Formula One
British Grand Prix, July 4-6
Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, England

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton delivered a rousing maiden British GP victory to an adoring hometown crowd at Silverstone on Sunday, dominating the wet race and crossing the stripe over a minute up on second-place finisher Nick Heidfeld in his BMW Sauber machine. Honda's Rubens Barrichello used his usual wet-track expertise to post a surprising third, his first top-three result since 2005 when he was still a Ferrari driver.

The 60-lap race started on a wet track, with more rain expected. Hamilton touched wheels with pole-sitting teammate Heikki Kovalainen on Lap 1 at Turn 1 Copse after making a great start, and edged ahead of him at the Becketts esses on the fifth lap.

From then on it was his race to lose, the most dicey point coming when both he and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who sits third in points and appeared to be an apparent threat at this stage, pitted on the 21st lap. But where McLaren gave their man another set of standard wet-weather Bridgestones, Ferrari kept theirs on the same set. Hamilton rocketed away from the red car, and Raikkonen slipped steadily down the order as a strong performance from Heidfeld put BMW Sauber into the picture for a podium finish.

Excellent strategy helped to propel Barichello up the order from his 16th position on the grid. At one point, after fitting extreme wet tires, he was the fastest driver on the track and he even overtook eventual race winner Lewis Hamilton, before settling for third place. The podium is the 62nd of his Formula One career and his first for the Honda team.

Both Barichello and teammate Jenson Button had great starts, with Rubens making up six places on the opening lap, and Jenson five from P17. The two Honda RA108s ran nose-to-tail for much of the opening stint before Barichello pitted for new wet tires on Lap 24 and Button on Lap 25.

Heavy rain began to fall at half distance and a quick decision was made to bring in both cars on Lap 35 for extreme wets. A problem with the refueling rig on Barichello's stop nearly proved disastrous for both drivers, and the Brazilian still had to make a third stop on Lap 46, by which time he had climbed up to second place. The stop dropped him to third, and despite this he crossed the line just 13 seconds behind Heidfeld.

Button meanwhile had a snap of oversteer on Lap 38 when he hit standing water in the middle of Bridge and went off the circuit, bringing his home race to a premature end.

The Japanese squad of Toyota also finished in the points. Jarno Trulli in the No. 11 TF108-05 started 14th and was up to seventh after a storming first lap, a position he held for most of the first stint. He stayed on intermediate wet tires at his pit stop and ran as high as third during the heaviest rain. He rejoined the field in eighth after a late second stop and pushed hard all the way to the flag, taking seventh on the last lap.

Toyota's number two driver Timo Glock did not fare as well. In the No. 12 car, Glock started from 12th on the grid, running to ninth after the first lap and moving all the way up to sixth by his pit stop on Lap 25. He appeared to struggle during his second stint in the heavy rain on standard wets and lost ground with two spins. After his second stop, he fought hard to bring the car home in an equal 12th place.

Toyota's client team Williams had a promising weekend as well. Kazuki Nakajima drove his No. 8 FW30 through the challenging conditions to a points-paying eighth-place finish for AT&T Williams at the team's home Grand Prix. Despite starting from the pitlane and an unscheduled stop for a new nose following an incident prompted by the wet track, Nico Rosberg climbed his way through the field to finish the race P9 in the No. 7, just outside the points.

Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen now lead the world championship fight with 48 points apiece. Formally, though, Hamilton is now the championship leader, thanks to having one 10th-place finish more than Massa - the pair ties in number of wins (three apiece), runner-up finishes and so on, all the way to Hamilton's P10 in France. Raikkonen has only two victories, while Kubica continues to lurk closely at 46.

The 2008 Formula 1 season resumes in two weeks' time with the German GP at Hockenheim pn July 20.

Race Results:

Driver Standings after 9 of 18 rounds

Constructor Standings after 9 of 18 rounds

www.formula1.com

IndyCar Series
Grand Prix at The Glen, July 3-6
Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York

Sunday's IRL race at Watkins Glen - and return to road racing after a long three months - came in like a lamb and roared out like a lion, and when the dust settled Ryan Hunter-Reay claimed his first series victory, winning the Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen by 2.4009 seconds over Darren Manning. Hunter-Reay, driving the No. 17 Rahal Letterman Racing Team Ethanol entry, passed Manning's No. 14 ABC Supply/AJ Foyt Racing car on Lap 52 and pulled away over the last nine laps.

