2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying
Friday's late afternoon qualification session was divided into two groups lasting 25 minutes each. Cars in LMGTE Pro and AM were sent out first and, after a five-minute interval, LMP1 and LMP2 vehicles drove onto the track. All cars were required to be driven by two participants for one timed lap each, with the starting order determined by the competitors' fastest average times. The fastest qualifier was awarded one point which went towards the Drivers' and Manufacturers' Championships. The session took place in clear, mild and dry weather.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying
Hülkenberg's first timed lap of 1:55.130 surpassed the LMP1 pole position record time only to be surpassed by Hartley's 1:54.777 lap time to place the No. 17 Porsche in provisional pole position. Bernhard took over from Hartley and recorded a lap that was 0.027 seconds faster than the latter lowering the car's two-lap average time to 1:54.767 clinching pole position. It was the third consecutive event where Bernhard, Mark Webber and Hartley started from pole position.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying
They were joined on the grid's front row by the sister No. 19 car after Tandy set a lap time at the session's conclusion that put him 0.257 seconds behind his teammates. Jani and Lieb qualified in third position, three-tenths of a second slower than the two sister Porsche cars. Lotterer twice went onto the track and improved his first lap time by 0.116 seconds to 1:55.114, while Fässler was unable to find a rhythm, and could not improve on his co-driver's fastest time, restricting them to qualifying fourth.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying
Duval and di Grassi took fifth place with the latter stating that the team was not happy with the No. 8 car's setup, and that overnight work had to be undertaken. Davidson and Buemi held fifth place until di Grassi and Duval's lap times demoted them to sixth. Conway and Sarrazin secured seventh with the latter saying that he was held up by slower cars on his two timed laps. Albuquerque and Rast filled the grid's fourth row by qualifying eighth ahead of the No. 4 Team ByKolles car.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying
In LMP2, Bird and Julien Canal took the fastest two-lap average time of 2:07.761; Canal pushed hard on new tyres during his second timed run having disliked his previous attempt. The pair were two-tenths of a second faster than the second-place qualifiers, Howson and Lapierre, and held the class pole position until Canal's lap. Team SARD Morand's No. 43 car took third in the category, while the second G-Drive Racing entry was fourth, with fifth-placed qualifier Tincknell recording the session's best class individual lap time.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying
Richie Stanaway and Rees, competing in the No. 99 Aston Martin, were the fastest LMGTE Pro qualifiers with a two-lap average time of 2:16.840. Gianmaria Bruni was 0.070 seconds off the Aston Martin's pace, and started from second place in the category, displacing Turner and Mücke from the position. Turner's fastest lap was invalidated after he went off the track and was required to set another time. James Calado and Davide Rigon secured fourth in AF Corse's No. 71 Ferrari with Sørensen and Nygaard rounding out the top five. Aston Martin's No. 98 entry driven by Paul Dalla Lana and Lamy took pole position in LMGTE Am, more than a second faster than the No. 50 Larbre Compétition Corvette of Paolo Ruberti and Gianluca Roda.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying, Post-qualifying
KCMG's No 47 car had its qualifying lap times disallowed after it was discovered in post-qualifying scrutineering that the vehicle's skid block had insufficient rigidity and had been excessively flexible. The penalty meant Team SARD Morand's No. 43 car was promoted to second in LMP2 and the No. 47 entry was required to start from the pit lane with a 30-second time penalty.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying, Qualifying results
Pole position winners in each class are indicated in bold.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Qualifying, Qualifying results
– The No. 47 KCMG had all its laptimes deleted because of insufficient rigidity of the skid block and started from the pit lane.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Weather conditions at the start of the race were dry and cloudy with an air temperature ranging from 12.6 to 14.1 °C (54.7 to 57.4 °F) and a track temperature between 13.3 to 16.1 °C (55.9 to 61.0 °F); a 50 percent chance of rain was forecast. 54,000 people attended the race weekend. The race began at 14:30 Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Hartley maintained his pole position advantage heading into the first turn. Lieb passed Tandy to take over second position, while Fässler moved to third, after passing Tandy at the Bus Stop chicane at the first lap's conclusion. Tandy reclaimed third from Fässler shortly afterward. Team SARD Morand held the LMP2 lead before its car was overtaken by Tincknell and Bird on lap two. Duval moved in front of Wurz for fifth and the Toyota driver dropped to seventh.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Jota Sport was issued with a drive-through penalty after its car was adjudged to have jumped the start and rejoined in sixth in LMP2, allowing Bird to the front of the category. Tandy drove to the inside of Estre to lap him, but made head-on contact with his car and went straight into the Pif Paf corner barrier. Both drivers continued, but Tandy drove into the pit lane for repairs, falling to the rear of the field.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Fässler battled with Lieb for second as the two moved through slower traffic, but the Audi driver spun at the Bus Stop chicane allowing Lieb to take over second. Ryan Dalziel brought the No. 30 Extreme Speed Motorsports car into the team's garage to allow his mechanics to replace a broken boost line falling to the rear of the LMP2 field.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Most of the field elected to make their first scheduled pit stops before the first hour had passed. Hartley went straight on at the Bus Stop chicane after locking his front brakes. He rejoined the track by driving onto the escape road and through a marshal's post. This prompted the stewards to call Hartley up to their office and he went up after he was relieved. Fässler crossed the white line at the pit lane entry, which led to Audi receiving a reprimand from the stewards. Tincknell moved back into second place in LMP2 and separated both G-Drive cars. Roald Goethe went backwards into the Eau Rouge corner exit barrier after taking over from Stuart Hall, requiring lengthy repairs to his car.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Estre was issued with a drive-through penalty after he was adjudged to have caused the collision between himself and Tandy. Tandy stopped his Porsche briefly at the pit lane entry, while Bonanomi went wide driving up to Radallion corner battling Wurz for sixth. The incident involving Hartley handed the No. 17 Porsche a 15-second, stop-and-go penalty as he was deemed not to have respected track limits and causing danger to marshals. Bernhard took the penalty on the 17th lap, promoting teammate Jani to the lead. Evans moved to the front of the LMP2 field after overtaking Canal heading into the Bus Stop chicane. Fässler ceded third position to Duval at Les Combes corner.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Bernhard was caught by Duval and used his car's hybrid boost system on the Kemmel straight, moving ahead of the German under braking for Les Combes corner. Fässler briefly pressured Bernhard before entering the pit lane for a scheduled stop and Lotterer took over his seat. Lotterer lapped in the 1:58 second range which allowed him to run 12 seconds behind leader Dumas. Bonanomi's left-hand window became detached on the Kemmel straight, necessitating an extra pit stop for a replacement window. Patrick Dempsey spun the No. 77 car at the Bus Stop chicane, forcing several drivers to take avoiding action. Trummer drove into his garage with back-end technical problems with his car and retired. Dempsey's co-driver Marco Seefried spun and heavily struck the left-hand turn tyre barrier before Pouhon corner.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Dumas extended his advantage over Lotterer to 19 seconds, while Canal reclaimed the LMP2 lead when Evans made a scheduled pit stop. Lotterer made a pit stop for tyres and fuel. Dumas and Jarvis reacted shortly afterwards. Di Grassi took over from Jarvis, while Lotterer gained five seconds on Dumas. While switching drivers from Bernhard to Webber, Porsche changed a problematic damper on the No. 17 car. Approaching Blanchimont corner Kristian Poulsen went backwards into the barrier after colliding with a G-Drive Racing car that was lapping him.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
This prompted a localised yellow caution flag, and enabled Aleksey Basov and Khaled Al Qubaisi to inherit second and third places in LMGTE Am. Rigon was lapping Al Qubaisi at the Bus Stop chicane, but the Porsche driver drove defensively and both cars spun. Bruni reduced his speed to avoid colliding with the stationary cars.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Webber passed Rast for sixth place, while Poulsen retired because of accident damage while attempting to return to the pit lane. Dumas held a 24-second advantage over Lotterer with di Grassi in third, while Evans moved back into the LMP2 lead. Both Toyota cars were battling for fourth position with Webber close behind. Webber overtook Davidson for fifth at the Radillion corner exit moving ahead of Sarrazin on the Kemmel straight one lap later. Di Grassi slowed with technical problems and limped into his garage for an engine control unit and front-left nose change.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Toyota's No. 1 car was pushed into its garage with mechanical problems; it rejoined the circuit for a few laps until a throttle problem emerged, causing the car to run at a reduced pace. Lotterer retook the lead after the No. 18 Porsche driver switch took longer than expected. Rast passed Conway around the outside for fourth at the Bus Stop chicane. Vilander challenged Lietz for second in LMGTE Pro until Vilander was issued a track limit abuse penalty. Lotterer and Lieb battled each other for first place. Lotterer drove defensively after passing slower traffic going into Les Combes corner to keep the position. Lieb ran wide off the track at the Stavelot corner exit while lapping a slower car.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Tréluyer took over from Lotterer during a pit stop and Lieb regained the lead. Tréluyer caught Lieb and passed him around the outside at La Source corner,  holding the lead until Lieb reclaimed it by employing his car's hybrid boost system to overtake him on the Kemmel straight. Tréluyer managed to take over the first position when he got ahead of Lieb around the outside of Pif Paf corner, despite the two making earlier contact at Pouhon corner. Lieb made a pit stop for new tyres and Jani climbed aboard the No. 18 car.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Bruni passed Bell to move into second in LMGTE Pro. Smoke bellowed from the left exhaust of Bird's car, and he drove to his garage for diagnosis. Bruni reduced the time deficit to Alex MacDowall and passed him by using the Bus Stop chicane kerbs to claim the LMGTE Pro lead. Tréluyer was under eight seconds in front of Lieb as the final hour began. Lapierre moved ahead of Paul-Loup Chatin to take over fourth place in LMP2, while Jani reduced the time deficit to two seconds in arrears of Tréluyer on lap 154.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
He passed him with hybrid boost assistance on the Kemmel straight on the following lap. Audi elected to keep Tréluyer on track when Lieb made a pit stop for fuel. He remained there until lap 164 when he stopped for fuel but not tyres. Jarvis went straight into Stavelot corner's barriers in the event's closing two minutes.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Tréluyer maintained the lead for the rest of the race winning after completing 176 laps at a track record-breaking distance of 765.967 miles (1,232.704 km). Jani finished second, 13.424 seconds adrift of the No. 7 Audi, and Bernhard completed the podium positions by finishing third, albeit one lap behind. It was Audi's second consecutive overall series' victory of the season. Unchallenged in the closing stages, Jota Sport were victorious in LMP2, one lap ahead of the second-place G-Drive Racing car of Gustavo Yacamán, Ricardo González and Pipo Derani, and third-position finishers Webb, Ragues and Amberg of Team SARD Morand. It was Evans's first LMP2 victory in the World Endurance Championship, while it was Tincknell and Dolan's second in the series.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Bruni was issued with a one-minute, stop-and-go penalty because his mechanics did not check one of his tyres at his final scheduled pit stop. Rees took over the class lead which he maintained to clinch victory in LMGTE Pro. Turner held third, but made a pit stop, allowing Lietz and Muller to finish in second and third places in the category. This was Rees's, Stanaway's and MacDowall's first class victories in the World Endurance Championship.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race
Aston Martin finished as the winners in LMGTE Am, ahead of the No. 83 AF Corse of François Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard, and Agias with SMP Racing's No. 72 entry of Viktor Shaitar. Aleksey Basov and Andrea Bertolini completed the class podium positions. Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda's and Lamy's win was their second consecutive in LMGTE Am.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race, Post-race
The top three finishers of all four classes appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and in a later press conference. Tréluyer was delighted with the victory, saying: "What a race, It was a tough lights-to-flag job, just like at Silverstone, but it was huge fun and we’re already looking forward to Le Mans." He further stated: "We did it and I am very happy for the team because we had a really strong weekend and it feels great to win in this fashion."


