After finishing runner-up with Susie Wolff in the Nations Cup on Saturday, David Coulthard went a perfect 7-0 on Sunday to take Race of Champions, defeating the youngest winner in the history of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and Mercedes F1 reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein in the final.
Coulthard swept his group which featured V8 Supercars champion Jamie Whincup, defending Race of Champions winner Romain Grosjean and five-time MotoGP world champion Mick Doohan. Whincup joined Coulthard as those who advanced from Group A. The Scot defeated Group B runner-up Petter Solberg in the quarterfinals before having to face Whincup again in the semifinals.
Whincup defeated Group B winner Kurt Busch in the quarterfinals. All three Americans, Busch, Robby Gordon and Ryan Hunter-Reay went undefeated in the group stage only for all three to be eliminated in the quarterfinals. Wehrlein knocked off Gordon while FIA European Formula Three champion and Lotus F1 reserve driver Esteban Ocon defeated Hunter-Reay. Wehrlein handily defeated Ocon in the second semifinal.
Coulthard won race one in the KTM X-Bow despite tapping the barrier. The 20-year old Wehrlein gave Coulthard a run for his money in the second race in the Ariel Atom Cups but the German drop his right side tires off course entering the final corner, as Coulthard cruised to victory.
Those who failed to make it to the knockout round were Barbados' Rhett Watson and Williams F1 reserve driver Susie Wolff with Watson getting a victory while Wolff was held without a victory. WTCC champion José María López and Jamaica's Doug Gore failed to advance from Group C with the Argentine's lone victory coming against Gore. Tom Kristensen failed to make it out of Group D despite winning the Nations Cup with Petter Solberg for Team Nordic on Saturday. GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer went winless in Group D with his day ending after putting a Stadium Super Truck into the barrier. The Brit walked away from the accident.
Coulthard is the second Brit and second Scotsman to win the Race of Champion, joining the late Colin McRae, who won the 1998 edition after defeating his brother Alister in the final. The United Kingdom joins France and Finland as the only nations to produce multiple Race of Champions winners. Wehrlein is the fourth different German to finish runner-up in the Race of Champions joining Walter Röhrl, Armin Schwartz and Michael Schumacher with Schumacher finishing runner-up on two occasions. A German has never won the Race of Champions.
Coulthard wins the Race of Champions despite being retired from full-time competition for two years. He last competed in the DTM in 2012. The Scotsman went 13-1 over the entire weekend. The lone lost was to Kristensen in the Nations Cup deciding race.
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Sunday, December 14, 2014
Saturday, December 13, 2014
#3 AF Corse Wins Gulf 12 Hours
Just over three seconds separated the top two finishers in the 2014 Gulf 12 Hours with the top three covered by 5.741 seconds as the #3 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Stephen Wyatt, Michele Rugolo and Davide Rigon held off the #1 Black Falcon Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 of Bernd Schneider, Jereon Bleekemolen and Khaled Al Qubaisi, keeping the trio from winning back-to-back Gulf 12 Hours. The #59 McLaren 650S GT3 of Álvaro Parente, Kevin Éstre and Rob Bell rounded out the podium. It was the debut race for the 650S GT3. The leaders completed 315 laps.
The #2 Black Falcon Mercedes of Richard Muscat, Hubert Haupt and Abdulaziz Al Faisal finished fourth, one lap down with the #4 AF Corse Ferrari of Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Filipe Barreiros and Marco Cioci rounded out the top five, four laps down. The #88 Dragon Racing Ferrari of Sean Walkinshaw, Jordan Grogor and Mohammed Jawa finished sixth, 7.724 seconds back of the #4 Ferrari. The #5 AF Corse Ferrari of Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Andrea Rizzoli finished seventh.
The #10 GT Russian Mercedes of Marko Asmer, Alexey Vasilyev and Karim Al Alzhari finished eighth, five laps down. The #17 Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Ho-Pin Tung, Sun Jing Zu and Jian Wie Weng finished ninth, 12 laps down with the #11 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Isaac Tutumlu, Vadim Gitlin and Marco Frezza rounding out the top ten, 13 laps down.
The #33 MRS-GT Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Christian Engelhart, Ralf Bohn, Ilya Melnikov and Siegfried Venema won the Cup class finishing in 12th position, 23 laps down with the #46 Avelon Formula Wolf GB08 of Gianluca Pizzuti, Simon Stoller and Fabio Emanuela winning the CN2 class in 17th, 34 laps down overall.
The #2 Black Falcon Mercedes of Richard Muscat, Hubert Haupt and Abdulaziz Al Faisal finished fourth, one lap down with the #4 AF Corse Ferrari of Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Filipe Barreiros and Marco Cioci rounded out the top five, four laps down. The #88 Dragon Racing Ferrari of Sean Walkinshaw, Jordan Grogor and Mohammed Jawa finished sixth, 7.724 seconds back of the #4 Ferrari. The #5 AF Corse Ferrari of Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Andrea Rizzoli finished seventh.
The #10 GT Russian Mercedes of Marko Asmer, Alexey Vasilyev and Karim Al Alzhari finished eighth, five laps down. The #17 Absolute Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Ho-Pin Tung, Sun Jing Zu and Jian Wie Weng finished ninth, 12 laps down with the #11 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Isaac Tutumlu, Vadim Gitlin and Marco Frezza rounding out the top ten, 13 laps down.
The #33 MRS-GT Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Christian Engelhart, Ralf Bohn, Ilya Melnikov and Siegfried Venema won the Cup class finishing in 12th position, 23 laps down with the #46 Avelon Formula Wolf GB08 of Gianluca Pizzuti, Simon Stoller and Fabio Emanuela winning the CN2 class in 17th, 34 laps down overall.
#3 AF Corse Wins Part One of Gulf 12 Hours
Halfway through the Gulf 12 Hours from the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. and three different manufactures occupy the top three positions. All on the lead lap and all in contention for the Gulf 12 Hours victory.
The #3 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Stephen Wyatt, Michele Rugolo and Davide Rigon won part one of the Gulf 12 Hours by 13.827 seconds over the 2013 Gulf 12 Hours winners Bernd Schneider, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Khaled Al Qubaisi in the #1 Black Falcon Mercedes SLS AMG GT3. The #59 McLaren 650S GT3 of Rob Bell, Kevin Éstre and Álvaro Parente finished third, just over a minute and three seconds back of the winning Ferrari. The leaders completed 157 laps in part one.
Richard Muscat, Hubert Haupt and Abdulaziz Al Faisal finished in fourth place in the #2 Black Falcom Mercedes and got back on the lead lap late in part one. They finished just over a minute and 24 seconds back. Rounding out the top five is Kessel Racing's #11 Ferrari driven by Isaac Tutumlu, Marco Frezza and Vadim Gitlin, as they finished a lap back of the leaders.
The #10 GT Russian Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 shared by Marko Asmer, Alexey Vasilyev and Karim Al Azhari finished sixth position, one lap down, ahead three Ferraris. Dragon Racing's #88 Ferrari with Sean Walkinshaw, Jordan Grogor and Mohammed Jawa finished seventh with two AF Corses in tow. The #4 Ferrari came home in eighth with drivers Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci and Felipe Barreiros. The #5 Ferrari ended part one in ninth being driven by Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Andrea Rizzoli. All three Ferraris are two laps down.
The first of the Cup Class Porsche 911 GT3 Cups, the #33 MRS-GT Racing Porsche rounds out the top ten with drivers Ralf Bohn, Siegfried Venema and Ilya Melnikov. The MRS-GT Porsche is seven laps down.
The top CN class Wolf GB08 is the #45 Avelon Formula entry being shared by Ivan Bellarosa and Guglielmo Belotti. They are in 12th position, ten laps down.
Other notable entries:
The #60 McLaren of Peter Kox, Nico Pronk and Gilles Vannelet is 18th, 15 laps off the leaders.
The #99 Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Jorge Lorenzo, Liam Talbot, Marco Zanuttini and Jacques Duyver is 19th, 30 laps down.
The #69 Gulf Racing Lamborghini FL2 of Roald Goethe, Stuart Hall and Frederic Fatien spend a fair amount of time in the garage finished 22nd, completing only 91 laps in part one.
The final six hour part of the Gulf 12 Hours will begin at 9:00 a.m. ET (6:00 p.m. in Abu Dhabi) with he field lined up in the order they finished part one with the intervals remaining intact.
