Category: Auto Racing

Quick Thoughts- Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

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The  streak of clean starts came to a quick w\end at the fountain.  Not surprising, but the bigger surprise was that was the only yellow of the day.

Indycar needs to do a better job of getting the cars lined up before the start, Only three or four rows were lined up.

What a dominant drive by Alexander Rossi. This is the Rossi I expected to see at St. Pete. I think his season actually started today.

I wonder if NBC could pout a camera outside the track opposite the fountain. I’m think there could be some great shots from there.

The NBC scoring pylon is okay, but it is very disconcerting when they change sponsors and wipe out the data for a few seconds. You like the Firestone standings?  Get a load of the NTT board. Just switch the name at the top.

Will Power will be happy to get to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  He has had issues three weeks in a row. He is fortunate to be sixth in the standings.

Sebastien Bourdais did a nice job coming back from the right rear tire problem on his first stop.

Scott Dixon had some great battles on track.  Loved watching him challenge Rossi and Power,  then stalk Ruan Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal in the final laps.

Another awful day for Colton Herta. His botched pit stop was followed by race ending contact.   He now has two consecutive last place finishes but still leads the rookies in points.

Rahal definitely blocked Dixon and cost himself a podium. The good news for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is the team has three top ten finishes the last two weeks, giving them a lot of momentum heading to Indianapolis.  The team has found something. watch out for both drivers the rest of the year.

Takuma Sato has lead two straight races and now has 5 bonus points.

Look for a full race report on Wildfire Sports tomorrow.

The Pit Window moves to summer headquarters later this coming week, so I may only be here if some big news breaks.

Quick Thoughts- Long Beach Qualifying

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Photo by Kyle McInnes

I really like Indycar Live before qualifying. Krista Voda and A. J. Almendinger did a great job on the set and also in the time between rounds on NBC Gold.  I hope we see this more before qualifying.  In fact a midweek Indycar show might be nice.

I would be happy to not hear the term “Go Fast Day” ever again. I really don’t want to hear it on Pole Day at IMS.

That was a great qualifying session. Every round had some intrigue.

Felix Rosenqvist is having an awfull difficult time at Long Beach. If he doesn’t cause a caution tomorrow, I’ll be surprised.

Once again, Hinchcliffe and Bourdais get bitten by the red bug.

Is this the beginning of Pagenaud’s resurgence?

Is this the real beginning of Rossi’s season?

Honda cars seem a lot faster than the Chevys on black tires.

Graham rahal now has been in The Fast Six two races in a row and Sato just missed.  The RLL team has found something. I hope it continues.

Look for a complete qualifying report on Wildfire Sports tomorrow.

Rossi Leads Practice 3; Edges Rahal on Last Lap

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Defending Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach champion Alexander Rossi nipped Graham Rahal for the fastest time in the final practice session before qualifying by 0.13 seconds. Rahal had jumped to the top of the chart with just a few minutes to go. Team Penske drivers showed more speed today with Simon Pagenaud fifth, Josef Newgarden sixth, and Will Power tenth.

The time sheet:

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Jarrett Andretti Added to Freedom 100 Field

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Jarrett Andretti will become the latest member of one of racing’s most famous families to race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The son of John Andretti will drive an Andretti Autosport Indy Lights car in the Freedom 100 on  Carb Day,  May 24.

Andretti, 26, has won championships in karts, USAC midgets. an Indiana Sprint Car series.  He joins Andretti Indy Lights drivers Oliver Askew, Robert Megnnis, and Ryan Norman in the Andretti Indy Lights Field. Jarrett currently competes for Andretti Autosport in the Pirelli GT4 America program. He has also competed in the Pirelli World Challenge TCR class.

It is always great to have another Indy Lights car in the field, and adding another Andretti is big for the series. No plans for additional Indy Lights races were mentioned at this time, but Michael mentioned this could be first step to more participation in the series. It seems like a logical presumption  for someone with his last name.

Hunter-Reay leads Practice 1 Honda Parade

Hondas had the top seven times in this morning’s first practice, led by Ryan Hunter-Reay.

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Indycar Friday Long Beach Schedule and Some Notes

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LoveToday’s IndyCar schedule  forftye Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.   Eastern Time

1-1:45 pm Practice NBC Gold

5-5:45 pm Practice NBC Gold

Notes

Sebastien Bourdais will do the Long Beach double, also driving for Chip Ganassi Racing’ s Ford GTLM in the IMSA race. Bourdais drives the endurance races for the program. He replaced Joey Hand who is ill. I would like to see more drivers do things like this.

