2023 Motorcycle Predictions: Revisited

This is our final set of predictions revisited, and these are predictions of the two-wheel variety. From the glitz of the grand prix scene to the forgotten about World Superbike championship to the dirt of Supercross and Motocross, we were looking at all of it prior to the start of 2023. There were some tense championship battles across the board. There were some predictions that were wildly wrong. A few were close. A few were right. See for yourself. 

MotoGP

1. Marc Márquez finishes in the top five of the championship

Wrong!

What can I say? I was optimistic that 2023 would be the year for the Marc Márquez turnaround. Third time's the charm, right? It looked very promising at the first round where Márquez started on pole position in Portugal and finished third in the first sprint race. However, that was the high point because Márquez then had a collision with Miguel Oliveira on lap three in the grand prix, which left him with an injury and took him out of the next three races.

That's ok. Márquez has done some special stuff after missing races. While, Márquez kept falling and missed two more races due to a thumb injury. Entering the summer break, he had yet to finish a grand prix with all his points being from sprint races. 

Things improved from there. He scored points in nine of the final 11 grand prix, including a third in Japan, but he could only finish 14th in the championship with 96 points.

2. At no point will one manufacture have won five consecutive pole positions

Wrong!

This one was very wrong. Marc Márquez won the first pole position of the season in Portugal for Honda. Ducati won the next two before Aleix Espargaró won pole positions for Aprilia at Jerez. 

Ducati then went on to win 15 consecutive pole positions from Le Mans in May through Qatar in November. Maverick Viñales ended the streak taking pole position for the Valencia finally, but even then Viñales didn't start first in the grand prix due to a three-spot penalty for not respecting the black flag with orange circle during the warm-up session, meaning Francesco Bagnaia inherited the top spot. 

Viñales still got credit for the Valencia pole position, not that it matter as this prediction was shot in Austria in July. 

3. The Ducati Desmosedici GP22 will have at least four podium finishes

Correct!

This might have been setting the bar low, but we weren't sure how good the Desmosedici GP23 would be. Ducati was stellar whether it was the new bike or the year-old bike. 

The Desmosedici GP22 was on the podium in the opening race with Marco Bezzecchi. In the next round, Bezzecchi won and Álex Márquez was third. Luca Marini was then third in Austin and this prediction was fulfilled in the third round. 

The Desmosedici GP22 ended up with 13 podium finishes this season. Along with Bezzecchi's victory in Argentina, he won at Le Mans and in India. Fabio Di Giannantonio made it four victories for the GP22 in Qatar. 

4. There will be at least seven occasions where the sprint race winner wins the grand prix

Correct!

Eight times the sprint race winner won the grand prix. 

Jorge Martín won both races on four occasions: Germany, Misano, Japan and Thailand.

Francesco Bagnaia was responsible for three of those, Portugal, Italy and Austria.

The only other rider to do it was Aleix Espargaró in Barcelona.

5. Pedro Acosta will be one of the top two Spaniards in the Moto2 championship

Correct!

Not only was Acosta one of the top two Spaniards in Moto2, he was the top ride in Moto2, as Acosta won the championship. The man from Mazarrón won seven races, stood on the podium 14 times and he scored points in 19 of 20 races. The exception was the French Grand Prix. 

Acosta won the title by 83 points over Tony Arbolino. He was 120.5 points clear of Fermín Aldeguer in third, the second best Spaniard in Moto2 this season. Jake Dixon was fourth on 204 points, 128.5 points off Acosta. Spaniard Arón Canet rounded the top five, 137.5 points behind Acosta.

6. There will be South American winners in multiple classes

Correct!

The one that was not a surprise was Brazilian Eric Granado winning the fourth race of the MotoE season at Mugello. Granado has now won a race in five consecutive MotoE season. 

The next South American victory would be Colombia's David Alonso winning at Silverstone in Moto3. It was the first of four victories for Alonso this season as he won consecutive races at Barcelona and Misano and then won in Thailand.

However, Granado wasn't the only Brazilian winner this year as Diogo Moreira won the Moto3 race in Indonesia. 

Six South American victories this season across the four world championship classes. 

World Superbike/World Supersport

7. Dominique Aegerter will have at least one accident riding in a top three position where he takes down another rider with him

Wrong!

This prediction was always going to be one tougher to track. Aegerter had a rather clean debut season in World Superbike, but he didn't really spend much time at the front. When going oer the lap chart for each round, it became apparent how his season went. 

Obviously, for this prediction to be correct, Aegerter would have had to be in a top three position. Well, he didn't spend a lap in the top three until the SuperPole race from Jerez, the penultimate race of the season. Along with spending all eight laps in the top three of the SuperPole race, he spent 12 of 20 laps in the top three of the final race of the season in Jerez.

With 20 total laps in the top three, Aegerter didn't have one incident during that psan and therefore did not take down another rider with him. Prediction incorrect. 

8. There will be a minimum of two first-time WSBK winners

Wrong!

There were no first-time World Superbike winners this season. 

Álvaro Bautista won 27 of 36 races this season. Toprak Razgatlioglu won seven times. Jonathan Rea won once and Michael Ruben Rinaldi won for the first time in about two years.

However, no first-time winners.

Danilio Petrucci didn't win, the closest he came was second at Most. Andrea Locatelli is still looking for his first career victory and Locatelli was second in the Indonesia SuperPole race. Axel Bassani was even runner-up in a race at Imola. Dominique Aegerter was runner-up in the final SuperPole race of the season in Jerez.

Four riders with no World Superbike victories ended up runner-up this season. So close and yet so far.

9. There will be at least four races where two of Álvaro Bautista, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea are not on the podium and at least one of those is a SuperPole race

Wrong!

We were on a great track early in the season. 

In the second race from Phillip Island, the third race of the season, Bautista won with Rinaldi and Locatelli on the podium. That was one. 

In the Indonesia SuperPole race, race five of the season, Razgatlioglu won ahead of Locatelli and Alex Lowes was third. 

We were halfway to fulfilling this prediction through five of 36 races. 

Over the final 31 races, two of Bautista, Razgatlioglu and Rea were on the podium each time. In 25 of the final 31 races, Bautista and Razgatlioglu were on the podium. It was Bautista who was the one missing in four of the other six races. 

10. There will be six weekend sweeps or fewer in World Supersport

Wrong!

This one is a little crushing. 

Entering the final round at Jerez, there had been six sweeps.

Nicolò Bulega had swept the round at Phillip Island, Assen, Donington Park, Magny-Cours and Aragón. 

Stefano Manzi swept the Imola round.

What happens in the finale? Bulega swept the final two races. Yep. Of course. 

If you go back to the first weekend of the season, this could have been avoided. Bulega passed Manzi on the final lap in the second race from Phillip Island. Manzi holds on and then the final weekend is moot. 

Supercross/Motocross

11. The Supercross season opener winner will have multiple victories in 2023

Correct!

Eli Tomac pulled off an impressive comeback ride in the Anaheim season opener after he fell but overcame an eight-second deficit to win the season opener. After four consecutive seasons where the Supercross season opener winner did not win again, Tomac put this prediction to bed in the second round, winning in San Diego, fulfilling this prediction as quickly as possible. 

For good measure, Tomac won seven races this season.

12. The SuperMotocross champion will have an average championship finish greater than 2.5 between Supercross and Motocross

Wrong!

What I didn't see coming was the 450cc SuperMotocross champion being the 250cc West Supercross champion. Jett Lawrence moved into the 450cc class for the 2023 Motocross season, where he went 24-for-24, winning every race and taking that championship. I wasn't considering that possible outcome, but I am not going to claim this on a technicality. 

Lawrence was first his Supercross championship and first in his Motocross championship. He won the SuperMotocross championship by winning two of the final three rounds

Ok... five-for-12. Not great. A few tough ones to swallow. It happens. Some years, the tough ones go in your favor. Some years, they do not. 

2022 Motorcycle Predictions: Revisited

Amazingly, this is the final predictions to revisit for the 2022 season. Each of the four sets have been picked over, from IndyCar to NASCAR, Formula One to sports cars. Now, we are onto motorcycle racing. There were a few tense championship battles across the two-wheel world this year. There were also a few first-time champions. Many races were compelling and there were ruthless battles taking place around the globe. We also got to return to some fantastic circuits after the global pandemic had prevented visits for the past two years. It was great to feel normal again. 

With that said, onto the predictions!

MotoGP

1. Two of the top three from 2021 do not finish in the top five of the 2022 championship

Wrong!

Two of the top three from 2021 finished first and second in 2022. Francesco Bagnaia took the championship on 265 points. Fabio Quartararo was second on 248 points. The two riders just swapped positions from 2021. 

As for Joan Mír, he had a rougher season. Six retirements and four missed races led to Mír finishing 15th in the championship on 87 points. Even if you adjust his points based on his points per start average, he would still be 15th. 

There wasn't enough of a push to knock Bagnaia or Quartararo down. Bagnaia overcame his own accidents to win the championship with the best bike on the grid. Quartararo dragged Yamaha to the front as the next best Yamaha rider in the championship was his teammate Franco Morbidelli in 19th, and Morbidelli had only two top ten finishes all season. The only other top ten result for Yamaha all season was Darryn Binder finishing tenth in the wet Mandalika round. 

