2018 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!

 2018 Indycar GP

Polesitter:  Will Power

TOP 10 Finishers

1. Will Power: 

2. Scott Dixon:

3. Robert Wickens:

4. Sebastien Bourdais: 

5. Alexander Rossi:
6. Helio Castroneves:

7. James Hinchcliffe:

8. Simon Pagenuad:

9. Graham Rahal:

10. Takuma Sato:

Different Teams:  6:  Penske (3), Ganassi (1), Schmidt Peterson (2), Andretti Autosports (1), Dale Coyne (1), RLL (2)

Different Countries 7:  Australia, New Zealand, Canada (2), USA (2), France (2), Brazil, Japan

 3 Chevys and 7 Hondas

FUN FACTS: 
Time: 1:49:46
Most Improved: 16 by Scott Dixon
9 Lead Changes among 7 Drivers

Average Speed: 113.318 mph
Passes: 214
Positions:190
Cautions: 2 for 8 laps (Newgarden spin in turn 12, Pigot and Pagenaud contact in turn 2)
 Fastest Lap: 124.423 mph on lap 15 by Scott Dixon

Penalties: 1 (Spencer Pigot avoidable contact on lap 6)

Josef Newgarden GP of Indianapolis 2017

Josef started 3rd in his 4th GP of Indianapolis,

but finished 11th
after two penalties for pit speed violations late in the race.

It was his highest finish ever in the Indy GP, but the lowest finish since he started driving for Roger Penske this season.


Josef's comment on the race:
Quote: "I don't know what happened. I think we ran into some sort of glitch and they dinged us two times for speeding on pit road. It was a tough day for us. We had a really fast Hum by Verizon car. We really didn't struggle with much today. We started a little slower than we had hoped, but at the end the car was a rocket. I’m disappointed for our guys because we did everything right and we had great stops, we just had a little glitch there. We had a great racecar and just couldn't capitalize. I think we had a car that could have been a podium car, maybe even a second-place car. We just didn't capitalize today. Congrats to Will though. He was strong all weekend long."



Josef is still 3rd in Indycar season points leading into the Indianapolis 500 on May 28th.
He is looking to improve on his third place finish in last year's 500.

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!!!!

2017 GP of Indianapolis Preview

It's the month of May! 
The Indycars are at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this month and will take to the IMS road course for the 4th running of the GP of Indianapolis!  

Indycars will turn 85 laps around the 14 turn 2.44 mile course that's tucked inside the famed Indianapolis oval and uses the ovals front straightaway.

 

Simon Pagenaud secured his second win on the road course last year and Will Power, the 2015 winner, is on the pole.

 

Here's our predictions for the race.

 

 

 

Catch the live broadcast on ABC at 3:30 pm EST

Saturday, May 13th!

Josef Newgarden 2016 Indy GP

JOSEF
Qualified 5th for the
Angies List GP of Indianapolis.
that was the good news,
but
then came the bad news,
Josef had to start last because he was penalized since his car was very slightly underweight.

He made his way up to as high as 14th, but then debris caused his engine temperature to rise, then it caught fire as he exited the pits and he got a pit exit violation and he ended up 21st.

Ughh!
It was not a good day,
but he has a really nice looking blue car
and the
Indy 500 is up next
where Josef finished 9th last year!

post by Alexandra (age 8)

GP of Indianapolis 2016

The third running of the Indianapolis GP started similar to the previous two with a crash in Turn One.

Tony Kanaan and Sebastian Bourdais got together and luckily everyone else got through fine.

And similar to the previous two Indycar races this season,
Simon Pagenaud won the race.
 

1.  Simon Pagenaud   Won his second pole in a row and sits comfortable atop the season points standings with 3 wins and 2 seconds in five races.

2.  Helio Castroneves   His highest finish of the season heading into his attempt to join the Four Time Winners Club at the Indy 500.

3.  James Hinchcliffe   A fantastic drive for his first podium since his near fatal practice accident at Indy last year.

4.  Graham Rahal    His third Top 5 of the season.  Sits 5th in season points standings.

5.  Charlie Kimball    Consistency.   His third 5th place finish at five Indy GP

6.  Conor Daly   Passed Helio to lead 14 laps mid race!  Ran out of 'Push to Passes' and fell a few spots at the end.

7.  Scott Dixon    His highest finish at the IMS road course.

8.  Juan Pablo Montoya  His fifth Top 10 of the season has him 3rd in the points.

9.  Ryan Hunter Reay  A decent run, he sits 9th in points.

10.  Alexander Rossi  Had the fastest race lap at 126.240 mph.  His best Indycar finish. 

Different Teams: 6 (Penske, RLL, Dale Coyne Racing, Andretti, Schmidt, Ganassi)

Different Countries: 6 (France, USA, Colombia, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand)

 

Fun Facts

 

 Lead Changes among Drivers: 7

Different Race Leaders: 5

Average Speed: 108.784

Fastest Lap 126.240

Penalties: 6

5 Americans finished in the Top 10
We loved seeing Conor Daly lead laps in the race.

Next Up
INDY 500 !!!


