simon pagenaud Tag

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter The 2016 Verizon IndyCar Season was like a party tray. It gave us a little bit of everything – drama, excitement, surprise. It was hard to narrow down the top five moments from the season, but here you are: 5.) Firestone 600 When IndyCar arrived at the Texas Motor Speedway for their annual June trip, Murphy’s Law was in full effect. Rain hampered the entire weekend and a rough track surface made it difficult to dry. A scary crash between Josef Newgarden and Conor Daly marredRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter Author’s note: This is part of a 10-part series discussing tracks around the world that I feel would be a good fit for the Verizon IndyCar Series. The opinions here are expressed solely of the author and not necessarily of the Motorsports Tribune. With this list nearing the end, there we have discussed nine tracks that could be a good fit for IndyCar to give a try. Before we reveal number one, here are a few tracks that are up for consideration. 1.) Milwaukee –Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Less than a week after becoming the Verizon IndyCar Series’ newest champion, it has been confirmed that Simon Pagenaud will carry the No. 1 on his Team Penske Chevrolet next season. Although automatic in some racing circles throughout the world, the ability to move to the No. 1 is at the champion’s discretion in North America’s top open wheel series. The last driver to make the switch was Pagenaud’s teammate, Will Power, in 2014. Tim Cindric, president of Team Penske, confirmed through Twitter that the 32-year-oldRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer The 2016 season for the Verizon Indycar Series is now in the books. Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud motored off into the distance at the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma, taking his fifth 2016 race win, and claiming his first series championship in the process. Let’s take a look at some of the headlines coming from California’s wine country. 1 ) No Lingering Questions  This day and age, oftentimes a championship leaves behind lingering questions as to whether or not the points system, or championship system,Read More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter SONOMA, Calif. – Simon Pagenaud capped off a perfect weekend as he takes his first Verizon IndyCar Series championship along with a dominating win in Sunday’s GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma. Pagenaud used his pole position qualifying effort to his advantage and took command of the race early with teammate Helio Castroneves tailing him while Will Power steadily moved into third place. Power managed to move into second place following the first round of pitstops and started to slowly pick up some time on PagenaudRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter SONOMA, Calif. – The Verizon IndyCar Series championship battle between Team Penske teammates Will Power and Simon Pagenaud features two hungry drivers trying to solidify their place in Indy car racing history. Both combatants have had opposite seasons which has led them to this point. Pagenaud has been the man to beat the entire season, taking the points lead after the Phoenix Grand Prix in April and held the lead ever since. He has scored four wins, including three in-a-row at Long Beach, Barber and the GrandRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief SONOMA, Calif. – Helio Castroneves nearly found the top spot in Firestone Fast Six qualifying on Saturday at Sonoma Raceway, but his chance at starting on pole for Sunday’s GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma evaporated at the hands of Team Penske teammate and Verizon IndyCar Series championship leader Simon Pagenaud. The 41-year-old Brazilian, who will start second, has witnessed firsthand the dominance that Pagenaud has displayed – scoring what is now seven poles to match seven podiums and four wins. Castroneves, driver of the No. 3Read More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter SONOMA, Calif. – Simon Pagenaud’s championship battle will get a little bit easier as he captured his seventh pole of the season for Sunday’s GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. and led a Team Penske sweep of the front two rows. The Frenchman initially reset the track record in the first qualifying group and set another fast time in Q2 to prepare himself for the Firestone Fast Six. He then bided his time during the six minute pole-determining session while his rivals took to theRead More

Team Penske announced today that it has reached a partnership extension with industry-leading home improvement store company Menards for the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season and beyond.  The easily-identifiable bright yellow paint scheme of Menards will continue to shine on track with 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series championship contender Simon Pagenaud and the No. 22 Dallara/Chevrolet for 10 races in 2017, including the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 28. “Partnering Menards with our Verizon IndyCar Series program just makes sense. The company’s deep Midwest roots are aRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter SONOMA, Calif. — Helio Castroneves was the man to beat in both practices for Sunday’s GoPro Grand Prix at Sonoma Raceway. The 2008 Sonoma winner set the fastest lap of the day during the afternoon session, setting a flying lap of 1:16.6678. “The Hitachi Chevrolet is dialed in,” said Castroneves. “When we left here on Thursday, we felt confident and we tried a lot of bits and I guess it paid off. Today is just a continuation of what we finished that day and it seemedRead More