Tag: Alexander Rossi

ECR Confirms Rossi, Rasmussen for 2025

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From Ed Carpenter Racing:

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (September 25, 2024) – Ed Carpenter Racing (ECR) announced today the team’s driver lineup for the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. Indianapolis 500 champion Alexander Rossi will join the team behind the wheel of the No. 20 Chevrolet for 2025 and Christian Rasmussen, who recently completed his rookie season with ECR, has been elevated to full-time driver of the No. 21 Chevrolet, both on multi-year deals. Team co-owner Ed Carpenter will round out ECR’s three-car lineup for the Indianapolis 500. This news comes on the heels of welcoming Heartland Food Products Group and their iconic brands, Splenda and Java House, to the ECR family.
Carpenter is thrilled with both the addition of veteran Rossi and the future for Rasmussen. 
“It is an exciting day to not only welcome Alex to the team, but to extend our relationship with Christian,” said Carpenter. “We are very excited about our lineup, and other partnership announcements that will be forthcoming. As excited as I am about these additions, I also want to thank Rinus (VeeKay) for his five years with the team. It is always hard to say goodbye to a teammate and a friend, but I am confident that Rinus’ career will continue to blossom. As we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, I am fully focused on getting ECR back to new heights, winning races and contending for championships.”
Rossi joins ECR after nine previous seasons in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Rossi has 30 career podium finishes, including eight victories, most notably the 2016 Indianapolis 500. The Nevada City, California native was the first American rookie to win since 1928. Rossi’s talent has taken him worldwide, with wins in F2, World Series by Renault, and the 24 Hours of Daytona along with starts in a Formula 1, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Baja 1000 and the Bathurst 1000. 
Rossi is eager to join his new team and begin preparations for the 2025 season. 
“I’m honored that Ed (Carpenter) and the entire ECR ownership group recognize the value I can bring to the team,” said Rossi. “Their commitment to excellence, along with the power of Chevrolet and the ambitious plans they have for the future made this opportunity impossible to pass up. I’m eager to get started and contribute to the team’s continued success.”
Rasmussen’s performance in his rookie NTT INDYCAR SERIES season earned him the opportunity to continue with ECR in a full-time role. Rasmussen joined ECR in 2024 after winning three championships in four years, including the 2023 INDY NXT title. In his debut Indianapolis 500, he drove from 24th to 12th and was the highest finishing rookie in the field. While Carpenter was scheduled to drive the No. 20 in the final three oval races of 2024, he provided the seat to Rasmussen to continue his development. Though he had not driven a lap at the Milwaukee Mile prior, he finished just outside of the Top 10. At the season finale at Nashville Superspeedway, Rasmussen drove from 25th to 14th and secured a Leader’s Circle position for the No. 20. 
After a partial rookie year, Rasmussen is excited to race the full season next year. 
“I’m incredibly excited to earn a full-time role with Ed Carpenter Racing,” said Rasmussen. “My rookie year in INDYCAR was full of firsts, and I can’t wait to bring everything I’ve learned into my second season. I’m extremely grateful for this opportunity and looking forward to team up with Alexander (Rossi) to push the team forward and fight towards the front of the grid more consistently.” 
Carpenter will return to the driver’s seat in the team’s third entry for the 2025 Indianapolis 500, rounding out the team’s lineup. Additional announcements regarding the upcoming season will be made in due course. The 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship will begin March 2, 2025 in the downtown Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.
About Ed Carpenter Racing Ed Carpenter Racing (ECR) first entered the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in 2012. The Indianapolis-based race team has proven its versatility by collecting eight wins across each type of track the series competes on – street and road courses, short ovals and speedways. ECR is led by IndyCar’s only team owner/driver, Ed Carpenter, three-time pole winner for the Indianapolis 500 (2013, 2014 and 2018). The 2025 season will see Carpenter compete in the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500. The 2025 season will see Alexander Rossi in the No. 20 Chevrolet as he joins the team alongside returning Christian Rasmussen in the No. 21 Chevrolet. More information on Ed Carpenter Racing may be found at http://www.edcarpenterracing.com/.

