Denny Hamlin will start at the rear of the field for Sunday's Round of 8 elimination race.
Norris wins São Paulo GP sprint to narrow gap as Verstappen hit with penalty
- Verstappen drops to fourth with five-second penalty
- Ferrari’s Leclerc and Sainz finish fourth and fifth
Lando Norris won the sprint race at the São Paulo Grand Prix for McLaren with the team choosing to employ team orders to have his teammate Oscar Piastri cede the lead to maximise the British driver’s points advantage over world championship Max Verstappen. The Dutchman finished third but was later given a five-second penalty dropping him to fourth. Piastri was second, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third and Carlos Sainz fifth
Piastri led from pole for the entire race until lap 22 of the 24 when he moved over for his teammate but the team had made it clear early in the sprint, their intent was to switch the two drivers in Norris’s favour and Piastri had been explicit beforehand he would not have an issue doing so.
Continue reading...Martin Truex Jr. snags Busch Light Pole at Martinsville
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Martin Truex Jr. may be out of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, but the veteran driver still has compelling goals, as he proved with a pole-winning run on Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. After a final-round lap at 96.190 mph (19.686 seconds), Truex will start from the top spot in Sunday‘s Xfinity 500 […]
Denny Hamlin crashes in pivotal Martinsville practice
Denny Hamlin crashed during Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Martinsville Speedway, creating a significant hurdle for the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team, which will start at the rear of the field in Sunday’s Round of 8 finale. Entering Turn 3, Hamlin carried tremendous speed before sending his Toyota into a skid, careening […]
Saturday schedule, broadcast info for NASCAR Cup, Xfinity at Martinsville, November 2024
Cup teams will practice and qualify Saturday before the Truck and Xfinity Series race later in the day.
Max Verstappen’s five-place grid penalty in Brazil GP is chance for Lando Norris
- F1 championship leader breached engine rules
- Norris can cut 47-point lead if he takes advantage
Confrontation on the track has dominated the world championship fight between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris for the previous two races but now closing out what has been a tempestuous and gruelling triple-header, Norris has the opportunity to take advantage in a manner that will make the most impact on the Dutchman without so much as a backward glance.
Verstappen will start on the back foot in Brazil with a five-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race after changing his engine, leaving him in a starting position of at best sixth, and potentially even lower if the Red Bull has not closed the gap to Norris, McLaren and the recently resurgent Ferrari who have dominated the last two races. These are places that matter in an increasingly tight fight. Norris trails Verstappen by 47 points with four meetings remaining. This weekend and Qatar next month both include sprint races, taking the points still available to 120.
Continue reading...MotoGP title rivals ask organisers not to host season finale in flood-hit Valencia
- Márquez, Martín and Bagnaia ask for change in venue
- Valencia v Real Madrid La Liga fixture postponed
MotoGP riders on Thursday said it would be unethical to stage the season’s final race in Valencia, with the six-times champion Marc Márquez saying funds needed to go to people devastated by floods instead of being spent on repairs for the event. At least 140 people have been killed in the flooding.
“Ethically speaking, I don’t think it should be held,” Gresini Racing’s Márquez said of the race scheduled for 17 November. “Now [the organisers] have to meet and decide, but [if it were up to me] I would have already decided.
Continue reading...Francesco Bagnaia closes title gap with win in rain-soaked Thailand MotoGP
- Ducati rider makes most of treacherous conditions
- Title race tightens with two races of season to go
Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia put in a sure-footed display at a rain-drenched Buriram International Circuit as he romped to victory in the Thailand Grand Prix on Sunday and slashed his gap to Jorge Martín, the championship leader, down to 17 points.
Bagnaia, the defending MotoGP champion, took advantage of errors by Pramac Racing’s Martín and Marc Márquez of Gresini Racing to take the chequered flag and clinch his ninth win of the season. Martín finished second while the GasGas Tech3 rookie Pedro Acosta was third.
