Indy Car and general US Motorsports

8pm indycar, if you have sky sports F1. 2 rounds to go portland this sunday & laguna seca next sunday. should be a cracker. as said above 3 pts separate top 2 17pts between the top 4 of power newgarden dixon & Ericcson 3 previous champions + the reigning indy 500 champion . & it could be anyones even inside the top 7 because palou, mclaughlin & o'ward are all with a race win as well if some of the top 4 have a bad day & the other 3 win they could catapult them into contention
 
its a 5 horse race going into the indycar finale & its looking good for will power after sunday, as he takes a 20 points lead going into next weeks final race at laguna seca, will be favourite to win his 2nd title

If power finishes on the podium he wins regardless of the any of the other 4

If power finishes 4th or lower & Newgarden or Dixon win the race with leading most laps. they will be champion

If power finishes 16th or lower & Ericcson win the race with leading most laps & neither Newgarden or Dixon dont finish on the podium, they will be champion

If power finishes 18th or lower & Mclaughlin win the race with leading most laps. & neither Newgarden or Dixon dont finish on the podium, they will be champion
 
in unsurprising news, which is about as unsurprising as Riccardo leaving McLaren. Jimmie Johnson won't be participating full time in IndyCar. as to para phrase him. he cant commit to 3rd season, when i know that the mountain is 2x 3x higher than I thought it would be

i say unsurprising news because from outside id hope. but certainly me he was outstanding on the ovals but couldnt bridge that gap on the road courses. he had made 1.2 seconds improvement year on year but when your starting 2 seconds off its very hard in extremely competitive series. so i was saying from the mid season. he will comeback just for the ovals next season

https://twitter.com/x/status/1574399508846612482
 
So I guess Indycar is switching direction on their Hybrid Power unit. They are no longer using the 2.4 but moving to a 2.2 because Chevrolet couldn't figure out how to do it and Honda could. Kinda hilarious when you ask me since Chevrolet are pushing their hybrid brand. So this has wasted tons of R&D money and now we won't see the new hybrid units until 2024 and there are still no new manufacturers coming (that one doesn't bother me that much since the teams are what make the racing great in Indy).

Oh! And the new show like Drive To Survive is happening for the 2023 season leading up to the Indy 500 which I think is cool but a little weird. The Indy 500 has a lot of focus already so they should be focusing on dramatising the whole championship because I think that is a show worth watching because you don't need to stretch the drama all that far. Most Indycar seasons go down to the last race anyway.
 
Indycar starts this weekend 5pm on sky sports in the UK. always a fun series to watch, some great racing on some old school circuits like Long Beach, Laguna Seca, Road America, Toronto. & appartantly in detroit they have moved from belle isle to the same site as detroit F1 circuit in mid 80's

driver wise, it becoming quite a popular place like the 90's because if your not racing in F1, there isnt another single seater series to go to. & it might be the championship to use a football analogy. but it is becoming highly sought after. with 27 entries biggest for a long time. by accident they got a great mix of
old guard like Rahal, Dixon, Castroneves, Reigning champion Power, Newgarden,
new guard like O'Ward, Palou, Mclaughlin, Herta
those coming over from Europe, Grosjean, Rossi, Ericsson, Rosenquist, Armstrong, Ilott, Lungaard

www.motorsport.com

Preview: Who needs a big year in IndyCar in 2023?

Nothing can be taken for granted as the new IndyCar season prepares for launch – and as ever, reputations are on the precipice at the pinnacle of U.S. single-seater racing. The pressure is on at several teams down the pitlane for drivers to safeguard their positions amid fierce competition on...
www.motorsport.com www.motorsport.com
 
Art Garfunkel sons in indycar this year it seems
20230305_182409.jpg
 
if thats level of racing we are going to see in indycar this season. bring it on, what a race. full of action, drama & controversy.2 cars went airborne in 2 separate incidents, with 1 with 30 min red flag period after a huge opening lap crash & escape of the century from Rahal,

https://twitter.com/x/status/1632437384343109635

i was fully expecting a ex F1 driver to win but Grosjean not Ericsson. but a good opportunist drive to take advantage of others mistakes. O'Ward had the race in the bag until his engine cut out slightly on exit of the final corner with 2 laps to go.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1632470023754113025

but Grosjean had every right to be fuming, pole comfortably fastest driver on the day, it was incredible to watch but in the words of Murray Walker "it what i feared might happen" & i think McLaughlin got to shoulder the blame in his defence it was the old unstoppable force & unmoveable job object we talked about in 2021. but desperation got the better of McLaughlin as he had a case of the verstappens. he did apologise in the post race interview but rational side of his brain left as he tried to keep the lead at all costs trying to brake later on cold tyres than he had on warm tyres in previous stint was only going to end in disaster

https://twitter.com/x/status/1632462019604496385

https://twitter.com/x/status/1632464436312125441
 
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nice win for the highly rated youngster Kyle Kirkwood who has come through the ranks. drove a mature race from pole didnt take any risks & capitalised on misfortune of those around him. you wouldnt believe he was going for his maiden race win.

Newgarden had led into the final stint but his race was stuffed on lap 22 which with caution ruined everyones strategy who started alternate tyre. he had to stop earlier to get off softer tyres as 2nd & 3rd were on harder more preferred tyre meant he over overcutted in the pits & must have been undisclosed issue as he was losing a second a lap in final stint dropping all the way to 7th so it had to be something more than fuel saving

yet another 2nd place for grosjean his 4th wouldve been 5th if he hadnt been taken out in st pete. you have to feel the win will happen eventually & might start a flood as he is consistently in top 6 qualifying & fighting for the win. was running 4th at texas on the oval before he hit the wall with a few laps left

Marcus Ericsson couldve won. he had great pace but lost alot of time in o'ward ambitious (to be generous) overtaking manoeuvre on both him & kirkwood. i cant believe in last 12 months. that this is the same Ericsson who was pretty dreadful in F1. this series really suits him & wouldnt put it past him to win the title this year to add to his indy 500

https://twitter.com/x/status/1647696796423016450

20230416_231424.jpg
 
just caught up with indy 500 & what a very entertaining race. where i would say experience won the day over speed. as Newgarden qualified 17th & only a top 5 race car. but he kept himself out of trouble got himself up to the leading group, by 70 laps in. & then as 1 by 1 the favourites fell away.
  • veekay crashed into palou in the pits putting both out of contention even if they carried on
  • rosenquist got loose after being overtaken, put it in the wall.
  • kirkwood caught the aftermath & ended up in the wall
  • pato o'ward tried & a overly ambitious move on ericcson & crashed
  • slow pit stop for ferrucci
  • dixon having tyre issues in the 1st stint
well done to newgarden as through luck & strategy he was 2nd on final lap & had the perfect slipstream to take the victory. which just like F1 there will be controversy over that 3rd red flag that should race have carried on with a white flag restart, was it right that show take priority over the sport & i see Ericsson's point. but i think the fans pay money deserve to see the excitement of green flag finish. i would say majority of people watch sport for the drama & the entertainment

but arrow mclaren will be gutted as to paraphrase rossi to have 3 of the best cars in field & come away with 5th DNF DNF will be deeply disappointing for zak brown
 

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