60 Seconds with... Tony Gilham
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Last week at Brands Hatch, The Checkered Flag caught up with BTCC racer Tony Gilham to ask him his views on his performance thus far in 2012.
Kasey Kahne marked his 300th career start with his first win of the year in the Coke 600 at Charlotte on Memorial Day. The win was Kahne’s first since joining Hendrick Motorsports, who have now scored three wins in as many races after Jimmie Johnson’s victories in the Southern 500 at Darlington and last weeks million dollar All-Star race.
Juan Pablo Montoya may not have won a race since Watkins Glen 2010, but was this week crowned the All-Time Greatest Chip Ganassi Racing driver by fans.
Without doubt, Californian rookie Josef Newgarden has been one of the revelations of the Indycar season so far. The likeable 21-year-old is among the dark horses to win Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, and starts as the highest placed Honda runner in a top-9 monopolised by Chevrolets for Sarah Fisher Racing on the inside of row three.
Speaking to The Checkered Flag, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team reserve driver Sam Bird talks about his F1 role, the new Formula Renault 3.5 car, and gives his take on the new multi-manufacturer era of the DTM.
Strolling through the lower paddock at Brands Hatch last weekend, it was apparent to this writer that Carlos Sainz is taking his son’s fledgling racing career very seriously indeed.
The 96th running of the Indianapolis 500 takes place this Sunday, and after the late Dan Wheldon’s memorable win on Memorial Day last year, 2012 marks the first time since his death that an Indycar race has taken place on an oval.
Despite it not counting for points, there were a million reasons why Jimmie Johnson was thrilled to take his second win in as many events.
Having won the DTM season opener at Hockenheim, and backed that up with a second place at the Lausitzring, there was little doubt that Gary Paffett would be on the pace once again at Brands Hatch. Qualifying on pole and controlling the race from the front, Paffett did not disappoint, and eased to his 19th career win, his first on home soil.
After HWA Mercedes drivers Gary Paffett and Christian Vietoris locked out the front row at Brands Hatch in qualifying yesterday, The Checkered Flag asked Mercedes’ Maro Engel for his take on the qualifying session.
Jimmie Johnson sealed Hendrick Motorsports’ 200th win with a composed drive at Darlington Raceway, After several near misses, not least when Johnson and Jeff Gordon looked set to finish 1-2 at Martinsville in April before a mistimed lunge by Clint Bowyer took both out, the Hendrick team finally reached its landmark milestone, having been stuck on 199 since Johnson’s last win at Kansas last year.
For the first time in their short history, BK Racing will be running three cars when the NASCAR circus moves to Darlington, South Carolina. The ex-Team Red Bull squad, which currently has both Landon Cassill’s no. 83 and the no.93 in the top 35 owner’s points, will debut the no. 73 this weekend with Travis Kvapil behind the wheel.
Eric McClure will skip the Nationwide Series event at Darlington this Friday as he continues to recover from his horrific accident at Talladega last weekend.
Given that he was the leader on the last lap, it looked very unlikely that Brad Keselowski would be able to repeat his famous Talladega victory from 2009, achieved by wrecking Carl Edwards on the run to the flag. But on this occasion, conventional wisdom didn’t prevail and Kyle Busch was unable to make the decisive pass which would have given him his second win in succession.
After the acrimonious split between the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship and the Touringcar Team Association (TTA) in 2011, the 2012 STCC season will commence at Mantorp Park this weekend, while the new TTA Racing Elite League season gets underway next weekend at Karlskoga. The two bodies came to blows over the proposed adoption of the British Touring Car Championship’s NGTC rules package by 2014, with the breakaway championship the end result.
After Kurt Busch’s dramatic victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports on Friday in the Nationwide Series, his younger brother, the eponymous team-owner Kyle Busch, wrapped up a perfect weekend at Richmond by defeating Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the premier Sprint Cup. It was Kyle’s fourth consecutive victory in the spring event at Richmond, and lifted him back into Chase contention after a trying season so far with only two top-10 finishes.
Extreme sports star Travis Pastrana is set to finally make his NASCAR debut next weekend at Richmond, driving for RAB Racing in the Nationwide Series.
