Motorsport Sunday: The Qatar GP takes over all the headlines announcing a Spanish triple

More than a motorsport Sunday, we could call it a motorsport Monday, since much of the racing we’ll discuss today took place yesterday, due to the public holiday in many European countries. Only MotoGP and the IRC took place on Sunday or earlier, respectively.

Besides these two competitions, we have had the debut of the European Nascar, the Racecar Series, as well as the first race of the revamped GT1 World Championship. On two wheels, the Motocross Dutch GP was held and, at Brands Hatch, the first round of the BSB.

Qatar gives us the 12+1 triple of the MotoGP GPs

The weekend’s main course was, without a doubt, MotoGP, although, to be honest, it was more of the same… Stoner escaped in the first laps of the race, while Lorenzo and Pedrosa tried not to lose too much ground to the Australian. Unfortunately for the current world champion, his right hand began to swell, which led the two Spanish riders to catch him three corners from the end. Lorenzo wasted no time in passing him, while Pedrosa lost a lap behind his teammate and, consequently, valuable tenths with Lorenzo that prevented him from fighting head-to-head for victory on the final corner.

The race with the most spectacle was once again Moto2, in which Marc Márquez prevailed over Andrea Iannone in a very tight finish. A lap earlier, he had a few ups and downs with Thomas Luthi who, after an impeccable weekend, finished fifth after running wide on the last lap.

The Moto3 debut was more than promising for our riders: Maverick Viñales secured victory after beating a surprising –and debutant– Romano Fenati. Sandro Cortese finished disappointed after having been “only” third.

Via | AltasPulsaciones

Audi achieves a magnificent double at the GT1 French GP

The Nogaro circuit hosted the first Grand Prix of the GT1 World Championship season this weekend. Audi started the year in grand style: with a magnificent double. The pairing of Ortelli and Laurens Vanthoor started from pole, reaching the driver change with a 2.1-second gap.

But at that point the gaps closed and, by a narrow margin, we saw a change of leader. Finally, Vanthoor managed to escape from Oliver Jarvis –who was paired with Frank Stippler– by more than 3 seconds to win the race. The two Mercedes cars finished just over six seconds behind.

Via | Rectademeta

Ander Vilariño signs a magnificent double in the Racecar

The native of San Sebastián, Ander Vilariño, took a giant step this weekend after achieving the double in the first race of the European Nascar, the RACECAR EuroSeries. The #2 won the first heat on a damp Nogaro track, after recovering positions following a poor start.

In the second heat, the Endurance Race, he had an intense duel with fellow Spaniard Javi Villa, who led much of the race, although it was ultimately Vilariño who managed to break away and secure a victory that moves him to the top position in the championship.

Via | Rectademeta

Antonio Cairoli and Jeffrey Herlings dominated the Dutch Motocross GP

The Netherlands kicked off the 2012 edition of the Motocross World Championship. In MX1 nothing changed: Tony Cairoli once again delighted us with two magnificent heats in which he secured victory. In both heats he managed to escape from his pursuers once past the halfway point. In both heats he was joined on the podium by Clement Desalle and Steven Frossard, second and third respectively. Our representative in the category, Jonathan Barragán, didn’t have a good day, finishing 17th and 13th in the first and second heats.

And if in MX1 Tony Cairoli has been the dominator, in MX2 we can say the same of Jeffrey Herlings. The KTM rider also achieved the double on Dutch soil, followed by Tommy Searle and Joel Roelants, who shared second and third places in the two heats. The Spaniard Butrón missed out on fortune, as he failed to finish any race due to problems with his KTM.

Via | Plusmoto

Juho Hänninen won the IRC Rally of Ireland

To be lucky, you first have to look for it. That’s what Juho Hanninen did, who, thanks to error-free driving, managed to beat a fighting Andreas Mikkelsen in the Rally of Ireland, the third scoring round of the IRC.

Hänninen saw his consistency throughout the event pay off, since, on TC-12, Mikkelsen went off the road, losing about 40 seconds, leaving the victory in the hands of the driver of Skoda. Kopecky finished third, while Arzeno and the Irish driver Breen rounded out the top five.

Via | Rectademeta

John Kirkham won the only heat at Brands Hatch

Rain was the star of the first round of the BSB, held yesterday at the charming Brands Hatch circuit. This beloved and hated element gave us a first heat full of crashes, including that of the current champion Tommy Hill and, as if that weren’t enough, the suspension of the second heat for safety reasons.

For a race in the BSB to be suspended, the conditions must be really bad, so imagine the spectacle of canoe-like genuine motorcycle racing –without traction control or other electronic nonsense– that John Kirkham, Alastair Seeley and Michael Rutter gave us, finishing just 0.8 tenths apart! It was the rider of the Samsung Honda who overtook the Tyco Suzuki rider at the last corner to take the win, while the Kawasaki rider watched like a VIP spectator.

Via | Plusmoto