2011 Purdue Boilermakers football team, Game summaries, Middle Tennessee State
There was a great bit of uncertainty going into the game as Purdue was going into their first game without starting quarterback, and captain, Rob Henry, and backup quarterback Robert Marve was still not healthy from an ACL injury. This led to redshirt junior, Caleb TerBush making the first start of his career. TerBush had not played since 2009 when he was the backup to Joey Elliott, and he missed the 2010 season with academic problems.


2011 Purdue Boilermakers football team, Game summaries, Middle Tennessee State
The Blue Raiders got off to an early lead when Logan Kilgore found Malcolm Beyah for a 26-yard touchdown pass. Carson Wiggs added a field goal as Purdue's response score to make it 7–3 at the end of the 1st quarter.


2011 Purdue Boilermakers football team, Game summaries, Middle Tennessee State
Purdue grabbed its first lead of the game when Caleb TerBush's rollout pass found Jared Crank for a 2-yard score. The touchdown pass was the first of TerBush's career. The Blue Raiders responded two possessions later, as Logan Kilgore's wide receiver screen pass to Sancho McDonald was taken 21-yards for a score after McDonald was able to dodge a defender. The first half ended with the Boilermakers trailing 14–10.


2011 Purdue Boilermakers football team, Game summaries, Middle Tennessee State
After no one scored in the 3rd quarter, Middle Tennessee St., opened up the 2nd half scoring with a 42-yard field goal by Alan Gendreau. Purdue responded with a 30-yard touchdown run by Akeem Shavers to tie the game at 17. The Blue Raiders responded quickly as they capped a 60-yard drive, with a 2-yard draw run by Benny Cunningham to reclaim the lead. Purdue was able to get another field goal as Carson Wiggs connected on a 47-yarder to make it 24–20 with 5:57 remaining in the game.


2011 Purdue Boilermakers football team, Game summaries, Middle Tennessee State
The Boilermaker defense was able to force a punt, which allowed Purdue to get the ball back with 3:53 left in the game. TerBush led the Boilers down the field and eventually found Antavian Edison with a 35-yard crossing route to give Purdue the lead, 27–24 with 49 seconds remaining. The Blue Raiders drove the ball down to the Purdue 30-yard line, and took a shot with a deep pass. Kilgore's pass hit off the fingertips of Beyah and fell harmlessly out of bounds with 5 seconds remaining. The Blue Raiders then decided to go for the tie, but Gendreau's 47-yard attempt was blocked by Ricardo Allen as time expired.


2011 Purdue Boilermakers football team, Game summaries, Rice
The Owls started the scoring in the first quarter with a 33-yard field goal by Chris Boswell. Purdue responded with an 80-yard drive, capped off with a 5-yard Caleb TerBush run, to give Purdue the lead. Rice responded with a 2-yard touchdown run by Turner Petersen to start the second quarter scoring. Carson Wiggs added a 28-yard field goal to make the score even at 10. After a quick 3 and out by Rice, Purdue scored on a 19-yard reception by Crosby Wright to regain the lead. Rice then scored on a 4-yard touchdown pass by Taylor McHargue to Luke Willson as time expired to tie the game at 17.


2011 Purdue Boilermakers football team, Game summaries, Rice
Rice received the ball to start the 2nd half, and scored on a 19-yard run by Sam McGuffie to finished off an 11-play, 80-yard drive, and gave the Owls' their first lead since the 1st quarter. Later in the quarter, Purdue had driven down to the Rice 1-yard line, but could not get the ball in the endzone and turn it over on downs. The first play after Rice took over, Purdue tackled Charles Ross in the endzone for a safety to make the score 24–19 in favor of Rice.


2011 Purdue Boilermakers football team, Game summaries, Rice
Wiggs added a 27-yard field goal with 7:56 remaining in the game. Purdue's defense remained strong on the next 2 drives, forcing Rice to punt each time. The Boilermakers got the ball on their own 48 with 1:52 remaining, and three long runs by Ralph Bolden moved them inside the 20. With 31 seconds remaining, Purdue ran Akeem Shavers to center the ball in the middle of the field. This set up a 4 & 10 on the Rice 14-yard line. Without a timeout remaining, Purdue was able to run out the special teams unit and get set without any of the players being rushed. Rice's Justin Allen then blocked Wiggs' 31-yard field-goal attempt as time expired, to clinch a 24–22 victory over Purdue.


2011 Purdue Boilermakers football team, Game summaries, SE Missouri St.
In the first ever meeting between the Redhawks and the Boilermakers, the Boilermakers did not have much trouble as they were able to defeat the Redhawks 59–0. The Purdue offense came out with early struggles, as they punted on their first possession and lost an O.J. Ross fumble on their second. Their 3rd drive was better, as they got their scoring started with a 19-yard Carson Wiggs field goal.


2011 Purdue Boilermakers football team, Game summaries, SE Missouri St.
After that, the Boilermakers power run game took over as Akeem Shavers scored twice in the first quarter on runs of 8 and 1 yards, Ralph Bolden scored twice in the seconds quarter on runs of 1 and 6 yards, and Akeem Hunt had two more scores on runs of 13 and 3 yards in the 4th. The team also welcomed back Robert Marve, who was returning to action for the first time since the 4th game of 2010, when he left the game after tearing his ACL. Marve delivered a touchdown on his first drive as he threw a 5-yard score to Gary Bush. Antavian Edison also added a 15-yard touchdown run in the 3rd quarter, as the Purdue offense ran for 393 yards (A Danny Hope era high).


2011 Purdue Boilermakers football team, Game summaries, Michigan
Purdue scored its only points of the first half when Caleb TerBush threw a 48-yard TD pass to Gary Bush. Michigan dominated the game following the Purdue score. The Wolverines responded to Purdue's touchdown with a touchdown of their own, a 2-yard run by Denard Robinson, which was its fifth consecutive opening drive TD. In the second quarter, Michigan scored a safety when Mike Martin tackled Caleb TerBush in the end zone. A few minutes later, Michigan's Brendan Gibbons kicked a 37-yard field goal. Michigan added more points with a 2-yard TD run by Fitzgerald Toussaint.


2011 Purdue Boilermakers football team, Game summaries, Michigan
The final score of the first half was a 22-yard Michigan field goal with no time left on the clock. After the intermission, Michigan scored the only points of the third quarter when Fitzgerald Toussaint scored his second TD of the game, this time on a 59-yard rush. The teams traded scores in the final quarter. First Michigan's Michael Shaw ran in a TD from 37 yards out, which was followed by Robert Marve throwing a 19-yard TD pass to O.J. Ross. With the win, Michigan's record against Purdue improved to 43–14.


2011 Purdue Boilermakers football team, After the season, Comments
At the conclusion of the regular season, Purdue had clinched its first bowl appearance since the 2007 season. Their 6–6 record (4–4 in the Big Ten) placed them 7th in the conference and earned a spot in the 2011 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl against Western Michigan.


2011 Pure Michigan 400
The 2011 Pure Michigan 400  was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on August 21, 2011 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. Contested over 200 laps on the 2 -mile D-shaped oval, it was the 23rd race of the 2011 season. The race was won by Kyle Busch for the Joe Gibbs Racing team. Jimmie Johnson finished second, and Brad Keselowski clinched third.


2011 Pure Michigan 400, Report, Background
Michigan International Speedway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races; the others are Daytona International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Michigan International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2 miles (3.2 km) long. The track's turns are banked at eighteen degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at twelve degrees. The back stretch, has a five degree banking. Michigan International Speedway can seat up to 119,500 people.


2011 Pure Michigan 400, Report, Background
Before the race, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards were first and second in the Drivers' Championship with 752 points. Jimmie Johnson was third in the Drivers' Championship with 746 points, Kevin Harvick was fourth with 738 points, and Matt Kenseth was in fifth with 724 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 143 points, 15 points ahead of Ford. Toyota, with 118 points, was 23 points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third. Kevin Harvick was the race's defending champion.


2011 Pure Michigan 400, Report, Practice and qualifying
Two practice sessions are scheduled to be held in preparation for the race; one on August 19, 2011 and the other on the following day. The first session was 90 minutes long, while the second will be 110 minutes long. During the first practice session, Matt Kenseth, for the Roush Fenway Racing team, was quickest ahead of Ryan Newman in second and Greg Biffle in the third position. Mark Martin was scored fourth and David Ragan managed fifth. Paul Menard, Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Brad Keselowski, and Marcos Ambrose rounded out the top ten quickest drivers in the session.


2011 Pure Michigan 400, Report, Practice and qualifying
Forty-six cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three could qualify for the race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Biffle clinched the sixth pole position of his career, with a time of 37.826 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Kenseth. Newman qualified third, Denny Hamlin took fourth, and Martin started fifth. Keselowski, Ragan, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Gordon and McMurray rounded out the top ten. The drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Johnny Sauter, Erik Darnell and T. J. Bell. Following the qualifying session, Biffle commented, "We didn't know whether we were going to come here in race or qualifying trim. But we worked on a great qualifying set-up and obviously had good speed today. We'll work on things tomorrow on practice and hopefully have a great car on Sunday."


2011 Pure Michigan 400, Report, Practice and qualifying
In the second and final practice, Martin was quickest with a time of 38.371 seconds. Kyle Busch followed in second, ahead of Johnson and Biffle. Gordon was fifth quickest, with a time of 38.452 seconds. Kurt Busch, Kenseth, Newman, Ragan, and Menard rounded out the first ten positions. Afterward, Martin discussed his feelings about the track, "I really, really like running at Michigan, not just because it's so fast, but it's so wide. We can race all over the track. I've been lucky at Michigan, and I've been just plain good. I've gotten a lot of wins there. Last time we raced there, we were pretty good. ... We've got to build on what we learned in that race and try to do even better this time around."


2011 Puskás Cup
The 2011 Puskás Cup was the fourth edition of the Puskás Cup and took place 6 April to 8 April. Budapest Honvéd FC were the defending champions and they won their second title by defeating Real Madrid on penalty shoot-out (5-4) after a 1–1 draw in the final.


2011 Q Hotel & Spa Women's Pro Tennis Classic
The 2011 Q Hotel & Spa Women's Pro Tennis Classic was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the third edition of the tournament which is part of the 2011 ITF Women's Circuit. It took place in Kansas City, Missouri, between 3 and 9 October 2011.


2011 Q Hotel & Spa Women's Pro Tennis Classic, WTA entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2011 Q Hotel & Spa Women's Pro Tennis Classic, WTA entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received entry by a lucky loser spot:


2011 Q Hotel & Spa Women's Pro Tennis Classic, Champions, Doubles
Maria Abramović /  Eva Hrdinová def. Jamie Hampton /  Ajla Tomljanović, 2–6, 6–2, [10–4]


2011 Q Hotel & Spa Women's Pro Tennis Classic – Doubles
Julie Ditty and Abigail Spears were the defending champions, but both players chose not to participate. Maria Abramović and Eva Hrdinová won the title by defeating Jamie Hampton and Ajla Tomljanović in the final 2–6, 6–2, [10–4].


