2020

maverick vinales becomes sixth different winner of 2020 emilia romagna motogp

Maverick Vinales becomes sixth different winner of 2020 Emilia Romagna MotoGP

Kevin Peterson07 mins

Maverick Vinales took first win of the 2020 MotoGP season after Francesco Bagnaia who was the race leader having a late crash giving the Yamaha rider victory in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Vinales had struggled from pole position in the first Misano race last week due to a wrong tyre choice, but it was later rectified in approach to a new set-up in practice meaning he was much stronger from the race start on Sunday. The 25-year-old Yamaha rider took the lead from the fast-starting Pramac’s Jack Miller around Turn 4 on the opening lap and was able to create half a second gap, as Miller’s hopes of a podium quickly faded and he would drop out of the race on lap eight after experiencing an engine issue. Bagnaia on the sister Pramac bike was the rider following Vinales closely by lap two, with the Italian rider finding a way through on lap six at Turn 4 when Vinales on the Yamaha ran wide. Bagnaia later opened up a lead of over seven tenths, by harnessing the power of the Ducatti and the grip from the rear soft tyre. This gave the rider the edge to widen the gap to over a second a few laps later. With KTM’s Brad Binder behind, chaos ensued after crashing at the Carro hairpin around Turn 14 on the second tour having just moved into the podium places. Moments earlier, Valentino Rossi on the Factory Yamaha fell back from the top eight at Turn 4 and eventually pulled out having only completed 12 laps. Bagnaia’s gap held stable between 1.4s and 1.6s as he lead the bikes, as Maverick Vinales comfortably closing the gap behind to the Pol Espargaro on the Factory KTM and Petronas Yamaha SRT with Fabio Quartararo. Though the gap had come down to 1.1s by the start of lap 21, Bagnaia still looked in control until he crashed going through the Turn 6 left-hander.  This released Vinales into a dominant lead to the chequered flag to become the sixth different winner in 2020 and move right back into championship contention.  The battle for second was very tight in the closing laps as Factory KTM’s pol Espargaro was experiencing problems with his soft rear tyre fading due to wear. Fabio Quartararo tried to close in on him on the Petronas Yamaha but the race concluded as he took 4th behind Espargaro. Suzuki’s Joan Mir closed in on this pair having started from 11th and overtook Quartararo in lap 23 at Turn 1 for third, before taking the second position from Espargaro at Turn 4 on lap 24. Quartararo followed him through at Turn 4, but was hit with a long-lap penalty on the final lap for exceeding track limits too many times. The Petronas rider did not take the penalty loop and was hit with a three-second time penalty at the chequered flag, dropping him to fourth and promoting Espargaro to the podium being third. Miguel Oliveira came through from 15th on his Tech 3 KTM to complete the top five ahead of LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez, who took his best result of the year on the works Honda in seventh. Andrea Dovizioso holds a one point lead over Quartararo in the standings after finishing down in eighth, with just four points now covering the factory Ducati rider, Quartararo, Vinales and Mir. San Marino GP winner Franco Morbidelli recovered from early contact after Aleix Espargaro crashed into him to finish ninth, with Danilo Petrucci (Ducati), Avintia’s Johann Zarco, Alex Rins (Suzuki) and Aprilia’s Bradley Smith claiming the final points. Tech 3’s Iker Lecuona crashed out of sixth in the latter stages, with Avintia’s Tito Rabat also crashing and joining Rossi, Bagnaia, Miller, Binder and Aleix Espargaro on the sidelines.

