Monday Racing Roundup: Bourdais, Munoz Win in Detroit
June 01, 2015 | By IMS
Sebastien Bourdais held off Takuma Sato over the final three laps of Race 2 of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans to collect his 33rd Indy car victory.
The fuel was set up when a red flag was displayed on Lap 65 of the scheduled 70-lap race as the Holmatro Safety Team cleaned up debris from an incident involving Team Penske teammates Will Power and Helio Castroneves, who made contact in Turn 2 of the 14-turn, 2.35-mile street circuit on a restart.
INDYCAR called for a timed race, and Bourdais -- whose No. 11 Team Mistic E-Cigs KVSH Racing Chevrolet was low on fuel -- had 2 minutes, 50 seconds left to defend.
The four-time Champ car champion, who started ninth on entrant points after a downpour cancelled the late-morning qualifications, finished 1.7644 seconds ahead of Sato in the No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda after 68 laps completed. Though sipping Sunoco E85, Bourdais’ car posted the fastest lap of the race charging to the checkered flag.
He is the seventh different winner in eight races this season.
Graham Rahal finished third in the No. 15 Steak 'n Shake Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for his third podium in the past five races. Tristan Vautier gave Dale Coyne Racing its best finish this season in fourth after starting 23rd and Marco Andretti, runner-up in Race 1 on May 30, finished fifth in the No. 27 Merchant First/Snapple Honda for Andretti Autosport.
Conor Daly, substituting for the injured James Hinchcliffe in the No. 5 Arrow/Lucas Oil Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda in the doubleheader, led 12 laps early and finished sixth.
Pole sitter Juan Pablo Montoya, who led a field-high 35 laps, slipped to 10th on the final lap as the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet ran out of fuel. The recently-crowned Indianapolis 500 winner still maintained the championship points lead (315-294 over Power) at the halfway point of the Verizon IndyCar Series season.
Sato, who started 15th, earned his first podium finish since Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2013.
In Race 1, Carlos Munoz earned his first Verizon IndyCar Series victory. Simon Pagenaud clinched his first podium finish as a Team Penske driver.
NASCAR Sprint Cup: Johnson gets 10th career win at Dover
Jimmie Johnson, welcome to the club.
With his overtime victory in Sunday’s FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway, Johnson became the fifth driver to win 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at a single track, joining Richard Petty, David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt in sharing that distinction.
Johnson’s triumph was his series-best fourth of the season and the 74th of his career, eighth most all-time and two behind NASCAR Hall of Famer Earnhardt in seventh place.
Unlike many of the six-time champion’s past victories at the Monster Mile, this was not a dominating performance by the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Johnson led but 23 laps, and didn’t take the top spot until he beat race runner-up Kevin Harvick to the stripe for a restart on Lap 383.
Johnson quickly cleared Harvick and led the rest of the way, but not before a caution for a wreck involving Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch slowed the field on Lap 386. At that point, Johnson and Harvick were the only two drivers to stay out on old tires, but Johnson was able to maintain control of the race on the subsequent restart on Lap 391.
He repeated the performance during a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the event five laps past its posted distance of 400, after a wreck involving Greg Biffle, Casey Mears and AJ Allmendinger produced the seventh caution on Lap 398 and forced the overtime.
After the final restart on Lap 404, Johnson crossed the finish line .435 seconds ahead of Harvick, who posted his ninth top-2 finish in 13 races this season and extended his series lead to 44 points over sixth-place finisher Martin Truex Jr.
Kyle Larson ran third, followed by Kasey Kahne and Aric Almirola. Starting on the outside of the front row next to polesitter Denny Hamlin, Truex led a race-high 131 laps—racking up most laps led in his third straight Sprint Cup points race without winning.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will race on July 26 at IMS in the Crown Royal presents “Your Hero’s Name Here” 400 at the Brickyard – and you can have a vote in who the hero is. Five finalists have been named, click here to submit your vote.