2011 Q Hotel & Spa Women's Pro Tennis Classic – Singles
Rebecca Marino was the defending champion, but chose not to participate. Varvara Lepchenko won the title by defeating Romina Oprandi in the final 6–4, 6–1.


2011 QF99
Asteroid 2011 QF99 is a minor planet from the outer Solar System and the first known Uranus trojan to be discovered. It measures approximately 60 kilometers (37 miles) in diameter, assuming an albedo of 0.05. It was first  observed 29 August 2011 during a deep survey of trans-Neptunian objects conducted with the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope, but its identification as Uranian trojan was not announced until 2013.


2011 QF99
2011 QF99 temporarily orbits near Uranus's L4 Lagrangian point (leading Uranus). It will continue to librate around L4 for at least 70,000 years and will remain a Uranus co-orbital for up to three million years. 2011 QF99 is thus a temporary Uranus trojan—a centaur captured some time ago.


2011 QF99
Uranus trojans are generally expected to be unstable and none of them are thought to be of primordial origin. A simulation led to the conclusion that at any given time, 0.4% of the centaurs in the scattered population within 34 AU would be Uranus co-orbitals, of which 64% (0.256% of all centaurs) would be in horseshoe orbits, 10% (0.04%) would be quasi-satellites, and 26% (0.104%) would be trojans (evenly split between the L4 and L5 groups). A second Uranian Trojan, 2014 YX49, was announced in 2017.


2011 Qantas industrial disputes
The 2011 Qantas industrial disputes were a series of disputes between the Australian airline Qantas and a number of trade unions during much of 2011 and the start of 2012. The disputes commenced in late 2010, when Qantas and unions commenced bargaining for new enterprise agreements. The bargaining became more heated when the airline announced its intentions to launch a new airline in Asia.


2011 Qantas industrial disputes
During the bargaining, engineers, pilots and baggage handlers carried out a number of protected industrial actions, culminating in the decision by Qantas, on 29 October 2011, to lock out those employees (with the consequence that the entire Qantas mainline fleet would be grounded). After an application by the Federal Minister for Workplace Relations, Fair Work Australia terminated the industrial action with effect from 2 am on 31 October 2011.


2011 Qantas industrial disputes, Background
In mid-2011, Qantas and the TWU went into industrial bargaining, where TWU employees demanded that the airline guarantee further improvements in working conditions and better wages. In the nine months leading up to October, 200 meetings related to industrial bargaining were held. Industrial action by unions caused disruptions and delays to Qantas' flight schedule which cost the airline A$68 million.


2011 Qantas industrial disputes, Background
On 10 July 2011, long-haul pilots who were members of the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) voted to take protected industrial action against the airline, for the first time since 1966. The president of AIPA, Barry M. Jackson, said "The issue that pushed us towards taking protected industrial action is a fundamental one – keeping Qantas pilots operating Qantas flights. We now have a management team in charge who believe you can shift operations to Asia, outsource the jobs of Australian Qantas pilots and not do any damage to the Qantas brand in the process."


2011 Qantas industrial disputes, Announcement of new strategy
On 16 August 2011, Qantas announced plans to launch a new airline in Asia and move away from the North Atlantic which had been the airline's traditional market. The airline said that it would establish Jetstar Japan as a low-cost carrier, along with a premium carrier to be based at either Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. At the same time the airline announced there would be 1000 job losses. These plans are expected to increase the market share of Qantas by making it more competitive. Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Jeff Lawrence described the day as the "darkest" in the airline's history.


2011 Qantas industrial disputes, Grounding and employee lock-out
At a press conference on 29 October 2011, CEO Alan Joyce announced the immediate—and unprecedented—grounding of all Australian domestic and international Qantas flights, effective 5pm AEDT, as a result of the proposed lock-out of the airline's staff, beginning at 8 pm AEDT on 31 October, in response to continued industrial action against the company. Joyce said that Qantas subsidiaries Jetstar Airways, QantasLink and Jetconnect would not be affected by the grounding, along with Express Freighters Australia and Atlas Air freight aircraft (operating on behalf of Qantas Freight and Australian air Express).


2011 Qantas industrial disputes, Grounding and employee lock-out
Qantas said it would reimburse accommodation costs for those left stranded by the fleet grounding, and refund those who were expected to fly with the airline.


2011 Qantas industrial disputes, Impact and response
Following the abrupt announcement of the suspension of operations, all Qantas aircraft already on the ground, regardless of whether they were in maintenance or serviceable, were grounded, and all passengers who had boarded aircraft were instructed to disembark and collect their baggage. Multiple reports suggested that some aircraft turned around during taxiing for take-off. Flights that were in the air at the time of the announcement continued to their next destinations and were then grounded.


2011 Qantas industrial disputes, Impact and response
The lock-out was expected to affect 68,000 to 80,000 passengers in the first day, to result in the cancellation of 600 flights and to cost the airline in excess of $20 million each day. Bookings of 17 Heads of state attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth were also affected.


2011 Qantas industrial disputes, Impact and response
The grounding was expected to cause disastrous consequences to the Australian economy. Australian Senator Nick Xenophon criticised the action as "militant management". TWU secretary Tony Sheldon labelled the move by Qantas as "a pre-conceived, pre-planned attempt to hoodwink the shareholders, hoodwink the Australian community. Now it's trying to hoodwink the company's workforce". Tony Abbott, then Leader of the Opposition, blamed the disputes on the government decision not to intervene, and said that the grounding was avoidable.


2011 Qantas industrial disputes, Impact and response
Then Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, requested an urgent meeting at a Fair Work Australia tribunal: "As a result of the dramatic escalation of that dispute the government has taken a rare decision to make an application to Fair Work Australia to have the industrial action terminated and have Fair Work Australia deal with this dispute". A hearing was held in Melbourne at 10 pm on 29 October. Richard Woodward, vice-president of the AIPA, said, "Alan Joyce is holding a knife to the nation's throat".


2011 Qantas industrial disputes, Impact and response
Despite the barrage of criticism, a newspaper has published claims that the grounding was backed by the flight attendants' union.


2011 Qantas industrial disputes, Impact and response
Qantas' rival airlines responded positively to the fleet grounding. Virgin Australia offered stranded passengers a discount on flight fares. Virgin also announced that it would provide an additional 43,000 seats in the coming weeks to accommodate Qantas passengers. Air New Zealand were sluggish, but after several requests agreed to cover Virgin and Qantas' trans-Tasman flights, to free up New Zealand based aircraft and crews for Virgin to use in the Australian domestic market. AirAsia X offered discounted fares for passengers holding a valid Qantas ticket to any AirAsia X destination.


2011 Qantas industrial disputes, Impact and response
According to Qantas, the industrial action by the three labour unions cost the airline A$194 million (US$195 million).


2011 Qantas industrial disputes, Fair Work Australia orders
In the early hours of 31 October, a Full Bench of Fair Work Australia handed down orders that all industrial action taken by Qantas and the involved trade unions be terminated immediately. The order was requested by the federal government amid fears that an extended period of grounding would do significant damage to the national economy, especially with regards to the tourism and mining sectors. The government elected not to use its powers under Section 431 of the Fair Work Act 2009, which enabled a minister to unilaterally make a declaration to terminate industrial action. On 8 August 2012 Fair Work Australia rejected key Union pay and contract-worker restriction demands. The Unions had flagged the possibility of more disruptions.


2011 Qatar Crown Prince Cup
The 2011 Qatar Crown Prince Cup is the 17th edition of the cup tournament in men's football (soccer). It is played by the top-4 teams of the Qatar Stars League after the end of each season.


2011 Qatar Ladies Open
The 2011 Qatar Ladies Open was a professional women's tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the ninth edition of the tournament and the first since 2008 which was part of the 2011 WTA Tour. It took place in Doha, Qatar between 21 and 26 February 2011.


2011 Qatar Ladies Open, Finals, Doubles
Květa Peschke /  Katarina Srebotnik defeated  Liezel Huber /  Nadia Petrova, 7–5, 6–7(2–7), [10–8]


2011 Qatar Ladies Open, WTA entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2011 Qatar Ladies Open, WTA entrants, Other entrants
The following player received entry as a Lucky Loser into the singles main draw:


2011 Qatar Ladies Open – Doubles
Květa Peschke and Rennae Stubbs were the reigning champions when the event was last played in 2008. Stubbs retired from the sport two weeks before this event. As a result, Peschke plays with Katarina Srebotnik. They successfully defended their title by beating Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova 7–5, 6–7(2), [10–8] in the final.


2011 Qatar Ladies Open – Singles
Maria Sharapova was the last champion of the event in 2008, but chose not to compete.


2011 Qatar Ladies Open – Singles
Vera Zvonareva won the final against World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki 6–4, 6–4.


2011 Qatar Ladies Open – Singles, Seeds
The top four seeds received a bye into the second round.


2011 Qatar Open
The 2011 Qatar Open, known as the 2011 Qatar ExxonMobil Open for sponsorship reasons, was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 19th edition of the Qatar Open, and part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the 2011 ATP World Tour. It took place at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex in Doha, Qatar, from January 3 through January 8, 2011. Roger Federer won the singles title.


2011 Qatar Open, Champions, Doubles
Marc López /  Rafael Nadal defeated  Daniele Bracciali /  Andreas Seppi, 6–3, 7–6(7–4)


2011 Qatar Open, Entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2011 Qatar Open – Doubles
Guillermo García-López and Albert Montañés were the defending champions, but only García-López chose to participate this year. He played with Rainer Schüttler. However, they lost to Marco Chiudinelli and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga already in the first round. 3rd seeds Marc López and Rafael Nadal won this event, by defeating Daniele Bracciali and Andreas Seppi 6–3, 7–6(7–4) in the final.


2011 Qatar Open – Singles
Nikolay Davydenko was the defending champion, but lost to Roger Federer 6–3, 6–4 in the final.


2011 Qatar Open – Singles Qualifying, Players, Seeds
The top two seeds received a bye into the second round.


2011 Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix
The 2011 Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix was the opening round of the 2011 MotoGP championship. It took place on the weekend of 17–20 March 2011 at the Losail International Circuit located in Doha, Qatar. In the MotoGP race Casey Stoner won finishing 3.44 seconds ahead of 2010 world champion Jorge Lorenzo with Dani Pedrosa in third place.


2011 Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix, Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)
Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round one has concluded.


2011 Qatari municipal elections
Municipal elections were held in Qatar on 10 May 2011 for the fourth time. Turnout was 43%, with 13,000 of the 32,000 registered voters participating.


2011 Quaker State 400
The 2011 Quaker State 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on July 9, 2011 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) asphalt tri-oval, it was 18th race of the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season, and the first Sprint Cup Series event at Kentucky Speedway. The race was won by Kyle Busch for the Joe Gibbs Racing team. David Reutimann finished second, and Jimmie Johnson clinched third.


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Background
Kentucky Speedway is one of ten intermediate tracks to hold NASCAR races. The standard track at Kentucky Speedway is a four-turn tri-oval track that is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long. The track's turns are banked at 14 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is 8 degrees. The back stretch, opposite of the front, is at only 4 degrees. The racetrack has seats for 107,000 spectators. The track is also the most recent addition to the schedule since the 2001 season, when Chicagoland Speedway and Kansas Speedway were added to the schedule.


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Background
Before the race, Kevin Harvick led the Drivers' Championship with 586 points, and Carl Edwards stood in second with 581. Kyle Busch was third in the Drivers' Championship with 576 points, six ahead of Kurt Busch and twelve ahead of Matt Kenseth in fourth and fifth. Jimmie Johnson with 564 was 30 ahead of Dale Earnhardt, Jr., as Jeff Gordon with 519 points, was 14 ahead of Clint Bowyer, and 21 in front of Ryan Newman. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 112 points, 10 ahead of Ford. Toyota, with 90 points, was 20 points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third.


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Practice and qualifying
Four practice sessions were scheduled to be held before the Saturday race—two on both Thursday and Friday. The first session lasted 240 minutes, while the second session was 120 minutes long. The third session was scheduled to be 60 minutes, but was cancelled because of race, while the fourth was 90 minutes. Thursday's sessions was also used to test fuel injection, which the Sprint Cup Series will switch to for the 2012 season. Johnson was quickest with a time of 30.703 seconds in the first session, five-hundredths of a second faster than Paul Menard. Travis Kvapil was about one-tenth of a second slowing than Menard's pace, followed by Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, and David Ragan. Gordon was seventh, still within a second of Johnson's time.


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Practice and qualifying
In the second practice session, Kyle Busch was fastest with a time of 30.193 seconds, only 0.155 of a second quicker than second-placed Kurt Busch. Edwards took third place, ahead of Menard, Newman and Johnson. Mark Martin only managed 7th place. During both sessions, four drivers were added to the session for the fuel injection testing, one for each manufacturer. Of the four manufacturer and drivers, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. was quickest in both sessions for Roush Fenway Racing and Ford. The third practice session, the first practice only for the race and qualifying, was cancelled because of wet weather. Kyle Busch was quickest during final practice with a time of 29.540 seconds. Juan Pablo Montoya following in second, ahead of Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, and Johnson.


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Practice and qualifying
Forty-eight cars were entered for qualifying, but only forty-three raced because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. However, after half of the cars qualified, wet weather soaked the track, therefore cancelling the session and making final practice times determine the qualifying grid. Kyle Busch, after finishing the final practice in first, won the pole position for Joe Gibbs Racing He was joined on the front row of the grid by Montoya. Kurt Busch was third, Kahne took fourth, and Johnson started fifth. Brad Keselowski, Edwards, Ragan, Tony Stewart, and Menard rounded out the first ten positions. The five drivers who failed to qualify for the race were David Stremme, Michael Waltrip, T. J. Bell, David Starr and Robby Gordon.


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Traffic issues
To a large extent, the race was overshadowed by major traffic issues in the vicinity of the track. Owner Speedway Motorsports had more than doubled track capacity to 107,000, but did not make any other significant upgrades to the infrastructure in and around the track in order to accommodate the sheer number of fans attending the race. According to Sports Illustrated NASCAR writer Brant James,


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Traffic issues
Kentucky Speedway's reputation as an epicenter of traffic mayhem preceded it. An increase in seating capacity to 107,000 and an inaugural Sprint Cup race guaranteed that the already troublesome venue would become one of the most inaccessible in all of NASCAR. Fatal vision fulfilled.


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Traffic issues
Backups on Interstate 71 began more than eight hours before the start of the race. By 3:30 pm, I-71 was backed up for more than 15 miles (24 km) to the north of the speedway. At 6:00 pm, the Kentucky State Police (KSP) reported backups of more than 20 miles (32 km) in both directions on I-71, and backups of 10 miles (16 km) on side roads in the area. The KSP added that traffic was still backed up for miles at about 8:55 pm, halfway through the race.


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Traffic issues
Some fans were reported to have parked their cars on the highway and leave them to catch a glimpse at the race. Others would try back roads, with some taking Kentucky Route 35, with more successful results at getting into the track. At 9:30 pm, traffic patterns were switched to outbound, and many fans who were still trying to get to the track were turned away. Several fans who managed to make it to the race were turned away because there wasn't enough available parking. Those who made it to the race were only reported having to wait half an hour or more to use the restroom due to a shortage of port-a-johns. Others reported shortages at the concession stands.


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Traffic issues
Bruton Smith, CEO of Speedway Motorsports, had joked on the day before the race that "we expect everyone to be home by Tuesday." Smith was in a much less cheerful mood during the race, telling reporters:


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Traffic issues
There's 15 to 20,000 people that won't get in here today. Traffic is horrendous. Interstate 71 is a disaster. It may have been OK in 1955, but somebody should have rebuilt that thing 20 years ago.


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Traffic issues
One of the thousands who never made it to the track was Kentucky Senate President and gubernatorial candidate David L. Williams, who left the state capital of Frankfort, 45 miles (72 km) away, at 2:00 pm. Also stuck in the jam was Denny Hamlin, who live-tweeted updates on his status while waiting to enter the track. Hamlin would, however, make the prerace drivers' meeting and start the race.


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Traffic issues
This should have been a great day for NASCAR, a new Cup event for the first time in 10 years and a sellout crowd at Kentucky Speedway. Instead, the entire day was a horrible black eye for the sport at a facility that was completely unprepared for an event of this size and stature. Traffic jams are normal for a Sprint Cup race. This was not a traffic jam. It was a traffic catastrophe.


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Traffic issues
On the Monday after the race, the track announced that unscanned tickets for the Quaker State 400 would be valid for any of the remaining six 2011 Sprint Cup races to be held at tracks owned by Speedway Motorsports, or for the 2012 Kentucky Sprint Cup race.


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Traffic issues
In addition to the ticket exchange, fans with unscanned tickets would also receive an equal number of tickets to either of the two remaining major events at the track in 2011—the Kentucky 225 in the Camping World Truck Series on October 1, or the Kentucky Indy 300 in the IndyCar Series on October 2.


2011 Quaker State 400, Report, Race
The race, the 18th in the season, began at 7:30 pm EDT and was televised live in the United States on TNT. The conditions on the grid were dry before the race with the air temperature at 81 °F (27 °C). Raceway Ministries pastor John Roberts began pre-race ceremonies, by giving the invocation. Next, Nick Lachey performed the national anthem, and Steve Beshear, Kentucky's Governor, gave the command for drivers to start their engines. Two drivers had to start at the end of the grid because of changes that were not approved during practice; they were Hamlin and Dave Blaney.


2011 Quebec Men's Provincial Curling Championship
The 2011 Quebec Men's Provincial Curling Championship (also known as the Quebec Tankard) was held January 30-February 6 at the Centre sportif de Buckingham in Buckingham, Quebec. The winning team of François Gagné represented Quebec at the 2011 Tim Hortons Brier in London, Ontario.


2011 Quebec Scotties Tournament of Hearts
The 2011 Quebec Scotties Tournament of Hearts was held January 30- February 6, 2011 at the Centre sportif de Buckingham in Buckingham, Quebec. The winning team of Marie-France Larouche represented team Quebec at the 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, finishing the round robin with a record 4-7, the first time in four Scotties Larouche did not make the playoffs.


2011 Queen's Birthday Honours (Australia)
The Queen's Birthday Honours 2011 for Australia were announced on 13 June 2011.


2011 Queen's Club Championships – Singles Qualifying
This article displays the qualifying draw of the 2011 Queen's Club Championships.


2011 Queensland Basketball League season
The 2011 Men's Queensland Basketball League season was the 26th running of the competition. The Mackay Meteors won the championship in 2011 to claim their first league title.


2011 Queensland Basketball League season
The teams for this season were: Brisbane Capitals, Bundaberg Bulls, Caboolture Suns, Cairns Marlins, Gladstone Port City Power, Gold Coast Rollers, Ipswich Force, Mackay Meteors, Maroochydore Clippers, Northside Wizards, Rockhampton Rockets, South West Metro Pirates, Toowoomba Mountaineers and Townsville Heat.


2011 Queensland Basketball League season, Standings, Finals
*The team that finishes 1st overall goes straight through to the semi-finals.


2011 Queensland Basketball League season, Standings, Finals
* *The top two teams from each pool face-off in the quarter-finals.


2011 Queensland Cup
The 2011 Queensland Cup season was the 16th season of Queensland's top-level statewide rugby league competition run by the Queensland Rugby League. The competition, known as the Intrust Super Cup due to sponsorship from Intrust Super, featured 12 teams playing a 25-week-long season (including finals) from March to September.


2011 Queensland Cup
The Wynnum Manly Seagulls won their first premiership after defeating the Tweed Heads Seagulls 16–10 in the Grand Final at Suncorp Stadium. Norths Devils' fullback Javarn White was named the competition's Player of the Year, winning the Courier Mail Medal.


2011 Queensland Cup, Teams
In 2011, the lineup of teams remained unchanged for the third consecutive year. The Manly Sea Eagles cut ties with the Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles in November 2010 after they were denied from having feeder clubs in both the Queensland and New South Wales Cup competitions. The Melbourne Storm returned to having an affiliate in the Queensland Cup, forming a partnership with the Easts Tigers.


2011 Queensland Cup, Grand Final
Tweed Heads were near unbeatable during the regular season, losing only 1 game and finishing 9 points clear of their nearest rivals to claim the minor premiership. Wynnum Manly started the season with six straight losses before finally entering the Top 6 in Round 18 and holding on to finish in 6th place and claiming the last spot in the finals series. Prior to the Grand Final the two sides had met each other three times during the 2011 season with Tweed defeating Wynnum Manly by 20 points in Round 5 and 40 points in Round 16, however Wynnum Manly did defeat Tweed Heads 24-12 in the semi finals.


2011 Queensland Cup, Grand Final, First half
Tweed Heads were first on the board, crossing through hooker Tim Maccan, who pushed off four defenders to plant the ball in the corner. Brad Davis was the architect of the second try, selling the dummy to the Wynnum Manly defence and drawing the fullback before putting Cody Nelson over the line. Following an error by Tweed deep in their own half, Wynnum Manly took advantage, with halfback Matt Seamark putting through an inch-perfect grubber for fullback Jake Granville to score under the posts and cut the deficit to 10-6 at the break.


