JUNE 7, 2023

(Photo of Alex Palou by James Black for Penske Entertainment)

NTT P1 Award winner Alex Palou (No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Ridgeline Lubricants Honda) captured the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear on the streets of Detroit on Sunday. Spaniard Palou kept the lead during two late restarts and beat the No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet of Will Power to the finish by 1.1843 seconds. It was the sixth career victory for 2021 season champion Palou and his second in the last three races this season, as he also won the GMR Grand Prix on May 13 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. “Super proud of the job we did," Palou said. "It was tricky there at the end, man, with those (worn) tires couldn’t really get to temperature (on restarts).” Felix Rosenqvist finished a season-best third in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren onsemi Chevrolet after muscling past teammate Alexander Rossi during a spirited duel in the closing laps on the nine-turn, 1.7-mile temporary street circuit. Six-time series champion Scott Dixon finished fourth in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing PNC Bank Honda, putting two CGR cars in the top four. Rossi rounded out the top five in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren NTT DATA Chevrolet. Watch the Race Highlights courtesy of Motorsports on NBC here.  

(Photo of Will Power by James Black for Penske Entertainment) 

Will Power (No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet) finished second on the streets of Detroit, 1.1843 seconds behind Alex Palou.

(Photo of Felix Rosenqvist by Joe Skibinski for Penske Entertainment)

Felix Rosenqvist (No. 6 Arrow McLaren onsemi Chevrolet) finished a season-best third in the NTT INDYCAR Series Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear after muscling past teammate Alexander Rossi during a spirited duel in the closing laps on the nine-turn, 1.7-mile temporary street circuit. Editor-in-Chief's Note: I was glad that the expected carnage and chaos didn't materialize in Sunday's Detroit Grand Prix. Yes, there were too many yellow flags, but everyone connected with staging the race should be commended on the huge undertaking it took to pull it off. Saying that, the course is too damn short and much too tight. A 1.7-mile circuit for Indy cars is just plain ridiculous. The organizers need to figure out how to add at least one mile to the circuit; they would then have a proper home for the Detroit INDYCAR Grand Prix for many years to come. -PMD

(IMSA) 

The GM Renaissance Center serves as one backdrop of the Detroit Street Course, while the Canadian flag serves as another, thanks to nearby Windsor, Ontario. It was the latter backdrop that held true in Saturday’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, as Canadian Daniel Morad won in the shadow of his home country in the fourth round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season. Morad and Bryce Ward shared the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT GT4, using a bit of strategy, Morad’s relentless attack on a restart and eventual overtake to secure the victory in the Grand Sport (GS) class-only, 100-minute race. It is both drivers’ first victory in Michelin Pilot Challenge competition. (Thank you to Tony DiZinno/IMSA Wire Service)

(Formula1.com)

Max Verstappen (No. 1 Oracle Red Bull Racing) delivered another dominating performance en route to victory in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, leading home the Mercedes machines of Lewis Hamilton (No. 44 Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team) and George Russell (No. 63 Mercedes-AMD PETRONAS F1 Team), with teammate Sergio Perez (No. 11 Oracle Red Bull Racing) fourth. Verstappen controlled the race from lights out to the checkered flag to chalk up his fifth win of the 2023 season, and his third triumph at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, while further increasing his lead in the championship standings. Mercedes enjoyed a much-improved display to take a double podium, Hamilton surviving a first-lap clash with McLaren’s Lando Norris and overcoming an early battle with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, and Russell working his way up from 12th on the grid with a series of overtakes. Perez put in a solid recovery drive – after starting 11th – to take fourth, just missing out on the final podium spot to Russell after a charging final stint. Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to Formula1.com)

(Photo for Penske Porsche Motorsport by Porsche)

With 109 class wins since 1951, Porsche is by far the most successful manufacturer in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. More significantly, Porsche has claimed overall victory at Le Mans a record 19 times, the most recent in 2017 completing a run of three consecutive triumphs under the discontinued LMP1 formula. Fast forward to 2023, and years of behind-the-scenes work between IMSA, the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) and the ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest) have created the opportunity for cars built to IMSA’s hybrid-electrified Le Mans Daytona h (LMDh) specifications to compete with current Le Mans Hypercars (LMH) for overall race wins in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. For Porsche, which fields the new 963 built to LMDh specs in both championships, it marks the first time it will compete for the overall win at Le Mans since 2017, the final year of the 919 Hybrid LMP1 program. Three cars are entered in the French endurance classic, which celebrates its 100-year anniversary this year: Porsche Penske Motorsport’s regular No. 5 and No. 6 WEC entries, along with a No. 75 machine featuring a driver lineup culled from the team’s IMSA roster – Mathieu Jaminet, Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr.

