Today marks the start of practice for the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans from Circuit de la Sarthe. The first practice session begins at 4:00 p.m. Le Mans time (10:00 a.m. ET) and is four hours in length. The first qualifying session begins at 10:00 p.m. Le Mans time (4:00 p.m. ET) and is two hours in length. Fifty-five cars, across four classes aim for immortality in the lengthy history book for the twice-around the clock French classic.
LMP1
LMP1 overflows with talent. Audi drivers Loïc Duval and Tom Kristensen defend their Le Mans victory with Lucas di Grassi as the new third driver. Kristensen is Mr. Le Mans with nine overall victories and thirteen overall podiums in seventeen Le Mans starts. This is Duval's sixth Le Mans start and his victory last year was his career best after back-to-back fifth place finishes. Lucas di Grassi was promoted to the top Audi team this year after the retirement of Allan McNish. Di Grassi finished third last year on Le Mans debut with Marc Gené and Oliver Jarvis as co-drivers.
The #2 Audi has won two of the last three years overall with drivers Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer. A third win for this trio would make them the 18th, 19th and 20th driver with three Le Mans victories. The third Audi features Portugal's Felipe Alubquerque making his Le Mans debut. Italian Marco Bonanomi returns after a one-year sabbatical. He finished third on debut in 2012 with Oliver Jarvis and Mike Rockenfeller as his co-drivers. Oliver Jarvis rounds out the #3 Audi and has finished third overall the passed two years.
The #8 Toyota of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Nicolas Lapierre have won the opening two rounds of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship and was fastest on the test day on June 1st. Alexander Wurz looks for his third Le Mans victory with his third different manufacture having won with Porsche in 1996 and Peugeot in 2009. The Austrian leads the #7 Toyota with three-time Le Mans runner-up Stéphane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima as his co-drivers.
Then there is the return of Porsche. With 16 overall Le Mans victories, the Stuttgart-based manufacture aims for their first Le Mans triumph since 1998 with two previous Le Mans winners in their stables. Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard are split between the #14 and #20 Porsche respectively. Dumas is joined by three-time Le Mans class winner Marc Lieb and Neel Jani. Bernhard is joined by Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber. Webber returns to Le Mans for the first time since 1999 where he had a massive accident in the warm-up, keeping him and one of the famed Mercedes CLRs from taking the tricolour.
Rounding out LMP1 are the two petrol-powered Rebellion R-One-Toyotas with Nicolas Prost, Nick Heidfeld and Mathias Beche in the #12 and Dominik Kraihamer, Andrea Belicchi and Fabio Leimer in the #13.
LMP2
None of the three drivers (Bertrand Baguette, Martin Plowman, Ricardo González) who won in LMP2 last year return to defend their titles. OAK Racing is the defending winning team and has two cars, one featuring Alex Brundle, Jann Mardenborough and Le Mans rookie Mark Shulzhitskiy, the other an all-Chinese line-up with David Cheng, Ho-Pin Tung and Adderly Fong. Brundle and Mardenborough finished second and third respectively in class last year.
One of the full-time FIA World Endurance Championship teams is G-Drive Racing, which finished third last year before being excluded for a fuel cell violation. Romain Rusinov returns with Frenchmen Olivier Pla and Julien Canal. G-Drive leads the LMP2 standings in WEC and were fastest on the test day. The Hong Kong KCMG Oreca-Nissan of Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley and Alexandre Imperatori are second in the standings after second place finishes in the first two races of the 2014 FIA WEC season. The Russian SMP Racing has two cars entered. Two-time Le Mans class winner Mika Salo is joined by Sergey Zlobin and Anton Ladygin while Anton's brother Kirill is joined by Nicolas Minassian, who will be making his fifteenth Le Mans appearance and Maurizio Mediani.
Defending European Le Mans Series champions Signatech Alpine and driver Nelson Panciatici returns for his third Le Mans start. He is joined by Oliver Webb and Jean-Loup Chatin, both making their Le Mans debuts. Winners from this year's European Le Mans Series season, Thiriet by TDS Racing and Jota Sport are on the entry list. Thiriet drivers Pierre Thiriet, Ludovic Badey and Tristan Gommendy lead the ELMS points. Second are Jota's Simon Dolan and Harry Tincknell. Marc Gené joins the Brits for Le Mans.
Three time Le Mans LMP2 class winner Tom Kimber-Smith returns with Caterham Racing and Americans Chris Dyson and 16-year old Matthew McMurray. This is Dyson's first Le Mans appearance since 2009. The other American in LMP2 is Ricky Taylor driving for Labre Compétition with Pierre Ragues and Keiko Ihara. Labre has five Le Mans class victories, all coming in GT classes.
Winners in LMP2 in 2011, Greaves Motorsport has an all-British line-up with Michael Munemann, Alessandro Latif and James Winslowm all making their Le Mans debuts. Sébastien Loeb Racing has triple Porsche Supercup champion René Rast joined by Czech driver Jan Charouz and Frenchman Vincent Capillaire. Two teams in LMP2 run under the Swiss flag. One is the Race Performance Oreca-Judd of Michel Frey, Franck Mailleux and Jon Lancaster. The other is Newblood by Morand Racing Morgan-Judd of former Formula One driver Christian Klein, Gary Hirsch and Romain Brandela.
The final two teams in LMP2 are the Irish Murphy Prototypes of Nathanaël Berthon, Rodolfo Gonzalez and Karun Chandhok and German Pegasus Racing with French drivers Julien Schnell and Léo Roussel and Swiss driver Nicolas Leutwiler. Murphy Prototypes was second fastest in class on the test day.
GTE-Pro
Another edition of the Ferrari vs. Porsche vs. Corvette vs. Aston Martin will unfold this weekend. Porsche returns as defending winners. Richard Lietz's two winning co-drivers from 2013 have moved to LMP1 (Lieb and Dumas). The Austrian will be join by German Marco Holzer and Frenchman Frédéric Makowiecki. The #92 started off on the right foot, leading the GT field on the test day. Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Pilet made it a Porsche 1-2 last year and return in the #91 with Nick Tandy as their third driver.
Ferrari has the most entries in GTE-Pro with three. Defending GT world champions AF Corse has two cars entered. Gianmaria Bruni, Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella make up the #61 458 Italia. The trio won GTE-Pro at Le Mans in 2012. Bruni and Vilander currently lead the WEC GT Drivers championship. The #71 AF Corse features Le Mans rookies James Calado and Davide Rigon and six-time Le Mans class winner, Monegasque Olivier Beretta. The third Ferrari is entered by defending ELMS GTE champions Ram Racing. Matt Griffin, Álvaro Parente and Federico Leo are the three drivers.
The Corvette CR7.R makes it Le Mans debut. It's predecessor, the C6.R won on Le Mans debut in 2005 and on it's Le Mans GT2 class debut in 2009. The C5-R finished third on it's debut in 2000. Jan Magnussen, Antonio García and Jordan Taylor are in the #73 with Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Richard Westbrook. Gavin has four class wins at Le Mans but has not won since 2006.
Aston Martin's last Le Mans win came in 2008. Darren Turner was apart of that winning team. He is joined by Stefan Mücke and Bruno Senna in the #97. The #99 Aston Martin has Hong Kong's Darryl O'Young as it's senior statesman in his third Le Mans appearance with Alex MacDowell and Fernando Rees making their Le Mans debuts.
