IndyCar Season Opener Should Be Renamed The Carbon Fiber 200 Of St. Pete

The start as viewed from the entrance of Turn 1. Ryan Hunter-Reay at far left, was caught outside and lost P8 starting position all of the way back to P17. And YES!, there was carbon fiber left behind on the front straight near the Start/Finish line. Image Credit: Chris Owens - IMS Photo (2015)

IndyCar Season Opener Should Be Renamed The Carbon Fiber 200 Of St. Pete

Carbon Fiber ruled the attention of the day of a very competitive 2015 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg that featured five time-consuming full course YELLOW Flags to sweep up and haul off wing elements of latest aerodynamically modified Dallara cars. 

Brian Herta Autosport's Gabby Chaves dragging a greatly modified right wing element without all of those pesky "Slats" that direct the air. Image Credit: John Cote - Indycar (2015) 

Honda front wings were the most vulnerable with a final wing change tally of seven while Chevy only required one front wing to be changed.

Less parts mean stronger parts (Chevy's apparent philosophy) ... the rule governing aerodynamics is that the new wing can be made in most any way the manufacturers choose ... but that the final wing can weigh NO MORE than the original DW12 Dallara wing - to repeat Honda - 7 / Chevy - 1 ... and as in golf, the low number is the winner here.

Full course YELLOW Flag caution to gather up all of the (mostly Honda) carbon fiber body work that was detached from the nose of cars that were tapped with other cars going for the same space. Image Credit: VICS/ABC (2015)

The other thing that was confirmed with this race was that the turbulence mushroom is NOT being lifted up off of the racing surface as before. Both Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever (color commentators on the ABC broadcast) mentioned that many of the drivers, Tony Kanaan - piloting in his second year for Target Chip Ganassi - being the most vocal, were mentioning that the cars become unstable farther away from the leading car than before.

This is something we mentioned was going to happen just after the aerodynamic body element designs from Chevy and Honda were revealed <<< HERE >>> when our colleagues saw the way these aero parts looked and the way they were designed.

Where this showed itself the most clearly on the track was the front straight away ... at full speed. Very little passing took place at the end of the straight, save for restarts when the cars were at slower speeds.

Frustrated by being passed during the last round of pit stops, Will Power tries to make a diving move on teammate Juan Pablo Montoya in Turn 10. JPM kept his line knowing the the front of Power's car is more fragile than the back end of his own car. Image Credit: John Cote - Indycar (2015)

Toward the end of the race when Will Power was tracking down teammate Juan Pablo Montoya ... if this was a race with the old aerodynamic template of one year ago, Will would have been more patient and would have felt, with the fact that his car was stronger (he made up a 3 second deficit in just a few short laps), he could have more options to pass. Looking at the drive, what he actually felt due to turbulence at high speeds ... that Turn 10 presented the only 'surprise' opportunity.

Granted, he, Will Power, had a few more laps to pounce, but the only opportunities would come at the twisty bits at Turn 4 or Turn 10 against someone with a very, very fat car.

Edging cars out of the way as some have been able to do with a little effectiveness, with a nudge, will not work this year and competition will suffer due to the fragile aero kits. Image Credit: Chris Owens - IMS Photo (2015)

This excerpted and edited from IndyRacePlace.com -

St. Pete weekend
By IRP

Precarious practice: With the aerokits for Honda (“Slats”) and Chevy (“Extra Bits”) being brand new and spares being scarce, practices were fairly quiet. Quite a few run-offs but contact was avoided at all costs. The one thing that did take a beating was the track record. Loads of downforce with the kits and speeds were climbing quickly.

Penske perfect: The four Penske cars took the top four positions in qualifying after putting in powerful practice sessions. It was Power, Pagenaud, Castroneves and Montoya. Lots of Extra Bits to lead the way at the green.

Papier-mâché parts: As many predicted, debris cautions were the bane of this race. ABC even displayed a wing damage tracker at one point. Slats took the brunt of the damage, spraying bits of cat-mangled Venetian blind parts all over the track. Caution after caution kept the race from developing a real rhythm, which is not uncommon for St. Pete, but the parts sprayed with much lighter contact.

Penske party plus papa: New papa Tony Kanaan broke up what would have been an otherwise all-Penske podium. Montoya and Power took the top two steps on the podium, with Castroneves and Pagenaud filling out the top five. From the looks of things right now, The Captain has the best boat in the water.
(Reference Here)

Andretti Autosport's Marco Andretti has the "Slats" of his Honda areo kit peeled away like an onion during an on-track racing incident. Image Credit: VICS/ABC (2015)

Aero Kit Commentary From The Twittersphere -

Pat Caporali @PCaporali
What kind of sound does #IndyCar aerokit #debris make when it hits the track? Cha-ching Cha-ching Cha-ching? yikes #GPStPete

Bash Beard @SpeedFreakBash
The Honda kit, aka Slats, is taking a beating today. Worse than cat-mangled Venetian blinds. #GPSTPETE #IndyCar

Roberto Martínez @yukiyu99
New #IndyCar aero kit winglets look ridiculous. They cause too many cautions too.

