39 cars have entered the penultimate round of the European Le Man Series at Spa, 28 different teams with 117 drivers from 27 countries, 14 cars for LMP2, 16 cars for LMP3 and 9 cars for LMGTE which consists of six Ferrari’s, two Porsche’s and one Aston Martin. It will be the first ELMS race with fans since the pandemic started and entry will be free of charge.
The longest ELMS race was in 2019 completing 101 laps, the shortest race was the year before held in 2018, the race only completed 40 laps which was caused by not surprising at Spa the rain, it had several Safety Car periods plus red flags and was eventually stopped with the drivers awarded half points.
The Orlen WRT team are the only team based in Belgium, they lead the championship with 75 points the drivers of Louis Deletraz, Yifei Ye and ex formula one & WRC driver Robert Kubica, they have an 11-point lead over the G-Drive #Car26 with Roman Rusinov, Nyck De Vries and Franco Colapinta United Autosports are in 3rd in #Car22 a further 7 points adrift.
In LMP3 Cool racing lead the class with #Car19 with 80 points the drivers of Nicolas Maulini, Matt Bell and Niklas Kruetten only lead by 13 points from DKR Engineering entry #Car04, while the polish entrant of Inter Eurpol Competition in #Car13 are 3rd.
LMGTE sees a trio of Ferrari’s filling the top 3 positions with the Iron Lynx #Car80 leading the class by just 6 points driven by Matteo Cressoni, Rino Mastronardi and Miguel Molina they have 83 points while Spirit of The Race #Car55 is in 2nd with 77 points the trio of Duncan Cameron, David Perel and Matt Griffin in that car, behind them is the AF Corse Ferrari #Car88 in 3rd with 56 points. With only one race remaining after Spa teams will want maximum points but will the Ardennes weather through up a curve ball, its going to be tight but hopefully exciting race.
IndyCar will take to the WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca, California this weekend for Round 15, as we sprint towards the conclusion of the 2021 season.
The penultimate round will run from Friday to Sunday with a maximum of 54 points on offer before we bookend the championship with the final race at Long Beach, California.
This is always an incredibly popular destination, with the famous ‘Corkscrew’ section, and with plenty of fast sweeps and narrow apexes to navigate around the 2.2-mile circuit, as well as a tricky pit lane that could cause some chaos in the race.
The title fight has also taken an interesting turn following the events of Portland with only a handful of contenders still mathematically in contention.
Can Anyone Stop Alex Palou?
The Spaniard went into Portland ten points behind rival Patricio O’Ward and on the first lap, you would be remiss in thinking he may have lost his championship hopes.
However, after falling down the order a fantastic two-stop strategy, helped by a few cautions, allowed him to fight up the order and take his third win of the season.
A 35-point swing in Palou’s favor means he now leads O’Ward by 25 points. Newgarden is third in the standings, 34 points behind Palou. Dixon is 49 points behind in fourth, and Ericsson, now the last driver that is mathematically eligible to win the championship is fifth, and 75 points behind.
But should we really be surprised? He has shown remarkable speed, consistency, and maturity beyond his years, and had it not been for a run of misfortune he would have definitely been out of reach in the points standings.
For example, Palou was set for a Top Five finish at the recent outing at the IMS road course before a frustrating engine failure spelled the end of his race. He has also faced grid penalties due to engine changes resulting in a nine-grid place penalty and starting 21st at Gateway. But after carving through the over 60 Laps the Spaniard would be collecting in a three-car crash out of his control.
If you were to assume he would have finished fifth at IMS, disregard Gateway altogether, and take his average finishing position since Detroit Race Two it would be a remarkable third.
That consistency is what may seal the championship for Palou.
Concern for O’Ward?
The Mexican driver had no explanation for his lack of pace on Sunday, suggesting he lacked three-four mph on the straight as his race deteriorating after he switched on the black primary tyres.
It will be a concern that out of the previous three finishes outside the Top Ten this year, two of them were because of a lack of pace. He has struggled with consistency as of late and has only been able to complete three races in a row that he was happy with. This inconsistency could be the difference between being an IndyCar champion or not.
O’Ward definitely has the ability to pull it out of the bag on his day, evidenced with a series-leading four pole positions. Moreover, he set the pace during the pre-season test at Laguna Seca in March and has previously won here during his Pro Mazda Championship campaign in 2016.
Without a doubt, this is one of O’Ward’s most important races of his career.
Who Else Is In The Mix?
