Motorsports: Marquez fastest in rain-hit Japanese MotoGP practice

Six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez topped a tricky second practice on Saturday for the Japanese Grand Prix as a typhoon brought heavy rain.

The Spanish great has only recently returned from a long injury absence but he showed all his experience to master the conditions at Motegi for a leading time of one minute and 55.232 seconds on his Honda.

That was ahead of Ducati riders Jorge Martin, also from Spain, and Jack Miller.

Australia's Miller topped a mostly dry first practice on Friday and still holds the fastest lap, 1:44.509, so far.

The forecasted rain duly arrived on Saturday, when there is qualifying scheduled for later in the day, and the trio of title contenders had to settle for places further down the timesheets.

World champion and current leader Fabio Quartararo was 10th on his Yamaha in the wet second practice, a place ahead of Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro.

Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia, who has closed Quartararo's championship lead to 10 points with fives races left, was 15th.

The Italian was second-fastest on Friday in the dry.

The wild weather is forecast to dump heavy rain on the Motegi area on Saturday but should clear up for Sunday's race.

Japan is hosting its first MotoGP since 2019 because of the pandemic.

Leading times from the first two practice sessions for the Japanese Grand Prix:

1. Jack Miller (AUS/Ducati) 1min 44.509sec, 2. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati) at 0.028sec, 3. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha) 0.049, 4. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) 0.068, 5. Luca Marini (ITA/Ducati-VR46) 0.136, 6. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 0.147, 7. Pol Espargaro (ESP/Honda) 0.169, 8. Brad Binder (AFS/KTM) 0.226, 9. Miguel Oliveira (POR/KTM) 0.234, 10. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Aprilia) 0.288

Agence France-Presse

Motorsports: Alonso teases 'big news' with coded Twitter message

Double Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso hinted at an imminent 'big news' announcement in a teasing Twitter message posted in code on Wednesday to the Alpine driver's 2.8 million followers.

"BTV vras nduvrg ddwa. Eno iw giadt gby awa, Q’z xwptbvrg ewqf mn ndlr!!!!," wrote the Spaniard ahead of this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

The apparent gibberish was quickly decoded by online sleuths using the Vigenere cypher, a method of encrypting alphabetic text, with 'Alpine' as the key word.

The decoded tweet read: "BIG news coming soon. And to tease you all, I’m tweeting this in code!!!!"

Alonso's French team mate Esteban Ocon, the surprise winner in Hungary in the last race before the August break, joined in the fun.

"I mtb lsu pkmecoyt evpl hdzx sue lpnx yzj’zr enydcagiyv agvatvpg ewln," he replied, translated as "I bet you everyone will work out what you’re announcing straight away."

Alonso replied with the comment: "Lpi’a fie, wtb’f wep. Iprc’vp vwg 24 lofga gs wzgs vx ofi! (Let’s see, let’s see. They’ve got 24 hours to work it out!)

Alonso, 40, is expected to stay with Alpine next season after making a comeback in 2021 following two years out of Formula One.

Alpine boss Laurent Rossi revealed last month that the Spaniard's existing deal was a 'one plus one' -- 2021 plus an option the team can take up for 2022 -- and left little doubt he would be staying.

"He is as fast as ever. He is certainly extracting the most out of the car," Rossi told the BBC.

"The car is not incredibly fast and he still manages to get some super-hot laps and qualify the car very well. So far, so good." (Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Clare Fallon)

-reuters-

Vettel ends Mercedes streak with Ferrari pole

SOCHI, Russia - Formula One frontrunner Sebastian Vettel stunned Mercedes to take Ferrari's first pole position since 2015 on Saturday with team mate Kimi Raikkonen completing a front row lockout at the Russian Grand Prix.

The pole, Vettel's 47th, ended a run of 18 in a row for once-dominant world champions Mercedes, who had Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton right behind the two red cars in third and fourth places.

The German, a four-times world champion with Red Bull, has won two of the first three races and leads triple champion Hamilton by seven points in the championship.

As a measure of Ferrari's achievement in breaking the Mercedes stranglehold and returning to form, the pole was only the Italian team's sixth since 2008.

It was also Ferrari's first front row sweep since Brazilian Felipe Massa, now with Williams, and Raikkonen qualified first and second at the French Grand Prix -- a race no longer on the calendar -- in June 2008.

Statisticians would have to thumb back to the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix, 31 races ago, to find the last time Mercedes had no car on the front row.

"The first run was not really tidy, so I left it to the end, and I improved some time in the last sector," said Vettel, who had to wait before confirmation came over the radio that Mercedes were beaten.

"I immediately opened the radio 'tell me about the others, tell me about the others!'," he said. "When I got the message we got it I was over the moon. The car was phenomenal this afternoon."

Bottas was fastest in the first two phases of qualifying, with the choice of tyres coming into play, and those who had suspected the champions were hiding their pace in practice appeared to be justified.

But that too was a false dawn, with glum looks and shaking heads in the Mercedes garage as the reality of the situation emerged.

"I just wasn't quick enough today, it was all in the last sector... so there's some work to do," said Hamilton, who had racked up six poles in a row before Bottas took his career first in Bahrain two weeks ago.

