Showing posts with label St. Petersburg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St. Petersburg. Show all posts

Thursday, October 22, 2020

The 2020 Patchwork Season Comes To A Strong, Yet Shortened 14 Race End In St. Pete

Astor Cup ... the grand prize - Image Credit: Karl Zemlin- via NICS (2020)

The 2020 Patchwork Season Comes To A Strong, Yet Shortened 14 Race End In St. Pete

After 1,800 laps over the course of 13 races, the 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship comes down to a battle between Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden. The two championship protagonists will be the center of this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and here are their thoughts before taking to the track this weekend to end the story of the Wuhan Red Death/COVID-19 shaded first season of a Roger Penske owned NTT INDYCAR SERIES for 2020.

The one thing that has come out during this unique and uncertain patchwork of a season that had no West Coast swing, the racing at INDYCAR is strong and vibrant and did not succumb to the virus event visited upon us by China.

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference - Wednesday, October 21, 2020 - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Scott Dixon - Chip Ganassi Racing

Josef Newgarden - Team Penske

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the NTT INDYCAR Series video conference. It is our last race of the season and we are joined by our two title contenders today, Scott Dixon drives the No. 9 for Chip Ganassi Racing, and Josef Newgarden, who drives the No. 1 for Team Penske.

As we head into the weekend, it is the 15th consecutive season that the battle for the Astor Challenge Cup will be decided in the final race. It will also be the first time that it has been decided at St. Pete, which is exciting. There are over 19,872 different scoring possibilities for both title contenders.

With that we'll get started Josef, between you and the trophy, what is your mindset going into the weekend?

SCOTT DIXON: I think it's only fair that Josef lets us lead the whole season (smiling).

I don't know. For us, we try to typically keep it pretty simple. I would say that was not the case for the last few races, which got us into a bit of a tailspin. Josef and Team Penske, him and his teammates, have been doing a fantastic job.

For us, it's just to have a pretty simple weekend, try to keep it clean. Obviously the goal is to go for a win. That makes it a lot easier, then you don't have to worry about any of the scenarios. As you mentioned, there's many different scenarios. I think we're still lucky to be in the situation that we are, the points lead that we do have.

As we all know, that doesn't guarantee you anything. NTT INDYCAR Series is renowned for throwing some curves in situations like this. It's always exciting. We tried to stop it going down to the last race, as you mentioned, it was a 15-year run, but we came up short.

Yeah, just looking forward to the weekend. Can't wait to get to St. Pete. Looking forward to getting on a street course, we haven't done one all year. Hopefully it goes well.

Josef Newgarden has a tall order in front of him along with Team Penske, but if Scott Dixon has a DNF kind of a day, and Newgarden finishes on the podium, this strange season may have an unbelievable storybook ending. Image Credit: NICS (2020)

THE MODERATOR: Josef, you have three wins on the season. You are tied for top fives, but you have actually won the last time we were in St. Pete, which is something that Scott hasn't been able to do yet. Tell us about your mindset going into the weekend.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I think similar to Scott, we're excited to get back to a street course. It's been a while. We haven't been able to do that yet this year. That's going to be a change-up for the entire field with the new Aeroscreen.

Feeling good. Ready to go. Just had a great call with everybody a couple hours ago. I feel like we're definitely prepped and ready to rock for the weekend. Just going there to try to win the race. That's really all I can do.

I love on the fact sheet, I saw this put out, it was like 20,000 scenarios, 1% of the scenarios means we can win the championship. You're saying there's a chance and that's all we need.

Yeah, I don't know, it's going to be an exciting weekend. We'll see how it shakes out. We're just going to go into our thing, see where everything lands at the end of it.

THE MODERATOR: It's funny you mention that. Before we put it out the other day, I said, Do we really want to put 1% on there? I was told that looked better than the actual amount of chances you have. We were trying to help you out on that.

You're right, there's a chance, anything could happen, this is why we race, right? Anything can happen.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I like how the 1% looked better than the number you could have put up (laughter).

SCOTT DIXON: I think it looks better, right?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It is what it is.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions.

Q. Tell me how excited are you for the race this weekend, that we're actually getting to go to St. Pete, but also we're going to have fans there as well. Scott, talk to me a little bit about your season, where your mind is at going into the race this weekend.

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, I think honestly we've had a pretty good season. We've had some mis-steps here and there, which I think most teams do during the year. I made a pretty big mistake at Mid-Ohio which I think, had I not spun, I think it would have been a different scenario going into the last race.

I think these adversities, obviously the ups and downs throughout the season, is what makes INDYCAR racing. You see these runaways, then you see them get caught. The situations always come down to the wire, which is typical and great to see I think for the sport and for the fans, for everybody involved.

Yeah, I think more importantly just super excited to get to St. Pete. I think how all of us started the season loading into St. Pete, getting ready, ready to go, then waking up on Friday saying, You probably need to book a flight to go home.

Nice to end it in full circle and go back to St. Pete this year. Massive thanks to everybody in St. Petersburg, the mayor, Kim Green, Savoree to get this back on, have this race prepped. Obviously Florida for allowing us to have fans at the race, which I think doing some different series, it's been interesting to see how each state has kind of laid this out.

We're in a great situation with the series. I guess a big thanks to Roger and everybody, NTT INDYCAR Series, because the season for a lot of us, we weren't sure we were going to be able to continue. Cool to end it the way we are with the championship going down to St. Pete.

I think everybody at Ganassi feels steadily confident and ready to go racing. I've always wanted to win at St. Pete, so hopefully maybe this is the year. We'll see.

Q. Josef, same question.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I'm excited, just like Scott. It's kind of fitting that we come full circle this with. It was odd to be there at the beginning of the year when everything fell apart, not just in INDYCAR but the world really. To be able to finally come back and run the race is great. To have some fans there is fantastic. Hopefully have a little bit of energy.

It's obviously different having the fans, the way they're able to be into the track, social distancing, masks, all that. It's going to be a different energy, but somewhat to have energy back is really pleasing to see.

Great effort by everybody. Like Scott mentioned, a lot of people to put this together the whole year without knowing we were going to have that. Just thankful we're able to go back there and race this season. I think it's going to be a really fun time in October. It's a different ending for us than we've seen in INDYCAR.

We're all pumped. Team is ready. Feel good. We'll go to try to have a great weekend.

Q. What are your thoughts on an Aeroscreen on a street course for the first time?

SCOTT DIXON: I don't know. I don't know what to tell you. It's the first time for it. It's done a great job first season, the conditions we've had in different situations. We didn't get the full rain situation, which I think a lot of us expected throughout the season at some point.

Yeah, I don't know. Maybe the depth perception maybe a little altered depending on the walls, where there's placed. Honestly, this year it's been very good in every situation. Touch wood that there's no issue there.

I think looking at the weather, it could be a hot weekend. I think we're looking at mid 80s. Typically pretty humid down there. The only time we've had weather like that was the first race, Indy road course, where it was very hot in the car. They've made changes to the car since then as well.

I don't see it being any issue. Hasn't been through rest of the season, so should be all good.

Q. Can you tell me what the remember about being in St. Pete the first time, anything that stood out in that weird period of you thought you were going to race, then you weren't going to race? Also, if you could talk about what this season has felt like, some fans, no fans, canceled events, et cetera.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It's been a tough year. Showing up to the racetrack in the conditions that we've seen this year, it's hard. I think just from an event standpoint, you don't have the energy of the fans and the crowd. That's really what makes INDYCAR racing what it is. I think it makes sport what it is.

It's fantastic, we have an amazing partner in NBC. To be able to showcase the events still through broadcast is great. The atmosphere at the track has been, yeah, I think tough in a lot of ways. Hopefully we can continue to work back to our old normal. I think you need that in sport. You got to have that energy to feed off for everybody, make it what it is.

Earlier in the year at St. Pete, it was an odd lead-up to the event. You have so much buildup over four or five months for the season to kick off, you always want to have a good first weekend. There's a lot of pressure and anxiety, some nerves going into that first event.

