Spencer Pigot Tag

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer His results don’t show it, but Spencer Pigot’s on track performances for Ed Carpenter Racing so far this season on the road and street courses (and Juncos Racing at Indianapolis) show that he is deserving of a full time ride in the  Verizon IndyCar Series. Pigot has the pedigree to be competitive in IndyCar. A two-time champion in the Mazda Road to Indy (Pro Mazda Championship in 2014, Indy Lights in 2015), he has transitioned solidly in North America’s top open wheelRead 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 — 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 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal backed up his dominating performance on Saturday with another win on Sunday in the Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit doubleheader weekend after starting third. Rahal was maintaining a lead over Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden after the final round of pit stops but a yellow flag with five laps to go threw a wrench into the plans. James Hinchcliffe suffered a mechanical failure on his No. 5 ARROW Electronics Honda and shortly thereafter, Spencer Pigot’s No. 20Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Ed Carpenter Racing’s eponymous team owner has a pretty successful business model. After driving the teams’ sole car in 2012 and 2013, Carpenter contested the ovals in 2014, ceding the road and street courses to Mike Conway. After spending 2015 rebranded as CFH Racing thanks to a merger with Sarah Fisher and Wink Hartman, 2016 brought Spencer Pigot on to contest the road and street courses opposite Carpenter’s oval efforts in the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet. The team wouldRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS— A rookie team with a second year driver in the Indianapolis 500 would seem to be a match that wouldn’t produce much in terms of results. However, Juncos Racing and Spencer Pigot aren’t exactly new to each other. Pigot drove for Juncos Racing in karting in the 2000s, rejoining the team in 2014 to win the Pro Mazda championship. The Pasadena, California-born driver then won the Indy Lights championship with the team, becoming the only driver to win multiple championships inRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Switching teams from one season to the next can be a daunting task. It can be more daunting when you’re going from having one teammate to having multiple teammates. Further daunting would be joining the most successful team in the Verizon IndyCar Series. That’s what Josef Newgarden has done for 2017, leaving the comfort of Ed Carpenter Racing and stepping up to the big time and with it, a whole different team structure. At Ed Carpenter Racing, the 2011 Indy Lights championRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana- With the turbocharger boost raised for Fast Friday, the final pre-qualifying practice ahead of the 101st Indianapolis 500, Honda let their top chargers run wild as they secured 10 of the first 11 spots on the speed chart before rains came down to delay practice. Before the rain, Sebastien Bourdais drove his No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda to the fastest lap with 233.116 mph his average around the 2.5 mile oval. The St. Petersburg resident was also fastest onRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer The opening day of practice for the 2017 Indianapolis 500 officially began after a two hour rookie orientation/veteran refresher period and Marco Andretti led the speed chart with a lap of 226.338 mph. Scott Dixon was second with a lap of 225.296 mph. Both are driving Honda-powered cars. The first Chevrolet was Ed Carpenter at 224.969 mph. However, before the session for all drivers, some rookie orientations had to be completed, and one was. In order to be declared ready for competitionRead More