IZOD IndyCar Series

Will Power dominated yet another race on Sunday, putting him one step closer to the Championship. With his sixth win of the season, he now trails Franchitti by just five points with just three races remaining.

Power crushed the competition in the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix. His margin of victory over second place Oriol Servia, was ten seconds. After winning the race from Pole position last weekend, he did the same in Baltimore, which has set up another great battle for the Championship as we enter the final races.

Joining Power and Servia on the podium was Tony Kanaan. Ganassi teammates Franchitti and Dixon rounded out the top five. There were a few drivers that had cars capable of finishing in the top five, but ended up further back in the pack.

Graham Rahal had arguably the second-best car in the field, but the fuel strategy they ran ended up biting them as he came home in 10th. Ryan Hunter-Reay and Ryan Briscoe were running in fourth and fifth, when Briscoe made a bad move trying to go under Hunter-Reay in turn three. That move on lap 38 not only took both of them out of contention, but also caused a 12-car pile up.

Briscoe was given a drive through penalty. These two had some issues at Barber earlier in the year, when Hunter-Reay took out Briscoe while running up front. Briscoe claimed that Hunter-Reay was blocking him, but the Andretti Autosport driver didn’t agree with that assessment.

What started out as an incredibly scary day for Tony Kanaan, ended up with a podium finish. In the early morning practice, Kanaan lost his brakes going more than 170mph heading into turn one. Luckily for Kanaan, Castroneves was just ahead of him, and crashing into the right side of him, actually saved his life. Tony started at the back of the field, and passed 24 cars on the way to a third place finish.

The inaugural race in Baltimore was a huge success. The fans came out in masses to attend the event, and the drivers praised them all weekend long. The circuit was bumpy and extremely challenging for the drivers. Power said that it was the most demanding race he has ever driven.

The next race on the schedule is a particularly interesting one. The Indy Japan 300 has always been run on the oval track, but due to the earthquake in the area earlier this year, they will be running on the road course at Motegi. This likely gives the Penske team (especially Power) a big break, as they struggled on the oval there last year.

Power has two more wins and five more poles than Franchitti on the season. While Dario has led more laps than the Penske driver, Power has earned more bonus points throughout the year. With Scott Dixon sitting 77 points back in the standings, it appears that the final three races will determine this year’s Championship, between Franchitti and Power.

Will Power dominated the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma on Sunday. For the second year in a row, he started on the pole, and won the race.

In what was largely an uneventful race, Power led 71 of the 75 laps. The four laps he did not lead came while he was making his pit stops. It was a great day for him in the championship standings, and he has his Penske teammates to thank for that.

Speaking of Team Penske, they had the perfect weekend at Sonoma. They qualified and finished first, second, and third. It was the first 1-2-3 finish for the team since 1994.

The best part was that the one driver they have in the Championship hunt, actually won the race. Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe were second and third, finishing just in front of Dario Franchitti.

Scott Dixon finished in fifth place, meaning that the top five drivers all finished in the exact same order they began the race.

There wasn’t much passing during the race, as it was mostly follow-the-leader. Tony Kanaan had a mechanical problem that took him out of the race on lap 40, and Marco Andretti and JR Hildebrand made slight contact late in the race, but neither of those events resulted in a caution.

The one caution that we did have, came with just ten laps remaining, as Ho-Pin Tung went off course while trying to overtake Alex Tagliani. The restart came with just six laps to go, but no passes were made between the top five cars.

Castroneves and Briscoe keeping Franchitti away from Power was big for him in the Championship, but he also helped himself out in a big way. By grabbing the pole (1) and leading the most laps (2) during the race, Power picked up three valuable bonus points.

Now with just four races remaining in the season, Dario’s lead over Power in the standings has been reduced to just 26 points.

There are two road/street courses (Baltimore and Motegi), and two ovals (Kentucky and Las Vegas) remaining on the schedule. Next weekend’s race in Baltimore is a brand new event, and it will play a huge role in determining the Championship.

