Category Archives: Race Recaps

Recap of Recent Motorsports Events

The Fight Goes to Fontana…

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The Grand Prix of Baltimore had all the make-up of a race that could bring drama, competition, and flat-out weirdness to the IZOD IndyCar Series and its championship.  Baltimore’s place on the schedule as the penultimate race in the championship proved to be an important date for everyone involved.

The weekend began precariously for the IndyCars as a set of light rail tracks caused teams’ DW12s to become airborne for as much as seventy feet down a straightaway causing Race Director Beaux Barfield to install a chicane neccessitating drivers navigate around the problem area.

For an event that almost didn’t happen and rescued by Andretti Sports Marketing it became very important to competitors.  Team Penske and Will Power looked like they were  going to all but sew up the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Championship.  All the signs were present with IndyCar competing on a street course, an avenue that Power has all but dominated since joining Team Penske full-time in 2010.  The weekend at Baltimore started just how Team Penske had hoped when Power took the Verizon Team Penske car to the top of the starting grid winning the Pole Position and capturing one more point toward the championship.  Everything was going to plan, until Race Day.

The race began in Power’s favor as he took the point and extended his lead in the very early stages and looked to be doing what Will Power does best.  Everyone in the Paddock knew weather was going to be a factor with rain showers in the area and it was just a matter of when.  The rain came about a third of the way to the race distance forcing drivers to pit lane to swap slick tires for rain tires.

The race turned difficult for Power when Team Penske elected to keep rain tires as the track dried costing Power valuable track position.  Power’s closest championship rival, Ryan Hunter-Reay, used a risky strategy by keeping the slick tires through the rain to grab the lead.  Hunter-Reay took advantage of a significant strategy miscue on the part of Team Penske and led much of the back-half of the race positioning themselves for a huge points day.  A late-race restart with the No. 2 PPG Automotive Finishes car, driven by Power’s Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe, leading changed the entire scope of this race, and the championship.  IndyCar utilizes double-file restarts on road and street courses where cars line up side-by-side.  The restart zone is signified by orange cones, or a “cone zone”, wedged in the catch fence.  The zone begins immediately after the chicane and when the green flag flew Hunter-Reay was lagging back behind Briscoe and jumped on the throttle passing Briscoe and taking the race lead while Power was, essentially, shoved out of the way relegating him to a sixth place result as Hunter-Reay captured the win shaving Power’s points lead to 17 going to the finale at Auto Club Speedway.

There has been immediate debate on whether Hunter-Reay’s treatment of the restart was within the rules or not.  As the rule book is written, the restart was legal, however, it was not in the spirit of the rule and competition.  They are called double-file restarts for a reason and by lagging back behind Briscoe coming to the restart allowed Hunter-Reay to accelerate a couple seconds before Briscoe and make the easy pass for the win.  Regardless, what is done is done and the fight moves to Auto Club Speedway and it all comes down to 500 miles under the lights on September 15th.  The real winners in this restart exchange are fans of IndyCar Racing.  Yet again, the IZOD IndyCar Series takes its championship to the final race without any kind of “Chase” or “Countdown” system.  When Auto Club Speedway opens for practice, two drivers will be fighting for the series title.  It will be an epic race so make sure to tune in for this one!

CONGRATULATIONS RYAN HUNTER-REAY AND ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT: WINNERS OF THE BALTIMORE GRAND PRIX

Race Recap: Honda 200 @ Mid-Ohio

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The IZOD IndyCar Series made its annual stop at the technical, demanding Mid-Ohio Sports car course, a track notorious for discouraging passing and excitement.  But that was on the old Dallara and the Dallara DW12 proved at Barber Motorsports Park that on the tightest of tracks it could provoke fans to arise from their seats and cheer as the cars went by.  Not only is the DW12 faster, in general, than its predecessor, it has shown incredible ability to create passing opportunities where there were none before.  Mid-Ohio featured the 2012 debut of the Push-To-Pass horsepower boost feature on a permanent road course venue.  Added to the drivers calculations was a five second delay from when he/she pushed the button to when the turbocharged engines would give the extra boost making the drivers plan ahead when planning their attack on the car ahead.  The purpose being to encourage use of Push-To-Pass in a more offensive manner rather than defensive.

Team Penske began the weekend building on the momentum gained from Helio Castroneves’ victory at Edmonton City Centre Airport two weeks earlier.  Weather conditions wreaked havoc on the preparations for the race and Helio Castroneves suffered a bruised wrist in the morning practice before qualifications where the Brazilian failed to transfer to the second round of qualifying resulting in no better than 13th Place starting position.  Castroneves’ race got exponentially more difficult when Team Penske elected to change the Chevrolet engine in the No. 3 Penske Truck Rental DW12 resulting in a ten-spot grid penalty as per the IZOD IndyCar Series Rule Book meaning Castroneves would start 23rd.  Castroneves’ Team Penske teammates fared better on Saturday qualifying with both Briscoe and Power making the top-6 shootout for the Pole.  Briscoe held station qualifying in 6th right behind Scott Dixon.  All Will Power did was shatter the IndyCar track qualifying record on the way to netting his third Pole Position start of 2012 eclipsing Dario Franchitti’s fast lap by two tenths of a second.  The top six was Power and Franchitti followed by Pagenaud, Tagliani, Dixon, and Briscoe.

Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay entered Mid-Ohio Sports Car course with the points lead and looked to continue momentum gained from three straight wins at Milwaukee, Iowa, and Toronto and a 7th Place result at Edmonton.  Very early in the race, Hunter-Reay’s team became concerned that something inside the No. 28 DHL/SunDrop Pelonia Chevrolet was amiss and may cast a dark cloud over their day.  Hunter-Reay remained stationed in the top-10 for much of the early portions of the race, but coming to the last round of pit stops the car began sounding, according to Jon Beekhuis, very sour and ill and Hunter-Reay fell sharply off the race leaders’ pace.  Eventually, Hunter-Reay was called to pit lane inside ten laps to go marking the first time Hunter-Reay was not running at the finish since Texas in June.  The silver lining in this is Hunter-Reay’s engine will be regarded as a mechanical failure during the race so no grid penalty will be assessed at Sonoma.

Looking at IZOD IndyCar Series history, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course could have Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s name stamped on it, driver Scott Dixon’s in particular.  Since the first IndyCar Series Race at the storied facility, Dixon had won three of the five races.  His only blemishes, a third place in 2008 and fifth in 2010.  Dixon just has a knack for this course which, due to its tight nature and minimal passing opportunities, requires strong qualifying efforts, tire and fuel management, and flawless pit stops to achieve the top step on the podium when the checkers fall.  Dixon excels at all of these factors giving him essential ownership of the IndyCar Race on this circuit.

Race day began ominously as the course was drenched by overnight and morning rainfall making the morning warmup almost useless to determining a race setup just because of the uncertainty surrounding the conditions for the 85-lap event.  The race began in insanity as a huge pack of 25 DW12 IndyCars fought for the same piece of real estate causing Justin Wilson to spin and continue, but losing precious positions.  Common in IndyCar Series races, varying pit strategies became a game changer.  Teams had the option to select a three-stop or two-stop pit strategies.  Those toward the back opted to go for the three stop strategy hoping that the yellow caution flags would wave in their favor.  The one problem with this strategy was, for the second consecutive race, there were no cautions and the race was run under green from start to the checkered flag.  This race was won on the final pit stop when Scott Dixon, who stalked the rear wing of the Verizon Team Penske car of Will Power for the first two fuel stints, benefitted from a clear pit entry giving Dixon a faster pit stop by the smallest of margins, but it was enough.  Dixon’s crew was able to insert the fuel probe just milliseconds faster than Power’s resulting in the change of position.  Then Dixon went to work driving away from Power to Victory Lane for his second win of the season also pulling Dixon back into the heat of the points race with tough days for Castroneves and Hunter-Reay.

CONGRATULATIONS TO SCOTT DIXON AND TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING: WINNERS OF THE HONDA 200 @ MID-OHIO

R.I.P. DAN WHELDON

RACE RECAP: IOWA CORN INDY 250

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The IZOD IndyCar Series returned to the Iowa Speedway June 22nd for some old fashioned Saturday night short track racing.  Racing at Iowa is uniquely challenging for the IndyCar Paddock as the track surface is only 7/8 of a mile in length, but progressive banking gives the track the characteristics of a superspeedway and lightning fast lap times under 18 seconds.  IZOD IndyCar drivers requested a low downforce setup similar to that run at Texas Motor Speedway earlier in the month.  The result was a race that the drivers had to drive instead of mashing the gas pedal and hoping for the best.  The hope was the race would be much like Texas with competitive side-by-side racing but with the driver a big part of the winning equation.  Iowa Speedway delivered!

Over recent years, the IZOD IndyCar Series has not shied away from trying new formats to spice up their schedule and encourage new fans to pay attention.  In Iowa, they tried a new twist to the race weekend which was qualifying determined by three heat races as opposed to single car qualifying averaging the speed of two green flag laps.  Practice times determined the field for the three heat races with odd numbered cars from 11th on back fighting for the inside lane and even numbered cars fighting for 10th on back for the outside lane.  The top-9 practice times were the only cars able to contend for the Pole Position ultimately won by Dario Franchitti.  The format was interesting and worth exploring, but the contention for most drivers was that every heat race should have meaning for the winner.  A transfer spot to the final heat race for the Pole would remedy that situation.

The race’s already late start time was delayed by over an hour due to heavy rains earlier in the day.  Props to NBC Sports Network’s broadcast team as they navigated the rain delay by offering compelling interviews with just about every driver in the Paddock.  The Iowa Speedway crew completed the track drying procedure and drivers were called to their cars.  Polesitter Dario Franchitti saw his night come to an end before it started as his Honda engine gave out on the warm-up laps ending his day.  The race restarted and Helio Castroneves of Team Penske benefitted from Franchitti’s engine troubles to take the early lead being chased by James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay while all three drivers navigated early lap traffic.  The early laps provided exactly what the drivers were hoping for…competitive side-by-side racing but the cars were a handful to drive.

Will Power suffered another night to forget in Iowa when, early in the race, Power navigated his Verizon Team Penske car to the low side of the racetrack in turn 2.  The problem was that the No. 5 CITGO KV Racing Technology car piloted by EJ Viso was closing on Power and was inside the Team Penske driver at the time.  The two cars made contact sending both cars into the SAFER barrier ending the race for both drivers.  Power later admitted to his mistake and patched up any ill feelings with Viso.

As happens frequently in auto racing, strategy became paramount storyline in the race and Roger Penske looked to have given Ryan Briscoe an opportunity to win the race on a great fuel strategy.  At the end of a previous caution, Penske called Briscoe to bring the No. 2 Transitions Adaptive Lenses Dallara Chevrolet to the pits to top off the fuel in the car to go a little bit longer on the next stint than every other driver on the track.  As the next round of green flag stops cycled through, Briscoe found himself on a lap all on his own and was looking to be in a great position if a caution came out.  The caution came out, but, unfortunately, Briscoe was the driver in the wall bringing out the yellow.  Briscoe maintained the low lane as he was going to pit the next lap when he was dive bombed by Josef Newgarden who was just off pit lane with fresh tires.  The incident resulted in an end to the race for Briscoe and Newgarden.

