(Porsche)
Porsche delivered a strong performance with its innovative and complex 919 Hybrids at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but came up short. After more than than 22 hours, the No. 20 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber suffered a powertrain problem at the world’s most famous endurance race. Earlier in the race the LMP1 class car was leading overall for a significant period of time. The second Porsche prototype – the No. 14 919 Hybrid driven by Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb – suffered a gearbox failure. And though the No. 14 car did manage to cross the finish line under its own power after an extended stay in the pits, it was not classified as finishing the race. “At the moment, of course, there is a lot of disappointment," commented Andreas Seidl, Team Principal of Porsche's LMP1 program. "But if anyone would have told us before the race that the outcome would be what it was, we would have been very happy with it. We have learned a lot for next year and tomorrow we start to prepare for 2015. The drivers and the entire crew – everyone did a great job. We are proud to have brought one car to the finish line. To be able to fight with the other one for the silverware until shortly before the end was the icing on the cake."
(Toyota)
Toyota Racing gave Audi and Porsche all they could handle and scrambled to a podium finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but the Toyota squadron left the Circuit de la Sarthe bitterly disappointed. Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Sébastien Buemi (No. 8 Toyota Hybrid TS040) finished third to maintain their lead in the World Endurance Championship and record Toyota’s fifth top-three finish at Le Mans. The No. 7 car of Alex Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima was sidelined from the race while holding a strong lead. Having started from pole position, the Toyota Hybrid fell victim to electrical problems as the race neared the 14-hour mark. The next round of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship will be at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, in September. Before then the Toyota Hybrid TS040 is scheduled to take to the hill climb course at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (26 – 29 June), as part of a large collection of contemporary and classic Toyota race and rally cars that will be in action and on display.
(Nissan NISMO)
The No. 38 Jota Sport Zytek Z11SN-Nissan driven by Harry Tincknell, Oliver Turvey and Simon Dolan prevailed in the P2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing fifth overall. The No. 35 Oak Racing Ligier-Nissan driven by Nissan GT Academy racers (and former gamers) Jann Mardenborough and Mark Shulzhitskiy and established LM P2 racer Alex Brundle led the class for fourteen hours before encountering spark plug issues just two hours short of the finish.
(Photo by Richard Prince for Corvette Racing)
Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor (No. 73 Corvette Racing C7.R) finished second in the GTE Pro class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe. The AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia driven by Gianmaria Bruni, Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella won the class in an almost perfect run. After battling issues throughout the race including a faulty valve stem for the Corvette’s air jack system, the No. 73 Corvette completed 338 laps (2,862.52 miles) and finished one lap down to the winning Ferrari. The final four hours of the race started with Taylor trailing the third-place Porsche 911 RSR by about 90 seconds before the young American drove a scintillating triple-stint to close the gap by more than half to 47 seconds. By the time he handed the No. 73 Corvette over to Magnussen and the Dane completed his first flying lap of his final stint, the interval to the new second-place Porsche was 28 seconds with an hour and 40 minutes left. Magnussen drove a single stint and handed over to Garcia. The Spaniard took out huge chunks of time and took the second position for good when the Porsche pitted with trouble 75 minutes from the end. The No. 74 Corvette C7.R team car of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Richard Westbrook finished fourth in class. The car had been running in podium contention as well before losing eight laps due to a slipped alternator belt and gearbox leak. “My last stint was my best-ever stint in Le Mans, no doubt about it," Taylor said. "The car was awesome and we were much better on the tires than the Porsche we beat to third at the end. We triple-stinted our tires but they only double-stinted. Regardless we had the strongest package out there today. We were just unfortunate in the beginning of the race.” Next up for Corvette Racing is the Sahlen’s Six Hours at The Glen on Sunday, June 29 from Watkins Glen International. The event will air live at 11 a.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.
(Aston Martin The Americas)
Nicki Thiim, Kristian Poulsen and David Heinemeier Hansson (No. 95 Young Driver AMR V8 Vantage GTE) won the GTE Am class at the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Gulf-liveried car finished with a two-lap lead over its nearest rival.
(Photos courtesy of FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy)
Latvia’s Reinis Nitiss (above) won World RX of Norway, round three of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy, after a near-perfect performance at the wheel of his No. 15 Olsberg MSE Ford Fiesta Supercar. The 18-year-old now leads the Championship over Norway’s Petter Solberg (No. 11 PSRX Citroen DS3 Supercar) who finished runner-up in front of a delighted home crowd. World RX debutant Ken Block (below) finished third – and took the Euro RX win – in his Hoonigan Racing Division Ford Fiesta. “I really couldn’t be happier,” said Block. “This is my first time on a proper rallycross track and to finish the event alongside two great guys [Nitiss and Solberg] on the podium is awesome. I struggled with the starts and haven’t quite figured it out yet but World RX is an awesome Championship and it’s been great for myself and the team to see how everything works.”
(Photo by Harold Hinson/HHP for GM Racing/Chevrolet)
Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet SS) had the measure of the NASCAR Sprint Cup field when it mattered at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday. It was Johnson's third win of the year, his first ever at MIS and his 69th career Sprint Cup victory. He is now second to Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS) in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings. Kevin Harvick (No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Budweiser Chevrolet SS) finished second at MIS on Sunday, and Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Team Penske Miller Lite Ford Fusion) came home in third. Watch a NASCAR video here.
(Mercedes-Benz)
Mercedes-Benz will be the leading marque at the 21st Goodwood Festival of Speed between June 26 and 29. The on-track action will be led by Lewis Hamilton as he lights up the tires of his Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One machine as he takes to the 1.16-mile Goodwood Hill on Sunday. He’ll be joined by iconic cars spanning a century – from the Mercedes Grand Prix racing car that formed part of the trio that scored a one-two-three at the French Grand Prix in 1914 – to the beautiful and brutal W 125, W 165 and of course, the magnificent W196 (above) Silver Arrows. Driving Mercedes-Benz racers and road cars at Goodwood will be a line-up of legendary drivers – from Roland Asch to Anthony Davidson and Dario Franchitti, Johnny Herbert and Silver Arrows driver Hans Herrmann, Klaus Ludwig and Jochen Mass, Sir Stirling Moss, Paul and Sir Jackie Stewart, Bernd Schneider and Karl Wendlinger.