Racing Weekend Summary - Maiden DTM win for AuerBourdais, Power triumphed at Belle Isle
Another action packed racing weekend is behind us, with many interesting races and couple of surprising outcomes. In the spotlight were the races at Lausitzring while in the US, IndyCar Series drew attention from the NASCAR that had its main race postponed.
Molina and Auer happy after DTM round at Lausitzring
DTM races were THE thing during a busy weekend at Lausitzring. Audi and Mercedes have their reasons to celebrate, because their drivers won the races in the series’ third round.
Miguel Molina was absolutely superior on Saturday. The Spaniard took the pole position, drove the fastest lap and finally won the race, his first this year and second in his DTM career. Another Audi driver and the reigning vice-champion Jamie Green finished second, while Robert Wickens driving a Mercedes came third.
DTM race at Lausitzring
The outcome of the Sunday’s race was relatively surprising. Lucas Auer in Mucke Motorsport’s Mercedes scored a maiden victory in DTM for himself but also for his team. We can surely say that the young Austrian driver did a great job and deserved to be at the top. Former champion Mattias Ekstrom finished second in this race, while Wickens again took the third place, leaving Green in the fourth.
Wickens now has the lead the Drivers’ championship with 58 points, only three more than BMW’s Marco Wittmann. Judging by the start, this DTM season will be very close till the end.
Callaway Competition’s cars most successfull during ADAC GT Masters round 3
ADAC GT Masters was one of the supporting series at Lausitzring. On Saturday, Herberth Motorsport’s Porsche #99 with drivers Martin Ragginger and Robert Renauer won the first race after being 0.360s faster than GRT Grasser Racing Team’s Lamborghini with Rolf Ineichen and Christian Engelhart in behind the wheel. The third place was taken by Callaway Competition’s Corvette #69 with Dominik Schwager and Patrick Assenheimer.
Daniel Keilwitz wins the ADAC GT Masters race at Lausitzring
Callaway Competition dominated the race 2 on Sunday, taking a 1-2 victory. Schwager and Assenheimer were on pole position, but at the end, they were second after the team’s car #77 with Jules Gounon and Daniel Keilwitz won the race. Third place saw Connor de Phillippi and Christopher Mies in the Land Motorsport’s Audi R8 LMS.
Sven Muller’s double victory in Porsche Carrera Cup
In the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, Sven Muller has continued his domination, after he won both races at Lausitzring. In the first race, Konrad Motorsport’s driver managed to beat Dennis Olsen and Nick Foster, and in the second race he was faster than his biggest rival, Christian Engelhart and, again, Nick Foster.
Sven Muller continues his supremacy in 2016 Porsche Carrera Cup Germany
Muller has won six out of eight races this year and has the advantage of eight points in the general classification.
Mick Schumacher wins two races in ADAC Formel 4
Future stars battled at Lausitzring, in the ADAC Formel 4. Mick Schumacher was definitely the star of the weekend, winning two out of three races. Prema Powerteam’s driver was the fastest in both of Saturday’s races while on Sunday he was sixth. The winner of the race 3 was a rookie Fabio Scherer, of Jenzer Motorsport team.
Mick Schumacher with a trophy
TCR Series – Grachev and Vernay most able at the rainy Salzburgring
Salzburgring was the host of the TCR International Series fifth round. The weather conditions were pretty heavy, especially in the race 2 when the rain was very heavy. Anyway, in the race 1, Mikhail Grachev scored his second consecutive win. The West Coast Racing team driver managed to escape a number of accidents with many major players involved to win the race ahead of James Nash and Mato Homola.
Vernay scored his first victory in 2016 at Salzburgring
Three drivers, Fulin, Borkovic and Pepe Oriola, missed the race 2 after their cars were badly damaged in the accidents. Heavy rain dictated the rhythm which was well suited for Jean-Karl Vernay. The French pilot of Leopard Racing was calm enough and made a fewer number of mistakes than his rivals, to claim his first win this year. Sergey Afanasyev took the second position while the reigning champion Stefano Comini finished third, what was enough for the Swiss driver to take a lead in the championship, one point ahead of Pepe Oriola.
BTCC – Nine winners in 12 races after Oulton Park round
The British Touring Cars Championship fourth round was held at Oulton Park. After 12 races in the season of 2016, we have nine different race winners so far. In the race at the ’Donington of the North’, Colin Turkington in Subaru scored the first victory for the Japanese manufacturer in this season. He was 2.424s faster than Sam Tordoff, while Jason Plato was well behind them in the third place.
Detail from the BTCC weekend at Oulton Park
Sam Tordoff in the West Surrey Racing’s BMW won the race 2. He managed to overtake the pole sitter Turkington right after the start and stayed in front until the end. Turkington finished second in the race 2 while Plato again scored third place.
Finally, in the last race of the BTCC day at Oulton Park, Matt Neal secured his second triumph in this campaign. Halfords Yuasa Racing’s driver in Honda Civic won in a dominant way, beating Sam Tordoff and Jason Plato who finished third for the third time in a row.
Tordoff took the lead in the BTCC overall standings with 139 points while Matt Neal is only a point behind.
Bad weather affected NASCAR weekend at Pocono
The racing programme in the US was somehow disrupted after NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway was postponed from Sunday to Monday because of bad weather conditions.
Kyle Larson
Despite the difficult weather conditions and wet track, on Saturday, Xfinity Series Pocono Green 250 race in which Kyle Larson was the fastest. He led for 27 of 53 laps in the shortened race and secured his first win in the series this year. Erik Jones in Toyota finished second while another Chevy driver Ty Dillon was the third.
Thrilling races at Belle Isle
IndyCar Series races were in the centre of the attention. The double programme at Belle Isle was pretty exciting after Sebastien Bourdais and Will Power scored their first win this year. Championship leader Simon Pagenaud had both pole positions, led most laps but failed to secure a win. Despite that, the Frenchman still has a huge advantage in the Drivers’ championship.
Will Power broke his winningless streak in Detroit
In the race 1, Bourdais scored his second consecutive win at Belle Isle. He started from 13th position, later dropped to 19th, but thanks to good tactics managed to sneak near the top and eventually win the race in front of Daly Conor and Juan Pablo Montoya.
The Australian Will Power broke the bad streak of 19 races without a win. In the very tight race 2 in Detroit, he was only 0.920s faster than his teammate Simon Pagenaud while Ryan Hunter-Reay completed the podium
IMSA Series – Taylor brothers at the top
The fifth round of the IMSA Weathertech on the Raceway on Belle Isle in Detroit. Wayne Taylor Racing #19 car with brothers Jordan and Ricky Taylor clinched a second win this season in the Prototype class. In the Prototype Challenge, Starworks Motorsport’s car #8 with the drivers Alex Popow and Renger van der Zande scored first win in 2016 while in the GT Daytona class the winners are Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating in Riley Motorsports #33 what is their maiden win in the championship this season.
Podium after IMSA Series race at Belle Isle
At the top of the championship standings are Eric Curran and Dane Cameron with 121 points, while Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa are second with 118.
You can check all results at SnapLap results page!
Photo: dtm.com racecam.de adac-motorsport.de tcr-series.com btcc.co.uk pulseheadlines.com indycar.com
