MRTI, PWC at Mid-Ohio: Several different winners emerge

By Aug 1, 2015, 7:00 PM EDT
1 Comment

LEXINGTON, Ohio – Today was an incredibly busy day of racing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where besides Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying (LIVE, 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN) and both of Indy Lights’ qualifying and first race, there are five additional races on the docket.

The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda has its second and third races of the weekend, Rounds 13 and 14 of the season, while the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires has Round 13, and the Pirelli World Challenge GTS (Round 12) and GT ranks (Round 14) have their two races.

Here’s rolling updates from the track.

USF2000 RACE 2

Nico Jamin scored his second flag-to-flag win from pole in as many USF2000 races this weekend, the points leader doing so following a frantic start and then survival for the remainder of the 30-minute race.

Jamin and Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing teammate Aaron Telitz nearly collided on the start but once Jamin was through in the lead into Turn 4, the first turn after the start line at Mid-Ohio, it was clear sailing as he beat Jake Eidson and Telitz.

The win is Jamin’s third in a row and seventh this season, and extends his points lead.

PIRELLI WORLD CHALLENGE GTS

Kris Wilson avenged what was a frustrating Friday to post his fourth win of the GTS season in the second race of the weekend, ahead of Jack Baldwin. It was a good battle between the two drivers for the win.

“The key to the race was starting on the pole,” Wilson said. “Friday’s race was exciting when I was coming from the back too. I’ll admit that I would rather have it less exciting and never look back.  Although Jack (Baldwin) was giving me a run for my money in the last three or four laps.  He was right on me.”

Dean Martin rounded out the podium.

PRO MAZDA RACE 1

The key to the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires race was the start, which Neil Alberico was ruled to have jumped and then fell behind Santiago Urrutia coming through Turn 8.

Once the points leading Uruguayan driver was past, he was able to hold on for the rest of the day in his Team Pelfrey entry for his second race win of the year. Alberico was second with Timothe Buret in third.

INDY LIGHTS RACE 1

It was a dramatic day for the Indy Lights runners, and their story followed in a separate report.

PIRELLI WORLD CHALLENGE GT/GTA/GT CUP

Ryan Dalziel scored an overdue first win of the season, and first since Mid-Ohio last year, in a dominant victory for EFFORT Racing in the team’s No. 31 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

James Davison was second for his fourth straight podium with points leader Olivier Beretta third for the second straight race.

Frankie Montecalvo (GTA) and Alec Udell (GT Cup) were the other two class winners, with both news-worthy. Montecalvo won courtesy of a last lap pass on Bryan Heitkotter for his third straight class triumph; Udell, who at only 19 is already a five-year series veteran, has finally scored both his first class and series win after a litany of near misses.

USF2000 RACE 3

Jamin completed the trifecta over Telitz and Eidson in the final race of the day, for his fourth straight and eighth overall as he firms up his grasp on the series points lead.

WHAT’S ON TAP FOR SUNDAY

  • Pro Mazda races its second race of the weekend at 8:50 a.m., with Urrutia looking for the weekend sweep.
  • Indy Lights has its second race of the weekend at 10:30 a.m., as Enerson looks to make it two-for-two and score his third Mid-Ohio career win (USF2000 in 2013).
  • PWC GT runs at 11:50 and is the warmup act for the IndyCar race, which follows.
  • IndyCar rolls off coverage at 1:30 p.m. ET LIVE on CNBC, with green flag at 2:07 p.m.

Texas starting lineup: Felix Rosenqvist back on pole; Scott Dixon qualifies second

By Apr 1, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT
0 Comments

FORT WORTH, Texas — For the second consecutive year, Felix Rosenqvist will lead the NTT IndyCar Series starting lineup to the green flag at Texas Motor Speedway.

The Arrow McLaren driver is hoping the third time will be the charm at the 1.5-mile oval, where he has run extremely well but has only a career-best 12th in five starts.

“We’ve always been good here, but this is a whole different confidence level compared to last year,” Rosenqvist told NBC Sports’ Marty Snider. “Let’s try to wrap it up (Sunday).”

