ThePitcrewOnline

26th September 2021

Alex Palou clinches historic first IndyCar title as Colton Herta wins at Long Beach

Alex Palou sealed the 2021 IndyCar championship with a measured and controlled race finishing in fourth for the final round at Long Beach, California which was won by Colton Herta. The Andretti Autosport driver finished the season in style with his third win of the season from 14th on the grid.

Colton Herta drove a magnificent race to take his sixth career victory. Photo Courtesy of James Black.

Josef Newgarden started on pole position ahead of Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves. Herta, who had been on the pace all weekend collided with the wall in qualifying meaning he started down in 14th, but it didn’t take long for the American to carve through the field – within a few laps he was already up to sixth with some incredible late-braking maneuvers on Romain Grosjean and Alex Palou.

Alex Palou started tenth and drove a tentative first half of the race as a Top 12 would be enough to seal the Spaniards first IndyCar title in his sophomore year. He made up a few places but largely remained in the upper half of the Top Ten.

The championship saw a dramatic turn as Palou’s primary rival, Patricio O’Ward was spun by Ed Jones and immediately fell to the rear of the field. However, he suffered further damage to the driveshaft and was forced to retire from the race effectively ending his title hopes to the delight of Alex Palou.

At this point, Newgarden was the only other contender, albeit a win and for Palou to retire would be the only perceivable permutation that would see the American seal his third championship – a long shot!

However, a long shot was all that Newgarden needed and he led the race up until shortly after the second caution of the race, brought out by the Chip Ganassi of Marcus Ericsson, who crashed into the wall after failing to pull off a move on Alexander Rossi. On the restart, Herta set about clearing Dixon and eventually passed Josef Newgarden for the net lead around Lap 35.

After clearing Newgarden, Herta pulled out almost a seven-second lead and putting the Penske driver effectively out of championship contention.

With O’Ward and Newgarden falling short, Palou was in fifth and didn’t need to make up any more places in the race. But despite that, he continued pushing forward and putting the pressure on Hinchcliffe in front around Lap 37.

Alex Palou tried to take Hinchcliffe into Turn 1 but it was the Canadian who was later on the brakes to win out that fight, the Spaniard deciding to live to fight another day. In fact, soon after the second pit stop cycles got underway where Palou was able to jump Hinchcliffe in the pits.

Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean was in a title fight of his own, hunting down the prestigious ‘Rookie of the Year’ award. By Lap 37 he was up to seventh having gotten past Alexander Rossi around the outside of the fountain section. The Swiss-Frenchman only needed another 12 points to eclipse Scott McLaughlin.

Unfortunately, he would retire soon after with a rear-left suspension failure essentially gifting the ‘Rookie of the Year’ title to McLaughlin.

After the second set of pit stops, the overall situation at the front had not changed that much. A late caution brought out by a collision between Oliver Askew and Conor Daly threatened to shake things up with around 20 laps remaining.

On the restart, Colton Herta got a fantastic launch and was able to hold Newgarden off by just over a second ahead of Dixon, Palou, and Pagenaud. However, with five laps remaining Newgarden brought the gap down to less than half a second a put a great deal of pressure on Herta.

In the end, it was Herta who crossed the line to take his seventh career win ahead of Newgarden, Dixon, Palou, and Pagenaud. O’Ward briefly attempted to return to the track later in the race but fail to rescue any more points.

Rounding out the Top Ten was Alexander Rossi, Jack Harvey, Sebastien Bourdais, Takuma Sato, and Will Power. Helio Castroneves stayed out on a counter-strategy, refusing to pit after the first safety car, he was quickly swallowed up later in the race and finished down in 20th.

Both Rinus VeeKay, Marcus Ericsson, and Callum Ilott were the other three retirements from the race.

Palou, would be the new and deserving champion of IndyCar – the youngest since Scott Dixon at the age of 23 in 2003 finishing 38 points over new second-place man, Newgarden, as O’Ward slipped to third, just ahead of Dixon.

Ericsson’s retirement and Herta’s sixth career victory meant the Andretti Autosport driver moved up to fifth in the championship.

26th September 2021

BTCC Silverstone – Hill keeps title fight alive with win in final race

Jake Hill reignited his title challenge by taking the win in the third and final race of the weekend at Silverstone. He overtook and held off reverse grid polesitter Dan Lloyd who finished second.

Ash Sutton managed to extend his title lead by finishing third after a quiet but consistent weekend for the reigning champion.

Lloyd made a good start from pole, while team mate Jason Plato, who started second, fell down the order, losing places to Hill and Stephen Jelley in his BMW.

Tom Chiton’s poor weekend continued as he collided with Sam Osborne coming out of Copse. He spun off but managed to rejoin and finished last on the road.

