Flash wins and big crashes for Kiwi racers across the world
Once again, it was 'one of those weekends' for our Kiwis abroad. Each success was seemingly balanced by a failure elsewhere, but — of course — that's just the nature of motor racing.
That said, hopefully this means we've ridded ourselves of the bad luck as what's arguably New Zealand's biggest weekend of motorsport abroad comes next weekend ...
Another crash shakes Paddon at Rally Italia Sardinia
You can tell in the video above that his latest crash at Sardinia has shaken Hyundai Motorsport's Hayden Paddon.
It's true that things haven't quite gone to plan since his breakthrough win in Argentina, but some of the best in World Rally Championship history were crash magnets at the start of their careers (in the case of Colin McRae, he was a crash magnet all through his career).
Paddon showed good pace in the opening stages of the rally, after holding third in the early running. But a couple of errors later and the rally — and his newly built i20 — were gone. Eventually Hyundai stablemate Thierry Neuville took the win.
“Obviously it’s very disappointing to end the rally in this fashion. I can only say that I’m sorry to the team. It was another very silly mistake," he said.
He'll be back.
Maiden win in a fighting bull for Lester
Photo / Lamborghini Squadra Corse
After somehow always snatching defeat from the frequently visible jaws of victory during last year's Australian GT Championship campaign with Trass Family Motorsport, Jono Lester has broken his victory drought with an emphatic race-one win in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia series at Suzuka.
He and co-driver Uchida-san went on to finish second in race two; enough to win them the round and vault them into second place in the single-make category's championship chase.
“The championship win is a reasonable goal and, based on raw pace, our pairing is now the one to beat. We have a little gap to close down on the points leaders so consistency will be absolutely key," said Lester.
Rain toys with Firestone 600, as Dixon's result hangs in the balance
Photo / sourced
Having qualified second for yesterday's Firestone 600, Scott Dixon looked to be in a prime position to redeem himself after a series of unlucky showings over the past few IndyCar Series events.
But the arrival of rain postponed the start of the race until earlier this morning. Then further rain 71 laps into the race prompted the red flag.
Dixon's race, somewhat inevitably, had been a mixed bag. After fading in the first lap of the race to seventh, he managed to bounce back to fourth by the first wave of pit stops. But after a hideous crash between Conor Daly and Josef Newgarden (the latter later hospitalized), Dixon fell to 14th as various different pit strategies played out under yellow.
A huge storm came soon after, prompting the red flag. Organizers had hoped that the race would resume later this afternoon, but they have since confirmed that it will be postponed until August 27.
Fifth in the Isle of Man Senior TT for Bruce Anstey
Photo / Isle of Man TT
After winning the Isle of Man TT Zero class event earlier in the week, New Zealander Bruce Anstey lined up as one of the favourites for Senior TT honours at the Isle of Man.
But, it wasn't to be for the event's number-two seed. He eventually took the flag fifth, after holding down third for much of the race.
TT legend Michael Dunlop eventually took the win — his 13th win since he debuted at the historic venue in 2007.
Read more about Hayden Paddon's weekend: First stages / crash reaction
Read more about Jono Lester's Lamborghini victory
Read more about the wet Firestone 600: qualifying / race
Read more about Bruce Anstey's TT tilt