Qualifying Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer LONG BEACH, Calif. – NTT IndyCar Series championship leader Alex Palou will have some work to do for Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. He not only failed to make the Firestone Fast Six, but his 10th starting position was also the worst among the title contenders. Josef Newgarden ended up winning the NTT P1 Pole Award, cutting his gap on Palou to 47 points. Pato O’Ward, who also missed the Fast Six, will start two spots ahead of the Spaniard in eighth. During RoundRead 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 Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – A key ingredient that’s alluded Alex Palou is having strong qualifying speed that’ll earn him the NTT P1 Pole Award. That all changed Saturday afternoon at Portland International Speedway as the Spaniard clocked in at 58.7701 seconds, 0.0872 seconds quicker than Alexander Rossi. After dealing with grid spot penalties and race day heartbreaks, Palou is thrilled of having positive momentum. More so that he’s entering Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland second in points, now nine markers behind Pato O’Ward with three rounds remaining.Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer There’s a phrase known as “making a good first impression.” Alpine Academy racer Christian Lundgaard may be 12th in the Formula 2 standings, but has already wowed people in the NTT IndyCar Series. In just a single day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Lundgaard was blistering fast. Right out of the gate, the No. 45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda Honda was seventh-fastest in practice. The Danish racer would then back it up with an even more impressive fourth-place qualifying spot for Saturday’s BigRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer NASHVILLE – Qualifying for the Inaugural Music City Grand Prix in Nashville was cruel hearted for both Jimmie Johnson and Josef Newgarden. Both competitors will now have their work cut out for after crashing during separate sessions Saturday. Demoralizing their progress on the rigorous 2.17-mile street course. Not even two minutes into Group 1 qualifying, Johnson smashed the Turn 10 wall. A corner that’s been a trouble spot for the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion all day. During practice earlier in the day, Johnson went wideRead More

By FIA Max Verstappen made history by winning the first Sprint Qualifying of the FIA Formula One World Champion at Silverstone after he beat title rival Lewis Hamilton off the line in a thrilling fight to the flag that left Hamilton with second place ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. However, the new format was tough on Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Pérez who spun off early on. He dropped to 19th place and then retired his car just before the chequered flag. Verstappen’s win was secured at the race start. From hisRead More

By FIA Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton will start Formula 1’s first sprint qualifying race from the front of the grid after he beat Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in Friday qualifying at the British Grand Prix. Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas will start third ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. In the opening phase of Q1 it was Verstappen who set the pace, with the Dutchman jumping to the top of the timesheet thanks to a lap of 1:16.751, despite a nervous moment in the final corner. That put the championship leader fourRead More

By FIA Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took his second Red Bull Ring pole position in a week with a dominant performance in qualifying for Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix. However, despite topping every segment of the hour–long session he was push closer in the final top 10 shootout by Lando Norris who claimed the first front-row start of his F1 career just four hundredths of a second behind the championship leader. Sergio Pérez took third place for Red Bull as Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth. In Q1 Verstappen went outRead More

By FIA Max Verstappen took his third pole position of the season and his first at the Red Bull Ring, grabbing top spot on the grid for tomorrow’s Styrian Grand Prix by tenths of a second from Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton.  And with Bottas set to take a three-place grid drop for a spin in the pit lane on Friday the front row will once again feature the top two in the battle in the battle for the Formula 1 Driver’s title with Hamilton set to line upRead More

By INDYCAR ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Josef Newgarden’s cagey tire strategy paid off Saturday with the NTT P1 Award for the REV Group Grand Prix presented by AMR at Road America. Two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Newgarden was the only driver in the Firestone Fast Six who elected to use new Firestone primary “black” tires for the entire final round of qualifying instead of used primary tires or the grippier, but less durable Firestone alternate “red” tires. That paid off with a best lap of 1 minute, 46.0186 seconds in theRead More