the motorsports season traditionally starts with the Dakar Rally. this years edition only goes through Bolivia and Argentina meaning we won't see the spectacular Iquiquedescent.
the cars class probably has the most contenders for the win as every other class. the Mini's are really good in general so almost every Mini is able to win the really. not mentioned in the favorites but I feel like Orlando Terranova (ARG) and Erik van Loon (NED) are also able to contest victories. normal contenders like Peterhansel, Al-Attiyah, Cyril Despres, Robby Gorden (if he doesn't make dumb mistakes) and Carlos Sainz. (father of current F1 Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz) are also present although can't find Krzysztof Hołowczyc in the startlist.
the Quads class is kinda wierd for me as I really don't know much about it as it's rarely covered. only a couple words and information about Husseini when he was racing. afaik it's usually a contest between Patronelli brothers (both with 2 wins between 10' 13' ) and Ignacio Casale (win in 14' ). Sonik picked up a "free" win in 15 when before mentioned racers either didn't start or retired.
and finally the bikes. and I hear that there are no previous race winners at the start. since the two big winners of recent times, Cyril Depres and Marc Coma have switched to cars or are now in the route planning for Dakar we are gonna have a new winner. the people that are usually 2nd tier are now favorites with Joan Barreda Bort, Paulo Gonçalves, Jordi Viladoms, Ruben Faria and Helder Rodrigues. Sam Sunderland and Toby Price are capable to win stages but I don't think they can win overall.
first stage was cancelled to the safety of the drivers wasn't garanteed and the second stage was shortened for the same reason so today we had the first real stage
Second stage Villa Carlos Paz -> Termans de RÃo Hondo
there were basically two highlights. a mudpool of 200 meters after 182 km into the stage which game expecially the bikes and cars problems and the retirement of Martin van de Brink.
starting with the mod pool, many noticable drivers like Viladoms (13 mins), Gonçalves (3 mins), Roma (46 mins), Gordon (17 mins) losing much time already.
the cars strugeling through the mud, beginning with Ten Brinke (NED) the first car to arrive at this point. the list of cars getting stuck is huge as Roma, Sainz, Terranova and Gordon, Dumas and Tim Coronel get stuck and need to be pulled out.
Martin van de Brink (NLD) retired when his truck burned out completely after his brakes got to hot and caught fire
Winners from stage 2
Bikes: Toby Price wins in 3 hours, 46 minutes and 24 seconds
Quads: Ignacio Calase wins in 4 hours, 10 minutes and 47 seconds
Cars: Sebastian Loeb wins in 3 hours, 45 minutes and 46 seconds
Trucks: Hans Stacey wins in 4 hours, 18 minutes and 18 seconds
kinda late on day 3 update due to the delayed time penaltes. I would have reported that Barreda Bort had won the 3rd special for the Bikes and was in the lead of the overall. neither of these things are wrong as he got a time penalty. Kevin Benavides inherets the stage victory while Svitko inherets the overall lead. he finished 4th in stage 3. Rodrigues and Faria loses time today, the later because of almost runing out of fuel. the biggest loser of today is Toby Price, winner of yesterday. he needed to open the stage and didn't have an easy time with it nearly colliding with spectaters and animals.
on to the Quads. surprise winner today as Baragwanath (South Africa). he beats Casale by only 4 seconds after almost 2 ¾ hours of driving. until Casale got a 1 minute time penalty. Marcos Patronelli was originally 3rd in the standings but he recieved a 7 minute time penalty. Casale maintains overall lead though.
the Trucks had the unfortune of going from their special stage being shortened and shortened and even totally cancelled until the have a special stage off only 150 km. the best Kamaz truck is only 5th place thanks to Mardeev, he's the only Kamaz in today's stage top 10. the Dutch however also don't win as Kolomy (Czech Republic) wins the stage, he isn't awarded a time penalty curiously as he's seen overtake De Rooy in a slow zone. so far however nothing yet so he wins the stage. Hans Stacey takes the lead over from his teammate Versluis after Stacey was awarded a time penalty yesterday.
