Detroit return, Indy enduro lead IMSA calendar changes for 2024

IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule for 2024 will include the return of one popular former series staple and the expansion of another from a sprint into an endurance race, alongside the familiar blend of venues that fans and drivers …

IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule for 2024 will include the return of one popular former series staple and the expansion of another from a sprint into an endurance race, alongside the familiar blend of venues that fans and drivers have come to love.

GTP and GTD PRO will return to the Detroit Grand Prix for that event’s second year at its new downtown home, while the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s stop on the calendar will become a six-hour endurance race, bringing the Michelin Endurance Cup to five events. Lime Rock Park’s GT-only event has been dropped, while LMP2 will become the headliner at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in order to reduce the burden on GTP teams with the addition of Detroit.

“Undoubtedly one of the key elements that has attracted our corporate partners and 18 automotive manufacturers is the annual schedule of events that IMSA is able to deliver,” said IMSA President John Doonan. “The venues and events we visit on an annual basis are world renowned and beloved by race fans and competitors everywhere. We are proud to unveil our 2024 calendar which once again delivers IMSA racing to vitally important markets throughout North America.”

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The season begins as usual, with the longest endurance races, the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Jan. 25-28 — preceded the previous weekend by the Roar before the 24 test sessions — and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring (March 13-16) before the schedule turns to a a trio of sprint races. Like Detroit, when the WeatherTech Championship joins the NTT IndyCar Series at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach April 19-20, it will be a two-class event, this time GTD joining GTP for a 100-minute race. Long Beach entries have always been limited by paddock space, and including a larger GTD PRO category, as was done this season, would be prohibitive.

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on May 10-12 will be absent LMP2 as usual, and is followed May 31-June 1 by the Detroit GP, like Long Beach a 100-minute race. The Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen takes its usual late June weekend of June 27-30, with CTMP coming two weeks later. Road America will be the only four-class sprint race of the season for its 2h40m races, once again the first weekend in August. Virginia International Raceway will host the lone GT-only WeatherTech Championship race in 2024 with a 2h40m contest set for Sunday, Aug. 25.

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s IMSA event will be headlined by LMP2 next season. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

The new addition to the Michelin Endurance Cup in 2024 is an expansion of the race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to six hours on the weekend of Sept. 20-22. The endurance race at IMS has been widely expected since last summer’s announcement of the WeatherTech Championship’s return to the Speedway. Next month’s 2h40m race there will be the series’ first at IMS since 2014.

The season concludes with the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Oct. 9-12, giving the series a pair of endurance races to close out the year.

As was the case this season, the schedule includes a few clashes with the FIA World Endurance Championship, which features a lot of crossover of drivers and teams. The first conflict comes between Long Beach and WEC at Imola, with the others being Laguna Seca and Spa, and CTMP and Brazil. The Detroit GP is the same weekend as the Nurburgring 24 Hours touring car/GT race, and only a week before the 24 Hours of Le Mans test weekend.

IMSA also announced the schedules for the Michelin Pilot Challenge and VP Racing SportsCar Challenge series. With the exception of the street races, the MPC follows the WeatherTech Championship. In addition, MPC will headline a return to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with a four-hour race, one of two along with Daytona, to bring the schedule to 10 races. VP Challenge will also be at Mid-Ohio as part of its six-weekend, 12-race schedule. The series for LMP3 and GT4 cars will also be at Daytona during the Roar weekend, join IndyCar on the streets of St. Petersburg (March 8-10), then race with WeatherTech Championship at CTMP, VIR and Road Atlanta.

TV ratings: Charlotte, Detroit, Spain, WWTR

After its rain-affected Memorial Day weekend, NASCAR had another brush with inclement weather last weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway, but rebounded after a brief delay. The delayed NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Monday …

After its rain-affected Memorial Day weekend, NASCAR had another brush with inclement weather last weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway, but rebounded after a brief delay.

The delayed NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Monday averaged a 1.92 Nielsen rating and 3.399 million viewers on FOX, per numbers from ShowBuzzDaily.com, which compares reasonably well with the 2.20/3.869m for 2022’s race on Sunday, also on FOX.

Sunday’s slightly rain-impacted WWTR Cup race averaged 1.27/2.160m on FS1, down from 1.47/2.502m last year.

The first race for the NTT IndyCar Series on the new downtown Detroit Grand Prix course averaged 0.65/1.047m on NBC. Including streaming numbers, the race averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 1.098m, per NBC Sports, which says it ranks as the most-watched IndyCar race outside of the Indy 500 since the St. Petersburg season opener (1.223m TAD) The TAD was also up a healthy 179% over last year’s Detroit race at Belle Isle, which had a TAD of 394,000 when it was telecast on USA Network.

NBC Sports reports that through seven races, the 2023 IndyCar season is averaging a TAD of 1.835 million viewers, up 2% vs. 2022.

After its washout at Imola, Formula 1 returned to action with the Spanish Grand Prix and averaged 0.58/1.040m on ESPN’s live telecast, down fractionally from 2022’s edition which ran in May (0.59/1.146m).

The NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Portland on Saturday averaged 0.46/824,000 on FS1, down in rating but identical in viewers to 2022 (0.56/824K). Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series race on FS1 at WWTR averaged 0.42/698,000, compared to 0.45/663K last year.

Last weekend’s 18-49 age demographic numbers (not including streaming) had F1 up front with 453,000 viewers, followed by NASCAR Cup (413K), IndyCar (177K) Xfinity (126K) and Trucks (124K).

 

‘We race hard, but I think we also race fair’ – Rosenqvist on late race contact with Rossi

Felix Rosenqvist says he’ll talk to Arrow McLaren teammate Alexander Rossi about the late race battle at Detroit that led first to contact between between the pair, and then to contact between Rossi and the wall. But the Swede believes that those …

Felix Rosenqvist says he’ll talk to Arrow McLaren teammate Alexander Rossi about the late race battle at Detroit that led first to contact between between the pair, and then to contact between Rossi and the wall. But the Swede believes that those sorts of incidents come with the territory of having teammates with strong equipment fighting up front.

The pair were fighting over third in the closing laps with Rossi ahead when they hip-checked each other, and on the second-last lap, Rosenqvist made a move to the inside of Rossi at Turn 3 that sent the No. 7 Chevy bouncing off the outside wall. No harm done to either car outside of Rossi losing a place to Ganassi’s Scott Dixon, and Rosenqvist and Rossi finished third and fifth respectively.

“We race hard, but I think we also race fair,” said Rosenqvist. “Obviously we like each other. We don’t have any intentions to put each other in the wall.

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“But it was tight. I was completely alongside him into Turn 3. It gets tight, man. It’s so close. He squeezed me a little bit on entry; I squeezed him a little bit on exit.

“I pretty much didn’t have any more room on entry. I was just trying to not go into the wall on (the) apex. After that, I just tried to get out of the corner as quick as I can, give him the room he needed.

“I think it’s a good problem to have. The Arrow McLaren cars have been up there every race. You’re going to find yourself in a situation where you’re fighting teammates. It’s something we’ll discuss internally, (to see) if we can manage it differently. Obviously there were no team calls on this one, which is cool. They let us battle it out on the track.

“I didn’t think committing to the move was high-risk. I wouldn’t want to do it high-risk. With a teammate, you never want to.

“We’ll get through it. Alex is a good dude. As I say, we’ve been fighting each other before, and a lot this year. We’ve pretty much been around each other all season. We’re probably going to keep doing it.”

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Gearbox user error nearly cost Palou his perfect Detroit weekend

Alex Palou had a near-perfect weekend on IndyCar’s new downtown Detroit street course, winning from pole in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. But a tiny error on an upshift nearly brought his race undone. Palou was preparing for a restart midway …

Alex Palou had a near-perfect weekend on IndyCar’s new downtown Detroit street course, winning from pole in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. But a tiny error on an upshift nearly brought his race undone.

Palou was preparing for a restart midway during the race when his car went into emergency mode, and while it cost him the lead when Team Penske’s Will Power dived past on the inside, the 2021 series champion said he felt fortunate it didn’t impact his race further.

“I haven’t spoken to the team yet, but I was trying to warm up the rear tires,” Palou said. “I upshifted into second when we were wheel-spinning. It got stuck in first. I got stuck. I couldn’t really shift.

“Before they told me, because I was already heading to Turn 2, I switched to emergency mode because that’s the only way to take all the issues out. It went well, but you lose a lot of performance upshifting. That’s why Will got us – exit of Turn 3 I got it back to normal, then it was all right. It was not something from Honda or the team. It was a driver issue.”

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Despite needing to navigate several late restarts while leading, Palou said that glitch spiked his heartrate more than any other point in the race.

“That was really a panic mode, because I didn’t really know what to do,” he said. “I didn’t know if it was going to work or not, because if you get stuck in one gear, you’re done. That was a pretty busy moment.”

Palou leaves Detroit with a 51-point lead over teammate Marcus Ericsson, with Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden — who came into the weekend off the back of his Indianapolis 500 win last week — a further 19 points behind in third.

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Detroit raced better than many IndyCar drivers expected

Pre-race predictions that IndyCar’s new downtown Detroit layout would produce a few yellows proved to be true in Sunday’s inaugural event. But fears that the cars would spend the entire afternoon running single-file did not… “We had more grip than I …

Pre-race predictions that IndyCar’s new downtown Detroit layout would produce a few yellows proved to be true in Sunday’s inaugural event. But fears that the cars would spend the entire afternoon running single-file did not…

“We had more grip than I expected,” said Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, who drove the No.10 Honda to the first street race win of his IndyCar career.

“The track kept evolving with our sessions and with other series, like Indy NXT and Trans-Am cars. You could see the driving lane — it was black, all full of rubber. That allowed for some more overtaking. I was able to pass some cars that were a lap down or on the back. I was able to pass Will (Power). He was able to pass me, as well. Was able to pass (Alexander) Rossi, as well.

“I thought there was going to be zero passes, honestly, without a crash. So, yeah, it was better than I expected. Obviously we had quite a lot of yellows, but everywhere you go, if there’s a street course, you’re going to have a lot of drama.”

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Felix Rosenqvist, who finished third in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, concurred.

“I think the track really came alive during the race,” he said. “It was cool. The steering was heavy; you’re carrying a lot of speed. Even on full tanks, we were doing, like, qualifying lap times.

“This is cool… You’re doing some good corner speeds. You have to be so focused. Bouncing between the walls, it’s insane how much effort goes into it mentally to do a hundred laps out there, especially when you have to race other guys around you. I think it was a cool challenge and awesome show for everyone.”

Early in the weekend, Palou had been among those harboring reservations about the sort of show the tight track would produce, and while he was pleasantly surprised by Sunday’s race, he still sees opportunities to improve the circuit for next year.

“Honestly, it was tight,” he said. “We saw that. (But) it was a really fun race. It was a lot better than I expected. Hopefully we can tweak some stuff and make it even better for next year. But I cannot wait (to return).”

If the Spaniard – along with several other drivers, including Team Penske’s Will Power – has his way, the first step toward improving the track for 2024 will be a repave on the back stretch to iron out the bumps on the approach to Turn 3.

“I think it would help,” he said. “There’s big bumps on the right side, so it’s quite easy to just go on the left and defend. When you go on the right, it’s not that it’s bumpy, but you lose a little bit of speed by just touching (them). That’s why it made it more difficult. That would be a good step.”

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Palou holds off Power in fierce battle on the streets of Detroit

The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix was won by polesitter Alex Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, but only after surviving a caution-strewn race and holding off the Penske Chevy of Will Power. The 2021 champion took his second victory of the season …

The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix was won by polesitter Alex Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, but only after surviving a caution-strewn race and holding off the Penske Chevy of Will Power.

The 2021 champion took his second victory of the season after leading 74 laps, and moved into a 51-point lead in the championship. Considering the Penskes didn’t look a match for the Ganassi cars this weekend in terms of tire life, Power will take satisfaction from beating three of the CGR cars after going a different way on tire strategy, despite being nudged onto two wheels during a late restart.

