10 Things You Might Have Missed From Last Weekend’s Fiery Motorsport Action

There was plenty of motorsport to please all tastes as some of the biggest racing series took to the track

18 May 2015

Image source: NASCAR

It was another busy weekend of motorsport with IndyCar, Formula Renault 3.5, NASCAR, V8 Supercars and MotoGP all taking place. Here are 10 things you might have missed:

1. Rain, rain, go away

Image source: IndyCar

Torrential rain meant that the third round of the 2014 IndyCar season was delayed and eventually shortened. The start of the race, which took place at the Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, was pushed back to 5.30pm and was cut to one hour and 40 minutes.

The earlier Indy Lights race – the feeder series to IndyCar – was shortened by four laps and fans in the grandstands were even told to seek shelter inside as the storm moved over the circuit.

2. Hunter-Reay takes second Barber victory

When the race eventually got underway in drying conditions, it was pole-sitter Will Power who led the way in the early stages. However, an off-track excursion at turn five on lap 15 (where he skimmed the tyre barrier) dropped him to second and he eventually dropped to fifth by the chequered flag.

Ryan Hunter-Reay took advantage of the mistake and secured his second win at the track from Marco Andretti and Scott Dixon. He actually took the chequered flag behind the safety car after a crash at turn 14 for rookie Mikhail Aleshin with six minutes remaining. Meanwhile Helio Castroneves finished down in 19th after a penalty for stopping in the wrong pit box.

3. Three out of three

Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez recovered from a poor start in Argentina to win the third round of the 2014 season. It was the first time that the series had raced in the country since 1999.

Marquez dropped to seventh on lap one but moved into the lead with eight laps remaining after a pass on Jorge Lorenzo. However, the Movistar Yamaha rider eventually fell to third by the chequered flag after Dani Pedrosa passed him on the penultimate lap.

4. Sainz Jr and Rowland take FR3.5 wins

Image source: World Series by Renault

F1 feeder series Formula Renault 3.5 was in action at the Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain over the weekend. The second round of the 2014 season saw Carlos Sainz Jr dominate the first race to win by over 12 seconds.

Oliver Rowland took his maiden victory in the series on the following day, taking the chequered flag in first place by 13 seconds from Pierre Gasly – making it a rookie 1-2 finish. The battle for third was hotly contested with Will Stevens just holding off Sainz Jr at the line by two tenths of a second.

5. First F1 test for de Silvestro

Image source: Sauber F1 Team

Former IndyCar driver Simona de Silvestro tested a Formula 1 car for the first time over the weekend. She joined Sauber as an affiliated driver at the start of the year and tested the team’s 2012 car at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track in Italy on Saturday and Sunday, managing a total of 180 laps. See visor-cam footage of her F1 outing here.

6. Burning rubber

A number of cars suffered tyre failures during the NASCAR Sprint Cup round at Richmond International Raceway, which caused the rubber to catch fire.

Flaming pieces of Goodyear tyre littered the track and the pit lane after the problems, which were experienced by the likes of Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Reed Sorenson, and created spectacular scenes.

7. Logano claims second win of the year

Image source: AP

Joey Logano made a late-race charge to take the NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at Richmond. He wasn't expecting the win after starting fourth at the final restart with nine laps to go. He swiftly moved through the field to win by 9.9 seconds. Jeff Gordon, who currently leads the drivers’ standings, finished in second place, with Kyle Busch moving into third in the closing stages.

8. Tempers flare

Casey Mears and Marcos Ambrose weren’t the only drivers unhappy with one another after the NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Brad Keselowski wasn’t best pleased with Matt Kenseth’s racing in the final laps.

The two drivers finished fourth and fifth, but on the cool-down lap Keselowski brake-checked Kenseth before then charging over to his car angrily waving his finger and probably shouting expletives.

9. V8 Supercar wins

Image source: V8 Supercars

The V8 Supercars were in action in Auckland over the weekend. Jason Bright took the race one victory, after taking over the top spot from early leader Jamie Whincup after he suffered an off-track excursion, with Mark Winterbottom dominating race two.

Shane Van Gisbergen held off a charging Winterbottom to take the race three win after an early fight with Scotty McLaughlin. Winterbottom scored his second victory of the weekend in race four and also took the Jason Richards Trophy, which is awarded to the driver who accumulates the most points over the Auckland event.

10. Harvick takes NASCAR Nationwide victory

The NASCAR Nationwide seriesat the Richmond International Raceway saw Kevin Harvick cruise to victory after taking the lead from pole-sitter Brian Scott on lap 48. He led 202 of the 250 laps in total.

Chase Elliott missed out on making it three race victories in a row by one position, with Kyle Busch finishing third. As Sprint Cup drivers are ineligible for points, Elliott has extended his championship lead to 19 points.