Petit Le Mans preview: Prototypes (P1, P2, PC) - MotorSportsTalk

This weekend marks the end of an era for the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron.

The last Petit Le Mans to feature the ALMS, before its assets are integrated and merged into the new-for-2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, will take place this Saturday at Road Atlanta.

It will additionally be run with heavy hearts following the loss earlier this week of British rising star Sean Edwards, a Porsche driver killed in a training accident in Australia.

We’ll still take a look through the field in the prototype and GT classes to see who stands the best shot of scoring a win in the ALMS swan song.

P1 (4)

Muscle Milk Pickett Racing: Yet to win Petit Le Mans in its history, but a win would be its ninth in a row to cap a historic, title-winning season. Drivers Klaus Graf, Lucas Luhr and Romain Dumas in their HPD ARX-03c will have a serious challenger to battle with Rebellion Racing returning for the first time since Monterey in May. The team’s plans are yet unannounced for 2014.
Rebellion Racing: As mentioned previously, the team’s alternate Lola B12/60 Toyota chassis will be on hand to defend its 2012 overall triumph at Petit with drivers Nicolas Prost, Neel Jani and Nick Heidfeld. Unfinished business for them as they beat Pickett’s team at Sebring (for third place), but lost out overall at Long Beach and Monterey.
Dyson Racing: One of the stalwarts of sports car racing rounds out its 30th season with Chris Dyson joined by two gentlemen drivers, and the team’s Lola B12/60 Mazda is unlikely to challenge for an overall win on pace alone.
DeltaWing Racing Cars: Radical coupe looks to finish its first race since its introduction at Austin; only car in class with a two-driver lineup of Andy Meyrick and Katherine Legge, and wants to impress on team’s home soil.

P2 (4)

Level 5 Motorsports: Team went 1-2 in deeper P2 field at Petit last year and has pulled out all the stops again for its pair of HPD ARX-03bs. The early favorites with Scott Tucker, Ryan Briscoe and Marino Franchitti in one car (No. 551) and Guy Cosmo, Jonny Kane and Peter Dumbreck in the other (No. 552). Marino is wearing brother Dario’s helmet this weekend.
Extreme Speed Motorsports: Scott Sharp can still win the P2 class driver’s title with a win and some help as the team seeks a repeat of GT win at Petit in 2012. Has Anthony Lazzaro and David Brabham to aid him in the No. 01 HPD. The guy to watch in the sister No. 02 is Rob Bell, a McLaren factory shoe making a rare prototype appearance alongside regulars Johannes van Overbeek and Ed Brown.

PC (7)

CORE autosport: Twice defending class champions seek a race win repeat in the capable hands of team principal Jon Bennett, Tom Kimber-Smith and Mark Wilkins (No. 05). Wilkins was part of the winning car a year ago.
PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports: On paper the Dane Cameron/David Cheng/Michael Guasch lineup doesn’t quite stack up to CORE’s. But Cameron’s talent may be able to push this car to its second Petit win (2011), and the team won Sebring already this year.
BAR1 Motorsports: A pair of challengers but it’s the Kyle Marcelli/Chris Cumming/Stefan Johansson (No. 8) car that could win its third straight race, while the second car of Tomy Drissi, James French and Rusty Mitchell (No. 7) is there to make up the numbers.
RSR Racing: Bruno Junqueira and Duncan Ende will be solid as ever for Paul Gentilozzi’s No. 9 car, so the wild card is sports car and ALMS debutante Gustavo Menezes. He has track experience from Star Mazda, but is new to multi-class racing.
Performance Tech Motorsports: Tristan Nunez and Charlie Shears anchor the No. 18; I reckoned Ryan Booth, an IMSA Lites race winner, would have been added as a third. Unlikely to win on raw pace.
8Star Motorsports: Team’s new car for Ozz Negri and Sean Rayhall (No. 25) is a true wild card. Negri’s experienced in Daytona Prototypes in Rolex but new to ALMS, while Rayhall, an IMSA Lites star, makes his ALMS and thus endurance racing debut. Surprising to see only two drivers without a veteran third hand, but the team has other commitments in the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA Lites this weekend.

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INDIANAPOLIS — With his first victory in the Indy 500, Josef Newgarden became the first repeat winner through six race results of the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series season and made a move in the points.

Newgarden, who celebrated with fans in the grandstands, moved from sixth to fourth in the championship standings with his 27th career victory and second this season (he also won at Texas Motor Speedway).

The Team Penske star won his 12th attempt at the Brickyard oval, tying the record for most starts before an Indy 500 victory with Tony Kanaan (2013) and Sam Hanks (1957). Newgarden, whose previous best Indy 500 finish was third with Ed Carpenter Racing in 2016, became the first Tennessee native to win the Greatest Spectacle in Racing and the first American since Alexander Rossi in 2016.

A man of the people!

Josef Newgarden goes INTO THE CROWD to celebrate his Indy 500 victory! #INDY500 pic.twitter.com/1mBUzoMSfH

— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) May 28, 2023

He also delivered the record 19th Indy 500 triumph to Roger Penske, whose team ended a four-year drought on the 2.5-mile oval and won for the first time since he became the owner of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar in 2020.

