INDIANAPOLIS (Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022) – INDYCAR officials have announced a six-position starting grid penalty for the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing entry for an unapproved engine change following Saturday’s qualifications at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.The team was in violation of:Rule 16.2.3.2 A fifth (5th) Engine is eligible to earn Engine Manufacturer points if a Full Season Entrant has completed the Full Season Entrant Engine Mileage with its first four (4) Engines. Otherwise, a fifth (5th) or more Engine does not earn Engine Manufacturer points and will be considered an Unapproved Engine change-out.According to Rule 16.6.1.2, the penalty is a six-position starting grid penalty on road and street course events and nine positions at oval events and will be served at the series’ next event, which is the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, today, at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Alex Palou led the pre qualifying practice session for the Firestoine Grand Prix of Monterey this morning with a fast time of 1:11.3847. Alxander Rossi was second fastest at 1;11.6920.
Points leader Will Power was third, 0.33 seconds behind. Josef Newgarden, second in points was fourth, and Scott Dixon, third in points, was sixth.
There was one red flag for Pato O’Ward about halfway throught the session.
Early in the session, thre rrokies were up front. Callum Ilott led, followed by David Malukas and Christian Lundgaard. It was a fun glimpse at the future of Indycar.
Callum Ilott
Lundgaard finished the session in seventh, Ilott was ninth, and Malukas tenth.
Chip Ganassi racing has filed a lawsuit in Marion County, Indiana, against Alex Palou, a driver for the team and current NTT Indycar Series champion. The complaint was sealed, but the suit likely involves Palou allegedly signing with McLaren for next season even though Ganassi exercised their 2023 option on Palou.
A team spokesperson said that Palou will drive the 10 car in this weekend’s Gallagher Grand Prix at IMS and is expected to drive the remaining 2022 races.
The filing
Ganassi has requested expedited discovery, within two weeks. as he wants to resolve this case as soon as possible.
I think this case will drag on awhile. McLaren said today they will not buy out Palou’s Ganassi contract, so a settlement doesn’t appear likely.
The implications for Palou’s Indycar career are troubling. Should he not work out at McLaren, I don’t think another Indycar team will touch him. McLaren has not even said that Palou will drive one of their cars in the series next season. AMSP driver Felix Rosenqvist said last weekend that he doesn’t think Palou will be driving at all next year.
It would be a shame if Indycar loses one of its brightest future stars, who already has a championship, because a team is trying to hoard all the top talent in the series.
I thought having a legendary brand like McLaren in the series was going to be great for the series. I really don’t like what they are doing. Their signing tactics are not good for the series as a whole.
Marvin Gaye sums up the day’s news best. I posted a news release from Chip Ganassi Racing announcing the team is picking up its 2023 option on Alex Palou. I went out for a couple hours, come home and find out Palou has signed with McLaren.
McLaren is building up a strong lineup of drivers. So far, only Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi have definite spots in the Indycar program. My understanding is Palou’s spot is not named. I will do some digging tonight nd tomorrow and hope to get some clarity tomorrow.
At any rate, another level of drama has been added to the second half of the Indycar season. Make sure your popcorn makers are working.
Chip Ganassi Racing exercised its 2023 option to retain defending NTT Indycar Series champion Alex Palou today. The news release from the team:
Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) announced today that the team has exercised its option to extend Alex Palou through the 2023 season.
Palou won CGR’s 14th INDYCAR SERIES championship in 2021, also becoming the first Spaniard to ever win the season title.
“Alex’s track record speaks for itself,” said Team Owner Chip Ganassi. “He’s a proven champion and one of the most formidable drivers in the world. We are very excited to continue working together.”
The defending NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion has continued to impress this year, securing his 12th podium finish in his 25th career race with Chip Ganassi Racing at Mid-Ohio.
Palou will return to the CGR fold for his third season with the team next year.
“It’s a great feeling knowing I’ll be back with Chip Ganassi Racing next season,” said Alex Palou. “The team welcomed me with open arms from day one, and I’m excited to continue working with Chip, Mike Hull, the folks on the No. 10 NTT DATA car and everyone within the organization. The goals remain the same and we will continue to work relentlessly towards achieving them.”
The CGR team heads north this weekend where Alex Palou will race for the first time in Canada at the Honda Indy Toronto.
