Writer’s Note: The following is a recap of this weekend’s Stadium Super Trucks and Pirelli World Challenge events that took place in Detroit’s Belle Isle Park and New Jersey Motorsports Park. NBCSN will broadcast the Detroit PWC round on Sun., June 15 at 2:30 p.m. ET and the Detroit SST round on Fri., June 20 at 1:30 a.m. ET; for more details on the New Jersey PWC round, we’ll refer you to World-Challenge.com. If you don’t want to know who won until then, we suggest you find another post to read here on MotorSportsTalk…
This year’s Detroit Grand Prix gathering on Belle Isle Park really was all about sweeps.
In addition to Team Penske winning both Verizon IndyCar Series events (Will Power on Saturday, Helio Castroneves on Sunday), former IndyCar driver E.J. Viso won all three Stadium Super Truck races, while Johnny O’Connell and Dean Martin claimed both Pirelli World Challenge races in GT and GTS respectively.
On Sunday, Viso had to deal with Burt Jenner on the final lap to complete his Motor City trifecta. But the Venezuelan got past him for the lead in Turn 4 of the Belle Isle street circuit and after the two made contact, Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Robby Gordon were able to overtake Jenner for second and third before the checkered flag.
“I am obviously starting to feel more comfortable with the truck,” Viso said in a release. “It was a great weekend and a great track. This new series is going to be the next thing, it’s really catching on with the fans, sponsors and drivers.
“The trucks are very fun to drive and I had a blast. This is only my second opportunity in the trucks, and I hope there are many others. Now I am looking forward to X Games next weekend in Austin, which I am sure is going to be a different animal but I am ready for that challenge.”
Meanwhile in Pirelli World Challenge action, O’Connell (No. 3 Cadillac Racing CTS-V.R) and Martin (No. 50 Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang Boss 302S) not only triumphed twice in their respective classes but did so in wire-to-wire fashion.
O’Connell, the reigning GT champion in PWC, now has three wins on the season, while Martin now has two in his pocket.
“There are certain tracks that you know that you have to do well at. When we are on the street circuits we have an opportunity,” said O’Connell. “The hardest thing for any driver is winning the first time at any track and once you win you wake up the next morning knowing that you can do it again.”
While O’Connell’s sweep no doubt pleased the General Motors crowd, Martin’s sweep was also a home win for Ford, which is situated in nearby Dearborn, Michigan.
“We are committed to doing a full season in the series with our Mustang; the Mustangs really show their strength here in Detroit, our home territory,” Martin said. “It’s really great to bring home a win for Ford here. Hats off to our crew – [this was a] brand new car that was originally built as a show car and we tore it down and took what was left from the race car from Barber.”
Martin was one of multiple Mustang drivers involved in an opening-lap pileup during the first GT/GTS race of the Barber weekend back in April.
Winning on Belle Isle in the GT-A subcategory for gentlemen drivers were Dan Knox (No. 80 ACS Manufacturing, Inc./Performance SpeedTech SRT Viper GT3-R) on Saturday and Marcelo Hahn (No. 0 Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo FL2) on Sunday. Hahn is now the first driver to pick up multiple GT-A wins this year.
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As the GT classes battled on Belle Isle, the PWC’s Touring Car-based categories stayed busy with a weekend twin-bill on the road course at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
There were a few sweeps in Jersey as well, with Michael DiMeo winning both rounds in TC and Shea Holbrook pulling the same feat in TC-A. Brian Price (Saturday) and Tyler Palmer (Sunday) split wins in TCB.
DiMeo and his No. 71 Grand Alarms Honda Civic Si have been unstoppable in TC this season, and now have a sparkling record of six wins in six starts. Holbrook’s chalked up three TC-A wins now in 2014 with her No. 67 TRUECar/Lucas Oil/Radium Honda Civic Si, and her win on Sunday came as part of a 1-2 TC-A result for Shea Racing as teammate Jason Cherry finished P2.
Price’s TCB win on Saturday was a wire-to-wire triumph, but Palmer’s TCB win on Sunday wasn’t decided for him until late. In that race, Palmer, Price, and Paul Holton all took turns at the front, but it was Palmer (No. 37 Mini Cooper) who pulled off the winning pass on Price with two laps to go.
“We were switching positions nearly every corner,” Palmer said of his late-race battle. “I don’t know how many lead changes there were or position changes in general.
“Price got loose in Turn 1 and I took that corner great, I had speed coming out of 2, went to the inside for 3, cleared him and was hoping he wouldn’t be close enough to get around me on the front straight with the power of the Hondas. That was the best race of the year excitement wise for the fans by far.”