(Photo by Richard Price for Cadillac Racing)

But Porsche isn’t the only IMSA regular that is splitting its 2023 effort between WEC and the WeatherTech Championship with an LMDh challenger. At Le Mans, Cadillac will be represented with three V-Series.R prototypes, with its full-time Cadillac Racing No. 2 WEC contender bolstered by a second entry also prepared by Chip Ganassi Racing (No. 3, with IMSA regulars Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van Der Zande plus IndyCar star Scott Dixon), and the No. 311 Whelen Engineering car that normally competes in IMSA as No. 31 with Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken. While Cadillac has not compiled Porsche’s illustrious record at the Circuit de la Sarthe, it will be competing against Porsche, Toyota, Ferrari and Peugeot for its first overall victory.

(Photo for Penske Porsche Motorsport by Porsche)

Porsche is commemorating its legacy of Le Mans success with a special livery for the No. 75 “IMSA” car that incorporates colors from significant winning cars from over the years, including iconic Gulf, DHL and Martini liveries. “We embraced the vehicle designs from Porsche’s rich and illustrious history at Le Mans,” said Thomas Laudenbach, vice president of Porsche Motorsport. “The 917 as a ‘pink pig’ and the ‘hippie car’ from 1970 – these liveries have made racing history and are still popular today. With our special design on the third Porsche 963, we’re continuing this great tradition at Le Mans.” A subplot to Cadillac and Porsche seeking an overall Le Mans victory is the fact that legendary American racing team owners Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi are also in pursuit of that same goal. Ganassi owns an LM GTE class win with a Ford GT in 2016; Penske drove at Le Mans in 1963 and fielded a Ferrari for Mark Donohue in 1971, but Team Penske didn’t return until last year, when it finished fifth in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class in a test run for this year. Team Penske recently won the Indianapolis 500 for the 19th time, has claimed NASCAR Cup Series championships, Daytona 500 victories and even tasted victory in Formula 1. An overall win at Le Mans is arguably the last major accomplishment Roger Penske could achieve in the sport. “Porsche has such great tradition and a special legacy in racing,” Penske said. “Their commitment to winning has always aligned well with our goals and objectives. Certainly, for me personally, winning Le Mans is a goal we want to achieve.” (Thank you to John Oreovicz/IMSA WIre Service) 

(Alpine images)

Alpine will field an entry into the premier LMDH category of the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC). The A424_β name? The terminology of the A followed by three digits beginning with 4, respects the tradition of Alpine’s winning Endurance cars; 24 echoes the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 2024, and β designates the final phase before its launch.

(Ford Images)

The Mustang GT3 race car - based on the all-new 2024 Mustang Dark Horse - was unveiled during the centenary celebration on the eve of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Friday. The Mustang race car's bold graphic look is by Troy Lee. Ford will officially enter the Mustang into the global FIA GT3 category. To coincide with the unveiling, Ford also revealed new, global Ford Performance branding that will now be featured on all its racing vehicles. Ford Performance extended its relationship with two longtime partners in Multimatic and M-Sport for the basis of this project. Multimatic, builders of the most recent Ford GT, were also involved in the Ford GT race program and will help build and support the Mustang GT3s, while longtime World Rally Championship partner and two-time championship winning team M-Sport will assemble the Ford Performance-developed 5.4-liter Coyote-based V8 engines that will power the GT3 Mustangs.

Our dearly departed billboard at Road America. As most of you know, Peter coined the phrase "America's National Park of Speed" and gifted it to the track. -WG

The overall vision of Road America grew out of the dreams of Clif Tufte, a highway engineer, who chose 525 acres of Wisconsin farmland outside the Village of Elkhart Lake for the track. The natural topography of the glacial Kettle Moraine area was utilized for the track and for fan viewing areas, sweeping around rolling hills and plunging through ravines. Since opening in 1955, countless facility improvements have been made over the years, but the 4.048-mile, 14-turn road course itself is virtually the same today as it was when it was first laid out. Now in 2023, an entirely new track surface stands ready for racers and enthusiasts alike. - Road America

Editor's Note: You can access previous issues of AE by clicking on "Next 1 Entries" below. - WG