MotoGP News - Lorenzo's MotoGP approach ‘doesn't work at Ducati' says Dovizioso
https://ift.tt/2L3XrJ1 Jorge Lorenzo's recent MotoGP woes have been exacerbated by an approach that "doesn't work at Ducati", according to his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso. Three-time champion Lorenzo switched to Ducati from Yamaha ahead of 2017, but has struggled to adapt to the Desmosedici bike. Lorenzo is yet to win a race for Ducati, while Dovizioso has claimed seven victories and emerged as a regular premier-class frontrunner in the same timeframe. During the most recent race weekend at Le Mans, Dovizioso suggested Lorenzo had been too inflexible to get the most out of the Ducati bike. "To be strong in today's MotoGP is very difficult because there are many aspects to consider," Dovizioso said. "I don't want to go into too many details, but Jorge was used to riding one type of bike and he had very clear ideas about how to ride and how to work. "This type of approach doesn't work at Ducati. "Nothing takes away from what a great champion Jorge Lorenzo was and still is. But the results cannot always be obtained in the same way. "Rather, for every situation, you must try to be mentally open and adapt to get the maximum out of it." Lorenzo's Ducati form has echoed those of long-time team-mate and rival Valentino Rossi, who left Yamaha in 2011 for an ill-fated two-year stint with the Italian manufacturer. But when asked about parallels between the two, Dovizioso felt it was necessary to draw a line between the two cases. "I think that when Valentino arrived at Ducati, the situation was different and the bike was very particular," said Dovizioso. "I don't want to say that it wasn't competitive, because [Casey] Stoner won races with it, but it was a bike very far away from what we have today at Ducati. "For this reason we have to distinguish between Valentino's situation and Jorge's. "The Ducati is now competitive, it's very fast and the riders are doing well. It's not like when Stoner was the only one who could succeed and be fast." Lorenzo looks increasingly likely to leave Ducati at the end of the current season, as the team is believed to instead favour calling up Danilo Petrucci or Jack Miller from the Pramac satellite squad. Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali has expressed his regret that Lorenzo's stint with the manufacturer has not been successful. "Lorenzo is a great rider who has not succeeded in getting the best from our bike, a bike that has great strengths and some weaknesses," he said. "Unfortunately neither him nor the technicians have managed to make the most of his talent. "This is a bit of bitterness that remains." Motogp Motorcycle Racing News via MotoGP news - Autosport https://ift.tt/2uOa9Ei May 28, 2018 at 12:03PM
Motorcycle News - 2019 Yamaha Niken First Ride Review
https://ift.tt/2sgAiLG 2019 Yamaha NikenEditor Score: 90.0%
To be honest, I didn’t pay any more attention when Yamaha announced it would actually produce the Niken than I do to the unicorns that occasionally wander into the back yard as I’m semi-dozing on the patio after a nightcap. Fanciful creatures of the imagination. But I snapped to fully woke when the invite came in over the email transom to come to Austria and ride the thing. What, it actually exists? Sure, why not? The Grossglockner road is the highest surfaced mountain pass road in Austria. It connects Bruck in the state of Salzburg with Heiligenblut in Carinthia. Every year when the snow thaws enough to plow the road open again – May 9 this year – the villagers from the two reunited towns throw a big festival. It’s a fantastic motorcycle road, in fact it’s a private toll road built to boost tourism for your driving and riding pleasure, but in May it’s pretty dang chilly up there at 8,200 feet, and that chill means you must cool your jets a tad if you wish to remain on the right side of the Grossglockner’s traction gods. For the bike’s coming-out party, the photographers decided to set up shop (in this case shot) not so far from the summit. Trying to look like a motorcycle magazine hero can be taxing when the tires are cold, the road is colder, the bike is new, and everybody’s watching – including a few tour buses and many motorists on and in two and four wheeled vehicles. How much does it cost to temporarily close the GG on a national holiday? That’s what Yamaha Europe did. To throw the Niken away here would truly be the crowning humiliation in a career renowned for them. Not to worry: After one tentative pass by the cameras, it was actually a breeze to get the Niken heeled over to peg-scraping lean angles. When I laid hands on the tires after four or five camera strafing runs, the rear was barely warm, the fronts were still cool to the touch. If carving corners is the basis of what makes sporty motorcycling so