By Patrick Stephan and Steve Wittich The race got started under some of the hottest conditions we have ever had here at Sonoma, with the ambient temperature on pit lane at 96 and the track at 119. By lap five, the ambient had dropped to 95, but the track went up to 121 according to...
READ MOREGoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma starting line-up and tire designation SP Car Driver Name Engine Tire 1 22 Simon Pagenaud Chevy Alternate 2 3 Helio Castroneves Chevy Alternate 3 2 Juan Pablo Montoya Chevy Alternate 4 12 Will Power Chevy Alternate 5 15 Graham Rahal Honda Alternate 6 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Honda Alternate 7 9...
READ MORETimes don’t generally matter during the morning session, but the number of laps turned by the Team Penske championship duo and their positions on the time-sheet have to be somewhat concerning. Pagenaud turned 18 laps and ended up the the 18th quickest time, while Power also turned 18 laps and ended up with the 2nd...
READ MOREGood morning from a decidedly warmer Sonoma Raceway. It’s currently 67F, which is about 10F warmer than yesterday at the same time, and it’s forecast to hit a high of 93F at 4pm. That’s quite a bit warmer then the high 70s and low 80s Sonoma Raceway has seen on race day over the past...
READ MORESEBASTIEN BOURDAIS No. 11 PLANTRONICS – KVSH Racing Chevrolet/Dallara/Firestone GOPRO Grand Prix of Sonoma – Qualifying – Saturday, September 17, 2016 KVSH RACING’S BOURDAIS QUALIFIES NINTH FOR GOPRO GRAND PRIX OF SONOMA Sebastien Bourdais qualified the No. 11 PLANTRONICS – KVSH Racing Chevrolet/Dallara/Firestone entry ninth for tomorrow’s GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on the 2.385-mile,...
READ MOREBy Steve Wittich Simon Pagenaud’s pole was the eighth pole for Team Penske at Sonoma Raceway (2016, 2015, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2008, and 1970) Today’s pole marked the 11th of the season for Team Penske, that equates to the team winning 68.75% of the 16 possible poles this year. In the good news/bad news department...
READ MOREBy Patrick Stephan The GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying session got started a couple minutes late as the Holmatro Safety team had to make some repairs to the track up in Turn 5 following the Pirelli World Challenge race. When the green flag flew, the track temperature was up 116, up...
READ MOREBy Patrick Stephan Ok, time to get through some notes I’ve been collecting today. Let’s start with a sports car note, Austin Cindric, the 18-year-old high school senior from Charlotte, NC, captured the GT class pole in a tight qualifying session this morning at the Grand Prix of Sonoma presented by Cadillac. Cindric, is the son...
READ MOREBy Patrick Stephan The first Verizon IndyCar Series practice of the day got started with an ambient temperature of just 62 degrees and a track temp of 89. As usual, the weather here started out with chilly temperatures and a lot of sweatshirts being worn, and it’ll end with people enjoying the beautiful sunshine while wearing...
READ MOREGood morning from Sonoma Raceway, where it’s currently 53F at 8am and is forecast to hit 87F this afternoon (more on that heat and the race-day forecast later). The Verizon IndyCar Series has a 45-minute practice scheduled for 11am and qualifying for the Verizon P1 Award begins at 3:05pm. It’s a busy day for press...
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