2011 Queensland Cup, Grand Final, Second half
The second half saw Wynnum Manly take the lead in the 47th minute, when Seamark dived on a kick from Reece Blayney in the in-goal area to score. Wynnum Manly wrapped up the game in the 73rd minute when Shea Moylan crossed in the left-hand corner after a line break from Blayney. Wynnum Manly won their first ever Queensland Cup premiership, becoming the lowest ranked team (6th) to win the Grand Final. The win would be the first of back-to-back premierships for head coach Paul Green and his side.


2011 Queensland Cup, Grand Final, Second half
Wynnum Manly fullback Jake Granville was awarded the Duncan Hall Medal.


2011 Queensland Cup, Player statistics
The following statistics are correct as of the conclusion of Round 22.


2011 Queensland Cup season results
The 2011 Queensland Cup season was the 16th season of Queensland's premier rugby league competition.


2011 Queensland Cup season results, Regular season
All times are in AEST (UTC+10:00) on the relevant dates.


2011 Queensland Firebirds season
The 2011 Mission Queensland Firebirds season saw Queensland Firebirds compete in the 2011 ANZ Championship. With a team coached by Roselee Jencke, captained by Lauren Nourse and featuring Romelda Aiken, Laura Geitz, Clare McMeniman and Natalie Medhurst, Firebirds finished the season undefeated. They became the first team in the history of the ANZ Championship to go through the regular season and the play offs without losing a single match. In the major semi-final, Firebirds defeated Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic and in the grand final they defeated Northern Mystics, winning their first premiership. This marked the beginning of a golden age for Firebirds. Between 2011 and 2016, Jencke guided them to five grand finals and three premierships.


2011 Queensland Firebirds season, Players, 2011 roster
Manager: Nannette RigoniPhysiotherapist: Mark StokesStrength and conditioning: Dirk SpitsHigh Performance Manager: Brian Hopley Sports Physician:Dr Richard Brown Dietician:Kerry Leech Podiatrist:Janet Burns


2011 Queensland Firebirds season, Players, Gold medallists
Laura Geitz, Natalie Medhurst and  Chelsea Pitman were all members of the Australia team that won the gold medal at the 2011 World Netball Championships.


2011 Queensland Firebirds season, Pre-season
Between 28 and 30 January, Firebirds participated in the Queenstown Pre-Season Tournament, hosted by Southern Steel. They played five matches against Steel, Canterbury Tactix and Central Pulse. Firebirds won the tournament, defeating Pulse in the final.


2011 Quick-Step season
The 2011 season for Quick-Step began in January at the Tour Down Under and ended in October at the Giro di Lombardia. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour.


2011 Quick-Step season
With just five victories, the season was easily the worst in Quick Step's history. They were all but invisible at the Grand Tours other than a brief run in the leader's jersey for Sylvain Chavanel at the Vuelta a España. The same, bar Tom Boonen's Gent–Wevelgem win, was true of the classic cycle races. They were the last eligible team to score any points toward the UCI World Tour rankings, and finished third-from-last in those rankings, better only than Ag2r–La Mondiale and Vacansoleil–DCM.


2011 Quick-Step season
During the season, the team announced that Omega Pharma would be rejoining them as a title sponsor for the 2012 season, as Omega Pharma–Quick-Step.


2011 Quick-Step season, One-day races, Spring classics
Steegmans won Nokere Koerse in March, from a field sprint. Quick Step had also featured in the day's primary breakaway, with Van Keirsbulck part of the leading group on the road for all but the last 20 km (12 mi). Going into the Belgian classics, Quick Step was last in the UCI World Tour standings, having not yet scored a single point. Team manager Lefevere said that it was too early to judge the team's season, and suggested they should be reassessed after Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Gent–Wevelgem was the first UCI World Tour race of the season held in Belgium.


2011 Quick-Step season, One-day races, Spring classics
Chavanel figured into a four-man breakaway that took shape near the end of the race; so near, in fact, that team leader Boonen had begun to ride with the intention of leaving the chase group behind, so that Chavanel could conceivably ride for victory. Boonen had had mechanical trouble earlier in the race, but thanks to the efforts of Van Impe, he was able to chase back on. Despite Boonen's intentions of hindering the chase, the break was caught, with Team Sky's Ian Stannard the last man brought back.


2011 Quick-Step season, One-day races, Spring classics
Steegmans began performing a leadout when Stannard was caught, and Boonen reacted essentially on instinct to sprint for the win. He came first, ahead of Daniele Bennati and Tyler Farrar, a result which surprised him given that he has not targeted Gent–Wevelgem in recent seasons. The result moved Quick Step from 18th (last) place up to 14th in the UCI standings.


2011 Quick-Step season, One-day races, Spring classics
Boonen was frequently mentioned as a favorite at the monument classic the Tour of Flanders. Boonen neutralized a move by BMC Racing Team's Greg Van Avermaet early in the race and later put in an attack of his own, but found himself marked as well. He and Filippo Pozzato tried to follow Fabian Cancellara's accelerations on the Leberg, the day's fourteenth cobbled climb, but soon found themselves gapped off. A short while beforehand, teammate Chavanel had attacked and gotten clear of the main field, bridging up to the leaders on the road.


2011 Quick-Step season, One-day races, Spring classics
This left him in effective position for the remainder of the race to stay with Cancellara and other favorites, since he did not have as far to go to mark their attacks. He was able to stay with the front of the race when Cancellara, Philippe Gilbert, Alessandro Ballan, and Bjorn Leukemans formed the day's final selection. Boonen and a handful of others chased back on after a while. Cancellara put in a second acceleration on the Bosberg, the eighteenth and final cobbled climb on the day's profile, and only Chavanel and Nick Nuyens could follow.


2011 Quick-Step season, One-day races, Spring classics
Chavanel tried his luck in the three-man sprint for victory, but lost out to Nuyens at the finish, taking second place. Post-race analysis praised Chavanel for effectively anticipating the hyper-aggressive finale with his own attack on the Molenberg, though Chavanel himself remarked after the race ended that he perhaps should have worked for Boonen in the finale since Boonen is by far the better sprinter. Boonen finished the race fourth, two seconds behind the leading trio. Boonen and Chavanel both drew mention as favorites at the third monument, Paris–Roubaix. Both, however, had difficult rides, suffering repeated crashes.


2011 Quick-Step season, One-day races, Spring classics
Boonen had his chain slip and get stuck between the frame and crankset of his bicycle, a problem which required a full bike change. He had to wait for several minutes for his team car to arrive and assist him. He was nearly able to chase back on to the group of favorites when his water bottle fell from its position on his bicycle and became stuck between his back wheel and frame.


2011 Quick-Step season, One-day races, Spring classics
At that point, he crashed with former teammate Maarten Wynants and landed on his knees, sustaining such an injury that he was unable to continue in the race. Boonen remarked after the race that he had never before so much as flatted in Paris–Roubaix, and had only fallen from his bicycle on two occasions. Chavanel, for his part, flatted twice, both at moments when his group was racing at a high speed, meaning it was hard for him to chase back on. He finished the race a distant 38th, nearly five minutes down on the winner. Sporting director Wilfried Peeters said after the race that he had never seen such bad luck.


2011 Quick-Step season, One-day races, Spring classics
The team also sent squads to the Trofeo Cala Millor, Trofeo Inca, the Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne, Milan–San Remo, E3 Prijs Vlaanderen – Harelbeke, the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne, and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, but placed no higher than 11th in any of these races.


2011 Quick-Step season, One-day races, Fall races
The team also sent squads to the GP Ouest-France, the Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen, Paris–Brussels, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, the Grand Prix de Wallonie, the Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen, Binche–Tournai–Binche, Paris–Tours and the Giro di Lombardia, but finished no higher than 11th in any of these races.


2011 Quick-Step season, Stage races
Just as in the last several years, Boonen opened his season at the Tour of Qatar. He was immediately effective, winning the first road race stage ahead of perennial Qatar rival Heinrich Haussler. It was his 18th career Tour of Qatar stage win, and thanks to a solid prologue time trial, Boonen took the overall race leadership. In stage 3, Boonen flatted at a critical moment when the peloton was at its top speed and lost three minutes to stage winner Huassler, losing any chance to win the race for a fourth time.


2011 Quick-Step season, Stage races
Boonen contested the sprint to stage 4, finishing third, but he did not figure into the Tour's final stage, ceding a minute and 30 seconds to the leading group to finish 14th overall. Maes won the Tour's youth classification by over three minutes ahead of that classification's defending champion Roger Kluge. At Tirreno–Adriatico, second-year pro Malacarne figured into an all-day breakaway in stage 5. While he and Andrey Amador rode the stage's final kilometers in an unstrategic fashion, allowing the chase pack to catch them, Malacarne's efforts did not go unrewarded.


2011 Quick-Step season, Stage races
He took the majority of the climbing points on offer for the day, and held the jersey through the race's conclusion two days later. Highly touted mid-year acquisition and world cyclo-cross champion Štybar had his first race with the team at the Four Days of Dunkirk. Despite very limited road experience, Štybar showed quite well, coming third on the race's hardest stage and finishing in that same position on the final podium. Štybar said he was pleasantly surprised by the result, since he expected to suffer badly in the queen stage which had 2,600 m (8,500 ft) of vertical climbing.


2011 Quick-Step season, Stage races
The team also sent squads to the Tour Down Under, the Tour of Oman, Volta ao Algarve, Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen, Paris–Nice, Volta a Catalunya, the Three Days of De Panne, the Tour of the Basque Country, the Tour de Romandie, the Tour de Picardie, the Tour of Belgium, the Critérium du Dauphiné, the Tour de Suisse, the Tour de Wallonie, the Tour de Pologne, the Eneco Tour, the Tour de Wallonie-Picarde and the Tour of Beijing, but did not achieve a stage win, classification win, or podium finish in any of them.


2011 R League
The 2011 R League is reserve league of 2011 K-League. 2011 season was held from March 10 to October 13. In this season, Police FC and all K League club's reserves participate the league, except newly formed Gwangju FC. Each team will be played 21 games in home and away.


2011 RAC Tourist Trophy
The 2011 RAC Tourist Trophy was an auto racing event held at the Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, England on 3–5 June, and was the fifth round of the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship season. It was the FIA GT1 World Championship's second race held at the 5.901 km (3.667 mi) Silverstone, although it is the first international racing series to use the brand new pit complex which was being built at the time of last years race. The event was supported by the FIA GT3 European Championship, GT4 European Cup and Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo.


