Monday Motorsports: In Bahrain, Sebastian Vettel Rediscovers Winning Form The stands were filled, the paddocks were buzzing and the racecars topped 195 miles per hour on the straights. The 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix happened. Sebastian Vettel won on Sunday in the former Gulf emirate, where protest against the royal family led to the cancellation of the 2011 race and where sustained civil unrest prompted some within Formula One and many critics of the regime to call for another cancellation. It was Vettel's first victory of 2012, and he led from pole to finish. That said, the two-time champion did not dominate the field as he did in 2011, when he won 11 races and helped deliver the constructors" championship to Red Bull. He was ably chased by the 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus, who ultimately finished 3.3 seconds behind Vettel, and was followed by his Lotus teammate, Romain Grosjean. It was the best race result for the Renault-affiliated Lotus team since becoming embroiled in a naming dispute, now settled, with Team Lotus. Combined with a poor performance by Jenson Button of McLaren Mercedes, Vettel's victory remapped the overall leader board; he leads the second-place driver Lewis Hamilton, Button's teammate, by four points. Mark Webber, Vettel's teammate, ranks third and Button fourth. Here are other motorsports news items: Denny Hamlin spoiled Martin Truex Jr."s bold late-race track strategy to win the Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway on Sunday. On lap No. 192, with race front-runners opting to pit during a caution, Truex remained on the track. With fresher tires, Hamlin was able to overtake him in the waning laps. A low-side pass effort later put Truex within half a car's length of Hamlin, but with fading tires, Truex skidded slightly at the exit of the turn and was unable to mount another challenge. The series leader Greg Biffle, who won last week at Texas Motor Speedway, finished in fifth place. Jimmie Johnson, pursuing his 200th career Sprint Cup victory, was third. Chevrolet has formally protested IndyCar's decision to allow Honda to swap in a new housing for its turbochargers ahead of the series's next race, on April 29 in São Paulo, Brazil. A verbal agreement exists between the rival manufacturers to uphold parity of their turbo systems, though Chevrolet uses a twin-turbocharger setup.