All posts by Christopher DeHarde

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Billy Johnson and Jonathan Bomarito have been tapped to complete Ford’s lineup in the FIA World Endurance Championship 1000 Miles of Sebring event on March 15th at Sebring International Raceway. Johnson has driven part-time in the last three seasons of the FIAWEC for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing and will return to the No. 66 Ford GT for the FIAWEC race. The American also co-drove the winning Ford GT in the GTE-Pro class at the 2018 Six Hours of Spa and has developed the Ford GT sinceRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Dalton Kellett has been announced as Juncos Racing’s second driver in their Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires program. After testing for Carlin recently at Circuit of the Americas, the Canadian will spend 2019 in Ricardo Juncos’s squad after having spent the previous few years at Andretti Autosport. “Competing in the 2019 Indy Lights season with Juncos Racing is a very exciting opportunity,” said Kellett in a team release. Ricardo (Juncos) and his team have proven themselves championship winners on many occasions and across different series.Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer All three championships on the Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires had driver announcements filter through so let’s take a look at all the announcements to expand the number of cars on the respective championships. In the Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires, 2017 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship winner Oliver Askew was a late addition to spring testing at Circuit of the Americas for Andretti Autosport. The Jupiter, Florida native signed a contract to race the No. 28 entry for the Indianapolis-based squad alongside RyanRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Firestone’s extension as exclusive tire supplier to the NTT IndyCar Series through the 2025 season shows the strength of IndyCar racing with the most important part of the car settled for the next few seasons. The only component of a racing car designed to purposefully make contact with the racing surface are the tires. That’s why they are so critical to a race car’s performance. But don’t take this author’s word for it, Mario Andretti’s opinion would be the more important one. “There’s no element ofRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Road to Indy driver announcements have further clarified the grids for the 2019 racing season so let’s take a look at the new car/driver combinations across the championships. For Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires, two more drivers have been confirmed to go alongside Ryan Norman, Rinus VeeKay, Zachary Claman De Melo and David Malukas. Robert Megennis signed with Andretti Autosport to pilot the No. 27 Dallara IL-15. Before Indy Lights, Megennis drove in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship for two years with Team Pelfrey, scoringRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The 57th Rolex 24 at Daytona started off the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and after everybody has had time to dry themselves off, let’s make some random observations. It was good to see the Mazda DPis up front near the start of the race. Team Joest has made a lot of progress with making those cars fast but reliability is still the biggest concern. Since the engine revs won’t be so high at Sebring, the team might have a shot at winning. After all, lastRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Conor Daly now has some peace of mind ahead of the 2019 Indianapolis 500. After a difficult 2018 that included a pieced-together Indianapolis 500 ride, a NASCAR race with a sponsor that took its logos off the car following a PR storm involving his father and some dirt midget racing that didn’t end as expected, Daly now has a solid ride for the 103rd Indianapolis 500. Daly announced that he will attempt to qualify for the 2019 Indianapolis 500 with Andretti Autosport in the No. 25Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer CORE Autosport were at the short end of the stick. The team announced on November 30th that they would be switching to the Nissan DPi platform after Extreme Speed Motorsports pulled out of the WeatherTech Championship. That gave the team just over a month to get their brand new car, prepare everything for the Roar Before the 24 test in early January and iron out any kinks discovered in the car in preparation for the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Then comes the race and the teamRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona was red flagged due to a driving rainstorm, pardon the pun. The rain came down a couple of hours before sunrise and has not relented, resulting in some cars sliding off track and the No. 4 Corvette hitting the tires hard at Turn 1. After spending over an hour under a yellow flag, IMSA decided just before the 17 hour mark to throw the red flag. The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi is leading with Fernando Alonso behindRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — Mazda Team Joest had one of the fastest cars at the 57th Rolex 24 at Daytona but their pole-sitting No. 77 RT24-P suffered turbocharger failure just before seven hours were completed while the No. 55 machine had a brief fuel leak causing some lost time. Timo Bernhard was behind the wheel when suddenly the car had no drive and flames came out of the exhaust system. The car was towed to the garage and after a quick once-over, the decision to retireRead More