The fourth of eleven 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series team reviews is the only single car team that featured a rookie driver.
After replacing Alex Tagliani midseason in 2013, Bryan Herta Autosport split the #98 Honda between Luca Filippi and JR Hildebrand for the remaining rounds. Both had respectable outings and were thought to be the leading candidates to become the team's full time driver in 2014. However the loss of their Barracuda sponsorship put a toll on the team, leaving the team's future in question heading into the new year. Right when it seemed either Filippi or Hildebrand were a lock to land the the seat, Jack Hawksworth got the promotion from Indy Lights. The Briton Hawksworth won the 2012 Star Mazda championship and won three races in Indy Lights while finishing fourth in the 2013 championship, just behind Carlos Muñoz, who was also making the full-time switch to IndyCar.
Jack Hawksworth
The first two races of Hawksworth's IndyCar career ended in incidents that were not of the rookie's fault. At St. Petersburg he started eighth and was running toward the front all day but on the first restart of the day, Hawksworth got caught up as the field bunched up and contact with Muñoz and Marco Andretti ended a promising debut. Two weeks later at Long Beach he qualified fifth and once again found himself running in the top ten only to be collateral damage in the Josef Newgarden-Ryan Hunter-Reay accident. At Barber, Hawksworth started second-to-last but worked his way up to twelfth in wet conditions.
The month of May was a breakout month for Hawksworth. He started second for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and took the lead from Ryan Hunter-Reay on lap ten and opened up a respectable lead. He would lead 31 laps but full course cautions did not play into his favor as the likes of Simon Pagenaud and Ryan Hunter-Reay were able to use fuel mileage to their advantage, dropping Hawksworth from contention for a victory to settle for seventh, his first career top ten finish. Despite struggling on ovals in Indy Lights, Hawksworth was the second highest rookie qualifier for the Indianapolis 500, behind Kurt Busch as the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champions started 12th with the Brit right behind him in 13th. Hawksworth held his own in his debut Indianapolis 500, finishing 20th, the final driver on the lead lap.
He started third at Belle Isle 1 but a broken rotor ruined his day during the first round of pit stops. He was able to get back out on track but he would finish 19th, five laps down and would have contact with Aleshin on the last lap. In the second Belle Isle race, Hawksworth started 19th and would cycle around to lead one lap but wasn't a factor, coming home in 14th. Texas was a struggle as he started 20th but the Brit was able to complete laps and finished 15th, four laps down. Houston appeared to be another weekend heading up stream without a paddle for BHA as Hawksworth started 21st for race one but worked with his strategy to get him up to a sixth place finish. In Houston 2, Hawskworth started dead last on the grid but once again worked his way to the front and on this occasion finished third, his first career IndyCar podium, after a fierce battle with Juan Pablo Montoya.
The second half of 2014 started with Hawksworth on the sidelines after suffering a heart contusion in a practice accident at Pocono. He would return the following weekend at Iowa and repeated his Texas performance: Started 20th, finished 15th, four laps down. Race one from Toronto was mediocre as he finished 13th but he went from 18th to sixth as he benefited from jumping to slick tires at the right time on a drying track and had some help as plenty of front runners got caught in accidents. Mid-Ohio saw another run at the back of the field as all he could manage was 16th from 18th on the grid. At Milwaukee he went from 18th to tenth, his first career top ten on an oval and only a lap back of race winner Will Power.
Hawksworth would end the 2014 season with back-to-back finishes of 15th at Sonoma and Fontana, finishing only one lap down in the season finale.
Jack Hawksworth's 2014 Statistics
Championship Positions: 17th (362 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 5
Laps Led: 32
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 3
Fast Twelves: 4
Average Start: 15.647 (20th in IndyCar)
Average Finish: 13.611 (17th)
With reports Jack Hawksworth might be off to AJ Foyt Racing for 2015, it poses to be a big loss for Bryan Herta as Hawksworth has shown a lot of potential for a developing driver. The team struggled all of 2014 for funding and they are looking to struggle again in that department in 2015. The team won it's second IndyCar race with Dan Wheldon in 2011 Indianapolis 500 but they have yet to catch lightning in a bottle again as they have only two top five finishes since then, one of which being Hawksworth's podium at Houston.
IndyCar teams have done the best they can in recent years to hire drivers or select drivers with respectable amounts of talent and who aren't solely in motorsports because they have a large checkbook. However, BHA needs money to stay alive. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't type offseason for BHA. Do you hire a driver who we know has the funding but won't be racking up results and will likely cost you a lot in spare parts (A Sergio Canamasas/Rodolfo González-tpye)? Or do you keep Hawksworth or hire someone like Hawksworth who has shown promise but you will have to scratch and claw for every dime to keep them on the grid (A Sam Bird/Jack Harvey-type)?
As for Hawksworth, he was improving on ovals throughout the season and showed he can run with the best on road and street circuits. A teammate would be beneficial for the Brit and that is something I highly doubt BHA could provide if he stays. These two could be going their separate ways in 2015 and they both could be entirely different directions.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Monday, October 13, 2014
Musings From the Weekend: We All Pay Respect Differently
It was A Hard Day's Night as there was nonstop action from 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday night until 4:00 a.m. ET Sunday morning with Formula One capping off the morning. It was really weird realizing all the racing for the weekend was done Sunday at 9:00 a.m. ET. With that said, it left a lot of time to catch up on some much needed sleep. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
We All Pay Respect Differently
Just one week after Jules Bianchi's accident, Marussia was back on the grid for their home grand prix in Sochi. It had to be a difficult week for the team. From the accident to scurrying to pack everything in Japan as a Typhoon breathed down their necks then land in Russia midweek to prepare for another race with no time to stop and digest what had happened. The teams were already physically beat after two weeks on the road and having to cross many times zones but Bianchi's accident had to have done it's toll mentally.
We all pay respect differently. While Bianchi clings for life in a hospital in Japan, the team choose to go on. The team built and had Bianchi's car go through scrutineering but left the car sitting in the garage this weekend as Max Chilton was the only Marussia driver to take to the track this weekend. They didn't have to show up at all thought.
History shows they didn't have to. After Wolfgang von Trips perished in the 1961 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari choose not to run the season finale at Watkins Glen. Nine years later at Monza Jochen Rindt would lose his life in qualifying and Colin Chapman withdrew the remaining three Lotus entries of Graham Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi and John Miles. François Cevert lost his life three years later at Watkins Glen and the Tyrrell drivers Jackie Stewart and Chris Amon did not partake in the 1973 season finale and it was the final time Stewart appeared in a Formula One car. Ferrari withdrew Didier Pironi after Gilles Villeneuve's accident at Zolder at 1982.
While Bianchi is still alive, the precedence was there for Marussia to take the week off if they wanted to and no one could blame them if they did. The act of running Chilton only while Bianchi's #17 sat idle in the garage was a phenomenal gesture of respect.
Eventually they are going to have to field that second car. Deep down I wish Alexander Rossi got his shot to make his debut at Sochi but Marussia made the right decision. Everything was happening so fast and instead of rushing someone into the car, it was better to let it sit. With that said, you can't have the car sit on the sidelines for the remaining three races. There are still points on the line in the Constructors' Championship and Marussia possibly could jump Lotus-Renault for ninth or be jumped by Sauber-Ferrari of Caterham-Renault for tenth. You can still pay your respect to Bianchi while fielding two cars.
With the United States Grand Prix next on the schedule it would only be fitting for Rossi to make his debut. You are going to have to run the second car eventually. Why wait to run it? You paid respect to Bianchi at Sochi and you can continue to pay your respects to him in the final three races. It's an unfortunate circumstance but motorsports produces these kinds of situations. One misfortunate accident opens the door of opportunity for another. It's the cruel nature of motorsports and It's never going to change. All we can do is keep Bianchi in our hearts and prayers and hope he can make a full recovery and someday be back on the grid.
Bathurst 1000
If you didn't stay up until about 3:30 a.m. ET for the end of the Bathurst 1000, I can't blame you. A red flag for deteriorating pavement in turn two and more safety car periods than anyone would have liked made it the longest Bathurst 1000 but provided one of the most compelling finishes.
Championship leader and four-time Bathurst 1000 Jamie Whincup had already overcome a poor starting position as he worked his way from 23nd to 5th in thirteen laps but an accident with Todd Kelly and a penalty for unsafe track reentry put him and co-driver Paul Dumbrell a lap down. A slew of late safety cars got the #1 Holden back on the lead lap and in position for the victory after leaders had to pit for fuel. On his heels was Chaz Mostert, the 22-year old in only his second Great Race. Mostert had already overcome his own obstacles after starting dead last due to his qualifying time being disallowed for disobeying a red flag and his co-driver Paul Morris put the car in the tires under a safety car conditions earlier in the race.
Whincup had to save fuel but was running qualifying-caliaber laps coming down the stretch. He finally started saving fuel on the final lap, allowing Mostert to close to his rear bumper at the top of the mountain. Mostert made his move at Forest's Elbow and cruised to victory. Mostert had all two career victories entering Bathurst and his co-driver Morris only victories came at Calder Park in 2001. Morris' Bathurst triumph comes 17 years after initially being declared 1997 Bathurst 1000 winner with co-driver Craig Baird but later disqualified after Baird had exceeded the limit of three hours of continuous driving. Geoff and David Brabham would go on to claim the 1997 victory.
Whincup would run out of fuel and fall to fifth in the final results. Nissan's James Moffat and Taz Douglas would finish second, the first podium for the Japanese manufacture since finishing second in 1998 with Steven Richards and Matt Neal as there drivers. Holden's Nick Percat and Oliver Gavin rounded out the podium while Will and Alex Davison made it four different manufactures in the top four beating the coasting Whincup to the line in the #9 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes.
It was a thrilling finish that saw the most unlikeliest winners. It saw heartbreak for Shane van Gisbergen and Jonathon Webb after the start motor failed on the van Gisbergen on the final pit stop for a splash of fuel while the Kiwi was the leader. David Reynolds had his alternator fail on him while he was second behind Craig Lowndes under safety car.
The race might have occurred a half way around the world and live timing might have quit working after 30 laps and never cameback but it was an breathtaking race that I would gladly trade valuable hours of sleep to follow again.
Stop Trying To Fool Us IndyCar
Apparently IndyCar thinks an All-Star Race is the solution to all the problems. As the 2015 schedule is getting it's final touches, IndyCar continues to look for ways to increase attendance, ratings and looks to make more money. I understand that. It's a business. But was anyone asking for an All-Star Race? First off, IndyCar doesn't have any stars, not on a national level at least. The series has plenty of talented drivers but none of them are stars.
IndyCar floating out this All-Star Race idea is giving the impression they are getting things done. Stop trying to fool us and get to the problems at hand. All the oval races other than Indianapolis need a significant boost in attendance. A third engine manufacture would relieve Chevrolet and Honda of some of their duties as engine manufactures and hopefully create another partner to promote the series and add to the already competitive on-track action. Along with another engine manufacture, aero kit manufactures independent of the engine manufactures would add more diversity to the field.
Having an All-Star Race isn't the deal breaker for expanding IndyCar's fan base. IndyCar needs to focus on promoting the series and increasing awareness of the series. And if IndyCar has a sponsor willing to put up the type of dough to make an All-Star Race worth a damn, instead of putting all the chips on having one big event, spread them around to improve anyone of the numerous of races on life support.
Champions From the Weekend
Marc Márquez clinch his second consecutive world championship with three races in hand with a second place finish to Jorge Lorenzo at Motegi.
Mercedes-Benz AMG Petronas clinched the 2014 Constructors' Championship as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg went 1-2 at Sochi.
After his Sochi feature race victory, Jolyon Palmer clinched the 2014 GP2 Series championship.
American Greg Hancock won his third Speedway World Championship on Saturday from Toruń, Poland. He broke his own record of oldest champion at 44 years and 130 days. Krzystof Kasprazak won the race and finished second in the championship.
Random Thoughts
James Hinchcliffe should run #99 in 2015. Sam Schmidt drove #99, the #99 is synonymous with Canada, from Wayne Gretzky to Greg Moore. I couldn't think of anything that would look better than Hinchcliffe in the #99 next year. I know CART retired the #99 after Moore's fatal accident but Idon't believe in retiring numbers. I think it would be a great privilege for someone to drive the car number of a legend. Think about what type of motivation that would be for a driver to succeed.
With Fernando Alonso's 2015 season still up in the air, deep down I hope IndyCar puts the farm on signing him even if it is just for one season. The same five reasons why Jenson Button should and should not come to IndyCar apply for Alonso. It would be nice to see but it would never happen in a million years.
It is such a disappointment that the Daytona 200 has been cancelled for 2015. I don't want to pin AMA's downfall on the take over by Daytona Motorsports Group but it hasn't been a pretty seven seasons under DMG control. I hope the new promoters MotoAmerica/KRAVE can turn American motorcycle racing around but it will have to do so without there staple event.
Why not run Nationwide races on Saturdays when Cup runs Saturday night? It would increase the value of the ticket for the fans and give them a nice full day at the track.
If you could have any two non-V8 Supercars drivers for Bathurst, who would they be? I was thinking Mark Webber and Bernd Schneider.
What about a 1000km oval race? It would be only 621 miles. Come to think of it, all you would need is the Coca-Cola 600 to have a few green-white-checkered finishes and you would be there. Could you imagine a 1000km IndyCar race at say Michigan or Fontana?
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Chaz Mostert and Paul Morris, Lewis Hamilton, Jorge Lorenzo, Jolyon Palmer and Krzystof Kasprzak but did you know...
The #8 Toyota of Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi won their third race of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season and extended their championship lead over the #2 Audi of André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler to 29 points. The #26 G-Drive Ligier-Nissian of Olivier Pla, Julien Canal and Romain Rusinov won in LMP2 and closed the gap to Sergey Zlobin down to 16 points.
In GT, AF Corse Ferrari drivers Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander won their third race of 2014 and lead Frédéric Makowiecki by 49.5 points. David Heinemeier Hansson, Kristian Poulsen and Nicki Thiim won their third race of 2014 as well in GTE-Am. Heinemeier Hansson and Poulsen lead the GTE-Am championship by 39 points over their Aston Martin teammates Christoffer Nygaard, Paul Dalla Lana and Pedro Lamy.
Kevin Harvick won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race from Charlotte and is locked into the next round of the Chase.
Thomas Lüthi won in Moto2 at Motegi. Álex Márquez won in Moto3 and extended his championship lead as he hopes to follow in his brother Marc's footsteps.
Marco Sørensen won the GP2 sprint race from Sochi. Dean Stoneman and Patric Niederhauser split the GP3 weekend.
José María López and Mehdi Bennani split the WTCC weekend from Shanghai.
David Cheng and Ho-Pin Tung won the ALMS race from Shanghai in the #1 OAK Racing Morgan-Judd. The #33 Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Matt Griffin, Keita Sawa and Mok Weng Sun won in GT. Kevin Tse, Samson Chan and Naoki Yokomizo won in CN driving the #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Ligier JS53-Honda.
Brad Keselowski won the Nationwide race at Charlotte.
Coming Up This Weekend
NASCAR returns to Talladega.
MotoGP heads to Phillip Island.
DTM season finale from Hockenheim.
ELMS ends their season at Estoril.
Blancpain Sprint Series heads to Zolder for their penultimate round.
We All Pay Respect Differently
Just one week after Jules Bianchi's accident, Marussia was back on the grid for their home grand prix in Sochi. It had to be a difficult week for the team. From the accident to scurrying to pack everything in Japan as a Typhoon breathed down their necks then land in Russia midweek to prepare for another race with no time to stop and digest what had happened. The teams were already physically beat after two weeks on the road and having to cross many times zones but Bianchi's accident had to have done it's toll mentally.
We all pay respect differently. While Bianchi clings for life in a hospital in Japan, the team choose to go on. The team built and had Bianchi's car go through scrutineering but left the car sitting in the garage this weekend as Max Chilton was the only Marussia driver to take to the track this weekend. They didn't have to show up at all thought.
History shows they didn't have to. After Wolfgang von Trips perished in the 1961 Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari choose not to run the season finale at Watkins Glen. Nine years later at Monza Jochen Rindt would lose his life in qualifying and Colin Chapman withdrew the remaining three Lotus entries of Graham Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi and John Miles. François Cevert lost his life three years later at Watkins Glen and the Tyrrell drivers Jackie Stewart and Chris Amon did not partake in the 1973 season finale and it was the final time Stewart appeared in a Formula One car. Ferrari withdrew Didier Pironi after Gilles Villeneuve's accident at Zolder at 1982.
While Bianchi is still alive, the precedence was there for Marussia to take the week off if they wanted to and no one could blame them if they did. The act of running Chilton only while Bianchi's #17 sat idle in the garage was a phenomenal gesture of respect.
Eventually they are going to have to field that second car. Deep down I wish Alexander Rossi got his shot to make his debut at Sochi but Marussia made the right decision. Everything was happening so fast and instead of rushing someone into the car, it was better to let it sit. With that said, you can't have the car sit on the sidelines for the remaining three races. There are still points on the line in the Constructors' Championship and Marussia possibly could jump Lotus-Renault for ninth or be jumped by Sauber-Ferrari of Caterham-Renault for tenth. You can still pay your respect to Bianchi while fielding two cars.
With the United States Grand Prix next on the schedule it would only be fitting for Rossi to make his debut. You are going to have to run the second car eventually. Why wait to run it? You paid respect to Bianchi at Sochi and you can continue to pay your respects to him in the final three races. It's an unfortunate circumstance but motorsports produces these kinds of situations. One misfortunate accident opens the door of opportunity for another. It's the cruel nature of motorsports and It's never going to change. All we can do is keep Bianchi in our hearts and prayers and hope he can make a full recovery and someday be back on the grid.
Bathurst 1000
If you didn't stay up until about 3:30 a.m. ET for the end of the Bathurst 1000, I can't blame you. A red flag for deteriorating pavement in turn two and more safety car periods than anyone would have liked made it the longest Bathurst 1000 but provided one of the most compelling finishes.
Championship leader and four-time Bathurst 1000 Jamie Whincup had already overcome a poor starting position as he worked his way from 23nd to 5th in thirteen laps but an accident with Todd Kelly and a penalty for unsafe track reentry put him and co-driver Paul Dumbrell a lap down. A slew of late safety cars got the #1 Holden back on the lead lap and in position for the victory after leaders had to pit for fuel. On his heels was Chaz Mostert, the 22-year old in only his second Great Race. Mostert had already overcome his own obstacles after starting dead last due to his qualifying time being disallowed for disobeying a red flag and his co-driver Paul Morris put the car in the tires under a safety car conditions earlier in the race.
