motorsportmania

#F1 from China saw Lewis needing a gearbox change and taking a 5 place penalty. Seb was experimenting with an older, and supposedly less effective, exhaust arrangement and Lotus had their protest of the Mercedes DRS activated duct system rejected. Phew! And that was before we got to race.

Once the lights changed the Mercedes duo ran off ahead of Button until their first stops when MSC was released with his right front wheel not done up and he quickly pulled off and parked. Things then got a bit processional until later in the race when a slow stop for JB pitched him out into the midst of a bunch of cars fighting amongst themselves for what would become 2^nd through about 8^th. In the end Button and Hamilton nailed the 2^nd and 3^rd spots ahead of the Red Bull duo with Webbo winning that inter team battle despite having almost flipped his car after a wild ride over the kerb. Grosjean finally managed to get to the end of a GP and was a fine 6^th ahead of the Williams pair. Lewis leads the title race a couple of points up on JB and Alonso slipped back having only managed to make 9^th at the flag.

#NASCAR Down in Fort Worth the MWR Toyotas continued to perform well with Martin Truex taking pole and then finishing sixth with team mate Mark Martin finishing third for another solid pair of top tens. Greg Biffle snaffled the win from Jimmy Johnson with a great late run in a race that saw few caution periods (good to see). All four Hendrick cars finished in the top 10, but Biffle’s win postponed the 200^th win celebrations for another week at least. Biffle now leads the standings by 19 points.

#IndyCar from Long Beach saw all of the Chevy runners take a grid penalty for a precautionary engine change after the Sonoma tests so Dario was the beneficiary ending up starting from pole. But it was Will Power, who had had to start 12^th instead of from the front row after taking his 10  place penalty, who came through to win from a hard charging Simon Pagenaud. Takuma Sato had looked like getting third until being turned around on the last lap and dropping to 8^th, one place ahead of fellow F1 refugee Rubens.

Filed under: F1, Indycar, NASCAR | Tagged: autoracing, F1, formula one, motorsport, NASCAR, racecar | Leave a comment »