike on lap 11 and pulled into the pits.
Arbolino had started to close the gap to Gonzalez but had a wobble on lap 12 after going too high on the kerb through turn six and lost all the progress he had made.
Lopez had the front two riders in his sights but was 4.5 seconds behind them coming into lap thirteen and would struggle to catch them up, especially with Acosta’s pace.
Fermin Aldeguer had a race to forget after crashing at turn two on lap fifteen and on the following lap Lowes crashed at turn one.
Arbolino caught up to the back of Gonzalez once again and got past the Spaniard to take fourth place. Immediately, the Italian rider started to catch up to Lopez ahead of him.
By lap 17, Acosta had a lead of just over two second and by the end, the race lead extended to 6.3 seconds. Vietti and Lopez completed the podium followed by Arbolino and Ogura. Chantra had a good race finishing in sixth place ahead of Gonzalez who started on the front row.
Roberts had his second best finish of the season in eighth place ahead of Salac and Pasini who rounded out the top ten. The rest of the points scorers were Sergio Garcia, Jake Dixon, Bo Bendsneyder, Marcos Ramirez and Barry Baltus.
Feature Image Credit: Pedro Acosta (@37_pedroacosta on X (formerly Twitter))
SAN MARINO MOTO2 GRAND PRIX, MISANO – RACE RESULTS
Celestino Vietti took his first pole since the third round of the season followed by championship leader Pedro Acosta and Manuel Gonzalez. Acosta’s closest championship rival, Tony Arbolino, was only able to qualify in ninth place and will need to make up places in the race tomorrow to close the championship gap.
Arbolino had to go through the first round of qualifying once again after his combined practice time was not fast enough for him to be automatically placed into the second session. Bo Bendsneyder finished the first qualifying session in first place, a position he held after the first set of flying laps.
Gonzalez also went through the first qualifying session and finished just behind Arbolino in third. The final rider to go through was Zonta van der Goorbergh.
The second qualifying session got underway without any issues and following the first flying laps Gonzalez was at the top of the timesheet followed by Vietti and Mattia Pasini. Jake Dixon and Acosta only ran installation laps in the first half of the session, meaning that they did not have a representative lap time and they sat towards the bottom of the times.
Ai Ogura had been quick all throughout the weekend and all eyes had been on the Japanese rider. Midway through the session, he sat at tenth on the timesheet.
Sam Lowes set a good time to bring himself up to fourth place but was dropped down the order when Acosta put in the fastest time of the session, 0.133 seconds faster than Gonzaez.
Joe Roberts also dropped Lowes down the leaderboard when he went into fourth place.
After setting a fast time at the start of the session, Pasini crashed causing yellow flags in the second sector. This meant that many laps were cancelled including a fast time for Acosta. Dixon also had a lap time deleted, but this was due to a track limits warning.
On the following lap, Alonso Lopez crashed causing another yellow flag, this time in sectors two and three. This meant that Dixon and Vietti, amongst other riders, had their times deleted. Acosta did improve on his lap time, but this was also deleted due to the yellow flag.
As the chequered flag flew, Aron Canet came across the line to put his bike into fourth place. He was visibly pleased with the lap time and will be starting the race at the head of the second row.
Vietti came across the line and went to the top of the timesheet by 8 hundredths of a second ahead of Acosta. The Spaniard was on course to set a fast lap time but encountered traffic during his final lap and was unable to improve on his time. Gonzalez joins Vietti and Acosta on the front row.
After crashing earlier in the session, Pasini and Lopez join Canet on the second row. Roberts heads up the third row with Sam Lowes and Arbolino. Filip Salac rounds out the top ten.
Dixon crashed towards the end of the session and was only able to set a time fast enough to qualify in fourteenth place.
Feature Image Credit: Fantic Racing
2023 SAN MARINO MOTO2 GRAND PRIX, MISANO – QUALIFYING RESULTS
Coming into day two Thierry held a narrow lead over Seb with six stages and 141km’s ahead of them. Jourdan would open the road throughout the day in his Puma, the Greek driver set to enjoy himself again.
Into SS7 Pavliani 1 – 24.25 km and Kalle was fastest from Seb and Thierry. Seb retook the lead at the end of the stage, now leading the Belgian by 7.8 seconds. In WRC2 Andreas was fastest in the stage from Marco and Yohan who continued to lead the category from Marco who’d made his way into second overall, pushing Gus down to third overall.