The cars from Andretti Autosport, as in the 2011 race, appeared to be the strongest horses in the race with only Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon able to offer consistent challenges to Michael Andretti’s stable.  However, the race turned sour for another championship contender as James Hinchcliffe had his GoDaddy.com Chevrolet snap loose and get into the fence leaving Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay left to duke it out for the win.  Katherine Legge spun in turn 2 with two laps to go ending the race under caution giving Ryan Hunter-Reay his second win in a row.  With Power and Hinchcliffe having issues in the race and the late fade by Scott Dixon, the points were shaken up greatly in after Iowa.  Power maintaned the points lead by three points over Ryan Hunter-Reay with Dixon maintaining third and Helio Castroneves leapfrogging Hinchcliffe to 4th in points.

CONGRATULATIONS TO RYAN HUNTER-REAY AND ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT: WINNERS OF THE IOWA CORN INDY 250

  R.I.P. DAN WHELDON

Race Recap: Milwaukee IndyFest

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The Milwaukee Mile is a one mile oval track with, essentially, flat corners resulting in a race experience that requires driver skill and mechanical grip to be fast.

Qualifying was held on Friday with Dario Franchitti grabbing the Pole Position, but the real story of qualifying was the seven cars receiving ten spot grid penalties for unapproved engine changes.  These drivers included Texas winner Justin Wilson, Ryan Briscoe, Points Leader Will Power, and 2nd in Points Scott Dixon.

The race began with Dario Franchitti leading the lion share of the early laps.  The first caution flag was brought out by a single-car spin by Simona de Silvestro ending their day.  de Silvestro’s spin occurred right in the middle of green flag stops with Helio Castroneves in the lead.  Castroneves led much of the middle of the race, but fell back due to tire strategy.  Enter Ryan Hunter-Reay.  Hunter-Reay led the final stint of the race winning the event with Tony Kanaan coming in second place.  Dario Franchitti crashed out after contact with the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske car driven by Ryan Briscoe.  Scott Dixon finished 11th after being penalized for jumping a restart!

The Dixon Penalty became a huge point of contention in the race because Beaux Barfield enforced the penalty after viewing a replay, however, the replay was not of the restart that Dixon was supposedly penalized for.  Instead, it was a replay from earlier in the race on a restart that was waved off by race control.  Barfield’s call likely cost Dixon second in points as James Hinchcliffe took over that position with his third place run.

The Milwaukee IndyFest was, effectively, the last chance for the oldest track in the United States of America to remain in business.  Originally left off of the 2012 schedule, Milwaukee was thrown a lifeline by Andretti Autosport owner Michael Andretti.  In terms of INDYCAR sanction, Milwaukee has been one of the most exciting and beloved stops on the schedule, however, track promoters were left with old bad debts and hurt feelings putting the track’s future in question.  The 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series event produced the exciting racing that was expect but a sub-15,000 person crowd put the event’s future in question.  Enter Michael Andretti.

Michael Andretti has used all of his pull, sponsors, and cars to promote this event.  Since the season began, all of Andretti Autosport’s cars carried logos and web addresses for the Milwaukee IndyFest keeping the event at the forefront of the minds of the fans and media.  The 2012 event saw a jump in fan attendance from the 15,000 from 2011 to over 20,000 marking a 25 percent increase.  The event seems to have bailed itself out as before the Drivers Start Your Engines command, given by Michael Andretti, it was revealed by the promoter that the race would return on the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule which is a big win for all!  Michael Andretti will, once again, don his promoter pants when he helps promote the second Baltimore Grand Prix later this year!

UP NEXT:

The IZOD IndyCar Series takes to the corn fields of Iowa on June 23rd for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway.  Qualifying for the race will be determined by heat races for the first time in IZOD IndyCar competition so make sure to tune in for that!

CONGRATULATIONS TO RYAN HUNTER-REAY AND ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT: WINNERS OF THE MILWAUKEE INDYFEST!

R.I.P. DAN WHELDON

Race Recap: Firestone 550K

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This is the one that everybody was talking about whether it was 24 degrees of banking, pack racing, or location of posts in the catch fence.  For the first time since the death of Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the IZOD IndyCar Series haulers loaded into a high-banked 1.5 Mile oval track to compete in the Firestone 550k at Texas Motor Speedway.  The oval track just north of Fort Worth has been regarded as IndyCar’s second home for years hosting more races under INDYCAR sanction than any other facility.  Track President Eddie Gossage is given substantial credit for saving IndyCar racing during the darkest days of the split by providing solid promotion for his IndyCar events coupled with the amazing racing that has been produced at his track over the years.  Texas had become synonymous with side-by-side pack racing while exciting for the fans, the drivers will no longer tolerate.  The aftermath of Wheldon’s death saw drivers calling into question the viability and safety of racing on tracks like Texas as well as safety at these facilities since the fence posts are inside the mesh on the catch fence.  Wheldon’s cause of death was determined as blunt force trauma to the head after he struck one of the posts.  Driver concerns aside, the race remained on the 2012 IndyCar schedule while the similarly configured Las Vegas Motor Speedway was removed.  The week prior to the race at Texas, drivers held a meeting with technical director Will Phillips and race director Beaux Barfield in an attempt to develop an aerodynamic package with the DW12 IndyCar that would eliminate the pack racing.  The solution offered by the drivers, and employed by the series, was to run the cars with very low downforce making it impossible to run flat around the racetrack.  The question was would it work?

