The racing weekend that was - Wk 46 - UPDATED

NHRA at Pomona, California:
What a final race to the NHRA 2014 season, with championships on the line and that of the Pro Stock category going down to the wire. To watch the race recap, click here.

In Top Fuel, Morgan Lucas took home his second victory this season and his 11th of his career by posting two of the top three quickest runs in category history. In the final round he bested newly crowned Top Fuel World Champion Tony Schumacher, who clinched a record eight championship at the end of qualifying on Saturday.

In Funny Car, a thriller showdown between Matt Hagan and 16 time world champion John Force, who were on opposite sides of the ladder, would go mano-a-mano all day long, Force would have an uphill battle though. First, in an uncharacteristic mistake his crew fired up the engine during a routine warm up without any engine oil. Then, Alexis DeJoria, who had run strong all day, tried to play the role of spoiler in the semis but ended up smoking the tires. And even though Force won that round, he did not set a backup record to earn him the necessary points to stay in contention for the championship, which went to Matt Hagan.

With the title lost, Force tried to win the race and deprive Hagan of the icing on the cake. And though Force seemed poised to win the finals, towards the finish he lost power leaving Hagan (pictured on the right) to blow by him and take the Wally. All in all, John Force put up a hell of a fight, as he usually does.

Worth notable mention, Tommy Johnson Jr. won a drag race by the closest margin of victory in Funny Car history, a mere .0001 second or 1 inch/ 2.5 cm.

In Pro Stock, the lady and gentlemen drivers of this category put up an epic battle on Sunday. The title contenders Erica Enders-Stevens and Jason Line, on separate sides of the ladder, kept going round after round. Though Line was mowing down the tree, Erica was running consistently in the 49's, which was faster than anyone else. One major hurdle for Line came when he had to face Dave Connolly, who's moving next year to Top Fuel. But Line managed to dispose of Connolly is commanding fashion. In a script ending that could not have been written better by Hollywood, Erica and Line would meet in the final round of the race. Line knew he had to cut a great light for Erica had the horsepower to beat him. What nobody foresaw was that both would red light. Unfortunately, Line moved first giving the win light (of the race) and with it the Pro Stock World Championship to Erica Enders-Stevens.

This marks the first time a woman has taken the Pro Stock championship.

Another notable mention, in the semi's between Erica and Jonathan Gray, both drivers had a reaction time of .000!!! Something that has never happened before, as far as I know. Incredible day of racing.


In Pro Stock bike, in what would become Adam Arana's last race as he will be joining the U.S. Coast Guard next year, his older brother maintained his families name in good standing. Hector Arana Jr. on his Buell outran newly crowned Pro Stock Motorcycle world champion Andres Hines, to take home the Wally.

Andrew Hines clinched his fourth Pro Stock Motorcycle world championship, his first since 2006, after his first round win over Angie Smith. Hines won a total of 6 races on his Screamin' Eagle Vance and Hines Harley-Davidson. Of course, the H-D high brass were on hand to enjoy the moment.

The 2015 season begins Feb 5-7 at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Calif.

Update:
Below a picture of the stats of the Pro Stock drag race between Enders-Stevens and J. Gray. Just mind blowing for both drivers to get the perfect light. Thanks to MVM Motorsports for sharing.

Of course, when your daughter breaks down the barrier what happened in the photograph is understandable. Erica's mom jumps into the arms of her husband. Note the margin of error for both drivers!! Jason Line was way soon but Erica was pretty damn close to a perfect light..

NASCAR at Homestead, Florida:
One can imagine with all the rule changes in Nascar that the season finale would be intense. The race at Homestead saw for the greater part of the 400 mile race, the four remaining championship contenders running close together. These were Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Joey Logano. Unfortunately, the latter had some bad luck, first with a lug nut issue and later when his car slipped off the jack, leaving him outside of the running towards the end of the race.

As is often the case in Nascar racing, tire strategy played a critical role in deciding who would challenge for the lead at the white line. At what would be the final restart of the race, Hamlin opted not to come into the pits for tires (2 or 4). Newman came in and took only two tires, while Harvick took four tires which put him in twelfth position. However, now with fresh new rubber he was able to cut through the field like a knife through butter and crossed the line just half a second ahead of Newman. What a race to the finish line it was!

2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Kevin Harvick

"It didn't pan out real well there to be honest with you," Harvick admitted. "But that was the call that won us the race. We were able to go so hard on the restarts. [Crew chief] Rodney Childers isn't scared to make a call - he does what is right, and right or wrong we had to believe in what he did and kept going with it."

