THE LINE - JULY 3, 2013

(Infiniti)
Nico Rosberg (No. 9 Mercedes) won the frenetically stirring British Grand Prix on Sunday at Silverstone. Mark Webber (No. 2 Red Bull Racing-Renault, above) finished second in his final Grand Prix race in Britain. Fernando Alonso (No. 3 Scuderia Ferrari) took third place. Current point leader Sebastian Vettel retired on Lap 3 with gearbox issues, but still leads the Drivers’ Championship with 132 points. Vettel's lead over Alsonso has been cut from 36 to 21, however.

(Photo by Russell LaBounty © 2013 LAT Photo USA, courtesy of Toyota Racing)
Matt Kenseth's (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Dollar General Toyota Camry) dream season continues as he delivered his fourth victory of the season to Joe Gibbs Racing in Sunday's Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, a race postponed from Saturday because of rain. It was the 28th victory of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career. Jamie McMurray (No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Hellman's Chevrolet SS) finished second but was closing on Kenseth in the final laps. Clint Bowyer (No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing 30th Camry Anniversary Toyota Camry) finished third. Watch all of the NASCAR videos from the weekend here.

(Photo by Russell LaBounty © 2013 LAT Photo USA, courtesy of Toyota Racing)
Crew Chief Jason Ratcliff and Matt Kenseth celebrate in Victory Lane. Ratcliff's call to forgo tires on the last pit stop was pivotal to Kenseth's win.

(Russell LaBounty, © 2013, Autostock)
Brad Keselowski (No. 22 Penske Racing Discount Tire Ford Mustang) makes a pit stop on his way to the victory in Friday night’s Feed the Children 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Kentucky Speedway. The race was cut short 30 laps before the scheduled finish due to rain. Watch a highlight here.

(Photo by Brian Cleary for Chevrolet Racing)
Christian Fittipaldi (No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP) held off a last-lap charge from Michael Valiante (No. 3 8Star Motorsports Corvette DP) to give Action Express Racing its second consecutive GRAND-AM Rolex Series victory Sunday in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International. Fittipaldi was treated and released from the infield care center for dehydration following the event. Valiante (co-drivers Stephane Sarrazin and Enzo Potolicchio) deleted most of a five-second deficit to Fittipaldi throughout his final stint, eventually finishing just 0.265 seconds behind. Brendon Hartley finished third in the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Ford/Riley (co-drivers were Scott Mayer and Pierre Kaffer).

(Photo by Brian Cleary for Chevrolet Racing)
Robin Liddell led the final 11 laps of the race to win in the GT class at The Glen, the fourth win in five races for Liddell and co-driver John Edwards in the No. 57 Stevenson Automotive Group Chevrolet Camaro GT.R. With the win, Liddell and Edwards move to within six points (199-193) of John Potter and Andy Lally in the standings. “There were probably five or six cars easily that could have won this race in GT,” Liddell said. “Everybody played a key part in terms of strategy and pit stops... I thought John (Edwards) showed great maturity to just hang on.” Leh Keen (No. 69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD Ferrari 458) finished second (with co-drivers Emil Assentato and Anthony Lazzaro), with Lally and Potter finishing third in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 they shared with co-driver Richard Lietz.

(Grand-Am)
Joel Miller, Tristan Nunez and Yojiro Terada gave Mazda and SpeedSource its fourth consecutive victory in the GX class in the No. 00 Visit Florida Racing Mazda6 after mechanical issues hit the No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche Cayman and No. 70 MAZDASPEED /SpeedSource Mazda 6 (above) earlier in the event.

(BMW)
Bryan Sellers (No. 46 Trim- Tex/BCKSTGR BMW M3) passed Matt Plumb at the beginning of the final lap and held on to win Saturday’s Continental Tire 150 at The Glen – a race marked by changing weather conditions that led to several multi-car incidents. Sellers and co-driver Mark Boden scored their first career victories. It was a big day for Boden’s Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3, with the team cars finishing first, third and fourth. Plumb finished second in the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche 997 started by Nick Longhi, who was involved in an opening-lap incident. His brother Hugh Plumb took third in the No. 45 Eagle Tech/B+ Foundation BMW M3 (below), followed by Fall-Line’s No. 48 Safecraft BMW M3 driven by Charles Putman and Charles Espenlaub.