Whincup had to save fuel but was running qualifying-caliaber laps coming down the stretch. He finally started saving fuel on the final lap, allowing Mostert to close to his rear bumper at the top of the mountain. Mostert made his move at Forest's Elbow and cruised to victory. Mostert had all two career victories entering Bathurst and his co-driver Morris only victories came at Calder Park in 2001. Morris' Bathurst triumph comes 17 years after initially being declared 1997 Bathurst 1000 winner with co-driver Craig Baird but later disqualified after Baird had exceeded the limit of three hours of continuous driving. Geoff and David Brabham would go on to claim the 1997 victory.
Whincup would run out of fuel and fall to fifth in the final results. Nissan's James Moffat and Taz Douglas would finish second, the first podium for the Japanese manufacture since finishing second in 1998 with Steven Richards and Matt Neal as there drivers. Holden's Nick Percat and Oliver Gavin rounded out the podium while Will and Alex Davison made it four different manufactures in the top four beating the coasting Whincup to the line in the #9 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes.
It was a thrilling finish that saw the most unlikeliest winners. It saw heartbreak for Shane van Gisbergen and Jonathon Webb after the start motor failed on the van Gisbergen on the final pit stop for a splash of fuel while the Kiwi was the leader. David Reynolds had his alternator fail on him while he was second behind Craig Lowndes under safety car.
The race might have occurred a half way around the world and live timing might have quit working after 30 laps and never cameback but it was an breathtaking race that I would gladly trade valuable hours of sleep to follow again.
Stop Trying To Fool Us IndyCar
Apparently IndyCar thinks an All-Star Race is the solution to all the problems. As the 2015 schedule is getting it's final touches, IndyCar continues to look for ways to increase attendance, ratings and looks to make more money. I understand that. It's a business. But was anyone asking for an All-Star Race? First off, IndyCar doesn't have any stars, not on a national level at least. The series has plenty of talented drivers but none of them are stars.
IndyCar floating out this All-Star Race idea is giving the impression they are getting things done. Stop trying to fool us and get to the problems at hand. All the oval races other than Indianapolis need a significant boost in attendance. A third engine manufacture would relieve Chevrolet and Honda of some of their duties as engine manufactures and hopefully create another partner to promote the series and add to the already competitive on-track action. Along with another engine manufacture, aero kit manufactures independent of the engine manufactures would add more diversity to the field.
Having an All-Star Race isn't the deal breaker for expanding IndyCar's fan base. IndyCar needs to focus on promoting the series and increasing awareness of the series. And if IndyCar has a sponsor willing to put up the type of dough to make an All-Star Race worth a damn, instead of putting all the chips on having one big event, spread them around to improve anyone of the numerous of races on life support.
Champions From the Weekend
Marc Márquez clinch his second consecutive world championship with three races in hand with a second place finish to Jorge Lorenzo at Motegi.
Mercedes-Benz AMG Petronas clinched the 2014 Constructors' Championship as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg went 1-2 at Sochi.
After his Sochi feature race victory, Jolyon Palmer clinched the 2014 GP2 Series championship.
American Greg Hancock won his third Speedway World Championship on Saturday from Toruń, Poland. He broke his own record of oldest champion at 44 years and 130 days. Krzystof Kasprazak won the race and finished second in the championship.
Random Thoughts
James Hinchcliffe should run #99 in 2015. Sam Schmidt drove #99, the #99 is synonymous with Canada, from Wayne Gretzky to Greg Moore. I couldn't think of anything that would look better than Hinchcliffe in the #99 next year. I know CART retired the #99 after Moore's fatal accident but Idon't believe in retiring numbers. I think it would be a great privilege for someone to drive the car number of a legend. Think about what type of motivation that would be for a driver to succeed.
With Fernando Alonso's 2015 season still up in the air, deep down I hope IndyCar puts the farm on signing him even if it is just for one season. The same five reasons why Jenson Button should and should not come to IndyCar apply for Alonso. It would be nice to see but it would never happen in a million years.
It is such a disappointment that the Daytona 200 has been cancelled for 2015. I don't want to pin AMA's downfall on the take over by Daytona Motorsports Group but it hasn't been a pretty seven seasons under DMG control. I hope the new promoters MotoAmerica/KRAVE can turn American motorcycle racing around but it will have to do so without there staple event.
Why not run Nationwide races on Saturdays when Cup runs Saturday night? It would increase the value of the ticket for the fans and give them a nice full day at the track.
If you could have any two non-V8 Supercars drivers for Bathurst, who would they be? I was thinking Mark Webber and Bernd Schneider.
What about a 1000km oval race? It would be only 621 miles. Come to think of it, all you would need is the Coca-Cola 600 to have a few green-white-checkered finishes and you would be there. Could you imagine a 1000km IndyCar race at say Michigan or Fontana?
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Chaz Mostert and Paul Morris, Lewis Hamilton, Jorge Lorenzo, Jolyon Palmer and Krzystof Kasprzak but did you know...
The #8 Toyota of Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi won their third race of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season and extended their championship lead over the #2 Audi of André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler to 29 points. The #26 G-Drive Ligier-Nissian of Olivier Pla, Julien Canal and Romain Rusinov won in LMP2 and closed the gap to Sergey Zlobin down to 16 points.
In GT, AF Corse Ferrari drivers Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander won their third race of 2014 and lead Frédéric Makowiecki by 49.5 points. David Heinemeier Hansson, Kristian Poulsen and Nicki Thiim won their third race of 2014 as well in GTE-Am. Heinemeier Hansson and Poulsen lead the GTE-Am championship by 39 points over their Aston Martin teammates Christoffer Nygaard, Paul Dalla Lana and Pedro Lamy.
Kevin Harvick won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race from Charlotte and is locked into the next round of the Chase.
Thomas Lüthi won in Moto2 at Motegi. Álex Márquez won in Moto3 and extended his championship lead as he hopes to follow in his brother Marc's footsteps.
Marco Sørensen won the GP2 sprint race from Sochi. Dean Stoneman and Patric Niederhauser split the GP3 weekend.
José María López and Mehdi Bennani split the WTCC weekend from Shanghai.
David Cheng and Ho-Pin Tung won the ALMS race from Shanghai in the #1 OAK Racing Morgan-Judd. The #33 Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Matt Griffin, Keita Sawa and Mok Weng Sun won in GT. Kevin Tse, Samson Chan and Naoki Yokomizo won in CN driving the #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Ligier JS53-Honda.
Brad Keselowski won the Nationwide race at Charlotte.
Coming Up This Weekend
NASCAR returns to Talladega.
MotoGP heads to Phillip Island.
DTM season finale from Hockenheim.
ELMS ends their season at Estoril.
Blancpain Sprint Series heads to Zolder for their penultimate round.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Friday Five: Bathurst, Fuji, Motegi, Sochi, Charlotte
Don't go to bed this Saturday night or you will miss great motorsports from across the globe. Four continents host major races as five series wind down their seasons with tight championship pictures across the board. We start at the Mount Panorama.
Bathurst 1000
V8 Supercars return for the 58th running of the Bathurst 1000. Jamie Whincup enters as the championship leader after winning last month's Sandown 500 with co-driver Paul Dumbrell. Whincup is looking for his fifth career Bathurst victory. Craig Lowndes enters second in the championship, trailing his Red Bull Racing teammate by 273 points. Lowndes is looking for his sixth Bathurst victory and his co-driver Steven Richards won his third Bathurst 1000 last year as Mark Winterbottom's co-driver.
Winterbottom has fallen from the championship lead after failing to finish in the top five since his last victory at Hidden Valley Raceway ten races ago. With the loss of Richards, Winterbottom will have Steve Owen as his co-driver. Owen is two-time Development V8 Supercars champion and finished second in the 2010 Bathurst 1000 as Whincup's co-driver. Shane van Gisbergen is fourth in the championship and will be paired with Jonathan Webb. James Courtney rounds out the top five in the championship after finishing second at Sandown. The 2010 V8 Supercars champion is still looking for his first career Bathurst victory and his co-driver will be four-time Bathurst winner Greg Murphy, who's last Bathurst victory was a decade ago with Rick Kelly.
A few other notable pairings to keep an eye on: Scott McLaughlin and Alexander Prémat are in the #33 Volvo S60 and are the best shot for the first foreign manufacture to win since Volvo's 1998 victory with Rickard Rydell and Jim Richards. Rydell is the last non-Antipodean driver to win the Bathurst 1000. Prémat could becoming the first Frenchman to win The Great Race. Garth Tander is shooting for his fourth victory with Warren Luff as his co-driver. The brothers Will and Alex Davison pair up in the #9 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG. Will won in 2009 as Whincup's co-driver and a victory for the brothers would be Mercedes-Benz's first at Bathurst since the second running in 1961 when Bob Jane and Harry Firth won in a 220SE.
Fabian Coulthard set the fastest time in qualifying with a lap of 2:05.6080, well beating the track record. Shane van Gisbergen made it a Kiwi 1-2, only 0.0931 seconds back. Dale Wood made it a Holden 1-2-3. Defending Bathurst winner Mark Winterbottom was fourth with Volvo driver Scott McLaughlin rounding out the top five, joining fellow Kiwis Coulthard and van Gisbergen. Jason Bright was sixth, 0.8689 seconds back of his teammate. Jack Perkins is the second fastest Ford in seventh. James Moffat was eighth, the fastest Nissan, just a little over a second back of Coulthard. Garth Tander and Craig Lowndes round out the top ten. The top 10 shootout will take place Saturday afternoon.
Championship leader and four-time Bathurst winner Jamie Whincup suffered an accident in qualifying and he will have to start from the back of the grid on Sunday.
6 Hours of Fuji
The FIA World Endurance Championship heads to Toyota's home circuit of Fuji Speedway. The #8 Toyota TS040 Hybrid of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Nicolas Lapierre lead the championship with two victories followed by two third place finishes. Unfortunately, Lapierre will be stepping out of the car at Fuji due to personal reasons. The Frenchman had been apart of the last two winning teams at Fuji with Alexander Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima as his co-drivers. A third driver will not join Davidson and Buemi at Fuji.
The #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler have won the last two rounds and find themselves trailing the #8 Toyota by 11 points heading to Japan. Lotterer has won the last four years at Fuji in Super Formula. Their teammates Tom Kristensen and Lucas di Grassi are a further 13 points back after three consecutive runner-up finishes. Audi has never won at Fuji and Audi has yet to win a pole position in 2014 with Toyota responsible for three and Porsche for the other.
A surprising fourth in the world championship is the #12 Rebellion Racing R-One of Nick Heidfeld, Mathias Beche and Nicolas Prost. Despite their best finish being fourth, the Swiss team is ahead of the #7 Toyota of Wurz and Stéphane Sarrazin and both Porsches. The #12 R-One trails the #8 Toyota by 48 points.
The #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas and Neel Jani is three points behind the privateer Rebellion team and two ahead of Wurz and Sarrazin. The #14 Porsche of Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley are 70.5 points behind the championship leader despite finishing on the podium at the opening round of the season at Silverstone. Porsche's last victory at Fuji came in 1989 with Vern Schuppan, Eje Elgh and Keiji Matsumoto.
In the World Cup for GT Drivers, #51 AF Corse Ferrari drivers Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander maintained their championship lead over #92 Porsche driver Frédéric Makowiecki with 25 points separating them. Fellow Porsche drivers Marco Holzer and Richard Lietz are third and fourth in the World Cup for GT Drivers. Holzer is done for the season after deciding to focus on development duties for Porsche. Lietz is slated to return after breaking his arm at the end of August in an accident at VIR in IMSA competition. The Austrian Lietz is 45 points back with Makowiecki's co-driver Patrick Pilet 51 points behind the Ferrari pairing. Lietz will be in the #91 Porsche with Jörg Bergmeister and Nick Tandy. After winning at Austin, the #97 Aston Martin drivers Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke are 52 points out of the championship lead.
LMP2 saw #27 SMP Racing Oreca-Nissan's Sergey Zlobin extended his championship lead at Austin to 27 points over the #26 G-Drive Ligier-Nissan drivers Olivier Pla, Julien Canal and Romain Rusinov. Anton Ladygin of the #37 SMP Racing Oreca-Nissan is 30 points behind his fellow Russian. After their victory in Austin, the #47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan of Matthew Howson and Richard Bradley are 33 points behind Zlobin. OAK Racing returns to WEC competition at Fuji with the #35 Morgan-Judd of Alex Brundle, Gustavo Yacamán and Keiko Ihara.
In GTE-Am, the #98 Aston Martin drivers David Heinemeier Hansson and Kristian Poulsen led the championship after alternating winning each of the odd rounds and finishing second in the even rounds. The Two Danes lead their teammates and Austin winners, the #95 Aston of Paul Dalla Lana, Christoffer Nygaard and Pedro Lamy by 33 points. Hansson and Poulsen will be joined by Nicki Thiim at Fuji. In each race they have won this season, Thiim has been their third driver.
The Spa winning GTE-Am #61 AF Corse Ferrari will see a shuffle in their driver line up. Third in the GTE-Am championship, 35 points out of the lead, Luíz Pérez Companc, Mirko Venturi and Marco Cioci will be replaced by Jeroen Bleekemolen and Americans Mike Skeen and Bret Curtis. Skeen finished runner-up in this year's Pirelli World Challenge GT championship. Bleekemolen and Curtis were supposed to be co-drivers at Le Mans this years in the #79 Prospeed Competition Porsche but Curtis suffered a concussion in practice and was unable to compete leaving Bleekemolen and Cooper MacNeil without a third driver and promoting the entry to GTE-Pro because they lacked a bronze-rated driver.
The #1 Audi led both sessions on Friday from Fuji the #2 Audi next on the time sheet. The fastest lap by the #1 Audi was a 1:27.852. The #14 Porsche was third with the #8 and #7 Toyotas rounding out the top five. Less than one and a quarter seconds covered the top five LMP1 cars. The #26 G-Drive Ligier-Nissan topped both sessions in LMP2 with their fastest lap being a 1:34.027. The #37 SMP Racing Oreca-Nissan was second in class followed by the #47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan. The #27 SMP Racing Oreca-Nissan was fourth and the #35 OAK Racing Morgan-Judd rounded out the class. Less than eight-tenths of a second covered the five LMP2 entires.
The #97 Aston Martin was quickest in GTE-Pro at a 1:39.884 with their GTE-Am counterparts the #98 and #95 Aston Martin being the next two fastest GTE cars. The #88 and #75 Prospeed Competition Porsches make it four GTE-Am cars between the fastest and second fastest GTE-Pro entries. The #88 Porsche drivers are Christian Ried, Klaus Bachler and Khaled Al Qubaisi while Emmanuel Collard, François Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxivière are in the #75 Porsche. The championship leading #51 AF Corse Ferrari are second in GTE-Pro ahead of the #92 and #91 factory Porsches. The #99 Aston Martin rounded out the top five in GTE-Pro.
Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix
Jorge Lorenzo picked up his first MotoGP victory of 2014 at Aragón two weeks ago and the Majorcan heads to Motegi as the defending winner of the Japanese Grand Prix. Marc Márquez continues to have a commanding lead in the world championship but has finished 15th and 13th in the last two races. It is the first time Márquez has had back-to-back finishes off the podium since 2011 in Moto2 when he retired at Jerez and finished 21st at Estoril. Márquez leads his Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa by 75 points. If Márquez can maintain or increase that margin between him and second in the championship, he will clinch the world title with three races to spare.
Valentino Rossi is third in the championship, 78 points back of Márquez while Lorenzo's championship aspirations remain alive after his victory at Aragón. Lorenzo is 90 points back. Andrea Dovizioso rounds out the top five, 150 points behind Márquez. Aleix Espargaró jumped his brother Pol in the championship with his first career premier class podium at Aragón. The second place finish gave Aleix a four point cushion over Pol with 112 to his credit in 2014. Pol won at Motegi last year in Moto2.
Andrea Dovizioso was fastest from Motegi with a lap of 1:45.140 ahead of Lorenzo. Stefan Bradl was third quickest. Pedrosa was fourth ahead of Rossi and Márquez. Eight-tenths covered the top six riders.
Russian Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton extended his championship lead to 10 points over Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg after winning the Japanese Grand Prix, his seventh victory of 2014. The Mercedes-duo lead Formula One to Sochi, Russia, the first time Formula One has ever visited the country. Daniel Ricciardo is the only other driver mathematically eligible for the World Drivers' Championship. The Australian trails Hamilton by 73 points with four races to go and a maximum of 125 points remaining on the table.
Despite finishing third at Suzuka, Sebastian Vettel was eliminated from championship contention, falling two points shy of keeping his title hopes alive. The German did jump Fernando Alonso in the championship by six points. Valtteri Bottas is three points behind Alonso. Jenson Button is seventh with 82 points, six ahead of Nico Hülkenberg. Five points behind the German is Felipe Massa while Sergio Pérez rounds out the top ten, 25 points behind the Williams driver.
Kimi Räikkönen is a point behind Pérez with Kevin Magnussen six points behind the Finn. Jean-Éric Vergne sits on 21 points in his lame duck season for Toro Rosso. Romain Grosjean and Russian Daniil Kvyat had each have eight points.
The sixteenth and last driver to have scored championship points this season, Jules Bianchi is in critical but stable condition after suffering a diffuse axonal injury at the Japanese Grand Prix. Bianchi remains in the Intensive Care Unit at Mie General Medical Center. Marussia will run only Max Chilton this weekend.
The Sochi Autodrom is a 3.634-mile (5.848-kilometer) circuit featuring 19 turns, 12 right and 7 left. The circuit snakes through the Sochi Olympic Park, which hosted the XXII Winter Olympic Games earlier this February.
Lewis Hamilton was fastest on Friday with a lap of 1:39.630, over eight-tenths faster than Kevin Magnussen in second. Fernando Alonso was third with Nico Rosberg in fourth. Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top five. Just over a second back of Hamilton was Jenson Button in sixth with the second Williams of Felipe Massa in seventh. Daniil Kvyat was eighth in front of his fellow Russians. Sebastian Vettel was ninth with Jean-Éric Vergne rounding out the top ten.
