(Michelin Motorsport)
(IMSA)
John Farano and Tower Motorsport completed a three-peat at Motul Petit Le Mans, winning the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class race for the third straight year and sewing up the class driver and team championships in the process. Driving with Louis Deletraz and Rui Pinto de Andrade in the No. 8 ORECA LMP2 07, the Tower trio led 59 of the final 66 laps to win for the second time this season. Saturday’s victory allowed Farano to claim the LMP2 driver’s crown by 126 points over Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel, co-drivers of the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA, and the team championship by 79 points over the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA. “Race win, team championship, driver championship – it’s all here tonight,” Farano said. “This is just unbelievable. What a team effort! These guys are really fantastic.” While the No. 8 ran at or near the front all 10 hours, Deletraz found himself second to racing great Juan Pablo Montoya on the final restart with 32 minutes to go. The Swiss driver wasted little time overtaking the former IndyCar and WeatherTech Championship DPi champion, moving past the No. 81 DragonSpeed USA ORECA on the third lap after the restart and pulling away. “He did a brilliant job there at the end,” Farano commented about Deletraz. “Getting by Montoya was not easy to do. He really did a great job. It was beautiful.” Montoya, driving with his son Sebastian and Henrik Hedman, finished second. The No. 11 PR1 Mathiasen ORECA shared by Steven Thomas, Josh Pierson and Tristan Nunez placed third. (Thank you to Mark Robinson/IMSA Wire Service)
(IMSA)
Both championship contenders in the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class went off course during the 10-hour race. Only one would later emerge victorious. The No. 54 CORE autosport Ligier JS P320 co-driven by Colin Braun, Jon Bennett and George Kurtz recovered from a spin to claim the WeatherTech Championship LMP3 drivers’ championship for Braun and Bennett and the team championship for CORE. “We had to walk that line of being smart versus being aggressive,” Braun said. “The biggest thing for us came down to being fast when we needed to be, being smart when we needed to be and being aware of our situation.” Braun and Bennett came into the event 83 points ahead of Gar Robinson and the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 he co-drove with Felipe Fraga and Kay van Berlo. Three hours and 25 minutes into the race, though, the No. 54 car slid off course with Kurtz behind the wheel. Kurtz made it back to the pits for repairs and returned to the race, but what had been second place in class had become sixth in the seven-car field. When Fraga took the lead with 5:05 remaining, Robinson was in line for the drivers’ championship. Then, with four hours and 41 minutes remaining, Fraga went off in Turn 6, sending the No. 74 back to sixth and renewing the chances for Braun, Bennett and CORE. The No. 54 clinched it by finishing fifth in class and 15th overall, one position behind the No. 74. While the battle for the LMP3 championships were underway behind them, Jarett Andretti, Gabby Chaves and Josh Burdon were piecing together the class win in the No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier JS P320. “It’s unbelievable,” Andretti said. “This is one of the hardest places to win, and I’m just so proud of everybody here involved with the team.” (Thank you to Mark Robinson and Jeff Olson/IMSA Wire Service)
(IMSA)
The Vasser Sullivan crew thought the GTD PRO win was well in hand late in Saturday’s race. Until it wasn’t. And then it was. After leading much of the 10-hour race, No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 driver Jack Hawksworth was caught in a late-race scuffle and surrendered first place to the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT3. The Ferrari crossed the finish line first but was moved to the back of the class results for driver Daniel Serra exceeding the limit of driving four hours within a six-hour period. The penalty put Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat and Kyle Kirkwood atop the GTD PRO podium, securing the first WeatherTech Championship endurance race win for the team and Lexus as well as clinching second place in the GTD PRO standings for Barnicoat and the No. 14. “It was just wild. I’m just so happy, this has been a long time coming for this team,” said Hawksworth, a pillar of the Lexus program who collected his ninth career win. “The guys have worked so hard for it.” The No. 14 Lexus was leading at the final restart from caution with just more than a half-hour remaining but was pushed hard by Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R that clinched the season championship by starting the race. Jaminet bumped into the back of Hawksworth entering Turn 10 with 21 minutes to go, causing the Lexus to wiggle and allowing the No. 62 Ferrari and the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL BMW M4 GT3 a chance to pounce. Hawksworth somehow retained the lead, while the Ferrari overtook the Porsche for second place. Soon after, Serra pushed the Risi Ferrari past the Vasser Sullivan for the class lead to the finish. But the Ferrari’s joy was short-lived as Serra was cited for maximum driving infringement. Hawksworth was still shaking his head over what transpired in the closing minutes. “I had more contact in the last 30 minutes of that race than I think I had the whole season, probably my whole IMSA career,” he said. “(Jaminet) tried to pass me in (Turn) 10, we had contact there, and then he hit me three or four more times. God knows how the car is still in one piece.” Barnicoat joined the team this year and was elated to help deliver the first endurance win and take second in the GTD PRO championship. “You can see how much this means to everyone here, the whole Lexus family,” he said. “I joined them a year ago and to be able to do this at my first Petit Le Mans with them is incredible.” With the Risi Ferrari’s demotion, the No. 25 BMW with drivers Connor De Phillippi, John Edwards and Jesse Krohn finished second and the No. 9 Pfaff Porsche shared by Jaminet, Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr took third place. (Thank you to Mark Robinson/IMSA WIre Service)
(IMSA)
Gradient Racing put an exclamation point on a huge day for Acura by winning the GTD class of the 25th annual Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the season finale of the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Kyffin Simpson, Till Bechtolsheimer and Mario Farnbacher teamed up to vanquish the 15-car GTD field in the No. 66 Acura NSX GT3, holding off the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 driven by Brendan Iribe, Jordan Pepper and Sebastian Priaulx during a tense 30-minute battle until the 10-hour race ended under caution. Acura also claimed the overall and Daytona Prototype international (DPi) victory in the race, with Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian and drivers Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis earning the DPi season championship. Meanwhile, Roman De Angelis, Maxime Martin, and Ian James overcame a series of challenges throughout the race in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 to claim a seventh-place class finish. That was enough to secure the GTD championship for De Angelis, a 21-year-old from Belle River, Ontario, Canada. The hurdles included an electrical issue that required a mid-race steering wheel change, and an off-course excursion at the very end when Martin was bumped by the team’s closest title competition, the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R shared by Jan Heylen, Ryan Hardwick and Zacharie Robichon. De Angelis ended the season with a slim 23-point edge over Heylen and Hardwick. “A messy day, and we really fought to get back on the lead lap all day,” related De Angelis. “When the checkered flag dropped, I didn’t even know if we won it or not. Then everyone started screaming, so that was my indication that it went pretty well. “The team did an awesome job through all the chaos and those points where we were very far from the championship,” he added. “They stayed motivated and kept fighting, and it definitely all paid off in the end.” (Thank you to John Oreovicz/IMSA Wire Service)

