WRC France, Houston IndyCar
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IndyCar - Houston: Drive through penalty for Sebastian Saavedra for a pitlane safety infraction. That's the first time we've noticed him all weekend.
Things are looking rather better for his team-mate Sebastien Bourdais, who is running in fourth.
Things are looking rather better for his team-mate Sebastien Bourdais, who is running in fourth.
Josef Newgarden
IndyCar - Houston: Hunter-Reay is in the pits with assorted Andretti mechanics poking around his car. He'd been reporting gearbox problems earlier, but right now they're working under the engine cowling.
Josef Newgarden pits. We mention this because he has a new paint scheme this weekend, and it looks rather awesome.
IndyCar - Houston: Pagenaud has awoken from his funk and reclaims a spot from de Silvestro. Up at the front the gap between Dixon and Power has stabilised at about 2.8s, while Luca Filippi is looking strong in third. Still 35 laps of racing to come, though.
Checkered flag
ALMS - Virginia: Wins secured for Pickett, Level 5, BAR1, Risi and TRG.
IndyCar - Houston: This is turning into quite an afternoon for Scott Dixon, who has extended his lead over Power to nearly 3.0s. Coupled with Castroneves being mired back in 20th, we could be seeing the championship getting kicked open again.
IndyCar - Houston: Pagenaud is giving positions away like candy: Bourdais and de Silvestro have also passed him, and Hunter-Reay is lining him up.
Green flag
IndyCar - Houston: Restart, and Luca Filippi makes a great move to take third from Simon Pagenaud.
Yellow flag
IndyCar - Houston: Dario Franchitti spins to a stop in Turn 3, so there goes Dixon's lead.
There is also more drama for AJ Foyt Racing, who has lost radio contact with Takuma Sato and is asking race control to black flag him so that he comes into the pits.
There is also more drama for AJ Foyt Racing, who has lost radio contact with Takuma Sato and is asking race control to black flag him so that he comes into the pits.
IndyCar - Houston: More drama! Power is slightly delayed in the pits, and rejoins to see Dixon swooping past him into the first corner. Dixon's stop was 1.8s quicker than Power's, and he leads the Australian by 2.7s.
ALMS - Virginia: Under a quarter of an hour to go and the leaders in all classes are in pretty good shape, with advantages ranging from a good few seconds to half a minute.
It's Pickett HPD in overall charge with Luhr, Briscoe leading LMP2 for Level 5, Malucelli's Risi Ferrari leading GT, Kyle Marcelli on top of LMPC for BAR1 and TRG's Faulkner on top in GTC.
It's Pickett HPD in overall charge with Luhr, Briscoe leading LMP2 for Level 5, Malucelli's Risi Ferrari leading GT, Kyle Marcelli on top of LMPC for BAR1 and TRG's Faulkner on top in GTC.
IndyCar - Houston: But Dixon does just that, and trundles into the pits. Power will stop next time around.
IndyCar - Houston: Power picks up another couple of tenths. Dixon is reporting to his team that his car is starting to fade, but the last thing he wants to do is pit before Power does.
IndyCar - Houston: And somehow, Dixon has clawed all of that time back, and is now just 0.4s behind Power. The cameras didn't catch anything, but Power must have made a mistake.
Meanwhile in pitlane, Penske is firing Castroneves' car up again.
Meanwhile in pitlane, Penske is firing Castroneves' car up again.
IndyCar - Houston: Scott Dixon just lost a lot of time behind Marco Andretti, and in less than a lap Power's lead has ballooned from 0.7s to 1.9s.
IndyCar - Houston: Amazing pace at the front, where Power and Dixon are lapping 1.0s quicker than the rest of the field. Just under 9.0s behind them, de Silvestro has outbraked Pagenaud to move into third.
IndyCar - Houston: Castroneves is in the pits again, and this doesn't look good for the Brazilian. His crew are changing the gear cluster. He's going to be sitting there for a while.
IndyCar - Houston: Kanaan's problem was caused by his brakes overheating. He's now in the pits while the team tries to figure out whether he can continue.
IndyCar - Houston: Spin from Tony Kanaan. He's kept it off the wall, but has gone down a lap. His team-mate Simona de Silvestro is currently fourth.
ALMS - Virginia: The CORE Porsche of Patrick Long got out in front in GT in that last round of pitstops, but Matteo Malucelli is hunting him down in the Risi Ferrari.
IndyCar - Houston: We're heading some radio transmissions from both Power's pitwall and Dixon's. Basically, they're complaining about each other. Situation normal, in other words.
On the track, the pair are split by about 0.6s, and third-placed Simon Pagenaud is about 3.0s behind them.
On the track, the pair are split by about 0.6s, and third-placed Simon Pagenaud is about 3.0s behind them.
ALMS - Virginia: This isn't going well for Dyson. That stop dropped it into the traffic and Guy Smith is now 25s behind leader Lucas Luhr. Just over half an hour to go.
Green flag
ALMS - Virginia: Back to green. The Pickett HPD is in the lead as it pitted under the first of our two recent yellows and the Dyson Lola-Mazda pitted under the second.
But that means Dyson can definitely run to the end from here, whereas there might be a question mark over Pickett.
But that means Dyson can definitely run to the end from here, whereas there might be a question mark over Pickett.
IndyCar - Houston: A couple of laps ago Graham Rahal pitted to go off-sequence - remember, he started from the back due to an engine penalty.
More significantly, championship leader Helio Castroneves has done the same thing. The Brazilian, who was 21st, will now be hoping like mad for a flurry of yellows later on.
More significantly, championship leader Helio Castroneves has done the same thing. The Brazilian, who was 21st, will now be hoping like mad for a flurry of yellows later on.