As the first practice approached, the tension was apparent through the Paddock.  Would our aerodynamic changes work, or will we be forced to endure pack racing that we said was intolerable?  The answer came very early in the session.  With the low downforce, the DW12s were a handful for drivers and they had to lift in the turns which is what the drivers wanted all along.  Some drivers were happy with the setups and rose to the top of the pylon while others struggled through practice.  Dario Franchitti topped the chart.  A short turn-around from practice to qualifying put tremendous pressure on the crews as they sifted through the mountain of data to determine a qualifying setup.  When was all said and done the first four qualifying positions fell to Honda powered teams with Chip Ganassi Racing capturing three of the top-four.  Will Power and James Hinchcliffe occupied row three as the highest qualifiers for Chevrolet.  Alex Tagliani pulled the huge upset capturing the Pole from Chip Ganassi Racing.

Qualifying was in the books and all was left was to run the 500 kilometer distance of the race.  The race turned out to be a fantastic show with the side-by-side racing that has become IndyCar’s signature on these oval tracks but the field was strung out thus eliminating the pack racing.  The handling characteristics of the cars caught out the likes of Charlie Kimball and Takuma Sato as they both hit the wall early in the race ending their day.  The first half of the race was dominated by Scott Dixon who led over 100 laps in the race, but his day came to an end when he touched the apron trying to navigate traffic sending the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda into the turn four wall.

The race restarted with about 50 laps to the finish with Will Power leading followed by Ryan Briscoe, Tony Kanaan, and Helio Castroneves.  The green flag flew and Briscoe immediately moved to the outside to make a pass on his teammate for the lead when Kanaan moved to the inside to make it three wide.  Power made a reactive blocking move causing Kanaan’s front wing to hit the rear wheel guard of the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet.  The result was Kanaan having to pit for a new front wing, his second wing change of the night, and Power serving a drive-through penalty for blocking removing both drivers from contention for the race win. Meanwhile, the other two Team Penske cars fell off opening the door for Graham Rahal and Justin Wilson to claim the top-2 positions.  Rahal looked to have the race locked up until he grazed the turn 4 wall with two laps to go giving the win to Justin Wilson.  The win is Wilson’s third since the open wheel unification in 2008 and his first on an oval.

This race was a huge win for IndyCar as they worked with their drivers and technical officials to create a package that would provide the side-by-side racing action that made IndyCar racing on ovals famous while eliminating the outragous and dangerous pack racing.  There were only three incidents in the race and they were all single car crashes with the safety measures of the DW12 performing outstandingly.  The race at Texas, in a single evening, changed from being a race that the drivers were happy to leave to a race that they want to do again.  The chatter about fence posts and high banks is likely over now that IndyCar has put the driver back into the equation and cars flying into the catch fence is a less likely happenstance that way.  This Texas race also opens up the possibility of a return trip to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2013 to honor the final year of that contract although IndyCar will want to test at the facility before committing to a 2013 IZOD IndyCar World Championship race there.  Hopefully, Texas remains on the schedule as well giving IndyCar two high-banked 1.5 Mile ovals next season because they are as good as it gets in IndyCar racing.

Also of note, Rubens Barrichello and Simona de Silvestro’s days ended before they began as their cars did not fire after the ‘Boys and Girls Start Your Engines’.  de Silvestro suffered a fuel pressure problem while Barrichello had problems with the ECU unit in the engine.  Both did not start the race.

UP NEXT:

The IZOD IndyCar Series returns to the historic Milwaukee Mile on Father’s Day weekend.  The race is being promoted by Michael Andretti and is the last chance for the foreseeable future for the track to remain on the IndyCar schedule.  The 2011 race drew an abysmal 15,000 people.  Hopefully it’s well attended because IndyCar’s are great there.

CONGRATULATIONS TO JUSTIN WILSON AND DALE COYNE RACING:

WINNERS OF THE FIRESTONE 550K AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

R.I.P. DAN WHELDON

Sao Paulo Recap: What Turbo Upgrade?

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If Honda was frustrated and scratching their heads coming out of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, they must be fuming after Brazil.  Prior to the race weekend, Honda won the ability to upgrade their turbocharger to the behest of Chevrolet.  The turbo upgrade was installed to remove a noticeable turbo lag on exit of slow corners and make the Honda engine more competitive on the road and street courses.  The race weekend began with the same story, however, as Team Penske’s Will Power snagged the Pole Position, his second in the first four races and fourth on the season for Team Penske, by .04 seconds over Ganassi driver Dario Franchitti.

The fast six, in general, was more balanced with Power being joined by James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay for Chevrolet while Franchitti was joined by teammate Scott Dixon and Justin Wilson of Dale Coyne Racing representing Honda.  The pace overall of the Honda teams was much closer to that of Chevrolet which is a good sign.  A competitive Honda engine is important for the future of the IZOD IndyCar Series because manufacturer competition is imperative as the series continues to grow into the mainstream of sports in North America.  If Chevrolet was to come out and completely wipe the field with Honda, all of those Honda teams would run for Chevrolet at year’s end making IndyCar a spec series once again

The most amazing thing about this race, other than the fact that the rain failed to garner the race course with its presence, was that all 26 cars made it through the first turn without incident on the start.  The race ran caution free until Ryan Briscoe smacked the wall on his outlap following his first pit stop.  The ensuing restart saw Dario Franchitti punted by Mike Conway bringing out the yellow flag almost as soon as the green flew for the restart.  As is typical on street courses, strategy played a huge factor in determining the race winner.  The only driver able to touch Will Power in this race was Scott Dixon, however, Dixon was forced to make three pit stops to Power’s two thus sealing his fate.  A couple late incidents involving Ed Carpenter and Josef Newgarden brought out late restarts, one of which saw a 7-8 car pileup ruining many driver’s chances at good results.  Ryan Hunter-Reay gave it all he had, but was to no avail and Will Power captured his third straight win of 2012 and remains unbeaten on the Sao Paulo circuit.

