A busy Sunday was jam-packed with Asian Le Mans, Super GT, Formula One, Indy Lights, IndyCar, Pirelli World Challenge and another IndyCar race. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
Doubleheaders Revisited
Two seasons worth of doubleheaders are behind us and we have faced different scenarios at each one. From rained out qualifying sessions to rained out races, rough tracks to poor drainage, doubleheaders have experienced an gauntlet of challenges.
I liked yesterday with the two races split. It had a World Superbike feel and I think IndyCar should investigate the twin 80-minute double feature on Sunday with say the Indy Lights race in the middle. I like the Saturday-Sunday format as well. Maybe the twin-80 if you will, should be used at other road/street courses, while Belle Isle, Houston and Toronto keep the Saturday-Sunday format.
The twin-80 could pose a problem if IndyCar don't go racing due to inclement weather like they did Saturday. I thought the two, 80-minute races provided just as much excitement and just as much drama as the full distance, 85-lap races would have. The races were one stoppers and in race one you didn't have to worry about the tire designation rule getting in the way. It was simple.
Maybe the twin-80 should be used on the road courses. One race early at say noon, with Indy Lights at 1:45 p.m. and race two at 3:15 p.m. I think it is worth consideration.
While the postponement on Saturday caused a very shaken up Sunday, I don't think we need to abandon doubleheaders. One, because once you gave fans doubleheaders, you can't take them away. That would kill an event. Two, doubleheaders puts IndyCar on television an extra day three weekends during the season. IndyCar needs more television exposure if they want any hope of attracting sponsors.
Expand PWC
Pirelli World Challenge joined IndyCar at Toronto and had to excellent races. In race one, IMSA GTLM drivers Nick Tandy and Kuno Wittmer went 1-2 with Tandy's Porsche holding off Wittmer's Viper by just over a half second. In GTS, Dean Martin held off defending GTS champion Lawson Aschenbach by three quarters of a second. Race two saw two Canadians on top. Wittmer won by over a second to Anthony Lazzaro's Ferrari. Kia Racing's Mark Wilkins held off the Mustang of Alec Udell by 0.039 seconds for the GTS win.
PWC has put on some of the best racing in 2014. It is MotoGP on four wheels. Forty minutes of non-stop, close quarters action. No pit stops, no full course cautions for a car stopped on the side of the course and as far as I have heard, no bitching from the drivers, manufactures or teams. It sounds like racing heaven.
The one wish I have to PWC is for it to grow in fans but grow with drivers. Toronto had 42 entries. That's more than enough for a street course but I'd love to see some drivers who can't land a ride in IndyCar look to PWC as an option between opportunities and gives them something else to do beside run just the Indianapolis 500 and I like to see more top level sports car drivers moonlight in PWC.
This is nothing against the current crop of drivers. Johnny O'Connell and Andy Pilgrim are great veterans. Anthony Lazzaro has run everything and anything in his career, from IndyCar to NASCAR to sports car. Not to much PWC has a few good young drivers in Andrew Palmer, Nick Mancuso and Mike Skeen. But I'd love to see field grow with the likes of J.R. Hildebrand, Dane Cameron, James Davison, John Edwards, Tommy Milner and Jonathan Bomarito running most of the races.
Keep It Simple Stupid Points
Many times I have advocated for the return of the 9-6-4-3-2-1 point system Formula One used for nearly thirty seasons from the 1961 to 1990 in every motorsports series. It is simple to follow, no bonus points and makes a driver earn a championship by needing to finish up front and not pussyfoot for top tens. Here is a look at how a few series would stand if it used the format above.