Stage Winners & Leaders
Bikes: Kevin Benavides wins in 2 hours, 31 minutes and 3 seconds.
Stefan Svitko leads after 6 hours, 27 minutes and 4 seconds.
Quads: Brian Baragwanath wins in 2 hours, 42 minutes and 35 seconds.
Ignacio Casale leads after 7 hours, 1 minute and 40 seconds.
Stage 4 and 5 are parts of a marathon stage meaning that there is no service for all vehicles after the finish. in previous years this only applied to assistance of teams (so drivers and navigators could work on it) but that has been scrapped as well. any service must be done on the special stage which cost times
Bikes: Pablo Gonçalves wins stage 4. in stage 5 both Gonçalves and Faria lose a bit of time while Rodrigues finally is seen in the top 10. Matthias Walkner is also near to top finally. Time penalties again are a part of this stage. Toby Price wins stage 5. stage 6 was a real killer as Juan Barreda Bort lost a lot of time, 5 hours to be total, finishing 114th (4th last). however he didn't have worst day however as Ruben Faria needs to retire due to a broken wrist. Meo who has been finishing high so far but got lost in stage 6. Toby Price does win the stage again. the race got even thougher as we have two big names retiring, Barreda Bort also retires when he doesn't start the stage 7 due to problems in stage 6. Matthias Walkner crashes hard and breaks his femur. he was third overall. Meo wins stage 7, the second one debutant to win a stage. the stage was however cancelled after due to heavy rain, after Frans Verhoeven sees the biker in front of him virtually washed away by the current in a waterpassage. stage 8 had nothing spectaculair worth mentioning. Price wins the stage.
Spoiler
Pos.
N°
Name
Mark
Time
variation
Penalty
#1
3
PRICE (AUS)
KTM
27:28:56
-
-
#2
2
GONCALVES (PRT)
HONDA
27:31:01
0:02:05
-
#3
5
SVITKO (SVK)
KTM
27:43:10
0:14:14
0:01:00
#4
4
QUINTANILLA (CHL)
HUSQVARNA
27:50:22
0:21:26
-
#5
47
BENAVIDES (ARG)
HONDA
27:54:51
0:25:55
-
#6
49
MEO (FRA)
KTM
27:57:40
0:28:44
-
#7
7
RODRIGUES (PRT)
YAMAHA
27:59:47
0:30:51
0:02:00
#8
23
FARRES GUELL (ESP)
KTM
28:06:28
0:37:32
-
#9
17
PEDRERO GARCIA (ESP)
SHERCO TVS
28:08:37
0:39:41
0:02:00
#10
20
DUCLOS (FRA)
SHERCO TVS
28:14:07
0:45:11
-
Quads: after a bad stage for the Petronelli's, Marcus bounces back to 2nd place only losing 4 seconds to winner Hernandez. Casale loses 38 seconds and Alejandro Patronelli 4 minutes 18 seconds though. winner of the stage before, Baragwanath loses close to 40 minutes. in stage 6 however Casale is forced to retire which allows the Patronellis basically fight it out between the two.
Spoiler
Pos.
