SEPTEMBER 7, 2016

(Photo by Chris Owens/INDYCAR)
Scott Dixon (No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Target Chevrolet Turbo V6) leads the field into Turn 11 during the INDYCAR Grand Prix at The Glen presented by Hitachi from Watkins Glen International. Dixon utterly dominated the weekend, leading all four practice sessions, capturing the pole position and going on to the win with a perfect performance on Sunday in the Verizon IndyCar Series' return to The Glen. How dominant? Dixon led 50 of 60 laps to collect his fourth triumph on the 3.37-mile natural-terrain road course steeped in open-wheel racing history. It was also the 40th victory of the 36-year-old's Indy car career, breaking a tie with legendary Al Unser for fourth on the all-time list. Dixon, the four-time series champion, nursed his final tank of Sunoco E85R ethanol for 19 laps (64.03 miles) to cross the finish line 16.5308 seconds ahead of Josef Newgarden (No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet Turbo V6) in the 10th Verizon IndyCar Series race at Watkins Glen and first since 2010. It was also the 102nd Indy car win for Chip Ganassi Racing Teams. Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske Hitachi Chevrolet Turbo V6) finished third. "I just love being back here," said Dixon, who won three straight at the track from 2005-07. "I think we should have a double-points race here and probably race two or three times (a season) at The Glen. These are the weekends that you definitely don't forget, just in the sheer fact of we had such a smooth one. The car was just fantastic and the track, I love. I love coming to upstate New York and this track is one of the old-school great American tracks that we're lucky enough to come back here and race." (Editor's Note: Peter will have more to say on Scott Dixon in this week's "Fumes." -WG  
(Photo by Chris Owens/INDYCAR)
Scott Dixon donated his $40,000 weekend winnings to the Justin Wilson Children's Fund to support the family of the late Indy car driver. Next up is the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series championship finale at the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on Sept. 18, an event that pays double race points. Team Penske teammates Simon Pagenaud (No. 22 Team Penske Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chevrolet Turbo V6) and Will Power (No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet Turbo V6) are the two drivers still eligible for the championship, with Pagenaud holding a 43-point advantage.

(media.crash.net)
Nico Rosberg (No. 6 AMG Petronas Mercedes) cut Lewis Hamilton's (No. 44 AMG Petronas Mercedes) championship lead to just two points with his victory in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Sunday afternoon. Hamilton was the pole-sitter but blew the start and suffered the consequences for it, falling back to sixth position before clawing his way back to finish second.  Sebastian Vettel (No. 5 Scuderia Ferrari) finished a very racy third.

(media.crash.net)
Maverick Vinales (No. 25 ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR) says he never thought victory was achievable this season on his Suzuki, but the young Spanish prospect obliterated the opposition to win the British round of the MotoGP World Championship at Silverstone on Sunday. The 21-year-old became the first rider to win a premier class race for Suzuki in full dry conditions since Kenny Roberts Jr. did it in 2000, disappearing into the distance on the GSX-RR and pulling away to win by 3.4 seconds over Cal Crutchlow (No. 35 LCR Honda RC213V). Vinales, who will join Valentino Rossi on the factory Yamaha team for 2017, said his maiden MotoGP triumph was the highlight of his career to date. “For sure, it is the best moment and also I didn't think this year I could do it – I was just thinking on next year to try to do it. Honestly, I'm so happy and to do it for the team before I leave Suzuki is one of the best things I could give to them,” he said. Valentino Rossi (No. 46 Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YZR-M1) finished third.

(Porsche)
Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber (No. 1 Porsche 919 Hybrid) won the six-hour FIA World Endurance Championship race in Mexico City, the fifth round of the 2016 WEC. Hartley recorded the fastest race lap on the 4.304 kilometer Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Formula One circuit with 1:25.880 on lap 114. Marcel Fässler/André Lotterer (No. 7 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18) finished second and Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/Stéphane Sarrazin (No. 6 Toyota TS050) came in third. Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb (No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid) finished fourth, extending their lead in the drivers’ world championship by 41 points. Porsche now leads the manufacturers’ standings with 201 points ahead of Audi (158) and Toyota (112).

(Aston Martin The Americas)
The No. 97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 driven by Richie Stanaway/Darren Turner won GTE-Pro; while Patrick Long, Khaled Al Qubaisi and David Heinemeier Hansson (No. 88 Abu Dhabi Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR) won in GTE-Am. Round six of the Sports Car World Endurance Championship WEC will take place at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, on September 17th.

