verizon indycar series Tag

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — Post-race review and analysis from the Verizon IndyCar Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Who Won?  Alexander Rossi. The third-year star scored his fourth victory with Andretti Autosport, winning from pole with a two-stop pit strategy. Top Stories The Rivalry Continues Robert Wickens questioned polesitter Alexander Rossi’s form at the initial start of Sunday’s race after rallying for a second-place finish. “I thought it was cheeky,” he said of the maneuver. “Alex definitely changed the speed before he accelerated. He obviously had a much shorter firstRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor The final Verizon IndyCar Series practice before qualifying at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was led by a familiar face to the region – Ohio’s own Graham Rahal. Rahal laid down a circuit of 1:05.207 to pace the tour’s third practice session of the weekend for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. The hometown favorite has one career win at Mid-Ohio, coming back in 2015. Defending IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden followed in second, with Team Penske teammate Will Power following in third. Alexander Rossi and Scott DixonRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor For the first time in 15 years, the Verizon IndyCar Series is set to race at Laguna Seca. INDYCAR and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca announced Tuesday that the Northern California circuit will return to the open wheel tour’s schedule in 2019. The organizations reached a three-year agreement, approved Tuesday by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, that will see the historic track serve as the host of IndyCar’s championship race over the next trio of seasons. “I can’t imagine a more attractive destination location for INDYCAR’sRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Max Chilton saw his race come to an abrupt end after falling victim to an early crash in the Honda Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place. A restart on the Lap 33 proved to be the turning point of Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series event as Graham Rahal ran into the back of Chilton entering Turn 1, which led to a seven-car crash and forced the latter to retire from the 85-lap contest. The drama started as soon as race leader Josef Newgarden went up in theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Both Spencer Pigot and Takuma Sato came to the Honda Indy Toronto looking to extend their top-10 streaks after scoring podiums at Iowa Speedway, but neither completed the 85-lap battle after being victims of the Turn 11 wall during Sunday’s race at Exhibition Place in Canada. Takmua Sato, who was running in fifth, went wide in Turn 11 and hit the wall on Lap 66. His No. 30 Mi-Jack/Panasonic Honda sustained a broken right rear suspension and fell off the pace, forcing him to takeRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer TORONTO — Canada’s IndyCar racing trio of James Hinchcliffe, Robert Wickens and Zachary Claman De Melo will start ninth, 10th and 23rd ahead of Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto for the Verizon IndyCar Series. Hinchcliffe and Wickens advanced to the second round of qualifying from their respective qualifying groups but each has had an interesting journey during this weekend. Hinchcliffe won last week’s Iowa Corn 300 but in the three practice sessions turned the 18th, 10th and 14th fastest laps in the three practice sessions while WickensRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer NEWTON, Iowa— Heading into Sunday afternoon’s Verizon IndyCar Series Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway, Spencer Pigot had just five top-10 results in 32 starts, with his best career finish a seventh-place showing at Mid-Ohio in 2016. An unexpected lack of rear grip cost Pigot a lot in qualifying and his No. 21 machine lined up back in the 18th position on the 22-car starting grid. But after a solid 300 laps at the 7/8-mile oval, he had earned his first podium result, crossing the stripeRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer NEWTON, Iowa — Battling four-wide with 15 laps to go in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway, Robert Wickens got around Spencer Pigot for the third position and everything looked set for the Canadian duo to share the podium as his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammate James Hinchcliffe was poised to earn the team’s first victory of the 2018 season. That all changed when the caution flag flew for just the second time of the race with seven laps to go when Ed Carpenter got sidewaysRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Despite having two cautions for minor incidents, neither resulted in retirements, but Sunday’s Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway saw three drivers calling it a day due to car issues. Each retirement resulted significant implications to not only each team, but for one driver, the Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Among the three retirements, A.J. Foyt Racing rookie and 2017 Iowa Indy Lights winner Matheus Leist’s was a cultivation of a sour weekend, beginning in Saturday’s opening practice, when his No. 4 ABC Supply Chevrolet hadRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor NEWTON, Iowa —  With Josef Newgarden out front and dominating, the Verizon IndyCar Series’ annual trip to Iowa Speedway looked like 2016 all over again through 250 laps. Newgarden looked poised to win his second-straight race, in similarly dominant fashion to June’s Road America romp. Instead he ended the race outside of the podium. Newgarden led a race-high 229 laps in Sunday’s Iowa Corn 300, lapping as high as fifth on the field through a caution-free opening 139 laps. The Tennessean trapped points rivals Scott Dixon and Alexander RossiRead More