Lotus Legion May Not Be At Full Strength At Indy500

With plenty to risk and little to gain by spending the money to race in Brazil, Bryan Herta and team co-owner Steve Newey will leave the Lotus Barracuda-BHA and Alex Tagliani's pit stall empty in Sao Paulo. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2012)

Lotus Legion May Not Be At Full Strength At Indy500

There is trouble in the teams that make up the DW12's outfitted with the Lotus/Judd engine and this real issue may show itself before the crown jewel race of the 2012 season.

Marshall Pruett of SPEED.com published an exclusive report highlighting the pressures of a sport that combines technology, competition, and advertising promotion as a history-making business enterprise.

Basically two of the four teams are so unhappy with the fact that Lotus, while not missing its commitment to field engines for races this season, has been really behind on the fulfillment of its commitment to meet the competitive demands of the series. Lotus Dragon Racing (LDR) did not have an engine to mount into one of their two cars (four-time ChampCar World Series Champion, Sebastien Bourdais) before the St. Petersburg race until the very evening before (Thursday) the first practice on Friday. Despite seeing some promising performance in the first two of three races from the four-time ChampCar World Series Champion, the overall performance and the timing of the delivery of engines does not allow any time for testing and this has effected all of the teams that are in the Lotus Legion - Bryan Herta Autosport (BHA), Lotus Dragon Racing (LDR), HVM Racing, and Lotus Dreyer Reinbold Racing (DRR).

This becomes a little like one of those what came first situations ... the chicken or the egg. Worse, is this situation even solvable?

No timely delivery equals no testing / no testing equals no performance results and feedback / no performance eventually leads to no advertisers to sponsor the car.

The main focus is beginning to place pressure on the decisions that need to be made by the series and the business viability of having a Lotus/Judd engine in a car when teams can not be assured of having engines to test and be competitive. Breach of contract filings from the teams in the Lotus Legion are being delivered to the manufacturer - where this goes, no one knows.

The IZOD IndyCar Series key person who will have to make a decision, and soon, on what to do next and avert a true mutiny within the Lotus Legion and a potential disaster is Will Phillips, IndyCar’s VP of Technology.

Katherine Legge of Marina Del Rey, CA based Dragon Racing. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2012)

This excerpted and edited from SPEED.com -

INDYCAR: Tough Decisions Pending By The Series, Lotus, Its Teams
Lotus confirms in a SPEED.com exclusive that two of its teams have asked to switch manufacturers, but is it what the series needs and will it be allowed?
Marshall Pruett | Posted April 18, 2012

IndyCar fans have been treated to arguably the three best opening races in series history, but at the back of the grid, a much more serious—and far less pleasant—concern has finally reached its boiling point.

With three rounds completed, the bulk of the Lotus-powered teams have been mostly invisible in the final results, experiencing one gut-wrenching problem after another.
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The conflict between Lotus and its teams reached a fever pitch when the marque informed its entrants that engines would not be made available for the April 4th test at Indianapolis, leaving Bryan Herta Autosport, Dragon Racing, HVM Racing and Lotus DRR in a very awkward position.

With the prospect of showing up to Indy next month with zero miles of testing on the Lotus engine around the 2.5-mile oval (not to mention teams starting IndyCar’s most important event with no laps of testing at the Brickyard on their Dallara DW12s), some of its teams have now filed breach of contract paperwork with the manufacturer.

A dispute between the manufacturer and those teams regarding the exact wording and obligations in their supply contracts has ensued, but the message being sent is clear: showing up late and unprepared for IndyCar’s Super Bowl is a surefire way to perform poorly, to possibly miss making the show and, when all is said and done, to kiss their sponsors goodbye.
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Asked what the best-case scenario would be to come out of the breach of contract notices, one owner said receiving permission from the series to switch to a different engine manufacturer was the ultimate goal.

Simona de Silvestro of Britain-based HVM Racing. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2012)

Will Phillips, INDYCAR’s VP of Technology, holds the authority to allow said changes, but declined to comment when asked if he would permit any of the Lotus teams to change manufacturers during the season.
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In a follow-up e-mail on Wednesday, Miodrag Kotur, Lotus’ Director of Motorsports Operations, confirmed that “We have also [have two teams], who would like to switch to another engine supplier, but it is still in discussion with us.”
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To give some additional context to that scenario, the two Lotus teams would rather spend an additional $1 million to get a Chevy or Honda engine--which will have an increased engine pool size after Indy--and forfeit the money they’ve already paid to Lotus than to stay with their current supplier.
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In a half-hour interview just before Sunday's Long Beach Grand Prix, Kotur fired back at a variety of comments, accusations and questions regarding his employers.

“Since the beginning of the year, there’s a lot of rumors that Lotus is not doing well, that Lotus will not be around, that Lotus will not be at Indy, that Lotus is not able to make the engines…as far as I know we are here…we did not miss any races,” he said. “Obviously, we are a little bit behind from our competitors; we are working very hard with Judd to reach the same level [as] Honda and GM. It is not easy. Those guys are in the business since years at Indy, especially Honda. We are new, and start six months later. I don’t know why and from where these rumors are coming that we are in breach of contract. I would like to know where is the breach of the contract.”

After informing Kotur that the breach of contract issue was no longer a secret, and that missing the Indy test seemed to be the catalyst—the point of no return for some of his teams--he offered a more credible response.

“The teams obviously they complain about this test we haven’t done, but there is some reason--to be able to secure future races, we prefer to keep the engines and to work on them and to continue to develop the engines than to go to this test," he admitted. "Obviously, it would have been better [to be] there, but this is a decision we have made. And if you go through the contracts, there is nothing saying we have to participate in all the tests. If we had been told to be present at this test by INDYCAR because it was mandatory, we would have been present, but it was not.

“I am in motorsports [for many] years; obviously the more you are testing, the better it is. I don’t want to say we are confident going into Indy without testing on the oval, especially Indianapolis. Maybe if we went there [to the IMS test], maybe we would today have some struggles with the engine. It will be one month for us to have enough engines to be very comfortable, it will be a little bit problematic, but we aren’t in any way in breach of contract.”

Kotur also offered a blunt assessment of the teams Lotus is partnered with, and although it appears he forgot that Bryan Herta Autosport won its first race of 2011 (the Indy 500 with Dan Wheldon) and was running fourth (with Alex Tagliani at Las Vegas) when the second race was cancelled, the Yugoslavian’s sentiment was no less impactful.

Oriol Servia with Dreyer & Deinbold Racing has been one of the most competitive and consistant drivers over the last couple of years. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2012)

“Herta, Dreyer, HVM…they cannot also expect to be at the front of the grid,” he said. “Even last year, they were not at the front of the grid. You find the same people at front, Penske and Ganassi. So we not only have to work on the engine, we have to work on the car. And also to work with [Lotus’ teams] on the car. We ask them, ‘Where can we help you?’ I don’t want to say that in one month things will change completely, but slowly, we have improved. By the end of the year, the gap will be completely closed.”

Being on the receiving end of complaints from his teams and criticism from the media was an obvious source of frustration for Kotur and his colleagues.
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With a limited number of engines to offer its teams (eight total powerplants for five cars through Long Beach), engines have been sent back to EDL’s base in England between races for inspection, making it hard for teams to conduct private tests on their own.
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Provided it comes to fruition, Kotur expects Lotus’ engine pool to nearly double next month.

“We will for sure have more engines for Indy,” he said. “We will need them. It’s a long race, and we will have [practice] before the race. We will have fresh engines for the race. Our plan is to have more or less five additional engines for the race.”
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“I think it will be resolved in a few weeks, but we are committed to motorsport,” Kotur said of the nearly completed sale of Lotus. “We in fact want to invest more in the engine program and that is under discussion in the factory. You have to invest if you want to reach a certain level in motorsport. You have to spend it properly. If you see in Formula One, Toyota was spending the most and they didn’t reach the target. Obviously you need money, but you also need time. You need time, you need people and you need money.”

To Lotus’ credit, it appears to be interested in appeasing the two disgruntled teams, but it may be a case of too little, too late.
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With the financial health of the two teams serving as the greatest concern, reducing Lotus’ engine supply burden could actually help the manufacturer to solve its problems and to become more competitive at a faster rate.

Stretched painfully thin at the moment, Lotus comes out ahead with a reduced car count, and if Chevy or Honda is capable of adding an extra lease apiece, the two teams can reassure their sponsors that sticking with them—and the series—is a worthwhile venture.

On the other hand, Lotus, (at least judging by some of Kotur’s statements and his general demeanor in our interview), seems interested in ramping up its efforts, so maybe it would be better for all involved to stick together.
[Reference Here]

Lotus may have bit off more than it can chew in delivering on a plan for competitive success. As little as this Lotus’ Director of Motorsports Operations, Miodrag Kotur thinks of the driving capabilities of Sebastien Bourdais and Oriol Servia ... the best solution may be a quick decesion by Will Phillips, INDYCAR’s VP of Technology to have Dragon Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing jump to the other engine manufacturers and let the dust settle before the teams meet to engage the process of being in the field of 33 cars to start the “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing”.

As it stands, (Lotus) Team Barracuda-BHA and Alex Tagliani have decided to skip competing in Round 4/Brazil citing its recent results, and the desire to prepare to defend its win at the Indy 500.
 

IndyCar's Lotus Legion becomes less by two out of five - gone are Bryan Herta Autosports and Dreyer Reinbold Racing. Side-by-side racing here at Long Beach looking for new engines are Alex Tagliani (L) and Oriol Servia. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2012)

UPDATE:
Lotus Raises IndyCar Commitment
Lotus Press Release – 24 April 2012

When Lotus entered the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series, the regulatory requirement to supply multiple teams and the late timing of Lotus’ entry placed a significant restriction on the development programme. It was clear from the start that the 2012 season was going to be a huge challenge as Lotus debuted its IndyCar engine, but it was a challenge that Lotus was determined to meet.

Lotus was further hindered by unanticipated difficulties caused by the widely reported change of ownership and the subsequent restrictions on resources. To have achieved a top ten position under these circumstances is pretty impressive.

That said, Lotus has acknowledged that whilst the engine has demonstrated a lot of promise, minimal testing has resulted in reliability issues.

Having now had the experience and feedback from the first three races of the season, Lotus undertook a strategic review of its position to decide what course of action would be in the best interests of IndyCar and the teams it supports.

Following this review, Lotus is pleased to announce in cooperation with IndyCar that, whilst it remains fully committed to IndyCar in the long term, Lotus has taken the decision to reduce the number of cars it runs from five to three for the remainder of the season. As a consequence of this decision, Lotus has made offers to Bryan Herta Autosport LLC and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing LLC to end the agreements with them. Bryan Herta Autosport LLC will not participate in any further races as a Lotus team and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing LLC will race one more time in Brazil next weekend.

Going forward, Lotus is excited to be working closely with Lotus HVM Racing, the original partner team and Lotus Dragon Racing, who delivered Lotus’ best result so far this season. Lotus wishes Bryan Herta Autosport LLC and Dreyer & Reinbold LLC the very best of luck for the future.

Lotus also intends to continue to assist its engine supplier Engine Developments Limited (EDL) by providing additional resources and financial support to expedite the development program. The details of the arrangement are currently being finalised and the additional support should result in an increased engine performance for the rest of the season.

Claudio Berro, Director of Motorsport Group Lotus, said: “Lotus in IndyCar is like David versus Goliath. We are and always will be a niche British sports car company built for the few not the many. That said I’m delighted with our solution and I can assure everybody that the actions were taken after careful consideration and will assist in ensuring the brand’s high racing ambitions and the high expectations of the IndyCar community are realised.”

Randy Bernard, CEO IndyCar, commented: “IndyCar is committed to ensuring that our teams and manufacturers have a platform to remain competitive. We support Lotus’ decision and will assist Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and Bryan Herta Autosport in securing engine support for the remainder of the season.”

ENDS

Truthfully … how in the HE-double toothpicks can Lotus say, as they did in the title of their presser, “Lotus Raises IndyCar Commitment” when they greatly reduce the talent (DRR’s Oriol Servia & BHA’s Alex Tagliani) and car count. This action suggests that they are backing away and limiting the chances of sharing testing information with the one very-proven driver they have left – four-time ChampCar World Series Champion (turbo-charged powered engines) Sebastien Bourdais (apologies to Katherine Legge and Simona De Silvestro).

... notes from The EDJE

Public OpinionPoll Results

** Article first published as Lotus Legion May Not Be at Full Strength at Indy500 on Technorati **

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Conducts First In-Season Test

Dale Coyne's Justin Wilson takes first laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during Wednesday's test. Here, when one looks at the back wing area of the DW12, one can see the changes to the aerodynamics of the body work - rear-wheel guards that are taller and the wing panel is laid down near flat. Image Credit: IMS

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Conducts First In-Season Test

The DW12, by all accounts, is hitting the marks that are placed before it at every point. With two races, one on a temporary street and another on a closed road course with elevation changes through the back country rolling hills East of Birmingham, Alabama, completed with positive and some surprising results along the way ... the biggest growing question developing was, OK, what will this platform and formula do on the most famous super speedway oval in the world?

On Wednesday several teams took to the track in Speedway, Indiana and held first in-season track test to shake down set ups of the DW12 in full Speedway trim. This configuration features new rear-wheel guards that are taller, lighter and have a slightly different shape than the sets being used on the road/street circuits as well as what will be used on the oval races at Texas Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway and The Milwaukee Mile.

Street/Road course configuration shown here as E.J. Viso, Ryan Briscoe, and Rubens Barrichello try to gain advantage on each other through a corner at Barber Motorsports Park during the Honda Indy Grand Prix. Notice the rear wing area and the differences with the lead posting photo. Image Credit: IICS

This excerpted and edited from SPEED -

Andretti Hits 218.6 At Indy Test
By Robin Miller - Posted April 04, 2012

Marco Andretti (Chevy), Scott Dixon (Honda) and Kanaan (Chevy) all topped 218 mph during the roughly six hours of running but that came courtesy of some help in traffic.

"I had a mega tow on that lap," admitted Andretti, last year’s winner at Iowa who has a second and two thirds in his six starts at Indianapolis. "The best I could by myself was 216 and we’re not setting the world on fire but it’s only the first day.

"As a driver I want to run 240 but the car is fun to drive and it’s the same for everybody."
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"I’m convinced when we come back we’ll be be over 220 for qualifying," said Will Phillips, the vice president of technology for INDYCAR. "It was a good day for feedback, the engine manufacturers found some issues early on that took a while to get on stop of but they did a good job and everyone was able to run this afternoon."
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Three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves and J.R. Hilebrand topped 216 mph while Justin Wilson ran 213, Mike Conway and Takuma Sato 212 and Ed Carpenter 207 but never got a hot lap due to some technical glitches.
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Kanaan and Andretti tried running close to other cars and found it pretty exciting.

"These cars are wider and there’s a lot more turbulence," said Kanaan. "I’m not concerned about the speeds, I just want to know `Is it going to be a good race?’ That’s the key."

Ed Carpenter had an undisclosed issue that kept him from posting a fast speed, the four Lotus teams did not participate in the test [more on Lotus below] and rookies Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden were running at Texas on Wednesday.

Photo showing the detail of the rear aero forms/wheel guards that sport a "Cadillac Fin" style flow enhancer on Mike Conway's Honda-powered DW12. Image Credit: Mark Gillespie (2012)

Rank, #, Chassis/Engine/Tire, Driver, Speed

1 26 Andretti, Marco D/C/F 218.625
2 11 Kanaan, Tony D/C/F 218.439
3 10 Dixon, Scott D/H/F 218.094
4 3 Castroneves, Helio D/C/F 216.942
5 4 Hildebrand, JR D/C/F 216.641
6 18 Wilson, Justin D/H/F 213.753
7 14 Conway, Mike D/H/F 212.767
8 15 Sato, Takuma D/H/F 212.573
9 20 Carpenter, Ed D/C/F 207.518

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SPEAKING OF LOTUS

John Judd Jr. [the engine developer] took exception this paragraph in this week’s commentary on the Barber race.

FROM SPEED:

"Not only is the Lotus/Judd engine strapped for cash and shy on horsepower (by an estimated 50 compared to Honda and Chevrolet), it’s a rarity right now because there are only five of them for their five drivers."

Judd’s response:

"What you have reported is un-true, we are not strapped for cash. There is no evidence that the Lotus engine is 50 HP down on Honda and Chevy. It would not have been possible for Lotus cars to maintain position or overtake other cars in the races were that to be the case.

"And there are more than five engines in circulation. Spare engines were available throughout the weekend at St. Pete and Barber. I would be grateful if you would retract these false statements."
[Reference Here]

Of course, all of this still begs the question, How come no teams associated with the "Lotus Legion" (Bryan Herta Autosport | HVM Racing | Dragon Racing | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing) were on the track ... any track, for testing in Speedway configuration?

Further, when one looks at the sector lap times analysis from the performance of Dragon Racing's Sebastien Bourdais during the #gpstpete - Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, one comes away with the distinct impression that on long straightaway top end speed, the DW12 outfitted with a Lotus/Judd engine is down on horsepower.

It is either that, or SeaBass is just deploying a small "drag chute" toward the end of each straight so that he then could step up his performance in the twisty sections where the four-time ChampCar World Series (#ccws) champion just shined.

... notes from The EDJE



** Article first published as Indianapolis Motor Speedway Conducts First In-Season Test on Technorati **

Will Power Starting P9 Takes The Win At The Honda Indy Grand Prix Of Alabama

Will Power and the confetti go a flyin' as Will jumps for joy off his Penske Racing Chevrolet-powered Verizon DW12 in the winner's circle at Barber Motorsports Park. Image Credit: IZOD IndyCar Series

Will Power Starting P9 Takes The Win At The Honda Indy Grand Prix Of Alabama

Team Penske blanks all other teams in winning races so far, two races in to the IZOD IndyCar Series season as Will Power wins from starting at the ninth position on the grid.

Last week, Helio Castroneves bested Scott Dixon in winning the season opener through the streets of St. Petersburg and this week, Will Power bests Target Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon who started the race from P3 while Power could not make it in to the Firestone Fast Six qualifications round (pre-race information HERE).

What a great race. From the drop of the Green Flag to the Checkered Flag to end the competition, the action on the track was anything but boring.

During the pre-race broadcast it was revealed that one of the many changes implemented for the 2012 season will be to recognize that if a driver is driving a line that is “pro-active” that this action may not be considered “Blocking” as it would have been in previous seasons. Many of the drivers expressed concern but after the race, most were pleased with the change in recognition that this relaxation to the rules against blocking and its enforcement led to actual racing and driving strategy on the track. The fans on Twitter reacted to this change as it related to the product they were seeing and many asked, in Tweets, wasn’t this was actual racing was all about? The drivers driving to win?

As for the product on the broadcast television produced by NBC Sports Channel (formally Versus), it was superior to what was seen from the ABC Sports (network broadcast) during the first race of the season from the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. Some might argue that the major differences were because this race from Alabama was a closed road course as opposed to a street course and the loosening of the blocking rule allowed a better race to be seen. While these are good points, they are not the reasons that the NBC broadcast was superior to the ABC broadcast.

The major reason for the difference in the broadcasts was the actual production value. NBC followed the action on the track understanding that the action during the race isn’t just who might be leading and those who are contesting for the lead, but the races within the overall race.

No passing on road and street courses? New ruling that allowed "pro-active" driving lines by drivers opens the door to ... wait for it ... Racin'! Here EJ Viso, Ryan Briscoe, and Rubens Barrichello give racin' a whirl. Image Credit: Brian McKay

Results – 90 laps (ht: autosport.com):

Pos – Driver – Team/Engine – Time/Gap
1. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevrolet 2h01m40.1127s
2. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda + 3.3709s
3. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 19.1150s
4. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda + 19.3395s
5. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt-Hamilton DW12-Honda + 20.1050s

6. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 23.3093s
7. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda + 24.5552s
8. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevrolet + 25.4023s
9. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Lotus + 27.1815s
10. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda + 32.7377s

11. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 33.5038s
12. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 35.8730s
13. Oriol Servia Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus + 37.8944s
14. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 41.6742s
15. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevrolet + 44.5059s

16. James Jakes Coyne DW12-Honda + 54.5343s
17. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda + 1m00.6182s
18. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevrolet + 1 lap
19. Justin Wilson Coyne DW12-Honda + 1 lap
20. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus + 1 lap

21. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevrolet + 1 lap
22. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet + 2 laps
23. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Lotus + 5 laps

Did not finish:

Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 52 laps
Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 45 laps
Alex Tagliani BHA DW12-Lotus 0 laps

This excerpted and edited from the TRANSCRIPT – Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama Post-Race Press Conference conducted by the IZOD IndyCar Series (ht: IICS Media)

THE MODERATOR: We’ll get started with Scott Dixon. Scott, if you can, just walk us through the race today, especially that final restart there with Will Power.

SCOTT DIXON: It was generally a pretty good day. I think we did a good job of saving some fuel early on. The balance of the car I think was better than the other two. We could maintain a pretty good pace.

The first stop, Hinch (James Hinchcliffe) and I went a lap longer than Helio. We still pitted with probably two laps of fuel in the car. We were just trying to keep an eye on the degradation of the tires and how they fell off. We jumped Helio and Hinch obviously most of the race from that point on.

Strategies all kind of got mixed in the middle. Power and several others pitted, they got clear track, ran down the deficit they had earlier.

Once I caught Simona (De Silvestro), we slowed down two or three second a lap. We were trying to get past her. With the new car, when you get into the wake of another, especially on older tires, you lose so much rear grip and it’s hard to get around them. Once we had that, then (E.J.) Viso on the way out, then the yellow fell.

I’m kind of disappointed. I think we had the car to beat. We had the speed and for the most part the right strategy, but just wasn’t our day today.

The restart, got a good jump on them. But obviously being on the inside, all he (Power) had to do was drive in deeper. I had been really the first one to lift or he could have kept going and I would have run wide. Tried for a few laps there, burned the rear tires off with about five or ten to go. That was all said and done.

Good points for the first two races, but definitely disappointed with today’s result.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions for Scott.

Q. You said you had to wait for Viso on the last stop. Were there problems as well?

SCOTT DIXON: I believe the middle stop and the last stop we had a bit of a fumble on one of the tires where there was a wheel nut or something. The middle one took a lot longer. Tires are done normally about the same time as fuel. You feel the fuel pull out and you’re still on the air jack.

On the out-lap I would say Will gained two or three seconds just because he wasn’t in traffic. Then I think they were maybe a little bit quicker on their stop as well. Between that and trying to get out of the pits behind Viso, I’d say we lost three or four seconds in that, which gave Will the advantage.

Q. Scott, this is three straight second-place finishes here. Does that add to the frustration level?

SCOTT DIXON: Well, maybe last year we had a pretty good car. Barber is a funny place. I was talking to Will about it. If you get out front, it’s very hard to stay close. There are so many high-speed corners. Eventually you burn the tires off.

The first two years, I was kind of happy with those finishes. But today to have a dominant race and a car I think definitely if we were out front at the end would have led to the same thing and pulled away from Will. It’s frustrating when you’re in a scenario like that and you don’t collect on the win. I’d say the last two years, that was probably kind of as good as we were going to get.

Q. Do you take any solace being second in points at this point in the season as opposed to being in the hole you found yourself the last few years?

SCOTT DIXON: Every race pays the same amount of points. For me, my issue has been the start of the season, so we’ve tried to start strong. We’ve tried to be consistent, maybe not take as many risks as we should, but also emphasize qualifying in a good position and making the most of it.

All around as a team, with our package, I don’t think we’re there yet. But I think once we get a few things figured out on the car and the engine package, I think we’re going to be strong.

If we can put points in the bag at the moment, try and gain on that later in the year, we should be in a good position.

But points championships are so tough. Sort of taking out a page of Dario’s (Franchitti) notebook from the last few years and being consistent. He hasn’t won as many races as some others, but he’s always there on a bad day and a good day. We have to try to do the same thing.

—-

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Helio Castroneves, who finished third.

Helio, if you can, just take us through today’s race. Looked for a minute in the end Graham (Rahal) almost got you.

HELIO CASTRONEVES: Yeah, it was a good battle. First of all, I want to thank AAA and Shell-Pennzoil, Verizon. Those guys keep supporting us. This is what we need.

Talking about the race, I started consistent and tried not to do anything outrageous. I had a little chat with the guys, they said, “Just save fuel when you can.” That’s what I was doing. Actually, we did have a yellow, so tried to extend as much as we could in case we could have only a two-stop strategy.

It was very difficult to keep the car because the tires were going away too fast. I think we stopped a little bit early, one lap early. We could go two more laps, but not without handing the lead to Scott Dixon. On the black tires, he was so good. He just took off. He got a good rhythm. Probably 12- 15-second lead. Suddenly we started coming back again. We pitted. Again, we put the black tires.

My car was very loose. It was very difficult. I was just trying to hold on. It was like the back fishtailing everywhere. When we put the reds on for the last run, those are the tires we used in qualifying, I kind of knew the left front was a little bit overshot. Unfortunately, that’s what happened. It was too much understeer right away, right at the beginning. I just tried to hold on at that point for the position three.

I was trying everything I could. Graham obviously in Turn 2 was much better. So I was trying to keep in one line. Thank God we were able to hold on and finish third.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions for Helio.

Q. After last season, how does it feel to be atop the points standings?

HELIO CASTRONEVES: Pretty darn good. I’m not thinking about it right now. I’m thinking about the big picture. For Long Beach we’re really looking to have a better result, two spots better. But I’m happy. It was certainly a great effort today for the AAA machine. It was very difficult. (Engineer) Ron (Ruzewski) did a great job on the strategy.

But I’m not thinking at the moment for the present. I’m thinking one race at a time, and that’s what we’re going to be doing.

—-

Q. Starting from the pole and doing so well the early part of the race, how frustrating is it to end up not on the top step?

HELIO CASTRONEVES: A little bit. But the way the car finish in the end of the day, I have to be very happy with a third. That’s the best we could do. For us, we brought the car to more points.

It’s always good to start in the front. It’s just a different rhythm. But I felt very good, very strong.

Q. I know you’re saying one race at a time, but this Wednesday you have an opportunity to test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Talk about that.

HELIO CASTRONEVES: I’m extremely exciting about this. At this time I have not run on the oval with this car. It’s going to be my first time Wednesday. I don’t know the purpose of the test, but I think certainly we’re going to work together with other teams so we can see how the car runs in the pack.

But at this point for me it’s great, especially to be able to find a good seat and stuff like that because right now I have no idea how it’s going to go. But I feel good. I’m glad we’re able to do this test before the month of May at Indianapolis. I can’t wait to go.

—-

THE MODERATOR: We are pleased to be joined by our race winner, Will Power.

Will, after a tough start in St. Pete, you bounced back with a win today. It was great work in the pits and great driving. Talk about today’s race.

WILL POWER: It was an absolute team effort. We went in thinking that we have to kind of be a little off strategy to the other guys to be able to pass around here. So we started on black tires, everyone else started on reds. We went to reds when everyone was on blacks. That got us a couple of spots.

Then just with good stops and good strategy calls put me out in clean air so we could use our speed. We slowly passed one by one. It was a very good team effort, absolute team effort. The strategy was perfect. The stops were perfect. We were quick when we needed to be, put ourselves in a position to win, which I did not think was possible this morning.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions.

Q. Second stint was really short. Was that to avoid getting bottled up from the guys ahead?

WILL POWER: The second, yes. Tim Cindric was looking at where he could put me out in clean air. It was short because he found a gap that we could lay down some good laps.

I think the other reason that the racing was really good today was because Firestone came with a really good tire to race, that has a good drop-off in lap time. That allowed people to pass because the tires actually went off.

I think you have to thank Firestone for good racing, allowing people to pass.

Q. On Friday you said you thought it was virtually impossible for anybody to win this race if they were starting beyond the first two rows. How glad are you to have proven yourself wrong? What does it say about the common perception that it’s just too difficult to pass here?

WILL POWER: I really thought, as green as the race was, you put it down to the tires really, the fact that the tires had a discrepancy from brand-new to old of up to two seconds, three seconds. That allowed for good passing.

It really eradicated fuel saving because often we go in, we start lifting, fuel saving. Doing that with the tires eradicated that. It was just hard racing. I ran hard the whole day, never saved fuel.

Q. You mentioned that you didn’t think it was possible to win this morning. As things started to come together, what did that do to you emotionally in the car after the first stop, second stop?

WILL POWER: It just keeps unfolding. It’s really an emotional thing. It’s a process. I think you just got to be really correct focused really on what you’re doing and just getting the most out of every single lap, because that’s how it was for me, to get the most out of every lap, just keep gaining on the guys.

Ultimately, I can’t think of a better strategy than what was given to me from the team. It was perfect.

Q. I think it was on the radio broadcast, they said your last set of red tires had more wear on them than your first set. At the end of the race, with 16 laps to go, were you worried about Dixon? What about the way the rules have changed, allowing you to defend your position?

WILL POWER: That was good for me, which I didn’t have to do. I definitely had that in my mind.

The second-to-last set of tires was very worn on my car. The last set was actually a good set.

Just from the information I gained in that second-to-last stint, I understood how I needed to look after which end of the tires, which was the rear.

I just think it’s great. I think that Firestone has got it dead on.

Q. Looking at the next two tracks, those are tracks you’re strong at. Talk about carrying momentum into those two tracks.

WILL POWER: You know, we really have been quick everywhere this year. I think you put this race out of your mind pretty quick and start focusing on it. I guess it gives the guys confidence that we can win if we don’t qualify on pole, and we can win from quite far back.

Yeah, that’s good.

Q. Scott said at the end he basically killed his tires trying to chase you down. Could you have kept that pace up much longer?

WILL POWER: Yeah. That’s the thing. It was actually reversed when I was behind Scott. My tires went off worse than his and he was quicker than me. He got in my turbulent air. Obviously clean air looks after your tires, you have more downforce and grip, so you’re not sliding, destroying them.

If he was in front, I’m pretty sure it would have been the same result for me.

Q. Traffic seemed to be pretty intense all day long. How was it from your perspective?

WILL POWER: Actually, it was good. You could actually pass. We were on reds, other guys were on blacks, I passed three or four people into turn five. I didn’t have a problem. I think that was the key to the race, keeping out of traffic, pitting at the right times, putting me in the gap.

ENDS

Next race is the granddaddy of all temporary street races used in American open-wheel racing – the 38th Annual Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach … twitter hashtag:

#tgplb

Happy tweeting if you can not be in Southern California between April 13-15, 2012.

If you can be there, with the drivers getting the measure of the DW12, the new engines, and the changed attitudes on rules governing the action of racing on the track from an improved Race Control staff, the race may prove to be one for the ages, even after a previous 37 year history that included Formula 3000, F1, CART, ChampCar World Series and since 2009, IndyCar.

The race is scheduled for Sunday, April 15 at 12:30 PM local time and will be carried live on IMS Radio and NBC Sports Channel (cable).

… notes from The EDJE