2018 Abkhazian Cup, Final
[Oct 24, stadion Dinamo, Sukhum]Nart Sukhum       2-2 FC Gagra      [aet, 4-5 pen]


2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
The 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 2018 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 25 November 2018 at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The race was the twenty first and final round of the 2018 Formula One World Championship and marked the tenth running of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the tenth time that the race has been run as a World Championship event since the inaugural event in 2009.


2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Background
McLaren announced they would be using a special one-off livery to celebrate the last race of Fernando Alonso. This was the first time McLaren had run a special livery since the 1986 Portuguese Grand Prix. McLaren also invited the family of seven time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson to the race. Johnson and his family watched the race from the McLaren garage.


2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Background, Title standings before the race
Prior to the race, Lewis Hamilton had already secured the 2018 World Drivers' Championship title, while his team, Mercedes, had secured the 2018 World Constructors' Championship title. Lewis Hamilton claimed his fifth World Drivers' title at the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix; following the Brazilian Grand Prix he led Sebastian Vettel by 81 points with Kimi Räikkönen being third, a further 51 points behind. In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes led Ferrari by 67 points with only one race remaining in the season, with Red Bull Racing being third in the standings.


2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Practice
Max Verstappen was fastest in first practice, Valtteri Bottas was fastest in second practice and Lewis Hamilton was fastest in third practice.


2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in qualifying followed by Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.


2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Race
Hamilton won the race from pole position with Vettel and Max Verstappen completing the podium. On the first lap at turn 9 Nico Hülkenberg overtook Romain Grosjean at turn 8 at the end of the back straight. Grosjean was pushed off the track by the move but tried to still make turn 9 alongside Hülkenberg. Not realizing that Grosjean was still on his inside, Hülkenberg attempted to take the normal line through turn 9 and his rear right tire ran over Grosjean's front left. This caused the Renault R.S.18 to flip and barrel roll into the barriers to the left of turn 9, thus sending the race into a safety car situation, the first such instance in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix since 2012.


2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Report, Post race
After the race had been completed Alonso celebrated the end of his career by performing doughnuts on the pit straight alongside Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, the other two World Champions who completed the race (Kimi Räikkönen had retired from the race.) Jimmie Johnson congratulated Alonso on his career. The two would later exchange their respective cars in a car swap at Bahrain International Circuit.


2018 Abu Dhabi Tour
The 2018 Abu Dhabi Tour was a road cycling stage race that took place between 21 and 25 February 2018 in Abu Dhabi. It was the fourth edition of the Abu Dhabi Tour and the third event of the 2018 UCI World Tour.


2018 Abu Dhabi Tour
The race was won on the final day by the Movistar Team's Alejandro Valverde, from Spain, winning the stage finish up to Jebel Hafeet. Valverde finished 17 seconds clear of Dutch rider Wilco Kelderman from Team Sunweb, while the podium was completed by Colombia's Miguel Ángel López (Astana), a further 12 seconds in arrears. The performance by López was also enough for him to win the young rider classification.


2018 Abu Dhabi Tour
In the race's other classifications, Italy's Elia Viviani – riding for Quick-Step Floors – was the winner of the green jersey for the points classification, winning the second stage during the race, while Gazprom–RusVelo's Nikolay Trusov from Russia won the intermediate sprints classification and its accompanying black jersey, having led the standings from start to finish. The teams classification was won by Bora–Hansgrohe, having placed Rafał Majka, Davide Formolo and Emanuel Buchmann within the top-ten placings overall.


2018 Abu Dhabi Tour, Teams
As the race was only added to the UCI World Tour calendar in 2017, all UCI WorldTeams were invited to the race, but not obligated to compete in the race. As such, seventeen of the eighteen WorldTeams – with the exception of FDJ – competed in the race, up one on 2017. Three UCI Professional Continental teams competed as well, completing the 20-team peloton.


2018 Abu Dhabi Tour, Route
The route for the 2018 edition of the race was released on 23 January 2018. The race was extended from four stages to five, with the addition of an individual time trial for the first time; as well as this, the summit finish of Jebel Hafeet ends the race instead of a circuit race at the Yas Marina motor racing circuit.


2018 Abu Dhabi Tour, Classification leadership table
In the 2018 Abu Dhabi Tour, four different jerseys were awarded. For the general classification, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers at intermediate sprints and at the finish of mass-start stages, the leader received a red jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the 2018 Abu Dhabi Tour, and the winner of the classification was considered the winner of the race.


2018 Abu Dhabi Tour, Classification leadership table
Additionally, there was a points classification, which awarded a green jersey. In the points classification, cyclists received points for finishing in the top 10 in a stage. For winning a stage, a rider earned 20 points, with 16 for second, 12 for third, 9 for fourth, 7 for fifth, 5 for sixth with a point fewer per place down to a single point for 10th place.


2018 Abu Dhabi Tour, Classification leadership table
Points towards the classification could also be accrued – on an 8–5–3–1 basis – at intermediate sprint points during each stage, with the exception of the individual time trial; these intermediate sprints also offered bonus seconds towards the general classification. There was also a sprints classification for the points awarded at the aforementioned intermediate sprints, where the leadership of which was marked by a black jersey.


2018 Abu Dhabi Tour, Classification leadership table
The fourth jersey represented the young rider classification, marked by a white jersey. This was decided in the same way as the general classification, but only riders born after 1 January 1993 were eligible to be ranked in the classification. There was also a classification for teams, in which the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added together; the leading team at the end of the race was the team with the lowest total time.


2018 Acre gubernatorial election
The Acre gubernatorial election was held on 7 October 2018 to elect the next governor of the state, 8 federal deputies and two out of its three senators. Senator Gladson Cameli won 53% of the vote in the first round, making him the elected governor of Acre without the need of a runoff. Senator Sérgio Petecão was reelected with 30% of the vote and former congressman Márcio Bittar was elected with 23% of the vote, unseating Jorge Viana, one of the incumbent senators.


2018 Acre gubernatorial election
The previous gubernatorial election in the state was held in October 2014. Workers' Party candidate Tião Viana was re-elected after a runoff with 51.29% of the vote, beating PSDB candidate Márcio Bittar, who got 48.71% of the vote.


2018 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships
The 2018 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships was the 26th edition of acrobatic gymnastics competition and took place in Lotto Arena, Antwerp, Belgium from April 13 to April 15, 2018.


2018 Active Pest Control 200
The 2018 Active Pest Control 200 was the second stock car race of the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season and the 13th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, February 24, 2018 in Hampton, Georgia at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a 1.54 miles (2.48 km) permanent quad-oval racetrack. The race was extended from 130 laps from 134 due to a NASCAR overtime finish caused by a crash including Josh Reaume.


2018 Active Pest Control 200
After a costly mistake by Kyle Busch's pit crew before the final restart, Brett Moffitt of Hattori Racing Enterprises would steal and win the race- the first of the season and the 2nd of his career. To complete the podium, Noah Gragson of Kyle Busch Motorsports and Johnny Sauter of GMS Racing would finish 2nd and 3rd, respectively.


2018 Active Pest Control 200, Background
Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta International Raceway) is a track in Hampton, Georgia, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It is a 1.54-mile (2.48 km) quad-oval track with a seating capacity of 111,000. It opened in 1960 as a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) standard oval. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two 1.5-mile (2.4 km) ovals, the entire track was almost completely rebuilt. The frontstretch and backstretch were swapped, and the configuration of the track was changed from oval to quad-oval. The project made the track one of the fastest on the NASCAR circuit.


2018 Active Pest Control 200, Practice, First practice
First practice was held on Friday, February 23 at 3:00 PM EST. Justin Haley of GMS Racing would set the fastest time in the session with a 31.141 and an average speed of 178.029 miles per hour (286.510 km/h).


2018 Active Pest Control 200, Practice, Second and final practice
The second and final practice was held on Friday, February 23 at 4:58 PM EST. Noah Gragson of Kyle Busch Motorsports would set the fastest time in the session with a 31.011 and an average speed of 178.775 miles per hour (287.710 km/h).


