THE LINE - SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
See all of John Thawley's scintillating images from the USCC/WEC doubleheader road racing weekend at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, here.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
The World Endurance Championship (WEC) race was the nightcap of the unique road racing doubleheader at the 3.427-mile Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, last weekend. The race was a challenging affair with heavy rain red-flagging the race for a while, but in the end the Audi Sport team delivered another impressive 1-2 finish, with Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer (No. 2 Audi Sport Audi R18 e-tron quattro) finishing ahead of teammates Loic Duval, Tom Kristensen and Lucas di Grassi (No. 2 Audi Sport Audi R18 e-tron quattro). Sebastien Buemi, Nicolas Lapierre and Anthony Davidson (No. 8 Toyota TS 040 Hybrid) finished third.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Tsugio Matsuda, Richard Bradley and Matt Howson (No. 47 KCMG ORECA-Nissan) won LMP 2 in the WEC nightcap race. Nicolas Minassian, Maurizio Mediani and Sergey Zlobin (No. 27 SMP Racing ORECA-Nissan) finished second.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
The No. 30 Extreme Speed Motorsport Patron HPD-ARX03b driven by Scott Sharp, Ryan Dalziel and Ed Brown finished a very racy third, a fine debut for the American team in the WEC.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
The No. 97 Aston Martin Vantage V8 of Stefan Mucke and Darren Turner won the GTE PRO class in the WEC race.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
The No. 98 Aston Martin Vantage V8 of Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla-Lana and Christopher Nygaard won the GTE AM class in the WEC race, leading their teammates Richie Stanaway, Kristian Poulsen and David Heinemeier-Hansson (No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage V8) across the line for a 1-2 finish.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Scott Pruett (No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Telcel Ford EcoBoost/Riley, co-driven by Memo Rojas) prevailed in the Lone Star Le Mans TUDOR United SportsCar Championship opener on Saturday at the Circuit of The Americas. Pruett took the lead with 33 minutes remaining, and then held off both Alex Brundle (No. 42 OAK Racing Ligier JS P2/Honda, co-driven by Gustavo Yacaman) and Joao Barbosa (No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP, started by Christian Fittipaldi) to win by 2.336-seconds. It was third victory of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season for Pruett/Rojas. "I took some big chances at the end,” said Pruett, who scored his 59th career victory in major sports car competition. “I knew they were coming, but when you see victory in your grasp, you take big chances. Sometimes they pay off.” In Prototype Challenge, Sean Rayhall and Luis Diaz took their second consecutive victory in the No. 25 8Star Motorsports Takis/Speedsters ORECA FLM09, while Colin Braun and Jon Bennett clinched the drivers’ championship with one race remaining with a second-place finish in the No. 54 CORE autosport ORECA FLM09.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
After the race-leading No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR driven by Nick Tandy  encountered a late-race mechanical failure, Jonathan Bomarito (No. 93 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R, co-driven by Kuno Wittmer) took over the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class lead and led a 1-2 finish for SRT Motorsports. Bomarito won by 1.267 seconds over teammate Marc Goossens (No. 91 SRT Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R, co-driven by Dominik Farnbacher, above). Patrick Long and Michael Christensen finished third in the No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR. With their second victory of the season, Bomarito and co-driver Wittmer unofficially took over the GTLM points lead, 300-293, over Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia heading into in the season-ending Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta on Oct. 4. All of the podium finishers used Michelin tires with Michelin clinching the inaugural TUDOR Championship Tire Manufacturers’ title on Saturday. 

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Texas native Ben Keating joined co-driver Jeroen Bleekemolen in the No. 33 ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper SRT GT3 to win the GT Daytona (GTD) class. It was the second win this season for the team. Andy Lally and John Potter (No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America) finished second, and Dane Cameron and Markus Palttala (No. 300 Turner Motorsport BMW Z4) finished third.

(Photo courtesy of Ford Racing)
Joey Logano (No. 22 Team Penske Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion) won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday. It was Logano's fourth victory of the season, seventh of his career, and the second straight for Team Penske in the Chase. It also put Logano into the second elimination round under NASCAR's new playoff format. Kyle Larson (No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Target Chevrolet SS) finished second (this just in: the kid is good) and Kevin Harvick (No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Budweiser Designate a Driver Chevrolet SS) was third. Watch a NASCAR video of the final laps here.

(VW/newspressUSA)
Scott Speed (No. 77 Andretti Autosport 7UP Volkswagen Rallycross) won the Day One final in L.A. on Saturday, giving him his third victory of the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship season. Rhys Millen (No. 67 Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Veloster Rallycross, below) won the Day Two Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship final in L.A. on Sunday afternoon. The next round of the championship is Red Bull Global Rallycross Seattle on September 26 and 27. NBC will air the race on Sunday, September 28 at 4:30 p.m. ET.

(Hyundai/newspressUSA)

(Global RallyCross Championship/Ford/newspressUSA)
Ford has wrapped up its fourth consecutive Manufacturer’s title in the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship. “We’ve been there since day one,” said Scott Denby, Ford Racing’s marketing and strategy manager. “That’s what makes it special. We were there in the beginning, we’ve been there helping to grow the sport, and we knew this year was going to be different. There are new manufacturers in the series, the level of competition is going up, and we knew that going into the season.” Heading into the final two races of the season, three Fords are in the thick of the championship race. Ken Block currently leads Joni Wiman by 18 points and Nelson Piquet Jr. by 35; Piquet had been leading the championship from New York in July until Los Angeles last weekend, when the three drivers were briefly separated by 10 points.

(Global RallyCross Championship/Ford/newspressUSA)