(Photo by James Black/Penske Entertainment)
On Lap 29 of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, Scott Dixon (No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing PNC Bank Honda) was running last after a penalty for emergency service of his wounded car in a closed pit. Fast-forward 51 laps, and Dixon was celebrating his 53rd career INDYCAR SERIES victory – breaking a tie with Mario Andretti for second on the all-time list – in an improbable triumph Sunday on the streets of Nashville. Dixon earned his second victory of the season and pulled to within six points of NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship leader Will Power (No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet) with just three races remaining. Dixon is trying to match the series record of seven titles held by A.J. Foyt, who also leads with 67 career victories. “Kudos to the team,” Dixon said. “We had a big crash there that took half the floor off the car. We had to take four turns of front wing out, so we had no grip. Nashville is so awesome.” Scott McLaughlin finished second in the No. 3 Team Penske DEX Imaging Chevrolet, just .1067 of a second behind Dixon after a two-lap chase for the checkered after a late red flag. It was the closest margin of victory this season on a street course or road course and the fourth-closest finish on those circuits in INDYCAR SERIES history. Reigning series champion Alex Palou finishing third in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing NTT DATA Honda, with left front wing main plane flapping over bumps after contact early in the race. The furious finish after 80 laps of full-contact, no-prisoners racing created a points race tighter than a piano wire with three races remaining. Just 33 points separate the top five in the standings, with a minimum of 51 points available to a race winner. 2014 series champion Power, who finished 11th, leads Dixon by six points. 2022 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner Marcus Ericsson, who finished 14th in the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Huski Chocolate Honda, is 12 points behind Power in third. Nashville-area native Josef Newgarden, who finished sixth in the No. 2 Team Penske PPG Chevrolet, is 22 points behind Power in fourth. And Palou is hanging tough in his effort for a second straight title, 33 points behind Power in fifth. The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES event is the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline on Saturday, Aug. 20, at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. Live coverage on the USA Network and the INDYCAR Radio Network of the last oval race of the season starts at 6 p.m. ET. Watch the race highlights here. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)
On Lap 29 of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, Scott Dixon (No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing PNC Bank Honda) was running last after a penalty for emergency service of his wounded car in a closed pit. Fast-forward 51 laps, and Dixon was celebrating his 53rd career INDYCAR SERIES victory – breaking a tie with Mario Andretti for second on the all-time list – in an improbable triumph Sunday on the streets of Nashville. Dixon earned his second victory of the season and pulled to within six points of NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship leader Will Power (No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet) with just three races remaining. Dixon is trying to match the series record of seven titles held by A.J. Foyt, who also leads with 67 career victories. “Kudos to the team,” Dixon said. “We had a big crash there that took half the floor off the car. We had to take four turns of front wing out, so we had no grip. Nashville is so awesome.” Scott McLaughlin finished second in the No. 3 Team Penske DEX Imaging Chevrolet, just .1067 of a second behind Dixon after a two-lap chase for the checkered after a late red flag. It was the closest margin of victory this season on a street course or road course and the fourth-closest finish on those circuits in INDYCAR SERIES history. Reigning series champion Alex Palou finishing third in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing NTT DATA Honda, with left front wing main plane flapping over bumps after contact early in the race. The furious finish after 80 laps of full-contact, no-prisoners racing created a points race tighter than a piano wire with three races remaining. Just 33 points separate the top five in the standings, with a minimum of 51 points available to a race winner. 2014 series champion Power, who finished 11th, leads Dixon by six points. 2022 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner Marcus Ericsson, who finished 14th in the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Huski Chocolate Honda, is 12 points behind Power in third. Nashville-area native Josef Newgarden, who finished sixth in the No. 2 Team Penske PPG Chevrolet, is 22 points behind Power in fourth. And Palou is hanging tough in his effort for a second straight title, 33 points behind Power in fifth. The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES event is the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline on Saturday, Aug. 20, at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. Live coverage on the USA Network and the INDYCAR Radio Network of the last oval race of the season starts at 6 p.m. ET. Watch the race highlights here. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)
(Michelin Motorsport)
