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Vale Daijiro Kato 1976-2003; Honda Mourns 'Heartbreaking Loss'
By Alastair Himmer
"His situation remained unchanged until he passed away at 00:42 on Sunday morning. That is to say, he did not regain consciousness after the crash. His family were with him until the end of course," Honda spokesman Shigehiro Nakashima told Reuters on Tuesday.
Kato died from a brainstem infarction after being in a coma for two weeks, according to team officials.
"Everyone ... (had) been praying for as quick a recovery as possible and it is truly heartbreaking that he has left us," Honda said in a statement.
Kato, who had two runner-up finishes in 2002 after moving up from 250cc, was involved in a battle for fifth place when he lost control as he approached the chicane on the third of 21 laps, completely writing off his Honda. He was rushed by helicopter to an intensive care unit at Yokkaichi hospital near Suzuka after medical staff had battled for more than 30 minutes to get his heart beating again.
More than 1,000 mourners attended a wake held for Kato in Tokyo on Monday, including fellow Japanese rider Norick Abe.
"We had been racing together since we were kids and we were just talking about stuff before the Japanese Grand Prix," Abe said. "It's unbelievable. I don't want to believe it."
However, his death was largely overshadowed in the Japanese media by Michael Schumacher's emotional victory in the San Marino Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday only hours after his mother died.
The Nikkan Sports daily called Kato a "racing genius" and called his passing a "huge loss for the world of Japanese motor sports".
Kato, who lived in the Italian town of Cattolica near the Misano circuit on the Adriatic coast, leaves a wife Makiko and two children -- a son called Ikko and a baby girl, who was born on March 26 and has yet to be named.
"His performances provided all of his fans with a dream. My heart-felt prayers are with him," Honda Racing president Suguru Kanazawa said in a statement.
Report provided by Reuters
Ardent Wirdheim
Swede Bjorn Wirdheim got the best possible start to his Formula 3000 season with an all the way victory at the series' first round at Imola. It wasn't an easy victory though, as the first of four Coloni entries, Patrick Freisacher's Red Bull-backed Lola, pushed Wirdheim all the way.
Wirdheim won the start from pole position and was chased from the grid by Freisacher and the fast starting Ricardo Sperafico driving another Coloni=prepared machine. Vitantonio Liuzzi dwelt at the start, letting Sperafico through before being caught by Arden's American star rookie Townsend Bell. Bell pressured Liuzzi for several laps, allowing poor qualifier Giorgio Pantano to catch them. An impatient Pantano tapped Bell into a spin at Tosa. Bell resumed well down but Pantano was out.
The field stabilised from there, and interest turned to the front where everyone asked the question: could Freisacher do anything about Wirdheim? The answer was no, as the pair raced across the line, separated by three-tenths of a second. Sperafico was a very distant third with Liuzzi a lonely fourth once he lost Bell and Pantano.
Enrico Toccacelo closed to under half a second behind in fifth, providing some light on a very gloomy weekend for former champions Super Nova, with Yannick Schroeder and Raffaele Gianmaria next. Townsend Bell charged back through the field but failed to catch Rob Nguyen and claim a championship point.
The series makes its next stop in two weeks' time at the Catalunya circuit in Spain.
Result of International Formula 3000 Championship, Round 1 of 10, Imola, Italy:
Standings: Bjorn Wirdheim 10, Patrick Freisacher 8, Ricardo Sperafico 6, Vitantonio Liuzzi 5, Enrico Toccacelo 4, Yannick Schroeder 3, Raffaele Gianmaria 2, Rob Nguyen 1
Formula 3000 points distribution
Van Der Merwe's Snetterton Double
Van der Merwe took control in qualifying, taking both pole positions ahead of Nelson Piquet Junior. Van der Merwe won the first start to lead away from Piquet, Ronnie Bremer, Carlin teammates Richard Antinucci and lightning fast starting Jamie Green, and Danny Watts. Van der Merwe held the lead into the first of many safety car periods after Ivor McCullough spun off at the Bombhole. Shortly after the restart there was another pause as Christian England and Michael Keohane clashed.
Antinucci struck problems early, dropping well down the field before starting a charge back through the field. It was in vain though when his Mugen engine slowed just past mid-distance. At each restart Van der Merwe had the ascendency over Piquet and in the dying laps he acquired a shotgun in just lapped teammate Antinucci to help keep the Brazilian at bay. Bremer caught Piquet near the end but was unable to pass, with Watts beating Green to fourth place ahead of Robert Dahlgren.
The second race was even more disrupted than the first. As Van der Merwe again won the start, Green slotted in behind, with Piquet, Rob Austin, Adam Carroll, Ernani Judice and the Scholarship car of Christian England next. Further back chaos errupted as Will Davison, Scott Speed and Robert Dalhgreen all got tangled at the first corner. Further around the lap and Adam Carroll and Ernani Judice touched, with the Lola-Dome car spinning off track. Ronnie Bremer too failed to complete the first lap leaving a vastly different upper midfield to chase the front runners.
Van der Merwe now has a massive 32 point lead over teammate Green, with Piquet, Austin and Bremer closely fighting over third spot. The series returns in two weeks' at the twists and turns of Croft, a vastly different circuit than Snetterton's wide open spaces.
Result of British Formula 3 Championship, Rounds 3 and 4 of 24, Snetterton, Great Britain:
Standings: Alan van der Merwe 76, Jamie Green 44, Nelson Piquet Jr 35, Rob Austin 34, Ronnie Bremer 30, Michael Keohane and Danny Watts 18, Robert Dahlgren 13, Clivio Piccione, Ernani Judice and Richard Antinucci 12, etc.
British F3 points distribution
Rule Britannia
At the end of the first round of the British Touring Car Championship, we had an Englishman, driving an English car, taking victory in Ireland. In the rain. Thompson, a child of the BTCC, having raced his early career in a privateer Peugeot, is now the defending champion and defended it stoutly through two race victories in trying circumstances on the BTCC's farthest flung trip.
Thompson, who had pitted early, was the prime beneficiary and led from the restart to the finish to win from Muller, Alan Morrison's Honda and Warren Hughes in the MG. David Leslie and the Proton were fifth ahead of Robert Collard and a gaggle of production cars after crashes and offs decimated the Touring class.
In race two Thompson and Muller led all the way in formation as their leading rivals dropped by the wayside. Matt Neal lost a wheel, Anthony Reid's car died and David Leslie was delayed by poor strategy. It was left to Honda to carry the torch and Tom Chilton led the pursuit, taking third place ahead of the third factory Vauxhall of O'Neill and Morrison's Honda.
Thompson leads the series by four points over teammate Muller, with Morrison having just under half of Thompson's points haul. It's early days yet as the British tourers next travel to Brands Hatch in two weeks where they link up with CART for an impressive double header of tin tops and open wheelers.
Result of British Touring Car Championship, Rounds 1 and 2 of 20, Mondello Park, Republic of Ireland:
Standings: James Thompson 33, Yvan Muller 27, Alan Morrison 16, Tom Chilton 10, Warren Hughes and Robert Collard 9, Paul O'Neill and David Leslie 8, Gavin Pyper 5, Dan Eaves 3 etc.
Manufacturers' Standings: Vauxhall 62, Proton 22, Honda 12, MG 8
Courage Under Water
The safety car took control of the race late in the first hour and stayed out for around half of the race's length. When the storm stopped suddenly Sarrazin was leading in the Courage from Hayanari Shimoda in the DBA-Zytek. Shimoda drove like a man possesed to catch the Courage. After many laps looking for a way past the Japanese driver found one, then promptly threw it away, sliding off the circuit. Shimoda charged again but brakes were causing problems and another off handed the win to the Courage team. Lammers and Bosch were third over a lap behind with the Judd-powered Durango in fourth place.
Mirko Savoldi and Pierguiseppe Peroni led most of the way to win the SR2 class, capitalising on the conditions to take fifth place ahead of the second of the Dutch Dome-Judds. Alfa Romeo powered Lucchini's dominated SR2 taking all three podium places.
The next round sees the Sportscars head for the Lausitzring and also a final hit out before Le Mans, for those in the field entered.