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race, Post-race
Lotterer said of the result: "It's no holds barred all the time and is very fun, especially at Spa-Francorchamps. It's for this type of race that we hit track." Dumas, who finished in second alongside Lieb and Jani, stated he found driving in dry weather conditions difficult because he was not experienced participating in such conditions. Lieb said his battle with Tréluyer was "great" and said the contact between the two drivers was part of motor racing. Jani stated while he did not win the race he praised his car.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race, Post-race
Third-place co-finisher Webber said that his team had "too many own goals" and that they did not wanted to be "gifted results" if they were not performing at the highest level. Bernhard said that despite taking the stop-and-go penalty his team did not give up and gave it their best effort to stand on the podium.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race, Post-race
Following the first free practice crash between Nakajima and Jarvis, Davidson called for cars to be equipped with brighter flashing rain lights and that what happened to his co-driver was "every driver's worst nightmare". He suggested Formula One rain lights provided by McLaren Electronic Systems were brighter than those employed in the World Endurance Championship. Toyota's technical director Pascal Vasselon believed Nakajima's lack of reaction time along with the absence of flashing rain lights contributed to his injury.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race, Post-race
Christopher Reinke, Audi Sport's Le Mans Prototype manager, stated such a measure had been discussed but the issue was complex, while the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's (ACO) sporting manager, Vincent Beaumesnil, said he was unsure that brighter lights would have assisted Nakajima.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race, Post-race
In early June, the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the ACO, required all Le Mans Prototype cars carry additional flashing rain lights at the rear of their cars from the 24 Hours of Le Mans onward after the FIA's Endurance Committee observed their usage under wet weather conditions and felt there was an improvement in visibility.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race, Post-race
The result meant Lotterer, Fässler and Tréluyer increased their Drivers' Championship advantage to 14 points ahead of second-placed Lieb, Jani and Dumas. Wurz, Conway and Sarrazin moved from fourth to third with 22 points, three in front of their teammates Davidson and Buemi. Bernhard's, Webber's and Hartley's third-place finish meant they rounded out the top five with 17 points. Audi increased its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship on 70 points, 17 ahead of their nearest rivals Porsche in second, and a further six in front of third-placed manufacturer Toyota with six races left in the season.


2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Race, Race result
The minimum number of laps for classification (70 per cent of the overall winning car's race distance) was 123 laps. Class winners are denoted in bold.


2015 94.7 Cycle Challenge
The 2015 94.7 Cycle Challenge was held on 15 November 2015, in South Africa over 97.5-kilometre (60.6 mi). It was the 15th time the race was held for women, but the first time that the race was classified as an international women's race (UCI category 1.1). The race was won by Ashleigh Moolman (Bigla Pro Cycling Team), almost a minute ahead of Sabrina Stultiens (Team Liv–Plantur) and Floortje Mackaij (Team Liv–Plantur).


2015 A Lyga
The 2015 A Lyga, also known as SMSCredit.lt A Lyga for sponsoring purposes was the 26th season of the A Lyga, the top-tier association football league of Lithuania. The season started in February 2015 and ended in November 2015. Žalgiris Vilnius are the defending champions.


2015 A Lyga, Teams
FK Ekranas and FK Banga failed to obtain a license to play in the A Lyga and were relegated alongside FK Dainava, which finished last in the 2014 A Lyga. They were replaced by FC Stumbras and FK Spyris from Kaunas, giving the city two football teams in the highest league for the first time since 2002, and FK Utenis from Utena. All three teams make their debut at the top level.


2015 A-League Grand Final
The 2015 A-League Grand Final was the tenth A-League Grand Final, and was played on 17 May 2015, at AAMI Park to determine the 2014–15 A-League Champion. The match was contested by the two winning semi-finalists and Big Blue rivals, Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC, who finished the 2014–15 A-League season in first and second position respectively.


2015 A-League Grand Final
The match was won by Melbourne Victory, who defeated Sydney FC 3–0 in front of a sold-out crowd. The win saw Melbourne Victory become the most successful A-League club of its first decade, with three A-League Premierships and three A-League Championships. Melbourne Victory also became the first and only A-League club to achieve the Premiership-Championship double three times.


2015 A-League Grand Final
The Grand Final was Melbourne Victory's fourth, the first being in 2007 against Adelaide United which Melbourne won 6–0, the second won again against Adelaide 1–0 in 2009, and the most recent in 2010 against Sydney FC which ended in favor of Sydney 4–2 on penalties after finishing 1–1 after extra-time. The 2015 match was Sydney FC's third following their inaugural 2006 1–0 win against Central Coast Mariners, and the 2010 match.


