Updates from the Rest of the Racing World
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.
Liuzzi Resumes
During the time away there had been a few changes as Patrick Friesacher and Jeff van Hooydonk swapped teams. The improvement was immediate for Friesacher, qualifying third behind Liuzzi and Yannick Schroeder. Robert Doornbos was fourth while title rival Enrico Toccacelo was lost in eighth position. The field was missing a car as Jan Heylen bowed out of the series without replacment while Rodrigo Ribiero was also missing, replaced by Ernesto Viso.
Liuzzi started clean and sure to lead Schroeder and Doornbos towards turn one. From further back Tomas Enge shouldered his way forward to be third by the end of the lap ahead of Doornbos and Friesacher, who would be fourth within another lap. At the hairpin a clash with Alan van der Merwe sends Mattias Lauda rolling out of the race.
Friesacher was on a charge at the resumption after two safety car laps and was second just when he pitted on lap 8. Toccacelo followed a lap later before Enge who was now third. Just after, Schroeder, Doornbos and Esteban Guerrieri pitted together. Liuzzi was still out and led from Ferdinando Monfardini and Viso for a lap when the series leader stopped on lap 12. This left only Monfardini and Viso to stop which they did on lap 15.
Tony Schmidt (Ma-Con) and Viso (Durango) completed the points finishers. Last start winner Toccacelo was nowhere, a disappointing drive into twelfth place yielding no points. Liuzzi is now back in the series lead by six points from Toccacelo with Doornbos moving into third place over twenty points from Liuzzi.
Result of International Formula 3000 Championship, Round 5 of 10, Magny-Cours, France:
Standings: Vitantonio Liuzzi 40, Enrico Toccacelo 34, Robert Doornbos 21, Raffaele Giammaria 19, Patrick Friesacher 15, Tomas Enge 14, Jose Maria Lopez and Yannick Schroeder 13, Esteban Guerrieri 12, Jeffrey van Hooydonk 6 etc.
Tamada Clinches First Victory
By Andrei Khalip
Champion Valentino Rossi who had won on his six previous visits to Rio, and Spain's Sete Gibernau both fell on the bumpy track of the Nelson Piquet circuit but remained on top of the standings with 126 points apiece.
Tamada's Camel Honda teammate Max Biaggi of Italy, seen as an arch rival to his compatriot Rossi, finished second and was followed by American Nicky Hayden, also on a Honda. With the three Honda riders on the podium, the factory overtook Yamaha in the constructors' standings. Italian Loris Capirossi on a Ducati came fourth.
Tamada, who made his debut in motorcycling Grand Prix races only last year, said his Bridgestone tyres adapted well to the heat of the circuit. The weekend in Rio was unusually hot and cloudless for the Brazilian winter.
"A perfect race, with the bike settings and the tyres as good as they could possibly be," said Tamada, who started from the seventh position. His success ended French tyremaker Michelin's remarkable run of 92 premier-class victories.
Biaggi congratulated Tamada, calling him "a true friend". He said his own 20 points for the race "are really worth a lot for the championship...but now I want to get back on to the top of the podium."
Rossi said: "Our bike set-up wasn't quite right." Gibernau missed the podium for the first time this year.
Manuel Poggiali of San Marino finished first in the 250cc class on his Aprilia and was followed by Spaniards Daniel Pedrosa and Toni Elias, both on Hondas. Randy de Puniet of France, riding an Aprilia, finished a disappointing eighth and lost his lead in the championship to Pedrosa, who finished second on Sunday and has accumulated 130 points against de Puniet's 119.
(Additional reporting by Pedro Fonseca)
Result of World Motorcycle Championship, Round 7 of 16, Jacarepagua, Brazil:
Standings: Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau 126, Max Biaggi 113, Colin Edwards 64, Carlos Checa 62, Alex Barros 59, Marco Melandri 57, Loris Capirossi 55, Nicky Hayden 54, Makoto Tamada 44 etc.
Report provided by Reuters
Hendrick Does Daytona
Jeff Gordon and Michael Waltrip sat on the front row, this being Gordon's third consecutive pole. With a blown engine and a win in the previous two races, this could be seen as good or bad news. The race was delayed by rain, eventually getting underway though the first nine laps were run under caution as the track dried out. Finally the green flew on lap 10, Gordon leading away but Waltrip led by the end of the backstretch. Gordon challenged again on lap 14 but was shuffled back. The first (real) caution of the night came out on lap 19 after Ward Burton had a rear right tyre blow, with Matt Kenseth, Ricky Craven and Ken Schrader getting caught up as Burton's car spun.