Kimi Räikkönen was eleventh, exactly two seconds back of Hamilton. Nico Hülkenberg was twelfth with Daniel Ricciardo in thirteenth. The Australians session ended early after stopping on track with a mechanical issue. Sergio Pérez was fourteenth with Adrian Sutil rounding out the top fifteen. The Lotus-Renaults of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were next on the time sheet followed by Esteban Gutiérrez. Marcus Ericsson, Max Chilton and Kamui Kobayashi were the slowest three drivers in practice.
Charlotte
Joey Logano won at Kansas Speedway and locked himself into the semifinal round of the Chase as NASCAR heads to the final night race of the 2014 season at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Second in the standings is Kyle Busch, six points behind Logano. Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman are nine points back with Denny Hamlin rounding out the top five, eleven points
Fifteen points back is Kevin Harvick and only ten points to the good. Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon are tied for seventh, eight points ahead of ninth in the championship, Kasey Kahne. Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jimmie Johnson are all on the outside looking in after tire failures at Kansas. The three trail eighth by 22, 25 and 27 points respectively.
Of the remaining Chase drivers, only five have won the fall race at Charlotte. Johnson is tied with Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough and Mark Martin for most Charlotte fall race victories at three. Gordon has two victories in the Charlotte fall race with his last coming in 2007. Kahne, Kenseth and Keselowski are the other three winners of Charlotte fall races in the Chase with their wins coming in 2006, 2011 and 2013 respectively.
The three Hendrick drivers Johnson, Gordon and Kahne have five, three and three Coca-Cola 600 victories respectively. Kenseth's first Cup series victory was the 2000 Coca-Cola 600. Kevin Harvick is the only other driver remaining in the Chase with a points-paying win at Charlotte having won the 2011 and 2013 "600s." Three drivers only Cup victories at Charlotte have come in the All-Star Race. Earnhardt, Jr. won the 2000 All-Star Race, Newman won in 2002 and Edwards won in 2011. Johnson has a record four All-Star Race victories while Gordon has three. Kenseth, Kahne and Harvick each have one All-Star Race victory.
Taking into account the three Cup races, Logano, Busch and Hamlin are the only three Chase drivers who have never won a Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Kyle Busch will start on pole position for Saturday night's race. Jeff Gordon will start second with Denny Hamlin in third. Tony Stewart qualified fourth with his former teammate Ryan Newman rounding out the top five. Newman's Richard Childress Racing teammate Paul Menard was sixth. Kevin Harvick will start seventh with Brian Vickers in eighth. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Carl Edwards round out the top ten.
Championship leader Joey Logano starts thirteenth while his Penske teammate Brad Keselowski will start seventeenth. Kasey Kahne will start nineteenth. Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth will start on row eleven and are the worst starting Chase drivers.
Coverage
The NASCAR race from Charlotte can be seen at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday night on ABC.
Fox Sports 1's coverage of MotoGP from Motegi will begin at 12:00 a.m. ET Sunday morning (9:00 p.m. PT Saturday night).
Coverage of the Russian Grand Prix from Sochi will begin at 6:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN.
Over/Unders
1. Over or Under: Six hours and twenty minutes to complete the Bathurst 1000?
2. Over or Under: 215.5 laps completed at Fuji?
3. Over or Under: 2.5 Open entries in the top eight at Fuji?
4. Over or Under: 5.5 Mercedes-powered cars in the points at Sochi? They had seven of eight in the points at Suzuka.
5. Over or Under: 5.5 Chevrolets in the top ten at Charlotte?
Last Week's Over/Unders
1. Over: 69 laps were run behind the safety car at Petit Le Mans.
2. Under: Margin of victory in GT500 in Thailand was 1.980 seconds.
3. Over: Aprilia riders combined for four podiums at Magny-Cours.
4. Under: No Frenchman finished on the podium for their home rally.
5. Under: Only 44 laps were run at Suzuka.
Predictions
1. There is a first time Bathurst 1000 winner this weekend.
2. We will see some rain at Fuji.
3. Jorge Lorenzo extends his consecutive podium streak to seven races.
4. McLaren exits Sochi ahead of Force India in the Constructors' Championship.
5. At least two Chase drivers will suffer tire failures at Charlotte.
Last Week's Predictions
1. A Corvette wins in GTLM. (Wrong. Team Falken Tire Porsche won GTLM at Petit).
2. There will be at least one new championship leader in Super GT. (Correct. James Rossiter took the GT500 lead in Thailand).
3. A Frenchman wins at Magny-Cours. (Correct. Sylvain Guintoli won race one at Magny-Cours).
4. Sébastien Ogier wins the most stages this weekend. (Wrong. Jari-Matti Latvala won the most stages).
5. Going out on a limb, Sebastian Vettel wins at Suzuka. (Wrong. Lewis Hamilton won. Vettel finished third).
Overall: 2/5. Running Tally: 9.5/20
Bathurst 1000
V8 Supercars return for the 58th running of the Bathurst 1000. Jamie Whincup enters as the championship leader after winning last month's Sandown 500 with co-driver Paul Dumbrell. Whincup is looking for his fifth career Bathurst victory. Craig Lowndes enters second in the championship, trailing his Red Bull Racing teammate by 273 points. Lowndes is looking for his sixth Bathurst victory and his co-driver Steven Richards won his third Bathurst 1000 last year as Mark Winterbottom's co-driver.
Winterbottom has fallen from the championship lead after failing to finish in the top five since his last victory at Hidden Valley Raceway ten races ago. With the loss of Richards, Winterbottom will have Steve Owen as his co-driver. Owen is two-time Development V8 Supercars champion and finished second in the 2010 Bathurst 1000 as Whincup's co-driver. Shane van Gisbergen is fourth in the championship and will be paired with Jonathan Webb. James Courtney rounds out the top five in the championship after finishing second at Sandown. The 2010 V8 Supercars champion is still looking for his first career Bathurst victory and his co-driver will be four-time Bathurst winner Greg Murphy, who's last Bathurst victory was a decade ago with Rick Kelly.
A few other notable pairings to keep an eye on: Scott McLaughlin and Alexander Prémat are in the #33 Volvo S60 and are the best shot for the first foreign manufacture to win since Volvo's 1998 victory with Rickard Rydell and Jim Richards. Rydell is the last non-Antipodean driver to win the Bathurst 1000. Prémat could becoming the first Frenchman to win The Great Race. Garth Tander is shooting for his fourth victory with Warren Luff as his co-driver. The brothers Will and Alex Davison pair up in the #9 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG. Will won in 2009 as Whincup's co-driver and a victory for the brothers would be Mercedes-Benz's first at Bathurst since the second running in 1961 when Bob Jane and Harry Firth won in a 220SE.
Fabian Coulthard set the fastest time in qualifying with a lap of 2:05.6080, well beating the track record. Shane van Gisbergen made it a Kiwi 1-2, only 0.0931 seconds back. Dale Wood made it a Holden 1-2-3. Defending Bathurst winner Mark Winterbottom was fourth with Volvo driver Scott McLaughlin rounding out the top five, joining fellow Kiwis Coulthard and van Gisbergen. Jason Bright was sixth, 0.8689 seconds back of his teammate. Jack Perkins is the second fastest Ford in seventh. James Moffat was eighth, the fastest Nissan, just a little over a second back of Coulthard. Garth Tander and Craig Lowndes round out the top ten. The top 10 shootout will take place Saturday afternoon.
Championship leader and four-time Bathurst winner Jamie Whincup suffered an accident in qualifying and he will have to start from the back of the grid on Sunday.
6 Hours of Fuji
The FIA World Endurance Championship heads to Toyota's home circuit of Fuji Speedway. The #8 Toyota TS040 Hybrid of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Nicolas Lapierre lead the championship with two victories followed by two third place finishes. Unfortunately, Lapierre will be stepping out of the car at Fuji due to personal reasons. The Frenchman had been apart of the last two winning teams at Fuji with Alexander Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima as his co-drivers. A third driver will not join Davidson and Buemi at Fuji.
The #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler have won the last two rounds and find themselves trailing the #8 Toyota by 11 points heading to Japan. Lotterer has won the last four years at Fuji in Super Formula. Their teammates Tom Kristensen and Lucas di Grassi are a further 13 points back after three consecutive runner-up finishes. Audi has never won at Fuji and Audi has yet to win a pole position in 2014 with Toyota responsible for three and Porsche for the other.
A surprising fourth in the world championship is the #12 Rebellion Racing R-One of Nick Heidfeld, Mathias Beche and Nicolas Prost. Despite their best finish being fourth, the Swiss team is ahead of the #7 Toyota of Wurz and Stéphane Sarrazin and both Porsches. The #12 R-One trails the #8 Toyota by 48 points.
The #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Marc Lieb, Romain Dumas and Neel Jani is three points behind the privateer Rebellion team and two ahead of Wurz and Sarrazin. The #14 Porsche of Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley are 70.5 points behind the championship leader despite finishing on the podium at the opening round of the season at Silverstone. Porsche's last victory at Fuji came in 1989 with Vern Schuppan, Eje Elgh and Keiji Matsumoto.
In the World Cup for GT Drivers, #51 AF Corse Ferrari drivers Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander maintained their championship lead over #92 Porsche driver Frédéric Makowiecki with 25 points separating them. Fellow Porsche drivers Marco Holzer and Richard Lietz are third and fourth in the World Cup for GT Drivers. Holzer is done for the season after deciding to focus on development duties for Porsche. Lietz is slated to return after breaking his arm at the end of August in an accident at VIR in IMSA competition. The Austrian Lietz is 45 points back with Makowiecki's co-driver Patrick Pilet 51 points behind the Ferrari pairing. Lietz will be in the #91 Porsche with Jörg Bergmeister and Nick Tandy. After winning at Austin, the #97 Aston Martin drivers Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke are 52 points out of the championship lead.
LMP2 saw #27 SMP Racing Oreca-Nissan's Sergey Zlobin extended his championship lead at Austin to 27 points over the #26 G-Drive Ligier-Nissan drivers Olivier Pla, Julien Canal and Romain Rusinov. Anton Ladygin of the #37 SMP Racing Oreca-Nissan is 30 points behind his fellow Russian. After their victory in Austin, the #47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan of Matthew Howson and Richard Bradley are 33 points behind Zlobin. OAK Racing returns to WEC competition at Fuji with the #35 Morgan-Judd of Alex Brundle, Gustavo Yacamán and Keiko Ihara.
In GTE-Am, the #98 Aston Martin drivers David Heinemeier Hansson and Kristian Poulsen led the championship after alternating winning each of the odd rounds and finishing second in the even rounds. The Two Danes lead their teammates and Austin winners, the #95 Aston of Paul Dalla Lana, Christoffer Nygaard and Pedro Lamy by 33 points. Hansson and Poulsen will be joined by Nicki Thiim at Fuji. In each race they have won this season, Thiim has been their third driver.
The Spa winning GTE-Am #61 AF Corse Ferrari will see a shuffle in their driver line up. Third in the GTE-Am championship, 35 points out of the lead, Luíz Pérez Companc, Mirko Venturi and Marco Cioci will be replaced by Jeroen Bleekemolen and Americans Mike Skeen and Bret Curtis. Skeen finished runner-up in this year's Pirelli World Challenge GT championship. Bleekemolen and Curtis were supposed to be co-drivers at Le Mans this years in the #79 Prospeed Competition Porsche but Curtis suffered a concussion in practice and was unable to compete leaving Bleekemolen and Cooper MacNeil without a third driver and promoting the entry to GTE-Pro because they lacked a bronze-rated driver.
The #1 Audi led both sessions on Friday from Fuji the #2 Audi next on the time sheet. The fastest lap by the #1 Audi was a 1:27.852. The #14 Porsche was third with the #8 and #7 Toyotas rounding out the top five. Less than one and a quarter seconds covered the top five LMP1 cars. The #26 G-Drive Ligier-Nissan topped both sessions in LMP2 with their fastest lap being a 1:34.027. The #37 SMP Racing Oreca-Nissan was second in class followed by the #47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan. The #27 SMP Racing Oreca-Nissan was fourth and the #35 OAK Racing Morgan-Judd rounded out the class. Less than eight-tenths of a second covered the five LMP2 entires.
The #97 Aston Martin was quickest in GTE-Pro at a 1:39.884 with their GTE-Am counterparts the #98 and #95 Aston Martin being the next two fastest GTE cars. The #88 and #75 Prospeed Competition Porsches make it four GTE-Am cars between the fastest and second fastest GTE-Pro entries. The #88 Porsche drivers are Christian Ried, Klaus Bachler and Khaled Al Qubaisi while Emmanuel Collard, François Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxivière are in the #75 Porsche. The championship leading #51 AF Corse Ferrari are second in GTE-Pro ahead of the #92 and #91 factory Porsches. The #99 Aston Martin rounded out the top five in GTE-Pro.
Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix
Jorge Lorenzo picked up his first MotoGP victory of 2014 at Aragón two weeks ago and the Majorcan heads to Motegi as the defending winner of the Japanese Grand Prix. Marc Márquez continues to have a commanding lead in the world championship but has finished 15th and 13th in the last two races. It is the first time Márquez has had back-to-back finishes off the podium since 2011 in Moto2 when he retired at Jerez and finished 21st at Estoril. Márquez leads his Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa by 75 points. If Márquez can maintain or increase that margin between him and second in the championship, he will clinch the world title with three races to spare.
Valentino Rossi is third in the championship, 78 points back of Márquez while Lorenzo's championship aspirations remain alive after his victory at Aragón. Lorenzo is 90 points back. Andrea Dovizioso rounds out the top five, 150 points behind Márquez. Aleix Espargaró jumped his brother Pol in the championship with his first career premier class podium at Aragón. The second place finish gave Aleix a four point cushion over Pol with 112 to his credit in 2014. Pol won at Motegi last year in Moto2.
Andrea Dovizioso was fastest from Motegi with a lap of 1:45.140 ahead of Lorenzo. Stefan Bradl was third quickest. Pedrosa was fourth ahead of Rossi and Márquez. Eight-tenths covered the top six riders.
Russian Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton extended his championship lead to 10 points over Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg after winning the Japanese Grand Prix, his seventh victory of 2014. The Mercedes-duo lead Formula One to Sochi, Russia, the first time Formula One has ever visited the country. Daniel Ricciardo is the only other driver mathematically eligible for the World Drivers' Championship. The Australian trails Hamilton by 73 points with four races to go and a maximum of 125 points remaining on the table.
Despite finishing third at Suzuka, Sebastian Vettel was eliminated from championship contention, falling two points shy of keeping his title hopes alive. The German did jump Fernando Alonso in the championship by six points. Valtteri Bottas is three points behind Alonso. Jenson Button is seventh with 82 points, six ahead of Nico Hülkenberg. Five points behind the German is Felipe Massa while Sergio Pérez rounds out the top ten, 25 points behind the Williams driver.
Kimi Räikkönen is a point behind Pérez with Kevin Magnussen six points behind the Finn. Jean-Éric Vergne sits on 21 points in his lame duck season for Toro Rosso. Romain Grosjean and Russian Daniil Kvyat had each have eight points.
The sixteenth and last driver to have scored championship points this season, Jules Bianchi is in critical but stable condition after suffering a diffuse axonal injury at the Japanese Grand Prix. Bianchi remains in the Intensive Care Unit at Mie General Medical Center. Marussia will run only Max Chilton this weekend.
The Sochi Autodrom is a 3.634-mile (5.848-kilometer) circuit featuring 19 turns, 12 right and 7 left. The circuit snakes through the Sochi Olympic Park, which hosted the XXII Winter Olympic Games earlier this February.
Lewis Hamilton was fastest on Friday with a lap of 1:39.630, over eight-tenths faster than Kevin Magnussen in second. Fernando Alonso was third with Nico Rosberg in fourth. Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top five. Just over a second back of Hamilton was Jenson Button in sixth with the second Williams of Felipe Massa in seventh. Daniil Kvyat was eighth in front of his fellow Russians. Sebastian Vettel was ninth with Jean-Éric Vergne rounding out the top ten.
Kimi Räikkönen was eleventh, exactly two seconds back of Hamilton. Nico Hülkenberg was twelfth with Daniel Ricciardo in thirteenth. The Australians session ended early after stopping on track with a mechanical issue. Sergio Pérez was fourteenth with Adrian Sutil rounding out the top fifteen. The Lotus-Renaults of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were next on the time sheet followed by Esteban Gutiérrez. Marcus Ericsson, Max Chilton and Kamui Kobayashi were the slowest three drivers in practice.
Charlotte
Joey Logano won at Kansas Speedway and locked himself into the semifinal round of the Chase as NASCAR heads to the final night race of the 2014 season at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Second in the standings is Kyle Busch, six points behind Logano. Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman are nine points back with Denny Hamlin rounding out the top five, eleven points
Fifteen points back is Kevin Harvick and only ten points to the good. Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon are tied for seventh, eight points ahead of ninth in the championship, Kasey Kahne. Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jimmie Johnson are all on the outside looking in after tire failures at Kansas. The three trail eighth by 22, 25 and 27 points respectively.
Of the remaining Chase drivers, only five have won the fall race at Charlotte. Johnson is tied with Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough and Mark Martin for most Charlotte fall race victories at three. Gordon has two victories in the Charlotte fall race with his last coming in 2007. Kahne, Kenseth and Keselowski are the other three winners of Charlotte fall races in the Chase with their wins coming in 2006, 2011 and 2013 respectively.
The three Hendrick drivers Johnson, Gordon and Kahne have five, three and three Coca-Cola 600 victories respectively. Kenseth's first Cup series victory was the 2000 Coca-Cola 600. Kevin Harvick is the only other driver remaining in the Chase with a points-paying win at Charlotte having won the 2011 and 2013 "600s." Three drivers only Cup victories at Charlotte have come in the All-Star Race. Earnhardt, Jr. won the 2000 All-Star Race, Newman won in 2002 and Edwards won in 2011. Johnson has a record four All-Star Race victories while Gordon has three. Kenseth, Kahne and Harvick each have one All-Star Race victory.
Taking into account the three Cup races, Logano, Busch and Hamlin are the only three Chase drivers who have never won a Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Kyle Busch will start on pole position for Saturday night's race. Jeff Gordon will start second with Denny Hamlin in third. Tony Stewart qualified fourth with his former teammate Ryan Newman rounding out the top five. Newman's Richard Childress Racing teammate Paul Menard was sixth. Kevin Harvick will start seventh with Brian Vickers in eighth. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Carl Edwards round out the top ten.
