The Racing weekend that was - Wk 11

F1, at the Australian GP:
The Britton Lewis Hamilton started 2015 like he finished 2014 on the top of the podium with an easy and commanding victory from lights to finish.

Felipe Nasr (Brazil)

Though the first race of the year was contested by only 15 cars, it did give us a glimpse of who did their home work over the off season. Mercedes kept their performance whilst McLaren seem to have taken a step backwards. Ferrari's Vettel fired a shot across the bow of the silver arrows with a strong third finish and believes that they can be reeled in. Let's see. The Williams outfit are pretty fast though Felipe Massa could not hold Vettel beck. The other Felipe, Felipe Nasr, in spite of some internal team issues regarding the drive of Giedo vd Garde, put down his head and drove an exceptional race, keeping none other than Daniel Ricciardo at bay, to finish fifth in his debut race. Dutchman Max Verstappen also had a great debut, at one point racing in fifth place, only to drop out with technical issues while running in eight. Both Lotus' cars would drop out after just the first lap of the race. Pastor Maldonado was hit from behind sending him into the wall while Romain Grosjean developed problems of the starting line.

The top 5:
1. Lewis Hamilton, GBR, Mercedes-Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, GER, Mercedes-Mercedes
3. Sebastian Vettel, GER, Ferrari-Ferrari
4. Felipe Massa, BRZ, Williams-Mercedes
5. Felipe Nasr, BRZ, Sauber-Ferarri

The next F1 race will be the Petronas Malaysia GP on March 27-29.


MotoGP, at the final pre-season testing at Losail, Qatar:
The factory Ducati riders were amongst the fastest on Sunday. The Monday session was canceled due to rain.

The top 5 on the final day of testing:
1. Andrea Dovizioso (Right), ITA , Ducati
2. Marc marquez, ESP, Repsol Honda
3. Andrea Iannone, ITA, Ducati
4. Jorge Lorenzo, ESP, Movistar Yamaha
5. Valentino Rossi, ITA, Movistar Yamaha

The first race of the year will be held on March 26-29 at the Losail Circuit in Qatar.


NHRA, at the Gatornationals:
After witnessing a frightening crash during the first qualifying session on Saturday, in which the Top Fuel car of three time world champion Larry Dixon went airbourne, (to see the video click here) the rest of the competitors went about their business.

Spencer Massey drove his Top Fuel dragster to a holeshot victory over Tony Schumacher. Massey covered the 1,000 ft distance in 3.882 seconds at 320.74 mph.

Ron Capps, driver of the NAPA Auto Parts Funny Car defeated John Hale, which went to his first ever final.

KB Racing's Greg Anderson claimed his 75th career victory when he defeated none other than his teammate Jason Line in the finals of the Pro Stock category. Greg clocked a 6.538 at 213.43 mph.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle it was a women who got the win light and the Wally. Karen Stoffer defeated three-time world champion Eddie Krawic by running a 6.900 at 195.11 on her Suzuki. She's pictured on the right.

The next race will be the 4 Wide Nationals at the zMax facility on March 27-29.


Source: Crash.net, Drag Illustrated.com.
Photo credit: Sports.yahoo.com, Formulapassion.it