Team Penske added to what has been a spectacular 2019 racing season this weekend with its first victory in Australia's prestigious Supercars race, the Bathurst 1000, and an IMSA season championship at Road Atlanta.
Earlier this year, Roger Penske's organization won the 103rd Indianapolis 500 with Simon Pagenaud and the NTT IndyCar Series championship with Josef Newgarden. Also, Three Penske cars (drivers Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney) remain in the hunt for the NASCAR season title.
With a fourth-place finish in the Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta, the No. 6 car of Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron held on for the DPi crown by five points. With Pagenaud as the third driver, Team Penske sealed the team title in the Acura program's second season in the WeatherTech SportsCar championship. It was the first season championship of any kind for Montoya, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, since CART in 1999. Helio Castroneves and Graham Rahal contributed to the Penske success by finishing on the podium in third place.
Meyer Shank Racing captured the GTD season title with drivers Trent Hindman and Mario Farnbacher in the No. 86 AutoNation Acura NSX GT3. It was the first championship for Michael Shank's team, which went sports car racing in 2004.
In Australia, Scott McLaughlin held on in a last-lap shootout to win Bathurst, making DJR Team Penske "Champions of the Mountain" at Mount Panorama. It also was the first Bathurst win for McLaughlin and fellow driver Alexandre Premat.
Meanwhile, NTT IndyCar Series drivers James Hinchcliffe and Alexander Rossi finished 19th in the Walkinshaw Andretti Autosport wild card entry.
Said Rossi: “I came here with a huge amount of respect for this place and this Series, and I’m for sure leaving with no less. We knew this would be a big challenge. We didn’t come into this with an arrogance that it would be easy. By the same token, we didn’t really come here to finish 19th either so we are a bit bummed about that. Nonetheless, we finished and we finished ahead of where we started so that’s a positive."
Hinchcliffe described a terrific experience, and he would "definitely" like to return.
"I’m dying to come do it again," he said. "It was a ton of fun; these cars are so, so unique - but they are a blast to drive when you get it right. It feels so good when you get a strong lap here. Obviously, we still have a couple of seconds to find, so I can only imagine what that feels like. But hopefully we’ll get an opportunity to do it again one day.”