Power’s Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves drove from a miserable 20th place starting position to finish 4th and Dario Franchitti rebounded from the incident with Conway to finish 5th salvaging a good points day.  Takuma Sato also finished 3rd, his best result to date in the IZOD IndyCar Series.  Overall, the Honda engines were more competitive, but Chevrolet still has the advantage as it seems through four races.  Also, Oriol Servia finished 11th in Dreyer & Reinbold’s final race with the Lotus powerplant.

The biggest question being asked through the entire Paddock:

CAN ANYBODY SLOW DOWN WILL POWER?  Some oval races on the horizon to, perhaps, bring the field right back to Power’s rear wing.  Keep tuning in as this story develops over the next 8 weeks.

CONGRATULATIONS TO WILL POWER AND TEAM PENSKE:  WINNERS OF THE SAO PAULO INDY 300!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UP NEXT:

After an open test at Texas Motor Speedway the IndyCars will load into the world’s greatest race course, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, for the crown jewel on the schedule the Indianapolis 500.  This is destined to be a emotion-filled month as the series returns to the site of the late Dan Wheldon’s last win so the emotions will run high.  It is also the first oval on the schedule begging the question who, Chevrolet or Honda, will have the advantage when the engine spends all its time at high RPM.  Also, some entries are still to be filled and some still need engines so the drama will run high all month.  Make sure to tune in May 19-20 for Qualifying and the Race goes GREEN on May 27!

R.I.P. DAN WHELDON

Long Beach Recap: Honda Takes One On The Chin…Or In The Behind?

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The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach had all the buildup to be Honda’s big opportunity.  Before anyone turned a single lap on the circuit, Honda was all but given the top-10 starting positions by Team Chevrolet when Chevrolet decided to, as a precaution, change all eleven of its team’s engines following a Monday test at Infineon Raceway.  All eleven Chevy powered cars would suffer a 10-spot grid penalty in accordance with the 2012 IZOD IndyCar rule book.  Like Alabama, the weekend suffered limited track time due to rain with practice on Friday almost a complete washout.  Fast forward to Saturday where Chevrolet instantly responded by capturing the Pole Position and five of the six positions of the Firestone Fast Six.  Ryan Briscoe won the Pole eclipsing the track record in the process.

Before we get to any of the winners and losers of this race, the IZOD IndyCar Series needs to be commended, once again, for its unbelievable continuing competition in 2012.  The 2012 Long Beach Grand Prix could be the best to date.  The action started early with rookie Josef Newgarden challenging Dario Franchitti, who inherited the Pole when the Chevrolets served their grid penalties.  Newgarden did not make it through the first turn as he impacted the tire barrier on the outside of Turn 1.  The most spectacular crash of the day occurred between Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal that saw Andretti become airborne over the rear of Rahal’s Big-O-Tires Dallara.  Honda’s day started to turn when in the ensuing caution period, the car of Scott Dixon stopped on the racetrack and would not re-fire.

The race resumed, essentially, caution free for the duration of the race making it a strategy game.  Some drivers were on three pit stop strategies with others trying to complete the race distance in two stops.  The varying strategies made for some interesting races.  The waning laps of the race were a duel between the cars of Takuma Sato, Simon Pagenaud, and Will Power.  Pagenaud committed to a three stop strategy early, but, amazingly, turned up the wick before his last stop and, subsequently, drove through the field until he was in sight of the Verizon logo affixed to the rear wing of Will Power, but it was not enough.  Somehow, Power managed to run the pace he needed to retain the lead while getting enough fuel mileage to complete the race in the two stops.  Amazing because KV Racing’s Rubens Barrichello pitted just one lap earlier than Power and was forced to pit lane for a splash of fuel with seven laps to go.  This weekend, Will Power erased all question of whether he is one of the top drivers in the world.  The drive to win this race was an absolute stroke of brilliance by the Australian as he was able to give Team Penske and Tim Cindric the EXACT fuel numbers that they needed while, somehow, keeping the car at a quick enough pace to remain at the top of the leaderboard.  If only there was one more lap for Simon Pagenaud…he may have been atop the podium instead of Power.

The drive of the race goes to Power, however, several other drivers deserve props for their performances at Long Beach.  These include Tony Kanaan, who drove from 19th place at the start to a 4th Place finish, Takuma Sato who came within reach of the win, and Rubens Barrichello capturing a top-10 and looking better and better.  The Lotus camp suffered another disappointing weekend, but they got some mileage on their engine which means more data to sift through to get to the next stage of development.  Hopefully, by Indianapolis, Lotus will be able to grid a competitive powerplant.

Side note, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Helio Castroneves were penalized thirty seconds on the last lap for avoidable contact dropping Hunter-Reay to 6th and Castroneves 13th in the final running order.  With Power’s win and a 13th Place finish, Castroneves relinquishes the points lead to his teammate .  Castroneves now trails Power by 24 points.  Dixon drops to 4th with engine woes.

The biggest loser in this race is Honda.  Since 2006, Honda has been the sole engine supplier for the IZOD IndyCar Series and before that, the Japanese auto manufacturer enjoyed supreme dominance over the competition of the time.  Oh how the tables have turned.  Chevrolet and, in particular, Team Penske have come into 2012 ready to play and through three races have taken it to Honda as hard as Honda has ever endured.  It is still early in the season, however, Honda was spotted the front third of the starting grid for Long Beach.  Honda suffered two engine failures in the race and Chevrolet captured EIGHT of the top-10 finishing positions before Helio Castroneves was assessed his penalty.  Honda should deem this result inexcusable and will need to pull out all the stops to end Chevrolet’s dominance.  It is yet to be seen whether Honda or Chevrolet will be the better package to have on the ovals, but Chevrolet most certainly has the edge on the road and street courses…which so happen to be the bulk of the 2012 schedule.  The next race is two weeks away and Honda needs to figure this thing out.

