Tag: Chip Ganassi Racing

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IndyCar News

Three Cars In The Top Ten In St Pete For Ganassi Including A Podium

The 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season-opening Firestone Grand Prix presented by RP Funding showed us all one thing and that is despite a tricky start to the weekend in terms of pace, you can never count out Chip Ganassi Racing.

Ganassi managed to have three of their four cars finish inside the top ten in Sunday’s 100 lap race on the streets of St Petersburg.

In the opening practice session for the race on Friday, Marcus Ericsson in the No.8 Huski Chocolate Honda was the fastest of Ganassi’s four cars in 15th place.

Defending series champion, Alex Palou in the No.10 NTT DATA Honda was 17th while six-time champion Scott Dixon in the No.9 PNC Bank Honda was 19th.

Jimmie Johnson ended the opening session in 24th place in his No.48 Carvana American Legion Honda.

In the second practice session on Saturday morning there was a bit of an improvement from the team with Alex Palou ending the session in seventh place.

Marcus Ericsson improved to 13th while Scott Dixon was 20th. Jimmie Johnson was 26th.

In qualifying for Sunday’s race, Scott Dixon was the leading Ganassi car in seventh place while Marcus Ericsson was eighth. Alex Palou started the race from tenth while Jimmie Johnson started the race from 26th.

In the race itself, it was Alex Palou who made the most progress over the 100 lap race as he came from tenth, making up eight positions to finish on the podium just behind race winner Scott McLaughlin.

Scott Dixon used a three-stop strategy to finish the race in seventh place just ahead of Marcus Ericsson in eighth with the pair finishing where they started.

The Iceman led a number of laps through pit cycles but came home with a solid top ten finish.

Jimmie Johnson finished the race in 23rd place one lap down but felt he made plenty of progress compared to last season and heads to Texas Motor Speedway later this month full of confidence, telling Paddock Eye over the weekend in St Pete that he sees no reason why he can’t challenge to be in the top-15 or even the top ten in the race.

This consistent results are why Chip Ganassi Racing can never be ruled out.

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IndyCar Sport

P7 Was What I Expected

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, driver of the No.9 PNC Bank Honda says that P7 on the grid for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix presented by RP Funding was what he expected but that obviously the wanted more.

The Iceman revealed he hit the wall hard and bent the rear tow link. Dixon hopes that the team will be in a position to challenge at the front of the field to claim that elusive victory on the streets of St Pete.

Marcus Ericsson in the No.8 Huski Chocolate Honda starts the race from eighth place.

Defending NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou in the No.10 NTT DATA Honda starts the race from tenth place just behind Josef Newgarden and just ahead of Graham Rahal.

Jimmie Johnson starts the race from the back of the grid in 26th place.

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IndyCar News

Ganassi Look To Build On Strong 2021 Season This Year

Chip Ganassi Racing head into the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season which gets underway in three weeks’ time with the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg looking to build on a fantastic season in 2021.

Three of Ganassi’s four drivers took race wins last season with Alex Palou, Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson all visiting Victory Lane of the course of the season.

Palou took victory in the championship, his first season with Chip Ganassi Racing has joined the team following a fantastic rookie season for Dale Coyne Racing in 2020.

Six-time NTT IndyCar Series Scott Dixon in the No.9 PNC Bank Honda continued his race-winning streak as he has now taken at least one race win every year since 2005.

Jimmie Johnson, who made his NTT IndyCar Series debut with Chip Ganassi Racing last season steps up to a full-time drive with the team this season and is fresh from finishing the Race Of Champions Nations 2022 in Sweden in second place alongside fellow IndyCar Series driver Colton Herta will drive the No.48 Carvana American Legion Honda full-time.

The team will add a fifth car for the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge with Tony Kanaan returning to the team.

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IndyCar Motorsport News

Our Goal Remains The Same, To Win The Indy 500 And The Championship

Scott Dixon is about to embark on his 19th season with Chip Ganassi Racing in IndyCar

Six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon says that Chip Ganassi Racing’s target for the 2022 season remains the same as every year and that is to win the Indianapolis 500 in May and then win the championship.

Speaking during Tuesday’s media content day in Indianapolis, the driver of the No.9 PNC Bank Honda said that he needs to get more comfortable with the Firestone tyres as this is where he felt the team were lacking during 2021.

Dixon also described the current induration of IndyCar as like driving a junior formula car and he feels that the car which has been used by the series is too heavy however, he believes that the introduction of the aeroscreen has been a great innovation in terms of safety and that is the most important thing.

The 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season marks Dixon’s 19th consecutive season with Ganassi in the series and he has no plans to slow down anytime some as he is still gets immense enjoyment from competing in the series and working with the team at Chip Ganassi Racing.

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IndyCar Motorsport News Sport

The Indy 500 Is What I Am Looking Forward To Most

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Jimmie Johnson who moved to a full-time driver in the NTT IndyCar Series in 2022 says that the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is the race he is looking forward to most.

Speaking to Paddock Eye during media content day, the seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion said that working as a pundit at last year’s Indy 500 really told him he wanted to race in it.

Chip Ganassi Racing had a very strong 500 last season and this is something that Johnson hopes will help him over the course of the month of May.

Ganassi will field five cars in the Indianapolis 500 this season, their most entries for the Greatest Spectacle In Racing.

Speaking about 2023, Johnson said that he hopes that he is in the NTT IndyCar Series and he hopes that his partners feel the same about such a scenario.

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IndyCar Motorsport News Sport

Palou Is Looking Forward To Having A Target On His Back

Defending NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou, driver of the No.10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda has told Paddock Eye that he is looking forward to having a target on his back going into the 2022 season which gets underway next month with the Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg.

The Spaniard was extremely consistent last season winning just three races on his way to winning his first championship.

Palou told Paddock Eye that while he is happy with one championship he is not stopping there and is looking forward to challenging at the front of the field again this season.

Palou also that he is looking forward to having Jimmie Johnson full-time with the team although he confirmed that even when he wasn’t racing last season, Jimmie was still at the track with the team.

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Motorsport News Sport

Palou, Dixon And Ericsson Join Ganassi For The Rolex 24 Hours

Chip Ganassi Racing announced on Froday that their defending NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou, six-time champion, Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson will all join the team for the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.

Palou and Dixon will share one of Chip Ganassi Racing’s No.1 Cadillac DPI with their full-time IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship drivers, Sebastien Bourdais and Renger Van Der Zande.

Marcus Ericsson, driver of the No.8 Huski Chocolate Honda will share the No.2 Cadillac DPI with Alex Lynn, Earl Bamber and Kevin Magnussen.

Chip Ganassi Racing tweeted:

The Rolex 24 Hours takes place on January 29/30.