Tag: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

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.

Carpenter Leads Veterans’ Session; Rookies and Returnees Set to Complete Tests

thepitwindow

Ed Carpenter had the fastest time in the first two hour veterans’ session as practice began for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500.  His Preferred Freezer Services Dallara turned a lap at 228.653. Helio Castroneves had the next fastest time at 228.441. Castroneves turned his lap early in the session. Colton Herta was third at 228.284.Sebastien Bourdais (228.242) and Spencer Pigot (227.661) round out the top five.

Ed Jones was eighth quickest, putting all three Ed Carpenter Racing cars in the top eight.

James Hinchcliffe drove each of the four cars in the Arrow Schmidt Peterson stable.

 

Rookies and drivers needing refresher tests will have exclusive use of the track for the next two hours. Back with more after the next session.

 

 

Track Action and Temperatures Warm Up

thepitwindow

Good morning from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Practice begins at 11 this morning for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.

Today’s schedule:

11-1  Veterans practice

1-3 Rookies and refresher tests/practice

3-6  Free practice

You can follow all the action on NBC Gold today. If you haven’t purchased Gold, it is only $40 this month.

I will have updates after each session. I hope to get photos of all the cars over the next two days.

Enjoy the day.

The Best First Time-The Rookie of the Year Award

thepitwindow

Photo- The original Stark and Wetzel rookie of the Year Award,  presented from 1952-1979.

Like any new members of a fraternity, rookies at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway have  to go through an initiation. At the Speedway, it’s the rookie test.  For the 500 a rookie is anyone who has not driven in a race at IMS previously. It didn’t matter if the driver was a world champion, stock car veteran, sprint  or midget champion, they were rookies the first time they got in a car at IMS.

The Rookie test used to consist of four ten lap phases with speed gradually increasing at each interval. Currently the test is three phases. Not everyone passed, and they were told to get more experience and try the next year.

In 1952, Stark and Wetzel, a meat packing company in Indianapolis, began sponsoring the Rookie of the Year Award to the rookie who had the best overall month. Much of the time the highest finishing rookie received the award, but sometimes the fastest rookie qualifier got the honor. The trophy came with a cash prize. Art Cross was  the first winner of the trophy pictured above. He started 20th and finished fifth.

Stark and Wetzel sponsored the award through 1979. From 1980-1988, American Fletcher National Bank gave the prize. Bank One, which absorbed AFNB, was presenting sponsor from 1989-2004. From 2005-2013, JP Morgan Chase had its name on the trophy, and from 2014 through last year Sunoco gave the award.  For this year Speedway LLC has its name on the trophy.

Winning Rookie of the Year award did not necessarily indicate a great future in racing or the 500. Parnelli Jones, co- Rookie of the Year in 1961, was the first award recipient to win the race. Only nine Rookies of the Year have won the 500 after receiving the award. Three rookies who won the race, Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves, and Alexander Rossi, took home the ROY trophy as well as the Borg Warner Trophy.

Graham Hill won in his rookie race in 1966, but the Rookie of the Year award went instead to Jackie Stewart.

In recent years the award has seemed to devolve into a popularity contest where media interaction counts more than on track performance. Kurt Busch and Fernando Alonso come to mind as two I felt weren’t the best performing rookies or perhaps should have shared the award with another driver. But I’m still waiting to receive voting privileges.

This year’s winner? It’s too early to make predictions, but there are some heavy contenders. Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward, and Felix Rosenqvist come to mind. This year it may be decided by qualifying and race performance.

Servia to Drive Car 77 for Arrow Schmidt Peterson; Juncos Sponsor Isuues

thepitwindow

Oriol Servia, a  nine  time Indianapolis starter, will drive car 77 as the thirds entry for the Arrow Schmidt Peterson team. The car was on display late this afternoon outside the ASPM garages at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Servia is the 36th and likely final driver to be named to attempt to qualify for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500.

Arrow Schmidt Peterson partners with Team StrangeRacing, LLC with primary sponsor MotoGator, a line of high performance automotive products and lubricants. Their signature product is loose it Up, a super lubricant.

John Stange, Jr., team co-owner, said,

“I am so pleased to announce this great partnership with Arrow SPM today as Team Stange Racing makes its entry into IndyCar racing,” stated John Stange, Jr., Co-Owner, Team Stange Racing, LLC. “We are so blessed to partner with a company like MotoGator who is committed to building a winning IndyCar program with TSR. Once we developed our plan, we knew that we wanted to launch at the world’s greatest race with so much history and it being so special to me personally. The second thing to do was to partner with a quality team that we could align and grow with as we build our team to compete in the NTT IndyCar Series eventually full time in 2021/22”.