Championship leader Joey Logano starts thirteenth while his Penske teammate Brad Keselowski will start seventeenth. Kasey Kahne will start nineteenth. Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth will start on row eleven and are the worst starting Chase drivers.
Coverage
The NASCAR race from Charlotte can be seen at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday night on ABC.
Fox Sports 1's coverage of MotoGP from Motegi will begin at 12:00 a.m. ET Sunday morning (9:00 p.m. PT Saturday night).
Coverage of the Russian Grand Prix from Sochi will begin at 6:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN.
Over/Unders
1. Over or Under: Six hours and twenty minutes to complete the Bathurst 1000?
2. Over or Under: 215.5 laps completed at Fuji?
3. Over or Under: 2.5 Open entries in the top eight at Fuji?
4. Over or Under: 5.5 Mercedes-powered cars in the points at Sochi? They had seven of eight in the points at Suzuka.
5. Over or Under: 5.5 Chevrolets in the top ten at Charlotte?
Last Week's Over/Unders
1. Over: 69 laps were run behind the safety car at Petit Le Mans.
2. Under: Margin of victory in GT500 in Thailand was 1.980 seconds.
3. Over: Aprilia riders combined for four podiums at Magny-Cours.
4. Under: No Frenchman finished on the podium for their home rally.
5. Under: Only 44 laps were run at Suzuka.
Predictions
1. There is a first time Bathurst 1000 winner this weekend.
2. We will see some rain at Fuji.
3. Jorge Lorenzo extends his consecutive podium streak to seven races.
4. McLaren exits Sochi ahead of Force India in the Constructors' Championship.
5. At least two Chase drivers will suffer tire failures at Charlotte.
Last Week's Predictions
1. A Corvette wins in GTLM. (Wrong. Team Falken Tire Porsche won GTLM at Petit).
2. There will be at least one new championship leader in Super GT. (Correct. James Rossiter took the GT500 lead in Thailand).
3. A Frenchman wins at Magny-Cours. (Correct. Sylvain Guintoli won race one at Magny-Cours).
4. Sébastien Ogier wins the most stages this weekend. (Wrong. Jari-Matti Latvala won the most stages).
5. Going out on a limb, Sebastian Vettel wins at Suzuka. (Wrong. Lewis Hamilton won. Vettel finished third).
Overall: 2/5. Running Tally: 9.5/20
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Wednesday Wrap-Up: Dale Coyne Racing's 2014 Season
In the third of eleven 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series team reviews, we have come to the first of seven teams to get a victory in 2014.
Dale Coyne Racing won a race for their third consecutive season but this one was the most surprising of them all. Veteran Justin Wilson returned for his eleventh season coming off one of the best of his career in 2013, finishing sixth in the championship with four podiums, seven top fives and thirteen top tens but fell short on getting a victory. After the #18 was split by five drivers in 2013 with Mike Conway getting a victory in his first start in the car at Belle Isle, Dale Coyne (in typical Dale Coyne fashion) officially announced his second driver hours before the first practice at St. Petersburg. The lucky individual would be Colombian Carlos Huertas, who had previously competed in Formula Renault 3.5.
Justin Wilson
Wilson started this season in Justin Wilson-fashion. He started 16th at St. Petersburg but worked his way up to eighth. A promising run at Long Beach saw Wilson is contention for the victory after an accident took at leaders Josef Newgarden, Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe and Tony Kanaan. However, on the next restart, Wilson would get hip-checked into the turn eight wall by Scott Dixon, ending the his day. He would have another typical performance at Barber as he went from 16th to sixth in a wet race. Another poor starting position at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis put him behind the 8-ball but he made up seven positions before finishing 11th.
In the Indianapolis 500, Wilson was set on getting another top ten finish but contact with debris from Townsend Bell's accident caused front-wing damage, forcing him to pit and dropping him to 22nd. At Belle Isle, Wilson had another drive from the back to the front as he went from 19th to fourth. However, that was the closest Wilson got to victory all season. In Belle Isle 2, Wilson started 13th and finished 12th. An accident with Sébastien Bourdais at Texas led to a 21st place finish.
In Houston 1, Dale Coyne Racing played the fuel strategy game to a T and Wilson leading Huertas late but Wilson was seven laps short on fuel and had to trade a possible victory for a tenth place finish. In Houston 2, Wilson was in position for top tens in consecutive days but contact with Marco Andretti sent him to the tires and down to 12th in the final results, one lap down. Back-to-back uneventful races at Pocono and Iowa (finishes of 14th and 13th respectively) led him to Toronto were the condensed Sunday saw him finish tenth in race one and tenth in race two. The second race was more eventful for Wilson as he was leading late but as the track dried out and teams starting switching to slicks, Wilson was a sitting duck on wet weather tires and he held on for that second tenth place finish.
He went backward at Mid-Ohio, dropping seven positions from the grid to finish 15th. Milwaukee was another typical oval for Wilson in 2014 as he fell back to 17th from 12th and was never a factor. He finished ninth at Sonoma, his fifth top ten in six starts at the track and ended 2014 with another midpack finish on an oval with a 13th at Fontana.
Justin Wilson's 2014 Statistics
Championship Positions: 15th (395 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 7
Laps Led: 25
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 4
Average Start: 13 (16th in IndyCar)
Average Finish: 12.388 (12th)
Carlos Huertas
Huertas came out of nowhere. He tested for Panther Racing prior to the 2014 season before that team went under. He had one victory in Formula Renault 3.5 when heavy rains shortened a race at Aragón but other than that, Huertas languished at the back of fields at Europe.
While he didn't set the world on fire in IndyCar, he proved he wasn't another ride buyer. He wasn't Milka Duno or Marty Roth running multiple seconds off the leaders. He wasn't ever the quickest but he ran competitive times. Most of his races were uneventful as he stayed at the back but he was able to bring the car home in one piece and sometimes that played into his favor. At Long Beach, after many accidents, Huertas stole a tenth place finish in his second career IndyCar start. Amazingly, he completed every lap in his first Indianapolis 500 and finished seventeenth. And that was his first career oval race!
He had two 12th place starts at Belle Isle and finished eighth in Belle Isle 1. Through the first seven races, the Colombian had completed every lap of the season. He ran all but four laps at Texas as he managed a 16th place finish.
Then came the surprise of the season. Dale Coyne had Justin Wilson get 46 laps on a tank of fuel but fall seven laps short only to have Huertas right behind his teammate and the Colombian was able to go 39 laps on fuel to win from 19th on the grid in a time-limit race after heavy rain. Plenty of things played into Huertas' favor. First, his fuel cell was found to be larger than the regulations allowed. Had it been kosher, who knows if he wins. Then comes the botched final restart where Graham Rahal who was fourth, ran over Tony Kanaan before they were even close to taking the green, ending the race before Huertas was challenged but none of that matters. The history books will show Huertas as an IndyCar winner and the first IndyCar winner born in the 1990s.
His best finish in the remaining nine races was fourteenth. Mechanical issues would end his races at Houston 2, Pocono and Sonoma. Despite his strong oval runs at Indianapolis and Texas, the other high-speed ovals of Iowa and Fontana didn't suit Huertas as he choose to retire from both and saying after Fontana he retired due to dizziness. None of his retirements were due to accidents and to be honest, I can't recall one time all season, in a race or practice in which Huertas came close to a barrier.
Carlos Huertas' 2014 Statistics
Championship Positions: 20th (314 points)
Wins: 1
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 3
Laps Led: 7
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 2
Average Start: 18.058 (22nd)
Average Finish: 15.944 (22nd)
Head-to-Head
Better Finish: Justin Wilson def. Carlos Huertas 14-4.
Better Qualifying Position: Wilson def. Huertas 14-4.
We don't know if either driver will be back for Coyne in 2015. Wilson is on the back nine of his career and after a fantastic 2013 season, 2014 was average, thanks in part of the departures of Bill Pappas and John Dick. We saw what the team was capable of when Mike Conway stepped into the #18 in 2013. If Wilson had a young, talented teammate (Sam Bird, Daniel Abt, Conor Daly, J.R. Hildebrand, Martin Plowman) both he and Coyne would benefit greatly.
Huertas is replaceable. A second year in IndyCar might do him some good but don't hang your hat on him winning again in 2015. Houston 1 was a blind squirrel finding a nut. I can't see the Colombian being in high demand with other IndyCar teams and if he isn't with Coyne in 2015, he likely won't have a ride at all.
There is the possibility Wilson leaves, which would be a great disappointment for Dale Coyne Racing. All their success has come with Wilson on their payroll. Before Wilson, they were a meddling team, rotating ride buyers but being able to keep two cars on the grid each year while other teams struggled for survival. We have seen what the team is capable of doing when they have capable drivers. Losing Wilson could sent the team back to their old ways of the 1990s with European and South American drivers filtering through the team like a high school exchange program.
There is a reason Dale Coyne Racing is one of four teams to win a race in every season of the DW-12 era. Wilson may not have been directly responsible for the team's last two victories but losing him could spell a long drought for the team that has been around for nearly three decades.
One final tangent on Justin Wilson: Imagine if Roger Penske called him to fill in for Hélio Castroneves when the Brazilian had his tax evasion trail over Will Power. How much different would their two career be? For years we heard rumors of Wilson to Ganassi or him linked to big teams but he has never landed at one of those big teams and likely never will. If it were to occur now with let's say Andretti Autosport, it will feel about five years too late. Not that Wilson couldn't be successful with a bigger team if he got the call, rather a feeling that however long of an opportunity he would get, it would only provide a brief glimpse of what could have been.
Dale Coyne Racing won a race for their third consecutive season but this one was the most surprising of them all. Veteran Justin Wilson returned for his eleventh season coming off one of the best of his career in 2013, finishing sixth in the championship with four podiums, seven top fives and thirteen top tens but fell short on getting a victory. After the #18 was split by five drivers in 2013 with Mike Conway getting a victory in his first start in the car at Belle Isle, Dale Coyne (in typical Dale Coyne fashion) officially announced his second driver hours before the first practice at St. Petersburg. The lucky individual would be Colombian Carlos Huertas, who had previously competed in Formula Renault 3.5.
Justin Wilson
Wilson started this season in Justin Wilson-fashion. He started 16th at St. Petersburg but worked his way up to eighth. A promising run at Long Beach saw Wilson is contention for the victory after an accident took at leaders Josef Newgarden, Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe and Tony Kanaan. However, on the next restart, Wilson would get hip-checked into the turn eight wall by Scott Dixon, ending the his day. He would have another typical performance at Barber as he went from 16th to sixth in a wet race. Another poor starting position at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis put him behind the 8-ball but he made up seven positions before finishing 11th.
In the Indianapolis 500, Wilson was set on getting another top ten finish but contact with debris from Townsend Bell's accident caused front-wing damage, forcing him to pit and dropping him to 22nd. At Belle Isle, Wilson had another drive from the back to the front as he went from 19th to fourth. However, that was the closest Wilson got to victory all season. In Belle Isle 2, Wilson started 13th and finished 12th. An accident with Sébastien Bourdais at Texas led to a 21st place finish.
In Houston 1, Dale Coyne Racing played the fuel strategy game to a T and Wilson leading Huertas late but Wilson was seven laps short on fuel and had to trade a possible victory for a tenth place finish. In Houston 2, Wilson was in position for top tens in consecutive days but contact with Marco Andretti sent him to the tires and down to 12th in the final results, one lap down. Back-to-back uneventful races at Pocono and Iowa (finishes of 14th and 13th respectively) led him to Toronto were the condensed Sunday saw him finish tenth in race one and tenth in race two. The second race was more eventful for Wilson as he was leading late but as the track dried out and teams starting switching to slicks, Wilson was a sitting duck on wet weather tires and he held on for that second tenth place finish.
He went backward at Mid-Ohio, dropping seven positions from the grid to finish 15th. Milwaukee was another typical oval for Wilson in 2014 as he fell back to 17th from 12th and was never a factor. He finished ninth at Sonoma, his fifth top ten in six starts at the track and ended 2014 with another midpack finish on an oval with a 13th at Fontana.
Justin Wilson's 2014 Statistics
Championship Positions: 15th (395 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 7
Laps Led: 25
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 4
Average Start: 13 (16th in IndyCar)
Average Finish: 12.388 (12th)
Carlos Huertas
Huertas came out of nowhere. He tested for Panther Racing prior to the 2014 season before that team went under. He had one victory in Formula Renault 3.5 when heavy rains shortened a race at Aragón but other than that, Huertas languished at the back of fields at Europe.
While he didn't set the world on fire in IndyCar, he proved he wasn't another ride buyer. He wasn't Milka Duno or Marty Roth running multiple seconds off the leaders. He wasn't ever the quickest but he ran competitive times. Most of his races were uneventful as he stayed at the back but he was able to bring the car home in one piece and sometimes that played into his favor. At Long Beach, after many accidents, Huertas stole a tenth place finish in his second career IndyCar start. Amazingly, he completed every lap in his first Indianapolis 500 and finished seventeenth. And that was his first career oval race!
He had two 12th place starts at Belle Isle and finished eighth in Belle Isle 1. Through the first seven races, the Colombian had completed every lap of the season. He ran all but four laps at Texas as he managed a 16th place finish.
Then came the surprise of the season. Dale Coyne had Justin Wilson get 46 laps on a tank of fuel but fall seven laps short only to have Huertas right behind his teammate and the Colombian was able to go 39 laps on fuel to win from 19th on the grid in a time-limit race after heavy rain. Plenty of things played into Huertas' favor. First, his fuel cell was found to be larger than the regulations allowed. Had it been kosher, who knows if he wins. Then comes the botched final restart where Graham Rahal who was fourth, ran over Tony Kanaan before they were even close to taking the green, ending the race before Huertas was challenged but none of that matters. The history books will show Huertas as an IndyCar winner and the first IndyCar winner born in the 1990s.
His best finish in the remaining nine races was fourteenth. Mechanical issues would end his races at Houston 2, Pocono and Sonoma. Despite his strong oval runs at Indianapolis and Texas, the other high-speed ovals of Iowa and Fontana didn't suit Huertas as he choose to retire from both and saying after Fontana he retired due to dizziness. None of his retirements were due to accidents and to be honest, I can't recall one time all season, in a race or practice in which Huertas came close to a barrier.
Carlos Huertas' 2014 Statistics
Championship Positions: 20th (314 points)
Wins: 1
Podiums: 1
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 3
Laps Led: 7
Poles: 0
Fast Sixes: 0
Fast Twelves: 2
Average Start: 18.058 (22nd)
Average Finish: 15.944 (22nd)
Head-to-Head
Better Finish: Justin Wilson def. Carlos Huertas 14-4.
Better Qualifying Position: Wilson def. Huertas 14-4.
We don't know if either driver will be back for Coyne in 2015. Wilson is on the back nine of his career and after a fantastic 2013 season, 2014 was average, thanks in part of the departures of Bill Pappas and John Dick. We saw what the team was capable of when Mike Conway stepped into the #18 in 2013. If Wilson had a young, talented teammate (Sam Bird, Daniel Abt, Conor Daly, J.R. Hildebrand, Martin Plowman) both he and Coyne would benefit greatly.
Huertas is replaceable. A second year in IndyCar might do him some good but don't hang your hat on him winning again in 2015. Houston 1 was a blind squirrel finding a nut. I can't see the Colombian being in high demand with other IndyCar teams and if he isn't with Coyne in 2015, he likely won't have a ride at all.
There is the possibility Wilson leaves, which would be a great disappointment for Dale Coyne Racing. All their success has come with Wilson on their payroll. Before Wilson, they were a meddling team, rotating ride buyers but being able to keep two cars on the grid each year while other teams struggled for survival. We have seen what the team is capable of doing when they have capable drivers. Losing Wilson could sent the team back to their old ways of the 1990s with European and South American drivers filtering through the team like a high school exchange program.
There is a reason Dale Coyne Racing is one of four teams to win a race in every season of the DW-12 era. Wilson may not have been directly responsible for the team's last two victories but losing him could spell a long drought for the team that has been around for nearly three decades.
One final tangent on Justin Wilson: Imagine if Roger Penske called him to fill in for Hélio Castroneves when the Brazilian had his tax evasion trail over Will Power. How much different would their two career be? For years we heard rumors of Wilson to Ganassi or him linked to big teams but he has never landed at one of those big teams and likely never will. If it were to occur now with let's say Andretti Autosport, it will feel about five years too late. Not that Wilson couldn't be successful with a bigger team if he got the call, rather a feeling that however long of an opportunity he would get, it would only provide a brief glimpse of what could have been.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Musings From the Weekend: Forza Jules
Petit Le Mans tied the bow on the inaugural United SportsCar Championship season. Two championships tightened up in France. A Brit took a championship lead in Thailand. Two new winners in China and Lewis Hamilton extended his World Drivers' Championship lead to 10 points with a win in Suzuka. Unfortunately, we start on a somber note. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
A Reminder I Am Flawed
I said this after Mikhail Aleshin's accident and I will say it again after the accident that involved Jules Bianchi. I am flawed. Bianchi suffered a severe head injury after spinning into a crane late in the Japanese Grand Prix. The crane was retrieving the car of Adrian Sutil, which had spun into the barrier a lap prior.
Here is a statement from the FIA regarding Jules Bianchi:
Bianchi is a talented young driver who was on the verge of getting a big break in Formula One. I hope he is back on the grid as soon as possible because, though stuck at Marussia, he is a great asset to the Formula One grid.
I am flawed. After the race had ended and the drivers solemnly partook in the podium ceremony, I realized Alexander Rossi is Marussia's reserve driver and I remembered how close he was to his debut at Spa only to have it snatched from him on Friday of the race weekend after already participating in the first free practice. Unless Bianchi has a miraculous recovery, Marussia will have a new driver at Sochi next week and Alexander Rossi could be making his debut. Nobody wants there debut to come this way. They would want to earn it, not be handed it. However, should Rossi or whomever gets the call (it could be Will Stevens for all I know and I wouldn't be surprised if Vitaly Petrov got the call) they have to take advantage of this opportunity. It's unfortunate it is coming this way but you have to go out and race at the highest of your ability and put on the best showing, not just for themselves but for Bianchi as well.
I pray Bianchi is back on the grid as soon as possible but at the same time I hope Rossi gets his opportunity in Formula One. It's a conflict I wish didn't exist.
