The Year in Racing: 2011

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Great finishes. Disaster. Dominating performances. Constant disappointment. Wicked crashes. And of course... tragedy. There was a little of everything for 2011 in racing. As part of a GTPlanet "tradition" of mine, I've created this thread to reflect on 2011 in racing with most racing series already wrapping up their seasons. We have seen great teams and drivers race and win. Conversely, we've even seen racing talent get taken away from us. We have seen new teams race and new tracks raced on. So why don't we look back on this year in racing?


The Positives/Notables...
I think my favorite aspect of this year has been seeing the Bathurst 1000 live on American TV. Couldn't believe that the love of V8 Supercars would extend to the series' biggest race LIVE on TV. It was incredible. * I was very shocked also to see two last-lap fails on the same weekend: the Indy 500 last lap crash and Dale Jr. running out of fuel at the Coca-Cola 600.

* I was continually pleased with Danica Patrick's forward progress racing in Nationwide apart from her IndyCar runs. I think Danica will be a consistent contender in Nationwide next season. She isn't AAA talent in Nationwide, but she's still a solid A (or even AA) talent.

* Trevor Bayne wins the Daytona 500. You predicted he'd win, right? That was a great moment.

* I thought it was great watching the races around the streets of Baltimore. I had a brand-new appreciation for how lovely Baltimore is after seeing this street course as well as the transformation of this city to this street course.

* I didn't see the full race, but I did see a highlight package of the inaugural F1 Indian Grand Prix. I like that track. Just too bad nobody could figure out S. Vettel on that day.


The Negatives/Disappointments...
And of course, there are the sad and/or disappointing moments.

* Biggest of all was Dan Wheldon's death. The outpouring of support in the United States and around the world was incredible. I was absolutely saddened watching that horrific crash unfold. It was supposed to be this exciting weekend where a driver could get a serious payday if that driver beats out the other IndyCar talent. And sadly (and unfortunately), all Hell broke loose with one vicious crash, and the race was essentially stopped.

* Equally horrific was the loss of Marco Simoncelli. I was watching Speed and noticed the 125cc race at Malaysia when the info said the MotoGP race was on. The news was that Marco Simoncelli died in a racing accident. I was equally stunned over his loss.

* Most disappointing to me as a racing fan was the whole ALMS TV deal on ESPN/ABC. I know you could see the racing live online or with those highlight shows on the ESPN/ABC networks, but never have I been more disappointed as a sportscar racing fan have I been THIS disappointed knowing races like Sebring and Petit Le Mans are going on... but can't be seen live on TV. Part of why I loved the ALMS was because it could be seen without having (then) Speedvision to see most of the races. So you basically have people either wait for delayed highlights or let them watch online. If you thought I felt bad, I need only think of the comments posted on the ALMS' Facebook fan page. Many of them were as upset or even more upset than I was.


Indifferent...
* I thought it was great watching the races around the streets of Baltimore. I had a brand-new appreciation for how lovely Baltimore is after seeing this street course as well as the transformation of this city to this street course.

* I didn't see the full race, but I did see a highlight package of the inaugural F1 Indian Grand Prix. I like that track. Just too bad nobody could figure out S. Vettel on that day.

* Kyle "Rowdy" Busch probably won "Bone-headed Move of the Year" in any discipline of racing with his thug hit on Ron Hornaday Jr. at Texas in NASCAR Trucks. I remembered watching a YouTube video where there was talk of the Speed crew talking about "he should be docked for this race and the rest of the season." Why take out a title contender under caution during the race? That move would be the equivalent of a Flagrant-2 Foul in the NBA, and there would be no need to review that one. Possibly the dumbest move of the year.



Congratulations to all champions of major races and championships across all disciplines of motorsport. What are your reflections of 2011?
 
Personally, Tony Stewart winning was a good moment as well, even though I actually dislike him, to be honest.

Can't agree more with Bayne winning the Daytona 500. Nobody had really heard of him before Daytona and now the racing world knows him.

Whelden's death was shocking, especially since he had won the Indy 500 earlier that season. It shows that these driver's jobs are very dangerous and that they put their lives on the line doing their work.
 
~Trevor Bayne's Daytona 500 victory.

~JR Hildebrand's wreck at Indy leading to Wheldon's final win before the Vegas tragedy.

~Sebastian Loeb - 8 time WRC champion!

~Vettel's dominance.

~BTCC's biggest grids and best racing since super touring.

I'll do a more detailed post later...
 
One thing that relieved me was F1 opting to use 6 cylinder engines from 2014, instead of 4 cylinders from 2013. Firstly because it means F1 engines at least have a cylinder amount that makes you think of performance and secondly one more year of V8's.

Although having been to BOSS GP this year I now yearn for the return of V10/V12'S. :)
 
- The tragic losses of Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli. RIP :(

- Vettel's dominance as much as I hate to say it.

- Sebastien Loeb's 8th WRC Title!
 
MrMulsanne
~Sebastian Loeb - 8 time WRC champion!
Click to expand...

That's a negative for me. Just as bad as Jimmy Johnson winning 5 straight.

Everyone else hit the positives right on the head, but I'll add:

~ Dominance of the GT Academy graduates in everything they race in.
 
Obviously the Weldon and Simoncelli deaths were horrible, but other then that there is a lot to reflect on.


Vettel proving that he didn't win the 2010 F1 championship by luck after dominating 2011

Some of the best racing in any category of Motorsport across the world in the 2011 China and Canada Grand Prix

One of the closest and exciting Le Mans 24 hours we will ever see

Lucas Ordonez ILMC Champion

Monster Tajima's 9:51 at Pikes Peak

Some epic BTCC Racing
 
Probably just about every ALMS race this year is a positive. Despite the TV coverage, which as stated was not only not Live, it was terrible.
I don't want to the Mazda cruising across the finish line at Laguna Seca, I want to see the Porsche and BMW racing nose to tail on the last lap. I'd also like to see the pass that was made by the Porsche on the last lap. /Rage.

The Canadian GP is probably the best F1 race I have ever seen, granted I haven't seen many.

I will admit, I stopped watching Le Mans about half way through and never picked it up again. I still have it on the DVR, should I bother finishing it?

While Dan Wheldon's death is tragic, he never touched the brakes from what I understand. He tried to weave through the wreckage at full speed. Rest in peace.

Porsche is building an LMP car!!!!!!!!!!!

Saw the very finish of the Bathrust 1000 I think it was as I flipped through channels. Pretty exciting stuff.

This is going to be a long winter.
 
gogatrs
This is going to be a long winter.
Click to expand...

Tell me about it.

By the way, on the subject of Dan Wheldon he didn't really have time to brake and even if he had hit the pedal, unfortunatley, the outcome would be no different.
 
The higlights:
- Martin Tomczyk dominating the DTM season in a year old car.

- Le Mans, Audi had the fastest car but had lost 2 in near-catastrohies but the last one kept on charging round to hold of all 4 Peugeot's, even though I prefer Peugeot it was amazing to watch.

- Last night at 1am in bed with my laptop watching a Mexican stream of 2 great drivers giving 110% in a battle for the Sprint Cup championship.

- Monte Carlo Rally, the weather caught the big names of guard and gave Bryan Bouffier an incredible win against the odds.

- The Indianapolis 500, never have I seen a race finish like that, of course its emotional to look back on it now but it was an incredible race.

- The Canadian GP, I'm a massive fan of Sebastian Vettel but what Jenson Button did that day was incredible, I've never seen such an impressive win before.

The Lowlights:
- The whole NGTC/S2000 farce in BTCC, it was clear that Honda had an unfair advantage most of the season which in my opinion tainted the championship.

- STCC, 2 months after the season finale Biogas.se are still arguing that the championship winner Rickard Rydell overtook under yellow flags.

- WRC, Exciting new cars, young talents to challenge the big names, and what will the year be remembered for? Politics. It seemed every rally somebody was being told to pull over for their teammate, and if they didn't want to they would be kicked out the team at the end of the season (Ogier).

- The real low points put the last lowlights into comparison, Its been a tragic year with some of the greatest talents being hit by tragedy, first it was Robert Kubica, after topping the time sheets for LRGP he had that horrific crash in Italy that almost took his life, that was followed later in the year by Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli's deaths, all 3 great champions of their sport.
 
Not trying to overshadow all the other points, but the point about ALMS leads me to remind everyone of the Sky/F1 deal.

Stoopid stoopid stoopid.
 
- Unfortunately the losses of Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli. (R.I.P)
- The last 15 laps of the Bathurst 1000.
- Casey Stoner becoming world champion again.
- Tony Stewart's amazing chase run to claim his 3rd Sprint Cup.
 
Best moments:
-Canadian GP. Literally jumped out of my seat after Vettel spun out and Button overtook him.
-Homestead. Both drivers were definitely the class of the field (wasn't third place something like 10 seconds back at the finish?), and seeing the closest championship finish ever was just icing on the cake.
-Le Mans. Audi throwing the entire team behind their last shot at the win after two very dramatic accidents was enough to make it stick over the quicker Peugeot—but not by much.
-Paul di Resta making quite the debut; I forsee good things coming from him in the next several years.

