Scott Dixon Slays As Will Power Survives Commonwealth Based Race At Honda Indy Toronto

Chip Ganassi Racing's lead driver, Scott Dixon sails through Turn 1 with the Prince's Gate (erected 1927 for the Prince of Wales) as a backdrop. The Princes' Gates is a triumphal arch and a monumental gateway at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The structure was named Princes' Gates, after Edward, Prince of Wales and Prince George, Duke of Kent who officially opened these gates on August 30, 1927. Image Credit: Chris Jones via Penske Entertainment (2022)

Scott Dixon Slays As Will Power Survives Commonwealth Based Race At Honda Indy Toronto

Canada, New Zealand, and Australia are all still active members of the Commonwealth Of Nations ... Britain and its dominions agreed they were "equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations". The term "Commonwealth" was officially adopted to describe the community.

[ht: Wikipedia]

There are as many active (full season) Commonwealth origin racecar drivers in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES as American racecar drivers - 7 drivers versus 8 drivers respectively) Image Credit: WorldPopulationReview.com (2022)

The reason that this point-of-order came to light in conjunction with this Honda Indy Toronto race is that Scott Dixon, upon winning at this venue a fourth time in his career, stated that he considers Toronto to be his "home" track since New Zealand, Dixon's birthplace, is a Commonwealth member nation - so is Australia, Will Power's birthplace.

After the three round Knock-Out Qualifications format, the following 25 car field for the 10th race of the 2022 season was set up as follows:

Four rookies in the top 12 of the field. Season points leader Marcus Ericsson starting down at P9 - number two in the season points, Will Power starts way down at P16 (but has two sets of fresh REDS), and third in the points, Josef Newgarden starts at P3.

Biggest possible season points winner in this deal may just be sixth in the season points starting at P2 Scott Dixon if he has nothing but Green Flag racing ahead of him - he is set to begin a season ending run.

Race Stare Tire Strategy - Image Credit: Facebook (2022)

For Will Power to survive the battle for season points out of the shortest street course on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule, he will need another drive of the year as he had in Mid-Ohio where he started at P21 due to a Quals. Penalty - slid to last place at P27 due to a non-contact spin on the first lap - to finish at P3 on the podium!!!

This excerpted and edited from Motorport.com - 

Toronto IndyCar: Dixon scores 52nd win, matches Mario Andretti

By: David Malsher-Lopez - Jul 17, 2022, 2:16 PM

Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s legend Scott Dixon held off Colton Herta and Felix Rosenqvist to score his 52nd IndyCar triumph and his fourth in Toronto, and match the legendary Mario Andretti in second on the all-time IndyCar winners list.

From the start, polesitter Herta was unthreatened, while Dixon swept across from the outside to ensure Newgarden couldn’t sneak up from third to claim second. Newgarden checked his momentum and that allowed Alexander Rossi around his outside to try and claim third, but Newgarden had put the matter beyond dispute by the end of the lap. Scott McLaughlin, his teammate, passed David Malukas for fifth, but there was even worse luck for the other Dale Coyne Racing-Honda, that of Takuma Sato who was shoved into the wall at the Turn 1 kerfuffle, and limped his very broken car back to the pits. The debris left behind obliged Race Control to throw the full-course caution.

Following the Lap 4 restart Felix Rosenqvist demoted Malukas down to seventh, while Power had already taken advantage of his alternate tires to move into 12th, from 16th on the grid, but rather than burn up all his push to pass trying to stay ahead of Romain Grosjean who he’d passed on the opening lap, he let the Frenchman back past on Lap 11 and pitted next time by to grab primaries. Defending champion Alex Palou, who had started 22nd, had pitted a couple of laps earlier to take on primaries and such had been his pace, the undercut ensured Power emerged behind him. To avoid the risk of getting jumped should a yellow fall, the leaders rapidly started pulling in, Newgarden remaining ahead of Rossi but now split by rookie Malukas. Herta and McLaughlin stopped on Lap 19, a lap after Dixon and found himself being outbraked by the six-time champion into Turn 1, to effectively take the lead. Behind them, Newgarden and now Rossi were ahead of Malukas, while Rosenqvist had turned in fast enough laps at the end of his stint to emerge ahead of McLaughlin and hold off the Penske driver.

However, Dixon wasn’t yet in the lead, for Graham Rahal, Rinus VeeKay, Pato O’Ward, Jimmie Johnson and Conor Daly had risked running a long first stint on their primaries to try and make a net gain.

Rahal finally pitted from the lead on Lap 25, emerging in 14th which would become 10th once his fellow long runners stopped. Further back, Power was only 19th, and not even threatening the Andretti cars of DeFrancesco and Grosjean ahead.

On Lap 30, Rosenqvist moved ahead of Malukas and onto the tail of future Arrow McLaren SP driver, Rossi, who was applying the pressure to Newgarden while the Penske driver stayed bottled up behind the yet-to-stop Daly.

