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Atlas F1 Magazine Writers
Advice: The points tables for most series covered by Elsewhere In Racing are available here. Individual series are linked to their corresponding points table after each report.
Hot Rice
At the start it did not seem Rice would be as competitive, but qualifying on ovals is never as indicative as in other disciplines of motorsport. Nevertheless, Kanaan was on the pole and Rice would start sixth alongside teammate Vitor Meira, behind Kosuke Matsuura who was an excellent second fastest, the first front row for the Japanese driver, a resurgent reigning champion Scott Dixon and dual IRL champ Sam Hornish Jr.
Kanaan led the field away at the second attempt at a start while his teammate Dan Wheldon was quickly up to fourth place and putting pressure on third placed Hornish. Rice was quickly ahead of both and took Matsuura for second before starting to chase down Kanaan. Tomas Scheckter was also on the move in the early stages and the lead pack jockeyed for position. The South African moved into second before the pitstops began, with Matsuura first to stop.
The stops began under green flag conditions until a pit lane collision between Scheckter and Tora Takagi ended with Scheckter into the pit wall, amongst his own pit crew, hitting fueler Steve Namisnak. Shortly afterwards the yellows were shown for debris.
At the restart AGR cars were first (Kanaan), second (Wheldon) and fourth (Bryan Herta) with Darren Manning sitting third. Once back into the race, Rice was pushing forward again and was into second 15 laps after the restart. After the second round of pitstops, Rice resumed second behind Kanaan and the battle was now between two.
Some cars gambled and stayed out, some pitted later in the yellow, but at the restart the leaders were down the pack and Darren Manning led the field away but Kanaan was sitting third and was past both Hornish and Manning before turn one. As with earlier in the race, Rice worked his way forward and by three quarter distance was on Kanaan's tail once more. Five laps later the yellows were out again as Tomas Scheckter's dreadful season continued. With the scorching hot pace and spacing of the yellow flag periods the race was becoming a real gamble on fuel, and the South African had pushed one lap too far and run out. To the relief of all this gave a yellow to make a last fuel stop but the pit lane chaos continued as Fernandez spun in pit lane, hitting his own employees, Matsuura's pit crew.
At the final restart Kanaan led Rice with four cars breathing down their necks. Fuel mileage would be marginal but with so many cars jockeying around the lead there would be no choice but to push. Kosuke Matsuura was a victim in the final charge, stopping to replace a broken nosecone with just over ten laps to go and plunged down the order. A lap later Rice made his move, pushing up around Kanaan's outside. With the white flag for the final lap beckoning, Kanaan pushed up alongside and was just five hundredths behind under the tower. Side by side around the final lap Rice held out the Brazilian to win by seven hundredths of a second.
A week earlier Dario Franchitti made a long awaited return to the winner's circle, the man who tied for the 1999 Champ Car Crown with Juan Pablo Montoya only to lose it on a countback, as he took his debut IRL victory at The Milwaukee Mile after missing most of the 2003 season after a motorcycle accident in Scotland.
The field was bunched up late in the race after Jaques Lazier hit the turn two wall. Franchitti was able to pull out a relatively comfortable half second lead over the final dash with Buddy Rice home in second. Third was Sam Hornish Jr having only lost the spot to Rice shortly before Lazier's accident. Ten seconds back from the win, Tony Kanaan racked up more points with a fourth place finish, chased home by Vitor Meira, with Townsend Bell and Alex Barron also finishing tightly together on the lead lap. The only other accident in the race saw a mechanical failure pitch Darren Manning into the wall while Dan Wheldon had his championship hopes dented with a 19th place but classified DNF.
56 points separate Kanaan and Rice with six races to go. As long as Kanaan keeps compiling top five finishes it should be enough to become champion. But one early race collision for Kanaan, and Rice will be breathing down his neck. Dan Wheldon is now almost 90 points from his Brazilian teammate and is starting to look long odds while the rest aren't in the hunt. New Zealander Scott Dixon is over 170 points behind in ninth place, his championship defence effectively over.
