Motorsports Mondial.
SUNDAY SNAPSHOT
A Motorsport Mondial Presentation.
Jorge Lorenzo jumps on the Le Mans podium and ahead in the championship. The young Spaniard dominated the wet-dry French GP from start to finish. Italian Marco Melandri was second on a privately entered Kawasaki. Pole-sitter from Spain Dani Pedrosa was third for Honda.
The Doctor, Valentino Rossi, had a bad day at the clinic enduring three pit stops, one fall and a ride through penalty. He now shares second place in the championship with Australian Casey Stoner. Race winner Lorenzo leads by a single point.
Black Gold. The 2009 F3 Euros Series kicked-off at Hockenheimring with two new faces at the top of the podium. Victory in race one went to 20-year old Stefano Coletti of Monaco in his Mercedes-powered Dallara. Roberto Merhi of Spain was second. Sunday’s race two saw another first time winner, Jean-Karl Vernay of France in his VW-powered Dallara. Local driver Cristian Vietoris was second ahead another French driver Jules Bianchi third.
De Silvestro disciplines boys. Swiss Miss Simona De Silvestro dominates round two of Formula Atlantic at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. She turned her first pole position into her second victory in this very competitive series. John Edwards, the Cincinnati Kid who won the opening round at Sebring, was second and retains the championship lead. This year a race win is worth $50k and the championship a cool $1m.
No static at all. Team owner and driver, Paris-born Brazilian Gil de Ferran, took victory for Acura in the American Le Mans Series event in Utah. His co-driver is ex-Champ Car driver from France Simon Pagenaud. Acura was also successful in the P2 category, victory in this class going to dos amigos from Mexico, Adrian Fernandez and Luis Diaz.
Master the moment. Pau, lovely little town in the Pyrennes, played host to the season opener of Formula Master series. Pre-season favorite Fabio Leimer from Switzerland swiftly won Saturday’s race while victory on Sunday went to 16-year old Italian Alessandro Kouzkin. Norwegian Pal Varhaug took rookie honors for the weekend by finishing third in both races.
Rossi rising. Northern California’s Alexander Rossi is the only American in the Formula Master series. He is driving for British team Hi-Tech Racing, both newcomers to the series. He was 10th in Saturday’s race and a very credible fourth in race two on Sunday. After big name flops and misguided adventures by American racing drivers on the other side of the pond, Rossi is serious world class talent which he very ably demonstrated last year in Mexico City by winning the Formula BMW World Finals.
Lady luck and blue skies shine on Le Mans legend. Tom Kristensen, winless in DTM since 2006, was the surprise winner in the season opener at Hockenheimring. Audi teammate Mattias Ekstrom dominated the race but the Swede had to make a pit stop after suffering a puncture on the penultimate lap. Timo Scheider was second and completing an Audi sweep of the podium was Oliver Jarvis.
Ralf Schumacher was 9th and Mathias Lauda 10th. Katherine Legge was 12th.
Canadian Bruno Spengler, only North American in the series, Susie Stoddard and Alexandre Premat all failed to finish.