Representatives for New England Patriots receiver Antonio Brown and Britney Taylor were in discussions over the past few months, but agreed their communication would remain confidential until the filing of Taylor's civil sexual assault lawsuit, sources told ESPN on Thursday.

This, the sources say, is why the Patriots and the Oakland Raiders, who released Brown last weekend, would not have known about the matter unless there was a breach in the confidentiality of those discussions.

Though the exact nature of the talks has not been confirmed, it is common practice for settlement talks to occur before a civil filing.

Taylor, Brown's former trainer, filed a lawsuit with the Southern District of Florida accusing Brown of sexually assaulting her on three occasions. The discussions help explain why Brown did not notify the Raiders or the Patriots about the matter.

Taylor has scheduled a meeting with the NFL for next week, according to a source. The league has the option to place Brown on the commissioner's exempt list -- which would remove him from the team's active list while still being paid -- but might not levy that decision this week.

Brown is expected to meet with the league at some point, and the Patriots -- who signed Brown on Monday, two days after his short-lived, messy tenure with Oakland ended -- have stated they take the matter seriously.

One high-ranking team source said players are not obligated to notify a team about a civil case before signing a free-agent contract. When it rises to a criminal case, he says, that dynamic obviously changes.

After his third at-bat Thursday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Mets rookie Pete Alonso decided to change his appearance, shaving his mustache during the game.

He struck out twice and reached on a throwing error before deciding to make a switch.

"I had very terrible at-bats before,'' Alonso said. "And so I'm like, all right mustache needs to go. Simple as that.''

Pete Alonso shaved his mustache mid-game. pic.twitter.com/BDZsPneTP0

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 12, 2019

After changing his look, Alonso struck out for the third time in the sixth and grounded out in the eighth.

Alonso hit his major-league-leading 46th and 47th homers Monday and ended Thursday hitless in his past 13 at-bats.

The first baseman said it was not the first time he shaved in the middle of a game, noting: "Oh yeah, baseball players are very superstitious.''

The Mets set a team record for homers in a home game by going deep six times Thursday, routing Arizona 11-1 to complete a four-game sweep. New York won for the ninth time in 13 games and is two games back of Milwaukee and Chicago for the second NL wild-card spot.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

MIAMI -- Ryan Braun honored injured teammate Christian Yelich the past two days by wearing his No. 22 jersey underneath his own.

Braun then put on a Yelich-like performance Thursday, hitting a two-run homer that helped the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Miami Marlins 3-2 to complete a four-game sweep that extended their winning streak to seven.

"I threw up the double deuces for him," Braun said of his message to Yelich as he crossed home plate. "He texted me, 'It's about time you hit a homer.' Forty-fifth homer hit in this jersey this year."

Milwaukee matched its longest winning streak of the season to remain tied with the Chicago Cubs for the second NL wild card. At 78-68, the Brewers are 10 games over .500 for the first time since mid-June.

"What's within our picture is keep playing well," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "The other stuff doesn't matter right now. Keep playing like the past week, we're going to put ourselves in a good spot."

Yelich broke his right kneecap on a foul ball Tuesday night. Before the game, the Brewers said the reigning NL MVP won't need surgery but is done for the year.

Yelich hit .329 with 44 homers and 97 RBIs this season and also stole 30 bases. He was leading the majors in slugging percentage and OPS when he was hurt.

Braun, bothered by a bad back for much of the season, broke a 1-all tie in the third with a two-run homer off Caleb Smith (8-10).

It was Braun's 19th home run this season and the first of his career at Marlins Park.

"I didn't know that, but they are all big at this time of year," Braun said. "The team is playing so well. So many guys contributing."

Gio Gonzalez and four relievers retired Miami's final 18 batters after Lewis Brinson's RBI single in the fourth.

Gonzalez allowed two runs and seven hits in four innings. He is 0-2 in 12 starts since beating Philadelphia on May 15.

Freddy Peralta (6-3) struck out three in two innings, and Josh Hader fanned two batters for his 31st save in 37 chances.