The #3 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Stephen Wyatt, Michele Rugolo and Davide Rigon won part one of the Gulf 12 Hours by 13.827 seconds over the 2013 Gulf 12 Hours winners Bernd Schneider, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Khaled Al Qubaisi in the #1 Black Falcon Mercedes SLS AMG GT3. The #59 McLaren 650S GT3 of Rob Bell, Kevin Éstre and Álvaro Parente finished third, just over a minute and three seconds back of the winning Ferrari. The leaders completed 157 laps in part one.
Richard Muscat, Hubert Haupt and Abdulaziz Al Faisal finished in fourth place in the #2 Black Falcom Mercedes and got back on the lead lap late in part one. They finished just over a minute and 24 seconds back. Rounding out the top five is Kessel Racing's #11 Ferrari driven by Isaac Tutumlu, Marco Frezza and Vadim Gitlin, as they finished a lap back of the leaders.
The #10 GT Russian Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 shared by Marko Asmer, Alexey Vasilyev and Karim Al Azhari finished sixth position, one lap down, ahead three Ferraris. Dragon Racing's #88 Ferrari with Sean Walkinshaw, Jordan Grogor and Mohammed Jawa finished seventh with two AF Corses in tow. The #4 Ferrari came home in eighth with drivers Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci and Felipe Barreiros. The #5 Ferrari ended part one in ninth being driven by Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Andrea Rizzoli. All three Ferraris are two laps down.
The first of the Cup Class Porsche 911 GT3 Cups, the #33 MRS-GT Racing Porsche rounds out the top ten with drivers Ralf Bohn, Siegfried Venema and Ilya Melnikov. The MRS-GT Porsche is seven laps down.
The top CN class Wolf GB08 is the #45 Avelon Formula entry being shared by Ivan Bellarosa and Guglielmo Belotti. They are in 12th position, ten laps down.
Other notable entries:
The #60 McLaren of Peter Kox, Nico Pronk and Gilles Vannelet is 18th, 15 laps off the leaders.
The #99 Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Jorge Lorenzo, Liam Talbot, Marco Zanuttini and Jacques Duyver is 19th, 30 laps down.
The #69 Gulf Racing Lamborghini FL2 of Roald Goethe, Stuart Hall and Frederic Fatien spend a fair amount of time in the garage finished 22nd, completing only 91 laps in part one.
The final six hour part of the Gulf 12 Hours will begin at 9:00 a.m. ET (6:00 p.m. in Abu Dhabi) with he field lined up in the order they finished part one with the intervals remaining intact.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Thursday Three: Uruguay, Abu Dhabi, Barbados
The final weekend of the motorsports season features a few all-star events but before we get to those, we head to South America for the third round of the Formula E season.
Punta del Este
After a month off, Formula E heads to South America for the first time in the series history as the streets of Punta del Este, Uruguay plays host to the all-electric championship.
Virgin Racing's Sam Bird won in convincing fashion last time the series raced from Putrajaya, Malaysia. The Brit led 21 of 31 laps as he would hold off Audi Sport Abt's Lucas di Grassi by 4.175 seconds. The Brazilian di Grassi leads the championship with 43 points, three points over Bird as di Grassi won the only other round of the Formula E season at Beijing.
Four drivers are tied for third in the championship with 18 points. Andretti Autosport's Franck Montagny finished second at Beijing but finished 15th at Putrajaya after contact with Venturi Grand Prix driver Nick Heidfeld damaged the Frenchman's car and led to a penalty ending any hope of scoring points. Montagna will not be at Punta del Este as Andretti Autosport has hired former Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Jean-Éric Vergne. Nicolas Prost of e.dams finished fourth at Putrajaya and has won both pole positions this season, which pay three points apiece. Mahindra's Karun Chandhok and Dragon Racing's Jérôme d'Ambrosio each have finished fifth and sixth this season with the Indian Chandhok bettering the Belgian at Beijing and the two drivers flipping positions at Putrajaya.
Sébastien Buemi has 15 points after finishing third at Putrajaya, just ahead of his e.dams teammate Prost. Charles Pic and Oriol Servià each have 12 points but Pic will not be at Punta del Este as American Matthew Brabham will replace the Frenchman for the second consecutive race.
Nelson Piquet, Jr., António Félix da Costa and Jaime Alguersuari all have four points while Stéphane Sarrazin, Daniel Abt and Takuma Sato all have two points. Sato substituted for da Costa at Beijing as the Portuguese driver had a conflict with his DTM duties.
Four drivers slated to run in Uruguay failed to score in the first two rounds. Bruno Senna was on his way to points at Putrajaya before an accident on the final lap. Nick Heidfeld could have won the premiere race at Beijing but was taken out by Prost and we know contact with Montagny ended his race at Putrajaya. Both TrulliGP drivers, Jarno Trulli and Michela Cerruti, have yet to finish in the points.
Joining Vergne as Formula E debutants in Uruguay are Antonio García, who will replace Ho-Pin Tung in the second China Racing seat and Salvador Durán will replace Katherine Legge in the second Aguri ride. García was slated to run Putrajaya but after the Thailand round was dropped from the Asian Le Mans Series schedule, Tung was freed to run. The Chinese driver will be competing in the Gulf 12 Hours (more on that in a moment). Legge failed to score in each of the first two races.
Audi Sport Abt leads the team championship with 45 points, one clear of Virgin Racing. Dragon Racing is third with 33 points. The other American team, Andretti Autosport and e.drams trail Dragon by three points. Mahindra has 18 points, all at the hands of Chandhok. Aguri has six points, China Racing has four and Venturi Grand Prix has two. As mentioned above, TrulliGP is still looking to get on the scoreboard.
Gulf 12 Hours
Twenty-five cars are entered for the Gulf 12 Hours from the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The unique split 6-hour formats features 16 GT3 cars with the Abu Dhabi Racing Black Falcon Mercedes returning to defend their title. The 2013 winning driver combination of Bernd Schneider, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Khaled Al Qubaisi returns in the #1 Mercedes while Richard Muscat, Hubert Haupt and Abdulaziz Al Faisal will run the #2 SLS AMG GT3.
Two McLaren 650S GT3s will be making their debut this weekend at the Gulf 12 Hours. The #59 will be driven by Rob Bell, Kevin Éstre and Álvaro Parente while Dutchmen Peter Kox and Nico Pronk will be in the #60 along with Frenchman Gilles Vannelet.
I.S.R. Racing has entered the #75 Audi R8 LMS GT3 with Aditya Patel, Jiri Pisarik and Filip Salaquarda as the team makes a transition from field junior formula entries to a full-time Blancpain Endurance Series effort in 2015. Absolute Racing has also entered an Audi with Ho-Pin Tung being joined by Xiao Jin Li and Jiang Wei Weng in the #17 R8 LMS GT3.
The #10 GT Russian Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 will be shared by Marko Asmer, Alexey Vasilyev and Karim Al Azhari.
Two-time MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo will make his Gulf 12 Hours debut driving the #99 Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 alongside Australian Liam Talbot, Italian Marco Zanuttini and Belgian Jacques Duyver. Kessel Racing's #11 Ferrari will be driven by Isaac Tutumlu, Marco Frezza and Vadim Gitlin.
AF Corse has entered four GT3 Ferraris. The #3 features FIA WEC drivers Stephen Wyatt, Michele Rugolo and Davide Rigon. Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci and Felipe Barreiros comprise the #4 AF Corse Ferrari with the #5 being piloted by Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Andrea Rizzoli. AF Corse's final GT3 entry is the #77 which will be piloted by Adrien De Leener, Cedric Sbirrazzuoli and David Akhobadze.
Dragon Racing will field the #88 Ferrari with Sean Walkinshaw being joined by Jordan Grogor and Mohammed Jawa. Villorbra Corse field the #89 Ferrari with drivers Cedric Mezard, Christophe Hurni and Didier Cuche.
Gulf Racing will field the #69 Lamborghini FL2 of Roald Goethe, Stuart Hall and Frederic Fatien.
Five Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars are entered. MRS-GT Racing has entered two cars with the #33 being filled by Ralf Bohn, Siegfried Venema and Ilya Melnikov. The #34 MRS-GT entry has yet to be filled and might not compete. The #43 STP Racing with Sopp + Sopp has three Brits, Matthew Telling, Liam Venter and Ryan Ratcliffe being joined by South African Daniel Welch. Labre Competition entered an all-French drivers line up with Franck Labescat, Manuel Rodrigues, Christian Filippon and Denis Gibaud sharing the #50. The #67 GDL Racing entry will be driven by Nicolas Vandierendonck, Rob Thomson and Yusif Bassil.
The CN2 class has four entries, all Wolf GB08s. Avelon Formula has entered two with Ivan Bellarosa, Guglielmo Belotti and Ricardo Teixeria in the #45 and Simon Stoller, Gianluca Pizzuti and Fabio Emanuela in the #46. Motionsport has an all-British line-up with Peter Storey, Ben Gower and Ollie Chadwick in the #47. The #48 CRM Motorsport entry is occupied by Nicola and Stefano de Val and Jose Pedro Faria.
The Gulf 12 Hours features two, 6-hour races, the first beginning at 9:00 a.m. in Abu Dhabi (midnight ET) and ending at 3:00 p.m. (6:00 a.m. ET). The second race will start at 6:00 p.m. local time (9:00 a.m. ET) with the race ending at midnight in Abu Dhabi (3:00 p.m. ET).
Race of Champions
After being cancelled in 2013 because of political unrest in Thailand, Race of Champions returns and for the first time ever, the event occurs in the Caribbean. Barbados plays host to the all-star event which features eleven teams of two. The host nation will have their own team as Barbados Rally Club drivers Rhett Watson and Dane Skeete were the top two competitors in the Suzuki ROC Barbados Challenge.
Romain Grosjean returns at the incumbent Race of Champions winner and finished runner-up representing France in the Nations Cup. He will be joined by FIA European Formula Three champion Esteban Ocon. The 19-year old Ocon won nine of 33 races and defeated Tom Blomqvist and future Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Max Verstappen for the title. Ocon was a test driver for Lotus F1 in 2014.
The United States will have three representatives split between two teams. This year's Indianapolis 500 winner and 2012 IndyCar champion and ROC competitor Ryan Hunter-Reay will be joined by 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2014 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Kurt Busch. Busch makes his first ROC appearance while Hunter-Reay teamed with Mexican rally driver Benito Guerra to form Teams Americas in 2012. Hunter-Reay won two of six races in 2012 defeating David Coulthard in the Nations Cup and Kazuya Oshima in the Race of Champions.
The other American competitor is back-to-back Stadium Super Trucks champion, IndyCar race winner, NASCAR race winner and sports car race winner Robby Gordon who will join 2014 World Touring Car champion Argentine José María López to form Team Americas. Gordon ran in the 2001 where he set the course record on the Gran Canaria course and led the United States to a semifinal appearance with teammates Shaun Palmer and Rhys Millen. López won ten of 23 WTCC races in 2014 and won the title over four-time WTCC champion and Citroën teammate Yvan Muller.
David Coulthard returns to ROC and will be joined by Williams test driver Susie Wolff, the first female competitor in the history of ROC. They will represent the United Kingdom. Coulthard will be making his ninth ROC appearance. The Scotsman's best ROC performance was in 2008 when he made the finals before being defeated by Sébastien Loeb 2-1 in the finals. Coulthard went to the semifinals in the 2012 Race of Champions before losing to Tom Kristensen.
Fresh off his record sixth V8 Supercars championship, Jamie Whincup returns to ROC to represent Australia and he will be joined by five-time 500cc motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan. Whincup and Doohan paired in 2012 where they went to the semifinals of the Nations Cup before being eliminated by the dominate German pairing of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. Whincup failed to get out of the group stage of the Race of Champions in 2012 while Doohan advance to the quarterfinals before losing to Schumacher.
Tom Kristensen will make his 13th consecutive and possibly final ROC appearance as the Dane announced his retirement prior to the final round of the FIA WEC event last month. Kristensen won the 2005 Nations Cup for Scandinavia paired with Swede Mattias Ekström and his finished runner-up in the Race of Champions in the last two editions, losing to Sébastien Ogier 2-0 in 2011 and to Grosjean 2-0 in 2012. Kristensen will be joined by 2003 World Rally champion and this year's World Rallycross champion Petter Solberg to form Team Nordic. Solberg will make his first ROC appearance in seven years. Petter and brother Henning made it to the Nations Cup semifinals that year while Petter lost to Coulthard in the first round of the Race of Champions.
GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer and the youngest winner in DTM history and Mercedes F1 test driver Pascal Wehrlein will both make their ROC debuts in Barbados. The Brit and German form Team Young Stars in the Nations Cup.
The Nations Cup will take place at noon local time (11:00 a.m. ET) on Saturday while the Race of Champions will take place at the same time on Sunday.
In the Nations Cup Group Stage, France will be in Group A alongside Team Nordic, Team Americas and Team Young Stars.
Group B will be comprised of Australia, United Kingdom, Barbados and the United States.
For the Race of Champions Group Stage, Grosjean will be in Group A alongside Coulthard both Australians, Whincup and Doohan.
Group B will feature Solberg, Busch, Wolff and the fastest driver from Team Barbados.
Group C is comprised of López, Gordon, Ocon and the winner of ROC Caribbean, an event that will occur after the Nations Cup on Saturday.
Group D will see Kristensen joined by Hunter-Reay, Palmer and Wehrlein.
ROC Caribbean participants include Watson and Skeete representing Barbados; Doug Gore and Jeffery Panton representing Jamaica; Kristian Jeffery and Mark Vieira representing Guyana and Franklyn Boodram and David Coehlo representing Trinidad and Tobago.
Cars that will be used for this year's competition are the ROC buggy, Ariel Atom, Audi R8 LMS, a stock car and Stadium Super Trucks.
A European driver has won every edition of Race of Champions. Former World Rally champion Didier Auriol has the most Race of Champions titles with four. Sébastien Loeb won three times as did Mattias Ekström. Stig Blomqvist and Juha Kankkunen each won the ROC twice. Eleven drivers have won the ROC one time.
Finland and France have each produced five different ROC winners (Kankkunen, Tommi Mäkinen, Harri Rovanperä, Marcus Grönholm and Hekki Kovalainen for Finland and Auriol, Loeb, François Delecour, Ogier and Grosjean for France). The only other nation to produce multiple ROC winners is Sweden (Ekström and Blomqvist). Italy (Andrea Aghini), Spain (Carlos Sainz), the United Kingdom (Colin McRae) and Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque) are the other four nations to produce ROC winners.
The last six Nations Cups have been won by Germany. Finland was the last country prior to the German dominance to win the Nations Cups when Hekki Kovalainen and Marcus Grönholm held off Travis Pastrana who was representing the United States solo in 2006. Finland won the inaugural Nations Cup in 1999. France is the only other nation with multiple Nations Cups as Regis Laconi, Yvan Muller and Gilles Panizzi won in 2000 and Loeb and Jean Alesi won in 2004.
Scandinavia won the 2005 Nations Cup with Kristensen and Ekström as representative. An All-Star team featuring Cristiano da Matta (Brazil), Fonsi Nieto (Spain) and Panizzi won the 2003 Nations Cup. The United States won the 2002 Nations Cup being represented by Colin Edwards, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Spain won the 2001 Nations Cup with Jesús Puras, Rubén Xaus and Fernando Alonso.
Over/Unders
Predictions
1. Nicolas Prost does not win pole position for the Punta del Este round of Formula E.
2. Whoever wins part one of the Gulf 12 Hours does not win the Gulf 12 Hours overall.
3. A European driver does not win the Race of Champions.
Last Week's Predictions
1. Craig Lowndes finishes ahead of Mark Winterbottom in the final championship standings (Wrong. Lowndes finished fourth in the championship, Winterbottom finished third).
2. OAK Racing completes the perfect season (Correct).
3. One of the 12 teams I featured above wins at least their class at Thunderhill (Correct as Davidson Racing won overall).
Overall: 2/3. Running Tally: 36.5/65
Punta del Este
After a month off, Formula E heads to South America for the first time in the series history as the streets of Punta del Este, Uruguay plays host to the all-electric championship.
Virgin Racing's Sam Bird won in convincing fashion last time the series raced from Putrajaya, Malaysia. The Brit led 21 of 31 laps as he would hold off Audi Sport Abt's Lucas di Grassi by 4.175 seconds. The Brazilian di Grassi leads the championship with 43 points, three points over Bird as di Grassi won the only other round of the Formula E season at Beijing.
Four drivers are tied for third in the championship with 18 points. Andretti Autosport's Franck Montagny finished second at Beijing but finished 15th at Putrajaya after contact with Venturi Grand Prix driver Nick Heidfeld damaged the Frenchman's car and led to a penalty ending any hope of scoring points. Montagna will not be at Punta del Este as Andretti Autosport has hired former Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Jean-Éric Vergne. Nicolas Prost of e.dams finished fourth at Putrajaya and has won both pole positions this season, which pay three points apiece. Mahindra's Karun Chandhok and Dragon Racing's Jérôme d'Ambrosio each have finished fifth and sixth this season with the Indian Chandhok bettering the Belgian at Beijing and the two drivers flipping positions at Putrajaya.
