2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship
The 2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship was a triathlon competition that was held in Zell am See-Kaprun, Austria on August 30, 2015. It was won by Jan Frodeno of Germany and Daniela Ryf of Switzerland. The championship was organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) and was the culmination of the Ironman 70.3 series of events that occurred from August 3, 2014 through July 12, 2015. Athletes, both professional and amateur, earned a spot in the championship race by qualifying in races throughout the 70.3 series. A prize purse of $250,000 will be distributed to the top 10 male and female professional athletes. The race marked the second year of the championship event being held in a non-recurring location and the first time being held in Europe.


2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Championship results, Women
With Ryf's win she became the first female to win back-to-back Ironman 70.3 championship titles. Former champions Jodie Swallow and Meredith Kessler both exited the race early. Swallow pulled out after the swim after suffering a bike crash the previous day. Kessler experienced mechanical issues on the bike.


2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Qualification
The 2015 Ironman 70.3 Series featured 71 events that enabled qualification to the 2015 World Championship event. Professional triathletes qualified for the championship race by competing in races during the qualifying period, earning points towards their pro rankings. For the 2015 championship race that period was August 3, 2014 to July 12, 2015. An athlete’s five highest scoring races are counted toward their pro rankings. The top 50 males and top 35 females in the pro rankings qualified for the championship race.


2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Qualification
The previous five 70.3 champions receive an automatic qualifying spot provided they validate their entry by competitively finishing one qualifying race. Winners of the five regional 70.3 championships will also automatically qualify for the championship race. These winners did not count towards the final 50 and 35 qualifiers Professional athletes were also eligible for prize purses at each qualifying event, which ranged in total size from $75,000 to $100,000.


2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Qualification
Amateur triathletes could qualify for the championship race by earning a qualifying slot at one of the qualifying events. At qualifying events, slots were allocated to each age group category, male and female, with the number of slots given out based on that category's proportional representation of the overall field. Each age group category was tentatively allocated one qualifying spot in each qualifying event. In previous years some 70.3 events also served as qualifiers for the full Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. However, the 2014 qualifying year served as the final year for almost all qualifying races in this capacity. As such this year's qualifying season only the handcycle competitions and Ironman 70.3 Kraichgau will offer qualification into the 2015 Ironman World Championship. This was to accommodate for the increased number of qualifying slots created from the newly added full Ironman events.


2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Qualification, Non-point races
Prior to the 2014 Ironman Boulder race, World Triathlon Corporation's CEO, Andrew Messick, announced a redistribution of prize money to help facilitate paying ten professionals deep at each race as well as awarding larger prize purses at select races across Ironman and Ironman 70.3. As part of this initiative, WTC eliminated points and prize purses for professional triathletes initially at 9 Ironman events and 11 Ironman 70.3 events in 2015, mostly occurring within North America. There are nine Ironman 70.3 races with no professional points or prize purse offered for the 2015 Ironman 70.3 Championship qualifying period.


2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Qualification, Qualifying Ironman 70.3 events
*Ironman 70.3 Lake Tahoe was canceled due to smoke from the King Fire. †Also serves as a 2014 Ironman World Championship qualifier. ‡Also serves as the handcycle championships and as 2015 Ironman World Championship handcycle qualifierXNo professional points awarded.


2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Qualification, Qualifying pro men
Qualifying slots into the championship race were awarded to the top 50 men in points. Slots that were not accepted by an athlete were rolled down to the next highest eligible qualifier in points.


2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Qualification, Qualifying pro men
Awarded slots are according to Ironman.com as of August 31, 2015 and final race results.


2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Qualification, Qualifying pro women
Qualifying slots were awarded to the top 35 women in points. Slots that were not accepted by an athlete were rolled down to the next highest eligible qualifier in points.


2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Qualification, Qualifying pro women
Awarded slots are according to Ironman.com as of August 31, 2015 and final race results.


2015 Ironman World Championship
The 2015 Ironman World Championship was a long distance triathlon competition held on October 10, 2015 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii and won by Jan Frodeno of Germany and Daniela Ryf of Switzerland. The race was the 39th edition of the Ironman World Championship, which has been held annually in Hawaii since 1978. The championship was organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) and awarded a total purse prize of $650,000.


2015 Ironman World Championship, Qualification
The division of athletes was divided into professional, age group, physically challenged, and hand cycle divisions.


2015 Ironman World Championship, Qualification
For entry into the 2015 World Championship race professional triathletes qualified for the championship through a point system. Points were earned by competing in WTC sanctioned Ironman and Ironman 70.3 events throughout the qualifying year. For the 2015 championship race that period was August 30, 2014 to August 23, 2015. The top 50 male and top 35 female pros in points at the end of the qualifying year qualify to race in Kona. An athlete's five highest scoring races were counted in the point totals.


2015 Ironman World Championship, Qualification
At least one Ironman race must have been completed and only three Ironman 70.3 races count towards an athlete's overall point total. Prior champions of a WTC Championship received an automatic entry for the Championship race for a period of five years after their last championship performance provided that they competed in at least one full-distance Ironman race during the qualifying year. Additionally, winners of the five regional Ironman championships received automatic qualification into the 2015 Ironman Championship. All automatic entries awarded did not count toward the number of available qualifying spots. The available prize money to professional triathletes for qualifying races ranges from $25,000 to $150,000, depending on the event.


2015 Ironman World Championship, Qualification
Amateur athletes could qualify through a single performance at an Ironman event or at the Ironman 70.3 Kraichgau event. Slots were allocated to each amateur age group category, male and female, with the number of slots given out based on that category's proportional representation of the overall field. Each age group category was tentatively allocated one qualifying spot in each qualifying event. This qualifying year marked a large de-emphasis on using selected Ironman 70.3 series races as an avenue for amateur athletes to qualify for the Ironman World Championships. The change was made to accommodate for the increased number of qualifying slots created from the newly added full Ironman events.


2015 Ironman World Championship, Qualification
Other means of entry into the championship race could also be obtained through a random allocation lottery, through Ironman's Legacy program, or through the Ironman's charitable eBay auction. Handcycle competitors could qualify at Ironman Cairns (one male/one female), Ironman 70.3 Luxembourg (one male/one female) and Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs Lake (two male/one female)


2015 Ironman World Championship, Qualification, Illegal lottery
According to a sworn complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in Tampa, Florida, Ironman illegally charged athletes for a chance to win the opportunity to compete in the Ironman World Championship. According to Florida law, the state where the World Triathlon Corporation resides, it is illegal to set up and charge for a lottery. Because WTC charged a $50 fee to enter the lottery, instead of giving away the opportunity to win a slot at the championships, they were in violation of this law. Following the complaint WTC cooperated with the United States Attorneys office and the FBI's investigation of the matter and agreed to forfeit $2,761,910, the amount collected from the lottery since October 24, 2012.


2015 Ironman World Championship, Qualification, Illegal lottery
Winners of the 2015 lottery were notified on March 17, 2015, prior to the announcement of the complaint. WTC stated that these winners would be unaffected by this decision and that their slots for the upcoming championship race would be honored.


2015 Ironman World Championship, Qualification, Non-point races
Prior to the 2014 Ironman Boulder race, World Triathlon Corporation's CEO, Andrew Messick, announced a redistribution of prize money to help facilitate paying ten professionals deep at each race as well as awarding larger prize purses at select races across Ironman and Ironman 70.3. As part of this initiative, WTC eliminated points and prize purses for professional triathletes at 9 Ironman events and 11 Ironman 70.3 events in 2015, all occurring within North America. Those Ironman races with no points or prize purse offered include: Ironman Boulder, Louisville, Wisconsin, Maryland, Lake Tahoe, Florida, Muskoka, Los Cabos and Lake Placid.


2015 Ironman World Championship, Qualification, Non-point races
The majority of these listed events occur after the qualifying period has ended, August, and near the date of the annual Championship event in October. This would also mark the first time since 1985 that an Ironman race will not offer a prize purse. For the 2015 Ironman Championship qualifying period this affects Ironman Lake Placid and Ironman Boulder.


2015 Ironman World Championship, Qualification, Qualifying Ironman races
*Ironman Lake Tahoe was canceled due to smoke from the King Fire. XAmateur only competition.


2015 Irving Tennis Classic
The 2015 Irving Tennis Classic was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the fourth edition of the tournament which was part of the 2015 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Irving, United States between 17 and 22 March 2015.


2015 Irving Tennis Classic, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2015 Irving Tennis Classic – Doubles
Santiago González and Scott Lipsky were the defending champions, but González did not participate. Lipsky partnered with Treat Huey, but lost in the quarterfinals to Pablo Andújar and Diego Schwartzman.


2015 Irving Tennis Classic – Singles
Lukáš Rosol was the defending champion, but withdrew because he was still playing in Indian Wells this year.


2015 Irving Tennis Classic – Singles
Aljaž Bedene won the title, defeating Tim Smyczek in the final, 7–6(7–3), 3–6, 6–3.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race
The 2015 Irwin Tools Night Race was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on August 22, 2015, at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. Contested over 500 laps on the .533 mile (.858 km) concrete short track, it was the 24th race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Joey Logano won the race, making this his second consecutive and overall at the track and his third of the season. Kevin Harvick finished second for the tenth time in the season while Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer rounded out the top five.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race
Hamlin won the pole for the race and led 54 laps on his way to a third-place finish. Kyle Busch led a race high of 192 laps on his way to an eighth-place finish. The race had 14 lead changes among five different drivers, as well as eight caution flag periods for 52 laps.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race
This was the 11th career victory for Joey Logano, third of the season, second at Bristol Motor Speedway and 12th at the track for Team Penske. Despite winning the race, he left Bristol trailing Kevin Harvick by 43-points in the drivers points standings. Ford left Bristol trailing Toyota by one-point for second in the manufacturer standings and Chevrolet by 71 for the points lead.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race
The Irwin Tools Nights Race was carried by NBC Sports on the cable/satellite NBCSN network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Background
Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Despite its short length, Bristol is among the most popular tracks on the NASCAR schedule because of its distinct features, which include extraordinarily steep banking, an all concrete surface, two pit roads, and stadium-like seating. It has also been named one of the loudest NASCAR tracks.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Background
Kevin Harvick entered Bristol with a 48–point lead over Joey Logano. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. entered 82 back. Martin Truex, Jr. entered 111 back. Brad Keselowski entered 112 back.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Report, Background, Entry list
The entry list for the Irwin Tools Night Race was released on Monday, August 17 at 11:17 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-six cars were entered for the race. All but two cars were entered in the previous week's race at Michigan. The only driver change for this race was the No. 33 Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet which was driven by Mike Bliss.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Practice, First practice
Kyle Larson was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 14.779 and a speed of 129.833 mph (208.946 km/h). Towards the tail-end of the session, Martin Truex, Jr. blew a right-front tire and slammed the wall exiting turn 2. The damage done to the left-front control arm forced him to switch to his backup car. Because this change took place prior to qualifying, he won't start the race from the rear of the field.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Practice, Final practice
Kyle Busch was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 14.631 and a speed of 131.146 mph (211.059 km/h).


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Qualifying
Denny Hamlin won the pole with a new track record time of 14.602 and a speed of 131.407 mph (211.479 km/h). "Our FedEx Ground Camry obviously was very fast that last round and Dave (Rogers, crew chief) made the great adjustments to it to pick up the speed and I think that hopefully we’ll have something that we can race with them tomorrow night,” Hamlin said. “The first round just got loose and that kind of put us behind the whole time," Kevin Harvick said after qualifying seventh. "Other than that the car drove pretty good, really throughout every round.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Qualifying
Had a little bit of trouble with all the engine stuff shutting off at the end of the straightaway so that was definitely hurting us." “All of our cars have had good speed today, we just missed the setup there a little bit for qualifying and couldn’t really fix it from the pit box," said Matt Kenseth after qualifying 13th. "We got the best lap we could out of it – wish we could have made it to the last round there. Just didn’t quite have enough in it.”


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Qualifying
"We didn’t qualify very good here the last time we were here and heck, I think this time we were worse than we were the last time," Jeff Gordon said after qualifying 24th for his final start at Bristol. "But we raced really good. I thought our race runs looked decent today. It’s hard to pass. The groove is up top there, so I was hoping we were going to qualify better than this, especially with this pretty awesome Rainbow paint scheme that Axalta has this weekend for us. But, it just wasn’t meant to be. I don’t know. We were just really struggling when we put it into qualifying trim.” Jeb Burton, Travis Kvapil and Reed Sorenson failed to qualify for the race.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, First half, Start
Under a clear East Tennessee evening sky, Denny Hamlin led the field to the green flag at 7:52 p.m. Starting on the bottom line, which isn't the norm at Bristol, he shot ahead of teammate Kyle Busch to lead the first lap. By lap 15, Hamlin caught the tail-end of the field and completed the short track conveyor belt. By lap 18, Busch ran down his teammate and pressured him for the lead. Eventually, the No. 18 Toyota used the lap traffic to pass the No. 11 and take the lead on lap 28.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, First half, Start
The lapped traffic allowed Kyle to pull away from Denny in the ensuing laps. A. J. Allmendinger bumped Paul Menard in turn 3 and about sent the No. 27 car spinning in front of the race leader, but he saved his car and the race continued. Debris in turn 3 brought out the first caution of the race on lap 52. Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin swapped the lead on pit road with the former pitting on the backstretch. It was ultimately Busch whom exited pit road with the lead. Ryan Blaney and Danica Patrick were tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted the race from the rear of the field.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, First half, Start
The race restarted on lap 58. He shot ahead of Kyle Larson on the outside line and drove away from the field followed closely by teammate Denny Hamlin. He too was caught off by lapped traffic and Busch drove away. Matt Kenseth was running fourth when he blew his engine on lap 111. “It broke in the middle of the straightaway – it had that hop and that noise that it makes when you know you dropped a valve,” Kenseth explained.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, First half, Start
“Unfortunate, but man these guys at TRD (Toyota Racing Development) have been doing such an awesome job, we’ve had so much power and everything has been really reliable here the last year and a half. Things like this happen every once in a while. It’s a short night. Felt like we were really competitive – we were one or two adjustments away from where we needed to be, but I thought our Dollar General Camry had good speed.”


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, First half, Start
The second caution of the race flew on lap 126 for a single-car wreck in turn 4. Exiting turn 2, Kyle Larson – who changed just right-side tires under the first caution – cut down his left-front tire and slammed the wall in turn 3. Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin swapped the lead on pit road pitting on opposite pit roads. This time, it was Hamlin who beat his teammate off pit road. Kevin Harvick was tagged for his crew being over the wall too soon and restarted the race from the rear of the field.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, First half, Second quarter
The race restarted on lap 133. Again deviating from recent Bristol norm, Denny Hamlin restarted on the bottom line and shot ahead of his teammate. The third caution of the race flew on lap 146 for a single-car wreck on the front stretch. Exiting turn 2, A. J. Allmendinger came down across the nose of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., slid down the track and slammed the inside wall.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, First half, Second quarter
The race restarted on lap 152. Teammate Kyle Busch drove by Denny Hamlin on the top side to take back the lead on lap 156. Hamlin pulled back up to him in the next eight laps, but was unable to get by him. Eventually, Busch began to pull away from the rest of the lead cars. Being caught being the lapped car of Josh Wise allowed Joey Logano to drive up to his outside, but pulled out in front and continued leading.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, First half, Second quarter
Logano powered underneath Busch after he made slight contact with the wall to take the lead on lap 226. Debris in turn 3 brought out the fourth caution of the race on lap 250. Carl Edwards exited pit road with the lead. Justin Allgaier was tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted the race from the rear of the field.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, Second half, Halfway
The race restarted on lap 258. Kyle Busch drove outside teammate Edwards to retake the lead on lap 282. Unfortunately, he was unable to build a gap as he was caught in heavy lap traffic. Carl reeled in Kyle to drive by him and take the lead on lap 304. He pulled to a one-second lead over Joey Logano. As is normal for Bristol, the lapped traffic slowed him down enough to allow Logano to reel in Edwards. David Ragan made contact with Kurt Busch and sent him into the turn 1 wall.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, Second half, Halfway
Kyle Busch was running third when he made an unscheduled stop on lap 344. Logano ducked underneath Edwards and used the lapped car of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. as a pick to take the lead on lap 347. The lapped traffic allowed Carl to return the favor and retake the lead on lap 352. He cut down a tire, hit pit road from the lead and handed it back to Joey Logano. The fifth caution of the race flew on lap 359 for a single-car wreck on the front stretch. Exiting turn 4, Kyle Larson cut down his right-front tire and slammed the wall hard in turn 4. Kevin Harvick was tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted the race from the rear of the field.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, Second half, Halfway
The race restarted on lap 368. The sixth caution of the race flew with 130 laps to go for a single-spin on the backstretch. In a classic Bristol accordion effect exiting turn 2, Jimmie Johnson got loose, came down on David Ragan, got turned by Clint Bowyer, sent spinning down the track and slammed the inside wall.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, Second half, Halfway
"The 48 (Johnson) jumped on my outside and we were really good on the bottom and it kind of surprised me by getting out there and he held me tight coming off of Turn 2 and then I guess the 15 (Bowyer) got a little bit of a run and there just wasn’t enough room for the three of us," Ragan said after the race. "That's the way things happen at Bristol sometimes. It's unfortunate. Our Aaron's Dream Machine was really fast and we had a chance to win.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, Second half, Halfway
It's uncalled for to get wrecked and to be involved in a wreck like that but all in all just one of those racing things." "You hate to have that good of a car -- have two good cars and the last person you want to get into and have trouble with is your teammate," Bowyer said after the race. "I'm sick to death about that. We had two top-five cars and MWR really needed that run. With that being said we desperately needed a solid run right there. I mean obviously you're hungry for a win with this organization given everything it had and I drove my ass off we just come up short."


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 121 laps to go. The seventh caution of the race flew with 117 laps to go for a single-car wreck on the front stretch. Exiting turn 4, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. got loose, overcorrected, hit Martin Truex, Jr. and hit the outside wall. Greg Biffle was tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted the race from the rear of the field.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 110 laps to go. Jeff Gordon was running fifth when he made an unscheduled stop for a loose wheel with 93 laps to go. Debris on the backstretch brought out the eighth caution of the race with 71 laps to go. Brad Keselowski opted not to pit under the caution and assumed the lead. Kyle Busch was tagged for speeding on the pit road and restarted the race from the rear of the field. “It’s frustrating,” Adam Stevens said. “We put another car on the track that’s capable of winning and it’s tough to do.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
We’ve been able to do it I don’t know how many weeks in a row. We had a race-winning car at Watkins Glen and Pocono and just keep coming up short. This one’s on us. We made a mistake at Pocono, we weren’t aggressive enough at Watkins Glen and now just make a mistake on pit road. We had a loose wheel and we battled back from that and then you speed on the last stop – you can’t win if you speed on the last stop. That’s all there is to it.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
(NASCAR) told us that we were speeding in section five – our pit box is in section five. You can’t speed if you’re stopped on pit road. Maybe they meant to say a different number, I don’t know. But there is no earthly way that you can speed in the segment that your pit stall is in, it’s not possible.”


