First race of the season yesterday, Sunday, and hats off to Joseph Newgarden for the dominating run to the win. Team Penske nearly swept the podium with their 1-3-4 finishes.

Of interest to me was Romain Grosjean's admission and taking responsibility that he was responsible for putting Linus Lundqvist into the tire barrier. Usually he is the one to blame others.

See you at Thermal March 24th.

I missed the first few minutes.
Close competition, as expected, but not much other action beyond the first few laps after a restart or pit stops.
The Penske's looked to have things handled as Pato seemed to be the only other guy with similar speed. Other than Newgarden's slow'ish pit stop, the crews all did pretty good too so not many positions changed there either.
Grosjean's still a tool and yes it's good to see him accept blame for once.

Not a barn burner but mostly clean and a very nice crowd. Disappointed to see David Malukas not on the grid (Coyne Racing), not sure where he went.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
Not a barn burner but mostly clean and a very nice crowd. Disappointed to see David Malukas not on the grid (Coyne Racing), not sure where he went.

He's driving for Arrow McLaren this year but was injured in preseason (not track) training.

Good to know, thanks 220-9er.

He did the Lance Stroll trick of going mountain biking and falling off. He's out for St. Pete and for Thermal Club with a chance to come back at Long Beach. Callum Illot took his seat for St. Pete and will do it again at Thermal Club.

Still better than Jeddah, but I think all the extra testing they did for the hybrid capacitor helped out a lot. St. Pete has traditionally been equal parts Triumph and Tragedy mainly because of the 6 month layoff, and even if drivers went to the Daytona 24, there's nothing that can get you ready to drive a low downforce, no power steering IndyCar than driving an IndyCar.

Still have to pull out the comedy review:



Also want to say bloody Alex Palou. He can't get out of Quali 1 and he sneaks into 6th. Cue the Breaking Bad, "He Can't Keep Getting Away With This!" meme because this is probably how he's going to get Championship 3.

The non points $1 Million Thermal Club Challenge is coming up this weekend. Since this is a unique event caused by a whole in the schedule, here's a larger breakdown of the weekend:

https://racer.com/2024/03/14/i...thermal-race-format/

[quote]IndyCar sets Thermal race format
Marshall Pruett March 14, 2024 2:31 PM ET

The NTT IndyCar Series’ first non-points event in 16 years will be settled with a 20-lap race for a share of $1.756 million at The Thermal Club.

Due to the track length and the lap count, the field of 12 drivers would not be able to complete the showdown on a single tank of fuel, so the series has split the finale into two 10-lap segments with a halftime where refueling and chassis setup changes will be permitted.

The elaborate structure for the Sunday, March 24 event at the road course outside of Palm Springs, Calif,, which will be carried live on NBC, was outlined by the series as follows:

At a draw party, Thursday, March 21, The Thermal Club members will be paired with the 27 full-time teams scheduled to test and compete Friday, March 22-Sunday, March 24. Members will be embedded with their respective teams with immersive integration, including — but not limited to — team meetings, driver question-and-answer sessions, racecraft instruction and tips, and use of premium, authentic race team gear. A previously announced sharing of total prize money between paired members and drivers who finish in the top five will not occur but will not impact the purse total for drivers and teams.

Announced earlier, the total driver and team portion of prize money for The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge:

Total: $1.756 million (Largest purse in IndyCar Series history outside of Indy 500)

* First Place: $500,000
* Second Place: $350,000
* Third Place: $250,000
* Fourth Place: $100,000
* Fifth Place: $50,000
* Sixth through 27th Place: $23,000 each

“The Thermal Club will be a phenomenal setting for the paddock, and a record purse only adds to how special this weekend will be,” IndyCar President Jay Frye said. “It is a unique and challenging knockout format that will test the drivers and teams in new ways and bring out the best of both. The facility was a perfect backdrop for the Open Test last year, and we look forward to adding this layer of excitement and competition.”

The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge Qualifying

The Thursday, March 21 draw party also will include a random draw to divide the field into two groups. Each group for qualifying, which starts at 8 p.m. ET Saturday, March 23, receives a 12-minute qualifying session on the 17-turn, 3.067-mile layout to determine the starting order of their respective heat race the following day.

For the first time in a NTT IndyCar Series qualifying session, push-to-pass will be available to the drivers, with each driver receiving 40 seconds.

Timing of the session begins at the declaration of the green flag, with timing stopping at the first red flag condition for each group but not for subsequent red conditions.

The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge Heat Races

Two IndyCar Series heat races at 12:30pm ET Sunday, March 24 will determine the 12-car field for The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge. It is the first time since 2013 (Iowa Speedway) that heat racing has been featured in the IndyCar Series.

Each heat race will consist of 10 laps or be timed at 20 minutes. Laps under full course yellow will not count; however, the race clock will continue. A lap is deemed complete when the leader crosses the start-finish line. The cars’ position on track will be determined by the last timeline crossed on track at the moment of the full course yellow condition.

A new set of Firestone Firehawk tires will be allotted for the heat races. Pit stops for emergency service only will be allowed. Tires used during qualifying will be the only approved replacement tire(s) and must be approved by IndyCar. A car making an adjustment not deemed emergency in nature will be disqualified.

As in qualifying, cars will receive 40 seconds of push-to-pass in each race.

The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge

The top six advancing cars from each heat race will make up the 12-car field for The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge. The pole position and odd number starting positions are determined by the heat race winner, with the fastest time from qualifications occupying the pole and the remainder of that heat race line up in positions 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11.

The final will consist of 20 laps divided into two 10-lap sprint segments with a 10-minute “halftime” break following the completion of lap 10.

During the break, all cars will return to their pit boxes and only allowed to:

* Add Shell 100% Renewable Race Fuel
* Adjust front and rear wing angles and wickers
* Adjust tire pressure
* Attend to the driver

All rules from the heat races will apply except:

* A time limit shall not apply.
* 40 seconds of push-to-pass will be reset after the “halftime” break.
* During the second 10-lap segment, should a full course yellow occur, the cars’ actual position on track will determine the restart lineup.
* Tires used during the heat race will be the replacement tire for the final, if needed and approved by IndyCar.

I watched that race today.... that was really odd to watch. A half time in a 20 lap race?

I'd have preferred they just run a 20 lap race and pit as needed.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:
Disappointed to see David Malukas not on the grid (Coyne Racing), not sure where he went.

He was injured mountain biking, tearing tendons in his wrist. He should be back for Long Beach.

Did urbanwarrior end up going to Thermal Club? From the looks of things, once the tickets got revised to $500 instead of $2000, everyone had a great time that went. The racing... not so much. While it's nice IndyCar did try something new, which seems to be impossible these days, I wish they just went racing. Qualifying format was fine, but for the main event, just race. Make it a 100km sprint and give the teams the options of pitting for fuel and tires.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:
Did urbanwarrior end up going to Thermal Club? From the looks of things, once the tickets got revised to $500 instead of $2000, everyone had a great time that went. The racing... not so much. While it's nice IndyCar did try something new, which seems to be impossible these days, I wish they just went racing. Qualifying format was fine, but for the main event, just race. Make it a 100km sprint and give the teams the options of pitting for fuel and tires.

No, no, I didn't go to Thermal. The 'see you' was just in reference to the next race.

So, "see you at Long Beach!!" where I have been many times in the past, at the hairpin. I plan on going to Long Beach next year for the 50th anniversary. If anyone else has plans for Long Beach next year let's keep in touch for a meet up.

quote:

Originally posted by urbanwarrior238:
So, "see you at Long Beach!!" where I have been many times in the past, at the hairpin. I plan on going to Long Beach next year for the 50th anniversary. If anyone else has plans for Long Beach next year let's keep in touch for a meet up.

I'll keep that in mind for next year when the schedule comes out. Until then:

Thank God we're getting back to racing this weekend at Long Beach. Something else cool is they're introducing Aeroscreen 2.0 this weekend and here's some behind the scenes:

That was a much better race. I still have no idea why NBC put this on USA since we got a little bit of everything. Rumors have it that NBC and Fox are the two biggest players in the IndyCar TV deal after the current one expires.

So much for the haters claiming Team Penske gets away with everything in PenskeCar. It also explains some of the Chevy dominance at St. Pete compared to Long Beach:

https://racer.com/2024/04/24/t...t-petersburg-winner/

quote:

Team Penske hit with penalties over Push to Pass use; O’Ward declared St. Petersburg winner
Marshall Pruett April 24, 2024 10:36 AM ET

The IndyCar Series has disqualified Josef Newgarden from the season-opening race in St. Petersburg which he won handily, disqualified teammate Scott McLaughlin from third and penalized Will Power with the loss of 10 points after determining Team Penske, the team owned by IndyCar Series owner Roger Penske, violated the series’ push-to-pass rules.

Second-place finisher Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren has been promoted to first and awarded the win.

IndyCar’s longstanding practice in its road and street course races is to disable the push-to-pass system, which gives drivers an extra shot of 50hp or so, prior to starts and restarts. The system only becomes active when the series enables the buttons on the steering wheel to command the engines to deliver the extra power.

During last weekend’s event in Long Beach, the series found the three cars from Team Penske were able to bypass that software restriction and use push-to-pass at any time.

“During the Sunday, April 21 warmup session ahead of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, IndyCar discovered the team’s possible rules violation,” the series stated.

“An extensive review of data from the race on the streets of St. Petersburg revealed that Team Penske manipulated the overtake system so that the No. 2, 3 and 12 cars had the ability to use Push to Pass on starts and restarts. According to the IndyCar rulebook, use of overtake is not available during championship races until the car reaches the alternate start-finish line. It was determined that the No. 2 and the No. 3 gained a competitive advantage by using Push to Pass on restarts while the No. 12 did not. Additionally, all three entries have been fined $25,000 and will forfeit all prize money associated with the streets of St. Petersburg race.”

IndyCar president Jay Frye says the push-to-pass issue was rectified before Sunday’s race won by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon.

“The integrity of the IndyCar Series championship is critical to everything we do,” Frye said. “While the violation went undetected at St. Petersburg, IndyCar discovered the manipulation during Sunday’s warmup in Long Beach and immediately addressed it ensuring all cars were compliant for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Beginning with this week’s race at Barber Motorsports Park, new technical inspection procedures will be in place to deter this violation.”

Team Penske issued a statement through president Tim Cindric after the matter was made public by the series and blamed a software oversight for the problem and subsequent advantage that was seen when Newgarden streaked away from the field at St. Petersburg to win by more than eight seconds.

“Unfortunately, the push-to-pass software was not removed as it should have been, following recently completed hybrid testing in the Team Penske Indy cars,” Cindric said. “This software allowed for push-to-pass to be deployed during restarts at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix race, when it should not have been permitted.”

Cindric also acknowledged Newgarden and McLaughlin chose to use the illegal access to push-to-pass power, which calls into question whether the unfair advantage was known to exist in advance.

“The No. 2 car driven by Josef Newgarden and the No. 3 car driven by Scott McLaughlin, both deployed push-to-pass on a restart, which violated IndyCar rules,” he added. “Team Penske accepts the penalties applied by IndyCar.”

^^^^

Just wow, a huge black eye for IndyCar and Penske racing. Too many questions to start in on, here's a good discussion at Autosports' active IndyCar thread.

https://forums.autosport.com/t...-disqualified-split/

Maybe most interesting is why Power didn't use the option while his teammates did, ignorance, honor or what?

Who said there's no such thing as bad publicity?

So Newgarden and McLaughlin used it, knowing it was illegal and Power didn't?

That leads to a number of questions like, did Power know the other two used it and just chose (correctly) not to use it, or was he unaware?

Did those two qualify with it at Long Beach? It wasn't discovered until Sunday AM warmup, after qualifying.

How might team owner Roger Penske chose to deal with any team members, including the drivers, who knew and participated? What about Power if he knew and didn't use it but also said nothing?

Something the folks at the Autosport forum missed is that this was caused by the new software Team Penske was testing with the hybrid. The rules haven't been narrowed down and there's word that we'll get both P2P and Hybrid boost and probably using the same button. This also didn't get caught at Thermal because it was a special event where P2P was enabled at the start of the race instead of 1 or 2 laps after.

This also throws the standings out of whack. Newgarden went from 1st to 11th with the Top 5 now being Dixon, Herta, Palou, and Power. Herta is only 2 points back (79 vs 77) going into Barber which is not one of Dixon's best tracks and if I remember right, one of the few on the schedule that he's never won at.

quote:

Did those two qualify with it at Long Beach? It wasn't discovered until Sunday AM warmup, after qualifying.

It was found before and deleted. Unless something else comes out, all Penske cars were 100% legal at Long Beach.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:
Something the folks at the Autosport forum missed is that this was caused by the new software Team Penske was testing with the hybrid. The rules haven't been narrowed down and there's word that we'll get both P2P and Hybrid boost and probably using the same button. This also didn't get caught at Thermal because it was a special event where P2P was enabled at the start of the race instead of 1 or 2 laps after.

This also throws the standings out of whack. Newgarden went from 1st to 11th with the Top 5 now being Dixon, Herta, Palou, and Power. Herta is only 2 points back (79 vs 77) going into Barber which is not one of Dixon's best tracks and if I remember right, one of the few on the schedule that he's never won at.

quote:

Did those two qualify with it at Long Beach? It wasn't discovered until Sunday AM warmup, after qualifying.

It was found before and deleted. Unless something else comes out, all Penske cars were 100% legal at Long Beach.

“During the Sunday, April 21 warmup session ahead of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, IndyCar discovered the team’s possible rules violation,” the series stated.

That was the day after qualifying, Sunday morning, (but before the race itself) at Long Beach.

Either way, IndyCar said they were legal for Long Beach. Knowing the case of the issue it should be easy to figure out if that was being used in qualifying, but using P2P during quali would be an illegal red flag since it's not allowed in any quali session.