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Moto2: Beaubier Takes Maiden Pole at Home Circuit

Cameron Beaubier stuns home crowds to take his maiden pole position in Moto2. He will be joined on the front row by championship leader, Celestino Vietti in second and Aron Canet in third.

American track, American rider and American team – today’s qualifying ticked all the boxes for the fans in the grandstands. Cameron Beaubier is the first American rider to secure a pole position at home since 2010.

He will be joined on the front row for tomorrow’s race by Celestino Vietti who, despite leading the championship after a strong start to the season, was forced to make his way through Q1. It was Vietti who set the early pace in Q2 but was eventually forced to settle for second.

Aron Canet was able to take third, despite a late crash for the Spanish rider. He fell at turn 17 as the front end folded underneath him and left him in the kitty litter.

Image Credit: MotoGP

Canet wasn’t the only rider to crash as the riders seemed to fight with the COTA track – Augusto Fernandez crashed at turn 17 and, as a result, wasn’t able to set a lap time in Q2. Tony Arbolino crashed at turn 8 but was able to get back up, dust himself down, and set a time that was good enough for fourth. Similarly, Ai Ogura crashed at turn 11 whilst sitting in third. He was eventually shuffled down to 11th.

The various yellow flags caused by these crashes left a lot of riders needing to abandon their laps. However, no one was able to get close to Beaubier’s time of 2:08.751.

Albert Arenas and his GASGAS Aspar teammate, Jake Dixon, set the fifth and sixth fastest times respectively. Jorge Navarro, who has already been slapped with a long lap penalty for tomorrow’s race after crashing under yellow flags during FP3, will start tomorrow’s race in seventh.

Fermin Aldeguer has looked incredibly quick all weekend and set the eighth fastest time ahead of tomorrow’s race. The top ten was rounded out by Sam Lowes and rookie Pedro Acosta.

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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Round 1 WorldSBK Aragon, Spain, Race 1

Jonathan Rea winner of Race 1, Aragon 2022 WSBK. Image courtesy of @KRT_WorldSBK / Twitter

The first Superpole of the season saw Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha) claim top spot with a time of 1:48.267 (an all time lap record), followed by Bautista (aruba.it Ducati), and Rea (Kawasaki KRT) in 2nd, and 3rd respectively.

Conditions for race 1 were dry, if not slightly on the cool side, with track temperatures struggling to reach 28 degrees. As a result most of the riders would opt for the softer SC X tyre.

Lights out and its Bautista who grabs the hole shot, although Toprak was having none of it and barges through, with Rea barrelling past both of them ultimately. The start of this season seems to be carrying off from where we left it last season, in terms of the all out action, white knuckle racing.

Onto lap 3 then, and Razgatlioglu takes over the lead out braking Rea into turn 1 after the straight. Rea strikes back immediately driving under the no.1 bike. The ZX-10RR looking to have received a much needed boost in power over the winter break.

With 16 laps to go, 4 riders had pulled out a gap to the rest of the field. It was; 1st Rea, 2nd Razgatlioglu, 3rd Bautista, and 4th Rinaldi (aruba.it Ducati). Iker Lecuona (Honda HRC) was a further 1.2 behind in 5th, a solid ride from the ex-MotoGP rider. Futher back Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad) was all the way down in 19th, a nightmare for the 3rd placed rider in the championship last season. Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was also struggling after slipping back to 13th.

With 14 laps to go the group of 4 at the front was now cut to 3, as Rinaldi had slipped back to 1.1 behind Bautista in 3rd. Razgatlioglu had managed to retake the lead, and the leading 3 riders were having a ding-dong battle, with postions changing every lap.

Alvaro Bautista at Aragon 2022 WSBK. Image courtesy of Ducati

Next lap and both Rea, and Bautista out break Razgatlioglu down the straight into turn 1. The Spaniard was now at the front, with the Ducati looking to have kept all of the top end speed it had last season. Lowes (Kawasaki KRT) was now in 5th, and trying to bridge a gap of 2.3 to Rinaldi in 4th.

With 12 laps to go Rea dives up the inside of Bautista to retake the lead. The stability of the Kawasaki was already showing a massive improvement on where it was last season, and Rea was looking a lot more comfortable then he had last season. Lowes goes down, it wasn’t a high speed crash, but his race is over. The Honda team mates of Lecuona, and Vierge now find themselves in 5th, and 6th respectively, a very decent ride from both the ex-MotoGP, and Moto2 riders.

Next lap and its Bautista who repays the favour, diving up the inside of Rea  into turn 1. The Kawasaki had no answer to the shear top end speed of the Ducati, as was the case last season. The world champion was still in 3rd, and keeping in touch with the two at the front. Further back it was now Locatelli (Pata Yamaha) in 5th, followed by the Honda team mates behind in 6th, and 7th. Rea puts in a nice block pass to retake the lead, although Bautista was currently the fastest rider on track with a lap time of 1:50.207.