2011 RAC Tourist Trophy, Background
After a collision between the two Swiss Racing Team Lamborghini's, the team decided to miss the Tourist Trophy as they could not repair the damage in time for the weekend. DKR Engineering returned to the grid with the one car after missing the Sachsenring round due to lack of spare parts available. Markus Palttala and Andreas Zuber return to the series. Palttala returns behind the wheel of a Ford GT replacing Yann Clairay in the No. 10 Belgian Racing machine, racing alongside Antoine Leclerc. He raced a full season for Marc VDS Racing Team in 2010.


2011 RAC Tourist Trophy, Background
Zuber raced for Exim Bank Team China alongside Mike Hezemans, replacing Nick Catsburg. Zuber raced only the first two rounds in 2010 for Phoenix Racing / Carsport who also ran a Corvette similar to the one he used at Silverstone. Dimitri Enjalbert makes his GT1 début for DKR Engineering alongside French compatriot Michaël Rossi, replacing Matteo Bobbi.


2011 RAC Tourist Trophy, Qualifying, Qualifying result
For qualifying, Driver 1 participates in the first and third sessions while Driver 2 participates in only the second session. The fastest lap for each session is indicated with bold.


2011 RBC Bank Women's Challenger
The 2011 RBC Bank Women's Challenger is a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It is part of the 2011 ITF Women's Circuit. It took place in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States in 9 and 15 May 2011.


2011 RBC Bank Women's Challenger, Singles entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2011 RBC Bank Women's Challenger, Singles entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received entry by a lucky loser spot:


2011 RBC Bank Women's Challenger, Champions, Doubles
Sharon Fichman /  Marie-Ève Pelletier def. Beatrice Capra /  Asia Muhammed, 6–1, 6–3


2011 RBC Bank Women's Challenger – Doubles
Kristie Ahn and Nicole Gibbs were the defending champions, but both chose not to participate. Sharon Fichman and Marie-Ève Pelletier defeated Beatrice Capra and Asia Muhammed in the final 6–1, 6–3.


2011 RBC Bank Women's Challenger – Singles
The 2011 RBC Bank Women's Challenger was a tennis tournament in Raleigh, North Carolina. Johanna Konta was the defending champion but chose not to participate.


2011 RBC Bank Women's Challenger – Singles
Petra Rampre defeated Camila Giorgi in the final 6–3, 6–2.


2011 RFL Championship
The 2011 Rugby Football League Championship is known as Co-operative Championship due to sponsorship by The Co-operative Group.


2011 RFL Championship
The 2011 Co-operative Championship is a semi-professional rugby league football competition played in the UK and France one tier below the first tier Super League. The two worst performing teams during the season, with the exception of Toulouse Olympique, will be relegated to Championship 1.


2011 RFL Championship
There is no automatic promotion from this league to Super League, which uses a licensing system renewed every three years. Qualifying for the Grand Final or winning the Northern Rail Cup is a prerequisite for Championship clubs to be able to apply for a licence in the next round of applications for the 2012–14 period.


2011 RFL Championship
All of the teams in the 2011 Co-operative Championship will also compete in the 2011 Challenge Cup where they will enter in the third round. All of the teams will also compete in the 2011 National League Cup which starts before the Co-operative Championship with the finals held mid season.


2011 RFL Championship, Teams
This competition features mostly the same teams as it did in 2010. The Hunslet Hawks and York City Knights were promoted from the 2010 Championship 1 while the Keighley Cougars and Whitehaven were relegated.


2011 RFL Championship, Season standings
This table is correct as of 25 August 2010 (1:12pm). Source:


2011 RFL Championship, Season standings
Classification: 1st on competition points; 2nd on match points difference. Competition points: For win = 3; For draw = 2; For loss by 12 points or fewer = 1.


2011 RFL Championship, Statistics
The following are the top points scorers in the Championship during the 2011 season. Statistics also include tries and goals scored in the play-offs.


2011 RFL Championship results
These are the season results for the 2011 RFL Championship.


2011 Rabobank season
The 2011 season for the Rabobank cycling team began in January at the Tour Down Under and ended in October with Michael Matthews' participation in the Noosa Grand Prix. As a UCI ProTeam, they were automatically invited and obligated to send a squad to every event in the UCI World Tour.


2011 Rabobank season
The team had 24 victories in 2011, including stage wins at each Grand Tour. Pieter Weening held the race leader's pink jersey at the Giro d'Italia for four days, and Bauke Mollema also won the points jersey at the Vuelta a España, without winning any stage. No rider was especially more prolific than any other – Michael Matthews, Lars Boom, Robert Gesink, and Theo Bos each had multiple wins. Their most successful individual race was the Tour of Oman, where they took four stage wins, the overall crown, and the youth classification. The team took victories in every month of the season except October.


2011 Rabobank season, One-day races, Spring classics
In the days leading up to the spring season's traditional opener, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, there was talk that many teams in the race would protest the UCI's ban on two-way radios in all races ranked 1.HC, 2.HC, and below. Rabobank, and in particular team manager Breukink, are among the ban's most vocal opponents, and they were at the forefront of the planned protest, promising to take the start with earpieces in place.


2011 Rabobank season, One-day races, Spring classics
It subsequently emerged that the planned protest would result in the UCI withdrawing its officials just as they had at the Trofeo Palma de Mallorca earlier in the season, and nullify any results. This would result in the race's insurance policies being voided and quite possibly cause the race to be canceled altogether. The teams decided on a majority vote to cancel the protest and race without radios, while promising to carry the protest to other races. In a remarkable irony, a Rabobank rider won the race – Langeveld won a two-man sprint over defending champion Juan Antonio Flecha by a matter of centimeters.


2011 Rabobank season, One-day races, Spring classics
The team got a strong result at the season's third monument classic, Paris–Roubaix. After an aggressive first two hour of racing that covered the near 100 km (62 mi) before the first cobbled sector, Tjallingii worked his way into a ten-man escape group. After the Arenberg sector, the lead group had swelled to 21 riders. Little by little, the reverse occurred as the speed increased. Tjallingii stayed at the front of the race until Garmin–Cervélo's Johan Vansummeren put in a solo attack 15 km (9.3 mi) from the finish line, and was not seen again, staying out front for victory.


2011 Rabobank season, One-day races, Spring classics
From the group behind, Fabian Cancellara put in his most intensive dig at that point and caught every remaining member of the breakaway group (save for Vansummeren). Tjallingii stayed with him, and they along with Team RadioShack's Grégory Rast contested the sprint for second place. Cancellara finished second, and Tjallingii third ahead of Rast. Tjallingii called the result the "greatest day ever" in his career, and was ecstatic that he had made the podium and had not slipped to fourth place.


2011 Rabobank season, One-day races, Spring classics
Ambitious as always to win the most prestigious race of the season held in the Netherlands, the Amstel Gold Race, the team sent a strong squad including Gesink, Freire, Sánchez, Tankink, and Tjallingii. They were noted, however, to be underdogs to defending race champion Philippe Gilbert. The team rode a solid race, as they effectively left the job of chasing down breakaways to Team Katusha and Gilbert's team Omega Pharma–Lotto, with even Gilbert himself pulling to help chase down Andy Schleck in the final kilometers.


2011 Rabobank season, One-day races, Spring classics
Gesink, Freire, and Sánchez all sat on wheels and stayed with the front group for the majority of the race. Sánchez tried a solo attack for victory, but was chased down by Damiano Cunego and Stijn Devolder. In the end, Gilbert rode away from the field on the short uphill finish, securing the repeat victory. Rabobank did, however, place three finishers in the top ten, and were the only team to do so. These were Freire in sixth, Gesink in ninth, and Martens in tenth.


2011 Rabobank season, One-day races, Spring classics
Martens turned in decent rides at the other two Ardennes classics, with a 10th place in La Flèche Wallonne and 13th in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, the team's highest finisher in both events. Matthews took a field sprint win at the Rund um Köln the day after Liège–Bastogne–Liège. While Rabobank and Leopard Trek were the only ProTeams in the race, several top-level German professionals (such as Danilo Hondo and Marcus Burghardt) rode for an ad hoc German national team. Matthews took the race win ahead of another German, Marcel Kittel, who rode for his regular trade team Skil–Shimano.


2011 Rabobank season, One-day races, Spring classics
The team also sent squads to the Trofeo Palma de Mallorca, Trofeo Cala Millor, the Clásica de Almería, Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne, Milan–San Remo, Gullegem Koerse and Halle–Ingooigem, but placed no higher than 11th in any of these races.


2011 Rabobank season, One-day races, Fall races
The team also sent squads to the Vattenfall Cyclassics, the GP Ouest-France, the Memorial Rik Van Steenbergen, the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, the Grand Prix d'Isbergues, Binche–Tournai–Binche, Paris–Tours, the Giro di Lombardia, and the Noosa Grand Prix, but finished no higher than 11th in any of these races.


2011 Rabobank season, Stage races
Matthews scored the team's first victory in the first stage race of the season, the Tour Down Under. After a late split in the field in stage 3 led to 24 riders finishing seven seconds ahead of the next 23, Matthews won a depleted sprint ahead of defending Tour Down Under champion André Greipel and resultant race leader Matthew Goss. He finished the race fourth overall. In February, Boom won the prologue time trial to the Tour of Qatar. It was the first time trial in the Tour's nine-year history.


2011 Rabobank season, Stage races
Dead flat and only 2 km (1.2 mi) long, riders were not allowed to use the specially designed bicycles and helmets that are customary in nearly all professional time trials. Despite the very short distance, Boom still had a solid four-second gap over world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara in second. The team was wildly successful at the next UCI Asia Tour stop, the Tour of Oman, which was held shortly after the Tour of Qatar.


2011 Rabobank season, Stage races
Bos won the sprint finishes to stages 1 and 3, besting full fields including sprinters the likes of Mark Cavendish, Daniele Bennati, and Matthew Goss both times. While the first three stages were flat like those of its cousin race in Qatar, the fourth and fifth provided that a climber would likely win the Tour of Oman overall. Gesink won both of these stages, the first a road race concluding at Green Mountain which he dedicated to his late father.


2011 Rabobank season, Stage races
The next stage was a time trial, and Gesink's win was a bit of a surprise because time trialing is not considered to be a strength for him. He stated after the stage that the hilly course played to his strengths, as did the fact that, like the Tour of Qatar time trial, this one was ridden on normal bicycles. It was the first time trial that he had ever won as a professional; he had started the stage simply hoping to keep the race lead, and instead increased it to over a minute.


2011 Rabobank season, Stage races
The final stage was flat again, and though Bos was only tenth in the sprint finale, it capped off a hugely successful event for the team with four stage wins and the overall and youth classifications. Freire added to the team's successful early season at the Ruta del Sol, winning the last two stages in field sprints. These performances also won him the event's points classification. At Tirreno–Adriatico in March, the squad won the team time trial in stage 1, the first ever such stage in the Tirreno–Adriatico's 46-year history.


