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30th January 201930th January 2019

Rolex 24 at Daytona Report: #10 takes the glory in rain-interrupted long haul

The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) has done what many expected it to do before the race, take the victory in relatively dominant fashion. However, that win looked less than certain at times with the team avoiding disaster on more than one occasion. Daytona Prototype international (DPi) stole most of the headlines, but it was an intense race throughout the field with three other worthy winners in addition to the #10.

The 24-hour race lived up to the common IndyCar and NASCAR saying of ‘cautions breed cautions’ with 16 yellow periods, many of which came in quick succession of the previous caution. The rain was as bigger factor as any in deciding the race; forecasts predicted it would hit the track at 5 am local time and it arrived pretty punctually, starting to fall in the fourteenth hour of the race and then relentlessly falling for the remainder of it. The two red flags were both caused by excessive amounts of water on the track, with the second red flag eventually bringing an end to the race, ten minutes short of the scheduled time.

Qualifying is never the most important thing in a 24-hour race, and this was proven by the fact that only one of the four polesitters made it onto the class podiums. Despite this, the #77 Mazda DPi polesitter was a strong front-runner, leading on multiple occasions and fighting hard with the #10 WTR, #31 Whelen Engineering and the two Penskes; that was until the car caught fire in the night and was forced to retire.

The #55 Mazda didn’t exactly fare much better… after showing strong pace in the first half of the race, the #55 stopped out on track, disappeared behind the wall and was eventually retired from the race, just short of the seventeenth hour. Mazda had the pace, but they lacked the reliability, and that’s a problem in a 24-hour race.

Fortune was much more in favour of the victorious #10 with Fernando Alonso delivering an incredible overnight performance, and then another masterclass in the torrential rain, to help the team to the win. Jordan Taylor, Kamui Kobayashi and Renger Van Der Zande all also delivered admirable performances with teamwork well and truly making the dream work.

Towards the end of the race, the #31 looked to be in prime position for the win, but, like so many others, Felipe Nasr fell victim to the very slippery Turn 1, running wide and conceding the lead to Alonso shortly before the final red flag was flown. Second was clearly a bit of a disappointment for the Whelen Engineering team as they were so close to the victory, yet came away just one place short. Like most the other non-winners, they’ll be leaving Daytona thinking ‘what if…’.

Penske went into Daytona almost expecting a win, so coming away with only one of their cars on the podium is obviously going to be a bit of a let-down for them. Both the #6 and #7 were contenders for the win, but it all went wrong for the #6 when, not long after the race resumed from the first red flag, Simon Pagenaud pulled into the pits with white smoke billowing from the engine. The #6 went behind the wall and lost seventeen laps to the leader, re-emerging to finish the race in sixth place. The #7 had a better race, finishing third as the last car on the lead lap in DPi but there were certainly points, especially when Alexander Rossi was at the wheel, when it looked like they could’ve won.

With only four LMP2s in the race, there was always a risk that there wouldn’t actually be enough finishers to fill the podium; this was the reality when polesitter and eventual third-place finisher #81 stopped on track with three hours left on the clock and failed to get going again.

The #18 was nearly another casualty in LMP2 as it found itself in the barriers shortly before the final red flag. Despite the late incident, it was the #18 DragonSpeed that took the class win at the hands of Roberto Gonzalez, Pastor Maldonado, Sebastian Saavedra and Ryan Cullen. Saavedra summed up the situation under the second red flag better than anyone else stating that “these cars are not meant to be boats” when the Daytona track was more like a river.

GTLM was the only class where all entries were still running by the time the second red flag came out, but that’s not to say that the class didn’t have its share of drama.

Most of the media hype was centred around the car that ended up finishing last in class – the #24 BMW with a certain Alex Zanardi on the team. Trouble started for the team before even the second hour of the race when Zanardi got in for his first stint and the car failed to get away. It turned out to be a problem with the steering rack and its response to Zanardi’s specially adapted wheel and, after a bit of toing and froing, the #24 was back on track. During his stint, Zanardi was setting fastest laps for the class but it wasn’t long before trouble struck the team again and they eventually trundled home eighteen laps off the lead.

The other BMW, the #25, had a much better race as they took the class win after a relatively clean race where they only really had two dramas: one was a broken windscreen wiper and the other was some damage caused by puncture debris from another car. The successful crew were Connor De Phillippi, Philipp Eng, Colton Herta and Augusto Farfus, the latter of whom was a last-minute replacement for Tom Blomqvist who was ruled out of the race due to visa issues.