The three contenders that remain include Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon, and Marcus Ericsson but realistically the first two are the ones that have a good chance.
Josef Newgarden is always on top form come to the tail end of the season, having had two wins and been inside the Top Ten at every race since Mid Ohio. His race at Portland saw him qualify near the back but was able to run a magnificent counter-strategy to finish inside the Top Five.
Scott Dixon remains without a win at Laguna Seca in his career and will be looking to steal a march on his high-flying teammate. A podium at Portland has rescued what has been a difficult few races for the New Zealander. However, the six-time world champion is accustomed to pressure and will now his objectives going into the final two rounds.
Colton Herta will be another one to watch out for after winning here in 2019 while Rinus VeeKay dominated the circuit during his Indy Lights campaign.
The 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship calendar was now announced at this years 24 hours of Le Mans by the FIA & ACO, it will see a return to 3 continents for the 10th WEC season, 6 races will take place in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and not forgetting North America. 2022 Season 10 will see the series return to Sebring for the 1000 miles after an absence of 2 years, the official prologue will take place the week before (Official Test) following the success of the first visit to Monza, Italy the series will return for another 6-hour race, plus going back to Spa – Belgium, Fuji – Japan and Bahrain with 6 to 8-hour races not forgetting the 24 hours of Le Man back in its regular slot of June.
2022 FIA World Endurance Championship Calendar
12/13 March 2022 Official Prologue – Sebring (USA)
18 March 2022 1000 Miles of Sebring (USA)
7 May 2022 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (BEL)
11/12 June 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans (FRA)
10 July 2022 6 Hours of Monza (ITA)
11 September 2022 6 Hours of Fuji (JPN)
12 November 2022 8 Hours of Bahrain (BAH)
Richard Mille FIA Endurance Commission President
“Six-rounds is the perfect solution for the FIA World Endurance Championship. Next year’s calendar is well-balanced, with events evenly spread across the year. It’s cost-effective for the competitors, at the same accommodating iconic circuits and variety of race durations and formats. The return to North America and Far East is also a major step. With further manufacturers coming with Hypercars next year, I’m confident each of the six rounds will deliver a thrilling spectacle.”
Pierre Fillon President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest
“The 2022 schedule for the FIA World Endurance Championship is designed to maximise team exposure while keeping costs down. Motor racing calendars have never been subject to such disruption as during the pandemic and this schedule obviously accounts for the current situation. I look forward to seeing you in the US in March for an exciting tenth season.”
Frédéric Lequien FIA WEC CEO
“Our aim was to create both a global and cost-effective package in what has been a difficult past 18 months for our manufacturers and teams. With the 2022 calendar, we have achieved the perfect blend of classic race tracks and endurance racing heritage. We are confident that the Season 10 schedule will be popular with both competitors and fans alike.”
Toyota hypercar took its first win in this new era but its fourth in a row at Le Mans the driver line up of Mike Conway, Jose Marie Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi brought car #07 home to victory with what was an easy run in the 89th running of the Le Mans 24 hours, but it still wasn’t without drama at the end, with only a few hours remaining car #07 reported they had a fuel pick up problem would the curse of the 7 car strike again for Toyota, it was the same fuel drama that plagued car #08 at the 6 hours of Monza back in July, but in the end it was an easy win for the Japanese manufacturer and its sister car #08 made it a 1 & 2 with the Alpine ELF Matmut filling the final podium spot4 laps down on the Toyota’s, both the Glickenhaus cars #708 (4 Laps) car #709 (7 Laps) finished 4th & 5th in the hypercar class, the American team based in Italy where happy with the result at there debut of the great race Luca Ciancetti (Technical Director) “ We are supper happy, you have to be if you get two cars to the finish”.
In the LMP2 class the honours went to the Belgian team of WRT with Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi in car #31, it was a hard close fought race for all the LMP2 team’s, especially the WRT sister car #41 with one lap to go and leading the race the car came to a halt with a broken throttle sensor shut the Gibson down handing the race to its sister car in dramatic style, Jota car #28 of Sean Gelael, Stoffel Vandoorne and Tom Blomquist came 2nd with the Untied Autosport’s car #65 of Will Stevens, Julien Canal and James Allen in 3rd.
In LMGTE-Pro it was Ferrari’s day with AF Corse and car #51 with James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Come Ledgar again like Toyota’s victory led the final 205 laps the closest anyone got to putting pressure on was Corvette racing car #63 of Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg getting the gap down to 23 seconds but this wasn’t close enough, the Corvette finished runners-up with the works Porsche car #92 on the final step of the podium in 3rd.
