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

The 2019 Indycar Schedule; News and Comments

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Some thoughts on the Indycar schedule released today:

I like that the huge gap between the first and second race is gone. Having three weeks between Long Beach and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis is probably more appropriate. It allows for testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at a time closer to the 500.

I hope the three weeks between Portland and the Laguna Seca final is just a one year arrangement. IMSA races at Laguna Seca September 15.

Team members have two three week stretches of races plus the four week grind of May and the Detroit doubleheader.

Will Barber return to its traditional date next year? Easter falls on the usual Barber weekend necessitating the change.

I’m excited that Indycar is going to Circuit of the Americas. My first though when I went there for the inaugural Formula 1 race was  that it would be a good track for Indycar.  My concern is attendance. COTA is a huge property. Like IMS, what would be a decent crowd at most places will make the track seem empty. F1 is the only series that has had good attendance in Austin.

While I’m sad to see one less oval on the schedule, I’m happy that Iowa will again be a Saturday night race. That track was made for Indycars on Saturday night.

Attendance at Laguna Seca could also be a concern with IMSA holding an event the weekend before. These two series need to work together and hold joint events.

Television Schedule Still to Come

We know all, the races will be on an NBC network. The question is, which race on which network? I will go out on a huge limb here and say the Indianapolis 500 will be on NBC.

Seven other races will appear on the big network. My guessses:

St. Pete- season opener; introduces audience to Indycar

Long Beach- historic track and event

Indycar Grand Prix- prelude to the 500; promotes the 500

The 500

Road America- another classic track; spectatcular scenery

Iowa- Saturday night racing showcases Indycar roots

Pocono- another 500 race; usually one of the best races of the year

Laguna Seca- season finale allows season recap and promotes 2020 season.

I’m sure I have one correct. I left off the Detroit doubleheader. With a limited number of network appearances, putting half of that schedule in a four week span creates a large gap until the next network race.

Harding’s Future?

Last weekend at Portland Harding racing announced that 2018 Indy Lights champion Patricio O’Ward and Lights runner up Colton Herta will drive in the Indycar finale at Sonoma. Herta tested with Harding earlier this season and O’Ward will test with the team Thursday.

We might be seeing the future of Harding Racing begin. Gabby Chaves, who began the year with Harding and has a contract for next year, may be out of a ride.

Talk still is going on about MclAren taking over harding and some uinvolvement with Andretti Autosport. Both O’Ward and Herta drove for Andretti in Indy Lights.

However this situation turns out, I admire Mike Harding for putting a team together, hiring good experienced people, and running the entire season with older equipment. This was a low budget operation. Small teams like this are what the series needs more of.

Fred Watch

On Wednesday, weather permitting, Fernando Alonso is scheduled to test an Indycar at Barber Motorsports Park. He will drive an Andretti Autosport car, the one Carlos Munoz drove in this year’s Indianapolis 500.

Alonso has not announced where he will drive next year. The Indycar schedule has no conflicts with his WEC commitments for 2018. The WEC opener for 2019 is the same weekend as Portland.

Quick Thoughts- Portland Grand Prix

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Scott Dixon must have been an alchemist in another life. He turned what looked to be a disastrous points day into gaining points on his closest rivals.

What can I say about the Dale Coyne with Vasser Sullivan racing team and Sebastien Bourdais? Took P1 in Saturday practice, crashed the next lap, pieced a car together to qualify fourth, then finish third in the race. That team will sleep well tonight. This is the best story of the weekend.

It was a tough ending to what had been a great weekend  for Zach Veach. His top ten streak ended. I still look for great things from him next season.

Another great day for Spencer Pigot. He’s another young driver coming into his own. His fourth place finish today and his second place at Iowa show his late season maturity.

The crowd today was the largest I’ve seen for an Indycar race outside of IMS. I hope attendance figures for the weekend are released. Each day was a crowd other tracks would have been thrilled to have on race day.

For a race where not much passing was anticipated, there was a lot of drama and plot twists. Takuma Sato’s two stop strategy paid off. The yellows fell at the right time for him, while others were caught out by them.

Overall, it was a good race.

I believe Robert Wickens has clinched  Rookie of the Year. It shows what a strong season he was having. Continued hope for recovery for him.

Whos Rossi’s Rival?

At the beginning of the season the talk was of a rivalry between Alexander Rossi and Josef Newgarden. After St. Pete, it was Rossi and Wickens. In mid season it Rossi and everybody. It turns out that the rivalry was Rossi and Scott Dixon. They are the only two realistically with a shot at the title.

The twenty nine point difference between Dixon and Rossi is a good argument to get rid of double points. I don’t think the series needs six drivers eligible to win the championship at the last race unless the points naturally fall that wa

Notes

There is a strong buzz that COTA will be the seventeenth race. The schedule should be announced Tuesday.

After two consecutive  races with huge crowds,  Sonoma will look emptier than usual.

Fernando Alonso will test an Andretti Autosport car at Barber this coming Wednesday.

Look for my full race recap on Wildfire Sports later tonight or tomorrow morning.

 

Portland Grand Prix- Quick Thoughts on Qualifying

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First, what a massive Friday crowd for practice and another huge crowd today. The Grand Prix of Portland has done a fantastic job keeping people informed with daily reminders of how to get to the track and other need to know items. They continually urge people to take mass transit. From what I saw when I arrived this morning, it is not a bad idea.The crowd today was even larger than Friday.

Great job by the 18 crew to repair the car and earn a spot in the Fast Six.

Will Power is on a mission. I wouldn’t be surprised if he earned maximum points the next two weekends.

Zach Veach continues to improve. Nice to see him getting the Fast Six.

Alexander Rossi could make things interesting starting third.

 

 

Bourdais Leads Saturday Practice; Crashes on Next Lap

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In two laps that encapsulated Sebastien Bourdais’ season, he went to the top of the charts in Saturday morning’s practice, then crashed into the tire barrier in turn 11 on the next lap. There were about three minutes left in the session, which was red flagged and not resumed. Earlier in the practice period James Hinchcliffe slid into the barriers. The session was clean otherwise.

Graham Rahal had led most of the session until Bourdais took the top speed with a lap of 57.470 seconds. Rahal ended 0.044 seconds behind Bourdais. Among the contenders for the title, Will Power was third, Alexander Rossi fourth, Josef Newgarden ninth, and leader Scott Dixon finished eleventh.

Bourdais’ season has had highs and lows. he won the season opener at St. Pete and the pole at the next race at Phoenix. A pit violation put him to the back of the field. He had a chance to win at Barber, but poor pit strategy pushed him to a fifth place finish. The team has struggled since. The most recent highlight was his brilliant drive from last to sixth at Mid Ohio.

Below are photos of the #18 when it was brought back to the paddock

 

 

I’ll be back here with qualifying quick thoughts later and a full story on Wildfire Sports after that.

Hello from Portland

thepitwindow

img_20180830_161324.jpgAfter a very long travel day, I finally made it to Portland International Raceway. The track is rather flat with an interesting set of curves on either end. Turn 1 is a challenge to navigate as it comes at the end of a long, fast front stretch and the track narrows. Several drivers needed the runoff area there yesterday.

A great viewing area I discovered is grandstand K located inside the track in turn 1. From the top row you can see the Festival curves, a series of esses and watch the cars  hear to the back stretch.

Scott Dixon had the fastest time in Thursday’s test, 58. 3593  seconds. Alexander Rossi was ninth quick. Yesterday’s times mean nothing. Today’s first practice begins at 1:45 ET.

Here are a few photos from turn 1 yesterday. I hope to move around to some other spots today.

Remember, my coverage this weekend will be mainly on Wildfire Sports. I will still post my quick thoughts here tomorrow and Sunday.

