THE LINE #460

August 27, 2008

(Jim Haines/IRL)
Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone) ended the the longest winless streak of his career (30 races) when he won the PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma County at Infineon Raceway last Sunday afternoon. Castroneves led 51 of 80 laps after starting from the pole and beat his teammate, Ryan Briscoe (No. 6 Team Penske D/H/F), to the finish by 5.2926 seconds. The 13th win of his IndyCar Series career means Castroneves has cut 35 points from his deficit in the championship standings to Scott Dixon (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing D/H/F), who finished a dismal 12th. Castroneves now trails Dixon by just 43 points with two races remaining and has won an IndyCar race for eight consecutive seasons - a record. The 1-2 finish by Team Penske was a triumph of guts, determination, perseverance and team spirit, as Penske Racing lost two of its primary cars in a transporter fire in Wyoming earlier in the week. Tony Kanaan (No. 11 Andretti Green Racing Team 7-Eleven D/H/F) finished third, Dan Wheldon (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing D/H/F) was fourth, and Danica Patrick (No. 7 Andretti Green Racing Motorola D/H/F) was fifth, her best road course finish of the season.

(Jim Haines/IRL)
Pablo Donoso (No. 22 TMR-Cristal-Xtreme Coil Drilling, above) earned his first career Firestone Indy Lights victory (the ninth driver to win a race this season), winning the Valley of the Moon 100 by 2.0601 seconds over Logan Gomez on Sunday in the second race of an Indy Lights doubleheader. Raphael Matos finished sixth, extending his points lead to three over Richard Antinucci, who finished seventh. On Saturday, Franck Perera (CJ Consulting Guthrie Racing) led all 30 laps of the Carneros 100 from the pole to claim his first Firestone Indy Lights victory. Raphael Matos was second, and Richard Antinucci finished third in the Saturday show. The Indy Lights season finale is Sept. 7 at Chicagoland Speedway.

(Copyright © 2008, John Thawley ~ Creative Communications Group All rights reserved.)
The No. 2 Audi AG R10/TDI of Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner (shown above in practice on Saturday) claimed their third straight overall American Le Mans Series victory in the Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport last Sunday afternoon. Luhr crossed the finish line 21.392 seconds ahead of teammates Emanuele Pirro/Rinaldo Capello in the No. 1 Audi AG R10/TDI. Go to http://www.trackbytes.com/ for a full race report by John Dagys and to see John Thawley's superb images taken at the event. Next up for the ALMS is the Detroit Sports Car Challenge presented by Bosch. The race from Belle Isle in Detroit is scheduled for 2:35 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 30. SPEED will broadcast the race live.

(©SCCA/Mark Weber)
Eric Curran (No. 30 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet Corvette) leads Randy Pobst (No. 1 K-PAX Racing Porsche 911 GT3) at Mosport International Raceway on his way to victory in the Mosport SPEED GT Presented by Toyo Tires last weekend. Michael Galati (No. 23 K-PAX Racing Porsche 911 GT3,), of Olmsted, Ohio, was third. Winner of the previous two rounds, Tommy Archer of Duluth, Minn., finished fourth in the No. 13 Foametix Dodge Viper. Archer also finds himself fourth in the points behind Pobst (705), Andy Pilgrim (603) and Galati (541). A DNF by Brandon Davis dropped him to fifth in the Driver’s Championship with 517 points. Porsche continues to lead the Manufacturers’ Championship by seven points over Dodge (43 to 36). Cadillac follows with 32 points, then Ford (28) and Chevrolet (21). This race will air on SPEED, Wednesday, Aug. 27, at 1 p.m. (EDT). Next up for the SPEED GT series is Round Eight, at the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, Aug. 29 – 31.

(© SCCA/Mark Weber)
Michael Galati (No. 95 Mazda North America/Tindol Motorsports MAZDA6, above) of Olmsted, Ohio, dominated the Mosport SPEED Touring Car Presented by Toyo Tires last weekend. Jason Saini (No. 74 Mazdaspeed/Stoptech/Racinghart MAZDA6), of Fort Worth, Texas, clinched the Rookie of the Year honors by finishing second, and Milwaukee’s Peter Cunningham (No. 42 Acura/RealTime/Eibach/Red Line Acura TSX) came home third, clinching the Manufacturers’ Championship for Acura - their record seventh. Galati won by 6.773-seconds, averaging a record 96.410 mph. It was Galati’s second SCCA SPEED Touring Car win of the season after taking the Watkins Glen race in June and the 23rd win of his World Challenge career. Winless in 2008, four-time Champion Cunningham finds himself atop the points standings again with 854 heading into the finale. Kuno Wittmer, a three-time winner this season, is just four points behind his team owner and seeking his first Championship. Pierre Kleinubing sits third, with 838, followed by Chip Herr (763) and Saini (727). This race will be broadcast Wednesday, Aug. 27 at noon (EDT). The series heads to Road Atlanta for the SPEED Touring Car Finale Presented by Toyo Tires, Oct. 3.

100 for Corvette Racing. Corvette Racing will reach a motorsports milestone during the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix weekend as the Detroit Sports Car Challenge on Saturday will mark Corvette Racing's 100th event in international road racing. GM's first official factory sports car team made its competition debut in February 1999 at the Rolex 24 endurance race at Daytona International Speedway. Since then, Corvette Racing has competed in 99 events run under the auspices of USRRC, Grand Am, American Le Man Series, and Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), organizer of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Corvette Racing America's premier production sports car team has scored 71 victories and tallied a 71.7 winning percentage. Following the team's first ALMS victory at Texas Motor Speedway on Sept. 2, 2000, Corvette Racing has captured seven consecutive ALMS GT1 manufacturers and team championships and six straight drivers' titles, establishing itself as one of the world's great racing teams. "Competing in our 100th race will be an amazing achievement, and another first for a factory-backed General Motors program," said Doug Fehan, Corvette Racing program manager. "Everyone at Corvette Racing is very proud of this accomplishment. Reaching this milestone is a testament to GM management's commitment to the Corvette as a brand and to the Corvette Racing program," he continued. "Since the program's inception, we have learned that the longer this program runs, the greater the benefits derived by the company." "We've established Corvette as a global icon," Fehan noted. "We've established Corvette as the world's best sports car – not just America's best sports car. We've demonstrated to GM how lessons learned in racing can be applied to production vehicles, ultimately producing better vehicles for our customers. Corvette is the tip of the technological spear for GM, and everyone who buys a Corvette now knows that it is truly race bred." Congratulations to everyone involved, especially to the team of people at Pratt & Miller Engineering who make it all happen, week-in and week-out.

(Copyright © 2008, John Thawley ~ Creative Communications Group All rights reserved.)