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

Image source: Crash.net

It was another busy weekend of motorsport, with IndyCar, NASCAR, WTCC, FR3.5 and MotoGP (to name just a few) in action. Here are 10 things you might have missed:

1. Conway wins in Long Beach

Image source: IndyCar

Mike Conway took victory at the IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach, securing his third win in the series. It was a chaotic race but the Brit managed to move up to second in the closing stages. Scott Dixon looked on course to take the chequered flag in first, but he was half a lap short of fuel and had to dive into the pits with two laps remaining.

2. Road block

Conway might not have even finished on the podium had it not been for a multi-car pile-up between the leading four cars on lap 54. Josef Newgarden pitted from the lead and emerged on cold, new tyres with Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe and Will Power in hot pursuit.

Hunter-Raey made an over-ambitious move at turn four and the two collided. Both found the wall, with Hinchcliffe also getting caught in the mayhem. Due to the blind nature of the corner, cars continued to barrel into the scene, with a number of cars eliminated or sustaining damage.

3. Monumental shunt in FR3.5

The 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 season kicked off in dramatic style on the weekend, following a scary crash in race one. Marco Sorensen moved over on Jazeman Jaafar as they ran side-by-side on the Monza pit straight on lap two. The following contact pitched Sorensen into the air.

Will Stevens won the opening race, after pole-sitter Carlos Sainz Jr failed to get away from the grid. The Spaniard made up for Saturday's disappointment by dominating race two on Sunday.

4. Citroen domination in WTCC

Image source: WTCC

Despite being new to the series this year, Citroen made quite an impression during the opening race weekend of the 2014 World Touring Car Championship in Morocco. Jose Maria Lopez won the opening round at the wheel of his C-Elysée, from his team-mates Sebastien Loeb and Yvan Muller.

However, he had to settle for second in the dramatic race two with Loeb taking his first victory in the WTCC on his debut weekend. Only 10 cars reached the chequered flag in what was a chaotic race.

5. Chaos in Marrakech

But why was the second WTCC race of the weekend so chaotic? Well, that was because of a huge crash at the start that took out Muller and Tom Coronel, as well as damaging several other cars.

Race one wasn't free from drama either, as Dušan Borkovi was handed a 10-second penalty for race one (dropping him from fifth to sixth) because his team removed the SD card from the onboard camera. And no, I'm not joking, that actually happened.

6. Marquez wins in Austin

Image source: MotoGP

Marc Marquez made it look easy on Sunday as he cruised to his second victory of the 2014 MotoGP season, finishing comfortably ahead of his team-mate Dani Pedrosa in Austin, Texas.

The defending world champion was in control throughout, completing a truly dominant weekend. Andrea Dovizioso secured third place after a close battle to take Ducati's first top three finish since 2012. They then posed for a casual post-race selfie on the podium.

Image source: MotoGP

7. Jumping the gun

Jorge Lorenzo had MotoGP fans howling with laughter after a dramatic jump start at the Circuit of the Americas. It was hilariously bad, as was his excuse afterwards. He claimed that mosquitoes on his visor distracted him.

8. Harvick takes Sprint Cup victory in Darlington

Image source: NASCAR

Luck was finally on Kevin Harvick's side after a difficult start to the 2014 season, as he crossed the line to win at the Darlington Raceway on Saturday. He became the first repeat winner of the year after taking the lead with one lap remaining. He finished just half a second ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr, with Jimmie Johnson in third.

9. Elliott takes second consecutive NASCAR Nationwide win

Image source: NASCAR

You may remember the name Chase Elliott from last week's motorsport round-up, where he took his first NASCAR Nationwide win at the Texas Motor Speedway. The teenager made it two victories within the space of seven days on Friday night after taking the lead at the final corner in Darlington, winning by just 0.283 from Elliott Sadler and Matt Kenseth.

10. Drivers clash with the 'Lady in Black'

The Darlington Raceway is nicknamed 'Lady in Black' and is a tricky oval to master, as a number of drivers found out during the Nationwide and Sprint Cup NASCAR races. Kurt Busch crashed heavily after being tipped into a spin by Clint Bowyer with just a few laps remaining, while several other racers found the wall.