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BRITISH GT: GT3 Sunday Round Up. Race One Win and Double Podium for Thiim/Farmer, Howard makes Johnston sweat in Race Two

Aston Martin dominated the British GT GT3 class with two victories from Snetterton’s two sprint races on Sunday.

Nikki Thiim and Mark Farmer in the TF Sport #11 Aston Martin eased home after pole position for race one, and Farmer was relieved with his second GT victory after falling back to third.

“I made a bit of a mistake which cost me momentum. Sadly the Aston got me and the Bentley got me because of that, it went from perfection to losing out in the blink of an eye but that is how it is.

“We had a lightning driver change, we’d been practicing all morning, it was really fast and we jumped them in the pits.”

Farmer was quick to point to the guidance given to him by Thiim, a world champion at sportscar level.

“It’s massive to have a Pro driver like Nikki with you, as an Am you’re still finding your way in the sport so to have someone that can guide you an coach you is super important. I had John Barnes for a long time, to have Nikki as well, I’m extremely fortunate.

“They’re both very different, but we get on well and I’m learning a lot from him.”

After finishing well back at Rockingham with technical gremlins affecting his Aston Martin,  there’s plenty of motivation for the #11 Am driver, who conceded that the team cannot afford any more mistakes.

“We were really quick in Rockingham but had a technical issue, these things happen and our championship starts now. The competition is really tough, you can’t afford to slip up and we have at Oulton and Rockingham. We need to be flawless from now.”

Later in the afternoon, a stint-long battle between Derek Johnston’s #17 Aston and Andrew Howard in the #99 Beechdean Aston eventually went the way of the former.

Copyright © Spacesuit Media Ltd 2018. All rights reserved.  Derek Johnston was made to work hard for victory in the afternoon at Snetterton

 

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Howard had been all over Johnston and despite pushing, Johnston held on for a far from stress-free victory.

I don’t know if it was fun! That’s the hardest I’ve worked in a race I think, Andrew kept me on it and as we’re in identical cars he knows what I can do and vice versa.  That is why we go racing. For two old guys like me and him to be out there like that, that was perfect.

“I thought “What have I got to do?” because he just kept on following me through back markers. I was working harder and harder. He just never let me breathe.”

Johnston was well aware of the importance of teammate Marco Sorensen passing the #33 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini of Phil Keen at the start of the race, which kept the #17 in touch with the leading #11 of Nikki Thiim.

“To pass Phil at T1 at the start was important for us, we weren’t quite as quick as the sister car early on but all in all that was great. We had a BOP (Balance of Performance) disadvantage and we thought that may affect us, but the Aston is still a good old car at seven years old.”

And the #17 Am driver praised the two-race, sprint format in use this weekend.

“Two races lets you know whether you have made a mistake on setup, you can put it right. For me, I rarely get the opportunity to take the chequered flag with a win so that was phenomenal. The best feeling in the world.”

 

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Maximum Monaco: Max taking risks again

Max Verstappen – Photo credit, Redbull Content Pool

After some impressive Free Practice sessions for the Dutchman –finishing second in both first and second Free Practice- it was looking to be a very promising weekend for Max Verstappen. The Red Bull dominated both sessions on the Thursday, with Daniel Ricciardo finding himself on top spot twice. They both outclassed the Ferrari and Mercedes, who already deemed Red Bull favourite for a potential victory. This might be the chance for Max to get his first ever pole position, and that on a track where pole position can mean the race win. Knowing how well he can defend, that special win could be guaranteed. It thus seemed like a fairy tale would come true in what is the crown jewel on the F1 calendar.

They couldn’t be more wrong, as this fairy tale turned into a horror even before qualifying started. With just four minutes to go in FP3 –having set the fastest time yet that session- Max crashed his number 33 car into the wall at the Piscine section, one of the fastest sections of the track. Pushing maybe too hard that lap he steered in too early, hitting the wall which led to a suspension failure as he went straight into the wall. It looked almost identical as the crash he had there back in 2016. The car was damaged heavily and the question was raised if the Red Bull mechanics could fix the car on time for qualifying. Pictures on TV looked promising as the mechanics were working hard on the car with just 15 minutes to go in Q1. The dream of a potential first pole position ended quickly after that, when news came out that they found issues with the gearbox which they had to change.