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 63 laps to go. Joey Logano shot ahead of his teammate to retake the lead. For the final 50 laps, he and Kevin Harvick dueled with one another for the top spot. While Logano was running the bottom line to get away, Harvick continued to ride around the top lane of the track to reel in Logano. Joey began to pull away with 25 laps remaining. However, he began dealing with lapped traffic again in the final 20 laps.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
It was this lapped traffic that allowed Kevin to reel the lead back to him with 12 laps left in the race. He finally pulled to within a car-length of Logano with four laps to go. Kevin Harvick was unable to catch Joey Logano on the final lap as he went on to score the victory at Bristol.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
“It was kind of interesting to watch it in the mirror,” Logano said of Harvick trying to pass him in the closing laps. “I was watching him drive in and I was like, ‘He’s going to get me eventually,’ so I just wanted to make sure I stayed at least three or four car lengths up on him so he didn't get to me.”


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
"He was just one step ahead of me in traffic,” Harvick explained after finishing runner-up for the 10th time this season. “I couldn't get my car to rotate across the center like I needed it to, and every time I tried to force it would snap the back out.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
He was able to go in really high and before the center of the corner drive down the corner and I was just having to wait just a split second to be able to put the throttle back down, and I couldn't do that, that huge diamond all the way to the bottom like he could, and that was really beneficial for him through traffic, and I kind of had to just part throttle it through the center and grind the tires away through the center to the corner and just hope that they were going to lift, but he was able to get those huge runs up off the exit of the corner and just stayed one step ahead of me through traffic I felt like, and in clean air we probably were a little faster, but it didn't really matter. I had to be in front of him to show that. All in all, he was just one step ahead of me in traffic.”


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
“This was a big night for us,” Bowyer said after finishing fifth. “We needed this. Driver got us behind last weekend after Michigan, but man, when you step up to the plate like this and you’re running at the level that it takes to be a part of the championship caliber elite group like you have in the Chase. You don’t want to just go into that Chase and be a part of it and be the first guy out, you want to go into that Chase with some confidence and momentum and some good runs where you can maybe go a few rounds in there.”


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Media, Television
NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, one–time Bristol winner Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte had the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns, Mike Massaro, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast handled pit road on the television side.


2015 Irwin Tools Night Race, Media, Radio
PRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice, Mark Garrow and Wendy Venturini called the race from the booth when the field was racing down the front stretch. Rob Albright called the race from atop the suites in turn 3 when the field was racing down the backstretch. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, Jim Noble and Steve Richards worked pit road on the radio side.


2015 Islamabad earthquake
2015 Islamabad earthquake occurred at 01:59:54 Pakistan Standard Time  on July 24 in Pakistan. It was centered just 15 km (9.3 mi) northeast of capital city Islamabad at a depth of 19.2 km (11.9 mi). It registered a moment magnitude of 5.1. Collapsed homes left at least three people dead in Abbottabad.


2015 Islamabad local elections
Elections to 50 local Union Councils in the Islamabad Capital Territory were held on November 30, 2015. The fifty chairmen elected constitute the Islamabad Municipal Corporation. The last local elections in Islamabad had been held in 1979, but only in rural areas.


2015 Islamabad local elections
There were 676,795 eligible voters. Tight security measures were enforced on polling day. No incidents of violence were reported.


2015 Island Games
The XVI Island Games (also known as the 2015 NatWest Island Games for sponsorship reasons) was held in Jersey, Channel Islands, from 27 June to 3 July 2015. This was the second time that the island has hosted the games, the first being in 1997.


2015 Island Games
The week long event saw around 3,000 competitors from 24 islands take part in 14 sports. The official mascot of the games was a real life infant silverback gorilla named Indigo who lives at Durrell Wildlife Park in Trinity, Jersey.


2015 Island Games, Participating islands
24 island entities of the IIGA, from Europe, South Atlantic and the Caribbean area, competed in these Games.


2015 Island Games, Sports
Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each sport.


2015 Islands District Council election
The 2015 Islands District Council election was held on 22 November 2015 to elect all 10 elected members to the 18-member Islands District Council.


2015 Israel Premier Lacrosse League season
The 2015 Israel Premier Lacrosse League season was the 1st and inaugural season of Israel Premier Lacrosse League.


2015 Israel Premier Lacrosse League season
Barak Netanya LC won the IPLL Championship with a win over Haifa LC, with Bryan Hopper winning the EL AL Player of the Game award. A total of 16 games were played, with each team playing eight games.


2015 Israel State Cup Final
The 2015 Israel State Cup Final decided the winner of the 2014–15 Israel State Cup, the 80th season of Israel's main football cup. It was played 20 May 2015 at the Sammy Ofer Stadium in Haifa, between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Be'er Sheva.


2015 Israel State Cup Final, Background
Maccabi Tel Aviv were in their 34th final, having already won 22. Their most recent final was in 2005, winning 1-0 against Maccabi Hertzliya, and their last loss was in 1997 to Hapoel Be'er Sheva. It will be Hapoel Be'er Sheva's fourth final, Their most recent appearance in the final was in 2003, in which they lost on penalties against Hapoel Ramat Gan.


2015 Israel Super Cup
The 2015 Israel Super Cup was the 20th Israel Super Cup (25th, including unofficial matches, as the competition wasn't played within the Israel Football Association in its first 5 editions, until 1969), an annual Israel football match played between the winners of the previous season's Top Division and Israel State Cup. This was the first time since 1990 that the match was staged, after a planned resumption of the cup was cancelled in 2014.


2015 Israel Super Cup
The game was played between Maccabi Tel Aviv, champions of the 2014–15 Israeli Premier League and Ironi Kiryat Shmona, runners-up in the league, as Maccabi Tel Aviv won the State Cup final.


2015 Israel Super Cup
This was Maccabi Tel Aviv's fifth Israel Super Cup appearance (7th, including unofficial matches) and Kiryat Shmona's first. Watched by a crowd of 7,000 at Netanya Stadium, Ironi Kiryat Shmona won the match 5–4 on penalties, after a 2–2 draw in extra time.


2015 Israeli Basketball League Cup
The 2015 Israeli Basketball League Cup, for sponsorships reasons the Winner League Cup, was the 10th edition of the pre-season tournament of the Israeli Basketball Super League. Maccabi Tel Aviv won the title for the 6th time. Hapoel Eilat were runners-up.


2015 Israeli Basketball League Cup
The tournament was held from 24 September 2015 until 28 September 2015 and the games were played in both the Holon Toto Hall in Holon and in the Drive in Arena in Tel Aviv.


2015 Israeli Beach Soccer League
The 2015 Israeli Beach Soccer League was a national beach soccer league that took place between 12 June and 31 July 2015, in Netanya, Israel.


2015 Israeli Beach Soccer League, Group stage
All kickoff times are of local time in Netanya, Israel (UTC+02:00).


2015 Israeli legislative election
Early elections for the twentieth Knesset were held in Israel on 17 March 2015. Disagreements within the governing coalition, particularly over the budget and a "Jewish state" proposal, led to the dissolution of the government in December 2014. The Labor Party and Hatnuah formed a coalition, called Zionist Union, with the hope of defeating the Likud party, which had led the previous governing coalition along with Yisrael Beiteinu, Yesh Atid, The Jewish Home, and Hatnuah.


2015 Israeli legislative election
The incumbent Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud, declared victory in the election, with Likud picking up the highest number of votes. President Reuven Rivlin granted Netanyahu an extension until 6 May 2015 to build a coalition when one had not been finalized in the first four weeks of negotiations. He formed a coalition government within two hours of the midnight 6 May deadline. His Likud party formed the coalition with the Jewish Home, United Torah Judaism, Kulanu, and Shas, with the bare minimum 61 seats. Yisrael Beiteinu later joined the coalition in May 2016.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Background
During late November and early December 2014, there were serious disagreements between parties in the governing coalition, particularly over the budget and a "Jewish state" proposal. On 2 December, Likud announced it would support a dissolution bill, with a vote scheduled for 8 December. Hours later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Tzipi Livni and Yair Lapid from their cabinet portfolios. In the first reading of the dissolution bill on 3 December, it was approved by a vote of 84–0, with one abstention. The second and third readings were held on 8 December, with the third reading passing with a vote of 93–0.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Background
The final election turnout was 72.3%, 4.6% higher than in the previous election and the highest since the 1999 elections, which saw a 78.7% turnout.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Background
Initially, exit polls reported a virtual tie between the Likud and the Zionist Union, a coalition headed by Leader of the Opposition Isaac Herzog and former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. Both Netanyahu and Herzog began attempts to build a coalition in preparation for a possible government, with Herzog calling Netanyahu's statement "premature". However, when the counting of the votes on 18 March 2015 revealed a significant lead for the Likud, Herzog acknowledged that "the only realistic option" was to remain in the opposition. He stated in a 19 March 2015 post-election interview that he still hopes to be the prime minister.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Date
During the meeting held with Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein on setting the date of the election, Likud and the Jewish Home favoured 10 March, the Labor Party requested 17 March, Shas and United Torah Judaism preferred 24 March, whilst the Arab parties requested that the elections be delayed until May. The date was ultimately set for 17 March.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Electoral system
The 120 seats in the Knesset are elected by proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency. The electoral threshold for the 2013 elections was 2%, but on 11 March 2014, the Knesset voted to raise the threshold to 3.25%. The vote was boycotted by the opposition. In almost all cases, this is equivalent to a minimum party size of four seats, but on rare occasions, a party can end up with three.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Electoral system, Joint electoral lists
Continuing their long-standing alliance, Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel ran on a joint electoral list named United Torah Judaism.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Electoral system, Joint electoral lists
In December 2014, the Labor Party and Hatnuah agreed to form a joint electoral list named Zionist Union.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Electoral system, Joint electoral lists
The new Yachad party and Otzma Yehudit agreed on a joint electoral list.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Electoral system, Joint electoral lists
Following the raising of the electoral threshold, Balad, Hadash, the southern branch of the Islamic Movement, Ta'al, and the United Arab List agreed in January 2015 to form a joint electoral list named Joint List.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Electoral system, Surplus-vote agreements
Two parties could make an agreement so that they were considered to be running on a joint list when leftover seats were distributed. The Bader–Ofer method favors larger lists, meaning that a joint list is more likely to receive leftover seats than each list would individually. If such a joint list were to receive a leftover seat, the Bader–Ofer method would be applied a second time to determine which of the parties that make up the joint list would receive it. The following agreements were signed by parties prior to the election:


2015 Israeli legislative election, Parliament factions
The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 19th Knesset.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Likud
Prime Minister Netanyahu called a primary for 25 December 2014; however, it was postponed until 6 January. After the election was called, the prime minister demanded a vote of the central committee to move it back up to 31 December. This was passed in a mini-referendum. The candidates were Netanyahu and former deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon. Likud's internal court changed the date to 6 January 2015 after finding that the vote lacked a two-thirds majority. A panel of Likud judges accepted Netanyahu's appeal and allowed the vote to occur on 31 December 2014.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Likud
The controversy over the timing of the primaries led to an internal investigation resulting in a report by party comptroller Shay Galilee that claimed Netanyahu had misused party employees. Galilee subsequently invited Netanyahu to a pre-disqualification hearing, which resulted in Netanyahu being prevented from running in the primaries. The prime minister immediately appealed to the Likud internal court. Menachem Ne’eman, the chairman of the Likud election committee, has claimed that Galilee acted outside his authority and that his decision is invalid. Netanyahu's attorney and his primary campaign have contested the disqualification. Netanyahu was allowed to run.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Likud, Primary results and aftermath
The primary results were widely seen as a victory for Netanyahu and the more moderate faction within Likud, as opposed to the far-right fringe. Moshe Feiglin, who for a long time led his own far-rightist faction within Likud and once challenged Netanyahu for the chairmanship, suffered a major defeat in the primary, failing to win a realistic spot on the ticket. In response, he left Likud and announced plans to form a new party. Feiglin said his new party, which may be called the Jewish State Party, will not run in the 2015 election, but will run in the next election after that.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Likud, Platform
The major foreign policy focus of Benjamin Netanyahu during this campaign has been to "prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear capability, by turning world opinion in favor of maintaining and expanding economic and diplomatic sanctions against Tehran". Netanyahu reiterated his positions on Iran to a joint session of the United States Congress. In the Middle East peace process, "Netanyahu has spoken out against further withdrawals from land, further releases of terrorists from prisons, or dividing Jerusalem in any way". Additionally, Netanyahu and other Likud members suggested that positions that he had made in his famous Bar Ilan speech were now null and void. He reiterated this position on the last day of the campaign, telling Makor Rishon that "If I'm elected, there will be no Palestinian State".


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Likud, Platform
Domestically, Likud "calls for a "free-market economy with social sensitivity", suggesting that in order "to remain competitive in a global market, there is a need for budgetary discipline, lowering taxes, an effectively managed stock market, and growth of the private sector". The party has also pledged to "implement State Comptroller Joseph Shapira's recommendations for ending the housing crisis and improve benefits for the self-employed".


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Likud, Platform
The right-wing government is in danger. Arab voters are going in droves to the polls. Left-wing organizations are bringing them on buses. We only have you, Go to the polls, bring your friends and family, vote Likud, to close the gap between us and Labor Zionist Union. With your help and God's help, we will form a nationalist government that will protect the State of Israel.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Likud, Platform
It has been argued that this statement had implications on the Likud victory in the election. Following the elections, Netanyahu said he regretted the message.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Likud, Platform
The President of the United States, Barack Obama, criticized that statement.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Zionist Union (Labor and Hatnuah)
The Labor Party held its primaries on 13 January 2015, in which Isaac Herzog won against Shelly Yachimovich. The Labor Party and Hatnuah agreed on 10 December 2014 to form a joint ticket. Hatnuah head Tzipi Livni has said that other parties will also be part of the alliance.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Zionist Union (Labor and Hatnuah)
Herzog and Livni initially said that if they won enough votes to form the next government, they would take turns in the role of prime minister, with Herzog serving for the first two years and Livni for the second two, in a compromise known as rotation, though Livni announced on 16 March 2015 that only Herzog would serve as prime minister.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Zionist Union (Labor and Hatnuah)
Aluf (Major General, res.) Amos Yadlin was the party's candidate for Ministry of Defence, though he did not run in the election itself.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Zionist Union (Labor and Hatnuah)
The alliance was expanded further when Livni selected Yael Cohen Paran, a co-chair of the Green Movement, Major General (res.) Eyal Ben-Reuven, and Yoel Hasson for Hatnuah's reserved slots on the Zionist Union list.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Zionist Union (Labor and Hatnuah)
The slate was endorsed by former prime minister Ehud Barak, former prime minister and president Shimon Peres, former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, head of Israel's wealthiest family Stef Wertheimer, columnist Ari Shavit, the daily Haaretz, and The Economist.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Zionist Union (Labor and Hatnuah), Platform
Maintaining its position firmly within the Israeli peace camp, the party pledged to "reignite a process with our Palestinian neighbors based on a regional platform, and foster our unique and special relationship with Washington", but did not specify in greater detail the concessions that would be made by a Zionist Union government, other than saying that the Jordan Valley must be Israel's eastern security border. The party also pledged "to rescue Israel from its international isolation [by] restor[ing] relations with the US and Europe, and unit[ing] the world in its war against terrorism and aggression".


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Zionist Union (Labor and Hatnuah), Platform
Much of the party's policy has been focused on economic issues facing Israelis, due in large part to members of the 2011 Israeli social justice protests currently on the party's slate of candidates. The party has pledged "support for 300,000 available apartments, released to the market at the rate of 50,000–60,000 per year, and subsidizing land value in housing, while providing an opportunity for partial ownership through rent payments. The party also plans to "lower the costs of healthcare, education, and basic goods for every family in Israel, allocating NIS 2 billion to create a basic aid package for senior citizens in need and launch a national savings program for children".


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Joint List
Following the raising of the electoral threshold, Balad, Hadash, the southern branch of the Islamic Movement, Ta'al, and the United Arab List agreed on 22 January 2015 to run on the same list in the election, the first time the major Arab parties had all run on a single list. One poll suggested that the formation of the alliance, later named the Joint List, could increase turnout amongst Arab voters to 56%, 10% higher than in the 2013 elections. However, the more hard-line northern branch of the Islamic Movement opted to boycott the elections, alongside the Abnaa el-Balad (Sons of the Village) movement.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Joint List, Platform
Despite the official positions of anti-Zionism of some of the List's parties, the party's platform on the Middle East peace process tries to stake a moderate position. The Joint List's policy on the peace process "calls for a just peace based on UN resolutions, ending the occupation of all land Israel captured in 1967, dismantling all settlements and the security barrier, releasing all "political prisoners", and forming a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital". Additionally, the party "calls for a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem, which guarantees a right of return and self-rule for Israeli-Arab citizens on educational, cultural and religious issues". On other foreign policy matters, the party "supports a nuclear-free Israel and Middle East".


