THE LINE - JULY 16, 2014
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia (No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R) delivered their fourth consecutive TUDOR United SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) class victory in the two-hour, 45-minute Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix Presented by Hawk Performance at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Sunday, which marked the 11th victory in 14 years at the facility for Corvette Racing. Magnussen took the lead 54 minutes into the race when Kuno Wittmer’s pole-winning No. 93 SRT Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R drove through the grass to avoid another competitor. Magnussen turned the No.3 Corvette over to Garcia one lap after taking the lead. Garcia then led the rest of the way, taking the checkered flag 11.024 seconds ahead of Jonathan Bomarito in the No. 93 Viper in a race that ran without a full-course caution. It was Magnussen's 41st career victory in North American competition and fifth at the circuit once known as Mosport International Raceway. Marc Goossens and Dominik Farnbacher (No. 91 SRT Motorsports Dodge Viper GTS-R) finished third in GTLM. Check out all of John Thawley's scintillating images from Mosport here. Jeroen Bleekemolen passed Kevin Estre in traffic with two laps remaining and went on to win the GT Daytona (GTD) class, giving the No. 33 Riley Motorsports/ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R started by Ben Keating its first victory. Gustavo Yacaman and Olivier Pla (No. 42 OAK Racing Morgan/Nissan) won overall, leading every one of the 133 laps. Richard Westbrook/Michael Valiante (No. 90 VISITFLORIDA.com/GoPro Corvette DP) finished second, and brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor (No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP) finished third. The TUDOR Championship returns in two weeks for the Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That race, which features all four TUDOR Championship classes, will be run Friday, July 25 at 5:45 p.m. ET (FOX Sports 1, SDD at 7 p.m. ET).
(Photo by Chris Jones/IndyCar)
Ryan Hunter-Reay (No. 28 Andretti Autosport DHL Honda) took what was shaping up to be a dominant race win from Tony Kanaan (No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Target Chevrolet) just two laps from the checkered flag in Saturday night's Iowa Corn Indy 300 presented by DEKALB. A late-race pit stop for tires did the trick for Hunter-Reay, launching the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner to another Verizon IndyCar Series win at Iowa Speedway. Kanaan had led 247 of the race's 300 laps but couldn't hold-off Hunter-Reay at the end. It was the fifth consecutive victory at Iowa Speedway for Andretti Autosport, which has won six of the eight races on the 0.894-mile, variably-banked oval. Hunter-Reay also won at Iowa Speedway in 2012. "That was crazy. We took the tires as a big gamble and credit to (race engineer) Ray Gosselin and (race strategist/team owner) Michael Andretti for making that call," said Hunter-Reay, whose two laps led were the first since he won the Indianapolis 500. "That was fun. It was like a video game at the end. We had a tough day, but you have to keep your head in it in the Verizon IndyCar Series."
(Photo by Chris Jones/Indy/Car)
Josef Newgarden (No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda), who started 21st and was running 11th at the green flag for the final restart, also pitted for tires on Lap 284 and blew by Kanaan on the final lap to finish second - tying his career-best finish - 0.5814 of a second behind Hunter-Reay.
(Photo by Shawn Gritzmacher/IndyCar)
Kanaan had everybody covered Saturday night, until he didn't. Even though Kanaan tied his season high finish, he was disappointed not to give Target Chip Ganassi Racing its first victory of the season. "It's such a shame because we dominated the race," said Kanaan, who won the race in 2010 and finished on the podium each of the past five years at Iowa Speedway. "To win races we have to run up front, so we'll take the third place and go to Toronto. I don't think I left anything out there today." There have been eight different winners, representing six teams, in the twelve Verizon IndyCar Series races run so far this season.
(Image courtesy of Ford Racing)
Brad Keselowski (No. 2 team Penske Redd's Ford Fusion) led 138 of the last 232 laps to win Sunday's Camping World RV Sales 301 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway for his third NASCAR Sprint Cup victory of the season. The win was Ford’s fourth straight in NASCAR's top series, marking the first time Ford has won four consecutive Cup Series races since 2001. “This was a hard fought battle passing cars and trying to stay up front all day," Keselowski said. "We had a couple bullets to dodge and I am not thinking of anything else right now than how thankful I am to have a team and car that is clicking this well. Hopefully we can keep it going.” Kyle Busch (No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry) finished second, and rookie Kyle Larson (No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Target Chevrolet SS) finished third. Watch a video here.
(Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/NASCAR via Getty Images, courtesy of Ford Racing)
Brad Keselowski also won the NASCAR Nationwide Series Sta-Green 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday in his No. 22 Team Penske Hertz Ford Mustang, making it a weekend sweep.
(Image courtesy of Chevrolet)
Matt Bell and Andy Lally (No. 9 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R) won the GS class in the seventh round of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Saturday. Lally led the final 46 minutes to take the first win of the year for he and Bell by 1.014 seconds over a charging Billy Johnson (No. 158 Multimatic Motorsports Miller Racing Ford Mustang Boss 302R, co-driven by Ian James). Johnson passed teammate Scott Maxwell (No. 15 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Racing Mustang Boss 302R, co-driven by Jade Buford) with two laps remaining and took advantage of lapped traffic to challenge at the checkered flag. 20-year-old Canadian driver Remo Ruscitti (No. 04 Autometrics Motorsports BBA Accounting/DE Labs Porsche Cayman) from Burnaby, British Columbia, took the Street Tuner (ST) class lead with two laps remaining and held off Eric Foss (No. 56 Murillo Racing/Mosing Autocars BMW 328i, with co-driver Jeff Mosing) and Andrew Carbonell (No. 26 Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5 started by Randy Pobst) to take the first Continental Tire Challenge victory for himself, co-driver Adam Isman and Autometrics Motorsports. Next up for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge is a date at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, July 25.