|
Dovizioso And Pedrosa Fifth And Sixth At Assen |
|
Written by Repsol Honda Team
|
|
Thursday, 24 June 2010 |
|
Date : 24/06/2010
Weather : Dry
Temperature : Air 27 degrees, Ground 44 degrees
Humidity : 30%
Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso set the fifth fastest time in first practice for the Dutch TT today as round six of the MotoGP World Championship got
under way at Assen. The 24-year-old Italian, who lies second in the title standings coming to the Netherlands, is confident that with improvements to the
feeling from the front end of his RC212V tomorrow he can qualify well in the afternoon session and continue his impressive start to the 2010 season.
His factory Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa was right behind him in sixth as the pair made the first inroads into setting-up their RC212Vs for the fast and
sinuous Assen circuit. Though the 24-year-old Spaniard and his crew initially went the wrong way with suspension settings for this circuit, they too expect
improvements tomorrow after the data they’ve collected is analysed and setting adjustments are decided upon.
The historic Assen track has been mildly modified for 2010 and has b een speeded up in the process, with a re-profiled Ruskenhoek corner giving a faster
approach to following Stekkenwal curve. The changes have also reduced the length of the lap by 13m from 4.555km to 4.542km (2.823 miles). Today’s fastest
lap by Jorge Lorenzo of 1m 35.169 was duly 1.4s faster than the existing race lap record, with Dovizioso 0.699s behind Lorenzo’s best and Pedrosa just 0.054s
back from his team-mate. With more fine weather forecast for the rest of the weekend, lap times are expected to fall further in tomorrow’s practice and qualifying sessions.
ANDREA DOVIZIOSO – 5th – 1m 35.868s +0.699s
“This was a decent first session and a positive start to the weekend. Of course we still need to improve things and make up some time but I think we can do this
tomorrow. We had some movement on the front end entering turns and also mid-corner and we need to sort this out in order to improve. It’s an issue that I’ve had
already this season so we’re familiar with it. Today’s session was just the start to the weekend and I think we’ll see the real pace that we can run in tomorrow’s
two sessions. We used the harder option Bridgestone tyres for our fast laps today, so there’s room for improvement on the softer ones tomorrow. The modifications
to the track are good fun to ride although maybe it’s a little bit dangerous if a bike goes down in the right hander because it could come back onto the track in
the next corner. Still, it was a positive session today and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
DANI PEDROSA – 6th – 1m 35.922s +0.753s
“We’re in sixth place which isn’t actually so bad considering that we initially chose the wrong direction with our suspension settings for this track. Basically
our set-up was too soft today and this cost us time - especially in T1 - which meant that our lap times suffered quite a lot. So it’s not the ideal start to the
race meeting that we were hoping for, but it looks like the weather is going to be stable for the rest of the weekend so we have time to improve things a lot.
We need a good result at this race to put Silverstone behind us and because last year I crashed here. The change to the circuit is good and that corner is now
very fast - perhaps 270km/h in fifth gear. I’m confident that tomorrow we can do a better job than today and move forward.”
TOSHIYUKI YAMAJI - REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER
“We began the process of setting up the machine for Assen and we have gained some useful information about the adjustments required for the 2010 RC212V at
this track. Andrea’s session went quite well. He has some front end issues to correct and when this is done he can close the gap to the leaders tomorrow.
With Dani we started off with a suspension set-up that was too soft and this is what held him back today. With work in this area he can climb the timesheets
and qualify well for Saturday’s race.”
|
|
|
Malaysian Touring Car Championship Takes Off At Sepang |
|
Written by Sepang International Circuits
|
|
Friday, 25 June 2010 |
|
MEDIA RELEASE
Friday, 25 June 2010
The new Malaysian Touring Car Championship (MTCC) gets underway this weekend in Sepang at the Malaysian Super Series (MSS); taking the sports to a new level with
better management for one of the world’s most popular racing segment.
Opened to cars between 1601cc and 2000cc and previously competed as the Supersaloon Championship, the MTCC would be run in compliance of related FIA regulations
to allow competitors to take their race cars to race in more established international series like the World Touring Car Championship.
“I see this as a major step in Malaysian motorsports. Now, the competitors can take the same cars to compete in other international series. It definitely helps
to cut cost and encourage progress and development in the sports,” says 2005 Supersaloon champion Eric Yeo.
Previously, he said, the Supersaloon Championship at the MSS only insisted on production engines but allowed plenty of modifications to the car; making the
competition to be ruled by the ‘cheque-book’ and the cost going higher and higher.
“Now, the rules of competition are very clear,” said Eric. Cars eligible for competition at the MTCC are either the Group N cars between 1601cc and 2000cc under
FIA Article 254; Group A cars between 1601cc and 2000cc under FIA Article 255 or the non FIA homologated touring cars up to 2000cc under FIA Article 277.
