(Formula1.com)
Charles Leclerc (No. 16 Scuderia Ferrari) won the Austrian Grand Prix over Max Verstappen (No. 1 Red Bull Racing), with Lewis Hamilton (No. 44 Mercedes-AMG Petronas) completing the podium – after Carlos Sainz (No. 55 Scuderia Ferrari) retired. Leclerc took the lead when the Sprint winner and championship leader Verstappen pitted on Lap 12. Leclerc pitted much later, on Lap 27, and retook the lead with a pass on Lap 37. With Sainz challenging Verstappen for P2, the Dutchman pitted again on Lap 37. Leclerc took his second stop on Lap 51 and retook the lead on Lap 53. With Sainz right on Verstappen’s tail, the Spaniard suddenly slowed – the fire at the rear of his Ferrari signalling the end of his race. That promoted Hamilton, who had battled from P8 to P4, to the final podium place. Despite a late-race scare in which Leclerc reported his throttle pedal to be sticking, making downshifts difficult and allowing Verstappen to close to within 2.3s, he won for the first time since Round 3 at Melbourne, Verstappen missing out on a third-straight win at the Red Bull Ring. Watch the race highlights here. (Thank you to Formula1.com)
(Corvette Racing)
Corvette Racing stole the show in GTE Pro in the Monza WEC 6 Hours. The team delivered an astonishing performance to snatch the win on a bold strategy call at the end. The American team came out of nowhere after the two AF Corse Ferraris spent much of the race sitting 1-2 at the head of the field and looked to have the pace to take a comfortable win. With 90 minutes to go, however, things began to fall apart when the class-leading No. 51 of Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado was handed a drive-through for a technical infringement at a stop, the team forgetting to hand over the data card to the organizers. This elementary error dropped the No. 51 to fourth and forced Pier Guidi to push hard to climb back into the top three. Meanwhile, the No. 52 AF Corse Ferrari led until the final minutes, but after holding a comfortable gap of around 10 seconds to Nick Tandy in the No. 64 Corvette, Antonio Fuoco was forced to pit for a splash. Tandy on the other hand, didn’t, somehow saving enough fuel to make it to the end and take the lead with just two laps remaining. It was a mighty performance and a memorable result in Corvette’s first race in Italy, following a heartbreaking 24 Hours of Le Mans. “With two laps to go, I saw a red car coming in and didn’t know which one,” Tandy said after the race. “I asked if it was the 52 and the team said it was. Like Tommy said, we basically gave up with about 30 minutes to go because we had to hit a stupid fuel number to make it. But we did!” “This was a long time coming, but this team performed and executed so well today,” added Laura Klauser, GM’s sports car racing manager. “Tommy and Nick drove their hearts out in this Corvette. Even if we had a couple of setbacks, we found our way around them. We did what Corvette Racing always does: we never gave up!” Watch the race highlights here. (Thank you to Stephen Kilbey/RACER)
(Corvette Racing)
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