Lux Dalziel added to Rolex 24 LMP2 - MotorSportsTalk

Eric Lux and Ryan Dalziel have been added to the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) lineup for the 2021 Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.

Lux will compete with DragonSpeed alongside Henrik Hedman, Ben Hanley and Juan Pablo Montoya. Dalziel will race for Era Motorsport with team owner Kyle Tilley, Dwight Merriman and Paul-Loup Chatin.

“2021 marks my 18th season competing in sports cars and my 11th Rolex 24,” Lux said in a press release. “I’ve nearly won there on several occasions, and for it to become a reality you need the right team, the right car and the right teammates.”

Lux became the youngest finisher in Rolex 24 history at age 16 in 2005. Since then he has added six career IMSA wins including a pair of victories in 2019 in LMP2 driving for Mathiasen Motorsports.

“Eric’s reclassification as a Bronze gives us one of the best in the category,” said team principal Elton Julian. “We’re really looking forward to supporting Eric’s bid for his first win at Daytona and looking to bring a group of drivers to the package that can help deliver on that. We’ll have the same crew that was behind our success the last two years at Daytona, so we’re excited to see if we can make it three in a row.”

MORE: Juan Pablo Montoya will race WEC, Le Mans and Daytona with DragonSpeed next season

Era Motorsport hopes to improve on last year’s third-place finish in LMP2.

Dalziel has nine career IMSA wins, including the overall victory at the Rolex 24 in 2010. In 2020, he drove in two LMP2 races for Tower Motorsport.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic about joining Era Motorsport,” Dalziel said. “I was really impressed watching their first IMSA season in 2020. I can tell, between Kyle and Dwight, they are putting everything into making this program as strong as possible, and I’m humbled to have been invited to be part of this journey.

“My last few seasons in IMSA haven’t gone to plan, so I’m extremely grateful to these guys for having the confidence in me to help guide this ship with them.”

Chatin will round out the lineup. He has a pair of championships in the European Le Mans Series.

“I am really happy to join Era for the iconic Rolex 24 At Daytona,” said Chatin. “I was lucky to meet and work with Kyle and Dwight at the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans, and I am sure that all together we will be able to fight for the top in LMP2 class. I am really excited to participate in my first IMSA race, and I will do my best to honor the faith they put in me.”

The 2021 WeatherTech Championship season begins Jan. 22-24 with The Roar Before the Rolex 24 test in preparation for the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 30-31.

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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

Eric Lux, Ryan Dalziel added to Rolex 24 LMP2 lineup

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