- Sunday's NHRA Mission Drag Racing Series In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals was delayed for nearly two hours during the first round of eliminations after a single-engine Piper PA32 plane crashed at Pomona Dragstrip. The plane flattened the cabin of a Chevrolet Silverado pickup and came to rest between a couple of campers. Four people were taken to hospitals with injuries that are not life-threatening.
Once the situation was under control,
the eliminations began. Antron Brown won in Top Fuel and won the championship there. Austin Prock won the Funny Car title and set a national speed record with a pass at over 341 mph. Teammate Jack Beckman (driving in place of the injured John Force) won the event. Greg Anderson won the Pro Stock title by beating teammate Dallas Glenn in a heads-up race in the final for the victory. Matt Smith won in Pro Stock Motorcycle while Gaige Herrera won the title.
- Lamborghini announced Saturday that they will
introduce the new Lamborghini Temerario GT3 in 2026 to replace the Huracan GT3 Evo2. Details are sparse, but we do know that the car will be powered by a twin-turbo V8 as opposed to the Huracan's V10. The actual car will be unveiled sometime in 2025.
- IMSA teams were in Daytona this past weekend for three days of testing. Lots of new aspects were in play, including the new
Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH being tested in public, along with new driver lineups and the debut of torque sensors in the GTD and GTD Pro classes.
Friday was the prototype-only day of the test. Session No. 1 saw Lamborghini Iron Lynx's Andrea Caldarelli go fastest with a lap at 133.597 mph. His lap was .095 seconds faster than BMW M Team RLL's Philipp Eng. Teammate Max Hesse was
third, then JDC-Miller MotorSports' Gianmaria Bruni. Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global's Ricky Taylor was fifth in the best Cadillac.
In LMP2, United Autosports' Paul di Resta was fastest with a lap at 128.764 mph. The lap was .095 seconds faster than teammate Ben Hanley. CrowdStrike Racing by APR's Malthe Jakobsen was third, then Tower Motorsports' Sebastian Alvarez and TDS
Racing's Hunter McAlrea.
Friday afternoon's session saw the Acura of Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian's Tom Blomqvist was fastest with a lap at133.622 mph. HIs lap was .131 seconds faster than BMW M Team RLL's Marco Wittmann. Eng was third, then Nick Yelloly in the second Acura. Action Express Racing's Jack Aitken was fifth.
In LMP2, Jakobsen was fastest with a lap at 129.934 mph in his CrowdStrike-sponsored ORECA 07-Gibson. Jakobsen was .267 seconds faster than Hanley. Rasmus Lindh in the second United Autosports entry was third, then TDS Racing's Charles Milesi and Tower Motorsports' Sebastien Bourdais.
Saturday was the only day of the test in which all four classes were on the track for three full sessions.
The morning session saw Yelloly go fastest with a lap at 133.907 mph in his Acura. The lap was .283 seconds faster than Wittmann. Robin Frijns in the No. 24 BMW was third, then Caldarelli and Porsche Penske Motorsport's Nick
Tandy.
Jakobsen was fastest in LMP2 with a lap at 129.474 mph. He was .197 seconds faster than Hanley, then Riley Motorsports' Felipe Fraga. Lindh was fourth, then TDS Racing's Mikkel Jensen.
In GTD Pro, Ford Multimatic Motorsports' Dennis Olsen was fastest in his
Mustang with a lap at 118.283 mph. He was seven-hundredths of a second faster than teammate Mike Rockenfeller. AO Racing's Klaus Bachler was third in his Porsche, then Vasser Sullivan's Jack Hawksworth and Paul Miller Racing's Neil Verhagen.
Wright Motorsports' Elliott Skeer was fastest in GTD with a lap at 118.187 mph, third fastest of GT drivers. Skeer was .453 seconds faster
than Inception Racing's Davide Rigon. The Iron Dames' Rahel Frey in a Porsche was third, then Magnus Racing's Spencer Pumpelly and DXDT Racing's Alec Udell.
Session No. 4 Saturday saw Blomqvist go fastest with a lap at 133.030 mph in his Acura. The lap was seven-thousandths of a second faster than Lamborghini Iron Lynx's Romain Grosjean. Porsche's Kevin Estre was third, then
Wittmann and Action Express Racing's Frederik Vesti.
Jakobsen was fastest in LMP2 with a lap at 129.583 mph. He was .062 seconds faster than Hanley. Jensen was third, then Milesi and di Resta.
Olsen was fastest again in GTD Pro at 118.473 mph in his Ford. He was
.021 seconds faster than teammate Sebastian Priaulx. Bachler was third, then Vasser Sullivan's Ben Barnicoat and Verhagen.
In GTD, Skeer was fastest at 117.580 mph, fourth fastest of all GT drivers. He was .047 seconds faster than Conquest Racing's Giacomo Altoe. Magnus Racing's Andy Lally was third, then Rigon and Iron Dames' Matteo Cressoni.
The night session saw Grosjean set the fastest lap of the weekend at 134.043 mph. The lap was .390 seconds faster than Frijns, then Wittmann. WTRAndretti's Filipe Albuquerque was fourth in his Cadillac, then Porsche Penske Motorsport's Felipe Nasr.
LMP2 saw Jakobsen top the
chart again with a lap at 129.520 mph. He was .587 seconds faster than Jensen, then Hanley. AO Racing's Jonny Edgar was fourth, while di Resta was fifth.
Olsen was fastest again in GTD Pro at 118.460 mph, .204 seconds faster than Priaulx. Bachler was third, then Verhagen and Barnicoat. Skeer was fastest in GTD at 117.911 mph, third in GT and .012 seconds faster than Lally. Van der
Steur Racing's Valentin Hasse-Clot was third, then Inception Racing's Ollie Millroy and Cressoni.
Sunday was a GT-only day in Daytona. The first session of the day saw Olsen top it again with a lap at 118.863 mph, the fastest GT lap of the weekend and .230 seconds faster than Rockenfeller. Bachler was third, then Barnicoat and Verhagen.
Skeer was once again fastest in GTD with a lap at 118.424 mph. He was .647 seconds faster than Pumpelly, then van der Steur Racing's Maxime Robin. Millroy was fourth then Conquest Racing's Cedric Sbirrazzuoli.
The No. 65 swept the weekend in the GTD Pro class, but it was
Christopher Mies who was fastest with a lap at 118.845 mph. He was .281 seconds faster than Priaulx. Bachler was third.
In GTD, Skeer swept the weekend as well with a lap at 118.217 mph. He was .141 seconds faster than Cressoni, then Pumpelly and Rigon. Hasse-Clot was fifth.
The Aston Martin Valkyrie spent the entire weekend roughly two seconds off the pace of the overall leaders. However, the team put hundreds of laps on their chassis with minimal issues and no crashes.