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INDYCAR, IMS Announce ‘Race for Equality & Change’

July 5, 2020 thepitwindow

This slipped under my radar this weekend. I’m glad to see Indycar finally addressing this issue.

INDIANAPOLIS, Saturday, July 4, 2020 – INDYCAR and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway have announced the “Race for Equality & Change,” a major effort to support diversity and inclusivity across the INDYCAR industry. A key pillar of “Race for Equality & Change” will be a $1 million fund to fuel internal and external programs and initiatives that will create fundamental change.

“As our country has grappled with systemic issues related to race, equality and access to opportunity, we’ve been doing a lot of listening, learning and reflecting,” Penske Entertainment Corp. President and CEO Mark Miles said. “‘Race for Equality & Change’ will create a more diverse and inclusive INDYCAR community that fundamentally transforms our sport.”

Key focuses of the “Race for Equality & Change” include:

Recruiting and developing a diverse workforce throughout all levels of INDYCAR and IMS
Diversifying the competitive driver field at the grassroots, Road to Indy and NTT INDYCAR SERIES levels
Supporting impactful grassroots youth motorsports programs, including enhancing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s longstanding partnership with Nexgeneracers, a 501c3 that introduces minority students to the world of motorsports
Diversifying employment, leadership and ownership within the SERIES and with INDYCAR promoters
Investment in minority communities to encourage greater engagement with INDYCAR and IMS
Establishing a procurement program to meaningfully increase the number of minority-owned businesses that contract with INDYCAR and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway each year

As part of today’s announcement, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway pylon will light up with a special “Race for Equality & Change” message during the NTT INDYCAR SERIES GMR Grand Prix this afternoon on the IMS road course. The NBC broadcast also will feature a conversation on the initiative between host Mike Tirico and Miles.

Traditions Smashed: Quick Thoughts on the GMR Grand Prix

July 4, 2020 thepitwindow

Photo: Indycar, James Black

Two traditions of this race went down n flames today- A clean first lap for the first time in race history, and the biggest tradition-the two winners club was intruded upon by Scott Dixon. It was only the second time a Team Penske car did not win.

Five drivers with less than three years of Indycar experience finished in the top 10.Colton Herta finished fourth, Rinus VeeKay came home fifth, Marcus Ericsson was sixth, Pato O’W and Santino Ferrucci ended up in eighth and ninth. VeeKay started 18th. His 13 spot improvement was second to Simon Pagenaud who moved up 17 positions from 20th to third.

Scott Dixon should have at least 50 career victories by season’s end. He is now just four behind Mario Andretti for second place.

What is going on with Will Power and pit stops? There have been issues in both races this year.

The yellow for Oliver Askew’s crash hurt Graham Rahal. His two stop strategy was working perfectly until then. It was nice to see Rahal fighting for the win again.

It was a great day for Ed Carpenter Racing. In addition to VeeKay’s fifth place, Conor Daly finished 12th. Daly had been in the top 10 for much of the race. I hope to see more of this kind of result from the team the rest of the year.

Andretti Autosport struggled overall for the second straight race. Except for Herta, the rest of the team was not a factor. In Texas Veach was the lone bright spot. They need to turn things around at Road America next week.

Think it’s boring watching Dixon win the first two races? We are watching one of the best ever. As someone who has been lucky enough to watch Foyt, Andretti, Jones, Mears, and the Unsers, I am telling you Dixon belongs with this group. appreciate him that you can watch someone with his skill.

A few people gathered outside the fence of IMS around 23rd and Georgetown Road to watch the race on the video board and soak in the sounds of the race. It was weird just getting tiny glimpses of the cars, but it was better than sitting at home.

I will be back with a more detailed wrap up later tonight or tomorrow.

Enjoy your holiday. wash your hands and mask up. Thanks for following along this weekend.

Tire Choices for GMR Grand Prix

July 4, 2020 thepitwindow

START	CAR NO.	DRIVER	TIRE CHOICE
1	12	Will Power	Alternate – Red
2	60	Jack Harvey	Alternate – Red
3	88	Colton Herta	Alternate – Red
4	15	Graham Rahal	Alternate – Red
5	7	Oliver Askew	Alternate – Red
6	1	Josef Newgarden	Alternate – Red
7	9	Scott Dixon	Primary – Black
8	20	Conor Daly	Alternate – Red
9	10	Felix Rosenqvist	Primary – Black
10	59	Max Chilton	Alternate – Red
11	27	Alexander Rossi	Alternate – Red
12	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Alternate – Red
13	5	Pato O’Ward	Primary – Black
14	8	Marcus Ericsson	Primary – Black
15	18	Santino Ferrucci	Alternate – Red
16	45	Spencer Pigot	Alternate – Red
17	30	Takuma Sato	Primary – Black
18	21	Rinus VeeKay	Primary – Black
19	29	James Hinchcliffe	Primary – Black
20	22	Simon Pagenaud	Primary – Black
21	55	Álex Palou	Alternate – Red
22	26	Zach Veach	Primary – Black
23	24	Sage Karam	Alternate – Red
24	4	Charlie Kimball	Primary – Black
25	98	Marco Andretti	Primary – Black
26	14	Dalton Kellett	Primary – Black

Dixon Fastest in Warm Up: Andretti Cars Struggle

July 4, 2020 thepitwindow

Scott Dixon turned the quickest lap in this morning’s warmup for the GMR Grand Prix. Dixon’s best lap of 1:11.0771 came near the end of the 30 minute session. It was an adventure filled period for several cars. the escape roads in turns 1 and 12 saw a lot of traffic.

