MOTORSPORT: Power bounds on in IndyCar

Will Power lost the IndyCar series lead that came with his historic Indianapolis 500 victory during the weekend’s follow-up round in Detroit, but he regained it within 24 hours.

Power was one of the few highlights for his Team Penske’s engine supplier Chevrolet in its hometown as Honda-powered cars dominated the weekend’s two races.

Honda-engined Dallaras filled the first six places in the first race and Power was the only Chevy-powered driver in the top six in the second.

Making matters even more embarrassing for the bowtie brand was that senior General Motors executive – and former Holden boss in 2008-09 – Mark Reuss spun and crashed the Corvette ZR1 pace car into a wall as the field prepared for the second race early today Australian time, delaying the start by half an hour.

Roger Penske, the iconic team owner also based in Detroit, joked on the race telecast: “Come to the race and you’ll see anything.”

Power, who had given Penske his 17th victory in the Indianapolis 500 a week earlier, finished runner-up to American Ryan Hunter-Reay on Motor City’s street circuit today after his seventh place the previous day, when Scott Dixon was victorious.

Brisbane-born New Zealander Dixon’s victory was his first this season but the 42nd of his Indy racing career – equal third with Michael Andretti and behind only AJ Foyt, with 67 wins including the Indy 500 four times, and Mario Andretti on 52.

Dixon was fourth today and trails Power by five points after eight of 17 races in this year’s championship.

Power, courtesy of his double-points success in the 500 after his win on the road course at the Indianapolis two weeks earlier, has 309 points and Dixon, who drives for Chip Ganassi, 304.

American ex-Formula 1 racer Alexander Rossi, who was leading today’s race until he slid off as he shredded his left front tyre with seven laps to go under pressure from Andretti Autosport teammate Hunter-Reay, had led the standings overnight but is now third on 298 points.

Power had slipped to third – although only seven points behind Rossi with Dixon sandwiched between them – after the first race of the weekend’s ‘duels’ in Detroit, where he scored wins for Penske in 2014 and 2016.

Skoda man Evans skips further ahead in ARC

Triple Australian Rally Champion Eli Evans has won his second straight round in this year’s ARC in a Skoda Fabia R5, stretching his lead over Steve Glenney in a Subaru from five to 25 points.

Victorian Evans and co-driver Ben Searcy won the National Capital Rally in forests around Canberra at the weekend by almost five minutes after young Toyota rival Harry Bates’ troubles on Saturday and Glenney’s yesterday.

Bates’ Yaris AP4 blew a turbocharger during the first leg, while Glenney’s Production Rally Car Subaru WRX STI did the same on Sunday’s second last stage.

After nursing the bright orange WRX through the final 18km stage, South Australian turned Tasmanian Glenney had dropped to sixth for the day but was still third for the weekend in what Evans acknowledged was “probably the drive of the event”.

Despite the margin of victory, Evans said it had been “a tough weekend”.

“We had some really good competition from Steve and Harry. Both guys had car troubles – one each day – and that took a little bit of stress off us,” he said.

“The course was rocky and abrasive on day one and dusty and loose on day two, but the Skoda R5 was fantastic.

“We knew that Harry was going to be fast here on his home event, and he was (beating Evans by 10 seconds in Sunday’s heat).

“Steve in a production car did an exceptional job. He’s keeping up and putting the pressure on us all the time.”

At the halfway mark of the championship, Evans has 215 points to Glenney’s 190, with Bates on 181. Molly Taylor, the 2016 champion, is fourth in her PRC Subaru on 140, while Queenslander Adrian Coppin, originally from Canberra, has jumped from eight to fifth on 129 points after third place on Sunday.

Despite not having done the pre-event reconnaissance, fellow Queenslander Glen Weston stepped in as Coppin’s co-driver when Erin Kelly fell ill and could not partner him in his Skoda Fabia R5.

A third Skoda R5 with two Japanese drivers was the best of the farcical few Asia-Pacific championship cars in fourth place, more than 7½ minutes behind Evans.

R5s are extensively modified series production cars with turbocharged engines from the manufacturer’s model range and a maximum of 1620cc..

AP4 regulations were developed for Australia and New Zealand with cars required to have engines from the same manufacturer as the body shell or, if there is not one suitable, the designated ‘joker’ engine, an EP6 ‘Prince’ series 1598cc turbocharged motor.

The fourth ARC round is the revived Rally Tasmania on July 27-29 in the island state’s north.

Red flags for safety repairs slash GT enduro

What was to have been the 500km race for GT cars at Victoria’s Phillip Island as the second round of the Australian Endurance Championship was drastically shortened yesterday after two red-flag stoppages.

Tyre walls had to be repaired after the incidents – the first when Rio Nugara, who had won GT trophy series races for the weekend, hit a wall at Lukey Heights in an Audi R8 LMS Ultra, the second immediately after the restart when two GT4s hit the wall before Southern Loop.

The abbreviated race was won by Tony Bates and Dan Gaunt in an Audi R8 LMS which took the lead after the retirement of the Walkinshaw Porsche 911 GT3 R of Liam Talbot and John Martin.

Steven Richards and Michael Almond took second place, just four seconds adrift, in a BMW M6 GT3 that treated its tyre much more kindly than previously and was forced by the category rules to stop longer in the pits.

Max Twigg and Tony D’Alberto, who had won the opening endurance round at South Australia’s new Tailem Bend circuit, were third this time in their Mercedes-AMG.

They lead Richards and Almond with the endurance championship finale at NZ’s Hampton Downs in October, while the overall GT championship’s next round is at Sydney Motorsport Park on the first weekend of August.

Jayden Ojeda, 18, from Penrith in Sydney’s west, won all three races in the Australian Formula 4 Championship round at Phillip Island and is now third in the series on 102 points – just two behind leader Cameron Shields, with Ryan Suhle between them – while Aaron Love, second in the latest round, is fourth on 87.

Another young gun, Cooper Murray, won all three races in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge and leads that series by 47 points, while Yasser Shahin and James Winslow had double race victories in winning the Radical Australia Cup round.