(BMW)

(Grand-Am)
Stevan McAleer took the ST lead when Pierre Kleinubing and Ryan Eversley (No. 75 Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si) drove through the gravel trap in Turn 8 prior to the final caution in Saturday’s Continental Tire 150 at The Glen. McAleer held on to win by .764 seconds over Eversley, giving himself and Marc Miller their second victory of the season in the No. 5 modSpace/Construct Corps Mazda MX-5, and the second triumph for CJ Wilson Racing.

(Hyundai)
Paul Dallenbach set a new world record in the Time Attack class at the 2013 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on Sunday in the same Hyundai RMR Genesis Coupe that Rhys Millen used to set the all-time world record last year. Dallenbach turned a time of 9:46.001 on his run to the summit. 

(Honda Racing)
INDYCAR driver Simon Pagenaud drove a competition-modified Honda ‘Pikes Peak Odyssey’ minivan up the hill over the weekend. Pagenaud powered up the 12.42-mile course to a second-place finish in the Exhibition Class. Pagenaud’s "minivan" included a 500+ horsepower, turbocharged and intercooled Honda V6 engine – similar to that used in its ALMS LMP2 HPD-ARX prototype – competition suspension and brakes, high-performance tires and a full competition roll cage. “It was amazing – Pikes Peak was always a dream for me,” reported the Frenchman. “Honda prepared a great car. Really ‘unique’, I have to say. I’d like to come back again next year, with something even more crazy!”

(Hyundai)
Taking second place in the Unlimited class at the 91st "Race to the Sky" at Pikes Peak this year was former record-holder Rhys Millen in his all-new Hyundai RMR PM580-T, 49 seconds behind Sébastien Loeb with a time of 9m02.192s. The New Zealander beat his own record, but says that he’s determined to break the nine-minute barrier next year. “I think it’s fair to say that we were racing for second place today,” said Millen. “Myself and Romain Dumas had been really close throughout practice, but then I heard that his engine had unfortunately broken at the start. I knew I wasn’t going to beat Sébastien's time, so I just decided to take no risks. You have to hand it to Loeb and Peugeot Sport: they were unbeatable. That time they set was simply incredible. When will it be beaten? It might never be…”

(Ford)
Toomas Heikkinen (right) finished first in the second of two Global Rallycross races last weekend and picked up his first gold medal in Munich in the Bluebeam OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST. Tanner Foust (left) earned his first podium of the season, finishing third at the second Global Rallycross race at X Games in Munich in the Rockstar Energy OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST. Heikkinen and Foust earned Ford its sixth and seventh podium appearances at the Global Rallycross events at X Games this season. For Heikkinen, it was his first gold medal and his third podium in GRC this season. The Bluebeam OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta driver finished with a gold and bronze in two races over the weekend.

Toomas Heikkinen won his first career X Games gold medal at the Global Rallycross event in Munich on Sunday driving his No. 57 OlsbergsMSE Ford Fiesta ST. Watch a video clip here.

(Bentley Motors Inc.)
The Goodwood Festival of Speed - one of the most momentous events on the automotive calendar- takes place this year on July 12th-14th in Sussex, England. With Bentley's return to the racetrack later this year, the new Continental GT3 makes its global debut in front of the crowds at Goodwood on Friday, July 12th. And celebrating the 10th anniversary of the company's famous 1-2 finish at Le Mans in 2003, the Bentley Speed 8 racers that crossed the finish line first and second ten years ago will also appear. They will be piloted up the hill in formation by the same pair of drivers – Guy Smith in Number 7, and David Brabham in Number 8. The appearance of the gorgeous machines commemorates the last British victory at Le Mans, where the cars covered 3,196 miles (5,146 km) over the course of the event, recording an average speed of 133 mph (214 km/h).
(Bentley Motors Inc.)