2022 NTT IndyCar series - News, gossip, bantz and the rest

[MonteCristo]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Rossi confirmed:

https://racer.com/2022/06/02/rossi-conf ... e-in-2023/

[MonteCristo]

Good news for the Swedes...

Autosport: Arrow McLaren SP: Rosenqvist “doing what he needs” to retain IndyCar seat

Speaking in Detroit at a media conference with the team’s new signing for 2023 Alexander Rossi, and in light of last week’s announcement that Pato O’Ward was staying onboard through to 2025, Kiel was inevitably quizzed on whether Rosenqvist would retain his seat in the team.

“Felix is doing what he needs to do,” replied Kiel. “Us as a team, we're doing what we need to do. Again, there's been no secret that that team has taken a little bit of time to gel. We're seeing fantastic pace, good races. The Indy 500 was fantastic on a lot of fronts.”

Kiel later added: “I think Felix is a fantastic driver and he's a great fit for our team. Felix just needs to continue doing what he's doing. We're evaluating how to make our team better all the time. Felix is a part of that right now. As long as he's doing what he needs to do, and he knows what that is, he'll be driving for us. There's no secret about that.

“I'm proud of Felix. I think he does a great job. I'm expecting him to have a great weekend this weekend. He was very quick here last year. I'm just excited for Felix because I feel like he's in that group now, our team is in that group. He had a fantastic Indy 500. We'll see how the rest of the season goes.”

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/ar ... ad399b46b6

[John]

A few things to note after Detroit:

MacLaughlin's championship push has derailed completely, sitting way back in 10th in the standings at the moment.
Conor Daly in 12th!
Veekay in 13th.
Rookies aren't tearing up the timing sheets this year, Lundgaard top rookie in 17th, Malukas in 19th and Kirkwood is 21st.

[MonteCristo]

Interesting article on the struggle at Rahal:

https://racer.com/2022/06/09/analysis-w ... -with-rll/

Just goes to show how tight Indycar is as a series at the moment.

You see it in qualifying and the races each week. Some of the big dogs just don't have it at times because it's so close.

[John]

https://racer.com/2022/06/10/im-just-ex ... osenqvist/

Rosenqvist: Excited about being fast again

[John]

https://racer.com/2022/06/15/palou-clea ... collision/

Palou and Ericsson clears the air.

[Everso Biggyballies]

https://racer.com/2022/06/15/palou-clea ... collision/

Palou and Ericsson clears the air.

I dont get what Palou's problem is or was..... Marcus was all but past Palou and Palou turned in and touched Marcus's rear wheel with his front. The contact was more Palou's own doing turning across before Marcus was fully past. He left the door open so far no wonder Marcus went for it.

[John]

https://racer.com/2022/06/15/palou-clea ... collision/

Palou and Ericsson clears the air.

I dont get what Palou's problem is or was..... Marcus was all but past Palou and Palou turned in and touched Marcus's rear wheel with his front. The contact was more Palou's own doing turning across before Marcus was fully past. He left the door open so far no wonder Marcus went for it.

His adrenaline was still pumping and he had just lost a whole bunch of points in the title chase. He'd be equally pissed off if that had been O'Ward or Newgarden in the other car, I bet.

[John]

McLaren has extended FRO for 2023 but is yet to decide if they want to keep him stateside or ship him to FE.

Which means that he's racing FE next year most likely.

[MonteCristo]

Some testing at IMS RC:

1: Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport Honda, 1m10.557s

2: Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda, 1m10.749s

3: Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren SP Chevy, 1m10.789s

4: Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow McLaren SP Chevy, 1m10.810s

5: Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport Honda, 1m11.141s

6: Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Autosport Honda, 1m11.398s

7: Kyle Kirkwood, A.J. Foyt Racing, 1m11.442s

8: Simona De Silvestro, Paretta Autosport/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevy, 1m11.853s

https://racer.com/2022/06/23/herta-head ... ad-course/

Oh, so NOW Simona gets a test, lol.

[MonteCristo]

https://racer.com/2022/06/23/coyne-hmd- ... sociation/

Basically, if Lundqvist wins Lights, he'll get a Coyne/HMD ride next year in a third car alongside Sato and Malukas.

[John]

DC runs the risk of overstretching themselves like RLL did this year unless they’re careful.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Robert Wickens talks to Dale Jr - who has had a lot of openwheel drivers lately -
On returning to driving:

It's sort of off topic here but also a sort of nice place to report and update on a significant milestone, so off topic or not it is about Robert Wickens, and its good news..... and that I suspect is good enough reason.


Robert Wickens wins first race since 2018 IndyCar crash

Sharing his Hyundai Elantra N with fellow Canadian Mark Wilkins in a two-hour race at Watkins Glen, Wickens won the TCR class of the Michelin Pilot Challenge event for Bryan Herta Autosport.

His last race victory was in September 2017, at the Nurburgring for Mercedes in the DTM.

He drove the first stint, surging from fourth on the grid to the lead after an early pitstop under yellow for new tyres and fuel. Before handing over to Wilkins, he extended his lead to 10s after a charging drive on fresh rubber.

A flurry of late yellows meant the Alfa Romeo of Tim Lewis Jr was right on Wilkins’s tail to the checkered flag.

After getting to within 0.3s at one point, Wilkins held on as Wickens watched from the pits in his wheelchair.


Hand controls for throttle, gear, brake, and clutch operation

“I gave us a little scare in our first pitstop [when he bumped into the back of teammate Parker Chase at the pit entry] but the car was great, our Hyundai Elantra N TCR was just dialled-in this weekend.

“The Alfa has just different strengths to us, so those final laps were pretty nerve-racking. It was so much quicker on the straights – Mark would have half a second on it at start/finish and still had to defend at the Bus Stop. He did such a good job, I’m just happy I gave it to him in one piece and in good shape.”

Wickens also revealed that he was watching in the pits on a delayed stream on NBC’s Peacock service and hadn’t realised he was “living in the past”, as it was a minute behind when the final lap started.

When asked how this win fits in his career, he replied: “It’s like a milestone one.

“It’s not the most emotional win I’ve had for some reason, maybe because I was sitting as we crossed the finish line and I didn’t have the adrenaline of being in the car.

“Honestly, we did so well this weekend.

“We had an issue in qualifying that the team did so well to rectify to give me at least one lap, and we clearly had the pace in the end.”

https://www.autosport.com/IMSA-Michelin ... /10328441/

[MonteCristo]

Tatiana Calderon might be out after Mid Ohio after this weekend. Apparently her sponsor - Rokit - are being dodgy.

https://www.speedcafe.com/2022/06/29/ca ... rship-gap/

I was surprised to see Rokit still around sponsoring things. I thought they'd be outed a couple of years ago as being dodgy?

Round about Kubica's return to F1?

[John]

Huski Chocolate is dodgy as all hell too. I can see Ericsson being without a sponsor for 2023.

That said he'll be enough of a hot commodity now that it shouldn't be an issue for him.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Top 10 IndyCar passes of the season to date