N°
Name
Mark
Time
variation
Penalty
#1
252
PATRONELLI (ARG)
YAMAHA
32:47:25
-
0:09:00
#2
253
PATRONELLI (ARG)
YAMAHA
32:49:31
0:02:06
0:01:00
#3
265
HERNANDEZ (PER)
YAMAHA
33:20:15
0:32:50
0:01:00
#4
264
KARYAKIN (RUS)
YAMAHA
33:31:21
0:43:56
-
#5
254
GONZALEZ FERIOLI (ARG)
YAMAHA
33:33:42
0:46:17
0:01:00
#6
272
COPETTI (ARG)
YAMAHA
34:13:20
1:25:55
-
#7
269
KOOLEN (NLD)
HONDA
34:18:12
1:30:47
0:38:00
#8
257
SANABRIA GALEANO (PRY)
YAMAHA
34:26:18
1:38:53
0:02:30
#9
274
BARAGWANATH (ZAF)
YAMAHA
34:27:03
1:39:38
1:04:00
#10
256
NOSIGLIA (BOL)
HONDA
34:42:40
1:55:15
1:06:00
Cars: Loeb doesn't win the stage 4, marking the first stage the Peugeot rider doesn't win. the win goes to Peterhansel, also from Peugeot. Peugeot does have trouble because Cyril Despres loses a lot of time in stage 5 due to turbo problems. the top Peugeots of Loeb, Sainz and Peterhansel make up the podium in stage 5 and in that order. stage 6 was usual business, Peugeot wins the stage with Peterhansel and Sainz in second place. Loeb finishes 4th with Alrajhi takes 3rd. except for Bernhard ten Brinke, is forced to watch his Toyota burn down. the Peugeot make another 1-2 in stage 8 with Sainz and Loeb. Al-Attiyah squeezes between Loeb and Peterhansel for 3rd place. Stage 9 proves to be the waterloo for crowd favorite Sebastian Loeb crashes and loses an hour Al-Attiyah takes 3rd place after the Peugeot crashes. he wins the stage but Peterhansel leads to overall with 2 minute 9 gap on Sainz.
Spoiler
Pos.
N°
Name
Mark
Time
variation
Penalty
#1
302
PETERHANSEL (FRA)
PEUGEOT
26:01:44
-
-
#2
303
SAINZ (ESP)
PEUGEOT
26:03:53
0:02:09
0:01:00
#3
300
AL-ATTIYAH (QAT)
MINI
26:16:27
0:14:43
0:01:00
#4
315
HIRVONEN (FIN)
MINI
26:38:26
0:36:42
-
#5
319
POULTER (ZAF)
TOYOTA
26:51:16
0:49:32
-
#6
305
ALRAJHI (SAU)
TOYOTA
26:56:03
0:54:19
0:05:00
#7
301
DE VILLIERS (ZAF)
TOYOTA
26:56:33
0:54:49
-
#8
314
LOEB (FRA)
PEUGEOT
27:07:00
1:05:16
-
#9
307
VASILYEV (RUS)
TOYOTA
27:10:32
1:08:48
0:01:00
#10
304
ROMA (ESP)
MINI
27:30:05
1:28:21
0:01:00
Trucks: still no sign of Kamaz at stage 4 so the Dutch truckers win the stage again. Gerard de Rooy takes it. Kamaz first shows it face at Stage 5, as Nikolaev wins the stage. the best dutchman is Van Genugten, the fast service for Gerard de Rooy in 4th place. Kolomy (Tatra) and Villagra (also Team De Rooy) make up the podium for the stage. teammate of De Rooy, Loprais (Czech) however is forced to retire, due to a mechanical problem. Kamaz isn't able to continue its winning streak in Stage 6 as Nikolaev is the first Kamaz in only 4th place. Sotnikov (5th), Karginov (6th) and Mardeev (8th) are the other Kamazes. Stacey wins the stage, 7 seconds faster than De Rooy. Stage 7 ended the Dakar asperiations of Martin Kolomy (Tatra). he loses two hours. The other truckers fighting for victory of Versluis, De Rooy, Mardeev, Nikolaev and Stacey don't have major troubles. the stage marks the first time multiple Kamaz cars are at the front with a 1-2 for Nikolaev, Mardeev. Kamaz keeps on charing the wins with Sotnikov in 5th, Karginov in 3rd and Nikolaev in 2nd place. the stage win was however for Gerard de Rooy.
