Tag: NTT Indycar Series

Newgarden Tops Practice 3

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Josef  Newgarden laid down the quickest lap of the weekend in the last few minutes of practice 3 this morning with a time of 1:42.882.  Coton Herta was second 0.35 seconds behind. Will Power had the third best time 0. 38 seconds off Newgarden’ s lap. NTT  Indycar  Series qualifying for the REV Group Grand Prix is at 3:0 pm Central Time.

Yesterday’s session leaders, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi, were fourth and fifth respectively. Four rookies finished in the top ten. In addition to Herta, Felix Rosenqvist was seventh, Santino Ferrucci eighth, and Patricio O’Ward tenth.

I am not surprised by the results of this session. Penske cars have been pretty dominant here, and Newgarden and Power were the front row last year. We could see a repeat of that lineup.

I did some more exploring this morning and found two great viewing spots. One is at the top of the inside of turn seven. There is a large bleacher from where you can see turns six and seven plus the beginning of the carousel after the Speedville bridge.

The other location is somewhat secluded with few spectators. I will just say it is an amazing spot to watch from, but I’m not divulging where it is.

Back after qualifying with Quick Thoughts.  Watch for my full report on Wildfire Sports later tonight.

Saturday Morning at Road America

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It’s a very busy day today. On track action begins at 9 ET and is continuous throughout the day. The Road toi Indy has a full slate with race 2 qualifying for Indy Pro 2000 and Indy Lights. Following the Indycar practice at noon ET all three RTI series hold their first races of the weekend. USF 2000 at 1, followed by Indy Pro 2000 and then Indy Lights.

Indycar qualifying for the REV Group Grand Grand Prix starts at 4 ET.  There is little threat of rain today, but Sunday still looks iffy.

I’m looking at the combined practice results from yesterday. Four drivers had their fastest lap in Practice 1, including Ryan Hunter-Reay, who led that session. Hunter-Reay is sixth on the combined chart. Jack Harvey, Marcus Ericsson, and Max Chilton were at the bottom of the charts in both sessions.  Harvey had a couple of incidents in Practice 1.

Will Power and Josef Newgarden are the only Chevys in the combined top 10 at second and third.

Back with an update after Practice 3.

Rossi Leads Practice 2

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Photo: Alexander Rossi had the day’s fastest lap. Photo by Kyle McInnes

 

Alexander Rossi led the afternoon practice with a  quick lap of 1:43.120. Rossi’s lap was the fastest of the day. Will Power was second at 1:43.408. Seven Hondas were in the top ten, one more than in the morning session.  Power’s teammate Josef Newgarden and Carlin driver Patricio O’Ward were the only other Chevy drivers in the top ten.

The top ten drivers were separated by 0.953 seconds. The fight for the pole tomorrow should be that close.  The entire field is separated by more than 2 seconds.

In the pit stop practice period each car was allowed one hot lap before pitting.  Ryan Hunter-Reay had the fastest lap of that session, 1:44.484.

Saturday’s Schedule:

Practice 3:      12 ET NBC Gold

Qualifying:      3 ET  NBC Gold

 

Hunter-Reay Quickest in Practice 1

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Ryan Hunter-Reay led the first practice for the REV Group Grand Prix at Road America this morning. The first session for the NTT Indycar Series was dominated by Honda cars with six drivers in the top ten. The three Chevy machiunes from Team Penske were all n the top along with Spencer Pigot of Ed Carpenter racing. Will Power was the fastest Chevy in fourth.

The top 5- Hunter-Reay 1:43.755; Takuma Sato 1:43.824; Scott Dixon 1:43.984; Power 1:444.039; and Newgarden 1:44.070. Alexander Rossi was sixth, still behind Newgarden.

The practice was stopped twice for incidents involving Jack Harvey. The second issue saw Harvey miss turn 12 and slide into the runoff area on the driver’s left. Harvey is okay.

I spent some time during practice exploring various parts of the back part of the track from turns 13 and working down the backstretch to turns 10 and 11. The speed the cars have heading to Canada Corner is amazing.  I drove back to the front stretch through the campgrounds. This track never ceases to amaze me with the skill set a driver needs to do a lap here.

Graham Rahal’s car sure looks Bobby’s MGD car when at speed. Very cool to see that look again.

Welcome to Road America

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Just arrived at Road America. Today looks like the best day weather wise. There are chances of rain both tomorrow and Sunday. Sunday’s rain may affect the race.

Today’s Indycar schedule:

Practice 1  12:05 ET

Practice 2   4:00  ET

Pit Stop Practice  5:00 ET

All sessions are on NBC Gold.

