Monday, July 21, 2008

T-Team Silver Lining In The Clouds At Mid-Ohio

The pit lane at Mid-Ohio during the rain shower just before race start. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

T-Team Silver Lining In The Clouds At Mid-Ohio

Seven lead changes from seven different drivers – not a bad display in open wheel racing for a road course. Heck, we even had some of the “T-Team Ten” take a legitimate turn at leading the parade.

Ryan Briscoe leads Ryan Hunter-Reay and Buddy Rice. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

T-Team Ten race leaders included Justin Wilson (11), Mario Moraes (1), Will Power (3).

At the end, however, in Mid-Ohio it was a Penske parade with Ryan Brisco and Helio Castroneves at positions 1 and 2.

Team owner of KV Racing Technology, Kirk Kalkoven, pats driver, Will Power on the back for a good drive at Mid-Ohio. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

Will Power was looking at a podium finish but got passed in the closing laps, on the track, at race speed by Scott Dixon. This left the teammates of KV Racing Technology together rounding out the top five finishers. A similar move by Justin Wilson of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing was placed on Danica Patrick of Andretti Green Racing bringing his finish position at 11 after a mid-race spin incident on a restart placed his car back in the field.

The racing trooper award of the day has to go to Mario Dominguez and the team at Pacific Coast Motorsports. An honorable mention needs to go to Jamia Camara of Conquest Racing for starting at position 25, racing clean and moving up eleven positions to finish at 14.

Mario Dominguez and Marty Roth run side-by-side at Mid-Ohio. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

This excerpted from a Pacific Coast Motorsports Press Release –

Dominguez Stays in the Race Despite a Wild Day at Mid-Ohio

By Katie Brannan - PCM Public Relations - Honda Indy 200 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course - Sunday, July 20, 2008

Lexington, OH – Thunderstorms soaked the Mid-Ohio circuit minutes before the scheduled start of the race, it delayed the green flag and wreaked havoc with race strategies.

Dominguez passed for position at the start of the Honda Indy 200 and made his first pitstop for dry tires just four laps into the event. He looked set for a strong first stint challenging for positions when he made a move to pass Ryan Briscoe, the eventual race winner. Briscoe blocked Dominguez forcing him to brake late which led to an off-track excursion and contact with the barrier. Dominguez returned to the pits for an inspection and fresh tires, and the car was deemed intact.

Several laps later, again on a charge for position and after having just set the fastest lap of the race, Dominguez suffered a rear wing failure; the rear wing detached itself from the car at 180 mph which sent Dominguez spinning into the gravel trap, causing a full course caution. The IndyCar Safety Team quickly removed Dominguez from the gravel and he was back on track headed for the pits. The PCM crew jumped into action, they replaced the rear wing and tires and refuelled the Visit Mexico City IndyCar. They proved they are some of the best in the business, as Dominguez lost just two laps through the entire incident.

Dominguez returned to the track and continued to tick off laps at pace with the leaders despite the off-track excursions earlier in the race. He finished 19th.
Reference Here>>

Visit Mexico City sponsored driver, Mario Dominguez, signs an autograph to a budding fan around the Mid-Ohio track before racetime. Image Credit: Pacific Coast Motorsports

This excerpted from Speed TV -

INDYCAR: Sunday Notebook

Written by: David Phillips - Senior writer, RACER Magazine - 07/20/2008 - 07:46 PM - Lexington, Ohio

HE SAID/HE SAID
Not surprisingly, there were two different versions of the incident involving Justin Wilson and Mario Dominguez that triggered the four-car crash eliminating Marco Andretti from the race and knocking Wilson out of contention for a possible win.

What is indisputable is that, as the field funneled around the Carousel into Turn 12 coming to a restart on Lap 43, Wilson and Dominguez made contact. Although Dominguez made it through unscathed, Wilson spun and Andretti, Darren Manning and A.J. Foyt IV collected one another in the ensuing melee.
How it started, though, is under some dispute.

“We had one backmarker who that said he was going to let me by on the restart,” said Wilson. “So when it went green, I thought he was going to let me by at the last corner and (he) just punted me around.”

Dominguez -- who was a couple of laps down after first spinning into the tire wall at the Keyhole and then taking a wild ride through the gravel trap at Turn Four when his rear wing fell off at 185 mph -- readily concedes that he agreed to let Wilson past. It’s just that he was waiting for the start/finish straightaway to do it.

“I was going to let him pass on the straightaway, he said. “Justin went on the outside and I just understeered and touched him. It was not my intention, but he left no room for me.”

FOR THE RECORD
Ryan Briscoe’s win made is a doubly successful weekend for Team Penske at Mid-Ohio, coming on the heels of yesterday’s ALMS LMP2 win by Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard in a Porsche RS Spyder.

Reference Here>>

Mario Moraes battles to get past Graham Rahal on the outside of the corner (just ahead of Danica Patrick) while on grooved dry tires in the early laps of the race. Image Credit: Andy Sallee (2008)

On the HE SAID/HE SAID on-track restart incident touched off by Justin Wilson, it is the opinion of The EDJE that the incident was clearly the fault of Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver, Justin Wilson. The replay from the ESPN on ABC broadcast showed clearly that Wilson chopped down on Mario Dominguez (Pacific Coast Motorsports) driving line, touched tires, and spun out causing the incident.

How the T-Team Ten Fared at Mid-Ohio:

Qual./Pos. Driver Team Time

12./4. Will Power KV +12.7569
8./ 5. Oriol Servia KV +13.4713
4./11. Justin Wilson Newman/Haas/Lanigan +28.8880
9./13. Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne +39.7940
25./14. Jaime Camara Conquest +51.5572
14./16. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan +1 lap
16./19. Mario Dominguez Pacific Coast Motorsports +2 laps
17./22. EJ Viso HVM +5 laps
19./24. Mario Moraes Dale Coyne +24 laps
18./26. Enrique Bernoldi Conquest +77 laps

Silver linings for the T-Team Ten include KV Racing Technology’s Oriol Servia return to the top ten in season points with his 5th place finish while teammate Will Power’s 4th place improved his position in the Rookie-Of-The-Year point standings by moving within 31 points of Andretti Green Racing’s Hideki Mutoh.

… notes from The EDJE

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thats Dark Knight car looks awesome, It Looks Like an Assault vehicle.