THE LINE - AUGUST 13, 2014

(Photo by Christa L. Thomas/HHP for GM Racing/Chevrolet)
After a riveting duel with Marcos Ambrose, AJ Allmendinger (No. 47 JTG/Daugherty Scott Products Chevrolet SS) won the Cheez-It 355 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International on Sunday. It was a hugely popular - and redemptive - win for Allmendinger, who came back from myriad struggles over the last three years to win the biggest race of his career. Ambrose (No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports Stanley Ford Fusion) finished second and Kurt Busch (No. 41 Stewart Haas Racing Haas Automation Chevrolet SS) finished third. Watch a NASCAR video here.

(Photo by Alan Marler/HHP for GM Racing/Chevrolet)
A jubilant AJ Allmendinger celebrates with his crew after winning at Watkins Glen.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi (No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP) won overall in the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America on Sunday. The duo survived an early spin and brake problems, endured six cautions and made a timely pit stop to score their third TUDOR United SportsCar Championship victory of the season, increasing their lead in the Prototype point standings in the process. Ozz Negri (No. 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb/Agajanian Ford EcoBoost/Riley started by John Pew) finished second, and Scott Sharp and Ryan Dalziel (No. 1 Extreme Speed Motorsports Tequila Patrón HPD ARX-03b/Honda) finished third. See John Thawley's fabulous images from Road America here. Next up for the TUDOR Championship will be the Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway for the PC, GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GT Daytona (GTD) classes on Sunday, Aug. 24. The next event for all four classes will be the Lone Star Le Mans at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas on Saturday, Sept. 20.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Giancarlo Fisichella and Pierre Kaffer (No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia) picked up their first GTLM win in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship at Road America. Kaffer battled Dirk Mueller (No. 56 BMW Team RLL BMW Z4 ) throughout the final 20 minutes for the win. Mueller and co-driver John Edwards ended-up second, and Jonathan Bomarito finished third in the No. 93 SRT Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R started by Kuno Wittmer. With the podium finish, Bomarito and Wittmer unofficially close to within eight points of the championship-leading No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R shared by Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen in the GTLM standings. The next race for the GTLM class will be the Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway on Sunday, Aug. 24 at 4:05 p.m. ET (FOX Sports 1, live).

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Renger van der Zande (No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Martini ORECA FLM09, started by Mirco Schultis) held off Sean Rayhall (No. 25 8Star Motorsports Takis/Speedsters ORECA FLM09 started by Luis Diaz) by 0.415 seconds to give the team its second Prototype Challenge (PC) victory of the season. Chris Miller and Stephen Simpson rounded out the podium in the No. 85 JDC/Miller Motorsports entry. Four-time 2014 winners Colin Braun and Jon Bennett (No. 54 CORE autosport) were knocked out of contention when Braun was hit from behind while running third in Turn 12, bringing out the fourth of six caution periods. The resulting eighth-place finish saw the drivers of the No. 54 CORE autosport entry’s lead unofficially trimmed from 44 to 35 points (224-189 points), with van der Zande taking over second with three PC races remaining.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Markus Palttala and Dane Cameron (No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW Z4) took advantage of inheriting the GT Daytona (GTD) pole position for Sunday’s Continental Tire Road Race Showcase when the pole-winning No. 007 TRG-AMR Aston Martin Vantage suffered an incident in a morning warm-up session, and went on to their third win of the season. Leh Keen had a couple of opportunities on late-race restarts to get by Cameron, but the No. 22 WeatherTech Porsche 911 GT America started by Cooper MacNeil settled for second, 2.169 seconds back. Rounding out the top three was Madison Snow and Jan Heylen (No. 58 Discount Tire/Universal Industrial Services Porsche 911 GT America). The GTD class returns to the track for the Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway in a GTLM/GTD race on Sunday, Aug. 24 at 4:05 p.m. ET (FOX Sports 1, live).

(FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy)
Norway’s Petter Solberg (No. 11 PSRX Citroen) won the seventh round of the World RX Championship, which took place at the Trois Rivieres street circuit as part of the annual Grand Prix Trois-Rivieres (GP3R) motorsport festival. Solberg became the first driver to win a round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy held outside of Europe. The PSRX driver also becomes the first double winner in RX this year. Anton Marklund (No. 92 Marklund Motorsport VW) finished second and Timur Timerzyanov (No. 1 Hansen Motorsport Peugeot) finished third, both drivers securing podium spots for the first time this season. Round eight of the FIA World Rallycross Championship will return to Europe as the World RX crews prepare for the hugely popular French RX event which will be staged in Loheac on September 6-7.

(McLaren Automotive)
McLaren GT will premier the track-only 650S Sprint at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Based on the recently launched McLaren 650S Coupe, the de-contented, track-focused 650S Sprint is fitted with better brakes, more refined active aerodynamics and a race set-up for the ProActive Chassis Control (PCC). The 650S Sprint will be priced at £198,000* and is available from all official McLaren retailers worldwide or direct from McLaren GT. Do we care? Not really.

(IMSA)
Lawson Aschenbach (No. 01 CKS Autosport Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R) caught Pierre Kleinubing within sight of the checkered flag Saturday at Road America, joining Eric Curran in giving CKS Autosport its first Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge victory of the season. Kleinubing (No. 76 Compass360 Racing Subaru WRX STI, started by Ray Mason) passed Aschenbach for the lead with eight minutes remaining and seemed headed to victory when the caution waved moments later. The incident was cleared in time for one final lap of racing, and while Kleinubing got off to a good restart, he encountered mechanical problems that caused him to slow on the final straight. Robin Liddell (No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R started by Andrew Davis) finished second, 1.443 seconds back. Kleinubing ended-up third.

(IMSA)
Terry Borcheller and Mike LaMarra (No. 23 Burton Racing Automotive Chemicals BMW Group BMW 128i) delivered their first victory of the year in the ST class. Borcheller caught class leader Charles Espenlaub (No. 95 Irish Mike’s Racing Hyundai Genesis, started by Cameron Lawrence) with 40 minutes remaining. He then held off Wayne Nonnamaker (No. 42 Team Sahlen Porsche Cayman) at the end, winning by 1.313 seconds. Andrew Carbonell and Randy Pobst (No. 26 Freedom Autosport MX-5) finished third after third-place finishers Cody Ellsworth and Corey Lewis had their No. 50 entry excluded after failing post-race technical inspection. Pole winner Remo Ruscitti and Adam Isman dominated the race in the No. 04 Autometrics Motorsports BBA Accounting/DE Labs Porsche Cayman, but encountered problems in the final 15 minutes for the fourth time in the last five races. The next race for the Continental Tire Challenge will be at Virginia International Raceway on Saturday, August 23, as part of the Oak Tree Grand Prix.

(SRT images)
SRT Motorsports will make its debut into the Trans Am Series with two all-new Dodge Challenger SRTs entered by Miller Racing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, August 15-16. Four-time series champion Tommy Kendall will return to the series for his first Trans Am start since 2004 in the TA2 series class this weekend. SRT Motorsports will partner with Miller Racing to enter Trans Am competition for the balance of the 2014 season. Kendall will drive the No. 11 Dodge Challenger SRT while teammate and TA2 points leader Cameron Lawrence will drive the No. 1 Challenger beginning this weekend at Mid-Ohio. Kendall has won four Trans Am championships (1990, 1995, 1996, 1997). The move also marks Dodge's debut into the TA2 class of the Trans Am road racing series. "I've wanted to return to Trans Am competition for the longest time and then I finally kind of accepted that it wasn't going to happen," said Kendall, now a full-time TV analyst. "It's funny how things work. Being coaxed back into the Viper GTS-R program back in 2012 helped pave the way to my return. Over the last 10-15 years, I've committed to only doing things that are fun. Trans Am was a huge part of my professional life and to get to play a small part in keeping up the visibility here is really exciting." Editor-in-Chief's Note: To put it charitably, the Trans Am series is a mere shadow of its former self, just trying to survive in the modern racing world, its glory days long since past. - PMD

(McLaren Automotive Inc. North America/newspressUSA)
If you just have to have a track car to one-up your friends, well, this might be it. McLaren's goal was to build an ultra-exclusive track-focused racer for the well-heeled few, and the McLaren P1 GTR is the result. The output of the 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 gas engine and lightweight electric motor has been Increased to 1,000PS (986 bhp), and with no limitations to meet the various regulations for road legality, the McLaren P1 GTR has more aero tweaks, slick tires, a fixed ride height, enhanced power delivery from the IPAS powertrain and Formula 1-derived DRS from the large, fixed rear wing and an ERS-style push-to-pass system. There will be a special McLaren P1 GTR driver training program and the run of vehicles will be built, maintained and run by McLaren Special Operations. Availability begins about one year from now.

(McLaren Automotive Inc. North America/newspressUSA)