2011 Rabobank season, Stage races
Boom was therefore the first race leader, though he held the lead for only one day. Gesink briefly held the race lead as well, but he was unable to climb with the race's best riders and slipped to fourth after six stages. He turned in a second strong individual time trial performance in as many races to close out the event, moving back onto the podium in second after taking ninth in the closing ITT. He also won the race's youth classification, having led it for the entire event.


2011 Rabobank season, Stage races
At the Tour of the Basque Country, Freire was one of the only true sprinters to enter the notoriously hilly race. Stage 5, while it contained seven categorized climbs, was likely to conducive to a select group sprint since the climbs occurring in the second half of the stage were not especially difficult. Forty-eight riders finished together at the end of the race, and Freire was first over the finish line.


2011 Rabobank season, Stage races
A short time later, though, Freire was stripped of his apparent win by the race jury and relegated to the back of the peloton, along with Sánchez, since the two had taken their hands off their handlebars to apparently push away other riders. Sánchez had also seemingly pushed Freire forward about 200 m (660 ft) from the finish line. The victory was transferred to Lampre–ISD's Francesco Gavazzi. Freire called the penalty a "disgrace" and stated that the apparent push was Sánchez signaling him that he should pass him and begin his sprint.


2011 Rabobank season, Stage races
The squad nonetheless got a noteworthy result from the race – Gesink again turned in a strong time trial, seventh place in stage 6, and moved up to third place overall in the final standings. Tankink also won the event's sprints classification. Mollema had a strong Vuelta a Castilla y León later in April. After finishing at the front of the race in the first two stages, Mollema was second behind a solo breakaway winner on the race's only summit finish, the Laguna de los Peces. This ride gave him the overall race leadership.


2011 Rabobank season, Stage races
He rode to fourth place the next day in the individual time trial, but since Xavier Tondó did him 12 seconds better by finishing third, he lost the race lead to the Spaniard. The time gaps held steady the next day, making Mollema the second-place overall finisher. He also won the event's combination classification, and the Rabobank squad won the team award.


2011 Rabobank season, Stage races
Matthews also won the sprint classification for the team, at the Delta Tour Zeeland. The team also sent squads to the Volta ao Algarve, Paris–Nice, Volta a Catalunya, the Three Days of de Panne, the Tour de Romandie, the Tour of California, the Tour of Belgium, the Ster ZLM Toer, the Brixia Tour, the Tour de Pologne, the Eneco Tour, the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, the Tour de Wallonie-Picarde and the Tour of Beijing, but did not achieve a stage win, classification win, or podium finish in any of them.


2011 Race of Champions
The 2011 Race of Champions was the 24th running of the event, and took place over 3–4 December 2011 at the Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany. The Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt had been scheduled to hold the event, but after Eintracht Frankfurt's relegation to German football's Second Division, the stadium could no longer host the event on those dates. It was the second consecutive time, and third time overall, that the event has been held in Germany, after the 2010 event was also held in Düsseldorf. Sebastien Ogier overcame Tom Kristensen in the final to become Champion of Champions, whilst Team Germany took their fifth consecutive Nations Cup victory courtesy of Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher. Heinz-Harald Frentzen also won the ROC Legends Trophy after beating Hans-Joachim Stuck, Marc Duez and Stig Blomqvist.


2011 Race of the Year
The 2011 Race of the Year was a non-championship motorcycle race held at the Mallory Park circuit in Leicester, England.


2011 Race of the Year, Race summary
Parkalgar Honda's Sam Lowes fought a hard battle to take victory on the 2011 Buildbase Mallory Park Race of the Year, setting a new Supersport lap record in the process, in very hot and slippery track conditions.


2011 Race of the Year, Race summary
The first start was red-flagged on the second lap, when pole-sitter John Ingram crashed his BMW on the Stebbe Straight, removing Christian Iddon (Triumph) in the process. Both riders were unhurt and unable to take the restart.


2011 Race of the Year, Race summary
It was Bogdanka PTR Honda of James Ellison who took control of the early stages of the race, quickly pulling out a gap on the chasing pack. Lowes was fourth on the opening lap, but moving up to second and set about hunting down Ellison, passing him into the hairpin on his Parkalgar Honda Supersport


2011 Race of the Year, Race summary
Ellison looked to come straight back. Despite constant pressure for the rest of the race, it was Lowes who took the win by 2.4secs.


2011 Radisson Blu Oslo Cup
The 2011 Radisson Blu Oslo Cup was held from September 22 to 25 at Snarøen Curling Club in Oslo, Norway as part of the 2011–12 World Curling Tour. The purses of the men's and women's events were 160,000 and 100,000 krona, respectively. The event was held in a round-robin format.


2011 Rafael Nadal tennis season
The 2011 Rafael Nadal tennis season officially began on January 2 with the start of the 2011 ATP World Tour.


2011 Rafael Nadal tennis season, Calendar
The January–June tournaments listed on Nadal's calendar at his official site as of 4 January 2011.


2011 Rai Open
The 2011 Rai Open was a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It was the third edition of the tournament which was part of the 2011 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Rome, Italy between 11 and 17 April 2011.


2011 Rai Open, ATP entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2011 Rai Open, Champions, Doubles
Martin Kližan /  Alessandro Motti def. Thomas Fabbiano /  Walter Trusendi, 7–6(3), 6–4


2011 Rai Open – Doubles
Tomasz Bednarek and Mateusz Kowalczyk were the defending champions; however, Kowalczyk decided not to participate. As a result, Bednarek partnered up with Andreas Siljeström. They were eliminated by Leoš Friedl and Ivo Minář in the quarterfinals. Martin Kližan and Alessandro Motti won the title, defeating Thomas Fabbiano and Walter Trusendi 7–6(3), 6–4 in the final.


2011 Rai Open – Singles
Filippo Volandri was the defending champion but decided not to participate. Thomas Schoorel won the title, defeating Martin Kližan 7–5, 1–6, 6–3 in the final.


2011 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships
The 2011 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 38th edition of the event known that year as the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, and was part of the 500 Series of the 2011 ATP World Tour. It was held at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan, from 3 October through 9 October 2011. Andy Murray won both the singles and doubles titles, the latter with his brother Jamie.


2011 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2011 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, Finals, Doubles
Andy Murray /  Jamie Murray defeated  František Čermák /  Filip Polášek, 6–1, 6–4


2011 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships – Doubles
Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Rojer were the defending champions but were eliminated in the second round by Robin Haase and Viktor Troicki. Andy Murray and Jamie Murray won the title after beating František Čermák and Filip Polášek 6–1, 6–4 in the final.


2011 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships – Singles
Rafael Nadal was the defending champion, but lost in the final to second-seeded Andy Murray, 3–6, 6–2, 6–0.


2011 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships – Singles Qualifying
This article displays the qualifying draw of the 2011 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships.


2011 Raleigh mayoral election
The Raleigh mayoral election of 2011 was held on October 11, 2011 to elect a Mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina for a two-year term. Incumbent Mayor Charles Meeker announced in April 2011 that he would not run for a sixth term. The election was officially a non-partisan contest, but outgoing Mayor Meeker was well known as a Democrat. Meeker endorsed candidate Nancy McFarlane, who is politically unaffiliated, to succeed him. She won the election with 61 percent of the vote, making a runoff unnecessary.


2011 Rally America season
The 2011 Rally America season was the seventh season of Rally America. The season consisted of 6 rallies and began on January 29, with the Sno*Drift National Rally in Michigan. It was the first rally won by a Super Production Car in Rally America's history. At the end of the season Rally Car sold the rights to Rally American to investors who changed the series name back to Rally America.


2011 Rally America season
On May 1, 2011, Rally America had their first fatal accident since the takeover from SCCA driver Matthew Marker went off the course, slid down an embankment and hit a tree.


2011 Rally Argentina
The 2011 Rally Argentina was the sixth round of the 2011 World Rally Championship season. The rally took place over 26–29 May, and was based in Villa Carlos Paz, in the province of Córdoba. The rally was also the third round of the Production World Rally Championship. Argentina returned to the WRC calendar for the first time since 2009, after the event was a part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge in 2010.


2011 Rally Argentina
Sébastien Loeb took his third win of the season and the 65th WRC win of his career after a come-from-behind victory over the final two days. Having run first on the road on the first day, Loeb trailed Jari-Matti Latvala by 90 seconds after day one, but six stage victories over the final two days helped to recover some of the lost time and ultimately took the rally victory on the final stage. Mikko Hirvonen was second, 2.4 seconds in arrears, with Sébastien Ogier a further 4.9 seconds back in third. Ogier had led the event into the final stage, but was driving a damaged car after a roll on an earlier stage. In the PWRC, Hayden Paddon took class victory and two points for an overall ninth place.


2011 Rally Argentina, Results, Power Stage
The "Power stage" was a live, televised 3.90 km (2.42 mi) stage at the end of the rally, held in Cabalango.


2011 Rally Australia
The 2011 Rally Australia was the 21st Rally Australia and the tenth round of the 2011 World Rally Championship season. The rally took place over 8–11 September, and was based in Coffs Harbour, a coastal city in the New South Wales state of Australia. The rally was also the fifth round of the Production World Rally Championship. Rally Australia returned to the WRC calendar after a year's hiatus, and after demonstrations marred the 2009 running of the rally, held north of Coffs Harbour in the Northern Rivers area. Residents' concerns for the event meant that the rally was moved for the foreseeable future to Coffs Harbour.


2011 Rally Australia
Ford World Rally Team's Mikko Hirvonen took his third successive Rally Australia victory, after team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala slowed tactically on the penultimate stage, in order to aid Hirvonen's chances for the drivers' championship title. The Ford drivers had moved into the top two placings on the opening day of the rally after Citroën's Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier both had to retire from the day's proceedings and return to the rally the following day under the SupeRally regulations. Loeb recovered to score a tenth-place finish with the Power Stage victory, to extend his championship by four points over Ogier, who slowed on the last two stages to drop from eighth to eleventh behind Loeb.


2011 Rally Australia
Petter Solberg finished third behind the Ford pairing, 44.8 seconds in arrears, but finished over seven minutes clear of the fourth-placed driver Matthew Wilson, who matched his career-best placing from Rally Japan in 2007. Khalid Al Qassimi scored a career-best fifth place, ahead of a quartet of PWRC competitors. Hayden Paddon was the best of the PWRC competitors with sixth place overall, securing his fourth PWRC victory in succession, and the championship title as Martin Semerád – who elected not to compete at the event – could only tie Paddon on points and lose on countback. Michał Kościuszko, Oleksandr Saliuk, Jr. and Benito Guerra also scored overall championship points by finishing in the top ten.


