Josef Newgarden led the field in the opening practice for the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. Defending winner Colton Herta was second, followed by points leader Alex Palou.
Helio Castroneves locked up and went deep into the dirt, narrowly missing the tire barrier with 18 minutes left in the practice round. Scott McLaughlin stalled on course with about 20 seconds left, and the red flag ended the session.
Weather Tech Raceway was quite slippery this afternoon, with several cars going off track and sending large dust clouds obscuring the vision of drivers behind the errant cars.
Newgarden and Palou were the only title contenders in the top 10. Pato O’Ward was 14th and Scott Dixon was 11th. Newgarden was the only Chevrolet in the top 10. His best lap was 0.08 seconds better than Herta’s fastest circuit. Palou was 0.26 seconds behind.
The top 10:
Date Change for St. Pete
The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the opening race of the Indycar Series, will be earlier in 2022 and 2023. In 2022 the race weekend is February 24-27, and in 2023 the season begins March 2-6. I understand the date changes are because of television network availability.
Charlie Brown got to kick the football at last. On his third try to win a race from the pole, Josef Newgarden hung on despite rapidly fading tires to win the Honda Indy 200 at Mid Ohio. Marcus Ericsson made up much of the eight second gap he had with less than 10 laps to go to finish just 0.8 seconds behind.
Newgarden;s win ended a season of frustration for himself and Team Penske as both took their first victory of the year. In Detroit race 2, Newgarden lost to Pato O’Ward as his tires could not maintain pace in the final three laps. At Road America gearbox issue with two laps to go caused Newgarden to fade to 21st from the lead. Will Power had Detroit race 1 in hand until his car would not restart after a red flag.
The race was a decent one for Mid Ohio, with a nice battle for positions third through sixth in the middle of the race.
Some Thoughts
Marcus Ericsson once again stood ready to take advantage of a Team Penske misfortune, but Newgarden was able to hang on this time. Ericsson is becoming a great teammate to points leader Alex Palou and Scott Dixon, who is third in points. He sits 5th in points, 104 points behind Palou.
Palou did what he needed to do in what I thought was a championship drive yesterday. He got the most points he could, and he only lost points to the contending driver farthest away from him. Newgarden still trails Palou by 69 points with six races to go.
Pato O”Ward picked his way through the field from 20th to finish eighth and maintain second place in the standings. He trails Palou by 39 points.
Will Power’s season of frustration continues. Yesterday’s lap 4 crash ended what could have been a very strong day for the 2014 series champion. I’m not sure there is any blame to assess here. he and Dixon had a great duel through turns 4 and 5.
Santino Ferucci has driven in four races in 2021 and has four top ten finishes with a ninth place yesterday. Has Rahal found his third full time car? The sponsor, Hy Vee, has to like what they’re seeing. Ferrucci started 22nd.
Romain Grosjean continues to impress with a great save in the keyhole after being blocked by Sebastien Bourdais. His seventh place finish rom 18th on the grid was one of several great drives yesterday. Grosjean has four top tens in seven races.
Ryan Norman had a respectable outing in his Indycar debut. Although he finished 20th, he had worked his way up to 15th at one point and seemed to be on a good pace.
I find it sad that Simon Pagenaud is not a in the conversation for agood finish anymore.
Are the hot seats getting hotter for Felix Rosenqvist, James Hinchcliffe, and Ryan Hunter-Reay? Sunday’s first lap incident involving all three drivers didn’t help their causes any.
Colton Herta’s race woes continue. Two bad pit stops knocked Herta out of contention yesterday. He qualifies well, but the team needs to work on the race setup.
Jack Harvey’s team needs to rethink their strategy. Once again, they chose an off strategy move which didn’t pay off. The Meyer Shank team seems too eager to try something different instead of seeing how the race will play out. They have been in a funk since winning the Indianapolis 500 with Helio Castroneves.
Side Bars
It was a profitable day for the Ohio State Troopers, who were busy all day, “welcoming” motorists to Ohio on Interstates 71 and 70.
The crowd was near the normal size for Mid Ohio. Indycar races on July 4th have not been well attended in the past. While I would prefer to celebrate the 4th in some other fashion, I was okay with the relatively short drive in the same day.
I liked the early start time. Even if Mid Ohio returns to its traditional date next year, I hope they retain the noon start,.
Indycar’s longest running show, Josef Newgarden and Colton Herta in the front row, has been renewed by the series for a third straight week. Newgarden edged Herta this time by just 0.004 seconds in a wild qualifying session that saw lots of sliding and dirt thrown around, it had a controversial ending to Group 1 in Round 1.
Jack Harvey looked to be safely the top six ubtil he spun and came to halt just ahead of the timing line. Alexander rossi and Simon Pagenaud sped by, but did not slow enough according to race control. At the checkered flag, Harvey and Pagenaud were in and Rossi was out. Harvey lost his best lap, and Pagenaud and Rossi lost their final lap. As a result, Harvey and Pagenaud did not advance, but Rossi did. Rossi would go on to make the Fast Six.
The question now is, can Newgarden win? His last two poles looked like dominating wins, but tire and gear issues cost him each of the last two races with just a few laps to go. Herta has finished fourth and second in the previous two races.
Some Thoughts
Rinus VeeKay had a nice return race from his injury. The second year driver advanced to round 2.
The Fast Six seemed like old times with two cars each from Penske, Ganassi, and Andretti.
Will Power had to scramble in Round 1 to get his car fired again. He finally got on track with just four minutes left. Power, the active leader in pole positions, made it to the Fast Six. Power still does not have a pole this year. This is not the first time the 12 car has had electrical issues.
I hope Jack Harvey has his bad luck for the weekend out of the way now and can get a decent finish tomorrow.
Points leader Alex Palou starts seventh, while Scott Dixon starts fifth. Pato O’Ward, second in points, starts 20th.
Results:
Final practice begins in just a few minutes. Enjoy.
Is this the weekend Josef Newgarden gets to the finish line first? The team Penske driver served notice that he is ready to grab his first win of the season, leading today’s only practice session by a bit less than 0.03 seconds over Pato O’Ward.
Jack Harvey was third, not too far behind points runner up O’Ward. Harvey hopes to reverse the team’s race day misfortunes this weekend.
Points leader Alex Palou finished ninth today with a lap he set early in the 45 minute session. Scott Dixon was seventh, putting the three top title contenders in the top ten.
Felix Rosenqvist spun and stalled exiting turn 1, causing a red flag which lasted about three minutes. Colton Herta went off track in turn 11, somehow kept the car away from the wall, and returned to the track. It was a wild ride nd quite a save. Takuma Sato went wide in the final turn in the final minute of the session and bumped the tire barrier, but he was able to drive back to the pits.
Results:
Indycar’s next practice is at 9:05 am EDT on peacock with Qualifying at Noon, also on Peacock. Qualifying will be aired on NBCSN at 8 pm tomorrow night.
Josef Newgarden led the final practice round before qualifying for the GMR Grand Prix at 4: 30. Newgarden edged Rings Veekay and teammate Will Power in a Chevy sweep of the top 3. All four TeM Penske cars finished in the top 10, with Scott McLaughlin fifth and Simon Pagenaud eighth.
Pato O’ Ward struggled for most of the session but salvaged a ninth place at the flag.
Scott Dixon had a clutch failure and ended 23rd.
Juan Pablo Montoya struggled the entire practice period and was the slowest car
Things are back to normal at St. Pete. Josef newgarden and team Penske teammate Will Power ended the lone Friday practice 1-2 on the speed chart. Newgarden’s time of 1:00.8029 was 0.083 seconds faster than Power. Colton Herta was third quick. The top five were within 0.0963 seconds of Newgarden.
The session was red flagged with just a couple minutes to go when Sebastien Bourdais spun. Cars returned to the track with just seconds left, but no one had time to get another completed lap.
Discussing today’s track conditions and the closeness of the times, Newgarden said that the track was “really high grip today.” He believed that the high grip contributed to the close speeds among the top five.
The Day
The crowd got bigger as the day went on. I’m not sure that it reached the 20,000 capacity, but a decent number of people were there. Mask wearing, which was good at first, diminished as more people came.
I didn’t care for waiting until 4:15 for the first appearance by Indycar today. I understand why a practice needed to be cut from the schedule, but an earlier time for your featured series would be better.
Two liveries I really liked- Simon Pagenaud’s Australian Gold.
Indycar photo by Chris Owens
And Alec Palou’s NTT Data. I love the number in a circle.
Indyvar photo by Chris Owens
Notes- Dalton Keller seemed to be having an engine issue. His car sounded very rough entering turn 1.
It was interesting watching Romain Grosjean try different lines through the first turn.
Tomorrow Indycar has practice at 9:45 a6 qualifying at 1:45. Both sessions are live on Peacock. The qualifying will re air on NBCSN at 10 pm Eastern.
Photo: Josef Newgarden looks to regain the Indycar title. Indycar photo
Long Beach, September 26- The NTT Indycar Series championship hinges on who finishes ahead of whom. Will Scott Dixon win his seventh title? Does Josef Newgarden win his third? Will Alexander Rossi finally earn the trophy he covets?
