Tag: Will Power

Race Preview- Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey

thepitwindow

It is Power’s title to lose

Today’s Schedule: All Times Pacific

8:30 – 8:45 T&S On Track
9:00 – 9:30 Practice 1 Spec Racer Ford
9:45 – 10:15 Practice 1 US Touring Car Championship
10:30 – 10:45 OEM Laps
11:45 – 12:15 Practice 2 Spec Racer Ford
12:15 – 1:15 NTT INDYCAR Autograph Session
12:30 – 1:00 Practice 2 US Touring Car Championship
1:15 – 2:05 Practice Indy Lights
2:30 – 3:45 Practice 1 NTT INDYCAR Series  Peacock
4:00 – 4:30 Qualifying US Touring Car Championship
4:45 – 5:30 Two Seater Rides

I hate writing the preview for this particular race because it means the season ends in two days. 2022 has been a year of great racing and a tight championship points battle. But, the year end review has to wait ntil we see how the final chapter plays out.

While the main focus is on who wins the championship, there are a couple other stories to watch this weekend.

The Astor Cup Goes To…

With just 20 points separating the top three drivers and Marcus Ericsson just 39 points behind, any of the four has a shot. Realistically, I think it is Will Power’s title to lose.

The chart Indycar posted yesterday shows ahy Power is in good shape.

YEARLEADERSECOND LEADCHAMPION
2008Scott DixonHelio Castroneves30Scott Dixon
2009Scott DixonDario Franchitti5Dario Franchitti
2010Will PowerDario Franchitti12Dario Franchitti
2011Will PowerDario Franchitti11Dario Franchitti
2012Will PowerRyan Hunter-Reay17Ryan Hunter-Reay
2013Scott DixonHelio Castroneves25Scott Dixon
2014Will PowerHelio Castroneves51Will Power
2015Juan Pablo MontoyaGraham Rahal34Scott Dixon (-47)
2016Simon PagenaudWill Power43Simon Pagenaud
2017Josef NewgardenScott Dixon3Josef Newgarden
2018Scott DixonAlexander Rossi29Scott Dixon
2019Josef NewgardenAlexander Rossi41Josef Newgarden
2020Scott DixonJosef Newgarden32Scott Dixon
2021Alex PalouPato O’Ward35Alex Palou
2022Will PowerJosef Newgarden20?

Not since 2015, the first year the final race went to a road course, has a driver come from behind to snatch a title in the final race of the season. Scott Dixon, tied for second with Josef Newgarden this year, accomplished the feat. Dixon won the title on a tiebreaker. Newgarden holds the tiebreaker, most wins over all contenders. Dixon holds the tiebreaker over Power.

Power simply needs to finish third to win the title, or stay ahead of the other contenders.

Qualifying

Saturday’s qualifying results will have a huge impact on who finishes where during the race.It should be the most intense qulaifying session of the season. Power has four poles this season, and a fifth would go a long way toward his championship.

The Other Title

David Malukas

The race for Rookie of the Year has also come down to the last race of the yhear. Christian Lundgaard’s once healthy lead over David Malukas is down to five points. Both drivers have had a podium, both Lundgaard and Malukas have had strong second halves of the season. I think Malukas has a bit more momentum right now, and I think he will end up with the rookie honor.

Last Rides

Alexander Rossi and the NAPA livery have been a fixyture on the circuit for seven years.

At least four drivers will be driving one final time for their current team. The saddest parting of all is Alexander Rossi, who will leave Andretti and the 27 car for Arrow McLaren SP. Rossi burst on the Indycar scene wit his shocking win at the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie. It will be strange not seeing him in the 27 in 2023. Next year will be the second year in a row we need to get used to a different driver in a famliar Andretti livery.

Kyle Kirkwood will move from A. J. Foyt Racing to Rossi’s 27 at Andretti. This kove was virtually predetermined before this year began. I hope Kirkwood will have a better year next season with Andretti.

Alex Palou will most likely not be oin the 10 for Chip Ganassi next season. here he drives in the McLaren stable is still unclear. IT may be a while before we see Palou in an Indycar again.

Felix Rosenqvist may or may not be having his final Indycar ride for AMSP Sunday. His situation is unclea. He could even be with a different team in 2023. What I finsd sad is that Rosenqvist and Pato O’Ward have been arguably the best teammates at working together on the grid. Their cars are consistently equal each weekend. This pair of drivers are the fiercest competitors on track and they support each other.

Herta off to F1?

