Top ten great races you should have seen in 2012

Top ten

Posted on

| Written by

Formula One served up a great season of racing in 2012. But there was a lot more great motor sport action beyond those 20 races.

Here’s my pick of ten of the best races in other categories that F1 Fanatics should have seen.

10. Auto GP Morocco race one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkCWDbB8DkE

You’d be forgiven for thinking the combination of seven-year-old ex-A1 Grand Prix chassis and a circuit composed mainly of bumps and chicanes would not make for a terrific race.

But the fifth race of the Auto GP World Series climaxed with a gripping wheel-to-wheel battle between Sergio Campana and Adrian Quiafe-Hobbes.

If this had been F1 DRS would have killed the battle dead immediately. Instead we were treated to Campana soaking up terrific pressure for lap after lap.

Time and again he sat it out with Quaife-Hobbes on the run down the long straights of the Marrakech street circuit and daringly out-braked him to cling to his lead. Although Quaife-Hobbes had to settle for second best, he went on to win the championship.

9. Superstars Mugello race one

The Superstars touring car series headed to Mugello in June and the first race was shaped by a pile-up at the first corner. While several drivers were eliminated, Andrea Larini emerged in the lead but his right-rear wheel was trailing sparks.

Ex-F1 driver Johnny Herbert emerged from the pack to chase him down but Larini clung on to take a remarkable victory despite some lurid slides in his wayward handling car.

8. IndyCar Auto Club Speedway

I could have justified filling my entire top ten with races from this year’s IndyCar championship but I restricted myself to just two.

The championship-deciding finale at the Fontana superspeedway (officially called the Auto Club Speedway) tingled with tension. Title protagonists Will Power and Ryan Hunter-Reay were swapping positions when Power’s Penske snapped out of control and slammed into the wall. Rapid repair work by his team got him back on the track long enough to be able to claim 24th place – meaning Hunter-Reay needed to finish fifth to claim to the title.

After a gruelling race pushing three hours in duration he made it, holding off Power’s team mate Helio Castroneves for fourth to win the championship. No wonder race winner Ed Carpenter was given a video of the race as part of his trophy.

7. European F3 Open Spa-Francorchamps race one

The European F3 Open series may not be the most prestigious of the Formula Three championships but it produced one of the most entertaining races I saw this year at the fabulous Spa-Francorchamps.

Gianmarco Raimondo scored a narrow win over Mans Grenhagen after a frantic slipstreaming contest around the classic Belgian circuit.

6. GP2 Valencia sprint race

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bLqTzocVNE

It was not a vintage season for GP2, with several top talents switching categories to drive Formula Renault 3.5’s new cars.

Among the breakthrough new talents in the series was James Calado who gave new Sauber driver Esteban Gutierrez a run for his money at Lotus ART.

Calado was robbed of victory in the Valencia feature race by the untimely appearance of the safety car. He looked set to make amends in the sprint race until he was hit by Rio Haryanto. Despite damage he continued to resist his attackers until Luiz Razia produced an incredible move to pass him and Fabio Leimer around the outside and win.

5. DTM Norising

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaRRimFaiYQ

Germany’s premier touring car championship was bolstered by the return of BMW this year. But the racing still too often erred on the dry and strategic side.

That was not always the case, and the series’ iconic Norisring venue produced easily the best race of the season in wet conditions. First championship leader Gary Paffett was knocked into a spin at the first corner and drove a battling recovery to fourth.

But that was nothing compared to the efforts of team mate and Norising specialist Jamie Green. He passed Bruno Spengler for second with two laps to go and then snatched victory from Martin Tomcyk at the very final corner.

Did Norbert Haug enjoy that one? You bet he did!

4. ALMS Road America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5-0-auqptg&t=55s

The Circuit of the Americas is great but I’d still love to see F1 racing at America’s answer to Spa-Francorchamps, Road America (Elkhart Lake).

That’s probably never going to happen, so sports prototypes like these is the best we’re likely to see on the great circuit.

This year’s four-hour race culminated in a brilliant battle for position between Guy Smith and Lucas Luhr, the latter having recovered four laps due to a water leak earlier in the race.

In a conclusion which couldn’t have been scripted better, Luhr fired his car down the inside of Smith’s at the very last turn. But he came off second-best – and there was less than a tenth of a second between them at the line.

