Fontana MAVTV 500 Pre-race

The season finale is lined up and ready.
Helio Castroneves on pole
(gaining him a valuable extra point for the championship),
Juan Montoya 2nd,
and Josef Newgarden will start on the outside of the front row. (a qualifying podium is what Alex calls it.)
 

 

 

Championship leader Will Power struggled in qualifying, after having been fastest in practice and is starting second last. 

 

 

Helio Castroneves has to finish 3rd or better if Power finishes last if he wants this championship. 
If Simon Pagenaud were to win it, he has to win the race, and Will Power and Helio Castroneves have to finish last-18th. 

 

We're hoping that guys like Josef Newgarden, Ed Carpenter, and Takuma Sato can finish off the season on a high note.

Final Practice was shortened by an accident involving Mikael Aleshin.  Aleshin is not able to race tonight, wish him well.

 

Helio Castroneves has 41 poles, now 5th all time.

 

Watch the race at 9:00 PM Eastern Time on NBCSN


Final Practice:

Unfortunately, Mikhail Aleshin crashed in the final practice session on Friday evening and is in the hospital with fractured ribs, a broken clavicle, a concussion and chest injuries.  Charlie Kimball was also involved in the crash but was uninjured and will still race on Saturday night.


 

We will be keeping Mikhail in our prayers for a good recovery and hope to see him back at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in 2015.

 

 

 

 

Pro Mazda Championship

The Pro Mazda season is over, and it had plenty of excitement.

 

Spencer Pigot won the championship with 309 points,
and Scott Hargrove, a rookie, came second with 298 points. Third was Neil Alberico, another rookie, with 239 points.
 

Pigot was on the Juncos Racing team.

 

 

Fun Facts:

 

* There were 17 rookies in the 2014 Pro Mazda season

 

* 5 rookies finished in the top ten in the championship.

 

 

Check out Spencer Pigot's blog! (and his website)

 

Josef update GP of Sonoma

 Josef Newgarden had a very good showing at Sonoma. 

After starting 2nd, he kept up there most of the race to finish 6th.

Go to the 1:46 mark to see Josef

 

 

- Josef Newgarden has signed a 1 year contract CFH Racing for 2015.  Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing joins with Ed Carpenter Racing to form Carpenter Fisher Hartman Racing, now a two-car team.  This means data to share for Josef, Ed, and possibly Mike Conway.  Josef has never been on a two car team.

 

-Josef has had a very steady last half of the season.  After dropping back to as far as 20th, Josef made a comeback and now has a chance to get a top ten finish in the championship.  He has had 4 top tens in the last 7 races, an 8th, a 2nd, a 5th, a 6th, a 20th, a 13th, and a 12th.  He has had two 2nd place starting positions, and two 4th place starting positions.

Don't miss Josef in the MAVTV 500 Indycar Season Finale on NBCSN at 10:00 PM Eastern Time on Saturday

 

 

 

USF2000 Championship

Florian Lattore, the 17-year old Frenchmen, won the USF2000 Championship, beating out RC Enerson by just 4 points.

 

 

1st

Florian Lattore


2nd

RC Enerson

3rd

Jake Eidson
 

Grand Prix of Sonoma 2014

Sonoma was a crazy race!
 

 

Ninth, 10th and 11th place went three wide to the line, while Mike Conway ran out of fuel and barely coasted across the finish line.   Will Power and quite a few other fuel-less cars stopped all around the track after they crossed the finish line. 
In the end, Scott Dixon, the fuel saving master, took it home.

 

 

 

 

 

-Very impressive comeback by Will Power.  Leading the race, spinning out, restarting last with 30 laps to go and making it up and finishing 10th shows skill...and some daring passing at the end.

 

-Great run by Scott Dixon.  Yet again, he shows his skill in saving fuel.  After doing it at Mid-Ohio, we thought it was partially luck.  Turns out, its anything but luck.