With 7 laps to go Redding had moved up to 15th, and was at least now in the points. Gerloff too, had also moved up places and was now in 11th. Other notable positions were the Bonovo action BMW team mates of Baz 9th, and Laverty 12th.

With 5 laps to go Rea had edged out a gap of 0.3 to Bautista. Toprak was now losing contact with the two ahead of him, possibly suffering from tyre wear issues. It would surely come down to either Rea, or Bautista for the race win.

With 3 laps to go Rea now had the bit between his teeth, and had extended his gap to Bautista to 0.5. The Spaniard had work to do if he was going to claim the first win of the season. Toprak was now 1.9 behind in 3rd, and out of contention. The Ducati had the advantage in terms of top end speed, but the ZX-10RR had the better turning of the two. This would surely come down to the wire, who had the better grip?

Last lap now and Bautista pulls the trigger, slip streaming Rea down the back straight, then pulling around to out break Rea. Jonny snaps right back, and drives the Kawasaki under the Ducati using the better turning of his bike to full effect, looking so smooth in the process, nice move. Bautista powers out the last corner, but its Rea who edges ahead to claim the first win of the new season. Bautista crosses just behind for 2nd, 3rd Razgatlioglu, 4th Rinaldi, 5th Locatelli, 6th Lecuona, 7th Vierge, 10th Laverty, 15th Redding.

What an action packed start to the new season.

Result top 5:

  1. Rea (Kawasaki KRT)
  2. Bautista (aruba.it Ducati)
  3. Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha)
  4. Rinaldi (aruba.it Ducati)
  5. Locatelli (Pata Yamaha)

Championship top 3:

  1. Rea 25 pts
  2. Bautista 20
  3. Razgatlioglu 16
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Australian GP Qualifying Report

For round 3 of the 2022 F1 World Championship the F1 circus rolls into Australia for the first time since the beginning of 2020 when the pandemic struck. After 2 great opening races and the 3 practice sessions of the weekend it looked as though it was going to be another battle between RedBull and Ferrari with maybe a McLaren and an Alpine thrown into the mix.

Charles Leclerc at Albert Park, image courtesy Pirelli media

Q1 began with doubts over whether the Aston Martins would be involved after their crashes in FP3. The first drama of the session was brought to us by Nicholas Latifi who went for his now customary spin (who needs Mazepin), he recovered and continued on his way. With just over 10 minutes into the session and with everyone apart from the Astons having set a time Stroll exited the pitlane after some excellent work from his mechanics. Unfortunately he decided to drive into Latifi before he could set a time wiping both out of the session. This caused a red flag which ironically helped out his team mate who’s car was now repaired.  There was now a crazy race to get to the front of the queue for a one lap qualifying dash. The track seemed to have got a little slower after the red flag as no real improvements were made.

The session ended with Verstappen fastest with a 1.18.580, just 0.254 ahead of his team mate Perez. Out in Q1 were Albon in the Williams, Magnussen in his Haas, Vettel after getting just one lap in the whole session in his repaired Aston Martin, Latifi and Stroll.

Q2 was delayed further by another Williams of Alex Albon stopping on the track at the end of Q1. Once the session got up and running it was Verstappen who led the cars out. He immediately went quickest again from his team mate Perez. A few minutes into the session and Fernando Alonso joined the party pipping the second RedBull. Perez however had stayed out and went quickest just a few minutes later. The Mercedes cars were still having issues and were at least three quarters of a second off of the quickest time, however Lewis Hamilton seemed to find some time to set the quickest first sector of the session so far, unfortunately for him the rest of the lap wasn’t so good. With 5 minutes remaining the Ferraris bolted on some fresh soft tyres, it seemed that even the Ferraris were suffering from porpoising this weekend and it looked to be slowing them down a little, Sainz went P3 on his first lap on fresh rubber, He was immediately  beaten by his team mate Leclerc who moved up to P2. The session came to a close with Perez fastest with a time of 1.18.340, just 0.129s ahead of Carlos Sainz in second.

Out in Q2 were Mick Schumacher who impressively outqualified his more experienced team mate, Zhou in the Alfa Romeo, Tsunoda, Valteri Bottas in the Alfa who failed to reach Q3 for the first time since he left Williams and Pierre Gasly in the Alpha Tauri.

And so we moved to the Q3 shoot out for pole position. The sun was setting and was causing most of the drivers issues with both Leclerc and Hamilton asking for new helmets with darker visors for the session. Once again the World Champion was first on track.