Continue reading...Marc Márquez defies mosquito mishap to clinch comeback win at Australian MotoGP
- Six-time champion Márquez fought back from 13th to win fifth title
- Jorge Martín finishes second as Ducati secure top five places
Spain’s Marc Márquez has recovered from a nightmare start in which a mosquito infiltrated his visor to claim a sensational fifth Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix victory. Having fallen back to 13th after wheel-spinning off the start line, the six-time world MotoGP champion produced a flawless ride and finally overtook his countryman Jorge Martín with four laps to go at Phillip Island on Sunday.
Martín fought back in a tense sprint to the finish line but the experienced Márquez held him off to close the gap on Martín and the Italian Francesco Bagnaia at the top of the world championship standings.
Continue reading...Francesco Bagnaia wins in Japan to turn up MotoGP title heat on Jorge Martín
- Italian seals sprint race and grand prix double in Motegi
- Martín’s overall lead just 10 points with four races to go
Francesco Bagnaia won the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday to complete a weekend double and cut his gap to Jorge Martín down to 10 points at the top of the world championship standings.
The Ducati rider qualified in second after dominating practice and winning Saturday’s sprint race. Bagnaia quickly overtook the pole sitter, Pedro Acosta (Tech3-KTM), who crashed out while trying to reclaim the race lead on the third lap in Motegi.
Continue reading...Jorge Martín wins crash-hit Indonesian Grand Prix to extend MotoGP lead
- Spaniard seals redemptive victory after accident last year
- Bagnaia 21 points behind Martín after finishing third
Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martín led a crash-hit Indonesian Grand Prix in Mandalika from start to finish, to win his third race of the season and extend his lead over the reigning champion, Francesco Bagnaia, to 21 points in the MotoGP standings.
Martín started on pole in hot and humid conditions at the Mandalika International Street Circuit and stayed in front throughout the race, despite having his fellow Spaniard Pedro Acosta breathing down his neck.
Continue reading...Marc Márquez storms to San Marino MotoGP win after Martín gamble backfires
- Jorge Martín’s bike swap backfires in damp conditions
- Francesco Bagnaia finishes second, Enea Bastianini third
Marc Márquez won the San Marino Grand Prix ahead of Francesco Bagnaia on Sunday after the championship leader Jorge Martín’s gamble to swap bikes when it rained briefly at the Misano circuit backfired when the weather cleared up.
Márquez’s masterclass in damp conditions gave him his second victory in as many races after he won the Aragon Grand Prix last weekend as he denied the Italian factory Ducati team a win on home turf, with Enea Bastianini finishing third.
Continue reading...MotoGP legend Marc Márquez delights home crowd with Aragon GP victory
- Six-times champion finishes five seconds clear of Martin
- Bagnaia crashes to help Martin extend overall lead
Six-times MotoGP champion Marc Márquez stormed to victory at the Aragon Grand Prix in front of his home crowd on Sunday as the sprint winner completed a perfect weekend, while Francesco Bagnaia crashed out after a clash with Álex Márquez.
The 31-year-old Marc Márquez, who claimed his eighth Aragon pole on Saturday, took the chequered flag almost five seconds ahead of fellow Spaniard and world championship leader Jorge Martín for his first win since the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Continue reading...MotoGP: Francesco Bagnaia wins in Austria to overtake Martín in title race
- Italian delivers sprint and main race double at Spielberg
- Jorge Martín second, Marc Márquez fourth after error
Francesco Bagnaia won the Austrian MotoGP on Sunday to complete a weekend double and go five points clear at the top of the world championship, taking the chequered flag ahead of his rival Jorge Martín.
The two-time world champion Bagnaia, who qualified second on the grid for Ducati Lenovo after dominating practice and winning the sprint on Saturday, overtook Prima Pramac Racing’s Martín on the second lap.
Continue reading...Martín’s late mistake hands MotoGP British Grand Prix victory to Bastianini
- Ducati rider wins ahead of Martín and teammate Bagnaia
- Prima Pramac’s Martín takes championship lead
Enea Bastianini of Ducati won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday to complete a weekend double, taking the chequered flag ahead of new world championship leader Jorge Martín and two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia.
Having qualified second on the grid, Bagnaia had taken the lead over pole-sitter Aleix Espargaró on the opening lap but found himself in the battle for third in the second part of the race after Prima Pramac’s Martín overtook him with eight laps to go.
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