simon pagenaud Tag

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer On Friday, the Verizon IndyCar Series hit the track for a race meeting at the picturesque Road America Circuit, and it was a welcome return. Open-wheel Indianapolis-style cars last raced on the 4.048 mile, 14-turn track back in 2007 when the OWRS/ChampCar Series ran there for the final time, ending a tradition that began in 1982. That tradition is now reignited after an agonizingly long wait, and motor-homes and campers are already lining the hillsides for the KOHLER Grand Prix that is slated to runRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Simon Pagenaud topped the timesheets in first practice for Sunday’s KOHLER Grand Prix at Road America. The Frenchman and IndyCar Series championship leader came in at 139.644 mph (1:43.48) around the 4.048-mile road course, with Andretti Autosport’s Carlos Munoz trailing within 0.2s. Jack Hawksworth impressively put his AJ Foyt Racing Honda up to third, while defending IndyCar champion Scott Dixon followed in fourth. Tony Kanaan recovered from a spin during the practice session to round out the top five. However, all eyes were on Josef Newgarden.Read More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer When the Verizon IndyCar series announced Watkins Glen International as a replacement venue for the failed Boston Grand Prix, there was immediately speculation as to what type of speeds we might see. The iconic 3.4 mile road course was recently repaved and now offers an ultra-smooth driving surface. Five drivers took to the track, located in upstate New York, participating in a test session to supply Firestone technicians with data to allow for tire compound selection.  During the five-hour session, all five drivers posted timesRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer There was a new face in the Verizon IndyCar Series pit lane as 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, Brad Keselowski, took some laps in a Dallara DW-12 for the first time. The occasion was an open test at the Road America circuit in Elkhart Lake, WI in preparation for the upcoming Kohler Grand Prix for the IndyCars June 23-26. Keselowski, who drives the #2 Miller Lite Ford for Roger Penske in the Cup Series, accompanied the team to the test during an off-week for NASCAR.Read More

FORT WORTH, Texas (Friday, June 10, 2016) – Carlos Munoz was devastated when he didn’t win the historic 100th Indianapolis 500 two weeks ago. The Colombian was able to gain a little solace today by taking the Verizon P1 Award and will start from the pole position in Saturday’s Firestone 600. Driving the No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda, Munoz earned the first pole of his four-year Verizon IndyCar Series career with a two-lap qualifying average of 217.137 mph on the 1.455-mile oval at Texas Motor Speedway. The 24-year-old’s best qualifyingRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer The Verizon Indycar Series has concluded their action-packed weekend featuring two races on the Raceway at Belle Isle, with Team Penske’s Will Power coming home victorious in Race Two of the doubleheader. Here are five takeaways from the second half. 1 ) Are separate qualifying procedures necessary?  Double-header weekends for the Verizon Indycar Series feature an abbreviated qualifying procedure for the second race of the weekend. With the dual-race format having disappeared at Toronto, and Houston leaving the schedule entirely, Race 2 at Detroit isRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter A quick pitstop and picture perfect pass propelled Will Power to his first Verizon IndyCar Series win in over a year at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park. The Aussie’s day started in a hole after an interference penalty in qualifying knocked him from the pole position and dropped him to eighth place on the grid as Team Penske Simon Pagenaud inherited the top spot for the second race in a row. The race got off to a rocky start when Charlie Kimball swerved next to Carlos Munoz who inRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor You just can’t hold Simon Pagenaud back in 2016. Despite a rough Indy 500, despite a disappointing result in yesterday’s Round 1 of the Verizon IndyCar Series’ Dual in Detroit, he just keeps bouncing back. This time by once again nabbing pole position, in a damp and chaotic qualifying session on the tight confines of Belle Isle Raceway. He did so by setting the fast time* in a modified group format for qualifying, that saw the field split into two groups running an accelerated set ofRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer The Chevrolet Dual in Detroit for the Verizon IndyCar Series is halfway down with KVSH Racing and Sebastien Bourdais taking a big win in Race One. Let’s take a look at some of the talking points coming out of Saturday. 1 ) Is Detroit really the place to be after Indianapolis?   The Verizon IndyCar Series is coming off of the biggest Indianapolis 500 in the League’s history and heads straight to Detroit, a city that has been suffering from population loss, urban decay, highRead More

By Josh Farmer, IndyCar Reporter Simon Pagenaud led a Team Penske sweep of the top three spots at Belle Isle to take his fifth career pole and third of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series Season. The Frenchman pulled off a flying lap of 1:14.9166s on the primary black tires as opposed to his rivals who chose to make their qualifying runs on the option red tires. Pagenaud’s lap was just a tick quicker than Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves’ lap of 1:14.9285, who was on the option red tires. “TheRead More