He set a blistering pace with a 1.18.3 however had a lock up on the very final corner, giving him quite a bit of time to be found in the second run, again Perez then went quicker as he looked to have had the upper hand this weekend just like in Saudi a few weekends ago. Leclerc then took the top spot just as Fernando Alonso looked to be on a scintillating lap before he ended up in the wall with a suspected hydraulic issue preventing him from downshifting. The session was red flagged to have Alonso’s stricken Alpine removed from the gravel trap. Unfortunately for Sainz this meant his time wouldn’t count as the red flag appeared just as he was about to cross the line.

The session restarted with 7 minutes remaining on the clock. The two Mercedes were first out, as they seemed to need to do 2 warm up laps to get any performance from the soft tyres. Hamilton moved up to P5 and was then beaten by Russell who moved to P4. Verstappen then improved to go P1 but was then beaten by Leclerc with a sublime lap in the Ferrari, once again the Monagasque had secured pole position with a time of 1.17.868 just 0.286s ahead of the Dutchman..The top 3 was rounded out by Perez in the second RedBull who will be joined by Lando Norris on the second row.

Next up were the 2 Mercedes locking out row 3 with Lewis Hamilton in front of George Russell, then came Ricciardo in the second McLaren alongside Ocon in the Alpine, ninth and tenth were the 2 Spaniards, Carlos Sainz who’s best time was lost due to the red flag and then Fernando Alonso in tenth.

Tomorrows race should be another tactical bout between RedBull and Ferrari but with the changes made to the circuit this year hopefully the battle will be on the track, something which hasn’t happened in the recent years at Albert Park. Round 3 looks like it could live up to the hype of the first 2 rounds of the season.

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Virginia native Denny Hamlin captures fourth Richmond victory

Denny Hamlin took the lead with five laps to go and held off Kevin Harvick to win his fourth Richmond Cup race in his native state of Virginia.

NASCAR’s Toyota Owners 400 race came down to a split strategy showdown in the closing laps. Third place Denny Hamlin and fourth place Kevin Harvick were on a two stop strategy for the final stage of the race while leaders William Byron and Martin Truex Jr. had split the final stage in half.

As sun began to set and the laps got down to single digits, Hamlin was catching Byron by a second a lap, with Byron being on much older tyres. Byron had held a four second gap over Truex Jr with 25 to go but this began shrinking significantly inside 15 to go. Hamlin flew by Truex with six to go and sped by Byron on the inside on lap 396 of 400 to take the lead away. Harvick did appear to be catching Hamlin with two to go but after Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Aric Almirola got out of the way on the back straightaway on the final lap, Hamlin set sail for the checkered flag.

Denny Hamlin passes William Byron for the lead inside of five to go (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

After a roller-coaster start to the season, this was not just Hamlin’s first win of the year but his first top-10 finish of the season after seven races. This was also Toyota’s first Cup win of the season and was rather appropriate being the title sponsor of the race.

Denny Hamlin celebrating in victory lane (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

There were nearly more green flag pit stop cycles completed today than the first six races combined. Long green flag runs is often the way with Richmond and Sunday’s race was no exception. This gave extra weight to the two stop versus one stop strategies that played out during stage two and the final stage of the race but ultimately fresher tyres came out on top; partly due to Truex Jr. and Byron wearing each other out and faster lap down cars on fresher tyres taking away the inside lane that they wanted to run, allowing Hamlin and Harvick to gain more time on them.

It was a stellar day for the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota’s overall with all four running in the top seven at one point. Truex Jr. had worked his way to the front from the drop of the green flag and won stage two on the one stop strategy, the same strategy that arguably cost him the win in addition to getting stuck behind the wake of Byron’s Hendrick Chevrolet for the last 100 laps. This is despite being on 10 lap fresher tyres.

Martin Truex Jr. leading at Richmond (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Kyle Busch had worked his way to fourth but was black flagged with 50 laps to go for having tape over his grille that cost him a top-5 finish. Kyle Busch’s crew chief claimed the tape had been on there for 200 laps and were frustrated with NASCAR’s call in forcing them down pit road to remove it. Christopher Bell had led the field in the second quarter of the race and came home sixth.

The first quarter of the race was the Ryan Blaney show however. After securing the pole he led the first 100 laps and won stage one with Byron finishing second, before losing the lead in stage two. Last week’s winner Ross Chastain did not make friends with Blaney during the race. While fighting inside the top five towards the end of stage two, Blaney drove up alongside Chastain and pushed the watermelon man up the race track in turns three and four. Chastain returned the favour and pushed Blaney into turn one before Blaney veered to the right to a loss of grip and Chastain retook the position. Blaney had the final laugh as he gave Chastain a little shot into turn three late on in the race in and got by.