39 year old Juan Pablo Montoya proves that he is happy about coming back to race lighter, faster, and more competitive cars in the Verizon IndyCar Series. Image Credit: Chris Owens - IMS Photo (2015)

More commentary on gamesmanship - this excerpted and edited from IndyCar Minnesota -

Winners and Losers: St. Petersburg
by Matt Hickey

Here are your winners, losers, and Cone of Shame "winner" following the 2015 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg:

Winners

Juan Pablo Montoya
Wow, does Juan Pablo Montoya look like his 1999-form one race in to season or what?! JPM continued his success from the second-half of 2014 right away in 2015, nailing his in-and-out laps on his last pit stop to jump ahead of Will Power on pit sequence to capture the win. Not only did he hold off Power, but JPM was also quick all weekend. If JPM continues in this form, the rest of the field may be in trouble.

Team Penske
Along with JPM and Power were the other two Team Penske drivers of Helio Castroneves and newby Simon Pagenaud. Together, the four drivers took the top four spots in qualifying (something I think has never been done in IndyCar) and captured four of the five top spots in the race. Of the four, Pagenaud had to overcome the most adversity, getting put mid-pack several times and damaging his front wing, but he still found a way to finish in fifth. I have a feeling Team Penske will appear in the Winners category of these blogs for a whole lot of races this season.

Tony Kanaan
The man who denied Penske of their 1-2-3-4 finish is Tony Kanaan. Kanaan had a solid weekend, continually showing pace and keeping a very clean nose on his way to a P5 finish. His other teammates Scott Dixon (air-jack issues), Charlie Kimball (multiple incidents), and Sage Karam (not sure what his deal was, maybe just simply put being a rookie?) couldn't hold a candle to  him in the race. During the broadcast, the ABC analysts talked about Kanaan becoming more comfortable within the team. Remember that before yesterday, Kanaan was the last driver to win a race in the series (Fontana '14). Like JPM, if Kanaan can keep up his form from the second half of last season, the other drivers might be in trouble.

IndyCar Fans
Was it the greatest race in IndyCar history? Of course not. There was debris cautions for days (at least there was legitimate debris on the track and not phantom debris cautions or menacing hot dog wrappers like that other series) that took forever to clean up. There were times of stale action where we had to talk about how great Marco Andretti was doing in P13. 

But overall, the race had moments of excitement, including ballsy passing and dramatic, albeit boneheaded moves on the track. I enjoyed the speed, the passes, the aggressiveness, and the slight strategy that took place which didn't involve an entire race of fuel conservation. Overall, I am very pleased with the race that took place!

Losers

Honda
What's stronger: Tony George's rationale for creating the IRL or a Honda front wing? The Honda wings, which kept getting damaged throughout the race, were so weak that ABC began having a counter of wings broken between Chevy and Honda. At one point, Honda was "leading" 7-1. That's awful. As mentioned during the broadcast, the front wing designs had to meet the same weight that they were in 2014 after the modifications, so obviously Honda did not make a sturdy enough wing. Either that or their drivers are all knuckleheads.

Andretti Autosport's Simona de Silvestro was welcomed back to a seat in IndyCar after spending last year being a test driver for an F1 team. Bent "Slats" of a Honda aero kit had three of the seven Honda nose replacements land on the Andretti Autosport team. Ryan Hunter-Reay was the only Andretti team driver keeping his car intact throughout the race. Image Credit: John Cote - Indycar (2015)

Simona de Silvestro
A driver that really needed to have a great race was Simona de Silvestro. For Simona, the raced served as a tryout for Andretti Autosport for future races or possibly the 2015 season. 

She qualified well, despite being down during some practice sessions. In the race, well, it didn't go too well. She was involved with teammates Ryan Hunter-Reay and Carlos Munoz early on. RHR passed her in turn ten. Seeing his successful pass, Munoz tried to follow. While I would pin most of the fault on Carlos, being in any incident with your teammate, regardless of fault, is not good. In the grand scheme though, this incident wouldn't matter if Simona could rebound. Later on, she missed her braking zone by a lot (my words exactly were "wasn't even close," which were later echoed by Eddie Cheever) and rammed James Jakes. Jakes race was ruined, and Simona suffered damage. Overall, a P18 was not what Michael Andretti had in mind.

Dale Coyne Racing
Francesco Dracone finished P23 and Carlos Huertas P24. Need I say more?

Gabby Chaves
Gabby Chaves was unflattering in his first race of the season. Early on in the race, Chaves was seen slowing down abruptly on the exit of a turn, causing Marco Andretti to run into the back of him (I'm not one to defend Marco often, but he's right in this situation) leaving Marco with a damaged front wing. Accidents happen, that's fine. But later on. Chaves really misjudged a maneuver on James Hinchcliffe, leaving Hinch with a flat tire for one lap and effectively ruining his race. Hopefully Chaves tones down the miscues for the remainder of the season.

Cone of Shame

Graham Rahal
Graham Rahal gained a lot of "fans" following the race.

To recap what set him off, Charlie Kimball got damage from contact (from I believe Simon Pagenaud), leaving his rear guard with a serious rub on his rear tire. Half-a-lap later, Graham, who was following Kimball, decided to try to make a move around the damaged yet still on-pace Kimball. Rahal put Kimball into the tires and received a penalty. People noted that Graham said over the radio, "They'll find any way they can to screw me, it's just the way it goes."

Hold on now Graham. Please tell me how IndyCar screws you? a) the incident was questionable, I could see fault with both drivers. b) you've been irrelevant outside of two or three races since 2013. IndyCar hasn't had a chance to screw you out of a good result. c) maybe, MAYBE I'll take that argument from Will Power, but not you.