2015 A-League Grand Final
As Grand Final winners, the champions earned a spot in the group stage of the 2016 AFC Champions League. However, both Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC had already qualified for the Asian competition prior to the match via their league position.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Route to the final
After the completion of the 2014–15 A-League regular season, the top six teams qualified for the finals series. Teams finishing 3rd-6th placed (Adelaide United, Wellington Phoenix, Melbourne City and Brisbane Roar) began the series in the elimination-finals, with the top two teams (Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC) receiving byes into the semi-finals.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Route to the final
After defeating Brisbane Roar 2–1 at home in the first elimination-final match, Adelaide United were matched-up against Sydney FC in the semi-finals as the highest possible ranked team to progress from the elimination-finals. The game was played at Allianz Stadium in front of a crowd of 26,783. Bernie Ibini opened the scoring for Sydney early in the match, with a brace from Alex Brosque soon following. Despite Adelaide's efforts, Sydney managed a 4–1 result to see them through to their third A-League Grand Final.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Route to the final
Melbourne City's 0–2 away win over Wellington Phoenix in the second elimination-final match ensured a Melbourne Derby semi-final clash. Two quick goals in the first half and a late 87th-minute goal by Archie Thompson saw off the match 3–0 in front of a sold-out 50,873 Etihad Stadium. The win over their cross-town rivals confirmed Victory a spot in the Grand Final, their fourth Grand Final appearance in total.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Pre-match
Controversy regarding the Grand Final venue began early in the A-League season when FFA confirmed the event would be moved from the initial date of 10 to 17 May to accommodate the clubs competing in the 2015 AFC Champions League. The change of date meant that Etihad Stadium (53,359-capacity) and the Melbourne Cricket Ground (100,024-capacity) could not be used, as both venues were scheduled for other sporting events. AAMI Park (30,050-capacity) was the only available venue if either Melbourne club were to host the Grand Final.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Pre-match
Although FFA toyed with the idea of moving the game interstate or moving it to a different date, it was ultimately determined that AAMI Park would host the clash on the Grand Final 'Sunday' date. The decision meant the match would be held at the lowest capacity venue to ever host an A-League Grand Final.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Pre-match
On 27 April it was announced that Australian electronic music duo, Peking Duk, would headline the pre-match show. Fans were also allowed to vote on the musical performances and catering which would be provided for the event. On 13 May the results if the poll were announced, with Australian singer Christina Parie voted by fans the singer of the national anthem. Also determined was the song which the teams would walk-out onto the field to, the song to be performed by Peking Duk, and the special food item designed by celebrity chef George Calombaris which would be available for purchase at the match.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Pre-match
2014–15 Referee of the Year Jarred Gillett was named as the referee of the Grand Final. Gillett, a FIFA listed referee, previously took charge of the 2012 A-League Grand Final between Brisbane Roar and Perth Glory after being named the 2011–12 Referee of the Year. Gillett was joined by Matthew Cream and David Walsh as the assistant referees, Kris Griffith-Jones as the fourth official and George Lakrindis as the fifth official.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Pre-match
Due to the limited ticket availability for the match, FFA organised a Grand Final live site which was held at Gosch's Paddock in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct, adjacent to AAMI Park. The live site included activities from 1:00 p.m. local time and a live broadcast of the match on a big screen.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Match, Summary
From the opening stages of the match, Melbourne Victory dominated play; though the Big Blue rivalry quickly lived up to its name. An early head clash saw defender Matthew Jurman receive treatment to a gash after a flailing elbow from Besart Berisha saw the Albanian received the first yellow card of the match. Nick Ansell soon joined the bloodshed after a clash, and soon after defender Jacques Faty had to be substituted after sustaining a leg injury.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Match, Summary
A non-stop assault from the home side was soon rewarded, with New Zealand international Kosta Barbarouses finding the chest of Berisha in the box which rebounded on the chest of Gui Finkler before Berisha unleashed a half-volley past Vedran Janjetović in the 33rd minute. With half-time approaching and Sydney FC looking for an equaliser, Alex Brosque combined for a one-two with Marc Janko, but Victory 'keeper Lawrence Thomas was able to block the low shot with a stretched foot.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Match, Summary
No changes were made by either side during the half-time break as both sides aimed to claim their ascendency on the match. The home side nearly doubled their lead within the opening minutes when Jurman couldn't clear a bouncing ball. Barbarouses took advantage and after turning, managed a shot into the side netting courtesy of a deflection off the oncoming Janjetović. Jurman made amends moments later after the ball on the consequential corner found its way to the far post and he was able to clear it to the sidelines.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Match, Summary
On the 52nd minute mark, Graham Arnold attempted to add further attacking outlet to Sydney's line-up, with the addition of Shane Smeltz in place of Chris Naumoff. Both sides continued to have a spate of chances, however neither could make the most of their opportunities. As the hour mark passed, Fahid Ben Khalfallah showed off his attacking skill, weaving through three players to fashion an attempt on goal. With a quarter of an hour left Sydney desperately looked for an equaliser and nearly found one through a Janko header.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Match, Summary
Minutes later a free kick by Petković floated just over Victory's crossbar. On the 83rd minute a tame clearance from Petković saw Ben Khalfallah work the ball into the box, squaring Barbarouses who neatly placed his second attempt past Janjetović who save the initial shot. Carl Valeri was sent off moments after the restart after kicking the ball away from a free kick for a second yellow card. Despite being a man up, Sydney couldn't capitalise and conceded another before full-time, with Leigh Broxham slotting the ball into the top right corner of the net. Archie Thompson and Jason Geria were brought on to see out a 3–0 win for Victory.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Match, Summary
Captain of the winning side, Mark Milligan was named Man of the Match, and as such was the recipient of the Joe Marston Medal.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Records
The Grand Final victory saw Kevin Muscat become the first ever person to win the A-League championship as a player and as a coach. Muscat played at the Melbourne Victory from 2005 until 2011. In his 138 appearances for the club, Muscat scored 34 goals and captained the side in the 2007 A-League Grand Final and the 2009 A-League Grand Final, as well as the Victory's losing 2010 A-League Grand Final before retiring. He took over from Ange Postecoglou as coach in 2013 from his role as assistant coach.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Records
The Grand final victory also saw club chairman Anthony Di Pietro become the first chairman in Melbourne Victory's history to have won the highest available domestic title in every club football department. With the Melbourne Victory Youth and W-League teams winning in 2012–13 and 2013–14 respectively, the senior team's grand final victory under Di Pietro made him the first chairman to have succeeded in all of these departments under his tenure.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Records
The Grand Final was Melbourne Victory's first ever finals match at AAMI Park; all previous Melbourne Victory home finals were played at Etihad Stadium. The Grand Final was played out in front of a crowd of 29,843 people. Though this was a record low attendance for an A-League Grand Final, this was AAMI Park's biggest ever attendance record for a sporting match.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Records
By winning the A-League Championship, Melbourne Victory became the most successful A-League club up to that point in time, with a combined total of 7 domestic trophies (3 A-League premierships, 3 A-League championships, 1 pre-season cup). Melbourne Victory also became the first and only A-League club to achieve the Premiership-Championship double three times.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Records
The match recorded an average audience of 442,000 on SBS One, topping the previous highest rating A-League match broadcast on the channel, which was the previous year's Grand Final between Brisbane Roar and Western Sydney Wanderers, which averaged 358,000 viewers. The match also recorded an average audience of 251,000 on Fox Sports, making the Grand Final the most viewed subscription television broadcast of the day.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Records
Besart Berisha became the first A League player to score in three Grand Finals and first to score in back to back grand finals.


2015 A-League Grand Final, Broadcasting
As with the previous season, the 2015 A-League Grand Final was broadcast in Australia on Fox Sports and on free-to-air TV, with SBS showing the game on a one-hour delay. The Grand Final was also broadcast live on ABC NewsRadio. In New Zealand the match was broadcast live on Sky Sport. It was also broadcast live into major European, North American and Asian markets, with a total of 57 countries showing the game live, including Germany, the UK, Ireland, USA, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, India & Indian Sub-continent, Mexico and Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, highlights of the match were shown in 53 countries throughout Asia including Japan, South Korea, the Pacific Islands and the Middle East. The match was also live streamed internationally and in Australia via SBS's The World Game website.


2015 AAA 400
The 2015 AAA 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on October 4, 2015, at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. Contested over 400 laps on the 1 mile (1.6 km) concrete speedway, it was the 29th race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, third race of the Chase and final race of the Challenger Round. Kevin Harvick won the race, his third of the season. Kyle Busch finished second. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jamie McMurray and Aric Almirola rounded out the top–five.


2015 AAA 400
With qualifying rained out, Matt Kenseth was awarded the first starting spot. He led 26 laps on his way to a seventh–place finish. Harvick led a race high of 355 laps on his way to winning the race. The race had 14 lead changes amongst three different drivers, as well as eight caution flag periods for 43 laps.


2015 AAA 400
This was the 31st career victory for Harvick, third of the season, first at Dover International Speedway and second at the track for Stewart-Haas Racing. The win secured his place in the Contender Round. Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Jamie McMurray and Paul Menard didn't advance out of the Challenger Round. Chevrolet left Dover with a 45–point lead over Toyota in the manufacturer standings.


2015 AAA 400
The AAA 400 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 Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.


2015 AAA 400, Report, Background
Dover International Speedway (formerly Dover Downs International Speedway) is a race track in Dover, Delaware, United States. Since opening in 1969, it has held at least two NASCAR races. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the Verizon IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1 mile (1.6 km) concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated by Dover Motorsports.


2015 AAA 400, Report, Background
The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway after Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.


2015 AAA 400, Report, Background
Matt Kenseth entered Dover with a six–point lead over Denny Hamlin. Carl Edwards and Joey Logano entered tied for third 10–points back. Jimmie Johnson entered fifth 16–points back. Ryan Newman entered sixth 25–points. Kurt Busch entered seventh 26–points back. Brad Keselowski entered eighth 27–points back. Martin Truex, Jr. entered ninth 28–points back. Jeff Gordon entered 10th 31–points back. Jamie McMurray entered 11th 41–points back. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. entered 12th 42–points back. Kyle Busch and Paul Menard entered tied for 13th 43–points back. Kevin Harvick entered 15th 65–points back. Clint Bowyer entered 16th 81–points back.


2015 AAA 400, Report, Background, Hurricane Joaquin
In the week leading up to the race, the National Hurricane Center began tracking the development of a storm several hundred miles south-southwest of Bermuda. On September 30, the storm was upgraded to Hurricane Joaquin. The forecast model from the National Weather Service had the storm potentially affecting the race weekend. However, updated models had the storm avoiding landfall on the Eastern U.S. seaboard and moving out into the North Atlantic. Nevertheless, heavy rain was expected to affect the Dover area.


2015 AAA 400, Report, Background, Restart zone
At the request of the drivers, on the Thursday before the race, NASCAR announced that the restart zone would be expanded from 70 feet (21 m) to 140 feet (43 m). Denny Hamlin took to Twitter to say NASCAR made a great move "to double the restart zone" and that it would give the leader of the race "more of an opportunity to decide when to start the race." Joey Logano said he was "[g]lad to see @NASCAR expanding the restart zone" and that it was "what a lot of drivers were asking for."


2015 AAA 400, Report, Background, Chase-clinching scenarios
Carl Edwards would clinch a spot in the Contender Round if he finished 32nd or better with no laps led, 33rd if he led a lap or 34th if he led the most laps. Joey Logano would clinch by finishing at least 31st or better, 32nd with a lap led or 33rd with most laps led. Jimmie Johnson would clinch if he finished 25th or better, 26th if he leads a lap or 27th if he leads the most laps.


2015 AAA 400, Report, Background, Chase-clinching scenarios
Ryan Newman would clinch if he finished 16th or better, 17th if he led a lap or 18th if he led the most laps. Kurt Busch would clinches if he finished 15th or better, 16th if he led a lap or 17th if he led the most laps. Brad Keselowski would clinch if he finished 14th or better, 15th if he led a lap or 16th if he led the most laps. Martin Truex, Jr. would clinch if he finished 13th or better, 14th if he led a lap or 15th if he led the most laps. Jeff Gordon would clinch if he finished 10th or better, 11th if he led a lap or 12th if he led the most laps.


2015 AAA 400, Report, Background, Chase-clinching scenarios
Jamie McMurray, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kyle Busch, Paul Menard, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer controlled their destinies only if they won. Otherwise, as would turn out to be the case for Earnhardt and Busch, they were dependent on other non-clinched drivers having bad point days.