Sébastien Buemi has 15 points after finishing third at Putrajaya, just ahead of his e.dams teammate Prost. Charles Pic and Oriol Servià each have 12 points but Pic will not be at Punta del Este as American Matthew Brabham will replace the Frenchman for the second consecutive race.
Nelson Piquet, Jr., António Félix da Costa and Jaime Alguersuari all have four points while Stéphane Sarrazin, Daniel Abt and Takuma Sato all have two points. Sato substituted for da Costa at Beijing as the Portuguese driver had a conflict with his DTM duties.
Four drivers slated to run in Uruguay failed to score in the first two rounds. Bruno Senna was on his way to points at Putrajaya before an accident on the final lap. Nick Heidfeld could have won the premiere race at Beijing but was taken out by Prost and we know contact with Montagny ended his race at Putrajaya. Both TrulliGP drivers, Jarno Trulli and Michela Cerruti, have yet to finish in the points.
Joining Vergne as Formula E debutants in Uruguay are Antonio García, who will replace Ho-Pin Tung in the second China Racing seat and Salvador Durán will replace Katherine Legge in the second Aguri ride. García was slated to run Putrajaya but after the Thailand round was dropped from the Asian Le Mans Series schedule, Tung was freed to run. The Chinese driver will be competing in the Gulf 12 Hours (more on that in a moment). Legge failed to score in each of the first two races.
Audi Sport Abt leads the team championship with 45 points, one clear of Virgin Racing. Dragon Racing is third with 33 points. The other American team, Andretti Autosport and e.drams trail Dragon by three points. Mahindra has 18 points, all at the hands of Chandhok. Aguri has six points, China Racing has four and Venturi Grand Prix has two. As mentioned above, TrulliGP is still looking to get on the scoreboard.
Gulf 12 Hours
Twenty-five cars are entered for the Gulf 12 Hours from the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The unique split 6-hour formats features 16 GT3 cars with the Abu Dhabi Racing Black Falcon Mercedes returning to defend their title. The 2013 winning driver combination of Bernd Schneider, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Khaled Al Qubaisi returns in the #1 Mercedes while Richard Muscat, Hubert Haupt and Abdulaziz Al Faisal will run the #2 SLS AMG GT3.
Two McLaren 650S GT3s will be making their debut this weekend at the Gulf 12 Hours. The #59 will be driven by Rob Bell, Kevin Éstre and Álvaro Parente while Dutchmen Peter Kox and Nico Pronk will be in the #60 along with Frenchman Gilles Vannelet.
I.S.R. Racing has entered the #75 Audi R8 LMS GT3 with Aditya Patel, Jiri Pisarik and Filip Salaquarda as the team makes a transition from field junior formula entries to a full-time Blancpain Endurance Series effort in 2015. Absolute Racing has also entered an Audi with Ho-Pin Tung being joined by Xiao Jin Li and Jiang Wei Weng in the #17 R8 LMS GT3.
The #10 GT Russian Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 will be shared by Marko Asmer, Alexey Vasilyev and Karim Al Azhari.
Two-time MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo will make his Gulf 12 Hours debut driving the #99 Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 alongside Australian Liam Talbot, Italian Marco Zanuttini and Belgian Jacques Duyver. Kessel Racing's #11 Ferrari will be driven by Isaac Tutumlu, Marco Frezza and Vadim Gitlin.
AF Corse has entered four GT3 Ferraris. The #3 features FIA WEC drivers Stephen Wyatt, Michele Rugolo and Davide Rigon. Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci and Felipe Barreiros comprise the #4 AF Corse Ferrari with the #5 being piloted by Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Andrea Rizzoli. AF Corse's final GT3 entry is the #77 which will be piloted by Adrien De Leener, Cedric Sbirrazzuoli and David Akhobadze.
Dragon Racing will field the #88 Ferrari with Sean Walkinshaw being joined by Jordan Grogor and Mohammed Jawa. Villorbra Corse field the #89 Ferrari with drivers Cedric Mezard, Christophe Hurni and Didier Cuche.
Gulf Racing will field the #69 Lamborghini FL2 of Roald Goethe, Stuart Hall and Frederic Fatien.
Five Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars are entered. MRS-GT Racing has entered two cars with the #33 being filled by Ralf Bohn, Siegfried Venema and Ilya Melnikov. The #34 MRS-GT entry has yet to be filled and might not compete. The #43 STP Racing with Sopp + Sopp has three Brits, Matthew Telling, Liam Venter and Ryan Ratcliffe being joined by South African Daniel Welch. Labre Competition entered an all-French drivers line up with Franck Labescat, Manuel Rodrigues, Christian Filippon and Denis Gibaud sharing the #50. The #67 GDL Racing entry will be driven by Nicolas Vandierendonck, Rob Thomson and Yusif Bassil.
The CN2 class has four entries, all Wolf GB08s. Avelon Formula has entered two with Ivan Bellarosa, Guglielmo Belotti and Ricardo Teixeria in the #45 and Simon Stoller, Gianluca Pizzuti and Fabio Emanuela in the #46. Motionsport has an all-British line-up with Peter Storey, Ben Gower and Ollie Chadwick in the #47. The #48 CRM Motorsport entry is occupied by Nicola and Stefano de Val and Jose Pedro Faria.
The Gulf 12 Hours features two, 6-hour races, the first beginning at 9:00 a.m. in Abu Dhabi (midnight ET) and ending at 3:00 p.m. (6:00 a.m. ET). The second race will start at 6:00 p.m. local time (9:00 a.m. ET) with the race ending at midnight in Abu Dhabi (3:00 p.m. ET).
Race of Champions
After being cancelled in 2013 because of political unrest in Thailand, Race of Champions returns and for the first time ever, the event occurs in the Caribbean. Barbados plays host to the all-star event which features eleven teams of two. The host nation will have their own team as Barbados Rally Club drivers Rhett Watson and Dane Skeete were the top two competitors in the Suzuki ROC Barbados Challenge.
Romain Grosjean returns at the incumbent Race of Champions winner and finished runner-up representing France in the Nations Cup. He will be joined by FIA European Formula Three champion Esteban Ocon. The 19-year old Ocon won nine of 33 races and defeated Tom Blomqvist and future Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Max Verstappen for the title. Ocon was a test driver for Lotus F1 in 2014.
The United States will have three representatives split between two teams. This year's Indianapolis 500 winner and 2012 IndyCar champion and ROC competitor Ryan Hunter-Reay will be joined by 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2014 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Kurt Busch. Busch makes his first ROC appearance while Hunter-Reay teamed with Mexican rally driver Benito Guerra to form Teams Americas in 2012. Hunter-Reay won two of six races in 2012 defeating David Coulthard in the Nations Cup and Kazuya Oshima in the Race of Champions.
The other American competitor is back-to-back Stadium Super Trucks champion, IndyCar race winner, NASCAR race winner and sports car race winner Robby Gordon who will join 2014 World Touring Car champion Argentine José María López to form Team Americas. Gordon ran in the 2001 where he set the course record on the Gran Canaria course and led the United States to a semifinal appearance with teammates Shaun Palmer and Rhys Millen. López won ten of 23 WTCC races in 2014 and won the title over four-time WTCC champion and Citroën teammate Yvan Muller.
David Coulthard returns to ROC and will be joined by Williams test driver Susie Wolff, the first female competitor in the history of ROC. They will represent the United Kingdom. Coulthard will be making his ninth ROC appearance. The Scotsman's best ROC performance was in 2008 when he made the finals before being defeated by Sébastien Loeb 2-1 in the finals. Coulthard went to the semifinals in the 2012 Race of Champions before losing to Tom Kristensen.
Fresh off his record sixth V8 Supercars championship, Jamie Whincup returns to ROC to represent Australia and he will be joined by five-time 500cc motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan. Whincup and Doohan paired in 2012 where they went to the semifinals of the Nations Cup before being eliminated by the dominate German pairing of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. Whincup failed to get out of the group stage of the Race of Champions in 2012 while Doohan advance to the quarterfinals before losing to Schumacher.
Tom Kristensen will make his 13th consecutive and possibly final ROC appearance as the Dane announced his retirement prior to the final round of the FIA WEC event last month. Kristensen won the 2005 Nations Cup for Scandinavia paired with Swede Mattias Ekström and his finished runner-up in the Race of Champions in the last two editions, losing to Sébastien Ogier 2-0 in 2011 and to Grosjean 2-0 in 2012. Kristensen will be joined by 2003 World Rally champion and this year's World Rallycross champion Petter Solberg to form Team Nordic. Solberg will make his first ROC appearance in seven years. Petter and brother Henning made it to the Nations Cup semifinals that year while Petter lost to Coulthard in the first round of the Race of Champions.
GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer and the youngest winner in DTM history and Mercedes F1 test driver Pascal Wehrlein will both make their ROC debuts in Barbados. The Brit and German form Team Young Stars in the Nations Cup.
The Nations Cup will take place at noon local time (11:00 a.m. ET) on Saturday while the Race of Champions will take place at the same time on Sunday.
In the Nations Cup Group Stage, France will be in Group A alongside Team Nordic, Team Americas and Team Young Stars.
Group B will be comprised of Australia, United Kingdom, Barbados and the United States.
For the Race of Champions Group Stage, Grosjean will be in Group A alongside Coulthard both Australians, Whincup and Doohan.
Group B will feature Solberg, Busch, Wolff and the fastest driver from Team Barbados.
Group C is comprised of López, Gordon, Ocon and the winner of ROC Caribbean, an event that will occur after the Nations Cup on Saturday.
Group D will see Kristensen joined by Hunter-Reay, Palmer and Wehrlein.
ROC Caribbean participants include Watson and Skeete representing Barbados; Doug Gore and Jeffery Panton representing Jamaica; Kristian Jeffery and Mark Vieira representing Guyana and Franklyn Boodram and David Coehlo representing Trinidad and Tobago.
Cars that will be used for this year's competition are the ROC buggy, Ariel Atom, Audi R8 LMS, a stock car and Stadium Super Trucks.
A European driver has won every edition of Race of Champions. Former World Rally champion Didier Auriol has the most Race of Champions titles with four. Sébastien Loeb won three times as did Mattias Ekström. Stig Blomqvist and Juha Kankkunen each won the ROC twice. Eleven drivers have won the ROC one time.
Finland and France have each produced five different ROC winners (Kankkunen, Tommi Mäkinen, Harri Rovanperä, Marcus Grönholm and Hekki Kovalainen for Finland and Auriol, Loeb, François Delecour, Ogier and Grosjean for France). The only other nation to produce multiple ROC winners is Sweden (Ekström and Blomqvist). Italy (Andrea Aghini), Spain (Carlos Sainz), the United Kingdom (Colin McRae) and Portugal (Filipe Albuquerque) are the other four nations to produce ROC winners.
The last six Nations Cups have been won by Germany. Finland was the last country prior to the German dominance to win the Nations Cups when Hekki Kovalainen and Marcus Grönholm held off Travis Pastrana who was representing the United States solo in 2006. Finland won the inaugural Nations Cup in 1999. France is the only other nation with multiple Nations Cups as Regis Laconi, Yvan Muller and Gilles Panizzi won in 2000 and Loeb and Jean Alesi won in 2004.
Scandinavia won the 2005 Nations Cup with Kristensen and Ekström as representative. An All-Star team featuring Cristiano da Matta (Brazil), Fonsi Nieto (Spain) and Panizzi won the 2003 Nations Cup. The United States won the 2002 Nations Cup being represented by Colin Edwards, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Spain won the 2001 Nations Cup with Jesús Puras, Rubén Xaus and Fernando Alonso.
Over/Unders
1. Over or Under: 1.5 drivers scoring their first points of the Formula E season at Punta del Este?
2. Over or Under: 23.5 minutes in the pit lane for the winners of the Gulf 12 Hours?
3. Over or Under: 0.5 Americans in the knockout round of the Race of Champions?
Last Week's Over/Unders
1. Under: Scott McLaughlin finished third for Volvo in race two at Homebush, the only international make to score a podium.
2. Under: Four laps separated the overall winning OAK Racing Morgan and GT winning Clearwater Racing Ferrari at Sepang?
3. Under: Zero cars completed 700 laps at Thunderhill?
Predictions
1. Nicolas Prost does not win pole position for the Punta del Este round of Formula E.
2. Whoever wins part one of the Gulf 12 Hours does not win the Gulf 12 Hours overall.
3. A European driver does not win the Race of Champions.
Last Week's Predictions
1. Craig Lowndes finishes ahead of Mark Winterbottom in the final championship standings (Wrong. Lowndes finished fourth in the championship, Winterbottom finished third).
2. OAK Racing completes the perfect season (Correct).
3. One of the 12 teams I featured above wins at least their class at Thunderhill (Correct as Davidson Racing won overall).
Overall: 2/3. Running Tally: 36.5/65
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
2014 Et Cetera Predictions: Revisited
Our final look back at predictions made nearly a year ago takes us to the mix bag of motorsports. From MotoGP to DTM, Indy Lights to World Rally, Formula E to V8 Supercars, a prediction or two were made for each series and now is the moment of truth to see what I got right and what I got wrong.
1. Valentino Rossi Retires
Got this one wrong and it appears The Doctor isn't going anywhere as Rossi signed with Yamaha through 2016 and believes he could fight for the title next year. He might be right. He ended 2014 second in the championship, picked up a victories at Misano and Phillip Island and finished ahead of his teammate Jorge Lorenzo in ten of 18 races. You can't count on Marc Márquez coming out and dominating in 2015 like he did in 2014. Rossi could go toe-to-toe with Márquez in 2015 for 18 rounds and leave us with a championship fight we will be talking about for decades to come.
2. The Spanish Renaissance Will Continue
Spaniards won 16 of 18 in MotoGP (13 at the hands of Marc Márquez), 11 of 18 in Moto2 and 7 of 18 in Moto3. They won all three titles with Esteve Rabat taking the Moto2 crown and Álex Márquez, younger brother of Marc, winning in Moto3. Marc Márquez had an forgettable season in MotoGP and you just have to wonder how it can get any better for Spain?
Besides Marc Márquez, they had Lorenzo win twice and Dani Pedrosa get a victory. The Espargaró of Pol and Aleix finished sixth and seventh in MotoGP with Aleix scoring his first career premier class podium at Aragón. Maverick Viñales finished third in Moto2 and is moving up to Suzuki's factory effort as they return to full-time MotoGP competition in 2015 and Aleix will join Viñales at Suzuki. Álex Rins and Efrén Vázquez finished third and fourth in Moto3.
Spaniards have eight of 25 spots on the tentative 2015 MotoGP grid. The next closest country in terms of representation is Italy with five and the United Kingdom with have three riders. While Spain has strength in numbers, promising talent from other parts of the globe are starting to bud and are ready to take on the armada. Jack Miller fell two points shy of taking the Moto3 title from Álex Márquez and the Australian will jump to MotoGP in 2015 on an "Open" class LCR Honda. Valentino Rossi is developing Romano Fenati in Moto3 and the young Italian won four races last year but didn't have the same kind of consistency as the title contenders. Expect that to change in 2015. Then there are the two young Brits currently on the MotoGP grid, Bradley Smith and Scott Redding. Smith was able to score a podium in 2014 and finished eighth in the championship on the Tech3 Yamaha which always seems to be in the mixer at the front. Redding finished 12th in his rookie season on an "Open" class Gresini Honda and finished in the points in 16 of 18 races, only Marc Márquez, Valentino Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso and Hiroshi Aoyama (surprise!) had more.
The armada is strong but it won't last forever.
3. Open Class Bikes Won't Be Threatening But Will Find Success
Mother nature helped Aleix Espargaró score the first podium for an "Open" class bike but the Spaniard was constantly in the points and ended up finishing seventh in the championship. We touched on Scott Redding but he finished 16 of 18 races in the points as a rookie, not bad considering he was on a "Open" class bike. To do Redding one better, Hiroshi Aoyama finished in the points in all but one race.
Aleix Espargaró carried the "Open" class flag in 2014 and with the additions of factory efforts from Suzuki and Aprillia, it will be much tougher for the "Open" class to try to make their way to the front but the class is filling out the grid and I am sure there will be a few instances where an "Open" class bike makes some waves in 2015.
4. On to DTM: The Favorites Are BMW
Marco Wittmann took the title in his sophomore season after winning four of ten races but Audi took the manufactures' title despite only winning the final two races of the season. The only BMW victory not to come at the hands of Wittmann was rookie Maxime Martin at Moscow.
Audi did put the most drivers in the top ten with five (Mattias Ekström, Mike Rockenfeller, Edoardo Mortara, Timo Scheider and Jaime Green) compared to BMW's three (Wittmann, Martin Tomczyk and Martin) and Mercedes-Benz's two (Christian Vietoris and Pascal Wehrlein). Mercedes might have won three races but those all fell into their lap. They had four podiums from a possible thirty, compared to Audi's 15 and BMW's 11.