Honda struggled as Marc Márquez continued to battle injury. Suzuki was all over the place after announcing 2022 would be its final season in MotoGP. All credit should go to Bagnaia and Quartararo for being outstanding riders and remaining on top. 

2. Álex Rins will retire from three races or fewer

Wrong!

This one was crushing. Rins started the season well. He was tied for the championship lead after the first five races. Then it started to go down hill. He was 19th in Jerez and he followed that with three consecutive retirements. That's it! He used up the allotment in the first nine races of the season! I needed him to have no retirements in the final 11 races for this prediction to be correct. 

He missed the German round but was back for Assen and finished tenth. He was seventh at Silverstone and picked up fastest lap. Eighth in Austria. Seventh in Misano. Ninth in Aragón. Things are holding firm as we get to the Asia-Pacific swing, which began at Motegi. 

Rins has a wheel rim issue and retires in Japan! 

Damn! To make it even worse, that was his only retirement in the final 11 races and Rins ended the season on a high note with two victories in the final three events to see Suzuki out of MotoGP. 

3. Aprilia scores at least 168 points in the manufactures' championship

Correct!

Aprilia scored 248 points and finished third in the constructors' championship. It won its first race at Argentina with Aleix Espargaró, who was a championship contender until late in the season, ultimately finishing fourth with 212 points. Maverick Viñales was 11th in the championship and scored 122 points with three podium finishes. 

It was a great season for the Italian make, but results did take a step back in the later stages of the season. This was still a year to be proud of, but more strides must be made if it wants to contend for a championship. 

4. There will be at least one story about a Valentino Rossi comeback

Wrong!

We never really saw a "Valentino Rossi comeback" story pop up this season. Rossi ran the GT World Challenge Europe season and attended a few MotoGP races as team owner of the Mooney VR46 Racing Team, but he never was mentioned as a possible wild card rider for a round. 

5. American riders combine for at least two podium finishes

Correct!

American riders combined for two podium finishes, but those finishes came from the same rider. Joe Roberts won at Portimão after weather interrupted the race and caused a red flag. Roberts was then second at Mugello. 

Cameron Beaubier had a few promising races get away from him. Beaubier was on pole position at Austin before being caught in an accident and he was contending for the lead at Portimão when he was caught in the rain and taken out of the race. He also finished fourth at Le Mans and had a promising season finale going in Valencia, setting fastest lap before falling out of the race. 

Rookie Sean Dylan Kelley had a tough rookie season, scoring only 5.5 points with points finishes at Portimão and the rain-shortened Buriram round. 

6. Jordi Torres wins multiple MotoE races

Wrong!

Torres entered the 2022 MotoE season as a two-time defending champion. However, in each of those seasons, he only won one race. This year, he didn't even finish on the podium and missed three races after an injury. 

World Superbike

7. Toprak Razgatlioglu will be responsible for 75% or fewer of Yamaha's victories

Wrong!

Razgatlioglu was responsible for all the Yamaha victories this season. The Turkish rider won 14 times, all 14 Yamaha victories. 

How close were the other Yamaha riders from winning? 

Andrea Locatelli was second in the second Assen race and third in the Mandalika SuperPole race. Garrett Gerloff had one podium finish, a third in the first Barcelona race. For this prediction to be correct and Razgatlioglu have the same number of victories, Yamaha would have had to won 19 races. 

8. There will be at least three weekends without a repeat winner

Wrong!

There wasn't one weekend where there were three different winners. This was surprising considering how quick Álvaro Bautista, Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu were and how close those three were throughout the season. 

There were plenty of weekends where it could have happened. Razgatlioglu won pole position for Aragón and Assen, but won at neither round while Bautista and Rea each split the races. At Most, Magny-Cours and Portimão, Rea won pole position but Bautista and Razgatlioglu split those races. 

9. No Honda rider finishes in the top ten of the championship

Wrong!

Honda had two riders finish in the top ten of the championship Iker Lecuona was ninth in the championship despite missing the Mandalika round. Xavi Vierge was tenth in the championship. 

It was a year when Garrett Gerloff underperformed with Yamaha. BMW had multiple rides miss time. Honda did make strides this season. Lecuona had a podium result, but he also won a pole position at Barcelona. 

10. One of the riders on the Suzuka 8 Hours overall winner will finish the WSBK season with at least four victories

Wrong!

The winning riders for the Suzuka 8 Hours were Tetsuta Nagashima, Takumi Takahaski and Iker Lecuona. Nagashima and Takahaski are Japan-based rides. Lecuona competed in World Superbike, but didn't win a race and only had one podium finish all season.

This was close to coming true. Jonathan Rea was second with the Kawasaki Racing entry alongside Leon Hasam and Alex Lowes. 

World Supersport

11. There will be a notable complaint about the new regulations

Wrong!

 

I looked and I looked, and I didn't find anything that would fulfill this prediction. Yamaha still dominated this season, winning 21 of 24 races, but Triumph won for the first time ever in the series and MV Agusta won for the first time since the 2017 season opener. There were a few positives to draw from this season. 

12. The championship will be undecided entering the final race weekend

Wrong!

Dominique Aegerter clinched the championship in the penultimate round at Mandalika. Aegerter exited the weekend with a 103-point lead over Lorenzo Baldassarri entering Phillip Island. Aegerter won 16 of 24 races and stood on the podium 18 times. He did have a suspect weekend in the Czech Republic when he was excluded from the second race after feinting an injury in the first race in hopes of drawing a red flag after an accident. 

Two for 12. That is bad. Very bad. We end on a downer, but there is plenty of room for improvement and the next set of predictions are only a month away. Let's put these predictions behind us and look toward the future. 

2022 Motorcycle Predictions

Our penultimate set of 2022 predictions bring us to motorcycle racing. We saw first time champions in each MotoGP and World Superbike in 2021. World Supersport had a runaway champion. MotoE went to the final set of corners and had a controversial finish. Moto2 had a good battle and Moto3 crowned a deserving champion.

What will happen in 2022? Here are 12 guesses!

MotoGP

1. Two of the top three from 2021 do not finish in the top five of the 2022 championship

That means Fabio Quartararo, Francesco Bagnaia and Joan Mir are on notice. 

It is a stretch to think any of those three will fall to sixth or worse in the championship, but to think two riders will fall that far is harder to imagine. However, Marc Márquez could be back fully healthy, and based on his points per start pace in 2021, he would have been fourth in the championship if he had started all 18 races. 

Franco Morbidelli was banged up for much of 2021 and moved to the factory Yamaha midseason. He was considerably equal to Quartararo when they were Petronas SRT Yamaha teammates, and Morbidelli was second in the championship in 2020. Andrea Dovizioso will be back as a full-time competitor. Brad Binder scored in 17 of 18 races last year, but his Austria victory was his only podium finish. 

There are plenty of options that could shake up the top. Nothing looks the same forever. There will be movement.

2. Álex Rins will retire from three races or fewer

Rins was his own worst enemy in 2021. At times, he was quicker than his Suzuki teammate Mir, but Rins was prone to falling off the bike, retired from five races and was 20th in another. While Mir was third in the championship, Rins was 13th, and his only podium finish was second at Silverstone. 

If Rins remains on the bike, I think he could be ahead of Mir in the championship. It is just that Mir doesn't make mistakes. The pressure will be on Rins in 2022. If he stays on the bike, he could be one of the riders displacing Quartararo, Bagnaia and/or Mir from the top five of the world championship. 

I think Rins cleans up his act in 2022 and has a great shot of being the top Suzuki rider in the championship.

3. Aprilia scores at least 168 points in the manufactures' championship

Aprilia is taking a chance with Maverick Viñales. The Spaniard was brought into the team midseason in 2021 after Viñales was booted from Yamaha for sabotaging his own bikes. 

With Viñales in the team, Aprilia did well, but Aleix Espargaró was holding his own even before Viñales. Esparagó scored points in 13 races. He was third at Aragón, and ended the season with 120 points, good enough for eighth in the championship. 

If Espargaró can do that, Viñales should at least be in the same ballpark as his teammate. They might take points off each other, but they will lift Aprilia up the championship. 

In the 2021 manufactures' championship, Aprilia scored 121 points, 6.722 per race. To score 168 in 2022, Aprilia would have to average eight points per race. It is a small boost, but it is something the smallest manufacture on the grid can accomplish.

4. There will be at least one story about a Valentino Rossi comeback

We love a comeback story, even if it is not happening. 

When one big star retires in motorsports, they are always met with speculation of a return. Michael Schumacher retired from Ferrari, but Formula One never left him alone, and Schumacher did end up returning with Mercedes. Jimmie Johnson was gone from NASCAR for all of five minutes before people were asking when he would return for a Cup one-off. The same was true for Jeff Gordon, and Gordon did return when Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was out due to a concussion. I think sports car driver Johnny Mowlem retired for the tenth time this past autumn. 

In motorsports, nobody is really done until they have expelled everything. Rossi ended 2021 with his worst season on a grand prix bike, but you know there is a subset that believes he should still be out there. Rossi is set to move on, and he wants to run more sports car races. But someone will not let it go, and if Yamaha has a rider out, someone will throw out Rossi's name as a substitute.

5. American riders combine for at least two podium finishes

The American Moto2 riders did not have the greatest season in 2021. 

Joe Roberts was banged up and dropped to 13th in the championship from seventh with only two top five finishes. Cameron Beaubier was returning to the grand prix scene for the first time since running 125cc in 2009, and he did well, but the bar was low, and Beaubier was 15th in the championship with two top five finishes. 

The hope is Roberts is healthy and can bounce back to at least his 2020 form. Beaubier could make a big stride in 2022, and his results were getting better late in the 2021 season. There will also be a third American on the grid next year. Sean Dylan Kelly will be Beaubier's teammate at American Racing. Kelly won the 2021 MotoAmerica Supersport championship with 12 victories. Kelly did run the 2019 Moto2 finale at Valencia, where he retired. 

Kelly's focus should be completing lap and gaining experience. We know Roberts can finish on the podium, and he could get two podium finishes on his own. Beaubier could step up to a podium-caliber rider and put together a few impressive races. 

6. Jordi Torres wins multiple MotoE races

Torres has won the last two MotoE championship. In those two seasons, he has won a combined two races. He has never had multiple MotoE victories in a single season. 

He is a consistent rider, and he has won his championships because he hasn't made mistakes or stepped over the line. There have also only been seven races in each of the last two seasons, not many chances for victory. 

With the 2022 MotoE championship ballooning to 14 races, seven doubleheaders at Jerez, Le Mans, Mugello, Assen, Finland, Austria and Misano, Torres should have three or four victories. He will have difficult competition. Dominique Aegerter is returning, as is 2019 MotoE champion Matteo Ferrari. Bradley Smith will be back in MotoE. Torres might not win a third consecutive championship, but he should set a high for victories in a season.

World Superbike

7. Toprak Razgatlioglu will be responsible for 75% or fewer of Yamaha's victories

Razgatlioglu ended Kawasaki's World Superbike dominance, but he was on his own carrying Yamaha's water in 2021. 

The Turkish rider won 13 races. The other Yamaha riders combined for zero victories. Razgatlioglu is not going anywhere. He will be successful again in 2022, but he will not be the only Yamaha rider experiencing victory. 

Andrea Locatelli did a good job last year as a rookie. Locatelli didn't win a race, but he was fourth in the championship with four podium finishes. Locatelli should be ready to win a few races of his own in 2022. Even if Razgatlioglu won ten races next year, if Locatelli won four races or more, this prediction would be correct. If Razgatlioglu won nine races next year, Locatelli won two and then Garrett Gerloff won once, then this prediction would be correct. 

Yamaha has a few good riders and Raztaglioglu will not have all the glory for himself.

8. There will be at least three weekends without a repeat winner

In 13 race weekends last year, only twice was there not a repeat winner. 

At Barcelona, Scott Redding, Jonathan Rea and Michael Ruben Rinaldi split the races. At Portimão, Razgatlioglu, Michael van der Mark and Rea split the races. 

There are still 13 race weekends on the 2022 schedule, though one is a TBA and another is Phillip Island, which date has not been announced. Even if there are only 11 race weekends with the quality of the field, I think three weekends with each race having a different winner is realistic. 

9. No Honda rider finishes in the top ten of the championship

Honda has not had the greatest seasons in World Superbike of late. 

Since 2017, Honda has three total podium finishes. Honda has not won since Nicky Hayden won in the wet at Sepang in 2016. I don't think that is going to change in 2022. 

Four Hondas are committed to the 2022 season. The factory team will have Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge. MIE Racing will field two Hondas for Leonardo Mercado and Hafizh Syahrin. That is not the most fearsome foursome a manufacture could put together. 

Between Yamaha's lineup with Razgatlioglu, Locatelli, Getloff and Kohta Nozane; Rea and Alex Lowes on the Kawasakis, Lucas Mahias on a customer Kawasaki, Ducati entering Ruben Rinaldi and Álvaro Bautista, Philip Öttl on a customer Ducati, van der Mark and Scott Redding on the factory BMWs and Loris Baz and Michael Laverty on customer BMWs, I don't see how Honda can breakthrough ahead of four of those riders. 

Honda might get a guy in 12th, but the top ten is a stretch.

10. One of the riders on the Suzuka 8 Hours overall winner will finish the WSBK season with at least four victories

This is a hope the Suzuka 8 Hours even happens. 

We haven't had a Suzuka 8 Hours the last two years due to the pandemic. Prior to 2020, Suzuka attracted some top riders. Kawasaki won in 2019 with Rea, Razgatlioglu and Leon Haslam. The Yamaha factory team had won the four previous years, with Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark on the 2017 and 2018 winning entries. Lowes was also on the 2016 winner while Bradley Smith won in 2015. Van der Mark won with Honda in 2013 and 2014.

Superbike riders frequently head to Suzuka for this midseason extracurricular. If the Suzuka 8 Hours returns in 2022, the top Superbike riders will be there, and one of the best in World Superbike will be on the winning bike.

World Supersport

11. There will be a notable complaint about the new regulations

To increase competition, World Supersport has changed its regulations, allowing "middleweight" bikes, such as the 955cc Ducati Panigale V2, the Triumph Street Triple 765 RS and the 800cc MV Agusta F3 RR, to compete against the 600cc Yamaha YZF-R6 and Kawasaki ZX-6R. 

When these regulations were first trickling out, some pushed back against having to balance bikes of such different displacements. While we are seeing more Ducatis already committing to the 2022 season, I don't think this will go away quietly once the season is started. Someone will be upset about not being as competitive since the regulations changed. 

12. The championship will be undecided entering the final race weekend

In 25 World Supersport Championship seasons, only eight times has the championship been undecided entering the season finale. It did just happen in 2019 when Randy Krummenacher, Federico Caricasulo and Jules Cluzel were all battling for the title. It also happened in 2017 when Lucas Mahias had a 20-point lead over Kenan Sofuoglu, despite Sofuoglu missing four of the first 11 races. 

However, those are the only two championships to go down to the wire in the last decade. Only three times has the championship changed in the finale, the last time being in 2006. 

With new regulations coming in, the hope is for more competition. I don't think one rider is going to dominate, and we will see a title race until the final lap of the season. 

One set of predictions remain. That is IndyCar. Feel free to peruse the NASCAR, Formula One and sports car predictions. 

2021 For the Love of Indy Awards

We have made it to the end of another year, and this one felt a little more normal. Though we are still in the middle of a global pandemic and cannot quite escape it, the motorsports world found a way to put on countless unforgettable events. Some tracks and races returned after a year away. Others took place with at least partially full grandstands. Most championships were able to run a full slate of races. At least there were fewer cancellations, postponements, and amendments than the year before. 

Since we are looking on the bright side, let's get onto the award and recognize the best of year. There were historic seasons across the world, races that left us speechless and moments we are talking about months later.

Racer of the Year
Description: Given to the best racer over the course of 2021.
And the Nominees are:

Alessandro Pier Guidi

Shane van Gisbergen

Kyle Larson

Dominique Aegerter

Lewis Hamilton

And the winner is... Kyle Larson

Larson completed one of the most historic seasons in American motorsports history in 2021. 

It started in January with Larson winning the Chili Bowl for the second consecutive year. In February, Larson returned to NASCAR Cup Series competition after being suspended for majority of the 2020 for uttering a racial slur during an iRacing event. Larson signed with Hendrick Motorsports for the 2021 season. He was tenth in the Daytona 500, and he picked up his first victory of the season in March at Las Vegas, the fourth race of the season. 

Larson was a regular top five finisher through the first half of the season. He had three consecutive runner-up finishes in May, which led off Larson winning three consecutive races, starting with the Coca-Cola 600 before winning at Sonoma and the inaugural Nashville Superspeedway race. In the middle of that stretch, Larson won the All-Star Race for the second time in his career. 

He continued his form through the rest of the regular season, but Cup was not the only place he succeeded. Larson kept up his dirt competition and won the King's Royal at Eldora and he won the Knoxville Nationals. Overall, Larson won 29 of his 87 dirt starts. 

In the Cup Series, Larson won at Watkins Glen, and he won the regular season championship. In the playoffs, he won at Bristol, overcame an alternator issue at Charlotte to win that race when for a moment it looked like he would not advance from round two, and followed up his Charlotte victory with two more at Texas and Kansas, becoming the first driver to have two separate three-race winning streaks in a single season since Dale Earnhardt did it in 1987. 

Larson went on to win the season finale at Phoenix, his tenth victory of the season, and it earned him his first NASCAR Cup Series championship. It was the first time a driver won ten races in a season since Jimmie Johnson in 2007. Larson's 2,581 laps led were the most in a season since Jeff Gordon's 2,610 laps led in 1995, and his 28.05% laps led was the highest percentage in the modern era since Rusty Wallace led 28.588% of the laps in 1993. It was just the 15th time in NASCAR's modern era a driver led over 25% of the laps run in a season.

