Musings From the Weekend: IndyCar's Ambassador Problem

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

Toyota led the Le Mans test day. Ferrari was second and third. Alpine was fourth. Lexus was fastest in LMGT3, so that is nice for the company. Toyota also had a good weekend in Michigan. There was a photo finish in Aragón and a pair of first time winners. There was also the usual. Haulers are at the border. RAM announced its return to the NASCAR Truck Series. Teams and drivers will come at a later date. There has been another problem on my mind. Small, but still notable, a smaller symptom to a greater problem.

IndyCar's Ambassador Problem

The Indianapolis 500. IndyCar's biggest race of the year. The stage is never brighter for IndyCar, and this year over seven million people watched, the most since 2008. It is IndyCar's one chance a year to leave an impression. Whatever audience IndyCar can attract over the rest of the year will be dependent on this race. If IndyCar draws anyone to the party, it will be from this one day each year. 

It is best to have the best representation out there for the series. The Indianapolis 500 stands on its own, but it is apart of something bigger than one race. Who do you call in to represent and vouch for IndyCar that also matches the magnitude of the Indianapolis 500?

Tune into the broadcast and you see on the Indianapolis 500 pre-race show Danica Patrick and Tony Stewart. Driving the two-seater with Tom Brady as passenger is Jimmie Johnson. 

All three have raced in the Indianapolis 500, but none are ambassadors for IndyCar. 

Patrick and Stewart started their careers in IndyCar, but when are either at a race that isn't the Indianapolis 500? When are either hanging around the paddock and just chatting with Scott Dixon, Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Patricio O'Ward or Álex Palou at Mid-Ohio or Laguna Seca? Even if they first took the stage in Indianapolis, no one associates Patrick or Stewart with IndyCar. Johnson ran IndyCar after nearly two decades and seven championships in NASCAR. Johnson is a team owner in NASCAR. If Johnson is talking to Tom Brady on the grid, Johnson is likely going to invite him to a future NASCAR race, not an IndyCar race. That's just what IndyCar needs.

This isn't a new problem. When NBC was the broadcast partner, we saw Patrick on the pre-race show and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jeff Burton were the analysts brought in. Full disclosure, I have as many Indianapolis 500 starts as Earnhardt, Jr. and Burton. 

It is commonplace for broadcasters to bring in special analysts for the big events, especially on the pre-game shows, but normally it is someone who is known for competing in that sport. We don't see Shohei Ohtani being brought onto the Super Bowl pre-game show nor do we see Patrick Mahomes on the Stanley Cup Final coverage. Motorsports is motorsports, but there is a breakdown among the disciplines.

There is a history of commentators coming from a variety of disciplines. Jackie Stewart was on ABC's Wide World of Sports coverage for Indianapolis 500s and NASCAR races. David Hobbs called more Daytona 500s than NASCAR Cup races he started. Rusty Wallace has even been in the both for an Indianapolis 500. It is not unheard of, but something is being said when the names don't quite represent what the series is. 

Unlike other sports that call in past Super Bowl winners for Super Bowl pre-game shows or World Series winners for World Series coverage, IndyCar does not have its historically top drivers filling television roles for its biggest race of the year. IndyCar has not had viable ambassadors for quite some time, leaving positions open to those who raced in IndyCar but are not invested in the series beyond that one day each May, and that isn't helping long-term growth.

However, the biggest barrier to IndyCar having accurate representation on its broadcast is IndyCar itself. 

It isn't a case that there are no IndyCar legends. They are all just busy competing. 

All the best drivers from the last 20 years are involved with teams. 

Dario Franchitti is working for Chip Ganassi Racing. Tony Kanaan is Arrow McLaren team principal. Simon Pagenaud is on Scott McLaughlin's timing stand. Hélio Castroneves is still competing, and he is involved with Meyer Shank Racing as minority owner in the team. Even Ryan Hunter-Reay is still out there. Juan Pablo Montoya is busy being a father to a budding race car driver, and Montoya would likely pass on it anyway.

Any of those guys fit the bill, but they are all still involved. Even if we go a step down from champions and Indianapolis 500 winners, those guys are involved as well. J.R. Hildebrand was working for McLaren this May. Charlie Kimball is personable and he has been working as a driver coach in recent years. Robert Wickens is working with the Andretti Global group. Ryan Briscoe came back and is working with Prema. Oriol Servià was actually on the Spanish-language broadcast of the “500” this year, so at least he is representing in a different language.

We run out of options real quick, but we also must recognize there are limited opportunities to get onto television. There are three spots in the booth, one of which is for a lead commentator. At most, there will be three pit reporters. Booth analysts are covered with Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe. Jack Harvey stepped into a pit reporter role this year, but no broadcast is going to have multiple former drivers as pit reporters. Three former drivers is the limit for a broadcast. All the spots have been claimed. 

There is the radio booth, which is in need of a shakeup, but not many drivers go that direction. This year saw a change at the Indianapolis 500 as Davey Hamilton worked as Jack Harvey's strategist and the radio broadcast needed an analyst. Zach Veach filled in on qualifying weekend and Anders Krohn was in the booth for race day. Krohn previously called Indy Lights races as an analyst. 

In the 21st century, broadcasters are reluctant to put anyone that isn't a flashy name on-air. The broadcasters are looking for commentators that people will stay tuned in for. Sam Posey would never have had a prayer of getting in the broadcast booth today. We would never see a Parker Johnstone get into the booth. Townsend Bell came in when there was a narrow window, benefitting from a time when IndyCar had multiple broadcast partners. That isn't going to happen again anytime soon. You have to be someone to get a call for the broadcast, which puts someone like Anders Krohn on the curb. Krohn never made it to IndyCar, but he is on top of what is going on. 

Patrick may have only won one race and all of Stewart's IndyCar success did come nearly 30 years ago when the level of competition was low, but their names carry more weight than someone who spent a dozen years in IndyCar and had a modest career. People turning on their televisions need to see a face they recognize. The guys competing in the race are already anonymous. It isn't getting better when their careers are over. Nobodies are nobodies. Articulation and knowledge only get you so far. 

Whom IndyCar could really use at this time is Dan Wheldon. 

Wheldon was made to be an ambassador. Whether it be in the booth, on the pre-race set or involved in the pre-race festivities and driving the two-seater, this moment was set up for Wheldon. As much as he loved racing, I think we all knew that face was too pretty not to end up on television. Wheldon would happily step away from the competition and love watching Franchitti and Kanaan stress on the pit stand while he was making a pretty penny in an air conditioned broadcast booth. 

Are there any practical options out there?

The one guy I will throw out there is Sage Karam. Karam had some good analysis during the race on social media. He never won the Indianapolis 500, never won any IndyCar race and most of his career was just the Indianapolis 500, but Karam did have a few impressive drives at Indianapolis and had two top ten finishes. Most importantly, he is a good looking young man, and television is 98% about looks. He isn't a name that screams at people, but he is a face that can grab the attention of many. 

Outside of that, it gets difficult. I like Stefan Wilson, but no broadcaster is putting on a driver who has only made five IndyCar starts. When Hunter-Reay stops driving, the door is open for him, but let's see how things change in the next two or three years. 

There is one option from out of left field that would work: A.J. Allmendinger. 

Yes, I am suggesting a driver who has spent the better part of the last 20 years in NASCAR, but Allmendinger has an edge to him and he is more proud of his open-wheel roots than others. I think he is more connected than Patrick and Stewart are, even if it has been a minute since Allmendinger last ran an IndyCar. Allmendinger can be a strong cheerleader, and if you put him on the broadcast, he will invest himself and bump up the series in a convincing fashion. He did a good job in the brief stint in the NBC sports car booth. He isn't fully an IndyCar guy, but he would stress his open-wheel experience more than others and he would fit that ambassador role IndyCar desperately needs. 

If there is one positive sign for drivers, it is Fox is rotating active drivers through the booth for the Indy Lights broadcasts. Drivers are getting reps after none were getting near a broadcast booth for many years. Perhaps that opens the door for a handful of guys, but we could be six or ten years from that being the case. I don't think most of those guys are hurrying to get through their driving careers. I think many want to be racing for the foreseeable future. 

Having drivers that are more associated with NASCAR taking the key roles on the Indianapolis 500 broadcast do not help IndyCar's ongoing identity crisis. Too many people just think all racing in the United States is either NASCAR or Formula One. If they see "NASCAR drivers" on the Indianapolis 500 broadcast, they are just going to think it is a NASCAR race. But is IndyCar is so foreign to the average viewer that it is not beneficial to put a past IndyCar driver on an IndyCar broadcast.

