Tag: NBC Sports

Day 3 at IMS-Focus Begins to Turn to Qualifying

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Above: Conor Daly (R) and Colton Herta side by side in yesterday’s practice session

Today the focus begins to slowly turn to the coming weekend of qualifying.  Two teams, McLaren and the Ganassi car of Felix Rosenqvist, will use back up cars today after yesterday’s accidents.  McLaren is also rebuilding the primary car and may run it tomorrow before deciding which to qualify.

Penske continues to lead the speed chart, but I don’t think we know yet what Andretti has.  Ed Carpenter Racing has also been consistently in the top 10 and Dale Coyne racing showed some quickness yesterday as well.

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Takuma Sato signs autographs for fans in Gasoline Alley

Continue reading “Day 3 at IMS-Focus Begins to Turn to Qualifying” →

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.

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.

The Best First Time-The Rookie of the Year Award

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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

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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 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.

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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

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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.