Category: Indy Lights

news and commentary on the direct feeder series to the IndyCar Series.

Mazda Road to Indy – Fall IMS Test Recap: USF2000

Doug Patterson

This past weekend, all three series that are part of the Mazda Road to Indy program tested for two days on the infield road circuit at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While there were certainly many familiar faces present, including Star Mazda champ Tristan Vautier and USF2000 champ Petri Suvanto, there were also many new-comers testing at all three levels. We’ll break down the test not by day, but by series and look at how things went for the teams and what we can expect looking forward through the off-season and…

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IndyLights – That’s a Wrap!

Doug Patterson

The season finale for the 2011 Firestone Indy Lights series took place this morning at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and there was no lack of excitement! Although Sam Schmidt Motorsports had long since wrapped up the team championship, and the team’s primary driver, Josef Newgarden, had secured the drivers’ championship at Kentucky, there was still a fierce battle to be had for second spot in the drivers’ championship and there were some new drivers looking to make a mark as they work on plans for 2012. Andretti Autosport’s Stefan…

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IndyLights – Las Vegas Preview

Doug Patterson

The final round of the 2011 Firestone Indy Lights Series takes place this Sunday at the Las Vegas Motorspeedway, but the calamity from Kentucky has left a few cars and one driver on the sidelines. David Ostella, primary driver for Jensen MotorSport, is out. The team was not able to repair his car in time for the transport out to Las Vegas leaving the team with only one entry, newcomer Oliver Webb. This is a pretty brutal situation for Ostella who has scrapped and fought well for Jensen MotorSport all…

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IndyCar – Kentucky Weekend in Photos

Doug Patterson

Our IndyCar photographer, Joe Ferrall, was at the Kentucky Speedway and brought back some really great shots of both the IZOD IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights events. Enjoy! You can view the rest of our IndyCar photos from this year and back to 2009 by clicking on the Photo Galleries tab above and selecting IndyCar.

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IndyLights: Jensen MotorSport Adds Serious Engineering Muscle

Doug Patterson

Jensen MotorSport has already been showing some strength in the latter half of this season, but now they’ve grabbed another gear and are shooting for significant improvement. Today, the team announced the hiring of veteran GP2 engineer Raul Prados! Mr. Prados’ experiences includes working with top-shelf European open-wheel such as Carlin and iSport, and he engineered the winning car in the 2010 GP2 Asia series. Most of all, I love Mr. Prados’ comments and optimism in regards to open-wheel racing in North America: “This is an exciting new chapter of…

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OP-Ed – Does INDYCAR’s “Faux-vertaking” Rule Encourage Avoidable Contact?

Doug Patterson

Comparing the number of accidents in Formula 1 and other open-wheel series and in IndyCar in the past couple of years has me wondering if the INDYCAR overtaking rule (faux-vertaking as @MikeOpenPaddock would call it) doesn’t in fact encourage avoidable contact rather than discouraging it. There has been a lot of talk about INDYCAR’s overtaking rule on road and street courses that demands that a driver leave open the inside line in approach to a corner, and usually not in happy tones. This rule comes from Tony Cotman and the…

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IndyLights – Rusty Mitchell, Horses, and Horsepower

Doug Patterson

A curious thing crossed my virtual desk here at OpenPaddock this week, a press release. …no, that’s not especially unusual, but its content sure was. Normally, teams and drivers issue a release previewing their thoughts and expectations for the upcoming event, but this was a bit more than the simple “we hope to roll off the transport fast and win” type of hype and blase quotes. This was a nice little background piece on Rusty Mitchell, with whom we spoke prior to his running the Firestone Freedom 100 back in…

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IndyLights – Jensen Motorsports Wins Firestone Image Award

Doug Patterson

Jensen Motorsports has had a tough 2011 in the Firestone Indy Lights Series. Their primary driver, Canadian David Ostella, has had the pace to bring home a quality finish for the team, but it seems that they’ve been caught out all too often by mechanical gremlins or just plain being at the wrong place at the wrong time and being taken out by a competitor as happened at Toronto. Their second driver, Oliver Webb, also promises to have good pace and the team should be in a position to score…

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Indy Lights – Reigning Indy 500 Champ Drives Lights Car of Belardi Auto Racing

Shaun

INDIANAPOLIS (Sept. 7) — Dan Wheldon hopped into the Firestone Indy Lights car of Belardi Auto Racing’s Anders Krohn at Indianapolis Motor Speedway yesterday. No, you are not mistaken, it is not May. Wheldon was invited to test drive the three cars of the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system during a media day at the famed speedway. The two-time Indy 500 winner was like a kid in a candy store; eyes gleaming at the chance to take the cars for a joyride around the former Formula 1 road course.…

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