Kyle Kaiser will be at Long Beach, but not in Indycar. He will drive the Juncos DPi in the IMSA race. I have doubts we will see more Indycar entries from Juncos this year.

Michael Andretti has an “Indianapolis driver announcement at 3:30 pm Eastern today. My guess is it’s about an additional Indy Lights car for the Freedom 100.

Long Beach Preview-Another New Winner?

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Above: Can Alexander Rossi repeat? A tall order given the event’s history the last six years.

There is no better place for a street race than Long Beach, and no better street course event.  It has the feel of the Indianapolis 500. Its rich history includes Formula 1 as well as the NTT Indycar Series and the other  Indycar  iterations.  The city completely embraces the race, one of the key elements for a successful sustainable street race.

There are some noticeable changes for the 2019 event. Acura is the new title sponsor, replacing longtime sponsor Toyota. Jack Harvey’s number 60 will carry Acura decals in place of the Honda markings.  No, this is NOT the third OEM

The  Acura Grand  Prix of Long Beach has seen six different teams and six different drivers win since 2013.  If the trend continues we could see another win from one of the smaller teams in the 45th edition of America’s longest running street race. So far this season no one has really stood out. Josef Newgarden has been the most consistent, winning at St. Pete and finishing second at COTA and fourth at Barber.  Here are some  things to look for this weekend.

Penske Turnaround From Alabama?

Will Power has been frustrated the last two races. He won the pole at COTA and was leading late but was sidelined by a drive shaft problem.  At Barber he failed to make the Fast Six, spun early in the race, and fought back to finish 11th.  He sits an uncharacteristically low 9th in the standings.  Power has won twice here. I see him back in the Fast Six and possibly on the pole again.

Newgarden qualified 17th last weekend but recovered to finish fourth and increase his championship lead. He should return to the front of the grid as he seeks his first victory at Long Beach.

Simon Pagenaud appears ready to move up in the standings. He has two top tens this season and seems to have become comfortable with the new car. This could be the weekend he returns to contention.

Rossi Needs a Repeat Victory

Alexander Rossi has been good, but not great so far this season.  He has made the Fast Six every race this season and has two top five finishes but his race pace just seems a little off. Returning to the venue he dominated last year could be where he can begin challenging for the points lead.

Andretti Autosport teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay is also a past winner at Long Beach. He has made a nice recovery from his engine issue at St. Pete.  with a podium at COTA and an eighth at Barber. Hunter-Reay could also figure in the winning equation this weekend

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Momentum

A pole, a front row lockout, and a win was the best the Rahal team could do last weekend. The only blemish was Graham Rahal’s throttle issue which knocked him out of the race.  Takuma Sato has won two of the last five races going back to Portland last September. Sato also has won here.  Look for another strong showing from both drivers.

The Rookies

This class continues to impress me.  Colton Herta had an ignition problem at Barber which prevented another possible top ten finish.  Marcus Ericsson finally earned a result without issues last weekend as well.

Felix Rosenqvist was very strong at St. Pete and should be strong again this weekend. He seems to have a knack for street courses, probably due to his time in Formula E. I could see him on the podium Sunday.

This will be the first street race for Pato O’Ward this season. Don’t dismiss his chances because of that. O’Ward has an uncanny talent for being fast around any circuit. I wpould not be surprised to see him in the Fast Six and have a solid finish.

Scott Dixon

His footsteps are getting louder already. Dixon is actually ahead of where he was at this point in the season last year. He led two laps at Barber. In 2018 he didn’t lead a lap until Detroit. He has already had one of the likely two races out of the top ten.  Another former Long Beach winner, Dixon will probably finish on the podium this time. He should gain some ground on Newgarden.

Sponsor Moves

GESS has moved to Pato O’Ward’s car for Long Beach. The company is supporting the younger drivers in the series by switching their sponsorship from Colton Herta.  Herta, meanwhile, will carry King Taco colors for the race. King Taco usually finds its way onto a car for the race every year. I wonder if Herta’s win at COTA influenced their decision this year.

Totally In(Acura)te Predictions

Pole- Power

Race- Dixon

Top Rookie- Rosenqvist

Back Saturday evening with Qualifying Quick Thoughts. Full qualifying coverage will be on Wildfire Sports Sunday morning.