Tag: Kyle Kirkwood

Sebring Weekend Thoughts

thepitwindow

Life got in the way last week as I sent my 19 year old cat Gracie to the Rainbow Bridge. Two days later I left for Sebring and the 72nd running of the12 hour race. I needed this weekend badly.

Sebring was my first sports car endurance race, and it is my favorite. This feeling may be subject to change after Jaune.

I camped again with my friend George Butz and his crew. We had a great time. Thanks again, George.

Some random thoughts on the weekend:

My first impression upon arrival was that the place seemed rather crowded for Thursday. I had the same thought Friday and Saturday. I have never seen Sebring so packed. Theer was not room for another vehicle inside the track.

The track could use a couple of more video boards on the back side of the track.

9:40 am is awfully early to start a race. Not only does it make the morning rushed, it also deprives the fans of an hour of night racing. The early part of the race is fun, but when the sun goes down things get interesting.

It doesn’t seem to matter if someone is running away from the field, Sebring always seems to come through with a dramatic ending.

Derani Crash

The Pipo Derani crash was frightening. I was not in turn 9 at the time, but I went there later and talked to a couple of my friends who witnessed the accident. Tires were bouncing everywhere. Fortunately no spectators were injured. There is a walking path next to the track which fortunately was not busy at the time.

My friends said that track and IMSA officials appeared quickly and interviewed many fans about what they saw.

My friends are concerned that a catch fence may be erected at this spot, which would spoil a great view of one of the highest speed portions of the track.

My friend Shannon Roe took these photos of some the debris field left by the Cadillac. Thanks, Shannon.

The fan walking path is to the left of the fence on the bottom left.

The rest of the field did not seem to have anything for the 31 Cadillac. The Ganassi Cadillac was the only that could keep pace, and they ended up finishing second.

Another Great Day for Indycar Drivers

Colton Herta was a driver on the winning team from Wayne Taylor/Andretti Racing. Herta drove the penultimate shift, and put the car in position to win. Louis Delatraz finished the race with a brilliant drive.

Scott Dixon drove for the second place Cadillac team with teammate Sebastien Bourdais.

Kyle Kirkwood drove for the GTD Pro winning Vasser/Sullivan Lexus entry,

Romain Grosjean’s Lamborghini finished seventh overall in the team;s first IMSA race. Grosjean had a couple of nice stints for the team, who’s goal to just finish the race.

Romain Grosjean in the Lamborghini GTP.

Tomorrow begins coverage of the Thermal Indycar event. I have a lot of mixed feelings about this, which I will talk about as the week goes on,.

Palou Leads Test Day 1

thepitwindow

Alex Palou had the day’s quickest time in the first day of Indycar testing at Sebring. Kyle Kirkwood led the morning session. 15 cars tested today.

Jack Harvey waited until the afternoon round to venture out on the 1.65 mile track. The team was conserving their limited tire allotment.

I spent a few hours at the track. It was great to see Indycar back on track and get a look at the new liveries. They are new and different. Please study carefully before your first trip to the track. I spent the first half of the morning wondering, “Who is that?” I had to look at the numbers on the car to figure it out.

Alex Palou in DHL colors is the biggest shocker. I was taken aback when I saw the number 10 where a 28 should have been. I liked most of the new liveries. Teams have freshened up some old looks by flipping the color schemes. Look for lots of white on the front of vars. I counted six cars with a white front extending from the bottom of the aeroscreen to the nose.

Combined results from today:

Tomorrow’s lineup:

O’Ward drove the number 6 car today for the injured David Malukas.

Some photos:

.

Shortened Warm Up Leaves Teams Guessing on Tires

thepitwindow

A 45 minute fog delay forced Indycar to shorten the scheduled 30 minute warm up session top just eight minutes. Teams used the time to scuff tires. They are still guessing about about which tire will be best.

Fuel mileage may also be in play today as the disruptions to practice and the short window this morning may have hindered preparation.

Can Felix Rosenquist end his time at Arrow McLaren with a win? He has never won a race when he has been on the pole. I think he has a good chance today. This race is up for grabs.

Warmup Results:

Music City Grand Prix Wrap Up

thepitwindow

Photos by Joe Skibinski, Indycar

Some not so quick thoughts:

We finally saw a good race on the Nashville track. At the beginning of the weekend, I was glad that this was the last race on this track. After the race, I’m sad to see this configuration go. I am not enamored with the new layout. We will probably be back to where we in 2021 with an awful race.

Kirkwood the Street Meister

Kyle Kirkwood has had an up and down season, but if the series were all street courses he would be leading the points. Kirkwood’s win today was his second win of his career, the other coming in Long Beach. The second year Andretti driver ha n average finish of 7.6 on the street courses and ana verage starting position of 6.8.He has advanced to at least the second round of qualifying at every street event.

Kirkwood has earned 166 of his 290 points on the street circuits.

He is the only Andretti Autosport driver to win in 2023.

The Andretti team has been strong ion the streets. The team has two wins, two poles, and four podiums in the five street races.

Linus Lundqvist- Sad Ending to a Great Debut

Linus Lundqvist’s Indycar debut weekend was going along at a fairy tale clip. The 2022 Indy NXT champion was a respectabkle 15th in Friday’s practice. He qualified 11th and ran as high as fifth in today’s race. Lundqvist had the fastest lap in the race- 1;16.7115 on lap 57.

It all ended 12 laps later as he slid into the wall in turn 11. Lundqvist had driver of the day completely sewed up just by starting the race.

I hope we can see him in another race his season, and Im sure the list of suitors for his services grew after these last three days. Lundqvist seemed to be very comfortable in the car.

Alex Palou- The Man Who Can’t be Stopped

Alex Palou and his crew seemed resign to dropping through the field near the end of the race. Because they had chosen to pit on the lap 13 yellow for David Malukas, Palou was going to need a splash of fuel in them last 10 laps.

Josef Newqgarden, his closest competitior in the pionts battle, sat right behind him waiting to gain more points. Lundqvisyt’s accident, and the three car pileup on the restart, saved Palou’s third place.

The points leader gained four points on Newgarden. At this point in the season, any extension of a lead is a good thing. Palou could still clinch the title at Gateway.

Television- Why I Like to be at the Track

I am probably spoile by attending 10 or more races each of the last few years, but I have now watched the last four races on television.

I am finding the NBC broadcasts frustrating,especially during commercial breaks. Thank goodness for Indycar radio, who is sometimes on a different break schedule.

What I have noticed this year is that the broadcasters have been too obsessed with so called cel;ebrities who attend the races. Flava Flav at Detroit, and Ric Flair today. These semi famous people received way too much air time.

I have also noticed a Josef Newgarden/Team Penske cslant to their coverage. It seemed as if the booth was rooting for mclaughlin to pass Kirkwood at the end.

I cannot wait to get back to the track next weekend.

Marbles

Why did Indycar not sweep the track of the marbles during the red flag? Did they not want to delay the restart any longer tha necessary. Kudos to the field for avoiding them the last five laps

Today’s Music City Grand Prix had all the elements of a good street race- untimely cautions, lead changes, different strategies, and cars surgin to the front. falling back, and coming back to the front. It’s sad that we have to start anew in 2024 in Nashville just as the drivers have learned how to drive this track.

Kirkwood Continues Andretti Street Dominance

thepitwindow

Kyle Kirkwood led practice session 1 at Toronto this afternoon as Andretti Autosport continues its season long mastery of street circuits. The team has two poles and one win this year on the street circuits.

Kirkwood’s fast ;apof 1:00.8075 was just a tick slower than he 2022 fast Friday time of 1:00.6. Teammmate Romain Grosjean was second, 0.05 seconds behind. Colton Herta in a third Andretti car, finished fourth.

F3lix Rosenqvist from Arrow mMcLaren was third fastest. The Arrow mcLaren team showed quickness as Alexander rossi and Rosenqvist both led the session late. Rossi ended seventh, and pato O’ward was just behind in eighth.

Rahal Lettermman Lanigan drivers showed promise early as Christian Lundgaard led the round early, but graham rahal led the team in sixteenth, followed by Lundgaard. jack harvey was 21st.

Tom Blomqvist’s Indycar debut was decent. He was 26th on the chart, two tenths of a second ahead of Santino Ferrucci, 2.9 seconds behind Kirkwood. Blomqvist is subbiing for the imjured simon Pagenaud, who will be reevaluated this weeekkend by Indycar to detrmine if he can race at iowwa next weekend.

Notes

The cars of Will Power and Josef newgarden are hard to tell apart this weekend. Newgarden’s Snap-On livery is very simlar to Power’s verizon scheme.

Rinus VeeKay was taking some odd lines. His path fortunately did not cause an issue, but there were some close calls.

I hope race officials can repair the manhole cover in that dip in the road. That looks unsafe.

Points leader Alex Palou was 12th fastest today.

Results

Kirkwood- Homework and Calculated Moves for a Successful Race

thepitwindow

A relaxed Kyle Kirkwood talks about the 500

Kyle Kirkwood.studies past5 races to watch what other drivers did and how situations developed. He watches past 500s just from the aeoscreen era since those are the nones relevant to him.

Races before the aeroscreen ‘”…takes up a little too much of your time…,” he said during today’s media availability.

Kirkwood, inhis first year with Andretti Autosport, thinks the amount of passing on Sunday will depend on the weathe rather than the downforce.

