Race Weekend Central

Punctures Allow Toyota GAZOO Racing’s No. 8 To Claim Le Mans Honors

2019 Le Mans Wec Kazuki Nakajima Car Joao Filipe Alves Beato Adrenal Media

(Photo: Joao Filipe Alves Beato @AdrenalMedia.com)

Toyota GAZOO Racing’s No. 7 completely dominated the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, leading for 23 of 24 hours. But with a little more than an hour to go, the No. 7 Toyota with Jose Maria Lopez at the wheel got punctures on two consecutive laps, handing the victory to their Toyota teammates. Puncture …

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Nicolas Lapierre Claims 4 Hours of Monza Pole

2019 Monza Elms Nicolas Lapierre Car Jakob Ebrey Photography

(Photo: ©JEP - WWW.JAKOBEBREY.COM)

Former Toyota factory racer Nicolas Lapierre claimed the maiden overall pole for COOL Racing in the European Le Mans Series Saturday morning (May 11) at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza for Sunday’s 4 Hours of Monza.  Despite Lapierre’s experience, the pole was a bit of a mild upset since G-Drive Racing was fastest for much of …

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Mazda Team Joest, CORE autosport Top Roar Day No. 3 Sessions

2018 Daytona Iwsc Loic Duval Car Phil Allaway

(Photo: Phil Allaway)

Mazda Team Joest definitely showed the vast majority of what they had during the Roar Before the 24 and Sunday was no exception.  Harry Tincknell topped the regular sessions Sunday (Jan. 6) with a lap at 136.016 mph. Session No. 6 Tincknell’s quick time was set very early in the session, which started just after …

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Jonathan Bomarito Treads Where Few Have Gone to Top Day No. 2 at Daytona

2018 Daytona Iwsc Jonathan Bomarito Car Phil Allaway

(Photo: Phil Allaway)

Mazda Team Joest continued Saturday (Jan. 5) to show that they have a lot of speed in their Mazda RT24-P.  Jonathan Bomarito turned in the fastest lap of the day during the night session with a lap at 135.571 mph.  The lap is less than seven-tenths of a second off of the all-time track record, …

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Pace Laps: Heartbreak & Triumph in Kansas

2018 Kansas Nxs John Hunter Nemechek Burnout Nigel Kinrade Photography

(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series: Stewart-Haas Racing’s Blessing And Curse At Kansas Kevin Harvick lost the battle at Kansas Speedway. He and his Stewart-Haas Racing organization could easily win the war. But man, they do make it hard on themselves, right? Harvick had victory in the bag Sunday (Oct. 21) at Kansas Speedway in the …

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Toyota No. 7 Claims Spa Pole, Pietro Fittipaldi Crashes

2017 Monza Wec Mike Conway Car Credit Marcel Langer Adrenalmedia.com

(Photo: © Marcel Langer - AdrenalMedia.com)

Toyota GAZOO Racing’s No. 7 claimed the overall pole Friday (May 4) for Saturday’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francochamps with an average lap time of 114.582 seconds (136.732 mph).  However, the session was overshadowed by a huge crash at the Eau Rouge-Radillion complex involving DragonSpeed’s Pietro Fittipaldi. Replays showed that Fittipaldi bottomed out in Eau Rouge …

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Nicolas Lapierre Fastest in Friday ELMS Paul Ricard Practice

2017 Silverstone Elms

(Photo: ©JEP - www.jakobebrey.com)

On Friday, European Le Mans Series teams got only one chance to take their equipment onto the 3.598-mile Circuit Paul Ricard for practice.  The conditions were treacherous as teams dealt with a wet track.  However, as the track was drying late in the session, DragonSpeed’s Nicolas Lapierre blew the field away with a lap of …

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Tequila Patrón ESM Claims Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring Victory

2018 Daytona Iwsc Johannes Van Overbeek Car Phil Allaway

(Photo: Phil Allaway)

On Saturday (March 17), Tequila Patrón ESM’s Pipo Derani, Nicolas Lapierre and Johannes van Overbeek claimed overall victory in the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring presented by Advance Auto Parts.  For all three drivers, it is their second overall wins at Sebring.  Derani and van Overbeek won in 2016 with Tequila Patrón ESM, while …

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WeatherTech Rolex 24 Thursday: Renger van der Zande Snatches Pole

2018 Daytona Iwsc Renger Van Der Zande Car Phil Allaway

(Photo: Phil Allaway)

Thursday at Daytona International Speedway is a very busy day for teams in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.  There are three practice sessions totaling 3.5 hours of track time, in addition to qualifying.  Here, we’ll recap all of the Thursday sessions. Qualifying Entering the weekend, qualifying seemed to be a near open and shut case …

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Entry List: WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Roar Before the 24

Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion about which teams will attempt the Rolex 24 in 2018.  The mandatory Roar Before the 24 test sessions in early January give viewers a look at who will be there.  As of Wednesday, there are 50 teams entered for the three-day test. On …

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Nicolas Lapierre, Olivier Pla Join Tequila Patron ESM for 2018 Enduros

2017 Watkins Glen Iwsc Pipo Derani Car Phil Allaway

(Photo: Phil Allaway)

On Tuesday morning, Tequila Patron ESM announced their endurance drivers for the 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.  Regular drivers Ryan Dalziel, Pipo Derani, Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek will be joined by Nicolas Lapierre and Olivier Pla.  The team has not made specific car assignments as of yet for the two European pilots. Team …

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Porsche No. 2 Claims 4th Straight WEC Victory at COTA

2017 Mexico City Wec Earl Bamber Timo Bernhard Brendon Hartley Marcel Langer Adrenal Media

(Photo: Marcel Langer @AdrenalMedia.com)

Saturday’s 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas was a competitive affair.  The Toyotas, off the pace for much of the race weekend were able to take the fight to the Porsches.  However, the outcome of the race came down to team orders, as much as Porsche doesn’t want to admit it.  With less than …

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