Indycar 2022

Oh right, I've forgotten to update here for the rest of the west coast swing. Oops. Anyhow...

LONG BEACH SEASON FINALE

The championship comes down to the iconic Long Beach Grand Prix this Sunday, as three drivers (well, really two barring some absolute mares) battle it out to take the IndyCar title. Álex Palou holds a hefty 35 point lead over Pato O'Ward, with Josef Newgarden a further 15 points back (still in contention, but needs a god-roll to win).

Schedule

Friday 24th

• Practice 1 — 11pm

Saturday 25th

• Practice 2 — 5pm (Sky F1)
• Qualifying — 8pm (Sky F1)

Sunday 26th

• Warmup — 5pm
• Race — 8pm (Sky F1)
• Green flag — 8:45pm

2022 SCHEDULE

Oh yea this thing also came out over the weekend.

Grosjean to Andretti in the DHL car is now confirmed, he is also bringing over his race engineer from DCR which is huge news because aside from Herta's brilliance the rest of the Andretti cars are slow and look to have engineering issues. Devlin DeFrancesco is tipped to step up from Indy Lights to take Hinchliffe's drive

Herta has to be a contender to win next season. He's ridiculously quick.

Commentary team said they think it's to cover if Dixon wins the race as that would push down to 4th in championship. If he can some points he could still finish 3rd maybe even second if newgarden runs into an issue.

Alex Palou has been brilliant and a deserved champion. To come from somewhat obscurity as a middling GP3 driver to win the Indycar championship in the most competitive field in 20 years in just his 2nd season really is incredible I don't think anyone saw this coming pre-season

So frustrating for Pato to have his season end with questionable qualifying times knocking him out of the Fast 6 and that clown Jones taking him out on Lap 1. With McLaren taking majority ownership of the team next season and a likely 3rd car to be added he will have a much better opportunity next season

Herta taking the final two wins this season may be an ominous sign for next season, the extent he has outperformed his high calibre Andretti teammates driving an often poor handling car is outrageous

Barring another major world-altering event, the weekend of February 27th.

Perfect signing for a team whose focus is the Indy 500, probably the best oval driver in the business.

Nico Hulkenberg to test in the Arrow McLaren IndyCar at Indianapolis next week for an evaluation.

It would be great to see him in IndyCar.

2022 is definitely going to carry momentum for the series way things are going. 26 cars minimum for every race, Iowa double header boosting the ovals races slightly, Grosjean full-time in a top team, Jimmie Johnson probably going to do Indy 500 and new 2023 hybrid formula testing to commence

I think signs are looking good that Hulk will end up in that 3rd McLaren, it may be limited to part-time on the road courses but he would be some addition for even a handful of races

Christian Lundgaard has signed to drive the 3rd Rahal/Letterman car on a multi-year deal with backing from Alpine, Jack Harvey signed last week team to drive their Hyvee car I thought Ferrucci would have got that drive

Strong rumours that Michael Andretti raised capital to buy an F1 team likely Sauber/Alfa Romeo which would see Colton Herta end up in F1 next season or at latest 2023

A great one, RIP Al.

Tatiana Calderon has secured a part-time road course drive with Foyt, it's been a few years now since there was a female regular season driver since the days of Danica and Simona. I will be surprised if she is not battling it out at the back of the field with her teammate Kellett not sure how that's going to help Kyle Kirkwood in that team

Really looking forward to what I'm sure is going to be another great season. Not a whole lot of driver changes from the 20 drivers returning this season, only 4 are in new drives but alot of interest on Grosjean to see if he will win races with Andretti. Pagenaud moving to Meyer Shank to team with Castroneves also a big move to see where that team goes after their Indy 500 win in 2021

Rookie battles should be interesting too, most eyes on ex F2 drivers Ilott and Lundgaard and Indy lights champ Kirkwood, Lundgaard is in by far best position to challenge for wins in a very decent 3 car RLL team. David Malukas is a talented young driver too I'm interested to see what he do at Dale Coyne with Sato as his teammate. I don't think DeFrancesco and Calderon are yet ready for this level they will have alot of work to do to prove they are more than ride buyers