2018 Active Pest Control 200, Qualifying
Qualifying was held on Saturday, February 24 at 11:45 AM EST. The qualifying system was a single car, single lap, two round system where in the first round, everyone would set a time to determine positions 13-32. Then, the fastest 12 qualifiers would move on to the second round to determine positions 1-12. Kyle Busch, driving for his own team Kyle Busch Motorsports would set the fastest time in Round 2 to win the pole.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix
The 2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix (formally the 2018 SAUDIA Ad Diriyah E-Prix) was a Formula E electric car race held at the Riyadh Street Circuit in the town of Diriyah, which is located north-west of the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, on 15 December 2018 before a crowd of about 23,000 spectators. It was the first round of the 2018–19 Formula E season, the inaugural edition of the event and the first Middle Eastern Formula E race. The 33-lap race was won by António Félix da Costa of the Andretti team from a pole position start. Techeetah driver Jean-Éric Vergne finished second and Jérôme d'Ambrosio took third for Mahindra.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix
The one day event was affected by heavy rain which flooded the track; as a result, the two scheduled practice sessions were cancelled and combined into a single 35 minute session. Qualifying was restructured into a half an hour two-group session that saw Félix da Costa claim the first pole position of his career. He held the lead for the opening 13 laps until Vergne passed him on the 14th lap. As Vergne appeared set to take his first victory of the season, he incurred a drive-through penalty for exceeding the maximum amount of power permitted under electrical energy harvesting. He took the penalty in the pit lane and fell to fifth. Vergne recovered through the field but he could not make a successful pass on the final lap on Félix da Costa who took the second win of his career and BMW's first as a Formula E manufacturer.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix
Because this was the first race of the season, Félix da Costa left Ad Diriyah as the Drivers' Championship leader with 28 points (25 for the win and three for the pole position). Vergne was ten points behind in second and d'Ambrosio was a further three points adrift in third. Mitch Evans was fourth with 12 points and André Lotterer rounded out the top five with 11 points after earning an extra point for setting the fastest lap. In the Teams' Championship, Techeetah led with 29 points, ahead of Andretti with one point less. Mahindra, e.Dams-Nissan and Jaguar were all one point behind each other in positions three to five with twelve races left in the season.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Regulation changes
The race saw the introduction of a brand new car to replace the Spark-Renault SRT 01E that had been used since Formula E began in 2014. The new car, the Spark SRT05e (or "Gen2"), eschews the conventional design of having a rear wing in favour of incorporating aerodynamic elements into the chassis and floor and features the halo for driver head protection. It was also designed to last the entire race due to a new McLaren Applied Technologies designed battery, eliminating the need for mid-race car switches.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Regulation changes
Cars will have a series of pre-set power modes introduced to encourage strategic racing without allowing a team to gain a competitive advantage through powertrain development. In a further regulation change, the maximum power permitted to be used by each driver during the race increased from 180 kW (240 hp) to 200 kW (270 hp) and up to 250 kW (340 hp) in practice and qualifying.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Regulation changes
Also, the championship introduced a system dubbed "attack mode" or "Mario Kart mode" in which drivers received an additional 25 kW (34 hp) of power by driving through a designated area of the circuit off the racing line. The duration of the boost mode and the number of boosts available was decided in advance of a round by the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), to stop teams from anticipating its use and incorporating it into race strategy.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Regulation changes
Furthermore, LED lights embedded into the halo illuminated electric blue when a car enters attack mode and magenta when a driver deploys FanBoost to help television viewers and spectators follow the race easier. In a final change to the regulations, races were no longer be run to a set number of laps. Rather, they lasted 45 minutes with one full lap to be completed once the time limit expired.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Driver changes
Heading into the new season, three teams opted to keep the same line-up as they had in the previous season; as several teams changed drivers. One of the main changes involved the début appearance of HWA Racelab with 2015 GP2 Series champion and former McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne and two-time Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champion Gary Paffett. BMW entered Formula E as a manufacturer team with partner Andretti Autosport, employing its development driver Alexander Sims and two-time Macau Grand Prix winner António Félix da Costa. Nissan entered the series to replace its strategic partner Renault in their partnership with racing team DAMS, retaining Sébastien Buemi and employing FIA Formula 2 Championship driver Oliver Rowland to fill in for Nico Prost.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Driver changes
Felipe Massa, the 2008 Formula One World Championship runner-up, made his series début with Venturi,  partnering two-time Macau Grand Prix winner Edoardo Mortara; Massa took over from 2016 Formula V8 3.5 Series champion Tom Dillmann who in turn moved to NIO to replace the outgoing Luca Filippi. After spending the 2017–18 season out of Formula E, Audi factory driver Robin Frijns joined Virgin to replace Alex Lynn.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Driver changes
The final change involved Nick Heidfeld moving to a reserve role at Mahindra as the team signed Jérôme d'Ambrosio (his Dragon car was driven by Formula 2's Maximilian Günther) and 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champion Pascal Wehrlein to be their drivers. Wehrlein was prohibited by his Mercedes-Benz contract to race for another team until 31 December 2018, so Felix Rosenqvist drove in his final event before going to the IndyCar Series in 2019. Defending series champion Jean-Éric Vergne stayed at DS Techeetah after his title-winning campaign and he was again joined by three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner André Lotterer.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Preparations for the race
The first meeting to discuss a potential Saudi Arabian Formula E race was held on 14 December 2017 with presentations and proposals discussed with series officials such as CEO Alejandro Agag. On 17 May 2018, it was officially announced the series was set to race its all-electric single seater racing cars in the kingdom's capital of Riyadh's Al Diriyah district. A 10-year contract was signed 12 days beforehand by its General Sports Authority and the Saudi Arabian Motor Federation to be the series' season-opening round.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Preparations for the race
Saudi Arabian authorities were also granted permission to bar another Middle Eastern ePrix as part of its agreement with Formula E. It was officially confirmed as part of the 2018–19 season by the FIA World Motor Sport Council in October 2018 and took place on 15 December. The race is part of the Saudi Vision 2030 plan that seeks to diversify Saudi Arabia's economy away from oil exports and into developing public service sectors. Prior to the ePrix, the first in the Middle East, Riyadh hosted the 2018 Race of Champions, which former Formula One driver David Coulthard won.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Preparations for the race
The layout of the 21-turn 2.847 km (1.769 mi) Riyadh Street Circuit was unveiled in a public ceremony at the Diriyah Governorate on 25 September 2018. The track's design, overseen by contractor Samer Issa-El-Khour, features a number of flowing corners and high-speed turns and few 90-degrees corners atypical of Formula E street circuits. The existing road network was upgraded to comply with FIA standards, with construction performed in close collaboration with UNESCO and the Diriyah Gate Development Authority to ensure the area's heritage was conserved for future generations.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Preparations for the race
D'Ambrosio spoke of his belief the track's sweeping corners would be the main objective to setting a fast lap time and the race would be about electrical energy management, "This is definitely not a classic Formula E track that we have used before, especially all the way from turn 1 to turn 14 which will be a lot of part-throttle and high speed for Formula E.”


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Concerns about human rights
Following the initial announcement of its inauguration, the race was subject to criticism by Formula E members and outside observers in light of Saudi Arabia's human rights record regarding its treatment of women, minorities and migrant workers, its oil wealth and dependency, and other major geopolitical problems.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Concerns about human rights
In response to these concerns, Agag revealed the Saudi Arabian authorities requested women to participate in the weekend's racing activities and were granted dispensation to report on and spectate the race, "We are happy to be part of that change and we see Formula E as a force for good and in this case is a very specific place under very specific circumstances, but we think Formula E can make a contribution also for good in that country by doing this.”


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Concerns about human rights
After the assassination of The Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Consulate of Saudi Arabia in the Turkish capital of Istanbul in October 2018, Agag told the Associated Press the Ad Diriyah ePrix would proceed as scheduled and stated Formula E would monitor the situation, "Referring to the incident, we obviously have no comment to make. At this moment there are no plans to change the Formula E calendar this season."


