As the title says last week Mini announced withdrawing from the WRC, this week Ford is withdrawing from the WRC at the end of the season. A statement issued by Ford of Europe on Monday said that the decision had been taken due to the current economic climate in Europe, similar what BMW/Mini announced last Friday. But, M-Sport which has run Ford's factory squad since 1997 and taken 52 wins in the WRC, as well as the manufacturers' world championships in 2006 and '07. Who also builds the latest Fiesta RS WRC for Ford, will continue in the WRC in a lesser scale. And will continue development of Fiesta RS WRC for next year at least.
My opinion I think it's a sad decision from Ford that they are leaving the WRC at the end of the season. I don't believe that Ford reason is the current economic climate in Europe, I believe more on what Ford haven't achieved within the last 15 years. No drivers championships (should have won four with a few what ifs: McRae 2001, Gronholm 06-2007, Hirvonen 2009), 52 WRC wins and only two manufacturers' world championships in that period. I hope that Ford would have stayed for another year at least. I do hope M-Sport does succeed well next season with the Fiesta RS WRC.
I do hope that Ford does return to the WRC one day, I believe Ford is a great brand for the WRC. At least Citroen, VW and Hyundai are going no where from the WRC at least for a year.
Anyway, end of post for now. New post soon. Bye.
The first time since this years Le Mans 24 hour race. The DeltaWing will be completing in this weekends 2012 Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta on the last round of this seasons ALMS. As it did at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours race, Nissan DeltaWing is set to run unclassified at Road Atlanta as a factory-backed entry.
But, would it race? In practice for the Petit Le Mans race, the DeltaWing team is in fightback mode after DeltaWing driver Gunnar Jeannette was forced into a roll after a 7G impact from a GTE-Am spec Porsche GTC (the Porsche drivers fault as this video below shows, he should be disqualified from the race weekend in my opinion, it could have been crashed from a professional driver)
Without that the practice incedent. There is strong possibility that the The American Le Mans Series sanctioning body IMSA revealed that the DeltaWing would compete as a fully classified car in the 2013 ALMS season. Which, I believe it's good news. Because, this car should be in any series/category it can get into like for example LMP2 in ALMS would be a good place for the car to race in.
End of blog for how, new post soon. Bye.
Quick thoughts on the race from Sundays race at the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi and thoughts on Alvaro Bautista staying at Gresini for another season.
The race itself was a very good race, from the start to the middle of the race battle between works Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo and Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa. Then mid-race, Dani Pedrosa took the lead from Jorge Lorenzo and took the win at Motegi (on Honda home race as-well, which they own the track), Dani Pedrosa is now 28 points behind Lorenzo in the standings with three races to go. Jorge Lorenzo meanwhile, on his works Yamaha finished second overall, four and a half seconds behind, Pedrosa. While Cal Crutchlow would have finished third of his Tech 3 Yamaha. But, his bike run out of fuel of the last lap while he was in third place unlucky had to retire on the last lap. Which, allows Alvaro Bautista to finish in third place on his works Honda Gresini. Seven seconds behind Pedrosa at the end of the race.
Also, quick mention to Casey Stoner on his Repsol Honda, first since his ankle injury at Indianapolis. Started from the second row pole for Sundays race and did a solid job on his Repsol Honda, running with the leaders throughout the race and eventually taking a fine fifth place, 21 seconds behind team-mate Dani Pedrosa at the end.
Last week, it was announced last Friday (12/10/12) that Alvaro Bautista will be staying at Gresini Honda team for another season, until the end of the 2013 season. My opinion is a good decision from Gresini for keeping Alvaro Bautista till the end of 2013. Had a difficult job this season from the former Suzuki rider, replacing the late Marco Simoncelli. Only got a pole postion and two podiums so far this season, despite being the only Gresini rider having a MotoGP spec prototype machine this season (Gresini team-mate Michele Pirro on a CRT machine). Also, there was rumours a few months back that Jonathan Rea or Scott Reading may got the ride instead of Alvaro Bautista for next season. So, well done Gresini for keeping faith with Alvaro Bautista, personally Alvaro Bautista is a talented rider with a lot to prove.
End of blog for how, new post soon. Bye.