CONGRATULATIONS TO WILL POWER AND TEAM PENSKE: WINNERS OF THE TOYOTA GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH

UP NEXT:

The IZOD IndyCar Series flies to Sao Paulo Brazil for a street course race on April 29th.  Should be a rocking atmosphere with Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and, ever popular, Rubens Barrichello running in their home country!  Oh…should be an exciting race to boot, too!

R.I.P. DAN WHELDON

Barber Recap: Team Penske Powers To Victory

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The 2012 Honda Grand Prix of Alabama was the debut of the DW12 IndyCar on a permanent road course and the car did not disappoint!

The weekend began in puddles as rain virtually eliminated the second practice session on Friday and the morning session on Saturday was cancelled due to fog giving teams and their drivers the added challenge of developing their setup almost on the fly with the qualifying clock ticking.  Qualifying was good to go, though, and Helio Castroneves of Team Penske walked away from the track on Saturday with the Pole Position!

This race was absolutely fantastic from start to finish with close racing and more passing than what was originally anticipated.  This course gave the new car the ability to stretch its legs and show its ability through the high speed flowing corners creating an incredible pace and sense of how much grip this car has in it.  The car itself does not, however, deserve all the credit for making the race an amazing show as the drivers showed remarkable patience and good, clean racing and a professionalism that was seldom seen in 2011.  Passes were fair, crisp, and clean and there were constant battles through the entire field.  The new blocking rules instituted by new race director Beaux Barfield allowing the leading driver to proactively chose their lane to make it more difficult for the trailing car to pass without incurring a penalty proved to be a huge success because it made the drivers work and earn their passes creating closer, more dramatic racing all day long.

Pit lane proved to be a matter of concern for some teams as issues arose with wheel lug nuts being difficult for tire changers to tackle.  The bulk of these issues were on the rear tires which are at least 50 percent more difficult to change from the 2011 car model due to the rear bumper and sidepod bodywork on the DW12.  Drivers seemed to be more up to speed regarding the launch ability of the hand clutch and managed to pull away faster than in St. Petersburg.  This race had four failures in it removing the cars of Alex Tagliani, Charlie Kimball, Takuma Sato, and Tony Kanaan from the race.  The underlying bright spot of this race was the jump in competition from the Nos. 7 and 22 cars of Sebastien Bourdais and Oriol Servia.  The Lotus power of these cars was able to compete with the Chevrolet and Honda at different points of the race.  Formula 1 veteran Rubens Barrichello looked much more comfortable with the car and track this week than he did in St. Petersburg bringing the BMC KV Racing Technology car home in 8th position.

The day, ultimately, belonged to Team Penske and Chevrolet.  Helio Castroneves, driving the No. 3 AAA Insurance Team Penske Chevrolet, snatched the Pole Position in qualifying, backed up that effort through the first 25 laps.  During the first round of pit stops, 2nd place Scott Dixon was able to go one lap further than Castroneves on fuel giving him the advantage after the first round of stops.  The ensuing stint saw Dixon drive away from Castroneves.  This stint also had the most action, thanks to the cars of Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay who elected to start the race on slower black tires instead of the faster red wall compound so, therefore, they were using reds on the second stint where the bulk of drivers were using blacks.  Both drivers looked very racy in the 2nd stint and were impressive.

The strategy call of the race belongs to Tim Cindric calling the race for Will Power.  Due to a qualifying mishap by Ryan Hunter-Reay, Power was forced to start in 9th position and started the race on the black tires and pitted early in the window to put on the faster red tires and drove through the field up to 5th position when it came to the second round of pit stops inheriting the lead when Scott Dixon’s pit crew suffered a lugnut issue on their pit stop.  The No. 6 Dragon Racing car of Katherine Legge spun off course into the gravel trap bringing out a full course caution forcing a restart with ten laps to go with the running order Power followed by Dixon, Castroneves, and James Hinchcliffe.  Power held of Dixon on the restart and drove away for the victory, his 2nd in a row at the Birmingham facility.  Dixon finished second followed by Castroneves, Graham Rahal, Simon Pagenaud, and James Hinchcliffe.  Mike Conway, Rubens Barrichello, Sebastien Bourdais, and Dario Franchitti rounded out the top ten.  Franchitti, the four-time IndyCar Champion, suffered through another weekend of inability to find a desirable balance on his No. 10 Clorox Target Chip Ganassi Racing machine, but managed to make the most of what he had during the race.  Tough days for Ryan Briscoe, Tony Kanaan, and Alex Tagliani as they pack up and head to the next weekend.

On a side note, this was the first 2012 event broadcast by NBC Sports Network.  Fabulous coverage from the booth by Bob Jenkins, Jan Beekhuis, and Wally Dallenbach with Townsend Bell, Marty Snider, Kevin Lee, and Robin Miller calling the action on pit lane.  This group has really done their homework on all the new technical aspects of this new-era of IndyCar and brings it to the fans with concise, detailed analysis of everything happening on and off the racetrack.  Something that ABC and ESPN could learn from.

CONGRATULATIONS TO WILL POWER AND TEAM PENSKE: WINNERS OF THE HONDA GRAND PRIX OF ALABAMA!

UP NEXT:

The IZOD IndyCar Series Paddock loads up leaving a successful weekend of record setting attendance at Barber Motorsports Park and travels 2,050 miles west for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in two weeks on April 15th!  Some will look to continue their wave of momentum into Long Beach while others, the likes of Briscoe, Franchitti, and Kanaan, will try and rebound from difficult days in Alabama.