After finishing P11, which isn't bad, Graham took to Twitter and was, well, colorful. Now I am not a fan of @TonyJWriter (he blocked me, we just don't like each other), but he and Graham got into after the race. Graham made the argument that anyone who knows anything about racing knows that he shouldn't have gotten that penalty. Well, apparently I know nothing about racing. Tony tweeted, "Gotta have a better argument than "If you don't agree with me, you know nothing about racing."

I agree with Tony (gasp, I know). I can't exactly declare myself innocent of never being stubborn on a subject, but Graham was way out of line here. Denouncing anyone with a differing opinion as yours as a "hater" is obtuse. I am not oblivious to the fact that Graham does have trolls who are pretty ruthless, but those who rationally disagreed with him aren't "haters."

My immediate reaction to the incident was a flashback to Long Beach in 2014. Both Graham and RHR would have been well off by waiting a couple turns to capitalize on a off-the-pace car rather than forcing a pass. But hey, I don't know anything about racing.
(Reference Here)

There was a bunch of frustration to go around for everyone with two new aerodynamics templates to figure out.

For the fan, when we get to the long 185mph straight of Shoreline Drive at Long Beach and short ovals, the frustration will come, in old IRL style nose-to-tail racing we all hated during the era of the original "Crapwagon" Dallara. It is sad to say this early on, but it almost looks as if too much was being done in the off season with Extra Bits and Slats but not enough was being done to protect the competitive Mushroom Busting characteristics of the original DW12!

... notes from The EDJE

Saint Petersburg INDY - Play By Play Via Tweet By Tweet

Saint Petersburg INDY - Play By Play Via Tweet By Tweet

On a beautiful West coast of Florida day, the 2009 IndyCar Series got under way. Watching the race on VERSUS and seeing commentary on Twitter provided a unique way to experience the beginning of one of the most longed for seasons in North American Motorsports in recent years.

Today held out a great hope for a grand showing for all of the teams to race with an amount of parity. Ever since the rushed merger last year, many fans that followed the ChampCar World Series and the IndyCar Series wondered if this would all turn out to be good for the sport of open wheel automobile racing?

With the race in the can, it can be said ... Yes!

Ok! So Penske Racing won another race, but the 100 laps that made up the race, and the practice and "Knock-Out" qualifying sessions that took place before today, paid many dividends to the fans from both cultures that have now become one.

The following "Tweets" were excerpted and edited from Twitter via TheEDJE account during the season-opening Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg:

Tweet: TheEDJE - Let's light this rocket - GO Justin! Go Graham! Leave a CCWS sophomore mark on this ICS season before going into our house at Long Beach GP!

Tweet: VisionRacing - Vision cars are on the grid. Crews are in their firesuits. Nice little breeze to stop them from melting on the spot.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Danica on a pre-race fluff piece on VERSUS - Good short interview! Followed by DP GoDaddy.com advert!

Tweet: VisionRacing - For the record, black firesuits are NEVER a good idea but it was short notice + all. Poor Vision 21 crew. They look good but are withering.

Tweet: FilipCleeren@VisionRacing I hope you supplied 'em with loads of black towels as well.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Vision drivers have um... Taken care of business (aka gone potty) and are now at their cars. TMI?

Yes! Definitely.

Tweet: MyNameIsIRL[blog update] LiveBlog: St Petersburg 2009

Tweet: TheEDJE - The Super Team - Target Chip Ganassi with two past ICS Championship and INDY 500 winners - Dixon and Franchitti

Tweet: TheEDJE - Transition Players - CCWS Sophomores - Rahal, Wilson, Power, Tagliani, Doornbos, Viso, and Moraes - Go out and change the paradigm!

Tweet: TheEDJE - GREEN! GREEN! GREEN! - The 2009 IndyCar Series season is underway! Cameras are great! Black and Red tires!!!

Tweet: TheEDJE - Five wide - Franchitti swoops to the lead! Gets passed by Justin Wilson. TK punts Rahal off of the track! Sonny's BBQ in the lead.

Tweet: NowPublic@TheEDJE we dig your motorsports coverage.

Tweet: MyNameIsIRL - Good grief. These are professionals, right?

Tweet: TheEDJE - Restart - Wilson looks strong - TK trying to make up ground after pitting to get a new nose. Rahal doing the same.

Tweet: IndyCarPR - Report from pit lane: #24 Conway has gone behind the wall to repair damaged suspension.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Dale Coyne's Dallara driven by Justin Wilson is doing very well against Franchitti's Target car.

Tweet: IndyCarPR - Lap 15 update: #19 Wilson has led every lap so far. He led 18 laps here a year ago.

Tweet: TheEDJE - First 12 to 13 cars are running close - Top Five - Wilson, Franchitti, Briscoe, Power, and Manning on LAP 20

Tweet: TheEDJE - AGR's Hideki Mutoh is first in on pits to change from Reds to Blacks on tires - Viso in because the Reds were a problem.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Ed told by engineer Jeff Britton that they will opt for primary black Firestone on next stint instead of Reds as originally planned.

Tweet: IndyCarNation - At lap 25, Justin Wilson leads Darion Franchitti. Pole sitter Graham Rahal has fallen back to 15th due to an early incident.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Justin Wilson on Reds for first stint hoping to get 30 laps. Dario Franchitti on Blacks with Wilson leading by 1.2 seconds. LAP 26

Tweet: FastMachines - It is so nice to have good pit reporters this year for Indy Car. #indycar on VERSUS

Tweet: VisionRacing - 10 laps to pit for #20 menards car. Mutoh behind but Ed is running same lap times as him.

