SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

(Photo by Chris Owens/IndyCar)
James Hinchcliffe returned to the racetrack on Monday for the first time since his devastating crash at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last May. Hinch participated in a closed test at Road America.

(Nigel Kinrade/LAT Photo USA © 2015, courtesy of Toyota Racing)
Matt Kenseth (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Dollar General Toyota Camry) takes the checkered flag after winning the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Kevin Harvick (No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ditech Chevrolet SS) ran out of fuel with three laps to go after leading a race high 216 laps, finishing 21st. Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing FedEx Freight Toyota Camry) was second and Joey Logano (No. 22 Team Penske Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion) finished third. Get more NASCAR details here.

(Brett Moist/LAT Photo USA ©2015, courtesy of Toyota Racing)
Joe Gibbs Racing is (and has been) the hottest team in NASCAR and looks to be taking aim at the Sprint Cup title. Denny Hamlin made it a JGR 1-2 in New Hampshire.

(Photo by Brett Moist/NKP ©2015, courtesy of Ford Racing)
Joey Logano (No. 22 Team Penske Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion) had another great Sprint Cup run in New Hampshire.

(Photo by Jay Bonvouloir/SCCA)

Rick Payne (No. 75 Payton Pools Van Diemen RF99 Honda), of Mission, British Columbia, Canada, survived when several of the top Formula F competitors didn't and went on to win his first SCCA National Championship from 10th on the grid Sunday at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by Garmin VIRB at Daytona International Speedway. William Valet (No. 83 Drivers Services/Loynings Engines Swift DB6 Honda), of Coram, N.Y., finished second and Jason Generotti (No. 13 Dangerous Cargo/Lee Racing Swift DB1 Ford), of Orlando, Florida, finished third. Payne picked up several positions as the start and then steered clear of two full-course caution incidents in the race's first five laps that eliminated four of the top 12 starters. Valet and Tire Rack Pole Position starting driver Tim Kautz (No. 88 Braeburn/Hoosier/TwoDogg/Euroquipe Piper DF3D Honda) joined Payne as the only drivers to lead the race. Payne drafted by both Generotti and Valet entering the Bus Stop and held them off in the final run through NASCAR Turns 3 and 4 for a narrow .110 of a second victory. The top three in total were split by just .150 of a second. Payne's winning average speed was 90.749 mph and he set the fastest race lap with a time of 2:03.383 (103.872 mph). The 52nd SCCA National Championship Runoffs® crowned Sports Car Club of America's Club Racing National Champions at Daytona International Speedway over the weekend. Once upon a time "Formula F" stood for Formula Ford. Not anymore. A few years ago Honda entered the fray with a new engine for the class and the rest is history. Go to www.scca.com for a full list of winners and photos from the 2015 Runoffs.

(McLaren Automotive)
McLaren Automotive has appointed Kenny Brack as Test and Development Driver. Brack, 49, joins McLaren with extensive motorsport experience and a racing career that features several highlights, including the 1998 Indy Racing League Drivers Championship and winner of the 1999 Indianapolis 500. His versatile driver career spans more than three decades and includes an X-Games Rally/Racing gold medal and numerous other victories both in racing and rallying. Most recently, he has helped prepare and race a number of notable historic cars, claiming victories at the Goodwood Revival in 2011 and 2013 at the wheel of a Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe and Ford GT40 respectively. No stranger to a McLaren, Brack has taken to the track in models old and new over the past few years. In 2014, he drove the famous Goodwood Hill at the Festival of Speed with the McLaren F1 GTR ‘Longtail’, and joined the grid at the 73rd Goodwood Members’ Meeting, which saw 16 examples of the McLaren F1 GTR take to the track. This summer, he joined McLaren Automotive as a guest driver at the Festival of Speed to pilot the track-only McLaren P1™ GTR. "I am extremely proud to join the McLaren family in a development role for the new product," Brack commented. "Every McLaren is developed and built by a team of very passionate people, and to drive one is a true driver's occasion. Throughout my career I've been very passionate about car development, so to work with McLaren feels like a great fit. I have every confidence that future McLaren models will continue to put a smile on the face on anyone who drives one."