I just remember when the NBA postponed, I don't even remember how they announced it, I think they said they were canceling the season. As soon as that happened, people were speculating there's no way we're going to run this weekend. You saw the trickle-down effect from everywhere in the country. Didn't take long for everything else to follow suit.

It was just a strange time to be involved in.

SCOTT DIXON: All I remember was having lunch with you. That's all I remember about that whole weekend. I think Dario paid for the check, which is unusual for a Scotsman, so that was good (smiling).

Just how the whole weekend evolved. Josef and I did the charity thing, the go-kart thing on Wednesday night. I was actually on the mayor's team. He was telling me everything was going to be fine. That's how quickly things change. That was Wednesday night.

Thursday it kind of evolved a little bit more. I think I remember seeing Savoree Friday morning having breakfast. He was thinking within the hour he was going to get a message saying we were all going home. Obviously it changed pretty quickly. Extremely unfortunate. Crazy for a lot of people as we've all touched on many times throughout the season.

Just to touch on what Josef said about the atmosphere, I think a lot of us thrive on that. To be able to go back full circle and have fans again at St. Pete I think is going to be really cool.

But, yeah, just the effort that's gone in to make a season and have a season where a lot of people haven't had that opportunity. A lot of categories in motor racing, but other sports have really struggled. A lot of people that have gone into it, partners, quite involved. We're very fortunate and very lucky. Glad we're able to carry on.

Q. Is it a victory for the INDYCAR season to have gotten to a conclusion, almost a full season completed?

SCOTT DIXON: I think so, considering what you see from other sports, maybe how they've had to change so much or not do it at all. I think it's a major victory. To be able to work with NBC, get everything running as they have, to even pull off an Indy 500 with no fans.

It's been such a bizarre year, a year I'll definitely never forget, no one else will really. There will be standout moments you'll reflect on like walking out of Gasoline Alley on race day and seeing nobody. A polarization of what's normal.

Again, we have to be thankful for the situation we're in.

Q. Josef, you're inside Team Penske. The effort that's come from Roger to get this season complete, are you surprised by what he's accomplished?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Definitely not surprised at the effort. I don't know anyone in the world that has more energy or enthusiasm than Roger Penske. There's just nothing that's going to stop him when he's leading the charge on something, he's going to maximize everyone's capabilities around him and make the most of the situation.

I think we're all pretty thankful that Roger has been in charge to lead us forward. I think they've done a tremendous job. I'm certainly not surprised to see that. They've done everything possible. They did everything possible to run the 500 with a limited amount of fans.

I think if people knew the energy that was put in, the constant evolution they had to work through. The world was changing every day, every week. They're constantly keeping up with it, trying to make it work, trying to make it work. The same from the INDYCAR Series the entire season. A tremendous amount of effort.

Yeah, not surprised. There's a lot of great people working in the series, certainly at Penske. Thankful we had a year. You'll take this over nothing, without a doubt. Hopefully we can just keep getting better next year onwards.

Q. Scott, you said early year you're hoping going in and try to win this race. When you know it's coming down to one race, knowing you don't have to win and can secure the championship, do you anticipate maybe not going for a pass that you might typically go for normally? Do these circumstances change how you approach this race more than any other race?

SCOTT DIXON: I think you honestly just try to keep it as any other race weekend, which it is. They all pay the same points, apart from Indy this year. I think that's the constant situation when you're in any race, analyzing the situation that you're in, who you're passing.

This weekend may be a little more prominent. Cars that you maybe are having opportunity to pass or not, that you're racing hard, depending even which team they're from. That could alter things.

I think that's typical of any race weekend. Yes, there's a little more on the line with being caught up in an accident, points and situations like that. But I think that is something you deal with every race weekend.

Again, to simplify it, you go as we do every race weekend, to win, not just myself but my teammates and everybody involved. That makes it the most simple. I think when you start to cloud it and make it complicated, then it gets complicated. We'll just try to keep it as simple as possible.

Q. Josef, when you know you have to likely win, when you're going into a race in the end of the season, you're kind of the attacker instead of defender, do you anticipate this race feeling any different? Do you feel freer than you have been in '17 and '19 defending?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think for us, I don't feel the pressure so much on our end. You probably normally don't when you're pursuing versus trying to hold someone off. I'm surprised we're here, to be honest. It almost makes it more disappointing looking at the year now that we've clawed back to this point. We were in such a deficit, there was such a hill. We've reduced the hill, without a doubt, but it's still a mountain to climb. It's going to be a very hard task for us to try to win the championship.

I don't think there's a ton of pressure. I'm just really proud of what we've come back from this year, some of the adversities we've had to work through. But as far as the approach, answering that specifically, I mean, honestly for us, we don't change our approach. I've never really changed my approach.

When you do start to get yourself in a tough situation is when you start trying to compensate, or if you're trying to play to a certain level or you're trying to drive the car to a certain speed, that's when you can overcomplicate things and create more issues than just trying to go out and maximize the potential of the car.

If we have a fifth-place car on the weekend, you can only force so much. For me, it's all about calculated risks, getting the most out of the weekend. For us, that needs to be a win. If it's not there, I'm not going to take a sixth-place car and try to pass five guys in front of me. I'll probably end up in the wall doing that. I don't see the approach changing for us very much.

Q. Scott McLaughlin, what has been your impression of him in his lead-up to making his debut? What do you anticipate him being able to do?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It's going to be really fascinating to see how he handles this challenge. This is going to be an enormous task for Scott. He's really, really good. We already know that. You could see that a mile away. I think we all admire his strengths around the Super Car side. I think he's a great racer overall, doesn't matter what car you put him in.

As far as INDYCAR specifically this weekend, he doesn't have a lot of time. This is a very abnormal St. Pete weekend. Normally you have three practices, an hour apiece, maybe about two and a half hours total. He'd have an overnight to kind of understand things and make sure to distill it down to useful information for him, review in a longer time period.

He's got to work on the fly. He's never been to this track. He's never really driven the car on a true street circuit. It's an enormous task. If he finishes in the top 10, it's a great weekend. If he finishes in the top five, it's an amazing weekend. Who knows, maybe he goes and wins the race. Very possible for someone like him.

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, he's damn good. I'm super excited for him. I met him maybe four or five years ago. We had to do an appearance at some event in Auckland city, do autograph sessions. Had to sit around for a long time and chat. This is before he had gone to Team Penske.

Yeah, he's been crushing it obviously down there with his pole record, championship situation. Then for him to have this opportunity, I know he loves America, always wanted to come to America. I think it's really cool to have another Kiwi in the field, which didn't really even seem to be on the radar for quite a few years.

This is a great situation I think for him. It will be an interesting race weekend for him, as Josef touched on. It's definitely stacked against him. As we saw even at the COTA test he was exceptionally quick. I hope it goes well. Looking forward to seeing him. Looking forward to racing with him in the future.

Q. Josef, what do you admire about Scott and what he's done over his career? Scott, what do you admire about Josef, what he's done so far?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, I think for me, I've got a tremendous amount of respect for Scott, without a doubt. He's one of the best that we've seen in the INDYCAR Series. But I think in racing overall. I wouldn't limit it to just our championship. I think he's a world class driver that's very diversified and has an incredible amount of accomplishments over a long period of time.

He's been consistent throughout his whole career. He's just always there. He's very dependable and very capable in any situation, which is why I think he's had such success.

Yeah, I'm happy to compete against him. I want to kick his butt this weekend. I have a tremendous respect for him. If we don't have enough to beat him, we'll shake his hand, his team's hand, say great job, try to beat them next year.

They're one of the toughest to beat, and specifically Scott is one of the toughest to beat because he's so consistent and dependable. I respect that a lot about him. That's a key quality he's had throughout his career.

SCOTT DIXON: The respect is absolutely mutual. We've had a lot of great years so far racing together. As we've already seen, as soon as Josef hit his stride, which was pretty much the first season or second season in INDYCAR racing, he's been a standout. Even from junior categories I remember watching. It's a bummer he was never on our team. I think it would have been a fantastic situation to race with him in a team situation on that level.