Miami went 1-6 on its homestand, dropped to an NL-worst 51-95 and is headed to its first 100-loss season since 2013.

Smith (8-10) gave up three runs and six hits in 5⅔ innings.

"I thought I got better as the game went on," Smith said. "I've just got to be better early."

Mike Moustakas' sacrifice fly in the first was offset by Miguel Rojas' RBI single in the bottom half.

BULLPEN'S CONTRIBUTION

The Brewers' blueprint for bullpen use played out perfectly. Counsell didn't need to call for a reliever in the middle of an inning. Ray Black, Drew Pomeranz, Peralta and Hader started and finished their innings. The relievers fanned 10.

"They all did an outstanding job," Counsell said. "If we can get them the right rest, we can get swing-and-miss stuff from them. Great day for the 'pen."

GONZALEZ SURE

Gonzalez got his first hit of the season and scored ahead of Braun's homer. The Marlins unsuccessfully appealed that the Brewers pitcher failed to touch second base on Braun's home run trot.

"I know I haven't been on the bases, but I'm 100 percent sure I touched that bag," Gonzalez said. "It was a backhanded slap is how I felt. But it's OK. I can smile about it."

TRAINER'S ROOM

Brewers: RHP Brandon Woodruff (left oblique strain) showed no ill effects from throwing to batters in a simulated game Wednesday.

UP NEXT

Brewers: RHP Adam Houser (6-5, 3.59) is to start Friday's series opener at St. Louis against the NL Central leaders.

Marlins: RHP Sandy Alcantara (5-12, 4.04) starts Friday at San Francisco, coming off a shutout against Kansas City.

British team wins 20 titles on day eight of of the European Masters Championships

Britain excelled on a busy day of competition at the European Masters Championships in Venice with what is believed to be a record in one day as they won 20 titles, dominating the 200m and sprint hurdles races by winning eight golds in each to equal the 1500m runners’ tally. They also claimed three steeplechase golds and a discus title.

The hurdlers started the ball rolling in the morning as they had the rare privilege of both genders participating at the same venue and they rose to the occasion, winning eight golds and also having some near misses too to equal the gold count at the 1500m.

The highlight was the M55 100m hurdles where Don Brown won in a British record 14.62 (-1.9m/sec) but he was pushed all the way by team-mate Barrie Marsden who was also inside Brown’s previous mark. Two other Britons, Neil Tunstall and Glen Reddington, made the top five.

The first to strike was W70 Jean Fail who won her second hurdles gold of the week with victory by over a second in the 80m hurdles in 17.38 (0.1).

Others to succeed at the longer hurdles and gain a second gold were W60 Jane Horder and W55 Julie Rogers.

World record-holder Horder won by almost a second in 13.05 (+1.6) but Rogers only won thanks to a superb ‘Colin Jackson-style’ dip in 13.67 (+1.8) which gave her a 0.04 of a second win over Italy’s Erika Niedermayr.

Tony Bowman was the first of the men’s winners as he won the M80 title by almost two seconds in 17.54 (+2.0).

Tennyson James ran a strong second half to win the M60 100m hurdles event in a close finish in 15.59 (-1.7) from Poland’s Wieslaw Musial (15.65).

Joe Appiah retained his title but not without incident as he pulled his hamstring at the third hurdle after a fast start and though slowing he was just about to hold off European record-holder Thomas Keiler, with 15.44 (+1.1) to the Swiss athlete’s 15.56.

Dave Awde looked to be on his way to a certain M35 110m hurdles gold but clattered a late hurdle and lost momentum and though he got across the line he was later announced as being disqualified for knocking over a hurdle deliberately.

However, after many hours and an appeal later, he was reinstated and gained gold in 15.60 (+0.1) ahead of Finlan’s Oki Vuonoranta, who ran 16.01.

Just missing out was M70 Tony Wells. In a blanket finish he was adjudged to have lost by a few thousandths of a second though he did share the winning time of 14.09 with Poland’s Marek Mielcarek.