The BTCC Hybrid programme was concluded with the Toyota Corolla Hybrid driven by 2013 champion Andrew Jordan pulling into the pits midway through the race. The objective of the car was not to affect the action or get into any incidents. The programme a success on both fronts.

On lap 11 Hill managed to get past Lloyd and it was a lead he didn’t give up. He passed into Copse with a brilliant move and held on from then on in. Sutton was doing his best to catch the leading duo. He dispatched Chris Smiley on lap 16 into Becketts. Smiley had a good race, running in fourth for the majority of the race and held on for it.

Sutton was charging, he couldn’t quite catch Hill and Lloyd but by finishing third he manages to extend his championship lead with Tom Ingram and Hill chasing behind.

Josh Cook had the poorest weekend of the five title challengers, with Colin Turkington grabbing a hat-full of consistent points.

Pos	Driver	Car	Team	+/-
1	Jake Hill	Ford Focus ST	MB Motorsport	21:24:184
2	Dan Lloyd	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+0.698
3	Ash Sutton	Infinti Q50	Laser Tools	+1.444
4	Chris Smiley	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+4.474
5	Stephen Jelley	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+4.906
6	Jason Plato	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+5.269
7	Aiden Moffat	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+5.476
8	Colin Turkington	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+6.146
9	Dan Rowbottom	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+7.740
10	Ollie Jackson	Ford Focus ST	MB Motorsport	+8.731
11	Tom Oliphant	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+8.938
12	Tom Ingram	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+10.652
13	Rory Butcher	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	+11.434
14	Aron Taylor-Smith	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+12.965
15	Jack Goff	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+13.277
16	Adam Morgan	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+13.566
17	Senna Proctor	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+14.111
18	Josh Cook	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+15.390
19	Carl Boardley	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+15.487
20	Sam Smelt	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	+16.120
21	Gordon Shedden	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+16.273
22	Rick Parfitt Jr	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+20.854
23	Jack Butel	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+21.147
24	Jade Edwards	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+21.405
25	Sam Osborne	Ford Focus ST	Motorbase	+22.992
26	Andy Neate	Ford Focus ST	Motorbase	+27.816
27	Nicholas Hamilton	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+28.265
28	Tom Chilton	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+28.534
Retirements
DNF	Jack Mitchell	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	Mechanical
DNF	Andrew Jordan	Toyota Corolla Hybrid	–	N/A

26th September 202127th September 2021

Round 10 WorldSBK Jerez, Spain, Race 2

Track temperatures were now in excess of 40 degrees Celsius as the track had been heating up during the day. As the Superpole race had been cancelled, positions on the grid were the same as for race one.

Race 2 Jerez Michael Rinaldi and Scott Redding Picture courtesy of Aruba.it Ducati

Lights out and its Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha) yet again with the quickest start off the line to get into turn 1 ahead of the others. Followed by Rinaldi (aruba.it Ducati) in 2nd, Rea (Kawasaki KRT) in 3rd, Redding (aruba.it Ducati) 4th and Locatelli (Pata Yamaha) in 5th.

Toprak was looking keen to get away but the Ducati team mates of Rinaldi and Redding were looking good in the higher track temperatures, as they had in Navarro earlier in the season. So too the Honda team mates of Haslam and Bautista in 6th and 7th, were looking much better.

With 18 laps to go Rea looked to be losing time and now had Redding pass him to demote the Irishman to 4th. Locatelli was now eyeing up the Kawasaki ahead of him.

With 17 laps to go, Redding puts in a fastest lap of 1:40.776 and was looking to make a move on his team mate . Meanwhile Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) loses control of his bike into turn 6 and that spells the end of his race.

With 15 laps to go Redding makes the move on Rinaldi up the inside into the last corner to take 2nd. Meanwhile further back Locatelli cuts up the inside of Rea to take 4th. Rea was really struggling to get his Kawasaki stopped into the hard braking corners and was losing ground, with Bassani (motocorsa Ducati) right behind.

Race 2 Jerez Scott Redding and Toprak Razgatlioglu Picture courtesy of Aruba.it Ducati

With 12 laps to go Redding had closed the gap down to Toprak to 0.4 and was looking comfortable in the warmer conditions. Further down the field it was vd Mark (BMW Motorrad) in 8th, Baz (go eleven Ducati) 9th and Laverty (BMW Motorrad) 10th.

With 10 laps to go, the gap between Razgatlioglu and Redding was further closing with the gap now 0.3, meanwhile Rea was still holding off Bassani for 6th.

With 8 laps to go Bautista (Honda HRC) had now caught up to the back of the Rinaldi, Locatelli group but went too hot into a corner going wide and losing time.

