Formula 1: Spanish Grand Prix, ValenciaWorld champion Fernando Alonso added to his 2006 championship lead this weekend, in the process becoming the first Spaniard ever to win the Spanish GP. Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella failed to hold off Michael Schumacher's Ferrari, losing his P2 starting slot to Schumacher during the first round of pit stops. Fisi finished third, ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who scored the fastest lap of the race. Next up: the always entertaining Monaco GP. Full race info at grandprix.com or formula1.com. Photo courtesy Renault.
Lots more after the jump...
Rolex Sports Car Series: GAINSCO Grand Prix, Phoenix
Scott Pruett and Luis Diaz won in their Lexus-Riley, putting the Target/Chip Ganassi Racing duo back into the championship lead. Paul Edwards and Kelly Collins won the GT class in their Pontiac GTO.R. Phoenix marked Grand Am's last experiment with the "qualifying race" format - a multi-car Daytona Prototype crash in the Phoenix qualifier was apparently the final nail in the coffin for the concept. Full results here.
MotoGP: Polini Grand Prix of China, Shanghai
Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa scored his first MotoGP victory, ahead of teammate Nicky Hayden. Hayden can take comfort in the fact that he increased his championship lead to 13 points over Loris Capirossi. Yamaha's Colin Edwards took the final podium spot, after teammate Valentino Rossi's charge through the pack was cut short by tire problems as he closed in on Edwards and Suzuki's John Hopkins. More here.
IndyCar Series: Indianapolis 500 Qualifying
Both days of qualifying were scrubbed, leaving all 33 starting spots up for grabs next weekend.
NASCAR Nextel Cup: Dodge Charger 500, Darlington
As expected, Michael Waltrip named Dale Jarrett as his Toyota teammate for the 2007 season. In race action, Kasey Kahne made the race sponsor happy by putting his Dodge on the pole, and leading the early stages of the race, but in the end it was Greg Biffle's Ford that came out on top. A hard-charging Jeff Gordon came up two-tenths of a second short at the stripe to take second, ahead of Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Johnson's points lead extended to 93 over Tony Stewart. Check out nascar.com for the full info.
Champ Car: Grand Prix of Houston
Sebastien Bourdais took the inaugural race around the Astrodome by 1.2 seconds over Forsythe Racing's Paul Tracy, with pole-sitter Mario Dominguez completing the podium trio. Full details here.
American Le Mans Series: Lone Star Grand Prix, Houston
A very rough street circuit took its toll on the high-strung prototypes, as only the bulletproof Audi R8 of Rinaldo Capello and Allan McNish survived the nearly 3-hour event unscathed in the LMP1 class, taking the overall victory by five laps. After running up front for most of the race, the two Penske Porsche Spyders gave up the ghost late in the race with Sebring's electrical and drivetrain problems reappearing in Houston. Blow by blow coverage and photos here.
Corvette C6.Rs finished a remarkable second and third overall, with Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin ahead of Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell. Despite their considerable weight penalty over the Aston Martins, the Corvettes dominated the GT1 class from the outset.
Alex Job Racing's Mike Rockenfeller and Klaus Graf piloted their Porsche GT3 RSR to victory in GT2, ahead of the Flying Lizard Porsche of Johannes Van Overbeek and Wolf Henzler, and the pole-sitting Ferrari F430 GT of Jamie Melo and Mika Salo.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Carlos @ May 15th 2006 5:58PM
Don't you think it's kinda silly to say "Not TiVoSafe" and then show results in the photo and early in the article description?
Sam @ May 15th 2006 6:29PM
Are germans and Japanese Stupid? Are English blood sucking leeches? Read on to know more:
Toyota is really bleeding billions of dollars in formula 1. I was always skeptical of Toyota's involvement in F1 right from the beginning. I wonder why and what is motivating toyota to dump huge reserves of cash on something which will not benefit them in anyway.
This most bullshit of all races run by a corrupt and vicious cartel of british fly by night race teams who collude with each other in sucking up huge resources of manufacturer teams is beyond my comprehension.
The blood sucking english-leach will not stop till it sucks manufacturer's coffers dry.
How stupid these germans and Japanese are! They are pouring huge amounts of cash in the hope that their sales, image, cachet will be boosted by participating in this race.
Instead of pulling out from this useless F1, saving billions of dollars, investing in more relevant races such as NASCAR, Le Mans, Daytona etc, these morons are hemorrhaging cash left and right. I pity on Honda, toyota and the germans.
The British are milking everybody like a milch cow and enjoying others' largesse while the japanese and germans are happily going along with that. No wonder, these losers always lose.
chewy @ May 15th 2006 7:27PM
It looks to me that the teams that participate in F1 have the most technological street cars. BMW has great cars and engines, Mercedes has high performance engines and cars, Toyota has technologically advanced and efficeint engines, Ferrari, do I need to tell you anything about Ferrari, Honda like Toyota also has advanced fuel efficient engines, Renault doesn't have many high performance cars, but they probably take at least something from F1. It seems to me that all the companies in F1 are doing pretty decent. Not to sure about the companies that are in Nascar, I heard that some of them are struggling just a little. Sure the managment of F1 makes stupid desicions that only increase costs, but if you look at the companies involved in F1, it seems that they are all doing well and have very technologically advanced streeet vehicles.
Simon Speichert @ May 15th 2006 8:17PM
NASCAR is a relevant race? For who, the sponsors?
