Jimmie Johnson Wins Daytona, Danica Top-10 Finish

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – This year’s Daytona 500 looked like it was going to be different.  With Danica Patrick achieving what no woman has achieved before, placing on the pole at the 500, and the introduction of the new sixth generation cars, we were looking for something different…. 

But, it turned out not to be that different at all.  As is the norm on the superspeedways, the strategy of the day was single file drafting, minimal passing and try to not be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Jimmie Johnson managed to be at the right place at the right time - at the front of the pack at the end of the race.  With some help from Denny Hamlin, Johnson took the lead with 10 laps to go and remained in front for the rest of the race.  Hamlin finished second followed ever-so-closely by Brad Keselowski.

Danica started strong from the front row along with Jeff Gordon.  Danica’s team owner, Tony Stewart was right behind her giving her the moral support she needed.  She really did a splendid job finishing in 8th place.  I think Danica showed the fans, and the other drivers, what she is capable of and she won’t just be a pretty face in a bikini (though I hope she doesn’t stop wearing them!).  The face of NASCAR will forever be different.

The C6 cars did not overwhelm us in their performance.  Though a superspeedway restrictor plate race doesn’t lend itself to showing off a cars attributes, Mark Martin thinks they are a strong step forward. “The racing was OK. The car is actually less stable in a big pack than what we've had. We had to keep ourselves separated a little bit more for good measure until it came down to the end -- and then nobody cared. When we get in these things next week (at Phoenix) they'll be stuck like glue and we'll be breaking track records. Kudos to the Gen 6 car.”  (Read more: 

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130224/nascar01/130229889#ixzz2LwzhzUzN 
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Other big news of the weekend was the crash at the Nationwide race on Saturday during which Kyle Larson’s 32 car flew into the fence separating the fans from the cars.  Unfortunately, some debris, including a wheel, from his car landed in the grandstand.  28-33 fans were injured, with 14 requiring a trip to the hospital.

The Rolex 24 - Ganassi Wins, Shank Fined

In the midst of spectacular Florida winter weather, the Rolex 24 Hour race was won by The Ganassi BMW-Riley piloted by Montoya/Pruett/Rojas.  The WTR DP Corvette of Angelelli/Hunter-Reay/Taylor came in second followed by the Michael Shank Racing Ford-Riley of Allmendinger/Ambrose/Negri.  The Action Express DP Corvette of Barbosa/Frisslle/Rockenfeller was fourth but was in contention for the win many times in a race with a total of 74 lead changes.

 In the grueling 24 hour race, the BMW-Rileys appeared to dominate.  Not only did they qualify 1-2 on the grid, had the BMW-Riley of Franchitti not dropped out with driveline issues at about the 20^th hour, it may also have been a 1-2 finish for Ganassi and company.  The BMW powered prototypes set the pace for the race.  But in 24 hours, being fast does not always mean a good finishing position.

In late-breaking news, Michael Shank Racing has been fined $35,000 dollars after their Ford-Riley was deemed to be illegal.  Apparently, the engine had mechanical adjustments resulting in “performance levels outside the documented maximums.”  GRAND-AM had earlier issued new “Balance of Performance adjustments” that limited the rpms for the Fords by 300 rpms, and increased the revs of the Chevrolets by 100 rpm with an added air restrictor.   Could it be that the Shank crew forgot to change the rev-limiter, or were they just upset with the changes?  The top-three finishing cars were impounded and are being sent to the NASCAR technical facility for further inspection.

In GT, it was an impressive performance by the Audi R8s.  The Alex Job Racing Weathertech entry placed first followed closely by the APR Motorsport R8.  It was an emotional win for Alex Job.  "I had no team orders," Job said. "My goal was to win, No. 1 for WeatherTech, No. 2 for AJR, and do the right job for both brands. I explained that to Porsche and I explained that to Audi. We went after it that way.” He continued, "It was a little anti-climactic at the end. We didn't finish 1-2. The Audi clearly had the speed and was positioned to win. We were on a different strategy with the other car and it didn't quite work."