3. GP3 Monza race two

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggJfmmpi3lg

The outcome of the GP3 championship swung back and forth during a showdown race at Monza that was so intense there wasn’t time to blink. Mitch Evans held a 14-point lead heading into the race but lined up last on the grid while title rival Daniel Abt started eighth.

Evans made a gutsy attempt to climb through the field but when he went off in the Lesmo corners and Abt took the lead it looked as though the championship was lost.

Then, to Evans’ considerable gratitude, Tio Ellinas took the lead off Abt and claimed the win – sending the championship back to the Arden driver.

2. Formula Renault 3.5 Circuit de Catalunya race two

Another last-round title-decider, but this one boiled over into a controversial clash between the top two drivers.

Robin Frijns, Jules Bianchi and Sam Bird all went into the final race at the Circuit de Catalunya with a chance of claiming the title. With Frijns holding Bianchi at bay after the mandatory pit stops, it seemed the outcome was settled.

Then, in a blur of excitement, everything changed. Bianchi stunned Frijns, seizing his position at turn one. Now Kevin Magnussen loomed in Frijns’ mirrors and was poised to strike.

Frijns retaliated by diving down the inside of Bianchi. The pair collided and Bianchi was out.

It looked like an optimistic move and Frijns cannot have failed to realise that contact between the pair would guarantee him the title. That’s not to say he deliberately drove into his rival, but you’d have a hard time persuading Bianchi of that.

With Bird only managing seventh, Frijns was guaranteed the title even after the stewards slapped him with a post-race time penalty.

Meanwhile the deeply impressive Antonio Felix da Costa chalked up another win and RFR team mates Mikhail Aleshin and newcomer Aaro Vainio entertained with a no-holds-barred contest for second.

1. Indianapolis 500

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Elt3GmA-P0

There was an inescapably sombre air as the IndyCar field returned to Indianapolis for the 96th running of one of the greatest races in motor sport. Last year’s winner Dan Wheldon, who tragically lost his life in a crash in Las Vegas in October 2011, was honoured during the event.

Dario Franchitti suffered a setback early in the race when he was knocked into a spin by the incident-prone EJ Viso during a pit stop. He fell to last place, which was a prelude to a performance his friend Wheldon would have been proud of.

Contrary to pre-race predictions the Honda-powered runners such as Franchitti came on strong during the race. Franchitti arrived on the tail of Ganassi team mate Scott Dixon. Behind them was another Honda-powered driver in the running for the lead: ex-F1 pilot Takuma Sato.

With two laps to go Franchitti dived to the inside of Dixon at turn one and Sato followed him, the pair demoting Dixon to third. Beginning the final lap Sato was still in Franchitti’s slipstream and he tried to repeat his pass, drawing alongside Franchitti.

But Sato’s car got away from him and as he headed for the barriers Franchitti somehow avoided being collected. For the second year in a row the Indianpolis 500 was decided by a dramatic last-lap crash.

The race, which saw a record number of lead changes, ended with Franchitti crowned a three-times Indianapolis 500 victor.

Over to you

Though my significant other may not believe it, I cannot and do not watch every form of four-wheeled motorsport so no doubt there were many more great races during 2012 I didn’t see.

Now it’s time for you to tell me what great races I missed during 2012 in the comments. And, if you saw them, what you thought of these ten.

F1 top tens


Read more top tens

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

67 comments on “Top ten great races you should have seen in 2012”

  1. While i can’t say i’ve seen all these races i believe that there could be a case for the Bathurst 1000 to be included in this list. But i do think all of these races in the list showcased the very best of motor racing.

  2. The final 30 laps of the Bathurst 1000 was some of the best motor racing all year! An underdog who hadn’t even won a race trying everything to pass a three-time (now four-time) series champion, with varying fuel strategies making it nail-biting stuff. Record crowds over the four days and retro liveries made it just an awesome race!

  3. The final 30 laps of the Bathurst 1000 was some of the best motor racing all year! An underdog who hadn’t even won a race trying everything to pass a three-time (now four-time) series champion, with varying fuel strategies making it nail-biting stuff. Record crowds over the four days and retro liveries made it just an awesome race! Btw, a great selection of races Keith, well done!

    1. Four time series champion who got trounced by everyone at the ROC. Goes to show V8 drivers aren’t that good.

      1. V8 Supercars are unlike anything used at the Race of Champions. The closest thing to a V8 Supercar was a Euro Racecar, which is more of a NASCAR than anything we have down here. On top of that, it was left-hand drive, incredibly heavy, and had to be driven around a circuit that was just 1.4km long. The whole thing was about as far removed from V8 Supercars as you can get.

        1. Yes, this is true but has not stopped anyone before. It didn’t stop Kovalainen from winning in 2004 when previous to that he only had professional experience in carting as well as 2 seasons in open wheelers. Or Sébastien Loeb in 2005 and 2008 and Sébastien Ogier last year who obviously drive VERY different cars to the ones used in the ROC.

          1. Or Sébastien Loeb in 2005 and 2008 and Sébastien Ogier last year who obviously drive VERY different cars to the ones used in the ROC.

            But who are also very used to driving on circuits like the ROC track, because they are modelled on the super-special stages that every other rally seems to have these days.

        2. I would say that a small twisty track like that is always going to hurt big engined touring cars most of anything. And you are right to highlight, that changing from right to left hand drive even stresses that.

      2. Do I have to remind you about Jacques Villeneuve at the Townsville 400?

    2. It would have been better if Reynolds had actually caught Whincup and/or Courtney had managed his fuel and tyres properly and kept himself in contention. As it was, Whincup barely looked troubled by Reynolds and Courtney minced his tyres within about five laps of getting them.

    3. Can’t believe that underdog didn’t try and pass. Such a fail.

  4. @keithcollantine This article says it all.

    I have not yet viewed all of the Top Ten great races but I’m already blown away by the depth of analysis offered to F1Fanatics. Do you really follow all of these categories, or is there a cast of hundreds working tirelessly behind the scenes on your behalf (Santa’s elves, as it were)?

    At the lowest point of the motor racing season, you are still pumping out interesting and innovative articles that save us all from terminal boredom. Thank you.

    1. Santa’s elves, as it were

      I embarrassingly LOL-ed at that sentence.

    2. Thanks very much @pault

      And yes, I watch as much as I can, but I haven’t seen every race of every category mentioned here. I did have the good fortune top have the chance top commentate on some Formula Renault 3.5 and F3 Open races, though not the two mentioned above.

  5. I’ve been very fortunate to have watched numbers 1, 2, 3 and 6 live. The Indy 500 race was one of the best races of the year for sure. I remember the GP2 race in Valencia particularly well for the shear amount of nonsense that went down in that race. Though I must say, the Formula 3.5 finale wasn’t that great. It was filled with controversy and it definitely encouraged debate, but apart from that incident and the fact that Da Costa won (obviously), I don’t remember anything noteworthy from that race. My guess is that you wanted to include an F3.5 race.

  6. I watched all of the races on this list. This was the first year I accompanied the Superstars championship, I’ve always liked DTM and Formula Three, I also like IndyCar. This year I watched GP3 mostly because Antonio Felix de Costa was there, and I had already watched a few FR3.5 races, but only when Felix da Costa entered that championship I began watching it every time it was on.

  7. These are my top three non-F1 races of the year:

    1. The DTM season finale at Hockenheim. It didn’t involve a lot of overtaking but offered a great race-long battle for the win and the title between Spengler and Paffett, two of the very best touring car drivers in the world.

    2. The GP2 Series sprint race at Spa. I saw it from the stands and saw some good passes and bad spins at Chicane. Razia and Valsecchi, both title contenders, collided on the first lap and next year’s F1 rookie Chilton was out of contention, too. Kral won his first ever GP2 race and Nasr overtook Calado for second in the last metres before the chequered flag.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N0eEpMxC8o

    3. The WTCC Race of Austria at Salzburgring, race two. All three Chevrolet drivers suffered punctures in the last stage of the race and privateer d’Aste took an unexpected win.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clBDDZ1GOfo

  8. The last lap at Watkins Glen International for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The winner looks almost certain, until the 47 Toyota starts dumping oil on the circuit, creating an almost un-driveable surface, as shown by all the off-track excursions and sliding. Controlling a 900 horsepower car with little downforce must be hard enough.

    Kyle Busch gets nudged by Keselowski on the final lap, leaving Keselowski and Marcos Ambrose to battle for the victory. Both drivers are still slipping and sliding, and beat and bang literally until the start/finish line. If this race didn’t happen, the Indianapolis 500 would have been the race of the year, but this just topped it:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptLBVCU9hGw

  9. A couple of the MotoGP races were very good as well. Lorenzo and Pedrosa’s last lap fight at Brno, and the crazy wet Valencia Grand Prix.

  10. NASCAR Nationwide Series at Circuit-Gilles Villeneuve.

    NASCAR at Circuit-Gilles Villeneuve had built up a reputation for being a bumper banging, fender crunching brawl, but few could see this year’s edition playing out. A spectator threw a shoe onto the track, damaging Danica Patrick’s radiator grill. There were a total of eight Safety Car periods in just a 200 mile race, which indicates the madness that went on.

    This race was scheduled to run 74 laps, but due to a spate of late-race retaliation and wrecks, the race went into “overtime” and the use of a “Green-White-Checkered” finish. Cars pit, run out of fuel and the race eventually finishes at 82 laps with two GWC needed.

    Jacques Villeneuve dumped his compatriot Tagliani, but on the final lap, Villeneuve got a taste of his own medicine when the 31 car of Allgaier put the bumper to Villeneuve, sliding him wide.

    It was a crazy race that left my brain frazzled; you can only laugh at the mayhem and revenge. Full race in this link:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-X7wVPKUK0

  11. The Daytona 24 Hours was also a corker. In recent years, this has become a 24 hour sprint race, not only in terms of the pace of the race, but also with the close gaps between cars even after half way.

    This year’s edition of the famed enduro saw a classic head-to-head battle between AJ Allmendinger and Allan McNish. Being a veteran in sportscar and road racing, you might expect McNish to trounce Allmendinger. McNish eased AJ wide on the exit of turn 1 when the latter tried to pass, but it wasn’t over. On the high banking, both drivers traded paint and banged bodywork, with AJ eventually winning the dual.

    All this battling in an endurance race – it look the term “endurance” to a whole new level.

  12. World Superbike Silverstone round Race 1. The moment it ended I knew it will be this series’ all-time classic race.

  13. Τhank you very much @keithcolantine. Now I know what I will be doing tomorrow!

    I want just to add Bathurst 1000 () and pretty much every Moto3 race.

    1. Link for the Bathurst 1000 is in the phrase about the Moto3 races. Don’t know why it is like this.

  14. List lacking in any MotoGP races, especially the Moto2 and Moto3 races which were amazing to watch at every circuit this year.

    Marquez first lap of Moto2 @ Motegi was just ridiculous :) (vid: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xud5mo_marc-marquez-motegi-onboard-2012-lap-1_auto)

    1. @bishyb I think the only Moto GP race I saw any of live was the Indianapolis round. Four wheels come first for me.

  15. I’m impressed by the guys in Auto GP. First of all no one collected the guy stalling on the pole position and after that, in a rather tight, completely walled street track no one messed up in all those chicanes and caused a contact, let alone a crash. Quite amazing. Even in F1, there’s almost inevitable mess on first lap, whenever we are in Monaco or Valencia.

    Really impressed.

  16. OMG that ALMS race (#4), that was my favorite one of the top ten.

    One of the races I enjoyed a lot this year was race two of the WTCC series in Hungary. Micheliz winning at home, keeping his cool as a blue Chevy get’s bigger and bigger in his rear view mirror, good stuff! :)

    Full race: http://youtu.be/TffiPLWQme8

  17. Daytona and Le Mans both had great stretches. But the Daytona bumping from AJ against McNish was not great to see. He’d (AJ) been squeezed a couple of time before hand, but Alan always left him the option to back out or go off-track in effect. AJ seemed to punt him delibirately and then basically admitted it afterwards. Not what I want to see in motor racing thank you very much. I can’t stand the Indy500, so never watch it, and aside from a few V8 races which were OK, one race really stands out. It was a cracking GT race which I saw on Motors TV but don’t know who was in it, or even what series it was. There was a big american/european thing going on with some corvette and an Aston I think, and they were talking to the team owner who was so excited mid-race. The footage looked American, so might actually have been ALMS if they’re currently racing without prototypes, or Grand-AM. Whatever it was, it was excellent racing, invested teams and drivers who really wanted to win a race more than anything else. This race. It wasn’t about collecting points or season long battles or anything like that. I would watch races like that all day long.

  18. @keithcollantine, since you (quite rightly) mention the negative effect DRS would have had I ask ; would F1 type tyres have improved these races?