Manning, who pitted on Lap 39, inherited the lead on Lap 42 when race favorites Ryan Briscoe of Team Penske and Scott Dixon from the Target Chip Ganassi squad went to pit lane for their final stops. Briscoe, who led a race-high 37 laps, came out of the pits just behind Dixon, a three-time winner at Watkins Glen. Hunter-Reay was in fourth.

Hunter-Reay's opportunity came on Lap 49, when points leader Dixon spun while warming his tires under a long final caution. Briscoe made contact with Dixon and both cars stalled in Turn 10. Hunter-Reay narrowly missed the mayhem and moved up to second place. Three laps later he drove inside Manning in Turn 1 and passed for the lead.

Aside from an opening-lap problem with the rear suspension on Dan Wheldon's No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi machine and Helio Castroneves' issues with the No. 3 Penske car's paddle shift on the sixth lap, the first 40 laps were clean, with Briscoe and Vitor Meira exchanging the lead. Then on the 40th lap, Meira was run off course by E.J. Viso in his No. 33 PDVSA HVM Racing car, sending the No. 4 Panther Racing Honda/Dallara into the tires.

On the ensuing round of pit stops, Danica Patrick lost control of the No. 7 Motorola machine in the pits and slammed into the pit wall dangerously close to Dixon's crew moments after Dixon had won the sprint off pit road and put himself in second place. Patrick apologized for her bad, got a new nose assembly and eventually finished 14th.

During the same round of stops, Manning chose to stay on track and take the lead, having pitted just four laps earlier. The strategy worked out, as a flood of caution periods ensued over the final 18 laps.

On the restart with 15 laps remaining, Manning got a strong jump on Dixon, but Enrique Bernoldi in the Sangari Conquest Racing No. 36 crashed behind them, forcing another full-course caution.

As the field closed ranks behind the pace car, Dixon suddenly spun out while trying to warm his front tires. While swerving back and forth heading into Turn 10, Dixon stepped on the throttle and spun. The mistake ended a strong run by Briscoe, who started from the pole and appeared to be in position for a podium finish.

On the next restart on the 51st lap, Hunter-Reay passed Manning heading into Turn 1. Moments later, Jaime Camara crashed the Snagari No. 34, bringing out the sixth caution flag of the race.

On the restart, Hunter-Reay pulled away to a large lead and held it to the checkered flag for his first IndyCar Series victory. His previous best finish was sixth at Indianapolis earlier this season and Michigan last season. He won while driving in Champ Car at Surfers Paradise in 2003 and Milwaukee in 2004. The victory was the first for Rahal Letterman Racing since 2004.

Manning's second-place finish is a career best and was his team's best since Airton Dare won at Kansas in 2002. His previous best was fourth four times, most recently Belle Isle in 2007.

Tony Kanaan finished third, recovering from a crash during the morning warm-up. It's his fifth podium finish of the season. Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice was fourth, his best finish since finishing fourth at Iowa in 2007.

After his rare gaffe, Dixon finished 11th, ending his streak of seven consecutive top-10 finishes that had been the longest active streak in the IndyCar Series. He also had seven consecutive top-five finishes. He retains the IndyCar Series points lead over Helio Castroneves, who finished 16th.

The IndyCar Series season resumes Saturday night, July 12, at Nashville Superspeedway.

www.indycar.com

Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series
Brumos Porsche 250, July 2-3
Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida

Grand-Am's premiere series got the 4th of July weekend started off right with fireworks on-track, as Scott Pruett beat Alex Gurney in a sprint to the checkered flag to win Thursday the 3rd's Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona International Speedway. It was the closest finish in the history of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, with the final margin of victory 0.081 seconds, bettering the mark Pruett and Luis Diaz set in 2005 at California Speedway when they edged Wayne Taylor and Max Angelelli by 0.096 seconds.

The victory is number five in '08 for Pruett and co-driver Memo Rojas in the No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Lexus Riley. The winners of the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona in January, Pruett and Rojas extend their Daytona Prototype championship lead to 40 points after their commanding seventh podium finish of the year.

Gurney and Fogarty were gunning for a second straight win in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley. Gurney passed Pruett for the lead with 22 laps to go, and led until the final 100 yards of the race.

The 70-lap, 250-mile race ended with a one-lap sprint to the finish following the fifth and final caution when Jeff Segal flipped the second-place No. 69 SpeedSource FXDD Mazda RX-8 after an altercation with a Daytona Prototype. Nick Ham and Sylvain Tremblay went on to win their third consecutive race at Daytona.

