Marco Andretti Tag

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio — Graham Rahal was fastest in the Sunday morning warmup for the Verizon IndyCar Series’s Honda Indy 200 Sunday afternoon. Rahal turned a fastest lap of 1:05.0239 on his 16th lap out of 23 turned. His No. 15 Rahal/Letterman/Lanigan Racing Honda will start the race in fourth place. Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves would be second fastest, .2768 seconds behind Rahal’s time. He will start fifth. Andretti Autosport occupies the rest of the top five with Marco Andretti ahead ofRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio — Friday practice for the Verizon IndyCars Series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course indicated that it would be a very competitive weekend across Honda and Chevrolet for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200. In the first session, Simon Pagenaud and Graham Rahal topped the chart for Chevrolet and Honda respectively with Pagenaud going around the 2.258 mile road course with a lap time of 1:04.9079. Rahal was .0343 seconds behind while Marco Andretti’s Honda was third fastest ahead of the Team PenskeRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer NEWTON, Iowa — JR Hildebrand got his chance to prove that his testing work last year was not done in vain. Finishing second in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway for the Verizon IndyCar Series showed it. Hildebrand received much of the credit for then-teammate Josef Newgarden’s victory at last year’s Iowa Corn 300 by testing and perfecting the car’s setup while Newgarden was nursing injuries from a crash at Texas Motor Speedway. Newgarden led 282 laps last year and HildebrandRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer After taking a few days to digest all the reactions coming out of the Texas Motor Speedway, where the Verizon IndyCar Series ran on Saturday Night, it is obvious that there are a lot of divided opinions. One person that is certainly happy with the event is Team Penske’s Will Power, who survived the carnage by staying out front and taking the win. Let’s attempt to dissect the rest of the reactions. 1 ) That’s adorable The reaction of the weekend undoubtedly belongs to JamesRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief FORT WORTH, Texas – It was far from ideal, but Marco Andretti scrapped to a sixth-place effort Saturday night in the Rainguard Water Sealers 600 at Texas Motor Speedway. In a race that saw nine cautions stretch 66 laps, the 30-year-old Pennsylvania native started 15th and dodged the mayhem for the most part en route to his third, and much needed, top 10 finish of the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season. Much was made on Friday after practice and qualifying from several drivers on the lackRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Expect the unexpected. This year has seen a massive improvement from Honda as they have won five out of eight races and heading into a newly-reconfigured Texas Motor Speedway, the Verizon IndyCar Series had no idea what to expect into Saturday’s Rainguard Water Sealers 600. Well, looking at the practice and qualifying recaps, it was a complete tossup until final practice. In the first practice session, Honda had the top six times as Scott Dixon led Charlie Kimball, Alexander Rossi, Graham Rahal,Read 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- Predictions ahead of qualifications for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 can be difficult to make. Many teams didn’t show their complete hand in practice while others have all of their cards on the table. Either way, an attempt will be made at predicting qualifying results. Last Row (in no particular order): Buddy Lazier, Jack Harvey and Zach Veach Lazier was seven mph slower than the next slowest car. Harvey has had numerous issues since day one and Veach hadRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – A far cry from Wednesday’s Chevrolet domination, Honda found themselves at the top of the speed charts during Thursday practice for the 101st Indianapolis 500 with an unfamiliar face at the top. Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’s Jay Howard turned a lap of 226.744 mph, the fastest of the month on his ninth lap of the day around the 2.5 mile oval. However, Thursday was not without its problems. Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden became the first major victim of wallRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer The opening day of practice for the 2017 Indianapolis 500 officially began after a two hour rookie orientation/veteran refresher period and Marco Andretti led the speed chart with a lap of 226.338 mph. Scott Dixon was second with a lap of 225.296 mph. Both are driving Honda-powered cars. The first Chevrolet was Ed Carpenter at 224.969 mph. However, before the session for all drivers, some rookie orientations had to be completed, and one was. In order to be declared ready for competitionRead More