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Racing Notebook – Wednesday, February 12

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Meyer Shank Racing

PITTSBURGH, PA (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Wednesday’s racing notebook has news from the NTT INDYCAR SERIES as they finally get some laps on track at Circuit of the Americas.  We also have news from the All-Star Circuit of Champions, IndyLights and Pirelli GT4 Americas as well as the DIRTcar Nationals.

Weather affects NTT INDYCAR SERIES Testing At Circuit of the Americas:

  • Mother Nature threw a wrench into the NTT INDYCAR SERIES testing plans on Tuesday and Wednesday at Circuit of the Americas.  Inclement weather on Tuesday only allowed 11-teams to turn 17-controlled laps around the 20-turn, 3.41-mile road course.  Wednesday was a mixed bag to start the day but eventually the skies cleared-up and teams were able to turn some laps. Team Penske’s Will Power turned the fastest lap in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet at 1-minute, 46.7603-seconds (114.987 mph). COTA Test Results

Meyer Shank Racing Unveils Jack Harvey’s No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda:

  • Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 60 AutoNation / Sirius Honda is sporting a new look for 2020.  Driver Jack Harvey will debut the all new ‘magenta’ pink livery on Tuesday and Wednesday at Circuit of the Americas for the first official test of the NTT IndyCar Series.  The striking design (pictured above) features the colors of team partners AutoNation and SiriusXM, with the distinctive pink livery bringing attention to the ‘Drive Pink’ cancer initiative (https://drivepink.comestablished by AutoNation.

Capstone Turbine Returning To Colton Herta’s Car in 2020:

  • Capstone Turbine Corporation is returning to the sidepods of the No. 88 Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport car of Colton Herta for the 2020 NTT INDYCAR® SERIES season. The southern-California based clean energy company will serve as the primary sponsor at the upcoming COTA open test, as well as six events including the AutoNation INDYCAR Challenge at COTA and races at Texas Motor Speedway, Road America, Richmond Raceway, the streets of Toronto and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.  Capstone first appeared on the sophomore driver’s car in 2019 on the streets of Toronto and continued through to the season finale race where Herta scored victory from pole position.
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Kyle Larson and Aaron Reutzel Score All-Star Wins in Florida:

  • Kyle Larson took home the victory in Tuesday night’s Jean Lynch Classic presented by Winn-Dixie at East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, Florida.  Ian Madsen finished second followed by Cory Eliason in third.  The event is named in honor of Jean Lynch (Mrs. Ed Lynch Sr.).
  • Aaron Reutzel continued his Florida dominance with a convincing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Winn-Dixie victory at East Bay Raceway Park on Monday evening, taking command for the first time on lap three before escaping from the rest of the field to snag the $5,000 payday.  Ian Madsen finished second followed by Cory Eliason in third.

Endurance Continues Primary Sponsorship of Jarrett Andretti:

  • Endurance, a leader in auto protection, is continuing their partnership with Andretti Autosport and driver Jarrett Andretti for the 2020 Pirelli GT4 Americas Season. Endurance first joined Andretti and the No. 18 McLaren in 2019 during his maiden voyage in GT4 Americas sports car competition with Andretti Autosport. Andretti’s first overall GT4 win was claimed in Endurance colors.

The No. 18 Endurance Andretti Autosport McLaren driven by Jarrett Andretti in the Pirelli GT4 Americas Series.

Mat Williamson Takes DIRTcar Nationals Win At Volusia:

  • Defending Super DIRTcar Series Champion Mat Williamson picked up his first career victory at Volusia Speedway Park Tuesday night at the DIRTcar Nationals.  Erick Rudolph finished second and Anthony Perrego came home third.  Lernerville defending Big Block Modified Champ Brian Swartzlander finished 16th in the 30-laps feature.  The DIRTcar Nationals continue through Saturday night in Barberville, Florida.

Danial Nielsen Frost Joining Andretti Autosport’s Indy Lights Team:

  • Andretti Autosport is expanding their Indy Lights roster with the addition of Danial Nielsen Frost for the 2020 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires season. The 18-year-old from Singapore is slated to slide into the No. 68 machine for the championship team.  Frost made his first start in USF2000 at Road America in 2018 and finished his first season with five top-10 finishes.  Frost competed in the 2019 Indy Pro 2000 Championship where he finished fifth in the point standings and captured two wins and six podiums.
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Marcus Ericsson wins the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

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Joe Skibinski - Penske Entertainment

ST. PETERSBURG, FL (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson is letting the rest of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES know he is going to be a driver to deal with in 2023 after winning the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.