Ryan Blaney leading the field at the start of the race (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Team Penske teammate Joey Logano had made it up to second halfway through the race but the team’s jack became jammed underneath his car and would lose track position and only manage to recover to a top-20 finish.

The Roush Fenway Keselowski racing car’s of Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher had a good outing and were fighting for a top-10 spot for much of the race.

There would be a couple of crashes during the race. Lap 245 would see an caution a few laps after the start of the final stage due to a crash between Cody Ware, Erik Jones and Ricky Stenhouse Jr that left all parties upset. On lap 260 there would be another caution after contact between Austin Cindric and Cole Custer, causing Cindric to spin out. This was triggered after Ty Dillon had washed up into Custer in turn two as he came slightly down.

Part two of the Virginia tour takes place at Martinsville Speedway under the lights this Saturday night; another track that Hamlin has had great success at, winning five Cup series races at the half mile paperclip.

Top 10 finishing order of the Toyota Owners 400 

  1. Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota)
  2. Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing Ford)
  3. William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
  4. Martin Truex Jr (Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota)
  5. Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
  6. Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota)
  7. Ryan Blaney (Team Penske Ford)
  8. Alex Bowman (Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
  9. Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota)
  10. Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet)  

Featured Image: Denny Hamlin celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

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F1 Race Preview: We are finally back!

We are finally back in Australia to go racing for the first time since 2019. When we arrived in Albert park for the beginning of the 2020 season we saw a press conference before FP1 on the Friday announcing that the weekend was cancelled after a paddock member tested positive for COVID 19.

Albert Park has undergone significant changes in a bid to make the racing more interesting and to enhance the new regulations which so far have proven to add excitement. Turns 1, 3, 6 and 13 have been widened to allow for harder attacking and defending.

The most significant change comes between turn 6 and 11. The old chicane at turn 9/10 is gone so its now flat out from turn 6, through turns 7 and 8 to what used to be turns 11/12 which is now 9/10. The back straight will now be used as the new DRS zone.

The front of the grid

Red Bull and Ferrari have now taken one win each with Ferrari seemingly having the upper hand with both cars on the podium in the first two rounds. They are providing us with the battle at the front which we needed after an epic season-long fight last year.

Melbourne is a typical street circuit which means qualifying is very important. But with these two teams and specifically Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen made it very clear in Jeddah that this isn’t a problem for them.

Leclerc and Verstappen battling it out under the lights. Image courtesy of Pirelli F1 Press Room

The best of the rest

Mercedes have dominated Melbourne since 2014, but with their recent issues keeping up they don’t look like they can get past 5th and 6th. They will very much be hoping that the changes at the circuit will benefit them.

Haas and Kevin Magnussen seem to be their closest competitor. The last time out in Melbourne Magnussen had his best finish of 2019 in P6. He has already past that by getting P5 in Bahrain. He is currently the main competitor for Mercedes and will be looking to continue the momentum.

Good news for Aston Martin as Vettel has been cleared to race at Albert Park after having COVID and missing the first two rounds. Hulkenberg has done a great job for the team as a super sub putting in solid drives with no time in the car before the season.

Hulkenberg in Jeddah. Image courtesy of Aston Martin Media

The race starts live at 6am GMT. Make sure you tune in to our commentary on Twitter spaces for qualifying and the race.

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One for the history books!

Qualifying:

After issues with freight delays, qualifying finally got underway at Argentina and it was a surprise front row finish.

Aleix Espargaro with the Aprilia took pole, the first ever in the Moto GP era with 1:37.688. Jorge Martin (Ducati) was second and Luca Marini (Ducati) took his second front row in Moto GP.

(Sad news once again for Marc Marquez as he couldn’t participate in this weeks race either. Wishing him a speedy recovery)!

Race:

With the energy buzzing and all eyes on Aprilia, could we finally witness history? Could Aleix Espargaro finally win his first race?

Lights out and Martin quickly took the lead ahead of A. Espargaro and Marini.

Honda rider, P. Espargaro powered past Marini, knowing he had to get to the front and fast, if he was going to be in for a shot of the podium. On the same lap Andrea Dovizioso retired his Yamaha and Aleix put in the fastest lap.

Lap 5 of 25 – current World Champion Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) was struggling in 13th position and his teammate (Franco Morbidelli) was having an even worse time in 19th. Franco later retired from the race with a mechanical failure.

Lap 6 – Johann Zarco (Ducati) crashed, turn 2 from 12th position, but his teammate was having a great time, setting a fastest lap from the lead.

