Indy GP – Syndication Server

Lundgaard ‘happy to be disappointed’ with third in Indy GP

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Danish ace Christian Lundgaard says his third career podium finish and second on the Indy road course was “the minimum” that he and the team were seeking from the 2024 Sonsio Grand Prix. Lundgaard took the lead from …

Lundgaard took the lead from polesitter Alex Palou at the start of the race, went on to lead 35 laps, and finished third behind Palou and Will Power but ahead of Scott Dixon. He described his post-race mood as, “Happy to be disappointed, I would say. Yeah, I think that’s becoming an expression in the RLL engineering truck. Sometimes we’re just happy to be disappointed.

“I’m proud of the team. We qualified well at Barber, and I think considering how we handled Long Beach in terms of strategy — trying to get too much out of what I think we could have hurt us on the pure result. Going into Barber, it was a pure strategy of just get through the race and make sure that we get a good result, and coming here, there was a minimum, which was a podium. We got it, but I wanted it to be a win.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1408]

The Dane said he was wondering about his choice of a second set of primary Firestones on a day in which the alternate compound was faster and surprisingly durable. But he explained that the only set of alternates he had available before taking fresh ones for the final stint were well worn, and he doubted they would last.

“I think today on our performance we really did the best job that I think we could on the first two stints,” he said. “We were a little bold trying to put on another sticker set of primaries for the third stint, but the alternative was a very used alternate tire that we had to [run] a long way, and I preferred the primary tires there.

“The red tires were the preferred tires today, but going into the race, I think everybody was in the unknown. Everybody had a question mark — is it going to be 50/50 or 70/30 in terms of one compound being preferred? …I chose the sticker primaries because we were one of the most competitive cars in qualifying on blacks, on the primary tires. I didn’t see a reason why not to use them.

“But I think Alex was just fast today. He was fast here last year in May, in August. He’s fast wherever we go, really.”

Power ‘blocking out the noise’ from the Penske scandal

Will Power says his focus-forward attitude, in the wake of IndyCar’s penalties to Team Penske and the team’s self-imposed personnel suspensions, has helped put him in a strong position in the championship. Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix on the …

Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis road course was the first of two race events in which he lost the person who traditionally calls his strategy, Ron Ruzewski, and data acquisition engineer Robbie Atkinson. The absence of this pair, along with team president Tim Cindric and Josef Newgarden’s race engineer Luke Mason, is how Roger Penske has punished his team for Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin being disqualified from the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The push-to-pass lockout controlled by IndyCar for starts and restarts was found to have been overridden on all three Penske cars, and Newgarden and McLaughlin had used the extra boost when they should not.

Power’s long-time race engineer Dave Faustino stepped up to also call strategy for the No. 12 this weekend, and Power qualified third and finished second to fellow two-time champ Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing. The result brings Power his third runner-up finish in four championship races, and his 101st Indy car podium and leaves him second in the points table, 12 behind Palou.

Power said he had no obvious answers to the race pace of Palou, who started from pole, but was happy to beat the other front-row starter, Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

“I don’t know what else we could have done there,” he reflected. “I think that was a very solid day from us. We tried the undercut. It was just a little cooler today where the undercut wasn’t quite as strong. We gave it all we got. Once again, my boys on pit lane were gaining me positions. Actually at Barber, two races in a row, we jumped Lundgaard in a pit stop. I’m lucky to have them; they’re solid.

“Just didn’t quite have enough on that restart. I had to lift coming into the last corner, just had too much push, otherwise it would have been an interesting battle into Turn 1. I didn’t know whether to go for the inside or the outside but [Palou] made it very clear he was going to go up the inside, so I kind of went outside. Just wasn’t far enough along to make it work.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1408]

Asked about Penske’s suspension of four personnel for the month of May, Power suggested the team was deep enough that the roles of the absentees had been well covered.

“Honestly, it has run very well this weekend, even with everything that’s happened,” he said. “Everyone has got their head down. They’re working hard. Yep, disappointed how all that sort of played out, but focusing forward, not even thinking about the penalties. It is just one of those things. It was a mistake, and it happened. When you’re a top team like Penske, people certainly like to really blow everything up and make a big deal of it, although it was just a mistake. It was actually a mistake – I know, I was testing [the hybrid equipped car] when the software was put in. It was just one of those things.

“I’ve just kept my head down, tried to block out all the noise. Looking forward. That’s my job. My job is to turn up every week and give my absolute best and be professional and race to the best of my ability, and that’s what I’m doing. I’m working hard and trying to get a win but just being smart.”

Asked if Faustino will continue his dual role of race engineer and strategist for the Indy 500, Power replied, “I expect that to be the case. I can’t see why not. He did a very good job. Didn’t really have any issues. He’s done it for so long. Ultimately he has a lot to do with the strategy anyway, he just doesn’t call it. Yeah, I would expect him to be in that same position…

“The team just has good people. You can lose a couple and then the slack is taken up pretty easily. I think every stand ran pretty flawlessly even though we’re lacking people. That’s just the way the team is. It’s got a lot of depth, a lot of good people. It’s easy to move people around and put them in different positions, and they perform at a really high standard. Not surprising.

“It’s a well-oiled machine. You can miss a couple of cogs and it still works. Yeah, it’s not a big deal. It’s disappointing, but just one of those things.”

Penske pitwork helped Power beat Lundgaard, but ultimately neither of them had an answer for Palou. Geoffrey Miller/Motorsport Images

Power also played down any frustration with Marcus Ericsson, who stymied his attempts to lay down fast laps when he first tried to undercut Palou and Lundgaard.

“He’s on the lead lap…so there’s nothing that he did wrong,” said Power. “He just happened to be in that spot. Would be nice if he had let me go. It’s just… he’s racing, too. If he’s a lap down, yes, that sort of thing is very frustrating, but if we’re [exiting the pits] where he is on track, well, that’s on us… If he’s on the lead lap, it’s not on him to let me go.”

‘The hard part was done by my crew’ – Palou on Indy GP win

Alex Palou, who scored his 10th IndyCar win in Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis road course, says, “The hard part was done by my crew,” in his drive to victory. Although he started from pole position and on the softer Firestone …

Alex Palou, who scored his 10th IndyCar win in Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis road course, says, “The hard part was done by my crew,” in his drive to victory.

Although he started from pole position and on the softer Firestone alternate tires, Chip Ganassi Racing’s two-time champion slightly outbraked himself at Turn 1 on lap one, allowing fellow front-row starter Christian Lundgaard to drive his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda into the lead.

Then when he switched to primaries at his first stop, Palou also lost out to Team Penske ace Will Power, who had stopped a lap earlier and switched to alternates, allowing him to put in a fast out lap and jump the Ganassi No. 10 car.

However, running a lap longer than his rivals, a fast in-lap and swift work by his crew saw Palou emerge in front, after which he controlled the pace and survived the sole restart when Power tried to attack him at Turn 1.

“Honestly, it wasn’t a great start from my side,” said Palou, who has now taken the championship lead. “[I made] a mistake, overshot the braking a little bit and just locked and lost that place, went into the grass a little bit. Wasn’t my best start, but I was just looking forward to getting that back and trying to get the lead back.

“But then we lost another place, I think on the first stint with Power. We were on the blacks, the primaries at that time. Honestly, our pace was a lot better than I thought on the primaries. We were able to stay with them. They [Lundgaard and Power] pitted early. We overcut them both, and from that point, we stayed in the lead.

“I would say that today the hard part was done by my crew, the No. 10 crew, my engineers and my mechanics, on getting that first position back. I just had to control from the lead.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1408]

Regarding retaining the lead at the restart, Palou said, “It wasn’t easy. It’s a very big straight. If you look, I would say that it’s probably the biggest straight that we have, and it’s worse for restarts because it’s easy to get a tow. I also had a longer first gear than Power did, so when I went on throttle, he had the bigger jump than myself because my first gear was so tall. Wasn’t great but kept the lead there, did my job, and yeah, we were able to finish up front.”

Palou later added: “I give all the kudos to my team for giving me fast cars. Without the fast car I had in qualifying, I could have qualified P17 and had a terrible weekend. I don’t think it’s all me. I’m just a passenger sometimes in that car.

“We won last year, so we are obviously… we have the best team. I don’t think that there’s huge differences in terms of performance, but there’s really big differences in terms of executing, and my team is the best at executing and getting 100 percent or sometimes 101 percent of what we have every single weekend.”

The Spaniard also praised young teammate Marcus Armstrong who scored his best result of his nascent IndyCar career with a fifth place in the wheeltracks of another Ganassi car, that of Dixon.

“I think [Armstrong] has been working very hard and he’s been knocking on that door a lot,” said Palou. “Still hasn’t had the perfect weekend where everything fits for him, but he’s been really fast. Even last year here in August, I think he qualified seventh, and unfortunately I took him out on the first lap.

“He’s been really good. At Barber he went into the Fast Six, was the only car of the team in the Fast Six, and it’s great that he got his first top five. I’m sure that he will have a couple of wins this year.”

Palou rules at Indy GP, takes points lead

Alex Palou scored his first points win of the NTT IndyCar Series season at the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. The Chip Ganassi Racing Honda driver converted pole to victory after seeing off strong opposition from …

Palou, who also won the non-championship event at The Thermal Club, led 39 of the 85 laps, to beat Power by 6.6s, and move to the top of the points table by 10 points over the Penske-Chevrolet driver.

Lundgaard drove a strong race, missing out to Power only in a pit stop exchange, and able to remain ahead of Dixon to claim third.

Story of the race
The top 10 on the grid saw five drivers starting on Firestone’s softer red compound, and five on the harder primaries. Alex Palou on pole, Josef Newgarden in fourth, Alexander Rossi (seventh), Marcus Armstrong (eighth) and Graham Rahal (ninth) had gone for reds, while Christian Lundgaard and Will Power — second and third respectively — had chosen blacks, as had Pato O’Ward and Scott Dixon (fifth and sixth) and Felix Rosenqvist (10th).

At the green, Lundgaard chopped across behind Palou to cut off Power on the inside, but then got a good draft from Palou so that he was able to flick to the outside of the polesitter at Turn 1, which put him on the inside for Turn 2, and the Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver claimed the lead.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1408]

Power hung on to third, inside Newgarden who had Dixon on the outside. Newgarden chose caution over valor, and backed out to settle for fifth. Behind them, O’Ward moved ran sixth ahead of Armstrong, Rossi, Rahal and the fast-starting Ed Carpenter Racing of Rinus VeeKay who was running fresh reds. Further back, there was chaos as Rosenqvist and VeeKay inadvertently squeezed Scott McLaughlin’s Penske, slowing all three of them and causing a stack up that sent many to the grass run off to avoid contact.

The chaos started early! 🫣

Another look at the wild Turn 1 stack up involving multiple cars to open the race.

📺: NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/KTXeJBtQ77

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 11, 2024

The big winners were Jack Harvey, who drove his Dale Coyne Racing from 17th to 12th, while Linus Lundqvist, despite his Ganassi car running primaries, was up from 19th to 13th. Further back, Santino Ferrucci ushered his regular foe Romain Grosjean off the track, while Marcus Ericsson sent his Andretti Global teammate Colton Herta into a runoff.

Palou seemed content to run in Lundgaard’s slipstream, while Power, Dixon and Newgarden ran in lockstep behind.However on lap 8, the McLarens started to fall, Armstrong passing O’Ward for sixth, while on lap 10, Rahal usurped Rossi for eighth, and a lap later took O’Ward, too.

Rosenqvist, who had tumbled down the order, pitted on Lap 10, and Herta was in two laps later. Despite his strong progress, Lundqvist pitted on lap 13.

Of the front-runners, O’Ward was in on lap 16 for another set of reds, this time a brand-new set, and Power elected to do the same next time by, replacing his primaries. That triggered Lundgaard, Palou, Dixon, to follow suit, leaving Armstrong out front for one lap, before he pitted.

Power had just set his best two laps on reds, and while Lundgaard and Palou emerged in front, the Ganassi driver was on blacks and only just in front. Along the back straight, Power hit the push to pass and outbraked Palou. Lundgaard would be a tougher nut, since he was on the alternates.

As the leaders cycled back to the front, Lundgaard led Power by two seconds, both on reds, with Palou 1.3s further back on primaries but 3.8 ahead of Dixon (alternates). Newgarden was six seconds further in arrears on primaries and struggling to hold off the similarly-tired Armstrong. Fifth changed hands on lap 25.

Then came O’Ward, and while he started reeling in Newgarden, he also had Rahal and Rossi closing in on him. Rahal snagged seventh on lap 28, and the RLL driver took Newgarden at Turn 1, two laps later. O’Ward and Rossi also zapped Newgarden at Turn 1 on successive laps, and then it was Lundqvist and Pietro Fittipaldi’s turn to push the two-time champ outside the top 10.

Meanwhile, on lap 33, Rossi moved past O’Ward who was coming under pressure from the very impressive Lundqvist, who went past on lap 35. Newgarden gave up his struggle on primaries on lap 36 and pitted for used reds. Lundqvist stopped on 37.

Just before their second stops, Lundgaard saw his 1.3s lead over Power halved as he got stuck in the dirty air of Kyle Kirkwood and Rosenqvist who were at the back of the pack. Dave Faustino called Power to the pits to see if he could get the undercut on Lundgaard who stopped next time by. The plan might have worked, but Power’s out-lap saw him stuck behind Ericsson which stymied his chances of getting Lundgaard who chose primaries. Yet both of them would fall victim to Palou, who stopped a lap later and emerged in front and on reds.

The Palou-led pack cycled to the head of the field on lap 45, the reigning champ holding a 1.9s lead over Lundgaard who was 2.5s ahead of Power, who had a similar margin over Dixon. Armstrong was 10sec back but well ahead of Rossi, Rahal and Lundqvist. Herta, slightly off-sequence, was ninth, ahead of his old Indy Lights teammate O’Ward.

There was a position of stasis among the front-runners for most of the rest of the stint, the top four covered by just six seconds, until Lundgaard found himself stuck behind Agustin Canapino’s Juncos Hollinger Racing machine, allowing Palou to escape a little, and Power to lower his deficit to Lundgaard under one second. By the time they got around the JHR machine, Palou was also forcing the pace ahead of his pit stop, pulling out a five-second leader.

Herta stopped on lap 61 of the 85, with the four leaders all pulling in on lap 62, eager not to be jumped by the Andretti driver. Penske’s No. 12 crew jumped Power out ahead of Lundgaard, who also now had Dixon’s No. 9 filling his mirrors. However, Palou, Lundgaard and Dixon were on fresh reds, Power was on used.

Luca Ghiotto, in only his second IndyCar race, then caused the first caution of the day when he spun and stalled his Dale Coyne Racing-Honda. That allowed McLaughlin, who had been running between 12th and 14th for most of the day, and had just pitted to jump up to sixth. Sadly, Lundqvist would drop down the field and lose a lap to gearbox issues.

At the restart, Palou defended the inside line at Turn 1 and then ran long to push Power out wide on the exit, leaving Power vulnerable to Lundgaard and Dixon. Armstrong held off McLaughlin, while Herta won a torrid one-lap battle with his old teammate Rossi to claim seventh. Rahal and Rosenqvist ran ninth and 10th, ahead of Kirkwood and Grosjean.

With 10 laps to go, it was clear Power on older tires had nothing for Palou, falling 2.5s back but was initially able to eke out a 1.8s margin over Lundgaard who had a similar lead on Dixon. With seven laps to go, the RLL car started chipping away at the Penske driver’s advantage, and dropping Dixon who was under pressure from his young compatriot and teammate Armstrong.

