Firestone Fast Six Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – Locking up the brakes heading into the Shelton Chicane during Saturday’s Firestone Fast Six cost Will Power a shot for his second straight Grand Prix of Portland pole. Instead, he’ll start as the outside pole sitter for Sunday’s 105-lap race as the trailblazing rookie Colton Herta scored his second NTT IndyCar Series pole of 2019, beating Power by 0.0192 seconds. “Not good. I flat spotted a tire and had a flat spot the next lap. It’s disappointing,” a dejected Power commented on hisRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer LONG BEACH, California –  Team Penske’s trio of Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power got redemption by making it back into the Fast Six during Saturday’s qualifying session to determine the starting lineup for Sunday’s 45th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. The positive outing comes following a catastrophic qualifying performance at the last round in Barber Motorsports Park, where none of them managed to make it into the final round. Power set a time of 1:06.8748, which was 0.3937 seconds slower than pole sitterRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — Neither of the IndyCar Series title contenders scored bonus points as Ryan Hunter-Reay snatched the Verizon P1 Pole Award for the INDYCAR Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway Saturday. For the three drivers who are hunting down points leader Scott Dixon, their tasks became increasingly difficult after the New Zealander’s qualifying effort. He’ll start alongside Hunter-Reay in second, with Josef Newgarden following as the highest of the chasing trio after qualifying third. The reigning series champion kept his strong pace from FridayRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — Ryan Hunter-Reay has consistently been the best of the non-title contenders these past two days and proved it with a time of 1:17.627, earning him his sixth career Verizon IndyCar Series pole for Sunday’s IndyCar Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. Not only it was a long-time coming for the former champion, scoring an elusive pole at the 2.385-mile road course, but its his first INDYCAR pole since Long Beach in 2014. The Floridian was congratulated with a hug and a kissRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — The nature of track room and practice laps didn’t reflect qualifying at Portland International Raceway, and defending Verizon IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden acknowledged it before and after the session. Newgarden is among the 18 drivers who have never competed in an INDYCAR race at the 1.964-mile circuit, but among the more consistent top drivers on the leader board, ending up in third, sixth and ninth in the three practice sessions. He backed up his consistency by making it to the FirestoneRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — Fast pace often comes with a heavy price, but with a whole team collaborating a misfortune, results will show, even if it has a “Frankenstein” look. This was the case for two-time Portland Grand Prix winner Sebastien Bourdais, who will start fourth in Sunday’s race at Portland International Raceway after the entire entity of Dale Coyne Racing repaired his car after a session-ending crash during final practice. Thanks in most part of having the third entry of Santino Ferrucci, it turned outRead More

By INDYCAR Something about Will Power, Team Penske and Barber Motorsports Park go well together in Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying. Power negotiated the 2.3-mile, 17-turn permanent road course in 1 minute, 6.9614 seconds (123.653 mph) in the Firestone Fast Six, the climactic round of knockout qualifying. It earned the 36-year-old Australian the Verizon P1 Award and his fourth pole position at the track for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by America’s First. HONDA INDY GRAND PRIX OF ALABAMA: Qualifying results Power, in the No. 12 Verizon TeamRead More