Both Spanish riders were fighting hard for first place, each taking fastest lap away from each other. They managed to gap the third and fourth place men and break away with 1.749 seconds between them. Alex Rins (Suzuki) passed P. Espargaro to claim third, knowing this was his chance to get close to the leaders and try to also fight for the win.

Although starting off well, Marini had gone backwards and was fighting for 6th place alongside Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Maverick Vinales (Aprilia).

With 14 laps to go A. Espargaro took another fastest lap, he clearly had more pace than Martin and continued to chase him down. But, ‘metronomic Martin’ just kept putting in the perfect laps, keeping Espargaro at bay.

Hunting Martin down. Courtesy of: Moto GP website.

By lap 13 Bagnaia had gotten the better of Marini and took 7th place. Brad Binder (KTM) also seized the advantage and passed the Italian.

Meanwhile from 4th position, P. Espargaro fell in the gravel. A bad weekend for Honda just got worse.

Having gotten the better of Marini earlier in the race, Bagnaia made a small mistake which took him wide and forced him to re-join the race ahead of teammate Jack Miller, in 12th.

Back at the front and the Aprilia continued it’s hunt for the Ducati. Could he pass Martin for that elusive win? Could he make the dream a reality?

8 laps until the chequered flag and everyone was willing Espargaro on. He managed to finally make a move on Martin but couldn’t hold onto it and Martin took the advantage and went back in front. With the two Suzuki’s biding their time just behind.

The second attempt from Espargaro came with 6 laps to go, but once again the Ducati passed him back. Rins was now closer and looking ready to strike.

Third time lucky! With only 5 laps to go, Espargaro took attempt number three and this time made it stick. Almost immediately he created a small gap from Martin (0.249 seconds). Which then became 0.381 seconds. The pace was most definitely there.

The final pass. Courtesy of: Moto GP website.

However, Martin was not going to give up without a fight and stayed with Aleix. Unlike Aleix, Jorge knows the sweet taste of victory and the rush of adrenaline, but was Aleix about to also know the elation?

All Espargaro had to do was ride the perfect few laps. Just hold on!

The pressure was rising and audiences had their hearts in their mouths whist biting their nails. Just willing Aleix to the finish line. With just two laps to go.

It felt like forever for the last lap. A. Espargaro still led from J. Martin and A. Rins. The gap between Espargaro and Martin was now too large to shrink. The dream was edging even closer!

And just like that, history was made! Aleix Espargaro on the Aprilia won the Argentine Moto GP 2022 race. With only his 4th ever podium and Aprilia’s first ever Premier Class win. After all the years of hard-work. There wasn’t a single person who didn’t feel joy for both rider and the team. 200 (premier Moto GP starts) must have been Aleix’s lucky number. The longest wait in Moto GP history for a maiden win, had finally ended.

All press can wait. Courtesy of: Moto GP website.

Not only did he win the race and the hearts of many viewers, he also leads the championship:

Championship Standings:

1st

A. Espargaro

45 points

2nd

B. Binder

38 points

3rd

E. Bastianini

36 points

4th

A. Rins

36 points

Top Ten Race Finishers:

1st

A. Espargaro

2nd

J. Martin

3rd

A. Rins

4th

J. Mir

5th

F. Bagnaia

6th

B. Binder

7th

M. Vinales

8th

F. Quartararo

9th

M. Bezzecchi

10th

E. Bastianini

Overcome with emotion A. Espargaro said “… this is just a dream…”. No Aleix, this really happened and everyone was 100% behind you.

With nine different podium finishers in the first three races this year, Moto GP has never been so unpredictable. What will happen this weekend in Austin?

 

 

Featured image. Courtesy of: Moto GP website.

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Moto2: Vietti Holds Off Chantra To Take Composed Win in Argentina

Celestino Vietti was able to hold off significant and consistent pressure from Somkiat Chantra to win in Argentina. He was joined on the podium by both Honda Team Asia riders, with Chantra in second and Ai Ogura in third.

Celestino Vietti was able to extend his lead at the top of the championship standings with a win in Argentina. The win didn’t come easily as he was forced to pass pole-sitter Fermine Aldeguer and hold off a race-long challenge from Somkiat Chantra.

Our record-breaking pole-sitter, Aldeguer endured a horrible crash as he fought with Vietti. He limped his way back to the garage, the devastation clear on his face.

Chantra was thrilled with second place as he led home a double podium for Honda Team Asia. This result comes straight after his win in Indonesia, showing just how much that result has built his confidence.

The biggest story was the battle for third, which rumbled on for most of the race. In the end, it was Ai Ogura who came out on top, ahead of Aron Canet, taking the final podium position.

As It Happened:

As the lights went out, Aldeguer enjoyed a strong start and kept his place at the front of the pack. Tony Arbolino also enjoyed a good start, jumping up from third to second.