Talk about a catch-22!

All that can be done is take one step at a time, and perhaps push a few more drivers toward the television compound than the timing stands. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about the Le Mans test day, but did you know...

Marc Márquez won MotoGP's Aragón Grand Prix and the sprint race. Deniz Öncü won the Moto2 race by 0.003 seconds over Diogo Moreira, the closest finish in Moto2 history. It was Öncü's first Moto2 victory. David Muñoz won the Moto3 race, his first career victory.

Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup race from Michigan, his third victory of the season. Stewart Friesen won the Truck race, his first victory in over three years.

Ryan Wood (race one) and Broc Feeney (race two and three) split the Supercars races from Wanneroo. It was Wood's first career Supercars victory.

Ayhancan Güven and René Rast split the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters races from Zandvoort.

Sébastien Ogier won Rally Italia Sardegna, his third victory of the season.

Coming Up This Weekend

93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans.

World Superbike will race in Misano.

Formula One has a June date in Montreal for the last time in the foreseeable future. 

The NASCAR Cup Series visits Mexico City for the first time. 

IndyCar ends the weekend with a night race at Gateway.

2025 24 Hours of Le Mans LMGT3 Preview

We are wrapping up our 24 Hours of Le Mans previews with the LMGT3 class. Two-dozen entries are in the pro-am class that bring together nine manufacturers and 72 drivers from around the world. Including Hypercar and LMP2, 186 drivers will be competing in this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans.

A few drivers are going to be making their debut. A few drivers have famous last names. Some drivers we have seen for a number of years at Le Mans. 

Who Won Last Year?

Manthey Racing won last year for Porsche with Richard Lietz, Marris Schuring and Yasser Shahin, and that lineup is not together for this year's race. 

Lietz is still with Manthey, and he will be in the #92 Porsche but with Ryan Hardwick and Riccardo Pera as his co-drivers. Shahin has moved to Team WRT, which finished second to Manthey last year at Le Mans. Shahin will be in the #31 BMW with Augusto Farfus and Timur Boguslavskiy. Schuring does not have a ride at Le Mans this year. 

The #90 Manthey Porsche has Klaus Bachler, Antares Au and Look Hartog as its drivers. 

Proton Competition took third and fourth last year with its two Ford Mustangs. The #77 Ford will feature Ben Barker, Bernardo Sousa and Ben Tuck while Dennis Olsen, Stefano Gattuso and Gianmarco Levorato will drive the #88 Ford.

Who is Coming into Le Mans Hot?

The answer is nobody in the FIA World Endurance Championship. 

Three races, three different winners, nine different cars have finished on the podium through three races, and only three cars have finished in the top five in multiple races this season. Your guess is as good as anybody. There is no clear favorite. 

TF Sport leads the LMGT3 championship with 44 points as the #33 Corvette won at Qatar, but Jonny Edgar, Daniel Juncadella and Ben Keating were seventh and 13th in the next two races. AF Corse are four points back as the #21 Ferrari of François Hériau, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera won at Spa-Francorchamps but retired from Imola while finishing fifth in Qatar. 

The #92 Manthey Porsche won the Imola round, but it has finished 12th (Qatar) and seventh (Spa-Francorchamps) in the other races. However, Manthey went 1-2 in the 2024-25 Asian Le Mans Series. Au and Bachler won the championship while Hardwick, Lietz and Pera were second. If there is any reason why Manthey should be excited, it is Bachler is showing up to Le Mans while leading IMSA's GTD Pro championship and he has won twice this season.

Even in European Le Mans Series competition, there have been two winners from the first two races.

Iron Dames won at Barcelona, but then Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Célia Martín were seventh at Circuit Paul Ricard. They will drive the #85 Porsche On the flipside, AF Corse won in France with Custodio Toledo, Riccardo Agostini and Lilou Wadoux but they were ninth at Barcelona in the #150 Ferrari. 

Is Anyone Heading to Le Mans Cold?

AWA Racing won the 24 Hours of Daytona in the GTD class, but since then Matt Bell and Orey Fidani have finished tenth or worse in the last three races. Bell and Fidani head to Le Mans to drive AWA's #13 Corvette with Lars Kern, who was also in the Daytona winner squad. 

While United Autosports was second at Qatar with the #59 McLaren, the team has not finished better than seventh this season. Sébastien Baud, James Cottingham and Grégoire Saucy were 14th and 15th in the last two races in the #59 McLaren. Sean Gelael and Darren Leung were second last year at Le Mans in this class with Team WRT. This year, Gelael and Leung are heading to Le Mans coming off a retirement at Spa-Francorchamps with Marino Sato in the #95 McLaren. 

Is Valentino Rossi Competing?

Yes. Rossi is in the #46 Team WRT BMW with Ahmad Al Harthy and Kelvin van der Linde. They were second at Imola. Van der Linde won the Bathurst 12 Hour earlier this year with his brother Sheldon, and with Augusto Farfus. Al Harthy was second in the GTE-Am class in 2023 driving an Aston Martin for TF Sport. 

Last year, Rossi, Al Harthy and Maxime Martin retired after completing only 109 laps. The #46 BMW was second at Imola, but was ninth at Spa-Francorchamps last month.

Which Drivers are Getting Unexpected Opportunities?

Jack Hawksworth wasn't supposed to be at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but an injury to Ben Barnicoat keeps Barnicoat sidelined while Hawksworth will be at Le Mans in the #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus. He joins Finn Gehrsitz and Arnold Robin. The #78 Lexus has finished fourth, third and eighth this season. Hawksworth has finished second in three consecutive IMSA races in the GTD class. 

Injuries to Claudio Schiavoni has led to a complete line change in the #60 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG. Andrew Gilbert, Lorcan Hanafin and Fran Rueda will take over the #60 Mercedes-AMG for Le Mans. All three drivers will be making their Le Mans debuts. Gilbert and Rueda are co-drivers in ELMS with Miguel Molina in the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari. Hanafin drive the #63 Mercedes-AMG for Iron Lynx in ELMS, and he was second at Circuit Paul Ricard with co-drivers Martin Berry and Fabian Schiller. 

Are There Any Sons with More Famous Fathers Competing?

Yes, there are two. 

Eduardo Barrichello will make his Le Mans debut in the #10 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin with Derek DeBoer and Valentin Hasse-Clot. Barrichello is competing in WEC for the first time after spending the last two seasons running in the Stock Car Brasil Series, and he was third in that championship last year. His father Rubens made only one Le Mans start. Rubens competed with Racing Team Nederland in 2017 with Jan Lammers and Frits van Eerd as co-drivers in the LMP2 class. They were 11th in class.

Eddie Cheever III is making his third Le Mans start. Cheever III ran in 2018 and 2019 with MR Racing. This year, Cheever III is driving the #193 Ziggo Sport - Tempesta Ferrari with Christ Froggatt and Jonathan Hu. They won the Bronze Cup championship last year in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.

Who Has Not Been Mentioned?

Seven cars in LMGT3 class.

Heart of Racing Team has the #27 Aston Martin entered for Mattia Drudi, Ian James and Zacharie Robichon. Heart of Racing is coming off its best finish of fifth at Spa-Francorchamps.

Francesco Castellacci, Thomas Flohr and Davide Rigon are together for their third consecutive year at Le Mans in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari.

Kessel Racing is running Takeshi Kimura, Daniel Serra and Casper Stevenson in the #57 Ferrari. Serra has two Le Mans class victories, both in GTE-Pro. Kimura is back in a Ferrari after running an Akkodis ASP Team Lexus in 2024.

There are two other Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMGs entered. Martin Berry, Lin Hodenius and Maxime Martin are in the #61 Mercedes-AMG. Brenton Grove, Stephen Grove and Luca Stolz are entered in the #63 Mercedes-AMG.

TF Sport have a second Corvette entered. Rui Andrade, Charlie Eastwood and Tom van Rompuy will share the #81 Corvette.

José María López leads the #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus with Clemens Schmid and Razvan Umbrarescu as his co-drivers.

General Le Mans Facts to Keep in Mind

AF Corse also has at least one entry in each class, just like Proton Competition. AF Corse runs all three Ferrari 499Ps in Hypercar, it has the #183 Oreca entered in LMP2, and then its two entries in LMGT3. AF Corse has not won a GT class at Le Mans since it swept GTE Pro and GTE Am in 2021. 

In ten Le Mans starts, Davide Rigon has yet to score a class victory. Francesco Castellacci has not won a class in nine Le Mans starts and Thomas Flohr is 0-for-8 at Le Mans.

