IZOD IndyCar Series 2010 *Round 7 - Texas*

[phil1993]

3 rounds down and there's been some good racing so far.

Power wins thrilling opener

Spoiler:

Will Power announced his return after his injury lay-off with a hard-earned win in a spectacular, rain-interrupted, IndyCar Series season opener in Brazil.

The race had to be halted for nearly 45 minutes due to a massive downpour over the new Sao Paulo street track, and when it resumed Power and his Penske team-mate Ryan Briscoe mounted an epic battle for the lead with Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Power ultimately emerged on top ahead of Hunter-Reay while Briscoe crashed out of the lead. Vitor Meira completed the podium with a heroic drive for AJ Foyt's team - as he too returned following serious back injuries.

The race was chaotic from the moment the green flag fell, with KV's debutant Takuma Sato braking too late for the first corner and punting Scott Dixon (Ganassi) into a spin. Helio Castroneves (Penske) then collected Dixon's stranded car, although both were able to resume after repairs - unlike Sato.

But the biggest crash happened in the background, as Sato's team-mate Mario Moraes rode over the back of Marco Andretti and remained perched on top of the Andretti Autosport car through the first chicane. It took several minutes to remove the KV Dallara and extricate Andretti, who was unhappy but unhurt.

After an eight lap yellow, Franchitti led away, with qualifying star Alex Tagliani hanging on to second for the new Fazzt team until lap 19, when Hunter-Reay dived ahead at the last corner. His team-mate Tony Kanaan completed the breakaway front group at this stage - second row starter Justin Wilson (Dreyer & Reinbold) having had to pit with tyre damage on lap one - while Dan Wheldon carved through the early carnage to emerge in fifth for Panther.

Most of the field pitted when the yellow was called to retrive Milka Duno's parked Dale Coyne car on lap 21, but HVM's rookie Simona de Silvestro stayed out and gained the lead. She held her own up front for a lap after the restart, while Hunter-Reay overtook Franchitti for second and then grabbed the lead from de Silvestro on the next lap. In their wake, Wheldon tagged the rear of Tagliani's car at the end of the back straight and sent the Canadian into Kanaan, ending Fazzt's debut.

Shortly afterwards, the heavens opened over Sao Paulo, and with multiple spins and Alex Lloyd (Dale Coyne) aquaplaning into the wall, the field ran under yellow for several laps before the amount of standing water convinced the officials to put out the red flag to allow the shower to pass.

Everyone had taken wets prior to the stoppage, with a well-timed pitstop getting Power up to second between Hunter-Reay and Franchitti.

But Hunter-Reay and Power were among a group of drivers who decided to return to slicks during the pace car laps prior to the restart just over half an hour later, meaning the wet-shod Franchitti, Dixon, Mike Conway and Wilson led away when racing resumed.

Hunter-Reay's swift progress back through the field proved that slicks were now the right choice though, and as the frontrunners all pitted over the ensuing laps, the American ended up back in front, with a comfortable lead over Raphael Matos (Luczo Dragon/de Ferran), Briscoe and Power, who had all followed the same tyre strategy.

The Penske duo overtook Matos and quickly chased down Hunter-Reay. Briscoe grabbed the lead into the final corner on lap 50 - only for Hunter-Reay to squeeze back down the inside and reclaim the place into the first chicane.

Next time around Briscoe repeated his last corner move and this time Hunter-Reay could not respond - but it did not matter as two laps later Briscoe braked too late into Turn 5 and skated into the tyres.

That prompted a full course yellow, after which just six minutes of racing were left before the event hit its time limit.

Although Hunter-Reay made a great restart and initially edged away from Power, the Penske driver reeled the leader back in and with four minutes on the clock he slipped down the inside at the end of the mile-long straight and grabbed a lead he would not lose.

Behind them, Meira claimed a brilliant third, having also taken on slicks prior to the restart and then battled past Wheldon and Matos in the closing stages. Matos held on to fourth under immense pressure from Wheldon, the Ganassi duo, Conway, Castroneves, Wilson and the recovering Kanaan.

Power wins again at St.Pete

Spoiler:

Will Power took a second straight victory in the postponed second round of the IndyCar Series in St Petersburg, as Justin Wilson denied Penske a top three sweep by securing second for Dreyer & Reinbold.

The incident packed race, which took place in dry conditions far removed from the storms that prevented any racing on Sunday, came down to a duel between Power and Wilson, with the leader's Penske team-mates Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves close behind. But having topped every practice session and taken pole, Power had just enough speed to stay out of Wilson's reach and maintain his 100 per cent victory rate in 2010.

