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

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Manuel Sulaiman CONFIRMED for HMD Motorsports in Indy Lights…

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Manuel drove 6 races for HMD in the Lights at the end of the 2021 season, so he was a known quantity for the team. Sulaiman earned a best finish of sixth in his first Indy Lights race while qualifying in the fourth position in his series debut. He will return to the same # 59 car he drove in 2021.

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Manuel Sulaiman

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Said Manuel, “I am extremely happy to continue with HMD Motorsports. The Indy Lights car is a different animal but as the races went on, I gained more confidence in both myself and the car. The HMD Motorsports team worked with me to help choose the best engineer for me and with that, we have gained momentum through winter testing. Following my debut with this amazing team, I am looking forward to creating many great achievements this coming season.”

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Manuel will be on the HMD squad with Danial Frost, Linus Lundqvist and Christian Bogle while semi-teammate Benjamin Pederson will be the lone driver for Global Racing Group w/ HMD Motorsports.

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Woo-Hoooooo!!..The off-season is OVER and we are RACING IndyCars this weekend!!

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Look for the St. Petersburg thread!

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It’s HARD to race in the IndyCar series!!!..

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Rookie Kyle Kirkwood for AJ Foyt Enterprises has released his heart rate monitor track from the just-completed Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Take a look at this graphic:

Kyle M. Kirkwood

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Says Kyle, “The spike in the beginning was me running to my car, the big dip was the caution and the small dips are pit stops.”

It is clear that Kyle has a heart rate of at least 160 to 170 beats per minute for most of the race, with a peak of 174 BPM. Kyle is a very healthy 23-year-old. Imagine what it’s like for the older guys.

Kyles also has blisters on both hands:

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Kyle Kirkwoood (left) with mentor and advisor Sebastien Bourdais (who turned 43 today - Happy Birthday, Seb!)

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Welcome to the bigs, son.

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It’s HARD to race in the IndyCar series!!!..(part 2)…

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…and this was just the first lap!!

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NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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Pato O’Ward had the best first lap of everyone in the GP of St. Pete…

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…and we have the proof of it, right here:

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NTT INDYCAR SERIES

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Pato O’Ward

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You gotta love that guy.

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Six oval rookies were at Texas Motor Speedway today…

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…getting acclimated to the big Fort Worth superspeedway for the next race on the calendar, the XPEL 375, to be run on Saturday, the 20th of March. We have the order of speed for all six drivers, with both a tow and with no tow.

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Here was the order of speed for the IndyCar TMS oval rookie test, with times for all six: [R] denotes rookie; speeds are with a tow from preceding cars

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1 - Kyle Kirkwood [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises - Fastest lap: 219.78mph

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2 - Callum Ilott [R], Juncos Racing - Fastest lap: 219.11mph

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3 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport - Fastest lap: 218.69mph

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4 - David Malukas [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports - Fastest lap: 217.99mph

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5 - Devlin DeFrancesco [R], Andretti Steinbrenner - Fastest lap: 217.69mph

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6 - Christian Lundegaard [R], Rahal Letterman Lanigan - Fastest lap: 216.91mph

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David Malukas cranks one out - imagine the thrill

Dale Coyne Racing

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Here was the order of speed for the IndyCar TMS oval rookie test, with times for all six: [R] denotes rookie; speeds are without a tow.

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1 - Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport - Fastest lap: 218.21mph

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2 - David Malukas [R], Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports - Fastest lap: 217.99mph

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3 - Devlin DeFrancesco [R], Andretti Steinbrenner - Fastest lap: 217.49mph

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4 - Christian Lundegaard [R], Rahal Letterman Lanigan - Fastest lap: 216.91mph

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5 - Kyle Kirkwood [R], AJ Foyt Enterprises - Fastest lap: 216.69mph

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6 - Callum Ilott [R], Juncos Racing - Fastest lap: 216.53mph

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Notable:

• No one made a mistake and all drove well, despite the rookie status of everyone with respect to superspeedways. Weather was outstanding, and that helped.

• Romain is not entirely an oval rookie, as he drove at Gateway in the 2021 season for his oval debut and loved the experience. He also passed his rookie orientation for Indianapolis last October.

