2014 IndyCar / Mazda Road to Indy season

~Mike~ · 26 Mar 2014 at 19:35

seems I forgot the link

Indy500 · 27 Mar 2014 at 21:03

St Petersburg will be the first event confirmed for the 2015 season. (http://www.indycar.com/News/2014/03/3-27-Dates-set-for-2015-Firestone-Grand-Prix-of-St-Petersburg)

Dale Coyne Racing have confirmed that Carlos Huertas will be their second driver alongside Justin Wilson. He brings the rookie count to 4 drivers. (http://www.indycar.com/News/2014/03/3-27-Notes-Huertas-among-four-drivers-to-make-debut-at-St-Pete)

Indy500 · 29 Mar 2014 at 00:20

James Hinchcliffe (1:02.9326) led the first practice session, full results here: http://www.imscdn.com/indycar_media/documents/2014-03-28/St. Pete Practice 1 results.pdf

Takuma Sato (1:02.5615) went fastest in practice 2, full timesheet: http://www.imscdn.com/indycar_media/documents/2014-03-28/St Pete practice 2.pdf

Practice highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjliZvfJ_o0

Onboard lap with Simon Pagenaud:

Indy500 · 29 Mar 2014 at 15:49

Ryan Briscoe (1:02.4236) led the third practice session. Full results: http://www.imscdn.com/INDYCAR/Documents/2894/2014-03-29/indycar-results-p3.pdf

Takuma Sato took advantage of changing conditions to take pole position for the Grand Prix of St Petersburg. Full qualifying results: http://www.imscdn.com/INDYCAR/Documents/2886/2014-03-29/indycar-results-quals.pdf

Qualifying highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjtnRyWCNWg

Post-qualifying interviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqlpGWBXgo0

Indy500 · 30 Mar 2014 at 16:07

The morning warm-up session was led by Carlos Munoz (1:02.2239). Full times: http://www.imscdn.com/indycar_media/documents/2014-03-30/St Petersburg warmup.pdf

Starting line-up for the Grand Prix of St Petersburg:

1) Takuma Sato
2) Tony Kanaan
3) Ryan Hunter-Reay
4) Will Power
5) Scott Dixon
6) Marco Andretti
7) Carlos Munoz
8) Jack Hawksworth
9) Ryan Briscoe
10) Helio Castroneves
11) Sebastian Saavedra
12) Mike Conway
13) Sebastien Bourdais
14) Simon Pagenaud
15) Mikhail Aleshin
16) Justin Wilson
17) Carlos Huertas
18) Juan Pablo Montoya
19) James Hinchcliffe
20) Charlie Kimball
21) Graham Rahal
22) Josef Newgarden

Indy500 · 30 Mar 2014 at 20:08

Green flag in about 15 minutes on ESPN.

Clean start, Sato leads from Hunter-Reay.

Indy500 · 30 Mar 2014 at 20:41

Bourdais pits for tyres and a new nosecone\wing.

Indy500 · 30 Mar 2014 at 21:02

Power wheel-to-wheel with Sato through the opening corners and takes the lead. Castroneves closing in.

Indy500 · 30 Mar 2014 at 21:12

Montoya struggling, just fallen back to 16th.

Power has an 8 second lead on lap 46 of 110.

Indy500 · 30 Mar 2014 at 21:37

Sato falling back. Conway moves up to third, Castroneves is second and Power still leads.

GeezerButler · 30 Mar 2014 at 22:08

What happened there? Was Power just backing the pack up too much?

Indy500 · 30 Mar 2014 at 22:13

GeezerButler said:
What happened there? Was Power just backing the pack up too much?

It did seem like he tried a Schumacher style restart. No onboard to be sure.

GeezerButler · 30 Mar 2014 at 22:16

Seemed to be slowing down between the restart lines, but agreed difficult to tell from that camera angle.

GeezerButler · 30 Mar 2014 at 22:16

Tough for Hawksworth

Indy500 · 30 Mar 2014 at 22:19

Power and Hunter-Reay sprinting away from the field.

GeezerButler · 30 Mar 2014 at 22:21

nice fight developing between Sato and Wilson - Wilson has the PTP advantage...

GeezerButler · 30 Mar 2014 at 22:22

...and Kanaan

GeezerButler · 30 Mar 2014 at 22:29

....and Newgarden - quite a squabble coming here hopefully

GeezerButler · 30 Mar 2014 at 22:36

Good race from Pagenaud and Newgarden. Wonder if Power will keep the win?

GeezerButler · 30 Mar 2014 at 22:43

Pretty close NASCAR finish at Martinsville - 0.263s is a pretty slim winning margin!