These are some of the things I’ve been watching.
IMSA Sportscar Championship: Long Beach GP
(from last week)
Long Beach, California, USA
My second attempt to watch this 100 minute race, the shortest of the year, this time via YouTube.
Juan Montoya (Team Penske Acura) started on pole. Opening lap contact at the back of the Prototype field at the fountain prompted an early Safety Car period. Some 15 minutes of green flag racing was relatively calm until Montoya got caught by former Sauber man Felipe Nasr in the #31 Whelen Cadillac. Nasr was clearly faster and made a good move on the back straight after a couple of attempts.
A second Safety Car after 40 minutes, with an hour to go. The yellow #85 JDC-Miller car parked in the turn 8 runoff [track map]. Nasr and Montoya stayed out, everyone else pitted for a driver change, apart from Alexander Sims in the GTLM BMW who had already been in. Since nobody was lapped yet he was 3rd overall, but IMSA now separates classes for restarts to avoid problems with traffic, so he restarted at the head of the GT line behind the Prototypes.
Earl Bamber had a tremendous scrap with Sims to take the GT lead, Sims immediately defending against the others. It was even three-wide! Sims was clearly struggling for some reason, in all the traffic he ended up hitting the wall, having to pit for repairs.
Prototypes pitted only 20 minutes after the yellow flag stops, at the first moment the fuel window opened, worried about more yellow. It was the right call as a Safety Car was out almost straight afterwards. The GT field didn’t need to stop again.
Felipe Albuquerque in the #5 Cadillac found himself in the lead after a faster stop. Ryan Dalziel took 2nd at the restart. Earl Bamber’s GT leading Porsche went out with suspension problems, leaving the two Corvettes sandwiching the two Fords. The #31 Cadillac and the other Porsche had made contact and both dropped back.
Wasn’t it great to see the Taylor brothers battle it out on track? Great too to have Pat Long in the IMSA.tv commentary booth, though annoying to have music blaring at ~4 minute intervals for half the race.
Prototype Result
1st Joao Barbosa / Felipe Albuquerque (AXR Cadillac) 35 points;
2nd Scott Sharp / Ryan Dalziel (ESM Nissan) 32 pts;
3rd Renger van der Zande / Jordan Taylor (Taylor Cadillac) 30 pts;
4th Tristan Nunez / Oliver Jarvis (Joest Mazda) 28 pts;
5th Juan Montoya / Dane Cameron (Penske Acura) 26 pts;
GTLM Result
1st Oliver Gavin / Tommy Milner (Corvette) 35 points;
2nd Richard Westbrook / Ryan Briscoe (Ganassi Ford) 32 pts;
3rd Joey Hand / Dirk Muller (Ganassi Ford) 30 pts;
Prototype Points
91 Joao Barbosa / Felipe Albuquerque (AXR Cadillac);
86 Eric Curran / Felipe Nasr (AXR Cadillac);
79 Jonathan Bennett / Colin Braun (CORE Oreca);
78 Jordan Taylor / Renger van der Zande (Taylor Cadillac);
GTLM Points
95 Ryan Briscoe / Richard Westbrook (Ganassi Ford);
88 Oliver Gavin / Tommy Milner (Corvette);
84 Dirk Muller / Joey Hand (Ganassi Ford);
83 Nick Tandy / Patrick Pilet (Porsche);
Next round: Mid-Ohio, May 6th.
IndyCar: Grand Prix of Alabama
Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
I watched live on Sunday, but the race got red flagged due to torrential rain and a waterlogged track. It was the right decision.
I’m currently waiting for IndyCar to upload the Monday segment to be able to watch it. Notes will follow next time.
Next round: Indianapolis Grand Prix (road course race), Saturday, May 12th.
MotoGP: Grand Prix of The Americas
Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, USA
King of COTA Marc Marquez started 4th after a post-qualifying penalty (he did get pole position originally). He pulled clear after half a lap and was never seen again, bar a brief look from Andrea Iannone, to secure win 6 from 6 at this track.
Good to see Iannone and his Suzuki up there, particularly as his team-mate had been shading him lately and he needed a good run. Maverick Vinales got him for 2nd but Iannone held off Valentino Rossi for the final podium spot.
Dani Pedrosa broke his wrist two weeks ago, started 9th and finished 7th. Amazing!
Andrea Dovizioso made up some ground. Points leader Cal Crutchlow was running 6th but the bike looked pretty evil, he wound up on the floor, picked it up and finished 19th. Alex Rins fell out of a top 10 finish.
Not much else to say. You know a track is not the best when even MotoGP can’t put on a show, which is a shame, as it looks so much fun to drive or ride. That said, it was 35 degrees C, very hard work!
Result
1st Marc Marquez (Honda) 25 points;
2nd Maverick Vinales (Yamaha) 20 pts;
3rd Andrea Iannone (Suzuki) 16 pts;
4th Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 13 pts;
5th Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 11 pts;
Points
46 Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati);
45 Marc Marquez (Honda);
41 Maverick Vinales (Yamaha);
38 Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda);
38 Johann Zarco (Tech 3 Yamaha);
70 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP;
63 Repsol Honda Team;
52 Ducati Team;
=47 Monster Yamaha Tech3;
=47 Team Suzuki Ecstar;
=47 Alma Pramac Racing;
Next round: Jerez, May 6th.
Other
I also watched the two UEFA Champions League games this week. Liverpool v Roma was brilliant, 5-2 after a late Roma comeback. I don’t usually watch a lot of football, why can’t it all be as exciting and flowing as that? After Roma’s fightback against Barcelona last round, the second leg next Wednesday will be worth watching.
Coming Up
I’ll be watching F1 in Baku, Formula E in Paris and the conclusion of the last IndyCar race. I also want to start a ‘catchup’ part in these blogs as I work on my backlog of unwatched races, though have struggled for time to watch any lately. In the early season I always forget how congested it can be!
The usual Weekend Preview blog will appear here tomorrow or Friday.
I Watch Too Much Racing 