Le Mans: The Americans' 24 hours recapped - MotorSportsTalk

Quick recap of all the American drivers, teams or related-entries at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans:

LMP1

No American drivers or teams. So, that was easy.

LMP2

Caterham Racing: The No. 42 Zytek Z11SN Nissan that featured Americans Chris Dyson and Matt McMurry, the 16-year-old, ended 10th in LMP2 and 23rd overall. The car had a couple spins over the week but nothing major; McMurry drove early and promisingly through the rain-drenched second and third hours, and also brought the car home to the checkered flag. He’s the youngest to start, and now youngest to finish, at Circuit de la Sarthe.
Larbre Competition: The No. 50 Morgan Judd was down on outright pace all week and ended with 341 laps completed, not classified by the end of the race. Still, Ricky Taylor ran the car’s best lap time of 3:43.386 and was often close to brother Jordan on the overall scoreboard; at one point, the two cars, separated by class, were only two positions apart.
*Note: the OAK Racing Team Asia car had David Cheng, American by birth/nationality but part of the all-Chinese driver branded lineup in the No. 33 Ligier JS P2 Nissan. That car, which Cheng co-drove with Adderly Fong and Ho-Pin Tung, ended seventh in LMP2.

GTE-Pro

Corvette Racing: Corvette’s No. 73 made it to the podium in second place and had class victory hopes with Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor. But the sister No. 74 Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Richard Westbrook placed fourth in class after losing eight laps due to a slipped alternator belt and gearbox leak.
ProSpeed Competition: This wasn’t supposed to be a Pro class entry but following Bret Curtis’ accident, the No. 79 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, one of the oldest chassis in the field, ran with just two drivers in Jeroen Bleekemolen and Cooper MacNeil. The pair took the backup chassis (brought in to replace the broken car) to fifth in GTE-Pro after a flawless, trouble-free drive as “iron men” in the WeatherTech-backed entry.

GTE-Am

8Star Motorsports: Despite a couple flat tires and spins along the way over the course of the week, the bright orange No. 90 Ferrari F458 Italia that featured late American call-up Frankie Montecalvo ended best American entry in class, P4 in GTE-Am.
Dempsey Racing-Proton: The lone all-American driver lineup of Patricks Long and Dempsey, with Joe Foster, had a three-minute stop-and-hold for spinning the tires leaving the pits overnight. They ended fifth in GTE-Am with the No. 77 Porsche 911 RSR, but threatened the top three all race.
JMW Motorsport: The No. 66 Ferrari F458 Italia that featured Flying Lizard American drivers Spencer Pumpelly and Seth Neiman struggled on outright pace but ran consistently to seventh in class.
Krohn Racing: Tracy Krohn’s team made it to Le Mans, and ended 10th in class in the classic “Krohn Green” No. 57 Ferrari F458 Italia.
Ram Racing: South African-born but U.S.-based Mark Patterson was part of the driving lineup in the No. 53 Ferrari F458 Italia that ended 12th in class.
AF Corse: Howard Blank (No. 62) was in an Ferrari F458 Italia that finished, but completed only 295 laps; Peter Ashley Mann (No. 60) was in a car that failed to finish.

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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

Le Mans: The Americans’ 24 hours recapped

Winner Josef Newgarden earns $3.666 million from a record Indy 500 purse of $17 million