On the other nominees:

Pier Guidi has long been a staple in sports car racing, but 2021 was a special year for him. He won his second World Endurance GT Drivers' championship with three WEC victories, including at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, alongside AF Corse co-driver James Calado. He also won the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup championship with Iron Lynx and co-drivers Côme Ledogar and Nicklas Nielsen, with a dominant driver in the 24 Hours of Spa being a keystone result in that championship season. 

Not many drivers came close to touching van Gisbergen in 2021. He opened the season with six consecutive victories, four of which with a fractured collarbone after suffering a cycling accident. He also won in GT World Challenge Australia with his injuries. He won 14 Supercars races this season and clinched his second championship a round early, but he didn't just succeed in tin tops. Van Gisbergern won the New Zealand Grand Prix in the Toyota Racing Series to start the 2021 season. 

Aegerter might not be the biggest name in motorcycle racing, but not many riders have success in multiple series on two different types of bikes. The Swiss rider dominated the World Supersport season, winning ten of 23 races, two of which he skipped. In the 21 races he started, he never finished worse than fifth and was on the podium 16 times. Why did he skip two races? He was also in contention for the MotoE championship. He fell short in that championship and an ambition pass attempt on Jordi Torres cost Aegerter the title while Torres claimed the top prize, but Aegerter had four podium finishes from seven races and was still second in the championship. 

It might not have been a championship season, but Hamilton's 2021 results were incredible against the competition of Max Verstappen and Red Bull. In multiple races, Hamilton overcame the odds to score victories and many times did it without the aid of a teammate while Red Bull at times had four cars in the fight. Hamilton fell eight points short of the championship, but he overcame a 19-point deficit after the Mexican Grand Prix to enter the finale level on points with Verstappen, the first time the top two in the championship were tied entering the final race since 1974. After the controversial end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton handled the defeat with humility despite being the aggrieved party. He ended the season with eight victories and 17 podium finishes. 

Past Winners
2012: Kyle Larson

2013: Marc Márquez
2014: Marc Márquez
2015: Nick Tandy
2016: Shane van Gisbergen
2017: Brendon Hartley
2018: Scott Dixon

2019: Marc Márquez

2020: Lewis Hamilton

 

Race of the Year
Description: Best Race of 2021.
And the Nominees are:

Monaco ePrix

24 Hours of Daytona

Austrian motorcycle Grand Prix

Food City 300

Brazilian Grand Prix

And the winner is... Monaco ePrix

Many believe there is no possible way the Monaco grand prix circuit can be viewed as a great circuit. From the tight nature and short straightaway, it is believed it is no longer conducive to modern motorsports machinery. It only took Formula E's first time using the full circuit to prove it still has it. 

From the time the lights went out, Formula E put on a spectacular race. Passes took place all over the 2.062-mile circuit. António Félix da Costa and Robin Frijns traded the lead throughout the race. Mitch Evans jumped up into the mix. Passes were happening all over. Evans took the lead heading up hill ahead of da Costa at Massenet. A late caution bunched the field for the final five laps, and the top three remained in lockstep for the final lap. Entering the chicane for the final time, da Costa made his move on the outside of Evans. The Portuguese driver locked up but slid in front of Evans and took the lead. 

Da Costa pulled away and won the race. Frijns nicked second at the line from Evans by 0.024 seconds. Just over 4/10ths of a second covered second to fifth. The top six finishers all started in the top six and finished where they started, but there were six lead changes. Sam Bird went from 16th to seventh. Lucas di Grassi moved up to tenth from 17th. 

It was a fitting finish for a race that never had a dull moment. 

On the other nominees:

The IMSA season could not have started with a better race, and it set the tone for the season. The 24 Hours of Daytona went to the wire in nearly every class. The top five overall finishers were on the lead lap. It was a battle between the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura and the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac before a late tire puncture forced the #01 Cadillac to make an extra start. Wayne Taylor Racing scored its third consecutive Daytona victory and this was in its first race with Acura. In LMP2, the top two finishers were on the same lap, as was the case in GT Le Mans and GT Daytona had the top five finishers in class on the lead lap. IMSA could have had four or five nominees for best race, but Daytona stood out for a race that did not let up over 24 hours. 

The skies scream of impending rain as the bikes set on the grid for MotoGP's Austrian Grand Prix. Everyone was preparing for a flag-to-flag race with a bike change mid-race. Teams made decisions based on the likelihood of a change in conditions. The leaders sprinted away just waiting for the rain, but it wasn't coming. It remained dry. Half the race was completed and still no rain when many thought it would come in the opening laps. A spritz kept everyone on edge, but it wasn't breaking through. Then it got heavier. And heavier. And finally, the leaders dove into the pit lane. Marc Márquez, Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martín, Joan Mir, Aleix Espargaro, Fabio Quartararo switched bikes, but Brad Binder stayed out with three laps to go. The rain started coming down harder and harder. Binder was on a razor's edge for the final laps but held on for victory, 15 seconds clear of Bagnaia on the road. 

NASCAR's second division does not always get recognized, especially at Bristol, but the September night race was one of the best of the season. Daniel Hemric, Sam Mayer, Justin Allgaier and Austin Cindric each shared the lead for a significant chunk of the race with traffic being difficult to navigate and keeping the field close together. A few late cautions set up a green-white-checkered finish. Cindric led and A.J. Allmendinger had risen to the front as other competitors fell back. Allmendinger made a great restart and found himself battling Cindric to the finish line. The two drivers banged into each other, both cars sliding across the finish line with Allmendinger ahead by 0.082 seconds. It was the only lap Allmendinger led.

The Brazilian Grand Prix had already had plenty of storylines prior to the lights extinguishing at the start of the race. Lewis Hamilton had his qualifying time disallowed after his Drag Reduction System was found to have a greater gap than allowed. Max Verstappen had touched Hamilton's Mercedes in parc fermé and was handed a fine. Hamilton had also taken on a five-grid spot penalty for a change in his internal combustion engine. Starting 20th in the sprint qualifying race, Hamilton finished fifth and was relegated to tenth for the grand prix. On an aggressive strategy, Hamilton quickly was up to second and pressuring Verstappen for the lead. Hamilton had the optimal tires for the closing stages and despite being driven off course in one battle for the lead, Hamilton came back and passed Verstappen with 13 laps to go. Hamilton took victory from tenth on the grid and the championship lead was down to 14 points. 

Past Winners
2012: Indianapolis 500
2013: British motorcycle Grand Prix
2014: Bathurst 1000
2015: Australian motorcycle Grand Prix
2016: Spanish Grand Prix
2017: All the races at the World Superbike/World Supersport weekend at Phillip Island
2018: Petit Le Mans

2019: Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

2020: Turkish Grand Prix

Achievement of the Year
Description: Best success by a driver, team, manufacture, etc.
And the Nominees are:

Lewis Hamilton reaches the century mark in victories

Valentino Rossi's grand prix career

Superstars Racing Experience for completing an entire season

Max Verstappen setting single-season Formula One record for podium finishes

Team WRT's championship success across multiple series and disciplines

And the winner is... Team WRT's championship success across multiple series and disciplines

Some teams do not get the recognition they deserve. Team WRT has look been a successful program in GT3 competition, but its 2021 season went beyond its comfort zone. 

Team WRT continued to have GT3 success. In the GT World Challenge Europe season, the team won the Sprint Cup championship with Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts. The Belgian pairing won four of ten races and stood on the podium seven times. In the Endurance Cup championship, Team WRT might not have won the drivers' championship, but it did win its fifth Endurance Cup teams' championship.

But the most impressive part of Team WRT's season was not in GT3 competition. In 2021, the organization branched out to full-time LMP2 competition with entries in each the European Le Mans Series and the FIA World Endurance Championship.

It opened the ELMS season with two consecutive victories for the #41 Oreca-Gibson of Louis Delétraz, Robert Kubica and Ye Yifei. At Le Mans, Team WRT started the final lap 1-2 with the #41 Oreca leading, but Ye slowed on the circuit with a broken throttle sensor. The #31 Team WRT Oreca of Robin Frijns inherited the lead but had the Jota Oreca of Tom Blomqvist breathing now his neck. Frijns was able to hold on by just over 7/10ths of a second to score Team WRT a Le Mans class victory on its Le Mans debut. 

Frijns along with Ferdinand von Habsburg and Charles Milesi would win the final two races of the WEC season and took the Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers championship over Jota. The #41 ELMS entry would finish no worse than fifth all season and picked up a home victory at Spa-Francorchamps, clinching that series championship for Ye, Kubica and Delétraz. 

Team WRT won four championships in two different classes of racing. It had never run a full prototype season before, and it won championships in two different series. This isn't Team Penske winning an IMSA title and IndyCar title in the same season. Team WRT is a successful organization, but it isn't a behemoth with a couple hundred employees. It topped some of the best Europe's best competitions and won on the global level.

 

On the other nominees:

It was a banner year for Hamilton. Entering 2021 with 95 victories, the century mark was bound to happen. It took longer than expected, but he reached it at the Russian Grand Prix, the 15th race of the season after Hamilton made the prudent decision to switch to wet weather tires as a rainstorm came over the circuit in the final ten laps. Hamilton was able to chase down Lando Norris and take advantage of his country, who trying to skate home on slick tires. Hamilton would add three more victories before the season ended.