• Romain’s no-tow speed is almost the same as his speed with a tow, which tells you how little the tow helped him.

• David Malukas put in the most laps, at 210, while Callum Ilott put in the least, at 130, making Callum’s P2 with a tow very impressive.

• JR Hildebrand did the initial shake-down of the # 14 for Kyle and then stayed on to give his advice.

• Not at the test was Jimmie Johnson for Chip Ganassi Racing, who will run at Texas and all other ovals in 2022, as he has already done his rookie orientation at TMS in the off-season.

• Also not at the test is Tatiana Calderon for AJ Foyt Enterprises as she is the only series rookie who will not do the ovals in 2022.

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Kyle Kirkwood (left) listens to JR Hildebrand’s advice

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Tatiana - no show

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Today Helio Castroneves was at the reveal of his 4th face on the Borg-Warner Trophy…

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…for WINNING the 2021 Indianapolis 500. Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb was on hand to help in the reveal.

Take a look:

Meyer Shank Racing

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Helio and the Governor

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Uh-oh…Here we go again…The Honda Indy Toronto may NOT come off in 2022…

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We’ve been waiting for some kind of confirmation that the Honda Indy Toronto Grand Prix will indeed come off in 2022 after two years of being cancelled due to COVID-19, but the word out of the city’s office is less than encouraging.

Today, Toronto Mayor John Tory announced a list of all major in-person public events, parades and festivals that will go ahead for 2022 after the two-year hiatus and here it is:

• St. Patrick’s Parade returns on March 20.
• Doors Open Toronto will take place on May 28 and 29.
• Pride Toronto will be bringing Pride Month starting June 1 and Pride Festival Weekend on June 24 to June 26.
• Luminato Festival Toronto returns June 9 through June 19.
• TD Salsa in Toronto Festival will return June 1 through July 31. The annual TD Salsa on St.
• Clair Street Festival will occur on July 9 and July 10.
• TD Toronto Jazz Festival returns June 24 through July 3.
• Taste of Lawrence will take place July 8 through July 10.
• Toronto Caribbean Carnival will be celebrating from July 7 to Aug. 1.
• TD JerkFest Toronto returns Aug. 4 through to Aug. 7.
• Taste of the Danforth will take place Aug. 5 through Aug. 7.
• Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) will run from Aug. 19 to Sept. 5.
• Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) returns on Sept. 8 through Sept. 18.

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Now, we cannot see the Honda Indy Toronto GP on this list. It is scheduled for July 17. On March 1, the Ontario government lifted all capacity restrictions for indoor and outdoor gatherings. It also eliminated the proof of vaccination system, so there should be no reason the GP could not be held.

But it’s not on the list. The only thing that brings any kind of encouragement is that Tory also noted that although some events “…weren’t mentioned today, does not mean they aren’t happening.”

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If you were planning to attend the Honda Indy Toronto GP you need to have a plan B in place, just in case, and so should IndyCar.

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Time for some video from the drivers…

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Josef Newgarden for Team Penske runs his own personal documentary during the season each year, called “Admit 1” and this year we are going to try to follow it…You will find that it is often very “inside baseball,” with a lot of technical jargon layered on top of the conversation.

Josef started his IndyCar career at Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing in 2012 and no one knew who he was, at the time. To make himself a little better known he produced a very entertaining series of videos called “Incognito” that still make us laugh. “Admit 1” is NOT the same thing. These are much more slick and a lot more serious, at times.

Let’s take the first three episodes of “Admit 1” from 2022, starting with “IndyCar Content Day 2022”, which is about the full day of media content that all the drivers have to go through each year and all the drivers hate it passionately:

ADMIT1: INDYCAR Content Day 2022

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continued…

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Time for some video from the drivers…(part 2)…

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Following IndyCar Content Day, the next episodes of “Admit 1” from Josef Newgarden concern testing at Sebring and the first race of the season at St. Petersburg.

First, “Testing in Sebring”:

ADMIT1: Testing in Sebring

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…And here is “2022 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg”:

ADMIT1: 2022 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

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More to come…

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Great news!..Rasmus Lindh is employed!!..

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When Juncos Hollinger Racing announced that they were going to drop their Indy Lights efforts for 2022 we were afraid that the super Swede Rasmus Lindh would not be racing in 2022, as expected. He had been confirmed for the Juncos Lights car last fall with Matteo Nanini listed as a possible teammate.

Today, Performance Tech Motorsports has announced that they have signed the Road to Indy ace driver for the season of LMP3 in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for 2022, starting at Sebring and sharing the # 38 with Dan Goldburg.

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Dan Goldburg (left) and Rasmus Lindh - In again for Perf Tech

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The Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier JSP320 at Daytona

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The pair burned up the series in the team’s Ligier JSP320s last season and are expected to take up where they left off - fighting for the title. Said team principal Brent O’Neill, “When Rasmus first drove with us three years ago there was no doubt in my mind that he was fast and would complement Dan, who was already super quick and comfortable in the Ligier.

“He and Dan had immediate chemistry which we really saw amplified at the end of 2021. They’ll be quick together and with a little luck will be able to grab wins that just barely evaded them last season.”

Brent O’Neill

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Said Ras, “I want to thank the whole O’Neill family, Performance Tech and of course my friend and co-driver Dan Goldburg for continued confidence.

“I look forward to the season starting, I will do everything I can to win the championship. We had a lot of success last year, and we are going to continue with that. Our goal is to win Sebring and continue to be on the top of the podium.”

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Rasmus drove for Andretti Autosport in their LMP3 at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, but it is not a points-paying race in the season, so Ras and Dan have a shot at the title, since the Mobil One 12 Hours of Sebring is the first points-paying race of the year.

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The IMSA season just got even better!

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Hy-Vee just went bananas on us, and we all benefit!..

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The Midwest grocery chain which is the sponsor of Jack Harvey’s # 45 Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan is also the race sponsors of the Hy-Vee Deals.com 250 and the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300, both at Iowa Speedway on Saturday, July 23rd and Sunday, July 24th, and to promote those races on the little oval at Newton, Iowa, they are adding no less than FOUR pre-and post-race concerts that race-ticket holders can attend.

Check this out:

Hy-Vee INDYCAR Weekend

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Almost to a man, the drivers are saluting Hy-Vee for the outstanding job of race promotion. Not only are they sending the music, but they have plans for a full weekend of family fun at the little bullring. It’s hard to imagine they won’t have one of the most talked-about race weekends of the year - and that’s BEFORE the great racing we expect!

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Hey, we made 19K views of the thread!..

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To celebrate we feature 4 high-class lasses with really nice …er…smiles. Yeah, that’s right…SMILES! This it what is known in the trades as a butt shot, but we like to think of it as a visual representation, using their hair color, of the beginning strains of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony:

Dot, Dot, Dot, Dahhhh!..Dot, Dot Dot, Dahhh!

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If you’re too distracted to get that, we fully understand. Thanks, ladies!

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Five IndyCars tested at Texas Motor Speedway today…

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Even more than 5 were scheduled to test at TMS on Monday but temperatures were literally too cold for the tires and the test was cancelled. With much better weather, Team Penske’s Will Power, Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Conor Daly and Rinus VeeKay returned to the track today to make up that test, but Chip Ganassi Racing decided to use the test day at Indianapolis, later in the season. Ed Carpenter is scheduled to drive in the team’s new # 33 car, but did not test.

No numbers were kept or released, but we do know that the main focus of the test was to test some new aero bits that are allegedly going to cure some of the handling problems that have plagued the race in recent years, due to the PJ1 treatment that is put on the track’s upper groove to accommodate NASCAR racing. It’s been a disaster for IndyCars and kept the race largely a one-groove affair.

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Conor Daly at TMS today

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The major piece is called a “barge board” – a curved, plate-shaped piece of carbon fiber, located on the leading edge of the underwing. It creates downforce with much less affect on a following car and that will help to create better passing opportunities. The piece will be optional for all cars at TMS, next week, for the XPEL 375.

