The Year in Motorsports: 2016

[JohnBM01]

As part of a "tradition" here on GTPlanet, I often like to offer a thread where we look back on the year in various forms of motorsports. Since most of the major races and series have run their course, this is an opportunity to take a look back at the year that was. This thread is a chance to chronicle this year of motorsport.

What does this thread entail? Feel free to offer your thoughts on things such as...

* best moments of the year
This is about the best drivers, teams, races, series, and moments of the year. Among others... who were some of the best drivers? What teams proven to be the best? What were some of the best races of the year? What series have had amazing seasons? What moments were great ones to define 2016 for you?

* worst moments of the year
This is about the worst drivers, teams, races, series, and moments of the year. Who were some of the worst drivers or put on some of the worst performances? What teams disappointed? What races were boring or bad? What series were just plain uninteresting? What were some of the most disappointing or foul moments of 2016?

* indifferent moments
Were there any moments where you were just not sure whether to call them as good or bad moments?

* most memorable moments
What will you remember 2016 most for in motorsports? These can be big wins, disappointing losses, heartbreaking moments, the impact of one's retirement or death, and things like that.

* looking ahead to 2017
What will you be looking forward to or thinking of in motorsports when 2017 rolls around?


These are just a few ideas to get you started. I might share some of mine in a possible post. So let's look back on 2016!

SPECIAL NOTE: Any races not yet run or completed in 2016 are not available for discussion until they are completed- such as the 25 Hours of Thunderhill as of this post. And of course, only actual motorsports events are fair game here (not like the fine fantasy series showcased here on GTPlanet).

 

[C-ZETA]

Best moments
Rosberg winning the championship. Monaco and Malaysia were F1's best this year.
MotoGP being as open as it has been in ages (we'll gloss over Marquez easily winning the whole thing).
WRC being as open as it has been in ages (we'll gloss over Ogier easily winning the whole thing, whilst whining about it and forcing the one rule change it didn't need).

Worst moments
Toyota breaking down at the last possible moment at Le Mans... </3
The entire WTCC, naturally.

Indifferent moments
Easily the London FE finale. I went there myself and just wasn't sure what to think about the whole thing. Still not sure even now.

Most memorable moments
Rosberg's championship and definitely his subsequent retirement.

Looking ahead to 2017
New F1, new WRC, hopefully both bring back some of their old brilliance big time. Hopefully everything else will be as brilliant as it deserves to be.

 

[Sum1s2pid]

Best moments:
Jimmie Johnson tying Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. with seven championships.
Jeff Gordon coming out of retirement to race for Dale Jr.
Alexander Rossi squeaking out the win at the Indy 500.
Rosberg winning the F1 WDC.
Verstappen's first race and win with Redbull.
Massa's last Brazilian GP.

Worst moments:
Redbull's questionable tire strategies for Ricciardo. And Monaco!
Toyota! 24 Hours of Le Mans! No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!

Indifferent moments:
Something something Formula E, but congrats to Sebastien Buemi.
Porsche winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Most memorable moments:
Rosberg wins F1 WDC! Rosberg retires from F1 after winning WDC!
Massa's last Brazilian GP, man... c'mon.

Looking ahead to 2017:
I'm anxious to see how the F1 changes pan out, and if anyone can topple Mercedes.

 

[NW48]

Best Moments
- Jimmie Johnson winning his 7th championship. A true once in a lifetime event, something we'll never see again.
- Tekno winning the Bathurst 1000.
- Audi winning their final race in the FIA WEC
- Alex Rossi winning the Indy 500

Worst Moments
- Toyota's failure at Le Mans in the final 5 minutes while leading the race
- Button, Massa and Rosberg all announcing their retirement in the same year
- The lackluster F1 WDC season
- Matt Mingay's crash in the Stadium Super Trucks at Belle Isle which required him to have major facial surgery
- Volvo pulling out of V8SC and the way it was all handled

Indifferent Moments
- Shane Van Gisbergen winning the V8SC championship

Most Memorable Moments
- Rosberg retiring from F1 after winning the WDC
- Audi announcing they are pulling out of the WEC
- 24 Hours of Le Mans
- Jimmie Johnson's seventh title win
- Verstappen breaking all the records with his win at the Spanish GP

Looking Ahead to 2017
- The changes for F1 and how they'll pan out
- See if Jimmie Johnson can go back to back once again

 

[Northstar]

Best moments:
-Pipo Derani's incredible drives at Daytona and Sebring
-Rosberg finally getting his title
-Simon Pagenaud winning the IndyCar title
-Max Verstappen's win and his drive in Brazil
-Good seasons in IMSA, IndyCar and WEC
-Witnessing 3 ties in Pro-Stock at Brainerd within 4 runs.

Worst moments:
-Audi leaving LMP
-Quite a few drivers retiring from various series' (Button, Massa, Rosberg, Webber, Stewart, Scott)
-F1 season as a whole
-Toyota's loss at Le Mans
-NASCAR expanding the chase

Indifferent moments:
-Jimmie Johnson winning the Cup title. Nothing against Johnson, but I just can't get myself to care about who wins the NASCAR title's anymore.

Looking Forward:
-I'm very excited about IMSA's future and seeing how it grows. It's saying something that GTLM, which used to be the only class worth noting, has been overshadowed by a growing GTD class and a brand new and surprisingly strong DPi class.
-Hopefully F1 can be somewhat interesting

 

[dingodile_r89]

Best moments:
-Rosberg finally winning the WDC
-Max Verstappen's fantastic drive in Brazil
-Audi ending the WEC season on a high

Worst moments:
-Audi leaving the WEC
-Toyota's last minute disaster at Le Mans was crushing
-Rebellion pulling out of LMP1

Indifferent moments:
-Mercedes winning the constructors championship
-Baku GP
-Ford and Ferrari BoP cluster****
-Rio Haryanto being replaced Ocon

Looking Forward:
-BMW at WEC
-Faster LMP2 cars
-Rebellion in LMP2
-Hopefully more exciting F1
-Nico Hülkenberg's first podium(?) -touch wood-

 

[AudiMan2011]

Best Moments:
-Rosberg finally winning the F1 title
-Shedden's BTCC recovery to come back and win the title
-Great entertainment at the damp spectator stages for the Speyside Stages

Worst Moments:
-Audi leaving LMP
-Rosberg quitting F1 after winning the championship
-Dixon being screwed out of victory in Toronto

Indifferent Moments:
-#MercedesNation for another season

Most Memorable Moments:
-12 different winners in BTCC
-Tagliani's epic last lap drag race to claim victory in Toronto NASCAR
-That Indy Lights crash in Race 1 at Toronto
-Dixon's Watkins Glen fuel saving
-Rossi's stunning Indy 500 win

Looking Forward:
-Ganassi returning to Honda
-2017 F1 regs
-Vauxhall returning to BTCC

 

[Ryk]

* best moments of the year
The enthusiasm of Danno Ricciardo -
Toto Wolf/Niki Lauda being very open in their interviews -

* worst moments of the year
Drivers (Lewis, Max, Seb and Hamilton) cheating, spoiling and acting up. Cutting corners, abusing engine regulations, running other cars off track, swearing over the radio is bad form.
McLarens woeful pace robbed two of the very best drivers a chance to get into the mix.
Kyvat going from hero (China) to zero (Soviet Union - I mean Sochi!) with back to back Vettel first lap moments. It did gift Verstappen his chance but a bit harsh.
The Flame war vitriol between the various fans on the interweb.

* indifferent moments
Lewis Hamilton's lack of grace continues to amaze me. They say you need to be arrogant self centred - but it is as if he is being coached to act like some Pro Wrestling Heel (Bad guy)

* most memorable moments
The Media telling everyone Lewis Hamilton was the best thing since sliced bread and he would walk away with the title and otherwise fawning all over him - and then he lost. I am not laughing at Lewis - I am laughing at the media hacks.
Listening to Bill Burr give daft post race thoughts on the F1 - American uninformed comic, deeply into sports, but brand new to F1.
Nico's Retirement - Basically underlining the championship.

* looking ahead to 2017
With luck the new regulations will throw a change in the order, maybe some of the teams at the back of the grid can close up or even "pull a BrawnGP" and leapfrog the others with some imaginative engineering shenanigans! - But usually regulation changes spreads the grid out more.

Sorry it is all F1 stuff.

