OT: Racing 2025 (Spoiler Alert)

[DChaps]

IMSA Daytona 24, WRC, NASCAR have all started already, but my favorite racing series of all time starts today with Indycars at St. Petersburg 12:00pm ET on Fox! Let's Go!

Your ULTIMATE guide to the 2025 season
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CScBph03dZM

Race Preview | Who's the driver to beat at St. Petersburg?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu6_k4DLNtI

Qualifying Highlights | 2025 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XilKQg_a6ow

Race Info
https://www.indycar.com/Schedule/2025/St-Petersburg

Spotter Guide
https://www.indycar.com/Schedule/2025/S ... tter-guide

[GB_Simo]

Not the most enthralling race I've ever watched. Nevertheless, it was a race, and we only have 2 more of those between now and May, because Heaven forfend that the series should seek to build any early momentum.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inqui-Dixon! Except by now we all do, particularly when both Ganassi and their affiliates have a strong weekend. It felt like a race that the original Dixie would have won had he known when to pit, and that the other Scott would have walked off with had his cards fallen differently, but the absurd consistency of Palou is something to be hold. He's just always there.

I didn't hate Will Buxton at all, though my notes indicate both that his accent has only made it halfway across the Atlantic and that Odiham definitely has more than 10 houses in it. The rest of the Fox broadcast was harder for me to judge, because the international feed has hardly any of their new graphics on it - we get the timing tower and nothing else, just as with the international NASCAR feed. One question: what's the over/under on how many non-FOX-affiliated celebrities will be in the two-seater this year?

[Dave]

It felt like a fun, fresh start for the series. Definitely some hiccups from Fox, but it seems like they're listening to feedback and plan to iterate on the broadcast as the season goes along. My only complaint about Buxton is he sometimes just never finishes sentences and wanders around a little, but he has a natural enthusiasm that comes across quite well.

It's time to have the "where does Palou's current run rank all-time" conversation, he's inevitable and as you said, just always there. And this field is so much stronger than the ones Bourdais & Franchitti faced during their championship runs. Obviously needs a 500 win, but it isn't like he's been a slouch at all and he's had some very very impressive drives through the field when no one else could really do it.

It's a shame that his F1 dream is likely never coming to fruition, his style seems perfectly suited to those cars.

[GB_Simo]

Farewell to Eddie Jordan, the last 'garagiste' to make a proper go of Formula 1, after 76 years incredibly well lived.

Mark Hughes has written an obituary for The Race which can almost be read as a series of barely-hidden slights until you remember who the subject is, the last paragraph being just perfect:

"Jordan retained a very visible presence in F1 right to the end as a pundit who’d been there and done it and even if his sentences very rarely made any grammatical sense, his views were inevitably entertaining and occasionally even correct. If there’s a heaven, Eddie might be trying to do a deal to come back even as we speak."

He was hardly unique in being someone within motor sport who couldn't necessarily be trusted as far as you could throw him, so I didn't bother to judge him on that. Instead, I loved that Eddie came at racing as he seemed to come at life, with an irrepressible ebullience that I, as a young fan, found irresistible. While Mark is right that Eddie's passing is not necessarily a loss to the world of coherent analysis, his presence made our sport brighter and his loss will be keenly felt. Rest easy, EJ.

[DChaps]

Congratulations to Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Phil Hanson on their 24 Hours of Le Mans win. At 40 years old and basically driving with one arm, Kubica's final 5th stint drive was pretty impressive!

[GB_Simo]

Congratulations to Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Phil Hanson on their 24 Hours of Le Mans win. At 40 years old and basically driving with one arm, Kubica's final 5th stint drive was pretty impressive!

I was worried that drive would get lost somewhat in the noise around Ferrari's ongoing dominance (only Porsche had any kind of serious sniff at beating them, and fell short despite #6 and its crew being pretty much perfect for the entire race), but it's been lovely to see Kubica's drive get some recognition. Bobby K was mighty throughout - big pace when needed, superb tyre management at key moments, and his quintuple stint at the end was faultless.

Apparently there were LMP2 and GT3 cars racing as well. I'd have liked it if somebody had told the TV director.


Elsewhere, it's been 48 hours since Lando Norris accidentally mounted those fisheye-effect tear-offs onto his visor. For a bright lad, he makes a worrying number of dumb dumb dumb moves.