WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Tag

By INDYCAR MONTEREY, Calif. – Will Power wrote a new chapter of INDYCAR SERIES history one day before he could enter his name in the sport’s annals as a series champion for the second time. Power broke Mario Andretti’s all-time record with his 68th career pole Saturday during NTT P1 Award qualifying for the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. Power, 41, from Toowomba, Australia, drove to his series-leading fifth pole this season in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, burnishing his legend and starting from the perfect position as theRead More

By INDYCAR MONTEREY, Calif. – Josef Newgarden was the first driver among the contenders for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship to move chips toward the center of the table in this high-stakes confrontation, leading practice Friday for the season-ending Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. Two-time series champion Newgarden, who is second in points, 20 behind teammate Will Power, was quickest with a lap of 1 minute, 11.4103 seconds in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. Scott Dixon (-20 points), Marcus Ericsson (-39) and Scott McLaughlin (-41) are the otherRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer After 16 grueling and intense months of competition, the championship trail ends in Monterey. Out of the 25 full-time drivers that accepted the season-long challenge at St. Petersburg in March, only five remain that have a shot of hoisting the Astor Cup this Sunday. Of those five racers, they come from two race teams in Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing. Between championship leader Will Power to fifth-place Scott McLaughlin, the gap is 41 points. It rivals the 2003 championship battle where it also had fiveRead More

By INDYCAR MONTEREY, Calif. – Colton Herta continued his family’s success at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca with a dominant victory Sunday in the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, while Alex Palou marched closer and closer to an even bigger win. Herta earned his second victory this season and fifth career victory, beating Palou’s No. 10 NTT Data Honda to the finish by 1.9747 seconds. NTT P1 Award winner Herta led 91 of the 95 laps in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda. LINK: Official Results California native Herta also won this eventRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor And then there were three. After the checkered flag waved on Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, it became official that the battle for the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series championship will come down to three drivers – Alex Palou, Pato O’Ward, and Josef Newgarden. Palou retook the points lead last weekend with his victory in Portland and Sunday at Laguna Seca did exactly what he had to do in order to maintain his position atop the standings, finishing second on theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Starting 13th was no problem for Romain Grosjean. He was going to push it to the absolute limit if it meant scoring a podium at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Such feat was accomplished in Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, scoring his third career INDYCAR podium. Although some of the talk focused on Colton Herta’s dominance and Alex Palou being a step closer of hoisting the Astor Cup. “The Phoenix” rose to the occasion and cut Scott McLaughlin’s Rookie of the Year lead from 38Read More

MONTEREY, Calif. – Colton Herta won the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey from the pole in 2019, the last time this NTT INDYCAR SERIES event took place at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. He’s halfway toward that dominant equation again at the track that could be nicknamed “Herta House.” LINK: Qualifying Results Herta earned the NTT P1 Award on Saturday with a top lap of 1 minute, 10.7994 seconds during the Firestone Fast Six in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda fielded by Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian. It was his seventh career pole andRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Five title contenders remain in the penultimate round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca with two being the main fighters. Both championship leader Alex Palou and second-place Pato O’Ward made Saturday’s Firestone Fast Six with Palou besting him. After nearly missing Round 2, Palou will roll off fourth for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. He was 0.5323 seconds off pole sitter Colton Herta’s time. But the bigger picture is that he’ll be ahead of his title rivals, beating O’Ward by two spots. “We improved the carRead More

By INDYCAR MONTEREY, Calif. – Josef Newgarden isn’t going down without a big fight. Two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Newgarden led practice Friday for the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, turning a top lap of 1 minute, 11.7125 seconds in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet after losing ground to championship leader Alex Palou last weekend at Portland International Raceway. FRIDAY PRACTICE: Results “Overall, we unloaded pretty good,” Newgarden said. “Small differences here or there, but for the most part globally it felt like the carRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer After yet another wild development to the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series campaign, the series head to its final state — California. These next two weeks is all there’s left in the championship trail, beginning with the popular Laguna Seca in Monterey. Originally, the circuit was supposed to be the final stop of the entire trail. However, that honor will go to Long Beach. Before heading to vibrant SoCal, 27 drivers will indeed navigate around the mellow environment, including the famous Corkscrew. Several of the field willRead More