As we've seen, Josef is exceptionally good in all areas that INDYCAR throws at you, whether it's the short ovals, superspeedways, to the street and road courses. That's why he's a two-time champion already, and many more to come.

Yeah, excited to race with him as we do every weekend. Hopefully he trips up a little bit this weekend, makes it a little bit easier. We'll see how that goes.

Q. Josef, do you feel there was a certain point in the season when this championship chase really turned in your direction?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, I think you got to look to race two at Gateway, was kind of the final time it came back around to us. This trend has thankfully gone the right way from there. It kind of ebbed and flowed. The first three races were just bad because Scott racked up so many points so quickly, then we kind of were ebbing and flowing for a little while. We'd have a good race, then a weird race. The points would go up and down.

The point where the trend has reversed was Gateway race two. That's what we've been working towards. We're going to try to continue that trend through St. Pete. We need another really good weekend.

Q. Scott, jumping ahead to the 2021 schedule. There's only three ovals on next year's schedule, a couple of new races. What stands out for you about what's coming up for this calendar next year?

SCOTT DIXON: I think the biggest one honestly is the Nashville addition. I think it's been in the works for many years. The layout looks fantastic. Everybody loves that circuit. It's a home race for Josef. I'm super excited about that event. These are the events we need more of.

On the polar opposite side of the that, I'm bummed there's only three ovals. I started in this category in 2003. It was 16 ovals in the series. We definitely need to work hard and trying to get back to that. I was extremely bummed about Iowa. It's not a place I've won at, but it's a track that is complete chaos, very difficult to set the car up. It's exhausting physically. It provides some of our best racing we have all season. Hopefully that can be rectified down the road.

I think we're in desperate need to get some more ovals on the schedule. As we all know, you got to do the venues that work right. Hopefully we see more of those in the future. I know Jay and everybody at the NTT INDYCAR Series are working hard on that.

Yeah, I think Nashville is awesome and hopefully we can get some more races on the schedule here soon.

Q. Can either of you remember how good your street course setups were back in Sebring in February? Are you confident they're strong? Once we learned St. Pete was back on the schedule, when did your teams say, Right, we need to go focus on that again, that's going to be the championship decider?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, Sebring test was really good for us. The car was quite good. But it's Sebring. It's a road course. You run a street course tire on it. I think the tire was probably the biggest change that we saw. The 2020 street course tire seemed to have a ton more grip, which does that owe to the difference between the black and the red because we only get to test the blacks. I think everybody will be pretty interested to see how that plays out.

Tire deg could be a real thing for both. Last year the black tire was definitely the preferred tire because the red didn't last. If it's going to be closer, it might not be a tight two stopper, everybody may have to jump to a three stopper.

There's always so many unknowns. I think sometimes Sebring can give you a false sense the security going into St. Pete as we find every year. The only time we found Sebring to be meaningful was when we tested there in July and August. It's really hot. You get into the run of the later street course races throughout the year.

We're trying to apply what we do every year. We do this at Sebring, we apply this to St. Pete for the first race. I think there's always a bit of a conscious and mindfulness on what races are coming up, whether it's simulation or directions we've learnt throughout the year.

As Josef brought up early, it's so compact now on race weekends with one practice session. There's so much to get through, sometimes you can't get through. A lot of times you hope you roll off in a good situation.

Q. Josef, you feel the same?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I agree. It's hard to know until you actually really get to the weekend. We were in the same position back in March where we'd all tested, we'd all been on the tire that we were going to run on the weekend. But it's not a true street course track condition that you're testing on. You don't know how it's going to apply to each specific street course that you go to.

I guess I could say I felt like our street course car took a massive step in 2019. We were all pretty happy, I know I was very happy with our street course package in 2019. Tried to carry that through with the Aeroscreen, modify it a bit for the differences.

I don't think it's changed our outlook. Running this whole year with the Aeroscreen, running a lot of road courses, I don't think it's changed our outlook on what we want to do going into St. Pete. I think our plan, what we had, is a lot of what we're probably going to stick to.

The good news is we had already done a ton of work. We were ready to go run St. Pete. Now we're just going to try to apply that.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks to Josef and Scott for joining us today.
[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

Will Power P1 with the Astor Cup in the background - Harvest Grand Prix Race 2 - Saturday, Oct 3, 2020 -- Image Credit: James Black via NICS (2020)

Of course, there are other stories to watch heading into the season finale on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Here are five non-championship things to watch for this weekend.

Power & Glory

When it comes to the streets of St. Petersburg, no team is better than Team Penske.

The team has nine wins and nine poles at the 1.8-mile temporary street course and boasts one of the circuit’s most successful drivers – Will Power, who has two wins and eight of the poles in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

Power is motivated to end his season on a high note and finish third in the championship ahead of young stars Colton Herta and Pato O’Ward.

“We’ve been out of contention for the championship for a few races now, so we are fully focused on just getting more race wins,” Power said. “St. Pete is such a technical street course, so it can be really fun to race.”

Turn 1 is Poppin'

If you’re looking to overtake in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, the first turn of the 1.8-mile street circuit at St. Peterburg is one of the corners you’re looking forward to driving.

The corner, which turns right off the long and wide Albert Whitted Airport runway, leads into a tight section of downtown St. Petersburg streets. It has been the location of more than 500 on-track passes in the history of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, but it’s also a place where attempts to pass have gone wrong and ended potential winning days.

“St. Pete has been recognized so well for the season opener for a long time, so it feels a little different when you realized that it will be our last race of the season,” said two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato. “Nevertheless, St. Pete has been one of the greatest tracks and we all love it, so I am very happy to go back there. Needless to say, but we are so much looking forward to this challenging street race. Yes, it will add an element of unpredictability as it’s the nature of the street course race, but that’s all good for the show.”

R is for Rookie (and Rinus)

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay has all but locked up the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Rookie of the Year Award.

The 20-year-old Dutchman only needs to start the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to claim the rookie title over Alex Palou of Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh and Oliver Askew of Arrow McLaren SP.

“It will be so nice to come back to St. Petersburg,” VeeKay said. “We are finally returning after being there earlier this year, but we were not able to race. Hopefully, I can secure my Rookie of the Year title; it will be a very nice achievement. I am really looking forward to the race. First street course race of the season as the last race, that's very cool.”

McLaughlin's Debut

Virgin Australia Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin will make his highly anticipated NTT INDYCAR SERIES debut at St. Petersburg as he weighs his options for the next stage of his racing career.

The New Zealand native, who wrapped up his third straight title for DJR Team Penske in the Australian touring car series, impressed in three preseason tests with Team Penske’s INDYCAR squad, including finishing in the top three at the series Open Test at Circuit of the Americas.

“I’m super pumped to finally get a crack at my first INDYCAR race,” McLaughlin said. “Feels like it’s been years since I was part of spring training, but due to COVID-19, we had to hold off. But hey, sometimes the best things are definitely worth the wait. It’s a dream come true to be running an INDYCAR race for Team Penske and Roger (Penske), especially coming off of such a successful Supercars season.

“I’ve been trying to get to know my team as well as possible virtually for a few months now, so it’s been great being able to see everyone in person and work with them. I spent some time last week running in the simulator as much as I could and spent some time at the race shop, as well, to prepare for this weekend. It was a quick turnaround from Bathurst since I flew to Charlotte immediately after, so I’ve definitely been moving at a fast but really exciting pace just to get to this weekend. The Shell V-Power Nitro+ Chevy team is such a talented group, so I feel like I’m going to be a quick study and learn a lot really fast.”

Ending the Year on a High

Of the seven drivers who won races in 2019, only Alexander Rossi hasn’t visited Victory Lane in 2020, meaning the Andretti Autosport driver will have to win at St. Petersburg to extend his streak of seasons with at least one win to five years.

Rossi has history on his side.

In his four previous starts at St. Petersburg, Rossi has an average finish of 7.75 and led laps in the last two races, where he finished third and fifth, respectively.

“I am so thankful that we get to have this event as our season finale, and hopefully we can continue our run of podiums to finish out the year,” said Rossi, who has finished on the podium in the last four consecutive races. “If all the stars align, I know we can get a win before it’s all said and done.”

