European Le Mans Series / Oliver Turvey - Simon Dolan / Jota Sport Team / Zytek Nissan LMP2 17 / 04 / 2013 Motul.Sport.News 16 ENGLISH VERSION Motul.Sport.News 16 FIA World Endurance Championship / Silverstone Round 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 Bornhauser - Canal - Rees / Larbre Compétition Team / Corvette C6.R LMGTE Am For Larbre and Greaves, the season opens with a podium The inaugural race of the FIA World Endurance Cham- Rees was speeding flat out in his Corvette C6.R to push pionship was held on 14 April on the Siliverstone cir- ahead. Following a collision between the two vehicles, cuit. This 6 hour event took place in dry weather apart the Ferrari was forced to undergo a brief repair, leaving from a short shower. In LMP1, Audi imposed its pace a clear field for the Corvette a few minutes before the by clinching the first two places, ahead of two hybrid arrival. Toyotas. Motul was present through the teams it sup- The second round of this endurance championship will ports technically. So, in LMP2, the Zytek of Greaves take place on 4 May, at the legendary Spa-Francor- Motorsport, driven by Dyson, Marsal and Kimber-Smith champs circuit. did magnificently well in a several-lap duel with the Morgan driven by Plowmann, finally climbing the third Results LMP2 step of the podium. 01 / Graves/Pizzonia/Walker, ADR Delta In GTE Am, the win was secured by Aston Martin, the 02 / Pla/Heinemeier/Brundle, OAK Racing brand being particularly motivated by the hundredth anniversary it is celebrating this year. But Larbre Com- 03 / Dyson/Marsal/Kimber-Smith, G. Motorsport pétition, the title holder receiving Motul’s technical as- Results LMGTE Am sistance, bagged a splendid 2nd place, snatched at 01 / Turner/Mücke/Senna, Aston Martin Racing the very end of the race: in the last laps of the race, 02 / Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy, Larbre Compétition Rui Aguas, at the wheel of 8-Star Motosport’s Ferrari Italia, held 2nd place in the standings, but Fernando 03 / Potolicchio, Aguas, Peter, 8-Star Motosport News and videos also available on: www.youtube.com/motul www.facebook.com/motul Motul.Sport.News 16 European Le Mans Series / Silverstone Round 01 02 03 04 05 Jota Sport & TDS Racing Jota Sport winner in diluvian rain! The various endurance championships have seen their car entered the track but which had to effect its driver content change: this year, the European Le Mans Series change shortly after. The team deserves credit because comprises three five-hour events, instead of the previous the same weekend it also raced in the Blancpain Endu- six. The arrival of a new category is also to be noted: rance Series, in Monza, where it also clinched a podium! GTCs, which correspond to the GTs of GT3 class. Last, Motul also supported team Imsa Performance which, in three rounds are being organised simultaneously with LM GTE, finished 6th while, in LMPC, the duo Pons / Ayari the World Series by Renault. (Team Endurance Challenge) won the category. As for the FIA World Endurance Championship, the The participants will meet again on 17 May at the Imola Silverstone circuit hosted on 13 April the first event of circuit, for the second round of the season. the season, marked by most unfavourable weather. The rain was so violent that the race had to be stopped when Results LMP2 75% completed. Such conditions obviously made all 01 / Dolan/Turvey, Jota Sport the drivers suffer, aquaplaning causing many spins and 02 / Frey/Nederhauser, Race Performance off-track excursions. 03 / Thiriet/Hirschi, Thiriet by TDS Racing The Zytek-Nissan of Jota Sport, supported by Motul, clinched pole position and, quite logically, crossed the Results LM GTE chequered flag first, driven by Dolan and Turvey. ‘It’s encouraging to start the season with a win,’ commented 01 / Ried/Roda/Tandy, Proton Competition Sam Hignett, team manager. ‘The drivers did a superb 02 / Mowlem/Griffin, RAM Racing job, Oliver [Turvey] was superb in the qualifyings and 03 / Jeanette/Montecalvo, RAM Racing Simon [Dolan] manoeuvred with brio in dreadful condi- 06 / Milesi/Henzler, Imsa Performance tions. Of course we would have preferred to win the race without it being interrupted, but in any case we had the Results LMPC pace to win it.’ 01 / Pons/Ayari, Team Endurance Challenge In 3rd position of the LMP2s, we find the title holder, Thiriet by TDS Racing, which was in the lead when the safety 02 / Loup Chatin/Hirsch, Team End. Challenge News and videos also available on: www.youtube.com/motul www.facebook.com/motul Motul.Sport.News 16 Blancpain Endurance Series / Monza Round 01 02 03 04 05 06 Hassid - Badey / TDS Racing / BMW Z4 GT3 Podium ceremony / Kessel Racing Kessel takes the win ahead of 60 flat out GTs The weekend of 13 and 14 April brought a