IndyCars - The off-season: Series news and comment until the March 2014 kick-off

[MarkyS]

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Thursday at Indianapolis - The IndyCars hold the P-4 practice…

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…and the Chip Ganassi boys continue to dominate as defending race WINNER Marcus Ericsson turns in the fastest time of the week, so far. We have COMBINED P-3 and P-4 to give you the order of speed for the testing, so far.

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Here is the order of speed for the IndyCars P-3 and P-4 practices COMBINED, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie; time is for 1 lap; the driver’s best session is in ( )

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1 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:39.1974s for a speed of 229.607mph (4)

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2 - Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:39.2261s for a speed of 229.439mph (3)

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3 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:39.2694s for a speed of 229.186mph (4)

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4 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises - time of 00:39.3053s for a speed of 228.977mph (3)

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5 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:39.3494s for a speed of 228.720mph (3)

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6 - Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing (4)
7 - Will Power, Team Penske (4)
8 - Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske (3)
9 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport (4)
10 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing (4)

11 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren (4)
12 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren (4)
13 - Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (3)
14 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske (3)
15 - Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport (3)
16 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan (4)
17 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan (3)
18 - Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing (4)
19 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport (4)
20 - Agustin Canapino [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing (4)

21 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren (4)
22 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing (4)
23 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing (4)
24 - Stefan Wilson, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Cusick Motorsports (3)
25 - David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports (3)
26 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport (4)
27 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing (3)
28 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises (3)
29 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan (4)
30 - RC Enerson [R], Abel Motorsports (4)

31 - Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner (4)
32 - Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing (4)
33 - Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing (4)
34 - Katherine Legge, Rahal Letterman Lanigan (3)

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Notable:

• Ericsson not only laid down the fastest lap of the week with a tow but also put in the fastest no-tow lap of the week, at 224.414 seconds. Marcus is determined to be a repeat race WINNER.

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Marcus Ericsson

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Here are interviews from the day, thanks to NBC:

PRACTICE INTERVIEWS // INDY 500

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Here, Racer magazine’s Marshall Pruett speaks with Helio Castroneves and RC Enerson:

RACER Indy 500 Trackside Report: Thursday May 18 with Helio Castroneves and RC Enerson

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Friday - aka “Fast Friday” - will have all cars given additional turbo boost to simulate the boost they will have during qualifying, this weekend, the result being about 100 additional horsepower. It’s truly fast and truly more dangerous…

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M

[MarkyS]

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Friday at Indianapolis - The boost goes up and so do the top speeds…

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Fast Friday is the day the cars are given more turbo boost to simulate the boost pressures they will have to qualify on Saturday and Sunday and that adds about 100 horsepower to the engines. More horsepower means more speed on the top end, and that speed showed up today, as cars put in some of the fastest laps turned at the Speedway since 1996. Since this doesn’t compare with lower-boost engines we are presenting the P-5 practice uncombined with P-4 and P-3

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Here was the order of speed for the IndyCars P-5 practice, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie; times are for 1 lap

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1 - Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:38.3382s for a speed of 234.753mph

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2 - Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport - time of 00:38.4283s for a speed of 234.202mph

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3 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing - time of 00:38.4334s for a speed of 234.171mph

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4 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:38.4568s for a speed of 234.029mph

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5 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren - time of 00:38.4951s for a speed of 233.796mph

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6 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
7 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises
8 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport
9 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport
10 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing

11 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren
12 - Will Power, Team Penske
13 - Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske
14 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
15 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises
16 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren
17 - Tony Kanaan, Arrow McLaren
18 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing
19 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport
20 - Agustin Canapino [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing

21 - Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing
22 - Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
23 - Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing
24 - Stefan Wilson, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Cusick Motorsports
25 - David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports
26 - Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner
27 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
28 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
29 - Katherine Legge, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
30 - RC Enerson [R], Abel Motorsports

31 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
32 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
33 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
34 - Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing

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Notable:

• Once again, the weekend hires Takuma Sato and Marco Andretti show everyone else why they are asked to the show. These guys are just flat fearless and fast. Taku’s lap is the ninth-fastest practice lap in Indy 500 history and the fastest since 1996 - the fastest year in Indy history.

• The speeds are phenomenal. Pato O’Ward had a trap speed going into Turn 3 of 243 miles per hour. We haven’t seen that kind of speed for over a decade.

• This is the best showing for Rinus VeeKay and Ed Carpenter Racing all week and the timing couldn’t be better.

• Best rookie was Benjamin Pedersen in a very nice P15. Benjamin is obviously benefitting from being on the same team as the very speedy Santino Ferrucci.

• Best team is still Chip Ganassi with the TOP SPOT and three of four guys in the TOP TEN.

• As a team, Rahal Letterman Lanigan is very slow, with all four cars in jeopardy of being the 34th car - the car that will be eliminated in qualifying. They have gotten the cars to put in very consistent and predictable laps, but they need to find speed. They only have overnight to do it.

• Callum Ilott was spooked by his car at the Indy Open Test, last April. He thought something was actually broken in the chassis. All week, he has had no improvement and is still spooked by the car. As a result, the team will change overnight to a different chassis for qualifying. Illott was P15 on Fast Friday in 2022, lest anyone think he just cannot go fast here.

Callum Ilott

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The single lap speeds above are the fastest lap of the 4-lap qualifying simulation the cars were running all day today. Single cars had the track to themselves for four laps in the fast lanes. We have the TOP TEN averages here.

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Here are the TOP TEN IndyCars 4-lap run with times for all ten: Speeds are for 4 laps, averaged

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1 - Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing - speed of 233.413mph

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2 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing - speed of 233.113mph

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3 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske - speed of 233.086mph

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4 - Will Power, Team Penske - speed of 233.070mph

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5 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing - speed of 232.898mph

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6 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport - speed of 232.804mph

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7 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren - speed of 232.778mph

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8 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport - speed of 232.616mph

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9 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren - speed of 232.535mph

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10 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - speed of 232.451mph

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Notable:

• The weather was hot today and windy. Tomorrow should be cooler and perhaps less windy, but these are still among the guys who are likely to be fighting for the pole on Sunday.

• At the end of the day we had three apparent engine failures - all Hondas - for Scott Dixon, Alex Palou and Jack Harvey. This has the Honda camp worried. Was it the extra 100 horsepower that did it, or is this something that race-configured cars will also need to worry about?

• At the end of the day the order of qualifying on Saturday morning was drawn by lot. Ryan Hunter-Reay will be the first guy out, while the track is still cool.

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Ryan Hunter-Reay - first qualifier

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Here are driver interviews from NBC:

PRACTICE INTERVIEWS // INDIANAPOLIS 500

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Here, Racer magazine’s Marshall Pruett speaks with defending race WINNER Marcus Ericsson:

RACER Indy 500 Trackside Report: Friday May 19 with Marcus Ericsson

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Saturday morning at 8:30am EASTERN time will be the P-6 practice - literally, the last chance to do anything before qualifying, which will commence at 11:00am EASTERN time. Both will be on Peacock Premium, with NBC picking up at 2:30pm EASTERN time.

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M

[MarkyS]

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Saturday morning at Indianapolis - the P-6 practice…

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…is a last-chance practice for those still worried about their cars before qualifying. It has both benefits and deficits, and most of the cars elected not to run it. The ten cars that elected to run are cars that had issues late in the day Friday (blown engines or slow runs) or are out there just to confirm they are okay to qualify. A few are out there because of the belief that the P-6 session is the closest to the qualifying conditions - a lot closer than P-5 was late in the day - and some useful stuff may be gleaned from a run.

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Here was the order of speed for the P-6 practice, with times for all: [R] denotes rookie; the speed is a four-lap average

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1 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing - speed of 232.714mph

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2 - Tony Kanaan, Arrow McLaren - speed of 232.440mph

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3 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren - speed of 232.418mph

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4 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport - speed of 232.296mph

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5 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport - speed of 232.009mph

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6 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - speed of 231.741mph

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7 - Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner - speed of 230.379mph

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8 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing - speed of 230.351mph

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9 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan - speed of 228.649mph

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10 - Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing - speed of 224.893mph

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Notable:

• The downside to running in the P-6 session is most notably the heat soak that it puts in the car and especially the engine. The ideal qualifying engine is stone cold to start from, but running in the P-6 session will put a lot of heat in the engine and it won’t be stone cold at qualifying time.

• Juncos Hollinger was able to construct a new car for Callum Ilott overnight using the chassis that Agustin Canapino used at the Open Test in late April, instead of the brand-new chassis Callum has been so unsatisfied with, all week. The effort has yet to bear fruit. Of his two runs he was still slow in the first and unable to complete the second.

• Connor Daly was substantially slower than he was yesterday afternoon, so they are scratching their heads at Ed Carpenter Racing. The theory is that it is so cool this morning that the thick air is actually impeding his speed at the moment with drag on the car.

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Alex Palou - TOPS in P-6

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Here, Chip Ganassi’s Team Manager Barry Wanser explains how qualifying is done over the next two days:

Chip Ganassi Racing

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That’s it until qualifying begins at 11:00pm EASTERN time, this morning and runs until 6:00pm. That can be seen on Peacock Premium live. NBC will join coverage starting at 2:30pm EASTERN time.

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M

[MarkyS]

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Saturday at Indianapolis - Day 1 of Indy 500 qualifying is complete…

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…and we now know who will be fighting for pole on Sunday, who will be in positions 13 thru 30 on the grid and who will be fighting for the last three spots - Row 11 - on Sunday.

Today’s running established the Fast 12 for Sunday - the TOP TWELVE 4-lap-average speeds of the day. On Sunday, these 12 will duke it out for the pole, by first whittling down to the Fast 6 and then going for pole. Let’s see who they are…

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Here is the order of speed for the IndyCar Firestone Fast 12 from qualifying, with speeds for all: [R] denotes rookie; speed is the average of four laps

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1 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren - speed of 233.947mph

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2 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren - speed of 233.528mph

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3 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing - speed of 233.398mph

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4 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing - speed of 233.395mph

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5 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - speed of 233.375mph

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6 - Tony Kanaan, Arrow McLaren - speed of 233.347mph

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7 - Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing - speed of 233.322mph

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8 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren - speed of 233.252mph

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9 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises - speed of 233.147mph

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10 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing - speed of 233.030mph

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11 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises - speed of 232.739mph

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12 - Will Power, Team Penske - speed of 232.719mph

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Notable:

• Alexander Rossi was one of the earliest qualifiers and put in the first lap of 234 miles per hour. He immediately went to the top and held that spot for most of the day, but teammate Felix Rosenqvist, P2 at the time, eventually went out for a second run late in the day, put in two laps at 234+ and took over P1. Alex Palou, Rinus VeeKay and Scott Dixon had also gotten into the 234mph club, earlier.

• Felix’s effort was the third-fastest qually average at Indy ever. Given the relative horsepower available today compared to the Champ Car era that is incredible! A true testimony to the superb chassis work and tires of today.

• Great result for Arrow McLaren which got the TOP TWO spots and all four cars in the Fast 12 due to a third late charge by Tony Kanaan to better his earlier efforts. Chip Ganassi also got all four cars in the TOP 12 but P3 was their best of the four.

• Superb results for the perennial also-rans at AJ Foyt Enterprises which got both cars into the TOP 12. Santino Ferrucci was a definite possibility all week but Benjamin Pedersen was a very pleasant surprise, peaking at the end of the week. AJ Foyt was happily at the track to see it. Also great for Ed Carpenter Racing to make it into the TOP 12 with Rinus. Carpenter himself just missed out by the smallest of margins.

• Will Power was the only Penske car to make it and Andretti Autosport failed to get in.

• On Sunday, when these 12 go for the Fast 6 they will start from zero again, so anyone can advance to the Fast 6. The same is true when they go for pole. The 6 will start from zero and anyone of them can secure pole.

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Felix Rosenqvist - TOPS for the Fast 12

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Here is the way IndyCar positions 13 thru 30 will grid for Season Round 6 - the Indy 500: [R] denotes rookie

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Row 5

P13 - Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing
P14 - Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske
P15 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport

Row 6

P16 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing
P17 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
P18 - Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

Row 7

P19 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport
P20 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
P21 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport

Row 8

P22 - Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing
P23 - David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports
P24 - Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport

Row 9

P25 - Stefan Wilson, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Cusick Motorsports
P26 - Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner
P27 - Agustin Canapino [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing

Row 10

P28 - Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing
P29 - RC Enerson [R], Abel Motorsports
P30 - Katherine Legge, Rahal Letterman Lanigan

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Notable:

• Out of the TOP 30 for a long time was David Malukas, but the team finally came up with a downforce / trim combination that worked for “Lil’ Dave” and he put in a monster last effort that put him into P23 and bumped Christian Lundgaard out of P30.

• Katherine Legge had been the fastest Rahal Letterman Lanigan car all day, initially qualifying in P24 while the rest of the team struggled to break the TOP 30, but she saw her standing whittle away until she was 29th and Christian Lundgaard was P30. Then, when Malukas bumped Christian she was the only RLL car still in it, now on the bubble. Lundgaard - last car to go out before the closing gun - was unable to best Katherine. Katherine was in her car ready to try to get back in had he been able to. She was spared the need.

• Also out for much of the day was Callum Ilott but the team finally put teammate Agustin Canapino’s set-up on his car and he managed to get in at P28.

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David Malukas (left), Callum Ilott and Katherine Legge (right) - in the show

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At the end of the day, the four cars unable to crack the TOP 30 were, in order of speed:

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31 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan

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32 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing

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33 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan

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34 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan

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Collectively, this group is known as the Last Chance Qualifiers. On Sunday, they will all start from zero again, attempting to qualify for the 11th row, and one of them will be bumped out of the race.

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Notable:

• Of the four, Christian and Jack made it into the TOP 30 at one point but both were eventually bumped out. Graham and Sting Ray never made it in.

• All four RLL cars were at times very consistent for most of the day, but they were also too slow, except for Katherine Legge. She was almost one and a half miles an hour faster than her teammates.

• Sting Ray Robb was also too slow so the plan is on Sunday to give him the set-up that worked so well for teammate David Malukas at the end of today’s session and see what he can do with it.

• The plan for the RLL cars may be to use some of Katherine’s parts - the transmission and / or her uprights, for instance - to see if they can" free up" a car or two to get in the show and then give the parts back to her, later. It’s about all they have left to try.

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Here, Racer magazine’s Marshall Pruett interviews Katherine Legge, Callum Ilott, Scott McLaughlin and RC Enerson on Day 1 action:

RACER Indy 500 Trackside Report: Qualifying Day 1 With IIlott, Legge, Enerson, and McLaughlin

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Tomorrow morning at 11:30am EASTERN the Fast 12 will practice. At 12:30pm EASTERN the Last Chance Qualifiers will practice. Both sessions will air on Peacock Premium. At 2:00pm EASTERN the Fast 12 will qualify for the Fast 6. That will be on Peacock Premium.

Finally, at 4:00pm EASTERN time, NBC and Peacock will air the Last Chance Qualifying session, which will fill the 11th row and bump someone out. Then, we will segue into the Firestone Fast Six for the pole.

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M

[MarkyS]

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Sunday morning at Indianapolis - the final practices for the Fast 12 and the LCQ guys…

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First out were the Fast 12 guys and with the temperature and almost total lack of wind there were near-record-setting speeds laid down in both single laps and 4-lap averages. Tony Kanaan elected not to practice.

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Here was the order of speed for the IndyCars Fast 12, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie; time is for 1 lap

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1 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:38.1854s for a speed of 235.692mph

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2 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:38.1988s for a speed of 235.609mph

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3 - Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:38.2782s for a speed of 235.121mph

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4 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises - time of 00:38.2936s for a speed of 235.026mph

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5 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises - time of 00:38.3024s for a speed of 234.972mph

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6 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing
7 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren
8 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing
9 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren
10 - Will Power, Team Penske
11 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren

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Notable:

• Santino Ferrucci put in the fastest 4-lap average at 234.649mph, which is the fastest all week.

• Santino’s teammate Benjamin Pedersen put in the fastest no-tow speed at 235.026mph - again, the fastest all week.

• Near the end of the session Rinus VeeKay was pulled into the pits by a tow truck, after stopping out on track with an ominous sounding engine. The team immediately garaged the car to see if it’s a blown engine or possibly just a broken header.

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Marcus Ericsson - fastest speed in a tow all week in the last practice

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Following the Fast 12 the 4 Last Chance Qualifiers came out to see if they had made any improvements in the speed of their cars overnight. It didn’t look like it, so it will come down to the mistakes made on track that can cause thousandths of a second during their 4-lap runs, later today.

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Here was the order of speed for the LCQ IndyCars during their final practice: [R] denotes rookie; speeds are the average of 4 laps

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1 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan - speed of 230.511mph

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2 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan - speed of 230.236mph

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3 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing - speed of 230.033mph

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4 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan - speed of 229.912mph

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Notable:

• All four drivers are going around the track without lifting the throttle at this points, which means there is little more they can do except execute their turn entries and exits with the greatest precision possible, so as not to scrub off any speed they have.

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Qualifying for the Fast 12 going down to the Fast 6 gets underway at 2:00pm EASTERN time with broadcast on Peacock Premium. Coverage for the LCQ and the Fast 6 on NBC starts at 4:pm EASTERN time, with concurrent broadcast on Peacock Premium.

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M

[MarkyS]

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Sunday at Indianapolis - the Fast 12 whittle down to the Fast 6…

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After each of the 12 TOP qualifiers from Saturday put in 4 laps at speed we have the TOP SIX left over and they are now known as the Firestone Fast Six.

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Here was the order of speed for the run to the Fast Six, with times for all: [R] denotes rookie; speeds are an average of the four laps

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1 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren - speed of 234.081mph

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2 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises - speed of 233.911mph

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3 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing - speed of 233.801mph

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4 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing - speed of 233.779mph

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5 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - speed of 233.430mph

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6 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren - speed of 233.229mph

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Notable:

• Fourth guy out, Santino put in a monster performance that put him in the TOP spot for the rest of the session until Felix came out last and eclipsed him, barely.

• Rosenqvist’s effort ends up being the 2nd fastest 4-lap qualifying run ever at Indy.

• The TOP FOUR guys all had their first two first laps in the 234 miles per hour range. Their relative place was all about the drop-off for the next two laps. Even Dixon and O’Ward had at least 1 lap in the 234 range.

• All six will now zero out once again and go for pole from an even standpoint, later in the day

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Felix Rosenqvist

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While those six will next go for pole, the bottom six make up Rows 3 and 4 thus:

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Row 3

P7 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren
P8 - Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing
P9 - Tony Kanaan, Arrow McLaren

Row 4

P10 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing
P11 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises
P12 - Will Power, Team Penske

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Next up, at 4:00pm EASTERN time the 4 Last Chance Qualifiers will go for Row 11, with one of them going home. That will be followed by the Firestone Fast Six for the pole. Broadcast will be LIVE on NBC with concurrent broadcast on Peacock Premium.
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M

[MarkyS]

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Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis - The Last Chance Qualifiers and the run for the pole…
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The session started out with 4 cars attempting to fill the three spots at the tail of the grid - Row 11 - with the sure and certain knowledge that somebody was going home, out of the race. It turned out to be very high drama, right to the end.

Going out to qualify in order were Christian Lundgaard for RLL, Sting Ray Robb for Dale Coyne Racing , Jack Harvey for RLL and Graham Rahal for RLL.

After the first attempts it was P1 Lundgaard, P2 Robb, P3 Rahal and P4 Harvey. Harvey dropped his time and went for a 2nd run as Graham waited in his car to go, if he needed to. Jack’s 2nd run was still 4th best, by 0.230 miles per hour. With only 2 minutes to the gun, Jack said “Let’s try it one more time” and he went out a third time.

On his final attempt, using everything he learned on his first two attempts, Jack beat Graham’s time by 0.007 miles per hour, with Rahal not getting any opportunity to respond, as time had run out. Graham goes home.

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It looked like this, at the end: (speeds are 4-lap averages)

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1 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan - speed of 229.649mph

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2 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing - speed of 229.549mph

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3 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan - speed of 229.166mph

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4 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan - speed of 229.159mph

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…and thus, here is Row 11:

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Row 11

P31 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
P32 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
P33 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan

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A devastated Graham Rahal goes home

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Following that drama came the Firestone Fast 6 - the go for the pole, with each entrant getting one and only one attempt. The entrants went out to qualify in reverse order of their standing at the end of the Fast 12 - Pato O’Ward, Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, Rinus VeeKay, Santino Ferrucci and Felix Rosenqvist.

Palou put in a blistering run with his first lap going over 235 miles per hour and he took the P1 spot from Pato O’Ward. Rinus VeeKay then also put in a first lap of 235mph and nearly stole P1 but came up 0.007 miles per hour short. Santino Ferrucci was disappointed with his run - well short, but still P3 at the time. Finally, Felix came out and was NOT as fast on the first lap as Alex but was more consistent all through the run and ALMOST stole pole but was 0.103 miles per hour short, taking P3.

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Here was the order of speed for the IndyCars Firestone Fast 6, with times for all: speeds are the average of 4 laps

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1 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing - speed of 234.217mph

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2 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing - speed of 234.211mph

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3 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren - speed of 234.114mph

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4 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises - speed of 233.661mph

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5 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren - speed of 233.402mph

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6 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - speed of 233.151mph

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Notable:

• Alex Palou now holds the all-time track record for a pole at Indy. Arie Luyendyk’s 1996 qualifying record of 236.986mph stands, but it was not set while going for the pole.

• Rinus VeeKay’s remarkable record for his 4 Indy 500 starts is P4 in 2020, P3 in 2021, P3 in 2022 and now P2 in 2023. Pole still eludes him, but that is truly outstanding performance.

• Santino Ferrucci will start the race from his best-ever starting position and that bodes well for a great result. In 2019 he started 23rd and finished P7. In 2020 he started 19th and finished P4. In 2021 he started 23rd and finished P6. In 2022 he started P15 and finished P10. He has a habit of finishing much better than he starts and he’s clearly in his best mount ever.

• This is the fastest field in Indy 500 history. The average speed for the 33-car field is 232.184mph, shattering the record of 231.023mph set last year.

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With these results, here is the complete grid for Season Round 6, the 107th Running of the Indy 500:

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Row 1

P1 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
P2 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing
P3 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren

Row 2

P4 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises
P5 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren
P6 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing

Row 3

P7 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren
P8 - Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing
P9 - Tony Kanaan, Arrow McLaren

Row 4

P10 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing
P11 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises
P12 - Will Power, Team Penske

Row 5

P13 - Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing
P14 - Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske
P15 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport

Row 6

P16 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing
P17 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
P18 - Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

Row 7

P19 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport
P20 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
P21 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport

Row 8

P22 - Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing
P23 - David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports
P24 - Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport

Row 9

P25 - Stefan Wilson, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Cusick Motorsports
P26 - Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner
P27 - Agustin Canapino [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing

Row 10

P28 - Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing
P29 - RC Enerson [R], Abel Motorsports
P30 - Katherine Legge, Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Row 11

P31 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
P32 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
P33 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan

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On Monday the series will hold practice # 8 from 1:00pm to 3:00pm EASTERN time, to be broadcast on Peacock Premium. This will be the first post-qually practice and thus everyone will be out there in race trim. The P8 session always looks like racing, with cars running in packs to simulate racing. P-8 is the last practice until Carb Day on Friday, the 26th of May.

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M

[MarkyS]

+++

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Monday at Indianapolis - The P-8 Practice has the first two-car incident of the month…

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The P-8 practice was run on the Speedway today and the nature of the practice finally bit a couple of the competitors. As a post-qualifying practice, everyone is out checking their race trim and they are doing it running in packs - not alone. It looks EXACTY like high-speed racing going on, as everyone is trying to maximize their race set-up and need to run in fast packs to do so.

As a big pack of cars entered Turn 1 just over halfway through the session the pack checked up for some reason and slowed entering the turn, with an accordion effect of cars trying to slow and not hit each other. Katherine Legge in the # 44 Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan was at the tail of the pack and hit the brakes and shifted down twice trying to slow but she still tagged the rear of Stefan Wilson’s # 24 DRR Cusick CareKeepers Chevrolet and both cars went hard into the Turn 1 Safer Barrier, with Legge getting her nose airborne and proceeding down to also hit the Safer Barrier in Turn 2.

Legge was able to climb out on her own but Wilson needed help. After evaluation at the infield medical center, Legge was cleared to drive but Stefan has a fracture of the 12th thoracic vertebrae and will remain overnight at IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for further tests and observation. He will NOT be cleared to drive and is out of the race. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will need to get a replacement driver, if indeed they repair and enter the car. Katherine will either get her car repaired or the team will field another car for her.

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Here is video:

NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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The incident took enough time to clear that IndyCar added an extra half-hour to the session to allow cars to run the full two hours allotted.

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Here was the order of speed for the IndyCar P-8 practice, with times for the TOP FIVE:
[R] denotes rookie

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1 - Will Power, Team Penske - time of 00:39.2633s for a speed of 229.222mph

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2 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:39.2698s for a speed of 229.184mph

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3 - Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:39.4076s for a speed of 228.382mph

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4 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:39.5793s for a speed of 227.392mph

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5 - Tony Kanaan, Arrow McLaren - time of 00:39.6311s for a speed of 227.094mph

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6 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing
7 - Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport
8 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises
9 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren
10 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport

11 - Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
12 - Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske
13 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing
14 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport
15 - Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing
16 - Agustin Canapino [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing
17 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
18 - David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports
19 - Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing
20 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren

21 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
22 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport
23 - Stefan Wilson, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Cusick Motorsports
24 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
25 - RC Enerson [R], Abel Motorsports
26 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
27 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
28 - Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner
29 - Katherine Legge, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
30 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren

31 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises
32 - Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing
33 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing

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Notable:

• As with any post-qualifying session, no one knows what program each team and each car was doing today. Some were going as fast as they could while others were testing tire wear or fuel consumption or something else NOT related to top speeds. That is why some of the fastest qualifiers were NOT fast today. The fast guys today will be fast in the race. They just won’t be the ONLY fast guys in the race.

• Notice the drastic drop-off in speed today. No one even topped 230 miles per hour. Everyone was in race trim and not qualifying trim, which is too dangerous to race in for 500 miles.

• If Dreyer & Reinbold are able to get the # 24 Chevy back in the race a possible replacement driver for Stefan would be Sage Karam who has driven very nicely for the team in the past.

Sage Karem

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Will Power

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Here are interviews from today, from NBC:

PRACTICE 8 INTERVIEWS // INDIANAPOLIS 500

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Here, Racer magazine’s Marshall Pruett speaks with Ryan Hunter-Reay about P-8:

Indy 500 Trackside Report: Monday May 22 with Ryan Hunter-Reay and RACER's Marshall Pruett

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And here is the 2023 graduation picture:

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Practice is now over until Friday - Carb Day - which is the final practice before the race on Sunday. Between now and Friday drivers are going to fan out across the country to appear on local sports programs to promote the race. One of them MAY be in your town, so look for them!

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M

[MarkyS]

+++

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Dreyer & Reinbold Racing find an Indy 500 replacement for wounded Stefan Wilson…

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…and in a great story, it’s Graham Rahal! The senior driver from Rahal Letterman Lanigan got the call on Monday and immediately both his team and Dreyer & Reinbold started to work on making the driver swap possible, following the sad news that Stefan’s fracture of his 12th vertebrae will keep him out of the 2023 Indy 500.

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Graham Rahal jumps into the # 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Chevrolet

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The biggest impediment was of course the fact that Rahal is and has been for a very long time a Honda driver and DRR is a Chevy camp but Honda and Chevrolet graciously made no bones about it and Rahal was in. The car will have to be a replacement chassis as the original was pummeled too badly in the Turn 1 crash with Katherine Legge (see post above).

Luckily, the DDR team knows how to fit a tall drink of water like Rahal into the car, as Stefan Wilson was the only driver who is as tall as Graham. But Rahal only has a few days to get used to the DRR steering wheel, which is set up differently than his RLL steering wheel. The car was clearly a better performer than Graham’s # 15 Honda, but the new iteration of it may not be. Time will tell. Luckily, Graham’s new teammate is an old friend with a lot of knowledge - Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Rahal’s first chance to drive the car will be on Friday - Carb Day - the last chance to practice before Sunday’s Indy 500. Fifth Third Bank and United Rentals, which had partnered with Rahal on the # 15 entry, will move across to the # 24.

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Here, Graham speaks to the press with Dennis Reinbold and Don Cusick along:

Graham Rahal on getting Dennis Reinbold call to be back in Indy 500

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Racer’s Marshal Pruett speaks with Don Cusick - Stefan’s boss - about the swap and then visits with Stefan, himself being visited by Anders “the Viking” Krohn:

Indy 500 Trackside Report: Tuesday May 23 with Don Cusick and RACER's Marshall Pruett

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Cusick and Pruett alluded to the very special relationship that the Wilson family and Graham Rahal have. When Justin Wilson - Stefan’s older brother - was killed at Pocono in 2015 Graham stepped in and fully organized a charity auction on EBay for Justin’s wife Julia and young daughters Jane and Jess. Up for auction to the public would be donated racing memorabilia from IndyCar and Formula 1 drivers and teams. The effort grew and grew from modest beginnings until Graham was able to present Julia with a check for an incredible $637,067.94. - 100% donated to the Wilson Children’s Fund, all thanks to his tireless efforts over six weeks of time.

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Do you believe in karma?

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M

[MarkyS]

+++

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Thursday at Lucas Oil Raceway - The USF Pro Championships come to do the Freedom races on Friday…

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On Friday - Carb Day for the Indy 500 - The USF2000 gang and the USF Pro 2000 gang will be racing at Lucas Oil Raceway, just minutes from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They will be there to do Season Round 8 for USF2000, aka The Freedom 75 and Season Round 7 for USF Pro 2000, aka the Freedom 90. For both series this will be their only oval race of the season.

The venue is the 0.686-mile oval at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, better known as Lucas Oil Raceway - a large motorsports complex that also includes a road course, a drag strip and a karting track.

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Lucas Oil Raceway

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Today, both series were at LOR to test and then qualify for Friday’s races. Each series held two test session and then qualified for their respective races on Friday. We combined the two tests for USF2000 to give you the TOP FIVE testers for the day. They were:

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1 - Max Garcia [R], Pabst Racing

2 - Nikita Johnson [R], VRD Racing

3 - Simon Sikes, Pabst Racing

4 - Elliot Cox [R], Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development

5 - Mac Clark [R], DEForce Racing

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Following the testing the series held qualifying for the Freedom 75. Qualifying is simple: The cars go out one at a time and put in a warm-up lap followed by two hot laps. The speeds of those two laps are averaged and the fastest car is on the pole.

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Here is the way USF2000 will grid for Season Round 8, with times for the TOP SIX: [R] denotes rookie; speed is the average of two hot laps

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Row 1

Pole - Mac Clark [R], DEForce Racing - speed of 109.853mph

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P2 - Evagoras Papasavvas, Jay Howard Driver Development - speed of 109.714mph

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Row 2

P3 - Chase Gardner [R], Exclusive Autosport - speed of 109.219mph

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P4 - Nikita Johnson [R], VRD Racing - speed of 108.668mph

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Row 3

P5 - Lochie Hughes [R], Jay Howard Driver Development - speed of 108.566mph

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P6 - Al Morey [R], Jay Howard Driver Development - speed of 107.850mph

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Row 4

P7 - Jorge Garciarce, DEForce Racing
P8 - Sam Corry [R], VRD Racing

Row 5

P9 - Simon Sikes, Pabst Racing
P10 - Avery Towns [R], Exclusive Autosport

Row 6

P11 - Elliot Cox [R], Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development
P12 - Max Garcia [R], Pabst Racing

Row 7

P13 - Joey Brienza [R], Exclusive Autosport
P14 - Maxwell Jamieson [R], DEForce Racing

Row 8

P15 - Gordan Scully, VRD Racing
P16 - Danny Dyszelski, VRD Racing - DQ

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Notable:

• This is Mac Clark’s first pole of the season. Mac is the 2022 USF Juniors Champion.

• Al Morey’s best previous start was a P11 at the Indianapolis Road Course.

• After two nice P3s in testing today, Simon Sikes, 2nd in points, had a bad first lap and to add to his woes, he violated a rule that cost him two grid spots, so he will be working hard to get back to the front of the pack.

• Danny Dyszelski qualified in P4 but something was wrong with his VRD Racing machine because he was disqualified for an as yet unknown infraction and will have to start last.

• Not all the drivers who have been racing in the series thus far are here, as some drivers are not interested in oval racing at this time.

• Joey Brienza is a USF Juniors driver this year, but he has also participated in a number of USF2000 races - this being another one.

Joey Brienza (left) Simon Sikes and Danny Dyszelski (right)

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Mac Clark

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USF2000 will hold their 1 weekend practice session tomorrow afternoon, before the evening race. Next up, the USF Pro 2000 gang test and qualify…

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(continued)

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M

[MarkyS]

+++

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Thursday at Lucas Oil Raceway - The USF Pro Championships come to do the Freedom races on Friday…(part 2)…

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The USF Pro 2000 gang also had two test sessions followed by qualifying. After combining the two tests the TOP FIVE in testing were:

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1 - Michael d’Orlando [R], Turn 3 Motorsport

2 - Francesco Pizzi [R], TJ Speed

3 - Jack William Miller, Miller Vinatieri Motorsports

4 - Jace Denmark [R], Pabst Racing

5 - Joel Granfors [R], Exclusive Autosport

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Following testing the series qualified for Friday’s Freedom 90, using the same procedures as USF2000.

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Here is the way USF Pro 2000 will grid for Season Round 7, with times for the TOP SIX:
[R] denotes rookie; speed is the average of two hot laps

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Row 1

Pole - Jack William Miller, Miller Vinatieri Motorsports - speed of 118.372mph

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P2 - Joel Granfors [R], Exclusive Autosport - speed of 118.279mph

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Row 2

P3 - Salvador de Alba, Exclusive Autosport - speed of 117.895mph

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P4 - Francesco Pizzi [R], TJ Speed - speed of 117.706mph

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Row 3

P5 - Myles Rowe [R], Pabst Racing - speed of 117.516mph

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P6 - Jace Denmark [R], Pabst Racing - speed of 117.232mph

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Row 4

P7 - Michael d’Orlando [R], Turn 3 Motorsport
P8 - Jonathan Browne, Turn 3 Motorsport

Row 5

P9 - Christian Weir [R], TJ Speed
P10 - Jackson Lee [R], Turn 3 Motorsport

Row 6

P11 - Kiko Porto, DEForce Racing
P12 - Ricardo Escotto [R], Jay Howard Driver Development

Row 7

P13 - Nicholas Monteiero [R], NeoTech Motorsports
P14 - Bijoy Garg, DEForce Racing

Row 8

P15 - Yuven Sundaramoorthy, Exclusive Autosport
P16 - Lindsay Brewer, Exclusive Autosport

Row 9

P17 - Reece Ushijima [R], Jay Howard Driver Development
P18 - Jordan Missig, Pabst Racing

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Notable:

• Jack William Miller’s previous best start at LOR is a P3 while he was in USF2000. That was also a P3 finish. Jack in fact has a habit of starting and finishing very close to the same place at LOR, which in this case would be great.

• During his 2nd lap of qualifying Jack William actually bounced off the wall twice, but he was able to complete the lap and take the pole

• 2022 USF2000 Champion Michael d’Orlando has twice WON this race from pole, in 2021 and 2022, and he was TOPS in testing today, so we fully expected him to grab pole. This P7 is a big let-down for him.

• As a star in Mexican Stock Cars, we expected Salvador de Alba to do well and he didn’t disappoint.

• Both rookies Francesco Pizzi and Joel Granfors have no business being this good on the oval, as this is their first shot at one.

• Reece Ushijima broke down with some sort of mechanical during his attempt and Jordan Missig spun into the wall, destroying his left rear suspension. As both brought out red flags they lost their best laps and ended up last.

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Michael d’Orlando (left) Reece Ushijima and Jordan Missig (right)

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Jack William Miller - on the pole

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Like USF2000, UP2K will get a practice session in the afternoon and then go racing in the Carb Night Classic in the evening.

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M

[MarkyS]

+++

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Friday at Indianapolis - It’s Carb Day at the Indy 500…

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…and that means the cars went out today for the last practice before the race and the last chance to confirm any work one does on the cars. No one was trying to set speed records, but rather they were trying to see how their cars will run in traffic and in what is expected to be hot weather. Every car was on track today, including the newest versions of the # 44 Honda for Katherine Legge and the # 24 Chevy for Graham Rahal - both replacements for the cars lost in Monday’s P-8 practice shunt.
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Here was the order of speed for the P-9 practice, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie; speeds are for 1 lap

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1 - Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:39.4988s for a speed of 227.855mph

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2 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:39.5978s for a speed of 227.285mph

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3 - Will Power, Team Penske - time of 00:39.6558s for a speed of 226.953mph

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4 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:39.6571s for a speed of 226.945mph

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5 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport - time of 00:39.6700s for a speed of 226.872mph

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6 - Agustin Canapino [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing
7 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport
8 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport
9 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
10 - Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske

11 - Tony Kanaan, Arrow McLaren
12 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing
13 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
14 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren
15 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren
16 - David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports
17 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises
18 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing
19 - Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport
20 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing

21 - Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing
22 - Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
23 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
24 - Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing
25 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
26 - Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner
27 - RC Enerson [R], Abel Motorsports
28 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren
29 - Katherine Legge, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
30 - Graham Rahal, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Cusick Motorsports

31 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises
32 - Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing
33 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing

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Notable:

• This is the 3rd practice that Takuma Sato has topped. If he’s trying to intimidate everyone, he’s doing a bang-up job of it.

• Scott Dixon is exactly where he wants to be. Scott Likes to run up in the front pack but never likes to lead this race until the final lap, believing it is a waste of resources and energy, just for the momentary headline. Watch him run that program on Sunday.

• That’s three Ganassi cars in the TOP FIVE and three Team Penske cars and three Andretti Autosport cars in the TOP TEN. Arrow McLaren took the session easier.

• Katherine Legge lost a wheel nut and had to stop on track and Devlin DeFrancesco had a right front tire puncture going into Turn 2. He managed to bring the care to a stop without hitting anything or being hit.

• A very nice confidence booster for rookie Agustine Canapino in P6, who is likely to be battling with Benjamin Pederson for the 2023 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year. Sunday’s results will play a big part of that. Benjamin’s teammate Santino Ferrucci was the 2019 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year.

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Agustin Canapino (left) and Bejamin Pedersen - Rookie of the Year?

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Takuma Sato - 3-time practice leader for the event

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Here are the Carb Day interviews from NBC:

MILLER LITE CARB DAY // PRACTICE INTERVIEWS

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M

[MarkyS]

+++

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Katherine Legge and Graham Rahal do their install laps on Thursday…

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Following the crash between Legge and Stefan Wilson on Monday, events happened quickly, with Wilson needing surgery for a fractured vertebrae and needing a replacement to drive his car, the # 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing w/ Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet. The team asked Graham Rahal to do the driving for Wilson in the race. (see post # 2029).

In the mean time, the DRR team and the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team had to construct or re-construct the # 24 Chevy and the # 44 Honda cars. Once those cars were ready, the Speedway allotted 15 minutes of running for them on Thursday - installation laps to confirm that the cars are race-ready.

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Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

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With Wilson out of the race Graham will not be allowed to start in Stefan’s Row 9, P25 starting spot, but rather will start from Row 11, P33 - the last spot. As a result, everyone ahead of him fills in up to P25, so the amended starting grid looks like this:

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Row 1

P1 - Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
P2 - Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing
P3 - Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren

Row 2

P4 - Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Enterprises
P5 - Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren
P6 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing

Row 3

P7 - Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren
P8 - Takuma Sato, Chip Ganassi Racing
P9 - Tony Kanaan, Arrow McLaren

Row 4

P10 - Marcus Ericsson, Chip Ganassi Racing
P11 - Benjamin Pedersen [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises
P12 - Will Power, Team Penske

Row 5

P13 - Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing
P14 - Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske
P15 - Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Autosport

Row 6

P16 - Conor Daly, Ed Carpenter Racing
P17 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
P18 - Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

Row 7

P19 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport
P20 - Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing
P21 - Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport

Row 8

P22 - Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing
P23 - David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports
P24 - Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport

Row 9

P25 - Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner
P26 - Agustin Canapino [R], Juncos Hollinger Racing
P27 - Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing

Row 10

P28 - RC Enerson [R], Abel Motorsports
P29 - Katherine Legge, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
P30 - Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Row 11

P31 - Sting Ray Robb [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing
P32 - Jack Harvey, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
P33 - Graham Rahal, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Cusick Motorsports

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The pre-race festivities will be LIVE on Peacock Premium on Sunday, from 9:00am to 11:00am EASTERN time. The race is scheduled for 11:00am to 4:00pm EASTERN time on NBC, with concurrent broadcast on Peacock Premium.
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M

[MarkyS]

+++

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Friday at Indianapolis - it’s the annual Carb Day Pit Stop Competition!..

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…which was WON today by Scott Dixon and his # 9 PNC Bank Honda Chip Ganassi Racing pit crew.

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Here are some of the competitions leading up to the final:

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NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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Congrats to the PNC Bank boys!!

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M

[MarkyS]

+++

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Friday at Lucas Oil Raceway - The USF2000 gang hold final practice for the Freedom 75…

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This was the last chance for teams to get everything right for the annual Carb Day Classic for the already-qualified field.

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Here was the order of speed for the USF2000 P-1 practice, with speed for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie, speed is for 1 lap

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1 - Max Garcia [R], Pabst Racing - speed of 109.221mph

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2 - Lochie Hughes [R], Jay Howard Driver Development - speed of 109.221mph

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3 - Evagoras Papasavvas, Jay Howard Driver Development - speed of 109.019mph

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4 - Simon Sikes, Pabst Racing - speed of 108.971mph

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5 - Jorge Garciarce, DEForce Racing - speed of 108.712mph

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6 - Elliot Cox [R], Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development
7 - Chase Gardner [R], Exclusive Autosport
8 - Nikita Johnson [R], VRD Racing
9 - Sam Corry [R], VRD Racing
10 - Joey Brienza [R], Exclusive Autosport

11 - Al Morey [R], Jay Howard Driver Development
12 - Danny Dyszelski, VRD Racing
13 - Maxwell Jamieson [R], DEForce Racing
14 - Gordan Scully, VRD Racing
15 - Avery Towns [R], Exclusive Autosport
16 - Mac Clark [R], DEForce Racing - no time

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Notable:

• Pole-sitter Mac Clark put in no time in the practice. We are trying to discover why not. it may simply be that they didn’t want to risk the car in a practice session.

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The race is scheduled for 8:30pm EASTERN time tonight. Next up, USF Pro 2000 holds their practice session…

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M

[MarkyS]

+++

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Friday at Lucas Oil Raceway - The USF Pro 2000 gang hold final practice for the Freedom 90…

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Just as with USF2000, the USF Pro 2000 gang only get this one session before strapping in to race in the annual Carb Night Classic.

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Here was the order of speed for the USF Pro 2000 practice session, with speeds for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie; speed is for 1 lap

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1 - Michael d’Orlando [R], Turn 3 Motorsport - speed of 117.886mph

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2 - Jack William Miller, Miller Vinatieri Motorsports - speed of 117.131mph

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3 - Joel Granfors [R], Exclusive Autosport - speed of 116.744mph

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4 - Jace Denmark [R], Pabst Racing - speed of 116.189mph

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5 - Francesco Pizzi [R], TJ Speed - speed of 115.873mph

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6 - Salvador de Alba, Exclusive Autosport
7 - Jordan Missig, Pabst Racing
8 - Nicholas Monteiero [R], NeoTech Motorsports
9 - Myles Rowe [R], Pabst Racing
10 - Christian Weir [R], TJ Speed

11 - Reece Ushijima [R], Jay Howard Driver Development
12 - Yuven Sundaramoorthy, Exclusive Autosport
13 - Jonathan Browne, Turn 3 Motorsport
14 - Kiko Porto, DEForce Racing
15 - Jackson Lee [R], Turn 3 Motorsport
16 - Bijoy Garg, DEForce Racing
17 - Ricardo Escotto [R], Jay Howard Driver Development
18 - Lindsay Brewer, Exclusive Autosport

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Notable:

• Michael d’Orlando is a two-time WINNER of the Freedom 75, both times from pole, so this speed is not at all a surprise. Too bad he qualified in P7 for tonight’s Freedom 90. It makes his job harder.

• Series points leader Myles Rowe will start from P5.

Myles Rowe

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The race is scheduled for 9:30pm EASTERN time tonight. Next up, the first half of the Carb Night Classic - the Freedom 75. The grid for this is in post # 2030…

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M

[MarkyS]

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Friday night at Lucas Oil Raceway - USF2000 holds the Freedom 75…

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…and taking his first WIN of the 2023 season was Canadian rookie Mac Clark for DEForce Racing, from pole. P2 went to 14-year-old Evagoras Papasavvas for Jay Howard Driver Development from his P2 start while P3 went to Simon Sikes for Pabst Racing in a great drive from his P9 start.

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As Mac led the field to the start Nikita Johnson for VRD Racing took P3 from Chase Gardner for Exclusive Autosport while Al Morey for JHDD took P9 from Simon Sikes. On lap 3 Elliot Cox for Sarah Fisher Hartman Driver Development moved into P10 past Jorge Garciarce for DEForce Racing and Max Garcia for Pabst Racing followed him into P11. On lap 4 Al Morey next took P6 from Sam Corry for VRD Racing and Simon Sikes followed to take over P7. On lap 5 Elliot Cox slipped into P9 past Avery Towns for Exclusive Autosport. On lap 6 Cox next took P8 from Sam Corry. Lap 7 saw Chase Gardner reclaim P3 from Nikita Johnson as Mac Clark and Evagoras Papasavvas out front started to escape the crowd. On lap 9 Chase Gardner set Fastest Lap. Lap 10 saw Jorge take over P11 from Sam Corry.

On lap 12 Danny Dyszelski for VRD Racing began to slow on the track and was soon rolling to a stop on the front straight with a mechanical, bringing out a full course caution to retrieve him. On the lap 18 restart Simon Sikes passed Al Morey to take over P6. On lap 19 Mac Clark set Fastest Lap and then repeated the feat 1 lap later. On lap 22 he did it once again, trying to gap the field, but he was unable to gain much ground on Evagoras, a second or two behind him. On lap 26 Simon was beside his points rival Lochie Hughes for JHDD. The two ran beside each other with Hughes on the outside for three full laps before Hughes had to yield the P5 position to Sikes. On lap 29 a great battle for P8 developed between Max Garcia and Elliot Cox. For three laps they ran beside each other, each in P8 for a few seconds only to lose it again to the other. On lap 31 Cox finally secured the spot.

On lap 38 Simon took over P4 from Nikita Johnson, but one lap later Johnson reclaimed the position. On lap 44 Sikes again went after Johnson and took the P4 spot for good. On lap 52 Max Garcia and Elliot Cox battled again and this time Garcia took P8 from Cox. Lap 65 saw Simon Sikes begin a battle for P3 with Chase Gardner. The two circulated for three laps beside each other with Sikes on the inside. Finally Simon had the spot on lap 68. At the same time Max Garcia took P7 from Al Morey. On the final lap, lap 75, Mac Clark crossed the finish line 3.75 seconds ahead of Evagoras, who was 6.777 seconds ahead of Simon.

A great oval race with excitement and action all around the circuit!

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Notable:

• Mac Clark controlled the race perfectly, always maintaining the gap back to Evagoras, even on the restart following the caution, and Papasavvas kept him honest for the whole race, never letting him get away far.

• Simon Sikes was in at least three heated battles for position and WON all three of them. Points for an oval race pay 1.5 points for every single point on a street or road course, so Simon picked a great race to finish better than points-rival Lochie Hughes, who finished in P6. Hughes still leads but now by only 4 points, instead of 18 points.

• Elliot Cox and Max Garcia - each just 15 years old - put on a great show in their battle and showed the meaning of persistence. Simply terrific for their first oval races.

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Elliot Cox (left) and Max Garcia - what a show!

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Your happy podium - 2nd from left, Evagoras Papasavvas in P2, 4th from left, Mac Clark in P1 and Simon Sikes in P3 on the far right:

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With this result, here are the TOP FIVE in points leaving Lucas Oil Raceway:

1 - Lochie Hughes, 208
2 - Simon Sikes, 204
3 - Nikita Johnson, 170
4 - Evagoras Papasavvas, 144
5 - Mac Clark, 140

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The next outings for USF2000 will be a double header at Road America, June 15-18 in support of the IndyCar race weekend. Next up, USF Pro 2000 does the Freedom 90. The grid for this is in post # 2031…

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M

[MarkyS]

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Friday night at Lucas Oil Raceway - USF Pro 2000 holds the Freedom 90…

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…,and taking his 3rd WIN of his UP2K career and first for 2023 is Mexican Salvador de Alba for Exclusive Autosport from his P3 start. P2 went to rookie Joel Granfors for Exclusive Autosport from a P2 start while P3 went to pole sitter Jack William Miller for Miller Vinatieri Motorsports.

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Jack William Miller led the field to the start line in lap 1 but Race Control didn’t like the stack-up behind him and flew the yellow flag for 1 lap, starting the race on lap 2 instead. Immediately, Salvador jumped from P3 to P1 with Miller falling to P2 while Francesco Pizzi for TJ Speed jumped into P3 past Joel Granfors. Jace Denmark for Pabst Racing jumped past teammate Myles Rowe to take P5 and Michael d’Orlando for Turn 3 Motorsports followed him through to P6, relegating Myles to P7. On lap 3 P15 starter Yuven Sundaramoorthy for Exclusive Autosport was passing Jackson Lee for Turn 3 Motorsports for P11. P18 starter Jordan Missig for Pabst Racing began to move up quickly, too. By lap 4 he was into P12 past Jackson Lee. On lap 5 Salvador set Fastest Lap out front, trying to get away. On lap 6 Michael d’Orlando was into P5 past Jace Denmark and Jordan Missig was past Yuven to take over P11. Two laps later Missig took P10 from Kiko Porto for DEForce Racing. On lap 11 Yuven passed Kiko for P11.

By lap 35 the leaders were beginning to encounter the back-markers and the track formed a gaggle as Salvador led through the pack. On lap 37 Pizzi passed Granfors for the P3 spot but Joel reclaimed P3 a lap later, weaving through the lapped traffic. Lap 39 saw Myles Rowe take P6 from Jace Denmark. Denmark began to slow and by lap 55 he was heading for the pits with some sort of malady. On lap 63 Myles passed Michael d’Orlando for P5. On lap 65 Joel Granfors took P2 from Jack William Miller as Jace Denmark returned from the pits, 15 laps down.

On lap 80 Christian Weir for TJ Speed spun coming onto the front straight and backed the car into the wall, bringing out a full-course caution. Christian had suffered a back injury last season and stayed in the car until the AMR Safety Team was there to assist him with a stretcher, hopefully cautionary, as Weir waved to the crowd and was sitting upright as they carried him off. The track was cleared of Christian and the car just in time to see the checkered flag wave for de Alba on lap 90.

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Notable:

• One of Salvador’s two WINS in 2022 was the oval race at World Wide Technology Raceway, so he was a proven oval driver already. He was comfortably leading when Christian’s shunt ended the racing.

• Joel Granfors is truly impressive as this was the Swede’s first-ever oval race and he made it look easy for him.

• Jack William Miller has a number of podium finishes but his first Road to Indy WIN still eludes him after a number of years chasing it.

• Points leader Myles Rowe ended where he started, in P5 and still leads, but Francesco Pizzi in P4 and Joel Granfors in P2 gained some on him.

• Jordan Missig went from P18 to P8 at the end - ten spots!. Jordan was a rocket in qualifying but the car got away from him and he spun it into the wall. One wonders how well Missig would have done tonight if he had started much better than dead last.

Jordan Missig

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Your happy podium - That’s Joel Granfors in P2 on the left, Salvador de Alba in P1 in the middle and Jack William Miller in P3 on the right:

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With this result, here are the TOP FIVE in points leaving Lucas Oil Raceway:

1 - Myles Rowe, 165
2 - Joel Granfors, 133
3 - Francesco Pizzi, 128
4 - Salvador de Alba, 124
5 - Kiko Porto, 117

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The next outings for USF Pro 2000 will be a double header at Road America, June 15-18 in support of the IndyCar race weekend.

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M

[MarkyS]

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The 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500 will be remembered for…

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…The fantastic racing, the high drama at the end of it and the incredible reaction of first-time WINNER Josef Newgarden for Team Penske, going from his P17 start to WIN the race on the final lap. The WIN gave Team Penske its 19th victory at the Indy 500. For Newgarden it was the last big monkey on his professional back, after 11 previous failed attempts to grab the prize, as one of the few Team Penske drivers still bereft of a WIN in the 500.

After taking the checkered flag just a few feet ahead of Chip Ganassi’s Marcus Ericsson, Newgarden lapped the Speedway one final time, stopped his car on the yard of bricks signifying the Start / Finish line, jumped out of the car, ran over to the fencing, slid through a camera hole in the fencing, leaped over the grandstand fencing in one bound and ran up into the embrace of the fans in the stands. It took him several minutes to dislodge himself and get back in the car to take it over to be hoisted in the air at the Winner’s Circle.

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The race had only two single car cautions for most of it and was going at a record pace to the end but on lap 185 Felix Rosenqvist for Arrow McLaren was passed in Turn 1 by Newgarden and lost the air on his front wing. Rosenqvist was unable to stop his drift up into the wall and banged it a couple times hard before falling down into traffic. A speeding Kyle Kirkwood was unable to avoid him, hit him and launched airborne into the fencing, ending up on his lid and sliding luridly to a stop, unharmed. Dangerously, his rear wheel left his car, bounced well over the catch-fencing and flew into a parking lot, damaging a parked car. That brought out a full-course caution but then soon a red flag to stop the event in the hope to finish under green.

In the last 15 laps the race went green again, yellow again, (3 cars involved), red again, green again, yellow again (3 cars involved), and red a third time, leaving only two laps to complete it. Marcus Ericsson led one of those two laps but Newgarden caught up to him going up the back straight, sided him just before Turn 3 on the final lap, passed him on the outside and was able to keep Marcus behind him across the line, by using the same “snaking” technique on the front straight that Ericsson had used to beat Pato O’Ward in 2022. It was only the third time in Indy 500 history a driver used a last-lap pass to WIN.

Ericsson was hugely disappointed that the race wasn’t allowed to finish under yellow and believed the final red flag wasn’t necessary, but then, he was a sitting duck and he knew it. Ending in third was an emotional Santino Ferrucci in the best finish for AJ Foyt Enterprises since Eliseo Salazar also finished third in 2000. Ferrucci was a contender all day long.

Pato O’ Ward for Arrow McLaren led the most laps as he and Felix Rosenqvist shared the lead for much of the early running, but O’Ward was trying to get inside Ericsson late in the race and was squeezed into the grass and ended up in the wall - One of the three involved in the 2nd of three red flag events. To add insult to (non)-injury, Agustin Canapino for Juncos Hollinger then out of control with front-end damage from his own incident, hit O’Ward for a second time. Luckily, Pato was still in the car when it happened, and the car protected him.

There were 52 lead changes, the third-highest total in Indianapolis 500 history, as the 300,000 + crowd certainly got their money’s worth - Hugely entertaining, all day long.

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Here are some of the race highlights - and they are NOT enough!:

RACE HIGHLIGHTS // 107TH RUNNING OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500

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And here are post-race interviews:

2023 INDIANAPOLIS 500 // RACE INTERVIEWS

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If and when extended highlights are released we will try to feature them, becuase there’s a lot to see.

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With this result, here are the TOP FIVE in points leaving Indianapolis:

1 - Alex Palou, 219
2 - Marcus Ericsson, 199
3 - Pato O’Ward, 185
4 - Josef Newgarden, 182
5 - Scott Dixon, 162

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Thank you, Indianapolis! You’ve done it again. The next outing for the IndyCars will be the Detroit Grand Prix - no longer on Belle Isle, this will be the first outing for the new downtown circuit, and it all takes place next weekend. Support will come from IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge series, the Trans Am series and Indy NXT.

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M

[MarkyS]

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Friday at Alton - USF Juniors are racing at VIR this weekend…

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While we are mostly paying attention to the IndyCar race at Detroit (see the separate thread), we also want to keep tabs on the bottom rung of the Road to Indy ladder system - the USF Juniors series, which is having a triple header at VIRginia International Raceway at beautiful Alton, Virginia, right near the border with North Carolina.
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We will try to let you know who is doing well in practice, qualifying and the races over the three-day weekend event., with practice, qualifying and Race 1 scheduled for Saturday and Races 2 & 3 scheduled for Sunday.

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On Friday the series conducted three test sessions to get the kids up to speed on the fabulous VIR road course. A test session is the same as a practice but it has to be paid for separately by the series renting the track. The USF Pro Championships is more than willing to buy the track time to give these youngsters maximum bang for their buck in the series. It’s the whole point of their existence.

We have COMBINED all three sessions to let you know how the whole day shook out for the participants.

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Here was the order of speed for the USF Juniors 3 test sessions COMBINED, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie; the driver’s best session is in ( )

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1 - Jack Jeffers [R], Exclusive Autosport - time of 01:55.096s for a speed of 102.280mph (3)

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2 - Joey Brienza [R], Exclusive Autosport - time of 01:55.394s for a speed of 102.016mph (3)

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3 - Nicolas Giaffone [R], DEForce Racing - time of 01:55.677s for a speed of 101.766mph (3)

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4 - Lucas Fecury, DEForce Racing - time of 01:56.689s for a speed of 100.884mph (1)

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5 - Max Taylor [R], VRD Racing - time of 01:55.886s for a speed of 101.583mph (3)

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6 - Ethan Ho, DC Autosport (3)
7 - Hudson Schwartz [R], VRD Racing (3)
8 - Erick Schotten [R], Exclusive Autosport (3)
9 - Quinn Armstrong, DEForce Racing (3)
10 - Ethan Barker, VRD Racing (3)

11 - Jimmie Lockhart [R], VRD Racing (2)
12 - Brady Golan [R], DEForce Racing (2)
13 - Giovanni Cabrera [R], Exclusive Autosport (3)
14 - Carson Etter [R], DC Autosport (3)

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Notable:

• 16-year-old Jack Jeffers TOPPED both the T-1 session and the T-3 session, which turned out to be the fastest session of the day for most drivers. Joey Brienza TOPPED the T-2 session. Jack is currently 6th in the points while Joey is currently 2nd.

• 18-year-old Joey Brienza is scheduled to compete in all the USF Juniors races this season but he has also participated in 3 USF2000 races so far, as has 16-year-old Max Taylor. 17-year-old Ethan Ho has done no less than 5 USF2000 races, as well as all 5 USF Juniors races. This kind of cross-pollination is smart and is encouraged. All three drivers will be that much better when they move up.

• Points leader Nicolas Giaffone is the son of IndyCar veteran Felipe Giaffone. The 19-year-old was raised in the United States. Nicolas dominated at Barber, WINNING both races from pole - the first one in the wet.

• We expected a little better from 16-year-old Jimmie Lockhart, currently 4th in the points. Let’s see how he races, this weekend.

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Jimmie Lockhart (left) and Ethan Ho

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Jack Jeffers - TOPS in testing at VIR

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The Juniors will be back out on the track for their one official practice on Saturday morning. They will qualify midday and do Race 1 in the mid-afternoon.

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