With 7 laps to go, Locatelli gets by Rinaldi into turn 6 to take 3rd. Bautista was showing great late race pace and was looking for a way past Rinaldi who was dropping back looking to be suffering from tyre wear issues. Bautista does make the pass and takes 4th.

With 4 laps to go, Razgatlioglu goes slightly wide into a corner, leaving space for Redding to drive the Ducati up the inside and take over the lead for the first time. Meanwhile it was now the turn of Bassani (motocorsa Ducati) to go past Rinaldi for 6th, Rinaldi who was continuing to lose ground had previously been passed by Rea who was now in 5th.

With 3 laps to go, Bautista goes through on Locatelli. Meanwhile at the front Razgatlioglu retakes the lead diving under Redding into the last corner. The Yamaha showing how much better it could turn in comparison to the Ducati.

Race 2 Jerez Garratt Gerloff Picture courtesy of Pata Yamaha Racing

Last lap and would Redding be able to retake the lead? He was lining up Toprak and looked to be gaining momentum through the last series of corners it could be a last corner pass as it has been so often here at Jerez.

Razgatlioglu holds off Redding and crosses the line to take the double win this weekend. Redding 2nd, Bautista 3rd.

Result top 5:

Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha)
Redding (aruba.it Ducati)
Bautista (Honda HRC)
Locatelli (Pata Yamaha)
Rea (Kawasaki KRT)

Out: Cresson (Perdercini Kawasaki), Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), Ponsson (Gil Yamaha)

Championship top 3:

Razgatlioglu – 449 pts
Rea – 429
Redding 375

26th September 202127th September 2021

Round 10 WorldSBK Jerez, Spain, Race 1

Superpole on Saturday, saw Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha) claim pole with a fastest lap of 1:38.512, with the Kawasaki KRT team mates of Lowes and Rea in 2nd and 3rd.

Race 1 Jerez Leon Haslam Picture courtesy of HRC Racing

Track conditions were near enough perfect for race 1 with a mix of tyre choices throughout the grid. Toprak going for the softer SCX rear tyre, while Rea went for the harder option. After the tragedy yesterday in the Supersport 300 race there was definitely a sombre mood over the grid with riders all deep in their own thoughts before the start.

Lights out and its Razgatlioglu with the hole shot up into turn 1, followed by Rea in 2nd, Rinaldi (aruba.it Ducati) 3rd, Lowes 4th and Locatelli (Pata Yamaha) in 5th. Rea is not hanging around and dives underneath Razgatlioglu, hoping to get away early.

Next lap and Locatelli has moved up to 3rd, Rinaldi went wide into a corner and loses a position, while Redding (aruba.it Ducati) is 5th Lowes had a terrible start and now finds himself slipping back to 8th. Special mention for Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad) who is back racing on Tom Sykes’s bike, who misses the race due to injury last week and is in 13th.

With 19 laps to go Redding moves past his team mate not wanting to lose touch with the group up front. Further back its the Honda team mates of Haslam and Bautista in 6th and 7th respectively, vd Mark (BMW Motorrad) in 8th and Lowes who continues to slip back, is now in 10th.

With 18 laps to go, Rea puts in a fastest lap of the race with a 1:39.837 no doubt trying to break Razgatlioglu behind. This relentless pace being set was distancing everyone behind, except for Locatelli in 3rd who was trying to hang on.

With 16 laps to go Rinaldi loses control of his Ducati sending it sprawling down the track and ploughing into the gravel. His race is over.

With 14 laps to go Razgatlioglu comes from a long way out into the Pedrosa corner, turn 6, but is unable to get it stopped in time and runs into the back of Rea. Fortunately both riders are able to stay upright, but this gives Rea extra incentive to get away from the Turkish rider.

With 12 laps to go, Baz (go eleven Ducati) who is riding Chaz Davies’s bike, also out due to injury, moves up to 7th. Meanwhile Haslam is falling back and now in 9th. Redding in 4th, initially looked to have the pace to catch Locatelli in 3rd but now seems to be unable to gain any more time on the Italian rider.

With 7 laps to go, Razgatlioglu makes his move on Rea, diving up the inside into turn 1. Another tough pass but that is how the Turkish rider races and it would not have been a surprise for Rea who would be looking to respond.

Race 1 Jerez Garratt Gerloff Picture courtesy of PATA Yamaha Racing Team

With 4 laps to go Razgatlioglu now held a gap of 0.8 to Rea in 2nd and was looking comfortable in the lead. Meanwhile Locatelli was still holding onto 3rd with Redding in 4th.

Last lap now, and Redding has closed right up to Locatelli, he makes the move using the power of the Ducat and takes 3rd. Further back vd Mark is trying to hold of Bassani (motocorsa Ducati) who has shown great late race pace for 7th.