Roger Penske has a lot to celebrate this weekend. The 1-2-3 finish on Sunday for his IndyCar program came just hours after his Sprint Cup driver, Brad Keselowski, won at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Despite Danica’s Announcement, Power Remains the Focus at Sonoma

Posted by Chad Smith on August 25, 2011

Posted in: Chad Smith, History, Race Previews. Tagged: Chip Ganassi Racing, Danica Patrick, Dario Franchitti, Helio Castroneves, IZOD IndyCar Series, Opinion, Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon, Team Penske, Will Power. Leave a Comment

The IZOD IndyCar Series is back in the spotlight this weekend as they head to California for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma. Danica Patrick finally announced the worst kept secret in racing today, revealing her plans to head to NASCAR after this season. Still, Will Power will without a doubt be the focus of this weekend’s events.

There are many reasons why Power will be the center of attention this weekend. There was the “gesture” that he gave IndyCar officials two weeks ago at New Hampshire, which resulted in a $30,000 fine. On a more positive note, he is the defending winner of this race, having won from the pole last year.

This is also the place where he saw his life flash before his eyes in 2009 when he collided with Nelson Philippe, who had come to a stop in a blind corner of the track after spinning out. The result for Power was a concussion, fractures of the L2 and L4 vertebrae, and some chipped teeth.

As if that weren’t enough, he is trying to chase down rival Dario Franchitti in the Championship standings, with just a few races to go.

The most important of these is obviously the chase for the Championship, so he will need to stay focused all weekend on running up front, and getting the Peak Pole Award. The main objective will be to finish in front of Dario, so strategy may come in to play near the end of the race.

Minimal points are given to the pole winner, so that will be another interesting battle between the two rivals on Saturday. Besides that, the last three winners of this race all started from the pole position.

It will be difficult for him to not think about what happened here in 2009. Everyone is going to be asking him about it, even though it was two years ago. Team Penske will have to turn their focus to the number 12 car for the rest of the season, which shouldn’t be too much to ask given the up-and-down seasons that Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves have had.

The frustration that Power displayed at the end of the New Hampshire race two weeks ago came as a surprise to most people. Normally he doesn’t let things get to him as much as that situation did. He is laid back and likes to laugh things off, but he was clearly upset with how things turned out there, even though the officials made the right call after the fact.

Some people are beginning to think that the pressure is getting to him. Most people though, believe he will have a strong weekend, and close the gap even more between him and Dario.

While those two will likely battle it out for the title once again, there is a snake in the weeds just watching all of the action. He is waiting for his time to strike, and it may be coming this weekend. Scott Dixon has had a feast or famine type of season, but he is still in it. This weekend at Sonoma, he could finally strike, making it a great three-way battle for the Championship.

From the threat of rain, to the tables turning in the Championship standings, to the unbelievable finish, it was a wild day in Loudon, New Hampshire. The IZOD IndyCar Series was back at the oval track for the first time since 1998.

Dario Franchitti led the first 71 laps of the race, before green flag pit stops began. As drivers cycled through the stops, Ryan Briscoe led two laps. By the time the caution came out on lap 76 for rain drops, the top 15 cars had all made their stops, giving Dario the lead once again.

The race was started about a half hour earlier than what was scheduled, due to the treat of rain. The cars took the green flag at 3:37 pm, but two early caution flags got the race off to a slow start. The first yellow was thrown on the first lap, when Mike Conway lost control of his car and spun, taking out Graham Rahal.

Rahal had one of the best cars all weekend, as they were never outside of the top three in practice, and were only in the back of the field after he had a slip on his qualifying run. He had a car capable of getting to the front and winning the race, but lady luck dealt his team another blow.

After the restart, Helio Castroneves lost control of his machine in the exact same place on track where Conway did. He managed to avoid contact with the other cars, but it was not the way he envisioned his 200th race going.

After running about 30 laps under caution for the light sprinkles, the race was able to resume. After the green flag came back out, all hell broke loose.

Just a few laps after the restart, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, and Tomas Sheckter were all trying to go three-wide in the corner, which sent Kanaan and Sheckter into the inside retaining wall. Marco suffered suspension damage, and all three were out of the race.

As the cars were coming to take the green flag for the restart on lap 119, Takuma Sato (running in second) touched tires with race leader Franchitti. Dario had been dominating the race, but coming to the start/finish line, he seemed to veer over into Sato’s lane, but he wasn’t quite clear of him.

Sato and JR Hildebrand suffered cut tires, but Dario ended up against the pit lane wall, ending his day. Dario had gone 43 starts since his last DNF. While watching the replay from his pit stall, Dario insisted that Sato was to blame for the accident. It was fairly obvious that this was 100 percent Dario’s fault.

