Infront Motor Sports, organizers of the World Superbike series, have announced the official test dates for the 2012 WSBK season. As part of the cost-cutting initiatives which are now a ubiquitous part of motorcycle racing, testing for the WSBK series has been linked to races, rather than at separate tests, with the aim of reducing travel and transport expenses.
The first test is the traditional pre-season test at Phillip Island, taking place on the Monday and Tuesday before the 2012 season season opener at the Australian circuit. The following test is at Imola, on the Monday after the race at the legendary Italian track at the beginning of April. The Spanish WSBK round at the Motorland Aragon circuit in July also features a test on the Monday after the race, while the teams will get a one-day test - in effect, an extra day of practice - ahead of the inaugural Russian round of World Superbikes at the Moscow Raceway being built just outside the Russian capital.
Below is the press release from Infront announcing the test dates:
SBK official 2012 tests dates announced
Reiner Bratenstein Hans Braumandl Dieter Braun Georg Braun Walter Brehme Jack Brett Norick Abe Hubert Abold
Filed under: Motorsports, Motorcycle, Rumormill
Valentino Rossi, certainly the greatest motorcycle racer of our generation, has no concrete plans to leave MotoGP. In fact, after an extremely disappointing first season with Ducati in 2011, we’d wager he’ll be sticking around for at least a few more years to prove he’s still got what it takes to win at the highest level when competing on competitive machinery.
But, as we’ve heard in the past, Rossi would love nothing more than to “retire” by taking a break from two-wheeled competition and settling into something with four. And while we know The Doctor has proven quite adept at piloting a Ferrari Formula One machine, the likeable Italian apparently prefers to rally. In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Rossi said:
I’m happy, it was one of my best rallies, even if I had won it the past. Getting ahead of Loeb in two specials really turned me on… I’ll do a few more years in MotoGP, then I’d race in rallies: these machines are really fun to drive because they have less electronics.
A future career in rally racing wouldn’t be a stretch for Rossi – the motorcycle racer finished in second place in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, a mere 24 seconds behind eight-time world champion Sebastien Loeb’s Citroen DS3.
*UPDATE: Video of Rossi’s rally exploits added after the break.
Continue reading Valentino Rossi hopes for future in rally racing [UPDATE: w/video]
Valentino Rossi hopes for future in rally racing [UPDATE: w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/l7F0IpKbE1g/Valentino+Rossi+hopes+future+rally+racing
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Fresh off the back of three days testing at Jerez, the factory BMW team topped the timesheets of the first day of the combined Aprilia, BMW and Suzuki test at the Portimao test. Leon Haslam led his teammate Marco Melandri, the Englishman posting a time of 1'43.6, a tenth quicker than Melandri, but a long way off Max Biaggi's lap record, the track conditions far from ideal despite warm and sunny weather. The factory BMW team continued the work on the new generation of electronics to be used for the coming season - though the provenance of the electronics remains mysterious, with rumors of the team running both Magneti Marelli and Pi systems, while BMW insists that the systems are BMW electronics. The mechanics were also given plenty of work to do, Marco Melandri writing off his S1000RR in a massive crash at the end of the day.
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Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/DdfWBe-a9j6/Tribute+To+Simoncelli+Reviews
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Source: http://www.motorsportforums.com/chitchat/149677-bloody-bbc.html
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