America's F1 hopeful Colton Herta pulls out of the sprint F2 race in Madrid with illness, but it comes after the FIA penalised him to start from the pitlane.
It is not going well for America's F1 hopeful Herta at all in the FIA Formula 2 (F2) Championship in 2026. Having taken a big step to move away from IndyCar in the hope of securing enough superlicence points to race in Formula 1, potentially with Cadillac, the season hasn't gone his way at all.
Racing for Hitech GP, Herta is 17th with 26 points after 10 rounds, with a best result of fifth. The American is racing at F1's new Madring circuit in Madrid on Spanish GP weekend. He started it well in fourth. He was doing well in qualifying in the Top 10 for the most part.
However, he dropped to 12th in the end after he suffered a crash at Turn 19 to end the session. Following the day's run, just before Restricted Period One kicked in for F2 teams, Hitech GP found a problem with the American's car, which they started to work on.
Since it was a priority, they continued working into Restricted Period One and therefore were in breach of Article 21.6a of the F2 regulations. The technical delegate reported the matter, and the stewards duly penalised him with a pitlane start in Madrid's sprint race on Saturday.

#herta #madrid

The NTT IndyCar Series competed at Laguna Seca, and it was a thrilling event. Laguna Seca marked the final race of the 2026 IndyCar season and several drivers didn't want to leave the campaign without a victory. However, only one driver could make that happen, and it was from Team Penske.
Scott McLaughlin and the No. 3 team for Team Penske won at Laguna Seca, earning their first victory of the 2026 IndyCar season. McLaughlin started on the pole and controlled the entire event despite late pushes from Kyle Kirkwood and Alexander Rossi. The Team Penske driver ultimately cruised to victory lane.
It has been a tough few years for McLaughlin, and he finally returned to the winner's circle in IndyCar's last race of the 2026 season. Meanwhile, Alex Palou capped off the season with another championship, earning his fourth in the last five seasons.
No. 3 Scott McLaughlin
No. 27 Kyle Kirkwood

#team #indycar #laguna

The 18-race 2026 IndyCar season has officially come to an end. After Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou had already clinched his fifth championship before the Grand Prix of Monterey, Palou finished just eighth at Laguna Seca – the worst finish of his career at the track.
Instead, it was Scott McLaughlin claiming his first victory of the season to close things out. Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood finished second to clinch second in the championship, just 10 points ahead of Arrow McLaren's Christian Lundgaard.
With the season coming to an end, here are five thoughts to wrap up another year in IndyCar.
It had been 35 races since McLaughlin was in victory lane. After going through the longest drought of his career at any level, the 33-year-old went out on top in 2026.
This season has been about baby steps for McLaughlin and the crew on his No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet. After the team shuffled the personnel around McLaughlin – mainly rehiring former Team Penske president Tim Cindric as strategist and making accomplished IMSA engineer Raul Prados the race engineer – the New Zealander had to adjust to new folks around him.

#palou #championship #Career

Kyle Kirkwood closed out his 2026 IndyCar Series campaign on a high note, driving from sixth on the grid to a runner-up finish behind Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin in the season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
The strong drive cemented a career-best second-place finish in the championship standings for the 27-year-old Florida native.
Kirkwood, driving the #27 Andretti Global Honda, concluded the 18-race season with 545 points, placing 86 points behind champion Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing. Over the course of the year, Kirkwood led Andretti Global's **** le challenge, recording two wins, six podiums, 10 top-fives, 15 top-10s, and one pole position.
Reflecting on the finale, Kirkwood acknowledged that points strategy dictated his approach late in the race.
"Yeah, it was," Kirkwood said regarding securing second in the championship. "Yeah, we played it a little bit safer than I might have hoped for the last race of the season, but we had to for the championship. We made all the decisions based on that. Probably could have had a go at Scottie (Scott McLaughlin) at the end on the first few laps on reds. The number one goal was to make the tires last. That's what we did. Came home with a second, which is something to be proud of."

