Thursday, March 8, 2018

Before the Indy Cars comes Indy Lights...



As too bad they won't be on the Telie, or Will they?

Although All eyes will be focused upon the B-I-G BOYZ', as Thy late Awntie' Harriet likened them, this Sunday. Don't forget that the final rung on Mazda's Road To Indy, (MRTI) the Indy Lights series season Kicks Off with Race One of its Double Header weekend Saturday, March 10th - when the aspiring IndyCar racers begin their charge for a prized ride in next year's 2019 Indianapolis 500.

As what seems to becoming tradition, when I began snooping round for info upon this year's Lights competitors. Wayback upon Valentine's Day; "HUggy-Huggy! Thar were only three teams known, with varying amounts 'o Drivers listed.

the only Lights squad with their full lineups announced were Mikey A's two pronged Mikeylesha! Andretti's attack same as last year with the exception of Mexico's Patricio O'Ward taking Nico Jamin's seat.

Juncos Racing had its full brace 'O two Lights Contendahs' listed, reputedly with Nicolas Dapero returning for a second season, and Victor Franzoni, the reigning Pro Mazda champion returning with Juncos to make his Lights series debut. But Y's car number wasn't listed.


Although one day before Spring Training, Racer magazine reported that Franzoni was Juncos Racing's first confirmed Lights driver, albeit the team was planning a total of three Lights entries this season...

And the third and final team with a lone driver listed was Belardi Auto Racing with Aaron Telitz returning for his sophomore season, with other seats denoted as TBA.

As last year's grid was contested by the following teams: Andretti Autosport, (3) Andretti Steinbrenner Racing, (1) Belardi Auto Racing, (3) Carlin, (4) Juncos Racing (2) and Team Pelfrey. (2) For a total of 15 entries, albeit Team Pelfrey ran just one car at various times...

As perhaps it's just Mwah, but I found the following "Fluff" piece pretty pathetic, especially since Lucy', my ARSE-STEAMED! Screen Reader couldn't read Racer.com's PDF Indy Lights entry list!


Yet I did learn that apparently Santiago " Santi" Urrutia
was tipped to be testing for Belardi at Homestead. And if so, will be entering his third season in Lights., a la Kyle Kiser last year.

Then upon Spring Training's Opening Day, Juncos announced that former World Series Formula V-8 3.5 series competitor, and past Sahara Force India F1Team's reserve Driver Alfonso Celis Jr. had been confirmed as its second Lights driver this season.


Then in the words 'O arlo Guthrie... "We're just waitin' for It to Come Back round." SinceYuhs can get Anything Yuhs Want, but a detailed, complete  Spring Training recap of the entire Lights attendees. Other than another Fluff piece upon how Colton Herta's getting up to speed, Whatever!

Or were they just afraid to let us know how few cars are racing?


As I'd Hoped that we'd have a similar number of entrants to last year's field taking the green flag at St Pete. Or even better yet. An increased grid featuring more than 15 cars when the green flag flies Saturday morning, March 10th for which Y'all can catch thou action via Zed Internetz on Indycar.com's Live Timing & Scoring Race Control Webpage.

UPDATE
Actually now, less than a Fortnight out, it appears that Saturday's Race-1 is at 10:05AM Pacific & Sunday's Race-2 is at 7:45AM Pacific, both available via Indycar.com's website. But DON'T forget to Spring Forward 1hr Saturday Night!

As Always; CHECK YOUR LOCAL LISTINGS!