IndyCar
Colton Herta Wins IndyCar Pole At Laguna Seca; Scott Dixon Starts 2nd
MONTEREY, CA (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Harding Steinbrenner Racing’s Colton Herta is on the pole for Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series Season Finale at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca.
“We obviously had a great car this whole weekend, and after leading coming just straight off the truck and leading, being P2 in the morning and Thursday, leading the day Thursday and leading practice 1, being there in practice 2 and 3 and obviously getting the pole, it just shows the charisma of the team and everything we’re doing has been in the right directions,” said Herta. “Obviously, it feels great, now it’s two poles in two weekends.”
Herta’s fast lap of 1-minute, 10.1405-seconds (114.867 mph) in knockout-style qualifying was 0.0426-seconds faster than PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon (1:10.1831/114.797mph), who will start on the outside of the front row. Dixon needed the bonus point for winning the pole in his quest for a sixth Championship.
“It was definitely a good recovery for us,” said Dixon, the five-time and defending series Champion. “We’d been struggling a little bit all weekend. I’d just been struggling to get the time out of the new tires. I think we did a good job. I know our second run pace on used tires had been really good all weekend, it was just I hadn’t been able to get the speed out of the new ones. It was a nice surprise, and you know, in a good position.”
Two of the drivers Dixon is chasing in the Championship, Andretti Autosports Alexander Rossi and Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, the series points leader, are starting behind him in 3rd and 4th respectively.
“We’ve had a pretty challenging two-and-a-half days for the (No.) 27 NAPA Andretti Honda group – really the Andretti Autosport group as a whole,” said Rossi. “We had peaks and valleys, but it came good this afternoon for the most part. It’s tough when you miss out by seven-hundredths. You can find a lot of places in a lap where you give that up. We just have to keep working at it and come up with a good race car strategy for tomorrow.”
“In our situation it’s a good thing to be close to the competition, specifically the ones in the championship,” said Newgarden. “We’ve got to have a good clean run tomorrow. You’d like to win every race and maybe we’ve got a race-winning car tomorrow. It certainly feels like we have the capability of it. But we need to have a good clean day, try and not get caught up in anything, and just run our race like we normally would. I think that’s what we’ll try and focus on.”
Arrow Schmidt Petersen Motorsports James Hinchcliffe will start fifth and Penske’s Simon Pagenaud, who is also in front of Dixon in the Championship hunt, will start sixth.
“It’s been a tough log up to this last point. The test day wasn’t super productive for us and unfortunately then, over Friday and this morning, we were thrown all sorts of set up changes at the car. I’ve been having to learn how to drive a different car every session. We never gave up and huge credit to the engineers, and everybody, for keeping their heads down and coming up with the setup at the end of Practice 3 this morning, which was something we could work with.”
it was definitely an intense qualifying,” said Pagenaud. “We pushed as hard as we could to try to be ahead. Very exciting. It was a very stressful situation but overall, I wanted to be on the pole. I think we all wanted to be on the pole. But it was very tight. It was very important to at least transfer to the Fast Six, and I think we tried everything we could. I was attacking everywhere, maybe a little too much at times, but that was the time to go. Absolutely no regrets, and we did the best we could.”
Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, a 90-lap race, will be televised live on NBC beginning with the pre-race show at 2:30 p.m. ET (11:30 a.m. PT) with the green flag scheduled for 3:15 p.m. (12:15 p.m. PT). The race also will be broadcast on the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network and SiriusXM Satellite Radio (XM 205, Sirius 98).
DETROIT, MI (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear has been canceled due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The event was scheduled to take place May 29-30 on Belle Isle and feature the NTT INDYCAR Series as well as IMSA. The promoters tried to reschedule the event to later in the year but could not because of a number of events that take place on the island.
Unfortunately, the 2020 #DetroitGP has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to everyone for their patience and support and we look forward to returning to Belle Isle next summer – June 4-6, 2021. More info at https://t.co/95PqahDx43. pic.twitter.com/CjRjP2bVyx
— Detroit Grand Prix (@detroitgp) April 6, 2020
“Like our fans, we’re disappointed we won’t be racing in Detroit this year,” said Penske Entertainment Corp. President and CEO Mark Miles. “However, we’re excited to return to Belle Isle in 2021 and we know we’ll put on a great show when we do.”
The cancellation of the race forced INDYCAR to make several changes to their 2020 schedule. Two previous scheduled events will become doubleheaders along with the addition of a third weekend of racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
INDYCAR’s events at Iowa Speedway and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca will become doubleheaders. The Iowa 300 event weekend will add a race on Friday, July 17 and The Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey will add a race on Saturday, September 19.