Vips Added to RLL Portland Lineup; Rossi Cleared to Drive-

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Juri Vips will return to Indycar at Portland as Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing adds a fourth car, the 75 which Takuma Sato drove in the Indianapolis 500.

The team announcement:

ZIONSVILLE, Ind. (August 7, 2024) – Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) announced today that Estonian driver Juri Vips will return to NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition for his third start with the team at the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland on August 25. He competed for the team in Portland and Laguna Seca in 2023 and will pilot the No. 75 AMADA Honda in the team’s fourth entry in Portland, along with those for Graham Rahal, Pietro Fittipaldi and Christian Lundgaard.

This will mark his second race at Portland International Raceway, where he made his series debut in 2023. He started and finished 18th and used that experience to run up front the following weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca where he was sixth fastest in Practice 1 and a mere -0.05 from advancing to the Firestone Fast Six on Saturday, qualifying seventh. After a six-grid penalty in the race for an unapproved engine change, he started 13th and was collected in a multi-car crash on the opening lap but soldiered on to finish 24th.

Vips first tested an Indy car for RLL on October 12, 2022, at Sebring International Raceway and again at Barber Motorsports Park on March 13, 2023, and has performed static simulator testing for RLL since 2023. AMADA was also the primary sponsor of the No. 75 Honda-powered entry for Takuma Sato at the 2024 Indianapolis 500.

The 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season resumes with the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 on August 17 which will be broadcast live on USA beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET. All on-track action can be seen on NBC’s Peacock Premium streaming service. For more information about the series or team, visit http://www.indycar.com and http://www.rahal.com.

QUOTEBOARD:

BOBBY RAHAL, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: “We’re pleased to be able to run Juri in Portland for a number of reasons. For one, he showed at both Portland and Laguna Seca last year that he certainly has the pace to feature in any event he runs with us. He has done a lot of work for us in the simulator this year, which has helped us understand the hybrid system, so it’s nice to reward him for his effort. I’m hopeful that this will lead to more races for him with RLL.”

JURI VIPS, driver of the No. 75 AMADA Honda at Portland: “I’m very grateful to the team for giving me this opportunity. I have been working closely with the team on the simulator program and it has been a year since I have been in the car, but I’m confident that the experience gained last year at Portland and Laguna Seca will help me to get up to speed quickly. It will still be a very big challenge and one I am very much looking forward to.”

Alexander Rossi

Rossi Gets Thumbs Up from Indycar Medical

Arrow Mclaren announced today that Alexander Rossi has been cleared by Indycar medial to drive again, and he will be in the number 7 car at World Wide Technology Raceway the weekend of August 15- 16.

Rossi broke his left thumb in a practice crash in Toronto before the last race before the Olympic break. He had surgery the following Monday.

Herta Leads Practice; Rossi out for the Weekend

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Colton Herta led the first practice for Ontario Honda dealers Indy Toronto. Indycar used the split format that debuted in St. Pete, a 45 minute practice for all cars followed by two 10 minute session, one each for half of the field.

During the main session, Will Power and Agustin Canapino spun and stalled but were able to refire their cars and kept going.

In group two of the mini rounds Alexander Rossi hit the re barrier hard on the right front. He was seen and released in the care center, but his right thumb is broken, and Rossi will not drive the rest of the weekend.

Linus Lundqvist plowed into the same barrier with about three minutes left in practice. Lundqvist is fine, but the car suffered significant damage. The session did not resume.

The fortunate thing for Rossi is that the next race is four weeks away thanks to NBC’s Olympic coverage. I will have some thoughts on that during the break.

“Overall, the car was really nice,” said Herta, who has a pair of top-three finishes on street circuits this season and won the pole for last month’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear. “(It) feels like the same car that we brought last two years, which we’ve had podium results. And so hopefully that bodes well for us.”

Notes

Could this be the weekend Herta finally catches a break? It seems as if bad luck is a constant Andretti global crew member.

Marcus Ericsson had an engine issue during practice.

