Skip to main content

NTT IndyCar Series: IndyCar Title Chase Wide Open After Gateway Race Won by Newgarden

Photo Credit: Chris Owens/IndyCar


untitled

The final oval event on the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series calender, Saturday night’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway gave fans one more chance to see the truest sensation of blazing speed of open wheel race cars this year. The Madison, Illinois track’s fast-paced challenge against competitors would ultimately serve as a massive reset to the championship.


Photo Credit: Joe Skibinski/IndyCar



Will Power qualified on pole for the 260-lap race on the 1.25-mile with an average lap speed of 180.618 miles per hour, the pilot of the #12 machine would control the opening lap until the second-place starter Colton took the top spot and held it for 56 consecutive laps. The yellow flag flew often in the opening one-quarter distance of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 including one occasion for a lighting malfunction. It would be the fifth caution of the race after a restart on lap 65 that had instant ramifications for this year’s drivers’ championship in the NTT IndyCar Series. Entering turn 1, Rinus Veekay tapped both the #9 car of Scott Dixon and teammate Alex Palou in the #10 machine. All three drivers retired from the race leaving drivers such as Pato O’Ward and Josef Newgarden with the opportunity to greatly improve their title prospects.


Photo Credit: Chris Owens/IndyCar



With the retirement of race win contender Colton Herta after 185 laps, the Bommarito Automotive Group 500's lead was put into the capable hands of Josef Newgarden and powered his #2 Team Penske machine to victory. The Tennessee native’s second win of the 2021 IndyCar Series season, he stands 22 points behind the new leader in the drivers’ championship. Finishing second on the World Wide Technology Raceway oval, Pato O’Ward is now at the top of the championship points chart with a 10-point margin on Alex Palou. Will Power, Scott McLaughlin and Sebastien Bourdais rounded out the top five after 260 laps on Saturday night.


Canadian driver Dalton Kellett had a decent outing in the #4 A.J. Foyt Racing machine finishing on the lead lap with a 12th place result. James Hinchcliffe suffered an electrical issue on-board his #29 Andretti Autosport car before the race even started. While the team was able to resolve the problem, Hinchcliffe ran many laps behind the lead pack and settled for 15th place completing 243 laps.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Review

Photo Credit: Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. untitled A companion to the NTT IndyCar Series finale weekend on the streets of Long Beach, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship staged a 26-car race on Saturday consisting of DPi, GTLM and GTD class machines. With the conclusion of the 1-hour, 40-minute Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach sports car event, the overall winner was the #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac shared by the driving duo of Felipe Nasr and Pipo Derani. The victory was a decisive weekend for the Whelen Engineering Racing team that had scored the pole position and went on to take the checkered flag with a 10.95-second gap over the #01 Cadillac fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing with Kevin Magnussen and Renger van der Zande. Corvette Racing enjoyed a dominant outing in the GTLM category. Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner in the #4 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R beat the #3 car shared by Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor. Only three GTLM class vehicles ran at Long Be
Post a Comment
Read more

Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton Quickest In Qatar Qualifying

Photo Credit: LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd. Saturday’s qualifying for the inaugural Formula 1 race in the Arab nation of Qatar has assembled what is certain to be a dramatic opening lap showdown between this season’s title contenders Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. In setting the grid for Sunday’s 57-lap main event on the fast, high grip 5.380-kilometer Losail International Circuit, it was the driver of the #44 Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team race car that took honours. Lewis Hamilton’s pole-winning lap time of 1-minute, 20.827 seconds in the final Q3 session putting a cap on a time trial where the seven-time World Drivers’ Champion handily controlled through the three sessions. Joining Hamilton on the front row of the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix will be Max Verstappen’s Red Bull Racing machine. The Honda-powered entrant was 0.455 seconds slower than the rival Mercedes race car. With the race at Losail being the third-to-last event on the 2021 Form
Post a Comment
Read more

Is More Imagination Needed Towards Indy 500 Pace Car Selection?

Photo Credit: General Motor/Chevrolet This weekend, the Indianapolis 500 will be run for its 100th time. A primary focus around a 500-mile auto race around a historic 2.5-mile race track has resulted in a far amount of traditions. Some of these traditions such as the Fast 9 qualifying shootout and the honorary starter are newer aspects while one of the oldest is the ceremonial pace setter used to lead the field to the green flag. A staple of the Indy 500 since the first race in 1911, the pace car history ranges from a Stoddard-Dayton roadster to a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 used in last year’s event. This year’s Indianapolis 500 will feature an all-new 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS trimmed in a special preview of the 50th Anniversary Package. The beautiful Abalone White sixth generation Camaro convertible features a 455-horsepower, 6.2-liter V-8 LT1 engine perfect for maintaining pace lap speed ahead of a 33-car contingent of machines set to run at speed of 230 miles per hour. A tradi
Post a Comment
Read more