McLaren junior Vandoorne stars to win on GP2 debut

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McLaren junior driver Stoffel Vandoorne has won the opening round of the 2014 GP2 championship after producing a sparkling performance in his very first race in the series.

The Belgian youngster took the lead at the start of the race and commanded proceedings from there on in, ensuring that he maintained a steady gap to his rivals before inheriting the lead from the long-running Simon Trummer, who opted to pit with just two laps to go on a somewhat misjudged strategy.

However, it was a less fruitful day for the American drivers on the grid as Conor Daly finished down in 12th place, whilst Alexander Rossi had a luckless race to finish in P22.

Pole-sitter Jolyon Palmer made a bad start in his DAMS to allow Vandoorne into the lead and teammate Stephane Richelmi up into second place, whilst further back 2013 GP3 runner-up Facu Regalia was forced into an early retirement. After a few laps of jostling for position, the race calmed when the safety car was deployed following a crash between Axcil Jefferies and Kimiya Sato, giving Vandoorne a chance to compose himself and control the pack from the front.

When the safety car finally peeled into the pits, a number of drivers followed suit for a fresh set of hard tires. Vandoorne kept hold of his lead ahead of Carlin’s Julian Leal and Palmer, who had fought back from P6 into the top three.

A number of drivers had elected to start on the hard tire, though, and were at the head of the field as a result. This reverse strategy proved to be a stroke of genius as the track continued to rubber in and get quicker, thus giving them the advantage when they switched to the option tire. Arthur Pic and Takuya Izawa both benefitted greatly and fought their way into the top ten, but out in front, Simon Trummer elected to go it alone.

Having stalled on the grid, Trummer had raced well to get into the lead after every other driver had stopped, but instead of pitting earlier and giving him more laps on the quicker tire, Rapax opted to bring him in with just two laps to go. Nevertheless, he managed to fight past a few cars on the soft compound, and eventually crossed the line in a well-earned seventh place.

Vandoorne was the star of the day, though. Having cut his teeth in the Renault-backed series, the move to GP2 was one that many expected to truly prove his star quality, and he certainly showed his worth in the feature race on Saturday. The Belgian driver eventually crossed the line 1.5 seconds ahead of Leal, and claimed a maiden GP2 win on debut.

On the podium, Vandoorne was clearly elated, and he was joined in celebrating by a number of the McLaren F1 team members including Ron Dennis and Eric Boullier, who hold him in high regard. However, he will have to fight back from P8 tomorrow in the sprint race as part of the reverse grid.

For Daly and Rossi, tomorrow should be about aiming to pick up some points and avoid leaving Bahrain empty handed.

Click here for the complete classification and race results.

Kyle Larson wins High Limit Sprint race at Tri-City Speedway ahead of Rico Abreu

Larson High Limit Tri-City
High Limit Sprint Car Series
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A late race caution set up a 14-lap shootout at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois with Kyle Larson winning his second consecutive High Limit Sprint Car Series race over Rico Abreu.

Starting eight on the grid after a disappointing pole dash, Larson missed several major incidents as he worked his way to the front. On Lap 1 of 35, a five-car accident claimed Tyler Courtney and Michael “Buddy” Kofoid, who both took a tumble and before collecting three other cars. Once that red flag was lifted, it didn’t take long for drivers to get tangled again as the leader Danny Dietrich experienced engine trouble on Lap 8. When he slowed rapidly, second-place Brent Marks collided with his back tire, ending the day for both.

Larson moved up to fourth with this incident.

Another red flag on Lap 21 for a flip involving Parker Price-Miller set up the dash for the win.

“My car felt really good and then we got that red,” Larson said from victory lane. “I was kind of running through the crumbs before that in 3 and 4; I could tell the top was getting really sketchy. Parker was making mistakes up there.

“When the red came out, I could see there was a clean lane of grip – not just marbles. It’s hard to see when you’re at speed. I figured Rico was going to run the top and he did. I got to his inside a couple of times and I was like ‘please don’t go to the bottom,’ and I threw a slider on him. Then he went to the bottom and I thought I was screwed until he spun his tires really bad off the corner and I was able to hit the top okay and get another run and slide him. I got good grip off the cushion.”

The victory makes Larson the first repeat winner in the series’ five-race history. He beat Justin Sanders earlier this month at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio.

With 10 laps remaining, Larson caught and pressured Abreu. The two threw a series of sliders at one another until Abreu bobbled on the cushion and lost momentum.

“Anytime you race Rico and he’s on the wall like that, you have to get aggressive,” Larson said. “He’s pushing so hard that just to stay in the striking zone if he makes a mistake, you have to push hard too.”

For Abreu, it was his second near-miss this season. He was leading at Lakeside in the 2023 opener until a tire went flat in the closing laps.

“I felt like I made a lot of mistakes at the end,” Abreu said. “It’s just hard to judge race pace. You’ve got Kyle behind you and [Anthony] Macri and these guys that have had speed all year long. I was racing as hard as I could and the mistake factor is more and more critical.”

Cory Eliason earned his career-best High Limit finish of third after starting deep in the field in 13th.

Macri lost one position during the race to finish fourth with Sam Hafertepe, Jr. rounding out the top five.

Visiting from the NASCAR Cup series, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished 19th in the 25-car field after advancing from the B-Main.

2023 High Limit Sprint Car Series

Race 1: Giovanni Scelzi wins at Lakeside Speedway
Race2: Anthony Macri wins at 34 Raceway
Race 3: Kyle Larson wins at Wayne County Speedway