What a great weekend of racing. Here follows a quick recap of all of the action on 2-and 4 wheels from around the world.
Round 15 of 19 in Formula One, at Sochi, Russia:
Though Nico Rosberg qualified on pole and held an early lead over his team mate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton, the German’s title hopes evaporated as did the throttle response onboard his Mercedes F1 car. Lewis Hamilton sailed to the finish and confirmed Mercedes as 2015 F1 constructor’s champion, when Raikkonen was demoted after the race. With the win, Lewis further tightens his grip on the driver’s championship.
After a pretty bad looking accident during the 3rd practice on Saturday before qualifying that landed the Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr. in the hospital, he managed to bounce back and start the race from P20. And though most were pulling for a storybook ending, fading brakes put a halt to his race with just 20 laps to go and in that same corner -13 – in which he crashed on Saturday.
Sergio Pérez fought off a hard charging Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen but as his tires were completely shot with just 1 lap to go, Valtteri and Kimi passed him. However, on the last lap Kimi tried, what he himself called a “not completely stupid” move, that caused Valtteri to spin out of the race. Kimi was hit with 30 second post race penalty by race stewards and was dropped to 8th place. Kimi’s do-or-die move meant that Sergio would finish in P3 and on the podium for Force India!
Race top 5: 1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes ; 2. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari ; 3. Sergio Pérez MEX Force India-Mercedes ; 4. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Williams ; Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault.
The next race will be stateside at the Circuit of the Americas, Texas, on Sunday, 25 October 2015. For more info, click here.
In World Endurance Championship racing, from Fuji, Japan:
It seems that was one big cloud of rain over Honshu for it affected both FIA’s World Endurance Championship and the MotoGP race. The 6 Hours of Fuji started behind the safety car for track conditions were tricky at best, as there were streams running across the track. After 38 minutes the field was set loose and racing began in what would become the most dramatic race so far this season. Only in the first lap there was some great action. Alex Wurz and Romain Dumas had a coming together in what could be described as synchronized spinning.
Some 52,000 race fans saw a pretty good battle between Mark Webber (Porsche) and Marcel Fässler (Audi) in the second hour. The #7 Audi lost out on the chance to challenge the leading Porsche’s as a tyre gamble didn’t pan out. In the end, Porsche’s #18 driven by Neel Jani was asked to let championship leader and team mate Timo Bernhard through so they could secure the maximum points. Dr. Wolfgang Ulrich’s Audi did their best but will have to wait until 2016 for a winning chance.
Race results: LMP1: P1 Porsche Team #17 ; P2 Porsche Team #18 ; P3 Audi Sport #7. LMP2: P1 G-Drive Ligier-Nissan ; P2 Signatech Alpine Nissan ; P3 G-Drive / LMGT Pro: P1 AF Corse #51 ; P2 Porsche Team Manthey #92 ; P3 AF Corse #72 / LMGT AM ; P1 Proton Dempsey Porsche ; P2 Aston Martin Racing Vantage ; P3 AF Corse Ferrari.
I’ve never been a fan of actor/driver Patrick Dempsey until I saw his performance at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. So, hard work and perseverance does pay off as he and his team mates all had excellent stints and won their maiden victory in WEC. Congrats!!
To watch the race’s highlights, click here.
In MotoGP, from Montegi, Japan:
Starting on a wet track, pole man Jorge Lorenzo took the early lead while Valentino Rossi could do nothing to prevent his title rival from pulling away. And though the Italian is considered a master in the rain, Lorenzo was keen on opening a big gap. But around the midpoint of the race, his front tyres started to fade as he was riding on the drying line. About the same time 4th place rider Dani Pedrosa started to reel in the front runners. First he passed Andrea Dovizioso on lap 12, and then Rossi on lap 16. At the time Pedrosa was lapping a whopping 0.7 seconds faster. On lap 18 it was Lorenzo’s turn and to add insult to injury, he was also passed by Rossi on lap 20 (to watch a 24 sec clip, click here). Obviously, due to the poor track conditions, the race was not as exciting as usual. However, Rossi did extend his lead in the championship to 18 points over his team mate Lorenzo. The next race will be Pramac Australian Motorcyle GP at Phillip Island on October 18 next.
Race’s top five: 1. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda ; 2. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha ; 3. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha ; 4. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda ; 5. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati.
Source: Crash.net / WEC / MotoGP / Wikipedia
Photo credit: Motorcyclenews.com / Nick Dungan
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