Of course such things can happen on Monaco, but after having incidents in all of the races this season so far the time might come for Max to ask himself if he can continue to drive like this, or if he has to change his driving style. We all know Max for his aggressive driving, both attacking and defending. That’s what makes him stand out from the rest. He takes risks like no one else. That might be just the problem. Those risks don’t get you as a driver nor the team the very important points. Max was criticised for his incidents like the crash in China with Vettel and his spin into the barriers at Bahrain and even his team became more critical. He responded to that, saying that he won’t change his driving style as he thinks that isn’t necessary. Now however, after the costly crash in FP3, Christian Horner has warned the young Dutchman that something has to change and the crashes need to stop. On TV we could see a seemingly angry Helmut Marko talking to Max, probably telling him the same. They are running out of patience at Red Bull. Afterwards he admitted he made the mistake all by his own. Does that mean he learned from it though?

Max – Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Starting the race from last position, he had nothing to lose. After overtaking both Haas cars immediately after the start, his race already looked promising. He was very cautious at turn 6 on the first lap as he really left some room there so it might be clear that he really listened to his team. Some impressive overtakes on Leclerc, Sainz and Stroll brought him up to P12 in lap 20. Finishing the race in P9, on a track where overtaking is deemed very tough, starting from last place he really impressed F1 fans from all over the world. He has proven himself again.

One thing that was noted over the course of this season, especially after another unnecessary and very costly crash, is the attitude towards Max from his Dutch fans. The comments on Facebook and Twitter have become way more negative. Dutch fans have become more divided on the subject of his driving style. On the one hand people enjoy his aggressive style and accept that this can lead to crashes as this style also brought him his victories, but on the other hand people get annoyed by the fact that he struggles to get points to fight for the championship especially when they see that his teammate dominated the whole weekend. One thing they all have in common is that they all think Max needs to learn from his mistakes to prevent them from happening again in the future. After all, he could have won the Monaco GP this weekend..

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Double Dutch Delight At Donington

Michael Van der Mark (Pata-Yamaha) secured back-to-back victories this weekend at the British round of the 2018 World Superbike Championship, at Donington Park.

Due to the quirky partially reversed grid rules, the 25-year old began today’s race from ninth place on the grid having taken victory yesterday in race 1. Not that deterred Netherlands’ first superbike race winner one iota. As the lights went out he hooked up a perfect launch off the line, out dragging most of his rivals into the first corner at Redgate. The early laps were spent dicing with Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) over second place. The Aprilia could not live with the relentless pace being set and dropped out of contention for a podium finish.

With Rea kept behind him, the Dutchman set about chasing down the leader, Alex Lowes (Pata-Yamaha). As the laps ticked by, it became apparent that the British rider was struggling for tyre grip. Once he was caught, Van der Mark passing him was simply inevitable. The move was brilliantly executed; having pulled alongside Lowes through the fast switchback craner curves, before squeezing up the inside of his teammate at the old hairpin. Lowes’ troubles would ultimately see him fall back to finish in P4.

However, nothing would deny Van der Mark from completing the double today. Not even a resurgent charge from Rea in the closing laps could worry the Yamaha man – a further reminder (if needed) of his deep reserve of mental strength. Rea ambitiously attempted a do-or-die lunge at the Melbourne hairpin on the penultimate lap, but ran wide. The mistake consigned him to finish in P3, as Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pucetti Kawasaki) pounced to secure second. It was a brilliant ride from the 22-year old, carving his way through the field from tenth on the grid. History made twice in one weekend – today was the first time a Turkish rider has stood on a World Superbike podium.