The top five of the race:
1. Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing
2. Ryan Newman, Richard Childres Racing
3. Brad Keselowski, Team Penske
4. Paul Menard, Richard childres Racing
5. Jamie McMurray, Chip Ganassi.....

Pole sitter Jeff Gordon finished in tenth after he decided to pit while running in second place after an accident brought out the yellow on lap 255.


More on the meaning of Erica's win on a later date.

Photo credit: Getty Images/kshb.com, NHRA, Mark J. Rebilas,

The racing weekend that was

In Formula One, at Sepang, Malaysia:

In only the second race of the season, the Formula One racing series is already engulfed in controversy.

Webber leading Vettel

Sebastian Vettel (RBR) who started from pole, fell back to second following the first round of pit stops, and trailed Mark Webber (RBR) until the late stages of the race, when he went mano-a-mano with his teammate Mark Webber. And even though team orders required Vettel to hold position, P2 that is, in a move that shows his total disregard for team orders he passed his teammate to take his 27th Grand Prix win, equaling three-time champion Jackie Stewart in the all-time list.

In a race which had many complaints about tire wear two teams stood out, and both had team orders passed out to its drivers. Interestingly enough, some listen better than others. For RBR instruction or code "multi21" means for its drivers to turn down their engines and hold station, which Vettel did not do.
As for the Mercedes, P4 driver Nico Rosberg tried in vain to get his team to let him pass his teammate Lewis Hamilton, driving in third place but at a much slower pace.
I guess the lesson to be learned here is that when you are a multiple world champion you don't have to follow rules.

Below I've posted an interview with RBR team principal.

And then, there is this story on Jalopnik, by Raphael Orlove, titled: An In-Depth Analysis of F1's Most Awkward/Amazing Podium. A must read for F1 enthusiasts. To view it click here.

Race results:

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull_Renault,

2. Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault,

3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-Mercedes,



Fastest lap: Sergio Perez, McLaren-Mercedes 1m 39.199s

Alonso drives with a damaged front wing

F1 Drivers' Championship (2 of 19):
1st. Sebastian Vettel 40 points, 2nd. Kimi Raikkonen 31 points, 3rd. Mark Webber 26 points, 4th. Lewis Hamilton 25 points, and in 5th. Felipe Massa 22 points.

The Spaniard Fernando Alonso explained that he was "very unlucky" to have to retire from the race, after contact with Sebastian Vettel on the first. The incident caused him to lose his front wing, when the Scuderia gambled on leaving him out instead of bringing him into the pits for a nose change.

In NASCAR, at Fontana, California:
For those of you who followed NASCAR during the past week, you know that what happened during the race could have been scripted in Hollywood, which is a stone's throw away from the track.

The intense rivalry between Joe Logano and Denny Hamlin which started in the previous race, two weekends ago, continued without missing a beat. The two cars were so evenly matched they were running close the entire race. On the final lap, it appeared as if Logano opted to settle scores rather than take the win, even telling reporters afterwards: "That's what he gets."

Below a short video on the final lap and the above mentioned race incident.

The eventual race winner, Kyle Busch, had won the Nationwide race the night before, and had started the Auto Club 400 race from fourth. Even so he lead the race for more than 125 laps (out of 200) and was running in third as the Logano-Hamlin duo fought it out for first. Eventually he got the sweep as he swept in front and won the race on the last lap. With this win, he breaks a 31-race winless streak stretching back to Richmond in April 2012.

Race results:
1. Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing), 2. Dale Earnhardt Jr, (Hendrick Motorsports), 3. Joey Logano (Penske Racing), 4. Carl Edwards (Roush Fenway Racing), 5. Kurt Busch (Furniture Row Racing).

With Dale Earnhardt's second place finish he is now in the lead of the championship point standings, followed by Brad Keselowski, and Jimmie Johnson.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Formula One, Crash.net, NASCAR, Wikipedia

Photo credit: Totally Cool Pic.com

The racing weekend that was

Formula One, under the lights, in Singapore:

Awesome Singapore skyline

One of the most anticipated events on the F1 race calendar is the Marina Bay Street Circuit. It is a track in which most of the corners kinda look alike, and as such, is considered difficult to learn for rookies. However, the glittering city skyline makes it all worth it.

