Beiqi Foton, ever heard this name? That is the name of the largest manufacturer of trucks in China. Now there is news in wheelsunplugged.com that Beiqi Foton has decided to enter the Indian truck market, a decision that is completely unsurprising. China may be the biggest car market but projections are that by 2020 India will become one of the two biggest truck markets in the world, if not the biggest. That is the reason why many players including Daimler AG want to be in India and fight for the biggest piece of the pie called the truck market.
Yearly Archives: 2011
The not so likeable Lorenzo of Yamaha has a history of going well at Estoril winning there from his debut season 2008 onwards. Lorenzo is confident that this year too he will go well at Estoril and win the race and keep his record there intact. He will get support mainly from Yamaha teams and fan boys of Yamaha. Most others will most likely want Rossi to win. Casey Stoner is not so popular either and his outburst at track side marshalls and sarcastic remarks to Rossi when the latter went to apologize to him after the race are not likely to have endeared him to MotoGP fans. He will be cheered if he falls and booed if he wins, just like in the past.
Suzuki’s single bike team rider Alvaro Bautista broke a leg in the second GP of the season and has been sitting out on the side lines when in the last race, John Hopkins substituted for him. Hopkins rode to a solid 10th place. Hopkins is now unavailable as he is now racing in British Superbikes. Bautista wants to be back on the bike for Estoril but he has to pass a fitness test before he can do so. In case of his failing the test, his place will be taken by long time Suzuki test rider, Nobuatso Aoki.
The only time thus far this season when Rossi looked as if he could win was at the wet race at Jerez which saw him crash and take Stoner along with him while doing so. Ironically Rossi was able to remount and comeback through the field and take a fifth place while Stoner could not resume because of his engine not firing again. However, Rossi has clarified that he is very clear that he does not want a wet race at Estoril and that they want to develop the Ducati to win races in the dry. Ducati has been testing a heavily modified chassis but may not introduce it at Estoril leaving it for the race after that.
Team Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli who is contracted to Honda and therefore gets a works spec bike this year was leading the last race at Jerez in the wet before he crashed out. His team manager Fausto Gresini and Super Sic (as he is called these days) believe that this year could see Simoncelli winning races for Honda. They believe that his leading the race at Jerez had nothing to do with the wet track while his crash did. Let us see how Simoncelli goes this weekend in Estoril.
Casey Stoner wants to put the incident with Valentino Rossi, which saw him being taken out of the race, in the back and look forward to a win at Estoril so that he can catch up with points leader Jorge Lorenzo. Through out pre-season testing and in the first couple of races, Casey Stoner on the Repsol Honda has been the man to beat. He is hoping to break the jinx on Honda, which has not won a title yet in 800cc MotoGP, by winning the title with them in the last season of 800cc racing with new 1000cc regulations set to take effect next year.
This weekend will see MotoGP racing back in action after a long lay off at Estoril in Portugal. In the interregnum Dani Pedrosa underwent surgery to rectify an arm pump problem that was impeding the circulation of blood to his arm in the middle of the race. This has seen him start race very strongly but fade away towards the end. He now is eager to see if the surgery has set the problem right and hopes to race full speed throughout the race and take victory.
In what seems to be a clear message that it wants to continue hosting the MotoGP races, Indianapolis has decided to repave the circuit. Indianapolis has a contract with organisers Dorna for this year and the contract will come up for renewal then. The other circuit in America is Laguna Seca which has a contract till 2012. It has been reported already that Dorna has signed a 10 year deal starting 2013 with the Circuit of Americas, Austin, Texas. This led to thinking about a possibility of the axe for either Indianapolis or Laguna Seca. There has been speculation that America could have three GPs. However, news emerging out of Austin is that a $25 million guarantee for the races to have been written by the local government has fallen apart and that his could mean that the MotoGP race at Austin could be a non-starter. Let us wait and see which way this murky thing goes.
Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing has been sensational so far in the season with three out of three pole positions, the first two also translating into wins while the third one became a second position. Now his team Chief Christian Horner has said that with innovations such as the kers and the moveable rearwing having become important in the race, pole position does not retain the same kind of importance that it did when overtaking was next to impossible.
Mercedes Benz has said that the pace of its cars in the last F1 race was genuine and that they can now be considered a front running team. Nico Rosberg at one time in the race was in the lead and looked like he would win the race, but there were problems of fuel consumption which led him to back off and therefore lose out on not just an opportunity for a win but also for a podium finish. Norbert Haug the Sports Director of Mercedes has said that he does not mind if there is some sacrifice in the area of fuel consumption as long as the engine has greater power. Peculiar situation this, since Mclaren which also uses Mercedes Benz engines did not have this problem.