March 23, 2016

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Another scintillating performance by 22-year-old Pipo Derani (No. 2 Tequila Patrón ESM Honda Ligier JS P2 co-driven by Scott Sharp, Johannes van Overbeek and Ed Brown) led the team to overall victory in Saturday’s soggy 64th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida. It was ESM's second consecutive triumph in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.  Derani passed Dane Cameron (No. 31 Action Express Racing Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP co-driven by Eric Curran and Scott Pruett) with five minutes and 45 seconds to go to take the lead and the eventual victory, sweeping Daytona and Sebring in back-to-back rounds of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.  “What a tough race this was,” said Derani. “We had some contact, some spins, and moving our way back to the front was just unbelievable. In the end, I knew we had a great car, and new tires. But with only 10 to 15 minutes to go and still be in fourth was difficult to believe that we were going to make it. God had an eye on me and everything I executed was perfect. I can’t believe it all. It happened like that. I was so focused to bring the car home. The adrenaline was so high I couldn’t think about anything else.” Christian Fittipaldi, Joao Barbosa and Filipe Albuquerque (No. 5 Action Express Mustang Sampling Corvette DP) finished third. The event was held in challenging weather conditions, including several short but intense downpours and a thunderstorm that led to a two-hour, 15-minute red-flag stoppage that began shortly before the three-hour mark. Read more from Tony DiZinno here. And check out all of John Thawley's tremendous images from Sebring in our gallery here.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Tommy Milner, Oliver Gavin and Marcel Fassler (No. 4 Corvette Racing C7.R) won the GTLM class slugfest in Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, backing up their IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season-opening victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Milner passed the No. 100 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM of Lucas Luhr for the class lead at the nine-hour, 38-minute mark, leading all but one of the remaining laps. “I don’t think I’ve ever had such a strong race car when I got in for the final three hours,” said Milner, who also co-drove with Gavin in winning the GTE Pro class in the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans. “I knew I could pass the cars in front of me. It was difficult with all the cautions, but we got it back up there. I had a 20-second lead and then we had a caution. I knew everyone was racing for the win, so I kept pushing and was able to bring it in.” Dirk Werner, Bill Auberlen and Bruno Spengler (No. 25 BMW Team RLL IHG Rewards Club BMW M6 GTLM) finished second, 2.882 seconds behind the winning Corvette. Earl Bamber, Frederic Makowiecki and Michael Christensen (No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR) finished third.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
The No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT driven by Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook finished fifth in GTLM, after leading the team's first laps at Sebring. “I think we missed a little bit, but obviously we’ve made good progress since Daytona,” said Dixon, with the team reporting no mechanical problems and none of the issues that plagued the team in its debut at Daytona. Dirk Müller, Joey Hand and Sébastien Bourdais finished eighth in class.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Jeff Segal put Scuderia Corsa’s No. 63 Ferrari 488 GT3 on the pole in GTD and co-driver Alessandro Balzan finished the job by taking the lead with nine minutes remaining and winning the class. Christina Nielsen also co-drove the winning Ferrari for her first victory in WeatherTech Championship competition. Jens Klingmann, Ashley Freiberg and Bret Curtis (No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3) finished second. “The last five minutes were almost like the 12 hours,” Balzan said. “We decided not to change the tires, so it was the advantage not to lose a lot of time with cold tires. We had a nice race with the BMWs. We had a bit of contact, but that is to be expected because you are fighting for the win. Then I took advantage of the traffic and was able to pull away.” John Potter, Andy Lally and Marco Seefried (No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3) came in third.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110) 
The WeatherTech Girls.  

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Colin Braun (No. 54 CORE autosport Flex-Box Composite Resources ORECA FLM09, co-driven by Jon Bennett and Mark Wilkins) took the lead in the Prototype Challenge (PC) at just under the halfway mark – at 5 hours and 52 minutes - and dominated the second half of the race. It was the team's second Sebring victory in three years. Tom Kimber-Smith (No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA FLM09 co-driven by Robert Alon and Jose Gutierrez)finished 1.282 seconds behind in second. Renger van der Zande, Alex Popow and David Heinemeier Hansson (No. 8 Starworks Motorsport ORECA FLM09) finished third. Check out all of John Thawley's tremendous images from Sebring in our gallery here.

(Robert Cianflone/Getty Images, The Guardian)
Nico Rosberg (No. 6 AMG Petronas Mercedes) won Sunday’s Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix, the 2016 season opener, but Ferrari served notice that they will be on point. A mid-race red flag after a huge accident involving Fernando Alonso disruped the flow of the race, helping Rosberg to what had looked like an unlikely victory.