Rossi did not end his MotoGP on the highest note, but The Doctor's entire career deserves to be celebrated. He made 432 grand prix starts, won 115 times and was a nine-time champion. With numerous records, Rossi was the face of grand motorcycle racing for an entire generation. He raced longer than anyone once thought imaginable in the premier class. At 42 years old, Rossi made his final start, over 25 years after his first start. There will likely not be another rider matching the cultural significance of Rossi. 

It might not take itself too seriously, but the inaugural SRX season was an outstanding success. One, it completed its entire season. Many new sports ventures carry great excitement and then flame out. SRX made it and did not suffer any hiccups. Two, it averaged over a million people for each of its six network broadcasted races. That is great, better than the IndyCar and Formula One average in the United States. It was only six races, but it could have been much worse. Three, SRX raced in front of packed grandstands at famous short tracks. Each race was one you could not miss. Four, it was a good group of drivers, and the races were pretty good. People were sad to see the season end and we all wait for summer 2022 for season two. 

Lost in the shuffle of the Formula One season was Verstappen breaking a Formula One record. Entering 2021, the most podium finishes in a season was 17. Michael Schumacher did it in 2002 and he was on the podium for all 17 races. Sebastian Vettel matched it in 2011. Hamilton matched in four times in 2015-16 and 2018-19. There are more races than ever in a Formula One season, and Verstappen wasn't on the podium for every race like Schumacher in 2002, but breaking this record is remarkable considering how many great drivers came close but fell short. Oh... and Hamilton had 17 podium finishes again this season. 

Past Winners
2012: DeltaWing
2013: Sebastian Vettel for winning nine consecutive races on his way to a fourth consecutive title
2014: Marc Márquez: Setting the record for most wins in a premier class season.
2015: Justin Wilson Memorial Family Auction
2016: Jimmie Johnson for his seventh NASCAR Cup championship
2017: Jonathan Rea: For becoming the first rider to win three consecutive World Superbike championships.
2018: Robert Wickens for winning IndyCar Rookie of the Year despite missing the final three races.

2019: Joe Gibbs Racing setting single-season record for most Cup victories by a in NASCAR's modern-era.

2020: Donald Davidson for 55 years of service to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500

Moment of the Year
Description: The Most Memorable Moment in the World of Racing during the 2021 season.
And the Nominees are:

Hélio Castroneves' fourth Indianapolis 500 victory

The entire Formula One season

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Norisring finale

NASCAR Cup Series Bristol Night Race

Bubba Wallace's first Cup victory at Talladega 

And the winner is... The entire Formula One season

There was a lot of hype heading into this Formula One season and every race lived up to it. 

Looking over the 2021 season, there isn't one race that was worth missing. From the season opener when Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes outclassed Max Verstappen and Red Bull when the Austrian manufacture had come out quicker in Bahrain until the controversially final lap at Abu Dhabi, there are too many moments to pick out one. Every race was appointment viewing. 

I view a great championship as one where you are unable to pinpoint one moment where it was decided. That was the case in Formula One this season. The championship pivoted every weekend. After Mercedes topped Red Bull in Bahrain, Verstappen bounced back and took victory at Imola when Hamilton looked stronger. Hamilton won twice on the Iberian Peninsula, notably in Barcelona where Mercedes used a two-stop strategy and chased down Verstappen with fresher tiers. 

At Monaco, Verstappen took a commanding victory while Hamilton was mired in seventh. Verstappen appeared to have a comfortable victory in Azerbaijan until a tire failed on the main straightaway in the closing laps. Hamilton was up to second for the final restart, but an error with the brake bias caused him to blow the first corner and instead of finishing first or second, Hamilton scored zero points.

That is only the first six races of the season and think about how crucial each one of those results felt! 

Verstappen employed the two-stop strategy at the French Grand Prix and beat Hamilton on a one-stopper. It led off a three-race stretch of Red Bull dominance. Verstappen led all 142 laps in Austria and took a 32-point lead in the championship. 

Then came the British Grand Prix, the first sprint qualifying weekend. Verstappen won the sprint. Hamilton knew it would be crucial to get Verstappen at the start. Neither driver was giving an inch, and the championship blew up at Copse. Hamilton was on the inside. Verstappen was on the outside. Neither gave way and contact was made. Verstappen spun off course and Hamilton continued. Verstappen was out and Hamilton remained on track but had a ten-second penalty. Hamilton overcame the penalty and won the race. 

In Hungary, Hamilton was the only car on the grid for the restart as the track dried while waiting under the red flag. I have covered half the races. Look at everything that happened in the first half of the season alone!

I didn't mention the Belgian Grand Prix, a race where the history books will say one lap was completed in three hours and 27 minutes. There was a sea of orange in Zandvoort, Hamilton and Verstappen reenacted their Copse battle in first chicane at Monza, but this time neither driver continued. A late rainstorm took away victory from Lando Norris at Sochi, and while Hamilton won, Verstappen had an impressive drive late to finish second. Hamilton fought back from a grid penalty to finish fifth in Turkey before the top two drivers in the championship went at it in Austin with Verstappen coming out on top. 

In Mexico, Hamilton took a surprise pole position, but Verstappen took the lead in the first corner and never looked back. Then there was the Brazilian Grand Prix, infractions for both manufactures, Hamilton going from 20th to fifth in the final sprint race of the season and then tenth to first in the grand prix, outmaneuvering Verstappen. 

Hamilton put down a beating in Qatar. Saudi Arabia was a mess with questionable driving standards and officiating, but after 21 races, Verstappen and Hamilton were tied entering the finale, the first time the top two in the championship were tied entering the final race since 1974! 

 

The final race lived up to the first 21 races. Verstappen's opening lap pass attempt forcing Hamilton off course, Red Bull employ Sergio Pérez to back up Hamilton to Verstappen during the first pit cycle, multiple strategies Red Bull threw out hoping to beat Mercedes and then the final safety car period, restart, and officiating choice to remove lapped cars from between the top two while not exactly following regulations. Max Verstappen took the lead in the turn five hairpin. Hamilton had two cracks at retaking the top spot. Verstappen held on and won the race, securing him the world championship. 

And we are still talking about one of Formula One's most dramatic seasons over a week after it concluded. We will still be taking until the 2022 season opener at Bahrain. 

On the other nominees:

After running behind closed doors and in the month of August for the first time ever, the 105th Indianapolis 500 returned to Memorial Day weekend and 135,000 spectators were able to attend the race. Far from a packed house, it was the first sense of normalcy at a motorsports event in North America and perhaps the world in over a year. Combined with the public euphoria to be together again, we also got to see an exciting race, the fastest in Indianapolis 500 history to be specific. Incredibly, the final laps were between two of IndyCar's youngest drivers, Álex Palou and Patricio O'Ward, and an unlikely, but tested, veteran, Hélio Castroneves. Castroneves was in his first race with Meyer Shank Racing and his first Indianapolis 500 ever without Team Penske. Twelve years had passed since his third Indianapolis 500 victory, and he was knocking on the door for his fourth for the third time. With two laps to go, Castroneves took the lead from Palou entering turn one and held on to become the fourth four-time winner, 30 years after Rick Mears last joined the club. In celebration, not only did Castroneves climb the fence, but ran up and down the main straightaway. It was a celebration the masses had long been waiting for.

DTM's inaugural season with GT3 regulations had gone particularly well entering the season finale. There were healthy grid sizes, more manufactures were involved, there were quality drivers on the grid, and it was a good sign for the future. The Norisring took the season finale slot after being delayed from the summer due to on-going COVID-19 restrictions. There was a good championship battle between Audi's Kelvin van der Linde and the Red Bull-supported AF Corse Ferrari driver Liam Lawson. Mercedes's Maximilian Götz was a distant third. Götz won the first race of the weekend, but Lawson was third ahead of van der Linde and all Lawson needed was an eighth-place finish to clinch the title. Lawson was on pole position and at the start van der Linde blew the first corner and drilled Lawson. Lawson was significantly damaged and could not maintain competitive pace. Later in the race, van der Linde and Götz made contact, puncturing one of van der Linde's tires and spinning him out of a points position. With Götz left standing in third position, Mercedes drivers Philip Ellis and Lucas Auer moved out of the way in the closing laps to let Götz win the race and the championship by three points over Lawson.

NASCAR's first elimination race at Bristol was not remembered for a driver that did not make it, but two drivers that did advance. Chase Elliott was leading with under 100 laps to go but Kevin Harvick remained close and was looking for his first victory of the season. Elliott had been able to hold off Harvick, but with under 40 laps to go, Harvick made a move low into turn three. Harvick's car slid up in the middle of the corner and made contact with Elliott, cutting one of Elliott's tires and forcing a pit stop. Angered by the move, Elliott returned to the racetrack and was able to drive in front of Harvick. Elliott remained in front and backed Harvick up to Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson. Larson was able to make a move and take the lead with four laps to go. After the race, Elliott and Harvick had an extended confrontation.

