APRIL 16, 2025

(Formula1.com/Getty Images)

Oscar Piastri (No. 81 McLaren Formula 1 Team) has become the first multiple race winner of the 2025 season by taking a sublime victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix, the Australian driver putting in a cool and collected drive to seal P1 on his 50th start in F1 as well as marking McLaren’s first triumph in Sakhir. After making a strong start from pole position – despite a close call from George Russell (No. 63 Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula 1 Team) when the Mercedes driver locked up into Turn 1 – Piastri built a solid lead throughout the laps that followed. While there was early trouble for teammate Lando Norris (No. 4 McLaren Formula 1 Team) – who was hit with a five-second time penalty for being out of position in his grid box – the McLarens again looked impressive as the race played out, with the Briton working his way forward. And while Piastri’s position potentially looked under threat when a Safety Car emerged, the 24-year-old made a clean getaway at the restart and went on to rebuild a gap in the laps that followed, eventually crossing the line with a 15-second lead. Russell ultimately took second, holding off a thrilling late chase from Norris, though the Silver Arrows driver will be investigated after the Grand Prix for a potential DRS infringement. Norris was just 0.774s behind Russell at the finish, a good recovery from the McLaren racer after a difficult Qualifying on Saturday. Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to Formula1.com)

(MotoGP.com)

The double in Doha - who'd have thought it? Some might, but not Marc Marquez (No. 93 Ducati Lenovo Team). That's exactly how it unfolded for Marquez, however, as a frantic MotoGP battle played out in a Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Qatar that saw Maverick Viñales (No. 12 Red Bull KTM Tech3) clinch a first podium, or so we thought. Francesco Bagnaia (No. 63 Ducati Lenovo Team) recovered to P3 at the line after a dissatisfying Saturday, as drama unfolded for Alex Marquez (No. 73 BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), who was forced to settle for P7, which was then P6. Why? Because after a tire pressure penalty for Viñales post-race, most of the points scorers were promoted one position. It saw Franco Morbidelli (No. 21 Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) elevated to P3 - and, of course, Bagnaia to P2. Those +16s demoted Viñales to P14. Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to MotoGP.com)

(Kyle Kirkwood - Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach - By: Joe Skibinski)

Kyle Kirkwood (No. 27 Andretti Global PreFab Honda) won the 50th running of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach from pole, his third career IndyCar Series victory and second at Long Beach. Kirkwood finished 2.6859s ahead of Alex Palou (No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing DHL Honda). Christian Lundgaard (No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet) was third. Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to INDYCAR.com)

(IMSA)

After the first two IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup rounds of 24 hours and 12 hours in Florida, the much shorter 100-minute Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in California produced the same IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship winners as the last race. Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy captured their third consecutive overall and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class win in Saturday’s Long Beach race. The pair co-drove the winning No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963, parlaying a better move ahead on an early and singular pit stop to leapfrog the Motul Pole Award-winning No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8. The Porsche Penske Motorsport team completed its second straight 1-2 finish, with Mathieu Jaminet and Matt Campbell again finishing second in their No. 6 Porsche 963. The No. 24 BMW, started by Dries Vanthoor and finished by Philipp Eng, came home third for both the pair and the team’s first GTP podium finish of 2025. It’s the first time a top level IMSA prototype class team has won the first three races of a season since the Wayne Taylor Racing crew of Jordan and Ricky Taylor did so in the 2017 Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class, when they won the first five races. Wath the Race Highlights here.  (Thank you to Tony DiZinno/IMSA Wire Service)

(IMSA)

For the past couple of years, no IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) or GTD PRO class team or manufacturer has had an answer for Vasser Sullivan Racing and Lexus on the streets of Long Beach. Although that was (arguably) again the story in the 2025 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, one team and manufacturer finally found the answer to Vasser Sullivan and Lexus in the pits. That would be AO Racing and Porsche as the No. 177 Porsche 911 GT3 R got the better of the pit stop strategy – taking a short fuel fill and not changing Michelin tires during the 100-minute race’s lone scheduled visit to pit lane – to grab the lead. The strategy worked to perfection, vaulting the Porsche past the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus that had shown the field a clean pair of heels in the early stages of the race. After that – and with the help of a full-course yellow – it was just a case of AO Racing’s Laurens Vanthoor driving a flawless stint to maintain the lead the rest of the way to secure the win. After the driver swap, Vanthoor not only beat Casper Stevenson’s Aston Martin out of pit lane, he emerged ahead of the Nos. 89 and 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus cars of Aaron Telitz and Jack Hawksworth. Although Telitz subsequently yielded to his teammate, Hawksworth had no answer for Vanthoor; nor did the Belgian put a wheel wrong en route to the checkered flag, coming home 2.378 seconds clear of the lead Lexus with Telitz and the No. 89 Lexus a further five seconds back in third. (Thank you to David Phillips/IMSA Wire Service)

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