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Castroneves Gets First Victory In 30 Races

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The Associated Press

Published: August 25, 2008

SONOMA, Calif. - Helio Castroneves finally broke through for a victory Sunday at Infineon Raceway, winning for the first time in 30 races.

More important, the Team Penske star, frustrated until now with seven runner-up finishes this season, kept alive his hopes for an IndyCar Series championship as points leader Scott Dixon had one of his worst days of the season, finishing 12th.

Dixon saw his lead shrink from a seemingly comfortable 78 points to 43 heading into next week's race at Detroit's Belle Isle, the penultimate race of the season.

Castroneves and teammate Ryan Briscoe started 1-2 and finished the same way, completing an amazing weekend after losing their primary cars in a transporter fire Wednesday and having to race in the Grand Prix of Sonoma in hastily prepared backup cars.
Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon of St. Petersburg, both eliminated from title contention Sunday, finished third and fourth, followed by Danica Patrick and E.J. Viso.

FORMULA ONE: Ferrari's Felipe Massa won the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain, for his fourth Formula One victory of the season, leading the race wire-to-wire to finish comfortably ahead of championship leader Lewis Hamilton in second.

Massa easily held onto his lead after starting from the pole position and finished 5.6 seconds ahead of Hamilton's McLaren on the 3.4-mile street circuit. BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica was third.

"I'm so glad and happy, especially after such a disaster in Hungary," said Massa, who missed a certain victory at the last race in Budapest after his engine gave out shortly before the finish.

After the race, stewards investigated an incident in the pit lane where Massa nearly collided with Force India's Adrian Sutil as the two were leaving after their second stop. Ferrari was fined $14,800 for not releasing their driver safely, but Massa was not punished.

Hamilton kept the lead with 70 points, while Massa moved into second with 64.

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