News for the Week of March 30, 2015 – April 5, 2015

INDYCAR In-Car Theatre: St. Pete – IndyCar has brought back one of its greatest features from the past few seasons this year… the In-Car Theatre! There is nothing better than seeing all the action from the drivers point-of-view, and this race’s edition doesn’t disappoint, with a ton of wheel-wheel racing, contact, and passes. Feel free to check out the video below or on YouTube – (4/5/2015)

Tagliani close to 500 ride – RACER reports that Alex Tagliani is on the verge on confirming a ride for the 2015 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. “I really want to do the 99th Indy 500 this year and the 100th next year, and doing it with a great team to go for my first win is something really exciting for me,” Tagliani told RACER. “We aren’t going to announce everything at this moment, but I think it will be something that is very good for our sponsors and our fans.” – RACER – (4/2/15)

Simona makes it 5 at AA for the 500 – Simona de Silvestro will drive the No. 29 TE Connectivity car for Andretti Autosport at the 2015 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. “I’m so excited to be representing TE Connectivity at this year’s Indy 500,” de Silvestro said in a news release. “It’s really great that they’re partnering with me in my efforts during the Indy 500, and with their advance technologies in my Honda Indy car, I will for sure have one of the best opportunities to win during the month of May.” See the livery here. – ESPN – (4/2/15)

IMS & Chevy extend partnership – “The Indianapolis Motor Speedway and long-standing partner Chevrolet have agreed to a multi-year extension of their partnership agreement. Among the key elements of their partnership, Chevrolet will continue its role as an Official Sponsor of the Verizon IndyCar Series Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis, the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race and the Crown Royal presents the “Your Hero’s Name Here 400” at the Brickyard NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Chevrolet will provide the official cars and trucks along with the official safety vehicles for those three world-class IMS events, and will also provide the Official Pace Car for each race. The 2014 Indianapolis 500 marked the 25th time a Chevrolet has paced the “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”” – IMS – (4/2/15)

Cavin Q&A 4/2/15 – The Indianapolis Star’s Curt Cavin’s fan Q&A covers mainly just aero kits today. – Indianapolis Star – (4/2/15)

Miller’s Mailbag 4/1/15 – RACER’s Robin Miller’s weekly fan Q&A is a great read as always. – RACER – (4/1/15)

ABC Supply to sponsor INDYCAR race at Pocono – “Pocono Raceway, host of multiple, national motorsports events each year, and ABC Supply Co., Inc., one of the largest building products distributors in the United States, today announced the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series race at Pocono Raceway will be renamed the ABC Supply 500. The ABC Supply 500 race weekend at ‘The Tricky Triangle’ is scheduled for August 22nd-23rd. “ABC Supply is a true industry leader and their love of racing couples our own,” said Pocono Raceway President/CEO, Brandon Igdalsky. “They have been involved in motorsports for over 10 years now and we are thrilled to welcome them to our extended Raceway family. We cannot wait to work with them to promote the ABC Supply 500 this year.”” – Pocono Raceway – (4/1/15)

INDYCAR return to Cleveland in the works – The man who used to run the Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport race, Gene Haskett, was approached by a sponsor recently and has begun work on bringing the event back to the INDYCAR calendar. He has a promoter, Mike Lanigan (of RLL), and encouraging words from the FAA on the possibility of getting the airport shutdown for race weekend again. We very much want to go back to Cleveland if we can find a proper date,” said Mark Miles. “We want Mike as the promoter and we should know if it’s feasible in a month or so.” – RACER – (3/31/15)

IMS to host The Rolling Stones for a July 4th concert – “Ladies and gentlemen…The Rolling Stones are back! The band has announced that they will kick off their new 15-city North American stadium, ZIP CODE tour. The band will visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis on July 4. Tickets for Indianapolis will go on sale Monday, April 13 at 10 a.m. ET” – IMS – (3/31/15)

Spectator injured during race at St. Pete – From the Tampa Bay Times, “A spectator remains hospitalized after a piece of debris flew over the grandstands and fractured her skull during Sunday’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg…The injury happened as the woman, Brigitte Hoffstetter, was walking in the concession area near Turn 10. A piece of carbon fiber from one of the IndyCars flew over the grandstands about 100 yards from the track and struck her in the head, said her husband, Greg Hoffstetter.” – Tampa Bay Times – (3/31/15)

St. Pete race gets a 0.8 TV rating on ABC – ABC’s telecast of the Verizon IndyCar Series’ Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg drew a 0.8 overnight TV rating. This is up from 0.6 last year. – Jenna Fryer – (3/30/15)

Sato’s car the first to get a “different” front wing – Due to parts shortages (and expenses) many Verizon IndyCar Series teams came into the race weekend with a limited number of spare parts. After a lot of early contact in the race it was inevitable that someone was going to have to use a mismatched front wing at some point. Takuma Sato’s car “won” that battle as Dale Coyne Racing allowed Foyt Racing to use one of their front wings. See it at the No. 14 car’s livery page here here.- Larry Foyt – (3/30/15)

Montoya more confident in Year 2 of IndyCar return – After struggling on road and street courses last year in his Verizon IndyCar Series return St. Pete race winner Juan Pablo Montoya is feeling more confident in his second year in the car. He says he’s transitioned from worrying about avoiding contact on restarts to knowing exactly what he wants and and can do in his car. “Last year going to the restarts, I was thinking ‘don’t hit anything’,” Montoya told AUTOSPORT. “I was trying to pass somebody, but I was behind the car and I didn’t have enough time to look for opportunities. In these restarts [in St Petersburg], I knew how far I could go to brake and make the corner. Everything just clicked. I was looking for the hole, always looking for the hole. I think that was a big plus.” – AUTOSPORT – (3/30/15)

Montoya holds off Power for St. Pete win – Juan Pablo Montoya took advantage of a fast final pit stop to win the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg after a dominant Will Power performance for most of the race. See coverage from our live blog of the race here. Full results here.- INDYCAR – (3/29/15)

Jones and Carlin complete Lights sweep with Race 2 win – Carlin’s Ed Jones led Race 2 of the Indy Lights weekend at St. Pete from start to finish again for his second win in as many races. He was joined on the podium by Jack Harvey and Spencer Pigot. Full results at the link. – @indy44 – (3/29/15)

Rahal fastest in Sunday warmup at St. Pete – Graham Rahal posted the fastest lap of a brief warmup session on Sunday at St. Pete with a time of 1:01.4648. Full results and story at the link. – NBC Sports – (3/29/15)

Power leads Penske sweep to win pole at St. Pete – Will Power won the pole at St. Pete on Saturday leading a Penske sweep of starting positions 1-4. Pagenaud, Castroneves, Montoya, Sato, and Bourdais was the finishing order of the rest of the Firestone Fast 6. Starting grid here. – NBC Sports – (3/28/15)

Jones and Carlin win in Lights debut – Indy Lights newcomers Carlin and Ed Jones led the first Indy Lights race of the season from start to finish in a dominant performance at St. Pete. Harvey, Pigot, Hargrove, and Kaiser were the rest of the Top 5. Carlin teammate and former F1 driver Max Chilton was involved in an early incident and finished 12th. Story and full results at the link. – AUTOSPORT – (3/28/15)

Power leads the way again in Practice 3 – Will Power led the way again in Practice 3 at St. Pete with a time of 1:01.3621. It was another dominant Penske performance as they also placed second (Pagenaud), third (Castroneves), and fifth (Montoya). Takuma Sato was the fastest Honda driver in fourth place. Seven of the top ten were Chevrolets. Full results at the link. – @indy44 – (3/28/15)

Magnussen confirms IndyCar interest – Former F1 driver and current McLaren reserve driver Kevin Magnussen told AUTOSPORT that he was pursuing a Verizon IndyCar Series drive until he had to replace Fernando Alonso in F1’s first race in Australia. “You never know what can come up during the year, but for now the only thing that’s certain is that I’m going to be at the [Formula 1] races,” said Magnussen. – RACER – (3/28/15)

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