It was a solid – if unspectacular – day for Aruba.it Ducati and Chaz Davies. The long night spent by the mechanics as they tried to solve the instability problems which have played the Panigale R all weekend. Sacrificing their straight line speed, and focusing on the bike’s ability to corner efficiently, Davies was able to bring home 11 points for a P5 finish. After the troubles the team have faced this weekend, its a result they will take. The other factory rider, Marco Melandri, endured another torrid race. Unable to ride with the confidence to push the bike to its limits, the veteran Italian could only manage P11. Ducati will be desperately hoping their fortunes improve next time out at the Czech round in Brno.

Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda) will be quietly satisfied with his ride to P8 today. Having been forced to sit out the previous round at Imola due to injury, the British rider’s primary objective was to just finish his home round. Job done, and brought home a very respectable tally of points for his troubles. Even a not fully fit Camier is worth his weight in gold for the team as American rookie, Jake Gagne (P13), continues to struggle on his Fireblade machine this season.

Loris Baz (Althea BMW) once again fought tooth and nail for every place he could get. The Frenchman has surprised the field this weekend when he secured his first front row start of his superbike career – the first time in five years for any BMW team. Although he was unable to maintain a front running pace during either of the two races – due to the comparative aging of the BMW machine to the rest of the competition – he was involved in several on-track battles. Most notably today against Jordi Torresc (MV Agusta). The pair spent much of the race locked nose-to-tail as they hounded each other across the parkland track. Eventually though it was the Spaniard who triumphed, securing P9. Baz completed the top ten.

For Milwaukee Aprilia, it was a case of ecstasy and agony. Whilst Savadori battled his way to finish in P7, it was a different story for his teammate Eugene Laverty. Despite starting from the front row of the grid, a bad start left the 31-year old struggling in the midfield. Although he seemed competitive enough to compete with the likes of Camier, Torres and Baz, with eight laps remaining the Aprilia pulled off the circuit. It later transpired that the Irishman had suffered an issue with the wheel speed sensor, which caused a malfunction with the bike’s electronics.

A final note on the wildcards from British Superbikes. Luke Mossey (Pedercini Kawasaki) was the highest finisher in P14, ahead of the Buildbase Suzuki machine of Bradley Ray, who claimed the final points scoring finish in P16. Leon Haslam (Pucetti Kawasaki), having experienced the highs of yesterday experienced the lows of today – crashing out early on in the race and retiring the bike. Gino Rea on the OMG Racing Suzuki was the last classified competitor to finish, in P19.

World Superbikes returns with Round 7 at the Automotodrom Brno, Czechia – June 8th-10th. 

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British F3: Kjaergaard’s pole and win takes him top of the British F3 championship

Nicolai Kjaergaard is looking to build on his early-season reputation as the great overtaker in British F3 after winning race one on Saturday to go top of the standings on countback.

Kjaergaard beat Kush Maini of Lanan Motorsports after the Indian driver profited from a late error from Championship leader Linus Lundqvist, with the Swede relegated to third in the dying embers.

The result means that Kjaergaard, who has 22 points from overtaking in race two, will start from the back, but with extra points on offer the great Dane is relishing the challenge.

“It is definitely (all to play for) I am going to try and make up as many places as possible tomorrow. It’s a big point race and that is where you can make a real difference if you’re good in that race throughout the season.

“It will be very difficult having a podium in the race two tomorrow having a podium because it is difficult to overtake and we are starting plum last.”

Kjaergaard considered himself pleased with his day’s work after converting his pole position from the morning qualifying, and says he wasn’t under undue pressure from Linus Lundqvist despite the Swede spending most of the race just one second behind.

“Today has been really good, I saw that they had new tyres on but managed to keep them back in the first few laps. After that they didn’t seem to have a lot of pace difference to me, it was a little bit close towards the end with Linus but then he made a mistake which helped me cruise to the end.

It was a really good win and the perfect start to the weekend. He was close enough that I couldn’t make a mistake but he was never close enough to attack me. I could manage the race at around a second for the whole thing.”

Maini was upbeat after moving up the order from third in qualifying, and is looking to convert a solid day today into more points tomorrow.

“Definitely I’m pleased with second, it’s five more points at the end of the day. Starting third and finishing second still isn’t the win but they’re going to have bad races and it’s up to us to take advantage. It’s still good points and we’re still in the fight for the Championship and that is all that matters.

“It’s tough to follow here, passing is not the issue it is trying to stay near them, which I found pretty difficult.

“The further back you start the more points you can get, so we’ll try and pass as many as possible while making sure we finish. I won’t take too many risks, but calculated risks and then from race three we want to build again and get a podium. I’m confident we can get a lot more points tomorrow.”

And the 17-year-old believes it will be a season-long battle between himself, Kjaergaard and Lundqvist for the British F3 championship.

“The tracks coming up seem to suit us three and I honestly think it’s between us three, it’s Tom’s first year in single seaters. It’s going to be a fun year and you guys are in for a treat.

Lundqvist remained philosophical after an oversteer moment on the infield section saw the 19-year-old cede second place late on.

“As I said after qualifying, it could have been a lot worse. In the end I can’t be too down about this result. It’s still a podium, we had the pace for second. When you’re the one that made the mistake and cost yourself a position you are always a little upset with yourself.”

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British GT: Nicki Thiim aiming to make up for lost points at Rockingham after #11 TF Sport take both GT3 poles

Nicki Thiim has targeted victories for the #11 TF Sport Aston Martin that he shares with Mark Farmer during tomorrow’s two hour-long sprint British GT races.

Thiim was almost half a second clear of Phil Keen’s #33 Lamborghini in GT3 qualifying, and says it was an important step to right the wrongs of a disappointing Rockingham weekend last time out.

“This was important because we had to make up for Rockingham, which was a terrible weekend for us and this was perfect. We’ve kept it inside the top two all day and hopefully we can do the same tomorrow, keep the guys with a smile on their face.

“We want to keep improving, we have to start making up points now otherwise it will be too late, tomorrow’s the best opportunity to do that.

According to Thiim the tight and twisty layout of the Norfolk circuit will impact tomorrow’s action despite the shorter format in play this weekend.

“In practice we saw a massive tyre degradation and that’s going to be a big thing to watch for in the race, so tomorrow we must watch for that even in the short races.”

This is the first time the experienced Dane has ever been to Snetterton in a racing capacity, but he played down the achievement of taking pole first time out, and instead praised his Amatuer category teammate Mark Farmer for his pole position in GT3 Am qualifying.

“I’ve been here once before for one test four years ago so it’s been some time! I’m no local. I’m just trying to get the job done. You have to be on the pace as quickly as you can because you’re sharing a car with one guy so you are limited with time.

“You have to make every lap count in every session, keep improving. As a Pro driver you have a double duty to help the amateur driver, try to learn him and watch the lines he does to improve his lines as he might not know what the right line is. Mark did a stunning job today though.

With the level of driver in that category it can be hard for him to put everything into practice, I can sit there and yell at him and punch him in the shoulder but for him to go out there and do it is hard. He’s a really good listener and the lap he did shows that, so it’s a tap on the shoulder for me too. The respect goes both ways and it’s really good.”

Meanwhile, Keen had an unusual issue to say the least as he battled to second in GT3 Pro qualifying.

“The car caught fire on the first lap, I did as much as I could and had to pull over. I was a bit distracted by the smoke in the car, it did quite a lot of damage. I probably should have stopped really.

“We’ll keep pushing and see what we can do, at the moment this is what we have and the most we can get out of the car in the race.”

Meanwhile, Ben Tuck took GT4 AM pole position in his Century Motorsport #42 BMW and believes he and Ben Green can challenge for top honours tomorrow.

“That lap felt really good, we struggled a little in practice but we were on old tyres and once we put new ones on it would work.

Matt Nicoll-Jones took GT4 Pro pole for the second race tomorrow afternoon in his Academy Motorsport #62 Aston Martin.

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Monaco Grand Prix: Dominant Ricciardo Takes Pole with New Lap Record

Image courtesy of the Red Bull content pool.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo has claimed his second ever pole position in Formula One, setting a new lap record around the circuit where he incidentally also claimed his first.

Red Bull were always expected to fly around Monaco and it has certainly been an extremely impressive weekend so far for the team – and Ricciardo in particular – save for Max Verstappen’s crash in FP3. Ricciardo was fastest in every single practice session and every segment of qualifying, breaking the lap record numerous times before ultimately taking pole with a 1:10.810, in doing so becoming the only driver to break into the 1:10s.

The Australian’s nearest competitor was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. In the dying moments of the session Vettel managed to improve and close the gap to P1, but he was still over two tenths away from Ricciardo, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton another two tenths back in P3.

Kimi Raikkonen will perhaps have been hoping for more than P4; he starts ahead of fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas and best-of-the-rest Esteban Ocon, who put in a great performance in the Force India to go P6. McLaren will no doubt be glad to have gotten at least one car into the top ten  – Fernando Alonso will start tomorrow’s race in P7 ahead of Sainz, Perez, Gasly and Hulkenberg – because it looked for a while in the early stages of the weekend as though they may be out-performed by Toro Rosso and their Honda engine. The other McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne, however, failed to make it through to Q3 and starts P12.

Image courtesy of the Red Bull content pool.

Sergey Sirotkin’s performance mustn’t be underplayed as well. He may be starting P13, but he qualified a huge eight tenths ahead of his team-mate Lance Stroll, who has been struggling all weekend and complained of a loose head-rest and a general lack of traction in Q1. He starts down in P18.

Home favourite Charles Leclerc qualified P14 ahead of an out-of-sorts Romain Grosjean, who qualified P15 but carries a three-place grid penalty because of the crash he caused in Spain.

Brendon Hartley was my surprise of qualifying, and unfortunately not in a good way. The Kiwi had initially shown very strong pace in free practice – he was P7 in FP3 – and seemed to be on par with team-mate Pierre Gasly, but for some reason he failed to convert that in qualifying and ultimately ended up P16 ahead of Marcus Ericsson.

Rounding out the grid are a frustrated Kevin Magnussen in P19 – another surprise given that he finished sixth last time out in Spain – and Max Verstappen, who didn’t even take part in qualifying because of his FP3 crash and will be receiving a somewhat redundant five-place grid penalty because of a change of gearbox.

It is hard to look past anyone but Daniel Ricciardo for the win tomorrow. It’s one of the great cliches of Formula One that it’s impossible to overtake around Monaco but, at the same time, I’m sure there will be some interesting battles further down the order that will be worth keeping an eye on.

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History Made, As Van der Mark Takes Maiden Win

Image: Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images Sport

Michael Van der Mark stunned the field to claim his first victory in the World Superbike Championship as series leader, Jonathan Rea, strengthened his title challenge.

Under gloomy skies, but thankfully dry conditions, the Dutchman left it late to secure the top honours for Race 1 of the UK round. Although being competitive during the practice sessions, the true race pace of the Yamaha R1 was not expected to be at the very front alongside the green machines of the Kawasaki Racing Team (KRT).

With no rider having completed a full race simulation, Van der Mark produced a perfect display of tenacity and tactical awareness – ‘race craft’ to use the cliche – across the 23-lap race duration. Having seen off his Pata Yamaha teammate, Alex Lowes, by the halfway point of the race, ‘Magic Mike’ began to close down the KRT duo of Rea and Tom Sykes.

Any uncertainty over tyre wear was put to rest by the ultra smooth riding style of the Yamaha man, who squeezed his way past Sykes at the Melbourne hairpin, as the Yorkshireman struggled for grip late in the race. Just a couple of laps later, he completed the same move on Rea. Such was his good work at preserving the life in his tyres, that he was able to pull clear of the triple world champion to ensure an historic victory. Van der Mark took his maiden World Superbike win, and also became the first rider from the Netherlands to do so. It was also the first win for any Yamaha team in the championship since Portugal, 2011. The celebrations may well run into the middle of next week.

The KRT riders both finished upon the podium, as to be expected at Donington, although this may well seem an anti-climax for the team, following their record breaking performance earlier in the day in qualifying with Tom Sykes. The 32-year old took the record for most pole positions (44 and counting) from Australian legend Troy Corser. He did it in style, smashing a new pole lap record: 1″26’663. Tyre wear was undoubtedly a problem in the closing stages of today’s race, not helped by the ferocious scrap between himself and Rea during the opening laps.

The defending champion seemed more relieved to have got through the race as well as he did. Speaking post-qualifying he revealed he had only completed short runs in practice, and had no idea how the bike would behave by the end of the race. The second place podium finish means he extends his championship lead to 59 points. Its a healthy advantage but there is no doubt he’s having to fight every step of the way this year.

Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha) finished fourth today after an early race scrap with his teammate. When the leading trio began to pull away, the British rider settled into his rhythm and brought home a valuable total of points for the team. After such a difficult weekend last time out at Imola, this result was very much needed. Any feelings of disappointment today will be tempered by the fact that he does have a bike capable of beating the Kawasaki machines, and that he starts Race 2 tomorrow from pole position.

Milwaukee Aprilia had a very solid race, finishing not far behind Lowes in P5 (Lorenzo Savadori) and P6 (Eugene Laverty). Savadori spent the first half of the race in the leading group on the track, before eventually the relentless pace was too much for the RSV4-RF. Starting tomorrow’s race from the middle of the front row increases the teams chances of being able to fight for a podium finish – not beyond the realms of possibility. Laverty still continued to impress as he is still recovering from serious injuries sustained in Thailand back in March. Although never able to directly challenge his teammate today, the Irishman fought off a resurgent Loris Baz (Althea BMW) who had qualified on the front row, earlier in the day.

Questions will be being asked very loudly, and long into the night, in the Aruba.it Ducati garages. The weekend so far has been nothing short of a disaster for the Italian outfit. Chaz Davies could only manage to finish in P8 whilst his teammate, Marco Melandri, failed to finish following a fast lowside crash at Goddards. Their junior rider, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, could only manage P12. All three of the riders’ bikes have been suffering from lack of stability upon both corner entry and exit, costing them dearly in terms of lap times. It will be a lengthy night for the team as they try and make the bikes competitive for Race 2 tomorrow.

As its the UK round of the series, there were a number of wildcards entering from the British Superbike Championship – five in total. Leon Haslam (Pucetti Kawasaki) was once again competitive around his home circuit. The Derbyshire man hounded his teammate, Toprak Razgatlioglu, across the duration and inherited P8 when the Turkish star unfortunately crashed out on the final lap.

Bradley Ray, racing his BSB-spec Buildbase Suzuki machine managed to bring home points with his finish in P14. Unlike the World Superbike machines, contenders for the British series are not allowed to run electronic aids such as traction control and anti-wheelie systems. As a consequence, the Suzuki was at a disadvantage to the rest of the field.

Luke Mossey (Pedercini Kawasaki) finished in P17, ahead of Gino Rea (OMG Racing Suzuki) in P23. Unfortunately for Mason Law (WD40 Kawasaki), a technical problem with the bike saw him pushed off the grid just prior to the warm up lap, and he never made the start.  

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Indy 500 Race Preview

It’s that time of year again, the Month of May has nearly run its course and there is just one crucial event left in it, race day. Practice and qualifying entailed enough dramas of their own so, if they’re anything to go by, the race should be another thrilling showdown.

We had a surprisingly low amount of wrecks in practice and qualifying with just the one for James Davison but that didn’t mean that we were short of commotion. This was chiefly caused by the re-introduction of bumping, a long-standing Indy 500 tradition. Proper bumping hasn’t been present for a few years so here’s a quick run-down: the grid is traditionally only made up of 33 cars but 35 entered this year so two had to be removed from running before the race. This was done on the Saturday of qualifying where, after all drivers had completed their guaranteed runs, the track was opened for the free-for-all that is ‘Happy Hour’ following which the slowest two drivers would be eliminated.