#second #race #yeah

This is it for the 2026 IndyCar Series season. The 25 entries run 95 laps on the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course. Scott McLaughlin starts from the pole position with already crowned season points champion Alex Palou second.
Runner-up hopefuls Kyle Kirkwood (starting 6th), Christian Lundgaard (11th, including a 6-place grid penalty for excessive engine changes) and Pato O'Ward (12th) are separated by 4 points.
Palou has won this race the past two years and three of the past four.
We will have leaderboard updates and highlights, so please remember to refresh.
Welcome back: Dreyer & Reinbold chooses Conor Daly for full-time ride

#palou #season #points #indycar

This is it for the 2026 IndyCar Series season. The 25 entries run 95 laps on the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course. Scott McLaughlin starts from the pole position with already crowned season points champion Alex Palou second.
Runner-up hopefuls Kyle Kirkwood (starting 6th), Christian Lundgaard (11th, including a 6-place grid penalty for excessive engine changes) and Pato O'Ward (12th) are separated by 4 points.
Palou has won this race the past two years and three of the past four.
We will have leaderboard updates and highlights, so please remember to refresh.
Welcome back: Dreyer & Reinbold chooses Conor Daly for full-time ride

#palou #points #seca

There is one more race of the 2026 NTT IndyCar season, and everything is still at stake. As they take on Laguna Seca for the Mission Foods Grand Prix of Monterey, drivers look to go out with a bang, whether they'll be returning to the series or not.
Alex Palou has nothing to lose, however. After placing higher than Kyle Kirkwood in both races at the Milwaukee Mile, his fifth championship was secured. This was his fourth consecutive championship, and despite not winning both races, he proved why he deserved it.
Since he didn't get the results he may have wanted, Palou is likely to give it his all this race. He's shown dominance at Laguna Seca before, and it wouldn't be a surprise if he did once again.
The two runner-ups have the most to prove in this season finale. Christian Lundgaard and Kirkwood are only separated by two points. For Lundgaard, this race can help secure a seat for the 2027 season, as he is still unsigned. There's a chance he can take Scott Dixon's Chip Ganassi seat, and this is the best chance for him to prove that he's earned it.
Lundgaard is known for his dominance on road courses. He won the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course and the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America. Lundgaard is a potential winner at Laguna Seca with his road course abilities.

#lundgaard #seca #prix #race

Meyer Shank Racing has confirmed that Mick Schumacher will join the team for the 2027 IndyCar season. After Indianapolis 500 champion Felix Rosenqvist left MSR for Arrow McLaren, MSR has decided that Schumacher will be his replacement.
Schumacher is out the door at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing after RLL agreed to sell one of its three charters to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing ahead of the 2027 season. With Graham Rahal and Louis Foster already under contract at RLL, Schumacher was the odd man out after just one season with the team. Now he'll become Marcus Armstrong's teammate at MSR.
"I'm super excited to be working with everyone at Meyer Shank Racing and really excited to be joining such an ambitious team," Schumacher said in a news release. "It's going to be a special journey to start working with MSR. I am looking forward to what more I can learn from the team. They've had some really great success, and of course, going to an Indy 500-winning team is awesome.
"It will be great to start meeting everyone on the team and working with MSR's partners. I'm really just excited to begin working toward 2027 together and really start thinking about how we can create a great partnership together."
Schumacher will pilot MSR's No. 66 Honda, which Armstrong has driven for the past two years. When Armstrong signed a multiyear extension with the team in July, MSR announced that he'd switch to Rosenqvist's car, the No. 60 Honda.

#racing #start

After IndyCar had its second most-watched race of the season for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix on Aug. 23, neither of its races at the Milwaukee Mile this weekend reached 1 million viewers.
The first race of the weekend, the Snap-On Makers and Fixers 250, received 509,000 viewers on Fox on Saturday before being postponed 90 laps and less than an hour in due to rain. IndyCar initially scheduled the race's restart to occur Sunday morning, but more rain led the series to push back the resumption of the first race until after the afternoon running of the second race, the Snap-On Milwaukee Mile 250. Sunday's resumed coverage averaged 309,000 viewers on FS1. Both numbers are a season low.
IndyCar kept the Snap-On Milwaukee Mile 250 in its previously scheduled timeslot (1 p.m.) to keep the television window the same. That race received 950,000 viewers, which is a 32% increase from IndyCar's one Milwaukee Mile race in 2025 (720,000 viewers). Race viewership peaked with 1.181 million viewers from 3 to 3:15 p.m., when Pato O'Ward took the checkered flag. O'Ward won both races to get his season total to three wins.
In its second year on Fox, IndyCar is averaging 1.731 million viewers per race – which is up 27% from last year (1.362 million viewers). Fox now owns one-third of Penske Entertainment, IndyCar's parent company, and airs all its races on the network channel (except rescheduled races like Saturday's).
IndyCar hoped to keep the momentum from the one-time Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington, D.C., going. The series, however, was unable to get back to 1 million viewers.

