Weekend Motorsport Wrap-Up
Jul 22, 2024
It was championship disappointment for Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy in Formula E, while there were strong results for our drivers competing both state-side and down-under.
Formula E
It was a tough weekend for the Jaguar TCS Racing pairing of Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy, with each driver coming into the final weekend of the year in reach of the championship, but both leaving London empty-handed.
Evans finished the first race of the weekend in P2, but crucially, behind championship rival Pascal Wehrlein. Cassidy started 18th on the grid after a disappointing qualifying and fought his way through the pack to a strong P7 finish.
Only 7-points separated the three contenders in the final race of the weekend, but ultimately it would be Wehrlein who would reign triumphant. Evans needed to finish ahead of the German, but couldn’t quite get past him on-track, coming across the line in P3, with Wehrlein in P2.
It’s not all bad news though for the Kiwi drivers though, with Jaguar TCS Racing claiming the Manufacturer’s Championship for the first time since they entered the series in 2016.
NASCAR
It was oval redemption time for Shane van Gisbergen who finished P4 in Indianapolis, his best result in the discipline since Atlanta in February.
After an average qualifying that saw the Kiwi start the race from P23. SVG managed to keep it clean through multiple incident periods and made some clever strategy calls that resulted in the #97 Kaulig Racing car crossing the line in P4, just three-seconds off the lead.
“Wow, what a race! We just continued to get better and better throughout the stages, and I got more confident through the race. We were running up front with good guys and got super good restarts, the whole race was amazing! Proud of my No. 97 Kaulig Racing Team. These guys works super hard, and it’s so special to race at a place like this and get a fourth-place finish.” Said van Gisbergen.
NASCAR will take a rare three-week break during the Olympics, with the series returning on the 18th of August at Michigan International Speedway.
IndyCar
It was another Scott Dixon masterclass this weekend in Toronto, with the six-time champion overcoming a disappointing qualifying result to climb from P15 to the podium.
The race was unsurprisingly chaotic at one of IndyCar’s most difficult circuits, with multiple incidents and a major stoppage playing havoc with the team’s strategies.
Dixon was a major winner in what became a strategy gamble with his P3 finish.
Scott McLaughlin had contact with his teammate Will Power, with the Kiwi being pushed in to the barriers and forced to retire.
2023 Indy NXT vice-champion Hunter McElrea had his IndyCar debut on the streets of Toronto. The 24-year-old Kiwi showed great pace in practice, topping the rookies in the session, but put his car into the barriers in qualifying, scuppering any chance of a good finishing position in the race.
McElrea’s race-pace was impressive, but the Dayle Coyne Racing debutant was forced to retire on Lap 57.
USF Pro 2000
It was a rollercoaster weekend for Liam Sceats in Toronto, with USF Pro 2000 supporting IndyCar at the tough street-circuit.
The 19-year-old was forced to retire from the first race of the weekend after receiving contact from another driver.
A P2 finish and a podium in the second race would prove to be redemption for the TJ Speed Motorsports driver, finishing just 1.8s off rival Lochie Hughes.
The podium result strengthens Sceats’ P4 position in the championship.
Supercars
Matt Payne had a stormer of a weekend at the Sydney SuperNight Supercars event, making moves in both races to claim strong results and a podium.
The Penrite driver started in P10 for Race 15, but was able to push through the ranks to cross the line in P2, just short of a win. It would be similar heroics in Race 16 for Payne, who started in P11 and climbed seven positions during the race to finish in P4 and just off the podium.
Ryan Wood and Andre Heimgartner both had tricky weekends, finishing lower mid-pack in both races.
Porsche Carrera Cup Australia
Marco Giltrap seems to be finding his groove in Carrera Cup Australia after a strong weekend at the Sydney SuperNight round.
The Porsche Sprint Challenge champion finished P4 and just off the podium in the first race of the weekend, his best result of the season.
Giltrap was on the tail of third-place driver David Russel in the closing stages of the race, with a podium looking likely until Jackson Walls hit the barriers with just two and a half-minutes remaining of the race, after which the race was not resumed.
The second race would see Giltrap finish in P8, a result that was good enough to secure P4 for the round.