Dakar Rally 2022, Day 2: Sebastien Loeb wins as Al-Attiyah keeps lead; Jones first in SSV

By Jan 3, 2022, 8:00 AM EST
0 Comments

Seeking his first Dakar Rally victory, Sebastien Loeb won on Day 2 while an American won a stage for the second consecutive day in the 2022 event.

Loeb, a nine-time World Rally champion, covered the 339-kilometer segment around Al-Artawiyah, Saudi Arabia, in three hours and 25 minutes and moved within 10 minutes of overall leader Nasser Al-Attiyah, who finished second in Stage 2. Lucio Alvarez was third overall.

“It was a real tussle between Nasser and myself today,” Loeb said after his 15th Dakar stage win and first for the Bahrain Raid Extreme team. “He was opening the road and was really pushing for all 340km. By the end of the stage I had caught him.”

DAKAR RALLY ON NBC: How to watch nightly coverage at the Olympic Channel

Said Al-Attiyah: “We were able to go fast today and we always enjoy that. I think this will be an extremely fast Dakar all the way to the end. The performance of our T1+ is really fantastic.”

After a rough start, three-time Dakar Rally champion Carlos Sainz rebounded by finishing third in his Audi (5 minutes, 52 seconds behind Loeb). The Spaniard moved into the top 30 but still is more than two hours off Al-Attiyah’s overall lead after getting lost on the opening day.

In the SSV class, Austin Jones moved into the overall lead by 2 minutes, 28 seconds after a victory in Stage 2. Fellow American Seth Quintero suffered mechanical problems and fell from the top three in lightweight prototype after winning Stage 1.

In the bikes, Sam Sunderland moved into the overall lead as Joan Barreda Bort won on Day 2. American Skyler Howes trails by just under 10 minutes in fifth after a fourth place in Stage 2 (missing the podium by 22 seconds).

Here are the top three in each category after Day 2:

Car

Stage 2 winner: Sebastien Loeb (FRA), 3:25:00. Overall: 1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT), Toyota Gazoo Racing, 6:59:21; 2. Loeb, Bahrain Raid Extreme, 7:08:37; 3. Lucio Alvarez (ARG), Overdrive Toyota, 7:40:14.

Bike

Stage 2 winner: Joan Barreda Bort (ESP), 3:31:20. Overall: 1. Sam Sunderland (GBR), GasGas Factory Racing, 8:31:29; 2. Adrien Van Beveren (FRA), Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team, 8:34:20; 3. Daniel Sanders (AUS), GasGas Factory Racing, 8:34:58. Other U.S. notables: 5. Skyler Howes, Husqvarna Factory Racing, 8:41:28; 14. Mason Klein, BAS Dakar KTM Racing Team, 9:03:55; 16. Andrew Short, Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team, 9:07:28; 22. Ricky Brabec, Monster Energy Honda, 9:25:20.

Truck

Stage 2 winner: Andrey Karginov (RAF), 3:52:07. Overall: 1. Dmitry Sotnikov (RAF), Kamaz-Master 7:59:07; 2. Eduard Nikolaev (RAF), Kamaz-Master, 8:01:14; 3. Andrey Karginov (RAF), Kamaz-Master, 8:17:41.

Light prototype

Stage 2 winner: Francisco Lopez Contardo (CHL) 4:06:42. Overall: 1. Contardo, EKS — South Racing, 8:30:15; 2. Sebastian Eriksson (SWE), EKS — South Racing, 8:37:37; 3. Pavel Lebedev (RAF) MSK Rally Team, 8:54:03.

SSV

Stage 2 winner: Austin Jones (USA), 4:11:55. Overall: 1. Jones, Can-Am Factory South Racing, 8:51:19; 2. Rodrigo Luppi De Oliveira (BRA), South Racing Can-Am, 8:53:47; Michal Goczal (POL) 8:57:58.

Quad

Stage 2 winner: Manuel Andjuar (ARG) 4:27:51. Overall: 1. Laisvydas Kancius (LTU), Story Racing S.R.O., 10:51:36; 2. Pablo Copetti (USA), Del Amo Motorsports/Yamaha Rally Team, 10:58:08; 3. Alexandre Giroud (FRA), Yamaha Racing – SMX -Drag’on, 11:11:33.

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

By May 29, 2023, 6:01 PM EDT
0 Comments

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