Viñales shows pace in Qatar with Yamaha

Viñales followed by Dovizioso, Qatar MotoGP 2017. Copyright @ MotoGP.com
Viñales followed by Dovizioso, Qatar MotoGP 2017. Copyright @ MotoGP.com

Yamaha newcomer, Maverick Viñales, rode to victory after a very intense race where conditions triggered uncertainty throughout the weekend, forcing the qualifying session to be cancelled and the starting positions for the race be determined according to Free Practice 3 times. The race itself had to be delayed after rain hit the track causing even more uncertainty over grip levels and which tire to pick or to call it in a more adequate way, which tire to gamble on…

The big surprise of the race was not the grip level, it was the pace of French rider Johann Zarco that took the lead with a fast start and kept it for 6 laps until he fell off the race on lap 6 when he came barely off the line under braking. Conditions were anything but easy, the racing line was very narrow and a few riders abandoned due to falls, including Cal Crutchlow who fell once and rejoined and fell again being the first victim of a changing track. The fight at the front was intense, Viñales seemed unable to keep the pace of Zarco, Marc Marquez in the Honda, Andrea Iannone in the Suzuki and Andrea Dovizioso in the Ducati, at least in the first laps when these riders kept the fight for the second position. Zarco fell on lap 6, Dovizioso made his way past these riders to take the lead and held it until lap 14 when a resurgent Viñales came back to the fight, Iannone had a similar fall, loosing the front of his bike after a strong showing when fighting for the lead, Marquez could not keep the pace after Viñales found his and passed him after the mid point of the race along with Valentino Rossi who joined the fight.

The second surprise of the race, I would say, was Aleix Espargaró, the Spaniard riding the Aprilia officially for the first time in MotoGP, coming from 15th on the grid he took on a steady but aggressive pace passing several riders and fighting it out in the end with Dani Pedrosa in the other Repsol Honda receiving the checkered flag in P6. The fight in the front meanwhile was extraordinary, Dovizioso simply did not want to finish 2nd place again in Qatar, he wanted the win and even though the Ducati had more high end speed, the Yamaha looked better on certain other corners, not many, Viñales tried a couple of times, he overtook the Ducati but was overtaken again, very entertaining fight and finally Viñales managed to make the pass and pull out enough ground for it to be impossible for Dovizioso to grab the position back again in the last lap (20th).  Rossi completed the podium, happy to have been able to keep his new team mate´s pace in the race, after a not so good testing and practicing. 4th was for Marquez, who lost pace in the end and couldn´t keep up with the fight for the win, 5th was for his team mate Pedrosa and 6th for the impressive Espargaró in the Aprilia.

Weather had its influence in what was a very delightful race to watch, let´s see what happens in Argentina, for the 2nd of the Championship in a couple of weeks.  Full results, click here.

2nd win for Konica Minolta’s Cadillac at Sebring

Konica Minolta's No. 10 Cadillac DPi at Sebring Mobil 1 Twelve Hour race.
Konica Minolta’s No. 10 Cadillac DPi at Sebring Mobil 1 Twelve Hour race. Copyright @ Wise Racing World

The 65th Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida took place March 16th – 18th in the 3.74 mile long bumpy track. Florida hosts the first two races of the WeatherTech SportsCar Challenge which include The 24 Hour Race at Daytona and the 12 Hour Race at Sebring which also make up for two out of four races included in the Tequila Patron Endurance Championship.

As it was the case, without the controversy, Konica Minolta’s Cadillac Dpi-V.R won the prestigious race with the same car from Daytona in the 2nd position, Mustang Sampling Racing’s No. 5. In Daytona, R. Taylor forced his way passed Barbosa’s Cadillac causing him to spin a couple of laps from the end of the race which was deemed as a racing incident by the officials. The story was similar in Sebring but different in the way it ended, Taylor managed to set a 13 second gap with solid pace over Fittipaldi who were the only two cars to finish in the lead lap with 348 laps completed over the course of the race itself. Third place went to Whelen Engineering Racing’s Cadillac No. 31 who had better luck than in Daytona where they finished 6th in the P class 20 laps behind the winners. Fourth place went to the ORECA from JDC-Miller Motorsports with their No. 85 that have done very consistent races without mistakes and with good reliability even though they are lacking the pace of the Cadillacs for sure.

