Motorsport Wrap: SVG wins with McLaren

Cassidy's overtaking clinic, tech woes for Dixon, SVG claims silverware

Four Kiwis had big race weekends overseas — three of them competing in Europe. Each respective pilot enjoyed success to some degree, but only one was able to fully deliver on their potential.

Luck deserts Dixon once again

Photo / Ganassi Racing

A new livery didn't earn reigning IndyCar champion Scott Dixon any favours in this morning's Kohler Grand Prix at Road America. 

The weekend started well enough, Dixon qualifying second for the race behind ANZAC bro Will Power. He then held second during the opening laps. But then on lap seven, his Chevrolet stopped with a technical gremlin in the engine.

"It's a real bummer, the car was so fast. We started on used tyres [Will] Power was on new [tyres] and we could hang with him very easily. It would've been a helluva fight between us two and I think we've come up short."

Power went on to win the race; his second consecutive race win.

Cassidy puts on 'drive of the year'

Former Toyota Racing Series champ Nick Cassidy was back to his best at round five of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, accumulating a podium, a fourth, and a sixth place over the course of the category's three races at the Norisring in Nuremberg. But the finishing positions don't begin to tell the story.

Cassidy's third place in race one was a lesson in the merits of 'staying out of trouble'. Approaching the flag in sixth, he climbed to fourth after two of the leaders erased each other. A late pass on George Russel then positioned him third.

The second and third races were hampered by a drive-line failure in qualifying. As a result, he started both races from 19th place on the grid.

But in the midst of all the drama, Cassidy put a clinic on how to overtake a whole bunch of relatively equal cars in minimal time. Check out the clip above to see him fight from 19th to fourth in race two. Though he could 'only' get to sixth in race three, he did so with only approximately nine minutes of green-flag racing due to a string of crashes and a lengthy red flag.

Blomqvist back on the DTM podium

Photo / BMW Motorsport

The debatedly Kiwi Tom Blomqvist had a race weekend of two halves in the DTM series for BMW Motorsport — an event that also took place at the Norisring. 

It started poorly, with Blomqvist only able to qualify 20th for race one — translating that to a 16th in the race.

The second race however was a slight improvement, after he was able to qualify on pole. Though he controlled a healthy portion of the race from the front, a gun pit strategy from Audi's Nico Muller relegated Blomqvist to an eventual second place.

van Gisbergen steals Blancpain endurance victory

van Gisbergen's #58 Garage 59 McLaren 650S GT3, shared with Rob Bell and Côme Ledogar, started from fifth on the grid. From there, they simply hung with the leaders. It was only with two hours left in the race, van Gisbergen at the wheel, that the team started to show their hand.

They had raced their way to second behind the leading Bentley, and were in the thick of a battle with the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3.

But a slick pit stop while under full-course caution saw van Gisbergen leapfrog the Bentley and Ferrari to take the lead out from under their noses. From there, he held on in the dark to defeat a fast-closing Ferrari challenge and grab the #58 McLaren's second victory of the year.

Read more about Dixon at Road America
Read more about Nick Cassidy's Formula 3 weekend: race 1 / race 2 / race 3
Read more about Blomqvist in DTM: race 1 / race 2
Read more about van Gisbergen's second Blancpain win of 2016

- velocitynews.co.nz