Tag: 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500

Just Past Mid Day Update

thepitwindow

Felix Rosenqvis.

t’s car was back on pit road. They are using an asymmetrical front wing setup with the Gurney flap only on the left side.

Carlin could be in some difficulty after Pato O”Ward’s heavy crash at 12:17 this morning. O’Ward was cleared to drive at the infield medical center. I spoke to Trevor Carlin who said they have another chassis. I’m not sure where that is coming from.

img_20190516_1359137056154703724751272.jpg

O’Ward got a little airborne but didn’t flip over. The holes cut in the floor likely prevented that.  He still slid on two wheels before the car stopped upright.

As of 2:30 pm, Ed Jones, Takuma Sato, and Sebastien Bourdais have the day’s top speeds. Jones’ best lap was 227.843.  He is also first on the no tow rankings. Spencer Pigot and Ed Carpenter are in the top ten, at 5th and 7th. All three ECR cars have consistently been in the top ten this week.

NBC continues to show clips of really bad crashes.  I hope this is not  something planned for the broadcast this weekend and Race Day.

The video boards have not been on today.  I am trying to discover the reason.

A yellow was thrown at 3:10 for Pippa Mann requesting a two in. The car slowly returned to the pits on its own.

Fernando Alonso should be on track by 4 pm. His repaired or rebuilt back up car is in the gararge area.

Pit Lane Parley

Please give a listen to the Pit Lane Parley podcast. They are doing a great job with commentary and special interviews. Their main episode will be up on Friday. Go to piylaneparley.simplecast.com.

 

 

Day 3 at IMS-Focus Begins to Turn to Qualifying

thepitwindow

 

Above: Conor Daly (R) and Colton Herta side by side in yesterday’s practice session

Today the focus begins to slowly turn to the coming weekend of qualifying.  Two teams, McLaren and the Ganassi car of Felix Rosenqvist, will use back up cars today after yesterday’s accidents.  McLaren is also rebuilding the primary car and may run it tomorrow before deciding which to qualify.

Penske continues to lead the speed chart, but I don’t think we know yet what Andretti has.  Ed Carpenter Racing has also been consistently in the top 10 and Dale Coyne racing showed some quickness yesterday as well.

indy5day2 051
Takuma Sato signs autographs for fans in Gasoline Alley

Continue reading “Day 3 at IMS-Focus Begins to Turn to Qualifying” →

Day 2 Wrap-up

thepitwindow

Photo: Felix Rosenqvist at the Indycar Grand Prix. Photo by Kyle McInnes

Felix Rosenqvist spun in turn two at 5:02. His car snapped as it appeared he caught the grass with his left front tire. He backed into the outside wall the went head on into the tire barrier on the inside.  His spinning car just missed clipping Will Power and Jack Harvey just missed running into Rosenqvist. He was checked and released from the infield medical center.

After just a few minutes of green flag running, the yellow flew for a track inspection. Another track inspection with seven minutes left, the track closed for the day.

Josef Newgarden’ s earlier time of 228. 856 held as the fastest of the day. Alexander Rossi was 34th quickest but had the fastest no tow speed.

Alonso talked to NBC Sports about his accident.

“It was understeer on the car, and even if I lifted the throttle on the entry of the corner, it was not enough, and I lost completely the front aero. The wall came too close and too quickly. Unfortunately, it happened today. We will lose a little bit of running time again. I’m sorry for the team, but we will learn and hopefully, we will come back stronger tomorrow. I’m disappointed and sad for the team and for the guys. We worked quite a lot on the car and definitely now it’s quite damaged, so I feel sorry for the team and for my mistake. We will learn from this and hopefully tomorrow we’re back on track and back stronger”

McLaren is repairing the primary car and also building the backup car. they will try both tomorrow and decide which car to qualify.

Notes

The F1 grid lines are slowly returning as the sealant lightens.

Newgarden said that like last year it is difficult to follow especially in a deep pack of cars. He thinks the race will be similar to last year, but it will depend on the temperature. A cooler day might see better racing than a warm day. Newgarden also noted that the team or other teams as well have not tried all the downforce and aero tools Indycar has made available this year.

Rossi said the team completed their checklist for today and then parked the car. He didn’t seem concerned about his speed ranking today and thought being first on the no tow list was irrelevant.

Mid Day Update- Alonso Crash; All Rookies Complete ROP

thepitwindow

It’s 3:300time for the 3 o’clock update.

Fernando Alonso crashed in turn 3 just after noon today, the first yellow for an accident in practice. Alonso exited the turn and hit the the outside wall, slid backwards toward the infield.  The rear of the car hit the inside wall hard and it rebounded back to the outside wall . There was heavy contact with the left rear. Alonso was uninjured. The team will assess the damage and decide whether to repair this car or prepare the backup machine.

A few minutes before Alosno’s crash Graham Rahal made quite a save exiting turn 2 It looks like understeer is an issue. teams may be experimenting with the different downforce levels and wing settings allowed.

Pato O’Ward completed his rookie test in a special pre practice session this morning. Ben Hanley completed the last phase around 1 pm. All rookies are now eligible to practice and qualify.

Josef Newgarden just had the fastesy lap of the day, 228.856, nipping Scott Dixon’s time by 0.02 miles an hour.

Conor Daly and Dixon did some pit stop practice.

Zach Veach and Colton Herta teamed up to work on drafting.

McLaren has decided to repair their car.

 

500 Practice Day Two

thepitwindow

The second day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 gets a bit of an early start today. Pato O’Ward will have the track to him self from 10:20 -11:00 to complete his rookie test. the 31 car had mechanical issues yesterday which prevented him from getting all three phases done.

At 11 the track opens until 6 for all cars to practice. The current weather forecast calls for a 20% chance rain early. The predicted high is 67 degrees.  Conditions should be good for some more high speeds.

We should get a better idea of which cars and teams are strongest today. yesterday was mainly just feeling out the track, the new Firestone compound, and the aero tweaks that Indycar has allowed for the race this year.

Today’s practice will be on NBC Gold with continuous coverage from 11-6.

As of now, Bump Tales will be posted tomorrow morning. The schedule may change, however. I will let you know tonight.

Unless something major happens, i will have a 3 o’clock update and an end of day wrap up. Thanks to everyone who followed along yesterday.

if you’re going to the track, be safe and have a great time.

Day One Final Thoughts

thepitwindow2 Comments

It was a very busy day with speeds higher than expected. The conditions were nearly perfect for running.

The three drivers who spoke to the media after practice, Will Power, Kyle Kaiser,  and Colton Herta, agreed that know one knows what anyone has yet. Will Power admitted the top speeds were all with a huge tow.  He was 30th on the no-tow chart.

Kaiser was asked about the team’s sponsor situation. He replied, “I don’t care what color the car is, my job is to drive it. I will do my job and the financial situation will take care of itself.” He was happy with what the team did on track today.

Herta said his incident happened because, “I bit off a bit more than I could chew.”

Power acknowledged repeating his victory last year would be very tough. “There are no bad teams and no bad drivers anymore. The team standards are higher now,” he said.

One nice touch at the track this year is dedicated garage space for the Indy Lights Teams. The former F1 garages on the south end of tower terrace have team signage above the doors. They have been used for staging the Lights cars for their practice/qualification day and the Freedom 100.  I think it’s great to make the Indy lights teams feel as if they are an important part of the entire 500.

James Hinchcliffe got a lot of track time today driving all four of the cars Arrow Schmidt Peterson is involved with this month. I wonder if he gets to pick the one he likes best?

Here are a couple more pics from today.  See you all tomorrow.

indy5day1 070

indy5day1 071

Power Quickest on Day 1

thepitwindow

Team Penske’s Will Power had the fastest lap of the first day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 today. His speed of 229.745 was just slightly quicker than teammate Simon Pagenaud’s best lap of 229,703. Power said that the speeds were the result of a huge tow and no one really knows their true speed yet.

Nine drivers were in the 228 or above range in near perfect running conditions.

The only incident of the day was Colton Herta spinning as he exited pit lane. Herta said he accelerated too quickly on cold tires. The only damage was a punctured tire.

Zach Veach exited the pits and immediately went to the high side of the track causing Josef Newgarden to check up quickly. There was no contact.

Pato O’Ward did not complete his rookie test and will have an opportunity tomorrow at 10:20. The track will open for the second practice day at 11:00.

I will have a complete day’s roundup later.

Practice Update

thepitwindow

Will Power has today’s fastest time of 229.745 and teammate Simon Pagenaud is second at 229.703. Seven cars have speeds over 228 mph. Power and Pagenaud qualified in the first row in 2018.

Some quick thoughts:

The video boards show the car’s best speed of the day rather than the last lap they turned. I would much prefer to see the current laps and have the best lap just on the pylon.

There are some very nice looking cars here. Felix Rosenqvist has a great design. Marco’s car in the Mario tribute colors really pops.

IMG_6094

IMG_6003

And of course, Fernando

IMG_6024

Back later with a final wrapup of the day.