simon pagenaud Tag

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

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio — Graham Rahal was fastest in the Sunday morning warmup for the Verizon IndyCar Series’s Honda Indy 200 Sunday afternoon. Rahal turned a fastest lap of 1:05.0239 on his 16th lap out of 23 turned. His No. 15 Rahal/Letterman/Lanigan Racing Honda will start the race in fourth place. Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves would be second fastest, .2768 seconds behind Rahal’s time. He will start fifth. Andretti Autosport occupies the rest of the top five with Marco Andretti ahead ofRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio — Friday practice for the Verizon IndyCars Series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course indicated that it would be a very competitive weekend across Honda and Chevrolet for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200. In the first session, Simon Pagenaud and Graham Rahal topped the chart for Chevrolet and Honda respectively with Pagenaud going around the 2.258 mile road course with a lap time of 1:04.9079. Rahal was .0343 seconds behind while Marco Andretti’s Honda was third fastest ahead of the Team PenskeRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio — Graham Rahal is the hometown hero looking for another win at his home track. Born in Columbus, he earned a victory at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Verizon IndyCar Series competition in 2015, beating Justin Wilson and Simon Pagenaud in that year’s Honda Indy 200. Returning to his home track always brings back the good feeling of having a home field advantage and seeing everybody as Rahal spoke to the media before the second IndyCar practice on Friday afternoon.Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer LEXINGTON, Ohio — The Verizon IndyCar Series heads to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the Honda Indy 200 and a closing championship battle can become even more complex at the track metaphorically owned by Scott Dixon. Dixon leads the IndyCar series points by three over three time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, but Dixon’s biggest advantage is that he knows how to win at this track. From 2007 to 2014, Dixon won five times in eight runnings but did not finish lastRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer On any street circuit gaining positions is difficult, but on the streets of Toronto, Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’s Sebastian Saavedra did that better than anybody by gaining ten and nine spots respectively from where they began the race. Hunter-Reay took the green flag in 16th place and moved to 14th following the opening lap incident between Scott Dixon and Will Power. The No. 28 DHL Honda then saw pit lane on Lap 21 before a caution for TonyRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Josef Newgarden benefitted from a little bit of racing luck as he scored his second win of the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season by winning the Honda Indy Toronto. The start was chaotic as Helio Castroneves went from third to first at the first corner, moving polesitter Simon Pagenaud to second with Graham Rahal behind. Heading down to Turn 3, Will Power was squeezed to the outside wall by Scott Dixon while trying to avoid Rahal. Power’s steering was damaged enough where heRead More

By INDYCAR TORONTO (Saturday, July 15, 2017) – Simon Pagenaud has put himself in the thick of the hunt for a second straight Verizon IndyCar Series title without earning the pole position for a race in 2017. Until today, that is. The reigning series champion set a track record for the current layout on the streets of Exhibition Place to capture the Verizon P1 Award and first starting position for the Honda Indy Toronto. The driver of the No. 1 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet will lead the 21-car fieldRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Will Power was one of the two fastest drivers in Friday’s Verizon IndyCar Series practice for the Honda Indy Toronto, but Power was among several drivers that faced challenges with the circuit. For the driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, the bumps heading into Turn 1 were where he had the most trouble. “You have to avoid the bumps at times. Today you’ve got a tower wind, so you don’t bottom as hard,” Power said. “I’m not sure anyoneRead More