Tag: Juncos Hollinger Racing

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Alex Palou bags $500,000 in Thermal Club Challenge race

Alex Palou cruised to victory Sunday morning in IndyCar’s Thermal Club $1 Million Dollar Challenge exhibition race at The Thermal Club, a private motorsports club in Palm Springs, California, bagging himself half a million dollars.

Alex Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing Team celebrate winning the Thermal Club $1 Million Dollar Challenge race in victory lane (Photo by Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment)
  • Palou becomes half a million dollars richer
  • Empty pockets
  • Heat results
  • Main race results

3 min read

Palou becomes a half a million dollars richer

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver and reigning two-time IndyCar champion had been in control of his destiny all weekend long, qualifying on the pole, and then comfortably winning his heat race to start on pole for the main 20-lap 12 car feature race where victory never looked in doubt, leading all 20 laps, and taking the checkered flag with over five seconds over second place Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, who still won $350,000 for being runner-up.

The final race was divided into two ten-lap segments with a ten minute halftime break, with teams having to keep the same set of tyres on for the whole race.

Drivers like Colton Herta chose not to push for the first 10-lap segment and instead hanged back of the pack and sought to save his tyres for the second 10-lap segment.

Herta was able to go from tenth to fourth but still bagged himself $500,000 of the $1.7 million total purse, but was not able to reach Palou, who was out front in clean air all race long.

Palou said: “I was a bit surprised how the competitors did the first 10 laps, saving tires. I was like: ‘All right, that’s our game. I like it.”

When asked by NBC how he was going to spend his winnings he replied: “I need to buy a lot of diapers and pyjamas.”

Heat one runner up Scott McLaughlin was Alex Palou’s nearest competitor on track in the main race but two laps in, Palou had pulled a 1.7 second gap, and despite the halftime reset, Palou only extended the gap over McLaughlin further by over five seconds come the end of the race.

Alex Palou leads the Thermal Club main race with Scott McLaughlin in second (second), and Felix Rosenqvist in third (third) (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

Colton Herta only just made it into the main race in heat one by holding off rookie and fellow California native Nolan Siegel who was making his IndyCar Series debut, Ferrucci, and Will Power for sixth place, with only the top six out of the 14 drivers in heat one advancing to the main race.

Herta said: “Our strategy worked in the second half. Yeah I didn’t care. I went to feast in the second half.”

Heat one polesitter and Meyer Shank Racing driver Felix Rosenqvist had an impressive outing again, leading right where he left off in St. Pete, by holding off McLaughlin for the heat one win, and was able to bring the car home third and secure himself $250,000.

Empty pockets

Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean did not share in the fortunes of Palou’s dominant display or his ex-Andretti teammates’ fourth place, nor did Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon, after he collided with Grosjean in the heat one race start in the turn one braking zone, sending Grosjean out of control into the pack as they went through the turn one hairpin, collecting innocent bystander Rinus VeeKay in the process, taking them both out of the race.

Romain Grosjean goes skidding across the sand in turn one moments before he collides with Rinus VeeKay in the start of heat 1 (Photo by Joe Skibinksi/Penske Entertainment)

Dixon was given a drive through penalty under green conditions following the restart for avoidance contact.

Grosjean said: “It’s not what I signed up to IndyCar for.”

It was intense heat two battle for Arrow McLaren with their drivers Callum Ilott, Alexander Rossi, and Pato O’Ward as they fought over seventh, with Rossi and O’Ward finding a way past Ilott, who was standing in for David Malukas and is not scheduled to compete in any more races, with Rossi managing to get past Meyer Shank Racing driver Tom Blomqvist for the final transfer spot.

Callum Ilott (front), Alexander Rossi (second), and Pato O’Ward (third) battle over seventh place in heat 2 (Photp by Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment)

Rossi then scrapped with two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden following the halftime break in the main race, making contact on lap 12 and driving both wide off track, allowing Lundqvist and Herta to sneak by for fifth and sixth place respectively.

Rossi finally finished ahead of Newgarden in seventh after finding a cleaner way past by the end of the lap. Newgarden finished eighth.

Pietro Fittipaldi, who had finished in fifth place in heat one, was disqualified from the main race come the halftime break due to the team not getting the car full of fuel for the race, as required by IndyCar.

The next IndyCar Series race is the prestigious Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 21st with the race starting 3pm ET time.

Heat 1 results 

  1. Felix Rosenqvist
  2. Scott McLaughlin
  3. Josef Newgarden
  4. Christian Lundgaard
  5. Agustin Canapino
  6. Colton Herta
  7. Nolan Siegel
  8. Santino Ferrucci
  9. Will Power
  10. Kyle Kirkwood
  11. Sting Ray Robb
  12. Scott Dixon
  13. Rinus VeeKay
  14. Romain Grosjean

Heat 2 results 

  1. Alex Palou
  2. Marcus Armstrong
  3. Graham Rahal
  4. Linus Lundqvist
  5. Pietro Fittipaldi
  6. Alexander Rossi
  7. Pato O’Ward
  8. Tom Blomqvist
  9. Callum Ilott
  10. Christian Rasmussen
  11. Kyffin Simpson
  12. Marcus Ericsson
  13. Colin Braun

Main race results 

  1. Alex Palou
  2. Scott McLaughlin
  3. Felix Rosenqvist
  4. Colton Herta
  5. Marcus Armstrong
  6. Linus Lundqvist
  7. Alexander Rossi
  8. Josef Newgarden
  9. Christian Lundgaard
  10. Agustin Canapino
  11. Graham Rahal
  12. Pietro Fittipaldi

Featured Image:  Alex Palou celebrates winning the Thermal Club $1 Million Dollar Challenge Race (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

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Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge race preview

The NTT IndyCar Series are getting set to race for $1 million plus dollars near Palm Springs, California at the 17-turn three mile Thermal Club circuit, in a non-points paying exhibition race, the first of it’s kind since IndyCar’s Nikon 300 at Surfers Paradise in 2008.

The Thermal Club logo printed on the straight of the Thermal Club circuit (Photo by Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment)
  • Race day breakdown
  • Qualifying 
  • Full qualifying results 

5 min read

There is a $1.7 million total purse for the race, with the winning driver being awarded $500,000.

The race event will consist of two 10 lap/20 minute heat races on Sunday starting 8:45am PT/3:45pm UK time with the main race starting 9:30am PT/4:30pm UK time.

Full course yellow laps will not count towards the lap total during the heat races but the time will, the first that’s completed, either 10 laps or 20 minutes, will end each heat race.

Drivers will only be granted one set of tyres for their heat races.

The top six finishers from each heat race will advance to the main race to have a chance of winning the $500,000, with even second and third winning $350,000 and $250,000 respectively.

Callum Ilott (front), Pato O’Ward (middle), and Christian Lundgaard (rear) race around the Thermal Club circuit (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

The starting order for the heats was decided by two eight minute heat qualifying sessions, one for each of the two groups, Saturday afternoon that saw Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Palou take pole for each heat respectively.

The main race, the Sprint for the Purse, will be a 20-lap race broken down into two 10 lap segments, with a 10-minute halftime break after lap 10.

There will only be one set of tyres made available for the main race and will have no time limit for but will finish by all 20 laps being completed.

During the 10-minute halftime break, drivers will come pit road, and be able to take fuel and make adjustments.

Due to both groups of drivers only merging together for the main race with the top six from each groups’ heat races, group two have been awarded priority spots for equivalent starting positions for the main race due to Palou, who is in group two, laying down a faster pole time compared to Rosenqvist’s group one pole time.

There is a strong likelihood of teams infighting for the top six advancement through to the main race in both heats due to all three Team Penske cars being in group one, and all three Arrow Mclaren cars being in group two, three of the four Chip Ganassi Racing cars in heat two, as well as both Juncos Hollinger Racing cars of Romain Grosjean and Agustin Canapino starting next to each for heat one.

It is not the first time IndyCar have tried out heat racing, last doing so at the Iowa Speedway oval in 2012 and 2013, with current drivers Graham Rahal and Scott Dixon winning heat races in those events.

