All posts by Christopher DeHarde

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer In an unexpected twist, LMP2 machinery will lead the WeatherTech Sports Car Championship field to the green flag for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours at Watkins Glen. CORE Autosport’s Colin Braun picked up where they left off after leading Friday’s second practice session by posting a pole position lap of 1 minute, 32.350 seconds around the 3.4 mile natural terrain road course in his No. 54 ORECA LMP2 machine. Second on the grid is the United Autosports No. 32 Ligier LMP2 entry with Paul Di Resta postingRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship heads to one of America’s most iconic natural terrain road courses in Watkins Glen International for the Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen. The race is the third in the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup and as such, the entry list is larger than normal. The race also is taking place near the July 4th holiday and in classic Independence Day motorsports tradition, IMSA has asked the team to use patriotic liveries for their cars with much of theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Colton Herta has been on an absolute tear in the Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires. The Californian won four races in a row, the first to do so since Alex Lloyd in 2007 and hasn’t finished off the podium at all this season except in the second race in St. Petersburg. In seeking the Indy Lights championship and with it the Mazdaspeed scholarship to help propel him into the Verizon IndyCar Series, Herta still has aspirations of racing in some of the great open wheelRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, WI — Toby Sowery had one weekend of experience in the Mazda Road to Indy last year at Barber Motorsports Park and on his debut weekend in the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires, the Brit posted two second place finishes in both races at Road America. With an off weekend from his day job racing International GT Open, Sowery took an opportunity to race with BN Racing following an opening in their Pro Mazda team. “I had the [USF2000] race in BarberRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin —Zach Veach was not in an ideal situation early on in Sunday’s Kohler Grand Prix at Road America. The Verizon IndyCar Series rookie was holding station in the midfield but ultimately mechanical difficulty brought the No. 26 Relay Group One Thousand One Honda to pit road. “We had something come loose on the steering rack,” said Veach. “Basically one of the lock nuts that keep the toe links kind of in their position in the steering rack came loose. The steering wheel justRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Spencer Pigot had a hard fought battle during Sunday’s Kohler Grand Prix at Road America but in his first full season in Verizon IndyCar Series competition, the Floridian would have to settle for eighth at the track where he made his Skip Barber national debut. Starting tenth, Pigot was shuffled back a few positions following front row starter Will Power’s mechanical trouble on the first lap. Pigot was stuck behind the 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner’s car on the main straight and severalRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Despite his best efforts, Ryan Hunter-Reay could not overcome Josef Newgarden’s pace and the Andretti Autosport racer had to settle for second place in Sunday’s Kohler Grand Prix at Road America. The 2012 Verizon IndyCar Series Champion started third which became second after front row starter Will Power had a mechanical issue that dropped him through the field. Never letting the defending series champion out of sight, Hunter-Reay only ran below second place for two laps when Scott Dixon took the lead.Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Ryan Hunter-Reay was the fastest Honda during qualifying ahead of Sunday’s Kohler Grand Prix but that wasn’t good enough to get him on the front row at Road America for the tenth race in the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season. The No. 28 DHL Honda was second fastest in the first group of knockout qualifying, only bested by Andretti Autosport teammate Alexander Rossi. Rossi would set the fastest time in the second round of knockout qualifying while Hunter-Reay would be third fastestRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Robert Wickens has not raced at Road America since 2007 but the Verizon IndyCar Series rookie didn’t look like he was out of place as he pushed his No. 6 Lucas Oil Honda to fifth position in qualifying for Sunday’s Kohler Grand Prix. Fifth was the number of the day for the Canadian. Wickens was fifth in his group during the first round of qualifying and repeated that performance in the second round to advance to the Firestone Fast Six. “I thoughtRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Friday has come and gone for the Kohler Grand Prix and the Verizon IndyCar Series and its support ladder had many interesting tidbits coming out of Road America. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden topped both practice sessions with an overall Friday best lap of 1 minute, 42.6279 seconds for an average speed of 140.804 mph. However, behind Newgarden in each session were a large amount of Hondas ready to pounce on the defending series champion. Honda had four of the top five positionsRead More