All posts by Christopher DeHarde

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, WI — Alfonso Celis Jr. is making his Verizon IndyCar Series debut in Sunday’s Kohler Grand Prix at Road America but the Mexican racer found that the tire barriers are unforgiving. The No. 32 Juncos Racing Chevrolet found a new home against the Turn 13 tire barrier after Celis pushed hard to find extra time during his fourth lap of Friday’s second practice session. The resulting contact broke off the rear wing and damaged the car’s suspension. Celis had tested at the 4.048 mileRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The Mazda Road to Indy heads to Road America for the third year in a row as each of the three championships are coming off of their first oval race weekend of the season supporting the Verizon IndyCar Series. Let’s take a look at each championship heading into Road America after each series tested at the 4.048 mile natural terrain road course. Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires Seven cars will greet Road America for rounds eight and nine of the Indy Lights championship. Belardi AutoRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer After a much-needed week off, the Verizon IndyCar Series returns to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the tenth race in the 2018 schedule, the KOHLER Grand Prix. Road America made a welcome return to the IndyCar calendar in 2016 and has quickly become one of the largest race day crowds on the schedule. Will Power and Scott Dixon have won the last two races at Road America and both have twice visited victory lane this year. Power swept the Indianapolis Motor Speedway rounds ofRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DETROIT –Ryan Hunter-Reay only finished 1.8249 seconds behind Chevrolet Dual in Detroit race one winner Scott Dixon, but he wasn’t entirely pleased with his Saturday effort on the streets of Belle Isle. “Today we got hosed on qualifying,” said Hunter-Reay. “The officials completely checked out on the whole deal and that would’ve given us two extra spots on the grid, maybe that was enough to make the difference. “You just can’t give up anything in this series; you can’t give up two feet, you can’t giveRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DETROIT — After the massive high of winning the 102nd Indianapolis 500, Will Power’s dream week came back down to earth with a seventh place finish in the first of two races in the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit as the top Chevrolet-powered driver. Starting sixth, Power had a boost problem at the start from not warming up the engine enough and dropped two positions behind the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing duo of Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal. Power then committed himself to a two stop strategyRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DETROIT– Felipe Albuquerque and Mario Farnbacher led their respective classes in Saturday’s warmup session ahead of the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship. The Prototype and GTD-only event had Felipe Albuquerque setting the fastest lap of the session in his No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi machine with a lap of 1 minute, 22.958 seconds around the 2.3 mile street circuit. Albuquerque and co-driver Joao Barbosa roll off fourth for Saturday’s race which isn’t surprising given that they were thirdRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The Chevrolet Dual in Detroit is the only doubleheader race weekend for the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season and much went on at the Belle Isle circuit on Friday. First, McLaren brass were at the track evaluating a future IndyCar program. Although no announcements have been made about a program, this is a positive sign for IndyCar as it attempts to bring in more manufacturers to compete. There were two practice sessions on Friday and in the first session it was a Honda party up front.Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS — Oriol Servia gave Scuderia Corsa their first taste of Indianapolis 500 action and leading the race with an off-strategy call gave the Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan assisted No. 64 Honda all the TV time they could’ve asked for and more. Servia started 26th following some qualifying difficulties and worked through the field and was in tenth place by Lap 74 before taking the lead briefly on Lap 95 before a pit stop one lap later. Servia would hover in the upper midfield and gained ten positions inRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS — After a punctured tire relegated Alexander Rossi to a 32nd place starting position in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, Rossi clawed his way through the field and finished fourth in a performance that brought the crowd to its feet. Rossi was 28th after the opening lap and climbed to 23rd before the opening round of pit stops. Restarts then became critical as the Californian gained 11 positions from Lap 54 to Lap 77. However, Rossi’s best performance was on Lap 145 where he passed Scott Dixon,Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS— Alexander Rossi will need time. The No. 27 NAPA Auto Parts Honda starts 32nd in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 after a slowly deflating tire on his pole day qualifying run slowed him. Two drivers -Jim Rathmann in 1957 and Mario Andretti in 1981- have finished second after starting 32nd and on Media Day Rossi was candid about how he’ll plan his attack on race day. “I’ll probably talk to Mario, I don’t think Jim’s race will be on YouTube,” said Rossi. “I don’t know what theyRead More