IndyCar 2012

Oriol Servia sets another fastest lap, totally useless though as he's still 6 laps behind his nearest competitor. Hunter-Reay in trouble, he's been falling back through the field steadily. With Castroneves still languishing in 17th, it looks like Power will close up the points gap for the championship.
 
Splash and dash for Hildebrand, he'll lose that 6th place to Kanaan, and just about stay ahead of Marco Andretti.

Edit: Nope, Marco and Ryan Briscoe have gotten by.

Edit2: All aboard the Marco-train. Justin Wilson passes his teammate for 18th. Hunter-Reay looks to be out of the race with a mechanical issue.
 
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Yup, Dixon had it under control for the last stint. Hinchcliffe back on form too with 5th. Pantano did reasonably well with that 14th considering his lack of time in the car.

Since I forgot to post them earlier, here are the warm-up highlights:


The tricky conditions caught out some drivers, with Ed Carpenter spinning off several times and Dario Franchitti ending his session in the barriers. Ryan Hunter-Reay was fastest.

Race results:

1. #9 Scott Dixon (H) Ganassi 1:39:48.5083s (85 laps)
2. #12 Will Power (C) Penske + 3.4619s
3. #77 Simon Pagenaud (H) Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsport + 4.5402s
4. #7 Sebastien Bourdais (C) Dragon Racing + 5.5822s
5. #27 James Hinchcliffe (C) Andretti Autosport + 7.5663s
6. #11 Tony Kanaan (C) KV Racing + 12.328s
7. #2 Ryan Briscoe (C) Penske + 27.9601s
8. #26 Marco Andretti (C) Andretti Autosport + 28.1691s
9. #4 JR Hildebrand (C) Panther + 29.2325s
10. #98 Alex Tagliani (H) Bryan Herta Autosport + 31.1722s
11. #38 Graham Rahal (H) Ganassi + 31.4387s
12. #67 Josef Newgarden (H) Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing + 32.0754s
13. #15 Takuma Sato (H) Rahal Letterman Lanigan + 32.4073s
14. #83 Giorgio Pantano (H) Ganassi + 33.9166s
15. #8 Rubens Barrichello (C) KV Racing + 35.2863s
16. #3 Helio Castroneves (C) Penske + 35.9205s
17. #10 Dario Franchitti (H) Ganassi + 36.9834s
18. #18 Justin Wilson (H) Dale Coyne Racing + 42.0974s
19. #19 James Jakes (H) Dale Coyne Racing + 46.4304s
20. #5 EJ Viso (C) KV Racing + 46.8068s
21. #14 Mike Conway (H) AJ Foyt Racing + 46.9535s
22. #20 Ed Carpenter (C) Ed Carpenter Racing + 1 lap
23. #78 Simona de Silvestro (L) HVM Racing + 2 laps
24. #28 Ryan Hunter-Reay (C) Andretti Autosport + 6 laps/Engine
25. #22 Oriol Servia (C) Dreyer & Reinbold + 7 laps

Fastest Lap: 1:07.1757s (121.008 mph) on lap 66 by Oriol Servia

Interviews with the podium finishers:


Official highlights video:


Fan highlights from Spanish ESPN (much better I think):

 
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During scheduled testing, drivers have reviewed the changes to the Sonoma circuit positively ahead of next week's Indycar race there:

http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/08-August/8-17-Twenty-drivers-test-at-Sonoma

“I think the track is definitely going to promote more passing in Turn 7,” said Team Penske’s Will Power, who leads the IZOD IndyCar Series standings entering the Aug. 26 race. “The passing zone in (Turn) 7 is the best one, but if they changed Turn 11 to modify the exit curbs a bit it could be good, as well, but good changes, for sure.”

“It's early days, but so far it seems really good,” said Dale Coyne Racing’s Justin Wilson. “It allows the track to drive better and the chicane is a big improvement. It’s still going to tough to overtake, but Turn 7 is a lot better. Down in Turn 11, it’s going to be a lot of slipping and sliding. It’s tough, but I like it a lot.”

“It was almost like learning a new track,” said Dario Franchitti, who was slightly off his teammate’s pace. “It’s just three new corners and it’s actually quite different from what we’re used to running, but any time you can get track time with this new car it’s valuable. Not a bad day for the Target boys. Hopefully, we can turn it into a decent race weekend next weekend.”
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Charlie Kimball returned to retake his Chip Ganassi seat at the session.

