SEPTEMBER 23, 2015

(Photo by Chris Owens/IndyCar)
Scott Dixon (No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Target Chevrolet Turbo V6) was joined by nine other Verizon IndyCar Series drivers at Road America - "America's National Park of Speed" - the bucolic, 4.048-mile natural-terrain road course in Elkhart Lake, Wis., for a team test on Tuesday, September 22. IndyCar announced in August that the Road America Grand Prix on June 23-26 would be part of the 2016 schedule. Road America, which held its first race in 1955, hosted Indy car races - including CART's glory years - from 1982-2007. The track record at Road America is held by Dario Franchitti - 1:39.866/145.924mph (234.791 kph)
 - who set it in 2000 driving the Team Kool Green Honda Reynard, during the CART Championship Race. That record is expected to be broken next June. Dixon's teammates at Chip Ganassi Racing, Tony Kanaan and Charlie Kimball, also participated in the test, along with AJ Foyt Racing's Takuma Sato, CFH Racing's Josef Newgarden, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Graham Rahal and Team Penske's Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power. To purchase tickets for next June's IndyCar race, visit www.roadamerica.com.

(Photo by Chris Owens/IndyCar)
Graham Rahal (No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Steak 'n Shake Honda Turbo V6) flies down the famous Moraine Sweep toward Turn 5 during the team test at Road America on Tuesday.

(Photo by Brian Simpson/IndyCar)
Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske Hitachi Chevrolet Turbo V6) enters Turn 5 during the team test at Road America on Tuesday.

(Photo by Brian Simpson/IndyCar)
Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 2 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet Turbo V6) brakes hard through the shadows at the end of the Moraine Sweep during the team test at Road America.

(Photo by Chris Owens/IndyCar)
Takuma Sato at the wheel of his A.J. Foyt Racing Honda Turbo V6-powered entry during the team test at Road America.

(Photo by Chris Owens/IndyCar)
Simon Pagenaud (No. 22 Team Penske Avaya Chevrolet Turbo V6) during the team test at Road America.

(Photo by Chris Owens/IndyCar)
INDYCAR, the Verizon IndyCar Series, and the entire Mazda Road to Indy return to Road America in June, 2016. This is our Autoextremist.com billboard in its traditional location overlooking the braking zone into Turn 5.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Scott Pruett and co-driver Joey Hand (No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford EcoBoost/Riley) won the Lone Star Le Mans race at Circuit of The Americas, in Austin, Texas, on Saturday. Pruett started the race from the pole position and turned the machine over to Hand, who went on to win. It was the team’s first victory of 2015 with only one race remaining in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season. The victory marked Pruett's 60th win in major North American sports car competition, but his first since winning at Circuit of The Americas in 2014. It was a dominant win on the 20-turn, 3.4-mile layout for the Ganassi Racing duo, as Hand took the checkered flag 16.910 seconds ahead of Ricky Taylor (No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Konica Minolta Corvette DP, co-driven by his brother Jordan). Prototype points leader Richard Westbrook (No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Corvette DP, co-driven by Michael Valiante) finished third, holding off Ozz Negri in a ferocious battle that went all the way to the checkered flag. Westbrook and Valiante head to the season-ending Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta on Saturday, Oct. 3 with a six-point lead over both Action Express Racing teams, 279-273. Both Action Express cars were assessed costly penalties late in the event. Dane Cameron received a drive-through penalty in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP started by Eric Curran after contact with Prototype Challenge (PC) driver Renger van der Zande, and came back to finish fifth. Joao Barbosa served a 60-second penalty after contact with GT Daytona (GTD) driver Townsend Bell, and finished sixth in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP started by Christian Fittipaldi. See more of John Thawley's scintillating images from Mars International Raceway - aka The Circuit of The Americas - here.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Dirk Werner and Bill Auberlen (No. 25 BMW Team RLL/Michelin) won the GT Le Mans class on Saturday in the Lone Star Le Mans race at the Circuit of The Americas. It was their second GTLM victory of the 2015 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season. The No. 25 factory-backed BMW team is now second in the GTLM class standings, just three points behind leader Patrick Pilet (No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR) heading to Road Atlanta. The factory-prepared No. 911 and No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSRs looked as though they were on their way to their third consecutive 1-2 finish, but were forced to pit with three minutes remaining to refuel. Both cars were overtaken by Werner and Giancarlo Fisichella (No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari, co-driven by Pierre Kaffer). Nick Tandy was able to still place the No. 911 Porsche on the podium, finishing third with Pilet. Want more photos from COTA? Check out John Thawley's images here.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Colin Braun and Jon Bennett (No. 54 CORE autosport Flex-Box/Composite Resources ORECA FLM09) its second Prototype Challenge (PC) victory of the season, extending their points lead in the process. Braun took the checkered flag 25.664 seconds ahead of Bruno Junqueira (No. 11 RSR Racing AutoMaxUSA ORECA FLM09, co-driven by Chris Cumming). Check out John Thawley's terrific images here.

