Haga takes Vallelunga double

Eurosport - Sun, 21 Sep 21:47:00 2008

Noriyuki Haga took a sensational double win in round 12 of the World Superbike Championship at Vallelunga in Italy, while championship leader Troy Bayliss spurned a chance to seal the title when he crashed out on the last lap of Race 2.

Bayliss will now have to wait until Magny-Cours to win the championship.

In Race 1, Yamaha's Japanese rider Haga powered to his fifth win this season by fending off Max Biaggi and Troy Corser, who were second and third respectively.

Max Neukirchner recovered from a poor start to grab fourth place from Carlos Checa and Bayliss, who struggled after making a wrong choice of tyre.

Race 2 saw Haga win again, although he had to work much harder under constant pressure from Bayliss.

But the win was sealed when Australian Bayliss crashed out at low speed on the final lap's hairpin.

Michel Fabrizio took second, with Corser getting third again.

Bayliss is still favourite for the title as he just has to score 21 points from his last four races.

Hamilton appeal rejected

Eurosport - Tue, 23 Sep 16:46:00 2008

Lewis Hamilton said he was disappointed but not depressed after a court rejected McLaren's appeal to have the Formula One leader reinstated as Belgian Grand Prix winner.

The decision left the 23-year-old Briton just one point clear of Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa with four races remaining.

The governing FIA said in a statement that the court of five judges had "concluded that the appeal is inadmissible" after Hamilton gave his version of events at the hearing in Paris on Monday.

"Article 152 of the International Sporting Code states that drive-through penalties are 'not susceptible to appeal'," the FIA added.

Hamilton, who was demoted from first to third at Spa-Francorchamps in the September 7 race after cutting a chicane, will now start Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix with 78 points to 77 for Massa.

Had McLaren's appeal been successful, Hamilton would have had a seven point advantage.

"People will probably expect me to be depressed about today's result, but that isn't me," he said in a McLaren statement.

"All I want to do now is put this matter behind me and get on with what we drivers do best - racing each other. We're racers, we're naturally competitive, and we love to overtake.

"Overtaking is difficult, and it feels great when you manage to pull off a great passing manoeuvre. If it pleases the spectators and TV viewers, it's better still. So I'm disappointed, yes, but not depressed."

A Ferrari spokesman said the Italian team would not be commenting on the verdict.

The race at Spa was a thriller but the excitement fell flat when stewards later ruled that Hamilton had gained an advantage by cutting the Bus Stop chicane while duelling with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen for the lead in the closing stages.

They imposed a retrospective drive-through penalty, translated into 25 seconds added to Hamilton's total time, which dropped him from first to third.

Massa, who had finished second, was awarded his fifth win of the season instead.

Hamilton, who had handed back the position gained before overtaking Raikkonen again into the next corner, told the court in Paris he felt he had acted according to the rules.

McLaren had also pointed out to the court that race control had twice given Hamilton the all-clear at the time.

"We are naturally disappointed with today's verdict, and to have received no ruling on the substance of our appeal," said McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh.

"No-one wants to win grands prix in court but we felt that Lewis had won the Belgian Grand Prix, on track, in an exciting and impressive manner.

"Our legal team and witnesses calmly explained this, as well as our belief that the appeal should be admissible, to the FIA International Court of Appeal," he added.

Hamilton arrived in Singapore on Tuesday, where he chatted and joked with fans while watching youngsters drive an F1 simulator in one of the city-state's plushest shopping centres.

Dressed in a grey suit, the driver told the crowd he was fully focused and looking forward to the sport's first night race.

Rossi storms home in Indy

Eurosport - Sun, 14 Sep 22:28:00 2008

Italy's Valentino Rossi moved to within a point of an eighth world title when he won a rain-shortened Indianapolis MotoGP on Sunday.

Rossi was declared the winner after 20 laps when the race, the first at the legendary Brickyard since 1909, was red-flagged as heavy rain and galeforce winds, a legacy of Hurricane Ike, swept the circuit.