Also medalling was W35 Catriona Pennet who was timed at 15.10 (-1.0) as gold went to Spain’s Emma Garcia in 14.94.

M75 defending champion Barry Ferguson has a knee problem and had to virtually walk across the line in sixth in 34.61 (-0.8)

Arguably the best hurdles performance came from Italy’s Arasmas Diaz who won the M40 event into a strong 2.8m/sec headwind in 14.37.

The Italian owns a 50.10 400m hurdles PB from 2012.

The 2000m steeplechase also saw some GB success. In the women’s combined W45 and W50 race there were two gold medals. In an exciting last lap with six close together at the bell, it was the crucial last water jump clearance that gave Lisa Thomas the win and W50 gold by over three seconds in 8:03.48. Thomas had medalled at 300m hurdles earlier in the week.

Close behind, and ahead at the water jump, was Ana Ramos-Villaverde who won the W45 title by less than two seconds in 8:06.72.

Jane Pidgeon, not at full fitness, won the W55 silver medal in 8:41.94 behind Italy’s Patrizia Passerini’s 8:36.89.

World champion Alex Swiecicki also struck gold with a clear win in the M70 race in 8:24.26.

The Polish-born athlete first steeplechased over 50 years ago and was originally in the same club as 1980 Olympic champion Bronislaw Malinowski.

His time took 19 seconds off his own British record set when winning gold in Malaga last summer and he won by an astonishing 65 seconds.

W40 Jacqueline Etherington won silver in 7:34.35 as Poland’s Danuta Woszczek won in an European record 7:00.02.

Graham Moffat finished strongly to take M50 bronze in 11:10.08.

There was also a medal for M35 Lee Athersmith with 10:29.76.

The first to win 200m gold was M80 Anthony Treacher, who won his second gold to go with the triple jump.

He won by over a second in 32.84.

Next to strike gold was Britain’s greatest ever masters sprinter Steve Peters who completed the sprint triple and kept his winning record going – he has won 39 consecutive European sprint titles since first coming to prominence in 1994.

He won by a second in 25.55 (-1.2) from Germany’s Rudolf Koenig’s 26.82.

Britain’s greatest ever masters sprinter Steve Peters adds M65 200m gold to his 100m and 400m here in Italy with an easy win in 25.56 – his 39th successive sprint crown since 1994. @emacvenice2019 pic.twitter.com/p6C7PQDQAF

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) September 12, 2019

300m hurdles champion Ian Broadhurst won his second sprint medal with third in 26.82 as Britain had four of the first five.

The most dominating sprinter, and probably the best age for age in Italy, is John Wright.

He also completed the sprint triple with a stunning 24.58 (-0.2) to win by 1.6 seconds from Italy’s Ettore Ruggeri.

It was his quickest electrical time since winning the 2014 European M55 title in Turkey.

Andy McCrum was third in 26.53.

Britain were now on a roll and hurdles champion Brown, in his third race of the day after also running a 200m semi, found it hard in the last 50 metres but he held on to win impressively in 24.06 (-1.1) from Germany’s Roland Groeger’s 24.22.

The golds kept coming as M40 Guiseppe Minetti won but it was close. Having a big lead, he tied up in the last 30 metres and winning in 24.25 (-0.8) as Lachmann Bernd and two other Germans all finished within 0.07 of him and in a blanket finish, he did not know he had won until 20 minutes later.

Next off and making it five on the trot was M45 world indoor champion Mike Coogan and he dominated his race to win by three metres in 23.21 (-0.8) with Ciaran Harvey picking up another GB bronze in 23.78.

The streak ended in the M40s but only just as 100m champion Lion Martinez of Sweden just caught Ian Horsburgh on the line with both timed at 22.62 (-0.8).

Jonathan Browne regained the dominance in the M35s as he completed the sprint double by seven metres in 21.70 (-0.5).

