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| A FRESH START. | ||||||||||||||
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There’s just something about starting a new season — a clean slate, new goals, fresh ideas. You just can’t help but feel energized. That’s exactly the mind-set of Andretti Autosport as we kick off the 2017 racing season. With the new Verizon IndyCar Series and Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires seasons rapidly approaching, we’re here to provide updates on some of the changes we’ve made, the thoughts our drivers have going into the 2017 season and how to keep up with this years progress. Here is our 2017 Season Preview.
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| CHANGE IS GOOD. | ||||||||||||||
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| IN THEIR WORDS. | ||||||||||||||
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No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda
Verizon IndyCar Series “I am extremely excited about this coming 2017 season. Not only because it’s always exciting for new season, but it’s a new environment and new challenge for me — it’s my very first year with Andretti Autosport. I haven’t had a lot of on-track testing this pre-season, but it has certainly been one of the most productive winters and I already have a good feeling that we are going to have a great season. I have a lot to learn to work seamlessly with the team, but I am confident that we will get there very quickly. It will be a thrilling 2017 season.” |
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No. 27 hhgregg Honda
Verizon IndyCar Series“I’m looking forward to a fresh start this 2017 season. I am going to try to have more fun this year and am confident that will bring results. I feel a lot better about myself, both physically and mentally and I think that is a good start. As a team, we are feeling better about our approach and the changes we have made in the offseason. I’m really excited to get the season started – there’s good things to come from the hhgregg boys.” |
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No. 28 DHL Honda
Verizon IndyCar Series “I’m more than ready to get back to work! Following a 2016 season in which we had a few major missed opportunities, we’re hoping to make up for it in 2017. Testing for 2017 has been drastically reduced so we’re all looking forward to getting back to the track, behind the wheel and making progress from last year. We have one goal at this team and that is to win. We’re all very determined to get that iconic No. 28 DHL Honda back into victory lane.” |
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No. 98 NAPA AUTO PARTS / Curb Honda
Verizon IndyCar Series “Returning to Andretti Autosport for a second consecutive season is something that I am not only excited about, but proud of. While we accomplished a lot last year, we still felt that there was a lot of room for improvement. Being able to keep the continuity within the team is something that is often very underrated in motorsports and can have hugely positive impacts on on-track performance. With that said, I am proud of what we have accomplished this offseason in conjunction with Honda and I look forward to getting in my NAPA AUTO PARTS Honda at the season opener, which is just around the corner.” |
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No. 27 Synova Mazda
Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires “I’m super excited to head into the 2017 season with Andretti Autosport. We had amazing winter testing and I love the car. I feel really good in it and I’m sure we can have a good season. I can’t wait to get started.” |
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No. 28 K-LINE Insulators USA Mazda
Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires “We’ve been working really hard all offseason, doing a fair amount of testing. The Andretti Autosport crews have done a great job to get the No. 28 K-Line Insulators USA Mazda ready for the season and we’re looking forward to building and working on progressing from last year. The theme this year is definitely building on last year’s progress, with 2016 being my first year in the car. I think we’re going to be able to take that knowledge and do really well.” |
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No. 48 FlipSide Mazda
Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires “I’m really excited as I have three great teammates this year. I know Nico and Colton have tons of experience and with Dalton’s past experience in the Indy Lights series, I have a lot of room to grow. We have great engineers and I think it’s a great learning environment for me. Coming from Atlantic last year, we hopefully can build and go through a good year this year. We’re hoping to get great experience to go back a second year and win a championship.” |
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No. 98 Deltro Energy Mazda
Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires “We’ve been doing a lot of testing pre-season down in Sebring and Homestead, and it’s going really great. I’m also excited to get the cars on track at St. Pete for the first race. We’ve found some good stuff, building speed in the car, and it should be a good year.” |
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| COMPETITION UPDATES. | ||||||||||||||
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The Verizon IndyCar Series has also made a few updates for 2017 competition.
There will be five laps added to the race length in Long Beach, taking it from 80 laps to 85 laps.
In Phoenix and Gateway, there will be two one-hour practice sessions Friday night with qualifying and the race being held Saturday. This allows more on-track action for the fans race day.
The Grand Prix of Indianapolis will only see two days of track activity (Friday and Saturday) rather than three days from years past (Thursday, Friday Saturday). Three laps will also be added to the race length, making 85 total laps.
The Raceway at Belle Isle Park will eliminate knock-out qualifying on Friday and will use the same qualifying procedures on Saturday and Sunday. This will consist of two 30-minute sessions, with the field divided evenly between the two groups. Each group will receive 12 minutes on track with a six minute break between the two sessions.
The track surface at Texas Motor Speedway has undergone a repave to help reduce the moisture absorbed into the track after rainy weather conditions.
There will be no warm-up on race day at Road America and an addition five laps will be added to the race length, for a total of 55 laps.
Five laps will also be added to the race length at Mid-Ohio, totaling 95 laps.
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TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
