Track Walk: Long Beach 2018

Another April and another Grand Prix of Long Beach is upon us

The third race of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season is the 44th Grand Prix of Long Beach. Five different teams have won the last five years at Long Beach and Team Penske enters fresh off its 198th IndyCar win at Phoenix. Team Penske is tied with Newman-Haas Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing for most Long Beach victories as all three team have won the event six times. Andretti Autosport is the only other active team to have multiple Long Beach victories. Twenty-four cars are entered for this year's race, the most entries since 27 cars entered the 2013 Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Coverage:
Time: Coverage begins at 4:00 p.m. ET on Sunday April 15th with green flag scheduled for 4:40 p.m. ET.
TV Channel: NBCSN
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Katie Hargitt, Marty Snider and Robin Miller will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 1:00 p.m. ET (45-minute session)
Second Practice: 5:00 p.m. ET (45-minute session)
Saturday:
Third Practice: 1:45 p.m. ET (45-minute session)
Qualifying: 6:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN will have live coverage of this session)
Sunday:
Warm-Up: 12:00 p.m. ET (30-minute session)
Race: 4:40 p.m. ET (85 laps)

Will Wickens Wilt?

Through two races the driver that has drawn the most attention is rookie Robert Wickens. He took a surprise pole position at the St. Petersburg season opener during a session that feature slippery conditions. Wickens backed it up in the race with the Canadian leading 69 laps, the most in the race but contact with Alexander Rossi at the start of the penultimate lap put Wickens into the barrier and left him with an 18th-place classification.

Race two saw Wickens make his oval debut and despite the lack of experience and lack of pace in February testing he qualified sixth for the 250-mile race. He did not fade in the race and spent most of the night in the top ten before pit strategy cycled him into contention for the race victory. Wickens was responsible for one of the two lead changes that did not occur during a pit cycle when teammate James Hinchcliffe walked up the racetrack. Wickens was running third at the time of the final caution and the decision not to take tires put him into the lead. He held off Josef Newgarden for a few laps before the American took control and the lead with a pass on the outside turn one with seven laps to go. Despite the worn tires Wickens would pick up his first career podium finish as he crossed the line in second position.

After two races, Wickens sits eighth in the championship on 57 points, twenty behind championship leader Josef Newgarden. Wickens heads to one of the few tracks he has experience on this weekend as he made one start at Long Beach during the 2007 Atlantic Championship season. He finished third that day behind Raphael Matos and Jonathan Bomarito.

The good news for Wickens is Schmidt Peterson Motorsports is heading to a favorable racetrack for the team. James Hinchcliffe won last year's race and in the seven previous years at Long Beach the team has put a car on the podium twice and has had a car finish in the top five on four occasions. Hinchcliffe sits two positions and four points ahead of his teammate in the championship after Hinchcliffe finished fourth and sixth in the first two races. Last year, Hinchcliffe started the season with three consecutive top ten finishes and if he gets a podium finish this weekend he will at least match his best career start through three races. Hinchcliffe is attempting to become the first driver to win successive Long Beach races since reunification.

Newgarden Back on Top
It only took two races but the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series champion is back on top. Josef Newgarden's victory at Phoenix vaulted him from seventh in the championship to first with the Tennessean holding a five-point lead over Alexander Rossi. Last year, Newgarden did not take the championship lead until Mid-Ohio and he led through the final five races of the season.

Newgarden won the third race of the 2017 season but that race took place at Barber Motorsports Park. He finished third last year at Long Beach, which was the second race of the season, and not only was it Newgarden's first Long Beach podium finish but it was his first top five finish at the famed street circuit. His Long Beach results have been improving since his first Long Beach started ended in the turn one barrier despite starting second on the grid. He has three consecutive top ten finishes at Long Beach.

Not only is Newgarden on top of the IndyCar championship but he has distanced himself from his Team Penske teammates. Simon Pagenaud is the closest to Newgarden and the 2016 champion trails him by 39 points in 11th. Will Power's retirement dropped the Australian to 14th in the championship and 46 points behind Newgarden. Pagenaud and Power are both past Long Beach winners with Power being one of eight drivers with multiple victories on Shoreline Drive and he is only one of two active drivers to have accomplished that feat.

Since Power's 2012 Long Beach victory he has only one podium finish and three finishes outside the top ten in five Long Beach starts. Pagenaud has six consecutive top ten finishes at Long Beach and five of those have been top five finishes including the last four.

Andretti Autosport Looks to Make Up For Mechanical Mishaps
All four Andretti Autosport cars retired from last year's Grand Prix of Long Beach due to mechanical issues including two who were contending for the race victory. It has been a rough spell for Andretti Autosport at Long Beach during the DW12-era. The team has two podium finishes, a third with James Hinchcliffe in 2012 and a third with Carlos Muñoz in 2014. Those are the team's only top five finishes at the track in the last six years while the team has had nine retirements in the same time period.

Alexander Rossi heads to Long Beach off the back of two consecutive third place finishes and it has him second in the championship on 72 points. Prior to the first two races of 2018, Rossi had never had successive podium finishes in IndyCar and he has stood on the podium after five of the last eight races dating back to last season.

Ryan Hunter-Reay has had a strong start to the season as well with the 2011 Long Beach winner having finished fifth in each of the first two races. It is the first time Hunter-Reay has started a season with two consecutive top ten finishes since 2004 and it is the first time he has had two top five finishes from the first two races. Hunter-Reay opened the 2004 season with three consecutive top ten finishes with the third race being a victory at Milwaukee. Since his Long Beach victory in 2011, Hunter-Reay's best finish in this race was sixth in 2012 and he has finished outside the top ten in the last five races with four of those finishes being outside the top fifteen.

Marco Andretti rounds out the top ten in the championship on 40 points after his season started with a ninth place finish at St. Petersburg and a 12th place finish at Phoenix. Andretti has only started a season with two top ten finishes from the first three races four times in his career. While having four top ten finishes at Long Beach he has finished outside the top ten five times including the last two seasons.

Lack of American Long Beach Winners
Long Beach became an IndyCar race in 1984 and 12 of the first 13 races were won by American drivers with six different winners in that timeframe. In the last 21 Long Beach races, only twice has an American taken victory with a total of 14 different winners.

The American victories came with Michael Andretti in 2002 and Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2011. Excluding the United States, nine different nations have won at Long Beach in the last 21 races including six different nationalities in the last six races.

Americans have even struggled to get on the Long Beach podium with Hunter-Reay's 2011 victory, Graham Rahal's runner-up performance in 2014 and Josef Newgarden's third place finish last year being the only podium finishes for Americans in the last 15 Long Beach races. The last time multiple Americans stood on the podium was in 2002 when Andretti won and Jimmy Vasser finished second. American drivers have not swept a Long Beach podium since 1996 when Vasser took the victory, Parker Johnstone finished second and Al Unser, Jr. finished third.

For Which Driver Will Long Beach be Third Times the Charm?
Seven drivers enter Long Beach without a top ten finish through the first two races. Long Beach has been a place where a driver has gotten a surprise top ten in recent seasons.

Mario Moraes finished sixth in the 2010 race from 15th on the grid after the Brazilian's best finish through the first three races of that season was 13th. In 2011, Mike Conway not only had a surprise top ten but was the surprise winner despite finishing outside the top twenty in the first two races of that season. The 2013 race had five of the top ten finishes start outside the top fifteen including third place finisher Justin Wilson from 24th, Oriol Servià go from 18th to sixth and Marco Andretti finish seventh after starting 25th. Two drivers picked up their first career top ten finishes at Long Beach in 2014 with Mikhail Aleshin finishing sixth and Carlos Huertas finishing tenth and those two started 20th and 21st respectively for that race.

Takuma Sato is the top driver in the championship without a top ten finish but the 2013 Long Beach winner is trending in the right direction as he has finished 12th and 11th in the first two races of the season and he sits on 37 points, 12th in the championship.

Gabby Chaves and Spencer Pigot are tied on 31 points as each driver has a 14th and 15th place finish this season. Chaves is a past Indy Lights winner at Long Beach while Pigot finished second in the 2015 Indy Lights race. Pigot finished eighth last year in Long Beach while Chaves has not raced here since his rookie season in 2015 and he finished 16th that day. Chaves' best street course finish was ninth in the second race of the 2015 Belle Isle doubleheader. Pigot has not had a top ten finish in his last eight starts.

Zach Veach has been consistent in his first two races with Andretti Autosport. The Ohioan has finished both races in 16th position. However, his pair of 16th place finishes has him 17th in the championship on 28 points. Veach has not raced at Long Beach since 2014 in Indy Lights. His first Indy Lights start at Long Beach ended just before the start/finish line after a three-car incident coming to the green flag. The following year would see Veach start on pole position and pick up fastest lap but he would finish second to Chaves, who led all 45 laps.

The first two races have been rough for Carlin. Charlie Kimball has finished 20th and 17th with Max Chilton finishing 19th and 18th and neither driver has a lead lap finish. Both drivers are tied on 23 points and neither driver has a great track record at Long Beach. Kimball's best finish in seven Long Beach starts is 11th and he has finished outside the top twenty four times, all of which were retirements, including last year. Kimball has only completed 426 of 575 laps or 74.1% of laps since 2011. Chilton has finished 14th in both his Long Beach starts but he has also started on row ten each year.

Matheus Leist makes his Long Beach debut after what has been another challenging start to a season for a A.J. Foyt Racing driver. His two retirements have him on 17 points and 21st in the championship, the lowest driver to have run the first two races. The good news for Leist is Foyt has had at least one top ten finisher in three of the last five Long Beach races including the last two years.

IMSA
This weekend sees IndyCar and IMSA paired together for the first of two street course rounds. This is the third race of the IMSA season and only the Prototype and GT Le Mans classes will participate this weekend. A total of 22 cars, 14 Prototypes and eight GTLM cars, are entered.

The #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac of Felipe Nasr and Eric Curran lead the Prototype championship on 62 points after finishing second and third at Daytona and Sebring respectively. The #31 Cadillac is the only car to have finished on the podium in the first two races. The #54 CORE Autosport Oreca of Colin Braun and Jon Bennett trail by four points after finishing third and fourth in the two endurance races with 24 Hours of Daytona winners Filipe Albuquerque and João Barbosa rounding out the top three and six points behind its teammate.

Sebring winners Pipo Derani and Johannes van Overbeek sit fourth in the championship with the #22 Nissan on 48 points. Jordan Taylor has won three consecutive years with his brother Ricky but only one of those two could make it four consecutive victories as Renger van der Zande joins Jordan in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac while Ricky shares the #7 Team Penske Acura with Hélio Castroneves. Team Penske and Acura had some teething problems in the two Florida races. The best finish for the team was ninth at Daytona with the #7 Acura while the #6 Acura of Juan Pablo Montoya and Dane Cameron finished tenth in that race.

JDC-Miller Motorsports is off to another good start with the #99 Oreca of Stephen Simpson and Misha Goikhberg tied with the #22 Nissan and #10 Cadillac on 48 points and the sister car, the #85 Oreca of Simon Trummer and Robert Alon is one point back.

The #38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca of James French and Kyle Masson sit on 41 points, one point ahead of the #55 Mazda of Jonathan Bomarito and Harry Tincknell. Sebastián Saavedra and Gustavo Yacamán form an all-Colombian pairing in the #52 AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier and sit on 39 points. The #77 Mazda of Oliver Jarvis and Tristan Nunez has 37 points while the #2 Nissan of Scott Sharp and Ryan Dalziel bring up the rear on 27 points.

In GT Le Mans, Daytona winners Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook lead on 63 points in the #67 Ford GT with Sebring winners Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy second in the championship on 58 points in the #911 Porsche. The #912 Porsche of Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor sit on 55 points, one point ahead of the #66 Ford GT of Joey Hand and Dirk Müller and the #25 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing BMW of Alexander Sims and Connor De Phillippi.

The #3 Corvette of Jan Magnussen and Antonio García and the #4 Corvette of Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin are tied on 53 points with the #24 BMW of Jesse Krohn and John Edwards on 48 points.

As stated above, Wayne Taylor Racing has won the last three years overall while Milner and Gavin won last year in GTLM. Nissan and Mazda did give the WTR Cadillac a run for its money in last year's race Pilet and Tandy won in GTLM in 2016.

The BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach will take place at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday April 14th.

Pirelli World Challenge
Twenty cars across three classes are entered for this year's Pirelli World Challenge race at Long Beach.

Scott Hargrove leads the sprint and overall GT championship after he swept the St. Petersburg weekend in the #96 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche and finished fourth and third in the Sprint-X races at Austin. Toni Vilander swept the Austin weekend in the #61 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari and he trails Hargrove by seven points entering Long Beach. Daniel Morad finished on the podium in the first three races of the season and finished fifth in the second Austin race. Those results have the driver of the #2 CRP Racing Mercedes third in the championship on 82 points. Michael Christensen rounds out the top four on 63 points in the #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche.

Álvaro Parente looks to bounce back after two rough weekends were the driver of the #9 K-PAX Racing Bentley's best finish was sixth. Daniel Mancinelli returns in the #31 TR3 Racing Ferrari after withdrawing from St. Petersburg and skipping the opening round. Alex Udell is back in the #41 GMG Racing Audi.

Martin Fuentes leads the GTA championship on 50 points after sweeping the class at St. Petersburg in the #07 Scuderia Corse Ferrari. Rodrigo Baptista finished second in both St. Petersburg races in the #3 K-PAX Racing Bentley and he trails Fuentes by four points. Yuki Harata is third in the championship on 40 points in the #55 Dream Racing Motorsport Lamborghini while Parker Chase sits on 21 points in the #19 TruSpeed Autosport Audi.

Black Swan Racing has entered two Porsches for Long Beach. David Calvert-Jones will be in the #12 Porsche with Tim Pappas in the #54 Porsche. Rocky Moran, Jr. was a late addition to the entry list and he will drive an Audi for TruSpeed Autosport.

There will be six GTS invitational entries to boost the grid and the most notable entry is former IndyCar driver Jeff Ward in the #7 Black Swan Racing Porsche. Spencer Pumpelly is in the other Porsche in class as he will drive the #66 Porsche for TRG. Racers Edge Motorsports has entered two SIN R1s with Harry Gottsacker in the #69 SIN and Bob Michaelian in the #45 SIN. Paul Horton will drive the #78 McLaren for Compass Racing and George Kurtz rounds out the class in the #07 GMG Racing Audi. GTS entries will not be scoring points in this race.

The PWC race will take place at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday April 15th.

Fast Facts
This will be the eighth IndyCar race to take place on April 15th and first since 2012 when Will Power won at Long Beach. The 2007 Grand Prix of Long Beach also took place on April 15th and was won by Sébastien Bourdais.

Four of seven Long Beach races in the DW12-era have had at least seven different teams finish in the top ten including ten different teams represented in the top ten in 2013.

There are six rookies entered for this year's race. Juan Pablo Montoya is the only driver to win at Long Beach as a rookie.

Montoya is one of five drivers whose first career IndyCar victory has come at Long Beach. The others are Michael Andretti, Paul Tracy, Mike Conway and Takuma Sato.

Eleven drivers are looking for their first career IndyCar victory.

Alexander Rossi, Spencer Pigot and Kyle Kaiser were all born in California. Jimmy Vasser is the only California-born driver to win at Long Beach.

Scott Dixon has seven consecutive top ten finishes at street course races dating back to the second Belle Isle race in 2016. Sébastien Bourdais has seven consecutive top ten finishes at street course races in his last seven street course starts. Josef Newgarden has six consecutive top ten finishes at street course races dating back to last year at St. Petersburg Graham Rahal has five consecutive top ten finishes at street course races dating back to last year at Long Beach.

Tony Kanaan has 14 starts at Long Beach. The only driver with more Long Beach starts not to win the race is Bobby Rahal, who made 15 Long Beach starts. Alex Tagliani also has made 14 Long Beach starts without a victory.

Ed Jones has four top ten finishes in six street course starts in his IndyCar career. He has yet to score a top five finish on a street course with his best finish being sixth last year at Long Beach.

Jack Harvey made two starts at Long Beach in Indy Lights with finishes of fourth and tenth in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Zachary Claman De Melo has finished 17th in his first two IndyCar Starts.

Jordan King made 19 starts on street courses between his Formula Three and GP2/Formula Two careers. His two street course podium finishes came in the 2014 European Formula Three season at the Norisring when he finished second and third in the second and third races of the weekend. Max Verstappen swept that weekend and Esteban Ocon finished second in the third race. King had a total of three top five finishes and nine top ten finishes on street courses.

Toyota has never won the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The average starting position for a Long Beach winner is 4.32 with a median of three.

The last three Long Beach races have been won from the second row on the grid.

The last time a Long Beach winner started on the front row was 2010 and last time the pole sitter won at Long Beach was Bourdais in 2007.

The average number of lead changes in a Long Beach race is 4.9 with a median of five.

Seven of the last eight Long Beach races have had five lead changes or more with the fewest in that time frame being four in 2014.

A Long Beach winner has led every lap twice. Mario Andretti did it in 1984 and 1987.

The average number of cautions in a Long Beach race is 2.82 with a median of three. The average number of caution laps is 11.47 with a median of 12.

Possible Milestones:
Josef Newgarden needs to lead one lap to reach the 1,100 laps led milestone.

Takuma Sato needs to lead 23 laps to reach the 800 laps led milestone.

Graham Rahal needs to lead 43 laps to reach the 400 laps led milestone.

Charlie Kimball is one top ten finish away from 50 career top ten finishes.

Josef Newgarden is one top ten finish away from 50 career top ten finishes.

Predictions
Alexander Rossi wins the race with at least one other American driver on the podium. Andretti Autosport will have zero cars retire because of a mechanical issue. Robert Wickens will be the top finishing rookie but does not finish in the top ten. Matheus Leist finishes this race. At least two of the seven drivers not to have a top ten finish in the first two races finish in the top ten. Carlin has at least one car finish in the top fifteen. Six different teams are represented in the top ten at the end of the race. There will be at least 100 more passes than last year's Long Beach race. Sleeper: Tony Kanaan.

Why IndyCar Fans Should Watch the European Le Mans Series

The Road to Indy has been a successful ladder system for IndyCar but since the ladder system was officially established in 2010 IndyCar has not been the only series to benefit from the Road to Indy. The European Le Mans Series is littered with drivers from the Road to Indy. From Indy Lights race winners to occasional U.S. F2000 race starters with a few former IndyCar drivers also on the grid there are plenty of names IndyCar faces and those diehards who follow the development series would know.

With the European Le Mans Series season opener scheduled for this weekend I thought I would answer some questions about why an IndyCar fan should watch the European Le Mans Series this season.

Is There An American Who Raced in Pro Mazda and is Now a Great American Hope in LMP1 For the First Time in a Long Time?
Yes and while LMP1 does not participate in the European Le Mans Series, Rebellion Racing's Gustavo Menezes will moonlight in the team's LMP2 effort this ELMS season. Menezes made 28 starts in then-Star Mazda in 2011 and 2012 with his best finish being third at Iowa in 2011 behind Sage Karam and João Victor Horto. He finished eighth in the championship that year and ninth in 2012, one position ahead of Zach Veach.

Menezes had moderate success in Formula Three before he made the move to sports cars in 2016 and in his first year he won the FIA World Endurance Championship Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers with Nicolas Lapierre and Stéphane Richelmi driving for Signatech Alpine. He won four races that year including the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Last year, he finished fourth in the championship but won at Austin and had five podium finishes with the team's worst class finish being fifth.

Menezes will drive the #3 Rebellion R13 in LMP1 with Mathias Beche and Thomas Laurent in the WEC this season but in ELMS he will drive the #31 APR-Rebellion Racing Oreca-Gibson with Harrison Newey and Ryan Cullen. Newey won the 2017-18 Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 title driving for Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA with Laurent and Richelmi as his co-drivers. Newly is also the son of Red Bull Racing chief technical officer Adrian Newey. Cullen spent two years in GP3 before switching to Porsche Supercup in 2015 where he has competed the last three years.

Is There An American Who Won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Could Have a Future in LMP1?
Yes there is. Will Owen won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a wet race during the Grand Prix of Indianapolis weekend in 2014. He moved up to Pro Mazda the following year and had three podium finishes before he finished fourth in the 2016 championship with eight podium finishes.

In 2017, Owen moved to European and to sports cars with United Autosports and he won on his ELMS debut at Silverstone. He would add another victory at Red Bull Ring and finish second at Algarve but finished second in the championship. On top of his ELMS success, Owen finished fourth in class in his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut.

Owen returns for a second season with United Autosports in the #32 Ligier-Gibson.

Does Will Owen Have a Co-Driver Who Won in U.S. F2000 and Finished Ahead of a Current IndyCar Rookie in that Championship?
Why yes he does! Wayne Boyd might be a name you recall. The Northern Irish driver ran the 2011 U.S. F2000 season with Belardi Auto Racing and he won twice that year, once at Milwaukee and once at Baltimore. Boyd finished third in the championship behind Petri Suvanto and Spencer Pigot but he finished six points ahead of Zach Veach. Boyd ran the final two rounds of the 2012 U.S. F2000 season with Belardi at Baltimore and Virginia International Raceway and he finished third and second in the two VIR races.

Boyd's career hit a bit of a snag but in 2014 he won the Walter Hayes Trophy and won the Formula Ford Festival the following year and he got his second break in ELMS driving in LMP3 for United Autosports in 2016 where he had three podium finishes. In 2017, Boyd returned to United Autosports LMP3 line-up and he won the finale at Algarve with Christian England and Mark Paterson.

The third driver in the #32 Ligier-Gibson also has a tie to the Road to Indy. Hugo de Sadeleer participated in the 2016 Chris Griffis Memorial Test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a U.S. F2000 car for Pabst Racing. Hailing from Switzerland, de Sadeleer was Owen's co-driver last year in both ELMS and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Is There an American That is Inexplicably in an LMP3 Car Despite Winning in Indy Lights and Won in IMSA's Prototype Challenge Class?
Is the Pope Catholic? Sean Rayhall should either be in an IndyCar or a DPi considering all that he has accomplished but the Georgia-native still finds himself in LMP3 but he will be defending a championship. He and John Falb took the ELMS LMP3 title last year as the all-American duo won twice in the #2 United Autosports Ligier-Nissan and stood on the podium in five of six races.

Does the Grid Have a Driver Who Previously Won a Pole Position in His IndyCar Career and Had an Indianapolis 500 Ride For This Year Only to Lose it Over a Controversial Partner Who Once Murdered Someone?
Would you believe that it does? Tristan Gommendy was set to attempt the Indianapolis 500 with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in partnership with former Larrousse F1 founder Didier Calmels. However, that deal fell apart and Gommendy is left with an LMP2 ride in the #39 Oreca-Gibson for Graff with co-drivers Alexander Cougnard and Jonathan Hirschi.

Gommendy has been a sports car regular since his one year in Champ Car in 2007. He has two ELMS overall victories and he has twice finished second in the LMP2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, including last year.

Is There an Indy Lights Winner Who Should Still be in Indy Lights on the Grid?
Damn straight and it is a shame Nico Jamin has left the North American ladder system. Jamin finished seventh last year in the Indy Lights championship after having a wishy-washy year. He won three races and had five podium finishes but those were canceled out with Jamin having five results outside the top ten. Outside of Indy Lights, Jamin swept the IMSA Prototype Challenge Series LMP3 weekend at Sebring last year and then swept the Pirelli World Challenge GTS races at VIR in a KTM X-Bow.

The 2015 U.S. F2000 champion will drive the #29 Oreca-Gibson with Nelson Panciatici and Pierre Ragues in an all-French driver line-up for the French team Duqueine Engineering. Panciatici and Ragues were co-drivers last year in three WEC races for Signatech Alpine in LMP2 and they finished third in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Is There a Frenchman Who Won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the Grid and Is He Driving for a World Cup Winning Goalkeeper and Monaco Grand Prix Winner?
Amazingly, yes! Timothé Buret competed in the 2015 Pro Mazda season for Juncos Racing and finished fifth in the championship. His lone victory was during the Grand Prix of Indianapolis weekend but he had eight podium finishes from 16 races and finished ahead of current Indy Lights driver Patricio O'Ward and Will Owen finished two positions behind Buret.

After one year in Pro Mazda, Buret jumped up to Panis Barthez Competition's LMP2 program in ELMS. Buret raced with the 1998 World Cup winner Fabien Barthez and Paul-Loup Chatin in 2016. The trio started on pole position at Red Bull Ring but their best finish was seventh on four occasions. Last year, Buret and Barthez had Nathanaël Berthon as a co-driver for five of six races and had two top five finishes and started on pole position in the finale at Algarve.

Buret has two new co-drivers in the #23 Ligier-Gibson and they are notable names. Julien Canal and Will Stevens will join Buret at Panis Barthez Competition. Canal has three class victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and he was the 2015 Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers champion. Stevens competed in 18 Formula One grand prix with Caterham and Marussia. In 2016, Stevens won twice in the LMP2 class in the WEC races at Fuji and Shanghai for G-Drive Racing. He also finished second in class at Le Mans that year. Stevens won in the GTE-Am class at Le Mans last year with JMW Motorsport.

What About Canadians? Are There Any Canadians We Should Know Mostly From Pro Mazda Success?
Of course there is something for those North of the Border. Garett Grist won six races between U.S. F2000 and Pro Mazda from 2013 to 2015. Grist finished third in the 2015 Pro Mazda championship behind Santiago Urrutia and Neil Alberico. In 2016, he started in Pro Mazda with Juncos Racing before taking a midseason promotion to Indy Lights with Team Pelfrey. In nine Indy Lights starts Grist's best finish was seventh on three occasions.

Grist made a transition to sports cars last year and ran three IMSA races in the Prototype Challenge class. He finished second at Sebring and third at Mosport. Grist will forever be a part of the final PC winning team as he won at Petit Le Mans with Tomy Drissi and John Falb in the #26 BAR1 Motorsports Oreca.

Grist will be in LMP3 driving the #3 Ligier-Nissan for United Autosports with Matthew Bell and Anthony Wells.

If There is a Canadian, Is There a Mexican Driver Who Won in Pro Mazda in ELMS?
There is something for all of North America as José Gutiérrez will be in the #40 G-Drive Racing Oreca-Gibson with James Allen and Enzo Guibbert.

Gutiérrez won one race in two Pro Mazda season with Juncos Racing. He won the 2014 season finale at Sonoma while his teammate Spencer Pigot took the championship that year. In 2015, Gutiérrez's best finish was second at St. Petersburg and he had six top five finishes. Ironically, Gutiérrez's teammates at Juncos Racing in 2015 were Garett Grist, Timothé Buret and Will Owen.

Gutiérrez ran seven races in IMSA's Prototype Challenge class in 2016 and won in class at Petit Le Mans. He competed in IMSA's prototype class last year with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports and he made his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut driving for G-Drive Racing in LMP2 but the car finished 17th in class.

Allen won the final two ELMS races last year driving for Graff. Guibbert won twice in LMP3 driving for Graff in 2016 and he had two podium finishes driving in Graff's sister LMP2 car to the one Allen's contested.

Is There Something for Indy Racing League Nostalgics? Maybe a Driver Who Made Three IRL Starts But Never the Indianapolis 500?
There actually is! Niclas Jönsson raced at Las Vegas in 1999 and in the first two races in 2000 a Walt Disney World Speedway and Phoenix. However, Jönsson has become more known for his sports car exploits and his time with Krohn Racing and once again Jönsson will drive for Krohn Racing in the #83 Ferrari with Tracy Krohn and Andrea Bertolini.

Is There Anyone Else We Should Know Who Has Ties to the Road To Indy?
Yes! André Negrão ran in Indy Lights two years ago and had five podium finishes on his way to finish seventh in the championship that year with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. He raced in the WEC last year in the LMP2 class with Signatech Alpine and he won at Austin. Negrão remains with Signatech Alpine and Pierre Thiriet will be his co-driver in the #36 Alpine A470-Gibson.

One Final Question Most IndyCar Fans Are Wondering... Where is Francesco Dracone? 
He is here! The lovable Italian back marker has found his footing in an LMP3 entry. He will share the #18 Ligier-Nissan for BHK Motorsport with fellow Italian Jacopo Baratto.

Who Else Should I Be Watching For?
There a lot of other notable names on the ELMS grid.

Bruno Senna will share the #22 United Autosports Ligier-Gibson in LMP2 with Phillip Hanson as Filipe Albuquerque has IMSA duties but the Portuguese driver will be Hanson's co-driver for the final five ELMS races. DragonSpeed will field the #21 Oreca-Gibson for Ben Hanley, Henrik Hedson and Nicolas Lapierre. Both teams are American teams.

Le Mans winner Loïc Duval leads an all-French line-up featuring François Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxivière in the #33 TDS Racing Oreca-Gibson. Memo Rojas continues in ELMS driving for IDEC Sport in the #28 Oreca-Gibson alongside Paul-Loup Chatin and Paul Lafargue.

Racing Engineering, the team that Alexander Rossi drove for when he finished second in the GP2 Series championship behind Stoffel Vandoorne in 2015, moves from Formula Two to the European Le Mans Series and it will field the #24 Oreca-Gibson for Olivier Pla, Norman Nato and Paul Petit.

Will The European Le Mans Series Clash With My IndyCar Viewing?
It shouldn't.

Both series race this Sunday April 15th but the European Le Mans Series season opener from Circuit Paul Ricard starts at 6:00 a.m. ET while the IndyCar race from Long Beach will not start until 4:30 p.m. ET.

The good news is the Grand Prix of Indianapolis takes place on Saturday May 12th while the second round of the ELMS season takes place the following morning on Sunday May 13th at 8:00 a.m. ET from Monza.

IndyCar is off on Sunday July 22nd meaning you can invest your full attention into the third round of the ELMS season from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria and that race is at 8:00 a.m. ET.

Another clash is avoided in August as the Silverstone race will be on Saturday August 18th at 9:00 a.m. ET, the day before the IndyCar race from Pocono.

The final two ELMS races take place after the IndyCar season finale at Sonoma. Spa-Francorchamps hosts the penultimate round of the season on Sunday September 23rd at 8:00 a.m. ET with Algarve hosting the season finale on Sunday October 28th at 9:00 a.m. ET.

If you are an IndyCar fan and want to branch out into other forms of motorsports but are afraid of not knowing enough to follow along the European Le Mans Series is for you. There are plenty of notable names and the series goes from one phenomenal track to another. Give it a shot.

Musings From the Weekend: Let Them Go

IndyCar had a record night at Phoenix and that still wasn't good enough to make up for mildly disappointing race. Red Bull Racing's night was over before either driver broke a sweat. Kimi Räikkönen broke a man's leg. MotoGP had difficult getting a race started and the chaotic start was only topped by the race itself. NASCAR raced in the cold. Everyone's favorite Formula Two driver won on debut. Supercross raced in sloppy Seattle. Jenson Button finished second in his second career Super GT race. World Touring Car Cup had its first race weekend. Sebastién Loeb's return to Tour de Corse did not go as planned. A drought for a legend ended in Supercars. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.

Let Them Go
Two races into the IndyCar season and the face America has seen the most isn't Sébastien Bourdais, winner of the season opener for the second consecutive year with his return from a broken pelvis still fresh in our minds nor is it rookie sensation Robert Wickens who dominated the season opener and finished second in his second car starts and it isn't defending champion and Phoenix race winner Josef Newgarden from Hendersonville, Tennessee.

The IndyCar face America has seen the most this season has been Canada'a James Hinchcliffe. Even better is most probably don't realize the bearded man in the national Honda advertisement is a IndyCar who was shish-kebabed less than three years ago.

However, the commercial gives America a face, someone to look out for and perhaps someone America is already familiar with considering he was runner-up on Dancing with the Stars within the last two years. Hinchcliffe makes sense for the spot even if he isn't an American driver. To be honest, there is not much difference between us Americans and Canadians and American culture is littered with Canadians. People have been watching Alex Trebek on Jeopardy! for over 30 years and I don't think his Canadian roots have stopped people from watching the show. Hinchcliffe might not be a champion or an Indianapolis 500 winner but Hinchcliffe is the Honda driver with the best personality for television. The lines flow effortlessly and he comes off as an actor, not a race car driver doing a commercial.

This commercial does not mean Hinchcliffe will draw a million people to each IndyCar race broadcast nor does it mean 100,000 people will be at each race with most adorning apparel branded with the #5 but it is something we have not seen a lot of in recent motorsports: an active driver being a spokesman.

Retired drivers get the nod for commercials on to frequent a basis. Mario Andretti might be the greatest race car driver to ever walk the earth but the man has not competed in an IndyCar in almost 25 years. It might makes sense to put him in the commercial for the Honda two-seater or Firestone to use his likeness but it overlooks a dozen of drivers worthy of spot. Andretti is still a great ambassador for all of motorsports but series will continue to struggle if it current crop of competitors remain unknown.

It isn't just an IndyCar problem. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is fresh in his retirement but he cannot be the face associated with NASCAR for long into his retirement. Earnhardt, Jr. is in commercials notably for Goodyear and Mountain Dew and these could have been used to introduce viewers to the next driver. However, the Goodyear commercial is a sentimental tail using a cover of Jim Croce to remind people that while he is gone Earnhardt, Jr. isn't gone because he will now be in the booth. The Mountain Dew commercial is an admonition and tries to convince us Danny McBride is a race car driver. Hey, its Mountain Dew's call. If they think McBride is going to sell more of its garbage drink than say Chase Elliott, go ahead and use him but Mountain Dew can't get irritated when its NASCAR marketing arm tanks out. Hell, even Jeff Gordon was in a Super Bowl commercial this year. The two most prominently promoted NASCAR drivers will make a combined zero Cup starts this season. To be fair, Martin Truex, Jr. is in a 5-Hour Energy commercial and Kevin Harvick does have a regular Mobil 1 ad but there is definitely a different level between a Super Bowl commercial and the spots Truex, Jr. and Harvick currently have.

Even Formula One has this problem of being too tied to the past. Heineken came out with a nice advertisement with Jackie Stewart and I love Jackie Stewart but wouldn't Formula One be better off putting an active driver in the spot? I know Formula One deals are stingy and perhaps teams have too many sponsorship conflicts for say the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel or Daniel Ricciardo to be the face international face for Heineken but either of those three would make sense in that role.

We hear about how drivers have to be polished from a young age and seem older than most people their age because they have to attract sponsors when they are teenagers to try and make a career possible but in exchange for maturity it appears most drivers sacrifice personality and become less likely to become a featured spokesperson for a company and it deprives drivers a chance to be on billboards across the world and become an international superstar.

There isn't a Zlatan Ibrahimovic in motorsports, a confident specimen who took out a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times saying, "Dear Los Angeles, You're Welcome" before he ever appeared in a game for the LA Galaxy. My mom called asking me who this man was because of the move. Zlatan Ibrahimović isn't one of the most recognizable faces in world of soccer because he was buttoned up, polished and knew what to say since the age of 12. He openly refers to himself in the third person. No driver in the world has the stones to consider doing such a thing and if a driver did fans would crucify that driver. Think about how much scorn Sage Karam got for being himself and he is tame compared to Zlatan Ibrahimović.

Hinchcliffe is one of the few who hasn't had his personality sucked out of him but IndyCar will need more than him if it wants the series to take that next step. The next generation for IndyCar is here. Josef Newgarden is a champion, Alexander Rossi is contending for victories on a regular basis, is already an Indianapolis 500 and seems primed to be a champion and Robert Wickens has come out of nowhere and become a fan-favorite overnight. Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti are still going to be around for another ten years. There is still room for the likes of Scott Dixon, Will Power and Simon Pagenaud and if they are the drivers winning races and championships than the spotlight should be shined on them.

IndyCar has got its new television deal and next up is a new title sponsor. The series should not be pitching someone who was a driver but rather show the potential spokesmen and spokeswomen who will be behind a wheel for the next 15 to 20 years.

Winners From the Weekend
You know about Josef Newgarden but did you know...

Sebastian Vettel won the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Lando Norris and Artem Markelov split the Formula Two races from Bahrain.

Cal Crutchlow won the Argentine Grand Prix. Mattia Pasini won the Moto2 race. Marco Bezzecchi won the Moto3 race, the first career victory for the 19-year-old.

Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Cup race from Texas. Ryan Blaney won the Grand National Series race.

The #63 GRT Gasser Racing Team Lamborghini of Mirko Bortolotti and Christian Engelhart won the first Blancpain Sprint Series race from Zolder. The #66 Attempto Racing Audi of Kelvin van der Linde and Steijn Schothorst won race two.

The #17 Real Racing Honda NSX-GT of Koudai Tsukakoshi and Takashi Kogure won the Super GT season opener from Okayama. The #18 Team UpGarage Toyota 86 MC of Yuhki Nakayama and Takashi Kobayashi won in GT300.

Eli Tomac won the Supercross race from Seattle, his sixth victory of the season but Jason Anderson finished second and extended his championship lead over Marvin Musquin, who finished third.

Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes split the Supercars races from Symmons Plains in a sweep for Red Bull Racing Australia.

Sébastien Ogier won Tour de Corse, his third victory in four races this WRC season.

Gabriele Tarquini won the first World Touring Car Cup race from Marrakesh. Jean-Karl Vernay won the second race and Tarquini took the third race.

Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar will be at Long Beach.
IMSA and Pirelli World Challenge will also be at Long Beach.
Formula One is on its way to China.
The European Le Mans Series opens its 2018 from Circuit Paul Ricard.
NASCAR will be at Bristol.
World Superbike has its first European round of the season from Aragón.
Formula E will be in Rome this week.
Supercross will be in Minneapolis.

First Impressions: Phoenix 2018

1. Penske finds a way to win races and Josef Newgarden has been something special in his two seasons with Team Penske. This is the third time in two seasons he has won from seventh on the grid despite being the worst Penske qualifier. He did it at Barber and Toronto last year and he did it at Phoenix. He has done it on a road course, a street course and an oval. Who else can do that? Will Power was labeled at the start of his Penske career as a guy who could only succeed if he started at the front. Newgarden isn't winning from the back but he isn't dominating races from the point. He has not be fazed by the change of scenery nor by the shoes he filled.

He has had some breaks. In that Barber race, Power had to make an unscheduled stop for a tire puncture and he caught a timely yellow at Toronto. Tonight he made a pit stop at the right time and leapfrogged the leaders. Then he made the right call to get tires before the final restart and on a tricky track for passing he made a move to the outside of Robert Wickens to get the victory. Last year, he won in the third race of the season. This year he won the second race of the season and he already has the championship lead. He isn't going to relinquish the crown easily.

2. Second career start and first career podium finish as Robert Wickens finishes second in what was a bit of a stunning race for him. I expected him to be off a bit. He had been out of single-seater racing for over six and a half years. That hasn't stopped him from competing with the big boys of IndyCar. He should have had a podium in the first race of the season and probably should have won it. He deserved a podium tonight. When is he going to have an off day? And the next race is at Long Beach, one of the tracks Wickens has experience at.

3. Alexander Rossi hit a pit crew member on a pit stop, restarted outside the top twenty, was then handed a drive-through penalty, fell a lap down, got his lap back under green flag conditions, made two passes for position in the successive laps after getting back on the lead lap and within three minutes was within nine-seconds of the leader. This was a hell of a drive and third is incredible considering where he was after his first stop. He was the one guy who could make passes tonight and he was balls out for the entire race. Two races, two podium finishes and he was in contention for the podium last year at Long Beach. Look out for Rossi.

4. Scott Dixon started 17th and finished fourth as his crew had a great first pit stop to get him into top ten. From there he waited and waited and made his pit stops at the right time to leapfrog drivers. You cannot be surprised when Dixon does this because he does it once a season.

5. Ryan Hunter-Reay did what he does on starts and restarts and made up at least two positions each time on the outside and he ran in the top five for most of the race and he finished fifth. He stayed out probably five laps too long before the second round of green flag pit stops and that cost him a lot of track position. He might have deserved a podium finish but this is only the second time in his career he has started a season with two consecutive top ten finishes and this year starts with a pair of fifth place finishes. He should take the result and run with it.

6. James Hinchcliffe restarted in second with seven laps to go and he was the only one to fall like a rock on the older tires. Despite that, it was a good day for Hinchcliffe. He probably deserved a top five but sixth is respectable. The good news is he has a teammate that will keep him honest. No longer does Hinchcliffe have a teammate that is lagging behind in 15th most race weekends. Or so it appears. This was only Wickens' second race.

7. Ed Carpenter did next to nothing all night and finished seventh, matching his career-best finish at Phoenix, which he set last year. This is what Carpenter needed, a night where he kept his nose clean, completed all the laps and got a top ten finish. Ed Carpenter Racing didn't look competitive this weekend. The team has to make up ground to return to contending for race victories.

8. Tony Kanaan finished eighth and that seems right. He really didn't factor in this one.

9. Graham Rahal finished ninth and that has to be a bit disappointing consider how good Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was in the test. It could have been worse but the team knows this weekend could have been much better.

10. Simon Pagenaud had a slow first pit stop, it dropped him to the middle of the field and he couldn't get out of that rut and the same thing happened at St. Petersburg. The difference is he gets a top ten finish this week. This could have been a much better night for the Frenchman.

11. Takuma Sato finished 11th, kept his nose clean, completed all 250 laps but like his teammate Sato should be ticked off a bit because this team was on top of Phoenix in February.

12. Marco Andretti had a fuel issue and handling issues before qualifying and he started 20th but like Hunter-Reay he made up four spots right at the start. He ran well but one of these races he has to qualify near the front to get a respectable result.

13. Sébastien Bourdais stalled before rolling off for the pace laps. Fortunately, he got the car fired and led comfortably. Then he slid into a crew member on the first pit stop. He didn't lose as much ground as Rossi but still had to serve a penalty. He didn't have the car Rossi did but he did get to the front of the lapped cars. He lacked that extra bit to get back on the lead lap.

14. Quickly through the field: Spencer Pigot was off all night. Gabby Chaves was 15th. Zach Veach was stuck in at the back. Carlin has a long way to go. Matheus Leist has already been poisoned by A.J. Foyt Racing.

15. Four retirements in this one: Ed Jones was second after the third round of pit stops and he was trailing Newgarden but got into the marbles when behind the lapped car of Pigot. Ganassi doesn't like wrecked race cars in general but to tear one up while running in a podium position is an extra mark against Jones. Kyle Kaiser was doing well and then brushed the wall in turn four. He completed 174 laps so it is a good start to a career. Will Power got caught in the marble when Rossi blew pass him. Power was upset by the move but what else could Rossi do? Pietro Fittipaldi's debut ended after 40 laps. He was running 11th when it happened. Not sure we can take much away from this one for Fittipaldi.