#milwaukee #races

At some point, we have to stop calling Alex Palou the next great IndyCar driver and start asking a much bigger question: Is he already on his way to being the greatest ever?
Palou just captured his fifth IndyCar championship, his fourth consecutive **** le, putting him firmly among the sport's all-time elite. Only A.J. Foyt's seven championships and Scott Dixon's six now stand ahead of him.
And he's only 29.
That's the scary part.
Palou didn't go back-to-back at the Indianapolis 500 this year, but he did something almost as impressive: He put the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda on the pole for the second time in his career, becoming the first reigning 500 winner to take the pole since 2010.

#indycar

David Malukas is running out of ways to prove he belongs at the front of IndyCar without actually winning a race.
The 24-year-old American has been knocking on the door all season in his first year with Team Penske. He has piled up top finishes, qualified near the front and now has another brutal near-miss to add to the résumé. At Milwaukee, Malukas led 93 laps and appeared to have his first career IndyCar victory in his hands before a late restart issue allowed Pato O'Ward to steal the win. He finished second — his fourth runner-up result of the season.
At this point, it feels like Malukas is simply snakebit.
It's the same feeling you get watching Tommy Fleetwood chase that first PGA Tour win or Sheldon Creed keep getting agonizingly close in the O'Reilly Series. You can see the talent. You can see the speed. You can see the breakthrough coming.
Malukas just needs everything to finally fall his way.

#malukas #american

WEST ALLIS, WI – IndyCar continues to make adjustments to its doubleheader schedule at the Milwaukee Mile. With rain continuing at the track, the first race of the weekend – the Snap-On Makers and Fixers 250 – will not resume at 8 a.m. Sunday as planned after its Saturday evening postponement.
The second race – the Snap-On Milwaukee Mile 250 – will begin at 1 p.m., before the Snap-On Makers and Fixers 250 resumes. Then, IndyCar plans to resume the first race at approximately 6 p.m., about three hours after the checkered flag for the second race.
Pato O'Ward – who won at the Milwaukee Mile in 2024 – leads the first race through 90 laps, with Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi behind him. Alex Palou will start on the pole with O'Ward joining him on the front row for the second race.
This is now the second race of the IndyCar season that won't be completed on the day it was supposed to. The Music City Grand Prix was delayed from July 19 to July 20 after heavy rain in Lebanon, Tennessee. Before the Music City Grand Prix, IndyCar hadn't delayed any portion of a race a day since 2018 at Barber Motorsports Park.
IndyCar still intends to do all 250 laps and miles for both races. National Weather Service anticipates that showers and thunderstorms will continue until 3 p.m. (2 p.m. CT) in West Allis, Wisconsin.

#snap

WEST ALLIS, WI – Due to consistent rain, IndyCar was unable to finish the first of its two races at the Milwaukee Mile as intended Saturday. The race was red-flagged after 90 laps, and cars didn't return to the track after being rolled off. The Snap-On Makers and Fixers 250 will now resume at 9 a.m. Sunday. The race will be on FS1, with the second race being at 1 p.m. on Fox.
Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward, who won the first of two Milwaukee Mile races in 2024, leads after 90 laps. Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi are behind him.
This is now the second race of the IndyCar season that won't be completed on the day it was supposed to. The Music City Grand Prix was delayed from July 19 to July 20 after heavy rain in Lebanon, Tennessee. Before the Music City Grand Prix, IndyCar hadn't delayed any portion of a race a day since 2018 at Barber Motorsports Park. Now, it's happened twice in one season.
On a weekend that was already set to be two 250-lap, 250-mile races, drivers and teams have to prepare for multiple races come Sunday.
Pato O'Ward

