News for the Week of August 15, 2016 – August 21, 2016

ABC Supply 500 at Pocono postponed until Monday – “The ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway has been postponed by rain and will be run beginning at noon ET Monday. The race will be telecast live on NBCSN with the green flag scheduled to wave at 12:09 p.m.” – INDYCAR – (8/21/2016)

Castroneves tops the charts in Practice 2 at Pocono – Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves posted the fastest lap of Practice 2 for the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway with a lap of 218.824mph. The rest of the Top 5 was Munoz, Pagenaud, Bourdais, and Dixon. Hunter-Reay turned 21 laps and finished the session in P13 after missing qualifying while his team prepped his backup car. Full results here. – INDYCAR – (8/20/2016)

Aleshin wins first career pole at Pocono – Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ Mikhail Aleshin’s two-lap average speed of 220.445mph led qualifying for the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway for his first Verizon IndyCar Series pole. The rest of the Top 5 was Newgarden, Sato, Castroneves, and Munoz. Hunter-Reay was unable to make a qualifying run after heavily damaging his primary car in Practice 1 in the morning. Full qualifying results here. – INDYCAR – (8/20/2016)

Qualifying attempt order for Pocono – The full order of qualifying attempts for the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway is available at the link. – INDYCAR – (8/20/2016)

Aleshin fastest in crash-filled Pocono Practice 1 – Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ Mikhail Aleshin’s lap of 221.932mph was fastest in Practice 1 for the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. The rest of the Top 5 was Hinchcliffe, Newgarden, Rossi, and Munoz. Hunter-Reay, Kimball, and Montoya each crashed in the session. Full results here. – INDYCAR – (8/20/2016)

The Open Wheel’s Pocono preview – The Open Wheel’s Dylan Reynolds’ preview of this weekend’s ABC Supply 500 includes all relevant weekend information, historical stats, predictions, fantasy advice, and more. Check it out at the link. – The Open Wheel – (8/18/2016)

Munoz still working on options for ’17 – The Indianapolis Star’s Curt Cavin has an update on Carlos Munoz as the Colombian works on his plans for 2017. Munoz is out of contract with Andretti and doesn’t seem to have a full-time offer for the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series. “I think I have a lot of offers to run the 500, but I want to be full-time,” Munoz told the Indianapolis Star. “I don’t think it (is supposed to be) like that…My main goal is to stay here (at Andretti), but we’ll have to sit down and see how everything goes.” More at the link. – Indianapolis Star – (8/18/2016)

Walker interested in INDYCAR return – Derrick Walker resigned from his post as president of SCCA on Wednesday and RACER’s Robin Miller reports that he would be interested in returning to work in INDYCAR in some capacity. “Ideally, maybe do some consulting work or help a team because I think I’ve still got something I can add,” Walker told RACER. “And I’m not opposed to bringing back Walker Racing but, obviously, that requires finding the money, which is not any easier.” – RACER – (8/18/2016)

INDYCAR getting closer to head protection solution – Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis star reports that INDYCAR believes they’ve found a design to serve as increased head protection for Verizon IndyCar Series drivers in the future. “Dr. Terry Trammell, who is leading IndyCar’s effort to improve cockpit safety, prefers to call the design a deflector rather than a windshield, and he said it’s certainly not an enclosed canopy, as Top Fuel dragsters use.” The timeline is still undetermined. Full story at the link. – Indianapolis Star – (8/18/2016)

Bourdais and KVSH want to work together again in ’17 – Both Sebastien Bourdais and KVSH Racing owner Jimmy Vasser told RACER they would like to continue to work together in the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series. “We’d like to keep him; we’ve won four races in three years, and keep him with our engineer Olivier [Boisson], but certainly, the financial pieces aren’t all in place as of yet,” Vasser told RACER. “We’re meant to sit down this weekend; everybody has been in different places over this mini break, so we’ll get together and start talking about next year and what we want to do.” Much more at the link. – RACER – (8/18/2016)

Maxim publisher suing IMS – Karma International, publisher of the magazine Maxim, is suing Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a breach of contract in promoting a Maxim party in Indianapolis in May. “In the court filing, the company says it planned on 1,500 people to attend its Maxim party on May 27. Each ticket was to be sold for $500. Organizers planned on making $1,000,000 from the sale of tickets and tables. The event sold 418 tickets, some at discounted prices, which only generated $182,500. The lawsuit says the Indianapolis Motor Speedway “failed to perform the advertising for the Indy 500 Maxim party.” Karma International claims the Speedway was supposed to notify 425,000 people about the event, but only sent out an email to 15,000 people.” More at the link. – RTV6 – (8/17/2016)

Spotter guide for Pocono – INDYCAR has published the spotter guide for the Verizon IndyCar Series ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. It’s available at the link. – INDYCAR – (8/17/2016)

Miller’s Mailbag 8/17/16 – RACER’s Robin Miller’s weekly fan Q&A is a great read as always. – RACER – (8/17/2016)