The race was delayed slightly further this morning to allow the track to fully dry out after the storms that caused its postponement - although it remained slick enough for Milka Duno to spin on the formation laps, and for both Mike Conway and Dario Franchitti to rotate on lap one, causing an immediate yellow.

Andretti Autosport's Marco Andretti had surged to third behind Power and Scott Dixon (Ganassi) at the start, and after the restart overtook them both on consecutive laps to take the lead - but only for one lap before Dixon repassed him into Turn 1, with Castroneves following suit next time around.

Power had lost momentum after Andretti's move and temporarily fell back to fourth, but kept his softer red tyres in better shape than most, and overtook Andretti and Castroneves to return to second place by lap 19.

Takuma Sato prompted the next yellow on lap 22 by sliding his KV car into the wall while trying to fend off Foyt's Vitor Meira, who was one of several drivers, along with de Ferran/Luczo Dragon driver Raphael Matos and Franchitti, to emerge from the midfield into the lead briefly as the field followed various pitstop strategies during the next stint.

Being back in the pack following the pit shuffle spoilt several leading contenders' chances - with Dixon smashing his front wing by tagging KV's Mario Moraes, and Tony Kanaan (who had dropped back from second with a poor getaway at the start) and team-mate Andretti pitting for repairs after making contact amid the incident.

The most frightening crash of the day came on lap 46, when Panther driver Dan Wheldon's right rear suspension appeared to break on the approach to Turn 1. He bounced off Moraes and speared into the tyres, but was unhurt.

Half the field made what was planned to be their penultimate stops during the resultant caution, moving Power back into the lead ahead of Wilson, EJ Viso (KV), Simona de Silvestro (HVM) and Danica Patrick (Andretti Autosport), all five among the drivers who stayed out.

The top three broke away at the restart, with Viso then the first to make his final stop on lap 64. This turned out to be sublime timing, as moments later Dreyer & Reinbold's Mike Conway bounced into the tyres after a tangle with Matos and caused another yellow.

With all the other leaders having to pit during the caution, Viso moved to the front - at least once Meira, on another totally different strategy, had pitted from the lead. But just when Viso looked a good bet for a maiden win, a gearbox glitch forced him to pit for repairs.

After another brief yellow - caused by Graham Rahal (Sarah Fisher Racing) tapping de Silvestro into a spin at Turn 1, and the rapidly-recovering Dixon crashing by himself at Turn 9 - the race came down to a final sprint with Power narrowly leading Wilson, and Briscoe and Castroneves giving chase. Briscoe had overcome his dismal qualifying result by making an early first tyre stop and therefore gaining ground when many ahead pitted under the Sato yellow.

Despite a few minor slides from Power, Wilson was never able to get close enough, finishing just under a second behind the victorious Australian, with battling team-mates Briscoe and Castroneves completing the top four.

Having been further delayed by a mid-race puncture, Franchitti mounted a searing late charge to take fifth, as Alex Tagliani gave Fazzt an excellent sixth place finish in only its second ever race.

Running the soft red tyres in the final stint, Patrick had to work hard to resist Matos, Rahal, Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Andretti to secure seventh at the flag. Hunter-Reay rued slowing when he mistakenly thought he had picked up damage from contact, and getting trapped on the wrong side of the Rahal/de Silvestro tangle.

Also missing out on a potentially great result was Newman/Haas/Lanigan's Hideki Mutoh, who popped up among the Penskes mid-race having made an early stop and gained ground as the leaders pitted during the Sato crash yellow, only to later stall in the pits and finish 14th.

Castroneves takes canny Barber win

Spoiler:

Helio Castroneves took his first victory since Texas last June as he played a canny fuel strategy game to win the IndyCar Series' inaugural round at Barber Motorsports Park.

Ganassi's Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti followed the same two-stop plan to complete the podium, while Will Power's run of wins came to an end as his choice of three stops left him fourth for Penske.

But the race could easily have seen Marco Andretti win for the first time in nearly four years, as he led for much of the distance before his fuel conservation bid failed and he had to make a late pitstop, dropping him to fifth.

With passing extremely difficult at the undulating Alabama track, the race soon became a tale of pit tactics.

Some drivers, led by Andretti Autosport's eighth-placed Tony Kanaan, chose to make their first of three stops at the earliest opportunity in the hope of vaulting to the front later.

Early leaders and front row partners Power and Mike Conway (Dreyer & Reinbold) were among a group who pitted when the first yellow came out on lap 11, caused by Takuma Sato's seventh-placed KV car grinding to a halt with a throttle problem.

But Castroneves, Andretti and the Ganassi duo decided to stay out and stretch their fuel mileage as long as possible in the hope of making just two pitstops during the race, a strategy that turned out to be ideal.

Castroneves therefore led away at the green flag after the Sato yellow - but only as far as Turn 5, where Andretti muscled past him and into first place.

The American edged clear initially, which ultimately proved his undoing, for Castroneves, Dixon and Franchitti were throttling back and saving more fuel.

When Andretti had to come in for his second and final pitstop with 34 laps to go - four more than even the frugal Castroneves had managed on a single fuel load - it was obvious that Andretti's only hope of winning was for a yellow to come out. He drove as conservatively as possible, hanging back behind midfielders Graham Rahal and Raphael Matos for lap after lap while defending from Castroneves and Dixon, but gave up and pitted eight laps from the end.

That dropped Andretti to fifth behind Castroneves, Dixon, Franchitti and Power, who emerged as comfortably the top three-stopper, and ironically just three laps later the yellow Andretti required came out when Simona de Silvestro spun her HVM car at Turn 5.

A two-lap shoot-out followed at the green, with Castroneves able to hold off Dixon and ensure that while Power's winning streak ended, Team Penske remains undefeated in the 2010 IndyCar season. Dixon was left frustrated that race control had adjudged that he had passed Andretti and Castroneves before the line at the start and ordered him to relinquish the positions - a decision the Ganassi driver felt cost him a win.

Behind Franchitti, Power and Andretti, Ryan Briscoe completed the top six in the third Penske entry. Justin Wilson (Dreyer & Reinbold) set the fastest lap and put determined moves on Conway and Kanaan as he made up ground from his disappointing grid slot to take seventh.

Alex Tagliani's early first stop helped him to come through from 21st to 10th for Fazzt, ahead of Dan Wheldon (Panther) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti).

Code: Select all

Indycar Series Standings after Round 3:

Pos Driver               Team                    Points
1   Will Power           Team Penske             136
2   Helio Castroneves    Team Penske             104 -32
3   Dario Franchitti     Chip Ganassi            94  -42
4   Justin Wilson        Dreyer & Reinbold       85  -51
5   Scott Dixon          Chip Ganassi            80  -56
6   Ryan Briscoe         Team Penske             79  -57
7   Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti Autosport      77  -59
8   Raphael Matos        de Ferran/Luczo Dragon  72  -64
9   Tony Kanaan          Andretti Autosport      64  -72
10  Marco Andretti       Andretti Autosport      62  -74

Entry list for Round 4, Long Beach *Provisional*

Code: Select all

Car  Driver               Country  Team                     Car Name
#2   Raphael Matos        BRA      Luczo Dragon/de Ferran   HP Luczo Dragon
#3   Helio Castroneves    BRA      Team Penske              Team Penske
#4   Dan Wheldon          GBR      Panther Racing           National Guard
#5   Takuma Sato          JPN      KV Racing Technology     Lotus-KV Racing Technology
#6   Ryan Briscoe         AUS      Team Penske              Team Penske
#7   Danica Patrick       USA      Andretti Autosport       Team GoDaddy.com
#8   EJ Viso              VEN      KV Racing Technology     PDVSA-Jet Aviation
#9   Scott Dixon          NZL      Chip Ganassi Racing      Target Chip Ganassi
#10  Dario Franchitti     GBR      Chip Ganassi Racing      Target Chip Ganassi
#11  Tony Kanaan          BRA      Andretti Autosport       Team 7-Eleven
#12  Will Power           AUS      Team Penske              Verizon Team Penske
#14  Vitor Meira          BRA      A.J.Foyt Enterprises     ABC Supply Co.
#18  Milka Duno           VEN      Dale Coyne Racing        CITGO
#19  Alex Lloyd           GBR      Dale Coyne Racing        Boy Scouts of America
#22  Justin Wilson        GBR      Dreyer & Reinbold        Team Z-Line Designs
#24  Mike Conway          GBR      Dreyer & Reinbold        Dreyer & Reinbold
#26  Marco Andretti       USA      Andretti Autosport       Team Venom Energy
#32  Mario Moraes         BRA      KV Racing Technology     KV Racing Technology
#34  Mario Romancini      BRA      Conquest Racing          Conquest Racing
#36  Bertrand Baguette    BEL      Conquest Racing          Conquest Racing RACB
#37  Ryan Hunter-Reay     USA      Andretti Autosport       Team IZOD
#67  Graham Rahal         USA      Sarah Fisher Racing      Dollar General
#77  Alex Tagliani        CAN      FAZZT Race Team          FAZZT Race Team
#78  Simona de Silvestro  CHE      HVM Racing               Team Stargate Worlds HVM
#06  Hideki Mutoh         JPN      Newman/Haas/Lanigan      Formula Dream/Panasonic

