Category: Auto Racing

Toyota, Alonso Win; Wet 12 Hours of Sebring Next

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Good morning from a very wet and rainy Sebring Raceway. The forecast calls for rain most of the day.

Late last night the first WEC 1000 miles of Sebring concluded in the rain. The yellow at the end didn’t change the outcome. The number 8 Toyota Gazoo, co driven by Fernando Alonso, won by a two lap margin over the team’s second car. The third place car was five laps down.

This is the second straight Weather Tech Championship race that will be affected by rain. We’ll see what happens. Hope to have a mid race update this afternoon.

The race will start on CNBC then switch to NBCSN at 3.

Sebring Update: Alonso Leads Early; Penske Takes 12 Hour Pole

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Fernando Alonso and his Toyota Gazoo team have dominated the first 35 minutes of the 1,000 Miles of Sebring. The two car team occupied the front row and began lapping the field very quickly.

Cameron Wins Pole for Penske

The number 6 Penske Acura driven by Fane Cameron won the pole for tomorrow’s  12 Hours of Sebring. Team Joest car number 77 completes the front row.

In GTLM Porsche 911 won the pole and it’s teammate 912 starts second.In GTD Meyer Shank Racing number 86 will lead the group. The number 57 Shank car starts 6th in clasd.

Full qualifying story tomorrow along with a wrap up of the 1,000 mile race.

Sebring 2019 – A Two World Show

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It’s called Super Sebring. The 67th running of the oldest sportscar race in the United States will also feature a 1,000 mile race featuring the World Endurance Championship series. The WEC cars look similar to the IMSA machines with a similar class structure. Most of the drivers who ran at the Rolex 24 will participate this weekend, although some will be in different cars.

The prime example of a driver switching to not only a different car, but the other series, is Fernando Alonso. Alonso was part of the winning Wayne Taylor Racing entry at Daytona. This weekend he drives for Toyota Gazoo in the WEC, his regular job. Toyota Gazoo is the top team in the WEC.

Indycar newcomer Ben Hanley’s Dragonspeed car will race in the WEC series Friday. Teams are not allowed to participate in both races. Jordan King, who drove the road course schedule for Ed Carpenter Racing in 2018 and will enter the 500 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, will also drive the WEC event in LMP2 car 37.

Chip Ganassi’s LMGTE Ford entry for Friday has two driver slots listed TBA. There is speculation Ford may leave the GT program at the end of this season.

Indycar Drivers Return to Rolex Teams

Five Indycar regulars who drove in the Rolex 24 return to the same teams for the 67th 12 hours of Sebring. Alexander Rossi will drive car 7 and Simon Pagenaud car 6 for Roger Penske’s Acura team.

Sebastien Bourdais in car 66 and Scott Dixon in 67 again join Chip Ganassi Racing’s Ford GTLM squad.

Colton Herta will again co drive car 25 for the Rahal BMW team.

Kyle Kaiser again drives for Juncos in car 50.

The Meyer Shank car 57 continues its all female lineup with Katherine Legge, Christina Neilsen, and Ana Beatriz. The team was disappointed this week to learn they did not receive an invitation to Le Mans.

The Disappearing Class

There are just two LMP2 entrants for the 12 hour. The class had just four cars at Daytona. As I wondered then, why does this class exist as a separate group? They qualify with the DPi cars and receive little recognition during the race. IMSA very much wants four classes, but they need to have a plan in place to develop the fourth class.

I am eager to see how this double header weekend works out. It will be interesting to compare the cars of the two series. I expect the WEC cars to be faster, but the IMSA racing to be better.

Watch for Updates Here

I will be posting updates all weekend, beginning with WEC qualifying tomorrow. Some will be quite brief.  I will have my Quick Thoughts column after each race. The WEC race ends at midnight, so look for that column Saturday morning (not early).

On Monday my full weekend wrap-u will be on Wildfire Sports.

Quick Thoughts – Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

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A typical St. Pete race- action early then strung out the second half.  That’s not to say there weren’t some interesting things to watch. There was some good racing throughout the pack. It was fun to track the rookies, who did quite well.

Another huge crowd here. I talked to someone who has been to every St. Pete race who said this was the biggest crowd he’d seen.

What a great move by Rosenqvist to pass Power on the restart. He was a thorn in Power’s side all day.

Pit strategy once again determined the winner. Tim Cindric made the right call  by saving the new reds. Early in 2018, he made a couple of good calls on tires as well.

There were fewer cautions than I expected. One more could have changed the results.

Three rookies, Rosenqvist, Colton Herta, and Santino Ferrucci finished in the top 10. Marcus Ericsson ran in the top 10 a while before dropping out with mechanical problems. At COTA, Pato O’Ward joins the rookie crop. The battle for Rookie of the Year could be just as good as the championship fight.

Great drive by Jack Harvey to finish 10th.

Given the engine issues Bourdais and Hunter-Reay had, I hope we’re not seeing the Honda engine of 2017 return.

About a fourth of the cars had non functioning LED panels. I hope this is fixable.

It was great having Robert Wickens at the track. his presence electrified the atmosphere for the paddock and the fans. His absence on the track gives the series one less contender.

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Look for my full race wrap-up on Wildfire Sports tomorrow.

 

It’s Race Day!

