Sports cars: Two more Le Mans appointments

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A couple quick signings from the world of sports car racing:

  • Austrian Dominik “Dodo” Kraihamer has been confirmed as fourth full-season driver for Rebellion Racing’s efforts in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Kraihamer raced last year with the Kodewa-run Lotus LMP2 team. Kraihamer will join Nick Heidfeld, Nicolas Prost and Mathias Beche as full-season drivers in Rebellion’s new R-One Toyota LMP1 cars this season, although the team hasn’t confirmed the pairings of the No. 12 and No. 13 cars just yet. The team also confirmed Eat the Ball, a natural bread manufacturer, as a team partner.
  • 2012 European Nissan GT Academy winner Wolfgang Reip, a Belgian, joins fellow ex-gamer-turned racer Lucas Ordonez aboard the Nissan ZEOD RC Garage 56 all-electric experimental car for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Reip has already tested the ZEOD RC and has been in action for the Japanese manufacturer contesting the Bathurst 12 Hour in Australia last month aboard a Nissan GT-R. The team’s third driver will be announced later on; for Reip, it will mark his debut in the race.

Motocross: Chase Sexton to miss Hangtown after midweek practice crash

Sexton Hangtown practice crash
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Chase Sexton announced on Instagram he will sit out this weekend’s Pro Motocross race at Hangtown in Rancho Cordova, California after a practice crash on Tuesday left him with a concussion.

Sexton’s crash on Tuesday happened during a test session at Fox Raceway.

“Bummed to make this post but I’ll be sitting out this weekend,” Sexton said. “As you guys saw I had a big one during qualifying at Pala, then another one on Tuesday this week that banged me up pretty good. Nothing broken just need a few days to get back to 100%.”

Despite his crash in the first qualification session in Pala, California, Sexton mounted up for both motos and finished second in each race behind his teammate Jett Lawrence, who was making his Motocross debut and won with a pair of first-place finishes. Sexton padded his SuperMotocross points’ lead over the injured Eli Tomac, who is still second in the combined Supercross and Motocross standings despite missing the SX finale at Salt Lake City and the outdoor opener with a ruptured Achilles tendon.

Sexton has an advantage of 78 points over Cooper Webb and cannot give up his SMX lead by missing this round.

At stake, however, is the risk of losing ground to Lawrence in the Pro Motocross championship. Sexton currently trails his teammate by six points and is liable to lose significant ground this weekend.

In addition to his concussion, Sexton has also been diagnosed with mononucleosis and the combination of the two conditions caused the team to make the difficult decision to keep him out of the lineup at Hangtown.

“I’m super-bummed to miss this weekend’s race,” Sexton said in a press release. “I feel like I rode well at Pala, and I was really looking forward to Hangtown because it’s a good track for me. Unfortunately, I was already pretty banged up from my qualifying crash on Saturday, and now with mono and Tuesday’s concussion on top of it, I want to do the right thing and hopefully be back on the track soon.”

A return date for Sexton has not yet been announced.

Other 2023 Injury News

450 riders
Eli Tomac, Achilles tendon | It was just a freak deal
Justin Barcia,
collarbone and shoulder
Jason Anderson, vertebrae
Christian Craig, elbow
Marvin Musquin, wrist
Malcolm Stewart, knee | Signs two-year extension
Aaron Plessinger, hip | returned at Salt Lake City
Dylan Ferrandis, concussion | Will not return until Motocross
Cooper Webb,
concussion | returned at Pala

250 riders
Nate Thrasher, hip
Stilez Robertson, leg
Cameron McAdoo, shoulder
Seth Hammaker, arm and wrist
Austin Forkner, knee | Injury isn’t the hardest part
Jo Shimoda, collarbone | returned at Atlanta
Jalek Swoll, arm | returned at Pala