On an overcast Monday, NASCAR attempted to complete its fifth race of the playoffs, though it was likely the weather would not cooperate for a full 500-mile race at Talladega. As any Talladega race goes, there was side-by-side racing, moments of single-file running, and a few accidents. After a nine-car incident on lap 99, it was clear the rain would end the race. A mad scramble ensued with everyone trying to be at the front. Ten laps after the restart, Wallace took the lead and had some help from Kurt Busch. On lap 117, a four-car accident occurred on the back straightaway. The rain started falling. There was still a window for the race to be completed, but the rain didn't stop. It intensified. NASCAR called the race and Wallace picked up his first career victory, the second NASCAR Cup Series victory for an African American driver, nearly 58 years after Wendell Scott's lone Cup victory.

Past Winners
2012: Alex Zanardi
2013: 24 Hours of Le Mans
2014: Post-race at the Charlotte and Texas Chase races.
2015: Matt Kenseth vs. Joey Logano
2016: Toyota Slows at Le Mans
2017: Fernando Alonso announcing his Indianapolis 500 ride
2018: Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson battle at Chicagoland

2019: Kyle Kaiser and Juncos Racing knocking out Fernando Alonso and McLaren and Penske Purchasing Hulman & Co.

2020: March 12-13

Pass of the Year
Description: Best pass of 2021.
And the Nominees are:

Final lap of the MX5-Cup Sebring Race One

Colton Herta on Ryan Hunter-Reay for fourth in turn eight at Nashville on lap 59

Techeetah's five corner battle at Diriyah ePrix Race Two

Shane van Gisbergen from fourth to second at Sandown

Max Verstappen third to first on the second restart at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

And the winner is... Shane van Gisbergen from fourth to second at Sandown

Van Gisbergen had to start 17th in the third race of the Supercars season, and he was doing it with a broken collarbone after a cycling accident just a few weeks earlier. 

The race started in damp conditions and van Gisbergen quickly made his way up the order. He was up five spots in the first lap. From there, van Gisbergen decided to make its pit stop as late as possible in the 36-lap race. That pit stop came with 11 laps to go, and he emerged in fifth position. He would move up to fourth and closed on the leading trio of Chaz Mostert, Cameron Waters and Jamie Whincup.

With three laps to go, Waters took the lead into turn one, Mostert and Whincup went side-by-side into the corner and with momentum on exit from the first corner, van Gisbergen was able to get a run on Mostert and Whincup into turn two. Van Gisbergen had the inside and slipped ahead of both with just slight contact on Mostert on corner exit. 

It was an unlikely move at a difficult part of the circuit, but it was crucial, as van Gisbergen was able to chase down Waters. At the start of the final lap, van Gisbergen took the lead and the fresher tires allowed van Gisbergen to take an incredible victory, broken bones and poor starting position be damned. 

On the other nominees:

I could not include one pass from the first Mazda MX5-Cup race from Sebring. The entire lap needed to be recognized. The lap started with Gresham Wagner leading Michael Carter and Selin Rollan in third. Carter took the lead in turn one after Wagner went wide. Rollan took second after Wagner dropped his right-side tires off track exiting turn three. Carter was unable to pull away and the top three remained under a blanket for the next 12 corners. Down the Ullman straight, Rollan and Wagner slipstreamed ahead of Carter. Entering the final corner, Sunset Bend, Wagner shot up the inside to take the lead and was ahead of Rollan. Exiting the corner, Rollan slid up the inside of Wagner and the two cars were side-by-side. There was still room on the inside for Carter, who made it three-wide as the cars approached the line. At the line, Rollan was ahead of Carter by 0.001 seconds with Wagner in third, 0.013 seconds back.

Herta had the best car at Nashville, but the timing of cautions shuffled Herta out of the lead and down to ninth with 28 laps to go. Herta went on a charge. He was up to seventh with 27 laps to go. From lap 58 to lap 61, Herta made up a position a lap, but the best pass was on lap 59. Trailing teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay, Herta dove up the inside of turn eight and made it stick. No one was making serious attempts in such a tight corner, but with the speed and confidence, Herta went for it. This move put Herta in fourth. In that five-lap span, Herta went from sixth on the restart to third. He would spend two laps in third before he would take second from Scott Dixon. He closed on Marcus Ericsson and perhaps overdrove the car, ending in a collision with the barriers with six laps to go, but it was a drive few in IndyCar could duplicate. 

The opening round of the 2021 Formula E had two exciting races, but race two stood out. Sam Bird and Robin Frijns occupied the top two positions while Techeetah teammates António Félix da Costa and Jean-Éric Vergne were third and fourth. On lap 18, Vergne went up the inside of da Costa into turn 18. Da Costa held the spot but ran a little wide exiting turn 19. Vergne was able to get to the inside and the two drivers were side-by-side through turns 20 and 21. The two drivers made contact but made it through and remained side-by-side down the pit lane straightaway. Vergne had the inside for turn one and took the position. 

The inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will be remembered for many reasons, but one of the top moments will be the lap 17 restart. The third standing start of the race saw Esteban Ocon in the lead ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen after Verstappen had run wide on the lap 15 restart and improperly taken the lead and was forced to line up behind Hamilton, who had originally dropped to third when Verstappen took Hamilton wide when returning to the circuit, allowing Ocon to take the position. Hamilton had nailed the first two standing starts and now had the inside with Verstappen on the second row for the third one. Hamilton again had a good start and had the inside for turn one, but Verstappen was able to clear the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo. Verstappen was able to get to the inside of the corner and pass Hamilton. Ocon ran wide and was going to be forced to relinquish the position, but Verstappen took it for himself into turn four. 

Past Winners
2012: Simon Pagenaud at Baltimore
2013: Robert Wickens at Nürburgring and Peter Dempsey in the Freedom 100
2014: Ryan Blaney on Germán Quiroga
2015: Laurens Vanthoor from 4th to 2nd on the outside in the Bathurst 12 Hour
2016: Scott McLaughlin on Mark Winterbottom at Surfers Paradise
2017: Renger van der Zande: From second to first on Dane Cameron at Laguna Seca
2018: Alexander Rossi for all his passes in the Indianapolis 500

2019: Álex Rins on Marc Márquez in the final corner at Silverstone in the British motorcycle Grand Prix

2020: Pipo Derani on Ricky Taylor into turn one at Road Atlanta

The Eric Idle Award
Description: "When You're Chewing on Life's Gristle, Don't Grumble, Give a Whistle, And This'll Help Things Turn Out For The Best, and...  Always Look On The Bright Side of Life."
And the Nominees are:

Kevin Harvick

Liam Lawson

iRacing

Dennis Foggia

Mitch Evans

And the winner is... Liam Lawson

We touched upon the 2021 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season finale above, and Lawson could not have been on the worst side of an outcome. 

The Red Bull-supported driver entered DTM and GT3 racing while combining it with a Formula Two program. It was Lawson's first foray into sports car racing, and it did not take long to get on top. He won on debut at Monza. Through six races he had four podium finishes. He swept the Red Bull Ring races and took the championship lead at Assen with finishes of second and third. Entering the Norisring finale, Lawson led the championship with 14 points over Kelvin van der Linde, and Lawson was 26 points ahead of Maximilian Götz. 

A third in the first race of the Norisring round gave Lawson an 18-point lead over van der Linde and 19 points ahead of Götz. Pole position ahead of race two extended Lawson's lead to 20 points over Götz, who qualified second and 21 points ahead of van der Linde. All Lawson needed was an eighth-place finish to clinch the championship at 19 years old. Then the race started. Van der Linde drove up the inside into the turn two hairpin and made contact with Lawson. The damage took Lawson out of contention for a points finish, meaning he would need to rely on other results going his way. 

Van der Linde and Götz would make contact later in the race, knocking van der Linde out of the fight. Götz was the last championship contender standing, and he had Mercedes teammates more than willing to aid his championship hopes. Lawson was defenseless from lap one. He couldn't protect his championship lead, and with his only teammate Nick Cassidy out of the race as well, he didn't have anyone else out there looking out for him. 

Lawson was near flawless in DTM, not to mention he had been a regular points scorer in Formula Two. It was not the end to the season he deserved. It is one thing to lose a title, but for Lawson to have the opportunity ripped from his hands was unbefitting of his year, and he deserved better as a driver, who had shown great sportsmanship all season.

On the other nominees:

It is not good when you are nominated for this award in consecutive years, but in 2021, it is not because Harvick lost a championship late after dominating, it is because Harvick could not win at all in 2021. He went from nine victories to zero and still ended up fifth in the championship for a second consecutive year. Harvick ran well, regularly finishing in the top ten, but he didn't have the same strength we saw from 2020. 

After getting its moment in 2020, iRacing was met with much distain in 2021. NASCAR attempted an iRacing series that would run companion with the actual series, filling in open Wednesday nights as practice and qualifying was still going to be limited. NASCAR gave up halfway through. Other companion series were not received with the same enthusiasm, and fewer drivers participated. I hate to see iRacing go from this exciting alternative prospect that could complement the actual on-track series to something no one wants to touch. It was a bright spot during the pandemic, but it appears most are rejecting it having any future use, and I believe that is the wrong way to view it. 

