Elsewhere in Racing
Updates from the Rest of the Racing World By Mark Alan Jones and David Wright, Australia
Atlas F1 Magazine Writers
Advice: The points tables for most series covered by Elsewhere In Racing are available here. Individual series are linked to their corresponding points table after each report.
Solberg's Rocky Road
Marcus Gronholm took up the early lead after the Thursday night public special stage from Solberg and Carlos Sainz, with Manfred Stohl sitting in fourth place on the short stage in his own Peugeot 206. Once out on the open stages Sainz dropped away as Harri Rovanpera, Francois Duval and another private 206 of Daniel Carlsson came forward. A great run on Stage 4 saw Solberg drive past both Peugeots to take the lead for the first time.
For the rain had arrived. Unexpected rain on a few tarmac events saved Solberg's championship last year, and here again the Pirellis shone in the increasingly muddy conditions. Once in the lead Solberg consolidated, racing away from the field. Rovanpera briefly bent his steering, but the team had second and third comfortably held, until two spins and a poor tyre choice tumbled Gronholm off the podium and behind Ford's Francois Duval.
Solberg's minute lead blew out to 90 seconds on Leg Two until a brake problem left him with only the handbrake to slow the car for most of the longest stage of the rally, reducing his lead to the overnight advantage of just under a minute. Sebastien Loeb climbed gradually into third place on Leg Two, within ten seconds of Rovanpera. Condemned to the role of road sweeper on Friday, the Citroen's recovery on leg two hinted perhaps he could have taken the fight to the fleeing Solberg. Duval sat just behind this battle, but already the gap from Duval to the field had blown out to well over three minutes. Gronholm by now was gone after wrecking the left rear corner of the Peugeot on a rock.
Starting Leg Three Solberg's lead was now just 28 seconds, tantalisingly close for Rovanpera and Loeb. A lack of mudguards on the Impreza after a service cost him thirty seconds, and a conservative drive to victory was gone. Try as they might, neither Loeb nor Rovanpera could make an impression. Loeb pushed hard and after Stage 17 the gap to Rovanpera was three seconds; four after SS18 and 0.3 after SS19. But Rovanpera could not hold the Citroen, and third would be the Peugeot driver's reward as Loeb claimed second. Duval finished over a minute behind in fourth.
Loeb's teammate Sainz stayed in touch with the leaders on Leg One but his rally all but ended after damaging the suspension badly. Sainz continued but with the majority of three stages until service, the Citroen lost ten minutes per stage and any chance of taking points back to France.
Of the second Subaru, Mikko Hirvonen was in seventh place, attacking Gilles Panizzi on Leg Two when a rock wrecked the car on SS15. He fared better than Ford's Markko Martin, who paradoxically finished the rally. The Focus had slid down a bank on Leg One, too far to be receovered in time to continue. The car was repaired overnight after it was retired, then was back into the fray as a non-competing trial of the controversial Max Mosley-inspired 'Super Rally' system which could see each of a rally's three days being treated as a separate rally for 2005.
With each of the four big teams having to retire a car (or almost in Citroen's case as Sainz soldiered on for Manufacturer's points) it was an opportunity for Mitsubishi or the returning Skoda to score points. Dani Sola was out early though. Slowed by suspension damage, his rally was ended by a crash, though not into a stationary object, but as a stationary object as former Skoda driver Roman Kresta collided with the Lancer, putting them both into retirement. Sola repaired and rejoined under the Super Rally concept to do some car, and as it turned out, driver testing.
Panizzi drove on, well into the points late in Leg Three, before engine problems dropped him from sixth to tenth, but still claimed four vital championship points. Skoda got both of their Fabias to the finish, but only after retiring on Leg One. Armin Schwarz retired officially with broken suspension after SS2, while a fire put paid to Toni Gardemeister on the final Friday stage.
Privateers filled the points, with Bozian Racing's Daniel Carlsson collecting another big points haul for fifth place with Production WRC competitor Manfred Stohl driving a WRC Peugeot 206 into sixth place ahead of Ford's Janne Tuohino. Local racer Aris Vovos in another Focus took the last point.
Once again Solberg and Loeb sit in the top two places, Loeb now five points clear of his 2003 rival. Martin is nine points from the lead with Gronholm now starting to lose touch, just as he did last year.
Result of World Rally Championship, Round 6 of 16, Acropolis Rally, Greece:
Standings: Sebastien Loeb 43, Petter Solberg 38, Markko Martin 34, Marcus Gronholm 24, Carlos Sainz and Francois Duval 19, Harri Rovanpera, Mikko Hirvonen and Janne Tuohino 10, Daniel Carlsson 6 etc
FIA Rebuffs Peugeot Boss For 'Inflammatory Comments'
Rallying's governing body rebuffed Peugeot team boss Corrado Provera on Friday after he condemned his team's disqualification from last month's Cyprus Rally.
The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement that it had noted Provera's comments and repeated that the French team, stripped of victory in the event, had used an illegal engine part.
"Rather than making unfounded and inflammatory comments regarding the consequences of using such an illegal component, Mr Provera should address the management failings which allowed such a component to be used in the first instance," it said. "Perhaps he should also explain why a non-homologated component was fitted if it gave no competitive advantage."
The FIA also said it would have been unfair to other competitors if decisive action had not been taken "in response to the use of a clearly illegal component".
Cyprus would have been Peugeot's first success of the year but Finland's Marcus Gronholm lost the win and the lead in the championship after the team was ruled to have used a non-standard water pump component.
Provera told reporters at the Acropolis Rally, the first event since Cyprus, on Thursday that he considered the punishment excessive and "the shame cast upon Peugeot is unacceptable."
"We gained no performance advantage so to be excluded is too heavy," the Autosport website quoted him as saying. "People may think we did something against the law, they may think that we cheated."
Peugeot report provided by Reuters
Rossi Wins Restarted Italian Grand Prix
By James Eve
Home favourite Valentino Rossi mastered championship leader Sete Gibernau and the weather to win a rain-interrupted MotoGP race at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.
With six of the 23 laps remaining, rain halted the event. Following the re-start Rossi on his Yamaha briefly dropped back to fifth, but cut through the field to the cross the line comfortably ahead of his main championship rival. Rossi was timed at 12 minutes 06.803 seconds for the last six laps with Gibernau on 12:07.164 and Italy's Max Biaggi on 12:08.343.
The victory was the five-times World Champion's third in a row at Mugello and helped him close the gap in the overall standings. Gibernau leads the championship on 86 points, 10 more than Rossi, who has moved ahead of Biaggi on 72. Rossi's victory also ended Honda's 11-year stranglehold on the Italian title.
"It was an incredible race and an incredible feeling to win in front of all these fans," Rossi said. "It was like I had to win two races -- one in the dry, then in the wet."
Rossi made a superb start from third on the grid, reaching the opening corner first ahead of Biaggi and Ducati's Loris Capirossi. Briefly, the home fans were tantalised with the possibility of a repeat of last year's clean sweep, when Rossi led Capirossi and Biaggi across the line, but Capirossi, who has struggled with Ducati's new bike, dropped off the pace.
Pole-sitter Gibernau, who had won the previous two rounds in Spain and France, made a poor start, falling back to eighth before working his way through the field. On the seventh lap he squeezed past third-placed Biaggi on the tight righthand bend at the end of Mugello's long straight. His progress to the front, however, was hampered by inspired riding from Makoto Tamada until mechanical failure forced the Japanese rider to retire on lap 13.
After the rain stoppage with Rossi leading, the re-started race nearly produced an upset when, with three laps to go, unfancied Ducati rider Ruben Xaus led former world superbike champion Troy Bayliss and Honda's Alex Barros. Rossi, however, regained the lead as Gibernau got stuck behind Bayliss. The Spaniard, a wet-weather specialist, snatched second on the penultimate lap but by then Rossi had built up a one-second cushion.
"I made a very bad start at the beginning of the race, but caught Valentino and then thought I could take the lead, but like other times this year the weather has decided a race," said Gibernau. "I think my last lap was the fastest, but it wasn't enough to catch Valentino."
Earlier, Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano escaped serious injury when his tyre blew halfway down the straight on lap 12, bucking him off the bike at around 300 kph.