enjoyable, then the Niken is all about distilling that feeling and making it easier and safer for the rider to carve away to his heart’s content, under a much broader range of conditions thanks to having two contact patches up front instead of just one: The hope is that when one loses traction, the other takes up the slack long enough for its mate to regain grip. Like Mat Oxley just wrote here, finding a way to prevent front-end slides is the Holy Grail of motorcycle racing: Honda found a device called Mark Marquez, Yamaha built the Niken. Of course it’s not for racing, but you get the idea. Less stress over losing the front end, more confidence, and more room to play, says Yamaha, all adds up to more fun. Aft of the unusual front end, the rest is based on Yamaha’s most excellent MT-09 847cc Triple, housed in a hybrid frame of aluminum castings at the steering head and swingarm pivot area, joined by a tubular steel frame. To compensate for the twice-as-much grip up front, the engineers moved the rider two inches (50mm) toward the rear, achieving 50/50 weight bias, they say. They also move you up a bit, to 32.3 inches, which is a smidge taller than the MT-09 but 30mm lower than the Tracer 900’s seat height. The seat’s a bit on the wide side, too, in keeping with the Niken’s wider frontal area, and the initial impression is that this is a pretty large and hefty motorcycle as you pick it up off the sidestand. Unlike the Piaggio MP3, there’s no locking device to hold you upright; you have to put a foot down at stops. Yamaha claims a fully fueled (4.8 gallons) weight of 580 pounds, which is 155 more than it claims for the two-wheeled MT-09. Steering’s not what you’d call light, but once you’re accustomed, the Niken can be shoved onto its side really quickly, thanks to just 74mm of trail. That’s not much trail at all, but the two 15-inch wheels spinning up front bolster stability. To fully appreciate how much more side grip you’ve got might take more than a day. Chasing our British guide into one fast corner that tightened up, I squeezed on a finger of front brake and felt more tendency for the Niken to stand up than a conventional bike. Discussing that with him over coffee, he pointed out the flip side of that is instead of braking in that situation, you can just countersteer more than you think you should, and the Niken will tighten its line and carry on. He was right. It does. At a fairly rapid pace, his brake light rarely came on, and I gradually followed in his (three) tire tracks, though dragging the rear brake in corners settles and tightens the Niken’s line just as it does a normal motorcycle. Go ahead and dive in deep as you want, those two front wheels probably have you covered. If front-end feel is a bit numb compared to what you’re used to, the flip side of that is there’s so much traction you don’t need as much feel. (Our Brit friend was also worried about reacclimating to his R1 back home after a week blasting around the Alps on the Niken.) Scooting you back on the bike two inches did get more weight on the lonely back tire, but not enough to keep you from exploiting another cool characteristic of the Niken: It’s able to spin the rear up out of tight corners in finest crossed-up hooligan fashion, with much less chance of winding up in the weeds thanks to the miracle of there being two contact patches up front. Traction Control level 1 seems to be just about right for safe play in dry conditions, or Off if you’re feeling lucky. At TC level 2, the rear wouldn’t spin. Another thing that keeps you from getting too stupid is that the Niken’s 847 cc Triple has had its Crossplane crankshaft’s inertia increased by 18%. It’s still a great, soulful motor, and the Niken is still plenty fast, but the extra weight and bigger frontal area does blunt acceleration a bit compared to the MT. To offset that, the Niken gets a two-teeth bigger sprocket out back: 5200 rpm at 80 mph doesn’t seem too busy. In fact, it’s nice and smooth. If we’re still complaining about abrupt response on the MT-09, I doubt it’s a problem for even the finickiest rider on the Niken, which offers Soft, Normal and Direct fueling modes. Once you’ve been riding it for 20 minutes, all the initial weirdness pretty much fades away, and you’re just riding a comfortable, well-suspended motorcycle that corners like crazy and is perfectly acceptable everywhere. If you’re riding along behind one, though, the weird never quite subsides. When’s he going to put his feet back on the pegs? Oncoming riders (there are tons in the Tyrol), go to stick out a hand for a wave but then aren’t sure if you’re a motorcycle or not? When it rains, the Niken leaves two skinny trails 16 inches apart with a fat one in between… The ride is pretty sweet, since lots of bumps only affect half of the front end instead of the whole bike, and the rear