Additionally, M90 defending champion Dalbir Singh Deoul finished second in 53.48 (-0.6) as he was overtaken in the straight by Greece’s Konstan Chatziemmanouil (49.51).

Out in Caorle with relatively little support, the women found it much harder than the men but predictably Caroline Powell won her third sprint title.

She set a European record 30.55 (-0.9) to win by a second from Joylyn Saunders-Mullin (31.51), who won her third silver medal.

W40 Susie McCloughlin finished second in 26.31 (-0.9) behind Poland’s Malgorzata Gasowska’s 25.99 with another Brit Naana Adusei in third in 27.18.

W60 Joan Trimble picked up a bronze in 31.83 (-1.1) as did W80 Dot Fraser in 49.95 (-0.2).

In the field, John Moreland won M60 discus gold thanks to an opening round effort of 50.63m, which gave him a two-metre win over Finland’s Saulius Sviainis’s 48.59m.

Geoff Tyler won a M70 discus silver with a British record 43.42m behind Norway’s Arild Busterudis 45.51m.

There was an European W65 record in the javelin for Anne Kirstine Jensen’s 33.39m.

The medal success on Thursday means Britain have closed up on Germany and Italy in the medal table as they respectively won 14 and 9 titles compared to Britain’s 20.

Medals

1 GER 74 gold 74 silver 70 bronze 218 total
2 ITA 73 61 59 193
3 GBR 66 44 55 165
4 FIN 32 18 12 62
5 ESP 28 38 36 102
6 FRA 22 36 28 86

World’s best head for season’s first PSA Platinum event in Philly
By ELLIE MAWSON – Squash Mad Correspondent

The world’s top squash players will compete for the first PSA Platinum title of the 2019-20 season between October 5-12 as Philadelphia’s Drexel University hosts the 2019 FS Investments U.S Open Squash Championships.

The U.S. Open is one of eight prestigious Platinum events to take place during the 2019-20 PSA World Tour season, and this year’s tournament sees prize money increase by 10% to a record total of $371,000, which is split equally between male and female athletes for a seventh successive year.

Reigning champions Mohamed ElShorbagy and Raneem El Welily will return to defend their crowns, while men’s World No.1 Ali Farag and women’s World No.5 Nour El Tayeb will also star in Philadelphia – two years after their U.S. Open triumphs saw them become the first married couple in sporting history ever to win the same major sports title on the same day.

Joining ElShorbagy and Farag in the 48-player men’s draw will be World Championship runner-up Tarek Momen, PSA World Tour Finals winner Karim Abdel Gawad, 2018 runner-up Simon Rösner, New Zealand’s Paul Coll, Egypt’s Mohamed Abouelghar and Peru’s Diego Elias, all of whom are amongst the top eight seeds.

Meanwhile, United States No.1 Amanda Sobhy will hope to challenge El Welily and El Tayeb to win the women’s crown, but will also be up against some of the biggest names in squash, including World Champion Nour El Sherbini, 2016 winner Camille Serme, British Open champion Nouran Gohar, New Zealand’s Joelle King and England’s Sarah-Jane Perry.

The wildcard spots in the women’s event will be taken up by University of Pennsylvania-graduate Reeham Sedky and Harvard-graduate Sabrina Sobhy, the younger sister of Amanda.

Brooklyn’s Andrew Douglas and Connecticut’s Spencer Lovejoy are awarded the wildcard spot in the men’s draw, where World No.47 Todd Harrity is the highest-ranked American.

The U.S. Open gives players their first opportunity to qualify for June’s PSA World Tour Finals. The reigning PSA World Champions and all Platinum event winners automatically qualify for the World Tour Finals. The remaining places are allocated to the highest ranked players on the Road to Egypt Standings, and points for the standings will be on offer at all PSA World Tour events this season.

Glass court action from the U.S. Open will be staged in Drexel University’s Daskalakis Athletic Center, while matches on the traditional side courts will be held at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia.

Matches from the glass court will be streamed live on SQUASHTV (rest of world), Eurosport Player (Europe only), the official Facebook page of the PSA World Tour (excluding Europe and Japan) and various broadcast partners.

Tickets start from $30 and are available for purchase through the official tournament website.  

2019 FS Investments U.S. Open Squash Championships, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA (October 5-12).

Men’s Entry List:
1) Ali Farag (EGY)
2) Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY)
3) Tarek Momen (EGY)
4) Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
5) Simon Rösner (GER)
6) Paul Coll (NZL)
7) Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY)
8) Diego Elias (PER)
9) Miguel Rodriguez (COL)
10) Saurav Ghosal (IND)
11) Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY)
12) Joel Makin (WAL)
13) Omar Mosaad (EGY)
14) Zahed Salem (EGY)
15) Fares Dessouky (EGY)
16) Gregoire Marche (FRA)
17) Declan James (ENG)
18) Daryl Selby (ENG)
19) Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)
20) Cesar Salazar (MEX)
21) Adrian Waller (ENG)
22) Leo Au (HKG)
23) Tom Richards (ENG)
24) Mazen Hesham (EGY)
25) Raphael Kandra (GER)
26) Nicolas Mueller (SUI)
27) Mostafa Asal (EGY)
28) Greg Lobban (SCO)
29) Youssef Soliman (EGY)
30) Mathieu Castagnet (FRA)
31) Borja Golan (ESP)
32) Tsz Fung Yip (HKG)
33) Lucas Serme (FRA)
34) Campbell Grayson (NZL)
35) Eain Yow Ng (MAS)
36) Cameron Pilley (AUS)
37) George Parker (ENG)
38) Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP)
39) Arturo Salazar (MEX)
40) Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT)
41) Alan Clyne (SCO)
42) Karim Ali Fathi (ENG)
43) Todd Harrity (USA)
44) Youssef Ibrahim (EGY)
45) Ramit Tandon (IND)
46) Richie Fallows (ENG)
Wildcard) Andrew Douglas (USA)
Wildcard) Spencer Lovejoy (USA)

Women’s Entry List:
1) Raneem El Welily (EGY)
2) Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
3) Camille Serme (FRA)
4) Nouran Gohar (EGY)
5) Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
6) Joelle King (NZL)
7) Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
8) Amanda Sobhy (USA)
9) Tesni Evans (WAL)
10) Annie Au (HKG)
11) Alison Waters (ENG)
12) Victoria Lust (ENG)
13) Joshna Chinappa (IND)
14) Salma Hany (EGY)
15) Hania El Hammamy (EGY)
16) Yathreb Adel (EGY)
17) Joey Chan (HKG)
18) Nele Gilis (BEL)
19) Olivia Blatchford Clyne (USA)
20) Zeina Mickawy (EGY)
21) Emily Whitlock (ENG)
22) Millie Tomlinson (ENG)
23) Nadine Shahin (EGY)
24) Mariam Metwally (EGY)
25) Rachael Grinham (AUS)
26) Rowan Elaraby (EGY)
27) Tinne Gilis (BEL)
28) Donna Lobban (AUS)
29) Mayar Hany (EGY)
30) Hollie Naughton (CAN)
31) Julianna Courtice (ENG)
32) Milou van her Heijden (NED)
33) Coline Aumard (FRA)
34) Nada Abbas (EGY)
35) Low Wee Wern (MAS)
36) Danielle Letourneau (CAN)
37) Lisa Aitken (SCO)
38) Liu Tsz-Ling (HKG)
39) Olivia Fiechter (USA)
40) Alexandra Fuller (RSA)
41) Haley Mendez (USA)
42) Lucy Turmel (ENG)
43) Ho Tze-Lok (HKG)
44) Melissa Alves (FRA)
45) Tsz-Wing Tong (HKG)
46) Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS)
Wildcard) Reeham Sedky (USA)
Wildcard) Sabrina Sobhy (USA)

Report by ELLIE MAWSON (PSA). Edited by ALAN THATCHER.