2011 Rally Australia, Results, Power stage
The "Power stage" was a live, televised 4.58 km (2.85 mi) stage at the end of the rally, held in Clarence.


2011 Rally Catalunya
The 2011 Rally Catalunya, formally 47è Rally RACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada and the denoted RACC Rally de España, was the twelfth round of the 2011 World Rally Championship season. The rally took place over 21–23 October, and was based in Salou, Catalonia. The rally was also the eighth and final round of the Super 2000 World Rally Championship, and the sixth round of the Production World Rally Championship.


2011 Rally Catalunya
The rally was won by championship leader Sébastien Loeb, who took his fifth victory of the season, and the 67th of his career after taking the lead at the end of the first day's running and held on to extend his championship lead ahead of the final round in Wales. In doing so, he also secured a seventh manufacturers' title for Citroën. Loeb's title rival Mikko Hirvonen finished second after team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala, who finished third, incurred a two-minute time penalty in order to gain as many points as possible for Hirvonen's title challenge.


2011 Rally Catalunya
In the SWRC, Juho Hänninen finished at the head of the class in tenth overall, and as a result, secured the SWRC title, ahead of Ott Tänak. In the PWRC, Patrik Flodin just fended off a challenge from Michał Kościuszko in the late stages of the rally, with Flodin coming out on top by just two seconds.


2011 Rally Catalunya, Results, Power Stage
The "Power stage" was a live, televised 4.32 km (2.68 mi) stage at the end of the rally, held near Pradell de la Teixeta.


2011 Rally Finland
The 2011 Rally Finland was the eighth round of the 2011 World Rally Championship season. The rally took place over 28–30 July, and was based in Jyväskylä, with a remote service in Lahti. The rally was also the fifth round of the Super 2000 World Rally Championship, the fourth round of the Production World Rally Championship and the third round of the WRC Academy.


2011 Rally Finland
Championship leader Sébastien Loeb won for the second time in Finland, taking his 66th career victory in the process, ahead of rivals Jari-Matti Latvala, Sébastien Ogier and Mikko Hirvonen. With an overall tenth place, Juho Hänninen took the honours in SWRC, Hayden Paddon took his third consecutive win in PWRC, and Egon Kaur continued his perfect record in WRC Academy.


2011 Rally Finland, Results, Power Stage
The "Power stage" was a live, televised 4.19 km (2.60 mi) stage at the end of the rally, held in Laajavuori.


2011 Rally Islas Canarias
The 2011 Rally Islas Canarias, was the second round of the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) season. The twelve stage asphalt rally took place on the island of Gran Canaria between 14–16 April 2011. The rally was also a round of the Spanish Asphalt Championship.


2011 Rally Islas Canarias, The beginning
The rally was based in the capital, Las Palmas, with a ceremonial launch on Thursday 14 April 2011. Day one consisted of eight stages covering a total of 116.81 km (72.58 mi) and included two night stages. Day two covered a total of 73.78 km (45.84 mi) over four stages. A total of seventy-six cars contested the event made up of thirty-five IRC entries and a further forty-one from the Spanish championship. Current IRC champion Juho Hänninen was seeded number one.


2011 Rally Islas Canarias, Results
With four stage victories, Juho Hänninen won on asphalt for the first time in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, just edging out Škoda Motorsport team-mate Jan Kopecký by 1.5 seconds. Third and fourth places went to the Belgian pairing of Thierry Neuville and Freddy Loix.


2011 Rally Italia Sardegna
The 2011 Rally Italia Sardegna was the fifth round of the 2011 World Rally Championship season. The rally took place over 6–8 May, and was based in Olbia, the fourth-largest town on the island of Sardinia. The rally was also the third round of the Super 2000 World Rally Championship and the second round of the WRC Academy. Sardinia returned to the WRC calendar for the first time since 2009, after the event was a part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge in 2010.


2011 Rally Italia Sardegna
Sébastien Loeb took his second win of the season and the 64th WRC win of his career after holding off challenges from Mikko Hirvonen and Petter Solberg on the final day of the rally, despite having to run most of the event first on the road and being disadvantaged by sweeping away loose gravel. In the junior classes, Ott Tänak won his first SWRC event by finishing seventh overall, 26.7 seconds ahead of Juho Hänninen, who was eighth overall. Egon Kaur won the WRC Academy for the second event running.


2011 Rally Italia Sardegna, Results, Power Stage
The "Power stage" was a live, televised 8.24 km (5.12 mi) stage at the end of the rally, held in Gallura.


2011 Rally México
The 2011 Rally México was the second round of the 2011 World Rally Championship season. It was the season's first event held on gravel roads. The rally took place over 3–6 March, beginning with a street stage in Guanajuato. The rally was also the first round of the Super 2000 World Rally Championship.


2011 Rally México
In an event in which all the leading contenders suffered some sort of trouble during the rally, Sébastien Loeb took the 63rd WRC win of his career, and his fifth victory in Mexico, taking advantage of teammate Sébastien Ogier's crash on the 20th stage and held on to win the event by over 90 seconds. Loeb had trailed Ogier heading into the final day, having picked up a 50-second penalty for starting the 15th stage late.


2011 Rally México
Second place went to championship leader Mikko Hirvonen, who took the Power Stage victory, to take his total points earned on the rally to 21; while teammate Jari-Matti Latvala finished third, despite losing over four minutes on Friday. The Norwegian trio of Petter Solberg, Mads Østberg and Henning Solberg finished in fourth, fifth and sixth place respectively.


2011 Rally México
Nasser Al-Attiyah won the supporting SWRC class on the road, but was later excluded due to a technical infringement. Al-Attiyah's exclusion gave Martin Prokop victory in the class and seventh place overall, Juho Hänninen second in class and eighth overall, with Ott Tänak promoted onto the SWRC podium and into the overall points.


2011 Rally México, Results, Power Stage
The "Power stage" was a live, televised 8.28 km (5.14 mi) stage at the end of the rally, held near Guanajuato.


2011 Rally Scotland
The 2011 Rally Scotland, officially the RAC MSA Rally of Scotland, was the tenth round of the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) season. The fifteen stage gravel rally took place over 7–9 October 2011 with three stages run after sunset.


2011 Rally Scotland
The rally offered points-and-a-half towards the respective IRC championships, meaning that the overall rally winner, as well as class winners, gained 37.5 points instead of the usual 25.


2011 Rally Scotland, Introduction
The rally, which was run for the third time, was based in Perth, with a ceremonial start held at Stirling Castle on the Friday. Two runs of the Carron Valley stage completed the timetable for Friday. On Saturday six stages covering 94.76 km (58.88 mi) were run on gravel with the final seven stages, consisting of 85.48 km (53.11 mi) being completed on the Sunday.


2011 Rally Scotland, Results
Andreas Mikkelsen took his first IRC victory on the event, becoming the youngest driver to win in the championship, having taken the lead on the second leg after an error by Guy Wilks.


2011 Rally Sweden
The 2011 Rally Sweden was the opening round of 2011 World Rally Championship season. It was the season's first and only event held on snow- and ice-covered gravel roads. The rally took place over 10–13 February, beginning with a Super Special Stage in the event's base town of Karlstad. The rally was also the first round of the Production World Rally Championship.


2011 Rally Sweden
The rally saw a beginning to a new era in the World Rally Championship, with the previous generation of WRC machinery such as the Citroën C4 and the Ford Focus being phased out in favour of cars with a displacement of 1.6 litres (98 cu in). Citroën will use their DS3 model, and Ford will use the Fiesta RS over the course of the 2011 season. Also introduced for the 2011 season is the Power Stage, in which the final stage of each rally will award bonus points towards the championship standings. The fastest driver on the stage, will receive three points with two for the second-fastest and one for the third-fastest.


2011 Rally Sweden
Mikko Hirvonen took the 13th WRC win of his career, and his first victory since winning the same event in 2010, having overhauled Mads Østberg midway through the second day. Østberg took his best result in the championship, finishing on the podium for the first time just 6.5 seconds behind Hirvonen. The podium was completed by another Ford driver, as Hirvonen's teammate Jari-Matti Latvala finished third, 34 seconds behind Hirvonen. Sébastien Ogier finished as the best Citroën driver in fourth place, and also picked up maximum bonus points with his victory on the first Power Stage of the season.


2011 Rally Sweden
Fellow Citroën driver Petter Solberg rounded out the top five places, despite losing his licence before the final stage due to a speeding infringement on Friday afternoon. As per the country's law, the Swedish Police Authority had given Solberg 48 hours grace before he could no longer drive after being caught going at 112 km/h (70 mph) in an area where the limit was 80 km/h (50 mph). With the ban coming into effect prior to the final stage, Solberg's co-driver Chris Patterson had to drive the stage.


2011 Rally Sweden
In the supporting PWRC class, Martin Semerád took his first victory by over five minutes ahead of Yuriy Protasov.


2011 Rally Sweden, Results, Power Stage
The first ever "Power stage", a live televised 4.16 km short stage at the end of the rally, was held near the village of Gustavsfors.


2011 Rally de Portugal
The 2011 Rally de Portugal was the third round of the 2011 World Rally Championship season. It was the season's first European event held on gravel roads. The rally took place over 24–27 March, beginning with a super special stage in the city of Lisbon. The rally was also the second round of the Production World Rally Championship and the inaugural event of the WRC Academy.


2011 Rally de Portugal
Sébastien Ogier won the event for the second consecutive year, to take his third WRC victory. Ogier had taken the lead midway through the second leg of the rally and held on to his lead to win by 31.8 seconds from teammate Sébastien Loeb, with Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala rounding out the podium in third place. Championship leader Mikko Hirvonen ended the rally in fourth place, which coupled with power stage points for Loeb, created a tie between the two at the head of the drivers' championship.


2011 Rally de Portugal
In the support classes, Hayden Paddon won the PWRC class by a comfortable margin of over seven minutes, while Egon Kaur won the inaugural WRC Academy event by a more marginal sixteen seconds.


2011 Rally de Portugal, Results, Power Stage
The "Power stage" was a live, televised 31.04 km (19.29 mi) stage at the end of the rally, held near São Marcos da Serra.


2011 Rallye Açores
The 2011 Sata Rally Azores, officially 46º Sata Rallye Açores, was the sixth round of the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) season. The 17-stage gravel rally took place on the island of São Miguel in the Azores between 14–16 July 2011.


2011 Rallye Açores, Introduction
The rally was based in the major city of Ponta Delgada. Day one consisted of three stages covering a total of 22.56 km (14.02 mi). Day two covered a total of 95.05 km (59.06 mi) over nine stages with the remaining five stages, covering 87.48 km (54.36 mi) completed on day three.


