Takuma Sato continued his domination of the speed chart this week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, completing a sweep of all three practices by setting the pace once again in tricky conditions on Fast Friday for the 106th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Sato (No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing Nurtec ODT Honda) led with a lap of 232.789 mph during a four-lap qualifying simulation run in the last hour of the six-hour session, which took place in challenging conditions of air temperatures in the high 80s and steady winds of 20 mph, with gusts reaching 41 mph. It appeared Sato was headed to the fastest qualifying sim of the day, but he was forced to lift on his third lap. He still ended up fifth on the qualifying sim speed chart at 229.680. The speediest driver in a four-lap qualifying sim was 2013 “500” winner Tony Kanaan, at 47 the oldest driver in the field. Kanaan averaged 230.517 in the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing The American Legion Honda in the final hour of practice, toppling Sato’s Dale Coyne Racing teammate, rookie David Malukas, from the top of qualifying sim chart. Malukas, 20, the youngest driver in the field, ended up second on the qualifying sim chart at 230.287 in the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing HMD Honda. Malukas could become the first “500” rookie to win the pole for the Indianapolis 500 since Teo Fabi in 1983. “We divided the program so David had more downforce,” Sato said. “It’s good to have at both ends, and we’ll just combine it tomorrow.” 2016 “500” winner Alexander Rossi was second fastest overall at 231.883 in the No. 27 Andretti Autosport NAPA AUTO PARTS/AutoNation Honda. Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet) was third at 231.798 and fourth on the qualifying sim list with a four-lap average of 230.111. O’Ward will be at the head of the line at 11 a.m. (ET) Saturday (live on Peacock Premium and the INDYCAR Radio Network), when the first round of qualifications starts, as Arrow McLaren SP pulled the No. 1 coin in the qualifying draw Friday evening. Positions 13-33 will be set Saturday, with the top 12 advancing to two rounds of qualifying Sunday to set the first four rows and determine the NTT P1 Award winner. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)
There's a pattern forming after two full days of practice for the 106th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge: Takuma Sato (No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing Nurtec ODT Honda) and Scott Dixon (No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing PNC Bank Honda) are really fast. Sato and Dixon were 1-2 on the speed chart Thursday for the second consecutive practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Two-time Indy 500 winner Sato led at 227.519 mph, with six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion and 2008 "500" winner Dixon second at 227.335. “We’re working on it,” Sato said. “The car’s not entirely happy in a big pack. Still there’s work to be done. The boys are doing such a meticulous job, with great engineering. I’m happy with the progress, step by step, and here we are. Hopefully we have more to come.” Rookie David Malukas, Sato's teammate at Dale Coyne Racing, was third at 226.869 in the No. 18 HMD Honda. 2011 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year JR Hildebrand clocked in fourth at 226.846 in the No. 11 AJ FOYT RACING/Homes For Our Troops Chevrolet. Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson continued his impressive preparation for his first start in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” by ending up fifth at 226.409 in the No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Carvana Honda. Johnson was third fastest overall on opening day Tuesday. Practice was rained out Wednesday. Turbocharger boost levels are increased for "Fast Friday" adding an estimated 90HP to the Chevrolet and Honda engines. Practice resumes from noon-6 p.m. Friday (live on Peacock Premium), as air temperatures in the mid- to high-80s and sustained winds of 15 to 25 mph will create tricky conditions on the 2.5-mile oval. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)
Takuma Sato (No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing Nurtec ODT Honda) ripped off a lap of 228.939 mph in the final five minutes Tuesday afternoon to lead the opening day of practice for the 106th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Sato, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, used the benefit of an aerodynamic tow on the 2.5-mile oval to lead the speed charts by more than 1 mph. Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon was second at 227.768 in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing PNC Bank Honda, leading four Chip Ganassi Racing drivers in the top six. “We had a big tow,” Sato said. “In Happy Hour, if you have new tires, I think you can do that. I’m pretty happy today." Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson opened preparations for his first start in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” by ending up third at 227.722 in the No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing Carvana Honda. Johnson was an NTT INDYCAR SERIES rookie last season but only competed on road and street courses. He made his INDYCAR oval debut March 20 at Texas Motor Speedway. Marcus Ericsson (No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Huski Chocolate Honda) was fourth quick at 227.094, with Rinus VeeKay rounding out the top five at 226.995 in the No. 21 Bitcoin Racing Team with BitNile Chevrolet. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)
Colton Herta (No. 26 Andretti Autosport Gainbridge Honda) won one of the wildest races in recent NTT INDYCAR SERIES history, controlling the chaos of changing weather conditions, ever-evolving tire strategies and numerous incidents to take the checkered flag for the GMR Grand Prix on Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Herta, from Valencia, California, earned his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory of the season and his seventh career win in after starting 14th. The win was also the first of the season for a Honda-powered driver. The race, originally scheduled for 85 laps but slowed by numerous incidents and the arrival of rain near the midway point, reached its two-hour time limit during a caution period. “This is the hardest race I think I’ve ever done,” Herta said. “Wet to dry, dry back to wet. Thank you so much for the Hoosiers for sticking around. I know you’re used to this weather, so thank you very much. Love you guys.” The box score indicated there were 10 lead changes among six drivers and eight caution periods for 31 laps, but that doesn’t begin to describe what unfolded on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course. This was a test of speed, strategy and survival that will live in the memory for a long time. Watch the race highlights here. (Thank you to INDYCAR Media)
Simon Pagenaud climbed from the 20th starting position to finish a season-best second in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda.
NTT P1 Award winner Will Power (No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet) placed third, tying his season best and climbing into the series points lead. Marcus Ericsson drove from 18th at the start to end up fourth in the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Huski Chocolate Honda, with Indianapolis native Conor Daly finishing a season-best fifth in the No. 20 BitNile Chevrolet. “I’ve never been in a race like that in my life,” Daly said. “That was the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced.”
(Photo by AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore https://www.instagram.com/whitbazemore/)For the third time this season, Enea Bastianini (above, at COTA last month) is a MotoGP™ race winner. Riding the No. 23 Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati, "The Beast" put in a flawless performance in front of over 110,000 spectators to come out on top of a pulsating SHARK Grand Prix de France at Le Mans. Bastianini capitalized on a mistake from longtime race leader Francesco Bagnaia (No. 63 Ducati Lenovo Team) to take the maximum 25 points, while Jack Miller (No. 43 Ducati Lenovo Team) celebrated his second podium of the season, and Aleix Espargaro (No. 41 Aprilia Racing) making it three premier class rostrums on the spin. Local heroes Fabio Quartararo (No. 20 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) and Johann Zarco (No. 5 Pramac Racing Ducati) were unable to mark their home GP with a podium, as they had to settle for fourth and fifth. (Thank you to MotoGP Media) Whit Bazemore's report to follow.
AS THE MOTOGP WORLD TURNS.
By Whit Bazemore
Last week, after the Spanish GP in Jerez, the Suzuki factory dropped the bombshell they would be pulling out of MotoGP at season’s end. It was shocking news, to say the least, and sad too - sad for all the team members in both Europe and Japan - who give their all every year to be the best they can be. That they won the 2020 MotoGP Championship with Joan Mir says everything. But it’s business. This was a decision made by the board in Japan. Like all huge businesses, the board is driven more by the bottom line than anything else. Motorsports lives - and dies - on manufacturer involvement, and manufacturer-run teams come and go, so it is nothing new. But short-term gain to the bottom line seems like a blinding desire. These geniuses only see the tangible dollars (Yen?) even though it has long been accepted knowledge that a long-term winning history and culture, along with the resulting engineering acumen from a successful racing program, can certainly define a brand. Ferrari or Ducati anyone? Yet, when some factories opt to leave, why is it that they almost always return, having to start over from scratch which then takes years just get back to the same competitive level they experienced when the plug was pulled? I digress.
Sport, of course, is always bigger than any one player or any one team, and so it was time to refocus on the French MotoGP weekend in Le Mans.
The Suzuki announcement only served to kick-start the silly season and was the main topic of conversation at the iconic French circuit. Each factory team is comprised of two bikes, with most also opting to provide (rent) machinery and engineering support (and sometimes even riders and other help) to so-called satellite teams. In the past, satellite teams were with few exceptions, pack fill. Not now. Recent years have seen them able to compete on a playing field - for the most part level - with the full-on factory efforts. It is now the factory efforts themselves which have become fragmented in a sense. Honda, Yamaha, Aprillia, and to a lessor extent, KTM, have only one rider able to produce results, with the second rider struggling. Ducati is the exception: both factory teammates (Jack Miller and Pecco Bagnaia) are closely competitive and two of three “satellite” teams also field competitive winners.
The struggling factory riders - Pol Espargaro (Honda), Maverick Vinales (Aprilia), Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha), Migul Olivirea (KTM) as well as both Yamaha and Honda satellite riders - are under intense pressure to deliver results now that the two excellent Suzuki riders - 2020 Champion Joan Mir and an on-form Alex Rins - will be unemployed after this year. There is no question Mir and Rins will be on the grid next year, it only remains to be seen on which bikes and at whose expense. This added intrigue certainly played into the tense French GP weekend.