However, the order remained static to the checkered flag, Palou winning by 6.6s and Power keeping out of range of Lundgaard. Dixon held off teammate Armstrong who seemed docile in pursuit of his teammate, while McLaughlin made it a Kiwi 4-5-6. Herta was seventh after a strong recovery from the opening lap shenanigans, but has dropped from the points lead to fourth.

RESULTS

Johnson and Sikes share USF Pro 2000 honors at Indy GP

VRD Racing’s Nikita Johnson and Pabst Racing’s Simon Sikes both stood on the top step of the podium in the final two rounds of the VP Racing Grand Prix of Indianapolis tripleheader. This was the fifth win of the season for Johnson, of Gulfport, Fla., who also stood atop the podium Friday at the Indianapolis Grand Prix road course. For Sikes, from Augusta, Ga., the victory marked the reigning USF2000 champion’s first since graduating to USF Pro 2000.

This morning’s podium was a deja vu of Friday’s with New Zealand’s Liam Sceats (TJ Speed Motorsports) finishing second ahead of Australian Lochie Hughes (Turn 3 Motorsport).

Johnson stretched his already considerable USF Pro 2000 Presented by Continental Tire points lead by chasing Sikes home in second place in the final race of the weekend as Hughes once again took third.

Johnson had continued his recent dominance Saturday morning with another emphatic victory. Once again he started at the front, courtesy of his second fastest lap during the lone qualifying session on Friday which secured another Continental Tire Pole Award, although it was outside front row qualifier Sceats who stole a march at the start by snatching the lead at the first turn. It didn’t last for long.

Sceats immediately came under pressure from Johnson, who drafted alongside the New Zealander on the long front straightaway leading into Turn 1. Sceats did his best to defend, holding a tight inside line, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Johnson from executing a textbook “over-under” maneuver by tucking back to the right as Sceats ran a little deep into the braking zone and then slicing past cleanly before they reached Turn 2.

Job done. Johnson then put his head down and rapidly extended his lead. The 15-year-old never relaxed his pace, even posting a new fastest lap of the race just two laps before the finish to ensure himself of the maximum 33-point score.

Sceats maintained second position for the remainder of the all-green 25-lap race, despite intense pressure throughout from Hughes, who finished third for the second straight race.

Fourth place was taken by local resident Jace Denmark (Pabst Racing), who provided one of the drives of the race by rising from 13th on the grid to claim the Tilton Hard Charger Award.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1505]

Starting positions for the final race were set according to either each driver’s second fastest lap in qualifying or their best lap time set during race two this morning, whichever was faster. Johnson duly claimed a sweep of the Continental Tire Pole Awards, thanks to his time from Friday, while Sikes finally gained a glimmer of light after a disappointing couple of days when his best lap from earlier today proved good enough to secure an outside front row starting position.

Hughes started fourth but lost no time in making his presence felt as he grasped the lead on the opening lap. Johnson, though, fought back immediately, taking the lead on the second lap, while Sikes followed through into second next time around.

The two leaders traded fastest laps as they inched away from Hughes in third until, as the 25-lap race neared its halfway mark, Johnson managed to eke out his advantage to over a second.

Shortly afterward, however, in stark contrast to the previous two races, Johnson abruptly lost some pace, which allowed Sikes to close in once more.

On lap 19, Sikes drew alongside Johnson as they sped toward Turn 1, then grasped the lead with a move around the outside.

Once in front, Sikes was never able to extend much of a lead, but there was no way back for Johnson, who had to be content with second. Hughes also finished hot on Johnson’s tail.

The scrap for fourth place was all about TJ Speed Motorsports, with Hunter Yeany, from Virginia Beach, Va., slipping past Sceats to claim the position with four laps remaining.

Mexico’s Ricardo Escotto pocketed the Tilton Hard Charger Award after rising from 14th on the grid to ninth, as VRD’s Dan Mitchell of VRD and Augie Pabst shared the PFC Awards as the winning car owners.

A brace of official tests at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, in Lexington, Ohio, and Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wis., are up next for the USF Pro 2000 regulars, followed by a return to the Indianapolis area for the only oval race of the season, the Continental Tire Freedom 90 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on May 23-24.