Wittmann might have taken the title in 2014 but look for Audi to take control in 2015.
5. Paul di Resta Returns With Mercedes
He did return with Mercedes but with a less than ideal car, he couldn't return to his championship form that he left on in 2010. The Scotsman finished fourth on three occasions (Oschersleben, Nürburgring and Hockenheim 2) and those were his only finishes in the points in 2014. It was a trying time in 2014 for di Resta, who can only hope 2015 goes much better for the talented driver.
6. World Rally Championship: Volkswagen Dominance Continues
Volkswagen won 12 of 13 races and went 1-2-3 in the drivers' championship with Sébastien Ogier taking his second consecutive title ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen. The German manufacture scored 23 podiums but amazingly had only one 1-2-3 finish in 2014. That came at Rally Australia. The true power of the Polo R WRC dominance showed with 447 points in the manufactures' championship, 237 points clear of Citroën.
The lone round VW lost was Germany, the only round Ogier and Latvala retired from. Hyundai and Thierry Neuville was able to break through, each getting their first victories but outside of that one freak occurrence, everyone was trailing VW by a country mile.
Sébastien Loeb will make a WRC return at Monte-Carlo and it will be interesting to see if the greatest rally driver can beat the near unbeatable German manufacture. Either way, it looks as if the question isn't whether VW will win a third consecutive title in 2015, rather how much will they win their third title by?
7. Indy Lights: There Will Be More Than Ten Full-Time Entries
Grid sizes were nothing to brag about in Indy Lights in 2014 but the average grid size this past season was 10.928 cars. It was barely in double figures but only two of 14 races featured a single-digit grid. With the introduction of the IL-15 chassis, 2015 should have no problem drawing double figures, in fact, the first test for the new car had to be postponed due to the amount of interest.
The big addition in 2015 is Carlin Motorsport, the team with championship success in Formula Three, GP2, GP3 and Formula Renault 3.5. Andretti Autorsport and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports return with 8Star Motorsports and Conquest Racing also interested in entering the series in 2015. The once dying leg of the Road to Indy system is on the verge of experiencing a Renaissance.
8. V8 Supercars: Jamie Whincup Wins His Record-Setting Sixth Title
Nailed this one. Where does Whincup rank amongst the greatest Australian drivers of all-time? Of course Jack Brabham is at the top and you can't ignore Alan Jones, Mark Webber, Geoff Brabham and even Vern Schuppan. Will Power just won the IndyCar title while Daniel Ricciardo finished third in the Formula One World Championship.
I think you can argue that Whincup is one of the top ten Australians and possibly the best Australian that raced majority of their career domestically. Six title is a record and he has won the Bathurst 1000 four times, five off the all-time record set by Peter Brock and only five drivers have won The Great Race more than Whincup. The only active driver of the five with more Bathurst victories is Whincup's teammate Craig Lowndes.
At 31, Whincup has plenty of time to keep rewriting the record books but he also has plenty of time to go and chase glory elsewhere, whether it be attempting Le Mans or coming to America like Marcos Ambrose. I don't think Whincup is leaving V8SC anytime soon though. I think what ever he does internationally will be one-offs. Either way, Whincup is putting himself in the discussion of all-time great Australian drivers.
9. Formula E: Expect A Roller Coaster Ride
Through two races, all things have gone well. The only thing that has bitten Formula E is the fact they couldn't get a tenth race on the schedule in the middle of February.
Sure the TV broadcasts need some work. The announcers aren't loud enough. They are trying to overcompensate by turning up the microphones around the track to make the cars sound louder and the series is trying to be revolutionary by having a steady dance club beat play through out the broadcast but the on-track action hasn't been dreadful.
The racing improved from Beijing to Putrajaya and we will have to see how the race from Punta del Este goes this Saturday. The car swap on the pit stops needs some work but it has been interesting to see who has been able to drive these cars to perfection and be able to stretch an electrical charge longer than anyone else and who hasn't.
It's different and some motorsports fans won't like it just because it is different but just because it is different, doesn't mean it's bad.
10. World Touring Car Championship: Citroën Will Lead The Way
Got this one right as the French manufacture won 17 of 23 races. José María López stunned a few people as he took the title over his much more experienced WTCC teammate Yvan Muller and Sébastien Loeb. The Argentine won ten races on his way to the title as he defeated Muller by 126 points and Loeb by 167 points. I expect the French duo to close in on López but don't think for a second that López is a one trick pony. He won multiple championship in the TC 2000 Championship in his native Argentina and I expect him to be at the front of WTCC for years to come.
11. One Miscellaneous Prediction: Dario Franchitti Is Not Done Racing
He didn't race in 2014 but this prediction is for way down the road. It might be another three or four years but I still think Dario Franchitti will get back behind the wheel. It won't be in an IndyCar but I can envision him, Allan McNish and his brother Marino entering the Spa 24 Hours or the 24 Hours of Daytona when GTD adopts GT3 specifications. Franchitti seems like one of those who won't allow his final appearance in a race car be an accident that ended his career.
Le Mans winner and Indianapolis 500 runner-up Davy Jones suffered an injury in IndyCar testing and it appeared his career way over but he eventually got back behind the wheel of the car in Grand-Am competition.
Cristiano da Matta hit a deer and was in an induced coma but returned to race in Grand-AM and ALMS.
Then there is Alex Zanardi who ran the Blancpain Sprint Series this year and has raced in WTCC and even tested a Formula One car since the accident at Lausitzring that cost the Italian his legs.
There is no way Franchitti sees what Zanardi is doing and is going to let a concussion keep him from getting behind the wheel of a car again. Yes, concussions are serious and once you get one, you are more prone to another but I think Franchitti will take all the precautions into account and make a return the correct way and end his career on his terms.
1. Valentino Rossi Retires
Got this one wrong and it appears The Doctor isn't going anywhere as Rossi signed with Yamaha through 2016 and believes he could fight for the title next year. He might be right. He ended 2014 second in the championship, picked up a victories at Misano and Phillip Island and finished ahead of his teammate Jorge Lorenzo in ten of 18 races. You can't count on Marc Márquez coming out and dominating in 2015 like he did in 2014. Rossi could go toe-to-toe with Márquez in 2015 for 18 rounds and leave us with a championship fight we will be talking about for decades to come.
2. The Spanish Renaissance Will Continue
Spaniards won 16 of 18 in MotoGP (13 at the hands of Marc Márquez), 11 of 18 in Moto2 and 7 of 18 in Moto3. They won all three titles with Esteve Rabat taking the Moto2 crown and Álex Márquez, younger brother of Marc, winning in Moto3. Marc Márquez had an forgettable season in MotoGP and you just have to wonder how it can get any better for Spain?
Besides Marc Márquez, they had Lorenzo win twice and Dani Pedrosa get a victory. The Espargaró of Pol and Aleix finished sixth and seventh in MotoGP with Aleix scoring his first career premier class podium at Aragón. Maverick Viñales finished third in Moto2 and is moving up to Suzuki's factory effort as they return to full-time MotoGP competition in 2015 and Aleix will join Viñales at Suzuki. Álex Rins and Efrén Vázquez finished third and fourth in Moto3.
Spaniards have eight of 25 spots on the tentative 2015 MotoGP grid. The next closest country in terms of representation is Italy with five and the United Kingdom with have three riders. While Spain has strength in numbers, promising talent from other parts of the globe are starting to bud and are ready to take on the armada. Jack Miller fell two points shy of taking the Moto3 title from Álex Márquez and the Australian will jump to MotoGP in 2015 on an "Open" class LCR Honda. Valentino Rossi is developing Romano Fenati in Moto3 and the young Italian won four races last year but didn't have the same kind of consistency as the title contenders. Expect that to change in 2015. Then there are the two young Brits currently on the MotoGP grid, Bradley Smith and Scott Redding. Smith was able to score a podium in 2014 and finished eighth in the championship on the Tech3 Yamaha which always seems to be in the mixer at the front. Redding finished 12th in his rookie season on an "Open" class Gresini Honda and finished in the points in 16 of 18 races, only Marc Márquez, Valentino Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso and Hiroshi Aoyama (surprise!) had more.
The armada is strong but it won't last forever.