tire is meeting many of them for the first time. The 43mm rear fork tubes of each pair contain the actual suspension components, including adjustments for preload, rebound and compression damping, while the front pair of 41mm tubes are mostly there for steering – pulling that inside wheel in a bit tighter radius than the outer one. The single shock out back has a remote knob for preload adjustments, and adjustable rebound damping – which it could’ve used more of, but not enough so I bothered to adjust it. Overall, the ride is more sport-tour than sport, which is as it should be. Yamaha places the Niken in the Tour section of its website and blesses it with electronic cruise control. According to the onboard computer, my test unit was burning 5.8 L of fuel per 100 km, or 40.5 mpg. The aluminum tank holds 4.8 gallons. There was no need for cruise control when we turned off onto the road to Mörtschach for lunch (which is pronounced not at all like it’s spelled) a one-lane goatpath climbing to 3000 feet, clinging to the side of a canyon. A possibly derogatory but mostly affectionate term applied to some Austrians who live up in these canyons, or hollers as Dolly Parton would call them, is schluchtenscheisser. Climbing up about 100 first-gear switchbacks at first was awkward and heavyish, until you realized you could just let the Niken fall onto its side as you cracked the gas back on, and it would do the rest. Likewise on the way back down, but dragging a little back brake. Once you adjust to its peccadilloes, it’s easier to ride than a conventional bike. Brakes are the weakest point. Each front wheel gets one 265.6mm disc clamped by a four-piston caliper that looks like the ones on my 2000 R1, and there’s another 298mm disc out back. The fronts don’t have much power upon initial squeeze, but they do have plenty when you go for a manly grip on the lever. Each front wheel has its own independent ABS, so that when you’re approaching tire-locking decel, you get a little wiggle in the handlebar that’s a bit alarming at first but, like so many things on the Niken, you quickly adjust to. Logic would dictate the Niken should have a shorter stopping distance than a motorcycle with one front contact patch, then again it is slowing 150 pounds more than the MT-09, so who knows? The rear ABS kicked in too soon on my bike, maybe a function of the Bridgestone A41 Adventure tires Yamaha specs at both ends, custom-made for the Niken, maybe to keep people from achieving irrational exuberance when cornering. That rear’s a normal 17-inch size, and if you’re wondering about tire selection for the 15-inch fronts, not to worry. They’re the same size as Yamaha’s TMAX scooter, which enjoys its own race series in various parts of the world and a selection of high-performance rubber to match. The stock Bridgestones, though, seem perfectly capable of getting to the edge of the Niken’s performance envelope well before they warm up. Which is literally cool, especially if you live in Bruck and cain’t hardly wait for the snow to melt on the Grossglockner so you can go visit your mates in Heiligenblut and Mörtschach. Or really if you live anywhere it rains a lot, and you like to fly through the curves anyway. At heart, the Niken is an insurance policy for hardcore sportbikers who like to ride hard even in sketchy conditions; the premium they pay takes the form of a little extra weight. For us dessicated Californians who take our cars or stay home and meditate when it rains, maybe not so much. Hats off to Yamaha for doing abnormal things now and then just because they can, flexing their engineering muscles. They’re fully aware the Niken’s not for everybody; they don’t plan to build many, and the US distributor doesn’t plan to import many (and not until October at the earliest). The Niken will offer a “limited ownership opportunity,” so if you’re looking down your nose all Dick Ruble-like, they probably won’t sell you one anyway, and you probably can’t swing the approximate $16k asking price. On the other hand, you never know what the consumer will unexpectedly seize upon. I give you the Can Am Spyder. On the Niken, you can still lane-split. A Niken with MT-10 power would be quite the spectacle. You can loft the front wheels now, but not for long. Yamaha does think the Niken will appeal to: 1) Innovators, 35 to 45 years old, looking for the latest technology, 2) mature, expert riders who replace their bikes often and are into the Experience, and 3) Functionalists, who’re willing to pay for extra confidence and stability to make them better, safer riders. For the experienced rider who’s had everything but wants more, for early adopters of interesting tech, for people who just want to ride safer, I’d give the Niken’s two front wheels more than two thumbs up if I had them. I had an absolute blast riding it for a day.