Throughout the build up to qualifying, there had been the general feeling that bumping was going to throw up a surprise or two with someone who didn’t really deserve to be bumped ending up without a seat when the music stopped. This was, unfortunately, James Hinchcliffe who hasn’t exactly had the best of times at this track over the years. From nearly being killed in practice in 2015, to pole the year later and now this, Hinchcliffe’s pretty much had it all at this track. After a few days of speculation, Schmidt Peterson released a statement saying that they would not be trying to purchase an already qualified ride and that barring ‘unforeseen circumstances’, Hinchcliffe would not be racing. It’s a season-wrecker from a championship point of view but Hinchcliffe has proved his class and has only gained fans through his dealing of the bumping.

With all the Hinchcliffe talk, the other bumpee, Pippa Mann, was rather overshadowed, as was day two of qualifying. Over all the noise, it was Ed Carpenter, an Indy 500 expert, who took a surprising pole from Penske’s Simon Pagenaud and Will Power. Row two will be made up of championship leader Josef Newgarden, Sebastien Bourdais, who made an impressive return after his monster crash last year, and Spencer Pigot. IndyCar returnee Helio Castroneves was in the lead after day one but he couldn’t quite deliver when the Fast Nine came around, eventually ending in eighth, just behind Danica Patrick in her last race but ahead of Scott Dixon who was last in the Fast Nine. No rookies made it into the Fast Nine but it was Matheus Leist who took the top rookie spot in eleventh after very nearly beating teammate Tony Kanaan to tenth.

Other than Hinchcliffe, the next biggest shock of qualifying would have to be 2016 winner Alexander Rossi who had a puncture on his fast run, almost crashed and ended up way down in thirty-second, only ahead of the ill-fated Conor Daly. Despite this, Rossi has remained resilient, stating the well-known point of you only have to be in the Indy 500 to stand a chance of winning it.

Indycar 2017 Round Six: Indianapolis 500, Indiana . Image courtesy of hondanews.eu

Speaking of winning, it was Takuma Sato who took that glory following a thrilling duel with Castroneves in the closing laps. Rookie Ed Jones took third and Max Chilton followed him home in fourth, a penny to anyone who could’ve predicted that! But that’s what the Indy 500 is, it always has been, and always will be, massively unpredictable due to its length and attritional nature. Last year, 17 of the 33 cars failed to make the 200th and final lap with most being taken out in wrecks.

The biggest question from last year’s running that has remained for this year is surrounding Honda’s reliability, or lack thereof. The biggest name blow-outs were Ryan Hunter-Reay and, rather ironically, Fernando Alonso who’d come from pitiful Honda reliability in F1. Honda themselves claimed that they’d found the problem not long after last year’s running and will hope beyond all hopes that their engines hold out for this year, if not, more questions will certainly be asked and some championships could take a massive hit.

Any of the 33 entrants could win this race, that could be said for any IndyCar race but it is never more true than at the Indy 500. The dice will inevitably be rolled strategy-wise by those with little to lose while wrecks and cautions could all play a massive part in deciding the winner. Ultimately, and as they always say, Indianapolis Motor Speedway choses the winner, try as you might, if IMS doesn’t want you to win, it isn’t going to happen.

Race starts at 5:05pm UK time so tune in to our Twitter channel for commentary as well as the BT Sport/ESPN channel to find out who will kiss the bricks on Sunday afternoon.

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Phil Hall’s Rally de Portugal diary

Day One (Tuesday 15th of May)

Ford Fiesta reece car – Photo courtesy of Phil Hall

Recce for Rally Portugal is particularly challenging, the stages are tight and twisty but also rough. Today we did 6 incredible stages, which will form the route for Friday and Sunday. A lot of KM covered and in the hot and dusty conditions you really have to focus.