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Joint List, Platform
Due to the fact that the party is primarily concerned with the interests of Israeli Arabs, the party "calls for full equality in state budgeting for Jewish and Arab municipalities and institutions, as well as affirmative action to help the poor – who are disproportionately Arab". Additionally, the party wants to raise the minimum wage to 60% of the average salary.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Yesh Atid
Hailed as the kingmakers in the 2013 elections, Yesh Atid and its leader Yair Lapid have seen their popularity cut in half since joining the government. Elected on a "promise to lower the cost of living and improve the middle class's quality of life, Lapid implemented a string of unpopular austerity measures after being appointed finance minister that, he said, were necessary to counter a government deficit that ran into the tens of billions of shekels". Such actions led to Lapid being named the "most disappointing politician of 2013" and giving him the lowest approval ratings of cabinet ministers.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Yesh Atid
Following the election call, several sitting Yesh Atid MKs announced their intention not to run in the upcoming elections, including Rina Frenkel, Adi Koll, and Shimon Solomon. However, the party gained a member from another party, as Hatnuah MK Elazar Stern joined Yesh Atid following party leader Tzipi Livni's merger with Labor.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Yesh Atid, Platform
Yesh Atid's platform on the Middle East peace is firmly in the middle. The party "maintains that Israel was founded as the nation-state of the Jewish people and must remain a state with a Jewish majority, with defensible borders". The party suggested that a multilateral approach involving Israel's neighbors would allow for Israel's long-term security as well as a Palestinian state.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Yesh Atid, Platform
On the subject of Iran, the party says Israel cannot allow Iran to become a nuclear threshold state and must do everything to prevent that scenario, in conjunction with the international community if possible, and unilaterally if necessary.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Yesh Atid, Platform
Party leader Yair Lapid served as a finance minister in Netanyahu's government and takes both the support and the blame for the government's fiscal policies. Had the government not fallen, Lapid's 2015 budget "would have increased investment in social services by more than NIS 10 billion without incurring any increase in taxes". The party "believes in a fair economic policy that directs budgetary investments to the middle class and the weakest in society, closing social gaps, while strengthening the market and encouraging growth". The party calls for more spending on health, education, and welfare, as well as encouraging growth and investment in the industry by assisting small and medium businesses and promoting innovation in the market, fighting the black market, and striving to put public funds back in the hands of the public.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Kulanu
The Kulanu party was established in November 2014 by former Likud MK Moshe Kahlon following months of speculation.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Kulanu
Kahlon was able to attract some high-profile candidates for the Kulanu party list, including former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren and Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Rachel Azaria. However, one of these candidates, former Reshet Aleph director and IBA presenter Tsega Melaku, was barred from running in the elections, due to the fact that she did not wait the requisite 100 days between quitting her public sector job and running in a general election.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Kulanu, Ideology
Kahlon is known for his support for egalitarian economics and for issues affecting the middle class, although he also maintains a strong working-class appeal. As communications minister, he earned popularity by taking on Israel's wireless cartel and forcing them to lower mobile phone prices by introducing new competitors. His platform aims to break up business monopolies and lower the high cost of living. Traditionally known for a hard line on security matters, Kahlon has in more recent times suggested support for territorial compromise for a two-state solution.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Kulanu, Ideology
He has said he is "a product of the Likud", but that his "worldview is center, slightly leaning to the right". Within the Likud, he was known to be socially liberal. Ari Shavit wrote in January 2015 that Kulanu had the potential to be the true successor to the national liberalism of Ze'ev Jabotinsky and Menachem Begin. It is not clear with which political bloc his party is naturally allied. Kahlon considers himself a long-standing member of both Israel's "national camp" and its "social camp". While campaigning in 2015, he would not say whether the party would endorse Benjamin Netanyahu or Isaac Herzog for prime minister, although Galant, placed second on the party's list, suggested it would prefer Herzog.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, The Jewish Home
The Jewish Home held its primary elections on 14 January 2015. It has agreed to a vote-sharing agreement with Likud. Tkuma has candidates on the same list as the Jewish Home for the election. It held its primaries on 11 January 2015. Its Knesset members will be placed on the 2nd, 8th, 13th and 17th slots in the joint list.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, The Jewish Home
Rabbi Shimon Or competed against incumbent party leader Naftali Bennett in 14 January leadership elections.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, The Jewish Home
Minister Uri Orbach was placed 6th in the list, but he died on 16 February 2015.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, The Jewish Home, Platform
The Jewish Home is "the only incumbent party in Israel that opposes any type of Palestinian state west of the Jordan River", as well as a one-state solution, which it sees as "infeasible and dangerous". The party instead supports annexing Area C, and giving Area A and B self-governing autonomy.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, The Jewish Home, Platform
The party's economic platform is "committed to increasing competition, breaking up monopolies, and cutting taxes to the middle class whenever possible, because the party believes the government must encourage new ventures by maintaining a business-friendly climate through favorable economic policies and cutting red tape". The party also supports doubling the incentive package given to small businesses, allowing them to borrow up to 85 percent of set-up costs.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Yisrael Beiteinu
Yisrael Beiteinu, who ran in the 2013 elections on a joint party list with Likud, split from the party in July 2014, with analysts suggesting that it was due to policy disagreements between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Lieberman, specifically regarding the 2014 kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers and the ensuing conflict in Gaza. The party's poll numbers stayed relatively steady after the split from Likud, but began to slide in early 2015.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Yisrael Beiteinu, Platform
Party leader Avigdor Liberman has publicized his own plan for peace with the Palestinians. The Lieberman Plan is controversial due to its plan for massive population exchanges between Jews and Arabs.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Yisrael Beiteinu, Platform
On economic issues, the party pledged a 90% mortgage for the purchase of a first apartment for couples in which both partners work, and served in the army or did national service. Additionally, they suggest that the state should provide after-school activities until 5 p.m. for children aged from six months to six years.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Yisrael Beiteinu, Platform
The party would also run on a platform that included death sentences for terrorists; in July of the same year a bill was proposed, and sponsored by one of the party's members, to allow a majority of presiding judges to sentence a terrorist to death. By a vote of 94–6 the bill was rejected in its first reading.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, United Torah Judaism
United Torah Judaism, or Yehadut HaTorah, is an alliance between:


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, United Torah Judaism, Platform
As a party that caters to Israel's large Haredi and Hasidic community, the party's platform reflects this. On foreign policy, "the party's guiding principle is that the Land of Israel was given to the Jewish people by God, and belongs to them forever". When faced with practical questions on the conflict, leading rabbis will also consider pikuach nefesh, the Jewish legalistic principle of saving life taking priority over all else. At heart, the party is "committed to true peace in the Middle East, and putting an end to the bloodshed".


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, United Torah Judaism, Platform
The party "demands a solution to the Haredi housing shortage, and will work to change housing policies to enable young couples to comfortably purchase or rent a suitable home". Additionally, the party "insists that state land be allocated free of charge to those eligible for state housing, and will work to construct a program to populate these units with homeless from the Haredi community". On other social issues, the party also wishes to educate Israelis in Jewish values regarding economic stability and managing family economics. The party's economic policy advocates a focus on the private sector and decreasing government involvement in the economy.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Shas
One of the fiercest rivalries in this campaign has been competition among several different parties for the votes of Sephardic Haredi Jews. Historically, Shas, a Sephardic Haredi party founded by Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has been the key party among Haredi Sephardic and Mizrahi populations. In 1999, Shas leader Aryeh Deri was convicted of taking $155,000 in bribes while serving as Interior Minister, and given a three-year jail sentence. In 2000, he was replaced by Eli Yishai. Yishai led the party for over ten years after Deri's imprisonment, leading the party through Knesset elections until 2013. Deri was released from prison for good behavior in 2002, and remained a popular figure within his constituency.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Shas
Between 2011 and 2014, several events occurred that created rifts in the party. In 2011, after years out of the political spotlight, Deri announced an interest in returning to politics. After Aryeh Deri announced his return to politics, and following a series of highly publicised events that led to an increase in the tensions between the Haredi public and the non-Haredi public, Shas's popularity began to falter, according to most polls. As a result, Shas chairman Eli Yishai requested that Aryeh Deri join the party, instead of establishing an independent party.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Shas
Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef offered Aryeh Deri the 3rd position on the party list, but Deri rejected it at first, and was believed to want to lead the party, start his own party (which according to polls might win as many as 7 seats), or not participate in the election at all. On 16 October, a compromise was reached: Shas would not have a formal chairman, but would instead be jointly led by Deri, Yishai, and Housing and Construction Minister Ariel Atias.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Shas
In May 2013, some months after internal rift following Deri's political comeback, Yishai was ousted and Deri was once again renamed as the leader of the Shas party. Ovadia Yosef, the Sephardi sage and Shas spiritual leader, said regarding his decision to oust Yishai: "It was a deposit that he held, and now, he can redeem it." Yosef also said he had told Deri at the time of his imprisonment that the position of party leader would be returned to him. 2013 also marked the death of Ovadia Yosef, the party's spiritual leader.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Shas
In 2014, Yishai created a new party, called Yachad. On 28 December 2014, a recording was released of Rabbi Yosef, condemning Deri and supporting Yishai in 2008, years before Deri's return to politics. In response to these recordings, Deri tendered his resignation to the party leadership, which they rejected.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Shas
There were also protests and threats to boycott the election from some Haredi women, upset with the fact that the Haredi parties do not allow women on the ballot.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Shas
At the end of the campaign, Yishai sent an open letter to Deri, "calling for peace and unity between the two parties for Election Day and in the coming Knesset, in order to defeat evil decrees against the Torah and against the working class". "Deri dismissed Yishai's missive as hypocritical, and said that he had pleaded for co-operation from Yishai before he quit Shas, but to no avail".


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Shas, Platform
The party's platform on the peace process is simple. Aryeh Deri has suggested that "there is currently no negotiating partner on the Palestinian side; so, the basis of the next government should be socio-economic". On that subject, Shas' economic plan calls for an increase in the minimum wage to NIS 30 an hour, lowering the value-added tax on basic household items, and requiring 7.5% of every building plan to be devoted to public housing. Shas insist that their housing plan creates Mixed-income housing, rather than segregating rich and poor neighborhoods.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Meretz
Meretz held its primaries on 19 January 2015 at a meeting of its 1,000-member central committee in the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds. Leader Zehava Gal-On was re-elected as head of the party, whilst MK Nitzan Horowitz chose not to stand.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Meretz, Platform
Meretz remains the most vocal party within the Israeli peace camp. Leader Zehava Gal-On said that any solution must be based on two states for two peoples, with a border based on pre-1967 lines with agreed-upon land swaps, and include an end to the conflict through a regional solution hinged on the Arab Peace Plan.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Meretz, Platform
The party sees UN recognition of a Palestinian state as a pathway toward negotiations, and calls for the following immediate steps to be taken: Stopping settlement construction, paying Israeli residents of the West Bank to leave willingly, and removing the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip in a gradual and co-ordinated way.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Meretz, Platform
Meretz is also one of the more left-wing parties in terms of economic policy. The party seeks to create a welfare state with broad-reaching social services that are effectively regulated and monitored. It calls for more support for workers and organized labor, rather than the rich, equalizing society through tax reform, and reducing spending in areas such as settlements and the security budget.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Yachad and Otzma Yehudit
Former Shas MK Eli Yishai unveiled Yachad on 15 December 2014.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Yachad and Otzma Yehudit
The Otzma LeYisrael party, which failed to cross the electoral threshold in the 2013 elections, was rebranded as the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Strength) party. The leaders of the party announced that they would consider running with breakaway groups from Shas and the Jewish Home, but not with the Jewish Home itself, because they viewed Naftali Bennett as "insufficiently right-wing".