He finished ahead of a bruising fight between the Arrow McLaren Chevys of Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi, which eventually resulted in the latter striking a wall and allowing Scott Dixon to slip past into fourth. Kyle Kirkwood, whose car was damaged at the start, staged a brilliant fightback to finish sixth.

The first start was waved off when only the first eight cars were lined up properly, but the second start was given the green, and Palou led the field into Turn 3, which serves as the first turn for starts and restarts. Tucked up behind him was third place starter Romain Grosjean, who easily slipped down the inside of front-row starter Scott McLaughlin to claim second, while behind him Marcus Ericsson got the jump on Ganassi teammate Dixon, and Power — the only driver in the first four rows to start on Firestone’s primaries — passed teammate Josef Newgarden to claim sixth, as the latest Indy 500 winner lost momentum by tagging the rear attenuator on Dixon’s car.

Under braking, Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Callum Ilott mounted the rear of Kyle Kirkwood’s Andretti machine, breaking its rear wing, while skating on into the tire wall himself. Out came the first caution. Colton Herta, Graham Rahal and Devlin DeFrancesco took the opportunity to pit, get off the soft green sidewalled tires and grab primaries.

On the restart at the end of lap 6, the drivers behaved themselves, although Grosjean had to fight off McLaughlin, while Dixon stayed abreast with Ericsson around the outside of Turn 3 to give himself the inside for Turn 4 and claimed fourth.

Palou immediately started stretching his advantage over Grosjean out to 2s in two laps. Behind Newgarden, Rosenqvist in the highest of the three Arrow McLarens ran eighth on primaries ahead of Pagenaud’s Meyer Shank Racing Honda. The other two Arrow McLarens were 10th and 11th, O’Ward appearing to be less comfortable on the primaries than the closely following Rossi who had the fourth Ganassi car of Marcus Armstrong filling his mirrors.

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By lap 12, Palou had his lead out to over 5s and, with the 2021 champ as the exception, on lap 13, the primary tired cars were starting to shine. Power passed Ericsson for fifth, Rosenqvist passed Newgarden for seventh and O’Ward passed Pagenaud. Then Rosenqvist then also zapped Ercisson, O’Ward took Newgarden, and Rossi got around Pagenaud.

Ericsson was the first of the frontrunners to give up on the alternates and pit on lap 17. A lap later, Power outbraked Dixon into Turn 3 to grab fourth, leaving Dixon to try and fend off the primary-tired McLaren trio. It was going to be a tough ask. Power’s momentum continued and he passed teammate McLaughlin for third on lap 20. Next up was Grosjean, who fell victim to the No. 12 Penske on lap 22. Could he close on Palou, who now had a highly impressive 9.9s lead?

The same lap, Rosenqvist got around his friend Dixon who then pitted to grab primary tires.

By lap 27, Power had Palou’s lead to under 5s and a lap later it was 3.3s. Eight seconds back, under pressure from McLaughlin, Grosjean ran long into Turn 7 before he ducked into the pits for his hard tires. Next time by, McLaughlin also pitted and emerged in front of Dixon but the six-time champion braked extremely late for Turn 3 and just about held on to have the inside into Turn 4.

Palou had also now stopped, handing the lead to Power, and emerged 21s behind in sixth, behind Power, the three McLarens and Newgarden, who brilliantly made his alternates last until lap 33.

Rosenqvist pitted on lap 34, and Power stopped a lap later and came out behind Palou, but up to second, ahead of Dixon. Rossi and O’Ward hit pitlane on lap 36 but only Rossi emerged as scheduled, the Mexican ace stalling with a loose right-rear wheel and needing his crew to rescue him on pit exit. He finally emerged a lap down.

Up front on lap 40 of the 100 laps, Palou held a 5s lead over Power who was trying to nurse his alternate tires, 2.5sec ahead of Dixon, while both Rosenqvist and Rossi had vaulted McLaughlin in the pitstop exchange. Grosjean ran seventh ahead of Ericsson, Armstrong and the Ed Carpenter Racing Chevy of Rinus VeeKay. A refueling issue had knocked Newgarden back to 11th.

On lap 43, out came the full course caution. O’Ward had just unlapped himself from Palou, but as he passed Ferrucci he missed the Turn 9 apex and struck the concrete wall on the exit of the corner, mangling his front left suspension.