Stage 9 was shorted due to the extreme heat for the drivers (42*C/107,6*F)
Bikes: Gonçalves started the stage as second, in pursuit of Toby Price but Price was flying away and Gonçalves couldn't get close to the times of Price. in 178 km he pulled a gap of 12 minutes 29 seconds against 2nd place Brabec. Gonçalves only finishes 13th, while being saved by the shorted stage due to a crash which made a hole in his radiator. he "only" loses +30 minutes.
Spoiler
Pos.
N°
Name
Mark
Time
variation
Penalty
#1
3
PRICE (AUS)
KTM
3:26:58
-
-
#2
48
BRABEC (USA)
HONDA
3:39:27
0:12:29
-
#3
49
MEO (FRA)
KTM
3:40:22
0:13:24
-
#4
5
SVITKO (SVK)
KTM
3:41:43
0:14:45
-
#5
42
VAN BEVEREN (FRA)
YAMAHA
3:42:52
0:15:54
-
#6
23
FARRES GUELL (ESP)
KTM
3:43:36
0:16:38
-
#7
4
QUINTANILLA (CHL)
HUSQVARNA
3:44:13
0:17:15
-
#8
7
RODRIGUES (PRT)
YAMAHA
3:46:10
0:19:12
-
#9
45
MONLEON (ESP)
KTM
3:48:33
0:21:35
-
#10
47
BENAVIDES (ARG)
HONDA
3:49:06
0:22:08
-
Standings
Pos.
N°
Name
Mark
Time
variation
Penalty
#1
3
PRICE (AUS)
KTM
30:55:54
-
-
#2
5
SVITKO (SVK)
KTM
31:24:53
0:28:59
0:01:00
#3
2
GONCALVES (PRT)
HONDA
31:29:55
0:34:01
-
#4
4
QUINTANILLA (CHL)
HUSQVARNA
31:34:35
0:38:41
-
#5
49
MEO (FRA)
KTM
31:38:02
0:42:08
-
#6
47
BENAVIDES (ARG)
HONDA
31:43:57
0:48:03
-
#7
7
RODRIGUES (PRT)
YAMAHA
31:45:57
0:50:03
0:02:00
#8
23
FARRES GUELL (ESP)
KTM
31:50:04
0:54:10
-
#9
48
BRABEC (USA)
HONDA
32:00:02
1:04:08
-
#10
42
VAN BEVEREN (FRA)
YAMAHA
32:05:35
1:09:41
-
Quads: surprise stage winner mostly because a Patronelli didn't win, Pablo Copetti won the stage only 54 seconds ahead of Alejandro Patronelli. Marcos Patronelli keeps the lead however but the gap is down to 44 seconds.
Spoiler
Pos.
N°
Name
Mark
Time
variation
Penalty
#1
272
COPETTI (ARG)
YAMAHA
5:39:41
-
-
#2
253
A.PATRONELLI (ARG)
YAMAHA
5:40:35
0:00:54
-
#3
252
M.PATRONELLI (ARG)
YAMAHA
5:41:57
0:02:16
-
#4
274
BARAGWANATH (ZAF)
YAMAHA
5:44:26
0:04:45
-
#5
269
KOOLEN (NLD)
HONDA
5:46:04
0:06:23
-
#6
254
GONZALEZ FERIOLI (ARG)
YAMAHA
5:48:58
0:09:17
-
#7
265
HERNANDEZ (PER)
YAMAHA
5:53:19
0:13:38
-
#8
268
GIORDANA (ARG)
YAMAHA
5:58:10
0:18:29
-
#9
257
SANABRIA GALEANO (PRY)
YAMAHA
5:59:31
0:19:50
0:15:00
#10
264
KARYAKIN (RUS)
YAMAHA
6:15:57
0:36:16
-
Standings
Pos.