 

[twitcher]

Best moments
• SVG's dominance of the Bathurst 12hr, but Chiyo-San's push at the end was mighty.
• Chiyo-San's drive at Okayama in Super GT GT500.
• Pipo Derani (sp?) at both Daytona and Sebring
• James Courtney at Adelaide in the wet....ooooh that was close!
• Stephano Comini trolling Pepe Oriolla on FB... "Pepe, I'm cooommmmiiiinnnngggg!!!"
• Most of the V8SC, BTCC, and TCR seasons. Really great racing there.
• Pirelli World Challenge GTS class. I'm only half way through the season, but so far, it's been an absolute barn-burner. So much variety in cars, it's really exciting stuff.

Worst moments
• Le Mans finish for Toyota obviously.
• Track limit enforcement and consistency of rule enforcement in F1. What a joke!

Indifferent moments
• most of the F1 season. WCC and WDC were boring constests. Max was the only driver with truely remarkable driving moments...everyone else was only good for sound bites and comedy.

• DTM

• Rossi winning Indy 500

• Lance Stroll buying the F3 championship.

Most memorable moments
• probably Rosberg retiring.

• Max's performances in Spain, Austria, England, and Brazil.

• Le Mans finish, sadly.



Looking ahead to 2017
• really looking forward to IMSA next year. The new DPis look great, and the series seems to be attracting more and more big names for the NAEC. Can't wait to see SVG in North America more.

• new regs for F1 and WRC could be / look interesting. I'm exciting for WRC, cautious about F1. Many of us seem to be so ready to see close racing that we're banking on next year being tighter - when the reality is that new regs usually cause the field to spread out. New regs can cause a reshuffling of the order, but usually only stability and time are what cause performance across teams to converge (interesting note, in 2014 it was predicted that F1 would have engine convergence around 2017, and here we are).

•. I look forward to watching both TCR Int and PWC continue growing and creating great racing.

• Curious about how new Supercars regs will play out.



Btw @NW48, thanks for spoiling the V8 results for those of us on the other side of the world who haven't had a chance to watch it yet 👍

 

[NW48]

Btw @NW48, thanks for spoiling the V8 results for those of us on the other side of the world who haven't had a chance to watch it yet 👍

Hey, don't blame me for that. You should have expected someone talking about it in here knowing full well that this is a thread to talk about Motorsport in 2016.

 

[catamount39]

Best Moments:
Rolex 24 in general, Corvette's 1-2 at Daytona and an LMP2 finally prevailing
Daytona 500 finish, that was dope
24 Hours of Le Mans
Max Verstappen winning at Catalunya in F1
Jimmie Johnson winning 7th championship
Alexander Rossi winning the Indianapolis 500
Nico Rosberg winning the world drivers championship

Worst Moments:
Deltawing crashing out at Rolex 24 in what was possibly its last chance to win
Daniel Ricciardo being screwed by the Red Bull pitcrew at Monaco
Toyota breaking with 4 minutes left at Le Mans
LMGTE BoP at Le Mans...disgusting.
Ford "winning", at Le Mans.
WEC call at Fuji.
NASCAR chase, enough said.
F1 drivers not named Kimi Raikonen on the radio.
Audi pulling out of the WEC for next year.

Legendary Events:
Jimmie Johnson becoming only the third driver to win a 7th championship in NASCAR.
Porsche winning Le Mans.

Will Miss:
Audi, may they return better than ever. ._.7
Felipe Massa, one of Brazil's finest.
Nico Ros-...wait just kidding. No seriously he will be missed.
Tony Stewart, smoke, keep driving until you can't, gonna miss you.
Jenson Button, COMEBACK SENPAI!
Viper GT cars
Deltawing

A Moment of Silence:
For all those lost this year in motorsport, we will always remember the fallen, and may they continue on at Heaven's speedway, somewhere where the track is always green.

