Inoue, Buxton drive a modern F1 car today, in Lotus-Renault

By Tony DiZinnoMay 28, 2014, 10:39 AM EDT
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Former Simtek and Arrows Formula One driver Taki Inoue has become something of a cult hero the last few years, with his humorous insights on Twitter often a lifeblood of watching Grands Prix.

But today, along with NBCSN F1 pit reporter and insider Will Buxton, they’ve both had the opportunity to sample modern F1 machinery. They both had a crack at the 2012 Lotus-Renault today at Paul Ricard.

Words can only tell so much, so we’ll leave it to their two Twitter feeds to recap the fever.

Carb Day: Tony Kanaan is fastest in final practice for Sunday’s Indy 500

IndyCar
By Jerry BonkowskiMay 25, 2018, 12:22 PM EDT
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Tony Kanaan wants to put legendary driver and team owner A.J. Foyt back into Victory Lane at the Indianapolis 500.

Kanaan took a big step toward achieving that goal in Friday’s final practice for Sunday’s 102nd running of the Greatest Spectacle In Racing.

Kanaan was fastest of the 33-driver field, with a best lap around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval at 227.791 mph, more than 2 mph faster than the second-fastest driver, Kanaan’s former teammate, Scott Dixon (225.684 mph).

Foyt won a record-tying four Indy 500’s as a driver. It’s been nearly 20 years since he also won as a team owner in 1999 with Kenny Brack behind the wheel.

Marco Andretti was third-fastest (225.200 mph), followed by Sebastien Bourdais (224.815), Charlie Kimball (224.712), 2017 Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato (224.083), Will Power (223.942), Danica Patrick (223.653), Spencer Pigot (223.584) and Ed Jones (223.556).

Other notable driver speeds included:

* Pole sitter Ed Carpenter was 14th fastest (223.219 mph).

* Reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champ Josef Newgarden was 15th (223.186 mph).

* Helio Castroneves, hoping to earn a record-tying fourth 500 win, was 17th (222.913 mph).

* Graham Rahal was 21st (222.526).

* Former 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay was 26th (221.916 mph), followed by rookie Robert Wickens (221.821 mph), carrying the mantle for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with James Hinchcliffe having failed to qualify for the race.

* The biggest surprise was 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi, who was 32nd fastest (221.374 mph).

We’ll have the full speed grid, as well as full driver quotes, shortly. Please check back soon.

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