N°
Name
Mark
Time
variation
Penalty
#1
252
M. PATRONELLI (ARG)
YAMAHA
38:29:22
-
0:09:00
#2
253
A. PATRONELLI (ARG)
YAMAHA
38:30:06
0:00:44
0:01:00
#3
265
HERNANDEZ (PER)
YAMAHA
39:13:34
0:44:12
0:01:00
#4
254
GONZALEZ FERIOLI (ARG)
YAMAHA
39:22:40
0:53:18
0:01:00
#5
264
KARYAKIN (RUS)
YAMAHA
39:47:58
1:18:36
-
#6
272
COPETTI (ARG)
YAMAHA
39:53:01
1:23:39
-
#7
269
KOOLEN (NLD)
HONDA
40:04:16
1:34:54
0:38:00
#8
274
BARAGWANATH (ZAF)
YAMAHA
40:11:29
1:42:07
1:04:00
#9
257
SANABRIA GALEANO (PRY)
YAMAHA
40:25:49
1:56:27
0:17:30
#10
256
NOSIGLIA (BOL)
HONDA
41:00:32
2:31:10
1:06:00
Cars: while the one noticible WRC name Loeb falling through the ice, the other one seems to florish in these conditions. Mikko Hirvonen finishes third while Loeb again losses an hour after getting stuck in the sand. Peugeot seems to drop through the ice in generall as Peterhansel loses 9 minutes after getting stuck and two flat tyres. Peterhansel is also in trouble as he's under investigation for an illegal fuel stop. Al-Attiyah (Mini) tried his best to take advantage of the struggeling Peugeot but makes mistakes himself. the top 4 was less than 39 seconds seperated with De Villiers (Toyota) in 4th, Hirvonen (Mini) in third, with 17 seconds and Van Loon (Mini) in 2nd with 10 seconds back to the only Peugeot not having trouble Carlos Sainz. Van Loon's 2nd place is a historic one for the Netherlands as it's the best result for a dutchman in the car classification for a stage. Sainz now equals legand Jackie Ickx in dakar stages won. also of note is the 17th place of Tim Coronel in the single seater buggy.
Spoiler
Pos.
N°
Name
Mark
Time
variation
Penalty
#1
303
SAINZ (ESP)
PEUGEOT
2:35:31
-
-
#2
306
VAN LOON (NLD)
MINI
2:35:41
0:00:10
-
#3
315
HIRVONEN (FIN)
MINI
2:35:48
0:00:17
-
#4
301
DE VILLIERS (ZAF)
TOYOTA
2:36:09
0:00:38
-
#5
300
AL-ATTIYAH (QAT)
MINI
2:37:35
0:02:04
-
#6
321
DESPRES (FRA)
PEUGEOT
2:42:17
0:06:46
-
#7
302
PETERHANSEL (FRA)
PEUGEOT
2:44:43
0:09:12
-
#8
305
ALRAJHI (SAU)
TOYOTA
2:45:09
0:09:38
-
#9
310
TERRANOVA (ARG)
MINI
2:46:24
0:10:53
-
#10
346
CORBETT (ZAF)
CENTURY
2:51:02
0:15:31
-
Standings
Pos.
N°
Name
Mark
Time
variation
Penalty
#1
303
SAINZ (ESP)
PEUGEOT
28:39:24
-
0:01:00
#2
302
PETERHANSEL (FRA)
PEUGEOT
28:46:27
0:07:03
-
#3
300
AL-ATTIYAH (QAT)
MINI
28:54:02
0:14:38
0:01:00
#4
315
HIRVONEN (FIN)
MINI
29:14:14
0:34:50
-
#5
301
DE VILLIERS (ZAF)
TOYOTA
29:32:42
0:53:18
-
#6
305
ALRAJHI (SAU)
TOYOTA
29:41:12
1:01:48
0:05:00
#7
319
POULTER (ZAF)
TOYOTA
29:42:49
1:03:25
-
#8
306
VAN LOON (NLD)
MINI
30:07:29
1:28:05
-
#9
304
ROMA (ESP)
MINI
30:22:19
1:42:55
0:01:00
#10
321
DESPRES (FRA)
PEUGEOT
30:30:54
1:51:30
0:01:00
Trucks: the MAN top trucks of Hans Stacey (1 hour) and Versluis (30 minutes) lose a lot of time, dropping from 4th and 3rd respectively to 7th and 5th. the Kamaz drivers don't take their places but the De Rooy team do with Villagra now 3rd and Van Genugten in 4th. Kamaz needs to settle with only Nikolaev in the top 5 (2nd). this stage is won by Gerard de Rooy who would have finished 6th in the cars classification being faster then Cyril Despres. Van Genugten finishes 2nd 4 minutes behind while Karginov finishes 3rd but loses 16 minutes.