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Good morning from St. Pete. It is about five hours until race time. Indycar has a 30 minute morning warmup beginning at 9:20. I jus returned from a pace car ride. Several of the turns are tighter than they seem. Turn 7, I believe, is almost a 90 degree hairpin.  Turn 10 isn’t as sweeping as it appears. Brakes will get quite a workout today.

Pit strategy and playing the yellows are the keys to victory. With several fast cars starting toward the rear, we cold see some interesting moves. The first three rows should have quite a battle with five of the potential championship contenders there. The winner heer rarely goes on to win the series title. Juan Pablo Montoya in 2015 was the last St. Pete winner to come close.

It’s amazing that Will Power has won eight of the fifteen poles at this track. That total is one seventh of his career pole wins.  Power just got nipped at the last minute by Robert Wickens last year. The question is, will he be more patient at the start? Last year he spun trying beat Wickens to turn 2.

The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg television coverage begins with a prerace show at 12:30, followed by the race broadcast on NBCSN.  Enjoy the race.

Back with quick thoughts after the race.

 

Quick Thoughts – St. Pete Qualifying

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Today’s qualifying was brought to you by the color red and the noun penalty. This was one of the strangest qualifying sessions I can remember.

I understand the guaranteed time rule but it was a bad look to not give Group 1 another lap.

Not sure who hindered whom, but it seems as if a couple more penalties could have been called.

One rookie replaced another in the Fast Six. I thought both of them would make it.

Teammates make up each of the first three rows.  Very much like F1.

Disappointed to see Rahal Letterman Lanigan cars not advance farther. Sato had been fast in all practice sessions.

Will Power is a great qualifier. He seems to find the quick lap when he needs to.

The race outcome will likely be determined by when the yellows fall. I think there could be several.

Back in the morning with a race preview.

 

 

Rehearsal’s Over; The Show Begins

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All the practices are complete and the NTT Indycar Series cars are set for the first qualifying session of the season. As expected, Chevy made more inroads into the top 10. Four drivers, the Penske trio of Josef Newgarden, Will Power, and Simon Pagenaud, were joined by Ed Jones of Ed Carpenter Racing. It did not shock anyone that these cars were the top Chevys.

Honda, meanwhile, continued to lead the session. Ryan Hunter-Reay led his second straight round with a lap at 1:00:8966. Newgarden was just 0.0039 seconds behind. Hunter-Reay seeks his second consecutive pole. The biggest surprise of the morning was Alexander Rossi in 18th.

Fast Six Could Look Familiar

I think we can expect the Penske cars, Hunter-Reay, and perhaps a Carpenter car in the Fast Six. The last car could be Takuma Sato. Sato has been quick all weekend. He was third this morning.

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Don’t count Sato out of a Fast Six appearance

Qualifying is live at 2:30 pm on NBCSN. Watch for my Quick Thoughts here later and my wrapup on Wildfire Sports.

Good Morning from Day 2 at St. Pete

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another beautiful day is in store for fans attending the Firestone Indy Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Yesterday Honda was very strong, leading  both practice sessions. The  rookies,  Colton Herta, Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus  Ericsson, were impressive, with  Rosenqvist leading session 1. Rosenqvist was 14th overall on the day and Ericsson was 19th.  Herta was 4th overall.

Qualifying is a different story. I don’t expect the Penske cars to be 9th, 10th, and 17th overall today as they finished Friday. Josef Newgarden was the quickest Penske car all day. I see a battle between the Andretti duo of Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi, Newgarden, Will Power, and possibly Scott Dixon for the pole. Don’t be shocked if Rosenqvist is up there as well. It will be interesting to see how much he learned about running on the red tires yesterday.

In action so far this morning, Parker Thompson won the pole for Indy Pro 2000 race 2. Indy Lights just began their qualifying session for race 2, which is tomorrow. Race 1 is 1:15 today, just ahead of Indycar qualifying.  Qualifying can be seen live at 2:30 on NBCSN.

Back with a quick morning session practice report, After qualifying, watch for my Quick Thoughts here and a full report on Wildfire Sports.

Quick Thoughts- The Season’s First Day

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Robert Wickens returned to a race track for the first time since his accident. He spoke to the media. He is in good spirits and doing well.  Some excerpts:

“Being back at a race track makes everything a little better.”

“It was strange being on the smart side of the pit wall.”

“I’m getting some stuff back. Trying to utilize every day to get as healthy as I can.”

He called the fan support here at St. Petersburg “Amazing. I thought the fans would be more focused on the race cars.”  “Fan support has been a big motivation piece.”

“100%” he wants to race again. “I want tog et back into racing as I left off. I don’t want to just run at the back of the field.”

Wickens’ appearance was a great emotional lift for him. I think it was just as much as an emotional lift for the media. The press doesn’t usually applaud at the end of a conference.

A pleasant problem-Additional teams at a street course race means a more crowded paddock.

It’s not quite 10:30 and there is already a good sized crowd here.

The top six in Practice 1 were all Hondas. Rookie Felix Rosenqvist led the session with a time of 1:01.8215. Josef Newgarden was the fastest Chevy 0,35 seconds behind. The rookies I spoke with the other day are interested to see how the red tires work in today’s second session.

Dale Coyne announced a third car for James Davison for the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500. Davison drove for Belardi in partnership with A. J. Foyt Racing last year. he finished 33rd. Davison becomes the official 33rd entry for this year’s field.

Max Chilton has the best looking car.

 

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