Congrats to Will Power, IndyCar Champ

For the third year running, the IndyCar Champion was crowned at the season finale at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.  And after finishing IndyCar runner-up three times, it was finally Will Power’s time to take the crown.

Will Power

Will Power came to Auto Club Speedway with a lead of 51 points over Penske Racing teammate Helio Castroneves and 81 points over Simon Pagenaud.  Helio’s pole reduced the lead to 50 points entering the race, and with the finale awarding double points – up to 103 with all the bonuses – Power’s lead was anything but secure, especially with his starting position on the last row.

In the first 10 laps, Pagenaud was losing places while Power gained a few as his teammates Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya ran at the front.

At the halfway point, Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay was leading from Montoya and Castroneves.  Power was running 7th in the thus far caution free race.  Hunter-Reay was steadily pulling away from Montoya just before pit stops around lap 140.  On lap 145, just after most had cycled thru the pits, Castroneves lead Tony Kanaan and Montoya.

On lap 175, Ryan Hunter-Reay spun, bringing out the first caution – a record run of green flag laps.  On the ensuing green, Will Power drove aggressively to the front from 5th like a man possessed.  He took the lead on lap 189.

On laps 198 thru 200, the Ganassi Racing pair of Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon both passed Power.  Late pit violations for Helio Castroneves and Ryan Hunter-Reay put them both out of race contention and also ended Helio’s title hopes.  On Will Power’s last stop, a mistake was made on his front wing adjustment that made his car very difficult to handle.  Since Helio’s penalty essentially eliminated him from championship contention and Pagenaud had gradually lost several laps throughout the night, Power was able to nurse his car home while Tony Kanaan took his first and well-deserved win on the last race of the season.

We’re lucky in SoCal to host two of North America’s premier open wheel races – the Grand Prix of Long Beach and the season ending 500 miler.  For the third year in a row, we were treated to an exciting finale that crowned the IndyCar season Champion.  Not sure I am a fan of ending the season so early – it seems like we should be seeing these guys for at least another month.  That makes the off-season just that much longer as well.  I can’t wait until Long Beach in the Spring!

SoCal Speed!

Spring brings racing to Southern California, and several of the season’s best events happen over the next couple of weekends.

SoCal

First of all, this weekend we have the Porsche Club of America (PCA) 13th Annual California Festival of Speed at Auto Club Speedway.  The Festival of Speed is the largest Porsche event in the Southwest, and it really does have something for everyone: Cup Races, Time Trials, Autocross, Concours, Vendors, & a Swap Meet.  More info including schedule and map on the calendar here: California Festival of Speed.

Next weekend the TUDOR United Sportscar Championship (TUSC) and IndyCar come to SoCal for the 40th Grand Prix of Long Beach – a massive weekend celebration of SoCal speed.  Long Beach is really a can’t miss event for motorsports fans.  Check out what SoCal’s Bill Auberlen of BMW Team RLL has to say about the party that is Long Beach here on the TUSC site.  Information, tickets, schedule, map, fan guide and much more can be found here: Grand Prix of Long Beach.

So far, aside from some really horrible officiating calls that have directly effected the race results, the unification of ALMS and Grand-Am under the TUSC banner has worked out quite well.  In particular, the series seems to have gotten the balance of power between the former ALMS LMP2 cars and the former Grand-Am DP cars just about right.  No surprise, the racing the in the GT classes has been particularly exciting and competitive.

IndyCar welcomes fan favorite Juan Pablo Montoya back to open wheel racing with Team Penske with teammates Will Power and Helio Castroneves.  The competition between the Penske guys, Team Ganassi (Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Ryan Briscoe, & Charlie Kimball), and Andretti Autosport (Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe, and Carlos Munoz) should be particularly close this year.  Sadly, we’ll be missing the 2009 Grand Prix of Long Beach winner, Dario Franchitti, who retired in the offseason due to injuries sustained in the Houston race last year.

Also next weekend, the Porsche Owners Cup will be running a Cup Race and Time Attack weekend at Willow Springs.

Ryan Hunter-Reay Is 2012 IndyCar Champion

IndyCar Champion

Early in the MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana

Gripping Fontana Race

After an exciting and surprising 500 mile race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Ryan Hunter-Reay is the 2012 IndyCar Champion, and Ed Carpenter won his second ever IndyCar race.  Hunter-Reay entered the race 17 points adrift of leader Will Power.  When Power spun and crashed at Turn 2 on lap 55, Hunter-Reay had his opening – he needed to finish sixth or better to overtake Power and become the first American IndyCar Champion in 6 years.

Power Somehow Rejoins Race

After a simply amazing effort by the Team Penske Crew, Will Power returned to the track on lap 123.  The #12 Verizon car was severely damaged by the lap 55 crash, and the team had to replace the entire rear end plus many other parts to make the car track ready.  Other crews were ‘high-fiving’ the Penske crew members in a mix of awe, amazement, and respect.  I’ve never seen a car so badly damaged return to a race.  Power was able to turn a dozen laps before retiring, and this was enough to move him ahead of E.J. Viso.  Now Hunter-Reay needed to finish fifth or better to be the IndyCar Champion.

 Battle for MAVTV 500 Win and IndyCar 2012 Championship

After Will Power retired, there were two races ongoing – one for the MAVTV 500 win and one to become IndyCar Champion.  In the former, there were 24 lead changes after Power’s crash.  JR Hildebrand ran really well on the high part of the track early in the race.  Unfortunately he had a brush with the wall, which necessitated a repair that put him several laps down and out of contention.  In the middle part of the race, the lead was exchanged multiple times between the likes of Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Alex Tagliani, and Ed Carpenter.  As the race wore on, it was apparent that nobody was clearly dominant, and that promised an interesting finish.

IndyCar Champion

Beautiful Sunset at MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana

Carpenter Wins With Gutsy Drive

Ed Carpenter was competitive throughout, led the most laps overall, and drove a great race to win the MAVTV 500.  The victory was the second of his IndyCar career.  Tony Kanaan spun into the Turn 4 wall bringing out a red flag on lap 242 to preclude a parade finish under yellow.  Dario Franchitti who had taken the lead from Carpenter on lap 237 would lead from the restart and take the white flag, but Carpenter had a strong run thru Turn 2 from high on the track and passed Franchitti down the backstretch just as Takuma Sato crashed out bringing out a yellow flag for the last half lap.  What a finish!

Hunter-Reay A Worthy IndyCar Champion

Ryan Hunter-Reay is certainly a deserving IndyCar Champion, winning more races than anyone including three in a row during the summer stretch and a win in the penultimate race in Baltimore setting up the showdown in Fontana.  In the run up to the finale, Hunter-Reay also turned down a deal to race with Team Penske and signed a new contract with Andretti Autosport.  For Will Power, this makes the third year in a row that he finished second while going into the final race with a strong chance to win.  It was also the third year in a row that a crash in that final race ruined his chances to win.  Congratulations to Ryan Hunter-Reay, IndyCar Champion for 2012.

Hunter-Reay Win In Baltimore Sets Up Fabulous Fontana IndyCar Finale

Ryan Hunter-Reay’s late race restart ambush of Ryan Briscoe secured a come-from-behind win at the Grand Prix of Baltimore and set up an exciting IndyCar finale at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana in two weeks.

Ryan Hunter-Reay #28 Andretti Autosport - Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

With his win, Hunter-Reay now trails IndyCar series leader Will Power by 17 points going into the final race of the season at SoCal’s Auto Club Speedway on September 15th.  With the race winner collecting 50 points, if Hunter-Reay also wins at Fontana, Will Power must finish second or third to take the IndyCar series title – fourth or worse, and Hunter-Reay takes the crown.

WIll Power #12 Team Penske - Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

Will Power, who has been at the top of the series standings most of the season and was on fire early in the season with three consecutive victories, has not won since Sao Paolo Indy 300 in April.  Meanwhile, Ryan Hunter-Reay has gotten hot, winning three in a row himself and four of the last seven races, including Baltimore.

