Tag: James Hinchcliffe

Hinchcliffe to join Pfaff Motorsports McLaren for three endurance races

Pfaff Motorsports dropped the first hint of its 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driver lineup as it switches from Porsche to McLaren. Pfaff tweeted that James Hinchcliffe would be joining them for the three longer endurance races in …

Pfaff Motorsports dropped the first hint of its 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driver lineup as it switches from Porsche to McLaren.

Pfaff tweeted that James Hinchcliffe would be joining them for the three longer endurance races in 2024 — the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Motul Petit Le Mans. The Canadian IndyCar race winner and NBC Sports analyst, is the first announced for the Canadian team based near Toronto.

The tweet included a video in which Hinchcliffe is checking his e-mail and celebrates, before yelling to his wife, “Hey babe, how do you feel about plaid?” His wife, actress Rebecca Dalton, then walks in the room wearing a plaid flannel shirt, hat and boots. Pfaff has a history of playing up its Canadian roots with a plaid livery, although the team’s general manager, Steve Bortolotti, has indicated the design on its 720S Evo will be more tied into McLaren’s colors.

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Pfaff Motorsports announced in October that it would switch from Porsche to McLaren for its 2024 WeatherTech Championship GTD PRO campaign. The team has won championships the previous two years running, earning the GTD crown in 2021 and the inaugural GTD PRO title in 2022. However, the squad took only a single victory in 2023, a win at the Twelve Hours of Sebring that came through a risky gamble on fuel.

Three more drivers are yet to be announced — the two season-long drivers, as well as a fourth driver for Daytona. One of the full-season drivers is expected to come from the McLaren stable of factory pilots. Pfaff is expected to make more driver announcements over the next few days.

Hinchcliffe eager to get back behind the wheel in sports cars

James Hinchcliffe has closed the open-wheel racing chapter in his life, although he’d welcome a call from Roger Penske asking him to consider driving a fourth entry at next year’s Indianapolis 500. But until that happens, the six-time IndyCar race …

James Hinchcliffe has closed the open-wheel racing chapter in his life, although he’d welcome a call from Roger Penske asking him to consider driving a fourth entry at next year’s Indianapolis 500.

But until that happens, the six-time IndyCar race winner, polesitter at the 2016 Indy 500 and nine-time participant in the Rolex 24 At Daytona would like to re-establish his name in sports cars where the Canadian made regular starts from 2006 through 2017. From Grand-Am GTs to Daytona Prototypes to IMSA LMP2s and DPis, to extracurricular fun in the Australian Supercars series and Mazda’s MX-5 Cup, Hinchcliffe wants to put his high-level experience to use in IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and has been working for quite a while to make it happen.

“I’ve always had aspirations of pursuing sports cars post-IndyCar,” Hinchcliffe told RACER. “When I started searching at the end of ‘21, we were pretty far down the road with an IMSA team and putting a program together. And for various reasons, that didn’t come together,

“When that didn’t work out to go straight from IndyCar to IMSA, it was kind of a bummer, but on the other hand, taking a break for a year probably wasn’t the worst thing. That whole year, we were already gearing back up to take another swing at it for 2022 and then, once again, really late in the game, it all fell apart.

“So I think my position now is that I’ve scratched the itch a little bit by getting in that MX-5 Cup car and racing something again for the first time in a while, and it’s so much fun. So the desire to get involved in sports car racing is still very much there. We’re just looking for the right opportunity.”

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Hinchcliffe (pictured at left, above, with Christian Lundgaard) has been a hot commodity in broadcasting, with NBC Sports making use of his talents in IndyCar, NASCAR and IMSA, while Formula 1 has also kept him busy serving as an analyst for its official channel. Weaving sports car racing into his future is of great importance, and he’ll adjust his schedule as necessary if he can land a home in one of IMSA’s GT or prototype classes.

“I’ve learned a lot about the sports car landscape in the last two years while trying to navigate my way through it, and I think that old saying that beggars can’t be choosers comes into the conversation,” he said of what he’s looking for in the series.

“You know, no driver wants to drive any less. But if it was opportunity for the endurance races, that would at least get me on the grid and get you in the door a little bit. The best thing I can do is find my way onto the grid, prove your worth, and see where it takes you.”

Wagner leads Mazda MX-5 Cup practice at Watkins Glen

The Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires took to the track for two practice sessions at Watkins Glen International on Thursday. Gresham Wagner (No. 5 Spark Performance) was the fastest driver of the day, while IndyCar veteran James …

The Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires took to the track for two practice sessions at Watkins Glen International on Thursday. Gresham Wagner (No. 5 Spark Performance) was the fastest driver of the day, while IndyCar veteran James Hinchcliffe (No. 3 JTR Motorsports Engineering), who is a guest driver for this event, showed excellent pace with the sixth-fastest lap of the day.

Wagner’s quick lap was a 2m08.629s. He was followed on the timing sheets by Robert Noaker (No. 13 Robert Noaker Racing) and reigning champion Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering). All three times were set in the afternoon session.

Qualifying for Rounds Seven and Eight at Watkins Glen will take place Friday at 8:00am ET.

“If you’re fast enough and get into the lead pack and have good momentum, then qualifying isn’t as important,” Wagner said. “But if something happens and the leaders break away, you can’t work your way forward too much here. It’s pretty draft dependent. You either get one really big draft that you can race in or these broken up, two and three car packs that get isolated. I guess the best strategy is to just qualify as best as you can, hope it’s near the front and you don’t have to worry about working your way forward.”

There was lots of interest in the performance of Hinchcliffe, who makes his MX-5 Cup debut this weekend. The longtime fan of the series is taking part in the event as a guest driver and is not eligible for points. He came away from practice with the sixth-fastest time of the day.

“I’m having a blast,” Hinchcliffe said. “It’s a baptism by fire, but the JTR crew have really prepared me in the best way possible. I’m getting used to the mayhem out on track, trying to find the right gaps and the right tows for the big laps. Pace-wise I feel OK in the car; now it’s just kind of mastering those nuances, which these guys have years of experience at and I’m figuring it out as I go.

“The biggest surprise is how hard it is to find the right gap and the extremes people will go to find it,” Hinchcliffe added. “This was just practice, so once we get into qualifying, which is a 15-minute session, I’ll be trying to see who’s willing to get offline and position themselves in the right way at the right time. I don’t know how many of those games I’m going to get into. I think I might just put my head down and go and see how it shakes out. There’s definitely an art to this racing.”

Round 7 race is slated to begin at 12:20pm ET on Friday. Round 8 will go green at 10:05am ET on Saturday. Both races will be streamed live on RACER.com and IMSA.com/tvlive.

Indianapolis 500 announcers: Who’s calling the race on NBC?

These are the announcers that NBC has tapped to call the Indianapolis 500.

The Indianapolis 500 is finally here!

Sunday, May 28 marks the 107th running of the Indy 500, with the race itself set to begin at 12:45 p.m. ET. Actor Adam Driver will begin the proceedings as the green flag waver to kick off the 500-mile race around Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s famous 2.5-mile track.

Once again, NBC will be handling race day coverage, with streaming available on Peacock as well. Some familiar faces will be along for the ride guiding fans through the marquee event, including Mike Tirico, Danica Patrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and James Hinchcliffe.

MORE INDY 500: Danica Patrick picks her 2023 Indy 500 favorites and sleeper, talks speedy qualifying.

Here are all the announcers racing fans will hear on NBC during the 2023 Indy 500.

Danica Patrick on 2022 Indy 500 predictions, her 4th race broadcast and favorite Indy moments

“Indianapolis produces historic moments,” Danica said about the Indy 500.

Danica Patrick knows the ins and outs of the Indianapolis 500 better than most.

And after eight career starts and being part of NBC’s last three Indy 500 broadcasts, she understands the mentality of a driver headed into the biggest race on the IndyCar Series schedule — and one of the biggest in the world — and how to convey that to the masses.

In those eight starts, Patrick became the first woman to lead laps in the Indy 500 on her way to becoming the race’s Rookie of the Year with a fourth-place finish in 2005. Her career-best finish was third in 2009 — also a record for a woman.

After competing in the 2018 Indy 500 — the final event of her racing career and a return to her IndyCar roots — Patrick made the jump to NBC’s broadcast team for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” She’s returning for her fourth consecutive Indy 500 broadcast, and, as an analyst, she’ll be joined by some familiar motor sports names, like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and James Hinchcliffe, along with host Mike Tirico.

Ahead of the 106th running of the Indy 500 on Sunday (12:45 p.m. ET green flag), For The Win spoke with Patrick, who’s in Indianapolis and staying with her parents — “nobody in their late 30s into their 40s stays with their parents as much as I do,” she joked — about being an experienced broadcaster, Hinchcliffe and her predictions for the 2022 race.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

IndyCar’s James Hinchcliffe is racing with a mustache on his helmet to honor his late father

“I wanted to do something to make sure he was with me every race,” James Hinchcliffe said about his helmet’s updated design.

When IndyCar Series star James Hinchcliffe debuted his new helmet this year in the season-opener earlier this month at Barber Motorsports Park, there was something different about it: A touching and quirky tribute to his late father, Jeremy.

On the helmet Hinchcliffe said he designed himself is the image of a thick, brown mustache — a look which was so synonymous with his father that Jeremy was also nicknamed “the Stache.”

“[The new helmet is] my normal design that Troy Lee paints, but this year with the added tribute to Dad,” the Andretti Autosport driver said via email.

“My Dad, Jeremy Hinchcliffe, had been battling an illness for the last two years. He was the reason I fell in love with racing, the reason I got into Karting as a kid, he was my first sponsor, my manager, my biggest cheerleader.”

About two months before the start of the IndyCar season, Jeremy Hinchcliffe died on February 10 after fighting an undisclosed illness, and James wanted to celebrate his father while, in a way, still having him at the race track every week.

So he tweaked the design of his helmet.

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“I knew it was going to be weird not having him at the track, so I wanted to do something to make sure he was with me every race,” Hinchcliffe said. “My Dad was such a big personality and was such a fixture at the track. He loved bonding with the crew guys, meeting fans, entertaining friends. He loved the track.

“He had this trademark mustache his whole life and his nickname to many was ‘the Stache’, so I thought that was a pretty fitting way to honor him, by putting a likeness of his mustache on my lid.”

The IndyCar Series returns to the track this weekend for a doubleheader at Texas Motor Speedway, starting with the Genesys 300 on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, NBCSN) and followed by the XPEL 375 on Sunday (5 p.m. ET, NBCSN).

New episodes of The Sneak: The Disappearance of Mario Rossi are out now

 

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IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe celebrates return to Andretti Autosport with perfect ‘Friends’ joke

James Hinchcliffe is back to full-time IndyCar racing in 2021, and he had jokes.

IndyCar Series driver James Hinchcliffe is back with a full-time ride this season and reunited with Andretti Autosport, they announced Wednesday.

The big news comes after a challenging couple years for Hinchcliffe, who unexpectedly lost his Arrow McLaren SP ride in 2019. The six-time IndyCar race winner and fan-favorite driver then ran a handful of races for Andretti Autosport during the 2020 season for his second stint with the team. Hinchcliffe also raced for Andretti for three seasons from 2012 to 2014, earning three of his career wins during the 2013 season.

Now, with the No. 29 Honda, Hinchcliffe and Andretti are together again for the complete 2021 IndyCar season. Unsurprisingly, the 34-year-old driver was in a joking mood for the big announcement, and he showed off his delightful sense of humor by opening with a Friends joke.

Via the IndyStar:

“To steal a line from Ross…’We were on a break!'” Hinchcliffe said with a chuckle, minutes after announcing his full-time return to Andretti Autosport for the 2021 IndyCar season. “We’re back together now, and that’s all that matters.”

Hinchcliffe was, of course, referencing Ross and Rachel’s on-again, off-again relationship throughout much of the decade-long series with Ross repeatedly saying (or shouting): “We were on a break!”

Well done, Hinch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAH0KRmU2JU

Overall, this will be Hinchcliffe’s fifth IndyCar season with Andretti Autosport and his 11th in the series. For 10 races in 2021, including the Indianapolis 500, he’ll be sponsored by Genesys, and his remaining sponsors have yet to be announced.

“This program is something we’ve been working on since the day we signed our three-race deal with Andretti Autosport last March,” Hinchcliffe said, via IndyCar. “Being back full time has always been the goal, and it feels so great to know that I will be back on the grid and with such an amazing team, one I’ve had a lot of great memories and success with.”

The 2021 IndyCar Series season begins at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama in April.

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With seasons postponed, NASCAR, IndyCar drivers are signing digital autographs for fans

NASCAR and IndyCar drivers are still finding ways to sign autographs away from the track.

Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, NASCAR and the IndyCar Series are among the many sports organizations that have postponed or canceled events in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, or flatten the curve.

NASCAR postponed a total of seven races through May 3, and it hopes to return to the track the following weekend at Martinsville Speedway. In the meantime, it launched an exhibition iRacing series with some of the biggest names in the sport, like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch.

IndyCar canceled its season-opening race in St. Petersburg last weekend, along with three more races through the end of April and is looking to kick off the season in early May with the GMR Grand Prix. (IndyCar’s next race after that is the Indianapolis 500 on May 24, which is still on for now.)

Especially at the tracks, both racing series offer a huge amount of fan engagement with drivers regularly signing autographs and taking photos with the people around them. And because of that — along with several other reasons — it’s just not safe for racing to continue. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommended the cancellation or postponement of gatherings of 50 people or more for the next eight weeks.

So without racing, many fans are missing out on the opportunity to get autographs from their favorite drivers at the track. Well, drivers have a way around that: digital autographs.

Since last week, people have been sending drivers photos, and the drivers are signing them on their phones and sending them back. This isn’t new for racers and fans, but with the sports world in limbo, it’s a great way to still have some fan interaction.

Earnhardt even jumped in and signed this photo of Landon Cassill and a fan after Cassill signed it.

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