Razgatlioglu crosses the line for the first win of the weekend followed by Rea in 2nd, Redding 3rd, Locatelli 4th, Bautista 5th, Baz 6th, vd Mark 7th and Bassani in 8th.

Result top 5:

Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha)
Rea (Kawasaki KRT)
Redding (aruba.it Ducati)
Locatelli (Pata Yamaha)
Bautista (Honda HRC)

Out: Mercado (Honda), Cavalieri (Ducati), Rinaldi (aruba.it Ducati)

Championship top 3:

Razgatlioglu – 424 pts
Rea – 418
Redding 355

26th September 2021

Heartbreak for Norris but it’s 100 for Hamilton!

Hamilton finally gets his 100^th win in a race with changing conditions. Heartbreak for Norris who was leading for most of the race, but a call to stick to slicks as the rain got heavier with just 3 laps left meant that he finished P7. Verstappen gained the most though finishing P2 after starting at the back of the grid.

Qualifying yesterday created a dream top 3 for some fans, and with Verstappen starting from the back it was set to be a good race. Bottas took a shock engine penalty this morning meaning he start P17, interesting tactics by Mercedes? The weather, which had played a part all weekend, looked like it may play a part with rain out at sea closing in.

Lights out and Norris got a great start, Sainz was battling Russell through to turn 2 but wins out. Sainz picked up an incredible slip stream and takes the lead around the outside of turn 3. Hamilton had a terrible start, bogged down and lost out to Ricciardo and Stroll who picked up a slipstream from Hamilton as he was boxed in.

Now in P6, Hamilton was on a charge as part of the train behind Russell who was still in P3 on lap 5. Verstappen was making up places, up to P15 but was stuck behind Bottas. The Mercedes team game looking at the bigger championship picture. However, Verstappen made a move after just 3 laps, Bottas leaving the door open and Verstappen going through.

10 laps in and Norris was now within DRS of Sainz and closing every lap. Russell holding up the rest of the pack meant that the top 2 were now 7 seconds clear to battle each other. Just 1 lap later and Verstappen was making up more places. Leclerc made a move on Vettel on the inside of turn 4 but went too deep. Verstappen just behind wanted to take advantage, but nearly pinched into the wall he had to back out and wait for Leclerc to go wide again, which happened just 2 corners later.

SOCHI, RUSSIA – SEPTEMBER 26: Max Verstappen driving the (33) Red Bull Racing RB16B Honda during the F1 Grand Prix of Russia at Sochi Autodrom on September 26, 2021 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Lap 13 and Norris makes it past Sainz in a great move down the back straight using DRS. He managed to pull out a gap before Sainz went in to pit just a few laps later with an unfortunate slow stop. Stroll was the first to pit and took full advantage of the powerful undercut. Once Russell pitted, who was ahead of Stroll before pitting, he came out behind Stroll.

Ricciardo came into the pits 23 laps in. Both McLaren and Mercedes were ready but Hamilton was told to do the opposite. Ricciardo had a very slow stop trying to get to grips with the new, slower, pitstop system. The light didn’t change and therefore Ricciardo was held in his pit box. This played into Hamilton’s hands, who had a whole pitstop over Ricciardo. However, Hamilton, in clear air, decided to stay out longer and was putting in fastest laps. Lap 27 and having pulled a gap to Ricciardo, Hamilton had a clean stop but still came out behind Stroll. Verstappen pitted for mediums at the same time, coming out only 2 places behind Hamilton.

Norris finally pits for a set of hard tyres with a much cleaner stop. He came out in clean air with the 3 drivers ahead of him yet to stop. Hamilton on fresh hard tyres made use of the action packed back straight to dispatch of Stroll, Sainz and Gasly to begin gaining on Norris just over halfway through the race.

By lap 37 Verstappen was still behind Ricciardo, which was hurting his medium tyres. Perez pitted but had a very slow stop with problems on the rear right, meaning he came out just ahead of Verstappen. This is where team orders were expected but there was no change over and Verstappen lost out to Alonso who had fresh tyres, having pitted at the same time as Perez.

SOCHI, RUSSIA – SEPTEMBER 26: Sergio Perez F1 Grand Prix of Russia at Sochi Autodrom on September 26, 2021 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Lap 46, the rain finally came around turn 5. Umbrellas were up and every team now deciding what to do because it came in initially as light rain. Norris thinking about the race win and Hamilton thinking about the championship. Sainz the first to make a call about getting ready for intermediates. Norris went wide on the wet corners, but Hamilton also had to go slowly around the corner and stayed behind Norris.

Trying to decide when to come in the entire grid were changing positions. Importantly Norris decided to stick with the slicks with a 25 second gap to Hamilton who did pit for intermediates. Hamilton had over a 40 second to Perez so knew he had a free pit stop.