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Yachad and Otzma Yehudit
The two parties came to an agreement on a joint electoral list, running under the Yachad name.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Yachad and Otzma Yehudit, Platform
Party chairman Eli Yishai told Jeremy Sharon of The Jerusalem Post that he was against giving away any territory from the Land of Israel, and would not agree to any future settlement freeze. The party's economic policy focussed primarily on bridging the gap between rich and poor. Due to Yishai's support within the Haredi community, the party opposed economic sanctions against Haredi draft-dodgers.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Other participating parties
The Ale Yarok (Green Leaf) party, which supports legalizing marijuana, said that anyone who donated to them would receive marijuana if and when the plant was legalized in Israel. As a result, the party raised over NIS 100,000 as of 13 January. Green Leaf has never won parliamentary seats before; however, there are enough cannabis smokers in Israel that if even a quarter of them vote for Ale Yarok, the party will have a good chance of winning seats.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Other participating parties
In January, a political party led by Haredi women declared its intention to run in the upcoming elections, a first in the Israeli political system. The party, which is called U'Bizchutan ("And By Their [female] Merit"), includes Ruth Korian and Noah Erez on its list. Party leader Ruth Korian asked for protection from the government after she said her 10-year-old daughter was pulled out of class and questioned about party activities.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Other participating parties
The "We Are All Friends Na Nach" party, representing Breslover Hasidim, is also running. Because the name of the party in Hebrew is "Kulanu Haverim Na Nach", they objected to the use of the first word by Moshe Kahlon's Kulanu party. Ultimately, however, both parties were allowed to use the name.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Other participating parties
The Greens party renamed itself this election as the "Greens Don't Give A Fuck" party.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Other participating parties
Other parties running again after failing to cross the threshold in the previous election are the Pirate Party, Or, HaTikva LeShinui ("The Hope for Change"), and the Economy Party headed by the Goldstein brothers. Atid Ehad ran under the name "Protecting Our Children – Stop Feeding Them Porn". Though it submitted a list to the Central Elections Committee, the party decided to drop out of the elections and throw its support behind The Jewish Home when it determined based on polls that it would receive fewer than 30,000 votes.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Other participating parties
Former United Arab List MK Taleb el-Sana founded a party called "The Arab List" after not receiving a slot on the Arab parties' Joint List. An alliance of the Arab National Party headed by Muhamad Kanan and the Arab Democratic Party headed by el-Sana, the party submitted a list to the Central Elections Committee, with Kanan in the top spot and not including el-Sana, but decided to drop out of the elections only one week before the polls. However, its ballot papers still appeared in voting booths.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Other participating parties
Other parties running for the first time in this election were Democratura, Manhigut Hevratit ("Social Leadership") headed by former Moreshet Avot head Ilan Meshicha, Nivheret Ha'Am HaZmanit ("The Temporary National Team") headed by former Brit Olam founder Ofer Lifschitz, Schirut BeKavod ("Making a Living With Honor"), and Perach ("Flower").


2015 Israeli legislative election, Campaign, Non-participating parties, Kadima
After polls showed that Kadima would be unable to win any seats in 2015 if it competed on its own, there were reports that the Zionist Union was considering adding it to its ticket by reserving the 11th spot for Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz. However, Mofaz rejected these rumors, stating he had no intention of joining the alliance, and announced that he was retiring from politics in January 2015. He was replaced as party leader by Akram Hasson, the first time a Druze Israeli had led a Jewish party. His leadership of the party was short-lived, however, as Hasson shortly quit the party to join the Kulanu list, receiving the 12th slot. Without either of its current MKs, Kadima did not run in the election.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Results
The elections resulted in a record number of women (29) being elected to the Knesset.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Aftermath, Analysis
Although Likud won a plurality of 30 seats, the election did not result in a rightward drift, as much of Likud's success came at the expense of more nationalist parties. In fact, by some counts (particularly if the centrist Kulanu is considered aligned with the left-leaning bloc), the left picked up seats. Bernard Avishai called it a "compromised victory" for Likud, using David Horovitz's terminology to point out that Netanyahu had "desperately cannibalized" other parties in his ideological camp.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Aftermath, Analysis
Nevertheless, Likud's lead put Netanyahu in a comfortable position to attract potential partners, including nationalist and religious parties, into a coalition with less ideological divisions than his last government, given the unlikely return of the center-left Yesh Atid and Hatnuah factions to the coalition, the departure of many extremists within Likud, and the diminished size of other right-wing parties. The 20th Knesset saw fewer settlers (and supporters of settlements outside the major blocs), fewer Orthodox lawmakers, a record number of women, more supporters of progressive streams of Judaism, and more Arabs.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Aftermath, Analysis
Despite his electoral victory, coalition building proved very difficult for Netanyahu.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Aftermath, Reactions
Two days after the election, U.S. President Barack Obama called Netanyahu to congratulate him on his victory. During the call, Obama said that the United States would "re-assess" aspects of its relationship with Israel. This came after Netanyahu said some controversial statements about the two-state solution during his re-election campaign. A possible effect of the election has been described as the worsening of an already "poisonous" relationship between Obama and Netanyahu. According to Jeffrey Goldberg, American Jewish leaders were "uniformly, and deeply, anxious" about Israel's future in the wake of the victory by Netanyahu, whose election tactics also put off many American Jews and pro-Israel groups.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Aftermath, Reactions
Many prominent Palestinians rejoiced at the news, believing it would give them increased legitimacy and Israel decreased credibility in the international arena and among its own allies. Similarly, Thomas Friedman observed: "From Iran's point of view, it makes fantastic TV on Al Jazeera, and all the European networks; it undermines Israel's legitimacy with the young generation on college campuses around the globe; and it keeps the whole world much more focused on Israeli civil rights abuses against Palestinians, rather than the massive civil rights abuses perpetrated by the Iranian regime against its own people. It is stunning how much Bibi's actions serve Tehran's strategic interests."


2015 Israeli legislative election, Aftermath, Reactions
Iran's foreign ministry said on Wednesday it saw no difference between Israel's political parties and called them all aggressors. Iran's foreign ministry spokeswoman Marizeh Afkham told reporters at a weekly news conference in Tehran: "For us, there is no difference between the Zionist regime's political parties. They are all aggressors in nature."


2015 Israeli legislative election, Aftermath, Reactions
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Prime Minister Netanyahu following the Likud party's success in the elections, in a post on Modi's Twitter account reading, "Mazel tov, my friend Bibi @Netanyahu..."


2015 Israeli legislative election, Aftermath, Reactions
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper also tweeted congratulations: "I congratulate PM Netanyahu on his election results. We look fwd to working w/ the gov't once formed. Israel has no greater friend than Cda."


2015 Israeli legislative election, Government formation
Following the elections, the leaders of parties with seats in the Knesset gave their suggestions to President Reuven Rivlin as to which party leader should be given the task of forming a coalition. Kulanu, the Jewish Home, Yisrael Beiteinu, Shas and United Torah Judaism all joined the Likud in suggesting the incumbent Prime Minister Netanyahu, giving him the support of 67 of the 120 seats. The Zionist Union and Meretz both suggested Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog, giving him a total of 29 seats. Yesh Atid and the Joint List both chose to abstain and not suggest any party leader. These suggestions do not define who will, and will not, end up in a coalition: In Israel's 2013 election, Hatnuah did not suggest Netanyahu and joined his government, while the ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism both suggested Netanyahu, but did not join his coalition.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Government formation
Rivlin encouraged a unity government between Likud and the Zionist Union, but Isaac Herzog reiterated that unity government "never was, and never will be". Reports shortly after the election had the Kulanu party, led by Moshe Kahlon, in a decisive position to pick the next prime minister. At the time, Kulanu leader Kahlon remained open to forging a coalition with either Netanyahu or Herzog, and stated that he would make his decision "after all the votes are counted".


2015 Israeli legislative election, Government formation
On 25 March, President Reuven Rivlin tasked Netanyahu to form a new government. As there were no coalition partners in place on 20 April, Rivlin granted Netanyahu a two-week extension, until 6 May, to form his coalition.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Government formation
Avigdor Lieberman, the outgoing foreign minister, announced shortly before the 6 May deadline that his Yisrael Beiteinu party would not join a coalition with the Likud. Consequently, Netanyahu and his Likud party formed a narrow coalition government including The Jewish Home, United Torah Judaism, Kulanu, and Shas. This coalition commanded a bare majority of 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. No candidate was announced to lead the Foreign Ministry. It was believed that Netanyahu was still trying to lure Herzog to lead the post, but Herzog rejected the idea. Due to the makeup of the coalition and its slim majority, analysts did not expect the government to last long or achieve much.


2015 Israeli legislative election, Government formation
As required by Israel's Basic Law: The Government, Netanyahu informed Rivlin that he had succeeded in forming a coalition just two hours before the deadline. The government was approved by the plenum of the Knesset on 14 May, after a stormy debate, by a vote of 61–59.


2015 Istanbul Open
The 2015 Istanbul Open (also known as the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open for sponsorship purposes) was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was part of the 2015 ATP World Tour. It was the first edition of the Istanbul Open, and an ATP World Tour 250 event. It took place at the Koza World of Sports Arena in Istanbul, Turkey, from 27 April through 3 May 2015.


2015 Istanbul Open, Doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pair received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2015 Istanbul Open – Doubles
This is the first edition of the tournament. Radu Albot and Dušan Lajović won the title, defeating Robert Lindstedt and Jürgen Melzer in the final, 6–4, 7–6(7–2).


