MOTORSPORT: Lucky break for Will Power
As new faces bob up on the IndyCar podium Australia’s Will Power maintains his series lead despite two lowly results. And Ford wins in NASCAR while VW continues to dominate the WRCThe series is producing great racing and surprise results, even if it is of little relevance to the motor industry and has poor television ratings.
The weekend’s winners on the streets of Houston were Colombian Carlos Huertas in just his ninth IndyCar start and Frenchman Simon Pagenaud – both in Honda-engined cars for small teams, Dale Coyne Racing and Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports respectively.
Chevrolet is the only other engine supplier in the series, while Ford has no interest in returning to it.
All four full-time rookies in the series were on the podium throughout the weekend. Huertas was the victor on Saturday, after a previous best finish of eighth, but he was the first retirement on Sunday.
Fellow Colombian Carlos Munoz – second in last year’s Indianapolis 500 – finished third on Saturday at his 12th IndyCar start as he and Huertas sandwiched veteran countryman Juan Pablo Montoya.
Pagenaud’s Russian teammate Mikhail Aleshin, who beat Daniel Ricciardo to the 2010 Formula Renault 3.5 title in Europe, followed the Frenchman across the finish line on Sunday.
And young Brit Jack Hawksworth – who raced in Indy Lights last year for Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports, the Indianapolis-based outfit owned by former drivers Sam Schmidt and Davey Hamilton with Ric Peterson – was third for Bryan Herta Autosport after starting last.
Ryan Briscoe’s eighth place on Sunday was the weekend’s best result by the two Australians full-time in the series. Briscoe, driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, made up seven places in the race after finishing 12th on Saturday, when Power was 14th.
Power was running third for Team Penske on Sunday’s penultimate lap but a failure in his right rear suspension cost him eight places as he nursed his Chevrolet-powered Dallara car home in 11th – costing him 16 points.
Teammate Castroneves led the first half of the race and could have taken the series lead from Power, but contact with Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais put him out. Castroneves blamed Bourdais for the incident, although the consensus was that he was in the wrong. Bourdais finished fifth for KV Racing, behind American Charlie Kimball for Ganassi.
Montoya’s second place on Saturday in the third Team Penske entry was his best IndyCar finish since his return from 13 years in Formula One and NASCAR.
Third in the series, just two points behind Castroneves, is American Ryan Hunter-Reay, winner of last month’s Indianapolis 500 but only seventh and sixth on the short Houston street circuit.
Worrying from a safety viewpoint for IndyCar organisers was that two spectators jogged across the track Sunday morning soon after qualifying began. The pair reached an access point in the track barriers as a race car approached.
Next weekend’s round of the series is at Pocono, Pennslyvania.
It was Keselowski’s second victory in a season dominated by the Chevrolets of Hendrick Motorsports and the 12th of his Cup career.
He needed four stitches in his right hand cut by a shattered champagne bottle during celebrations after the race, in which he led 199 of 267 laps of the 1.5-mile (2.4km) oval track.
Australia’s Marcos Ambrose finished 13th in another Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports but is only 20th in the points as the series heads to Daytona for the second time this season.
Only 42 cars started at Kentucky, rather than NASCAR’s usual 43, for the first time since the 2001 season finale.
NASCAR Sprint Cup driver standings after 17 of 36 rounds – 1, Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet) 618 points; 2, Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) 594; 3, Dale Earnhardt Junior (Chevrolet) 594; 4, Brad Keselowski (Ford) 560; 5, Matt Kenseth (Toyota) 555; 6, Carl Edwards (Ford) 536; 7, Joey Logano (Ford) 519; 8, Ryan Newman (Chevrolet) 514; 9, Kevin Harvick (Chevrolet) 509; 10, Kyle Busch (Toyota) 508; 11, Paul Menard (Chevrolet) 488; 12 Kyle Larson (Chevrolet) 474. Australia’s Marcos Ambrose (Ford) is 20th on 438 points.
Its three drivers occupy the top three spots in the driver standings this season. VW’s French world champion Sebastien Ogier, victor for the fifth time this year in Poland, is 50 points clear of Finnish teammate Jari-Matti Latvala.
Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen, who battled hard with Ogier in the early stages of the latest event before finishing more than a minute behind in second, is up to third in the points.
Ogier won 10 of the 22 stages in Poland, while Latvala recovered from seventh on Saturday to wind up a close fifth – 0.7 seconds behind the Ford of his countryman Mikko Hirvonen.
Belgian Thierry Neuville finished third, within 2¼ minutes of Ogier, for manufacturer newcomer Hyundai after having been 10th on Saturday.
Neuville and Finnish teammate Juho Hanninen each won a stage for the Korean company, while its third driver – New Zealander Hayden Paddon, came within 0.7 seconds of a stage win early in the event and finished eighth in his second Hyundai outing.
The next WRC round is in Finland from July 31 to August 3.
Meanwhile, American Tanner Foust won the fourth round of the World Rallycross Championship at Kouvola in southern Finland for Sweden’s Marklund Motorsport in a VW Polo RX.
Another round of that series will be held at Sweden’s Holjes Motorstadion next weekend.
World Rally Championship driver standings after seven of 13 rounds – 1. Sebastien Ogier (France, Volkswagen Motorsport) 166; 2. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland, Volkswagen Motorsport) 116 ; 3. Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway, Volkswagen Motorsport II) 83; 4. Mads Ostberg (Norway, Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team) 66; 5. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland, M-Sport World Rally Team) 52; 6. Thierry Neuville (Belgium, Hyundai Shell World Rally Team) 47; 7. Kris Meeke (Great Britain, Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team) 38; 8. Elfyn Evans (GB, M-Sport World Rally Team) 36; 9. Martin Prokop (Czech Republic, Jipocar Czech National Team) 31; 10. Henning Solberg (Norway, Henning Solberg) 24. Australia’s Chris Atkinson (Hyundai Shell World Rally Team) is 16th on 6 points after one event. New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon (Hyundai Motorsport N) is equal 17th on 4 points after two events.
WRC teams championship – 1. Volkswagen Motorsport 227 points; 2. Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 109; 3. M-Sport World Rally Team 78; 4. Volkswagen Motorsport II 64; 5. Hyundai Shell World Rally Team 57; 6. Jipocar Czech National Team 32; 7. RK M-Sport World Rally Team 18; 8. Hyundai Motorsport N 4.
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