Category: Auto Racing

Kirkwood Comfortable on IMS Oval

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Kyle Kirkwood is excited to be in his first 500. I spoke with the A. J. Foyt Racing driver yesterday after practice.

“It’s a really cool thing,” Kirkwood said of driving in the 500 for the first time.

He was happy with his morning run when the number 14 car finished 11th.

Indycar photo by Joe Skibinski

“We did the most laps out of everyone. So we’re getting the critical things that we’ve got to take everything apart, put our car back together and we seem to be better than we started off for some reason. So we’re happy with everything works around.”

Kirkwood felt his car picked up where they stopped at the end of the open test last month.

“You know, it’s just starting off. Everyone’s kind of starting off slow because it’s such a long, such a long two weeks of testing and everything so it’s really just making sure we got all the big things sorted out and we’ll start fine tuning the car as days go on,” Kirkwood said.

“We feel good. I think the conditions are quite a bit different than they were at the at the open test. I think everyone out there seemed to struggle a little bit more in traffic, for whatever that reason,” he continued. “We’ve had some rain over the past couple weeks and the track might have been a bit dirty. Possible. . But we feel we feel okay at the moment.”

The team’s plan for yesterday afternoon was “We’ve got a big list of items that we need to get through this next week and we’re just hitting all this off gathering as much data together and then we’ll reconvene or go back over it at some point, either at the end of this week or next week and figure out exactly what we have and we’re looking forward to get through these types of items and hopefully ended up with a really good car at the end.”

At St. Pete Kirkwood mentioned that he didn’t have much oval experience. Racing at Texas seems to have helped his confidence on ovals.

“Yeah, I’m very comfortable. It’s a bit different than Texas is given how flat the track is. But I feel very comfortable in the number 14 Rokit Chevrolet. “

Kirkwood ended up 21st in the afternoon session. It’s not unusual to see cars slide backwards in the second practice session as the team tries different setups.

Notes From a Wet Track

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The image above looks as if it were taken last Saturday, but alas, I snapped it just two minutes ago. Some cars were on pit lane at 11:45 as a light sprinkle fell. The rain increased soon afterwards, and the cars returned to their garages.

Practice is on an indefinite hold. My weather app radar shows rain continuing through the 5 o’clock hour. I would say any track time today is doubtful. With every entry guaranteed to make the race, losing a day may not be as critical as it has been in the past. Most of the teams have the benefit of the two day open test in April.

Notes

IMSA at IMS? One of the first goals Roger penske set for the Speedway when he bought the track was to hoist a sports car endurance race. I think he was hoping for a World Endurance event, but it appears an IMSA race is more likely, probably a sprint event of 100 or 160 minutes.

Adding an IMSA event means IMS would host each of the three major North American series, something that is long overdue.

New at the IMS online shop In an email today the Indianapolis Kotr Speedway online store is offering a 1:12 replica of Ray Harroun’s Marmon Wasp, winner of the first 500. It can be yours for just $599.99.

Third OEM There is still no word about a third engine manufacturer for Indycar. I mention this because yesterday Lamborghini announced they will be joining IMSA’s GTP class in 2024 with an LMDh entry joining Cadillac, Acura, BMW, and Porsche.

I will keep you updated on the day here at IMS. Keep checking back. I will post at 3 pm Eastern or sooner if I hear something before then.

Practice Day 2- Rain Tires Not Allowed

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Update: At 6:51am there is light rain falling. The rain should end around 8 am. After 1 pm he rain chances are significant.

Today’s Schedule:

10 a.m.-6 p.m. Public Gates Open
Noon-6 p.m. Open Practice–Peacock

TICKETS: General Admission tickets are $15 for Indy 500 practice days. Children 15 and under are admitted free with paying adult.

PUBLIC GATES OPEN (10 a.m.-6 p.m.): Gate 1, Gate 2, Gate 4, Gate 6S, Gate 7, Gate 7S, Gate 10 and Gate 10A.

PARKING: Free parking for Indianapolis 500 practice is located in Turn 3 and Lot 7 (North 40), in the South Carousel Lot for motorcycle parking and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum Lot for ADA parking.

There is a 54% chance of rain at 9 am this morning, and chances increase every hour after that until 5 pm. If this forecast holds, running today is unlikely.

Will Ganassi cars stay at the top of the charts? I don’t think we have seen everything Team Penske has yet. It’s always a question on Day 2. Let’s hope cars get on track today.

Wilson Completes Refresher

Stefan Wilson completed his refresher test in a 2 hour session dedicated for rookie and refresher test. Cusick Motorsports and Wilson did not participate in the open test last month.

Check back for weather updates and some driver features.

