It is our last post of 2015 and as such we thought we would take a look back at what made the year great – the racing and so we look at the 5 best races of the year…
5. FIA WEC – 6 Hours of Silverstone
The racing from the green flag of the first World Endurance Championship race of the year was hot with battling up and down the field looking more like a touring car race than an endurance race. The final moments were tense as well as the lead Audi was being chased down by the Porsche competitors. They hung on after 72 second lead for Fässler over fellow Swiss driver Neel Jani in the no18 Porsche 919 was reduced to just 11 with 15 minutes left on the clock when the no7 car was given a Stop-Go penalty for abusing track limits. This set up a great battle for the final few laps, but Marcel Fässler was able to hold on to the lead and take the win by just 4.6 seconds.
4. Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour
This race was punctuated by a stupidly large amount of full course cautions. If the race managed to get into a rhythm it would have been higher but it as this never happened it is here. But it made the list for a thrilling four way battle for the lead and the best restart in history by Chiro-san in the Nissan…and a couple moves that ensured Stefan Mucke is off M-Sport’s Christmas card list.
3. World SBK – Phiillip Island race 1
The opening race of the World-SBK Championship was a thrilling affair with an argy-bargy battle between the Kawasakis, Haslam’s Aprillia and Davies’ Ducati. Haslam and Rea would cross the line and not know who actually won. The Aprillia took it by 0.01 of a second. The second race would see Rea get his win, this time by a massive margin…of 0.03 seconds.
2. MotoGP – Phillip Island
After the WorldSBK races at Phillip Island, MotoGP had a lot to live up to be considered amongst the races of the year – but that is what they did. Some have called this the race of decade – or ever. Five of the best riders ever duking it out. Swapping positions, eventually Marquez taking the win – utterly thrilling. So why you ask is this second? Well it was Rossi’s meltdown at the press conference in Sepang and the following unpleasantness that this race caused. The Championship was usurped by it. Nasty, horrible battlelines were drawn. Fans chose their sides and were most horrible to each other. It was hard to find a story that wasn’t biased and we know what happened on track. It is not the kind of thing I like to see from my sport.
1. WRC Rallye Espania
So if MotoGP gave us the kinds of things I don’t like to see, WRC Rally Spain gave us everything we do like to see. Ogier was pushing hard on the final stage, showing that he wants every point – every stage win. Mikkelson and Flone had just put in a spectacular stage time to beat Latvala for second – then on live TV, in a way that only rally can do, he was the winner. The emotions flowed, the love of the sport and of winning was available for all to see – in the contrasting emotions of the respective VW crews…
Special mention – World RX Sweden
If you ever needed to understand the thrills of Rallycross, the round in Sweden showed it all. It was almost a fairy tale for Timmy Hansen at his home event, but his final corner pass of a very classy Mattias Ekstrom incurred the wrath of the stewards. There are differing views on this decision and for that reason, this event didn’t make it into the countdown proper, but what a race…
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By Sam Tickell, December 2015
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