Ryan Hunter-Reay Tag

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor DETROIT – In Saturday’s first Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, Ryan Hunter-Reay fell just shy of claiming his first victory in three seasons. On Sunday he wouldn’t be denied. Hunter-Reay overcame a 10th-place starting position with a three-stop strategy and pressured Andretti Autosport teammate Alexander Rossi into a late mistake to secure Sunday’s Race 2 of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. The victory was the Floridian’s 15th-career triumph, and his first since Pocono Raceway in August 2015. While Hunter-Reay ended up in victory lane at day’s end, early onRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DETROIT –Ryan Hunter-Reay only finished 1.8249 seconds behind Chevrolet Dual in Detroit race one winner Scott Dixon, but he wasn’t entirely pleased with his Saturday effort on the streets of Belle Isle. “Today we got hosed on qualifying,” said Hunter-Reay. “The officials completely checked out on the whole deal and that would’ve given us two extra spots on the grid, maybe that was enough to make the difference. “You just can’t give up anything in this series; you can’t give up two feet, you can’t giveRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DETROIT — After the massive high of winning the 102nd Indianapolis 500, Will Power’s dream week came back down to earth with a seventh place finish in the first of two races in the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit as the top Chevrolet-powered driver. Starting sixth, Power had a boost problem at the start from not warming up the engine enough and dropped two positions behind the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing duo of Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal. Power then committed himself to a two stop strategyRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The Chevrolet Dual in Detroit is the only doubleheader race weekend for the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season and much went on at the Belle Isle circuit on Friday. First, McLaren brass were at the track evaluating a future IndyCar program. Although no announcements have been made about a program, this is a positive sign for IndyCar as it attempts to bring in more manufacturers to compete. There were two practice sessions on Friday and in the first session it was a Honda party up front.Read More

By INDYCAR DETROIT – There’s a new car for Verizon IndyCar Series competition in 2018, but it’s still the same old challenging track at Belle Isle Park. And the drivers love it. Ryan Hunter-Reay led practice for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear on the 14-turn, 2.35-mile temporary street course noted for its concrete surface and constant bumps. Friday’s practices are the only scheduled for the doubleheader race weekend, with qualifying and races scheduled each of the next two days. CHEVROLET DETROIT GRAND PRIX: Practice 1 results; Practice 2 results; CombinedRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS — After a punctured tire relegated Alexander Rossi to a 32nd place starting position in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, Rossi clawed his way through the field and finished fourth in a performance that brought the crowd to its feet. Rossi was 28th after the opening lap and climbed to 23rd before the opening round of pit stops. Restarts then became critical as the Californian gained 11 positions from Lap 54 to Lap 77. However, Rossi’s best performance was on Lap 145 where he passed Scott Dixon,Read More

By INDYCAR INDIANAPOLIS – Will Power became the first Australian winner of the Indianapolis 500 with a superb drive to victory lane in today’s 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. Driving the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, Power crossed the finish line 3.1589 seconds ahead of pole sitter Ed Carpenter to collect his first Indy 500 and the record 17th for Team Penske. It also allowed the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series champion to become the first driver to sweep both races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, following hisRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS— Alexander Rossi will need time. The No. 27 NAPA Auto Parts Honda starts 32nd in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 after a slowly deflating tire on his pole day qualifying run slowed him. Two drivers -Jim Rathmann in 1957 and Mario Andretti in 1981- have finished second after starting 32nd and on Media Day Rossi was candid about how he’ll plan his attack on race day. “I’ll probably talk to Mario, I don’t think Jim’s race will be on YouTube,” said Rossi. “I don’t know what theyRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS — Alexander Rossi will start the 102nd Running of the Indianapolis 500 after a rough outing during Sunday’s qualifications at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The run came as a shock since the Californian qualified 0.0342 of a second outside the Fast Nine during Saturday’s Bump Day of qualifications. The 2016 Indianapolis 500 champion’s speed of 227.454 would have put him on the fourth row of the grid had he maintained it. However, subsequent laps of 226.608 mph, 224.152 mph and 221.619 mph dropped his four lap averageRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS– With Pole Day qualifying beginning soon for the Indianapolis 500, it’s time for some random qualifying predictions. Final Row: Conor Daly, James Davison, Zachary Claman De Melo. This is based on Carlin’s earlier no-tow speeds during the week being higher on the time sheet and that Davison and Daly will not put their equipment at too much risk to make the show. Rahal found .3 mph yesterday and if that goes across all three cars, they might have pulled themselves off the back row. RowRead More