Foggia was just hoping to stretch the Moto3 championship to the final race to have a prayer at the championship. With Pedro Acosta leading in the closing laps and Foggia in second, Foggia had to win to stay alive. Acosta led at the start of the final lap, but Foggia was going to have one or two chance to take the lead and remain alive. Instead, in turn three Darryn Binder made a desperate attempt up the inside and took out Foggia. Acosta sped away, won the race, and clinched the title. Foggia never got a chance to make a move. A career year with five victories and 11 podium finishes was ruined. 

At least Foggia made it to the final lap. Evans entered the Formula E finale five points off the championship lead in fourth, but he was the best starting championship hopeful in third. The next best starters of the top five in the championship was ninth. Evans was set to take the championship lead right at the start and just had to hold on to a top three finish with a comfortable cushion to the rest of his championship rivals. However, Evans stalled on the grid, sinking his title hopes immediately. To make matters worse, Edoardo Mortara clattered the back of Evans' stationary Jaguar, ending any chance of even fighting for the title.

Past Winners
2012: Ben Spies
2013: Sam Hornish, Jr.
2014: Alexander Rossi
2015: McLaren
2016: Toyota

2017: Nick Heidfeld
2018: Brett Moffitt

2019: Dennis Lind

2020: Marc Márquez

Comeback of the Year
Description: The Best Comeback in the 2021 season.
And the Nominees are:

Kyle Busch's victory at Pocono

Marcus Ericsson in the Music City Grand Prix

Pedro Acosta: Pit lane start to victory in the Doha Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton: Victory at the British Grand Prix

Jack Miller: Double long-lap penalty to victory at Le Mans

And the winner is... Kyle Busch's victory at Pocono

Even in contemporary motorsports, gearbox issues usually have catastrophic outcomes. When Busch started experiencing issues on lap five of 140-lap race at Pocono, the outcome was predestined before even close to the end of the first stage. The car slipped out of gear on the lap five restart and Busch had to hold the shifter in fourth gear until the next pit stops. 

The only problem was later in the race Busch's transmission ended up stuck in fourth car while leading the race. Unable to shift out of gear, this race was conceivable over before Busch reached the halfway point and while leading. He wouldn't be able to carry much speed exiting pit lane and he wouldn't be able to have the necessary acceleration on restarts. He made his second pit stop on lap 74, just prior to the end of stage two and immediately fell from the lead to outside the top ten and as one of the final cars on the lead lap. 

The crew worked a contraption to hold the car in gear and allow Busch to keep two hands on the steering wheel, but the likelihood of victory plummeted to near zero. Busch had to lay back on the restart. A few laps into the final stage, another caution came out for debris and the timing meant a driver could possibly stretch the fuel mileage to make it to the end of the race. 

Busch's team topped the car off under each lap prior to the restart. The team also held Busch so he could basically get a head-start on the restart and could build up speed instead of being trapped in the pack and potentially run over. With the strategy to run 45 laps in the final stint, Busch paced himself. Meanwhile, the rest of the field had taken a more aggressive strategy. It wasn't until the final 20 laps that the leaders started to realize they would need to make one more stop. Some tried to aggressive save fuel, but the damage had been done. 

Busch, on the other hand, was toeing the line but getting the mileage necessary to make it. He was also climbing up the order. As the laps dwindled, cars started diving to pit lane for the necessary splash of fuel to make it to the end. They all emerged behind Busch and were not going to be able to chase him down. Busch took the lead with two laps to go after Denny Hamlin conceded the lead for fuel. Busch cruised around on the final lap and took an improbable victory over 8.6 seconds clear of Kyle Larson.  

On the other nominees:

Not often does a race car, more specifically an open-wheel car, go from airborne on a street course to victorious. Ericsson pulled off the unthinkable after climbing over Sébastien Bourdais in the early laps of the inaugural Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville. Ericsson even thought his race was over with his front wing trapped under his wheels. He was ready to pull over and retire, but the bodywork broke free, and the Swede was able to drive back to the pit lane. The crew made the necessary repairs and kept working on the car. Cautions kept falling and Ericsson ended up at the front not needing to stop when everyone else made their initial pit stops. Ericsson had clean air and drove away. Colton Herta made it close, but Herta overstepped and hit the barrier. Ericsson had a two-lap dash and held on for the victory. 

After being penalized for irresponsible riding in the second Friday practice, Acosta, along with six other riders, started the second Moto3 race of 2021 from the pit lane. Already on the back foot, Acosta rode up to the end of the main pack and started making up positions. In the 18-lap race, Acosta did not break into the top ten until lap 15 when he was seventh. He was fifth in lap 16 and took the lead at the end of the penultimate lap. Darryn Binder took the lead on the final lap, but Acosta fought back and crossed the line 0.039 seconds ahead of the South African. 

Touched upon above and one of the first pivotal points in the World Drivers' Championship, Hamilton and Verstappen made contact in Copse on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix. After a lengthy red flag for barrier repairs, Hamilton was penalized ten seconds for avoidable contact. Hamilton made his first pit stop and came out in fourth after the ten-second penalty, but he was over 12 seconds behind leader Charles Leclerc after the pit cycle. Hamilton chased down the Ferrari and made the pass with three laps to go. Hamilton won the race, and the championship lead was down to eight points. 

With changing conditions in the French Grand Prix, Miller was caught speeding in pit lane when switching to the wet-weather bike on lap five. It didn't help that Miller had already gone off while struggling to make it back to pit lane on slicks. Ordered to serve a double long-lap penalty for speeding, Miller lost time to leader Fabio Quartararo, but Miller and Quartararo had pulled away from the field and Miller maintained second position after serving both penalties. Meanwhile, Quartararo had his own long-lap penalty for an improper bike swap. Miller retook the lead after Quartararo served his penalty and Miller never looked back. Quartararo slipped back to third and Miller scored his second career victory, his first since the 2016 Dutch TT.

Past Winners
2013: Michael Shank Racing at the 24 Hours of Daytona
2014: Juan Pablo Montoya to IndyCar
2015: Kyle Busch
2016: Max Verstappen from 15th to 3rd in the final 18 laps in the wet in the Brazilian Grand Prix
2017: Kelvin van der Linde: From third to first after a botched pit stop in the final 20 minutes in the 24 Hours Nürburgring
2018: Billy Monger: Returning to racing after losing his legs and finishing sixth in the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship with four podium finishes and a pole position at Donington Park.

2019: MotoE: For getting to the grid after fire destroyed every motorcycle prior to the first round of the season

2020: The #7 Acura Team Penske: Coming from last in the championship to winning the IMSA DPi championship

Most Improved
Description: Racer, Team or Manufacture Who Improved The Most from 2020 to 2021.
And the Nominees are:

Álex Palou: From 16th on 238 points to first on 549 points in IndyCar

Francesco Bagnaia: From 16th on 47 points to second on 252 points in MotoGP

Laurents Hörr: From 15th on 24 points to first with 105 points in the ELMS LMP3 class

Heart of Racing: From 15th to third in the IMSA GT Daytona class and GTD Sprint Cup champions

Yuven Sundaramoorthy: From 12th on 165 points to third on 329 points in U.S. F2000

And the winner is... Francesco Bagnaia

Bagnaia's first two MotoGP seasons were rather underwhelming. He was on a year-old Ducati for Pramac Racing in 2019, finishing 15th in the championship, but he did finish fourth at Phillip Island that year. He transitioned to the factory Ducati outfit for 2020 and scored his first podium finish with a runner-up at Misano, but that was his only top five finishes of the season, he retired from six of 11 starts and missed three races due to injury, leaving him 16th in the championship on 47 points. 

 

Needing a breakout year and paired with new teammate Jack Miller, Bagnaia immediately answered the called. He won pole position for the season opener and finished third. Two more runner-up finishes came in the first four races. He scored points in nine of the first ten races, was second at the Austrian Grand Prix, and scored his first premier class victory at Aragón after a fierce battle with Marc Márquez. That Aragón was also the first of five consecutive races he started on pole position. 

He would win the next race at Misano and then finished third at Austin. He closed the season with two consecutive victories at Portimão and Valencia. Fabio Quartararo might have clinched the championship with two races remaining, but Bagnaia finished 26 points behind the Frenchman and Bagnaia was 44 points clear of 2020 champion Joan Mir. More importantly, Bagnaia was 71 points clear of teammate Miller after Miller finished 85 points ahead of Bagnaia in 2020 whilst riding for Pramac Racing. 

This season was a big turnaround for Bagnaia, and Ducati heads into 2022 with two legitimate contenders for the world championship.

On the other nominees:

Palou benefitted from joining the Chip Ganassi Racing organization after running with Dale Coyne Racing in his rookie IndyCar campaign. But while Palou showed speeding 2020 and was third in his third career start, He had three top ten finishes all season. He won his first race with Ganassi and had three podium results in the first six races. He ended the season with three victories and eight podium finishes from 16 starts on his way to becoming champion. 