In eight Le Mans starts, José María López, has finished on the overall podium six times. 

Schedule

Sunday June 8 marks the Le Mans test day with two three-hour sessions, the first taking place at 4:00 a.m. ET and the second run at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Practice during race week will begin on Wednesday June 11. The first practice will be held at 11:00 a.m. ET and run for three hours. The first round of qualifying will take place at 12:45 p.m., beginning with the LMP2 and LMGT3 classes taking to the track to determine the Hyperpole participants. The first round of Hypercar qualifying will be held at 1:30 p.m. ET. Each session will be 30 minutes. Wednesday ends with night practice at 4:00 p.m. and running for two hours.

Another three-hour practice will run at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday June 12. Hyperpole qualifying will be run at 2:00 p.m. starting with LMGT3 and LMP2. Hypercar's Hyperpole session will run at 3:05 p.m. The final night practice will be a one-hour session held at 5:00 p.m.

The 15-minute warm-up session will be run at 6:00 a.m. ET on Saturday June 14 prior to the start of the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans at 10:00 p.m. ET.

2025 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 Preview

Hypercar is complete, and we move to the LMP2 category. Though no longer included in the FIA World Endurance Championship, 17 invitations were given out to LMP2 teams from across the European Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series and IMSA. 

With no championship to worry about, Le Mans is all about the race victory for the LMP2 class, and these teams are turning out their best possible lineups for this one shot at glory in 2025.

How Deep is This Class?

An overall 24 Hours of Le Mans winner.

Six Le Mans class winners.

Five overall 24 Hours of Daytona winners

A Formula Two champion. 

A Formula E champion.

This is without mentioning the likes of Louis Delétraz, Ben Hanley, Pietro Fittipaldi, Jamie Chadwick, Job van Uitert, Luca Ghiotto, Tristan Vautier, Nick Yelloly and Matthieu Vaxivière are also competing in this class. 

LMP2 is 70% top-tier professional class with 20% quality amateurs and 10% regular amateurs. 

We must thank Honda for not bringing its GTP car to Le Mans, otherwise possibly four drivers would not be in this class and that only adds to its strength. There are plenty of exciting names in LMP2. 

André Lotterer is filling out the #18 IDEC Sport Oreca with Jamie Chadwick and Mathys Jaubert, and Chadwick and Jaubert lead the ELMS LMP2 championship through two rounds.

United Autosports won in LMP2 last year in Le Mans, and in its #22 Oreca it has put Fittipaldi, Renger van der Zande and David Heinemeier Hansson together while Hanley, Oliver Jarvis and Daniel Schneider are in the #23 Oreca.

Tom Blomqvist and Tristan Vautier are co-drivers in the #37 CLX - Pure Rxcing Oreca with Alex Malykhin. Antonio Félix da Costa is leading AF Corse's #183 Oreca will Vaxivière and François Perrodo. Vaxivière and Perrodo won the ELMS season opener in Barcelona. Delétraz is driving with Dane Cameron and P.J. Hyett in the #199 AO by TF Oreca.

Algarve Pro Racing has Théo Pourchaire with Lorenzo Fluxá and Matthias Kaiser in the #25 Oreca. Nielsen racing has Colin Braun, Cem Bölükbasi and Naveen Rao in the #24 Oreca. Patricio Pilet is in this class with RLR MSport along side Ryan Cullen and Michael Jensen. Frank Perera is in an LMP2 car for the first time in his career with VDS Panis Racing, and Perera is with a pair of children, 20-year-old Oliver Gray, making his Le Mans debut, and 20-year-old Esteban Masson, who made his Le Mans debut last year in LMGT3.

There are plenty of names in this class. There will be moments in this race where the battle in LMP2 will feel like it should be taking place in the Hypercar class.

Do the LMP2 Entries Have an Advantage Over the LMP2 Pro-Am Entries?

Probably not as big of an advantage as you think. In terms of sheer numbers, yes. Nine of the 17 entries are pro-am entries. 

AF Corse won the ELMS season opener at Barcelona as a pro-am lineup. Two of the three cars on the podium at ELMS' Circuit Paul Ricard round were pro-am entries. Last year, AF Corse was the best LMP2 Pro-Am entry and it was on the same lap as the LMP2 winning #22 United Autosports entry, finishing fourth in LMP2. The next two LMP2 Pro-Am entries were a lap off the class winner. 

The LMP2 entries should have an advantage, but considering that Hanley, Jarvis, Braun, Ghiotto, da Costa, Cameron, Delétraz and Nicky Catsburg are all in LMP2 Pro-Am entries, it would not be a stunner if one of those cars topped the LMP2 class at the end of 24 hours.

How Has the European Le Mans Series Season Been Going?

IDEC Sport leads the championship with Chadwick, Jaubert and Daniel Juncadella, who has LMGT3 responsibilities at Le Mans with Corvette. Second in the championship is Vector Sport, but Vector Sport was unable to secure an invite to Le Mans. That means two of its drivers, Cullen and Fittipaldi, have had to split to other entries. 

Gray and Masson are third in the championship with Charles Milesi as its third driver, but Milesi will be in the Hypercar class at Le Mans with Alpine. 

The top team from ELMS that had its lineup remain intact for Le Mans is the #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of Tom Dillman, Jakub Śmiechowski and Nick Yelloly. Inter Europol was fourth overall at Circuit Paul Ricard last month. 

In Pro-Am, Nielsen Racing leads the championship, but none of those three drivers are entered at Le Mans. TDS Racing has been third in LMP2 Pro-Am in the first two races, and that car remains unchanged for Le Mans. Mathias Beche leads the #29 TDS Racing Oreca with Clément Novalak and Rodrigo Sales. 

Are There Any Other Interesting Stories?

Proton Competition has entries in all three classes. It has the #99 Porsche 963 in Hypercar, Proton runs the two Ford Mustangs in LMGT3, and it has the #11 Oreca with René Binder, Giorgio Roda and Bent Viscaal in LMP2.

Of its four entries, I would say the LMP2 car is the third-most likely to win at Le Mans, behind the two Ford Mustangs but ahead of the Hypercar. 

Then there is the #9 Iron Lynx - Proton Oreca, which has an average age of 20 between its three drivers. Macéo Capietto turned 19 years old in January, Jonas Reid is 20 years old and Reshad de Gerus is 21 years old. Capietteo and Reid ran together last year at Le Mans with Bent Viscaal, but the car only completed 86 laps.

This will be Patrick Pilet's 18th Le Mans and he has yet to win a class. RLR MSport doesn't even run an LMP2 car in ELMS competition. It runs a LMP3 program and earned its invite off its 2024 ELMS LMP3 title. This is very much a one-off lineup and one of the more unlikely collection of drivers for Pilet to potentially claim his first Le Mans victory.

General Le Mans Facts to Keep in Mind

There have been four different LMP2 winners in the last four years at Le Mans (Team WRT, Jota, Inter Europol, United Autosports).

The last team to win the LMP2 class in successive years at Le Mans was Signatech-Alpine in 2018 and 2019.

Jean-Denis Déletraz won in the LMP2 class at Le Mans twice, in the 2001 and 2002.

Nicolas Lapierre leads with four LMP2 victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. No other driver has won the class more than twice.

This will be André Lotterer's 14th Le Mans appearance, and it is the first time Lotterer is not in the top class. 

This will be the third time in four years Pietro Fittipaldi and David Heinemeier Hansson are co-drivers at Le Mans, each in LMP2. United Autosports is Heinemeier Hansson’s fifth different team in his last five Le Mans appearances. 

Schedule

Sunday June 8 marks the Le Mans test day with two three-hour sessions, the first taking place at 4:00 a.m. ET and the second run at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Practice during race week will begin on Wednesday June 11. The first practice will be held at 11:00 a.m. ET and run for three hours. The first round of qualifying will take place at 12:45 p.m., beginning with the LMP2 and LMGT3 classes taking to the track to determine the Hyperpole participants. The first round of Hypercar qualifying will be held at 1:30 p.m. ET. Each session will be 30 minutes. Wednesday ends with night practice at 4:00 p.m. and running for two hours.

Another three-hour practice will run at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday June 12. Hyperpole qualifying will be run at 2:00 p.m. starting with LMGT3 and LMP2. Hypercar's Hyperpole session will run at 3:05 p.m. The final night practice will be a one-hour session held at 5:00 p.m.

The 15-minute warm-up session will be run at 6:00 a.m. ET on Saturday June 14 prior to the start of the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans at 10:00 p.m. ET.

2025 24 Hours of Le Mans Hypercar Preview

We are approaching the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans, and with a busy motorsports calendar, we preview the three classes at this year's race prior to the Le Mans test day. 

Sixty-two entries are spread across the three classes with 21 entries in the Hypercar category. Seven manufacturers are fielding cars in the top class. 

Who is the Favorite?

Ferrari. 

Winner of the last two years at Le Mans, Ferrari has started the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship season exceptionally well with three victories from three races. At Qatar, Ferrari swept the podium. Ferrari went 1-2 at Spa-Francorchamps. The three Ferraris hold the top three in the championship. 

The #51 Ferrari of James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi has won the last two races. The #50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen won the opener at Qatar. AF Corse's #83 Ferrari of Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye are third in the championship.

The #50 Ferrari won last year and the #51 Ferrari won the year before that. The #83 Ferrari had a great run last year at Le Mans. Take your pick of the Ferraris. 

Who are the Contenders?

It feels like there is a gap between Ferrari and the rest of the field.

The #8 Toyota is fourth in the championship, but it has yet to finish on the podium. It does have three Le Mans winners with Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa. The #7 Toyota has Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries. You cannot rule Toyota out. 

Alpine has been the slight surprise this season with the #36 Apline A424 having finished third in the last two WEC rounds with Jules Gounon, Frédéric Makowiecki and Mick Schumacher. The #35 Alpine with Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi has not been quite as good with its best finish being eighth. 

BMW deserves a shout. The #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 was second at Imola with Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde. The two BMWs are tied on 27 points as #15 BMW with Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor have finished in the points in all three race this season. BMW has also showed great pace in IMSA competition this season.

Is There a Triple Crown in Play?

Yes, but do not hold your breathe.

Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor won the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring this year. Nasr and Tandy will be at Le Mans in the #4 Porsche 963. Vanthoor is in the #6 Porsche. Pascal Wehrlein rounds out the #4's lineup while Matt Campbell in Kévin Estre fill out the #6 Porsche. The #5 Porsche will have Julien Andlauer, Michael Christensen and Mathieu Jaminet. 

This year's title defense in WEC has been horrendous. Porsche hasn't finished better than eighth this season, a complete juxtaposition to this IMSA season where Porsche Penske Motorsport opened with four consecutive victories, eight total podium finishes and its worst race is finishing third and fourth at Detroit. 

Last year, Porsche was on pole position at Le Mans. This could be the the turning point of its season, for better or worse.

What Does the IMSA Contingent Look Like?

Besides, the #4 Porsche, there are two IMSA entries at Le Mans, both are Cadillacs.

Wayne Taylor Racing makes its Le Mans debut with the #101 Cadillc with Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor and Jordan Taylor. Action Express Racing is back with the #311 Whelen Cadillac and a lineup of Jack Aitken, Felipe Drugovich and Frederik Vesti.

Both Taylor brothers have run at Le Mans before. Ricky has made nine starts, but never in the top class. Jordan has also made nine Le Mans starts, all in GT competition. He won the GTE Pro class in 2015 and he has been on a class podium four times. Albuquerque made two Le Mans starts in LMP1 with Audi in 2014 and 2015. Since then, he has made nine LMP2 appearances and won the class in 2020.

Aitken and Drugovich drove together last year at Le Mans, and this will be Aitken's fourth Le Mans start. It was Drugovich's debut, and Vesti made his debut last year at Le Mans in LMP2.

Is There a Chance Felipe Drugovich Misses Le Mans to Make his Formula One Debut?

Why yes, because Drugovich is the Aston Martin reserve driver and Lance Stroll's status for the Canadian Grand Prix remains in question after a persistent wrist injury forced Stroll out of the car prior to the Spanish Grand Prix. 

If Stroll is unable to go and Drugovich gets the call, it is unclear who will fill the #311 Cadillac. It must be emphasized, as it currently stands, Drugovich will be at Le Mans.

What are the Best Stories?

Sébastien Bourdais is the native son of Le Mans. Bourdais is making his 18th Le Mans appearance. He has never won the race overall. Three times he was runner-up. He did win the GTE Pro class with Ford in 2016. That's nice. It isn't overall. 

Bourdais has two-time overall winner Earl Campbell and 2009 World Drivers' Champion Jenson Button as his co-drivers in the #38 Hertz Team Jota Cadillac. Button could become the fifth driver to win Le Mans and the World Drivers' Championship joining Mike Hawthorn, Jochen Rindt, Graham Hill and Fernando Alonso. How is that for company? 

If you like a story, the #38 Cadillac is for you.

It should be noted the #12 Hertz Team Jota Cadillac has scored points in all three WEC races and it has two-time Le Mans class winner Will Stevens (2017 - GTE Am, 2022 - LMP2) with another past Le Mans class winner in Alex Lynn (2020 - GTE Pro), and Norman Nato rounds out the lineup.

There is also the #83 AF Corse Ferrari and an overall Le Mans victory for Robert Kubica, even though he has been regularly for nearly the last decade and returned to Formula One in 2019, is still remarkable considering the rallying accident he had in 2011. 

Who is Happy Just to be There?

Peugeot's best finish this season in WEC is ninth. Aston Martin has failed to finish in the top ten this season. Peugeot has the chance to win over the home crowd with a stunning victory. The Aston Martin is loud... at least it has that going for it. 

There is also a fourth Porsche. Proton Competition has entered the #99 Porsche 963 for Neel Jani, Nico Pino and Nicolás Varrone. Proton has yet to score a point in the first three WEC races.

General Le Mans Facts to Keep in Mind

Ferrari reached 11 overall Le Mans victories last year, two behind Audi for second all-time. Porsche holds the all-time lead with 19. 

Toyota is one victory away from tying Bentley for fifth all-time on six.

The United Kingdom has produced the most winners, 42 drivers combining for 45 victories. France is second with 28 drivers combining for 42 victories, but the last French winner was Benoît Tréluyer in 2014.

Davy Jones is the most recent overall American winner, coming in 1996.

Alexander Wurz remains the youngest overall winner in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans at 22 years and 91 days old. Two drivers could break that record. Malthe Jakobsen will be 21 years, seven months and 17 days old on Sunday in the #94 Peugeot. Nico Pino will be 20 years, eight months and 25 days old in the #99 Proton Porsche.

There has never been a Brazilian to win overall.

The last time a Le Mans winner had all its drivers from the same country was in 1980 when Jean Rondeau and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud won in the Rondeau M379B. The only Hypercar entry with all its drivers from the same country is the all-British #007 Aston Martin of Tom Gamble, Ross Gunn and Harry Tincknell.

The race winner has started on the front two rows the last ten years. The last time a car started worse than row three was in 2005 when the #3 Champion Racing Audi of Tom Kristensen, JJ Lehto and Marco Werner won from eighth starting spot.

Last year's 311 laps completed were the fewest for an overall winner since the McLaren F1 GTR of Yannick Dalmas, JJ Lehto and Masanori Sekiya won in 1995 with 298 laps completed. 

Michelin will match Dunlop for most victories for a tire manufacturer with 34. This will be Michelin's 28th consecutive Le Mans victory. 

Schedule

Sunday June 8 marks the Le Mans test day with two three-hour sessions, the first taking place at 4:00 a.m. ET and the second run at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Practice during race week will begin on Wednesday June 11. The first practice will be held at 11:00 a.m. ET and run for three hours. The first round of qualifying will take place at 12:45 p.m., beginning with the LMP2 and LMGT3 classes taking to the track to determine the Hyperpole participants. The first round of Hypercar qualifying will be held at 1:30 p.m. ET. Each session will be 30 minutes. Wednesday ends with night practice at 4:00 p.m. and running for two hours.

Another three-hour practice will run at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday June 12. Hyperpole qualifying will be run at 2:00 p.m. starting with LMGT3 and LMP2. Hypercar's Hyperpole session will run at 3:05 p.m. The final night practice will be a one-hour session held at 5:00 p.m.

The 15-minute warm-up session will be run at 6:00 a.m. ET on Saturday June 14 prior to the start of the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans at 10:00 p.m. ET.

Musings From the Weekend: Butterfly Effect

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

There were a street races, and Detroit wasn't a mess! Kyle Kirkwood drove like a pro to victory. A few other drivers didn't have their greatest days. Lance Stroll possibly lost his cool, and a Le Mans lineup could be shuffled because of it. Even though it is listed as a "wrist injury." Max Verstappen did lose his cool, and he lost ten seconds and 11 points. McLaren is leaving Europe on a high note. NASCAR spent a few nights in Nashville. A few things have been on my mind for a while, but something struck me early in the week, and my mind went for a wander.

Butterfly Effect

I was thinking about Dan Wheldon. The reason why will come next week. Another thought came to mind. 

If Dan Wheldon doesn't die, do we have the aeroscreen? 

Of all the feelings in the aftermath of Wheldon's fatal accident, the one that stuck out was the open cockpit of an IndyCar should be addressed to protect drivers. That didn't come immediately, and you may be ready to point out it wasn't Wheldon's death that led to the aeroscreen's introduction... it was Justin Wilson's.

But if Dan Wheldon does not lose his life in the 2011 season finale from Las Vegas Motor Speedway and he is allowed to drive for Andretti Autosport in the 2012 season as planned, is Justin Wilson in an Andretti Autosport seat for the 2015 season? 

If Wheldon lives, does Wilson live, and with two accidents erased from history, are there any initiatives for the aeroscreen and a number of safety innovations we have seen in the last 15 years from IndyCar?

But let's go a step-further. Where is James Hinchcliffe? 

If Wheldon lives, Hinchcliffe likely isn't in the Andretti Autosport seat for the 2012 season. If Hinchcliffe isn't at Andretti for 2012 and the following two seasons, where is he? Does Hinchcliffe's path still take him to Schmidt Peterson Motorsports for 2015? Is Hinchcliffe still almost fatally injured in practice for the 2015 Indianapolis 500? Do the modifications to the cockpit to prevent intrusion from shattered suspension parts take place? Does Hinchcliffe's career play out to where he is in consideration for the broadcast booth and his full-time driving career is over by 2022 at the age of 35?

Those are just three parts of an incalculable what if in IndyCar history, but let's just start with the cars. 

Much of what an IndyCar looks like in 2025 dates back to the events of October 16, 2011. Some elements were already in motion before that date. We knew IndyCar was developing bodywork intended on eliminating locking wheels that sent cars skyward. To think of it, have we seen an incident of locking wheels cause a car to take flight in the last 13 years? 

We have had cars climb over one another and the air flip one around. Each year a car spins at Indianapolis, hits the wall and once a portion of the body work has been sheered away, the damaged vehicle is lifted off the ground if only for a moment and not always fully turned upside down. Some of what we have been watching would remain unchanged. 

But do we have the aeroscreen? 

As much as we hate to admit it, humanity is slow to adopt change unless forced even if it is for the greater good of mankind. The open cockpit has always been a glaring safety issue in motorsports. A driver's head is literally out in the open for any debris, rock, bird, tennis ball, thrown ham sandwich or unidentified flying object to strike it. At speeds excessing 220 miles per hour, that is a problem no matter what the object is. Yet, despite the inherited danger of IndyCar, for decades nothing was done to address it. 

"No one got kill. Why change, am I right?" 

There were plenty of reasons given why a cockpit could not be closed, all tied to safety being worse with a closed cockpit than when a driver has his head out as an easy target for anything that happened to be flying around a race circuit to hit it. 

Take away two fatalities and we are likely in the year 2025 with no aeroscreen and people still repeating the same reasons, which on one side of the tracks are known as excuses, as to why cockpit protection would only make things worse. Don't argue that nobody would be against it. There would still be many people adamantly against it.

The world is larger than IndyCar though. A world where Wheldon and Wilson live does not mean it is a world where Jules Bianchi also does not suffer his fatal accident. Perhaps an outside force would have pushed IndyCar to at least adopting the halo. If Formula One was doing it and it was protecting drivers, IndyCar would look tone-deaf for not doing the same for its drivers. 

But even if the halo was adopted, without the full aeroscreen, are we still on the DW12 chassis? For starters, if Wheldon had lived we are not calling it the "DW12 chassis." It is the "Dallara IR12." Is the chassis that debuted in 2012 still in competition? 

The DW12 has been around for 14 seasons now, and it has seen plenty of evolutions over the years. From adopting manufacturer-specific aero kits to a universal aero kits to additional safety features to keep the cars on the ground to the aeroscreen and so on, the car is far different from from the first prototypes that were tested in 2011. 

With each new feature, it has been bolted on what has existed and not fully incorporated into the car. It gets the job done, for now. It can be fully developed into the new car. In a way, each new feature has delayed the new car. 

"Develop the aeroscreen! Bolt it on immediately! We must protect the drivers! We can worry about a new chassis later!"

If there had been no aeroscreen, is IndyCar and Dallara dragging its feet on a new car? What is under the bodywork partially dictates the timing of a new car, but come 2020 when the aeroscreen was introduced, we had already been talking about the next chassis evolution in IndyCar. If there wasn't this additional project meant to develop a new safety feature that had to be immediately introduced, would the focus have been on developing an entirely new chassis that could have been debut in 2020, engine regulations be damned? 

The counter is if nothing had really changed other than the aero kits on the car from 2012 through 2018, IndyCar would not have been in a greater push for a new car than it has been for the last few seasons despite all the changes that have occurred. 

Safety innovations would be a greater reason to developing a new chassis, and likely speed up the need for a new car rather than keeping the status quo. So maybe we would still be on the DW12 chassis with the same bodywork that has been used since the start of the 2018 season. 

Then again, if Wheldon and Wilson live, Bianchi still dies and the halo is being introduced in FIA series around the world, IndyCar might feel the pressure to make the same change, and seeing as how Dallara was developing all these chassis anyway, an IndyCar version with a halo wouldn't be that hard to adopt, and come 2019 we would have had a new car anyway.

Let's acknowledge that even in a world where the halo is being adopted around the globe, IndyCar would have been at least a year, if not two behind Formula One, and we wouldn't have seen it until 2019 or 2020. A delayed response but a response nonetheless. 

There is also the horrifying reality that though it might not have been Wheldon and Wilson who perished, it could have ended up being someone else. With the way things were, a fatal accident was bound to happen had nothing changed. If a fatal accident were to occur, then some if not all these changes are still introduced, just at different times. The DW12 could have been retired in 2017 because there was an accident that forced IndyCar to make a change and introduce a new car that was sporting a different drivers' initials. 

When it comes to the butterfly effect theory, we don't know how this moment in time would look if one event went differently. You could argue it is a wasteful exercise. I counter that it can be used to assess where you are compared to where you were. 

We know how this moment looks, and we know the general feelings around a variety of topics and how we feel about certain changes in 2025. How does that compare to the same topics and how changes were perceived ten or 15 years ago?

Whether it is a new safety feature or developments to a car or just developing an entirely new car, how have our thoughts and reactions remained unchanged and how are they different? And what can we learn in that reflection that allows us to evolve our perspectives moving forward? 

We cannot go back and change past events, but we can use our experiences from the past to guide the decisions we make moving forward.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Kyle Kirkwood, but did you know...

Oscar Piastri won the Spanish Grand Prix, his fourth victory of the season. 

Richard Verschoor (sprint) and Arvid Lindblad (feature) split the Formula Two races from Barcelona. Ivan Domingues (sprint) and Rafael Câmara (feature) split the Formula Three races. 

The #93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly won the IMSA race from Detroit. The #64 Multimatic Ford of Mike Rockenfeller and Sea Priaulx won in GTD.

Dennis Hauger won the Indy Lights race from Detroit, his fourth victory of the season.

Maximilian Günther and Nick Cassidy split the Shanghai ePrix.

Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR Cup race from Nashville. Justin Allgaier won the Grand National Series race, his third victory of the season. Rajah Caruth won the Truck race.

The #48 Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG of Lucas Auer, Matteo Cairoli and Maro Engel won the 3 Hours of Monza.

Coming Up This Weekend

MotoGP is at Aragón.

NASCAR moves into Michigan.

World Rally treks to Sardinia. 

The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters has a round at Zandvoort while some drivers will need to bolt to the Le Mans test day. 

Supercars are in Wanneroo.

First Impressions: Detroit 2025

1. There has been a clear second-best driver in IndyCar this season, and Kyle Kirkwood has a firm hold on that spot as through seven races there have only been two race winners, and Kirkwood has now won twice this season thanks to an outstanding drive in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. Kirkwood was the best car today, but it required a little extra work to pull out this victory.

Kirkwood was in control as the final round of pit stops had begun. However, Callum Ilott had an unsecured left front tire after his final pit stop and Ilott slammed into the turn one barrier to bring out a caution. Kirkwood led the field to the pit lane, but Santino Ferrucci, Kyffin Simpson and Marcus Armstrong had all made their final pit stops prior to the Ilott caution. This shuffled Kirkwood back to fourth with just over 25 laps to go. 

Victory required moves and Kirkwood made then, and in pretty quick fashion. Armstrong was vanquished in a flash. Simpson required some more aggression and some contact. Kirkwood damaged his front wing in the middle of the battle with Simpson, but it did not slow Kirkwood. He quickly overtook Ferrucci, and once in front, Kirkwood was gone. 

The red flag for Louis Foster's suspension failure and collision with Felix Rosenqvist erased the four-second gap Kirkwood had built to the rest of the field, but no one came close to challenging Kirkwood in that final stint. He pulled out another impressive gap after the final restart and won by 3.5931 seconds. 

Kirkwood was the best guy at Long Beach. He was brilliant today. Andretti Global has its street course program figured out. The team had the right strategy today starting on the alternate tire and getting off that compound early. This was going to be a three-stop race, and Kirkwood and company knew that from the beginning. There was no sense in contemplating a two-stop strategy. We would have needed at least 60 laps of caution for a two-stopper to work today just because of how quickly the alternate tire wore. Though Detroit has become famous for the amount of cautions, such a number of caution laps were an absurd expectation, and this race was going to require some aggression to win. 

This is a good turnaround from how the week started when Kirkwood's team lost a sixth-place finish in the Indianapolis 500 due to a technical infraction found post-race. Even with Álex Palou's accident today, Kirkwood, and the rest of the IndyCar field, has a lot of work to do to make this a championship fight, but the least Kirkwood can do is try and secure second. He looks up to that task.

2. It has been a while since we have had a street race where someone who was not at all in the picture had a timely combination of a pit stop and a caution lead to a near-victory. Santino Ferrucci was second today because he made his final pit stop on lap 66, the same lap Callum Ilott also made his final stop only for Ilott's crew to not get a tire properly secured. One man's unsecured tire is another man's vault to the race lead. 

Without this caution, Ferrucci probably finishes somewhere between 12th and 16th. Ferrucci was mid-pack all race. He didn't have a thing for Kirkwood, and he was a little fortunate that the late caution and red flag came out. Ferrucci lost second to Will Power prior to the Foster-Rosenqvist caution, but Power did not have the tires ready on the next restart. Power dropped to fourth and Ferrucci was able to hold off Herta. Credit to Ferrucci for holding onto second. Without that final caution, he probably finishes fifth or so. He caught a break today. Ferrucci will take it as A.J. Foyt Racing has runner-up finishes in consecutive races. 

3. Third is about right for Colton Herta, though he was better than Ferrucci. Herta probably should have been second because he ran behind Kirkwood nearly this entire race. Herta burned off his tires trying to get around Ferrucci and when that didn't work and his push-to-pass was gone, he was left playing defense against Will Power. 

Herta needed a good day. He just had to get some points on the board and make up for the tough month of May. Third is good, but Kirkwood is the better driver at the moment, and the #27 Andretti Global Honda is the best Andretti team at the moment. We don't see the #27 team make mistakes and cost itself results. Until Herta consistently is finishing in the top five and not fumbling away victories and podiums, that is how we should view the hierarchy at this team.

4. Will Power caught a break early because his first pit stop came as Felix Rosenqvist spun into the turn eight barrier to bring out a caution. Power was able to get out of the pit lane between Kirkwood and Herta, which seemed very unlikely considering how close Kirkwood and Herta had been running. With that position, Power was in the fight for a podium. 

Once he was ahead of Ferrucci, it felt the podium was secured. It didn't quite seem like Power could take the fight to Kirkwood on that last restart, but I don't think any of us thought Power would drop to fourth. His tires were not up for it after that final restart, and it easily cost Power two spots. It could have been worse, but Power also needed some points after his rough Indianapolis 500. He now has four top five finishes in the last five races. 

5. Kyffin Simpson held onto fifth. Like Ferrucci, Simpson got a break. He had been running in the middle of the pack and not quite in the top ten. The team took a chance right when the pit window opened and it paid off. Simpson has looked better this year. Entering this race, he had finished outside the top twenty in his last three races, but you almost need to throw the last two out. He was 27th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis because the car did not start. There was a gearbox issue. Simpson never made a lap, and we don't know how he would have raced. Then Simpson was caught in the path of a spinning Kyle Larson at the Indianapolis 500. Neither result was Simpson's fault.

 Let's see how the rest of the season goes. Fifth was kind today, but he has been more competitive this season.

6. Marcus Armstrong was just outside the top ten when the final round of pit stops started. Sixth is generous from how he had been running. He was good today but not this good. This is a nice consolation prize for Meyer Shank Racing after Felix Rosenqvist was caught in a late accident. This is Armstrong's best finish of the season. It is not about how you got the top ten, it is that you got a top ten, and the New Zealander has three this season. 

7. Patricio O'Ward took a risk on strategy, and the late caution may have saved him. O'Ward used the primary tires on his first two stints, but he stopped on under caution on lap 20 for his first pit stop when most of the cars that started on the primary tires when until lap 33 to lap 39. 

His second stint ran laps 21-53 with the alternate tire put on the car at lap 54. O'Ward was on a three-stop strategy, but it was a matter of how long could he go on that alternate tire. He took it at a time when he just had to go about 11 laps to get into the final window, and no one was doing more than ten or 11 laps on the alternate anyway. It was shaking out well for O'Ward. That caution may have prevented him from losing a few extra spots. If it wasn't for the lucky trio who stopped just prior to Ilott's caution, this could have been a top five day for O'Ward.

8. Christian Lundgaard kept getting shuffled back in this race. He didn't quite have what it took to remain with Kirkwood, Herta and Palou early. Then Power got ahead. Then O'Ward was ahead later in the race. The most frustrating part for Lundgaard is likely O'Ward beat him by a position. There was a 14-spot advantage to Lundgaard on the grid, and at the checkered flag O'Ward got Lundgaard by the spot. 

Lundgaard has been the better of the two drivers this season, but it has been close. I think Lundgaard sees his first battle as beating O'Ward in the championship. If he can do that, he takes the mantle at Arrow McLaren, but this is turning into a much tougher battle than how it was looking a month ago. 

9. Josef Newgarden survived to finish ninth today as Newgarden did 30 laps on the alternate tire to close the race. The cautions certainly helped. From 24th on the grid, Newgarden had to do something different. Opening with two stints on the primary tire was going to get him some positions, but he was setting himself to be in trouble on a two-stop strategy. 

I wonder if Newgarden was going to be a three-stop strategy and the Ilott caution caught him out. It felt like Newgarden could run until about lap 73 and then with 27 laps to go the #2 Penske team would have had a decision. 

Newgarden could have taken the alternate tire then and run ten laps before going back to the primary tire for the final 17 laps or so or Newgarden could have done the unthinkable, taken another set of primary tire and then made his pit stop for the alternate compound with under ten laps to go and tried to claw back spots in the sprint to the finish. 

Newgarden wasn't quite on O'Ward's strategy, so I don't think it would have worked out the same way. If the Ilott caution doesn't happen, I think Newgarden finishes 14th or 15th. Though the Ilott caution put Newgarden in a corner and he had to stretch his alternate tire further than any driver dared, it also likely got him five more positions than if the race had remained green.

10. Alexander Rossi did not look like he was positioned to get a top ten finish until he ended up tenth in the closing laps. I am not sure how Rossi got up to tenth. He was outside the top ten and even outside the top fifteen for portions of this race. 

Scott Dixon struggled in those closing laps. Scott McLaughlin was shuffled back at one point. David Malukas was given a penalty for taking out Álex Palou. There are four spots right there. Then Rosenqvist and Foster got together. That's six spots. I guess that is how Rossi got tenth.

11. We must suspend the belief that Scott Dixon is going to turn every race into a two-stop race and running 40 laps on one stint will turn into a race victory. Even though Dixon did 39 laps on his first stint, he was never winning this race today because the alternate tire was not going to last more than ten or 12 laps. 

The long first stint got Dixon track position, but he wasn't going to take the alternate tire 25 to 30 laps on his second stint to somehow pull this one out, especially considering the pace Kirkwood was running. Anyone with a brain watching this race knew the alternate tire was not lasting that long. 

It is disappointing the intelligent people who watch IndyCar did not recognize that, and they defaulted to the belief Dixon is going to work some magic. That was never happening today. I don't think Dixon should have finished 11th though. Obviously, three spots went to the three lucky ducklings who stopped prior to the Ilott caution. Dixon didn't have the pace though in the final stint, and 11th is a little harsh.

12. Scott McLaughlin caught a break because when the first caution came out for Rosenqvist's spin in turn eight, McLaughlin had not stopped and he was still on the alternate tire. It looked like he was going to shuffle back to the very back of the field and outside the top 24. Somehow, McLaughlin made his stop and came out around 14th, ahead of Kirkwood, Power, Herta and company who had all stopped prior to that caution.

I don't know how that happens. I know it happened because Detroit has the shortest pit lane. My guess is because McLaughlin stopped from the lead while the next 12 or 13 cars did not stop, it allowed McLaughlin to make his stop and pull out while Kirkwood and the rest who had already made their first stop were bogged behind the other cars going the pace of the safety car. Because Kirkwood and company were slowed down, McLaughlin could make his stop and blend out ahead of them all.

If McLaughlin had won this race, people would have lost their minds. This is something we should take a look at with the Detroit pit lane. It is not much different from the Nashville street course pit lane where we some similar occurrences of cars pitting from third and coming out in fifth despite half the field not making a pit stop.

Either way, McLaughlin performed his own act of karmic justice when he hit Nolan Siegel on the restart and McLaughlin was given a penalty for avoidable contact. This shuffled him behind all he had jumped, and McLaughlin was never able to comeback from that penalty and he was 12th. 

13. Marcus Ericsson is stuck in the middle of the pack every race. Today, it was because of a slow pit stop. Ericsson had good pace this weekend. The entire Andretti Global team was stout, but this was a missed opportunity for Ericsson. 

14. David Malukas looked poised for a top five finish, and then he nudged Álex Palou into the turn one barrier on the restart after Ilott's caution. That earned Malukas a stop-and-go penalty, and rightfully so. 

Malukas did a lot wrong today. He was swallowed up immediately at the start and went from second to fourth in no time. He settled in, was running well after that and a top five looked promising, he was definitely in line for a top ten finish, and then Malukas does this and it cost A.J. Foyt Racing a double top ten day. The Foyt team was getting lucky that it had both cars in position for top ten finishes for the second consecutive week. Malukas screwed up when the last thing the Foyt team needed from him was a mistake. 

For all the flashes that distract the masses, Malukas is error-prone. He shouldn't be in consideration for a Team Penske seat for quite some time. 

15. There are really only two other drivers outside the top 14 that deserve dedicated attention. 

Sting Ray Robb was 15th. Good for him. Do you know what he did today? I don't know! Someone had to finish 15th, and it was Sting Ray Robb. 

Robert Shwartzman was 16th. Pretty anonymous today. At least he saw the finish.

Conor Daly, whatever time you have left in IndyCar is not being extended when you keep finishing behind your teammate Sting Ray Robb. You must do better than 17th. 

Jacob Abel got his first career lead lap finish and his best finish in IndyCar as he was 18th. Good for you, Jacob! That is the first step of many left to make. 

Nolan Siegel might have been a thorn in everyone's side because Kyle Kirkwood and company came out of the pit lane behind him after their first stops. If it wasn't for McLaughlin punting Siegel, this race could have played out differently. Either way, Siegel was 19th after that incident.

16. This was a brutal day for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Graham Rahal looked to be in the running for a top ten finish and then there was a right-rear wheel nut issue that it cost him multiple laps. The strange thing is Rahal had a wheel nut issue during the morning warm-up as well. 

Devlin DeFrancesco had a loose wheel nut and he drove off course only to back up onto the course for the tire to come loose to bring out a caution as DeFrancesco drove back to the pit lane. This should have ended DeFrancesco's race because there was no need to back onto the circuit and bring out a caution. His race still ended with a mechanical issue. 

Then there was the Louis Foster accident. Foster's right front suspension failed entering the turn three hairpin, and Foster was a passenger as he bounced off the wall and into Felix Rosenqvist. Rosenqvist was collateral damage. Foster was looking to be just outside the top ten, not a great day, but a respectable one for the rookie.

This felt like a promising day for RLLR and it ended with finishes of 20th, 22nd and 23rd. Yikes.

17. Felix Rosenqvist had a strange day. He spun to bring out the first caution, but did little more than nudge the tire barrier in turn eight. He resumed driving immediately. I almost do not understand why that was a caution. Either way, Rosenqvist was still in the mix for a top ten finish, and then he was in the wrong place when Foster spun. Rosenqvist did nothing wrong. He was vastly superior than 21st in the record book will show. 

18. I don't know what happened to Christian Rasmussen that caused his race to ended after 80 laps. Rasmussen had been leading after the Rosenqvist caution early in the race because Rasmussen was the first car on the primary tire. He looked set for a top ten finish, and then we never saw nor heard what went wrong.

19. Who knew it would take David Malukas shutting his brain off for a second to end Álex Palou's hot streak? It is a shame that is how it ended. 

Palou wasn't going to win this race today. He likely wasn't going to finish on the podium either, but he was going to be fourth or fifth. This race was shaping up to be Kirkwood-Power-Herta-Palou. 

Not a bad day. Palou would have lost some ground to Kirkwood but minimal considering how Palou's season has started. 

Let's slow our roll on this meaning the championship is alive. No! This was one result where Palou was unfortunate that a driver of a quarter of his ability couldn't make it through turn one without any contact. Palou is still up 90 points on second in the championship. It is going to require someone to likely win five or six of the final ten races with another two or three podium results in there to be a serious threat to Palou. 

This was one unfortunate result. Palou isn't going to make mistakes and he isn't going to be caught in these accidents moving forward. He will likely finish in the top five in four of the next six races. Until someone is within 25 points of Palou, no one should be excited about a championship battle.

20. Callum Ilott was 26th after his poor pit stop. It is a shame because Ilott was in the running for a top fifteen result, and that is what Prema needs. It needs to check off some boxes. It got to the first race. It finished on the lead lap in the first race with both cars. It made the Indianapolis 500 and floored all of us winning pole position, but Prema needs results. It needs to work its way up the order. That unsecured wheel nut is not on Ilott. That is on the team, and we have seen constant pit lane problems for both Prema cars. 

Prema gets a week off, but the line should be drawn that this is the moment where the team starts to clean up its mistakes over the final ten races of the season.

21. Rinus VeeKay lost drive early in the race and we hardly knew what he could have done today. It is a shame because VeeKay started six and he only completed six laps.

22. Two concerns from this weekend:

One: The wheel nut issues weren't just a RLLR thing. 

Two: A number of teams lost telemetry this weekend. I know at temporary circuits there is a greater chance of a technological problem, but this was the case for many teams this weekend even into the race, and let's not forget we lost a good portion of a test day at Indianapolis in May because of Wi-Fi issues. Things happen, but this thing is happening too regularly in IndyCar circles. Let's keep an eye on this over the remaining race weekends.

23. IndyCar did not resume its experiment of requiring two sets of each tire compound to be used in the race like it had at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. I forgot about it and I wonder if IndyCar forgot about it as well because if there was ever a race to try it and have a mixed up result, it was Detroit. 

It worked today that it was a three-stop race due to the alternate compound, but entering this weekend the door was open for this being a two-stop race. I still think the added wrinkle of using each compound twice is worth it. Drivers would have had to make the alternate tire work today. No one could afford to run two stints at ten laps in length. Even if meant drivers would have had to suffer for two 15-lap stints, it opens this race up a bit. 

I think IndyCar should have tried it again this weekend. I definitely think it should be done at Road America because that is going to be a three-stop race but the pit windows are so small that there is no other strategy to play. We cannot be afraid to experiment at no additional cost. The tires are already there. It is not hurting the teams whatsoever. There is nothing to lose trying it. 

24. And now we get a week off. Good! We all need it. Onto a night race at Gateway in two weeks. Do nothing next week, boys and girls! 

Morning Warm-Up: Detroit 2025

Colton Herta scored his first pole position of the season and the 15th pole position of his IndyCar career, as Herta ran a lap of 60.477 seconds in the final round of qualifying for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. It is Herta's second consecutive pole position at Detroit. Last year, he led the first 33 laps before cautions shuffled him down the order and he ran into the tire barrier while in the middle of the pack. Herta ended a lap down in 19th. After finishes of 25th and 14th in the two races from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Herta is looking to avoid three consecutive results outside the top ten for the first time since 2022 between the Iowa doubleheader and the summer IMS road course race.

David Malukas starts second for the third time in his career, as Malukas was 0.1713 seconds off Herta's time for pole position. Malukas started second at Gateway and Milwaukee last year. His previous best start on a street course was fifth. At the Indianapolis 500, Malukas matched his career-best finish of second. Only twice has he had consecutive top ten finishes in his career. The first time were the first two races of 2023 at St. Petersburg and Texas. The next time was at Gateway and Portland later that season. 

Kyle Kirkwood ended up 0.2533 seconds shy of his Andretti Global teammate Herta, and Kirkwood will start third. After the penalties from the Indianapolis 500, Kirkwood heads to Detroit coming off the worst result of his career in 32nd. Kirkwood has finished in the top five of four consecutive street races, and he has seven consecutive top ten finishes in street races. He has finished sixth and fourth in the last two Detroit races.

Christian Lundgaard will take the outside of row two for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix in fourth. The Arrow McLaren driver was 0.4159 off pole position. Lundgaard is coming of his best finish on an oval after he was classified in seventh for the Indianapolis 500. He has five top ten finishes from the first six races. Prior to this season, his most top ten finishes from the first six races was three. He has finished 6th and 11th in the two races held on this circuit.

After Graham Rahal serves a six-spot grid penalty, Álex Palou moves up to fifth as Palou 0.9901 seconds slower than Herta in the final round of qualifying. Palou has not started worse than eighth this season, and this is his sixth consecutive race starting on one of the first three rows. Palou has finished on the podium in six consecutive races, the longest streak of his career. The last time a driver had seven consecutive podium finishes was Hélio Castroneves in the final seven races of the 2008 season.

The Rahal penalty moves Rinus VeeKay to the third row. This was the third time this season VeeKay has made the second round of qualifying, and he does it with Mike Cannon as his lead engineer. Cannon re-joined Dale Coyne Racing earlier this week. Cannon had been signed with Prema this winter before leaving the team in January. VeeKay was 0.0256 seconds from advancing to the final round. VeeKay was second in his first Belle Isle start in 2021. Since then, VeeKay has not finished better than 14th in his last four Detroit starts.

Scott McLaughlin is the top Team Penske driver on the grid in seventh. This is McLaughlin's sixth time starting inside the top ten this season. In five starts between Belle Isle and this Detroit street course, McLaughlin has finished 19th or 20th four times. He was seventh in the 2023 Detroit Grand Prix. He has not finished on the podium in a street race since he was second at Nashville in 2023.

Will Power makes it an all-Team Penske row four. In the last eight seasons, Power has only one street course victory. That was the final Belle Isle race in 2022. There have been 37 street course races since the start of the 2017 season. Power has won from eighth on the grid twice before in his career. Both came in 2016, first at Belle Isle and then at Pocono.

Marcus Armstrong moves up to ninth starting position after Rahal's penalty, as well as a six-spot grid penalty to Scott Dixon, who initially qualified tenth. Armstrong has made it to the second round of qualifying in five races this season, but he has yet to finish better than seventh. He went from 19th to third last year at Detroit, his first career podium finish. Armstrong has led a lap in four of the first six races this season. 

Christian Rasmussen takes tenth on the grid, his best starting position since he started eighth at Mid-Ohio last July. Rasmussen wound up finishing ninth in that Mid-Ohio race, his first top ten finish in IndyCar. Rasmussen is coming off a career-best result of sixth in the Indianapolis 500. It was his second career top ten result. Rasmussen was the only driver to fail to finish in last year's Detroit race. 

A six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change at the Indianapolis 500 knocks Graham Rahal from fifth on the grid to 11th, but this was the first time Rahal made the Fast Six on a street course since Long Beach 2019. Including Belle Isle, Rahal's average finish in the last three Detroit Grand Prix is 22nd. Rahal has not had a top five finish on a street course since he was fifth at Toronto in 2022.

Marcus Ericsson missed out on the second round by 0.0102 seconds, but he will start 12th after Scott Dixon's six-spot grid penalty from tenth on the grid. Three of Ericsson's 11 podium finishes have come in Detroit, Michigan. Two of those were at Belle Isle with the other on this course last season. The only track were Ericsson has finished in a podium position in consecutive years is Indianapolis 500 where he was second in 2023 the year after he won the race in 2022. 

Louis Foster fell 0.0081 seconds shy of making it through group two, and this places the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver 13th. Foster has started better than 14th in four of seven races this season. The Briton has finished 11th and 12th in the last two races after he did not finish in the top fifteen of the first four races of the season.

Felix Rosenqvist was 0.0435 seconds from advancing out of group one. Instead, Rosenqvist starts 14th, matching his worst starting spot of the season. Rosenqvist has three top five finishes from the first six races. Only twice in his career has he had at least four top five finishes in a season. The Swede had six top five finishes in 2019 and four in 2023.

Alexander Rossi starts on the inside of row eight. This is Rossi's worst starting position since he qualified 20th for St. Petersburg in March. Rossi has gone 14 races without a top five finish, the longest slump of his career. His previous worst was a ten-race streak from the 2020 St. Petersburg finale through the first nine races of the 2021 season.

Scott Dixon has a six-spot grid penalty after taking his fifth engine of the season, and this will drop Dixon from tenth on the grid to 16th. It has been one year since Dixon's most recent victory, which came at Detroit last year. A record eight of his 58 career victories have come from a starting position outside the top ten. The last time Dixon won a track in consecutive years was at Texas in 2020 and in 2021. 

Callum Ilott takes 17th on the grid, just under a tenth of a second from making it to round two, but this is the second time Ilott has started inside the top twenty this season. He started 16th at Barber Motorsports Park. After his disqualification from the Indianapolis 500, Ilott has been classified outside the top twenty in five consecutive races. Among the drivers to start all six races this season, Ilott is last on points with 45, 18 points behind the next closest driver.

Patricio O'Ward finds himself in 18th, ending a streak of five consecutive races starting in the top ten. This is the fifth time in the last six street races O'Ward is starting outside the top ten, and his best starting spot in that span was ninth at Long Beach in April. He did go from 23rd to 11th at St. Petersburg in March. O'Ward was second and third in the two races from Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He has never had three consecutive podium finishes in his IndyCar career.

Kyffin Simpson will start on the inside of row ten in 19th, eight spots better than last year when Simpson started 27th in this race. Since finishing tenth at Long Beach, Simpson's average finish is 24.333. He has failed to finish on the lead lap in all three of those events, and notably was unable to start the Grand Prix of Indianapolis due to a gearbox problem. Simpson had completed every lap in the first three races.

After failing to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, Jacob Abel returns and scores his best starting position of the season. Abel will roll off from 20th position. His previous best was 23rd at Thermal Club. He had started on row 13 in his other four starts. In three Indy Lights starts on this course, Abel had finishes of fourth, ninth and fifth.

Santino Ferrucci will start 21st, and this will be the tenth consecutive race Ferrucci has started outside the top ten. He does have four top ten finishes in his last nine starts however. In nine starts between Belle Isle and this Detroit street course, Ferrucci has four top ten finishes. Seven of Ferrucci's 31 career top ten finishes have come from a starting spot outside the top twenty.

Last week, Robert Shwartzman started on the inside of row one. This week, Shwartzman will start on the outside of row 12 in Detroit. Shwartzman led the first laps of his career last week in the Indianapolis 500. Those were also Prema's first laps led in IndyCar.

Devlin DeFrancesco finds himself starting 23rd. DeFrancesco is coming off a career-best 11th-place result at Indianapolis. This will be the 41st start of his career and DeFrancesco is still looking for his first career top ten finish. He was 12th in his only start at this track in 2023.

Josef Newgarden hit the wall in qualifying, and that means Newgarden will start 24th for Detroit. Newgarden's top five finish slump is up to five races, his longest since 2018 when he went five races without a top five result over the two May races from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Belle Isle doubleheader and Texas. Newgarden has not gone six races without a top five finish since a 13-race stretch over the final two races of 2013 and the first 11 races of 2014. Four times has Newgarden finished in the top five after starting outside the top twenties. The most recent time was last year at Iowa going from 22nd to third.

Conor Daly ended up last in group one, placing Daly 25th on the grid. This is his worst stating position of the season. Daly has not had a top ten finish on a street course since he was sixth in the second Belle Isle race in 2016. He has made 23 street course starts since then. Daly was eighth last week at Indianapolis. He has not had consecutive top ten finishes since he was 2022 when he was fifth and sixth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Indianapolis 500 respectively.

The two Juncos Hollinger Racing cars will be starting next to one another on the grid with Sting Ray Robb in 26th. Though he was ninth at Long Beach, Robb as finished outside the top twenty in the other five races this season. In his two Detroit starts, Robb has finished 22nd and 21st.

Mechanical woes plagued Nolan Siegel's qualifying, and Siegel will start 27th after only running two laps. Despite having an accident on the final lap of the Indianapolis 500, Siegel has finished in the top fifteen in three consecutive races. He had only four top fifteen finishes in his previous 15 starts.

Fox's coverage of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix will begin at 12:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 12:52 p.m. The race is scheduled for 100 laps.