IndyCar
INDY GP Racing Notebook: CGR’s Armstrong Quickest in Warmup as Ferrucci & Grosjean Make Contact plus more.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong is quick in Saturday’s morning NTT INDYCAR SERIES warm-up for the Sonsio Gran Prix as Santino Ferrucci and Romain Grosjean make contact plus Jacob Able scores his second INDY NXT victory and VRD Racing sweeps Friday’s support races and more in the INDY GP Racing Notebook.
Marcus Armstrong Leads Morning Warmup
- Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong led the NTT INDYCAR SERIES morning warmup for the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Armstrong’s fast lap of 1-minute, 9.8485-seconds in the No. 11 Honda was almost 4-tenths of a second quicker than Andretti Global’s Colton Herta (1:10.2314). Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus Veejay was third (1:10.3889) followed by pole-sitter and defending race-winner Alex Palou in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda (1:10.4222). Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal was fifth (1:10.4573). Chip Ganassi had three cars in the Top 6 with Scott Dixon right behind Rahal with a fast lap of 1:10.5407 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.
Ferrucci And Grosjean Spar In Warmup
- AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci and Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean made contact during the morning warmup for Saturday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Sonsio Gran Prix. Ferrucci’s No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevy was inside Grosjean’s JHR Chevy in Turn 10 and Grosjean turned right into Ferrucci’s car. Ferrucci pushed Grosjean back to the left side and gave him a hand gesture as the pair came down the South short chute heading into Turn 12. Ferrucci told NBS Sports afterwards, “If he doesn’t like it, come over here and talk to me about it.”
Abel Makes It 2-In-A-Row In INDYNXT
- Jacob Able is a two-time winner in INDY NXT competition. Able held off Nolan Siegel in a three-lap shootout Friday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. “This is awesome,” said Abel, who led 35 laps in this race. “Unfortunately, we don’t get to celebrate for too long here. We’re getting another chance tomorrow. That was a really great race, though.” Siegel, of HMD Motorsports finished second .5470-seconds behind. Andretti Global’s Jamie Chadwick finished third, the best finish for a female driver in INDY NXT since Pippa Mann’s win in 2010 at Kentucky. INDY NXT Race 1 Results
Nikita Armstrong Wins USFPro200 Race
- 15-year-old Nikita Johnson is 4-for-4 in USFPro2000 competition in 2024. Johnson helped his VRD Racing Team win the day as Max Taylor won the USF2000 race. Rookie Liam Sceats finished a distant second for TJ Speed Motorsports, his best finish of the season. Lochie Hughes finished third for Turn 3 Motorsport. indygp-usf-pro-2000-race-1
Taylor Scores USF2000 Win
- Max Taylor is a winner in USF2000 after taking the first race of a doubleheader on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Taylor took the lead in Turn 1 after a restart following an early full-course caution flag. “My plan was to get into the lead as fast as I could and I did just that. I got to the lead and had a little battle with Evan and just checked out and put some good laps in. The VRD car just drove itself really,” said Taylor. Exclusive Autosport’s Joey Brienza finished second ahead of teammate Evan Cooley who made an impressive USF2000 debut by qualifying on pole position. indygp-usf2000-race-1
Maeta To Perform National Anthem at Sonsio GP
- Maeta, an Indianapolis native who recently peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart, will perform the national anthem before the start of the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday, May 11 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “Having an Indianapolis native, whose career is just taking off, ensures this performance will be memorable for all involved. Maeta’s rendition is sure to set the stage for an epic race on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course,” said J. Douglas Boles, President of IMS.
Sonsio Extends Partnership With IMS
- Sonsio Vehicle Protection is renewing its partnership with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sonsio Vehicle Protection, an industry-leading provider of vehicle protection and warranty programs, will continue as an Official Partner of IMS and the title sponsor of the Sonsio Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR SERIES road course race. Sonsio Vehicle Protection serves more than 82,000 dealerships, F&I service providers, manufacturers, insurance companies, parts suppliers, retail chains and many independent retailers across all 50 states, Canada and Puerto Rico.
SPEEDWAY, IN (May 9, 2026) – Christian Lundgaard finally finished a race ahead of Alex Palou, winning Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Lundgaard passed David Malukas on lap 68 as the pair staged a thrilling battle from turn 3 through the turns 5/6 chicane, where the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet driver completed the pass.
“It probably looks more spectacular from the outside than it really did inside the helmet,” explained Lundgaard, who led 20 of the 85-laps. “I knew I had one chance, maybe two on David at that time. I tried to set him up for 2 and actually make the slingshot to be on the inside for turn 4, but he was pretty slow kind of through the kink of 3. I thought, okay, F it, I’m going to stay on the outside and see how it goes.”
The victory was the second career win for Lundgaard and his third podium of the season, his first two were finishes behind Palou.
Malukas came home in second place, 4.6713 seconds behind Lundgaard.
“You know, I could be a little bit more aggressive and push him wide, whatever, but I think it was fair racing, and he made a proper move,” said Malukas. “I came in thinking this was going to be our hardest race of the whole season, and it ended up being our best result yet, which it was just fantastic.”
Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Graham Rahal finished third in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda to tie his season-best result.
“I was good at starting stints,” explained Rahal. “I could really close the gap there, but later in the stints the rear would go off. We’ve just got a little work to do. I think missing practice, half of it at least, kind of put us on our back foot with the rear grip and never quite got there. But look, I thought we put a great race together, great strategy, great calls by Brian, Eve, and the entire group, and great stops.”
Penske’s Josef Newgarden finished fourth followed by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou, who rounded out the top 5 and maintained his Championship points lead over Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood.
It didn’t take long for lots of on-track action as Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist, who started third, locked up his brakes going into turn 1 and made contact with Arrow McLaren Racing’s Pato O’Ward, who was running in second behind Palou, who started on the pole.
Rosenqvist spun O’Ward into the grass and in the ensuing mayhem behind him several cars made contact. Newgarden couldn’t get slowed down and nerfed Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, turning the No. 9 Honda to the right, directly into Caio Collet. The full-field caution slowed the rest of the field as the AMR Safety Team tended to the pileup. All three were able to continue as did Rosenqvist and O’Ward.
The reshuffled lineup found Palou leading Malukas in second place but that didn’t last long at Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood quickly out-braked the No. 12 Chevy going into turn one.
That wasn’t the only incident of the day, which had teams scrambling on strategy.
Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi suffered a hybrid failure on lap 20 and came to rest on the main straightway. Race control mysteriously called for a local caution in that area despite Rossi being stuck in the car. A frustrated Rossi could be seen waving his steering wheel from the cockpit but it took him climbing out of the car to bring out the full course caution.
Cautions breed cautions and on lap 28 Sting Ray Robb got into Marcus Armstrong and when Kyffin Simpson tried to avoid that contact, Rosenqvist made contact with the No. 8 Sunoco Honda, sending the No. 60 up into the air bringing out another caution.
LONG BEACH, CA (April 19, 2026) – A great pit stop helped Alex Palou pass Felix Rosenqvist in the pits and Palou did the rest, winning Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
“Incredible,” said Palou, who picked up his third win of the season and 22nd of his IndyCar career. “Feel so, so lucky with the opportunity I had to win the 500 last year, the Long Beach GP this year, it just feels like I’m living on this amazing cloud of happiness.”
Rosenqvist was out front when the caution flag flew on Lap 57 for debris in turn four, which set up the showdown between the Meyer Shank Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing pit crews.
“This full-course yellow put everything on that pit stop,” said Palou. “The guys did an incredible job once again.”
“Having the pit location and the pit crew we have, it certainly was on the top of our minds coming down pit lane knowing we have a shot at getting the win here,” said Barry Wanser, No. 10 Team Manager. “Again, the guys came through.”
“That last pit cycle was kind of the defining moment,” said Rosenqvist, who led a race-high 51-laps. “I don’t even think we had that bad of a stop. We had to come around the 14. I don’t know if Alex had an open in. Details like that matter. It didn’t seem like a super slow stop, but he probably nailed it or his crew.”
Despite falling short of a win, Rosenqvist said there were plenty of positives to take away from the team’s trip to the West Coast.
“I think all in all we got to be happy as a weekend for us at Meyer Shank Racing. We had a win yesterday with Nick in IMSA. We had a pole there as well, then a pole here and a P2. We just fell short of a grand slam.”
Scott Dixon finished third in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda, giving team owner Chip Ganassi two cars on the podium and the 6-time series Champion his best finish of the season
“Huge weekend for the Ganassi cars,” said Dixon. “I think probably one of the best for qualifying between all us, which was really good. It was nice just to have a clean weekend, no major issues, no damage, no mess-ups or anything like that. That was a lot of fun.”
Palou and Dixon’s teammate Kyffin Simpson brought the No. 8 Sunoco Honda home in tenth place, so all three CGR cars finished in the Top 10.
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood finished fourth after starting third and gave up the Championship lead to Palou. Kirkwood now trails the four-time Series Champion by 17-points.
Pato O’Ward rounded out the Top 5 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
Next up for the IndyCar Series is two days of testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on April 28-29 as teams get ready for the Indianapolis 500.
The next race is the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday, May 9, on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course at IMS, which kicks off the Month of May.
LONG BEACH, CA (April 18,, 2026) – Felix Rosenqvist is on the pole position for Sunday’s NTT IndyCar Series Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach after turning a fast lap of of 1 minute, 7.4635 seconds in the No. 60 SiriusXM/Acura Honda.
The pole capped a great day for Meyer Shank Racing who on the IMSA race on Saturday.
“So great to put it on pole here and it’s been a long time, so it feels good,” said Rosenqvist. “But what a day for Meyer Shank Racing with the win in the IMSA race today and now the pole for the IndyCar race.”
Pato O’Ward, Rosenqvist’s good friend and former teammate, will start from the front row after qualifying a season-best second at 1:07.5076 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
“That was nerve-wracking to watch my ole buddy Pato do his run, and I wasn’t sure if we’d get it,” said Rosenqvist. “But the SiriusXM Green Day Acura has been great and hope we can have a good day tomorrow.”
“This is by far the best qualifying day I’ve had,” said O’Ward. “I’ve been happy with the car I’ve been given from practice one. Hats off to Arrow McLaren and Team Chevy. I know we’re leading their pack.”
Four-time Series Champion Alex Palou will start from the third position in the No. 10 OpenAI Chip Ganassi Racing Honda with 2026 Championship points leader Kyle Kirkwood right beside in the No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Andretti Global Honda.
David Malukas will start fifth in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet, the best qualifying car for Team Penske.
Six-time Series Champion Scott Dixon will start sixth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. The qualifying effort was Dixon’s best of 2026.
Next up is a 30-minute warmup Sunday at 1 p.m. ET (FS1, FOX One, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls).
The 90-lap race around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile iconic temporary street circuit starts at 5:30 p.m. ET (FOX, FOX Deportes, FOX One, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls).
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