America's Nicky Hayden, on Honda, was second with Spain's Jorge Lorenzo, the teammate of Rossi, in third place.

It was world championship leader Rossi's seventh win of the season and fourth in a row.

It was also his 69th victory in the top category and with an 87-point lead over defending champion Casey Stoner of Australia and with just four races left, he can clinch the 2008 title by picking up just a point at Motegi in Japan in two weeks' time.

"These were the worst conditions of my career," said Rossi.

"It was a new track and a new surface. There was lots of water and even beer cans blowing across the track. The wind was not constant and was very strong.

"I was hoping for the red flag because it was getting dangerous."

Vettel makes history at Monza

Eurosport - Sun, 14 Sep 14:37:00 2008

Germany's Sebastian Vettel stunned Formula One as the sport's youngest race winner at the age of 21 with victory for Toro Rosso at the team's home Italian Grand Prix.Vettel, also the youngest driver to start a Grand Prix from pole position, gave his Ferrari-powered team their first win with a remarkably assured drive through the spray and slippery conditions.

It was a stunning result for Formula One's smallest team, formerly tail-enders Minardi, who are co-owned at least until the end of next year by Red Bull energy drink billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz and Austrian Gerhard Berger.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who started 15th after losing a gamble with the weather in qualifying, retained his championship lead by a single point after overtaking a string of rivals to finish seventh.

Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa, Hamilton's closest rival, failed to make the most of starting nine places ahead of the Briton and finished sixth in a wet race that began behind the safety car.

With four races remaining, Hamilton has 78 points to Massa's 77 and Robert Kubica's 64 for BMW-Sauber, pending an appeal into the result of the Belgian Grand Prix where the championship leader was demoted from first to third for cutting a chicane.

Kubica, himself only 23, took third place at the circuit where he took his first podium in 2006.

At 21 years and 74 days old, Vettel became Germany's first race winner since Ferrari's seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher retired in 2006.

Renault's double world champion Fernando Alonso, who held the previous record for the youngest race winner after chalking up his first victory in Hungary in 2003 at 22 years and 26 days, finished fourth.

Germany's Nick Heidfeld was fifth for BMW-Sauber while Australian Mark Webber collected the final point in eighth place for Red Bull.

Bayliss breaks Donnington duck

Eurosport - Sun, 07 Sep 17:19:00 2008

Troy Bayliss closed in on his third World Superbike title after breaking his Donington duck on a chaotic day of racing.

The 39-year-old is retiring at the end of the season and capped his last competitive visit to Britain by finally winning at the Leicestershire circuit in difficult conditions.

Bayliss first raced at Donington in 1998 but had never won there after a series of nightmares - including losing his little finger in a crash last season.

Xerox Ducati rider Bayliss took race one on aggregate from British wildcard rider Tom Sykes, after the race was twice stopped, before reverting to type and crashing out of race two.

The Australian is now 101 points ahead of fellow countryman Troy Corser with just 200 points up for grabs.

This week's horrendous weather had meant the riders had not been on the circuit in the dry all weekend but the field were greeted with a drying track at the start of race one.

Former British Superbike champion Ryuichi Kiyonari won the double last time out at Brands Hatch and made a great start to race one to lead Bayliss.

But the Japanese rider crashed out on just the second lap leaving Sykes to pressure - and pass - Bayliss.

The tricky conditions then saw a host of top riders crash out including Max Neukirchner, Carlos Checa and Corser all at the same corner before the race was red flagged on lap 10.

A lengthy delay followed as those riders allowed to restart made their way back to the pits before the racing got back under way.

Sykes held a near four-second lead at the restart but Bayliss soon passed the Huddersfield-born rider and set about chasing down the aggregate lead.

The veteran reeled off a series of fast laps to regain the lead before the rain returned to bring a second red flag and give him his 49th Superbike win.

Sterilgarda Ducati rider Max Biaggi was credited with third place after team-mate Ruben Xaus crashed out on the last lap.

The second race started in an absolute deluge of rain with Corser protesting the conditions were unraceable.

Kiyonari again got a good start though and broke away from Bayliss with Corser in third place ahead of two British wildcard riders in Cal Crutchlow and Leon Haslam.

HM Plant Honda rider Crutchlow eventually passed Corser to put himself into a podium position as the rain eased up.

Bayliss then crashed at high speed with 12 laps to go and despite picking the bike up and returning to the track retired a lap later.

Kiyonari held on to win from Crutchlow with Corser in third.

Crutchlow said: "The conditions were terrible but it's fantastic to get this result.

"Myself and the team have put in a lot of work for this round and we had a problem in race one.

"But they fixed up the bike for race two and to get on the podium in those conditions is a great result."

Hamilton stripped of Belgian GP win

Eurosport - Sun, 07 Sep 21:52:00 2008

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was stripped of victory in a thrilling Belgian Grand Prix after stewards decided he had gained an advantage by cutting a chicane during a last-gasp duel with Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton was given a 25-second time penalty by race officials which saw him demoted to third and victory handed to second-placed Felipe Massa, allowing the Ferrari driver to cut the Briton's lead in the championship to just two points.

Brazilian Massa crossed the line second but won the maximum 10 points ahead of Germany's Nick Heidfeld, the BMW-Sauber driver promoted to second. Hamilton won six points to move to 76 in the championship to Massa's 74.

World champion Raikkonen had led until rain began to fall and Hamilton, the 23-year-old championship leader who had started on pole position, reeled in the Ferrari and powered past on the penultimate lap.

The action did not stop there, with the desperate Raikkonen fighting back to retake the lead before losing control on the slippery surface and smashing into a wall while Hamilton went wide over the grass.

The two rivals had already banged bodywork, skidded and narrowly avoided other cars before stewards decided that Hamilton's late maneouvre had broken the rulebook.

"It was an experience and a half," said Hamilton before the stewards gave their verdict. "It was just mix and match. I was just praying for rain. I wanted it to come because I knew how to deal with it.

"It was one of the most exciting races of my career. I love having battles."

It was a stunning turnaround to an afternoon that, until two laps from the end, looked sure to revive Raikkonen's championship hopes with a fourth Belgian Grand Prix win in succession.

Starting in fourth place, the Finn made a determined move on Massa after running wide at the tight first corner.

The two Ferraris ran side by side up the hill through Eau Rouge before Raikkonen, whose engine had blown in the previous race in Valencia, scythed past and took the chase to Hamilton.

Hamilton then locked his right front tyre and spun at La Source at the start of the second lap, with Raikkonen seizing the advantage.

Renault's double world champion Fernando Alonso was fourth with Germany's Sebastian Vettel fifth for Toro Rosso.

Poland's Robert Kubica was sixth, a result that elevated him to third in the championship with 58 points, with France's Sebastien Bourdais considerably enhancing his prospects of staying at Toro Rosso next season with seventh.

Mark Webber of Australia took the final point for Red Bull after Germany's Timo Glock also picked up a 25-second penalty.

McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen, who had started in third place, missed out in 10th place after capping a string of errors with a drive-through penalty.

Loeb wins to extend lead

Eurosport - Sun, 31 Aug 08:17:00 2008

Frenchman Sebastien Loeb clawed his way back after a dramatic spin on the final day of Rally New Zealand to win the event 17.5 seconds ahead of his Citroen teammate Dani Sordo.

It was a dream result for Loeb, who left second-ranked Mikko Hirvonen of Finland trailing in third with a slow puncture, to take his 44th World Rally Championship victory.

The world champion had a shaky start in the opening stage Sunday, losing control with a spin at the three kilometre mark, which cost him 10 seconds and left him struggling in fourth.

Midway through the course it looked like Hirvonen and Ford teammate Jari-Matti Latvala had the top two positions locked out.

"I was on a mission to close the gap on the Ford team, but got onto the wrong part of the road on a long, left-hand corner and had the spin," said Loeb.