Result of FIA Sportscar Championship, Round 1 of 7, Estoril, Portugal:
Standings, SR1: Jean-Christophe Boullion and Stephane Sarrazin 20, John Nielsen and Hayanari Shimoda 15, Jan Lammers and John Bosch 12, Leonardo Maddalena, Michele Rugolo and Fulvio Cavicchi 10, Felipe Ortiz and Beppe Gabbianni 8 etc.
Standings, SR2: Mirko Savoldi and Pierguiseppe Peroni 20, Gianni Collini and Fabio Mancini 15, Ranieri Randaccio and Paul Daniels 12 etc.
FIA Sportscar points distribution
A New Circus in Town
A new motor racing circus debuts this weekend as the ultra successful Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series links up with the newly created European Formula 3 Championship, a merger of the French and German Formula 3 series to give new life to what was once Europe's most respected discoverer of young racing talent.
2002 champion, the much decorated Frenchman Laurent Aiello, backs up to again lead the Abt Sportsline attack of Audi TT-Rs with Christian Abt, Mattias Ekstrom, Karl Wendlinger, Martin Tomczyk and Peter Terting in support. Mercedes has announced a nine driver line-up in response, led by 2001 champion and 2002 runner-up Bernd Schneider with Jean Alesi, Uwe Alzen, Marcel Fassler, Thomas Jager, Bernd Maylander, Christijan Albers, Stefan Mucke and new boy, Japan's Katsutomo Kaneishi.
The Opel teams weren't quite able to keep up last season, but Opel has regrouped and again will be led by the Holzer team of veterans Manuel Reuter and Alain Menu with Timo Scheider, Joachim Winkelhock, Peter Dumbreck and Jeroen Bleekemolen in support. The ten event, twenty race series will see the winged wonders track across Italy (Adria), Great Britain (Donington), Austria (A-1 Ring) and the Netherlands (Zandvoort) as well as six events in Germany.
Second fastest at the Hockenheim test was Toyota Formula One tester, Australian Ryan Briscoe of the Prema Powerteam who will front a trio of Dallara F303 Spiess Opels for Briscoe and teammates Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Robert Kubica. The astonishingly quick Finnish teenager Nico Rosberg will lead his father Keke's team of two cars with Andreas Zuber joining the team. Another Formula One veteran, Piercarlo Ghinzani, is fronting a team. Equipped with Dallara-Mugens will be Robert Roornbos and Alvaro Parente, and a score of other young drivers, the cream of Europe's Formula 3 and Formula Renault graduates.
While the DTM stays within its German borders for more than half the series, the EF3 is committed to taking in the Pau street race, Le Mans Bugatti and Magny Cours in France, and will miss only the British leg of DTM's non-German events.
The DTM and European Formula 3 calendar looks like this:
While initially grave fears were held for Bourne, his condition has been upgraded to serious but stable and is currently in a chemically-induced coma at Dunedin Hospital. Bourne is the most successful rally driver New Zealand has produced, having won the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in 1993, 1994 and 2000 and has won the Australian Championship each year since 1996. The long time Subaru driver was attempting the Production World Rally Championship for the first time this season and finished fourth in the season opening Rally of Sweden.
In other rally news, 2002 Belgian Rally Champion Rocco Theunissen has died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 30 after being diagnosed with meningitis.
Tony Kanaan's broken arm has also ruled him out of the Indy 500. Max Papis has already joined the team for a one-off attack on the Indy, but now seems likely to stay on until Franchitti recovers. Perhaps Indianapolis won't be the driving swansong for Andretti.
According to Atlas F1's own Daily Grapevine however, the solution to Andretti's problem lies with a more senior driver - Michael's father Mario.
MotoGP
Honda Racing is mourning the "heartbreaking loss" of Japanese MotoGP rider Daijiro Kato, who died in hospital early on Sunday from injuries sustained in a high-speed crash at the Japanese Grand Prix. The 26-year-old suffered severe injuries to his head, neck and chest after slamming into a crash barrier at just under 200kph during the season-opening race at Suzuka on April 6.
Kato made his road racing debut on 125cc and 250cc bikes in 1993 and won his first national race the following year when he finished seventh in the Japanese championship.
He dominated the 250cc world championship in 2001 with a record 11 victories and was widely considered the best Japanese rider in the elite MotoGP class.