Formula One's Driver Carousel
Late Friday night, everything hit the fan in the Formula One paddock. The first bombshell was Red Bull releasing their 2015 driver line-up: Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat. This confirmed the four-time World Champion and Red Bull ace since 2009, Sebastian Vettel would be leaving the team he made famous.
Christian Horner then opened his mouth saying Ferrari must have made, "a very attractive offer" to the German. This turned the conversation to Fernando Alonso, who's only option now appears to be a return to McLaren with the return of Honda in 2015.
Let's start with Vettel. I'm completely stunned he is leaving. He was Red Bull Racing. He was the one who carried the team after years of being a middle of the road team with the likes of David Coulthard, Christian Klein and Robert Doornbos to the top of the mountain. He was changing the game, a driver with no manager, no agenda, racing for the 21st Century race team owned by an energy drink company. The stalwarts of Ferrari and McLaren were struggling to keep up, Mercedes was stumbling since reentering Formula One and once glorious teams such as Williams and Renault were falling by the wayside.
The records were falling left and right. The combination seemed unstoppable and at the end of 2013, they were unstoppable. Nine consecutive victories, a world championship by a country mile and a constructors' championship by a country mile. Vettel was king. His once challenging number two Mark Webber was leaving and in was coming Ricciardo, a kid who toiled around at HRT and Toro Rosso, with a handful of points finishes but nothing spectacular that showed he stood head and shoulders above most the grid.
The rule changes caught Red Bull out. The car struggled with overheating during testing. It was clear Mercedes had the upper hand and the fight to remain on top would be the most challenging of both Vettel's Red Bull career. At Melbourne, Vettel retired while Ricciardo had a second place finish wiped away when he was disqualified for exceeding maximum fuel limits. The following round, Vettel finished third while Ricciardo retired but it was clear Mercedes wasn't going to be beaten easily, if at all in 2014. It was clear Red Bull were not going to retain the constructors' title and Vettel would be dethrone as world drivers' champion.
Red Bull kept taking the fight to Mercedes and finally broke through but it wasn't Vettel leading the way, it was Ricciardo with victories at Montreal, Hungary and Spa. Vettel couldn't even get on the podium and in fact, entering Suzuka had as many podiums as Ricciardo had victories (Of course Vettel got his fourth podium at Suzuka). Vettel knows, for the first time in his career, a teammate will probably beat him in the championship standings. Ricciardo made Vettel human in 2014.
With that said, it hasn't been a catastrophic season for Red Bull and Vettel. They aren't winning every third race and won't be champions but it's been much better than Lotus-Renault who have eight points from fifteen races after having 315 points all of last year, good enough for fourth in the constructors' championship. Red Bull were beat this year but it would be crazy to think Mercedes would keep this much of an advantage in 2015. It looks like Vettel is leaving because of one bad year. The going got rough and instead of holding on, Vettel is abandoning ship.
Who is to say Ferrari is going to be any better than Red Bull in 2015? Maranello has experienced a much rougher season in 2014 than Red Bull. Alonso is performing wonders in that car. He is making an average car look like a contender very easy but we all know that's not the case. What will Vettel do if Ferrari doesn't come out on top and Mercedes and Red Bull remain 1-2 and what if Williams remains third? Vettel doesn't have a manager, he makes deals as he goes along. A one-and-done could be a very real possibility at Ferrari but who would take Vettel if it doesn't work out between him and the Italian manufacture? Who else on the grid beside Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari have the capability of matching the financial numbers Vettel demands? Vettel could be setting himself up to fall out of Formula One before the age of 30 if he is not careful.
As for Vettel's replacement, Daniil Kvyat. While the Russian has scored nine points in 2014 and been able to run comparable laps in qualifying to the senior Red Bull team, is it too soon for the 20-year old? Jean-Éric Vergne paid his dues at Toro Rosso. If anything, he earned that Red Bull seat. He is the second best driver Toro Rosso has ever had behind Vettel. Outside of Vettel victory at Monza in 2008 and his fourth at Shanghai in 2007, the next best finish for a Toro Rosso driver is sixth on three occasions. One being Vitantonio Liuzzi at Shanghai in 2007, the other two belonging to Vergne at Canada last year and Singapore just two weeks ago. And all Vergne gets is his walking papers. He will likely be out of Formula One for good.
Who is Toro Rosso going to promote to team with 17-year old Dutchman Max Verstappen? Carlos Sainz, Jr., who is 20? The 18-year old going on 19-year old Pierre Gasly? Or 21-year old, GP3 championship leader Alex Lynn? Either way, all three options have the same amount of Formula One race experience as Verstappen, zero. Toro Rosso will look like two lost puppies if they hire two drivers with no Formula One experience. Keeping Vergne makes the most sense but it's clear that bridge has been burned.
As for Alonso, I never thought we would see him back at McLaren after what happened in 2007. After the internal riff with Lewis Hamilton and the shenanigans and the Ferrari-McLaren espionage case, I thought Alonso would never be welcomed back in Woking. I thought once Alonso got the Ferrari seat, he would be in red for the remainder of his career. It was a natural fit. He could be the undeniable number one driver at Ferrari. The opportunities seemed endless, especially after all the rumors of Ferrari returning to Le Mans and Alonso waving the Tricolour this year at Le Mans. Do you really think Alonso got the honor of waving the Tricolour because of his Formula One success? If anything, it was a less subtle way of saying, Ferrari is returning to Le Mans than if Luca di Montezemolo had done it or Piero Ferrari.
It seemed Alonso was the man for the job of bringing Ferrari back to Le Mans as one of the best drivers in the last generation of Formula One. Maybe he still is. Maybe all these rumors of an unluckily reunion with McLaren are just that. Maybe he isn't leaving Maranello. Maybe he is leaving Formula One but only to be become Ferrari's lead sports car driver with a return at Le Mans next year with the Garage 56 entry before making a return to LMP1 in 2016.
Or maybe NBCSN's Will Buxton hit the nail on the head at Suzuka:
What if the three-car teams become the way of Formula One in 2015? What if Alonso isn't leaving, rather Ferrari is pulling another seat up to the table for Vettel? Three-car teams are an interesting proposition as they create more desirable seats but the raising questions over whether they would go to veterans or rookies. We'll touch on that in a moment.
As of now, three-car teams aren't happening so let's just stick to the Alonso-to-McLaren rumor. Does he replace Jenson Button or Kevin Magnussen? Button will be turning 35 this January and the senior statesman on the Formula One grid. The last two years have been agonizing for Button who went to McLaren fresh off his world championship in 2009. While he has piled up eight victories in his five years at McLaren, he hasn't won since the 2012 season finale and has only one podium in his last two seasons. Magnussen finished second on debut at Melbourne earlier this year but hasn't been that close to the front of the field since. He has been scoring points regularly and would have much more if it weren't for questionable penalties at Spa and Monza.
I hate to say it but we are possibly watching the final Grands Prix of Jenson Button's Formula One career. He won't go down as an all-time great but his career was anything but uneventful. He was the most highly covenanted prospect for years and then appeared to be the biggest bust in Formula One history. Fortune in the form of Ross Brawn gave Button a chance to show he was truly world championship material and he joined the Pantheon of British world champions joining the likes of Hawthorn, Clark, the Hills, Surtees, Stewart, Hunt, Mansell and Hamilton. No one can take that away from Button.
The IndyCar Pitch to Jenson Button
With Jenson Button's Formula One career appearing to be coming to an end, maybe he should come to the United States and run IndyCar. Here are five reasons why:
1. IndyCar is an Old Man's Game
Good news for you, Jenson Button. If you comes to IndyCar, you easily could race another six or seven years. Look at all the success drivers who would be considered too damn old in Formula One are having.
Hélio Castroneves is turning 40 next year and he just finished second in both the championship and the Indianapolis 500 in 2013.
Your old Formula One rival Juan Pablo Montoya won and finished fourth in the championship and he had been out of an open-wheel car for nearly eight years before returning to IndyCar this year.
Your old BAR-Honda teammate Takuma Sato is turning 38 and loving IndyCar. He is still inconsistent as hell but he gets a pole position a season and has two or three races that makes you think he is turning into a great driver only to follow it up with nine consecutive finishes outside the top 17. If he can do it, you should have no problem in IndyCar.
Tony Kanaan is turning 40 on New Year's Eve and he won an Indianapolis 500 at 38 and finished 2014 seventh in the championship after winning the season finale at Fontana. Plus, Kanaan is super active doing Ironman competition and we all know how much you love to train. Kanaan would be a perfect mate for running or cycling.
Your old karting buddy, Justin Wilson is 36 and is still doing well. Sébastien Bourdais is 35 and is coming off a race win in 2014. In Formula One, you are considered old news but in IndyCar, you would still be considered a star of the future.
2. You Would Still Get To Travel
Guess what? IndyCar is going to Brazil and might be heading to Dubai so there will be a few familiar stops for you and think about all new places you'd get to experience if you came to IndyCar. You'd get to run at Long Beach and I bet you'd love to add your name to the list of winner that already features the likes of Andretti, Villeneuve, Piquet, Lauda, Unser, Zanardi, Montoya, Hunter-Reay, Franchitti and Bourdais.
Ever been to a state fair? You could go with Robin Miller and the gang to the Indiana State Fair and no one would recognize you. You could have a breaded tenderloin and deep-Fried snickers and Oreos and then burn it all off on a 13.1-mile run the following morning.
Like wine? That's a silly question. Who doesn't like wine? IndyCar heads to Wine Country in Sonoma. I bet you and Jessica would love to spend a week out there.
And you'd get to return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for not one but two races. One of which is one of the most historic races in the world.
3. Ovals Aren't That Hard
You would love ovals. Would they be different? Hell yeah but who is against a little challenge? If Carlos Huertas can run all 200 laps in his first Indianapolis 500, you can handle ovals. Look at all the drivers from Formula One backgrounds who did well on ovals: Jim Clark, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell, Alex Zanardi. Heck, another one of your old teammates Rubens Barrichello did really well on ovals his one year in IndyCar. There is nothing to be worried about when it comes to ovals. You will get plenty of testing and practice.
4. Any Team Can Win
Unlike in Formula One where if the chassis is crap from race one, it's going to be a long season and you might be lucky to get a podium or two; in IndyCar you have a legitimate shot to win every week. The DW12 chassis being the only choice has something to do with it but the DW12 chassis has put on some great racing. Had a bad week? Put it all behind you and move on to the next one. The Chevrolet and Honda engines have become really reliable and the only time you have to worry about engineers telling you how to drive the car is when they want you to conserve some fuel.
5. Choosing IndyCar Is Choosing All Other Forms of Motorsports
The IndyCar season is ridiculously compacted into six months. It's going to be a nonstop sprint but good news is IndyCar team owners aren't stingy in preventing their drivers for moonlighting in other series during the offseason. Want to run the 24 Hours of Daytona? No problem. How about Sebring? Once the season ends in late-August or early-September, take a few weeks for rest and relaxation and then you can plan to do Petit Le Mans or the Bathurst 1000. Look at all the opportunities IndyCar gives you. What driver wouldn't want to be in IndyCar?
To Be Fair, there are reasons why Button shouldn't come to IndyCar. Here are five of them:
1. Xenophobia
It is almost guaranteed if you came to IndyCar Mr. Button, Twitter, comment sections and forums would be full of comments such as "Formula One reject" and "we don't need foreigners." I am pretty sure you would ignore them and I am pretty sure you don't spend your time reading comment sections but it would be inevitable. I don't care if a driver is American, British, German, Brazilian, French, Australian or Japanese. I want a grid to be filled with drivers who are qualified to be there on their talent. Don't get me wrong, IndyCar needs Americans to survive and a few more on the grid would help the series but I don't think IndyCar should be an exclusive all-American series. There are plenty of talented drivers from around the globe and not all of them can land in Formula One. IndyCar would benefit from their presence.
2. Bring Your Own Funding
Your not landing with Penske or Ganassi. Andretti Autosport would be your best option but even then I am not sure they would take you (although why would a team turn down Jenson Button?). Outside of those three teams, you are going to have to find your own funding. I know that sounds awful and you have never done that before in your career but it's the state of most motorsports series today including IndyCar.
3. Do You Like Racing at Places with Lots of Elbow Room?
Let's just put it this way, more IndyCar events will look like Bahrain in terms of attendance than Silverstone. Other than Indianapolis, Long Beach, Barber, Toronto, Mid-Ohio and maybe Iowa, the stands will have some bare spots. It doesn't look pretty but don't let that get in the way of how great the racing will be on track. Promoters can worry attendance.
4. You're Not Going to be Making €16 million a Year
This kind of ties into bring your own funding. You'd be fortunate if you made $2 million in a season, let alone the $20 million you make yearly in Formula One and most of your earnings in IndyCar will come from your finish in the Indianapolis 500 and if you crack the top ten in the championship. Because of how IndyCar pays their teams one lump sum known as the Leader Circle fund, race-by-race purses are crap. Winning a race outside of the triple crown races pays a $30,000 bonus, less than a percent of your current contract with McLaren. It's not pretty and it's one of the many areas IndyCar has to improve.
5. Race Control
Understanding the rules will be complicated. Contact at Long Beach that doesn't get you penalized may get you a penalty at Mid-Ohio. There isn't that much blocking. Whether or not your team gets called for a pit lane violation really comes down to which team you are on. Hit an air gun and be driving for Penske or Ganassi, you'll be fine. Hit an air gun and be driving for Dale Coyne, you're probably going to be penalized. Good news is, if you fail technical inspection you won't lose a victory or points. Your team might lose $5,000-$20,000 but that's not too bad of a hit.
If 2014 is your final year in Formula One, I hope you consider IndyCar for 2015 Jenson Button. We would love to have you.
Did NASCAR Get it Wrong Changing the Chase Format?
I calculated the points after Kansas had NASCAR stuck to the Chase format prior to this season.
First off, Clint Bowyer and Kyle Larson would have made the Chase under last year's format. Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola and A.J. Allmendinger would not have made it.
After four races, Joey Logano would lead the championship with 2184 points after winning Kansas, his fifth win of the season and second of the Chase. Kyle Larson would second in points with 2164 and finishes of 3rd, 2nd, 6th and 2nd from the first four races.
Here is how the top 12 in the championship would look like:
Joey Logano: 2184
Kyle Larson: -20
Kevin Harvick: -28
Brad Keselowski: -35
Jeff Gordon: -36
Carl Edwards: -54
Ryan Newman: -54
Matt Kenseth: -56
Jimmie Johnson: -59
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: -74
Greg Biffle: -83
Clint Bowyer: -87
The intervals would be bigger but no one would have been eliminated already or be guaranteed to be eliminated after Talladega in two weeks.
In reality, because of a bad race at Kansas, Keselowski, Johnson and Earnhardt, Jr. are all on the outside of the second round cutline despite winning five races, three races and three races respectively. The new Chase format was meant to make winning worth more but with those three drivers sitting 22, 25 and 27 points on the outside and Jeff Gordon who has won four races on the bubble, only eight points to the good, Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth both have yet to win a race and sit in position to advance to the next round.
Those three all have a shot of winning at Charlotte or Talladega and locking themselves into the next round regardless of their position in the points but this do-or-die feeling is contrived. This isn't what motorsports is about. It is about a season-long journey with the aggregate of all the races deciding the champion, not nearly three-quarters of the season shrinking the championship contenders down to a little more than a dozen, then the aggregate of three races deciding which drivers still alive and which drivers are eliminated in three rounds. It's disappointing NASCAR can't leave the Cup Series championship alone and let it be decided organically like they do the Nationwide Series and Truck Series.
Penne Toro Rosa
I was fortunate to have dinner with my uncle on Saturday night (we went out for pasta hence the title) and as usually we talked motorsports. First we talked about ticket prices for the United States Grand Prix. My uncle, who will be turning fifty in less than a month, brought up that the current generation of current college students and recent college graduates are struggling to find jobs and are deep in debt and aren't going to spend $150 for general admission. He continued saying twenty years from now Formula One will have lost many potential fans because they were priced out and couldn't afford to experience it in their younger days. As someone in that category of current college student/recent college graduate I understand exactly what he is talking about.
We then talked about three-car teams in Formula One. While he was intrigued by the idea, he thought making three-car teams mandatory would not solve the issue of it being too expensive for teams to compete in Formula One. He said other than Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren, which teams could field three cars without being financially stretched too thin? Instead of having Caterham, Marussia and Sauber struggle to stay on the grid, now Lotus, Force India and Williams are struggling to stay on the grid with three-car teams.
The question I have about three car teams is where are the drivers going to come from? Let's say Caterham and Sauber go away after this year. Are Adrian Sutil, Esteban Gutiérrez, Marcus Ericsson and Kamui Kobayashi just going to fill those seats? Are the likes of Nico Hülkenberg, Romain Grosjean and Sergio Pérez going to get promotions or would these third seats go to drivers in junior formulas? Do will see the likes of Giedo van der Garde, Charles Pic, Jérôme d'Ambrosio and Bruno Senna return to Formula One?
Random Thoughts
Why isn't there a 16-hour endurance race? We have 6, 8, 10, 12 and 24 hours races and starting this December a 32-hour race but no one does a race between once and twice around the clock. You could start a race at 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. and have end at 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. Just throwing it at the wall and seeing if it sticks.
The Maxi Endurance 32 Hours is too long. Twenty-four hour races is long enough. Spa and Thunderhill each do 25-hour races but an extra hour isn't that bad. An extra eight is mind-boggling.
Daniel Ricciardo made a set of great passes on the outside of turn six into turn seven, first on Massa then on Bottas. Lewis Hamilton's pass for the lead and ultimately the victory on the outside of Nico Rosberg into turn one.
Champions From the Weekend
Christian Fittipaldi and João Barbosa won the Prototype championship in the first year of the United SportsCar Championship. The pair won three races and scored eight podiums.
Kuno Wittmer won the GTLM championship. Wittmer won two races and scored seven podiums.
Dane Cameron won the GTD championship. Cameron won four races and scored six podiums.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Lewis Hamilton and Joey Logano but did you know...
Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli won Petit Le Mans. The Taylor brothers become the first Americans to win Petit Le Mans overall. The #8 Starworks Oreca of Renger van der Zande, Alex Popow, Mirco Schultis and John Martin won in PC. Team Falken Tire won GTLM for the second consecutive year with drivers Wolf Henzler, Bryan Sellers and Marco Holzer. The #48 Paul Miller Racing Audi of Bryce Miller, Christopher Haase and Matthew Bell won in GTD.