so let's finish Dakar now. wont go in to much detail cause it happend three months ago. my bad, kinda got caught up in stuff and then forgot about it. overall top 20 is in the spoilers for every class
it was Marcos Patronelli that took the overall after putting 4 minutes on his brother Alejandro in stage 12. it was the only stage Marcos won in the final four while Alejandro took stage 11. Baragwanath won stages 10 and 13 and finished 3rd overall.
Spoiler
Pos.
N°
Name
Mark
Time
variation
Penalty
#1
252
M.PATRONELLI (ARG)
YAMAHA
58:47:41
-
0:09:00
#2
253
A.PATRONELLI (ARG)
YAMAHA
58:53:04
0:05:23
0:01:00
#3
274
BARAGWANATH (ZAF)
YAMAHA
60:29:34
1:41:53
1:04:00
#4
264
KARYAKIN (RUS)
YAMAHA
60:32:06
1:44:25
-
#5
254
GONZALEZ FERIOLI (ARG)
YAMAHA
60:49:49
2:02:08
0:01:00
#6
256
NOSIGLIA (BOL)
HONDA
63:13:51
4:26:10
1:06:00
#7
257
SANABRIA GALEANO (PRY)
YAMAHA
63:36:40
4:48:59
0:48:30
#8
265
HERNANDEZ (PER)
YAMAHA
65:21:25
6:33:44
0:21:00
#9
266
PALMA (CHL)
YAMAHA
67:03:14
8:15:33
0:01:00
#10
263
HANSEN (ARG)
HONDA
67:29:04
8:41:23
-
#11
259
LIPAROTI (FRA)
YAMAHA
69:28:48
10:41:07
0:05:00
#12
291
MARTINEZ (BOL)
CAN-AM
70:43:28
11:55:47
0:21:00
#13
288
ALARD (FRA)
HONDA
72:42:06
13:54:25
0:03:00
#14
290
LICIO (URY)
YAMAHA
74:16:59
15:29:18
0:15:00
#15
280
INNOCENTE (ARG)
CAN-AM
75:35:57
16:48:16
1:00:00
#16
285
AIRALDI (PER)
CAN-AM
82:41:29
23:53:48
1:49:00
#17
282
MARCOS ECHAMIZ (ESP)
CAN-AM
84:12:40
1:24:59
-
#18
281
FERNANDEZ SUAREZ (ESP)
CAN-AM
84:16:08
1:28:27
-
#19
277
CREATORE (ARG)
YAMAHA
91:47:33
8:59:52
4:13:00
#20
260
PICCO (ITA)
CAN-AM
92:05:28
33:17:47
7:17:00
Cars
last post I mentioned that Sainz was the only one still without trouble. he had to retire stage 10 after gearbox issues. Peterhansel took the lead with an hour over Al-Attiyah. Peterhansel only had to manage his lead against Al-Attiyah to win the rally. after stage 11 it seemed like nothing was going to stop Al-Attiyah because he finished with transmission issues but still won the stage (only two wheels worked). In the end thought it wasn't enough as Peterhansel still had 34 minutes advantage when the rally ended. the last two stages were won by the two WRC debutants. Mikko Hirvonen won stage 12 while Loeb won stage 13.