(McLaren Automotive)

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Titles in all four classes of the 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship will be decided Saturday in the Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda at the 12-turn, 2.54-mile Road Atlanta circuit. The GT Le Mans (GTLM) championship is going to be decided with just a three-point separation between the first and second place drivers in the standings.  In GTLM, Porsche North America driver Patrick Pilet leads BMW Team RLL drivers Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner by just three points (279-276) after the BMW duo scored a late victory in the most recent Lone Star Le Mans at Circuit of The Americas. However, Pilet remains optimistic about his and co-driver Nick Tandy’s chances in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR. "It's a lot better to be in my position, leading the championship, than to be in second,” said Pilet, who had won three of the last four races alongside Tandy. “For sure, we lost some points in the last race, but we always have a good car at Petit and at our last test it was really good. I'm really confident for the race. I think Road Atlanta is a really good track for the Porsche. We have a strong lineup, a good team, and I'm pretty sure we have a good chance to win the race." Rounding out the top three in GTLM, only 10 points behind leader Pilet (279-269), are co-drivers Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. The pair led the standings for much of the 2015 season after opening the year with back-to-back victories in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida alongside co-driver Ryan Briscoe, who returns to the lineup this week. Magnussen and Garcia also lead the Patrón Endurance Cup standings.

(Photos courtesy of Porsche)
The Rennsport Reunion at the Laguna Seca Raceway in California was a fascinating journey through Porsche’s racing history. The largest event worldwide with historic Porsche race cars and legendary Porsche race drivers lured over 50,000 spectators to the dune circuit close to Monterey over the weekend.

(Global RallyCross Championship)
Red Bull Global Rallycross returns to Bushy Park Barbados on October 3-4 with a brand new course layout, which will be the longest and fastest (130 mph+) in series history. At 1.1208 miles long, it is the first track in series history to run for longer than a mile. Additionally there will be two new passing zones and a camelback jump that will see cars fly over two jumps in succession.

(IMSA)
Brian Alder (No. 22 BAR1 Motorsports), from Dublin, Ohio, and Todd Slusher (No. 62 ONE Motorsports), from Las Vegas, Nevada, will fight for the Lites 2 championship during Petit Le Mans Powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta. Alder is seeking his third consecutive Lites 2 Drivers Championship. He leads Slusher by 10 points, 222-212, and will clinch the title by finishing third or better in both races. Slusher needs to sweep both rounds to have a chance to win his first championship.

(CORE autosport)
CORE autosport will go after its fifth-straight Prototype Challenge Championship in the 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship as the series comes to a season close with the 10-hour Petit Le Mans endurance race at Road Atlanta this weekend. To help secure the team's fifth-straight title, CORE has brought in veteran sports car driver and Atlanta native Anthony Lazzaro to team with Jon Bennett and Colin Braun. Lazzaro has raced every category of race car and at Petit Le Mans since the event made its debut in 1998. The CORE autosport team and drivers arrive at the season finale with a 12-point lead over PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports. CORE must finish seventh or higher to lock in the 2015 championship. Petit Le Mans also marks the final round of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup, a special prize for teams who perform the best in races six hours in length or more. CORE, Bennett and Braun are currently second by three points for that title. Petit Le Mans TV and Internet coverage on Saturday, October 3: 11:00am - 12:00pm: FOX Sports 2; 12:00pm - 2:30pm: IMSA.com; 2:30pm - 7:00pm: FOX Sports 2; 7:00pm - 8:30pm: IMSA.com; 8:30pm - 9:30pm: FOX Sports 2. You can also follow live timing, radio and in-car cameras at IMSA.com or on the IMSA App.

Excerpted from the Press Release (with PMD comments):

IMSA has released engine and bodywork guidelines for the new Prototypes competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship beginning in 2017. The new IMSA class will be known as Daytona Prototype international or, DPi. (Apparently the capital "I" for "international" must be reserved for the FIA. And they just couldn't leave "Daytona" out of the name, could they?)

The new chassis will be built by the four constructors approved and announced earlier this summer: Dallara, Onroak Automotive, ORECA and Riley/Multimatic.  DPi and the new LM P2 cars coming online in 2017 will be eligible to compete in the top Prototype class for overall race wins. IMSA’s DPi philosophy allows for cars to be powered by a wide range of engines from the world’s leading automobile manufacturers, including those used in existing FIA GT3 race car applications. The cars also will feature manufacturer-specific bodywork and styling cues. (We'll see about that.)

In contrast, the LM P2 cars which will run a standard “spec” engine supplied by Gibson Technology.

DPi and LM P2 cars will be homologated for a minimum of four years, from 2017 through 2020 "to enable participants to leverage their investments, thus providing increased stability for all involved," says IMSA.  To achieve performance parity in the top Prototype class, IMSA will utilize a Balance of Performance (BoP) methodology for both the DPi and LM P2 specifications. (Would we expect anything else?)

IMSA also announced that closed-cockpit LM P2 cars built between 2014 and 2016 will be grandfathered in to compete in the WeatherTech Championship during the 2017 season, but open-cockpit LM P2 cars and the current Daytona Prototypes will no longer be permitted in IMSA competition after the 2016 season.