Argentina's Sebastian Porto on his Aprilia held off the challenge of championship leader Randy De Puniet of France and Spain's Daniel Pedrosa to grab his second career win in the 250cc race. In the 125cc category, home rider Roberto Locatelli recorded his first win in nearly four years to slash Andrea Dovizioso's lead by 12 points. Dovizioso, who finished the race in fourth, has 76 points, three more than Locatelli.
Result of World Motorcycle Championship, Round 4 of 16, Mugello, Italy:
Standings: Sete Gibernau 86, Valentino Rossi 76, Max Biaggi 72, Alex Barros 48, Carlos Checa 36, Colin Edwards 33, Loris Capirossi 28, Nicky Hayden 27, Troy Bayliss 23, Marco Melandri 22 etc.
Report provided by Reuters
Martin Survives Dover Demolition Derby
Mark Martin ended a two year winless streak at Dover, though it was a race he probably wasn't expecting to win. Tony Stewart seemed to be well placed until a pit miscue, and then Kasey Kahne seemed on his way to his maiden victory before a patch of oil ended his day. And this doesn't even include the 18 car pileup that occurred in between Stewart's miscue and Kahne's crunch into the wall. The driver who benefitted most of all in all the mayhem was Dale Earnhardt Jr, who ended the race in third place after dodging all the other action, extending his lead over Jimmie Johnson, who was taken out in a crash, to 98 points, while Matt Kenseth moved past Jeff Gordon to third place a further 81 points back despite both drivers ending the day with dead cars.
Jeremy Mayfield sat on the pole with Ryan Newman alongside, Mayfield taking the lead as the race got underway but the first caution of the day came out soon after on lap 13 when Casey Mears spun coming off turn four. The race restarted on lap 19, Brian Vickers taking the lead down the backstretch after the restart before Mayfield took the lead back on lap 26. The caution was out again on lap 31 as NASCAR threw a competition caution as there had been extensive rain which had changed track conditions.
Most of the field pitted, but seven cars stayed out, having pitted at the first caution, Jeff Burton the new leader. The race restarted on lap 38 but was back to caution a lap later when Kurt Busch spun Elliott Sadler, Sadler then collected by Brendan Gaughan. Back to green on lap 45, Burton leading the way but he was soon passed by Tony Stewart on lap 49 who had made good use of his fresh tyres to make his way up through the top ten to the very front, Mayfield making his way forward as well, to be second behind Stewart as they completed 100 laps of the 400 lap event.
Jeff Burton, who was the leader when the race went back to green, was just about to be lapped when a debris for caution came out on lap 109. In came the field for pit stops, Stewart leading Mayfield, Newman, Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne out the other end. Racing resumed on lap 115 with Mayfield passing Stewart for the lead on lap 119, Stewart taking the lead back 32 laps later. The next caution wasn't far away, coming out on lap 159 when Joe Nemechek spun after contact from Terry Labonte.
More pit stops ensued, with Stewart leading Jimmie Johnson, Newman, Mayfield and Busch at the restart on lap 165. During this run Kasey Kahne made steady progress, moving up to second place as Stewart continued to lead the way. The next caution came out on lap 223 when Jeff Gordon lost a right front tyre and slammed the turn two wall, ending his day, which saw sections of the crowd stand and cheer(!) Once more the pits were busy, Stewart holding onto the lead ahead of Johnson, Kahne, Rusty Wallace and Newman. It was back to racing on lap 231 but not for long, the caution back out three laps later for debris on the track.
Back to green once more on lap 238, Kahne continuing to press forward, taking second from Johnson on lap 248, Johnson losing third to Kahne's teammate Mayfield on lap 264. Lap 300 saw Rusty Wallace suffer a flat tyre, forcing him to pit early. But the rest of the field wasn't far behind, making green flag stops from around lap 315 onwards. Leader Stewart miscued on his first attempt to pit, losing time and the lead as he rejoined the track before making it the next time around. Soon after Ryan Newman began to pit but was also going too fast, Newman spinning, hitting the 'commit' cones and hitting the water-filled plastic barrels at the end of pitlane.
