Drugovich dominated once again – though Marcos Siebert stole the fastest lap in the opening race. Behind Drugovich, his compatriots Matheus Iorio and Guilherme Samaia completed an all-Brazilian podium, while race two saw Alex Karkosik take his maiden podium in second ahead of Bent Viscaal in a race that saw no retirements.
IndyCar
It was Chevrolet power to the fore again as Penske locked out the top three places on the grid for the Saturday night race on the high-banked Texas oval.
The Penske challenge faded due to tyre problems in the race. Scott Dixon hit the front for Ganassi and never looked likely to be beaten. Simon Pagenaud took second on worn tyres, Will Power crashed out, and Alexander Rossi collected third after a slow pit stop.
World Rallycross Championship
Reigning champion Johan Kristoffersson arrived at Hell in Norway looking to extend his points lead over Sebastien Loeb.
Kristoffesson dominated another round, winning all four of his qualifying races and his semi-final. In the final he narrowly avoided the chaos at the start as Timmy Hansen and Andreas Bakkerud collided, the former sliding sideways towards turn one and barely avoiding the points leader. Kristoffesson put that behind him however and breezed to another victory ahead of Mattias Ekstrom and Petter Solberg.
World Rally Championship
Thierry Neuville arrived in Italy as Championship leader and therefore in the unenviable position of being first on the gravel road – a significant disadvantage – and needing a miracle to avoid losing points to rival Sebastien Ogier.
He got it in the form of rain on the opening day, thereby quashing his disadvantage of running first. Andreas Mikkelsen took an early lead but was soon left behind by Ogier before hitting problems, as Neuville moved into second while their rivals fell by the weyside. Ogier opened an advantage but come the final day Neuville started to close back in, to which Ogier had no answer. The defending champion had an advantage of 0.8 seconds heading into the final stage, but came through 1.5 slower than Neuville, with the championship leader snatching a crucial victory at the eleventh hour. Esapekka Lappi kept his nose clean to complete the podium ahead of Hayden Paddon.
Matt Simpson took a shock maiden pole in qualifying ahead of returnee Sam Tordoff, but could he hold on for a win having never before even scored a podium?
Simpson left a battling trio well behind him to win the opening race, though he had to contend with a smoking engine and rapidly closing Tom Chilton in the final laps. Andrew Jordan completed the podium. However Simpson’s engine problem proved terminal and ruled him out of the remainder of the day. That promoted Chilton to pole for race two, but he was beaten back into third by a flying Colin Turkington and Matt Neal, the former taking his first win of the season and the championship lead. Race three saw Rob Austin handed pole position but a five-car shunt off the line brought out the red flags. At the restart Rob Collard beat Austin away – the pole sitter eventually retired – while Jordan and Turkington completed a BMW sweep of the podium.
Formula E
Jean-Eric Vergne had a chance to take the title in Switzerland’s first motor race for 64 years, but a dismal qualifying left him 17th on the grid as title rival Sam Bird started third, while Mitch Evans took both his and Jaguar’s maiden pole position.
After four consecutive second places, Lucas di Grassi finally managed to go one better and take his first win of the season. Evans scampered away at the start but a problem left him having to lift and coast early, enabling di Grassi to soar past have already scythed his way through Bird and Andre Lotterer. A full course yellow for debris saw everyone dive for the pits but Vergne – who had moved up to seventh – was delayed and fell to ninth. Matters soon got worse for the championship leader – and several front runners – as they were handed drive-through penalties for speeding under the full course yellow. This allowed Sam Bird to take second with Jerome d’Ambrosio completing the podium, while Vergne could only salvage tenth and a single point, seeing his Championship lead slashed to 23 points with two races remaining in New York.
NASCAR Cup
The start of the 15th round of the 2018 NASCAR season was delayed by over two hours due to rain at the high-speed Michigan superspeedway.
More rain played an outcome in the race which was cut short after 133 of 200 laps. Clint Bowyer led a one-two-three finish for Stewart-Haas after gambling on a strategy which had him at the front of the field when another downpour hit the track.
Over to you
What racing action did you watch last weekend? Let us know in the comments.
Next weekend’s racing
The Le Mans 24 Hours next weekend will feature Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Juan Pablo Montoya among the start attraction on the grid. Will you be watching? What other motorsport action will you have your eye on? Let us know in the comments.