Motorcycles via Motorcycle.comMotorcycle.com https://ift.tt/Xzx9iy May 28, 2018 at 11:30AM
Motorcycle News - LIVIN’ THE DREAM. Classified Moto’s ‘Junior’ Honda CT70 Scrambler
https://ift.tt/2kudipd Written by Andrew Jones Chasing dreams. It’s the subject of many a self-help manual, Hollywood movie and dolphin-covered motivational poster. It’s also the leading answer you’ll get when you ask most motorcycle riders and customisers why they do what they do. ‘It’s always been a dream of mine,’ they’ll say with a smile. Or, ‘I dreamt about doing it as a child.” Having both his moto licence and his own custom shop, Classified Moto’s John Ryland is 2-for-2 in the dreams-made-real stakes. But he still had one castle in the air he wanted to bring down to earth. The ability to do wheelies. It’s not only the subject of the shop’s latest video, it’s also the raison d’être for heir latest custom. Meet ‘Junior’, their Honda CT70 scrambler – the bike that wheelies built. As the last classified bike we posted was in 2016, we figured there was probably some catching up we needed to do. So, what’s Mr Ryland been up to, then? “Classified is going on its eighth or ninth year in business, and we’re always looking for ways to keep things interesting both from a design point of view and overall job satisfaction standpoint. We’ve definitely had to dig deep in the design department because there are so many bikes out there now that could be confused with Classified bikes. Kinda fun to see, but we know we can’t just keep doing the same thing and stay relevant.” One thing they’re clearly getting a lot of energy from is their new YouTube series, RESTRICTED. “We’re doing the entire thing in-house, from writing and shooting to scoring. It’s been a blast.” And we’re here to say that watching them ain’t too bad, either. In fact, we’d like to go as far as saying that they’ve kinda moved the whole genre forward a step or three. Gone are the usual clichés of slow-motion sparks and man buns; instead we get honest-to-goodness storylines and creative originality. Hell, when was the last time you saw a custom bike video that opened with a dream sequence set in 1980? The latest episode (see below) is about this silly cool 1991 Honda Scrambler CT70, and them learning how to do wheelies with it. “We call the bike ‘Junior’, which is short for “Frank Jr.” Frank is the Speed Triple we built last year for Rebel Yell Bourbon. This bike was meant to be a loosely interpreted miniature version of Frank.” John tells us that he was buying a GSX-R front end for one of his builds many years ago and the guy selling it had the little CT in his shed as well. “He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, and I took it back to the shop.“ “Ever since I was a kid I wanted a minibike,” daydreams John. “It was not on the cards. As a kid, I wasn’t allowed to do anything that could be considered dangerous. Ironic that I ended up owning a motorcycle shop in my middle age, then. But we built Junior to have that ‘Classified look’ after learning to pop wheelies on it. It kept showing up in pics and videos we made, so we wanted him to put his best foot forward.” “As a kid, I wasn’t allowed to do anything that could be considered dangerous. Ironic that I ended up owning a motorcycle shop” As far as Classified’s builds go, there’s nothing too complicated about this one. But that doesn’t mean it’s average, either. Hell, could a wheelie-poppin’ Honda CT70 scrambler ever be ‘average’? “It’s a bolt-on front end and brake setup. Some off-the-shelf canister shocks at the rear. The frame is stripped, like we do with a lot of our tanks. But this bike is more a statement about taking time out to be silly and have fun. Because as fun as you might thing the motorcycle business is, it can be very stressful a lot of the time. Junior is like a reminder to not take everything so seriously.” “The only hard part about the build was when we decided at the last-minute to finish it so we could take it to Sturgis with the Rebel Yell Bourbon crew. The Honda had been functioning, but not strictly ‘Classified’ for a while. Then suddenly we thought, ‘we need to get this thing to Sturgis and ride wheelies through the campground!’ It was a good motivator, but was cutting it very close.” Some workplaces have quite areas or rostered days off to curtail workplace stress. But Classified have taken a decidedly outside-the-box approach to the issue. “We think of Junior as the shop therapist. When you’re feeling down or stressed or anxious, kick Junior over and hit the road for some scrambler wheelie relief. He will fix you right up.” Sounds like our kind of job; who says America doesn’t have a decent healthcare system? “The Honda’s coolest feature is probably the seat,” John smiles. “We wanted to have the height of a normal CT seat, but without the ‘huge block of vinyl’ look. So, we made standoffs for the hinged seat pan. This allows us to flip the seat up for fuelling as well as access the battery and fuses. But make no mistake; the bike’s true purpose is to do wheelies. I’m quite sure that we have logged more miles on one wheel than two at this point.” Giddy up! VIDEO [ Classified Moto – Facebook – Instagram – YouTube | Photos by Adam Ewing – Action shots by Matt Crane ] Motorcycles via Pipeburn.com http://www.pipeburn.com May 28, 2018 at 07:53AM