Augusto Fernandez, starting in second, had a horrible start and was quickly swallowed by the chasing pack. As they entered turn one, he hit the back of Ogura and crashed out. At the same time, he sent Manuel Gonzalez wide and tumbling down the grid. Fernandez has now failed to win a race since 2019 and will be eager to break this streak soon.

Shortly after, on lap four, Vietti made a late move at turn one and stole the lead from Aldeguer. He quickly found his rhythm and controlled the pack from the front.

With 16 laps to go, Vietti went wide a turn 13 allowing Aldeguer to make his move. As Vietti came back on to the racing line, he came across the front of Aldeguer who was then a passenger as he tumbled in to the gravel. It was a nasty crash that saw him limping away from the track with his arm around a marshal. The stewards deemed the drama as a racing incident with no penalties for either rider.

With Aldeguer back in the garage, Chantra was promoted to second and Canet moved up to third. Chantra quickly caught up to the leader, sitting just 0.2s behind him and breathing down his neck.

With 13 laps left to race, Vietti goes wide again at turn 13, handing the lead to Chantra. However, the same thing happens on the following lap with Chantra the one going wide this time, handing the lead back to Vietti.

As a gap opens up between second and third place riders, Ogura takes that third place spot from Canet. Shortly after, on lap 15, Canet forces himself up the inside of Ogura, only to loose this place three laps later – their ongoing battle allows this gap to open up a little wider. Canet pushes hard but is unable to find a way through until the final lap of the race.

Further down the grid, Jake Dixon was chasing down Arbolino and the rest of the top five riders. Despite sitting two seconds down the road, he was setting some blistering lap times and quickly catching up to Arbolino. Dixon’s moment came on lap 21 as Arbolino seems to start struggling, heading fifth place to the Brit.

At this point in the race, Arbolino wasn’t the only rider to struggle – A number of others were also facing difficulties as Gabriel Rodrigo crashes at turn nine, followed by Jorge Navarro at turn two and Lorenzo Dalla Porta at turn five. This meant that yellow flags were being waved around the circuits, temporarily halting Canet’s attack on Ogura.

On the following lap, with just two laps remaining, Vietti threw down the gauntlet as he finds more lap time and extends the gap to Chantra. At this point, it looked like the win was pretty much in the bag for the championship leader barring any drama or mistakes.

In the dying moments of the race, Canet was still looking for a way past Ogura. On the final lap, he finally forced Ogura to make a mistake as he went wide at turn five. Canet goes on to make a similar error two corners later, however he is just able to stay ahead.

It wasn’t until the penultimate corner that Ogura was able to retake third and, as the checkered flag fell, Ogura flew down the final straight to cross the line 0.1s ahead of Canet.

Just 1.5s earlier, Vietti crossed the line to claim his second win in three races – so far this season, he has only lost five points.

Having fought hard, Dixon managed to keep Arbolino behind him as the pair crossed the line in fifth and sixth respectively. Moto3 champion, Pedro Acosta finished in seventh, enjoying a better race this weekend. The top ten was rounded out by Albert Arenas, Bo Bendsneyder and Sam Lowes.

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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Watermelons were smashed: Ross Chastain’s week as a first-time NASCAR Cup winner

Watermelon farmer turned NASCAR Cup racer Ross Chastain smashed out his first career win at Circuit of the Americas in final lap brawl.

On the hottest day of the year just outside of Austin, Texas, the NASCAR race at COTA came down to an overtime finish between Ross Chastain, road-course ringer AJ Allmendinger and Hendrick’s Alex Bowman.

On the final restart, it was Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick who led the field to green with Ross Chastain right beside him in second, but Chastain used the chrome horn and power moved by Reddick in the S’s to retake the lead.

Reddick would fall back to sixth while Chastain would take the white flag and would lead the break away with AJ Allmendinger and Alex Bowman in tandem.

Ross Chastain racing witth AJ Allmendinger right behind him (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

Allmendinger closed up to Chastain in the turn 12 heavy braking zone and would continue to fill his mirrors up in turns 13 and 14 before sticking his Camaro up the inside of Chastain in turn 15, consequently pushing Chastain wide after he tried to cover him off.

Chastain would get passed by Bowman too after he dived past him on the inside of 18 while Chastain returned the favour to Allmendinger going into the penultimate corner, using him as a braking block. Allmendinger’s car stepped out on him and flew into Bowman who was alongside him. Allmendinger ended up backwards in the sand while Bowman had to take evasive action to avoid him. Chastain went on to take the checkered flag.

The highly anticipated ritual-like smashing of the watermelon was performed by Chastain on the straightaway from on top of his ONX Homes/iFly Camaro. Chastain was so thrilled he ate the juicy fruit while being interviewed, saying to FOX, “it’s never tasted sweeter.”