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Bommarito 500- The Race with Many Faces

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Another successful event at Gateway Motorsports Park ended with a race that had something for everyone. Will Power grabbed his third win of the season, closing some ground on points leader Scott Dixon. There were a couple of passes for the lead, pit strategy, and fuel saving. A driver charged from deep in the pack to earn a top five. The surprise was that it wasn’t Alexander Rossi or Sebastien Bourdais.  As is typical of night races, the complexion changed as the track cooled.

Fortunately, setting the field by points did not affect the results. That is always a concern when the starting grid is set with no regard to speeds on a particular weekend.  It was evident that Power had tje best car from the green flag when he jumped into second place behind Dixon as Rossi had an unusually bad start. Rossi at one point fell all the way back to eighth.

Drive of the Race

While positions remained fixed at the front, Zach Veach charged to tenth from sixteenth. He would remain in the top ten the rest of the evening and lead his first career laps before finishing fifth. Veach has four consecutive top ten finishes. Saturday was his second top five this year. Veach got credit for helping Andretti Autosport set up their cars for Pocono from Rossi in Victory Lane. He should be even stronger next year.

Caution Sets Up Fuel Run

The second caution on lap 173 for Ryan Hunter-Reay’s stalled car caused everyone to re-figure pit stops. The race went back to green with a distance remaining that was a bit too long to make the end on a full tank. Rossi was one of only three cars to not make a fourth stop. He has becoming a fuel saving master on the same level as Dixon and Power. He salvaged second as Dixon was indecisive on whether to save or go wide open. meanwhile, power had stopped with 17 laps left and go full speed.

Great Save

Several cars, including Power, tried to pass on the outside going into turn 1 and ended up getting very close to the wall. Rossi slid in turn 2 and appeared to be heading straight for the wall before getting the car under control. It must have made some dirt car drivers jealous. He lost the race by 1.3 seconds. The margin would have been closer if not for that adventure.

Gateway Hits Another Home Run

Gateway Motorsports park and the Bommarito Group put on a much improved event. They took feedback from 2017 and put more than 1 million dollars into making the fan experience better. There were many more food vendors, including several food trucks with quite a variety of offerings. The widened drive and paved parking made leaving smoother. My group was on the highway in about twelve minutes.

A couple things they might consider for next year- many workers still did not know where to redeem paddock vouchers for wristbands nor which seats were general admission. The track also could establish a number to text if a fan has an issue. There were people smoking in the grandstands in spite of signs prohibiting it.

Overall, this group knows how to promote and put on a race.

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Sebastien Bourdais sits on track after hitting the wall on lap 1.

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The first two rows line up on the backstretch for the start.

Quick Thoughts on the Bommarito 500

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Thoughts still with Robert Wickens. Thanks to everyone at the track who wore Wickens gear or red today.

Much was improved as far as fan experience. Leaving the track for my group was fast and easy. We were on the highway 12 minutes after getting into the car. There were more food vendors, at least double the number from last year. Water was readily available. I assume even more improvements will come next year.

The second part of the race after the lap 183 restart was fun. Cars could finally pass and fuel strategy came into play.

Another great run for Zach Veach. He moved up steadily all night and led at one point.

Spencer Pigot also had a good race.

Passing in the  first half of the race was due to mistakes by the drivers ahead. Quite a few in one race.

Power gained some points on Dixon, but not as many as he needed to. He will have to win out and hope Dixon finishes out of the top ten.

For a while Ed Jones was doing what Dixon’s teammate should do. He got between Dixon and the driver chasing him for the title. Too bad he couldn’t hold on to the end. He hasn’t done that much this year.

I still like Rossi’s chances to win the championship. If he can gain points on a night when his car was not that strong, I think he’s in good shape.

Did Dixon overthink his fuel strategy? Finishing third instead of second left seven points on the table.

Look for a full race recap on Wildfire Sports on Monday.