Result of Indy Racing League, Round 9 of 16, Menards A.J. Foyt Indy 225, The Milwaukee Mile, Wisconsin, United States:
Result of Indy Racing League, Round 10 of 16, Michigan Indy 400, Michigan International Speedway, Michigan, United States:
Standings:Tony Kanaan 399, Buddy Rice 343, Dan Wheldon 310, Helio Castroneves 279, Sam Hornish Jr 267, Dario Franchitti 238, Vitor Meira 230, Bryan Herta 227, Scott Dixon 226, Darren Manning 216, etc.
Johnson Repeats
Casey Mears and Joe Nemechek lined up on the front row, Mears taking the lead at the start but Nemechek was leading before the lap was over, leading until the green flag stops around laps 30 to 33. After these stops were over Kurt Busch was the new leader just aead of Jeff Gordon, with Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson and Nemechek completing the top five. Lap 35 saw Gordon take over the lead as his teammate Johnson moved up to second soon after, taking the lead from Gordon on lap 42. The first caution of the day came out on lap 52 when a flat tyre caused Scott Wimmer to spin at the tunnel turn.
In came the field for stops, Johnson leading Elliott Sadler, Busch, Biffle and Brian Vickers out the other end. Meanwhile Dale Earnhardt Jr's relief driver John Andretti got into the #8, though the car was already a lap down. Back to green on lap 56, Busch moving up to second later that lap as Gordon recovered from a slow pit stop, something that would dog him all day as a chain on the rear suspension had broken and was making changing tyres more difficult than usual. On lap 74 Gordon continued this charge, taking second from Busch. During this run Andretti was black flagged as he was failing to meet the minimum speed, returning to the track soon after.
Racing resumed on lap 104 but it was back to caution on lap 109 when Tony Stewart got loose racing off turn one and spun, Kasey Kahne getting collected along the way. Some cars pitted but the leaders stayed out. Back to green on lap 113, Mears leading Vickers, Mayfield, Johnson and Harvick, Johnson continuing his charge to take the lead on lap 118 just before debris brought out the next caution on lap 121. More strategy twists, Dave Blaney taking the lead as he stayed out, Mayfield and Gordon taking just fuel only to move to second and third with Martin and Ward Burton taking two tyres to complete the top five, Mears in eighth the best placed of those to take four.
Back to green on lap 124, Gordon taking the lead before the lap was over as he rounded up the two cars in front of him, Martin moving up to second a lap later just before Jeff Burton spun in the tunnel turn after being squeezed by Jamie McMurray, Brendan Gaughan hitting the wall in avoidance as the caution came out on lap 128. Most of the field stayed out, just a few cars pitting. Gordon didn't pit but dropped to third as he went to pit and then decided not to, but he had slowed down and the cars of Martin and Ward Burton were now ahead of him, with Mayfield and Johnson behind him to complete the top five as the race restarted on lap 134.
On lap 159 Ward Burton slowed, losing a few places, before regaining speed, but he was soon spinning off turn one when his transmission locked up, bringing out the caution on lap 161. The field pitted, everyone hoping it would be their last stop but not all were confident it would be as it was right on the edge of the fuel window. At the restart on lap 165 Johnson led from Martin, Biffle, Kasey Kahne, who had recovered from the earlier incident with Stewart, and Terry Labonte. Johnson opened a gap at the front as Kahne took third from Biffle on lap 175.
The next caution was soon after on lap 177 when Brian Vickers pushed up the track going through turn one and spun Bobby Labonte, Labonte hitting the wall hard. Most of the field stayed out as this relieved fuel-related pressures. Back to green on lap 181, Johnson again just edging away from Martin, Kahne, Biffle and Labonte, who was passed by Gordon before lap 181 was complete. Martin, Kahne and Biffle battled but they couldn't get close enough to make a pass. Kurt Busch's transmission blew up to bring out the caution once again on lap 194. Back to green on lap 196, a five lap shootout that saw no changes at the front, Jimmie Johnson winning from Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle and Jeff Gordon.
Result of NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 20 of 36, Pocono Raceway, Pennsylvania, United States:
Standings: Jimmie Johnson 3040, Jeff Gordon 2808, Dale Earnhardt Jr 2773, Matt Kenseth 2623, Tony Stewart 2606, Elliott Sadler 2504, Kurt Busch 2481, Ryan Newman 2472, Bobby Labonte 2466, Kevin Harvick 2420 etc.