Five minutes into the session, Marco Andretti stalled. The issue was a CV joint which also gave the team problems yesterday. Alexander Rossi missed the first 10 minutes of the practice with fuel pressure issues. He finished seventh but complained of the rear of the car being loose.

With about two minutes to go Charlie Kimball slid in turn 10, briefly got into the grass, then got the car straightened out and continued. the track stayed green. Colton Herta had several issues with brakes locking up.

The top five:

Scott Dixon 1:11.0771

Josef Newgarden 1:11.2178

Ryan Hunter-Reay 1:11.2380

Graham Rahal 1:11.4352

Felix Rosenqvist 1:11.4380

Turn 12 could be a trouble spot in the race. The temperature should be at least 10 degrees warmer at race time. Back after the race.

It’s Race Day

July 4, 2020 thepitwindow

Happy Fourth of July.

Good morning on Race Day number 2 for the NTT Indycar Series, Today’s schedule ( All Times Eastern):

9:00 am-9:30 Warm up NBC Gold

12:00 noon- GMR Grand Prix NBC

The Starting Lineup:

Notes

For all NBC’s hype about the historic weekend doubleheader, I just don’t feel it. The lack of fans takes away from the luster and prestige of the two races.

I wish Jimmie Johnson a speedy recovery from COVID-19. Sooner or later the disease was bound to find its way into a racing paddock. No one knows how many races Johnson will miss. He also won’t get to drive in his scheduled Indycar test for Ganassi next week.

Today’s race theme- Youth vs. Experience.

How far can Simon Pagenaud advance from 20th place? If he gets through turn 1, lap 1, unscathed, look for a top 10 from the defending race winner.

I will be back with a brief summary of the warmup, then a race wrap -up later.

GMR Qualifying- The Kids Are Alright

July 3, 2020 thepitwindow

Photo: Indycar, Chris Jones

Will Power won the pole for tomorrow’s GMR Grand Prix with a brilliant final lap in the Fast Six. he nipped Jack Harvey by 0.188 seconds. Old news. This was Power’s fourth pole in this race. He won the other three times he started on pole. The pole was the 58th of Power’s career, and he is just nine shy of tying Mario Andretti for the most career poles. He will creep even closer by year’s end.

What I want to focus this qualifying report on though is the younger drivers in the series. Overall, they had a great day. I will discuss them after a recap of qualifying.

Round 1, Group 1

The youngsters led the way, grabbing the first four spots to advance. Defending series champion Josef Newgarden struggled to squeeze into the final transfer spot.

Results:

Oliver Askew

Max Chilton

Felix Rosenqvist

Conor Daly

Ryan Hunter-Reay

Josef Newgarden

Round 1, Group 2

This session had a more traditional look with Power leading and more drivers expected to advance filling the next round.

Results:

Will Power

Colton Herta

Scott Dixon

Jack Harvey

Graham Rahal

Alexander Rossi

Round of 12

Half of the drivers in the second round have less than three full years of Indycar experience. It looked as if the fast Six would shape up to be another the great Power vs. Herta pole battles we had last season, but another youngster decided to spoil the fun.

Results:

Oliver Askew

Jack Harvey

Graham Rahal

Colton Herta

Will Power

Josef Newgarden

Fast Six

Jack Harvey came within a whisker of his first career pole. Power nipped him on the final lap as time ran out. The result was Harvey’s second consecutive GMR Grand Prix Fast Six. In 2019 he started third and finished third.

Results:

Will Power 1:10.177

Jack Harvey 1:10.365

Colton Herta

Graham Rahal

Oliver Askew

Josef Newgarden

The Kids

If you were keeping score, half of each of the last two rounds had drivers with less than three years experience. Oliver Askew in his first road course qualifying led two rounds of qualifying and had the fastest lap of 1:09.878 in the second round.

Conor Daly got a rare second round spot for Ed Carpenter Racing and will start 8th tomorrow.

Colton Herta showed last year that he will be a perennial contender.

Jack Harvey loves this track. if he can transfer his success at IMS to the rest of the series, he will be someone fun to watch.

Max Chilton advancing to the second round was nice to see.

Felix rosenqvist had an off day today, but could be a factor tomorrow.

We are witnessing a very quick generational change. These younger drivers are the sport’s future. The current stars have at most three years left. The series will be in very good hands when they leave. We could see a few more surprises this season. The kids are alright.