The field pitted, with Waltrip leading Ricky Rudd, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Brian Vickers and John Andretti as the race restarted on lap 23. By lap 28 it was the usual duo of Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr running 1-2 while Hendrick had its cars filling fourth through to seventh. Lap 46 and it was caution time once more after Andretti hit the turn four wall when a right front tyre blew. More pit stops, with Waltrip leading Earnhardt Jr, Vickers, Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson out. Racing resumed on lap 50, Waltrip leading before Earnhardt Jr bump drafted him out the way in turn three a few laps later, the two DEI cars opening a small gap over the rest of the field. On lap 64 Gordon, who had moved back up the order, moved into second as Waltrip lost several places as his car's handling deteriorated.
Back to green again on lap 81, Gordon leading the way but DEI were closing in, as by lap 83 Waltrip was second and Earnhardt Jr fourth, which became third on lap 85. Lap 86 and it was Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr at the front, eight laps later and Gordon and teammate Johnson repaid the favour, dropping Earnhardt Jr to fifth as Waltrip led Gordon, Johnson and Busch. A few laps later Johnson pushed Gordon past Waltrip into the lead. Around lap 110 the field finally made their first green flag stops for the night.
After these stops were completed Gordon led from Busch, Johnson, Vickers and Terry Labonte, all four Hendrick cars in the top five, with Earnhardt Jr and Waltrip down in thirteenth and fourteenth around four seconds behind in the second pack. Steadily the second pack closed in, and by lap 120 of the 160 lap race the gap was down to a second as the lead pack was down to Gordon, Busch and Johnson, ten laps later and they had caught the leaders, with Earnhardt Jr making it up to sixth by lap 135.
Lap 149 saw a dramatic move by Earnhardt Jr at the end of the backstretch, slicing from the outside to the inside of a side by side Gordon and Busch to move up to second, having started the lap in fifth! Still Stewart led, from Earnhardt Jr, Gordon with Johnson moving up to fourth on lap 150. With ten to go Gordon, Johnson and Busch push past Earnhardt Jr to move up behind Stewart. Finally, with seven laps remaining, Gordon takes the lead as the pack battle side by side behind him, eventually settled a lap later as Johnson moves to second with Earnhardt Jr just behind him.
Five to go and Gordon and Johnson had a small break on Busch and Earnhardt Jr, these four drivers the likely winners. Three to go and these four were back together in one group. Two to go and Earnhardt's car pushed badly off turn two and then again into turn three, and so it looked like his chances were over. But by the time they headed into turn one on the final lap he was back at Johnson's bumper for one last shot. But his car pushed wide a little bit and while he and Busch stayed close he couldn't make a run for the front, Gordon holding on to beat Johnson, Earnhardt Jr and Busch with Tony Stewart finishing fifth.
Result of NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 17 of 36, Daytona International Speedway, Florida, United States:
Standings: Jimmie Johnson 2545, Dale Earnhardt Jr 2518, Jeff Gordon 2313, Tony Stewart 2203, Matt Kenseth 2189, Bobby Labonte 2164, Kurt Busch 2153, Elliott Sadler 2152, Ryan Newman 2112, Kevin Harvick 2095 etc.
One-Two Times Two
Little has changed for Newman-Haas racing since Portland. As Sebastien Bourdais returned to the site of his first victory in the US, the Frenchman returned the same result and was ably backed up race-long by teammate Bruno Junqueira for NHR's second consecutive 1-2 finish.
Michel Jourdain Jr also led briefly before Bourdais resumed command with Jourdain now second after a lightning stop with Junqueira in third and chasing hard with Servia fourth ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay. Jourdain could not hold second for long, falling to all three of those pursuing by the time a debris yellow emerged on lap 40. The green flew but didn't stay when Hunter-Reay spun away his good work. Jourdain battled along amongst the leaders until retiring from a wall-induced suspension failure.
As the race wound on Servia was increasingly comfortable with second position but was out of sync with pursuers Junqueira and Tagliani, the latter having had to fight back from a long way down, so when Servia's final stop was made, Junquiera and Tagliani were already sprinting for the flag and a podium finish was lost. Fourth was still the best finish by a Coyne car in some time.
