Motorsport Roundup: Verstappen Breaks Mercedes Streak, Brad Binder Shines In MotoGP, Da Costa Crowned Formula E Champion And More

Formula One 

Red Bull Honda’s Max Verstappen finally broke Mercedes’ dominant streak in 2020 with a hard fought win at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone. Compared to the previous week’s race, this one had softer tyre compounds which led to a various mix of one/two-stop strategies up and down the field. And Verstappen’s gamble to start on the hard compound tyres paid off as the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas struggled on the medium tyres early on which was crucial to the Dutchman’s win. Hamilton finished second in the end to equal Michael Schumacher’s all time record of 155 podiums. Polesitter Bottas wound up taking the final spot on the podium.  

MotoGP

If you thought the opening two races at Jerez were filled with drama, well the third round of the 2020 season at Brno completely blows things out of the water. Brad Binder and KTM created history by taking not only his, but the manufacturer’s first ever premier class win. What’s more, the South African rider has achieved this in only his third premier class race similar to what Marc Marquez achieved in 2013. Following him was Petrona Yamaha SRT’s Franco Morbidelli scoring his maiden podium with pole sitter Johann Zarco rounding off the podium for Esponsorama Ducati. Starting 7th, Binder showed superior race pace and scythed through the field enroute to his maiden win. There could have been two KTM’s on the podium but Pol Espargaro had a questionable incident with Zarco that resulted in a DNF. 

F2

It was a difficult fifth round of the FIA Formula 2 Championship at Silverstone for Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala. Qualifying 16th, the Indian driver finished 12th in the feature race, followed by a 9th in the sprint race. On the other side of the garage, his teammate and fellow Red Bull junior driver Yuki Tsunoda had a better run of results, with the Japanese driver taking his maiden F2 win in the sprint race. Daruvala will be hoping to bounce back when F2 heads to Barcelona, Spain  for round five of the Formula 2 Championship from August 14-16. 

Formula E

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We finally have a new Formula E champion in the form of Antonio Felix Da Costa as the DS Techeetah took two race wins on the trot in round 6 and 7, followed by a 4th place in round 8 and a 2nd place finish in round 9. This relentless consistency has helped Da Costa seal the 2019/20  title with two races to spare ahead of his teammate and last season’s championship Jean Eric Vergne who currently sits second in the drivers standings. As was the case last season, DS Techeetah bounced back to also seal the constructors title as well ahead of Nissan E Dams. With the top spots sealed, the battle is on for the runner up spots in the final two races at Berlin.

 French GT4

 

Akhil Rabindra who is the only Asian in the Aston Martin Racing (AMR) Driver Academy, will be racing with AGS Events Racing team in the French FFSA GT4 Championship. His season starts from Round 2 at the Circuit Paul Armagnac de Nogar on August 21 and will run till the end of the six round series at the Ledenon Circuit (Nov 6-8). Rabindra will be piloting a Racing V8 Vantage GT4 as part of a two Pro-Am car lineup for AGS. 

Volkswagen Virtual Racing Championship 

With esports being the center of attention during the coronavirus pandemic, Volkswagen Motorsport India has launched the  Volkswagen Virtual Racing Championship. It is essentially a digitised version of its real life one-make Polo championship with the race format consisting of three practice sessions for racers, one qualifying session and two races. The virtual championship will be a five round championship with a grid of 26 participants that will be chosen via a selection process on September 19 2020. The winner will get a sponsored drive from Volkswagen Motorsport India for the upcoming  2021 Volkswagen Polo Championship. Registrations are open and will run until September 9 2020