Motorsport Roundup: Hamilton Wins In Qatar With Ogier And Razgatlioglu Crowned 2021 WRC And WSBK Champions

As we head into the final stretch of the 2021 racing season, the last seven days continued the busy racing action from the week before starting with the Formula One Qatar Grand Prix. It also saw the 2021 FIA World Rally Championship and FIM Superbike World Championship season come to a close. There was also an important announcement in India from Mumbai Falcons.

Here’s everything that transpired over the past week:

Formula One

 

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton continued the strong momentum from Brazil with a flawless 102nd career win at Losail. Title rival Max Verstappen finished second for Red Bull Racing Honda, with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso pulling off a one-stop gamble to score his first podium since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix. This result puts Hamliton only eight points off Verstappen in the driver’s standings, with Mercedes just five points clear of Red Bull Racing Honda in the constructors' standings with two rounds to go.

WRC

Sebastien Ogier couldn’t have asked for a more fairytale end to his World Rally Championship career, as the Toyota Gazoo Racing driver won the season finale in Monza and clinched his eighth world title. In fact, it almost could’ve slipped away from him when he clipped the barriers earlier, but he held on to win the stage by 7.3 seconds over his teammate and title rival, Elfyn Evans. Finishing in third place was the Hyundai of Dani Sordo. Toyota Gazoo Racing also sealed the team’s championship ahead of Hyundai Motorsport. 

WSBK

 

This weekend saw the FIM Superbike World Championship crown a new champion, with Toprak Razgatlioglu sealing the title in Race 1 of the season finale at Pertamina, Indonesia thanks to a third place finish in Race 1.  The Pata Yamaha with the Brixx rider’s title triumph ended title rival Jonathan Rea’s (Kawasaki Racing) run of six consecutive titles. Scott Redding took third overall in the riders standings for Aruba.It Ducati Racing.

Indian Motorsport  

Back on home ground there was big news for Indian motorsport, as Mumbai Falcons have announced a tie-up with Coimbatore Auto sports & Transport Trust to build a new purpose-built racetrack in Coimbatore. It’ll be an FIA Grade 2 circuit that’ll be under 4km in length. Work on the circuit has recently begun and is expected to be ready by mid-2022.