presents:
Mobil 1 The Grid 2024
Mobil1 TheGrid August 2024 Show
On Mobil 1 The Grid this month we join the Australian Supercars at Sydney SuperNight, profile Toyota’s endurance ace Nyck de Vries and meet Team Kalitta’s legendary tuner Alan Johnson to learn the secret of winning NHRA Top Fuel championships. We also talk to NASCAR’s Ryan Preece about his spectacular crash at Daytona, find out how to entertain the sponsors on race weekend and there’s a mid-season update from the major race series.
Round 15 of the Australian Supercars Championship brought Walkinshaw Andretti United to Sydney Motorsport Park along with thousands of race fans, packed in to see the fire-breathing V8’s racing under the lights. WAU and their two specially–liveried Mustangs had arrived for the Saturday Night race just eleven days after the previous round in Townsville. Ryan Wood in the number 2 Mustang produced the fastest time in practice, but in the top-ten qualifying shootout it was the number 25 car that secured the better starting position. It was a race of strategy and Mostert was charging up the order. By the final few laps he was hot on the heels of race leader Mat Payne… The WAU veteran executed a perfect two-stop plan, moving into the lead with just four laps to go. Ryan Wood finished outside the top ten but, for Mostert, it was histhird Sydney Super Night victory….
Nela Kourilova, Events & Partnership Manager, Hertz Team JOTA
I basically supervise the planning and execution of the events for the team trackside or any events we might also do outside of the track. Anything and everything. So, from hotels, from the transport, from garage tours, from meals and actually experiencing the backstage, experiencing our JOTA way and the family that they can actually feel welcome.
The Nascar Cup Series produces some spectacular crashes in the course of a season and, in last year’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Ryan Preece experienced one of the biggest. It was a harrowing crash to watch and, in the cockpit,Preece endured multiple impacts and massive centrifugal loads as the car barrel-rolled over the infield grass ….10:11:30Preece was battered and bruised but otherwise unharmed and, incredibly, he got back in the 41 Ford Mustang for the opening round of the playoffs the following weekend.
After a run of 25 consecutive top ten points finishes Doug Kalitta finally won the NHRA Top Fuel Championship last season, and the mastermind behind his breakthrough success was legendary crew chief Alan Johnson. Under the ‘Johnson effect’ the Mac Tools dragster began to produce winning power and had moved into title contention by the second half of the season.
Penske Porsche, they will take their first win in the World Endurance Championship in the 10 hour season opener. Victory for Porsche and Penske Racing. The German marque continue to lead the season standings ahead of Toyota. They’ve picked up two wins so far. Ferrari in third went back-to-back in the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.
De Vries has been doubling up racing in Formula E as well as the WEC this season, after a brief stint in Formula 1 where he lost his seat midway through 2023. De Vries and Kobayashi sit third in the driver’s standings and though the WEC’s top category has never been more competitive, with Porsche and Ferrari looking especially strong, the Dutchman is enjoying the challenge of the hypercar era.