Jari-Matti Latvala won the WRC Rallye de France Alsace. He cut the gap to Sébastien Ogier down to 27 points after the Frenchman finished eleventh after lost many minutes on day one due to gearbox issues.
Sylvain Guintoli and Marco Melandri split the World Superbike weekend at Magny-Cours. Jules Cluzel won in Supersport.
Tom Chilton and Robert Huff each picked up their first wins of the 2014 WTCC season at Beijing.
James Rossiter and Kazuki Nakajima won their second consecutive Super GT race in GT500 in Thailand. Kazuki Hoshino and Lucas Ordóñez won in GT300. Rossiter takes a 3-point lead in the GT500 championship. Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka extended their GT300 championship lead to nine points.
Kyle Busch won the Nationwide Series race at Kansas.
Coming Up This Weekend
Don't plan on sleeping this Saturday into Sunday.
NASCAR is at Charlotte Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The Bathurst 1000 also begins at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The FIA World Endurance Championship is at Fuji and begins at 10 p.m. ET Saturday night.
MotoGP is also in Japan, running at Motegi with the race starting at 1:00 a.m. ET Sunday morning.
WTCC will be in Shanghai and race one is scheduled for 3:00 a.m. ET.
Formula One will make their inaugural stop to Sochi, Russia at 7:00 a.m. ET.
Asian Le Mans Series is at Shanghai with WTCC and will race Saturday morning at 3:00 a.m. ET.
A Reminder I Am Flawed
I said this after Mikhail Aleshin's accident and I will say it again after the accident that involved Jules Bianchi. I am flawed. Bianchi suffered a severe head injury after spinning into a crane late in the Japanese Grand Prix. The crane was retrieving the car of Adrian Sutil, which had spun into the barrier a lap prior.
Here is a statement from the FIA regarding Jules Bianchi:
The #FIA statement on @Jules_Bianchi #ForzaJules pic.twitter.com/MvadQnJiWu
— F1 Racing (@F1Racing_mag) October 5, 2014
My prayers go out to Jules Bianchi on a speedy recovery.Bianchi is a talented young driver who was on the verge of getting a big break in Formula One. I hope he is back on the grid as soon as possible because, though stuck at Marussia, he is a great asset to the Formula One grid.
I am flawed. After the race had ended and the drivers solemnly partook in the podium ceremony, I realized Alexander Rossi is Marussia's reserve driver and I remembered how close he was to his debut at Spa only to have it snatched from him on Friday of the race weekend after already participating in the first free practice. Unless Bianchi has a miraculous recovery, Marussia will have a new driver at Sochi next week and Alexander Rossi could be making his debut. Nobody wants there debut to come this way. They would want to earn it, not be handed it. However, should Rossi or whomever gets the call (it could be Will Stevens for all I know and I wouldn't be surprised if Vitaly Petrov got the call) they have to take advantage of this opportunity. It's unfortunate it is coming this way but you have to go out and race at the highest of your ability and put on the best showing, not just for themselves but for Bianchi as well.
I pray Bianchi is back on the grid as soon as possible but at the same time I hope Rossi gets his opportunity in Formula One. It's a conflict I wish didn't exist.
Formula One's Driver Carousel
Late Friday night, everything hit the fan in the Formula One paddock. The first bombshell was Red Bull releasing their 2015 driver line-up: Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat. This confirmed the four-time World Champion and Red Bull ace since 2009, Sebastian Vettel would be leaving the team he made famous.
Christian Horner then opened his mouth saying Ferrari must have made, "a very attractive offer" to the German. This turned the conversation to Fernando Alonso, who's only option now appears to be a return to McLaren with the return of Honda in 2015.
Let's start with Vettel. I'm completely stunned he is leaving. He was Red Bull Racing. He was the one who carried the team after years of being a middle of the road team with the likes of David Coulthard, Christian Klein and Robert Doornbos to the top of the mountain. He was changing the game, a driver with no manager, no agenda, racing for the 21st Century race team owned by an energy drink company. The stalwarts of Ferrari and McLaren were struggling to keep up, Mercedes was stumbling since reentering Formula One and once glorious teams such as Williams and Renault were falling by the wayside.
The records were falling left and right. The combination seemed unstoppable and at the end of 2013, they were unstoppable. Nine consecutive victories, a world championship by a country mile and a constructors' championship by a country mile. Vettel was king. His once challenging number two Mark Webber was leaving and in was coming Ricciardo, a kid who toiled around at HRT and Toro Rosso, with a handful of points finishes but nothing spectacular that showed he stood head and shoulders above most the grid.
The rule changes caught Red Bull out. The car struggled with overheating during testing. It was clear Mercedes had the upper hand and the fight to remain on top would be the most challenging of both Vettel's Red Bull career. At Melbourne, Vettel retired while Ricciardo had a second place finish wiped away when he was disqualified for exceeding maximum fuel limits. The following round, Vettel finished third while Ricciardo retired but it was clear Mercedes wasn't going to be beaten easily, if at all in 2014. It was clear Red Bull were not going to retain the constructors' title and Vettel would be dethrone as world drivers' champion.
Red Bull kept taking the fight to Mercedes and finally broke through but it wasn't Vettel leading the way, it was Ricciardo with victories at Montreal, Hungary and Spa. Vettel couldn't even get on the podium and in fact, entering Suzuka had as many podiums as Ricciardo had victories (Of course Vettel got his fourth podium at Suzuka). Vettel knows, for the first time in his career, a teammate will probably beat him in the championship standings. Ricciardo made Vettel human in 2014.
With that said, it hasn't been a catastrophic season for Red Bull and Vettel. They aren't winning every third race and won't be champions but it's been much better than Lotus-Renault who have eight points from fifteen races after having 315 points all of last year, good enough for fourth in the constructors' championship. Red Bull were beat this year but it would be crazy to think Mercedes would keep this much of an advantage in 2015. It looks like Vettel is leaving because of one bad year. The going got rough and instead of holding on, Vettel is abandoning ship.
Who is to say Ferrari is going to be any better than Red Bull in 2015? Maranello has experienced a much rougher season in 2014 than Red Bull. Alonso is performing wonders in that car. He is making an average car look like a contender very easy but we all know that's not the case. What will Vettel do if Ferrari doesn't come out on top and Mercedes and Red Bull remain 1-2 and what if Williams remains third? Vettel doesn't have a manager, he makes deals as he goes along. A one-and-done could be a very real possibility at Ferrari but who would take Vettel if it doesn't work out between him and the Italian manufacture? Who else on the grid beside Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari have the capability of matching the financial numbers Vettel demands? Vettel could be setting himself up to fall out of Formula One before the age of 30 if he is not careful.
As for Vettel's replacement, Daniil Kvyat. While the Russian has scored nine points in 2014 and been able to run comparable laps in qualifying to the senior Red Bull team, is it too soon for the 20-year old? Jean-Éric Vergne paid his dues at Toro Rosso. If anything, he earned that Red Bull seat. He is the second best driver Toro Rosso has ever had behind Vettel. Outside of Vettel victory at Monza in 2008 and his fourth at Shanghai in 2007, the next best finish for a Toro Rosso driver is sixth on three occasions. One being Vitantonio Liuzzi at Shanghai in 2007, the other two belonging to Vergne at Canada last year and Singapore just two weeks ago. And all Vergne gets is his walking papers. He will likely be out of Formula One for good.
Who is Toro Rosso going to promote to team with 17-year old Dutchman Max Verstappen? Carlos Sainz, Jr., who is 20? The 18-year old going on 19-year old Pierre Gasly? Or 21-year old, GP3 championship leader Alex Lynn? Either way, all three options have the same amount of Formula One race experience as Verstappen, zero. Toro Rosso will look like two lost puppies if they hire two drivers with no Formula One experience. Keeping Vergne makes the most sense but it's clear that bridge has been burned.
As for Alonso, I never thought we would see him back at McLaren after what happened in 2007. After the internal riff with Lewis Hamilton and the shenanigans and the Ferrari-McLaren espionage case, I thought Alonso would never be welcomed back in Woking. I thought once Alonso got the Ferrari seat, he would be in red for the remainder of his career. It was a natural fit. He could be the undeniable number one driver at Ferrari. The opportunities seemed endless, especially after all the rumors of Ferrari returning to Le Mans and Alonso waving the Tricolour this year at Le Mans. Do you really think Alonso got the honor of waving the Tricolour because of his Formula One success? If anything, it was a less subtle way of saying, Ferrari is returning to Le Mans than if Luca di Montezemolo had done it or Piero Ferrari.
It seemed Alonso was the man for the job of bringing Ferrari back to Le Mans as one of the best drivers in the last generation of Formula One. Maybe he still is. Maybe all these rumors of an unluckily reunion with McLaren are just that. Maybe he isn't leaving Maranello. Maybe he is leaving Formula One but only to be become Ferrari's lead sports car driver with a return at Le Mans next year with the Garage 56 entry before making a return to LMP1 in 2016.
Or maybe NBCSN's Will Buxton hit the nail on the head at Suzuka:
So here’s one for the mix. Fernando stays at Maranello. So does Kimi. Seb’s Ferrari deal is thus the first confirmation of 3 car teams.
— Will Buxton (@willbuxton) October 4, 2014
What if the three-car teams become the way of Formula One in 2015? What if Alonso isn't leaving, rather Ferrari is pulling another seat up to the table for Vettel? Three-car teams are an interesting proposition as they create more desirable seats but the raising questions over whether they would go to veterans or rookies. We'll touch on that in a moment.
As of now, three-car teams aren't happening so let's just stick to the Alonso-to-McLaren rumor. Does he replace Jenson Button or Kevin Magnussen? Button will be turning 35 this January and the senior statesman on the Formula One grid. The last two years have been agonizing for Button who went to McLaren fresh off his world championship in 2009. While he has piled up eight victories in his five years at McLaren, he hasn't won since the 2012 season finale and has only one podium in his last two seasons. Magnussen finished second on debut at Melbourne earlier this year but hasn't been that close to the front of the field since. He has been scoring points regularly and would have much more if it weren't for questionable penalties at Spa and Monza.
I hate to say it but we are possibly watching the final Grands Prix of Jenson Button's Formula One career. He won't go down as an all-time great but his career was anything but uneventful. He was the most highly covenanted prospect for years and then appeared to be the biggest bust in Formula One history. Fortune in the form of Ross Brawn gave Button a chance to show he was truly world championship material and he joined the Pantheon of British world champions joining the likes of Hawthorn, Clark, the Hills, Surtees, Stewart, Hunt, Mansell and Hamilton. No one can take that away from Button.
The IndyCar Pitch to Jenson Button
With Jenson Button's Formula One career appearing to be coming to an end, maybe he should come to the United States and run IndyCar. Here are five reasons why:
1. IndyCar is an Old Man's Game
Good news for you, Jenson Button. If you comes to IndyCar, you easily could race another six or seven years. Look at all the success drivers who would be considered too damn old in Formula One are having.
Hélio Castroneves is turning 40 next year and he just finished second in both the championship and the Indianapolis 500 in 2013.
Your old Formula One rival Juan Pablo Montoya won and finished fourth in the championship and he had been out of an open-wheel car for nearly eight years before returning to IndyCar this year.
Your old BAR-Honda teammate Takuma Sato is turning 38 and loving IndyCar. He is still inconsistent as hell but he gets a pole position a season and has two or three races that makes you think he is turning into a great driver only to follow it up with nine consecutive finishes outside the top 17. If he can do it, you should have no problem in IndyCar.
Tony Kanaan is turning 40 on New Year's Eve and he won an Indianapolis 500 at 38 and finished 2014 seventh in the championship after winning the season finale at Fontana. Plus, Kanaan is super active doing Ironman competition and we all know how much you love to train. Kanaan would be a perfect mate for running or cycling.
Your old karting buddy, Justin Wilson is 36 and is still doing well. Sébastien Bourdais is 35 and is coming off a race win in 2014. In Formula One, you are considered old news but in IndyCar, you would still be considered a star of the future.
2. You Would Still Get To Travel
Guess what? IndyCar is going to Brazil and might be heading to Dubai so there will be a few familiar stops for you and think about all new places you'd get to experience if you came to IndyCar. You'd get to run at Long Beach and I bet you'd love to add your name to the list of winner that already features the likes of Andretti, Villeneuve, Piquet, Lauda, Unser, Zanardi, Montoya, Hunter-Reay, Franchitti and Bourdais.
Ever been to a state fair? You could go with Robin Miller and the gang to the Indiana State Fair and no one would recognize you. You could have a breaded tenderloin and deep-Fried snickers and Oreos and then burn it all off on a 13.1-mile run the following morning.
Like wine? That's a silly question. Who doesn't like wine? IndyCar heads to Wine Country in Sonoma. I bet you and Jessica would love to spend a week out there.
And you'd get to return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for not one but two races. One of which is one of the most historic races in the world.
3. Ovals Aren't That Hard
You would love ovals. Would they be different? Hell yeah but who is against a little challenge? If Carlos Huertas can run all 200 laps in his first Indianapolis 500, you can handle ovals. Look at all the drivers from Formula One backgrounds who did well on ovals: Jim Clark, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell, Alex Zanardi. Heck, another one of your old teammates Rubens Barrichello did really well on ovals his one year in IndyCar. There is nothing to be worried about when it comes to ovals. You will get plenty of testing and practice.
4. Any Team Can Win
Unlike in Formula One where if the chassis is crap from race one, it's going to be a long season and you might be lucky to get a podium or two; in IndyCar you have a legitimate shot to win every week. The DW12 chassis being the only choice has something to do with it but the DW12 chassis has put on some great racing. Had a bad week? Put it all behind you and move on to the next one. The Chevrolet and Honda engines have become really reliable and the only time you have to worry about engineers telling you how to drive the car is when they want you to conserve some fuel.
5. Choosing IndyCar Is Choosing All Other Forms of Motorsports
The IndyCar season is ridiculously compacted into six months. It's going to be a nonstop sprint but good news is IndyCar team owners aren't stingy in preventing their drivers for moonlighting in other series during the offseason. Want to run the 24 Hours of Daytona? No problem. How about Sebring? Once the season ends in late-August or early-September, take a few weeks for rest and relaxation and then you can plan to do Petit Le Mans or the Bathurst 1000. Look at all the opportunities IndyCar gives you. What driver wouldn't want to be in IndyCar?
To Be Fair, there are reasons why Button shouldn't come to IndyCar. Here are five of them:
1. Xenophobia
It is almost guaranteed if you came to IndyCar Mr. Button, Twitter, comment sections and forums would be full of comments such as "Formula One reject" and "we don't need foreigners." I am pretty sure you would ignore them and I am pretty sure you don't spend your time reading comment sections but it would be inevitable. I don't care if a driver is American, British, German, Brazilian, French, Australian or Japanese. I want a grid to be filled with drivers who are qualified to be there on their talent. Don't get me wrong, IndyCar needs Americans to survive and a few more on the grid would help the series but I don't think IndyCar should be an exclusive all-American series. There are plenty of talented drivers from around the globe and not all of them can land in Formula One. IndyCar would benefit from their presence.
2. Bring Your Own Funding
Your not landing with Penske or Ganassi. Andretti Autosport would be your best option but even then I am not sure they would take you (although why would a team turn down Jenson Button?). Outside of those three teams, you are going to have to find your own funding. I know that sounds awful and you have never done that before in your career but it's the state of most motorsports series today including IndyCar.
3. Do You Like Racing at Places with Lots of Elbow Room?
Let's just put it this way, more IndyCar events will look like Bahrain in terms of attendance than Silverstone. Other than Indianapolis, Long Beach, Barber, Toronto, Mid-Ohio and maybe Iowa, the stands will have some bare spots. It doesn't look pretty but don't let that get in the way of how great the racing will be on track. Promoters can worry attendance.
4. You're Not Going to be Making €16 million a Year
This kind of ties into bring your own funding. You'd be fortunate if you made $2 million in a season, let alone the $20 million you make yearly in Formula One and most of your earnings in IndyCar will come from your finish in the Indianapolis 500 and if you crack the top ten in the championship. Because of how IndyCar pays their teams one lump sum known as the Leader Circle fund, race-by-race purses are crap. Winning a race outside of the triple crown races pays a $30,000 bonus, less than a percent of your current contract with McLaren. It's not pretty and it's one of the many areas IndyCar has to improve.
5. Race Control
Understanding the rules will be complicated. Contact at Long Beach that doesn't get you penalized may get you a penalty at Mid-Ohio. There isn't that much blocking. Whether or not your team gets called for a pit lane violation really comes down to which team you are on. Hit an air gun and be driving for Penske or Ganassi, you'll be fine. Hit an air gun and be driving for Dale Coyne, you're probably going to be penalized. Good news is, if you fail technical inspection you won't lose a victory or points. Your team might lose $5,000-$20,000 but that's not too bad of a hit.
If 2014 is your final year in Formula One, I hope you consider IndyCar for 2015 Jenson Button. We would love to have you.
Did NASCAR Get it Wrong Changing the Chase Format?
I calculated the points after Kansas had NASCAR stuck to the Chase format prior to this season.
First off, Clint Bowyer and Kyle Larson would have made the Chase under last year's format. Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola and A.J. Allmendinger would not have made it.
After four races, Joey Logano would lead the championship with 2184 points after winning Kansas, his fifth win of the season and second of the Chase. Kyle Larson would second in points with 2164 and finishes of 3rd, 2nd, 6th and 2nd from the first four races.
Here is how the top 12 in the championship would look like:
Joey Logano: 2184
Kyle Larson: -20
Kevin Harvick: -28
Brad Keselowski: -35
Jeff Gordon: -36
Carl Edwards: -54
Ryan Newman: -54
Matt Kenseth: -56
Jimmie Johnson: -59
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: -74
Greg Biffle: -83
Clint Bowyer: -87
The intervals would be bigger but no one would have been eliminated already or be guaranteed to be eliminated after Talladega in two weeks.
In reality, because of a bad race at Kansas, Keselowski, Johnson and Earnhardt, Jr. are all on the outside of the second round cutline despite winning five races, three races and three races respectively. The new Chase format was meant to make winning worth more but with those three drivers sitting 22, 25 and 27 points on the outside and Jeff Gordon who has won four races on the bubble, only eight points to the good, Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth both have yet to win a race and sit in position to advance to the next round.
