Tag: NTT Indycar Series

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Fans Can Get Sneak Peek of ‘100 DAYS TO INDY’ No

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  INDIANAPOLIS (Wednesday, March 15, 2023) – The first look at “100 DAYS TO INDY” was unveiled March 15, providing a sneak peek at never-before-seen footage and exclusive interviews that will feature in the thrilling new docuseries that premieres from 9-10 p.m. ET/PT Thursday, April 27 on The CW Network


The link:

https://youtu.be/61hcyeHnsoQ



The footage was first shown this week at the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas, during a panel discussion with NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward and “100 DAYS TO INDY” director Patrick Dimon.

Produced by Penske Entertainment and VICE Media Group, the six-part series will take fans behind the scenes to chronicle the bold and brash personalities of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES as they begin the 2023 season and start their quest for racing’s greatest prize: the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 28.From the balmy high-speed turns of St. Petersburg, Florida, to the demanding banked oval in Fort Worth, Texas, and the sun-swept streets of Long Beach, California, every mile is an epic moment as “100 DAYS TO INDY” takes viewers into the driver’s seat for unprecedented access to top NTT INDYCAR SERIES stars.

The series will showcase all the intense preparation, relentless competition, a few pranks and plenty of speed before the green flag drops and more than 300,000 fans roar at the world’s largest single-day sporting event.

Produced by multiple award-winning VICE World News, “100 DAYS TO INDY” is directed and co-executive produced by Emmy Award-winner Dimon and executive produced by Bryan Terry for VICE. Adam Marinelli serves as showrunner and co-executive producer, and Falguni Lakhani Adams is executive producer for VICE TV. “100 DAYS TO INDY” is distributed globally by Vice Content Distribution. 
 

Harvey Not Cleared to Drive; Some Other Notes

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Jack Harvey, injured in a crash during the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg March 5, has still not been medically cleared to drive. The driver of the number 30 car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing will miss today’s team test at Barber Motorsports Park.

The nature of the injury is not known, but I believe it has something to do with his wrists.

Juri Vips, a former F2 driver, will fill in today. Harvey will be reevaluated before the Texas race. In 2022 he missed the Texas race after suffering a concussion in the final practice.

Harvey was rumored to be in a make or break year, and the injury and missing time in the car is not helping his cause. Vips also tested with the team last October.

Albert Whitted Airport Getting Another Look

The airport in St. Petersburg is getting another look by the mayor’s office for a possible conversion to another use. When Ken Welch became mayor two years ago, surveys were conducted to see if the city could make better use of thland. Now, the process is beginning again. One of the runways serves as the front stretch and pits for the Grand Prix.

Photo from Tampa Bay Times

The race has just extended its agreement with Indycar for two more years. It will take at least that long for any plans to surface, so I wouldn’t be concerned just yet.

The front stretch (R) is a runway at Albert Whitted Airport the rest of the year

I remember the first time this subject came up, something was mentioned about the FAA having a say in the matter. Stay tuned, but for now, we’re still racing in St. Pete.

Indycar Drivers at Sebring

This weekend’s Mobil 12 Hours of Sebring will feature five full time Indycar drivers and a driver entered in the Indianapolis 500. Three of the drivers are from Andretti Autosport- Devlin DeFrancesco in the number 51 LMP 2 car, Kyle Kirkwood in the Vasser-Sullivan Lexus number 14 GTD Pro, and Romain Grosjean in the number 3 Lamborghini, also in GTD Pro.

Scott Dixon will drive the 01 Cadillac GTP for Ganassi, and Helio Castroneves will drive for his Indycar boss, Mike Shank, in the number 60 GTP Acura.

Katherine Legge will drive car 66, an Acura NSX, in the GTD class.

I will have more Sebring coverage later this week.

Beauty Out of Chaos- Quick Thoughts on St. Pete

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Like a sculptor who has to make several attempts to make a poiece of art,who makes big mistakes and destroys the work in search of pergection, the beginning of the NTT Indycar season at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg began in chaos and ended in a great three way fight for the lead.

The last 20 laps or so had great racing as Marcus Ericsson tracked down Pato O’Ward to take the win. Scott Dixon hing on to third but never really threatened the top two.

I can’t recall watching a race where two cars became airborne in two separate incidents.

The promiose of a great weekend for Andretti Autosport ended in the walls and tire walls of St.Petersburg. Colton Herta and Romain Grosjean threw away their front row starts. Kyle Kirkwood recovered from contact to salvage 16th place.

Whuch leads me to wonder-is Kirkwood the driver I believed him to be? He had a fresh start with a strong team, showed speed until his qualifying incident yesterday, thenhas more contact during the race. I guess we need to wait a little longer to find out.

Great job by Callum Ilott finishing fifrth. The top fic=ve is big boost to Juncos Hollinh=ger. Augustin canapino did a solid job finishing the race.

Alexander Rossi finished fourth in his Arrow McLaren debut. I hope we will see this type of performance consistently from him in 2023.

The Andretti/Mclaren rivalry may becoma a Ganassi/McLaren battle. Tody’s results had Ganassi first and third and McLaren second and fourth. This matchup would be an intriguing battle as the two teasms who have tussled over drivers go head rto head. Sixteen more times, please.

The Foyt’s team misfortunes continue. I don’t know how one team can consistently be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Indycar app did not work in the stands. I also heard from others at the track who had issues with it. It has not worked well all weekend. Let’s hope by Texas it is working properly.

I wonder why Indycar didn’y sweep the track during any of the caution periods,

Turfn three see,e=med the root of many of the troubles. The series might want to look at it before next March.

I will have a follow up story on the nrace tomorrow. Thanks for following along this weekend.

Race Day at St. Pete

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Good morning race fans! The long Indycar winter ends today as the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg gets underway at approximately 12:20 pm Easten.

Today’s schedule:

8:00AM – 8:45AM USF2000 Race 2


9:00AM – 9:30AM NTT INDYCAR SERIES Warm Up—Peacock

10:00AM – 10:55AM INDY NXT Race- Peacock


11:40AM NTT INDYCAR SERIES Driver Introductions


12:30PM NTT INDYCAR SERIES Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RPFunding Race (100 Laps) NBC, Peacock


3:00PM – 3:45PM USF Pro 2000 Race 2

The last two races have been won by the polesitter, although in the overall history of the race, winning from the pole is not that common. I am still sticking with Colton Herta to win today’s race.

The St. Pete race is traditionally a two stop race. The strategy involves when to get the alternate tires out of the way. The majority of the race will be run on the primary.

There will be at least two caution periods, and I hope Indycar doesn’t wait to go yellow just so people vcan pit. Let the breaks of the game happen naturally.

Fast Six Facts

The average Indycar experience of the Fast Six drivers is 3.5 years, counting 2023. Herta is the “old man” of the group, entering his fifth season.

Despitw their experience, the group has 19 poles between them.Only Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson have not won a pole.

Although Kirkwood was the first oen eliminated due to a crash in the final round, he starts fifth ahead of Scott Mclaughlin, who had his times erased when he spun about halfway through the session. Since neither driver ioficially posted a time in the Fast Six, the round 2 times determined their order. Kirkwood was second and McLauglin sixth in the round of 12.

I’ll be back after morning warmup with the starting lineup and starting tire choices.

It is going to be a great start to the season.,

Grosjean on Pole for St. Pete

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Romain Grosjean survived a crash filled fast Six to win the pole for tomorrow’s Firestone Grand Prtix of St. Petersburg. It is his second career pole. Grosjwean led a trio of Andretti Autosport cars in the Fast Six. Teammate Colton Herta will start second. Kyle Kirkwood will start sixth after a crash early in the final round.

The top six:

Romain Grosjean 59.5532 seconds

Colton Herta 59.96871::

Pato O’Ward 1:00.163

Marcus Ericsson !:00,4435

Scott McLaughlin No Time

Kyle Kirkwood No Time

Notes

The second round featured three cars from Andretti, three from Arrow Mclaremand three from Ganassi. Team Penske had just two cars advance- McLaughlin and Will Power.

Kyle Kirkwood had a great weekend going until he locked up the brakes and hit the wall on the first lap of the Fast Six. I still think he will have a strong race tomorrow.

We may be seeing the beginning of a rivalry between Arrow McLaren and Andretti. The teams have had the strongest cars all weekend. Whar=t a great story to dollow this year.

Grosjean’s pole is the 50th for the Andretti organization.

I tried following qualifying on the updated Indycar app. There are still some bugs to work out. The session time always started at 15:00 minutes and didn’t correct until about four minutes remained. The positions updated slowly, with a driver listed twice as his spot changed.