The Le Mans 24 Hours next weekend will feature Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Juan Pablo Montoya among the start attraction on the grid. Will you be watching? What other motorsport action will you have your eye on? Let us know in the comments.
AND Vitaly Petrov!
But most importantly 10 RSR Porsches in the most lively liveries. Gentlement, this is going to be a cracker.
10 porches makes it a cracker? Many of us don’t care for porsche one bit at all, look how quickly they exited lmp1. Many of us care more about lmp1 and lmp2 in the 24 hour race, as its the biggest race of the year, and I don’t see it being a cracker at all with 1 high budget manufacturer hybrid against non hybrid privateers battling for ultimate win and with balance of power in play. WEC needs to gets its act together, no one cares (except you) about the spec series porches running around in 3rd and 4th tier, porsche supercup is for that, we don’t need 24 hours of boring porsches. I Bet the crowds and TV audience will be down this year, even with Alonso as top billing.
I will be there with the other 230,000 fans who turn up each year, Le mans has been won by many non factory entries in the past, they make the sport, its not all about manufactures in LMP1, equally the GT class where there are manufactures theres competition! lots of it
And to say the ACO needs to gets its act together? do you listen to the news? they have manage the lost of porsche and audi by bringing in 7 new competitive private teams then set up new rules from 2021 with the approval of 5 manufactures to re launch LMP1. So maybe do your research first.
@flatsix I’m glad I’m not the only one who is absolutely pumped about this year’s Le Mans 24h. In terms of F1 drivers, I just had a look through the entry list and I can spot 18 drivers who have contested F1 races:
Andre Lotterer*
Bruno Senna
Felipe Nasr
Fernando Alonso
Giancarlo Fisichella
Giedo Van-Der-Garde
Jean-Eric Vergne
Jenson Button
Juan-Pablo Montoya
Kamui Kobayashi
Kazuki Nakajima
Pastor Maldonado
Paul Di Resta
Sebastien Bourdais
Sebastien Buemi
Stephane Sarrazin**
Vitaly Petrov
Will Stevens
* Ok he ran one single lap in one race, but he was a test and reserve driver for Jaguar, and I defy anyone to say he’s not good enough to be on the F1 grid.
** Yeah, ok, one race nearly twenty years ago. But still, qualifies as an F1 driver in my book.
But the F1 alumni are just the tip of the iceberg – the depth of quality in this field in immense. Particularly in the GTE Pro class, and especially in the Ford Chip Ganassi team. And with just one factory team contesting LMP1 with only two cars, you can guarantee that at least one privateer will end the race on the podium, if not taking an outright win. If I were a gambling man, I’d probably put a cheeky bet on a Rebellion taking the top spot.
This year will be the tenth anniversary of my first visit to La Sarthe, and I’ll be going there with my wife who I met on that first trip all those years ago. So this will be a very special Le Mans for us, and the race itself will just be the icing on the cake.
:D GTE is going to be absolutely mega – it’ll be a full-on sprint race for 24 hours. I love the prototypes, but I really think that the battle in GTE Pro is going to be one of those epic clashes that’ll go down in history as one of the all time greats. I’m really glad we’re seeing a new generation of Aston Martins as well because I feel like they’ve been holding back the GTE field on BoP for too long now, plus every GTE car now looks really fantastic and distinctive.
I can’t understand anyone who says they’re not fired up for this year’s Le Mans. Perhaps if you only bother tuning in for the factory P1 cars. But that’s madness. It’s like going to a Michelin star restaurant and saying you’re only interested in the wine list. Its four amazing races for the price of one!
Anyone else stay up on Saturday night until the wee wee hours of Sunday morning to watch the Indycar from Texas? Anyone else nod off watching American cricket before BTsport finally joined the race with 150 laps already run, most of the field numerous laps down & no idea what was going on? Hmmm, I did.
FlatSix (@)
11th June 2018, 11:18
AND Vitaly Petrov!
But most importantly 10 RSR Porsches in the most lively liveries. Gentlement, this is going to be a cracker.
kpcart
11th June 2018, 12:42
10 porches makes it a cracker? Many of us don’t care for porsche one bit at all, look how quickly they exited lmp1. Many of us care more about lmp1 and lmp2 in the 24 hour race, as its the biggest race of the year, and I don’t see it being a cracker at all with 1 high budget manufacturer hybrid against non hybrid privateers battling for ultimate win and with balance of power in play. WEC needs to gets its act together, no one cares (except you) about the spec series porches running around in 3rd and 4th tier, porsche supercup is for that, we don’t need 24 hours of boring porsches. I Bet the crowds and TV audience will be down this year, even with Alonso as top billing.