R.I.P. DAN WHELDON

St. Pete Recap: Team Penske, Chevrolet Make A Statement

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As the IZOD IndyCar Series kicked off their first weekend of competition in 2012, it was difficult to predict what was to come.  New drivers, engines, and cars enhanced all the drama that the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is known for.  Which engine manufacturer was going to take the first step toward dominance?  Would attrition be a factor?  What kind of weird stuff would happen?  On March 25, we got our answers…sort of.

The dynamic of this race weekend that was of the most importance was remembering fallen champion Dan Wheldon as the 2012 season kicked of in the city Wheldon called “home”.  Each of the 26 entered drivers carried a little bit of Dan with them on the weekend because Wheldon was charged with all the initial development on the 2012 IndyCar, now named “DW12″ in his honor.  Turn 10 of the 11 turn road course is now named “Dan Wheldon Way” where Wheldon completed the pass in 2005 giving him the win in the event’s inaugural race.  The IndyCar family, and auto racing in general, has been healing and remembering since October 16, 2011 and it is apparent that the wounds are still open.  Alas, they must return to the best medicine for this situation which is racing.  Wheldon would have wanted that.

Practice commenced on Friday ushering the debut of the DW12 in competition and the heavy hitters were out in full force with the top six filled with cars from Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske but the question of reliability appeared in the first practice session when Rubens Barrichello saw limited track time due to a gearbox issue.  In Practice 2, Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports and driver Simon Pagenaud were forced to change engines costing them ten positions on the starting grid after he would, eventually, qualify in the top six.

Qualifying on Saturday saw much of the same results from 2011 when Verizon Team Penske driver Will Power captured the pole position eclipsing his own track record from 2010.  Surprises from qualifying were that Chip Ganassi Racing was shut out of the Firestone Fast Six with Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti qualifying 7th and 10th respectively.  Chevrolet captured the top-5 starting positions with Briscoe joining his teammate on the front row followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe of Andretti Autosport with Helio Castroneves of Team Penske rounding out the top 5.  Dixon would start in the sixth position due to Pagenaud’s penalty for the engine change.

The big question for the start of the race was turn 1 of the start.  The start of the 2011 race was marred by a multi-car pileup instigated by Helio Castroneves removing himself as well as Ryan Briscoe, Marco Andretti, and Scott Dixon from contention for the race win, however, the 2012 race began with a different tune as drivers were professional and courteous making it through the first handful of laps without incident.  The early laps were dominated by Will Power and Team Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe running 1-2 early.  Katherine Legge brought out a caution after stalling on the frontstretch.  Polesitter Will Power dove onto pit lane just before the caution flag waved putting him off sequence with other cars, but had difficulty navigating the heavy traffic on the ensuing restart.  Power would rebound to finish 7th when the checkered flag fell.  Less than a third of the way through the race, Tony Kanaan retired with a battery issue and James Jakes made contact with the tire barrier.  The event quickly became a contest of strategy as Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing split their cars’ strategies.  Dario Franchitti pitted with Power and Briscoe a number of laps later leaving Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon running the same basic strategy, but Castroneves’ Chevrolet powerplant was able to get slightly better fuel mileage than the Honda powering Dixon.  Castroneves overtook Dixon with a brilliant pass to the outside in turn 1 after which the Brazilian drove away sealing his victory.  The victory is important for Castroneves as he went winless in 2011 and was looking for a huge rebound season in 2012 so this is an incredible start, to say the least.  The No. 3 Shell V-Power Team Penske car unloaded from the trailer one of the best cars on the track for the entire weekend, but it was Castroneves utilizing patience and instinct of when to go for it and when to sit and ride it out that allowed him to cross the checkers first.  Castroneves granted the fans his  trademark victory celebration of climbing the fence, but stopped the No. 3 Shell V-Power car in Turn 10, Dan Wheldon Way, pumping his fist into the newly erected street sign honoring IndyCar’s fallen hero.  A fitting tribute and absolutely the highlight of the weekend.

So what did we learn?  Chevrolet came to play sweeping the top 5 in qualifying and capturing four of the top 5 positions in final results.  Honda’s only top 5 participant was Scott Dixon finishing 2nd.  Team Penske established itself as the early front runner as the team to beat grabbing three of the top 10 positions in the running order.  Helio Castroneves has returned, rejuvinated from his disastrous season in 2011 and is without a doubt a serious contender for the series championship.  Dario Franchitti finished a disappointing 13th in the season opener but don’t expect that result to continue as well as Will Power finishing outside the top 5.  Lotus definitely has some serious ground to make up to Chevrolet and Honda in terms of engine development, but there is light at the end of the tunnel it seems as Sebastien Bourdais of Dragon Racing showed flashes of competitive pace during the middle portions of the race.  Hopefully, by the Indianapolis 500 Lotus will have closed the gap, but it is unknown if that particular goal can be achieved or not.  The DW12 has gotten a lot of backlash regarding the car’s design being unattractive, but if the first weekend is any indication the future of the car is bright.  The car did, indeed, turn out to be faster capturing the attention of the fans with its sweet turbocharged song that is much milder than engines past.  So mild, in fact, that fans commented that they could actually have a conversation with other spectators while the cars were making their circuits around the course.  Electronics presented, and will continue to present issues for teams as the DW12′s teething process continues.  The car itself is a continuing development process and it is now up to the teams and their drivers to make the car better every weekend.  Team Penske and Chevrolet may have stamped their logos as the ones to beat after the first race, but Honda and its teams will not go quietly.  Stay tuned because it is just the beginning!

CONGRATULATIONS TO HELIO CASTRONEVES AND TEAM PENSKE: WINNERS OF THE HONDA GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG!