GTD was the largest class and proved to be where a lot of the action was at. There were various crashes, spins and breakdowns in the 23-car GTD field, but it was the #11 Grasser Racing run Lamborghini that took the victory after long-time leaders, #33 Mercedes, spun out just minutes before the red flag was flown. Three different manufacturers occupied the podium with Lamborghini winning, the Montasplast run Audi second and the AIM Vasser Sullivan run Lexus third – showing just how competitive the field was throughout the race.

That concludes what was a brilliantly eventful Rolex 24 at Daytona, packed full of action for every minute of the green flag running, and even for some of the yellow and red running! The IMSA season continues at Sebring on the 14^th-16^th March.

Results:

DPi

1) #10 Wayne Taylor Racing – Van Der Zande / J. Taylor / Alonso / Kobayashi

2) #31 Whelen Engineering Racing – Nasr / Curran / Derani

3) #7 Acura Team Penske – Montoya / Cameron / Pagenaud

LMP2

1) #18 DragonSpeed – Gonzalez / Maldonado / Saavedra / Cullen

2) #38 Performance Tech Motorsports – K. Masson / R. Masson / Cassels / Wright

3) #81 DragonSpeed – Hedman / Hanley / Lapierre / Allen

GTLM

1) #25 BMW Team RLL – Farfus / De Phillippi / Eng / Herta

2) #62 Risi Competizione – Rigon / Molina / Pier Guidi / Calado

3) #912 Porsche GT Team – Bamber / L. Vanthoor / Jaminet

GTD

1) #11 Grasser Racing Team – Ineichen / Bortolotti / Engelhart / Breukers

2) #29 Montaplast by Land Motorsport – Morad / Mies / D. Vanthoor / Feller

3) #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan – Montecalvo / Bell / Telitz / Segal

To view the full race results click here

(Featured image credit: IMSA)

19th January 201919th January 2019

Rolex 24 at Daytona Preview

The 57^th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona is nearly upon us with a bumper 47-car entry list, packed full of talent, notable names and a fair few previous winners. In fact, 51 previous winners will grace the track during the 24-hour race, with 27 of the 47 entries having at least one ex-winner in their line-up, meaning that this could be one of the most hotly contended Rolex 24s ever.

Some of the statistics on the drivers are pretty incredible; along with the 51 previous winners, the grid includes 40 IMSA champions, 33 Le Mans winners, 5 IndyCar champions, 4 Indy 500 winners, 3 F1 race winners, 2 NASCAR race winners and one F1 champion.

The Daytona name is still most prominently associated with the world-famous oval, but the in-field track is just as challenging and has seen its fair share of drama over the decades. There will be a first for the 2019 running of the race though; for the first time, French tyre manufacturer Michelin will be the exclusive provider with all four classes running on the same rubber. 2019 will be the first year of the multi-year deal between IMSA and Michelin that was first announced back in 2017.

IMSA will see four classes battling for victory in 2019, two in prototypes and two in GT cars.

Daytona Prototype international (DPi) is the leading class with eleven entries from eight factory-supported teams including the likes of Mustang, Penske, Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR), Juncos and Mazda who will all be vying for overall victory. There are four rival engine manufacturers in DPi: Cadillac, Acura, Nissan and Mazda.

This class includes the team for which nearly all the hype has been about in the lead up to the race; the #10 WTR entry with 2016 IMSA Prototype Challenge winner Renger Van Der Zande, 2017 Rolex 24 winner Jordan Taylor, ex-F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi and a certain two-time F1 world champion by the name of Fernando Alonso. This is the team that is expected to take the overall win, purely based on the driver line up. However, all the other DPi teams will be trying their very hardest to ensure that this does not happen and it’s their car in victory lane instead… but an Alonso win wouldn’t exactly be bad publicity for IMSA.

Trying to stop the Rolex 24 becoming the 24 hours of Alonso are current IndyCar drivers Alexander Rossi and Simon Pagenaud along with Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves, Felipe Nasr and Rubens Barrichello, amongst many other notable names. Both Penske line ups are looking very strong with fast, experienced and, most importantly, reliable drivers in both cars. Montoya, Dane Cameron and Pagenaud make up the #6 Penske and Ricky Taylor, Castroneves and Rossi are in the #7 with their sights set on the podium, if not the win.

One team that could stand in the way of both WTR and Penske is Mazda, who were the fastest at the ‘ROAR Before the 24’ pre-event. Of their two cars, it was the #55 that was the fastest with 2017 LMP2 Le Mans winner Oliver Jarvis at the wheel. Jarvis is joined by experienced Mazda campaigner Tristan Nunez, two-time Le Mans winner Timo Bernhard and 2017 DTM champion Rene Rast.

Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) is the second fastest class however, it is somewhat down on numbers this year with only four cars from three teams – DragonSpeed (two entries), Performance Tech Motorsports and PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports. Fastest of the four at ROAR was the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports at the hands of ex-GP3 driver Gabriel Aubry.

The two DragonSpeed entries were second and third in class at ROAR, but they are the favourites for the event due to DragonSpeed’s pedigree. Their drivers include ex-F1 driver Pastor Maldonado, ex-IndyCar driver Sebastian Saavedra, DragonSpeed WEC LMP1 driver Ben Hanley and 2016 WEC LMP2 champion Nicolas Lapierre.

GT Le Mans (GTLM) is the top class for GT cars at the Rolex 24, and there are some pretty notable drivers and teams competing in it. Corvette, BMW, Ferrari, Ford and Porsche all have entries in the nine-car grid with each entering two cars, except for Ferrari who have got just the one.

Corvette topped ROAR with their #3 entry, driven by 2018 GTLM champions Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, who are joined 2013 DTM champion Mike Rockenfeller. The two Fords also looked very strong, which is hardly surprising given their drivers include 2018 IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, four-time IndyCar (formerly Champ Car) champion Sebastien Bourdais and long-serving Ford driver Ryan Briscoe.

One GTLM driver who has been gathering a lot of media attention is Alex Zanardi who will be competing in the #24 BMW. Zanardi was a guest driver for BMW in DTM last year for the Misano weekend, finishing fifth in the second race. He will make his IMSA debut at the Rolex 24, returning to endurance racing after a few years away from it.

Last, but by no means least, is the GT Daytona (GTD) class which has the largest field of all four classes at 23 cars. Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Lexus, Mercedes, Ferrari, Acura and BMW have all got entries in this class with the cars built to the international GT3 specifications.

Heinricher Racing (Acura) were the fastest of the GTDs at ROAR with the #57, which has an all-female line up of Katherine Legge, Ana Beatriz, Simona De Silvestro and Christina Nielsen. Both Lexus powered AIM Vasser Sullivan cars looked strong at ROAR, as did the #86 Meyer Shank Racing and the #33 Mercedes-AMG. However, pre-event tests can only tell you so much, and with the unpredictability of a 24-hour race, it really is anyone’s game in GTD.

The Rolex 24 at Daytona kicks off with practice and qualifying on Thursday 24^th January, with the race starting on Saturday 26^th and concluding 24 hours later on Sunday 27^th January. The weekend schedule is as follows:

Thursday 24^th

Practice 1 (all classes) – 10:20 EST / 15:20 GMT
Practice 2 (all classes) – 13:30 EST / 18:30 GMT
Qualifying (GTD) – 15:35 EST / 20:35 GMT
Qualifying (GTLM) – 16:00 EST / 21:00 GMT
Qualifying (DPi/LMP2) – 16:25 EST / 21:25 GMT
Practice 3 (all classes) – 19:00 EST / 00:00 GMT

Friday 25^th

Practice 4 (all classes) – 10:00 EST / 15:00 GMT

Saturday 26^th

Race Start – 14:35 EST / 19:35 GMT

Sunday 27^th

Race Finish – 14:35 EST / 19:35 GMT

*schedule subject to change

To see the full weekend schedule click here

To see the full entry list for the Rolex 24 click here

[Featured image credit: IMSA]

13th January 201917th January 2019

Euro NASCAR gearing up for 2019 with new rules package

NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (NWES) is entering its seventh season in its current format, and a new rules package is set to bring the racing closer than ever while making the series more accessible to drivers, teams and fans alike. Announced in early January, the regulation change is promoting ‘pure racing’ with new tyres, suspension and aero, as well as more stringent technical inspections.