"I wasn't able to make up the gap to Mikko -- I thought it was over and we'd lost the chance, but then it all changed and we were leading again," said the world champion.

By the penultimate stage, the Ford team's challenge had crumbled, with Latvala of Finland retiring and Hirvonen losing 50 seconds to a slow puncture, to finish the rally behind Sordo of Spain.

"This was really a difficult rally, changing all the time, with some strategy coming in too," said Loeb after the three-day contest.

"I needed to win for sure, and that's very nice, but I'm not happy for what happened to Mikko because he was doing really well and it was a good battle. But it's a race and these things happen sometimes."

A disappointed Hirvonen brought his bumper-less Ford across the finish line to claim the final podium place, 24 seconds adrift of Sordo's time.

"I was really confident that we were going to win this rally but what could we do," said Hirvonen.

"We had a slow puncture that dropped us to third, but I'm not going to let this knock my confidence.

"I know we can win rallies. The season isn't over yet so we just have to go flat out again on the next rallies."

Latvala's retirement meant a dissatisfied Petter Solberg of Norway finished fourth for the Subaru World Rally team.

"We want to win, not get fourth, I'm sorry but we're not here for fun. We have to improve the speed," said Solberg.

Loeb's victory means he is now eight points head of Hirvonen in the WRC standings after 11 rounds.

His teammate Sordo's success gives Citroen a 20-point lead over nearest rivals Ford.

San Marino GP - Rossi wins in San Marino

Eurosport - Sun, 31 Aug 18:34:00 2008

Seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi won the San Marino Grand Prix ahead of team-mate Jorge Lorenzo and Spaniard Toni Elias.

The victory allowed the Italian to equal compatriot Giacomo Agostini's record of 68 victories in the top Moto GP category.

Rossi, who was born just 10 kilometres away at Tavullia, revealed that Agostini had wished him well ahead of the race.

"These last few days I saw that Agostini was a little unhappy; today though I saw him smile; he came to greet me, wished me well and I won," said the Italian star.

The victory stretched the Yamaha rider's lead in the world championship standings to 75 points with just five races left.

Pole-sitter and reigning world champion Casey Stoner of Australia crashed out on lap six while leading, handing Rossi a clear run to victory.

"We have a 75-point lead which means that up to now we've been very strong, we've never let up, and more than everything we've kept our heads held high even during difficulties," said Rossi, who has finished runner-up in each of the last two seasons.

"This year I told myself that to beat Stoner we needed the best Valentino. I tried to bring him out. Although you're never sure to find him, I think I've found him and I'm happy."

Stoner remains second in the world championship race but just two points ahead of Spain's Dani Pedrosa after the Honda Repsol rider finished fourth.

The Australian had flown off the start line and built up a lead of three seconds by the end of the second lap.

Pedrosa had the quickest start and went from sixth to second within the first few corners, leaving Rossi frustrated in being unable to challenge Stoner from the start.

But the little Spaniard didn't have the pace to hold off Rossi, who was soon up to second and chasing down Stoner.

The Australian made life easy for his main rival, though, by skidding off the track all on his own.

"I got away well but Pedrosa overtook me and I lost a lot of time," said Rossi.

"Stoney was flying, then I got back up to my (starting) place, I saw him fall and then things went well for me."

Rossi then coasted to victory with Spaniard Lorenzo overtaking his countryman Pedrosa before the Honda rider was relegated to third amongst his kinsmen as Elias also sailed past.

In the 250cc race Spaniard Alvaro Bautista, a former world champion at 125cc, won ahead of Japan's Yuki Takahashi with compatriot Hector Barbera in third.

Italian Marco Simoncelli still leads the standings despite falling when in third place, before rising to finish sixth.

Reigning champion Gabor Talmacsi of Hungary led an Aprilia 1-2-3 finish in the 125cc race ahead of Britain's Bradley Smith and Italy's Simone Corsi.

Corsi stays second in the standings behind Frenchman Mike Di Meglio, who failed to finish.