Current Indy NXT championship points leader and California native Nolan Siegel, is making his IndyCar Series debut at the event and qualified 12th for his heat one race.

Siegel was the 2023 IndyCar development series’ Rookie of the Year, and the 19-year-old is scheduled to also make IndyCar Series starts at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, the Indianapolis 500, and the Grand Prix of Toronto.

Nolan Siegel (front) and Christian Lundgaard (rear) race around the Thermal Club circuit (Photo by Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment)

Push to pass for the drivers is being made available for a total time of 40 seconds, for each qualifying session, the heat races and both 10-lap segments of the main race.

Qualifying

Qualifying consisted of two eight minute sessions, with the two group makeups being decided by a random draw, and only had one set of tires to lay down their qualifying laps.

Group 1 qualifying saw Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist bag a consecutive pole with a lap time of 1.38.5831, after grabbing pole two weeks ago in the season opener at St. Pete.

Rosenqvist talking to NBC said: “It’s so tricky out there, wind and dirt on the track. Felt confident. The speed is there.”

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, who qualified third in group one, speaking to NBC said: “That was awesome, it was like an old-school Supercars shootout, you go out there, and bam bam bam.”

Andretti Global’s and California native Colton Herta struggled to put a fast lap together, lacking grip at the end of the session, and will start 11th out of 14th for heat one.

Group 2 qualifying saw a dramatic change in weather conditions after a late session red flag brought out by Marcus Ericsson, that saw Palou shoot to the top with a lap time of 1.38.5675, to secure pole for heat two.

Palou, who was quickest in both test sessions on Friday, speaking to NBC said: “Amazing, looking forward to tomorrow, happy with that. Had 14 seconds of push to pass, car was good.”

Palou’s pole lap came following the 10-minute red flag, that had been brought out by Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson after he lost his car over the bumps in turn eight as engaged push to pass, and went backwards into the tyre wall.

When the red flag was lifted, wind gusts had eased, creating more favourable conditions for the drivers.

Both Arrow McLaren teams of Callum Ilott and Pato O’Ward, who were sat one two on the timesheet at the time of the red flag, did not go out to do one final lap, unlike the other 11 drivers in group two, and ended up eighth and ninth for qualifying, over half a second down to Palou.

O’Ward speaking to NBC during the red flag said that the “track is very sensitive to heat and wind. I could never get the car to set, it was going in the opposite direction to where I wanted to go. It’s just really gusty and feels icy out there.”

Graham Rahal qualified third for heat two in his final lap attempt following the red flag.

Speaking to NBC Rahal described his attempt as “the old fashioned pull it out.”

Don’t miss the Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge race beginning 8:45am PT Sunday.

Full qualifying results

Group 1 qualifying results for Heat 1 

  1. Felix Rosenqvist
  2. Scott McLaughlin
  3. Rinus VeeKay
  4. Christian Lundgaard
  5. Josef Newgarden
  6. Will Power
  7. Romain Grosjean
  8. Agustin Canapino
  9. Scott Dixon
  10. Santino Ferrucci
  11. Colton Herta
  12. Nolan Siegel
  13. Kyle Kirkwood
  14. Sting Ray Robb

Group 2 qualifying results for Heat 2

  1. Alex Palou
  2. Marcus Armstrong
  3. Graham Rahal
  4. Linus Lundqvist
  5. Tom Blomqvist
  6. Pietro Fittipaldi
  7. Alexander Rossi
  8. Callum Ilott
  9. Pato O’Ward
  10. Kyffin Simpson
  11. Christian Rasmussen
  12. Colin Braun
  13. Marcus Ericsson

Featured Image: Colton Herta practices around the Thermal Club circuit in Friday’s test session (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

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IndyCar Weekend Preview: The final IndyCar race at Belle Isle Park

This weekend sees the NTT IndyCar Series tackle the twisty and bumpy streets of Belle Isle Park island in Detroit for what will be the 30th and final running of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on the island.

The raceway at Belle Isle Park is a 14-turn temporary street course and is 2.35 miles in length. The IndyCar drivers will race for 70 laps around Belle Isle Park in Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix (164.5 miles).

Belle Isle is the seventh round of the season with five different race winners in the first six rounds of this year’s championship. Just one week after the Indy 500, race winner Marcus Ericsson comes into the weekend as the points leader.

Belle Isle Park is the perfect way for the Chip Ganassi Racing driver to maintain momentum as Ericsson earned his first IndyCar career win at Belle Isle Park in 2021 in the first of two races.

Marcus Ericsson celebrating his first NTT IndyCar Series win at Belle Isle Park next to the fountain (Photo by Chris Owens/IndyCar Media)

Fellow Swede Felix Rosenqvist had a scary crash in last year’s race one at Belle Isle when his throttle stuck heading into turn six, accelerating him hard into the tyre wall. He was hospitalized overnight.

Team Penske’s Will Power had led the most laps of the race but while in the lead, he was not able to get his car refired on pit road after the end of a red flag period late on in the race.

Will Power stuck on pit road (Photo by Matt Fraver/IndyCar Media)

Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward, last weekend’s Indy 500 runner up, won the second Belle Isle race in 2021. A.J. Foyt Enterprises’s rookie Kyle Kirkwood won both of last year’s Indy Lights races at Belle Isle with Andretti Autosport. 

Pato O’Ward (front) racing in the 2021 Detroit Grand Prix Race 2 (Photo by Matt Fraver/IndyCar Media)

Santino Ferrucci, after having a strong Indy 500 run and finishing 10th, stands in for Callum Ilott this weekend at Juncos Hollinger Racing, as Ilott was injured in a crash in last weekend’s Indy 500 when he hit the turn two wall.

Rookie Tatiana Calderón returns in her road course and street course only race schedule with A.J. Foyt Enterprises after not partaking in the Indy 500. Calderón’s teammate Dalton Kellett has received a six-position starting grid penalty for Sunday’s race after an unapproved engine change before the start of last weekend’s Indy 500.

Active race winners include three-time winners Hélio Castroneves, who last won in the second race in 2014, and Scott Dixon who last won in the second race in 2019. Castroneves is also the active driver with the most poles with three, with the last coming for the first of two 2014 races.

The weekend comes as Alexander Rossi announced earlier this week that he will join Arrow McLaren SP in 2023 as Kyle Kirkwood returns to Andretti Autosport next season but now at the top level of IndyCar racing.

Alexander Rossi racing in the 2021 Detroit Grand Prix Race 2 (Photo by Matt Fraver/IndyCar Media)

The NTT IndyCar Series will have a single 45 minute practice session on Friday at 3:30pm ET before an early second 45 practice session on Saturday starting at 8:30am ET. The three round knockout qualifying session returns on Saturday starting at 12:35pm ET.

Sunday will see the 30 minute warm up session starting at 10:15am ET. The green flag for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear flies at 3:45pm ET.

You can watch any of the sessions through your TV network provider or through IndyCar’s own free streaming service IndyCar Live for sessions that are not provided by your TV network. (https://www.indycar.com/ways-to-watch/stream)

Featured Image: Pato O’Ward leading the 2021 Detroit Grand Prix Race 1 (Photo by Joe Skibinski/IndyCar Media)

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VeeKay outperforms O’Ward to score second career pole at Barber Motorsports Park

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus Veekay followed up topping practice two by bagging his second career pole at Barber Motorsports Park out doing Arrow McLaren SP, Ganassi, Penske and Andretti. VeeKay’s blistering final lap of a 1:06.2507 prevented Pato O’Ward from going back to back for pole position. O’Ward qualified second with a 1:06.4003 but said to NBC that a mistake in one corner cost him pole.

Pato O’Ward out on track (Photo by Joe Skibinski/IndyCar Media)

VeeKay speaking to NBC about his feelings towards tomorrow’s race said his “confidence is high”. The last time VeeKay put his ECR Chevrolet on pole, was at the Indianapolis Road Course in 2020, a race track he won at in 2021 after managing to pass Romain Grosjean, scoring his first IndyCar Series win.