2015 Istanbul Open – Singles
Roger Federer won his 85th ATP title, defeating Pablo Cuevas in the final, 6–3, 7–6(13–11).


2015 Istanbul Open – Singles, Seeds
The top four seeds receive a bye into the second round.


2015 Istanbul suicide bombing
On 6 January 2015, Diana Ramazova from Dagestan detonated a bomb vest at a police station in Istanbul's central Sultanahmet district, near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. The attack killed Ramazova and injured two police officers, one of whom later succumbed to his wounds. Ramazova was the pregnant widow of a Norwegian-Chechen ISIS fighter in Syria who had been killed in December 2014.


2015 Istanbul suicide bombing, Attack
Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said the woman, who reportedly spoke English with "a thick accent" and was dressed in a niqab, entered the police station and told officers she had lost her wallet before detonating the bomb. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told reporters that the bomber was carrying two other devices, which were safely defused by officers on the scene. Emergency services rushed to the blast site, while the tram line that runs through the district was temporarily suspended. Besides the perpetrator only one other person died in the attack; a young police officer from Trabzon who just become a father.


2015 Istanbul suicide bombing, Perpetrator
Six people, including three foreigners, were detained over the attack.


2015 Istanbul suicide bombing, Perpetrator
On January 7, the far-left armed group Revolutionary People's Liberation Party–Front (DHKP/C) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was meant "to punish (the) murderers of Berkin Elvan" and "to call to account the fascist state that protects AKP's corrupt, stealing ministers". Berkin Elvan was a 15-year-old boy who was killed by a tear-gas canister fired by a police officer during the 2013 Istanbul protests. The bombing came five days after another member of DHKP/C attacked police on guard outside the Ottoman-era Dolmabahçe Palace, hurling two grenades that failed to explode. The building houses the Istanbul offices of the Turkish prime minister.


2015 Istanbul suicide bombing, Perpetrator
The group also claimed that the suicide bomber was Elif Sultan Kalsen. After being called to a criminal medical center to identify the body, Kalsen's family denied the claims, stating that it was not their daughter.


2015 Istanbul suicide bombing, Perpetrator
On January 8, 2015, the perpetrator was identified as Diana Ramazova, a Chechen-Russian citizen from Dagestan. She had married Abu Aluevitsj Edelbijev, a Norwegian citizen of Chechen origin in 2014. They spent three months in Istanbul from May to July 2014, before entering Syria. In Syria Edelbijev fought for ISIS and was killed in December. Ramazova, who was pregnant at the time, irregularly reentered Turkey shortly after his death.


2015 Istria Cup
The 2015 Istria Cup was the third edition of the Istria Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Croatia. It took place from 4–11 March 2015 at the same time as the 2015 Algarve Cup and 2015 Cyprus Cup.


2015 Italian Athletics Championships
The 2015 Italian Athletics Championships (Italian: Campionati italiani assoluti di atletica leggera 2015) was the 105th edition of the Italian Athletics Championships and were held in Turin from 24 to 26 July 2015.


2015 Italian Athletics Indoor Championships
2015 Italian Athletics Indoor Championships was the 46th edition of the Italian Athletics Indoor Championships and were held in Padua for the first time.


2015 Italian Basketball Cup
The 2015 Italian Basketball Cup, known as the Beko Final Eight for sponsorship reasons, was the 47th edition of the Italian Basketball Cup, the cup competition organised by Lega Basket for Lega Basket Serie A club. The tournament was held from 20 to 22 February at the PalaDesio in Desio.


2015 Italian Basketball Cup
Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari won its second successive title by beating EA7 Emporio Armani Milano 101–94 in the final. David Logan was named the Cup final MVP.


2015 Italian Basketball Cup, Participants
Eight teams qualified for the final eight as the best ranked teams at the end of the first stage of the 2014-15 Serie A.


2015 Italian Basketball Cup, Road to the final
In the quarterfinals, Milano earned a close 68-60 win over Avellino on the back of Samardo Samuels' 19 points and 12 rebounds, Reggio Emilia edged Dolomiti Energia Trento 80-77 with 16 points and 9 assists from Andrea Cinciarini, Brindisi downed Venezia 80-70 thanks to 27 points (on 6-of-8 three point shooting) from Jacob Pullen whilst holders Sassari bested Cremona 74-63 with contributions from Édgar Sosa (14 points and 4 assists) and Jeff Brooks (11 points and 7 rebounds).


2015 Italian Basketball Cup, Road to the final
The semifinals saw Milano undo Brindisi 76-65, having led the first quarter 24-4 before a Brindisi upsurge in the next quarter conceded the lead, Milano retook it before half-time and resisted Brindisi's forays until the end, Marshon Brooks' 14 points made him one of five Milan players with 10 points or more.


2015 Italian Basketball Cup, Road to the final
In the other contest, Sassari progressed past Reggio Emilia thanks to a third quarter run that took the game from a tie to a 57-46 Sassari lead, with Reggio Emilia not finding a way back into the game despite Rimantas Kaukėnas' 21 points, the winners had a number of players in double figure scoring including David Logan and Jerome Dyson (16 and 15 points respectively).


2015 Italian Basketball Cup, Final
Milano were seen as the favourites going into the final against defending champions Sassari, however it was the Sardinians that raced into a 33-15 lead after only eight minutes, league-leaders Milano fought back to reduce the lead to 49-47 before half-time but an excellent start to the third quarter enabled Sassari to accrue a determinant lead and repeat their 2014 Cup win. Game MVP Logan had 25 points as Dyson paced the winners with 27 points, Joe Ragland and Brooks contributed 21 and 18 points respectively to Milano's losing effort.


2015 Italian Basketball Supercup
The 2015 Italian Basketball Supercup was the 21st edition of the super cup tournament in Italian basketball league. Qualified for the tournament were league winners and cup winners Dinamo Sassari, cup finalists Olimpia Milano and league finalist Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia and Reyer Venezia Mestre.


2015 Italian F4 Championship
The 2015 Italian F4 Championship was the second season of the Italian Formula 4 Championship. It began on 3 May in Vallelunga and finished on 4 October in Misano after seven triple header rounds.


2015 Italian F4 Championship, Race calendar and results
The calendar was published on 27 November 2014. On 15 May 2015, it was announced that the round scheduled for Franciacorta (13–14 June) would be moved to Imola, to be held over the weekend of 27–28 June.


2015 Italian F4 Championship, Championship standings, Drivers' standings
Bold – PoleItalics – Fastest Lap† — Did not finish, but classified


2015 Italian Grand Prix
The 2015 Italian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Gran Premio d'Italia 2015) was a Formula One motor race held on 6 September 2015 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy. The race was the twelfth round of the 2015 season, and marked the 85th running of the Italian Grand Prix.


2015 Italian Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes was the defending race winner, and entered with a 28-point lead over teammate Nico Rosberg in the Drivers' Championship, with Sebastian Vettel a further 39 points behind. Mercedes lead the Constructors' Championship by 184 points over Ferrari, with Williams a further 81 points behind in third.


2015 Italian Grand Prix
Hamilton completed the second Grand Slam of his career by winning the race, taking pole position, setting the fastest lap and leading every lap of the race. He finished 25 seconds ahead of Vettel, while Felipe Massa finished third for Williams. Rosberg retired with three laps to go due to an engine failure, resulting in Hamilton extending his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 53 points.


2015 Italian Grand Prix
Hamilton's victory was confirmed a few hours after the race following an investigation from race stewards after it was discovered that the left-rear tyre on his Mercedes was below Pirelli's recommended minimum tyre pressure standards in a random check but due to procedural inconsistencies, no sanctions were imposed against either Mercedes driver or the team.


2015 Italian Grand Prix
This race marked the 41st and final podium finish for Felipe Massa.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Background
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought its white-banded medium compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the yellow-banded soft compound as the softer "option" compound, as opposed to the previous year where the company brought the hard compound as the prime and medium compound as the option. Sauber's Head of Track Engineering, Giampaolo Dall'Ara, praised the updated choice, summing up that it will challenge teams to make time in the corners in addition to going for pure top speed, putting on a better show for the fans.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Background
However, Pirelli had received criticism from several drivers and commentators following tyre failures on Nico Rosberg's and Sebastian Vettel's cars at the Belgian Grand Prix. Prior to the Italian Grand Prix, Formula One commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone called for the drivers to keep their concerns to themselves, saying: "We’re not going to let them [Pirelli] go. They're doing a good job."


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Background
The Lotus team, who had their cars impounded by bailiffs following Belgium two weeks earlier, managed to get their cars back in time for the Grand Prix. Despite their financial troubles, the team said it had enough funds for the rest of the season. Meanwhile, contract negotiations were high in the agenda prior to the weekend, with Williams announcing that the team would retain Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas for 2016, while Nico Hülkenberg signed a new two-year deal with Force India.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Background
An additional talking point was the future of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, with the event at risk to be dropped from the calendar. After the race, Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel spoke out in favour of the venue, saying: "If we take this race away from the calendar for any shitty money reasons, you are basically ripping our hearts out".