... notes from The EDJE




TAGS: Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Chip Ganassi Racing, Team Penske, Race 14, NTT INDYCAR SERIES Finale, St. Pete, St. Petersburg, Florida, The EDJE

Thursday, March 9, 2017

A Pre-Season Conversation Novo Nordisk No. 83 IndyCar Driver Charlie Kimball



A Pre-Season Conversation Novo Nordisk No. 83 IndyCar Driver Charlie Kimball

BEGIN
Charlie Kimball is an American open-wheel race car driver who is one of eleven (11) American drivers listed of the twenty-six (26) drivers featured on the pre-season IndyCar.com website.

Charlie has been pursuing a professional racing career probably ever since he was in the womb some 32 years ago since his father, Gordon Kimball, had a career as a Stanford University trained engineer and Formula 1 race car designer.

In fact, Charlie, while being raised as a local Californian from Camarillo in Ventura County, was born in England during a time his father was designing cars for McLaren.

After High School, he had a clear chance to follow his father's college path through Stanford, but choose, instead, to focus his time on his one true passion - race car driving.

In the early 2000's, he drove in the American Formula Dodge series, SCCA's Formula Ford, then went on to England to join the UK Formula Ford winter series.

He was able to join Carlin Motorsports to compete in the British Formula 3 championship finishing P2 for the season behind Portuguese team-mate Alvaro Parente ... last year's Pirelli Wold Challenge GT Class champion, driving a K-PAX Racing McLaren.

After two seasons in Firestone Indy Lights, Charlie was offered a seat on the Chip Ganassi Racing team driving the No. 83 original IRL Dallara in 2011 ... then graduated on to driving the Dallara DW12 and its many aero configurations through Honda, then Chevy, and now back to Honda for the 2017 season.

This season, he joins team-mates Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, and Max Chilton coming off of a very successful pre-season test at Sebring where the Honda cars of Chip Ganassi Racing posted the four quickest times.

Welcome, driver of the Novo Nordisk No. 83 Honda Dallara, Charlie Kimball ...

1)
First, tell us a little about Novo Nordisk and some of the background behind your sponsorship since joining the Verizon IndyCar Series.

2)
A two-part question on how did you do in both the pre-season tests?  A) FIRST the oval at Phoenix and B) SECOND the road course at Sebring?

A)
Phoenix ...

B)
Sebring ...

3)
In reviewing your driving in IndyCar these last 6 years, it is a little hard to pick out tendencies except that you seem to be the most consistent at the series owners home track - both the road course - a consistent P5, and the Indiana Motor Speedway oval - where you do pretty well finishing into top 10 and top 5. Tell us why IMS seems to play to your strengths and what courses on the schedule do you like the most when they present themselves?

4)
With your association with Chip Ganassi Racing, other types of challenges have opened up for you. You were part of a championship winning Rolex 24 of Daytona in 2013 with co-drivers Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Pruett, and Memo Rojas in a Riley MkXXVI-BMW sports car. How was it being a part of a multiple member driving squad on a single car ... then outside of IndyCar, what other challenges would you like to tackle?

5)
After an off season that feels like a year in itself, The Verizon IndyCar Series gets its first two races underway on temporary street courses. First - broadcast live March 12 at St. Petersburg - SECOND - followed in four weeks by the Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach, broadcast live April 9 - These courses have not been the best of venues for you since finishing consistently in the top 10 has been difficult.

What are you anticipating with the new Honda engine and aero package, starting with next weekend's race in Florida?

What are you looking forward to in the new Honda at your presumed home track next to the harbor in Southern California?

Thank you Charlie Kimball and the best of success in 2017 ...
ENDS

Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
-The 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season opens in St. Petersburg, Fla., on March 12.
-The race will be broadcast live on ABC at 9 a.m. PT.

Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
-The 43rd Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach takes place April 7-9.
-Tickets can be purchased at gplb.com
-The race will be broadcast live April 9 on NBCSN at 1 p.m. PT.

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: Chip Ganassi Racing, Charlie Kimball, Novo Nordisk, No. 83, Honda, Dallara, Verizon IndyCar Series, St. Petersburg, Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach, Rolex 24, Daytona, McLaren, The EDJE

Thursday, March 21, 2013

2013 IZOD IndyCar Series Season Predictions Using The 'More Front Wing' Format

Takuma Sato has a lot to prove in this break out season for the former F1 stand out. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2012)

2013 IZOD IndyCar Series Season Predictions Using The 'More Front Wing' Format

It is common for those who follow the American open wheel racing scene to make predictions just before a season starts and the silly season becomes officially over.

More Front Wing, an IndyCar news and views website, had the simplest approach to this prediction issue and it serves as a good template and baseline upon what to expect for the 2013 season.


This year is the second, or sophomore, full year the new chassis that was tested by the late Dan Wheldon, and is numerically attached to his memory through the Dallara designation of DW12, will be used to contest the IZOD IndyCar Series season championship. The fact that the series ran a shortened season left the teams with a lot of time to work toward their strategy on how they will choose to compete and win with the familiarization of the turbo-powered and more robust DW12.2.

Will Ryan Hunter-Reay repeat in 2013 for Andretti Autosport? Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2012) 

The original frame delivered one of the most competitive seasons in about 20 years ... so, many wonder, now that the standardization of the push-to-pass, which was introduced to the new engine-chassis package last July on the streets of Toronto, if this type of close competitive performance be expected for 2013?

After reading many predictions as to how the 2013 season will play out with the first race of the season - Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - to be run this weekend, March 22-24, through the streets of St. Petersburg, here are the predictions from The EDJE to get things started.

More Front Wing had the simplest approach to this prediction issue and it serves as a good template and baseline upon what to expect for the 2013 season. 

2013 IICS season predictions using the More Front Wing format:

Five different teams were represented in victory lane last season. Will that number be higher or lower this year?

Lower - investments by established teams in their subtle ways of development will show themselves in the DW12 sophomore year - so sophomore developments will rule the day.

Who will surprise everyone by winning a race?

Two drivers top my list ... well maybe three - 

Simona de Silvestro is poised to make a statement with her stable team and engine set-up this year - KV Racing Technology / Chevy. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2012)

1) Simona de Silvestro who has won in a strong open wheel field before in the Atlantic series race at Long Beach - good on the streets. 


Takuma Sato at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach last year when he was driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan in a one car team. Sato will be moving to the team that fields the car that appears here tracking right behind him ... AJ Foyt Enterprises. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2012)

2) Takuma Sato - if AJ can finally deliver on the promise of good equipment.


James Jakes after he he went off-roading at Sonoma's turns 9 and 10 in the IndyCar configuration. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2012)

3) James Jakes - he is with a team - Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing - that can really challenge the establishment three of Penske, Ganassi, and Andretti ... and Jakes really is a winner.


Who will have a disappointing season?

Takuma Sato - for the same reasons that he can be a surprise ... AJ Foyt prepared equipment.

Who will win the Indianapolis 500?

Graham Rahal between set-up laps at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach while racing for Chip Ganassi. New team, new stablemate in James Jakes, and same old boss ... Bobby Rahal. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2012) 

Graham Rahal - the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing crew knows how to win this thing and is hungry to drive like they stole it. Graham has the experience and I believe they will have the set-ups come race day.

Who will be the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series champion?

Will Power starts this year being the odds on favorite to win it all and his speeds at the final test at Barber Motorsports Park stand as the marker. He was fastest by 1/4 of a second and nearly 1/2 mph at the end of four sessions. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2012) 

Will Power - 'Nuff said.
ENDS

Here is the NBCSN schedule for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg:

Saturday, March 23: IndyCar Qualifying at 2:30 p.m.

Broadband: IndyCar.com

Sunday, March 24: Indy Lights: Streets St. Petersburg at 11 a.m.

Broadband: IndyCar.com

Sunday, March 24: Honda Indy Grand Prix of St. Petersburg at Noon - ET

Broadband: IndyCar.com also NBCSports.com

Radio: IMS Network and SiriusXM Radio

Tuesday, March 26: Honda Indy Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Re-Air at Midnight

... notes from The EDJE

----

Friday, March 23, 2012

Saint Petersburg - Let The New Era 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Begin!