Formula 3000
"Everything went well for me today and I have felt confident in the car all weekend," said Wirdheim. "Patrick was always not far behind so I pushed hard from start to finish. My only problem in the race was lapping one of the back markers but other than that I felt pretty in control".
Pos Driver Team
1. Bjorn Wirdheim Arden International
2. Patrick Freisacher Red Bull Junior
3. Ricardo Sperafico Coloni Motorsport
4. Vitantonio Liuzzi Red Bull Junior
5. Enrico Toccacelo Super Nova Racing
6. Yannick Schroeder PSM Racing
7. Raffaele Gianmaria Durango Formula
8. Rob Nguyen BCN F3000
9. Townsend Bell Arden International
10. Nicolas Kiesa Den Bla Avis
Formula 3
At the British Formula 3 season opener a few weeks ago, Alan van der Merwe played a definite second fiddle to 'the next big thing' in teammate Jamie Green. Van der Merwe was gifted a win and the series lead after Green was disqualified for a team mistake. This time, Green was the second fiddle and Van der Merwe reigned supreme at the former RAF airbase of Snetterton.
Austin moved past Piquet just after the restart to take third place and close on Green while Van der Merwe bolted away. Lap 13 saw the safety car return after Fauzy Fairuz rolled spectacularly after clipping a stationary car. Van der Merwe had to rebuild his lead, which he did, to win from Green and Austin. The unlucky Antinucci had a form reversal, taking fourth place from Piquet on the last lap with Judice completing the top six.
Round Three
Pos Driver Car
1. Alan van der Merwe Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
2. Nelson Piquet Jr Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
3. Ronnie Bremer Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
4. Danny Watts Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
5. Jamie Green Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
6. Robert Dahlgren Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
7. Clivio Piccione Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
8. Fauzy Fairuz Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
9. Scott Speed Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
10. Ernesto Viso Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda
Round Four
Pos Driver Car
1. Alan van der Merwe Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
2. Jamie Green Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
3. Rob Austin Dallara F303 Opel Spiess
4. Richard Antinucci Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
5. Nelson Piquet Jr Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
6. Ernani Judice Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
7. Danny Watts Dallara F303 Renault Sodemo
8. Michael Keohane Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
9. Clivio Piccione Dallara F303 Mugen-Honda
10. Steven Kane Dallara F301 Mugen-Honda
BTCC
Thomspon though was only fourth fastest after qualifying as teammate Yvan Muller took pole position. In between were the Honda Civic Type-R of Matt Neal and the MG ZS of Anthony Reid, indicating that the 2003 BTCC may end up closer than those of recent years. Thompson spun off early in race one while Yvan Muller raced away to an early lead. Muller's pit stop strategy though was fouled when a collision between Paul O'Neill and Phil Bennett in pit lane blocked the pits.
Thompson lost the lead on the second last lap as Muller's race long pressure finally paid dividends, taking the lead. It would last only moments as an electrical gremlin robbed the Astra of power at the vital moment allowing Thompson to sweep by to victory. The privateer Vauxhalls of Gavin Pyper and Robert Collard finished in sixth and seventh.
Round One
Pos Driver Car
1. James Thompson Vauxhall Astra Coupe
2. Yvan Muller Vauxhall Astra Coupe
3. Alan Morrison Honda Civic Type-R
4. Warren Hughes MG ZS
5. David Leslie Proton Impian
6. Robert Collard Vauxhall Astra Coupe
7. Chris Ryan Alfa Romeo 156
8. Alan Blencowe Honda Civic Type-R
9. Jim Edwards Honda Accord
10. Michael Bentwood BMW 320i
Round Two
Pos Driver Car
1. James Thompson Vauxhall Astra Coupe
2. Yvan Muller Vauxhall Astra Coupe
3. Tom Chilton Honda Civic Type-R
4. Paul O'Neill Vauxhall Astra Coupe
5. Alan Morrison Honda Civic Type-R
6. Gavin Pyper Vauxhall Astra Coupe
7. Robert Collard Vauxhall Astra Coupe
8. Dan Eaves Peugeot 307
9. David Leslie Proton Impian
10. Carl Breeze Peugeot 307
Sportscars
A rain enshrouded Estoril played host to the opening round of the FIA Sportscar season, and it was Formula One rejects Jean-Christophe Boullion and Stephane Sarrazin who starred, bring their Pescarolo Motorsport Courage-Peugeot home to take maximum points.
