Tag: Road America

Road America Wrap Up- Palou Flies Solo

thepitwindow

The air was hot, the track was hot, and t5he action was hot. Teams played Pit Stop Roulette, but in the end, we saw the same result.

The fuel save master just missed, and the tire master came out on top again. In an entertaining, action packed race at Road America where the winner wasn’t decided until the last three laps. Alex Palou won his sixth race of the year after Scott Dixon fell two laps short on fuel.

Some thoughts:

The chaotic start with eight laps of caution in the first 12 laps led to a wide mix of pit and tire strategies, which in turn led to a lot of on track battles. From my view in turn 5, I’m surprise there were only five caution periods. Drivers were pushing each other to the outside with lots of contact. I have never seen so much dust kicked off at the exit of the turn as I did yesterday.

I had a good view of Sting Ray Robb’s incident. he was fortunate that he scrubbed off some speed on the concrete barrier before he hit the tire wall. It appeared he couldn’t brake. It seems I say this every race, but hats off to the safety design features of this chassis. Robb stopped in a place where the AMR safety stations a truck, but still it seemed as if they were headed to Robb before he came to an abrupt stop.

Great Drives

Santino Ferrucci finished third after starting 18th. Scott Dixon finished ninth from 25th on the grid, and he had a chance to win because of pit strategy. Rinus VeeKay started 22nd and finished 10th, overcoming three penalties.

David Malukas started seventh, went off track on lap 1, and roared back to end the race where he started. Malukas complained of the heat affecting him. While no other driver mentioned it, I’m sure heat was a factor for many.

Penske’s Lost Year

For the last two races, I have thought that Team Penske would begin a comeback to being a factor. At Gateway the trio of Will Power, Scott McLaughlin, and Josef Newgarden qualified first, second, and fifth. None finished the race.

Yesterday the team started fourth, eighth, and 10th. They finished 12th, 14th, and 25th. Josef Newgarden has four results lower than 20th and is 17th in points. McLaughlin and Power are still in the top 10 in points, but ypoun have to wonder for how long?

Even before the organizational shakeup in May, the team seemed not quite up to their usual standards. It is sad to see a team decline as rapidly as they have.

MSR Rising

Felix Rosenqvist finished second as he continues to quietly stay in the top five in points. Rosenqvist is now fourth in the standings, and teammate Marcus Armstrong’s fifth place result has him standing 11th for the year.

MSR has thrived in their relationship with Chip Ganassi Racing.

Foyt Ascending

It ius ironic that A. J. Foyt Racing is doing better tha the team they have atechnical alliance. The association with Team Penske has yielded marked improvement for one of the smallest teams in the paddock.

As not6ed earlier, Santino Ferrucci and David Malukas both had top 10 results yesterday. Ferruci is now ninth in points and Malukas is 12th, a far cry from the years when this team hovered on the brink of missing out on the Leaders ‘Circle.

After seven rather mundane races, IndyCar has produced two very good, exciting races with lots of passing, position battles, and doubts about who would win until near the end of the race. I hope this trend continues when the series goes to Mid-Ohio in a couple of weeks.

Results

Race Day at Road America

thepitwindow

Today’s schedule: All Times Central Warmup and IndyNXT on FS!; IndyCar race on FOX.

Good morning from an already warm Road America. The temperature should be around 91 degrees by the green flag. If you’re at the track, remmeber to hydrate early and often.

There will actually be a third race today, as many fans from Indianapolis will be racing home to watch Game 7 of the NBA Finals. I will be among them, so there will be a very brief post race report. Go Pacers!

As for the featured race, could this be a very good day for Louis Foster? He has looked strong all weekend. Alex Palou looks to be in position to shake off his post 500 funk and return to victory lane. Kyle Kirkwood starts right behind Palou, and the two title contenders might have an interesting battle today.

Tire strategy will be key this afternoon. Graham Rahal ran the Fast Six on primaries, so he has plenty of alternate tires to se in the race. Other drivers used scuffed alternates. We will have a better idea of tire plans when the starting tire compounds are declared after warmups.

I will be back with warmup results and starting tire choices later. stay safe out there today.

Road America- Birthplace of Rookies on Pole

thepitwindow

Louis Foster took the pole for tomorrow’s XPel Grand Prix in the car that he crashed last Sunday night. It was the second straight year that a rookie has won the pole at Road America. Linus Lundqvist won the pole in 2024.

Foster earned the first pole for RLL Racing since 2023 in Portland when Graham Rahal started at the point. Rahal was also in the Fast Six today, and he will start sixth.

RLL drivers have flirted with the pole before in 2025. Rahal nearly started first in the Sonsio Grand Prix at IMS.

With Robert Shwartzman winning the pole for the Indianapolis 500, two rookies have poles halfway through the season. I am sure someone will find another time that this has occurred.

Notes

It was not the day Team Penske hoped for. Scott McLaughlin was the only driver to advance to the Fast Six while Will Power will start eighth and Josef Newgarden will start 10th. Newgarden got intom the second round when Scott Dixon received a penalty for impeding another driver.

Points leader Alex Palou starts second and Kyle Kirkwood, thiSaturday usually draws a large rd in points, starts third. Second place Pato O’Ward starts 11th.

Today’s attendance was arguably the largest Saturday crowd I’ve seen here. I watched qualifying from the top of hte hill at turn five. The area looked like it normally does on race day.

Results

Road America Saturday- The Heat is On

thepitwindow

Today’s schedule all sessions on FS. Times Central

9 am- IndyNXT Practice 2

10 am- IndyCar Practice 2

12:30 pm Indy NXT Qualifications

1:30 pm IndyCar Qualifications

Weather from @Indycar_Wxman

if you are at the track, please stay hydrated. Although there is a breeze, it may n ot provide much relief. Stay safe, fans.

Temperatures for practice will not be too bad, but at qualifying time things could change. How will the cars react to very different conditions from yesterday/ Will the hybrid units have any issues?

I could see a second straight Team Penske front row lockout today. They were very strong Friday and at Road America the team is usually quite good.

The most puzzling result yesterday was Colton Herta in 23rd. Herta usually does well here, and he won the pole two years ago.

I plan to watch practice from turn 7. I’m unsure of my vantage point for qualifying, assuming I go outside for it. I will be back after practice with results and qualifying groups.

Nothing New at the Front

thepitwindow

Kyle Kirkwood turned the fastest lap in today’s only practice session for Sunday’s XPel GP at Road America. Kirkwood edged Devlin deFrancesco by0.1533 seconds and Will Power by 0.1914 seconds. Kirkwood has won the last two races, but he faces a stiff challenge from the Team Penske cars this weekend. All three Chevy powered drivers were within three tenths of a second or less of Kirkwood.

Two red flags interrupted practice. Santino Ferrucci went off course and needed a tow in. With less than five minutes remaining Alexander Rossi sopun in turn 1 and ended up in the sand trap. Less than a minute remained when the green was thrown.

In a post practice media availability Newgarden showed no ill effects from his crash at Gateway last Sunday. he attributed it to bad timing.

“I had nowhere to go,” he said.

Newgarden said that if fans want to see what an IndyCar can do, IMS and Road America are the two tracks that show the performance of the cars.

Notes

Team Penske cars looked very strong, finishing today third, fourth, and sixth.

The new bridge is very nice and much safer than the old tunnel. I have said since my first trip here in2016 that the tunnel was dangerous and needed to be either all pedestrians or all vehicles. It is now pedestrians only.

Heatb will be a factor tomorrow and Sunday. Some teams had hybrid issues in the heat at Thermal. Both Newgarden and Felix Rosenqvist don does not anticipate any issues this weekend.

Results

That will do it for me for today. Thanks for following along. I’ll be back tomorrow with morning practice results and qualifying groups. All sessions are on FS1 tomorrow.

Good Morning From Road America

thepitwindow

Welcome to a cloudy, cool day at the National Park of Speed. The threat of rain has diminished, but the clouds are expected to linger most of the day, with a high of around 78 degrees. Enjoy this balmy weather. The forecast for tomorrow and Sunday calls for highs in the low to mid 90s with heat indexes near 100 degrees. If you’re at the track, please remember to hydrate. A lot.

Things seem a bit subdued this morning, as many fans are recuperating from watching last night’s Pacers game. I watched from a restaurant in Elkhart Lake, and I could have sworn I was in downtown Indy. There will be a mad rush down I-65 Sunday after the race as people try to get back to indy in time to watch Game 7.

It hadn’t really dawned on me that 2025 is the 70th anniversary of Road America. As far as tracks go, this is an impressive age. IMS is 116 years old. The Milwaukee Mile dates to 1903. The free fan guide available at the track has a lot of information, including a nice two page history of the track.

There are some changes coming tothe track. The pedestrian bridge on the front stretch, built in 1961, will be replaced with a structure which will accommodate both pedestrians and golf carts. The North paddock area will be paved. Renovations will be made to suites and the press paddock.

On track, barriers on driver’s left at turns 4-5 and turns 13-14 will be straightened. The barrier bases will be removed and reconstructed.

The are at the kink just off the track surface has been redone with what is called “grasscrete. It’s a perforated strip f concrete which allows grass to grow through it. Its purpose is to eliminate dust thrown on the track and allow for a cleaner exit.

I’ll be back with more later. i am going out to explore the grounds and see what else is new here.

Road America Preview- The Search for Number 3

thepitwindow

IndyCar has sought a third engine manufacturer for awhile now, but with the announcement that that a new power formula has been pushed back to 2028, that quest is a bit moot right now. Still the number three still lurk throughout the paddock, as in who will be the third race winner of 2025?

This weekend will be the 11th race at Road America since the series returned in 2016. Two races took place in 2020. Last year was heonly time I have missed this event, and when I planned ny 2025 schedule, everything else revolved around a return to Road America.

The first practice is at 4:30 pm eastern today on FS2.

Last Sunday’s amazing race at Gateway showed every indication that he winner would not be named Alex Palou or Kyle Kirkwood. Team Penske locked out the front row and took three of the first five starting spots. In the end, Kirkwood won his third race of the year, and second in a row. Palou has won at Road America, and Kirkwood had a track career best of fifth last season.

Like the Madison, Illinois oval, Road America has seen dominance by Team Penske. Last year they swept the podium. Will Team Penske salvage something from what has been a dismal year on Sunday?

Pato O’Ward is second in points depite not winning a race so far this season. In 2020 Race 2, he was nipped with two laps to go by Felix Rosenqvist. O’Ward is arguably the leading candidate for race winner number three.

Colton Herta was on the pole in 2023, but a questionable strategy call cost him a victory. He has been close, and this might be his weekend.

Weather may be a factor with high temperatures getting into the 90s on Saturday and Sunday.

I’m going with O’Ward to beak though this weekend. He will maintain his slight edge over Kirkwood in the standings, but Palou will still keep his healthy lead.