The famous California street race was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, meaning second-year driver Palou had never previously driven around the 1.968-mile track. But the Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who heads nearest rival Patricio O’Ward in the standings by 35 points and needs only an 11th place finish to be guaranteed the title,

With three wins and five other podium finishes – including runner-up last weekend at Laguna Seca – Chip Ganassi Racing’s series Palou arrives at the finale with a 35-point margin over his nearest opposition, Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward. Even if O’Ward wins the race, and gains the bonus point for pole, the bonus point

Grosjean, 35, scored three podium finishes in his first season in America’s premier open-wheel series, and came into the series off the back of his 10-year Formula 1 career, which ended prematurely with his horrendously fiery crash in the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. “We are thrilled to welcome Romain to the Andretti Autosport family,”

With a 35-point margin over his only real rival now, Pato O’Ward, Palou needs to only finish 11th on the streets of Long Beach to seal the deal. Even if O’Ward was to match Palou’s tally of three wins, and earn all bonus points available with Palou classified 11th, the Arrow McLaren SP driver would

Newgarden used a four-stop strategy after starting 17th, including two sets of Firestone alternate compound tyres [red side-walled] to charge up to seventh in the closing stages of the race. However, on a day when championship leader Alex Palou finished second, Newgarden saw his deficit grow from 34 points coming into the weekend to 48

Herta, who led 91 of the 95 laps, was under greatest threat during the race whenever he reached backmarkers, allowing championship leader Alex Palou to close up to within a second of the Andretti driver. Asked by Autosport if he felt it was time for IndyCar to wave blue flags at backmarkers and encourage them

O’Ward qualified sixth and finished fifth at the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey but championship leader Alex Palou of Ganassi qualified fourth and finished second. The result left O’Ward trailing by 35 points heading into next Sunday’s season finale at Long Beach. Consequently, even were O’Ward to clinch all bonus points and win the race,

During the 25th anniversary event of two-time series champion Zanardi’s famous ‘the pass’ move on Bryan Herta at the Corkscrew in 1996, Grosjean paid homage to the great Italian by overtaking a number of cars at the signature corner of the Laguna Seca track – including six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon. Grosjean, whose future IndyCar

Of particular note is St. Petersburg shifting forward to February, and the second round being Texas Motor Speedway, which reverts to a one-race weekend after hosting two races this year. The Detroit event at Belle Isle will move back to its usual week after the Indy 500, but becomes a single race for the first

It was confirmed on Sunday morning that Arrow will continue to be title sponsor of the IndyCar squad, as well as a partner of McLaren’s F1 team. The renewal is a key element to the IndyCar team’s expansion, which was confirmed last month as McLaren Racing acquired a 75 percent stake, and its third car

With tomorrow’s race set for 95 laps, compared with 90 run in 2019, teams and drivers are likely to struggle to stretch their tyre life for increased stint length. Fuel-wise, the race is expected feasible on three stops, as per this same event two years ago, but with the track surface at Laguna Seca being

Herta surged to a 1m10.7994s laptime during the Fast Six session to edge Penske’s Will Power by 0.027s, claiming his second pole at Laguna Seca, although Power lost his best laptime after it was set while going through yellow flags waving for Pato O’Ward spinning at the Corkscrew. Both Herta and Power had advanced to

For now, Pagenaud has been impressively discreet on the subject of his plans for next year, but Autosport understands that he is departing Team Penske at year’s end and is set to join fellow ex-Penske refugee Castroneves at MSR. Asked who would be his perfect choice of teammate to replace the departing Jack Harvey, Castroneves

Speaking after topping the 45-minute Friday practice at the California circuit, which returns to the calendar this year after a planned double-header race in 2020 was cancelled due to then pandemic, title challenger Newgarden said it had been difficult to get an understanding of the tyre performance given the limited running on the high-degradation circuit.

Palou’s victory at Portland last weekend, with Dixon finishing third, extended the Spaniard’s points advantage to 49 with two rounds to go. If Palou’s lead after this weekend’s Laguna Seca round exceeds the maximum 54 points available for a win, plus the bonus points for pole, leading a lap and for leading the most laps

In IndyCar’s first visit to the hilly California venue since the 2019 finale, after a planned double-header in 2020 was scrapped due to the ongoing pandemic, Newgarden came out of the blocks fastest to shade Herta by a mere 0.080 seconds with a benchmark time of 1m11.7125s set on his fourth of 11 laps completed.

The former Formula 1 driver, now a 12-year veteran of the IndyCar Series, has six wins to his name, two of which are at the Indy 500 with Andretti Autosport in 2017 and RLL last season. Although Coyne insisted that there are still “four or five drivers in the mix” for a DCR seat in

The 40-year-old, who won on only this fourth start for the team at Long Beach in 2010, went on to score 14 more wins including the 2014 Indianapolis 500, and also won the championship in 2012. However, after two winless seasons – three should he not triumph in final events of this year’s campaign at

Aside from a disrupted one-day test on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, the Grand Prix of Portland was Ilott’s first experience of IndyCar. It was also the first race at the top of US open-wheel racing for Ricardo Juncos’ ace junior formula team since the 2019 Indianapolis 500. It was expected that the 2020

Harvey started second and finished fourth in the season’s second round at St. Petersburg, but then suffered a largely miserable run of nine races that emulated much of his ill fortune in 2020. The Portland race looked like it might be another missed opportunity; despite being third fastest in first practice and fifth fastest in

Team Penske’s 2017 and ’19 champion finished fifth in the Grand Prix of Portland climbing from 16th on the grid, and comprehensively beating erstwhile points leader Pato O’Ward, who could only finish 14th. But with his other two title rivals Alex Palou and Scott Dixon finishing first and third in their Chip Ganassi Racing-Hondas, Newgarden

Rossi started the Grand Prix of Portland from the front row, and although he and Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Palou and Scott Dixon were among those sent to the back of the pack for missing the Turn 1/2 chicane on the opening lap, he kept pace with them and pressurised Palou during the final two

At the start of the race, polesitter Palou beat fellow front-row starter Alexander Rossi of Andretti Autosport, the latter also being jumped by the Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda of Scott Dixon, who had started third. Dixon moved right to protect the inside line and started drawing alongside Palou, but got a tap from the Arrow McLaren

Alex Palou beat Alexander Rossi to score his first-ever IndyCar pole position in a qualifying when all four Penske drivers failed to progress out of Q1. In the fast six pole position shootout, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Palou laid down a 58.7701s lap around the 1.964-mile Portland International Raceway to beat Rossi for Andretti Autosport by

Despite an off at the final corner that brought out one of three red flags mid-session, Spanish sophomore Palou headed the field with a 58.782s lap on the red-walled soft compound Firestone tyres to go 0.102s faster than Castroneves. The Brazilian veteran, making only his fourth appearance of the season for Meyer Shank Racing ahead

Having spent this season on the sidelines as Red Bull’s test and reserve driver, the Thai driver was announced as George Russell’s replacement at Williams for next year prior to the Italian Grand Prix. The 25-year-old, who scored two podiums with Red Bull last year before being replaced by Sergio Perez, has kept race-sharp in

Ilott, who it was announced earlier this month will make his series debut at Portland International Raceway this weekend, has now also been confirmed as the pilot of the #77 entry for next weekend’s Laguna Seca round and the Long Beach season finale. “On top of starting my debut weekend in the IndyCar Series with

On IndyCar’s last visit to Portland in 2019, the leaders were able to run the 105 lap race distance on just two stops, after 17 laps were run under caution. This year the race has been extended to 110 laps of the 1.964-mile course, which is expected to enforce a three-stopper while opening up the

Danish Formula 2 racer Lundgaard caused a major stir on his IndyCar debut in the #45 RLL machine on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course three weeks ago, when he qualified fourth in a five-car cluster that was covered by a mere 0.05 seconds. Despite slipping back to 12th at the finish, largely due to inexperience

In the a caution-strewn race on the streets of Nashville last month, six of the nine penalties issued were a result of driver misdemeanours, while 27 of the 49 laps under caution at the Gateway oval last time out were a direct result of car-to-car contact. After that last race, six-time champion Scott Dixon said