Track management did a great job cleaning up the backstretch after the flooding earlier in the week.

I like the battery icon on NBC’s telemetry much more than the green lightning bolt and red arrow. Maybe they could just show the battery icon all the time. It’s not like when the cars run out of battery they are done, like Formula E.

Results

The next practice is at 10 am Eastern tomorrow on Peacock, with qualifying at 2:45 pm.

Lundgaard In, Rossi Out at Arrow McLaren for 2025

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Musical chairs continue at McLaren, as the announces they have signed Christian Lundgaard for 2025. The current Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver replace Alexander Rossi, who will leave the team after not being able to reach an agreement.

The announcement from Arrow McLaren:

Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team announced today that its 2025 driver lineup is confirmed with the addition of Christian Lundgaard who will join Pato O’Ward and Nolan Siegel in the team’s three-car lineup following the close of this season.

Christian, who is currently 11th in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship standings, will pilot the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, as the team mutually parts ways with Alexander Rossi, who is in his second season with the team and finished ninth in the championship in 2023.

Christian, 22, has had a strong start to his campaign in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES earning a win, two poles and three podiums throughout his early tenure. He made an immediate splash as the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Rookie of the Year with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, which he’s raced with through his three seasons in INDYCAR.

A native of Hedensted, Denmark, Christian remains the only Danish driver in INDYCAR SERIES history to boast a race win after a dominant performance on the streets of Toronto in 2023.

Before launching a professional career in North America, Christian was an Alpine development racer competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship where he earned two wins and nine podiums across the 2020-21 seasons. He also raced with Alpine in the 2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship and produced a win, two podiums and two poles.

The trio of Pato, Nolan and Christian will make up one of the youngest teams in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Each driver has proven success on his resume that warrants a promising outlook for the Arrow McLaren team in the seasons to come.

Christian Lundgaard, Driver, NTT INDYCAR SERIES, said:

“I’m excited to have my plans set for 2025 and beyond, and I’m thrilled it’s with Arrow McLaren. I have a lot of respect for Zak, Gavin, Tony and the team, and I think Pato, Nolan and I will work well together. I’m focused 100% on finishing this season strong with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. We have a lot of the season left, but this is a huge weight off my shoulders that will hopefully let me compete at my best the next nine races.”

Alexander Rossi

Alexander Rossi, Driver, Arrow McLaren, said:

“My time at Arrow McLaren, while it’s been only short two seasons, has been rewarding in many ways. I’m grateful to have been part of the team’s internal growth. The No. 7 crew is fantastic, and I’ve built a lot of long-lasting friendships with the team. Zak, Gavin, Tony and I had many conversations over the last several months on my future with the team. We were not able to come to terms on a new deal, so the mutual decision to part ways is amicable. I’m very confident with current discussions in the paddock to land a new spot. I’ll have good news to follow soon, and meanwhile I’m focused on a top-five finish in the 2024 championship and a strong conclusion to my time in papaya.”

Gavin Ward, Team Principal, Arrow McLaren, said:

“Alexander has been an incredible teammate, and we’re grateful for our two seasons we’re racing with him. We wouldn’t be where we are today without him. Ultimately we couldn’t meet in the middle on terms, but we absolutely wish him the best and will do all we can the second half of the season to get him in the top five in the championship.

“Christian has had proven success in his few seasons racing in the series, and he checks the boxes for what we’re looking for in speed and potential alongside Pato and Nolan. The three make up the youngest trio on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES grid, and we know that direction has been paying off for our F1 counterparts with Lando and Oscar.

“We’re looking toward our long-term goal of sustained high performance, and I believe with these three drivers and the ongoing support of Arrow and all our amazing partners, we’re taking a good step in that direction for 2025.”

Thermal Wrap-up: A Missed Opportunity

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To sum up- Alex Palou dominated both his heat and the feature race to win the $5000,000 prize at The Thermal Club Million Dollar Challenge. Other than a first turn crash involving Romain Grosjean and Rinus VeeKay in Heat 1, there was little passing.

