Author: thepitwindow

I'm a retired educator and lifelong racing fan. I hope to return to fostering greyhounds in the near future. Living mainly in Indy and wintering in Florida. I attend about 10 Indycar races a year as well as some sports car events

McLaughlin Takes Portland Pole as Penske Sweeps Top Three

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The Penske 1-2-3 wasn’t entirely unexpected, but Scott Mclaughlin winning the pole may have been. McLaughlin took a precious point from one of his teammates in earning his third pole of 2022. Josef Newgarden finished secind but will start eighth due to an engine penalty, and points leader Will power was third. Power will move to second on the starting grid tomorrow.

Christuan Lundgaard was the fastest non Penske qualifier in fourth. Alex palou and Pato O’Ward completed the top six.

None of the Andretti cars made the final round. Colton Herta qualified eighth., just ahead of Alexander Rossi.

Scott Dixon, third in points, and Marcus Ericsson, fourth in the standings, finished the session 16th and 18th.

In the post qualifying press conference, the top three dreivers expressed concern about the start of the race tomorrow. Power suggested that the leaders need to start racing coming out of turn 12 to spread the field out before turn 1. Ideally, Power thinks the race should begin on the back stretch.

Indycar may make a decision about the starting point later today.

While today’s results didn’;t alter the points among the main contenders, any point that drivers behind Power don’t get is to Power’s advantage.

I will have a post up aftyer the final practice later this afternoon.

Results

Power Leads Penske Sweep of Practice 2

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Last week’s test is paying off for Team Penske so far this weekend, as Josef Newgarden led yesterday’s practice and this morning Will Power led the practice, followed by teammates Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin. The three drivers were separated by less than a tenth of a second.

Colton Herta was fourth fastest, followed by Christian Lundgaard, Graham Rahal, Scott Dixon, and Alexander Rossi.

David Malukas led the middle part of the session, but faded to 11th by the end.

It was a clean session, unlike the may interruptions yesterday..

Practice ran under cloudy skies, and the weather at qualifying time is expected to be 69 degrees and cloudy. Some sun may appear by the Fast Six.

Results

Qualifying Key for Those in the Title Hunt

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Felix Rosenqvist in turn 1 at Portland

Today’s Schedule: All Times Pacific

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice 2 Peacock
10:15 AM – 11:00 AM USF200O Race 3
11:15 AM – 11:55 AM Indy Lights Practice 2
12:05 PM – 1:20 PM NTT INDYCAR SERIES Qualifying Peacock
1:30 PM – 2:00 PM Indy Lights Autograph Session
1:35 PM – 2:05 PM ARCA Menards Series West Qualifying
2:20 PM – 3:10 PM Indy Pro 2000 Race 3
3:25 PM – 3:45 PM Indy Lights Qualifying
4:15 PM – 4:45 PM NTT INDYCAR SERIES Final Practice Peacock
5:30 PM ARCA Menards Series Race (57 laps)

Today is one of the most important days of the year for the four drivers with a realistic chance at winning the Indycar Series title. track position could be what allows any driver to avoid a possible problem in turn 1 of lap 1.

While Josef Newgarden led practice yesterday, Will Power,and Scott Dixon were 10th and 11th, and Marcus Ericsson was 16th. Newgarden will serve a six place grid penalty for an engine change. He will will start no better than seventh.

Notes

Yesterday afternoon The Associated Press reported that McLaren would consider offering a buyout to Chip Ganassi racing for the services of Alex Palou. Since McLaren won their case in F1 to get Oscar piastri to replace Daniel Ricciardo, I’m not sure where Palou would fit in their organization. I would for him to wqste a year as an F1 reserve driver.

Meanwhile, Felix Rosenqvist may be able to get out of his McLaren deal Rosenqvist wants to stay in Infdycar. His 2022 sseason has shown he belongs in this series.

Look Alikes

Two sets of cars have very similar liveries this weekend.

The cars of Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson both represent PNC Bank Formula 1 style. Ericsson has blue rteaer wing end plates.

Dixon
Ericsson

Scot McLaughlin and Devlin DeFrancesco are not on the same team, but their liveries are strikingly similar. I happened top get a picture yesterday of the two of them on track together.

DeFrancesco (left) McLaughlin (right)

I’ll be back after morning practice with the quaqlifying groupings.

Newgarden Leads Portland First Practice

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Josef Newgarden turned the fastest lap in a disjointed opening practice for the Grand Prix of Portland this afternoon. After about 24 minutes of the session, the red flag came out for an unusual reason.

A video board on the front stretch opposite the pits began to lower itself. Hydraulic fluid was leaking from the arm, and the board could have potentially fallen ontop the racing surface.

Practice resumed one hour and 21 minutes later. The final 51 minutes were interrupted three times. Takuma Sato went off in turn 11 and the front of his car made contact with the tire barrier. Helio Castroneves had an off road excursion, then later spun and stalled. Pato O’Ward backed into the tire barrier. His car would not restart.

O’Ward’s car returning to the paddock after practice.

In addition to the red flags, Romain Grosjean’s day ended early with transmission issues.

The top three today- Nerwgarden, David Malukas, and Scott McLaughlin.

Three of the top five in points finished in a group. Alex Palou was ninth, Will Power 10th, ancd Scott Dixon 11th.

Results

Weird Delay

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Indycar practice began on time, but after about 24 minutes, a red flag halted the action. The reason for the red flag was a hydraulic issue with one of the video screens behind the pits. Fluid leaked out and causedt he arm holding up the screen to partially collapse.