3. Open Class Bikes Won't Be Threatening But Will Find Success
Mother nature helped Aleix Espargaró score the first podium for an "Open" class bike but the Spaniard was constantly in the points and ended up finishing seventh in the championship. We touched on Scott Redding but he finished 16 of 18 races in the points as a rookie, not bad considering he was on a "Open" class bike. To do Redding one better, Hiroshi Aoyama finished in the points in all but one race.
Aleix Espargaró carried the "Open" class flag in 2014 and with the additions of factory efforts from Suzuki and Aprillia, it will be much tougher for the "Open" class to try to make their way to the front but the class is filling out the grid and I am sure there will be a few instances where an "Open" class bike makes some waves in 2015.
4. On to DTM: The Favorites Are BMW
Marco Wittmann took the title in his sophomore season after winning four of ten races but Audi took the manufactures' title despite only winning the final two races of the season. The only BMW victory not to come at the hands of Wittmann was rookie Maxime Martin at Moscow.
Audi did put the most drivers in the top ten with five (Mattias Ekström, Mike Rockenfeller, Edoardo Mortara, Timo Scheider and Jaime Green) compared to BMW's three (Wittmann, Martin Tomczyk and Martin) and Mercedes-Benz's two (Christian Vietoris and Pascal Wehrlein). Mercedes might have won three races but those all fell into their lap. They had four podiums from a possible thirty, compared to Audi's 15 and BMW's 11.
Wittmann might have taken the title in 2014 but look for Audi to take control in 2015.
5. Paul di Resta Returns With Mercedes
He did return with Mercedes but with a less than ideal car, he couldn't return to his championship form that he left on in 2010. The Scotsman finished fourth on three occasions (Oschersleben, Nürburgring and Hockenheim 2) and those were his only finishes in the points in 2014. It was a trying time in 2014 for di Resta, who can only hope 2015 goes much better for the talented driver.
6. World Rally Championship: Volkswagen Dominance Continues
Volkswagen won 12 of 13 races and went 1-2-3 in the drivers' championship with Sébastien Ogier taking his second consecutive title ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen. The German manufacture scored 23 podiums but amazingly had only one 1-2-3 finish in 2014. That came at Rally Australia. The true power of the Polo R WRC dominance showed with 447 points in the manufactures' championship, 237 points clear of Citroën.
The lone round VW lost was Germany, the only round Ogier and Latvala retired from. Hyundai and Thierry Neuville was able to break through, each getting their first victories but outside of that one freak occurrence, everyone was trailing VW by a country mile.
Sébastien Loeb will make a WRC return at Monte-Carlo and it will be interesting to see if the greatest rally driver can beat the near unbeatable German manufacture. Either way, it looks as if the question isn't whether VW will win a third consecutive title in 2015, rather how much will they win their third title by?
7. Indy Lights: There Will Be More Than Ten Full-Time Entries
Grid sizes were nothing to brag about in Indy Lights in 2014 but the average grid size this past season was 10.928 cars. It was barely in double figures but only two of 14 races featured a single-digit grid. With the introduction of the IL-15 chassis, 2015 should have no problem drawing double figures, in fact, the first test for the new car had to be postponed due to the amount of interest.
The big addition in 2015 is Carlin Motorsport, the team with championship success in Formula Three, GP2, GP3 and Formula Renault 3.5. Andretti Autorsport and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports return with 8Star Motorsports and Conquest Racing also interested in entering the series in 2015. The once dying leg of the Road to Indy system is on the verge of experiencing a Renaissance.
8. V8 Supercars: Jamie Whincup Wins His Record-Setting Sixth Title
Nailed this one. Where does Whincup rank amongst the greatest Australian drivers of all-time? Of course Jack Brabham is at the top and you can't ignore Alan Jones, Mark Webber, Geoff Brabham and even Vern Schuppan. Will Power just won the IndyCar title while Daniel Ricciardo finished third in the Formula One World Championship.
I think you can argue that Whincup is one of the top ten Australians and possibly the best Australian that raced majority of their career domestically. Six title is a record and he has won the Bathurst 1000 four times, five off the all-time record set by Peter Brock and only five drivers have won The Great Race more than Whincup. The only active driver of the five with more Bathurst victories is Whincup's teammate Craig Lowndes.
At 31, Whincup has plenty of time to keep rewriting the record books but he also has plenty of time to go and chase glory elsewhere, whether it be attempting Le Mans or coming to America like Marcos Ambrose. I don't think Whincup is leaving V8SC anytime soon though. I think what ever he does internationally will be one-offs. Either way, Whincup is putting himself in the discussion of all-time great Australian drivers.
9. Formula E: Expect A Roller Coaster Ride
Through two races, all things have gone well. The only thing that has bitten Formula E is the fact they couldn't get a tenth race on the schedule in the middle of February.
Sure the TV broadcasts need some work. The announcers aren't loud enough. They are trying to overcompensate by turning up the microphones around the track to make the cars sound louder and the series is trying to be revolutionary by having a steady dance club beat play through out the broadcast but the on-track action hasn't been dreadful.
The racing improved from Beijing to Putrajaya and we will have to see how the race from Punta del Este goes this Saturday. The car swap on the pit stops needs some work but it has been interesting to see who has been able to drive these cars to perfection and be able to stretch an electrical charge longer than anyone else and who hasn't.
It's different and some motorsports fans won't like it just because it is different but just because it is different, doesn't mean it's bad.
10. World Touring Car Championship: Citroën Will Lead The Way
Got this one right as the French manufacture won 17 of 23 races. José María López stunned a few people as he took the title over his much more experienced WTCC teammate Yvan Muller and Sébastien Loeb. The Argentine won ten races on his way to the title as he defeated Muller by 126 points and Loeb by 167 points. I expect the French duo to close in on López but don't think for a second that López is a one trick pony. He won multiple championship in the TC 2000 Championship in his native Argentina and I expect him to be at the front of WTCC for years to come.
11. One Miscellaneous Prediction: Dario Franchitti Is Not Done Racing
He didn't race in 2014 but this prediction is for way down the road. It might be another three or four years but I still think Dario Franchitti will get back behind the wheel. It won't be in an IndyCar but I can envision him, Allan McNish and his brother Marino entering the Spa 24 Hours or the 24 Hours of Daytona when GTD adopts GT3 specifications. Franchitti seems like one of those who won't allow his final appearance in a race car be an accident that ended his career.
Le Mans winner and Indianapolis 500 runner-up Davy Jones suffered an injury in IndyCar testing and it appeared his career way over but he eventually got back behind the wheel of the car in Grand-Am competition.
Cristiano da Matta hit a deer and was in an induced coma but returned to race in Grand-AM and ALMS.
Then there is Alex Zanardi who ran the Blancpain Sprint Series this year and has raced in WTCC and even tested a Formula One car since the accident at Lausitzring that cost the Italian his legs.
There is no way Franchitti sees what Zanardi is doing and is going to let a concussion keep him from getting behind the wheel of a car again. Yes, concussions are serious and once you get one, you are more prone to another but I think Franchitti will take all the precautions into account and make a return the correct way and end his career on his terms.
Monday, December 8, 2014
Musings From the Weekend: I Need More Luden's Cough Drops
Chest congestion and a sore throat slowed me down this weekend. The good news is everything is clearing up and I was able to keep an eye on the action from around the globe. This will be a short post this week as I recover but keep an eye on the blog as a lot of interesting stuff will be posted through out the month of December as we close out 2014 and get ready for 2015. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
Many Interested But Too Few Seats
Why in the world are all these drivers interested in IndyCar? Jean-Éric Vergne, Charles Pic, Alexander Rossi, Dean Stoneman, Daniel Abt, Davide Valsecchi, Conor Daly, Simona de Silvestro, need I go on?
This is a good problem to have but it also shows one of IndyCar's current weaknesses. There aren't enough available seats and it doesn't appear possible for seats to emerge for these drivers. I'd love for them all to get on the grid as additions to all those who already have rides and IndyCar to have close to 30 full-time drivers with 40-42 entered for the Indianapolis 500. I know that isn't going to happen but if so many talented drivers are interested you need to get them on the grid as it has become clear Formula One is not an option. It's not that they aren't good enough for Formula One, it's they don't have enough money to break in.
None of these drivers are going to be a messiah that cause IndyCar television ratings to go up to an average of 2.5 for every race with average attendance being 100,000 people but IndyCar needs to make sure they are putting the best product out there. Growing the series is a step-by-step process and the first goal should be to make sure the driver line is the best it can be.