Its been a year today that Dan Wheldon has past away from us, from the accident at was competing in the final round of the Indy Car Series championship at Las Vegas Raceway, were Dan Wheldon was involved in a 15-car accident multi-car pile-up resulted in a red flag. His was one of the last cars to get involved in the crash, and was sent flying from the bottom of the racetrack into the wall on the outside.
To celebrate his life, the highlights from last years Indy 500 race (video clip below), where Dan Wheldon in his Bryan Herta Autosport team won his last ever race, on last lap when J.R. Hildebrand was leading the 500, until the final corner were J.R. Hildebrand crashed into the wall on turn 4 and Dan Wheldon took the advantage and the win, his second Indianapolis 500 win at the Brickyard.
Never Forget
Round 6 recap of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge GB at Silverstone on the National Circuit (6-7/10/2012). The first race was won by Justin Sherwood in his Porsche 911 GT3.
While in second race at Silverstone, that was won by James Birch his Porsche 911 GT3.
Which, means James Birch is the 2012 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge champion. Thirty-one points ahead of Steven Liquorish, who finished second in the championship at the end of the season.
Congratulations to James Birch for winning the 2012 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge championship.
End of blog for how, new post soon. Bye.
2012 Korean Grand Prix review of round sixteen of the F1 season at Korea International Circuit in Yeongam, South Jeolla, and thoughts on the race as well.
Good points
- Red Bull Racing (Sebastian Vettel won the race; Mark Webber finished second, pole and fastest lap)
- Ferrari (Fernando Alonso finished 3rd; Felipe Massa finished 4th)
- Kimi Räikkonen (finished 5th)
- Nico Hülkenberg (finished 6th)
- Toro Rosso (Jean-Éric Vergne finished 8th; Daniel Ricciardo finished 9th)
- Vitaly Petrov (finished 16th, ahead of team-mate Heikki Kovalainen)
Bad points
- Mercedes AMG (Nico Rosberg DNF collisiondamage on the first lap; Michael Schumacher finished 13th)
- McLaren (Jenson Button DNF collision damage on the first lap with Kamui Kobayashi; Lewis Hamilton finished 10th)
- Williams (Pastor Maldonado finished 14th; Bruno Senna finished 15th)
- Pedro de la Rosa (DNF, Throttle)
- Kamui Kobayashi (DNF, from hero to zero, collision with Jenson Button on the first lap, which concluded with retiring on lap 17)
Another dominating race weekend from the current world champion Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull once again, took the lead at the start from pole sitter Mark Webber to concluded with his forth win of the season. And Red Bull's first one-two of the season with Mark Webber finishing in second place. And with Fernando Alonso only finishing in third place. Which, now gives Vettel the lead of the F1 driver championship by 6 points ahead of Fernando Alonso. Kimi Räikkönen is now only 48 points behind Vettel with four races to go.
While in the constructor's championship, Red Bull have stretch the lead in standings with a one-two in race, while McLaren only got one point in the race, McLaren are now third in the standings with 82 points behind Red Bull. Ferrari are now second in the standings with 77 points behind Red Bull in the standings in third place with four races to go.
End of blog for now, new post soon, bye.
Review of Round seven of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship at Fuji. And for the second time this season Toyota won a race, Toyota Racing team won the race overall and WEC LMP1 class too on their home track which Toyota owns. With the drivers of Alexander Wurz, Kazuki Nakajima and Nicolas Lapierre giving the TS030 Hybrid its second win of the season. Menawhile, Audi Sport Team Joest team of André Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoît Tréluyerto finished second place in their Audi R18 e-tron quattro. While, the second Audi of Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen took third place in their Audi R18 e-tron quattro.
In LMP2 class, the ADR-Delta team of Tor Graves, John Martin and Shinji Nakano in their Oreca 03 with a Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 engine won in LMP2 class and 8th overall. While in GTE Pro class, was won by Team Felbermayr-Proton of Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz won in their Porsche 997 GT3-RSR, finished 18th overall as-well. While in GTE Am class, was won by Larbre Compétition team of Patrick Bornhauser, Julien Canal and Pedro Lamy in their Chevrolet Corvette C6.R and finished 22nd overall.
Sadly no race highlights I can not find on Youtube. So enjoy an image instead of the start of the 6 hour race instead.
Next Stop, round eight and final round of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship at Shanghai International Circuit for the 6 Hours of Shanghai in two weeks time. End of post/blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
