Tag: NBC Gold

Day 2 Wrap-up

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Photo: Felix Rosenqvist at the Indycar Grand Prix. Photo by Kyle McInnes

Felix Rosenqvist spun in turn two at 5:02. His car snapped as it appeared he caught the grass with his left front tire. He backed into the outside wall the went head on into the tire barrier on the inside.  His spinning car just missed clipping Will Power and Jack Harvey just missed running into Rosenqvist. He was checked and released from the infield medical center.

After just a few minutes of green flag running, the yellow flew for a track inspection. Another track inspection with seven minutes left, the track closed for the day.

Josef Newgarden’ s earlier time of 228. 856 held as the fastest of the day. Alexander Rossi was 34th quickest but had the fastest no tow speed.

Alonso talked to NBC Sports about his accident.

“It was understeer on the car, and even if I lifted the throttle on the entry of the corner, it was not enough, and I lost completely the front aero. The wall came too close and too quickly. Unfortunately, it happened today. We will lose a little bit of running time again. I’m sorry for the team, but we will learn and hopefully, we will come back stronger tomorrow. I’m disappointed and sad for the team and for the guys. We worked quite a lot on the car and definitely now it’s quite damaged, so I feel sorry for the team and for my mistake. We will learn from this and hopefully tomorrow we’re back on track and back stronger”

McLaren is repairing the primary car and also building the backup car. they will try both tomorrow and decide which car to qualify.

Notes

The F1 grid lines are slowly returning as the sealant lightens.

Newgarden said that like last year it is difficult to follow especially in a deep pack of cars. He thinks the race will be similar to last year, but it will depend on the temperature. A cooler day might see better racing than a warm day. Newgarden also noted that the team or other teams as well have not tried all the downforce and aero tools Indycar has made available this year.

Rossi said the team completed their checklist for today and then parked the car. He didn’t seem concerned about his speed ranking today and thought being first on the no tow list was irrelevant.

Mid Day Update- Alonso Crash; All Rookies Complete ROP

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It’s 3:300time for the 3 o’clock update.

Fernando Alonso crashed in turn 3 just after noon today, the first yellow for an accident in practice. Alonso exited the turn and hit the the outside wall, slid backwards toward the infield.  The rear of the car hit the inside wall hard and it rebounded back to the outside wall . There was heavy contact with the left rear. Alonso was uninjured. The team will assess the damage and decide whether to repair this car or prepare the backup machine.

A few minutes before Alosno’s crash Graham Rahal made quite a save exiting turn 2 It looks like understeer is an issue. teams may be experimenting with the different downforce levels and wing settings allowed.

Pato O’Ward completed his rookie test in a special pre practice session this morning. Ben Hanley completed the last phase around 1 pm. All rookies are now eligible to practice and qualify.

Josef Newgarden just had the fastesy lap of the day, 228.856, nipping Scott Dixon’s time by 0.02 miles an hour.

Conor Daly and Dixon did some pit stop practice.

Zach Veach and Colton Herta teamed up to work on drafting.

McLaren has decided to repair their car.

 

500 Practice Day Two

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The second day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 gets a bit of an early start today. Pato O’Ward will have the track to him self from 10:20 -11:00 to complete his rookie test. the 31 car had mechanical issues yesterday which prevented him from getting all three phases done.

At 11 the track opens until 6 for all cars to practice. The current weather forecast calls for a 20% chance rain early. The predicted high is 67 degrees.  Conditions should be good for some more high speeds.

We should get a better idea of which cars and teams are strongest today. yesterday was mainly just feeling out the track, the new Firestone compound, and the aero tweaks that Indycar has allowed for the race this year.

Today’s practice will be on NBC Gold with continuous coverage from 11-6.

As of now, Bump Tales will be posted tomorrow morning. The schedule may change, however. I will let you know tonight.

Unless something major happens, i will have a 3 o’clock update and an end of day wrap up. Thanks to everyone who followed along yesterday.

if you’re going to the track, be safe and have a great time.

Day One Final Thoughts

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It was a very busy day with speeds higher than expected. The conditions were nearly perfect for running.

The three drivers who spoke to the media after practice, Will Power, Kyle Kaiser,  and Colton Herta, agreed that know one knows what anyone has yet. Will Power admitted the top speeds were all with a huge tow.  He was 30th on the no-tow chart.

Kaiser was asked about the team’s sponsor situation. He replied, “I don’t care what color the car is, my job is to drive it. I will do my job and the financial situation will take care of itself.” He was happy with what the team did on track today.

Herta said his incident happened because, “I bit off a bit more than I could chew.”

Power acknowledged repeating his victory last year would be very tough. “There are no bad teams and no bad drivers anymore. The team standards are higher now,” he said.

One nice touch at the track this year is dedicated garage space for the Indy Lights Teams. The former F1 garages on the south end of tower terrace have team signage above the doors. They have been used for staging the Lights cars for their practice/qualification day and the Freedom 100.  I think it’s great to make the Indy lights teams feel as if they are an important part of the entire 500.

James Hinchcliffe got a lot of track time today driving all four of the cars Arrow Schmidt Peterson is involved with this month. I wonder if he gets to pick the one he likes best?

Here are a couple more pics from today.  See you all tomorrow.

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

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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

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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.

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

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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.”

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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 Opening Day at IMS!

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At last the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is open for racing. Today is practice and qualifying for the Indycar Grand Prix. The sixth running of this race begins the NBC network television era. Fans are looking forward to how the network will cover this race and the 500.

While some fans don’t care for this event, it has served its stated purpose, which is to attract a bigger crowd than the opening day of practice or even qualifying would have. Four days of qualifying is no longer necessary, which leaves an open weekend that needed to be filled.

It is cool and cloudy as Indycar’s first practice begins in 15 minutes. It will be interesting to see how much running happens in this session.  Back after practice with results.