2015 AAA 400, Report, Background, Entry list
The entry list for the AAA 400 was released on Friday, September 25 at 2:27 p.m. Eastern time. Forty-four cars were entered for the race. The four driver changes for this race were J. J. Yeley returning to the No. 26 BK Racing Toyota, Josh Wise returning to the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford, Alex Kennedy returning to the No. 33 Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet for the first time since Watkins Glen and Reed Sorenson returning to the No. 98 Premium Motorsports Ford. The threat of rain forced The Motorsports Group to withdraw its No. 30 Chevrolet entry from the race. Because of the withdrawal, all 43 cars remaining entered cars made the race.


2015 AAA 400, Qualifying
Because inclement weather forced NASCAR to cancel qualifying, along with the Friday practice session, the lineup was set by points. As a result, Matt Kenseth was given the first starting spot. He said that everybody "would have liked to get on the track today and get some practice. I know there are some things we wanted to work on and try to improve from the spring for this race. I think everybody wanted to get on the track. I think it’s one of the advantages of leading the points – obviously if it rains you get a good starting spot and pit stall. Glad we’re starting in the front, but still would have liked the track time.”


2015 AAA 400, Practice, First practice
Kasey Kahne was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 22.429 and a speed of 160.506 mph (258.309 km/h).


2015 AAA 400, Practice, Final practice
Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 23.072 and a speed of 156.033 mph (251.111 km/h). The session only lasted 15 minutes before rain cut it short.


2015 AAA 400, Race, First half, Start
Under cloudy Delaware skies, Matt Kenseth led the field to the green flag at 2:51 p.m. It only took until lap 3 for the first caution of the race to come out. This was when Josh Wise made contact with Jeb Burton in turn 1 and sent him spinning.


2015 AAA 400, Race, First half, Start
The race restarted on lap 7. Just 10 laps later, Kenseth pulled to a one-second lead over his teammate Denny Hamlin. This lead began shrinking over the next six laps to just a quarter of a second over Kevin Harvick, who eventually took over that position on lap 25. As Harvick stayed out in front, he pulled to a two-second lead over Kenseth. The second caution of the race flew on lap 41. This was a scheduled competition caution for all the rain that the state of Delaware had throughout the entire weekend. Harvick swapped the lead with Kenseth on pit road and Hamlin exited with the lead. It was short-lived, as he and Jimmie Johnson were both tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted from the tail-end of the field. This would give the lead back to Harvick.


2015 AAA 400, Race, First half, Start
The race restarted on lap 46. Harvick pulled to a five-second lead over Kyle Busch after 40 laps. After falling to the back on the restart for the speeding penalty, Hamlin was put down a lap by Harvick on lap 90. Jimmie Johnson made an unscheduled stop on lap 103 for an issue with the drive line. They couldn't fix it on pit road and he took the car to the garage. Following the race, he said that it was "tough having a very inexpensive axle seal be the culprit and take your championship hopes away. It's racing.


2015 AAA 400, Race, First half, Start
I’ve had mechanicals take me out of championships growing up that led to some success for myself and I’m sure helped me with a championship or two. It’s just part of racing. It just shows how critical everything is on a race team. And how important every component is and you can’t take anything for granted. Heartbreaking for sure, but I don’t know what else we can do about it we just have to go on and try to win races and close out the season strong.” Debris on the front stretch brought out the third caution of the race on lap 111. The debris came from the No. 83 car of Matt DiBenedetto. Harvick swapped the lead with Busch on pit road, but exited with the lead.


2015 AAA 400, Race, First half, Second quarter
The race restarted on lap 118. Harvick once again pulled away from the field and began putting cars several of laps down. After 30 laps, he had lapped over half the field at least once. After 60 laps, he lapped everyone up to Brad Keselowski, who sat in 14th place. The fourth caution flew on lap 193 when Jeb Burton suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in turn 2. He would go on to finish last. Harvick and Kyle Busch swapped the lead on pit road, but exited with the lead.


2015 AAA 400, Race, Second half, Halfway
The race restarted on lap 206. Debris on the front stretch brought out the fifth caution on lap 232. Harvick and Busch swapped the lead on pit road. This time, however, Busch took just right-side tires and exited with the lead. Hamlin was tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted from the tail-end of the field.


2015 AAA 400, Race, Second half, Halfway
The race restarted on lap 237. Harvick didn't waste any time passing the third and second–place cars. He drove under Busch in turn 2 to retake the lead on lap 249. The sixth caution flew on lap 312 when A. J. Allmendinger got loose and spun out in turn 4 while trying to get on pit road. Harvick and Busch again swapped the lead on pit road, but Harvick exited with it. With the stop being outside the 85-lap fuel window, most of the cars on the lead lap began shutting off their engines to conserve fuel.


2015 AAA 400, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 84 laps to go. The seventh caution of the race flew with 47 laps to go for a single-car wreck in turn 1. Brett Moffitt suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall. Matt Kenseth opted not to pit under the caution and assumed the lead.


2015 AAA 400, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 42 laps to go. Kenseth was no match for Kevin Harvick on old tires and lost the lead to Kevin. The eighth caution of the race flew with 29 laps to go for fluid on the track. The fluid came from the No. 40 car of Landon Cassill after his engine blew up.


2015 AAA 400, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 24 laps to go. Kevin Harvick drove on to score his 31st career victory.


2015 AAA 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Harvick said that he was "just so proud of everybody from Stewart-Haas Racing to do everything that we’ve done the last three weeks, really. Obviously we weren’t in a great position coming in to today. That’s what these guys are made of and that’s what teamwork is all about."


2015 AAA 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Following his runner-up finish, Kyle Busch said that the day was "really good...for us. I can't say enough about this entire Interstate Batteries team. They did a great job today. Adam Stevens gave me a great piece and when you look at the amount of practice time we had, it was pretty hard to figure out what you had. We had a second–place car and we finished second with it; nothing to hang our heads about."


2015 AAA 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished third and advanced to the Contender Round on a tiebreaker. After the race, he said that the closing laps weren't "nerve-wracking at all. You're either going to make it or you ain't. I'm going to try put together the best lap I can put together, and drive the car as hard as you can without over-driving it. You can't really worry about the big picture because you have to concentrate on running the lap. This place is so technical that you just have to concentrate on every corner and the mistake you made on the last one and how you make a better corner the next time through there. That's all you really worry about."


2015 AAA 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Jamie McMurray failed to make the Contender Round on a tiebreaker with a fourth–place finish. After the race, he said that he was "driving so hard those last few laps, and it’s just hard to make up any ground. And it seemed like our car was maybe better on stickers,” McMurray explained. “We haven’t run this well, honestly. We talked earlier today about that. So, I’m thrilled with our performance today. It’s frustrating that we weren’t able to make it to the next round, but it was a good day for the Nature Made car. We just needed one more point.”


2015 AAA 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
After driving under the radar to a fifth–place finish, Aric Almirola said that his team did "a really good job. We just struggled with getting the car in the race track most of the day and right there at the end four tires paid off for us. That was some really good adjustments by Trent and the guys and the pit crew did a good job getting me off pit road and just a really solid day for us.”


2015 AAA 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Martin Truex, Jr. drove from the rear of the field to an 11th–place finish. He said after the race that he didn't have "a great day... It wasn’t a great weekend. We have been struggling trying to get the thing turning. All in all we had good speed when we would get track position. We would lose track position and being in long lines on the restarts when we couldn’t really go anywhere. It was really difficult to pass today. We had good speed out front, top five speed and then just never really could get back there once we got back in traffic.”


2015 AAA 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
A 12th–place finish was enough for Jeff Gordon to advance into the Contender Round. After the race, he said that making it involved "a lot of hard work. I'm proud of these guys. We fought hard and that's what we've been doing all year long. It hasn't been pretty. We've had a lot to overcome and we never give. That was pretty much what he had today, we survived and made it through."


2015 AAA 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
After a 14th–place finish wasn't enough to get Clint Bowyer into the Contender Round, he said after the race that his "5-Hour Energy Toyota was good today, I’d say a top-five car. We just had some bad luck with that loose wheel early on. We got two laps down, but were able to make those up. No one had anything for that 4 car (Harvick), though.”


2015 AAA 400, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Following his 25th–place finish that kept him from advancing to the Contender Round, Paul Menard said that it "was not a good day for us at Dover. We fought handling all day and found out there was a mechanical issue there near the end. We gave it our all and I'm proud that we got here. Hate that we don't get to compete further into the Chase, but we will work for a win and to advance our spot from where we are.”


2015 AAA 400, Media, Television
NBCSN covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, 2006 race 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 AAA 400, Media, Radio
MRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and three–time Dover winner Rusty Wallace called the race from the booth when the field was racing down the front stretch. Mike Bagley called the race from the turn 3 stands when the field was racing down the backstretch. Alex Hayden, Winston Kelley and Steve Post handled pit road on the radio side.


2015 AAA Texas 500
The 2015 AAA Texas 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on November 8, 2015, at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Contested over 334 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) intermediate quad-oval, it was the 34th race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, eighth race of the Chase and second race of the Eliminator Round. Jimmie Johnson won the race, his fifth of the season. Brad Keselowski finished second. Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-five.


2015 AAA Texas 500
Keselowski won the pole for the race and led a race high of 312 laps on his way to a runner-up finish. The race had 15 lead changes among eight different drivers, as well as nine caution flag periods for 47 laps.


2015 AAA Texas 500
This was the 75th career victory for Johnson, fifth of the season, sixth at Texas Motor Speedway and eighth at the track for Hendrick Motorsports. The win moved him up to 12th in the points standings. Chevrolet left Texas with a 63–point lead over Toyota in the manufacturer standings.