IThe standings at the time of the staoppage:

Drivers have just been asked to return to their cars. I will update when there is more news.

DeFrancesco Happy with Rookie Season, Eager for 2023

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Rookie Devlin DeFrancesco has learned a lot and believes he has had a good first year in Indycar. I spoe with the Andretti Autosport driver this morning.

Assessing the season, Defrancesco said,

“You know, I’d say probably a 6.5 out of 10. Last race was a strong showing, for me; the test we had your week and a half ago was very strong for me by the end,. So understandingthe season has just been getting better and better and nothing more to secure two strong finishes.”

While DeFrancesco is happy with his improved qualkifying, he is hoping to translate starting positions into great results.

” I really think it’s all coming. I think this weekend could be a very strong weekend for me. I’m very comfortable with the car now knowing what I need to go faster what I need in certain times, with balance and things like that. And if you look at even the last few test days, we’ve done from start to finish, we don’t seem to get lost anymore. It’s just a constant progression through the day. And that was especially our day here. It’s what it seemed to be. So even our day in Laguna. You know, we started off fairly strong, we try to keep things Things seem to quite work. And we went back to where we we knew we were good in tuned on it. So that’s really been I think, what’s been helping me a lot recently.”

Leasrnuing how to work with the red alternate tires had been a work in progress this season for the rookie.

“Knowing what you need from the black to the red tire is tricky because you don’t get a lot of time on the right tires a lot more front a lot more grip in general. So I think knowing what you can balance and the balance when you have to take is critical and it’s been more often than I have gotten it right this year. But now knowing what I need it’s definitely coming to.”

For the final two races of 2022, DeFrancesco will be happy to match speed with his teammates/

“You know, just know similarspeed to my teammates and their security, this leader circle I know this is what’s important for myself. It’s a form of mentoring for my team and sponsors. “

DeFrancesco, like the rest of us, wishes for a shorter off season so he can apply this season’s lessons.

“100% That’s mainly what I’m looking forward to, you know, it’s a shame the offseason is so long, you know, I wish it wasn’t as long as it was but it’d be good to get into these last two races strongly and just build on this momentum going into next season.”

Grid Penalties for Newgarden and Kellett

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From Indycar:

INDYCAR Announces Portland Grid Penalties

INDIANAPOLIS (Friday, Sept. 2, 2022) – INDYCAR officials have announced a six-position starting grid penalty for the entries of No. 2 Team Penske and No. 4 A.J. Foyt Enterprises for unapproved engine changes following the Saturday, Aug. 20 race at World Wide Technology Raceway.

The teams were in violation of:

Rule 16.2.3.2 A fifth (5th) Engine is eligible to earn Engine Manufacturer points if a Full Season Entrant has completed the Full Season Entrant Engine Mileage with its first four (4) Engines. Otherwise, a fifth (5th) or more Engine does not earn Engine Manufacturer points and will be considered an Unapproved Engine change-out.

According to Rule 16.6.1.2, the penalty is a six-position starting grid penalty on road and street course events and nine positions at oval events and will be served at the series’ next event, which is the Grand Prix of Portland Sunday, Sept. 4 at Portland International Raceway.

Portland Preview

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Colton Herta could play a spoiler role Sunday

Today’s Schedule. All times Pacific

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2

9:05 AM – 9:35 AM USF2000 Qualifying
9:55 AM – 10:25 AM Indy Pro 2000 Qualifying
11:20 AM – 12:05 PM USF2000 Race 1
12:15 PM – 1:15 PM NTT INDYCAR SERIES Autograph Session
12:20 PM – 1:10 PM Indy Pro 2000 Race 1
1:25 PM – 2:15 PM Indy Lights Practice 1
2:30 PM – 3:45 PM NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice 1 Peacock
4:00 PM – 4:45 PM USF2000 Race 2
5:00 PM – 5:50 PM Indy Pro 200 Race 2
6:05 PM – 7:05 PM ARCA Menards Series West Practice

Good morning from the Pacific Northwest. We are about 20 minutes away from the first track action of the day. Whiule the Grand prix of Portland isn’t considered Champiuonship Weekend, what happens here could go a long way toward determining the NTT Indycar Series 2022 champion.

It will come down to qualifying and who gets through turn 1 on lap 1 cleanly. Since Indycar returnbed to Portland in 2018, there has yet to be a clean start. Strangely, while two first turn disasters have involved championship contenders, they came back to get a result which propelled them to the title.

Scott Dixon in 2018 ended up in the dirt but kept going to finish fifth. Last year Alex Palou was involved in a pileup, restarted 20th, yet came back to win.

Chip Ganassi Racing decided not to test here last week, while Team Penske did. Ganassi felt their speed from 2021 gave them all the ibformation they need for Portland. We will see who made the correct decision.

Spoilers

Two teams could play thge spoiler role and keep the champion even more in doubt going to lagfuna Seca next week. Andretti Autosport I believe has one more win to come this season. Colton Herts is always fast on the west coast, and Alexander Rosi ahs had a strong second half of 2022.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan has improved tremendously in the second half as well. Graham Rahal and Christiuan Lundgaard have been in the top 10 consistently since August.

If either of these teams produces Sunday’s winner, and the four top title rivals have really bad days, it is possible here could more than five drivers with a realistic chance to win the title in the final race on September 11.

I pick Christian Lundgaard to win his first Indycar race Sunday, and either Josef Newgarden or Scott Dixon will hold a tenuous lead heading to Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca. Sound crazy? I think this scenario is perfectly in line with the wild season Indycar has had.