As the rain got heavier chaos ensued. Norris couldn’t keep control and slides off down the back straight giving the place to Hamilton who was able to make up the gap with Norris around. Verstappen, who did also pit for inters, took advantage of those falling off the track and made it up to P2 after starting from the back of the grid. Heartbreakingly for Norris, he couldn’t control the car into the pits, crossed the line twice and will likely get a penalty to add to his eventual P7 finish. Carlos Sainz rounded out the podium with a solid performance along with the right call at the right time for the intermediate tyres.

SOCHI, RUSSIA – SEPTEMBER 26: Race winner Lewis Hamilton, second placed Max Verstappen and third placed Carlos Sainz celebrate on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Russia at Sochi Autodrom on September 26, 2021 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Yuri Kochetkov – Pool/Getty Images)

Sire Lewis Hamilton finally gets his 100^th win. The first driver in Formula 1 history to achieve this especially in changing weather conditions. He also now leads the championship by only 2 points to Verstappen going into the next round.

26th September 202126th September 2021

BTCC Silverstone – Butcher holds off Cook for second win of the day

Rory Butcher took his second win from two at Silverstone as he held off a chasing Josh Cook.

Once Cook had cleared Tom ingram in a thrilling race-long battle, he hunted down Butcher but couldn’t quite take the win.

Cook was however disqualified from the result for failing a ride height check at the end of race scrutineering.

The first of two safety car periods came on lap three when Nicholas Hamilton’s Cupra was in the gravel trap. He recovered and rejoined the race.

On the restart Josh Cook was battling Tom Ingram for second place. The pair were side by side from Brooklands through to Becketts. The Hyundai of Ingram prevailed and he maintained second place.

On lap nine there were two incidents to bring out the second Safety Car. Carl Boardley was tapped into Copse by Andy Neate’s Ford. Further back Jade Edwards and Gordon Shedden collided and not for the first time this season. Shedden tipped Edwards into the gravel at Brooklands and out of the race.

Racing resumed on lap 16 with Sam Smelt joining the list of retirements with a mechanical issue. It was round two of the Cook and Ingram battle on lap 17. This time Cook managed to squeeze past Ingram into Copse and went on the hunt for race leader Butcher.

Senna Proctor was next to join the list of retirements after contact going into Becketts. His team mate Cook however was closing in on Butcher, and was hot on his heels into the penultimate lap.

The final lap meant it was now or never for Cook. He made an audacious dive down the inside of Butcher into Brooklands, getting onto the grass, but Butcher held on for the win.

He took his second win of the day from Cook, Ingram came third with Colin Turkington behind him. Championship leader Ash Sutton finished fifth with team mate Aiden Moffat behind him. Dan Rowbottom, Chris Smiley, Stephen Jelley were seventh, eighth and ninth respectively with Jake Hill going from 21st on the grid to tenth.

Pos	Driver	Car	Team	+/-
1	Rory Butcher	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	27:16:006
2	Tom Ingram	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+3.021
3	Colin Turkington	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+3.162
4	Ash Sutton	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+3.456
5	Aiden Moffat	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+3.492
6	Dan Rowbottom	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+4.182
7	Chris Smiley	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+4.494
8	Stephen Jelley	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+5.550
9	Jake Hill	Ford Focus ST	MB Motorsport	+6.706
10	Jason Plato	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+7.031
11	Dan Lloyd	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+7.036
12	Aron Taylor-Smith	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+7.796
13	Tom Chilton	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+8.348
14	Sam Osborne	Ford Focus ST	Motorbase	+9.570
15	Jack Goff	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+9.728
16	Jack Butel	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+10.036
17	Adam Morgan	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+10.166
18	Ollie Jackson	Ford Focus ST	MB Motorsport	+10.773
19	Gordon Shedden	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+11.066
20	Andrew Jordan	Toyota Corolla Hybrid	–	+11.621
21	Tom Oliphant	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+13.751
22	Jack Mitchell	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+14.902
23	Andy Neate	Ford Focus ST	Motorbase	+15.589
24	Rick Parfitt Jr	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+15.754
25	Nicholas Hamilton	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+24.217
Retirements
DNF	Carl Boardley	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	Damage
DNF	Senna Proctor	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	Mechanical
DNF	Sam Smelt	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	Mechanical
DNF	Jade Edwards	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	Crash
DSQ	Josh Cook	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	Ride Height

26th September 2021

BTCC Silverstone – Butcher cruises to win despite compromised start

Rory Butcher allayed pre-race fears to convert pole to victory in race one at Silverstone.

A liquid spill from the earlier British F4 race on the start/finish straight meant Butcher’s start would be compromised. However despite losing the lead to Tom Ingram, he soon reclaimed his lead on lap three at Brooklands with an audacious and well executed move.