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Post-race test session
The first in-season test session of the season was held at the circuit the day after the race. Teams were permitted six hours of running divided into two sessions and were allowed to field one or two cars. As part of an FIA Women in Motorsport initiative, teams were encouraged to field female drivers due to Saudi Arabia lifting its restriction on barring women from driving in the kingdom in June 2018.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Background, Post-race test session
Nine women tested: Sauber's test driver Tatiana Calderón, Italian F4 Championship participant Amna Al Qubaisi, Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy's Katherine Legge, 2015 British GT4 champion Jamie Chadwick, IndyCar Series' Pippa Mann, BMW junior driver Beitske Visser, Supercars Championship competitor Simona de Silvestro, former GP3 Series participant Carmen Jordá, and GT racer Carrie Schreiner.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Shakedown
A half an hour shakedown session was held on Friday afternoon to allow teams to check the efficiency and reliability of their cars at reduced speed. Sam Bird and Massa stopped during the session; Bird continued and Massa pulled over to the side of the circuit to end his session early. After shakedown, several drivers praised the circuit's challenge. Paffett explained its elevation changes were greater than had been expected from pre-race simulations, Dillmann compared it to the Suzuka Circuit. and Rosenqvist likened it to the Circuito Cittadino dell'EUR, "Just surviving the track is going to be an achievement itself." Félix da Costa opined the most likely areas for overtakes on the narrow circuit away from turn 18 were the final and first corners.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Shakedown
Concerns were raised about the attack mode activation zone positioned on the track's right-hand side leaving turn 17, which required drivers to take a tighter line than normal and reduce their speed on the racing line in order to enter the area and drive near the barrier. Vergne spoke of his feeling the zone was too close to the corner's exit, while Jaguar's Mitch Evans argued it should have been placed 50 m (160 ft) further along the track. Dillmann argued drivers could lose up to two seconds of time and they would activate the system under safety car conditions. Félix da Costa said he felt the differing speed within the racing line was dangerous. Despite the criticism, the FIA did not initially consider altering or moving the zone because of a perceived limit of alternative areas.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Free practice
Two practice sessions—both on Saturday morning—were scheduled to be held before the late afternoon race. The first session was scheduled to run for 45 minutes and the second was due to last half an hour. Torrential rain fell in Riyadh overnight and returned when the first practice session was about to begin. The FIA delayed and later cancelled first practice 20 minutes after its commencement because the weather did not improve and track marshals had too much standing water to clear and pump away.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Free practice
Particular water drainage problems emerged at turns eight, ten, eleven and seventeen due to the temporary erection of barriers, which created a lack of drainage and caused rivers to collate across the circuit due to the natural undulations in those areas. To compensate for the loss of on-track driving, the FIA planned for the second practice session to last for an hour from 08:35 to 09:35 Arabia Standard Time (UTC+03:00) rather than the scheduled half an hour to provide drivers with an opportunity for track familiarisation before qualifying.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Free practice
However, heavy rain continued to fall and the FIA delayed second practice before cancelling it 25 minutes after its planned start because the clearing of deep standing water with course vehicles capable of pumping water failed to improve track conditions. Bird accompanied FIA race director Scot Elkins in a course car for a reconnaissance lap and a track inspection. When the two returned to the pit lane, several drivers, including Vergne, Audi's Lucas di Grassi and Buemi congregated to discuss the situation and its impact on the race.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Free practice
Vergne proposed a hybrid-practice session where drivers would simultaneously set laps with the maximum amount of available power reduced from 250 kW (340 hp) to determine the starting order. Other drivers supported Vergne's proposal because of a lack of preparation in the changeable weather. It was also suggested the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy cars circulate the track to dry it because of the sport utility vehicle's increased ride height compared to Formula E machinery.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Free practice
A 35-minute practice period was followed soon after by a two-group qualifying session. Most drivers remained in the garage bar Vergne who ventured outside to observe the weather. Drivers then spent five minutes (three laps) at reduced speed behind the safety car to gather knowledge on how the Spark SRT05e handled on a saturated circuit before green flag conditions. Frijns set a benchmark lap, before a 17-minute red flag was necessitated as a brake-by-wire problem sent Mortara into the turn one TecPro energy absorbing barrier. The session resumed with ten minutes to go and lap times lowered.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Free practice
Vergne, Bird, Rowland and Evans all led until Vandoorne set the overall fastest lap of 1 minute, 18.868 seconds, followed by Bird, Buemi, Rowland, Evans, Vergne, Sims, Félix da Costa, Günther and Audi's Daniel Abt. With more than a minute left, Rosenqvist made an error and hit the turn one wall at low speed with damage to his car's nose cone. Massa drove straight to avoid hitting him. One of Rosenqvist's wheel arches detached on the main straight linking turns 17 and 18 on the way back to the pit lane.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Qualifying
Saturday morning's half an hour qualifying session was divided into two groups of eleven cars rather than the customary four of either five or six. Each group was permitted 15 minutes of on-track activity and all drivers were limited to a single timed lap at 250 kW (340 hp). The starting order was determined by the combined fastest overall lap times from both groups. The driver and team who recorded the pole position lap time were awarded three points towards their respective championships. Félix da Costa took the first pole position of his career with a 1-minute, 17.728 seconds lap.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Qualifying
Dillmann was the first driver to circulate the track; he spent the first ten minutes recording multiple lap times at 200 kW (270 hp) of power and set the second-fastest time. He was investigated for completing more qualifying laps than permitted due to the amended schedule confusing his team. Dragon's José María López was the second driver to record a lap time with five minutes left of group one; he could not better Dillmann's effort and was in provisional third.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Qualifying
Buemi took fourth and the highest-placed rookie Vandoorne in fifth was the sole driver in group two to qualify in the top ten. Bird was sixth. Vergne, seventh, complained of car problems. Frijns, d'Ambrosio and Lotterer completed the top ten provisional qualifiers with Lotterer 11⁄2 seconds slower than Félix da Costa.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Qualifying
Di Grassi was the fastest driver not to set a top ten lap; he described his car as "undriveable". Evans was the faster of the two Jaguars in 12th. 13th-placed Rowland was an early second group pace setter but he made minor contact with the turn one barrier during his maximum power lap, and Oliver Turvey of NIO was 14th-quickest. An error on his best lap put Paffett 15th. Following him on the provisional starting grid were Mortara, Sims, Abt, Massa and Nelson Piquet Jr. of Jaguar.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Qualifying
21st-placed Günther scraped a barrier lining the track with the left-front of his car and qualifying was stopped with four minutes left in the second group after he parked at turn seven and had to be extricated by a recovery vehicle. Rosenqvist was slowest overall because he lost control of his car and struck the outside barrier at the edge of turn 21 at high speed. With Rosenqvist stranded, a track marshal created confusion by waving a red flag; race control did not officially deploy it.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Qualifying, Post-qualifying
Following deliberation in the pre-race driver meeting, the attack mode activation zone was moved 23 m (75 ft) closer to the start line and painted white lines indicating the zone's beginning and exit points were enlargened for improved visibility. Seven drivers received grid penalties: Dillmann had all of his qualifying laps invalidated for exceeding the maximum amount of permitted laps and his car lacked a data logger sensor. His teammate Turvey also had all of his timed laps cancelled for having no data logger sensor.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Qualifying, Post-qualifying
The two Virgin teammates of Frijns and Bird, di Grassi and Rowland had all of their fastest qualifying times deleted for exceeding 250 kW (340 hp) due to a power overshoot from hitting a trackside bump. Mortara was issued a three-place grid penalty because Venturi had transgressed Formula E's 2018–19 season battery software implementation guide. Hence, the grid lined up after penalties as Félix da Costa, López, Buemi, Vandoorne, Vergne, d'Ambrosio, Lotterer, Evans, Paffett, Sims, Abt, Massa, Mortara, Rowland, Piquet, Günther, Rosenqvist, di Grassi, Bird, Frijns, Turvey and Dillmann.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race
The race began before a crowd of about 23,000 people at 15:05 local time. The weather at the start were dry and clear with the track slippery and damp but drying. The air temperature was between 17.60 and 17.95 °C (63.68 and 64.31 °F) and the track temperature ranged from 21.1 and 21.7 °C (70.0 and 71.1 °F); forecasts indicated a 20 percent chance of rain. Each driver was mandated to use the attack mode twice and were permitted to arm the system no more than five times.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race
A special feature of Formula E is the "Fan Boost" feature, an additional 25 kW (34 hp) power to use during the race's second half. The five drivers who were allowed to use the boost were determined by a fan vote. For the Ad Diriyah ePrix, Félix da Costa, Vandoorne, Massa, Abt and di Grassi were handed the extra power. Before the lights went on for the start, Félix da Costa overshot his starting slot because he looked away from pole position. He reversed to ensure he was in the correct position but was skewed at an angle towards the left-hand side barrier and risked locking his rear tires. Nevertheless, Félix da Costa held the lead into the first turn as Buemi overtook the poor-starting López.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race
Vandoorne was passed by Vergne for fourth as Rowland appeared to jump the start but he was not investigated. While the majority of the field avoided a first lap incident, Mortara locked his brakes and crashed straight into the turn one right-hand side TecPro energy absorbing barrier. He reversed to complete almost an entire lap and entered the pit lane for a replacement front wing.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race
This created confusion with track marshals at the turn who felt a full course fellow flag was necessary to recover Mortara's car; they later discovered the procedure was not officially activated as Mortara had left the area. It came as Lotterer steered right to pass d'Ambrosio for sixth entering turn 18. D'Ambrosio made contact with the rear of Lotterer's car with minimal damage to it. That prompted Massa to pass Paffett and Abt on their right on the entry to the final turn for tenth. Further back, Abt overtook Paffett for 11th and Günther was passed by the Virgin duo of Bird and Frijns and fell to 17th. Piquet got ahead of Paffett for 13th on the straight entering turn 18 on lap two as Vandoorne fell to seventh when Lotterer and d'Ambrosio overtook him.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race
On lap three, Vergne pressured López for third. He tried to pass him into turn 18 but López turned right to block him. He did succeed on the next lap and Lotterer also got ahead of López for fourth soon after. Both Techeetahs battled for third as Félix da Costa opened up a two-second advantage over Buemi. It concluded when Lotterer ran wide on the left through turn 17 on the sixth lap. He then held off López on his right entering the next corner.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race
Doing this dropped López into d'Ambrosio's clutches, who was not close enough to affect a pass. In the meantime, Turvey and his teammate Dillmann used the attack mode in an attempt to advance through the field with 34 minutes to go. On his eighth lap, Rosenqvist retired with a rear transmission failure. During the following lap, Buemi was out-braked by Vergne on the outside at turn 18 for second. An error from Paffett put him off the racing line between turns eight and nine and he collided with a barrier and retired on lap ten. On lap 11, Massa overtok Vandoorne on the right for ninth.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race
As Vergne began to draw closer to Félix da Costa, Lotterer turned left to pass Buemi for third at turn 18 on the next lap. Vergne moved to within passing distance of Félix da Costa on the 13th lap. He almost took the lead when the latter ran wide at turn 17 and waited for another lap. The two ran close by each other through lap 14 until Vergne overtook the defensive Félix da Costa on his left at turn 18 for the lead.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race
On lap 17, Abt used the attack mode to try a pass on Rowland but the latter kept tenth by driving onto the corner's run-off area. Buemi held off López on the left for fourthon the following lap entering turn 18 and prevented stopped d'Ambrosio from passing. That prompted López to be more aggressive on the left at the same turn on lap 19 and passed Buemi that time round. Buemi ran wide leaving the next corner and allowed d'Ambrosio past for fifth. Lotterer used the attack mode to pass Félix da Costa on the straight linking the final and first turns for second at the start of the 22nd lap.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race
At this point, it appeared Techeetah would finish 1–2, until Vergne and his teammate Lotterer incurred drive-through penalties for exceeding the maximum amount power permitted during electrical energy harvesting because of a software problem that used more electrical energy beyond the level defined in the FIA suppliers' implementation guide, a transgression of Formula E's sporting regulations. This eroded Vergne's 2.7 second lead and he fell to fifth and Lotterer dropped to seventh and lost 20 seconds of time. Hence, Félix da Costa retook the lead with López second and d'Ambrosio third.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race
Massa and Sims were also issued drive-through penalties for the same infraction as the Techeetahs. On lap 24, López failed to earn the extra amount of power because he missed the attack zone and lost second to d'Ambrosio. He tried again on the next lap and again missed the attack zone. López fell to fifth, behind Buemi and Vergne. He damaged his rear suspension which left him fighting for control of his car until its rear-left wishbone collapsed on a kerb. López retired at the exit to turn 14.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race
Elkins deployed a brief full course yellow flag and later the safety car to allow López's car to be extricated by a recovery vehicle. He had considered using a system to dictate the field to close up to the leader. Félix da Costa immediately activated his first attack mode as the safety car circulated the track for three laps (five minutes). Shortly before racing continued for four laps after the safety car's withdrawal, nine drivers, including Félix da Costa and Vergne, strategically used the attack mode for a second time.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race
The disruption to proceedings allowed all to drive at full speed until the end' some opined there was no electrical energy limitations in all circumstances. Félix da Costa led d'Ambrosio and Vergne at the lap 30 restart. That lap, Vergne passed d'Ambrosio on the main straight for second. Buemi had less usable electrical energy and lost sixth to Evans and Lotterer on laps 30 and 31. On the 32nd lap, Félix da Costa used his FanBoost to increase his lead over Vergne. During the lap, Piquet ran into the left-hand quarter of di Grassi's car as the former passed him for ninth into turn 18. Lotterer earned one championship point for setting the fastest lap on lap 32, a 1-minute, 12.591 seconds.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race
Félix da Costa led Vergne by 1.507 seconds at the start of the final lap as the latter closed up to provide himself with an opportunity for a last-lap pass. Although Félix da Costa achieved a good exit out of turn 17, it did not dissuade Vergne from an unsuccessful out-braking manoeuvre that saw him lock his brakes. Thus, Félix da Costa held the lead for the final three corners to claim his second career victory, his first since the 2015 Buenos Aires ePrix and BMW's maiden Formula E win by 0.462 seconds over Vergne.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race
D'Ambrosio finished third despite nursing diffuser damage from his earlier contact with Lotterer. Evans took fourth, Lotterer fifth, and the Nissans of Buemi and Rowland were sixth and seventh. The Audi duo of Abt and di Grassi took eighth and ninth and Piquet completed the top ten.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race
The last of the classified finishers were the Virgin duo of Bird and Frijns, NIO teammates Turvey and Dillmann, Günther, Vandoorne, Massa (who received two-post race penalties for using his FanBoost earlier than allowed and for using 150 kW (200 hp) of energy rather than 100 kW (130 hp) while on FanBoost and incurred one e-licence penalty point), Sims and Mortara. The attrition rate was low, with 19 of the 22 starters finishing the race.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race, Post-race
"I was far from giving up – I'm a fighter, after all. But it's hard – I'm also a winner and I hate to lose. To finally do it today, is just amazing... the DAC is back!"


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race, Post-race
António Félix da Costa talking about his performance in the previous three seasons after the event.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race, Post-race
The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. Félix da Costa spoke of his happiness over his win and called it "a perfect start" to the season, "When I crossed the line I was happy obviously but I was just assimilating everything. It was when I saw everyone’s faces and felt all the emotion from the rest of the guys that it all really came to me."


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race, Post-race
Vergne said his second-place result was "a taster of what is to come from Techeetah" and aimed for more podium results and his first win of the season, "I’m confident that we will continue to deliver some very exciting racing for the rest of the championship. We’re going to absorb all the lessons, continue in this spirit and come back for more." D'Ambrosio said of his third-place finish, "I come also from two difficult years so it’s great to start this new relationship with the team in this way. We’ve worked really hard over the past few months to be ready and I think we were really fast and good in race pace. I’m really happy to be a part of such a great team – there are loads of great people and a great atmosphere."


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race, Post-race
After retiring from a suspension failure, López spoke of his belief he lost the chance to finish on the podium. He hoped to maintain his pace at the season's next race in Marrakesh, "If we keep it, we’re going to be fighting the next race, so I really hope so. I know that we’re privateers, the outsiders but the truth today is that we were competitive. There were many positives today and we take more confidence now going in to Marrakesh."


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race, Post-race
Evans had mixed feelings over coming fourth; he said he had a considered approach, which enabled him to compete in the top five with drivers such as Buemi, d'Ambrosio and López, "It was a strong race and a good one especially after the bad luck in quali. A bucket-load of points is a good start and we’ll take that at this early stage but to be so close to the podium is a little bittersweet."


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race, Post-race
Buemi stated that he was disappointed by finishing sixth because of a lack of speed after running in second early on, "I could not fight the [Techeetahs]. I just did the best I could to lose the least amount of time but I was not in their league to be honest."


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race, Post-race
Media reception to the race was mixed. Writing for The Guardian, Richard Williams said the race demonstrated Formula E did not need to follow Formula One's example of the heavy imposition of penalties as it tried to showcase it was different from internal combustion motor racing. He also complimented the driving on the circuit, "although it was an entertaining spectacle, the rules farrago towards the end was the last thing the formula needs".


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race, Post-race
Journalist Maurice Hamilton of ESPN wrote the ePrix reminded him of Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes in that it had "a similar impression of delusion appeared to infiltrate enthusiastic media and TV summaries referring to a 'brilliant race'" and that it did little to arouse deep emotion because the circuit appeared to him as "weaving through a building site thanks to the impression of high screens blanking off construction work".


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race, Post-race
Views on the attack mode were mixed. Abt argued the attack mode was like "a lose mode" because he lost a position activating it and proposed its power be increased to allow for a more effective pass on other drivers. His teammate di Grassi concurred and said he believed there were less strategic possibilities with it.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race, Post-race
Bird opined that the system should lose drivers around six to eight seconds for better on-track action, "A bit like the joker lap in Rallycross – same sort of concept, only you lose six-eight seconds but you've got more power for the next three laps. Something like that would be cool." Evans said his belief the system was effective but he wanted a good balance of losing and gaining time.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race, Post-race
Audi team principal Allan McNish considered the attack mode to have offered up unpredictability, "That's never a bad thing because I do believe that overtaking is a skillset a driver needs to have and so therefore we saw some guys doing some pretty strong overtaking manoeuvres." Günther said he felt it was a helpful system for passing and close racing.


2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix, Race, Post-race
Because this was the first race of the season, Félix da Costa led the Drivers' Championship with 28 points (25 for the win and three points for earning the pole position). Vergne was ten points behind him in second and d'Ambrosio was a further three points adrift in third. Evans was fourth with 12 points and Lotterer rounded out the top five with 11 points. In the Teams' Championship, Techeetah became the leader with 29 points picked up from Vergne's and Lotterer's finishing results of second and fifth. Andretti followed in second with 28 points. Mahindra, e.Dams-Nissan and Jaguar made up positions three to five with a point apiece with twelve races left in the season.


2018 Adelaide 500
The 2018 Adelaide 500 was a motor racing event held on the weekend of 2 to 4 March 2018 at the Adelaide Street Circuit in Adelaide, South Australia. It marked the twentieth running of the Adelaide 500 and was the first event of sixteen in the 2018 Supercars Championship. It comprised two races of 250 kilometres. The Supercar races were supported by the opening round of the 2018 Super2 Series, a series for older model Supercars. It was also the inaugural round of the new SuperUtes Series.


2018 Adelaide 500
Shane van Gisbergen won both Race 1 and Race 2, driving a Holden Commodore ZB for Triple Eight Race Engineering.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp
The 2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp was a summer camp undertaken by players of the Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the "Crows", from January 29 to February 2 in the lead-up to the 2018 AFL season. Run by Collective Minds, a consultancy group based in Queensland, the camp was designed to strengthen the mental strength of the players, the lack of which was blamed by the Adelaide's Head of Football Brett Burton and head coach Don Pyke for their loss in the 2017 AFL Grand Final.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp
However, instead, the camp, described as "Cult-like", caused longstanding trauma, which was regarded as one of the main reasons for the precipitous decline of Adelaide from grand-finalists in 2017 to missing the finals in 2018, and continued poor performance in later seasons, as well as the departure of many players and senior officials from the club, including both Burton and Pyke.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Background
Having faced numerous hardships throughout previous seasons such as the murder of coach Phil Walsh and death of assistant coach Dean Bailey, the Adelaide Football Club had a successful year in 2017 and finished as minor premiers at the end of the 2017 home-and-away season. Captain Taylor Walker was widely regarded as one of the best in the league, and the shock and pain that had been felt by many in the club as a result of the murder of Walsh had been routed into a strong desire to honour his memory by winning a premiership.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Background
However, in the Grand Final, when they faced the Richmond Football Club, Adelaide were soundly beaten. Instead of the close match many were anticipating, Richmond won by eight goals, and dominated the entire match. The large loss demoralised the playing group, with many being unable to face the media. Nevertheless, there was a strong feeling that Adelaide would bounce back from the loss and perform well again the next season.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Background, Collective Minds
Collective Minds is a consultancy group based in Queensland, which is "hired by sporting teams and businesses to build a mentally resilient culture", had worked with Adelaide throughout the 2017 season, and had generally been perceived as effective, if unorthodox. On one occasion after the Grand Final loss, they had gotten every player to run successive 100-metre sprints while the theme song of the Richmond Football Club played on repeat over loudspeakers. Collective Minds and the Adelaide Football Club had a multi-year regimen with each other. Prior to the camp, Crows players were made to sign non-disclosure agreements barring them from publicly discussing the events of the camp.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Events of the camp
The camp, run by Collective Minds and masterminded by Head of Football at Adelaide Brett Burton and Amon Woulfe, a self-proclaimed "coach, facilitator and trainer", who is not a registered psychologist, took place at a forest about an hours drive away from Broadbeach, Queensland, a suburb of Gold Coast. It was run with the intention of strengthening the mental capabilities of the players, which had been blamed by senior staff as the cause for their Grand Final loss. The players were not told where they were going prior to the trip.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Events of the camp
Players were divided into three groups, based on their playing experience, prior to the journey to the camp. Group One, consisting of the more senior Adelaide players, namely Eddie Betts, Matt Crouch, Richard Douglas, Bryce Gibbs, Kyle Hartigan, Josh Jenkins, Tom Lynch, Rory Sloane, Daniel Talia and captain Walker, were the target of the most severe regimen. The second group, consisting of Mitch McGovern, Curtly Hampton, Paul Seedsman and Brodie Smith, had a less severe experience, though it was still described as "weird".