GTE-Am
GTE-Am is the largest class in the 2014 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Nineteen entries made up of 11 Ferrari 458 Italias, 6 Porsche 911s and 2 Aston Martins.
Defending winners IMSA Performance Matmut returns with Raymond Narac as the lone victor from 2013 defending the title (Jeal-Karl Vernay and Christophe Bourret are not at Le Mans). Narac is joined by Nicolas Armindo and David Hallyday to make an all-French line-up. IMSA Performance has a second all-French line-up with 1993 overall winner Éric Hélary, Erik Maris and Jean-Marc Merlin.
Belgian Prospeed Competition also has two Porsches entered. The WEC-entered #75 will be driven by two-time Le Mans class winner Emmanuel Collard, François Perrodo and Markus Palttalla. Their second entry features two Americans, Cooper MacNeil and Bret Curtis alongside the Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen. MacNeil and Curtis are both in their sophomore appearance while Bleekemolen won the LMP2 class in 2008.
The final two Porsche are Proton Competition-related. The German squad has their own WEC entry of Klaus Bachler, Christian Ried and Khaled Al Qubaisi and another entry in partnership with American Dempsey Racing. Patrick Dempsey returns with co-drivers Joe Foster and Patrick Long for the second consecutive year. They finished fourth in class last year.
Aston Martin returns with heavy hearts as they look to honor Allan Simonsen, one year after the Dane fatal's accident in the first hour of the race. The all-Danish team, the #95 Vantage GTE features 2009 LMP2 winner at Le Mans Kristian Poulsen, David Heinemeier Hansson who finished second in LMP2 last year and defending Porsche Supercup champion Nicki Thiim. Poulsen and Heinemeier Hansson lead the WEC GTE-Am points. The #98 Vantage GTE has a fourth Dane, Christoffer Nygaard alongside Canadian Paul Dalla Lana and Portugal's Pedro Lamy.
AF Corse has four Ferrari's entered in GTE-Am. The #61 WEC entry of Luíz Pérez Companc, Marco Cicoci and Mirko Venturi won the most recent round of the championship at Spa-Francorchamps and is second in WEC GTE-Am points. AF Corse's second WEC entry, the #81 of Sam Bird, Michele Rugolo and Stephen Wyatt finished third in class at the Silverstone season opener. The other two AF Corse Ferraris feature Peter Ashley Mann, Lorenzo Casè and Raffaele Gianmaria in the #60 and the ELMS GTE trio of Yannick Mallélgol, Jean-Marc Bachelier and Howard Blank in the #62.
The other WEC GTE-Am Ferraris in the field are Ram Racing with Johnny Mowlem making his eighth start with Mark Patterson and Archie Hamilton. 8Star Motorsports has Frankie Montecalvo, Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti entered as it's drivers. 8Star was the fastest GTE-Am team on the test day and second fastest GT team on the test day.
Along with their two LMP2 entries, SMP Racing has one car entered in GTE-Am. Andrea Bertolini and Viktor Shaitar lead the ELMS GTE points with a second and first in the first two rounds. They are joined by Russian Aleksey Basov for Le Mans as their usual third driver Sergey Zlobin will be in LMP2. JMW Motorsports have American drivers Seth Neiman and Spencer Pumpelly on loan from Flying Lizard Motorsports with Saudi Abdulaziz Al-Faisal. The final ELMS-entered Ferrari in the field is of Team Sofrev ASP. Their driver Soheil Ayari makes his 12th Le Mans appearance with fellow Frenchman Anthony Pons and 1998 FIFA World Cup winning goalkeeper Fabien Barthez making his Le Mans debut.
Krohn Racing is the third American team in GTE-Am. Tracy Krohn and longtime co-driver Nic Jönsson is joined by Ben Collins. This is Collins' first Le Mans appearance in a GT class after three in LMP classes. The final Ferrari in GTE-Am is of Team Taisan from the Asian Le Mans Series. Former Formula One driver Shinji Nakano is joined by German Pierre Ehret and Brit Martin Rich in that car.
Garage 56
Nissan returns for the second time in three years as the Garage 56 entry. Unlike their 2012 entry as the engine supplier for the DeltaWing, Nissan is the builder of this year's entry, the ZEOD RC, an electric-hybrid. Nissan GT Academy drivers Lucas Ordóñez and Wolfgang Reip and joined by four-time Formula Nippon champion and driver of the DeltaWing in 2012, Satoshi Motoyama. The ZEOD RC was 29.560 seconds off the top time set by the #8 Toyota on the test day but was 4.686 seconds ahead of the #92 Porsche, the top GT car.
Prediction
I made it back in December: Porsche wins Le Mans with Mark Webber and I am sticking with it. The #20 Porsche wins. The #8 Toyota finishes second with the #2 Audi rounding out the podium.
The #35 OAK Racing Ligier of Alex Brundle, Jann Mardenborough and Mark Shulzhitskiy win LMP2 with G-Drive finishing second and Thiriet by TDS Racing rounding out the LMP2 podium.
The Nissan ZEOD RC runs at least two-thirds of the race.
Give me the #92 Porsche for back-to-back victories in GTE-Pro. The #73 Corvette finishes second with the #71 Ferrari holding off the #97 Aston Martin for third.
Finally, the #96 Aston Martin takes an emotional victory in GTE-Am with the #81 AF Corse Ferrari and SMP Racing Ferrari making it a tough battle. The Dempsey Racing Porsche and Ram Racing Ferrari having decent pushes for a class podium.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Monday, June 9, 2014
Musings From the Weekend: Two Stepping Croissants
Late dashes were the theme of the weekend, from under the lights at Texas, north of the border and in the lush forests of Eastern Pennsylvania. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
One-Day Shows
Why doesn't IndyCar run the non-triple crown oval races as one day shows? IndyCar ran a 75-minute practice session Friday morning followed by qualifying and a half hour final practice in the evening before the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. Couldn't they have done that all Saturday? The green flag for the Firestone 600 was at 8:50 p.m. ET. In theory, couldn't there have been a two hour practice session at 3:00 p.m. with qualifying at 6:00 p.m.? The downside to a one-day show is a team having an accident and needing to scramble before the race. Ovals struggle filling dead time. Road and street course races have it made. Look at St. Petersburg or Barber where IndyCar, the Road to Indy and Pirelli World Challenge all had practice sessions, qualifying sessions and races over three days. Once one practice ended, the next begin five minutes later.
What can ovals do? None of the Road to Indy series run at Texas. There were Legend car races prior to the IndyCar race but that isn't enough to get fans to show up early and stay all day. Time is more precious and going to a track to sit and wait when there is no action for multiple hours is no longer acceptable and what ever undercard is selected must be worth while. Cover bands won't get it done, a packed schedule with at most ten minutes of dead time between sessions will. Of course, as with most things in life, easier said than done.
Too Easy to Drive or Talented Field?
The first 149 laps of the Indianapolis 500 went caution-free and Texas featured green flag runs of 110 and 109 laps. Giving where credit is more than deserved, More Front Wing co-editor and Toronto Star contributor Stephanie Wallcraft tweeted wondering if the DW12 chassis was too easy to drive. A fair question to ask. I think the field is just that talented considering the drivers are no longer flat out at Texas and have to lift in the corners with tires falling off more than ever before in the recent IndyCar history.
I threw out turning about the turbo boost levels, which is currently set at 130 kPa on ovals, 140 kPa for Indianapolis 500 qualifying and 150 kPa on road and street courses. Maybe the boost level should be at 150 kPa for all races and qualifying sessions. Most drivers seem to want more power. The fans certainly wouldn't mind more power. The manufactures and teams may have to spend a little more money but it could be worth the expense.
