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Atlas F1 Magazine Writers
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Gibernau Wins In Qatar After Rossi Storm
Spaniard Sete Gibernau won a controversial inaugural Qatar MotoGP on Saturday after multiple World Champions Valentino Rossi and Max Biaggi were forced to start from the back of the grid.
The 25-year-old Rossi appeared set for an extraordinary ride as he stormed through the field and reached fourth place after four of the 22 laps only to crash out. Seeking a sixth world title, he had been shunted back from eighth on the grid to 23rd after his Yamaha team, seeking to improve his start, were found guilty of laying down rubber on his grid position with a scooter.
They were accused by the Repsol Honda team. Rossi moved from Honda to Yamaha last year.
"He didn't deserve to go to the back on the grid," Gibernau said of Rossi. "I wanted him to be in the race. He is the world champion and I think I can still learn a lot from him. It's unfortunate that something like that happened."
Biaggi, third in the championship and who had qualified in 12th, was also relegated to the back after his Honda team were accused of washing his grid position. He finished in sixth after a fine ride.
"I saw bikes flying, as Rossi crashed out first and a couple of others too went off the track to the gravel," Edwards said. "There was someone in front whose engine blew up, leaving a lot of smoke and I had to ride through."
Argentine Sebastian Porto, meanwhile, beat championship favourite Daniel Pedrosa of Spain to win the 250cc race. Porto, on his Aprilia, timed 41 minutes 17.343 seconds, 1.614 seconds ahead, after starting on pole. Hiroshi Aoyama of Japan was third. Pedrosa, with Honda, is in his first season in the 250cc class after taking the 125cc title in 2003.
Saturday's 125cc race was also a thriller, with Spanish teenager Jorge Lorenzo beating championship leader Italian Andrea Dovizioso in an unprecedented photo-finish. Neither knew who had won but the Derbi rider was awarded the win, with both riders given the same time of 39 minutes 11.620 seconds.
The next grand prix is on October 10 at Sepang in Malaysia.
Result of World Motorcycle Championship, Round 13 of 16, Qatar:
Standings: Valentino Rossi 229, Sete Gibernau 215, Max Biaggi 168, Colin Edwards 131, Alex Barros 128, Makoto Tamada 120, Carlos Checa 102, Nicky Hayden 94, Loris Capirossi 84, Marco Melandri 75 etc.
Poggiali Hurt In Freak Accident
Reigning 250cc World Champion Manuel Poggiali missed Saturday's Qatar Grand Prix after a freak accident playing squash. The Aprilla rider from San Marino suffered a deep cut on his left calf after crashing into the glass partition at a squash court at his hotel.
"He needed 50 stitches after breaking a glass partition while playing squash at the hotel. He suffered a nasty gash and was immediately transferred to a local hospital," said Luca Bologna, Aprilla's press officer. "The cut is very deep and he also suffered muscle damage."
The team said the injury will rule him out of the Australian Grand Prix at Philip Island on October 17.
Reports provided by Reuters
DEI & Dale Do It Again
Joe Nemechek and Ricky Rudd sat on the front row, with Nemechek taking the lead at the start. Scott Riggs took the lead on lap two, then Kurt Busch on lap three before Dale Earnhardt Jr took the lead on lap four, a place he held onto for about 20 laps before Jimmie Johnson took over. Mike Wallace blew a tyre to bring out the first caution of the day on lap 30. With stops approaching, the field came in, with Casey Mears, Johnson, Earnhardt Jr, Robby Gordon, Busch leading the field as the race restarted on lap 35, Johnson taking the lead before the lap was completed.
Rusty Wallace took his run at the front on lap 41 before Johnson reclaimed the lead on lap 48, with Jeff Gordon taking the lead a few laps before the next caution came out on lap 60 for debris. Pit lane was busy again, with Michael Waltrip leading Jeff Gordon, Johnson, Mears and Rusty Wallace out onto the track. The race restarted on lap 64, Jeff Gordon taking the lead later that lap, before Rusty Wallace took over on lap 68, and then Johnson three laps later. Waltrip was next to lead on lap 76, before Johnson took back the lead on lap 81. Johnson continued to lead as the field made green flag stops around lap 92 to 97.
Lap 140 of 188 saw Jeff Burton take a run at the front just before Hermie Sadler made contact with Jeff Green, spinning Green which saw Jeremy Mayfield, Bobby Hamilton Jr, Jimmy Spencer and Green himself suffer substantial damage. Pit road was busy again, with the DEI duo of Earnhardt Jr and Waltrip first off pit road followed by Riggs, Matt Kenseth and Johnson. The race restarted on lap 148, Earnhardt Jr coninuing to lead as Johnson's car began to overheat, possibly as a result of contact with Kasey Kahne on pit road, Johnson retiring with thirty laps remaining. As the race closed in on the chequered flag Kevin Harvick took the lead on lap 175 only to see Earnhardt Jr take it back one lap later.
