Dust, lots of dust. That’s what we saw in this week’s motorsport action. From the NASCAR series in Las Vegas, to the fluffy sands of Mexico, you’ll be hard pressed to find a driver or rider not covered in sludge this week.
We also bring you action from the V8 Supercars series, finally underway again, and the general news from the world of wheels.
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NASCAR Sprint Cup: Keselowski survives ridiculous Sprint Cup race
Las Vegas really spat out some surprises, from the diabolical weather (including rain, sand storms, and stong winds) to almost no driver getting the pit lane speed limit correct. Brad Keselowski suffered from the latter, after race leader Kurt Busch blew his chances. Nevertheless, it was Keselowski who fought through the field to take the win ahead of Kyle Busch.
WRC: Hyundai pans Neuville for crash, Latvala gets one over Ogier
Rally Mexico was interesting to say the least, especially if you happened to be Thierry Neuville’s i20. The Hyundai driver crashed heavily on the rally’s first gravel stage, and was subsequently panned by his team.
Talking to Autosport, Hyundai boss Alain Penasse noted that “[h]e made a mistake, that is clear. The second accident was not necessary.”
“We made it clear in the morning we wanted him to bring the car back to score a few manufacturer points, so we didn’t understand why he drove at a speed which was too much.”
Ultimately, it was Latvala who romped away with the win, after teaching his VW teammate and current Championship leader Sebastien Ogier a lesson.
V8 Supercars: this is the craziest opener we’ve seen in many a year
Okay, so there was a lot more water in Adelaide this year than dust.
We often see this in Formula 1 and NASCAR — races delayed by horrible weather — but in V8 Supercar land, it’s a relatively novel phenomenon. Being it the opening race of the season, didn’t help either.
Nevertheless, as cars lined up to take the grid behind the safety car at the Clipsal 500, no one really knew when the race officially began. This game some teams the advantage (some added fuel during these laps), while others were left fuming.
A car that was in the pound seat was former Bathurst 1000 champion Nick Percat. He romped away to take a memorable, classic and incredibly controversial race win (it was decided more by fuel cap than anything else).
Feature image: Sean Gardner/NASCAR via Getty Images
