Indycar Pocono 500 2017

Will Power came from a lap down to win the Pocono 500 after holding off teammate Josef Newgarden in the final laps.

Takuma Sato started on pole for the second time this year but quickly dropped toward the back as the Indycars ran 6 wide on the front straightaway.  Ryan Hunter Reay and Helio Castroneves quickly sliced their way through the field after starting in the back due to qualifying crashes on Saturday.

There were a mesmerizing 590 passes including 42 lead changes among 10 drivers (7 Hondas and 3 Chevys), but in the end it was two of the Chevy powered Penske drivers going for the win.

 

 

 

  

TOP 10

1.  Will Power: His second win in a row at the Tricky Triangle.
2. Josef Newgarden: Couldn't quite get his third win in a row, but extended his points lead with three races to go.

3. Alexander Rossi: His second podium in last three races moved up to 8th in season points.
4. Simon Pagenaud: Only driver to have completed all the laps so far this season.

5. Tony Kanaan: His third Top 5 this season.

6. Scott Dixon: Has finished out of the Top 5 in 6 of the last 7 races, but is still 2nd in points.

7. Helio Castroneves: He has only finished out of the Top 10 once this season.

8. Ryan Hunter Reay: Cleared to drive on race morning after spending the night in the hospital after a hard crash in qualifying, RHR impressed by charging to the front and leading the race.

9. Graham Rahal: Has finished in the Top 10 in the last 8 races, and had a exciting back and forth battle with Tony Kanaan for the lead during the race.

10. Carlos Munoz:  His first Top 10 since the Indy 500.  The second race in a row one of the A.J. Foyt cars finished in 10th.

Different Teams: 5  (Penske (4), Andretti (2), Ganassi (2), RLL, A. J. Foyt)

Different Countries: 6   Australia, USA (4), France, Brazil, (2) New Zealand, Colombia

5 Chevys  5 Hondas

  

FUN FACTS

 Average Speed:  183.737 mph

Time: 2 hour 43 minutes 17 seconds

Margin of Victory:  0.5268 seconds

Lead Changes:  42 among 10 drivers
Dixon (51), Rossi (44), Power (34), Kanaan (32), Hunter-Reay (12), Rahal (9), Andretti (9), Newgarden (4), Hinchcliffe (3), Hildebrand (2)

Total Passes: 590 total 524 for position

Fastest Lap:  218.325 by Tony Kanaan

3 Cautions for 17 Laps

Most Improved: Helio Castroneves 13 positions

Penalties:: 3
James Hinchcliffe (Pit Safety Infraction), Max Chilton (Work in a Closed Pit), Conor Daly (Full Service in a closed pit)

Indycar at Mid-Ohio 2017

Young Indycar star Josef Newgarden made a fantastic pass of polesitter Will Power on lap 13 and dominated the rest of the race, leading 73 of the 90 laps at Mid Ohio.  He finished over 5 seconds ahead of his teammate to take the 6th win of his career.

 

 

 

 

TOP 10

1.  Josef Newgarden: Had an average finish of 14th in 5 previous starts at Mid-Ohio

2. Will Power: His fourth 2nd place finish at Mid Ohio.

3. Graham Rahal: His third podium of the Indycar season.

4. Simon Pagenaud: Tenth Top 5 in thirteen races has him 8 points out of the lead in the season championship.

5. Takuma Sato: His fourth Top 5 this season.

6. Alexander Rossi: His sixth Top 10 in the last 9 races.

7. Helio Castroneves: CHas finished in the Top 10 in 12 of 13 races this season.

8. Ryan Hunter Reay: Coming on strong for the end of the season with his third Top 10 in the last three races.

9. Scott Dixon: An 8th, 9th and 10th in last three races has him drop to third in season points.

10.  Conor Daly:  His second Top 10 in the last five races.

Different Teams: 5  (Penske (4), RLL, Andretti (3), Ganassi, A. J. Foyt)

Different Countries: 6 USA (5),  Australia, France, Japan, Brazil, New Zealand

5 Chevys  5 Hondas

  

FUN FACTS

 Average Speed:  114.677 mph

Time: 1 hour 46 minutes 20 seconds

Margin of Victory:  5.1556 seconds

Lead Changes:  8 among 3 drivers
Newgarden (73), Power (14), Rahal (3)

Total Passes:  81

Fastest Lap:  123.220 mph by Alexander Rossi

1 Caution for 4 Laps

Most Improved: Mikhail Aleshin 7 positions

Penalties:: 1
JR Hildebrand (work in a closed pit)

2017 Honda Indy Toronto

Indy Toronto 2017

The streets of Toronto were no match for three of the 'young guns' of Indycar racing as Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi and Canadian James Hinchcliffe grabbed the seats on the podium.  A first lap tangle involving points leader Scott Dixon and Will Power left the three remaining Penskes, and Graham Rahal in the top spots.  It was a well timed pit stop that gave Newgarden the lead on lap 25 and he held that position for most of the rest of the race.
The win gave Josef his 2 win of the year racing for Roger Penske, and the fifth win of his 6 year Indycar career.


 

 

  



Honda Indy Toronto
TOP 10

1. Josef Newgarden: His first win at Toronto for Roger Penske.

2. Alexander Rossi:  His best finish since winning the Indy 500 in 2016

3. James Hinchcliffe:  His third podium of the season.

4. Marco Andretti:  His first Top 5 since Fontana 2015
5. Simon Pagenaud:  His best finish at Toronto since a 4th in Race 1 in 2014

6. Ryan Hunter-Reay:  Just his 4th Top 10 this season

7. Max Chilton:  His highest finish since a fourth at this year's Indy 500

8. Helio Castroneves:  His worst finish at Toronto since Race 2 in 2014

9. Graham Rahal:  His worst finish since he finished 12th at this year's Indy 500

10. Scott Dixon:  His worst finish at Toronto in the last 8 races there.
 

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Different Teams: 5  (Penske (3), Andretti (3), Schmidt, Ganassi (2), RLL )

Different Countries:  USA (5), Canada, France, Britain, Brazil, New Zealand
3 Chevys   7 Hondas

  

FUN FACTS

 

 Average Speed:  95.79 mph

Time: 1 hour 35 minutes 5 seconds

Lead Changes:  4 among 4 drivers
 Josef Newgarden (58), Helio Castroneves (24), Simon Pagenaud (2), Max Chilton (1)

Number of Passes:  105 
 

                 Fastest Lap:  106.741 by Simon Pagenaud

 Cautions 2 for 9 Laps

 

Most Improved: Ryan Hunter Reay   10 positions

Penalties: 2
Scott Dixon (more than required work), Esteban Guitierrez (blocking)

2017 GP of Indianapolis

Will Power dominated the GP of Indianapolis to win it for the second time in three years and earn the 30th Indycar win of his career!

 

 Helio Castroneves was the only driver who looked to have a chance at the win, taking the lead from Will Power on pit stops, but a different tire strategy didn't work and he ended up fifth.  It was the first caution free race on the road course at IMS, and only two cars did not finish, both due to mechanical problems. 

 

 

 2017 Honda GP of Alabama

Polesitter:  Will Power

TOP 10 Finishers
 

1. Will Power:  Started on pole for the third time this year, and Finally got in the winners circle in 2017.

2. Scott Dixon: Five Top 5s in 5 races has his second in points.

3. Ryan Hunter-Reay: His second podium in 4 races on the IMS road course.

4. Simon Pagenaud:  Has finished in each position 1-5 through 5 races this season.

5. Helio Castroneves:  A strong run was ended with a tire strategy call.
6. Graham Rahal:  The second year in a row Graham moved through the field to finish well here.

7. Max Chilton: Ties his best Indycar finish ever.

8. Alexander Rossi:  His second top 10 in two races on the Indy road course.

9. Spencer Pigot:  His second Top 10 this season.

10. Juan Pablo Montoya :  A strong finish for his first race this season.

 

Different Teams: 5 Penske (4), Ganassi (2), Andretti (2), ECR(1), RLL (1)

Different Countries 7:  Australia, New Zealand, USA (4), France, Brazil, United Kingdom, Colombia
 

 5 Chevys and 5 Hondas

 

 

FUN FACTS:

 

5 Lead Changes among 2 Drivers

Average Speed: 120.813 mph
Cautions:  0
 Fastest Lap: 126.539 mph on lap 68 by Josef Newgarden

Penalties: 4 (1. Marco Andretti avoidable contact on lap 6)
(2. Mikhail Aleshin Hit pit equipment on lap 63)
(3. Josef Newgarden pit speed violation on lap 64 and 65)

 

A ROUGH DAY for

Early season points leader Sebastien Bourdais who had an engine problem on lap four and was the first car out of the race.
Josef Newgarden was caught speeding in the pits and subsequently had a problem that saw him speeding during his drive through penalty and then again through his second drive through penalty.  He ended up finishing 11th after a strong top 5 drive all day.


 

 

 

NEXT UP:

 

THE 101st running of the
INDY 500!!!!

Indycar 2017 Phoenix Grand Prix

2017 Phoenix Grand Prix

Simon Pagenaud got his first oval victory on the one mile oval of Phoenix Raceway.  Pitting late on a pit sequence gained him a lap on most of the field and he dominated the majority of the race leading 116 of the 250 laps.  Will Power finished second,  finally earning a good finish that has eluded him all season, and JR Hildebrand was impressive finishing P3 while driving with a broken hand.

 
 

2017 Phoenix Grand Prix

POLE SITTER:  Helio Castroneves

TOP 10

1. Simon Pagenaud: His first win on an oval!

2. Will Power: His second podium finish at Phoenix.

3. JR Hildebrand : A great finish for JR and for Ed Carpenter Racing.

4. Helio Castroneves: Another fourth place finish has him up to 6th in points.

5. Scott Dixon:  Another Top 5 but also his lowest finish so far this season.

6. Tony Kanaan:  His lowest finish in five starts at Phoenix.

7. Ed Carpenter:  A good return on ovals to start his season.

8. Charlie Kimball:  His first Top 10 of the season.

9. Josef Newgarden:  His fourth Top 10 of the season and still 3rd in points.

10. Carlos Munoz: The 25th Top 10 of his Indycar career.

Different Teams (4):  Penske, ECR, Ganassi, AJ Foyt

Different Countries (6):  France, Australia, USA(4), Brazil(2), New Zealand, Colombia)

 

Fun Facts

4 Lead Changes among 4 Drivers

(Pagenaud, Castroneves, Power, Newgarden)

Average Speed: 144.058 mph
2 Cautions for 32 Laps
 

Next Up...
THE MONTH OF MAY
The GP of Indianapolis on Saturday, May 13th
and
The 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500
Sunday, May 28th