Considering he was on the harder primaries, Palou made a strong restart on lap 50, deterring Ferrucci from trying to unlap himself, and Power was happy to just clear Ferrucci who then tumbled down the order and got ushered into the pitlane entrance by the cars passing him. A spin and stall for Sting Ray Robb at Turn 8 caused the caution to emerge again — a mercy for Christian Lundgaard who had slipped down the Turn 7 escape road and had to spin and rejoin.

But as the field ran under this new caution, Graham Rahal understeered into a wall and ripped apart his right-front suspension. The scene was so unexpected that, as his stricken car sat there just beyond a blind apex, it was rammed from behind by the AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet of rookie Benjamin Pedersen.

The green flag waved again on lap 56, and after threatening to try to pass on the outside of Palou, Power flicked left to dive down the inside of the Ganassi car to snatch the lead into Turn 3. Taking advantage of his grippier, albeit more fragile alternate tires, Power put the hammer down and pulled out a 2.8s lead, while Palou did just enough to hold off Dixon and Rosenqvist.

Power needed to make his alternates last a few more laps, however, so he couldn’t go wild, and the alternates started losing their edge soon afterward. Palou, who had suffered a gearbox issue under yellow and had to go into emergency mode, started coming back at Power with some extremely fast laps, and on lap 65 he forced Power to lock up into Turn 3 and snatched the lead from him.

Dixon then ducked into the pits, and next time by Palou and Power did the same, and emerged just ahead of the Ganassi legend. Behind this trio, Rossi emerged from the pits just in front of Rosenqvist, but the Swede got muscular with his teammate and snatched the position and pulled away. Newgarden made a late stop and emerged between these two McLarens but Rossi passed him and Grosjean followed him through, demoting Newgarden to ninth.

Up front, the off strategy No. 8 Ganassi car of Ericsson led at three-quarter distance but would require many more laps of caution to get to the end without another stop. Two seconds behind him was Palou, who had a 5.5s margin over Power who still had Dixon filling his mirrors. Then came Rosenqvist and Rossi, 5s apart, while Kirkwood had staged a remarkable comeback to climb to a legitimate seventh ahead of Grosjean, Newgarden and Armstrong.

Colton Herta was nursing a broken front-right wing after encountering an obstructive Agustin Canapino, ahead of McLaughlin who’d grazed the wall and briefly lost gears after an overambitious passing attempt on Grosjean failed to pay off.

Ericsson’s tactical optimism ended on lap 78 when he pitted, re-emerging in 10th.

On lap 81, the field was bunched up by a caution once more when Grosjean bounced off the curbs on the inside of Turn 4 and his Andretti car was spat into the outside wall.

The lap 86 restart was abortive, as David Malukas understeered into the Turn 9 wall, trying to catch up with the pack, and brought out the sixth caution.

At the end of lap 90, the field got the green once more and Palou locked up into Turn 3 while Power was on his outside. As the Penske driver tried to do the over/under, he was nerfed into the air by the front wing of Dixon’s car, prompting his anti-stall to kick in. That gave Rossi the chance to slip up the inside of both of them to snatch second. Dixon almost cleared Power too, but once the Chevy found a gear once more, the two-time champion fired it down the inside of the six-time champ at Turn 4, and the Ganassi car just about stayed off the wall on exit, but not before Rosenqvist slipped through.

Out came the yellow yet again to rescue Robb after he got together with Ferrucci.

With five laps left, the field got the green, and while Palou got a good break away from Rossi, Power was under pressure from Rosenqvist who dived down his inside. However, being forced to the outside, Power got the throttle open sooner and suddenly dived down the inside of Rossi to snatch second.

Rossi and Rosenqvist then went hard at it, allowing the lead pair to escape while they bounced off each other. Rossi seemed to have it until the penultimate lap at Turn 3 when Rosenqvist dived inside his teammate, and the No. 7 car bounced off the outside wall. He lost momentum, and Dixon pounced to claim fourth.

Palou passed the checkered flag 1.18sec ahead of Power, who had 4.77sec over Rosenqvist.

