2021 R16: Long Beach

[MonteCristo]

Hey! It's here already!

The final race of the season! Yeah, it's still September.

Anyhow, practice times from Friday:

Rank Car Driver Name C/E/T Time Speed Diff Gap Best Lap Total Laps
1 26 Herta, Colton D/H/F 01:09.2680 102.281 --.---- --.---- 11 17
2 22 Pagenaud, Simon D/C/F 01:09.4334 102.037 0.1654 0.1654 17 17
3 10 Palou, Alex D/H/F 01:09.4554 102.005 0.1874 0.0220 21 22
4 7 Rosenqvist, Felix D/C/F 01:09.4870 101.959 0.2190 0.0316 17 17
5 28 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/H/F 01:09.5154 101.917 0.2474 0.0284 11 15
6 06 Castroneves, Helio D/H/F 01:09.5703 101.837 0.3023 0.0549 21 21
7 3 McLaughlin, Scott (R) D/C/F 01:09.6212 101.762 0.3532 0.0509 21 21
8 29 Hinchcliffe, James D/H/F 01:09.6276 101.753 0.3596 0.0064 14 14
9 27 Rossi, Alexander D/H/F 01:09.7940 101.510 0.5260 0.1664 5 15
10 2 Newgarden, Josef D/C/F 01:09.8557 101.420 0.5877 0.0617 14 14
11 51 Grosjean, Romain (R) D/H/F 01:09.8807 101.384 0.6127 0.0250 13 18
12 12 Power, Will D/C/F 01:09.9916 101.224 0.7236 0.1109 10 16
13 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F 01:10.0535 101.134 0.7855 0.0619 8 18
14 18 Jones, Ed D/H/F 01:10.1145 101.046 0.8465 0.0610 12 15
15 60 Harvey, Jack D/H/F 01:10.1758 100.958 0.9078 0.0613 11 15
16 5 O'Ward, Pato D/C/F 01:10.2451 100.858 0.9771 0.0693 16 17
17 8 Ericsson, Marcus D/H/F 01:10.3153 100.758 1.0473 0.0702 4 17
18 14 Bourdais, Sebastien D/C/F 01:10.3788 100.667 1.1108 0.0635 13 18
19 15 Rahal, Graham D/H/F 01:10.5113 100.478 1.2433 0.1325 7 18
20 21 VeeKay, Rinus D/C/F 01:10.7374 100.156 1.4694 0.2261 21 21
21 30 Sato, Takuma D/H/F 01:10.7675 100.114 1.4995 0.0301 10 15
22 59 Chilton, Max D/C/F 01:10.7844 100.090 1.5164 0.0169 17 17
23 20 Daly, Conor D/C/F 01:10.9036 99.922 1.6356 0.1192 10 17
24 11 Kimball, Charlie D/C/F 01:11.0619 99.699 1.7939 0.1583 16 16
25 77 Ilott, Callum (R) D/C/F 01:11.1181 99.620 1.8501 0.0562 22 22
26 45 Askew, Oliver D/H/F 01:11.2253 99.470 1.9573 0.1072 6 8
27 48 Johnson, Jimmie (R) D/H/F 01:11.4371 99.175 2.1691 0.2118 20 20
28 4 Kellett, Dalton D/C/F 01:11.7969 98.678 2.5289 0.3598 16 18

Report: https://racer.com/2021/09/24/herta-pace ... ong-beach/

28 cars again! Heady days.

[Ruslan]

28 cars again! Heady days.

Yea, I used to go to the races there back when there were 30 Formula One cars trying to get on the grid.

[John]

Herta and Palou fast and Pato not fast in a messy and red flag strewn practice session.

[John]

Argh, red flag curtails Q1. Harvey bins it, Power smacks into him, but Palou/O'Ward scraped through. Pato probably got lucky there.

[John]

Power slams the wall, parks it and nullifies the entire final qualifying attempt for everyone. Unclear if there was a yellow thrown however.

[John]

Oh boy, controversy galore. Both Palou and Pato missed the fast 6. RoGro, Dixon, Pags, Helio, JoNew and FFRROOOO on to the fast-6.

