Race Wrap: Tuesday, June 8
NO SINGAPORE BUBBLE
The Pandemic has killed Singapore for the second straight year.
The high-profile grand prix street race has been cancelled, not even postponed, in a move that also raises the potential for a back-to-back double-header at Austin, Texas in the latest revision to the Formula One calendar for 2021.
Organisers of the Marina Bay event, which has run under lights on the street since 2008, are now working on future plans for the race but there is no confirmation of a deal for 2022.
TOYOTA DOMINATES IN SARDINIA
Sebastian Ogier took a cooling dip in the Mediterranean to celebrate his third World Rally Championship win of 2021 on the rough-and-rocky roads of Sardinia.
The Frenchman won against the odds, after starting first on treacherous roads that claimed all but four of the factory WRC cars in the event.
Ogier eventually led a Toyota 1-2 ahead of his Yaris GR team mate Elfyn Evans, with Thierry Neuville finishing best of the Hyundai i20s in third.
Ogier, who is in his final WRC season, now has an 11-point lead over Evans in the title standings as the championship returns to the Safari Rally in Kenya for the first time in more than 20 years.
DUEL IN THE DESERT
Toby Price and Paul Weel are the hot favourites for this year’s running of the Finke Desert Rally.
Both are competing in the two-wheel drive extreme class, which has drawn 27 starters looking for outright victory, with their Trophy Truck speed machines.
“Can’t wait to get to Alice Springs,” said Weel.
MORE SPEED FOR MOTOGP
MotoGP teams turned to testing on the day after the Catalunya GP in Barcelona, as Marc Marquez clocked the most laps on a matt-black Honda that was significantly different from his current mount.
Maverick Vinales was quickest on the day, testing a new carbon fibre swing-arm on his factory Yamaha, and his team mate Fabio Quartararo was second on the timesheets ahead of Honda’s Taka Nakagami.
KTM had the most changes, running a bike with with a new chassis, swing-arm, exhaust and tail unit.
PORSCHE WINS AGAIN
The Nurburgring 24-hour race produced a predictable win for Porsche despite extreme weather than stopped racing for 14 hours.
The crew of the winning 911 GT3 R was headed by Porsche factory driver Kevin Estre, as the benchmark Manthey Racing team scored a seventh win in its home event.
Matt Campbell failed to finish in his 911 but the other Aussie in a high-profile car, Josh Burton, made the finish back in 63rd place.
HYUNDAI TOPS TCR OPENER
Jean-Carl Vernay, who raced with Audi in the TCR Australia series in 2019, is the early leader in this year’s World TCR Series.
The Frenchman has switched to Hyundai for season 2021 and used a second-race win to top the points from the opening double-header at the Nurburgring.
Tiago Monteiro won the first race in a Honda Civic Type R but Vernay was a solid 10th and when he won the second sprint, in a 1-2 for Hyundai with Luca Engstler, he jumped into the championship lead as the series moves to Portugal at the end of June.
