MAY 3, 2023
Sunday, April 30, 2023 at 10:00AM 
Scott McLaughlin (No. 3 Team Penske Good Ranchers Chevrolet) captured his first victory of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season in the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park. McLaughlin drove to his fourth career victory by 1.7854 seconds over runner-up and NTT P1 Award winner Romain Grosjean in the No. 28 Andretti Autosport Delaware Life/DHL Honda. McLaughlin, from New Zealand, is the fourth different winner this season in as many races. 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Rookie of the Year McLaughlin prevailed on a three-pit stop strategy after starting fourth, while Grosjean and Andretti Autosport used a two-stop tactic. The three-stop strategy allowed McLaughlin to go full tilt during stints and avoid worrying about having enough Shell fuel remaining to finish the race, unlike the drivers who made two stops. “I call it a ‘happy driver strategy,’” McLaughlin said. “I was a lot happier doing that. We went past Grosjean there on a little bit of strategy, and I feel really good about it.” The fabled Month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is next for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, with the GMR Grand Prix on Saturday, May 13 on the road course and the 107th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 28. Watch the Motorsports on NBC Race Highlights here. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)
After losing the lead, Romain Grosjean then had to worry about the hard-charging Power, who sliced a four-second deficit to less than a second over the closing laps. But Power’s softer-but-faster Firestone alternate tires began to wear on the closing laps, and he had to settle for third, 1.4845 seconds behind Grosjean. Romain finished second for the fifth time in his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career as he continues to seek his first victory. “It hurts,” said Grosjean, who led a race-high 57 laps. “The three-stop never wins at Barber, but today the pits stayed open. That gave McLaughlin and Power the edge on the three-stop. Look at the two-stop (cars) behind us – 20 seconds behind us. We had an incredible car, drove really well, gave it 100 percent, but we just got unlucky with that yellow. Congrats to Scott. He deserved that win.”
Will Power (No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet) charged to a strong third at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday, his first podium of the season.
Christian Rasmussen won the INDY NXT Grand Prix of Alabama from the pole position on Sunday. Rasmussen led all 35 laps in his No. 6 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing entry, stretching out a 1.9983-second victory over rookie teammate Nolan Siegel in the No. 39 HMD Motorsports with DCR car. It was the third career INDY NXT victory for Rasmussen, who won two races as a series rookie in 2022. Danish driver Rasmussen also captured the INDYCAR development series’ championship lead by five points over Siegel with the win. Toby Sowery finished third in the No. 14 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing. It was Sowery’s first INDY NXT start since 2021, as he was filling in this weekend for regular driver Josh Pierson, who had clashing commitments in the World Endurance Championship sports car race at Spa-Francorchamps. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)
Sergio Perez (No. 11 Oracle Red Bull Racing) doubled up on the streets of Baku by adding to his Sprint race triumph on Saturday with victory in Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, leading Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen (No. 1 Oracle Red Bull Racing) and Charles Leclerc (No. 16 Scuderia Ferrari) home to boost his title push. Verstappen and Perez overhauled pole-sitter Leclerc in the early stages and proceeded to trade fastest lap times at the head of the field, with the defining moment of the race coming when a Safety Car was deployed either side of the Red Bull drivers pitting. With Verstappen pitting under yellow flags brought out when Nyck de Vries (No. 21 AlphaTauri) stopped on track, and Perez coming in under a Safety Car that followed, the Mexican cleared his teammate and rejoined the action in the lead. Verstappen fell to third, meaning he had to overtake Leclerc for a second time. While that was a formality when the race resumed, he could not make inroads on Perez during the run to the checkered flag and had to settle for second. Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to Formula1.com)
The action in the 2023 MotoGP™ season has been spectacular. The Gran Premio MotoGP™ Guru by Gryfyn de España did not fail to entertain as the Grand Prix remained completely open right until the final corner. A heroic comeback from the World Champion Francesco Bagnaia (No. 1 Ducati Lenovo Team) saw him fend off the Tissot Sprint winner Brad Binder (No. 33 Red Bull KTM Ajo) who piled on the pressure in a nail-biting final two laps to fall just short of the victory. Despite Bagnaia snapping up a 22-point lead in the Championship, KTM's dream weekend continued as Binder consolidated solid points to put himself 3rd in the Championship just 25 points away from Bagnaia, with the previous Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi (No. 72 Mooney VR46 Racing Team) dropping to 2nd after crashing out. To put the icing on the cake for the Austrian manufacturer, Jack Miller (No. 43 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) rounded out the Spanish Grand Prix podium, having battled hard throughout the race to make it two KTM's in the top 3 for both the Tissot Sprint and the Grand Prix. Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to MotoGP.com)
Tissot Sprint winner Brad Binder (No. 33 Red Bull KTM Ajo) piled on the pressure in a nail-biting final two laps to fall just short of the victory in the The Gran Premio MotoGP™ Guru by Gryfyn de España.
To put the icing on the cake for KTM, Jack Miller (No. 43 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) rounded out the Spanish Grand Prix podium having battled hard throughout the race to make it two KTMs in the top three for both the Tissot Sprint and the Grand Prix.
JEREZ 2023 - Pecco Bagnaia: Crash or Win?
By Whit Bazemore
Bend. Pecco Bagnaia is developing a “bin it or win it” reputation. The defending MotoGP Champ, who won his championship last year in a stunning comeback from a mid-year 91 point deficit (caused by, you guessed it, too many DNF’s from unforced crashes), has, after four GP’s thus far in 2023, won — or crashed.
After his surprising crash from the lead in Austin’s Red Bull US GP two weeks ago, Bagnaia said that his factory Ducati, while being by far the best bike on the grid, might “feel too good” and that it will suddenly “just crash with no warning.” His words sounded eerily reminiscent of what F1 drivers said some 40 years ago at the dawn of the ground effects era. The down force was so good, the cars so fast through corners, almost every driver to a man said, that it was almost unbelievable, until, of course, the limit was reached — and at that point, without feeling or warning, you would crash. Could MotoGP bikes, and the Ducati specifically, with its now huge wings, be facing the same situation?
We are not engineers here at AE, but common sense plays a big role in racing, and common sense will lead you to believe that a 220MPH prototype motorbike, leaned over at 63 degrees, or more, on the edge of traction, with tons of downforce (actual figures are, so far, impossible to get, but we are very curious, and are working on it!) can suddenly, and without warning, lose front tire grip and crash. It’s always been this way, but now with the wings, it is likely that the bike feels great until that very moment, as opposed to in the past, when a MotoGP rider could feel the front moving, could feel the edge and the limit. Now it seems, the limit is so high, that when it is reached, it is a light switch being flipped. There is lots of grip, until there is none. BAM. Plus, the wings and downforce are not directing 100% of their pressure straight down through corners, but also toward the outside of the turn. Say the bike is turning right, then the wings are pushing the front at a certain amount — toward the left.
Everything in racing is usually a compromise, and the aero on MotoGP bikes is 100% effective in keeping the front on the ground during acceleration (anti-wheelie — thus more power able to be utilized sooner) and under braking — both huge benefits to increased lap times. But maybe the cornering compromises are an issue and a contributing reason there are so many crashes lately. Two heavily favored Championship contenders, Marc Marquez and Enea Bastianini have both missed every race thus far due to injury.
The Spanish GP typically marks the beginning of the “European season” the traditional summer schedule of MotoGP in front of fevered fans across the continent. Jerez, in the south of Spain, is a beautiful old Spanish city, filled with a maze of super narrow streets, $1.00 dbl shots of espresso, small bars going all night (beware if you are a racing photographer and want to sleep well and be the first to the circuit every morning) and an everyday, huge, fresh fish market to die for. The tight track just out of town is world famous too — for its past F1 history, and its current place in MotoGP where 200,000+ rabid Spanish fans turn up every spring.
Bagnaia, no doubt under considerable pressure from having discarded fifty plus points so far this year while his two main championship rivals (Bastianini and Marquez) have been MIA due to injuries, rose to the occasion, again, showing incredible speed and, it must be said, aggression, to win the difficult and hot Grand Prix.
The two KTM’s of Jack Miller and Brad Binder were the surprise of the weekend, qualifying well, and leading most of the race until Pecco forced his way through into the lead with only three to go. It’s great to see KTM showing consistently great performances. This is due in part to the efforts of their test rider, 31-time GP winner, Dani Pedrosa. Pedrosa, 38, who retired from full time competition in 2018, was entered in Jerez as a wild card. Pedrosa was one of the biggest highlights of the race, qualifying an unbelievable 6th, and finishing an even more unbelievable 7th.
Jerez was a great and exciting race, but MotoGP is still facing some important issues that need to be resolved immediately.
One issue involves the overheating of front tires, which negatively effects the racing and thus the show, and is a serious safety issue. This, in the words of the riders themselves. A second issue, and more than somewhat related to the front tire issue, is the unchecked new reliance on aero downforce. This is an issue that will only become more and more serious the longer it is allowed by the rule book.
The people who run MotoGP, Dorna, need to remember that lap times do not sell tickets. Not one MotoGP ticket is sold because the bikes are .03 of a second faster than last year. Not one, ever. It’s just insanely stupid to surrender to the engineering minds within the sport, engineers who care not one bit about “the show” about TV numbers, about anything other than lap time. Just the High-Octane Truth here.
What does sell tickets are heroes on the edge, heroes doing something on 250HP motorbikes that the mere mortals among us can only watch and know that we are incapable of doing. Bikes wheeling, bikes sliding, bikes passing each other several times a lap. That’s what we’re talking about...
Jerez was great. But it can be even greater, like it was just five years ago. MotoGP can go back in time. It can. And it needs to.
Alpine is preparing its first-ever entry in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the legendary American Race to the Clouds. Alpine has revealed the first images of its A110 specially prepared for the event. The first test runs of this machine took place last week in Lurcy-Lévis. Two further test sessions will be held soon in the south of France before heading to Colorado Springs. After its debut runs at Lurcy-Lévis on April 25-26, designated Pikes Peak driver, Raphaël Astier, will test the car in its final configuration for the first time next week. Astier, the 2022 FIA R-GT Cup winner, will conduct a first session in the Drôme, then at Val Thorens. The Frenchman, who has already participated in the event four times, will then fly with the team to Colorado Springs, where they will work on their final preparations for June 25, 2023. More details to come apparently.
Editor's Note: You can access previous issues of AE by clicking on "Next 1 Entries" below. - WG