This is the scenario I see playing out in the season finale. I’m not ready to declare that the young drivers will be battling each other. We might see a brief spurt mid season where Pato O’Ward and Colton Herta are ibn the hunt, maybe one of them leading for a bit, but I think we have one more year of the old guard. By old guard i mean drivers over 25.
I see O’Ward winning multiple times and another first time winner out of the group including Jack Harvey, Rinus VeeKay, and Alex Palou.
While a driver has just seventeen chances to win in a season, there are 51 chances to get on the podium. The number of podiums could well determine the title since I thin there will be nine different winners in 2021.
The early schedule favors Newgarden. He has dominated at barber the last few years, and he won St. Pete last fall. As always happens, though, is the early leader comes back to the field. Dixon has not won at either of the first two tracks. The lack of short ovals will later be a disadvantage to Newgarden.
It’s gong to be wild ride to the finish line.
Winners
Who are the nine winners this year? I will name them, but unlike some stories I’ve seen, I won’t assign a number of wins. Here they are, in no particular order:
Newgarden
Dixon
Rossi
Herta
Power
Harvey or VeeKay
O’Ward
Rahal
Sato
Sebastien Bourdais could restore some glory to the iconic nuimber14
Will Bourdais Help Foyt?
A storyline to watch is how much will having Sebastien Bourdais in the team’s number 1 car help A. J. Foyt Racing? The season starts at two tracks where Bourdais has done well. In 2020, Bourdais started seventh and finished fourth at St. Pete. I think Bourdais will improve the qualifying and will have several top 10s and a couple of top 5s. A podium spot may sneak in there as well.
Will Peacock Ruffle Some Feathers?
Practices and most qualifying will be on the new Peacock streaming service this season as NBC is phasing out NBCSN. The service is $.99 a month and can be cancelled anytime. If you just get it for the months of the Indycar season, it is 4#0. NBC Gold costs almost $50 for the year. I bought Peacock in tuime for last week’s open test at IMS. I was impressed by the coverage and the picture quality, even on my phone and tablet.
Peacock has now built an Indycar page which has the upcoming broadcasts for the next two weekends. Don’t dismiss it until you try it.
Predictions
Josef Newgarden will win his third Indycar title in 2021. Scott Dixon has always had a difficult time in a year where he is defending his championship. Alexander Rossi and Andretti Autosport need a strong run at the Indianapolis 500 to have a chance. Last week’s test did not give me hope for that to happen.
Scott McLaughlin will win Rookie of the Year simply because he is the only rookie who will drive in all 17 races. He would probably win anyway.
Graham Rahal will win the Indianapolis 500. The team dominated with a first and third in 2020. I expect them to be strong again in May.
Photo of Josef Newgarden by Joe Skibinski, Indycar
On a day that I wish we could save for may, 31 cars hopeful of making the field for the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 completed the second day of open testing. Josef Newgarden, two time NTT Indtcar Series champion, had the quickest time of the two days, 226.819 miles an hour.
The first hour of the morning allowed the rookies, Pietro Fittipaldi and Cody Ware, to complete their rookie tests, and the drivers who needed to complete their refresher tests to co mplete their two phase runs.
Conor Daly led the veterans session from 10-11 before all cars were turned loose on the track. The day was interrupted twice for brief rain sprinkles and the afternoon action stopped for some track inspections.
Newgarden summed up his day in a zoom call with media after the session finished.
“It was a pretty good day,” Newgarden said. “I was happy enough with the car. I think we still need some work, for sure, but to just get an initial read on where we’re at is good. Obviously, there are a lot of new parts and differences to the last couple of years, so we’re just trying to assess what we need to really work on these last couple of weeks before we get back here in May. But I’m pretty happy.”
He responded to questions about the duifference between this year’s car and last year’s car. he likes the changes and thinks the racing will be better.
“Yes, definitely. It’s easier to follow. It’s still tough. You’ll still get a big front wash in traffic. 10 cars back, it’s always going to b e difficult. But I think they’ve made the ability to follow better. That balance separation between clean air and dirty air is definitely reduced.Some of them are tricky to drive, some of these parts. I think you’re seeing some split camps here along pit lane. Not everybody is running the same stuff. That’s been interesting to watch. There’s more downforce on the car. I think the balance shift in traffic is less.Yeah, the ability that we’re going to have to race compared to last year will be better.
