Brazilian rookie Matheus Leist is fastest in first IndyCar practice in St. Pete

By Mar 9, 2018, 12:30 PM EST
Photo: IndyCar
0 Comments

The 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season is under way.

Rookie Matheus Leist — at 19, the youngest driver on the circuit this season and pilot for A.J. Foyt Racing — was fastest in the first practice session of the new season, Friday on the temporary street course in St. Petersburg, Florida, in preparation for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

The young Brazilian covered the circuit in 1:01.7231, his best overall lap of 20 that he took during the session. He also was the fastest Chevrolet driver.

Honda took the next five spots: defending Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg winner Sebastien Bourdais (1:01.7719), followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay (1:01.8812), 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi (1:02.0415), Scott Dixon (1:02.0560), rookie Robert Wickens (1:02.1833), 2016 series champ Simon Pagenaud (1:02.2162), Will Power (1:02.3069), Leist’s teammate Tony Kanaan (1:02.3370) and Spencer Pigot (1:02.3565).

11th through 20th were rookie Jordan King (1:02.4112), Graham Rahal (1:02.4569), Ed Jones (1:02.4569), rookie Zachary Claman De Melo (1:02.7376), defending series champ Josef Newgarden was 15th fastest in the field (1:02.9667), followed by Zack Veach (1:02.7902), Jack Harvey (1:02.8416), Marco Andretti (1:02.8843), James Hinchcliffe (1:03.0515) and Max Chilton (1:03.3742).

20th through 24th were Charlie Kimball (1:03.6210), 2017 Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato (1:03.6243), Gabby Chaves (1:04.1845) and rookie Rene Binder (1:04.8859).

Taking the most laps were De Melo and Harvey, with 21 laps each.

There was three incidents of note – all minor – in the session.

With just under 23 minutes remaining in the session, and while he had the fastest lap at the time, Kanaan spun coming into Turn 4.

Kanaan, who moved to A.J. Foyt Racing during the offseason after four seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing, was piloting the Chevrolet-powered No. 14 when the rear end broke free.

The car did not make contact with either a wall or another car. The incident brought out the red flag and Kanaan limped his car back to the pits for service.

With about 15:45 left in the session, Hinchcliffe also spun into the run-off area in Turn 10, but quickly got going again.

With just under 10 minutes left, Hunter-Reay spun in Turn 4. But like Kanaan’s spin, there was no contact and Hunter-Reay was able to continue on.

The second IndyCar practice session will start at 3:10 p.m. ET today.

Saturday, there will be a third practice at 11:10 a.m. ET, followed by qualifying at 2:20 p.m. ET.

Sunday, the pre-race warm-up takes place at 8:45 a.m. ET, pre-race ceremonies and driver introductions take place at Noon, with the green flag set to start the season opener at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

By Mar 22, 2023, 2:30 PM EDT
Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
0 Comments

Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”