NWES has grown significantly since it first got sanctioned by NASCAR in 2012; the fan base has extended across Europe and the calibre of drivers continues to improve, making the series highly competitive.

Only four drivers have been officially confirmed for 2019 so far, with all of them competing in the Elite 1 class. Francesco Sini and Alex Sedgwick are both returning to the series after making their debuts last season. They will be joined by Ellen Lohr, DTM’s only female race winner, and 1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, both of whom are returning to racing and making their debuts in NWES.

We spoke to Alex Sedgwick at Autosport International about the series and how it differs to its American counterpart.

“The main difference is that the Euro series is mainly road courses compared to ovals. In Europe, we have a lot less ovals than in America in the first place, so we go to places like Valencia, Brands Hatch, Hockenheim and Zolder. We still do one oval this year, Venray which is in Holland. That’s the main difference really, and also the backgrounds of the drivers. I came from Clios and Ginettas, Villeneuve has come from F1 and we’ve got guys who have done Le Mans whereas in America it’s sort of NASCAR, NASCAR, dirt racing, NASCAR! It’s NASCAR with a European input, that’s the way to look at it really.”

“The NWES cars are a little lighter than the American cars with fibreglass bodies instead of steel bodies, but they’re also a little less powerful. They only have about 400 horsepower, whereas in America they’ve got 600 to 650 horsepower. Other than that, because we mainly go to road courses, the cars aren’t set up to just turn left, we’ve got a Watt’s link in the rear rather than a track bar to help it turn both directions and make it a little bit more agile. It’s not the most agile thing in the world anyway but it helps. They’re the main differences really but the basics are all exactly the same – a big 5.7 litre V8, 4-speed manual, solid rear ends, no brakes, no grip and loads of drifts, so it’s good fun!”

Having a name like Villeneuve in the series is significant for its popularity, but he is not the first big-name driver that the NWES has attracted.

“I started last year in the series and we had Bobby Labonte (2000 NASCAR Cup champion). My teammate’s Marc Goossens (Le Mans veteran), we’ve also got Christophe Bouchut (1993 Le Mans winner) and now Villeneuve; it’s certainly a cool time to be part of NWES. It brings more credibility and attention to the series from the European side and the fact that the names that we’ve had in the series so far haven’t run away with it, they’ve struggled to get into the top five or even top ten, shows the level the championship’s at – it’s a hard series to do well in.”

One of the main aims of the new rules package, aside from improving the on-track show, was to make the series more affordable for teams and drivers – an aim that Sedgwick believes has been achieved.

“It’s well cheap! Because it’s racing, it’s still expensive but you’re going to seven different countries across Europe, racing a proper stock car in front of an average of 40,000 spectators at each round and it’s less than you’d pay to race in Ginetta Juniors in the UK. In terms of that, and for what you get out of it, it’s a bargain!”

With NWES growing as a series, the opportunities it can provide for the drivers are also increasing with the series definitely a viable route for making a career in America.

“My aim is to use this as a stepping stone to hopefully go from this to something like K&N or Trucks in America and just see what happens really. With the way the series is, and the way that it works, there’s a lot of opportunities to make that happen – it’s not like Clios in the UK where you need a lot of money to race and at the end of the year, you’re left with nothing. We’ve got prize money and the chance to win drives in America. In terms of making a career out of it, it’s quite a good place to be.”

The NWES season kicks off on the 13^th April at Valencia with the rest of the calendar as follows:

April 13^th/14^th – Valencia, Spain
May 11^th/12^th – Franciacorta, Italy
June 1^st/2^nd – Brands Hatch, UK
June 22^nd/23^rd – undisclosed street circuit, France*
June 29^th/30^th – Most, Czech Republic
July 13^th/14^th – Venray, Holland
September 21^st/22^nd – Hockenheim, Germany
October 5^th/6^th – Zolder, Belgium

*non-championship

[Featured image credit: Reuben Inganni]

10th December 2018

Australian Hunter McElrea wins Road to Indy Scholarship Shootout

Hunter McElrea was the driver to rise above the rest at the Road to Indy Scholarship Shootout, taking the victory and with it a $200,000 prize to see him onto the 2019 USF2000 grid. It was a very closely fought competition between first the nineteen assembled drivers and then the six finalists, but McElrea just about edged out all the other drivers.

Photos @ Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography

After Saturday’s two sessions, each of the nineteen drivers was given feedback from the judges on their runs before they had one more session to impress on Sunday morning. With the first round done, the eighteen remaining drivers (one had travel issues and one dropped out after Saturday) were called to the pit straight to learn their fate in the shootout. The judges praised all of them for their ability to adapt to the unfamiliar Formula Mazda car and said that the decision to pick out six had been a very tough one.

The six finalists who progressed were:
Braden Eves (USA)
Jake Craig (USA)
Ross Martin (GBR)
Hunter McElrea (AUS)
Michael Eastwell (GBR)
Flinn Lazier (USA)

These six then had to do two qualifying sessions before a mock race and then a nervous wait to find out who the judges had selected with the winner announced at 4 pm local time – over an hour after the race had finished. It was another tough decision for the judges who had to consider both on-track and off-track performances from the finalists, but ultimately it was McElrea who won it.

US-born but Australian raised, McElrea will return to racing in the US after spending all his single-seater career to date in Australia. His ticket to the shootout was gained by winning the Australian Formula Ford Series, a championship which he won by a margin of fifteen points over his closest rival. He took thirteen wins in the season as well as sixteen podiums and three pole positions, making him a more than worthy champion and now the winner of the shootout.

There are still plenty of opportunities for the rest of the shootout drivers to make it onto the Road to Indy, one of which is next year’s shootout. The full entry lists for USF2000, Pro Mazda and Indy Lights are due to be published in the coming weeks with all the series kicking off at St Petersburg in March 2019.

Featured Image: Photos @ Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography

8th December 20189th December 2018

Road to Indy scholarship shootout begins in Arizona

This weekend, twenty young drivers from across the world will fight it out for a $200,000 scholarship which will see them onto the 2019 USF2000 grid. The youngest contestant, Colin Mullan, is just sixteen years old with the other drivers ranging from seventeen to twenty-five. The event is taking place at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park with the track action spanning over today and tomorrow on the 1.6-mile circuit.

The scholarship competition has been running since 2016 and this year there were twenty-five eligible feeder series with around four hundred drivers in contention for a place in the shootout.

The weekend kicked off out of the cars with a welcome gala last night where all the drivers could get acquainted with their fellow competitors and the judges.

Drivers will be in Formula Mazda cars, taking part in three sessions across the weekend – two on Saturday and one on Sunday morning. After the Sunday session, judges will cut the field down and the remaining drivers will take part in two qualifying rounds, setting up for a mock race at the end of the day. From this, the winner of the scholarship will be announced at around 4:00 pm local time (11 pm GMT).

The judging panel is a talented list of representatives from both Mazda and the Road to Indy programme. Mazda has sent long-serving factory representatives Andrew Carbonell and Tom Long and from the Road to Indy we’ve got Indy Lights race winner Tom Long, last year’s Pro Mazda champion Victor Franzoni and the very first shootout winner, Oliver Askew, who won the USF2000 championship the following year.

Coverage of the event will be provided by Road to Indy TV (http://roadtoindy.tv/) and it’ll certainly be something to check out if you get the chance.

The twenty hopeful drivers’ names, ages and nationalities are listed below:

Guillaume Archambault, 24, Canada

Dario Cangialosi, 18, USA

Bryce Cornet, 25, USA

Jake Craig, 21, USA

Allan Croce, 21, Brazil

Courtney Crone, 17, USA

Michael Eastwell, 22, UK (England)

Braden Eves, 19, USA

Flinn Lazier, 19, USA

Ross Martin, 19, UK (Scotland)

Hunter McElrea, 19, Australia

Matt Round-Garrido, 18, UK (England)

Colin Mullan, 16, USA

Tyler O’Connor, 21, USA

Ryan Norberg, 20, USA

Raghul Rangasamy, 25, India

Jason Reichert, 19, USA

Kellen Ritter, 17, Canada

James Roe Jr, 20, Ireland

Stuart White, 17, South Africa

Featured Image: Photos @ Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography

20th November 2018

Dale Coyne sign Santino Ferrucci for 2019 season

One of IndyCar’s worst kept secrets is finally out; ex-F2 driver Santino Ferrucci will race for Dale Coyne in 2019, after competing for four events with the team in 2018. This announcement has been expected for some time, with the announcing of the deal seeming to be a mere formality.

The first three races of Ferrucci’s IndyCar career, held at Detroit and Portland, were all tough to say the least – with the rest of the weekend’s showing far more promise than the race result itself. Things turned around for the young American in his more recent IndyCar race at the season-ending Sonoma GP where he finished a respectable eleventh, ahead of teammate Pietro Fittipaldi, though still in the shadow of the vastly experienced Sebastien Bourdais.

2019 will see him partner Bourdais once again in the two-car Dale Coyne team, with Bourdais being one of the best on the grid to learn from, given his vast IndyCar success and experience.

Santino Ferrucci – Dale Coyne Racing. Image courtesy of Chris Jones/indycar

His IndyCar track record makes the move more than credible, but, unfortunately for Ferrucci, the 20-year old is much more well-known for his F2 misdemeanours than for his brief IndyCar career.

This was, of course, when he drove into then Trident teammate, Arjun Maini, on the cool down lap of the second race… but that was far from the only problem he created that weekend at Silverstone. Amongst other rule breaches, Ferrucci drove his F2 car between paddocks while on his mobile phone, something that the FIA did not take kindly to and thus dealt him a two-event ban. This became pretty irrelevant when his Trident team fired him, meanwhile court action surrounding unpaid bills is still going on in the background of all this.

But anyway, Dale Coyne have, wisely or not, given Ferrucci a lifeline in this IndyCar drive, and his addition to the field will be a welcome one after his performances earlier in the year. Certainly, the European media have been tough to handle for Ferrucci following that Silverstone weekend, so a move back to his home turf will help him get a fresh start to his racing career.

You don’t get many second chances in motorsport… Ferrucci will be wise to take this one with both hands and prove to the world why he is still worthy of such a drive.

Featured image courtesy of Joe Skibinski/IndyCar

10th November 2018

McLaren and Alonso confirm return to Indy 500

It’s been on the cards for a while now, but McLaren have today confirmed that they will be participating in the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 with Fernando Alonso. They’ll return to the ‘Brickyard’ as McLaren Racing with no confirmation as to which of the two IndyCar engine suppliers the team will be running with, though presumably it would be Chevrolet.

We have, of course been here before… last year McLaren shocked the world by allowing Alonso to run in the Indy 500 instead of the Monaco GP with the goal of winning the race and thus completing a third of motorsport’s ‘Triple Crown’. At the time, Alonso only had one part of the crown, the Monaco GP. This has, of course, changed since then with the Spaniard taking the win at the 24 hours of Le Mans, along with teammates Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima. This, therefore means that he’s only missing the Indy 500 to take the crown – but this could be his toughest challenge yet.

Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City
Friday 26 October 2018.
Fernando Alonso, McLaren.
Photo: Steven Tee/McLaren
ref: Digital Image _1ST3356

When he last attempted the Indy 500, Alonso rocked up and was right up there contending for the win, only to be thwarted, rather ironically, by his Honda engine letting go. He took this defeat very graciously, delivering a very amusing speech at the gala after the race and drinking a carton of milk in the press conference.

Getting his hands on the real glass of milk, however, will not be easy by any stretch of the imagination. With the universal aero kits, the whole dynamic of oval racing has changed drastically, meaning that Alonso’s previous experience won’t count for all that much in the grand scheme of things. Pack racing is no more, and strategy is more important than ever, so it’ll be crucial that McLaren get some experienced IndyCar engineers on board.

With no Andretti teammates to rely on, things will be even tougher for Alonso, not to mention the fact that luck has to be firmly on your side to win the world-famous race; something that seems to have alluded Alonso in the past few years!

Another thing that will almost certainly be different is their engine supplier with the team expected to take Chevrolet engines instead of the Honda they used last time. This is because of a number of reasons, chief among which is the fractious relationship that McLaren and Honda endured throughout their most recent F1 partnership, leaving Honda unwilling to supply McLaren again. Also, Alonso’s WEC forays with Toyota don’t exactly help matters so Chevrolet is probably McLaren’s best option.

But anyway, this move is undoubtedly a positive thing for both parties. If IndyCar can’t have Alonso for the season, they’ll take him for the Indy 500, whether he wins, wrecks or does anything in between. Expect another announcement fairly soon, shedding some more light on the engine situation but, for now at least, McLaren and Alonso have got another two F1 races to focus on!

2nd November 2018

Fernando Alonso and Jimmie Johnson announce car-swap

After just over two months of teasing, Fernando Alonso and Jimmie Johnson have finally announced that they will be driving each other’s cars at the Bahrain International Circuit on the 26th November, the day after the Abu Dhabi GP. No more information than that is given in the admittedly cringe-worthy fifty-second clip posted on both driver’s social media accounts, but it does at least draw some sort of an end to the speculation that had been conjuring up ever since this was first hinted at in mid-September.

#JJxALO @alo_oficial pic.twitter.com/4f3LEAuyOP

— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) November 2, 2018

The first video, posted on 12th September, set up the idea of a car-swap scenario with both drivers expressing interest at the events on the opposite side of the Atlantic. Really, this goes back much further than September, in fact back to late January when the pair took part in a rather amusing photo-shoot at the Daytona 24 hours, which can be essentially described as a staring competition (with a cameo from Lando Norris).

Hey @alo_oficial… ? pic.twitter.com/PITHgsmffc

— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) September 12, 2018

The next teaser came nearly two weeks ago with another equally cheesy clip, showing Alonso and Johnson going about their training regimes while watching each other’s races, though both of them were winning their races so it must have been from quite some time ago!

Two Champions. Two Cars.@alo_oficial pic.twitter.com/TQyR9Lx0q7

— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) October 22, 2018

This whole saga has been very typical of Alonso’s appearances on social media of late, generally communicating through the medium of cryptic GIFs and tweets. Basically, it’s made everyone do what we’re doing now, talk about both Alonso and Johnson, whose careers have taken respective nose-dives in recent years. Johnson hasn’t won a race all season in the NASCAR Cup Series, his last win was back at Dover in 2017 and many have been speculating about his future in the series. It’s a very similar story for Alonso whose winless drought stretches back to the 2013 Spanish GP, with his F1 career coming to a conclusion at the end of this season.

The car-swap could be seen as a publicity stunt for both drivers, both wanting to remind the world of their greatness despite their respective lulls. Equally, they could just be doing it for a bit of fun; they’re both of a similar ‘drive anything’ type of personality and have clearly formed a strong friendship over the years… This kind of thing has probably been on the cards longer than anyone else knew, they just had to work out how to make it feasible.

Alonso himself may view this as the start of his 2019 ventures which remain as of yet unannounced. He’s hinted that he’ll probably not be doing a complete season of anything but instead dipping in and out of various series with the Indy 500 obviously a target and rumours that he may be attempting the Daytona 500 as well.

Whatever the reason behind it, the car-swap will be very interesting to see with more focus probably on Alonso’s NASCAR performance than Johnson’s F1 run for a multitude of reasons, mainly that the Spaniard will almost certainly drive a NASCAR again whereas Johnson is unlikely to get another go in an F1 car.

Bring it on… #JJxALO

Featured image courtesy of Steven Tee/McLaren

30th October 2018

Destination IndyCar: Marcus Ericsson joins Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

The list of ex-F1 drivers on the IndyCar grid is getting longer by the day, this time with the addition of the recently-ousted Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson who will line up with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (SPM) for the 2019. With Felix Rosenqvist’s earlier move to Chip Ganassi, Ericsson takes IndyCar’s Swedish driver count up to two, an unprecedented amount for the modern era of IndyCar which has seen none from the country since its merge with Champ Car back in 2008.

Marcus Ericsson. Image courtesy of Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team

Ericsson comes from F1 having spent five years in the series, the last four of which have been with Sauber F1 Team. There’s no doubt that the significant funding that accompanied Ericsson played a part in how long he spent at the team, especially as he’s been comprehensively beaten by the majority of his teammates, however, his talent is not to be overlooked.

Where many expected soon-to-be Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc to absolutely wipe the floor with Ericsson, the Swede has stood up for himself and avoided complete embarrassment. Even so, it was not enough for him to warrant keeping his driver at the team, being replaced by 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen who will line up alongside Ferrari junior Antonio Giovinazzi.

Having spent so long in F1, a change is scene will probably do Ericsson good, though his predicament on entering IndyCar is remarkably similar to Andretti’s Alexander Rossi. When Rossi came to IndyCar, it was seen as though he was using the series as a filler until he could get back into F1 but soon after joining he fell in love with it and kissed goodbye to his F1 dreams. Ericsson has said that he wants to return to F1, but his mind could well be changed… just as Rossi’s was back in 2016.

Ericsson joins SPM at a rather troubled time in their history, to say the least. Last season’s rookie sensation, Robert Wickens, has been left paralysed (at least for now) by a horrific crash at Pocono while racing for SPM, with teammate James Hinchcliffe’s car also being wrecked in the crash. Certainly, the financial backing that Ericsson brings will be very well-received at SPM, given all the crash damage they’ve had in previous years, but that was not the only reason that they chose the Swede.

The 28-year old will pilot the #7 SPM car with Hinchcliffe in the #5, with the #6 seat remaining empty for Wickens to retake when or if he wants or is able to. Hinchcliffe is one of the more experienced drivers on the grid and definitely one of the most popular, so Ericsson will have his work cut out going up against him. Equally, Hinchcliffe will not want a repeat of 2018 where Wickens came in as a rookie and beat him, the Canadian will want to stand his ground, that’s for sure!

Either way, SPM is a very good team to be going into as a rookie and Ericsson will have all the tools he needs to turn into an IndyCar contender, much like Rossi has in the last few seasons, and his entry into the series is an exciting prospect for all.

Featured Image courtesy of Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team

19th October 2018

McLaren abandon IndyCar 2019 plans but leave door open for Indy 500

McLaren team principal Zak Brown has admitted that the team have been forced to put their plans for a full-time IndyCar entry on hold after engine negotiations stalled. The failure of the deal is a partial legacy from the explosive McLaren-Honda relationship in F1, with Honda reluctant to supply the team that criticised them so heavily during those turbulent years.

Admittedly, it was all getting a bit late in the day for a new entry anyway, given that there are only a few months until the new season gets underway in March next year. If McLaren were serious about being in IndyCar full-time, a deal would have been sorted out months ago. They have, instead, made the decision to focus on their F1 project, which certainly needs some sorting out!

Earlier in the year, it was said that the McLaren shareholders were less than keen on the team entering IndyCar for 2019, again based on the fact that they need to get their F1 performances back to a respectable level before they allow themselves to get distracted by IndyCar.

Even with all of McLaren’s internal problems, the biggest issue for them was always going to be engine supply. IndyCar has just two engine suppliers: Honda and Chevrolet. The dawn of the universal aero kits has brought the two closer together than ever before, but Honda have rather stolen a march on their American counterparts, taking the drivers championship and nearly locking out the top ten with only Penske getting a nose in for Chevrolet.

This means that, in an ideal world, McLaren would want to team up with Honda, especially given that they are the suppliers of Andretti, who McLaren were looking to do some sort of partnership with. However, all the aforementioned F1 shenanigans has made that nigh on impossible. A Chevrolet deal hasn’t proven any easier, because the only team that realistically has enough resources to accommodate McLaren is Penske, and they’ve said that they’re not interested in such a partnership.

That has left McLaren in a tight spot and, despite some rumblings about a potential Harding link-up or even buyout, they’ve been forced to put their IndyCar aspirations on the shelf, at least for now.

Zak Brown has, however, not ruled out the potential for an Indy 500-only entry for Fernando Alonso, presumably in association with Andretti again. This would be no mean feat for the Spaniard though. It will not be as easy for him as it was in 2017 because of the universal aero kits which have closed the field up and made it much more difficult to jump in and be fast straight away.

Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Montreal, Canada
Sunday 10 June 2018.
Fernando Alonso, McLaren.
Photo: Steven Tee/McLaren
ref: Digital Image _1ST0758

To win the mystical ‘Triple Crown’ Alonso would realistically have to look at a full season of IndyCar, and even that holds no guarantees of Indy 500 success, something that any IndyCar driver would agree with.

All of this really begs the question of just what Alonso will do in 2019. He’s yet to make any announcement or even drop a cryptic clue on Twitter about it, leaving everyone guessing. If he is to do IndyCar it won’t be with McLaren, but surely McLaren wouldn’t be talking about doing an Indy 500 entry if they knew Alonso was going to another team. Maybe he isn’t going to do a full IndyCar season after all?

If it’s not IndyCar, then the sky’s the limit for Alonso. It really is anyone’s guess as to what he’ll do next season, but it’ll probably be more than one series, given that he’d race every weekend if he could!

Anyway, while 2019 may be off the table for McLaren, they have reiterated the fact that they do want to do IndyCar at some point in the future. The time just isn’t right for them yet, but hopefully it will be soon.