This Week In Motorsports: Action-Packed Rome E-Prixs, Marc Marquez Is Back, And Arjun Maini’s DTM Preseason Test

The second week of April in the world of motorsports may not have had a lot of disciplines to follow, but Formula E managed to squeeze in plenty of racing action at the double-header in Rome. Plus the long-awaited return of a MotoGP legend is finally happening. Here’s more about it:

Formula E

 

It was an action-packed second set of double-header races in Rome for the 2021 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Race 1 saw the lead exchange multiple times between Audi’s Lucas di Grassi and DS TeCheetah’s Jean Eric Vergne. But towards the end of the race, Di Grassi dropped back due to a technical issue, and handed the race win to Vergne. Joining the two-time champion on the podium were the Jaguar pair of Sam Birg and Mitch Evans. 

The second race had drama right from the off as polesitter Nick Cassidy spun out on the first corner of the opening lap. That left Venturi’s Norman Nato, Porsche’s Pascal Wherlein and Mercedes’ Stoffel Vandoorne to battle for the race win. In the end, it was Vandoorne who managed to bounce back from a difficult Race 1 to take his second Formula E win. Mahindra Racing’s Alexander Sims came home in second, with Pascal Wherlein rounding off the podium.  

Jaguar’s Sam Bird may still be leading the driver’s standings, but Vandoorne has put himself right in the mix, only 11 points behind in 4th. Jaguar continues to lead the teams standings ahead of Mercedes. Alexander Sims’ second place finish places him 9th in the driver’s standings, and propels Mahindra Racing into 7th in the teams standings.  Next up will be the Valencia E-Prix double-header from April 24-25.

MotoGP 

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It's official. 8-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez has been given the all-clear to return to MotoGP at the Portugese Grand Prix in Portimao on April 18. This return makes it almost a year since his premature comeback attempt at the 2020 Andalucia Grand Prix. It's unclear if the HRC rider will still be at 100 percent considering he’s had a long time off-track, but you can expect him to spice up the 2021 season despite missing the opening two rounds in Qatar

DTM 

This week also saw preseason testing for the 2021 DTM season commence at Hockenheim, Germany. Among the field was India’s first ever DTM driver, Arjun Maini, who was 17th fastest on the opening day, and 6th on the final day for GetSpeed Mercedes. Of course, testing times don’t showcase the true pecking order of the field, but it's a good start for Maini ahead of the second preseason test at Lausitzring on May 4-6. The 8-round season kicks off at Monza from June 18-20.

WRC

In the world of off-road motorsports, there’ll be a change of scenery for Rally Sweden in the 2022 FIA World Rally Championship season. Instead of Varmland, WRC will be heading up north to Umea. It boasts 15 different special stages within a 50km radius of the city. The reasoning behind this shift in venue is that Unea is a more snow-safe region for a winter rally.