In LMGT-Am it was a double for Ferrari and AF Corse with car #83 bringing the car home and its 3rd win of the season in the championship with reigning champions Nicklas Nielsen, Francois Perrodo and Alessio Rovera at the wheel it was a hard-fought race but they controlled it to the chequered flag with the TF Sport Aston Martin car #33 in 2nd with Felipe Fraga, Ben Keating and Dylan Perrira 3rd in class, in 3rd was another Ferrari of Iron Lynx car #80 again at the wheel Matteo Cressoni, Callum Ilott and Rino Mastronardi.
SRO The championship organisers moved the normal easter dates due to the pandemic to mid-September so it was a warmer drier mid-day start to race 1 (Round 7) of the championship with Kelvin Fletcher on pole in the Bentley GT, he gets a great start into old hall and opens up a gap of just over a second from Tse with Tilbrook just behind, Fletcher extends his lead with the fastest lap of the race, in GT4 0.8 of a second covers the top 2, 15 minutes gone and Tse in the Ram racing Mercedes takes the lead from Fletcher in the Bentley, 36 minutes on the clock remain the pit window is open and all the GT3 cars are in the pits for driver changes and fresh tyres, the first to re-join is the Ram racing Mercedes of Tom Onslow-Cole straight away he pulls away with a gap of around a two seconds from Neary in the Abba racing team Mercedes, but fastest on track and on a mission is Dennis Lind posting fastest lap times and catching the leaders. 15 minutes to go and Onslow-Cole still leads with just over a 3 second gap from Neary in #Car08 with Lind in the Lamborghini #Car63 in 3rd, the chequered flag falls it’s a win for Onslow-Cole & Tse and Ram racing with Sam Neary in 2ndand Lind in the Lamborghini in 3rd.
Race 2
Image courtesy of BritishGT
Race 2 was a complete contrast to race 1, as 10 minutes before the start the rain started to fall, most teams went for the full Pirelli wet tyre, the race starts under the safety car with 2 laps completed the race goes green but conditions weren’t great as the rain fell heavier making for poor visibility with the spray, the drivers earned there money keeping the cars on track, Scott Malvern leads in the Porsche ahead of Lind in the Lamborghini , as the drivers settle into there rhythm, Onslow-Cole winner from race 1beaches his Mercedes at Island and the marshals wave the double wave yellows but this is immediately changed to a full safety car as the car can’t be moved under green racing, this sparks activity in the pits as the pit window is open, the Ram racing and sister car to Onslow-Cole now takes the lead with Loggie onboard, with 24 minutes remaining the safety car is in and its back to green racing, but more drama as the leader Loggie #Car06 as a drive through penalty for a pit lane infringement, so now the Lamborghini of Phil Keen Michael Igoe lead after Loggie takes his penalty he re-joins in 6th position, Igoe still leads with Balon in 2nd in another Lamborghini with Jones in the Porsche 3rd, in GT4 Century motorsport BMW of Burns and Burton only need a point to secure the championship but they take the lead after the top 2 McLarens and teammates come together, the chequered flag is out and its Phil Keens 267thBritish GT win along with Michael Igoe, 2nd is another Lamborghini #Car01 of Balon with Ian Loggie in the Mercedes a great recovering drive after the penalty in 3rd. In GT4 Burns & Burton seal the championship with the win their 3rd of the season.
Next up Donington Park for the final round and the championship decider in GT3, its all to play for on the 16th to 17th October.
You would be fooled into thinking this was a relatively easy win; a pole-to-win scenario for Chip Ganassi’s Alex Palou at the Grand Prix of Portland, right?
Well, this couldn’t have been further from the truth. After having to avoid contact at the start, the Spaniard was left to fight through a competitive field, fraught with danger and risks at every turn.
The start of the 110-lap race was somewhat chaotic. Pole sitter Palou got a brilliant start, with third-place Scott Dixon in hot pursuit. However, Felix Rosenqvist came upon them two at a frightening pace, clipping the rear-left of Dixon and as he avoided heavier contact he pushed both Alexander Rossi and pole-sitter Alex Palou into the Turn 1 runoff. In fact, all the front-runners missed Turn 1 as further mayhem ensued – James Hinchcliffe, Oliver Askew, Will Power, Helio Castroneves, and Romain Grosjean also ran wide.
