Laguna Seca Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer After 16 grueling and intense months of competition, the championship trail ends in Monterey. Out of the 25 full-time drivers that accepted the season-long challenge at St. Petersburg in March, only five remain that have a shot of hoisting the Astor Cup this Sunday. Of those five racers, they come from two race teams in Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing. Between championship leader Will Power to fifth-place Scott McLaughlin, the gap is 41 points. It rivals the 2003 championship battle where it also had fiveRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Starting 13th was no problem for Romain Grosjean. He was going to push it to the absolute limit if it meant scoring a podium at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Such feat was accomplished in Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, scoring his third career INDYCAR podium. Although some of the talk focused on Colton Herta’s dominance and Alex Palou being a step closer of hoisting the Astor Cup. “The Phoenix” rose to the occasion and cut Scott McLaughlin’s Rookie of the Year lead from 38Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Five title contenders remain in the penultimate round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca with two being the main fighters. Both championship leader Alex Palou and second-place Pato O’Ward made Saturday’s Firestone Fast Six with Palou besting him. After nearly missing Round 2, Palou will roll off fourth for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. He was 0.5323 seconds off pole sitter Colton Herta’s time. But the bigger picture is that he’ll be ahead of his title rivals, beating O’Ward by two spots. “We improved the carRead More

By INDYCAR MONTEREY, Calif. – Josef Newgarden isn’t going down without a big fight. Two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Newgarden led practice Friday for the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, turning a top lap of 1 minute, 11.7125 seconds in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet after losing ground to championship leader Alex Palou last weekend at Portland International Raceway. FRIDAY PRACTICE: Results “Overall, we unloaded pretty good,” Newgarden said. “Small differences here or there, but for the most part globally it felt like the carRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer After yet another wild development to the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series campaign, the series head to its final state — California. These next two weeks is all there’s left in the championship trail, beginning with the popular Laguna Seca in Monterey. Originally, the circuit was supposed to be the final stop of the entire trail. However, that honor will go to Long Beach. Before heading to vibrant SoCal, 27 drivers will indeed navigate around the mellow environment, including the famous Corkscrew. Several of the field willRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MONTEREY, California – “I tried as hard as I could all weekend. You saw me drive with my heart,” Simon Pagenaud on finishing runner-up in the final NTT IndyCar Series standings Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Pagenaud finished fourth after trying his absolute all to catch Scott Dixon and Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey winner Colton Herta to put himself in excellent position of scoring his second INDYCAR championship. “I had a blast. I had a blast today,” Pagenaud on his race at Laguna Seca.Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MONTEREY, California – The toughest crop of rookies in recent memory for the NTT IndyCar Series wrapped up their grinding seasons and the man who stood on top of the peddle stool was Sweden’s Felix Rosenqvist. Although rookie rival Colton Herta went on to steal the headlines by putting on a flawless performance in Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, it was Rosenqvist who took Rookie of the Year honors by five points over the 19-year-old. The sixth place finisher becameRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MONTEREY, California – Tears of joy was the best way to describe Josef Newgarden’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. That’s because for the second time in the last three years, the 28-year-old Henderson, Tennessee native is the NTT IndyCar Series champion, beating Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud by 25 points. After a grinding 17-round championship trail, Newgarden was emotionally worn out and just thrilled, where he led the points in all but one race, is finally done with. “I’ve been dreadingRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MONTEREY, California – What a way to cap off a roller coaster NTT IndyCar Series rookie campaign for Colton Herta, scoring his second career victory in the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Sunday. The sensational 19-year-old Californian led 83 out of 90 laps, which saw him leap from 14th to seventh in the final championship standings. RESULTS: Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey To do so, he had Will Power hot on his tail once the laps remaining went into single digits untilRead More