Category: Open Wheel Racing

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F2 Sakhir preview: title showdown on the outer loop

Formula 2 takes to the outer loop of the Bahrain International Circuit this weekend for the final round of the season, and the title showdown between Mick Schumacher and Callum Ilott.

Last weekend’s racing on the traditional Bahrain circuit saw a mixed weekend for the two title protagonists. At first Ilott looked to be doing everything he needed to keep his championship hopes alive, by qualifying on pole and finishing second in the feature race. But in the sprint race a collision with Jehan Daruvala saw him finish outside the points.

However, Schumacher wasn’t able to take full advantage of Ilott’s crash and deal a crushing late blow to his rival’s hopes. While he put in a great damage limitation drive to fourth in the feature race, Schumacher struggled to keep his tyres alive on Sunday and slipped backwards, eventually taking home only two points for seventh.

As a result, the gap between Schumacher and Ilott has narrowed to just 14 points with 48 still available. The good news for Schumacher is that if he can still clinch the title on Saturday if he outscores Ilott by four points.

Winning the feature race would be enough regardless of where Ilott finishes, but if Ilott finds himself outside the points again then Schumacher can afford to finish as low as eighth and still be crowed champion before the sprint race.

As for Ilott, he just has to pick up as many points ahead of Schumacher as he can. Four points for another pole would be a great way to start, but he’ll have to convert that to a top three result at least—something Ilott has only managed twice from five pole starts so far this year.

Callum Ilott, UNI-Virtuosi (Scuderia Ferrari Press Office)

While Schumacher and Ilott fight it out for the F2 title, Yuki Tsunoda will be returning to Bahrain with a point to prove.

Last weekend he entered the event third in the drivers’ standings and with the pace throughout practice to be a definite contender. But a spin in qualifying that left him at the back of the grid for Saturday, then a puncture on the first lap of the sprint race, meant that potential went unrealised.

The Sakhir finale has now become a crucial event for Tsunoda’s hopes of graduating to F1 next year. He might be only five points adrift of Nikita Mazepin in third, but Tsunoda is also only eight points ahead of Christian Lundgaard in sixth, meaning another unlucky weekend could cost him the super licence points he needs.

It’s a different story, however, for Tsunoda’s Carlin teammate Daruvala. The Red Bull junior had a breakthrough weekend with his maiden podium in the feature race, followed by a strong performance in the sprint race before he was hit by Ilott.

After a difficult debut year that’s seen great qualifying pace often go unrewarded on race day, Daruvala will be aiming to build on this momentum and end his season on a high note.

Carlin will also be hoping Tsunoda and Daruvala return some strong results for the team as well as themselves. The British outfit is currently fourth in the teams’ standings with just seven points keeping them ahead of ART.

Jehan Daruvala, Carlin (Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool)
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F2 Bahrain: Shwartzman wins sprint race as Ilott crashes out of points

Robert Shwartzman took his fourth win of the season and first since Spa in the Bahrain sprint race, while Callum Ilott’s championship hopes took a big hit after a collision with Jehan Daruvala.

Shwartzman got a clean launch from reverse grid pole to hold the lead from Yuki Tsunoda, who jumped Marcus Armstrong for second off the line. Nikita Mazepin was slow away, allowing Daruvala and Mick Schumacher to take fourth and fifth respectively.

Tsunoda had strong pace to pressure Shwartzman through the opening sequence of corners, but before the end of the lap the Carlin driver picked up a right rear puncture and was forced to pit.

Without Tsunoda to defend from, Shwartzman was able to start putting in fastest laps and pull out a gap over Armstrong. Further back, Mazepin recovered from his slow start by taking fourth from Schumacher on lap 4, then demoting Daruvala off the podium a lap later.

Dan Istitene / Formula 1 via Getty Images

Shwartzman had a gap of almost three seconds over Armstrong at the start of lap 6. But this was wiped out when Theo Pourchaire stopped on track after his fire extinguisher went off in the cockpit, and the safety car was deployed.

The race restarted on lap 7, with Mazepin putting immediate pressure on Armstrong and Schumacher battling to hold fifth over title rival Ilott.

Schumacher had a big lockup going into Turn 10 and looked to be heading off the track. Ilott took advantage of the error by diving to the inside of his rival, but ended up locking his own tyres and spearing into Daruvala ahead.

Daruvala retired on the spot while Ilott tumbled out of the points with damage to his front wing and nose. Schumacher managed to get away without any contact, although he lost position to Pedro Piquet, who navigated the incident to emerge in fourth before the virtual safety car was called.

When the VSC was withdrawn on lap 9 Armstrong reacted well to put pressure on Shwartzman, but was unable to make a move for the lead stick. Armstrong ended up losing second instead to Mazepin after locking up at T1, then was passed for third by Piquet on lap 12.

But although Mazepin had much more pace than Piquet and Armstrong behind him, he didn’t have enough to make any impact on Shwartzman’s lead. Having been able to conserve his tyres out front while Mazepin hurt his fighting through the field, Shwartzman continued to pull away over the second half of the race and took the chequered flag with five seconds in hand over Mazepin.

Nikita Mazepin (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Behind the podium battles Schumacher was running in fifth but didn’t have the tyre life to take any more advantage of Ilott dropping out of the points. On lap 15 he was dropped to sixth by Guanyu Zhou, then immediately came under fire from Christian Lundgaard.

Schumacher got some brief respite on lap 17 when an unsuccessful move from Lundgaard at Turn 4 left the Dane instead defending from Felipe Drugovich in eighth. But shortly after the trio were caught by Louis Deletraz, who had taken the chance to pit under the earlier safety car and had the advantage of much fresher tyres.

Over the next five laps, Deletraz picked off Drugovich, Lundgaard, Schumacher, Zhou and Armstrong to run fourth behind his Charouz teammate Piquet. This then became third on lap 22, when Piquet pulled to the side of the road with a mechanical problem.

Armstrong managed to hold on to fourth ahead of Zhou, while Lundgaard pipped Schumacher for sixth on the final lap and Drugovich took the final point in eighth.

Shwartzman’s win means the Russian moves to fourth in the championship and is still mathematically in contention for the title. With Ilott failing to score, Schumacher now has a 14-point lead over his nearest rival going into the final round next week.

Full race result:

Pos. Driver Team Points
1 Robert Shwartzman Prema Racing 15
2 Nikita Mazepin Hitech Grand Prix 12
3 Louis Deletraz (FL) Charouz Racing System 12
4 Marcus Armstrong ART Grand Prix 8
5 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi Racing 6
6 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 4
7 Mick Schumacher Prema Racing 2
8 Felipe Drugovich MP Motorsport 1
9 Roy Nissany Trident
10 Artem Markelov BWT HWA Racelab
11 Marino Sato Trident
12 Dan Ticktum DAMS
13 Giuliano Alesi MP Motorsport
14 Sean Gelael DAMS
15 Yuki Tsunoda Carlin
16 Callum Ilott UNI-Virtuosi Racing
Ret. Jack Aitken Campos Racing
Ret. Guilherme Samaia Campos Racing
Ret. Pedro Piquet Charouz Racing System
Ret. Luca Ghiotto Hitech Grand Prix
Ret. Jehan Daruvala Carlin
Ret. Theo Pourchaire BWT HWA Racelab

 

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F2 Bahrain: Drugovich wins feature race, Schumacher holds title lead

Felipe Drugovich took his third win of the Formula 2 season in the Bahrain feature race, while Mick  Schumacher recovered from tenth to fourth to keep his title lead ahead of Callum Ilott.

The feature race had looked like a chance for Ilott to retake the title lead as he qualified on pole with Schumacher down in tenth. But when the lights went out Ilott was passed for the lead by Drugovich from second, while Schumacher jumped up to fourth.