IndyCar insists that cars that make the chicane are given priority when it comes to reordering the pack, so all three (Palou, Dixon, and Rosenqvist) were relegated to the back while Arrow McLaren SP’s Patricio O’Ward was promoted to the race lead ahead of Graham Rahal, Ed Jones, Marcus Ericsson, and Sebastien Bourdais.
However, a cautionary period followed after contact between various cars including Helio Castroneves, Calum Ilott, and Romain Grosjean who took Andretti’s James Hinchcliffe out of the race.
O’Ward led from the restart on Lap 11, stretching a solid gap right ahead of Graham Rahal, while championship rivals Palou and Dixon were left floundering near the bottom, but having taken the initiative to go onto an alternative strategy and pitted early.
However, things turned when O’Ward pitted from the lead on Lap 29. Graham Rahal would stay out five more laps before pitting and would eventually assume the race lead after O’Ward struggled to make his new black tyres work.
On Lap 52, Dalton Kellett and Callum Ilott both stalled on the same lap which brought out the next caution. Some drivers, such as O’Ward would take this opportunity to pit for their second out of three pit stops, while others such as Graham Rahal would stay out, opting to use the extra yellow time to make it to the end on just one stop.
Patricio O’Ward inherited the lead on Lap 1 but would eventually finish down in 14th. Photo Courtesy of Chris Owens.
O’Ward suddenly found himself down in 12th needing to pass 11 cars on track in order to retake the race lead. On the restart, the Mexican reported a loss of power due to being in the wrong fuel mode and was quickly swallowed up by a multitude of cars which would signal the beginning of the end of his race.
Meanwhile, Rahal had remained in the lead on the restart, however, his choice not to stop meant that he needed to excessively fuel save across his final two stints. He led heading into his final stop on Lap 75 followed by Ed Jones and Jack Harvey.
However, others on the two-stop began to use the overcut to good effect. Scott Dixon, Alexander Rossi, and Alex Palou all separately leapfrogged one another on overcuts, resulting in Palou taking the race lead ahead of Rossi before two separate spins brought out the final two cautions of the day.
The first was brought out on Lap 86 by Simon Pagenaud who spun coming out of the pits after coming into contact with teammate Will Power. The second on Lap 90 by Oliver Askew who would also, unfortunately, spin and stall the car.
Alex Palou won his third victory from pole position to retake the lead in the Drivers’ Championship. Photo Courtesy of Joe Skibinski.
Alex Palou led the final restart from Rossi, Dixon, and Harvey, and Newgarden but was able to masterfully hold off his American Andretti rival in impressive fashion. The gap was brought down to 0.3s with 10 laps remaining, but it would be the Spaniard who crossed the line victorious to take his third IndyCar victory of 2021.
Rossi, Dixon, Harvey, and Newgarden would complete the Top Five while Rosenqvist, Ericsson, Herta, McLaughlin, and Rahal would round out the Top Ten.
O’Ward eventually finished in 14th place after struggling to make any significant ground on the restarts.
It would be a massively important win for Alex Palou who retakes the lead of the Driver’s Championship with two races remaining at Leguna Seca and Long Beach. The Spaniard now holds a 25 point lead over the Mexican, with Josef Newgarden a further nine points behind and Dixon another 15.
Marcus Ericsson is still mathematically in with a shout of the title but would have to overcome a 75 point deficit to achieve what would be a ‘Deus Ex Machina’ type scenario at this point.
Warm weather and good track conditions saw Ducati dominate in Spain.
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) took an all-time lap record for pole position and Ducati’s 50th pole in the Moto GP class while his team-mate took a sensational second. From Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), who rounded off front row in third.
Ducati one-two in qualifying. Courtesy of: Moto GP website.
Aragon saw the return of Maverick Vinales, on an Aprilia (his new team for 2022) and last weekends two Brits – Jake Dixon, riding for Petronas Yamaha and Cal Crutchlow, riding for the factory Yamaha.
Race:
Track temperature remained at a high level, reaching 42degrees by lights out. The Ducati’s had been superb in qualifying but Marc Marquez (Honda) was on home-ground with numerous victories already in place at the Aragon circuit. Starting from fourth on the grid, on a track better suited for his injured shoulder, could he perform at his best once again to take two victories this season?
Bagnaia was quick off the line but it was Marquez who soared up to 2nd place, ahead of Jack Miller (Ducati) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia). Unfortunately, luck was not on Alex Marquez’s (Honda) side and he took a tumble on the first lap.