Spoiler
Pos.
N°
Name
Mark
Time
variation
Penalty
Pos.
N°
Name
Mark
Time
variation
Penalty
#1
302
PETERHANSEL (FRA)
PEUGEOT
45:22:10
-
-
#2
300
AL-ATTIYAH (QAT)
MINI
45:57:08
0:34:58
0:01:00
#3
301
DE VILLIERS (ZAF)
TOYOTA
46:24:57
1:02:47
-
#4
315
HIRVONEN (FIN)
MINI
46:27:28
1:05:18
-
#5
319
POULTER (ZAF)
TOYOTA
46:52:53
1:30:43
-
#6
304
ROMA (ESP)
MINI
47:03:16
1:41:06
0:01:00
#7
321
DESPRES (FRA)
PEUGEOT
47:15:14
1:53:04
0:05:00
#8
307
VASILYEV (RUS)
TOYOTA
47:23:55
2:01:45
0:01:00
#9
314
LOEB (FRA)
PEUGEOT
47:44:19
2:22:09
0:07:00
#10
323
HUNT (GBR)
MINI
48:33:40
3:11:30
0:08:00
#11
305
ALRAJHI (SAU)
TOYOTA
49:59:28
4:37:18
0:05:00
#12
310
TERRANOVA (ARG)
MINI
50:31:04
5:08:54
-
#13
306
VAN LOON (NLD)
MINI
50:44:23
5:22:13
-
#14
329
PROKOP (CZE)
TOYOTA
50:55:42
5:33:32
0:01:00
#15
327
PRZYGONSKI (POL)
MINI
51:02:10
5:40:00
0:01:00
#16
326
ZAPLETAL (CZE)
HUMMER
51:02:51
5:40:41
-
#17
346
CORBETT (ZAF)
CENTURY
52:37:54
7:15:44
-
#18
317
SPATARO (ARG)
RENAULT
52:55:53
7:33:43
0:01:00
#19
308
LAVIEILLE (FRA)
RENAULT
53:01:28
7:39:18
-
#20
328
DUMAS (FRA)
PEUGEOT
53:34:13
8:12:03
0:06:00
Trucks
Stage 10 decided the rally for the trucks, when Gerard De Rooy's gap to 2nd place grew from 27 minutes to 1 hours 15 minutes. this wasn't due to De Rooy destorying the field in the stage but more due to #2 Eduard Nikolaev losing a lot of time. so much that he falls out of the top 3. he only finishes 7th overall. Pascall de Baar won the 10 stage. Nikolaev bounched back in stage 11 winning it but the gap was to big to threaten De Rooy for the overall win. Peter Versluis and Hans Stacey picked up the win for MAN in the last two stages.
since Formula 1 is starting next week I thought I would bring more activitiy in this thread because I am not particulair found of F1 anymore. so I'll update this weekends result across multiple championships that I happen to watch or get notified for it being worth mentioning (think, Indycar, Formula E, NASCAR, DTM, stuff like that) I'll link the highlights or full race (if available) from the official youtubes channel above the top 10 results.
Last week Formula E raced it's 5th race of the season in Mexico City. Indycar had it's season opener on the street circuit of St. Petersburg and NASCAR had Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, Arizona.
Formula E
Mexico City
probably the most exciting race of the weekend, Lucas di Grassi stood at the top step of the podium alongside D'Ambrosio and Buemi. however it was D'Ambrosio who was declared the winner after Di Grassi was disqualified. his vehicle for the first part of the race was to under the minimum amount of weight required. the fight between Buemi and D'Ambrosio was filled with controversies as Buemi first hit the Belgian and then cut the chicane a few laps later to take the position. the controvies don't end there since Buemi had to give the place back but did it in a bad place forcing D'Ambrosio onto the dirt and Prost, Abt and Duval overtake D'Ambrosio. D'Ambrosio in response cuts the final chicane completely to take back 2nd place than Buemi needs to give back. Buemi is unable to overtake D'Ambrosio for 2nd place, which eventually turned into first when Di Grassi got disqualified.