(John Thawley  ~  Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com  ~ 248.227.0110)
Texas native Ben Keating and co-driver Jeroen Bleekemolen (No. 33 Riley Motorsports ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R) won the GT Daytona (GTD) on Saturday. Michael Marsal and Markus Palttala (No. 97 Turner Motorsport Alverez & Marsal/IHG Rewards Club BMW Z4) finished second. Christopher Hasse and Dion von Moltke (No. 48 Castrol EDGE Audi R8 LMS) finished third. Both the No. 33 Viper and the No. 48 Audi were penalized in the first half-hour of the race for running the red light at the pit exit, but were able to make up time to finish on the podium. Haase and pole-sitting co-driver Dion von Moltke unofficially moved to second place in the GTD standings. Check out the John Thawley/Autoextremist gallery from the race here.

(Porsche)
The world’s largest gathering of Porsche race cars and drivers will take place at Laguna Seca (Mazda Raceway) when Porsche Cars North America hosts the Porsche Rennsport Reunion V, Sept. 25-27. Enthusiasts can expect to see an assemblage of most of the most historic Porsche racing machines in existence, from the nimble 550 Spyder of the mid-1950s through the mighty 917 (above) and 956/962 of the Seventies and Eighties to the highly successful RS Spyder of the last decade. Held about once every three years and last held in 2011 at Mazda Raceway, the Porsche Rennsport Reunion is considered to be one of the premier automotive events in the world. “The Monterey Peninsula is blessed to have the return of such a major manufacturer bringing tribute to their marque here at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca,” said Gill Campbell, CEO/General Manager of the road racing facility. “There are going to be more Porsches on the Monterey Peninsula than anywhere else in the world and we welcome each and every one of them.” How many Porsches? A total of 281 race cars classified into seven racing groups will run on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile, natural-terrain road course. In addition to the on-track activities, Porsche Rennsport Reunion V will also include 63 Porsches in the Chopard Heritage Display, 15 Porsches in the Legends of Le Mans garages, and more than 1,400 Porsches in 20 car corrals. That’s nearly 1,800 Porsches either on the track or on display in one place at one time. Not to mention the street cars that will be crawling all over the place.

(Porsche)
Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber (No. 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid) won the six-hour FIA World Endurance Championship race at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, the nightcap of the weekend of racing. Porsche also won the GTE-Pro class, with Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen (No. 91 Porsche 911 RSR) finishing ahead of Frederic Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet (No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR). Nissan won LMP2 and a Ferrari won GTE-Am.

(Porsche)

(Russell LaBounty/LAT Photo USA ©2015, courtesy of Toyota Racing)  
Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing FedEx Ground Toyota Camry) won the myAFibRisk.com 400 at the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, the opening round in NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Taking advantage of a "convenient" caution right at the end of the race, Hamlin won by .963-seconds over one of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Carl Edwards (No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Stanley Toyota Camry). Kurt Busch (No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Haas Automation Chevrolet SS) finished third. Get more NASCAR coverage of the race here.

(Photo by Chris Owens/IndyCar)

Scott Dixon enters the final turn during the 2015 RoboPong 200 at New Castle (Ind.) Motorsports Park. The New Zealander, who claimed his fourth Verizon IndyCar Series championship last month, teamed with fellow Verizon IndyCar Series driver Josef Newgarden to finish second in the 12th annual RoboPong 200 kart race at New Castle. Dixon and Newgarden finished 47 seconds behind the team of Jake Donald and Brandon Jones. They were the only two karts to complete all 200 laps in the endurance race that took nearly 3 hours, 45 minutes. Other Verizon IndyCar Series drivers competing included Ed Carpenter, Conor Daly, James Davison, Sage Karam and Will Power, plus 2015 Indy Lights champion Spencer Pigot and Pro Mazda runner-up Neil Alberico. The day before, Dixon went from fifth to first on the final lap to win the third annual Dan Wheldon Memorial Pro-Am Karting Challenge Honoring Justin Wilson on Sept. 19. "We definitely didn't have the fastest kart," said Dixon, who teamed with Andrew Drake, Michael Bizzell and Nathaniel Borden in the No. 9 Target-sponsored kart. "We just kind of kept it clean, working with a few guys and just got lucky there at the end. There were some fast karts there, but obviously they were worried about each other and didn't see us coming around the outside. It worked out pretty good." The race, shortened to a one-hour endurance event due to earlier rain, featured 17 four-person pro-am teams headed by veterans of the Verizon IndyCar Series and Mazda Road to Indy. The pro drivers each took the wheel for the all-important final 15 minutes. The biggest winners were the three charities that benefited from the event - The Dan Wheldon Foundation, Alzheimer's Association and Wilson Children's Fund, which will share the proceeds totaling nearly $50,000. 

(Global RallyCross Championship)
Red Bull Global Rallycross returns to Bushy Park Barbados on October 3-4 with a brand new course layout, which will be the longest and fastest (130 mph+) in series history. At 1.1208 miles long, it is the first track in series history to run for longer than a mile. Additionally there will be two new passing zones and a camelback jump that will see cars fly over two jumps in succession.