All posts by Joey Barnes

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The 2018 lineups for the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires is beginning to take shape with Sting Ray Robb as the latest confirmed as it was announced he would return to Team Pelfrey. The Idaho native enjoyed a solid rookie campaign in 2017, finishing sixth in the overall standings with 11 top 10 results, including a career-best of fourth on three separate occasions (St. Petersburg – race two, Road America – race one, Watkins Glen – race one). A full release from the team canRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Yusuke Hasegawa will not return to be the head of Honda’s Formula One project for the 2018 season, as the position has been eliminated. Honda confirmed on Thursday that Hasagawa’s, who took over the role at the start of 2016 from Yasuhisa Arai, will move to a non-F1 position of executive chief engineer, effective January 1, 2018. The changes come after three years of underwhelming performance as the engine supplier with McLaren, a partnership that began in 2015. However, the two elected to part ways andRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets for the Pirelli tire test at Yas Marina Circuit on Wednesday. The final time Formula 1 cars will be on track for 2017, Vettel concluded the day with a time of 1 minute, 37.551 seconds on the new hypersoft tire compound at the 3.451-mile, 21-turn track. The early part of the day was halted by the four-time champion as his Ferrari stopped on track to bring out a red flag briefly before resuming. Mercedes rival Valtteri Bottas, who also won theRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief An incredibly busy offseason for the Verizon IndyCar Series has now added yet another change, but this time it comes with INDYCAR Race Director Brian Barnhart being confirmed to leave his longtime role and take over as President for Harding Racing. Harding Racing has never officially confirmed a full-time campaign for next season. However, team owner Mike Harding has made it clear that is the goal. The team only made three starts in 2017, with a best finish of fifth at Texas to pair with aRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Matheus Leist becomes the latest driver  to be announced for the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season, after being confirmed for the No. 4 ABC Supply Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Enterprises. A BRDC British Formula 3 champion in 2016, Leist moved over to the United States to compete in Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires – the top rung of the Mazda Road to Indy – driving for Carlin. A stout rookie campaign, Leist enjoyed three wins, including the Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway en routeRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Scuderia Toro Rosso have announced that both Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley will return for the 2018 Formula One season. A year that began with Carlos Sainz Jr. and Daniil Kvyat, has since seen the latter go off to Renault and the former dropped on two occasions throughout the season. Those events put Gasly in the seat at Malaysia, where with the exception of the United States Grand Prix, he has occupied it since. For Hartley, a winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlierRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The landscape is changing in the Verizon IndyCar Series heading into 2018. In what feels like a lead up to the Olympics, many teams have elected to go with lineups that feature drivers from only one country, such as Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with a pair of Canadians in James Hinchcliffe and Robert Wickens. However, they have also bolstered their lineups within the organization across all fronts. The full team release can be seen below. — Schmidt Peterson Motorsports announced today additions to its staff in itsRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – Jimmie Johnson saw his quest for a record eighth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title take a major hit with a 27th-place finish in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The 42-year-old Californian started ninth and looked to be an early favorite, having entered with seven victories at the 1.5-mile in his career. However, on Lap 65 of 334, following the first sequence of green flag pit stops, Johnson brought the car down pit road for a reported vibration andRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – It wasn’t the ideal outcome, but Ryan Blaney put in a solid sixth-place finish to keep himself in the championship mix in the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The 23-year-old Ohio native started eighth, but managed to climb into the top three before losing the rear of the car while defending his position entering Turn 2 on Lap 258 and fading quickly the  of the backend top 10. From there, Blaney struggled to regain the lost track position, but quietlyRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – Brad Keselowski kept his championship hopes alive after salvaging a fifth-place finish in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The 33-year-old Michigan native nearly saw his chances evaporate moments after the drop of the green when Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Caramel Toyota Camry washed up the track going into Turn 1 and cut the left rear tire of Keselowski’s No. 2 Wurth Ford Fusion. The incident hurt both drivers as they came down pit road and fell behind theRead More