Buemi now leads the championship by a wide margin against next pursuer Lucas Di Grassi. the next race in on April 2nd on Long Beach, USA
a rather dull Indycar race, Will Power grabbed the but thanks to a concussion in practice was unable to take advantage of it, He was replaced by Oriol Servia. this promoted Simon Pagenaud to the pole. Marco Andretti brought out the first caution of the race when he made contact with Luca Filippi. when the race got back to green the race was stopped again due to a multicar incident. this left Conor Daly in the lead who was off-sync in the lead but when Juan Pablo Montoya overtook the american, he never looked back. Ryan Hunter-Ray managed to break up a Penske 1-2-3 a few laps before the end pushing Castroneves back inot 4th. Aleshin marks his returns to the Indycar Series with a 5th place.
Indycar will be back April 2nd with the Phoenix Grand Prix, one of the 4 oval courses this year
also a contender for best race of the weekend, most notibly the finish thanks to the "overtime" rules that was introduced this year (or changed to it's current format).
the first caution of the race was cause by Ryan Newman who crashing in to the wall when his right front tyre blows and it ends his day after only 52 laps. during the caution Kyle Busch goes for the two tyre change instead of four, putting him in the lead. in lap 75 he loses to lead to Earnhardt Jr. who changed four tyres and used his less worn tyres to take the lead of the race. during the third caution of the day, Kyle Busch again has trouble on pit road, overshooting it and needing to reverse to allow the mechanics to change the tyres. He's also to close to the wall which makes it difficult for the mechanics to change to left tyres. he drops to 16th. the fourth caution of the day was again caused by tyres blowing up when Keselowski's right rear blows, sending debris on the track. this seemed to be the final caution until with 5 laps to go Kahne crashing into the wall, which brings up the overtime. now the decision because the classic "do we get fresh rubber and start down the field or do we keep our tyres and positions". this time it proved the right choice to stay out as Harvick stayed ahead of Edwards who went in.
NASCAR season going GREAT for Jimmie Johnson so far! Dominating the track, if we could turn back to an old points system this guy could get way more than 6 titles where he is right now. 77 wins to pass Dale Earnhardt, things are going great!
PCM.Daily NFL Fantasy Football Champion: 2012 PCM.Daily NHL Prediction Game Champion: 2013 PCM.Daily NFL Prediction Game Champion: 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2021
PCM.Daily NFL Fantasy Football Champion: 2012 PCM.Daily NHL Prediction Game Champion: 2013 PCM.Daily NFL Prediction Game Champion: 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2021
YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS fucking amazing finish. on the edge of my seat. was cheering for first because I like the person and second because I called it 10 laps before the end. amazing end to a rather dissapointing sport weekend in my book
I will probably wait on charlotte to make a race overview (so tomorrow night ) with F1, Indy, Coca-Cola 600, 24h Nurburgring, WTCC and probably more if I can find them tomorrow.
The home of the Italian Grand Prix will remove the Rettifilio chicane at the beginning of the lap, leaving a straight run to a revised sequence of bends replacing the Curva Grande.
Oh god... the Curva Grande is one of the best corners in motorsport and now it'll be gone... Don't mind the re-profiling of the Lesmo's or the gravel, but the Curva Grande... f*cking why?
TheManxMissile wrote:
Oh god... the Curva Grande is one of the best corners in motorsport and now it'll be gone... Don't mind the re-profiling of the Lesmo's or the gravel, but the Curva Grande... f*cking why?
Curva Grande is not really a corner but I'm not a fan of changing layouts. Especially removing gravel out of Parabolica was retarded as the difficulty and challenge of the corner was completely removed.
leads after 6 hours, 27 minutes and 4 seconds.
, Peterhansel 
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
