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

It was another busy weekend of motorsport with Formula 1, GP2, GP3, WTCC, IndyCar and Nascar (to name just a few) all in action. Here are 10 things you might have missed:

1. Pagenaud wins GP of Indy

Image source: IndyCar

The inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis took place on Saturday, with Simon Pagenaud taking the chequered flag in first place to score his third win in the IndyCar series. The Frenchman took a gamble after saving fuel mid-way through the race and just managed to reach the finish line.

Ryan Hunter-Reay used a similar strategy to finish second, with a charging Helio Castroneves finishing round four of the 2014 season in third. Sebastien Bourdais and Charlie Kimball rounded out the top five.

2. Clashes and crashes

IndyCar’s first race on the newly-modified Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course was heavily disrupted. A huge start-line crash resulted in the Mayor of Indianapolis, Greg Ballard, being hit by a piece of debris. Fortunately he only sustained a “minor soft tissue injury.”

Later in the race, James Hinchcliffe pulled off the circuit after his helmet was struck by a piece of bodywork. He was diagnosed with concussion after a brief trip to hospital. Scott Dixon and Will Power collided at turn four, leaving the former stuck in the gravel, before Martin Plowman launched his car over the turn seven kerb and hit Frank Montagny. There was then chaos at the restart after Graham Rahal was hit by Juan Pablo Montoya.

3. Cecotto and Nasr take GP2 wins

Image sources: GP2

GP2 bad-boy Johnny Cecotto shocked many with a calm and mature drive to victory at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Saturday’s feature race. He was helped by pole-sitter Stephane Richelmi stalling on the grid and a chaotic first corner, finishing 3.5 seconds ahead of Jolyon Palmer and Felipe Nasr.

Nasr won the sprint race from sixth on the grid after a strong first lap. He finished seven seconds clear of Palmer to take his first GP2 victory, with super-sub Tom Dillmann in third. Next up for the series will be Monaco.

4. Lynn and Stoneman victorious in GP3

Image sources: GP3

The GP3 2014 season kicked off in Spain with Britain’s Alex Lynn storming to a dominant race one win. The Red Bull Junior Team driver finished 2.5 seconds ahead of Jimmy Eriksson, with Richie Stanaway in third. Race two took place on a damp track and saw a thrilling battle for the race lead.

Dean Stoneman eventually beat Matheo Tuscher by just under one second to take his first single-seater victory since 2010, the year he won the Formula Two title. The Brit was set to race in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2011 but he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Fortunately he beat the disease and returned to racing last year in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, making a one-off appearance in the GP3 season finale, before securing a seat on the 2014 grid.

5. Paddock gossip

Image source; Red Bull/Getty Images

Several rumours emerged from the F1 paddock over the Spanish Grand Prix weekend after several relatively slow news days. The first was that Ferrari has reportedly approached Adrian Newey in the hope of luring the design genius away from Red Bull Racing.

He was coy on the speculation when quizzed about it after the race on Sunday. Another piece of gossip was that Fernando Alonso is interested in a move to Mercedes. However, he swiftly denied the rumour after the race.

6. Gordon takes first win of 2014

Jeff Gordon held off a late charge from Kevin Harvick to take his first Nascar Sprint Cup win of the year on Saturday, as well as his third at the Kansas Speedway. He became the ninth winner of the 2014 season after 11 races. Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Carl Edwards, Danica Patrick and Aric Almirola completed the top eight.

7. Huge wreck in Kansas

A spinning AJ Allmendinger clipped the back of Justin Allgaier during last weekend’s Nascar Sprint Cup race, which then sent the HScott Motorsports driver into David Gilliland. Both suffered violent hits with the wall. Fortunately both were okay after the crash.

Touching the barrier at turn three set Jamie McMurray’s car on fire, as you can see from the above video. Fortunately he was able to escape - with a bit of help - unhurt.

8. Rain stops racing in Slovakia

Image source: WTCC

The World Touring Car Championship travelled to Slovakia for the fourth round of the year. Heavy rain meant conditions were extremely tricky in race one, with Sebastien Loeb winning it after a strong start from second on the grid.

Due to the weather, the safety car emerged on lap seven and the race was red flagged not long after. José María López made it a Citroen 1-2 in second, with Norbert Michelisz in third. With more rain falling, race two was eventually cancelled.

9. Rolling at Pau

The notorious Pau street circuit hosted the third round of the FIA European Formula 3 championship. The tricky track was the scene of a huge crash for Alexander Toril in the first race after contact with Mitchell Gilbert. Esteban Ocon, Tom Blomqvist and Felix Rosenqvist won the three races.

10. Latvala wins in Argentina

Image source: WRC

VW driver Jari-Matti Latvala won the Rally Argentina (his 10th WRC victory) by just under one and a half minutes from Sébastien Ogier. The two drivers swapped the lead on several occasions on Friday before Latvala edged clear. Kris Meeke made up for crashes in Mexico and Portugal to finish third.