Indianapolis 500 Tag

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS— A rookie team with a second year driver in the Indianapolis 500 would seem to be a match that wouldn’t produce much in terms of results. However, Juncos Racing and Spencer Pigot aren’t exactly new to each other. Pigot drove for Juncos Racing in karting in the 2000s, rejoining the team in 2014 to win the Pro Mazda championship. The Pasadena, California-born driver then won the Indy Lights championship with the team, becoming the only driver to win multiple championships inRead More

 By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS — McLaren-Honda-Andretti Honda’s Fernando Alonso had never driven on an oval before his private test on May 3rd. Some people would expect the two time world champion to have an easy time learning to drive the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After all, with only four corners, one would expect it to be an easy track to learn on. “Not at all, not at all,” Alonso said. “This is a place that we didn’t repeat the same lap at any time in theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS — For Zach Veach, people doubting him is nothing new. “When I first got to Indy Lights everybody was saying ‘There’s no way Veach is going to be able to finish races,’ and by the end of our career in Indy Lights we were running off ten second leads in Indy Lights and had pretty dominant campaigns,” Veach said. Looking at Veach, it’s easy to see why. When seeing him for the first time, many might assume the Ohio native isn’tRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana — Brazil was represented up front in the first two large pieces of Carb Day, the final day of practice for the 101st Indianapolis 500. The final hour of practice for the Verizon IndyCar Series had several drivers practicing moves they would pull off in the race with passing and being passed. Team Penske was at the top of the speed chart as three time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves was fastest with a lap of 227.377 mph, the onlyRead More

By Takuma Sato, Driver Columnist In his fourth column for Motorsports Tribune, Takuma Sato highlights some of his favorite memories of the Indianapolis 500 as he prepares for his eighth start, first with the defending champions, Andretti Autosport. He also gives an update on how two-time Formula One champion-turned-teammate Fernando Alonso is acclimating to the Verizon IndyCar Series in his one-off run at “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” The Indianapolis 500 means a lot to me, as I am sure it does to a lot of people. I’ve learned that as youRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana — In the last complete day of practice before the 101st Indianapolis 500, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Max Chilton was the fastest car on track. The former Formula One driver turned a fastest lap of 228.592 mph in a day that saw more laps turned than any other day of practice so far with 2,705 laps completed. Chilton knew that this wasn’t a full six hour session like what was had during the week and had to get in the carRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana — In eight laps, James Davison was already over 217 mph. The Australian was drafted overnight to replace the injured Sebastien Bourdais after a savage accident left the 2017 St. Petersburg winner on the sideline with multiple pelvic fractures and a fractured right hip. Davison was got back up to speed quickly during Mondays’s post qualifying practice and turned 44 laps within the first 80 minutes of practice. His fastest lap to that point was 223.670 mph, good enough forRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana — Following Sebastien Bourdais’s accident in qualifying for the 101st Indianapolis 500, James Davison has been selected to replace the Frenchman in the No. 18 GEICO Honda for Dale Coyne Racing. Bourdais suffered a fractured right hip and several fractures to his pelvis after hitting the wall during his third lap in qualifying. Bourdais had posted the two fastest laps of the day before losing traction in Turn 2, hitting the wall. “It’s never easy when you have to replaceRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana — In an Indianapolis 500 qualifying day marred by bad weather and a serious accident from a top qualifying contender, Ed Carpenter Racing’s eponymous team owner came out on top. Ed Carpenter’s No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet was one of the last five cars to qualify for a chance to win the pole for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 and poked the nose of his car to the top of the speed chart with a fourRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana — Qualifications are beginning for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 and here we will have live coverage of each attempt. Because of the weather, each car will only have one attempt to qualify on Saturday. First up is No. 63, Pippa Mann for Dale Coyne Racing. Lap 1: 225.773 mph Lap 2: 221.785 mph Lap 3: 214.643 mph Lap 4: 215.314 mph Average: 219.282 mph-Provisional Pole No. 22 Juan Pablo Montoya for Team Penske Lap 1: 229.038 mphRead More