IndyCar 2012

Hunter-Reay takes his 4th win of the season, Briscoe is second, Pagenaud takes third place. Power's championship lead into the final race of the season is just 17 points.

Race highlights:


Post-race interviews:


Full results:

1. Ryan Hunter-Reay 2:09:02.9522s (75 laps)
2. Ryan Briscoe + 1.4391s
3. Simon Pagenaud + 3.0253s
4. Scott Dixon + 3.9281s
5. Rubens Barrichello + 5.0450s
6. Will Power + 5.7467s
7. Oriol Servia + 7.5913s
8. Alex Tagliani + 7.7701s
9. Ernesto Viso + 8.8651s
10. Helio Castroneves + 9.0843s
11. Graham Rahal + 10.2963s
12. John Hildebrand + 17.1591s
13. Dario Franchitti + 1 lap
14. Marco Andretti + 1 lap
15. James Hinchcliffe + 2 laps
16. Mike Conway + 2 laps
17. Justin Wilson + 3 laps

Retirements:

18. Charlie Kimball + 10 laps - Engine
19. Bruno Junqueira + 11 laps - Mechnical
20. Tony Kanaan + 23 laps - Accident damage
21. Takuma Sato + 25 laps - Fuel pressure
22. Simona de Silvestro + 37 laps - Spun off
23. Sebastien Bourdais + 43 laps - Suspension
24. James Jakes + 44 laps - Spun off
25. Ed Carpenter + 68 laps - Spun off

Fastest lap: Will Power - 1:19.0055 (92.956mph) on lap 64
 
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I don't know why but i just dont like will power, seems like a really annoying whiney aussie.

Not a big fan of Hunter-Reay either though.

Im hoping Pagenaud creams them all next season !
 
DecoySA said:
I don't know why but i just dont like will power, seems like a really annoying whiney aussie.
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He's fast though. Using a pretty much identical chassis to everyone else, he was 0.5 sec ahead in qualifying, and 0.8 sec clear of his closest teammate (Briscoe).

DecoySA said:
Not a big fan of Hunter-Reay either though.

Im hoping Pagenaud creams them all next season !
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Fair enough. Pagenaud is definitely one to watch, was very successful in sports cars before getting a ride with the Schmidt-Hamilton team.
 
Here's a quick news round-up, with 1 week to go before the 15th and final Indycar event of 2012.

Several drivers including championship contenders Will Power and Ryan Hunter-Reay attended a test session at Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, in preparation for the season finale. A second test is scheduled for September 12th just before the race weekend.

http://www.indycar.com/News/2012/09-September/9-6-Title-contenders-get-track-time

In other news, Indy Lights driver Stefan Wilson will return at Fontana driving for Fan Force United Racing.

http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/09-September/9-6-Stefan-Wilson-returns-to-series-for-finale-race

Also competing in Indy Lights and joining this race will be Sebastian Saavedra with Andretti Autosport, his third entry this season (he previously drove in the Indy 500 and Sonoma races).

http://www.racer.com/saavedra-to-run-fourth-andretti-indycar-at-auto-club/article/257638/
 
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Guerrilla said:
Isn't that Justin's brother? Have any idea if they will be running a Lotus engine again?
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Yeah. He had a strong showing in Formula Palmer Audi but hasn't seemed that inspiring since then. As for the Lotus engine, not sure.

Edit: He's back to the Lights championship, sorry for the confusion there.
 
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It's almost time for the 15th and final race at Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, which will decide the 2012 Indycar championship. Will Power leads the standings on 453 points, Ryan Hunter-Reay is second on 436 and the sole challenger. The aero package for the cars remains largely the same as the Indy 500 specification, with minor modification to the rear wing.

Footage of pre-race testing:


Track overview: D-shaped oval
Track length: 2.0 miles
Race length: 250 laps
Lap record: 241.426mph (Gil de Ferran, 2000)

Full schedule:

Friday, 14th September

9.45-10.30: Indy Lights practice 1
10.45-12.15: Indycar practice 1
13.00-14.00: Indy Lights qualifying
14.15-15.45: Indycar qualifying
16.45-17.30: Indy Lights practice 2
17.45-18.30: Indycar practice 2

Saturday, 15th September

15.00: Indy Lights race (50 laps)
17.50: Indycar race start

Times are local to California.

UK coverage will begin on Sky Sports 1 at 1am on Sunday (corrected for timezone difference)
 
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Guerrilla said:
Think I may well record this one then :p

Hoping it'll be a good race to finish it off, it's a bit of a shame for Franchitti to have not been in the fight for most of the season, not a great way to lose your title.
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Dario's been getting better all season, and he did still win the 500. I expect he'll be back in the hunt next year.
 
Mike Conway will be replaced by Wade Cunningham (2005 Indy Lights champion and 3-time winner at Indianapolis in that series) at AJ Foyt Racing. His future with the team next year is uncertain.

http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/09-September/9-13-Cunningham-gets-ride-for-finale

Conway, who tested at the 2-mile oval Sept. 12, asked to sit out the 250-lap race.

“I’m truly sorry for putting the team and our sponsors in a difficult position, but this is the hardest decision I have ever made in my racing career,” Conway said. “I’ve come to realize I’m not comfortable on the ovals and no longer wish to compete on them. I want to stress that I am not finished racing and to this end, I would love to continue with A.J. Foyt Racing, but that’s something we need to discuss in the future.”