F1 News - F1 cost cap could cost jobs say leading team bosses
https://ift.tt/2LAM0tL Formula 1 must proceed carefully with plans for a cost cap because of the risk to jobs, leading team bosses say. F1 rights holder Liberty Media wants to impose a cap of $150m (£112m) a year on teams in a wider shake-up from 2021. Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all spend about double that and employ up to 1,000 people each. Seven of the 10 F1 teams are based in the UK. "In the UK, you are talking about potentially thousands of jobs," Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said. "If a local car plant or supermarket shuts, it makes the headline news. A social responsibility needs to be taken into account when talking about restrictions and caps. It doesn't sit well when drivers can earn up to $50m (£37m) a year. "The whole thing needs to be looked at quite carefully. The FIA [F1's governing body] and Liberty are aware of that. Our biggest cost drivers are regulations, sporting and technical. There is a responsibility that needs to be given serious consideration as to how these changes are implemented." Probably five of the 10 F1 teams - four of which are based in the UK - would need to make cuts to staff to meet the budget cap - Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Renault and McLaren. Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said: "This was a good point where Liberty recognised that a cost cap cannot be an event but needs to be a process over several years and consider the structures that have been put in place and they are taking our feedback on board. It is clear we will all be protecting our structures and we expressed that [in the meeting]." As a general overview of the progress of negotiations, Wolff said: "I see some common sense on the table. There are still areas where we are very far away but it is moving forward in a constructive, structured process." What does Liberty want to do?Liberty, which bought the commercial rights to F1 in January 2017 and deposed Bernie Ecclestone as the sport's long-time boss, wants to overhaul the sport for 2021, after most teams' current contracts expire. It has proposed a cost cap; changes to the technical rules to simplify the cars, bring costs down and make the racing closer; a more equitable revenue distribution; and a change to the engine rules. It is in the process of negotiations with the teams, and the latest meeting was at last weekend's Monaco Grand Prix. What about engines?The engine manufacturers in F1 have given in to the proposal to remove the so-called MGU-H, the part of the hybrid system that recovers energy from the turbo, as a way of making them louder, simpler, cheaper and more attractive to potential new entrants. The only realistic potential new entrant is Porsche, insiders say. The German marque has not yet committed to entering F1 but has made it clear it would not consider such a move unless the MGU-H was removed, as BBC Sport reported on Saturday. The four engine manufacturers in F1 - Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda - had wanted to keep the MGU-H because it helps create revolutionary levels of fuel efficiency. But Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said: "We have accepted to lose the MGU-H. "We think the technology is a step backwards but in terms of achieving compromise for the benefit of the spectacle, the H going, the revs going up, the fuel limitations going, I think we will have a louder engine, we will not be limited by fuel. "It is not the most sustainable message we are sending out but we can understand it from a technical standpoint. It is something you need to consider and accept." FIA president Jean Todt told the teams in Monaco that he was hopeful of producing a definitive set of engine regulations for 2021 by the end of June, and certainly within the next two months. "On most of the topics we have found an agreement," Wolff said. "On the engine regulations we are really close on being able to tick the box. "The only major thing we need to sort is we are still spending a lot on engine development and we need to avoid double spending improving the current engine and also doing the new one." #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 May 28, 2018 at 06:57AM
