The racing weekend that was - Wk 4

In WRC at Monaco:

Ogier and Ingrassa's Polo

Volkswagen's Sebastien Ogier started the new season with a loud BANG! The defending WRC Driver's champion won the Rallye Monte Carlo after a close battle with Sebastien Loeb. Unfortunately, the blindingly quick Loeb damaged the left-rear suspension in a test on Friday, leaving the door open for Ogier to sail through Saturday and Sunday, eventually winning the rally by just under a minute.

Ogier in his own words: "Victory in Monte Carlo means a lot - especially for me, so close to my home town, and at the first rally of the season. It is a huge challenge but the satisfaction is even more when you make it. Conditions were so tricky this year, but it has been the best atmosphere I have ever known. The atmosphere has been just magic.!

The top 5:
1. Sebastien Ogier, Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC, 3:36:40.2
2. Jari-Matti latvala, Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC, +58.0 s
3. Andreas Mikkelsen, Volkswagen Motorsport II Polo R WRC, +2m 12.3 s
4. Mads Ostberg, Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS 3 WRC, +2m 43.6 s
5. Thierry Neuville, Hyundai Motorsport i20 WRC, +3m 12.1 s

Interestingly, Sebastien Ogier's fellow podium finishers Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen also drive for VW, making it a 1-2-3 podium for Volkswagen. The last time a single car manufacturer occupied the podium was in 2003, when Loeb, led the late Colin Mc Rae and Carlos Sainz for Citroen,

The next rally on the calender for WRC: February 12-15 in Sweden.


The Rolex 24 Hrs of Daytona:

Chip Ganassi Racing's Ford Riley in victory lane.

Protoype:
1. Dixon/Kanaan/Larson/McMurray, Ford Ecoboost DP, 740 laps, 1st overall
2. Barbosa/Fittipaldi/Bourdais, Corvette DP, 740 laps, 2nd overall,
3. J.Taylor/ R.Taylor/Angeleli, Corvette DP, 740 laps 3rd overall,

Prototype Challenge (open cockpit):
1. Guasch/Novich/Palmer/Kimber-Smith, Oreca FLM09, 714 laps, 9th overall
2. Mowlem/Papadopoulos/Drissi/Alder/Plowman, Oreca FLM09, 712,10th
3. Bennet/Braun/Wilkins/Gue, Oreca FLM09, 704 laps, 12th overall

GT Le Mans:
1. Magnussen/Garcia/Briscoe, Corvette C7.R, 725 laps, 5th overall
2. Auberlen/Werner/Farfus/Spengler, BMW Z4 GTE, 725 laps, 6th overall
3. Gavin/Milner/Pagenaud, Corvette C7.R, 718 laps, 8th overall

GT Daytona:
1. Keating/D.Farnbacher/Carter/wittmer/Lawrenc, Dodge Viper SRT, 704, 13th
2. MacNeil/L.Keen/A. Davis/van Gisbergen, Porsche 911 GT, 704 laps, 14th
3. Snow/Heylen/Dempsey/Eng, Porsche 911 GT America, 702,15th

For more on race results: IMSA, crash.net


Source; Blackflag, Crash, Autoweek, IMSA
Photo credit: Red Bull, Motorsports.com.

The Race to the Clouds

So, the grand daddy of all hill climbs is upon us. What Le Mans is to endurance racing, Daytona 500 is to Nascar, Monaco is to Formula 1, and Indy is to NHRA, Pikes Peak Int'l Hill Climb is to hill climbs. If you have the chance on Sunday, June 29th, 2014, tune in to the 92nd running of this great hill climb, on live feed. Just click here.

Everyone who's ever been any good at rallying will eventually want to run this most difficult course. The oldest current class is the Open Wheel division which has been won by the likes of: Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Little Al, Robby Unser, and these are only the Americans. The current record holder in the unlimited class is Frenchman Sebastien Loeb in a peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak. He set the record in 2013 in just 8.13.878 minutes, besting the old one by more than 90 seconds.

These are the most popular racing classes are in the car category:
- Unlimited, no form of restrictions (Pikes Peak Car)
- Open Wheel, the traditional Pikes Peak race car
- Mini Sprint, Small bore open wheeler
- Super Stock Car, traditional tube-frame stock cars
- Pro trucks

What makes this hill climb so challenging is the altitude change from the start to the finish. At the peak (14,110 ft) the partial pressure of oxygen is only about 60 % of that at sea level, so the engine needs to be tuned accordingly to run well, even though it suffers from oxygen starvation while climbing to the top. Conditions can get pretty bad too. Because of wild fires in 2012, the race was run in August and towards the end of race day, freezing rain and snow closed in on the summit, causing a race stoppage.
And as if this wasn't enough, back in the day the course was of asphalt at the bottom but as you climbed it would suddenly change to gravel, making for some incredible driving.

Map of the course, aka The Race to the Clouds. Almost 20 km long, 156 turns

Originally called "El Capitan" by Spanish explorers, the mountain was renamed Pike's Peak after explorer Zebulon Pike , Jr. The Arapaho name is heey-otoyoo (meaning long mountain).