Paffett's Third
Ekstrom took the lead in qualifying, topping the session to be three tenths clear of Mercedes veteran Bernd Schneider, with Tom Kristensen and Paffett next quickest. Into the superpole session first car out Christian Abt set a quick time that would not be bettered quickly. Martin Tomczyk suffered the ignominy of a lose, dropping six seconds. Seventh car out Paffett stormed around the European Grand Prix venue with 1:23.756 lap time. Last out, Ekstrom fell three tenths short of Paffett to secure the outside front row spot.
Paffett launched well at the start but Ekstrom was slow away and a holeshot start from Peter Dumbreck in fourth saw the Opel driver turn into turn one in second place. Ekstrom quickly put Dumbreck under the blowtorch, taking second before the second lap was completed and the Audi driver started the persuit of Paffett. Albers moved up to attack Dumbreck next with Marcel Fassler next.
First stops were taken as early as the first lap, but the leaders were largely in on lap six, with Fassler leading the race for a single lap. Emanuele Pirro stayed out until lap 20 leading for several laps with Paffett at his heels. Paffett made his second stop the lap before.
The series heads now for Oschersleben with Ekstrom leading Albers by five points. Paffett's win brings him back into title contention as an outsider, with Bernd Schneider a distant best of the rest.
Result of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, Round 6 of 10, Nurburgring, Germany:
Standings: Mattias Ekstrom 47, Christijan Albers 42, Gary Paffett 35, Bernd Schneider 22, Tom Kristensen 17, Martin Tomczyk 15, Jean Alesi 14, Timo Scheider 11, Laurent Aiello 9, Marcel Fassler 7 etc.
Haga Closes In
Noriyuki Haga took two wins at Brands Hatch to close in on the lead of a tightly fought championship race. A series which, in theory at least, should be dominated by the factory Ducatis has seen their riders Regis Laconi and James Toseland sporadically win while at other times struggle with set-up, crash during races or even suffer mechanical problems. A second and a crash (while leading) sees Regis Laconi lead Chris Vermeulen by two points, with double winner Noriyuki Haga four points further back and James Toseland another two points back. Just eight points separate the top four riders with three rounds, six races and 150 points still up for grabs.
Race one saw a close battle at the front between Noriyuki Haga, Regis Laconi and Pierfrancesco Chili, the trio swapping places and the lead between them with Chris Vermeulen just behind them. Chili had just retaken the lead at the start of lap 19 when he had a big off at Surtees, his bike tumbling spectacularly. Now the battle was down to Laconi and Haga, Laconi leading the way into the last lap. Haga dived through at Surtees but Laconi made a stunning move at Dingle Dell to retake the lead, only to run wide on the exit at Stirlings, Haga moving back through to take the lead and the win with Laconi just behind, Steve Martin getting past Vermeulen in the closing laps for third with Troy Corser on the Foggy Petronas bike in fifth.
Race two saw Noriyuki Haga, Regis Laconi, Pierfrancesco Chili, Troy Corser and Chris Vermeulen making a breakaway at the front when James Toseland's bike blew up, laying oil around the circuit. Meanwhile Chili's new teammate Giancarlo De Matteis had crashed at Paddock Hill Bend, one incident or the other bringing out the red flag. Toseland, despite having retired before the red flag (and possibly having caused it), was now back in the race, taking to the restart on his second bike.
His race didn't last long, Toseland and Corser colliding at Druids on the first lap of the restart. From then on the race turned into a battle between Haga, Chili and Laconi. Laconi wrested the lead, only to fall at Graham Hill bend while leading in the closing laps. This moved Chili up to second, right on Haga's tail. On the last lap Chili passed Haga to cross the line first. Unfortunately for Chili aggregate times saw him finish second, Haga taking his second win of the day, with Vermeulen third, Chris Walker scoring another top five for Foggy Petronas in fourth and privateer James Ellison in fifth.
Result of World Superbike Championship, Round 8 of 11, Brands Hatch, Great Britain:
Standings: Regis Laconi 218, Chris Vermeulen 216, Noriyuki Haga 212, James Toseland 210, Pierfrancesco Chili 180, Garry McCoy 155, Steve Martin 135, Leon Haslam 120, Troy Corser 112, Chris Walker 102 etc.
