Although Thunder ‘N Lightning put a Damper upon Qualifying
and the Race…
Thanks to unexpectedly having Friday afternoon
Free, I elected to “Dial Up,” err Tune-in to Friday’s First IndyCar Practice
session from the Music City via IndyCar Radio on Ye Intrawoods’. (Internet) With
the only change on the IndyCar Grid for Nashville being the welcome return of
Beth Paretta’s partnership with Ed Carpenter Racing (ECR) seeing Symona-Symona’,
aka Simona de Silvestro aboard Her #16 Paretta Autosport entry.
Practice
On top of the Timesheets Friday Was Rahal Letterman
Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard, with the Dane’ setting a time of 1:15.9659.
Arrow McLaren SP’s Felix Rosenqvist was second, just some two-plus tenths
behind, followed by Dale Coyne Racin wit HMD Motorsports David Malukas third.
Team Penske’s ScottyMac’, aka Scott McLaughlin led
the Penske trio in fourth, with Josef Newgarden fifth and Will Power seventh.
Alexander Rossie led the way for Andretti
Autosport in sixth, with colton Herta P8 and Romain Grosjean 10th. While
the top Ganassi Driver was Alex Palou in ninth. Marcus Ericsson was P11 and Scott
Dixon 16th.
Others getting off to a good start were Meyer
Shank Racing’s Simon Pagenaud P12. Followed by Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Callum
Ilott, who was one place ahead of Pato O’Ward. And A.J. foyt Enterprises Kyle
Kirkwood was a promising P17.
Saturday’s second Practice session got off with
a Bang! As Ed Carpenter Racing’s (ECR) Rinus VeeKay Smacked the Wall just
seconds after the session going Green! Mangling His Nosecone and limping back
to the Pits. As IndyCar Radio’s Mark Gravelly’ James took the words right outta
my mouth, later noting how VeeKay’s re-signing with ECR wasn’t putting a Spring
into His Step, or the team’s. As Conor Daly & VeeKay were P21-22; with Paretta
Autosport’s teammate Simona de Silvestro 25 during Friday’s 75mins practice session.
And the three ECR entries fared little better Saturday,
with VeeKay, Daly and de Silvestro P22-24 respectably.
Yet Rinus wasn’t the only driver seeing
Nashville’s Concrete Canyon Up close ‘N Personal. As Graham Rahal had a similar
incident, albeit managing to reverse out of the tyre barrier. Colton Herta spun
on track and Rosenqvist mated the left side of His Dallara against the Jersey
Barriers!
Team Penske flexed Thar Muscles sweeping the Top
Three spots Saturday morning wit McLaughlin ahead of Newgarden and Power.
Fourth was Rossi, followed by Kirkwood, Rosenqvist, Grosjean, Herrta, Lundgaard
and Malukas rounding out the Top 10.
McLaughlin’s time of 1:15.4609 was marginally
faster than Lundgaard’s Friday time. While I’m afraid that Kirkwood’s P5 is an
Outlier since teams only got to run on the brand new Green Sidewall “Guacamole”
Alternate Firestone tyres Friday. Thus Saturday’s practice was run solely on
the Black primary rubber, so we’ll see how this translates to Qualie’.
As believe it was
Mark James noting it was scottyMac’ who came up with the Guacamole nickname…
The other title Contendah’s positions saw Scott
Dixon leading a three car Congo line in 11th. Followed by Palou and
O’Ward P12-13 respectably, with Ericsson an uncharacteristic P19.
Qualifying
Tuning in at 1:25PM Pacific, when Thar should
have been five minutes until Qualifying started. Instead my Confuzer Speakers
started playing the muted tunes of Sid Collins calling another Indy 500. As I
thought Oh Shit, Here we Go Again! Before checking the official IndyCar website
to learn that a Thunder ‘N Lightning Storm had rolled tru Downtown Nashville
and we were in a Holding pattern due to the multiple nearby lightning strikes.
So I listened to Sid Collins calling what had to be the 1975 Indianapolis 500
instead, since somebody interviewed SuperMario’, nee Mario Andretti in the #21.
As Mario Had Crashed on the Backstretch and seemed totally Befuddled over what
Had Happened?
As Mario did indeed drive the Vels Parnelli Jones #21
viceroy Eagle/Offenhauser in the 1975 Indy 500…
Qualifying finally began 90mins late and was
immediately interrupted by a Ref Flag brought out by Devlin DeFrancesco. Next
Colton Herta Overcooked a Corner into the Tyre Barrier and brought out a second
Red Flag in Round One’s Group One session with One minute remaining, catching
many drivers out – including a Fuming Rossi, Rosenqvist, etc. As Dalton Kellett
had wisely gone out early and set a Quick time to surprisingly advance to the
Fast 12 round.
DJ willyP’ Spun and brought out a Yellow Flag
during the Fast 12 shootout, finishing P8 and sharing Row 4 of the Grid with
David Malukas. Whilst Palou was the only Ganassi driver to advance to the Fast
Six Shootout. With Dixon and Ericsson a disappointing P14, P18 respectably.
And like I expected, Kyle Kirkwood failed to
advance out of His Round One, group-1 Qualie’ session, winding up P16, albeit No
idea if this was due to being caught up in the multiple Red flags or His
racecar Not liking the Firestone “guacamole” Alternate rubber? While rinus
VeeKay rebounded by Qualifying 10th.
The Fast Six was probably the most diverse in
awhile, with five teams in the mix, with only Penske having two drivers in the
Shootout. As the driver who’s been Red Hot this weekend Stormed to His second
Pole of the year, as Nobody could catch Scott McLaughlin.
Andretti’s Romain Grosjean was closest in second with RLLR’s Christian Lundgaard third. Alex Palou was a distant fourth, saying He Didn’t have anything left for Pole. While Row-3 features Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward and Josef Newgarden.
