Archive for IndyCar
Marco Andretti Tops Indy Practice
Posted by: | CommentsMarco Andretti posted the fastest lap in first day practice for the Indianapolis 500 on Thursday. He covered the 2.5-mile oval in 39.9152 seconds, giving a lap average of 225.478 mph.
Second-quick was Helio Castroneves (225.237 mph), followed by Ryan Briscoe (224.904 mph), defending race winner Scott Dixon (224.448 mph), and Dario Franchitti (224.160 mph).
Thirty-two drivers turned in a combined 2,199 practice laps.
The Speedway is open for practice again Friday before Saturday’s Pole Day Qualifying. Scott Dixon won the pole in 2008.
Doornbos Fastest in Rookie Practice at Indy
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s May and that means the gates at Indianapolis are open for business.
Rookie Orientation commenced on Tuesday and four drivers passed their tests: Mike Conway, Robert Doornbos, Raphael Matos, and Alex Tagliani. Of the four, Doornbos turned the fastest lap at 221.735 mph. Rookies Stanton Barrett and Nelson Philippe will complete their programs on Thursday. Wednesday activities were washed out only 50 minutes after the track went green.
Also on Tuesday was the Veteran Refresher program for drivers returning to Indy after an extended layoff. Of the drivers participating — Alex Lloyd, Scott Sharp and Paul Tracy — Tracy posted the fastest lap at 223.069 mph.
Tracy has not participated in the Indy 500 since a controversial finish in 2002. In that race, Tracy was executing a pass on leader Helio Castroneves entering turn three when the caution flag was displayed for a crash in turn two. The race ended under caution. Officials declared that Tracy had not completed the pass before race control had called for the yellow flag, giving Castroneves the win. Tracy’s team later appealed the decision and lost, and Tracy decided not to return to Indianapolis.
Prior to 2002, he had four Indy 500 starts — 1992 through 1995 — failing to finish in each of them.
The Speedway officially opens practice to all drivers and cars on Thursday in preparation for the Memorial Day weekend race. The 2009 race is the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500, the 14th under Indy Racing League sanction and the Speedway itself is celebrating its 100th Anniversary.
Pole Day qualifying is set for this Saturday, May 9. Based on Tuesday’s times I suspect the pole will be somewhere in the upper 220s.
At Least USAC Didn’t Try To Feign Competence
Posted by: | CommentsI feel bad now for poking fun at NASCAR’s television ratings slide.
I just read over at Christopher Estrada’s Indy Racing Revolution blog that the Versus network scored an amazing 0.15 rating for the Kansas 300 Indy Car race. The rating represents 171,000 households.
171,000? Holy crap there were probably more fans in attendance at Talladega than were watching that Indy Car race on TV. And the turnout for the Kansas race was abysmal at best (but let’s blame that on weather).
Seriously though… why do they even bother racing this series anymore? It’s plainly evident that there is no interest from the “higher ups” in making this anything more than a weekend hobby for rich jet-setters.
Speaking of insanity… here’s another good article: IRL Thinking Big in China.
The Indy Racing League is taking a serious look at holding a race in China as early as 2011. Series officials said there are several good reasons why the league may want to head to the nation of 1.33 billion people.
“We’re looking at one existing and one new facility,” [IRL president of commercial division Terry] Angstadt told IBJ (Indianapolis Business Journal). “Chinese officials said they want a venue that will hold 500,000 people.”
lol… I don’t even know what to say. They want to race at a venue that holds a half-million people and they can’t even get over 170,000 people to watch a race for free on TV? I don’t get it.
I’m in a mood to give useless advice tonight so here’s a tidbit to offer: I don’t think that flying teams to the other side of the world to run a race in front of 495,000 empty seats while being 12 time zones away from your core audience is going to do much to build fan interest here in America. I know that probably sounds astonishingly impossible, but I’d wager it’s true.
Wait — this explains it:
“A lot of our corporate partners and team sponsors have a serious interest in being in China,” Angstadt said. “Lots of IRL companies have business relations in China. For instance, Penske has operations in China and Menard’s buys in China. A race there would allow them to enhance those relationships and possibly forge new ones.”
Forget about Penske and Menard’s — what are you doing to attract fans to the sport?
Rahal on St. Petersburg Pole
Posted by: | CommentsGraham Rahal won the pole Saturday for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (FL), the 2009 season opener for the IndyCar Series. Rahal, also the defending champion of the race, became the youngest driver to win an IndyCar pole. Rahal’s time of 1:02.4110 (103.828 mph) was the quickest in the third qualifying segment on the 14-turn temporary street circuit.
Justin Wilson will start on the outside of the front row. The rest of the top five qualifiers included Tony Kanaan, Ryan Briscoe, and Dario Franchitti. Franchitti is returning to the IndyCar Series this season after his foray into NASCAR last year.
Sunday’s race begins at 2pm ET and will be broadcast on Versus.
Dixon Tops IndyCar Day 1 Practice
Posted by: | CommentsScott Dixon was fastest Tuesday at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the first IndyCar test session of the week. His lap of 211.372 mph was just seven-hundredths of a second faster than Ryan Briscoe’s top speed of 210.793 mph. Dario Franchitti didn’t require long to get re-acclimated to an Indy car. He was third-fastest at 210.603 mph on the 1.5-mile banked oval. Dixon is the defending IndyCar Series champion.
Rounding out the top 10 were Mario Moraes, Will Power, Marco Andretti, rookie Robert Doornbos, Briscoe in a second car, Tony Kanaan, and Graham Rahal. Danica Patrick was 11th-fastest.
In all, 21 cars participated in the test, turning nearly 2,100 laps combined.
Testing resumes on Wednesday from 4:00pm to 10:00pm ET.
IndyCar Series Set for Testing Feb. 24-25
Posted by: | CommentsThe Homestead-Miami Speedway will host two days of pre-season open testing for the IndyCar Series this week. The track will be available from 4:00pm to 10:00pm ET on Tuesday, February 24 and Wednesday, February 25. The Firestone Indy Lights will share the track with their own testing on Tuesday morning. The support division also had a test session for rookies on Monday.
“It’s definitely important for me and Panther Racing in particular, because we’ve got to figure out where we need to improve as a group so when the season starts we’re very, very strong,” said Dan Wheldon, the 2005 series champion, who joins Panther Racing after three seasons with Target Chip Ganassi Racing. “Those first few races for points are very, very important. We’re not taking it lightly by any stretch. We’re going to work very hard to make sure we come out of the blocks swinging.”
Dario Franchitti is returning to the IndyCar Series after last year’s foray into NASCAR. Franchitti had a disappointing year after being injured at Talladega in May. Meanwhile, NASCAR driver Stanton Barrett intends to compete in Indy cars this year.
For more information, including the schedule and participant list, hop over to IndyCar.com.
The first IndyCar race of the season is scheduled for April 5 — the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (FL).
