Porsche 1-2 at 24 Heures du Mans!!

LE MANS, FRANCE – It was a special day for Porsche as they claimed a 1-2 finish at the 83^rd 24 Heures du Mans.  The past 5 years have been tough to all but Audi who have unmercifully dominated the grueling overnight battle.  The R18 e-tron LMP1 racers this year were no match for the Porsche 919, both in speed and durability.  After 395 laps, the No. 19 Porsche 919 of Hulkenburg/Tandy/Bamber was at the finish line first giving Porsche its first victory since 1998, with two rookie drivers no less! Ok, rookie may not be totally adequate as Hulkenburg is a current Formula One driver. 

After 9 hours, the Porsche had a firm grip on the number one position, but they knew it was still a long way to the finish.  Following veteran Tandy’s overnight turn behind the wheel, the gap was considerable over the No 7 and No 9 Audis.  The race was particularly competitive with the Audis and Porsches running in “qualifying trim” for much of the race.  "Our goal was to have one car on the podium, but a 1-2 victory is amazing. I am very proud of what we achieved. We had a flawless race with a great pace and we didn't make any mistake. The last lap was a bit weird because it was drizzling and people got nervous in the garage. After the finish line, it is amazing to see thousands and thousands of people cheering up. I am very happy that we've done it."

The 17 Porsche 919 of Bernhard/Hartley/Webber finished one lap down, though it was the fastest car on the track in the early hours of the race.  A stop and go penalty dropped them to fourth.  The third Porsche 919 could only manage a 9^th place finish and were struggling with braking stability early in the race.  Timo Bernhard quipped " A victory would have been a dream, but now it’s a double victory, so it’s very special for the whole team.”

The Le Mans race also saw a Corvette Racing GTE-Pro victory for Corvette Racing as Gavin/Milner/Taylor piloted their C7.R to the teams first Le Mans victory since 2011.  The No. 51 AP Corse Ferrari 458 Italia gave the Corvette a run for the money until a gearbox issue sent the Ferrari to the garage. "It’s almost a fairy tale story” commented Olivier Gavin, “the way it turned out. We started the week with the No. 63 having its issues and not being able to start the race. The way the team came together and led us into the race and enabled us to have this fantastic result today is amazing.”

Monaco and Belle Isle

It was a disappointing day for Lewis Hamilton at Monaco.  After claiming the pole for the first time at the fabled track in Monte Carlo, Hamilton had his “usual” lead, an amazing 15 seconds over teammate Rosberg.  However, on lap 64, the safety car was called out following Max Verstappen’s contact with Romain Grosjean while trying to overtake the Lotus, and spinning out of control.  Following the accident, Hamilton’s pit crew made a crucial mistake and called him into the pits.  Nico and Sebastian Vettel stayed out dropping Hamilton to third place.  He despondent brit commented "I can't really express the way I feel at the moment, so I won't even attempt to".  "I thought Nico had pitted, so I thought the guys behind were pitting. I came in with full confidence that the others had done the same."

Understanding that this race was essentially given to him, this is Rosberg’s third straight victory at Monaco and his second this season. "I know that I got lucky today, so I'll just enjoy the moment now," the German said. "But I need to work hard because Lewis was a bit stronger today."

The youthful 17 year old Max Verstappen qualified an impressive 10^th in the race, but has met with criticism from his fellow drivers following his bonehead passing move in the race.  Felipe Massa, whose race was snatched away by first lap contact with Hulkenberg, commented on Verstappen’s experience, “It shows that maybe experience counts in F1, and I think to teach this type of accident they need to control better, because it was very dangerous so it was lucky that he was not hurt because he could have been very hurt with what happened. To be honest, he was not in the position to overtake, he was not even near to go inside, he was behind, so to be honest, it was too much what happened.”

Following a crazy 30 days in May at Indy, the IndyCar series traveled to the Belle Isle track in Detroit for a two race series.  The first race, scheduled for two hours, was cut 30-minutes short by rain.  The Andretti Motorsport team gambled on the weather by keeping their two drivers, Marco Andretti and Munoz out on dry tires longer before the threat of rain.  The gamble payed off, and the 23-year-old Carlos Munoz had a substantial lead when the caution came out with Marco in second position.  This was the Columbian driver’s first IndyCar win.

On Sunday, race two at Belle Isle was won by Sebastien Bourdais who led the final 18 laps of the race.  The cold, rainy weather made it difficult for the drivers and fans, but the race went on.  There were several top-contenders that crashed out including Scott Dixon who was booted out by teammate Charlie Kimball.  Will Power also wrecked on lap 65 making contact with teammate Helio Castroneves.  The latter accident brought out the red flag to clear debris from the track, leaving a short 3 minute and 24 second session to the finish.  Bourdais won the drag race to turn one on the restart and the victory.  “It’s a heck of a feeling after we couldn’t get it more wrong yesterday,” Bourdais said. “We did everything wrong yesterday and everything right today.”  The benefits of a double-header.