Pictures courtesy of PSA

INVERNESS, Fla. – Patrick Staropoli has had Saturday’s third running of the Full Throttle 100 at Citrus County Speedway circled on his calendar for a year.

Last year Staropoli was running inside the top-five early in the race when the engine in his No. 64 super late model owned by Jim McCoy expired, preventing the team from racing for the $10,000 top prize that was eventually claimed by Wayne Anderson.

“I think we were up to second or third. It was only lap 10 of the race and we blew the motor,” said Staropoli, who works as an eye surgeon when he’s not driving race cars. “I felt really good about our chances last year. I thought pretty early in the race we got ahead of a lot of the guys I was worried about beating.

“You never know how the race is going to play out and all kinds of crazy stuff happens later. I thought we had a good shot last year and it kind of slipped through our fingers.”

If the name Staropoli sounds familiar, it’s because the 29-year-old Florida resident made headlines by winning the PEAK Challenge in 2013. He became a Michael Waltrip Racing development driver as a result and scored a NASCAR K&N Pro Series West victory in 2014 at California’s Irwindale Speedway.

These days Staropoli, a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Miami Medical School, is focused mostly on his day job as an eye surgeon. He still gets out to race from time to time and he’s looking forward to the opportunity to race against some of the region’s best late model drivers – including national touring stars like Stephen Nasse and Jeff Choquette – on Saturday night.

Choquette is the defending Winchester 400 winner at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway and Nasse recently won a pair of late model races in consecutive days at Winchester.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Staropoli said. “Obviously Nasse and Choquette both started out down here and ran in Florida a lot. They’ve had a lot of success here recently. Nasse went up and crushed them at Winchester. That’s pretty cool. It’s always fun whenever you have a big team come rolling in and you’ve got to defend your home turf.

“It’s good to show what you’ve got against those bigger teams.”

Staropoli believes he’ll have something for the field in Saturday’s 100-lap event. He and his Shadow Graphics and Naked Warrior Project-backed team won the season opener at Citrus County in February, which gives Staropoli confidence heading into Saturday.

“We’ve had a good amount of success there already this year,” Staropoli said. “We won the first race out of the box. It’s been a couple of months, the last time we ran there was back in April. We’re kind of coming out of a short little summer break. I think the car will be under us and we’ve got a chance to take home that big payday.

“A big race like this, you do it for the trophy, but a payday like this helps a small team like ours keep making more races and keep improving the car.”

The event is being broadcast by Pit Row TV, part of the SPEED SPORT Network. It’s also included as a bonus race for CARS Tour TV subscribers. Visit www.pitrow.tv to watch the event live.

GLENDORA, Calif. – NHRA officials have announced the 2020 schedule for the SAMTech.edu NHRA Factory Stock Showdown Drag Racing Series, which will compete at eight of the 24 events on the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule.

The category continues to grow in popularity as the SAMTech.edu NHRA Factory Stock Showdown Drag Racing series showcases the best in American automotive muscle.

Competitors line up against each other for a heads-up contest showcasing drag-racing ready, factory-built vehicles including Ford Mustang Cobra Jets, Dodge Challenger Drag Paks and Chevrolet COPO Camaros.

2020 SamTech.edu NHRA Factory Stock Showdown Drag Racing Series Schedule

March 12-15 – AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, Gainesville, Fla.
April 24-26 – NGK Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, Charlotte, N.C.
May 15-17 – NHRA Southern Nationals, Atlanta
June 25-28 – Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Norwalk, Ohio
July 9-12 – Route 66 NHRA Nationals, Chicago
Sept. 2-7 – NHRA U.S. Nationals, Indianapolis
Oct. 2-4 – AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, St. Louis
Oct. 29-Nov. 1 – Dodge NHRA Nationals, Las Vegas

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – This Sunday the heavyweight title fight resumes at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

In one corner, it’s the reigning champions, Action Express Racing – winners of four out of five WeatherTech Championship titles since 2014 – with its No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R shared by Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani. In the other corner, it’s Acura Team Penske – one of the most storied teams in U.S. motorsport history – with co-drivers Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya in the No. 6 Acura ARX-05.

