Stefano Coletti Storms To Historic Home Victory At Monaco
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Stefano Coletti has stormed to a historic home victory after the GP2 sprint race around the streets of Monte-Carlo, becoming the first Monegasque driver to take victory around the Principality since Louis Chiron back in 1931. The 24-year-old was followed home by Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and Mitch Evans.
After causing the multi-car pile-up at the start of yesterday’s feature race, Arden International’s Johnny Cecotto jr. was excluded from the remainder of the weekend. This meant only 25 drivers took to the grid for the sprint race, with British driver Adrian Quaife-Hobbs on the reverse grid pole alongside Austrian driver Rene Binder. At the start the Briton stormed into the lead ahead of local hero Stefano Coletti, as Rene Binder suffered a frustratingly slow getaway off of the line.
Reigning GP3 Champion Mitch Evans enjoyed a tremendous start from 6th on the grid, working his way up to 3rd by Turn 5 after mastering an overtaking maneuver up the inside of James Calado. Despite starting from pole and initially taking the lead, Adrian Quaife-Hobbs was eventually overtaken by Stefano Coletti for the lead of the race on Lap 2, as the local hero stormed up the inside of the Briton at Turn 10.
As Stefano Coletti began to open up a considerable lead at the front, Daniel Abt and Simon Trummer were struck with drive-thru penalties for jumping the start. As the duo served their penalties, Tom Dillmann entered the pits with a suspected issue on his Russian Time machine. After several further pit-stops, the Frenchman found himself several laps off of the leaders way down in 25th position.
Despite Stefano Coletti’s commanding lead at the front of the order, many battles raged on throughout the order. After a superlative result in the feature race, Kevin Ceccon continued to impress after perfecting an overtaking maneuver on Sam Bird at Turn 10. To avoid a collision the Briton was forced to take avoiding action by cutting the chicane, eventually ceding 7th to the Italian driver. After taking a convincing victory in the feature race, Sam Bird failed to mount a resurgence in the latter stages of the race, as he began to plummet through the order.
As the race entered its closing stages, the battle within the midfield began to intensify as Jon Lancaster and Rio Haryanto collided at Turn 8. This caused a concertina-effect on the field, as Lancaster half spun his Hilmer Motorsport machine but managed to continue. Eventually Stefano Coletti stormed across the line to record a historic victory for Rapax, leading home Adrian Quaife-Hobbs in 2nd and Mitch Evans in 3rd. The Monegasque’s victory has enabled him to strengthen his lead in the Drivers’ Championship, as the Series enters a lengthy gap before reconvening around Silverstone for the British Grand Prix next month.
Results - 30 laps: Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. Stefano Coletti Rapax 42m50.707s 2. Adrian Quaife-Hobbs MP + 1.869s 3. Mitch Evans Arden + 2.216s 4. Felipe Nasr Carlin + 2.536s 5. James Calado ART + 3.747s 6. Rene Binder Lazarus + 19.293s 7. Kevin Ceccon Trident + 20.015s 8. Stephane Richelmi DAMS + 20.576s 9. Daniel de Jong MP + 21.197s 10. Jake Rosenzweig Addax + 31.720s 11. Sergio Canamasas Caterham + 34.105s 12. Jolyon Palmer Carlin + 35.775s 13. Fabio Leimer Racing Engineering + 36.488s 14. Julian Leal Racing Engineering + 36.913s 15. Robin Frijns Hilmer + 42.125s 16. Rio Haryanto Addax + 43.235s 17. Jon Lancaster Hilmer + 1m03.893s 18. Marcus Ericsson DAMS + 1m04.258s 19. Alexander Rossi Caterham + 1m04.735s 20. Kevin Giovesi Lazarus + 1m05.044s 21. Nathanael Berthon Trident + 1m05.468s 22. Daniel Abt ART + 1m06.174s 23. Simon Trummer Rapax + 1m07.413s 24. Sam Bird Russian Time + 1 lap 25. Tom Dillmann Russian Time + 3 laps
Picture Copyright © Charles Coates/GP2 Series Media Service
Dario Franchitti Takes Victory In Historic Indianapolis 500
Dario Franchitti has stormed to his third Indianapolis 500 victory, at the 96th running of the legendary event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This was the first oval of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series, and the first since Dan Wheldon’s tragic death at Las Vegas last year. Franchitti’s team-mate Scott Dixon came home 2nd, with Tony Kanaan 3rd in an eventful and incident filled 200-lap race.
Ryan Briscoe had pole-position for the race, and when the green flag flew at the start James Hinchcliffe shot into the lead on the opening lap. In traditional oval racing style, the lead changed hands four times in the first 7 laps, before the first caution was brought out when rookie Bryan Clauson spun on lap 14. At the back of the pack, the two Lotus drivers’ of Simona de Silvestro and Jean Alesi were forced to retire after failing to meet the 105% rule.