More FulTrot coverage on Pikes Peak:
- Ari vs Pikes Peak, July 2, 2012
- Pikes Peak, July 17, 2012

Source: Pikes Peak Int'l Hill Climb, Wikipedia,
Photo credit: Google Earth (Pike National Forest)

Antti on Loeb

Today Antti Kalhola posted his latest creation on the net. It features Sebastien Loeb and is appropriately called: "The Artist of Rallying".

Loeb hails from Haguenau, Alsace, and is a French rally driver currently driving for Citroen World Rally Team. He has won the world championship 8 times in a row, and also holds several other WRC records, including most points, wins and podium finishes.



Antti makes some of the best video on Rally. Be sure to check them out.
- Introducing Antti
- Antti on Gilles

Thanks for reading.

The racing weekend that was

MotoGP, at Misano, Italy:

Pedrosa pushed to the pits

In what was to become known as a race filled with drama, title contender and Misano pole sitter Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) suffered a technical problem with his tire warmers, which forced him to start from the pits. However, starting last, he quickly passed some riders but a collision with Hector Barbera at the apex of a left hander, high-sided Pedrosa and put him out of the race.

The Texan Ben Spies made a solid start and even though he lost some speed mid race, he dug deep in the closing stages to snatch fifth place from Stefan Bradl. "After what happened in the last eight weeks it almost feels like a podium for me," said Spies after the race.

Andrea Dovizioso (Tech 3 Yamaha) went mano-a-mano with Alvaro Bautista (Gresini Honda) in a thrilling final lap battle, and a photo was required to identify who crossed the line first to secure the third spot on the podium. Unfortunately, the Italian Dovizioso  drifted wide on the exit and Bautista had enough power to get to the line first, but barely ..... by a margin of just .003 seconds!

Since the 2011 French GP, MotoGP legend and Ducati rider Valentino Rossi has not been sighted anywhere near a podium after a competitive race. Somehow, this all changed when Rossi secured second place after battling with Stefan Bradl during the middle stages, and was just 4.4 seconds behind the event winner.

Jorge Lorenzo (Factory Yamaha) and 2013 teammate to Valentino Rossi, took a big step towards securing his second MotoGP title when he won the Misano race, his sixth victory of the season. 

"Valentino, to be honest, has been very brave today," said Lorenzo. "He rode in a very good way. To only finish four-seconds behind me with the Ducati is a good race."

The next race is the Gran Premio Iveco de Aragon, in Spain, on Sunday, September 30 next.

WRC, in Great Brittain for the Wales Rally:

After what can be called some difficult months, Jari-Matti Latvala did an outstanding job last weekend. On Friday morning, the Fin moved to the front, then extended his advantage on Saturday in the Brecon Valley mountains and consolidated his position in the Vale of Neath on Sunday, to secure his second win in a row. He crossed the line almost 30 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, a Citroen.

The victory is a major boost for Latvala and Ford and put an end to the 5 race domination by Sebastian Loeb and Citroen.

The rest of the podium was contended between sebastien Loeb and Petter Solberg. The two battled hard, but Loeb edged out at the finish to take second. "You cannot win everytime. It shows it is not as easy as sometimes people imagine," Explained Loeb. "...Jari-Matti was really very fast today, he was flying in the stages and so we had no chance."

To watch a video highlights of the race, please click here.

The next race will be held on October 4-7, Rallye de France -Alsace.

NASCAR, at Chicagoland Speedway:
Usually I don't cover the Camping World Truck series but Saturday night something special happened at the Iowa Speedway. In a truck that its owner could not make go fast, a young Ryan Blaney jumped in and made an incredible run and held off a couple of race restarts towards the end of the race, to take the win. At 18, Ryan becomes the youngest winner in the truck series.

Brad Keselowski

The Sprint Cup cars raced in the GEICO 400 on Sunday afternoon, a race in which Jimmie Johnson seemed to be in complete control. Johnson led 172 of the 267 laps but his luck turned after a lengthy final pit stop dropped him behind Brad Keselowski. The Penske driver proceeded to pull away from Johnson and the field to eventually take the checkered flag.

Denny Hamlin got an even more frustrating end to the race, when he ran out of fuel on the last lap. His crew didn't not get his fuel tank all the way full on his final pit stop which sometimes can come back to haunt you.

And, too bad the lucky moustache didn't work for Jeff Gordon. A stuck trottle, obviously in the wide open position, usually, that is where you need it, sent him into the Turn 1 wall on lap 188. See it here.

Finally, it sure is good to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. having some fun again. Professional motorsports have become too commercialized for my taste. No more bad boy image or speaking your mind... well maybe just this time. Earnhardt over-revved his engine for a split second after the qualifying session on Saturday. A valve hit a piston in the third cylinder and to avoid any malfunction during the race they replaced the engine. This is how he explained it; "The valves and piston had a little party and they all ended-up with a hangover"!

Next race: New Hampshire on Sunday, 1.00 pm

Thanks for reading.

Source: Crash.net, WRC, NASCAR

Photo Credit: MotoGP, Mirco Lazzari gp - Getty Images Europe, Automobilsport.com,