In the second half of the main event, Alexander Rossi was the entire show with a wheel to wheel duel with Josef Newgarden, and Colton Herta had eyes on him as he worked his way to fourth after saving his tires in the first half of the final race.

Overall, today was a missed opportunity for Indycar to gain some fans in what would have been an off week on the schedule. There were some positives, and several negatives. If IndyCar wants to do something like this in 2025, a lot needs to improve.

Some Good Things

I’m glad IndyCar finally decided to try something new. It has been a long time since we have seen any kind of different weekend format. More about this in the next section.

I liked the eight minute qualifying rounds and that Push to Pass was available to the drivers during qualifying. I think these ideas should be explored to possibly become a part of qualifying in the regular season.

This event filled what would have been a six week gap between the St. Pete opener and Long Beach. There is still a four week gap between the first two races.

Felix Rosenqvist now knows he can win a race from the pole. The Swedish driver has never before led the first lap of a race where he started on the pole. He is an excellent qualifier, and I don’t think this will his last pole of the year.

It was wonderful to see the old aggressive Alexander Rossi on track again. His passes were the reason to stay tuned today. If his duel with Newgarden had happened in the Indianapolis 500, Indycar would be sitting pretty.

What Did Not Work

Whenever I hear a sports program is a made for TV event, I cringe. It usually means, as we saw Sunday, that it’s not about the sport, but something that looks like the sport. The aim is ususally to sell something other than the sport. That is what we saw.

What could have been a great opportunity to introduce Indycar to a national audience turned into a two hour infomercial for The Thermal Club, a playground for the wealthy.

Don’t get me wrong, it looks like a fabulous place, and if someone can afford it, good for them.

But I thought this was to be an Indycar showcase, just one race into the season. I didn’t see any promos of upcoming races or the Indianapolis 500. I learned more about The Thermal Club than I will ever need to know.

The racing was dull. Except for the intrigue of Herta’s tire strategy and Rossi’s charge through the field, there was not much to get excited about. This track is too long to provide the close racing action a sprint event like this deserves.

The post race ceremony was too similar to a regular season post race. For this event it should have been bigger. There should have been money cannons or a jar full of dollar bills or something for the second biggest non 500 purse in history.

Far an event with that much money at stake, the post race should have been more significant. Speaking of the money, the $23,000 participation prize probably didn’t cover a team’s expenses in going to this event for four days. It was definitely a losing proposition for the teams that had crash damage.

How to Do Better

These suggestions are just my opinion, but if Indycar decides to do something like this again. and I like the basic concept, just not execution, here are a few ways to make this better.

An event like this needs to be at a venue where fans can affordably attend. There was zero atmosphere at The Thermal Club. Any spectators were on balconies of the homes around the track. The race may have felt more excited if tv viewers could hear fans cheering for their favorite driver.

Hold an exhibition at a shorter track which has some good passing zones. This track was not made for Indycar racing.

If the purse is going to be as large as it was this weekend, pair each driver with a charity and pledge a matching amount of each drivers’ winnings to that charity. For that amount of money in a setting built for people who have had good fortune, I think this is the right thing to do.

The final segment of the main event should be longer. If there is to be a halftime break, put some content in it, perhaps a celebrity tire changing contest.

Allow more Push to Pass. Imagine what Rossi could have done if he hadn’t dun out of extra boost.

I would prefer no halftime break and a required full service pit stop within a designated pit window.

Increase the purse, especially for those who finish 6 -27. They are the teams that could probably benefit the most from winning a half million dollars.

Hold the event at a venue separate from a test and either pre season or post season.

This was a nice try, Indycar, but a missed opportunity to gain some traction.

Rossi Leads Warmup as O’Ward, Herta Continue Off Road Adventures

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Alwxander Rossi has now lead every session except qualifying, making hin the odds on favorite for todau’s race. Polesitter Colton Herta had the second best lap, despite once again getting off track again.

Pato O’Ward took two excursions intomtheavel but kept going. He finished the session seventh.