As the field slowed down behind the safety car, the majority of the drivers’ peeled off into the pit-lane to complete their first stops. Dario Franchitti suffered a disastrous stop, as the Scot was tipped into a spin within the pits by E.J. Viso. On lap 19 the race was resumed, as many of the drivers suffered a slow restart whereas at the front Briscoe was in the lead.
The race ran relatively incident free for the next 60 laps, which forced many drivers’ to complete green flag pits-stops. The first to pit was Hinchcliffe, before new race leader Marco Andretti took to pit road. As the rest of the front runners made their pit-stops, Tagliani, Dixon and Kimball all lead before Andretti returned to the front.
Mike Conway suffered a torrid stop, as he locked up heading into his pit box and subsequently hit several mechanics. Due to this he was issued a drive-through penalty, however the Brit was unable to take that penalty as he was involved in a scary airborne incident with Will Power’s Penske. Conway lost control of his car on track and spun, before Power collided into the spinning wreck and tipped Conway into a fearsome airborne crash. Luckily both were unscathed after the incident, as the safety car controlled the field for the next 10 laps.
The race was restarted for only 2 more laps, before Ana Beatriz caused the third caution of the day. She spun her car, and suffered light damage however she was able to rejoin the race several laps behind the leader. Whilst under the caution, Andretti and Hinchcliffe opted to pit.
As the race was restarted, Scott Dixon lead at the front. However several laps later both Dixon and Franchitti pitted thus handing the lead down to Takuma Sato, who became the first Japanese driver to lead the Indy 500 since Toranosuke Takagi in 2003. Another caution was caused only moments after these green flag stops, as Sebastien Saavedra slowed down on the slip road due to mechanical issues. This therefore enabled the majority of the field to pit.
Upon the restart, Dario Franchitti miraculously lead at the front after carving his way through the pack after his previous pit-lane spin. Both he and his team-mate Dixon happily jostled for the lead several times, before the fifth caution was caused as Josef Newgarden pulled to the side of the track to retire. Once again the majority of the field pitted under caution, with Dixon leading on the restart.
As the race once again restarted, the two Ganassi’s of Dixon and Franchitti resumed battling for the lead, before the Kiwi made Indy 500 history by taking a record breaking 30th lead change throughout the race. With many drivers’ concerned about fuel consumption, their fears were abolished when Ed Carpenter caused yet another caution thus enabling the leaders to conserve fuel.
With only 20 laps remaining, it was set to be a straight fight for the win as Kanaan amazingly came from 6th to the lead on the restart before yet another caution as Andretti crashed on lap 187. As the debris was cleared, tension was mounting as a 6-lap shootout began on lap 194. Franchitti and Dixon once again swapped positions at the top, before Sato stormed to 2nd as the white flag emerged to signify the final lap. Heading to the first corner, and disaster struck for the Japanese driver as he tried to pass Dario for the lead and spun in the wall.
In utter confusion and thrilling excitement, Dario Franchitti won by default as the caution flag came out. This is Dario Franchitti’s third Indy 500 win, and his first of the 2012 IndyCar Series season.
Results - 200 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Gap 1. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 2. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda + 0.0295s 3. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevy + 0.0677s 4. Oriol Servia Panther/DRR DW12-Chevy + 2.9166s 5. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevy + 3.6721s 6. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevy + 4.0962s 7. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda + 4.2430s 8. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda + 4.6056s 9. Townsend Bell Schmidt DW12-Honda + 5.6168s 10. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevy + 7.6352s 11. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevy + 7.9240s 12. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Honda + 8.2543s 13. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda + 8.7539s 14. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevy + 11.3423s 15. James Jakes Dale Coyne DW12-Honda + 13.4494s 16. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda + 14.1382s 17. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda + 1 lap 18. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevy + 1 lap 19. Michel Jourdain Jr Rahal DW12-Honda + 1 lap 20. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Chevy + 1 lap 21. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevy + 1 lap 22. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Chevy + 1 lap 23. Ana Beatriz Andretti/Conquest DW12-Chevy + 10 laps Retirements: Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevy 187 laps Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda 161 laps Sebastian Saavedra AFS/Andretti DW12-Chevy 143 laps Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevy 123 laps Will Power Penske DW12-Chevy 79 laps Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 78 laps Bryan Clauson Fisher DW12-Chevy 46 laps Wade Cunningham Foyt DW12-Honda 42 laps Jean Alesi Fan Force DW12-Lotus 10 laps Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 9 laps
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