JUNE 26, 2024

(Photo by James Black for Penske Entertainment)

Alex Palou (No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing DHL Honda) earned his second victory in the last three years in the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, taking the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship lead with his second victory of the season. Two-time and reigning series champion Palou, who started from the pole, beat Colton Herta’s No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian to the finish by 1.9780 seconds. “It was a chaotic race, man,” Palou said. “We didn’t do a very good job on the starts and those restarts at the beginning. The strategy was a bit risky for the position we were in, but we knew we had the pace, and we just had to execute.” Alexander Rossi finished a season-best third in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Romain Grosjean placed fourth in the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, the best NTT INDYCAR SERIES finish ever for that team. Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the top five in the No. 27 Andretti Global AutoNation Honda. Palou jumped to a 23-point lead in the series standings over Will Power, who finished seventh in the No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Business Chevrolet. Power led Palou by five points entering this race, the eighth of 17 on the 2024 schedule. Watch the EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS of the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey from Motorsports on NBC here. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)

(Formula1.com/Getty Images)

Max Verstappen (No. 1 Oracle Red Bull Racing) was victorious in the Spanish Grand Prix as he held off the challenge of pole-sitter Lando Norris (No. 4 McLaren Formula 1 Team) to take his seventh win of the season. Verstappen first took the lead of the race on Lap 3 after the Mercedes of George Russell (No. 63 Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team), starting fourth, made the most of his electric start as the lights went out to lead early on. With Verstappen less than happy after appearing to be squeezed by Norris at the start, the three-time world champion settled down after getting past the McLaren man before pipping Russell for the lead with a move down the outside of Turn 1. Norris, who had been lauding his "perfect lap" in qualifying on Saturday, would spend the crucial early stages of the race stuck behind Russell, costing him time in the eventual fight for the lead. With the lead changing hands a number of times as drivers dipped in for their pit stops, Verstappen would continue to control the race and maintain his lead as the checkered flag closed in, the Red Bull man having kept a set of new softs aside for his final stint of the Grand Prix. With Norris running second, his efforts to close in on the Dutchman to challenge for the victory were in vain despite Verstappen's struggles towards the end, hindered by his second pit stop also being a slow 3.6-second effort. Lewis Hamilton (No. 44 Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team) managed to secure his first Grand Prix podium of the season, having enjoyed a couple of dramatic on-track battles with Carlos Sainz (No. 55 Scuderia Ferrari), while Russell would come home in P4 – complaining that his hard tire “did not feel good” on his final stint. Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to Formula1.com.) 

(IMSA)

Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron and the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 survived a wet and unpredictable Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on Sunday, winning the race at Watkins Glen International. The six-hour race on the 3.4-mile, 11-turn permanent road course was halted by a red flag for nearly 40 minutes following heavy rain that left the circuit undrivable. Green-flag racing resumed with just 16 minutes remaining, and Nasr made quick work of it. He passed leader Louis Deletraz in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 heading into Turn 1 on the restart and went on to win by 0.749 seconds over Renger van der Zande in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R. The win is the second of the season for Nasr, Cameron and the No. 7 Porsche, following their victory in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona. They are the first team to become a repeat winner this season in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class, with the first five races of the season each won by a different car. Cameron earned his 17th career IMSA top-tier series win and Nasr his 10th. It’s also win No. 38 for Team Penske. Rain visited the track on several occasions during the race, the heaviest with just more than 100 minutes to go, forcing a full-course caution that led to the red-flag stoppage with 81 minutes left. The race clock continued ticking during the stoppage, with the cars returning to the track with 41 minutes remaining and the final green flag waving 25 minutes later. Other class winners in the race were: the No. 88 Richard Mille AF Corse ORECA LMP2 07 with co-drivers Luis Perez Companc, Nicklas Nielsen and Lilou Wadoux Ducellier in LMP2, the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo with co-drivers Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas in GTD PRO and the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 with co-drivers Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje in GTD. The WeatherTech Championship returns to action with the LMP2, GTD PRO and GTD classes racing in the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Sunday, July 13. (Thank you to Mark Robinson/IMSA Wire Service) Watch the Extended Race Highlights from Motorsports on NBC here. 

 

(Acura)

Honda Racing Corporation USA has confirmed that it will partner with championship-winning Meyer Shank Racing to field a pair of Acura ARX-06 entries in the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, starting with the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona in January. The multi-year agreement will see HRC US take on a larger operational role as the company further develops its personnel and technology for the hybrid electrified racing era. HRC US associates will race engineer one of the two GTP entries, while Meyer Shank Racing will oversee the second Acura ARX-06.

 

Editor's Note: This is our dearly departed billboard, which we had at Road America for several years. Peter gifted the phrase "America's National Park of Speed" to the track, which now uses it proudly in all of its communications. -WG

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG