re: 2022 IndyCar Season Thread - Last Race: Laguna Seca 9/11 3:00 PM ET (NBC)

Congrats Herta....great season shaping up

Race 5 at Indianapolis Road Course

Official results and points

2022 GMR Grand Prix Results

P01 - Colton Herta (#26 Andretti)
P02 - Simon Pagenaud (#60 Meyer Shank)
P03 - Will Power (#12 Penske)
P04 - Marcus Ericsson (#8 Ganassi)
P05 - Conor Daly (#20 Carpenter)
P06 - Felix Rosenqvist (#7 McLaren)
P07 - Takuma Sato (#51 Coyne)
P08 - Callum Ilott [R] (#77 Juncos Hollinger)
P09 - Christian Lundgaard [R] (#30 Rahal)
P10 - Scott Dixon (#9 Ganassi)
P11 - Alexander Rossi (#27 Andretti)
P12 - David Malukas [R] (#18 Coyne)
P13 - Jack Harvey (#45 Rahal)
P14 - Hélio Castroneves (#06 Meyer Shank)
P15 - Tatiana Calderón [R] (#11 A.J. Foyt)
P16 - Graham Rahal (#15 Rahal)
P17 - Romain Grosjean (#28 Andretti)
P18 - Alex Palou (#10 Ganassi)
P19 - Pato O'Ward (#5 McLaren)
P20 - Scott McLaughlin (#3 Penske)
P21 - Devlin DeFrancesco [R] (#29 Andretti
P22 - Jimmie Johnson (#48 Ganassi)
P23 - Rinus VeeKay (#21 Carpenter)
P24 - Juan Pablo Montoya (#6 McLaren)
P25 - Josef Newgarden (#2 Penske)
P26 - Kyle Kirkwood [R] (#14 A.J. Foyt)
P27 - Dalton Kellett (#4 A.J. Foyt)

This was one of the craziest IndyCar races ever run. It started with a wet-but-drying track, and there were periods of rain during the race, making the decision of when to switch between rain tires and slicks very difficult. The other complicating factor is that for some of the rain periods, the front straight was wet but the back side of the track remained relatively dry, so at times, the conditions were eating rain tires quickly for drivers who were trying to get an early jump on rain tires when heavier rain was expected. While there were numerous spins and drivers making contact, the final order was also a result of some drivers/teams just making the wrong decisions about when to pit and which tires to run.

Indy GP NBC Extended Highlights (16 min)

The driving highlight of the day was Colton Herta drifting his car through a corner at full lock:
https://twitter.com/IndyCaronNBC/status/1525565931182821381

Now it's two weeks of preparation for the Indy 500. Note that the Indy 500 is a double-points race, so it can have a huge effect on one's championship hopes. For championship contenders, a DNF can be devastating. Also, there are only 33 entries, so there will not be a "bump day" qualifying session for the last spot on the grid.


Indy 500 Practice and Qualifying Schedule

Tuesday May 17 - 9:00 am - 11:00 am ET - Practice 1 (Peacock)
Tuesday May 17 - 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm ET - ROP* and Practice 2 (Peacock)

Wednesday May 18 - 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm ET - Practice 3 (Peacock)

Thursday May 19 - 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm ET - Practice 4 (Peacock)

Friday May 20 - 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm ET - Practice 5 Fast Friday Qualy Boost (Peacock)

Saturday May 21 - 9:00 am - 10:30 am ET - Practice 6 (Peacock)
Saturday May 21 - 12:00 pm - 5:50 pm ET - Qualfications Day 1 - Set P13 - P33 (Peacock)

Sunday May 22 - 11:30 am - 3:00 pm ET - Practice 7 (Peacock)
Sunday May 22 - 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm ET - Qualfications - Top 12, then Fast 6 (NBC / Peacock)

*Rookie Orientation Program

Race Week

Monday May 23 - 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm ET - Practice 8 (Peacock)

Friday May 27 - 11:00 am - 1:00 pm ET - Carb Day (Peacock)

Sunday May 29 - 11:00 am - 4:00 pm ET - Indy 500 (NBC)

Tuesday May 17 Practice 2

No-tow speeds are counted only if the car is at least 10 seconds behind the car in front of it. No-tow speeds may indicate who has a good car for qualifying. Of course it's just Tuesday. They'll work on qualifying setup with the available extra boost on Friday.


Top-12 No-Tow Speeds

P01 221.552 Rinus VeeKay (Carpenter / Chevy)
P02 220.869 Ed Carpenter (Carpenter / Chevy)
P03 220.725 Jimmie Johnson [R] (Ganassi / Honda)
P04 220.662 Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi / Honda)
P05 220.298 David Malukas [R] (Coyne / Honda)
P06 220.133 Scott McLaughlin (Penske / Chevy)
P07 220.026 Scott Dixon (Ganassi / Honda)
P08 219.960 Alex Palou (Ganassi / Honda)
P09 219.833 Alexander Rossi (Andretti / Honda)
P10 219.726 Pato O'Ward (McLaren / Chevy)
P11 219.691 Takuma Sato (Coyne / Honda)
P12 219.677 Will Power (Penske / Chevy)

quote:

---

Dayum Jimmie

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Really want him to do well...he took on a big challenge at his age...but you see the improvement.

The question is whether age will stop him eventually...

Day 2 of Indy 500 practice has been officially cancelled because of rain. They have just one more day of working on race setups before they have to switch to qualy setups on Friday.

The last time a whole practice day was cancelled was six years ago.

While the first two days of practice have resulted in zero accidents, one driver stood out for almost getting in trouble several times, and that was Romain Grosjean. Here's a video showing a few close calls with the wall:

https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1527455314207035413

Day 4 of Indy 500 practice. Fast Friday with qualifying boost.

Takuma Sato has now led every practice day with the top speed. Between him and his rookie teammate David Malukas, the Dale Coyne team is looking really strong for qualifying and the race. The speeds on the Friday chart are not necessarily representative of the order we'll see in qualifying. There were strong gusts all day that severely limited the number of laps run. But note that Malukas (39 laps) and Sato (24 laps) ran with confidence. The only other drivers to run more than 20 laps were Conor Daly (37 laps), Santino Ferrucci (32 laps), and Dalton Kellett (22 laps).

After the first two practice days ran without incident, Friday had one minor incident when Jimmie Johnson brushed the wall, requiring minor repair work to the suspension. Afterwards, he went back out and laid down one of the best 4-lap qualifying sims of the day.

One team that seems to be underperforming is Rahal Letterman Lanigan. All week they have shown mediocre speed, and on Friday they were the last team to send any of their cars out, and none of them turned a good lap. Two years ago they won the Indy 500 with Sato, and last year Graham apparently was in position to win by saving enough fuel to do one less pit stop, but a bad pit stop derailed his race. This year they're not looking good at all so far.


