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

It was another hugely busy motorsport weekend with plenty of championships in action, including F1, Moto GP, IndyCar and BTCC. We are here to bring you some of the highlights:

1. Sparks fly

This season’s Formula 1 cars have a titanium skid-plate fitted beneath the car. The main reasons for introducing titanium are because if parts break off, they’re less likely to cause punctures, and that they wear more quickly than the previous plates, which forces cars to ride higher to stay within the minimum depth at the end of the race.

The only thing we care about is the fact that the new skid plates produce these spectacular light shows!

Another thrilling race took place under the floodlights in Bahrain. A faulty wheel gun caused a stressful moment for the Mercedes team (above), while Red Bull’s Renault woes continued as Ricciardo’s engine blew as he passed the chequered flag.

It was another weekend of domination for Hamilton though, as he extended his lead over Rosberg and laughed in the face of Ferrari’s resurgence.

Jenson Button was sadly unable to compete in round four of the F1 2015 season thanks to reliability issues. He did, however, provide some great insight on Twitter during the race.

Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez were battling for the lead on the final lap of the Moto GP race in Argentina when the two made contact, with the latter crashing out of the race. It doesn’t get more dramatic than that!

Because of the collision, Rossi was left on his own to take a clear win – his 84th victory in the series. Marquez had snatched the lead from Aleix Espargaro early in the race, as Rossi progressed through the field from 8th on the grid.

The IndyCar series raced around the iconic Long Beach street circuit last weekend, with Scott Dixon winning his first race of the season. He moved up to second on lap one and displaced early leader Helio Castroneves in the pit stops.

The third and final BTCC race of the weekend at Donington Park will go down in the series’ history. It was a thrilling, action-packed event, with Matt Neal emerging from the chaos to take the win and the lead in the championship.

The first two races were dominated by the VW CCs of Jason Plato and Colin Turkington. There were, as always, some spectacular scraps and plenty of contact as well.

7. Vandoorne and Haryanto take GP2 wins

The 2015 GP2 season kicked off in Bahrain last Saturday, supporting the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix. Title favourite Stoffel Vandoorne put in a stunning display in the longer feature race.

An early Safety Car gave his rivals a free pit stop, but he battled through the field after he changed tyres to win the first race of the season. Rio Haryanto – who finished second – then went on to take victory in the eventful sprint race on Sunday, with Vandoorne finishing as the runner-up.

Matt Kenseth’s win drought came to an end at the Bristol Motor Speedway, taking victory in the Nascar Sprint Cup Food City 500 In Support of Steve Byrnes. It was a chaotic race, with numerous cautions and a red flag, caused by rain, extending the distance by 11 laps. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon were second and third.

Joey Logano led every single lap of the Nascar Xfinity Drive To Stop Diabetes 300, moving up to first place on the opening tour of the Bristol Motor Speedway. He took his second win of the 2015 season, ahead of Daniel Suarez and Chris Buescher. Naturally, he celebrated by spinning his tyres and sending thick smoke into the sky. ‘Murica!

The World Touring Car Championship also hit the track last weekend, racing around the streets of Marrakech in Morocco. Reigning champion José María López took the win in race one from pole position, with his Citroen team-mate Yvan Muller holding off Sebastien Loeb to finish first in race two.