Supercross 2021: Results and points standings after Round 2 at Houston

By Jan 19, 2021, 11:45 PM EST
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After a tough opening round in which he finished outside the top 10, defending champion Eli Tomac scored the 35th Supercross win of his career and broke out of tie with Ryan Dungey.

Tomac inherited the lead when first his teammate Adam Cianciarulo and then the leader Chase Sexton buried their bikes in the sand and fell to the back of the pack. Tomac’s win raised him to sixth in the points standings, four behind Justin Barcia.

In only his second 450 SX start, rookie Dylan Ferrandis earned his first career podium in second.

Justin Brayton finished third, which is his first podium in three years.

Cooper Webb finished fourth after making an incredible pass on Ken Roczen, who landed fifth.

RESULTS: Click here for 450 results; click here for 250

Marvin Musquin, Malcolm Stewart and Jason Anderson finished sixth through eighth respectively.

Justin Barcia backed up last week’s win in the opening round with a second top-10. He finished ninth.

Zach Osborne rounded out the top 10 after falling from second with time running off the clock.

Barcia remains the point leader by only one over Ferrandis. Brayton and Musquin are tied for third in the standings, two points behind the leader.

Round 2 Round 2 450 main results | 450 points standings | 450 Manufacturer points

In the 250 division, Jett Lawrence scored his first Main event win. Earlier in the evening, he also scored his first heat victory.

Colt Nichols and Christian Craig kept their momentum by standing on the podium in back to back weeks. Last week Craig won; Nichols was third.

Michael Mosiman, who also scored his first heat win earlier in the night, finished fourth with Jo Shimoda rounding out the top five.

Austin Forkner was battling for second with RJ Hampshire midway through the event when he misjudged an aggressive pass and dropped both riders to the ground. Forkner rallied to finish sixth.

Mitchell Oldenburg, Max Vohland, Joshua Osby and John Short rounded out the top 10.

After contact with Forkner, Hampshire dropped well off the pace and finished two laps down in 17th.

Craig retains the points lead over Nichols and Lawrence.

Click here for Round 2 250 main results | 250 East points standings | 250 Manufacturer Points

The Supercross series will return to Houston for Round 3 on Saturday night.

POINTS, RESULTS AFTER ROUND 1 AT HOUSTON: Justin Barcia, Christian Craig take early lead

Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

By Mar 22, 2023, 2:30 PM EDT
Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”