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Events of the camp
The third group, consisting of the more junior players, were subject to what was deemed to be a regular fitness camp. Players were housed in tepees for the duration of the camp. According to an unnamed Adelaide insider who was quoted by the Herald Sun, the camp was "like a trance", with this unnamed insider also claiming that players had had difficulty remembering what had occurred on the camp.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Events of the camp, Experience of Group 1
Upon entering  the bus that was to carry them from Broadbeach to the camp, Group 1 was alarmed to be greeted by men wearing combat uniforms and holding what appeared to be automatic firearms, though the guns were revealed to be fake. The players were then blindfolded, and were driven for an hour until they arrived at the camp. Upon arrival they had their blindfolds removed, and were greeted by roughly 25 camp workers, who refused to reveal the location at which they were at.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Events of the camp, Experience of Group 1
Among the first exercises performed by Group 1 was an exercise in which players were told to find a partner and stare at their eyes, alternating which eye they were staring at. During the middle of this exercise, Tom Lynch collapsed. He was taken to a bed, where he started to vomit. Despite his condition, camp workers refused to call for medical attention, claiming that he was only suffering from dizziness. Lynch was only given medical assistance upon the demands of the players, and club doctor Marc Cesana, who was not at the camp and did not know where it was located, was contacted and made to drive to it and bring Lynch back to Broadbeach to provide medical attention.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Events of the camp, Experience of Group 2 and Group 3
Groups 2 and 3 were subject to a less severe experience than Group 1, with them arriving a day after Group 1 did. They were not blindfolded on the drive there, though they were ordered to keep their heads down for the entire trip, while heavy metal music played over loudspeakers.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Events of the camp, Talking stick
During the first night of the camp, all players were asked to publicly divulge their weaknesses using an Aboriginal Australian digging stick as a Talking stick. Eddie Betts, Cam Ellis-Yolmen, Wayne Milera and Curtly Hampton, all of whom are aboriginal, found this action culturally offensive, and it only contributed to their distaste for the camp. Collective Minds has admitted that using the digging stick in the way that they did was a mistake.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Events of the camp, Wolfgang
According to journalist Sam McClure of The Age, before sunrise on the second day of camp, players were woken up and taken to a worker in the woods, who introduced himself as "Wolfgang". One by one, players were then tied with to a tree. The only way for a player to free himself was to crawl to a knife located 10 metres away. While they were attempting to reach the knife, nine of their teammates would hurl abuse at them.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Events of the camp, Wolfgang
This abuse was deeply personal, with barbs calling back to childhood trauma, relationship issues and domestic abuse that had been gleaned from info leaked to the runners of the camp without the consent of the players, derived from confidential disclosures players had made to Adelaide staff. In some cases, this information was confidential to the extent players had not divulged it to their spouses. Jeff Bond, former Chief Psychologist for the Australian Institute of Sport, told The Age that "Using people's personal trauma to drive them is so illogical and dangerous it's not funny". Bond also compared many of the measures taken in the camp to ones used for training commandos in the military. Adelaide themselves have "strongly disputed" this version of events.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Events of the camp, Social interactions
Social interaction at the camp was extremely limited, players were ordered not to talk with each other when not performing exercises, and as all phones had been confiscated most players had zero contact with the outside world. The only outside contact allowed was for players who had pregnant spouses, who were allowed a few minutes a day to speak.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Aftermath
The camp was not effective in improving the results of the Adelaide Football Club. Adelaide had a poor 2018 season, finishing 12th on the ladder and missing the finals. Midway through the 2018 season, Adelaide cut all ties with Collective Minds, who claimed that the decision was mutual. After the cutting of ties, Adelaide coach Don Pyke admitted that the camp was a failure. Collective Minds and Adelaide have both denied that the camp has significant negative effects.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Aftermath
Pyke stepped down as coach at the end of the 2019 season after another poor performance, with Brett Burton and Scott Camporeale, an assistant coach, being sacked a month later. In July 2020, Premier of South Australia Steven Marshall commented on the camp, calling reports on it "quite disturbing" suggesting that SafeWork South Australia could investigate it. In September of 2020, Collective Minds sued journalists Sam McClure and Caroline Wilson for defamation.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Aftermath, Effect on players
The camp had a substantial negative effect on the Adelaide players. One anonymous player told The Age that;


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Aftermath, Effect on players
We were a team and a group of players in the peak of our powers that was ready to win a premiership. But our bond with the club, with each other, was torn apart at that camp.


2018 Adelaide Crows pre-season camp, Aftermath, Effect on players
Several Adelaide players left the club over the next few seasons. Among the most notable departures were Eddie Betts, who had declared "That [camp] was one of the main reasons why it was so hard to enjoy footy", who returned to his old club Carlton. and Mitch McGovern, who left the club after the 2018 season, also to play for Carlton. In June 2020, McGovern's manager Colin Young singled out the camp as the singular reason for McGovern leaving the club. All in all, 8 out of Adelaide's best 22 players in 2017 left the club as of July 2020, a turnover amount described as an "exodus".


