Lucky day winners

Listen to this article Evans avoided a spate of punctures, technical issues and accidents that affected many of his rivals across the day’s surprisingly rough eight gravel stage. The Welshman claimed four stage wins, winning the final head-to-head super special to lead Rovanpera by 13.6s, with Hyundai’s Dani Sordo third, 44.4s adrift. Evans blitzed the first two stages to grab the lead before losing the advantage to M-Sport’s Sebastien Loeb, after the Frenchman’s victory on Stage 4 put the nine-time world champion into a 0.5s lead. However, Loeb’s hopes of a second victory of the season, following his Monte Carlo triumph in January, came to an end, courtesy of a rare driver error on the afternoon’s first test. The M-Sport driver, contesting only selected rounds this year, misjudged a left hander resulting in his Puma sliding into a wall, causing terminal damage to the right rear suspension, ending his his day early. This allowed Evans to reclaim the lead which … [Read more...] about WRC Portugal: Evans leads Rovanpera after brutal Friday

The turbulent 1982 season took another tragic turn 30 years ago today. Young Italian racer Riccardo Paletti, making only his second F1 start, was killed when he crashed into Didier Pironi’s Ferrari at the start of the Canadian Grand Prix. The recovery effort was hampered by an inferno which erupted moments after the crash. Paletti later succumbed to the injuries he suffered in the initial impact. After the race was restarted, Nelson Piquet scored the first win for BMW’s turbo engine. But the second F1 fatality in consecutive months plunged the sport deeper into gloom. “It won’t be the same without Gilles” The circuit on the Isle Notre Dame was held the Canadian Grand Prix for the fifth time in 1982. But it was missing the crowd’s local hero. Following the death of Gilles Villeneuve at Zolder a few weeks earlier, the track had been renamed after him. Race organiser Normand Legault did not attempt to disguise the effect Villeneuve’s death would have on the race. “Let’s … [Read more...] about 1982 Canadian GP: Paletti killed in startline crash – F1 Fanatic

Twenty years ago today the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix weekend opened at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, 40 miles north-west of the tiny republic which lent its name to Italy’s second round of the world championship. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free As the fiercely partisan Italian crowd flocked to the stands, paddock intrigue was centred on their beloved Ferraris, following the discovery of an illegal traction control device on their cars at the Pacific Grand Prix two weeks earlier. But F1’s latest political row was soon forgotten. What unfolded over the following days was one of the direst weekends in the sport’s history. The 1994 San Marino Grand Prix weekend would forever be remembered for the deaths of two drivers from opposite ends of the grid: the little-known Austrian racer Roland Ratzenberger , who arrived at the track with a single race start to his name, and Brazil’s heroic three-times world champion Ayrton Senna . Years of … [Read more...] about Barrichello survives horror crash as Imola 1994 begins – F1 Fanatic