Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1m01.3721s
2. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1m01.5357s + 0.1636s
3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 1m01.9321s + 0.5600s
4. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 1m01.9701s + 0.5980s
5. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1m01.9987s + 0.6266s
6. Simon Pagenaud* Schmidt-Hamilton DW12-Honda 1m02.1095s + 0.7374s
7. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m01.7636s Top 12
8. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 1m01.7895s Top 12
9. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevrolet 1m01.8699s Top 12
10. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m01.9570s Top 12
11. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m02.0233s Top 12
12. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 1m02.5084s Top 12
13. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevrolet 1m02.5146s Group 1
14. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevrolet 1m02.2009s Group 2
15. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 1m02.6015s Group 1
16. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 1m02.2538s Group 2
17. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Lotus 1m02.6506s Group 1
18. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevrolet 1m02.4426s Group 2
19. Josef Newgarden Fisher Hartman DW12-Honda 1m02.7155s Group 1
20. James Jakes Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 1m02.5271s Group 2
21. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 1m02.8218s Group 1
22. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m03.0437s Group 2
23. Oriol Servia Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus 1m02.8771s Group 1
24. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet 1m03.3591s Group 2
25. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Lotus 1m03.6048s Group 1
26. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Lotus 1m05.6858s Group 2
Looks set to be an intersting season. I'll be watching full time because of Barrichello and the turbocharged engines. It might give us an idea of what to expect in F1 starting in 2014.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1m01.3721s
2. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1m01.5357s + 0.1636s
3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 1m01.9321s + 0.5600s
4. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 1m01.9701s + 0.5980s
5. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1m01.9987s + 0.6266s
6. Simon Pagenaud* Schmidt-Hamilton DW12-Honda 1m02.1095s + 0.7374s
7. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m01.7636s Top 12
8. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 1m01.7895s Top 12
9. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevrolet 1m01.8699s Top 12
10. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m01.9570s Top 12
11. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m02.0233s Top 12
12. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 1m02.5084s Top 12
13. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevrolet 1m02.5146s Group 1
14. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevrolet 1m02.2009s Group 2
15. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 1m02.6015s Group 1
16. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 1m02.2538s Group 2
17. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Lotus 1m02.6506s Group 1
18. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevrolet 1m02.4426s Group 2
19. Josef Newgarden Fisher Hartman DW12-Honda 1m02.7155s Group 1
20. James Jakes Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 1m02.5271s Group 2
21. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 1m02.8218s Group 1
22. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m03.0437s Group 2
23. Oriol Servia Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus 1m02.8771s Group 1
24. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet 1m03.3591s Group 2
25. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Lotus 1m03.6048s Group 1
26. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Lotus 1m05.6858s Group 2
*10 place penalty
Looking at the grid I am very much surprised that Rhubino qualified 14 on his debut.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevrolet 2h01m40.1127s
2. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda + 3.3709s
3. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 19.1150s
4. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda + 19.3395s
5. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt-Hamilton DW12-Honda + 20.1050s
6. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 23.3093s
7. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda + 24.5552s
8. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevrolet + 25.4023s
9. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Lotus + 27.1815s
10. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda + 32.7377s
11. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 33.5038s
12. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 35.8730s
13. Oriol Servia Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus + 37.8944s
14. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 41.6742s
15. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevrolet + 44.5059s
16. James Jakes Coyne DW12-Honda + 54.5343s
17. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda + 1m00.6182s
18. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevrolet + 1 lap
19. Justin Wilson Coyne DW12-Honda + 1 lap
20. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus + 1 lap
21. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevrolet + 1 lap
22. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet + 2 laps
23. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Lotus + 5 laps
Did not finish:
Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 52 laps
Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 45 laps
Alex Tagliani BHA DW12-Lotus 0 laps
That was good racing, with lots of battles and clean overtakes all around, no silly collision and only two full-course caution periods that didn't wreck anyone's strategy. The driving standards in the series seem to have stepped up a notch.
No French bias I swear, but I was quite impressed with Pagenaud, who claimed 6th in St. Pete and now 5th at Barber. Mighty fast and an excellent racer, not the least bit intimidated by all the more experienced drivers around him. Also keep an eye on Bourdais, he may well end up proving that his four Champ Car titles were actually no fluke... that is if the Lotus package keeps improving, of course.
Barrichello's season hasn't started bad at all. He's currently 10th at standings and collected more points than his team mates at KV Racing Technology. I haven't watched the races, though, but it's great for Barrichello that he has found a job and has gotten into it.
Yup, Rubens's not doing too bad at the moment. Let's hope he can keep it together on ovals as well.
Haven't watched yesterday's Long Beach race yet but it seems to have been a thriller, with Power claiming the win after narrowly fending off a charging... Pagenaud, whose start to his rookie season has been absolutely amazing so far. He'll be a winner before long!
Yet another win for Verizon. That's a hat trick for Will Power and four out of four for Team Penske this season, very impressive.
Thoughts:
(1) No matter how messy and unpredictable these races are, Power (almost) always ends up (somehow) on top. Very impressive in a series where the cars are so closely matched.
(2) These street circuits look all the same and they're dull. Their only "interesting" feature is the potential to generate silly collisions and pile-ups because they're so narrow, and the resulting inevitable Caution periods make the results a bit less predictable.
(3) Everybody's been praising the DW12 chassis. I think the cars look very slow and heavy compared to Formula 1 cars (notwithstanding the actual top speed on ovals). I wonder if they actually are?
Race was okay, TV direction was awful. The chicane at Turn 1 is just comical, always has been.
Power's really impressive though; there's only five Ovals this year and if he can pick up decent results on them then he'll win the championship. Franchitti's struggled to adapt to the DW12 and his good luck has run out finally.
phil1993 wrote:TV direction was awful. The chicane at Turn 1 is just comical, always has been.
Agreed on both statements. Particularly hated how they sometimes chose to focus on the leading three or four cars during the restarts. Not to mention the missed overtakes, the replay of Helio going wide twenty minutes earlier...
Power's really impressive though; there's only five Ovals this year and if he can pick up decent results on them then he'll win the championship. Franchitti's struggled to adapt to the DW12 and his good luck has run out finally.
In a way it was cool to see him back in the upper half of the field this time at least. He never quite looked like winning it but he drove a decent race. Let's hope he or somebody else can give the Aussie a bit of a fight.
In brief: after two teams parted company with the engine supplier, another one (Dragon) have now done the same and are suing Group Lotus over several (alleged) contract breaches. Lotus are now effectively only supplying one (!) car full-time.
Expect another press release from them saying everything's all right!
