Happy Day for Kiwi’s in Milwaukee

Mclaughlin summed up the action-packed 400km race perfectly to IndyCar,com, ““Yeah, burn the house down tonight. That was awesome. I’m pumped. That was the most fun race I’ve had in INDYCAR.”

McLaughlin, diced with Colton Herta to take the lead on Lap 218 of the mile-oval, while Dixon also had to contend with Herta, finally passing the Andretti driver 13 laps later. “I think had it gone a few more laps, it looked like he was starting to burn off his fronts (tires) a little bit,” Dixon said. “But congrats to McLaughlin. Pretty sweet to have a Kiwi 1-2 there.”

The result wasn’t enough to salvage Dixons hopes of a seventh IndyCar title, but McLaughlin could mathematically make it happen, but it is the longest possible shot, and Palou only need to start to rule the Kiwi out. Australia’s Will Power is the only realistic challenger for the Astor Challenge Cup, which will come down to  a classic Penske (Power) vs. Ganassi (Palou) duel.

Meanwhile a power qualifying has led to another tricky race for IndyNXT driver Callum Hedge. The young New Zealander salvaged a 10^th placing at the Milwaukee Mile. His focus is on a strong finish to the season in Nashville. He sits in 4^th place, but out of contention, with both the championship and rookie titles being wrapped up already.

Paddon Wins in Wales

Our top rally Driver is  step closer to back-to back European Championships after claiming his first win of the season with a dominant performance in Rally Wales.

Our top rally Driver is  step closer to back-to back European Championships after claiming his first win of the season with a dominant perfroamnce in Rally Wales.

Paddon and co-driver John Kennard thrived in conditions he described at ‘Magic’, winning by a minute 47, ““I’m really happy. It’s been a perfect weekend from the outset. The car felt so good that we were still stay competitive and win more stages and build a healthy lead going into Sunday. Then it was about getting through and trying to maximise points.”

His attention now shifts both to local competition and Manawatu’s Daybreaker Rally, along with securing both the budget and points to completing his title defence in Poland, ““Our championship position is that we have a pretty healthy lead but it’s not enough to wrap up the championship title with a round to spare”

Paddon holds a 27-point lead in the ERC, with a maximum 35 points up for grabs in Poland in early October.

Seventh for SVG

It’s been a big week for Shane van Gisbergen, with the kiwi driver confirming that he’ll run a full NASCAR Cup season in 2025, and will also contest a series of Sprint Car races back home at Western Springs over the Christmas.

While his 26^th in the Darlington Cup race won’t match those headlines, his 7^th place in the earlier Xfinity race was a credible result with the playoffs looming.

Starting from 26^th, he quickly moved up the field, running in the top ten for much of the race, and surviving contact which spun Brandon Jones on lap 45.

The race remained green until Lap 45, when van Gisbergen made contact with the rear of Brandon Jones, sending the #9 Chevrolet into a spin.

World Endurance Champs

Former F1 driver Robert Kubica led his Ferrari team to victory in the Lone Star Le Mans, the sixth round the World Endurance Championship raced at COTA.

Earl Bamber was the best kiwi finisher in fourth, with his Cadillac coming back from an incident plagued opening lap which had dropped them out of the top ten.