All posts by Christopher DeHarde

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer After much speculation, Harding Racing’s plans for the 2019 IndyCar Series season have now been confirmed. The Speedway, IN squad will join forces with Steinbrenner Racing to form Harding-Steinbrenner Racing, a two-car team with rookie drivers Patricio (Pato) O’Ward and Colton Herta in car Nos. 8 and 88, respectively. O’Ward and Herta raced for the Harding team at the recent Grand Prix in Sonoma where O’Ward qualified fifth and finished ninth while Herta qualified 19th and finished 20th. The team has yet to announce an engineRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Marco Andretti enjoyed a quiet and solid fifth-place finish in Sunday’s INDYCAR Grand Prix of Sonoma. The 31-year-old Pennsylvanian remained under the radar for much of the 85-lap contest as his Andretti Autosport teammates drew much of the attention with Ryan Hunter-Reay taking the victory, and Alexander Rossi battling for a championship. That combination allowed Andretti to quietly parlay a fourth-place start on the grid into his second top five finish of the year. After participating in his first Firestone Fast Six during Saturday’s qualifying, Andretti hadRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer After scoring the first top-10 finish of his Verizon IndyCar Series career at the Grand Prix of Portland, Pietro Fittipaldi hopes to make the most of his partial season with Dale Coyne Racing in the No. 19 Paysafe Honda in the season-ending Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. Fittipaldi had been splitting the car with former Indy Lights driver Zachary Claman De Melo and Santino Ferrucci before taking over the ride for the last five races of the 2018 season. At Portland, Fittipaldi started 16thRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — Four drivers remain eligible for the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series championship crown but if anyone is going to beat Scott Dixon, it might take divine intervention at this point. Dixon was involved in the first lap incident that took out Marco Andretti and Ed Jones and delayed Graham Rahal and James Hinchcliffe. Once the metaphorical and literal dust cleared, Dixon drove back to the pits without losing a lap. Later in the race he was clocked at 50.2 mph in the pits whenRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — In a less than ideal 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season, Gabby Chaves managed to give Harding Racing his best finish of the year with a 13th place finish in Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland. After starting 21st, Chaves found himself in 11th place following the first lap mayhem involving James Hinchcliffe, Graham Rahal, Ed Jones, Scott Dixon, Zach Veach and Marco Andretti. The 2014 Indy Lights champion ran in the top 10 in the early third of the race before his first pitRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — In the midst of a partial 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season program, Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey surprised many by nearly advancing out of the first round of qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland and will start 13th. Harvey set a fast lap of 57.9620 seconds (121.983 mph) around the 1.964-mile road course and the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM entry in conjunction with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports will have its best start of the season on Sunday. “I think testing so far has goneRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — With speculation about 2019 becoming more and more frequent by the day, Chip Ganassi Racing driver Ed Jones managed to shut all of that off to qualify in eighth position for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland – the penultimate race in the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season. Jones went around the 1.964-mile road course with a quick time of 57.6499 seconds to average 122.644 mph. Teammate and points leader Scott Dixon went around in 57.8554 seconds to qualify 11th fastest. Jones has beenRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — Friday practice has come and gone for the Verizon IndyCar Series ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland and the time sheets saw numerous names flying up and down in unexpected places. While it’s expected to see Sebastien Bourdais near the top and he in fact led the opening session, the midfield was full of happy surprises. Santino Ferrucci was 12th fastest in the opening session in his first IndyCar race since the Chevrolet Duel in Detroit. Ahead of Ferrucci was Jack HarveyRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Per Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Robert Wickens has been transferred to IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis after spending 12 days at the Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest. The Canadian will soon undergo further surgery on his lower extremities that were injured in his August 19th crash at Pocono Raceway. On Lap 7 of the ABC Supply 500, Wickens was alongside Ryan Hunter-Reay heading to the Tunnel Turn when the two had contact, sending Wickens into the catch fencing and spinning around in the air. James Hinchcliffe, PietroRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Redemption, comeback stories and rebuilding one’s self are central themes in sports around the globe. The ability for an athlete to put their past behind them to make something better of themselves is a great narrative and one that shouldn’t be overlooked when Santino Ferrucci returns to the Verizon IndyCar Series this weekend at Portland International Raceway. The 20-year-old isn’t ready to forget about his questionable actions from the Formula 2 weekend at Silverstone. However, he has accepted responsibility for his wrongful actions, both on andRead More