#gmrgrandprix

[meaningofmotorsport]

GMR Grand Prix Review

We got our third new winner in the first five races at IMS today, however it was not the driver that everyone thought could do it! Instead, a young star of the sport, finally got a well-deserved win!

Veekay’s time in IndyCar did not start well, as he crashed twice on the first weekend, but since then he has gradually improved, including getting his first pole last year! So, it was just a matter of time before everything fell into place, as it did today, to get his first win! With a perfect strategy of starting on blacks, to get them out of the way, then he was fast all the way to the end! He may have been fortunate with other drivers struggles, but he drove his way to the win, passing Grosjean and Palou! For ECR this is a real big boost, as they get their first road course win since Newgarden was in the team! What can the team and Veekay do in the future?

Finishing 2nd should a terrific result for Grosjean, in his 3rd IndyCar race, although given he led so much of the race, and was so quick, you wouldn’t blame him if he was disappointed! He did get unlucky, with other ex-F1 drivers especially, fighting him hard to stay on the lead lap, which undoubtedly cost him time. Whether he would have won, who knows, as the black tyre stint did cost him, however he is now a true threat for the rest of the non-oval races this year! Palou was right there with the other two at the front, but he played it safe, by running blacks instead of worn reds during the last two stints, which may have cost him any chance of a better result. Nevertheless, he is now 2nd in points, looking really consistent, how will he do at the Indy 500?

For a car which has been one of the fastest all weekend, 4th is not what Newgarden wanted from today, the car just didn’t have the pace, which you could see straight away when he couldn’t pass Harvey on blacks. It was then compounded when he pitted early off the reds, which forced him to do a long stint on blacks, where he dropped back from the leaders, and was never able to recover! On a day like today though, where all his rivals were behind him, he at least gained in the points, and is now 3rd, pretty good after how Barber ended!

One of the drives of the race, was by Rahal, who was forced into an audacious strategy, of doing a 2 stop from Lap 3, which he doubted himself. He was able to pull it off though and bring home P5, which is a nice recovery, and sets him off into the Indy 500 on a good note, where he could be really fast! Pagenaud just sort of held a top 10 position all race really, not really able to go any better. The same could be said for McLaughlin, who is adapting really well to open wheel cars!

Rossi and Dixon did make some progress from where they started, although it wasn’t anything spectacular, as they just seemingly didn’t have the pace of the front runners! Given Rossi had engine issues, it really is a solid drive for him today! Herta had similar issues, and dropped out of the top 10 late in the race, as his season is beginning to look shaky!

Hunter Reay was another driver to battle up through the pack, gaining 7 places, whilst Jones fell back, not able to hold a light to his more experienced teammate! McLaren really had nothing this weekend, as their best finisher was Pato in 15th. Having struggled at the Indy 500 before, let’s hope that Texas was a sign of improvements!

Motorsport can be so cruel, which Daly and Harvey found out today, with first lap contact, and pit issues respectively! Looking at what Veekay did, in the same car as Daly, on the same strategy as Harvey, who were both ahead of him of the grid, they will really see this as a missed opportunity! At least it is better to have pace and retire, than be slow and always finish, so I am sure they will get their chances later in the year, as they both deserve something better than this!

One thing that I do want to comment on, is the effect of Grosjean on the interest level in IndyCar, especially after getting pole. You see F1 twitter was lighting up during the race, as they watched Romain driving well, and be in with a shout of winning. Hopefully they have now seen how good the sport is, as IndyCar does struggle with its exposure!

Today’s race was by no means a classic, however it gave us both plenty of on track passes, and intrigue with strategy. Best of all though, it has tightened the championship up further as we head into the biggest race of the year!

-M

[whoobazoo]

GMR Grand Prix, Indy 500 Preview

[scanman73]

Indycar Series GMR Grand Prix winner, Scott Dixon 🏁 #racing #indycar #nttdataindycar #gmrgrandprix #grandprix #ims #indianapolismotorspeedway #Indianapolis #thebrickyard #winner #scottdixon #dixon #chipganassi #ganassi #cgr #ganasiracing #diecast #diecasts #diecastcars #greenlightcollectibles #torontomotorsports (at Bowmanville, Ontario) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCPCiUWBy3l/?igshid=17u20yndli3wz

[meaningofmotorsport]

GMR Grand Prix Preview

Wow! Qualifying has set us up for a thrilling race tomorrow, with big names low down on the grid, and some new names up front. Then to top it all off, the pole winner, is a driver who has been through so much in the past year or so!

It was expected that Grosjean would go well in IndyCar, given his expertise on road and street courses from F1, and his performances in the first two rounds backed that up. However, to then come to Indy, and stick it on pole, in only his third race, in a straight duel with Newgarden, who is a demon over one lap, is unbelievable! Apparently, they just made the car faster and faster in the sessions, and it came alive on old red tyres. So, tomorrow, how will he fare over a race distance, with experienced drivers all over him? He could do pretty well, if the car works well over a long run, he will at least be a podium contender, maybe more. It will all be about how he sets up the car, and executes the rolling start! If he could win tomorrow, it would show the world that he still has it, as the IndyCar field isn’t exactly a push over!

Newgarden may be disappointed with only being 2nd, given he looked so fast in practice and qualifying. Although when he looks behind him, and sees where the other title contenders are, he should see it as an opportunity, especially with a rookie beside him! Josef would be my pick to win, yet he isn’t the only fast guy up front! One of the others is Harvey, who has run so well here in the past, he will surely believe this is his best chance of a win so far, plus with the long run to Turn 1, he could be in the perfect position, behind the leader!