Rally de Portugal reece day – Photo courtesy of Phil Hall

 

I get a few funny looks around the world when I turn up to Recce with a pillow ‘borrowed’ from the hotel. But on rough roads it makes all the difference to lean on as a shock absorber. Along with a lot of practice it means I can usually get all my notes down tidily on the first pass, with little touch up work later. It’s actually quite interesting to see which countries make the best Recce pillows. Keep an eye on my Twitter as I usually post the best ones.

 

Recce day Two (Wednesday 16th of May)

Similar to day 1, another challenging day of recce awaited us. Today we covered the Lousada super special as well as the monster that is Amarante. The surface in Portugal changes a lot so it is important to make sure your pacenotes take this into account.

Thursday: (17th of May)

Shakedown is a spectacular, if short, stage finishing in a huge arena full to the brim with fans. We had a good run, getting a good feeling for the car and the surface.

After a long drive to the ceremonial start, a great opportunity to meet the incredibly passionate Portuguese fans, we headed to the Super Special at Lousada. The sheer volume of rally fans crammed into this venue was a sight to behold.

 

Friday: (18th of May)

The rough northern stages bring their own challenges, we tried to keep it clean and were running comfortably inside the top ten despite a puncture. For a co-driver here in the heat and dust it is very important to keep focused. the tight twisty stages require a lot of information to be delivered often whilst the road is very rough.

Tom and Phil press on in their M-Sport built Fiesta R2

Saturday: (19th of May)

A new day and a new surface, and the iconic Amarante test. At 37km this is a big test for crews, and for us unfortunately where it all unravelled. Amarante hasn’t been kind to me, I rolled out of the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy event on this stage in 2016, and again today we had a small roll that put us into Rally 2.

 

Sunday: (20th of May)

Another tough day, and the attrition rate was high. A few stages were cancelled because of incidents and we focused on just being clean and getting to the finish. despite a couple of near misses, we did just that and got to the end. In fact, we managed to hold on to our top ten position, with 7th overall in the JWRC.

 

Things to take away about Rally Portugal:

– The Fans are incredible!

– The stages are a true test of physical and mental stamina

– Dust!

-Truly iconic roads

 

Many thanks again to Phil Hall for this great diary! Why not give him a follow on Twitter? @PhilHallRally

Also give Tom @williamsrally a follow too!

 

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British GT: Can the #116 of Mowle and Buurman keep up their Rockingham form at Snetterton?

Snetterton in Norfolk plays host to rounds four and five of the 2018 British GT series as its near three-mile “300” layout welcomes over 65 drivers across 33 cars.

Snetterton will be the last of the hour long sprint races split between Pro and Am drivers.

Yelmer Buurman and Lee Mowle surprised everyone when taking their ERC Sport Mercedes to GT3 glory to claim their first British GT win last time out at Rockingham.

Despite starting last after an accident in qualifying, Mowle looked solid during his run in a low-key Am stint while Buurman performed multiple overtakes during the second stint as others fell by the wayside.

History favours the #33 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini, with Lamborghini having won three of the last four races at Snetterton, while Aston Martin have also performed well in Norfolk in recent times with Jonny Adam won there in 2015.

The other Aston Martin squad – TMF – have also shown pace this season despite only one podium apiece for Mark Farmer/Nicki Thiim and Derek Johnstone and Marco Sorenson. TMF finished 1-3 at Snetterton last year.

In GT4, the #55 Ginetta of Callum Pointon and Patrik Matthiesen won easily in the dry race at Rockingham having fell away during wet qualifying. Matthiesen had hounded the #4 Tolman McLaren of Charlie Fagg throughout the first hour of the race.

The McLarens quick fell behind after a strong Saturday but remain second in the standings, and crucially do not have the 10s success penalty that the Ginetta will have as a result of its leading of the GT4 standings.

Another team to watch for are the UltraTek Racing Team RJN Nissans, which took their best ever result with second and fourth for Stephen Johansen and Jesse Anttila, and Kelvin Fletcher and Martin Plowman.

Matt Nicoll-Jones and Will Moore were third last time out at Rockingham in their Academy Motorsport #62 Aston Martin, and the team will be sure to be a threat once again.

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