The opening lap saw five retirements, with Andy Neate suffering a puncture and causing damage. Gordon Shedden and Sam Smelt had a coming together, Jack Mitchell retired early on with a mechanical issue and Adam Morgan also never returned from the pits after pitting on lap one.

Once Butcher took his lead back, Ingram was reeled in by Dan Lloyd in his Vauxhall Astra. Of the five title protagonists Ingram finished highest, with Josh Cook, Colin Turkington and leader Ash Sutton finishing fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

Jake Hill however struggled with 66kg of ballast in his Ford Focus, and was embroiled in a race-long fight with Tom Chilton and Jack Butel. He eventually finished 21st, and out of the points.

Butcher cruised to a win, with a winning margin of just over three seconds. Ingram held off Lloyd for second with Aiden Moffat’s second half renaissance to the season continued with fourth place.

History was made as the BTCC’s Hybrid car competed in its first race, driven by former champion Andrew Jordan. While it finished last, this wasn’t due to lack of performance. The Hybrid programme was simply to run the car in racing conditions, and so stayed near the back to avoid any incidents or affecting the championship.

Ash Sutton remains in the lead of the championship with only a handful of races left to go.

Pos	Driver	Car	Team	+/-
1	Rory Butcher	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	21:21:142
2	Tom Ingram	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+3.262
3	Dan Lloyd	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+3.666
4	Aiden Moffat	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+4.263
5	Josh Cook	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+6.674
6	Colin Turkington	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+6.929
7	Ash Sutton	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+7.379
8	Dan Rowbottom	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	+8.113
9	Stephen Jelley	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+10.154
10	Jason Plato	Vauxhall Astra	Power Maxed	+10.564
11	Tom Oliphant	BMW 330i M Sport	Team WSR	+10.757
12	Ollie Jackson	Ford Focus ST	MB Motorsport	+16.981
13	Chris Smiley	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+17.270
14	Senna Proctor	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+17.621
15	Carl Boardley	Infiniti Q50	Laser Tools	+18.009
16	Sam Osborne	Ford Focus ST	Motorbase	+18.763
17	Aron Taylor-Smith	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+19.410
18	Jack Butel	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+19.886
19	Jack Goff	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+23.460
20	Tom Chilton	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	+23.822
21	Jake Hill	Ford Focus ST	MB Motorsport	+24.904
22	Jade Edwards	Honda Civic Type R	BTC Racing	+25.239
23	Rick Parfitt Jr	Hyundai i30N	Excelr8	+26.015
24	Nicholas Hamilton	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	+28.099
25	Andrew Jordan	Toyota Corolla Hybrid	–	+30.593
Retirements
DNF	Andy Neate	Ford Focus ST	Motorbase	Wheel
DNF	Adam Morgan	BMW 330i M Sport	Ciceley	Damage
DNF	Sam Smelt	Toyota Corolla	Toyota Gazoo	Crash
DNF	Gordon Shedden	Honda Civic Type R	Team Dynamics	Crash
DNF	Jack Mitchell	Cupra Leon	Team HARD	Mechanical

26th September 2021

F2 Sochi: Piastri wins feature and extends championship lead

Oscar Piastri won the Sochi Formula 2 feature race with a dominant performance over Theo Pourchaire who finished second. Jehan Daruvala rounded out the podium with the rest of the top four in the championship standings finishing one behind the other in fourth, fifth and sixth, setting up a tight fight in the final leg of the championship.

The feature race was only the second of this unusual weekend. After a huge crash in the sprint race yesterday Felipe Drugovich was declared unfit for this race. He is OK but the chief medical officer was not happy for him to compete in the race today.

Piastri had the best start of anyone, pulling out a gap immediately on Daruvala who bogged down off the line and lost two places down into fourth. The virtual safety car came out before the end of lap 1 with contact between Bent Viscaal and Roy Nissany in Turn 3 leaving Viscaal’s car stranded. Nissany was given a 5 second time penalty for his part which he served during his pitstop.

Jehan Daruvala, Carlin (Lars Baron, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F2)

As Juri Vips came into the pits he suffered a problem and on the way out couldn’t get it resolved. This meant he had to stop on track but managed to park in a good place and no flags were needed. This brought in the first of the mandatory pitstops early on lap 8 for Daruvala and Robert Shwartzman. Both had quick stops but with a lot of traffic in the pit lane they struggled to get out of the box.

Piastri pitted just one lap later leaving Pourchaire, Guanyu Zhou and Dan Ticktum at the front of the pack. A radio message from Ticktum to say ‘let me chase him’ as he was only a couple of tenths off Zhou. Importantly, he made a great move on track around Turn 6 and then came out in front once they went in for tyres.