maverick vinales becomes sixth different winner of 2020 emilia romagna motogp

Toyota wins its third consecutive 24 Hours of Le Mans

Kevin Peterson07 mins

Toyota Gazoo Racing have won their third consecutive championship in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as Kazuki Nakajima took the No.8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid past the chequered flag at Circuit de la Sarthe. This victory was the third for Kazuki Nakakima and Sebastian Buemi, and the second for Brendon Hartley who is the new Zealander who is replacing Fernando Alonso in the car No.8 for the 2020 season. Meanwhile the sister Toyota car No.7 finished third with Jose Maria Lopez after overtaking Rebellion Racing No.3 car driven by louis Deletraz in the final hour while it was stuck in the garage after having a crash damage. It was a better result for the sister Rebellion racing car in the hands of Norman Nato, after finishing second and splitting the two Toyota TS050 Hybrid. This was the final Le Mans for Rebellion racing after they announced they are pulling out of endurance racing. Toyota had entered as the race favourites as their LMP1 Hybrids finish the race in a 1-2 victory but it was not the case after the Toyota No.7 driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez experienced a turbo failure at 3.am and had to pit for repairs that took 30 minutes, making the car to drop eight laps behind its sister Toyota. In LMP2 the No.22 United Autosports car driven by Filipe Albuquerque, Phil Hanson and pole sitter Paul di Resta took the victory for the LMP2 class which was holding 24 cars, Phil Hanson took the car for the chequered flag. The final minutes proved critical for the No.22 car after United Autosports called in Hanson to the pits for a quick check making the No.38 Jota Sport driven by Anthony Davidson take the lead as the race was coming to an end. But merely 10 minutes to the close of the event Davidson found himself having to surrender the lead as he had to pit for fuel and finally finished second with a comfortable gap with the third Panis racing Oreca driven by Nico Jamin. United Autosports were looking for a 1-2 victory in the LMP2 class but the No.32 car suffered an oil leak and had to pit for an hour losing the podium places. During the final hour, the No.26 G-Drive  Oreca driven by Jean-Eric Vergne shot off at the Indianapolis as it was running third in the LMP2 class, and later on Vergne reported over the radio that the suspension had broken. Panis Racing team took the position as Mathieu Vaxiviere was on the wheel. The No.39 Graff Racing Oreca had shown promising results as James Allen led for the first two hours of the race but later crashed into a tyre barrier with only 40 minutes to go. This saw the team lose the 5th place in the LMP2 class. In the GTE Pro class, the No.97 Aston Martin took the lead just like in FP1 in the hands of Alex Lynn as he was able to hold off James Clado in the No.51 Ferrari AF Corse by about half a lap. Nicki Thiim came in third with the No.95 sister Aston Martin. The porsche Factory team who were contenders for the GTE Pro victory only managed to finish 6th and 7th after being disadvantaged by the balance of performance results. In GTE Am, the No.90 TF Sport with Charlie Eastwood took the win as Matt Campbell in the No.77 Proton Porsche finished second, with AF Corse getting another podium place as the No.83 car with Nicklas Nielsen finished third. The race was one of a kind, with 16 of the 59 cars to start the race failing to reach the flag. As the chequered flag fell on the 24 Hours, so did the flag fall on the LMP era. For 2021, the Hypercar regulations will take hold.

maverick vinales becomes sixth different winner of 2020 emilia romagna motogp

Quartararo leads a 1-2 Petronas SRT in the Emilia Romagna MotoGP opening practice

Kevin Peterson04 mins

It was a tight first practice session as Fabio Quartararo led the Petronas SRT for a 1-2 lead in the inaugural Emilia Romagna MotoGP at Misano. This is the third time that the MotoGP has returned to the same circuit for a Grand Prix following the Tuesday tests. Franco Morbidelli in the sister Petronas Yamaha bike had set the earlier pace recording 1m 33.194s but KTM’s Pol Espargaro took over the lead moments later recording a lap time of 1m 32.390s. Morbidelli was not present in the Tuesday’s test due to stomach problems as later on shot to the top barely 15 minutes gone in the practice session recording 1m 32.365s in the timed lap, the 25-year-old would then go ahead to better his lap in the final 15 minutes recording 1m 32.224s. Ducatti’s Andrea Dovizioso later on went to snatch the lead from Morbidelli in the 6 final minutes recording 1m 32.152s on the soft tyres. The Ducatti rider had been struggling in the San Marino race weekend but the change in the bike’s set up seems to have done the magic. Dovi’s time was the benchmark briefly as Joan Mir in the Suzuki GSX-RR took the lead recording a lap time of 1m 31.926s. Quartararo later took on the Suzuki as he recorded 1m 3.889s and finished the session with 1m 33.721s lap. Franco Morbidelli opted for the hard tyre as the session was coming to a close and made a lap that was just 0.090s slower than Fabio Quartararo as KTM’s Pol Espargaro coming third as the session came to an end, despite his efforts coming on top briefly in the closing stages. Suzuki’s Joan Mir was pushed to fourth as Miguel Oliveira on the Tech 3 KTM closely followed in fifth. Takaaki Nakagami took the sixth position on the LCR Honda. Ducatti’s Andrea Dovizioso 1m 31.152s lap time got him the seventh position as Avintia’s Johann Zarco with his updated Avintia chassis took the 8th slot. Maverick Vinales who took the pole position at the San Marino GP took the 13th position though he didn’t participate in the final stages of the time attack. His teammate Valentino Rossi ended up 17th as he also did not go for a fast lap later on. Suzuki’s Alex Rins had a near miss at turn 5 and avoided crashing but 10 minutes later, a crash was inevitable at the Quercia corner around turn 8. The 24-year-old Suzuki rider took the 16th position as KTM’s Brad Binder and Pramac’s Jack Miller finished 14th and 15th respectively.

