Tag: NTT Indycar Series

O’Gara Joins INDYCARas Vice President of Competition, Race Engineering  

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From IndyCar

  INDIANAPOLIS (Wednesday, April 15, 2026) – Veteran motorsports executive and longtime race team engineer Mike O’Gara has been named vice president of competition, race engineering, INDYCAR officials announced Wednesday.
O’Gara will serve as the senior technical authority for INDYCAR, leading all aspects of vehicle performance strategy, race engineering and technical governance across the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and INDY NXT by Firestone. He also will be charged to define and drive INDYCAR’s long-term technical roadmap, research and development initiatives and the development of next-generation technologies, including the new 2028 NTT INDYCAR SERIES race car.
Indiana native O’Gara, 54, assumes his new role after over 30 years of experience leading championship-winning programs across INDYCAR, IMSA and the World Endurance Championship, including the last 12 years in executive leadership at Chip Ganassi Racing. During that time, O’Gara established the team’s Cadillac endurance program after helping win the 12 Hours of Sebring (2014), the Rolex 24 At Daytona (2015) and a class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2016).
During his involvement in Ganassi’s INDYCAR SERIES program, O’Gara contributed to the team’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES championships with Scott Dixon and Alex Palou, and 2022 and 2025 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge victories with Marcus Ericsson and Palou.
Prior INDYCAR SERIES team experience includes roles as the director of operations at Sarah Fisher Racing (2010-14) and as a race engineer at Chip Ganassi Racing (2004-10) and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (2000-04).
“I am thrilled to take this next step in my career and honored to join INDYCAR in this critical role for the series,” O’Gara said.
“This is truly an exciting time for the sport with a new car on the horizon and the opportunity to build on a growing focus and interest in INDY NXT.
“I know my prior experience has set me up to successfully contribute and help mold the future of North America’s premier open-wheel racing series. I cannot wait to get started.”
O’Gara’s role at INDYCAR also will include:
Overseeing all technical rulemaking, providing objective, engineering-driven leadership in the development of regulations and technical bulletins to ensure fairness, innovation and cost control.

Working closely with teams, manufacturers and suppliers to align technical direction with the broader goals of the series while fostering transparency and collaboration through technical working groups.

Leading ongoing safety advancements, maintaining a strong and proactive focus on the development and implementation of enhanced safety technologies.
Serving as the central technical voice of INDYCAR, ensuring that engineering strategy, regulatory direction and on-track performance remain aligned as the series continues to evolve.

“Mike’s vast experience in motorsports will make a substantial impact to INDYCAR’s competition and engineering team,” INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said.
“It is clear that his impressive list of accomplishments, engineering acumen and proven knowledge of building high-performance teams and operations have the respect of the INDYCAR paddock and will continue be a real asset for our sport in this new role. We look forward to working with Mike as we look toward building competition, innovation, safety initiatives and INDYCAR’s world-class racing.”

Prior to his experience with race teams, the Purdue engineering graduate served as the technical director at PI Research, USA and a quality engineer for Honda of America manufacturing.

The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Sunday, April 19 on the famous streets of Long Beach, California. Coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. ET on FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX One, the FOX Sports app and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls.  

INDYCAR To Expand, Update Single-Car Qualifying in Firestone Fast Six for Remaining Street Circuit Events

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From IndyCar. The change is one that I suggested after Arlington.

  INDIANAPOLIS (Monday, April 13, 2026) – INDYCAR has announced an expansion of Firestone Fast Six single-car qualifying, including an updated format, for the remaining four street circuit events of the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season beginning with the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Friday-Sunday, April 17-19 on the Streets of Long Beach.
Single-car, single-lap qualifying runs in the Firestone Fast Six made their debut Saturday, March 14 at the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington. The format followed the traditional INDYCAR “knockout” format of Segments 1 and 2, which narrowed the field to six remaining qualifiers.
Moving forward, the adjustments to single-car Firestone Fast Six format will include:

Choice of qualifying order based on Segment 2 results.
The fastest qualifier from Segment 2 will be the first to choose which position they would like to make their Fast Six qualifying run with subsequent choices made for the remaining positions based on the order of Segment 2 results.

