IndyCar Category

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Scoring seven poles at one venue is one thing. Doing so in the span of eight years is quite another. Such was at the accomplishment of Team Penske’s Will Power as he sped his No. 12 Verizon Wireless Chevrolet around the streets of St. Petersburg ahead of Sunday’s season opener for the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series. Power’s pole-winning lap of 1 minute, 01.0640 seconds (106.118 mph) was enough to secure him his 45th career pole ahead of fellowRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Juan Pablo Montoya has now been confirmed by Team Penske to run in the Indianapolis Grand Prix on May 13th. “For Juan, I’ll run him in the G.P. and we want to get him a race with our mechanics before the ‘500. We’ll run him for both the Grand Prix and the 500,” team owner Roger Penske told reporters. Montoya was replaced as a full time driver by Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 Verizon Wireless Chevrolet andRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Honda continued their dominance of Verizon IndyCar Series practice in preparation for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg by taking the top six positions on the time sheet. The No. 9 GE LED Lighting Honda of Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon topped the charts with a lap of 1 minute, 01.6240 seconds (105.154 mph) ahead of James Hinchcliffe in the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’s No. 5 ARROW Honda. Third was the No. 98 NAPA Auto Parts Honda ofRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The recent manufacturer change of Chip Ganassi Racing from Chevrolet to Honda hasn’t affected their standing at the front of the field as Scott Dixon’s No. 9 GE LED Lighting Honda led the second Friday practice session for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the opening round of the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season. Dixon’s lap of 1 minute 2.5591 seconds (103.582 mph) was 1.3 seconds faster than his first session time that netted him third-place inRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — INDYCAR has announced that all four major auto manufacturers involved in this year’s Verizon IndyCar Series have announced multi-year extensions with IndyCar racing. Representatives from Honda, Chevrolet, Firestone and Dallara confirmed that each supplier has signed a multi-year extension to remain with the IndyCar Series for an unspecified amount of years. Each partner has a storied history with IndyCar racing. For Honda, the extension continues a presence in American open wheel racing that began in 1993 with the formationRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — In the first official practice session for the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season, Honda is at the top of the charts in preparation for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Marco Andretti’s No. 27 Andretti Autosport Honda timed in at 1 minute 3.7559 seconds (101.638 mph), leading a quartet of Honda cars as Ganassi Racing’s Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon were second and third, while James Hinchcliffe brought his No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda to fourth.Read More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter The Hyatt hotel chain announced they will once again serve as an associate sponsor for Graham Rahal in the Verizon IndyCar Series. Rahal’s No. 15 Honda will feature branding from Hyatt’s loyalty program – World of Hyatt starting at this weekend’s season opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The World of Hyatt program allows users to earn free nights to be used at any of the company’s 698 properties across 56 countries. “We’re excited to be working with World of Hyatt for a second seasonRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter Age: 32 Years in IndyCar: 6 Wins: 9 Podiums: 20 Career Laps led: 718 2016-17 Team: Team Penske Simon Pagenaud has emerged as one of the sport’s greats after winning  2017 Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Coming off a less than stellar finish of 11th in the 2015 points in his debut season for Team Penske, the Frenchman was unstoppable right from the green flag at St. Petersburg. Three straight wins at Long Beach, Barber and the IndyCar Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway RoadRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer This coming weekend the Verizon IndyCar Series will kick off their 2017 season with a return to St. Petersburg, Florida for what has become known as “The World’s Fastest Spring Break Party.” The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is round one of seventeen for the Series in 2017. The event is held on a temporary street circuit, one of five such races on the schedule. The race weekend is scheduled March 10-12, 2017. The defending race champion is Juan Pablo Montoya, who took back-to-backRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter Simon Pagenaud is ready to attack and defend his crown when the Verizon IndyCar Series gets back in action on the Streets of St. Petersburg this weekend. Six months removed from winning his first title, Pagenaud has a feeling of satisfaction of clearing this hurdle in his career. “It has been a relief,” he said. “It also helped me grow into a different position mentally. I feel a lot more clear in my head because I’m not stressing about getting my first championship. “We alwaysRead More