Next up was SS8 Karoutes 1 – 28.49 km and guess what! Thierry retook the lead from Seb who’d gone straight on at a left-hand junction! The gap remained very small though, just two seconds between them. Seb was second fastest in the stage and Elfyn third, the Welshman moving ahead of Dani and back into fourth place. Andreas made it another category win from Marco and Joona, whilst the category top three remained Yohan, Marco and Gus.
The final stage before the service break then, SS9 Eleftherochori 1 – 18.02 km and Kalle was fastest from Thierry and Seb again. This trio were dominating the top of the timesheets. There was drama for Elfyn though as he stopped near the end of the stage with a warning light on his dash. Having switched to EV mode, he and Scott finished the stage, losing a huge amount of time sadly and Dani moved back ahead into fourth place, however just 6.4 seconds remained between the crews. There was drama in WRC2 though as second placed Marco crashed out. Andreas was again fastest from Gus and Sami, whilst Yohan continued to lead from new second placed Gus and Sami was now third.
After the service break, SS10 Pavliani 2 – 24.25 km saw Kalle set the fastest time from Seb and Elfyn, whose GR Yaris had been fixed. We had a new leader as well. Yep, Thierry had not just lost the lead, his steering was broken, and he was out for the day. There was a change also in the lead of WRC2 as Yohan suffered a puncture and fell to third place. Gus took over the lead, whilst Andreas came into second place.
Kalle also won SS11 Karoutes 2 – 28.49 km from Seb and Elfyn. The Welshman moved into third place overall with his pace through this one, although he did suffer a tyre off the rim. His teammate, Takamoto had a terrible stage, suffering a double puncture! Crazy stuff. Andreas was quickest again in WRC2 from Adrien and Gus. The Brit continued to hold the lead from Andreas and Yohan.
The final stage then of the day, SS12 Eleftherochori 2 – 18.02 km which had a sting in its tail… Seb and Kalle were battling for the lead, and it was great to see the Toyota teammates allowed to fight in the way they were really going for it. However, the Frenchman suffered a rear suspension failure and stopped on the stage to try and fix the problem. It could not be done though, and they finished the stage with two flat tyres and also the left rear suspension at a very bad angle. They did attempt to make it back to the service, but they were not able to and that meant they were out. Meanwhile Dani and Elfyn continued to fight, and now this was for second overall, the Spanish crew moved ahead again of Elfyn and Scott. Incredibly there was a lead change also in WRC2 with Andreas passing Gus! Yohan remained in third place.
Let’s check the top places and hear from the drivers.
Classification after Day Two
1
K. Rovanperä
J. Halttunen
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid
2:29:40.5
2
D. Sordo
C. Carrera
Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid
+2:04.4
3
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid
+2:09.4
4
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid
+4:49.7
5
E. Lappi
J. Ferm
Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid
+6:16.2
6
T. Katsuta
A. Johnston
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid
+7.02.2
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Kalle Rovanperä
“I think we had a good day today. We were fast and we were also really consistent, which is quite important in a rally like this. Like we saw today, a lot of things can happen. It’s not nice when those things happen to a team-mate, and Seb was driving a good rally. I had the championship to think about, so I tried to avoid taking the last risk all the time and it worked out pretty well. I can be pretty happy with the pace also. We were pushing hard but still driving clever, backing off in the rough places. Of course, tomorrow will still be a tricky day and we need to stay clever, but hopefully we can get it done.”
Elfyn Evans
“It’s been a tough day out there. It’s been quite a mix during the day with different conditions all the time. We picked up some trouble on the last stage before service this morning, so in one sense we’re lucky to still be in the rally. We didn’t have a lot of margin to get the car back, but we managed to do it and although it was a shame to drop the time, it was good to still be in the fight. Then the afternoon was quite rough in places, and I was trying to look after the car as much as possible. I’m happy to be here tonight and it’s still all to fight for tomorrow.”
2023 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 10 / Acropolis Rally Greece 2023 / 07-10th September 2023 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier
“It was a challenging start already this morning with some muddy sections in the first stage, and the last one was quite rough. Our first loop could have been better, but I was happy to get through without big drama. Then the whole afternoon was quite eventful. In the place where Thierry had his issue, I also had an impact and some damage, but we managed to continue with good pace. Then, leaving the regroup before the last stage we lost hybrid. After a couple of kilometres we started to have a puncture at the rear, and then a second one. I tried to carry on slowly but unfortunately exiting a hairpin I heard a very small bang, and the left-rear upright was broken. I tried everything I could to fix it and bring the car back, but it was too much.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Dani Sordo
I am quite happy with today; I would like to be closer to the others, but we managed the conditions quite well and now we are in second. In all honesty, while the stages were a little bit demanding, they were much better than we expected. The second stage of the loops was slippery and hard on the tyres – a proper Acropolis stage – and Eleftherotori had stones everywhere, so we had to take it very carefully for the car. In the end, we have no problems on the car, which is very important. We have a lot of work to do tonight – tomorrow is a long day, and the stages were in a really bad condition during the recce, but hopefully we can bring home a good result for the team.”
2023 FIA World Rally Championship Round 10, Acropolis Rally, 7-10 September 2023 Dani Sordo, Candido Carrera, Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid, Action during Day 2 of WRC Acropolis Rally 2023 Photographer: Vincent Thuillier Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Esapekka Lappi
“A bit too much action today! Our issues started yesterday, and then continued today with the handbrake in the morning and then later the transmission. For sure, the result is really bad; I don’t know what I could do differently. I guess it is just bad luck. The conditions today were much better; we thought during the recce it would be a lot tougher, but it’s dried up a lot and I thought the stages were quite good. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow; we’ll keep our eyes on Power Stage points, but first we need to get there.”
Thierry Neuville
“We were leading the rally but unfortunately, we were forced to retire for the day on SS10. We were about 11km into the stage, following the line, when we drove over a hole and the suspension broke. We don’t know exactly what broke, I think the accumulation of vibration and shocks throughout the weekend caused a suspension failure after an impact. At the end of the day, this is one of the roughest rallies of the season, and this year it is particularly tough for the cars. It’s very frustrating to be unlucky again this weekend considering all the hard work and efforts everybody puts in to get the best possible result. The performance was there but everything needs to be perfect to score the maximum points. Now, we look forward to the upcoming event to finish on a high on the last three rallies of the season.”
Sunday
Well, just three stages to complete this event, with the classic Tarzan stage before two runs of Grammeni, last seen in 2005. Can Kalle hold on to win? He can, but will there be a final sting in the tail? Also, can Elfyn pass Dani once more and secure second place on the podium?
Jaume Masia stormed to pole position today in Misano, increasing pressure on championship leader Daniel Holgado, with the championship lead halved to just 13 points after last weekend in Catalunya.
Ayumu Sasaki managed to rescue his qualifying and starts alongside Masia on the front row in 2nd. The Husqvarna rider crashed at the start of the Q2 session. Kaito Toba had the qualifying session of his season, as the Squadra Corse rider qualified in 3rd completing the front row of the grid.
With main title contenders Masia, Sasaki and Deniz Öncü all starting in front of Holgado. Everything is in place for another crazy Moto3 classic on Sunday.
Image Credit: Leopard Racing
AS IT HAPPENED
Qualifying 1
Championship leader Daniel Holgado was in the Q1 session after being unable to string a good lap time together so far this weekend.
David Munoz lit up sector 2 and crashed out at the start of the session. Munoz went up the inside of Ogden and into a high side crash. Fortunately Munoz seemed ok and we know Munoz doesn’t mind racing from the back. In the race on a Sunday, you can guarantee to see Munoz fighting his way through the pack.
Early leaders in the Q1 session were Holgado top with Matteo Bertelle 2nd, Xavi Artigas 3rd and David Salvador in 4th.
Riccardo Rossi breaking into the top 4 just before everyone headed back into the pits for new tyres for the remainder of the session.
Holgado keen to get on with it and now on track putting in the work to get through to Q2. Holgado going over half a second clear to the rest of the field on his second go at getting through to Q2. A time of 1:42.467 to top the session, a fantastic time set from Holgado.
Munoz back on his spare bike at the end of the session managed to scrape 4th and get into Q2. Heroic from Munoz getting into Q2, after toppling over only moments before.
After being quickest this morning KTM rider Deniz Öncü will be gunning for pole in this Q2 session.
Ayumu Sasaki crashed out in sector 4 on his out lap. A disastrous start for Sasaki to this session. Sasaki ok in the crash but this was the last thing Sasaki need with the fight for the championship heating up at the minute.
Toba the first to cross the line and set the first flying lap of the session. Quickly topped by Munoz and then followed by Masia. Masia quickest in both of the Friday practice sessions, only just to be topped by Öncü in this mornings session.
10mins remaining of the session and the next set of flying laps are coming through. Masia tops the session followed by Munoz and Holgado currently locking out the front row.
Öncü now with red sectors in 2 and 3 and comes through to set the quickest time of the session only to be pipped straight away by Diogo Moreira. Moreira clearly on a high and full of confidence after his deal this week promoting him to Moto2 for next season.