Lining up at pit out following tire declaration.Once the qualifying order is determined, teams will make their tire selection – primary or alternate tires – prior to lining up in single-file and in order of their qualifying run, at pit out to await their qualifying attempt.

During Firestone Fast Six single-car qualifying, drivers will leave pit lane and get an opportunity for one lap – starting and ending at the alternate start/finish line. Once the car enters pit lane following that driver’s attempt, the next car will be released for its attempt. As in the streets of Arlington event, tire allotments and tire rules will remain unchanged.

Single-car Firestone Fast Six qualifying also will be scheduled for the three remaining street circuit events after Long Beach, at Detroit, Markham, Ontario, and Washington, D.C. The move to single-car Fast Six qualifying is designed to create a greater opportunity to spotlight and translate the challenge and expertise required by INDYCAR SERIES teams and drivers competing for the top positions on the starting grid.

“The debut of single-car Firestone Fast Six qualifying in Arlington was extremely popular and well received,” INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles said. “Following the event, we reached out to stakeholders to help evaluate the format and look into ways to improve an already exciting session. This slight update will provide the fastest from the Top 12 an earned advantage of choosing when they would like their run in the Fast Six, while tire selection before lining up at pit out will save time and more closely equalize the session.
“With continued input from teams, drivers and our partners at FOX Sports, we believe these updates will further highlight the close competition and perfection it takes to start at the front of the grid.”

As in Arlington, if the Firestone Fast Six single-car qualifying segment is impacted by weather or conditions that cause significant track surface change from one attempt to another, INDYCAR will have the following options:
Revert to standard Firestone Fast Six qualifying procedures, which features all competitors vying for the NTT P1 Award in the standard timed window.
Use the results from Segment 2 to set the starting lineup for the race.
Following the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, INDYCAR will again evaluate the updated qualifying format to determine its use and implementation in 2027.
Coverage of NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying from Long Beach is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday, April 18 on FS1, FOX One, the FOX Sports app and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls. Coverage of Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, round five of the 2026 NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship, begins at 5:30 p.m. ET on FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX One, the FOX Sports app and INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls. 

Quick Thoughts- Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix

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Another race. another Alex Palou smackdown. Similar to his easy victory at St. Pete, Palou beat Christian Lundgaard to the line by 13 seconds. Despite the wide margin at the finish, the story was nearly different.

“Incredible day,” Palou said. “I told you qualifying was one of the best car balances I’ve ever driven. Today in the race, it was pretty good in the beginning, really good at the end, but we suffered a little bit on the used blacks (Firestone Firehawk primary tires) that we had to use.

“Another win here. Love this place, love the fans. What a great day.”

Christian Lundgaard took the lead when Palou made his final stop. He pushed to create a large enough gap to stay ahead when he had to pit and was nearly there. A slow right wheel tire exchange cost him nine extra seconds in the pits. It was enough to allow Palou to coast to the victory. Lundgaard recovered to take second, passing Graham Rahal with three laps to go.

Lundgaard said after the race that he believed he had the pace to get by Palou.

It was a great day for Rahal, who earned his first podium since August 2023 at the Indianapolis Road course. RLL has been making progress with the 15 car this season, and the podium signals more good things to come for this team.

Overall, today’s race was the first real clunker of the season. There was very little passing. The race ran caution free for the second straight year.

Kirkwood Keeps Points Lead

Kyle Kirkwood maintained his points lead, but just barely. He is ahead of Palou by only2 points with his fifth place at Barber. Kirkwood is the most consistent driver of 20206 with four finishes inion the top five, including a win and a second place.

Kirkw3ood has won Long Beach, the next race, twice, including last year from pole. We could have a real points battle this season.

Watch Out For

Christian Lundgaard is beginning to make some noise. He now sits in third in the standings, 35 points behind Kirkwood. Lundgaard has finishes of 2nd, 3rd, 13th, and 7th. He may end up as McLaren’s number one driver this year.

David Malukas continues to be the bright light for Team Penske. His fourth place today put5s him in fourth place, just five points behind Lundgaard. Josef Newgarden started ninth and finished 10th. Scott McLaughlin started 14th after his practice crash Saturday, but struggled to a 16th place result.

