simon pagenaud Tag

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Simon Pagenaud didn’t know he was going to do a four stop strategy until his engineer sent him a text. It ended up being the move that earned him the final Verizon IndyCar Series race victory of 2017 in Sunday’s GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. “My engineer texted me when I was at the Verizon dinner,” said Pagenaud. “And he said, ‘We’re going to do four stops.’ I’m like, what? Four stops never worked here; why would we do four stops? HeRead More

By INDYCAR SONOMA, California (Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017) – For Team Penske, it was the perfect day at the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. Simon Pagenaud won the race to conclude the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season. Teammate Josef Newgarden finished second to wrap up the championship. Pagenaud, the 2016 champion driving the No. 1 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet, beat Newgarden to the finish line by 1.0986 seconds to win the 85-lap race at Sonoma Raceway. It was the Frenchman’s 11th career victory and second straight on the 2.385-mile,Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer In a Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying session that demanded perfection, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden met that demand with a near-perfect lap for pole position ahead of Sunday’s IndyCar season finale, the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. Newgarden’s lap of 1:15.5205 was a new track record as the Tennessee native edged out Penske teammates Will Power, Simon Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves in the Firestone Fast Six. Takuma Sato and Scott Dixon line up fifth and sixth. Qualifying began with the first round whichRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer In preparation for the final round of the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series at Sonoma Raceway, practice for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma came to a close with the final session on Saturday. 2016 IndyCar champion Simon Pagenaud turned the fastest lap on the 2.385 mile road course in Saturday’s third practice session with a fastest lap of 1:16.0329 ahead of second place Scott Dixon’s lap of 1:16.1454. Championship contenders Will Power, Josef Newgarden and Helio Castroneves were third through fifth andRead More

By INDYCAR SONOMA, California (Friday, September 15, 2017) – Championship leader Josef Newgarden led both practice sessions on the opening day of GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma activities as the Team Penske driver looks to close in on his first Verizon IndyCar Series title. Holding a slim three-point lead entering the 2017 season-finale weekend at Sonoma Raceway, Newgarden’s fast lap in the second 45-minute practice — 1 minute, 16.2485 seconds (112.605 mph) — was under the track record established last year by teammate Simon Pagenaud. Newgarden also paced the morning session withRead More

By INDYCAR SONOMA, California (Thursday, September 14, 2017) – Drivers chasing points leader Josef Newgarden took full advantage of today’s Verizon IndyCar Series open test at Sonoma Raceway to prepare for Sunday’s season finale, the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. Six hours of on-track action split into two sessions found reigning series champion Simon Pagenaud atop the time sheet at the end of the day. The driver of the No. 1 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet clocked the best lap late in the four-hour afternoon session, at 1 minute, 16.6511Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — After a season of qualifying frustration on the road and street courses, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Charlie Kimball had his best road course qualifying of the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season at Watkins Glen International by qualifying fifth ahead of Sunday’s INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen. Kimball advanced out of the first group in round one, beating out Spencer Pigot, Ed Jones, Tony Kanaan, Max Chilton and JR Hildebrand. In round two, Kimball was able to get himselfRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Friday practice has concluded for the INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen, the penultimate Verizon IndyCar Series race of the season and Honda came up with the fastest times of the day in both sessions. In the opening practice session, Honda had the top five cars as Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Graham Rahal went fastest with a lap of 1:23.2603 seconds, averaging 145.712 mph around the 3.37 mile natural terrain road course. Second fastest was Andretti Herta Autosport’s AlexanderRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer MADISON, Illinois — He led when the race went green and an aggressive move later made all the difference as Josef Newgarden earned his third Verizon IndyCar Series victory in the last four races as he took the checkered flag in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway Motorsports Park on Saturday night. The race started under yellow as Tony Kanaan spun on the pace lap in Turn 2 from his 17th starting position. When the green flag came out, Newgarden tookRead More

By INDYCAR LONG POND, Pennsylvania (Saturday, Aug. 19, 2017) – Regarded for a fearless demeanor on the racetrack, Takuma Sato showed it again in winning the Verizon P1 Award during ABC Supply 500 qualifying at Pocono Raceway. The Andretti Autosport driver put together two spine-tingling laps at 219.639 mph to earn the pole position for Sunday’s 500-mile race on the 2.5-mile triangular oval. The ABC Supply 500 is the 14th of 17 races in the intensely competitive 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season. ABC SUPPLY 500: Qualifying results Sato was the finalRead More