(Ross Land/AP, The Guardian)
Sebastian Vettel (No. 5 Scuderia Ferrari) rocketed into the lead at the start, but Lewis Hamilton (No. 44 AMG Petronas Mercedes) recovered from a nightmare start to finish second. Vettel finished third after 57 laps of Albert Park.

(BBC)
Fernando Alonso (No. 14 McLaren Honda) suffered a huge crash into a wall after colliding with Haas F1’s Esteban Gutiérrez going into Turn 3, which caused a red flag on lap 19. Alonso was able to walk away, fortunately.

(PlanetF1)
Romain Grosjean (No. 8 Haas F1 Team) delivered a sixth-place finish in Melbourne for the new American F1 Team. "You aim high and you want points, but after qualifying we didn't expect to finish sixth," team principal Guenther Steiner stated. "A deserved sixth, on merit, because the speed is there, it is pretty cool. This is beyond our expectations. Being competitive with the other cars is more satisfying than taking points." Without the help from Ferrari, this wouldn't have happened. It cannot happen," he continued. See F1 video highlights here.

(GM/Chevrolet Racing photo)
Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Lowe's/Superman Chevrolet SS) outdueled Kevin Harvick (No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Jimmy John's Chevrolet SS) in overtime to win the Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway. It was Johnson's second win of the season and his 77th win at the top level of NASCAR, breaking a tie with the late Dale Earnhardt for seventh on the all-time victory list. "Awesome teamwork, boys!" Johnson shouted on his radio. "There's nothing like winning at home." Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Sport Clips Toyota Camry) finished third. Harvick dominated the race leading 142 laps. Watch a NASCAR video here.

(©2016 Roadracing World)
Jorge Lorenzo (No. 99 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) won the MotoGP opener, the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar. Andrea Dovizioso (No. 4 Ducati) finished second, 2.019 seconds behind, and Marc Marquez (No. 93 Repsol Honda) finished third.

(BMW)
The BMW M2 is the Official Safety Car for the 2016 MotoGP World Championship season. This year marks BMW’s 18th season as “Official Car of MotoGP”.

(Audi images)
This is the totally redesigned Audi R18 that will race in the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The new machine has almost nothing in common with its predecessor, according to Audi. It utilizes a more radical aerodynamics signature, a new cockpit safety cell and a battery-operated hybrid drive system for the first time. The V6 TDI engine has also been thoroughly revised, and new system solutions have been employed. The result? Audi’s 2016 R18 LMP1 machine is more powerful and much more efficient than its predecessor. The battle vs. Porsche and Toyota has been joined.

(Porsche Images)
Not to be outdone, Porsche has improved its Le Mans-winning 919 Hybrid Hybrid racing machine for 2016. The 919 racing machine will be more efficient, more aerodynamic (three different aero packages will be employed over the course of the season, the maximum allowed) and lighter. “The over 900 hp strong Le Mans Prototype is ready for the title defense,” said Fritz Enzinger, Vice President, LMP1 program for Porsche. Along with its victory at Le Mans, Porsche also won the manufacturers’ World Championship title in 2015, so the cars will sport new numbers. Timo Bernhard (DE), Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Mark Webber (AU) - the 2015 Drivers’ World Champions - will now race with the No. 1 on their car. Romain Dumas (FR), Neel Jani (CH) and Marc Lieb (DE) will be in the No. 2 machine.

(Honda images) 

Honda. The Japanese manufacturer has unveiled the new racing livery for its all-new turbocharged 2016 Civic Coupe Red Bull Global Rallycross race car, which it will campaign in the 2016 series in partnership with Red Bull and championship-winning race team Olsbergs MSE. The racing machine was developed from a production-model 2016 Civic Coupe chassis by renowned builders and racers Olsbergs MSE (OMSE), with technical assistance from Honda Performance Development (HPD). The Civic Red Bull GRC has 600HP and, like its competitors, will go 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds. Drivers for the new Honda GRC effort are Sebastian Eriksson and Joni Wiman. Eriksson, from Sweden, and Wiman, from Finland, have both made their mark in the series, with Wiman winning the 2014 Global Rallycross Championship and Eriksson finishing second in 2015. The Honda Civic Red Bull GRC team will begin racing on May 21 in Phoenix at the GRC opener.

Editor's Note: “The Decision” is the first of five video shorts from the Ford Motor Company about the development of the Ford GT. It features Bill Ford Jr., Raj Nair, Dave Pericak and Edsel B. Ford II, who attended the 1966 race with his father, Henry Ford II. The shorts will culminate in one long-form documentary that will follow the development of both the Street Car and Race Car version of the Ford GT from the decision to build the cars to the return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. (The Autoextremist makes a cameo appearance as well.) Watch it here. -WG