Behind Dixon and Rossi, Kirkwood claimed sixth ahead of Kiwis McLaughlin and Armstrong, with Ericsson ninth and Newgarden rounding out the top 10.

Palou now holds a 51-point lead in the championship ahead Ericsson, with Newgarden third a further 19 points back.

RESULTS

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Zilisch goes from last to first in Trans Am TA2 Detroit race 2

16-year-old Connor Zilisch drove through the field to win the 3-Dimensional Services Group Motor City Showdown at the Detroit Grand Prix. The Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series event was full of …

16-year-old Connor Zilisch drove through the field to win the 3-Dimensional Services Group Motor City Showdown at the Detroit Grand Prix. The Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series event was full of struggles for reigning champions, attrition and drama in the final laps, which led to Zilisch being declared the victor of Race 2 in the Motor City.

Zilisch’s No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro was the car to catch all weekend. He earned the Motul Pole Award for Race 1 and earned the first starting position for Race 2 by setting the fastest lap in the weekend’s opening race, but a technical infraction before the green flag relegated him to a 28th-place start. The field was led to green by Brent Crews in the No. 70 Franklin Road Apparel/Mobil 1/GearWrench Ford Mustang and Rafa Matos in the No. 88 3-Dimensional Services Group Mustang after 2020 champion Mike Skeen, who was supposed to be the second-place starter, experienced a clutch issue in the opening pace laps.

Crews got off to an excellent start, with champions Matos and Thomas Merrill in the No. 26 Bennett/HP Tuners/Mike Cope Race Cars Ford Mustang right on his tail in a scene very similar to the conclusion of Race 1. However, things began to shake up when Merrill made the pass on Matos on lap five. Just seven laps later, Matos suffered from a mechanical issue that resulted in a hard crash which forced his retirement from the event. Crews continued to pace the field with Merrill second, as competitors Austin Green in the No. 89 3-Dimensional Services Group Camaro and Thomas Annunziata in the No. 90 Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang battled hard for the third position. Merrill faced his own issues on Lap 28 when he lost grip on the track’s rough surface and hit the wall, incurring heavy rear-end damage which took him out of contention for the win. By this point, Zilisch had impressively picked his way up through the field and was scored fourth.

Crews continued to pace the field by a large margin, with Green, Annunziata and Zilisch in his wake. However, a full-course yellow on lap 33 re-racked the competitive field. The race resumed with only two laps remaining and chaos ensued as soon as drivers entered the restart zone. Annunziata made contact with the back of Green, which thrust him forward into Crews. Crews and Green spun, as did Misha Goikhberg in the No. 10 BC Race Cars Ford Mustang and Adrian Wlostowski in the No. 3 Hawk Performance/AMT Motorsport Ford Mustang, who had been engaging in a heated battle for the fifth position.

Annunziata emerged with the lead, with Zilisch and Jade Buford in the No. 48 Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers Ford Mustang behind him. Zilisch, who had also received contact but was able to quickly escape the melee, used the final two laps to close the gap between himself and Annunziata, making it to his rear quarter panel as the checkered flag waved.

However, while Annunziata crossed the finish line first, both he and Buford were penalized 25 seconds for avoidable contact on the restart, and Zilisch was declared the victor. Thad Moffitt in the No. 43 Safety-Kleen Camaro, who restarted eighth, and Barry Boes in the No. 20 BCR/AccioData Mustang, who restarted outside the top 10, were scored second and third after avoiding crashes and penalties. Meanwhile, Justin Marks in the No. 8 Trackhouse Camaro finished fourth and Josh Sarchet in the No. 77 LIQUI MOLY/CUBE 3 Ford Mustang finished fifth.

“This definitely feels good, I’m super proud of my entire Silver Hare Racing team,” said Zilisch from the podium. “They’ve worked so hard to put me in this position and give me this opportunity. [Owners] Maurice and Laura Hull have done so much for me as a driver and a person, working hard to give me these fast cars. We finally got ourselves on the podium at the Chevrolet Grand Prix in my Chevrolet.