“We also appreciate the flexibility of our event promoters at Iowa Speedway and Laguna Seca, who have enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to host double-headers,” said Miles.
INDYCAR is adding a third event at the Racing Capital of the World on Saturday, October 3 on the IMS road course with the INDYCAR Harvest GP. That race precedes the Indianapolis 8-hour endurance race that will feature the first-ever combination of the Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli with its North American counterpart, GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS. The INDYCAR GMR Grand Prix was previously moved to Saturday, July 4 and the Indianapolis 500 was moved to Sunday, August 23.
“INDYCAR in October at IMS might bring slightly cooler weather but will definitely be warmly embraced by our fans,” said IMS President J. Douglas Boles. “Paired with the Indianapolis 8 Hour, we’re set for a can’t-miss fall weekend of motorsports at The Racing Capital of the World.”
The schedule changes gives INDYCAR 15-races in 2020, an increase of one event from the 14 races announced on March 26.
“We’re committed to bringing fans as much on-track action as possible,” said Miles. “Our updated scheduled features additional racing at fan-favorite venues and adds to the total number of events on our calendar. The COVID-19 situation continues to be dynamic and challenging for everyone, so we have developed contingency plans which will allow us to respond to changing conditions. Our goal is to preserve as much racing competition as possible while prioritizing the health and safety of our participants and spectators.”
REVISED 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES SCHEDULE
- June 6: Texas Motor Speedway
- June 21: Road America
- June 27: Richmond Raceway
- July 4: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course Race 1
- July 12: Streets of Toronto
- July 17: Iowa Speedway Race 1
- July 18: Iowa Speedway Race 2
- August 9: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Couse
- August 15-16: Indianapolis 500 Qualifying
- August 23: Indianapolis 500
- August 30: World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway
- September 13: Portland International Raceway
- September 19: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Race 1
- September 20: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Race 2
- October 3: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course Race 2
- TBA: Streets of St. Petersburg
IndyCar
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin wins INDYCAR iRacing Challenge From virtual Barber Motorsports Park
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin is the winner of Round two of the INDYCAR iRacing Challenge from virtual Barber Motorsports Park.
McLaughlin, a two-time Champion for DJR Penske in the Australian Supercar Series, used a two-stop strategy and held off his teammate Will Power to take home the victory.
“The feeling is pretty full on,” said McLaughlin. “You’re pretty excited. It’s just cool to be out there and learning I guess some of the craft and stuff like that. Absolutely it’s probably going to be a little bit different in real life. But to learn and get to know what’s going on in the INDYCAR world is really cool for me.”
“That first stint, you kind of just sat there and saved your tires knowing there was going to be a yellow,” said Power. “Then our plan was to really close on Sage and jump in on a sequence by pitting early. When we pitted early, we pitted into a lot of traffic, lost like seconds in that sequence. Fortunately Sage must have made a mistake. Felix obviously did a really good job in that sequence. I think he went to the lead. Then he made a mistake. That put me I guess as the leader on that strategy. I wasn’t aware that Scott was on that strategy.”
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Sage Karam, last week’s winner from virtual Watkins Glen International, started on the pole position and led the first 15-laps green flag laps, that’s when iRacing officials threw a competition caution and bunched up the field.
McLaughlin went to pit road one lap before that competition caution to take on tires and fuel. A number of the other competitors, including Karam and second place Felix Rosenqvist of NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing, elected to stay out and pit later in the race.
Karam and Rosenqvist elected to pit under green flag conditions with Karam coming in first on lap 25 and Rosenqvist coming in a lap later. Rosenqvist came out slightly ahead of Karam who had the momentum but ran out of race track, dipping his right side tires onto the grass.
Rosenqvist, trying to stay ahead of Karam, carried too much speed into the next turn and lost control as Karam was trying to recover from his trip into the grass and both drivers spun out.
Andretti Autosport’s Scott Speed, who pitted during the competition caution period, inherited the lead but was in fuel saving mode down the stretch.
“I was working with my engineer from when I was with Andretti in the past, Graham, and we decided to try to pit before the yellow, hope that I can save a lot of fuel,” said Speed. “Somehow I was able to do it.”
McLaughlin and Power however were not in fuel saving mode and were able to get by Speed to fight it out for the win with the former F1 driving bringing home in third place.
