Motorsport Weekend Wrap-Up

Pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin battled issues with his clutch for much of the race, and ultimately fell back to finish the race in P6.

Scott Dixon had an absolute standout race after a disappointing qualifying. Starting in P21, Dixon leveraged his experience to make some clever strategy calls, ultimately climbing in to the top 4 in the latter stages of the race. Unfortunately, his car just didn’t quite have the pace to challenge for the victory, but a last-lap pass on Alexander Rossi secured Dixon P3 and a podium finish.

Formula E

It was yet another strong weekend for the Jaguar TCS Racing pairing of Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy, as Shanghai hosted Races 11 and 12 of the Formula E World Championship.

Evans took the top-step of the podium in Race 11 after a dramatic last-lap pass on the Porche of Pascal Wehrlein secured him the win. Cassidy had a stormer of a race after finding himself in P13 at the end of the first lap, charging through the field to finish on the podium in P3.

Neither Jaguar took to the podium in Race 12, with Evans finishing in P4 and Cassidy in P5. These strong finishes have pushed Jaguar TCS Racing’s championship lead forward even further, with the team now 73 points clear of Porsche with four races left.

NASCAR

Shane van Gisbergen pulled double duties this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway for Kaulig Racing, taking part in both the Xfinity Series race and the mammoth Coca Cola 600-mile Cup Series race.

Qualifying in P29 for Xfinity, SVG rolled up his sleeves for the race and got to work. Running much of the race in the mid field, SVG was on for a top-10 finish by the latter stages. Unfortunately, SVG was squeezed in to the wall while battle Tyler Gray, causing a puncture. Luckily, another yellow quickly followed for another incident on track and SVG was able to pit under caution, eventually bringing the #97 car across the line in P15.

Another tricky qualifying, this time in the Cup Series, had SVG starting the Coca Cola 600-mile race from P36. It would prove a relatively uneventful race for the Kiwi, moving forward in the rear pack to P28 before the race was halted due to rain and lightning. Due to the weather not clearing in time, the race was ended after 249 laps, 151 laps short of the total distance, with SVG being officially classified in P28.

USF Pro 2000

It was Liam Sceats’ first outing on an oval this weekend as the USF Pro 2000 Championship went to Indianapolis Park Raceway, just down the road from the Indy 500 itself.

It was a steep learning curve for Sceats, who managed to qualify his TJ Speed Motorsports entry in P15 for the Freedom 90.

After a rain delayed start, Sceats was able to climb through the field and eventually take the checkered in P9, securing valuable points for his championship battle.