“It’s just special to bring these guys the result that they deserve. They were here for hours last night fixing the car after the damage we had yesterday. To come from the back and have the fastest car again and get ourselves up on the podium here means a lot. I’m just thankful for everyone who puts a hand on this car and does the work to keep me fast and keep me up front. I’m excited for the rest of the year knowing the piece that we’ve got.”

This is Zilisch’s second win of 2023. He earned his first-career victory at Road Atlanta earlier this year.

Zilisch laid down the fastest lap time in both Race 1 and Race 2 this weekend. Despite being the fastest car on the track, Zilisch finished 24th in Race 1 after early contact took him out of contention for the win.

The average age of this weekend’s winners is 15.5, as Zilisch is just 16 years old and yesterday’s Race 1 winner Crews is only 15.

Second-place Moffitt, third-place Boes and fifth-place Sarchet each earned their career-best finishes in the Trans Am Series.

Moffitt is the grandson of NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty.

Fourth-place Marks matched his career-best finish in the TA2 class. His previous fourth-place finish was also earned at a street course, the 2021 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix

TA2 Top Five:
1. Connor Zilisch, No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro
2. Thad Moffitt, No. 43 Safety-Kleen Chevrolet Camaro
3. Barry Boes, No. 20 BCR/AccioData Ford Mustang
4. Justin Marks, No. 8 Trackhouse Chevrolet Camaro
5. Josh Sarchet, No. 77 LIQUI MOLY/CUBE 3 Ford Mustang

TA2 Masters Award:
Doug Peterson, No. 87 3-Dimensional Services Group Ford Mustang

TA2 Pro/Am Winner:
Bruce Raymond, No. 54 Optima Batteries/FM3 Marketing Ford Mustang

COOLSHIRT Cool Move of the Race:
Thad Moffitt, No. 43 Safety-Kleen Chevrolet Camaro

Omologato Watches Fastest Lap of the Race:
Connor Zilisch, No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro

Bassett Hard Charger:
Tom Sheehan, No. 97 LTK Insulation Ford Mustang

Full official race results can be found here.

A highlight show combining Race 1 and Race 2 from Detroit will air on MAVTV on Thursday, June 8 at 8:00 p.m. ET.

The Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series returns to the track at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with the 3-Dimensional Services Group Classic June 22-25.

Redemption for Siegel with dominant Indy NXT win in Detroit

Nolan Siegel, who suffered a heartbreaking last-lap loss in Indy NXT’s first race on the new Detroit course, snatched the lead at the start of the second race and survived two restarts to claim victory. His HMD Motorsports teammate Christian …

Nolan Siegel, who suffered a heartbreaking last-lap loss in Indy NXT’s first race on the new Detroit course, snatched the lead at the start of the second race and survived two restarts to claim victory. His HMD Motorsports teammate Christian Rasmussen was second, while polesitter Louis Foster of Andretti Autosport completed the podium.

The first start was flagged off when everyone from row five back proved dilatory in lining up. The next start was deemed fine, and after Saturday’s mishap in which Foster was punted out of P1 into Turn 1 on lap one by Andretti Autosport teammate Hunter McElrea, the polesitter managed to remain unharmed by fellow front-row starter Rasmussen on the run down to Turn 1.

When Rasmussen braked alongside him, though, Foster was overly concerned with preventing his challenger from staying with him around the outside of the first turn (Turn 3 at the start) and ushered him toward the wall. That left the door open for Nolan Siegel to sprint up the inside on corner exit and take the lead.

Foster’s strong-arm tactics bit him again on the following lap because it was time for payback. Rasmussen slotted the No. 6 car down the inside on corner entry and gave Foster no room on exit. Now the Briton was down to third and barely holding off McElrea.

Behind them, Ernie Francis Jr ran fifth ahead of Colin Kaminsky (Abel Motorsports) and Danial Frost (HMD) until he skated down a runoff. Almost simultaneously, the second Abel car of Jacob Abel (Abel) punted yesterday’s winner Reece Gold (HMD) wide and sent him tumbling down the order.

Siegel, who in Saturday’s race stalked Gold for the lead, grabbed P1 and then had his car’s driveshaft let go on the final lap, was not going to have it easy on Sunday’s race either. By lap 10, Rasmussen was still within half a second of him closely pursued by Foster and McElrea.

