All posts by Christopher DeHarde

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG — He qualified third, finished fourth and had about as perfect of a debut as one could hope for in the NTT IndyCar Series in Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Felix Rosenqvist made a pass for the lead against Will Power on Lap 24 in a move that most veterans might consider not making. Locking up the front tires and nearly touching the 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner, the Swede made the pass stick in a move that made many wonder who exactlyRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG — With only a 10 race window to maximize his opportunities, Jack Harvey put himself right in qualifying for the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg by going seventh quickest in knockout qualifying. The No. 60 SiriusXM/AutoNation Honda advanced out of the first round of qualifying with the sixth fastest time. In the second round of qualifying, Harvey tried as he might but his best lap of 1 minute, 0.9531 seconds was not enough to get him to theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG — Felix Rosenqvist’s debut NTT IndyCar Series race weekend has gone about as well as could be expected for the Swede. After leading one of the Friday practice sessions, the two-time Macau Grand Prix winner ended up qualifying third for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Rosenqvist’s No. 10 NTT Data Honda advanced out of a chaotic group one that was marred with two red flags. In the second round of qualifying, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver qualified seventh and seemingly failed toRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG — Two-time defending race winner and St. Petersburg resident Sebastien Bourdais left Friday’s practice for the opening round of the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season with a bit of frustration ahead of Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser/Sullivan driver was 11th in the first Friday practice session and 18th in the second practice session and the No. 18 Sealmaster Honda was not handling the way Bourdais wanted it to. “We know what’s not working, we just don’tRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG — Friday for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg had many interesting happenings across all the INDYCAR system so let’s take a look from the top down. In the NTT IndyCar Series practice sessions, Felix Rosenqvist led the first session in his first race for Chip Ganassi Racing in the No. 10 NTT Data Honda. The Swede was ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay in the first session but Hunter-Reay’s No. 28 Andretti Autosports DHL Honda led the second session. What’s more odd is thatRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG — James Davison will return to Dale Coyne Racing in a partnership with three of his main backers from last year’s Indianapolis 500 effort. Jonathan Byrd’s Racing, Hollinger MotorSport and Belardi Auto Racing will partner with Dale Coyne Racing to field the No. 33 entry as the Australian attempts to qualify for the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500. This is the 33rd confirmed entry to the 2019 Indianapolis 500. Davison finished 33rd in last year’s 500 in the Byrd-Hollinger-Belardi entry after a technicalRead More

Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the NTT IndyCar Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into the 2019 season opener at St. Petersburg on March 10. Age: 27 Team: Chip Ganassi Racing Years in Indy car: Rookie Career Wins: 0 Career Podiums: 0 Felix Rosenqvist is the most talented European racer to come race in America full time since Nigel Mansell. Now that you’ve picked your jaw up off the floor, let’s examine this flamethrower of a hot take. Rosenqvist has won four championships during his racing career: 2008 FormulaRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the NTT IndyCar Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into the 2019 season opener at St. Petersburg on March 10. Age: 18 Team: Harding-Steinbrenner Racing Years in Indy car: Rookie Career Wins: 0 Career Podiums: 0 Instead of a two car team, Colton Herta will be the lone standard-bearer for Harding-Steinbrenner Racing. The first NTT IndyCar Series driver born in the 2000s, Herta comes into 2019 off of a lone race at Sonoma last year for the team and finishingRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Carlin announced today that 2018 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires champion Pato O’Ward will join the team in a 13 race deal for the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season. O’Ward previously was slated to compete full time for Harding-Steinbrenner Racing but that deal fell through only a month before the season began. This deal will see O’Ward compete in the races fellow Carlin driver Charlie Kimball will sit out and the Mexican will also race for Carlin in the 103rd Indianapolis 500 in a thirdRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the NTT IndyCar Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into the 2019 season opener at St. Petersburg on March 10. Age: 25 Team: Ed Carpenter Racing Years in IndyCar: Three Career Wins: 0 Career Podiums: One Coming off of his first full season of NTT IndyCar Series competition, Spencer Pigot will be looking to build off of a stronger final half of 2018 to start 2019. In the last eight races of 2018, the 2015 Indy Lights presented by CooperRead More