The Ferrari 458 Italias placed 3rd and 4th with the Michelotto entry having the advantage.  The Magnus Porsche GT3 was the highest placing Porsche in 5th place.

The GX class pitted Porsche Cayman’s and turbo-diesel powered Mazda 6s.  The Mazdas in their debut had teething problems and retired early in the race giving the privately-developed Caymans a clear shot at podium finishes.

Burns Stainless wins prestigious SEMA Global Media Award, Best Product

LAS VEGAS, NV – Burns Stainless LLC has won the SEMA Global Media Award for Best Product.  A panel of 15 journalists from around the world reviewed the new and featured products at SEMA.  The Burns Stainless Merge collector was chosen by renowned international motorsports journalist Tony Tobias of Race Car Engineering.  “We are excited to win this award in our first showing at SEMA.  We are blessed to have our work recognized in such a prestigious event”

Also, check out this great video interview by Jessica Barton of PowerTV regarding Burns Stainless LLC.  

Rebellion Racing On Top At Petit Le Mans

 BRASELTON, GA – The 15th Petit Le Mans ran last weekend at the beautiful Road Atlanta circuit in the peach state. The 1,000 mile endurance race is the season finale for the American Le Mans series and the European Le Mans series. The overall victory went to Rebellion Racing in the P1 Toyota powered Lola B12/60 a full three laps ahead of the nearest competitor. The Lola was piloted by Neel Jani in the final laps with co-drivers Nicholas Prost and Andrea Bellichi. "I think the start was the toughest part of the race, at least for me," Jani said. "It was a big fight with the Muscle Milk car. He was always on my tail, putting a lot of pressure on me... It looked like he took a little bit too much risk, or something went wrong there. From then on, it was just about bringing the car home and not taking too many risks."

The favored Pickett Racing Muscle Milk entry of Graf/Luhr/Dumas met an unfortunate fate in the first hour of the race. The Green Hornet GTC-class Porsche driven by Peter LeSaffre was exiting the pits when the blindingly fast P1 car driven by Luhr contacted the slower Porsche sending both cars into spins. The point leading HPD ARX-03a was sidelined for 65 minutes repairing the damage from the collision. The Muscle Milk car needed to finish 70% of the race to be declared P1 champion, so the pressure was on for the pit crew to get the car together to complete the race. "Until the race was over, I tried not to think about the championship too much," Graf said. "We won a lot of races this year and certainly deserve it at Muscle Milk Pickett Racing. This is my first championship; I came in second for the last two years, so this is very rewarding for me." For the race, Pickett Racing ended up 33rd overall and 3rd place in P1.

The other podium spots went to Level 5 Motorsports with team owner Scott Tucker driving in both cars... The two P2 entries completed 391 laps with the 95 car of Diaz/Bouchut/Tucker placing second. The 055 car of Franchitti/Franchitti/Tucker placed third. Level 5 also won the P2 championship. "We had been through this before with our first PC championship where it came down to the last race," Tucker said. "We knew it was going to be tight this year and Conquest were great competitors. We knew what we had to do. Getting to 70 percent is no easy task. We had to take it easy there... My hats off to my teammates. It's a great day for us."

In GT, the mighty Ferrari 458 Italia of Extreme Speed Motorsports and piloted by Vilander/Van Overbeek/Sharp took the class win. Second place went to the Corvette C6 ZR1 of Taylor/Garcia/Magnussen followed by The BMW entry of Summerton/Auberlein/Muller. The Corvettes spent much of the race running close, but a steering problem in the No 4 Corvette dropped them to a 12th place finish. The Corvette Racing team of Milner and Gavin finished top in points in GT.