In 53 IZOD IndyCar Series races, Conway has one victory (Long Beach in 2011) and 13 top-10 finishes. This season, he had a best finish of third at Toronto after starting 11th. He qualified second at Baltimore but started 12th because of an unapproved engine change.
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I guess those two big crashes at the Indy 500 have put him off, which is a shame as he's had some good runs lately.
 
First practice highlights:


Penske and Ganassi drivers dominated the top 6, although Ed Carpenter was 2nd, showing his oval specialist reputation is warranted.

Qualifying interviews:


Marco Andretti took pole position with a 216.069mph lap, Ryan Briscoe was second fastest (216.058mph) and Will Power third (215.940mph). Justin Wilson and Simona de Silvestro did not complete a flying lap due to a crash and mechanical problems respectively. After engine penalties are applied the starting grid for the MAVTv 500 is as follows:

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

Race coverage begins at 1am on Sky Sports 1 (so that's effectively Sunday for us here in Europe due to timezone differences).
 
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Yea caught up with it last night...

Was gutted for Power when he crashed out thought that was going to take all the drama out of the race but ended up being pretty eventful with them trying to get his car sorted and restarted :p

Was a decent race to end the season, feel for Power coming close again, must have thought he had it this year. Pleased for Hunter-Reay though, did what he had to do in the end.


Great result for Carpenter his victory kind of got overshadowed by the Championship battle though.

Shame Barrichello, Wilson and Kanaan all went out... and Sato crashing on the last lap almost like he would have been letting people down if he never :p
 
Heh, was beginning to wonder if I was the only one here who watched it :p

Will Power's never been that great on ovals, he messed up on every single one this year too. Hunter-Reay had reliability issues while Power's retirements were his own doing.

Sato crashing was a tad predictable but thanks to the others being lapped he still classified 7th. Carpenter's an oval specialist (he was up to 4th at Indy before the spin) so I figured he'd do well here, the win makes up for his disappointing crash last time in Baltimore.

Katherine Legge did well for once with that 9th place, let's hope she carries that form into 2013 rather than being the perennial mobile chicane.

Once the highlights are out I'll post them and the full results here.
 
Race highlights:


Fan version (longer):


Ryan Hunter-Reay won the 2012 Indycar championship, after a dramatic final race which saw his rival Will Power spin out into the wall on lap 56. Penske repaired Power's car enough to let him run 12 more laps and classify him 24th, meaning Hunter-Reay needed 5th or better to take the title. He finished 4th, after Takuma Sato once again crashed out (I'm not sure he's actually finished an oval race yet in Indycar :p ). Marco Andretti was penalised for jumping a late restart to assist his teammate in the championship fight, dropping him to 8th. Mike Conway's substitute Wade Cunningham brought the sole AJ Foyt car home in 14th. Simon Pagenaud took rookie of the year honours, placing 5th overall in the championship with 387 points after a run to 15th in the race.

Oval specialist Ed Carpenter took his second Indycar win at the last moment by diving past Dario Franchitti, who along with teammate Scott Dixon had been at the front of the pack in the latter stages. Katherine Legge showed greatly improved form by finishing 9th. KV Racing had a disappointing outing, Barrichello and Viso both parking their cars with mechanical problems while Tony Kanaan had a dramatic crash with 10 laps remaining causing a red flag period. Ryan Briscoe also hit the wall but managed to continue after repairs, finishing 6 laps down in 17th place. Oriol Servia was also impeded by mechanical troubles, ending the race 19th after a lengthy pitstop.

Reactions:



Full race results:

1. Ed Carpenter 2hrs 57mins 34.7433secs (250 laps)
2. Dario Franchitti +1.9132s
3. Scott Dixon +2.6091s
4. Ryan Hunter-Reay +3.0477s
5. Helio Castroneves +4.1933s
6. Graham Rahal +5.4381s
7. Takuma Sato + 1 lap / Spun off
8. Marco Andretti + 1 lap
9. Katherine Legge + 1 lap
10. Charlie Kimball + 1 lap
11. John Hildebrand + 2 laps
12. James Jakes + 2 laps
13. James Hinchcliffe + 3 laps
14. Wade Cunningham + 4 laps
15. Simon Pagenaud + 4 laps
16. Josef Newgarden + 6 laps
17. Ryan Briscoe + 6 laps
18. Tony Kanaan + 10 laps - Spun off
19. Oriol Servia + 19 laps
20. Alex Tagliani + 21 laps - Mechanical
21. Sebastian Saavedra + 132 laps - Mechanical
22. Rubens Barrichello + 143 laps - Mechanical
23. Justin Wilson + 170 laps - Mechanical
24. Will Power + 184 laps - Spun off / Collision damage
25. Ernesto Viso + 185 laps - Mechanical
26. Simona de Silvestro + 234 laps - Mechanical
 
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Unfortunately it looks like Edmonton is permanently off the Indycar calendar, the organiser is in financial difficulty: http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/update+end+of+the+road+for+edmontons+indy+race/6442720037/story.html

In other news, French driver Tristan Vautier secured the Indy Lights championship and will receive $1 million in prize money, which he is expected to use to help get an Indycar seat for 2013.

http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/09-September/9-20-Vautier-heeds-advice-wins-two-championships

Having completed his rehab program, AJ Allmendinger is open to returning to the Indycar series:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/102645
 
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