maverick vinales becomes sixth different winner of 2020 emilia romagna motogp

Rebellion tops Third Free Practice

Kevin Peterson04 mins

Rebellin driver Louis Deltraz led the Free Practice session in the 24 Hours of Le Mans which was featuring four hours of night-time run which gives opportunity for the drivers and teams to test their cars for the night ahead of the weekend race. Majority of the fastest lap times were set on the first half of the session as the other half many teams switched to tyre work. Louis Deletraz set a time of 3m19.158s in the first hour as he was driving the No.3 Rebellion R-13 LMP1 privateer. Kamui Kobayashi with the Toyota TS050 Hybrid recorded 3m19.638s on his second lap which was an improvement from his previous laps as Gustavo Mendez closely followed with the second Rebellion R-13. Sebastian Buemi came fourth with the sister N0.8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid. Much later the Bykolles came in as the fifth and final of the LMP1 cars losing a lot of time after Bruno Spengler made contact with the barrier at Tetre Rouge just an hour and a half in the session bringing out a red flag. Tristan Gommendy set the pace for the LMP2 cars in his No.30 Duqueine Oreca 07 with 3m 28.013s in the first hours of the session as the record remained untouched. United Autosports’ Job Van Uitart came in second with the No.32 Oreca-07 just nine tenths of a second later than Gommendy as Jean Eric Vergne in his No.26 G-Drive Oreca came in third a tenth of a second later. Both of the IDEC cars remained in the pits after suffering accidents early Thursday with the team’s No.28 Oreca requiring a new tub. Kevin Estre took the lead in the GTEPro class after recording a time of 3m 52.177s in the first hour of the session aboard the No.92 Porsche 911-RSR 19. The No.97 Aston Martin Vantage driven by Maxime Martin came second just three tenths of a second later as Marco Sorensen took third with the No.95 Aston Martin Vantage. James Calado took 4th with the No.51 Ferrari AF Corse making it the first of the Ferraris. In the GTE Am category Kei cozzolino topped with the japanese MR Racing Ferrari recording a time of 3m 54.490s beating Paolo Rubetri’s No.60 Iron Lynx Ferrari time in the final hour. The No.98 Aston Martin with Augusto Farfus came second a tenth of a second after Cozzolino. The session was halted 15 minutes early after a huge accident for Bonamy Grimes in the Red River Ferrari after the Briton lost his car under braking for the first Mulsanne chicane and rammed into the barriers, but climbed out unhurt.

