IndyCar
Takuma Sato Wins His Second Indy 500, Graham Rahal 3rd For Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Takuma Sato won his second Indianapolis 500 on Sunday becoming just the 20th driver to capture “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” at least twice.
Sato was out front with PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon in second place with 5-laps to go when the caution flag flew for Spencer Pigot, who lost control of the No. 45 Hy-Vee/EMBRACE Pittsburgh Honda coming off turn four and hit the outside wall and then as he came down the track the car slammed hard into the crash attenuator at the beginning of the wall separating pit road from the front stretch. Pigot was taken to Methodist Hospital for evaluation and released.
“This was the entire Rahal Letterman Lanigan team,” Sato said on the Victory Podium. “HPD and Honda gave us a lot of power, a lot fuel mileage. And my boys … they sacrifice a lot. I can’t thank all of the people (enough).”
Dixon, the 2008 Indy 500 winner and five-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion, led a race-high 111 laps. It was the third career Indy 500 runner-up finish for Dixon, who didn’t think Sato could make it to the finish without a caution.
“This is a hard one to swallow,” said Dixon, who jumped from ninth to third on the all-time Indianapolis 500 lap leaders list with 563 career laps led, behind only Al Unser (644) and Ralph DePalma (612). “On fuel mileage, I really can’t see how they were going to make it. We pitted a lap later, and the numbers they had to get, it was going to be very difficult.”
“The fuel strategy was a bit tight,” said Sato. “I saw Scott was coming right through out of Turn 4, and he was screaming coming at me. And I just held him off.”
Graham Rahal helped RLLR to take two of the top three spots by finishing third in the No. 15 United Rentals Honda.
“It was a great day for our team, the entire organization and all of our partners,” said Rahal. “Congrats to Takuma for a heck of a drive, I’m proud of you and thankful for what you have done for our program and all of our partners. I thought we had a run at it but just got too loose the last stint. For us to come home P1 and P3 today means the world to me. Solid day all around. Hell of a job by RLL.”
Santino Ferrucci led a Honda sweep of the top four finishing positions by placing fourth in the No. 18 SealMaster Honda.
“Just an incredible race,” said Ferrucci. “The SealMaster Honda was insane today. We started 19th and finished fourth. The guys worked really hard on pit lane, on the timing stand, and the strategy was perfect. I’m just really happy.”
Two-time and reigning series champion Josef Newgarden rounded out the top five and was the top Chevrolet-powered finisher in the No. 1 Shell V-Power Nitro Team Penske Chevrolet.
LEEDS, AL (April 28, 2024) Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin put an emotional week in the rear-view mirror by winning Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix presented by AmFirst.
McLaughlin employed a three-stop, flat-out pedal to the floor strategy while several others attempted a two-stop strategy. McLaughlin’s move paid off with the victory, his second in-a-row at Barber.
McLaughlin, who led 58 of the 90 laps after earning the NTT P1 Award in qualifying Saturday, took the lead for the final time on Lap 76 after his final pit stop.
“Definitely one of my best drives in terms of execution and just knocking out the laps,” said McLaughlin, who had his third-place finish at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding stripped earlier in the week for illegal push-to-pass software and using it. “Very happy we could advance to the checkered flag there and bring home a W for Team Penske and for Roger (Penske).”
Will Power made it Team Penske 1-2 by finishing second in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet, 1.3194 seconds behind McLaughlin.
“It was a hard-fought 1-2 for Penske,” Power said. “We were certainly fast, but obviously a lot of strategy played into that. We were able to use our speed to come out in front again.”
Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Linus Lundqvist rounded out the podium by finishing third in the No. 8 American Legion Honda, the best finish of his young career.
“Man, it was amazing,” said Lundqvist of his sixth career start. “I think for the first time ever I was not on the save fuel strategy. I was not the one being passed, which was nice.”
The next race for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday, May 11 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, which kicks off the Month of May activities at IMS culminating in the 108th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 26 on the IMS oval.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (April 24, 2024) Scott Dixon and the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing team are leading the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Championship standings after Team Penske was penalized for violating the series ‘push-to-pass’ parameters.