RACE TWO RESULTS
RACE THREE RESULTS

Armstrong tops Indy GP warm-up

Marcus Armstrong led the final practice session before this afternoon’s Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course. Chip Ganassi Racing’s younger New Zealander used a set of the softer alternate compound Firestones to lap the …

Initially, the majority of teams focused on warming up their crews by doing practice pit stops.

In the opening 10 minutes, on the primaries, Romain Grosjean of Juncos Hollinger Racing and the Team Penske cars of Will Power and Scott McLaughlin looked particularly strong, although in overall lap times they were behind Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing, Kyle Kirkwood’s Andretti Global entry and the third Penske car of Josef Newgarden.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1408]

Late in the session, Armstrong jumped to the top with a 1m09.9331s effort and then trimmed a further tenth from that to set the final benchmark ahead of championship leader Herta, who will roll off 24th this afternoon after running out of fuel during qualifying.

VeeKay was third fastest, ahead of yesterday’s pole winner, two-time champion Alex Palou, with Graham Rahal fifth.

The session was brought to a slightly premature halt by Pato O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren blowing up its Chevrolet and causing a red flag.

RESULTS

STARTING LINEUP AND TIRE DESIGNATIONS

Abel powers to flag-to-flag Indy NXT win at Indy GP

All it takes is one. Jacob Abel spoke to how much confidence his maiden Indy NXT by Firestone victory April 28 at Barber Motorsports Park did for his psyche. Friday, Abel scored win number two. Abel held off second-place finisher Nolan Siegel in a …

All it takes is one.

Jacob Abel spoke to how much confidence his maiden Indy NXT by Firestone victory April 28 at Barber Motorsports Park did for his psyche. Friday, Abel scored win number two.

Abel held off second-place finisher Nolan Siegel in a three-lap shootout on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course to score his second consecutive victory in the No. 51 Abel Construction entry.

“This is awesome,” Abel said after leading all 35 laps in this race. “Unfortunately, we don’t get to celebrate for too long here. We’re getting another chance tomorrow. That was a really great race, though.”

Siegel came in tied with Abel for the points lead and charged from a fifth-place starting position to bring his No. 39 HMD Motorsports entry home second, 0.5470s in arrears. He trails Abel by 14 points entering Saturday’s second race of the Indianapolis Grand Prix doubleheader at 1 p.m. ET, with live coverage on Peacock and the IndyCar Radio Network.

Friday’s result was the third time in as many races this season the duo finished 1-2, as Siegel won the season opener in March in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Andretti Global’s Jamie Chadwick scored the best finish for a female driver in Indy NXT by Firestone since Pippa Mann’s 2010 win at Kentucky Speedway on Sept. 4, 2010, when she brought her No. 28 VEXT entry home third. Chadwick’s previous best finish was sixth last September at Portland International Raceway.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1503]

Rookie Callum Hedge finished fourth in the No. 17 HMD Motorsports entry, with fellow rookie Myles Rowe rounding out the top five in the No. 99 HMD Motorsports with Force Indy car.

Abel initially had the win on cruise control before a pair of late-race cautions caused by both Abel Motorsports teammates erased his advantage. He leaped to nearly a five-season lead over Siegel before the first caution flew for Yuven Sundaramoorthy stopping off course in his No. 22 S Team Motorsports/Abel Motorsports entry in Turn 4 on lap 21.

On the lap 26 restart, Abel led Siegel to the green on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course. Two laps later, his advantage grew to 0.9704s.

On lap 30, Jordan Missig (No. 21 Abel Motorsports) went off course after contact with the wall in Turn 7, sparking the second full-course caution.

Siegel had a second chance to pass Abel for the win. Even with a great launch on the lap 32 restart, Abel prevailed.

“Nolan and I had a great battle,” Abel said. “I had it under control the whole time. I had a big lead there, and unfortunately a lot of yellows really made me work for it at the end. I was just saving tires early on, so I was ready for that.