2015 AAA Texas 500
The AAA Texas 500 was carried by NBC Sports on the broadcast NBC 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 AAA Texas 500, Report, Background
Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The track measures 1.5 miles (2.4 km) around and is banked 24 degrees in the turns, and is of the oval design, where the front straightaway juts outward slightly. The track layout is similar to Atlanta Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway (formerly Lowe's Motor Speedway). The track is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., the same company that owns Atlanta and Charlotte Motor Speedways, as well as the short-track Bristol Motor Speedway.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Report, Background
Jeff Gordon entered with an eight–point over Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr. Kevin Harvick entered fourth 10–points back. Carl Edwards entered fifth 17–points back. Brad Keselowski entered sixth 34–points back. Kurt Busch entered seventh 36–points back. Joey Logano entered eighth 38–points back.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Report, Background, Driver suspension
On the Tuesday after the 2015 Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500, NASCAR suspended Matt Kenseth for two races for his role in the incident that took out Joey Logano. According to NASCAR Executive Vice-President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell, Kenseth "eliminated the No. 22 car’s opportunity to continue to compete in the race. Additionally, we factored aspects of safety into our decision, and also the fact that the new Chase elimination format puts a premium on each and every race. These actions have no place in NASCAR.” Shortly after the announcement, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that they would appeal the decision and "challenge the severity of the penalty which is believed to be inconsistent with previous penalties for similar on-track incidents. There will be no further comments from JGR personnel during the appeal process."


2015 AAA Texas 500, Report, Background, Driver suspension
On the Thursday before this weekend's race, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel upheld the original penalty levied by NASCAR. Later that day, National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer Bryan Moss upheld the two race suspension, but amended the probation penalty to conclude on December 31 instead of in six months.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Report, Background, Driver suspension
Erik Jones drove in place of Kenseth this weekend. He said that being "part of that next wave that people think [of] is pretty cool and a pretty big honor. I never thought I’d be in that position. A few years ago, I kind of wondered where is my opportunity going to come from, where is my spot going to be in the sport? But everything works out at the end of the day, and it’s working out more and more every day.”


2015 AAA Texas 500, Report, Background, Driver suspension
This marked the first race since the 1999 NAPA 500 that Kenseth didn’t compete in, snapping a 571 race starting streak.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Report, Background, Hauler fire
On the Thursday before the race, the hauler carrying the primary and backup cars for HScott Motorsports's Michael Annett caught fire on Interstate 20 west of Longview, Texas. A team spokesperson said nobody was injured and the team sent a spare hauler from their shop in Spartanburg, South Carolina. However, it was unable to make it to the track prior to the garage opening at 8:00 a.m. Eastern time Friday, so Annett used the backup car of teammate Justin Allgaier to race this weekend. The spare cars served as both drivers' backups.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Report, Background, Entry list
The entry list for the AAA Texas 500 was released on Monday, November 2 at 12:21 p.m. Eastern time. Forty-five cars were entered for the race. All but Ryan Blaney and Michael McDowell were entered in the previous week's race at Martinsville. Joey Gase returned to the seat of the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford. Brian Scott returned to the seat of the No. 33 Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet. Reed Sorenson drove the No. 62 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet. With Kenseth being parked by NASCAR, Erik Jones made his second career Sprint Cup Series start in the No. 20 Toyota.


2015 AAA Texas 500, First practice
Brad Keselowski was the fastest in the first and only practice session with a time of 27.403 and a speed of 197.059 mph (317.136 km/h). The other two practice sessions scheduled on Saturday were cancelled because NASCAR had difficulties drying the track due to a combination of overnight rain, high humidity and weepers (water seeping out of the surface of the track which happens largely at tracks with older asphalt surfaces).


2015 AAA Texas 500, Qualifying
Brad Keselowski won the pole with a time of 27.421 196.929 mph (316.927 km/h). He said that his "Wurth Ford Fusion has been really good since we unloaded. Very similar to where we were at Kansas - really fast in practice and really fast in qualifying. But we just need that to stay with us in the race and we didn't get that in Kansas." He also joked that his team will "have the first pit stall and we get to keep it this time. We are really excited about the race Sunday.”


2015 AAA Texas 500, Qualifying
Kevin Harvick, who qualified second, said that he practically "ran the same speed in all three rounds there. Didn’t quite have the raw speed in the first round, but this is a racetrack where you want the car to keep going as long as you can. Felt like we had a good start to our race trim practice today and going to have a good spot to start on Sunday.” Kyle Busch, who qualified third, said that while his team doesn't "need to win...we would love to win.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Qualifying
I feel like this is a good opportunity for us to have a really good day and for us to score a victory. We come to every race trying to win and this one’s no different. I hope that Texas will bode well for us and we can score that win. If not, a solid top-five finish is exactly what we need. That’s where we need to be at the end of the day and carry on that momentum and go into Phoenix and hope for another solid day there.”


2015 AAA Texas 500, Qualifying
Joey Logano, who qualified fourth, said while he doesn't "think we are bad in race trim... I do think we have a little bit of work to do there, so I am anxious to get at that tomorrow and get to work on it and find a little bit more speed for Sunday." Erik Jones, who qualified sixth driving in place of the suspended Matt Kenseth, said that his qualifying run was "a really good effort for us. We made the final round at Kansas as well so it’s cool to make the final round in both our starts.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Qualifying
We’ll see where it goes from here, obviously we’ve got a long ways to go yet for Sunday – 500 miles. This definitely helps everybody’s confidence a little bit for that.” Martin Truex, Jr., who qualified 23rd, said that his car "never really clicked in qualifying trim today and that's why we're starting in the middle of the pack. But we've been there before and fought our way to the front. As I keep on saying this team never quits. We're always working hard to find the right combination and I am hopeful that our car will perform better in race trim during tomorrow's two practice sessions."


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, First half, Start
Under clear blue Texas skies, Brad Keselowski led the field to the green flag at 2:21 p.m. After the first 10 laps, he pulled to a second and a half lead over Kevin Harvick. The first caution of the race flew on lap 11 for a single–car wreck in turn 4. Halfway down the backstretch, the left-rear tire on Joey Logano's car went flat. He couldn't control the car rounding turn 3 and spun out. The damage to his fender was significant and he went a number of laps down while his crew tried to repair it.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, First half, Start
Eventually, crew chief Todd Gordon told him to take the car to the garage. Logano said afterwards that the left-rear tire "just blew apart off of Turn 2. [ It] came apart and shredded everything inside the car. It did a lot more damage than just the tire blowing apart." He also said that this race "was a must-win situation as well. If we finished second today we would be in the same boat going into Phoenix. I feel great about our chances at Phoenix. It has been a great race track for us in the past. I felt like this track was a great one for us as well. It is unfortunate that we finished how we did.”


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, First half, Start
The race restarted on lap 18. Harvick and Keselowski dragged raced down the front stretch with the former take the lead on lap 19. The second caution of the race flew on lap 25 for a single-car wreck in turn 1. Ryan Blaney suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in turn 1 and would go on to finish 43rd. Because this happened a lap before the scheduled competition caution, NASCAR race control decided to treat this as the competition caution. This meant teams could refuel the cars. Matt DiBenedetto opted not to pit and assumed the lead.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, First half, Start
He pitted the next lap and handed the lead back to Keselowski. A. J. Allmendinger was tagged for an uncontrolled tire and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field. Aric Almirola was tagged for having too many crew members over the wall and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field. Denny Hamlin took his car to the garage for issues with his fuel pump.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, First half, Start
The race restarted on lap 30. The third caution of the race flew on lap 36 for a single-car incident in turn 1. Rounding the front stretch, Harvick's left-rear tire went down and he dove down onto the apron. After the race, crew chief Rodney Childers said that the car "had that left-rear go down and automatically you panic and think it was self-inflicted like maybe we didn’t have enough air in it, that kind of thing. As soon as I got down off the (pit) box, I saw a piece cut right in the tread. It was probably out of one of the cars that was tore up earlier."


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, First half, Start
The race restarted on lap 42. Kyle Busch edged Keselowski for the lead the next lap, but he lost it to the No. 2 car the next lap. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. made an unscheduled stop for a flat right-front tire. The fourth caution of the race flew on lap 51 for a single-car spin on the front stretch. Exiting turn 4, Tony Stewart got loose and spun out into the grass. Keselowski exited pit road with the lead. Almirola was tagged again for having too many crew members over the wall and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, First half, Start
The race restarted on lap 58. Debris on the front stretch brought out the fifth caution of the race on lap 100. The debris was a shredded left-rear tire from Kyle Larson's car.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, First half, Second quarter
The race restarted on lap 107. Ryan Newman made an unscheduled stop at lap 146 after cutting down his left-rear tire exiting turn 2. This left debris on the backstretch and brought out the sixth caution of the race on lap 149. Kasey Kahne was tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, First half, Second quarter
The race restarted on lap 155. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. tagged the wall with his right-rear corner. This affected the handling of his car and he began to fall back through the field. He spun in the turn 3 apron and brought out the seventh caution of the race on lap 167. A. J. Allmendinger was tagged for an uncontrolled tire and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, Second half, Halfway
The race restarted on lap 173. Debris in turn 2 brought out the eighth caution of the race on lap 196. The debris came from the shredded right-rear tire of Trevor Bayne's car. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was tagged for having too many crew members over the wall and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field. Joey Logano was tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, Second half, Halfway
The race restarted on lap 204. Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards kicked off a cycle of green flag stops with 84 laps to go. Brad Keselowski pitted with 83 laps to go and handed the lead to Jimmie Johnson. He pitted the next lap and the lead cycled back to Keselowski.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
Kevin Harvick made an unscheduled stop with 53 laps to go for a flat right-rear tire. He fell to 20th–place in the running order and down a lap. Carl Edwards kicked off the final cycle of pit stops with 38 laps to go. Keselowski hit pit road with 37 laps to go and the lead cycled to Harvick. Denny Hamlin was tagged for speeding on pit road and was forced to serve a drive-through penalty. On 16-lap older tires, he was no match for Keselowski as he was passed with ease with 35 laps to go.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
Debris in turn 2 brought out the ninth caution of the race with 24 laps to go. The debris was a shredded right front tire from Erik Jones.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, Second half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 18 laps to go. Martin Truex, Jr. edged out Keselowski to take the lead with 17 to go, but Keselowski took it back the next lap. Jimmie Johnson kept the pressure on him for the next 12 laps. He took the lead with three laps to go and scored his 75th career win.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
After the race, Johnson said that he "just kept pressure on him (Keselowski). I could see that he was really tight and that was the first I had seen him that vulnerable all day. I just kept the pressure on him, kept searching for line. He saw me coming on the top and protected it. I just kept trying to put pressure on him hoping for a mistake. He got real loose off of Turn 2 and I had a big run down the backstretch and drove it in really far into Turn 3 hoping to hear clear. Once I did I knew I was home free.”