However, a pit stop was still required for the field to make it to the end on fuel. For better or worse, most of the field chose the same lap to come in. Unfortunately, those who were not pitting on that lap didn't seem to notice other cars were, and this lead to contact between Sterling Marlin and Bobby Labonte that brought out a caution as some of the field pitted. Those who managed to make pit lane were now in a much better position than those trapped on the track, whose race (or chance of winning at least) was now effectively over. Still, with Earnhardt Jr restarting eleventh and Waltrip even further down after having to pit twice, there was still hope for a lot of drivers, including Brendan Gaughan and Terry Labonte who were now first and second after not pitting at all, with Harvick, Busch and Jarrett the rest of the top five.
As Earnhardt Jr crossed the line for the win there was more chaos as cars squeezed down Elliott Sadler through the tri-oval, sending Sadler into a spin which put him into the grass backwards, causing the car to get airborne and roll once as he crossed the line back on his wheels, somewhat reminiscent of his barrel roll through the tri-oval at the same track a year ago. Meanwhile Kevin Harvick finished second, Dale Jarrett third, Brendan Gaughan fourth and Kurt Busch fifth.
Result of NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 29 of 36, Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama, United States:
Standings: Kurt Busch 5530, Dale Earnhardt Jr 5518, Jeff Gordon 5482, Mark Martin 5432, Matt Kenseth 5393, Tony Stewart 5391, Ryan Newman 5384, Elliott Sadler 5377, Jimmie Johnson 5371, Jeremy Mayfield 5263 etc.
Mitsubishi Joins Skoda In Confirming Full 2005 Return
"Motorsport is vital to Mitsubishi," managing director and head of products operations Akira Kijima told wrc.com.
Mitsubishi won the drivers' championship for four successive years between 1996 and 1999 but missed last year's championship to concentrate on developing a new car for 2004. However, the team has skipped the last few events of this season to focus on next year's model.
Mitsubishi also said it will enter two cars for Gilles Panizzi and Daniel Sola in this month's Catalan Rally in Spain.
Report provided by Reuters
Trading Places
As practice started it was the series' emerging star Gary Paffett who was the fastest in qualifying ahead of the Audis of Tom Kristensen and champion-elect Mattias Ekstrom, with Schneider sitting in fourth position. Into Superpole it would be a man who knows Hockenheim well who stamped an early time as Jean Alesi put his Mercedes into the 1:35 bracket. Three cars later Tomczyk took a tenth away from the Sicilian. Next out Schneider fell short by a hundredth but the top three failed to get any closer, leaving Schneider back in the familiar role of leading the Silver Arrows against the familiar four-ringed enemy. Alesi was third, just three thousandths ahead of Paffett with Ekstrom fifth.
Tomczyk did not waste the pole and got the jump on Schneider, leading away from Alesi, a fast starting Albers, Ekstrom and Kristensen while Fassler gave up ambitions of a good finish, spinning away his start. Kristensen was quickly on the move up, taking first Ekstrom then the rapidly fading Albers.
Tomczyk, who with Schneider had opened a gap on the field, led the first group of cars into the pits, whilst Schneider stayed out in open air, to try to get ahead. The tactic didn't quite work as Tomczyk still led after Schneider's stop the following lap. The veteran continued to press and on lap 13 moved into second place behind the yet to pit Ekstrom. The following lap Ekstrom was in and Schneider led but only for two laps until his second stop.
Tomczyk fought to the last, but after a season of pain for Schneider, he thoroughly enjoyed the last laugh. Paffett was through Alesi with eleven laps to go and was caught by Kristensen with three to go, but the wildcard was Ekstrom, who was flying after his last stop and took fifth from the sportscar legend. With Ekstrom intent on Alesi, the Dane took the spot back again to be fourth at the line with Alesi dropping to sixth.
Seventh was last year's championship protagonist Christijan Albers, falling short in his ambitions to take the runner spot again, seven points shy of Paffett. Christian Abt took the final point, completeing the AMG-Abt order to the results. And where was Opel? Off the pace all weekend with ninth the best result for Timo Scheider. As with last year, Scheider was the best placed in the championship, back in eighth position.