In a race which Lewis Hamilton looked to have securely in the bag and Pastor Maldonado a podium finish for sure, well, it all changed for the worse. Around lap 22, as Hamilton's lead was 1.5 seconds ahead of Vettel and Button, the Brit lost all gears coming out of turn one. The onboard camera captured his right finger feverishly clicking away at the paddle-shifter trying to find a gear, but to no avail. The radio communication affirmed that the McLaren had gearbox issues on Saturday and the crew had done their best to remedy the situation.

Alonso maintains title lead

As Vettel inherited the lead, the Venezolean Maldonado started to put the heat on second place Jenson Button. However, in fourth was the Spaniard Alonso who after getting new tires started putting pressure of Maldonado, who at this point wasn't lapping as fast as the Ferrari No 1 driver. Around lap 34, a hydraulic failure was detected with the Williams car and Maldonado was ordered to bring the car into the pits and consequently had to retire. The fans love it, and the concerts are great too!

Schumacher crashes into Vergne

Micheal Schumacher plowed into the back of Vergne who was determined to get passed the struggles Sergio Perez. The two's fight had slowed their approach into a right hander, however, Schumi was oblivious to this and could not slow the Mercedes enough to avoid the collision. He would later be penalized by the race stewards. Vergne was also sidelined by the collision.

Overview of the track

In the end, Sebastion Vettel secured the win, followed by Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.
Vettel dedicated his win to the memory of Prof Sid Watkins.

The championship top five: 1. Alonso 194 points, 2. Vettel 165, 3. Raikkonen 149, 4. Hamilton 142,
5. Webber 132.
For some great pictures of this race, please click here.

The next race will be the Japanese GP on October 7. For more info, please click here.


NASCAR, at New Hampshire:

Hamlin celebrating his win

Denny Hamlin's luck turned this time around as he vowed to win the race. In the last race, at Chicagoland, he had run out of fuel whilst in the lead.

Hamlin had started 32nd due to a mistake with tire pressures during Firday's time trials. However, by the 100th lap he took the race lead.

The top five race results: 1. Denny Hamlin, 2. Jimmie Johnson, 3. Jeff Gordon, 4. Clint Bowyer, 5. Kasey Khane.

The next race will be run at Dover on September 30. For more info, please click here.


NHRA will follow tomorrow.

Thanks for reading

Source: Crash.net, Formula One, NASCAR.
Photo credit: Luxury Insider, eMercedes.com, Jerome Cijntje

The racing weekend that was

MotoGP, the Italian GP at Mugello:

Mugello Areal photo

On Saturday, Dani Pedrosa riding his Repsol Honda took provisional pole position at Mugello with a 1 min 47.284 sec on his last lap. However, not to be out-qualified, Jorge Lorenzo (Factory Yamaha) was aiming to take pole away from Pedrosa when an "apparent" electronic problem cut-out the engine at the very final corner and the fellow Spaniard had to settle for second. Third on the grid and flying the home crowd colours was Hector Barbera aboard the Pramac Ducati.

Jorge Lorenzo (Spain)

It was a different story on Sunday though, as Jorge Lorenzo put the hammer down and broke clear of Dani Pedrosa, as he sliced under pole man Pedrosa at the apex of turn one. After hanging on to Lorenzo for the first half of the race, his searing pace was too high for a "worried" Pedrosa, who slowly slipped back. As the checkered waved, Lorenzo was 5.223 seconds clear of second place finisher Pedrosa.

Casey Stoner's hopes of retaining his World Championship crown have suffered another set-back [last week he crashed out of the race] when they made a costly mistake by opting to run the "special" harder tires. From the very get-go Yamaha rider was running towards the back of the chasing pack but an error on lap ten saw him drop further to tenth. He would finish in eight place.

Valentino Rossi was one second away from a podium finish, while Andrea Dovizioso completed a hat trick with his third straight podium finish. For more race results, please click here.

Lorenzo's fifth win of the season puts him 19-points clear of nearest rival Pedrosa and 37-points ahead of reigning champion Casey Stoner, at the season's midway point.

So, the cat and mouse game continues on July 29 for the Red Bull US GP, at Laguna Seca, one of America's legendary tracks. For more info, please click here. To watch a one-minute video by MotoGP of last year's race, at Laguna Seca, please click here.


NASCAR, at Louden, New Hampshire:
It would be a dramatic finish to the LENOX Industrial Tool 301 race as the with 65 laps to go to the end of the race, a miscommunication pushed the race leader Denny Hamlin back to 13th place.

NASCAR has a short video on the final laps of the race. Please click here to watch it.

