Formula One – Korean Grand Prix: What happened to all that parity to begin the season? Sebastien Vettel overtook his pole-sitting teammate Mark Webber on the first corner and led the rest of the Korean Grand Prix until the end, winning his third consecutive race and assuming control of the championship points standings. Webber finished second to give Red Bull a 1-2, while Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa went 3-4 to give Ferrari a huge boost over third place McLaren in the constructor’s title race. This makes six straight points finishes for Massa, who is having a magical run to save his job with the Scuderia. There was lots to celebrate after a competitive race in Korea, but most exciting of all is that Romain Grosjean didn’t crash into anybody.
World Endurance Championship – Six Hours of Fuji: It’s hard to think of Toyota as ever being the underdog in anything, and maybe we shouldn’t think that way about them in endurance racing anymore, either. Still in its first six months of competition, the Toyota TS030 again stole victory away from the domineering Audi R18 Ultra Hybrids for its second win of the season. Audi could have mounted a thrilling challenge, but the lead car needed repairs after an accident with a GT car, and then was penalized with a stop-through penalty for that accident that killed any hope. You could say this is a tainted win for Toyota, but consider also that the TS030 needs to make more fuel stops than the R18 ultra and was setting considerably faster laps than the rest of the field as the race went on. Lucky or not, Toyota won this outright and looks damn impressive. Check out video of the final laps below:
NASCAR Sprint Cup – Bank of America 500 at Charlotte: Despite openly hating this track, Clint Bowyer brought his Toyota Camry to the winner’s circle in Charlotte with a stroke of fuel-efficient genius. His team milked every drop of gas and Bowyer crossed the checkered flag unable to return to the winner’s circle. The win moves Bowyer up to fourth place in the Chase, and Ford driver Greg Biffle jumped three spots into sixth, though the 1-2-3 order at the top remains the same with Brad Keselowski leading Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin. After sitting out with concussion symptoms from last week’s race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. dropped one spot to twelfth, last in the Chase. Click here to read our thoughts on what his injury means to NASCAR.
NASCAR Nationwide Series – Dollar General 300 at Charlotte: Joey Logano won his eighth Nationwide race of the season, but if you’ve read any Motorsports Monday columns then you know how we feel about Sprint Cup drivers playing down a league. Logano has won 18 Nationwide races in his career, but only two in the Sprint Cup so perhaps it’s time to hang up the minor league uniform, no? Since this result is null and void, congratulations to third place finisher Elliott Sadler of Chevrolet, who takes top prize in our eyes. Sadler increases his Nationwide standings lead over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Austin Dillon and is in prime position to win the championship with just four races to go.
Blancpain Endurance Series – Spain: Team WRT brought home both a team and driver championship for Audi in the wet and wild Blancpain season finale at Navarra. The driving team of the No. 1 Audi R8 LMS ultra consists of Christopher Mies, Christopher Haase and Stephane Ortelli, who finished 1.76 seconds behind the winning McLaren MP4-12C to win the six-race title and outclass a field of BMW, Porsche and Ferrari entries. Blancpain is still a young series on the rise and we can’t wait to see what it has in store for next season, as endurance racing continues to grow and display the best sports cars in the world. Check out this video of the slippery conditions that sent Blancpain out with a bang.
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Formula One - Official Site
World Endurance Championship - Official Site
NASCAR Sprint Cup - Official Site
Blancpain Endurance Series - Official Site
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