4 April: Today in Racing

Michael Schumacher led Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello home to another 1-2 over Jenson Button’s BAR-Honda in the first Bahrain Grand Prix in 2004, while Red Bull duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber did the same over Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes in Malaysia in 2010.  

Also in Formula 1, Niki Lauda powered to his 18th Formula 1 victory and his first for McLaren in the 1982 US West Grand Prix West at Long Beach. That race was also notable for Gilles Villeneuve being disqualified from third for a wild and illegal rear wing on his Ferrari at the height of the controversial FISA-FOCA war over the control of the sport.

Also in F1, 

Other notable achievements on this day include Bob Burman winning the 1915 Ascot a match race in California driving a Miller-powered Peugeot, Clemente Biondetti's victory in the 1948 Giro di Sicilia in a Ferrari and Guy Edwards driving an Arrows to win the Gold Cup at Oulton Park, while Nelson Piquet Jr. won the 2015 Formula E Long Beach ePrix.

In Indycar action, Jim Rathmann won the only open-wheeled race to be held in Daytona in 1959, setting a record 290km/h average speed that would stand for 14 years, while Dan Gurney won in 1970. Mario Andretti became the oldest driver to ever win in Indycars as he took his 52nd and final victory in Phoenix 1993 after early leader Emerson Fittipaldi crashed.

In world championship sportscar racing, Andrea de Adamich and Henri Pescarolo won the 1971 Silverstone 400 in an Alfa Romeo T33/3, while Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass' Porsche 935 held off Harald Grohs, Sam Posey and Hughes de Fierlant’s BMW 3.0CSL in the 1976 Vallelunga 6 hour and Reinhold Joest drove his Porsche 908/3 to win the Nurburgring 300 as Helmut Bross took 2litre honours in a Lola T294-BMW.  In the US meanwhile, David Brabham and Scott Sharp raced to 2009 American Le Mans Series victory.  

There Safari Rallies went down on this day — Ari Vatanen’s Opel Ascona notably held off the Audi quattros of Hannu Mikkola and lady rally sensation Michèle Mouton in 1983, while Miki Biasion’s Lancia Delta HF Integrale beat Mike Kirkland and Per Eklund’s Nissan 200SXs in 1988 The top two were the same in 1989, where Stig Blomqvist ended third in a Volkswagen Golf GTI.

NASCAR winners over the years included Dick Rathman, Jack Smith and Ned Jarrett in Grand Nationals, while AJ Foyt, Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace and Kyle Busch took Cup wins. A little further east on this day, Allan Moffat, Jim Richards, Glenn Seton and Rick Kelly all won in Australian Touring Car races.

In other news on this day, Le Mans racers Richard Attwood and Emmanuel Collard celebrate their birthdays, while Dr. Hans Nibol set several speed records, including a 403km/h closed track record driving an experimental Mercedes-Benz C111/IV at the Nardo proving grounds in Italy in 1972. Two giants of the auto industry died on this day, Mercedes founder and the inventor of the petrol-powered car Karl Friedrich Benz died aged 84 in 1929 and tyre legend, Andre Michelin passed away at 77 in 1931. (Photo: Ferrari)

Michael Schumacher taking victory for @ScuderiaFerrari at the first ever Bahrain GP in 2004 #F1 pic.twitter.com/rpvKA5F8Ir

— Motorsport Images (@MSI_Images) April 3, 2018