#indycar

Fox bolted a camera to the observation level of the Washington Monument, hung another one off a 70-foot crane, and scattered roughly 90 cameras around the National Mall for what the network billed as the most ambitious live motorsports production it has ever attempted. The payoff arrived Tuesday: the Freedom 250 Grand Prix averaged 3,282,000 viewers, peaking at 3,482,000 between 2:30 and 2:45 p.m. ET. That is the largest audience any NTT INDYCAR SERIES race has pulled outside the Indianapolis 500 since Champ Car and the IRL finally stopped bleeding each other out in 2008.
Congratulations are in order. So is a second look at the arithmetic.
Four days before the green flag, IndyCar published its season-to-date figure through 14 races: 1,731,000 viewers per race, up 16 percent on 2025 and 53 percent on NBC's final season in 2024. After Washington, the same metric through 15 races reads 1,875,000 — up 32 percent and 70 percent respectively.
Read that again. A single Sunday doubled the series' reported year-over-year growth rate. That isn't a rising tide. That's one wave hitting a shallow denominator.
Ferrari Patents a Taillight That Doubles as a Spoiler

#series

IndyCar president Doug Boles flew from Ontario to Washington, D.C., the evening of Aug. 16 with as much trepidation as he had optimism. Boles, who typically travels to the site of IndyCar's upcoming race mid-week, wasted no time getting to the nation's capital ahead of the series' second-biggest race of the year, the Freedom 250 Grand Prix.
After IndyCar and promoter Green Savoree Racing Promotions made a poor first impression – having to call off Friday's practice session – at their new street race in Markham, Ontario, it wasn't clear what awaited for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, although this race was promoted by Penske Entertainment with ****** istance from Monumental Sports & Entertainment and Harbinger.
"Honestly, I was worried just because how Canada had gone," Boles told IndyStar in an exclusive interview.
But after a dinner with Penske Corporation president Bud Denker and the chance to see the 7-turn, 1.7-mile track come to fruition, Boles realized that IndyCar was "in good shape" for Saturday and Sunday's on-track sessions.
Once President Donald Trump signed an executive order allowing the IndyCar race – which was won by Kyle Kirkwood – to occur around the U.S. Capitol Building, the series had less than seven months to check every box for the new street course. (It typically takes a year, sometimes two, to set up new street circuits.)

#street

WEST ALLIS – Felix Rosenqvist can point to hundreds of decisions in or out of his control that could have pointed his career in a different direction.
One of the biggest, though, was the choice by Brian Belardi, a Mequon native then running an Indy Lights team, to help Rosenqvist get to the United States, which helped him launch an IndyCar career and ultimately win the 110th Indianapolis 500 this May.
"I think Indy, when you win that race, it's the one race where you actually start to look backward a lot at how everything brought you to that moment," Rosenqvist said during a stop at one of Belardi's home tracks, the Milwaukee Mile.
"It's a cool thing because you don't really regret anything either, because once you're there everything led me here, right? But yeah, Brian was definitely one of the reasons I got here."
Rosenqvist, eighth in the NTT IndyCar Series standings, is still looking for his second win of the year following Indy and will have two chances in the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 doubleheader weekend Aug. 28-30.

#indy #Career

With Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood winning the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, IndyCar's final street race in 2026, there was one common denominator in all six street races: They were won by a car with a Honda engine.
Honda went 6-of-6 on the street circuits (two Kirkwood wins, three Alex Palou wins and one from Marcus Ericsson) while Chevrolet, IndyCar's other engine manufacturer, didn't win any.
To sweep the streets, Honda never really had to scrape by in any race, as a Honda engine led 542 of the 597 (90.7%) of the laps on streets this year while claiming 15 of the 18 podium spots. The manufacturer has won 19 of the last 21 street races dating back to 2023, when it also swept the streets.
Honda has won 10 of the 15 races, including Felix Rosenqvist's win in the Indianapolis 500 for Meyer Shank Racing. After Chevrolet closed the gap with three straight wins in June and July, Honda has separated itself by winning four in a row.
"I think the fact that we won the 500 and we also turn around and we're doing it currently on street courses, it makes me proud for the team," Honda Racing Corporation USA vice president Kelvin Fu told IndyStar. "And a lot of it is, it's just not us, it's Andretti and it's (Chip Ganassi Racing), right? It's a combination of their ability to develop their car control and the drivers and surviving a 147-lap, ******* py street course."