2018 Adelaide Football Club season
The 2018 Adelaide Football Club season will be the Adelaide Football Club's 28th season in the AFL. It was also be its second season in the AFL Women's and its 5th season fielding a reserves team in the SANFL. The men's team started the season successfully, winning the inaugural AFLX competition.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, List changes
After only making one appearance at AFL level in the 2017 season, two-time club champion Scott Thompson decided to retire. Before trade period began, the Crows announced that they would not be renewing the contracts of Troy Menzel and Dean Gore. They also officially announced that Sam Shaw had been removed from the rookie list after being kept on it during the 2017 season for administrative reasons.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, List changes
Days after Adelaide's grand final loss, Jake Lever requested a trade to Melbourne. Adelaide were able to secure two first round draft picks (one in the 2017 draft and one in the 2018 draft) for the key defender. The Crows then used the 2017 first round pick, along with their own, to bring Bryce Gibbs to the club from Carlton. Charlie Cameron requested a trade to Brisbane Lions, but it wasn't until the final hour of the trade period that he was traded in exchange for pick 12 in the 2017 draft. During the trade period Adelaide also traded Harrison Wigg for Pick 39 and brought North Melbourne veteran Sam Gibson into the side in exchange for Pick 91.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, List changes
Before the 2017 national draft, the Crows also delisted Cam Ellis-Yolmen and Jono Beech. Beech was told that he would not be offered another contract, but the club committed to re-drafting Ellis-Yolmen in the 2018 rookie draft. The team also nominated Jackson Edwards, the son of dual premiership player Tyson Edwards, for a father-son selection. Edwards was not picked up during the national draft by any team, and as a result he automatically joined the Crows list with their final selection in the rookie draft.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, List changes
Adelaide only used two draft picks in the national draft. With their first round pick the Crows selected South Australian forward/midfielder Darcy Fogarty. At the start of 2017 Fogarty had been considered a contender for the number one draft pick, but his 2017 season was ended in July when he suffered an injury requiring knee surgery and he slipped down the draft to pick 12, enabling the Crows to select him.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, List changes
The Crows' second pick was in round three, the pick they had received for trading Wigg to Gold Coast, and they used it to draft Andrew McPherson, who they hadn't expected to still be available. In addition to re-drafting Cam Ellis-Yolmen and automatically acquiring Jackson Edwards in the rookie draft, the Crows selected Patrick Wilson, mature-aged SANFL premiership player with Sturt, and Lachlan Murphy, a member of the club's development squad who had been playing in the SANFL reserves team in 2017.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, AFLX
Adelaide participated in Group A of the inaugural AFLX competition. All matches were played at Cooper Stadium in Adelaide on Thursday, 15 February. After defeating Collingwood and West Coast to finish at the top of their pool, the Crows defeated Geelong by 8 points in the final and became the first ever AFLX premiers. Though Adelaide mainly played depth players rather than a top-level squad, experienced trio Cam Ellis-Yolmen, Curtly Hampton and Kyle Cheney, all of whom had missed much of 2017 due to injury, had opportunities to perform well.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Pre-season
The Crows had to rest several key players for JLT Community Series matches due to injury recovery, such as captain Taylor Walker, key defender Daniel Talia and midfielders Rory Sloane and Hugh Greenwood. During the series new recruits at the club put their name forward to play for the team in the opening round of the regular season, including Lachlan Murphy, a rookie-listed small forward, and Bryce Gibbs, an off-season recruit from Carlton.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Pre-season
The Crows went into the JLT Community Series knowing that they would be without several players due to injury, notably including captain Taylor Walker, who was set to return from a foot injury in time for the first match of the regular season. In addition, midfielders Brad Crouch and Hugh Greenwood were left out of the team for the first game due to better manage their recoveries from injury. However, the first match was also the first opportunity for off-season recruit Bryce Gibbs to play a full match with the Crows. In the absence of both Taylor Walker and Rory Sloane, Tom Lynch was named the captain for Adelaide's match against Fremantle. During training for the match, defender Daniel Talia rolled his ankle and was withdrawn from the team, replaced with draftee Darcy Fogarty.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Pre-season
The Crows got out to a 29-point lead at half-time, but Fremantle fought back to get a lead of 9 points deep into the last quarter. The Crows scored the final three goals of the game to win by 10 points. Among the Crows' best players were Gibbs (with 27 possessions and a goal) and Matt Crouch (with 36 disposals), who was dominant in the stoppages. Acting captain Lynch was also impressive as a link-up forward.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Pre-season
Talia returned from injury and joined the team for the first time of the year, along with Sloane, Greenwood, Eddie Betts, Richard Douglas and Kyle Hartigan, with the Crows fielding 25 players in the pre-season derby against crosstown rivals Port Adelaide. Again the Crows had a commanding lead at half-time but allowed their opposition to get back into the game. This time they had a 26-point lead which Port Adelaide overcame, and they lost the game by 26 points themselves, only scoring three goals in the second half of the game.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Pre-season
Despite the loss, there were impressive performances from new players Fogarty and Sam Gibson, a recruit from North Melbourne, both of whom put themselves into contention for a debut for the Crows in round 1 of the regular season. Small forward Lachlan Murphy also performed well for the second match in a row to put his name forwards.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Home and Away season
The fixture for the 2018 home and away season was announced on 31 October 2017. Adelaide will host Richmond in a re-match of the 2017 AFL Grand Final in round 2 on a Thursday night at the Adelaide Oval. Bryce Gibbs will play against former side Carlton for the first time in round 7, then the Crows will face off against ex-Crow Jake Lever for the first time when they play Melbourne in round 10.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Home and Away season
Due to injuries from the pre-season, there was uncertainty about whether or not Taylor Walker, due to a foot injury, and Brad Crouch, due to abdominal strain, would be playing. According to Daniel Talia, the Crows were taking a cautious approach, unwilling to risk using players who had not had a full pre-season, and as a result neither played in round 1. Instead of Walker, the Crows played debutant Darcy Fogarty, who made his debut alongside Tom Doedee (who was in the side to replace Jake Lever, who had left the club to play for Melbourne) and Lachlan Murphy.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Home and Away season
Breaking with their normal routine for matches in Melbourne, the Crows elected to fly to Melbourne a day early to have a closed training session in an undisclosed location. On the day of the match, Sam Gibson, listed to play his first match for the Crows since moving from North Melbourne the previous season, was withdrawn from the squad due to hamstring tightness. Having played 130 consecutive games for North Melbourne before being delisted, this put an end to the longest-running streak of consecutive matches played in the AFL at the time.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Home and Away season
During the first quarter of the match, Richard Douglas was reported by the field umpires for rough conduct on Essendon player Zach Merrett during a collision which resulted in a concussion for Merrett, ruling Merrett out of the rest of the match. The match was tight and low-scoring during the first half, with Essendon going into half-time with a 5-point lead. The Crows then opened up more opportunities for scoring in the third quarter and outscored Essendon by seven goals to three to take a 20-point lead themselves.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Home and Away season
Some of the Crows best players on the ground were Rory Laird and Matt Crouch, both of whom achieved 40 disposals throughout the match, and Bryce Gibbs, playing his first match for Adelaide since moving from Carlton. Gibbs had 35 disposals, including seven clearances and two goals in the third quarter.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Home and Away season
Despite their dominant position going into the final quarter, the Crows were only able to score one more goal for the match and lost by 12 points. Making the result worse for them was a groin injury to Curtly Hampton, who had already spent most of the previous season out of the side due to injury. This was their first loss to Essendon since 2014.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Home and Away season
During the week after Adelaide's loss to Essendon, the Crows' controversial pre-season training camp was leaked to the press, with reports emerging that players had been distressed at the camp. Journalist Sam McClure claimed that Taylor Walker had "sent a fairly terse text message to teammates demanding to know who it was that leaked the information", and also claimed that one player at the club was re-considering their future with the team.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Home and Away season
Walker returned to Adelaide's team for his first match of the season, against 2017 Grand Final opponents Richmond. In total there were seven changes from the team that had played in the grand final to the team named to play in the match. During the game the Crows suffered injuries to four different players, with Matt Crouch leaving the ground in the second quarter due to a hamstring injury and David Mackay leaving the ground to due concussion from a collision with Richmond player Josh Caddy. Rory Sloane and Daniel Talia also left the ground with injuries, but both returned to finish the game.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Home and Away season
In the first half Josh Jenkins had an impressive performance against All-Australian defender Alex Rance, kicking four goals against him, followed by a fifth later in the game. Due to strong performances in the forward line from both Jenkins and Walker, the Crows led at the end of every quarter and finished off with a 36-point win.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Home and Away season
St Kilda dominated most of the play in the first half of the match, but were unable to convert that to a scoreboard lead and the Crows still led by 10 points at half time. During the half time break, coach Don Pyke instructed the players to be more predictable in how they passed the ball to each other and as a result the Crows were able to control the game more and finish the match 49-point winners.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL, Season summary, Home and Away season
The Crows were dominated by the Magpies in the first half to trail by 52 points during the third quarter. They kicked four goals in a row to bring themselves back into the contest, only trailing by 30 points early in the final quarter, but Collingwood then kicked five of the last seven goals to seal the match. Crows star forward Eddie Betts injured his left hamstring and was unable to finish the match.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL Women's, Season summary
The full fixture for the 2018 AFL Women's season was announced on 27 October 2017. Four of the seven games were home games for the Crows, three of them played at Norwood Oval and the final home game at TIO Stadium in Darwin. The unfurling of their premiership flag took place in round one in a 2017 AFL Women's Grand Final rematch against the Brisbane Lions.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL Women's, Season summary
In the absence of co-captain and reigning club champion Erin Phillips due to a quad injury, along with other key players, the Crows lost their first two matches to Brisbane Lions and Melbourne, delivering a heavy blow to their chances of defending their premiership. In round 3 Phillips returned for the Crows' match against the Western Bulldogs and kicked four goals, the Crows winning their first match of the season in a close contest that came down to the final minutes of the game.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL Women's, Season summary
After this the Crows went undefeated until the final round of the season with a draw against the Greater Western Sydney and wins against Carlton and Fremantle. They needed to win their final match against Collingwood to make it to the Grand Final, but despite leading at half-time they lost the match by 21 points and finished the season in fifth.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL Women's, Season summary, Round 1
The season opener was a re-match of the 2017 AFL Women's Grand Final, which the Crows had won to claim the inaugural AFL Women's premiership cup. The Crows went into the game missing Courtney Cramey and Abbey Holmes due to injury, and Jenna McCormick due to her W-League duties, then co-captain and 2017 AFLW Best and Fairest Erin Phillips was a late withdrawal due to a quad injury. This damaged the Crows' ability to win the ball through the midfield and left gaps in their team structure, allowing Lion Sabrina Frederick-Traub to dominate in Brisbane's forward line.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL Women's, Season summary, Round 1
The Crows failed to score in the first quarter, but took the lead going into half-time thanks to goals to Jones, Wallace and Randall. Despite having the momentum, the Crows failed to score in the second half while Brisbane scored 3.3 and won the match by 12 points as a result.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL Women's, Season summary, Round 2
The Crows went into Round 2 again without Phillips due to her quad injury and they were outclassed by Melbourne. After keeping close with Melbourne for the first quarter, but the Demons kicked four goals to one against the wind in the second quarter to reach an unassailable lead. Melbourne's midfield trio of Elise O'Dea, Daisy Pearce and Karen Paxman dominated the game, collecting 54 possessions between them. The Crows lost by 32 points, and senior coach Bec Goddard emphasized after the match that it wasn't solely due to the team missing Phillips.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL Women's, Season summary, Round 3
Phillips returned from her quad injury to play her first game of the season against the Western Bulldogs and dominated the match, kicking four of Adelaide's six goals. In addition the Crows moved forward Sarah Perkins into the midfield with great effect after she had struggled to make an impact in the first two rounds. In the last quarter the Crows gained a one-point lead only for the Bulldogs to control the flow of play for six or seven minutes late in the game. The Crows' defense held them to just one point which leveled the scores. At the end of the game Rachael Killian kicked a behind to put the Crows in front and Jenna McCormick kicked her second goal after the siren to give Adelaide their first win of the season and keep their premiership defense alive.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL Women's, Season summary, Round 4
The round 4 match was a wet and low-scoring affair. After only three goals were scored in the first half, none were scored at all in the third quarter. The Crows went into the final quarter nine points down before scoring the first ten points of the quarter to lead by a point. The Giants scored just one point for the quarter and drew the game. During the match, Ebony Marinoff broke the AFLW tackles record with 21 tackles, more than had ever been recorded in a single AFL or AFLW game.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL Women's, Season summary, Round 5
After being at the bottom of the ladder after their draw against the Giants, the Crows needed to win in order to keep their premiership defense alive. After a tight start to the game, the Crows broke free in the second quarter, scoring three goals in just two minutes to extend their lead to 23 points by three-quarter time. Despite not scoring in the third quarter, they only conceded three points and finished with a 35-point win.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL Women's, Season summary, Round 5
During the second quarter, Phillips left the ground in the second quarter to look after her quad, which still hadn't fully recovered from her earlier injury. The win took Adelaide from eighth to fifth on the ladder, only half a game below second, the spot they needed to finish to make it into the Grand Final.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL Women's, Season summary, Round 6
Due to the weather being very hot and humid (32 degrees Celsius and 71 percent humidity), the quarter-time, half-time and three quarter-time breaks were extended for the match. The match was close, with the lead changing several times throughout the game. Fremantle player Dana Hooker kicked a goal with less than five minutes to go to ensure a close finish, but the Crows held on to win the game by 4 points. With the win they went into the top two for the first time of the season.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL Women's, Season summary, Round 7
The Crows went into their final match against Collingwood as favourites and were expected to win and make their way into the Grand Final to defend their premiership. Crows co-captain Chelsea Randall suffered a head knock late in the second quarter and was forced to sit out the rest of the match. Randall had been instrumental in getting the Crows their 10-point lead at half-time, and without her they were unable to stop the Collingwood forward line.