Meanwhile, Dan Ticktum had a slow getaway from third and dropped back to eighth, and Yuki Tsunoda got up to 16th from his back of the grid start.

Across the opening laps Ilott then struggled for pace on his medium tyres. On lap eight he was passed by Marcus Armstrong for second, before Schumacher on hard tyres passed Ilott for third a lap later. Schumacher then improved to second by the end of the lap, when Armstrong locked up and ran wide at Turn 11.

Callum Ilott, UNI-Virtuosi (Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images)

Ilott pitted to swap his mediums for hards on lap 12, but a slow front left meant he came out in 17th. However, by pitting earlier than Drugovich, who stopped on lap 15, Ilott was able to get the undercut advantage and take the net lead on Drugovich’s first lap out of the pits.

Schumacher led the race until his own pit stop on lap 19, where he swapped from his starting set of hards to new mediums. Prior to his stop Schumacher had been losing several seconds a lap to his rivals on fresh hard tyres, and as a result he lost ground in the pits, rejoining in sixth behind Jehan Daruvala, Armstrong and Robert Shwartzman.

On lap 20 Drugovich came back at Ilott, retaking the lead of the race and beginning to open a gap of several seconds once ahead. Meanwhile, Schumacher started coming back through from sixth on his faster mediums, passing Shwartzman on lap 21 and Armstrong on lap 23.

With five laps to go Schumacher caught Daruvala for the final podium position. But despite having the pace advantage on the medium tyre, Schumacher couldn’t find a way past Daruvala’s defence. In the end Schumacher ran out of grip, and Daruvala was able to hold on to third behind Ilott for his first F2 podium.

Jehan Daruvala, Carlin (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Schumacher finished fourth ahead of Nikita Mazepin, while Tsunoda came sixth with the fastest lap.

Tsunoda had made steady progress through the field after his rapid start, and by lap 26 was into the points with a pass on Sean Gelael. The Carlin driver then picked off more positions over the closing laps with the help of his fresh medium tyres, passing Luca Ghiotto, Ticktum, Shwartzman and Armstrong before the flag.

Armstrong, Shwartzman and Ticktum finished seventh, eighth and ninth, and Jack Aitken took the final point with a last-lap pass on Ghiotto.

Full race result:

Pos. Driver Team Points
1 Felipe Drugovich MP Motorsport 25
2 Callum Ilott UNI-Virtuosi Racing 18
3 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 15
4 Mick Schumacher Prema Racing 12
5 Nikita Mazepin Hitech Grand Prix 10
6 Yuki Tsunoda (FL) Carlin 10
7 Marcus Armstrong ART Grand Prix 6
8 Robert Shwartzman Prema Racing 4
9 Dan Ticktum DAMS 2
10 Jack Aitken Campos Racing 1
11 Pedro Piquet Charouz Racing System
12 Luca Ghiotto Hitech Grand Prix
13 Sean Gelael DAMS
14 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi Racing
15 Roy Nissany Trident
16 Louis Deletraz Charouz Racing System
17 Giuliano Alesi MP Motorsport
18 Theo Pourchaire BWT HWA Racelab
19 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix
20 Marino Sato Trident
21 Guilherme Samaia Campos Racing
22 Artem Markelov BWT HWA Racelab

Feature image by Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images, courtesy of FIA Formula 2

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F2 Bahrain preview: title in Schumacher’s grasp

Formula 2 returns to the track this weekend at the Bahrain International Circuit for the penultimate round of the 2020 championship.

It’s been a while since September 27th, when we last saw F2 action at the Sochi Autodrom. Guanyu Zhou left Russia an F2 winner at last, having taken victory from Nikita Mazepin in the curtailed sprint race, but it was championship leader Mick Schumacher who made the most of the weekend.

After taking his second win of the season in the feature race, Schumacher came back through the field on Sunday to finish third on the sprint race podium as well. As a result, Schumacher comes to Bahrain with a healthy 22-point lead over his nearest rival Callum Ilott.

In fact, Schumacher could wrap up the title this weekend, perhaps even as early as the feature race. With two rounds remaining, Schumacher would have to outscore Callum Ilott by 26 points across the weekend—a feature race win with either pole or the fastest lap would do it.

But although Schumacher has one hand on the championship trophy, the margin between him and Ilott is still close enough that it wouldn’t take much for the tables to turn. All Ilott needs is a pair of strong results and some bad luck for Schumacher, and we could be looking at a very different picture for next weekend’s Sakhir finale.

Callum Ilott, UNI-Virtuosi (Scuderia Ferrari Press Office)

As ever in F2, there plenty more tight championship battles right through the field than just the one at the front.

Yuki Tsunoda is currently third in the championship but only seven points separate him from Mazepin in sixth. With Red Bull open about wanting Tsunoda to race in F1 with AlphaTauri next year, he’ll be wanting to open that gap a little more to make sure he scores the necessary super licence points.

Tsunoda’s Carlin team didn’t have the most competitive outing in Bahrain last year, with Louis Deletraz’s pair of fifth places their best result. However, the British team does know how to prepare a good car for the circuit, as was seen by Lando Norris and Sergio Sette Camara scoring a win and two podiums respectively in 2018.

Further back again, Felipe Drugovich will be one to keep an eye on this weekend. The Brazilian has been one of the surprise stars of the season, taking two sprint race wins and a pole at Silverstone, and he’ll be well aware that any more great results this weekend will be a big help as he looks for a 2021 seat further up the grid.

Finally, Bahrain will see Formula 3 driver Theo Pourchaire make his F2 debut with HWA. Pourchaire, who finished runner-up in this year’s F3 championship, will take over the #17 HWA from Jake Hughes, who raced at the last round in Sochi following Giuliano Alesis’s mid-season switch to MP Motorsport.

Alesi will continue with MP Motorsport this weekend, despite reports earlier this month that he was in danger of losing his seat and backing from the Ferrari Driver Academy.

Theo Pourchaire, ART F3 (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)
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Alesi dropped from Ferrari academy amid budget problems

Giuliano Alesi has been dropped from the Ferrari Driver Academy and run out of funding for 2021, according to his father Jean.

Alesi’s journey through the F1 feeder series’ has largely been financed by private backing raised by his father, who recently spoke out about the rising costs of Formula 2 after admitting he sold his Ferrari F40 to add to Alesi Jr.’s budget.

Speaking to Swiss newspaper Blick, Alesi Sr. said: “We have no sponsors for 2021, Ferrari fired him from the Academy and I can no longer raise private funds.”

Ahead of the most recent F2 round in Sochi, Alesi left HWA to join MP Motorsport for the remainder of the campaign. However, Alesi Sr. said that the €80,000 fee needed to leave his HWA contract early has contributed to his son’s funding issues.

Alesi is 17th in the F2 standings having yet to finish in the points since the opening race of the season in Austria.

Giuliano Alesi, HWA (Scuderia Ferrari Press Office)
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F2 and F3 confirm 2021 calendar split

Formula 2 and Formula 3 have announced that they will run separate calendars in 2021, rather than both running on the same Grand Prix weekend, to cut costs in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under the new calendar plans, F2 and F3 will run three races across their respective weekends instead of both running two races as they currently do. This change means that F2 can match its 2020 total of 24 races by running at eight F1 events, while F3 will increase to 21 races across seven events.

The changes are being made to cut the logistical costs incurred by teams by reducing the number of different venues travelled to throughout the season.

F2 and F3 CEO Bruno Michel said of the calendar changes: “One of our core values since the launch of the GP2 Series back in 2005 has been cost control. Today, more than ever, it has to be at the heart of our strategy.

“We strongly feel that [the calendar split] has to be done and put in place as quickly as possible to ensure the stability of both championships in the years to come.”

(Clive Mason / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

As well as the new schedule, F2 and F3 also announced changes to its technical and sporting regulations also aimed at lowering the costs of the championships.

F2 will not introduce a new chassis for its next three-year regulation cycle beginning in 2021, instead keeping the Dallara F2 2018 until 2023. F3 is also likely to do the same with its current chassis, which was introduced in 2019, when its next three-year cycle begins in 2022.

Furthermore, the costs of engine leases and certain spare parts, as well as logistical and freight costs, will be cut for both championships.

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F3: Doohan tops final post-season test

Trident’s Jack Doohan set the fastest time in Formula 3’s final post-season test at Jerez, ahead of teammate Clement Novalak.

Doohan set his best time of a 1:29.041s during his qualifying simulations in the morning session. This session was interrupted multiple times with red flags brought out for Alessandro Famularo (Campos), Olli Caldwell (ART), Francesco Pizzi (MP Motorsport) and Jonathan Hoggard (Campos), but Doohan was still able to log a respectable 42 laps in between the stoppages.

Novalak came close to Doohan in the sister Trident, but was ultimately kept off the top of the timesheets by just 0.019s. However, Novalak recorded more laps than his teammate with 45 in the morning session, and a day’s total of 101 to Doohan’s 92.

Jenzer’s Calan Williams had another strong day of testing as he again finished the day third-fastest. Williams was also second-fastest in the second session, with his 1:30.238s being only 0.14s slower than afternoon pacesetter Igor Fraga.

Igor Fraga, Hitech (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Hitech rookie Jak Crawford was fourth-fastest overall ahead of Charouz’s David Beckmann. Dennis Hauger (Prema) and Caio Collet (ART) were early pacesetters before Doohan’s run, but ended the day sixth and seventh respectively.

Hoggard was eighth fastest despite ending the morning session early with his spin into the gravel at Turn 5. Arthur Leclerc (Prema) and Enzo Fittipaldi (HWA) were ninth and tenth.

Leclerc logged the fewest laps of the day with 60, while Charouz rookie Konsta Lappalainen recorded the most with 103, despite finishing 28th in the overall times.

Overall classification:

Pos. Driver Team Time (best) Laps (total)
1 Jack Doohan Trident 1:29.041 92
2 Clement Novalak Trident 1:29.060 101
3 Calan Williams Jenzer Motorsport 1:29.328 77
4 Jak Crawford (R) Hitech Grand Prix 1:29.336 97
5 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:29.350 61
6 Dennis Hauger Prema Racing 1:29.361 64
7 Caio Collet (R) ART Grand Prix 1:29.461 93
8 Jonathan Hoggard (R) Campos Racing 1:29.514 68
9 Arthur Leclerc (R) Prema Racing 1:29.516 60
10 Enzo Fittipaldi HWA Racelab 1:29.558 90
11 Igor Fraga Hitech Grand Prix 1:29.622 102
12 Pierre-Louis Chovet HWA Racelab 1:29.628 88
13 David Schumacher Trident 1:29.674 75
14 Frederik Vesti ART Grand Prix 1:29.698 90
15 Olli Caldwell ART Grand Prix 1:29.705 86
16 Matteo Nannini Hitech Grand Prix 1:29.718 92
17 David Vidales (R) Campos Racing 1:29.728 87
18 Bent Viscaal MP Motorsport 1:29.833 72
19 Cameron Das Carlin Buzz Racing 1:29.917 72
20 Jonny Edgar (R) MP Motorsport 1:30.099 86
21 Oliver Rasmussen (R) Prema Racing 1:30.135 61
22 Reshad de Gerus (R) Charouz Racing System 1:30.285 87
23 Nazim Azman (R) Carlin Buzz Racing 1:30.310 82
24 Ido Cohen (R) Carlin Buzz Racing 1:30.410 80
25 Sophia Floersch HWA Racelab 1:30.590 89
26 Francesco Pizzi (R) MP Motorsport 1:30.634 75
27 Rafael Villagomez (R) Jenzer Motorsport 1:30.744 65
28 Konsta Lappalainen (R) Charouz Racing System 1:30.924 103
29 Filip Ugran (R) Jenzer Motorsport 1:30.960 75
30 Alessandro Famularo (R) Campos Racing 1:31.082 64
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F3 testing: Stanek leads Leclerc in Jerez

Roman Stanek topped the first day of Formula 3’s final post-season test at Jerez, pipping Prema’s Arthur Leclerc by 0.048s.

Stanek, driving for ART after testing for Prema himself in Barcelona, bucked the trend of the first post-season test by setting his best and the overall fastest time in the afternoon session. The Czech driver was only 11th in the morning session, but in the afternoon he was one of only two drivers to dip below 1:30s with a 1:29.928s.

Leclerc was the other driver to do so with a 1:29.976s. Jonathan Hoggard, driving for Hitech, picked up his impressive display from the first test by finishing the day third-fastest, just 0.086s off Stanek’s benchmark.

Jack Doohan, returning with Trident, finished fourth overall after topping the morning session. Dennis Hauger was fifth for Prema and second behind Doohan in the morning.

Enzo Fittipaldi (HWA), Clement Novalak (Trident), Igor Fraga (Hitech), Frederik Vesti (ART) and rookie Caio Collet (Prema) rounded out the top ten.

Jack Doohan, Trident (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Overall classification:

Pos. Driver Team Time (best) Laps (total)
1 Roman Stanek ART Grand Prix 1:29.928 67
2 Arthur Leclerc (R) Prema Racing 1:29.976 60
3 Jonathan Hoggard (R) Hitech Grand Prix 1:30.014 67
4 Jack Doohan Trident 1:30.161 54
5 Dennis Hauger Prema Racing 1:30.199 57
6 Enzo Fittipaldi HWA Racelab 1:30.202 63
7 Clement Novalak Trident 1:30.222 60
8 Igor Fraga Hitech Grand Prix 1:30.297 67
9 Frederik Vesti ART Grand Prix 1:30.338 70
10 Caio Collet (R) Prema Racing 1:30.356 61
11 David Schumacher Trident 1:30.431 74
12 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:30.462 42
13 Calan Williams Jenzer Motorsport 1:30.473 65
14 Olli Caldwell ART Grand Prix 1:30.540 69
15 David Vidales (R) Campos Racing 1:30.541 67
16 Matteo Nannini MP Motorsport 1:30.566 63
17 Oliver Rasmussen (R) HWA Racelab 1:30.576 84
18 Pierre-Louis Chovet HWA Racelab 1:30.585 89
19 Jak Crawford (R) Hitech Grand Prix 1:30.688 62
20 Cameron Das Carlin Buzz Racing 1:30.696 54
21 Jonny Edgar MP Motorsport 1:30.748 62
22 Nazim Azman (R) Carlin Buzz Racing 1:30.927 65
23 Ido Cohen (R) Carlin Buzz Racing 1:31.151 62
24 Peter Ptacek (R) Campos Racing 1:31.159 71
25 Francesco Pizzi (R) MP Motorsport 1:31.255 66
26 Reshad de Gerus (R) Charouz Racing System 1:31.363 43
27 Alessandro Famularo (R) Campos Racing 1:31.390 68
28 Rafael Villagomez (R) Jenzer Motorsport 1:31.454 68
29 Filip Ugran (R) Jenzer Motorsport 1:31.870 68
30 Konsta Lappalainen (R) Charouz Racing System 1:32.037 68
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IndyCar Finale Firestone Grand Prix

26TH OCTOBER 2020 BY ADAM WHEELER

Dixon crowned six-time champion to outshine Newgarden victory

Josef Newgarden’s last gasp attempt to be crowned IndyCar champion could only be accomplished with a win. Anything short of victory on the streets of St Petersburg would leave almost no path to deny Scott Dixon his sixth world championship.