Fabio’s luck didn’t go too well for him either and he went from 3rd to 7th. Could he work his way back through the pack?
Good luck however was on the side of last years race winner Alex Rins (Suzuki), who had risen 5 places from where he started on the grid.
Lap two saw Britain’s Jake Dixon crash in sector 2, bringing an early end to his second Moto GP race.
Soon Quartararo and Brad Binder (KTM) were scrapping for 7th place but while that was happening Bagnaia claimed fastest lap. Putting in a lot of effort to try and break free of Marquez, but Marquez never released him and constantly sat on his rear – watching.
Binder. Courtesy of: Moto GP website.
By lap five, Rins had made good progress and was up to 12th place and there were mini battles forming throughout the pack – Miguel Oliveira (KTM) and Johann Zarco (Ducati) fought for 14th place, while Iker Lecuona (KTM) and Brad Binder (KTM) fought for 8th place.
Marquez soon stole fastest lap from Bagnaia, all the while watching and formulating a plan.
Bagnaia leading. Courtesy of: Moto GP website.
All the riders, apart from Zarco, had chosen to use hard front Michelin tyres and soft rear. Did Zarco know something the others didn’t? Would we see a change in pace later on in the race?
First and second started to break away from Miller in third and 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th created their own group.
With 12 laps to go Miller went wide and A. Espargaro and Joan Mir (Suzuki) took advantage and passed but Mir went one further and also passed Espargaro for last place spot on the podium.
With all this happening behind them, Bagnaia and Marquez extended their lead even further to 3.405 seconds.
Rookie Enea Bastianini (Ducati) and Quartararo battled it out for 9th place, which brought Takaaki Nakagami (Honda) into the fray. But it resulted in Nakagami passing both Bastianini and Quartararo on lap 14 of 23. The fight then switched between Nakagami and Bastianini, with the Japanese rider winning the place.
The gap between the leading pair extended further still with 4.226 seconds between them and Mir.
Fabio was back up into 8th place after Iker went wide on lap 18.
Predator mode was fully activated for Marquez with four laps until the chequered flag, as he closed down further on Bagnaia, all of his waiting, watching and planning were put into action.
Bagnaia was warned of his proximity and rode defensively, keeping him at bay.
With 3 laps to go:
Marquez passed Bagnaia but the Ducati rider took the position straight back and rode defensive into turn 12.
Marquez passed him again, but again Bagnaia re-took the lead.
2 laps to go:
Marquez tried once again, but once again Bagnaia out-braked Marquez and remained in 1st.
Another pass from Marquez, saw Bagnaia pass right back.
The lead was momentarily Marquez’s for the 5th time but for the 5th time Bagnaia took it back.
Last lap:
Turn one saw Marquez go back into the lead but it was taken straight back by Bagnaia.
Marquez passed again soon after but he went wide and Bagnaia needed no invitation and re-took the lead again.
The final attempt on turn 12 saw Marquez pass again, he got into the lead but went wide and in doing so exceeded track limits. Bagnaia fought a hard but respectful battle and beat Marquez to victory, to claim his maiden win in Moto GP. A healthy 25 points meant he climbed up the championship ladder into second place and he became the 8th different winner for 2021.
It was an even sweeter day for Ducati as it was not only their 50th pole position in Moto GP which accumulated into a win but it was also their 50th anniversary of their first entry into the Moto GP championship (12th September 1971 – Monza).
Podium finishers. Courtesy of: Moto GP Twitter.
Top Ten Riders:
1
F. Bagnaia
2
M. Marquez
3
J. Mir
4
A. Espargaro
5
J. Miller
6
E. Bastianini
7
B. Binder
8
F. Quartararo
9
J. Martin
10
T. Nakagami
The only Yamaha rider to gain any points during the race had relatively poor finish but it still sees him leading the championship:
Championship top four:
1
F. Quartararo
214 points
2
F. Bagnaia
161 points
3
J. Mir
157 points
4
J. Zarco
137 points
Making history for Ducati and himself, Bagnaia proved he has what it takes to be a Moto GP winner. Will we now see a new championship contender for 2021?
Featured image. Courtesy of: Ducati Course Twitter.
Race 2 of the weekend for the full 53 laps at the temple of speed and all eyes were on the front of the grid. Verstappen looking to capitalise on the bad start for Hamilton yesterday and both McLarens in the fight who wanted to mix things up and get a podium.
