JULY 16, 2025
Sunday, July 13, 2025 at 08:24AM 
“It is surprising me how many steps we are making so quickly as a team. Every time I jump in the car, I think, bloody hell, I like this.” Lynn confirmed that he was talking about a Le Mans 24 Hours victory when he referenced his and the team’s dreams. “Le Mans is the one and is a race where the car is usually at its best,” explained Lynn, who was classified fourth together with Stevens and Nato in the blue riband WEC round in June this season. Jota team founder Sam Hignett explained that the squad “got a monkey off our backs” by maintaining its record of winning in class or overall, every year in WEC for 11 seasons. It joined the WEC full time in LMP2 2016 under the G-Drive Racing banner, but had won the class at Le Mans in 2014 and the Spa round in '15 when it took part in the race as preparation for the French enduro. “The expectation is always to win in the first year and go for the championship in years two and three,” he said. Watch a video here. (Thank you to Motorsport.com)
Alex Palou hasn’t needed much luck in this historically strong NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, but he got some in a big way at Iowa Speedway on Sunday.
Palou was in third place late in the Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup when it came time for the final round of pit stops. Josef Newgarden and David Malukas brought their Chevrolet-powered cars in for fuel ahead of Palou, but Palou’s Honda was able to stay out longer.
Before the series points leader came for service, a caution flag waved for Colton Herta’s wall contact on the backstretch. That gave the advantage to Palou, who was able to stop under yellow as the other frontrunners did so under green. The race resumed with 11 laps remaining, and the driver of the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing DHL Honda kept the lead and held on for his seventh race win of the season.
“Speechless, honestly speechless,” Palou said in victory lane. “It’s been an unbelievable day, an unbelievable weekend. More than anything, what an incredible year for us. I really cannot believe it, honestly.”
Palou became the first driver since Al Unser Jr. in 1994 to win seven of the first 12 races of the season. Unser Jr. won only one more race that season; Palou has five more opportunities, which means he is within striking distance of the all-time record. In 1964, A.J. Foyt won 10 races. Six years later, Al Unser finished the 1970 season with the same number. Mario Andretti won nine races in 1969, and Unser Jr. is one of five drivers to end a season with eight race wins.
Palou led 194 of the 275 laps, the second-highest total of the weekend. Newgarden, a six-time winner at the track, led 232 laps in Saturday’s Synk 275 powered by Sukup despite finishing second to Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward.
The win completed the INDYCAR cycle for Palou, this year’s Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge champion. He has now won races on street circuits, road courses, superspeedways and now short ovals. And in doing so, he pushed his series lead to a seemingly insurmountable 129 points over O’Ward. Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood is third, 173 points in arrears.
Scott Dixon finished second in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing PNC Bank Honda to give Chip Ganassi’s organization its third 1-2 finish of the season. Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)
Pato O’Ward Outduels Josef Newgarden to Win Synk 275 powered by Sukup at Iowa Speedway on Saturday. In the 100th series start of O’Ward’s career, the Arrow McLaren driver overcame Josef Newgarden’s dominating performance in the Synk 275 powered by Sukup with late-race execution featuring a pair of restarts in the final 14 laps. O’Ward’s margin of victory in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet was .2352 of a second, the closest Iowa finish since 2007 when Dario Franchitti edged Marco Andretti by .0861 of a second. “Josef is the master at these races – he rules around here, so I knew that we had to be spot-on,” O’Ward said. “I was so precise on the in lap to beat him at his own game. We’ve had so many duels, Josef and I, but he has a percentage that comes out on top more. Today is the day that changes.” While O’Ward won his first race of the season, he denied Team Penske its first win of the year. One of the three of them had won eight of the past nine series races at Iowa, including doubleheader sweeps each of the past two years. McLaughlin had charged from the last starting position – 27th – after crashing in qualifying earlier in the day. Chevrolet had its best result of the season, finishing 1-2-3-4 and winning the first time this year. The second half of the weekend doubleheader will be Sunday afternoon with the Farm to Finish 275 powered by Sukup with coverage beginning at 1 p.m. ET on FOX, the FOX Sports app and the INDYCAR Radio Network. Watch the Race Highlights here. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)
All three class winners claimed their first IMSA wins in new classes at Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, which featured three IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes in action. The No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07 of PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron triumphed overall and in the headlining Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class following the two-hour, 40-minute race. The No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA of Tom Blomqvist and Daniel Goldburg was second ahead of Riley’s No. 74 ORECA of Gar Robinson and Felipe Fraga. The two GT classes came down to strategy, with DragonSpeed’s No. 81 Ferrari 296 GT3 and Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R (in GTD PRO) and Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 45 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 (GTD) gambling on longer final stints well north of 70 minutes to make it home to the finish, whereas the rest of the GTD PRO and GTD cars all made later final stops to ensure their clean run to the checkered flag. For both DragonSpeed and WTR, it’s their first wins in their respective categories of GTD PRO and GTD although they’ve won in other prototype classes before. In GTD PRO, Albert Costa and Giacomo Altoe shared the winning No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari, with the No. 4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner second and the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Laurin Heinrich and Klaus Bachler in third. In GTD, Trent Hindman and Danny Formal co-drove the winning No. 45 WTR Lamborghini with the championship-leading No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Philip Ellis and Russell Ward second ahead of the polesitting No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Parker Thompson and Jack Hawksworth. (Thank you to Tony DiZinno/IMSA Wire Service.
Editor's Note: This is our dearly departed billboard, which we had at Road America for several years. Peter gifted the phrase "America's National Park of Speed" to the track, which now uses it proudly in all of its communications. -WG
Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG
