A superb weekend for motorsport! Loads of Formula E action, a surprise Formula One result and the always exciting BTCC continued it’s romp across Britain.

Formula E

Formula E visited parts of the prestigious F1 Monaco GP track over the weekend for Monaco ePrix and as is the way with Formula E it was an action packed race.

Sebastien Buemi took victory, which makes him the first driver in Formula E to have more than one win under his belt. Up until this point, every single race has had a different winner, Buemi is pretty pleased with the accolade as you might imagine.

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“It feels great, it is a good weekend for me and the team, especially after the issues I had at Buenos Aires,” said Buemi. “From pole to win it is an amazing feeling to win at Monaco, I couldn’t be happier.”

Buemi fully deserved the win after qualifying on pole and never once losing the lead, although he was far from handed the win as second placer and Formula E nemesis, Lucas di Grassi harassed him for first place.

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It seems to be almost tradition now that a Formula E race begins with a pile up and Monaco was no exception. Bruno Senna and Jaime Alguersuari ended their races immediately after sustaining heavy damage. Senna came off worst as his car rode up the back of Daniel Abt’s and nearly rolled, he was lucky to get away without being injured. Loic Duval and Daniel Abt limped on after the incident but eventually had to retire due to damage, which was unfortunate.

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After the safety car had completed three laps the race got back under way with Buemi and di Grassi pulling away from third placer Piquet Jr. After pit stops and a good stint Piquet brought himself back in to play but really couldn’t compete with the front two.

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Di Grassi pitted slightly early to try and undercut Buemi, two laps later Buemi pitted, arriving on track very slightly ahead of his rival. The pair literally drove side by side briefly, making light contact but this was as close as di Grassi got to properly taking the lead. Buemi then began extending the gap and controlled the race from this point onwards, Piquet had begun his hunt on for di Grassi with ten laps remaining. He caught second place but a mistimed move and locked brakes cost him any chances of taking third and settled in for third.

F1

It was a silver arrow one-two in Spain this weekend as Nico Rosberg claims a crucial first win this season in the 2015 Spanish Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton nabbed second for Mercedes, following nearly eighteen seconds behind his team mate, after a long fought battle with Ferrari’s Sebastien Vettel, who finished the podium.

Rosberg made good use of his pole position, getting a clean start to dart straight in to the lead, where he would stay for almost the entire race. Hamilton did not do so well, having trouble off the line, getting himself caught up behind Vettel, who beat him in to turn one and continued to cause him trouble as the race progressed. In fact, Hamilton only just managed to fend off the Williams’ Valterri Bottas round turn one.

Rosberg held a 1.1 second lead ahead of Vettel by the end of lap one and just kept on increasing that time. By lap ten he was 6.6 seconds ahead, a very strong performance. Hamilton on the other hand, could do little about the situation he was stuck in. Vettel was just too good; Hamilton couldn’t even get in range to launch a DRS attack let alone a standard passing manoeuvre.

The Mercedes team switched up Hamilton’s pit procedure but unfortunately was let down by a slow pit-stop caused by the rear left wheel. Not only did this pit strategy fail, the effect was compounded when Vettel pitted perfectly just a lap later to end up a good time clear of Hamilton.

BTCC

Thruxton Park in Hampshire played host to the British Touring Car Championship over the weekend and the series continues to impress.

Race One

Gordon Shedden took his Civic Type-R to victory in the first race of the weekend, kicking off an exciting day of racing. Qualifying second, he didn’t let this stop him getting the jump on pole qualifier Aron Smith though and headed into to the lead around the first corner. The second Honda driver, Matt Neal, also squeezed past Smith before the pack reached the complex and that would be how the two Honda’s remained for the rest of the race.

Matt Neal didn’t get a free ride though; Smith was on his tail for a good number of laps after the start, Shedden however was way out in front by around two seconds. Smith was looking to close podium but it was not to be when he suffered a puncture which sent him off the track not to return. Adam Morgan was more than happy to take his place in his Mercedes though, with the two Honda’s stretching an unassailable gap even further. Race Two Jason Plato, who had finished fourth in race one, took his second BTCC win in the second race of the weekend, battling Rob Collard the entire way for the lead. Rob Collard actually got the better start from second on the grid, getting past Plato in the beginning.

Elsewhere at the start, all hell broke loose. Andy Priaulx and Adam Morgan gave each other a knock which put Morgan a bit horizontal, Priaulx recovered and immediately made further contact with Warren Scott and Stewart Lines. Game over for Priaulx.

Jeff Smith and Josh Cook took the race off road in an attempt to avoid the madness and ended up taking out some advertising boards on their little excursion. Adarm Morgan, who somehow avoided almost everything dropped himself down to tenth leaving Plato and Collard out in front. This was all in lap one. Collard wouldn’t maintain his lead for long, letting Plato past on turn two of the second lap. To give respect where it’s due, Collar hung on to Plato all race but was simply unable to pass the reigning champ. The podium ended up Plato, Collard and Shedden rounding it off. Race Three Adam Morgan lucked out due to the reverse grid system BTCC use for the final race of the weekend. His tenth place finish meant he started on pole for race three and he took full advantage of it. He started strong and kept it up all race to complete a hassle free run from start to finish for the win.

Morgan was building up quite the lead, even by the end of lap one, until Warren Scott put his Volkswagen into the barriers causing a safety car lap. This was of little consequence to the Mercedes driver though, who made a clean break after the safety car went in and continued his domination of the race. Andrew Jordan, while unable to get near Morgan, stuck in there to claim second while Sam Tordoff and Colink Turkington finished third and fourth respectively in what was the least eventful race of the weekend by far.

Keir Millar

Extremely sad news now as a young member of the motor sport community loses his life doing what he loved, racing.

Keir Millar, from Lockerbie was involved in a serious accident as Lochgelly Raceway in Fife on Saturday. He was racing in the Ministox, after showing promise by winning the Ninja Kart Championship, when the accident occurred.

He was taken to Victoria Hospital in Fifa and then later moved to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh where he died from his injuries.

A statement issued by the family said: “The family are extremely distraught at the passing of their son and will be sadly missed by all who knew him”

The family added: “We, as a family, request space and time to grieve in private”. No further information has been made available in respect to the family.

Hardie Race Promotions, who operate the track where the accident took place, have declined to comment on the incident but will be doing a full investigation.

Sorry to end on sad news like that but it’s important to remember it isn’t just the professionals that get injured in motorsport. Tune in next week for another racing round up.

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