[John]

JoNew storms to pole.

[MonteCristo]

Qualifying results:

Rank Car Driver Name C/E/T Time Speed Session
1 2 Newgarden, Josef D/C/F 01:08.2241 103.846 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
2 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F 01:08.4422 103.515 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
3 06 Castroneves, Helio D/H/F 01:08.4827 103.454 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
4 22 Pagenaud, Simon D/C/F 01:08.6514 103.200 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
5 7 Rosenqvist, Felix D/C/F 01:08.7461 103.057 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
6 51 Grosjean, Romain (R) D/H/F 01:08.7577 103.040 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
7 29 Hinchcliffe, James D/H/F 01:08.7143 103.105 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
8 5 O'Ward, Pato D/C/F 01:08.8339 102.926 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
9 18 Jones, Ed D/H/F 01:08.8797 102.858 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
10 10 Palou, Alex D/H/F 01:08.9464 102.758 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
11 28 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/H/F 01:09.1330 102.481 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
12 12 Power, Will D/C/F 01:09.2279 102.340 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
13 3 McLaughlin, Scott (R) D/C/F 01:08.8611 102.885 Elimination Round 1 / Group 1
14 26 Herta, Colton D/H/F 01:09.1094 102.516 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
15 27 Rossi, Alexander D/H/F 01:08.9946 102.686 Elimination Round 1 / Group 1
16 30 Sato, Takuma D/H/F 01:09.3814 102.114 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
17 8 Ericsson, Marcus D/H/F 01:09.1368 102.475 Elimination Round 1 / Group 1
18 77 Ilott, Callum (R) D/C/F 01:09.4360 102.034 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
19 15 Rahal, Graham D/H/F 01:09.3998 102.087 Elimination Round 1 / Group 1
20 11 Kimball, Charlie D/C/F 01:09.6793 101.677 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
21 20 Daly, Conor D/C/F 01:09.5816 101.820 Elimination Round 1 / Group 1
22 14 Bourdais, Sebastien D/C/F 01:09.7022 101.644 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
23 59 Chilton, Max D/C/F 01:09.7525 101.571 Elimination Round 1 / Group 1
24 21 VeeKay, Rinus D/C/F 01:09.7602 101.559 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
25 60 Harvey, Jack D/H/F 01:10.4664 100.542 Elimination Round 1 / Group 1
26 4 Kellett, Dalton D/C/F 01:09.9144 101.335 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
27 48 Johnson, Jimmie (R) D/H/F 01:10.5127 100.476 Elimination Round 1 / Group 1
28 45 Askew, Oliver D/H/F 01:10.0178 101.186 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2

Palou has it in the bag as long as he doesn't retire.

Nice drives by Castroneves and Hinch (too late though!). Ilott improving.

Will it be a final race for RHR, Seabass and Hinch tomorrow? Hopefully they all return in some shape or form.

[Oliver Dale]

Obviously the motorsport gods don't like McLaren today!

[John]

Pato has snapped a driveshaft and his challenge grinds to a halt on lap 18.

[John]

The strategists at ASPM are nutters. I’ve lost count of how many times Pato has been shafted this year. Now they did FRO dirty.

Regardless, we’ll done Palou.

[Microsprinter18]

ALEX PALOU 2021 INDYCAR CHAMPION OF THE WORLD YESSS

[Everso Biggyballies]

Pato has snapped a driveshaft and his challenge grinds to a halt on lap 18.

Initiated when he got one in the anus from Jones on the opening lap and got turned round. So they said.

[Ruslan]

Alex Palou: Am I being overly critical, but this guy does not seem to really have much of a "resume?" After eight seasons in F3, F2 and Indy, he wins a championship. Was this a very good driver overlooked in Europe, or.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81lex_Palou

[John]

Alex Palou: Am I being overly critical, but this guy does not seem to really have much of a "resume." After eight seasons in F3, F2 and Indy, he wins a championship. Was this a very good driver overlooked in Europe, or.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81lex_Palou

I've always rated Palou as a good-but-not-great driver. He did a good job during his rookie season but I sure as hell did not see a championship run.