Hard to call who will win the title but you have to expect it will be a Ganassi or Penske again Palou should be confident. I hope Pato and Arrow McLaren/SP can develop more consistency to challenge the for the title Rosenqvist has to step up this season to assist on that front, watching for Andretti to see if they get act together on their engineering because then you will have Herta, Rossi and maybe Grosjean in the mix

Also Kildare driver James Roe Jr is competing in Indy Lights this season so Lights definitely worth a watch for some home interest

Huge statement for McLaughlin at the start of his 2nd full season ahead, really impressive performance looks like he is going to go up a level this season looking forward to see if he can carry this display through the race with the competition that is going to be chasing him down

Chevy powered cars performing alot better than expected on a more Honda friendly street track with Veekay back on impressive form in 4th and Kirkwood 11th/Kellett 14th showing massive improvement in performance in the usually struggling AJ Foyt cars. On the flip side of the Chevy cars that's a disastrous qualifying for Arrow McLaren early signs not good if Pato is to challenge for the title again

Fair play to Scott McLaughlin. Drove a great race. I was expecting some drama at the end but he certainly held off Palou like he's been doing this all his life.

That was outstanding by McLaughlin particularly that first stint on the reds to make them last that long that was the defining sequence of the race. Alot of talented drivers can take their 2nd full season to come good in Indycar, in fairness to him I think he may have been saddled with the 4th best Penske car and crew last season like a test/developmental team now he was a new race engineer/more experienced crew he looks as legitimate a threat as Newgarden and Power will be this season

If anyone was thinking Alex Palou was a one season wonder he answered that emphatically with his own excellent performance staring 10th to finish 2nd and push McLaughlin all the way, 8 of the top 10 on starting grid finished in the top 10 in the race it was a difficult race to move up the grid on a tight track with hardly any cautions

Arrow McLaren pitstop nightmares. Some clatter the mechanic got.

Nobody talk to Zak Brown for the next 24 hours.

I was sick after it, had McLoughlin backed at 18/1.

Anyways it was a great race with different drivers getting big runs at different stages. Newgarden looked good early then fell back, maybe on purpose, but timed it perfectly for the win.

Jimmy Johnson had a great day, looks like he is getting used to Indycar now. He could win one soon. I think I'll back him in the big one.

ROUND 3 — LONG BEACH

All sessions on Sky F1.

Friday 8th April

• 11:15pm — Practice 1

Saturday 9th April

• 4:45pm — Practice 2
• 8:05pm — Qualifying

Sunday 10th April

• 8:00pm — Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach
• 8:45pm — Green flag (85 laps)

Yeah looks like Colton is great in front but has no patience when he's behind. His pit crew cost him that race with the slow stop in fairness but he needs to learn to have patience and wait for the opening.

Kanaan up to 228mph already, Jimmy Johnson was one of three who did 227. We are a long way off yet but I'm starting to think we could have our highest speeds ever in this year's 500.

ROUND 4 — BARBER

Friday 29th April

• 7:45pm — Indy Lights Practice {streaming only}
• 9pm — IndyCar Practice 1 {streaming only}

Saturday 30th April

• 3pm — IndyCar Practice 2 {Sky F1, or streaming}
• 5pm — Indy Lights Qualifying {streaming only}
• 6pm — IndyCar Qualifying {Sky F1, or streaming}
• 8:35pm — Indy Lights Final Practice {streaming only}
• 10:20pm — IndyCar Final Practice {streaming only}

Sunday 1st May

• 3:55pm — Indy Lights Race (35 laps) {streaming only}
• 6:00pm — Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama {Sky F1}
• 6:05pm — Green flag (90 laps)

Within the last month, IndyCar finally launched an OTT web streaming service of all non-TV-exclusive sessions; which for us is everything except the race. Signup is required to watch, but broadcasts are free.

The IndyCar sessions can be watched at https://www.staylive.io/indycar, and the Indy Lights sessions at https://www.staylive.io/indylights.

Only one race this year?

Will Power loves this one. Veekay won race 1 last year iirc. He might be the guy, he'll be keen for a win to try and put Alabama behind him.