I think you have a better opportunity this year looking at the amount of downforce we have, the balance shift in and out of traffic. I think you have a better opportunity to fight for the win in the third or fourth car inline.I think more than that, you are a quick car during the race,you somehow find yourself in the back, I think you have abetter opportunity of making your way forward. Those two elements will automatically help the show. But you don’t want to have it so easy where we’re packed up the entire field the entire time. I think that’s something that you would want to avoid.It’s a balancing act. I think it will be a lot better than last year as far as the ability to race up front. Time will tell. But I think you’ll have a better show.”
Juan Pablo Montoya. Photo by James Black, Indycar
Juan Pablo Montoya, two time Indianapolis 500 is returning to the race after a three year absence. He gave his thoughts on the Arrow McLaren SP Chevy he drove in the test to the Indycar he last drove.
“They’re a little harder to drive, I think. I think the difference between clear air and dirty air is a little bigger. I think the changes from what INDYCAR did, from what everybody says, it’s a little harder as before, but not that bad.”
As for adjusting to the aeroscreen, Montoya felt the aeroscreen was similar to the sports cars he drove the last three years.
“It wasn’t too bad to get used to it. I thought it would be a little more intrusive. It’s definitely a pain in the butt to get in and out of the car, and it’s a lot hotter. I know like here it hasn’t been that bad in the oval. I did a test in Laguna. In a road course, you don’t get a lotof air. That was kind of shocking.Yeah, I mean, it’s kind of weird because, like, you’re really in a little bubble. It feels a little bit once you’re driving like a sports car.”
Notes
Andretti Autosport seemed to be struggling a bit as they did last year. The team did not have a driver in the top 10 today.
Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal look to be right wher they were last year with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Sato won the 2020 race and Rahal finished third.
Montoya and Helio Castroneves were quick in their first outing in cars not owned by Roger Penske. It’s still odd seeing them in non-Penske cars.
Arrow McLaren SP could be a factor in the 500 as well as during the rest of the season. Montoya’s input should help push the team up a notch this year.
Today’s results, followed by the no tow time sheet:
RANK
CAR NO.
DRIVER
TEAM
ENGINE
SPEED
LAPS
1
2
Josef Newgarden
Team Penske
Chevy
226.819
121
2
30
Takuma Sato
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Honda
226.396
60
3
86
Juan Pablo Montoya
Arrow McLaren SP
Chevy
226.123
68
4
9
Scott Dixon
Chip Ganassi Racing
Honda
225.906
126
5
15
Graham Rahal
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Honda
225.644
157
6
47
Conor Daly
Ed Carpenter Racing
Chevy
225.639
137
7
12
Will Power
Team Penske
Chevy
225.501
162
8
60
Jack Harvey
Meyer Shank Racing
Honda
225.266
140
9
5
Pato O’Ward
Arrow McLaren SP
Chevy
225.118
156
10
6
Helio Castroneves
Meyer Shank Racing
Honda
225.074
128
11
22
Simon Pagenaud
Team Penske
Chevy
225.001
184
12
28
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Andretti Autosport
Honda
224.949
134
13
26
Colton Herta
Andretti Autosport
Honda
224.203
164
14
20
Ed Carpenter
Ed Carpenter Racing
Chevy
224.146
146
15
10
Alex Palou
Chip Ganassi Racing
Honda
224.134
112
16
7
Felix Rosenqvist
Arrow McLaren SP
Chevy
223.973
126
17
18
Ed Jones
Dale Coyne Racing With Vasser-Sullivan
Honda
223.905
104
18
3
Scott McLaughlin
Team Penske
Chevy
223.808
195
19
27
Alexander Rossi
Andretti Autosport
Honda
223.636
136
20
45
Santino Ferrucci
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Honda
223.519
137
21
16
Simona De Silvestro
Paretta Autosport
Chevy
223.458
92
22
29
James Hinchcliffe
Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
Honda
223.458
127
23
48
Tony Kanaan
Chip Ganassi Racing
Honda
223.101
99
24
24
Sage Karam
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Chevy
223.095
81
25
98
Marco Andretti
Andretti Herta-Haupert w/Marco & Curb-Agajanian
Honda
222.815
138
26
14
Sebastien Bourdais
AJ Foyt Enterprises
Chevy
222.627
125
27
59
Max Chilton
Carlin
Chevy
222.258
114
28
8
Marcus Ericsson
Chip Ganassi Racing
Honda
222.135
188
29
51
Pietro Fittipaldi
Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing
Honda
221.943
144
30
4
Dalton Kellett
AJ Foyt Enterprises
Chevy
220.196
97
31
52
Cody Ware
Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing
Honda
218.438
58
Indianapolis 500 test – Friday all-skate – no-tow timesheet
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 