With warmer tyres, Piastri manage to get past Pourchaire who had come out from the pitstops in front. However, once Pourchaire’s tyres were warmed up he was on a charge, consistently getting fastest laps in an attempt to get back to the top. On lap 15 both drivers were behind Nissany on the alternative strategy. Piastri got past quickly, but Pourchaire took an extra lap, which meant that Piastri open up a gap on Pourchaire.

With work to do, Daruvala was closing the gap on Ralph Boschung in the last 8 laps. By lap 23 Boschung was feeling the pressure and had a huge left front lock up down the back straight, sending him wide and allowing Daruvala to make an easy move back into third.

Ralph Boschung, Campos (Lars Baron, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F2)

Boschung lost out again with no grip left as Shwartzman took advantage of the mistake and dropped Boschung down to fifth. Just three laps later that lock up came back to bite Boschung. The tyre began to fall apart, and a puncture meant he had to retire from the race with just two laps left.

Importantly for the championship Ticktum was able to keep Zhou behind him, despite only a three tenth gap between them for several laps, and they finished fifth and sixth respectively. However, championship leader Piastri extended his lead with a dominant win. Pourchaire finished with a strong performance in P2 and Daruvala made up for his poor start, finishing on the final step of the podium.

For the championship, Shwartzman finished in fourth, gaining points on Ticktum and Zhou but still significantly behind Piastri. Pourchaire with that second is now just nine points behind Shwartzman in the standings in fifth.

Theo Pourchaire, ART (Bryn Lennon, Getty Images / FIA F2)

26th September 2021

F3 Sochi: Doohan seals Trident teams’ title with contentious feature win

Jack Doohan took his fourth win of the season in the Sochi feature race and helped Trident to snatch the Formula 3 teams’ championship away from Prema, albeit by ignoring team orders in his battle with Clement Novalak.

Doohan and Novalak started alongside each other on the front row, and although Novalak got a quick launch to challenge Doohan into Turn 2, Doohan was able to hold his lead from pole position. Behind them Jonathan Hoggard kept third place while Frederik Vesti dropped from fourth to sixth behind Juan Manuel Correa and Lorenzo Colombo.

Vesti soon took those places back however, repassing Colombo by the end of the first lap and Correa on lap 3. On lap 5 he then caught and passed Hoggard’s Jenzer to bring himself up into the podium positions with just over three seconds separating him from the Tridents out front.

Jonathan Hoggard, Jenzer (Lars Baron, Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images / FIA F3)

Colombo and Correa continued to fall back through the field after those opening laps. Colombo dropped to ninth place after running wide while being passed by Vesti, and was then bumped out of the points altogether by Oliver Rasmussen by the end of lap 1. Meanwhile Correa lost fifth and sixth to Logan Sargeant and Jak Crawford, although he managed to hold seventh by seeing off the new F3 champion Dennis Hauger.

Hauger continued to pressure Correa for seventh, closely pursued himself by Victor Martins. Their battle came to a head on lap 7 as the three of them ran side by side through Turn 7. Correa came out ahead as Martins ran wide, but Hauger was spun around by Rasmussen who tried to take advantage of the melee.

Hauger dropped to the back of the field while Rasmussen and Martins both ended up outside the points. Arthur Leclerc benefited from the incident to sneak through and take seventh from Correa, while Ayumu Iwasa and Alex Smolyar were promoted into the points.

Arthur Leclerc, Prema (Courtesy of Prema Racing)

At the front of the field Doohan and Novalak were separated by just a few tenths of a second as they fought for the lead. Novalak set the pace early on with the fastest lap and ran just two tenths behind Doohan by lap 7. On lap 9 Novalak tried a move around the outside of Turn 2 for the lead, but he ran deep into the corner and was forced to slot back into second.

While Doohan and Novalak battled, Vesti was closing in fast on the pair of them. By lap 10 he’d halved his gap to 1.5 seconds behind the Tridents, while Novalak was being visibly held up by Doohan who was sliding through the hard right-handers.

With Vesti coming up fast behind them and the team needing to protect the win to take the teams’ title, Trident instructed Doohan to let Novalak through as he appeared to be the faster driver. But unsurprisingly with a win on the line Doohan didn’t let his teammate past, even though that allowed Vesti to close to just half a second by lap 15.

Trident were spared some anxiety a lap later when Vesti ran wide and dropped out of DRS range of Novalak. But Doohan also ran wide on the same lap which gave Novalak a run on his teammate down the straight at the start of lap 17. Novalak initially got ahead through Turn 2, but Doohan used the corner to set up the inside line into Turn 3 and retake the lead.

