By Mark Alan Jones, Australia
Atlas F1 Magazine Writer
MotoGP
Rossi's World
Why just beat your foe, when you can rub his face in it? The thought may have occurred to Valentino Rossi as he inched slowly passed arch rival Max Biaggi, not just taking victory in the Australian Grand Prix, but securing the World Championship at the same moment. The two biggest names in two wheel racing have hardly spoken civil words in their lives, and now Biaggi has had everything taken from him by this cocky youngster that everyone is comparing to Doohan, the one man Biaggi couldn't beat.
Rossi also completes the triple crowns of 125, 250 & 500cc crowns in the last year that 500s run as we know it. It is a staggering achievement.
It was the race of the season, that race, that always seems to lie in store at Phillip Island.
And just to rub it all in, a week later Rossi won as he pleased in Malaysia, leading home a resurgent Loris Capirossi on the Sito Pons West Honda and Garry McCoy with his first podium since recovering from a broken scaphoid.
Daijiro Katoh has wrapped up the 250cc World Championship for Honda, while the battle for the 125cc crown will go down to the last race, with Youchi Ui a mathematical chance of taking the title for Derbi from Gilera's Manuel Poggiali. But Poggiali will need to fall, and Ui win, for the Japanese rider to take the title.
Results of World Motorcycle Championship, Round 14, Phillip Island, Australia:
Results of World Motorcycle Championship, Round 15, Sepang, Malaysia:
500cc standings (after Malaysia): Valentino Rossi 300, Max Biaggi 203, Loris Capirossi 199, Alex Barros 169, Shinya Nakano 148, Norick Abe 127, Carlos Checa 117, Sete Gibernau 115, Alex Criville 111, Tohru Ukawa 107 etc.
250cc standings (after Malaysia): Daijiro Katoh 297, Tetsuya Harada 263, Marco Melandri 174, Roberto Rolfo 169, Fonsi Nieto 154, Jeremy McWilliams 130, Emilio Alzamora 127, Roberto Locatelli 118, Naoki Matsudo 105, Franco Battaini 69 etc.
125cc standings (after Malaysia): Manuel Poggiali 230, Youichi Ui 207, Toni Elias 204, Lucio Cecchinello 156, Masao Azuma 133, Gino Borsoi 130, Simone Sanna 105, Daniel Pedrosa 100, Steve Jenkner 94, Noboru Ueda 91 etc.
Mad Max's Laguna Surprise
Max Papis did his chances of securing a ride for 2002 no harm by winning the Shell 300 at Laguna Seca. Superior pit strategy early in the race from Papis's Team Rahal pitcrew put the Italian in the right place at the right time when the race was declared early after numerous yellow flag periods slowed the race so much that the two hour limit came in to force. In coming from 25th on the grid, Papis also equalled the CART record for overcoming a poor qualifying position to win.
Oriol Servia was lucky to escape injury after a clash with Mo Gugelmin stood Servia's Lola-Ford on its nose before landing right way up. Servia sustained only bruises in the relatively low speed but very spectacular accident.
Second place went to Memo Gidley in the Chip Ganassi Lola-Toyota, while third place moved Gil de Ferran into an enviable position in the championship. De Ferran's podium finish effectively eliminated Michael Andretti and Penske teammate Helio Castroneves from the championship race. De Ferran now has a 26 point break over Kenny Brack with only two races left in the series. Brack's first lap collision with Gugelmin and subsequent retirement certainly helped the Penske driver's cause. Andretti finished a lap down after a day full of drama.
Fourth went to the unbelievable rookie from PacWest, Scott Dixon. Dixon has the Rookie competiton all sewn up, and another top five finish has seen the young New Zealander establish himself a long term future in CART. Jimmy Vasser was fifth an excellent result in what has not been a stellar season for the 1996 series champion.
The race resulted in somewhat of a crash-fest, with Roberto Moreno, Michel Jourdain Jr, Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy all retiring from contact related incidents, in addition to the Servia/Gugelmin clash.
The next and penultimate round in the series is the Honda Indy 300 in Queensland, Australia.
Results of FedEx CART World Series, Round 19, Laguna Seca, California, USA:
Standings: Gil de Ferran 179, Kenny Brack 153, Helio Castroneves 141, Michael Andretti 125, Dario Franchitti 105, Cristiano da Matta 100, Scott Dixon 98, Max Papis & Patrick Carpentier 86, Tony Kanaan 83, etc.
Citroen & Puras Score Debut Win in Corsica
Back in the heyday of Formula Two, the major World Rally teams used to dread the tarmac rallies because Citroen (and Peugeot), with their bitumen-optimised wide-track Maxi kit cars, thinly-disguised circuit racers, had a performance advantage over the heavier four wheel drive WRC cars. Now Citroen again have the car to beat on the blacktop, as Jesus Puras won his first rally in a Citroen Xsara WRC.
Citroen's triumph was overshadowed however by a rollover which removed the lead Mitsubishi. Tommi Makinen clipped a cliff face, flipping the new Lancer WRC onto its roof, leaving the car balanced on the edge of one of Corsica's famous drops. Risto Mannisenmaki was taken to hospital with back injuries. Mannisenmaki underwent surgery this week to correct a back injury from the accident. He is expected to make a full recovery, but will be replaced by fellow Finn Timo Hantunen for the next round in Australia at least.
After losing teammate Philippe Bugalski to an accident on the first stage, Puras had to spend the entire rally fending off the Peugeots and the weather. Bugalski wrecked his Xsara's front suspension against a wall, while Puras ran away from the field on Leg One, consolidated it on Leg Two and still held the lead at the end.
Citroen's cup runneth over when Sebastien Loeb secured the new FIA Super 1600 Cup with another class win in the Citroen Saxo. Andrea Dallavilla (Fiat Punto) made Loeb work for this victory though. Citroen have been impressed with Loeb though, and a Xsara should be in Loeb's future.
For Peugeot, it may as well have been a win. With their chances of retaining the drivers' crown seemingly remote, a win for the non-manufacturers' title entered Citroen gives Peugeot a 1-2 finish for the rally in the manufacturers' standings for Gilles Panizzi and Didier Auriol, and so Peugeot has closed the gap to Ford in the manufacturers' race. Panizzi tried to push harder but was slightly intimidated by the varying weather conditions. Marcus Gronholm matched the pace of his silver-liveried brethren but went out after spinning into a wall. Harri Rovanpera drove a Grifone privateer 206 WRC, taking seventh.
Subaru also had a good rally. Richard Burns was happy to finish fourth after being delayed when he hit a rock on Leg One. Petter Solberg was originally fourth, but took a time penalty when checking in at the final control, allowing team leader Burns to move past Solberg, making a mockery of the FIA's rules against team orders. Markko Martin also impressed, bringing the third Impreza home in sixth after a consistent run. Toshihiro Arai flipped his car over on the first stage, ending his rally.
Ford struck all manner of problems which dropped their three challengers from contention. Carlos Sainz lost oil pressure on Leg One, Colin McRae clipped a wall and lost power steering, as well as being delayed by a puncture, while Francois Delecour had severe brake problems which dropped him out of contention.
Mitsubishi had a miserable rally. After losing Makinen on the fifth stage, Freddy Loix struggled back through the order after multiple punctures dropped him down field on Leg One. This did however give the team a chance to carry out development work on the Lancer WRC with Loix well out of contention for points.
Hyundai got both its cars to the finish, working steadily through the field, with both cars making the top ten, collecting some manufacturers' points along the way. Skoda however had opposite fortunes, losing Bruno Thiry to transmission difficulties on Leg One, and Armin Schwarz to power steering difficulties on Leg Two.
Result of World Rally Championship, Round 12, Rallye Corsica, France:
Standings: Tommi Makinen and Colin McRae 40, Richard Burns 34, Carlos Sainz 33, Harri Rovanpera 27, Gilles Panizzi 22, Didier Auriol 19, Marcus Gronholm 16, Francois Delecour 15, Petter Solberg 11 etc.
