2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship

Matt Campbell’s remarkable season in the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship continued on the weekend after claiming victory at the FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix.

Paired up with regular teammate Mathew Jaminet of France, the duo were again at the top of their game as they steered the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R to a lights-out to chequered flag victory.

With only the GTD Pro and GTD cars taking part in the event, it allowed the duo to occupy the front of the grid for much of the weekend.

Campbell and Jaminet didn’t have the fastest start to the weekend, having finished fifth in the first practice session, however they set the benchmark in every session  thereafter and steered their way to the fastest time in practice two, qualifying and then the race win.

Their victory at Lime Road Park in Connecticut was their fourth of the season and saw them edge further away from Antonio García and Jordan Tayloråç in the GTD Pro Class standings.

Campbell wasn’t the only Australian competing on the weekend with Aidan Read finishing ninth in the GTD class and 13th overall.

The IMSA SportsCar Championship continues next month at Road America for the IMSA Sports Car Weekend on 7 August.

IndyCar Series

Will Power has suffered a minor blow in his charge for a second NTT IndyCar Series title after finishing a lowly 15th in the Honda Indy Toronto overnight.

Sitting second on the outright standings behind only Marcus Ericsson, Power was hopeful of making up some ground on the ex-Formula 1 Driver to reclaim the outright lead on the standings.

However, a challenging qualifying session saw him start the 85-lap race in 16th place and with a mountain of work to do.

Although it was his fourth consecutive qualification outside the top 10 and the Queenslander had some hope in charging up the order, having claimed a podium and a win from those previous three races.

Unfortunately, Power wouldn’t have the same fortune in Toronto as he did in Ohio and Detroit, where he finished third and first, and could only make one position.

Making his frustrating day even harder was Ericsson’s rise up the field as the Swede reached the chequered flag in fifth to extend his lead over the Aussie to 35 points.

While Power couldn’t finish in the top 10, his team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin could, with the three-time Supercars champion claiming P9.

It was McLaughlin’s fifth top 10 for the year, yet the Kiwi still didn’t have the ideal race after he started three places higher.

His fellow New Zealander compatriot Scott Dixon ended up claiming the victory – his 52nd in the series, equalling him with Mario Andretti for the second most wins in IndyCar history.

It’s back-to-back weekends for the series now with a double header at Iowa Speedway awaiting the series.

FIA World Rally Championship

Luke Anear’s FIA World Rally Championship tour has concluded with a gallant effort in the weekend’s Rally Estonia.

Behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta Rally2 and alongside regular RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Rally Championship (ARC) co-driver Andy Sarandis, the duo ended up finishing 27th overall and 14th in the WRC2.

Having made their WRC debut last month at Rally Sardinia, Anear and Sarandis were again faced with a major challenge as they tried to take it to the best rally crews in the world.

While they were not at the same pace as the top contenders, they managed to finish the international rally unscathed – a major achievement for the New South Welshman.

His best result came on the penultimate stage where he finished 13th in class and 28th overall.
 
Although they finished the event, it didn’t come without drama as they were handed a one minute and 20 second penalty on stage eight after checking in eight minutes late.

Anear will now return to Australia and look to compete in the ARC‘s remaining rounds after this weekend’s Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland.