THE LINE

July 11, 2012

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Editor-in-Chief's Note: It was another wild American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón at Lime Rock Park last Saturday, and ace photographer and practicing Renaissance Man John Thawley has put together a gallery of terrific images from the event here. Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long won the Northeast Grand Prix in GT for Flying Lizard Motorsports in a bare-knuckled fight with Corvette Racing and Extreme Speed Motorsports. Bergmeister celebrated his 100th ALMS start with his sixth win in seven Lime Rock races. He held off Corvette Racing’s Jan Magnussen – also in his 100th ALMS race – and Oliver Gavin. The Lime Rock victory was the first for the 2012-spec Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. It was another fantastic battle in GT (currently the best road racing in the world) as the top-four cars were within 0.8 seconds of each other during the last 15 minutes of the race. Extreme Speed Motorsports’ Guy Cosmo was part of that battle until his Ferrari F458 Italia crashed at the last corner to bring out the final caution period. “We had to go out and get it,” Long admitted. “The competition in GT is so tough, nothing comes to you. A bad day is an eighth place finish; a good day could still only be fourth. We had some bad luck this whole season, but that only makes it much more sweeter now that we're back.” Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf came from four laps down to win overall, the second victory at Lime Rock Park for the Muscle Milk Pickett Racing team but first with Honda Performance Development’s ARX-03a prototype. Scott Tucker and Christophe Bouchut started the race dead last in their HPD ARX-03b but won in P2, Jon Bennett and Colin Braun (CORE autosport) won in Prototype Challenge, and Cooper MacNeil and Leh Keen (Porsche 911 GT3 RSR)  won GT Challenge for the team’s first victory of the season. Next up for the ALMS presented by Tequila Patrón is the "Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport" at noon ET on July 22 from the 2.459-mile, 10-turn Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. ESPN2’s broadcast featuring live coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET. Full coverage is available starting at 11:45 a.m. ET on ESPN.

(Perry Nelson - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
When you're hot, you're hot. Ryan Hunter-Reay (No. 28 Andretti Autosport Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevrolet) won the Honda Indy Toronto on Sunday. It was his third consecutive victory in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

(Phillip G. Abbott - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
After carnage caused a late race scramble for position, Charlie Kimball, who was strong all day and drove the best race of his IndyCar career in the No. 83 Chip Ganassi Racing NovoRapid FlexTouch Honda, finished second. It was his career best finish in the IZOD IndyCar Series. "I know that there were only 25 of us out there, but the amount of times I passed people there felt like there were about 50 cars, so a lot of credit to the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing crew, the 83," Kimball said afterward. "I think today, 'conservative' was maximum attack. When you're going for it, the thing was sideways everywhere. You really had to push. What they did on the repaving made for great racing. I don't know about everybody in the stands, but I sure had a lot of fun in the cockpit. And I can't wait to get back, not only here next year, but in Edmonton in two weeks."

(Perry Nelson - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Mike Conway came from the 11th starting spot in his No. 14 ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt Racing Honda to place a season-high third, the first podium for A.J. Foyt Racing since Brazil in 2010). "The guys at A.J. Foyt Racing have been working really hard all year," Conway said. "We've been getting in there, getting in there, and this weekend I felt like we started off better than we have before, so we just kept dialing in and come warm-up this morning, I was pretty happy with it. I knew that we could walk a way forward, but I was surprised at how good we were on that first stint and we could just move our way forward and work our way out to the front. But you know with that yellow, we got caught out there, I was in the back and had to do it all again, but it was a lot of fun, so big thank you to my crew." On Tuesday A.J. Foyt Racing was fined $15,000 and 10 entrant points because it was determined that Mike Conway's car had an illegal fuel cell. Oops.

(Phillip G. Abbott - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Ryan Hunter-Reay (with team owner Michael Andretti) entered the race three points behind front-runner Will Power (No 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet) in the IZOD IndyCar Series championship standings, but after Toronto's win he now leads Power by 34 points. Power finished 15th after contact with the car driven by Josef Newgarden on Lap 56. Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Penske Truck Rental Chevrolet) finished sixth and overtook Scott Dixon (out early with an engine issue) for third, 46 points back. Next up for IndyCar is the Edmonton Indy on July 22 at Edmonton City Centre Airport. The race will be broadcast live by the NBC Sports Network at 2:30 p.m. (ET).

(Perry Nelson - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Gustavo Yacaman (No. 2 TMR-Tuvacol-Xtreme Coil Drilling) won the Firestone Indy Lights Toronto 100, winning by 2.2874 seconds over Sebastian Saavedra (   No. 27 Team AFS). Pole sitter Victor Carbone (No. 3 Mav TV/Nevoni/SSM with Curb-Agajanian) finished third. Yacaman overtook Carbone in Turn 3 of the 1.75-mile, 11-turn circuit on Lap 13 of 50.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: DC and Ken Block have released Gymkhana FIVE, the 5th installment of the award winning, record-breaking viral video franchise, via the DC Shoes YouTube channel. Filmed on the actual streets of San Francisco, California, Gymkhana FIVE builds on the ultimate playground concept of Gymkhana THREE, with a focus on fast-paced, raw action and Block's driving skills, all while utilizing the topography of a real-life urban playground. For the first time ever, all of Block’s driving was done on real streets. “"San Francisco was absolutely amazing for Gymkhana," said Block. "It’s such a unique location for this kind of driving and allowed me to do some things that I never thought I’'d ever be able to incorporate into one of my Gymkhana videos —like jumping a table top or doing a jump drift! I’m stoked with how this project turned out and I’m truly a lucky bastard to have been able to do the things I was able to do on the streets of San Francisco. To all of the residents and people who allowed us to make this happen, thank you!” Block tackled extreme angles and terrain through such iconic locations as Russian Hill, Potrero Hill, Twin Peaks and the San Francisco Bay itself, thanks to a barge. Motocross legend Travis Pastrana makes an unforgettable appearance in the video with Block as well. This trick was the first time Travis had been on a motorcycle since his injury at X Games nearly a year before. Check it out 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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