After his crash yesterday Gasly had some issues on his reconnaissance lap with a stuck throttle. However, starting from the pitlane after having to replace parts of the car it looked like they had repaired the car in the garage and was able to start the race. However, the car was undriveable and Gasly was out by lap 5. On the other side of the garage there was some late drama for Tsunoda whose car was pushed off the grid and into the garage 5 minutes before the race start. The car had some hydraulic brake issues which is not normally a quick job so Alpha Tauri tried their hardest for a pitlane start but they couldn’t get it out in time, and he didn’t start the race. A race to forget for Alpha Tauri.
Lights out and Daniel Ricciardo beat Verstappen into the first corner and lead the race into turn 2. Hamilton managed to get around the outside of Norris into turn 1 and picked up the slipstream from Verstappen, moving alongside him into the second chicane. 2 into 1 doesn’t go and Hamilton ended up being forced wide, similar to Imola this year. Hamilton then lost another place to Norris who had watched it unfold.
MONZA, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 12: Daniel Ricciardo of Australia driving the (3) McLaren F1 Team MCL35M Mercedes leads Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes W12 and Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Red Bull Racing RB16B Honda on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo di Monza on September 12, 2021 in Monza, Italy. (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)
Further back and Giovinazzi went wide at the same chicane, unsafely coming back onto the track and clipping the front of Sainz, spinning him into the wall and losing his front wing. This brought out the Virtual safety car to recover the debris for 2 laps before the track was cleared. Giovinazzi got a 5 second time penalty for this which he served at his next pitstop.
Perez was on the mediums and coming into play for RedBull as he made his way up the grid. He had a great battle with Sainz for P6 on lap 10 from turn 1 all the way to the second chicane where Perez eventually won out and gained the place. The other Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas was also making his way up the grid making the hard tyres work for him.
On lap 15 Vettel and Ocon were fighting for P12, Vettel closing in on Ocon into the second chicane and he was alongside going into the corner. However, Ocon was closing the door on Vettel, not leaving enough room, and the two made contact with Vettel losing out. Ocon gained a 5 second time penalty for his contact with Vettel and not leaving him enough room despite being alongside.
Lap 22 and the leader came into the pits with a perfect stop from McLaren. RedBull and Verstappen respond immediately but they had a terrible stop being held for 11 seconds in the pit box due to a slow right rear tyre. At the same time Hamilton finally overtook Norris and took the lead of the race. Norris then came into the pits and another perfect pit stop for McLaren.
MONZA, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 12: Max Verstappen driving the (33) Red Bull Racing RB16B Honda makes a pitstop during the F1 Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo di Monza on September 12, 2021 in Monza, Italy. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)
Mercedes responded, he was held slightly but came out between Norris and Verstappen. Norris got past but Verstappen attempted to get around the outside of Hamilton into turn 1. Verstappen ended up on the sausage curb and was lifted over Hamilton, destroying the back wing but the halo doing its job as the tyre of the RedBull.
At the restart Ricciardo got away and Norris caught Leclerc out and used the tow to his advantage, taking P2 behind his teammate. Leclerc didn’t have a great restart and lost another place to Perez, then to Bottas moving down to P5. However, Perez hopped across the corner to gain the place and didn’t give the place back was awarded a 5 second time penalty which was added at the end of the race. Bottas on the mediums was faster than the leader Ricciardo by 1.3 seconds per lap. The charge was on for him and next to hunt down Perez and stay within that 5 second window.
After the chaos of the restart, by lap 40 normal racing had resumed and Norris was looking faster than Ricciardo but McLaren confirmed they would hold station to gain maximum points for the team. Just 4 laps later, after making contact with his teammate and locking up going straight on at turn 1, Mazepin’s engine gave out and he stopped bringing out a brief virtual safety car neutralising the battles.
Leading from start to finish after a great move into turn 1, Daniel Ricciardo won the Italian Grand Prix with his teammate Lando Norris in P2. To add to the achievements Ricciardo gained the fastest lap point on the last lap. This is the first win for McLaren in 9 years and its fantastic to see them back on top. Perez finished P3 on track but after the 5 second penalty he drops to P5 and Bottas finished on the podium.
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren (McLaren Racing Media)
It has been a turn of fortune since coming back from the summer break for Daniel Ricciardo. McLaren have also been on the way back up since 2018. Shout out to Norris who put in a mature drive for the team to bring home a 1 – 2.