FlatSix (@)
11th June 2018, 14:48
Please stay away from the WEC. You’ve lost the plot.
jamesluke2488
12th June 2018, 0:28
I will be there with the other 230,000 fans who turn up each year, Le mans has been won by many non factory entries in the past, they make the sport, its not all about manufactures in LMP1, equally the GT class where there are manufactures theres competition! lots of it
And to say the ACO needs to gets its act together? do you listen to the news? they have manage the lost of porsche and audi by bringing in 7 new competitive private teams then set up new rules from 2021 with the approval of 5 manufactures to re launch LMP1. So maybe do your research first.
MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
11th June 2018, 12:48
@flatsix I’m glad I’m not the only one who is absolutely pumped about this year’s Le Mans 24h. In terms of F1 drivers, I just had a look through the entry list and I can spot 18 drivers who have contested F1 races:
Andre Lotterer*
Bruno Senna
Felipe Nasr
Fernando Alonso
Giancarlo Fisichella
Giedo Van-Der-Garde
Jean-Eric Vergne
Jenson Button
Juan-Pablo Montoya
Kamui Kobayashi
Kazuki Nakajima
Pastor Maldonado
Paul Di Resta
Sebastien Bourdais
Sebastien Buemi
Stephane Sarrazin**
Vitaly Petrov
Will Stevens
* Ok he ran one single lap in one race, but he was a test and reserve driver for Jaguar, and I defy anyone to say he’s not good enough to be on the F1 grid.
** Yeah, ok, one race nearly twenty years ago. But still, qualifies as an F1 driver in my book.
But the F1 alumni are just the tip of the iceberg – the depth of quality in this field in immense. Particularly in the GTE Pro class, and especially in the Ford Chip Ganassi team. And with just one factory team contesting LMP1 with only two cars, you can guarantee that at least one privateer will end the race on the podium, if not taking an outright win. If I were a gambling man, I’d probably put a cheeky bet on a Rebellion taking the top spot.
This year will be the tenth anniversary of my first visit to La Sarthe, and I’ll be going there with my wife who I met on that first trip all those years ago. So this will be a very special Le Mans for us, and the race itself will just be the icing on the cake.
FlatSix (@)
11th June 2018, 14:52
Grrrr, I’ll fix that.
I’m also a huge fan of Pipo Derani. Super star in the making.
I’ll also be honest, I hope both Toyota’s explode on lap 2, but my attention will always go towards the GTE classes.
MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
11th June 2018, 15:39
:D GTE is going to be absolutely mega – it’ll be a full-on sprint race for 24 hours. I love the prototypes, but I really think that the battle in GTE Pro is going to be one of those epic clashes that’ll go down in history as one of the all time greats. I’m really glad we’re seeing a new generation of Aston Martins as well because I feel like they’ve been holding back the GTE field on BoP for too long now, plus every GTE car now looks really fantastic and distinctive.
I can’t understand anyone who says they’re not fired up for this year’s Le Mans. Perhaps if you only bother tuning in for the factory P1 cars. But that’s madness. It’s like going to a Michelin star restaurant and saying you’re only interested in the wine list. Its four amazing races for the price of one!
GeeMac (@geemac)
11th June 2018, 15:19
You can add Pedro Lamy to that list too.
MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
11th June 2018, 15:41
Good shout. That’s practically a whole grid of F1 drivers.
MarcusAurelius (@marcusaurelius)
11th June 2018, 19:41
@mazdachris. Don’t forget Jan Lammers. Probably the oldest ex-F1 driver.
Big Joe
11th June 2018, 19:32
Ex-Formula One drivers in Electric cars = ‘washed up’
Ex-Formula One drivers in ICE cars = ‘pumped ‘cracker’
skylab (@skylab)
11th June 2018, 21:47
Anyone else stay up on Saturday night until the wee wee hours of Sunday morning to watch the Indycar from Texas? Anyone else nod off watching American cricket before BTsport finally joined the race with 150 laps already run, most of the field numerous laps down & no idea what was going on? Hmmm, I did.