Standings (after 18 of 30 rounds): Yvan Muller 177, James Thompson 174, Anthony Reid 132, Jason Plato 123, Matthew Neal 112 etc.
IRL
Buddy Rice continues to haul in Tony Kanaan's once huge points lead in the Indy Racing League after taking victory at the Michigan Indy 400 at Michigan International Speedway. In a close fought final run to the flag, Kanaan gave up as little ground as he could, finishing just 0.07 of a second behind, and conceding just seven of his 63 point buffer over Rice.
Just past half distance, another debris yellow was shown and the field dashed to the pits for the third stops. Kanaan and Rice led away again at the restart while just back off the restart the pack was getting frisky. On lap 122 Helio Castroneves and Meira clashed, wrecking Castroneves' nosecone and dropping parts on the track. The yellows emerged to clear the pieces of carbon and the field headed pitwards once more. Dario Franchitti stopped but did not re-emerge, his engine broken. Castroneves stopped for a new nosecone, but the drama wasn't over for Meira and he clashed with another car, Adrian Fernandez, in pit lane this time and the Rahal-Letterman GForce spun into the Andretti-Green pit bay, hitting one of Dan Wheldon's crew.
Three seconds back Dan Wheldon was pushed all the way to third, with Hornish and Meira rushing at the line together, just five hundredths between the three cars with Bryan Herta and Scott Dixon at their heels. Townsend Bell was an age back, a whole second back in eighth.
Pos Driver Team
1. Dario Franchitti Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
2. Buddy Rice Rahal-Letterman Racing GForce-Honda
3. Sam Hornish Jr Team Penske Dallara IR2 Toyota
4. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
5. Vitor Meira Rahal-Letterman Racing GForce-Honda
6. Townsend Bell Panther Racing Dallara IR2 Chevrolet
7. Alex Barron Cheever Racing Dallara IR2 Chevrolet
8. Adrian Fernandez Fernandez Racing GForce-Honda
9. Bryan Herta Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
10. Kosuke Matsuura Super Aguri Fernandez Racing GForce-Honda
Pos Driver Team
1. Buddy Rice Rahal-Letterman Racing GForce-Honda
2. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
3. Dan Wheldon Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
4. Sam Hornish Jr Team Penske Dallara IR2 Toyota
5. Vitor Meira Rahal-Letterman Racing GForce-Honda
6. Bryan Herta Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
7. Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing GForce-Toyota
8. Townsend Bell Panther Racing Dallara IR2 Chevrolet
9. Scott Sharp Kelley Racing Dallara IR2 Toyota
10. Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara IR2 Toyota
NASCAR
Jimmie Johnson was for the second time in two months the car to beat at Pocono, and like the first visit Johnson emerged the winner despite a late race caution. Meanwhile the driver who went into the weekend second in points, Dale Earnhardt Jr, has now slipped to third in the points as the combination of an injured main driver, a relief driver and a bad car has seen him fall from 105 points off the lead to 267 behind after a 25th place finish as Jeff Gordon moves into second. Still, this is the year of the Chase, and so all Junior really needs to do is to make sure he stays in the top ten.
Morgan Shepherd brought out the next caution on lap 84 when his engine failed. In came the field for stops again, Johnson holding onto the lead from Busch, Sadler, Biffle and Mark Martin as the race restarted on lap 88. It was back to caution on lap 100 of the 200 lap race, the field coming in for more stops. Several drivers took only two tyres with their fuel, Casey Mears leading Vickers, Jeremy Mayfield, Rusty Wallace and Kevin Harvick while ninth was Jimmie Johnson, the best placed of those who took four tyres, while Gordon was down to 30th after topping off with fuel before the restart.
Before lap 134 was over Johnson was moving back to the front, passing Gordon and Burton to move into second. On lap 138 Gordon made the save of the race as he caught a huge slide in the tunnel turn, losing four places in the process. Up at the front the lead was about to change, Johnson passing Martin on lap 139 to retake the lead. By lap 150 the order was Johnson, Martin, Ward Burton, Biffle and Bobby Labonte, with Johnson stretching his advantage over the rest of the order.