maverick vinales becomes sixth different winner of 2020 emilia romagna motogp

Vinales wants Yamaha’s reaction on his grip problems

Kevin Peterson04 mins

Maverick Vinales says he needs Yamaha to react urgently on his grip woes on the track after having a struggle in the San Marino Grand Prix last weekend. The Yamaha Factory rider went ahead to smash the Misano record lap to take the pole position as there were very high expectations to be the biggest threat to the victory following the perfect practice sessions. This however did not happen as Vinales dropped out of the podium battle finishing 6th which was 5.3 seconds later than the Petronas Yamaha winner Franco Morbidelli. There was speculation that Vinales troubles were due to his choice of being the only rider to run a hard rear tyre. The Tuesday’s test at Misano favoured the 25-year-old rider as he topped saying it was the ‘best of the year’, the excess of Michelin rubber on track made a very huge contribution to his success on the test. With this he urged Yamaha to find a solution allowing him to have the same feel of grip as the Moto 2 Dunlop rubber on Sunday afternoons. “I need to be quicker, so then the damage is less… So, if I’m a bit quicker in the practices, I’ll be a bit quicker in the race. We will try our maximum. For sure it’s not an easy point for us because we suffer a lot all the time on that.” Vinales said after he was asked on how he will handle the race weekend. “But I want a reaction from Yamaha. I want them to provide me with the best, because we came from Saturday to make a lap record in qualifying, from being a beast on track, and then we were a little kitty on the track. It’s something strange. I take it with humour because it’s the only thing I can do.” “On the test I felt good, honestly I felt incredible on the bike. We rode fast because at the end of the day I rode in 1m32s-low with a lot of laps on the tyre as the rhythm, which is good.” The Yamaha Factory rider continued “As we know when there is Michelin rubber, there is good grip. I can do whatever I want with the bike. But when there is no grip, it is difficult to ride” Maverick Vinales also tested the new exhaust and the carbon fibre swingarm as well as some additional settings which will be run in the Emilia Romagna MotoGP this weekend. His teammate Valentino Rossi will also be testing the new modifications on his bike.

maverick vinales becomes sixth different winner of 2020 emilia romagna motogp

Toyota and Aston Martin the fastest in Le Mans FP1

Kevin Peterson03 mins

The first practice for the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans which is the 6th round of the 2019/2020 World Endurance Championship ended as the No.8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid(Toyota Gazoo Racing) lead the LMP1 category as Aston Martin Racing Vantage Racing lead in the GTEPRO category. There was a safety car period in the 3-hour practice session to clear debris left by Team Project 1’s No.89 Porsche RSR which went offtrack at the Indianapolis and later the race was restarted as the porsche was driven back to the pit stop. The No.8 Toyota driven by Kazuki Nakajima made the fastest lap of 3m 21.656s as the No.7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid came in three tenths of a second later, which was also a second earlier than the No.95 Aston Martin Vantage. The No.51 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO AF Corse were the third fastest with 3m 55.186s, they were the 2019 GTEPRO victors as the reigning champions came later with the No.92 Porsche 911 being 7th and the sister porsche No.92 came 8th in the class. LMP2 class was headed by the No.33 High Class Racing Oreca-07 Gibson with a lap time of 3m 29.873s as the No.29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca came on 3m 29.918s just leaving a gap of 0.045 seconds. No.39 JOTA Oreca was the third quickest recording a lap time of 3m 31.206s. Aston Martin also headed the GTE-Am class with the no98 Vantage of Ross Gunn finishing ahead of five LMGTE Pro cars with a 3m55.484 lap.  The no72 Hub Auto Racing Ferrari was second fastest with a 3m56.350 and the no70 MR Racing Ferrari just over two tenths behind the no72 Ferrari. Free Practice 2 for the 24 Hours of Le Mans will start at 14h00 CET.

maverick vinales becomes sixth different winner of 2020 emilia romagna motogp

Latest photos of Le Mans ahead of the weekend’s race

Kevin Peterson05 mins

The 88th series of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be taking place this weekend from 19th-20th September as the effects of the corona virus pandemic still affect the race after it was rescheduled to September from the June dates. The spectators will also be absent from the grand stands due to the pandemic as scrutineering will be taking place on the track and not in the city centre as usual. Competition in the LMP1, LMP2, GTE-AM and GTE-PRO classes will be as thrilling as ever as a condensed schedule has been put in place where the nightime run will be longer than the day and the threat of changing weather conditions, where it will probably rain will make the 2020 season more challenging than the previous races. These are the latest photos as the teams prepare at La Sarthe