The innovative Nissan Deltawing designed and built by Dan Gurney’s All American Racing and financed by Don Panoz and powered by a turbocharged Nissan 4-cylinder engine ran in its own class and finished 5th overall. It was an impressive accomplishment made even more astonishing by the fact that it suffered a roll-over crash (VIDEO) during practice when a GTC-class Porsche ran into the Deltawing. The car was brilliantly rebuilt and completed the race without a hitch.

Matt Kenseth Avoids Melee to Win 'dega

TALLADEGA, AL - Tony Stewart maybe tried a bit too hard to hold the lead on the final lap at Talladega.  Feeling the pressure with Matt Kenseth passing on the outside and Michael Waltrip benefiting by a push from Rick Mears on the inside, Stewart came down to block Waltrip making contact and causing a 25 car pile-up on the final lap.  The wreck took Tony Stewart on a wild ride tumbling atop his fellow competitors.  Watching from Clint Bowyers dash cam, Stewart’s car came at him on its side as Bowyer T-boned him.  Stewart then spun on its side into Kasey Kahne before landing atop the # 5 car.

Benefitting from the melee, Matt Kenseth took the lead and was the first car to cross the finish-line and was declared the winner by NASCAR as he was in first place at the time of the accident.  "The track kept getting looser for me as the day went on and we never could get it tightened up," said Kenseth.  "On the last lap, that's why I chose the middle groove.  I knew I couldn't be on the bottom or I'd get spun out, so I had to run the middle or the top to try to make a move. . . .  I didn't know what was going happen and I'm still not sure what happened.  Somehow, I think Tony got turned and caused a big wreck."  Kenseth’s handling problem turned out to be a blessing.

Tony Stewart took full responsibility for the accident.  "I just screwed up," Stewart said.  "I turned down across -- I think it was Michael -- and crashed the whole field.  It was my fault, blocking to try to stay where I was at.  I take 100 percent of the blame.  I was trying to win the race, trying to stay ahead of Matt there, and Michael got a great run on the bottom, had a big head of steam.  When I turned down, I turned down across the right-front of his car.  It was just a mistake on my part, but it cost a lot of people a bad day because of it."

Another beneficiary of the pileup was Jeff Gordon.  Running in about 13^th place, Gordon was able to avoid contact and take second place followed by Kyle Busch.  "I don't know how we made it to the white flag," said Gordon.  "Coming through that tri- oval, being hit from behind, hitting the guy in front of me, you're sandwiched in between, basically.  There are cars doing the same thing on that side of you, cars on that side of them doing the same thing.  I really don't know how we made it to the white flag.  It was just insane.  But you're doing all you can to try to move your lane and hope that you make it back around.  In today's case, we did."

The first three spots in the Chase remain unchanged with Kieslowski, Johnson, and Hamlin on top.  Jeff Gordon benefits the most from Talladega moving up four places to the 6^th spot.  Stewart loses two spots to 7^th, while Dale Jr. suffered the most dropping 4 places to 11^th.

Stevenson Racing Win Grand-Am GT in Pratt and Miller Camaro GT.R

LIME ROCK, CT – The final Grand-Am championship race was completed at the famous 1.53 mi Lime Rock track in Connecticut.  The SunTrust DP entry piloted by Ricky Taylor and Max Angelleli took top honors as they have done in all three Grand-Am races at the track.  Second place went to Antonio Garcia and co-driver Richard Westbrook in the Spirit of Daytona DP Corvette.  The final podium spot went to the Gainsco Corvette of Fogarty/Gurney.  Even finishing in seventh place, the championship went to the BMW/Riley driven by Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas for Chip Ganassi Racing, “It’s great to be at Lime Rock Park and great to be champions,” offered Pruett.  “I’m happy for the whole Ganassi organization.  This was really an incredibly difficult and challenging season.  Today we changed it up, this is a difficult track, and we wanted to keep both drivers fresh.  I couldn’t be happier to get this championship won--we had to dig deep and the season really brought this team to a whole new level.  I enjoyed the challenge and it brought us together as a team.”