In other IndyCar news, closure panels on the rear wheel guards have been mandated for the final three superspeedway races.  The requirements for the panels came after three cars went airborne during the Indianapolis 500 practice sessions.  The panels are designed to block airflow through the rear wheel guards minimizing lift.  Pretty soon these cars will have full bodywork and we may see the end of open wheel racing at this level.  Who would have thought. 

Thrilling Audi Win at the 6 Hours of Silverstone: Mercedes No. 1 in China

SILVERSTONE, ENGLAND – The Audi R18 e-tron Quatro of Fassler/Lotterer/Trelyer fought a thrilling battle to victory at the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.  On Sunday, Hamilton and Mercedes Benz said no to Ferrari claiming the podium at the Shanghai Grand Prix. 

The FIA opener saw a fight to the finish with the Porsche 919 hybrid of Jani/Leeb?Dumas and Toyota TS040 Hybrid of Beumi/Davidson/Nakajima finishing within 15 seconds of each other.  The Porsche of Jani made an epic fight for the lead in the final 15 minutes of the race following a penalty assessed against the Audi driver Fessler for “abusing track limits” in turn 18.  The stop and go penalty was not enough for the Porsche to get ahead.  “As often as Neel (Jani) and I overtook each other”, commented Fassler, “ is something that I’m sure has rarely ever been seen in a sports car race. It was a very fair fight that was fantastic for both of us. “

In Formula One, Mercedes showed that they were not ready to roll over after the Ferrari win at Malaysia.  The Chinese Grand Prix saw Lewis Hamiton to reclaim the top spot on the podium followed by his frustrated team mate Nico Rosberg.  Ferrari was still a formidable player ending with the final podium spot with Kimi Raikkonen following in 4^th place.  Mercedes was ready for Ferrari this time with both drivers running a very effective tire conservation strategy, after the Ferrari showed hom easy it was on tires.  “We knew that the Ferraris were very, very good with their long-run pace,” commented Hamilton, “and also looking after their tires so today the real goal was to manage the tires and my goal was to look after my car"

It appears that Mercedes was so concentrated on beating Ferrari, that they caused some tension between their drivers.  Team mate Nico Rosberg however had some firm words for Hamilton, “It's just now interesting to hear from you, Lewis, that you were just thinking about yourself with the pace in front and unnecessarily that was compromising my race," he said.  Hamilton replied that "It's not my job to look after Nico's race. My job's to manage the car and bring the car home as fast as possible," he said. "If Nico wanted to get by, he could have tried."

Mercedes team boss, Toto Wolff was quick to defuse the controversy calling for a team debrief following the race.  “It was a good debrief, because it was a positive debrief,” he said. “There wasn't any animosity. There is much more positive today. We didn't do any mistake in the race. Everybody was in good spirits.”  

Wolff continued “Lewis was the car in the lead, he was controlling the pace. We were putting the option tire on, although we were actually expecting to put the prime on, so our expected race would have been option-prime-prime. Also because we learned the lesson from Malaysia, we thought we might run into trouble with the option. And then we found out that our option was actually holding on much better than we expected, and much better than Ferrari.”

Will the tension in the Mercedes camp provide Ferrari some advantage as the season continues?  We will have to keep tuned in, as the 2015 season is turning out to be quite exciting.

Ferrari is Back, Ferrari is back! Fantastico, Fantastico!

SEPANG, MALAYSIA – The excitement was evident on the Ferrari radios following Sebastien Vettel’s win for Ferrari at the Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix.  “Yes, yes, great drive”, shouted Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene, “… Numero Uno is back… Ferrari is back, Ferrari is back, fantastico, fantastico.”  And the jubilant German responded with a “Woooooohoooooooooo… grazie, grazie!”   It had been a long two years without a win for Ferrari.  It had also been a long spell for Vettel, not having won a race since Brazil in 2013.  It appears that Mercedes will have a formidable opponent in the new Ferrari with Vettel in the number one seat.

What is most surprising is that Vettel was the clear victor finishing over 8.5 sec ahead of the two fast running Silver Arrows of Hamilton and Rosberg.  “We won the race fair and square” exclaimed Vettel while interviewed on the podium.  Hamilton had led from the pole and looked to be very fast as expected.  The critical call came early in the race when the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson spun on the fourth lap, bringing out a caution.  The Mercedes drivers pitted to switch from the medium compound tires they started on for some hard rubber to go the distance.  Ferrari kept Vettel out of the pits, betting on the fact the 2015 Ferrari was easier of tires and could finish with only two stops, against the Mercedes three.  The bet paid off.

