All posts by Christopher DeHarde

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 12 drivers from the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list continues with the seventh-place finisher, Sebastien Bourdais. Sebastien Bourdais, No. 18 Sealmaster Honda 2018: 7th in the championship  Wins: 1, Top 5: 5, Top 10: 8, Poles: 1, Laps Led: 108 Best Finish: 1st (St. Petersburg) After a strong start to the season with a victory at St. Petersburg and pole at Phoenix, it’s hard to picture a better start to the 2018 IndyCar season for SebastienRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The No. 98 entry for Andretti-Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian in the IndyCar Series just scored a new business partner entering the car as driver Marco Andretti has become the second owner-driver in IndyCar racing. The No. 98 U.S. Concrete Honda will be entered by the newly-renamed entity Andretti-Herta Autosport with Marco Andretti and Curb-Agajanian. “I’m happy and proud to invest back into the team that I have been with for 13 seasons and counting,” said Andretti in a team statement. “I truly believe this is the bestRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Schmidt Peterson Motorsports today confirmed that Alfa Romeo Sauber Formula One driver Marcus Ericsson will join the team in the No. 7 Honda entry for the 2019 IndyCar season. Ericsson will partner James Hinchcliffe at SPM while Robert Wickens is recovering from his August incident at Pocono Raceway. Ericsson has 95 Formula One starts, recently finishing ninth at the Mexican Grand Prix. The 28-year-old Swedish driver will leave Sauber’s racing efforts after the 2018 Formula One season, with team deciding to use Antonio Giovinazzi and KimiRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Motorsports Tribune reviews the season of the top 12 drivers from the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Our list continues with the 11th-place finisher, Robert Wickens. Robert Wickens, No. 6 LUCAS OIL Honda 2018: 11th in the championship  Wins: 0, Top 5: 7, Top 10: 10, Poles: 1, Laps Led: 187 Best Finish: 2nd (Phoenix, Mid-Ohio) It’s hard to imagine a more dynamic, more attention-deserving and more awe-inspiring winless rookie season in Indy car racing of the past decade than the one Robert Wickens had inRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Ed Jones has found a new home for the 2019 IndyCar season courtesy of a partnership with Scuderia Corsa and Ed Carpenter Racing. The 2016 Indy Lights champion will race the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa Chevrolet on the road and street courses while the eponymous team owner will race the same car on the ovals. Jones will race in the Indianapolis 500 in the No. 64 car prepared in a joint effort. “Joining Ed Carpenter Racing and Scuderia Corsa for the 2019 IndyCarRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer After a growing year with new partner Team Joest, Mazda finished off their 2018 IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship challenge with a double podium finish at this past weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans with a second and third place finish for their two RT24-P DPi machines. The No. 55 of Spencer Pigot, Jonathan Bomarito and Marino Franchitti led at times but they had the lion’s share of bad luck for the team with contact forcing the mechanics to replace the nose and tail on the carRead More

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