Catch up on video highlights of last weekend’s racing action in Weekend Racing Wrap including IndyCar’s double-header at Detroit, F3 and DTM action from the Hungaroring and NASCAR at Pocono.
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Paul di Resta took his first pole position in two years for the opening race, but could he convert it to his first win of the season? Meanwhile Auer took pole position, but it was the heavy rain and resulting chaos that created the story of the race.
Di Resta did take the win, but had to fight for it after losing out in the pit stops. He fought back past Muller on the outside of turn one with a small amount of contact, and Lucas Auer let him through to the lead on lap 23 as the former F1 driver proved quicker. The second race started in the dry but rain came down on lap four, causing chaos. In a slippery pit lane, race leading Auer – along with Edoardo Mortara and Bruno Spengler – all crashed in seperate incidents, resulting in injured marshals and pit crew and a red flag. After the race restarted, it was Marco Wittmann who took the win ahead of Timo Glock and Philipp Eng.
European Formula Three
Dan Ticktum returned to F3 following his sojourn to Japan and took a pair of pole positions for Motopark, the third going to Hitech’s Enaam Ahmed.
Although Alex Palou made a horrendous start from the front row of the grid, pole sitter Dan Ticktum was unable to keep Guan Yu Zhou from taking the lead at the start. Ticktum hit back swiftly, however, and re-took the lead. He held it to the end pursued by a quartet of Prema drivers: Zhou, Robert Shwarzman, Mick Schumacher and Ralf Aron. Ticktum lost his advantage from pole again in race two but this time he never reclaimed it and later retitred. Enaam Ahmed led from lap one to the chequer, and was joined on the podium by Marcus Armstrong and Palou. Ahmed and Ticktum led the field one-two throughout the final race, while a superb start from Schumacher propelled him from ninth on the grid to take the final podium position. Ahmed therefore becomes the first driver to win two races this year and leads the points standings heading to the Norisring.
IndyCar
Marco Andretti ended a five-year pole drought in race one while team mate Alexander Rossi mastered wet conditions to lead Sunday’s grid. F2 racer Santino Ferrucci made his debut for Coyne in place of the injured Pietro Fittipaldi.
Scott Dixon mastered the fuel strategy to win race one after last year’s double winner Graham Rahal crashed out heavily. Dixon was followed by a trio of Andretti cars: Ryan Hunter-Reay, Rossi and Marco, the latter swapping places in the closing stages. Rossi led race two convinceningly from pole position but Hunter Reay went on the attack with a three-stop strategy to Rossi’s two and closed on his team mate in the final laps. Rossi locked his brakes and went up an escape road with six laps remaining, plunging to 12th after a puncture, leaving Hunter Reay to become the series’ sixth winner from eight races so far. Having lost the points lead on Saturday Will Power regained it on Sunday with a fine second at a track where Chevrolet were at a disadvantage to Honda.
NASCAR Cup
Ryan Blaney took his second pole position of the year as NASCAR visited the unusual Pocono superspeedway.
Kevin Harvick led more than half of the race but missed out on a sixth win of 2018. Reigning champion Martin Truex Jnr took the second win of his title defence.
Over to you
What racing action did you watch last weekend? Let us know in the comments.
Next weekend’s racing
The following series are in action next weekend:
British Touring Car Championship races 10-12: Oulton Park
Euroformula Open races 5-6: Spa-Francorchamps
NASCAR Cup race 15: Michigan
World Rally Championship race 7: Italy
World Rallycross Championship race 5: Norway
Thanks to Bradley Downton for contributing to this article.
The start was odd, the race director kept the red lights on as he wasn’t satisfied with something (perhaps the cars’ speeds?), but on the next lap, the lights did go green and the Aston Martin on pole bogged down badly. The Garage 59 McLaren took the lead and controlled most of the race, which saw several FCY-followed by SC periods. I won’t spoil the final hour, it’s worth a look.
Le Castellet saw the first implementation of the “joker pit stop”. To avoid lots of money going into refuelling rigs, SRO has a “delta time” system on its pit stops, meaning a normal pit stop has to be either shorter than x seconds (unfeasible for a full service) or longer than y seconds. I cannot remember the values of x and y, but point is, there is now one fuel stop that is free of this constraint in the 6-hour race, and when teams used this “joker” played an important part in their race progress. At the Spa 24 Hours in July, one joker will be available for each 6-hour period.
I think the lights went green way to early on the second time, and the Aston didn’t anticipate that at all.
I really loved the joker pitstops, very good addition to the strategy game.
I’m still lost as to why this race has to run in the dark for some part, I always tune off then cause I can’t see anything on the stream anyway. Never bothered me with the 24 hours as I’m on the track, and Le Mans I usually am not bothered by that too because there’s a lot more going on.
FlyingLobster27
4th June 2018, 14:36
SRO GT Endurance Cup, 6 Hours at Le Castellet.
The start was odd, the race director kept the red lights on as he wasn’t satisfied with something (perhaps the cars’ speeds?), but on the next lap, the lights did go green and the Aston Martin on pole bogged down badly. The Garage 59 McLaren took the lead and controlled most of the race, which saw several FCY-followed by SC periods. I won’t spoil the final hour, it’s worth a look.
Le Castellet saw the first implementation of the “joker pit stop”. To avoid lots of money going into refuelling rigs, SRO has a “delta time” system on its pit stops, meaning a normal pit stop has to be either shorter than x seconds (unfeasible for a full service) or longer than y seconds. I cannot remember the values of x and y, but point is, there is now one fuel stop that is free of this constraint in the 6-hour race, and when teams used this “joker” played an important part in their race progress. At the Spa 24 Hours in July, one joker will be available for each 6-hour period.
FlatSix (@)
4th June 2018, 18:03
I think the lights went green way to early on the second time, and the Aston didn’t anticipate that at all.
I really loved the joker pitstops, very good addition to the strategy game.
I’m still lost as to why this race has to run in the dark for some part, I always tune off then cause I can’t see anything on the stream anyway. Never bothered me with the 24 hours as I’m on the track, and Le Mans I usually am not bothered by that too because there’s a lot more going on.
Don
5th June 2018, 3:30
IndyCar has the best racing on the planet. Love it! The second race in Detroit was really fun.