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[NEWS] Yesterday in motorsport
by 321Ignition Magazine
Yesterday in motorsport
1 February, 2010
HRT/HSV begin testing at Winton
The Walkinshaw Racing outfit had its first shakedown of the 2010 season with a test day at Winton Motor Raceway yesterday for HRT’s Garth Tander and Will Davison and new HSV recruits Andrew Thompson (#10) and Fabian Coulthard (#24). Coulthard enjoyed a chance to work with new engineer Rob Starr, whilst Thompson became acquainted with the experienced Erik Pender.
Whilst Coulthard ran the Australian colours of Bundaberg Red, Thompson debuted the Middle-Eastern livery of ‘Extra Smooth’, reflective of the local laws that prohibit alcohol branding.
Daniel Gaunt unveils LDR/Gulf Western Commodore
Daniel Gaunt has revealed his Gulf Western Oil backed Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport VE Commodore in Melbourne overnight, the former Walkinshaw Racing Holden revealing a very ‘HRT’ looking livery. Prepared by experienced Supercar engineer Dean ‘Curl’ Orr, the LDM car will make it’s debut next week in official testing at Winton.
Garry McCoy lands MotoGP ride
After losing his World Supersport ride with Triumph just a week ago, former Aussie MotoGP star Garry McCoy is back in the ‘main game’ after securing a two-year deal with FB Corse for the 2010/2011 MotoGP seasons.
FB Corse has been expected to sign former Suzuki and Kawasaki star John Hopkins, but the anglo-American rider announced just yesterday that he would be aboard a Team Hammer Suzuki in the AMA Superbike Championships. FB Corse had been expected to announce Hopkins replacement at the Milan launch, with a rider with ‘proven experience in all major world championship categories’, however it seems McCoy let the cat out of the bag first, announcing on his Facebook site that he was ‘back in MotoGP!!’.
Designed by former Ferrari F1 engineer Mauro Forghieri, the FB Corse bike will make its debut in the coming weeks.
Renault/Sauber/Mercedes/Torro Rosso debut cars at Valencia
There was a string of Formula One teams revealing cars to the worlds media this last weekend immediately prior to the opening test of the season at Valencia this week.
Mercedes had launched their gorgeous silver Petronas backed car in Stuttgart last week, but it was a reliveried BGP001 [Brawn], Valencia saw the release of the new for 2010 W01.
Renault [R30], Torro Rosso [STR5], Williams [FW32] and Sauber [C29] joined Mercedes, FerrarI [F10] and McLaren [MP4-25] as the first teams to debut cars ahead of the 2010 season which kicks off in Bahrain in less than six weeks time.
Massa quickest, Schumacher third in first test at Valencia
Valencia, Day 1 (1/2/10)
1. Felipe Massa, Ferrari (102 laps) - 1:12.574
2. Pedro de la Rosa, Sauber (74) - 1:12.784
3. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes (40) - 1:12.947
4. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes (39) - 1:13.543
5. Gary Paffett, McLaren-Mercedes (86) - 1:13.846
6. Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth (75) - 1:14.449
7. Sebastien Buemi, Torro-Ross-Ferrari (18) - 1:14.762
8. Robert Kubica, Renault (69) - 1:15.000
After a shocking end to his 2009 season, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa has made his return to F1 in the best possible way after topping the timesheets during the opening day of testing at Valencia. The Brazilian showed he’d lost none of his speed. Meanwhile compatriot Rubens Barrichello showed he’d lost none of his angst about fellow drivers, suggesting at the close of the days racing that Nico Rosberg ‘get out’ of the Mercedes team and not put himself up against the might of his seven-time champion team-mate. “If he has the chances of being world champion in the same way as Michael, then he can be world champion anywhere. Let’s put it this way,” Barrichello concluded.
Fisichella announces move to Le Mans Series
Former full-time F1 driver and Ferrari’s #3 for 2010 Giancarlo Fisichella, has announced his intention to contest the complete 2010 Le Mans Series season although as yet the announcement does not reveal which team the Roman will join, although it is expected to be either a Ferrari or Maserati GT1 or GT2 team.
First SuperGT test completed at Suzuka
The NISMO GT-R Nissan and the TOM’S SC430 Lexus topped the timesheets after three days testing at Suzuka, although the real speed of many of the top teams was unknown after the new Honda HSV-010GT fleet elected to concentrate on setup and did not post competitive times, whilst the TOM’S team elected not to fit transponders on the opening day despite setting a blistering pace.
The big story of the test was the emerging tyre war between Michelin and Bridgestone, with the Michelin teams taking top honours.
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