robert wickens Tag

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer TORONTO — Canada’s IndyCar racing trio of James Hinchcliffe, Robert Wickens and Zachary Claman De Melo will start ninth, 10th and 23rd ahead of Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto for the Verizon IndyCar Series. Hinchcliffe and Wickens advanced to the second round of qualifying from their respective qualifying groups but each has had an interesting journey during this weekend. Hinchcliffe won last week’s Iowa Corn 300 but in the three practice sessions turned the 18th, 10th and 14th fastest laps in the three practice sessions while WickensRead More

By INDYCAR TORONTO (Saturday, July 14, 2018) – Josef Newgarden took greatest advantage of constantly changing conditions in Honda Indy Toronto qualifying to win the Verizon P1 Award and pole position for the 34th Indy car race to be conducted at Exhibition Place on Sunday. The reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion and defending Toronto winner was the last driver to take the track in the Firestone Fast Six, the third and final round of knockout qualifying on the 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street course. Newgarden’s final lap in the six-minute climacticRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer TORONTO — Friday has come and gone for the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series’s annual visit north of the border for the Honda Indy Toronto and if the practice sheets are any indication, Honda will be tough to beat around the 1.786 mile street circuit. Honda-powered cars took the top six positions in the opening practice session and the top five positions in the second practice session with Scott Dixon leading both sessions. Will Power was the fastest Chevrolet in the first session, Spencer Pigot was theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer TORONTO — The 2018 Honda Indy Toronto kicks off with Mazda Road to Indy practice ahead of Sunday’s race for the Verizon IndyCar Series and looking ahead, it figures to be a banner weekend. James Hinchcliffe is coming off of a win in the Iowa Corn 300 last week at Iowa Speedway but has some mixed odds heading into Toronto. Despite having two third place finishes on the streets near Exhibition Place, the 2016 Indianapolis 500 polesitter has not finished higher than sixth in any raceRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer NEWTON, Iowa — Battling four-wide with 15 laps to go in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway, Robert Wickens got around Spencer Pigot for the third position and everything looked set for the Canadian duo to share the podium as his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammate James Hinchcliffe was poised to earn the team’s first victory of the 2018 season. That all changed when the caution flag flew for just the second time of the race with seven laps to go when Ed Carpenter got sidewaysRead More

By INDYCAR NEWTON, Iowa – James Hinchcliffe has been seeking a reboot to his Verizon IndyCar Series season after not qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 in May. He found redemption with a victory Sunday at the Iowa Corn 300. The Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver led the final 45 laps on Iowa Speedway’s high-banked oval to collect his sixth career victory and first since Long Beach in April 2017, 26 races ago. “This is such a good feeling after what happened in May,” Hinchcliffe admitted. “We knew we had it inRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer NEWTON, Iowa — Ryan Hunter-Reay’s 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season has been mostly under the radar but the three time Iowa Corn 300 winner put the rest of the field on notice as he qualified third quickest for Sunday afternoon’s race at Iowa Speedway. The 2012 series champion qualified with a two-lap average of 180.681 mph around the .875 mile short oval to place Hunter-Reay behind the Team Penske duo of Will Power and Josef Newgarden. “I was hoping we had a shot for pole todayRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Road America served as a true start to the second half of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season, giving teams and drivers a chance to start fresh and make a statement for the ensuing seven races. Robert Wickens found himself facing the same dilemma he saw at the start of the year – an on-track incident with Alexander Rossi. The pair came together on the opening lap of Sunday’s Kohler Grand Prix, with Wickens getting the worst of it and dropping back afterRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Robert Wickens has not raced at Road America since 2007 but the Verizon IndyCar Series rookie didn’t look like he was out of place as he pushed his No. 6 Lucas Oil Honda to fifth position in qualifying for Sunday’s Kohler Grand Prix. Fifth was the number of the day for the Canadian. Wickens was fifth in his group during the first round of qualifying and repeated that performance in the second round to advance to the Firestone Fast Six. “I thoughtRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin — Friday has come and gone for the Kohler Grand Prix and the Verizon IndyCar Series and its support ladder had many interesting tidbits coming out of Road America. Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden topped both practice sessions with an overall Friday best lap of 1 minute, 42.6279 seconds for an average speed of 140.804 mph. However, behind Newgarden in each session were a large amount of Hondas ready to pounce on the defending series champion. Honda had four of the top five positionsRead More