Trackside performance artist Bill Patterson posted this tribute to Scott Dixon tying Mario Andretti on 52 career wins - the second most wins behind A.J. Foyt's 67 wins. CAPTION: Congratulations on #52 to Scott Dixon! Making it look easy today in Toronto, now tied for 2nd (with Mario Andretti) in IndyCar history, Scott still has "it"!!! His 1st in 20021, his latest in 2022. Wow, just wow! Both originals available at http://ow.ly/CjI150JXHm2 - Image Credit: Bill Patterson via FB/META (2022)

O’Ward finally stopped on Lap 32, leaving Dixon out front with a 2.5sec lead over Herta, the pair of them in a race of their own as 14sec behind them, Daly continued to hold up a train of cars led by Newgarden, Rossi and Rosenqvist. Finally Daly uncorked the bottle on Lap 36 and pitted.

Not that Newgarden then made any notable progress thereafter because he was in fuel-save mode having been one of the early stoppers. On Lap 43, just past half distance in this 85-lap race, Dixon was 2.3sec ahead of Herta, with Newgarden still 14sec back, with Rossi and Rosenqvist 2sec further back disputing fourth.

That dispute ended in tears on Lap 45, just as Rosenqvist was encouraged by his strategist to make the pass. At Turn 3, the AMSP driver flicked to the inside of the future AMSP driver, and he was fully alongside as they exited the turn but as Rosenqvist floored the throttle his car slid sideways and the contact sent the Andretti car hard into the wall. Race Control would say the attempt was legit and so there was no penalty for the AMSP driver.

The drivers wended their way into the tortuous pitlane, and Newgarden suffered a horrible stop as he stopped too far from his crew, and the refueler struggled to get the nozzle engaged nad Newgarden was down to 11th.. With VeeKay and Daly having stayed out front after their late stops, Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet had a 1-2 – VeeKay on reds, Daly on blacks – ahead of Dixon, Herta, Rosenqvist, McLaughlin, Rahal, Pagenaud, Ericsson and Palou. Following the restart, Newgarden lost out further to Christian Lundgaard and O’Ward.

Up (almost) at the front, Herta was now fully able to stay in Dixon’s wake, but then the yellow flew for debris at Turn 1 – concrete debris, caused by the track breaking up – compressed the field once more.

Following the Lap 59 restart, Ericsson had a couple of wheel banging moments with teammate Ericsson over eighth place but failed to make a move stick. He only had to wait a few seconds to gain eighth anyway, because the yellow had to be thrown once more due to Kirkwood and Johnson coming together at the back of the field and stalling. That yellow saw VeeKay duck into the pits, but because the field had to go so slow through the incident scene, the Dutch driver was able to emerge in 13th despite the field being bunched together.

The next restart came at the end of Lap 66, with 19 laps to go, and into Turn 1, Rahal muscled down the inside of McLaughlin to snatch fourth and the Penske driver got out on the marbles through Turn 2 and lost places to Ericsson, Palou, Lundgaard and Pagenaud. On Lap 69, Pagenaud passed Lundgaard for seventh. Another Penske driver, however, moved forward, getting ahead of O’Ward and Malukas to grab 10th.

Up front, Dixon pulled away from Herta who was having to watch his mirrors for Rosenqvist. Some 1.7sec back, Rahal was fending off the Ericsson vs Palou battle.

In the final 10 laps, Palou eased off from the back of Ericsson, allowing the championship leader to focus on trying to find a way past Rahal. Three seconds further up the road, Rosenqvist’s efforts to get around Herta redoubled, but he couldn’t quite get it done, and he fell half a second short. Ahead of them Dixon scored his first win of the year, after leading 40 of the 85 laps, and ensuring he has now scored at least one win in 18 seasons.

Rahal was great fourth ahead of Ericsson, while Palou can be proud of his charge from 22nd to sixth place, the highest finishing driver of those who had never seen Toronto before this weekend.

Lundgaard was a fine eighth ahead of Penske drivers McLaughlin and Newgarden who completed the Top 10.

ENDS

A great day for points movement for Chip Ganassi Racing drivers with a win by Dixon, the maintaining in the season points lead by Ericsson (tacking on a few points to the margin between him and Penske's Will Power), and a couple of leap frog position moves - Alex Palou moves Newgarden to P4 and takes over P3 with Scott Dixon winning, he moves from P6 over Pato O'Ward to P5. 

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings:

Ericsson 351, Power 316, Palou 314, Newgarden 307, Dixon 307, 

O'Ward 276, McLaughlin 274, Herta 254, Rosenqvist 244, Pagenaud 243, 

Rossi 236, VeeKay 211, Rahal 210, Daly 198, Grosjean 197, 

Lundgaard 183, Castroneves 173, Malukas 163, Sato 154, Harvey 126, 

Ilott 113, DeFrancesco 111, Johnson 108, Kirkwood 106, Tony Kanaan 78, 

Kellett 76, Santino Ferrucci 71, Tatiana Calderon 58, JR Hildebrand 53, Ed Carpenter 49, 

Juan Pablo Montoya 44, Simona De Silvestro 21, Marco Andretti 17, Sage Karam 14, Stefan Wilson 10

CGR drivers are now sitting at P1, P3, and P5 in the season points tally with seven races remaining.

Next up? Two races - HY-VEEDEALS.COM 250 PRESENTED BY DOORDASH & HY-VEE SALUTE TO FARMERS 300 PRESENTED BY GOOGLE - Iowa Speedway - July 22-23 - Official Schedule

... notes from The EDJE

Featured Article >>>

TAGS: NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Honda Indy Toronto, Chip Ganassi Racing, HY-VEE, Iowa Speedway, The EDJE

A.J. Foyt Racing's Takuma Sato Shares IndyCar Thoughts Pre #MAVTv500

TAKU (Takuma Sato) negotiates Turn 6 in his No. 14 A.J. Foyt Racing, ABC Supply sponsored, Honda-powered & aerodynamically outfitted Dallara DW12 at the 2015 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)

A.J. Foyt Racing's Takuma Sato Shares IndyCar Thoughts Pre #MAVTv500

TAKUMA SATO ON:

 • Auto Club Speedway: “Auto Club Speedway is one of the most exciting high speed ovals. It’s a very fast track and there are lots of overtaking opportunities. I always enjoy racing there and I have great support too [from the fans].

 • On racing during day vs. night: “Running the race during the heat of the day will be very tough. You lose tons of downforce with the high ambient temperature and you lose significant mechanical grip due to the high track temperature as tires are given a very hard time. So there will not be enough grip and the race will be a tough one to deal with as a driver.”

 • Last year’s best start/finish (4th/6th) for you and team at ACS: “We worked one specific setting for a long time and finally it seemed to work better. The track is quite bumpy so you need a very good mechanical grip and try to reduce the downforce. The boys did very fast pit stops last year so that helped for track position too!”

 • The aerokit at ACS: “I think we will have a tough race but we learned a lot from both Indy and Texas so it’s expected to be competitive. Especially the tire management (like Texas) will be very important as we will have a day time race and it will be very much grip-limited compared to the previous night races there.”

 • His weekend off: “I had a very busy week with appearances and a photo shoot in Japan, but had a good weekend off to spend some time with my family. I am now very refreshed and ready to get back in the car!”
(ht: A.J. Foyt Racing - pre-race comments)

SCRIPT BEGIN
Takuma Sato has become one of the most recognizable and respected names in motorsports.

At 10-years-old, a family friend took the young Takuma and his father to the first Formula 1 race in Suzuka, Japan in 1987. Takuma never forgot the excitement of that first race.

He began his competitive career racing bicycles and did not turn his attention to driving machines until the age of 20 ... late by most standards in motorsports.

After a competitive season in All-Japan Formula3, Sato kept his sights on racing in Formula 1 which he was able to do full-time beginning 2002 to 2008.

After a short hiatus, Takuma Sato was able to transition to the IndyCar Series in 2010. The last three seasons, he has been driving for A.J. Foyt Racing with a major highlight being winning the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

This year, Takuma Sato's results have been star-crossed at best, while starting the season's first race qualifying well, mechanical and incident issues have rotated his car to the lower half of the running order at race's end. He currently sits just outside the top 10 at P13 in the season championship points race.

A.J. Foyt Racing's Takuma Sato as he gets ready in the pits. Image Credit: Chris Owens (VICS)

2015 highlights include, setting the fastest lap average speed recorded by a Honda-powered car at INDY 500, registering a P2 podium finish in the second race at the Duel in Detroit, and is P4 of 21 drivers to drive Honda-Powered cars this year.

Takuma Sato and A.J. Foyt's ABC Supply team both posted their best start of fourth ... and best finish of sixth at Auto Club Speedway's MAVTv500 last year.

Perhaps the greatest factor in Sato’s success is not his quickness behind the wheel as much as it is his optimism or his perseverance in the face of adversity. Those are qualities he shares with his team owner A.J. Foyt whose career is distinguished as much by the comebacks as it is by the victories.

TAKU sits in his Honda-Powered Dallara while in the pits checking out information imparted through his steering wheel. Image Credit: Richard Dowdy (VICS)

<<<  A.J. Foyt Racing's Takuma Sato Shares IndyCar Thoughts Pre #MAVTv500  >>>

--  I N T E R V I E W  -- 

Welcome, Formula 1 and IndyCar driver, Takuma Sato ...

====

First, welcome back from a weekend off after a run of 9 to 10 straight weeks of racing, and testing. I understand you were able to go back to Japan to visit family and do promotional and awareness appearances. Please give us an idea of some of the more interesting appearance activity that impressed, or entertained you most.

====

It is no secret, after 10 races, that with the use of the new aerodynamic body parts to the Dallara DW12, Honda was found to be generally underpowered for long straight-aways on road/street courses and somewhat unstable when encountering trailing turbulence.

Scott Dixon, who drives a Chevy-powered and aerodynamics DW12, stated after the INDY 500, that if he found himself more than a couple of cars from the front, the combined trailing turbulence was too much to overcome to drive back to the front.

What has been your primary experience of change over the last year's version of the DW12 - First - On Road/Street courses vs Oval courses?

Second - Major factors of Power vs Trailing Turbulence?

====

IndyCar has scheduled two one-hour practices with the last one ending at 1:30pm PT on Friday ... before a late afternoon qualifications session beginning at 4:15pm PT.

With the race due to be run in a predicted 95 degree plus heat on Saturday June 27th, is there enough afternoon, hourly conditions drive time, to effectively set the car up for a race, which is set to be run from 1:30pm to 4:45pm PT in the afternoon?

====

When you have been able to gain positions on the track during a race, on Road/Street courses, you averaged a gain of 6.75 positions whereas, on Oval courses, you averaged a gain of 11 positions.

Would you say that you are more of an Oval course specialist or a Road/Street course specialist in light of this view of the year's results?

====

We are facing an end of season, at this point, before the MAVTv500, with six races to be run ... [note: this was cut-out due to time - and four of the races are on tracks that are classified as Oval courses - the superspeedway at Auto Club Speedway, the flat track "bullring" of The Milwaukee Mile, the classic oval at Iowa Speedway, and the tri-oval superspeedway of Pocono Raceway].

Please give us a flavor on how your driving and team strengths match up to each of the challenges ... First, next weekend's Auto Club Speedway, The Milwaukee Mile on July 12 - Iowa Speedway on July 18 - & Pocono's Tri-Oval on August 23.

====

Any final thoughts on this weekend’s 500 mile / 200 lap MAVTv500 from Auto Club Speedway?

====

Well, Takuma Sato, thank you for sitting down with us and we wish you consistency and great success through the rest of the season.
ENDS

... notes from The EDJE


TAGS: MAVTv 500, #MAVTv500, Auto Club Speedway, June 27, Takuma Sato, A.J. Foyt Racing, ABC Supply, The Milwaukee Mile, July 12, Iowa Speedway, July 18, Pocono's Tri-Oval, August 23, The EDJE, 

Oval Gauntlet Necessary/Mandatory In Verizon IndyCar Series

Iowa Corn Indy 300 Podium: L to R - Josef Newgarden P2, Ryan Hunter-Reay P1, Tony Kanaan P3. Andretti Autosport made the call to put on a new set of tires on Ryan Hunter-Reay's car and with 10 laps left, sitting at P10, passed everyone in front of him to win. Image Credit: Andretti Autosport

 Oval Gauntlet Necessary/Mandatory In Verizon IndyCar Series

To many fans of American open-wheel racing, the entertaining draw of a street course event weekend is the venue that had been created converting an everyday urban environment into a racetrack, followed by a weekend festival of cultural events (motor and otherwise), and consistency on the timing on an annual basis that adds to the cultural experience. Everyone enjoys something to look forward to on a "same time next year" basis.

In Los Angeles, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach has been a success for 40 years and it has done so observing and deepening the above formula elements regardless of which sanctioned racing series was to headline the actual Grand Prix competition test that was to take place on Sunday afternoon.

What American open-wheel racing has yet to perfect is to answer the event draw question, how does one replicate the success of a Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach event weekend at an established oval racing venue and assure fan interest while being able to fill the stands that are a permanent part of the established track experience?

If the question could be answered through the nature of the racing competition itself, the races held at Texas Motor Speedway, Pocono, and last weekend's small and tight oval race in Newton, Iowa ... the problem would be already solved. The competition could not be any more unpredictable or professional. The 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series is even attracting drivers/rookies that have beat some of the best drivers in European professional racing of F1 and DTM on the way to perfecting their craft.

This still does not explain, then, why the attendance for these type of racing venues (outside of the Indy 500) is down from their pinnacle of standing-room only to a mere fraction - ranging from 30% to 60% fall off.

American open-wheel racing needs to be able to showcase all forms of racing from all of the venues it has performed through the decades because, besides racing that includes Yellow Flag caution periods and planned pitstops, it is the breadth of racing venue experience (road/temporary street courses, super-speedway oval/tri-oval, banked oval, small bullring oval) that separates the American experience from all other series of open-wheel racing.

Iowa Speedway during the Verizon IndyCar Series Iowa Corn Indy 300. Image Credit: Iowa Corn

This excerpted and edited from Racer -

Why IndyCar must make ovals work
By Robin Miller - Racer - Sunday, 13 July 2014

The dichotomy was front and center Saturday night at Iowa Speedway: great racing with another disappointing fan turnout.

That's the sad but true tale of oval tracks in the Verizon IndyCar Series. Once the pillar of the most popular form of motorsports in this country when USAC and CART were on top, ovals have become an endangered species. Other than Indianapolis, it's tough to draw anything resembling a crowd.

Texas Motor Speedway, once a stronghold that put 75,000-80,000 people in the stands to watch the Indy Racing League's version of Russian Roulette, has been sliding recently and withered down to 25,000 (at best) last month. After an encouraging return of an estimated 25,000 in 2013 following a 24-year absence, Pocono slumped to maybe 15,000 a couple weeks ago. Iowa, which packed the grandstands the first few races for IndyCar, looked about half full last Saturday evening. Fontana, a big ticket back in the late '90s when CART was cooking, went away after embarrassing crowd numbers for its IRL races and has struggled since returning to the schedule three years ago. Ticket sales are supposedly down for next month's finale.
----
And the conundrum for Hulman & Company CEO Mark Miles and IndyCar is that it needs ovals to retain its heritage, maintain its status as the most diverse series in the world and remind people why many of them fell for Indy car racing.
----
Michael Andretti, who stepped in to rescue The Milwaukee Mile, echoes The Captain's thoughts. "We can't ever stop running ovals," said the former CART champion who was a badass on the short ones as well as superspeedways. "It's what sets us apart from everybody else."

So what's happened to the culture that thrilled us with A.J., Parnelli, Mario, Ruby, Rutherford, Johncock, Mears and the Unsers? Why doesn't anybody care to attend anymore? What needs to change?

First and foremost, the oval-track model for IndyCar isn't working and hasn't for quite some time. Two-day shows are a waste of time and money for teams and promoters alike.
----
Other than Indy, every oval needs to be one day – practice, qualify and race just like the old days and besides saving money, it ramps up the intensity and maybe draws more interest. Pocono's Brandon Igdalsky, for instance, said he had no problem with that concept.

Secondly, ovals have got to change their approach. Texas, Pocono and Iowa had nothing on track except the Honda 2-seater and pace car rides prior to their IndyCar races. They've got to start giving the paying customers a lot more for their money – a la street races and road courses. There is always something going on at Long Beach, Detroit, Barber, Mid-Ohio, St. Pete and Toronto, be it Indy Lights, Pro Mazda, USF2000, drifting, TUDOR sports cars, Pirelli World Challenge or Robby Gordon's truck series.
----
You can't start a race at 3 p.m. and give the fans NOTHING beforehand. That's ignorant and arrogant.

Scheduling also needs a makeover and some common sense. You can't run Fontana on Labor Day when it's 100 degrees at 6 p.m., Pocono wants off July 4th if it sticks around and Milwaukee needs to be re-instated to the week after the Indianapolis 500.
----
But there is one oval interested in giving IndyCar another shot. Curtis Francois, who owns Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Ill., wants to talk to Miles about a date and maybe a potential partnership. And that may be the key and answer to keeping ovals on the schedule. Instead of charging a sanction fee that scares potential tracks away or puts them instantly in the red, IndyCar might need to be partners with the five ovals still in play. Share expenses and promotion and tap into Verizon's wealth of available assets to control your destiny and take the message to the people.
----
A good example: there wasn't ONE LINE about the IndyCar race in last Thursday's Des Moines Register – 48 hours before the green flag (and that paper does a nice job of covering the race). Last April, nothing in Thursday's editions of the Los Angeles Times about the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and only one TV station mentioned the race on Saturday night...with polesitter Ryan Hunter REEAHAY. Fans from Philadelphia swore there was nothing about the Pocono 500 in their market.

Of course the tracks have to help shoulder the load but if IndyCar was 50-50 partners in selling tickets, marketing and promoting the event it could make a difference – especially with Verizon on board. IndyCar needs to go Barnum & Bailey and pull out all the stops to try and save the ovals.

Watching the non-stop wheel-to-wheel action at Iowa and listening to the excitement in Paul Tracy's voice in the NBCSN booth reinforced how vibrant a short track IndyCar race can be and how vital that little oval in the Corn Belt is to this series.

"Before I passed all those cars at the end, it had been a helluva night of racing people all over the track," said 2014 Indy 500 winner RHR following his 10th-to-first miracle Saturday night. "It's fast, it's close and it's what IndyCar racing is all about. We can't ever lose places like this."
[Reference Here]

Improve the formula which services established oval track venues by offering MORE in a shorter period of time for each event capitalizes on what is common to most motor culture events (racing, or otherwise) ... overload.

Just as with Autoweek in mid-August held at the mouth of the Salinas Valley in California ... Concours d'Elegance, Pebble Beach and the Rolex Motorsports Reunion, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca ... expand the points of interest of fan draw at the venue to where no one person could take in all of the event. No excuse to NOT attend should be the available prescription to the motor culture fan.

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: Auto Club Speedway, Iowa Speedway, Pocono Raceway, Racer, Robin Miller, Texas Motor Speedway, The EDJE, Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Verizon IndyCar Series

Iowa Corn Indy 250 Qualifications Explored And Explained

Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay take the win for a second oval race in a row. Penske Racing's Will Power retains the overall points lead after this ninth race which saw a high level of attrition. Image Credit: IICS

Iowa Corn Indy 250 Qualifications Explored And Explained

Tuned in to catch up on the #IOWA250 and this is what could be found on the average Twitter asset portal:

Breakthrough Racing @breakthruracing Aw, hell’s bells! RT @SSMIndy: We are officially in a holding pattern here at@iowaspeedway for the #Iowa250 due to a heavy rain shower.

Linda @greenfield7814Hope the rain stops quickly and we see a safe race #Iowa250 #Indycar

So, while we wait, this might be a good time to review how this group of 25 DW12′s powered with Chevy, Honda, and one lowly Lotus engine found themselves to be lined up in this order on the grid.

The IZOD IndyCar Series wanted to try something out to bring some excitement to the fans during qualifications on a small oval track like the one in Newton, Iowa represents … a banked 7/8th of a mile kidney-bean shaped oval. What the series management came up with was something that translated to be like the “Knock-Out” format that results in a “Firestone Fast Six” competition to set the first three rows of cars to start the race.
—-
Angie King @angiewarholWhatever the opposite of a rain dance is! RT @BHA: Looking for ideas to pass the time… anyone have suggestions?#Iowa250 #Indycar
—-
Here is the actual edited explanation from IZOD IndyCar Series issued yesterday before the Practice 2 session and the Heat Races:

Lap times from the second 45-minute Practice 2 session will set the qualification groups for the three heat races. The heat races of 30 laps each will set the starting lineup for the 250-lap race under the lights June 23 (Ganassi Racing’s Graham Rahal, Tony Kanaan and KV Racing Technology Racing teammate E.J. Viso will incur 10-grid spot penalties for unapproved engine changes – Simon Pagenaud of Schmidt/Hamilton Racing was later added to the list). Honda requested the engine change following the initial practice.

Heat Race 1 will consist of the even-numbered positions, starting with the 10th-quickest practice time overall, and determine the even-numbered positions in the starting field from 10th down.

Heat Race 2 will consist of the odd-numbered positions, starting with the ninth-quickest practice time overall, and determine the odd-numbered positions in the starting field from ninth down.

Heat Race 3 will consist of drivers ranked one through eight by the practice times registered in Practice 2 session. Results of Race 3 will determine the first four rows, with the winner taking the pole position.
—-
Team Barracuda – BHA @BHANot a bad idea! RT @JorgGrayChile: How about time the jetdryers around the track with a Jorg Gray watch? #iowa250
—-
Ash (アシュー) @racingAshReady to enjoy Saturday night, short track #IndyCar racing at@iowaspeedway on @NBCSN! First up, yesterday’s heat races. #IndyCar#Iowa250
—-
The top 1 through 8 positions are kind of like the Firestone Fast Six without any of that pesky “real-time” build up and transfer process found in “KnockOut” qualifying found on closed road/street courses.

This might have been really, really cool sounding in the executive offices of the IICS (or where-ever), but from afar, like fans in Los Angeles for example, this has them wishing to have dinner a little early just so they can miss Heat Race #3 in protest.

These West Coasters may have missed out on Practice #2 held hours earlier in the afternoon on Friday, a general session where the top 8 competitors were settled. The suspicion is that the fans out West may still have been at work.

The Heat Races (and Practice #2) were not televised or streamed so if one wanted to get a sense as to what happened, it was back to the less than dependable IMS Radio feed (tough to find a back-up) and the Timing and Scoring panel found at RaceControl.IndyCar.Com.
—-
ICFanVillage @ICFanVillageThe LIVE @NBCSports Pre-Race Broadcasts starts at 8pm in the@ICFanVillage with guests@RyanHunterReay and@justin_wilson! #Iowa250
—-
HinchOnTrack @hinchontrack -@iowaspeedway #iowa250@Hinchtown Severe thunderstorms have shut down on track activity…race fans stand by! Race supposed to start at 9…
—-
In qualifying, it looks as though:

1 -The core of all the Heat Races were set by the speeds registered during the Practice #2 session.

2 – All of the drivers that are challenging Will Power for the series points lead except for Pagenaud and Kanaan made it into the top 8 (first four rows) final Heat race tonight.

3 – The best that Kanaan will be able to qualify will be for P19 … he currently sits at P15 / The best that Pagenaud will be able to qualify will be for P9 … he currently sits at P21. These two drivers will have to out pace Barrichello, Tagliani, & Wilson to improve on their “odd-numbered” grid position. Kanaan won’t start higher than 19th because of a 10-grid spot penalty imposed for an unapproved engine change on the No. 11 GEICO/Mouser Electronics KV Racing Technology Racing car.

“I won this race starting from 15th,” Kanaan countered on a positive note.

4 – As far as the “even-numbered” grid positions are concerned – Rahal, who currently sits at P10 will be able to do no better than P20 if he is able to maintain his position. Rahal and Viso (P14) will incur 10-grid spot penalties for engine change-outs. Newgarden, Hildebrand, and Servia are the drivers expected to battle for P10.

This looks like one of these situations that one has to be in attendance in order to get into the full effect of this “Heat Race” grid battle. This has the feel that the excitement is already over because the top 8 positions have been filled … during a practice session which was probably missed by those who cared most about the importance it meant to the qualifications process – one hyphenated word … ANTI-CLIMATIC!

Christopher Estrada @estradawritingRAIN. Again. Grrr… #IndyCar #Iowa250

And ANTI-CLIMATIC this process was – Heat Race #1 everyone kept their station except toward the end of the 30 lap Heat, EJ Viso lost one position. This did not really matter to the grid because Viso wass on the list of engine change penalties.

Heat Race #1 Results – 30 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 9m00.6441s
2. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda + 6.2134s
3. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevy + 6.5594s
4. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevy + 7.4531s
5. Oriol Servia Panther/DRR DW12-Chevy + 8.3586s
6. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda + 10.8144s
7. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevy + 13.4036s
8. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda + 18.5671s

Alexandra Prud @La_Lales -If the rain let us to race today… My pick for #IndyCar #Iowa250 is: 1.Andretti 2.Franchitti 3.Briscoe. Happy Sunday Night!

Heat Race #2 may have been a little more exciting if this were not for the fact that this Heat also had leading drivers that were to have a grid penalty assessed to them as well. Nice to see Kanaan do the best he could – Pagenaud has a poorly set up car but these DW12′s will be at the back tonight (or tomorrow) anyway.

Heat Race #2 Results – 30 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevy 8m59.4932s
2. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Honda + 3.1255s
3. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevy + 6.0818s
4. Justin Wilson Coyne DW12-Honda + 7.9310s
5. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda + 10.0818s
6. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Chevy + 13.7490s
7. James Jakes Coyne DW12-Honda + 14.0032s
8. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus + 1 lap
9. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda + 1 lap

TrueCarRacing @TrueCarRacingGetting corny here at the@iowaspeedway #Iowa250 waiting through the rain delay @IndyCar@emckone pic.twitter.com/sTNsfpnR (photo below)

Heat Race #3 did show the fan a little something since Marco Andretti, who started the race in P1 due to his fastest speed during the afternoon’s Practice #2 session, was passed on the outside twice – once by Dario Franchitti on LAP #8 and then by Helio Castroneves on LAP #16 of the 30 lap race.

Dario captured the pole position and the valuable point. This was a second best result for points leading Will Power since Dario is not the driver that poses the greatest threat at this time. If Hinchcliffe or Dixon got the extra point, this would bring either driver that much closer to start the second half of this 2012 IICS season.

Heat Race #3 Results – 30 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 9m16.9203s
2. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevy + 1.4671s
3. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevy + 5.1884s
4. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevy + 5.9813s
5. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevy + 6.5813s
6. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevy + 7.3542s
7. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevy + 7.8433s
8. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda + 9.2963s

Jane Ward Hamilton @jwardh Rain at #Iowa250 Meanwhile, back in Ohio it’s time to move the sprinklers.#Drought We need redistribution of rain.

Iowa Corn Indy 250 Starting Order:

1. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda
2. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevy
3. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevy
4. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevy
5. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevy
6. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevy
7. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevy
8. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda

9. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevy*
10. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda*
11. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Honda
12. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda
13. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevy
14. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevy
15. Justin Wilson Coyne DW12-Honda
16. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevy*
17. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda
18. Oriol Servia Panther/DRR DW12-Chevy
19. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Chevy
20. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda
21. James Jakes Coyne DW12-Honda
22. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevy
23. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus
24. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda
25. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda*
* Will take 10-place engine change penalty before start
(ht: autosport.com)
—-
Michael Williamson @michaelw2000 “@curtcavin: .@michaelw2000 IndyCar runs first, then Lights. #indycar” Cool! Thanks!
—-
Motorsport @motor_racing -#irl #indycar IndyCar institutes starter camera (The Associated Press): NEWTON, Iowa (AP) The IndyCar Series is … yhoo.it/PS6M4N
—-
Harmonic Family @HarmonicFamily -track drying is complete, pre race about to begin #iowa250
—-
Andretti Autosport @FollowAndretti-As the track dries, the estimated green flag for the #Iowa250 is at 9:30PM local time.
—-
Edmund Jenks @TheEDJE - @TheEDJE Predicts a #DW12 Chevy will win#iowa250 Motorsports Unplugged Radio @rahalracing 620 WDAE – 7:15AM ET bit.ly/L1RBDu #indycar
—-
Edmund Jenks @TheEDJE-@TheEDJE predicts Hinchcliffe if no Penske #iowa250 Motorsports Unplugged Radio @rahalracing 620 WDAE – 7:15AM ET bit.ly/L1RBDu
—-

UPDATES To Follow …

Will Power Survives The Iowa Corn Indy 250

In a race that had mostly confusion mixed with anticipation before its rain delayed start due to and experiment to the qualifying process, Will Power escapes from a race that had the most attrition of any race, in this 2012 season, with the points lead.

Results - 250 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                     Time/Gap
 1.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti DW12-Chevy     1h43m39.3031s
 2.  Marco Andretti       Andretti DW12-Chevy         + 0.1103s
 3.  Tony Kanaan          KV DW12-Chevy               + 2.7245s
 4.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi DW12-Honda          + 3.0075s
 5.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt DW12-Honda          + 3.8468s
 6.  Helio Castroneves    Penske DW12-Chevy           + 5.3061s
 7.  Rubens Barrichello   KV DW12-Chevy               + 5.9890s
 8.  Ed Carpenter         Carpenter DW12-Chevy        + 6.9856s
 9.  Graham Rahal         Ganassi DW12-Honda          + 7.1607s
10.  Justin Wilson        Coyne DW12-Honda              + 1 lap
11.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi DW12-Honda           + 2 laps
12.  Takuma Sato          Rahal DW12-Honda             + 3 laps
13.  James Jakes          Coyne DW12-Honda             + 5 laps
14.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM DW12-Lotus               + 6 laps