Filipe Albuquerque (No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05) saw an opening and went for it. His reward for the risk was victory Sunday and a renewed shot at the championship. Albuquerque took the lead of the IMSA Fastlane SportsCar Weekend at Road America with help from a lapped car with 24 minutes left in the two-hour, 40-minute race, then held the lead to the finish. The victory pushed Albuquerque and co-driver Ricky Taylor into the lead for the championship in the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class and turned the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans into a race for the title between two Acura teams. “It feels good, but it never lasts long,” Taylor said. “What we’ve learned this year is if you have the points lead, you’re not safe. Every time we get it, it goes the other way again. It’s flip-flopped I don’t know how many times.” Earl Bamber finished second in the No. 02 Cadillac Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R he shares with Alex Lynn, while the No. 01 Cadillac Racing sister car co-driven by Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande finished third. But the victory by the No. 10 Acura – and the return to the lead of the championship – was all about Albuquerque. “If you give him the car in position, he’s going to go win it, and he did,” Taylor said. “We’re getting spoiled by Filipe, honestly. We don’t have to get out of pit lane first anymore, he just does it on the racetrack. We need to keep ourselves realistic. He’s not a normal driver, (but) that’s not always going to happen. He’s just been working some serious magic this year.” The magic will be called upon again at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the final race for the DPi class before it is replaced by the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class at the Rolex 24 in January. Watch the Motorsports on NBC Highlights here. (Thank you to Jeff Olson/IMSA Wire Service)
Filipe Albuquerque (No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05) saw an opening and went for it. His reward for the risk was victory Sunday and a renewed shot at the championship. Albuquerque took the lead of the IMSA Fastlane SportsCar Weekend at Road America with help from a lapped car with 24 minutes left in the two-hour, 40-minute race, then held the lead to the finish. The victory pushed Albuquerque and co-driver Ricky Taylor into the lead for the championship in the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class and turned the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans into a race for the title between two Acura teams. “It feels good, but it never lasts long,” Taylor said. “What we’ve learned this year is if you have the points lead, you’re not safe. Every time we get it, it goes the other way again. It’s flip-flopped I don’t know how many times.” Earl Bamber finished second in the No. 02 Cadillac Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R he shares with Alex Lynn, while the No. 01 Cadillac Racing sister car co-driven by Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande finished third. But the victory by the No. 10 Acura – and the return to the lead of the championship – was all about Albuquerque. “If you give him the car in position, he’s going to go win it, and he did,” Taylor said. “We’re getting spoiled by Filipe, honestly. We don’t have to get out of pit lane first anymore, he just does it on the racetrack. We need to keep ourselves realistic. He’s not a normal driver, (but) that’s not always going to happen. He’s just been working some serious magic this year.” The magic will be called upon again at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the final race for the DPi class before it is replaced by the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class at the Rolex 24 in January. Watch the Motorsports on NBC Highlights here. (Thank you to Jeff Olson/IMSA Wire Service)
(IMSA)
Ryan Dalziel pulled off the decisive pass for the lead with 11 minutes left in Sunday’s race and went on to claim the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) win with co-driver Dwight Merriman in the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2 07. It gave the duo their second straight LMP2 win at the Wisconsin circuit, the 13th IMSA career top-tier series victory for Dalziel and the third for Merriman. “Since I kind of moved to the States back in 2003, this has always been one of those tracks that always seemed to have clicked with me,” Dalziel said. Dalziel hounded LMP2 leader Louis Deletraz in the No. 8 Tower Motorsport ORECA after a race restart from full-course caution with 36 minutes to go. Both were in fuel-save mode but Dalziel still found his chance to overtake Deletraz in the Canada Corner section of the 4.048-mile track. Two laps later, another yellow flag waved when the No. 60 Acura made contact with the wall in Turn 11 and the race ended under caution. Deletraz dominated the middle of the race, leading 37 laps until Dalziel pulled off the late pass for the win. By finishing second, the No. 8 and co-driver John Farano retained the LMP2 points lead, though it was trimmed to 33 points over Dalziel, Merriman and the No. 18 with only the Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta remaining. (Thank you to Mark Robinson/IMSA Wire Service)
(IMSA)
It looked routine for Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson. It most certainly was not. Fraga and Robinson held it together through changing weather conditions to win the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class at Road America, the first at the 14-turn, 4.048-mile circuit and the third at the track for Riley Motorsports. “That was more stressful than the (Rolex 24),” Robinson said. “Ever since I’ve come up here, you test and you’re fast in qualifying, and then it rains. And if you’re not fast, the weather will be perfect. Or it’ll be perfect, and you’ll be fast, and some crazy yellow will come out. This is one of hardest races I’ve ever tried to win.” Fraga’s stint in the rain put the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 in the lead, and he kept it there for the team’s third win of the season. “It wasn’t smooth, but the team always called the right strategy,” Fraga said. “The car was perfect – very good to drive in the rain and very good to drive in the dry. I just brought it home. It wasn’t easy. It was tense.” The No. 13 AWA co-driven by Orey Fidani and Matthew Bell finished second, with the No. 54 CORE Autosport co-driven by Jon Bennett and Colin Braun in third. (Thank you to Mark Robinson/IMSA Wire Service)
It looked routine for Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson. It most certainly was not. Fraga and Robinson held it together through changing weather conditions to win the Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) class at Road America, the first at the 14-turn, 4.048-mile circuit and the third at the track for Riley Motorsports. “That was more stressful than the (Rolex 24),” Robinson said. “Ever since I’ve come up here, you test and you’re fast in qualifying, and then it rains. And if you’re not fast, the weather will be perfect. Or it’ll be perfect, and you’ll be fast, and some crazy yellow will come out. This is one of hardest races I’ve ever tried to win.” Fraga’s stint in the rain put the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 in the lead, and he kept it there for the team’s third win of the season. “It wasn’t smooth, but the team always called the right strategy,” Fraga said. “The car was perfect – very good to drive in the rain and very good to drive in the dry. I just brought it home. It wasn’t easy. It was tense.” The No. 13 AWA co-driven by Orey Fidani and Matthew Bell finished second, with the No. 54 CORE Autosport co-driven by Jon Bennett and Colin Braun in third. (Thank you to Mark Robinson/IMSA Wire Service)