16. The first 150 laps were a dud but the final 100 laps made it interesting. IndyCar was saved by Rossi and the game of cat and mouse over fresh tires. I am disappointed in how IndyCar has handled Phoenix. The first year was acceptable. It was the first time the series had been to the track since 2005 and you are not sure how it is going to race but after year one it was clear something had to be done to improve the racing. Nothing was done in year two and while the introduction of the universal aero kit was a massive overhaul compared to the previous two years IndyCar still had to take a swing and try something different.

IndyCar has two different boost levels for road/street course races and oval races but half of the ovals run the same high downforce aero package as the road/street course races. It would make sense to me if instead of assigning boost levels based on track configuration the series would pair it with aero packages or IndyCar should make the low downforce package mandated at all ovals instead of Indianapolis, Texas and Pocono.

The series also tried to lay down rubber in the top groove in the corners but when you look at what it used and compare the results to NASCAR at Texas it is disappointing how far IndyCar was off. Texas used the tire dragon and before Friday practice the turns were black even the back straightaway was rubbered in. At Phoenix, you couldn't tell anything had been done to the track at all. I understand there needs to be a preseason test but next to nothing can be taken from an afternoon session in February. Would it make more sense for IndyCar not to have the February test but give the teams all the tires they need to run for four consecutive hours starting at 5:00 p.m. local time the Thursday before the race to rubber in the racetrack? Something has to be done in year four because it is frustrating to watch the top three be covered by a second or a second and a half for 50 consecutive laps but nobody attempting to make a pass.

Even after tonight, I am not sure IndyCar gets a year four at Phoenix. IndyCar needs Phoenix more than Phoenix needs IndyCar and the track says it wants IndyCar but is it really worth it after the initial three-year deal was wasted? IndyCar's future at Phoenix will not be decided tonight, tomorrow or by the end of April but if things are quiet in August and September then I think it will be safe to say there will be an opening in the 2019 calendar.

17. Remember how everyone was peeved about the off time between St. Petersburg and Phoenix? Well there is a race in a week from Long Beach and the week after that is Barber. You are going to be tired of IndyCar before you know it. Sweet dreams.

Morning Warm-Up: Phoenix 2018

Sébastien Bourdais stays on top through qualifying in Phoenix

IndyCar championship leader Sébastien Bourdais will start the second race of the season from pole position. The Frenchman ran a two-lap average at 188.539 MPH in qualifying from Phoenix, giving him his 34th career pole position. This is Bourdais' first pole position since Mid-Ohio 2014 and his first pole position on an oval since Milwaukee 2006. This is his fourth career pole position on an oval and he has won all three oval races he has started on pole position. His first career victory came from pole position at Lausitzring in 2003. In 2004, he won from pole position at Las Vegas and he led 117 of 197 laps on his way to victory at Milwaukee in 2006. Bourdais leads all active drivers with 18 victories from pole position in his career. This was Dale Coyne Racing's second pole position in team history. Mike Conway won the first pole position for DCR at the second race of the Belle Isle doubleheader in 2013.

Simon Pagenaud joins Bourdais on an all-French front row. The Penske driver missed out on pole positions by 0.0811 seconds. Pagenaud is looking for his second career oval victory after he won at Phoenix last year. This is the second time Bourdais and Pagenaud will share a front row. Bourdais and Pagenaud started 1-2 at Cleveland in 2007. Bourdais led 27 laps but retired due to an engine failure while Pagenaud finished fifth. Paul Tracy won the race from seventh on the grid. Pagenaud has not won a race from second on the grid and his best finish from second on the grid was fourth at Pocono last year.

Will Power starts third in his third Phoenix start. Power finished third from ninth on the grid at Phoenix in 2016 and he started and finished second last year. Power has five career oval victories and his first two oval victories came from third on the grid in the second race of the Texas doubleheader in 2011 and at Fontana in 2013. Alexander Rossi will start next to Power on row two. This is the third time Rossi has started inside the top five on an oval in his career. He started third at Indianapolis and Texas last year. Schmidt Peterson Motorsports swept row three with James Hinchcliffe starting fifth ahead of his rookie teammate Robert Wickens. This will be the 29th time Hinchcliffe has started inside the top five in his IndyCar career and four of his five victories have come from starting inside the top five. Pagenaud won last year's race from sixth on the grid. Only once has a Canadian won at Phoenix. Scott Goodyear won the 1999 race from third on the grid.

Josef Newgarden finished seventh in the season opener at St. Petersburg and he will start seventh for the second race of the season at Phoenix. Newgarden won twice from seventh on the grid last year. He did it at Barber and Toronto and in both occasions Newgarden was the worst Penske qualifier as he is for this race. Ryan Hunter-Reay makes it an all-American row four and this is Hunter-Reay's best start at Phoenix after qualifying 12th each of the last two years. Tony Kanaan will start ninth in his first oval race for A.J. Foyt Racing. This will be Kanaan's 345th IndyCar start, putting him into third all-time. He will trail A.J. Foyt by 24 starts for second most starts in IndyCar history after this race. While Kanaan continues to climb up the record book, Pietro Fittipaldi etches his name in the record book as the Miami-native will make his IndyCar debut from tenth on the grid. A Florida-born driver has never won a IndyCar race. His grandfather Emerson won at Phoenix in 1994.

Ed Jones starts on the inside of row six. Jones finished 11th last year at Phoenix. Graham Rahal will start 12th, his best career start at Phoenix. Rahal went from 19th to fifth in the 2016 race while he did not make it through the first turn from 17th on the grid last year. Takuma Sato follows his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammate in the 13th position. Like Rahal, this is Sato's best career starting position at Phoenix. He has finished 15th and 16th in his two Phoenix starts. Kyle Kaiser will make his IndyCar debut from 14th on the grid. It is the best starting position in the short history of Juncos Racing. Kaiser could become the first driver to win in Indy Lights and IndyCar at Phoenix. Spencer Pigot rounds out the top fifteen in what is his first Phoenix appearance. This is only the fifth time Pigot has started in the top fifteen in his career. Matheus Leist rounds out row eight. A.J. Foyt Racing's best finish at Phoenix the last two years is tenth.

Scott Dixon qualified 17th. Dixon's previous worst starting position at Phoenix was eighth on two occasions. He started 17th last year at Iowa and finished eighth. Dixon is tied with Bourdais, Al Unser, Jr. and Dan Wheldon for most victories from starting positions outside the top ten at four. He won from 17th on the grid at Pocono in 2013. Ed Carpenter starts next to Dixon on row nine. This is the fourth time in five Phoenix appearances Carpenter has started outside the top fifteen. His seventh place finish last year was Carpenter's first top ten finish on the one-mile oval. Gabby Chaves and Marco Andretti will start on row ten. This will be the 16th time in 28 IndyCar starts Chaves has started 19th or worse. In the 15 other starts he has finished better than his starting position 14 times and matched his starting position once. Four times has the Phoenix winner started outside the top ten, including twice from outside the top twenty.

Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball make it an all-Carlin row 11. Chilton and Kimball started 20th and 21st in the season opener at St. Petersburg. This is the second time Chilton has started outside the top twenty in his career. He started 22nd in the Indianapolis 500 two years ago. This is the first time Kimball has started outside the top twenty in consecutive races since he started 23rd and 26th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Indianapolis 500 in 2014. Kimball was the fastest driver in the night practice after qualifying. Zach Veach will round out the grid in 23rd position. This is the most starters in a Phoenix race since 26 cars started in 2002.

NBCSN's coverage of the Desert Diamond Phoenix Grand Prix begins at 9:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 9:30 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 250 laps.

Track Walk: Phoenix 2018

Spring sees IndyCar return to Phoenix

After three weeks off, IndyCar starts a three consecutive week stretch with races on three different types of courses. The first race of the hectic month of April is the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Phoenix Grand Prix at the famed one-mile oval in Phoenix. Chevrolet has won the last two races at Phoenix but in February testing Honda had the fastest time and led all four sessions. Team Penske's four drivers combined to lead all 250 laps last year with Simon Pagenaud taking the victory. Sébastien Bourdais and Dale Coyne Racing lead the championship entering the second race of the season for the second consecutive year. Bourdais lost the championship lead at Phoenix last year when he was caught in the turn one lap one accident but Phoenix was the fourth race of the 2017 season.

Coverage:
Time: Coverage begins at 9:00 p.m. ET on Saturday April 7th with green flag scheduled for 9:30 p.m. ET.
TV Channel: NBCSN
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Jon Beekhuis, Katie Hargitt and Robin Miller will work pit lane.

IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 5:00 p.m. ET (60-minute session)
Qualifying: 8:00 p.m. ET (NBCSN will have live coverage of this session)
Second Practice: 11:00 p.m. ET (60-minute session)
Saturday:
Race: 9:30 p.m. ET (250 laps)

Will There Be More Passing?
IndyCar's first two races back at Phoenix were remembered more for the lack of passing.

The 2016 race had only two lead changes and both occurred when the leader suffered a tire puncture. First was Hélio Castroneves on lap 40 and that handed the point to Team Penske teammate Juan Pablo Montoya. The Colombian would lead 56 laps before a cut tire forced an unscheduled pit stop. Scott Dixon would take the lead from there and the New Zealander led the final 155 laps on his way to victory.

Last year's race had double the lead changes from 2016 but two of those occurred during the first round of green flag pit stops. Castroneves led the first 73 laps before Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud each led a pair of laps. Will Power led 59 laps after that with Pagenaud retaking the lead from the Australian and leading the final 114 laps on his way to his tenth career victory and first on an oval. Four of the top five starters finished in the top five of last year's race with Newgarden finishing ninth from fourth on the grid.

In ten Phoenix races prior to IndyCar's return to the track in 2016, seven races had seven lead changes or more with the fewest in that period being four lead changes.

The good news for IndyCar is the series is coming off an impressive debut for the universal aero kit at St. Petersburg. The race saw 366 overtakes occur, smashing the previous event record of 322 overtakes set during the wet and time-shortened 2008 St. Petersburg race. Some drivers were optimistic during testing that tire degradation would allow more overtaking and IndyCar will attempt to rubber in the up groove by rolling tires in the top lane of the turns leading up to the event Thursday, Friday and possibly before the race on Saturday.

Will Andretti Autosport Regain Short Track Dominance?
From 2008-2014, Andretti Autosport won nine of 16 short track races including seven consecutive from Iowa 2011 to Iowa 2014. In the three seasons of the aero kit-epoch, Andretti Autosport won one of six short track races, had two podium finishes and three top five finishes.

Ryan Hunter-Reay led the way for the team on the short ovals with the 2012 champion having won six short track races for Andretti Autosport and Hunter-Reay had a stretch where he won at least one short track race for five consecutive seasons from 2011 to 2015. He has yet to have a breakthrough at Phoenix with Hunter-Reay having started 12th in both of his starts at the track and he finished tenth in 2016 but retired from last year's race with suspension damage after brushing the wall.

Dating back to last season Hunter-Reay has three consecutive top ten finishes and seven top ten finishes in the last eight races. He has finished in the top five in three consecutive season openers but Hunter-Reay has not finished in the top ten in the second race of the season since he won at Barber in 2013. Only once in his career has Hunter-Reay started a season with consecutive top ten finishes. In 2004, he opened the season with three consecutive top ten finishes.

Alexander Rossi has been alternating between podium finish and non-podium finish since last year at Toronto with Rossi having four podium finishes in the last seven races. Rossi had a good outing in his first Phoenix appearance before brushing the wall late in the race dropped him from a top ten finish and he retired from last year's race after contact with the barrier. Rossi's best finish in four short track starts is sixth while he has yet to start in the top ten on a short track.

This weekend has been billed as a special weekend for the Andretti family as Phoenix celebrates the 25th anniversary of Mario Andretti's final IndyCar victory, which occurred at the track. Marco Andretti will run a special commemorative livery, matching the car his grandfather won with in 1993.  This will be Andretti's 111th start since his most recent IndyCar victory at Iowa in 2011. He finished 13th in his first trip to Phoenix in 2016 but didn't make it through a lap last year. He has not finish in the top ten on a short oval the last two seasons and his most recent top five finish on a short oval was a second place finish at Iowa in 2012.

Like his teammate Hunter-Reay, Andretti has only started a season with consecutive top ten finishes once in his career. He had five consecutive top ten finishes to start the 2013 season.

Zach Veach will make his Phoenix debut this weekend. Veach finished 8th and completed all 90 laps in his only Indy Lights start at the track in 2016. He finished 16th at St. Petersburg, a career-best finish for the Ohioan. The most recent driver to score a maiden victory at Phoenix was another Ohioan, Sam Hornish, Jr. in 2001. Veach made five short track starts in his Indy Lights career, which included a victory at Milwaukee and three podium finishes.

Will The Short Track Trend Continue?
The aero kit epoch ended Andretti Autosport's short track dominance and in the six short track races from 2015-2017, five different teams were victorious. Sébastien Bourdais won the Milwaukee race in 2015 with KV Racing before Hunter-Reay's victory at Iowa. In 2016, Scott Dixon won at Phoenix with Chip Ganassi Racing with Josef Newgarden winning that summer at Iowa with Ed Carpenter Racing. Last year, Team Penske swept the short track races with Pagenaud taking Phoenix and Castroneves taking Iowa.

The team most likely to continue the trend of different short track winners has to be Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Takuma Sato was fastest in the February test at the track with at 19.3790 seconds (189.855 MPH). His teammate was fifth fastest at the test at 19.4574 seconds (189.090 MPH) and Rahal enters second in the championship after a runner-up finish at St. Petersburg. Sato has not had a top ten finish in the last nine short track races with his last top ten finish being a seventh at Milwaukee in 2013 and he has finished outside the top ten in five consecutive races, his worst stretch since he had nine consecutive races outside the top ten in 2014. While he has not been getting the finishes, Sato has started in the top five of six consecutive races.

Rahal had four top five finishes in six short track races during the aero kit epoch. However, Rahal has only led 24 laps in his career on short tracks with most he has led in one race being 11 laps at Iowa in 2010 while substituting for an injured Mike Conway at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

A.J. Foyt Racing could be another team that keeps the parity on short ovals. Tony Kanaan was third fastest in the February test and he is the only active driver with multiple victories at Phoenix. A.J. Foyt Racing has three Phoenix victories but the team has not won at the track since 1975. Matheus Leist has never been to Phoenix but he was 13th at the test, top rookie. Leist won his only short track start in Indy Lights last year at Iowa.

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports did not have a stellar test at Phoenix with Robert Wickens and James Hinchcliffe 16th and 22nd respectively but both drivers outperformed preseason testing at St. Petersburg. Wickens' story has been well covered. He took pole position on debut, led 69 laps and he was driver of the day only to have contact with Alexander Rossi in the final laps dropped him to an 18th place finish. This will be Wickens' first career oval race. Hinchcliffe started seventh and finished fourth at St. Petersburg. Hinchcliffe has not had a top five finish on a short track since his dominating victory at Iowa in 2013 where he led 226 of 250 laps and Phoenix has been a difficult track for him with an finish of 18th, two laps down in 2016 and four laps down in 12th last year.

A Pair of Debuts
Two junior formula series champions will make their IndyCar debuts this weekend and one has won at Phoenix previously.

Kyle Kaiser's IndyCar debut occurs at the track where the California-native picked up his first career Indy Lights victory in 2016. He led every lap from pole position in that 2016 Phoenix race. That was not only Kaiser's only oval victory in Indy Lights but his only oval victory in his entire Road to Indy series career. Kaiser won four more Indy Lights races in his three-year stint in the series. In nine oval starts in Indy Lights, along with his one victory, Kaiser had four top five finishes.

Kaiser's debut comes in the #32 Chevrolet for Juncos Racing, the team Kaiser has driven for since the 2014 Pro Mazda season. Juncos Racing finished 22nd at St. Petersburg with René Binder in what was the Austrian's IndyCar debut. This is only the third race for Juncos Racing with its best finish being 15th with Sebastián Saavedra in last year's Indianapolis 500. Kaiser was the slowest of 23 cars during the February test.

Pietro Fittipaldi won last year's Formula V8 3.5 Series championship and the American-born driver will make his IndyCar debut in #19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda. The grandson of Emerson Fittipaldi won six of 18 races on his way to the title last year and he had ten podium finishes. Prior to that, Pietro Fittipaldi won the 2015-16 MRF Challenge Formula 2000 championship, a series where Conor Daly was champion in 2012-13. He was 15th fastest at the February test, second-best rookie, but this will not be his first time on an oval. Fittipaldi won the 2011 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series championship at Hickory Motor Speedway when he was 15 years old.

Fast Facts
This will be the fifth IndyCar race to take place on April 7th and the first since Ryan Hunter-Reay won at Barber Motorsports Park in 2013.

One Phoenix race has taken place on April 7th. Bobby Unser won on that day in 1968. Bobby Unser also won on April 7th, 1974 at Trenton while the year prior his brother Al Unser won on April 7th at Texas World Speedway.

Hélio Castroneves set the track record last year with a two-lap average of 194.905 MPH.

Sébastien Bourdais has won three times in the month of April. All three of those victories occurred at Long Beach.

Bourdais' victory at St. Petersburg was his fourth when starting outside the top ten. He is tied with Scott Dixon, Al Unser, Jr., and Dan Wheldon for most victories from starting outside the top ten.

Scott Dixon has finished in the top ten in 12 consecutive races, the longest streak of his career.

The last time the winner of the first oval race of the season went on to win the championship was Scott Dixon in 2008.

Simon Pagenaud has completed 2,834 consecutive laps dating back to Texas 2016.