 

 

GP of Indy recap

 Josef crashed in the first turn in the first lap at the GP of Indy.  
Nothing else matters. 

That would have been the only thing the GP of Indy race recap would have said if our little sister Alex was writing it.

Thankfully, we wrote it. This is our version.

2015 Marked the second running of the GP of Indianapolis. Will Power was the winner after starting on the pole and leading 65 of the 82 laps. 
 Graham Rahal came in a strong second (1.502 seconds behind). 
Juan Montoya finished in 3rd.

 

The top 10 Finishers

1.  Will Power:  Started from pole for the 38th time and collected his 25th Indycar win

2.  Graham Rahal:  His second 2nd place finish in a row pushed him to 5th in points


3.  Juan Pablo Montoya: Juan's third podium finish this season

4. Sebastien Bourdais:  His fourth Top Ten in the five races this season
 

5. Charlie Kimball:  He matched his finish of fifth from the 2014 Indy GP

6. Helio Castroneves:  Overcame the Turn 1 incident he triggered to finish strong

7. Tony Kanaan:  A fourth Top Six this season has Tony 6th in the season points standings

8. Stefano Coletti:  The first Top Ten for this rookie driver from Italy


9. Takuma Sato: Started way back in 22nd


10. Scott Dixon:  Ran a great race despite being damaged in the first turn melee

Top Ten included..

* Three Penske Drivers & Three Ganassi Drivers
* Drivers from 5 different teams
 * Drivers from 8 different countries

* 8 Chevys and 2 Hondas (The top ten qualifiers were all Chevys)

* 1 rookie (Stefano Coletti)


Other:

*  Will Power became the 5th different winner in 5 races this season

*  There was only 1 caution. The 5th race this season that had 2 or fewer cautions

*  This win was the 2nd win for Team Penske this season ( The first was Montoya in St. Pete)

*  There were 11 lead changes among 6 different drivers

*  Average Race Speed: 116.842 MPH

*  Fastest Lap 123.911 MPH (James Hinchcliffe)


Shout Out To...
JR Hildebrand had a great run going for CFH Racing in his first Indycar race in a year.  JR ran 6th most of the day before a small issue caused him to pit late in the race dropping him to 21st. 

 

Josef Update. GP of Indy

Josef's GP of Indy went ugly in the first turn.

Alex does not like to do these posts after he has a bad race, so we will make it brief.

Josef qualified 12th and finished 20th.

Josef got caught up in a first turn crash started by Helio (we still love him though).  All he needed was for a yellow to come out so that he could catch up to the end of the field, but just like last year's GP of Indy, the yellow never came for him and he ended up going a lap down.

Luckily he is still 7th in Indycar season points.

And now moving on to the Indy 500.

Hopefully Ed Carpenter can share some of his secrets on winning the pole with Josef (Ed has won the last two Indy 500 poles).

Good Luck in Indy 500 Qualifying Josef!

Drivers in carts

Do Indycar drivers race Indycars or golf carts?

 Ryan Hunter-Reay
(well, the back of him anyway, we'll get a better one)

 Helio Castroneves
(on Will Power's cart!....is this allowed?)

 

 

Helio, on a bike this time.
And still smiling!

 Tony Kanaan defending 500 champion
(love his shoes)

James Hinchcliffe
(glad he recovered from the hit in the GP)

Simon Pagenaud
(congrats on the Indy GP win)

 Rick Mears - 4 time 500 winner!!!
(got his autograph!)

 Ryan Hunter-Reay
(we told you we would get a better one)

 Dario Franchitti - 3 time 500 winner
(miss him on the track but great to still see him at the track!)

 Jack Hawksworth rookie
(awesome helmet)

 

Carlos Huertas a

(another rookie)

 

 

 

 

 

Alex's 'Josef' view of the Indy GP weekend

 

There are two distinct aspects to this Josef post.

 

          The Sad Part

Josef finished 17th on race day, which basically ruined Alex's day.
But she was still happy when he drove by every lap. 