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Background
In terms of technical developments, Ferrari upgraded their engine for their home race by using three of their development tokens while Mercedes spent all seven of their remaining engine tokens. As a result of this, Mercedes became the first team in 2015 to use all their tokens, with both Honda and Ferrari having four tokens remaining and Renault having twelve tokens left for later in the season. Because of these changes both Mercedes cars were on their third powerplants, whilst both Ferrari cars were on their fourth power units.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Background
Additionally, Toro Rosso, Red Bull and McLaren received grid penalties for exceeding their parts usage, forcing them to start at the back of the grid. McLaren went back to using their snub nose design, which they had replaced earlier in the season ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, in order to achieve better aerodynamics and lower drag for the high-speed Monza circuit.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Background
Prior to the race, Lewis Hamilton was leading the World Championship on 227 points, 28 clear of teammate Rosberg. Sebastian Vettel was in third place, another 39 points adrift. In the Constructors' standings, Mercedes were in front on 426 points, with Ferrari and Williams second and third on 242 and 161 points respectively.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Free practice
Per the regulations for the 2015 season, three practice sessions were held; there were two 90-minute sessions on Friday and another one-hour session before qualifying on Saturday. In what The Guardian described as an "as dominant as ever" performance, Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton lead the times in both practice sessions on Friday, with Nico Rosberg in second on both occasions. During the first session on Friday morning, Hamilton led his teammate by half a second, with Sebastian Vettel in third, another full second behind.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Free practice
Daniel Ricciardo was the fastest driver in a Renault-powered car, and trailed Hamilton by more than two seconds. Jolyon Palmer again replaced Romain Grosjean in the Lotus during the first practice and ended the session half a second off his teammate's pace in fifteenth. Carlos Sainz Jr. briefly brought out a red flag when he got stuck in the gravel after spinning out at Parabolica.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Free practice
At the second practice session on Friday afternoon, Ferrari was able to reduce the gap to Mercedes, with Vettel third a little more than seven-tenths of a second behind Hamilton. Nico Rosberg was just 0.021 seconds off his teammate's time of 1m24.279s, even leading through the first two sectors but losing fastest time through the third and final sector. The two Force India cars of Sergio Pérez and Nico Hülkenberg split the two Ferrari drivers, with Kimi Räikkönen finishing in sixth.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Free practice
Max Verstappen was the second Toro Rosso driver of the day to spin out into the gravel, but he was able to continue after losing control of his car at the Ascari chicane. There were technical problems for both Daniel Ricciardo and Jenson Button. While the Australian had to cut his first run short due to a hydraulical issue, Button was summoned back into the pit lane after only three laps with an unspecified problem.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Free practice
In the third session on Saturday morning, Lewis Hamilton once more finished fastest, but this time it was Sebastian Vettel in second, 0.264s behind Hamilton's time of 1m24.544s. The session started on a slightly wet track caused by rain over the night, but it soon dried up. Ricciardo's session was marred by another technical problem, this time an engine failure to his newly equipped power unit. His teammate Daniil Kvyat did not have a productive session either as he spent most of the time in the garage, setting only seventeenth best time.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
Qualifying consisted of three parts, 18, 15 and 12 minutes in length respectively, with five drivers eliminated from competing after each of the first two sessions. Before qualifying began on Saturday afternoon, Mercedes was forced to change the power unit in Nico Rosberg's car back to the one used in Belgium, which had already run for six full races, after finding an issue with the new specification unit. Meanwhile, Lotus was forced to borrow tyre blankets from other teams, as their own had been rendered unusable by rain during the night.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
When the session began, Nico Hülkenberg was one of the first out on track, but his fast lap was disrupted by Marcus Ericsson, who was later penalised for the incident. Both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen spent most of the session in the pit lane.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
While Ricciardo was able to get out and set a lap sufficient to see him proceed to the second part of qualifying (Q2), Verstappen went out only to see his engine cover blown off at Curva Grande, scattering the track with debris, though at the very end of the session, so no other cars were affected. Next to Verstappen, both Manor Marussia and McLaren drivers were eliminated.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
During the first timed runs in Q2, Lewis Hamilton was seven-tenths of a second quicker than teammate Rosberg, while the Ferrari cars split the pair to place provisional second and third. Nevertheless, both Mercedes drivers did not go out again. Sebastian Vettel set a second timed lap to improve his time, now a little more than a tenth behind Hamilton. Many drivers only set one timed lap towards the end of the session, with Pastor Maldonado, Felipe Nasr, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Daniil Kvyat unable to move on into Q3, while Ricciardo did not set a time, leaving him fifteenth for the time being.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
When Q3 was contested by the top ten drivers, Nico Rosberg was the first to set a time, but Hamilton immediately went faster, setting a time of 1:23.397, which eventually secured him pole position. Again, both Ferrari drivers went faster than Rosberg, being about three-tenths of a second behind Hamilton. During the last timed runs, Räikkönen moved ahead of Vettel to qualify on the front row, while Rosberg improved his time, but stayed in fourth on the grid. He would later refer to his old power unit as the main reason for his qualifying performance.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
Nico Hülkenberg posted a time good enough for ninth, but his car came to a halt at the pit lane entrance, after his team had miscalculated the fuel put into his car. The two Williams of Massa and Bottas qualified fifth and sixth respectively, with Hülkenberg's teammate Pérez behind them in seventh, ahead of Romain Grosjean. Marcus Ericsson rounded up the top ten, but was later dropped to twelfth on the grid for impeating Hülkenberg in Q1. It was Hamilton's eleventh pole position in twelve races in the season so far.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen was handed a drive-through penalty to be served within the first three laps of the race due to an unsafe pit release during qualifying. Kimi Räikkönen expressed delight with his front row performance, saying that the team was surprised by the strong result and calling it "our best qualifying of the year as a team".


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Race
As the race got under way, Kimi Räikkönen's Ferrari remained motionless on the spot and only started after all other cars had passed the Finn. Meanwhile, Hamilton got through the first chicane in front of Vettel, but his teammate Rosberg had to avoid Räikkönen's car and lost two places to the two Williams of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Both Lotus drivers were forced to retire before the end of the second lap, Grosjean due to contact with another car, while Maldonado damaged his chassis when he went over a kerb.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Race
While Räikkönen charged through the field to get back up to twelfth place by lap three, Lewis Hamilton quickly increased his advantage over Vettel and moved out of the one-second DRS window. Nico Rosberg was unable to pass Bottas on track and was told by his team to cool his brakes. Further back, the Red Bull sponsored cars moved up the order as well, with Carlos Sainz Jr., Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat fighting for tenth position.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Race
Sainz yielded his place on lap 11, when he needed to go into the pit lane for a five-second penalty handed to him for cutting the chicane at the start. By lap 14, Hamilton led Vettel by over eight seconds, with Rosberg still behind both Williams in fifth place, pushing Bottas by enabling DRS on the long straights. Behind the German were the two Force India cars of Sergio Pérez and Nico Hülkenberg.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Race
On lap 18, Rosberg was the first of the front runners to come in, attempting to "undercut" the two Williams, who were forced to pit shortly after. Massa came in a lap later and Bottas on lap 22, both emerging from the pit lane behind the Mercedes of Rosberg, who was now third. By lap 26, both Hamilton and Vettel had made pit stops as well, as Hamilton was leading the Ferrari by more than twelve seconds. By that point, Räikkönen, who had yet to stop, was in third place but easily overtaken by Rosberg on lap 28.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Race
On lap 29, Daniel Ricciardo, also still on his original tyres, moved past Pérez into sixth position, only for the Mexican to retrieve it a lap later. At the end of lap 29, Räikkönen made a pit stop but almost collided with Roberto Merhi at the pit entrance. After his stop, the Finn emerged tenth, but quickly moved up the order again, taking eighth from Marcus Ericsson on lap 32. By lap 36, Nico Rosberg had moved within four seconds of Sebastian Vettel in front of him, while Räikkönen moved into seventh at the expense of Nico Hülkenberg.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Race
By lap 45, Vettel and Rosberg encountered backmarkers on track, which allowed Rosberg to move closer to his compatriot, trailing him by less than three seconds. On lap 49, Mercedes told Hamilton to increase his speed, without giving the driver an explanation. With Hamilton leading Vettel by 23 seconds, the call came unexpected. It later proved to be caused by the fact that Hamilton's left rear tyre had too little pressure at the start, leading the team to fear for a time penalty after the race. Fernando Alonso retired from the race on lap 50 due to loss of power.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Race
One lap later, Räikkönen moved into sixth place by overtaking the Force India of Sergio Pérez. With one lap to go, Rosberg was moving ever closer to Vettel in front, when his engine failed, forcing him to retire, handing Felipe Massa the final spot on the podium, who defended the position from teammate Bottas over the final lap. Lewis Hamilton finished the race to take victory on what he himself described as "the best [weekend] I've ever driven". He finished more than 25 seconds ahead of Vettel. with a grand slam of pole position, fastest lap, win and every lap led.


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
For more than two hours after the race, Hamilton's victory was still up for debate, as his left rear tyres was found to have had 0.3psi less tyre pressure than regulated. While Lewis Hamilton stated in the post-race press conference that he had not been aware of the issue, Williams officials Pat Symonds and Rob Smedley called for Hamilton's disqualification, with the latter pointing out that it was "a safety issue".


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
The stewards eventually decided not to take any further action, stating that: "In making this determination regarding the pressure, the stewards noted that the tyre warming blankets had been disconnected from their power source, as is normal procedure, and the tyres were significantly below the maximum permitted tyre blanket temperature at the time of the FIA's measurement on the grid and at significantly different temperatures from other cars measured on the grid. Further, the stewards are satisfied that the team followed the currently specified procedure, supervised by the tyre manufacturer for the safe operation of the tyres. Therefore, the stewards decide to take no further action."


2015 Italian Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
At the podium interview, conducted by film director George Lucas, Lewis Hamilton expressed gratitude to his team and the fans at the venue. Felipe Massa, asked about his last lap fight with teammate Bottas, stated: "I’m getting old for that! I even said to the team I’m getting old! The last three laps of the race I was fighting with my team-mate. It was very difficult but we managed to be here." During the post-race press conference, Hamilton expressed surprise over his championship lead, since he had not been made aware of Rosberg's retirement at that point.