12 Things You Might Have Missed From The Weekend’s Motorsport Action

One of the big talking points after the F1 Spanish Grand Prix was a clash between Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jr on the penultimate lap. After contact, Sainz Jr cut the corner and kept the position, but the FIA stewards deemed it to be a racing incident and said Sainz Jr was ahead at the corner entry.

A Lotus F1 Team crew member took a front jack to the groin and suffered torn ankle ligaments after Romain Grosjean overshot his pit box during the Spanish Grand Prix. Ouch! Meanwhile Fernando Alonso’s brake failure, which also caused him to overshoot his box, was thanks to a visor tear-off.

Grosjean didn’t have a particularly straight-forward weekend. In practice, his engine cover flew off.

IndyCar was also in action on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. The first corner proved to be manic, with several cars making contact, spinning out and losing valuable aero.

Will Power made it five different winners from the first five IndyCar races, dominating the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He led 65 of the 82 laps, finishing 1.5 seconds clear of Graham Rahal. Juan Pablo Montoya retained his lead in the championship with third place.

Qualifying for the British Touring Car Championship’s Thruxton round was red flagged after a heavy accident for Simon Belcher and Mike Bushell at the pit exit, with both being pitched into the barrier. Belcher was okay but Bushell was taken to hospital with severe ligament damage.

6. BTCC tackles Thruxton

The BTCC was at the insanely fast Thruxton track for round four of the 2015 season. It was packed full of action, with Gordon Shedden leading home a Honda 1-2 in race one, Jason Plato winning a dramatic battle with Rob Collard in race two and Adam Morgan producing a stunning drive to take victory in race three.

Kieran Gallagher continues to make progress in the Car Throttle-sponsored Toyota Avensis, finishing the races in 24th, 15th and 18th. He’s currently in second place in the Jack Sears Trophy.

Sebastien Buemi became Formula E’s first repeat winner when he secured his second victory of the inaugural 2014/2015 season in Monaco, racing around a shortened version of the F1 track layout.

A huge first lap crash brought out the Safety Car and Buemi came under pressure from Lucas di Grassi until the pit stops. He then pulled out a gap and took a clear win, from di Grassi and Nelson Piquet Jr.

Last weekend was the Nascar Sprint Cup SpongeBob SquarePants 400 (yes, really!), with Jimmie Johnson taking victory after holding off a last-lap charge from Kevin Harvick. Dale Earnheardt Jr was third at the Kansas Speedway.

9. Unique liveries

As it was the SpongeBob SquarePants 400, four cars sported liveries featuring characters from the iconic cartoon. Which is your favourite?

10. Vandoorne and Lynn triumph in GP2

The 2015 GP2 season continued in Barcelona, as a support event for the Spanish Grand Prix. Stoffel Vandoorne is quickly establishing himself as the title favourite, winning the feature race on Saturday. Alex Lynn then scored his first GP2 victory in only his fourth race in Sunday morning’s sprint.

11. Ocon and Kichhofer share GP3 wins

The 2015 GP3 season kicked off in Spain alongside the F1 and GP2. It was a decent start to the year (after a fairly dull 2014), with Esteban Ocon and Marvin Kirchhofer winning the two races – both driving for ART Grand Prix.

The Blancpain GT Series took to the Brands Hatch circuit. Laurens Vanthoor and Robin Frijns dominated both the qualifying and feature races, driving the #1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT.