Singleseaters

24 cars for season opener

Friday June 5th, 2020 Jens Jensen

The 2020 NTT IndyCar Series will finally get underway this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The season was scheduled to start in March, and all the teams had made it to St. Petersburg, Florida, but that was right on the week where the COVID-19 situation exploded, so everybody ended up packing their trucks and went home. 24 cars are entered for the race at the Texas oval. There could have been 25, but Carlin decided to pull their car #31. The car didn’t have any full season driver for the…

Opening round confirmed and final pushed back

Sunday May 24th, 2020 Jens Jensen

The ADAC GT Masters have confirmed their opening round for the 2020 season. The date will still be on 31 July and 1 August, but the event will be at the Lausitzring between Berlin and Dresden. ADAC GT Masters last visited the circuit in 2017. When the updated schedule was announced one and a half months ago, it was also that date, but with the choice of either Most in the Czech Republic or Lausitzring. The series has chosen to stay in Germany due to the uncertainty about possible travel…

2020 Indycar schedule adjusted again

Saturday May 23rd, 2020 Jens Jensen

The 2020 NTT IndyCar Series schedule has once again been adjusted. The reason is, of course, the COVID-19 situation, which has resulted in the first part of the season getting yet another new look. Texas Motor Speedway will still open the season on 6 June, but the rest of June has been scrapped. That makes Road America move to July, replacing the Toronto race – and actually becoming a double round on this classic venue. A race that won’t happen, nor be replaced, is the Richmond oval, which was scheduled…

Toronto postpones 2020 race

Monday May 18th, 2020 Jens Jensen

Toronto has postponed their planned NTT IndyCar Series race for 2020. The reason is of course the ongoing COVID-19 situation, and since it’s a street race, the track build needs to be started very early. The people in charge don’t see that safe enough for health reasons – at least not on the original July date. The organizers do however state that they are working on an alternative date for 2020. But there are not may gaps left in the revised schedule that Indycar released early April. The only gaps…

Date for Indycar season finale revealed

Wednesday May 13th, 2020 Jens Jensen

The NTT IndyCar Series has announced the date for the 2020 season finale. St. Petersburg, Florida will host the event on 25 October. This is the second time in 2020, for the trucks to roll into the parking area in St. Petersburg, since all the field had made it to the track in March, where the opening round should have been run. The event was cancelled a few hours before Indycar was to go out for practice, but instead everybody should pack up, and go back to their COVID-19 shelters…

Indycar sticks to June start

Friday May 8th, 2020Friday May 8th, 2020 Jens Jensen

NTT IndyCar Series is committed to starting the 2020 season in June. Texas Motor Speedway has been on top of the schedule for a month now, following the street race in Detroit was cancelled due to COVID-19. The race will be run on Saturday 6 June, and will be a night race with start 8.45 PM eastern time. The full race event will unfold over just a single day, with a single practice session, and the qualifying happening during the afternoon. There won’t be any spectators allowed into the track,…

ADAC GT Masters et al. with new schedule

Friday April 10th, 2020Friday April 10th, 2020 Jens Jensen

ADAC GT Masters and their support series have had to reissue their 2020 schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season will still contain 7 race weekends, but instead of being run over five months, it will all happen in just under three months. The new start to the season will be in the Czech Republic at Most – or potentially Lausitzring if there are limitations to the entry to the country, before Nürburgring, Zandvoort, Hockenheim and Sachsenring stick to their previously announced dates. Red Bull Ring has moved their…

Detroit cancelled, Indycar replaces

Monday April 6th, 2020Saturday December 26th, 2020 Jens Jensen

Detroit Grand Prix has been cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 virus, affecting both the NTT IndyCar Series and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Both series were supposed to race in The Motor City the last weekend of May, but that event has officially been taken off both schedules. IMSA states that they are working on a possible replacement later in the year, but there is nothing final just yet. There is about one month gap between Petit Le Mans and the final at Sebring, so they might be…

Indianapolis events changes Indycar schedule

Thursday March 26th, 2020Saturday December 26th, 2020 Jens Jensen

The NTT IndyCar Series has really shaken up the schedule for the 2020 season. The reason for the huge changes is, of course, the COVID-19 virus, which already has eaten up the first races of the calendar. Latest news from Indycar is the two events at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including the Indy 500, will be moved to later in the season. The Detroit races at the end of May are still on the schedule, followed by Texas Motor Speedway. The Road America and Richmond races keep their June dates, while…

Long Beach cancelled plus no testing and various other themes

Thursday March 19th, 2020Saturday December 26th, 2020 Jens Jensen

The planned Long Beach Grand Prix has been definitely cancelled for 2020. The race was originally announced as delayed last week, but the organizers have decided that it won’t happen this year, neither for the NTT IndyCar Series nor the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The issue with Long Beach is that it’s a street circuit, so all the roads have to be closed and a lot of preparation with the armco and fences etc. The race will return in 2021, when everything is back to normal again. Indycar has also…

ADAC GT Masters postpone and moves around

Tuesday March 17th, 2020Saturday December 26th, 2020 Jens Jensen

There is hardly any race series in the world that isn’t affected by the COVID-19 virus. ADAC GT Masters is the most recent one to be hit, and it resulted in the opening race planned for the end of April in Oschersleben being postponed until October. It changes the event from being the opening round to being the final round of the 2020 series. Oschersleben was scheduled to host the collective test early April, but that has been cancelled and won’t be replaced. There is still no decision on Round…

Indycar postpones start of season

Friday March 13th, 2020Saturday December 26th, 2020 Jens Jensen

The NTT IndyCar Series has chosen to postpone the start of the 2020 season. Despite a press release issued Thursday afternoon local time, the series has given a second thought Friday morning, and has cancelled this weekend’s race in St. Petersburg. The next round at Long Beach was already cancelled by the city itself yesterday, and now the series have chosen to also cancel Round three at Circuit Of The Americas. That leave no races left on the calendar for the whole of March and April, so the earliest race…

St. Pete to race without spectators

Thursday March 12th, 2020Saturday December 26th, 2020 Jens Jensen

The NTT IndyCar Series has announced that the opening race of the 2020 season will run as planned this weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida. But there won’t be any spectators at the race, and with only a very limited number of photographers and journalists. That is done after coordinating with the local health authorities, due to the worldwide COVID-19 virus. Several states in the USA has already forbidden big gatherings, and that ruling has now come to St. Petersburg as well. NASCAR announced earlier today, that they would do exactly…

Carlin with several announcements

Tuesday March 10th, 2020Saturday December 26th, 2020 Jens Jensen

Carlin has been busy with the driver announcements for the NTT IndyCar Series today. Max Chilton has been the only announced driver for the two-car team for a long time but was previously only mentioned for the road- and street courses. The team has clarified that he will try to qualify for the Indy 500, but that will be the only oval race for the Brit this year. He will hand car #59 over to Conor Daly for the rest of the oval races. Daly will do all the road-…

NTT IndyCar Series 2020 preview – updated

Monday March 9th, 2020Saturday December 26th, 2020 Jens Jensen

The NTT IndyCar Series starts the 2020 season this weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida. There has a huge visual change over the winter. All cars have been mounted with a windshield, the so-called Aeroscreen, which will protect the drivers from flying debris from other cars. While Formula 1 was chosen the HALO system, with just a harness over the drivers head, and a pylon in front of the drivers, Indycar has gone for the fully enclosed version, with ballistic “glass” just like on a fighter plane. Red Bull Technologies has…

7 time champion to test Indycar

Sunday March 8th, 2020Saturday December 26th, 2020 Jens Jensen

The 7 time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson will be testing an NTT IndyCar Series car next month. Johnson will test at Berber Motorsports Park in April, in a testing opportunity that Arrow McLaren SP has arranged for him. A few heads were turned last month, when Johnson showed up for pre-season testing at COTA, but only as an interested spectator at McLaren, to follow them a bit. McLaren and Johnson have had dealings in the past, when Johnson tested a Formula 1 car, while Alonso drove his NASCAR during fall…

Pigot in two Indycar races in 2020

Friday February 28th, 2020Saturday December 26th, 2020 Jens Jensen

Spencer Pigot will do two NTT IndyCar Series races in 2020. The American racing driver has signed a contract with the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing with Citrone/Buhl Autosport outfit, where he will race the GMR Grand Prix and Indy 500 – i.e. the two races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While the first part of the team name is well-known, the Citrone/Buhl is a brand new collaboration between Tom and Robert Citrone plus Robbie Buhl. Citrone has a connection to the NFL team Pittsburgh Steelers, while Buhl is a former Indycar…

Alonso officially confirmed for Indy 500

Tuesday February 25th, 2020Saturday December 26th, 2020 Jens Jensen

After many months of speculations, it’s finally confirmed: Fernando Alonso will drive the 104th Indianapolis 500, which will be run on 24 May 2020. The 38-year-old Spaniard will race for Arrow McLaren SP, in the team’s third car for the Indy 500. The rumours have been floating around for months, and through a big part of last fall and during the winter, and everything pointed towards Andretti Autosports. There was however a small issue, since they race with Honda engines, and Honda in Japan still haven’t forgotten the less than…

At least three races for Hinchcliffe

Wednesday February 19th, 2020 Jens Jensen

James Hinchcliffe will do at least three races in the NTT IndyCar Series 2020 season. The Canadian has made a deal with Andretti Autosport, where he will race car #29. His first race will be the GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis road course early May, Indy 500 at the end of May, and the Texas 600 on early June. Hinchcliffe lost an otherwise secure seat at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (SPM), when McLaren got involved in the team, resulting in a change from Honda to Chevrolet engines. Hinch is synonymous…

Chilton back at Carlin

Saturday February 8th, 2020Saturday February 8th, 2020 Jens Jensen

Max Chilton is back at Carlin for the NTT IndyCar Series 2020. It will, however, be 2/3 of a season, since the Brit has chosen to skip all the ovals, just like he did post-Indy 500 in 2019. That makes him present at 12 out of 17 rounds, with the streets of St. Petersburg being the first of those in March. The former Formula 1 driver has never really found his place in Indycar, despite this being his fifth season. It is always tough to see if it’s all down…