spectacu- participating in the Silverstone Three Hours the same lar start to the endurance season, with no less than weekend. three events including two at Silverstone (FIA WEC The Gentleman Drivers category, which is experiencing and ELMS) and one in Monza, as part of the Blanc- increasing success, saw an entirely Ferrari podium, to pain Endurances Series, reserved for GTs. The plentiful the great joy of the Tifosi! On the second step, Kessel starting grid of 60 contenders confirmed the success Racing was to be seen again with a car driven by Garo- of this series where the races last three hours. Motul fano, Caccia and Bontempelli: a fine weekend for the took part in this Italian weekend by providing its techni- Swiss team. cal support to several teams including that which clin- The next meet of the Blancpain Series is scheduled on ched the win in the overall standings, Kessel Racing! 1 and 2 June in Silverstone. The car driven by Ramos, Rigon and Zampieri took the Results Pro-Cup lead in the last hour of the race and stayed there all the 01 / Ramos/Rigon/Zampieri, Kessel Racing way through to the arrival. ‘We’re really pleased,’ said 02 / Leclerc/Parisy/Soucek, ART Grand Prix Davide Rigon at the arrival. ‘We didn’t make any mis- takes, which wasn’t easy owing to the number of cars 03 / Caroll/Verdonck/Bell, Gulf Racing on the track. The team did a fantastic job during the pit Results Pro-Am stops.’ Among the favourites, there was another team 01 / Hommerson/Machiels/Bertolini, AF Corse supported by Motul, Hexis Racing, which unfortunately 02 / Hassid/Badey, Thiriet by TDS Racing suffered from a McLaren MP4-12C not making the most of its power potential, an extremely frustrating situation 03 / Hummel/Jans/Christodoulou, Black Falcon for this dynamic team. Results Gentlemen Trophy In Pro-Am, Henry Hassid and Ludovic Badey brought 01 / Blanchemain/Beaubelique/Goueslard, SOFREV the BMW Z4 of Thiriet by TDS Racing to 2nd place, an unhoped-for result for the first participation of the team 02 / Garofano/Caccia/Bontempelli, Kessel Racing in the Blancpain Endurance Series, especially as it was 03 / Barreiros/Guedes, AF Corse News and videos also available on: www.youtube.com/motul www.facebook.com/motul Motul.Sport.News 16 FIM World Superbike Championship / Aragon Round 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 Carlos Checa / Ducati SBK Alstare / Ducati Panigale 1199 R Checa and Badovini in the top ten The second round of the World Superbike Cham- and finish at the foot of the podium, in 4th position. pionship was held on 13 and 14 April on the Aragon His team-mate, Romain Lanusse did a steady race, circuit, Spain, and the two races took place in bright bagging 6th place. sunshine. Motul was the technical partner of Ducati The next event of this championship is scheduled in a Alstare, which entered two Panigale 1199s for Carlos fortnight in Assen, on 28 April. Checa and Ayrton Badovini. As they experienced some difficulties in tuning their motorcycle, the final result in the top ten is a fine performance: Checa came 7th and WSBK Standings 8th in the two races, and his team-mate secured 10th 01 / Sylvain Guintoli, Aprilia – 85 pts place each time. 02 / Chaz Davies, BMW – 63 pts For Francis Batta, owner of Ducati Alstare, ‘The impor- tant thing is that the riders were able to finish the two 03 / Eugene Laverty, Aprilia – 45 pts races. We collected a lot of information and that’s most 13 / Carlos Checa, Ducati Alstare – 17 pts important. I’m certain that if we continue to work with 15 / Ayrton Badovini, Ducati Alstare – 12 pts regularity and steadfastly, we’ll make progress. Ducati Superstock 1000 Standings has vast experience and knows how to work.’ Checa also remained optimistic, stating ‘We’re working well 01 / Sylvain Barrier, BMW – 25 pts and understand in what direction we must head.’ 02 / Niccolo Canepa, Ducati – 20 pts Motul also supported a team in Superstock 1000, Mo- 03 / Leandro Mercado, Kawasaki – 16 pts rillas Racing School. Jeremy Guarnoni got off to a fairly 04 / Jérémy Guarnoni, Kawasaki – 13 pts good start but a mistake relegated him to 10th place and he had to battle it out to pass several contenders 06 / Romain Lanusse, Kawasaki – 10 pts News and videos also available on: www.youtube.com/motul www.facebook.com/motul Motul.Sport.News 16 USA Great Northern Snocross / Eagle River Round 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 3RD 2013 MOTUL TITLE 4TH 2013 MOTUL TITLE Jake Angove / Fort Fremont Racing / Polaris IQR 600 cc Fort Fremont Racing podiums in all the classes Fort Fremont Racing, based in the Canadian Wis- The Fort Fremont team bagged particularly good re- consin, is a team that is a steadfast participant in the sults at the end of this season, by podiuming in the five snocross championship in North America.