#racing

The IndyCar Freedom 250 race had a lot of eyes on it.
FOX Sports issued a press release on Tuesday, Aug. 25 saying that 3.282 million fans tuned into the one-off race, which was held in a rectangular-circuit through Washington, D.C. The start/finish line was in front of the U.S. Capitol and a stretch of the track went down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Since Sunday's competition was the first, and only, edition of the race, there are no direct viewership ratings to compare. But FOX said that this number is the most-watched non-Indy 500 IndyCar race since 2008 when open-wheel racing in the United States was united in a merger between Indy Racing League and Champ Car.
This year's Indy 500 had an audience of 6.635 million viewers, a 6% decrease from 2025, FOX's first season as IndyCar's broadcast partner. This year's Grand Prix at Road America previously was the most-watched race besides the Indy 500 with an audience of 1.803 million.
The network added that the audience for the Freedom 250 was a 279% increase from the average Sunday viewership of an IndyCar (non-Indy 500) race during the 2025 season.

#united

There was a lot of conversation and controversy surrounding IndyCar's race on the streets of Washington, D.C., this past weekend.
There were a lot of people watching at home, too.
Fox Sports announced Tuesday that Sunday's Freedom 250 Grand Prix drew an average of 3.28 million viewers, which would make it the most-watched IndyCar race other than the Indy 500 since the series formed following 2008's unification.
That number is nearly four times larger than IndyCar's Sunday non-Indy 500 races from last year (867,000 viewers) and a 364% gain from a comparable event around the same time last year (708,000 viewers on Fox).
As The Athletic's Jeff Gluck noted, those numbers also gave IndyCar the extremely rare bragging rights of beating out NASCAR, with the Freedom 250 Grand Prix drawing more eyeballs than NASCAR's Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1.79 million viewers, per NASCAR).

#nascar

A lip reader has decoded a tense exchange between Donald Trump and Melania Trump at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington, D.C. The couple attended the IndyCar event together, but cameras captured what appeared to be a strained conversation as Melania leaned in to whisper to the president before stepping back.
Professional lip reader Nicola Hickling ***** yzed the video and revealed that Melania whispered something to her husband before pulling back and saying, "That is private and valuable text." Trump then asked, "Was it enough?"
The exchange happened while Natalie Harp, the president's executive ***** istant, attended the same event. Harp has drawn heavy scrutiny in recent weeks over her unusually close relationship with Trump. Hickling claims Melania said, "I don't know," which prompted Trump to respond, "Then I need to see it." The first lady then reportedly told him, "Donald, listen, I'm gonna go."
According to Metro, Trump allegedly replied, "Listen, she asked you not to close the door." Melania asked why, and he said, "It's bad news, but it's bad timing, Melania." The first lady called the situation "crazy" before whispering in his ear again. Donald Trump appeared to say, "I've had enough of her." Melania then leaned in once more and, after pulling away, reportedly said, "Obviously I'll see and talk to her in the morning."
The tense moment followed Melania's month-long disappearance from public view. She returned to the White House on August 20, after 31 days away. Her absence coincided with mounting questions about Trump's working relationship with Harp.