Tweet: UpdateF1 - 25/100 laps completed: Wilson leads Franchitti. Pole man Graham Rahal in 15th after first turn incident with Kanaan. Conway out.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Rahal is waiting to punt TK ... or at least pass the AGR driver. LAP 29

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR complaining he doesn't have any straight line speed.

Tweet: IndyCarPR - update: Full Course yellow for contact in Turn 12 between #7 Patrick and #2 Matos. #5 Moraes had the incident in Turn 4.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Before pits open Ed will be in 14th place in 20 Menards car after all the incidents. Will take on black tires.

Tweet: FastMachines - Tagliani tangled with Meira & has a flat. Matos just took out Danica in a big crash. Moraes out too. #indycar craziness on VERSUS

Tweet: TheEDJE - Patrick pinches down on Raphael Matos. Tagliani gets tagged - flat tire. Briscoe in and out of the pits. YELLOW Flag - Briscoe takes lead.

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR took on Red Firestone tires on his stop just as the caution flew.

Tweet: IndyCarPR - Leaders pit under caution. #9 Dixon has terrible stop after crew can't get fuel hose to the car.

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR being told to save as much fuel as possible so Vision can shoot for a Top-5.

Tweet: IndyCarPR - Update on pit road: #6 Power overshot his pit stall, forcing the issue with #9 Dixon.

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR up to P4 as he was pitted legally just as yellow waved. Great timing for 21 Vision team.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Ed finds himself in lucky P13. Has understear through turns 1, 2+5.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Restart on Lap 39 - Briscoe leads the field, Doornbos and Franchitti are getting into it!

Tweet: VisionRacing - Wilson got past RHR. RHR now in 5th

Tweet: FastMachines - Indy Car: Briscoe Wheldon Viso RHR Wilson on lap 42. Wilson is looking FAST! #indycar on VERSUS

Tweet: MyNameIsIRL - Wheldon in 2nd. On a street course. Who saw this coming?

Tweet: TheEDJE - Top five on LAP43 - Briscoe, Weldon, Viso, Wilson and Ryan Hunter-Reay!

Tweet: TheEDJE - LAP 50 - Near halfway, top cars are running smoothly and in order nose to tail. Franchitti in 6th, Rahal in 7th.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Wilson pounces on Viso after Viso locks up brakes.

Tweet: IndyCarPR - Lap 52: #19 Wilson passes #13 Viso for third place in Turns 2 and 3.

Tweet: FilipCleeren - Stanton "moving chicane" Barrett finally out. Just like his illustrious predecessor Roth, he's doing a great job influencing race results.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Full Course Caution: Stanton Barrett off. This'll tighten things up a bit. Pits are open. Viso takes to the pits.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Vision team is staying out during this caution. 1 to go at the line.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Restart - LAP 57 - Wilson looks racy against Weldon who is in second, led by Briscoe.

Tweet: MyNameIsIRL - Congrats to Stanton Barrett for not taking anyone out today. He was the lone GT 2 entry.

Tweet: TheEDJE@MyNameIsIRL - NICE!

Tweet: FuriousWedge - I'm really wondering what Wilson would have for Briscoe if he could get around Wheldon who seems to be just quick and wide enough to stay P2

Tweet: TheEDJE@FuriousWedge I think that the Dale Coyne Dallara and Wilson have the Hot Sauce!

Tweet: FilipCleeren@MyNameIsIRL Same goes for Manning. Wheldon's doing great as well considering his record on road courses.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Teams coming in for their finals stops.

Tweet: VisionRacing - 4 laps until No.20 Menards car pits. Heavy traffic in pits.

Tweet: TheEDJE - LAP 67 - Viso, Power, in pits and taking on Reds - Briscoe and Weldon in - Scuff Blacks.

Tweet: VisionRacing - No.21 Engineer Neil Fife to RHR : " It's all yours from here Buddy"

Tweet: FastMachines - Last round of Indy Car pit stops already? Time flies when you are having fun. #indycar on VERSUS

Tweet: TheEDJE - Justin Wilson stays out in order to build up a gap from the pitted leades. Franchitti, Rahal in - Dario takes Reds.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Ed running 3rd heading into pits. Will cycle back... but still. Nice to say that.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Wilson goes into pits and comes out AHEAD of Briscoe ... and on cold tires! A run to the end.

Tweet: FuriousWedge - What a great stop for Dale Coyne Racing! and Carpenter is in the tires we go yellow with parts scattered on track

Tweet: VisionRacing - Ed is in the tires. He's fine. Apologies to team. Engineer Jeff Britton assures him he did a good job. Made a lot of progress this weekend.

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR asked team if he should be saving fuel under yellow. Team says no. We are good to go.

Tweet: FastMachines - What a thrill it would be if Justin Wilson could give Coyne his first win in the big cars!! #indycar on VERSUS

Tweet: TheEDJE - Franchitti loses a couple of spots! Justin Wilson shows why he was the class of the CCWS Transition Players.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Weldon gets booted to sixth - Reds vs. Blacks - Dixon into the tires - YELLOW Flag.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Mutoh pinches Dixon and breaks the left side A-Arm struts.

Tweet: FastMachines - Dixon hit the wall pretty hard and is out of the Indy Car race. A tangle with Mutoh didn't end well. A tough weekend for Scott. #indycar

Tweet: IndyCarPR - Lap 81: Full Course Caution for #9 Dixon who hit the tire barrier in Turn 3 after making contact with Mutoh in Turn 1.