Green flag
IndyCar - Houston: Restart. Power nails it, and opens a gap of a couple of car lengths over Dixon.
IndyCar - Houston: Drama! Race leader Takuma Sato pits to have a slow puncture on the right-rear repaired. That drops him to the back, and promotes Will Power to the lead ahead of Scott Dixon. We're still under yellows.
Meanwhile, Vautier's early exit was the result of a crash. So in about three hours, he's managed to trash both his race car and his back-up. Not a good day for the amiable Frenchman.
Meanwhile, Vautier's early exit was the result of a crash. So in about three hours, he's managed to trash both his race car and his back-up. Not a good day for the amiable Frenchman.
ALMS - Virginia: Most of the leaders are going to get pitstops out of the way during this yellow.
AUTOSPORT suspects there will be more of these to come as this yellow may well take up a lot of the remaining 50 minutes.
After all, we seemed to be under yellow for a long time for a small patch of burning grass, and this one is for a huge impact and a GTC Porsche tumbling down the barriers and ending up perched on the tyre wall.
To reiterate for any readers just joining Race Centre Live, Eduardo Cisneros and Marco Holzer both got out of their cars unhurt.
AUTOSPORT suspects there will be more of these to come as this yellow may well take up a lot of the remaining 50 minutes.
After all, we seemed to be under yellow for a long time for a small patch of burning grass, and this one is for a huge impact and a GTC Porsche tumbling down the barriers and ending up perched on the tyre wall.
To reiterate for any readers just joining Race Centre Live, Eduardo Cisneros and Marco Holzer both got out of their cars unhurt.
IndyCar - Houston: Whatever race control was investigating from the start, they've decided not to take action.
IndyCar - Houston: Hinchcliffe has made it back to the pits. You know how you often hear that he always has a smile on his face? Well, he doesn't right now.
"I'm just mad. I know what happened. I don't want to talk about what happened."
Asked whether he was mad at himself or the team:
"I'm ... just mad."
Meanwhile, we're seeing footage of Vautier's car being winched off the circuit. No idea what happened to him.
"I'm just mad. I know what happened. I don't want to talk about what happened."
Asked whether he was mad at himself or the team:
"I'm ... just mad."
Meanwhile, we're seeing footage of Vautier's car being winched off the circuit. No idea what happened to him.
IndyCar - Houston: Still under yellows, with Sato being shown as the race leader. Apparently the start is under review; no word on why.
Twitter
ALMS - Virginia: Or as Dyson team boss/driver Chris Dyson just Tweeted from the pits:
"Lucky lucky lucky"
"Lucky lucky lucky"
Yellow flag
ALMS - Virginia: That was horrific. The two Porsches made contact heading into a corner and went straight into the barriers.
Cisneros' GTC Porsche rolled end over end down the barriers, getting a massive dent in the roof along the way, but landed on its wheels.
It looks like the marshals and TV crews down there are all OK, which is another miracle.
This is going to be a long yellow as the Porsche is still perched on the tyres and barrier repairs must be required. Wow.
Cisneros' GTC Porsche rolled end over end down the barriers, getting a massive dent in the roof along the way, but landed on its wheels.
It looks like the marshals and TV crews down there are all OK, which is another miracle.
This is going to be a long yellow as the Porsche is still perched on the tyres and barrier repairs must be required. Wow.
Yellow flag
IndyCar - Houston: ... full course yellow. James Hinchcliffe stalled, Tristan Vautier did an amazing job to avoid him, but Ed Carpenter was less fortunate and hits the back of the Andretti car.
Green flag
IndyCar - Houston: Start ...
IndyCar - Houston: Looks like Charlie Kimball stalled. He's up and running again now, though.
Crash
ALMS - Virginia: Restart, but then a massive crash between Marco Holzer and Edoardo Cisneros' Porsches.
Cisneros' GTC car rolled through the air and landed atop the barriers. He's got out OK under his own steam.
Cisneros' GTC car rolled through the air and landed atop the barriers. He's got out OK under his own steam.
IndyCar - Houston: The cars are forming up on the grid for the start. Actually, no they're not. The start has been aborted. There will be a second attempt at a standing start. This is different to Toronto, where the abandoned standing start was replaced by a rolling start.
Yellow flag
ALMS - Virginia: Yellow for a novel reason: some trackside grass is on fire after the #44 Flying Lizard GTC Porsche parked on it for a while.
ALMS - Virginia: Just past halfway. Smith still holds off Luhr up front, with less than a second between them.
LMP2 is just as close with Scott Sharp just leading Ryan Briscoe.
The Risi Ferrari has a 12s lead in GT, Kyle Marcelli is in charge in LMPC and Damien Faulkner is up front in GTC.
LMP2 is just as close with Scott Sharp just leading Ryan Briscoe.
The Risi Ferrari has a 12s lead in GT, Kyle Marcelli is in charge in LMPC and Damien Faulkner is up front in GTC.
Breaking news
IndyCar - Houston: IndyCar has announced that it will use single-file restarts this weekend so as not to unfairly disadvantage drivers on the bumpy side of the track at Turn 1.
ALMS - Virginia: Smith catches Luhr and drafts past to retake the lead.
Within mere seconds, Pickett's Twitter account is talking about the Lola-Mazda's alleged straightline speed advantage...
Within mere seconds, Pickett's Twitter account is talking about the Lola-Mazda's alleged straightline speed advantage...
By: Scott Mitchell, Sam Tremayne, David Evans, Matt Beer, Peter Mills, Jamie O'Leary, Mark Glendenning, Dan Cross, Pablo Elizalde
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