Acura, Shank, Helio sweep Rolex 24 as hybrid era begins
Acura dominated the debut of hybrid engines in North American sports car racing with a 1-2 finish Sunday at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, where Helio Castroneves and the automaker won the prestigious endurance race for a third consecutive year.
Castroneves won the Rolex in 2021 in an Acura with Wayne Taylor Racing and won with Meyer Shank Racing the last two seasons. Castroneves, who turns 48 in May, was overcome with emotion after Tom Blomqvist closed out the victory.
The Brazilian then led his teammates, which included Simon Pagenaud and MSR newcomer Colin Braun, in his signature “Spiderman” celebratory climbing of the fence.
“I love climbing the fence with Helio,” said Pagenaud, who won for the second consecutive year and is teammates with Castroneves in IndyCar. Team owner Michael Shank said during Pagenaud’s final drive in the car, “Simon is driving the stint of his life.”
ETC. Skiing: Mikaela Shiffrin
● was quick to take the positives after realizing
she had to wait for at least five more weeks before tying the World Cup record for most career wins with victory No. 86. The American skier finished runner-up to Germany’s Lena Dürr in a slalom Sunday at Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic, , the last World Cup race before the world championships, and remained one victory short of Ingemar Stenmark’s total on the all-time overall winners list among men and women. The Swede competed in the 1970s and ‘80s . ... Swiss skier Marco Odermatt overcame a tricky course setting to win a men’s World Cup super-G at Corttina D’Ampezzo, Italy, for his
second victory in two days, just over a week before the start of the world championships.
Golf: Southern California
● native Max Homa
came from five shots off the lead to win the Farmers Insurance Open by two strokes over Keegan Bradley on Saturday at Torrey Pines in San Diego, where Jon Rahm imploded early and missed a shot at winning his third straight start and moving to No. 1 in the world ... Rory McIlroy delivered an exhibition of short iron play to shoot 7-under 65 in his third round and build a three-stroke lead at the Dubai Desert Classic. The top-ranked McIlroy made eight birdies at Emirates
Golf Club — and none of the birdie putts were from more than 7 feet.
NBA: Ja Morant had
●
27 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds, Jaren Jackson Jr. added 28 points and the host Memphis Grizzlies overcame a lackluster first half to defeat the Indiana Pacers 112-100.
Soccer: Liverpool has
●
become the latest highprofile club to exit the FA Cup as the defending champions conceded a goal in the second minute of stoppage time to lose
2-1 at Brighton in the fourth round . ... Striker
Folarin Balogun equalized deep into stoppage time as Reims earned a 1-1 draw at French league leader Paris Saint-Germain, keeping PSG three points ahead of secondplace Lens . ... Real Madrid was held to a 0-0 draw at home by third-place Real Sociedad to lose ground to Barcelona at the top of the Spanish league . ... Karim Adeyemi scored his first Bundesliga goal to help Borussia Dortmund beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-0.
Figure skating: Alexa
●
Knierim and Brandon Frazier captured another national pairs gold at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Saturday night with a spectacular free skate that scored them an overall seasonbest 227.97.