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR is in third spot and does not need to pit again. Lots of happy people in 21 Vision pits no matter how he finishes.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Sixteen laps to go and Dale Coyne (and all the former CCIC fans) are feeling the pressure - can Justin Wilson do it?

Tweet: TheEDJE - Penske and Briscoe pass Wilson in turn one on restart - many other drivers pile up after the corner - 6th caution.

Tweet: IndyCarPR - Full Course YELLOW. Turn 3 for multicar incident. Cars invilved are No. 4 Wheldon, #27 Mutoh, #06 Doornbos and #26 Andretti.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Before it went full course RHR took 2nd place! Seriously.

Tweet: MyNameIsIRL - The storyline may have just shifted from Dale Coyne to Tony George winning his first IRL race. Wow.

Tweet: FastMachines - Doornbos made a bonehead move on Wheldon, took him out. 12 to go, under FC yellow. #indycar on VERSUS

Tweet: TheEDJE@VisionRacing - RHR - Great grab of a driver for Vision!!!

Tweet: FuriousWedge - The best part about VERSUS; 10 minutes to 5pm yet not a single bit of talk about a timed race : )

Tweet: IndyCarNation - If you are watching Race Control...SORRY!!! Good news is that it got better, bad news is that there are a TON of things to do.

Tweet: MyNameIsIRL@TheEDJE Agreed, a great race so far. I just hope we have a little passing here at the end.

Tweet: TheEDJE@MyNameIsIRL Boy, who would have thought of the changes in this first race. Great first race so far - its not over!

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR challenging Ryan Briscoe for the lead!! How many friggin' laps to go???

Tweet: TheEDJE - RHR pushing, pushing, pushing and making the Penske Dallara of Briscoe a nosecone logo!

Tweet: VisionRacing - 5 laps to go. Vision to RHR: "Nice job. No pressure. No pressure."

Tweet: TheEDJE - RHR pushing, pushing, pushing and making the Penske Dallara of Briscoe a nosecone logo!

Tweet: VisionRacing - Local yellow turn 10. Trying to not go full yellow.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Going green... And 2 laps to go.

Tweet: TheEDJE - One lap to go and it is nose to tail for the first 7 cars!

Tweet: TheEDJE - Briscoe WINS, RHR with his new Vision ride second, and a Transition Player on the podium with Justin Wilson for Dale Coyne! WOW!

Tweet: FuriousWedge - That would be 9 different teams in the top 10; Congrats to Briscoe and also Hunter-Reay, Wilson.. and Stanton Barrett finishes 12th!

Tweet: MyNameIsIRL - Congrats to Briscoe, even though he totally spolied two fantastic storylines. No hard feelings though.

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR out of car congratulated by TG and ED. About to do VERSUS interview. Stay tuned!!

Tweet: VisionRacing - Ryan: "That was a really physical race. Can I have some more water. I almost had Ryan Briscoe. I wanted to try. Unreal day."

Tweet: FilipCleeren - congrats to Briscoe, RHR and Wilson, three excellent performances.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Dale Coyne stated that this race shows that Sonny's BBQ has a faster drive-thru than McDonald's

HOW THEY FARED (** denotes Transition Player merged from CCWS):

Pos  Driver            Team                 Gap
 1.  Ryan Briscoe      Penske
 2.  Ryan Hunter-Reay  Vision               + 0.4619s
 3.  Justin Wilson**   Dale Coyne           + 0.9490s 
 4.  Dario Franchitti  Ganassi              + 1.5230s
 5.  Tony Kanaan       Andretti Green       + 2.3214s
 6.  Will Power**      Penske               + 3.4622s 
 7.  Graham Rahal**    Newman/Haas/Lanigan  + 4.0672s 
 8.  Dan Wheldon       Panther              + 4.7283s
 9.  Vitor Meira       Foyt                 + 5.9559s
10.  Alex Tagliani**   Conquest             + 1 lap   
11.  Robert Doornbos** Newman/Haas/Lanigan  + 4 laps  
12.  Stanton Barrett   3G                   + 4 laps

Retirements:

     Driver            Team                 Laps
     Marco Andretti    Andretti Green       94
     Dan Wheldon       Panther              86
     Hideki Mutoh      Andretti Green       86
     Scott Dixon       Ganassi              80
     EJ Viso**         HVM                  75 
     Ed Carpenter      Vision               71
     Danica Patrick    Andretti Green       31
     Raphael Matos     Luczo Dragon         31
     Mario Moraes**    KV                   31 
     Mike Conway       Dreyer & Reinbold    1
(ht: autosport.com)

Tweet: TheEDJE - IndyCarPR, MyNameIsIRL, VisionRacing, FilipCleeren, FastMachines, and FuriousWedge - Thanks for sharing! I'll be at the track in Long Beach.

... notes from The EDJE

Between Palms & Yachts, Three 911 GT3 RSR's Take On St. Pete

911 GT3 RSR, Flying Lizard Motorsports: Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Long - Image Credit: Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG

Between Palms & Yachts, Three 911 GT3 RSR's Take On St. Pete

The American Le Mans Series extends its stay in Florida: After the season-opener at the 12 Hours of Sebring, round two of the race series with the world’s fastest sports cars takes off on Saturday in the Sunshine State of the USA – on the downtown street circuit of St. Petersburg.

This is the American Le Mans Series

The American Le Mans Series was created in 1999 and offers fans exciting sports car racing. The regulations correspond to those of the Le Mans 24 hour race. Ten races in the USA and Canada make up this year’s calendar. Traditional highlights are the Sebring 12 hour race and the 1,000 mile Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Most races run over 2:45 hours. The ALMS is the American counterpart to the Le Mans Series (LMS) in Europe.