Image courtesy of IndyCar

Newgarden, who started in eight, carved his way through the grid culminating with a spectacular two-car pass to take the lead and indeed the win. However, this wasn’t enough as Dixon was able to follow through from eleventh to finish in third place and thus the title.

“Six is good. Seven sounds better, that’s the goal,” Dixon said.

Scott Dixon’s sixth championship title takes him into IndyCar folklore, residing amongst the very best in history. He now is only one championship off the most successful IndyCar champion of all-time, A.J Foyt (7).

With victory at St Petersburg Newgarden achieved his series-best fourth win of the season. The Tennessee born two-time defending champion now loses his title but was remarkably magnanimous in defeat.

Newgarden went to victory lane to congratulate his rival.

“We weren’t good enough,”Newgarden said. “We’ll reset, we’ll hit them harder next year and I promise you, we will be in the fight.”

It is indeed incredible that it was nearly seven months ago that the 2020 season was abruptly abandoned. St Petersburg was originally scheduled to take place in March but was postponed to the last race of the season. A sold-out crowd of 20,000 spectators was the largest crowd of the whole season, which lost races in seven cities, had just one street course event with Sunday’s finale, and still managed to complete a 14-race year.

It was a finale to remember which was plagued with error-prone ending mistakes which saw three different Andretti race leaders crash out and Newgarden there to capitalise.

The start of the race was dominated by Alexander Rossi who took the lead of the race from pole sitter Will Power with an apparent down-shift issue. Power who was in a tight race for third in the final standings, then made an uncharacteristic mistake crashing into the barrier and promptly retiring from the race thereafter. The Australian threw his gloves in anger and admitted to driver error.

“I just lost it. Had a moment,”he said. “I was definitely frustrated there, making a mistake and hitting the wall. It’s my bad. It put us out of the race and that’s a bad situation.”

What followed were three cautions over 10 laps, the third on the restart of lap 47 brought out by Australian Supercar champion Scott McLaughlin who spun on his debut. The debutant collected into Rinus VeeKay, who clinched the ‘Rookie of the Year’ title on the same day his contract was renewed for a second season with Ed Carpenter Racing.

Despite the crash and ultimately finishing in 22nd, McLaughlin hailed his experience in IndyCar as an exciting one:

“Awesome. Far out. The best day of my life, besides my wedding,”

After the first round of pit stops, it seemed Alexander Rossi was in control of the race followed by his two Andretti teammates Colton Herta and James Hinchliffe. However, Rossi went into a spin on lap 70 collecting both the 

Rossi had been determined to extend a streak of at least one win a season that dates to 2006 when was Skip Barber’s youngest champion at 14-year-old.

His long and frustrating season ended with a 21st-place finish for the Andretti Autosport driver.

“Just lost it. It sucks, this is the first time I’ve crashed while leading,” Rossi said.

Chaos continued when Marco Andretti, who had magnificently fought his way from near the back to seventh, spun while racing for the final spot in IndyCar’s bonus programme which would have gifted an extra $1 billion to the Andretti team.

Moreover, there was a spin for Andretti’s James Hinchliffe who had been running in the top three for most of the race.

In a bizarre turn of events, the pace car which had been used for an unusually high number of caution laps reported it was on low fuel. Quickly after that, Andretti’s Colton Herta, who had inherited the lead from both Rossi and Hinchliffe spun making it a day to forget for the Andretti Autosport team.

Newgarden took control soon after, but soon had the McLaren SP driver of Pato O’Ward on his tail. Unfortunately, the Mexican could not gain on the American who stretched his lead to nearly 5 seconds by the chequered flag. O’Ward eventually settled for second.

All the earlier attrition helped Dixon slip through the field to third. There was nothing Newgarden could do, even on a day he did everything he had to, to deny Dixon a sixth championship.