Official event name: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg - Location: Albert Whitted Airport - St. Petersburg, Florida, United States - Course: Temporary airport & street circuit 1.806 mi / 2.906 km - Distance: 105 laps, 189.630 mi / 305.130 km - Twitter HASHTAG: #gpstpete - Caption and Image Credit: Wikipedia

Saint Petersburg - Let The New Era 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Begin!

Let the new era of unified American Open-Wheel Racing (#aowr) begin with the temporary street course Honda Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg. This year, 2012, will go down as the first year that American open-wheel racing is truly unified since there are no excuses that were first raised when the merger happened suddenly at the beginning of the 2008 season. Everyone will be competing on new Dallara DW12 equipment, with a choice of three new turbo-charged 2.2 liter engines, on tracks that are the most favored by fans of both series.

The season will favor street/road courses as opposed to NASCAR styled ovals and the oval tracks featured in this truly unified season are, for the most part, ones made famous through the sport of open-wheel automobile racing.

Five oval venues out of sixteen races are on the schedule and appear as follows:

The first oval race on the schedule is the grand-daddy of them all, The greatest specticle on all of autosport, the Indianapolis 500 - May 27, 11:00AM ET - ABC Sports.

Next will be the high-banked, super high-speed Firestone 500 at the Texas Speedway. This track holds a string of closest finishes in open-wheel racing. Broadcast set for the night of June 9, 8:00PM ET - NBC Sports.

Third comes the Milwaukee IndyFest, West Allis, WI - run on the famed flat four-cornered bull-ring of a track near the Wisconsin fairgrounds. This race venue was saved by the Andretti family primarily because of the history this track holds as a contrast to all other oval tracks ever run. This track was originally a flat dirt track that transformed itself into a concrete ring that challenges drivers with close quarters and the challenge of virtually no banking. Broadcast set for June 16, 1:00pm ET - ABC Sports.

The Iowa Corn 250, Newton, IA - represents a hold over from the Indianapolis Racing League days and gives a nod to the corn based Ethanol fuel that powers these 2.2 liter turbo-charged Chevrolet, Honda, and Lotus engines of this modern era season. In order to spice things up, this race will be run at night under the lights as they do in Texas. Broadcast set for June 23, 8:00PM ET - NBC Sports.

The last oval race of the season happens to be the final race of this 16 race benchmark of the modern era in American Open-Wheel Racing. This track holds the speed records for racing of any kind on a closed course for both qualifying and at race lap speeds. Yes, the venue is the Auto Club Speedway (formally, California Speedway) at Fontana, California.

On October 28, 2000, during CART qualifying, Gil de Ferran set the track record for fastest lap at 241.426 mph (388.537 km/h), breaking the record (240.942 mph) set by former F1 driver, Maurício Gugelmin (PacWest Racing) who went even faster -- 242.333 mph, to be precise -- in practice. Mark Blundell, also a former F1 driver (PacWest Racing - Gugelmin's teammate), was originally credited with the fastest "at race lap" speed record with a lap at 237.000+ (lap time unknown). Wikipedia shows that Greg Moore actually set fastest lap during the race on lap 80 with a time of 30.900 sec. over the 2.029 mile D-shaped oval (awaiting email clarification from Auto Club Speedway). All of these times are suspect as official by the FIA due the measurement of the track at being slightly longer than exactly 2.0 miles, but the recorded speeds recorded are factual.

What is not in dispute, however, is that the 2003 IndyCar race held at Fontana (the Auto Club Speedway) was the fastest closed-circuit race ever in motorsport history, with an average speed of 207.151 mph(333.306 km/h) over 400 miles (640 km) by Sam Hornish Jr. The 2012 race broadcast is set for a dusky night-time ending, September 15, 8PM ET - NBC Sports.

KV Racing Technology's driver Rubens Barrichello gives the new DW12 Chevrolet powered Dallara a spin at Sebring after signing a one-year agreement to run a full year in the IZOD IndyCar Series. Here Rubens is being followed on the track by fellow ex-pat F1 driver, Takuma Sato, driving the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda. Image Credit: LAT via IZOD IndyCar Series

This weekend features a temporary street course e set up in the Florida city of Saint Petersburg first run under ChampCar (CCWS) sanctioning in 2003. After a one year break in order to regroup, the event was resumed with the sanctioning of the Indy Racing League (IRL) from 2005 to the 2007 and continued uninterrupted after the merger of CCWS and IRL as today's IndyCar beginning in 2008 through to today.

Past winners of the Honda Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg event are as follows: Paul Tracy (2003), Dan Wheldon (2005), Helio Castroneves (2006 and 2007), Graham Rahal (2008), Ryan Briscoe (2009), Will Power (2010) and Dario Franchitti (2011), Team Penske is the most successful with 4 wins ... track speed record is held by Sebastien Bourdais (McDonalds/Newman-Haas), set competing in ChampCar (2003) when he qualified for the pole, besting Paul Tracy (Players/Forsythe) with the time of 1:00.928 as his Lola-Cosworth turned an average of 106.472 mph.

A field of 26 drivers -- listed below -- are expected to take to the track for the race set to start Sunday, March 25, 12:30PM ET broadcasted to national network TV audience by ABC Sports.

Car# | Driver (R - Rookie) | Hometown | Sponsor Car Name | Engine (Chevrolet/Honda/Lotus) | Team Entrant
2 Ryan Briscoe Sydney, Australia IZOD Team Penske Chevrolet Team Penske

3 Helio Castroneves Sao Paulo, Brazil Shell V-Power/Pennzoil Ultra Chevrolet Team Penske

4 JR Hildebrand Sausalito, Calif. National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet Panther Racing

5 E.J. Viso Caracas, Venezuela Citgo – PDVSA KV Racing Technology Chevrolet KV Racing Technology

6 Katherine Legge (R) Guildford, England TrueCar Lotus-Dragon Racing Lotus Lotus-Dragon Racing

7 Sebastien Bourdais Le Mans, France Lotus-Dragon Racing Lotus Lotus-Dragon Racing

8 Rubens Barrichello (R) Sao Paulo, Brazil BMC/Embrase KV Racing Technology Chevrolet KV Racing Technology

9 Scott Dixon Auckland, New Zealand Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Target Chip Ganassi Racing

10 Dario Franchitti Edinburgh, Scotland Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Target Chip Ganassi Racing

11 Tony Kanaan Salvador, Brazil GEICO/Mouser Electronics KVRT Chevrolet KV Racing Technology

12 Will Power Toowoomba, Australia Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet Team Penske

14 Mike Conway Bromley, England ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing Honda A.J. Foyt Enterprises

15 Takuma Sato Tokyo Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan

18 Justin Wilson Sheffield, England Sonny’s BBQ Honda Dale Coyne Racing

19 James Jakes Leeds, England Boy Scouts of America Honda Dale Coyne Racing

20 Ed Carpenter Indianapolis Fuzzy’s Vodka / Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet Ed Carpenter Racing

22 Oriol Servia Pals, Spain Lotus-DRR Lotus Lotus-Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

26 Marco Andretti Nazareth, Pa. Team RC Cola Chevrolet Andretti Autosport

27 James Hinchcliffe Toronto Team GoDaddy.com Chevrolet Andretti Autosport

28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda Chevrolet Andretti Autosport

38 Graham Rahal New Albany, Ohio Service Central Honda Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing

67 Josef Newgarden (R) Hendersonville, Tenn. Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing

77 Simon Pagenaud (R) Poitiers, France Kingdom/Schmidt-Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports

78 Simona de Silvestro Thun, Switzerland Nuclear Clean Air Energy Lotus HVM Racing Lotus Lotus-HVM Racing

83 CharLinklie Kimball Camarillo, Calif. Levemir and NovoLog FlexPen Honda Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing

98 Alex Tagliani Lachenaie, Canada Team Barracuda-BHA Lotus Bryan Herta Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian

----


First Practice Laps At #GPSTPETE

Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon set first ever mark in an event for the new DW12 formula as he was fastest in the first official practice session of 2012, leading Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe by 0.4784 seconds.

Briscoe's teammate, Will Power, ran third, posting a lap of 1:03.57 around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street course.

Dario Franchitti served as a bookend for the Penske duo, placing fourth with a lap of 1:03.60 seconds.

Schmidt Hamilton Racing's Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top 5, turning a 1:03.64-second lap in hot, humid conditions.

Honda engined-cars placed 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 9th, with Chevrolet runners occupying the rest of the top 10 slots.

The fastest Lotus-engined car was Oriol Servia's DRR entry in 19th with a lap of 1:04.29.

The session was mostly trouble-free, barring Charlie Kimball's nose-first crash at Turn 10 with less than five minutes remaining in the session.

With so little rubber down, times are expected to drop throughout the weekend.

Practice 1 for the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg at the St Petersburg Street Circuit

Rank | Driver | Diff. | Best Lap
1 Scott Dixon 0 1:03.0406
2 Ryan Briscoe 0.4784 1:03.5190
3 Will Power 0.5341 1:03.5747
4 Dario Franchitti 0.5607 1:03.6013
5 Simon Pagenaud 0.6011 1:03.6417
6 Justin Wilson 0.6298 1:03.6704
7 Marco Andretti 0.7522 1:03.7928
8 Mike Conway 0.7927 1:03.8333
9 Graham Rahal 0.8116 1:03.8522
10 Helio Castroneves 0.8322 1:03.8728
11 Josef Newgarden 0.8366 1:03.8772
12 EJ Viso 0.8736 1:03.9142
13 James Jakes 0.9228 1:03.9634
14 JR Hildebrand 1.0508 1:04.0914
15 Takuma Sato 1.0666 1:04.1072
16 James Hinchcliffe 1.0673 1:04.1079
17 Ryan Hunter-Reay 1.0833 1:04.1239
18 Tony Kanaan 1.0998 1:04.1404
19 Oriol Servia 1.2540 1:04.2946
20 Alex Tagliani 1.3455 1:04.3861
21 Sebastien Bourdais 1.4468 1:04.4874
22 Charlie Kimball 1.6226 1:04.6632
23 Simona de Silvestro 1.8741 1:04.9147
24 Rubens Barrichello 2.6275 1:05.6681
25 Ed Carpenter 2.9904 1:06.0310
26 Katherine Legge 4.2925 1:07.3331
[Reference Here]

UPDATE: Power Tops Second St. Pete Practice

Team Penske’s Will Power nearly matched his pole speed from last year in only the second practice session of the weekend, leading Briscoe and Franchitti.

Practice 2 for the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg at the St Petersburg Street Circuit:

Rank | Driver | Diff. | Best Lap

1 Will Power 0 1:02.0077 1:06.1375
2 Ryan Briscoe 0.0854 1:02.0931
3 Dario Franchitti 0.2155 1:02.2232
4 Graham Rahal 0.2847 1:02.2924
5 Scott Dixon 0.3040 1:02.3117
6 Helio Castroneves 0.3113 1:02.3190
7 James Hinchcliffe 0.4555 1:02.4632
8 Tony Kanaan 0.4737 1:02.4814
9 Ryan Hunter-Reay 0.5224 1:02.5301
10 Mike Conway 0.5260 1:02.5337
11 Marco Andretti 0.5547 1:02.5624
12 Simon Pagenaud 0.5920 1:02.5997
13 JR Hildebrand 0.7606 1:02.7683
14 Josef Newgarden 0.7761 1:02.7838
15 Justin Wilson 0.8838 1:02.8915
16 Simona de Silvestro 0.9059 1:02.9136
17 James Jakes 0.9075 1:02.9152
18 Takuma Sato 0.9517 1:02.9594
19 Sebastien Bourdais 0.9701 1:02.9778
20 EJ Viso 0.9780 1:02.9857
21 Charlie Kimball 1.0827 1:03.0904
22 Alex Tagliani 1.1735 1:03.1812
23 Rubens Barrichello 1.3213 1:03.3290
24 Oriol Servia 1.3458 1:03.3535
25 Ed Carpenter 2.5954 1:04.6031
26 Katherine Legge 2.7515 1:04.7592
[Reference Here]


UPDATE - Qualifications Highlights:

Will Power breaks his own track record by 0.2305 (old mark = 1:01.6026). Teammate Ryan Briscoe nails down P2 by breaking Will Power's old mark as well.

The top five positions on the grid are held by Chevrolet powered DW12's with seven of the top ten grid positions being filled by the new era engine supplier over longtime supplier and race sponsor, Honda.

A less than competitive showing by the cars powered by the Lotus/Judd effort with the highest placing driver of the "Lotus Legion" (highlighted in BOLD below), being one of the most consistent performing drivers of the series, Oriol Servia.

Probably the biggest surprise of this first qualification session of the new formula 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season is that even though cars fielded by Target Chip Ganassi Racing did very well in practice, the highest placing car from the Ganassi stable was Scott Dixon in P7 - none made it into the Firestone Fast Six qualifications round.

Team Penske had 3 cars, Andretti Autosport had 3 cars - 2 in the Firestone Fast Six round, Ganassi had only 2 cars, Kingdom/Schmidt-Hamilton had it's one car effort place P6 in the Firestone Fast Six, and KV Racing Technology with only one car rounding out the top ten positions on the grid.

Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1:01.3721s
2. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1:01.5357s + 0.1636s
3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 1:01.9321s + 0.5600s
4. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 1:01.9701s + 0.5980s
5. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1:01.9987s + 0.6266s
6. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt-Hamilton DW12-Honda 1:02.1095s + 0.7374s

7. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda 1:01.7636s Top 12
8. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 1:01.7895s Top 12
9. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevrolet 1:01.8699s Top 12
10. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 1:01.9570s Top 12
11. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 1:02.0233s Top 12
12. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 1:02.5084s Top 12

13. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevrolet 1:02.5146s Group 1
14. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevrolet 1:02.2009s Group 2
15. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 1:02.6015s Group 1
16. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 1:02.2538s Group 2
17. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Lotus 1:02.6506s Group 1
18. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevrolet 1:02.4426s Group 2
19. Josef Newgarden Fisher Hartman DW12-Honda 1:02.7155s Group 1
20. James Jakes Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 1:02.5271s Group 2
21. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 1:02.8218s Group 1
22. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 1:03.0437s Group 2
23. Oriol Servia Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus 1:02.8771s Group 1
24. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet 1:03.3591s Group 2
25. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Lotus 1:03.6048s Group 1
26. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Lotus 1:05.6858s Group 2

A short memorial for the late Dan Wheldon, who made St Petersburg his home, preceded Sunday’s race.


Penske Racing's Helio Castroneves ends year long winless drought on the streets of St. Petersburg. Helio celebrates win by climbing a fence and honoring the memory of Dan Wheldon along the newly christened Dan Wheldon Way at turn #10 at the track. Image Credit: Honda Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg

This excerpted and edited from the Tampa Bay Times –

How the 2012 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg unfolded
By Joey Knight, Times Staff Writer – Monday, March 26, 2012

On Lap 73, Castroneves gets far outside, breaks as deeply as he can and passes Dixon on Turn 1 for second. “It was awesome because the car (stuck), and I was like, ‘Yesss!’ ” said Castroneves, who soon after passes Hildebrand.

