Who watched Eurosport last night

[JR Ewing]

To all you British Eurosport subscribers out there, I thought I'd just let you know that proper Eurosport did a good job last night with full coverage (not highlights) of the Champ Cars, albeit delayed by a couple of hours which suited fine as it allowed me to pack Sue Ellen off upstairs with a bottle of vodka.

There would appear to be a couple too many pay drivers in the field though this year which is a concern. Haberfeld fourth?! Mind you, if he drives as defensively again I would hope they will ban him...

I would think I could beat Lemarie and Manning as ever failed to live up to his own hype...

Bourdais was sensational and, with some experience, could well win multiple races this year.

Junqeira was quiet but still got third and Tracy really didn't have anything to do to win. The amount of overtaking was very disappointing but lets hope for better when its all 'warmed up.'

PS don't forget - proper Eurosport is still FREE!!

[ghinzani]

So how do u get proper Eurosport with a sky digibox? or is it thru an old analouge one??

[ghinzani]

Originally posted by JR Ewing
it allowed me to pack Sue Ellen off upstairs with a bottle of vodka.

Isnt that a mistake? surely you have learnt from the past thats when Sue Ellen does her most nefarious work and shows you up in front of Mama, Bobby and Jock?

[BootsOntheSide]

Originally posted by JR Ewing
Manning as ever failed to live up to his own hype...

Are you being sarcastic, and if not which race did you watch? He was driving a Reynard, quaslified midfield,a dn passed more cars than anyone else, only losing out on a top 6 finish due to a technical failure.

[Testure]

Originally posted by ghinzani
So how do u get proper Eurosport with a sky digibox?

Can't. You need another dish to point somewhere else in the sky. Which leaves us stuck with highlights the next day on British Eurosport. Grrrr.

[JR Ewing]

Sarcastic about Manning?
In a very inexperienced field, he qualified a very experienced team's car in the bottom half of the field, did nothing in the race and then dropped back!

He would have finished 6th or 7th but only as a result of attrition - not through any pace.

I was very disappointed in his performance and would hope he does better in future. He should be miles in front of Camathias and Lemarie, not to mention Mario Blockerfeld...

Anologue dishes and decoders are worth their weight in gold. You get free Eurosport, free DSF (Deutsch Sport Fernsehen) and a couple of other sporty channels as well as 'interesting' German TV to watch during the breaks...

[BootsOntheSide]

I'd say he was miles ahead of the rookie stragglers. 10th out of 19 is not strictly the bottom half either. He was the third-highest qaulifying rookie out of 10, and also the third Reynard of 7. I'm not sure he dropped back, not relative to others or in general, for most of the race he was advancing.

[429CJ]

**** race, Tracy won and Alex Tagliani was first to retire!!

[Elio]

I`m afraid Mario Haberfeld is being unfairly criticised.

My initial view of the startline incident was one of "who the hell does he think he is?" as well. However a second look reveals he did only make one movement across the track - as is the general rule in motorsport re defending one`s position.

Save the critiscism for those wreckless drivers that do actually weave.

[Speedworx]

Brit Eurosport has 1hr 45mins of coverage tonight.

[ghinzani]

Were Gareth Rees and Carlton Kirby actually there? they seemed like they were having loads of technical problems although I liked Gareths insights. Do miss Jeremy Shaws commentary tho - is that on Sky or ESPN still? the only problem there was Leigh Diffey is awful...

[JP]

I'm sure they were right there at the heart of the action - in Eurosport's Paris studio.

Is it cheaper for Eurosport to take the international feed without the commentary, or do they genuinely think their people can do a better job than the on site crew?

[PenelopePitstop]

But on the plus side they did say that British Eurosport would would be featuring the rest of the season "live or nearly live"

[Speedworx]

I taped it last night and will be watching it later today.

It seemed like decent coverage, by the length it was.

[Kicking-back]

Watched the British Eurosport coverage on Monday night.

Pleasantly surprised to get the full race and not just an hour of highlights.

Gareth Rees was good and that's the best performance I've ever heard from Carlton Kirby. Then again, he doesn't have much of a reputation to live up to!

[parmep]

These are my thoughts on the TV coverage emailed to eurosport - Did everyone really enjoy the commentary!

Dear Sir/Madam

Fantastic thanks for the whole race coverage shame it wasn`t live can`t believe Italian Football gets more viewers

As for the commentary i am disapointed to say the least. No atmosphere, lack of enthusiasm or knowledge. I know i could do a better job given the chance. Why can`t we just have the American commentary or what happened to Liegh Diffy etc.

Carlton Kirby is good at filling time but misses all the action. He seemed to know some of last years drivers but if he doesn`t recognise Adrian Fernandez then i suppose we can`t expect him to have done any sort of professional job and learn`t the new drivers - It`s so basic!!

Whilst Tiago Montiero was leading he said "it`s a shame Bordais is out it would have been nice to see a rookie doing well"! Montiero is a rookie! He virtually never mentioned the other new drivers or teams he was apparently more interested in making out he was actually there by discussing the weather. The worst part was when he said how good the audio feed and hearing the drivers was - well why can`t we hear it as well!!

As for Gareth Rees and his expert analysis - why can`t he sound slightly excited!!

Please please please can we have proper commentary.

Thanks again for the great pictures

Paul Parmenter

[Muppet]

The cart.com commentary with Jeremy Shaw and some American bloke was still better than Eurosport. Carlton Kirby missed some obvious things like Junqueira's first stop taking 1/2 hour longer than anyone else's for example. Gareth Rees certainly earned his fee! ;-)

[Adam43]

I saw the British Eurosport coverage last night too. Excellent stuff. My favourite bit was watching the cars slide around. Great stuff. More please. I hope we ge some live races too.

[kimi020]

One of the commentators said that they would never have the drivers radio broadcast in Formula 1, I must have been hearing things on f1 digital last year.

[Rob29]

Maybe fan pressure does work with Eurosport.Looks like they cancelled the scheduled NASCAR coverage to extend the St.Peterburg on British Eurosport.

[jondownunder]

I'm grateful that Eurosport bothered to show the whole race, it was certainly a nice surprise (although as usual we only find out once the coverage starts, and I'd only got a tape with 1hr odd left ready...)

But I totally agree that they need the US commentary. I really missed Jeremy Shaw's insights from the race weekend, but not Leigh Diffey. All credit to Gareth Rees for his efforts, but as for Carlton Kirby, I cannot fathom how he works in his field. With some credit to him, he did actually appear more informed than usual. But that still doesn't make him competent. Is he a racing fan at all? He can rarely pronounce driver names properly, and hasn't even bothered attempting to learn the car colour schemes by looking at CART.com by the looks of it. He should look at Murray Walker and the detailed notes the great man used to prepare pre-race for some inspiration.

[Speedworx]

Great race. I didn't mind the commentators.