About Chip Ganassi Racing
Chip Ganassi has been a fixture in the auto racing industry for over 30 years and is considered one of the most successful and innovative owners in motorsports. Today, his teams include four Honda cars in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, two Cadillac Dpi’s in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and one GMC Hummer EV in Extreme E. Overall, his teams have 21 championships and more than 240 victories, including five wins in the Indianapolis 500, eight Rolex 24 At Daytona victories, and wins in the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ganassi boasts state-of-the-art facilities in Indianapolis, where INDYCAR, IMSA and Extreme E teams are located, and a corporate office in Pittsburgh. For more information, visit, www.chipganassiracing.com.
Alex Palou didn’t get on track until about 40 minutes remained in today’s post-qualifying practice, but he shot immediately to the top of the pylon with a 229.441 lap. he led teammates Scott Dixon and Jimmie Johnson as Chip Ganassi Racing sent a strong message for the rest of the grid prior to Race Day.
Takuma Sato broke up the CGR parade in fourth, followed Marcus Ericsson in a fourth Ganassi car. Ericsson turned the most laps of any of the Ganassi drivers, 38. Palou and Kanaan each made 31 circuits, the team low.
The rest of the top 10:
Josef Newgarden, Conor Daly, Marco Andretti, Sage Karam, and Simon Pagenaud.
The action had a race day intensity, with cars running in packs, sometimes three wide.
The month’s first incident occurred with about 30 minutes left. Dalton Kellett went high in turn 1, spun and hit the wall hard facing the wrong way. The right side of the car lifted but returned to the ground quickly. Kellett was uninjured.
Sato ran the most laps today, 106. Four other drivers, Scott McLaughlin, Christian Lundgaard, and Colton Herta also turned at least 100 laps.
Series points leader Alex Palou posted the fastest time of the first practice session as th NTT Indycar Series began preparing for tomorrow’s GMR Grand Prix. Palou’s lap of 1:10.4555 nipped rookie Callum Ilott by 0,0038 seconds.
The session was green for the first 43 and a half minutes. Helio Castroneves spun and stalled at pit in bringing out the red flag. There was enough time for one more flying lap, and Palou edged Ilott, who had led for the previous eight minutes.
At one point three former pole winners for this race were at the top of the pylon. Will Power led Felix Rosenqvist and Simon Pagenaud. While the top ten contains no real surprises, Rinus VeeKay, the 2021 winner in 21st is puzzling. Also Josef Newgarden in16th and Scott McLaughlin in 17th is a shock. I think these three will show better in session 2, which begins at 12:45 pm.
I spoke with Callum Ilott after practice.
He told the run was “really good. I just thought we had to improve a couple of things and then at the end we put it together and it was quite good’ We got the new tires I think a lot of other people used the new tires.”
Ilott described the track as “Really green because as the painted part for the oval transferring off of that onto the road course was a little bit different so we had to rubber it in.”
As far as changes for session two, Ilott thinks the team will make a few.
“I think so. I just haven’t told them everything I was feeling so I think they’re making the changes. “
Notes
Fans are slowly entering the track.
It has been nice seeing people I haven’t seen since 2019. I’m glad to see that they are healthy.
The Wifi in the stands seems to be improved.
I continue to be impressed by the cleanliness of IMS since Roger Penske bought the track.
Matthew brabham won the pole position for Indy Lights Race 1.
Alex Palou hoists the Astor Cup. Indycar photo by Chris Owens
I was watching Saturday practice at Barber Motorsports Park April 17 from the turn 2-3 area. Something about the way Alex Palou drove the corners struck a chord in me. He was very smooth, smoother, I thought than anyone else on track. He qualified third, and I changed my original pick to win the race to Palou. After he won the next day, I kept thinking, “This guy is going to be good this year.”
Alex Palou may just now be realizing what he accomplished in the NTT Indycar Series this year, winning the championship in only his second season. Team Owner Chip Ganassi says Palou reminds him of Scott Dixon, who has pretty well in his career.
Palou spoke to the media after the race ended in Long Beach yesterday. He was still in awe of his achievement. Here are some quotes from Palou, interspersed with statistics of his incredible season.
On what it took to win the championship:
“Preparation. Preparation. Hard work. I think everybody does that. It was working for us. We didn’t leave anything on the table from my side or the team’s side. We did everything we could to be as prepared as we could possibly be.”