Tremblay bested Bryce Miller by 1.83 seconds to win in the GT category. Miller passed Robin Liddell at the line for his and co-driver Dirk Werner's best finish of the season.

Rolex Series cars return to action July 19 for the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Ala.

www.grand-am.com

Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series, ST Class
Watkins Glen Grand Prix, July 3-5
Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York

Grand-Am Communications - Defending series co-champions Trevor Hopwood and Adam Burrows each led in their first career Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series Street Tuner (ST) victory, as Hopwood beat Bob Endicott by a second-and-a-half.

Hopwood took the lead on Lap 45 in the No. 74 Compass360 Racing Acura TSX and pulled away from Tom Long on the final caution, leaving Long to battle with Endicott for second place. Hopwood and Burrows are in their second year of competition in the series.

Burrows took the lead when polesitter Aaron Povoledo - who led a race-high 14 laps - pitted the No. 171 APR Motorsport Volkswagen GTI during the first caution. He brought the No. 74 in later, and Hopwood charged through the field before taking the lead from Long.

Endicott, who returned to the No. 29 Bill Fenton Motorsports Honda Civic Si with former co-driver Bob Beede, drove past Long just before the final caution to take second. It was the third podium for Beede this season, as he scored a pair of third-place finishes with Matt Plumb earlier in the race.

Long and Rhett O'Doski were third, their best finish of the season in the No. 146 Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5, a first-year program. Despite electrical problems in their No. 86 Classic Plano-BMW Z4, Pierre Kleinubing and Toby Grahovec finished fourth, while Chuck Hemmingson and Kristian Skavnes piloted the ICY/Phoenix Racing team's spare car, the No. 143 Subaru Legacy, to fifth.

Hemmingson and Skavnes also picked up the point lead as incoming leaders Jamie Holtom and Eric Curran suffered their first DNF of the season. Holtom started the No. 01 Georgian Bay Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt SS eighth, but a broken rear axle forced repairs with a welder and a loss of six laps. Curran took the car back out, but encountered the same problem during his stint. Instead of pushing the issue, Curran brought the car into the paddock, where the team retired the car 37th in class, out of a points-paying position.

Hemmingson and Skavnes now lead Kuno Wittmer by 15 points (145-130). Holtom and Curran are fifth in the standings with 120 markers.

The next Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series race is the GS-only race Saturday, July 19, at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Ala. ST racers hit the track again on August 9-10 at Iowa Speedway in Newton.

www.grand-am.com

Formula D 2008 Castrol SYNTEC Power Cup
Point Standings after 3 of 7 Rounds

www.formulad.com

2008 American Le Mans Series
Championship Points, 4 of 11 events

www.americanlemans.com

2008 NHRA POWERade Championship
Point Standings, 12 of 24 events

Top Fuel

Funny Car

Pro Stock

Pro Stock Motorcycle

www.nhra.com

Coming up:

IndyCar Series
Firestone Indy 200, July 10-12
Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, TN
www.indycar.com

American Le Mans Series
American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix, July 11-12
Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, CT
www.americanlemans.com

Battle of the Imports
Round 5, July 11-12
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, NV
www.battleoftheimports.com

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series
Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals, July 11-13
Bandimere Speedway, Morrison, CO
www.nhra.com

Formula DRIFT Pro Championship
High Stakes, July 12
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, NV
www.formulad.com

SCCA SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship
Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, July 17-20
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, OH
www.world-challenge.com

Formula One
Grand Prix of Germany, July 18-20
Hockenheimring, Hockenheim, Germany
www.formula1.com

Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series
Porsche 250, July 18-20
Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, AL
www.grand-am.com

Prodrift Ireland
Round 4, July 19-20
Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland
www.prodriftirl.com

Redline: Time Attack!
Round 4, July 19-20
California Speedway, Fontana, CA
www.redlinetimeattack.com

World Rally Championship
Neste Rally Finland, July 31-August 3
Jyvaskyla, Finland
www.wrc.com

Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series
Iowa Speedway 2008, August 9-10
Iowa Speedway, Newton IA
www.grand-am.com

NOPI Drag Racing Series sanctioned by NHRA
NOPI Virginia, August 16-17
Virginia Motorsports Park, Petersburg, VA
www.nopionline.com

NOPI Drift
NOPI Summer Nationals, August 23-24
Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ
www.nopionline.com