Tag: Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
Rossi and Dixon Looking for Better Seasons in 2020
Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon hope Friday practice at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg helps them find out how the aeroscreen will affect the cars in race like conditions. In a teleconference this afternoon, Rossi said the brief testing time the team has had leaves a lot to figure out. Dixon wondered about how the extra weight and higher center of gravity will affect handling.
According to Dixon, “The adjustments have been made. The cooling at least was very sufficient for us. Handling-wise I think the CG is a little higher, the car is heavier, definitely one of the areas we’ve really got to try and turn around because we keep adding weight to this car, which especially for accidents is not a good thing. It’s the same for everybody as far as the handling issues. We haven’t seen too much of a difference for us. Springs and dampers and things like that. But every team is unique on that side of things, too. ”
Rossi is still not sure what to expect. “… we’ve really only had at Andretti a day and a half with the weather at COTA. That was kind of a half day. Sebring is kind of its own unique animal. I don’t really know that we know, to be perfectly honest with you. It’s definitely different, but the extent of that won’t become clear to us until probably at least Friday night in St. Pete.”
Both drivers think the expansion of their teams will help them have a better season. Rossi explained,
” I think it’s really cool to be able to bring Colton on kind of into the fold full-time I guess. He was kind of already there with the Harding Steinbrenner Andretti relationship we had last year. We have already noticed a positive difference having the engineering staff back in the office and everyone kind of under the same roof, being able to just more efficiently kind of bounce ideas off each other, just progress the whole team forward. ”
Dixon added,
“We added actually a lot of people this year, probably four or five on the engineering side, then the depth of the whole GT program coming over has helped as far as management and also crew people as well. I think personnel-wise the team is probably in the best situation I’ve seen it in the last maybe five or six years. So I think off-season development has been really good. Also the change of mindset. I think we kind of got stuck there a lot of times just doing the same thing and looking for different answers, which just wasn’t working…”
On the influx of young, talented drivers entering the series, Rossi said, ” Racing is a very difficult sport in the sense that you’re only as good as your last race. You’re constantly having to go out and reprove yourself regardless of what you’ve accomplished in the past. There’s so many guys coming in, your job security really doesn’t exist.”
Dixon replied, “Never think that you know everything. I think that’s the worst position you can be in. You’re constantly learning, it’s constantly changing. I think the sport, even over the last 19 or 20 years that I’ve been a part of it, how much it evolves and changes from season to season is pretty impressive. It’s cool to see. I think it’s fantastic to see the amount of young guys coming in now. There was some pretty good influx probably five to six years ago, as well, with a lot of the guys. You can see their performance, how they’ve adjusted, how quick they’ve been. It’s extremely important for the health of the sport. Hopefully they can keep charging. ”
Electronic Flagging at Laguna Seca
One news item that came out of the conference is that Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca will use an electronic flagging system in 2020. Formula 1 uses this system in their races and I’m glad to see it coming to an Indycar track.
It’s Race Week! First Look at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
The first race week for the 2020 NTT Indycar Series is here at last. While the offseason is long, this break had lots of news breaking and was one of the busiest I remember. I will have my race preview Thursday. I will be posting every day this week as we build toward the weekend.
The television schedule:
Practice 1 – Mar 13, 10:45AM ET 
Practice 2 – Mar 13, 3:00PM ET
Practice 3 – Mar 14, 10:45AM ET
Qualifications (Live) – Mar 14, 2:40PM ET
Qualifications – Mar 14, 10:00PM ET 
Warm Up – Mar 15, 10:25AM ET
Race – Mar 15, 3:00PM ET
The race has been reduced to 100 laps from 110. I’m assuming to more easily fit in the television window, which is from 2:30-6. ET. I will talk more about the effects the new distance has on strategy later.
The entry list should be out in the next couple of days. There are 26 cars confirmed. The biggest question is who will be in the 31 for Carlin. I’m guessing it will be Felipe Nasr.
Dragonspeed unveiled their livery for St. Pete today.
What a beautiful car. It reminds me a bit of the Strike car Josef Newgarden drove for Sara Fisher at Houston.
The early weather outlook is great with temperatures in the low 80’s and dry.
I’ll be back tomorrow with some more tidbits leading up to the track opening on Friday.
Dragonspeed, Hanley Set for St. Pete
From Indycar and Dragonspeed:
1/13/2020
The 10Star DragonSpeed team is gearing up for the season-opening round of the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March15, confirming that Ben Hanley – who maintains his rookie status, having run three NTT IndyCar Series races with the team last season – will pilot its Chevy-powered Dallara chassis around the streets of the St. Petersburg, Fla.
“I can’t wait to get back in the No. 81 machine for another crack at St Pete,” said the34-year-old Hanley. “After the thrash required just to make it to the track last season, we’re coming back in a much more settled situation. I don’t know if we can repeat the combination of luck and timing that put us 12th on the grid in 2019, but we will be much better prepared this time around and should be stronger throughout the weekend.”
DragonSpeed team principal Elton Julian said, “The continuity represented by having Ben in the car at St Pete is a real boost, and for the fifth year in a row he remains the lead driver across all of our programs. That said, the realities of life as a young IndyCar team might see us running other drivers at the same level as Ben, perhaps with more IndyCar experience, during the year. But committing to Ben as the test and race driver for the launch of our 2020 effort is clearly the best way to get our season off to a strong start.”
Julian added, “We haven’t had the head start of some teams in testing the new IndyCar Aeroscreen and are pushing hard to get it in time to maximise the limited track testing allowed to us as a part-time entrant, while making some time in between for data analysis and shaker rig testing.”
DragonSpeed’s next event is the Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance classic on 25-26 January, where the Indianapolis-based squad will defend its 2019 LMP2 class victory after setting the fastest time at last weekend’s official pre-race test.
Quick Thoughts – Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
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.
Look for my full race wrap-up on Wildfire Sports tomorrow.
It’s Race Day!
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
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
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.
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
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.
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 