Newman then ran out of fuel while waiting for the pits to open and so had two other cars push him around to get to his pit, still pitting before they opened, with some other cars also making stops when they finally opened. Newman made additional stops to repair the damaged bodywork, an extra man also coming over the wall at one stage, and during one of these stops he ran the 'stop' sign at the end of pit lane. For all these infractions, he was held a lap. This led to a long argument about which lap he was on - the lead lap, or one lap down? Lap after lap for about 15 laps the cars continued around under caution, with the only hold up seeming to be this dispute.
Eventually it was determined he was a lap down and racing got back under way on lap 346, Mayfield starting in the middle of the pack but leading Kahne, Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin, with Stewart leading four other cars at the tail of the lead lap in front of Mayfield at the restart but behind him in the race order. Mayfield got boxed in in traffic allowing Kahne and Johnson to get past off turn two, just before in front of them all hell broke loose as Dave Blaney and Michael Waltrip made contact, spinning Blaney in front of most of the field.
Cars went everywhere, with Jimmie Johnson, Dave Blaney, Jeremy Mayfield, Greg Biffle, Ricky Rudd, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Michael Waltrip, Sterling Marlin, Ward Burton, Jeff Burton, Robby Gordon, Casey Mears, Rusty Wallace, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Green and Brian Vickers involved. Somehow Kahne weaved through the spinning cars and avoided it all, but for second placed Johnson his day was over, while third placed Mayfield fell off the lead lap as he got bogged in the grass. The race was put under caution initially before it was red flagged to clean up the mess.
Eventually the red flag was lifted, with the race restarting on lap 355 with Kahne leading Mark Martin, Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Burton, these five the only cars still on the lead lap! It was back to caution on lap 375 for debris from Rusty Wallace's car after Wallace cut another tyre down. Kahne and Martin stayed out but the rest of the lead lap cars pitted for tyres. The race went back to green on lap 381, Kahne continuing to hold off Martin and Stewart when Casey Mears began to smoke coming through turn four. When Kahne got there fifteen seconds later he discovered a slippery track, Mears having dropped oil onto the track, Kahne spinning hard into the turn four wall, with Kenseth also smacking the wall hard, ending both of their days, with a couple of other cars also involved.
This brought out a caution, followed by a red flag to clean up the oil. The race eventually got back to green on lap 391, with a single file restart. Mark Martin led Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Scott Riggs at the restart, the only five on the lead lap, and that was how it stayed to the chequer.
Result of NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 13 of 36, Dover Downs International Speedway, Delaware, United States:
Standings: Dale Earnhardt Jr 1963, Jimmie Johnson 1865, Matt Kenseth 1784, Tony Stewart 1767, Jeff Gordon 1709, Kurt Busch 1648, Elliott Sadler 1646, Bobby Labonte 1642, Kevin Harvick 1632, Ryan Newman 1596 etc.
Paffett Penalised, Ekstrom Ecstatic
Young Mercedes-Benz emerging star Briton Gary Paffett was cruelly robbed of victory at the Lausitzring after climbing from his car at the end of the race. DTM post-race rules state that the driver must stay in the car and drive directly to Parc Ferme where car and driver can be weighed, and a 1.5 litre fuel sample can be taken.
While his AMG team have appealed the result, the new race winner is Mattias Ekstrom, and he claimed his second victory in as many starts for Team Abt Sportsline. The AMG squad took some honour home, with Christijan Albers and troubled reigning champ Bernd Schneider filling the podium.
Mercedes was the pace of a wet qualifying session, with Albers and Jean Alesi fastest in practice ahead of Ekstrom. Into Superpole everyone was set to gamble on what to do and how to drive. The track dried as the session progressed and times dropped markedly. It was dry enough for slicks for the last three cars, allowing Albers, Alesi and Ekstrom to keep their positions. Peter Dumbreck was fourth in the Phoenix Vectra.
Ekstrom raced into the lead for the first turn ahead of Albers, while a fast starting Gary Paffett was quickly up through the field, taking second from Albers on the second lap. Lap five saw the pitstops begin and Ekstrom led a large portion of the field straight into the pits, including Paffett and Albers.
The Sportsline crew put Ekstrom back on the track in first but Paffett was immediately on the attack. The battle was put on hold as both took their second stops, again with Paffett breathing down Ekstrom's neck. After seven laps Paffett took Ekstrom into turn one and raced away to head for the chequer, and a trophy that would later be given to someone else.