Newgarden, 32, led five laps, the third-lowest total for an Indy 500 winner behind Joe Dawson (two in 1912) and Dan Wheldon (one in 2011).

The race featured 52 lead changes, the third most behind 68 in 2013 and 54 in ’16, among 14 drivers (tied with ’13 for the second highest behind 15 leaders in ’17 and ’18). Newgarden’s 0.0974-second victory over Marcus Ericsson was the fourth-closest in Indy 500 history behind 1992 (0.043 of a second for Al Unser Jr. over Scott Goodyear), 2014 (0.0600 of a second for Ryan Hunter-Reay over Helio Castroneves) and 2006 (0.0635 of a second Sam Hornish Jr. over Marco Andretti.).

It also marked only the third last-lap pass in Indy 500 history — all within the past 17 years (Hornish over Andretti in 2006; Wheldon over J.R. Hildebrand in 2011).

Ericsson’s runner-up finish was the ninth time the defending Indy 500 finished second the next year (most recently four-time winner Helio Castroneves in 2003).

Here are the IndyCar results and points standings after the 107th Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway:

RESULTS

Click here for the official box score from the 200-lap race on a 2.5-mile oval in Indianapolis.

Here is the finishing order in the Indy 500 with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (17) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 200, Running
2. (10) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 200, Running
3. (4) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 200, Running
4. (1) Alex Palou, Honda, 200, Running
5. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 200, Running
6. (6) Scott Dixon, Honda, 200, Running
7. (8) Takuma Sato, Honda, 200, Running
8. (16) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 200, Running
9. (21) Colton Herta, Honda, 200, Running
10. (2) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 200, Running
11. (18) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, 200, Running
12. (27) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 200, Running
13. (25) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 200, Running
14. (14) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 200, Running
15. (20) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 200, Running
16. (9) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 200, Running
17. (24) Marco Andretti, Honda, 200, Running
18. (32) Jack Harvey, Honda, 199, Running
19. (30) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 198, Running
20. (13) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 197, Contact
21. (11) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 196, Contact
22. (33) Graham Rahal, Chevrolet, 195, Running
23. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 195, Running
24. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 192, Contact
25. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 192, Contact
26. (26) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 192, Contact
27. (3) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 183, Contact
28. (15) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 183, Contact
29. (23) David Malukas, Honda, 160, Contact
30. (19) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 149, Contact
31. (31) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 90, Contact
32. (28) RC Enerson, Chevrolet, 75, Mechanical
33. (29) Katherine Legge, Honda, 41, Contact

Winner’s average speed: 168.193 mph; Time of Race: 2:58:21.9611; Margin of victory: 0.0974 of a second; Cautions: 5 for 27 laps; Lead changes: 52 among 14 drivers. Lap leaders: Palou 1-2; VeeKay 3; Palou 4-9; VeeKay 10-14; Palou 15-22; VeeKay 23-27; Palou 28-29; VeeKay 30-31; Rosenqvist 32; Rossi 33-34; Palou 35-39; VeeKay 40-47; Palou 48-60; VeeKay 61-63; Rosenqvist 64-65; O’Ward 66; Power 67; Herta 68; Rosenqvist 69; O’Ward 70-78; Rosenqvist 79-81; O’Ward 82-89; Rosenqvist 90-94; Ilott 95-99; Rosenqvist 100-101; O’Ward 102; Rosenqvist 103-107; O’Ward 108-109; Rosenqvist 110-113; O’Ward 114-115; Rosenqvist 116-119; O’Ward 120-122; Rosenqvist 123-124; O’Ward 125-128; Rosenqvist 129-131; Ferrucci 132; Ericsson 133-134; Castroneves 135; Rosenqvist 136; Ericsson 137-156; Newgarden 157; Ericsson 158; Ferrucci 159-168; Ericsson 169-170; Rossi 171-172; Sato 173-174; O’Ward 175-179; Hunter-Reay 180-187;
O’Ward 188-191; Ericsson 192; Newgarden 193-195; Ericsson 196-199; Newgarden 200.

POINTS

Click here for the points tally in the race.

Here are the points standings after the GMR Grand Prix:

Top 10 in points: Palou 219, Ericsson 199, O’Ward 185, Newgarden 182, Dixon 162, McLaughlin 149, Rossi 145, Grosjean 139, Power 131, Herta 130.

Rest of the standings: Lundgaard 122, Kirkwood 113, Rosenqvist 113, Ilott 111, Ferrucci 96, VeeKay 96, Rahal 94, Malukas 84, Armstrong 77, Daly 73, Castroneves 69, Harvey 65, DeFrancesco 63, Canapino 61, Pagenaud 55, Pedersen 51, Robb 47, Sato 37, Carpenter 27, Hunter-Reay 20, Kanaan 18, Andretti 13, Enerson 5, Legge 5.

Next race: The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, which has moved from Belle Isle to the streets of downtown, will take place June 4 with coverage starting on Peacock at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.