Race Weekend Weather Forecast: May 6th to May 7th, 2011

Photo Credit: Mercedes GP

Time are local unless otherwise stated

Turkish Grand Prix
Istanbul, Turkey
Formula 1

Eastern time is in brackets ()

Friday:

10 am (3 am)- Formula 1 Practice 1

Temperature: 13 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudy with chance of Rain
Chance of Precipatation: 60%


2 pm (7 am)- Formula 1 Practice 2

Temperature: 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudy
Chance of Precipatation: 10%


Saturday:

11 am (4 am)- Formula 1 Practice 3
Temperature: 13 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Sunny
Chance of Precipatation: 0%


2 pm (7 am)- Formula 1 Qualifying

Temperature: 16 degrees Celsius (61 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Partly cloudy with sun
Chance of Precipatation: 0%




Sunday:

3 pm (8 am)-Formula 1 Race

Temperature: 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Partly cloudy with sun
Chance of Precipatation: 0%



Darlington, South Carolina
Darlington Raceway
NASCAR Sprint Cup/Nationwide Series

Friday:


9:30 am- NASCAR Nationwide Series Practice
Temperature: 13 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudly with chance of rain
Chance of Precipatation: 10%


11 am- NASCAR Sprint Cup Practice

Temperature: 19 degrees Celsius (66 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudly with chance of rain and thunderstorms
Chance of Precipatation: 80%


2:15 pm- NASCAR Sprint Cup Practice

Temperature: 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudly with chance of rain and thunderstorms
Chance of Precipatation: 80%


3:35 pm- NASCAR Nationwide Qualifying

Temperature: 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudly with chance of rain and thunderstorms
Chance of Precipatation: 80%


5:10 pm- NASCAR Sprint Cup Qualifying

Temperature: 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudly with chance of rain and thunderstorms
Chance of Precipatation: 80%



7:30 pm- NASCAR Nationwide Royal Purple 200

Temperature: 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudly/night
Chance of Precipatation: 80%


Saturday:

7:30 pm- NASCAR Sprint Cup Showtime Southern 500

Temperature: 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Partly cloudly/night
Chance of Precipatation: 0%

Webber Secures Third Straight Pole in Turkish Grand Prix

Photo Credit: Mercedes GP

Enjoying a recent hot streak, Mark Webber enters Turkey after sweeping the last both grand prix rounds in Spain and Monaco after winning those races from the pole position for Red Bull Racing. Entering Istanbul Park for the 6th annual Turkish Grand Prix, the Formula 1 tour enjoyed a week off after a dice on the narrow streets of Monaco.

The first two practices for the Turkish Grand Prix saw the McLaren team showed considerable strength as Lewis Hamilton led the first session and Jenson Button took the second practice. However, into the third practice, Red Bull Racing showed their team colours with Sebastian Vettel leading the charge over the Mercedes GP car of Nico Rosberg.

Qualifying saw Vettel leading through Q1 and Q2 sessions holding off teammate Mark Webber as the Red Bull Racing team was performing so par to continue their undefended 2010 polesitting performance. Within Q3, Red Bull Racing's Webber pulled a rabbit out of his hat to ran 8/10ths of a second faster than his top time in Q2 at 1 minute 26.295 seconds around Istanbul Park. Within zero hour of the Q3 session Lewis Hamilton with McLaren and Webber's teammate Sebastian Vettel made last ditch efforts to unseat the Australian from the Formula 1 pole. With the Red Bull-Renault of Vettel winding up 3rd and Hamilton's McLaren-Mercedes falling short of the pole by approximately 14/100ths of a second. 4th through 6th were all powered by Mercedes-Benz engines with Jenson Button's McLaren in front of the factory Mercedes GP team being led by Michael Schumacher over Nico Rosberg.



Photo Credit: Lotus Racing

Through Renault and Mercedes-Benz vehicles continued to show top pace in the Turkish Grand Prix, Ferrari appears to be struggling as the Formula 1 season progresses. Felipe Massa was the highest-qualifying driver for the factory team while customer team for the Italian sports car builder out-qualified the other Ferrari F2010. BMW-Sauber team's Kamui Kobayashi again placed the underfunded F1 team into the final round of qualifying finishing 10th overall. Fernando Alonso on the second red Ferrari could only obtain a 12th place start for the upcoming event.


Scheduled for 8 A.M. Eastern time or 2 P.M. local time in Istanbul, the Turkish Grand Prix will likely provide the Red Bull Racing drivers a chance to break their stalemate in the championship points.


Turkish Grand Prix
Formula 1
Qualifying Results

1. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes
5. Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP
7. Robert Kubica Renault F1
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari
9. Vitaly Petrov Renault
10. Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari
11. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes
12. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
13. Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari
14. Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari
15. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth
16. Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari
17. Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth
18. Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes
19. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth
20. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth
21. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth
22. Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth
23. Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth
24. Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth