Andretti Autosport Tag

By Takuma Sato, Driver Columnist In his opening column for Motorsports Tribune, Takuma Sato discusses his Andretti Autosport debut in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and brings everyone up to speed with how he went from Formula 1 to competing in the Indianapolis 500. Debuting for Andretti Autosport It has been so exciting from the moment I joined the team. It was a long winter and off-season, but a lot of things have happened. However, from the IndyCar regulations to the time that I signed up to driveRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. – Ryan Hunter-Reay did not have the ideal start to his Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg weekend, but finishing fourth was way more than he could’ve expected to start the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season. “We had so much going on this weekend with the brake issues that we had in practice session two, where we lost most of the time there, then I tapped the wall in qualifying which threw qualifying out the window and then thisRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer This past weekend, the stars and cars of the Verizon IndyCar Series were back on the track after a lengthy off-season.  The series did not disappoint, nor did Sebastien Bourdais who took the win in his first outing with Dale Coyne Racing in the No. 18 Sonny’s Barbecue Honda entry. Lets discuss five topics coming away from the “World’s Fastest Spring Break Party.” 1 ) Instant Validation Sebastien Bourdais began shopping for a 2017 ride very early. After three rather fruitful seasons with KVSH RacingRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Scott Dixon’s No. 9 GE LED Lighting Honda sped to the top of the morning warmup time sheet in preparation for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to kick off the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season. The switch Chip Ganassi Racing made during the offseason from Chevrolet to Honda has paid dividends thus far for the four time series champion as he laid down a lap of 1 minute, 01.9292 seconds (104.636 mph), just over half aRead 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 Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer The 2017 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires begins with a host of changes. Schmidt Peterson Motorsports closed their Indy Lights team, but their cars were destined to see the grid with other teams. Andretti Autosport and Carlin both expanded to four cars, while Belardi Auto Racing expanded to three cars. Team Pelfrey Juan Piedrahita returns to the yellow and black squad in the No. 2 entry, while Pato O’Ward has the No. 3 machine at his disposal for St. Petersburg. O’WardRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer The final step of the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires has offered some fantastic racing over the past few years. The Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires has seen some close finishes and tighter action with its fair share of dicing passes and chaos behind the wheel. Drivers are looking to move up to the Verizon IndyCar Series with the Mazda scholarship award and a few drivers look like they’re on the right track to do just that. Aaron TelitzRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer As the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires wrapped up their spring testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway, several drivers emerged as contenders and other announcements were made that would help shape the different series for 2017. Let’s take a look at each series. Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires Colton Herta will be a driver to watch.  The second generation driver was in the top three in every practice session on both the oval and road course in his first drive inRead More

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – The Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires Spring Training Open Test concluded this afternoon at Homestead-Miami Speedway with 15 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires drivers strutting their stuff in preparation for next week’s season-opening races some 200 miles or so to the northwest on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. A total of 1271 laps were logged during the course of six and a half hours of testing. Rookie Colton Herta, the youngest driver in the field at just 16, emerged with early braggingRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter Age: 25 Years in IndyCar: 3 Wins: 1 Podiums: 7 Poles: 1 Career Laps led: 87 2016 Team: Andretti Autosport 2017 Team: AJ Foyt Racing Carlos Munoz will be starting the next chapter of his Verizon IndyCar Series career as he moves on to AJ Foyt Racing for the 2017 season. He ended his tenure at Andretti Autosport on a passable note by finishing ahead of his teammates and 10th in the championship standings. The 25-year-old Columbian finished second at Indianapolis 500 for the second time, but in doing so suffered aRead More