Cameron and Montoya come into the weekend holding the edge, a seven-point lead over Nasr and Derani with only Sunday’s two-hour, 40-minute Monterey SportsCar Championship Powered by McLaren and the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Saturday, Oct. 12 remaining in the WeatherTech Championship season.

The No. 6 Acura duo has put together a championship-worthy run through the first eight races of the season with two victories and podium results in the past six consecutive races.

“We’ve been on the podium every race since Long Beach,” Cameron said. “I’m really impressed the stretch that we’re all proud of as a team. So, hopefully we can keep that going through the end of the year. Really, the consistency, continuing to be in that top-three range is kind of the key to success in this championship.”

Beyond that consistency, Cameron and Montoya also have finished ahead of the No. 31 team in each of the past six races – but not by much, hence the close margin in the DPi standings. Also, Derani and Nasr had a strong opening to the season with a runner-up result in January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona and a victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts, while Montoya and Cameron struggled in those races.

For Nasr, this is somewhat familiar territory. He was battling for a championship a year ago at WeatherTech Raceway, which he and then-co-driver Eric Curran managed to secure at season’s end.

“I’m eager to go back to my No. 31 Whelen Cadillac at a very special place like Laguna Seca, WeatherTech Raceway,” Nasr said. “It’s a pretty iconic circuit that we go to, and we’re just reaching the final stages of the championship. We are in that crucial point that every opportunity out there counts.

“Myself, the people in Action Express, we’re all aiming for a solid weekend. What I’ve learned from last year is when it comes to those last stages, it’s just crucial to minimize mistakes. Again, every opportunity counts. So, every practice, every session that we have each to maximize the potential of the car, the driving time and make sure we’re on top of everything.”

It was during this weekend last year at WeatherTech Raceway when the team announced that Derani would be joining Nasr as his full-season co-driver in the No. 31 Cadillac, with Curran shifting to an IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup-only role. Two days after that announcement, Derani went out and won the race in the No. 22 Tequila Patrón ESM Nissan DPi with then-co-driver Johannes van Overbeek.

“Well, I love Laguna,” Derani said. “It’s a fantastic place, awesome atmosphere. So, I think in that regard, I’m really looking forward to the weekend. Obviously, we haven’t had the smoothest run. The last few races were not great, and we all know why, but I’m just trying to take it race by race.

“Hopefully, this weekend, we can repeat a win from last year, which would be great and put us back in the fight for the championship or stronger in the fight for the championship against the Penske No. 6.”

While they’re battling each other for the title, there’s healthy respect among the primary DPi title contenders. In fact, Cameron – who is chasing his third WeatherTech Championship title – won the GT Daytona (GTD) crown in 2014 with Turner Motorsport and the Prototype title in 2016 with the No. 31 Whelen team.

“Action is a great team,” Cameron said. “They’ve shown that with their results in the Prototype class in the last five years and a ton of championships. I enjoyed quite a lot of success together with them and with Eric. So, they’re certainly very capable and they know exactly what it takes to win races and to win this championship in particular.

“So, for us from Acura Team Penske, last year we made a lot of mistakes and weren’t able to capitalize. So, we spent a lot of time really trying to understand everything better, and really come out swinging for this.”

Nasr and Derani are going to come out swinging, too, at Acura Team Penske and every other opponent on the racetrack.

“I think all of us have great respect for the Penske organization,” Derani said. “They’ve won everything they’ve been involved with. But on the other hand, it’s just another team. We’re not going to go out there and just try to beat Penske. We have other teams that have been super strong the last few races, like Mazda, for example.

“I even believe Wayne Taylor has been super strong, compared to us. If you look at the last race, it was very close between car 31 and car 10. So, we’re going to go out there and try to do the best we can, no matter if it’s Team Penske or Mazda Joest, or whoever it is.”

Sounds like all the makings for a great title bout.