2018 Adelaide Football Club season, AFL Women's, Season summary, Round 7
With less than five minutes remaining in the final quarter the Crows were still within 7 points of the lead and could have won, but they gave away a free kick deep in a ruck contest deep inside Collingwood's forward 50 to concede a goal, which sealed the win for the Magpies. Because of the loss, Adelaide finished fifth on the ladder and missed out on playing in the Grand Final.


2018 Adriatica Ionica Race
The 2018 Adriatica Ionica Race/Following the Serenissima Routes was a five-stage men's professional road cycling race.


2018 Adriatica Ionica Race
It was the first edition of the Adriatica Ionica Race/Following the Serenissima Routes. The race started with a team time trial on 20 June in Musile di Piave and finished on 24 June in Trieste. The race is part of the UCI Europe Tour, and is categorised by the UCI as a 2.1 race. The race was won by the Colombian rider Iván Sosa (Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec).


2018 Adriatica Ionica Race, Classification leadership
In the 2018 Adriatica Ionica, five jerseys were awarded. The general classification was calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage. Time bonuses were awarded to the first three finishers on all stages apart from the time trial stage. The first three riders would get 10, 6, and 4 seconds, respectively. The leader of the general classification received a blue jersey sponsored by Geo&tex2000. This classification was considered the most important of the 2018 Adriatica Ionica, and the winner of the classification was considered the winner of the race.


2018 Adriatica Ionica Race, Classification leadership
The second classification was the points classification. Riders were awarded points for finishing in the top ten in a stage. Points were also won in intermediate sprints; ten points for crossing the sprint line first, six points for second place, three for third, two for fourth, and a single point for fifth. The leader of the points classification was awarded a red jersey sponsored by Full Speed Ahead.


2018 Adriatica Ionica Race, Classification leadership
The third classification was the mountains classification. Points were awarded to the riders that reached the summit of the most difficult climbs first. The climbs were categorized, in order of increasing difficulty, as third-, second-, and first-category and hors catégorie (read: "beyond category"). The leadership of the mountains classification was marked by a green sponsored by Prologo.


2018 Adriatica Ionica Race, Classification leadership
The fourth jersey represented the young rider classification, marked by a white jersey sponsored by Gabetti. Only riders born after 1 January 1993 were eligible; the young rider best placed in the general classification was the leader of the young rider classification.


2018 Adriatica Ionica Race, Classification leadership
The final classification was the "Fighting Spirit Prize" given after each stage to the rider considered, by a jury, to have "who struggled in order to achieve results in all the competitive moments of the race or the one who take action to start or carry out the longest breakaway". The winner wore an orange jersey sponsored by Suzuki. There was also a classification for teams, in which the times of the best three cyclists in a team on each stage were added together; the leading team at the end of the race was the team with the lowest cumulative time.


2018 Adur District Council election
The 2018 Adur District Council elections took place on 3 May 2018 to elect members of Adur District Council in West Sussex, England. The election saw half of the Council's 29 seats up for election, and resulted in the Conservative Party retaining their majority on the council. Labour gained 4 seats to replace UKIP as the official opposition on the Council, who lost all the seats they were defending from 2014.


2018 Advance Auto Parts Clash
The 2018 Advance Auto Parts Clash was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on February 11, 2018, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 75 laps, it was the first exhibition race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.


2018 Advance Auto Parts Clash, Report, Background
The track, Daytona International Speedway, is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the others being Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four–turn superspeedway that is 2.5-mile (4.0 km) The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.


2018 Advance Auto Parts Clash, Report, Format and eligibility
The race is 75 laps in length, and is divided into two segments; the first is 25 laps and the second is 50 laps. The race is open to those drivers who won a pole in the 2017 season or had won "The Clash" previously.


2018 Advance Auto Parts Clash, Report, Format and eligibility
The 2018 Clash at Daytona will not be a predetermined number of cars; rather, the field is limited to drivers who meet more exclusive criteria. Only drivers who were 2017 Pole Award winners, former Clash race winners, former Daytona 500 pole winners who competed full–time in 2017 and drivers who qualified for the 2017 Playoffs are eligible.


2018 Advance Auto Parts Clash, Practice
Ryan Blaney was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 45.090 seconds and a speed of 199.601 mph (321.227 km/h).


2018 Advance Auto Parts Clash, Starting lineup
The lineup was determined by random draw, with Austin Dillon drawing the top spot.


2018 Advance Auto Parts Clash, Race
Austin Dillon led the field to the green flag. He would lead the first lap of the race, as Denny Hamlin would pass him just after the start finish line to take over the lead. By lap 6, the field quickly became mostly single file on the top lane. On lap 7 heading into turn 1, Kyle Larson, who was running 5th at that time, made contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. which resulted in Larson getting loose onto the apron and back up the track to save it, but fell all the way back to 16th.


2018 Advance Auto Parts Clash, Race
On lap 10, the field suddenly became double wide in front as Chase Elliott was able to pass Hamlin for the lead. Elliott would be challenged by Austin Dillon for the lead side by side for the next several laps, but Elliott would manage to hang on with the lead. By lap 22, Elliott would again be challenged for the lead this time with Joey Logano, who was running near the front the whole time, with Logano taking over the lead on lap 24 after a push from Martin Truex Jr.


2018 Advance Auto Parts Clash, Race
On lap 25, all but Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Newman, and Jamie McMurray pitted for fuel and tires. Brad Keselowski was first off of pit road after only taking two tires as the competition caution came out on lap 26. The drivers who didn't pit before the caution ended up pitting for service. Jimmie Johnson was busted after driving through too many pit boxes and would restart at the tail end of the field.


2018 Advance Auto Parts Clash, Race
The race restarted with 46 to go as Keselowski the leader. On lap 33, Chase Elliott got shuffled out of line while running 2nd and would fall back to 7th. The second caution came out on lap 34  when Jamie McMurray got side drafted by Kurt Busch which caused Jamie to get loose and spin into the outside wall, causing significant damage to the right front.


2018 Advance Auto Parts Clash, Race
The race restarted with 37 to go with Keselowski leading. With 33 to go, Martin Truex Jr., came up behind Keselowski to take over the lead for a brief moment, when Keselowski passed Truex on the same lap. At the same time, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got forced below the double yellow line and passed Kyle Busch when he was below the line. He would be assessed a drive-thru penalty that would ultimately eliminate him out of contention. The field became single file once again with 29 to go.


2018 Advance Auto Parts Clash, Race
With 8 laps to go, the field was still running single file as Brad Keselowski stayed in the lead. His car picked up a big piece of debris that covered a third of his grille, but that didn't really affect him during the race. At 2 laps to go, Austin Dillon was first to make a second lane from the 8th position as Chase Elliott joined him in the inside lane. On the white flag, Ryan Blaney attempted to make a move on the inside, but Keselowski blocked Blaney. On the back straightaway, Kyle Larson bumped Jimmie Johnson into the outside wall creating a multi-car crash collecting Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, and Kyle Busch. This brought out the final caution and Keselowski was ahead of the wreck and drove on to his first Clash victory.


2018 Advance Auto Parts Clash, Media
FS1 covered the race on the television side; Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Gordon handled the call in the booth for the race; Matt Yocum, Jamie Little and Vince Welch handled pit road for the television side.


2018 Advantage Cars Prague Open
The 2018 Advantage Cars Prague Open was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the fifth (ATP) and fourth (ITF) editions of the tournament and was part of the 2018 ATP Challenger Tour and the 2018 ITF Women's Circuit. It took place in Prague, Czech Republic, on 23–29 July 2018.


2018 Advantage Cars Prague Open, Men's singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2018 Advantage Cars Prague Open, Men's singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received entry into the singles main draw as special exempts:


2018 Advantage Cars Prague Open, Women's singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received a wildcard into the singles main draw:


2018 Advantage Cars Prague Open – Men's Doubles
Jan Šátral and Tristan-Samuel Weissborn were the defending champions but only Šátral chose to defend his title, partnering Jan Mertl. Šátral lost in the quarterfinals to Fernando Romboli and David Vega Hernández.


2018 Advantage Cars Prague Open – Men's Doubles
Sander Gillé and Joran Vliegen won the title after defeating Romboli and Vega Hernández 6–4, 6–2 in the final.


2018 Advantage Cars Prague Open – Men's Singles
Andrej Martin was the defending champion but chose not to defend his title.


2018 Advantage Cars Prague Open – Men's Singles
Lukáš Rosol won the title after defeating Aleksandr Nedovyesov 4–6, 6–3, 6–4 in the final.


2018 Advantage Cars Prague Open – Women's Doubles
Anastasia Potapova and Dayana Yastremska were the defending champions, but both players chose not to participate.


2018 Advantage Cars Prague Open – Women's Doubles
Cornelia Lister and Nina Stojanović won the title, defeating Bibiane Schoofs and Kimberley Zimmermann in the final, 6–2, 2–6, [10–8].


2018 Advantage Cars Prague Open – Women's Singles
Markéta Vondroušová was the defending champion, but chose not to participate.


2018 Advantage Cars Prague Open – Women's Singles
Richèl Hogenkamp won the title, defeating Martina Di Giuseppe in the final, 6–4, 6–2.


2018 Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships
The 15th Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships took place in Guimarães, Portugal from June 1 to 3, 2018. The 8th World Age Group Competitions were held at the same place between May 25 and 27.


2018 Aesthetic Group Gymnastics World Cup series
The 2018 IFAGG World Cup series in Aesthetic Group Gymnastics is a series of competitions officially organized and promoted by the International Federation of Aesthetic Group Gymnastics.


