BY BRUCE MARTIN @BruceMartin_500 INDIANAPOLIS – The first practice session for the Verizon IndyCar Series cars on Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course was a full 45-minutes of green flag running. Temperatures were 68 degrees ambient and 80 on track to start, per Firestone. There were no cautions during the practice session as...
READ MOREEd Note: As always, thanks so much for subscribing. I (Steve) am on TV duty this weekend and Patrick is on soccer coaching duty. That’s a definite win for you. Your updates will come from two professional writers, instead of two guys who pretend to be writers. Bruce Martin and Tony DiZinno will have all...
READ MOREBy Steve Wittich For the fifth year in a row, the “Month of May” will begin with a race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course. The Indianapolis Star recently published a thought-provoking piece by Jim Ayello titled – Entering Year 5, can IndyCar Grand Prix be considered a success. As I mentioned...
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By Steve Wittich Before we get started with our coverage of on the track, we’ve got a few off the track things to cover. First, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports crew member, Eric Stewart, who has worked in the Verizon IndyCar Series for a long time, lost his home in a fire last weekend. If you...
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May 1, 2018 INDIANAPOLIS — Matheus “Matt” Leist passed his rookie test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.5-mile oval track today along with fellow rookies Robert Wickens and Kyle Kaiser. “Rookie Orientation done, ready to race or test,” the Brazilian native said afterwards. “It was good fun. The ABC car was looking good today. Tony did a great...
READ MOREBy Steve Wittich Danica Patrick was the first driver to turn an install lap during the three-hour veteran refresher session. Patrick, Jay Howard, and Sage Karam each received two sets of Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 tires to complete the two phases required to complete the refresher test. The first phase is 15 laps between 210mph...
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By Steve Wittich Kyle Kaiser was the first driver to hit the track for his Rookie Orientation Program (ROP) We did check with team owner Ricardo Juncos, and the car that Kaiser is driving during the “Month of May” is the same car that Kaiser and Rene Binder shared at the first four Verizon IndyCar...
READ MOREBy Steve Wittich Good morning from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where the Rookie Orientation Program (ROP) and refresher tests are the order of the day. The three rookies taking part today are Kyle Kaiser (Juncos Racing), Matheus Leist (A.J. Foyt Racing) and Robert Wickens (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports). Dale Coyne Racing rookie Pietro Fittipaldi was scheduled...
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By Steve Wittich Always improving If you were watching the live stream of the test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway today, you undoubtedly saw various spots on the track that was lighter and looked like they had dust coming up. You can watch the test here: We had a chance to catch up with...
READ MOREBy Steve Wittich RANK CAR NO. DRIVER FASTEST LAP LAPS TURNED 1 9 Scott Dixon 224.795 13 2 14 Tony Kanaan 223.922 28 3 22 Simon Pagenaud 223.603 20 4 3 Helio Castroneves 223.495 30 5 12 Will Power 222.671 33 6 1 Josef Newgarden 222.546 29 7 21 Spencer Pigot 222.244 19 8 27...
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