11 Highlights From Last Weekend’s Brilliant Motorsport Action

It was a tough final race weekend of the 2015 season for the IndyCar series, following the tragic death of Justin Wilson just a few days earlier. A motorcade of cars – including Wilson’s #25 machine, with Marco Andretti at the wheel – travelled across the Golden Gate Bridge as a touching tribute, and the drivers put on one hell of a finale in his honour.

As well as some epic battles, racing and strategy, there were also a fair few incidents at the Sonoma IndyCar GoPro Grand Prix.

Penske team-mates and title rivals Will Power and Juan Pablo Montoya collided, putting their championship hopes at risk - the worst thing that could happen to a team! Meanwhile later on James Jakes suffered a hefty hit after a brake problem sent him into not one but two barriers.

Scott Dixon put in a stunning drive to win at Sonoma. In the closing laps he was tied on points with Montoya and the Penske driver was quickly catching Ryan Briscoe for fifth. He just needed one more spot to win the championship but he couldn’t do it.

After a tense, nail-biting final part of the race, Montoya crossed the line in sixth. With three wins to Montoya’s two and double points at the finale, Dixon clinched the title on tally of wins. It was a brilliant end to a rollercoaster IndyCar season.

4. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle

The FIA World Endurance Championship was in Germany for the 6 Hours of Nurburgring. It was a race full of exciting fights, incidents and wild moments – particularly at the final chicane. The #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid took victory. For a look at all the best bits and results, check out our round-up.

The MotoGP British Grand Prix start at Silverstone was aborted and delayed due to heavy rain, with chaos in the pits as riders changed bikes. It eventually got underway, and what a race it was.

It was a disastrous home round of the MotoGP series for Cal Crutchlow. In the wet, he made good progress early on, but was then taken down by his team-mate. Jack Miller attempted an ambitious late overtake and hit Crutchlow, who pitted and changed bikes, but with a dry set-up, he quickly fell and retired. A day to forget…

Valentino Rossi emerged victorious from the rain-hit thriller at Silverstone, scything through the order to take the lead on the second lap. Pole-sitter Marc Marquez tried to chase him down but crashed out. Danilo Petrucci was a surprise contender for the win but he couldn’t catch Rossi, settling for second ahead of Andrea Dovizioso. Rossi has now reclaimed the championship lead.

The Nascar Xfinity series was at Road America last weekend. Paul Menard held off a charging Ryan Blaney to win the race on home soil, with Brian Scott third and Chase Elliott fourth after a strong recovery.

The Nascar Camping World Truck series was at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Tyler Reddick’s title hopes took a big hit after he made contact with Gray Gaulding and crashed, while out front Erik Jones passed Alex Tagliani with two laps to go to take victory.

The two DTM races were action-packed to say the least. Pascal Wehlein won the first one, with Mike Rockenfeller triumphing in race two. There were plenty of incidents, the most spectacular being this awkward contact between Timo Glock and Mattias Ekström, which sent them both into the wall. Glock then called Ekström an "idiot" on Twitter.

On the subject of DTM, Mercedes released an early look at its new 2016 bodywork.

The Czech Republic hosted the seventh round of the FIA European Rally Champioship. Jan Kopecký and co-driver Pavel Dresler gave Skoda a victory on home turf. Meanwhile Robert Consani suffered a monumental off on the first stage, but fortunately no one was injured.