2011 Rallye Açores, Results
Juho Hänninen won his third IRC rally of the season, having led the rally for most of the running, before Andreas Mikkelsen made a late charge for the lead. Hänninen held an advantage into the final day and after Mikkelsen took the lead for a period, Hänninen regained the lead for the final time. His victory gave him the championship lead by four points ahead of Bryan Bouffier. Bouffier finished the rally in fourth position, behind Mikkelsen and Jan Kopecký.


2011 Rallye Deutschland
The 2011 Rallye Deutschland was the ninth round of the 2011 World Rally Championship season. The rally took place over 19–21 August, and was based in Trier, in the Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany. The rally was also the sixth round of the Super 2000 World Rally Championship, and the fourth round of the WRC Academy.


2011 Rallye Deutschland
Sébastien Ogier won his first tarmac rally, and became the first driver other than his team-mate Sébastien Loeb to win the rally since it became a world championship event in 2002. Ogier benefitted from a puncture suffered by Loeb on the last stage of Saturday's running, and eventually won by just under 40 seconds from Loeb. This also resulted in some controversial remarks by Sébastien Ogier claiming there is "justice in the sport" referencing his prior displeasure with his team's decision to have Ogier hold off while teammate Sébastien Loeb held the lead. Meanwhile, Dani Sordo finished third, taking the first podium for the Mini WRC Team since its return to the sport.


2011 Rallye Deutschland
In the SWRC, Ott Tänak took a comfortable victory by over five minutes, while in the WRC Academy, Egon Kaur's perfect start to the season was ended, after he finished in eighth place. Craig Breen, who finished second to Kaur in the previous round in Finland, took his first victory in the class.


2011 Rallye Deutschland, Results, Power Stage
The "Power stage" was a live, televised 4.37 km (2.72 mi) stage at the end of the rally, held in Trier.


2011 Rallye Sanremo
The 2011 Rallye Sanremo (53º Rallye Sanremo), was the 9th round of the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) season. The thirteen stage asphalt rally took place over 22 – 24 September 2011. The longest stage of the rally, Ronde, was run in darkness. All other stages were run in daylight.


2011 Rallye Sanremo, Introduction
The rally took place in the province of Imperia, with a total length of 524.10 km (325.66 mi) of which 225.77 km (140.29 mi) were special stages. The rally base was located along the sea front and the old railway station in the heart of the town of Sanremo. Fifteen S2000 cars started the event with the main front runners in the championship, excluding Juho Hänninen, taking part.


2011 Rallye de France
The 2011 Rallye de France – Alsace was the eleventh round of the 2011 World Rally Championship season. The rally took place over 30 September – 2 October, and was based in Strasbourg, the capital city of the Alsace region of France. The rally was also the seventh round of the Super 2000 World Rally Championship, and the fifth round of the WRC Academy.


2011 Rallye de France
Sébastien Ogier took his fifth WRC win of the season, having taken the rally lead on the second day after battling with Dani Sordo and Petter Solberg. His victory also moved him to within three points of his team-mate and drivers' championship leader Sébastien Loeb, after Loeb's retirement on day one due to an engine problem. Sordo took Mini's best result since their return to the sport, in second position with Solberg completing the podium on-the-road.


2011 Rallye de France
Solberg was later disqualified from the event after his car was found to be underweight, promoting Mikko Hirvonen to the podium, and with the three extra points gained, into a tie with Loeb for the championship lead. Jari-Matti Latvala finished fourth, ahead of Dennis Kuipers, who took the best WRC result for a Dutch driver. Ott Tänak won the SWRC class for the third time in 2011, and Alastair Fisher took a maiden win in the WRC Academy.


2011 Rallye de France, Results, Power Stage
The "Power stage" was a live, televised 4.20 km (2.61 mi) stage at the end of the rally, held in Haguenau.


2011 Ras Ajdir clashes
The 2011 Ras Ajdir clashes were a series of skirmishes between rebel anti-Gaddafi forces and loyalist pro-Gaddafi forces for an important Libya–Tunisia border post in Libya's extreme northwest.


2011 Ras Ajdir clashes
The post had been a key loyalist supply line to the capital, Tripoli, but ceased to be so after the rebels recaptured the town of Zawiya and the highway running through it.


2011 Ras Ajdir clashes, The battle
On the night of 13 August 2011, rebel forces assaulted the crossing. The loyalists responded with tanks and other heavy weaponry, completely repelling the rebel assault.


2011 Ras Ajdir clashes, The battle
On 21 August 2011, rebel forces again reached the crossing, meeting stiff resistance from what were reported to be "non-uniformed Gaddafi loyalists". Rebels made gains, but were once again repulsed by artillery fire. However, rebels did not entirely abandon their efforts, and the crossing remained contested.


2011 Ras Ajdir clashes, The battle
On 23 August 2011, the Russian Channel One news agency reported that the crossing appeared to be under the control of pro-Gaddafi forces, who prohibited journalists from entering Libya.


2011 Ras Ajdir clashes, The battle
On 26 August 2011, witnesses reported that clashes were once again erupting between "large numbers" of rebels and loyalists for control of Ras Ajdir. The Tunisian army closed down the border in response, declaring it a "closed military zone". This time, at least 100 anti-Gaddafi forces succeeded in capturing the crossing and hoisted their flag at the border post. Tunisian authorities reopened the crossing on 28 August.


2011 Reading Borough Council election
Elections to Reading Borough Council took place on Thursday 5 May 2011.


2011 Reading Borough Council election
There were 15 seats up for election, one third of the council. The election meant that the council continued to have no overall control but a Labour led minority administration replaced the previous Conservative Liberal Democrat coalition. The posts of leader of the council and mayor were filled at a meeting of the council on 25 May 2011. Labour member Deborah Edwards was elected mayor on the casting vote of outgoing mayor, Gul Khan. Councillor Edwards then used her casting vote in favour of the new Leader of the council, Jo Lovelock. The two Green Party councillors abstained in both votes.


2011 Reading Express season
The 2011 Reading Express season was the sixth season as a professional indoor football franchise and their first in the Indoor Football League (IFL). One of twenty-two teams competing in the IFL for the 2011 season, the Reading Express were members of the Atlantic Division of the United Conference.


2011 Reading Express season
The team played their home games under head coach Mark Steinmeyer at the Sovereign Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Express earned an 8-6 record, placing 1st in the Atlantic Division.


2011 Real Salt Lake season
The 2011 Real Salt Lake season was the club's seventh year of existence, as well as their seventh season in Major League Soccer, and their seventh consecutive season in the top-flight of American soccer.


2011 Real Salt Lake season
Salt Lake's season was highlighted by reaching the 2011 CONCACAF Champions League Finals, becoming the first American soccer club to reach the final of the newly designed CONCACAF Champions League, as well as the first non-Mexican club to reach the finals. Including the predecessor tournament, the Champions' Cup, it was the first time in 11 years an American club reached the North American club final, the last being Los Angeles Galaxy. Additionally, Salt Lake finished third place in both the Western Conference and overall MLS tables during the regular season, thus earning a berth into the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League. In the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs, Salt Lake reached the Western Conference Final, but fell to eventual MLS Cup champions, Los Angeles Galaxy. Salt Lake also reached the quarterfinals of the 2011 U.S. Open Cup before falling to eventual semifinalists, FC Dallas.


2011 Real Salt Lake season, Review, November
Towards the end of November 2010, Major League Soccer held its Expansion Draft for the arrivals of Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Among Salt Lake's unprotected players for the draft, Portland selected two: Robbie Findley and David Horst. Findley, though, following an expired contract with the Royals, declared his intentions to play overseas, with rumors circulating about him possibly playing for Danish Superliga clubs Brøndby and Randers, Premier League club Wolverhampton, even Championship club Nottingham Forest. On November 24, Randers denied rumors that Findley was on trial with the club.


2011 Real Salt Lake season, Review, November
Subsequent to the expansion draft, the Royals made a trade with the Timbers to bring in Salvadorian Arturo Alvarez, whom previously played his club soccer for San Jose Earthquakes, in return for allocation money and draft picks.


2011 Real Salt Lake season, Review, December
After much anticipation, Salt Lake agreed to buy striker Alvaro Saborio on loan from the Swiss club Sion on December 1, for a fee of around $1.0M. Saborío, spent the 2010 season on loan with the Royals where he scored 12 league goals and bagged six Champions League goals. He will sign as a Designated Player being the first in club history.


2011 Real Salt Lake season, Review, December
After much rumor as to where striker Robbie Findley would end up, he eventually signed for English Championship club Nottingham Forest, making Findley the first RSL player to leave for Europe since Yura Movsisyan went to Randers. Findley signed with Forest on December 23. The contract was reported to be for 2.5 years through the end of the 2012-13 English football season.


2011 Real Salt Lake season, Review, January
The club met in late January to begin preparations for the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal vs. Columbus on February 22.


2011 Real Salt Lake season, Review, February
Salt Lake spent the month of February in preparations for their Champions League semifinal. Prior to the match, they played two final tune up games against Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Chivas USA.


2011 Real Salt Lake season, Review, February
In their quarterfinal away fixture, in the frigid cold, 25 degrees, RSL drew Columbus 0-0.


2011 Real Salt Lake season, Review, April
Salt Lake opened April with a semifinal fixture on the road to Saprissa. The match, played on April 5, ended in a 2–1 victory for Saprissa, although Salt Lake would win 3–2 on aggregate, secured by Jamison Olave's half volley in the 71st minute of play.


2011 Real Salt Lake season, Review, April
The win booked Salt Lake a spot in the Champions League finals, in which they became the first American team to make the finals under the current format, as well as the first American team to make the finals of a CONCACAF club tournament since Los Angeles Galaxy in 2000. On April 6, it was learned that Salt Lake would be playing Monterrey of Mexico in the Champions League finals, after Monterrey pulled off a 2–1 aggregate win over Cruz Azul.


2011 Real Salt Lake season, Review, April
On April 9, the club would return to league play, flying out to Boston to take on New England Revolution. Because of the Champions League match three days earlier, many first team players rested this weekend and mainly a team composed of reserves and a few starters played in the game. In spite of this, Salt Lake was able to pull off a 2–0 win at New England, giving them a perfect 3-0-0 record.


2011 Real Salt Lake season, Review, April
Following the New England match, the club had another mid-week fixture against Rocky Mountain rivals, Colorado Rapids. Due to the club's recent success in 2011, the match was expected to be hotly contested. A crowd of nearly 15,500 showed up for the mid-week game as Salt Lake pulled off a controversial, late goal in injury time. The goal was scored by Fabián Espíndola.


2011 Real Salt Lake season, Review, April
Originally, Salt Lake was to host Philadelphia Union on April 23, but the Union voluntarily rescheduled their match to September 3. The Union rescheduled the match to help aid Salt Lake in their Champions League campaign.