#harp #listen #tense

Melania Trump turned heads during her latest public appearance at the NTT INDYCAR Series event in Washington, D.C. She joined President Donald Trump to greet drivers on the paddock at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. Known for her polished wardrobe, Melania chose a relaxed yet chic ensemble. She wore a tailored white ***** on-down shirt paired with sleek black trousers. Her effortlessly stylish look caught everyone's attention instantly.
Melania Trump's outfit featured a classic white cotton striped-cuff tunic top from Louis Vuitton's 2018 collection. Instead of wearing the designer shirt fully fastened, she boldly left the top ***** ons open. This unbuttoned styling gave her formal shirt a modern and breezy twist. The unique striped cuffs also added subtle detail to her crisp top.
She paired the white shirt with dark, wide-leg trousers that flowed gracefully as she walked. On her feet, she wore black Roger Vivier Gommettine ballet flats featuring signature tonal buckles. The flat shoes kept her look comfortable yet elegant for walking around the racetrack paddock. Her hair was styled in soft, sun-kissed waves over her shoulders, completing her effortless summer outfit.
During the event, Melania started off riding in the armored presidential limousine, known as "The Beast," alongside President Trump as they completed a ceremonial lap. She was also seen smiling and waving to onlookers from inside the vehicle. Later, she walked through the paddock area to greet the racing teams and drivers. She stood beside the President while he officially kicked off the race by waving the green flag.
Melania proved once again that high-end designer pieces can look simple and modern. By leaving her shirt unbuttoned, she brought a fresh mood to classic tailoring. Her high-low mix of luxury labels and relaxed styling created a standout fashion moment at the race.

#Event

US President Donald Trump was among hundreds of people who gathered to see the IndyCar race through the streets of Washington DC on Sunday, marking the culmination of a series of summer events to celebrate the country's 250th birthday.
Driver Kyle Kirkwood won the race, earning his seventh career Indycar win.
Ahead of the race, the president and First Lady Melania Trump took a ceremonial lap of the 1.7-mile track in his presidential limousine, The Beast.
As they reached the finish line, Trump's new Air Force One completed a flyover above the capital.
The Freedom 250 Grand Prix is the first time professional road racing has been hosted in the capital.

#indycar #donald #driver

Indycar takes to the streets around Washington, DC. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
First things first. I am a car enthusiast, a motor racing fan and an active race competitor, having competed in the Nurburgring 24-hours in Germany and countless other domestic races in ****** an over the last 25 years. I've also been to watch numerous F1 races, the 24-Hours of Le Mans, the Indy 500, World Rally Championship events in the middle of nowhere, and even street F1 races from Monaco to Melbourne. So yes, I love cars and racing. But what President Trump did last weekend by staging his Freedom 250 IndyCar Grand Prix race in Washington DC was, well, let's just call it excessive, disruptive, inappropriate and tone-deaf.
Over the weekend, the distinct, ear-splitting whine of 2.2-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engines echoed off the marble facades of federal buildings as IndyCar made its highly controversial debut on the streets of the nation's capital.
The event, billed as the "Washington Grand Prix," saw open-wheel Indy race cars speeding at over 150 mph down Pennsylvania Avenue, transforming the historic corridor between the U.S. Capitol and the White House into a 1.7-mile long temporary, high-octane racetrack. The narrow, angular cars blasted past the US Capitol, made sharp turns around the National Archives, and pass the Smithsonian Air and ****** e Museum for a total of 147 laps, a number which equals a race distance of 250-miles. Yes, you guessed it. That 250 number had to relate to the nation's 250th anniversary celebration.
Penske Corporation CEO Roger Penske (R) and IndyCar series champion Alex Palou (L) presents U.S. President Donald Trump (C) with a race helmet during a Freedom 250 Grand Prix showcase in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

#washington #grand #races #images

The heart of the nation's capital is set to be packed with more than 140,000 fans as Freedom 250th Grand Prix kicks off Sunday, sending race cars zipping through Washington, DC, for the first time in IndyCar history.
The race is set to begin shortly after 1 p.m. ET on the National Mall with a course that takes seven turns between the U.S. Capitol and around Smithsonian museums and the National Archives. Racers will drive 147 laps around the 1.7-mile course for a total of 250 miles before spectators, including President Donald Trump.
Trump is also expected to take a ride around the track in his presidential limousine before things kick off.
The two-day event kicked off Saturday with practice and qualifying races and two International Race of Champions races. Twenty-five drivers will compete Sunday.
It's the latest high-profile sporting event spearheaded by Trump as part of the nation's 250th anniversary celebrations. In June, a UFC Freedom 250 mixed martial arts event was hosted at the White House.

