All posts by Christopher DeHarde

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS– Kyle Kaiser suffered the biggest setback after wrecking during Fast Friday practice for the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500. The 2017 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires champion spun while coming through Turn 3 and hit the wall, nearly turning over before landing on all four wheels. Kaiser got out of the car and was cleared to drive after evaluation at the medical center. “We are very grateful that our driver Kyle (Kaiser) was not injured and safely walked away from the massive hitRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS– Patricio O’Ward hit the wall coming out of Turn 2 during the third day of practice for the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500. While following Helio Castroneves, O’Ward lost control of his No. 31 Carlin Racing Chevrolet and hit the SAFER Barrier exiting the second corner. The 2018 Indy Lights champion hit the wall head on and with the left rear corner of the car. The impact with the wall then allowed the car to get partially airborne before coming to the ground. TheRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS– Wednesday’s practice session for the 103rd Indianapolis 500 had some surprises in store around the 2.5 mile oval for many competitors and the fates struck a couple of talented drivers with incidents. While Josef Newgarden posted the fastest lap of the day at 228.856 mph, Fernando Alonso and Felix Rosenqvist learned that the Brickyard plays no favorites as both had contact with the Speedway’s unforgiving walls. Alonso’s incident came around 12:35 in the afternoon as the Spaniard brushed the Turn 3 wall, slid into theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS — Juncos Racing had two sponsor deals fall through on them very recently before practice began Tuesday for the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Ricardo Juncos’s team has expanded operations in the last few years. They compete in the Road to Indy in Indy Lights and Indy Pro 2000 which has been their primary operation for the majority of their existence but last year ran the majority of NTT IndyCar Series races. The team expanded to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar ChampionshipRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS– Two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso was the first driver to wreck during practice ahead of the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500. Alonso’s No. 66 McLaren Chevrolet had been having understeer issues. It was roughly 1.5 hours into Day 2 practice  when the Spaniard brushed the wall exiting Turn 3, which led to him spinning and hitting the inside wall with the rear of the car before sliding across the track again and hitting the Turn 4 wall. “It was understeer on the car,Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Confirming the final of 36 planned entries for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500, Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports confirmed that Oriol Servia will pilot the team’s No. 77 Honda entry in a partnership with Chicago-based Team Stange Racing. The Spaniard will attempt to qualify the No. 77 MotoGator Honda entry in a partnership that could see John Stange Jr.’s team start on the road to being full time competitors in the NTT IndyCar Series in a few years time. The team currently competes in stockRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS– The INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course is the only two day show on a road course for the NTT IndyCar Series. Two practice sessions and qualifying all in the same day plus Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires action across all three ladder championships means that track activity is constant to kick off the month of May. For the NTT IndyCar Series, the day was full of unpredictability. Spencer Pigot was the only driver in the top three inRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS— NTT IndyCar Series qualifying on road and street courses can produce some interesting results and Jack Harvey proved that by qualifying third for Saturday’s INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. The No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda for Meyer Shank Racing was fourth fastest in the first group of round one of qualifying and set the third fastest time in the second round of knockout qualifying, advancing to the Firestone Fast Six. The twice runner-up in the Indy Lights presented by Cooper TiresRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Red Bull has announced that they have signed current NTT IndyCar Series driver Patricio “Pato” O’Ward to join their Junior Team. O’Ward currently drives for Carlin’s NTT IndyCar Series program part-time in a ride-share arrangement with Charlie Kimball alongside full-time driver Max Chilton. The 20-year-old rookie is the defending Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires champion and won the Prototype Challenge class championship in the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. According to Red Bull Formula One team principal Christian Horner, O’Ward has enough superlicense points toRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio– Mazda Team Joest had their podium finish as an entity at the 2018 Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and the team managed to get two cars on the podium at this year at Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Mid-Ohio. However, despite the second and third place finishes, the team is frustrated by their lack of stepping on the top step of the podium. “We’ve been fast every weekend, started on the front row three of the four weekends,Read More