Third was also a good result for Tagliani, fast becoming a points accumulator, moving into fourth place in the championship. Jimmy Vasser slowly worked his way through the field to take fifth for PKV Racing with teammate Roberto Gonzalez in a strong seventh behind the steady Allmendinger.
Junqueira now holds a three point lead over Bourdais who moves past the engine-less Carpentier into second. Carpentier is now 29 points from the lead, but still 16 ahead of Tagliani. Tracy continues to struggle, some 48 points from Junqueira.
Result of Champ Car World Series, Round 5 of 15, Burke Lakefront Airport, Ohio, United States:
Standings: Bruno Junqueira 133, Sebastien Bourdais 130, Patrick Carpentier 104, Alex Tagliani 88, Paul Tracy and Ryan Hunter-Reay 85, Mario Dominguez 81, Justin Wilson 74, Jimmy Vasser and AJ Allmendinger 73 etc
Ambrose 'Wins' In Queensland
Here is where things went strange. The stewards agreed that the breach was unintentional and there was no performance gained from it. They then took the bizarre step of deducting 192 points from Ambrose and fining the team $10 000, but Ambrose remained the winner of the event. So he won, but didn't gain any points. He broke the rules, accidentally, with no advantage (according to the stewards), in a minor area, but got penalised all his race points, but on the other hand he is still the winner in the results. Not entirely surprisingly Ambrose's team has appealed the decision, hoping to reduce or eliminate the points penalty, although it appears Richards' team may also appeal, pushing for Ambrose's disqualification from the results. The points penalty has moved Ambrose from a 58 point lead before the penalty to 134 points behind Steven Richards, with Jason Bright and Rick Kelly moving up to second and third, 55 and 76 points behind Richards respectively, and with Richards leading the points, this is the second successive year the points leader has led well into the season without winning a round.
There was one 280 km race at Queensland Raceway, featuring a compulsory stop for tyres and a compulsory stop for fuel. Qualifying saw Marcos Ambrose take pole position just ahead of Mark Skaife with Skaife's teammate Todd Kelly in third. Among those to struggle were title contenders Greg Murphy and Rick Kelly, down in 23rd and 24th respectively.
Racing got underway again on lap 11, Ambrose opening a gap at the restart which he steadily built on, Kelly and Richards moving away from Skaife, Ingall and Bright. Lap 20 saw Richards make a mistake at turn one, recovering well but he couldn't stop Skaife going past. Two laps later Richards locked a brake into turn three allowing Ingall and Bright to demote him to sixth place. Ingall was the first leader to pit, taking tyres on lap 27, Bright doing the same on lap 29, Ambrose lap 32, Richards lap 35 and Kelly lap 36, while Skaife decided to go with fuel first when he pitted on lap 31. During this period Kelly had an off which cost him a couple of positions.
On lap 40 Ambrose led from teammate Ingall and Bright, with Skaife fifth, Richards seventh and Kelly ninth as different strategies came into play. Not long after the second stops began, Ingall taking fuel on lap 42 and Bright on lap 47 while Skaife took tyres on lap 45, losing an extra twenty seconds while they made an adjustment to the right rear suspension. It would become academic for Skaife on lap 49 when he spun out of the race at turn one, a left rear hub failure to blame, bringing the safety car onto the circuit.
Lap 62 saw another shuffle at the front when Ingall ran wide at turn three, possibly on some oil from a couple of cars which had been smoking for several laps, allowing Richards and Tander to move up to second and third. All this was playing into Ambrose's hands, as he extended his margin over the chasers, Tander giving Richards a hard time for second place. As the laps wound down towards the end of the 90 lap event, Ambrose maintained his lead at the front while Richards eked out a small gap over Tander, who was a few seconds clear of Ingall with Bright a couple of seconds further back.
Just when it looked like it would stay green to the end, Mark Winterbottom spun at turn three and got stuck in the gravel and brought out the safety car on lap 81. This bunched the leaders back together, with the possibility now of a desperate pass or two in the closing laps. Back to green on lap 84, Ambrose steadily opening a small gap at the front and though the field was closely bunched, the top five places remained unchanged, with only a couple of position changes further down the order. And so Ambrose took the chequer first, followed by Richards just ahead of Tander with Ingall just holding off an attacking Bright.
Result of V8 Supercar Championship Series, Round 6 of 13, Queensland Raceway, Australia:
Standings: Steven Richards 1006, Jason Bright 951, Rick Kelly 930, Marcos Ambrose 872, Greg Murphy 811, Russell Ingall 808, Garth Tander 780, Todd Kelly 741, John Bowe 638, Steven Johnson 597 etc.
Former World War II fighter pilot, former mechanic, Ward started racing in the late 40s and soon came to dominate the Calfornian midget scene. First arriving at the 500 in 1951, it wasn't until he was united with Leader Card team owner Bob Wilke and his designer/mechanic AJ Watson that his career hit the big time.
In six years from 1959 to 1964 Ward would finish second twice, third, fourth and claim two victories in 1959 and 1962. Ward, one of the last bastions of roadsters as the rear-engine revolution took hold of Indy, was ever a Midget fan, even to the extent of competing with one in the inaugural United States Formula One Grand Prix.
Ward almost retired in 1955 after being involved in the accident that killed close friend Bill Vukovich Jr. Ward called an end to his career after the 1966 Indy 500.
Formula 3000
After the long break for Formula One to visit North America, the Formula 3000 battle resumed at Magny-Cours and the abberation of Enrico Toccacelo's victory at the Nurburgring was wiped away as Vitantonio Liuzzi took maximum points for the fourth time this season.
Liuzzi was now storming away in the lead with Enge hooked up behind Friesacher for several laps. Once through Enge was away and started to chase Liuzzi. Friesacher fell backward into the clutches of Schroeder, but kept the Durango driver out until the finish. Liuzzi had taken the chequer in the meantime, six and a half seconds clear of Enge. Doornbos completed an impressive points haul for Arden with fifth position while Guerrieri was gifted sixth after a steady drive from Jose Maria Lopez ended in a gravel trap.
Pos Driver Team
1. Vitantonio Liuzzi Arden International Lola-Zytek
2. Tomas Enge Ma-Con Engineering Lola-Zytek
3. Patrick Friesacher Coloni Motorsport Lola-Zytek
4. Yannick Schroeder Durango Formula Lola-Zytek
5. Robert Doornbos Arden International Lola-Zytek
6. Esteban Guerrieri BCN Competicion Lola-Zytek
7. Tony Schmidt Ma-Con Engineering Lola-Zytek
8. Ernesto Viso Durango Formula Lola-Zytek
9. Alan van der Merwe Super Nova Racing Lola-Zytek
10. Ferdinando Monfardini I.E. Engineering Lola-Zytek
MotoGP
Makoto Tamada of Japan, riding a Honda, clinched his first MotoGP victory on Sunday after the two championship front-runners fell off their bikes early in the race.
In the 125cc, Spaniard Hector Barbera steered his Aprilia to victory from pole position after a final-lap struggle with Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso from Italy and Australian Casey Stoner on a KTM. Stoner finished second. Despite finishing third, Dovizioso maintained his lead in the championship with 125 points, while Barbera took the second place with 109 points, rising from third spot.
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Makoto Tamada Honda RC211V
2. Max Biaggi Honda RC211V
3. Nicky Hayden Honda RC211V
4. Loris Capirossi Ducati Desmosedici
5. Alex Barros Honda RC211V
6. Colin Edwards Honda RC211V
7. Kenny Roberts Suzuki GSV-R
8. Norick Abe Yamaha M1
9. Shinya Nakano Kawasaki ZX-RR
10. Carlos Checa Yamaha M1
NASCAR
After winning the last restrictor plate race (though under yellow, to the anger of some fans), Jeff Gordon must have held some hope of winning at Daytona. But DEI's recent dominance on these tracks had to be weighed up too. Some DEI-like teamwork by the Hendrick team (who had all four team cars in the top five at times) with Gordon hooking up with teammate Jimmie Johnson saw Gordon emerge victorious, with Dale Earnhardt Jr in third and Michael Waltrip not even in the top ten. Johnson continues to hold a narrow lead over Earnhardt Jr in the standings, with Gordon next best over 200 points further back.
The next caution came out on lap 72 after Bobby Hamilton cut a left rear tyre. Again the field pitted, and this time there was some drama as cars left their pits. Gordon pulled out in front of Vickers, which in turn forced Vickers in front of Earnhardt Jr. This left Earnhardt Jr with no option but to take to the grass, splashing his way through the rain-soaked trioval before eventually rejoining the tarmac at the end of pitlane, but now outside the top ten. First out was Gordon, ahead of Vickers, Dave Blaney, Johnson and Terry Labonte. The race restarted on lap 77 but was back to caution a lap later when Mike Wallace hit the turn three and four walls when he lost a tyre. In less than a lap Waltrip moved up to fifth while Earnhardt Jr was up to ninth.
Soon after the field made green flag stops again, this the final time the cars would need to pit. Tony Stewart, who had been running in the top ten, was one of a handful of runners to take only two tyres, enabling him to jump into the lead ahead of Harvick who did the same, Gordon, Busch and Biffle. On lap 145 front runners Johnson and Earnhardt Jr were in seventh and eighth, while Waltrip was back in twelfth. A lap later Gordon and Busch demoted Harvick who continued to fade afterwards.
Pos Driver Car
1. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Monte Carlo
2. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Monte Carlo
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet Monte Carlo
4. Kurt Busch Ford Taurus
5. Tony Stewart Chevrolet Monte Carlo
6. Mark Martin Ford Taurus
7. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet Monte Carlo
8. Terry Labonte Chevrolet Monte Carlo
9. Brian Vickers Chevrolet Monte Carlo
10. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Monte Carlo
OWRS
On the run to the first corner three of the top five qualifiers came together and Paul Tracy and Justin Wilson were out almost on the spot with Alex Tagliani also involved. This left Bourdais to take off ahead of Patrick Carpentier and A.J. Allmendinger. Oriol Servia took best advantage in the chaos, picking up no less than eight positions by the end of the first lap before pressuring Allmendinger into relieving him of third place by lap 13. On lap 21 the Dale Coyne pilot was a remarkable second when Carpentier's Cosworth engine expired and led the race for two laps when Bourdais pitted.
Pos Driver Car
1. Sebastien Bourdais Newman Haas Racing Lola-Ford
2. Bruno Junqueira Newman Haas Racing Lola-Ford
3. Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing Lola-Ford
4. Oriol Servia Dale Coyne Racing Lola-Ford
5. Jimmy Vasser PKV Racing Lola-Ford
6. AJ Allmendinger RuSport Lola-Ford
7. Roberto Gonzalez PKV Racing Lola-Ford
8. Mario Dominguez Herdez Competicion Lola-Ford
9. Rodolfo Lavin Forsythe Championship Racing Lola-Ford
10. Nelson Philippe Rocketsports Racing Lola-Ford
V8 Supercar
Marcos Ambrose crossed the line first in Queensland 500, scoring maximum points by taking the win. Yet before the day was over he was back on the same points he was before the race. After the race, Marcos Ambrose's car was found to have an ECU wiring loom that after an extra 50mm piece of wire and unused 'power' plug which are not permitted. The ECU loom sits next to the dash loom, which has freedom in how it is wired, and confusion between the two is what the team says is responsible for the error, the team admitting an unintentional breach of the rules.
At the start Ambrose got away weel and led into turn one, but alongside Skaife bogged down and saw Kelly and Steven Richards move ahead, with Russell Ingall and Jason Bright on his tail. But the safety car was about to make an appearance as John Bowe and Steven Ellery made contact at turn one, Bowe's spinning car catching out Greg Murphy, Steven Johnson and Dale Brede while Paul Weel had an unrelated driveline failure.
Immediately, all those drivers yet to make their stops headed to the pits, shuffling the order. As the race went back to green on lap 53, Ambrose led teammate Ingall, Bright and Richards, with Brad Jones and Garth Tander now filling out the top six, Tander passing Jones before the lap was over. Lap 57 saw Bright lock his rear brakes into turn four and skate wide, allowing Richards through to third, while Tander moved up to fourth when Bright ran wide at turn one three laps later.
Pos Driver Car
1. Marcos Ambrose Ford Falcon BA
2. Steven Richards Holden Commodore VY
3. Garth Tander Holden Commodore VY
4. Russell Ingall Ford Falcon BA
5. Jason Bright Holden Commodore VY
6. Paul Radisich Ford Falcon BA
7. Paul Dumbrell Holden Commodore VY
8. Tony Longhurst Holden Commodore VX
9. Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VY
10. Cameron McConville Holden Commodore VY
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