Is Sunday Colton Herta’s last Indycar drive for a while? A decision about his F1 super license will come early next week. If it is, we could se him leave with another dominating performance on a track his family owns, racing wise.ert

Will David Malukas return to Coyne? I would love to see what he could do in a second season there, but openeings at bigger teams will be beckoning. Malukas has shown steady growth throughout the year, and he could shine in 2023.,

Quick Thoughts- Portland Grand Prix

thepitwindow

A very processional race sets up an intriguing championship fight next week. Scott mclaughlin’s dominant win pulls him within 41 points of Will Power. Scott Dixon and josef Newgarden both trail Power by 20 points, and Marcus Ericsson is just 39 points behind.

This is the closest five drivers have been heading into the final race since 2003. Ericsson and McLaughlin need a lot of help to win the title, but Dixon and Newgarden have a legitimate chance.

Alloowing the race to start at the exit of turn 12 helped avoid a big wreck in turn 1, but as I feared, it made for a rather mundane race.

Someday Christian Lundgaard wiil put a complete race together. Today was not that day. He made a brilliant move in turn 1 to to grab second from Power, but his late error in turn 1 after the caution cost him a top 10.

David Malukas now trails Lundgaard by just five points in the Rookie of the Year standings.

Never count out Scott Dixon. Another bad qualifying turned into a podium finish. He’s been in a couple of championships that went to the finale.

Newgarden may have cost himself a copuple of spots by going with blacks on his final stint.

Rinus VeeKay continues his up and down season. His contact with Jimmie Johnson cost hoim a possible top 10 finish.

I never thought I would see a Portland race with just one caution.

Podium Down Under

For the first time since 2011, all the drivers on the podium were from Australia or New Zealand.

All three drivers wilbe in contention for the win next week. as well. Dixon said tire degradation is extremely high at Weather Tech Raceway. Power repated what he said yesterday about it being a difficult track.

I will have a wrap up of the weekend tomorrow for you to read as I drive to Seattle. Thanks for following along this weekend.

Power Leads Penske Sweep of Practice 2

thepitwindow

Last week’s test is paying off for Team Penske so far this weekend, as Josef Newgarden led yesterday’s practice and this morning Will Power led the practice, followed by teammates Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin. The three drivers were separated by less than a tenth of a second.

Colton Herta was fourth fastest, followed by Christian Lundgaard, Graham Rahal, Scott Dixon, and Alexander Rossi.

David Malukas led the middle part of the session, but faded to 11th by the end.

It was a clean session, unlike the may interruptions yesterday..

Practice ran under cloudy skies, and the weather at qualifying time is expected to be 69 degrees and cloudy. Some sun may appear by the Fast Six.

Results

Points Battle- Spoilers, Helpers, Bonus Points

thepitwindow

Will Power has a very tenuous lead heading into the final two races

The Indycar title fight is down to four drivers who are separated by just 17 points. Three of the four have nine Indycar championships between them. 2022 is one of the closest four driver battles with two races left that I remember. It is also a team battle, Team Penske vs. Chip Ganassi Racing.

The standings:

I have shown the top six because Alex Palou drives for Ganassi and Scott McLaughlin drives for Penske. They are both a bit too far out to have a realistic chance at the title unless all four ahead of them have some extremely bad luck the next two weekends. but they have a role to play. Palou and Mclaughlin need to help their teammates by taking points away from the competitors on the other team.

If either Palou or McLaughlin should win of the last two races- Palou won at Portland last year- it doesn’t necessarily hurt their team members.

Bonus Points

The three point difference between Power and Newgarden can be contributed to the bonus points Power earned at Gateway last weekend. The championship could come down to who scores the most bonus points at Portland and Laguna Seca. The season long bonus point standings”

Dixon 21 (5 races)

Power 18 (10 races)

Newgarden 18 (9 races)

Ericsson 12 (5 races)

Dixon’s total is skewed by the 12 points he earned for winning the pole at the Indianapolis 500. He would have just 10 bonus points if Indianapolis awarded the normal ingle point for pole.

Power and Dixon are the only two of this group who have earned maximum bonus points for a race.

Testing as Strategy

Most Indycar teams have one test day left, and the top two teams have each chosen a different track to map the final push.

Today, Team Penske tests at Portland. Ganassi tests Monday at L:aguna Seca. Ganassi tested at Portland last year and took the pole and the race win.

Power’s Record Tying Pole Caps Dramatic Qualifying

thepitwindow

Will Power finally caught Mario Andretti’s pole record. But first he had to catch Marcus Ericsson. Poiwer. the final car to qualify, topped Ericsson’s 182.070 mph average speed with a two lap average of 182.727 mph.