Trackside podcast 8/16/16 – 1070 The Fan’s Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee radio show from 8/16/16 is a great listen as always. The pair preview’s this weekend’s race at Pocono and Scott Dixon joins as a guest late in the show. – 1070 The Fan – (8/17/2016)

Grief still fresh for Wilson family – Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star has a very niece piece on Justin Wilson’s wife, Julia, and her attempts to deal with the passing of Justin a year after his death. Too good to shorten. Check out the story at the link. – Indianapolis Star – (8/16/2016)

Entry list for Pocono – INDYCAR has published the entry list for the Verizon IndyCar Series ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. It’s available at the link. – INDYCAR – (8/16/2016)

Daly unveils No. 88 livery for Pocono – Conor Daly posted the livery he will run as a tribute to Bryan Clauson in the No. 88 Dale Coyne Racing Honda at Pocono Raceway this weekend. See the livery at the link or at our No. 88 livery page here. – Conor Daly – (8/16/2016)

Pippa to race No. 19 for DCR at Pocono – David Malsher reports that Pippa Mann will drive the No. 19 car for Dale Coyne Racing this weekend at Pocono Raceway. “I massively grateful to Dale for giving me this opportunity at Pocono, I am also so proud to carry the ‘BC Still Chasing 200’ logo on my helmet this weekend,” Mann told Motorsport.com. – Motorsport.com – (8/16/2016)

Honda doesn’t intend to use 9.3 this offseason – RACER reports Honda does not intend to use INDYCAR Rule 9.3 to close the gap on Chevy for 2017. “Our preference would be to not to ask for relief under Rule 9.3,” HPD president Art St Cyr told RACER. “As we learned last year the implementation of 9.3 and the associated confirmation testing slows down aero testing as our resources are utilized to justify and document changes. Our preference would be to allow for open development to close the gap.” – RACER – (8/16/2016)

Cindric expects same Penske lineup next year – RACER’s Marshall Pruett reports that Team Penske president Tim Cindric believes his team will have the same car/driver combination in the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series. “Our goal is to remain with four cars and have our drivers part of our program next year,” Cindric told RACER. “We’ve got loose ends to tie up between now and the end of the yearn But we certainly want to stay focused on the championship and get that part of it checked off because obviously we didn’t finish that off last year.” More at the link. – RACER – (8/15/2016)

Daly to run No. 88 at Pocono as tribute to Clauson – Conor Daly tweeted over the weekend that he will drive the No. 88 car at Pocono Raceway for Dale Coyne Racing rather than his usual No. 18 as a tribute to the late Bryan Clauson. Clauson drove the No. 88 at the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race in each of the last two years. – Conor Daly – (8/15/2016)

Serralles ready for IndyCar Series move – Carlin’s Indy Lights star Felix Serralles told RACER he thinks he’s ready for a step up to the Verizon IndyCar Series. “I think I have been ready for a few years,” Serralles told RACER. “Racing in Europe taught me a lot about adversity and that has helped me in Indy Lights. I didn’t have the best career in Europe, but it taught me a lot about when things go wrong you still have to push. I think I am ready, I think I am mature, I think I know a lot about the car, and setup-wise I can communicate really well with the engineers.” More at the link. – RACER – (8/15/2016)

Lights drivers enjoy WGI IndyCar Series test opportunity – INDYCAR posted a nice recap of the Verizon IndyCar Series test experience at Watkins Glen International for the Indy Lights drivers that got a chance. Includes quotes from Shelby Blackstock and Dalton Kellett. “They’re three times as physical,” said Blackstock. “We have limited time in the car today, but it’s a great progression. The car – it’s a proper race car, it’s a lot of fun.” – INDYCAR – (8/15/2016)

INDYCAR announces partnership with TEN – “INDYCAR announced today a partnership with TEN: The Enthusiast Network’s Motor Trend OnDemand that adds archival INDYCAR video to the extensive catalog of motorsports programming available on the subscription video on demand (SVOD) service. The INDYCAR content available includes historic videos, archived Indianapolis 500 broadcasts, current race footage and more. INDYCAR and Motor Trend OnDemand are offering 20 percent off new subscriptions exclusively for INDYCAR fans.” More at the link. – INDYCAR – (8/12/2016)

Cooper Tires Indy Lights IMS test nearly confirms ’17 tire – After a test on the oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this week Cooper Tires director of motorsport Chris Pantani says his company is close to settling on their specifications for the 2017 Freedom 100. “We were one (dry track) window shy of running a full race simulation,” said Pantani. “We still feel comfortable that we found something that we will certify (as the race tire spec) for next year.” Pantani went on to say they’d like to help produce 200+ mph laps in racing conditions. – RACER – (8/12/2016)

WGI test recap with times – RACER’s Marshall Pruett reports on the Verizon IndyCar Series test at Watkins Glen International. Will Power had the fastest overall time at 1:25.36 and Conor Daly was the fastest Honda with a 1:25.89. Much more at the link. – RACER – (8/12/2016)

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