Rosberg quickest as Mercedes shows its hand on day two - MotorSportsTalk

Nico Rosberg has sent out a warning shot to the rest of the F1 field by topping the second day of the final pre-season test in Barcelona.

The Mercedes driver posted a fastest lap time of 1:22.792 on the soft tire, smashing Felipe Massa’s best effort on the same tire on Thursday by seven-tenths of a second.

The defending world champions had been yet to finish fastest on a single day of testing in pre-season, with the team instead opting to focus on reliability after a number of problems with its old car.

However, Rosberg produced a sensational lap to finish 1.2 seconds clear of Valtteri Bottas at the top of the timesheets, making clear that Mercedes is still a long way in front in 2015.

Rosberg’s day was all the more fruitful as he completed over 100 laps for Mercedes, making up for the MGU-K failure that had sidelined Lewis Hamilton on Thursday. The Briton will return to the car on Saturday before handing the reins back over to Rosberg on Sunday.

Despite finishing 1.2 seconds down on Rosberg, Bottas put in another solid, trouble-free day for Williams as the British team looks to establish itself as the best of the rest in 2015. The Finn edged out Felipe Nasr by just 0.076 seconds for P2 on the timesheets as Sauber showed signs of its early testing pace once again in Barcelona.

Having introduced a number of new parts of the final test this week, mileage was the main aim for the drivers on Friday. Sebastian Vettel put Ferrari’s upgrades through their paces, finishing fourth with 142 laps to his name. Pastor Maldonado and Max Verstappen also managed over 130 laps, although the latter’s day was cut short by an electrical issue.

Jenson Button’s testing misery came to an end in Barcelona on Friday as McLaren enjoyed its most successful day of the winter. The Briton racked up exactly 100 laps en route to fifth in the final standings, but his day was cut short when the McLaren MP4-30 came to a halt with 20 minutes remaining in the day. Nevertheless, it was a good performance by the team as it continues to get to grips with the new Honda engine.

Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat also hit trouble across the course of the day, encountering two problems on his car on Thursday with one warranting a red flag in the afternoon. The Russian managed just 77 laps in total, leaving him eighth in the final standings.

The real surprise of the day came from Force India. After a winter of uncertainty and speculation, the team finally rolled out its new car for 2015, the VJM08, just before lunch on Thursday.

In spite of a puncture on its very first lap, the car was untroubled for the rest of the day as Nico Hulkenberg completed an impressive 73 laps. The team is still a long way behind the other teams given that its car debuted some 26 days late, but the initial signs are positive with the VJM08.

At the front though, it is Rosberg and Mercedes who remain top dogs in 2015. For all of the talk about a possible tilt for the title by Williams, Ferrari and Red Bull, it is clear that the Silver Arrows were simply biding their time.

After today, there can be little doubt that Mercedes is the team to beat, and it will be hoping to make this loud and clear to the rest of the field in the final two days of testing in Barcelona.

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Jett Lawrence remains perfect in the Pro Motocross series after recording another perfect round at Hangtown in Rancho Cordova, California. In his second start on a 450, Lawrence won his second National with his fourth consecutive moto win. It is getting increasingly difficult to find the right superlatives to describe the exploits on the reigning 250 West Supercross champion.

“The track was so brutal out there,” Lawrence told NBC Sports Jason Thomas. “The bike handles amazing even when it’s not too friendly. You had to be really patient; you couldn’t take too much. I didn’t eat enough before that second moto. I kind of lost energy halfway through, but luckily I could use technique and balance and just keep that flow going.”

Lawrence leaves Hangtown with an 18-point advantage over Ferrandis in the 450 Motocross standings, but perhaps more importantly, he climbed to 19th in the SuperMotocross standings and should he stay there, he has an automatic invitation to the Main events in the SMX Championship.

“On this track, you just have to manage,” Lawrence continued. “If you try to take too much and not respect the track, it will bite you very quickly. It was humbling on the first few laps. I got kicked on the cutout at the start of the third section, the tabletop going to the left. I had to get my focus because the boys were coming.”

Still in his first few races since returning from a concussion suffered at Houston in the Supercross series, Dylan Ferrandis finished second with results of third in Moto 1 and second in Moto 2. While Ferrandis was happy with the result, he remains hopeful that he will contend for victory shortly.

“The first moto was very hard for my physically, Ferrandis said. “I got arm pump and when you get arm pump your body gets tired. But I’m very happy because we made a big change for the second moto. We tried stuff every session today and in the last moto the bike was much better, but unfortunately I wasn’t sure what I could do with this bike because the track was very hard and difficult to pass.”