The new qualifying procedure did not profuce a radical change from the past.

The lineup sopuld make for a very interesting race tomorrow. Tire strategy and how the cautions fall-and there will be cautions- will determine the outcome.

Rinus VeeKay felt his lap was hindered and cost him a chanc to advance. He will start 24th. Veekay was in the top six early in his round 1 group and poised for a final run.

Herta Leads Practice 2; Qualifying Groups Set

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Colton Herta led the final practice before qualifying for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Herta’s time of 1:00.0779 was 0.0.0742 seconds ahead of defending pole and race winner Scott McLaughlin. Rinus VeeKay was third and Kyle Kirkwood fourth.

The top 14:

Qualifying Groups

Group 1 Group 2

McLaughlin Herta

Kirkwood VeeKay

Ericsson Palou

Rosenqvist Grosjean

O’Ward Rossi

Harvey Malukas

Lundgaard Dixon

Castroneves Newgarden

Pagenaud Daly

Armstrong Power

Canapino Ilott

Ferrucci Rahal

Robb Pedersen

DeFrancesco

Notes

The light blue nimbers on the Arrow McLaren cars look great when the cars are standing still, but they are hard to see at speed in the bright sunlight.

Mark MIles said attendance for the race weekend is approaching an other record attendance.

Qualifying begins at 2:15 pm Eastern on Peacock

Saturday at St. Pete

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Today’s schedule:

TimeSeriesSession
7:55AM – 8:40AM       MX-5 Cup            Race 1
9:00AM – 9:45AMINDY NXT   Practice 2
10:00AM – 11:00AMNTT INDYCAR SERIES   Practice 2
11:15AM – 12:00PMUSF Pro 2000Race 1
12:15PM – 1:15PM SRO GT AmericaRace 2
1:35PM – 1:55PMINDY NXTQualifying
1:40PM – 2:10PM      USF2000Autograph Session – Outside Mahaffey Theater
2:15PM – 3:30PMNTT INDYCAR SERIESQualifying / Firestone Fast 6
3:45PM – 4:15PM      INDY NXTAutograph Session – Outside Mahaffey Theater
3:45PM – 4:30PM      USF2000Race 1
4:45PM – 5:30PM MX-5 CupRace 2

If yesterday’s practice is anynindication, it is going to be a very copmpetitve season. While Sc ott Dixon led the session at the end, Kyle Kirkwood was the star of the afternoon, leading for mosdt of the first practice. Kirkwood ended up fourth on the speed chart behind Dioxn, Colton Herta, and Alex Palou. Rinus VeeKay was the fastest Chevrolet in sixth place.

Kyle Kirkwood said about his run, “It’s definitely really nice to roll into the weekend with some with some peace, right? I mean, as everyone knows, the cars so close and if you’re behind by a couple of 10ths you’re really fighting to get that all weekend. Now it’s a good feeling, especially since Colton is up there too. And I think some of the other guys that ended up ahead of us Dixon and Palou . I think that they went to new tires at tthe end.”

The Friday crowd at St. Pete seems to get larger every year. Yesterday was one of the largest Fridays I’ve seen here.

I spoke qwith Jack Harvey this morning. he told me turn3 is very slippery and braking in turn 4 is tricky. Qualifying could be interesting this afternoon.

New Qualifying Procedures

For rounds 1 and 2, the first red flag stops the clock. Subsequent red flags do not. The session clock does not begin until the first car crosses the qualifying line between turns 13 and 14. This change should allow for at least one extra qualifying lap.

For the Firestone Fast Six, the cars are guarabteed the full six minutes.

Gallery

Top to bottom: Felix Rosenqvist, Jack Harvey, Scott Dixon, Marcxus Ericsson

Dixon’s Late Lap Fastest in Friday Practice

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In the end, the kids had to let the veterans through. Kyle Kirkwood led most of the last half of practice for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. In the last five minutes,first Alex palou then Scott Dixon beat his time. Colton Herta slipped into secpnd just before the checkered flag.

Dixon’s time of 1:01.6146 beat Herta by0.0329 swconds. The top five had a separation of 0.084 seconds.

Results:

Three red flags interrupted the session. Several cars had issues in turn 3. The Rahal letterman Lanigan Racing cars of Christian Lundgaard and Graham Rahal suffered brake issues.

I will have more about the day later this evening.