The starter field is made up of two different race car categories: Sports prototypes and standard sports cars.

These are divided into four classes ...

LMP1 class: Sports prototypes with up to 700 hp and a minimum weight of 900 kilograms. Power to weight ratio: ca. 1.3 kg/hp.

LMP2 class: Sports prototypes with around 445 hp (normally aspirated engine) and an 850 kilogram minimum weight. Power to weight ratio: ca. 1.9 kg/hp.

GT1 class: Heavily modified standard sports cars with up to 650 hp and a minimum weight of 1,125 to 1,325 kilograms.

GT2 class: Slightly modified standard sports cars with approx. 450 hp and a minimum weight of 1,145 – 1,345 kilograms. The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR competes in this class.

All race cars start together but are classified separately. This system ensures varied and exciting racing with tough fights for positions and many overtaking manoeuvres. Points are awarded only for placings in each class. After 2006 and 2007, Porsche again won the championship titles in the LMP2 class last year for Drivers (Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas) as well as for Chassis and Engine Manufacturer and for Teams (Penske Racing) with the RS Spyder. In the GT2 class, Porsche secured the championship titles for Drivers (Joerg Bergmeister/Wolf Henzler) as well as for Manufacturers and Teams (Flying Lizard Motorsports)

911 GT3 RSR, Flying Lizard Motorsports: Seth Neiman, Darren Law - Image Credit: Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG

This excerpted and edited from Porsche -

American Le Mans Series, round 2 in St. Petersburg, USA
Press-Release - 01/04/2009

Diversity is guaranteed: The race between palms and yachts on the Gulf of Mexico runs over just 1:55 hours and poses a very different challenge for drivers and teams compared to the long distance classic in the heart of Florida. “Such a street circuit is unforgiving with errors. You have to drive very precisely and concentrate totally from start to finish,” says Porsche works driver Joerg Bergmeister (Germany), who shares driving duties in the Flying Lizard Motorsports 911 GT3 RSR with Patrick Long (USA). Manning the second 911 GT3 RSR of the US customer team are Darren Law (USA) and Seth Neiman (USA).

The German duo Wolf Henzler and Dirk Werner compete for Farnbacher Loles Racing. In Sebring the pair planted their 911 GT3 RSR on pole. “If we could do this again we would have a great advantage,” said Wolf Henzler, who last year secured the title with Joerg Bergmeister. “On this narrow and twisty circuit it’s hard to overtake and that’s why it’s particularly crucial to get a good grid position here.”

The race takes off on Saturday, 4th April, at 13.20 hours local time (19.20 hours CET) and runs over 1:55 hours.
Reference Here>>

We will be watching with great interest the events happening over the weekend in Saint Petersburg.

This may be the second race of the season for the American Le Mans Series cars ... and that might be exciting enough, but the first race of the fully unified IndyCar Series (ICS) kicks of on Sunday. This season, all teams - both CCWS Transition Players and Established Teams - will have achieved an equalized understanding of the chassis and what to expect from its configurations for road/street racing and oval circuit racing (there should not be a parts shortage problem for the newer Transition teams as there was at the beginning of last year ... for example). There will also be firsts for the Established Teams to overcome as it relates to new racing venues that the Transition Players may have a small advantage, helping to equalize the racing throughout the season.

Bring on St. Pete and it's unique venue of racing in the streets between the palms & yachts ... ALMS and IndyCar ... can not wait!

... notes from The EDJE

Got Parts! No Sponsor! No Problem - Graham Rahal WINS

Graham Rahal takes the checker flag at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg becoming the youngest ever to win an IndyCar Series race. Image Credit: Ron McQueeney – indycar.com

Got Parts! No Sponsor! No Problem - Graham Rahal WINS

This is a great story (again, with apologies to Kenny Chesney)!

It goes from No Parts (and no race for the first race), No Sponsor (Hole In The Wall Camp is, team owner, Paul Newman's charity), to No Problem for the first win by a CCWS T-Team!

Good on Graham Rahal (and father Bobby) of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.

The reason this IS a great story has to do with many reasons.

Graham Rahal came close to winning his first race at the age of 18, last year in the ChampCar World Series when he came in second place on the podium for the Grand Prix of Houston, April 22, 2007.

Rahal came back from a spinout early in the Saint Petersburg race, Sunday afternoon, to become the youngest winner in major open-wheel history. At 19 years, 93 days, Rahal broke the age record set two years ago in Sonoma, Calif., by another driver from a racing family, Marco Andretti, who was 19 years, 167 days old.

With this win, the ChampCar World Series Transition Teams crack the ice on its first win in only two races proving that the “T-Teams” ARE competitive with recognized, established leading teams in the IRL in this first season of unification. Many experts speculated that at minimum, it would take six to ten races for the CCWS T-Teams to catch on to the racing set-ups of the IRL Dallara chassis - Honda engine package. This win was not only won on a closed temporary street course (a CCWS strong point), it was won through strategy.

The driver who came in second had won the race the previous two years running … and was poised, through a strategic last pit stop where Helio Castroneves, of Team Penske, took on fuel only (no tires) and leaped forward seven spots to come in right behind Graham Rahal for the re-start. The trick in strategy at this very point, and very easy to overlook, is that Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (four time CCWS Championship winning team) kept Graham Rahal out hoping that the car would have enough fuel to finish the race. The strategy gamble paid dividends in this unified 2008 IRL season by posting a first ever CCWS T-Team race win in the second of eighteen scheduled races.

Graham Rahal had help with fuel saving yellow flag laps where the racers were slowed and held behind the pace car for several laps while track crews cleaned up after cars that had collected the wall, or each, other around the track during the last stint before the checkered flag that would end the race.

In the final re-start with just a few laps left, it was feared that Castroneves, with all of his winning experience (two-time Indy 500 Champion), would be able to get the drop on the much younger, non-winning Rahal, but Graham’s age hides the fact that he comes from a grand racing DNA tradition being the son of past Three-Time CART Champion, Indy 500 Winner (both as a driver and team owner) and IRL team owner (Rahal-Letterman Racing), Bobby Rahal. Graham Rahal answered the challenge at the re-start by bringing the field up to racing speed before the first turn of the main straightaway to receive the checkered flag and resume racing. All Helio Castroneves could do is maintain position as Graham placed a little distance between them until the end of the rain-dampened race.

Some of the best news for the Indianapolis Racing League in this year of unification is how well the CCWS T-Teams did in a race venue that was completely new to most all of the teams and drivers. Five of the top ten places were occupied by T-Team drivers. P1 - Graham Rahal (Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing), P4 - EJ (Ernesto) Viso (Former Minardi Team USA – HVM Racing), P5 - Enrique Bernoldi (Conquest Racing - with consulting from Forsythe), P7 - Oriol Servia (KV Racing Technology), P8 - Will Power (KV Racing Technology). That is competitive no mater how one slices it!

The Indianapolis Racing League wants to say "Transition tag gone!" (as per an article posted at indycar.com by Dave Lewandowski) but until the IRL management shows an interest in the race weekend at Long Beach (which happens over the same weekend as the engine supplier race (Honda) held in Motegi, Japan), the ChampCar teams will always be viewed as T-Teams!

Com' On! the Long Beach Grand Prix race can not get any play as being listed as a race in the schedule at indycar.com website - No opportunity to link to event information - No ticket sales - NOTHING (as of the writing of this post). To be fair, the ChampCar site isn't much help either, although, this site at least has a link to additional information.

Heck, the race in Long Beach can not even be mentioned by the house writer in his article about Saint Petersburg ... you know, that the next race one will be able to see this race winner, Graham Rahal, compete in is LONG BEACH ... not Motegi, Japan! (please note: the possibility exists that Graham could race in Japan, catch a private jet and start the Long Beach race from the back of the field - pure speculation)

Again, Good on Graham Rahal and the ChampCar World Series Transition Teams for a great showing in the streets of Saint Petersburg, Florida before these guys give one last hurrah to the PANOZ DP01 through the streets in Long Beach.

The DP01 chassis will be featured in the final ChampCar race, and the only ChampCar race that will award IRL points toward the 2008 IRL season championship in the streets at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 17-20, 2008 - Long Beach, California.

See you all on Shoreline Drive!

UPDATE - 4-15-2008:

IndyCar Series News & Notes - April 14, 2008
By indycar.com

Today's IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights headlines
**One weekend, two races in two hemispheres
**Rahal's win broke three-team, 37-race streak
**Web traffic spikes at indycar.com
Reference Here>>

Two of the greatest takeaway’s of the article referenced are

1.) Rahal's win broke three-team, 37-race streak: Graham Rahal's victory in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg April 6 for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing was the first by a driver for a team other than Andretti Green Racing, Target Chip Ganassi Racing or Team Penske since Aug. 14, 2005 - a span of 37 IndyCar Series races. Fernandez Racing's Scott Sharp won the race at Kentucky Speedway in 2005 before the streak started.

Read that as T-Team success!

2.) Web traffic spikes at indycar.com: The unification of open-wheel racing under the IndyCar Series banner has already resulted in increased car counts and a renewed interest among sponsors and fans. Another sign of the growing excitement surrounding the unified IndyCar Series is the drastic increase in web traffic at the series' official Web site, http://www.indycar.com/. The site, which unveiled a new, improved design in March, has seen tremendous growth since the beginning of the year.

Read this as people wanting to get information on unification but can not get any.

This article mentions that there is a race in Long Beach … but try to get any direct information on the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach from the indycar.com website.

… notes from The EDJE

IRL Knockout Qualifying – The Firestone Fast Six

No. 8 Will Power of KV Racing Technology on the course at St. Petersburg. Will posted the fastest qualifying time at 62.1355 (nearly one-half a second faster than the pole sitter Tony Kanaan) but because the mark was set in Round 2 where the fastest twelve cars race to advance to The Firestone Fast Six. Image Credit: Jim Haines - indycar.com

IRL Knockout Qualifying – The Firestone Fast Six

This format is justly named. The format lent an interest to the affair all-of-it’s-own and it IS a knockout.

The way it is structured is that three rounds with four sessions for timed qualifying are held for all of the qualified entrants (in this case at Saint Petersburg – 26 cars). Two groups of 13 cars each are randomly drawn to compete in Round 1, with both groups having 20 minutes to post their best lap times.

The top six cars from each group advanced to Round 2, where they received 15 minutes on the circuit to post their fastest times.

The top six cars from that group of 12 advanced to the Firestone Fast Six and the six cars start fresh whereas times do not carry over from one round to another.

Three drivers from each of the two groups that were randomly drawn for the first round of qualifications advanced to the "Firestone Fast Six".

