Monday
Feb052018
FEBRUARY 7, 2018
Monday, February 5, 2018 at 09:43AM 
(Sam Bloxham/LAT/Formula E)
Jean-Eric Vergne (No. 25 TECHEETAH Renault Z.E. 17) held off his teammate Andre Lotterer (No. 18 TECHCHEETA Renault Z.E. 17) in a tense fight around the streets of Santiago, Chile, in the Santiago E-Prix to claim his second victory in Formula E and the first one-two finish in the history of the electric street racing series. The drivers came together in the closing stages of the race with a gaggle of cars waiting behind to pounce, ensuring a nail-biting finish to the inaugural E-Prix in the Chilean capital. TECHEETAH is now at the top of the team standings. Sebastien Buemi (No. 9 Renault e.dams Renault Z.E. 17) finished third. Next up for the Formula E series is a return to Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Mexico City E-Prix on March 3.
Jean-Eric Vergne (No. 25 TECHEETAH Renault Z.E. 17) held off his teammate Andre Lotterer (No. 18 TECHCHEETA Renault Z.E. 17) in a tense fight around the streets of Santiago, Chile, in the Santiago E-Prix to claim his second victory in Formula E and the first one-two finish in the history of the electric street racing series. The drivers came together in the closing stages of the race with a gaggle of cars waiting behind to pounce, ensuring a nail-biting finish to the inaugural E-Prix in the Chilean capital. TECHEETAH is now at the top of the team standings. Sebastien Buemi (No. 9 Renault e.dams Renault Z.E. 17) finished third. Next up for the Formula E series is a return to Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Mexico City E-Prix on March 3.
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)See a gallery of John Thawley's scintillating images from the Daytona 24 Hour here.
(Race of Champions)
Thirteen-time Formula 1 grand prix winner David Coulthard won the Race of Champions trophy for a second time. Coulthard, who also took the ROC Champion of Champions crown in 2014, prevailed after a win over double World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg in the Grand Final. "Mr Le Mans" Tom Kristensen and 2017 World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristoffersson made it as far as the semi-finals. René Rast and Timo Bernhard were the ROC Nations Cup winners for Team Germany.
Thirteen-time Formula 1 grand prix winner David Coulthard won the Race of Champions trophy for a second time. Coulthard, who also took the ROC Champion of Champions crown in 2014, prevailed after a win over double World Rallycross Champion Petter Solberg in the Grand Final. "Mr Le Mans" Tom Kristensen and 2017 World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristoffersson made it as far as the semi-finals. René Rast and Timo Bernhard were the ROC Nations Cup winners for Team Germany.
(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Scott Pruett, 57, retired at the end of the Daytona 24 Hour. As his team’s No. 15 3GT Racing Lexus RC F Lexus crossed the line, the five-time Rolex 24 overall winner offered the waiting photographers a thumbs up photo for the record books, turned back to embrace his team owner Paul Gentilozzi, shook hands with a long line of crew and sponsors crowding the pit, then he jumped over the wall, took his wife Judy’s hand and helped her over too. The couple posed together for a photograph with the famous Daytona International Speedway finish line in the background then they shared a long kiss and embrace. “I'm not leaving, but I certainly am going to open up a new chapter,’’ Pruett said Sunday afternoon. “And I think last night I did all my driving, the majority of my driving was from about 8 o’clock last night to about 7 o’clock this morning, with maybe one or two out‑of‑the‑cars in between. “So I'll remember the darkness of Daytona and certainly all the craziness that happens at nighttime, along with a little rain. And those are all great, fond, wonderful memories.” His former Ganassi team manager Mike Hull likened Pruett to the great Dan Gurney, who passed away two weeks ago. Hull praised Pruett’s willingness and ability to solve problems in different and more innovative ways than what people may be accustomed to – to succeed beyond the normal way of doing things. The mindset and physical talent resulted in 41 sports car victories driving for the Ganassi team alone – almost a quarter of Ganassi’s 200-win total in major league auto racing. “Scott Pruett is a driver and consummate professional,’’ Hull said. “He elevates the entire team in the process of what he does. He makes every person on the team better. “He turned on the lights and turned off the lights when he showed up to work at Chip Ganassi Racing for the entire time he was with us. But he did more than that. He realized that in sports car racing, with a parallel teammate, your teammate had to carry 50 percent of the load so what he did was mentor every teammate that he had to make them much better than they were when they arrived at CGR. He worked with the guys, the engineers, team manager, the person who worked on the front of his race car. He worked with each person, not criticizing each person and that’s a large difference. That’s his brand.” Pruett’s versatility defined him in the sport. He raced in sports cars, NASCAR, Indy cars and even won races against the very best in IROC (International Race of Champions), including a victory against the likes of Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Al Unser and Al Unser Jr. on the Daytona high banks. And his five sports car championships and Rolex 24 trophy hoists – 10 in all when counting class victories - will remain one of the most impressive feats in modern-day racing. Pruett won four of his five Rolex 24 races with Ganassi. “I think he was just totally committed to the sport,’’ Ganassi said. “He was all in from an early age about racing and he wasn’t worth billions of dollars, he just persevered as a driver for many years. We’re all better people to have experienced his career in our lifetime." “I think it's going to be in a week or two it's going to hit, especially as we look towards going to the test at Sebring and the race at Sebring -- and I won't be packing my bags and going,’’ Pruett said. “But the first thing is, more than anything else, just toast this incredible career with my wife and family and just look back and take a moment to reflect on just how wonderful. And like I said, the good Lord's blessed me with an incredible career doing all this great stuff -- and just taking a moment to savor that. Because typically I'm that guy with my head down just going forward, never looking back. Afraid it might catch up to me. Now it's kind of caught up to me, and I might like to sit on the porch, have a glass of wine and look back a little bit.”