Clement Novalak, Trident (Rudy Carezzevoli, Getty Images / FIA F3)

To make matters worse for Novalak he then lost grip in Doohan’s wake and not only dropped out of DRS range of Doohan, but into Vesti’s clutches. Vesti was just a tenth behind Novalak heading through the middle sector while Novalak was warned about weaving in his defence.

When they got to the DRS straight out of Turn 10 Vesti had little trouble pulling alongside and passing Novalak for second. But despite his earlier speed, Vesti’s brief but close battle with Novalak had given Doohan the opportunity to open up a slight lead with two laps remaining, and he ended up crossing the line with two seconds in hand.

Vesti held onto second while Novalak completed the podium in third, but despite losing the 1–2 Trident were still able to take the teams’ title by six points from Prema. Sargeant completed a quiet race in fourth ahead of Crawford and Hoggard, while Leclerc finished seventh and Martins, Iwasa and Olli Caldwell rounded out the points.

Winning the race meant that Doohan keeps his second place in the championship, while Novalak finishes the season in third place ahead of Vesti and Martins.

Frederik Vesti, ART (Bryn Lennon, Getty Images / FIA F3)

25th September 202126th September 2021

F2 Sochi: Ticktum dominates sprint race in tricky damp conditions

Dan Ticktum took his second win of the season in the Sochi F2 sprint race, surviving the difficult conditions while drivers behind him fell afoul of the damp track in an assortment of incidents.

The race got off to a dramatic start before the grid had even formed, as first Guanyu Zhou spun on the lap to the grid and stalled his engine, then his teammate Felipe Drugovich spun into the wall and wrecked his car. As a result neither UNI-Virtuosi was able to take the race start.

With the track still wet in places the race began with a rolling start after two formation laps behind the safety car. Ticktum made the most of that rolling start to get a good gap over second-placed Juri Vips across the line, while Christian Lundgaard was the only driver in the field able to pull off a lap 1 overtake as he passed Marcus Armstrong for tenth.

Although Ticktum got the jump on Vips at the start, Vips responded through the opening lap to be just two tenths behind the Carlin at the start of lap 2. But Ticktum then put in his own answer with a fastest lap to open the gap up again, which began a game of trading lap times between the two of them.

Just a few tenths behind Ticktum and Vips, Liam Lawson was defending third place from Robert Shwartzman. Shwartzman appeared to have the better pace than Lawson and looked at a move out of Turn 3 on lap 3, but with the track still wet outside the racing line he couldn’t get alongside the Hitech. Shwartzman then ran wide through Turn 18 and lost several tenths to Lawson.

Liam Lawson, Hitech (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)

On lap 4 Bent Viscaal spun out at the Turn 15/16 chicane and brought out the Virtual Safety Car. When it was withdrawn on lap 6 Oscar Piastri tried to overtake Jehan Daruvala for eighth place, but he immediately lost tyre temperature when he moved out to the wetter part of the track and instead fell to 12^th behind Lundgaard, Armstrong and Richard Verschoor.

The VSC then made an immediate reappearance when Lawson, lacking brake temperature from the first VSC, couldn’t get his car stopped heading into Turn 13 and damaged his left rear suspension on the exit wall. With Lawson out, Shwartzman moved up to third place ahead of Jake Hughes, Ralph Boschung, Theo Pourchaire and Daruvala.

Once again, the VSC restart caught out several drivers. Shwartzman ran wide through Turn 10 with cold tyres and was passed down the straight by Hughes, although Shwartzman was able to regroup and take back third into Turn 13. Meanwhile Boschung was slow to react and was passed by both Daruvala and Pourchaire, with Daruvala coming out on top in fifth.

Daruvala then set the fastest lap shortly after and joined the battle for third at just half a tenth off Hughes and Shwartzman. But despite his speed he also couldn’t find a way past, and on lap 15 Daruvala then spun at Turn 15 and dropped all the way down to 12^th place.

Back at the front Ticktum had come out best over Vips in both of the VSC restarts and had a four-second lead by the start of lap 10. Vips started to come back at the Carlin with a series of fastest laps and brought the gap down to 2.5 seconds by lap 13.

But Vips also ran wide several times as he struggled to keep temperature in his brakes and tyres, and so he was never able to get on the back of Ticktum. He managed to close to within two seconds on lap 16, but with only two laps remaining there wasn’t enough time to challenge for the lead.

After Vips had a few more offs in the final laps, Ticktum crossed the line to take victory with 4.5 seconds in hand over the Hitech while Shwartzman finished third.

Hughes took his first F2 points with fourth place ahead of Pourchaire, who also recorded the fastest lap late on for an extra two points. Boschung survived a pair of lockups late in the race to finish in sixth place over Lundgaard, and Verschoor come home in eighth to deny Piastri the final point.