“Massive thanks to all the Abel Motorsports crew. They delivered an amazing car. We didn’t roll off 100 percent here, but we everyone figured it out in that one practice session that we had, and that’s almost more gratifying than last weekend, when we just rolled off perfect.”

The exciting race featured 165 on-track passes and 136 passes for position, both series records for this circuit.

RESULTS

Johnson snatches fourth USF Pro 2000 win in a row at Indy GP

Nikita Johnson and VRD Racing are on a roll. The 15-year-old rising star from Gulfport, Fla. scored his fourth victory in a row Friday when he once again showed a clean rear wing to his USF Pro 2000 Presented by Continental Tire rivals and comfortably won the first of three races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Grand Prix road course which will comprise the VP Racing Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

Ditto his VRD Racing team, which also won the USF2000 race earlier in the afternoon.

New Zealand rookie Liam Sceats finished a distant second for TJ Speed Motorsports, earning his best finish of the young season, while fellow Antipodean Lochie Hughes, from Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bounced back to form with a strong run to third for Turn 3 Motorsport.

Johnson served notice of his intentions this morning as he set the fastest time in qualifying to secure his second Continental Tire Pole Award of the season. Sceats lined up alongside with Exclusive Autosport’s Braden Eves, who now resides in Indianapolis, and DEForce Racing’s Mac Clark of Milton, Ont., Canada rounding out the second row.

The start saw a reshuffle of positions with Eves suffering the worst of the affair after going into the cut off in Turn 1 to avoid contact and rejoining in 10th position. Johnson briefly lost the lead to Sceats but regained the point in time for lap two, which saw contact between Clark and Hunter Yeany (TJ Speed Motorsports). Clark’s damage ended his day while Yeany, of Virginia Beach, Va., was shuffled back down the order after starting sixth.

Over the course of the next few laps, several cars made off-course excursions but it wasn’t until lap five when the first caution flag flew as Frankie Mossman (Jay Howard Driver Development) ground to a halt in Turn 6. By this stage, everyone in the top five in points was having issues with the exception of Johnson.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1505]

Eves’ day continued to worsen as contact in Turn 7 on lap eight brought out a second caution and ended his day. Jace Denmark of Pabst Racing, who was running seventh, was penalized for the avoidable contact and sent to the back of the field.

The race resumed on lap 11 and all eyes were on the ensuing battles mid-pack, including a sensational drive by Simon Sikes of Pabst Racing, who started last after an incident in qualifying and had worked his way up into the mix in seventh – earning the Tilton Hard Charger Award along the way with a gain of 14 positions.

The remaining laps were caution free with Johnson romping to a lead of over four seconds when the checkered flags flew. Ricardo Escotto – a winner last year at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – finished a fine fourth for BN Racing to claim his best result of the season to date with Yeany rounding out the top five.

“The race was really good,” Johnson said. “We started P1 but unfortunately lost the lead at the start when we went three wide. I was able to get back around Liam and just focus on getting clean laps. There were a couple of restarts and I just kept it out front and kept them behind me and drove my VRD car to the end. … A great day overall and I can’t thank the VRD boys enough. Also, thanks to my dad for being here and my mom and brother watching back home and all of my sponsors. I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

The PFC Award once again was claimed by Dan Mitchell as the winning team owner.

Two more 25-lap races will take place Saturday on the Indianapolis Grand Prix circuit with green flags slated for 7:55 a.m. and noon ET.

RESULTS

Lundgaard leads Power, Dixon in second Indy GP practice

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard led second practice for Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix of Indianapolis, ahead of Team Penske’s Will Power and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon. The first 12 minutes of the session were dominated by …

The first 12 minutes of the session were dominated by former winners on the Indianapolis road course — Power, Alexander Rossi of Arrow McLaren and Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing.

Then they were deposed by Marcus Armstrong’s Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Pato O’Ward’s McLaren and then Lundgaard was the first to crack 70 seconds. The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda lapped the 2.439-mile road course in 1m09.9476s, an average speed of 125.528 mph.

