Post by HDT05 on Jun 24, 2012 13:23:13 GMT 10
2012 IndyCar Series Championship Standings after Milwaukee
POSITION DRIVER TEAM POINTS
1 Will Power Team Penske 274
2 James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport 243
3 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing 239
4 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport 233
5 Helio Castroneves Team Penske 231
6 Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Hamilton Motorsports 216
7 Dario Franchitti Target Chip Ganassi Racing 205
8 Tony Kanaan KV Racing Technology 200
9 Ryan Briscoe Team Penske 193
10 Oriol Servia Lotus Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 173
11 Graham Rahal Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing 171
12 Justin Wilson Dale Coyne Racing 168
13 JR Hidebrand Panther Racing 161
14 EJ Viso KV Racing Technology 148
15 Charlie Kimbell Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing 145
16 Rubens Barrichello KV Racing Technology 138
17 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 136
18 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport 133
19 Alex Tagliani Team Barracuda - BHA 128
20 Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing 127
21 Mike Conway A. J. Foyt Enterprises 125
22 James Jakes Dale Coyne Racing 121
23 Josef Newgarden Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing 114
24 Simona de Silvestro HVM Racing 95
25 Katherine Legge Lotus Dragon Racing 88
26 Sebastien Bourdais Lotus Dragon Racing 86
27 Ana Beatriz Andretti Autosport 28
28 Townsend Bell Sam Schmidt Motorsports 26
29 Michel Jourdain Jr. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 16
30 Sebastian Saavedra Andretti Autosport 14
31 Bryan Clauson Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing 13
= Jean Alesi Fan Force United 13
= Wade Cunningham AJ Foyt Racing 13
www.crash.net/indycar/championship_tables/content.html
Heat is on in three short Iowa qualifying races
NEWTON, Iowa – Rahal Letterman Racing managing director of motorsports Tom Anderson knows all too well that though they’re 30-lap heat races to set the starting lineup for the Iowa Corn Indy 250, nonetheless they’re races.
“It is going to be challenging because the drivers will all nod and say, 'Yes, this is just a qualifying race and it's only to determine a specific position to start and, really, the big show is Saturday night,’ ’’ Anderson said. “That somehow seems to change when they put their helmets on, so it will be quite interesting to see and I'm sure it will be worth the ticket price for those that show up (June 22).”
Qualification groups will be determined by lap times recorded by entries on the .875-mile oval in the second (45-minute) practice session (3:30 p.m. ET).
Race 1 will consist of the even-numbered positions, starting with the 10th-quickest practice time, and determine the even-numbered positions in the starting field from 10th down.
Race 2 will consist of the odd-numbered positions, starting with the ninth-quickest practice time, and determine the odd-numbered positions in the starting field from ninth down.
Race 3 will consist of drivers ranked one through eight from the practice. Results of Race 3 will determine the first four rows, with the winner taking the pole position.
Each race is projected for 12-14 minutes duration. Cars will carry about one-third of the E85 fuel load, which shouldn’t impact tire wear or the car’s consistency with its maximum 37-degree rear wing flap angle on the compound banking.
"Even though Iowa is a 7/8-mile track, it races a lot more like a mile-and-a-half superspeedway than it does a short track," said Ryan Hunter-Reay, who won the Milwaukee IndyFest Presented by XYQ at the Milwaukee Mile on June 16. "It's high-banked, so it's a reset from Milwaukee, which is flat. You really have to have a superspeedway mentality to race there.
"I'm interested to see what we have with the new car and new downforce. With the qualifying heats, it's going to be mixed up. It's tough because you'll really have to take it easy and not hurt your race car in a heat race."
Andretti Autosport drivers have won the past three short oval events: Hunter-Reay at Milwaukee and New Hampshire (August 2011) and Marco Andretti at Iowa (June 2011).
"Certainly, there's a bit of an unknown going into this race and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out," said James Hinchcliffe, who's second in the championship standings. "I think it's cool we're trying something different and we'll see if this format is the right way to do it. We won't know until we get out there and give it a run.
