Grand Prix Rejects

With Alexander Rossi on pole and the 2 leading championship contenders Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden lined up next on the grid, this looks like it's going to be a good day for racing today at Watkins Glen. I've also read somewhere that rain might play a role in this race.

It's too bad I cannot watch it due to conflicting schedules. So to all of you on this board who can: here's wishing you an enjoyable, good and safe race.

That's it for tonight's recommendation.

What a unpredictable race. First the race director calling it a "wet race" despite the track being almost dry to the point of everyone rushing into the pits on the first lap . This alone was a solid reason for a slam dunk ROTR, but Josef NewChocker deserves it more for binning it in the best Will Power style crashing in the pit exit. Ironically, Power was directly involved, like in 2015 finale.

Won't be surprised to see Dixon winning another title and Penske losing another one.

There's only one true candidate for ROTR this time around. Step right up Borg Warner Trophy winner Takuma Sato. On a day where Andretti were legit contenders, he was involved in 50% of the cautions that came out, and got served a DTP for an illegal overtake to boot

In one of the more left-field decisions in recent memory, ChampCar scrublord Tristan Gommendy has secured an Indy 500 seat with SPM. Even better, his entry is managed by Didier Calmels of Larrousse F1 fame!

Meanwhile, Zach Veach has all but secured a three year deal at Andretti, which presumably ends any hope of Alonso coming to IndyCar full time. Also, Brendon Hartley is set to replace TK at Ganassi, with TK moving over to Foyt for 2018.

Finally (deep breath) Zachary Claman DeMelo brings his incredible name to the IndyCar grid and depositing lots of dollars into Bobby Rahal's bank account, as he'll be racing the second RLL entry at Sonoma this weekend.

And there's more, as Spencer Pigot's got a full-time seat for next year. I'd be more pumped about this if it wasn't at Hildebrand's expense...

Also I heard Ganassi is going to end their "B-Team", reverting to a two cars team into the next season.

Dj_bereta wrote:Also I heard Ganassi is going to end their "B-Team", reverting to a two cars team into the next season.

And confirmed by Chip. That's kind of a blow to the series. Can't see any teams expanding to keep the same number of seats.

Also Sato to RLL confirmed.

It seems like IndyCar will be struggling to consistently get 20 cars in the field in 2018. It's a shame, as the racing has been great from what I've seen this season.

Don't forget RLL now has the #16 doing a full season, and Harding are doing the year with Chaves (and they're looking at adding a second car). Add the possibility of Juncos and Carlin into the mix, and we might have an even larger grid.

Ataxia wrote:Don't forget RLL now has the #16 doing a full season, and Harding are doing the year with Chaves (and they're looking at adding a second car). Add the possibility of Juncos and Carlin into the mix, and we might have an even larger grid.

Hope so, Carlin especially would be interesting to see.

The only moment I could imagine as ROTY is Bourdais's crash at Indy. He had the fastest speed so far when he lost control and hit the wall heavily. Imagine if that never happened. Could Newgarden still have won the championship? It is that question which answers "we'll never know".

golic_2004 wrote:The only moment I could imagine as ROTY is Bourdais's crash at Indy. He had the fastest speed so far when he lost control and hit the wall heavily. Imagine if that never happened. Could Newgarden still have won the championship? It is that question which answers "we'll never know".

Yes, because crashing at 230mph is definitely rejectful. Definitely.

Even if the crash hadn't happened he'd lost a huge amount of points already through being caught up in the Phoenix pile-up and having his engine let go during the Indy GP. it's highly doubtful Seb would have been competitive at Texas, Iowa and Pocono.

RonDenisDeletraz wrote:

Ataxia wrote:Don't forget RLL now has the #16 doing a full season, and Harding are doing the year with Chaves (and they're looking at adding a second car). Add the possibility of Juncos and Carlin into the mix, and we might have an even larger grid.

Hope so, Carlin especially would be interesting to see.

Also, Michael Shank has been making promising noises about having a team in IndyCar in 2018. At the very least they'll do Indy and maybe the other superspeedways ala Harding this season.

We'll have at least 21 cars on the grid for 2018 due to the Leader's Circle programme. If we assume the entry payments for the two former Ganassi cars go to Rahal (funding their second car) and Harding (funding a one-car entry), and if Chevy manage to get Penske to keep the #3 as a full-time ride, then that makes 21.