The optional barge board

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To a man, all five drivers report that the barge board adds a bunch more downforce. Whether or not that can help in the PJ1 is still unknown. Some drivers believe that a 2nd groove can be forced in by laying down Firestone rubber on race weekend:

Said WIll Power, “Yeah, definitely more downforce, hopefully it leads to better racing. I really, really hope we have a second lane. I think that will make this place awesome. So they’re going to obviously spray it off. (He was referring to the PJ1 compound, but this was not confirmed by TMS). I mean, we just got to run up there, that will make that work. I keep pushing the series to have a session – like the 15 minutes of the last practice starts – where you can only run the second lane, or 20 minutes and you get a set of tires if you do it; that would bring it in and people would be confident to go up there. But hopefully the downforce just allows us to be a bit more comfortable.”

Will Power

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Following the testing Conor Daly reported that he, Power, VeeKay and Newgarden all made a sojourn to the track’s nearby In N Out Burger. McLaughlin couldn’t go because he was concerned about making weight next week. (Probably over-indulged after his WIN at St. Pete.) My fellow Texans will recognize the decor:

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JR Hildebrand comes in to do the ovals for AJ Foyt…

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Tatianna Calderon in her rookie year with AJ Foyt Enterprises in the # 11 Chevrolet will be doing only the street and road course races of the 2022 season, so the team needed an oval expert to come in and compete with the car. Today, they have announced that veteran JR Hildebrand has gotten the nod to do all 5 oval races on the schedule - Texas, Indy, Iowa, Iowa 2 and Gateway. In the doing, JR becomes the 32nd CONFIRMED driver for the 2022 Indy 500. One more to go before we get into bumping for the race.

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JR Hildebrand

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JR was at Texas Motor Speedway last week during the rookie orientation for teammate Kyle Kirkwood, giving the kid advice expert enough to put him as the top performer with a tow among series oval rookies. (see post # 1646) JR was one of Foyt’s drivers in last year’s Indy 500 and his performance impressed the team more than enough to give him this shot.

Said JR, “I’m excited to have this opportunity to get back in the car, do a little more racing, and work with the A.J. Foyt Racing squad again. Although the results may not have looked special on paper, I was really impressed by what we accomplished last year at the 500 and look forward to attacking these other ovals on the IndyCar schedule alongside Kyle and Dalton.”

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Hildebrand is one of the smartest drivers in the series, with engineering ties to both UCLA and MIT. AJ Foyt teammate Dalton Kellet is also one of the brightest drivers in the series, with an engineering degree from Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. Biggest difference is that Dalton also has a wicked dry sense of humor.

Dalton Kellett - the funny one

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USF Juniors gets two new drivers for the debut season…

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DC Autosport with Cape Motorsports announced another of its three team drivers this week, signing Connecticut racer Earl Tucker IV to contest the inaugural USF Juniors season.

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Tucker, 23, graduated from Fairfield University in his home state of Connecticut last year with a bachelor’s degree in economics and immediately took a job with FCP Euro, one of the country’s top European car parts retailers. As a way to get closer to his customers, Earl began spec Miata racing, gaining valuable wheel to wheel racing experience. With some success there, he then segued into F4 cars. He then got connected to DC Autosport team principal Don Conner and the deal was made to bring Tucker into USF Juniors for 2022, where he will join already CONFIRMED Nicolas d’Orlando.

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Earl Tucker shakes down a DC Autosport Ligier

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Said Earl, “Having a teammate with a racing resumé like Nick’s is a bit intimidating, but he’s been great to work with and learn from. It’s been a great experience so far, testing has gone well, so I’m happy with how I’ve progressed. I can’t wait for the season to start!”

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Veteran-owned and operated IGY6 Motorsports out of Indianapolis, Indiana has announced their entrance into USF Juniors with their first driver being 16-year-old Jason Prybil, a native of Glenview, Illinois.

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An accomplished karter for many years, in 2020, following the WIN of several karting championships, he capped off that year by transitioning to cars, with one day of testing followed by a weekend with FRP F1600 at Pittsburgh, finishing P6 and P2 racing against several current USF2000 drivers. in 2021 Prybil then took the SCCA Northern Conference Formula Enterprise 2 Championship. In addition, he finished 10th at the SCCA National Runoffs on the Indy road course and campaigned a Spec Miata in two 50-lap endurance races.