Not many LMP3 drivers get mentioned, but Hörr was nearly untouchable in 2021. His best finish in ELMS competition was sixth in 2020. In 2021, he won three of six races with two different co-drivers. He was in the top five for five of six races, and he started on pole positions four times. On top of his ELMS success, Hörr won the IMSA Prototype Challenge season opener at Daytona, and he won the 24 Hours of Daytona qualifying race in LMP3 before finishing third in class. 

Staying in IMSA, Heart of Racing had two podium finishes in 2020, but it was outside the top five in four of eight starts, and it missed two races. In 2021, Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis won twice, including the season finale at Petit Le Mans. Heart of Racing had five podium finishes and never finished worse than sixth while it took the Sprint Cup championship. 

Sundaramoorthy's first two full seasons in U.S. F2000 were unremarkable. He was 12th in the championship both years. In 31 starts, he had one top five finish. There was no reason to be over-optimistic for 2021. And then Sundaramoorthy won the season opener. He won three of the first seven races and was on the podium two more times. He ended the season with four victories, tied for the most all season and he stood on the podium after nine of 18 races. His 329 points scored in 2021 was 14 more than he had scored in his first two U.S. F2000 seasons combined. 

Past Winners
2012: Esteban Guerrieri
2013: Marco Andretti
2014: Chaz Mostert
2015: Graham Rahal
2016: Simon Pagenaud
2017: DJR Team Penske
2018: Gary Paffett

2019: Cooper Webb

2020: Joan Mir

And that will do it. With 2021 behind us, there is plenty of exciting things ahead of us for 2022, and competition recommences earlier than usual it feels. We will be into the thick of the season at the start of March. I think we can agree our biggest wish for next year is more normalcy, the return of a few other significant races from around the globe and fewer postponements. This year was better than last, but there is room for it to get better. In recent weeks, it feels like we have taken a step back, but there are reasons for optimism. 

This year ends like all the others: Predictions and Christmas presents. Keep an eye out as we close out 2021.

2021 Motorcycle Predictions: Revisited

The two-wheel seasons are complete and it was a somewhat normal season for each of the major international road racing championships. Both had slight delays and slightly compacted schedules. There were a few extra trips to the Iberian peninsula. A couple of tracks hosted multiple rounds in MotoGP, but there was some branching out. MotoGP returned to the United States. World Superbike returned to South America and Asia, and a new track in Asia at that. The 2021 season was a step in the right direction, there were even a few new champions, but how many preseason predictions went the same way?

MotoGP

1. Marc Márquez will be in sole possession of third all-time in grand prix victories

Wrong! And this one was a little ambitious on second view. 

Márquez had to win nine races to fulfill this. He won three races, but he was never quite at 100% this season and missed the final two races after suffering a training accident. Márquez was fighting fitness all season. He was good, and he did let a few races get away from him, most notably the French Grand Prix and the Austrian Grand Prix. 

He is on 85 victories, six away from sole possession of third all-time. He could do it in 2022. He needs to come back healthy and stay healthy. It felt like he was getting better over the course of the season, and he did win consecutive races at Austin and the second Misano race. The second victory was aided with Francesco Bagnaia going down, but Márquez also pushed Bagnaia until the final corner at Aragón. 

Hopefully, Márquez is back and faces no more hiccups. All things considered, 2021 was a pretty strong year.

2. Fabio Quartararo will have at least two podium finishes that are not victories

Correct!

Quartararo's first two podium finishes were victories at Losail and Portimão, but he was then third at Le Mans, won at Mugello and then had a third at Sachsenring and a third at the Red Bull Ring with a victory in the Dutch TT in-between. 

He even had a pair of runner-up finishes at Misano and Austin. 

Quartararo scored points in the first 16 races before he went down in turn five in the penultimate race of the season at Portimão. He ended the season with a fifth-place result at Valencia, the same position he started the season in at Qatar.

It was as close to a flawless season as you can get from Quartararo. After the disappointment of 2020, where inconsistency ruled his season, the Frenchman kept scoring points and nobody matched his results. 

3. Suzuki falls at least one position in the constructors' championship and finishes at least 100 points off the champion

Wrong and correct!

Suzuki was third in the constructors' championship again, but it did finish 117 points behind champions Ducati. Honda was fourth in the constructors' championship, 36 points behind Suzuki. If Márquez was healthy for the entire season, Honda likely tops Suzuki. Márquez scored 142 points in 14 starts, averaging 10.142 points per start. Extrapolate that to 18 races and Márquez finishes with about 182 points. That extra 40 points would have gotten Honda ahead of Suzuki. 

But, it wasn't meant to be. 

4. There will be at least three first-time winners

Wrong! 

There were two first-time winners. Jorge Martín took a surprise victory at Red Bull Ring in the Styrian Grand Prix and Francesco Bagnaia won at Aragón. But, that third first-time winner never came. 

What makes it worse is Johann Zarco was runner-up in the first two races of the season from Qatar. Zarco was runner-up in four of the first seven races and then he didn't finish on the podium for the rest of the season. 

Enea Bastianini was third in both Misano races, but distant thirds in each. Pol Espargaró made it a Honda 1-2 in the second Misano race, but he was well behind teammate Márquez. Aleix Espargaró was third at Silverstone.

Those five riders all have yet to win in MotoGP and stood on the podium this season, but not the right step to fulfill this prediction.

Moto2/Moto3

5. The American drivers combine for at least 150 points

Wrong! Oof, this is getting tough. 

The American riders combined for 109 points this season. Joe Roberts had 59 points in 13th and Cameron Beaubier was 15th on 50 points. 

Roberts started well, but he was banged up for the second half of the season and did not start two of the final three races and he scored zero points in the final five events. He also had a terrible stretch in the middle of the season, with retirements in Germany, Netherlands, the Styrian Grand Prix and he was then 16th in the Austrian Grand Prix. He scored 50 points in the first seven races, 7.142 points per start at that point. If he kept that up, he was looking at 128 points. 

I did not anticipate Beaubier to score a significant points total, and he performed better than I expected. He led the American Racing with teammate Marcos Ramírez in 17th on 39 points, only two more points than Ramírez scored in 15 races last year. Beaubier stood out at Austin and the second Portimão race where he picked up fastest lap. 

Hopefully, Beaubier continues trending upward and Roberts can be fully fit for 2022.

6. The Moto3 championship will have at least 100 career starts

Wrong! And we went in the opposite direction of veteran. We had a rookie champion. 

Pedro Acosta clinched the Moto3 championship in the 17th and penultimate race of the season with his sixth victory. Acosta started spectacularly. Second on debut, victory from a pit lane start in the second race of the season, a grand prix racing first, and then two victories to follow that. He scored points in the first 12 races and won five of those races. 

Acosta did face a larger challenge in the second-third of the season, but his consistency won him the championship. While Dennis Foggia went on a tear throughout summer, Foggia had too many retirements and when Darryn Binder ran into Foggia on the final lap in the second Portimão race, it ended the Italian's championship hippies and it allowed Acosta to take the title a race early. 

World Superbike

7. At least four riders pick up at least three victories.

Correct! 

No surprise here, Jonathan Rea was the first to win three races and he did it in the first five races of the season. Toprak Razgatlioglu was the next to three victories, reaching it at the 12th race of the season. Scott Redding was the next to three, but after he won the third and fourth races of the season, he would not win again until the 18th race. Michael Ruben Rinaldi won the seventh and eighth races of the season and his third came in the 27th race. 

8. Garrett Gerloff at least doubles his number of podium finishes in full races

Wrong! 

Not only did Gerloff not fulfill this prediction, but his total podium finishes went down. He had only two podium finishes all season, a third in the SuperPole race in the opening weekend at Aragón and his only full race podium was the 12th race of the season at Donington Park. It was a better season than 2020 for Gerloff, but it was not enough of an improvement to really celebrate, especially since he was only the third best Yamaha rider. 

9. BMW scores at least 250 points

Correct! 

BMW broke out a bit, scoring 315 points and Michael van der Mark won the SuperPole race from Portimão. BMW had five total podium finishes this season and Tom Sykes won pole position at the Barcelona round. It isn't the greatest results in the world, but it was BMW's most competitive season in a longtime. 

10. Andrea Locatelii will have the best WSBK championship finish for a reigning World Supersport champion since Cal Crutchlow

Correct! Locatelli had to finish sixth or better to fulfill this prediction, and the Italian ended the season fourth in the championship, taking fourth on the final day of the season from Ducati's Michael Ruben Rinaldi. 

Locatelli did not win a race this season, but he was third-place in four races and he finished fourth in 11 times in 37 races. He scored 291 points, 210 points behind Scott Redding in third.

World Supersport

11. Can Öncü leaps into the top five of the championship

Wrong! Öncü was just short of the top five. He was sixth in the championship with 182 points, 70 points outside the top five. 

Öncü did not win a race and he had three podium finishes. 

12. Jules Cluzel will have more victories than runner-up finishes

Correct! After having six runner-up finishes in 11 starts last year, Cluzel won four times in 2021, all in the final six races, with only one runner-up finish this season, which also came in the final six races of the season. He did finish third-place in four races. 

5.5 out of 12. Oof. There were a couple of close ones. A couple would have gone my way if one or two things went differently. It happens.