    Also agree with those citing the Bathurst 1000 and Moto/WSB races.

    1. @hohum I think @keithcollantine wrongly sledged DRS, it backfired bigtime, and it ruined for me what would have been a good article.

      1. @mattynotwo, everyone has a right to express their own opinion, mine differs from yours, but that’s OK.

      2. But what keith said regarding DRS was correct.

        If that was F1 & if DRS had been a part of the race the guy in 2nd would have breezed past on the 1st straight & we would have lost what was a thrilling fight for the win.

        Thats one of my biggest issues with DRS, I often feel were losing these epic duels & having them replaced with soul-less, easy & totally unexciting highway passes.

        I said a while ago that DRS was killing my enjoyment of F1 races & I stand by that, Every time I see a DRS pass I feel like i’ve been robbed of a good race & potentially exciting overtake.

  19. If this had been F1 DRS would have killed the battle dead immediately. Instead we were treated to Campana soaking up terrific pressure for lap after lap.

    Completely agree with that. The problem with DRS is that it’s just not needed. This year, more than enough racing was fuelled from the aggressive tyres than was gimmicks such as KERS and DRS. In fact, many of the overtakes, like in Valencia, US and Brazil, had more overtakes away from the DRS zones than in it. In other races, where the zone was too long, drivers simply waited for the DRS zone to have an easy pass, wasting some potential battles.

    10 years ago, maybe DRS was needed. But now it just robs us of some potential battles and with downforce being cut further in 2014, cars should be able to follow one another more closely and its need will be reduced further.

    1. @cornflakesYou can’t say on one hand that tyre passing is great, and DRS is bad, that’s hipercritical, and like I just said above, @keithcollantine ‘s sledge of DRS ruined a good article for me.

      1. Tires and KERS are for everyone and can be used tactically. Both tires and KERS. On the other hand, DRS is nothing tactical. One guy has it, the other one doesn’t. There’s not much possibility for defensive driving unless it’s a great defending driver on a really hard-to-pass track.

        1. So tell me anyone, how many laps did HAM have DRS activated when he was racing VET in Texas, before he got past, please tell me, because I’d imagine at least 10 times HAM had DRS activated before he finally got past, but you all convienently forget that race.

      2. @mattynotwo

        You can’t say on one hand that tyre passing is great, and DRS is bad, that’s hipercritical

        Assuming you mean hypocritical, I disagree. To me a system which robs drivers of the ability to defend their position is completely different from having tyres that degrade quickly.

        Looking at how close that Auto GP battle was, I think DRS would have tipped the balance immediately in favour of the attacking driver and ended it at the first attack.

        1. I agree with you @keithcollantine but I believe the attacking driver would have had to back of to save his tyres if Pirelli F1 style tyres were being used, that’s my only beef with them.

        2. @keithcollantine Like I said above HAM did’nt get past VET at the first opportunity at Texas did he?

          No

      3. Tyres aren’t a gimmick, they’re a variable of racing that can be tweaked to improve the racing. DRS is a gimmick – F1 can race without it and its debatable if it’s made the passing great at all. I’d rather have less passes that are hard earned than more passes that are gifted and like watching a car being lapped.

        1. @cornflakes, my problem with the tyres is that the attacking driver, being in dirty air, will be overheating and thus ruining his tyres unless he either makes an easy pass straightaway or backs off to let his tyres cool down, I have no problem with tyre wear as long as it is the same for the car in front as it is for the car behind. But it ain’t.

          1. @hohum I see your point, but I prefer how it is now to how it was pre-Pirelli. Hopefully as teams understand tyres more the management of them in dirty air can be improved and degradation will become more even across the teams. Unfortunately though, there’s no one solution to all the problems and they all have compromises.

        2. @cornflakes DRS is not a gimmick, its an innovation :: Wikipedia definition

          ‘Innovation is the development of new customers value through solutions that meet new needs, inarticulate needs, or old customer and market needs in value adding new ways. This is accomplished through more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments, and society. ‘

          I think DRS fits within that definition.

          1. DRS is not a gimmick

            You would be right in saying that the DRS system itself (As in the moveable wing) is not a gimmick.

            However the way DRS is used (With 1 second gaps, detection lines, activation zones, only chasing car been able to use it) makes it an artificial gimmick.

            As I’ve said before, I’ve little issue with the DRS device, Its the artificial & gimmickey regulations that govern its use which I loathe.

  20. The Indy 500 at Indianapolis was definitely was a thriller. @keith did you consider NASCAR sprint cup series while picking the list. This year There were some good nail biters there too.

    1. Yeah, I saw a Cup race, I can’t recall exactly, Martinsville or Bristal, and some guy pushed into the back Johnson, who hit Gordon and they both spun of. Something like that. They had a couple of GWC as well.

  21. The Auto GP final few laps were wonderful to watch.

    If this had been F1 DRS would have killed the battle dead immediately

    Once again I feel my blood boil when I think about DRS. It’s like a bad recurring dream with Paddy Lowe whispering the words ‘two zones’ under his breath. Oh how I wish you would go away DRS and all that sing its praises. Please oh lord, make it stop.

    Merry Christmas.

  22. watching the auto-gp race & some of the indycar stuff just reminds me of how much good racing I feel DRS has been robbing us of.

    How many easy DRS passes would have ended up been totally awesome, thrilling battles for position resulting in a truly exciting overtake had we not had DRS.

    You could also easily look back over history & see which great moments we would have lost had DRS been in place back then.
    Alonso/Schumacher @ Imola 05/06 likely would not have happened in the drs style f1, Mansell/senna @ barcelona 1991 would not have given us that thrilling wheel to wheel duel with drs/kers. hakkinen/schuamcher @ spa 00 would have been an easy drs pass the lap mika got to schumi & we would not have seen that great overtake by mika.

    maybe drs is just a sign of modern life. everyone wants to take the easy route rather than actually have to really work hard for something & earn it.

    1. Yeah, that’s 3 battles over the course of 15 years. That’s not good enough and we all know it.

      What about the great battle between Schumacher/Hamilton at Monza in 2011.

      I’d rather stick with DRS style F1

      1. I only listed 3 but could have easily listed a lot more.

        Schumi/Hamilton at Monza last year was a great fight & I did indeed thoroughly enjoy it, However great racing fights like that have been few & far between the past 2 years & in every case any eventual pass has been completely a complete anti-climax because tyres have fell off the cliff making it easy or DRS has eventually worked & generated an equally unexciting pass.

        For me watching drivers get into a specific gap in a specific ‘passing zone’, push a button & then be driven easily & un-excitingly past with the leading driver completely defenseless is boring. I don’t enjoy watching that & I don’t consider it racing.

        Watching those prolonged racing duels & watching those truly exciting overtakes is to me what racing is all about, Its what drew me in back in the 70s & whats kept me hooked all these years.
        If we had the current DRS formula back in the 70s I almost certainly would never have become a fan.

  23. I think there was proabably 3 V8 supercar races this year worthy of a spot in this 10. First of all obviuosly the Bathurst 1000 was amazingly intense in those final laps: Also the race in western Australia earlier in the year was really good, the race leader will davison was on worn soft tyres and he was rapidly being caught by championship rival Jamie Whincup and team-mate Mark Winterbottom. As Whincup tried to push his way past on the last lap the team-mates ganged up on Whincup to ensure a fabulous finish: Also the Race in New Zealand in the ealy season was a cracke rwith Winterbottom holding off a hard charging Whincup who was throwing his car around so hard, grazing walls and having big slides. At the begining of the finbal lap they made contact and were battling all the way around the next couple of corners:

  24. I watched all those which I could watch on TV here in my country. Those were the Monza round at GP3, where I was rooting for Abt and he disappointedly just fell short, then the DTM round at Norisring(although I only saw that in the post-season reruns) and the GP2 Valencia round, where Razia made monkeys of everyone. It was frustrating to see his lack of outright pace throughout the season, otherwise with his racing heroics he would certainly have won the GP2 series title this year.

  25. All Moto3 race is great!

  26. There´s some great racing in those videos for sure and i´m going to add the BTCC championship which is absolutely amazing, it´s action from the first lap till the end, also a few more indy races ( just like Keith said ), Daytona 24h especially the end, the Grand-am race in Belle Isle ( Detroit ) had it all and the best finish of the race of all year goes to nascar´s Watkins Glen road course race between Marcos Ambrose, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Buch and a slipery track full of oil.

  27. Great article Keith, I’m always looking at getting into different motorsports and it’s articles like this which provide the inspiration. Just a shame that GP2 Asia isn’t on over the winter anymore to fill the F1 sized void until March.

  28. How about the BTCC; Race 3 at Silverstone was amazing by Plato, although, having written that, there were probably many more races like that in the BTCC; maybe because I’m a Plato fan that sticks in my mind…

  29. What, no Macau Grand Prix, Keith? :)

    1. @sergio-perez Sorry but I didn’t see it – it never seems to be on live here in the UK :-(

  30. Maybe I’m an idiot, or maybe I have the wrong end of the stick, but I’m going to weigh in on the whole DRS issue (again! It certainly always get’s people talking that’s for sure!!)

    I was always under the impression that due to the ability of designers to maximise driven air at the back of the car over aero components meant that those components were able to disrupt the air substantially behind for some distance, and that, as aero grip and efficiency were the key points for turning and accelaration for F1 cars in their current make-up, that this had the effect of making up the last few hundred yards to a competitor increasingly dificult. DRS was introduced to reduce the dag co-eficient further than what would be considered either possible, or safe for a car travelling all the way around a circuit to allow cars that had the straiht line speed to easily pass the car in front, but one that was being held up by turbulence. Hence, I don’t consider DRS passes as overtakes. They are something else instead, and i do think that they are starting to work. The HAM/VET incident being the obvious good example on how DRS should work. It should not allow you to overtake a faster or similar paced car and escape, but should allow you to easily get in front of a car that’s a few tenths slower without having to worry too much about it. I genuinely believe something like this is needed, not because the drivers are rubbish and can’t overtake, but because F1 is just TOO aero, and it’s too easy to disrupt the airflow behind your car. I remember an interview I remember someone complaining that he was driving flat out and a car moved across in front of him and he said it felt like the car lifted on skates or something similar. Losing that level of grip and retaining a high drag is just too destabilising for consistentcy. Anyway, as an aside to the top ten great races, what I can also say is that while I have watched at least as many “other” races as I have F1, the most boring races have all been F1. Other classes, either in their amateurish-ness, or closer racing, or for some other reason (Such as just enjoying the Bathurst and Laguna Seca tracks!) have never bored me in quite the same way F1 can when it turns into a procession, although this year has been generally good in avoiding boredom, and seems to be on an upward trend over the past few years. How much of this is down to DRS is probably tiny, but it seems sily to mess with a winning formula. One last thing to say to @keithcollantine & everyone else is have a great festive season, and make it a new years resolution to go and see some VLN next year to support the Nurburgring if you at all can, or even better, take a car and go and drive it (The ring I mean, or indeed the VLN if you have the relevant car/licence). In fact, take a car, and tour europe and drive the classic circuits. Or just send them money. Support Motorsports at all levels by supporting your local circuit and national classic circuits. Get involved. I guarantee there’s a motor sport club near you, and if I’m wrong may I be called an Elephant Seals behind whilst you form your own….

  31. I saw the Indy 500. Absolutely fantastic!

  32. kubica fan ireland
    29th December 2012, 19:34

    You have to include the finish to the Watkins Glen nascar race in any list this year Keith. Just would like to know as a fan of nearly all motorsports , both 2 wheel and 4 why you have very little interest in NASCAR as you have mentioned before when doing articles about other forms of motorsports. Keep up the good work , love the site all work is greatly appreciated

    1. I did mention the NASCAR Watkins Glen race at the time:

      Video: Ambrose takes win in dramatic last lap at Watkins Glen

      I don’t follow NASCAR very closely because there are simply so many races that it isn’t practical for me. And the way the championship is structured much of most of them is irrelevant as the series is only decided once they get to the chase.

      But mostly it’s because it just doesn’t excite me the way, say, IndyCar or Formula Renault 3.5 has this year.

  33. Indycar getting some love! It was a great season!

  34. After watching those videos I would say there’s a good case to be made for Will Buxton being one of the best motor racing commentators out there. He injects so much humour, excitement and enthusiasm into the racing.

    Glad he’s not out of a job next year and that NBC have snapped him up.

    1. @dirtyscarab Wow, I could not disagree more! He irritates me so much that I have to mute my television if he’s talking for too long. (I think you are in the majority in your opinion of him, though.)

  35. I think Le Mans is a race that anyone should watch, so special.

Comments are closed.