What were the best races you saw in 2014?
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This may form the basis for an off-season article: I’m looking to find out what were the best races you saw during 2014.
It can be single-seaters, touring cars, GT cars, whatever – as long as the cars have four wheels and they go around a circuit.
Post your nominations below, do include a video if you can find one (one video per post only please). I’ll throw in a few suggestions of my own as well…
Here’s a quick one from me: an inspired Max Verstappen climbs from 11th to steal 2nd from Antonio Giovinazzi at the line at Imola:
Bathurst 1000 was my favourite. Had everything you could want in a World Renouned event. The winners (Chaz Mostert and Pauo Morris) started from stone dead last and had a meeting with the tyre wall at Turn 2 early on. Awesome racing.
The 2nd race at COTA in the Porsche Supercup, there were overtakes everywhere, the drivers usually don’t have this much fight. And it was also a title decider, though Bamber didn’t have a big challenge from Giermaziak.
Just pick any Moto3 race from this year and you’ll be entertained. However, I am unable to find a video to a full race on YouTube, so I’ve picked this instead: an epic duel between some excellent IndyCar drivers. This year’s Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix is a good shout too.
As usual it’s hard to argue with the Indy 500. A thriller as always.
To be different, however, my nomination goes to the United SportsCar race at Detroit. A thrilling climax, with a close tense battle with a dab of controversy.
I would say the Formula E races were pretty decent. If I had to choose one of the two, it would be the Putrajaya GP.
Disclosure: I don’t really follow motorsports outside of F1. Used to follow the now defunct A1GP, and now following FE.
Let’s see.
The overall best I’d say was race 2 of the BTCC finale event at Brands Hatch. It had literally everything… I posted some highlights (includes clips from the less entertaining race 1 and race 3 too).
The NASCAR Sprint Cup fall race at Talladega was also a classic. Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. went into it in a must-win situation for them to advance to the next ’round’ (three-race segment) of the revamped Chase. Keselowski did it on the single most unpredictable race track of the calendar, holding off the much-faster pack for the last 2 laps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJXlzMnyYXg
One of the most tense finishes I’ll ever saw came during the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12hrs back in February as Maximilian Buhk in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 with higher top speed tried to hunt down the high-downforce Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Craig Lowndes, the car Allen Simonsen drove before he died during the 2013 Le Mans 24hrs.
Race 2 of the V8 Supercars’ Clipsal 500 produced another epic finish with young Shaun McLaughlin fighting valiantly for 2nd place against now six-time champ Jamie Whincup. The very definition of close-quarters racing.
These are right up there with this year’s Bahrain, Canadian and Hungarian GPs.
For me the 200th race in GP2 was a highlight in Hockenheim, during a weekend where GP2 proved beyond doubt that it does not need DRS. The first single seater victory for Dean Stoneman in Barcelona since he was diagnosed with cancer was also a highlight.
In terms of drivers, five stand head and shoulders above the rest…
Stoffel Vandoorne – Proved beyond doubt that drivers can in fact make an immediate impression on Pirelli rubber in GP2. His P2 season ranking has seen him ranked inside the top two in F1’s two premier class feeder categories in consecutive years having won on debut in both cases: a virtually inconceivable achievement. The Belgian is the most deserving single seater racer of an F1 seat since Nico Hulkenberg.
Sébastien Buemi – Having struggled to find his feet in sportscar racing in 2013, he promptly became the fastest driver in LMP1 in 2014. His raw speed and crisp disposal of traffic could have seen the #8 crew win every race in 2014 had Lapierre not crashed at Le Mans and COTA, and without an alternator issue in Bahrain.
Jose-Maria Lopez – This single-seater refugee humbled not only nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb but touring car legend Yvan Muller at his own game to take the 2014 WTCC title. Dominant wins at tracks he had never visited before whilst driving alongside such an impressive stable of teammates in 2014 defied all preseason predictions.
Marco Wittmann – In just his second season in the category he proceeded to humiliate the most impressive collection of driving talent outside of F1 with a dominant title march that saw him take four wins. The pace advantage he had in series where laptimes are split by mere thousandths makes him look set to be a force in the DTM for many years to come.
Max Verstappen – Confidence is often cited as the key determinant between the great and the merely good racing drivers. So it is moves like those Max made in the second race at Imola in F3 in his first year of car racing that suggest there is a touch of greatness about him. Yes I’d prefer to be watching him in GP2 or FR3.5 in 2015 than F1, but how he copes with the challenge that awaits him come Australia will certainly be one of the great talking points of 2015.
Have to add the 12 Hours of Bathurst, van Gisbergen was amazing whilst sometimes pretty crazy.
Edit: Sorry, just noticed @atticus-2 nominated it already.
@atticus-2 Thanks for the suggestions but just one video per post please!
@atticus its Scott McLaughlin not Shaun
@keithcollantine Oh, sorry, then I’d like to nominate the Talladega race and I hope that others will take on the other three (@hunocsi already did so with the Bathurst race).
@jarred-walmsley Yeah, I realized something was not right after I revisited my post a couple of hours later, but by that time you can’t edit what you wrote. :P Bit of a shame on me, really, as I like that guy the most from the new generation.
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