Ducati/Gresini rider Enea Bastianini won for the third time this year - the only rider who has won more than once this season. He piled the pressure on race leader and fellow Ducati rider Bagnaia mid-race, and with seven laps left, Bagnaia succumbed to the pressure and crashed. It was a rare error, but one that shows the kind of pressure everyone is under. Mistakes are easy in MotoGP, and the consequences big. No matter, Bastianini has come into his own and is the surprise of the season.
Jack Miller rode a mature race to finish second and to carry the torch for the Ducati factory, while the other surprise of the season, Aleix Espargaro, had yet another podium (his third in a row and fourth this season including his first win in Argentina in early April). Aprilia teammate Maverick Vinales was nearly 17 seconds behind Aleix - back in 10th. Honda star Marc Marquez rode in survival mode to finish 6th - a full 7 seconds ahead of teammate Pol who was in 11th.
Championship leader Fabio Quartararo was fourth for Yamaha, with the other three Yamaha entries finishing dead last of the race finishers. Ironically, both Suzukis failed to finish.
Next week is the iconic Italian GP in Mugello and the question will be who survives the pressure? Every Ducati racer will have added incentive (not that any is needed) to win on Italian soil and the Ducati bikes will be the favorites, but which one? Will Marquez find a setup on the difficult Honda to get back to the front and on the podium for the first time this season? Can Quartararo carry the wayward Yamaha again? Aleix Espargaro and the Aprilia will be in the front pack, but can he be at the front and win his second race of the year? Can any of the struggling second-tier riders find their form to save their seats for next season?
So many questions and so many potential answers. As the MotoGP World Turns…
Editor-in-Chief's Note: Special AE contributor Whit Bazemore - the Renaissance Man and superb photographer - is continuing to give us updates and his insider's perspective on the MotoGP season. MotoGP has become my personal favorite form of motorsport, and to have someone with Whit's talent share his visual art and deep knowledge of MotoGP is truly special for us, and we really appreciate it. By the way, you may recognize Whit's last name. Bazemore began making a living from drag racing when he was sixteen years old, and he is a two-time U.S. Nationals winner and still the fifth-fastest Funny Car driver ever at 333.25 MPH.-PMD
(Photo by AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore https://www.instagram.com/whitbazemore/)Enea Bastianini has stunned the factory teams with his performances this season.
(Photo by AE Special Contributor Whit Bazemore https://www.instagram.com/whitbazemore/)Jack Miller (No. 43 Ducati Lenovo Team) celebrated his second podium of the season at Le Mans.
Ricky Taylor (No. 10 WTR Konica Minolta Acura DPi) came out best in a tense door-banging clash with the Motul Pole Award-winning No. 01 Cadillac Racing Cadillac DPi driven by Renger van der Zande following a restart after the only full-course caution of the Lexus Grand Prix at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The clash in Mid-Ohio’s famous Esses just past the halfway point of the 2-hour, 40-minute contest left van der Zande spinning through Turn 6 across the path of eventual second place finisher Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 Meyer-Shank with Curb Agajanian Acura DPi, while Taylor accelerated away to a lead he would not relinquish. The son of Konica Minolta Racing team owner Wayne Taylor crossed the finish line 2.098 seconds ahead of Blomqvist to claim his fourth Mid-Ohio victory in the last five years in the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class of the WeatherTech Championship. The Acura ARX-05 DPi prototype is an undefeated five-for-five at a track that Acura and parent company Honda consider a home course. Honda employs more than 16,000 women and men in the state of Ohio. Pipo Derani and Tristan Nunez finished third in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi. Watch the race highlights here. (Thank you to John Oreovicz/IMSA Wire Service)
Juan Pablo Montoya had to barge his way past Jonathan Bomarito twice during Sunday’s race, but the second time was good enough to lead the former DPi champion and two-time Indy 500 winner to his first Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) victory in WeatherTech Championship competition. Montoya and co-driver Henrik Hedman (No. 81 DragonSpeed USA ORECA LMP2 07), won by 13.652 seconds over Bomarito and Steven Thomas (No. 11 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA) that dominated all but the final stage of the race. Montoya moved into second place, thirteen seconds behind Bomarito, with an hour remaining. From there, he chopped into Bomarito’s advantage and made a first attempt to take the lead in Mid-Ohio’s famed Keyhole (Turn 2) with 25 minutes to go. The cars made significant contact, with Bomarito spinning before continuing. Montoya earned a pit-lane drive-through penalty for incident responsibility. Returning to the track behind Bomarito, Montoya closed again quickly and took the inside line into Turn 6 with 10 minutes on the clock. The cars made side-to-side contact again, but this time the pass was legal and Montoya pulled away to victory. “I understand the penalty because I spun him,” Montoya said after collecting his seventh IMSA win. “I didn’t want to spin him; I thought I could pass him fair and square. Then we got the drive-through and I came out like four seconds behind and caught him. He made a mistake in traffic, he hesitated and I went for it. “I’ve raced here, I’ve won here many times and I know traffic is the key. And he didn’t use it well.” Bomarito said the first contact with Montoya damaged the No. 11 so that he couldn’t keep pace when the No. 81 was in his shadows once again. “The problem is he bent the car for us,” Bomarito said. “We had right-rear damage and the penalty just wasn’t enough. The drive-through only puts him back a few seconds and then he got back by us again to win. Disappointed, for sure. Steven did a great job. He checked out to like a 50-second lead. The team executed perfect so from that I’m super happy for everybody. We can hold our head up high.” Hedman was especially pleased with his third career win because he did all the driving to set up and qualify the car on Friday and Saturday while Montoya was racing in Saturday’s IndyCar Series event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. “It was really fun to work with the team and try to set up the car,” Hedman said. “I was actually more nervous of hearing Juan Pablo’s opinion after warmup (Sunday morning) than to qualify. I thought if he doesn’t like the car, boy! But he liked it. We were lucky with the safety car, we got on the lead lap and then he did his stuff. That’s what he’s paid for.” With the win, Hedman and Montoya took an unofficial nine-point lead over No. 18 Era Motorsport drivers Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel in LMP2. (Thank you to Mark Robinson/IMSA Wire Service)
In an event fraught with pit-road mistakes and mechanical issues, Kurt Busch (No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota) nosed past leader Kyle Larson (No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) at the finish line of Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway on Lap 259 of 267 and completed the pass two corners later off Turn 2, as Larson scraped the outside wall. Seven laps later, Busch crossed the finish line 1.413 seconds ahead of Larson to win for the first time at Kansas, the first time this season and the 34th time in his career. Busch has now won NASCAR Series Cup races for five different car owners and with four different manufacturers. Watch the video highlights here. (Thank you to Reid Spencer/NASCAR Wire Service)
(IMS photo)
Former INDYCAR SERIES driver and team owner Sarah Fisher, who remains the fastest woman in Indianapolis 500 history, will drive the 2023 Corvette Z06 70th Anniversary Edition Pace Car to lead the field to the green flag for the 106th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 29, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Ohio native Fisher started “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” nine times between 2000 and 2010, a record for female drivers. Her fastest four-lap qualifying speed of 229.439 mph in 2002 also remains an event record for a female driver. Fisher now co-owns with her husband, Andy O’Gara, the successful Speedway Indoor Karting facilities in Speedway, Indiana, and Daytona Beach, Florida, and is the mother of two children. “Every time I’ve had the opportunity to drive at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it’s been special – from INDYCAR SERIES cars to two-seaters to vintage cars,” Fisher said. “Driving the Pace Car is just as special of an honor. And to have served in that role for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES since Johnny Rutherford retired, I’ve had many great memories to add to my career." The 2023 Corvette Z06 is powered by the all-new 5.5L, 670HP LT6, making it the highest-horsepower naturally aspirated V-8 ever to hit the market in any production car. This year’s Pace Car is equipped with the available Z07 Performance Package, featuring a carbon fiber rear wing, aerodynamic ground effects, carbon ceramic brakes and more, for maximum track capability. With a nod to Corvette’s 70-year history, the Pace Car is a model year 2023 70th Anniversary Edition Z06, finished in a special White Pearl Tri-Coat Metallic paint. Unique to this package on the production car and the Pace Car are 70th Anniversary Edition exterior badging, including special Corvette crossflags, Edge Red brake calipers and the 70th Anniversary Edition logo on seats, steering wheel and sill plates. Chevrolet’s Performance Design Studio created an asymmetric stripe package specifically for the Pace Car that draws inspiration from the 70th Anniversary Edition badging on the door of the Z06. Chevrolet and Corvette have led the starting field more than any other manufacturer and nameplate, respectively. The 2022 race marks the 33rd time for Chevrolet to pace dating back to 1948, and the 19th time since 1978 for America’s favorite sports car. Visit IMS.com for tickets and more information on all Month of May events and activities at IMS.
Editor's Note: You can access previous issues of AE by clicking on "Next 1 Entries" below. - WG