IndyCar results, points after Gateway

By Aug 20, 2022, 11:30 PM EDT
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IndyCar results and points after Gateway: Josef Newgarden remained the gatekeeper of Gateway, winning for a series-leading fourth time Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Leading 78 laps in his fifth victory of the season, the two-time IndyCar champion now trails championship leader Will Power by three points.

Power, Newgarden’s teammate, started on pole position and led a race-high 128 laps before finishing sixth. Team Penske drivers combined to lead 218 of 260 laps as third-place finisher Scott McLaughlin led 12 laps.

Rookie David Malukas finished a career-best second at Gateway, passing McLaughlin on the final lap of a race that was delayed more than two hours by rain.

Pato O’Ward and Takuma Sato rounded out the top five.

Here are the IndyCar results and points standings Saturday after the Bommarito Automotive Group 500:

RESULTS

Click here for the official box score from the 260-lap race on the 1.25-mile oval in Madison, Illinois. Click here for the lap leader summary.

Full lap chart

Best section times

Full section data

Event summary

Pit stop summary

Here is the finishing order in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (3) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 260, Running
2. (12) David Malukas, Honda, 260, Running
3. (4) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 260, Running
4. (7) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 260, Running
5. (8) Takuma Sato, Honda, 260, Running
6. (1) Will Power, Chevrolet, 260, Running
7. (2) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 260, Running
8. (6) Scott Dixon, Honda, 260, Running
9. (5) Alex Palou, Honda, 260, Running
10. (16) Graham Rahal, Honda, 260, Running
11. (11) Colton Herta, Honda, 259, Running
12. (9) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 259, Running
13. (18) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 259, Running
14. (21) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 259, Running
15. (17) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 259, Running
16. (26) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 259, Running
17. (20) Kyle Kirkwood, Chevrolet, 258, Running
18. (24) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 258, Running
19. (19) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 258, Running
20. (13) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 257, Running
21. (22) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 257, Running
22. (25) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 256, Running
23. (15) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 244, Running
24. (14) Jack Harvey, Honda, 239, Running
25. (10) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 226, Running
26. (23) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 53, Mechanical

Winner’s average speed: 149.231 mph. Time of Race: 02:10:40.1827. Margin of victory: 0.4708 of a second. Cautions: 2 for 22 laps. Lead changes: 13 among 10 drivers. Lap Leaders: Power 1-58; Ericsson 59; Rosenqvist 60; Grosjean 61-62; Power 63-123; O’Ward 124-126; Sato 127-148; Power 149-157; O’Ward 158-164; Newgarden 165-206; Malukas 207-210; Rahal 211-212; McLaughlin 213-224; Newgarden 225-260.

POINTS

Click here for the points tally in Saturday’s race.

Here are the points standings after 15 of 17 races this season:

Drivers

Entrants

Engine manufacturers

Pit stop performance

Top 10 in points: Power 482, Newgarden 479, Dixon 468, Ericsson 465, Palou 439, McLaughlin 428, O’Ward 424, Rosenqvist 340, Rossi 335, Herta 334.

Rest of the standings: VeeKay 305, Rahal 302, Pagenaud 294, Grosjean 291, Lundgaard 283, Malukas 272, Daly 256, Castroneves 239, Sato 239, Johnson 194, Ilott 190, Harvey 184, DeFrancesco 177, Kirkwood 157, Kellett 120, Tony Kanaan 78, Carpenter 75, Santino Ferrucci 71, Tatiana Calderon 58, JR Hildebrand 53, Juan Pablo Montoya 44, Simona De Silvestro 26, Marco Andretti 17, Sage Karam 14, Stefan Wilson 10

Ford unveils a new Mustang for 2024 Le Mans in motorsports ‘lifestyle brand’ retooling

Associated PressJun 9, 2023, 7:00 PM EDT
Ford Mustang Le Mans
Ford Performance
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LE MANS, France — Ford has planned a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its iconic Mustang muscle car next year under a massive rebranding of Ford Performance aimed at bringing the automotive manufacturer “into the racing business.”