(FIA WEC)

(FIA WRC, newspress)
Sweden’s Johan Kristoffersson (No. 3 Volkswagen RX Sweden Polo RX Supercar) took a lights-to-flag victory at the Bretagne World RX of France last weekend, round eight of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy. Norway’s Andreas Bakkerud (No. 13 Hoonigan Racing Division Ford Focus RS RX Supercar) finished second and Sebastien Loeb (No. 9 Team Peugeot-Hansen  Peugeot 208 WRX) came in third. In the overall driver standings, reigning Champion Petter Solberg (No. 1 Citroen DS3) finished fourth and extended his lead over Mattias Ekstrom (No. 5 EKS Audi S1RX quattro) to a slim five points.

(Getty Images/NASCAR)
Martin Truex Jr. (No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry) won Sunday night's Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, beating Kevin Harvick (No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Busch Chevrolet SS) to the finish line by .606 seconds. Kyle Larson (No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Target Chevrolet SS) came in third. Truex led 28 laps, all after passing Ryan Newman for the top spot on Lap 339 of 367. Harvick led a race-high 214 laps. get more NASCAR info here.

(NASCAR)
John Hunter Nemechek (No. 8 NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado) and Cole Custer (No. 00 JR Motorsports Haas Automation Chevrolet Silverado) made contact on the last corner of the last lap in the Chevrolet Silverado 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and crossed the start-finish line in the grass in a virtual tie. "Made contact" is one way of putting it. Watch the video here. Following a few moments of deliberations, NASCAR officials determined Nemechek won the race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park by 0.034 seconds. Daniel Hemric (No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing DrawTite Ford F-150) was briefly shown as the winner on the official timing and scoring feed before NASCAR officials sorted out the photo finish between Nemechek and Custer; he finished third. 

(Norma Auto Concept)
The new NORMA M30 LMP3 made its public debut at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the French manufacturer has announced that the racing debut of its prototype will be in the 2017 IMSA Prototype Challenge presented by Mazda. The NORMA M30 was the result of a close collaboration between the design team at Norma and the Italian engineering team at Tatuus. An initial run of ten LMP3 prototypes will be built.

(@JaguarRacing images)
Jaguar Land Rover has introduced its first all-electric Jaguar Racing car, the I-TYPE 1, and will return to global motorsport in the FIA Formula E Championship. The Panasonic Jaguar Racing team will make its debut in Hong Kong in the opening race of the third FIA Formula E season on Sunday, October 9, 2016, following a successful test program. The Jaguar Formula E driver lineup consists of Adam Carroll, Mitch Evans and reserve driver Ho-Pin Tung. 

(Audi Sport)
Editor-In-Chief's Note:  As I have previously discussed in several of my "Fumes" columns, Formula E is going to become very important to the world's auto manufacturers as they invest heavily in employing advanced electrification across multiple segments. This news from Audi is really no surprise. -PMD
Beginning with the 2016/2017 season that opens in Hong Kong on October 9, Audi will increase its involvement in Formula E Team ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport with financial and technical support. The German automaker plans to elevate its presence in Formula E into a full, factory-backed motorsport program in 2017/2018 season. “Electric mobility is one of the key topics in our industry,” says Dr. Stefan Knirsch, Member of the Board of Management, Technical Development, AUDI AG. “We intend to evolve into one of the leading premium car manufacturers in this field. By 2025, every fourth Audi should be an electric vehicle. The first model for this is planned to be an SUV we’re going to present in 2018. In the light of these plans, adapting our motorsport program and taking up a commitment in a fully electric racing series is only a logical move.” Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Motorsport, had this to say: “Audi has consistently been using motorsport to test and develop new technologies further for subsequent use in production. With quattro drive we revolutionized rally racing and subsequently set standards in circuit racing as well. In the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Audi was the first manufacturer to have achieved victories with a TFSI engine, a TDI and a hybrid race car, so writing motorsport history on several occasions. Now we intend to repeat this in fully electric racing. Formula E with its races being held in the hearts of major cities is an ideal stage for this purpose and Team ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport a logical partner for us.” Audi’s commitment to Formula E will be immediately visible, as the four rings will be prominently featured on the sides and the rear wings of the ABT Schaeffler FE02 for the first time at next week's official Formula E test (September 5 to 7) at Donington Park in the UK. Daniel Abt (Germany) and Lucas di Grassi (Brazil) will continue as the drivers of Team ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport in 2016-17, their third joint Formula E season as teammates.

FIA Formula E 2016/2017 calendar

October 9, 2016    Hong Kong
November 12, 2016     Marrakesh
February 18, 2017    Buenos Aires
April 1, 2017    Mexico City
May 13, 2017     Monaco
May 20, 2017     Paris
June 10, 2017    Berlin
July 1, 2017    Brussels
July 15, 2017    Montreal
July 16, 2017    Montreal
July 29, 2017     New York
July 30, 2017     New York