Well that didn’t take long. The Corvette Racing team made history today, capturing their first class win in GT2 after stepping down from GT1 earlier this year. Johnny O’Connell and Jan Magnussen finished just 0.331 second ahead of Risi Competizione.
In the LMP1 class, David Brabham and Scott Sharp gave the Patrón Highcroft Racing team a season championship by taking the checkered flag at Mosport today.
The Mosport weekend was fantastic all around for Acura as their LMP2 entry run by Fernandez Racing also won, allowing them to clinch the P2 championship.
Dani Pedrosa put up the best qualifying speed at Indy on Saturday to claim the pole for the 2009 MotoGP Red Bull Indy Grand Prix. Pedrosa also set a new track record by setting a time of 1 minute, 39.730.
But not far behind Pedrosa was Valentino Rossil. The doctor will start outside the front row, and has to be the favorite in the GP. But don’t count out Jorge Lorenzo who has had some bad luck, but been right with Rossi on a number of occasions in 2009.
Pos Rider Team- QUALIFYING RESULTS 1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 2 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 3 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 4 Alex De Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 5 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech 3 6 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 7 Toni Elias San Carlo Honda Gresini 8 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 9 Marco Melandri Hayate Racing Team 10 James Toseland Monster Yamaha Tech 3 11 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 12 Randy De Puniet LCR Honda MotoGP 13 Niccolo Canepa Pramac Racing 14 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 15 Mika Kallio Ducati Team 16 Aleix Espargaro Pramac Racing 17 Gabor Talmacsi Scot Racing Team MotoGP
The Motor Pundit is now just catching his breath after watching an incredible race at Chicagoland, brought to you by the Indy Car Series. In the end, Ryan Briscoe found himself wheel to wheel with another competitor at the line in a super-close victory.
“This is a big win. I didn’t think I’d have enough for Scott (Dixon), but uh, once I got beside him, you know, the side draft just pulled me right there. I just waited for the last lap to try to use the push and it seemed to work”, Dixon said to the VERSUS audience.
Scott Dixon was gracious as usual, but clearly PO’d that he got nipped at the line, but also thinks that his TCGR Dallara is “slow” and they need to “play catch up” to Penske. Hmmm.
The race was run at a terrible pace, and sometimes competitors ran lap after lap three wide. The Graham/Marco rivalry was in full swing tonite, and they ran a series of wheel-to-wheel laps with Mario Moraes that were absolutely hair-raising.
While the race did yield another “red-car winner”, it was a fantastic race to watch. The aero changes and push-to-pass may have been a huge boost to the show in 2009.
FINISHING ORDER - Peak Antifreeze & Motor Oil 300
Pos Driver
1 Ryan Briscoe 2 Scott Dixon 3 Mario Moraes 4 Dario Franchitti 5 Graham Rahal 6 Ed Carpenter 7 Oriol Servia 8 Tomas Scheckter 9 Raphael Matos 10 Justin Wilson 11 Marco Andretti 12 Danica Patrick 13 Tony Kanaan 14 Sarah Fisher 15 Ryan Hunter-Reay 16 Mike Conway 17 EJ Viso 18 Robert Doornbos 19 Jaques Lazier 20 Helio Castroneves 21 Milka Duno 22 Dan Wheldon 23 Hideki Mutoh
David Brabham captured the pole for tomorrow’s ALMS race at Mosport in Canada. The Highcroft Acura team ended the de Ferran Acura team by a tenth to take the top spot.
In P2, the Dyson Lola-Mazda team ran 1-2 in class, beating the Fernandez Acura.
The BMW’s continue to roll in GT2, while the new GT2 Corvettes have yet to find to find the speed needed to take the pole.
Nelson Philippe was able to leave the Santa Rosa Memorial hospital yesterday to head home to heal up from and broken foot and leg after a terrible crash with Will Power last weekend at Sears Point in Sonoma.
Will Power will be transported to Indy soon for more treatment. Power suffered fractures in multiple vertebrae during the accident, and has been fitted with a back brace.
1 10 Dario Franchitti 2 6 Ryan Briscoe 3 24 Mike Conway 4 5 Mario Moraes 5 27 Hideki Mutoh 6 6 Oriol Servia 7 18 Justin Wilson 8 11 Tony Kanaan 9 2 Raphael Matos 10 33 Robert Doornbos 11 26 Marco Andretti 12 20 Ed Carpenter 13 4 Dan Wheldon 14 9 Scott Dixon 15 98 Richard Antinucci 16 7 Danica Patrick 17 23 Milka Duno 18 3 Helio Castroneves 19 14 Ryan Hunter-Reay 20 25 Franck Montagny 21 2 Graham Rahal 22 13 EJ Viso 23 12 Will Power 24 34 Nelson Philippe
"Will Power had his two front teeth knocked out in crash. -Curt Cavin"
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#indycar / RT @curtcavin @mynameisirl | Via Twitter
Curt Cavin reporting about a horrific crash in Indy Car practice in Sonoma. Nelson Philippe spun out on a blind corner and collected EJ Viso first, and then Will Power blasted Philippe’s car.
Versus TV reports that both will fully recover but Philippe has a broken leg, and Power has compression fratures in two vertebrae.
After 500 laps, it came down to two drivers fighting for the win at Bristol. But unlike so many races before, the leader wasn’t wrecked out by the second place driver trying for a “bump and run”.
Kyle Busch held of Mark Martin in a close by squeaky clean finish. Props to Mark Martin for being a class act. I’m not sure Kyle would have return the favor had the tables been turned.
Fernando Alonso was fastest in Fridays Practice 2 session, beating both Brawns which were second and third. However, Alonso and Heidfeld got together in a wild-looking accident that sent Heidfeld airborne.
After about a month of Kyle Busch looking constantly like someone had taken away his birthday, he was able to crack a smile last night. Busch broke Ron Hornaday’s winning streak by winning the O’Reilly 200 at Bristol.
The win was Busch’s 12th in the truck series.
Ryan Newman pulled double-duty on Wednesday night at Bristol. He ran the NASCAR Whelen Modified race where he finished 37th, and then did much better in the truck race finishing 4th.
Ryan Newman has his work cut out for him this week, as he is scheduled to run four races in five Days at Bristol. Newman will kick of the superfecta of speed in a Whelen series modifed machine tonight on the high banks, and will also compete in the NASCAR Truck series race immediately following.
He also will compete in both the Nationwide Series and Spring Cup Series races on Friday and Saturday nights.
Tonight’s racing coverage on SPEED starts at 7 p.m. ET.
