SEPTEMBER 7, 2022
Sunday, September 4, 2022 at 11:53AM 
Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 Team Penske Freightliner Chevrolet) delivered a dominant performance Sunday at the Grand Prix of Portland to win for the third time this season in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. McLaughlin led a 1-2 finish for Team Penske as he finished 1.1792 seconds ahead of championship leader Will Power in the No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet heading into next weekend’s finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Scott Dixon (No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing PNC Bank Honda) stormed back from a 16th starting position to finish third. That result ensured McLaughlin will be one of five drivers eligible to win the Astor Challenge Cup at the season-ending Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey on Sunday, Sept. 11 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, joining Power, Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson. Power can clinch his second season championship – his first came in 2014 – by finishing third or better, regardless of his rivals’ results. “The Freightliner Chevy all weekend has been fast and has been right there when we needed it,” McLaughlin said. “The team, the Thirsty 3’s, got the job done in the pits. We did exactly what we needed to do this weekend, and that was win and get max points and keep ourselves in the fight. “Yeah, we’re a long shot. I don’t care. But we’re a shot, and I’m looking forward to it.” Power’s lead grew from three to 20 points over Newgarden. Dixon also is 20 points back but is third in the standings due to fewer wins this season thanNewgarden. Ericsson is fourth, 39 points back. McLaughlin is fifth, 41 behind Power. Watch the race highlights here. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)
(James Black/Penske Entertainment)This just in: Scott McLaughlin has been impressive this season.
Will Power (No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet) carries a 20-point lead into the NTT INDYCAR Series Championship finale at WeatherTech Laguna Seca raceway next weekend.
Scott Dixon is flat-out incredible. Left out of the NTT INDYCAR Series championship discussion for most of the season, he is now well and truly in the hunt for a seventh championship, just 20 points behind Will Power.
Max Verstappen (No. 1 Oracle Red Bull Racing) held onto victory in a captivating 2022 Dutch Grand Prix amid a strong showing from the Mercedes and late Safety Car drama at Zandvoort, as George Russell (No. 63 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team) and Charles Leclerc (No. 18 Scuderia Ferrari) completed the podium. Verstappen seemed to be assured of victory having taken a second pit stop during a Virtual Safety Car on Lap 48, with Hamilton (No. 44 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team) second and Russell third as both had extended their opening stint on medium tires (their rivals having started on softs) to pit for hards, on which they were rapid. The events after a Lap 55 Safety Car dashed any hopes of victory that Hamilton harbored, however. The seven-time champion stayed out on mediums to inherit the lead while Verstappen came in for softs, followed by Russell and Leclerc, for the restart on Lap 61. In that restart, Verstappen swept past the Mercedes for the lead, with Russell and Leclerc following suit to pry Hamilton away from the podium. Hamilton ended up fourth at the flag as Carlos Sainz (No. 55 Scuderia Ferrari) and Sergio Perez (No. 11 Oracle Red Bull Racing) – the former held back by a calamitous Ferrari pit stop earlier on, before a five-second penalty for an unsafe release in a later stop – battled late on for P5. That allowed Fernando Alonso (No. 14 BWT Alpine F1 Team) and Lando Norris (No. 4 McLaren F1 Team) to close in, too, and when the penalty kicked in Sainz was dropped to eighth, promoting Perez to fifth, Alonso to sixth and Norris to seventh. Watch the race highlights here. (Thank you to Formula1.com)
The 2022 Gran Premio Gryfyn di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini will be remembered for an epic victory battle between Francesco Bagnaia (No. 63 Ducati Lenovo Team, shown with crew chief Christian Gabbarini) and Enea Bastianini (No. 23 Gresini Racing MotoGP™). The two Italians went head-to-head in the closing stages and were eventually split by just 0.034s on the line as Bagnaia becomes the first Ducati rider to win four races in a row – a phenomenal accolade. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) faded late on but held on to claim another hard-earned podium. Watch the race highlights here. (Thank you to MotoGP)
(Photo by AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore)Francesco Bagnaia became the first Ducati rider to win four MotoGP races in a row.
(Photo by AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore)Enea Bastianini ("The Beast") delivered another sensational ride for the independent Gresini Racing Ducati Team.
.03!
By Whit Bazemore
Bend. Wow, what a difference a year makes. Last year at the GP Emilia Romagnia held on the Adriatic coastal circuit Marco Simoncelli (Misano), up-and-coming Ducati star Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia looked set to win his and the Ducati factory’s home race (and keep himself in Championship contention by doing so) when he crashed out of the lead, losing the front in an unforced error with 5 laps to go. Who can forget the scenes on television when one of the esteemed Ducati team principals, Davide Tardozzi, threw himself on the concrete floor of the garage in despair, much the same way his rider had just thrown himself and his multi-million dollar GP bike down on the road. The crash ended Pecco’s championship fight and made Fabio Quartararo the 2021 MotoGP world champion on the spot.
