THE LINE

July 4, 2012

Editor-in-Chief's Note: We are taking a break this week in honor of this country's Independence Day. We'd like to thank all of the men and women in the military around the world who help keep this nation free, and we'll see you back here next week with a new issue of AE. You can find me on twitter (@PeterMDeLorenzo), however, as I occasionally provide 140-character bursts of commentary over the course of this week. - PMD

(Nigel Kinrade Autostock 2012)
Marcos Ambrose (No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports Stanley Ford) started from the pole and finished 8th in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma. Clint Boyer drove an outstanding race in his No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing 5-Hour Energy Toyota to claim his first road racing win at the challenging track. Boyer held off a charging Tony Stewart (No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet) and Kurt Busch (No. 51 Phoenix Construction Services Chevrolet). As much of a win as it was for Boyer, the drive Kurt Busche delivered will go down as one of the best in NASCAR road racing history. Busch was simply superb in his under-funded Chevrolet until encountering suspension problems right near the end of the race after bouncing off some tires.

(Phillip G. Abbott - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Ryan Hunter-Reay (No. 28 Andretti Autosport Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevrolet) delivered his second short track victory of the IZOD IndyCar season in the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway last Saturday night. After winning the week before in Milwaukee, Hunter-Reay survived a frantic, competitive race to win under caution and close within three points of IZOD IndyCar Series championship front-runner Will Power.

(Phillip G. Abbott - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Hunter-Reay was leading Marco Andretti (No. 26 Andretti Autosport Team RC Cola Chevrolet) by 1.2223 seconds on Lap 247 of 250 when the yellow flag flew on the next lap for the No. 6 car driven by Katherine Legge making contact with the SAFER Barrier exiting Turn 2. Andretti, the 2011 race winner, earned his first podium finish of the season. "It was a lot of fun, the car came alive in the second stint," Andretti said. "I think we, in hindsight, could have taken another turn of the front wing and been really hard to beat at the end, but we kept the car how it is and I kind of ran out of tools at the end and had a lot of under steer. Great team effort, definitely a statement from Andretti Autosport and congrats to Ryan."

(Phillip G. Abbott - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Tony Kanaan (No. 11 GEICO /Mouser Electronics- KV Racing Technology Chevrolet) here leading Josef Newgarden, Justin Wilson and Oriol Servia ahead of the rest of the pack in Iowa. Kanaan followed his runner-up finish to Hunter-Reay at Milwaukee with a third place run.

(Phillip G. Abbott - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Scott Dixon (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) held on to finish fourth, but the big news of the race was another sensational drive by Simon Pagenaud (above) in the No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda. Pagenaud, who started last in the 25-car field, climbed to fifth in his fourth oval race. "I've never started last before!" Pagenaud said. "When I saw everyone in front of me at the start, I couldn't believe I was back there. I was sitting in the car before the race and thinking about my girlfriend's father who passed away this week. We were very close. He watched every race of mine, and I felt like he was watching me still tonight. My thought process starting the race was 'just to move forward.' It was really difficult at the beginning. We were already a lap down before I got confident with the car. Something just clicked, and everything unlocked and we started moving forward. I'm really starting to enjoy the ovals. It's close racing and it's fun."

(Brett Moist - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Esteban Guerrieri No. 11 Pistas Argentinas/Sam Schmidt Motorsports with Curb Agajanian) held off Gustavo Yacaman (No. 2 TMR-Tuvacol-Xtreme Coil Drilling) by 0.4005 of a second to win the Sukup 100 Firestone Indy Lights race at Iowa Speedway. It was the third victory of the season for  Guerrieri and he has finished in the top five in all but one race, which has led him to the Firestone Indy Lights championship points lead. Victor Carbone, driving the No. 3 Mav TV/Nevoni/SSM with Curb Agajanian car, finished a season-high third.

(Grand-Am)
Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas (No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley) ended the Corvette DP run of five-straight Rolex Series wins by taking the win at Road America - "America's National Park of Speed" - in the Rolex 250 Driven by VISITFLORIDA.com. The victory ended a nine-race winless streak for the defending Daytona Prototype co-champions. It was Pruett's 38th Rolex Series win, his 37th in the DP class. Pruett and Rojas now lead the Daytona Prototype driver standings by five, 205-200, over co-drivers Ryan Dalziel and Enzo Potolicchio, who finished second in their No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Ford/Riley. John Pew and Ozz Negri Jr. finished third in the No. 60 LiveOn Ford/Riley.

(Grand-Am)
Jeff Segal and Emil Assentato drove the No.69 FXDDFerrari 458 to its third GT win of 2012 extending their lead in the GT driver standings to 21 points, 220-199, over Robin Liddell, who finished sixth. Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana (No. 94 Turner Motorsport BWM M3) finished second in GT, followed by the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/Mazda/ModSpace/Castrol Mazda RX-8 of Sylvain Tremblay and Jonathan Bomarito. Next up is the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen next Sunday, July 1, at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, N.Y. It will be the second round of the 2012 North American Endurance Championship presented by VISITFLORIDA.com.

(McLaren Automotive)
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver and 2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button will take to the famous Goodwood Hill in a production prototype version of the revised 2013 McLaren 12C on Saturday, June 30, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Button will also drive a McLaren 12C GT3 race car adorned with a unique livery highlighting McLaren Group’s support of the ‘GREAT’ campaign launched this year by the Prime Minister’s Office and Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The GREAT campaign is designed to re-affirm Britain’s international reputation and deliver long-term economic benefits through additional tourism, trade and education.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Part of the support racing going on when the American Le Mans Series visits Road America in August will be a triple-header for the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda. The series just completed 15-hours of testing at "America's National Park of Speed." Read about it 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

THE ALL-NEW AE STORE IS HERE!

CLICK ON THE PIC BELOW TO CHECK IT OUT!

See another live episode of "Autoline After Hours" with hosts John McElroy, from Autoline Detroit, and Peter De Lorenzo, The Autoextremist, and guests this Thursday evening, at 6:00PM EDT at www.autolinedetroit.tv.

By the way, if you'd like to subscribe to the Autoline After Hours podcasts, click on the following links:

Subscribe via iTunes:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=311421319

Subscribe via RSS:

http://www.autolinedetroit.tv/podcasts/feeds/afterhours-audio.xml