At one point during the race, Franchitti’s championship lead over Will Power was 98 points. Now after Power’s fifth place finish, the points lead is down to just 47 with five races remaining.

One more caution came out for moisture with just 19 laps to go, with Ryan Hunter-Reay still in the lead. With less than ten to go, IndyCar officials called for the green flag to be waived. Many drivers, most notably Will Power, were begging and pleading with them to waive off the restart. The drivers were saying they couldn’t even see, and that the track was too wet.

They waived the green flag anyway, and chaos ensued.

Danica Patrick spun her rear tires, which caused her to spin in front of the entire field. Power, Sato, Ana Beatriz, and others were all trying to avoid contact, but all of them ended up wrecking. Power got out of his car and was furious. He stormed to the infield, trying to find someone to scream at. On his way back to the Penske trailer, he gave the “double bird” to the race officials in the booth.

Team owner Michael Andretti was also livid at the situation that took place. He was upset because not only did three of his cars get taken out of the race, but the one that was in the lead got passed on the restart. He called this the “worst officiating I have ever seen”.

Luckily for Michael, the officials reverted the order of the field back to where it was before the restart, giving Hunter-Reay the lead again. They also called the race due to the rain, despite just five laps remaining. Hunter-Reay was declared the winner, Oriol Servia and Scott Dixon joined him on the podium.

In the end, it was the right call because so many cars were torn up for no reason. The officials made the mistake of trying to go back to green, when the drivers were all pleading them not to. From the crazy start, to the Dario and Sato incident, to the unbelievable finish, it was a very busy day in New Hampshire.

Four Tires and Fuel – Loudon NH

Posted by Chad Smith on August 14, 2011

Posted in: Chad Smith, Race Previews. Tagged: Dario Franchitti, IZOD IndyCar Series, Oriol Servia. Leave a Comment

The IZOD IndyCar Series returns to New Hampshire this weekend for the MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225. This will be the first time they have been back here since 1998. Dario Franchitti and Oriol Servia will be on the front row. The green flag has been pushed forward to 3:35, as they will try to get the race in before the rain hits.

1. This weekend’s race will be the first open-wheel event at Loudon in nearly a decade and a half. How conservative, if at all, do you expect drivers to be this weekend?

2. Tomas Scheckter will be in the No. 22 car for Justin Wilson this weekend as his vertebrae fracture will likely keep him off the track for the rest of the season. How do you expect Scheckter to perform, and do you expect him back past this weekend?

3. Pippa Mann will make her Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing debut this weekend. RLLR has always been a top performing team, but given their limited schedule this season and Mann’s relative inexperience in the big cars, what do you expect out of the team?

4. Same old, same old. Who you got?

Chad Smith

‎1. Not that conservative, the track is sort of similar to Milwaukee, and they have been doing some testing here. I think they might be on their toes early in the race, but within 20 laps it will seem like they have been racing there forever.

2. I think he will do okay, just because I don’t think the other drivers will have a big competitive edge. He will have a good car and a good team, I will expect him to finish in the 10th -14th range, which would be good for him.

3. Not much really. I think she will just be out there trying to run a clean race. I will be surprised if she finishes in the top 15, but the experience will be great for her.

4. 3rd – Dixon, 2nd – Kanaan, Winner – Franchitti

Catie Rinderknecht

‎1. I doubt they’ll race conservatively. They’ve had a lot of practice time, so I imagine it’ll take a few laps for them to get the feel of a race setting, but then they’ll be good to go.

2. Scheckter’s should finish midpack, although his performance will be on his own shoulders- meaning that he has the power to ruin a good day with an overly aggressive drive. If he can race intelligently for the entire race, he could even sneak into the top-10.

3. I don’t really expect much. As much as I’d like to say that it will help her to be at a track that is new to everyone, I can’t say that given her lack of experience in the car. Finishing the race and running cleanly so she can gain valuable experience should be the expectation for this race.

4. 3rd-Hinchcliffe, 2nd- Rahal, Winner- Kanaan

Chris Leone

‎1. Well, if they’re going to catch up to Dario Franchitti, they can’t be conservative at all. But what I wonder is how hard they can push before the cars start losing it. We’ve already seen a few drivers lose it this weekend, we know that the cars are already turning their entire way around the track, and you have to wonder just where the limits are.