Ryan Hunter-Reay and Romain Grosjean brought out red flags, Hunter-Reay for getting stuck off course, and Grosjean for spinning and stalling in turn 13.

It was a busy warmuo with 1,116 laps turned.

Tire selections will be out after the Indy NXT race which just started.

Results

Rossi Stays on Top; Says Car has More Left

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In a disjointed practice session with four interruptions, Alexander Rossi continuede his strong nweekend, keeping the mtop spot for the second day in a row. Rossi lowered the fast time to1:40.9112, still a second slower than the track record.

Colton Herta, despite twom off track excursions, finished second, 0.04 seconds behind Rossi. Herta spun early in the round, destroying a sign in the process. The session ended early when Herta spun and got stuck in the gravel with less than two inutes left in the session.

The most serious incident involved Will Power and Scott Dixon. Dixon was moving over for Romain Grosjean and didn’t see Power coming. Power and Dixon collided, sparking an angry reaction from Power,whi shoved Dixon after they both got out of their cars. I can’t imagine what his reaction would have been if nthat wopuld have happened during the race.

Alex Palou spun in turn 14 and hit the tire barrier. He climbed out of mthe car and is okay, and he stillcould be na factor in qualifying.

I hope the race is half as action packed as this practice session was. It will be great if it were.

I spent most of the round in turn the carousel just past the Speedville bridge. There is a new trail on the outside of the turn, which by next year will rival Canada Corner in popularity. The red flags gave me ample time to move to the inside of turn. This is a proper road course corner- it is sweeping wih a sand trap on the drivers’ left and a low guard rail on the drivers’ right. very old style. Iwould love tpo see more corners like this mone at other tracks.

I ended the morning at the bottom of turn 5, which had a crowd of near race day proportions. This morning I could sense today’s attendanxe would be huge, and it is.

I will end with results, qualifying groups, and I will be abck min just a bit with some photos from this morning’

Results

Qualifying Groups

Rossi Leads Opening Road America Practice

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Alexander Rossi had the fastest lap on a perfect afternoon in the first practice of the weekend for the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America. Under ideal conditions Rossi had the quick time of1:41.779. his teammates, Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist, also place in the top 10 at fith and eighth respectively. Chip Ganassi Racing again put all four of their cars in the top 10 with lex palou third, Scott Dixon fourth, Marcu Ericsson sixth, and Marcus rmstrong 10th.

David Malukas of Dale Coyne Racing with HMD, was second fastest, 0.086 seconds behind Rossi. Christian Lundgaard was seventh in a nice showing for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, and Colton Herta was ninth for Andretti Autosport.

Graham rahal was 11th, just 15 hundredths behind Lundgaard.

The session ran clean. Santino Ferrucci did a 360 spin in Canada corner, but he was able to keep the car riunning and drove off.

Mid Pack for Penske

Scott Mclauhghlin led a 15-16-17 result for Team Penske with Josef Newgarden, then Will Power. It seems odd to see all thre of them pakced so low. I wouldn’t count them out just yet, thou Slightly better than expected

Hunter-Reay a Little Better than Expected

Ryan Hunter-Reay’s debut with Ed Carpenter racing resulted in 20th place today, slightly higher than I expected. He finished higher tha Rinus VeeKay, who was 26th.

The Day

I missed Friday here last year, but today’s crowd semed larger than the 2021 Friday attendance. I watched most of practice from Canada Corner, which is usually pretty sparse on Friday. Today the crowd there approached Saturday size.

I talked to several fans attending their first Road America Indycar race. They were all in awe of the track.

Some track changes. The repaving looks great and the track is quite smooth. We’ll see how it changes theere racing Sunday.

There appears to be new fencing inTurn 5, which is a nice improvement.

Turn 8 now has a sand trap on the outside and viewing areas on that side of the track. It might be worth a look during tomorrow morning’s practice.

The runoff in turn 5 has been paved.I don’t like that change at all. It is less of a challenge to a driver who goes off course.

Tomorrow is an early start with Indycar practice at 9:55 Central time.

Results