The second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen did not fair as well following a first lap tangle with Felipe Nasr shredding the rubber of the Maranello stead and forcing Kimi to 15^th place.  But the strength of the red cars was evident as he was able to recover with a fourth place win.  Vettel’s former Red Bull team suffered a poor showing, being lapped by the first place Ferrari.

It was truly exciting to see the excitement on Vettel’s face.  It is hard to imagine that a four-time champion would be so emotional, but I guess it would be hard for a four-time champion to hit a two year winless drought.  I was also taken back by Vettel’s comments recollecting the day he came to Maranello as a child when his hero Michael Schumacher was winning races.  If only Michael could have seen this win. #KeepFightingMichael

Blackdog Speedshop Is Top Dog

AUSTIN, TX – Blackdog Speed Shop driver Michael Cooper finished the weekend with a race win in the rain Sunday and Top-10 finish Saturday at Circuit of The Americas. This marks Cooper’s first career GTS class win in the Pirelli World Challenge series.

Cooper finished Saturday’s race P8, his first race in the #10 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro
Z/28.R, after starting in the P12 position. Teammate and boss Tony Gaples moved up from P14 to finish 50 seconds behind Cooper and score his first Top-10 of the season.

Cooper began the second race of the weekend on Sunday from the P9 position before executing a series of precision passes in the rain moving him up to P2 on the first lap of the race. This earning him both the Best Start and Hard Charger awards. CoopeAUSTIN, TX – Blackdog Speed Shop driver Michael Cooper finished the weekend with a race win in the rain Sunday and Top-10 finish Saturday at Circuit of The Americas. This marks Cooper’s first career GTS class win in the Pirelli World Challenge series.

Cooper finished Saturday’s race P8, his first race in the #10 Blackdog Speed Shop Chevrolet Camaro
Z/28.R, after starting in the P12 position.

Teammate Tony Gaples moved up from P14 to finish 50 seconds behind Cooper and score his first Top-10 of the season.

Cooper began the second race of the weekend on Sunday from the P9 position before executing a series of precision passes in the rain moving him up to P2 on the first lap of the race. This earning him both the Best Start and Hard Charger awards. Cooper slotted in to P1 on the second lap of the race and held that position all the way to the checkered flag.

“The guys at Blackdog Speed Shop did an outstanding job building the new cars for this season, they ran flawlessly,” exclaimed an excited Cooper. “I’m very proud to have been behind the wheel for Blackdog’s first victory in the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R. Racing in the rain on Sunday was something I had been hoping for and it paid off when we crossed the finish line first! Getting my first TS win early in the season takes some pressure off moving forward.”

“Rain is the great equalizer,” said Gaples who started Sunday’s race P16. Gaples got up as high as P10 to finish the race P13 after contact from another driver.

“It was great being back in the car for another season,” said Gaples. “Michael did a great job in both races. We’re looking forward to St. Pete!”

Watch rounds 1 and 2 of Pirelli World Challenge GTS racing on CBS Sports Network Saturday March 14 at 10 AM central time. Racing continues in St. Petersburg, FL March 28th and 29th!r slotted in to P1 on the second lap of the race and held that position all the way to the checkered flag.

“The guys at Blackdog Speed Shop did an outstanding job building the new cars for this season, they ran flawlessly,” exclaimed an excited Cooper. “I’m very proud to have been behind the wheel for Blackdog’s first victory in the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R. Racing in the rain on Sunday was something I had been hoping for and it paid off when we crossed the finish line first! Getting my first GTS win early in the season takes some pressure off moving forward.”

“Rain is the great equalizer,” said Gaples who started Sunday’s race P16. Gaples got up as high as P10 to finish the race P13 after contact from another driver.“It was great being back in the car for another season,” said Gaples. “Michael did a great job in both races. We’re looking forward to St. Pete!”

Source http://www.blackdogspeedshop.com/cooper-wins-at-circuit-of-the-americas-race-weekend-gaples-finishes-top-10/#

"To Me It's Pretty Special" - Roger Penske

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - The 2015 NASCAR season is off to a very unpredictable start.   Even before the Sunday season opener, Kurt Busch’s 2015 aspirations were dashed when NASCAR imposed an indefinite suspension following allegations that Busch tried strangling his ex-girlfriend.  Brother Kyle Busch is also out indefinitely following a leg injury in Saturday’s pre-season race at Daytona.  Finally, under-dog Joey Logano won his first Daytona 500 under a yellow flag following an exciting green, white, yellow, checkered finish.

