Weekend round-up: F1, Gill, NRT's win, Maini's podium

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel dominated the Canadian Grand Prix to take over the lead of the Formula 1 standings by a single point.

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas equalled his best result of the season in second but never threatened Vettel for victory, while Max Verstappen ensured all of F1’s ‘big three’ were represented on the podium.

Verstappen’s teammate Daniel Ricciardo got the jump on Lewis Hamilton in the pits and finished fourth. Hamilton struggled for pace for the second race in a row and as a result has lost the lead of the drivers championship.

Force India endured a largely unsatisfying race, although Esteban Ocon scored two crucial points with a ninth place finish. The Frenchman was running in seventh until the solitary round of pitstops, but a problem with jacking the car up dropped him behind both Renault drivers.

Sergio Perez was involved in an early race crash with Carlos Sainz Jr that dropped him outside of points contention.

Reigning Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi claimed his maiden win of the 2017/18 season in Zurich ePrix, the first motor race to be held in Switzerland in 64 years.

However, championship leader Jean-Eric Vergne saw his lead slashed down to 23 points after he could only finish 10th. The Frenchman was disadvantaged by being nominated in the first qualifying group and was also handed a drive through penalty for speeding under Full Course Yellow during the race.

Vergne’s sole remaining title challenger Sam Bird finished second, while the podium was completed by Jerome D’ambrosio.

Team MRF’s Gaurav Gill finished 12th on his debut World Rally Championship-2 appearance in Italy.

Although a nose-first impact on Friday ruled out any chance of a top result, Gill consistently finished inside the top 10 in the remaining two days to secure a strong result for himself as well as the team.

The New Delhi native was driving a Ford Fiesta R5, run by reigning WRC champions M-Sport. His car was shod with MRF’s developmental rally tyres.

Jules Cluzel gave Indian-backed NRT team its third World Supersport win in a closely-fought race in Czech Republic.

Cluzel made a rocketing getaway from third position to take the lead, but was closely followed by Sandro Cortese.

Cortese managed to get ahead several times, but Cluzel was able to regain the lead within a matter of corners. He eventually won the race by a thin margin of 0.147s.

Kush Maini scored a double podium in the Silverstone round of British F3 championship.

He started the weekend’s first race from the front row and constantly pressurised Linus Lundqvist for the lead, but couldn’t make a move stick and finished just 0.329s behind in second.

He qualified on pole position for Race 3 by setting the fastest lap of the weekend, but a slow start dropped him to third.

With half the season complete, Maini stands third in the drivers standings with 227 points.

Krishnaraaj Mahadik (British F3, Silverstone)

Krishnaraaj Mahadik endured a difficult British F3 weekend at Silverstone, managing a best finish of ninth in Race 1.

He finished 17th and 10th in Race 2 and Race 3 respectively and has dropped down to sixth in the drivers’ standings.

Advait Deodhar (Euro NASCAR, Brands Hatch)

Advait Deodhar stepped up to the Elite 2 category of Euro NASCAR for the series’ Brands Hatch round.

After being demoted to the back of the grid for an alternator issue, Deodhar started climbing up the grid, gaining 12 positions. However, his hard work was undone when he was hit by a rival driver, their contact leading to a puncture on Deodhar’s Chevrolet SS.

He was involved in another collision in Race 2 - and on this occasion it proved terminal.

National Motorcycle Championship, Coimbatore

TVS Racing’s KY Ahamed scored a double win in the National Motorcycle Championship’s flagship Superstock 165cc class in the season opener at Coimbatore.

Honda rider Anish Shetty replicated the result in the Pro-stock 165cc category, while the Pro-stock 300-400cc honours were shared by defending champion Amarnath Menon and Antony Peter.

Honda also hosted its one-make series, now dubbed Honda India Talent Cup, concurrently to the National Motorcycle Championship’s season opener.

Senthil Kumar, who finished inside the top-12 on his Thai Talent Cup debut a few weeks ago, won both races - with the second race decided by a mere 0.032s in a thrilling four-way scrap.