The racing weekend that was - updated

MotoGP, Great Brittain:
The gang headed to the 5.9 km long track at Silverstone, which was built in 1948 and last modified in 2011. It has 8 left and 10 right corners, all of which suited Yamaha star Jorge Lorenzo just fine.

At about the mid way point, the Spaniard Lorenzo battled hard with the reigning World Champion Casey Stoner. Grandstands filled with spectators, as well as viewers around the globe, saw the duo race side-by-side for five consecutive corners with Lorenzo coming out on top. After this point he would lead comfortably with only a small scare with just five laps to go.

In the end, Lorenzo which also had the fastest lap at 2'02.888, won easily over Casey Stoner and third place finisher Dani Pedrosa.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Crutchlow

Pole sitter Alvaro Bautista fell of the pace in the closing stages of the race and finished fourth.

A notable feat was accomplished when Cal Crutchlow put aside the pain of an ankle injury (fractured bone) to charge from 20th (last place) to sixth in front of his home fans.

The next race will take place in Holland on June 28 next, at the Iveco TT Assen.


24 Hours of Le Mans:

The Audi vs Toyota teaser pict.

The eightieth running of the big endurance race was set to be the first salvo in a battle between car maker giants Toyota and Audi,  the former being the world's largest car maker and the latter the best in endurance racing.

And boy, did Toyota bring the fight to Audi. Nevertheless, as was the case in Formula One, Toyota got beat badly, partly due to bad luck.

The winning Audi and drivers

A historic win for Audi as their R18 E-Tron Quatro's 1-2 finish was the first hybrid to win the prestigious endurance race. The light-weight Audi Ultra finished in third. Audi has won this event 11 out of the last 13 events.

A statement by the Chairman of Audi read: "By achieving this further success at he world's most important endurance race our engineers demonstrated their high technological expertise in a particular impressive way".
For more info on the Audi Hybrid, please click here.

A terrible crash occurred at about the sixth hour when Anthony Davidson, in the Toyota TS030 Hybrid (#8), was overtaking the AF Corse Ferrari GTE Am (#81) as they approached the Mulsanne Corner. Piergiuseppe Perazzini, the Ferrari driver, didn't see the Toyota and turned into the apex and collided with it, sending the Hybrid flying through the air and into the crash barrier. Davidson suffered a broken back but is doing well recuperating in a nearby hospital. For the detailed story of the accident, please click here.

Below a short video about the racing accident.



For detailed information about the race, please click here.

Nascar, at Michigan:
The Quicken Loans 400 was run last Sunday at the Michigan Int'l Speedway. With speeds surpassing 200 mph on the newly paved track, drivers were looking forward to the fast race.

As any Nascar follower would know, Junior [Dake Earnhardt Jr] has been on a winless streak since June 2008. And as he lead 95 of the 200 laps he must have wondered what would go wrong this time.

As he pulled away from defending series champion Tony Steward on the final laps he must have hoped the car would hold together. And it did.

"I know you guys have been waiting on that one," Earnhardt radioed to his crew after crossing the finish line. "I know I have."

Race results: 1. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2. Tony Stewart, 3. Matt Kenseth, 4. Greg Bifffle, 5. jimmie Johnson.

Fore more info on the race, please click here.

Next race: Sonoma this Sunday


Sad news from the Targa Florio:
The 96th running of the famed 105-mile Targa Florio Rally, part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge was cut short due to a racing accident in Northern Sicily that claimed the life of a Welsh navigator.
Gareth Roberts was teamed Saturday with Irish driver Craig Breen in the second stage of the rally when their Peugeut 207 went off the road and hit a guard rail. Nearby emergency crews responded immediately to the freak accident but Roberts had died instantly. Diver Breen was unhurt.

Le Mans update:
The most radical designed entry in more than fifty years was the Nissan DeltaWing, driven by Satoshi Motoyama. Unfortunately is was involved in an accident caused by the front runners who were battling for position. The Toyota hybrid of ex-formula driver Kazuki Nakajima did not see the DeltaWing and gave it a sideswipe in the Porsche Curves.
Heart rending attempts fail to re-inject life into the ground breaking DeltaWing, ending the car's assault on the race but prompting many of the fans to cheer the driver for his valiant efforts to fix the car enough so it could get to the pit. Only the driver may work on his car when not in the pits, otherwise it will be disqualified.
Below a short video of the accident and Motoyama's valiant efforts under his crew's guidance. This is the spirit of Le Mans at its best!

Thanks for reading.

Source: Fox Sports, MotoGP, Crash.net, Jalopnik, Huff Post.
Photo credit: MotoGP, Audi, The Sun, Nascar.