Ed Carpenter did not have a top five finish in 18 starts during the aero kit epoch and only had three top ten finishes during that stretch including a seventh place finish last year at Phoenix.

Charlie Kimball has not had a top five finish in the last 28 races, the longest drought of his career.

Last season, five of six oval races were won from inside the top five with the worst starting position for a winner being ninth at Texas by Will Power.

The average starting position for a Phoenix winner is 4.34 with a median of three.

The last three Phoenix races have been won from row three while the four races prior to that were won from the front row.

The average number of lead changes in a Phoenix race is 5.25 with a median of five.

The record for most lead changes in a Phoenix race is 11, which occurred in the spring race in 1986 with Kevin Cogan taking the victory and in 1995 with Robby Gordon winning the race.

The average number of cautions in a Phoenix race is 4.705 with a median of four. The average number of caution laps is 35.97 with a median of 32.5.

Last year's race had two cautions, the fewest in a Phoenix race since the autumn race in 1986, which Michael Andretti won.

The Phoenix winner has lapped the field ten times and the most recent occurrence was Mario Andretti in 1993.

The closest margin of victory at Phoenix was Tony Kanaan winning by 0.5344 seconds over Scott Dixon in 2004.

Possible Milestones:
Simon Pagenaud needs to lead 95 laps to reach the 1,000 laps led milestone.

James Hinchcliffe needs to lead nine laps to reach the 700 laps led milestone.

Takuma Sato needs to lead 33 laps to reach the 500 laps led milestone.

Ed Carpenter needs to lead 90 laps to reach the 400 laps led milestone.

Graham Rahal needs to lead 50 laps to reach the 400 laps led milestone.

Predictions
To round out the celebration of his grandfather, Marco Andretti will win the race with at least two Team Penske cars finishing in the top five. However, there will be at least one lead change within the final 50 laps of the race. At least one Foyt car finishes in the top ten but the other finishes outside the top fifteen. Sébastien Bourdais finishes in the top ten but does not retain the championship lead. Robert Wickens will not be the top finishing rookie. More than four cars finish on the lead lap and there will be fewer retirements in this race than last year. Sleeper: Spencer Pigot.

Musings From the Weekend: German Touring Endurance?

It was Easter weekend and while most series were relaxing, a few were on track. Paul Tracy returned to competition for the first time in almost seven years in Trans-Am but another name familiar to IndyCar fans took victory. Across the pond, Billy Monger returned to racing a little under a year after losing his legs in a Formula 4 accident and he finished third on his British F3 debut. Meanwhile, a handful of series will race on Easter Monday. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.

German Touring Endurance?
A championship is dying. The once heralded Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, a pedigree for touring car racing finds itself with a date of death already scheduled. When the season concludes on October 14th long-time manufacture Mercedes-Benz will exit the series and the DTM faces a future with two manufactures fielding a combined dozen cars.

The DTM was a secret of sorts, a series where world champion Mika Häkkinen and other grand prix winners Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jean Alesi still competed at a high level. Along with the familiar names from Formula One were Tom Kristensen, Bernd Schneider and a handful of young and promising names such as Mattias Ekström, Gary Paffett, Martin Tomczyk, Timo Scheider, Bruno Spengler and Jamie Green.

It was only a decade ago DTM races were unavailable in the States until the winter when Speed Channel would rebroadcast a race a weekend in its entirety from the first round to the last. You would get bits and pieces of a season through other forms of motorsports. I first learned of the infamous 2007 Barcelona round where all the Audis withdrew in protest of overaggressive driving from Mercedes-Benz drivers through Bob Varsha one week later while he called qualifying for a Formula One race. It was a fascinating series and one that I wished was more available.

I hate to say the DTM has become boring but that spark is gone. It could be because of the proliferation of series. In recent years we have seen the FIA World Endurance Championship rise as a top series in the world while GT3-spec series have also grown in recent years and featured large and star-studded grids from Blancpain GT Series to Pirelli World Challenge.

It has not been for a lack of effort. The series has been running doubleheaders for the last three seasons, in recent years a handful of young drivers have gotten their breaks in DTM such as Paul di Resta, Pascal Wehrlein, Robert Wickens, Marco Wittmann and António Félix da Costa. Ekström has just exited the series to focus on rallycross but the likes of Green, Paffett and Spengler are still around, di Resta has returned to the series while Le Mans winners Loïc Duval and Mike Rockenfeller are both on the grid. There is even Timo Glock.

With Mercedes-Benz on the way out, the series needs a way to remain relevant. The issue is it has to do something different. Adopting GT3-spec isn't an option as the ADAC GT Masters series already owns that territory in Germany. While the TCR regulations are spreading over the touring car world, once again, that territory is taken in Germany and TCR would be a step down from what DTM is at this moment, not to forget mentioning that of the three current DTM manufactures only Audi has a TCR-spec car.

The rumor that has the most attention is DTM becoming a GTE series and while this has the same issue as TCR with BMW being the only current manufacture fielding a GTE-spec car, it would at least keep DTM in a top echelon of motorsports. GTE has many manufactures ready to play. BMW is one of five manufactures in the FIA WEC alongside Ferrari, Ford, Porsche and Aston Martin and Corvette also fields GTE-spec cars.

With the FIA WEC switching its schedule and the 2019-20 season starting in August or September and ending at Le Mans in 2020, the summer will be open for GTE competition. The issue is could a GTE-only series based in Germany draw in the same type of numbers that the FIA WEC GTE grid already draws?

There are 19 GTE cars between the Pro and Am classes for WEC this season but I doubt the financial backing is there for Ford to field two Ford GTs in the WEC and a summer GTE series. The same goes for the other manufactures. However, maybe the money is there especially if the series is not an endurance series. The DTM has been running two, 55-minute races over race weekends and those races fit nicely into a TV window but a GTE series would need more than two sprint races. A format change to a single two-hour or two-and-a-half hour race each weekend allowing for driver changes could be the answer.

I think there would be a lot of interest in a GTE-only series and this series could attract more manufactures, as it would be a playing ground where these manufactures could compete for the overall victory. Audi has had a lot of success with its GT3 program and if this series was German-based it would make sense for it to have the Audi R8 step up into the GTE platform. The same can be said for Mercedes. Outside of those two German makes the like of McLaren and Lamborghini have been successful in GT3 and has at least shown interest in GTE. Maybe Honda could be ready for the NSX to be a GTE competitor in a few seasons.

For a GTE series to succeed the ACO would need to support it and that could require a switch in the current makeup of the sports car landscape. There are six GTE cars entered for the upcoming European Le Mans Series while 17 LMP2 entries and 18 LMP3 entries comprise the rest of the grid. ELMS can live as a prototype series and the six GTE entries could slide into the GTE-spec DTM with Le Mans invitations given out to the Pro champion and Am champion in the series.

I think there is a place in this world for a GTE series and the DTM adopting the regulation could turn the series around. A GTE series could draw in more teams that want to run GTE at a higher level than ELMS but with a budget cheaper than the WEC. There would be some difficulty in making sure this series could exist along with the WEC and ELMS and making sure there were no schedule conflicts. The summer would be open and that could fill the gap between Le Mans and the start of the next season.

The start of the DTM series would have to be a little earlier than its current May 6th season opener to avoid conflict with the Spa-Francorchamps WEC round and also to allow for two rounds to be completed before the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. After Le Mans, the series could take hold in the summer, returning to competition at the Norisring and then running regularly, almost every other week until the start of the next WEC season. There will still be gaps in the schedule between the likely WEC season opener in August and the rounds in Asia in the middle of autumn and the final rounds of the DTM could take place during that time.

DTM might not be on your radar for 2018 but imagine an eight-round GTE championship with each race weekend having a two-hour race evenly split between four German tracks and four other European tracks with at least the five manufactures in the WEC represented along with Corvette and a dozen entries in each GTE-Pro and GTE-Am. I think that would grab your attention.

Winners From the Weekend
It was Easter weekend so not many series were on track but...

Raphael Matos won the Trans-Am TA2 race from Road Atlanta while his teammate Paul Tracy finished seventh. Chris Dyson won the TA/TA3/TA4 race

Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar's first oval race of the season from Phoenix.
Formula One's first night race from Bahrain.
MotoGP's first race in the Western Hemisphere in Argentina.
Formula E's first visit to Rome.
Blancpain Sprint Series first race weekend of the season at Zolder.
The World Touring Car Cup's first round at Marrakesh.
Super GT's first race of the season at Okayama.
Supercross returns to the West Coast and will be in Seattle.
NASCAR returns to a mile-and-a-half oval and specifically Texas.
Supercars will also be at a 1.5-mile racetrack but it is not an oval. Symmons Plains Raceway is a seven-turn road course.
The World Rally Championship heads to Corsica.