"It puts a lot of emphasis on practice. It does change our focus a bit; in practice we are trying to set up for our race cars and be sure we have the best car over a distance. Now for session two we have to focus on making it quick for at least one lap to get into a good group for the heat races. I think everyone is anxious and excited to see how it plays out."
www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/06-June/6-21-How-to-play-heat-races
NEWTON, Iowa -- Marco Andretti surmised that if it brought luck to Andretti Autosport teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay at Milwaukee what did he have to lose but his facial hair.
Hunter-Reay, looking for a stroke of luck, shaved before the Milwaukee IndyFest Presented by XYQ and wound up winning the 225-lap race June 16. Andretti, winner at Iowa Speedway last June, followed suit earlier this week for the Iowa Corn Indy 250.
Maybe it's already helped in a psychological way as Andretti topped the 25-driver field with a lap of 17.4126 seconds (184.832 mph) in the first 45-minute practice session on the 0.894-mile oval. Six laps into the session, Andretti's time in the No. 26 Team RC Cola car already was quicker than last year's pole.
Twenty-five drivers turned 1,141 laps without incident. Rookie Josef Newgarden of Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing was second quick (17.4458 seconds) and Alex Tagliani was third on the time chart (17.4743).
Click it: Iowa Corn Indy 250 Practice 1 results
media.indycar.com/pdf/2012/IOWA--indycar-results-p1.pdf
Lap times from the second 45-minute session (3:30 p.m. ET) will set the qualification groups for the three heat races starting at 7:15 p.m. (ET). Listen to the IMS Radio Network's call and follow real-time Timing & Scoring on www.indycar.com.
The heat races of 30 laps each will set the starting lineup for the 250-lap race under the lights June 23 (Tony Kanaan and KV Racing Technology Racing teammate E.J. Viso will incur 10-grid spot penalties for unapproved engine changes).
Race 1 will consist of the even-numbered positions, starting with the 10th-quickest practice time overall, and determine the even-numbered positions in the starting field from 10th down.
Race 2 will consist of the odd-numbered positions, starting with the ninth-quickest practice time overall, and determine the odd-numbered positions in the starting field from ninth down.
Race 3 will consist of drivers ranked one through eight by combined practice times. Results of Race 3 will determine the first four rows, with the winner taking the pole position.
www.indycar.com/News/2012/06-June/6-22-Qualifying-groups-set-at-Iowa
NEWTON, Iowa -- Tony Kanaan initially wasn't a proponent of heat races to determine the starting lineup for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway.
"My mom always told me, and I remember when I was a little kid, I would never try any new type of food," the 2010 race winner said. "I would say, "I don't like it.' And she would always say, 'You can't say you don't like before you try it.' We'll see. It will be different."
Lap times from the second 45-minute session (3:30 p.m. ET) determined the groups for the three heat races starting at 7:15 p.m. (ET) that will set the starting lineup for the race under the lights June 23. Listen to the IMS Radio Network's call and follow real-time Timing & Scoring on www.indycar.com.
Click it: Iowa Corn Indy 250 Practice 2 results
Marco Andretti, Dario Franchitti, Helio Castroneves, Will Power, Ryan Briscoe, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Scott Dixon posted the eight quickest lap times in the session to qualify for the third 30-lap heat race to crown the pole winner and set the first four rows.
Andretti posted the best lap of 17.2994 seconds (186.041 mph) early in the afternoon session and it stuck as the top. On the other hand, Franchitti jumped to P2 in the final 20 seconds (185.715 mph).
“The goal is to sweep. That’s really what the RC Cola guys deserve and I’m going to try my hardest to give that to them,” said Andretti, who also was quickest in the morning practice session. “It’s been a horrible first half of the season. Like I said, the boys deserve a lot better and I wanted so bad to give them Indy and we fell short. We found a street course car so I’m really pleased about that, so I think for the rest of the season we’ll be good. We’ve got to win this one.”
The top eight were separated by 0.1359 of a second. Rubens Barrichello, bumped by Franchitti's late lap, missed the top eight by 0.0041 of a second.
Barrichello will be in Race 2, consisting of the odd-numbered positions, starting with the ninth-quickest practice time overall, and determine the odd-numbered positions in the starting field from ninth down.
