Tag: NTT Indycar Series

Race Day at Portland

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Good morning from Portland International Raceway.

Today’s Schedule: Times Pacific.

10:06 am- Indy NXT Race 35 laps or 55 minutes FS1

11:30 am Driver Introductions

12:22 am Green flag- Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland 110 laps FOX

Weather- 85 degrees at green flag, climbing to 92 degrees by the end of the race. Track temperature should be around 117 degrees at the start of the race and climb.

Only seven drivers will start on the alternate tires, including the first three starters. All team Penske cars are starting on alternates, and Andretti starts two of their drivers, Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson, on the red tires.

My initial pick of Christian Lundgaard still seems pretty solid despite his grid penalty, but I am going to hedge a bit and make Felix Rosenqvist my co choice to win.

Crowning a Champion?

Alex Palou’s chances of clinching the series championship depend on where Pato O’Ward finishes. O’Ward can get a maximum of 53 points today. Plaou needs to end the day with a lead of 108 points. If O’Ward gets max points, Palou needs to finish second. Pato needs to outscore Palou by 14 points to keep the title alive for two more weeks.

Milwaukee Under Water

Heavy rains in Milwaukee have flooded Wisconsin State Fair Park, home of the Milwaukee Mile where IndyCar will race in two weeks. The park is closed today.

I hope everyone in Milwaukee stays safe, and the waters recede safely.

I will be back after the race.

Lundgaard Pole Caps Wild Fast Six

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IndyCar photo

In one of the more entertaining Fast Six sessions of the season, Christian Lundgaard snatched the pole from Will Power late, but a penalty will drop him to seventh on the starting grid. Without the penalty the front row would have been a McLaren lockout as Lundgaard’s teammate, Pato O’Ward, finished second and will inherit the pole for tomorrow’s race. O’Ward missed out on a point that would have helped in his pursuit of Alex Palou for the series championship.

Christian Lundgaard and Pato O’Ward. This will not be the last time we see this front row.

Arrow McLaren has struggled in the past in qualifying, but 2025 has seen marked improvement.

Power led for most of the Fast Six as he and teammate Josef Newgarden both made the second round. Newgarden qualified ninth, but has a six place grid penalty.

Points leader Alex Palou was making a charge for the top spot when he spun and tapped tire barrier, relegating him to sixth place

Notes

The second row will feature Will Power and David Malukas. Irony?

After all penalties are served, Lundgaard will start seventh, Newgarden 15th, Kyffin Simpson will start 18th, and Santino Ferrucci will lineup 21st.

It was a disappointing day for the Andretti team, with only Marcus Ericsson reaching the second round. Colton Herta will move up to 12th in the official lineup.

Results

The final warmup session before Sunday’s race will be this afternoon at 4:30 Pacific on FS1.

Herta Leads Practice; Newgarden Loses Engine; Qualifying Groups

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Colton Herta had the fastest lap in this morning’s practice session ahead of qualifying for the Bitnile Grand Prix of Portland. Josef Newgarden lost an engine during practice and will receive a six place grid penalty. With qualifying just 90 minutes after practice, the team is scrambling to replace his powerplant.

New engine waiting installation.

Results

Times continue to be tight with only 0.27 seconds between forst and tenth. Any small mistake in qualifying could cost a driver several spots.

Qualifying Groups

Portland Qualifying Day-A Busy Morning

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Today’s Schedule- Times Pacific

9 am -IndyCar Practice 2 FS1

11:35 IndyCar Qualifying FS1

1:30 pm Indy NXT Practice 2 FS 1

4:30 pm IndyCar Final Practice FS 1

5:30 pm Indy NXT Qualifications FS 2

Today’s program also includes four races on The Road to Indy. There are two races for USF Juniors, the first at 2:30 pm and the second at 6:30 pm.

USF Pro 2000 races at 10;20 ad, and USF 2000 gets the green flag at 3:25 pm.

Christian Lundgaard said the week off helped his team.

“It’s been really nice for everybody to have a nice little weekend off. Regroup, recharge. We all needed that week off,” he said.

“If we can execute this weekend and carry this momentum, then we can have a good end to the season.”

Seven teams placed cars in the top ten in Friday’s practice, and they were separated by just three tenths of a second.

Temperatures today are expected to climb to 87 degrees, but the morning practice will run in 64 degree weather. For qualifying, the temperature should be in the low 70s. Final practice will run in conditions similar to green flag conditions tomorrow at around 85 degrees.

Notes

It was hard to gauge attendance yesterday, but it seemed about average for Friday at Portland.

I hope we see merchandise for this Felix Rosenqvist livery soon. I would be grateful.

I will be back after practice with results and qualifying groups.

If you are coming to the track, remember to hydrate and wear sunscreen.

Lundgaard Leads Tight Practice 1

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Five drivers finished practice within two tenths of a second in the opening npractice session for Sunday’s IndyCar race at Portland International Raceway.

Christian Lundgaard nipped Alex Palou by just one tenth of a second, turning a lap of 59.1037 seconds. Following Palou were Marcus Armstrong, Felix Rosenqvist, Josef Newgarden. Newgarden’s time was 59.3014 seconds. Louis Foster in 13th place is the first driver more than a half second off Lundgaard’s mark.

Several red flags halted the session, the longest for Scott Dixon who went off course in turn 11 and narrowly missed hitting the tire barriers.

In a media availability after practice, David Malukas was non-committal about his status for 2026.

“Same old, same old,” was his response, saying he is racing for A. J. Foyt Racing right now.

Kyle Kirkwood also spoke. He had the seventh quickest time today. Kirkwood is encouraged necause when Andretti tested here a couple of weeks ago, morning conditions were similar to what they will be for tomorrow morning’s practice, and afternoon conditions were similar to Sunday’s race forecast.

Tomorrow is a quick, early day for IndyCar with practice at 9 am Pacific time and qualifying at 11:35 am. There is a finaql practice at 4:30 pm.

I will be back int he morning. Thanks for following today.

IndyCar Announces Grid Penalty

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From IndyCar:

 INDIANAPOLIS (Friday, Aug. 8, 2025) – INDYCAR has announced a six-position starting grid penalty for the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing entry for avoidable contact involving driver Kyffin Simpson during the Sunday, July 27 race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The penalty comes after a post-race review of the Lap 1, Turn 6 incident with the No. 60 entry of Meyer Shank Racing.
Simpson was in violation of:
Rule 9.3.3. Avoidable Contact – The primary responsibility for avoiding contact with a Competitor resides with the overtaking Competitor and the secondary responsibility resides with the Competitor(s) being overtaken. A Competitor who fails to demonstrate their responsibility and initiates a maneuver that results in contact with another Competitor may be penalized.
According to the rulebook, a penalty can be applied at the next INDYCAR race if the penalty cannot be served at the event where the infraction took place.
Consistent with an Unapproved Engine Change-Out penalty in the INDYCAR rulebook, the Avoidable Contact grid penalty is six positions on road and street course events and nine positions at oval events and will be served at the series’ next event, the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland presented by askROI on Sunday, Aug. 10 at Portland International Raceway.