Takuma Sato Tag

By INDYCAR NEWTON, Iowa – James Hinchcliffe has been seeking a reboot to his Verizon IndyCar Series season after not qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 in May. He found redemption with a victory Sunday at the Iowa Corn 300. The Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver led the final 45 laps on Iowa Speedway’s high-banked oval to collect his sixth career victory and first since Long Beach in April 2017, 26 races ago. “This is such a good feeling after what happened in May,” Hinchcliffe admitted. “We knew we had it inRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer NEWTON, Iowa — Two practice sessions, qualifying and some Indy Lights track time detailed Saturday’s action ahead of Sunday’s Iowa Corn 300 for the Verizon IndyCar Series. In the opening practice session, Josef Newgarden was fastest over Will Power, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi and Zach Veach. Team Penske and Andretti Autosport would be the dominant teams of the day. However, Matheus Leist was rather unlucky as he got loose coming through Turn 2 after completing 15 laps and spun, hitting the wall with the rear ofRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer NEWTON, Iowa — Ryan Hunter-Reay’s 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season has been mostly under the radar but the three time Iowa Corn 300 winner put the rest of the field on notice as he qualified third quickest for Sunday afternoon’s race at Iowa Speedway. The 2012 series champion qualified with a two-lap average of 180.681 mph around the .875 mile short oval to place Hunter-Reay behind the Team Penske duo of Will Power and Josef Newgarden. “I was hoping we had a shot for pole todayRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Colton Herta has been on an absolute tear in the Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires. The Californian won four races in a row, the first to do so since Alex Lloyd in 2007 and hasn’t finished off the podium at all this season except in the second race in St. Petersburg. In seeking the Indy Lights championship and with it the Mazdaspeed scholarship to help propel him into the Verizon IndyCar Series, Herta still has aspirations of racing in some of the great open wheelRead More

By David Morgan, IndyCar Contributor FORT WORTH, Texas – The duo of Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato may have started from different ends of the field in Saturday night’s Verizon IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, but by the end of the night both were celebrating a pair of top-10 finishes for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Rahal rolled off near the back of the field in 20th place and despite five different trips to pit road throughout the 248-lap event, he was able to lead five laps and crossed theRead More

By David Morgan, IndyCar Contributor FORT WORTH, Texas – On a boiling hot afternoon in the Lone Star State, Team Penske flexed their muscle in qualifying for Saturday night’s DXC Technology 600 as they snagged the top three starting positions with Josef Newgarden on pole, Simon Pagenaud joining him on the front row, and Will Power in third. The three Team Penske Chevrolets were the only ones to crack 220 mph in qualifying as Newgarden laid down the fastest lap of the three at 23.480 seconds, 220.613 mph. Pagenaud’s fast lapRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DETROIT — After the massive high of winning the 102nd Indianapolis 500, Will Power’s dream week came back down to earth with a seventh place finish in the first of two races in the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit as the top Chevrolet-powered driver. Starting sixth, Power had a boost problem at the start from not warming up the engine enough and dropped two positions behind the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing duo of Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal. Power then committed himself to a two stop strategyRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS — Wednesday practice came and went for the 35 drivers entered to qualify for 33 spots in this year’s Indianapolis 500 and Marco Andretti was on top of the time sheet. The 2006 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year turned a fastest lap of 227.053 mph in his No. 98 Andretti Autosport Honda but on the unassisted draft chart Andretti was only tenth fastest. Tony Kanaan was fastest on the unassisted lap chart with a lap of 223.048 mph. “Checking off the boxes right now,Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS — Scott Dixon did not have the best setup in his car for qualifying ahead of Saturday’s INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and that showed when he ended up 18th on Friday. That result required a lot of car setup changes. “Dampers, springs, geometry, closed cambers, it was pretty much everything,” said Dixon. “I think we actually threw in a kitchen sink on most of them, too. It was definitely a lot of changes. There was no session we didn’tRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS — Friday practice for the Verizon IndyCar Series concluded in preparation for Saturday’s INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course and Will Power is the man to beat. The No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet topped the time sheet in both sessions with a fastest lap of 1 minute, 10.0866 seconds in the first session. Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi was second in the No. 27 NAPA Auto Parts Honda while the Ed Carpenter Racing rookie Jordan King was third in the No.Read More