Fabio Quartararo wins from the MotoGP pole again at Jerez

By Jul 26, 2020, 10:45 AM EDT
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Fabio Quartararo won the Andalucia Grand Prix and swept the second consecutive MotoGP weekend at Circuito de Jerez, scoring maximum points Sunday with the first two wins of his career to start the 2020 season.

It also was a sweep of the podium for Yamaha. Maverick Vinales finished second after a spirited battle in the closing laps with Yamaha MotoGP teammate Valentino Rossi, who took third for his first podium since April 14, 2019 (second at Circuit of The Americas).

Though he led every lap comfortably from the green flag, Quartararo said conditions on the track were treacherous. There was a first-lap crash and multiple mechanical failures as the heat seemed to take its toll.

“I had a few moments during the race,” the Team Petronas SRT rider said after the Andalucia victory gave him dual wins at Jerez. “I feel one of the hardest races of my life.”

Rossi, 41, scored the 199th podium of his storied career.

Quartararo triumphed from the pole a week earlier in becoming the first winning Frenchman in MotoGP’s premier class in more than 20 years.

Marc Marquez was sidelined Sunday at the Andalucia Grand Prix (JAVIER SORIANO/AFP via Getty Images).

He has a 10-point lead on Vinales with his wins after Andalucia heading to the Aug. 9 grand prix at the Automotodrom Brno in the Czech Republic.

That race is expected to include the return of Marc Marquez, the injured defending series champion.

Marquez had been cleared to race Sunday but was decided to skip the race and avoid further injury risk after experiencing pain in practice and qualifying Saturday. The eight-time champion said he immediately would begin training to be ready for the next race.

Marquez’s younger brother and teammate, Alex, finished eighth Sunday for the Repsol Honda Team.

Petronas Yamaha SRT rider Fabio Quartararo won from the pole position for the second consecutive race in MotoGP (JAVIER SORIANO/AFP via Getty Images),

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

By May 29, 2023, 6:01 PM EDT
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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