The Year Ahead:
DPi regulations in the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship and the series in general.
Musical chairs in Indycar.
2017 F1 regs
2017 WRC regs
All the endurance events

 

[Dylan]

Best Moments of the year:

• Closing laps of the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona
• Daytona 500 Photo finish
• Haas F1 Team scoring points in thier first 2 races of the season.
• Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton crashing on lap 1 of the Spanish Grand Prix allowing someone else to win
• Alexander Rossi crossing the finish line with no fuel to win the 100th Indianapolis 500 (Which I got to attend!)
• Tony Stewart getting his final NASCAR win at Sonoma
• Watkins Glen International returning to the IndyCar calender
• Jimmie Johnson winning his 7th NASCAR Championship

Worst Moments of the year:

• A Prototype Challenge car spinning and losing power in the middle turn one at Daytona a few hours into the Rolex 24 Hours, IMSA race control refusing to throw the caution for more than half a minute while cars came flying past just barely hitting the stuck car, THEN throwing the caution AFTER the Deltawing (also the leader of the race at the time) smashed into the rear of the PC car.
• The caution clock in the Camping World Truck Series
• The intentional wrecking of a fellow competitor in order to win a race during the Camping World Truck Series race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park
  
• Dale Jr. sitting out the second half of the NASCAR season with a concussion
• Juan Pablo Montoya being dropped from Penske racing for 2017
• The Deltawing program ending before the car could get a win

Indifferent moments:

• Lucas Di Grassi crashing into Sebastion Buemi in the final Formula E race. (Still not sure if it was intentional or a misjudgment)
• The fact that Mercedes won all but 2 races in 2016.

Looking ahead to 2017:

• The new 2017 Formula 1 cars
• The new Prototype Regulations for the Weathertech Sportscar Series

 

[Fryto]

* best moments of the year
- Rosberg finally managing to beat Hamilton for the WDC crown.
- The vintage Manor livery. Too bad they replaced the metallic blue with a plain one later during the year.

* worst moments of the year
- Audi announcing their exit from the WEC.
- The Baku F1 race. Great track, but it produced a very dull race.

* indifferent moments
- Red Bull using a misjudgement from Kvyat as excuse to promote Verstappen. Just no respect there. But on the other hand, it enabled Verstappen to put on one hell of a show.

* most memorable moments
- Alonso's massive crash in the F1 season opener.
- Vandoorne getting his first F1 race under his belt, and scoring before Alonso/Button could.
- Rosberg resigning from F1 after winning his first WDC.

* looking ahead to 2017
- The new 2017 F1 cars
- Vandoorne replacing Button for McLaren

 

[JohnBM01]

I know I said I have my own kind of views on 2016, but I've never expressed some of my own until now. Here are my musings on 2016 in motorsports...

The biggest memory for me this year was Toyota having a back-breaking disappointment when they would have, could have, should have won Le Mans. I take nothing away from Porsche- it just sucks when already having a stigma of "can't win the big one" only comes back to bite you on the backside. So the biggest memory for me was Toyota not winning Le Mans.

Also memorable for me was the Championship race in the Chase for the Cup and how Carl Edwards took getting whacked out of the race. I was thinking Carl Edwards was going to go on some epic rant, but he played it as cool as anyone could ever play it. I'm sure he was still very upset. My respect for Carl Edwards was even greater after that.

Maybe the biggest surprise for me was Nico Rosberg winning the Formula 1 World Championship... then retiring. I don't follow Formula 1 much, so I was still pulling for my man Lewis Hamilton to win the title. The real surprise was in retiring from Formula 1 after winning it. Why not try to establish a legacy or something while atop the F1 world? All we do know is... we're guaranteed a new champion in the 2017 season since Rosberg won't be defending it.

Surprise in a bad way was Juan Pablo Montoya in IndyCar. I've followed this guy since 1999 in (then) CART. I love JPM, but he almost seems done after the 2016 performance. Whether or not he's Tiger Woods done remains in the air. Another bad surprise is with James "Bubba" Stewart just having a brutal 2016 season of AMA Supercross. JS7 usually is quite good. Just not this past season.

I used to not like Tony Stewart previously, but he's earned my respect. It's already strange not having Jeff Gordon as an active racer in NASCAR. It will be even more strange not having Tony Stewart as an active NASCAR racer. So I salute the heck out of Smoke on a great NASCAR career and through all of his racing.


I've tried to follow more motorsport, but I have not really been as active and in the loop following most motorsports. Maybe it's that void of not having something like Speedvision/Speed Channel to keep up with most motorsports. Maybe my interests have waned a bit (I still love motorsports). However, it's just that I haven't been too active a lot to keep up with all the goings on in motorsport. So that's why I am glad you all offered your thoughts here.

That's all. Hopefully 2017 in motorsports will offer some more memories!