“It’s good to be back in the car,” Kimball said. “I think it will ache later tonight. All in all, the doctors cleared me on Wednesday and we made some braces. I need to give a lot of credit to the team working on the steering wheel and making sure I was comfortable.”
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In other news, a new circuit being constructed near New Orleans may host Indycar races in the future: http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-new-orleans-circuit-under-construction/

A road course is under construction outside New Orleans that reminds Tony Cotman of a track from the old CART days but it may not quite be ready for an IndyCar race.

“It’s very flat, like Cleveland, and it’s got a raised berm down one side so you can see all around it and that’s good,” said Cotman, who recently inspected NOLA Motorsports Park to see if it was up to snuff for a race in 2013.

“But there’s not a lot of infrastructure right now and it may be a year or two away from being ready for us.”

The 2.3-mile “north course” has one long straightaway and a few high-speed kinks and sits alongside the south course, which is more of a club track, about 20 miles from the French Quarter in Avondale, La.
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Welcome to Indycar Round 13 at Sonoma, also called Sears Point or Infineon Raceway. Some of you may know this venue from the Nascar Sprint Cup schedule, although the exact configuration has been changed this year.

Track map and overview:

o5LCS.jpg

Race length: 85 laps
Lap length: 2.31 miles
Lap record: 1:16.4913, Ryan Briscoe (2005)


Drivers' preview:


Schedule:

Friday, 24th August

12.15-13.45: SCCA Pirelli World Challenge qualifying
14.30-16.05: Indycar practice 1

Saturday, 25th August

10.50-11.50: Indycar practice 2
12.00-13.15: Pirelli World Challenge GT/GTS race
13.30-14.00: Formula Car Challenge (race 1)
14.30-15.35: Indycar qualifying
16.10-17.30: Pirelli World Challenge touring car (races 1+2)

Sunday, 26th August

9.00-9.30: Indycar warm-up
9.50-10.30: Pirelli World Challenge touring car (race 3)
13.40: Indycar race start
16.30-17.00: Formula Car Challenge (race 2)

Times are local to California (GMT -8).

UK race coverage on Sky Sports 3 starts at 9.30pm.
 
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Practice 1 highlights:


Charlie Kimball met the wall after the uphill Turn 4 section, with a few other drivers running wide. Sebastian Saavedra joins the field for Sonoma in a 4th Andretti Autosport car, ending the session 10th. Katherine Legge returned for her first road course outing since Sao Paulo, but was 2.5 seconds off the pace and 26th. Once again Will Power was fastest, followed by Ryan Briscoe and Simon Pagenaud.

Full timesheet available here: http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2012/SON-practice1.pdf

Practice 2 highlights:


James Hinchcliffe getting stuck on track prompted a temporary red flagging of the session, and Will Power was fastest followed by Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe.

Warm-up highlights:


Charlie Kimball spun in the pitlane and Simon Pagenaud ran off-track, but the warm-up session was otherwise largely uneventful. Ryan Hunter-Reay was fastest followed by Mike Conway and Oriol Servia.
 
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Qualifying highlights:


Interviews with the top 4 qualifiers:


The qualifying session provided few surprises, as Will Power took pole position with a 1:17:2709 lap, followed by Ryan Briscoe (1:17.4347) and Sebastien Bourdais (1:17.7497). Simon Pagenaud and Justin Wilson made it into the top 10, while Sebastian Saavedra placed 13th. Katherine Legge lines up 21st on her road course return, Takuma Sato just 24th.

http://www.indycar.com/News/2012/08-August/~/media/Files/2012/13-SON/13-SON-QualResults.pdf

Full grid for today's GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma:

1) Will Power
2) Ryan Briscoe
3) Sebastien Bourdais
4) Helio Castroneves
5) Scott Dixon
6) Dario Franchitti
7) Ryan Hunter-Reay
8) Alex Tagliani
9) Simon Pagenaud
10) Justin Wilson*
11) James Hinchcliffe
12) Rubens Barrichello
13) Sebastian Saavedra*
14) Marco Andretti
15) Graham Rahal
16) Mike Conway
17) John Hildebrand
18) Tony Kanaan
19) Ernesto Viso
20) Oriol Servia
21) Katherine Legge
22) Charlie Kimball
23) Josef Newgarden
24) Takuma Sato
25) Simona de Silvestro
26) James Jakes
27) Ed Carpenter

*10 place grid penalty for additional engine

UK race coverage begins at 9.30pm on Sky Sports 3.