2. Scheckter shouldn’t be too bad, but any driver who struggles to find a full-season ride isn’t going to be much more than a midpack driver, most likely. He can only hope that the good karma of carrying race sponsor MoveThatBlock.com on his sidepods helps him.

3. Well, I guess this question is moot… oops.

4. Franchitti, Rahal, Servia, with Hinch as a dark horse.

See You @NHMotorSpeedway

Posted by Christopher Leone on August 13, 2011

Posted in: News. Tagged: IZOD IndyCar Series, MoveThatBlock.com 225, New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Leave a Comment

Good news! We’ll be at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the MoveThatBlock.com 225. Follow @christopherlion for updates from the weekend.

On Saturday Scott Dixon won his first Pole Award of the season. Today he followed that up with his first win of 2011.

Dixon clearly had the best car all weekend, as he started on the pole and led 50 of the 85 laps in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. His teammate Dario Franchitti was six seconds behind, giving Target/Chip Ganassi another one-two finish on the year.

Ryan Hunter-Reay got a podium finish, coming across in third place, while KV Racing teammates Takuma Sato and Tony Kanaan rounded out the top five.

It was a rough day for Team Penske, especially Will Power who came home in 16th position. All three of the team cars were running up front for most of the race, but they had an unlucky break during a caution when they tried to pit. They went to the back, and couldn’t get around all of the traffic.

Power has finished 14th or worse in three of the past four races. He now trails Dario Franchitti by 62 points heading into next weekend’s race at New Hampshire. Dixon trails by 93 points.

It was also a frustrating day for hometown kid Graham Rahal. Graham had trouble on his first pit stop, then made contact with Danica Patrick, sending him spinning off the course.

In the five IndyCar races here at Mid-Ohio, Scott Dixon has now won three of them.

With more oval races coming up on the schedule, it looks like the championship could be Dario’s to lose. Power is slightly better on the road and street courses, while Dario is a bit better on the ovals.

Next Sunday’s MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 from Loudon, New Hampshire is set for 3:30 pm, and can be seen on ABC.

For the second consecutive race, the IndyCar Series was in Canada, with all eyes on the championship contenders. Will Power and Dario Franchitti got together again, but this time it was after the race, as they both celebrated on the podium.

While everyone was watching Franchitti and Power’s every move, Takuma Sato went out on Saturday and won the pole for Sunday’s race in Edmonton.

Sato led the first 18 laps of the race, in what was a great run for KV Racing. All three of the Lotus cars were running in the top ten. On lap 19, Power was able to get under Sato to take the lead, and the Ganassi cars followed. Scott Dixon and Franchitti both were able to follow Power, putting Sato back into fourth.

It was a rough start for two of the three Canadian drivers, and Graham Rahal. Surprisingly, all 26 cars made it through turn one without any contact, but soon after, Alex Tagliani pressed hard going into turn five, and locked up his wheels. He slid into the back of Rahal, cutting his left-rear tire. Rahal eventually spun off the track, and came back on directly into the path of Paul Tracy.

Both Rahal and Tracy were out of the race on the first lap, and Tagliani had to serve a drive through penalty, although he was already set to restart in the back of the field after changing his damaged wing.

On lap 25, Oriol Servia got put into the tire barrier after Mike Conway attempted to make a pass. Conway got under him, but there really wasn’t much room to make a pass. Servia had just made his first pit stop of the race. Conway was given a drive through penalty.

On the restart, Dixon had problems when he and EJ Viso got together. Dixon’s car was smoking, and he brought his car into pit lane. The team discovered the problem was with the radiator, and he had to go behind the wall for the repair. He finished the race in 23rd, and is now more than 100 points behind in the championship.

Once again turn five was the center of attention on lap 39, when Ryan Hunter-Reay got into pole sitter Takuma Sato. Both drivers were running in the top five, but Sato fell back into 19th position. Ryan was given a drive through penalty, which put him back into 13th position.

Alex Tagliani came into pit on lap 49, which gave the top three positions in the race to team Penske. The team has had quite an up and down season, but they all looked good in Edmonton.

