(Photo by Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment)
The drought finally is over for Scott Dixon. Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Dixon earned his first victory since May 2021 at Texas Motor Speedway – a span of 23 races, the second-longest winless streak of his illustrious career – by capturing the Honda Indy Toronto on Sunday. Dixon drove his No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing PNC Bank Honda to a victory by .8106 of a second over Colton Herta in the No. 26 Andretti AutosportGainbridge Honda. The victory also was the 52nd of Dixon’s legendary career, tying him with fellow legend Mario Andretti for No. 2 on the all-time INDYCAR SERIES win list. A.J. Foyt leads with 67 wins. Dixon’s fourth career Toronto victory extended his record to 18 consecutive INDYCAR SERIES seasons with at least one win, and he also has won a race in a record 20 seasons overall. “Ended a streak there, which is fantastic,” Dixon said. “Just so happy for the team. A crazy year for the 9. The PNC Bank No. 9 back in winner’s circle. It just feels so good. To be close to Mario, every time I’m asked these questions, I’m just so thankful that we still have A.J. and him in the pits. We get to see them; we get to talk to them. It’s just fantastic. It’s huge, man. I just feel so lucky to be a part of this group.” Watch the race highlights here. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)
(Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)
Editor-in-Chief's Note: I consider Scott Dixon to be the greatest INDYCAR driver of the modern era. His consistent excellence over time has been extraordinary. -PMD
Photo by Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment)
Colton Herta (No. 26 Andretti Autosport Gainbridge Honda) was close, but didn't have enough to catch Dixon for the win.
(Photo by Joe Skibinki/Penske Entertainment)
Felix Rosenqvist (No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet) finished third in Toronto to earn his first podium result since his sole career INDYCAR SERIES victory at Road America in July, 2020.
(Michelin Motorsport)
Matt Campbell (the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R) was content to bide his time until he found the right moment to move into the lead of the FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park. Campbell, who claimed the Motul Pole Award on Friday, lost the lead during the first round of pit stops of Saturday’s two-hour, 40-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship contest. But once the Pfaff Motorsports entry found its way back to the front of the GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) field, it showed unmatched speed. Campbell stalked and passed Jack Hawksworth (No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3) just past the halfway point, then handed the car over to teammate Mathieu Jaminet, who extended to a 10-second lead before the only full-course caution of the event flew in the closing stages. Jaminet aced the restart, then cruised to a 1.883-second margin of victory over Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas (No. 23 The Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3), with Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat finishing third, 4.078 seconds back. The series-leading fourth race win of the season for Campbell and Jaminet extended their lead in the GTD PRO championship standings to 215 points over Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia, who finished fourth at Lime Rock in the No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R. The Heart of Racing earned podium finishes in both the GTD PRO and GTD classes for the third race in a row, as GTD drivers Roman De Angelis and Maxime Martin in the No. 23 Aston Martin matched the second-place finish achieved by Gunn and Riberas in GTD PRO. All five classes of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be back in action at the IMSA SportsCar Weekend, August 4-7 at Road America near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Watch the NBC Race Highlights from LimeRock here. (Thank you to John Oreovicz/IMSA Wire Service)
There’s a reason why you race all the way to the checkered flag. Bryan Sellers showed why in Saturday’s GT Daytona (GTD) portion of the FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix. Sellers evaded the stricken race leader in Lime Rock’s fast, downhill final corner on the last lap, then held off a trio of charging competitors behind to claim the GTD win in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3. It may have been the 14th win of Sellers’ IMSA career, but the 39-year-old hadn’t witnessed anything like this one. “Last lap? Yes. Last corner? No,” Sellers said in victory lane, still shaking his head in disbelief. “Today, we did get fortunate.” Sellers and co-driver Madison Snow earned their second WeatherTech Championship win of 2022, but they weren’t even assured a podium finish with less than a half hour left in the race. Mired in fourth place on a track where passing is difficult, the race ran without caution until Ryan Eversley slid the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Acura NSX GT3 into the Turn 7 tires to bring out a full-course yellow with 21 minutes to go. To that point, the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 had dominated. But on the restart with nine minutes left, Philip Ellis maneuvered the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 inside Aaron Telitz in the No. 12 Lexus entering Turn 1. The two cars made side-to-side contact several times through Turns 2 and 3 before Ellis pushed the No. 57 Mercedes into the lead. The No. 12 sustained hood and front-end damage that eliminated it from contention. Sellers, meanwhile, dispatched of Maxime Martin (No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3) for third place and inherited second when the No. 12 Lexus had its incident. Still, victory seemed unlikely as Ellis built a comfortable gap in the No. 57 he shared with Russell Ward. That is, until Ward slowed dramatically coming down the hill toward Turn 7, the victim of a fuel pump failure. All he could do was coast to the finish line. As Sellers rapidly approached entering the seventh and final turn, he had a split-second decision to make. “Coming to the checkered (flag), you could see the (No.) 57, who had a huge gap, coming back to us fast,” Sellers said. “Then on the downhill, you realize he’s not going anymore. Then it’s, ‘I’ve got this opportunity to win. Do I go right, do I go left?’ I see all the rubber (marbles to the) left and I don’t really want to go there but you don’t have a choice, so I went left, go out over the curb and luckily hang on. You take ‘em when you can get ‘em, and you’re super happy about ‘em when you can get ‘em.” Martin, in the No. 27 Aston Martin, followed Sellers to the outside of the crippled Mercedes, as did Mike Skeen in the No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes. Jeff Westphal, running fourth in the No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3, opted to dart inside Ellis and overtook Skeen for third place. The margins were miniscule. Sellers won by 0.631 seconds over Martin, who was 0.059 seconds ahead of Westphal, who finished 0.109 seconds up on Skeen. A despondent Ellis rolled across the line eight seconds later in fifth place. (Thank you to Mark Robinson/IMSA Wire Service)
After an initial shakedown last week, Acura Motorsports has successfully completed two days of testing of the new, electrified Acura ARX-06 LMDh prototype, which will race in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship hybrid-powered GTP category beginning in 2023. "Of course, it is still early days, but I would have to say we're quite pleased with the results of both the initial shake-down runs last week at Paul Ricard; followed by two days this weekend, which ran into the night both on Saturday and Sunday," said David Salters, HPD President and Technical Director. "Everyone on our team from ORECA, HPD, the Wayne Taylor and Meyer Shank organizations – worked together extraordinarily well in preparing for and conducting these initial runs. Now the truly hard work begins!" Drivers during these testing runs included Matt McMurry, and Wayne Taylor Racing driver Ricky Taylor. McMurry, an HPD Vehicle Performance engineer, led development work on several software control systems utilized on the ARX-06 and also is a successful racing driver – having competed in three Le Mans 24 Hour races and winner of the IMSA GTD Drivers' Championship with Meyer Shank Racing in 2020. Taylor, an HPD development driver, is a two-time IMSA DPi champion, Rolex 24 winner for Acura and eight-time Le Mans competitor.