Dixon, a 40-year-old considered the best of his generation, ranks third on IndyCar’s all-time wins list behind A.J. Foyt. His first title was in 2003, his first season with Chip Ganassi Racing, and his latest championship comes as the team has welcomed NASCAR’s seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson to the organization.

Colton Herta was able to finish the season in third in front of Pato O’Ward, who in his first full IndyCar season, finished fourth in the standings.

Race Classification

1. Josef Newgarden
2. Pato O’Ward
3. Scott Dixon
4. Sebastien Bourdais
5. Ryan Hunter-Reay
6. Simon Pagenaud
7. Marcus Ericsson
8. Charlie Kimball
9. Graham Rahal
10. Takuma Sato
11. Colton Herta
12. Max Chilton
13. Alex Palou
14. James Hinchcliffe
15. Rinus VeeKay
16. Oliver Askew
17. Conor Daly
18. Felix Rosenqvist
19. Jack Harvey
20. Marco Andretti
21. Alexander Rossi
22. Scott McLaughlin
23. Santino Ferrucci
24. Will Power

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IndyCar Firestone GP Qualifying: Will Power takes pole after timing chaos.

image courtesy of IndyCar

Will Power took his ninth pole position on the streets of St Petersburg in the final qualifying of the season. Today’s achievement takes him to 62 career poles, now five behind Mario Andretti’s all-time record of 67.

A hectic session ensued in which multiple drivers had their times deleted due to various infringements, including Chip Ganassi’s Felix Rosenqvist who was relegated to 22nd for blocking Alex Palou. This caused a massive delay to the ‘Fast 12’ while IndyCar figured out the official classification.

Four Honda drivers, associated with Andretti finished inside the top five. Andretti Autosports’ Alexander Rossi lines up alongside Will Power in second place while Andretti Harding Steinbrenner driver Colton Herta continues his brilliant run of form starting in third.

Andretti Autosports’ James Hinchliffe will start in fourth in front of Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey in fifth who had one of their best qualifying performances of the season.

Of the six who made it through to the final Firestone Fast Six, Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward was the slowest.

A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ Sebastien Bourdais qualified in seventh place ahead of only realistic championship contender remaining, Penske’s Josef Newgarden in eighth. The two-time champion must win the race tomorrow to stand any chance of snatching the championship from Scott Dixon.

Originally qualifying in ninth place, he was bumped up to eighth after teammate Simon Pagenaud was dropped from eighth to 12th due to a penalty.

image courtesy of IndyCar

Rookies Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing and Oliver Askew of Arrow McLaren SP are set to round out the top ten in ninth and tenth place respectively. VeeKay is certain to win the coveted ‘Rookie of the Year’ title by starting the race tomorrow.

Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon starts in eleventh for tomorrow’s race and is assured his sixth championship title if he finishes in the same position. If Dixon finishes the race in eleventh, Newgarden can not mathematically win the title even if he wins the race.

image courtesy of IndyCar

IndyCar also welcomed Australian Supercar Champion Scott McLaughlin for his debut with team Penske. However, the Kiwi had some trouble getting used to the car and missed out on advancing to the second stage of qualifying, making contact with a wall in the process.

Here is the full starting lineup for the 2020 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg, with all penalties factored in.

Starting Lineup
1st – Will Power
2nd – Alexander Rossi
3rd – Colton Herta
4th – James Hinchcliffe
5th – Jack Harvey
6th – Pato O’Ward
7th – Sebastien Bourdais
8th – Josef Newgarden
9th – Rinus VeeKay
10th – Oliver Askew
11th – Scott Dixon
12th – Simon Pagenaud
13th – Takuma Sato
14th – Conor Daly
15th – Marcus Ericsson
16th – Alex Palou
17th – Graham Rahal
18th – Santino Ferrucci
19th – Ryan Hunter-Reay
20th – Charlie Kimball
21st – Scott McLaughlin
22nd – Felix Rosenqvist
23rd – Marco Andretti
24th – Max Chilton

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