2018 Afghan Premier League
The 2018 Afghan Premier League is the seventh season of Afghan Premier League, the Afghan league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 2012. The season was initially postponed due to lack of funding, but was later revived after securing new sponsors.


2018 Afghan Premier League
The season began on the 7th of October, 2018. Shaheen Asmayee were the two-time defending champions and reached the final of the 2018 Afghan Premier League. Toofaan Harirod became the champions for the second time in their history by winning the final via extra time, 1–0.


2018 Afghan Premier League, Teams
The following eight teams, which represent the country's eight main regions, participated in the 2018 Afghan Premier League.


2018 Afghan Premier League, Group stage
The draw for the group stage was held on 1 October 2018.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Afghanistan on Saturday 20 October 2018 to elect members of the House of the People. 3,296,643 people voted, 42% of registered voters. They had originally been scheduled for 15 October 2016, but were initially postponed to 7 July 2018, and then again to 20 October. Much of the prelude to the elections focused on the debate over reforming the country's electoral laws. The current system is one of single non-transferable vote. Kandahar's election was held on October 27. Polls were also delayed in Ghazni, due to an intensifying Taliban insurgency in the province, and as of September 2020 still have not been held. The new Parliament was inaugurated on 26 April 2019.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Background, Aftermath of the 2014 presidential election
Most of the problems have centered around pre-existing disputes within Afghanistan's coalition government between the two main candidates from the 2014 Presidential election. The overhaul of the Afghan electoral system prior to a new parliamentary election was a key part of the post-election power-sharing deal reached between President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. Whilst both agree in not holding an election before the process is overhauled, there is disagreement on how to proceed and who should oversee the process.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Background, Aftermath of the 2014 presidential election
Ghani's recommendation of Shukria Barakzai for the post was rejected by Abdullah, who saw her as being too close to Ghani. Simultaneously Abdullah has also been strongly opposed to the same officials overseeing the election as oversaw the 2014 Presidential election, due in part to the widespread belief that Ghani benefited from the 2014 elections irregularities compared to Abdullah. Tying into this is the fact that no officials from the election have been charged with any crime or removed. In contrast to Abdullah's more hardline calls for total overhaul, Ghani's supporters have been more supportive of more limited reforms.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Background, Issues to be addressed
One of the major issues in need of reform has been voter registration. Afghan voters are currently not limited to voting in particular areas, meaning that they can use their 2001-issued voting cards in any polling station. Simultaneously there have been three major registrations since 2001, resulting in a total of 20 million election cards being distributed. In contrast, Afghanistan only has an estimated 12 million voters, making the number of cards in circulation a source of potential fraud. Introducing an electronic identity system is a difficult process however, with some estimating it may take up to 10 years.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Background, Issues to be addressed
The continuing failure to set a date for new elections or reform the system led to the United Nations Development Programme to cancel a multimillion-dollar project to fund Afghan electoral bodies in June 2015. The cut came at a time when Afghan aid projects were coming under increased scrutiny.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Background, Issues to be addressed
On July 16, and following a 9-month delay, Ghani issued a decree establishing a 16-member commission to look into electoral reform. The parliaments term expired on 22 June 2015, leading President Ghani to issue a decree extending the parliament until new elections. By August 2015 the commission had begun looking at the issue of voting reform.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Background, Electoral Reform Commission proposals
On Sunday 30 August 2015 the Electoral Reform Commission submitted their proposals, following a month of deliberation. Amongst the proposals were calls for allotting 83, or 1/3, of the Afghan parliaments 250 seats to political parties, in accordance with the parties national results. Other proposals included the restructuring of the current election commission; the creation of a clear voter identification system ahead of future polling; and moving to an electoral system that divides provinces into smaller voting districts that can be easily quarantined in case of fraud. According to The New York Times, observers felt that the proposals weighed towards the view of reform favored by Abdullah Abdullah.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Background, Electoral Reform Commission proposals
Disagreements over the plan saw two members of the commission; Kawun Kakar and Shah Mahmood Miakhel, who are believed to be close to Mr. Ghani, walking out. Both criticised the plan for allocating party seats on the basis of a national constituency result. Instead, both felt that smaller, more local constituencies would offer a closer link between parliamentarians and the electorate, whilst they felt the suggested system discriminated in favour of larger, national parties. Shah Sultan Akefi, the head of the commission, rejected these claims, and argued that the proposed system was important for developing national political parties, instead of maintaining the current system of non-partisan, and ideologically divergent independent candidates.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Process
Out of around 12 million eligible Afghans, there were nearly 9 million registered voters including 3 million women. There were going to be more than 21,000 polling stations where voters can cast their ballots, protected by more than 54,000 members of the security services.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Conduct
The parliamentary election was held as scheduled on 20 October. A third of polling stations did not open. Reports showed that there were long lines and high voter turnout at available polling stations. Delays in the arrival of election workers also caused some polling station to remain open longer so people would be able to cast their vote. The provinces of Kandahar and Ghanzi will hold elections at a later date. Immediately after the polls closed, election workers began counting the ballots.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Conduct
The chairman of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) of Afghanistan, Gulajan Bade Sayad, said more than 2 million Afghans had voted in 27 provinces by 2 p.m. local time, with at least 638,000 votes coming from Kabul. IEC officials reported that up to 4 million registered Afghan voters turned out to cast their ballot. The IEC further stated that approximately 3 million registered voters were confirmed to have cast their ballot and some suggested that numerous sums of the country's 9 million registered voters didn't exist and were based on forgery of identification.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Conduct
The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) stated it was "encouraged by the high numbers of Afghans who turned out" and praised the efforts which were made to ensure the election would take place. Voting was also extended to October 21, with the exemption of Kandahar and Ghanzi, and after the polls closed, Sayad announced that approximately 4 million registered Afghan voters had cast their ballot in the two days of voting.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Conduct
Over 170 people were killed or wounded in bombings and rocket attacks throughout the first day of voting, with at least 18 people killed and 67 injured in blasts near polling stations in the capital, Kabul.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Turnout
3,296,643 voted out of 8,663,531 registered to vote, a turnout of 38%.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Turnout
Sayad stated that the IEC estimated voter turnout to be at an "impressive" 45 percent, with women participating at an "historic" fraction of 33 percent of the voters. This does not include results from the provinces of Kandahar and Ghanzi, which were to hold elections at later dates.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Turnout
Higher-than-expected turnout was also reported in the Kandahar election which took place on October 27.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Results
The results were to be released within 20 days of the election, and the final results by 20 December 2018. However, on 6 December, an election complaints agency invalidated all of the votes cast in Kabul Province over fraud allegations, effectively stalling the official release of results.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Results
The final results were published on 14 May 2019. The postponed elections for representatives from Ghazni Province have been repeatedly delayed. Plans to hold them alongside the September 2019 presidential election did not materialize. In September 2020, President Ashraf Ghani issued a new commitment to hold the long-delayed polls in the province in the near future.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Fraud allegations
According to a spokesperson from the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC), their decision to annul the results from the capital could be defended for 25 different reasons - including "major fraud" and the IEC's overall mismanagement of the election.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Fraud allegations
More than one million votes had been counted in Kabul, accounting for one fourth of the four million votes cast nationwide. Under ordinary circumstances, this move would have required a new election to take place within seven days of the IECC's decision. Rather than permit a new election however, the IEC denounced the ruling and announced its intent to certify the results of Kabul's vote in spite of the IECC's higher authority over the matter.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Fraud allegations
Even before the fraud allegations were levied, IEC officials predicted that counting the votes would be a difficult and time-consuming task, as some 800 candidates had participated in the Kabul elections, and election officials scan the votes for each candidate manually. With the fraud allegations as they are, IEC officials have deigned to announce a new date by which the final results will be announced.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Fraud allegations
According to the Election and Transparency Watch Organization of Afghanistan, the IEC has delayed announcing the election results out of fear that the validity of the entire vote would be challenged across Afghanistan. Given the complaints of fraud the commission already received on election day, observers speculate that the IEC is delaying the vote to avoid receiving further backlash.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Fraud allegations
In response to these delays and the actions of the IEC over the last few months, the IECC called for the firing of several IEC staff members. On February 12, 2019, Afghanistan's coalition government fired all the commissioners responsible for directing the fraud-tainted election. Though there has been no official news of the fate of the 2018 election ballots, if the results are re-examined or canceled, it could further delay preparations for the upcoming presidential election.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Fraud allegations
Meanwhile, opposition politicians are pushing to postpone the presidential election and form an interim government to stabilize the country. As part of a peace deal in the works, such a government could include the Taliban as well. President Ashraf Ghani has insisted that the 2019 presidential election, already pushed back from April to July, be held on time.


2018 Afghan parliamentary election, Inauguration of new parliament
Despite delays, Afghanistan's new Parliament was officially inaugurated on April 26, 2019, six months after the election was held. Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani presided over the swearing-in ceremony. The new Parliament is also Afghanistan's 17th Parliament. The same day, final election results from four Afghanistan provinces whose results had been delayed revealed that House of the People speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi of Kunduz had been re-elected to the House of the People as well.


2018 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations
The 2018 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations was the third edition of the Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations (BSAFCON), the premier beach soccer championship in Africa contested by men's national teams who are members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Originally organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) under the title FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup CAF qualifier (informally known as CAF Beach Soccer Championship), in 2015, CAF became organisers and began using the BSAFCON title to which the competition was officially renamed the next year. Overall, this was the 9th edition of the event.


2018 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations
The tournament was played in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt; the North African country was awarded the hosting rights as they were the only nation to express interest by the deadline. The finals were held from 8–14 December. Qualification took place between 7–23 September.