The qualifying session was arguably the most dramatic oval qualifying of the season. Takuma Sato was the eighth driver to make a qualifying run. He took the top spot and held it until Pato O’Ward beat his time 12 drivers later. Scott McLaughlin grabbed the pole until teammate Josef Newgarden made his run.

One of the possible pole contenders, Felix Rosenqvist, spun on his first qualifying lap in turn 2. He hit the inside wall. Rosenqvist will start last.

Marcus Ericsson

Ericsson’s qualifying time shot him to the lead. Scott Dixon was next, but he could only manage the fifth best time. Then Power came on track to end the qualifying round.

Power’s first lap was good enough to put him on the pole and his second lap reinforced his spot.

Power has tied Andretti for the most career poles with 67. His next win will tie him for third place all time with Michael Andretti. At the last race in Nashville, Scott Dixon moved ahead of Mario in career wins with his 53rd win, second to A. J. Foyt’s 67 victories.

Imagine being the top performer in your field and living to see your records equalled or broken. Andretti probably knew it would happen someday. I wonder if he thought he would be alive to see it happen.

Andretti’s last pole was in 1993.

In Dixon and Power we are witnessing two of the legendary drivers of open wheel racing.

Notes

Andretti Autosport cars showed to be relatively equal as they qualified 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th. Romain Grosjean, the fastest qualifier on the team, will serve a nine spot grid penalty and will start the race in 18th.

PThe top five contenders in the points chase-Will Power, Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Josef Newgarden, and Alex Palou- all start in the frirst three rows.

“It just shows no one’s letting up, no
one will until the end.Yep, pretty tight battle to the end. It will be very interestingto see how it unfolds. All you can do is just do your best.
Do your best. Can’t control some things, so see what
happens,” Power said.

“I think it shows howcompetitive this series is. It’s going to be tough. It’s going tobe tough to battle it out, try and beat the guy next to me
here. It’s going to be very tough.” Ericsson added.

A, J, Foyt Racing teammates Kyle Kirkwood and Dalton Kellett start 20th and 24th respectively. This usually one of the best tracks for Foyt’s cars.

Results

Double Pole for Power; Double Penske Front Row Lockout

thepitwindow

And then there was one. Will Power moved moved within one career pole of Mario Andretti by grabbing poles for both races at Iowa Speedway. Josef Newgarden, Power’s team Penske teammmate, will start second in both races. Chevy powered cars will start each race in five of the first six positions. Power now has won five poles at Iowa.

The last pole sweep by a driver was by Simon Pagenaud in Detroit in 2016.

Conor Daly had held both provisional poles through 10 qualifiers until Newgarden firmly beat his times. Power then took to then track and turned the only laps int the 178 mph range to grab his 65th and 66th career poles. Power now has three poles for the season.

Colton Herta picked up nearly three miles an hour on his second lap to slot third for race 2. However, his team will change his engine after today’s race and he will be moved to 12th for Sunday’s race.

Rinus VeeKay had the most consistent run. His first lap was 176.626 mph and his second lap was 176.625 mph.

Will Power

Power talks about his double pole.

“Yeah, it was It was messy. It was skipping up the track and I was surprised those the quickest like but always wheeling it as much as I could. I thought it was leaving nothing on the table. So again, it was not there was a 17 (second lap) to encounter .”

Starting position is key.

” lt felt like you had to start in the top 10 To have a good race because it was seemed a little difficult to pass .. cars can follow along so you can make sense. Positions are in basic decision up with our strategy, but leading is obviously easier. You can queue up people when they need to get a bit of a lead up early they’ll come down to laps you know that was so yeah, good spot to be in.”

On catching points leader Marcus Ericsson:

“I’m hoping that this is a good weekend for us to catch Marcus. Because he’s very tough. He’s, he’s, you know, he’s not the best qualified but he’s probably the best racer in series in my opinion. I might have just over the years watching him race. He’s one of the toughest guys like he’s very, very good at starting back there and making his way all the way to the front. So yeah, he’s going to try and get some points on it.”

Power’s Late Lap Nips Daly in Iowa Practice

thepitwindow

Will Power set the fastest lap in the only practice sessioin the Iowa double header. Conor Daly laid down a lop of 173.239 mph in the first 10 minutes of practice.Power edged Daly turning a 173.285 lap with less than 40 minutes to go in the 90 minute practice.

Qualifying for the two races begins at 9:30 Central time tomorrow. The HyVee Deals.com250 presented by DoorDash begins at 3 pm Central time tomorrow.

There were two stoppages, one for a track inspection and one for a fox running across the track. The fox jumped over the safer barrier.

“It’s my favorite oval,” Power said. “I think we’re in the mix.”

On running the high line, Power said, ” You gotta be wherever the car in front of you is not. It’s where can I get clean air?”

Notes

I went intoi one of the HyVee mobile stores this afternoon. It bis a camp store on steroids. If they don’t stock the product there, it can be ordered and elivered to you at the track.

HyVee has already hit a home run with this event. I am excited to see whatb the next two days bring. Indycar needs two or three more sponsors who will activate like they have

Results

Quick Thoughts- Detroit Grand Prix

thepitwindow

Indycar photo by James Black

Will Power’s strategy worked, Alexander Rossi’s plan almost worked. Power had enough of a lead that his red tires lasted 20 laps. He was helped by the race going caution free. If you like strategy races. this one was about as good as it gets. Both teams executed their plans well, and the race was decided on the track. The two best cars finished 1-2.

The win was redemption for Power, who had Race 1 last year pretty much in hand until the race was red flagged. His engine wouldn’t restart and the race resumed with Power in 20th.

I’m sad to see the race leave Belle Isle. The racing there has been really good the last few years.

Kyle Kirkwood had his best run of the season spoiled by a mistake leaving the pits. He was pretty much guaranteed a top 5. He has done fantastic work this year on a small team. I can’t wait to see how he does with Andretti next year.

The start of the race was probably the worst of the year with half the field not lined up or even close to the front of the grid. It didn’t matter in the long run, but it was not a good look.

Right Strategy, Wrong Year

Josef Newgarden’s strategy in 2021 was to end on reds with as short a stint as possible. His plan didn’t work last year as a yellow flag force him to pit and change to the alternate tire sooner than planned. Power used that strategy this year and it turned out to be the winning play.

NBC- Nothing But Commercials

I thought the broadcast was rather disjointed. The booth did a great job, but it seemed commercials breaks happened every four laps. Even with side by side it was interrupting of the flow. There were too many flashback episodes, and they were always on the larger screen when they should be on the smaller one. I’m more interested in the current action. We didn’t need to rehash what happened to Will Power last ear 10 laps from this year’s finish.

Numbers

Power is the sixth different winner after seven races.

There has been a different pole winner for each race.

The points lead has changed hands six times among five drivers. Only Scott McLaughlin has led for consecutive races. Power has regained the lead that Marcus Ericsson took last week. Power’s lead is three points over Ericsson. Josef Newgarden, in fifth place, is just 47 points behind Power.

Thanks for following along this weekend. I had another good day of improvement, but my trip to Road America is in serious jeopardy.

I’ll have some more thoughts on the weekend tomorrow.

Power Still Indy’s King of The Road

thepitwindow

If it’s early May in Indianapolis, you will find Will Power on the pole. Power won his fourth GMR Grand Prix pole and fifth on the IMS road course. Power snatched the pole from Alex Palou on the final timed lap of the Firestone Fast Six. His time of1:09.766 beat Palou by 0.043 seconds.

The pole was Power’s 64th of his career. He is just three behind Mario Andretti’s record of 67.

Will Power talks about his 64th career pole

The entire qualifying ran without issues. Only one Honda, the car of Alex Palou, made it to the final round. The rest of the Fast Six, in order, are Josef Newgarden, Conor Daly, Pato O’Ward, and Felix Rosenqvist.

Conor Daly earned his best starting spot of the season

Some pole contenders struggled during qualifying. Colton Herta and Rinus VeeKay did not make it out of the first round. Herta will start tomorrow’s race in row 7 and VeeKay in row 8. Jack Harvey, who usually qualifies well at this track, will start 9th Saturday.

The 2021 polesitter, Romain Grosjean, starts 10th.

Unfamiliar Territory

Simon Pagenaud starts 20th and Scott Dixon starts 21st. Pagenaud won the pole at the GMR Grand Prix in 2016 and has won the race three times. Dixon has won once and is usually a top finisher. Watch for this pair to move forward tomorrow.

Notes

The scoring pylon showed the time remaining in each round. This is something that wasn’t always done in the past. I’m glad they had it up there.

I found a lot of nice shirts while making a brief pass through of the merchandise shop behind the pits. If anyone has a dresser I can have, I will add to my T-shirt collection.

The speed difference for the starting grid from first to 27th is 1.68 seconds.

Palou had the fastest lap in qualifying, 1:09.411 in round 2.

Thanks for following along today. I will have some follow up on today tomorrow morning.

8