The fourth round of the 2014 World Rally Championship season has seen four notable factory drivers crash out before making it through the first full day of Rally de Portugal.
MSport Ford drivers Robert Kubica and Elfyn Evans both had their weekends end on stage four. Kubica hit a tree and blocked the road, impeding fellow competitors while Evans rolled several times. Stage four was cancelled after the incidents.
Entering stage five, Jari-Matti Latvala was only 0.4 seconds back of Volkswagen teammate Sébastien Ogier but the Finn had a roll and his rally is over. Latvala turned 29 on Thursday and this is his third retirement in seven Portugal starts.
On stage six, Citroën driver Kris Meeke retired while in tenth position after going off the road in the same position Evans went off earlier in the day. This was Meeke's first start in Rally de Portugal.
Through the first seven stages of Rally de Portugal, four different drivers have won a stage. Ogier won the first stage on Thursday and Hyundai picked up their first stage victories in their return season to WRC when Dani Sordo won stages two and three. Ogier won stage five with Hyundai picking up their third stage victory of the day when Thierry Neuville won his first stage of the season.
Mikko Hirvonen won stage seven, his first of the season and took the overall lead in Rally de Portugal by 3.7 seconds over MSport Ford teammate Ott Tänak. Despite the two stage victories, Ogier is third, 6.5 seconds back of Hirvonen. Citroën driver Mads Østberg is fourth, 25.6 seconds back. Sordo rounds out the top five, a tenth of a second back of the Norwegian. Sordo's Hyundai teammate Neuville is 16.3 seconds back in sixth.
A minute back of Neuville is Henning Solberg in seventh driving a privateer Ford. Juho Hänninen is eighth, making it all three Hyundais in the points. Andreas Mikkelsen is ninth with Martin Prokop rounding out the top ten, 2 minutes and 59.2 seconds back.
Hirvonen's last World Rally victory came at the 2012 Rally d'Italia Sardegna. Aside from a disqualification in the 2011 Rally de Portugal, Hirvonen's average finish in his other five appearances is 3.4.
Bahrain's First Night Race
Bahrain hosts it's first Formula One weekend under the lights. It is the third Formula One venue to host a night round joining Singapore and Abu Dhabi to have that distinction.
Mercedes-Benz led the way with Lewis Hamilton being fastest at the end of second practice with a lap of 1:34.325. His teammate Nico Rosberg was second, 0.365 seconds back. The Mercedes drivers had a struggle hold over the rest of the grid with three-time Bahrain Grand Prix winner Fernando Alonso in third, 1.035 seconds back. Daniel Ricciardo was fourth ahead of Felipe Massa in fifth.
Jenson Button was sixth ahead of Sebastian Vettel. The German has won the last two Bahrain Grand Prix. Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat was eighth ahead of fellow rookie Kevin Magnussen. Sergio Pérez rounded out the top ten.
Valtertti Bottas was eleventh ahead of Jean-Éric Vergne. Nico Hülkenberg was thirteenth. Kimi Räikkönen was a second back of his Ferrari teammate in fourteenth. The final eight positions are driver pairs back-to-back with Sauber (Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutiérrez) leading Lotus (Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean), Marussia (Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton) and Caterham (Kamui Kobayashi and Marcus Ericsson) rounding out the time sheet. The difference between Hamilton and Ericsson was 4.811 seconds.
Bahrain hosts the opening round of the 2014 GP2 Series championship. British driver Jolyon Palmer won pole driving for DAMS. ART Grand Prix and McLaren junior driver Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne qualified second but is under investigation and could face a grid penalty. Daniel Abt starts third with Palmer's DAMS teammate Stéphane Richelmi in fourth.
Americans Alexander Rossi and Conor Daly qualified fifteenth and eighteenth respectively. The first GP2 race of the weekend takes place at 6:10 a.m. ET.
Racing in the States
NASCAR heads to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. The Nationwide Series race takes place tonight. Ty Dillon was fastest in practice yesterday. Points leader Regan Smith was second quickest. Rookies Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott were third and fourth. Championship ineligible drivers took the next four times on the time sheet with Kyle Busch leading Ryan Blaney, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick. Brendan Gaughan was ninth with Ryan Reed rounding out the top ten. Most recent winner in the Nationwide Series, Kyle Larson was eleventh with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in twelfth.
In the Cup Series, not only has their been six different winners but six different pole winners. Jimmie Johnson has yet to win in 2014 and is tied for the most NASCAR Cup series wins at Texas Motor Speedway with three but all have been fall races. Johnson has won the last two Texas fall races. Carl Edwards is the other driver with three wins at Texas but he has not won at the track since sweeping the Texas races in 2008. Roush Fenway Racing has won seven of the seventeen spring Texas races and Ford has won nine of seventeen.
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