Valencia day three: Kubica Is The Fastest Man In Spain

After three days of pre-season testing a third constructor top the timesheets, with Robert Kubica's Renault seeing off Adrian Sutil's Force India for the honours on Thursday

Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull ended the opening day on top before Fernando Alonso piped the German to the post on Wednesday, but it was Kubica who recorded the fastest time of the week, beating his more fancied competitors to the first 'win' of the season.

Felipe Massa stole the headlines during the morning session, albeit for the wrong reasons. Just half an hour and 12 laps into his first day of pre-season testing, the spun at turn five, and while he was able to collect the car, spoke billowed out the back of his Ferrari followed by flames. The Brazilian then entered into another spin after which the car came to a halt, Massa promptly exited the vehicle and the marshals will called to extinguish the blaze.

The patched up F150 did make an appearance later in the day, and having failed to impress for much of the afternoon, Massa posted a 1:14.073 late in the session to end the day fifth fastest.

After two days fraught with problems, matters look to be improving for Mercedes GP, with Schumacher posting the third fastest time of the morning session with a 1:14.537, 0.108 faster than team-mate Nico Rosberg's quickest lap yesterday.

Despite a long run in the afternoon, the German was unable to better his time, finishing the day as the in a disappointing ninth spot.

Kubica and Sutil were joined by Jenson Button and Mark Webber in breaking the 1:14 mark, with the later pair both putting in more than 100 laps. Webber endured a medicore start to the day in which he was unable to replicate the pass produced by Sebastian Vettel on the first two days at Valencia. However, with a reduced fuel load, the Australia improved in the afternoon to post a fastest lap of 1:13.936.

Button was there or thereabouts throughout the day, and will be happy to have recorded a 1:13.553 during his lengthy spell out on the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

Sutil was the fastest man on track after the morning's running, following the lead set by Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta on previous days by showing there is plenty of life left in the VJM03.

But while Sutil impressed in a 2010 model, Robert Kubica and his R31 served notice that Renault may well be on their way to narrowing the gap to the top teams.

While one can never read too much into pre-season times, the Pole appeared to spend the morning gathering data (his quickest time at the interval was four seconds off the pace) before proceeding to knock Sutil off the top of the timesheets with a 1:13.144.

On the other end of the spectrum, there were again problems for Lotus, with the power steering problem that ended their day prematurely on Wednesday again an issue, with Jarno Trulli only able to complete 38 laps all of which were without power steering.

While the Italian was unable to post a lap time, chief engineer Mike Gascoyne reported that the team was able to get all their "background tests done".

Having seemingly produced a shock result on Wednesday when he registered a 1:14.472, there were no timing errors or for that matter times of substance for Narain Karthikeyan, with his HRT more than three seconds off the pace.

There was some late improvement for Timo Glock and his VR-01, with the German finishing with a 1:14.207 to beat off the Williams of Pastor Maldonado (1:14.299) and the Sauber of Sergio Perez (1:14.458) for sixth spot. Schumacher and Sebastien Buemi (1:14.801) were still further behind.

Unofficial times:
01. Robert Kubica Renault 1:13.144 96 laps
02. Adrian Sutil Force India Mercedes 1:13.201 +0.057 117 laps
03. Jenson Button McLaren Mercedes 1:13.553 0.409 105 laps
04. Mark Webber Red Bull Renault 1:13.936 +0.792 105 laps
05. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:14.017 +0.873 80 laps
06. Timo Glock Virgin Cosworth 1:14.207 +1.063 114 laps
07. Pastor Maldonado Williams Cosworth 1:14.299 + 1.155 101 laps
08. Sergio Perez Sauber Ferrari 1:14.458 +1.314 104 laps
09. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:14.537 +1.393 110 laps
10. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso Ferrari 1:14.801 + 1.657 73 laps
11. Narain Karthikeyan HRT Cosworth 1:16.535 +3.391 63 laps

Source: Planet-F1

Wrooom - Madonna di Campiglio in Pictures Day 3

Madonna di Campiglio Wednesday ...

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Kimi Räikkönen Interview after Day 3 at Wales Rally GB 2010

Source: Citroën WRC

RED BULL ON STAGE - RALLY JAPAN, DAY 3

"Banzai!" is a typical Japanese battle cry, traditionally used by soldiers charging bravely into battle even when the odds are stacked against them. It's all about attempting the nearly impossible, such as the modern phenomenon of the 'banzai skydive': the act of throwing a parachute from a flying plane and eventually jumping out after it, in the fervent hope of catching the parachute up

Appropriately enough, the record for banzai skydiving is held by a Japanese gentleman, Yasuhiro Kubo, who waited for a courageous 50 seconds in between throwing out his parachute and deciding to go and retrieve it.

Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 Formula One champion, has never been skydiving. But attempting Rally Japan, one of the most specialised events on the world rally calendar, with just nine WRC outings in a top car behind him was a bit like throwing the parachute out first and wondering how to catch it later.

During the first two days the Red Bull driver had a trouble-free run, climbing as high as eighth overall in the land of the rising sun. Driving a rally car is as different to Formula One as rugby is to football, but Kimi showed excellent consistency by setting eighth-fastest time on all of Saturday's stages apart from one, where he was sixth.

The first stage this morning is where it all went wrong. Halfway through the Bisan test on Sunday, Kimi misheard a pace note. The car slid wide, the engine stalled and the crew slithered off the road. It was a very low-speed off and the Citroen was completely undamaged but with no spectators around, it was impossible to get back on the stage.

"After steering clear of mistakes for so long, it's really disappointing that such a small thing caused us to retire," said Kimi. "I just didn't quite understand the note, so we were a bit too quick into the corner. I tried to get the car back but unfortunately there was nothing to do and we went off. If there had been some spectators around then we would have had no problem to get back onto the road but it was in a place where nobody was there so unfortunately that's it. We learned a lot though and now we've got two asphalt rallies coming up, so we're going to be trying our best to come away with a good result."

Japan is turning into an unlucky event for co-driver Kaj Lindstrom, as he also failed to finish on his last outing in Hokkaido back in 2005. "We didn't deserve this; it was nobody's fault," said Kaj when he and Kimi got back to service in Sapporo. "There's a lot going on in the rally car, so it's very easy to mishear a pace note and it was a tricky place. We were unlucky that there were no spectators, otherwise we could have continued. But there are a lot of positive things that we can take from this rally: yesterday was one of the best days we have ever driven on gravel and we are getting better all the time."

Kimi built his reputation on asphalt, so he's now looking forward to heading back to his favourite surface for the all-new Rallye de France at the end of this month. It's sure to be another banzai attack from the Iceman and he can't wait.

Source: RedBullRallye

CITROËN JUNIOR TEAM, ADAC RALLYE DEUTSCHLAND – DAY 3

At the end of a perfectly-controlled Rallye Deutschland, the Citroën Junior Team scores a podium for the first time on an asphalt FIA World Rally Championship event. Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia are third behind the two factory Citroën C4 WRCs. Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström finish seventh, having claimed their first fastest stage time in the WRC!

On the third and final day of the rally, there were 85.69 competitive kilometres on the menu. As the cars were getting underway, at 0615, some light rain fell on Trier. Nonetheless, the roads remained dry throughout the morning.

“We had to go quickly in order to keep Jari-Matti Latvala behind us,” reported Sébastien Ogier after the first two stages of the day. “With just a 16-second cushion, third place is far from won. We managed to slightly increase that gap though by following the split times.” Co-driver Julien Ingrassia added: “We still have plenty to do today. These are very tricky roads and there was a huge amount of pace notes to get through. We couldn’t relax for a single second on the stages!”

On the second loop, Sébastien Ogier reinforced his position to claim his very first asphalt podium at the finish and his fifth podium of the season. “This was an excellent result,” he concluded. “Our objective was to finish behind the two factory Citroën C4 WRCs and now we have achieved our goal. So this was a very positive way to finish. I’d like to thank the entire team for a brilliant job well done.

” Kimi Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström started the final day with a set-up that was a little too soft. “I overhot two junctions and we lost a lot of time,” recounted the Finn. The crew continued to push hard right up to the end, setting their first fastest stage time on the final Circus Maximus Trier stage (SS19).

“I’m disappointed at having made the mistake in the morning that cost us a place, ” said Räikkönen. “But I enjoyed the stages on Saturday and Sunday. We’re continuing to rack up experience and that’s very important.” Team manager Benoit Nogier concluded: “We’ve got to the finish of a long and complicated rally with a very solid performance. Competing on their first Rallye Deutschland in a WRC machine, Sébastien and Julien are on the podium. At the start of the season we were just aiming for some podiums on gravel.

Our goals have already largely been achieved, with a podium on asphalt to add to our tally as well now. Sébastien and Julien did a great job, coping well with the pressure when they had to go and get past Latvala. Their performance came pretty close to perfection, I would say. Measuring it on his terms, Kimi did virtually just as well. His mistake this morning cost him a place, but we are all delighted with his fastest stage time, which is a real morale booster. Now we’re keen to get over to France, for the next asphalt rally that is going to be an unknown quantity for all the competitors.”

Source: RedBull Rallye

Kimi Räikkönen Interview After Day 3 in Rally of Turkey 2010

Source: YouTube

WRC: Hirvonen takes 16 sec lead into final day in Sweden; Räikkönen is 35th overall...

Ford team-leader Mikko Hirvonen will take a 16.6 second lead into Sunday's final day of Rally Sweden, an advantage his chief opponent, Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb, acknowledged will be difficult to overturn on the five stage which remain.

Saturday's second day of the rally featured two identical loops of four stages in the Varmland region of central Sweden, clustered around the Hagfors Service Park. Under clear blue skies and in temperatures than plunged to -22ºC, crews tackled 117.76km of ice and snow covered gravel stages.

Hirvonen started Saturday's competition in the lead, 6.2 seconds ahead of Loeb, but after a back and forth scrap in the morning, this gap was down to 4.2sec by the midpoint service. The afternoon was another story, however, when Hirvonen and Loeb gambled on fitting fresh tyres at different times - a decision which ultimately went Hirvonen's way and netted him a 23sec lead after SS15.

"Okay, it's been a good day," said Hirvonen. "Sixteen seconds is not much, but it's more than we had in the morning. For sure there are long stages to go tomorrow and Seb will try hard, but we'll see. Hopefully I can keep him behind. First on the road today was not a problem, especially on the first pass it's pretty good to be there; you can make your own lines and there is no snow or ruts or anything."

Loeb ended the day well, clawing back 6.4sec on the final Sprint stage, but the Frenchman was angry at giving time away. "We made a stupid mistake today with the tyres; it was very much the wrong choice," he said. "[On SS15] I put fresh tyres on the front with some completely destroyed tyres on the rear and I couldn't use it. I lost a lot of time to Mikko. Can I catch him? I don’t know, but it will be very difficult. Normally 16 seconds is possible but when you look at the times between us today you can see it’s difficult to make any difference."

Hirvonen's team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala holds third place, after a mixed day at the wheel of his Ford Focus RS WRC. He got a lucky break on SS15, however, when the man ahead of him, Dani Sordo, stopped briefly with an overheating engine. "It’s been an okay day, but the morning was frustrating because Dani was running away," he said. "I thought we might lose the fight, but this afternoon we made a few set-up changes and everything came together. Okay, we were a little bit lucky with Sordo's problems as well. I plan to stay here until the end. It would be nice to start the season with a podium."

Fifty-four seconds behind Latvala, Sordo was left to rue a mistake on SS15 when he didn't remove an air flow blanking panel from the front his car and almost cooked his engine mid stage. "It’s really disappointing," he said. "Anyway I will try to get the best finish and take some points now. The season has only just started with this rally - we'll see how we get on in Mexico."

Citroen Junior Team driver Sebastien Ogier remained well cushioned in fifth all day and was content with his progress. "Our target was fifth place, so if we can carry on like this it will have been a very good first Rally Sweden for us." Stobart Ford team driver Henning Solberg also remained static in the standings, holding sixth all day. "It's okay but I don't think I have one stud in my rear tyres now!" he said at the end of SS16. "I did my best today, but I lost all my studs on Vargasen [SS13] and I don't know why. We'll try some different settings tomorrow. I can get better!"

Henning's Stobart team-mate Matthew Wilson is seventh, after moving ahead of rival Mads Ostberg on SS13. The Briton will take a 13.2sec advantage over Ostberg on Sunday. "We changed the car at lunchtime and it felt completely new; I wish we could start the rally again!" he said. It's been good fun this afternoon, around that Super Special we had no studs left at all, we just slid all the way around. I reckon I can stay ahead of Mads now the car's feeling better, we'll see." Ostberg, meanwhile, is equally determined to finish seventh. "It’s been a difficult day, especially when it comes to tyre wear, but I'm happy I'm here and definitely up for the fight with Matthew," he said.

After losing a lot of time on Friday, Citroen privateer Petter Solberg holds ninth, and was pleased to put another disappointing day behind him. "Maybe I'm using the tyres too hard - I have to drive smarter and more carefully," he said. "It sounds a bit boring but all I can say is I've tried and it is getting better."

Overall classification (check WRC.com for each stage's times):

Kimi's overall standings:

Source: WRC.com

Photos from Valencia - Day 3

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