NASCAR legend, Jeff Gordon, sat on the pole for what may be his final Daytona start, following his announcement that he will retire after this season.  Jeff’s team mate Jimimie Johnson started  at his side with defending Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr in the third position.  Gordon looked strong through the whole race leading six-times and race-best, 87 lead laps.  The four-time Cup champion commented following the race, "for some reason I'm still smiling and enjoyed every moment of it.  I obviously enjoyed the first half (of the race) more than the second half. … This is an amazing week and an amazing day. I'm just in this different place that is so foreign yet so incredible, just soaking it all in. 

The last several laps of the race were probably some of the most exciting in Daytona history, with the lead 18 cars within a second of each other running 3 wide all around the track.  Jeff’s chances were dashed on the final lap when he got turned by Austin Dillon  and wrecked causing the race to finish under a caution flag.  Gordon’s comment regarding that last lap “I'm not going to miss those final laps. That was just crazy."

Jimmie Johnson made an amazing comeback following a lap-87 pass-through penalty for having a crew member over the wall too soon.  Johnson, and Crew Chief Chad Knaus were perplexed by the penalty.  “We don’t know what we did wrong “exclaimed a frustrated Knaus.  After the penalty, Johnson fought valiantly to actually lead the race in the final laps.  Johnson didn’t have quite enough at the end, and had to settle for a 5^th place finish.  But it was such a close race, it could easily have fallen into Jimmie’s hand.

It was actually pretty surprising that Logano was able to end up on top.  The Fords did not run especially fast on Sunday, nor in the Duel races.  But it is not necessarily HOW fast you are, but WHEN you are fast.  And Joey was fast at the end.  Getting a push from Boyer on the final restart, the 22 car sling shot to the front and was able to keep Kevin Harvick at bay as he crossed the finish line making Joey the second youngest driver to win at Daytona.  "We knew what we had to do and had a really fast car and just need to make sure I didn't get snookered on the restarts," Logano explained. "I can't explain how cool this is. … It feels just like the way you dream it. This is better than Disney World in here."

You know how important a win this is when the Captain, Roger Penske, says “to me it’s pretty special.”

Race Cars in Winter? Must Be Pomona!

POMONA, CA – Racecars in Pomona California in the winter... must be Winternational time!  The 2015 racing season has begun with the first NHRA race of the season at Pomona.  With the gorgeous weather, the racers must think California is always like this (well it’s not, but don’t let our secret out).  It was an exciting weekend, and the most exciting story must be that of Alan Johnson Racing (AJR).  After Al-Anabi announced it was seizing all NHRA racing activities in 2015, Alan found himself in a predicament, how to go racing without a sponsor.  But as any good competitor, and Alan is one of the best, he never quits.  He pulled together some one-event sponsors, including Food Channel’s Guy Fieri, and showed up to Pomona with one Top Fuel dragster piloted by Shawn Langdon.  But AJR didn’t just show up, they showed up with a Knuckle Sandwich earning number 1 qualifier with an et of 3.700 sec at 328.30 mph!

  Langdon put down all of his competitors and in the final round went a 3.799 sec, 309.91 mph against Antron Brown’s 3.804 sec, 310.70 mph to take home the win.  “We had a lot going on positively with Guy Fieri here this weekend,” Langdon continued. “We had to come out here and do well and make a statement. Now we’ll take what we did here and move on to Phoenix and continue what we are doing. We are still looking for sponsorship and trying to do the best we can.”AJR has secured sponsorship for the Phoenix race in two weeks, but after that, it is uncertain.  Surly someone will pick this team up!

Erica Enders-Stevens may have won the 2014 Championship when Jason Line fouled at the winner-take-all final round at the NHRA finals in November.  To make sure Erica still knew who the competition was, Line showed that he was the man to beat in 2015 with a final round victory against Ray Skillman.  Jason went a 6.545 sec at 211.13 mph against rookie Skillman’s 6.556 sec at 211.13 mph run.  "It's great to get off to a good start," Line said. "To be honest, I didn't expect to come here and do this well. I didn't think the off-season had gone well enough for us, but apparently it has. And it feels great to win.”  Erica had some troubles earlier this weekend when she was not able to complete her first two qualifying passes due to some traction issues.  She was able to bring it together and finished third for the weekend.

Competition Eliminator went to Alan Ellis in his A/AP-Altered roadster powered with a Gray Motorsports Pro-Stock 500 cid engine.  Alan was number one qualifier with a 6.464 et putting him 0.686 under his 7.15 index.