July 27, 2011
(Shawn Gritzmacher/IndyCar)
Will Power started second in the No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Honda-powered Dallara (with Firestone tires), took over the lead on Lap 19 of 80 and then went on to win the IZOD IndyCar Series Edmonton Indy race by 0.8089 of a second over teammate Helio Castroneves on Sunday. It was Power's fourth win of the season and the 13th of his IndyCar career. "It was so bloody hard there at the end with Helio and Dario pushing me along," Power said in post-race interviews. "I just couldn't gap them. It's good for Verizon and also good for Team Penske. To finish 1-2 is really good."
(Daniel Incandela/IndyCar)
Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske Penske Truck Rental D/H/F) finished second on the 2.24-mile, 13-turn circuit, his best finish of what has been a very disappointing 2011 season. His previous best finish this year was a fourth at Texas.
(Shawn Gritzmacher/IndyCar)
Dario Franchitti (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing D/H/F) finished 1.1735 seconds back in third and remains the IZOD IndyCar Series championship points leader by 38 (cut from 55 following the Honda Indy Toronto) over Will Power.
(Shawn Gritzmacher/IndyCar)
Takuma Sato (No. 5 KV Racing Technology - Lotus D/H/F) started from the Pole but would end up not having a good day.
(Shawn Gritzmacher/IndyCar)
Ryan Briscoe (No. 6 Team Penske Penske Truck Rental D/H/F) was running a strong fourth, but a late splash for fuel gave the position to Tony Kanaan in his (No. 82 GEICO - KV Racing Technology - Lotus D/H/F).
(Shawn Gritzmacher/IndyCar)
Will Power takes his Victory Leap as the fight for the IZOD IndyCar championship heats up. Next up is the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Aug. 7 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The race will be televised live at 2 p.m. (ET) by VERSUS and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network.
(Shawn Gritzmacher/indyCar)
Josef Newgarden (No. 11 Sam Schmidt Motorsports Copart/Score Big/Robo-Pong) earned his fourth Firestone Indy Lights victory of the season by a comfortable margin over Andretti Autosport's Stefan Wilson in the second Edmonton Twin 100 on Sunday. Newgarden's teammate Esteban Guerrieri (No. 7 SSM Lucas Oil) won in the first of a doubleheader weekend at the City Centre Airport circuit on Saturday - his second Firestone Indy Lights victory of the season - holding off Newgarden, but Newgarden has extended his Firestone Indy Lights championship standings points lead over Guerrieri to 63. The next Firestone Indy Lights race is Grand Prix of Trois Rivieres on Aug. 7 at the streets of Trois Rivieres. It will be televised on tape delay by VERSUS.
(Image © 2011 - John Thawley)
Corvette Racing broke through for a win in the American Le Mans Series GT class at Mosport Sunday, ending the three-race win streak of GT championship leader BMW Team RLL. Jan Magnusson and Oliver Gavin (No. 4 Corvette Racing Compuware C6.R) held off Jaime Melo/Toni Vilander (No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia) by 4.409 seconds. Dirk Werner brought the No. 55 BMW Team RLL M3 GT he shares with Bill Auberlen home in third after being penalized with only 20 minutes left in the race. Officials deemed that Werner`s contact with GTC leader Spencer Pumpelly at Turn 10 was avoidable and thus parked the No. 55 in the penalty box. It handed Magnussen the GT lead and ultimately the race win. The No. 3 Corvette racing team car (shown above) driven by Olivier Beretta and Tommy Milner finished 6th in GT. "It was one of those moments where you see the incident, and you think, in the past the person gets a penalty," Gavin said. "It was called that way, and it was something that aided us to get the win. Jan still had to do a lot of hard work out there and navigate the traffic… Hats off to Jan and the team, just a stellar job today. I knew from my stint that if Jan was on the Ferrari gearbox coming out of Turn 5, you could probably get a tow coming out and use the momentum to get by. He executed brilliantly and then sliced through traffic to get a 4- or 5- second lead." It was Corvette Racing's ninth win at Mosport and the team captured the Michelin Green X Challenge as the fastest, cleanest, and most efficient entry in the GT class to boot. "As the inaugural winner of the Michelin Green X Challenge, it's always an honor when Corvette Racing collects one of these trophies," said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. "It's a testament to how hard our engine group, our chassis group, and our aero group have worked to maximize the efficiency of the Corvette. It's also a testament to Chevrolet's willingness to race with cellulosic E85, and as the world's largest producer of flex-fuel vehicles, it's only appropriate that the Chevrolet team won the Green X Challenge today." Other winners? Lucas Luhr/Klaus Graf (No. 6 Muscle Milk Aston Martin Racing Lola Coupe B08 6) in P1 (also overall and Michelin Green X Challenge winners); Ricardo Gonzalez and Gunnar Jeannette led teammates Jon Bennett and Frankie Montecalvo to a one-two finish in their twin CORE Autosport ORECA FLM09s in LMPC; and Spencer Pumpelly/Duncan Ende (No. 66 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup) won the GTC class. Up next is the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge in Lexington, Ohio, on Saturday, August 6, starting at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live video coverage will available on ESPN3.com in the U.S. and americanlemans.com for international users. ESPN2 will televise the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge on Sunday, August 7, at 10 p.m. ET. Click here for a gallery of John Thawley's superb racing images from Mosport.
(Grand-Am)
Scott Pruett (No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley with Memo Rojas) won the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series at New Jersey Motorsports Park Sunday. It was the duo's fifth triumph of the season putting them on track toward a second consecutive Daytona Prototype championship. Max Angelelli (No. 10 SunTrust Chevrolet/Dallara) passed Alex Gurney in the closing laps to take second in the machine started from the pole by Ricky Taylor. Gurney held on to finish third in the No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Chevrolet/Riley co-driven by Jon Fogarty.
(Grand-Am)
In the production-based GT class, Mazda scored a podium sweep led by Sylvain Tremblay and Jonathan Bomarito in the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/Castrol Edge Mazda RX-8. Bomarito finished .685 seconds ahead of John Edwards, who won the pole in the No. 42 TheRaceSite.com Mazda RX-8 co-driven by Wayne Nonnamaker. James Gue and Dane Cameron (No. 41 Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8) finished third.
Editor-in-Chief's Note: If you really must keep up on all of the latest F1 developments and the potential U.S. GP in Austin, Texas, go here. - PMD
Editor-in-Chief's Note: Check out Michelin's racing website - "Michelin Alley" - and get in on all of the behind-the-scenes buzz. Go here. - PMD
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