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Said Jason, “It is an exciting new chapter in my career and I look forward to working with USF Juniors and the IGY6 Motorsports program. I’m excited to prove my skills in the next level of racing and I’m confident that this is the place to do it.”

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Jason steps out in the IG6Y Ligier

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Due to his karting excellence, we’re betting that Prybil will be a good performer from the start. This kid already knows how to compete and WIN.

IGY6 Motorsports is partnered with SAVE22.vet to support American veterans through motorsports. SAVE22.vet is a group of like-minded veteran friends working to raise awareness for and the prevention of veteran and active duty suicide.

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It’s time for the Mobile 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring!..

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The second race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season is also the second race of the Michelin Endurance Cup season within the IMSA season, and it’s on for this Saturday. Also racing this weekend are the gang from the Michelin Pilot Challenge series and the boys from Porsche Carrera Cup North America, and there are IndyCar drivers in all three series. Due to the fact that the IndyCars are also racing this weekend at Texas, only one current Indy Lights guy and no current IndyCar guys will compete at Sebring. But there are lots of former IndyCar and Road to Indy drivers in Florida.

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Let’s see who they are, starting with the WeaterTech gang:

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DPi class - Sebastien Bourdais and Ryan Hunter-Reay are both drivers in the # 01 Cadillac DPi V.R for Cadillac Racing. Seb is the regular driver, with co-driver Renger van der Zande while Ryan is the add for the 12 hours. Both Seb and Ryan have extensive SportsCar experience and with Renger, this is a stout squad.

Sebastien Bourdais (left) and Ryan Hunter-Reay

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Indy Lights Champion Tristan Vautier is a regular in the # 5 Caddy for JDC-Miller Motorsports. He will share the car with fellow regular Richard Westbrook and add Loic Duval. Last year, Tristan, Loic and Sebastien Bourdais WON the 12 Hours in this car, and it’s a favorite, again.

Tristan Vautier

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Indy Pro 2000 alum Pipo Derani is a regular in the # 31 Whelen-sponsored Cadillac for Action Express. His regular co-driver is Tristan Nunez. The add for the 12 Hours is IndyCar race WINNER Mike Conway. This is another great squad of former endurance Champions.

Pipo Derani (left) and Mike Conway

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LMP2 class - IndyCar and IMSA Champion Juan Pablo Montoya will drive the # 81 ORECA 07 Gibson for DragonSpeed with SportsCar veteran Henrik Hedman. Also in the car will be Juan Pablo’s son, Sebastian Montoya. This is the first time Juan Pablo will race with his son in a major event.

Juan Pablo Montoya

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LMP3 class - Road to Indy Shootout star and Porsche Cup Champion Trenton Estep will share the # 7 Duqueine D08 for Forty 7 Motorsports with Mark Kvamme and Anthony Mantella.

Trenton Estep

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Road to Indy Ace Dakota Dickerson is sharing the # 30 Ligier JS P320 with Indy Lights veteran Garett Grist for Jr III Racing. Also in the car will be Ari Balogh. Lotsa talent and success, here.

Dakota Dickerson (left) and Garett Grist

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GTO Champion and Indy Lights driver Jarett Andretti shares the # 36 Ligier with Australian Josh Burdon, for Andretti Autosport. Added in the car for Sebring is IndyCar vet Gabby Chaves.

Jarett Andretti (left) and Gabby Chaves

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Road to Indy ace Rasmus Lindh is the driver of the # 38 Ligier for Performance Tech Motorsports, with co-driver Dan Goldburg. Added in the car is another Road to Indy veteran, Cameron Shields. This car has a ton of talent on board.

Rasmus Lindh (left) and Cameron Shields

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Max Hanratty is a Road to Indy veteran who has had lots of great experience in LMP3s. He will be the driver of the # 40 Duqueine D08 for Fast MD Racing. Co-drivers will be Todd Archer and James Vance.

