Weekend Review 7/23-24

Well it was a weekend full of exciting races, here goes the rundown.


It was a chilly day in the Eifel Mountains of Germany for this year's German round of Formula 1.  Rain threatened throughout the weekend, but never did effect on track activities.  The established order at the front of the field was disturbed this weekend, with championship leader Vettel starting from third, a race tart from behind the first row.  His team-mate Weber began on pole, but bogged on the start, trapping his temamate behind, and allowing McLaren's Lewis Hamilton to burst through into first.  The main drama of the race came from the Pirelli tires, run by all of the cars in the series.  The soft compound brought to the track this weekend lacked maximum grip in the relatively chilly 50(f) degree weather.  However the weather did give longevity that the tires lack in the heat, with the soft compound lasting about 60 miles at race pace.  Drama also evolved in the pits, as the tires did not come up to temperature as quickly as expected after a stop, making the 'undercut' strategy of pitting early ineffective.  Positions between the top three positions would transition throughout the race, and Hamilton would come away with the win.  Ferrari's Fernando Alonso would come home in 2nd place, but run out of fuel on the return lap, hitching a ride on the sidepod of Mark Weber, the third place car.  Vettel passed Massa in the pit cycle to take 4th place, an Adrian Sutil would finish 6th, being the last car on the lead lap.

Grand-Am competed this weekend in Millville New Jersey.  The 90+ degree temperatures, exasperated with high humidity led to extreme heat around the track.  Worse even were the temperatures in the cars, ranging from 120 to 160 degrees. Many teams opted to utilize the cool-box technology, a 30 pound weight gain, but worth it to most drivers.  Cool-box cycles cold water from a compressed box under the seat, through tubes sewn onto the undershirt the driver wears, cooling their core temperature.  Scott Pruett would recover from an early penalty to bring his Ganassi Prototype to an overall victory.  Max Angelelli's Suntrust machine came home second, and Alex Gurney 3rd in the Gainsco machine.  Johnathan Bomarito won the GT class in the Speedsouce Mazda RX8.  Early front runner in GTs, the Whelen Corvette driven by Boris Said this weekend was spun by a Dempsey Mazda that was a lap down, breaking a toe link and disabling the car.

Indycar was north of the border this weekend, driving on the airport circuit in Edmonton.  Formula 1 Alumni Takuma Sato started on pole and had a good run on the start.  Then Alex Tagliani had contact with the back of Graham Rahal, who lost his rear tire, spinning him through a pack, collecting Paul Tracy and Sebastian Saavedra.  Tags would be given a drive-through penalty, but it was little consolation to the other three driver, crashed out of the race.  Will Power would take the lead from Sato, who fell back through the field until being spun by Hunter-Reay, causing a stall.  Driver started dropping off, Dixon had contact, Simona would have a clutch failure, Viso would spin clear of the pack, preventing further incident, and Briscoe had to stop for a late splash of fuel, from the top 3.  Will Power would take the win, followed by Castroneves, Franchitti, Kannan, Wilson, and Bourdais.

Also up north, American Le Mans ran a round at MoSport.  The field had limited competition in prototypes, with it essentially being a 2 car race, with Aston Martin winning over the Dyson Mazda.  BMW looked to be set for yet another GT win, but Dirk Werner was charged with causing unavoidable contact with a GTC Porsche and given a drive throuhg penalty, promoting Magnussen in the Corvette to the front.  Ferrari would fight hard for their second place in class.  The Panoz Abruzzi, un unclassified pre-approval car would have finished 9th in GTs, had it been homologated.

Moto GP ran their first of two US rounds this weekend at the Mazda owned Laguna Seca course in Monterey California.  Jorge Lorenzo broke out to an early lead, with the Trio of orange Hondas in pursuit.  Casey Stone would progress from third to first in very little time about halfway through the race, and broke away, not allowing Lorenzo to best him like at the last round in Germany, where he was passed back on the final lap.  Stoner would take the win with Lorenzo in second.  Pedrossa, another Honda rider came in third and American Ben Spies finished 4th in his home race.

Just thought I would put up a bonus picture of Alonso's ride along.  Watch the twitter @XPSMcLaren for updates throughout the week.