 

Remember to set your DVR for Sunday to NBC. If you have the series set to record on NBCSN, it will not transfer over. Back with an update after Practice 1..

Road America Preview- A Crucial Weekend for Title Contenders

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Above: Spencer Pigot exits turn 5 at Road America

It’s the time of year when every point gained or lost becomes magnified. With 8 races left, points have more value every week. The NTT Indycar Series returns to action this weekend at the most beautiful track in the United States, Road America. The 14 turn, 4. 048  mile track has uphills, downhills, tight corners, and sweeping curves.

Road America returned to the Indycar schedule in 2016 after an absence of nine years.  the event has been a great success, with huge crowds. Just four active drivers have won here- Sebastien Bourdais (2007), Will Power, Scott Dixon, and Josef Newgarden.

This weekend is crucial for the drivers chasing Josef Newgarden in the points. Alexander Rossi trails by just 25 points.  A win would be ideal for him, but just finishing ahead of Newgarden will help. Simon Pagenaud in third place needs to improve on what has been a consistent showing around sixth or  seventh place the last few races to stay in contention. Scott Dixon and Takuma Sato could definitely use a better showing than they had at Texas. The fourth and fifth place drivers are on the verge of dropping too far behind to catch up.

I’m looking at five things to watch for this weekend.

Rossi Needs a Win

Rossi’s best hope of catching Newgarden is to start winning races. Newgarden has won three times this year while Rossi has just one victory. If Rossi can win twice more and Newgarden doesn’t win again, Rossi with three second places would hold the second place tie breaker if they are tied in points.

Rossi’s only win in 2019 was at Long Beach. He has never finished better than 13th at Road America. This could be the year he breaks through. Rossi finished fifth at Barber and ninth at COTA  in the two natural road courses to date.

Will RLL Have Another Strong Road Course Weekend?

Rhal Letterman Lanigan drivers Sato and Graham Rahal were dominant at Barber. Sato and Rahal both started on the front row with Sato winning from the pole. Rahal finished 23rd, fighting a throttle issue all day and stopping on track near the end of the race.

Rahal has had three straight top tens, topped with a third place at Texas. Sato won the pole at Texas but finished three laps down after a pit incident on his first stop. If they duplicate their Barber performance, we could see some pints taken from the front runners.

More Newgarden/Cindric Strategy Magic?

At Barber, Detroit Dual 1, and Texas, team strategist Tim Cindric and Newgarden made the correct calls on tire choices and pit stop timing. Each time they got to the front and stayed there. They may have another chance this weekend as there is a chance for rain during the race on Sunday.

They may not need too much strategy, though. Newgarden won last year from the pole. He led 53 of the 55 laps, holding off Ryan Hunter-Reay for the victory. More teams need to watch what they do and follow them into the pits. It seems to be working.

Is This Finally the Herta Comeback Week?

This is becoming a traditional race week question. Colton herta had a brilliant drive at Texas go for naught when he collided with Scott Dixon on lap 228. Herta finished 18th. he had been on his way to a podium finish.

After four straight last or next to last finishes, Herta was 12th in each Detroit race. The winner of this year’s inaugural race at COTA is back on the type of track where he can succeed. Despite the poor finishes, Herta is just three points behind Santino Ferrucci in the rookie standings.  Ferrucci has complete all but two laps this season and has been consistently in the top ten lately.

Time for Dixon’s Run?

It’s getting late for Scott Dixon. Dixon has one win just as he had coming into road America last year. What he also has on this year’s resume is two DNFs for crashes, two more than last year.  Dixon led the standings coming into Elkhart Lake last year, but finds himself 89 points behind the leader in fourth place.  Dixon has been further behind later in a season than this, but it feels like time is growing short for him to make a run. I’m afraid his record of never winning back to back titles will stay intact.

The Wrong Answer

My pick for the win is Ryan Hunter-Reay. He finished second in 2018 after a good battle with Newgarden. Hunter-Reay has been just average so far in 2019, but this was the race that began a strong second half run last year that resulted in two victories.

 

Reminder- The race is on NBC this Sunday beginning at noon ET. Green flag is approximately 12:43 ET.

Logo Logic?

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If you liked the logo for this year’s Indianapolis 500, you’re in luck. You’ll get to see nearly the same design for several more years. For 2020, a checkered flag pattern replaces the bricks (above photo). I assume this background element will change some each year. I though this year’s logo was the best one since the 100th running logo in 2016.  The idea is to create a consistent branding.