Sato Leads Practice 2

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Takuma Sato turned the fastest lap of the day in the last few minutes of the afternoon practice session. Sato’s lap of 228.939 was the fastest of the day. Scott Dixon, the leader of the morning round, held the lead for most of the three hour session.

Eight Hondas were in the top 10. Rinus VeeKay in fifth and Josef Newgarden in eighth were the only Chevys in the top 10.

The session stopped three times, twice for debris and once when a quick brown fox jumped over the Speedway fence.

Scott Dixon cautioned against reading too much into today’s speeds.

“It’s just the first day,” he said.

Rinus VeeKay was fifth this afternoon, but he was first on the no two speeds. His Teammate Ed Carpenter had the second fastest no tow lap.

“I’m very comfortable in the car,” VeeKay said.

Teams of Note

Dale Coyne Racing cars were first and seventh with David Malukas finding speed late in the session.

All five Chip Ganassi Racing drivers were in the top 10. After Dixon, Jimmie Johnson was third, Marcus Ericsson fourth, Alex Palou sixth, and Tony Kanaan ninth. Dixon said they did do any group running today but plan to later in the week.

Notes

Stefan Wilson completed his refresher test then ran 10 more laps in the practice session.

A nice size crowd was on hand for today’s opening.

Results:

Rosenqvist’s Season Coming Together

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Indycar photo by Joe Skibinski

Felix Rosenqvist believes his season is beginning to come together. He has qualified well, but errors in the races have held him back. He sees his sixth place finish in Saturday’s GMR Grand Prix as a positive sign, but he wasn’t completely satisfied.

“Yeah, it was a solid weekend,” the driver of the number 7 Arrow McLaren SP car said. “You know we we’ve had really good qualifying performance the last couple of races and I think last week and actually Barber half of the race was really good and then we made some mistakes and this race we were I think honestly we were the quickest on track and like all conditions and unfortunately we had a collision with Pato in the middle of the race.

“I’m still kind of bummed about it because I think we had a chance to win but it was good to be back in the top six for our season is very good. I think we had some momentum to run on this morning.”

Rosenqvist felt the first practice went well.

“Good, ” he said. ” Not really much to report. We didn’t do much traffic running. We just tried to like set up the car and make sure the car is fine for the weeks to come. And I felt good because I have a good baseline and we would know more and this afternoon when we were running traffic a bit more.”.

“I never really felt like this place is that green like you always come out the first run and you have pretty good grip and obviously the track grips up during the day.”

Rosenqvist said he will work on passing more this afternoon. He thinks it will be difficult to pass more than one car at a time.

“It seems like it’s very easy to pass one car. And then when you have two cars in front, it’s tricky. And then when you have three cars in front, it becomes really difficult. So you want to be up front no matter what’s you know. I think being second is probably the optimal spot in the race. Yeah, that’s the way it’s right now.”

This is a season on the brink fo rRosenqvist, but he is confident that the results will come.

Dixon Tops Opening Session

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Scott Dixon led the first practice for the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500. His Chip Ganassi Honda put in a lap of 227,119 mph. Teammate Marcus Ericsson was second quickest at 226.965 mph. Four Hondas and six Chevys were in the top 10.

Sage Karam in a Dreyer and Reinbold car was the fastest Chevy in third place a 226.388 mph.

Scott McLaughlin was the first car on track when the green flag waved at 9 am.

The session ran without interruption.

Teams of Note

Chip Ganassi Racing had three cars in the top 10. Alex Palou was eighth at 225.278 mph.

Dreyer and Reinbold put both cars up front. Karam was third and Santino Ferrucci was sixth.

J. R. Hildebrand and Kyle Kirkwood were 10th and 11th for A. J. Foyt Racing.

Kyle Kirkwood

Results:

Opening Day

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Good morning from IMS.

Today’s Schedule– All times Eastern

8 a.m.-6 p.m.: Public gates open

9-11 a.m.: Veteran Practice

1-3 p.m.: Veteran Refresher Tests

3-6 p.m.: Open Practice

TICKETS: General Admission tickets are $15 for Indy 500 practice days. Children 15 and under are admitted free with paying adult.

PUBLIC GATES OPEN (8 a.m.-6 p.m.): Gate 1, Gate 2, Gate 4, Gate 6S, Gate 7, Gate 7S, Gate 10 and Gate 10A.

PARKING: Free parking for Indianapolis 500 practice is located in Turn 3 and Lot 7 (North 40), in the South Carousel Lot for motorcycle parking and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum Lot for ADA parking.