RESULTS: How they finished in the 450 Overall at Hangtown

With the rash of injuries at the end of the Supercross season, the podium was filled with heartwarming stories. Cooper Webb returned to action last week in Pala and failed to make the podium. He is steadily improving with a third-place finish in Hangtown. after finishing with a 4-2.

“It’s incredible what seven days can do,” Webb said. “Last week I felt like I was going to get lapped in the second moto. This week, I could see the leader. It was nice. I fought hard, learned how to suffer again there and that felt nice.

Moto 2 wasn’t pretty for Lawrence. On several occasions in the opening laps, he nearly high sided as he rode the front wheel through the ruts. The reward was worth the risk. By the halfway point, Lawrence had 4.5-second lead over Webb, who was embroiled in a tight three-rider battle for second with his teammate Aaron Plessinger pressuring him and Ferrandis ready to take advantage if those made contact.

It took 20 minutes for Plessinger to get around Webb and once he did, he trailed Lawrence by four seconds. But then, with three minutes remaining, Plessinger crashed and had difficulty restarting the bike, handing second back to Webb who has seven seconds behind Lawrence. Plessinger fell to fourth with results of third and sixth.

Adam Cianciarulo rounded out the top five with a 5-4.

Heartbreak for Aaron Plessinger as he was charging forward 💔#ProMotocross #SuperMotocross #HangtownMX pic.twitter.com/vQtKIsuhVg

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) June 4, 2023

Last week Hunter Lawrence won the overall with a 3-1. He repeated that feat in Hangtown in an exact replica of his Fox Raceway results last week. In Moto 1, Lawrence got off to a slow start and lost 10 seconds in the opening laps. Forced to overcome a sixth-place position in the race at the end of Lap 1, he once again caught the riders ahead of him when the field hit heavy traffic. For the second week, scored another 3-1 for the Hangtown National win.

“The start was crucial’ I knew I had to go,” Lawrence told NBC Sports’ Jason Thomas. “They laid a lot of water down, so I didn’t want to be behind any longer than [I was]. First hot one of the year, was a bit of a wakeup call, so I’m happy to get out of here safe and healthy.”

Lawrence’s third-place finish in Moto 1 featured a fierce battle for final spot on the podium when he caught Spain’s Guillem Farres and France’s Tom Vialle. With Lawrence hailing from Australia, the international nature of the sport was highlighted.

Lawrence left Hangtown with a 10-point advantage over Haiden Deegan in the Pro Motocross championship battle.

Click here for 250 overall results

Justin Cooper finished second in both motos to finish second overall. Hangtown represented a huge improvement from Fox Raceway where he finished fifth overall with a 5-4 finish in the two motos. Cooper pressured Haiden Deegan in the second half of Moto 1 and he earned the holeshot in the second moto and stayed within three seconds of Lawrence in that race.

“He was following me a little bit, checking out my lines, seeing where he was better,” Cooper said. “It’s disappointing to give up the lead like that but it was way better than last weekend. I will definitely take two seconds. I want to be on the top of the step. I feel like I get close to the top step but I never get it done. That’s building up the frustration – the fire. I really want to get one of these wins, so it’s time to start digging.”

Haiden Deegan earned the first holeshot of his career in Moto 1 and rode away from the field, building a four-second lead in the opening laps. Cooper trimmed the lead at the halfway point and for a while it leveled off at two seconds. Then Cooper made another charge with three to go and closed to within a second. Deegan was biding his time, however.

“I was saving a little. I knew at the end Justin was going to try and put a charge on. I let him get up close and then sent it super hard at the end to break him a little at the end.”

Deegan’s first moto win comes in only his fourth National and he remains perfect in regard to podiums this year.

“This was a dream since I was a little kid, to win,” Deegan said. “And in my fourth race, it’s gnarly. I was just sending it. I was getting a little tired at the end becasue I left my mouth open the whole time. It’s unreal; I’m so hyped. I wanted to win bad and I proved it to you guys.”

Chaos erupted in turn 1 in Moto 2 Jeremy Martin went and another rider ran over his arm. Michael Mosiman crashed further down the track on that same lap. Both riders were helped off course by the Alpinestars Medical team.

Deegan grabs his first 250 Mx moto win!1️⃣#ProMotocross #SuperMotocross #HangtownMX pic.twitter.com/1FH5s1ZHfn

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) June 3, 2023