Servia has  a best finish of third in 2012 and a best starting spot of 3rd in 2011. This his second 500 driving for Schmidt.

he was in position to win the race last year, but needed a late caution which never came and had to pit in the last five laps for fuel.

This afternoon Servia said, “This will be the best car I’ve ever had.”

wp-15577817819034686371001280112094.jpg
Oriol Servia talks to the media at the unveiling of his car for the Indianapolis 500.

Moto Gator is a do it yourself automotive supply company. their signature product is Losse it Up, a “super lubricant.”  their website is sk

Juncos Loses Sponsors

News today that Juncos Racing has had its second sponsor fall through in a week. The team is still building the car and still plans to run this week.  They hope to make it to the weekend for qualifying.

Ricardo Juncos said he wants the team to continue preparations and he will worry about the funding. Kyle Kaiser is slated to drive the car.

They will probably have to limit track time and hope rain doesn’t take away too much track time.

We will follow this story this week.

First Day of Practice Tomorrow

Tomorrow at 11 am cars take to the track for the first two hour practice session. From 1-3 the track is reserved for rookie and refresher tests. Several drivers did not complete their refreshers laps at the open test. Rookie Ben Hanley and Pato O’Ward will begin their rookie tests.

From 3-6 is open practice.

Watch for an update after each session. I will start the day with a history of the Rookie of the Year Award.

 

It’s Still the Penske Invitational

This was supposed to be the year the streaks ended. The race would have its third winning driver, and his last name wouldn’t begin with P.

thepitwindow2 Comments

Above: Simon Pagenaud made two brilliant passes in the last five laps to win the Indycar Grand Prix. Photo: Kyle McInnes

This was supposed to be the year the streaks ended. The race would have its third winning driver, and his last name wouldn’t  begin with P. A team other than Penske was supposed to celebrate in Victory Lane. It looked like the reign was over when Felix Rosenqvist won the pole and Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon grabbed the second spot on the grid. But in the end, a masterful drive by Simon Pagenaud kept the Indycar GP trophy with Team Penske. Pagenaud made two brilliant passes with five laps to go to win.

Pagenaud ended a 21 race winless streak. There were rumors about  job security  at Team Penske. He is now fourth in points. I wouldn’t overlook him when considering title contenders.

Dixon said after the race, “With 10 laps to go i knew i was in trouble. I had to stop the car to get it to turn.”  Dixon has finished second three straight years at the Indycar Grand Prix.  ” Simon was turning some amazing lap times,” Dixon added.

Pagenaud said that the tires of each podium car showed a different wear pattern. It was an indication of how varied car setups were for the race.  Pagenaud’s team his upon the one that worked best in the wet.

Tire strategy looked like it would be what decided the outcome of the race when Josef Newgarden pitted during the first caution and was able to cycle to the lead. He may have had to gamble on whether an extra would have been necessary, but he hit a tire leaving the pits on lap 68 and going to the rear of the field for the restart ended his day.  Newgarden finished 15th.

Tony Kanaan gambled on going to the rain tires early, but the move backfired when the rain came later than his team anticipated. Kanaan finished 20th.

Some Traditions End,Others Continue

For just the second time in the brief history of the Indycar Grand Prix, a Penske car was not on pole.  Will Power qualified sixth fastest and dropped back all day, but he recovered to finish 7th.

The traditional first lap incident made its annual appearance. Pato O’Ward collided with Alexander Rossi.  Rossi returned to the race four laps down and didn’t make up any ground all day.

The race still boasts just two winners, Pagenaud and Power. Team Penske has won five of the six Grand Prix.

Tough Day for Rookies

With Felix Rosenqvist on pole and Colton Herta staring fourth, it looked to be another great day for the rookies.  It didn’t turn out that way. Rosenqvist lost the lead to his teammate Dixon on the first restart.  Herta’s day ended when he got spun in turn 1 and then hit by Ryan Hunter-Reay.  Herta has had a rough string last or near last place finishes since winning at COTA.

Rosenqvist faded. He left the pits with his car on fire from a spill. The flames extinguished as he exited the pits. He finished 8th. The only other rookie in the top 10 was Santino  Ferrucci.