Future venues include the first oval event, on April 11 at Michigan International Speedway, a “Random Draw” track April 18, Circuit of the Americas on April 25 and a non-INDYCAR “Dream” track May 2.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Dreyer and Reinbold Racing’s Sage Karam picked up the virtual win in Saturday’s INDYCAR iRacing Challenge inaugural event, the American Red Cross Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International.
Karam, driving the No. 24 Wix Filters Chevrolet, beat Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 10 NTT Data Services Chip Ganassi Racing Honda by 3.614-seconds to take the virtual checkered flag. Karam led 43 of the 45-laps en route to the victory.
“It was a lot of fun, and it was great that we could give the fans something to watch,” said Karam. “It’s the only sport that (the world) can really do right now. I’m happy that I got the win for Wix Filters and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. The car looked pretty good out front so hopefully when we get to real racing, we can replicate that.”
“It was hard to catch Sage,” said Rosenqvist. “I tried to take advantage of some lapping from the cars behind, but he always seemed to get through the traffic even better. He seemed to have (the lead) under control. I think that was a very deserved win for him. ”
Karam, the 2013 Indy Lights champion, has made 19 actual NTT INDYCAR SERIES starts over six seasons, scoring a career-best third at Iowa Speedway in 2015 while driving for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Karam, one of the most experienced iRacing drivers in this field, picked up his 144th iRacing road-course win in 533 starts and 165th iRacing victory overall.
Team Penske’s Will Power brought home the No. 12 Verizon Chevy home in third followed by his teammate, two-time Australian Supercars Champion Scott McLaughlin in the No. 2 Shell V-Power Chevrolet.
Seven-time NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson, who plans on trying INDYCAR racing in the future started ninth and finished 16th despite being involved in a couple of incidents.
The second of six events will be held Saturday, April 4, on the Barber Motorsports Park permanent road course. The event will be held at 4 p.m. ET and streamed through INDYCAR.com while INDYCAR’s YouTube and Facebook platforms as well as iRacing’s Twitch will serve as additional outlets for viewing.
Future events will be held weekly each Saturday through May 2 at the following sites: a “Driver’s Choice” track (April 11), “Random Draw” track (April 18), Circuit of The Americas (April 25) and a non-INDYCAR “Dream” track (May 2).
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PALMETTO, Fla. – Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires competitor Philippe Denes (RP Motorsport USA) dominated a strong 27-car field to win Saturday’s opening round of the Ricmotech Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires iRacing eSeries at a virtual Barber Motorsports Park.
Last year’s Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship winner Braden Eves (Exclusive Autosport), from New Albany, Ohio, finished second following a race-long battle with Andre Castro (Legacy Autosport), from New York, N.Y., who unfortunately spun off on the final lap. Castro’s incident allowed USF2000 driver Eduardo Barrichello (Pabst Racing), from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to complete the podium in third.
“I felt really comfortable out there,” said Denes. “It was a really good race and I’m glad to represent RP Motorsport in the sim world and to get the win.”
“It was a great race,” said Eves. “It was a fun event and it keeps us busy while we’re all in quarantine. Thanks to the Road to Indy and Ricmotech for putting it on. This was the most professionally-run iRacing series I’ve been a part of.”
“It was a good experience,” said Barichello. “I had an okay start, getting into third and staying there behind Phillippe. It was hard to pass the lapped cars – they weren’t getting blue flags. My biggest issue in the race was the pit stop; we weren’t expecting that. I didn’t know how to pit, we didn’t practice that, but it was a good race. Our pace was quite good, so I’m looking forward to the next race!”
Round Two of the Ricmotech Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires iRacing eSeries will be held next Saturday, with drivers taking on the challenge of the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas.
Provisional championship points after one of five races:
1. Philippe Denes, 30
2. Braden Eves, 25
3. Eduardo Barrichello, 22
4. Reece Gold, 19
5. Colin Kaminsky, 17
6. Andre Castro, 15
7. Peter Dempsey, 14
8. Flinn Lazier, 13
9. Cameron Shields, 12
10. Kory Enders, 11
The Pittsburgh Racing Now Podcast – Episode 008
Racing Notebook – Monday, April 6: William Byron wins eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational plus Detroit Grand Prix Canceled and more
Detroit Grand Prix Canceled for 2020; INDYCAR Revises Schedule
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin wins INDYCAR iRacing Challenge From virtual Barber Motorsports Park
Racing Notebook – Friday, April 3: Lernerville Cancels April Events; NASCAR and INDYCAR Ready For More iRacing
Central PA Weekend Racing Report
The Pittsburgh Racing Now Podcast – Episode 007
Racing Cancelled In Central PA This Weekend
Coronavirus Affecting The Racing World