Fast forward to this year’s race day, and it was fairly obvious 3rd place Pecco had a strong opportunity to make drastic inroads into Quartararo’s 44-point championship lead and Aleix Espargaro’s 12-point gap to second place. But could he overcome his Misano demons and get the job done?
To be sure, Bagnaia has become one with his screaming red Ducati this season, having won the previous three races in a row. Quartararo’s once 91-point lead had already been reduced significantly, but with only seven races left in the season, Bagnaia knew, again, that one mistake, even only one DNF, and his championship hopes would be severely compromised.
There were other pressure-inducing factors on Bagnaia as well: At no time in its racing history had a Ducati racer ever won four races in a row. Pecco could make Ducati history, which for an Italian is heavy. Add to that, earlier in the week Enea Bastianini had been named as Bagnaia’s teammate on the factory team for 2023, and it had to be important to maintain the critical psychological edge over the ascending talent that is Bastianini.
The front row was an all Ducati affair - but the main man, Bagnaia, was relegated to start 5th (middle of the second row). Directly ahead? Bastianini. Jack Miller on the other factory Ducati was on pole (his second career pole, the first since Argentina four years ago). Quartararo was down in eighth and was facing a challenging day ahead on a track that really doesn’t favor the Yamahas.
Pecco had a great start and slotted into third just behind Bastianini with Miller leading. Within a few corners, Bagnaia tried, and failed, to pass Bastianini. Miller then fell immediately just a few corners into the second lap (which is just one reason he is being replaced in the Ducati team after this season). A few corners later the other front row starter and up-and-coming Ducati star, Marco Bezzecchi also crashed. It was starting to look like a disaster for Ducati - one lap down and three of their strongest riders were already out. (Johan Zarco was taken out in separate turn 1 three-bike crash.)
Two corners later Bastianini, in the lead, lost the front too - but saved it with knees and elbows flying in the best Marc Marquez style. These were the hottest conditions of the entire weekend, and the hard-front Michelin was taking a few laps to get up to speed. It looked slippery.
On lap three, Bagnaia passed Bastainini for the lead, and it soon looked like that was it. Race over. But this is MotoGP, and by lap four, it was a race of attrition with seven fallers already. Could Bagnaia keep it upright for the entirety of the race, or would he succumb to the immense pressure?
Championship leader Quartararo was down in 6th, so the championship opportunity for Bagnaia was playing out the way many thought it might. All he had to do to help his cause was win - or simply finish. Of course, it’s way easier said than done.
Mavrick Vinales on the Aprilia moved into second and looked very strong - trading fastest laps with Bagnaia at one point - before fading in the closing stages. But the Aprilia - stuck on the factory Ducati’s tail for so many laps mid race - made for a tantalizing prospect: can Vinales become a championship spoiler and disrupt the status quo for the remaining fourth of the season? It seems the answer is yes.
But this race was always going be about Ducati - and with Bastianini’s well-earned reputation as being the strongest late-race finisher - it was only a matter of time before he asserted himself. He made a great move into second with eight to go and quickly moved into Bagnaia’s slipstream.
This was tricky - there are no real team orders at Ducati - yet. There is, however, a strongly worded demand that they race each other cleanly. No crashing the one Ducati racer who has a very real chance to win the Italian factory’s first rider’s Championship since Casey Stoner way back in 2007. Especially if you are Enea Bastainini and you have a brand-new contract with the ink still wet enough to be wiped clean. Best to be patient and perfect. With four to go, the two bikes were as one. Three to go - the same. Two laps left, and Bastainini looks faster, but doesn’t make a move. Clearly, with a faster pace, he will make a last lap move. Clearly, he will. Into the right hander, turn four, and Bastainini is… on the edge of control under braking, the rear end shaking left and right, and he almost hits the back of Bagnaia’s bike. He doesn’t though, so all is good, but he lost some time and was now a few bike-lengths back. Through the ultra-fast, flat in sixth, Curvone corner and Bastainini has caught right back up.
It is such epic racing, these last four laps, truly edge-of-your-seat stuff. No move into the penultimate corner, and… no move into the last corner either. It’s going to be Bagnaia - or is it? On the finishing straight, Bastainini starts to pull even but JUST runs out of track. Bagnaia wins by .03 which is closer than most NHRA Fuel Funny Car races!
David Tardozzi is not throwing himself on the ground now. But he is jumping up and down screaming - and making some sort of crazy drumming motion with his arms - like a wild man!
Misano was a spectacular race. The championship is getting tighter. And the pressure these guys are under can almost be felt through the TV. One mistake, and the championship dream for 2022 is over. But not racing on the very edge means it’s over too. To win these days, it is necessary to have qualifying pace for the entire race, even at the end when the tires are fried. Fascinating to watch.
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
Editor's Note: You can access previous issues of AE by clicking on "Next 1 Entries" below. - WG