Result of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, Round 10 of 10, Hockenheim, Germany:
Final Standings: Mattias Ekstrom 74, Gary Paffett 57, Christijan Albers 50, Tom Kristensen 43, Martin Tomczyk 39, Bernd Schneider 36, Jean Alesi 19, Timo Scheider 15, Marcel Fassler 13, Laurent Aiello 12, Emanuele Pirro 11, Manuel Reuter 9, Peter Dumbreck 6, Heinz-Harald Frentzen 3, Stefan Mucke 2, Christian Abt 1
Toseland's French Toast
James Toseland showed that persistence and consistency pays off, as he became 2004 World Superbike Champion at Magny-Cours. Despite claiming only three wins for the year (including one at Magny-Cours) compared to runner-up Laconi's seven, third place finisher Noriyuki Haga's six and fourth place finisher Chris Vermeulen's four, Toseland managed to score points when he couldn't win. During the year, while Toseland was scoring points, Laconi had several falls, often while leading or running high in the order, while reliability cost both Haga and Vermeulen, Vermeulen's chances going out the window with two DNFs at the final round.
Race one soon settled down as a battle between the four title contenders, James Toseland and Noriyuki Haga battling just ahead of Regis Laconi and Chris Vermeulen, Sebastien Gimbert, Pierfrancesco Chili and Steve Martin also running with the leaders in the opening laps. As the race wore on the leading duo of Toseland and Haga edged away, while Laconi moved into a clear third as Chris Vermeulen's race and title hopes went out the door when his bike stopped. Haga pushed Toseland hard in the closing laps but he couldn't beat Toseland, Toseland taking the win ahead of Haga, Laconi, Gimbert and Martin. Haga was now also out the title chase, while Toseland now led Laconi by five points as the battle now was between the two teammates.
Race two was almost a carbon copy of race one, Toseland, Haga, Laconi and Vermeulen having a four-way battle at the front. And just like race one, Vermeulen's race ended before the chequered flag, while Laconi was fast but not quite fast enough to battle for the win, or the title as he finished third again. But in race two, Haga got his revenge on Toseland, taking the lead with six laps to go and held on to the finish to take the win just ahead of the new World Champion. Gimbert and Chili rounded out the top five.
Result of World Superbike Championship, Round 11 of 11, Magny-Cours, France:
Standings: James Toseland 336, Regis Laconi 327, Noriyuki Haga 299, Chris Vermeulen 282, Pierfrancesco Chili 243, Garry McCoy 199, Steve Martin 181, Leon Haslam 169, Troy Corser 146, Marco Borciani 130 etc.
Standings: James Thompson 274, Yvan Muller 273, Jason Plato 224, Anthony Reid 213, Matt Neal 181
MotoGP
Gibernau, second in the world championship behind Rossi, closed the gap on the Italian to just 14 points with three races left as he clocked 44 minutes 1.741 seconds in sweltering conditions at the newly built Losail circuit. American Colin Edwards, Gibernau's Honda teammate, was second, 1.315 seconds back, with Ruben Xaus of Spain third on a Ducati.
Rossi, who has 229 points to Gibernau's 215 and Biaggi's 168, jumped back up to eighth after a brilliant first lap, then bumped into Alex Barros's bike, raising his hand in apology immediately, as he cut through on the inside to surge up towards the leaders. But soon after, pushing hard for the podium, he fell as his bike spun off.
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Sete Gibernau Honda RC211V
2. Colin Edwards Honda RC211V
3. Ruben Xaus Ducati Desmosedici
4. Alex Barros Honda RC211V
5. Nicky Hayden Honda RC211V
6. Max Biaggi Honda RC211V
7. Norick Abe Yamaha M1
8. John Hopkins Suzuki GSV-R
9. Alex Hofmann Kawasaki ZX-RR
10. Makoto Tamada Honda RC211V
NASCAR
If anyone thought DEI's dominance on restrictor plate tracks was over, they found out how wrong they were, as Dale Earnhardt Jr surged from eleventh to first in three laps in the closing laps at Talladega to take the win. His win was even more crucial as Jeff Gordon got trapped on track at the last stops to finish nineteenth, Elliott Sadler spinning and rolling on the last lap to finish 22nd, Jimmie Johnson retired with engine problems to finish 37th and Jeremy Mayfield was caught in someone else's accident (again) to finish 38th, Mayfield almost certainly out of the title chase now. There was a sour note for Earnhardt Jr though, as a post-race profanity has seen NASCAR penalise him 25 points, though the team will appeal. This moves Kurt Busch into the points lead, 12 ahead of Earnhardt Jr with Jeff Gordon a further 36 points behind.