Up Next: April 1: Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama – Barber Motorsports Park

R.I.P DAN WHELDON!


The Race That Never Happened…But, Unfortunately, Did

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All the pomp and circumstance was there.  IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard and the race’s promoters organized and created incredible buzz surrounding this event with all 34 IndyCar entries parading down the Las Vegas strip on Thursday night, exciting practice sessions, charity blackjack tournaments, along with various other driver appearances.  The race had all the makings of an incredible spectacle culminating the week’s activities saturated with storylines.  Will Power and Dario Franchitti starting mid-pack of a record field duking it out for the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series Championship, Dan Wheldon starting dead last driving through the field for a $5 Million prize, and throw in the last race of the Dallara IndyCar platform in use since 2003, but it was not to be.

The photos pretty much tell the story.  The IZOD IndyCar World Championships, supposed to be a celebration of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series season, ended in tragedy.  The race was to be a race for the ages with high speed, competitive side by side racing for three hundred miles.  The green flag dropped to begin the three hundred mile showcase with drivers immediately running three and four wide in one huge pack.  In fact, the No. 6 IZOD Team Penske maching piloted by Ryan Briscoe touched wheels with the No. 98 William Rast car of Alex Tagliani with less than ten laps complete.  The pack of cars, while exciting, turned deadly on lap 12.    What began with a slight touch of wheels between rookie James Hinchcliffe and essential rookie Wade Cunningham resulted in a fifteen car melee landing four drivers in the hospital and claimed the life of driver Dan Wheldon.  Four of the fifteen cars, including Dan Wheldon, Championship contender Will Power, Pippa Mann and Indianpolis 500 runner-up JR Hildebrand, became airborne causing carnage and an immediate red flag situation.  The Bower’s and Wilkens car of Dan Wheldon smashed into the catch fence and came to rest in the middle of the backstretch.  Driver Dan Wheldon was airlifted to the hospital where he succumbed to unsurvivable injuries.  IndyCar’s drivers, officials, and team owners decided to end the race, rendering it ‘incomplete’ and giving Dario Franchitti his third straight Championship…a Championship that may never be celebrated.  The remaining cars and their drivers returned to their cars for a Five Lap Tribute while Wheldon’s car number, 77, remained illuminated atop the scoring pylon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway so bringing a somber, tragic end to IndyCar’s 2011 season.

The cause of this devastating crash cannot be explained with just one or two factors.  These are just some of the factors contributing to the devistating crash:

  • 34 Cars, one more than start the Indianapolis 500 mile race, were entered into this race due to equipment being obsolete after the race was over as the series moves to a new car in 2012.  34 cars in competition on a circuit one mile shorter in distance to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
  • Inexperience in the field.  Prior to the accident, the front third of the field, encompassing the cars of the likes of Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe, Tony Kanaan, and Marco Andretti was running as they should early in the race.  A little bit of side-by-side but mostly conservative, close single-file formation.  Back in the pack was radical three and four-wide racing.  These drivers back in the pack did not have the experience to know to sit back and make it to the first pit stop.  These races are always crazy in the beginning and then they sort themselves out through the middle portions of the race.  Patience is KEY to driver safety on circuits.
  • Track configuration.  A couple of years ago Las Vegas Motor Speedway was re-configuredwith progressive banking in order to make for more exciting racing when NASCAR runs their races.  For NASCAR, the current configuration promotes side-by-side racing and more passing opportunities, but they travel 50-60 mph slower.  For IndyCars, the configuration gave the drivers lots of grip and allowed them to run flat out at all times creating one big pack and allowing them to run race speeds close to 220 mph.
  • Dallara Chassis used since 2003 have completely open wheels and once they are removed from the ground they become a missile.  All cars that became airborne in this melee went over the open rear wheels of the car in front of them.  This possibility will be greatly diminished with the Dallara DW-12 that will be run in competition next year because the rear wheels are almost closed.
  • For the entire 2011 season, Race Control DID NOT listen to their drivers at all when it came to officiating and risk.  Race Control elected to start the race in Sao Paulo in a downpour where the cars might as well have been running on ice.  Inconsistent officiating on road and street courses.  Restarting the oval race in New Hampshire while the track was wet while the drivers were screaming not to go.  The drivers are the ones putting their lives on the line for the entertainment of fans…when drivers have concern about something, especially regarding safety, Race Control has to listen, believe, and act on what the drivers are telling them!
It is unfair to blame this horrific tragedy on one or two factors.  It was a perfect storm of the worst kind where all that could go wrong in this race did go wrong…all on lap 12.  The debate on whether IndyCars belong on these big “NASCAR-Style” oval tracks will continue, probably for years to come.  These cars belong on these tracks.  These tracks are important to balancing the schedule and creating the most competetive racing series in the entire world just because it forces all drivers to be so good on so many different types of circuits.  IndyCars are a huge spectacle on these tracks.  They look so sleek, and so smooth running at speeds greater the 200 mph.  The side-by-side racing is entertaining, not only in person, but on television as well and has a bigger adrenaline rush for fans who don’t give the sport their full attention from March until Mid-October.
More than these big tracks themselves, there is great debate on whether Las Vegas Motor Speedway should return to the schedule.  This event deserves and opportunity to redeem itself and exercise its demons with a safer car in 2012 and a full investigation into the 2011 race.
Since the very inception of Auto Racing, returning to a venue where a fatality has occurred has remained commonplace.  IndyCars returned to California after Greg Moore died and likewise to Homestead after Paul Dana’s accident.  NASCAR returned to Daytona after the track claimed the life of Dale Earnhardt…and they all still return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway which has also seen its losses.  Las Vegas Motor Speedway is no different…
Onto 2012 we go…strap in…pull the belts tight…it’s gonna be a great one!