TUSC: Team Sahlen drops Prototype program for 2014; MacNeil, Keen team up at Alex Job Racing - MotorSportsTalk

The new Prototype class for the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship has taken a blow this weekend, as Team Sahlen has announced that it will not be running its two-car Daytona Prototype program in the TUSC’s inaugural season.

Last month, the team had said it would field the same No. 42 (pictured) and No. 43 BMW/Riley Daytona Prototypes in 2014 that they fielded in the GRAND-AM Rolex Series this past year. Wayne Nonnamaker and Dane Cameron were slated to drive the No. 42, while Joe and Will Nonnamaker were to drive the No. 43.

This past year, Wayne and Cameron logged two Top-5 finishes en route to 10th in the Rolex Series DP championship, with Cameron almost securing a win for the No. 42 at Road America before a gearbox failure knocked him out late. Joe and Will finished 16th in the standings.

“We’re still going to be racing somewhere within the IMSA family, and believe very heavily in the direction the Frances have taken the series,” Will Nonnamaker told RACER Magazine’s Marshall Pruett. “We will be back next year, and will announce those plans in the next few weeks.”

As for where the Sahlen camp will end up in 2014, that remains to be determined.

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Cooper MacNeil, who enters the TUSC after winning back-to-back driving titles in the American Le Mans Series’ GTC category, will once again be behind the wheel of the No. 22 Alex Job Racing Porsche next year. But he’ll have a new partner.

Leh Keen, the 2009 GRAND-AM Rolex Series GT champion, is now on board at AJR, replacing Jeroen Bleekemolen as MacNeil’s teammate. Keen and MacNeil worked together during the latter’s 2012 GTC title run, and together, they won three races that season (Lime Rock, Road America, Virginia).

Now, they’ll focus on becoming the first champions from the TUSC’s GT Daytona (GTD) class.

“We get along really well and he’s a damn good driver,” MacNeil said of Keen in a statement. “He helped me win my first championship in 2012 and we will try our best to do the same in 2014.

“At the same time, I’m upset to see Jeroen become my competition, because I really liked him driving with me, not against me. But I wish him the best with Viper.”

As for Keen, he’s happy to be able to continue his history with the AJR camp.

“I really have to thank [sponsor] WeatherTech and Alex for bringing me on board for the full season,” he said. “My history with Alex shows how strong our relationship is and he runs the best program out there.

“Next year will be extremely competitive, but with a car like the new 991, a team like Alex Job Racing, and with Cooper as my co-driver – we have won championships in the past and will be going for the first GTD championship ever.”

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INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33. Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports