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

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Saturday morning at VIR - The Porsche Cup Challenge guys race…

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…and predictably, Ottawa’s Zacharie Robichon led from green flag to checkers, taking his 3rd WIN in three starts for Moorespeed. P2 was Maxwell Root for Wright Motorsports while P3 went to Trenton Estep for JDX Racing.

That’s Maxwell Root in P2 on the left, Zacharie Robichon in P1 in the middle and Trenton Estep in P3 on the right:

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The race went well also for Estep, who advanced from P4 to P3 while championship rival Roman de Angelis for Kelly-Moss Road & Race clashed with Anthony Imperato for Wright Motorsports, incurring a drive-through penalty that left him in P6. Estep now leads the series by 18 points.

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The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA boys will race again on Sunday. On the pole will be Robichon. P2 will be Root. P3 will be Estep. P4 will be de Angelis. P5 will be Imperato and P6 will be David Kolkmann for Park Place Motorsports.

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Saturday at VIR - The IMSA Prototype Challenge series qualify…

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Here are the TOP THREE starters in each class for the weekend race, to be held late today:

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In the top LMP3 class the pole was secured by Pro Mazda driver Kris Wright in the # 30 Ligier JS P3 that he shares with Stephen Simpson for Extreme Speed Motorsports. Kris posted a time of 01:42.399s for a speed of 114.961mph. He was avbelt to eclipse USF2000 alum Austin McCusker in the # 47 Norma M30 for Forty 7 Motorsports by 0.404 seconds. Austin’s co-driver is Pro Mazda alum TJ Fischer. P3 on the grid will be the # 7 Ligier JS P3 of Charles Wicht Racing, thanks to Leo Lemelas. He shares the car with Andrew Evans.

Pro Mazda driver Kris Wright puts the Ligier on pole for ESM

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In the MPC class the pole was taken by Michal Clumecky for Eurosport Racing in the # 31 Elan DP02 with a time of 01:47.727s for a speed of 109.275mph, getting the better of USF2000 alum Tazio Ottis in the # 28 Elan for Wolf Motorsports by 0.429 seconds. Tazio shares the car with Bart Wolf. P3 on the grid will be veteran Jon Brownson in the # 37 Elan for Eurosport Racing.

Michal Clumecky tops the grid for the MPC class

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The IPC series will race late today…

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Saturday afternoon at VIR - The CTSC race!..in some rain, too

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The Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race saw Grand Sport-class points-leaders Owen Trinkler and Hugh Plumb WIN the class and the overall in the # 46 Mercedes-AMG for Team TGM, with a great drive in both wet and dry conditions. P2 at the end were USF2000 alum Jesse Lazare and Corey Fergus in the # 69 McLaren GT4 for Motorsports in Action. The pair led most of the race but had to go in for a splash of fuel in the last 15 minutes of the race, handing Plumb the lead. Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis completed the podium in Rebel Rock Racing’s # 71 Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R.

The GS class podium - That’s Jesse Lazare and Corey Fergus on the left in P2, Owen Trinkler and Hugh Plumb in P1 in the middle and Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis in P3 on the right:

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In the Touring Car class the WINNERS were Tom O’Gorman and Kenton Koch in the # 12 Audi RS3 LMS TCR for eEuropartsDotCom Racing. The pair started on pole but lost the lead with wall contact and a penalty, which they recovered from. Kenton re-took the lead from Tom Long for Compass Racing in the # 77 Audi with 20 minutes to go. Long and co-driver Britt Casey Jr would go on to finish in P3. P2 was the other Compass Racing Audi, the # 74 driven by Rodrigo Sales and Kuno Wittmer.

The TCR-class-WINNING Audi from eEuroparts - first WIN for the squad.

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In the Street Tuner class the WINNERS were young Colin Mullan and Mark Pombo in a dominating drive that had them ahead by almost 7 seconds at the end in the # 52 Mini JCW for Mini JCW Team. They beat out the # 21 Porsche Cayman for Bodymotion Racing driven by Max Faulkner and Jason Rabe. P3 was another Mini, the # 37 driven by Derek Jones and Nate Norenberg.

The Mini takes P1 with a sister in P3

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The next outings for the CTSC will be at the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix, Sept 7-9.

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Saturday afternoon - the IMSA Prototype Challenge series hold their race…

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In another race that saw both wet and dry conditions Pro Mazda driver Kris Wright extended his series points lead in the LMP3 class with another WIN - this time with a co-driver for the first time this season - Stephen Simpson - in the # 30 Ligier JS P3 for Extreme Speed Motorsports. This makes yet another podium finish for Wright, as he has done all season. Wright and Simpson beat ANSA Motorsports’ Zacharie Robichon and Dean Baker, driving the # 4 Ligier. Wright and Simpson gambled on being the first car to take on rain tires and it paid off. P3 at the end was the # 52 Ligier for K2R Motorsports driven by Rob Hodes and Scott Andrews. Wright now has a 23-point lead with only 1 race left in the season.

The podium for LMP3 - that’s Zacharie Robichon and Dean Baker in P2 on the left, Stephen Simpson and Kris Wright in P1 in the middle and Rob Hodes and Scott Andrews in P3 on the right:

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In the MPC class it was a last lap pass that gave Indy Lights alum James French his 2nd WIN in a row in the class, co-driving the # 77 Elan DP02 with Howard Jacobs for Performance Tech Motorsports. Robert and Kyle Masson led most of the race, by almost a full lap, in the # 11 Elan for Perf Tech, but suffered a mechanical at the end that had them finishing last. French passed Mikel Miller, driving the # 88 Elan that he shares with Dave House for ONE Motorsports. P3 at the end was Scott Dawes in the # 22 Elan, also for Perf Tech.

James French takes a 2nd WIN for Performance Tech.

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The last outing for the IPC will be at the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, Oct 10-13.

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Sunday morning at VIR - Robichon completes the weekend sweep in Porsche Cup…

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In the 2nd race of the weekend for Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA Canadian Zacharie Robichon driving for Moorespeed took off from pole and ended up P1, but had to regain a lost lead in the interim. P2 at the end was series points leader and IndyCar guy Trenton Estep for JDX Racing, while his nearest points rival, Roman de Angelis, came home P3 for Kelly-Moss Road & Race.

Left to right, Trenton Estep in P2, Zacharie Robichon in P1 and Roman de Angelis in P3:

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Robichon lost the lead to Maxwell Root for Wright Motorsports early on and it took him until 20 minutes to the end of the race to regain it. 6 minutes later Estep also took Root to secure P2. Soon de Angelis was also by for the last podium spot. Root would eventually fall to P6 at the end.

The P1 for Robichon is his 4th in a row out of four Cup Challenge USA starts. For Trenton the P2 was his 11th podium in 12 series starts, and by finishing ahead of de Angelis he slightly pads his lead in the points to 24.
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The next outings for Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA will be at Sonoma Raceway, Sept 14-16, in support of the IndyCar season finale.

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Sunday at VIR - The WeatherTech GT cars race!..

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…and the GTLM class and overall WINNERS for the first time ever for the car were Alexander Sims and Pro Mazda alum Connor de Phillippe in the # 25 BMW M8 GTE for BMW Team RLL. P2 were the Corvette guys Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia in the # 3 for Corvette Racing while P3 went to the other Bimmer, the # 24 driven by Jesse Krohn and John Edwards. It was a fuel-only final pit stop that secured the lead for the Bimmer, already out front on an off-sequence pit strategy. The P2 puts Magnussen and Garcia in the points lead.

Alexander Sims brings it home for BMW - first WIN for the M8 GTE

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Dominik Baumann took the WIN in the GTD class for 3GT Racing in the # 14 Lexus RCF GT3 that he shares with Kyle Marcelli. In the last 30 minutes of the race Baumann went from P4 to P1. He was aided in keeping the spot due to a battle for P2 between IndyCar driver Katherine Legge in the # 86 Acura NSX GT3 for Meyer Shank Racing and Patrick Long in the # 58 Porsche 911 GT3 R for Wright Motorsports, which Long WON. Legge’s co-driver was Mario Farnbacher while Long drives with Christina Nielsen.

The points-leaders, Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers in the # 48 Lamborghini Huracan for Paul Miller Racing, finished P6 after clashing with the # 86 Acura, allowing 2nd-in-points Katherine Legge to close up a bit.

Dominik Baumann secures the WIN for Lexus - the 2nd for this car, this season.

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The next outing for the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be at Laguna Seca for the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix, Sept 7-9, where all three classes will race.

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Updates on the condition of Robert Wickens…

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During the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Canadian Robert Wickens for Schmidt Peterson was involved in a vicious accident with Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay (see the IndyCar Pocono thread) that eventually involved 5 cars. Of the 5 only Wickens needed hospitalization. He was transported from the track to Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest by helicopter, minutes after the shunt.
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Robert Wickens

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Initial reports had Wickens sustaining broken bones in his extremities and a bruised lung but the most concerning injury was a spine injury that was confirmed with an MRI on Monday. Following that confirmation Wickens underwent surgery which had titanium rods and screws placed successfully in Wickens’ spine. The severity of the spinal cord injury is indeterminate at this time. Wickens is expected to undergo further surgeries to treat fractures in his lower extremities and right forearm.

He remains in stable condition.

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Santino Ferrucci is coming back to IndyCars…

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Last Friday, Dale Coyne Racing announced it was bringing back young American Santino Ferrucci, who made his INDYCAR debut in June at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. Rather than take anyone out of the two normal Coyne entries the team will add a THIRD car for Ferrucci to drive at the last two races of the season - Portland and Sonoma.

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Santino Ferrucci

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Santino was a driver in Formula 2 for Trident Motorsports and also a reserve driver for Formula One team Haas at the time of his IndyCar debut at Detroit. At the Detroit double-header he finished P20 and P22 but impressed everyone with his P13 qualifying spot.

Following that weekend Santino got into big trouble with Trident when he deliberately ran into teammate Arjun Maini after the conclusion of the British Grand Prix after he had already been disqualified for forcing Maini off the track during the race. Despite an apology he was summarily fired from Trident and suspended from Haas.

Of the incident Ferrucci said, “If you talk to a lot of people who know me, they know what’s true and what’s not. What happened in Europe was my fault. I made a mistake. I’ve learned from it. Since then, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect and to understand what I did wrong and how to change and what to do better. I let emotions get the better of me. It cost me quite a bit. I’m ready to get back behind the wheel.”

Of his future and his ambitions, he said, “I really want to be in this series full time. That’s the idea, that’s the goal. These are just two races and (hopefully) a little more towards preparation to something that’s coming next year…I really love INDYCAR. I love the racing here.”

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Gabby Chaves is back in the Harding Chevrolet for Gateway…

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Announced on Tuesday, Harding Racing will put team regular driver Gabby Chaves back in the # 88 Chevrolet for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway Motorsports Park this coming weekend, after being replaced in the car for the last three races by veteran Conor Daly.

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Gabby Chaves

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Daly drove the car for the Honda Indy Toronto, Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, and the ABC Supply 500 as the team evaluate driver options for 2019 and looked for separate input on the car, which has struggled to compete.

Conor Daly

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Said a happy Gabby, “Really enthused and ready to get behind the wheel of the 88 car and be back with my guys. We’re ready to speed up our development and progression, and we’re more driven than ever to get some of the results we know are possible based on our results from last season. I’m also very excited to race at Gateway for the Bommarito 500 for the first time.”

The team is supposed to run Indy Lights veteran and IndyCar driver Zachary Claman DeMelo for two races (see post # 114) so if Gabby is doing Gateway Zachary would be the driver in the # 88 for Portland and the finale at Sonoma.

ZCD does Portland and Sonoma?

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Meanwhile, Daly will also be busy this weekend, driving a Ford for Roush Fenway Racing at Road America in his Xfinity series debut.

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Korean Heamin Choi is returning to MRTI competition with Juncos Racing for Portland

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Tuesday, Ricardo Juncos announced that Korea’s Heamin Choi will team with Victor Franzoni in a 2nd Juncos Racing Dallara IL-15 at Portland International Raceway for the two Indy Lights season finale races in early September.

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Heamin Choi

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Choi is the first Korean to compete in the Mazda Road to Indy and has 10 starts in USF2000 with ArmsUp Motorsports, 1 start in Pro Mazda with JDC Motorsports and 7 previous outings in Indy Lights for Schmidt Peterson. His claim to fame are two Asian SportsCar Championships in South Korean competition, but his last competitive year was in 2016.

Said Heamin of the news, “I’m very excited to come back to the Indy Lights championship with Juncos Racing. It was really hard to have a long break without racing. During my break I worked on meeting a lot of people and finding some Korean partners. The Portland race will be good preparation for my next season and my Indy 500 hopefully in the near future."

Choi has some experience with Juncos, as the team gave him a spin at the 2017 Chris Griffis Memorial Test. Said Ricardo, “We had a great time working with him last October at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the Chris Griffis test. Even though Heamin has not been in an Indy Lights car this season, I am confident he will have a great run at Portland. I want to thank Heamin, his family, and sponsors for the opportunity to work with him again.”

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Welcome back, Heamin!

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Katie Hargitt gets you “Up to Speed” on the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway…

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IndyCar has released a Race Re-Mix of the ABC Supply 500 from Pocono…

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IndyCar drivers at Road America in the Xfinity tin-tops in the Johnsonville 180…

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There were 5 IndyCar folks in the Xfinity race at Road America this lest weekend and they acquitted themselves well - even led at times - and ended up with a mixed bag of results.
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Indy Lights alum James French had the worst day as he broke early in his # 255 Toyota, and finished P38 of 40 cars entered.

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ChampCar alum Katherine Legge drove the # 15 Chevy to P14 in her 2nd-ever Xfinity start. She ran as high as P3 in the race.

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IndyCar driver Conor Daly got as high as P10 in his Xfinity series debut but broke late in the race and finished P31 in his # 6 Ford.

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USF2000 alum Austin Cindric was actually leading early when his # 22 Ford broke. He finished P37.

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IndyCar driver James Davison also led late in his # 18 Toyota but lost the lead to eventual WINNER Justin Allgaier in the # 7 Chevy - his 4th season WIN. As James then battled with Justin Marks for P2 they spun each other out in Turn 5 and James ended the race in P8 - the best IndyCar finisher.

JD Davison - best finish of the IndyCar contingent

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The best moment for an IndyCar driver was probably when Kat got to meet one of her idols, Bill Elliott who drove in the race to P20 in the # 23 Chevy - at 62 years of age.

"Awesome Bill" with Katherine Legge

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A great time was apparently had by all, and that’s Road America for you!

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The Stadium Super Trucks were a HUGE hit at Road America, over the weekend…

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Robby Gordon’s Speed Energy Stadium Super Trucks made their Road America debut over the weekend in support of the Xfinity Series Johnsonville 180 NASCAR race and all indications are that the area fans, seeing them for the first time, were blown away. No surprise to us, the comments are through the roof with praise for the show.

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When we get the video of the event we will run them, but in the mean time the TOP THREE from the two races were:

Race 1

! - Robby Gordon
2 - Matthew Brabham
3 - Gavin Harlien
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Race 2

1 - Matthew Brabham
2 - Greg Biffle
3 - Blade Hildebrand

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The results keep IndyCar driver Matthew Brabham in the points lead over his nearest rival, Gavin Harlien.

Matthew Brabham

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The next races for the SSTs will be at the Gold Coast, Australia, in support of the Supercars race, Oct 19-21.

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IndyCar has released the Race Re-Mix of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway…

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A great short oval race with a terrific finish…Now, on to Portland!

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Pippa rides the Bull at Laguna Seca…

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Announced today, IndyCar driver Pippa Mann will join Mike Hedlund, making his series debut, in the # 63 Lamborghini Huracan Evo for US RaceTronics in the Pro/Am, class of Lamborghini Super Trofeo at the Monterey Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, in September.

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Pippa Mann

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This will be the 3rd and 4th race of the year for Mann in Lambo Super Trofeo, as she drove with Patrick Liddy to two P2s in class at Watkins Glen, last June, in the # 47 Evo for Precision Performance Motorsports.

Mann will bring US RaceTronics the experience they need to Laguna Seca, as she and then teammate Shea Holbrook drove a Lambo for PPM to a P5 and a P3 last season on the peninsula’s iconic track.

Holbrook (left) and Hedlund - once and future co-drivers for the Brit.

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The Grand Prix will be September 7-9 and will include the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series. Good luck, Pippa. Have fun!

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Rumor du Jour - IndyCars may be headed to Austin, Texas…

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…and the home of the Formula One US Grand Prix, The Circuit of the Americas, for a season round in the early Spring - possibly as early as 2019.

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Circuit of the Americas

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Texas Motor Speedway near Fort Worth has always held a stipulation that it be the only IndyCar race in Texas, but when the latest contract was signed - a four-year extension for IndyCar and TMS - track owner Eddie Gossage traded his exclusive rights to Texas for a smaller sanctioning fee, and that has opened up the door for COTA to be considered for a future IndyCar race.

COTA track manager Bobby Epstein has since spoken of a possible Spring IndyCar date and IndyCar confirms that 3 new venues are currently being looked at, though they will NOT confirm that COTA is one of them.

Since IndyCar dropped Phoenix off the track list for 2019 that opens a window for COTA. There is already a March 1-3 Pirelli World Challenge race scheduled at the track and a Moto GP event in April. Typically, there is a hole in the IndyCar schedule between the season opener at St. Pete and what was the Phoenix event - about a month. A COTA race would fit in there, nicely…OR a pairing with the PWC event may be even better, and juice the attendance for both series on a great weekend that would also include the 3 Road to Indy series.

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We live in Austin and know that the city, with it’s great food and music scene, the University of Texas, the vibrant high-tech industry and abundant outdoor recreation is a perfect venue for IndyCars. The weather in the Spring is great, too.

To a man or woman, every IndyCar driver who has ever raced at COTA in any other series has high praise for the track and believes that IndyCars would put on a great show there.

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Let’s keep our fingers crossed!

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Faces of note at Portland, this coming weekend…

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The field for the Grand Prix at Portland is big - 25 cars in all - because of the addition of a couple of late-season entries. In addition, we will have a replacement for injured Robert Wickens. In IndyCars this weekend - alongside the usual suspects - will be:

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Carlos Munoz - the 27-year-old Colombian drove in the Indy 500 this year but has otherwise been out of the car. He will substitute for Wickens in the # 6 Lucas Oil Honda for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports at both Portland and the season finale at Sonoma.

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Gabby Chaves - Gabby had a great race going for Harding Racing at Gateway, last weekend, and looked poised for a TOP TEN before the car broke on him. Originally, Canadian Zachary Claman DeMelo was supposed to drive at Portland but Harding wants Gabby to do the honors, instead.

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Alfonso Celis - The young Mexican has 1 IndyCar start this year, at Road America, driving for Juncos Racing. Alfonso returns to drive once again for Ricardo Juncos in the # 32 Chevrolet.

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Santino Ferrucci - The young American has 2 starts for Dale Coyne Racing this year at Belle Isle, driving the # 19 Paysafe Honda, but Pietro Fittipaldi will be in the # 19 for Portland and Sebastien Bourdais will be in his usual # 18 Honda, so Coyne is putting a 3rd car in the race - the # 39 Honda - for Ferrucci.

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Jack Harvey - The English two-time Indy Lights Vice-Champion has four starts already this year for Meyer Shank Racing with SPM in the # 60 Honda at St. Pete, Long Beach, the Indy 500 and Mid-Ohio with a best finish of P12 at the Beach. This will be one more in a series of drives with the goal of a full season in 2019. Jack will also do Sonoma, to end the season.

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Thursday at Portland International Raceway - The track comes alive with IndyCars…

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Since the IndyCars haven’t been to PIR since 2007 and since they are using an entirely new chassis and aero package IndyCar set up a day of testing for all ahead of the race weekend. That meant two complete open test sessions and they were used by all 25 cars that will contest the race on Sunday.

Almost 2,200 laps were turned by all during the two sessions. Everyone went faster in the afternoon session so that is the one we are featuring here.

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Here was the order of speed for the T-2 session of IndyCars, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie:

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1 - Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing - time of 00:58.3593s for a speed of 121.153mph

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2 - Will Power, Team Penske - time of 00:58.3928s for a speed of 121.083mph

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3 - Josef Newgarden, Team Penske - time of 00:58.4637s for a speed of 120.937mph

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4 - Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport - time of 00:58.6123s for a speed of 120.630mph

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5 - Zach Veach [R], Andretti Autosport - time of 00:58.6625s for a speed of 120.527mph

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6 - Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser/Sullivan
7 - Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport
8 - Ed Jones, Chip Ganassi Racing
9 - Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport
10 - Jack Harvey [R], Meyer Shank Racing with SPM

11 - Jordan King [R], Ed Carpenter Racing
12 - Matheus Leist [R], A.J. Foyt Enterprises
13 - Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
14 - Gabby Chaves, Harding Racing
15 - James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
16 - Pietro Fittipaldi [R], Dale Coyne Racing
17 - Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan
18 - Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske
19 - Carlos Munoz, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
20 - Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing

21 - Santino Ferrucci [R], Dale Coyne Racing
22 - Charlie Kimball, Carlin
23 - Tony Kanaan, A.J. Foyt Enterprises
24 - Max Chilton, Carlin
25 - Alfonso Celis [R], Juncos Racing

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Notable:

  • Of the 25 drivers, only 7 have ever driven an IndyCar at Portland before. They are Sebastien Bourdais (the 2007 race WINNER), Scott Dixon, Will Power, Simon Pagenaud, Graham Rahal, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Tony Kanaan. A few other drivers have driven smaller formula cars at Portland.

  • In the TOP TEN there are 8 Hondas, with only Power and Newgarden in Chevys. The TOP 21 cars were all within a second of each other. This will be a TIGHT race.

  • Andretti Autosport had all four of their drivers in the TOP TEN. Chip Ganassi had both of their drivers in the TOP TEN

  • The highest performing rookie was Zach Veach who was P5, besting 5 of the 7 drivers with previous experience. The guy is having a great season end. Rookie Jack Harvey was also in the TOP TEN - the best guy from the Schmidt Peterson camp.

Scott Dixon (left) and Jack Harvey

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To a man, all of the 7 veterans with experience said that the track felt “completely different” from what they remembered, despite their being no radical changes to it since 2007 - just a complete repave and a slight change in one of the corners, taking out a slight rise that used to be there.

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The race weekend starts on Friday. Look for the race thread.

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Thursday at Portland International Raceway - Pro Mazda and USF2000 test…

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Just like the big cars, 2 of the 3 series that make up the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system ALSO had two test runs each at PIR, as USF2000 and Pro Mazda tested. First to finish were the gang from USF2000 and everyone went faster in the T-2 session, so that is presented here:

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Here was the order of speed for the T-2 session oif USF2000, with times for the TOP FIVE: [R] denotes rookie

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1 - Kaylen Frederick, Pabst Racing - time of 01:11.2775s for a speed of 98.236mph

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2 - Rasmus Lindh [R], Pabst Racing - time of 01:11.3424s for a speed of 98.146mph

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3 - Julian Van der Watt [R], Team Pelfrey - time of 01:11.5488s for a speed of 97.863mph

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4 - Lucas Kohl, Pabst Racing - time of 01:11.6700s for a speed of 97.698mph

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5 - Kyle Kirkwood [R], Cape Motorsports - time of 01:11.7803s for a speed of 97.548mph

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6 - Kyle Dupell [R], Team Pelfrey
7 - Calvin Ming, Pabst Racing
8 - Dakota Dickerson, ArmsUp Motorsports
9 - Colin Kaminsky, DEForce Racing
10 - Braden Eves [R], Newman Wachs Racing

11 - Igor Fraga [R], Exclusive Autosport
12 - Kory Enders, DEForce Racing
13 - Bruna Tomaselli, Team Pelfrey
14 - Jose Sierra [R], DEForce Racing
15 - Max Peichel [R], ArmsUp Motorsports
16 - Kellen Ritter [R], Exclusive Autosport
17 - Russ McDonough [R], BN Racing
18 - Oscar DeLuzuriaga [R], Newman Wachs Racing

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Notable:

  • Kaylen Frederick is one of the four “Speed Boys” from Pabst Racing, trying to secure their first WIN of the season to add to their many podiums. Team owner Augie Pabst also wants to take the Team Championship, this weekend. The other “Speed Boys” are Rasmus Lindh, Lucas Kohl and Calvin Ming - all in the TOP SEVEN.

  • Julian Van der Watt destroyed the competition in F1600 South Africa in 2017 but has taken some time to show that form in USF2000. He is now a regular visitor to the TOP FIVE.

  • New to the grid for Portland are Braden Eves, a Team USA Scholarship finalist, and Kellen Ritter, a karting and F1600 stand-out.

Left to right, Kaylen Frederick, Braden Eves and Kellen Ritter

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continued…

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