Raceline Radio Weekly Update and Show Guest Schedule: Week of March 19 2023

Compiled By Erik Tomas, The Raceline Radio Network.

2023 is our 31^st Season on the air across Canada!  

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Formula One World Driving Championship:

Last Race: Sunday March 19^th: Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia:

F-1 could screw up a one car funeral – so much for better bodies in race control and pro stewardship! They originally took away Fernando Alonso’s 2^nd straight podium for botching an earlier penalty for improper grid alignment, but more than 4 hours later decided to restore his 3^rd place! That’s 100 career podiums for the Spaniard.

Cutting through the confusion at the front: another Red Bull 1-2 like Bahrain, but reversed! Sergio Perez was dominant for most of the race from pole position, earning his firth career win! Max started 15^th with drivetrain issues in qualifying, but carved up through the field taking advantage of an early safety car. when Canada’s Lance Stroll was ordered to stop the car after an early pit to the hard tires while running 4^th. Something disconnecting in energy recovery. 

Mercedes’ George Russell 4^th with teammate Lewis Hamilton in 5^th. Sainz and LeClerc 6^th and 7^th for Ferrari. 8^th and 9^th for Ocon and Gasly for Alpine. Magnussen rounds out the top 10 for Haas. 

Points into Australia: Verstappen leads Perez by a single points, while Red Bull tops Mercedes by 46 in the constructors standings.

Next Race: Sunday April 2^nd: Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne. Last Year’s winner: Charles LeClerc.

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NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series: 

Last Race: Sunday March 19^th: Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Joey Logano made a last lap pass on Brad Keselowski for the win, earning Logano his first of the season in a rather boring processional race. Keselowski 2^nd, Christopher Bell 3^rd.

Next Race: Sunday March 26^th: Circuit of The America’s (COTA), Austin, Texas. Last Year’s winner: Ross Chastain.

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NTT IndyCar Series:

Last Race: March 5^th 2023 Season Opener: St. Petersburg Florida:

Very messy! Crashes on the first lap and another on lap 42 wiped out a big chunk of the field. When the carnage stopped, 27 cars started, only 14 finished. Came down to only 4 laps to go when Pato O’Ward’s engine hesitated allowing Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson to capture his 4^th career win for Chip Ganassi. O’Ward was 2^nd, Ericsson’s teammate Scott Dixon finished up in 3^rd. 

Canadians: Devlin DeFrancesco ended his race early being taken out in that first lap crash, DNF.

Next Race:  April 2^nd at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Last Year’s winner: Josef Newgarden.

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IMSA Sports Cars:

Last Race: March 18^th:  Sebring, Florida:

The 71^st Annual 12 Hours of Sebring featured a shocking 3-car wreck that took out the top-three GTP cars with only 19 minutes remaining! This handed the overall win to the Derani-Sims-Aitken Whelen Cadillac. The Farano-Simpson-McLaughlin Tower Oreca claimed victory in LMP-2. A HUGE win for Canada’s Pfaff Motorsports in GTD-Pro with Pilet, Bachler and Vanthoor at the buttons. What a comeback! Bachler wrecked the plaid-Porsche in qualifying and it took 11 hours to fix it! They started 49^th in the 53 car field and still managed to emerge at the front! Fantastic! The Sellers-Snow-Lewis Miller BMW took first in the GTD category. California’s Bijoy Garg won both ends of the IMSA VP Fuels double-header last weekend at Sebring!

Canadians: The Parker Thompson anchored Vasser-Sullivan Lexus claimed 5^th in their class. Fellow Canadian Zach Robichon’s Wright Porsche finished 6^th. Excellence from Canada’s Antonio Serravalle in the double-header, earning a 3^rd and 2^nd! Nice work! Keep an eye out for his upcoming Raceline Radio interview!                               

Next Race: April 15^th: Long Beach, California.           

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Canadian Rally Championship presented by Subaru:

Last Rally: Feb. 3^rd-4^th, Rallye Perce Neige in Maniwaki, Quebec:

Frigid minus 34 temperatures on snow covered stages with big plow banks on the shoulders!

Winners: First national win for Quebec’s Alex Moreau and Ian Guite in their Subaru WRX STi, by 2 minutes over Jean-Sebastien Besner and Yvan Joyal in their Mitsubishi Lancer. Matt Leblanc and Eric Dube in their Honda Civic holding off Chris Greenhouse and Ryan Scott in their Dodge Neon, taking two-wheel drive by just one-tenth of a second!

Next Rally: June 4^th, Rocky Mountain Rally in Radium, British Columbia.

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World Rally Championship:

Last Rally: March 19^th: Rally Mexico:

Legend Sebastien Ogier wins this rally for the 7^th time in his career, finishing 27.5 seconds clear of Thierry Neuville at the rally where he made his FIA World Rally Championship debut in 2008!

Next Rally: April 23^rd: Rally Croatia.

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Raceline Radio Show Guest Schedule The Week of:

March 12^th: B.C veteran Jason White who’s busy with 3 NASCAR Series: ARCA, Trucks and NASCAR Canada… plus more entries and comments for The Subaru-Raceline E-Mail Bag Trivia Contest!

March 19^th: 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button on his 3-race NASCAR Cup road and street course adventure…with more entries for The Subaru-Raceline E-Mail Bag Trivia Contest!

2023 Raceline Radio Network Affiliate Stations:

Sportsnet 590 The FAN Toronto: ( Co-Flagship ) Sundays 7am (replay) and Monday nights at 10 PM Eastern or after the post-game show for the primary airing. The FAN / Raceline is also available in HD FM: 92.5 Channel 3, The Radio Player Canada App, Bell Express-Vu Sat. channel 959, and carried live and podcasted on the Web at sportsnet.ca 

Raceline Podcasts on Sportsnet 590 The FAN Toronto: (http://www.sportsnet.ca/590/) “Shows” –  link to the audio page for Raceline Radio (http://www.sportsnet.ca/590/raceline-radio/

Listen LIVE: www.sportsnet.ca     

Tune In Radio: http://tunein.com/radio/Raceline-Radio-p58510/.

TSN 690 Montreal: Monday 7 PM Eastern

Sportsnet 650 Vancouver: Monday 11 PM Pacific and Saturday 6 AM Pacific. Also in HD at 96.9 – HD 3, the Radioplayer Canada App and podcasted: www.sportsnet.ca/raceline-radio

Sportsnet 960 The FAN Calgary: Monday 10 PM Mountain

TSN 1260 Edmonton: Saturday 7:00 AM Mountain

CityNews 95.7 Halifax: Monday 8 PM Atlantic

Global News Radio 900 CHML Hamilton: ( Co-Flagship ) Sunday 8 PM Eastern, HD FM at 95.3 Channel 3 and podcasted.

NEWS-TALK 610 CKTB St. Catharines-Niagara: Monday 11 PM Eastern, and Saturday 6 PM Eastern, I-Heart Radio and podcasted.

NEWS TALK 1290 CJBK London:  Saturdays 11AM and 11 PM Eastern and I-Heart Radio.