Manufacturers Standings: Ford 83, Mitsubishi 67, Peugeot 60, Subaru 48, Skoda 15, Hyundai 10
Silly Season Update
Four times World Rally Champion Tommi Makinen has been snatched up by Subaru to lead the Prodrive-run operation into 2002 and 2003. Makinen has taken an equal record number of WRC victories (except one win with Ford) and all his world championships in Mitsubishi Lancers. Makinen has had some disagreements in recent years over the direction of development of the Lancer, in particular Mitsubishi's insistence on building its car to Group A regulations, rather than the looser World Rally Car regulations. This has left Mitsubishi without a clear team leader to run the new Lancer Evo VII WRC next season.
Within a day, Peugeot Sport announced its new signing. Richard Burns will join the squad replacing the 1994 World Champion, Didier Auriol. Peugeot will race a four car team in 2002 at all rallies, with Burns joining 2000 World Champion Marcus Gronholm, former Formula Two hot shoe Gilles Panizzi and ex-SEAT driver Harri Rovanpera. Both Burns and Gronholm have been signed through to the 2003 season. However, Subaru team principal David Lapworth says Burns is still under contract to Subaru for 2002, and intends to make Burns stay at Subaru.
Meanwhile at Ford, Francois Delecour announced Rally Australia will be his last rally with the team. Ford have announced that his drive at the final round will be taken by British Focus driver Mark Higgins, who has spent time this year testing and developing the Focus WRC. Ford also have announced that rising young Belgian star Francois Duval will tackle all six rounds of the FIA Super 1600 category in a Ford Puma 1600, as well as five rounds of the WRC in a Focus WRC.
Finally, Mitsubishi have announced that their drivers for the next two seasons will be Alister McRae and Francois Delecour. Interestingly, Mitsubishi have made no comment either way about the future of Freddy Loix, however it seems likely that he will be somewhere other than Mitsubishi next year, possibly taking his Marlboro sponsorship with him.
2002 ALMS Series calendar:
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Valentino Rossi Honda NSR500
2. Max Biaggi Yamaha YZR500
3. Loris Capirossi Honda NSR500
4. Alex Barros Honda NSR500
5. Tohru Ukawa Honda NSR500
6. Olivier Jacque Yamaha YZR500
7. Shinya Nakano Yamaha YZR500
8. Noriyuki Haga Yamaha YZR500
9. Sete Gibernau Suzuki RGV500
10. Jurgen van de Goorbergh Proton KR3
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Valentino Rossi Honda NSR500
2. Loris Capirossi Honda NSR500
3. Garry McCoy Yamaha YZR500
4. Shinya Nakano Yamaha YZR500
5. Tohru Ukawa Honda NSR500
6. Alex Criville Honda NSR500
7. Alex Barros Honda NSR500
8. Sete Gibernau Suzuki RGV500
9. Noriyuki Haga Yamaha YZR500
10. Carlos Checa Yamaha YZR500
CART
Pos Driver Car
1. Max Papis Lola-Ford
2. Memo Gidley Lola-Toyota
3. Gil de Ferran Reynard-Honda
4. Scott Dixon Reynard-Toyota
5. Jimmy Vasser Reynard-Toyota
6. Helio Castroneves Reynard-Honda
7. Bruno Junqueira Lola-Toyota
8. Tony Kanaan Reynard-Honda
9. Christian Fittipaldi Lola-Toyota
10. Adrian Fernandez Reynard-Honda
Rally
Pos Driver Car
1. Jesus Puras Citroen Xsara
2. Gilles Panizzi Peugeot 206
3. Didier Auriol Peugeot 206
4. Richard Burns Subaru Impreza
5. Petter Solberg Subaru Impreza
6. Markko Martin Subaru Impreza
7. Harri Rovanpera Peugeot 206
8. Piero Liatti Hyundai Accent
9. Alister McRae Hyundai Accent
10. Francois Delecour Ford Focus
Briefs
Date Venue
March 16 Sebring International Raceway, Florida
April 7 Miami Downtown Street Circuit, Florida
May 19 Sear's Point Raceway, California
June 30 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Ohio
July 7 Road America, Wisconsin
July 21 RFK Stadium Circuit, Washington DC
August 3 Le Circuit Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada
August 18 Mosport International Raceway, Ontario, Canada
September 22 Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca, California
October 12 Petit Le Mans, Road America, Georgia
Upcoming Events Calendar