By Lap 80, Castroneves’ lead on Dixon grows to more than five seconds. Hunter-Reay, in third, falls seven seconds behind Castroneves as his crew implores him to conserve fuel. E.J. Viso, on the brink of dehydration following an overnight bout of food poisoning, is fifth — seven places ahead of his starting spot — 93 laps into the race before a final pit stop ultimately drops him to eighth. His lead edging closer to insurmountable, Castroneves drives conservatively on the last dozen or so laps and wins by 5.5292 seconds.
[Reference Here]

How the field of 26 DW12′s finished in their first race:

Pos | Driver | Team/Car | Time/Gap
1. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1h59m50.9863s
2. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda + 5.5292s
3. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 7.5824s
4. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 10.6526s
5. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 11.7854s
6. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt-Hamilton DW12-Honda + 31.2623s
7. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevrolet + 34.6582s
8. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevrolet + 35.5943s
9. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda + 43.1425s
10. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda + 44.3141s
11. Josef Newgarden Fisher Hartman DW12-Honda + 44.8275s
12. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda + 45.1080s
13. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda + 45.8468s
14. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevrolet + 1 lap
15. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Lotus + 1 lap
16. Oriol Servia Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus + 1 lap
17. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevrolet + 2 laps
18. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet + 2 laps

Did not finish:

JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevrolet 96 laps
Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 75 laps
Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Lotus 73 laps
Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 73 laps
Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Lotus 59 laps
Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 22 laps
Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevrolet 21 laps
James Jakes Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 19 laps

Most of the problems of cars not finishing had to do with electrical gremlins on a car most engineers are still trying to figure out.

So, the new era 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series (#indycar) has begun at the Honda Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg (#gpstpete) — Twitter #hashtags included!

... notes from The EDJE



** Article first published as Saint Petersburg - Let The New Era 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Begin! on Technorati **

Monday, March 29, 2010

Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete ... via Tweet

Cars on pitlane on gray morning Image Credit: luczodragon

Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete ... via Tweet

In a rare rain delayed Monday morning start, the second round of seventeen races, and the second of four street/road course races, will be run on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Owly Images
Some Andrettis [and a Kanaan] in discussion on the grid. Image Credit: IndyCarNation

The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is set to start at 10:00 am ET (broadcast on ESPN2) and on a gray morning with the sun coming out, the Dallara cars are expected to be fielded with wets but the track should dry out quickly.

This post will be a compilation of selected "Tweets" from Twitter, Race Control announcements from IndyCar.com, Twitpics and direct dispatches as the race is run.

RogerYasukawa Sun coming out and they won't be on the wets for long I think. Also some variance on downforce level.

FuriousWedge
@MyNameIsIRL I won't be "live-blogging" but will be tweeting, somehow managed the luck to pick the perfect day to take a day off


MyNameIsIRL The last race I missed watching because I had to work was won by Arie Luyendyk. I'm telling you in case I'm ever a category on "Jeopardy".

RogerYasukawa
Jon Secada singing the National Anthem. Pretty Cool!!


FuriousWedge Anthem done, drivers called to the cars, looks like this is going to get underway immediately once the ESPN2 coverage starts

Broadcast starts and there expects to be a 10 minute delay which will allow the teams to decide to run on wets or drys (tires) which could mix things up pretty well.

RADIO IS LIVE!! RT @IndyCarNation: Today's Radio coverage of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete. Tune in here
http://ow.ly/1s6hA

kvracing Mario Moraes waiting for command to get in car.

If we stay dry start, the race will run the scheduled distance of 100 laps and teams will be required to use the alternates [REDS] for 2 green laps.

VisionRacing ARGH! #IZODIndyCar Race Control track feed is NOT making us online viewers happy! Any suggestions on a fix @IndyCarNation ?

TheEDJE
@VisionRacing - Have
IndyCarNation stream ESPN2 #indycar

Row "HOT" announcements - all cars fired up! Cars out on warm-up.

IndyCarPR #18 Duno spins in Turn 14 on the first pace lap. No contact.

luczodragon Rafa says front stretch still pretty damp

indy44 #facepalm RT @cdy_bradshaw: Milka already spins! Its the fxxxing warm up laps! @MilkaDuno23

GREEN! GREEN! GREEN!

Clear through the first corner - Power, Dixon, Andretti, Castroneves, and Kanaan round out the first five

Dario Franchitti and Mike Conway have power spins on wet spots.

kvracing Full course yellow for Franchitti and Conway, separate incidents. Viso 9th, Sato 10th & Moraes 17th

DRRIndyCar Mike has spun in T2 but the car looks ok. Full course yellow. We're pitting when we can.

RESTART - Green Flag

Andretti up to second place on a strong pass.

Half lap later, Marco passes Will Power for firts place - Lap 5

BeccyGordon holy marco! Great racing here in St. Pete. Ryan's right on @jwilson22

Dixon moves up past Power ... then passes Andretti for the lead on Lap 6 - Power has slipped to fourth.

Marco26Web Dixon goes by to take the lead off Marco. Marco keeps close.

FuriousWedge Also of note as I said earlier Vitor is picking off everyone, has moved up 7 spots so far, just said bye bye to Wheldon/Panther

TheEDJE Lap 10 - Dixon, Castroneves, Andretti, Power, Kanaan, Wilson, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tagliani, Sato, and EJ Viso round out the top 10 #indycar

Briscoe in on Lap 13 to switch to Blacks

indy44 Milka parked with handling issues. Barnhart can't handle it anymore.

TheEDJE @indy44 - Milka thinks she is racing in CUP cars - Start and Park!

kvracing Sato 9th, Viso 10th & Moraes 18th. Lap 14. Dixon, Castroneves, Andretti

VisionRacing It should go w/o saying, @EdCarpenter20 would rather be behind the wheel + we'd rather be in the pits "race tweeting" for you guys....

TheEDJE @VisionRacing - We do too! #indycar

DRRIndyCar There's a banner flapping around in Turn 10, warning the drivers to be careful in that area.

Marco26Web Power takes MA turn one and quickly takes second too. Marco now P4. Gap to TK is just a second

FuriousWedge Will Power has had enough of sitting back now taking down both Marco and Helio in consecutive laps, Marco may have killed his tires early

FuriousWedge Alex Lloyd out the race due to suspension break from tapping the wall in Turn 10 #izodindycar , sounds like the car not handling before that

A great start and a competitive race with actual passing for the second race in a row!

Dixon leads as Power looks to catch up after slipping back in the pack at the start of the race. Image Credit: ScottDixon9

IndyCarPR Lap 20: @scottdixon9 leads #12 Power by 5.9 seconds.

Marco26Web Lead change behind Marco as Wilson gets by TK. Hes now racing for Marco's P4

TheEDJE Lap 26 - Takuma Sato crashes into the tires - so much for Formula 1 experience

Pits closed on first opportunity - Rahal, Tagliani, and a couple of others will not have to go in because they were in a couple of laps earlier.

luczodragon We are staying out

All top cars into the PITS!

IndyCarPR #14 Meira stayed out and is the new race leader. #10 Franchitti, #2 Matos and @ryanbriscoe6 stay on course.

Sweeper truck jams up the field just after the cars come out from pitstops.

TheEDJE Field Reset - Lap 30 - Meria, Matos, Franchitti, Briscoe, Tagliani, Mutoh, Moraes, Rahal, Dixon, and Castroneves are the top 10

FuriousWedge Vitor should have pit before the field caught back up to him, that would have been great to see them try and sort out, hah #izodindycar

Vitor has 34 laps on its fuel - suspect a 2 stop strategy --- Matos could be working the same strategy.

IndyCarPR Lap 31: We're back to Green racing at St. Pete.

Dixon tries a pass on Moraes - touches and bends wing ... cuts Moraes tire

Meria comes in for fuel and tires - Matos inherits the lead followed closly by Franchitti

luczodragon Dario in hot pursuit

indy44 With all the different pit strategies we might be seeing a long shot winning

FuriousWedge For those wondering why Vitor stayed out, he can easily make race on one stop now, a bit of chess being played by A.J. Foyt #izodindycar

MarcoZone MA flat was from Dixon debris...so has TK

PlanetIRLdotcom Nice of Marty to let us know that Mafa Ratos is coming in

HVMracing simona is now in stalking mode in 12th

IndyCarPR Lap 37: Leader #2 Matos pits for four red tires and fuel.

indy44 Martyisms LMAO RT @IndyRacingNut: @PlanetIRLdotcom Don't forget Mideki Hutoh and Arco Mandretti. LOL

TheEDJE Lap 40 - Franchitti, Briscoe, Mutoh, Castroneves, Tagliani, Power, Wilson, Hunter-Reay, Rahal, and Conway are the top 10 #indycar

Franchitti comes in - surrendering the lead to Briscoe - the sixth driver to do so today

Briscoe leads and has 33 laps on his car at lap 46

TheEDJE CRASH - Dan Weldon and Mario Moraes pull a full course caution - Weldon locked up tires coming in too hot! Lap 46 - #indycar

Weldon had a broken rear shaft and was unable to avoid the accident.