The first caution of the race came on lap 15 of 45, when yesterday’s runner-up Jagger Jones slid into the wall exiting Turn 2 and ground to a halt.

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The restart came at the end of lap 19, and although Rasmussen made a bold attempt around the outside of Siegel into Turn 3, the latter retained the lead, and there was no way through for Foster and McElrea. Behind them, Kaminsky, Frost, Abel, Toby Sowery (HMD), Enaam Ahmed (Cape Motorsports) and James Roe (Andretti) completed the Top 10. However, Sowery’s passing attempt around the outside of Abel at Turn 3 failed and he took a trip down the runoff.

The following lap, Christian Bogle and Rasmus Lindh clashed at Turn 3 and briefly spun to a halt, while Ahmed tried and failed to pass Abel. Meanwhile Francis, who had pitted to replace a damaged front wing, had climbed back into the Top 10, turning some genuinely impressive lap times.

With ten laps to go, Siegel had eked his lead over Ramussen to just 1.75s, with Foster and McElrea close to the Dane, and 5s clear of the fifth-placed Kaminsky vs. Frost battle.

On lap 36, Abel and Ahmed outbraked themselves while trying to outbrake each other into Turn 3, and they gave up seventh and eighth to Roe and Francis respectively. Two laps later, the second full course caution flew when Kyffin Simpson – already several laps down after contact with Jamie Chadwick on the opening lap and a drive-through penalty – struck the wall at Turn 9.

This was less than ideal for Siegel, who had pulled 2s on Rasmussen and would now have to survive another restart, with two laps to go.

Siegel timed it well, and remained well clear of Rasmussen into Turn 3, while Foster and McElrea had nothing for the top two. Kaminsky outbraked himself and allowed Frost, Roe and Francis up into fifth, sixth and seventh.

Siegel passed the checkered flag to take a thoroughly deserved victory by 0.6559s ahead of his HMD teammate, with Foster completing the podium. Siegel is second in the championship, just two points behind Rasmussen.

RESULTS

Pagenaud leads IndyCar warm-up in Detroit

Simon Pagenaud gave Meyer Shank Racing-Honda a fillip by topping the final practice session ahead of this afternoon’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. The 2016 champion used alternate tires to lap the new downtown Motown course in 1m02.3615s, an …

Simon Pagenaud gave Meyer Shank Racing-Honda a fillip by topping the final practice session ahead of this afternoon’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

The 2016 champion used alternate tires to lap the new downtown Motown course in 1m02.3615s, an average of 94.962mph around the 1.645-mile layout, on his 16th of 19 laps. It justified the positive outlook that Pagenaud displayed on Saturday after qualifying eighth, believing that not only does the track suit his driving style, but that the MSR team had made a breakthrough in learning what shock and damper combo best suits this bumpy track.

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His fastest effort was 0.1203s faster than Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Callum Ilott, who outpaced his pal at Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda, Marcus Armstrong.

But it was Armstrong’s teammate and compatriot Scott Dixon who turned heads with a 1m02.7192s effort on Firestone’s primary tires. He used this harder compound in the Firestone Fast Six session yesterday, and while he was half a second off pole-winning teammate Alex Palou, Dixon was still quick enough to ensure he will roll off from the second row this afternoon.

Josef Newgarden, who will start fifth, was fastest of the Penske-Chevrolets this morning again with fifth best time (also using primaries) ahead of Arrow McLaren-Chevy’s Pato O’Ward, Palou, David Malukas of Dale Coyne Racing w/HMD_Honda and the fastest Andretti Autosport-Honda of Colton Herta. Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing rounded out the Top 10.

UP NEXT: Race coverage begins at 3:00pm local (Eastern) time.

RESULTS

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Detroit Trans Am Sunday live stream

The second half of the Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series doubleheader at the Detroit Grand Prix – the 3-Dimensional Services Group Motor City Showdown – is set for 11:05am ET.

The second half of the Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series doubleheader at the Detroit Grand Prix — the 3-Dimensional Services Group Motor City Showdown — is set for 11:05am ET.