F1 News - Simone Resta: Ferrari designer to join Sauber as technical director
https://ift.tt/2sc09pa Ferrari designer Simone Resta is to leave the team to join Sauber as the Swiss outfit's technical director. Resta is head of vehicle product co-ordination at Ferrari, effectively number two to technical director Mattia Binotto. He will leave on 31 May and join Sauber on 1 July, which is a relatively short gap for a move between teams and demonstrates the close links between them. Sauber use Ferrari engines and are sponsored by the Italian marque's sister brand, Alfa Romeo. "Simone Resta has the best profile to take on the role of technical director," said Sauber team boss Frederic Vasseur, who is leading a revival of a team who have struggled in recent seasons. "His arrival at Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 team marks a significant step ahead of a long-term project that aims at strengthening the team in order to achieve ambitious results." Sauber also employ Ferrari development driver Charles Leclerc, who is being groomed as a potential future driver for the Italian outfit. #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 May 28, 2018 at 05:42AM
F1 News - Ricciardo move to Mercedes unlikely - Hamilton
https://ift.tt/2Je1vsY Lewis Hamilton says it is "unlikely" his Mercedes team is one of Daniel Ricciardo's options for a potential move from Red Bull. Ricciardo, who won Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, is out of contract at the end of the season and has been linked with moves to Mercedes and Ferrari. Hamilton said he "would imagine" Ricciardo's future was at Red Bull. "There is only Ferrari and Mercedes he could consider - but it is unlikely he is coming here," he added. "I don't think that is going to happen." World champion Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas are both out of contract this season. Hamilton and Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff have said it is only a matter of time before a new contract for the Briton is concluded, while Wolff has said he wants to wait until mid-summer before making a call. His options are to keep Bottas or go for either Ricciardo or Force India's Esteban Ocon, a Mercedes young driver. The final decision on drivers at Mercedes is Wolff's with the car company's board, but Hamilton has often said that he is consulted on his views during the decision-making process. Sebastian Vettel is under contract at Ferrari until the end of 2020 but team-mate Kimi Raikkonen's deal expires this season. McLaren driver Fernando Alonso, F1's other multiple world champion alongside Hamilton and Vettel, is also free to move but is not believed to be an option at Mercedes and Ferrari because of his history with both manufacturers. Red Bull want to keep Ricciardo but the Australian has said he will wait until the summer before making a decision. Hamilton said: "He is one of the top drivers and so I am sure there will be offers. "At Ferrari I would imagine Kimi is going to want to continue and why not? He is driving really well this year and he doesn't seem to be ageing. So I am sure he will go for a little longer. "At the moment, [Ricciardo] is pretty much the lead driver in that team so it's not a bad place to be. "If at some stage Red Bull get an engine [closer in performance to Mercedes and Ferrari], they are going to be even closer to us. They could win many more races and he just has to keep his head down and keep doing what he's doing and he should have his options ready." Red Bull, Ricciardo and an engine conundrumRed Bull team boss Christian Horner said the team wanted to resolve whether they would be continuing with Renault or switching to Honda engines next year before trying to secure Ricciardo. Horner said he was waiting to see the performance of upgrades planned by both Honda and Renault for the next race in Canada, although insiders say Red Bull are all but decided on Honda from 2019. Horner said of Ricciardo: "He is now on the same amount of victories as Lewis and Sebastian six races into the season. Bahrain - he would have been a genuine contender there [had he not retired early in the race], and we know what happened in Baku [when the Red Bull drivers crashed together while running fourth and fifth]. "He is up to third and we have a very strong car. He has been the quickest driver. He knows the quality of the team. You can see how well he fits in the team and I'm hopeful we'll be able to move things along in the next couple of months." On the engine decision, Horner said: "We are about a month or so away. End of June is the timescale we talk about. We are waiting with great interest to see the relative performance