Qualifying Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MONTEREY, California – The 19-year-old Californian sensation Colton Herta has had a life changing Saturday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Not only he’ll be joining forces with Andretti Autosport next season under the name Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport, he scored his second consecutive NTT P1 Pole Award with a time of 1:10.1405 (114.867 mph). His pole at the 2.238-mile circuit adds another commonality with his father, Bryan Herta, as he won three straight poles from 1997-99. Now heading into Sunday’s 90-lap main event, he’ll be lookingRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MONTEREY, California – Felix Rosenqvist being justifiably upset was an understatement at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. After being the fastest man during Saturday’s final practice, the NTT IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year points leader faced a controversial penalty in Group 2 of qualifying. Rosenqvist’s No. 10 NTT Data Honda was given a penalty which resulted his two fastest laps that would’ve advance him into the next round revoked due to causing a local yellow and impeding another competitor’s lap. As a result, he would haveRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – Despite already having a championship to his name, NTT IndyCar Series points leader Josef Newgarden is anything but comfortable heading into Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland. One of the showstoppers from last year’s 105-lap contest due to his daring passes heading into the Shelton Chicane, the man with a 38-point advantage over his Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud knows the task at hand in these final two races. The gap between the two Penske teammates could favor the leader as his 38 points isRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – Testing is hard to come by in all across motorsports disciplines these days and the NTT IndyCar Series are no different. When those testing opportunities are given, teams make the most out of their time trying different setups and gain a competitive advantage heading into the circuit’s race weekend. This was the case for Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi, who both tested at Portland International Raceway in early August alongside their teammates Zach Veach and Marco Andretti. Also, Indy Lights driversRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer MADISON, Ill. — Back without skipping a beat is the current NTT IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year points leader Felix Rosenqvist, who’s had a whirlwind couple of days since his horrific crash at Pocono Raceway, which saw him hit the Turn 2 fence. Despite all the buzz on his condition, he was in absolute good spirits Friday after qualifying 10th for tomorrow’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. The Swede commented that he’s moved on from the opening lap crash,Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer SONOMA, California — Sonoma Raceway is once again Kyle Larson’s yard after scoring his third straight pole in the Toyota/Save Mart 350. Larson’s No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet Camaro ran a qualifying speed of 95.712 mph, beating out William Byron by 0.043 seconds. It’s not only the Elk Grove native’s first pole of the season, but joins Ricky Rudd (1990-92) as the only drivers to have won three straight Sonoma poles. Larson described his final round qualifying performance a bit slower than what he didRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — Both Carlin and driver Conor Daly have endured positive and negative series of events over the past month in the NTT IndyCar Series. Carlin’s Month of May at Indianapolis was one to forget after only Charlie Kimball made the field while Max Chilton and Pato O’Ward missed the race. Then lead engineer Geoff Fickling left the team and Steve Barker stepped in. Finally, Carlin announced Tuesday that Daly will replace Chilton in Saturday’s DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway as he’llRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — When it comes to ovals, Ed Carpenter Racing tend to have stronger qualifying efforts. It was modestly the case for Spencer Pigot, but not so much for driver/owner Ed Carpenter. Carpenter has to work his way from the field in Saturday’s DXC Technology 600 after qualifying 13th on the grid, feeling that his No. 20 Autogeek Chevrolet was slow despite having a positive balance. “My balance was good. I was flat and the car was good, but not very quick for someRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer FORT WORTH, Texas — Friday’s qualifying proved to show that track conditions was everything at Texas Motor Speedway, and it proved to be beneficial for Sebastien Bourdais. After floundering in the bottom top half of the field in both practice sessions, Bourdais turned it around with a solid showing. His No. 18 SealMaster Honda was one of the four fastest Hondas on the grid after setting a two-lap average of 219.746 mph. While his superspeedway pole drought that dates back to Las Vegas in 2005 continues,Read 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