Co-drivers Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud raced to their first American Le Mans Series victory Saturday.
The duo won a duel of new Acura prototype LMP1 sports cars, holding off a car driven by St. Petersburg winners David Braham and Scott Sharp until a full-course yellow for a car fire forced the 100-minute race on the temporary street circuit in downtown Long Beach to end under caution.
Former open-wheel star de Ferran, in the car at the finish, came out of retirement midway through last season to start his own ALMS team. He and Pagenaud did not win while racing in 2008 in the LMP2 category. Former Indianapolis 500 winner de Ferran’s last victory came in… Details
One by one the visitors filed into Victory Lane, eager to pay their respects to Mark Martin.
Jimmie Johnson pushed past a throng of fans to get there, while NASCAR president Mike Helton weaved through the grandstands and across the track. Tony Stewart set aside his disappointment from finishing second to make his visit, and Jack Roush stopped by with heartfelt happiness.
Race fans annually vote Dale Earnhardt Jr. as NASCAR’s most popular driver, but after Martin’s win Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway, it was obvious the honor truly belongs to the beloved veteran.
“There’s nobody that dislikes Mark,” said second-place finisher Stewart. “Mark has taught us all a lot about what it takes to be not only a good driver in this series, but a good competitor and somebody that everybody respects.”…Â Details
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Holland may be best known for windmills, tulips and cannabis-serving coffee shops, but a little-known company is looking to change all that with a lightweight sports car that tips the scales with figures comparable to a Formula One racing machine.
From humble beginnings in 1978, Donkervoort has developed a cult following on the Continent, with exquisitely engineered yet wincingly expensive Lotus Seven clones. It’s still a family concern: Joop Donkervoort is the founder and designer, Denis, his son, drives the company’s racing car and Amber, his daughter, staffs the office — yet they’ve turned out more than 1,000 cars from a small factory in Lelystadt, northern Holland.
What started out as copies have morphed into cutting-edge sports cars in their own right. In the FIA GT4 European racing championship, prototypes of its latest model, the D8 GT, have mixed it with Aston Martins and Porsches…Â Details
A year ago, Danica Patrick was in Japan, recording the first victory by a woman in an Indy Racing League event. This weekend, she will be in a seaside suburb of Los Angeles, driving in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. But the question so often on the lips of American motor racing’s chattering classes is, where will she be a year from now?
Patrick is the hard-charging driver/cover girl/swimsuit model who turned the venerable Indianapolis 500 on its ear in 2005, at age 23, by leading the race for 19 laps and finishing fourth, unprecedented achievements by a woman. Since then, she has become the face of the I.R.L., its most marketable asset and a driver for perhaps the best team, Andretti Green…Â Details