Ross Chastain, celebrates further by eating the smashed watermelon (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

It was also Trackhouse Racing’s first Cup win and was quite the birthday present for co-team owner Justin Marks.

Celebrations continued throughout the first half of the week with Chastain’s own Melon Man Brand, a grassroots lifestyle organisation uniting all watermelon lovers, putting up pre-orders for a most appropriate T-shirt on Tuesday to mark the iconic moment.

Co-team owner Mr. Worldwide also put out a congratulatory post to his driver and team.

It was not the end of Ross’s ‘victory lap’ either. On FOX’s own NASCAR Race Hub, Chastain taught Jimmie Johnson’s former crew chief Chad Knaus the arts of watermelon smashing.

Back at the race shop on Tuesday, Team Trackhouse were all bought a celebratory breakfast. Watermelon may or may not have been present.

Back to Sunday’s race, other drivers had found to be fast throughout the race, most notably Team Trackhouse teammate Daniel Suárez, who after starting second would take the lead away from polesitter Ryan Blaney on the opening lap. Suárez would go onto win the first stage of the race. He had a not so fun experience on the restart however, finding himself spinning around while in a five-wide mess in turn one. Denny Hamlin, in desperate need of points, would sacrifice track position and stay out to win stage two.

Daniel Suárez spinning out in turn one (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

Ford drivers Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric would also be at the front throughout much of the race but not when Cindric brought out the first non-scheduled caution of the day for spinning coming out of the turn 10 kink, with Christopher Bell narrowly avoiding him by a whisker. The race would go to overtime when Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson, and Joey Logano came together in the turn one sandpit.

Bowman, Bell, Elliott, and Reddick made up the top five finishing order.

Featured Image: Ross Chastain, celebrates after winning at COTA (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

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Moto2: Amazing Aldeguer Becomes Youngest Moto2 Polesitter

Rookie Fermin Aldeguer has become the youngest polesitter in Moto2 history, setting a 1:43.306 ahead of tomorrow’s race. Augusto Fernandez lines up in second, ahead of Tony Arbolino.

With the rules changing next year, Moto2 riders will all be 17 years of age or older. That is what makes today’s broken record so significant – it won’t be broken. Fermin Aldeguer will retain the honours of the youngest Moto2 pole-sitter for many years to come.

Even more impressive than his age is Aldeguer’s lack of experience – having skipped Moto3 and coming straight in to Moto2, Aldeguer had to spend the practice sessions learning the track which he did was remarkable ease. He topped both practice sessions before going on to secure a truly awe-inspiring pole position.

Augusto Fernandez was merely 0.15s behind, taking second place for tomorrow’s race. Tony Arbolino set some blistering sector times in Q2 but was forced to settle for third for tomorrow’s race.

Qualifying 1

Zonta Van Den Goorbergh set the early pace as the session began, whilst Gabriel Rodrigo was over-riding and fighting with his bike. As it stood, Rodrigo was in fifth and missing out on a place in Q2.

Cameron Beaubier then snatched the top spot on the timing sheets, laying down a time of 1:44.132. As the session progressed, this time would prove unbeatable and he eased in to Q2.

Manuel Gonzalez slotted in to second shortly after, sitting just 0.024s behind Beaubier. As the session progressed, he wouldn’t be able to improve of this time and finished as second quickest.

As the checkered flag fell, most riders were able to improve their lap times. One exception was Marcel Schrotter who, before today, held the Moto2 lap record at this circuit. He snatched fourth place by the barest of margins, pushing Lorenzo Dalla Porta down to fifth and out of the Q2 progression places.

The session ended with Beaubier at the top of the timings, followed by Gonzalez, Van Den Goorbergh and Schrotter, who all progress to Q2.

Qualifying 2

Thanks to a lack of track time faced by all riders, after the weekend’s schedule was reshuffled, the session was busy early on. Sam Lowes was the first out on track on the ELF Marc VDS machine.

The first flying lap of the session was set by Bo Bendsneyder. Shortly after, Somkiat Chantra slotted in to second despite a heart-in-mouth moment as he almost lost the bike in the final corners. Chantra faced a nasty crash in practice and was lucky to not be injured. However, his confidence seems to be unshaken as he fought hard in Q2.

With eight minutes left on the clock, our championship leader, Celestino Vietti shot up to the top of the timing sheets, only to be shuffled down shortly after by Augusto Fernandez. Less than a minute later, there was another change at the top with Fermin Aldeguer taking the top spot. Further down the order, positions were changing every time someone crossed the line – everyone around the grid was improving their times as the session progressed.