The Auto Club Speedway showdown was set up by Hunter-Reay’s fabulous timing of a restart after a late race caution at Baltimore when he accelerated from second place into the lead past Power’s teammate Ryan Briscoe into Turn 1.  Team Penske and Briscoe complained bitterly that  Hunter-Reay jumped the start, but IndyCar race control maintained that Hunter-Reay began the charge after the green flag was waved – a legal restart.  No other drivers are close enough to Power to have a chance to win the championship.  Sure is strange not to have a Target Ganassi driver in contention!

On to the IndyCar finale in Fontana…

Interestingly, SpeedTV has reported that Team Penske is courting Hunter-Reay as a replacement for Briscoe in their third car for next year.  For their part, Andretti Autosport maintains that they intend to have Hunter-Reay resigned for two years by the Fontana finale.  Briscoe’s management has also been aggressively shopping his services to other IndyCar teams as his seat at Penske has been in question for some time.  Sure makes for an interesting build up to Fontana.  Stay tuned…

UPDATE (090712): 

Autosport is reporting here that Hunter-Reay will be staying at Andretti Autosport.

Ryan Briscoe Takes Pole at Indy

Ryan Briscoe put in a fantastic four lap qualifying run on a warm afternoon at

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Ryan Briscoe at Long Beach

Indianapolis Motor Speedway to take the pole in next Sunday’s Indy 500.  James Hinchcliffe had been fast all day, and he he had Briscoe beat until the final two corners of his last qualifying lap, but he fell short by 0.0023 seconds – the closest margin in the history of the Indy 500.  That’s the equivalent of 9.168 inches over the four laps.

Hinchcliffe said that he went out too hot and was not able to maintain the pace throughout

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James Hinchcliffe at Long Beach

four laps.  He went out again later trying to beat Briscoe by starting slightly slower and trying to hold his pace throughout; however his first lap was slower than Briscoe’s pole taking average and his speed fell off from there.  Nobody else was able to mount a serious challenge to Briscoe’s pole time, although Ryan Hunter-ReayHelio Castroneves, Marco Andretti, and Will Power all tried.

The first three rows for running of the 96th Indy 500:

  1. Ryan Briscoe
  2. James Hinchcliffe
  3. Ryan Hurnter-Reay
  4. Marco Andretti
  5. Will Power
  6. Helio Castroneves
  7. Josef Newgarden
  8. Tony Kanaan
  9. EJ Viso

Notably, all three Team Penske drivers made the 90 minute, top nine shootout for pole while none of four Target Ganassi drivers did, and Andretti Autosport has three of the fastest four qualifiers.  IZOD IndyCar points leader, Will Power, will start from 5th.  Rookie Josef Newgarden of the underdog Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing team qualified 7th.  Newgarden is also the highest placed Honda powered car on the grid – the other eight of the top nine being Chevrolet powered.  In the rest of the field, Dario Franchitti, reigning IndyCar champion will start 16th, and his teammate Scott Dixon will be 15th on the grid.  IndyCar rookie and 19-year Formula 1 veteran, Rubens Barrichello will start 10th.  SoCal’s Charlie Kimball will start 15th, while his teammate Graham Rahal will be 12th. Last year’s phenom and near winner, JR Hildebrand will start 18th.

Fast Friday Results – Marco Sets Fastest Lap of May at IMS

Marco Andretti turned the fastest time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the final practice day before Pole Day.  His speed of 227.540 mph (39.5535 lap time) put his Chevrolet powered Andretti Autosport #26 on the top of the sheet ahead of the Ryan Briscoe’s Team Penske#2 by a scant 0.1229 seconds.  Four of Marco’s Andretti Autosport teammates are also in the top ten.

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Marco Andretti of Andretti Autosport

The top ten:

  1. Marco Andretti, 227.540
  2. Ryan Briscoe, 226.835
  3. Helio Castroneves, 226.716
  4. Ryan Hunter-Reay, 226.400
  5. Scott Dixon, 226.224
  6. James Hinchcliffe, 225.874
  7. Ana Beatriz, 225.653
  8. JR Hildebrand, 225.571
  9. Dario Franchitti, 225.370
  10. Tony Kanaan, 225.322

Current IZOD IndyCar points leader Will Power was in 11th, rookie Josef Newgarden was 13th, and SoCal’s Charlie Kimball was 14th.