In-between/both good and bad:
-Vettel's and Loeb's dominance over their respective disciplines.
-IndyCars in Baltimore. Whose idea was it to leave one of the track trucks out AFTER the green flag flew? Good race though, and always nice to see new tracks on the calendar.
-Same thing with the Indian GP. Not as exciting as other races of the year, but the track looks promising.

Worst:
-Marco and Dan. Nothing more need be said.
-IndyCars in Loudon. Anyone else remember the last-restart carnage? Massive fail on their part. Race was meh as well, so this doesn't go into the in-between category.
-Kyle Busch's move in the Truck series race. What in the 🤬 was he thinking? NASCAR putting their foot down was a good thing, but I can't describe my feelings toward that muppet within the AUP.
-Monaco GP. Perez crashing into the wall, Hamilton crashing into pretty much everyone else, the red flag situation—the entire weekend was a bit of a shambles.
 
Best moments/things
- Jenson Buttons incredible drive from last to first in a terrific race at Montreal.
- DTM at Brands Hatch, huge moment for me as it was the first major motorsport event I had been to. It was a great race as well.
- The WRC coverage keeps getting better, more regular over the weekend and the power stage gets shown live at every event.
- Watching the Brits really mount a challenge in Indy Racing
- Loebs 8th title in WRC, maybe a downside for some, but I think it will be his last.
- Sebastien Ogier's emergence as a real threat to Loebs dominance, along with Jari-Matti Latvala.
- Seeing Mini back on the WRC.
 
Best Moments:

someone not named Jimmie Johnson winning the Sprint Cup Championship 👍
Tony Stewart's amazing run in the Chase to become champion
Trevor Bayne pulling off a unlikely Daytona 500 win
one of the most competitive Nascar seasons in recent memory
Speed Channel actually showing live flag-to-flag coverage of the Bathurst 1000
the last 10 laps of the Canadian Grand Prix
the last 15 laps of the AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta
the news New Jersey will host an F1 race :D


Worst Moments:

the deaths of Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli
Kyle Busch's jackass move under caution at Texas
Speed Channel's continued disgusting lack of anything non-Nascar or reality TV related :yuck:
the birth of "tandem" racing at Daytona and Talladega 👎 👎
 
Last edited:
Best:
-Carl and Tony racing and finishing within the top three for the last three races of the Chase to finish on a tie breaker with the top two in the series literally racing for the win (since whoever came in second... came in second.)
-Yamauchi-san winning his class and the first endurance win in the GT-R at the Nur 24.
-Lotterer winning for Audi in the Le Mans 24
-APR winning their class in the CTSCC Daytona race, the first race of the year.
-Getting to watch V8SC on TV (live or not)
-Getting to see five first-time winners in NASCAR (Regan Smith, David Ragan, Paul Menard, Trevor Bayne and Marcos Ambrose!)
-Hearing that DTM is on the verge of releasing an American-licensed series.
-Hearing that F1 may be coming to America... twice
-Hearing that V8SC is coming to America
-Hearing that WTCC is coming to America


Worst:
-Jr. Still hasn't won, bummer
-APR wrecked a few cars
-Audi wrecked a few cars at Le Mans (the two with the 'good' liveries too!)
-Wheldon, Simoncelli and Huseman's tragic passing.
-More things that are awful that I can't think of...
 
2011 was a great year to be a motorsport fan! Here are some of my highlights and lowlights of the year:

Highlights:
-After two horrific crashes, Audi put all their effort behind their final car to fend off the quicker Peugots.
-Great racing in BTCC, Wrathall drove like a champ in a new NGTC car
-The Bathurst 1000, live on American telivision, and one of the best final few laps I have ever seen. Congrats to Tander and Nick Percat, the first rookie to win since Jacky Ickx.
-Loeb's 8th consecutive championship. I hate the guy because he's so good, but 8 straight championshps is an unbeleivable accomplishment
-The Canadian grand prix, epic drive by Button
-The Indy 500, Hildebrand's crash leading to Dan Weldon's last win before the las Vegas tradgedy
-Lucas Ordonez' ILMC championship

Lowlights:
-The trajic deaths of Dan Weldon, Rick Huseman and Marco Simoncelli. RIP
-Kyle Bush's bonehead move(s)
-Indycar officials making fools of themselves over the season.
-Team orders in WRC. Ruined some potentially great fights
 
To continue the look back on 2011, congratulations to Jamie Whincup on winning the 2011 Australian V8 Supercar Series championship. Well done, mate!
 

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