With five minutes to go in the session, Aldeguer was still fastest but was fighting with a bike that was drifting and shaking beneath him. He failed to improve on this lap as the session drew to a close.

He wasn’t the only one to fail to improve on his time. Despite the excitement in the middle of the session with people jumping around the timing sheets, in the final seconds of the session no one was able to make significant improvements.

So as the checkered flag fell, it was Aldeguer who took the honours of pole position, with Fernandez and Arbolino rounding out the front row.

The second row of the grid sees the two GASGAS Aspar riders, with Albert Arenas taking fourth place ahead of Jake Dixon in fifth. They are joined by Vietti who ended the day in sixth.

The top ten are rounded out by Chantra, Ai Ogura, early pace-setter Bendsneyder and Q1-progressor Gonzalez.

Lowes seemed to be lacking pace this weekend and was forced to settle for 11th. Pedro Acosta also struggled this weekend and, after his final lap time was deleted, he had to settle for 17th.

The action kicks off at 5.20pm tomorrow, local time, and Crew On Two will have all the latest updates for you.

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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Moto3: Garcia Snatches Pole in the Dying Moments of Qualifying in Argentina

Sergio Garcia will start tomorrow’s Argentinian race from pole position. Ayumu Sasaki was just a tenth behind, claiming second, with Izan Guevara having to settle for third.

After a tumultuous start to the weekend which saw the schedule for the entire weekend reshuffled, Sergio Garcia was able to fend off the field and claim a stunning pole position.

As the checkered flag fell, the entire Q2 grid were on track for a final hot lap. It was Garcia on the GASGAS Aspar bike who came out on top, setting a time of 1:48.429 at the final attempt. Ayumu Sasaki was just 0.171s behind, claiming second place.

A further 0.195s behind him was Izan Guevara, who was the one to set the pace in both practice sessions. He had looked on track to secure pole but was over-riding on the final lap and had to control a twitching bike in the final corners, causing him to lose time at the worst possible moment.

Qualifying 1

As the session started, everyone remained in their garages for a good few minutes – it seemed no one wanted to make the first move, despite all facing a lack of track time during the reshuffled weekend.

At the halfway point of the session, only four riders had set a time and it was Mario Aji on the Honda Team Asia bike who sat at the top of the timing sheets. Despite crashing a few times in practice, British rider Scott Ogden kept his composure and was the next to set the fastest lap. He looked like a favourite to make it in to the Q2 session.

Ogden was then replaced by Ryusei Yamanaka, setting a time that was quicker by two tenths. He then improved again, with just over a minute left on the clock, setting a time of 1:49.822. This time wouldn’t be beaten for the rest of the session, despite everyone trying.

As the grid kept fighting for a place in Q2, Joshua Whatley crashed at turn two – it was his first crash of the weekend and, despite being unharmed, he was out for the rest of the session.

Riccardo Rossi set only one hot lap, crossing the line as the flag fell with a time good enough for a place in Q2, going third fastest overall. This pushed Ogden down and out of the top four, as he was forced to settle with fifth – the fastest loser spot.

The session ended with Yamanaka at the top of the timing sheets, with Stefano Nepa second, Rossi third and Joel Kelso fourth – all progressed to Q2.

Image Credit: MotoGP
Qualifying 2

Much like Q1, the gird took their time coming out on to the track, seeming to opt for a one-lap strategy.

Kaito Toba set the first fastest lap of the session but was soon bumped down by Kelso who set the fastest Moto3 lap of the weekend so far. It seemed he made good use of the extra track time he enjoyed during Q1.

It wasn’t until there were less than three minutes left on the clock that all riders came out on to the track, giving them time for just one flying lap. They were led out of the pitlane by Deniz Oncu who put himself in a position to avoid any mess or drama, but also forced himself to miss out on a slipstream. As a result, he ended the session in 16th.

As every rider fought it out for the honours of pole position, it was Garcia who came out on top, setting an impressive time of 1:48.429. This is only his second pole position as he enters his fourth year in Moto3.

Sasaki took the second fastest time of the day, just 0.171s behind Garcia. They are joined on the front row by Guevara was looked set for pole but struggled on his final lap.

Q1 pace-setter, Rossi, will start the race from a well-earned fourth with early Q2 pace-setter, Kelso, will start the race from an equally-impressive fifth.

Daniel Holgado had an uneventful session on his way to securing sixth. Behind him is Xavier Artigas in seven and Andrea Migno in ninth. The top ten is rounded out by Tatsuki Suzuki and Diogo Moreira.

Dennis Foggia has a very disappointing session, only able to claim 11th. Jaume Masia will also be disappointed with 12th.

The action kicks off at 4pm tomorrow, local time, and Crew On Two will have all the latest updates for you.

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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