Ekstrom now had to deal with Albers. The two swapped paint several times, but Ekstrom held firm to take second, which later became the win. Schneider came home third ahead of '02 champion Laurent Aiello in the Phoenix Vectra. Alesi followed home Aiello, less than a second behind Aiello. Emanuele Pirro was a lonely sixth, while Marcel Fassler took seventh at the last moment after Martin Tomczyk spun on the last lap.
Ekstrom's win puts him into a shared championship lead with Albers, the pair now well ahead of everyone else, with Paffett despite his disqualification holding third, with less than half of the points of the leaders.
Result of Deutsch Tourenwagen Masters, Round 4 of 10, Lausitzring, Germany:
Standings: Christijan Albers and Mattias Ekstrom 34, Gary Paffett 15, Jean Alesi 12, Martin Tomczyk 11, Tom Kristensen and Bernd Schneider 10, Laurent Aiello 9, Timo Scheider 8, Emanuele Pirro 5 etc
Chasing Audi
In 1999 a BMW prototype won Le Mans. That was the last time the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency has not been commanded by Audi. After three years of domination by the factory backed Joest team, last year the privateer Audi teams were hampered slightly by Audi's wish that their sister team Bentley have as clear a run as possible at the 2003 race. Now as a reward for years of patience, the three Audi privateer teams now can fight the race out amongst themselves.
Audi Sport UK heads into the race the strongest, with the support of full time sports racing team Veloqx, they are the best equipped both in mechanical and human technology with driver line-ups of Allan McNish, Frank Biela and Pierre Kaffer in one car, Jamie Davies, Johnny Herbert and Guy Smith in the other. The American Champion Racing team have a driver line-up equal to either of the British teams in JJ Lehto, Marco Werner and Emanuele Pirro, but don't quite have the resources, while ever that little bit further behind is the Japanese Audi from Team Goh. Goh have perhaps sensed an opportunity and in Seiji Ara, Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen have the strongest team they have ever fielded.
Is it harsh to dismiss the rest of the prototypes so thoroughly? It seems so but long experience at La Sarthe has proven otherwise, although the pace of the Reynard-inspired IRM 04S entered by Zytek Engineering had been quite promising. David Brabham, ever leading the Audi opposition at Le Mans and Andy Wallace will be joined by a third driver in the fastest non-Audi from the April test day. The rest of the prototype ranks is an eclectic mix of new cars and older well-developed ones. The teams from Pescarolo Sport, Racing For Holland, Zytek Engineering will fight out the minors, with the two MGs entered by RML & Intersport and the Rollcentre Dallara-Judd capable of joining the fight with luck and reliability. The others represent some of the odd, like the diesel and alcohol-powered cars, and the ageing Panoz and Reynard-VW turbo.
The small prototype class feels different this year after the realignment in classes, and now seems more forgotten than ever. With the MGs and Reyanrd moved into P1 class, P2 will be fought over by the Courage outfit and the ever hopeful WR turbos. Three other Courages are listed for Epsilon and Belmondo along with an American Intersport Lola in a class likely to only number six cars after withdrawals.
Just as bad numerically, GTS however have four strong teams to make up the numbers. The perrenial factory-backed Chevrolet Corvette team faces Ferrari-equipped opposition from Britain, France and the US in Prodrive, Larbre and Barron Connor. While Barron Connor has the newer 575M model, the Prodrive team has expereince and the best driver list in the class, including 1995 World Rally Champion Colin McRae making his major circuit racing debut. Expect this battle to rage all night.
In GT, Porsches dominate as much as ever with eleven of Stuttgart's finest entered, led by the pair of RSRs of Freisinger Motorsport. The defending champs are vulnerable though with one car significantly better than the other this year, and the teams from Orbit, White Lightning and Seikel ready to pounce. However the depth of strength in the Porsches isn't what it has been in recent times, and the best equipped rival to Freisinger looks like the Ferrari 360s from JMB and Risi Competizione. There is another Ferrari from long-time Porsche team Cirtek and the usual class oddities in the Morgan Aero 8 and a pair of TVR Tuscans fielded by perpetual non-conformists Chamberlain Motorsport.
Entry List For 72nd Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, Le Mans, France:
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