There are some worrying that IndyCar could become a series for all those drivers who couldn't make it in Europe and will take rides away from potential American talent. I understand where they are coming from but we can't look at every driver who fails to make it to Formula One as a washed up, has-been with no talent. There are 18-22 drivers who get to be in Formula One. Of those, drivers, at least four, maybe as many as five are their solely on the paycheck they are bringing. Then another four or five drivers who's career depend on what sponsors they have. Finally there are the drivers at Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, Scuderia Toro Rosso and McLaren who are the fortunate few who don't have to rely on bringing a paycheck.
Look at FIA WEC. Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi, Neel Jani, Brendon Hartley and Lucas di Grassi are all talented enough to be in Formula One but lack the paycheck to get their. Instead they run sports cars where they are paid to drive, not paying a team to let them drive. And if anyone still thinks those who fail to make it to Formula One are washed up, has-beens with no talent need to say that to the face of nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen because he never got a shot in Formula One and his career turned out just fine.
IndyCar can be a destination series for both North American drivers developed in the North American ladder system as well as drivers from Europe who are interested in what the series has to offer. The series has to expand to be able to accommodate those who are interested. Of course, that is much easier said than done.
Champions From the Weekend
The #91 Team AAI BMW Z4 GT3 of Jun San Chen and Tatsuya Tanigawa won the GT championship in Asian Le Mans Series with a second place finish at Sepang
Winners From the Weekend
The #1 OAK Racing Morgan-Judd of David Cheng, Ho-Pin Tung and Yuan Bo won the final round of the 2014 Asian Le Mans Series season from Sepang. The #1 OAK Racing Morgan won all four races. The #33 Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Matt Griffin, Richard Wee and Mok Weng Sun won in GT with the #77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Ligier of Kevin Tse, Samson Chen and Jonathan Venter won in CN class. Like OAK Racing, Craft-Bamboo Racing also won all four races in the CN class.
Coming Up This Weekend
Formula E is in Punta del Este, Uruguay.
The Gulf 12 Hours takes place from Abu Dhabi.
The Race of Champions is run from Barbados.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Davidson Racing Wins 25 Hours of Thunderhill
The #17 Davidson Racing Norma M20F BMW of Alex Lloyd, Kyle Marcelli, Randy Pobst, Brian Frisselle and Bob Davidson dominated the 2014 25 Hours of Thunderhill winning the race comfortable with 21 laps between them and their nearest competitor. The #17 Norma completed 682 laps.
The ESR entry started on pole position and held the overall lead at the 6-hour, 12-hour and 19-hour marks of the race. The #00 Award Motorsport/Ehret Family Winery Porsche GT3 Cup of Anthony Ward, Pierre Ehret, Kelly Collins, Tom Hacker, Spencer Trennery and Tommy Sadler finished second overall and won the ES class. Third place overall and second in the ES class was the #6 Stammer Inc./Bavarian Performance BMW E46 M3 of Derek Welch, Eddie Nakato, Jefferey Stammer and Matt Crandall. The #6 BMW finished sixteen laps back of the #00 Porsche.
Fourth overall and rounding out the ES podium was the #03 Team Quick Racing Products Superlite SLC of Mike Skeen, Ryan Eversley, Chris Durbin and Darrell Anderson having completed 628 laps.
The E1 class winning #67 Sparta Evo Brakes/Maxxis Tires/Bullet Performance BMW 328i finished fifth overall, completing 612 laps with drivers Brett Strom, Mickey Miller, Ralph Warren and Robert Green. Second in E1, three laps behind the #67 was the #95 Grip Racing BMW 330i of Charles Hurley, David Wheaton, Jason Vein, Mark Drennan and Richard Cohn-Lee.
The E0 class winning #31 Hankook Tires/El Diablo Motorsports BMW M3 of Dale Sievwright, Lance Boicelli, Scott Smith and William Brinkop finished seventh overall completing 607 laps. Two laps behind them was the #25 Honda Racing Acura ILX of Michael Tsay, Corey Taguchi, Derek Ferretti and Lawrence Hwang in eighth overall.
Ninth overall, second in the E0 class after completing 602 laps was the #32 CA Sport BMW M3 of Bruce Trenery, Byron Smith, Kristian Boodoosingh, Marc Miller and Ray Mason. Rounding out the top ten overall, third in E0 was the #33 CA Sport/Skullcandy Team Nissan 370Z of Vesko Kozarov, Lara Tallman, Bryan Heitkotter and Aaron Pfadt.
The #23 RJ Racing Mazda Miata of Gary Brown, John Gibson, Rob Gibson and Roger Eagleton won the E3 class having completed 587 laps and finishing 12th overall. The E2 class was won by the #34 Team RDR Mazada RX8 of Dennis Holloway, Joel Miller and Lee Papageorge after completing 576 laps and finishing 20th overall.
Other notable entries:
The #61 BF Goodrich Road Shagger Racing BMW M3 of Kurt Busch, Gavin Ernstone, Jon Morley and Robbie Montinola completed 564 laps and finished fourth in the E0 class.
The #62 Team Vegas/DiscTech/One Motorsports Radical SR3 of Sean Rayhall, Jesse Menzcer, John Falb and Todd Slusher finished second in ESR, 100 laps back of the overall winning Davidson Racing entry.
The #48 Crowd Strike/One Motorsports Radical SR3 of Colin Braun, Dave House, George Kurtz and Gerhard Watzinger finished third in ESR, four laps behind their teammate.
The #54 Motorsport Services Seat León SuperCopa of Clint Harvey, Daniel Stutterd, Malcolm Niall and Mark Pilatti finished sixth in ES after completing 547 laps.
The ESR entry started on pole position and held the overall lead at the 6-hour, 12-hour and 19-hour marks of the race. The #00 Award Motorsport/Ehret Family Winery Porsche GT3 Cup of Anthony Ward, Pierre Ehret, Kelly Collins, Tom Hacker, Spencer Trennery and Tommy Sadler finished second overall and won the ES class. Third place overall and second in the ES class was the #6 Stammer Inc./Bavarian Performance BMW E46 M3 of Derek Welch, Eddie Nakato, Jefferey Stammer and Matt Crandall. The #6 BMW finished sixteen laps back of the #00 Porsche.
Fourth overall and rounding out the ES podium was the #03 Team Quick Racing Products Superlite SLC of Mike Skeen, Ryan Eversley, Chris Durbin and Darrell Anderson having completed 628 laps.
The E1 class winning #67 Sparta Evo Brakes/Maxxis Tires/Bullet Performance BMW 328i finished fifth overall, completing 612 laps with drivers Brett Strom, Mickey Miller, Ralph Warren and Robert Green. Second in E1, three laps behind the #67 was the #95 Grip Racing BMW 330i of Charles Hurley, David Wheaton, Jason Vein, Mark Drennan and Richard Cohn-Lee.
The E0 class winning #31 Hankook Tires/El Diablo Motorsports BMW M3 of Dale Sievwright, Lance Boicelli, Scott Smith and William Brinkop finished seventh overall completing 607 laps. Two laps behind them was the #25 Honda Racing Acura ILX of Michael Tsay, Corey Taguchi, Derek Ferretti and Lawrence Hwang in eighth overall.
Ninth overall, second in the E0 class after completing 602 laps was the #32 CA Sport BMW M3 of Bruce Trenery, Byron Smith, Kristian Boodoosingh, Marc Miller and Ray Mason. Rounding out the top ten overall, third in E0 was the #33 CA Sport/Skullcandy Team Nissan 370Z of Vesko Kozarov, Lara Tallman, Bryan Heitkotter and Aaron Pfadt.
The #23 RJ Racing Mazda Miata of Gary Brown, John Gibson, Rob Gibson and Roger Eagleton won the E3 class having completed 587 laps and finishing 12th overall. The E2 class was won by the #34 Team RDR Mazada RX8 of Dennis Holloway, Joel Miller and Lee Papageorge after completing 576 laps and finishing 20th overall.
Other notable entries:
The #61 BF Goodrich Road Shagger Racing BMW M3 of Kurt Busch, Gavin Ernstone, Jon Morley and Robbie Montinola completed 564 laps and finished fourth in the E0 class.
The #62 Team Vegas/DiscTech/One Motorsports Radical SR3 of Sean Rayhall, Jesse Menzcer, John Falb and Todd Slusher finished second in ESR, 100 laps back of the overall winning Davidson Racing entry.
The #48 Crowd Strike/One Motorsports Radical SR3 of Colin Braun, Dave House, George Kurtz and Gerhard Watzinger finished third in ESR, four laps behind their teammate.
The #54 Motorsport Services Seat León SuperCopa of Clint Harvey, Daniel Stutterd, Malcolm Niall and Mark Pilatti finished sixth in ES after completing 547 laps.
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