The pit stop that cost Hamlin the race

Denny Hamlin dug deep and raced hard to try and catch Kasey Kahne, who inherited the lead due to Hamlin's pit stop miscue. He had wanted 2 tires changed [right side only] but his crew chief Darian Grubb somehow understood a four tire change which cost them precious time. In the end, he passed 11 out of 12 cars in the final 65 laps but he didn't have enough time to catch up to and pass race leader Kasey Kahne, who ended up winning the race.

Race results:
1. Kasey Kahne, 2. Denny Hamlin, 3. Clint Bowyer, 4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. , 5. Brad Keselowski

The next event is the Crown Royal race at Indy. For more info, please click here.

Thanks for reading.

Source: MotoGP, Crash.net, Wikipedia, NASCAR.
Photo credit: MotoGP, Getty Images.

The racing weekend that was-UPDATED

NHRA, at Route 66, Chicago:
The heat proved to be a very hot challenge for the crew chiefs on Friday. And then come Sunday, the race had to be delayed due to rain. All in all, a difficult race for both tuners and racers.

In Top Fuel, Antron Brown beat steve Torrence when he red lighted at the start. This is the second victory for Brown in his Matco Tools sponsored dragster.

In Funny Car, Jeff Arend defeated the 24-year-old Courtney Force (rookie), who made it all the way to the final. She did a great job, even though her 4.454 could not best the 4.131 of Arend. To get to the final, Arend defeated Tony Pedregon, Tim Wilkerson and Jack Beckman, all very good drivers.

In Pro Stock, Erica Enders became the first woman ever to win, and it came on the back of the man who didn't want to go down in history as "that guy", four-time world champion Greg Anderson. She drove a marvelous race and was sure not to let history repeat itself. Her GK Motorsports Chevy Cobalt muscled her way into the lead and won off Anderson with a 6.627 at 207.4 mph. A shout out to her crew chief, Dave Connolly, who is a great pro stock driver as well.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Three-time world champ Matt Hines claimed his second win of the season when he defeated L.E. Tonglet, who red lighted. Hines' Screaming Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson won over Scotty Pollacheck, Chip Ellis and Hector Arana Jr. to reach the finals.

Check again soon for an extensive piece of Erica winning in Pro Stock.

The next race will be on July 8, at the Summit Motorsports Park, in Norwalk, Ohio. For more info, please click here.


MotoGP, at Assen:
Last weekend the fastest riders met up at the TT Circuit Assen, in Holland. The track was built in 1955 and is considered "The Cathedral" of motorcycling by the fans.

Lorenzo (R) was furious after the incident

Heading into the first corner Alvaro Bautista (P8) attacked hard and way too early into the race. Bautista lunged for the inside at turn one, fell when he lost the front of his Gresini Honda and then wiped out the unsuspecting third on the grid Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha factory) ahead of him. Both out of the race, Lorenzo was left with a "big bruise" on his leg and lost the lead of the championship.

At the restart of the race, the first and second on the grid machines of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa seemed to be in a class of their own. Both Yamaha riders pulled away from the pack and the still sore Stoner (from a crash in Friday's practice) calmly put a move on Pedrosa with ten laps to go.

At the checkered flag it was Casey Stoner (Australia), trailed by Dani Pedrosa (Spain) and Andrea Dovizioso riding for Monster Yamaha Tech 3, who passed Ben Spies on the last lap.

Now, the championship is heating up with Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo in a tie. For more info about this race, please click here.

The next race will be the Eni Motorad GP in Germany, on July 8 next. For more info, please click here.


NASCAR, at the Kentucky Speedway:
The Quaker State 400 would prove to be a highly contested race. The heat was on from the practice sessions on Friday, with Juan Pablo Montoya and Brad Keselowski getting into clash that saw Keselowski end up in the wall with his primary car. They were supposed to be practicing, not racing. Pole position went to Jimmie Johnson, his first since 2010.

Keselowski's Penske team battled 100 degrees heat to prepare his back-up car for the race on Saturday night. And the fact that their driver was a bit ticked off, meant that he'd be pushing even harder, which he did. There were the usual wrecks and periods of trying to save fuel.

The video below shows the finish and some close racing:

In the end, Brad Keselowski took the checkered flag, his third this year, followed by Kasey Kahne (2), Denny Hamlin (3), Dale Earnhardt Jr (4), and Jeff Gordon (5). For the entire race recap, please click here.

The next race is at Daytona, the Coke Zero 400, on July 7. For more info, please click here.


Thanks for reading.