NASCAR XFINITY Series: Buescher prevails after eventful finish
Chris Buescher had enough fuel left at the end of Saturday's Buckle Up 200 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Dover International Speedway to do a celebratory burnout, but his No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford wasn't the only thing that was smoking after the checkered flag.
Yes, Buescher won for the second time this season and extended his lead in the series standings to 15 points over eighth-place finisher Ty Dillon, but his winning pass of teammate and polesitter Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. left Wallace fuming.
Contact between the cars on Lap 191 of 200 cut the left front tire of Wallace’s No. 6 Ford and forced the car to pit road for an unplanned stop.
While Buescher spent the final nine laps coasting to an 11.477-second victory over runner-up Matt Kenseth, stretching 98 laps out of his last tank of fuel, Wallace left the Monster Mile in 17th place—and understandably unhappy about it.
"I was saving fuel there, and Chris just ran over me and he ends up winning," Wallace said. "It should be interesting Monday morning (in the team competition meeting). We just got run over. It (stinks) that it was my teammate. I thought he got help from the 7 (third-place finisher Regan Smith), but I just saw the replay there.
"I was saving fuel. I didn’t think I was holding him tight and the next thing you know we’re almost in the fence," Wallace said. "We had a really strong Ford EcoBoost Mustang, and we couldn’t get off pit road to save us, and we got caught in dirty air, and then we were in fuel saving mode. I thought we were doing OK until that little incident. I would say I am happy Roush won but I’m not."
The victory was Buescher’s third in the series and his second in the last three races.
The XFINITY Series comes to IMS on July 25 for the Lilly Diabetes 250.
MotoGP: Lorenzo wins third straight
Jorge Lorenzo was simply untouchable at the Italian GP, taking his 36th MotoGP victory and reducing Valentino Rossi’s championship lead to six points.
The picturesque setting of the Tuscan hills played host to a spectacular MotoGP race at the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM. With the sun shining and track temperatures at the Autodromo del Mugello hitting 122 degrees Fahrenheit, the Italian fans were treated to a dominant performance from Jorge Lorenzo as he stormed away to the win the race by over 5.5 seconds.
As Lorenzo disappeared off into the distance, the real battle would be for second place. This fight was originally between the Factory Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone, and the Repsol Hondas of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, although Valentino Rossi would join in the fun before the end of the race.
Marquez had enjoyed an amazing start, moving up from 13th on the grid into sixth at the very first corner. In contrast, Valentino Rossi suffered a disastrous opening lap that would see him down drop down to tenth, before mounting an incredible charge through the field to join the podium fight with eight laps to go.
There was even more drama to come though, as Dovizioso was forced to retire with a damaged rear sprocket and then Marc Marquez, who was once more involved in an excellent scrap with Iannone for second, crashed out of the race with six laps remaining leaving the Italian to take second ahead of an inspired Rossi in third to send the partisan crowd into raptures.
It was Lorenzo’s third victory in a row and he has closed the gap to Rossi at the top of the World Championship standings to six points. After a start to the season plagued with troubles, the Spaniard has responded brilliantly to answer any critics, and even surprised himself with his pace
“I‘m very happy, because I didn‘t expect to escape with such a big margin, but sometimes it happens that you feel great on the bike,” Lorenzo said. “I was the only rider to ride multiple 1:47s, so luckily for me I was gaining six or seven-tenths per lap, this was key to the win of the race.”
When asked about his chances of taking a third MotoGP title this season he replied: “It seems that this year could be our year, so we have to take advantage of it.”
Iannone claimed his second podium of the season as he rode through the pain after fracturing his humerus at a testing crash in Mugello before the French GP. The Italian responded to the home fans support with his best ever MotoGP result, after getting the better of Marquez and holding off Rossi, and has not finished outside the top six all season.
MotoGP will compete at Indianapolis on Aug. 9 in the Red Bull Indianapolis GP.