Pos Driver Car
1. Jean-Christophe Boullion/ Courage C60 Peugeot
Stephane Sarrazin
2. John Nielsen/Hayanari Shimoda DBA4 03S Zytek
3. Jan Lammers/John Bosch Dome S101 Judd
4. Leonardo Maddalena/Michele Rugolo/ GMS Durango Judd
Fulvio Cavicchi
5. Mirko Savoldi/Pierguiseppe Peroni Lucchini SR2002 Alfa Romeo (SR2)
6. Felipe Ortiz/Beppe Gabbianni Dome S101 Judd
7. Gianni Collini/Fabio Mancini Lucchini SR2001 Alfa Romeo (SR2)
8. Ranieri Randaccio/Paul Daniels Lucchini SR2002 Alfa Romeo (SR2)
9. Alex Caffi/Gianfranco Trombetti Promec PJ119 Sodemo
10. John Stack/Sam Hignett Pilbeam MP484 Nissan (SR2)
DTM/Euro F3
DTM, now into its third year after creating a new V8-powered series modelled on the monstrously expensive Formula One version of touring cars of the mid 90s is an undoubted success. The wild looking, raucous sounding, small-bore V8s from Mercedes-Benz, Opel and the semi-privately run Audis of Abt Sportsline have a track presence like few series on Earth and can lay claim to the fastest touring cars racing, outside of the superspeedway warriors of NASCAR.
The European Formula 3 series will share no less than seven dates with the DTM, making for one of the most attractive weekends in racing. Fastest at the most recent pre-season test, Alexandre Premat heads the series as lead driver of the ASM F3 team, one of the Mercedes-backed teams developing young talent. Premat is joined at ASM by fellow Frenchman Olivier Pla who finished third in last year's French Formula 3 series, and by Canadian Bruno Spengler, runner-up in the German Formula Renault series.
Date Circuit, Country (Series)
27 April Hockenheim, Germany (DTM & EF3)
11 May Adria, Italy (DTM & EF3)
25 May Nurburgring, Germany (DTM only)
8 June Lausitzring, Germany (DTM only)
Pau Street Circuit, France (EF3 Only)
22 June Norisring, Germany (DTM & EF3)
13 July Le Mans Bugatti, France (EF3 only)
27 July Donington, United Kingdom (DTM Only)
17 August Nurburgring, Germany (DTM & EF3)
7 September A-1 Ring, Austria (DTM & EF3)
21 September Zandvoort, Netherlands (DTM & EF3)
5 October Hockenheim, Germany (DTM & EF3)
26 October Magny-Cours, France (EF3 only)
Briefs
In the run-up to the 'Race To The Sky' hillclimb event in Queenstown, New Zealand, seven-times Australian Rally Champion, Peter 'Possum' Bourne, had a head-on collision with fellow competitor Michael Barltrop on Snow Farm Road, one section of the hillclimb. The impact was under the speed limit and occurred while both drivers were on recce of the course. Both drivers were seriously injured and had to be cut from the wrecks of their vehicles. Bourne, who won the 'Race To The Sky' in 2001, received injuries to head, chest and legs in the collision.
Suzuki has done at Le Mans what it has been unable to do for two seasons now in MotoGP and Superbikes. Win a race, that is. At the 24 hour journey around the Bugatti version of the famous Le Mans venue, the Castrol Suzuki team of Brian Morrison, Philippe Dobe and Philippe Vincent took victory on their Suzuki GSX-R1000 ahead of teammates Jean-Michel Bayle, Sebastien Gimbert and Nicolaus Dessauge. Third place went to the Yamaha R7 Superbike of Donischal, Protat and Gomez.
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Volume 9, Issue 17
Atlas F1 Exclusive
Stirred But Not Shaken
The Arbitrationists
Interview with Jean Alesi
San Marino GP Review
2003 San Marino GP Review
Requiem for a Lightweight
Ann Bradshaw: View from the Paddock
A Question of Timing
Stats Center
The Race in Action: San Marino
Qualifying Differentials
SuperStats
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