Image Credit: Eugene Kapersky
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

F1

It was a superb weekend for F1 in so many respects not just in the quality of the racing itself, which was excellent. It was the inaugural weekend of the Russian GP, which was held on the brand spanking new track at Sochi. Bernie Ecclestone’s 30 year long wish to have an F1 round in Russia have finally been realised, helped along considerably by Russian president Vladamir Putin, who attended the race and sat with Mr Ecclestone for the entire race. Before the race got started and out of the public eye all of the racers joined together before the race to show support for Jules Bianchi.

Before the start of the Russian GP today. #ForzaJules#F1Sochi#F1 pic.twitter.com/Rxt8DDJfF8 — Charles Pic (@Charles_Pic1) October 12, 2014

Lewis Hamilton took home another win, which he must have been over the moon about but he showed solidarity to his fellow sportsmen in dedicating the win to Bianchi. Hamilton had high praise for the event, “The organisers have also done a great job – the layout, the surface and the whole event; I take my hat off to them”, it really needed to be a success as it is costing Russia £31m a year for the event, the highest fee paid by any host.

I'd like to dedicate my win yesterday to Jules Bianchi! #GetWellSoon #ForzaJules #RussianGP #Sochi #SochiAutodrom pic.twitter.com/hTdk10UMp5 — Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) October 13, 2014

Lewis Hamilton has now equalled Nigel Mansell for the most wins by any British F1 driver which is a wonderful achievement and we hope he is able to surpass that by the end of this season, which ,going by his current form, is looking very likely. Hamilton’s win isn’t just the product of skill mind you; he is being powered by the best machines in the business. Mercedes couldn’t have stamped their authority harder on the F1 scene harder over the weekend. Not only were the top five finishers all in Mercedes cars but they have completely wrapped up the constructors title, it is no longer mathematically possible for any other constructor to win. They couldn’t have had a better weekend if they tried.

Amazing day for the whole team today! #Russia #RussianGP #Sochi #SochiAutodrom #CHAMPIONS @MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/l3rptFYb53 — Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) October 12, 2014

Hamilton had a truly fantastic race; it was about as good as it could have gone. He got off to a really great start as the race kicked off but immediately came under fire from his teammate Nico Rosberg who actually took the lead very briefly but unfortunately braked far too late into a corner and locked his wheels up. While he did hold first place still he was actually told by the team to give first place back to Hamilton, this was irrelevant as Rosberg had flat spotted his tyres in the lock up which forced him to pit and race the entire rest of the race on a single set of tyres. Below you can see how hard Rosberg had to brake and the amount of smoke coming off those tyres!

Proof, if ever it was needed, that races can't be won in the first corner. #F1 pic.twitter.com/4SNZLijzKE — F1 Paddock Pass (@F1PaddockPass) October 12, 2014

Rosberg obviously found himself at the back end of the race after his pit stop but managed to get himself all the way back up to second on a single set of tyres for almost the whole race, quite an impressive feat. Vallteri Bottas rounded off the rest of the podium after but not after a fight with Rosberg for second. Jenson Button put in another solid performance after starting in fourth and finishing fourth, he commented on the race saying. “Well, that wasn’t a bad day at all – I reckon we got the maximum out of the car”. Kevin Magnussen had an excellent race coming from 11th all the way through to finish fifth, meaning the two Mercedes-Mclaren boys were able to roll in together.

Thanks to all who have contributed to this historic result today, and to all of our loyal supporters @MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/GZg0xP8Dx8 — Paddy Lowe (@paddylowe) October 12, 2014  

BTCC

A massive weekend for the British Touring Car Championship, the finale weekend of the season was held at the famous Kent based track, Brands Hatch. The BTCC championship was down to the wire, it was between MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save’s Jason Plato and Ebay Motor’s Colin Turkington and the first race would decide who took the title home! Despite finishing third, Turkington had earned enough points to be crowned the BTCC champion for the second time!

Congratulations to 2014 @DunlopBTCC champion @ColinTurkington! pic.twitter.com/OUb6iUDnZa — Autosport Show (@Autosport_Show) October 13, 2014

As you can imagine it was a heated race, the BTCC is tough racing series with major contact a regular occurrence and the deciding race was no exception. Jason Plato had already put down an impressive qualifying time to earn him pole position, he was not going anywhere without a fight. He was actually beaten off the line by his team mate Sam Tordoff who almost immediately had Turkington blast past him in his BMW.

For the rest of the grid, this is what the front of @ColinTurkington’s car looks like. Congrats on winning the #BTCC pic.twitter.com/FTOOkNQL2e — BMW UK (@BMW_UK) October 13, 2014

The contact started pretty quickly, with a fairly serious multi-car accident, a total of seven cars were involved over the course of the tussle which ended in Matt Neal being flown to hospital for an x-ray on his ribs. When it was all said and done Plato was leading the charge followed by his team mate. Turkington gave it his all but the MG duo held him off in third but the eBay driver simply had too much of a point advantage already and still claimed the title!

Yep that was a pretty frantic start to the first #BTCC race!! 2 more to come @Brands_Hatch pic.twitter.com/ZjSXmso9EI — Az (@Az_Edwards) October 12, 2014

The weekend was not over for the two MG KX team mates though as they needed to secure the manufacturers title in race two which they certainly managed to do. Plato and Tordoff finished first and second respectively but Plato was penalised after the race for the early contact with Turkington which sent him spinning off track from which he would not return for the rest of the race. The third race was not without it’s surprises either, BTCC newbie Jack Clarke surprised everyone by finishing second just after Gordon Shedden who claimed the victory, the podium was finished off by Mat Jackson. A wonderful end of the season for the young new driver. It really was all eyes on Turkington when the final flag went down though, he made his way up to the podium to be awarded the prestigious BTCC trophy at one of the UK’s favourite tracks, in front of thousands of adoring fans.

Congratulations 2014 BTCC Champion, Colin Turkington. @ColinTurkington @misslouiserob @Official_WSR @eBayMotorsBTCC pic.twitter.com/NpTqhg2sYw — Network Images (@networkimages) October 12, 2014

Nascar

Over to the USA now for a bit of Nascar action and there certainly was some action, both on and off the track!

Kevin Harwick grabbed his 26^th career win on Saturday evening and his third this season in the Budweiser Chevrolet at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Harwick’s team has had a few troubles this season meaning they couldn’t achieve everything they wanted but they really wanted to get a good result at the Charlotte Speedway and they managed just that. Harwick spoke after the race, “This was the night that we needed to win, as I don’t want to go to Talladega next week”, this win will mean they won’t have to rely on a result from the Talladega leg of the cup for a good championship result.

Well that’s it for the Creditplus racing round up. We hope you enjoyed it and make sure to check back next week for more motor sport updates.

If you missed any of the motor sport last weekend then you can check out last week’s racing round up here.

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