I didn’t have a problem with a different logo every year. I thought a new logo said, “This is a brand new race in a new year.” Repeating the same basic logo with a slight variation is similar to what the NFL and NCAA do with the Super Bowl and the NCAA basketball tournament. At least next year won’t be the CIV Running of the Indianapolis 500. Their event logos have become stale and generic. The NCAA has even mandated the same basketball  floor for every site. You have to really look carefully to find the location of a game if you don’t know where it is being played. I hope IMS isn’t head that way.

The bricks are unique to the Speedway. Why that was the part that changed is puzzling.  Every race has a checkered flag.  I think part of the background should retain the bricks in some fashion.

Some logos have been great and some have been clunkers. The 2017 and 2018 were rather bland following the great one in 2016. The Centennial logos from 2009-2011 I like a lot, but they too were followed by just okay badges in 2012 and 2013.

I do like the badge-like center of the design, which we saw in 2007 and 2009.  I think of all the 21st century logos from the chart below, my favorites are from 2019, 2016 2011, and 2014.    The chart is from an article from 2018 on sportslogos.net.

The different logos also help me select the program I need when I’m researching something. Now I’ll need to actually find the year on the program. I wonder if there will be a different logo in 2026 for the 110th running of the 500. That will be another milestone race deserving of special recognition.

In the end, I don’t go to the track or the race because of the logo, but it is nice to distinguish each race by its unique logo. I’ve been to 53 races now, and I really can’t pick  any two that were exactly alike.

 

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More Mid Season Thoughts- Disappointments

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Photo:Have we seen the last of Pato O’Ward in Indycar?

There are parts of every season that just don’t come together as some had hoped. Sometimes fans think a team or driver will have a better year than the previous one, but things don’t always work out that way.  Here are four drivers and/or teams, in no particular order,  I feel have not been as strong as I expected.

Zach Veach

Maybe I was expecting too much at once. Veach, in his second year at Andretti Autosport, has actually improved his average  qualifying position through Texas to a 15.4 from 17.2 in 2018. His finishing average has dropped just a bit, to 15.7 from last season’s 15.2 at this point. He is 19th in points this year. At this point last year, Veach sat 15th.

Since he did better in 2018 at tracks where he had tested, I thought Veach would have a better year since he had seen every track after 2018.  I hope he has a strong second half of the season.

The Disappearance of Pato O’Ward

Pato O’Ward was one of the rookies I was most looking forward to watching drive this season. Before the first race, the 2018 Indy Lights champion losthis full season ride with Harding Steinbrenner Racing. After missing St. Pete, O’Ward and Carlin racing announced a 12 race package, including the Indianapolis 500 and essentially covering the races Charlie Kimball wasn’t running.

O’Ward participated in every race beginning at COTA. He did not qualify for the 500 after a crash early in the week. Indianapolis took the remainder of O’Ward’s Indycar budget. . During May Red Bull signed O’Ward to their junior program, giving him a chance to be a Formula 1 test driver for Toro Rosso. Carlin later announced he would not drive at Gateway or Iowa.

We likely won’t see O’Ward the rest of the season and he probably will drive in Europe next year. It’s a shame that Indycar will miss out on seeing him race. O’Ward would have added even more excitement to an already stellar rookie class.

A. J. Foyt Racing

Like Charlie Brown attempting to kick the football, I keep thinking this team will show improvement when the new season begins. Like Charlie Brown, my hopes fade quickly. Outside of Matheus Leist’s 4th at the Indycar Grand Prix and Tony Kanaan’s 9th at the Indianapolis 500, the results aren’t there again. Kqanaan is 17th in points and Leist is 20th.

The drivers are in their second season with the team which should have resulted in some progress from 2018. In an interview before last Saturday night’s ace at Texas, A. J. said he was not happy with how things were going and said some changes will be coming.

It is painful to see one of the greatest names in racing struggle annually. I hope they can get back to at least being competitive.

The Pits

It seems as if there is more going on in the pits than on the track this year.  Through nine races, there have been 37 penalties assessed for pit infractions. There were twelve in the 500 alone. In 2018 35 pit infractions had been called by this point. In 2019, however, we have seen several cars spin in the pits. Takuma Sato’s violent pit incident Saturday was the worst of the year to date.

I’m not sure what can be done to lower the number of pit incidents.  The cars can’t reasonably enter the pits any slower than they do now and still have a chance in the race. I’d rather see action on the track than in pit lane.

Overall, it’s been a good season. I’m excited to see how the second half plays out.

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Programming note: Motor Trend TV will show the entire LeMans 24 hour race this weekend.  They are also showing qualifying on the Motor trend app. Tv coverage begins at 8 am EDT Saturday.

Scott Dixon and Sebastien Bourdais will drive for Chip Ganassi’s Ford GTE-Pro team. This, sadly, is the last LeMan races for these beautiful cars. Ford ends its GT program at the end of the season.