IndyCar Category

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor The final Verizon IndyCar Series practice before qualifying at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was led by a familiar face to the region – Ohio’s own Graham Rahal. Rahal laid down a circuit of 1:05.207 to pace the tour’s third practice session of the weekend for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. The hometown favorite has one career win at Mid-Ohio, coming back in 2015. Defending IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden followed in second, with Team Penske teammate Will Power following in third. Alexander Rossi and Scott DixonRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio — A Honda-powered driver has not won the Honda Indy 200 since Graham Rahal’s triumph in 2015 but the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series visits the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with Honda having a decent edge through Friday practice. In the opening practice, Honda had eight of the top 10 positions while in the second session they had seven of the top 10. On the odd side of statistics, only one driver stayed in the top five in both practice sessions and that was EdRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio — Charlie Kimball and Max Chilton have driven the last couple of seasons for Chip Ganassi Racing and after moving to Carlin for the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season, the duo have had an uphill battle to climb with a new team. As part of being a new IndyCar team, Carlin has an extra few days of testing and they used a day at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course ahead of the Honda Indy 200, working to gather a baseline to help them move furtherRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio — The Verizon IndyCar Series heads to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the Honda Indy 200 and if past performances are anything to go off of, the rest of the field should be afraid of Scott Dixon. The current INDYCAR points leader has five victories at Mid-Ohio (2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014) and currently leads Josef Newgarden by 62 points with five races to go including Mid-Ohio. Behind Dixon and Newgarden in the standings are the top half of Andretti Autosport’s quartet. Alexander RossiRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor For the first time in 15 years, the Verizon IndyCar Series is set to race at Laguna Seca. INDYCAR and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca announced Tuesday that the Northern California circuit will return to the open wheel tour’s schedule in 2019. The organizations reached a three-year agreement, approved Tuesday by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, that will see the historic track serve as the host of IndyCar’s championship race over the next trio of seasons. “I can’t imagine a more attractive destination location for INDYCAR’sRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer TORONTO — Tony Kanaan scored his best finish of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season on the streets of Toronto as he got his No. 14 ABC Supply Chevrolet to a sixth place finish for A. J. Foyt Racing. Kanaan moved to 13th on the start up from his 15th place starting position and gradually moved through the field. Kanaan got to 11th on the second lap of the race and got as high as sixth before making his first pit stop on Lap 22. TheRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Max Chilton saw his race come to an abrupt end after falling victim to an early crash in the Honda Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place. A restart on the Lap 33 proved to be the turning point of Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series event as Graham Rahal ran into the back of Chilton entering Turn 1, which led to a seven-car crash and forced the latter to retire from the 85-lap contest. The drama started as soon as race leader Josef Newgarden went up in theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer TORONTO — Verizon IndyCar Series rookie Robert Wickens has had a season to remember so far in 2018. Scoring a podium finish in his home country’s race only added to that as the No. 6 Lucas Oil Honda crossed the finish line third in Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto on the streets near Exhibition Place. Wickens started tenth alongside fellow Canadian and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammate James Hinchcliffe and moved to eighth on the start after passing Hinchcliffe and Jordan King. Wickens was one of the earliestRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Both Spencer Pigot and Takuma Sato came to the Honda Indy Toronto looking to extend their top-10 streaks after scoring podiums at Iowa Speedway, but neither completed the 85-lap battle after being victims of the Turn 11 wall during Sunday’s race at Exhibition Place in Canada. Takmua Sato, who was running in fifth, went wide in Turn 11 and hit the wall on Lap 66. His No. 30 Mi-Jack/Panasonic Honda sustained a broken right rear suspension and fell off the pace, forcing him to takeRead More

By INDYCAR TORONTO – A week after issues bedeviled his chances, Scott Dixon was the model of cool, calm and consistency in winning the Honda Indy Toronto. In doing so, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver extended his Verizon IndyCar Series championship lead and added to his career legacy. Dixon, in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda, won by 5.2701 seconds over Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud to pick up his third victory of the 2018 season and push his points advantage to 62 over Josef Newgarden. The triumph was also theRead More