Montreal Madness
Daniel Ricciardo took down the mighty Mercedes AMG Formula One Team with a thrilling first career victory in Montreal passing Nico Rosberg with three laps to go to end the German sides unbeaten record in 2014 and putting Red Bull Racing on the scoreboard. Sebastian Vettel bookended the podium for Red Bull with a last lap accident between Sergio Pérez and Felipe Massa while battling for fourth drop both drivers out of the points and nearly collected the four-time world champion.
Just when it appeared Bahrain was going to be the best race of 2014, Canada took the honor by leaps and bounds over the Persian Gulf night race. If you were to tell the average person that attendance of motorsports events across the globe has been on a steady decline in recent years and shown them today's crowd, they would have called you a liar. The Canadian faithful came out in droves like they always do. When things appear negative, a race like Montreal makes you realize things are much better than is what is being led on.
Why couldn't IndyCar join Formula One at Montreal and race on Saturday afternoon? This isn't the first time I have suggested an IndyCar-Formula One doubleheader weekend and I will continue suggesting them. Why? Because they make sense for the North American rounds. Put aside historical bad blood, superiority complexes, inferiority complexes, my fans, your fans, lap times and television times. The two series running together would support one another. What fan would turn down that ticket because one is on the card with the other? IndyCar back at Montreal and heading to Austin would be nothing but a good thing for the series as it would get the series on world class tracks and in front of bigger crowds than some current races draw. Bernie Ecclestone, FOM and the FIA should realize the positivity of sharing the weekend as they already have more money than God. Doing something for the greater good of motorsports over hogging the pie to themselves would be a change highly welcomed by many.
Paddock Space
Can it get any tighter than the paddock at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve? Somehow they managed to get 43-plus stock cars in there when the NASCAR Nationwide Series raced there. The only paddocks that I can think of that compare are Monaco and the old Interlagos paddock which is being replaced as the pits and start/finish move from before the Senna 'S' to after the famed corners at the bottom of the hill.
By the way, has anyone checked on how construction is going on that new paddock in Interlagos? Brazilians aren't the most diligent when it comes to construction. We're days away from the World Cup and three stadiums aren't finish (though they are in the final, final, final, final stages of construction). I don't want the teams to show up in November only to find the garages aren't even close to finish.
Le Mans
Middle of June means Le Mans. When IndyCar announced their schedule and we found out the series would be idle for the weekend of the 24-hour endurance race around the Circuit de la Sarthe, I thought, "Great! Now some of these drivers will get a chance to compete on sports car racing's grandest stage." Fast forward and is Sébastien Bourdais returning to compete in the race around his childhood home? No. Is Simon Pagenaud going? No. Is Mike Conway there? No because Millennium Racing withdraws more than an teenage boy. Is Ryan Hunter-Reay a third driver for Viper? No because Viper isn't even going.
It's a little disappointing their aren't the one-offs that I thought would happen as well as the lack of American teams but the field is still full of talented teams and drivers regardless. I would've have loved to see Viper go to Le Mans to take on the likes of Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin because it is one of the few opportunities for the GTE teams going for the world title get to take on the American-based Corvette and Viper teams. It would have been tremendous racing. If only Corvette and Viper ran the WEC and we'd get to see it eight times a year.
There are still plenty of great teams and qualified drivers at Le Mans. LMP1 is LMP1. Audi vs. Toyota vs. Porsche. No complaints. LMP2 is a garden salad of veterans and youthful drivers. For the Chris Dysons, Marc Genés, Tom Kimber-Smiths, Karun Chandhoks, Mika Salos, Christian Kleins and Nicolas Minassians there are the Alex Brundles, Jann Mardenboroughs, Harry Tincknells, Ricky Taylors, Oliver Webbs and Alessandro Latifs.
GTE-Pro should be a nine-car brawl for 24 hours. The Corvette tag-team takes on the factory efforts from Ferrari, Aston Martin and Porsche. GTE-Pro also sees an influx of young talent as a few drivers recently racing in GP2 have found valuable rides while struggle to break into Formula One. Álvaro Parente, James Calado and Davide Rigon all make their Le Mans debuts this year and all do it driving Ferrari 458 Italia.
Then there is the Star Wars cantina that is GTE-Am. It has a little bit of everything and every time you turn around you say, "you're here too!?" Previous Le Mans winners and workhorse GT drivers are joined by a World Cup champion, actor and royalty.
Let's not forget the most recent Ben Bowlby brainchild supported by Nissan the hybrid-electric of the DeltaWing. The Garage 56 entry is a preamble to Nissan's dive into the deep end that is LMP1 in 2015.
By the way, Rebellion Racing does not count as a Le Mans winner for winning LMP1-L, which they are guaranteed to do since they are the only two cars in the "subclass." You aren't a Le Mans winner for winning a subclass. If that's the case, we'd be celebrating top finishing flat-6 entry, top finishing turbo-charged entry, top finishing natural-aspirated entry and so on to the point that every one gets a Rolex. That's not how it works. Win your class, not a subclass by de facto.
Look for more in the Le Mans preview, which will be posted midweek.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Ed Carpenter, Daniel Ricciardo and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. but did you know...
Sébastien Ogier won Rally d'Italia Sardegna, his fourth victory of the 2014 World Rally Championship and he extended his championship lead to 33 points ahead of Volkswagen teammate Jari-Matti Latvala who finished third. Mads Østberg finished second to Ogier.
Marco Melandri swept the World Superbike weekend in Sepang. Michael van der Mark won in Supersport.
José María López and Ma Qing Hua split the WTCC weekend in Moscow.
There was a NASCAR Truck Series race and it wasn't won by Kyle Busch. Matt Crafton took the victory at Texas.
Coming up this weekend:
24 Hours of Le Mans.
MotoGP at Barcelona.
NASCAR at Michigan.
One-Day Shows
Why doesn't IndyCar run the non-triple crown oval races as one day shows? IndyCar ran a 75-minute practice session Friday morning followed by qualifying and a half hour final practice in the evening before the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. Couldn't they have done that all Saturday? The green flag for the Firestone 600 was at 8:50 p.m. ET. In theory, couldn't there have been a two hour practice session at 3:00 p.m. with qualifying at 6:00 p.m.? The downside to a one-day show is a team having an accident and needing to scramble before the race. Ovals struggle filling dead time. Road and street course races have it made. Look at St. Petersburg or Barber where IndyCar, the Road to Indy and Pirelli World Challenge all had practice sessions, qualifying sessions and races over three days. Once one practice ended, the next begin five minutes later.
What can ovals do? None of the Road to Indy series run at Texas. There were Legend car races prior to the IndyCar race but that isn't enough to get fans to show up early and stay all day. Time is more precious and going to a track to sit and wait when there is no action for multiple hours is no longer acceptable and what ever undercard is selected must be worth while. Cover bands won't get it done, a packed schedule with at most ten minutes of dead time between sessions will. Of course, as with most things in life, easier said than done.
Too Easy to Drive or Talented Field?
The first 149 laps of the Indianapolis 500 went caution-free and Texas featured green flag runs of 110 and 109 laps. Giving where credit is more than deserved, More Front Wing co-editor and Toronto Star contributor Stephanie Wallcraft tweeted wondering if the DW12 chassis was too easy to drive. A fair question to ask. I think the field is just that talented considering the drivers are no longer flat out at Texas and have to lift in the corners with tires falling off more than ever before in the recent IndyCar history.
I threw out turning about the turbo boost levels, which is currently set at 130 kPa on ovals, 140 kPa for Indianapolis 500 qualifying and 150 kPa on road and street courses. Maybe the boost level should be at 150 kPa for all races and qualifying sessions. Most drivers seem to want more power. The fans certainly wouldn't mind more power. The manufactures and teams may have to spend a little more money but it could be worth the expense.
Montreal Madness
Daniel Ricciardo took down the mighty Mercedes AMG Formula One Team with a thrilling first career victory in Montreal passing Nico Rosberg with three laps to go to end the German sides unbeaten record in 2014 and putting Red Bull Racing on the scoreboard. Sebastian Vettel bookended the podium for Red Bull with a last lap accident between Sergio Pérez and Felipe Massa while battling for fourth drop both drivers out of the points and nearly collected the four-time world champion.
Just when it appeared Bahrain was going to be the best race of 2014, Canada took the honor by leaps and bounds over the Persian Gulf night race. If you were to tell the average person that attendance of motorsports events across the globe has been on a steady decline in recent years and shown them today's crowd, they would have called you a liar. The Canadian faithful came out in droves like they always do. When things appear negative, a race like Montreal makes you realize things are much better than is what is being led on.
Why couldn't IndyCar join Formula One at Montreal and race on Saturday afternoon? This isn't the first time I have suggested an IndyCar-Formula One doubleheader weekend and I will continue suggesting them. Why? Because they make sense for the North American rounds. Put aside historical bad blood, superiority complexes, inferiority complexes, my fans, your fans, lap times and television times. The two series running together would support one another. What fan would turn down that ticket because one is on the card with the other? IndyCar back at Montreal and heading to Austin would be nothing but a good thing for the series as it would get the series on world class tracks and in front of bigger crowds than some current races draw. Bernie Ecclestone, FOM and the FIA should realize the positivity of sharing the weekend as they already have more money than God. Doing something for the greater good of motorsports over hogging the pie to themselves would be a change highly welcomed by many.
Paddock Space
Can it get any tighter than the paddock at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve? Somehow they managed to get 43-plus stock cars in there when the NASCAR Nationwide Series raced there. The only paddocks that I can think of that compare are Monaco and the old Interlagos paddock which is being replaced as the pits and start/finish move from before the Senna 'S' to after the famed corners at the bottom of the hill.
By the way, has anyone checked on how construction is going on that new paddock in Interlagos? Brazilians aren't the most diligent when it comes to construction. We're days away from the World Cup and three stadiums aren't finish (though they are in the final, final, final, final stages of construction). I don't want the teams to show up in November only to find the garages aren't even close to finish.
Le Mans
Middle of June means Le Mans. When IndyCar announced their schedule and we found out the series would be idle for the weekend of the 24-hour endurance race around the Circuit de la Sarthe, I thought, "Great! Now some of these drivers will get a chance to compete on sports car racing's grandest stage." Fast forward and is Sébastien Bourdais returning to compete in the race around his childhood home? No. Is Simon Pagenaud going? No. Is Mike Conway there? No because Millennium Racing withdraws more than an teenage boy. Is Ryan Hunter-Reay a third driver for Viper? No because Viper isn't even going.
It's a little disappointing their aren't the one-offs that I thought would happen as well as the lack of American teams but the field is still full of talented teams and drivers regardless. I would've have loved to see Viper go to Le Mans to take on the likes of Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin because it is one of the few opportunities for the GTE teams going for the world title get to take on the American-based Corvette and Viper teams. It would have been tremendous racing. If only Corvette and Viper ran the WEC and we'd get to see it eight times a year.
There are still plenty of great teams and qualified drivers at Le Mans. LMP1 is LMP1. Audi vs. Toyota vs. Porsche. No complaints. LMP2 is a garden salad of veterans and youthful drivers. For the Chris Dysons, Marc Genés, Tom Kimber-Smiths, Karun Chandhoks, Mika Salos, Christian Kleins and Nicolas Minassians there are the Alex Brundles, Jann Mardenboroughs, Harry Tincknells, Ricky Taylors, Oliver Webbs and Alessandro Latifs.
GTE-Pro should be a nine-car brawl for 24 hours. The Corvette tag-team takes on the factory efforts from Ferrari, Aston Martin and Porsche. GTE-Pro also sees an influx of young talent as a few drivers recently racing in GP2 have found valuable rides while struggle to break into Formula One. Álvaro Parente, James Calado and Davide Rigon all make their Le Mans debuts this year and all do it driving Ferrari 458 Italia.
Then there is the Star Wars cantina that is GTE-Am. It has a little bit of everything and every time you turn around you say, "you're here too!?" Previous Le Mans winners and workhorse GT drivers are joined by a World Cup champion, actor and royalty.
Let's not forget the most recent Ben Bowlby brainchild supported by Nissan the hybrid-electric of the DeltaWing. The Garage 56 entry is a preamble to Nissan's dive into the deep end that is LMP1 in 2015.
By the way, Rebellion Racing does not count as a Le Mans winner for winning LMP1-L, which they are guaranteed to do since they are the only two cars in the "subclass." You aren't a Le Mans winner for winning a subclass. If that's the case, we'd be celebrating top finishing flat-6 entry, top finishing turbo-charged entry, top finishing natural-aspirated entry and so on to the point that every one gets a Rolex. That's not how it works. Win your class, not a subclass by de facto.
Look for more in the Le Mans preview, which will be posted midweek.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Ed Carpenter, Daniel Ricciardo and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. but did you know...
Sébastien Ogier won Rally d'Italia Sardegna, his fourth victory of the 2014 World Rally Championship and he extended his championship lead to 33 points ahead of Volkswagen teammate Jari-Matti Latvala who finished third. Mads Østberg finished second to Ogier.
Marco Melandri swept the World Superbike weekend in Sepang. Michael van der Mark won in Supersport.
José María López and Ma Qing Hua split the WTCC weekend in Moscow.
There was a NASCAR Truck Series race and it wasn't won by Kyle Busch. Matt Crafton took the victory at Texas.
Coming up this weekend:
24 Hours of Le Mans.
MotoGP at Barcelona.
NASCAR at Michigan.
Saturday, June 7, 2014
First Impressions: Texas 2014
1. This race was different. It wasn't bad. It was different. A decade of pack racing grew on us and now we aren't sure what we will see on 1.5-mile ovals or if we will like it. What we have seen in the third visit for the DW12 chassis to Texas are results that aren't instant, rather they develop over the course of each a stint. The tire wear is greater than we have seen in many years as aerodynamics are being fine-tuned to find the equilibrium of oval racing. But we don't know what that equilibrium is or when to stop adjusting bits and piece leading to three years and three different races from Texas. This year, a team couldn't afford to stay out on a stint 5 laps longer than anyone else because the time they lost was much greater as those on fresh tires were running nearly 10 MPH faster each lap. Drivers have to muscle the cars around now. Flat out is no longer an option and a car that is great on lap one won't necessarily drive the same on lap 75, lap 155 or lap 205. To be honest, I hope they can add at least one more of these races.