Race 2 lineup:
Rubens Barrichello
Alex Tagliani
Justin Wilson
James Jakes
Charlie Kimball
Simon Pagenaud
Katherine Legge
Simona de Silvestro
Tony Kanaan
Kanaan won't start higher than 19th because of a 10-grid spot penalty imposed for an unapproved engine change on the No. 11 GEICO/Mouser Electronics KV Racing Technology Racing car.
"I won this race starting from 15th," he countered on a positive note.
Race 1 will consist of the even-numbered positions, starting with the 10th-quickest practice time overall, and determine the even-numbered positions in the starting field from 10th down.
Race 1 lineup:
Graham Rahal
Josef Newgarden
E.J. Viso
JR Hildebrand
Oriol Servia
Mike Conway
Ed Carpenter
Takuma Sato
Rahal and Viso also will incur 10-grid spot penalties. Honda made the request to change the engine in Rahal's No. 38 Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing car following the first practice.
www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/06-June/6-22-Franchitti-earns-pole-at-Iowa
Franchitti wins heat race, earns Iowa pole start
NEWTON, Iowa -- Dario Franchitti remembers well the last time he participated in a heat race. "(It was) 1989 in go-karts back in Scotland." He didn't divulge the results.
This time, the four-time IZOD IndyCar Series champion won't soon forget the third heat race of the day, which determined the pole winner and set the first four rows for the Iowa Corn Indy 250. He won it.
Franchitti, who leaped into the top eight on the time chart in the final seconds of practice to qualifying for the heat race, passed Marco Andretti on Lap 8 of 30 and went on the claim the pole for the 250-lap race under the lights June 23.
Click it: Iowa Corn Indy 250 qualifying results || Heat 1 || Heat 2 || Heat 3
It was the second consecutive week that Franchitti has started on pole, and was the 28th of his Indy car career (passing Al Unser for seventh on the all-time list).
Results of the second practice session determined the fields for the 30-lap qualifying races. The top eight comprised Race 3, while Race 1 consisted of even-numbered positions in practice to determine the even-numbered spots in the starting lineup starting from 10th down. Race 3 followed the same format for odd-numbered cars.
“We were struggling a little bit this morning with the Target car in race trim but we made it much better in the second session of practice," said Franchitti, who started third and fourth in his previous two victories at Iowa Speedway (2007 and '09). "But the heat (race) the car stuck and we were able to put the Target car around the outside of Marco, kind of like I watched (Tony Kanaan) do in the heat race before me.
"I got out in front and the car felt good – no troubles for the rest of the run with no real fall off till the end of the race. Physically, it is a tough track so it will be an interesting race for us. Good to be starting up front here for sure.”
Franchitti led Helio Castroneves, driving the No. 3 Penske Truck Rental car, to the start-finish line of the .894-mile track by 1.4671 seconds. It will be the second front-row start of the season and the fourth at Iowa Speedway for Castroneves, who won the opener at St. Petersburg.
"Certainly, 30 laps I believe was enough, but it was getting tough out there," he said. "I was able to make a pass on Marco (Lap 16), but then there wasn’t enough time to catch Dario."
Andretti, who topped the time chart in the two practice sessions, and Andretti Autosport teammate James Hinchcliffe will be on Row 2.
"We really wanted to get the pole, but we were a little off on our gearing for the car," said Andretti, who won the race last year from the 17th starting spot. "We can work on that; it's really the race that counts. The RC Cola car was fast all day, so we just need to tune on it a little bit to get back out front when it really means something. We can win it from there."
Team Penske teammates Ryan Briscoe and Will Power, the IZOD IndyCar Series championship points leader, will start on Row 3. Ryan Hunter-Reay, the winner last week at Milwaukee, will be on Row 4 with Scott Dixon.
Tony Kanaan and Graham Rahal were the other heat race winners to qualifying ninth and 10th, respectively, but they'll incur 10-grid spot penalties for unapproved engine changes. Alex Tagliani and Josef Newgarden will take their spots on Row 5.
Update: Rain-Delay ATM, looks like we'll get to racing at 9:30pm, which is 12:30pm AEST.
Update: Dario Franchitti didn't even complete a lap, before the green he blew an engine, no sign of why either, but he can say by two his championship!
Will Power crashes out now!!
Briscoe looking good..
