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Noah Lisle, James Piszcyk, Patrick Heundenroder – British Formula 4
James Piszcyk picked up his maiden British Formula 4 victory in Race 1 of the Thruxton weekend.
Fellow Australians Noah Lisle and Patrick Heuzenroeder collided on Lap 1, leaving the two with heavy damage and out the race.
This left Piszcyk to take a lights to flag win after setting off from pole position.
Lisle redeemed his Race 1 DNF by collecting a reverse-grid victory in Race 2 after qualifying in fourth place.
He slipped past Matteo De Palo and Gustav Jonsson into the lead at Turn 2 and was unbeatable until a Safety Car period was called with nine minutes left.
The incident again involved Heuzenroeder, who recorded a second consecutive retirement of the weekend.
Lisle restarted well and crossed the finish line more than a second ahead of the field, whilst Piszcyk came home in 15th.
In Race 3, Piszcyk ended his race in the top five whilst the other two Australians finished behind each other with Lisle in 16th and Heuzenroeder in 17th.
Will Power, Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin – IndyCar
The Detroit Grand Prix saw Will Power involved in a dramatic crash with Scott Dixon with ten laps remaining.
Power was sent skywards but managed to survive to second place behind race-winner Alex Palou, while Felix Rosenqvist cam home third ahead of Dixon in fourth.
“I think my one chance was when Dixon got into me a little bit, I was trying to switch back and get a run, get him into four,” said Power.
“Apart from that, yeah, the next restart was in third so I didn’t have another shot at him,”
Christchurch’s Scott McLaughlin finished in seventh, one place ahead of fellow New Zealander Marcus Armstrong.
Scott McLaughlin was pictured in Detroit with a piece of home, the Peter Brock Trophy making an appearance with the 2019 Repco Bathurst 1000 winner after it was sent over as part of The Great Race’s 60th anniversary build-up.
Oscar Piastri – Formula 1
The Formula 1 rookie qualified in 10th for the Spanish Grand Prix after a mistake in Q3, but was promoted one place on the starting grid to ninth due to Pierre Gasly’s multiple penalties.
Piastri struggled with tyre degradation in the McLaren MCL60 leaving him outside the points in 13th.
His team-mate Lando Norris was involved in a opening lap clash with Lewis Hamilton and trailed the back of the field for the race, coming home in 18th.
Jack Doohan – F2
Saturday’s Sprint race saw Jack Doohan scrap for the last podium position after he made up five places in the opening stages from eighth.
A late Safety Car was called on a wet Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and he ultimately had to settle for fifth.
Formula 2 Qualifying saw the Australian miss out on pole position by a tenth of a second which saw him to start in third for Sunday’s Feature race.
Doohan finished sixth in the feature race, more than seven seconds behind fifth-placed Vesti.
Christian Mansell, Tommy Smith, Hugh Barter – F3
Christian Mansell came home in the last points paying place in the Formula 3 Feature race from 16th on the grid, while Hugh Barter, who qualified one position better than Mansell, could only make three places to finish 13th.
Tommy Smith dropped back one place from qualifying to finish 23rd.
The reverse-grid Sprint on Saturday race saw Mansell spin off at Turn 2 after contact with Gabriele Mini to bring out the Safety Car on Lap 16.
Hitech driver Mini was handed a 10-second time penalty for the collision as Mansell retired from the outing. Smith and Barter finished behind each other in 17th and 18th respectively.
Calan Williams and Alex Peroni – GT World Challenge Europe
Calan Williams and his team-mates Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and Niklas Krutten recovered from a difficult start in the Paul Ricard 1000km.
They battled for P2 in the Gold Cup class in the opening stages of the race, with Williams participating in his first double-stint before the #30 Team WRT BMW had to return to the pits and retire due to a suspected engine issue after the first hour.
After a good qualifying in third place, Ricky Capo in the #58 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini was cost a podium in the Silver Cup due to a broken drive peg-screw that retired the car.
Also in the GT Challenge Europe race was Alex Peroni in the Bronze Class with team-mates Florian Scholze and Patrick Assenheimer but after 45 laps, they retired their #3 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Nathan Herne – United States American TA2 Series
On the fifth round of the United States TA2 Series, Nathan Herne failed to finish either race of the double-header weekend in the streets of Detroit.
Herne was racing in sixth place during Race 1 but due to a cut tyre was called to retire back to the pits on Lap 18.
Race 2 followed a similar note as the Australian raced to fifth place from starting in 12th before being pushed into a fence barrier and not finishing the race.
“I am gutted, although we move on.” said Herne.
“We were fast all weekend, as we have been for the entire season. I probably shouldn’t have put myself in the position for another bloke to ruin my race. You learn every time you hit the track.”
James Allen, Brendon Hartley, Earl Bamber – 24 Hours of Le Mans Testing
Aussie James Allen was joined by George Kurtz and Colin Braun in the Algarve Pro Racing car for the LMP2 testing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
As sixty-two cars took to Circuit de la Sarthe for a race simulation focused practice, the #45 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07-Gibson had an off during the opening session.
Toyota factory driver Brendon Hartley participated in the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing alongside Ryo Hirakawa in the Hypercar class as co-driver Sebastien Buemi missed the weekend due to Formula E commitments.
Their stable-mates in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid were third outright at the end of Sunday’s test.
Earl Bamber in the #2 Cadillac Racing team will be battling Hartley in the same Hypercar class during the 24 Hours of Le Mans next weekend, as will Ryan Briscoe in the #708 Glickenhaus Racing car.
Costa Toparis – GB3 Championship
Costa Toparis raced in the GB3 Championship at Spa-Francorchamps, scoring a 14th place finish in Race 1. The Rodin Carlin driver improved one place in the next race to finish 13th.
Race 3 saw the Australian take 12th place, 13 seconds off the pace.
Remy Gardner – World Superbikes
GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team driver Remy Gardner retired from Race 1 of the Emilia-Romagna round after a collision with Danilo Petrucci on Lap 1 at the second turn.
Both were riding in the top ten points but the Stewards ruled a Long Lap Penalty for Petrucci for his role in the collision as Gardner retired and was sent to medical for a check-up.
Race 2 saw the Gardner return to racing and scrap with his team-mate for the last points-paying place, securing 10th to take home one point from the weekend.