Ericsson passed Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward with two-laps-to-go to take the lead and put the throttle down to a 2.4-second victory at the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit.

“I think we had a really good weekend from the get-go,” said Ericsson. “I was very excited to come here because yes, it’s been an amazing off-season. I got to experience so many cool things and celebrations with the Borg-Warner trophy. And winning the 500 is a win that keeps on giving.
People were worried, kept telling me you need to focus and you need to not get carried away. For me, all those celebrations, all those things I got to experience just gave me more energy, gave me even more hunger to win more and win again in the speedway and also to win the championship.”

O’Ward was leading coming onto the front straightway when the No. 5 Chevrolet’s engine stumbled giving Ericsson the opportunity to take advantage.

“It shut off with a plenum fire. You have to let off, get back to it, and then it kind of like — perfect timing,” said O’Ward sarcastically.  “Sadly, just very annoying to give it away like that. Nothing else I could have done.

“I felt bad for Pato, but we were there to pick up on it,” said Ericsson. “If I wasn’t putting pressure on him and hunt him down, he would have been fine and we would have been second. But we were there right on his gearbox, and we got past.”

Six time INDYCAR Champion Scott Dixon brought the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda home with a podium finish in an eventful day which saw the ‘Iceman’ survive first lap contact with Felix Rosenqvist, a race control review that moved him back four spots when the 9-team was looking like the leaders as they came off pit road and the caution came out.

“It was a pretty smooth day,” said Dixon. “I think how the cautions fell kind of played to us until that untimely one. I think we would have clearly got the lead there, and it would have been kind of smooth sailing, I think. Strategy-wise we didn’t have to go super long on the reds, and then we could have pitted early for the blacks, and kind of got out of being in a bad situation for going long and getting caught on a yellow later. Still take great points. A third-place finish is fantastic here, considering how the day was. Huge credit to the team.”

Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi came home fourth in his first race with his new team and Calllum Ilott gave Juncos Hollinger Racing a fifth place finish.

The green flag was barely back in the starters stand when Dixon and Rosenqvist came together in Turn 3 as Rosenqvist tried to avoid a spot where the left wall encroaches the track.  The contact slowed Rosenqvist and traffic stacked-up behind him triggering a 5-car pileup.

Andretti Autosport’s Devlin DeFrancesco got the worst of the incident, getting T-boned by Benjamin Pedersen. Meyer Shank Racing teammates Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud as well as AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci saw their day come to an end as a result of crash damage.  The crash cleanup forced a 19-plus minute red flag.  No one was seriously injured.

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Pole-sitter Romain Grosjean led the field back to green and cruised out front until hit made his first pit stop on Lap 32.  During that green flag pit cycle, Dixon jumped into the lead by staying out on the harder primary Firestone tires.  Dixon hit pit road on Lap 35 when the caution came out for Conor Daly.

Dixon looked to be the leader but INDYCAR race stewards reviewed the timing and scoring data and moved Scott McLaughlin, Grosjean, O’Ward and Ericsson ahead of Dixon.  NBC Sports video confirmed that Dixon did not cross the timing and scoring line on pit road ahead of the other four.

So often in racing caution flags cause more cautions and that was the case Sunday in St. Pete as the Lap 41 restart saw Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay got into the marbles and slid into the tire barrier.  The No. 21 Bitnile Chevrolet rebounded off the tires right into the path of a hard charging Jack Harvey and Kyle Kirkwood, who had nowhere to go.  The contact sent the No. 27 AutoNation Honda airborne.

The carnage continues on Lap 50 when Team Penske’s Will Power sent Andretti’s Colton Herta into the tires.  Power was penalized for avoidable contact.

The next 20-laps saw hard racing between McLaughlin and Grosjean as those behind started to pit early hoping for a caution to flip the field.  The caution came out right after the two leaders made pit stops and Grosjean figured it was time to take advantage of McLaughlin’s cold tires.  McLaughlin thought otherwise and the No. 28 DHL Honda and No. 3 Dex Imaging Chevrolet in the tire barrier.