TheEDJE Lap 50 - Power, Wilson, Viso, Briscoe, De Silvestr, Castroneves, Patrick, Conway, Franchitti, and Meira are the Top 10 - top three - no pit.

A turning point for the fortunes of DRR driver, Justin Wilson - stays outon a call from his pitbox during the caution period and assumes P2. Image Credit: DRRIndyCar

DRRIndyCar We're P2 with @JustinWilson22. Halfway to the checkered.

FuriousWedge de Silvestro 4th, Danica 5th... insert comment here __________ #izodindycar

VisionRacing RT @indycarnation: Top 11 cars did not stop. New top five #12 Power, @justinwilson22, @ejviso @simdesilvestro and @danicapatrick

Restart - GREEN! GREEN! GREEN! Lap 53

IndyCarPR Lap 54: #10 Franchitti on pit lane with flat left rear tire,

curtcavin Dixon is flying! Up to P5 Great dice. Now P4, passes de Silvestro

OpenWheelWorld Simona is having a spectacular run & definitely holding her own. But we at OWW have always known the talent she posesses

luczodragon P7 giving Danica chase

TheEDJE Lap 60 - Power, Wilson, Viso, Dixon, Silvestro, Patrick, Matos, Kanaan, Briscoe, and Castroneves are your Top 10

VisionRacing Lap 60 #IZODIndyCar St.Pete update: Top 5 Power Wilson Viso Dixon De Silvestro. Interesting race!

curtcavin Dixon should win. He can make it on one more stop. Power cannot.

TheEDJE Viso in - can go 32 laps on a full tank with 35 left - needs help - Conway into the tires on a pass - Viso gets help! #indycar

FuriousWedge I know in the turn itself Matos had nowhere to go but Matos was blocking people for about 15 laps now, feel bad for Conway #izodindycar

luczodragon Conway tried to sneak in a pass and connected with rafa's front wing

luczodragon Were still 9th when we come in

kvracing Just after Viso pitted, yellow flag came out, and everyone in front of Viso still needs to pit!!

Everyone except Viso on pitstops for Yellow Flag Stop - to the end

TheEDJE Lap 67 - Meira stays out - WHY? - Viso, Power, Wilson, Briscoe, Dixon, Castroneves, Tagliani, Patrick, and Silvestro are the Top 10 #indycar

GREEN! GREEN! GREEN! at Lap 69 - Great, tight racing without an incident

indy44 This is good!

curtcavin How was there not a big crash on that restart lap?

EJ Viso takes over the lead as Meira steps out for a pitstop.

luczodragon
72 laps complete Rafa 9 and about to go to 8


Full course caution as Viso looses a gearbox, and several cars begin to mess up with the compression and sorting out of the field

VisionRacing Dixon in the wall?!

BeccyGordon caution. Rahal spun Simon. Ryan looked like he got into the back of Graham but he thinks the wing might be okay.

IndyCarNation Now we're full course yellow for @scottdixon9 who is in the Wall in Turn 9.

Marco26Web Small amount of mayhem in front but the #26 avoids trouble. After this latest caution Marco is now P12. RHR ahead

TheEDJE Restart Lap 78 - Power, Wilson, Briscoe, Castroneves, Tagliani, Patrick, Matos, Rahal, Kanaan, and Franchitti round out the Top 10 #indycar

FuriousWedge Hate how all the Penske drivers always jump the start and Barnhart never calls them on it; at least Wilson was ready for it #izodindycar

DRRIndyCar 20 laps left. @JustinWilson22 still P2, running behind Will Power. Lot of racing left!

IndyCarPR Lap 80: #12 Power leads @justinwilson22 by 1.0830 seconds.

IndyCarPR @BeccyGordon watched an in car replay...looked like RHR touched GR under braking

DRRIndyCar Car 22 timing stand http://twitpic.com/1brt2w

luczodragon The work force is a little lighter today in Tampa/st. Pete http://twitgoo.com/m56qp

BeccyGordon Ryan got the short end of the stick when the caution came out & knocked the fuel game out of the picture. He was P3 of that group.

luczodragon Team Penske occupying three of top four spots

indy44 RT @MikeM_PR: 15 to go @justinwilson22 just set fast time. Hunting down Will Power for P1

kvracing 14 laps remain. Power leads Wilson, Briscoe, Castroneves, Tagliani. Viso is 17th and just ran fastest lap of race 63.8605 secs

IndyCarPR 13 to go... #12 Power leads @justinwilson22 by 1.0144 of a second.

TheEDJE Two drivers who transitioned from the ChampCar World Series are leading the race! GO CCWS SPIRIT! #indycar

kvracing 10 laps remain, Viso running 17th. Moraes and Sato are out.

VisionRacing 10 laps to go at St.Pete #IZODIndyCar: Power Wilson Briscoe Helio Tag Danica Matos Rahal Kanaan Dario

luczodragon Can Power run table and win every race? He's started very strong

OpenWheelWorld Despite a rough weekend, Rahal is really hustling that Dollar General Car around today. Should be a nice result for SFRacing

Franchitti passes Rahal for P8 then Matos for P7 and sets up Patrick for P6

luczodragon Dario making hard charge moves ahead of Graham and rafa

kvracing @VisionRacing here is your current top10, power, wilson, briscoe, helio, tagliani, danica, matos, dario, rahal, kanaan (5 laps to go)

FuriousWedge Dario does what no ones else can, gets around Danica's blocking #izodindycar

indy44 After early problems Dario is wiping the field in his Cottenelle car. #lastTPreference

TheEDJE Dario Franchitti moves from 11th to 5th in 10 laps - passes Tagliani #indycar

WHITE FLAG LAP - Wilson tries to close

TheEDJE Team Penske holds three of the top four positions to finish the race & two drivers from the former CCWS are P1 & P2 - classy race! #indycar

indy44 Another great race. Looking good for #IZODIndyCar this season. Heading back to work, have a great day friends!

paultracy3 Dave Faustino - Powers engineer - is the man right now

Podium finishers P1 - Will Power, P2 - Justin Wilson, and P3 Ryan Briscoe. P1 and P2 were drivers who came into the IRL through the merger of the CCWS and IRL. Image Credit: DRRIndyCar

Final Order at 100 laps - Will Power/Penske, Justin Wilson/DRR, Ryan Briscoe/Penske, Helio Castroneves/Penske, Dario Franchitti/Target Chip Ganassi, Danica Patrick/Andretti, Raphael Matos/Luzco Dragon, Rahal/Dollar General Fischer Racing, and Tony Kanaan/Andretti for the Top 10!

... notes from The EDJE

UPDATE - Results:
Pos  Driver               Team                         Time/Gap
1. Will Power Penske 2h07m05.7968s
2. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold + 0.8244s
3. Ryan Briscoe Penske + 4.7290s
4. Helio Castroneves Penske + 5.1699s
5. Dario Franchitti Ganassi + 22.2172s
6. Alex Tagliani Fazzt + 29.3224s
7. Danica Patrick Andretti + 30.3360s
8. Raphael Matos de Ferran Luczo Dragon + 30.6695s
9. Graham Rahal Sarah Fisher + 30.8426s
10. Tony Kanaan Andretti + 31.3508s
11. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti + 31.6286s
12. Marco Andretti Andretti + 32.1703s
13. Mario Romancini Conquest + 39.8086s
14. Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 39.9949s
15. Vitor Meira Foyt + 56.0593s
16. Simona de Silvestro HVM + 1 lap
17. EJ Viso KV + 3 laps

Retirements:

Scott Dixon Ganassi 73 laps
Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold 64 laps
Dan Wheldon Panther 46 laps
Mario Moraes KV 45 laps
Takuma Sato KV 21 laps
Alex Lloyd Dale Coyne 10 laps
Milka Duno Dale Coyne 7 laps
Descriptive race review HERE>>
(ht: autosport.com)