In GT, John Edwards and Robin Liddell put the Stevenson Motorsports Camaro GT.R on the top of the podium.  The Camaro clinched the lead when  Andy Lally in the Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 was forced to a late pit stop for fuel – dropping him to a sixth place finish.  Meanwhile, the APR Motorsport Audi R8 of Jim Norman and Dion von Moltke came in second followed by the No. 63 Ferrari 458 of Johannes van Overbeek and teammate Allessandro Balzan in third.  Ferrari also won the Manufacturer championship in their first year in Grand-Am.  “For sure I knew he was very close (on fuel) and we were expecting to have a stumble,” said Liddell, who won the 2011 LRP race with Stevenson.  “I just kept pushing as hard as I could.  We had a great scrap.  We were slightly quicker I think at the end when he was saving fuel or whether we were just better on the tires.  It was a hard race.  John (Edwards) did a great job with limited practice - he qualified the car on pole.  Stevenson Motorsports and Chevrolet with the Camaro, absolutely brilliant flawless season for these guys.  They've done such a great job.”

In ST competition, Pierre Kleinubing, driving the No. 31 Cybernation/i-Moto/Mazda/EMI Mazdaspeed 3, edged out the Andy Lally in Friday’s race.  “It was a tough battle out there, but if you want to earn a championship, there’s no better way than with Andy Lally and Billy Johnson behind you,” Kleinubing said.  “I think we did that today.  We got a little lucky with the rain.  Without the rain, we’d probably be a fifth or sixth-place finisher.”

I

Vettel Wins in Singapore

SINGAPORE – The Singapore Grand Prix was disappointing for Lewis Hamilton and McLaren.  The Brit was having a great weekend starting the race from the pole, but had to retire with a gearbox failure on lap 23 of 29.  Sebastien Vettel was positioned well to capitalize on Hamilton’s disappointment.  The Red Bull driver was in second place at the time, and decisively claimed the lead to the end.  Vettel also moves into second place in points.  "It looks better than before," Vettel said.  "We have a lot of races left, the car seems to be competitive, and we just have to use the momentum and keep pushing for these last races and see what happens."

Jensen Button claimed a strong second place and did apply pressure to Vettel, but the McLaren driver complained that his car was not “balanced” towards the end of the race.  He also verbalized some frustration with McLaren’s performance, especially Hamilton’s’ DNF.  "Seb didn't make any mistakes and we finished second," Button said.  "It's good to get some points on the board after the retirement at Monza.  It's disappointing for the team to have another DNF (did not finish).  We can't seem to do it with both cars and for sure that is something we need to work on for the remainder of the season."

Ferrari’s Alonso managed a third place finish, keeping him 27 points ahead of Vettel in the championship.  It is a good thing that Alonso knows how to make lemonade from lemons as Ferrari has been struggling recently.  The Spaniard was only able to manage a fifth place start, which he converted into a podium finish.  Regarding the forthcoming races, he said: “I think all this year we've been up and down for all the teams, and it's the same for us.  For sure, we need to improve the performance we saw here.  We struggled all weekend.  Positions five and 13 for our cars is not what we were hoping for, so we need to be in a better position in Suzuka.  Maybe Silverstone is also quite similar to Suzuka, and we were quite OK there, so hopefully we can repeat that kind of performance.”

Other interesting stories from Singapore include the 10-place penalty for the Japan GP Michael Schumacher “earned” and the strong fourth place finish by Force India’s Paul di Resta.  Schumacher was penalized by FIA stewards for a mid-race collision with Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne.  The German slammed into Vergne’s car on the race’s restart following the first safety-car period.  This is the second penalty Schumacher has received this year.  Di Resta drove a brilliant race leading to his highest place finish in F1.  Some believed he actually posed a threat to Alonso.  A strong finish for Force India is important as it earns its position in the high-stakes game of Formula 1.  Stay tuned for more from this burgeoning team.