The dramatic qualifying format debuted on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit at Saint Petersburg, Florida will carry over to all other Indianapolis Racing League road/street events this season.

The qualifying sessions had no accidents and all went off with several notable surprises along the way.

Tony Kanaan talks with AGR team about his pole setting pace in The Firestone Fast Six qualifying showdown. Kanaan will line up in the first row alongside Will Power in St. Petersburg, Florida. Image Credit: Chris Jones - indycar.com

This excerpted from IndyCar.com –

Round 1 (20-minute session)

Group 1 advancing
No. 8 Will Power (1:02.7752; 103.422 mph); No. 11 Tony Kanaan; No. 06 Graham Rahal; No. 34 Franck Perera; No. 14 Darren Manning; No. 17 Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Notables: Perera's final lap (13th) bumped Hideki Mutoh from advancing. … Danica Patrick finished nine in the group. … Power's final lap bumped Kanaan from the top spot in the group. … Mutoh was atop the lap time chart halfway through the 20-minute session. … One of the three Andretti Green Racing cars (Kanaan) advanced.

Group 2 advancing
No. 02 Justin Wilson (1:02.7341; 103.293 mph); No. 6 Ryan Briscoe; No. 26 Marco Andretti; No. 3 Helio Castroneves; No. 5 Oriol Servia; No. 10 Dan Wheldon.

Notables: Wilson moved to the top on his 12th of 13 laps. Earlier in the session he came to a stop in Turn 8. … Wilson wasn't in the top six at the halfway point of the 20-minute session. … Scott Dixon, who has been the race runner-up the past two years, did not advance (seventh). … Both Team Penske cars (Briscoe, Castroneves) advanced.

Round 2 – Top Twelve From Groups 1 & 2 (15-minute session)

Six cars advance - "Firestone Fast Six"
No. 8 Will Power (1:02.1355; 104.288 - fastest time recorded in all of the qualifying sessions ); No. 11 Tony Kanaan; No. 6 Ryan Briscoe; No. 02 Justin Wilson; No. 17 Ryan Hunter-Reay; No. 3 Helio Castroneves.

Notables: Castroneves jumped from 10th on the time chart to making the final round in the final minute. … Both Target Chip Ganassi Racing cars did not advance; Wheldon was eighth in Round 2. … Marco Andretti was 12th in the session.
Reference Here>>

Round 3 – The Firestone Fast Six (10-minute session)

Firestone Fast Six fill out the top six positions in the starting grid.

Final Grid For The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg 2008 (round #2 of the IRL season):

1 11 Kanaan, Tony D/H/F 01:02.5322 103.627 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
2 8 Power, Will D/H/F 01:02.6096 103.499 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
3 02 Wilson, Justin D/H/F 01:02.6426 103.444 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
4 3 Castroneves, Helio D/H/F 01:02.6462 103.438 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
5 6 Briscoe, Ryan D/H/F 01:02.7071 103.338 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
6 17 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/H/F 01:03.0077 102.845 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
7 5 Servia, Oriol D/H/F 01:02.7427 103.279 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
8 10 Wheldon, Dan D/H/F 01:02.7964 103.191 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
9 06 Rahal, Graham D/H/F 01:02.8122 103.165 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
10 34 Perera, Franck D/H/F 01:02.8749 103.062 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
11 14 Manning, Darren D/H/F 01:03.0136 102.835 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
12 26 Andretti, Marco D/H/F 01:03.2443 102.460 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
13 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F 01:03.2365 102.472 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
14 27 Mutoh, Hideki D/H/F 01:03.2757 102.409 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
15 33 Viso, Ernesto D/H/F 01:03.3067 102.359 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
16 15 Rice, Buddy D/H/F 01:03.3591 102.274 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
17 4 Meira, Vitor D/H/F 01:03.4480 102.131 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
18 36 Bernoldi, Enrique D/H/F 01:03.4568 102.117 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
19 7 Patrick, Danica D/H/F 01:03.5766 101.924 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
20 24 Howard, Jay D/H/F 01:03.7447 101.656 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
21 20 Carpenter, Ed D/H/F 01:03.8007 101.566 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
22 19 Moraes, Mario D/H/F 01:04.1590 100.999 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
23 23 Bell, Townsend D/H/F 01:04.3880 100.640 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
24 2 Foyt IV, AJ D/H/F 01:04.4996 100.466 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
25 25 Roth, Marty D/H/F 01:07.7041 95.711 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
26 18 Junqueira, Bruno D/H/F 01:09.3851 93.392 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2

Can anyone one believe that HALF of the top ten positions on the grid are occupied by drivers and teams that have transitioned from the ChampCar World Series (CCWS T-Teams in bold)?

Many of the experts were fond of saying that “it will take about six to ten races” for the T-Teams to become competitive, tell that to Will Power who posted the fastest time on the track at 62.1355 seconds. This time was about one-half a second faster than the eventual Pole Position speed of Tony Kanaan at 62.5322 seconds.

How about a P2 and a P3 starting position for Will Power and Justin Wilson respectively – Great stuff ... and Will Power will have no wing to stare at when he takes the checkered flag to start the race.

Good On! the CCWS T-Teams, if round two of 2008 at Saint Petersburg, Florida is any indication of the success that comes from a unified series, this will be an exciting year.

The second round race can be seen on ESPN starting at 11:30 am PT, Sunday, April 6, 2008.

Too bad we can't have all of these guys to race on Shoreline Drive at Long Beach THIS year!

... notes from The EDJE