 

 

 

 The Top Ten:

 

1. Scott Dixon - 2nd win this year unfortunately too late for him to repeat as Indycar champ.
 

2.  Ryan Hunter-Reay - Came on strong at the end for the podium.
 

3. Simon Pagenaud - In the championship closed the gap to 2nd place Helio to 30 points.
 

4. Takuma Sato - A good day after a not so good season.
 

5. Juan Montoya - Led 4 laps, continues to finish strong every race.
 

6. Josef Newgarden - 2nd race having led in the last 3 races. A win has to come soon.
 

7. Mikael Aleshin - Holding second in the rookie standings.
 

8. Marco Andretti - His 9th top ten this season.
 

9. Justin Wilson - His 15th race running at finish this season, unfortunately he just hasn't had good results.
 

10. Will Power - Has led most laps this year. Can he hold onto his 51 point lead to win his first Indycar Championship this year???

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Indycar Grand Prix of Sonoma

The GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma is here, and the tensions rise as we come down to the last two races of the Indycar season.


Mathematically, the top six all are eligible for the Championship, and that includes Will Power, Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Scott Dixon and Juan Montoya.

Will Power has recent history on his side having finished first and second in the last two races at Sonoma.

Helio is fastest in Practice, but qualifying is later today, and starting position is always important here.

Catch qualifying at 7:00 EST on NBCSN,
and the race tomorrow at 4:00.

Josef Update: Milwaukee Mile 2014

Yay!!!  No!!!  Yay!!!

 

This is what you heard from Alex during the Milwaukee Indyfest, because Josef had a very up and down race.  But luckily it ended on an 'up' and he finished 5th!!

 

Josef started 5th, stayed in the top 6 for the first stint, dropped back to 12th, up to 2nd on a pit strategy, and with 12 laps had to pit, and dropped back to 12th.  That didn't stop Josef. 
He made his way in 12 laps to finish 5th!

 

IN OTHER 'JOSEF' NEWS...

 

Alex wants to make sure that you don't miss the Forza 5 showdown starring Josef, and Justin Wilson,  They're racing the Forza Motorsport 5  game on xbox to raise funds for Teen Cancer America. 
Fans can win an opportunity to race the drivers by donating to Teen Cancer America through August 23rd.


 

Josef did the ALS ice bucket challenge along with some other drivers.
Josef's video is her favorite although she pointed out that he did use a rather smallish bucket of ice water.

 

 

Milwaukee Indyfest

The ABC Supply Wisconsin 250
narrowed the Indycar Championship down to just 6 drivers! 

 

 

 

Polesitter Will Power took the early lead, and became the third driver this season to win from the pole.  Ryan Hunter-Reay made an impressive charge through the field from 19th, and was looking very strong but was taken out by a mechanical failure.   
James Hinchcliffe, the fastest in both weekend practice sessions, never seemed to recover from his final practice crash and didn't contend all day. 
Josef Newgarden looked like he might copy his 2nd place finishing run at Iowa.  He pitted late for fuel and took 4 new tires putting him a lap down in 12th, then he began slicing through the field but ran out of time and finished 5th (on the lead lap).

 

 

 

 

In the end, it came down to Will Power, followed closely by bhis Penske teammate Juan Montoya. 

Will Power's radio after the race: "I love winning on ovals". 

 

 

 

The Top Ten:

 

1. Will Power - 3rd win this year
 

2. Juan Montoya - 4th podium this year
 

3. Tony Kanaan - Another podium but can't seem to get a win this year
 

4. Scott Dixon - 9th top 5 this year
 

5. Josef Newgarden - 5th top ten this year. When will he get that first Indycar win???
 

6. Ryan Briscoe - Has finished all the races this year
 

7. Simon Pagenaud - Overtook RHR for 3rd in season points
 

8. Mikael Aleshin - Highest finishing rookie
 

9. Ed Carpenter - Big news at the race that his team will merge with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing for 2015
 

10. Jack Hawksworth -

6 Chevys

4 Hondas

6 Teams

8 Countries

 

 

Just two races left in the season.

 

And 6 Drivers left in the Championship Hunt since Double Points will be given out at the season Finale in Fontana!


An exciting finish in the Indylights race saw Zach Veach steal the 8 second lead from Matthew Brabham on the final restart.  Veach is now only 7 points back from Gabby Chaves

 

Josef update at Mid-Ohio

Josef had one of the best races of his Indycar career at Mid Ohio.