Pato O’Ward was involved in the Rossi incident and received a drive through penalty. the team had alternator all weekend. O’Ward made seven pit stops yesterday.

Dixon makes Up Ground in Championship

Scott Dixon is now within six points of Josef Newgarden for the series title. This puts Dixon ahead of where he was last year at this time. He didn’t lead a lap  or win a race until June in 2018 and won the title by a healthy margin.

Notes

How odd to be five races into the season and not have seen Will Power win a race. I’m sure that will change soon.

Pagenaud is the season’ fifth different winner. Four different team have won the first five races. I believe the record is seven different winners in the first seven races of a season.

I hope Andretti Autosport comes out of the box strong for the 500 starting Tuesday. This was a completely forgettable weekend for the team. The highlight was Marco Andretti improving 10 spots in the race.

This was by far the best of the six Grand Prix races.

I don’t usually talk about drive of the day, but htree drivers deserve mention. I will go with hockey’s system of award the three  stars of the race.

#3- Matheus Leist- started 21st, fished fourth. This is a huge boost for A. J. Foyt’s team.

#2- Jack Harvey- started and finished third.  Harvey has been driving under the radar with two top tens and nearly a third. He has gotten to second round qualifying more than once. His move to grab second at the start was incredible. The most amazing thing is Harvey and Meyer Shank Racing are a part time team.

#1- Simon Pagenaud- started 8th, finished 1st. Just a great drive all day. When is the last time you someone make up six seconds in five laps?

 

 

 

 

 

Herta Continues Rookies’ Great Weekend; Weather Update

thepitwindow

Colton Herta led the morning warm-up session. The Andretti cars seemed to have found some speed. Marco Andretti was 6th, Zach Veach 10th, Alexander Rossi 10th, and Ryan Hunter-Reay 12th.

Pole sitter Felix Rosenqvist finished 9th in the session. Defending race winner Will Power was 13th. Max Chilton was the fastest Chevy in 7th. I can’t remember a weekend when Team Penske cars weren’t the fastest Chevys.  Josef Newgarden led the team in 8th.

Pato O’ Ward didn’t turn a lap and his car went back to the garage during the session.

Weather

A brief rain shower is expected in the area in a few minutes.  I have received reports of moisture in turns 6A and 7.

The latest radar has rain coming after 5:30.

Back with another update when tire choices come out.

 

 

Rosenqvist Wins Pole in a Different Fast Six

thepitwindow

Photo:  Felix Rosenqvist on his way to his first career Indycar pole. Photo: Kyle McInnes

 

Scott Dixon and Will Power looked at their Fast Six competition and had to ask, “Who are these guys?”  Two  rookie drivers, Felix Rosenqvist and Colton Herta, had each made one Fast Six appearance this season. For Jack Harvey and Ed Jones, this was new ground.

Each round of NTT Indycar Series  qualifying for the Indycar Grand Prix had twists and turns, with many favorites, including points leader Josef Newgarden and other usual final round residents like Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay not advancing out of Round 1.  Yet things didn’t\;t seem totally amiss. Takuma Sato led Group 1, which was not a surprise this season. Power advanced, but no one thought anything of his fourth place. There was more focus on who didn’t advance than who did. Alexander Rossi and Josef Newgarden watched the rest of qualifying and will start 17th and 13th respectively. Group 2 knocked out Ryan Hunter-Reay and Patricio O’Ward, who faded late in the session after showing early speed.

Probably the shock of Round 2 was Sato not advancing. Sebastien Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud looked like they had a chance, especially given the inexperience of the rest of the group.

Then the Fast Six gave us a rookie pole winner with his veteran five time teammate starting next to him’

Rosenqvist said, ” It was the first time I felt relaxed in the car and didn’t feel I had to push 120%.”

The polesitter has won four of the five Indycar Grand Prix. Weather may be a factor in who wins tomorrow. It is likely the string of winners whose last name starts with P is about to end.

Qualifying Results by Round. Starting Lineup will be up tomorrow with the latest weather update.

Round -1-1

Sato

Bourdais

Rosenqvist

Harvey

Jones

Power

Round 1-2

Herta

Dixon

Ericsson

Rahal

Pagenaud

Pigot

Round 2

Herta

Rosenqvist

Harvey

Power

Dixon

Jones

Fast Six

Rosneqvist

Dixon

Harvey

Herta

Jones

Power