Sunday, November 3, 2013

Through Sunday Morning

The first weekend of November signaled the end for a few racing series this weekend across the globe.

Dave Darland won the season finale for the USAC National Sprint Car Championship with 2013 National Sprint Car champion Bryan Clauson finishing second. Darland led flag-to-flag to pick up his seventh win of the sprint car season. Mike Spencer, Chase Stockton and Brady Bacon rounded out the top five. Clauson held off Darland in the championship standings by sixty-three points.

In GP3, Tio Ellinas picked up his second win of the season as he bookends the championship having won the first race of the season at Barcelona back in May. Second-place finisher Dean Stoneman was the sentimental favorite all weekend as he was competing in his first single-seater race weekend since recovering from testicular cancer that cost him the 2011 and 2012 seasons. American Conor Daly finished third.

2013 GP3 champion Daniil Kvyat finished fifth in the sprint race and won the title by thirty points over Facu Regalia who finished sixteenth in the sprint race. Daly will finish third in the final championship standings ahead of Ellinas who vaults up to fourth ahead of Jack Harvey, Nick Yelloly and Kevin Korjus.

James Calado picked up his second victory of the GP2 season and that was good enough to vault him up to third in the final standings. Dani Clos finished second with 2013 GP2 champion Fabio Leimer rounding out the podium ahead of runner-up in the 2013 GP2 championship Sam Bird in fourth.

American Alexander Rossi was not able to repeat his winning efforts from Saturday after being caught in a first lap accident with Johnny Cecotto, Jr. Rossi finishes ninth in the final championship standings despite missing the opening round at Malaysia.

The 2013 Porsche Supercup season ended at Yas Marina with Dane Nicki Thiim sweeping the weekend and winning the championship. Thiim defeated the late Sean Edwards in the championship by twenty-two points. Edwards was killed in a training accident at Queensland Raceway in Australia nearly three weeks ago. German Michael Ammermüller finishes third in the final championship standings.

While some series were wrapping up, others still have a few events to go.

Ty Dillon won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway Friday night. Johnny Sauter finished second with Ron Hornaday, Brendan Gaughan and Justin Lofton rounding out the top five.

Points leader Matt Crafton finished tenth and leads defending champion James Buescher by forty-six points with two races to go. Dillon is third, just a point back of Buescher after his victory. Sauter is fourth, seventy-four back and the final driver mathematically eligible for the title.

Brad Keselowski won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Saturday with Denny Hamlin, Sam Hornish, Jr., Matt Kenseth and Austin Dillon rounding out the top five. Dillon leads Hornish by six points with two races to go. Regan Smith is third, forty-eight back, Elliott Sadler fourth, eighty-one back and Justin Allgaier fifth, eighty-five back. The top five are the only drivers still mathematically eligible for the title.

In Shanghai, Tom Chilton and Tiago Montiero won the two World Touring Car Championship races. It is Chilton's second win of the year and Montiero's first of the season and first since 2010. Frenchman Yvan Muller has already locked up the 2013 WTCC championship. He finished second and fifth this weekend. WTCC has one more race weekend to as they head to Macau in a fortnight.