The T-Team Ten Whittled Down To The Elite Eight

Bruno Junqueira of Dale Coyne Racing will sit on the sidelines in Iowa after hitting the turn two SAFER barrier. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

The T-Team Ten Whittled Down To The Elite Eight

The eighth race of the 2008 season is proving hard to make for a couple of drivers from teams that are transitioning from the ranks of the ChampCar World Series to the IndyCar Series.

Mario Dominguez of Pacific Coast Motorsports and Bruno Junqueira of Dale Coyne Racing will not be able to make it into the field of the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer, both for different yet similar reasons.

It is no secret that the teams that are new to the series do not have the same availability of parts, especially oval track aero parts, as do established teams that have been working with this Dallara chassis now for the better part of seven years. Heck, some of the teams may even have extra parts they have forgotten about that the kids are playin’ with in the backyard at home (more about kids, later).

Resource management and preparation kept the Pacific Coast Motorsports team at their headquarters here in Southern California whereas Bruno will join Marty Roth on the sidelines due to accidents each driver had in separate incidents in the morning practice session on the 0.894-mile Iowa Speedway tri-oval. Bruno Junqueira, after the car was hooked-up and brought bach to the pits, speculated that he hoped the car would be ready for the next race in Richmond, Virginia.

The yellow signal light glows for moisture on the track at Iowa Speedway. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

Furthermore, the qualifications were rained out after only two qualifying runs by Ryan Briscoe - Penske Racing, Dan Weldon - Chip Ganassi Racing, and a third partial run by Helio Castroneves - Penske Racing was waived off. After that, the session cancelled.

Scott Dixon's special Commit sponsorship race livery. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

So, by virtue of his superlative season so far, Scott Dixon - Chip Ganassi Racing will start from the pole in the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer based on entrant championship points accrued so far at this point in the season - Starting Grid.

This excerpted from IndyCar.com –

Junqueira, Roth Out
By Dave Lewandowski - indycar.com

Both cars sustained parts failures, which led to the cars spinning into the SAFER Barrier in Turn 2.

Click it: Timing & Scoring reports for practices

"It's a major disappointment," said Roth, the owner/driver of the Roth Racing car. "We worked so hard to get a good race car, and I think we made a really good one. It was a struggle at first, but I think we had a really good race car. We had a rear pushrod break going into corner 1, and it was all over at that point. The damage is pretty extensive. We can't fix it for the race. We'll be looking for Richmond now, and we'll have our eyes on John Andretti for the weekend." VIDEO

Junqueira was on a full-tank run on sticker tires when the car got loose and spun, collecting the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car driven by Dan Wheldon. VIDEO

"We had some steering rack problems in the run before and had someone vibration," Junqueira said. "I'm OK. Unfortunately, the car's not OK. It's very damaged. The left-rear wishbone broke, which is what made me spin. Hopefully we can get everything together for Richmond."

The Target Chip Ganassi Racing crew prepared Wheldon's back-up car for qualifications for the second race in a row.
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Milka Duno, who crashed during the Open Test on June 20, also will compete in the No. 23 back-up car.

The Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer is the first of six consecutive weekends of IndyCar Series racing. The SunTrust Indy Challenge at the 0.75-mile Richmond International Raceway oval is under the lights June 28.
Reference Here>>

Jaime Camara talking with his Conquest Racing team engineer. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

Speaking of kids, Jamie Camara of Conquest Racing will have the first increase in his family planned to be delivered June 25 … it’s a BOY!

Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing is expecting two newborns in the near-term as well. Race Engineer, Mike Talbott is expecting his second within the next few days and will be replaced in Iowa by Senior Engineer Craig Hampson, who will return home after the race to receive the coming of his family’s second.

Oriol Servia being assisted into the cockpit of his KV Racing Technology Dallara during practice at Iowa Speedway. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

As for the grid of the Elite Eight, the highest position on points going into the eighth race of the season goes to Oriol Servia at 10th position.

POS./Car# - Driver - Hometown - Car - Sponsor Name - Team

10/5 - Oriol Servia - Pals, Spain - No Sponsor - KV Racing Technology

11/8 - Will Power - Toowoomba, Australia - Aussie Vineyards-Team Australia - KV Racing Technology

13/33 - EJ Viso - Caracas, Venezuela - PDVSA - HVM Racing

16/06 - Graham Rahal - Columbus, Ohio - No Sponsor - Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing

17/36 - Enrique Bernoldi - Curitiba, Brazil - Sangari - Conquest Racing

20/02 - Justin Wilson - Sheffield, England - McDonald's - Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing

21/34 - Jaime Camara - Goiania, Brazil – Sangari - Conquest Racing

24/19 - Mario Moraes - Sao Paulo, Brazil - Sonny's Bar-B-Q - Dale Coyne Racing

... notes from The EDJE