Source: NHRA, Crash.net, MotoGP, Wikipedia, NARCAR/Youtube
Photo credit: Courtney Enders/Facebook, Crash.net

The Racing Weekend that was, #21 - updated

Formula 1, at Monaco:

The Grimaldi's hosted this past weekend the Monaco Grand Prix. Widely considered the most important and prestigious race of the year, it was run through the streets of the principality for the seventieth time.
The crown jewel in F1 racing was nurtured and looked after by Prince Rainier III, and since 2005 by his son, Prince Albert II (left in photo).
The principality of Monaco, a sovereign state since the signing of the Franco-Monegasque treaty in 1861, is located on the French Riviera and encompasses an area of just 1.98 km2 (0,76 sq mi) and has a population of about 36.000. Furthermore, it has the world's highest life expectancy at almost 90 years, and the lowest unemployment rate at 0%!

Grosjean forcing Schumi out

All right, back to the future. Michael Schumacher was gunning for the podium but his race was offered a setback before they got to the first corner, as a barrier seem to jump out in front of him. Ok. Romain Grosjean helped him a great deal, in a first corner accident that saw the Frenchman drop out of the race.

As I mentioned in Friday's blog, there had been five different winners up to Monaco. And now there are six.

Mark Webber set a new F1 record by becoming the sixth different winner in as many races.

Mark Webber tastes victory in RB8

Having inherited the pole from Schumi (due to Bruno Senna incident), he led from start to finish and only slowed down a bit when a light rain set in during the closing stages of the race. However, as the street circuit is a bit tight and passing most difficult, there weren't that many passing maneuvers attempted. Hence, the Aussie was followed the entire race by Nico Rosberg in his Mercedes and Fernando Alonso, driving for Ferrari. This formed the podium as well. All in all, a pretty uneventful race.

Below a video of the incident with Romain Grosjean and Schumi. The video has no audio.


Grosjean's first corner mishap caused him to spin in front of the field. As drivers ahead took avoiding maneuvers, Pastor Maldonado went from hero to zero when he ran into the rear of Pedro de la Rosa's HRT. In the end, Schumi was forced to stop due to mechanical issues. Kimi Raikkonnen said he couldn't have done better than ninth, and for the first time in three races, he would not be on the podium.

Fernando Alonso leaves Monaco in the lead of the championship standings. The next race is the Canadian GP on June 08-10 next. For more info, please click here.

If you ever get a chance to visit the principality, you will be pleasantly rewarded by going. It is not very busy and each stroll brings new discoveries, as can be seen in the picture to the right, A statue to the legendary racer Juan Manuel Fangio. If you can make it for the Grand Prix, even better. We might even run into each other.
For more information about Monaco, please click here.


WRC, at the Acropolis:

The Acropolis Rally of Greece was dominated by Citroen's Sebastien Loeb, who even had time to stop and change a flat tire on Sunday. This was his third win in Greece and his fourth win of the season. Here is a link to some footage of Loeb's race from the air.

On Friday, Ford's Latvalla was leading but when he overshot a junction in SS4, Loeb moved into the lead and ended the first day with a 6.5 second advantage.

Solberg on the attack, Day 1

On Saturday, Loeb came under pressure form Latvala and the Finn cut the Ford's lead to just 2.2 seconds. However, Latvala hit a bank which gave him a puncture and caused him three minutes and dropped him to fourth place. At this time his teammate, the Norwegian Petter Solberg (aka Hollywood) took the fight to Loeb and in torrential rain he won the final three stages and reduced the gap to Loeb from 21.9 seconds to just 10.2. It would be a tough race the following day.

On Sunday, Petter Solberg pushed hard again to try and maintain Saturday's pressure on Loeb, however around 13 km into the first stage, he hit a tree and ripped off the left-rear wheel, which caused them to drop out of the race in SS18. Mikko Hirvonen in the second Citroen put in a solid performance to secure second place, however, he wasn't very happy with his place.

Loeb en route to his 3rd Greek rally

To watch the highlights of round six of the WRC, the Greek rally, please click here.

Loeb extends his lead in the championships; the final results of the race: 1. Sebastien Loeb (Citroen Total), 2. Mikko Hirvonen (Citroen Total), 3. Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford WRT) Fiesta

The next stop on the WRC calendar is the Brother Rally of New Zealand, on June 22-24 next. For more info, click here.


NASCAR, at Charlotte for the 600:
"In his first Coca-Cola 600, Aric Almirola experienced the thrill of leading the field to the green flag in one of NASCAR's biggest events..," was the opening of Nascars' race recap. The man driving for legendary racer Richard Petty, of RPM, would finish the race in sixteenth place and two laps down. His teammate was forced to the garage with a right-front wheel hub burned up. Such is the brutality of 600 miles of hard racing, Nascar style.

Kahne being congratulated by Hendrick

After 400 laps, it was Kasey Kahne who would come out on top, as he scored his third 600 win, his first at Rick Hendrick. Kahne beat runner-up Denny Hamlin by 4.295 seconds. Kyle Busch ran third, followed by Greg Biffle, Brad Keselowski, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Crews tried to match their car's performance and handling to the ever changing track conditions, as the long race starts during daylight but ends under the lights. The tracks cooled off a great deal, which often makes the cars freer, and for some drivers like Denny Hamlin, the cars got better.

A caution on lap 319 for debris in turn 3 briefly interrupted the best racing of the night, which saw Biffle and Kahne repeatedly swap the lead, but with no clear dominant leader. As Kahne and the other 7 lead cars pitted, Hamlin and Earnhardt stayed out. This strategy proved costly, as Kahne blew by the two just 7 laps after the restart.

Johnson pit incident, fuel man walks back

A late in the race pit-road miscue proved costly for front runner Jimmie Johnson. He was somehow released to soon as the jackman dropped him he drove off. However, the fuelman was still busy with his delivery and was dragged and dropped by Johnson as he sped away. He would return fo a stop-and-go penalty under green, which put him a lap down and left Kahne and Hamlin to decide the race. See the costly mistake at minute mark 9:25 on the race rewind video.

At the finish line Kahne proved to strong for Hamlin. For a race rewind video, please click here.

The next race on the Nascar race calendar with be the FedEx 400, at Dover, on June 3 next. For more info, please click here.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Crash.net, WRC, FIA, NASCAR.

Photo credit: Rally Sport Live, Massimo Bettiol/Getty Images Europe,

The weekend that was

In Formula One:
Despite a lot of turmoil surrounding the GP of Bahrain, the lights went out as scheduled and the race started without a hitch. Even more, the race was so exciting that ring master Bernie Ecclestone said that Bahrain can have F1 forever!

A Lotus making a move on Red Bull?

As for the race itself, Vettel started from the pole and kept everyone at bay to win the race in commanding fashion. There were many surprises during the race, but I think Lotus' performance stood out. Around the middle of the race Kimi Raikonnen even tried to pass Vettel for the lead but came a few inches short of pulling the upset of the race.  The "Iceman" would eventually have to settle for second place while teammate Romain Grosjean completed the podium in third place for Lotus Renault.

Kimi in his own words form Bahrain:



Welcome back Kimi, after just four races a podium finish.

Race highlights: last race winner Rosberg raises eyebrows as pushes several drivers of the track and escaped penalties, Williams and Marussia retirements, Jensen Button undone by poor pace and puncture, Hamilton fumes at pit stop failures, Paul di Resta jubilant with "massive" sixth place, and Ferrari finishing a minute behind the race winner but both drivers earn points.

Next, the F1 circus will head to Catalunya for the Spanish GP on 11-13 May.

In NASCAR:

Hamlin leading Truex, both in Toyota's

The STP 400 was run in Kansas last Sunday in changing track conditions. Denny Hamlin held off race favourite Martin Truex Jr. for the final 30 laps to win the race and his second victory of the season. Even though Truex had led for 173 laps, he could not keep up to the changing track conditions, which had made his car "wrecking loose". He was fast when it was cloudy but towards the end of the race, when the sun came out so did eventual race winner Hamlin, as he powered by Truex.

Jimmie Johnson finished in third place, with Roush Fenway Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle rounding up the top five.

The trucks took to the track on Saturday afternoon for the nascar Camping World Truck Series race on the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway. James Buescher (Chevrolet) led for over two thirds of the race and won comfortably with a five second lead over championship leader Timothy Peters (Toyota). Brad Keselowski, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Todd Bodine rounded up the top five.

In drag racing, ADRL:
The ADRL made a successful debut at Bristol Dragway, aka Thunder Valley.
In Pro Extreme, Jason Scruggs took the title as he ran a 3.675 at 205.72 mph to beat Tommy D'Aprile in the finals.

more to come soon.

Thanks for reading.

Source: Sky Sports, Nascar, ADRL

Photo credit: auto-motor-und-sport.de, Autostock