The 2019 NTT IndyCar Series featured stunning highs and lows for all involved over the course of 17 races spread across North America; Motorsport Week reflects on some of the key moments which encapsulated the gripping season, starting with Team Penske.
If there was one name in Motorsport that should be synonymous with success in 2019 it should be Roger Penske.
This season Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power combined to take nine victories, Pagenaud gave The Captain an 18th Indianapolis 500 triumph as a team owner, while young gun Newgarden wrapped up a second series title, and Penske's 16th since 1977.
That open-wheel success was complemented elsewhere by honours in the Australia-based Supercars championship, with a Bathurst 1000 victory with DJR Penske in the hands of the young, rapid Scott McLaughlin at the helm of the all-new Ford Mustang GT, who also claimed his second series title, taking an astonishing 18 wins.
Team Penske also claimed title glory in the WeatherTech IMSA Championship with Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya, and also picked up the team's title.
Penske narrowly missed out on an incredible quadruple of series titles as Joey Logano just missed out on a second NASCAR Cup title.
We shouldn't forget his biggest achievement of the year in purchasing Hulman and Company, which now makes Penske the owner of the NTT IndyCar Series, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and its in-house media company IMS Productions.
Not bad for a man who continues to relentlessly lead the way in US Motorsports at the prime age of 82.
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During a dominant 2019 IndyCar campaign, we saw Newgarden claim his second title after an incredibly consistent season which mimicked that of Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon in 2018. Newgarden romped to four victories, two pole positions and only finished outside the top-five places on five occasions, finally wrapping up the title at the season-finale in Laguna Seca.
To go along with Newgarden's title glory, Pagenaud swept right through the month of May picking up victory in the Indianapolis Grand Prix at the start of the month with a stunning performance in sodden conditions, putting an imperious pass around the outside Dixon in the final laps.
A week later, Pagenaud would go on claim pole position for the 103rd running of the Indy 500, the first for a Frenchman in 100 years, the last being Rene Thomas in 1919.
He didn't stop there as he stormed his way to a spectacular victory in the world-famous event a week later, leading 112 laps and fending off the ever determined Alexander Rossi, snatching the race lead on the penultimate lap of the race.
The 2016 series champion was so elated with his victory, he even forgot the post-race procedure, stopping on the yard of bricks on the circuit and not make his way to victory lane!
The third victory for Pagenaud came in Toronto which helped keep him in the championship hunt.
2019 almost became a first winless season for Power since 2006, but the first of two wins came at Pocono in a thrilling race with Scott Dixon but was shortened due to a vicious stormfront making its way towards the circuit. The Australian's second win came at Portland, he claimed the lead after Dixon dropped out with battery issues and help fend off a charging Felix Rosenqvist.
Power nearly got a third victory at Laguna Seca, but could not get past Colton Herta despite putting the youngster under heavy pressure.
It was an imperiously dominating season for the Team Penske outfit. To continue achieving such success in 2020 will no doubt be a much tougher task!
