Lawson shines in Lone Star State - Motorsport Recap

Lawson’s dream full-time debut

It was a dream weekend for Liam Lawson at his first ever race as a full-time Formula 1 driver.

After just an hour of practice on the Circuit of the Americas, a track he’d never driven, Lawson was thrown straight into qualifying for the Sprint race. Breezing into SQ2, the young Kiwi put in a time good enough for P12 but fell afoul of track-limits on that lap, something every driver was battling over the weekend, relegating him to a P15 start for the Sprint.

It was a relatively uneventful Sprint for Lawson, apart from some aggressive battling with Fernando Alonso and a P16 finish.

When it was time for Grand Prix qualifying, there was no escaping the fact that Lawson had a 60-place grid penalty for replacement engine parts and it mattered little where he qualified. VCARB still let Liam show the grid what he was capable of, putting in a time good enough for P3 in Q1. In Q2, Lawson played the team game and provided a draft to Yuki Tsunoda without setting a time himself.

For the Grand Prix, Lawson lined up as last car on the grid. Over the course of the race, the 22-year-old made a statement, fighting hard and keeping clean through the 56 laps and climbing all the way up to P9 to claim points in his first race. Crucially, he finished well ahead of Tsunoda, who Red Bull are using as a benchmark to gauge Liam’s performance.

Odds against SVG in Vegas

It was a weekend to forget for Shane van Gisbergen in Las Vegas who ran in both the Xfinity Series and Cup Series races.

The Supercars champion’s Xfinity outing was ended early with a mechanical failure forcing him to retire, while in the Cup race he finished P29 and two laps down on the leader. Regardless of the results, this weekend was more experience on a fast oval, key to SVG’s development before he kicks off his full-time Cup campaign in 2025.

Porsche Sprint Challenge Championship wraps-up

It was the final weekend of the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge, and a championship decider for the battle between Team Porsche New Zealand driver Brock Gilchrist and Oscar Targett.

Targett took the advantage with a win in a wet first race at Sydney Motorsport Park, with Gilchrist crossing the line behind him in P2.

The young-Kiwi wouldn’t be able to replicate his podium finishing form from for the rest of the weekend, meaning he was unable to challenge Targett for the championship and finished his debut Porsche Sprint Challenge season second in the championship.

Clay Osborne took his first ever victory in the ultra-competitive series with a fantastic drive in the third race, cementing third position in the championship.

Leitch battles Australia’s best for a podium

Brendon Leitch and teammate Tim Miles took a P3 and a podium in the three-hour race at Syndney Motorsport Park, competing against the likes of Bathurst 1000 winner Chaz Mostert.

The pairing started the race from P2 and dropped back to P7 at the start of the race after Miles had a tricky start. Leitch got back in the car and managed to work his way forward and claim the lead by the 35-minute mark.

As the Kiwi was extending his lead, a safety car was called after another driver spun and stalled his car on-track. Miles jumped back in the car and resumed the race after a lengthy safety car period, dropping back to P3. Leitch was back behind the wheel as they entered the final hour and cemented P3 and a podium for the team.