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Keselowski said that Johnson's "car had mega turn that last run and I couldn’t keep the turn and it kept pushing real bad. I did everything I could to hold him off but he was way faster that last run." Despite sitting 19–points out of the fourth–place Chase cutoff, he said he wasn't "sure exactly how to feel about it at the moment. The 48 car had so much speed them last 10 laps. Maybe I'll change my mind [but] I don't know what I would have done differently or could have done differently. There's always something you can do better. But not knowing what that might be at this moment makes it a little bit easier to digest."


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Following a third–place finish, Harvick said that his team has "had to overcome things week after week after week. I guess those are character-building moments as you go through those weekend, but we’ve managed to survive and advance and that’s what we’ve got to do next week.” With the next race being Phoenix, he also said that the track is "definitely a good place for us to go. It’s been very successful but that doesn’t mean we’re going to go there and run good this time. We’ve got to go and try and have our ducks in a row. We’ve done a good job managing the Chase so far with all the adversity we’ve had. We’ve only really had one smooth weekend, so we’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing and hopefully the smooth weekend is the next week and the week after.”


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Kyle Busch said of his fourth–place finish that it ended up being "a really good day for us. Obviously, just being able to run our own race and to perform the way we did, I felt like it was pretty good. I wish we had a little bit faster car on the short runs for sure. I think that was kind of where we lost most of our time here today. Once things got single filed out, spread out, our car was a little better on the long runs.


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
At least we did have some speed in our car on one side of the run where we could make up some ground and maintain our position on the racetrack. Can’t say enough on Adam Stevens, everyone on the team did a great job. Our Toyota Camry was awesome. TRD did a great job with the engines. Look forward to Phoenix next week, maintaining our position. If we can go out there and win, sure, we’d love to win.”


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
After finishing seventh, Kurt Busch said that his race "was good, hard fought battle with limited practice. We had to go with our best effort to get the set-up. We battled through it. It just wasn’t the winning car we needed to try to advance. The way that we had been running we knew we could get close to fifth. We got seventh today so we will take it.”


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Following an eighth–place finish, Martin Truex, Jr. said that he "thought we had a shot at it (the win) and the right-front wheel started shaking real bad and got tight. It's a damn shame. It's a good run. ... We had a really good race car." Sitting fourth in the standings six–points back of the lead, he said it certainly helped that "[t]he 2 didn't win the race...I was cheering for Jimmie Johnson pretty hard. We did what we needed to do. It would have been nice to have those five or six spots -- that's five or six points next week. It could be the difference. But we'll just have to wait and see and we'll go race hard again."


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Speaking on a ninth–place finish, Jeff Gordon – who's locked into the championship race following his win at Martinsville the week before – said he "thought we learned a lot this weekend. I think we certainly know that our cars are fast because our teammate won. Congrats to him. I think that's awesome he beat the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski). That is spectacular, I'm going to give him a big hug for that. At the same time I think that we were here to execute and push hard, try to win, but also to just learn what we could. I thought we learned some stuff."


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
Following a 12th–place finish in only his second career Sprint Cup Series start, Erik Jones – who also finished fourth in the Xfinity Series race the previous day and won the Camping World Truck Series race two days prior – said that he was "ready to take the day off. I don’t think I’ve ever run more than two races – a Truck and Xfinity race – in more than one weekend. At this point, I’m feeling fine, but I can definitely feeling it coming on. I’ll be worn out tonight.”


2015 AAA Texas 500, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
He also said that he wished his car "could have been a little stronger there at the end. We had that right front go down and it tore the nose up pretty good, so kind of took us out of a shot at a top-10. To still come home 12th is a good day for us. We worked hard all day to really keep the thing balanced and good and strong.”


2015 AAA Texas 500, Media, Television
NBC covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen,  two–time Texas 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 AAA Texas 500, 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 frontstretch. Rob Albright called the race from atop the turn 2 condo when the field was racing through turns 1 and 2. Pat Patterson called the race from atop the turn 4 suites when the field was racing through turns 3 and 4. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, Jim Noble and Steve Richards handled pit road on the radio side.


2015 ABC Supply 500
The 2015 ABC Supply 500 was an IndyCar Series event that was contested at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, USA. The race served as the penultimate race of the 2015 IndyCar Series season, and was the third and final leg of the season's Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka IndyCar Triple Crown.


2015 ABC Supply 500
The race was won by Ryan Hunter-Reay driving the No. 28 DHL Dallara-Honda for Andretti Autosport. It was marred, however, by a crash involving Sage Karam twenty one laps from the finish that resulted in Justin Wilson being hit by the nose cone from Karam's car and suffering a fatal head injury. Wilson died the next day on August 24, 2015.


2015 ABC Supply 500, Background
The race was run on Sunday, August 23, 2015. The scheduled distance was 500 miles (800 kilometres), which required 200 laps around the triangular oval 2.5 miles (4.0 kilometres) in length.


2015 ABC Supply 500, Background, Recap
The pole position was won by Hélio Castroneves of Team Penske, driving the No. 3 car. Penske Chevrolets qualified in the first three positions, with Castroneves' teammate Simon Pagenaud starting alongside him in the No. 22 and defending series champion Will Power behind him in position three.


2015 ABC Supply 500, Background, Recap
Karam, driving a Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing, qualified 20th, with Wilson seventh and Hunter-Reay eighth. Overall, twenty-four drivers qualified for the race.


2015 ABC Supply 500, Background, Recap
Castroneves would eventually crash out of the event, finishing sixteenth. Wilson was scored in fifteenth, with Karam one position in front of him. The highest finishing of the Penske cars was the No. 2 of series points leader Juan Pablo Montoya, as he finished in third to receive a spot on the podium. Josef Newgarden, driving the No. 67 Chevrolet for CFH Racing, took the other position on the podium by way of his second-place finish and finished with a race-high 47 laps led. He was followed by Gabby Chaves, who led 31 laps in the No. 98 Honda for Bryan Herta Autosport, and Pagenaud, who led 30 laps. Hunter-Reay, Castroneves, and Tony Kanaan each led more than 20 laps.


2015 ABC Supply 500, Background, Recap
There were 12 caution periods for 74 laps, and the race ended under the yellow flag. Eleven cars were running at the finish, with each being on the lead lap except for Pippa Mann, whose No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda was running in thirteenth place fifteen laps down.


2015 ABC Supply 500, Background, Broadcasting
NBCSN and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network provided coverage of the event on television and radio respectively. Leigh Diffey called the race on television with Steve Matchett and Paul Tracy providing analysis. Matchett – Diffey's colleague from NBCSN's coverage of Formula One – was substituting for Townsend Bell, whose commitments to his United SportsCar Championship team took him to Virginia International Raceway that day where he finished first in his classification at the Oak Tree Grand Prix.


2015 ABC Supply 500, Background, Broadcasting
Paul Page headed the IMS booth with analyst Davey Hamilton, with Mark Jaynes and Jake Query reporting from the track.


2015 ABC Supply 500, Fatal accident
On lap 180 of the event, Karam was leading when he lost control of his car in turn one and made contact with the wall. The impact tore away most of the front end of Karam's car and he slid to a stop just past the exit to Turn 1. The nose cone of the Chevrolet came off with such force that it was bouncing along on the track as the drivers drove past. When Wilson, running fourteenth, drove by the scene, Karam's nose cone struck him in the head and knocked him unconscious. Wilson's No. 25 Honda lost control and veered off track, hitting the inner wall just past Turn 1 and continuing to slide up the track.


2015 ABC Supply 500, Fatal accident
Karam, though shaken up, was able to exit his car with no major injuries. Wilson, however, was unresponsive when the track safety crew arrived at his machine and he had to be extricated from the car. A medivac helicopter was called for and transported Wilson to Lehigh Valley Hospital in nearby Allentown. He was reported to be in a coma with a severe head injury and was listed in critical condition. At approximately 21:00 local time on August 24, 2015, a press conference at Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced that Wilson had died from his injuries at the age of 37.


2015 ABC Supply 500, Fatal accident
Wilson was the first IndyCar driver to lose his life since Dan Wheldon's fatal accident at the 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship in Las Vegas. His death was the second such occurrence in the world of open-wheel racing in 2015, following the death of Marussia F1 driver Jules Bianchi nine months after suffering a diffuse axonal injury in a crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.


2015 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
The 2015 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (or Rotterdam Open) was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It took place at the Rotterdam Ahoy arena in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, between 9–15 February 2015. It was the 42nd edition of the Rotterdam Open, whose official name is the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament. The competition was part of the ATP World Tour 500 series of the 2015 ATP World Tour. Stan Wawrinka won the singles.


2015 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Points and prize money, Prize money
1 Qualifiers prize money is also the Round of 32 prize money* per team


2015 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Doubles
Michaël Llodra and Nicolas Mahut were the defending champions, but Llodra chose not to participate this year. Mahut played alongside Vasek Pospisil, but lost in the first round to Julien Benneteau and Édouard Roger-Vasselin. Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecău won the title, defeating Jamie Murray and John Peers in the final, 3–6, 6–3, [10–8].