Edit: here's some classic footage from the 1970 Indycar race -

 
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Green flag. Dixon spins and loses a lot of ground. Power, Briscoe, Bourdais maintain their positions.

Edit: Castroneves gets a drive-through, possible contact with Dixon at the start.

Sato stops off track.

Dixon pits early, re-emerges in last place.
 
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Most of the field pits, including the race leader Will Power.

Edit: Newgarden off track, drops to last while rejoining. Five cars have yet to pit as of lap 20.

Rest of the field has now pitted, Power leads by 3.8 seconds from Briscoe, Bourdais is a further 16 seconds behind. Scott Dixon has recovered to 7th.

Edit2: James Hinchcliffe falling back noticably after the pitstops, from 10th to 16th. Sebastien Saavedra passes Helio Castroneves for 19th.

Franchitti being held up by Bourdais, not able to find a way around. Simon Pagenaud overtakes Tony Kanaan for 9th place.

Edit3: Early second stop for John Hildebrand, drops to 23rd. Hinchcliffe dropping back fast, he's now 22nd - now entering the pits with what appears to be a technical problem.
 
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Scott Dixon makes his 2nd pit stop and rejoins 10th. Castroneves and Wilson also pitting, on lap 39.

James Hinchcliffe has retired from the race, after terminal damage from a collision with Oriol Servia.
 
Missed the first 20 laps sadly. Now watching on SkyGo.

Impressed with Bourdais though. He's not that much time in the car recently due to a lack of an engine. He's doing pretty well.
 
Hunter-Reay's up to 4th after the second round of stops, 4 seconds behind Bourdais. Dixon now 6th. Sebastien Saavedra and Oriol Servia lost several places. Barrichello still 8th, his teammate Tony Kanaan has dropped to 12th.

Will Power now has an 8 second lead over fellow Penske driver Ryan Briscoe.

Marco Andretti in the pits after a collision. Now retired from the race.

Edit: Saavedra has a penalty for pitlane speeding.

Katherine Legge also retires with a terminal mechanical issue.
 
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Tagliani and Barrichello both passed Dixon in the last few laps, they're now 6th, 7th and 8th respectively. His tyres must be shot, and sure enough he's just pitting as I type this.

Edit: Feel sorry for Simona de Silvestro, can't be too motivating being stuck in last place every weekend.

Scott Dixon has a drive-through penalty for running over equipment in the pit lane.

Edit2: Safety car is out, collision between Josef Newgarden and Sebastien Bourdais.
 
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That looks a huge imact. Some of the tyres have been pushed over the concrete barrier, some of the tyres are on top of other ones and the concrete barrier itself has been pushed back a little.

:eek:

[edit]

That was unlucky as hell. Bourdais just went off line and when catching the car caught Newgarden and slammed him into the barrier.
 
Ryan Briscoe retained his lead thanks to pitting after the incident, Will Power is down to 2nd after the pitstop shuffle.

Bourdais threw away a podium there and collected the innocent Newgarden in the process.

Edit: Charlie Kimball in the pits, looks to have car troubles. Rejoins 3 laps down.
 
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We're green finally, on lap 84. Briscoe retains his lead, Power 2nd, Franchitti moves up to 3rd.

Edit: Tagliani made contact with Hunter-Reay, he's stranded on the track, caution flag is out. Rubens Barrichello is up to 4th, he did well on that restart.

The race is back on. Briscoe still leads. Tagliani receives a penalty for the collision with Hunter-Reay, which will drop him back to 9th.

Edit2: Ryan Hunter-Reay issued a drive-through penalty for contact with Ernesto Viso.

Scott Dixon regains some ground, moving up to 13th.
 
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Ryan Briscoe holds on for his first win of the season. Will Power second, Dario Franchitti third.

Hunter-Reay decidedly unimpressed with Tagliani's driving in the post-race interview.
 
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