It is opening day for practice for the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500. Todays ay be the only completely dry day of the week. I expect a lot f running this morning. practice today is different from the rest of the week. The time is divided into three segments- veterans, rookies and refreshers, and free practice for everyone. Stefan Wilson needs to take the refresher test. All other rookies and returning veterans passed their required tests at the Open Test in April.

I like to get as many photos taken on the first day. several cars have special liveries. If you like the color orange, this is your year at the 500. At least five cars have orange in their paint schemes.

Most teams will probably work on race setups today. I don’t think either engine manufacturer wants to show their hand just yet. Has Honda found something to catch up to Chevy?

Notes

USF2000 driver Myles Rowe, who entered last weekend as the points leader, will be able to complete the season thanks to Roger Penske. Penske gave the driver, who was last year’s race for Equality and Change pilot for Force Indy, the funds to finish the season. Rowe needed a cash infusion just to compete last weekend. The kid is talented and deserves a chance.

It sounds like the track is close but not close enough with ticket sales to lift the television blackout on NBC. I am still seeking clarity on whether local viewers could watch the race live on Peacock.

Today I will have posts after each session and about anything else that comes up today.

Castroneves’ Drive for Five in Spotlight among 106th Indianapolis 500 Field 

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I think there are several compelling stories which I will explore this week

From IMS:


 Eight ‘500’ Winners To Compete in ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’ May 29
INDIANAPOLIS (Monday, May 16, 2022) – Eight winners are among the field of 33 drivers assigned to cars for the 106th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 29 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with Helio Castroneves’ quest to become the first five-time winner of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” taking center stage during the Month of May.
Four-time winner Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2009, 2021), two-time winners Juan Pablo Montoya (2000, 2015) and Takuma Sato (2017, 2020), plus single winners Scott Dixon (2008), Tony Kanaan (2013), Alexander Rossi (2016), Will Power (2018) and Simon Pagenaud (2019) are the past winners aiming for another victory this year. The record for winners in one field is 10, set in 1992.
SEE: Entry List
Castroneves joined A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears in the most prestigious club in motorsports – four-time winners of the Indianapolis 500 – with his emotional victory May 30, 2021 in the No. 06 AutoNation/Sirius XM Honda fielded by Meyer Shank Racing. Castroneves, 47, remains with Meyer Shank this season for his drive for five and would become the third-oldest winner in Indianapolis 500 history – behind Al Unser and Bobby Unser – with a victory this year.
Brazilian native Castroneves also is trying to become the first repeat winner since he achieved the feat with his first two victories, in 2001 and 2002. BorgWarner is offering a $400,000 bonus this year to Castroneves if he can achieve back-to-back victories.
The field includes seven past INDYCAR SERIES champions: Dixon, Kanaan, Montoya, Josef Newgarden, reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou, Pagenaud and Power.
Seven drivers also will compete for Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge Rookie of the Year honors, the biggest rookie crop since 2014, when there also were seven first-time starters. This year’s group includes the high-profile debuts of seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and Formula One veteran Romain Grosjean and also includes Devlin DeFrancesco, Callum Ilott, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard and David Malukas.
Andretti Autosport and Chip Ganassi Racing each have entered five cars, the most of any team.
Practice opens Tuesday, May 17 and runs through Friday, May 20. PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday, May 21 and Sunday, May 22, followed by a two-hour practice Monday, May 23. The traditional final practice, two hours again this year on Miller Lite Carb Day, will be held Friday, May 27.Live Race Day coverage begins on NBC, Telemundo Deportes on Universo and the INDYCAR Radio Network at 11 a.m. (ET), with the green flag set for 12:45 p.m.
2022 ENTRY BREAKDOWN:
Winners (8): Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Juan Pablo Montoya, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Alexander Rossi, Takuma Sato
Rookies (7): Devlin DeFrancesco, Romain Grosjean, Callum Ilott, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard, David Malukas
U.S. drivers (13): Marco Andretti, Ed Carpenter, Conor Daly, Santino Ferrucci, Colton Herta, JR Hildebrand, Jimmie Johnson, Sage Karam, Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas, Josef Newgarden, Graham Rahal, Alexander Rossi
International drivers (20, from 14 countries): Helio Castroneves, Devlin DeFrancesco, Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Romain Grosjean, Jack Harvey, Callum Ilott, Tony Kanaan, Dalton Kellett, Christian Lundgaard, Scott McLaughlin, Juan Pablo Montoya, Pato O’Ward, Simon Pagenaud, Alex Palou, Will Power, Felix Rosenqvist, Takuma Sato, Rinus VeeKay, Stefan Wilson
Engines (33): Honda 17, Chevrolet 16 (all cars use Dallara chassis and Firestone tires)