Belle Isle

[captjohn67]

16-9 (+10.04) last race here, going to downtown next year. This place is rough and beats the living shit out of you and the car. Veekay +1600 and Rahal +3000 would be the value plays but I’m passing. Driver history

Track Details - Racing-Reference

 

[captjohn67]

Felix found the tires, Pagenaud had an engine issue but rebounded nicely, and low and behold who topped the chart on the first session. Not sure what’s up with Penske as I thought they typically had an advantage here with their dampers. I’ll dig deeper in the morning. Happy Friday gentlemen

 

[captjohn67]

Oh and the long rumored Rossi to McLaren has been confirmed for next year. There’s talk of a third car and a big name but we’ll just wait till that’s been inked. All kinds of shit being tossed around

 

[captjohn67]

Nothing to do with the race, but shocks/ dampers are one of the few things Indycar let’s you experiment with being that it’s a spec series. Didn’t realize they had been around since ‘88.

Penske Racing Shocks

 

[captjohn67]

Kellett hammers the wall, JJ spins, Malukis punts Kirkwood and Pagenaud dies on the track. That’s both sessions he’s had issues now but both Meyer cars are fast.

 

[captjohn67]

 

[captjohn67]

Actually Kirkwood says it wasn’t Malukis fault, it was a mechanical issue. Regardless , we’re working on some possible fades.

 

[captjohn67]

Ferrucci subbing for Ilott (hand) and rumor is he might be a teammate next year at Juncos. Honestly think he deserves a better ride than that, but getting back in the series is deserved imo. Minimal chance of rain tomorrow so let’s see how qualifying shakes out

 

[captjohn67]

Last-lap magic wins Detroit GP pole for Newgarden

Will be looking to fade Kirkwood with the damaged hand. Need to see what Grosjean looks like in the warmup in the morning but thinking the same. Will they match Malukis up with the typical lower tier guys? If they do he’ll be juiced to hell. I’m guessing they’ll matchup Palou and Power. Kellet didn’t get his car repaired in time so he’s a warmup watch too. Harvey was 13th in points last year and went to a better team and has just flat out sucked. We have a lot of possible angles so let’s see what they offer

 

[captjohn67]

 

[captjohn67]

And Rahal has always struggled with qualifying, but damn almighty JJ got him. And does anybody else have the feeling Sato just fucks this up all to hell? I sure do. I’m feeling mayhem tomorrow

 

[captjohn67]

Ok, so the drivers are saying the reds fall off dramatically after just 4-5 laps. If you want to do a two stop race you need to make it 12-14 laps. Simply put there is no way in hell that’s going to happen. I’m guessing the vast majority will start on blacks? I’ll find that info hopefully. Warm up session soon. Honda -150 Chevy seems cheap considering they own 9 of the top 12 spots but I’m passing

 

[captjohn67]

Warm up

 

[captjohn67]

JJ spun and had minor front wing damage. Please don’t match him with Kellett

 

[captjohn67]

Well, shows you what I know. Guess they want to get them on and get it over with. I would have thought they would have wanted to run a longer stint first. Going to be crazy sliding after 5 laps.

 

[captjohn67]

Daly -103 Harvey

Ericsson-108 McLaughlin

 

[captjohn67]

Like Dixon over Power but not at -143. Going to be a slim card unless they post something else

 

[captjohn67]

Dixon -128 Grosjean. That’s it for me. Cheers and GLTA

 

[DaRaiders]

Best of luck Cap