Those three all have a shot of winning at Charlotte or Talladega and locking themselves into the next round regardless of their position in the points but this do-or-die feeling is contrived. This isn't what motorsports is about. It is about a season-long journey with the aggregate of all the races deciding the champion, not nearly three-quarters of the season shrinking the championship contenders down to a little more than a dozen, then the aggregate of three races deciding which drivers still alive and which drivers are eliminated in three rounds. It's disappointing NASCAR can't leave the Cup Series championship alone and let it be decided organically like they do the Nationwide Series and Truck Series.
Penne Toro Rosa
I was fortunate to have dinner with my uncle on Saturday night (we went out for pasta hence the title) and as usually we talked motorsports. First we talked about ticket prices for the United States Grand Prix. My uncle, who will be turning fifty in less than a month, brought up that the current generation of current college students and recent college graduates are struggling to find jobs and are deep in debt and aren't going to spend $150 for general admission. He continued saying twenty years from now Formula One will have lost many potential fans because they were priced out and couldn't afford to experience it in their younger days. As someone in that category of current college student/recent college graduate I understand exactly what he is talking about.
We then talked about three-car teams in Formula One. While he was intrigued by the idea, he thought making three-car teams mandatory would not solve the issue of it being too expensive for teams to compete in Formula One. He said other than Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren, which teams could field three cars without being financially stretched too thin? Instead of having Caterham, Marussia and Sauber struggle to stay on the grid, now Lotus, Force India and Williams are struggling to stay on the grid with three-car teams.
The question I have about three car teams is where are the drivers going to come from? Let's say Caterham and Sauber go away after this year. Are Adrian Sutil, Esteban Gutiérrez, Marcus Ericsson and Kamui Kobayashi just going to fill those seats? Are the likes of Nico Hülkenberg, Romain Grosjean and Sergio Pérez going to get promotions or would these third seats go to drivers in junior formulas? Do will see the likes of Giedo van der Garde, Charles Pic, Jérôme d'Ambrosio and Bruno Senna return to Formula One?
Random Thoughts
Why isn't there a 16-hour endurance race? We have 6, 8, 10, 12 and 24 hours races and starting this December a 32-hour race but no one does a race between once and twice around the clock. You could start a race at 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. and have end at 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. Just throwing it at the wall and seeing if it sticks.
The Maxi Endurance 32 Hours is too long. Twenty-four hour races is long enough. Spa and Thunderhill each do 25-hour races but an extra hour isn't that bad. An extra eight is mind-boggling.
Daniel Ricciardo made a set of great passes on the outside of turn six into turn seven, first on Massa then on Bottas. Lewis Hamilton's pass for the lead and ultimately the victory on the outside of Nico Rosberg into turn one.
Champions From the Weekend
Christian Fittipaldi and João Barbosa won the Prototype championship in the first year of the United SportsCar Championship. The pair won three races and scored eight podiums.
Kuno Wittmer won the GTLM championship. Wittmer won two races and scored seven podiums.
Dane Cameron won the GTD championship. Cameron won four races and scored six podiums.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Lewis Hamilton and Joey Logano but did you know...
Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli won Petit Le Mans. The Taylor brothers become the first Americans to win Petit Le Mans overall. The #8 Starworks Oreca of Renger van der Zande, Alex Popow, Mirco Schultis and John Martin won in PC. Team Falken Tire won GTLM for the second consecutive year with drivers Wolf Henzler, Bryan Sellers and Marco Holzer. The #48 Paul Miller Racing Audi of Bryce Miller, Christopher Haase and Matthew Bell won in GTD.
Jari-Matti Latvala won the WRC Rallye de France Alsace. He cut the gap to Sébastien Ogier down to 27 points after the Frenchman finished eleventh after lost many minutes on day one due to gearbox issues.
Sylvain Guintoli and Marco Melandri split the World Superbike weekend at Magny-Cours. Jules Cluzel won in Supersport.
Tom Chilton and Robert Huff each picked up their first wins of the 2014 WTCC season at Beijing.
James Rossiter and Kazuki Nakajima won their second consecutive Super GT race in GT500 in Thailand. Kazuki Hoshino and Lucas Ordóñez won in GT300. Rossiter takes a 3-point lead in the GT500 championship. Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka extended their GT300 championship lead to nine points.
Kyle Busch won the Nationwide Series race at Kansas.
Coming Up This Weekend
Don't plan on sleeping this Saturday into Sunday.
NASCAR is at Charlotte Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The Bathurst 1000 also begins at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The FIA World Endurance Championship is at Fuji and begins at 10 p.m. ET Saturday night.
MotoGP is also in Japan, running at Motegi with the race starting at 1:00 a.m. ET Sunday morning.
WTCC will be in Shanghai and race one is scheduled for 3:00 a.m. ET.
Formula One will make their inaugural stop to Sochi, Russia at 7:00 a.m. ET.
Asian Le Mans Series is at Shanghai with WTCC and will race Saturday morning at 3:00 a.m. ET.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Friday Five: Petit, Thailand, France and Suzuka
The first season of the United Sports Car Championship concludes with Petit Le Mans and three championships on the line. Super GT heads to Thailand. France hosts two major championships that are coming to a close and Formula One returns to Suzuka with a tight battle at the top of the championship.
Petit Le Mans
The inaugural United SportsCar Championship comes to a close with Petit Le Mans from Road Atlanta on Saturday. Three of four class championships are still up in the air. João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi lead the Prototype championship standings with 316 points. The #5 Action Express Corvette DP has three victories, seven podiums and their worst finish this season was sixth at Belle Isle. Twenty-two points behind Barbosa and Fittipaldi are Ricky and Jordan Taylor who have one victory and three runner-up finishes this season. A point behind the Taylor brothers is the Spirit of Daytona pairing of Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante. Gannasi's Scott Pruett and OAK Racing's Gustavo Yacamán are tied for fourth in the championship, both trailing the championship leaders by 30 points.
Only 11 cars are entered in the P class for Petit Le Mans as Extreme Speed Motorsports has pulled their entries to focus on competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship round in Shanghai on November 2nd. Sébastien Bourdais joins Barbosa and Fittipaldi for Petit as the trio looks to bookend the 2014 season with victory after taking the season-opening 24 Hours of Daytona in January. Max Angelelli teams with the Taylor brothers while Mike Rockenfeller returns to Spirit of Daytona. Scott Dixon will join Pruett and Memo Rojas in the #01 Ganassi Ford-Riley and Alex Brundle and Ho-Pin Tung team with Yacáman in the #42 Ligier JS P2- Honda.
Fun fact: An American has never been apart of a overall Petit Le Mans winner. Five-times has an American finished second overall at Petit (Bill Auberlen in 1999, Chris Dyson in 2005, Patrick Long in 2007 and Scott Tucker in 2012 and 2013). While an American has never won overall at Petit Le Mans, the last five overall winners at Petit have included a Frenchman.
In GTLM, Jonathan Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer took the championship lead after winning their second race of 2014 at Austin, however Bomarito and Wittmer will be split up for Petit Le Mans. Wittmer will move to the #91 and join Marc Goossens while Dominik Farnbacher will join Bomarito behind the wheel of the #93 Viper. Farnbacher and Goossens enter 17 points behind their teammates.
Bomarito and Wittmer have a seven-point advantage over Antonio García. The #3 Corvette driver along with his teammate Jan Magnussen won four consecutive races from Long Beach to Mosport earlier this season but have not been on the podium outside of those victories this year. Bill Auberlen and Andy Priaulx are 24 points back while their RLLR BMW teammates Dirk Müller and John Edwards are another point back. Porsche drivers Michael Christensen and Patrick Long are 30 back of Bomarito and Wittmer.
Robert Bell will join the #93 Viper while Ryan Hunter-Reay returns in the #91. Ryan Briscoe is listed as the third driver for both the #3 and #4 Corvette. Joey Hand joins Auberlen and Priaulx while Dirk Werner joins Müller and Edwards.
Dane Cameron has a four-point lead over Leh Keen and Cooper MacNeil with Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler seven points back. Cameron has won a class-high four times in the #94 Turner Motorsport BMW Z4. Christopher Haase and Bryce Miller trail Cameron by 16 points while Cameron's co-driver Markus Palttala and Magnus Racing's John Potter 17 points back. Palttala missed Indianapolis, hence why he and Cameron have different point totals. Potter's co-driver Andy Lally did not meet the required driving time to score points at Road America.
Paul Dalla Lana will become Turner's third driver for Petit Le Mans. Craig Stanton will run with Keen and MacNeil in Alex Job Racing's Porsche. Conrad Grunewald teams with Bell and Sweedler in the AIM Autosport Ferrari. Haase and Miller will be joined by Matthew Bell in the Paul Miller Racing Audi. Marco Seefried rounds out the Magnus Racing Porsche with Potter and Lally.
The Prototype Challenge class is wrapped up. Colin Braun and Jon Bennett have clinched that title for CORE Autosport. James Gue will join Braun and Bennett at Road Atlanta. Starworks driver Renger van der Zande is second in the championship, 13 points ahead of his teammate Martin Fuentes. van der Zande will be joined by Mirco Shultis and Alex Popow in the #8 Starworks Oreca. Fuentes will have three co-drivers in the #7 Starworks Oreca, John Martin, Ryan Eversley and Adam Merzon.
Buriram Dangerous
Super GT heads to Thailand for the first time in the series history as the Buriram United International Circuit hosts it's first major race. Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli lead the GT500 championship with 60 points in the #23 NISMO Nissan GT-R. They are four points ahead of #37 KeePer TOM's Lexus RC-F of Andrea Caldarelli and Daisuke Ito. Matsuda and Quintarelli won at Autopolis in June and has finished second in the last two races. Caldarelli and Ito won the season opener at Okayama in April with their only other podium being a second at Sportsland SUGO in July.
João Paulo de Oliveira and Hironobu Yasuda are 11 points back in the #12 Team Impul Nissan GT-R. Naoki Yamamoto and James Rossiter are tied for fourth in the GT500 championship, 13 behind the #23 NISMO pairing. Yamamoto won at Fuji in August and will be paired with Porsche factory driver Frédéric Makowiecki in the #18 Dome Racing Honda NSX-GT at Buriram. Rossiter is coming off winning the Suzuka 1000km and he will be joined by Kazuki Nakajima for the fourth consecutive round in the #36 Petronas Tom's Lexas RC-F.
In GT300, Tatsuya Kataoka and Nobuteru Taniguchi continue to the lead the championship in the #4 BMW Z4 GT3 with 56 points. They won the first two rounds of the season at Okayama and Fuji. They are two points ahead of the #11 Gainer Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 drivers Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Björn Wirdheim. Thirteen points back is the #7 BMW Sports Team Trophy Team Studie of 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Seiji Ara and Jörg Müller.
Nevers Magny Cours
World Superbike returns after yet another month off for their penultimate round at Circuit de Nevers Magny Cours. Kawasaki's Tom Sykes is looking for his second consecutive title as he leads the championship by 31 points over Aprilia rider Sylvain Guintoli. Honda rider Jonathan Rea is third, 67 points back of his fellow Brit. Marco Melandri is 85 points back with Sykes' Kawasaki teammate Loris Baz the last rider mathematically eligible for the title, trailing Sykes by 90 points.
Sykes has eight victories in 2014, sweeping three weekends this season (Aragón, Donington and Misano). Guintoli has finished runner-up for four consecutive races and has finished runner-up in seven races since his last victory this season at Assen in April. The Frenchman's other victory came at Phillip Island, the season opening round in February. Rea has four victories this season, three coming consecutively at Assen and Imola. Since sweeping Imola, Rea has one win and two podiums from 12 races. Melandri has won three of the last four races and five total this season. Baz matches his fellow countryman Guintoli with seven runner-up finishes this season but unlike Guintoli, Baz has yet to win in 2014.
Last year, Sykes swept the weekend at Magny-Cours while Guintoli and Eugene Laverty alternated second and third in race one and race two.
Alsace
The World Rally Championships enters their antepenultimate round of the 2014 season, Rallye de France Alsace. Sébastien Ogier leads his Volkswagen teammate Jari-Matti Latvala by 50 points as the Frenchman could clinch his second consecutive World Rally title in his homeland. Ogier is the defending winner of Rallye de France Alsace and a Frenchman has won all four editions of the race. However, Sébastien Loeb has won the two editions to take place in even years while Ogier's victories have come in odd years.
Andreas Mikkelsen makes it a 1-2-3 for Volkswagen in the championship, 89 points back of his teammate Ogier. M-Sport Ford's Mikko Hirvonen and Hyundai's Thierry Neuville round out the top five in the championship. Neuville's victory at Rallye Deutschland is the only round not won by Volkswagen this season. Citroën's Mads Østberg is five points back of the Belgian Neuville. Citroën has put at least one representative on the Rallye de France Alsace podium in the previous four editions.
Japanese Grand Prix
For the 26th time, Formula One heads to Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton took the championship lead after winning the Singapore Grand Prix while his teammate Nico Rosberg retired due to electrical issues. Hamilton enters with a three-point advantage over Rosberg. Daniel Ricciardo remained third in the championship with a third place finish at Singapore, 60 points back of Hamilton. Fernando Alonso is fourth, 108 points back with Sebastian Vettel rounding out the top five, trailing Hamilton by 117 points. Valtteri Bottas is the final driver mathematically eligible for the championship. The Finn is 119 points back.
Vettel has won four of the last five Japanese Grand Prix. Since returning to Suzuka, Vettel has led 183 of 265 laps run in the Japanese Grand Prix. Vettel's worst finish at Suzuka is third. Hamilton's lone Japanese Grand Prix victory came at Fuji Speedway in monsoon-like conditions in 2007. Alonso has two Japanese Grand Prix victories, one at Suzuka in 2006 and one at Fuji in 2008. Jenson Button and Kimi Räikkönen are the only two other drivers on the grid to have won in the Land of the Rising Sun. If either Alonso or Räikkönen were to win at Suzuka, it would be Ferrari's first victory in Japan since Michael Schumacher won in 2004.
Rosberg's best finish in Japan is fifth, coming in 2009 at Suzuka and has failed to finish in the points in five of eight Japanese Grand Prix starts. In three Japanese Grand Prix starts, Ricciardo has finished in the points once, a tenth place finish in 2012.
Typhoon Phanfone is barring down on Japan and is scheduled to make landfall race day. The race could be cancelled if conditions are too severe. The teams are scheduled to pack up and fly to Sochi, Russia on Monday as there is no off week between the two events.
Coverage
Coverage of Petit Le Mans begins Saturday at 11:00 a.m. ET on IMSA.com with Fox Sports 2 picking up coverage at 3:00 p.m. ET.
NBCSN's coverage of the Japanese Grand Prix begins at 1:30 a.m. ET Sunday morning.
Over/Under
1. Over or Under: 42.5 laps under full-course caution at Petit Le Mans?
2. Over or Under: 7.5 seconds as margin of victory in GT500 at Buriram?
3. Over or Under: 3.5 podium finishes for Aprilia riders at Magny-Cours?
4. Over or Under: 1.5 Frenchmen on the podium for Rallye de France Alsace?
5. Over or Under: 52.5 laps run at Suzuka?
Last Week's Over/Unders
1. Over: Two Japanese drivers were on the podium as Tomoki Nojiri and Kazuki Nakajima went 1-2.
2. Under: Mattias Ekström was the lone Audi on the Zandvoort podium but did Audi their first win of 2014.
3. Over: Raphael Matos got his first career victory at Santa Cruz do Sul.
4. Under: Cal Crutchlow was the lone Ducati in the top five as he finished third.
5. Over: The average green flag run at Dover was 62.8 laps.
Predictions
1. A Corvette wins in GTLM.
2. There will be at least one new championship leader in Super GT.
3. A Frenchman wins at Magny-Cours.
4. Sébastien Ogier wins the most stages this weekend.
5. Going out on a limb, Sebastian Vettel wins at Suzuka.
Last Week's Predictions
1. There will be a new Super Formula championship leader after Sportsland SUGO. (Correct. Kazuki Nakajima took a 4-point lead over João Paulo de Oliveira).
2. Second time is the charm, Audi gets their first DTM victory of 2014 at Zandvoort. (Correct as Mattias Ekström won)
3. Someone whose first name begins with the letter "R" will win a race at Santa Cruz do Sul. (Correct as Raphael Matos picked up his first career victory in race two).
4. Nicky Hayden scores a top ten finish on his MotoGP return from wrist surgery. (Correct as the Kentucky Kid took advantage of wet conditions to come home ninth).
5. Greg Biffle advances to round two of the Chase. (Wrong as Biffle was eliminated).
Overall: 4/5. Running Tally: 7.5/15.
Petit Le Mans
The inaugural United SportsCar Championship comes to a close with Petit Le Mans from Road Atlanta on Saturday. Three of four class championships are still up in the air. João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi lead the Prototype championship standings with 316 points. The #5 Action Express Corvette DP has three victories, seven podiums and their worst finish this season was sixth at Belle Isle. Twenty-two points behind Barbosa and Fittipaldi are Ricky and Jordan Taylor who have one victory and three runner-up finishes this season. A point behind the Taylor brothers is the Spirit of Daytona pairing of Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante. Gannasi's Scott Pruett and OAK Racing's Gustavo Yacamán are tied for fourth in the championship, both trailing the championship leaders by 30 points.
Only 11 cars are entered in the P class for Petit Le Mans as Extreme Speed Motorsports has pulled their entries to focus on competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship round in Shanghai on November 2nd. Sébastien Bourdais joins Barbosa and Fittipaldi for Petit as the trio looks to bookend the 2014 season with victory after taking the season-opening 24 Hours of Daytona in January. Max Angelelli teams with the Taylor brothers while Mike Rockenfeller returns to Spirit of Daytona. Scott Dixon will join Pruett and Memo Rojas in the #01 Ganassi Ford-Riley and Alex Brundle and Ho-Pin Tung team with Yacáman in the #42 Ligier JS P2- Honda.
Fun fact: An American has never been apart of a overall Petit Le Mans winner. Five-times has an American finished second overall at Petit (Bill Auberlen in 1999, Chris Dyson in 2005, Patrick Long in 2007 and Scott Tucker in 2012 and 2013). While an American has never won overall at Petit Le Mans, the last five overall winners at Petit have included a Frenchman.
