APRIL 12, 2017

(Photo by Chris Owens/INDYCAR)
James Hinchcliffe (No. 5 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Arrow Honda) recorded his first Verizon IndyCar Series win since his near-fatal incident at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway two years ago by winning the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday. Hinchcliffe finished 1.4940 seconds ahead of Sebastien Bourdais (No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Trench Shoring Honda). "To finally do what was goal No. 1 when we set out at the start of the season, to get back into winner's circle, to do so as early in the season as we have, as convincingly as we did, was great," said Hinchcliffe, who recorded the fifth victory of his seven-year Verizon IndyCar Series career on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit. "After Indy and personally me for Toronto, this is the biggest one to win," Hinchcliffe said. Josef Newgarden (No. 2 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet) finished third, earning his best Long Beach result and first top-three finish since joining Team Penske this season. Scott Dixon (No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing NTT Data Honda) was fourth, Simon Pagenaud (No. 1 Team Penske Menards Chevrolet) charged from last on the 21-car starting grid to finish fifth, and Bourdais' teammate, Ed Jones (No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Boy Scouts of America Honda), placed sixth to notch his second straight top-10 finish to start his already impressive rookie season. Bourdais, the winner of last month's season opener at St. Petersburg, now has a 19-point lead over Hinchcliffe in the championship after two of 17 races.

(www.crash.net)
Lewis Hamilton (No. 44 Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team) won Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix to draw level with Sebastian Vettel (No. 5 Scuderia Ferrari) in the drivers' championship. Vettel finished second. It was Hamilton's fifth Chinese Grand Prix win and his 54th Grand Prix victory. "Today was very, very tough for us all," Hamilton said. "I went out on the inters initially on the laps to the grid, and then I tried the slick which was impossible. We all started on inters and it was very, very hard because there were dry patches everywhere, mostly dry. There were a couple of corners which were wet, so trying to keep the car on the track and look after the tires at the same time was very, very tough." Max Verstappen (No. 33 Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer RB13) finished third after charging from sixteenth, passing nine cars on the first lap. "A great job by Sebastian and this young dude here (Max Verstappen)," Hamilton continued. "I just want to say a big thank you to this team, I'm just so tremendously proud of everyone, my own personal team and staff and that, and my team who work so hard back at the factory to make it possible."

(Getty Images/NASCAR)
Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Lowe's Chevrolet) passed Joey Logano (No. 22 team Penske Shell Pennzoil Ford) for the lead on Lap 318 of 334 and pulled away for his first victory of the season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at the newly repaved and reconfigured Texas Motor Speedway. It was Johnson's seventh win at the 1.5-mile track and the 81st of his career. Kyle Larson (No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Credit One Bank Chevrolet) was second and Logano finished third. Ryan Blaney (No. 21 Wood Brothers Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford) led a race high 148 laps but finished 12th overall after sliding through his pit box on the final stop on Lap 300 and losing track position. Watch a video recap here.

(www.crash.net)
Maverick Vinales (No. 25 Movistar Yamaha Grand MotoGP) made it two MotoGP wins in a row this season by winning the MotoGP Argentina at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit on Sunday. Vinales took over at the front after early leader Marc Marquez crashed out at Turn 2 and the Spaniard went on to take the victory by almost three seconds from teammate Valentino Rossi (No. 46 Movistar Yamaha Grand MotoGP). The 22-year-old has become the first Yamaha rider since Wayne Rainey in 1990 to win the opening two races of the season and Vinales says he is "living in a dream" during a stunning start to his career as a factory Yamaha rider, which saw him win first time out in Qatar in March. “It's like being in a dream and it's so incredible. I have to say thanks to the team because they are working hard in the box and it's not only my victory, it is the victory of the team because they did great. In these two races we have felt strong from the beginning on the Friday already from the first lap and that's very important,” Vinales added. Cal Crutchlow (No. 35 LCR Honda) finished third. Next up for MotoGP is the Circuit of The Americas on April 23.

(Corvette Racing)
The iconic hairpin turn at the Long Beach street circuit played havoc with the finish of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM class race. A multi-car incident in the hairpin on the final lap of Saturday’s 100-minute BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach had the entire racetrack blocked as race-leading Antonio Garcia approached the turn in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R ahead of Tommy Milner (No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R) and Richard Westbrook (No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT). Garcia attempted to maneuver around the outside of the incident, while Milner opted for the inside lane. Moments later, the No. 52 Prototype managed to get going and drive away after the incident, opening the inside lane. With Garcia still blocked by cars on the outside, Milner passed through the incident scene and headed for the checkered flag, with Westbrook following close behind. “I tried going to the outside in the same situation last time and lost spots,” Milner said. “This time I went on the inside. I wasn’t even full speed (after the incident); I was cruising thinking we were under caution. Then I saw the green flags and the guys on the radio said we were P1. “Racing is a lot about luck in a lot of cases. I don’t think I’ve seen it play out this way for me or for anyone else. It’s good to just get some points for me and for Chevrolet and Corvette.” When all was said and done, Milner and co-driver Oliver Gavin were the GTLM class winners, with Westbrook and co-driver Ryan Briscoe in second and Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor (No. 912 Porsche GT Team) finishing third. Garcia and co-driver Jan Magnussen – who qualified on the GTLM class pole - fell to fifth at the finish, behind Bill Auberlen and Alexander Sims (No. 25 BMW Team RLL). Milner and Gavin, the 2016 WeatherTech Championship GTLM champions, picked up their first victory of the season, but it was the second in a row for Corvette Racing, which won last month’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida with the No. 3 team. Overall, Corvette Racing now has 104 victories.

(IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship)
Jordan Taylor (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi V.R, co-driven by his brother, Ricky Taylor) made it three wins in a row for the team by winning the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach overall on Saturday. Jordan was at the wheel on the final stint and got a run on race-leader Ryan Dalziel (No. 2 Tequila Patrón Nissan DPi co-driven by Scott Sharp) down the front stretch with five minutes remaining and utilized lapped GT traffic to pull ahead to a 6.349 second victory. The win was also the Taylors’ third consecutive on the streets of Long Beach. Jonathan Bomarito and co-driver Tristan Nunez (No. 55 Mazda Motorsports Mazda DPi) finished third.

(Mercedes-AMG)
Cooper MacNeil and Gunnar Jeannette (No. 50 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3) won the the BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach to win the GT Daytona (GTD) class as the team played its race strategy to perfection. After a 13th-place class qualifying performance on Friday, the team elected to start the race on fresh tires, moving the No. 50 Mercedes-AMG GT3 to the back of the field. When the second of the race’s five full-course cautions came out after 18 minutes, MacNeil brought the car into the pits for service and handed over the controls to Jeannette. Gunnar then inched his way forward through the field as others made their stops, taking the lead in GTD at the 47-minute mark in the race. He stayed there for the rest of the way, winning by 7.492 seconds over teammate Jeroen Bleekemolen (No. 33 Team Riley Mercedes-AMG GT3 co-driven by Ben Keating). It was the second consecutive WeatherTech Championship win for Mercedes-AMG, which earned its first victory in the series last month at Sebring, and was the manufacturer’s first 1-2 sweep. Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan (No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3) finished third in GTD. Next up for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is the Advance Auto Parts Sports Car Showdown at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, May 6.

(John Thawley ~ Motorsports Photography @ www.johnthawley.com ~ 248.227.0110)
Ernie Francis, Jr. (No. 98 Buoniconti Fund/ Beta Tools Ford Mustang) won the TA class as the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli visited Homestead-Miami for Round 2 of the 2017 Trans Am Championship last weekend. The win marked the first in the TA class for Francis, Jr., after stepping up from the TA4 class where he won three consecutive championships. Francis was able to put together the complete performance in front of friends and family — shooting out into the lead on the first turn of the race and never looking back. The win is the 24th in Trans Am, across all classes, for Francis, who is still only 19 years old. “This couldn’t be more special,” said Francis. “Winning our first TA race, on our home track, in the brand new car — I can’t even explain it.  The car ran perfectly every lap out there; we were able to pull a gap out front over everyone else. When the restarts came, we still had plenty of car underneath us. The Pirelli tires were good the entire race; we had the pace in the car the entire time.  When we needed it, we had the speed; and that helped us win the race.” RJ Lopez (No. 06 Republica Brewing/ACP Chevrolet Corvette) was second and Daniel Urrutia, Jr. (No. 13 Ferrea Racing Components Chevrolet Corvette) finished third. Check out John Thawley's spectacular images from the Trans-Am weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway here.

(Pirelli World Challenge Series photos)
Alvaro Parente (No. 9 K-RAX Racing McLaren 650S) continued his impressive street racing performance Sunday in Round 3 of the Pirelli World Challenge Grand Prix presented by Optima Batteries with another Long Beach GT victory despite a race stoppage on lap ten of the 31-lap contest because of flooding between turns eight and nine due to a fire hydrant incident on a Long Beach side street. Parente, a six-time winner in 2016 and the GT series defending drivers champion, started on the pole Sunday at the 1.968-mile, 11-turn street circuit near the Long Beach harbor and never looked back to secure his second 2017 PWC GT win. Patrick Long (No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R) finished second and Bryan Sellers (No. 6 K-RAX Racing McLaren 650S) was third. James Sofronas, a Long Beach winner in PWC in 2009 and 2013, also captured the GTA (non-professional) class Sunday with a solid drive in his No. 14 GMG Porsche 911 GT3 R over six-time 2016 race winner Michael Schein (No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R) and PWC newcomer John Potter (No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS). Sofronas also recorded the quickest race lap in the GTA category Sunday at 1:20.145 (88.42 m.p.h.), re-setting the race lap record for the class.