(Michelin Motorsport)
Weather conditions varied throughout the IMSA Fastlane SportsCar Weekend at Road America. But the GTD PRO class of the two-hour, 40-minute race Sunday featured one constant – domination by the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 driven by Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat. The pair of British drivers teamed up to lead 51 of the 62 laps completed of the classic 4.048-mile Wisconsin road course to claim their first victory together of the 2022 season. They won by 0.760 second over GTD PRO championship leaders Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, with Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor taking third place in the No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R. “That was definitely I’d say the toughest race I’ve ever done,” said Barnicoat. “I’d never really done a lot of driving in this car in the wet before, and I made a mistake and the No. 9 got past me. I was really determined not to let that get that better of us." “The fuel number I had to hit for the strategy was just crazy,” he added. “We knew it was going to be an extreme challenge, and to keep him behind while doing that was the toughest thing I’ve ever done. The yellow at the end fell for us and I was able to hold him off.” With the Road America victory, Barnicoat, who ranks second in the GTD PRO standings to Campbell and Jaminet, closed the gap slightly. But the Porsche duo still hold a comfortable 227-point cushion as the season winds down. (Thank you to John Oreovicz/IMSA Wire Service)
Weather conditions varied throughout the IMSA Fastlane SportsCar Weekend at Road America. But the GTD PRO class of the two-hour, 40-minute race Sunday featured one constant – domination by the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 driven by Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat. The pair of British drivers teamed up to lead 51 of the 62 laps completed of the classic 4.048-mile Wisconsin road course to claim their first victory together of the 2022 season. They won by 0.760 second over GTD PRO championship leaders Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, with Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor taking third place in the No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R. “That was definitely I’d say the toughest race I’ve ever done,” said Barnicoat. “I’d never really done a lot of driving in this car in the wet before, and I made a mistake and the No. 9 got past me. I was really determined not to let that get that better of us." “The fuel number I had to hit for the strategy was just crazy,” he added. “We knew it was going to be an extreme challenge, and to keep him behind while doing that was the toughest thing I’ve ever done. The yellow at the end fell for us and I was able to hold him off.” With the Road America victory, Barnicoat, who ranks second in the GTD PRO standings to Campbell and Jaminet, closed the gap slightly. But the Porsche duo still hold a comfortable 227-point cushion as the season winds down. (Thank you to John Oreovicz/IMSA Wire Service)
(IMSA)
Russell Ward and Philip Ellis played the stealth game to nab the GTD class victory at Road America in the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT GT3. Ward ran the first 40 minutes of the two-hour, 40-minute WeatherTech Championship clash before handing the car off to Ellis. But the team elected to keep Ellis on slick tires at a time when the track was damp and most of his competitors were on Michelin rain tires. Ellis completed a treacherous stint without making an unplanned pit stop to change tires, assisted by a timely full course caution.“That’s when it started to turn for us,” Ward remarked. “We still had to overtake a couple cars and jump guys in pit lane, so it wasn’t an easy battle. The strategy was good, and the pit stops were great.” Ellis took the lead on the 46th of the 60 laps the GTD class completed and was comfortably in front when a late accident caused the race to end under yellow. Robert Megennis and Jeff Westphal finished second in the No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3, while Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz capped a great day for Lexus by taking the final podium finish in the No. 12 RC F GT3. “We were still on slicks when everybody else was on rain tires and immediately fell to the back of the field,” said Ellis. “I just tried to stay alive on slicks, so we didn’t have to make an extra pit stop. Then we gambled for the second full course yellow, and that kind of saved us at the end.” “Philip was the star,” added Ward. “This has been coming, and it feels good.” IMSA’s GTD PRO and GTD classes headline the Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway, August 26-28. The 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship wraps up with the Motul Petit Le Mans, Sept. 28-Oct. 1 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. (Thank you to John Oreovicz/IMSA Wire Service)
(crash.net)
Francesco Bagnaia (No. 63 Ducati Lenovo Team) continued to breathe life back into his MotoGP™ World Championship hopes by winning an epic Monster Energy British Grand Prix. Just 0.614 seconds covered the top three after 20 laps of racing at the Silverstone Circuit as Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro (No. 41 Aprilia Racing) finished second, and Jack Miller (No. 43 Ducati Lenovo Team) made it a double podium for the Ducati Lenovo Team. Seemingly every rider had a tale to tell after a breathtaking Sunday afternoon in Britain. Championship leader Fabio Quartararo (No. 20 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) finished eighth after serving his Long Lap Penalty, but only after re-passing a battered Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) on the final lap. Pole-sitter Johann Zarco (No. 5 Prima Pramac Racing), however, was one of two retirements after he crashed while leading. Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to MotoGP.com)
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