Pos Driver Car
1. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Monte Carlo
2. Mark Martin Ford Taurus
3. Kasey Kahne Dodge Intrepid
4. Greg Biffle Ford Taurus
5. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Monte Carlo
6. Terry Labonte Chevrolet Monte Carlo
7. Robby Gordon Chevrolet Monte Carlo
8. Matt Kenseth Ford Taurus
9. Jeremy Mayfield Dodge Intrepid
10. Elliott Sadler Ford Taurus
DTM
After taking victory at Norisring a month ago, and winning the DTM exhibition race held on a Shanghai street circuit two weeks ago, Gary Paffett was on a hot streak coming into the Nurburgring round. In front of a six figure crowd Paffett won again, driving a perfect race from the start to lead home Audi's Mattias Ekstrom by two seconds. Second place was good enough for the Abt Sportsline driver to take the lead in the championship for the first time without sharing it with Christijan Albers.
Once the stops were completed, Paffett had a clear 1.6 second lead over Ekstrom. Ekstrom was unable to have any real effect on the gap and that was how they finished. Christijan Albers was in third position after the stops, looking set to defend his series lead, losing only two points to Ekstrom, but the Mercedes driver slowed in the final laps, falling first to Schneider, than Fassler before stopping in the pits with five laps to go. Fassler chased Schneider home for third with Tom Kristensen in fifth. Timo Scheider won his battle with Jean Alesi with Dumbreck taking the final point.
Pos Driver Team
1. Gary Paffett AMG Mercedes-Benz C Class
2. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM
3. Bernd Schneider Vodafone AMG Mercedes-Benz C Class
4. Marcel Fassler Team Phoenix Opel Vectra GTS V8
5. Tom Kristensen Abt Sportsline Audi A4 DTM
6. Timo Scheider Team Holzer Opel Vectra GTS V8
7. Jean Alesi AMG Mercedes-Benz C Class
8. Peter Dumbreck Team Phoenix Opel Vectra GTS V8
9. Laurent Aiello Team Phoenix Opel Vectra GTS V8
10. Stefan Mucke Original Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM
Superbikes
Race One
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Noriyuki Haga Ducati 999RS
2. Regis Laconi Ducati 999F04
3. Steve Martin Ducati 999RS
4. Chris Vermeulen Honda CBR 1000RR
5. Troy Corser Foggy Petronas FP1
6. James Ellison Yamaha YZF R1
7. James Toseland Ducati 999F04
8. Craig Coxhell Honda
9. Chris Walker Foggy Petronas FP1
10. Gianluca Nannelli Ducati 998RS
Race Two
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Noriyuki Haga Ducati 999RS
2. Pierfrancesco Chili Ducati 998RS
3. Chris Vermeulen Honda CBR 1000RR
4. Chris Walker Foggy Petronas FP1
5. James Ellison Yamaha YZF R1
6. Giovanni Bussei Ducati 998RS
7. Garry McCoy Ducati 999RS
8. Craig Coxhell Honda
9. Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha YZF R1
10. Mauro Sanchini Kawasaki ZX10
Briefs
SEAT enjoyed their best ever British Touring Car Championship weekend with Jason Plato winning rounds 17 & 18 at Croft. Earlier Anthony Reid took victory for MG in Round 16 over series leader Yvan Muller and Honda racer Matthew Neal. In Round 17 Plato led a SEAT 1-2 with emerging star Robert Huff taking second place ahead of Dan Eaves (Honda). The SEAT pair backed it up with another 1-2 result in Round 18 with Colin Turkington (MG) taking third. Consistent finishing saw James Thompson edge to within three points of Vauxhall teammate Yvan Muller in the championship fight. Rounds 19-21 will be held this weekend at the series' annual visit to Scotland at the Knockhill circuit.
After Marcos Ambrose's penalty and then successful appeal against his points penalty at Queensland Raceway, there has been another problem with a car failing post-race scrutineering in V8 Supercar racing, this time at the most recent round at Winton. Ironically, it is one of the cars of the team most vocal against Ambrose being reinstated the points, Castrol Perkins Racing's Steven Richards. The matter, which appears to relate to rear suspension mounting points, will be heard on the Friday of the next round at Oran Park.
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Volume 10, Issue 31
Atlas F1 Special
The Stars Align
Boy Wonder
In Search of the Holy Grail
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