He qualified 2nd in wet conditions, then went on to stay up front and raced for the lead all day, Battling with the likes of Scott Dixon and Sebastien Bourdais.

Unfortunately (there seems to always been an 'unfortunately' in our Josef posts....) there was an error in the pits on his last pit stop.  A hose was laying in the middle of his pit box and he couldn't avoid hitting it.  He got a drive through penalty that ruined his day.

He finished 12th.

 

 

 

 

Apparently the race results did not dampen Josef's usual fun self or appetite as he hit the Indiana State Fair with Mikhail Aleshin, Simon Pagenaud, Robin Miller and Dave Furst the next night.

 

AND

 

On his off weekend of August 10th Josef took part in and won the Formula F 45th Anniversary Race at Barber Motorsports Park.

 

 

 

Now if he can continue that winning momentum at the Milwaukee Mile this weekend.

 

Josef Update - Honda Indy Toronto

Double Headers this year have not been kind to Josef.

He has four 20th place finishes out of the 6 races and a 17th and 13th.
Needless to say Alex would like all double header races taken off the schedule for next year.

(she would also like for their to be more races at Iowa speedway)

Josef didn't have a good weekend at Toronto, where he ended up finishing 20th and 13th.
In race 1, Josef got hit from behind and got involved in a six car crash on lap 1. They got the car fixed under a red flag and did not lose a lap. Yeah!
He made his way up to 11th (to the delight of  Alex),
but then spun the car on lap 63 and couldn't finish the race. Wah!

In race 2 the weather was very wet and lots of cars went in for rain tires, but Josef stayed out and led laps 14-20, until he spun in turn eleven and then went in for rain tires.
When the track dried, he stayed on rain tires and was running fifth,
but when a red flag came out and the cars restarted, the rain tires weren't working as well as the other cars on reds, and he dropped down to 13th.




 

Josef Update - Iowa Corn Indy 300

Josef got second in Iowa!

 Alex was so excited and I think it's rubbing off on us. 

 

To see him just zoom through the field on new tires in the last few laps was super cool.

The only problem was that Ryan Hunter Reay (or as Alex refers to him as 'the guy who crashed Josef out of the lead at Long Beach) had new tires too.

  

   (by the look on Josef's face we have to wonder what he and Robin Miller were joking about before the camera started rolling.)

Josef and Simon Pagenaud had a little fun before the race at Iowa too.

(We've watched this video way too many times)

 

 

 

Yes, we got a little behind on our Josef posts but we guarantee it was not for lack of watching and Alex crazily cheering him on.  So we'll go into Josef overload and get caught up this week.  

 

Honda Indy 200 at Mid Ohio 2014

Scott Dixon, the Mid-Ohio master,
scored the first 2014 win for Ganassi Racing with an amazing last-to-first comeback. 
This was his 5th win at Mid-Ohio, and the 10th for Ganassi.
 

 

  Dixon became the 10th different winner this season for the 7th different team.  Wow!

 

 A first lap wreck saw Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan out of the race, and jumbled things up a bit.   Sebastien Bourdais and Josef Newgarden dominated the race until the halfway point, when Scott Dixon took the lead. 

Scott Dixon is called the master at saving fuel for a reason.  He coasted across the finish line in first after gaining 9 seconds on Sebastien Bourdais while saving fuel.
 

The Top Ten:

1. Scott Dixon - His 34th career win tying Al Unser, Jr. for 6th all time!

2. Sebastien Bourdais - 2nd podium in a row after starting on pole.

3. James Hinchcliffe - First podium this year...finally!

4. Carlos Munoz - Highest finishing rookie

5. Graham Rahal - his 3rd Top 7 in the last 4 races

6. Will Power - Regained the season points lead over Helio

7. Charlie Kimball - Last year's Mid Ohio winner

8. Ryan Briscoe - Second highest finishing Ganassi

9. Simon Pagenaud - An uncompetitive day but still just one point out of third in the Championship.

10. Ryan Hunter-Reay - Made a great comeback after a pit speed violation and spinning early in the race.