Success and Failure in Thailand.

By Whit Bazemore

Bend. This 2022 MotoGP World Championship has had more back-and-forth action than a tennis ball during a Grand Slam tournament. Lately, every race has had each of the three Championship contenders see-sawing between being strong contenders one weekend, then seemingly giving it all away the next. Does anyone actually want to win this thing? Apparently, yes, more than we can even imagine. 

At one time, just a few races ago, Fabio Quartararo (Factory Yamaha team) had a 91-point lead over second-place “Pecco” Bagnaia on the Factory Ducati. Fabio already looked set to win his second consecutive championship. Only a fool would have bet against him, as he is generally considered to be a slightly quicker rider than Bagnaia and has also proven to be highly-resilient to championship pressure. But the Yamaha is not the bike to have at the moment — it is down on power and is diva-like in its behavior — and inconsistent and prone to being happy only when its set up is absolutely perfect. And of the four Yamahas in the field, only Quartararo can ride one. The other three are all at the very back of the Championship standings, and rarely can muster even a points-paying finish in any race. That would be a 15th place! Quartararo is an island of competitiveness in the Yamaha garages, which only makes his defense of the title all the more difficult. Still, he leads. 

The Bagnaia Ducati situation is different. The Ducatis are animals, high in power and just crushing in straight line speed. There are eight of them, too, and all but two of the eight are in the top twelve in the standings. Four different Ducatis have won this year, and there have been races when Quartararo has lined up on the grid only to see a solid wall of Ducatis in front of him. How demoralizing! 

Bagnaia has been the one Ducati rider able to extract the full potential of the bike consistently. When he began a charge back in June’s Dutch GP in Assen, ultimately winning four in a row, the end result was that he had narrowed the points gap to only ten points between himself and Quartararo before the Japanese GP two weeks ago in Motegi. Was he on a roll at exactly the right time? Yes, except his Japanese GP ended in disaster; a crash on the last lap while attempting to pass Quartararo for 8th place ended that winning streak. Both racers struggled there, but with only four races remaining neither can afford to give away even one single point, which is what Bagnaia would have scored over Quartararo had his pass been successful. But it wasn’t, so the Championship left Japan for last weekend’s Thai GP in Buriram with Quartararo leading by a more comfortable 18 points. 

Behind these two in the Championship were the still-in-contention underdogs, Enea Bastianini on a Ducati and Aleix Espargaro on an Aprilia. With four races to go and 100 points on the table, it was a title up for grabs between all four, not just the top two. 