2. Ed Carpenter kind of came out of nowhere. Will Power was dominating but Carpenter's car got better and was able to contend with Power as the race went along. Carpenter makes up for the misfortune of Indianapolis tonight. These are the races we expect from Carpenter. With four ovals to go, he is a contender for each one as he and his little team that does picks fights with the dynasties of Penske, Ganassi and Andretti. Seeing Carpenter succeed makes me wonder why don't more USAC guys get a shot at IndyCar ovals? If Carpenter is doing this, imagine what Bryan Clauson, Tracy Hines, Darren Hagen and company could do if given the time and opportunity. It wouldn't be a bad thing at all.
2b. Think about this: Ed Carpenter Racing has more victories than Ganassi.
3. Will Power has things going his way. Last week, he overcame a drive-through penalty to finish second. Tonight, he had a late pit lane speeding penalty when in second but only feel to sixth do to the amount of cars a lap down. A late caution gave Power the opportunity to pit for tires and he blew by everyone to end up second and, had there been one more lap, he would have probably ended the night a winner for the third time in 2014.
Going to chew out Power for a moment. After the race, he got out of his car and complains about getting penalized all the time. Well Will, don't speed on the pit lane, run over an air gun or cause accidents and then you won't have these problems. Race control isn't calling you on bogus stuff such as a crew member having their shoe laces untied during a pit stop and it's a safety violation. You are committing legitimate violations that call for punishment and the officials must keep their integrity by calling when need be. Don't point fingers, just do better next time.
4. Juan Pablo Montoya's ability to go 5-8 laps longer on a stint on an oval is impressive. For a driver who has been out of open-wheel racing since 2006, Montoya is on top of his game. He can turn an average oval race into one where he is in contention. He still needs a little work getting consistent finishes up front on the road and street courses.
5. Simon Pagenaud was the top Honda in fourth. This was Chevrolet's night. Unlike Indianapolis where Honda could go toe-to-toe with Chevrolet, three Hondas ended with mechanical failures. Heat definitely played a factor and with the Houston doubleheader up next, it could be a long summer for the Japanese manufacture.
6. Ganassi cars finished 5th (Scott Dixon), 6th (Tony Kanaan), 9th (Ryan Briscoe) and 10th (Charlie Kimball). Not a bad night for them but for the second straight year they have yet to win after eight races. They've looked much better than 2013 though and Dixon went on to win the championship. Let's not rule them out just yet in 2014.
7. Mikhail Aleshin came home in seventh just ahead of Hélio Castroneves. A great night for the rookie. At the start of the season I said he had the right teammate to help him get up to speed on ovals and it looks like it has paid off.
8. Josef Newgarden fell to eleventh after starting second. Graham Rahal had a terrible start, losing time right as the green flag fell but recovered to finish 12th.
9. Carlos Muñoz was the top Andretti Autosport driver in 13th. The team coming off the Indianapolis 500 victory has had two weekends from hell. James Hinchcliffe was 15th with Ryan Hunter-Reay 19th and Marco Andretti 22nd after mechanical failures. Hunter-Reay was running solidly in the top ten at the time. These mechanical problems have plagued him since the start of the DW12-era. In 2012, gremlins bit him at Indianapolis, Texas and Mid-Ohio but he held on for the title. Last year it was in both Toronto races, Sonoma and both Houston races. Since the team switched from Chevrolet to Honda you have to wonder if the problem aren't from the supplier but rather the customer. Andretti was off to flying start, gaining eight positions from 17th to 9th on lap one on the high side. If only he had the chance to go all 248 laps, rather than three.
10. The broadcast was a little rusty as NBCSN takes over the reigns for the remainder of the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. It was their first race since Barber and they were without their lead commentator. I give them a break. Brian Till was shaky at times. I don't recall him calling an oval race before (I could be wrong) and maybe he needs a little more practice. Till did settle in as the race when on and Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy helped carry the conversation nicely. I am sure they will be on their A-game when Leigh Diffey returns to the booth.
11. IndyCar takes a much needed two weeks off before the Houston doubleheader June 28th and 29th. We are pretty much at the halfway point, the ninth race of eighteen is race one at Houston. Look for thoughts about the first half of 2014 in the coming weeks. Not to forget mentioning previews for next week's 24 Hours of Le Mans and thoughts on many other motorsport series that will be in action.
2. Ed Carpenter kind of came out of nowhere. Will Power was dominating but Carpenter's car got better and was able to contend with Power as the race went along. Carpenter makes up for the misfortune of Indianapolis tonight. These are the races we expect from Carpenter. With four ovals to go, he is a contender for each one as he and his little team that does picks fights with the dynasties of Penske, Ganassi and Andretti. Seeing Carpenter succeed makes me wonder why don't more USAC guys get a shot at IndyCar ovals? If Carpenter is doing this, imagine what Bryan Clauson, Tracy Hines, Darren Hagen and company could do if given the time and opportunity. It wouldn't be a bad thing at all.
2b. Think about this: Ed Carpenter Racing has more victories than Ganassi.
3. Will Power has things going his way. Last week, he overcame a drive-through penalty to finish second. Tonight, he had a late pit lane speeding penalty when in second but only feel to sixth do to the amount of cars a lap down. A late caution gave Power the opportunity to pit for tires and he blew by everyone to end up second and, had there been one more lap, he would have probably ended the night a winner for the third time in 2014.
Going to chew out Power for a moment. After the race, he got out of his car and complains about getting penalized all the time. Well Will, don't speed on the pit lane, run over an air gun or cause accidents and then you won't have these problems. Race control isn't calling you on bogus stuff such as a crew member having their shoe laces untied during a pit stop and it's a safety violation. You are committing legitimate violations that call for punishment and the officials must keep their integrity by calling when need be. Don't point fingers, just do better next time.
4. Juan Pablo Montoya's ability to go 5-8 laps longer on a stint on an oval is impressive. For a driver who has been out of open-wheel racing since 2006, Montoya is on top of his game. He can turn an average oval race into one where he is in contention. He still needs a little work getting consistent finishes up front on the road and street courses.
5. Simon Pagenaud was the top Honda in fourth. This was Chevrolet's night. Unlike Indianapolis where Honda could go toe-to-toe with Chevrolet, three Hondas ended with mechanical failures. Heat definitely played a factor and with the Houston doubleheader up next, it could be a long summer for the Japanese manufacture.
6. Ganassi cars finished 5th (Scott Dixon), 6th (Tony Kanaan), 9th (Ryan Briscoe) and 10th (Charlie Kimball). Not a bad night for them but for the second straight year they have yet to win after eight races. They've looked much better than 2013 though and Dixon went on to win the championship. Let's not rule them out just yet in 2014.
7. Mikhail Aleshin came home in seventh just ahead of Hélio Castroneves. A great night for the rookie. At the start of the season I said he had the right teammate to help him get up to speed on ovals and it looks like it has paid off.
8. Josef Newgarden fell to eleventh after starting second. Graham Rahal had a terrible start, losing time right as the green flag fell but recovered to finish 12th.
9. Carlos Muñoz was the top Andretti Autosport driver in 13th. The team coming off the Indianapolis 500 victory has had two weekends from hell. James Hinchcliffe was 15th with Ryan Hunter-Reay 19th and Marco Andretti 22nd after mechanical failures. Hunter-Reay was running solidly in the top ten at the time. These mechanical problems have plagued him since the start of the DW12-era. In 2012, gremlins bit him at Indianapolis, Texas and Mid-Ohio but he held on for the title. Last year it was in both Toronto races, Sonoma and both Houston races. Since the team switched from Chevrolet to Honda you have to wonder if the problem aren't from the supplier but rather the customer. Andretti was off to flying start, gaining eight positions from 17th to 9th on lap one on the high side. If only he had the chance to go all 248 laps, rather than three.