The Friday unveil of the new Mustang Dark Horse-based race car follows Ford’s announcement in February (and a ballyhooed test at Sebring in March) that it will return to Formula One in 2026 in partnership with reigning world champion Red Bull.

The Mustang will enter the GT3 category next year with at least two cars in both IMSA and the World Endurance Championship, and is hopeful to earn an invitation to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The IMSA entries will be a factory Ford Performance program run by Multimatic, and a customer program in WEC with Proton Competition.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, also an amateur sports car racer, told The Associated Press the Mustang will be available to compete in various GT3 series across the globe to customer teams. But more important, Farley said, is the overall rebranding of Ford Performance – done by renowned motorsports designer Troy Lee – that is aimed at making Ford a lifestyle brand with a sporting mindset.

“It’s kind of like the company finding its own, and rediscovering its icons, and doubling down on them,” Farley told the AP. “And then this motorsports activity is getting serious about connecting enthusiast customers with those rediscovered icons. It’s a big switch for the company – this is really about building strong, iconic vehicles with enthusiasts at the center of our marketing.”

Ford last competed in sports car racing in 2019 as part of a three-year program with Chip Ganassi Racing. The team scored the class win at Le Mans in 2016 in a targeted performance aimed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford snapping Ferrari’s six-year winning streak.

Ford on Friday displayed a Mustang with a Lee-designed livery that showcased the cleaner, simplified look that will soon be featured on all its racing vehicles. The traditional blue oval with Ford Performance in white lettering underneath will now be branded simply FP.

The new mark will be used across car liveries, merchandise and apparel, display assets, parts and accessories and in advertising.

Farley cited Porsche as an automaker that has successfully figured out how to sell cars to consumers and race cars in various series around the world while creating a culture of brand enthusiasts. He believes Ford’s new direction will help the company sell street cars, race cars, boost interest in driving schools, and create a merchandise line that convinces consumers that a stalwart of American automakers is a hip, cool brand.

“We’re going to build a global motorsports business off road and on road,” Farley told the AP, adding that the design of the Mustang is “unapologetically American.”

He lauded the work of Lee, who is considered the top helmet designer among race car drivers.

“We’re in the first inning of a nine inning game, and going to Le Mans is really important,” Farley said. “But for customer cars, getting the graphics right, designing race cars that win at all different levels, and then designing a racing brand for Ford Performance that gets rebranded and elevated is super important.”

He said he’s kept a close eye on how Porsche and Aston Martin have built their motorsports businesses and said Ford will be better.

“We’re going in the exact same direction. We just want to be better than them, that’s all,” Farley said. “Second is the first loser.”

Farley, an avid amateur racer himself, did not travel to Le Mans for the announcement. The race that begins Saturday features an entry from NASCAR, and Ford is the reigning Cup Series champion with Joey Logano and Team Penske.

The NASCAR “Garage 56” entry is a collaboration between Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear, and is being widely celebrated throughout the industry. Farley did feel left out of the party in France – a sentiment NASCAR tried to avoid by inviting many of its partners to attend the race so that it wouldn’t seem like a Chevrolet-only celebration.

“They’re going right and I’m going left – that NASCAR thing is a one-year deal, right? It’s Garage 56 and they can have their NASCAR party, but that’s a one-year party,” Farley said. “We won Le Mans outright four times, we won in the GT class, and we’re coming back with Mustang and it’s not a one-year deal.

“So they can get all excited about Garage 56. I almost see that as a marketing exercise for NASCAR, but for me, that’s a science project,” Farley continued. “I don’t live in a world of science projects. I live in the world of building a vital company that everyone is excited about. To do that, we’re not going to do a Garage 56 – I’ve got to beat Porsche and Aston Martin and Ferrari year after year after year.”

Ford’s announcement comes on the heels of General Motors changing its GT3 strategy next season and ending its factory Corvette program. GM, which unlike Ford competes in the IMSA Grand Touring Prototype division (with its Cadillac brand), will shift fully to a customer model for Corvettes in 2024 (with some factory support in the IMSA GTD Pro category).