"Ferrari are quickest in qualifying and generally in race trim, so it will be interesting to see where we stand tomorrow," added the Briton.

Bottas, who has yet to win a grand prix and joined from Williams in January, recognised Mercedes had expected far more from a circuit where they have led every lap since the race first appeared on the calendar in 2014.

"For sure they have a very good car and we are struggling to compete with them," he said of Ferrari.

"Personally, and as a team, coming into this weekend probably we were thinking that it's going to be better than Bahrain. So far it's turned out to be not so good and Ferrari seems to be doing something better here than us.

"So for sure it's disappointing for us not to be on pole," added the Finn.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo qualified fifth with Massa sixth and between the two Red Bulls with Max Verstappen behind in seventh.

Renault, who have struggled to score points, again had a car in the top 10 on the grid with Germany's Nico Hulkenberg qualifying eighth.

Hulkenberg's British team mate Jolyon Palmer compounded a miserable day, after an overnight chassis change and then a replacement engine, by crashing out of the first phase.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Rosberg wins, Hamilton third in Japan

SUZAKA, Japan -- Nico Rosberg romped to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday to extend his lead over world champion Lewis Hamilton in the Formula One title race.

The German claimed his first Suzuka win from pole as Hamilton took third after a dreadful start, Rosberg stretching his lead over his Mercedes rival to 33 points with just four races left this season.

"Woooooooh!" cried Rosberg over team radio after a fourth triumph in five races since the summer break and his ninth of 2016.

"Thanks a lot, guys. An Amazing weekend and congrats on winning the constructors (championship)," he added after he and Hamilton secured a third successive team title.

"It's 33 points, but I'm not focused on that. There's still a long way to go so I'm just keeping my head down."

Red Bull's Max Verstappen held off a furious challenge from Hamilton in the final few laps to take second after also finishing runner-up in Malaysia last weekend.

The Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth and fifth after both turned the air blue over radio, complaining about back markers.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, who inherited victory in Malaysia after Hamilton's engine caught fire, took sixth ahead of the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg.

Hamilton, who has now failed to win since Hockenheim at end of July, almost fought back to take second as he tried to duck around Verstappen coming into the chicane on the last lap.

But the Dutch teenager blocked off the inside, forcing the Mercedes to lock up and skid into an escape road.

Rosberg, whose Finnish father Keke won the 1982 Formula One title, failed to convert pole position into victory in Japan the past two years, both times losing out to Hamilton.

But he got away cleanly this time, while Hamilton fell to eighth, radioing to the pits: "Sorry, guys."

"No stress, Lewis," came the reply before Hamilton began a rousing charge through the field to make up places.

Hamilton, who had hinted at sabotage from within his Mercedes team after his third power unit failure of the year last week in Malaysia, cut a forlorn figure on the podium, the 100th of his career.

"I did the best I could with where I was in the race," he said.

"I'll give it everything I've got (for the rest of the season), and we'll see what happens. Nico did a great job, so congrats to him."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Rosberg leads Hamilton in opening practice at Suzuka

SUZUKA, Japan - World championship leader Nico Rosberg set the pace ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes dominated Friday's opening session of practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.

The German set the lead with one minute, 32.431 seconds, 0.215 seconds quicker than Hamilton, on a pleasant and sunny morning at the Suzuka circuit.

The Mercedes pair were a second clear of the Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen who were third and fourth-fastest, respectively.

Vettel heads into the weekend carrying a three-place grid penalty for tipping Rosberg into a spin at the start of the last race in Malaysia.

Rosberg extended his lead over Hamilton to 23 points in the overall standings after the Briton was forced to retire from a comfortable lead in the Sepang race 16 laps from the finish.

As a result, Hamilton heads into Sunday's Japanese round desperately needing to revive his flagging title hopes with just five races remaining by clinching a third successive win at the Suzuka circuit.

Daniel Ricciardo, who inherited the win from Hamilton following his retirement in Malaysia was fifth fastest.

Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen, who claimed second behind the Australian to secure the team's first one-two finish since the 2013 season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix, was sixth.

Force India, locked in a battle for fourth in the overall team standings with Williams, showed a strong initial turn of speed.

German Nico Hulkenberg was seventh-fastest for the Silverstone-based squad, ahead of Mexican team-mate Sergio Perez, who trialled the 'halo' cockpit protection device.

Fernando Alonso, hoping to impress on home soil for Honda, his McLaren team's engine supplier, was ninth.

The Spaniard survived an early collision with the barriers when his car snapped out of control on the entry to the fast Spoon corner and slid backwards into the tyre wall lining the track.

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Get to know more about Fil-British racer Alex Brown

MANILA -- Filipino-British karting sensation Alex Brown has steadily been making a name for himself in the Southeast Asian motorsports world.

Already with a handful of wins under his belt at just 11 years of age, the future is looking mighty bright for the young speedster, who found his way into the sport through arcade games.

We first met Alex back in December of 2014, when he was fresh off a defense of his Cadet crown in the Singapore Karting Championships. You can check out our exclusive interview HERE.

Just recently, Alex flew into Manila, and he was able to join TJ Manotoc on an episode of ABS-CBN Sports+Action's The Score!

Watch the interview!

This story was originally published on the ABS-CBN Sports website.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com