Qualifying Groups for GMR Grand Prix

July 3, 2020 thepitwindow

Photo- Indycar, Jonathan Ferrey (Getty Images)

Qualifying groups for this afternoon’s knockout rounds and Fast Six:

Qualifying Groups (unofficial)

GROUP 1	GROUP 2
Santino Ferrucci	Will Power
Pato O’Ward	Marcus Ericsson
Ryan Hunter-Reay	Scott Dixon
Felix Rosenqvist	Simon Pagenaud
Oliver Askew	Spencer Pigot
Josef Newgarden	Colton Herta
Marco Andretti	Jack Harvey
Takuma Sato	Alexander Rossi
Max Chilton	Rinus VeeKay
Conor Daly	Graham Rahal
Álex Palou	Zach Veach
James Hinchcliffe	Charlie Kimball
Sage Karam	Dalton Kellett

Qualifying can be seen on NBCSN at 4:30 Eastern. The race is at noon tomnorrow on NBC.

Power Quickest in GMR Practice; Good session for Young Guns

July 3, 2020July 3, 2020 thepitwindow

It’s probably bad news for the rest of the field. Will Power lead the only practice session for the seventh running of the GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this morning. Power languished near the back of the pack through the first hour of the 90 minute session, then slowly began moving toward the front, topping the charts with about 15 minutes remaining. He was the only driver to crack the 1:10 mark.

The results:

1	12	Will Power	Team Penske	1:09.949	–.—-	30
2	18	Santino Ferrucci	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan	1:10.124	0.1755	21
3	8	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing	1:10.165	0.2161	28
4	5	Pato O’Ward	Arrow McLaren SP	1:10.187	0.2387	29
5	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	1:10.205	0.2567	25
6	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	1:10.285	0.3359	25
7	22	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	1:10.313	0.3642	27
8	10	Felix Rosenqvist	Chip Ganassi Racing	1:10.362	0.4132	29
9	45	Spencer Pigot	RLL with Citrone/Buhl Autosport	1:10.363	0.4146	23
10	7	Oliver Askew	Arrow McLaren SP	1:10.364	0.4154	30
11	88	Colton Herta	Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport	1:10.385	0.4360	17
12	1	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	1:10.386	0.4375	26
13	60	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing	1:10.455	0.5063	24
14	98	Marco Andretti	Andretti Herta with Marco & Curb-Agajanian	1:10.486	0.5372	30
15	27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	1:10.520	0.5717	21
16	30	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	1:10.538	0.5894	25
17	21	Rinus VeeKay	Ed Carpenter Racing	1:10.606	0.6571	36
18	59	Max Chilton	Carlin	1:10.611	0.6627	26
19	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	1:10.685	0.7367	31
20	20	Conor Daly	Ed Carpenter Racing	1:10.694	0.7448	26
21	26	Zach Veach	Andretti Autosport	1:10.709	0.7602	27
22	55	Alex Palou	Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh	1:10.886	0.9376	26
23	4	Charlie Kimball	AJ Foyt Enterprises	1:10.980	1.0312	25
24	29	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Autosport	1:11.227	1.2783	26
25	14	Dalton Kellett	AJ Foyt Enterprises	1:11.448	1.4997	42
26	24	Sage Karam	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	1:11.616	1.

The rookies and younger drivers had some time at the top. Felix Rosenqvist, last byear’s pole sitter, led for a while, as did Pato O’Ward and Marcus Ericsson.

Oliver Askew is the only rookie in the top 10. The biggest surprise in the top 10 is Spencer Pigot in 9th. His team, Citrone Buhlo in partnership with RLL Racing, team is making their Indycar debut this weekend.

the practice was stopped twice. Santino Ferrucci bumped Ryan Hunter-Reay around the 45 minute mark. Hunter-Reay was getting his tires up to temperature when Ferrucci tried to pass him pon the inside going into turn 7. Hunter-Reay spun and stalled. Ferrucci received a 5 minute stop and hold penalty for avoidable contact.

With about 30 minutes left, Sage Karam lost power on the access road by turn 12.

Notes

Except for Hunter-Reay, the rest of the Andretti Autosport struggled in the middle of the pack.

A dozen or so fans stood at the ,main gate watching the video board facing the entrance.

It was frustrating hearing the cars but not seeing them. It was still better than nothing.

I have never seen the Speedway look nicer.

A few photos:

Back tonight after qualifying.

Today’s GMR Grand Prix Schedule

July 3, 2020 thepitwindow

Good morning from my Pandemic Media Center nine miles from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Today’s schedule for Indycar practice and qualifying: (All Times Eastern)

11:30-1:00 Practice NBC Gold

4:30-6:00 Qualifying NBCSN

Times given are broadcast windows.

A few other notes:

Gary Trout, co-owner of Top Gun Racing, has announced the team will attempt to run in this year’s Indianapolis 500 and two other races. Earlier this week the team said they would wait until 2021. Top Gun plans to have R C Enerson drive in the 500, the Harvest grand Prix at IMS, and the season finale at St. Petersburg.

The 26 entries for this weekend’s race is a record number for this event. Had the race run on its original date there may have ben as many as 30 cars taking the gren flag. The most notable absence is Scott McLaughlin. The two time Australian Supercars champion looked to make his Indycar debut in this race for Team Penske, but the quarantine and pandemic have delayed his first race in the series until 2021.

I will be back after practice with a summary before qualifying.