Upon arriving in Thailand on Tuesday, the weather forecast was ominous for the entire race weekend. It is monsoon season there after all, so it certainly wasn’t a surprise. But there was a surprise! The sunny sky that greeted everyone on Friday for FP1 was totally unexpected. FP2 in the afternoon was still sunny. “Ok, tomorrow will be rain,” was the paddock’s thinking, but no, Saturday was more of the same: hot, dry (but very humid) and sunny. Race day morning, and the first race of the day, Moto3, took place under sunny skies as well. But by half distance, dark thunderstorm clouds could be seen gathering off in the distance. 

As if on cue, the rain came down in sheets before the MotoGP race, rendering the track basically un-ridable. There is rain, and then there is RAIN. This change in conditions was a problem: with no wet running throughout the weekend, and the Thai GP having not taken place during the previous two years due to the pandemic, little or no wet weather data existed for the teams, so bike setup was a total gamble. But, as all winning racers like to say, “It's the same for everyone.” And so, it was. 

After an approximate one-hour delay, the MotoGP field got just a 10-minute preview of what the wet Buriram track was like in the soaking conditions. It was difficult. By the race start, there was so much water at the end of the long (1000 m) straight, that the spray made braking for the 2nd gear 180 degree turn 3 especially difficult. Visibility in the pack down the straight was literally non-existent.

The Championship contenders had to think, but not over-think: take risk and get a huge reward by gaining points or be conservative to not lose any points by crashing and having a DNF. In the end though, it is always pretty simple: just ride the bike as fast as you can, or as fast as is comfortable (if there is such a thing on a 220 MPH motorcycle still spinning the rear tire in 6th gear, surrounded by twenty-three other riders who you cannot see, and who cannot see you, all experiencing the same plight). It is in times like these when, as a racer, you simply have to turn off your brain and let your natural ability take over. This is true for everyone. 

On the grid, the tension was high — perhaps the highest so far of this season. So much to lose, yet so much to gain. In the end, the race was crazy exciting. Not so many crashes but the results, and the dicing that made them, was more than the normal MotoGP high drama. Miguel Oliveira on the factory KTM came through the field to win his second wet weather race of the year. He was inch- perfect and managed everything perfectly. Bagnaia - definitely NOT a wet weather specialist - had perhaps the most important result of his career so far, a third-place behind his teammate Jack Miller, who is a wet weather expert. 

In the closing laps, Bagnaia came under pressure from fellow Ducati rider Johann Zarco who opted not to make the pass. Was it team orders? Kinda. Passing was risky given the still treacherous conditions even after 24 laps, and Zarco said he never saw an easy opportunity, despite looking visibly quicker. Indeed, Bagnaia made no mistakes, so there was that. Miller, with his second place, now suddenly finds himself in contention for the title as well, albeit further back than everyone else. But, with the remaining races all having a higher than normal chance of being wet (Phillip Island, Sepang, and Valencia) Miller could ultimately become the World Champion! He is 40 points behind Quartararo. 

And what of Quartararo? At the end of his career, ten or fifteen years from now or whenever it might be, the 2022 Thai GP will be considered the worst race he’s ever finished. No question. With the pressure on, it was a complete disaster. One thing normally true is that Fabio extracts the most out of his Yamaha, every weekend, living on the edge much like Marc Marquez does on a similarly difficult Honda. But not this race. He went backwards from his not so bad fourth place starting position to finish a dismal 17th, which means zero points. The Yamaha (like all MotoGP bikes, indeed all racing bikes) is very sensitive to front tire pressure. Pressure too high, and the front has little traction and “no feel.” This is what happened, apparently. We say apparently, because after the race, Quartararo got off the bike, walked straight through the garage with his helmet on, canceled his media de-briefs, and left the track without a word to anyone, including his mechanics. Yet… most of the grid complained of high front pressure as soon as the first few laps were completed. 

Fabio’s behavior might not be what we’ve come to expect, but it is certainly understandable. The Championship at this level of sport is huge. Huge prestige, huge money, huge everything. More than anything though, is the huge pressure. 

As it is, he still has a three-point lead over Bagnaia heading into Phillip Island in two weeks’ time, with two races left after that.  

This is shaping up to be intense... and really good!

Editor-in-Chief's Note: Special AE contributor Whit Bazemore - the Renaissance Man and superb photographer - is continuing to give us updates and his insider's perspective on the MotoGP season. To have someone with Whit's talent share his visual art and deep knowledge of MotoGP is truly special for us, and we really appreciate it. By the way, you may recognize Whit's last name. Bazemore began making a living from drag racing when he was sixteen years old, and he is a two-time U.S. Nationals winner and still the fifth-fastest Funny Car driver ever at 333.25 MPH. -PMD