of engines in Montreal. "One hopes that makes it easier rather than harder. It will all depend on the data." Could Ferrari take Ricciardo?Vettel is said by sources close to Ferrari to be pushing hard for the team to retain Raikkonen for next season. But Ferrari are taking their time and, along with Raikkonen, have the option of going for Ricciardo or promoting Monegasque Charles Leclerc, a Ferrari young driver who is impressing in his rookie season at Sauber this season. They will be wary of disrupting the team's internal dynamic by taking Ricciardo, who comprehensively beat Vettel when they were team-mates at Red Bull in 2014. However, they may be waiting to see how Vettel handles his title fight with Hamilton this season, after making crucial mistakes on the way to defeat last year. Their decision on Leclerc will rest on whether they think he has both proven enough to be promoted and is ready to make the jump to the intense pressure of Ferrari after just one season. If not, Leclerc is tipped to be promoted to the satellite Haas team, almost certainly in place of Frenchman Romain Grosjean, who has had a difficult start to this season. #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 May 28, 2018 at 05:36AM
MotoGP News - World Superbike champion Rea evaluating MotoGP offers for 2019
https://ift.tt/2LAXOfr Triple World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea has confirmed he is "evaluating" offers to move to MotoGP next season with a factory team. Rea has been racing in WSBK full-time since 2009, and has won a record-equalling 59 races on his way to three successive titles over the last three seasons. The Northern Irishman's current deal with the factory Kawasaki team expires at the end of this year, and he has discussed extending his stay with KRT. But Rea's manager was reportedly spotted in the Le Mans MotoGP paddock last weekend talking with teams about a potential move to the grand prix class. Rea has confirmed that he has received MotoGP offers. "Right now I'm discussing with my team in Superbike to extend my contract, which I'm excited about," he said. "We're also evaluating some interest and offers from MotoGP side. I'm sure before Brno I'll know exactly what I'm doing, and at that point you guys will know as well. "That's all there is to say." Rea, who now leads the WSBK standings by 64 points, has previously stated he would only consider a switch to MotoGP if a factory offer was on the table. While he remained quiet on details of the talks, when asked if his offers were from factory teams, he replied: "Yeah". Rea contested two MotoGP races as replacement for the injured Casey Stoner at the factory Honda team at the San Marino and Aragon rounds in 2012, and secured top 10 finishes in both. He was recently linked with a move to the factory Suzuki squad in place of the struggling Andrea Iannone for 2018, but the team retained the Italian - who has tallied up two podiums so far this season - instead. Currently, the second seats at the factory Ducati, Aprilia, Suzuki and KTM-backed Tech3 teams are up for grabs. But it is thought the second Ducati seat will go to one of the current Pramac riders, Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller, with Iannone linked to a move to Aprilia, which is also reportedly interested in Petrucci. It has been suggested that Suzuki has signed up Marc VDS Moto2 star Joan Mir on a two-year deal to join Alex Rins, leaving just the final Tech3 machine, which will be a full factory KTM RC16, as the likely option for Rea at present. Motogp Motorcycle Racing News via MotoGP news - Autosport https://ift.tt/2uOa9Ei May 28, 2018 at 04:31AM
F1 News - F1 gossip: Verstappen, Vandoorne, Alonso, Wolff, Sainz
https://ift.tt/2IPowTP Monday, 28 MayMax Verstappen, who has been accused of being "impatient" by Red Bull motorsport chief Helmut Marko, said he "didn't want to go too risky and have a crash" after starting 20th at the Monaco Grand Prix and finishing ninth. (ESPN) McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne believes the team sacrificed his chances at the Monaco race in favour of team-mate Fernando Alonso. (Autosport) Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says Vandoorne "has the intelligence and the talent to progress and become a very great driver" and hopes he gets the time to do so. (F1i.com) Renault driver Carlos Sainz says his race in Monaco "was a bit of a disaster from the start" as "the decision to switch to the ultrasofts on lap 15 was not the most appropriate". (Movistar via Planet F1) #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 May 28, 2018 at 02:24AM
F1 News - Indianapolis 500: Danica Patrick crashes in last race as Will Power wins