Scott Pruett, 57, retired at the end of the Daytona 24 Hour. As his team’s No. 15 3GT Racing Lexus RC F Lexus crossed the line, the five-time Rolex 24 overall winner offered the waiting photographers a thumbs up photo for the record books, turned back to embrace his team owner Paul Gentilozzi, shook hands with a long line of crew and sponsors crowding the pit, then he jumped over the wall, took his wife Judy’s hand and helped her over too. The couple posed together for a photograph with the famous Daytona International Speedway finish line in the background then they shared a long kiss and embrace. “I'm not leaving, but I certainly am going to open up a new chapter,’’ Pruett said Sunday afternoon. “And I think last night I did all my driving, the majority of my driving was from about 8 o’clock last night to about 7 o’clock this morning, with maybe one or two out‑of‑the‑cars in between. “So I'll remember the darkness of Daytona and certainly all the craziness that happens at nighttime, along with a little rain. And those are all great, fond, wonderful memories.” His former Ganassi team manager Mike Hull likened Pruett to the great Dan Gurney, who passed away two weeks ago. Hull praised Pruett’s willingness and ability to solve problems in different and more innovative ways than what people may be accustomed to – to succeed beyond the normal way of doing things. The mindset and physical talent resulted in 41 sports car victories driving for the Ganassi team alone – almost a quarter of Ganassi’s 200-win total in major league auto racing. “Scott Pruett is a driver and consummate professional,’’ Hull said. “He elevates the entire team in the process of what he does. He makes every person on the team better. “He turned on the lights and turned off the lights when he showed up to work at Chip Ganassi Racing for the entire time he was with us. But he did more than that. He realized that in sports car racing, with a parallel teammate, your teammate had to carry 50 percent of the load so what he did was mentor every teammate that he had to make them much better than they were when they arrived at CGR. He worked with the guys, the engineers, team manager, the person who worked on the front of his race car. He worked with each person, not criticizing each person and that’s a large difference. That’s his brand.” Pruett’s versatility defined him in the sport. He raced in sports cars, NASCAR, Indy cars and even won races against the very best in IROC (International Race of Champions), including a victory against the likes of Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Al Unser and Al Unser Jr. on the Daytona high banks. And his five sports car championships and Rolex 24 trophy hoists – 10 in all when counting class victories - will remain one of the most impressive feats in modern-day racing. Pruett won four of his five Rolex 24 races with Ganassi. “I think he was just totally committed to the sport,’’ Ganassi said. “He was all in from an early age about racing and he wasn’t worth billions of dollars, he just persevered as a driver for many years. We’re all better people to have experienced his career in our lifetime." “I think it's going to be in a week or two it's going to hit, especially as we look towards going to the test at Sebring and the race at Sebring -- and I won't be packing my bags and going,’’ Pruett said. “But the first thing is, more than anything else, just toast this incredible career with my wife and family and just look back and take a moment to reflect on just how wonderful. And like I said, the good Lord's blessed me with an incredible career doing all this great stuff -- and just taking a moment to savor that. Because typically I'm that guy with my head down just going forward, never looking back. Afraid it might catch up to me. Now it's kind of caught up to me, and I might like to sit on the porch, have a glass of wine and look back a little bit.”