Max Hanratty

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GTD Pro class - Indy Pro 2000 Champion and IndyCar driver Jack Hawksworth will drive the # 14 Lexus RCF GT3 for Vasser Sullivan. Ben Barnicoat is Jack’s regular co-driver in the car. Normally, IndyCar driver Kyle Kirkwood would be the add in the car, but Kyle will be racing in Texas, this weekend, so Indy Pro 2000 Champion Aaron Telitz is moving over from the # 12 Lexus Pro/Am car to help out in the # 14.

Jack Hawksworth (left) and Aaron Telitz

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Road to Indy Ace Connor de Phillippi drives the # 25 BMW M4 GT3 for BMW M Team RLL. His co-drivers are John Edwards and Augusto Farfus. These guys are only doing the endurance races, this season.

Connor de Phillippi

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GTD class - IndyCar veteran and IMSA Champion Jan Heylen will drive the # 16 Porsche 911 GT3 R for Wright Motorsports with fellow regular Ryan Hardwick. Added is Zacharie Robichon. These three, along with Richard Lietz, were the class WINNERS of the 2022 Rolex 24 at Daytona in this car.

Jan Heylen

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Indy Lights race WINNER Rob Megennis will drive the # 39 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for CarBahn with Peregrine Racing. Rob’s co-drivers are Jeff Westphal and Corey Lewis.

Rob Megennis

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Current Indy Lights driver Kyffin Simpson is having his 2nd SportsCar race of his career - the Rolex 24 at Daytona was his first - in the # 66 Acura NSX GT3 for Gradient Racing. His co-drivers are Till Bechtolsheimer and Mario Farnbacher.

Kyffin Simpson

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IndyCar drivers Katherine Legge and Stefan Wilson will co-drive the # 99 Porsche 911 GT3 R for Team Hardpoint with Rob Ferriol.

Katherine Legge (left) and Stefan Wilson

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Continued…

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It’s time for the Mobile 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring!..(part 2)…

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• The Michelin Pilot Challenge gang will hold the Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 on Thursday. There are no IndyCar guys in the Grand Sport class this year, but there are some in the Touring Car class. They are:

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Indy Lights race WINNER and TCR class Champion Ryan Norman will drive the # 2 Hyundai Elantra N TCR for Bryan Herta Autosport. His co-driver will be AJ Muss.

Ryan Norman

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IndyCar driver and paraplegic Robert Wickens will drive the # 33 Hyundai Elantra N TCR for Bryan Herta Autosport, using hand controls. His co-driver in the car is Mark Wilkins.

Robert Wickens

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Indy Pro 2000 alum and paraplegic Michael Johnson will drive the # 54 Hyundai Elantra N TCR for Michael Johnson Racing w/ Bryan Herta Autosport, using hand controls. His co-driver is Stephen Simpson.

Michael Johnson

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• The guys from Porsche Carrera Cup North America will also race, and there are three IndyCar guys competing:

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Road to Indy Shootout ace Trenton Estep will pull double duty, this weekend, as he will drive in the 12 Hours as well as the 2 Porsche Carrera Cup races. Trenton has already WON a Porsche GT3 Challenge USA title, but this is a shot at the more prestigious Porsche Carrera Cup title. He will be driving the # 6 Porsche 992 for MDK Motorsports.

Trenton Estep

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Road to Indy ace Parker Thompson returns for another season of Porsche Carrera Cup following a good 2021 season, coming home 3rd in points. He will drive the # 9 Porsche 992 for JDX Racing.

Parker Thompson

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Another Road to Indy veteran, TJ Fischer pulled down two podiums in 2021. He is back for more in the # 58 Porsche 992 for Topp Racing.

TJ (Travis Jordan) Fischer

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The venue is Sebring International Raceway. Sebring is one of the oldest continuously operating race tracks in the U.S., its first race being run in 1950. Sebring occupies the site of Hendricks Army Airfield, which was a training base for B-17 pilots from 1941 to 1946.

The track is 3.74 miles long over 17 turns and incorporates a part of Sebring Regional Airport. Though most of the bumpy track is asphalt there is still some 0.7 miles of concrete. They have been running the 12 Hours of Sebring here since 1952, over a number of different configurations of the track.