Rinus VeeKay heading into turn nine (Photo by Joe Skibinski/IndyCar Media)

Álex Palou and Scott McLaughlin qualified third and fourth respectively, both of whom were consistently the fastest drivers out of their respective team camps heading into qualifying after two practice sessions.

From a smashed up Andretti Honda in practice only three hours before after overcorrecting and colliding with the turn 17 guard rail, Alexander Rossi made the Firestone fast six and qualified an impressive fifth place. Rossi’s car had been pushed hurriedly out of the paddock with him already in the car to even make qualifying. Felix Rosenqvist qualified sixth making McLaren SP the only team to have more than one car in the fast six on a day where Andretti and Ganassi were expected to make up the majority of the field in the session.

Alexander Rossi out on track (Photo by Chris Owens/IndyCar Media)

What contributed to the shuffling up of drivers who made up the fast 12 and the fast six, was a series of red flags that ended the earlier qualifying sessions with time to spare, cancelling out any hot laps drivers were currently on. In round one, group two rookie David Malukas brought out the red flag with less than a minute to go after getting loose coming over the hill into turn 15 and instead went off the track and collided with the outside guard rail.

Even more unfortunate was when Marcus Ericsson got beached in the turn nine gravel trap at the very end of the fast 12 session, ending many driver’s flying laps. Colton Herta who had been at the top of the board for much of the session until late on, instead had to settle for 10th place after having gone out for his final hot lap later than he expected it. Talking to NBC, Herta said “Ericsson ruined it for us”. Ericsson was 9th before being relegated to 12th in the session for bringing out the red flag.

Colton Herta standing by his pit box (Photo by Chris Jones/IndyCar Media)

Newgarden and Grosjean faced the same fate, instead qualifying seventh and eighth. Grosjean was expected to be making a run for pole for tomorrow’s race and had been hitting the top of the board throughout qualifying, while it was anticipated that Newgarden, the three-time Barber winner, would make the top five.

British rookie Callum Ilott and Juncos Hollinger Racing would have a breakout day qualifying 11th. Ilott had also been on a quicker lap when the red flag came out but said to NBC that he was very happy to have qualified as well as they had.

Callum Ilott out on track (Photo by Joe Skibinski/IndyCar Media)

A major upset in round one, group one saw Scott Dixon only manage seventh in the session and Will Power, the four-time Barber pole sitter who was fighting understeer in the car, only manage an 11th place. Dixon and Power will start 13th and 19th for tomorrow’s race.

Meyer Shank Racing had a challenging qualifying session. Hélio Castroneves while not making it out of round one, group two, finishing in eighth place, would also go for a spin coming out of turn nine after lighting up the rears on a flying lap at the end of the session, and ended up facing backwards on the inside grass patch. Teammate Simon Pagenaud only managed 12th in the session. Castroneves and Pagenaud will start 16th and 24th respectively.

The full qualifying order: Rinus VeeKay (1st), Pato O’Ward (2nd), Álex Palou (3rd), Scott McLaughlin (4th), Alexander Rossi (5th), Felix Rosenqvist (6th), Josef Newgarden (7th), Romain Grosjean (8th), Graham Rahal (9th), Colton Herta (10th), Callum Ilott (11th), Marcus Ericsson (12th), Scott Dixon (13th), Christian Lundgaard (14th), Jack Harvey (15th), Hélio Castroneves (16th), Takuma Sato (17th), David Malukas (18th), Will Power (19th), Devlin DeFrancesco (20th), Kyle Kirkwood (21st), Conor Daly (22nd), Dalton Kellett (23rd), Simon Pagenaud (24th), Tatiana Calderón (25th), and Jimmie Johnson (26th).

ECR’s Rinus Veekay and McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward will lead the field to green at 12:15 Central Time tomorrow for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. 

Featured Image: Rinus VeeKay celebrating with the NTT P1 Award (Photo by Joe Skibinski/IndyCar Media) 

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