https://ift.tt/2INrqZc American Danica Patrick crashed in her final race at the Indy 500 as Australian Will Power won on Sunday. In November, Patrick, the only woman to win an IndyCar race and start from pole at the Daytona 500, said she would be retiring after the Indianapolis race. The 36-year-old lost control on lap 68 of the 200-lap race, hitting the wall coming out of corner two. Great Britain's Stefan Wilson came 15th, Jack Harvey was 16th, with Max Chilton 22nd and Jay Howard in 24th. "Today was really disappointing, for what we were hoping for and what you want for your last race," said Patrick. "I'm grateful for all of it, but I wish I could have finished stronger." She was the world's fourth highest-earning sportswoman in 2016, behind tennis' Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, and MMA's Ronda Rousey. Patrick won the 2008 Indy Japan 300 and was third in the 2009 Indianapolis 500, the only podium finish for a woman in the race's history. On lap 194, Wilson overtook long-time leader Oriol Servia and led the race for two laps. However, he and fellow Brit Harvey, who was second at the time, both had to come into the pits for fuel on lap 196. Wilson, 28, is the younger brother of former Formula 1 and IndyCar driver Justin, who died in 2015 aged 37. #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 May 27, 2018 at 03:18PM
F1 News - 'It was a super-unexciting' - Hamilton & Alonso bemoan 'boring' race
https://ift.tt/2IR3OTu Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso criticised the Monaco Grand Prix saying it was "not really racing" and "the most boring race ever". Drivers were lapping several seconds off the pace as they managed tyres to ensure they were able to do only one pit stop. Hamilton said: "We were just cruising around from lap six, literally cruising. So it wasn't really racing. If that was exciting for you to watch, no problem." Alonso said: "Extremely boring. This is probably the most boring race ever." Monaco can often be an uneventful race as a result of the tight nature of the track in the cramped Mediterranean principality, which makes overtaking harder than at any other race. But the problem was exacerbated this year because drivers were driving slowly to ensure the fragile 'hyper-soft' and 'ultra-soft' tyres, the two softest in Pirelli's range, made the required stint lengths. Teams do not want to do more than one pit stop because it means dropping behind other, slower cars, which they can then not overtake no matter how much faster they are. Hamilton, who said the race was "the longest 78 laps ever", added in his BBC Sport interview: "It was a super-unexciting race for everyone." A fan who was listening in shouted: "Most boring race ever." Hamilton responded: "Thank god you said it. I thought I was the only one. Wow, it was intensely boring. Oh my god, yes. "We are driving at high speed, there is not a lot of action, you're just trying to bring it home, for 56 laps. Oh my god it was long. "Forty laps to go, I was like, Oh god, please. When it finished, I was, like 'thank goodness'. Race winner Daniel Ricciardo said: "Because it's a tight circuit we're able to take the piss a bit by going slow. I don't think we'll be able to maintain that kind of rhythm on a track like Montreal [the next race]. "I'm glad they're bringing there hyper-softs again. When we pitted early, I thought it was a two stop but we were able to manage it. On a track like Montreal, this would be a two-stop." Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola said he had not expected most teams to choose the two softest tyres for the race, and had been expecting most to switch from the hyper-soft to the more durable super-soft for their second stint. Pirelli was tasked before the 2017 season with producing tyres that were more durable and on which drivers could push harder during races. This was the case last year, but the balance has shifted this season with the introduction of a softer range of tyres. Isola said: "We need to decide what we want. If they want to push, we need to produce more consistent tyres, less sensitive to overheating, so that they can push. "If we go on the softer side trying to increase the degradation, we increase deg but also a little bit the overheating, and the overheating is something they don't want because then they need to cruise the tyre. "I think they are usually able to push but if the direction for the future races is to go softer they will push less." Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who finished second and is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association which pushed for the switch to more durable tyres, refused to talk about the issue. #F1 via BBC Sport - Formula 1 https://ift.tt/OHg7x6 May 27, 2018 at 02:18PM |
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