10. The broadcast was a little rusty as NBCSN takes over the reigns for the remainder of the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. It was their first race since Barber and they were without their lead commentator. I give them a break. Brian Till was shaky at times. I don't recall him calling an oval race before (I could be wrong) and maybe he needs a little more practice. Till did settle in as the race when on and Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy helped carry the conversation nicely. I am sure they will be on their A-game when Leigh Diffey returns to the booth.
11. IndyCar takes a much needed two weeks off before the Houston doubleheader June 28th and 29th. We are pretty much at the halfway point, the ninth race of eighteen is race one at Houston. Look for thoughts about the first half of 2014 in the coming weeks. Not to forget mentioning previews for next week's 24 Hours of Le Mans and thoughts on many other motorsport series that will be in action.
Morning Warm-Up: Texas 2014
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| Can Will Power Extend his Points Lead at Texas? |
Tony Kanaan starts third. Kanaan has one career win at Texas, coming in 2004. He started in the third position that night. Juan Pablo Montoya starts fourth for his first career Texas starts in an IndyCar. Montoya had two top ten finishes at Texas in fourteen NASCAR Cup starts. Ed Carpenter starts fifth. Carpenter scored his first career top five finish at Texas last year with a fourth place finish. Simon Pagenaud starts sixth. His twenty-second place finish in Belle Isle race one last week was the Frenchman's second career finish outside the top twenty in fifty-eight IndyCar starts.
Former Texas winners Scott Dixon and Justin Wilson occupy row four. It is six years to the day of Scott Dixon's only Texas victory to date. He would go on to win the championship that year. Justin Wilson finished twenty-seventh that night after completing only 39 laps. Dixon was fastest in final practice. James Hinchcliffe and Carlos Muñoz make it an all-Andretti round five. Hinchcliffe average finish at Texas is 12th in four career Texas starts. This is Muñoz first career appearance at Texas Motor Speedway as Indy Lights does not run at Texas Motor Speedway.
Mikhail Aleshin starts eleventh. He has led a lap in three consecutive races. Ryan Hunter-Reay starts twelfth. His average start at Texas is 13.25 in what will be his eighth career Texas start. Hunter-Reay was the top Honda in final practice in eighth position. Ryan Briscoe starts eighth. Briscoe was third in final practice, rounding out a Ganassi 1-2-3 behind Dixon and Kanaan. Hélio Castroneves starts fourteenth. This is only the third time Castroneves has qualified outside the top ten at Texas in seventeen IndyCar starts (fourth if you count the abandoned CART round from 2001 where he qualified nineteenth before the decision was made not to race).
Charlie Kimball starts fifteenth. Kimball is guaranteed to improve his average finish at Texas. His average finish is 23.25 in four starts and only twenty-two cars are entered for tonight's race. Kimball is joined by Takuma Sato on row eight. A.J. Foyt Racing is looking for their first Texas victory since Billy Boat's victory in 1998. Marco Andretti starts seventeenth with Sébastien Bourdais joining him on row nine. Bourdais finished twentieth in his first career Texas start last year. Sebastián Saavedra follows his KV teammate in nineteenth. Jack Hawksworth rounds out the top twenty in his first career Texas appearance. Graham Rahal and Carlos Huertas round out the field on row eleven. This is Rahal's worst career Texas start.
NBCSN's coverage of the Firestone 600 begins at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Power Wins Second Consecutive Texas Pole Position
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| Points Leader Will Power Wins Pole For Texas |
Simon Pagenaud qualified sixth with Scott Dixon in seventh position. Winner of the 2012 Texas race Justin Wilson qualified on the outside of row four at 217.007 MPH. James Hinchcliffe was the top qualifying Andretti Autosport's driver in ninth with his rookie teammate Carlos Muñoz rounding out the top ten at 216.960 MPH.
Fellowing Muñoz is his fellow rookie Mikhail Aleshin in eleventh. Joining him on row six will be Ryan Hunter-Reay who looks to make up ground after a disastrous weekend at Belle Isle. Ryan Briscoe qualified thirteenth. Briscoe's worst finish at Texas is 12th place which came in his first start at the track in 2005 in his first stint for Ganassi. His former teammate and defending Texas winner Hélio Castroneves qualified fourteenth. Charlie Kimball rounded out the top fifteen.
Takuma Sato will Kimball on row eight. Marco Andretti qualified seventeenth with Sébastien Bourdais in eighteenth. Following Bourdais is his KV teammate Sebastián Saavedra. Jack Hawksworth rounds out the top twenty with second place from Belle Isle race one Graham Rahal and Carlos Huertas rounding out the field in twenty-second position with a two-lap average of 212.191 MPH.
IndyCar final practice will take place at 7:45 p.m. ET and tomorrow's coverage of the Firestone 600 from Texas Motor Speedway begins at 8:00 p.m. on NBCSN.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Track Walk: Texas 2014
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| Hélio Castroneves looks for his fifth Texas win and second consecutive victory in 2014 |
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. ET.
TV Channel: NBCSN
Announcers: Brian Till (Leigh Diffey is on Formula One duty at Montreal), Paul Tracy, Townsend Bell, Kevin Lee, Kelli Stavast, Jon Beekhuis and Robin Miller.
Race Notes
Race is schedule for 248 laps.
This is the first race night race of the 2014 season.
Twenty-two cars are entered with Mikhail Aleshin, Carlos Muñoz, Jack Hawksworth, Carlos Huertas and Juan Pablo Montoya all making their first IndyCar start at Texas.
IndyCar and Texas Motor Speedway have a one-year deal for 2014, meaning this could be the final time IndyCar runs at the 1.5-mile oval.
Race is schedule for 248 laps.
This is the first race night race of the 2014 season.
Twenty-two cars are entered with Mikhail Aleshin, Carlos Muñoz, Jack Hawksworth, Carlos Huertas and Juan Pablo Montoya all making their first IndyCar start at Texas.
IndyCar and Texas Motor Speedway have a one-year deal for 2014, meaning this could be the final time IndyCar runs at the 1.5-mile oval.
Will Penske or Ganassi Continue Their Dominance?
Since downsizing to one IndyCar weekend in the 2005 season, Penske and Ganassi have won eight of ten races to occur on the 1.5-mile oval. Hélio Castroneves picked up his fourth career Texas victory last year after leading 132 laps from sixth on the grid. Will Power picked up his first career oval victory in 2011 at Texas, winning the second race of the lone doubleheader to occur at Texas Motor Speedway. Sam Hornish, Jr. and Ryan Briscoe picked up Penske's other two victories since 2005 with Gil de Ferran winning his final career IndyCar start in 2003 driving for Penske.
Ganassi has two victories at Texas since 2005 with Scott Dixon winning from pole in his championship season of 2008. Dario Franchitti won the first race of the 2011 doubleheader. Ganassi's other Texas victory was Jeff Ward's lone IndyCar victory in June 2002 when he passed Al Unser, Jr. on the final lap.
The last non-Penske/Ganassi winners were by Tomas Scheckter for the now-defunct Panther Racing in 2005. Scheckter led 109 laps from pole position that night. Justin Wilson won his first career oval race at Texas in 2012 after then-Ganassi driver Graham Rahal brushed the wall coming to the white flag, relegating the American to second and handing Dale Coyne Racing their second victory in team's history.
Andretti Autosport is the only other active team on the IndyCar grid with a win at Texas. Tony Kanaan won the Texas race in June 2004 on the way to his lone championship. He led 145 laps after starting third with Dario Franchitti making it an Andretti 1-2 finish.
