JULY 15, 2015

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet (No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR) won the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class in Sunday’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix presented by Hawk Performance at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The duo led all but five of the 128 laps to score the first victory of the season for the drivers and the team. Tandy finished 15.525 seconds ahead of John Edwards (No. 24 Team RLL IHG Rewards Club BMW Z4 GTLM) to earn the second consecutive GTLM class win for Porsche in the series. Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia (No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R) finished third, moving the duo into sole possession of the GTLM points lead - 128-126 - over co-drivers Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner (No. 25 Team RLL IHG Rewards Club BMW Z4 GTLM ), who finished fourth. Check out more of John Thawley's scintillating images from CTMP, aka "Mosport" here.

John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Jordan Taylor (No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta Corvette DP, started by Ricky Taylor) held off Dane Cameron (No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP, started by Eric Curran) in an exciting sprint to the finish Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, beating his rival to the checkered flag by 0.477 seconds to score the second victory of the 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season for the team in the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix presented by Hawk Performance. Ozz Negri and John Pew (No. 60 Michael Shank Racing AERO Ligier JS P2/Honda) finished third. See more of John Thawley's shots from Mosport here.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Jon Bennett and Colin Braun (No. 54 CORE autosport Flex-Box/Composite Resources ORECA FLM09) captured their first victory of the season in the Prototype Challenge (PC) class. Bennett and Braun also extended their lead in the point standings with four races remaining. John Falb and Sean Rayhall (No. 16 BAR1 Motorsports Edvisors.com/Top 1 Oil ORECA) finished second, one lap behind the winners. Mikhail Goikhberg and Matt McMurry (No. 85 JDC/Miller Motorsports UndergroundCellar.com ORECA) finished third in PC. The PC and GT Daytona (GTD) classes will share the spotlight at the next TUDOR Championship event - the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge in the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park on Saturday, July 25. The Prototype (P) and GTLM classes resume their battle in the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America on Sunday, August 9.

(Photo by Chris Owens/IndyCar)
Sebastien Bourdais (No. 11 KVSH Racing Team HYDROXY Chevrolet Turbo V6), dominated the ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 Verizon IndyCar race at The Milwaukee Mile on Sunday, lapping the field at one point. That makes it 34 Indy car wins for Bourdais, which means he's now tied with Al Unser Jr. on the all-time list. "It’s just unbelievable," Bourdais said. "We were talking about it yesterday, at these places. Sometimes you’ve got it; and when it’s right, boy, it’s really, really good.” Asked how it felt to be an underdog team and win, Bourdais had this to say: "It’s pretty sweet. Like we say all the time, when we get the job done and beat all these guys with what we’ve got, a great group of guys with great sponsors, you’ve got to feel good about it. And, today, we just executed and overcame what looked like a messed up break for us, and we just made it work on the track." Team Owner Jimmy Vasser said: “It’s just awesome, especially here at Milwaukee because it’s such a historic place.  It was one of my favorite tracks when I was racing here. In the fashion he did it… we put ourselves on a different strategy to be able to let him go when he could and then in the box saving fuel. He lapped the field. It was awesome.” 

(Photo by Phillip Abbott/LAT for GM/Chevrolet Racing)
Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske Hitachi Chevrolet Turbo V6) missed qualifying and was forced to start at the back of the field. He drove a smart, calculating race, charging up to finish second. “Yeah, it certainly was a tough one and was very difficult to pass," Castroneves said.  "I was trying, I was forcing, I was pushing and doing anything I could.  I didn’t mind running that close to a guy with experience, it was no problem, but I was moving.  Will (Power) was the hardest one (to pass) to be honest.  He gave me a hard time.  But at the end of the day it was a great race and my  No. 3 Chevrolet was great, but the No. 11 car seemed to be really fast. I heard that he lapped everyone in the field, but at one point I said, ‘man, those guys in front of me don’t have the tires and I have got to push,’ and I pushed as hard as I could.  Disappointing but at the end of the day we got a few points toward the championship and we should probably move up a little bit.”

(Photo by Chris Jones/IndyCar)
Graham Rahal (No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Steak 'n Shake/Mi-Jack Honda Turbo V6) sets up for Turn 3 during the early stages of the ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 at The Milwaukee Mile. Rahal had another strong run to finish third.

(MotoGP photo)
Marc Marquez (No. 93 Repsol Honda) started from the pole and dominated the GoPro German Grand Prix on Sunday at the Sachsenring, delivering his second win of the season. Dani Pedrosa (No. 26 Repsol Honda) finished second, and Valentino Rossi (No. 46 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) finished third, extending his lead in the MotoGP championship standings to thirteen points over teammate Jorge Lorenzo (No. 99 Movistar Yamaha).

Kyle Busch. Driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing M&Ms Crispy Toyota Camry, Busch won the wildly competitive Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway Saturday night, his second win of the season after recovering from leg injuries in a crash at Daytona in February. It was his 31st career win in NASCAR's highest level. Joey Logano (No. 22 Team Penske Shell Pennzoil/AutoTrader Ford) was second, with Denny Hamlin (No. 11 JGR FedEx Office Toyota Camry), Carl Edwards (No. 19 JGR COMCAST MINIONS Toyota Camry) and Matt Kenseth (No. 20 JGR Dollar General Toyota Camry) finishing out the top five for Joe Gibbs Racing. Watch the NASCAR video here.

(Ford Performance)
Austin Cindric (No. 158 Multimatic Ford Shelby GT350R-C) became - at 16 years old - the youngest winner in Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series history on Saturday, at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. It was also a first victory for Cindric's co-driver, Jade Buford, and the new Ford Shelby GT350R-C. “This was a pretty physical race, especially with how hot the cars get,” Cindric said. “I think I cycled in fifth or sixth in line and about everybody was at the same pace. I was thinking, ‘How am I going to get by these guys?’ because I knew we needed to. I tried to make my way through and made a few risky moves, but they ended up paying off.” Matt Plumb (No. 13 Billfish Foundation/Rum Bum Studios Porsche 911, co-driven by his brother Hugh) challenged Cindric down the stretch, but finished 4.703 seconds behind him at the checkered flag. Andrew Davis and Robin Liddell (No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R) finished third.

Editor-In-Chief's Note: This is the official Luminox Pikes Peak film (by Will Roegge) of my old friend Jeff Zwart's winning effort at this year's Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. I think that you will enjoy this ride, turn it up! -PMD