US-based Australian Scott Andrews has continued his sizzling form by claiming double wins at Mid-Ohio to break the all-time record of wins in a season in the F1600 Series.
In the super competitive series, Andrews was able to hold off Skylar Robinson and Ben Auriemma in a thrilling final race to claim his seventh win of the season.
The Exclusive Autosport Spectrum Honda driver’s seventh win came in the 12th race.
“The team gave me an awesome car and I was lucky enough to stay in the lead nearly the whole race and hold them off,” Andrews said.
“I saw one of the yellow cars flying on the outside on the last lap and braked as late as I dared and managed to pull it off.”
Andrews finished third in the other heat of the weekend which means he has only missed standing on the podium once in the 12 races which have been contested.
In the opening heat Andrews was punted from pole to last by officials for being late to the dummy grid before staging a remarkable fightback to claim the win.
He finished third in the middle race before spearing into the lead on lap three of 18 tours in the final race to record a solid win.
The youngster from Torquay in Victoria is now looking to extend his record season at the new road course at Pittsburgh for the next three-race encounter from July 31-August 2.
GP2
Indonesian flyer Rio Haryanto stormed to his third win of the season by claiming an all-the-way win in the sprint race at Silverstone.
Haryanto (Campos Racing) proved too strong for Raffaele Marciello with Red Bull tester Pierre Gasly claiming third in an eventful race.
Alexander Rossi managed to hold fourth place despite a 5s penalty for exceeding the track limits as he rounded up sixth placed Alex Lynn at Copse.
Vandoorne scrambled to ninth but remains at the top of the standings on 170 points with Rossi on 105 while Haryanto is on 91.
Saturday’s feature race saw a maiden win for Russian Sergey Sirotken, who comfortably led home Rossi, Vandoorne, Gasly and Lynn.
Richie Stanaway made a super start to lead before losing the ascendancy on an early restart.
The Kiwi’s race was soured when he was forced into retirement with suspension failure seven laps from the end.
Stanaway would be responsible for a solid drive in the sprint race by storming from 23rd to finish 13th.
The feature saw Mitch Evans suffer another retirement in his Russian Time machine, losing his head rest on Hangar Straight.
His torment continued with an uncompetitive machine before finishing 20th in the sprint race.
The GP2 Series now regroups for the next round at Hungary from July 24-26.
GP3
Marvin Kirchhofer (ART Grand Prix) claimed the opening heat ahead of Arden pilot Emil Bernstorff despite a determined charge by the latter in the closing stages.
In a thrilling finish the pair wrestled at close quarters for the lead before Kirchhofer prevailed while Koiranen GP’s Matt Parry claimed third.
In the second race Arden’s Kevin Ceccon made up for team-mate Bernstorff’s near miss of a day earlier by soaring to victory.
Ceccon began brilliantly and was able to maintain his advantage to beat ART Grand Prix’s Esteban Ocon while Jenzer Motorsport’s Ralph Boschung held on to finish third.
Opening race podium man Parry was involved in a battle for fourth with his Koiranen GP team-mate Jimmy Eriksson before the latter won the battle in the closing stages.
Luca Ghiotto, fourth and seventh respectively, is on 82 points to lead Kirchhofer by a slender five points with Ocon third on 64 ahead of the next round at the Hungaroring from July 24-26.
Carlin’s Mitch Gilbert finished 20th and 21st in a challenging weekend.
Porsche Supercup
Market Leader Team by Project 1 driver Philipp Eng has become the fourth different winner in as many rounds by taking the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race at Silverstone.
The 25-year-old Austrian beat Alex Riberas (E/The Heart of Racing by Lechner) and Michael Ammermuller (Lechner Racing Middle East).
“I got away perfectly at the start and I’m over the moon with this important win,” Eng said.
“Silverstone is a demanding track and everything simply ran very smoothly for me.”
Eng tops the points standings on 70 after four of eleven championship rounds.
Australians Spike Goddard and Sam Power finished 12th and 19th respectively in the 13 lap affair.
The Supercup moves onto Hungary for the next round from July 24-26.
World Rallycross
Mattias Ekstrom became the fifth different winner of the FIA World Rallycross Championship season at his home event in Sweden.
The victory occurred in the aftermath of the event with initial winner Timmy Hansen stripped of the success after an inquiry found him guilty of pushing in the final.
Hansen was dropped to second with Ford Olsbergs MSE driver Andreas Bakkerud claiming third.
Petter Solberg, the top qualifier at the Intermediate Classification then suffered broken steering in the final however has managed to hold his lead in the standings by 44 points from Johan Kristoffersson.
“I’m happy for my guys and for myself, I feel this is a well deserved win,” said Ekstrom, who has won at Holjes for the second year in a row.
“I have no hard feelings towards Timmy (Hansen), he deserves P2. He made a brave move passing me on the corner but everybody has to play by the rules of a World Championship.
“I did feel like I was robbed of the win so I’m pleased that the stewards made the decision that they did – it sets the level of the bar of how we should race.
“I’m really pleased with how car the car has performed and of course it’s always amazing to take a win at my home race.
The 22-year-old Hansen seemed to take the outcome in his stride.
“I saw a gap on the final corner after the jump, I didn’t hesitate and I just went for it,” he said.
“I didn’t think I was pushing Mattias, there was some contact side by side but that is rallycross in my opinion.
“I still feel like I won in front of my home crowd and I crossed the finish line first which was a dream feeling.”
The championship now moves to Canada for the Atlantic crossing event from August 7-8.
ADAC German Formula 4 Championship
Australian Joey Mawson has closed to within four points of the ADAC German Formula 4 Championship leader Joel Eriksson after recording a win and two second place finishes at the Lausitzring.
Mawson scored his second victory of the season in Race 1 as he led Robert Schwartzman and Marvin Dienst to the chequered flag.
The 19-year-old followed that result with two second place finishes where he followed Eriksson and Dienst home in the final two races.
“I know that we really could have had triple wins this weekend but we didn’t quite get them, I was fast enough but just a couple of things didn’t go my way on the late race restarts,” said Mawson.
“I came into the weekend with the aim of closing in on the championship lead and I was able to do that in a big way, which is very pleasing. The Van Amersfoort team gave me a great car all weekend and three podium finishes is a great reward for all of their hard work.
“I’m now only four points behind in the championship lead at the half way mark, there’s a long way to go and after having so much pace on the weekend I’m very confident heading into the second half of the season.”
The championship continues with a visit to the Nurburgring on August 14-16.
Blancpain GT Sprint Series
Vincent Abril and Maxi Buhk helped Bentley score its maiden victory in the Blancpain Sprint Series at Moscow Raceway.
The HTP Motorsport pair produced a faultless drive to take the chequered flag by 7.5s from the BMW Team Brazil squad of Atila Abreu and Valdeno Brito.
Rinaldi Racing’s Marco Seefried and Norbert Siedler claimed the final place on the podium in third.
Top Audi squad Team WRT saw all four Audi R8s finish in the top, 10 with championship leaders Laurens Vanthoor and Robin Frijns fifth.
The Reiter Engineering Lamborghjini of Nick Catsburg and Albert von Thurn und Taxis won the Qualifying race on Saturday.