In all there were 6-caution flags for 26-laps and a red flag for 19-minutes.

The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is April 2nd at Texas Motor Speedway.

St Pete Race Results

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Romain Grosjean and Colton Herta lead INDYCAR field to green in St. Pete season opener

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Penske Entertainment

ST. PETERSBURG, FL (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Andretti Autosport teammates Romain Grosjean and Colton Herta will lead the NTT INDYCAR SERIES to the green flag in Sunday’s season opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.

Grosjean’s fast lap of 59.5532 seconds in the No. 28 DHL Honda on his final trip around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit edged teammate Colton Herta, who qualified second at 59.9687 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.

The pole position is the second of Grosjean’s career and first since May 2021 at the GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“Thankful for the team,” said Grosjean. “We worked really hard from a tough season last year. There were some better days, but today is a good one. Having three of us in the Fast Six, locked in the front row, is pretty impressive to start the season.”

“We did a lot of hard work over the winter,” said team owner Michael Andretti.  “We felt pretty optimistic, but you never know what you have until you get it on the racetrack.  Seems like it’s showing the way we hoped it would. Great start so far.”

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Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward will start third in the No. 5 Chevrolet after a fast lap of 1:00.0163.

“Man, those Andretti cars are quick around here,” said O’Ward. “We knew that coming into the weekend. I’ve got to say the team arrived here with such a good package for me compared to last year. Last year we truly started on the back foot. We’ve got a car to fight with tomorrow.”

2022 Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson led Chip Ganassi Racing’s efforts as the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda qualified fourth with a quick lap of 1:00.4435.

“I’m really happy with our results and our performance,” said Ericsson. “I think it shows all the hard work we put in this offseason as a team. For myself, I’ve been focusing a lot on qualifying, trying to be better there and improve our qualifying form and this is a great start to that and to the season. I’m really happy, grateful and looking forward to the race tomorrow.”

Ericsson’s teammates are not far behind him.  Alex Palou will start 7th in the No. 10 American Legion Honda with Scott Dixon two spots behind in 9th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.  Rookie Marcus Armstrong rolls off 11th in the No. 11 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda as he makes his first career INDYCAR start.

The green flag will drop at 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday with live coverage available on NBC beginning at noon.

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Josef Newgarden tops first INDYCAR practice as Laguna Seca

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Penske Entertainment: James Black

MONTEREY, CA (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden is starting INDYCAR Championship weekend off on the right pedal by leading the first NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice session on Friday.

Newgarden’s No. 2 Hitachi Chevy turned a fast lap of 1 minute, 11.4103 seconds (112.824 mph) around the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course circuit with Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta second-quickest at 1:11:8266 (112.170) in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.

“Yeah, just a tricky session,” noted Newgarden. “There was a lot of people going off, there was a lot of dirt on the track, so it was quite difficult to put it together. So not a very straightforward session. But I think very productive in a lot of ways. It’s not a lot of running, and you’re trying to make the most use of just a couple runs, and I felt like we did that, so I was happy about that.”

Championship-leader Will Power was 7th quickest, 1:11:9858 (111.922) in the No. 12 Verizon Chevy.  Power leads Newgarden and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon by 20-points heading into Sunday’s season finale.

“Tough track, man,” said Power. “Very low grip. You get one lap on tires, and they’re gone. It’s hard to get a read because the car changes so much over a run.”

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Championship contender Marcus Ericsson was tenth fastest in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda at 1:12:0803 (111.775) and trails Power by ??-points in the title fight.

“I’m hoping it’s going to be a high-deg (tire degradation) race, and it seems to be that way,” said Ericsson. “Usually our team and myself from my experience, we’re usually pretty good at that. Yeah, the tires seemed to degrade quite quickly here. It was the same in the test and the same today in practice.”

Last weekend’s winner Scott McLaughlin was next in line with a 1:12:0877 (111.764). McLaughlin has an outside shot at the title as he sits ??-points behind Power.

Dixon, the six-time series Champion, was 17th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda at 1:12:3911 (111.295) despite a team test at the track a few weeks ago.

“It’s going to be a pretty high-deg  race, man,” said Dixon, who can tie INDYCAR Legend A.J. Foyt for all-time Championships with a seventh.

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