Can Ryan Hunter-Reay Rebound?
He went from Indianapolis 500 winner and Verizon IndyCar Series points leader to 16th and 19th at Belle Isle and dropping to third in the standings. Texas has not been the Texas-born Hunter-Reay's best track. In seven Texas starts, Hunter-Reay's average finish is 13.42 but he scored his best finish at Texas last year with a second place finish and that came after retiring in race two at Belle Isle and finishing eighteenth.
Retaking the points lead at Texas though maybe to great a feat for the 2012 IndyCar championship. The two drivers Hunter-Reay trails in the championship standings not only drive for Penske but Will Power and Helio Castroneves have average finishes of 7.666 and 6.625 respectively at Texas.
Who Can End A Drought?
Graham Rahal, Marco Andretti, Justin Wilson, Ryan Briscoe and Ed Carpenter haven't visited victory lane in a while.
Let's start with Rahal. Should he win another race in his IndyCar career, it would break Johnny Rutherford's 41-year old record for most starts between victories. Rutherford made 97 starts between victories at Atlanta in 1965 and Ontario in 1973. Texas will mark Rahal's 103rd start since his lone victory at St. Petersburg in 2008. We all remember's Rahal's brush in 2012 that cost him victory but his overall track record at Texas is dismal with an average finish of 15.83.
Marco Andretti will be making his 50th start since his 2011 victory at Iowa this weekend. He has racked up ten top-fives finishes since that victory including a fifth place finish last year at Texas after leading 57 laps. Andretti's previous Texas performances go back in forth. His average finish at Texas is 11.1 with four top-tens being counterbalanced by three finishes outside the top fifteen.
Justin Wilson's Texas win in 2012 is his most recent in IndyCar but he has been knocking on the door. Wilson has eight top-fives in thirty-four starts since his Texas win however he has only one second-place finish in that time frame. That came at Sonoma last year. Outside of his Texas win though, Wilson's best finish at Texas is fifteenth and his average finish on the 1.5 mile oval is 16.42.
Ryan Briscoe has only made sixteen starts his last victory but that is thanks to a part-time schedule in 2013. The last time the Australian led the field under the checkered flag was Sonoma 2012. While experiencing great success last year in sports cars (six LMP2 victories in eight starts in 2013 driving for Level 5 Motorsports in the final season of ALMS), Briscoe has only one top-five finish in IndyCar since his Sonoma victory. Texas could be Briscoe's breakout in 2014. He has finished on the podium at Texas in five of his seven starts at the track with an average finish of 4.28 all-time at Texas.
Ed Carpenter's last victory may have only been 20 starts ago but since he is only running ovals, his chances at victories are much fewer. He finished second at Fontana last year and was a contender for the Indianapolis 500 victory before having an accident with James Hinchcliffe with 25 laps to go. Carpenter picked up his career-best Texas finish last year by finishing fourth. Carpenter is always a contender on ovals. His average oval finish in 2013 was 7.16.
Fun Facts
The last pole sitter to win at Texas Motor Speedway was Ryan Briscoe in 2010. The pole-sitter has won at Texas on six occasions.
Justin Wilson's victory in 2012 from seventeenth is the furthest back a Texas winner has started.
This year's Texas race is the first IndyCar race on June 7th since 2008 when Scott Dixon won at Texas.
Scott Dixon needs to lead 246 laps to become the eighth driver to join the 4,500 laps led club.
Juan Pablo Montoya needs to lead 210 laps to become the twenty-third driver to join the 2,000 laps led club.
Ryan Briscoe needs to lead 65 laps to become the twenty-seventh driver to join the 1,500 laps led club.
Remember more facts can always be found at the Telemetry Center.
Prediction
Marco Andretti wins. Tony Kanaan and Ed Carpenter round out the top podium. Ryan Hunter-Reay recovers for a top ten but does not get the points lead. Top finishing rookie will be Carlos Muñoz. Penske puts two cars in the top ten. Mikhail Aleshin finishes ahead of his teammate Simon Pagenaud. Sleepers: Ryan Briscoe and Josef Newgarden.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Musings From the Weekend: Dominance and Safety
Plenty of racing this weekend. Some great, some left shaking your head. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
Differences in Domination
Marc Márquez made it 6-for-6 in 2014 by winning at Mugello after an amazing dual with Jorge Lorenzo. We may not see a better battle this year than the one these two riders put on yesterday. It was better than their back-and-forth at Silverstone last year and I thought that was the race of the year in 2013. As I said before, Márquez has won all six MotoGP races in 2014, all have come from pole position and has picked up fastest lap in four of his six victories. He is fifty-three points clear of Valentino Rossi, fifty-four clear of his Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa and eighty-five clear of Lorenzo who retired and had a false start penalty in the first two rounds of the season cost him dearly.
Skip over the Atlantic like a stone to four-wheel, V8s and ovals and there is another type of dominance. Kyle Busch has won four of five NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races in 2014 and in 10 Nationwide Series starts has three wins, two seconds, three thirds and two fourths. He led 150 of 200 laps in the Truck race and 124 of 200 in the Nationwide race. Add these performances to leading 130 of 134 at Charlotte in the Truck race, 104 of 167 at Kansas in the Truck race and 155 of 168 at Phoenix in the Nationwide race.
What Márquez is doing is astonishing. Márquez is beating the best of the best. Even when he is challenged, he finds a way to come out on top against fellow world champions. At 21 years old, he is shattering and setting records, some of which he still has the bar in his hand and we don't know when he is going to stop.
What Busch is doing is agonizing. He does this every year in the lower divisions and in the top class of NASCAR he is raked over the coals by the competition. Since joining Joe Gibbs Racing six years ago, Busch has picked up 33 of his 39 Truck victories, 55 of 66 Nationwide victories and a Nationwide title. What has he done in the Cup Series? Averaged a 10th place finish in the Cup Series standings and has an average finish of 13.48.
Busch doesn't get paid the big bucks to win Nationwide and Truck races but that's all he has to show for when each season ends. What does he get out of that? That's like Justin Verlander going down to Double-A and Triple-A to rack up shutouts. Is that really going to benefit him come October in the Major Leagues? Hell no. After six years of watching Busch and company ruin the lower two national touring divisions for NASCAR you'd think he would realize that dominating all these races on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons aren't helping him come Sunday when their are more butts in the stands, eyeballs on the TV screen and more dollars on the line.
Márquez has won titles at the 125cc and Moto2 level and is beating the best in the world at the top level of motorcycle racing. We are still waiting for Busch to do the same in NASCAR.
Safety Concerns
A couple of safety concerns from this weekend. First, the hole at Dover. Does NASCAR have a red flag planned for pot holes every five years? First was Martinsville in 2004. Then Daytona in 2010. You'd think with how big and flush with cash NASCAR has become these problems would be prevented from ever happening ever again. I know the Northeast had one of the roughest winters with many days below freezing and record amounts of snow. I lived through it. That doesn't mean it's acceptable to tracks coming apart though. A piece of the concrete shattered the glass of the walkover bridge. Imagine if that had gone into the stands and hit a spectator. Let's make sure that doesn't happen.
Look at what happened at Belle Isle two years ago when a piece of asphalt ended James Hinchcliffe's day and it could have been worse considering the piece of asphalt hit him in the head. No series should go to any track that is coming apart. It isn't safe for anybody and that has to be taken in to account. Dover has another race in September. Let's hope they do more than a simple patch job.