Twenty-five cars expected. All cars use Dallara chassis, Honda engines and Firestone tires.

[Tom Vandenhove]

This weekend Indy 500. Hopefully some big ones, flipperz and great battles ... oh yeah, that would be awesome.

Starting Grid :

[blizzard]

Looking forward to this one. Have watched every race so far this season. For some reason Im actually quite an Indycar fan for some years.
Simona De Silvestro is the first woman I have seen, who is really competitive and not just a PR stunt. Would be cool to see her at STR or Virgin one day.
I hope Helio can do it for the 4th time

[Tom Vandenhove]

Looking forward to this one. Have watched every race so far this season. For some reason Im actually quite an Indycar fan for some years.
Simona De Silvestro is the first woman I have seen, who is really competitive and not just a PR stunt. Would be cool to see her at STR or Virgin one day.
I hope Helio can do it for the 4th time

I like American autosport, it's a shame they don't spend more attention to it on much forums. F1 will always be the leader in autosport.

About De Silverstro, I mostly agree. She is really competitive, but F1 is no option I think. Something like DTM maybe ?

[cformula1]

Here is a countdown clock.

De Silvestro is very competitive, but not competitive enough for F1. A new team may have her as a PR stunt, but it'd be a waste of her talent.

American motorsport (particularly Indycars) has suffered because of 'the split' where CART/Champ Car and IRL/Indycar were separated, thus dividing viewers, fans and TV broadcasters, and Indycar has not recovered from it.

[Tom Vandenhove]

Will's Helio impression


May I present, The 2010 Indy Pace Car !

[phil1993]

What time does it start (GMT)

[cformula1]

What time does it start (GMT)

5:12pm GMT
6:12pm BST
7:12pm CET

[phil1993]

5.12pm? Okay, 6.15 then here

[François]

Franchitti wins Indy 500

First time watching Indy, I found it pretty much a borefest unless you're into that kind of thing. I was disappointed the heroic drive from Kanaan (all the way up to 2nd from 33rd on the grid) was ruined as he pitted for fuel with only 4 laps to go (talk about a disastrous strategy). It was pretty much straightforward for Franchitti, with the Penske drivers hitting trouble in the pits.

Also, quite a scary shunt on the very last lap, when Conway's car launched into the air before hitting the wall and splitting in half. Apparently the driver's been taken to hospital with leg injuries, hopefully he'll be alright.

[I Love Crashes]

Video of the conway Crash, Seriously, one of the worst ones I've ever seen, and apparently he has a broken leg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgMs1xSlESE

[François]

Did I say split in half? In hindsight, "blown to bits" would've been more appropriate. Horrible crash indeed, though he's lucky not to have been collected by the rest of the pack.

EDIT: also, mighty scary from Castroneves's onboard.

[blizzard]

Wow, that´s very very nasty indeed!

I´m delighted, that he hasnt´suffered serious head oder neck injuries. Horrible shunt. But on the other hand - brilliant job by Dallara, that he could escape only with "minor" injuries.
Remember the chech Lamborghini last week?
And Conways crash was at 220 mph or so...

I only saw it on the Indycar live stream, I couldn´t get an ABC or ESPN stream. So the youtube clip is the first time I saw a replay. I really didn´t know exactly what happened yesterday. All I could see was a field of debries and several cars stopping with damage.

Helio was lucky not to collect that yellow car..

btw: Franchittis behaviour was inappropriate in the light of what happened. I mean he passed the scene of the incident a few times under yellow and saw that a car was into pieces and the safety team were working at the monocoque of Conway. So celebrating like everything´s fine was not appropriate.

[Tom Vandenhove]

Conway's crash was horrible ! Reminds me of those old skool crashes which usually didn't end very well.

[blizzard]

Well, Mike has broken his leg, suffered muscular damages to the broken leg and a hairline crack to his thoracic vertebra. 3-4 months on the sidelines