#Trump #grand

US President Donald Trump is set to take a ceremonial lap in his armored limousine and wave the green flag to launch Sunday's IndyCar race through the streets of Washington, capping celebrations of America's 250th birthday.
Trump, who created the Freedom 250 Grand Prix by executive order as part of the United States anniversary commemoration, will have a prime seat to watch the spectacle as open-wheel cars race in the shadow of iconic landmarks at speeds up to 185 mph (298 km/h).
"The president wanted to do this. He's a big fan. We wanted to be part of the 250th anniversary," IndyCar series owner Roger Penske said.
"This is really a by-product of our team trying to take it to the next level. This is an iconic race."
Trump, 80, is expected to take a lap of the course in his armored limousine known as "The Beast" and wave the green flag at the start-finish line in front of the US Capitol building, with military flyovers before the start of the 250-mile event.

#Trump #race #flag

The IndyCar Series will race by the National Archives and the Smithsonian Air and ***** e Museum today in the Freedom 250 on the streets of Washington, D.C.
Championship points leader Alex Palou starts from the pole position for the longest street course race in series history, 147 laps on a 7-turn, 1.7-mile layout. He has an outside chance to lock up his fourth consecutive ***** le, and fifth in six years.
Kyle Kirkwood also earns a front-row starting spot as he and David Malukas (starting 6th) and Christian Lundgaard (9th) fight for second place in the standings.
President Trump is scheduled to wave the green flag shortly after 1 p.m.
We will have leaderboard updates and highlights throughout, so remember to refresh.

#race

High-powered IndyCars will take to the streets around the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, racing in a 250-mile circuit that marks the latest Trump-backed sporting event to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the U.S.
The Freedom 250 Grand Prix is slated to take place Sunday in downtown D.C.
The Freedom 250 Grand Prix will wrap around a small portion of the National Mall in a 1.7-mile circuit near the Capitol that includes seven turns and 147 laps—adding up to a 250-mile race.
Nearly a half mile of Pennsylvania Avenue will be driven during the race, marking the circuit's longest straightaway in which cars will have a pit lane to their left and are expected to reach speeds around 185 mph (the speed limit for regular traffic there is 25 mph).
The race is free but attendance requires a general admission ticket, which is no longer available following the closing of a ticket request window on June 7.

#around #mall #grand

Alex Palou will lead the NTT INDYCAR SERIES field to green Sunday after capturing the pole position for the inaugural Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C.
Palou delivered when it mattered most in qualifying, putting down a 56.899-second lap around the new 1.7-mile, seven-turn street circuit. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver beat Kyle Kirkwood by more than half a second in the final round to secure his seventh pole position of the 2026 season.
It continues another dominant season for Palou, who entered the weekend with a 133-point championship lead over Kirkwood. Now, the two championship leaders will share the front row for one of the most anticipated races on the 2026 INDYCAR schedule.
The pole didn't come out of nowhere.
Palou led Saturday's second practice with a 56.614-second lap after finishing second in the opening session. Kirkwood was right behind him in final practice at 56.691, setting up a battle between the championship's top two drivers once qualifying arrived.

#palou

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two practice sessions are in the books on the streets of the nation's capital.
But who will take pole position for the IndyCar Freedom 250?
Kyle Kirkwood topped the timing sheets during the first practice session, ahead of Alex Palou, the driver he is chasing in the IndyCar standings. But it was Palou who led the way in the second session, just 0.0766 seconds ahead of Kirkwood.
Scott Dixon and the Arrow McLaren pair of Nolan Siegel and Pato O'Ward rounded out the top five from the second practice session. Their Arrow McLaren teammate Christian Lundgaard posted the sixth-fastest time.
Speaking with the media, including SB Nation, following the first practice session Palou talked at length about the 1.7-mile track that winds around the National Mall, with landmarks such as the Washington Monument and the United States Capitol Building helping to round out the backdrop.

#indycar #kirkwood #mclaren

I'm sitting high above Pennsylvania Avenue at Johns Hopkins, looking down on an IndyCar street course running through the heart of Washington, D.C., and I'm going to be honest: this absolutely rocks.
As a motorsports journalist, you get spoiled by cool race weekends. You see plenty of tracks, plenty of cars and plenty of big events.
But this is different.
IndyCar is racing around the National Mall, flying down Pennsylvania Avenue at incredible speeds with the Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol in the background. The 1.7-mile, seven-turn circuit is already producing some seriously fun racing, and the drivers clearly love the challenge.
And then there's IROC.

#plenty #down #johns #hopkins