In 2020, Rosenqvist was competing for a podium when he crashed with 10 laps remaining at Texas.

QUALIFYING RESULTS: Click here for speeds from Saturday’s time trials

INDYCAR AT TEXAS: Schedule, start times, how to watch on NBC, Peacock

Last year, he started first on an oval for the first time in his career but finished 21st because of a broken halfshaft.

“It’s definitely one of my favorite tracks, and naturally, I’ve always been OK here,” Rosenqvist said. “It was the first oval that made sense to me. Every year I’m building on that. But looking at the results, they don’t represent the speed I normally have.

“I don’t want to jinx anything, but I hope tomorrow is going to go a bit better and some luck our way would be nice. It’s been feeling super good. Arrow McLaren has been mega every session, so just keep it rolling.”

Arrow McLaren qualified all three of its Chevrolets in the top five, building on a second for Pato O’Ward and fourth for Alexander Rossi in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

The March 5 season opener was a disappointing start for Rosenqvist who was squeezed into the wall by Scott Dixon on the first lap.

Dixon, a five-time winner at Texas, will start second Sunday, followed by Rossi and Josef Newgarden. O’Ward will start fifth alongside Takuma Sato, who will start on the outside of the third row in his Chip Ganassi Racing debut.

During nearly four hours of practice and qualifying (including a special high-line session), Saturday’s lone incident involved Conor Daly.

The Ed Carpenter Racing driver spun three times but stayed off the wall and in the frontstretch grass. Aside from a front wing change and new tires, there was no damage to his No. 20 Dallara-Chevrolet during the incident midway through the 30-minute session in which drivers were limited to the high line.

“I hadn’t really had a moment before, but it snapped really aggressively,” Daly told NBC Sports after final practice. “Not ideal, but I do know my way around correcting a spin it seems like. I drove NASCAR last weekend and that seemed to help a little bit. I drove in the dirt a lot in USAC Midgets and seemed to be able to save something but not ideal or what we wanted to have happen.”

Daly will start 25th of 28 cars alongside teammate Rinus VeeKay in Row 13. Carpenter qualified 18th.

“Our three of our cars were clearly looking for something. Mechanical grip is for sure what we need. Qualifying we actually expected to be a lot better, but we found an issue there. We’ll see what happens. This race can change a lot. I’m confident in the team to hopefully figure some things out for tomorrow.”

Here’s the IndyCar starting lineup for Sunday’s PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway (qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, engine and speed):

ROW 1

1. (6) Felix Rosenqvist, Dallara-Chevy, 220.264 mph
2. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 219.972

ROW 2

3. (7) Alexander Rossi, Dallara-Chevy, 219.960
4. (2) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Chevy, 219.801

ROW 3

5. (5) Pato O’Ward, Dallara-Chevy, 219.619
6. (11) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 219.508

ROW 4

7. (10) Alex Palou, Dallara-Honda, 219.480
8. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 219.355

ROW 5

9. (18) David Malukas, Dallara-Honda, 219.256
10. (26) Colton Herta, Dallara-Honda, 219.184

ROW 6

11. (28) Romain Grosjean, Dallara-Honda, 219.165
12. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco, Dallara-Honda, 219.146

ROW 7 

13. (55) Benjamin Pedersen, Dallara-Chevy, 219.100
14. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Dallara-Chevy, 218.892

ROW 8

15. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Dallara-Chevy, 218.765
16. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Dallara-Honda, 218.698

ROW 9

17. (77) Callum Ilott, Dallara-Chevy, 218.427
18. (33) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 218.375

ROW 10

19. (78) Agustin Canapino, Dallara-Chevy, 218.367
20. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Dallara-Honda, 218.227

ROW 11

21. (06) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 218.196
22. (60) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 218.103

ROW 12

23. (51) Sting Ray Robb, Dallara-Honda, 217.676
24. (15) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 217.611

ROW 13

25. (20) Conor Daly, Dallara-Chevy, 217.457
26. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Dallara-Chevy, 216.880

ROW 14

27. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Dallara-Honda, 216.210
28. (30) Jack Harvey, Dallara-Honda, 216.103