Car FYI

Photo Credit: Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd. The 2021 Formula One season is quickly rushing to completion with the Brazilian Grand Prix being the fourth-to-last event. With Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton left with fewer chances to gain points, this weekend’s competition at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace contained the additional opportunity to gain up to three extra points as the race weekend was the last of three where the sport would stage a Sprint Qualifying session. After a typical time trial on Friday, Hamilton’s Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team race car registered the fastest lap time in Q3 but would receive a penalty for his DRS (Drag Reduction System) being out of compliance with the rules. While Hamilton was moved to the rear for Sprint Qualifying, drivers’ championship leader Verstappen received also entered Saturday with a penalty in the form of a 50,000 euro fine for making physical contact with the rear wing of the #44 Mer...

Photo Credit: Richard H Shute/Auto Imagery Inc. untitled At the NHRA Midwest Nationals, three of the top four classes of NHRA drag racing competed at World Wide Technology Raceway as the latest round in the series championship Countdown. Pro Stock Motorcycles received a planned break after an emotionally difficult outing at zMax Dragway in Charlotte leaving Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock cars of the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series to entertain the crowd in St. Louis, Missouri. The Top Fuel class eliminations resulted in an interesting semi-finals with Leah Pruett matched against Mike Salinas and Steve Torrence racing against John Hart. Taking the top spot in qualifying, Salinas and his Scrappers Racing car was triumphant against Pruett while Torrence’s CAPCO Racing machine earned his latest berth into a 2021 finals defeating Hart. In the finals Steve Torrence leaped off the line with an awful 0.142-second reaction time but proved victorious in the late sta...

Photo Credit: Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. untitled A companion to the NTT IndyCar Series finale weekend on the streets of Long Beach, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship staged a 26-car race on Saturday consisting of DPi, GTLM and GTD class machines. With the conclusion of the 1-hour, 40-minute Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach sports car event, the overall winner was the #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac shared by the driving duo of Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani. The victory was a decisive weekend for the Whelen Engineering Racing team that had scored the pole position and went on to take the checkered flag with a 10.95-second gap over the #01 Cadillac fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing with Kevin Magnussen and Renger van der Zande. Corvette Racing enjoyed a dominant outing in the GTLM category. Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner in the #4 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R beat the #3 car shared by Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor. Only three GTLM class vehicles ran at Long Be...

Photo Credit: Chris Owens/IndyCar untitled After 15 rounds of elite open wheel racing, the NTT IndyCar Series’ 2021 season conclusion comes down to 85 laps on the 1.968-mile race course assembled through the streets of Long Beach. While every single competitor in the 28-car field wanted to end the season on a high note with success on the oldest-operating temporary street course race in North American auto racing, the major storyline for the season finale was the drivers’ championship. Entering the race with a comfortable lead, Spanish racer Alex Palou is looking to put a cap on what has been a dream season in his first year joining the Chip Ganassi Racing team with a finish of 12 th place or better.   Arriving at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach with a mathematical chance at the championship, Josef Newgarden took the pole position on the street course. Newgarden’s Chevrolet-powered #2 Team Penske car remained at the front for the opening 18 l...

Photo Credit: Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd. untitled Varying weather conditions shaped what was one of the more memorable Russian Grand Prix race weekends. As part of the 2021 Formula 1 schedule, the Sochi Autodrom featured Saturday and Sunday competition in a combination of dry and wet conditions. Qualifying started after rain soaked the 5.848-kilometer track with Lando Norris prevailing with his first Formula 1 pole when his McLaren Racing team mounted soft compound slick tires on a drying track late in Q3. Sunday’s 53-lap main event started as a dry race but late rainfall resulted in a gamble that saw Norris losing and Lewis Hamilton hitting the jackpot. Lando Norris’ McLaren and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr. led the field to the starting grid for the Russian Grand Prix. As the lights went out, Norris shot-out to an initial advantage but Sainz successfully chased down the orange and blue McLaren to take the lead into the second corner o...