2015 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Singles
Tomáš Berdych was the defending champion, but lost to Stan Wawrinka in the final, 6–4, 3–6, 4–6.


2015 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Wheelchair Singles
Shingo Kunieda was the defending champion, but chose not to participate.


2015 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Wheelchair Singles
Gustavo Fernández won the title, defeating Joachim Gérard in the final, 6–0, 3–6, 6–1.


2015 ACB Finals
The 2015 ACB Finals was the championship series of the 2014–15 season of the Liga ACB and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. Real Madrid defeated FC Barcelona in three games (3–0) for the Madrid' seventeenth ACB title and their thirty-second league in team history. Madrid's Sergio Llull was named the Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP).


2015 ACB Finals
The Finals was played in the 2–2–1 format (Games 1, 2, and 5 at Madrid, Games 3, and 4, at Barcelona). The series began on June 19, 2015 and ended on June 24, 2015, and was televised in Spain on La 1 and in Catalonia on TV3.


2015 ACB Finals, Background, Regular season series
The Madrid and Barcelona tied the regular season series 1–1, with each team winning its home game.


2015 ACB Playoffs
The 2015 ACB Playoffs will be the final phase of the 2014–15 ACB season. They will start on May 28 and will end on June. FC Barcelona is the defending champions.


2015 ACB Playoffs
All times are CEST (UTC+02:00), except the game played in the Canary Islands (WEST, UTC+01:00).


2015 ACBS Asian Snooker Championship
The 2015 ACBS Asian Snooker Championship was an amateur snooker tournament that took place from 23 April to 30 April 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia  It was the 31st edition of the ACBS Asian Snooker Championship and also doubles as a qualification event for the World Snooker Tour.


2015 ACBS Asian Snooker Championship
The 23rd seed Hamza Akbar won the event by defeating former world number 56 Pankaj Advani 7–6 in the final. This was Akbar's first Asian Snooker Championship victory and as a result Akbar was given a two-year card on the professional World Snooker Tour for the 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 seasons.


2015 ACC Championship Game
The 2015 Dr Pepper ACC Championship Game was the eleventh football championship game for the Atlantic Coast Conference. It featured the Clemson Tigers, winners of the ACC's Atlantic Division, and the North Carolina Tar Heels, the winners of the ACC's Coastal Division. It was the first time in ACC championship game history in which both participating teams were undefeated in conference play. This was the game's sixth consecutive year at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.


2015 ACC Championship Game, Teams, Atlantic Division champions
The Clemson Tigers went into the game as the consensus #1 team in the nation after clinching the ACC Atlantic Division title against the Florida State Seminoles on November 7, 2015.


2015 ACC Championship Game, Teams, Coastal Division champions
The Tar Heels entered the game ranked #8 in the AP poll and #10 in the CFP poll, having clinched the ACC Coastal Division against Virginia Tech on November 21, 2015.


2015 ACC Championship Game, Pre-game buildup, Ticket Sales
The 2015 ACC Championship Game marks the third time in the game's history in which the game was considered a sell-out. A record 74,514 tickets were sold for the game. Previous sell-out years were 2010 and 2011. The high number of tickets sold were attributed to the fact that the championship game site was a relatively close distance for both participating schools (and thus a large portion of their fan bases), as well as having two highly ranked teams (Clemson at #1 and UNC at #8) with a single loss between them. The previous three years' games saw large tarps covering parts of the upper deck due to the lack of tickets sold.


2015 ACC Championship Game, Pre-game buildup, Playoff Implications
Much of the debate around the ACC Championship Game involved scenarios of what would happen in the event the Tar Heels upset the undefeated Tigers. It was assumed that, should Clemson win the game, they would be the top seed in the College Football Playoff, given that they were already ranked #1 by the selection committee going into the game. However, had Clemson lost the game, there were several hypotheses about who the selection committee would select as the top 4 teams to participate in the playoff.


2015 ACC Championship Game, Pre-game buildup, Playoff Implications
One theory was that if North Carolina were to win the ACC championship, they should be included in the playoff because they only had a single loss on the season (something that others vying for a spot also had) and would have beaten the consensus #1 team in the country at a neutral site. Alternatively, others argued that North Carolina didn't deserve to be in the playoff because of their current rank (#10) in the selection committee poll as well as their relatively weak schedule.


2015 ACC Championship Game, Pre-game buildup, Playoff Implications
Another theory stated that even with a loss in the ACC Championship Game, Clemson should still be in the playoff. Proponents of this theory argued that Clemson had been widely considered the best team in the country during the latter part of the regular season, and had quality wins against Notre Dame and Florida State. A loss in the championship game would be viewed as a "quality" loss to a top 10 opponent, and a better loss than other one-loss teams in consideration, including North Carolina.


2015 ACC Championship Game, Pre-game buildup, Playoff Implications
Another possibility was that a loss by Clemson would leave the ACC shut out of the playoff altogether, and either Ohio State or Stanford would take the 4th playoff spot.


2015 ACC Championship Game, Pre-game buildup, Playoff Implications
Whatever the case, the winner of the championship game would have been guaranteed no worse than a berth in the 2015 Peach Bowl, which hosted the ACC champion if that team was not selected for the College Football Playoff. Had the Tar Heels won that game, it would have been their first appearance in a major bowl since the 1950 Cotton Bowl Classic.


2015 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2015 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Atlantic Coast Conference, held at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, from March 10–14, 2015. The tournament included fourteen of the fifteen ACC teams, as Syracuse did not compete due to a self-imposed postseason ban. Seeds 5 through 10 received a first-round bye, and the top four seeds received a "double bye" through the first round and second rounds. The 2015 tournament was the first to begin on a Tuesday and the first since 1981 to finish on a Saturday.


2015 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament
The semifinals and championship game were played in the evening instead of their traditional afternoon timeslot. It was the fourth time a team has played 4 games (NC State in 1997 and 2007, Georgia Tech in 2010). ESPN and the ACC Network televised all games, and the championship game was moved to Saturday to facilitate a prime-time broadcast on ESPN.


2015 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament, Seeds
Seeds for the tournament are determined by teams' conference records, with tiebreakers determined according to ACC tiebreaker rules.


2015 ACC Men's Lacrosse Championship
The 2015 ACC Men's Lacrosse Championship took place April 24–26 at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. The winner of the tournament received the Atlantic Coast Conference's automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship. Four teams from the ACC competed in the single elimination competition. The seeds were based upon the teams' regular season conference record.


2015 ACC Men's Lacrosse Championship, Standings
Only the top four teams in the ACC conference advanced to the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.


2015 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament
The 2015 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Soccer Tournament is the 29th edition of the ACC Men's Soccer Tournament. The tournament decides the Atlantic Coast Conference champion and guaranteed representative into the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship.


2015 ACC Men's Soccer Tournament, Qualification
The top ten teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference earned a berth into the ACC Tournament. All rounds are held at the higher seed's home field.


2015 ACC Twenty20 Cup
The 2015 ACC Twenty20 Cup was an international cricket tournament that was held between 25–30 January 2015 in the United Arab Emirates. Oman won the round-robin tournament and qualified for the 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, along with Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Nepal and UAE who did not play in this tournament as their T20I status had qualified them directly to the 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier to be held in Ireland and Scotland. The full members of the ACC (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) automatically qualify for the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament.


2015 ACC Twenty20 Cup, Statistics, Most runs
The top five run scorers (total runs) are included in this table.


2015 ACC Twenty20 Cup, Statistics, Most wickets
The top five wicket takers, ranked by wickets taken and then by bowling average, are listed in this table.


2015 ACC Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2015 Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament was the postseason women's basketball tournament for the Atlantic Coast Conference held March 4–8, 2015, in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the Greensboro Coliseum.


2015 ACC Women's Basketball Tournament, Seeding
Tournament seeds are determined by teams' regular season conference record with tiebreakers determined by ACC tiebreaking rules.


2015 ACC Women's Soccer Tournament, Qualification
The top four teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference earned a berth into the ACC Tournament. All rounds are held at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, NC.


2015 ADAC Formula 4 Championship
The 2015 ADAC Formula 4 season was the inaugural season of the ADAC Formula 4, which replaced the ADAC Formel Masters. It began on 25 April at Oschersleben and finished on 4 October at Hockenheim after eight triple header rounds. Champion Marvin Dienst took 8 wins, as runner-up Sweden Joel Eriksson won 7 races. Joey Mawson won five races while Mick Schumacher, Lando Norris, Ralf Aron and David Beckmann won one race each.


2015 ADAC Formula 4 Championship, Race calendar
The calendar was published on 12 December 2014. All rounds, except for the second Oschersleben round supporting DTM, were part of ADAC GT Masters weekends.


2015 ADAC Formula 4 Championship, Championship standings
Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers in each race. No points were awarded for pole position or fastest lap.


2015 ADAC GT Masters
The 2015 ADAC GT Masters season was the ninth season of the ADAC GT Masters, the grand tourer-style sports car racing founded by the German automobile club ADAC. The season started on 25 April at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben and ended on 4 October at Hockenheim after eight double-header meetings. René Rast and Kelvin van der Linde entered the season as the defending Drivers' Champions. Prosperia C. Abt Racing entered the season as the defending Teams' Champion.


2015 ADAC GT Masters, Race calendar and results
The eight-event calendar for the 2015 season was announced on 21 November 2014.


2015 ADAC GT Masters, Championship standings
Championship points were awarded for the first ten positions in each race. Entries were required to complete 75% of the winning car's race distance in order to be classified and earn points. Individual drivers were required to participate for a minimum of 25 minutes in order to earn championship points in any race.