INDYCAR disqualified Josef Newgarden’s win and Scott McLaughlin’s third place finish in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and docked Will Power 10-Championship points for the infractions.
Dixon’s epic win in this past Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach vaulted him into second position in the Championship standings, 12-points behind Newgarden. That changed following Wednesday’s penalties.
Dixon now holds a 2-point lead over Andretti Global’s Colton Herta and a 12-point lead over teammate and reigning INDYCAR Champion Alex Palou.
Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward sits in fourth position, 15-points back, following his elevation to winner at St. Pete. Power sits in fifth position, 20-points behind Dixon despite the 10-point reduction.
Dixon heads into this weekend’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix powered by AmFirst at Barber Motorsports Park having never won at the picturesque 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course in Birmingham Alabama.
“Barber has been interesting,” said Dixon, a six-time series Champion. “Second six times. Never won there. The goal was always to try and step on the top step again.”
Dixon is hoping a recent test will help him park the No. 9 Honda in victory lane.
“We had a really good test at Barber,” added Dixon. “Only probably half of the grid did, so it will be interesting to see how that applies.”
The first 75-minute practice session gets underway on Friday from 2:40 p.m. to 3:55 p.m. and will be live-streamed on Peacock.
McLaughlin is the defending race winner.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (April 24, 2024) Team Penske is in hot water for violating NTT INDYCAR SERIES rules regarding push-to-pass and Josef Newgarden has been stripped of his win in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
Team Penske was in violation of the following “Push to Pass” parameters:
- Rule 14.19.15. An indicator to enable Push to Pass will be sent via CAN communication from the timing and scoring beacon on board the Car to the team data logger. This signal must be passed on to the ECU unmodified and uninterrupted during all Road and Street Course Events.
- Rule 14.19.16. Race Starts and any Race Restart that occurs before the lap prior to the white flag or prior to three minutes remaining in a timed Race Event will have the Push to Pass system disabled and will be enabled for a given Car once that Car reaches the alternate Start/Finish line.
The issue came to light at this past weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach when INDYCAR officials discovered the possible violation during the morning warmup. The Series made sure the advantage that was discovered could not be implemented during Sunday’s race.
The series then began an extensive review of data from the St. Petersburg race, which revealed that Team Penske manipulated the overtake system so that the No. 2, 3 and 12 cars had the ability to use Push to Pass on starts and restarts. According to the INDYCAR rulebook, use of overtake is not available during championship races until the car reaches the alternate start-finish line.
It was determined that Newgarden’s No. 2 and the No. 3 of Scott McLaughlin gained a competitive advantage by using Push to Pass on restarts while the No. 12 of Will Power did not. McLaughlin was stripped of his third-place finish and Power was docked 10-Championship points. All three entries have been fined $25,000 and will forfeit all prize money associated with the Streets of St. Petersburg race.
The integrity of the INDYCAR SERIES championship is critical to everything we do,” said INDYCAR President Jay Frye. “While the violation went undetected at St. Petersburg, INDYCAR discovered the manipulation during Sunday’s warmup in Long Beach and immediately addressed it ensuring all cars were compliant for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Beginning with this week’s race at Barber Motorsports Park, new technical inspection procedures will be in place to deter this violation.”
Team Penske issued a statement where President Tim Cindric blamed the violation on software that was not removed following a test session.
“Unfortunately, the push-to-pass software was not removed as it should have been, following recently completed hybrid testing in the Team Penske Indy cars. This software allowed for push-to-pass to be deployed during restarts at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix race, when it should not have been permitted. The No. 2 car driven by Josef Newgarden and the No. 3 car driven by Scott McLaughlin, both deployed push-to-pass on a restart, which violated INDYCAR rules. Team Penske accepts the penalties applied by INDYCAR.”
Newgarden’s disqualification handed the victory to Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward elevated PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon to the top of the Championship standings.
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