Photo Credit: Unnamed Photographer/Pirelli untitled In Formula 1's last race in Monza, the sport’s long-running McLaren Racing team completed its gradual return to the top echelon of the sport when Daniel Ricciardo spectacularly took the Italian Grand Prix . Lando Norris finishing second reinforced McLaren’s triumph with the 21-year-old British driver comforted by the likeliest case scenario that he’s in the early stage of a long career in Formula 1 where he stands close to his own success. While that was a thought two weekends ago in Italy, Norris wasted little time after the strong Italian Grand Prix performance to add a major professional milestone. Rain prior to Saturday’s qualifying at the 5.848-kilometer Sochi Autodrom for the 53-lap Russian Grand Prix made the time trial session tricky for competitors. The showers were so heavy that they caused the cancellation of the third and final practice earlier in the day but qualifying took place af...

Photo Credit: Logan Riely/Getty Images untitled NASCAR Cup Series: Kyle Larson Prevails in Heated Late Race Battle at Bristol The conclusion of the opening three-race round on the road to deciding the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series championship has playoff contenders as well as the rest of a 38-car field converging on the concrete 0.533 short oval of Bristol Motor Speedway for a 500-lap Saturday night affair. Ahead of the green flag for the Bristol’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, only 3 of the eligible 16 drivers had their places in the 12-spot second round of the 2021 Cup Series playoffs secured. Having already gained entry into the second round of the playoffs, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson won the opening two stages of the short track race. Drivers such as Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney would mathematically clinch their spots into the next round as the final stage of the Bristol race commenced for a 240-lap dash to the checkered flag. Hamlin’s quest for a second ...

Photo Credit: Chris Owens/IndyCar untitled NASCAR Cup Series: A Truly Successful Night for Truex in Richmond   The second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs has gone on show resurgence from the Toyota-backed Joe Gibbs Racing team. After Denny Hamlin took victory at last Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway , Martin Truex Jr. secured his place in the round championship round by winning at the 0.75-mile Richmond Raceway. The #19 Bass Pro Shops Red White Blue Toyota Camry of Truex started the Federated Auto Parts 400 in third but shot to the lead on the first lap. However, Truex’s start was ruled to have been premature by NASCAR resulting in the top spot to be surrendered to his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin. Hamlin had a dominant run at the Richmond short track leading 197 of the race’s 400 laps and winning the opening two stages of the event. Carving his way back to the front after the opening start of the race,...

Photo Credit: Mark Sutton/LAT Images/Pirelli untitled The week between the Dutch Grand Prix and this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix has involved a series of major announcements ahead of the 2022 Formula 1 season. The biggest domino was British driver George Russell tapped to pilot an entry for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team as a teammate to Lewis Hamilton. This move for next season occurred as Alexander Albon was announced to return to Formula 1 in the Williams Racing team while current Mercedes-AMG Valtteri Bottas would depart for the Alfa Romeo Racing organization. In the case of Bottas, his final races with the German factory team are widely expected to be his last, best chances at Formula 1 glory. Formula 1's second sprint qualifying weekend at the Autodromo Nationale de Monza was an opportunity for the Finnish driver to leave a lasting impact on the 2021 season. The Italian Grand Prix is one of the three events in the 2021 Formula 1 season to use the league...

Photo Credit: Jared East/Getty Images untitled NASCAR Cup Series: Hamlin Holds Off Charging Larson for Win at The Lady in Black A gruelling 500-mile race on one of the most historic tracks on the NASCAR circuit, the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway had the extra provenance of being the first race of the 2021 Cup Series playoffs. The 1.366-mile oval played havoc with the championship ambitions for most of the 16 drivers vying this year’s season-ending crown. The track known as the Lady in Black claimed Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, William Byron and Michael McDowell in accidents over the 367-lap race. Though Hamlin was able to keep Kyle Larson behind him through the final 36-lap run as the last lap approached, the driver of the #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet aggressively entered turn 3 to make one last charge on the #11 Offerpad Toyota field by Joe Gibbs Racing. Rubbing the rear of Hamlin’s car hard through turn 4, Larson’s late effort was ...