You will notice a name change on my blog. From 1986 to 1995 my company – Motion Lincoln Mercury in London, Ontario – ran the ‘Motion Motorsport Report,’ every week, in the London Free Press during the racing season.
We covered NASCAR, NHRA, Formula One, IndyCar, IMSA and local tracks, such as Delaware Speedway and St. Thomas Dragway / London Motorsport Park. We had people tell us that they loved reading it each week as it was basically a ‘Coles Notes’ version of the weekend’s racing.
We covered the results, the points and upcoming races. I sort of did that in last year’s Monday Morning Motormouth. So, I am reverting to the format we used ‘back in the day.’
I shared it last year with certain Facebook pages where it was, for the most part, accepted. So, this year, if you are interested in having the report shared to your Facebook page, simply message me asking for it, and we will be more than happy to share it. I do this report as I LOVE the sport.
IMSA: They returned with all guns blazing for The Rolex 24 Hour this past weekend. First, I was VERY disappointed that Discovery / Velocity did not air all 24 hours.
NBC covered live the first hour and the last two hours. This meant following the race streamed on imsa.com. The biggest bonus with that, you ask? NO commercials!!
So, I had the race stream on my desktop and Live Timing on my phone… bring it!! 24 hours of pure entertainment, no discussion!
My first laugh – the disclaimer at the bottom of the live feed – ‘In Car Cameras Are Only Available During WeatherTech Championship Races.’ Well, thank you Captain Obvious!! LOL
My second observation is not as charitable. If I never hear the name ‘Jeremy’ again, it will be far too soon!! Apparently, IMSA/ISC couldn’t get (afford?) the A-Team (Bob Varsha and crew), so we got stuck with the ‘Chirper Crew’ that normally worked the middle of the night timeslot. No American announcers available?
Having said that, all that 61 cars took the green flag and many of them ran flat out for the entire 24 hours.
I paid particular attention to the ‘Pro’ class (GT Daytona Pro – GTD PRO) as the Pfaff Motorsport Porsche was representing Canada and representing us VERY well.
Their driver line-up of Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet ran at the front of the class all-race, usually leading or running in the top-four.
On the final lap they had a ‘spirited’ race going with the similar Porsche 911 GT3R driven by Laurens Vanthoor (his teammates were Patrick Pilet, Dennis Olsen and Alexandre Imperator).
Entering the ‘Bus Stop, oops… the ‘LeMans Chicane,’ at the end of the back straight, they took ‘rubbing is racing’ to an all-new level!!
Jaminet was on the inside going in and Vanthoor tried to push through from the outside. Didn’t work and he spun allowing Alessandro Pier Guidi (teammates James Calado, Daniel Serra and Davide Rigon) to slip through into a second-place finish in their Ferrari 488 GT3. Vanthoor recovered to finish third.
Crowd favourite Helio Castroneves (teammates Oliver Jarvis, Tom Blomqvist and Simon Pagenaud) took the checker in the Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura DPi.
Ricky Taylor (teammates Filipe Albuquerque, Alexander Rossi and Will Stevens) finished second in the Konica-Minolta Acura Dpi, while Loic Duval (teammates Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook and Ben Keating) took third in the Mustang Sampling Cadillac.
The five Cadillac DPi cars experienced several problems during the night and with the GTD PRO Corvettes also having problems, it was not a good race weekend for GM.
Colton Herta grabbed the checker in LMP2, Felipe Fraga in LMP3 and Jan Heylen in GT Daytona (GTD). Their next race is The Twelve Hours of Sebring on March 19.
FORMULA ONE: The F1 ‘Gong Show’ continues!! Should Masi be shown the door? Will Hamilton quit? Will they fix the sightlines at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia? Will teams have troubles getting into Australia? Will Miami be a success?
They start their season on March 20 at Bahrain. It WILL be interesting!
NASCAR CUP SERIES: The next race for the Cup series is at the Los Angeles Coliseum this Sunday night at 8 p.m. It will be the ‘Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum,’ a non-points race on the flat, tight little purpose-built quarter-mile track. The points racing will begin in earnest at Daytona on Sunday, February 20 at 2.30 p.m. I can hardly wait!!
NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: Their next race will be at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 19 at 5:00 p.m.
NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCKS: Their next race is at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, February 18 at 7.30 p.m.
NASCAR PINTY’S SERIES: Canada’s NASCAR circuit will open its season at Sunset Speedway on May 14.
APC LATE MODEL SERIES: This fast-growing series kicks off its campaign May 21 at Sunset Speedway.
NHRA: They return to action on the weekend of February 20 for the Winternationals at Pomona, California.
INDYCAR: They get their season rolling on the ‘Streets of St. Petersburg’ on February 27, in Florida.
A couple of other notes…
SAD NEWS: Condolences to the family and friends of Ontario drag racer Jamie Wildgoose.
MOTORAMA: The long-running custom car and racing show at Toronto’s International Centre has moved its dates back seven weeks – from the start of March Break – to April 29, 30 & May 1 to give Omicron more time to clear. For more info, visit MotoramaShow.com.
Until next week!!
Discussion about this post