When these stops were complete Earnhardt Jr had taken over the lead, a place most other runners were dreading he would get to. But Busch was able to move into first on lap 110, although only for a lap before Junior moved back in front. Jeff Gordon worked his way back up to take the lead again on lap 118 and held onto it until the next caution came out on lap 124 when Carl Edwards lost an engine. More pit stops, with Mike Wallace leading Earnhardt Jr, Nemechek, Robby Gordon and Jeff Gordon as the race restarted on lap 129, Earnhardt Jr taking the lead back one lap later as he was joined at the front by teammate Michael Waltrip soon after.
Back to green with on lap 184 with five to go, Earnhardt restarting eleventh but up to eighth with four to go. Lap 185 saw Harvick take over the lead as Earnhardt Jr moved up to fourth. By the end of the next lap Earnhardt Jr was first and the race for the win was effectively over, his only likely challenger being Tony Stewart who was abandoned by the other runners when he went to challenge as they began the last lap. Coming off turn two Kasey Kahne suffered a flat tyre and spun, Jeff Gordon just clipping him as he went past. Meanwhile Greg Biffle slowed and was clipped from behind, sending him spinning and then hard into the outside wall. Despite this chaos the race stayed green.
Pos Driver Car
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet Monte Carlo
2. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Monte Carlo
3. Dale Jarrett Ford Taurus
4. Brendan Gaughan Dodge Intrepid
5. Kurt Busch Ford Taurus
6. Tony Stewart Chevrolet Monte Carlo
7. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Monte Carlo
8. Casey Mears Dodge Intrepid
9. Robby Gordon Chevrolet Monte Carlo
10. Ward Burton Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Rally
Mitsubishi will make a full-time return to the World Rally Championship in the 2005 season. The Japanese firm joins Skoda in confirming their place in next year's championship after the Czech car maker announced its intentions on Thursday.
DTM
Bernd Schneider had a dreadful title defence. The four time champion had three third places as the sum total of useful results from the nine rounds so far, and was a distant sixth place in the points. With the title long gone, everything very belatedly clicked, back on the familiar territory of the Hockenheimring and Schneider raced his race of the season to remind all watching why his name is etched into DTM history like no other.
Tomczyk had already stopped but the Abt team's pit gamble to vault their charge back into the lead failed, leaving Schneider to rejoin in second, again behind Ekstrom. When Schneider passed Ekstrom the new champ hung on grimly to the man he was replacing, fighting for several laps until Ekstrom conceded to the need to make his own second stop. Tomcyzk had closed in the mean time and the leaders would dash to the flag while Alesi in third was falling backwards towards Paffett and Kristensen.
Pos Driver Team
1. Bernd Schneider AMG Mercedes-Benz C Class
2. Martin Tomczyk Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM
3. Gary Paffett AMG Mercedes-Benz C Class
4. Tom Kristensen Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM
5. Jean Alesi AMG Mercedes-Benz C Class
6. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM
7. Christijan Albers AMG Mercedes-Benz C Class
8. Christian Abt Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM
9. Timo Scheider Team Holzer Opel Vectra GTS V8
10. Stefan Mucke AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM
Superbikes
Race One
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. James Toseland Ducati 999F04
2. Noriyuki Haga Ducati 999RS
3. Regis Laconi Ducati 999F04
4. Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha YZF R1
5. Steve Martin Ducati 999RS
6. Pierfrancesco Chili Ducati 998RS
7. Leon Haslam Ducati 999RS
8. Chris Walker Foggy Petronas FP1
9. Garry McCoy Ducati 999RS
10. Stephane Duterne Kawasaki ZX10
Race Two
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Noriyuki Haga Ducati 999RS
2. James Toseland Ducati 999F04
3. Regis Laconi Ducati 999F04
4. Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha YZF R1
5. Pierfrancesco Chili Ducati 998RS
6. Leon Haslam Ducati 999RS
7. Troy Corser Foggy Petronas FP1
8. Chris Walker Foggy Petronas FP1
9. Garry McCoy Ducati 999RS
10. Warwick Nowland Suzuki GSX-R 1000
Briefs
The British Touring Car Championship wrapped up recently with a fight that went down to the wire between VX Racing teammates James Thompson and reigning champion Yvan Muller. The season went to the 30th and last race of the year which Muller had to win, and did so, but a third place for Thompson gave the Brit the title by a single point. Third place in the series also went to the final round, with SEAT's Jason Plato overhauling MG privateer Anthony Reid after winning the first of three heats held over the weekend at Donington Park.
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Volume 10, Issue 40
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