Steve @ May 15th 2006 10:39PM
To #3, dont be stupid. The technological advanced cars and engines you are talking about are not because of F1 but inspite of F1.
Neither Toyota, Honda, Bnez or BMW need F1 to advance their engine or chassis technology.
Porsche rarely participated in F1 yet it has most advanced chassis and engine technology so it is stupid to say F1 is responsible for such advancement.
Toyota's Dual VVT-i ad BMW's double-VANOS and use of lightweight technology etc etc did not result from F1.
Ferrari is not a mainstream manfac. it is niche player.
F1 is a huge sink whose sewer pipe goes straight into the england's mouth. Its good for england, the germans and japanese pour huge amounts of cash and the english enjoy it.
The english win and the stupid Japs and germans loose. Idiots!
Proud Japanese @ May 16th 2006 12:03AM
Looks like Steve forgot to change his handle to "Sam" in the last post. I am pretty sure if what you say it right, someone related to the F1 teams would have thought the same already, and pulled out. The fact that they still are participating goes some way to show what you think is utter rubbish.
chewy @ May 16th 2006 12:16AM
I guess the use of carbon fiber, carbon fiber/ceramic brakes, clutchless gearboxes(automated manuals) suspnesion geometry and many other elements borrowed from F1 are just things that I imagine. Sure, most of F1 technology seems so far away from your car, but overtime some elements from F1, do trickle down to production cars. Not many, but some do. You alos can't deny that the companies that race in F1 are doing pretty well financially, it might be a coincedence. Plus, I guess there are millions of idiots throughout the world, who enjoy handing their money to the British.
Tom Winch @ May 16th 2006 2:38AM
Where would traction control and paddle shift transmissions be without F1? And F1 Racing has the largest worldwide fan base and television audience, so you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out why any manufacturer would poor huge amounts of (essentially advertising) dollars into a F1 Team. As for Nascar being relevant to what auto manufacturers are selling, be real! Iron block push-rod motors with carburetors? Nascar exists for the sole purpose to sell whatever the sponsors sell. And there's nothing wrong with that, because if it wasn't for the sponsorship money we wouldn't have the racing we enjoy today. To say that the Japanese & Germans are stupid is ignorant. To say that a few brits control and profit from F1 is ridiculous. If that was true, McLaren would have english drivers and they would dominate the sport. And if you really want to see great drivers banging fenders, try watching German DTM racing!
pplu @ May 16th 2006 3:36AM
The Spanish GP wasn't held in Valencia. It was held at the 'Circuit de Catalunya', in Barcelona.
milu @ May 16th 2006 7:08AM
I like this hot pit babes from Spain :P
http://www.inforally.sibiul.ro/f1-sexy-pitbabes-pics-1.html
Meckser @ May 16th 2006 7:56AM
How bout not putting giant bright blue pictures of the winners in a NotTivoSafe article?
Steve @ May 16th 2006 4:27PM
To #6
proud japanese, you are again stalking this blog and I know that you are neither proud, nor japanese. You are just using this handle to create problems on this blog.
"...I am pretty sure if what you say it right, someone related to the F1 teams WOULD HAVE thought the same already, and pulled out..."
Dont be stupid. History is replete with examples when this WOULD HAVE logic bombed very badly.
Roosevelt and Churchill thought Hitler was a monster, but Chamberlain tried to make peace with him. Chamberlain ignored the WOULD HAVE.
I have never had much respect for idiots like you who go for WOULD HAVE argument. The british are enjoying ill-gotten money and largesse from others' right in front of your eyes, its just that Japanese and germans are not smart enough to realize it.
Steve @ May 16th 2006 4:35PM
To #8, Tom Winch
Worldwide, the people who are F1 audience are stupid. They are playing into the hands of the british. Thats why noone respects these loosers. They are too happy to serve the british as their dogs.
Do you really think anyone respects some malaysian or indonesian or middle-eastern fan of F1. The british are playing the pied-piper and these loosers are happily dancing to the tunes.
Tom Winch @ May 16th 2006 7:55PM
To #2 Sam/#5 Steve/#13 Steve (I'm sure you're the same person) - You can't see the forest through the trees. THE SPONSORS CARE ABOUT THE FANS, WHERE EVER THEY ARE! And I don't mean they care in a warm & fuzzy kind of way. In a totally self-serving way, they care because those fans go out and spend money on the sponsor's products. The sponsorship money keeps racing at a high level because to race at the top levels takes not just talent and hard work, IT TAKES A HUGE AMOUNT OF MONEY! If SCCA club racing had the biggest audience in the world, then the auto manufacturers would have factory teams there. GET THE POINT? The manufacturers aren't in F1 because they like to throw money away, they're in it to reach the largest amount of people. The R & D they get out of it is a dividend. I don't know what you have against the Brits, but you use no facts to back up your claims and you come across as a nationalistic bigot who can't back up your claims with facts and are afraid to even put your real name with your comments. And the last time I checked the F1 points standings, Renault (France) is leading the manufacturers points with Fernando Alonso (Spain) driving and leading the driver's points standings. They are followed by an Italian team (Ferrari) led by driver Michael Schumacher (Germany). Where's the British conspiracy? Why don't you stick to the conspiracies most other conspiracy nuts believe in, such as the CIA killed Kennedy, 9/11 was really a government plot to justify invading Iraq, UFO's exist and the government has some alien spacecraft stored with alien corpses in Area 51, etc.