“”This place is more weather dependent than downforce dependent. if the weather is cool and it’s crisp, and it’s cl;oudy and thentrack temperaturestays down the racing will be great. But if it gets hot you’re not going to seea lot of passing regardles of the downforce,” he said.

Kirkwood said The 500 is a”very calculated race.”

“I feel like if you push too hard to try and get something done.. it ususally doesn’t work out for you.”

“Four, five, six cars ahead, and you’re planning your passes off that, rather than just the guythat’s directly in front of you.”

Kirkwood feels he has a good race car and was disappointed in not making the Fast 12. He is stilloptimistic starting from 14th.

Kirkwood: A Different Kind of Pressure

thepitwindow

Kyle Kirkwood has a d a few days to enjoy his first career Indycar victory. In2022, he felt the pressure of a highlytouted rookie trying to ucceed in not thebest of equipment. His move to Andretti for 2023 is beginning to pay dividends. In St. Pete Kirkwood told me he flt less pressure in his new team. I asked him today if the win eased the pressure even more.

“Depends on how people perceive it. Right? I think It relieves something. I don’t know if that’s pressure. Because now it’s almost seems like there’s more pressure because people are like, Okay, now that he’s proved that, let’s see him continue to do this, you know, and and there’s pressure from that as well. So it’s a new type of pressure. So it’ll continue.”

As for when nhe might win again, Kirkwood doesn’t have a particular trackm in mind.

“I mean, I have my favorite tracks, right, that I feel like I’m better at than others. But it really depends on the weekend, how we roll out. And I’ve yet to run a road course with them (Andretti) except for at Thermal, which we were really fast. So there is promise there too. We could be really good at Barber.”

The morning session began with some issues, but the team appeared to have figured them out near the end of the practice.

“They’re (running conditions) okay. I mean, we only did four laps at the end. We were having some gremlins that were fighting which is very normal for not running a car for a year then rolling it out here. So you’re always fighting some little things, but we got through it. We ran like four laps there at the end and then and then yeah, the car fell awesome. I thought it was like Man, this thing is planted. Like we got a fast race car. “

The amount of pressure doesn’t seem to bother Kirkwood. I think his win last Sunday was the start of a multi win season.

As of 3:53 pm Kirkwood is sixth fastest with a lap of 224.8906 mph.

Long Beach- Quick Thoughts on a Most Satisfying Race

thepitwindow2 Comments

Indycar photo by Joe Skibinski

First, congratulations to Kyle Kirkwood on his first Indycar win. Kirkwood has won at every open wheel level. Once he starts winning, he doen’t seem to be able to srop. Indycar is a tougher place to win constantly, but I look for him to get at least one more win this season.

Kirkwood’s first win came in his 20th Indycar race, but his third in a compoetitive ride. As I wrote yesterday that his pole win was just a matter of time, so is this first victory.

The Start

Long Beach is not known for great starts, but today;’s was a particularly bad one. Perhaps Indycar could start single fileon the front stretch, or they could start on I believe it is Pine Street where the cars have room and time to line up.

Pato O’Ward was accused of jumping the start, but my first impression was he was not the only one.

Pato’s Bad Day

It was not the best day for Pato O’Ward, who started the race as the points leader. He was fortunate to only fall to second place. His incident with Dixon, which I thought was similar to the mclaughlin/Grosjean collision in St. Pete, might have warranted a penalty. O’Ward’s spin later in the race, which effectively ended his day. was an unenforced penalty.

O’Ward showed good sportmanship letting the leaders by when he didn’t have to late in the race.

Strategy Hurts Newgarden

Josrf’s Newgarden’s strategy seemed to pay off as he grabbed the lead on lap 22. The yellow for Scott Dixon on lap 20 hurt his long range plan. He ended up ninth, having to save fuel the last stint.

Kirkwood stayed out one more lap before his last stop, and got enough of an edge to get out front.

Notes

This was a very good race. Contenders fell back for various reasons, different pit strategies had different outcomes, some not expected, the race ended with a three way battle for the win, with jus two seconds separating the top three at the checkered flag.

There were some great duels throughout the pack. Colton Herta and Alex Palou had a terrific battle for position during the race.

The Rahal Letterman lanigan team had a respectable showing today, finishing 12th, 13th, and 14th. Graham Rahal led the team, followed byJack Harvey and Christian Lundgaard.

Andretti Autosport finished 1, 2 and 4 today. The team has won both street course poles, and they had a shot at winning at St.Pete. They have figured out the street circuits.

No one should be questioning Michael Andretti’s move of Bryan Herta as Kirkwood’s strategist. Herta is the perfect person to work with a young driver,. He coached Alexander rossi to the Indianapolis 500 victory in 2016, and helped Colton to several wins. The Herta/Kirkwood combination could be a title contender by next year.