maverick vinales becomes sixth different winner of 2020 emilia romagna motogp

Behind Yamaha’s new MotoGP exhaust system

Kevin Peterson03 mins

Yamaha recently brought out its new modified exhaust for its for its YZR-M1 MotoGP bike at Misano race test, confirming the delivery of the predictions of modifications for the bike that Neil Spalding who is the MotoGP race technical guru had predicted two weeks ago. Yamaha had experienced a series of engine failures at the two opening events at Jerez which had been caused by faulty valves as the team tried to change engines so as to get the maximum out of the bike, but this has lead to rev restrictions have been minimised by 300rpm for the Yamaha riders as they struggled in Brno and Red Bull Ring last month. Yamaha’s problem can be however rectified by using a new and longer exhaust system, changes were evident on the bikes of Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi. “Yamaha definitely cooked some of their engines right at the start of the year, and that damaged the valves, but sealed engines mean they’re not allowed to change those valves. So they’ve got to run the rest of the year with those engines and now they’ve got to find a way to put them under less stress.” Neil Spalding explained. “The only way to do that is to reduce the maximum revs and then try and build all of the equipment on the outside of the sealed engine to try and help that engine make its best power lower down the rev band. “That is typically going to include modified throttle bodies inlet lengths and most critically a new exhaust system with longer primary pipes and a longer overall length to help the engines make better power at lower rpm.”

maverick vinales becomes sixth different winner of 2020 emilia romagna motogp

Sam Meyer to rejoin JR Motorsports for 2021 Xfinity series

Kevin Peterson03 mins

Sam Meyer, who was competing with JR Motorsports’ Late model program in 2018 will be returning to the entity next season driving a JRM Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity series for the second half of the year and later upgrade to be a full-time competitor in the series for the 2022 season. The 17-year-old will be returning to where much of his racing success started as he was riding with JR Motorsports in the Cars Tour back in 2018. The age restrictions back then when he was 15 years old, could only allow him to compete in certain tracks for the ARCA Racing Series and NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. In his first ARCA race Mayer ran as high as third and finished among the top 10 drivers. “Having the opportunity to return to JR Motorsports after racing late models with them in 2018 is definitely very special to me,” Mayer said. “Being able to share this news makes me very excited for the coming year…I hope I can learn as much as I can in the second half of next season and to be ready to go race fulltime for the NXS championship in 2022.” The 17-year-old added. “When Sam first came to run the late model a couple of years ago, he was adamant he would be racing an Xfinity car for us someday, I admired his initiative then, and now we’re happy to help make his dream a reality.” said Kelley Earnhardt Miller, JRM general manager. “It will be quite a step up, but it’s one he’s ready to make, he’s shown he has the skills to be successful at a very high level.” Sam Mayer will be the second driver from the JRM model of drivers to return to the organisation for the NASCAR Xfinity series after William Byron the current Hendrick Motorsports Cup Series driver and the 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion

maverick vinales becomes sixth different winner of 2020 emilia romagna motogp

FIA will not be punishing Hamilton for wearing ‘Breonna Taylor’ t-shirt at the Tuscan Grand prix

Kevin Peterson03 mins

Lewis Hamilton will not be facing any punishment for wearing a Breonna Taylor t-shirt in the Tuscan Grand Prix last weekend. The Mercedes world champion had put on a shirt that was bearing the writings ‘ARREST THE COPS WHO KILLED BREONNA TAYLOR’ before and later in the podium after his victory in the Sunday’s race at Mugello. Following the nature and politics behind the t-shirt, there were reports that the Formula 1 governing body, FIA could be looking to punish the 6-time world champion but however, FIA later acknowledged that they will not be taking any action against the driver in relation to the incident. The message donned on the shirt had received mixed reactions, with some standing with Lewis Hamilton supporting the American who was brutally shot dead by police officers. Others saw the issue as politics stating that it should be kept away from Formula 1. FIA had said the matter was under active consideration as they were investigating into the matter but they later decided not to punish Hamilton for breaching their status. Despite their decision not to charge the driver who is currently leading for the 2020 Drivers Championship, FIA will be looking to prevent such messages to be broadcasted in the future. “There will be no further action, we will have a discussion with him and produce clarification (over podium protocol) in the next race director’s notes.” FIA spokesman said in a statement. In relation to such matters, FIA has been working alongside Hamilton and his fellow F1 drivers, mostly in the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement where the drivers kneel wearing branded t-shirts before every race and also on branded helmets for some drivers. They are also keen to protect their status as a non-political organisation. The Formula 1 teams are now on a week long break before the Russian Grand Prix on the 27 September. Lewis Hamilton sits at the top of the drivers standings with 190 points as his teammate Valtteri Bottas comes second with 135 points.

maverick vinales becomes sixth different winner of 2020 emilia romagna motogp

Porsche reveals new liveries for 2020 Le Mans

Kevin Peterson04 mins

Porsche has revealed the new pair of liveries for the 24 Hours of Le Mans race that will be happening this weekend. The colour schemes celebrate the Weissach marque’s 1970 Le Mans win with the Porsche 917 driven by Richard Attwood and Hans Herrmann back then. Porsche’s No.91 car will share the same red and white colours as used by Attwood and Herrmann that year, while the No.92 machine will run a variant with black sections in place of red. The two Manthey-run Porsche 911 RSR-19s will be driven by the same drivers for a third year in a row, with Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Lietz and Frederic Makowiecki aboard the No.91 car and Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen sharing the No.92. Porsche is running only two cars in the GTE Pro ranks for the first time since 2017 owing to the withdrawal of its two CORE autosport-operated IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship cars due to the global coronavirus pandemic. They face opposition from two-car entries from regular FIA World Endurance Championship rivals Ferrari and Aston Martin, as well as two privateer Ferraris entered by the Risi Competizione and Scuderia Corsa teams. It is also the first time the 911 RSR-19, which replaced the previous-generation 911 RSR at the start of the 2019/20 WEC season, will be raced at Le Mans. “We’re competing under completely different circumstances,” commented Porsche’s head of WEC operations Alexander Stehlig. “The climatic conditions in September are different compared to June. “There are still some unknowns in terms of weather, temperatures, performance and tyres. We’ll use the existing data from our WEC and IMSA campaigns as well as the insights gained from testing so that we can hopefully be well sorted for the first free practice session. “We’re competing for the first time with the Porsche 911 RSR-19 here. It’s not only new for us, but also for the ACO, which handles the BoP. We have complete confidence in the expertise and experience of the specialists. “Remaining unchanged, however, are the two driver trios in the cockpits. This will be their third year of working together at Le Mans. That’s a strength we will build on.”

maverick vinales becomes sixth different winner of 2020 emilia romagna motogp

Mahindra takes in ex-Mercedes HPP man for key role

Kevin Peterson03 mins

Mahindra has taken a move to ‘snatch’ former Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains team leade Josef Holden as the team continues to prepare and restructure for the 2021 Formula E season. Holden has already taken and started to work his new role as the performanc edirector at Mahindra as he will be incharge of trackside performance for the UK based, Indian team. The team has been in the process of making an in-house team so as to reduce outsourcing engineering and operational purposes. The team debuted in 2014 in association with Carlin Motorsport but later switched to QEV Technologies which is spanish based for 4 years up to 2019. Though Mahindra parted ways with the company in 2019, they still use QEV affiliated staff for consultancy services including Tony Cuquerella who is currently liasing with Josef Holden. Holden’s has extensive experience in motorsport apart from the former Mercedes role that also includes having key engineering roles in Formula Renault 3.5 and a spell with the Marussia F1 team. Mahindra team principal Dilbagh Gill described Holden as having an experience that will prove invaluable as the team looked forward to building on the many positives of last season and taking the team back to where it belongs- the front of the grid.” Josef Holden in a statement said, “The next chapter for me is to continue this pursuit with Mahindra Racing, technology is forever marching forward and I strongly believe that Formula E leads the charge for the future of pioneering, high-performance motorsport.” Mahindra finished 9th in the 2019/2020 Formula E season as they experienced gearbox issues that led to the team changing back to the 2018/2019 powetrain for the final 8 races of the season. Alex Lynn will expect to be confirmed by the team in the 2020/2021 drivers’ lineup as ex-BMW Alexander Sims signed to drive alongside him for 2020/2021 season. Lynn was brought in for the Berlin races after Pascal Wehrlein split with Mahindra ahead of his move to Porsche, while Sims will be replacement for long-time driver Jerome D’Ambrosio.