All posts by Christopher DeHarde

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — All it took was one small mistake at Turn 5 and Dane Cameron was right on Harry Tincknell’s rear wing on the last lap at Road America. An aggressive defense on Tincknell’s part kept Cameron behind as the Brit an co-driver Jonathan Bomarito gave Mazda Team Joest their third consecutive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory in Sunday’s IMSA Road Race Showcase. The No. 55 Mazda RT24-P DPi led 44 laps of the eventual 83 turned in Sunday’s two hour, 40 minute sprintRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Dane Cameron being fastest in qualifying was no surprise to anyone at Road America. The No. 6 ARX-05 DPi was quickest in all three practice sessions and set a new track record in qualifying for Sunday’s IMSA Road Race Showcase. The points leader in the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship standings went around the 4.048 mile road course with a fastest lap of 1 minute, 48.715 seconds, a full 3.2 seconds faster than last year’s Prototype qualifying pole time. Cameron averaged 134.045Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Acura Team Penske has set the early benchmark in Friday practice for the IMSA Road Race Showcase at Road America. The championship-leading No. 6 ARX-05 of Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya set the fastest lap time in both morning and afternoon sessions. The fastest lap of the day went to Cameron at 1 minute, 50.007 seconds to average 132.471 mph. Second fastest overall was the No. 54 CORE Autosport Nissan DPi which has the benefit of being the only DPi manufacturerRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Turner Motorsport’s 2019 IMSA season has transformed so much that their average finish from the first four races to the last three races went from 11.75 to two. Co-drivers Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley went from finishing ninth, 13th, 15th and 10th to second, first and third and climbed in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD standings from 13th to second. That kind of transformation isn’t really the result of the flip of a magical switch. Misfortune plagued the team earlier in theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer In a race that is a crime against motorsports for how short it is, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship heads to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the IMSA Road Race Showcase this weekend. A two hour, 40 minute race on Sunday around the 4.048 mile road course has 35 cars that will contest the ninth race of the 2019 season with a couple of changes from the ordinary. In the DPi class, there are only 10 entries instead of the normal 11. Juncos RacingRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer A set of circumstances that probably has not happened before in Indy car racing history should not be what defines everybody’s memory of the Honda Indy 200. Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is 2.258 miles of hilly, crazy pavement with few passing opportunities. Scott Dixon’s red alternate sidewall tires began to wear off as the race concluded, allowing several cars one lap down to queue up behind the five-time (and defending) series champion. They were all as fast, if not faster, than the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner.Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio — Swearing on the radio, an exasperated Felix Rosenqvist was doing everything in his power to get lapped traffic away from the lead battle as Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 was drawing to a rapid close. Try as he might, the Swedish sensation was unable to overcome his deficit to teammate Scott Dixon and finished second by only .00934 seconds after 90 laps, the closest Indy car racing finish at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Rosenqvist had to play catch up to Dixon after making threeRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio — Sebastien Bourdais can breathe a sigh of relief knowing there’s only two rows of cars in front of him instead of 11 this year. Last year, the Frenchman started last at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course when the NTT IndyCar Series came to town. This year, Bourdais managed to qualify fifth for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200. Of course, Bourdais had a great car last year and finished sixth in the race, but there was a lot of work he had to do to makeRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio — Will Power finally has something to smile about. After abysmal luck in the previous two races, the 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner put his No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet on pole position for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Power’s lap of 1 minute, 5.1569 seconds around the 2.258 mile road course averaged 124.757 mph and was .3748 seconds faster than second place qualifier Alexander Rossi. Power is now 10 poles behind Mario Andretti’s all-time record of 67 poles and the timingRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio — Alexander Rossi’s foreseeable future is secure. Andretti Autosport announced at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course that the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner has signed a multi-year deal to remain with the team in the No. 27 entry. As part of the deal, NAPA Auto Parts will remain with the team for nine races next year while AutoNation will join the car for the remaining races. The team also announced that Honda will remain as the team’s engine supplier in a multi-year agreement. Since joining forcesRead More