2015 ADAC Opel Rallye Cup
The 2015 ADAC Opel Rallye Cup season was the third season of the one-make series for Opel Adam rally cars.


2015 ADAC Opel Rallye Cup
This season was notable for the participation of Yannick Neuville, younger brother of World Rally Championship winning driver Thierry Neuville. The title was won by German Julius Tannert and Luxembourger co-driver Jennifer Thielen. Tannert won 6 of the 8 rallies to be held in 2015, finishing 113 points clear of their next best competitors. Samuli Vuorisalo finished as runner-up, while Yannick Neuville finished third with a win at Rallye Vogelsberg. Jacob Madsen was the only other winner, winning the Ostsee Rallye.


2015 ADAC Opel Rallye Cup, Championship standings
Points were awarded to the top 20 finishers on the basis below:


2015 ADAC Procar Series
The 2015 ADAC Procar Series is the twenty-first season of the ADAC Procar Series, the German championship for touring cars. For this season Super 2000 cars were banned. The season consisted of eight separate race weekends with two races each, spread over eight different tracks.


2015 AFC Asian Cup
The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The tournament was won by Australia after defeating South Korea 2–1 in extra time in the final, thereby earning the right to participate in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, which was hosted by Russia. The win was Australia's first Asian title since their move from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) in 2006. It was also the first time a men's team has become champions of two confederations, following Australia's four OFC Nations Cup titles: 1980, 1996, 2000 and 2004; right after the Australian women's team won the 2010 AFC Women's Asian Cup.


2015 AFC Asian Cup
Australia was chosen as the host on 5 January 2011, after being the sole bidder for the right to host the 2015 tournament. The matches were played in five different stadiums across five cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Newcastle. It was the first time that Australia had hosted the tournament, and it was also the first time the Asian Cup had been held outside the continent of Asia. As hosts, Australia automatically qualified for the final tournament, while the remaining 15 finalists (with the exception of Japan and South Korea who qualified via their top three position in the previous Asian Cup) were decided through a qualification process, featuring 44 teams, from February 2013 to March 2014.


2015 AFC Asian Cup
The final tournament was Played in two stages: the group stage and the knockout stage. In the group stage each team played three games in a group of four, with the winners and runners-up from each group advancing to the knockout stage. In the knockout stage the eight teams competed in single-elimination matches, beginning with the quarter-finals and ending with the final match of the tournament. A third-place match was also played between the two losing teams of the semi-finals (Iraq and the United Arab Emirates).


2015 AFC Asian Cup
Japan were the defending champions going into the tournament, having won the previous competition in 2011. They recorded their worst finish in the Asian Cup since the 1996 edition in the United Arab Emirates, being knocked out in the quarter-finals by that team in a penalty shootout.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Host selection
Australia initially put forward its bid to host the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in 2010. As the sole bidder for the hosting rights, Australia was officially named host on 5 January 2011.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Host selection
Considering the efforts of the Football Federation Australia in developing the game on their territory and considering also all the achievements that have been made towards the development of football in Australia and to encourage Australia to take steps towards developing the game, I am happy and honoured to announce that the executive committee of the Asian Football Confederation has approved Australia as the host nation of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Qualification
The 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification process determined the 16 participating teams for the tournament. In the initial scheme, ten places were determined by qualification matches, while six places were reserved for the 2015 host nation, top three finishers in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, and the two winners of the AFC Challenge Cup. Though, as the host nation Australia also finished as runners-up in the 2011 Asian Cup, the initial six automatic qualification spots were reduced to five, with a total of 11 spots eventually determined by the qualification matches, in which 20 AFC members competed.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Qualification
There were two main competitive paths to the 2015 Asian Cup. The AFC Challenge Cup acted as a qualification competition for eligible countries within the emerging and developing category of member associations. The winners of the AFC Challenge Cup competitions in 2012 and 2014 qualified automatically for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup finals. The remaining spots were available for the teams competing in the main Asian Cup preliminaries. The AFC decided that the 20 teams involved in the qualifiers would be split into five groups of four teams each. The top two teams from each group and one best third-placed team from among all the groups would qualify for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Qualification, Qualified teams
Out of the sixteen teams that qualified, fourteen had participated in the 2011 tournament. Oman qualified for the first time since 2007. Palestine, winners of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup, were the only team making their first appearance in the tournament. India and Syria are the only two teams from the 2011 tournament who failed to qualify for the subsequent edition. Excluding hosts Australia, none of the other 11 members of the ASEAN Football Federation qualified, nor did any of the South Asian national teams.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Draw
The draw for the final tournament occurred at the Sydney Opera House on 26 March 2014. The draw procedure involved the 16 participating teams drawn at random into the four groups of the group stage. In preparation for this, the teams were organised into four pots based on a seeding which used the March 2014 FIFA World Rankings (rankings beside the qualified teams). The draw and seeding ensured a fair distribution of teams in the groups, with each of the four groups in the group stage made up of one team from each pot.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Draw
The host nation (Australia) was automatically placed into Pot 1, with the team having been predetermined to be in Group A. In addition, at the time of the draw, the identity of the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup winners (Palestine) was not known yet, and they were automatically placed into Pot 4.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Teams, Draw
South Korea (60) United Arab Emirates (61) Jordan (66) Saudi Arabia (75)


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Venues, Stadiums
The five host cities for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Newcastle, were announced on 27 March 2013, with a total five stadia to be used.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Venues, Ticketing
Tickets for the venues were sold directly by AFC via its website, or distributed by the football associations of the 16 finalists. 500,000 tickets were available for the 31 tournament matches. Over 45,000 international visitors were forecast to visit Australia during the tournament. Prices varied from $10 (for a seat behind the goals at a group match) to $150 (for a seat in the main stand at the final). In addition to individual match tickets, fans could buy packages to see all matches played at one specific venue.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Venues, Team base camps
Each team had a "team base camp" for its stay between the matches. From an initial list of 27 potential locations, the national associations chose their locations in 2014. The teams trained and resided in these locations throughout the tournament, travelling to games staged away from their bases.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Match ball
The Nike Ordem 2 was announced as the official 2015 Asian Cup match ball on 1 October 2014. The ball features the traditional colors of the tournament. The mainly white ball has a distinctive design with a mainly red graphic pattern and yellow details for better visibility. It shows the official 2015 AFC Asian Cup logo as well as a black Swoosh. The ball provided a design for real flight, accuracy and control, and features Nike Aerowtrac grooves and a micro-textured casing. Nike RaDaR (Rapid Decision and Response) technology with a unique graphic upper is also utilised in the design to see the ball faster while the three-layer synthetic upper made for optimal touch.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Match officials
On 1 January 2015, the AFC named 47 match officials for the tournament, including referees, assistant referees, fourth officials, and reserve assistant referees. Each main refereeing team (of which there were eleven) consisted of three match officials from the same country: one referee and two assistant referees. The AFC decided three match officials from New Zealand would take part in the tournament, despite the country being in the Oceania Football Confederation.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Match officials
Match officials based together in Sydney, during the Asian Cup, where they trained together, had technical meetings, conduct match reviews and previews, and only split when attending appointments at the five Asian Cup stadiums in Canberra, Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane and Melbourne. Australian referee Chris Beath, who was a fourth official before the start of the tournament, was promoted for one match when Uzbek referee Valentin Kovalenko had to withdraw due to illness.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Match officials
Six match officials, who served as fourth officials, and eight reserve assistant referees, who served as fifth officials, were also named:


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Squads
As with the 2011 tournament, each team's squad consisted of 23 players (three of whom had to be goalkeepers). Each participating national association had to confirm their final 23-player squad no later than ten days before the start of the tournament. Teams were permitted to make late replacements in the event of serious injury, at any time up to 6 hours before their first game. During a match, all remaining squad members not named in the starting team were available to be one of the three permitted substitutions (provided the player was not serving a suspension).


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Group stage
The group stage of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup took place from 9–20 January 2015: each team played three games, with the winners and runners-up from each group advancing to the knockout stage. The group stage was notable for finishing without a draw. In doing so, it became the first major international football tournament since the 1930 FIFA World Cup to record a result for every group stage match. Additionally, it surpassed the record of consecutive results at a tournament – 18 – also set at the 1930 World Cup.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Knockout stage
In all matches in the knockout stage, if the score were level at the end of 90 minutes, two 15-minute periods of extra time would take place. If the score were still level after extra time, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out. Scores after extra time are indicated by (a.e.t. ), and penalty shoot-out are indicated by (pen. ).


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Knockout stage, Quarter-finals
With a 2–0 victory over Uzbekistan in extra time, South Korea set a tournament record for appearing in ten semi-finals. The host country, Australia, reached the final four for the second consecutive time after overcoming China PR by the same score. Iran were eliminated for the third consecutive time in an Asian Cup quarter-final after Iraq defeated Iran in a penalty shootout. The match had ended 3–3 after extra time, not before a sending off which reduced the Iranians to 10 men late in the first half. The United Arab Emirates eliminated reigning champions Japan through a penalty shoot-out following a 1–1 draw at the end of extra time, marking Japan's worst finish since 1996.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Knockout stage, Semi-finals
South Korea reached their first final since 1988, after overcoming Iraq 2–0. With a 2–0 victory against the United Arab Emirates, Australia qualified for their second consecutive final out of only three appearances in the Asian Cup since moving to the Asian Football Confederation from the Oceania Football Confederation in 2006.


2015 AFC Asian Cup, Knockout stage, Third place match
This was both Iraq's and the United Arab Emirates' second appearances in a third place playoff at the AFC Asian Cup, with the teams contesting in 1976 and 1992 respectively. The United Arab Emirates won the match 3–2 and finished in third-place for the first time.