After a stunning debut for CGR, things had calmed down a little for Palou, but he was able to reassert himself in the team, as he outqualified his teammates by a long way. After topping Round 2, he may have hoped for more, it just seems that he couldn’t make older tyres work! Much like Grosjean, McLaughlin has been progressing very well in IndyCar, and today’s result confirms this progress, as he has been on pace with his teammates all day! Can he keep it up there?

Seeing Daly get into the Fast 6 for the first time ever, shows that he is a top level driver, who just needs a chance in good equipment! Tomorrow could be a chance for him to go bold on strategy, and get himself right in the mix for the win! Conor’s teammate, Veekay, just missed out on the top 6, but has a similar chance tomorrow! Herta struggled with an oversteering car, so P8 is a good result, you would have to expect him to climb up the field in the race. Shout out to Jones, who hasn’t really featured much so far this year, being overshadowed by his teammate. Tomorrow is a chance for a classic Dale Coyne strategy to be pulled!

Pagenaud, Rahal, and Power all were unable to make the most of the cars they had underneath them, with Power having a spin which ruined his session. They will be looking to go off strategy tomorrow, in order to get clear air!

Rossi, Dixon, and O’Ward, were the three shock losers from an unbalanced Round 1. McLaren have not had pace all day, so we could kind of see that one coming, however Rossi topped Practice 1, but said the car went away in qualifying, as he adds another set back to his 2021 campaign! Dixon may have not had a good qualifying, yet we have seen before, him drag the car up onto the podium from this far back, so don’t count him out yet!

Johnson is making progress, being within 1.5 secs of the pole, it may be taking longer than many expected, but it will come to him, I am sure. Looking at how Hinchcliffe has performed so far this year, is rather worrying, as we haven’t seen any signs of pace out of him, although the same could be said for Hunter Reay! Can they find pace before it is too late?

Normally it is hard to predict IndyCar, however with a rookie on pole, and a mixed up grid, all hell could break loose, and I for one, can’t wait for it! This could be the perfect lead into the 105th Indy 500!

-M

[meaningofmotorsport]

GMR IndyCar Grand Prix Review

That was undoubtedly the most chaotic race IndyCar has ever had on the Indy Road Course, mainly thanks to the weather not making its mind up as to what it wanted to do. The various strategy calls left drivers out on slicks when the track was waterlogged, which ended well! Driver skill shone through in the end, and we had some surprising results!

It has been a tough start to the year for Herta, with plenty of potential, but unable to get results from it. In this race though, great strategy calls, car control, and probably some luck, allowed him to get his first win of the year. The car was not good in the dry, but in the wet he looked to be the fastest out there, and the bold call to be the first on slicks elevated him 13 positions, from where he could control the race. His save when battling O’Ward may be one of the best ever. Herta needs to keep this up if he wants to get back in title contention, but at least he now has momentum on his side.

Pagenaud was probably the one driver who wanted rain the most, given his past form here when it rains, and the cars issues in the dry. His wishes came true, and he made the most of it, going from 20th to 2nd. He never looked to have anything for Herta, but going to the 500, he will have confidence once again. Power was a bit in the wars, even having a tough battle with Newgarden, he showed maturity though, and stayed out of trouble to end up 3rd, and take the championship lead.

Ericsson was anonymous for most of the race, until in the closing stages he was one of the fastest cars on the track, which got him up to 4th. His pace is improving in this series, as he tries to get on terms with his teammates. Daly is another with an eventful day. Following his great qualifying, he fell back as he was the only one saving fuel, which probably made it feel like his race was over. Through pit stops though he climbed back up, as well as the chaos around him, including passing some cars. He was cautious in the dying laps, and complained about the aeroscreen making him blind, but still got a top 5, which he desperately needed.

What could have been for Rosenqvist, he was right up at the front in the first half of the race, but got caught up in his teammate’s incident. The change of front wing dropped him to the back, and he could only get back to 6th. It was no surprise to see Sato being aggressive, especially in the wet. At one point, he was getting close to the leaders, but fell back to 7th in the end. It was a superb race for Ilott, to end up in 8th, his European experience clearly helping him here. Juncos are another team on the up right now.

Lundgaard too had a brilliant weekend, bearing in mind his lack of experience. Dixon did what he does best, but qualifying is hampering his season. Rossi had one of the biggest hero to zero races, just through tyre choice. They had to try something, and it didn’t work out, that team needs a result soon. Malukas did well to survive. Harvey was in the mix for a top 5 near to the end, but an incident on pit road put paid to that. His crash with Newgarden was probably his fault, but it wasn’t a clear cut error.

Calderon got her best finish of the year, but was one of the last on the lead lap, nevertheless she did well to keep going, hopefully she can build confidence soon. Rahal and Grosjean both span during the race, which cost them any good results. Grosjean was also being paid back by Rahal’s friends for last race. Palou made an uncharacteristic error, which hurt him for the rest of the race. O’Ward made a bold call to stay on slicks as it kept raining and it didn’t pay off. Mclaughlin did the same. Veekay and Montoya succumbed to the conditions, and Juan did it rather dramatically, but luckily was all fine.

Newgarden was unlucky to be the innocent bystander as the cars either side of him didn’t know they were 3 wide, causing one to tag him, puncturing both his tyres. Kirkwood and Kellett had incidents which ended their races.

Whilst it may have been a great race to watch, there are legitimate safety concerns being raised about the aeroscreen. Remember though that this was the first wet race with it in place, and fixes were already being planned, so it isn’t a disaster yet. The length of yellows was also rather disappointing, especially when it is a great race being shown on US network TV. Indy 500 is next, and whilst there won’t be bumping, I am sure it will still be two weeks full of action!

-M