Dario got by Briscoe as the final pit stops cycled through, and both he and Castroneves closed the gap on race leader Power. These three separated themselves from the rest of the field, and it was a three-car shootout from there on.

Power was able to fend off his teammate to win the race, and Franchitti settled for third. Tony Kanaan finished in fourth after Briscoe had to come in on the final lap for fuel. Justin Wilson had a solid day as he rounded out the top five.

Will led 58 of the 80 laps on Sunday, which was his fourth win of the 2011 season.

Power was able to make up a few points on Dario in the championship as they head to Mid-Ohio for the next race on August 7th. The gap between the two now is just 38 points, with seven races remaining.

Defending race winner and Championship contender Will Power couldn’t have been happier when today’s race at Toronto began. Unfortunately for him, the day went downhill from there.

Power started the race from Pole position, and led 32 laps on the day. Late in the race, Dario Franchitti got on the inside of Will Power, and spun him out. Originally, Dario was given a drive through penalty, which was retracted just a few minutes later.

After the race though, IndyCar officials claimed that there never was a penalty issued to Dario.
As if that weren’t enough to make Team Penske’s blood boil, Alex Tagliani then spun Power out a few laps later. Will was able to make it back to pit lane, but his car was too badly damaged to repair.
This is the second straight race that Will Power ended with a DNF.

While Franchitti won the race, his teammate Scott Dixon was right behind him in second, and Ryan Hunter-Reay joined them on the podium with a third place finish. Marco Andretti and Vitor Meira rounded out the top five.

While Franchitti won his fourth race of the season, it was the fourth runner-up finish for Dixon.
Power finished the race in 24th position, while Dario went on to win the race. Without being given the drive through penalty, Franchitti now has a 55 point lead in the standings heading into the next race at Edmonton, Alberta.

The old saying goes “cautions breed cautions”, and that couldn’t have been more true of today’s race. It was a mess out there, especially in the hairpin turns, which could easily be blamed on the double file restarts.

All three Penske cars and all four Andretti Autosport cars made contact with other cars at some point on the day.

Naturally, drivers were frustrated after the race, most of them for good reason. After Power climbed out of his car, he expressed his displeasure with Franchitti and the penalty that was retracted for taking him out.

In an interview on Versus, he said that “Dario never gets penalized” and that it was a “dirty move” that Dario used to take him out. When then asked about the contact with Tagliani, Power just called him a “wanker” and left it at that.

With five laps remaining in the race, Ryan Hunter-Reay made contact with Graham Rahal, who was running in second place at the time. Ryan went by as Rahal was spun around and lost 11 positions, finishing in 13th.

Sebastien Bourdais, Ryan Briscoe, JR Hildebrand, EJ Viso, and Simona de Silvestro rounded out the top ten finishers. Ana Beatriz, Oriol Servia, and Rahal were the last cars to finish on the lead lap. It wasn’t a good day for the home town drivers either, as Hinchcliffe finished in 14th, Tracy in 16th, and Tagliani in 23rd position.

The series will now have two weeks off before the next event. The teams and cars will head to Edmonton City Centre Airport for the next race on Sunday, July 24th.

The IZOD IndyCar Series hit the streets of Toronto today to qualify for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto race.

Will Power did exactly what everyone thought he would; winning the Pole Award for the event in Toronto. He won the race here last year, and is the obvious favorite heading into the weekend. This is the fifth pole for Power this season.

The Firestone Fast Six consisted of Oriol Servia, Graham Rahal, Mike Conway, Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, and Will Power.

Power has swept the pole in the five road/street course races this season, and extended his streak to eight over two seasons. Dixon was the closest threat to him, and he will start on the outside of row one. Row two will consist of Franchitti and Conway, while the third row belongs to Rahal and Servia.

Sebastien Bourdais, the 2004 Toronto race winner and a three-time pole sitter, will share row four with Ryan Hunter-Reay. Alex Tagliani and Ryan Briscoe round out the top ten starters.

KV Racing seemed to struggle on the streets, with Tony Kanaan starting in 16th position; best of the three green cars. EJ Viso will start in 18th, and Takuma Sato will roll off 19th.

Toronto native James Hinchcliffe missed on advancing to the second round of qualifying by 0.0250 of a second, and will start in 13th position.

Sunday’s 85 lap race on the 1.755 mile, 11 turn circuit is set to begin at 2pm.

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