Tag: Scott McLaughlin

McLaughlin Stays on Top

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Photo by Kyle McInnes

Scott McLaughlin continues to pace the Indycar field at Portland after the second practice. McLaughlin turned a lap 0f 58.8605 seconds this morning under cool conditions. David Malukas was just two hundredths of a second behind. Malukas will serve a six spot grid penalty for the race.

The field is quite tight. 26 of the 28 cars were within seven tenths of the leader. Only Felix Rosenqvist and Toby Sowery were more than a second behind the leader.

Felix Rosenqvist had a wild ride over the turn 1 curbing, captured by Peacock. He is now just two hours short of getting his pilot’s license.

Three red flags stopped the session briefly, but the field id get the full 45 minutes of green flag time allotted. Will Power spun and stalled in the first five minutes of the session. Sting Ray Robb went off track in turn 11 and went nose first into the tire barrier. Toby Sowery went off tack requiring a stoppage near the end of the session.

Qualifying begins at 12:30 pm Pacific Time.

Results

Notes

Get your spotters guide handy. There are nine cars this weekend with a shade of red and white liveries here. Several cars, notably the number 14, are in a livery that is a complete departure from their usual colors.

It is warming up quickly, and conditions for qualifying should near ideal.

McLaughlin Tops First Portland Practice

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Photos by Kyle McInnes

Scott McLaughlin led today’s opening practice round for the Portland Grand Prix this afternoon. McLaughlin’s fast lap of 58.3 seconds came in the small group session which followed the 45 minute all cars session. Alexander Rossi led the all xars portion of the practice period, and Marcus Armstrong was fastest in the second small group.

The rain cleared for practice, but it returned later this afternoon. We should not see any more this weekend, although temperatures will be cooler than normal.

I arrived in Portland just a few mionutes before practice began, and rental car issues and traffic made getting my credentials a longer process than I had anticipated. I will be at the track early tomorrow for the first practice.

I did watch practice on Peacock. Turn 1 is still a problem spot as several drivers locked up and missed the corner.

Results

McLaughlin Takes Race 1- Some Thoughts

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Photo by Kyle McInnes

The racing was good- what there was of it. Six caution periods slowed the pace. No matter how slow the pace car leads the field around, cautions eat laps quickly on a 7/8 mile track.

Early on we saw a great duel between Colton Herta and Scott McLaughlin. When McLaughlin beat Herta out of the pits, the race was pretty much over.

In the post race press conference, Pato O’Ward talked about how the repave hurt the racing. “You couldn’t get by anybody,” he said. The track seemed to get racier when the sun went behind the grandstands.

We don’t normally see this much attrition in an Indycar race. The half dozen cautions and the number of cars dropping out made the race a bit old school.

McLaughlin starts on pole tomorrow, and he has a great chance of sweeping the weekend. The driver may change, but the team remains the same.

McLaughlin says he can now call himself an Indycar driver since he’s won on an oval. “I’m proud to say I’ve won on all three types of courses, ” McLaughlin said.

O’Ward is now second in points, just 37 behind Alex Palou. Will Power and Scott Dixon are also within 50 points of Palou. The standings are refreshing to see after last year’s runaway by Palou.

Kyle Kirkwood notched another Top 10, as did Santino Ferrucci. Both have been consistent all season,. The logjam of drivers who usually get Top 5s is keeping them from moving up a bit.

I will have a pre race post early tomorrow morning. remember, the race begins at 12:30 pm Eastern

Herta, McLaughlin Take Iowa Poles

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Phot by Kyle McInnes

After a delayed and confusing qualifying session in which Jack Harvey both began and ended, Colton Herta won the pole for tonight’s race and Scott McLaughlin will loead the field to green tomorrow morning.

Hybrid issues apparently hindered Harvey’s run, and he was given another chance. I was traveling during qualifying and will need to watch the replay to see exactly what happened.

Will Power’s two year deiouble pole streak has ended. He will start fourth tonight and 23rd tomorrow.

Josef Newgarden’s string of wins is in jeopardy. the winner of three of the last four Iowa races starts14t5h Sunday and 22nd tonight.

Toniught’s lineup

. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 187.655 mph
2. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevy, 187.526
3. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 186.841
4. (12) Will Power, Chevy, 186.328
5. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 186.208
6. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevy, 186.074
7. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevy, 186.039
8. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevy, 185.405
9. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 185.337
10. (28) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 185.271
11. (60) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 185.196
12. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 184.810
13. (8) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 184.659
14. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevy, 184.336
15. (66) David Malukas, Honda, 184.151
16. (6) Nolan Siegel, Chevy, 183.749
17. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevy, 183.632
18. (30) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 183.623
19. (18) Jack Harvey, Honda, 183.556
20. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 183.504
21. (77) Romain Grosjean, Chevy, 183.453
22. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevy, 182.763
23. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 181.521
24. (41) Sting Ray Robb, Chevy, 177.530
25. (20) Ed Carpenter, Chevy, 176.838
26. (51) Katherine Legge, Honda, 176.225
27. (4) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 175.

There are conflicting reports on whether Harvey will drive in the race tonight because of back pain. Conor Daly will fill in for him if he cannot go.

I will have a quick wrapu after the race.

McLaughlin Leads Iowa Practice

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photo by Kyle McInnes

About to board my flight. Yesterday saw a busy session. Marcus Ericsson hit tge wall. Katherine Legge spun d didn’t hit anything.

Saturday

Times Eastern Iowa is on Central time

2:15p: INDY NXT Race

3:45p: INDYCAR Qualifying Peacock, Indycar radio

5:15p: @lukecombs Concert

8p: INDYCAR Race 250 laps NBC, Peacock, Indycar Radio

Results

McLaughlin Pole Leads Penske Front Row Sweep

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Photo by Kyle McInnes

Scott McLaughlin took the pole away from his teammates with a solid 234.220 mph average speed. He edged Will Power by three tenths of a second and Josef Newgarden by four tenths. The Penske trio was nearly a mile an hour ahead of fourth place Alexander Rossi.

Penske also swept the front row in 1988 when pole winner Rick Mears also won the race.

The pole shootout was anticlimactic as only the drivers kept the same positions they earned in the earlier round of 12.

As usual, all the drama took place in the Last Chance Shootout for the final three spots on the grid.

While most fans expected the drama to come down to Graham Rahal versus Nolan Siege, but it was Marcus Ericsson who created the tension.

Ericsson was on a run that would have comfortably made the field, but he lifted after taking the white flag. Ericsson went out agauin, mainky tom cool his engine. He then waited until there were about six minutes remained to make an attempt which knocked Nolan Siegel out of the race. Siegel went out for one last attempt. His first lap was too slow to make the race, and his last ditch effort ended when he hit the wall in turn 1, and slid to a stop in turn 2, ending a valiant effort by the 19 year old and his crew, who worked all night to get a car ready for qualifying after his crash on Friday.

Graham Rahal made the race on his own merit this year after being bumped in 2023 but getting to start as a replacement for Stefan Wilson.

Katherine Legge was the fastest of the Last Chance round and she will start 31st.

Notes

. I like Alexander Rossi’s chances on Race Day.

Scott McLaughlin is the future of Team Penske. This pole is the first of what I think will be many achievements accomplish at IMS.

I am becoming for a fan of the first day of qualifying than I was when this format first started. It is fun and intriguing. Day two still needs some work. I think it is confusing and a bad marketing move to have both bumping and the pole decided on the same day.

The pole should be determined on Saturday, and the pole winner should be in the broadcast booth while drivers battle for the last few spots.

I will have some more thoughts tomorrow morning. Thanks for following along this entire week.

Provisional Grid

On Track at Last! Mclaughlin Sets Fast Time

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After 12 hours of lost practice time the green flag for Indianapolis 500 practice waved a few minutes after 3 pm. The session had several interruptions for track inspections and moisture.

It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon. It finally felt like May. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for the best weather day of the week. Friday looks iffy at the moment.

From earlier

Think This Weather is Bad? Look at 1956

All 34 cars were on track in a very busy afternoon. I enjoyed getting a look at all the liveries. If you blue and orange combinations or the color pink, you will enjoy this year’s grid.

There were several yellow flags, the longest the last one for what started as sprinkles three hours after the green flag waved.

Scott McLaughlin had the fastest lap of 229.49 mph3. His Penske teammates, Will Power and Josef Newgarden are second and fourth. Colton Herta finished third.

Tomorrow’s practice begins at 10 am Eastern and runs until 6 pm.

Results

Slow Thoughts -Barber

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Photo by Kyle Mcinnes

Team Penske needed a strong showing. Indycar needed a good race. Both got what they needed yesterday afternoon in the Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix.

After a week embroiled in controversy, Team Penske came out strong on Friday as Josef Newgarden led the first practice. Saturday Scott McLaughlin and Will Power swept the front row in qualifying and finished in that order yesterday.

The race behind the leaders was probably the most entertaining race I have seen at Barber. Turn five was the scene of side-by-side action, seldom gentlemanly, but very exciting. The sand trap got quite a workout.

There was some good racing in the middle of the pack. Scott Dixon made a great over and under move to pass Josef Newgarden coming out of turn five. Uncharacteristically, they were racing for fifteenth place.

The cautions were spaced far enough apart to keep things interesting as teams tried different pit strategies. In the end, McLaughlin led 42 laps and beat Power by just over a second.

The star of the race was the third member of the podium, rookie Linus Lundqvist, who earned his first career Indycar podium. It will not be his last this season.

McLaren Follies

At some point, the most popular team in the paddock needs to produce consistent race results. Pato O’Ward qualified well, but went off track trying an optimistic move in turn five, then was penalized for avoidable contact with Pietro Fittipaldi, and finished 23rd after starting fourth.

Alexander Rossi lost a wheel on lap 47 and finished 25th.

Herta to the Top

Colton Herta had a great, if quiet run to eighth place after starting 15th. The finish was enough to give him the points lead by one over Will Power.

Defending champion Alex Palou is third, just three points behind.

Newgarden trails Herta by 53 points, the amount he was docked from St.Pete.

Notes

Barber announced its best crowd in more than 10 years this weekend, 86,000 over the three days. Yhe event has grown since my first time there in 2012. With that that growth has come a creeping corporate presence, which has squeezed some vantage points for fans. A free grandstand on the backstretch is now just two small sections.

I know it’s a way to generate money, but tracks need to consider where they put their suites.

The tram system was the most efficient I have ever seen it. It appeared the track had extra tram s running. After the race yesterday, I had to wait for the third tram to arrive to board, but my wait was less than 10 minutes. I got back to my parking are on the other side of the track in less than 15 minutes.

The scoring pylon worked well for the most part, but the thing that annoyed me was the IndyNXT standing were displayed as positions 28-36. I found it frustrating to follow who was where below 10th.

On to IMS

Wednesday begins the greatest month of the year. Indycar begins wioth theSonsio Grand Prix on the road course May 11, and the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 26th.

Thanks for following along here this past weekend. It was difficult to cover given the limited cell service, but a story like P2P scandal is why I originally wanted to be a journalist.

Barber Saturday Wrapup-Penske Locks Out Front Row

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Photos by Kyle McInnes

Scott McLaughlin nip teammate Will Power by 0.003 seconds to win the pole for tomorrow’s Indycar race at Barber. Motorsports Park.

The 1-2 front row for Penske comes at the end of a turbulent week for the team involved in a controversy about illegal use of push to pass in the opening race at St. Petersburg.

Results:

 

1. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 1:05.9490 (125.552 mph)
2. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 1:06.0460 (125.367)
3. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 1:06.0818 (125.299)
4. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 1:06.2940 (124.898)
5. (60) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 1:06.4524 (124.600)
6. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 1:06.9022 (123.763)
7. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 1:06.0942 (125.276)
8. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 1:06.2908 (124.904)
9. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 1:06.2959 (124.895)
10. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 1:06.3013 (124.884)
11. (77) Romain Grosjean, Chevrolet, 1:06.3526 (124.788)
12. (66) Tom Blomqvist, Honda, 1:06.3871 (124.723)
13. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 1:06.1425 (125.184)
14. (20) Christian Rasmussen, Chevrolet, 1:06.4803 (124.548)
15. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 1:06.1481 (125.174)
16. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 1:06.5054 (124.501)
17. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 1:06.2751 (124.934)
18. (28) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 1:06.5846 (124.353)
19. (8) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 1:06.2825 (124.920)
20. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 1:06.6706 (124.193)
21. (51) Luca Ghiotto, Honda, 1:06.4788 (124.551)
22. (18) Jack Harvey, Honda, 1:06.7969 (123.958)
23. (4) Kyffin Simpson, Honda, 1:06.5267 (124.461)
24. (6) Theo Pourchaire, Chevrolet, 1:06.9052 (123.757)
25. (41) Sting Ray Robb, Chevrolet, 1:06.8404 (123.877)
26. (30) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 1:07.4920 (122.681)
27. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 1:07.7392 (122.234)

Notes on the Day

Lack of a cell signal prevented me from reporting during the day.

Rinus VeeKay

Rinus VeeKay led the morning practice session, but electrical issues prevented him from challenging for the Fast Six. He will start last tomorrow.

Felix Rosenqvist has made the Fast Six in every race this season. Tomorrow is the first time he will not be on the front row.

Christian Lundgaard looks very strong this weekend and he is my pick to win Sunday.

Scott Dixon starts 13th, but he will still end up in the top 10 tomorrow. He currently leads the point standings by two over Colton Herta, who rolls off 15th.

Luca Ghiotto qualified 21st in his first Indycar event.

Barber had another strong attendance day. The hill between turns 2 and 3 were fuller than i have seen them ina few years. The track seemed to have more than the usual number of trams running. They were full most of the day, and I had no issues getting around the track.

Tomorrow’s schedule: Eatsren times. Barber is ibn the Central time zone.

10:15– IndyCar warmup Peacock

11: Indy NXT race Peacock

1 pm- NBC television window begins.

1:40- Green flag Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix. NBC, Peacock