For the championship the crash means Verstappen leaves with the 5 points lead from yesterday. The incident is being investigated and the repercussions could last for weeks. This is becoming a very intense battle for the title which every fan is excited about. Good to see both drivers get out of the car OK and this will only add to the fight going into Russia in 2 weeks’ time.
The final day then of this incredible event! Kalle had a huge lead coming into the last day. With just under 70km over three stages, there was still plenty of opportunities for things to happen!
The startlist looked like this – Loubet, Serderidis, Neuville, Evans, Greensmith, Fourmaux, Sordo, Ogier, Tänak, Rovanperä.
Into the first stage of the day then, SS13 Tarzan 1 – 23.37 km. There was drama for Adrien as he suffered a problem on the road section, meaning that he’d had to stop to change the spark plugs. He was 18 minutes late to the time control and picked up 3 minutes of time penalties as a result. This meant that his teammate picked up fifth overall, and also Elfyn moved up a place to sixth as well at the expense of Adrien. Kalle won the stage by a huge 14 seconds from Ott, with Seb a further 13.9 seconds back from Ott. In the WRC2 battle, Andreas got ahead of Marco once again and the gap was up to 6.8 seconds! The WRC3 top three was Yohan, Kajeten and Chris.
The following stage, SS14 Pyrgos – 33.20 km, again just a single run stage as well, and Ott denied Adrien and M-Sport a stage win, whilst Seb was third in the stage. With his pace, the Estonian now held a lead over the Toyota driver of 32.4 seconds. Adrien’s pace in the stage actually meant that he’s passed Elfyn who was sixth fastest, but the gap was just eight tenths of a second. Thierry passed Marco for ninth place, and was now just five seconds behind Andreas, the WRC2 leader.
To the final stage then, SS15 Tarzan 2 [Power Stage] – 12.68 km, a shortened version of the mornings first stage. The startlist was updated to this – Gryazin (WRC2), Bulacia (WRC2), Mikkelsen (WRC2), Serderidis, Neuville, Evans, Fourmaux, Greensmith, Sordo, Ogier, Tänak, Rovanperä.
Thierry was the first to go under nine minutes, and then his time was beaten by Elfyn. It was looking good for the Welshman to take the stage win, as the following drivers could not beat his time. Ott had drama on the start line as his car nearly didn’t fire up, and when it did there was blue smoke at first. Adrien had a spin in the stage, losing 12 seconds to Elfyn and he dropped behind into seventh. Kalle completed the stage, 1.2 seconds up on Elfyn, meaning that he took the stage win and maximum points in the powerstage with Elfyn second, Seb third. Ott and Dani rounded out the top five. Andreas took the WRC2 victory from Marco, and Nicolay on his first outing for M-Sport. Yohan took WRC3 honours from Kajeten and Chris third.
Well, there you have it. Kalle and Jonne have taken their second WRC victory from Ott and Seb. This has lifted them into fourth place in the championship, just one point behind Thierry and Martjin who are a now six points behind Elfyn. Seb now has a 44-point advantage over his Welsh teammate in the championship, with just three rounds left.
2021 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 09 / Acropolis Rally Greece / 09-12, September 2021 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Final Overall Classification – Acropolis Rally
1
K. Rovanperä
J. Halttunen
Toyota Yaris WRC
3:28:24.6
2
O. Tänak
M. Järveoja
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+42.1
3
S. Ogier
J. Ingrassia
Toyota Yaris WRC
+1:11.3
4
D. Sordo
C. Carrera
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+3:01.0
5
G. Greensmith
C. Patterson
Ford Fiesta WRC
+5:45.0
6
E. Evans
S. Martin
Toyota Yaris WRC
+6:42.7
7
A. Fourmaux
R. Jamoul
Ford Fiesta WRC
+6:54.4
8
T. Neuville
M. Wydaeghe
Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
+8:41.1
9
A. Mikkelsen
E. Edmondson
Škoda Fabia Evo
+9:02.5
10
M. Bulacia
M. Der Ohannesian
Škoda Fabia Evo
+9:19.2
Let’s hear from the drivers then.
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Kalle Rovanperä (1st)
“I’m feeling really good to win here in Greece. It was a really tough rally to be honest, a long week with a lot of stages to recce and long nights watching the videos, so I feel really happy to be at the finish with this result. I felt good on Friday already, and then we did some setup changes to the car because the stages on Saturday were different, and I felt even better with the car. It came quite nicely; I could enjoy the driving a lot. A big thank you to the team, everybody did a great job and the car was running without issues. Hopefully we can take the same speed to Finland.”
2021 FIA World Rally Championship / Round 09 / Acropolis Rally Greece / 09-12, September 2021 // Worldwide Copyright: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier (3rd)
“This is a very good result for us. The target this weekend was to maintain the lead we had in the championship and we actually increased it, which is very positive. I think we did a very clever rally. The conditions were challenging all the time. Obviously, I was not in the same pace as Kalle, he was really flying and on the next level compared to everybody, so congratulations to him for a well-deserved win. In the position I was in in the championship after Friday, my mindset was not to risk everything to win the rally, so I’m very happy with my third place.”
Elfyn Evans (6th)
“This was not our weekend but these things happen in rallying and it’s been very rare at this team to have an issue like we had on Friday. The feeling in the car was generally quite good. Getting sixth place in the end today was a bit of a gift with an issue that somebody else had this morning. Maybe it was not a perfect run on the Power Stage for us, but four bonus points is still a good addition and at least we managed to salvage something from the weekend.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Ott Tänak (2nd)
“At the end of a challenging weekend, it is good to come away with second place and another podium. We haven’t had the easiest rally, but we have worked hard to find improvements to get a better feeling from the car, and there have been some positive signs. Kalle has been on top form since the very start, so we have had to focus on confirming second place. We have made some bold decisions on tyres, which has only been possible because of the work of our weather crew. I’d like to say thanks to them for a great job. We know there is more work we need to do, but I think we’ve achieved all that was possible in Acropolis with second place.”
Dani Sordo (4th)
“This has been a tough weekend. The days on which we had to make our pace notes were difficult and as a result we didn’t have the confidence we needed. The conditions today were really nice, and I liked the stages, but it was difficult to follow the road at times. Fourth place was about the best we could manage, so we concentrated on securing the result, nothing more. This was the first WRC event with Cándido, and he has done a good job, but we will try to do better on the next one.”
Thierry Neuville (8th)
“We have given everything this weekend and we have fought hard from the start to the finish. Unfortunately, there is no compensation for all that work. Our rally was over with the power steering issues on Friday. Since then, our focus has been on recovering positions to try and salvage whatever we could from the rally. To be honest, I think we deserve more than this. We have put absolutely everything into it and haven’t got out of it what we should.”
2021 FIA World Rally Championship Round 09, Acropolis Rally 09-12 September 2021 Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Dufour Fabien Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
M-Sport Ford WRT
Gus Greensmith (5th)
“The team have lived-up to the form that we have shown on rougher rallies this year and, although probably I could have hoped for more in terms of my finishing position, a top-five finish is a good thing for sure. I gave it everything I could.
Adrien hit problems early on this morning which you never like to see. We were having a great battle until that point, and he was at least able to continue and score good points.”
Adrien Fourmaux (7th)
“A mixed day for us really, after picking up penalties for being late this morning because of an engine issue. We were able to set second-fastest time on one stage, but that early problem allowed Gus to pull ahead of us and I was left to fight to hold my position.
“On the Power Stage, we made a mistake: unfortunately, I spun and had to reverse but I tried, I had a big push, but unfortunately we ended the rally in seventh place. It has been an amazing event to experience and I’m delighted for the team that we have shown our pace and got the cars home, I just am sorry to them not to be higher at the end.”
Jourdan Serderidis (10th)
“It was fun, so many people, so many fans from Greece and it was nice to come and the stages have been fantastic. It was great to be here and to get the car safely to the finish in the top 10 of the rally. The team has built a fantastic car, I want to thank them for an unforgettable event.”
Nikolay Gryazin (3rd, WRC2)
“It’s been okay, a lot of things to work with but at least we are on the finish. We have a lot to learn about the car and the team but a podium finish at our first attempt is certainly something to take away from our first Acropolis.”
2021 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round nine
1
S. Ogier
180
2
E. Evans
136
3
T. Neuville
130
4
K. Rovanperä
129
5
O. Tänak
106
6
T. Katsuta
66
7
C. Breen
60
8
G. Greensmith
44
9
D. Sordo
43
10
A. Fourmaux
36
2021 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round nine
1
Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team
397
2
Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team
340
3
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team
153
4
Hyundai 2C Competition
44
Next up is Rally Finland which takes place from the 1st to the 4th of October. Look out for my preview in the days before.