 

 (you're probably expecting some pictures, but Alex wants no reminder of that day.
She barely let us put it in the post)

 

   and

 

The Super Happy, Ecstatic Part

 

 

- ON FRIDAY

- Alex got to see and talk to Josef in his pits (basically because we stood by his pit until he got out of the car and noticed her and came over.)           

- Alex got to talk with Josef's mom and dad before qualifying                                                  

- Alex got to go into Josef's shop and met some super nice ladies who work there.

- Alex got to get a Josef shirt (her first 'official' Josef shirt that wasn't homemade).

 

 

- ON SATURDAY

- Alex got to see Josef & he waved at her in a tweet up

- Alex got Josef's chef's hat that he wore while cooking with Joe Namath in St. Pete because Jarod won it for her at the tweet up.

- We met Josef's web designer who took a picture of her in her 'Josef dress' and posted it to Josef's website. (She was kinda a little excited about that.) Thank you, Rob!

 

 

- ON SUNDAY

- Alex got to see Josef

- Alex got to talk to Josef

- Sadly, she also had to say goodbye to Josef (but only for a week and a half so it was all good.)

 

Josef driving his car in the pits

  

You'll notice some other drivers in the background,
they do not matter to Alex & she was upset that we didn't crop them out

  

Alex wants to sit in this section for the 500
(we're not)

 



Looking for Josef
(wrong way, Josef comes from behind you this is the GP not the 500)

 

Josef's garage.

We admit that we took these pictures just to rub it in to Alex that
we can get in the garage area and she can't....she's too young.



And now Alex is really happy because she gets to go back to Indy to see Josef again (race...what race?)

But she's really super happy because

JOSEF qualified 8th for the Indianapolis 500!!!!

  



GP of Indy Weekend

Road Course Practice & Qualifying Friday.
 

Inaugural GP of Indy Saturday.
 

First day of Indy 500 Practice Sunday.

Plus 6 Mazda Road to Indy Series Races.

 

What a weekend!!!  We didn't want to leave.

 

 

Why we loved it:

The weather made qualifications really cool


Dry Track


Wet Track

Dry Track

Wet Track
(which led to a crash by Ryan Hunter Reay that ended qualifying )


 

We saw lots of cars and drivers:

The winning car.

(being pulled out to qualifying)

Josef (...does anyone else matter? Not for Alex)

This is one of a million times we saw Helio on his bike
(he certainly gets his exercise at the track...and he's always smiling!)

And this is Helio's cool car

with the old Pennzoil paint scheme

(our mom really likes this) 

 

Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Dixon, Marco Andretti's cars

headed to qualifying on Friday.

  

The Mayor of Hinchtown on Friday. 

Get well Hinch!

We hope we will see back in his car soon after his concussion in the race Saturday.

 

 

We got pictures with lots of friendly drivers:

 

Pippa Mann

(She even took a selfie with us)

 

 

Oh, and the Kids Zone and the

racing simulator games were awesome!

The two USF2000, two Pro Mazda and two Indy Lights series
on Friday and Saturday were really cool!

Colton Herta (#98) & Peter Portante (#24)
Cars getting lined behind the grandstands to go out for Race 2



THANKS IMS for a Great Time

Can't wait to see you again soon for the 500!




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GP of Indy recap

Awesome inaugural race!

The top five:

Simon Pagenaud 

Ryan Hunter-Reay

Helio Castroneves
 

Sebastian Bourdais

Charlie Kimball

The Weather:

* Sunny
* 78 degrees
* Pretty Hot (although the slight breeze that came once in a while was nice)

Other Stuff

* Carlos Munoz and Mikhail Aleshin crashed into polesitter Sebastian Saavedra when he stalled on the standing start.  It was really scary and just looked like an explosion from our seats luckily everyone was ok.

* Graham Rahal crashed into the wall on a restart after having a very good race.

* Rookie Jack Hawksworth (who started on the front row) made a great showing and led 30 laps before fading late in the race.

* James Hinchcliffe was hit in the head by a piece of debris late in the race and suffered a concussion and will have to undergo further evaluation before being allowed to drive. (EJ Viso will fill in for him in the #27 car for now)

* Josef Newgarden made some contact on the first restart and fell back eventually finishing 17th. Alex was not happy to see Josef in the back all day but still cheered every time he went by.

Thanks to J. Douglas Boles for opening the great seats above Gasoline Alley for all general      admission spectators when the spectator mounds got really full.

This was the super view we had from those seats:

GP of Indy recap

Lots of action today at the IMS for qualification and practice for the GP of Indy

The top six in quals:

Sebastian Saavadra

Jack Hawksworth

Ryan Hunter-Reay

Simon Pagenuad

Will Power

Scott Dixon

More about it:

* Ryan Hunter-Reay crashed exiting turn 14 that ended his day

* Josef ended up 15th

* Mikhail Aleshin got a penalty for interfering and got bumped out of the top twelve putting Graham Rahal in

 

Had a blast checking out all the views from around the track and can't wait till the race!

 

Favorite IMS things. GP of Indy

We can't wait to go to the GP of Indy!

 

Why we're so excited....

1. It's our first time going to see a road course race!

2. It makes two Indycar races at the IMS (and we get to go to both of them!)

3. The cars will be going the other direction down the front straightaway (how cool is that!)

4. It makes more awesome, fun, cool, great and exciting stuff in the month of May.

5. It's the fastest road/street course on the Indycar schedule.

6. There's lots of places to watch around the track, and we're going to check them all out.




* Oh, and most importantly (to her), Alex will get to see Josef

Here's a video of drivers previewing what a great race it's going to be
 

 

 

 

Indycar Christmas Gifts

 

Great Christmas!

This Indycar stuff is just what we wanted!!
Five more Indycar things to add to our endless collection...

 

 

Dario Franchitti car!

A 2013 Indy 500 shirt.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway hat that Alex is wearing constantly.

Alex's 'Josef' mug, which she won't drink out of because she doesn't want to ruin it. 

And Alex's special delivery Indycar game featuring who else but Josef.  She's very happy.

Note to mom and dad.
Noticeably missing from our gifts, tickets to the GP of Indy.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas and got lots of neat Indycar stuff too!

 

Indycar Offseason News #1

While we've been busy with school, there's been lots happening in Indycar.

Indycar News!...

 

 

Here's some of the news for the offseason

*  One of our favorite drivers, Dario Fran'kitty' has retired due to injuries from his last lap crash in Houston race #2.  We sure hope we'll still see him around the races.  Gonna miss rooting for him to win his fourth Indy 500 next May.

*  Paving of  the new road racing surface for the Indy GP was finished this month.  Can't wait to go to Indy and see it!

*  Indy 500 Rookie of the Year and 2nd place finisher, Carlos Munoz has officially signed with Andretti Autosport for the 2014 season, and is testing at Sebring this week.

*  The inaugural Dan Wheldon Pro-Am Karting Challenge raised over $100,000 for the Alzheimers Association in October!

*  'Turbo' is now on DVD!!!  Didn't get ours yet, hoping for Santa to bring it.  (or mom)

*  Zach Veach receives the Firestone Indy Light KeyBank Community Leader Award
  for his participation in STEM, Racing for Cancer, No Bull(anti-bully), and Miles Ahead.

*  Ed Carpenter Racing signed Mike Conway (2013 Detroit race #1 winner) for 2014.   Carpenter will now only be racing on ovals for the 2014 season, while Mike Conway will race the road/street courses.

*  Josef Newgarden (wearing his shiny 'Strike' racing suit) teamed with Mark Dismore, Jr. to win the 10th annual Robo Pong endurance Karting event at New Castle.

We want to go to the GP of Indy!

Do we want to go to the Grand Prix of Indy?

What a silly question! Of course we do!
 

 

Why do we want to go?
 

You might want to sit down for that one, it might take a while.

 

1.  If it's half as good as the Indy 500, it will be a race worth remembering!

2.  We can't wait to see the Indycars driving the 'wrong way' on the IMS track.

3.  The Month Of May is back!!!

4.  We love road/street courses!

(Big breath)

5.  Josef is in it!! (Alex made us put that)

6. All the Mazda Road to Indy Series will be competing that weekend.  Lots of racing is always good!

7. 2.4 Miles.  14 Turns.  Very Cool!

8.  It will be the first GP of Indy ever, and we want to be there to see history made

(Big breath)

9.  More time to run around one of our favorite places in the world.  The Indianapolis Motor Speedway!

10.  We bet there'll be a ton of action, just the way we like it.

11.  We want to extend our annual Indy 500 trip to two weeks and get to see two Indycar races and Indy 500 qualifying for the first time!

12.  We want another chance to do a race countdown.

13.  It's a lot more fun than doing schoolwork those days (but don't worry, Mom and Dad, we learn lots of math and science while we're there)

(Big breath)

14.  It's something to tweet, blog and video about

15.  Josef is in it!! (um, please excuse the repetition, but Josef is the reason Alex wants to go to/watch any Indycar race)

16.  We can get more Indy stuff when we're there!

17.  Well, don't you want to go?

And that is why we want to go to the first ever, Grand Prix of Indianapolis!