Another improvement from O’Ward and Agustin Canapino — Juncos Hollinger Racing’s star in this morning’s first practice session — both edged ahead of Lundgaard.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1408]

Turn 10 produced spins for Marcus Ericsson (Andretti Global) and Tom Blomqvist (Meyer Shank Racing), but it was Jack Harvey of Dale Coyne Racing who spun and stalled and brought out the red flag.

Penske’s Barber Motorsports Park winner Scott McLaughlin jumped to the top with 20 minutes to go, turning a 1m09.8648s effort on his 14th lap, with Meyer Shank’s Felix Rosenqvist falling just 0.0317s short of displacing him. Power was 0.0464s short yet only fourth, two thousandths behind O’Ward.

With less than five minutes remaining, Dixon shot to the top with a 1m09.8565s, but was immediately eclipsed by Power, who produced a 1m09.6899s, just outside the 126mph bracket. That looked like it might be it, but Lundgaard trimmed 0.1311s off Power’s benchmark to end the session on top.

McLaughlin retained fourth ahead of Rosenqvist and O’Ward, while Armstrong made it three New Zealanders in the top seven.

Canapino hung in with an impressive eighth, ahead of Graham Rahal, who bounced back from zero flying laps this morning to set ninth with his new engine. Josef Newgarden completed the top 10.

Qualifying is set to start at 4.20pm ET.

RESULTS

Herta edges Canapino in first Indy GP practice

Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta topped opening practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course for Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix, but Agustin Canapino of Juncos Hollinger Racing was the talk of the session. In a bright but fresh 75-minute …

In a bright but fresh 75-minute session — 56 degrees F at the start — the rookies took advantage of their extra set of tires to lay down early laps, Christian Rasmussen of Ed Carpenter Racing leading Chip Ganassi Racing youngsters Linus Lundqvist and Kyffin Simpson after 15 minutes.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden had moved to the top of the times on his third lap and then on his fourth ducked beneath the 70-second barrier — 1m09.9152s — when he spun and stalled exiting Turn 2, causing a red flag.

Newly signed Arrow McLaren driver Theo Pourchaire was up to third ahead of Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda’s Christian Lundgaard and Meyer Shank Racing’s rookie Tom Blomqvist when the second red flew for another RLL driver, Graham Rahal, who had pulled off at pit exit with a suspected mechanical issue. The session had barely restarted when Marcus Armstrong’s Ganassi car went up in smoke on its second lap and pulled into pitlane with fire on the right side.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1408]

When the track stayed under green long enough for more established stars to lay down times, Felix Rosenqvist — twice a polesitter here — and Herta, a former winner here, were into the top five. But by then Lundgaard was up to second and Rasmussen had improved his best to go third.

Then Rasmussen’s teammate, Rinus VeeKay, who scored his first win on this course back in 2021, finally usurped Newgarden from the top spot to set a 1m09.7872s with 25 minutes to go, while Ganassi’s Alex Palou moved up to third.

The McLarens of Pourchaire and Pato O’Ward went onto the alternate compound Firestones with 18 minutes to go, and the latter made that pay off with a 1m09.7199s to go top on his 16th lap. Pietro Fittipaldi in the third RLL car jumped to sixth with a time almost identical to what Lundgaard achieved on primaries.

Will Power — a five-time winner at this track — went to P1 for Penske with the first 126mph lap of the session, briefly got knocked off the top, surprisingly, by Canapino and then the Australian lowered the benchmark to 1m09.3930s. But Canapino was equal to that challenge, too, and resumed P1 with a 1m09.3713s. Behind Power was VeeKay with Scott McLaughlin (Penske) in fourth, ahead of O’Ward and Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Autosport).

Kirkwood didn’t stay top Andretti Global driver for long, as Herta got down to a 1m09.2863s to grab the top spot, while the third AG car of Marcus Ericsson slotted into fifth.

In the final minutes, Rosenqvist fell off the track at Turn 7, Pourchaire lost fuel pressure and coasted to a halt, and Santino Ferrucci did another fine job to put AJ Foyt Racing into the top 10.

Practice 2 begins at 1:10pm local (Eastern) time, with qualifying starting at 4:20pm.

RESULTS