“The only problem is only timing … which is, however, not SIC’s fault. Times are bad for many of us and while many of us would love to be competing, money is the
main problem. Yes, the new rules have helped reduce the cost; but motor racing is still very expensive in general,” said Eric, who is one of Malaysia’s top racers
that are cutting down their racing activities due to budget constraints.
Apart from the introduction of the MTCC, the second round of the MSS would also see the new Malaysian GT Championship taking off. It takes over from the Supercar
Championship, which like the Supersaloon Championship, competed on very loose regulations and wide open modifications.
Under the new Malaysian GT Championship, cars would be divided into two classes – the GT Class for the GT2 and GT3 cars; and the Sports Production Class for the
GT4 cars as accordance to specific FIA rulings.
Round 2 would also feature the second round of the 1600cc Supersixteen Championship and the Bikerz Cup as well as Round 3 and 4 of the Asian Touring Car Championship.
EVENT PROGRAMME
SATURDAY, 26th JUNE 2010
0800 hrs – 0930 hrs Registration & Scrutineering Bikes
0930 hrs – 1100 hrs Registration & Scrutineering Cars
1000 hrs Riders’ Briefing
1045 hrs – 1105 hrs Bikerz Cup Official Practice Session
1115 hrs Drivers’ Briefing
1200 hrs – 1300hrs LUNCH BREAK
1300 hrs – 1330 hrs ATCS / MTCC Official Practice Session 1
1340 hrs – 1410 hrs Supersixteen Official Practice Session
1420 hrs – 1450 hrs Malaysian GT Official Practice Session
1500 hrs – 1530 hrs ATCS / MTCC Official Practice Session 2
1540 hrs – 1610 hrs Supersixteen Qualifying Session
1620 hrs – 1650 hrs Malaysian GT Qualifying Session
1700 hrs – 1730 hrs ATCS / MTCC Qualifying Session
1740 hrs – 1800 hrs Bikerz Cup Qualifying Session
SUNDAY, 27th JUNE 2010
0930 hrs – 1000 hrs Bikerz Cup Race 1 ( 6 Laps )
1020 hrs – 1050 hrs Supersixteen Race 1 ( 10 Laps )
1115 hrs – 1145 hrs ATCS / MTCC Race 1 ( 10 Laps )
1210 hrs – 1240 hrs Malaysian GT Race 1 ( 10 Laps )
1250 hrs – 1330 hrs LUNCH BREAK
1330 hrs – 1400 hrs Supersixteen Race 2 ( 10 Laps )
1425 hrs – 1455 hrs ATCS / MTCC Race 2 ( 10 Laps )
1520 hrs – 1550 hrs Malaysian GT Race 2 ( 10 Laps )
1610 hrs – 1640 hrs Bikerz Cup Race 2 ( 6 Laps)
|
|
|
Sauber Motorsport - European GP - Friday Free Practice |
|
Written by Sauber Motorsport
|
|
Friday, 25 June 2010 |
|
European GP – 1st/2nd Free Practice – Friday, 25.06.2010
Weather: Sunny and dry, 25-26°C air, 26-44°C track
Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa enjoyed a trouble free first day at the
European Grand Prix in sunny Valencia. Finding the right balance for the car,
optimising braking stability and gaining experience with the super soft and medium tyre
compounds from Bridgestone was on the job list.
Kamui Kobayashi:
C29.02 / Ferrari 056
1st Practice: 17th / 1:43.729 min (21 laps) / 2nd Practice: 14th / 1:40.906 min (34 laps)
“We completed a huge programme today and everything went very well. With the new
aero package we now have to work to get the balance right. It is getting reasonable,
but we have to analyse the data and I’m sure there is more to come. In the morning I
found the track less dirty than expected. However, in the morning tyre degradation was
an issue, but not anymore in the afternoon.”
Pedro de la Rosa:
C29.04 / Ferrari 056
1st Practice: 15th / 1:43.397 (21 laps) / 2nd Practice: 15th / 1:40.945 min (30 laps)
“We made a lot of changes to the car during the day to prepare for tomorrow’s
qualifying. The main focus was to work on the braking performance to get the car
stable under braking. Both tyres worked quite well on the warm asphalt, and I don’t
expect anything like the issues we had in Canada. For me it was the first time driving
on this track. It took me a few laps to learn it, especially the many braking points, but I
quickly liked it.”
James Key, Technical Director:
“We had no technical problems with the cars today, which was good because we had
two very busy sessions. We worked on adapting the set-up of the car to the new aero
package. This is the first step to make the car easier to drive. Fundamentally we have
found some directions we can follow for tomorrow, but we have to analyse all the data
tonight and see what steps we can make. The consistency from lap to lap needs a bit
of work. If we look at the sector times they don’t really reflect the lap times, so we have
to make sure the drivers can get the best out of the car over one lap. We made
progress in some areas but we have work to do in others.”
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
|
| Results 1 - 4 of 80 |