In GTLM, Jonathan Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer took the championship lead after winning their second race of 2014 at Austin, however Bomarito and Wittmer will be split up for Petit Le Mans. Wittmer will move to the #91 and join Marc Goossens while Dominik Farnbacher will join Bomarito behind the wheel of the #93 Viper. Farnbacher and Goossens enter 17 points behind their teammates.
Bomarito and Wittmer have a seven-point advantage over Antonio García. The #3 Corvette driver along with his teammate Jan Magnussen won four consecutive races from Long Beach to Mosport earlier this season but have not been on the podium outside of those victories this year. Bill Auberlen and Andy Priaulx are 24 points back while their RLLR BMW teammates Dirk Müller and John Edwards are another point back. Porsche drivers Michael Christensen and Patrick Long are 30 back of Bomarito and Wittmer.
Robert Bell will join the #93 Viper while Ryan Hunter-Reay returns in the #91. Ryan Briscoe is listed as the third driver for both the #3 and #4 Corvette. Joey Hand joins Auberlen and Priaulx while Dirk Werner joins Müller and Edwards.
Dane Cameron has a four-point lead over Leh Keen and Cooper MacNeil with Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler seven points back. Cameron has won a class-high four times in the #94 Turner Motorsport BMW Z4. Christopher Haase and Bryce Miller trail Cameron by 16 points while Cameron's co-driver Markus Palttala and Magnus Racing's John Potter 17 points back. Palttala missed Indianapolis, hence why he and Cameron have different point totals. Potter's co-driver Andy Lally did not meet the required driving time to score points at Road America.
Paul Dalla Lana will become Turner's third driver for Petit Le Mans. Craig Stanton will run with Keen and MacNeil in Alex Job Racing's Porsche. Conrad Grunewald teams with Bell and Sweedler in the AIM Autosport Ferrari. Haase and Miller will be joined by Matthew Bell in the Paul Miller Racing Audi. Marco Seefried rounds out the Magnus Racing Porsche with Potter and Lally.
The Prototype Challenge class is wrapped up. Colin Braun and Jon Bennett have clinched that title for CORE Autosport. James Gue will join Braun and Bennett at Road Atlanta. Starworks driver Renger van der Zande is second in the championship, 13 points ahead of his teammate Martin Fuentes. van der Zande will be joined by Mirco Shultis and Alex Popow in the #8 Starworks Oreca. Fuentes will have three co-drivers in the #7 Starworks Oreca, John Martin, Ryan Eversley and Adam Merzon.
Buriram Dangerous
Super GT heads to Thailand for the first time in the series history as the Buriram United International Circuit hosts it's first major race. Tsugio Matsuda and Ronnie Quintarelli lead the GT500 championship with 60 points in the #23 NISMO Nissan GT-R. They are four points ahead of #37 KeePer TOM's Lexus RC-F of Andrea Caldarelli and Daisuke Ito. Matsuda and Quintarelli won at Autopolis in June and has finished second in the last two races. Caldarelli and Ito won the season opener at Okayama in April with their only other podium being a second at Sportsland SUGO in July.
João Paulo de Oliveira and Hironobu Yasuda are 11 points back in the #12 Team Impul Nissan GT-R. Naoki Yamamoto and James Rossiter are tied for fourth in the GT500 championship, 13 behind the #23 NISMO pairing. Yamamoto won at Fuji in August and will be paired with Porsche factory driver Frédéric Makowiecki in the #18 Dome Racing Honda NSX-GT at Buriram. Rossiter is coming off winning the Suzuka 1000km and he will be joined by Kazuki Nakajima for the fourth consecutive round in the #36 Petronas Tom's Lexas RC-F.
In GT300, Tatsuya Kataoka and Nobuteru Taniguchi continue to the lead the championship in the #4 BMW Z4 GT3 with 56 points. They won the first two rounds of the season at Okayama and Fuji. They are two points ahead of the #11 Gainer Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 drivers Katsuyuki Hiranaka and Björn Wirdheim. Thirteen points back is the #7 BMW Sports Team Trophy Team Studie of 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Seiji Ara and Jörg Müller.
Nevers Magny Cours
World Superbike returns after yet another month off for their penultimate round at Circuit de Nevers Magny Cours. Kawasaki's Tom Sykes is looking for his second consecutive title as he leads the championship by 31 points over Aprilia rider Sylvain Guintoli. Honda rider Jonathan Rea is third, 67 points back of his fellow Brit. Marco Melandri is 85 points back with Sykes' Kawasaki teammate Loris Baz the last rider mathematically eligible for the title, trailing Sykes by 90 points.
Sykes has eight victories in 2014, sweeping three weekends this season (Aragón, Donington and Misano). Guintoli has finished runner-up for four consecutive races and has finished runner-up in seven races since his last victory this season at Assen in April. The Frenchman's other victory came at Phillip Island, the season opening round in February. Rea has four victories this season, three coming consecutively at Assen and Imola. Since sweeping Imola, Rea has one win and two podiums from 12 races. Melandri has won three of the last four races and five total this season. Baz matches his fellow countryman Guintoli with seven runner-up finishes this season but unlike Guintoli, Baz has yet to win in 2014.
Last year, Sykes swept the weekend at Magny-Cours while Guintoli and Eugene Laverty alternated second and third in race one and race two.
Alsace
The World Rally Championships enters their antepenultimate round of the 2014 season, Rallye de France Alsace. Sébastien Ogier leads his Volkswagen teammate Jari-Matti Latvala by 50 points as the Frenchman could clinch his second consecutive World Rally title in his homeland. Ogier is the defending winner of Rallye de France Alsace and a Frenchman has won all four editions of the race. However, Sébastien Loeb has won the two editions to take place in even years while Ogier's victories have come in odd years.
Andreas Mikkelsen makes it a 1-2-3 for Volkswagen in the championship, 89 points back of his teammate Ogier. M-Sport Ford's Mikko Hirvonen and Hyundai's Thierry Neuville round out the top five in the championship. Neuville's victory at Rallye Deutschland is the only round not won by Volkswagen this season. Citroën's Mads Østberg is five points back of the Belgian Neuville. Citroën has put at least one representative on the Rallye de France Alsace podium in the previous four editions.
Japanese Grand Prix
For the 26th time, Formula One heads to Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton took the championship lead after winning the Singapore Grand Prix while his teammate Nico Rosberg retired due to electrical issues. Hamilton enters with a three-point advantage over Rosberg. Daniel Ricciardo remained third in the championship with a third place finish at Singapore, 60 points back of Hamilton. Fernando Alonso is fourth, 108 points back with Sebastian Vettel rounding out the top five, trailing Hamilton by 117 points. Valtteri Bottas is the final driver mathematically eligible for the championship. The Finn is 119 points back.
Vettel has won four of the last five Japanese Grand Prix. Since returning to Suzuka, Vettel has led 183 of 265 laps run in the Japanese Grand Prix. Vettel's worst finish at Suzuka is third. Hamilton's lone Japanese Grand Prix victory came at Fuji Speedway in monsoon-like conditions in 2007. Alonso has two Japanese Grand Prix victories, one at Suzuka in 2006 and one at Fuji in 2008. Jenson Button and Kimi Räikkönen are the only two other drivers on the grid to have won in the Land of the Rising Sun. If either Alonso or Räikkönen were to win at Suzuka, it would be Ferrari's first victory in Japan since Michael Schumacher won in 2004.
Rosberg's best finish in Japan is fifth, coming in 2009 at Suzuka and has failed to finish in the points in five of eight Japanese Grand Prix starts. In three Japanese Grand Prix starts, Ricciardo has finished in the points once, a tenth place finish in 2012.
Typhoon Phanfone is barring down on Japan and is scheduled to make landfall race day. The race could be cancelled if conditions are too severe. The teams are scheduled to pack up and fly to Sochi, Russia on Monday as there is no off week between the two events.
Coverage
Coverage of Petit Le Mans begins Saturday at 11:00 a.m. ET on IMSA.com with Fox Sports 2 picking up coverage at 3:00 p.m. ET.
NBCSN's coverage of the Japanese Grand Prix begins at 1:30 a.m. ET Sunday morning.
Over/Under
1. Over or Under: 42.5 laps under full-course caution at Petit Le Mans?
2. Over or Under: 7.5 seconds as margin of victory in GT500 at Buriram?
3. Over or Under: 3.5 podium finishes for Aprilia riders at Magny-Cours?
4. Over or Under: 1.5 Frenchmen on the podium for Rallye de France Alsace?
5. Over or Under: 52.5 laps run at Suzuka?
Last Week's Over/Unders
1. Over: Two Japanese drivers were on the podium as Tomoki Nojiri and Kazuki Nakajima went 1-2.
2. Under: Mattias Ekström was the lone Audi on the Zandvoort podium but did Audi their first win of 2014.
3. Over: Raphael Matos got his first career victory at Santa Cruz do Sul.
4. Under: Cal Crutchlow was the lone Ducati in the top five as he finished third.
5. Over: The average green flag run at Dover was 62.8 laps.
Predictions
1. A Corvette wins in GTLM.
2. There will be at least one new championship leader in Super GT.
3. A Frenchman wins at Magny-Cours.
4. Sébastien Ogier wins the most stages this weekend.
5. Going out on a limb, Sebastian Vettel wins at Suzuka.
Last Week's Predictions
1. There will be a new Super Formula championship leader after Sportsland SUGO. (Correct. Kazuki Nakajima took a 4-point lead over João Paulo de Oliveira).
2. Second time is the charm, Audi gets their first DTM victory of 2014 at Zandvoort. (Correct as Mattias Ekström won)
3. Someone whose first name begins with the letter "R" will win a race at Santa Cruz do Sul. (Correct as Raphael Matos picked up his first career victory in race two).
4. Nicky Hayden scores a top ten finish on his MotoGP return from wrist surgery. (Correct as the Kentucky Kid took advantage of wet conditions to come home ninth).
5. Greg Biffle advances to round two of the Chase. (Wrong as Biffle was eliminated).
Overall: 4/5. Running Tally: 7.5/15.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Wednesday Wrap-Up: A.J. Foyt Racing's 2014 Season
This is the second of eleven reviews of the teams that participated in the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series season.
We move to A.J. Foyt Racing. The team came out of the gate with a surprise pole position at St. Petersburg and it appeared Takuma Sato was finally going to reign in his recklessness ways and become a top tier driver. His 2013 season featured a fairy tale start with his first career IndyCar victory and first victory in anything in over a decade and was leading the championship by 13 points entering the Indianapolis 500. However, the team picked up only one top ten in the final fifteen races and seven finishes outside the top twenty. Sato was in contention for the victory at St. Petersburg, leading 33 laps from pole position but finished seventh after losing time on pit stops. The first race was promising but 2014 turned out to be just like all the others in Sato's professional career.
Takuma Sato
After the top ten in Florida, Sato's season took the predictable nose dive we have all come to know. He had a decent run at Long Beach but was caught up in the Josef Newgarden-Ryan Hunter-Reay accident. He beached his car on lap one in the wet conditions at Barber but recovered for a thirteenth place finish. He managed a ninth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and ran in the middle of the pack in the Indianapolis 500 all day, finishing 19th after starting 23rd.
Once the month of June began, things started going down hill and fast. A pair of 18th place finishes at Belle Isle, the second after stuffing it into the turn five tires late in the race. He did pick up his second pole position of 2014 for Belle Isle 2. Another 18th place at Texas made it tic-tac-toe three in a row, this time the engine went up in flames on him with only seven laps to go. Houston would not be a great homecoming for the team. Sato led laps early in race one but got caught in an accident with the lapped car of Mikhail Aleshin, ending his Saturday just past the 1/3 mark. He would retire again on Sunday, this time in the turn eight barrier all by himself.
Electrical gremlins ended his day after 25 laps at Pocono, another accident with Aleshin ended his night at Iowa and damage from a first lap accident in Toronto 1 led to three consecutive races where Sato was the first driver to retire from the race. Toronto 2 was a complete turn around for A.J. Foyt Racing, from 22nd on the grid to a top five, the team's first since finishing second at São Paulo last season. Sato got in another first lap accident at Mid-Ohio but this time he was able to continue however he could only manage an 18th place finish.
Sato was a non-factor at Milwaukee finishing fifteenth but the final two weekends in California were amazing high notes for Sato and A.J. Foyt Racing (Sidebar: Ironically, as I type this I am listening to U2's "California (There Is No End to Love)" and that wasn't planned at all. What a coincidence. Moving on). Just like in Toronto 2, strategy played into Sato's favor as he went from 20th to fourth at Sonoma. At Fontana, Sato qualified fourth and finished sixth, running toward the front all night in the season finale and the sixth place finish elevated Sato from 20th in the championship to 18th ahead of Graham Rahal and Houston 1 winner Carlos Huertas.
Takuma Sato's 2014 Statistics
Championship Positions: 18th (350 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 2
Top Tens: 5
Laps Led: 66
Poles: 2
Fast Sixes: 2
Fast Twelves: 2
Average Start: 12.176 (13th in IndyCar)
Average Finish: 15.444 (21th)
Before the season began I thought Foyt would fire Sato midseason but he stuck with him. Can Foyt afford to keep the Japanese on for another year? Success is sporadic for Sato. He has never scored three consecutive top ten finishes in his IndyCar career and he hasn't scored three consecutive top ten finishes in any series since the final three races of the 2004 Formula One season where he finished sixth, fourth and sixth at China, Japan and Brazil respectively.
Sato is turning 38 this January. Is it worth keeping him on for a flash in the pan every eighth race? A.J. Foyt Racing has shown to have the equipment to compete at a top level but it should be obvious Sato is not the guy who can make Foyt a threat week in and week out. We all know he has the speed but he doesn't have the consistency. He's hasn't had the consistency since winning the British Formula Three championship in 2001 (By the way, looking over the 2001 British Formula Three championship. Damn, what a driver line-up: Sato, Anthony Davidson, James Courtney, Gianmaria Bruni, Andy Priaulx, André Lotterer, Mark Taylor, Ryan Dalziel, Alex Gurney, Robbie Kerr and Robert Doornbos).
If Foyt were to expand to two cars with Jack Hawksworth, keeping Sato makes sense as he provides veteran leadership for Hawksworth to lean. Other than that scenario though, it doesn't make sense to have Sato if you are a single car team.
We move to A.J. Foyt Racing. The team came out of the gate with a surprise pole position at St. Petersburg and it appeared Takuma Sato was finally going to reign in his recklessness ways and become a top tier driver. His 2013 season featured a fairy tale start with his first career IndyCar victory and first victory in anything in over a decade and was leading the championship by 13 points entering the Indianapolis 500. However, the team picked up only one top ten in the final fifteen races and seven finishes outside the top twenty. Sato was in contention for the victory at St. Petersburg, leading 33 laps from pole position but finished seventh after losing time on pit stops. The first race was promising but 2014 turned out to be just like all the others in Sato's professional career.
Takuma Sato
After the top ten in Florida, Sato's season took the predictable nose dive we have all come to know. He had a decent run at Long Beach but was caught up in the Josef Newgarden-Ryan Hunter-Reay accident. He beached his car on lap one in the wet conditions at Barber but recovered for a thirteenth place finish. He managed a ninth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and ran in the middle of the pack in the Indianapolis 500 all day, finishing 19th after starting 23rd.
Once the month of June began, things started going down hill and fast. A pair of 18th place finishes at Belle Isle, the second after stuffing it into the turn five tires late in the race. He did pick up his second pole position of 2014 for Belle Isle 2. Another 18th place at Texas made it tic-tac-toe three in a row, this time the engine went up in flames on him with only seven laps to go. Houston would not be a great homecoming for the team. Sato led laps early in race one but got caught in an accident with the lapped car of Mikhail Aleshin, ending his Saturday just past the 1/3 mark. He would retire again on Sunday, this time in the turn eight barrier all by himself.
Electrical gremlins ended his day after 25 laps at Pocono, another accident with Aleshin ended his night at Iowa and damage from a first lap accident in Toronto 1 led to three consecutive races where Sato was the first driver to retire from the race. Toronto 2 was a complete turn around for A.J. Foyt Racing, from 22nd on the grid to a top five, the team's first since finishing second at São Paulo last season. Sato got in another first lap accident at Mid-Ohio but this time he was able to continue however he could only manage an 18th place finish.
Sato was a non-factor at Milwaukee finishing fifteenth but the final two weekends in California were amazing high notes for Sato and A.J. Foyt Racing (Sidebar: Ironically, as I type this I am listening to U2's "California (There Is No End to Love)" and that wasn't planned at all. What a coincidence. Moving on). Just like in Toronto 2, strategy played into Sato's favor as he went from 20th to fourth at Sonoma. At Fontana, Sato qualified fourth and finished sixth, running toward the front all night in the season finale and the sixth place finish elevated Sato from 20th in the championship to 18th ahead of Graham Rahal and Houston 1 winner Carlos Huertas.
Takuma Sato's 2014 Statistics
Championship Positions: 18th (350 points)
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Top Fives: 2
Top Tens: 5
Laps Led: 66
Poles: 2
Fast Sixes: 2
Fast Twelves: 2
Average Start: 12.176 (13th in IndyCar)
Average Finish: 15.444 (21th)
Before the season began I thought Foyt would fire Sato midseason but he stuck with him. Can Foyt afford to keep the Japanese on for another year? Success is sporadic for Sato. He has never scored three consecutive top ten finishes in his IndyCar career and he hasn't scored three consecutive top ten finishes in any series since the final three races of the 2004 Formula One season where he finished sixth, fourth and sixth at China, Japan and Brazil respectively.
Sato is turning 38 this January. Is it worth keeping him on for a flash in the pan every eighth race? A.J. Foyt Racing has shown to have the equipment to compete at a top level but it should be obvious Sato is not the guy who can make Foyt a threat week in and week out. We all know he has the speed but he doesn't have the consistency. He's hasn't had the consistency since winning the British Formula Three championship in 2001 (By the way, looking over the 2001 British Formula Three championship. Damn, what a driver line-up: Sato, Anthony Davidson, James Courtney, Gianmaria Bruni, Andy Priaulx, André Lotterer, Mark Taylor, Ryan Dalziel, Alex Gurney, Robbie Kerr and Robert Doornbos).
If Foyt were to expand to two cars with Jack Hawksworth, keeping Sato makes sense as he provides veteran leadership for Hawksworth to lean. Other than that scenario though, it doesn't make sense to have Sato if you are a single car team.
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