Concern #2 from the weekend comes from the Super GT race in Japan. The Nissan GT-R GT3 of Yuki Iwasaki had a brakes failures, flew through the sand trap and throw the tires and armco barrier. There were so many things wrong with this accident that I am not sure where to start. Not only did the barrier fail to keep the car inside the ballpark but when the car transitioned from the sand trap to the grass section in front of the tires it launched the car into the air. Had that car been going a few miles an hour faster, it very well could have completely cleared the barrier. That transition has to be level.
Then there is the tires and armco barrier failing to keep the car in play. Sand traps are meant to slow cars down, armco keeps cars in play. The moment a car blows through armco, red flags have to be raised. Putting SAFER barriers in are easier said then done. I'm thinking add a few more rows to the tire barriers. I think back to the accident Heikki Kovalainen had in the 2008 Spanish Grand Prix. He slid into a tire barrier that was at 5-6 rows deep.
Finally there was the hood of the Nissan take flew over everything and nearly to the top of the hill where spectators are standings. To me, this is the cheapest and easiest solution to fix. Tether the hood to the car. Maybe that sounds easier said than done but I can't imagine a race team being so financially strained by tethers.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Will Power, Marc Márquez, Jimmie Johnson and Hélio Castroneves but did you know...
Ricky and Jordan Taylor won in the IMSA race at Belle Isle. Alessandro Balzan and Jeff Westphal won in GTD.
Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli won in the GT500 class at the Super GT event at Autopolis. Takashi Kobayashi and Shinichi Takagi won in GT300.
Marco Wittmann won the DTM race at the Hungaroring, his second win of the season.
Esteve Rabat won the Moto2 race at Mugello and Romano Fenati won in front of the home crowd in Moto3.
Johnny O'Connell and Dean Martin both swept the GT and GTS classes respectively at Belle Isle in Pirelli World Challenge.
Coming up this weekend:
IndyCar at Texas on Saturday night.
Formula One at Montreal.
NASCAR at Pocono.
World Rally Championship is in Sardinia.
World Superbike at Sepang.
WTCC at Moscow.
Differences in Domination
Marc Márquez made it 6-for-6 in 2014 by winning at Mugello after an amazing dual with Jorge Lorenzo. We may not see a better battle this year than the one these two riders put on yesterday. It was better than their back-and-forth at Silverstone last year and I thought that was the race of the year in 2013. As I said before, Márquez has won all six MotoGP races in 2014, all have come from pole position and has picked up fastest lap in four of his six victories. He is fifty-three points clear of Valentino Rossi, fifty-four clear of his Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa and eighty-five clear of Lorenzo who retired and had a false start penalty in the first two rounds of the season cost him dearly.
Skip over the Atlantic like a stone to four-wheel, V8s and ovals and there is another type of dominance. Kyle Busch has won four of five NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races in 2014 and in 10 Nationwide Series starts has three wins, two seconds, three thirds and two fourths. He led 150 of 200 laps in the Truck race and 124 of 200 in the Nationwide race. Add these performances to leading 130 of 134 at Charlotte in the Truck race, 104 of 167 at Kansas in the Truck race and 155 of 168 at Phoenix in the Nationwide race.
What Márquez is doing is astonishing. Márquez is beating the best of the best. Even when he is challenged, he finds a way to come out on top against fellow world champions. At 21 years old, he is shattering and setting records, some of which he still has the bar in his hand and we don't know when he is going to stop.
What Busch is doing is agonizing. He does this every year in the lower divisions and in the top class of NASCAR he is raked over the coals by the competition. Since joining Joe Gibbs Racing six years ago, Busch has picked up 33 of his 39 Truck victories, 55 of 66 Nationwide victories and a Nationwide title. What has he done in the Cup Series? Averaged a 10th place finish in the Cup Series standings and has an average finish of 13.48.
Busch doesn't get paid the big bucks to win Nationwide and Truck races but that's all he has to show for when each season ends. What does he get out of that? That's like Justin Verlander going down to Double-A and Triple-A to rack up shutouts. Is that really going to benefit him come October in the Major Leagues? Hell no. After six years of watching Busch and company ruin the lower two national touring divisions for NASCAR you'd think he would realize that dominating all these races on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons aren't helping him come Sunday when their are more butts in the stands, eyeballs on the TV screen and more dollars on the line.
Márquez has won titles at the 125cc and Moto2 level and is beating the best in the world at the top level of motorcycle racing. We are still waiting for Busch to do the same in NASCAR.
Safety Concerns
A couple of safety concerns from this weekend. First, the hole at Dover. Does NASCAR have a red flag planned for pot holes every five years? First was Martinsville in 2004. Then Daytona in 2010. You'd think with how big and flush with cash NASCAR has become these problems would be prevented from ever happening ever again. I know the Northeast had one of the roughest winters with many days below freezing and record amounts of snow. I lived through it. That doesn't mean it's acceptable to tracks coming apart though. A piece of the concrete shattered the glass of the walkover bridge. Imagine if that had gone into the stands and hit a spectator. Let's make sure that doesn't happen.
Look at what happened at Belle Isle two years ago when a piece of asphalt ended James Hinchcliffe's day and it could have been worse considering the piece of asphalt hit him in the head. No series should go to any track that is coming apart. It isn't safe for anybody and that has to be taken in to account. Dover has another race in September. Let's hope they do more than a simple patch job.
Concern #2 from the weekend comes from the Super GT race in Japan. The Nissan GT-R GT3 of Yuki Iwasaki had a brakes failures, flew through the sand trap and throw the tires and armco barrier. There were so many things wrong with this accident that I am not sure where to start. Not only did the barrier fail to keep the car inside the ballpark but when the car transitioned from the sand trap to the grass section in front of the tires it launched the car into the air. Had that car been going a few miles an hour faster, it very well could have completely cleared the barrier. That transition has to be level.
Then there is the tires and armco barrier failing to keep the car in play. Sand traps are meant to slow cars down, armco keeps cars in play. The moment a car blows through armco, red flags have to be raised. Putting SAFER barriers in are easier said then done. I'm thinking add a few more rows to the tire barriers. I think back to the accident Heikki Kovalainen had in the 2008 Spanish Grand Prix. He slid into a tire barrier that was at 5-6 rows deep.
Finally there was the hood of the Nissan take flew over everything and nearly to the top of the hill where spectators are standings. To me, this is the cheapest and easiest solution to fix. Tether the hood to the car. Maybe that sounds easier said than done but I can't imagine a race team being so financially strained by tethers.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Will Power, Marc Márquez, Jimmie Johnson and Hélio Castroneves but did you know...
Ricky and Jordan Taylor won in the IMSA race at Belle Isle. Alessandro Balzan and Jeff Westphal won in GTD.
Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli won in the GT500 class at the Super GT event at Autopolis. Takashi Kobayashi and Shinichi Takagi won in GT300.
Marco Wittmann won the DTM race at the Hungaroring, his second win of the season.
Esteve Rabat won the Moto2 race at Mugello and Romano Fenati won in front of the home crowd in Moto3.
Johnny O'Connell and Dean Martin both swept the GT and GTS classes respectively at Belle Isle in Pirelli World Challenge.
Coming up this weekend:
IndyCar at Texas on Saturday night.
Formula One at Montreal.
NASCAR at Pocono.
World Rally Championship is in Sardinia.
World Superbike at Sepang.
WTCC at Moscow.
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