IndyCar:
Ryan Hunter-Reay- 46
Will Power- 42
Hélio Castroneves- 37
Simon Pagenaud- 33
Juan Pablo Montoya- 24
Ed Carpenter- 20
Tony Kanaan- 20
Scott Dixon- 19
Mike Conway- 18
Sébastien Bourdais- 17
Carlos Muñoz- 15
Charlie Kimball- 12
Marco Andretti- 10
Carlos Huertas- 9
Mikhail Aleshin- 7
Graham Rahal- 7
Josef Newgarden- 6
Jack Hawksworth- 6
James Hinchcliffe- 6
Ryan Briscoe- 4
Justin Wilson- 4
Takuma Sato- 2
Kurt Busch- 1
The biggest shakeup in IndyCar would be both Ed Carpenter and Mike Conway would be in the top ten of the championship. Ryan Hunter-Reay would be leading instead of third and Hélio Castroneves would be third instead of leading. James Hinchcliffe's bad season is really put into perspective with the 9-6-4-3-2-1 system. Takuma Sato would have just gotten on the board with his fifth at Toronto 2 and Kurt Busch would have a point which would really show how good of a run he had at Indianapolis.
Formula One
Nico Rosberg- 66
Lewis Hamilton- 61
Daniel Ricciardo- 28
Valtteri Bottas- 20
Fernando Alonso- 20
Sebastian Vettel-19
Jenson Button- 12
Nico Hülkenberg- 10
Kevin Magnussen- 6
Sergio Pérez- 5
Felipe Massa- 3
No big changes in Formula One. Mercedes are still dominating except Hamilton is much closer to Rosberg. Kimi Räikkönen would be points-less as would be Jean-Éric Vergne, Romain Grosjean, Daniil Kvyat and Jules Bianchi.
NASCAR
Brad Keselowski- 54
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.- 50
Jimmie Johnson- 42
Kevin Harvick- 36
Jeff Gordon- 34
Joey Logano- 30
Kyle Busch- 30
Carls Edwards- 24
Matt Kenseth- 24
Denny Hamlin- 22
Kurt Busch- 21
Kyle Larson- 14
Aric Almirola- 13
Brian Vickers- 13
Paul Menard- 10
Greg Biffle- 8
Clint Bowyer- 8
Kasey Kahne- 7
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.- 6
Ryan Newman- 6
Jamie McMurray- 6
Tony Stewart- 5
Marcos Ambrose- 4
Casey Mears- 3
AJ Allmendinger- 3
Austin Dillon- 2
Martin Truex, Jr.- 1
A few shake ups in NASCAR. Keselowski and Earnhardt, Jr. are the top two. Jeff Gordon drops to fifth. Kevin Harvick would jump from thirteenth to fourth. The biggest drop would be Ryan Newman, from seventh to twentieth.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Sébastien Bourdais, Mike Conway, Nico Rosberg, Nick Tandy, Kuno Wittmer, Dean Martin and Mark Wilkins but did you know...
Alex Baron won his first career Indy Lights race at Toronto. Jake Eidson and Florian Latorre split the U.S. F2000 races. Latorre took the points lead after R.C. Enerson finished seventeenth in race two.
Mitch Evans and Stefano Coletti won in GP2 at Hockenheim. Marvin Kirchhöfer and Jann Mardenborough won in GP3.
The Signatech Alpine of Paul-Loup Chatin, Nelson Panciatici and Oliver Webb won the ELMS race in Austria. The AF Corse Ferrari of Matt Griffin, Duncan Cameron and Michele Rugolo won in GTE. The SMP Racing Ferrari of Kiril Ladygin, Aleksey Basov and Luca Persiani won in GTC.
David Cheng and Ho-Pin Tung won the ALMS season opener from Inje in the #1 OAK Racing Morgan-Judd. The Ligier-Honda of Mathias Beche, Kevin Tse and Frank Yu won in CN and BMW Z4 GT3 of Morris Chen, Marco Seefried and Ryohei Sakaguchi won GT.
In Super GT from Sugo, the Lexus of Yuji Tachikawa and Kohei Hirate won in GT500 and the Lamborghini of Takayuki Aoki and Manabu Orido won in GT300.
Chase Elliott won the Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland.
Coming Up This Weekend
Formula One heads east to Hungary.
NASCAR and IMSA are at Indianapolis.
Another Blancpain Endurance Series race as it is time for the 24 Hours of Spa.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
