All posts by Christopher DeHarde

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Expect the unexpected. This year has seen a massive improvement from Honda as they have won five out of eight races and heading into a newly-reconfigured Texas Motor Speedway, the Verizon IndyCar Series had no idea what to expect into Saturday’s Rainguard Water Sealers 600. Well, looking at the practice and qualifying recaps, it was a complete tossup until final practice. In the first practice session, Honda had the top six times as Scott Dixon led Charlie Kimball, Alexander Rossi, Graham Rahal,Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal backed up his dominating performance on Saturday with another win on Sunday in the Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit doubleheader weekend after starting third. Rahal was maintaining a lead over Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden after the final round of pit stops but a yellow flag with five laps to go threw a wrench into the plans. James Hinchcliffe suffered a mechanical failure on his No. 5 ARROW Electronics Honda and shortly thereafter, Spencer Pigot’s No. 20Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer In Friday practice for the Verizon IndyCar Series’ Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit doubleheader weekend, Graham Rahal and Helio Castroneves were all alone at the top of the time sheet as both drivers were fastest in each of the two practice sessions. Not only that, but they were second fastest in the session where they weren’t fastest. In opening practice, Rahal went around the 2.35 mile Belle Isle street circuit with a time of 1 min 15.3328 seconds while Castroneves was justRead More

 By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Dale Coyne Racing has announced that Esteban Gutierrez will pilot the No. 18 and making his Verizon IndyCar Series debut for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix in place of the injured Sebastien Bourdais, who was injured in a qualifying accident for the Indianapolis 500. The 25-year old Mexican drove in Formula One in 2013 and ’14 for Sauber, with a best finish of seventh in the 2013 Japanese Grand Prix. He spent 2015 as the reserve driver for Ferrari, before getting the callRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Ed Carpenter Racing’s eponymous team owner has a pretty successful business model. After driving the teams’ sole car in 2012 and 2013, Carpenter contested the ovals in 2014, ceding the road and street courses to Mike Conway. After spending 2015 rebranded as CFH Racing thanks to a merger with Sarah Fisher and Wink Hartman, 2016 brought Spencer Pigot on to contest the road and street courses opposite Carpenter’s oval efforts in the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet. The team wouldRead More

 By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS — After a topsy-turvy race that saw two of his teammates eliminated before the finish and himself a lap down early, Max Chilton led the most laps en route to a fourth place finish at the 101st Indianapolis 500. Chilton was a lap down right before the savage incident that eliminated teammate and pole sitter Scott Dixon but was able to get back onto the lead lap when the lead lap cars pitted. The former F1 driver managed to grab theRead More

 By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS — Chip Ganassi Racing’s Tony Kanaan had one of the more interesting races of guys who finished in the top five during the 101st Indianapolis 500. Kanaan led 22 laps early, hit debris in an accident, and had two teammates retire. But the 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner managed to come home fifth despite the challenges he faced. “I think we did okay. We had a damaged car, Kanaan said. “After one of the crashes I ran over some of the debrisRead More

 By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana — Jay Howard was being lapped by Ryan Hunter-Reay on Lap 53 when he hit the wall exiting Turn 1. His steering damaged, Howard’s car went across the track into the path of polesitter Scott Dixon, launching the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner into the catch fencing on top of the inside wall with the rear of the car impacting first. The damage caused by the incident caused a red flag on Lap 55 at 1:09 pm with engines re-fired atRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS— A rookie team with a second year driver in the Indianapolis 500 would seem to be a match that wouldn’t produce much in terms of results. However, Juncos Racing and Spencer Pigot aren’t exactly new to each other. Pigot drove for Juncos Racing in karting in the 2000s, rejoining the team in 2014 to win the Pro Mazda championship. The Pasadena, California-born driver then won the Indy Lights championship with the team, becoming the only driver to win multiple championships inRead More

 By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS — McLaren-Honda-Andretti Honda’s Fernando Alonso had never driven on an oval before his private test on May 3rd. Some people would expect the two time world champion to have an easy time learning to drive the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After all, with only four corners, one would expect it to be an easy track to learn on. “Not at all, not at all,” Alonso said. “This is a place that we didn’t repeat the same lap at any time in theRead More