Retirements:

     Katherine Legge      Dragon DW12-Chevy            243 laps
     Alex Tagliani        Herta DW12-Honda             207 laps
     James Hinchcliffe    Andretti DW12-Chevy          195 laps
     Ryan Briscoe         Penske DW12-Chevy            178 laps
     Josef Newgarden      Fisher DW12-Honda            178 laps
     Mike Conway          Foyt DW12-Honda              123 laps
     Oriol Servia         Panther/DRR DW12-Chevy        98 laps
     JR Hildebrand        Panther DW12-Chevy            95 laps
     Will Power           Penske DW12-Chevy             67 laps
     EJ Viso              KV DW12-Chevy                 67 laps
     Dario Franchitti     Ganassi DW12-Honda             0 laps

Read MORE Here

… notes from The EDJE

From England to Iowa: It's Been a Great Week for Lotus

Nigel Mansell, Group Lotus ambassador and 1992 Formula One World Champion said: “What a joy it was to be reunited with my old 81B after 30 years. This is a very special place, Hethel, and it was wonderful to open the circuit today by driving alongside my sons Leo and Greg.” [ctrl-click photo to launch YouTube video taken at the event] Image Credit: Lotus Group (2011)

From England to Iowa: It's Been a Great Week for Lotus

Group Lotus has had a pretty great week for its brand and its addition to motor culture history.

Earlier this week, across the pond in England, Nigel Mansell officially opened Group Lotus’s revised and restored Hethel test track with a roar from the 1981 Essex-Lotus 81B in which he started his glorious Formula One career more than 30-years-ago.

Mansell led a convoy of seven stunning racing cars from the Lotus stable, including the innovative 1980 Type 88 twin-chassis car – which the rule makers never allowed to race; the Lotus Type 125 Exos Experience car driven by fellow F1 legend Jean Alesi; and a brace of Lotus Renault GP cars piloted by current F1 stars Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna.

This was the first time that modern-era F1 cars had blasted around the historic Hethel tarmac since the early 1990s. The layout of the 2.2 mile circuit had changed very little, with one extra corner added, but the new asphalt and larger run off areas are better suited to modern racing and performance car testing. Its mixture of corners, straight and braking zones makes it ideal for testing and optimizing every performance aspect of the new era of Lotus products, and evaluating car control at the Lotus Driving Academy.

"A year ago we set out our plans to introduce a new model line up, ambitious motorsport plans and a revitalization of the iconic Lotus brand," said Dany Bahar, Group Lotus CEO. "A year in, we are meeting all the targets and milestones we set ourselves. One of the milestones was the opening of our test track. You might say this is just a refurbishment of a track and not a major achievement in itself, and I agree. However, mentally and psychologically seeing this project accomplished demonstrates that step-by-step our vision is becoming a reality. It shows our entire workforce and our partners that we are delivering on our promises."

In addition to a spacious new workshop, the Hethel test track will soon be accompanied by a new pit building and hospitality suite.

On this side of the pond here in little ol' Iowa, the crucible of motor culture, where the IndyCar Series (ICS) will be holding its ninth race in a 18 race season, former F1 Japanese driver, Takuma Sato notched his first pole position in the ICS and in his career.

In qualifying for the Iowa Corn 250 held at the .875-mile oval at Iowa Speedway, the KV Racing Technology-Lotus team No. 5 Dallara beat out Danica Patrick, driving the No. 7 Team GoDaddy car for Andretti Autosport. In keeping P2, Danica earned her first front-row start since Nashville Superspeedway in 2008.

"I want to say a big thank you to the whole team, the fans, the sponsors and everyone who has supported me," said Sato, who is coming off an eighth-place finish in the Milwaukee 225 (starting fifth). "It is a fantastic achievement. I knew we were going to be competitive because of last year (started seventh), and this morning I was truly comfortable in the car. I could feel where we needed to be with the setup for qualifying. Working so closely today with the three KVRT-Lotus drivers, working so closely with my engineers, we had a great answer."

The joy was short lived, however, when three hours later in the final practice session, the first Japanese driver to earn a pole position in IndyCar made contact with the No. 77 car driven by Alex Tagliani and the two cars slid into the Turn 2 SAFER Barrier. No one was injured but this may alter the starting order when the checkered flag drops at 8:00pm ET Saturday, June 25, 2011.

Regardless, Dany Bahar has to be happy with the successes this week - the unexpected delivery of promises here and those expected over there.

... notes from The EDJE

UPDATE from the Iowa Corn 250:

Takuma Sato raced upfront very well against Dario Franchitti but crashed out during the last round of pitstops. Teammate, Tony Kanaan was able to race hard to the end with Marco Andretti, swapping places P1 and P2 until Marco got the better of him.

KVRT-Lotus brought home a P2 podium finish and Tony Kanaan moves up to 4th place in the IndyCar Series season points championship.

(Article first published as From England to Iowa: It's Been a Great Week for Lotus on Technorati)