Several teams ran into mechanical problems and lost a lot of time in pits and in some cases had to retire, the Ligier of PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, the two Mazda Dpi, especially No. 70 that had to retire after brake failure and hitting the barriers, the No. 55 lost over 25 laps too. Rebellion Racing’s Oreca also suffered from many mechanical issues and did finish but almost half the distance covered by the first place finisher. Tequila Patron entries had a terrible day as well, with the No. 2 retiring after 47 laps and the No. 22 retiring after completing 158 laps.

Performance Tech Motorsports PC Class winner at Sebring 2017
Performance Tech Motorsports PC Class winner at Sebring 2017. Copyright @ Wise Racing World

PC class is racing its last season in the series, Daytona saw 5 entries with the Starworks Team presenting 2 cars but for Sebring they presented only one car which reduced the race to 4 vehicles only. In any case, that does not demerit the effort from its competitors, specially the No. 38 from Team Performance Tech Motorsports that won in both races and finished 5th overall at Sebring only 10 laps behind the winner, that’s a reflects really great work from the team and the strong commitment from the drivers. It’s important to mention also that the Starworks No. 8 also did an excellent race finishing 6th overall and only 2 laps behind the No. 38. 3rd place went to BAR 1 Motorsports No. 26, 8 laps further down with the sister car No. 20 completing 302 laps.

Corvette Racing's No. 3 car, winner GTLM class Twuelve Hour race at Sebring.
Corvette Racing’s No. 3 car, winner GTLM class Twuelve Hour race at Sebring. Copyright @ Wise Racing World

GTLM had 10 entries, 2 Corvettes, 3 Ford GTs, 2 BMW M6s, 2 Porsche 911 RSRs, and 1 Ferrari 488 GTE. How hard was the 12 hour race? 7 cars finished within the same lap! (Just as in Daytona after 24 Hours) This is simply exciting, 5 brands giving it all until the end but only one winner, the No. 3 Corvette C7.R 14 laps behind the overall winner and 4.5 seconds ahead of the No. 66 Ford GT with Risi Competizione’s No. 62 Ferrari another 9 seconds behind. Two cars hit trouble early in the race, the No. 4 Corvette C7.R that only managed to complete 42 laps and the No. 24 BMW M6 that completed 149 laps.

GTD was the most populated category with 21 cars, with the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG GT3 from Riley Motorsports-Team AMG winning 1 lap ahead of the next 7 cars in the class but it was a matter of the leader of the race lapping the rest and receiving the checkered flag just behind the Mercedes, what I’m trying to say is that the difference was really not that big between 1st and 2nd place, not a lap, but the winning Cadillac lapped up to 2nd place and received the flag so the 1st place Mercedes had an extra lap to go before receiving the flag. A very tight race it was indeed, the 2nd place went to Scuderia Corsa’s No. 63 Ferrari 488 GT3 with a nice bounce back in form from their difficult race at Daytona. 3rd Place was for another Mercedes-AMG GT3, SunEnergy 1 Racing’s No. 75, also recovering from a difficult race at Daytona and finishing just over 3 seconds from the Ferrari and barely over one second ahead of Montaplast by Land-Motorsport’s Audi R8 LMS GT3 No. 29. 5th place went to a different manufacturer, No. 48 Paul Miller Racing’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3.

 

Full Results click here.

Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG No. 33. First place at Sebring's Twelve Hour race in the GTD Class.
Riley Motorsports Mercedes AMG No. 33. First place at Sebring’s Twelve Hour race in the GTD Class. Copyright @ Wise Racing World