Motorsports Monday: Petit Le Mans, Matt Kenseth Wins Kansas (VIDEO)

American Le Mans Series – Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta: Three of the four classes had already decided their championship, but the final round of ALMS provided plenty of excitement. A week after Lola went bankrupt, the Lola-Toyota of Lotus Rebellion Racing took overall victory and the P1 Class champion Honda of Muscle Milk Racing took second despite an accident that cost them 65 minutes in the pits. In its American debut, the small but mighty Nissan DeltaWing started at the back of the pack, jumped from 42nd to tenth in the first half hour and ultimately finished sixth overall. In the frenzied GT class, the No. 01 Ferrari of Extreme Speed Motorsports held off a furious charge from the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 to win, though the Vette still maintained the overall class crown.

DTM – Hockenheim: In their first season back in DTM competition after a 20-year absence, BMW has captured the series championship. Bruno Spengler led throughout the season finale at Hockenheim, his fourth win of the season, to win the driver and team championship. BMW Team Schnitzer finished just eight points ahead of Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG to narrowly escape with the title. In the eight races that he finished, Spengler won four and never finished worse than sixth. Audi ended the season on a sour note, with their best driver in sixth and their best team finishing fourth in the championship.

NASCAR Sprint Cup – Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway: Matt Kenseth led a depleted field of survivors across the finish line in Kansas, bringing his Ford to victory after the repaved track caused numerous wrecks and fourteen yellow flags on the day. The win elevates Kenseth into ninth place in the Chase while teammate Greg Biffle dropped five spots to eleventh. The top five places in the standings stayed the same, with Brad Keselowski keeping his Dodge seven points above Jimmie Johnson and the rest.

NASCAR Nationwide Series – Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway: The newly-paved track also wreacked havoc on the Nationwide race. A series record twelve caution flags came out, disrupting the flow of the race and forcing many drivers to tempt fate by stretching their fuel as long as possible. That cost Kyle Busch, who led the field on the final lap but ran out of gas while entering the final corner. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. swooped in and won the race, pulling within seven points of championship leader Elliot Sadler. Busch limped across the line in sixth. With three races to go, Stenhouse Jr, and Sadler will go down to the wire with Austin Dillon waiting patiently for his chance in third place.

World Rally Championship – Rally Italia Sardegna: Ford drivers dominated most of the sixteen stages, but it was Mikko Hirvonen of Citroen who made the right moves and finished first – despite only winning four stages. His teammate Sebastien Loeb, who will retire after the season, went off-course early and could not regain the ground needed to rack up another victory. The grueling sand and gravel course took its toll on the cars, and drivers had to power through to finish. Hirvonen handles the challenges best, collecting his first official win of the year – he had one taken away n post-inspection earlier this season – and establishing himself as the driver to beat in a post-Loeb world.

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ALMS - Official Site

DTM - Official Site

NASCAR - Official Site

WRC - Official Site 

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