The last time someone named Andretti was on pole at the Indy 500 was in 1987, and his name was Mario.  Incidentally, that was also the year Marco was born.

Power Takes Grand Prix of Long Beach

The set up for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach IndyCar race – ultimately won by Will Power – promised something interesting.  All Chevy-powered cars were penalized 10 spots from qualifying due to unauthorized – but evidently necessary – engine changes.  IndyCar rules mandate a 10 spot penalty for an unauthorized engine swap.  Chevrolet’s decision was prompted by the failure of James Hinchcliffe’s engine during a practice session at Infineon prior to the start of Long Beach festivities.  Apparently, the replacement engines are the same spec, and there has been speculation that fuel detonation (AKA knocking) was the problem.

With that backdrop, Parnelli Jones gave that famous command for the drivers to start their engines.  The excitement started shortly after the green flag as Josef Newgarden attempted an outside pass on pole-sitter Dario Franchitti at Turn 1, clipped Dario’s right front, and slid into the tire barriers.  Full course yellow before lap 1 complete!  On the restart, Justin Wilson made a successful Turn 1 pass on Franchitti, which began Dario’s slide over the next several laps.  Simon Pagenaud, Takuma Sato, and Scott Dixon passed Franchitti in succession while Justin Wilson was simply running away from the field.

On lap 20, Sebastien Bourdais, former four time Champ Car Champion skidded into the Turn 9 tire barriers after having moved up 5 positions from his last row starting spot.  Wilson took the opportunity to dive into the pits and changed from red to black tires.  Franchitti had a horrible restart on lap 23, and Sato took the lead.  Shortly after the restart, EJ Viso tangled with Alex Tagliani, causing Tagliani to pit for an extended repair.  Viso was later penalized with a drive thru penalty.  Later on lap 23, Marco Andretti hit the Turn 8 tire wall in a violent crash that brought out another full course yellow.  Marco had been making a run on Graham Rahal, and as Rahal moved right slightly to defend, Andretti’s left front tagged Rahal’s right rear.  The resulting collision launched Andretti into an airborne 360 degree spin – taking out Rahal’s rear wing – before slamming into the barriers.  While the cars circled under yellow, Bourdais rejoined the race and Dixon left it.  Dixon’s car simply quit on the approach to Turn 8, not far from where Andretti and Rahal collided.

The top 5 on the lap 30 restart were Briscoe, Franchitti, Castroneves, Wilson, & Pagenaud.  Even though Dario was struggling thru the first third of the race, he was still near the front.    Dario, Helio, & Will Power pitted on lap 34, leaving Pagenaud in the lead with Kanaan in second and Wilson third on lap 35.   By lap 40, Power was pushing James Jakes hard for fifth place, and on lap 41, he completed a Turn 1 pass.  Pagenaud was in first and Wilson second as Kanaan pitted.

With 40 laps to go, Pagenaud was still in the lead, but needed to save some fuel.  Wilson was still hanging on in second on his blacks; Sato was third.  Will Power had managed to fight his way to fourth from twelfth.  Rubens Barrichello was all the way up to seventh, and JR Hildebrand was eighth but struggling with handling issues.  Conway’s car just quit – the second Honda to simply give it up.  Pagenaud pitted from the lead with 37 to go; Sato moved up to take the lead once again with Wilson right behind in second.  One lap later, Power took second from Wilson with a Turn 1 pass.  At this point, Charlie Kimball was hanging on in fourth as the top Ganassi car, and Barrichello was right behind him in fifth.

Viso had been holding up Castroneves, who was desperate to get past him.  In a crazy incident between Turns 7 & 8 Helio ended up accidentally chopping his teammate Ryan Briscoe while trying to get past Viso.  Amazingly, there was only minor contact, and all three managed to get thru Turn 8 relatively unscathed – and with Helio ahead of Viso.

Wilson pitted with 33 to go, and Power came in two laps later leaving Sato in first, followed by Hildebrand, Hunter-Reay, and Hinchcliffe.  With 30 to go, Sato made his last stop, leaving Hunter-Reay in first and Hildebrand in second.  Within the next three laps, Hunter-Reay, Hildebrand, Briscoe, and Hinchcliffe all pitted.  Now the top four were Pagenaud, Kanaan, Sato, and Power.  The question remained: of all the fast runners, who had to conserve fuel, and who could make it to the end?

With 20 to go, the top five were Pagenaud, Power, Sato, Jakes, and Wilson – Power having gotten by Sato on lap 26.  From this point, Wilson began slipping back, his tires going away; he was passed by Barrichello (for fourth) then Hildebrand (for fifth).

Pagenaud pitted from the lead with 16 laps to go, promoting Power to the top spot.  He came back out into fourth between Rubens and JR and was charging hard.  By now Hunter-Reay, Kimball, Wilson, and Hinchcliffe were running in a tight pack for sixth thru ninth.  Pagenaud took third from Barrichello with 11 laps remaining.  The final ten would be exciting – still, who was okay on fuel?

With eight to go, Will Power had about a 5 second gap to Takuma Sato in second, but Simon Pagenaud was charging fast.  One lap later, Barrichello, who last pitted on the same lap as Power, came in for a splash of fuel.  How could Power make it seven more laps?  Pagenaud passed Sato for second with six to go at Turn 1.  With 5 to go, he was about 5 seconds behind Power, who seemed to be conserving fuel, and charging very hard.

Kanaan was pushing Hildebrand very hard for sixth; he took a run at Turn 8 but backed out as the two nearly touched.  Finally at Turn 1 with three laps to go, Kanaan took the spot.  Power got the call to put the pedal down; could he keep Pagenaud behind him?

On the final lap, Hunter-Reay spun Sato from third at Turn 6.  What a shame; after such a great run, Sato would lose a podium spot.  Later at the Turn 11 hairpin, Helio punted Rubens into a spin that caused a major conflagration involving those two plus Wilson and Servia – blocking the entire turn!

In the end, Will Power was able to hold off Simon Pagenaud for the win, and James Hinchcliffe took the final podium spot.  Hunter-Reay and Castroneves  were both penalized for their final lap transgressions – small consolation to their victims.  Congratulations to Will Power and Team Penske.

The big story lines for the 38th running of the Grand Prix of Long Beach were:

  • Will Power wins from twelfth after the IndyCar mandated ten spot grid penalty; he was also able to run a hard 31 laps from his last stop while others needed fuel
  • Franchitti finished two laps down at fifteenth after starting on pole; neither Target Ganassi cars were competitive beyond the midpoint of the race
  • Honda could not manage a win even though all Chevrolet powered cars were penalized 10 grid places
  • Team Penske is 3 for 3 so far this season
  • Andretti getting airborne and crashing hard after hitting Rahal’s right rear with his left front

Can’t wait until next year…

 

 

Grand Prix of Long Beach Indy Car Race Just Over 1 Hour Away…

Ryan Briscoe won the Firestone Fast Six yesterday while setting the track record in his Hitachi #2 car.  Unfortunately, he’ll take a ten spot grid penalty along with all other Chevy-powered cars because of a decision by Chevrolet to change all engines after James Hinchcliffe had a major engine problem in a practice session before the Long Beach weekend.  He’ll start at eleventh alongside his Penske teammate Will Power at twelfth.

The penalties leave Dario Franchitti in his #10 Target Ganassi car on the front row along with rookie Josef Newgarden in the #67 Sarah Fisher Harman racing car.  Justin Wilson (#18) and Simon Pagenaud (#77) will start in row two.  Scott Dixon (#9) and Takuma Sato (#15) will share row three.

Having so many of the fast drivers starting from the middle of the grid should make for an exciting IZOD IndyCar race today at the Long Beach street course.

IndyCar Qualifying – GP of Long Beach

Gallery

This gallery contains 19 photos.

Pictures from IZOD IndyCar series qualifying at Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach… Results of Firestone Fast 6: Ryan Briscoe Will Power Ryan Hunter-Reay Dario Franchitti E.J. Viso James Hinchcliffe However all Chevy-powered cars take 10 spot grid penalty for … Continue reading