Overheard in Austin – Saturday (Update)

Pole king Will Power

UPDATE For those of you who may have read this article late last night when it was originally posted, or early this morning, it has been updated below.

03/24/19 Saturday was noticeably cooler and more overcast than Friday at the Circuit of the Americas, but except for a few light rain drops, the day remained dry and the spectators, perhaps 10,000 in number sat in comfortable temperatures to watch what turned out to be an exciting IndyCar qualifying session.

By winning the pole, Will Power is the only driver eligible to take home the $100,000 bonus for the driver who wins both the pole and the race. To win the pole in the Fast Six session Power was the lone Chevy against five other Hondas. But that did not stop arguably the best IndyCar qualifier in modern history from slaying all those Hondas with the help of some smart Team Penske strategy.

Poor Simon Pagenaud, who is in the last year of his contract with Team Penske, got caught out by Kanaan's red flag. He was one of three drivers.

The Hondas appeared to hold the upper hand going into qualifying, and they did have 5 cars in the top-6, just not the most important position. Power and Team Penske elected to make two different red tire runs in the Fast Six session and it was on that 2nd run that Power had enough to beat then polesitter Alexander Rossi. Power was perfect when he had to be and he now is only 11 pole behind the all-time pole winner Mario Andretti. At the rate he is going he will likely surpass Andretti, but different era, different times. While Andretti was racing full-time in F1 for 8 years in his prime, he was not adding to his record tally. Had Andretti focused solely on IndyCar racing, his total would likely be over 80 poles and out of reach of everyone. Like I said, different era, different times.

Several drivers got caught out in the first round of qualifying when Tony Kanaan spun and brought out a red flag to end the Group 2 Session 1 qualifying that prevented Alexander Rossi, Sebastien Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud from completing a lap on the faster red tires. Only Alexander Rossi turned a fast enough lap on the harder black tires to go through to the Fast 12 session. Pagenaud and Bourdais were out.

While part of the blame falls on the shoulders of the three drivers who waited to go out late, part of the blame has to also be on IndyCar. On these long tracks with lap times close to 2-minutes, the session times are too short. By the time a driver completes their warm-up lap and then a fast lap or two, a lot of time is expended. The first runs are always on black tires (because IndyCar does not give the teams enough sets of red tires) so by the time they spend half the session on the black tires, then pit to change to red tires, time runs out quickly. And because the track gets faster as it gets rubbered in, if you set your laps too early in the session you might not be fast enough to be in the top-6. The problem is accentuated with the long lap times here.

Hat's off to those Rookies

Colton Herta

We told you to keep your eye on this year's crop of rookies. Felix Rosenqvist outqualified his veteran teammate Scott Dixon again, Santino Ferrucci outqualified teammate Sebastien Bourdais (though Bourdais got screwed by Kanaan's red flag), Patricio O'Ward easily beat his Carlin teammate Max Chilton in his first race with the team, and Colton Herta qualified 4th quick.

Honda quick, but…..

While the Honda powered cars missed pole position because of Will Power's sensational lap, Hondas dominated qualifying with 5 of the 6 top times and Honda powered Felix Rosenqvist turned the overall fastest lap of the weekend in the Fast 12 Session, setting the official IndyCar lap record at 1m45.454s.

However, as we know, Honda has lost three engines in less than 2 events (tomorrow's race could see more pop) and Honda is not admitting to what exactly is breaking. We hear it's piston related. And we learned today that Alexander Rossi is on his 2nd of four Honda engines for the year already. Word is Honda made a change to the engine in the hope they have fixed the issue. However, that puts Rossi in a hole with regard to engine count, unless they put the first engine back in the car for practice sessions until it mileages out with the hope it does not blow early. Of course Hunter-Reay, Bourdais and Herta are already on their 2nd engine due to their blown engines.

Two Reds or One?

Newgarden did the two red tire stint at St. Pete

Josef Newgarden won the St. Petersburg GP by using the red tires in two of the three stints in the race, while just about everyone else ran two stints on blacks and one on reds. We asked in today's post-qualifying press conference whether anyone might try the same strategy here.

Will Power said, "I don't know. I think the Reds are going to be better. I think, one second difference in qualifying, surely it's going to be better in the race."

But the other drivers were not buying it. No one wanted to admit which strategy they may use.

Is IndyCar here to stay?

There is no question that everyone in the paddock loves the COTA track. There’s no doubt that Circuit of the Americas was made for Formula One and far above the standards of the average IndyCar track..

IndyCar is making its debut at the venue this weekend with the inaugural IndyCar Classic. Might they put on a better show than F1?

Hunter-Reay starts 3rd.

“It’s a premier racetrack in this country," said Graham Rahal. “You can list the amount of premier racetracks in this country on one hand. I love the classics; there’s no doubt they are still my favorites. But you go out (to COTA), and it deserves to be ranked up there with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That’s going to take time to build that heritage and legacy, but there’s no reason this venue can’t."

Alexander Rossi remains the only American to compete in F1 at COTA, finishing 12th in the rain-soaked 2015 USGP. Rossi joined IndyCar in 2016 and won the Indianapolis 500 that spring.

The 27-year-old Californian said he is excited for the chance to put his stamp on the venue.

“When I’ve come here in the past, I came into the weekend fully knowing there was no chance to ever really do anything from a results perspective," Rossi said. “To be able to come here this weekend to a track that I’ve spent a lot of time at, to be able to come into it competing on a level where we have as good a shot as any to win the race, is pretty cool. For sure there’s almost an ‘unfinished business’ box that you’d like to check."

The cars aren’t as fast as F1′s, but IndyCar prides itself on parity. That’s one thing the other marquee events at COTA lack, exemplified by Hamilton’s and Marquez’s dominance. The thrilling 2018 USGP, won by Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari, was more of an exception than the rule.

Hopefully Sunday's race will make the fans beg for more IndyCar.

Funny Moment

Super Truck action

Perhaps the funniest moment of the weekend was when Marcus Ericsson crashed head first into the wall in Turn 19. One of the AMR Safety guys was in a Porta John on the other side of the wall and the impact shook the Porta John. The AMR guy came flying out of the Port John still zipping up his private parts. It got a big laugh in the media center. (see video)

Perhaps the only thing funnier would have been if the impact tipped the Porta John over door first into the ground.

Now frame this scene………..where do you think the crap in the Porta John tank would have ended up when it hit the ground? That's right, and the AMR guy would have not been able to get the door open as it would have been pinned shut. The poor fella would have returned to the safety truck smelling, shall we say, a bit ripe.

Best Action of the Weekend

Once again Robby Gordon's Stadium Super Trucks were a big hit. IndyCar should have made Robby Gordon an offer he could not refuse and the Stadium Super Trucks should be at every IndyCar race.

McLaren Fulltime in 2020 or 2021

Rumor has it that one of the bombshell game-changer announcements IndyCar will make in May at Indy is McLaren announcing they will run fulltime in IndyCar starting in 2020 or 2021. It could be delayed until 2021 when the new car and engine era begins.

What About the other Bombshell announcement?

Take your pick:

A. A third engine manufacturer is announced – rumors suggest Toyota or BMW as two potentials
B. Liberty announces they will take partial or full ownership of IndyCar and use their global TV ties to F1 to get IndyCar broadcast globally on the same networks as F1, thereby increasing IndyCar's value to sponsors tenfold
C. Two new international races are announced to kickoff the season each year – Australia, Mexico City and Argentina are the strongest possibilities. Logistically Mexico City and Argentina make the most sense. Less travel, lower cost, and a good time-zone for TV broadcasts in the USA and the rest of North America.

Mark C. reporting from Austin