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sports Diahuebs 20 Mei 2021

Danica Patrick to lead Indy 500 field in Chevy pace car

(AP) — Danica Patrick vehicles, and the Corvette third consecutive year.
will be on the track at convertible is such a beauti-
the Indianapolis 500, at ful car," Patrick said. "May- Chevrolet and Corvette have
the front of the field once be they will let me drive it led the starting field more
again. home." than any other manufactur-
er and nameplate. The 2021
Patrick was announced Patrick as a rookie in 2005 be- race marks the 32nd time
Wednesday as the pace car came the first woman to lead Chevrolet will pace the field
driver for IndyCar's marquee laps in the Indianapolis 500. dating to 1948. It it the 18th
event. She will drive a 2021 Her third-place finish four race since 1978 the Corvette
Chevrolet Corvette Stingray years later was the highest for was selected.
hardtop convertible to lead a woman in the history of In-
the field to green on May 30. dianapolis Motor Speedway. Chevrolet was founded in
1911, the year of the inaugu-
It will be the first Corvette She has since retired from ral 500-mile race. Company
convertible since 2008 to racing — her 30th-place fin- co-founder Louis Chevrolet,
pace "The Greatest Spectacle ish in the 2018 race was her along with brothers Arthur
in Racing." final start — but Patrick re- and Gaston, were drivers, won in 1920. have won 11 Indy 500's with
turns to NBC's broadcast and Arthur entered the first nine different drivers.
"I have always loved Chevy crew for the event for the Indy 500. Gaston Chevrolet Chevrolet-powered teams

Swiss teen Stricker wins again on tour debut at Geneva Open

(AP) — Swiss teenager ranked left-hander got a
Dominic Stricker now has wild-card entry to his home Also Wednesday, third-seed-
a 2-0 career record after event. ed Casper Ruud advanced to
beating Marton Fucsovics the quarterfinals with a 7-5,
7-5, 6-4 Wednesday in the After beating former U.S. 6-2 win over Tennys Sand-
second round of the Ge- Open champion Marin Cilic gren.
neva Open. and Fucsovics, Stricker will
play 75th-ranked Pablo An- Second-seeded Denis
Stricker, the French Open dujar in the quarterfinals. Shapovalov and fourth-seed-
junior champion, beat a top- Andujar beat Roger Feder- ed Grigor Dimitrov were due
50 opponent for the second er on Tuesday in the Swiss on court in later matches of
straight day in his ATP tour- great's first match on clay in another rain-affected day's
nament debut. The 419th- almost two years. play in Geneva.

Barcelona president preparing club's revamping process

(AP) — With or without Lionel to find the elements that we'll need ish media has speculated that Antoine Ousmane Dembélé.
Messi, Barcelona will look differ- to build a very competitive team and Griezmann could leave after another
ent next season. win the relevant titles," Laporta said. lackluster season for the France for- Laporta said the club's women's team
"And starting next week we will start ward. Some reports say he could be should be seen an example after win-
Club president Joan Laporta himself explaining what we will be doing." involved in a trade with Atlético Ma- ning its first Champions League title
admits changes are coming. drid for young Portugal star João Fé- on Sunday with a 4-0 victory over
Laporta has some big challenges lix. Chelsea.
"It's the end of a cycle. We are enter- ahead, including convincing Messi
ing a process of renovation," Laporta to stay after he asked to leave at the Among the team's more veteran play- "Today it's women's soccer that rep-
said at an event late Tuesday. end of last season. The Argentine's ers still in the squad are Gerard Piqué, resents the pride of all of our fans,"
contract ends this season and there is Jordi Alba, Sergi Roberto and Sergio Laporta said. "In men's soccer we will
Barcelona has one Spanish league still no word on whether he will con- Busquets. Younger players who have need to go through a renovation pro-
match left this season but it's not in tinue with the club. Laporta based his been doing well include Ansu Fati, cess because a cycle has ended."
contention for the title anymore in presidential campaign on his ability Pedri González, Sergiño Dest and
what will be a disappointing ending to convince Messi to stay.
to another complicated season for the
Catalan club. Laporta also will have to put the club
back on track financially after it was
"We won the Copa del Rey title, and hit hard by the coronavirus pandem-
we are proud of that, but we were ic. Spanish media reports said Lapor-
eliminated very early in the Cham- ta recently was able to land a deal of
pions League and we lost the league several hundred million dollars with
in an incomprehensible manner," La- Goldman Sachs that will help the
porta said. "So it's time to analyze the club restructure its finances.
results, our game, and also our atti-
tude, mentality and ambition." The squad changes may start at the
top with coach Ronald Koeman, who
Barcelona may finish as low as fourth was criticized for not taking advan-
in the Spanish league, a competi- tage of the team's chances near the
tion it was challenging for only a few end of the season. There have been
weeks ago before squandering sev- widespread talks about former player
eral opportunities to take the lead. Xavi Hernández taking over his job
In the Champions League, the team for next season.
couldn't get past Paris Saint-Germain
in the round of 16, extending its Eu- There are also rumors about the pos-
ropean title drought to six years. sible arrival of Memphis Depay to
"We've been working for some time boost the team's attack, while Span-