Streaks broken– The run of a different winner every race came to an end with Palou’s second win of 2026. Sting Ray Robb finished 22nd after coming home 21st in each of the first three races. So close.

The FOX Conundrum

The booth talent and pit reporters are outstanding. The features production is professional and interesting. Their tribute to George Barber was outstanding.

However, their coverage of the sport, the showcase of the broadcasts is still woefully behind the positive aspects, especially on race day.

A pass for second place was missed early in the race. At one it seemed if there was a commercial break just two laps after a break.

I don’t like the top of screen features during action, especially while pit stops take place. If you want to talk about a musician, do it in the pre-race.

In Friday’s IndyNXT practice, sector times were shown on screen for the first time, never to be seen again. Sector times will very much enhance qualifying.

End of rant.

After four races in five weeks, IndyCar returns to action in three weeks, April 19, at long Beach.

Palou Takes Pole on Crazy Day at Barber

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Scott McLaughlin’s morning accident set the tone for a wild day at Barber Motorsports Park. Prior to IndyCar qualifying, The IndyNXT race saw the two leaders crash while battling for first place, and Nikita Johnson winning his second race of the year.

In the first round of qualifying Will Power lost his brakes entering turn 5 and went nose first into the barrier. Power was not injured, but he will again start at the rear of field. Power has had a difficult beginning in phase two of his career. Since he joined Andretti, Power has had some form of contact every weekend.

In a fierce, competitive qualifying session, Alex Palou won the pole position. he edged David Malukas by 11 hundredths of a second. Points leader Kyle Kirkwood will start fifth.

“Honestly, one of the best cars I’ve driven,” Palou said. “This morning (in practice) I already felt the car was really, really good, really well balanced. We just wanted to start up front, capitalize on a really good car we had today and see for tomorrow. Really happy to get our first pole this year.”

Graham Rahal will start third, Marcus Armstrong rolls off fourth, and Romain Grosjean will start from sixth.

Grosjean had a great lap going in Round 1 until he was impeded by Sting Ray Robb. Grosjean still advanced, while Robb lost his two best laps to that point.

McLaughlin’s crew got his backup car ready. he finished seventh in his group and will start 14th tomorrow.

Notes

IndyCar’s competitiveness was on full display with six teams reaching the Fast Six, and a seventh team starting seventh.

Palou is the fourth different driver to take pole in four races in 2026.

It was a great day for the AMR Safety team and all who helped implement the safety innovations on these race cars. Two drivers escaped serious injuries this afternoon thanks to car’s design.

Of the seven different teams will grid in the first three and a half rows, McLaren is conspicuously missing.

Results

Scotty’s Wild Odyssey; Barber Qualifying Groups and P2 Results

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After a scary crash in turn 1 by Scott McLaughlin, IndyCar qualifying is still scheduled to begin at 2:30 pm Eastern time on FS1. Mclaughlin spun in turn and went rear first through the turn 2 barrier. Yes, though. Not contact. Not hit. Through.

I have seen many spins in that area over the years, but never has a car gone through the the barrier there. The closest call I had seen was a Mazda MX=5 car which smacked the barrier hard enough to destroy the car, but it never penetrated the fence and tires.

Qualifying Groups

Practice 2 results

McLaughlin leads Barber Practice 1

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Photo from Penske Entertainment

Scott McLaughlin led the first practice for the Grand prix of Alabama this afternoon, narrowly edging points leader Kyle Kirkwood by 0.0288 seconds.

“Pretty good start for us on the Odyssey Battery Chevy,” McLaughlin said. “We were all strong, which is a good sign for the team. We’ve done a lot of hard work in the offseason to figure out where we can be better. We’ve still got a lot to learn and be better and stronger.

“Overall, a pretty good start for us. Bring on tomorrow.”

The top five included two Team Penske cars, two entries from Arrow McLaren, and one from Andretti. Alex Palou was the fastest Ganassi car in seventh.

Alexander Rossi caused a red flag when a fueling issue caused him to pull off to the side of the track and stop.

Practice 2 is at 11 am Eastern, and qualifying begins at 2:30 pm Eastern. Both sessions are on FS1.

Results