Some season statistics for Palou:
12 top 7s; 8 podiums
Palou hit a big bump late in the season with two straight DNFs at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and World Wide Technology Raceway
Asked whether he thought he had lost his chance at the title, Palou said,
“Never. I guess like Josef before coming here, he was close. He did the job he had to do yesterday. He got one point. He never said that it was over. You can never say it’s over until it’s over. Yeah, I knew that doing a good job at Portland, Laguna, like we luckily did, I could have a shot here.”
Celebrating with his father. Indycar photo by Chris Owens
More statistics:
3 wins; 10 Top 5s
On finishing second in the Indianapolis 500:
“For me Indy 500 obviously it hurt this year a little bit. At the same time I learned a lot. That’s one thing that, yeah, obviously I want to win so bad. If we keep on performing like we do, it will come. I don’t know if it’s going to be next year or two years or five years. Who knows. It’s only one race, 200 laps. There’s so much stuff going on. You have to have the best car, the best crew, the best mental attitude. You have to have everything perfect for that race. If it’s not next year, I’m not going to worry too much. I think we have lots of years to come.”
One more statistic:
Palou improved his starting position in 12 of the 16 races.
Indycar photo by Chris Owens
After Palou was told he is the youngest champion since Scott Dixon in 2003. What does it mean to him?
“A lot. It means a lot. He’s a reference. He’s one of the best, if not the best. To be able to be the youngest behind Scott, it just feels amazing. Now the difficult part comes, right? To be able to do it for 15 more years on the same level.”
As races at Long Beach go, today was one of the better ones. Yellows forced pit strategy, the winning pass came on the track, and there was early doubts as to who would win the championship. Hometown driver Colton Herta won the race after starting 14th. He should have won pole yesterday, but a mistake in qualifying pushed him back on the grid.
Herta led every session except for qualifying. He held off Josef Newgarden on the last restart to win by 0.5883 seconds. The sad thing about eing the winner of the last race of the year is that no one cares. It is a shame in this instance. Herta grew up in Southern California and first went to this race when he was 2 years old to watch his father Bryan race. Winning here is very special for him, but everyone focused on seris champion Alex Palou.
Herta will have to win here next April when the 2022 edition of the Long Beach Grand Prix runs. Don’t bet against him. He won California this year.
9/26/2021 Photo by Chris Owens, Indycar
A Deserving Champion
Alex Palou won the NTT Indycar series championship with consistent driving and an unflappable focus. he reminds me of Scott Dixon in his approach to a race. I don’t think this will be the last of his titles. I will have more on him tomorrow.
Random Thoughts
Ed Jones had been racing well the last few weeks, but today we the Jones of old. I was concerned after qualifying yesterday when I saw that he would line up between title contenders Pato O’Ward and Alex Palou. Unfortunately, he ended O’Ward’s race and the chain reaction nearly took Palou out of the race. Jones seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time more often than not.
I have never seen so much tension and anger in the paddock as I did this weekend. I loved it. Indycar felt alive. I hope the tension continues all season in 2022.
Three drivers I felt for today- Pato O’Ward, who didn’t get a fair shot to fight for the championship. This team will be even stronegr next year and O’Ward will be in the title mix as long as he drives in the series.
Romain Grosjean, an instant fan favorite from the moment he started his Indycar career this spring, felled by wall contact and dropped out of the race with 10 laps left. He had some amazing races this year, and while not officially the Rookie of the Year, he was the first timer that was the most fun to watch.
Ryan Hunter-Reay, whose last drive for Andretti Autosport ended as the last car running at the end. Hunter-Reay was involved in the Ed Jones incident on lap1 and struggled with a poor handling car the rest of the day.
Sebastien Bourdais recovered from an early spin to finish eighth in what may have been his last drive for A. J. Foyt Racing.
Photo by Chris Owens, Indycar
Congratulations to Scott McLaughlin, the Rookie of the Year. McLaughlin had a steady, if unspectacular year. Like the other rookies in the series, he had to learn a completely different type of car. I think we will hear his name a lot more in 2022.
I hope the new deal with NBC doesn’t include Rutledge Wood. His pieces are insipid and interrupt the race broadcast unnecessarily.
Josef Newgarden’s last three seasons- Champion in 2019, second in 2020, and second in 2021. Newgarden was also champion in 2017.
Thanks for following along this weekend. I will have a story about Alex Palou’s season and a season wrap up this coming week.
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 