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The current configuration:

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Scheduled are two Porsche Carrera races and the Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 for the Michelin Pilot Challenge on Thursday. The 12 Hours will be run on Saturday. Wednesday will be a day of practice for the Porsches and the MPC gang.

Let’s GO!!

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Wednesday at Sebring - the Porsche Carrera Cup gang practices and qualifies…

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The PCCNA guys held two practices and then qualified late in the day. We have the TOPS in practice and the TOP THREE qualifiers here:

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Topping the two practices was Kay van Berlo in the # 3 Porsche 992 for Kelly-Moss Road and Race, with a session 1 time that bested Leh Keen in the #12 Porsche for 311RS Motorsport and IndyCar guy Trenton Estep in the # 6 Porsche for MDK Motorsports. That speed translated into pole during qualifying for Race 1 with a time of 2:03.330s for a speed of 109.170mph. Kay was able to get the drop on his Kelly-Moss teammate Riley Dickinson in the # 53 Porsche by 0.177 seconds. IndyCar driver Parker Thompson will start third in the # 9 Porsche for JDX Racing.

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Kay van Berlo - on the pole for Race 1

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Race 1 will come off at 9:15 in the morning on Thursday, followed by Race 2in the early afternoon. The grid for that race will be determined by either the 2nd fastest qually time of each driver or their best Race 1 lap time - whichever is better.

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Wednesday at Sebring - Michelin Pilot Challenge hold practice and qualifying…

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The MPC gang held two practices and then qualified for the Alan Jay Automotive Network 120. We have the TOP performer in practice for the day and the TOP THREE qualifiers for both classes here, starting with Grand Sport class:

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GS class - TOPS in practice after two sessions was Jeroen Bleekemolen in the # 540 Porsche 718 GT4 Cayman with his Session 2 time, besting Christian Szymczak in the # 72 Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 for Murillo Racing and Stevan McAleer in the # 28 Porsche 718 GT4 Cayman for RS1. When it came time to qualify Stevan’s co-driver Alexandre Premat came to the fore and took pole in the # 28 Porsche with a time of 2:11.010s for a speed of 102.770mph. Stevan bested Luca Mars in the # 60 Ford Mustang GT4 for KOHR Motorsports by a tiny 0.032 seconds. Starting third will be Kenny Murillo in the # 72 Murillo Mercedes he shares with Christian Szymczak.

Luca shares the Mustang with Nate Stacy. Jeroen’s co-driver in the #540 Porsche is Tim Pappas.

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The # 28 Porsche 718 GT4 Cayman for RS1 - on the pole in GS class

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Alexandre Premat

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TCR class - TOPS in practice after two sessions was Tim Lewis in the # 5 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR for KMW Motorsports w/ TMR Engineering, with his Session 2 time besting Mikey Taylor in the # 17 Audi RS3 LMS SEQ for Unitronic JDC-Miller MotorSports and Jon Morley in the # 61 Audi for Road Shagger Racing. When it came to qualifying it was an all Bryan Herta Autosport show, with team Hyundai Elantra N TCRs taking the TOP THREE spots. On pole will be Mason Filippi in the # 77 Elantra with a time of 2:14.446s for a speed of 100.144mph. Mason beat out IndyCar driver Robert Wickins in the # 33 Elantra by 0.077 seconds. Starting third will be Harry Gottsacker in the # 98 Elantra.

Tim shares the # 5 Alfa with Roy Block while Mikey shares the # 17 Audi with Chris Miller and Jon shares the # 61 Audi with Gavin Ernstone. Mason’s co-driver in the # 77 Elantra is Tyler Maxson, Robby’s co-driver the # 33 Elantra is Mark Wilkins and Harry’s co-driver in the # 98 Elantra is Parker Chase.

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The # 77 Hyundai Elantra N TCR for Bryan Herta Autosport - on the pole in TCR class

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Mason Filippi

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The Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 is scheduled to start at 4:25pm on Thursday and can be seen in its entirety on Peacock, starting at 4:20PM EASTERN time.

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This was the last on-track activity of the day.

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