Friday May 20 Practice 5

https://www.imscdn.com/INDYCAR/Documents/6031/2022-05-20/indycar-results-p5.pdf

P01 232.789 Takuma Sato (Coyne / Honda) - 24 laps
P02 231.883 Alexander Rossi (Andretti / Honda) - 6 laps
P03 231.798 Pato O'Ward (McLaren / Chevy) - 12 laps
P04 231.782 Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi / Honda) - 7 laps
P05 231.530 Scott Dixon (Ganassi / Honda) - 4 laps
P06 231.493 Felix Rosenqvist (McLaren / Chevy) - 13 laps
P07 231.414 David Malukas [R] (Coyne / Honda) - 39 laps
P08 231.392 Tony Kanaan (Ganassi / Honda) - 18 laps
P09 231.206 Scott McLaughlin (Penske / Chevy) - 14 laps
P10 231.180 Josef Newgarden (Penske / Chevy) - 7 laps
P11 231.146 Will Power (Penske / Chevy) - 11 laps
P12 231.085 Alex Palou (Ganassi / Honda) - 4 laps
P13 230.826 Sage Karam (Dreyer & Reinbold / Chevy) - 14 laps
P14 230.589 Conor Daly (Carpenter / Chevy) - 37 laps
P15 230.270 Romain Grosjean [R] (Andretti / Honda) - 10 laps
P16 230.147 Callum Ilott [R] (Juncos Hollinger / Chevy) - 13 laps
P17 229.929 Jimmie Johnson [R] (Ganassi / Honda) - 13 laps
P18 229.850 Marco Andretti (Andretti / Honda) - 7 laps
P19 229.677 Hélio Castroneves (Meyer Shank / Honda) - 23 laps
P20 229.635 Rinus VeeKay (Carpenter / Chevy) - 16 laps
P21 229.184 Simon Pagenaud (Meyer Shank / Honda) - 10 laps
P22 228.334 Ed Carpenter (Carpenter / Chevy) - 14 laps
P23 227.157 Dalton Kellett (AJ Foyt / Chevy) - 22 laps
P24 226.819 Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan / Honda) - 12 laps
P25 226.697 Devlin DeFrancesco [R] (Andretti / Honda) - 18 laps
P26 226.627 Santino Ferrucci (Dreyer & Reinbold / Chevy) - 32 laps
P27 226.233 Stefan Wilson (DragonSpeed / Chevy) - 11 laps
P28 226.198 JR Hildebrand (AJ Foyt / Chevy) - 17 laps
P29 226.064 Kyle Kirkwood [R] (AJ Foyt / Chevy) - 17 laps
P30 225.883 Christian Lundgaard [R] (Rahal Letterman Lanigan / Honda) - 7 laps
P31 224.319 Jack Harvey (Rahal Letterman Lanigan / Honda) - 8 laps
P32 223.764 Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren / Chevy) - 6 laps
P33 220.640 Colton Herta (Andretti / Honda) - 7 laps

The Saturday qualifying schedule has been altered a bit because of expected afternoon rain. If they aren't able to give everyone one 4-lap qualifying attempt before the rain starts, then all results are scrapped for the day and they will do it over on Sunday.

Practice 6: 8:30 - 9:30 am ET (Peacock)
Qualifying: 11:00 am - 5:50 pm ET (Peacock)

The teams drew random qualifying slots on Friday evening. Early slots are considered the best because of rising temperatures and winds later in the day. Looking at the teams, McLaren has the best situation, Dale Coyne is decent, and Ganassi and Andretti are spread around kind of evenly. Penske and Meyer Shank's qualifying positions stink.

Saturday Qualifying Order

01 Pato O'Ward (McLaren / Chevy)
02 Rinus VeeKay (Carpenter / Chevy)
03 Callum Ilott [R] (Juncos Hollinger / Chevy)
04 Felix Rosenqvist (McLaren / Chevy)
05 Romain Grosjean [R] (Andretti / Honda)
06 Jimmie Johnson [R] (Ganassi / Honda)
07 Devlin DeFrancesco [R] (Andretti / Honda)
08 JR Hildebrand (AJ Foyt / Chevy)
09 Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren / Chevy)
10 Takuma Sato (Coyne / Honda)
11 Marco Andretti (Andretti / Honda)
12 Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan / Honda)
13 Tony Kanaan (Ganassi / Honda)
14 David Malukas [R] (Coyne / Honda)
15 Santino Ferrucci (Dreyer & Reinbold / Chevy)
16 Colton Herta (Andretti / Honda)
17 Stefan Wilson (DragonSpeed / Chevy)
18 Scott Dixon (Ganassi / Honda)
19 Alex Palou (Ganassi / Honda)
20 Conor Daly (Carpenter / Chevy)
21 Hélio Castroneves (Meyer Shank / Honda)
22 Scott McLaughlin (Penske / Chevy)
23 Ed Carpenter (Carpenter / Chevy)
24 Alexander Rossi (Andretti / Honda)
25 Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi / Honda)
26 Jack Harvey (Rahal Letterman Lanigan / Honda)
27 Sage Karam (Dreyer & Reinbold / Chevy)
28 Josef Newgarden (Penske / Chevy)
29 Christian Lundgaard [R] (Rahal Letterman Lanigan / Honda)
30 Simon Pagenaud (Meyer Shank / Honda)
31 Kyle Kirkwood [R] (AJ Foyt / Chevy)
32 Will Power (Penske / Chevy)
33 Dalton Kellett (AJ Foyt / Chevy)