As both GASGAS Aspar team riders Ryusei Yamanaka and David Alonso head back into the pits, Masia comes across the line but unable to knock Moreira off the top spot. Moreira sitting at the top a tenth clear to Masia in 2nd with Öncü 3rd. Holgado dropped down to 6th at this stage with 6mins remaining of the qualifying session.
Sasaki back out onto the track now and with the spare bike, managed to get up to 6th place on his first flying lap. Sasaki determined to recover as much as possible after crashing only a few mins earlier in the session.
The last flying laps now Toba out of nowhere topped Moreira at the top. Sasaki then quickest but only for a few moments as Masia come by and blown Sasaki’s time away by over 2 tenths of a second. The rest of the swarm of riders still come through but didn’t look like the rest of the field will be challenging for pole position.
Pole position for Masia for the San Marino Grand Prix. Exactly what Masia would of dreamt of last night as the championship battle is heating up in Moto3.
Jorge Martin was on fire today in Misano. Not only setting a new all time lap record around this Misano circuit but annihilating the field in a fantastic qualifying session. A session that sent a clear message to title rivals Pecco Bagnaia and Marco Bezzecchi that The Martinator is doing all he can in the fight for the world championship this season.
The top 3 title rivals all on the front row for the Tissot Sprint race and main Grand Prix tomorrow. Both Pecco and Bezzecchi are still suffering from injuries this weekend. Can Martin now take advantage of this and win both races this weekend?
Image Credit: MotoGP
AS IT HAPPENED
Qualifying 1
Last weekends winner in Catalunya, Aleix Espargaro was a surprise name in Q1 and was keen to get going. KTMs Jack Miller after a shocking practice session was also in Q1 with a lot of work to do.
Both factory Yamaha’s Quartararo and Morbidelli swapped places at the top of the timings early on in the session and just as Pol Espargaro on the GASGAS split them at the top of the timings, Pol’s left front tucked underneath him and crashed out at turn 2. Pol ok though and sprinted back to the pits for the spare bike.
10mins left of the session and the riders come through setting their next set of flying laps. Miguel Oliveira now at the top with Fabio 2nd. Aleix still yet to set a fast time on the factory Aprilia.
The riders headed back into the pits to make some last minute adjustments and got some fresh boots on for the remaining few mins of the session. Aleix and Miller still with a lot of work to do here and under a lot of pressure to get through to Q2.
With 2mins remaining we had a 2nd crash of the session for Pol Espargaro at turn 13, Miguel top of the timings and a stunning lap from Stefan Bradl pushes himself up to 2nd.
Aleix Espargaro plucks a time out of nowhere and puts himself fastest. Zarco unable to get through but had one last lap to get to get a time crossing the line with a few seconds left in the session
Fabio on the factory Yamaha just missed out on a Q2 place, with Miguel topping the timings at the end of the session. Both Aprilia’s 1-2 in Q1 with Oliveira and Espargaro going through to Q2.
Jack Miller will be starting way down in 18th place for the Tissot Sprint and the main race tomorrow. A disastrous weekend here for Miller in Misano so far.
As the riders head out for Q2 its VR46s Bezzecchi leading the way to start the first flying lap of the session.
As the lap times started to come through in the early stages of the Q2 session, KTMs Brad Binder sat atop the timings with Martin 2nd, followed closely by this weekends wildcard and legend Dani Pedrosa. Pedrosa showing everyone that class is permanent.
The next set of flying laps come through and after setting the all time lap record yesterday, Bezzecchi now sits on provisional pole with Martin moving to 2nd. Both pushing as hard as they can to take pole position here in for the San Marino Grand Prix.
Reigning world champion Pecco Bagnaia, after round the clock physio and treatment from last weekend’s horrific crash, moves up to 4th. Pecco used every ounce of grit and determination, with a dash of adrenaline, to drag himself through this weekend’s qualifying session.
Martin now back to the top with a 1:30.832 setting a new all time lap record beating the time set by Bezzecchi yesterday in practice.
Riders headed back to the pits for the last minute changes for the last 6mins of the session. Pecco was the first out of the pits, leading the pack onto the track to battle for pole position.
The riders then come through setting the times and Jorge Martin smashes his all time lap record now with provisional pole time set at 1:30.390. Pedrosa clearly a Misano specialist, put himself onto the front row briefly, but in the end topped by championship protagonists Bezzecchi and Pecco as they come through taking to 2nd and 3rd. Pecco at one point had everyone watching in disbelief as at one point he was on target during his last flying lap to take pole position.
An incredible qualifying session here in Misano. One of the best pole position laps we have witnessed for some time. A masterclass in Misano from the The Martinator Martin!