The worst-kept secret in IndyCar is finally out: Helio Castroneves will be driving full-time for Penske's IMSA programme next year

Gutting that he's leaving the series without ever winning the title. I rewatched the 2013 season recently and seeing him lose the title through that bullshit double gearbox failure in Houston was soul-destroying. Hopefully he'll still get shots at the Indy 500 for years to come.

Also, Penske are confirmed as running three cars next year, meaning another Leaders Circle payment is available. Let's hope Carlin, Harding, Juncos and Michael Shank can get decent teams together.

Robert Wickens is on his way to IndyCar. Surely only a matter of days before he's confirmed alongside Hinch at SPM. Now what we need is SPM to adopt a light blue livery with Indeck and Players sponsorship and voila, Forsythe Racing are back.

Meanwhile, plenty of rumours going around that Carlin are preparing to run at least a one car entry for Max Chilton next year, with the possibility of a second car for Charlie Kimball depending on how much cash Charlie can stump up. Presumable he's got to raise enough to cover the team's repair bills...

Finally, the 2017 Formula One world champion was spotted at Pocono Raceway yesterday undertaking a "top secret" day of filming. Let the rumour mill commence.

Let's see: Hamilton winning Indy 500, Alonso retires from motorsport.

I'm amazed that no one is mentioning that Portland is back! One of the fastest tracks on the old CCWS tour, and a fun track to run (although off the top of my head the only game I know of that has it is NFS: Pro Street).

While it is sad that the Glen is gone again, why they still insist on Labor Day weekend when it has NEVER drawn, is beyond me. And honestly, I'd rather Portland.

I take Portland over Glen anytime. While I confess it's nice to see cars going flatout through the esses, most of Indy races here were boring. Glen quickly turned into Indy's Hungaroring along with Mid-ohio.

What worries me is: Carlin, Juncos and others still not confirmed to debut next season. Yeah, it's a bit too early to say something, but without these new teams, Indy grid for next year will be a bit empty with less than 20 cars per race.

Ed Jones is in the other Ganassi car next year. Let's see how he does alongside Dixon...

A big surprise. Chip made a bold move. Another surprise is the latest rumor about Leist replacing Daly at Foyt. AJ firing both drivers for the second season in-a-row? Looks crazy.

Here's hoping the new bodywork makes this chassis an even safer car.

The changes in the driver lineup of the teams are all rather interesting.

Portland is a good addition to the calendar. Which one is going to be the next new event or returning event? Mexico City seems to be the leading contender. And then? Milwaukee? Homestead?

Yannick wrote:Here's hoping the new bodywork makes this chassis an even safer car.

The changes in the driver lineup of the teams are all rather interesting.

Portland is a good addition to the calendar. Which one is going to be the next new event or returning event? Mexico City seems to be the leading contender. And then? Milwaukee? Homestead?

Indy will never go back to Homestead since they butchered it for NASCAR. Milwaukee would be fantastic, but supposedly Road America has a "no Milwaukee" clause.

Wallio wrote:

Yannick wrote:Here's hoping the new bodywork makes this chassis an even safer car.

The changes in the driver lineup of the teams are all rather interesting.

Portland is a good addition to the calendar. Which one is going to be the next new event or returning event? Mexico City seems to be the leading contender. And then? Milwaukee? Homestead?

Indy will never go back to Homestead since they butchered it for NASCAR. Milwaukee would be fantastic, but supposedly Road America has a "no Milwaukee" clause.

I doubt that Indycar would want to go to Milwaukee anyways compared to Road America. I remember when the NASCAR Xfinity Series had to drop the Milwaukee Mile from the schedule because of sponsorship problems from the promoter of the track. Fans were pretty upset about it until they heard Road America was going to be the replacement.

DANICA PATRICK IS RUNNING THE INDY 500 NEXT YEAR.

After much umming and arring, Carlin are finally joining IndyCar full time, running a two car effort. Chilton and Kimball are confirmed in the seats. Excellent stuff.

Also, Michael Shank Racing has put together a six race programme for Jack Harvey. The IndyCar field's looking pretty healthy right now, hopefully Ricardo Juncos can get funding to do a full season entry as well.

In a fairly surprising choice, Ed Carpenter has signed former Sainsbury's heir and F2 driver Jordan King to drive the #20 on road and street courses.

In an equally baffling decision, Ricardo Juncos has put together a four race programme for perennial junior series participant Rene Binder

While neither choice is going to set the world alight, it does mean the IndyCar field is looking a lot healthier than in recent years. We could be looking at up to 24 cars at some rounds this season, the groundwork being laid for these part-time entries to go full-time.

East Londoner wrote:In an equally baffling decision, Ricardo Juncos has put together a four race programme for perennial junior series participant Rene Binder

It should be noted that Rene Binder apparently is the nephew of one Hans Binder. This alone should be enough to garner a bit of following around these parts for the young driver from Austria.

Yannick wrote:

East Londoner wrote:In an equally baffling decision, Ricardo Juncos has put together a four race programme for perennial junior series participant Rene Binder

It should be noted that Rene Binder apparently is the nephew of one Hans Binder. This alone should be enough to garner a bit of following around these parts for the young driver from Austria.

He is indeed - and baffling, Londoner? We both know he's earned this by being a bloody lovely bloke...

I suppose King, Binder & cia are bringing sponsors to fill those seats, considering the most logical choices would be Munoz and Daly.

Dj_bereta wrote:I suppose King, Binder & cia are bringing sponsors to fill those seats, considering the most logical choices would be Munoz and Daly.

It is indeed fairly obvious that they bring sponsorship.

Carlos Munoz has been signed by Andretti Autosport to drive their 5th car at the Indianapolis 500.

Meanwhile, Conor Daly is still looking for a ride.

In his first ever IndyCar qualifying session, Robert Wickens only goes and sticks his DW12 on pole.

Jordan King and Matheus Leist also in the top 4, while big names like Dixon, Newgarden, Pagenaud, Bourdais and Rahal are way down the field. St Pete is already shaping up to be a cracker of a race.

East Londoner wrote:In his first ever IndyCar qualifying session, Robert Wickens only goes and sticks his DW12 on pole.

Jordan King and Matheus Leist also in the top 4, while big names like Dixon, Newgarden, Pagenaud, Bourdais and Rahal are way down the field. St Pete is already shaping up to be a cracker of a race.

I just wish it was being televised on a more mainstream channel than BTS ESPN. Maybe even on Sky Sports F1.

Do they stream the races on the official YouTube channel? I see they have streamed practices and qualifying but I wonder if I should be around for the green flag too.

CarloSpace wrote:Do they stream the races on the official YouTube channel? I see they have streamed practices and qualifying but I wonder if I should be around for the green flag too.

They did not last year...

ADDITION: Usually available in full on YouTube around the following weekend. And I currently seem unable to log into Virgin TV Go, so am unable to watch the St Petersberg race live.

Well, I think is pretty safe to award Rossi as Reject of the Race. But Wickens should have protected the inside line better.

Dj_bereta wrote:Well, I think is pretty safe to award Rossi as Reject of the Race. But Wickens should have protected the inside line better.

No, Wickens did everything right. He moved to defend the inside line, Rossi kept coming for the inside, so Wickens had to give it to him, or else it would've been a re-run of Schumi/Barrichello at Hungary 2010. That or an aeroplane crash.

A damp qualifying puts some rookies up front. And then I wanted to watch an interesting street race... frustratingly, the US coverage missed the midfield racing.
And then so many full course cautions..but they're still talking of fuel saving, and finally a clumsy end.
Oh well. There was some good racing. But as a TV spectacle; could've been so much better.
And Will Buxton says that IndyCar rules meant Wickens couldn't block once he had opted not to go inside early. I don't quite understand their rules, to be honest. But apparently that's why there was a gap.

East Londoner wrote:...with the possibility of a second car for Charlie Kimball depending on how much cash Charlie can stump up. Presumable he's got to raise enough to cover the team's repair bills... :.

Prescient ....

NBC have landed the rights to IndyCar coverage exclusively from next year. The series is getting up to eight races on network television, and we could also be getting Paul Tracy doing commentary for the Indy 500.

All in all this is excellent news for IndyCar.

East Londoner wrote:NBC have landed the rights to IndyCar coverage exclusively from next year. The series is getting up to eight races on network television, and we could also be getting Paul Tracy doing commentary for the Indy 500.

All in all this is excellent news for IndyCar.

PT as a commentator? Dis gonna be good.

Between this and the new aero-package, a decade after the series reunion, US open-wheel is finally somewhere near its former glory. And about time they got away from goddamn ESPN who never seemed to give a damn about Indycar at any point.

James Hinchcliffe just failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.

Pippa Mann will be joining him on the sidelines as she couldn't get enough speed out of her Coyne ride. Meanwhile the Rahal cars look in all kinds of trouble and all three Ed Carpenter Racing entries are into the Fast Nine tomorrow. Which means, you guessed it, Danica Patrick has a legit shot at pole.

Bump Day certainly has delivered the goods.