Today in Racing: 21 April

Ayrton Senna gave a hint of things to come when he dominated a soaking wet 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril to take his maiden Formula 1 win in his Lotus 97T Renault. Senna, who also started off his first pole position also won by over a minute from Michele Alboreto’s Ferrari, while Patrick Tambay’s Renault ended up a lap down in third

Sebastian Vettel was also in top form for Red Bull Renault when he won a controversial 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix that went ahead despite ongoing protests and violence in the Gulf state. Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean’s Lotus-Renaults completed an identical podium to the previous year’s race.

Looking further back, Achille Varzi took his Alfa Romeo P2 1929 to Alexandria Gran Premio Bordino victory and  Marcel Lehoux won the 1930 Grand Prix de Casablanca in Morocco driving a Bugatti 35B. After the War, Chico Landi’s Alfa Romeo 308 won the 1947 Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix at Gávea and like Senna 22 years before, Jim Clark’s Lotus 25, lapped the entire field except for second-placed Jo Siffert in the 1963 Gran Premio di Imola.  

Notable Indycar winners over the years included  Arie Luyendyk in 1991, Scott Sharp in ’02, Tony Kanaan in Japan in 2007 Indy Japan 300 and Takuma Sato at Long Beach in 2013. World Rally Champiionship action on this day saw Philippe Bugalski’s Citroen Xsara win the 1999 Rally Catalunya and Marcus Gronholm Peugeot 206 Rally Cyprus 2002.

Former F1 racer Max Chilton has his birthday on 21 April, the same day that William Vanderbilt Jr. drove a Mercedes-Simplex to a new 69mph petrol land speed record at Ablis in France in 1902. (Photo: Motorsport Images)