MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships *spoilers

[HDT05]

MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships

2012 IndyCar Series Championship Standings

1 Will Power Team Penske 453
2 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport 436
3 Helio Castroneves Team Penske 401
4 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing 400
5 Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Hamilton Motorsports 372
6 Ryan Briscoe Team Penske 357
7 James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport 341
8 Tony Kanaan KV Racing Technology 339
9 Dario Franchitti Target Chip Ganassi Racing 323
10 Graham Rahal Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing 305
11 Rubens Barrichello KV Racing Technology 277
12 Oriol Servia Lotus Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 275
= JR Hidebrand Panther Racing 275
14 Justin Wilson Dale Coyne Racing 266
15 Alex Tagliani Team Barracuda - BHA 260
16 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 255
17 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport 253
18 Charlie Kimbell Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing 240
19 EJ Viso KV Racing Technology 234
20 Mike Conway A. J. Foyt Enterprises 233
21 James Jakes Dale Coyne Racing 214
22 Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing 209
23 Josef Newgarden Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing 186
24 Sebastien Bourdais Lotus Dragon Racing 173
25 Simona de Silvestro HVM Racing 172
26 Katherine Legge Lotus Dragon Racing 115
27 Sebastian Saavedra Andretti Autosport 29
28 Ana Beatriz Andretti Autosport 28
29 Townsend Bell Sam Schmidt Motorsports 26
30 Michel Jourdain Jr. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 16
= Giorgio Pantano Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing 16
32 Bryan Clauson Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing 13
= Jean Alesi Fan Force United 13
= Wade Cunningham AJ Foyt Racing 13
35 Bruno Junqueira Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing 12

www.crash.net/indycar/championship_tables/content.html

Practice 1 Times:
www.crash.net/indycar/results/183962/1/fontana_practice_1_times.html

Practice 2 Times:
www.crash.net/indycar/results/183965/1/fontana_practice_2_times.html

Qualifying Times:
IndyCar »

Fontana: Qualifying times

Marco Andretti edged Ryan Briscoe to claim pole position for this weekend's 500-mile night race in Fontana, only his second pole position in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Marco Andretti will start Saturday night's MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championship season finale race at Fontana from pole position, after setting a time just 0.0032s (0.011mph) ahead of Penske's Ryan Briscoe.

Andretti and Briscoe are now among the 14 drivers with an engine change starting grid penalty at this point of the weekend, and so they should keep their front row starting positions for the start of the MAVTV 500 race on Saturday evening. However, Will Power will fall back to 13th place because of his ten place drop.

That means the second row will likely consist of Tony Kanaan and JR Hildebrand, with Ed Carpenter and Rubens Barrichello set to start on row three ahead of Katherine Legge and Oriol Servia. Dario Franchitti and Sebastian Saavedra should round out the top ten with EJ Viso and James Jakes on course to start ahead of Power, the highest-placed of the penalised drivers alongside Josef Newgarden.

The starting grid will not be confirmed until Saturday, in case further engine changes are made in the meantime. A further 45 minute practice session is scheduled for Friday evening.

Qualifying times

1. #26 Marco Andretti Andretti (C) 216.069mph 1:06.6455s
W/U: 214.246mph, 33.6063s - L1: 217.934mph, 33.0375s - L2: 214.235mph, 33.6080s
2. #2 Ryan Briscoe Penske (C) 216.058mph 1:06.6487s + 0.0032s
W/U: 214.231mph, 33.6086s - L1: 216.223mph, 33.2989s - L2: 215.893mph, 33.3498s
3. #12 Will Power * Penske (C) 215.94mph 1:06.6851s + 0.0396s
W/U: 210.827mph, 34.1513s - L1: 215.992mph, 33.3345s - L2: 215.888mph, 33.3506s
4. #67 Josef Newgarden * SFHR (H) 215.919mph 1:06.6918s + 0.0463s
W/U: 215.790mph, 33.3658s - L1: 216.118mph, 33.3152s - L2: 215.720mph, 33.3766s
5. #9 Scott Dixon * Ganassi (H) 215.391mph 1:06.8553s + 0.2098s
W/U: 213.289mph, 33.7570s - L1: 215.495mph, 33.4115s - L2: 215.287mph, 33.4438s
6. #98 Alex Tagliani * Bryan Herta (H) 215.226mph 1:06.9065s + 0.2610s
W/U: 210.695mph, 34.1727s - L1: 215.344mph, 33.4348s - L2: 215.107mph, 33.4717s
7. #11 Tony Kanaan KVR (C) 214.877mph 1:07.0151s + 0.3696s
W/U: 214.947mph, 33.4967s - L1: 215.450mph, 33.4185s - L2: 214.307mph, 33.5966s
8. #4 JR Hildebrand Panther (C) 214.749mph 1:07.0549s + 0.4094s
W/U: 211.025mph, 34.1191s - L1: 214.681mph, 33.5381s - L2: 214.818mph, 33.5168s
9. #20 Ed Carpenter ECR (C) 214.684mph 1:07.0753s + 0.4298s
W/U: 214.639mph, 33.5447s - L1: 214.748mph, 33.5276s - L2: 214.620mph, 33.5477s
10. #3 Helio Castroneves * Penske (C) 214.409mph 1:07.1615s + 0.5160s
W/U: 211.423mph, 34.0549s - L1: 213.417mph, 33.7368s - L2: 215.410mph, 33.4247s
11. #38 Graham Rahal * Ganassi (H) 214.015mph 1:07.2851s + 0.6396s
W/U: 212.809mph, 33.8331s - L1: 214.631mph, 33.5459s - L2: 213.402mph, 33.7392s
12. #27 James Hinchcliffe * Andretti (C) 213.726mph 1:07.3760s + 0.7305s
W/U: 210.458mph, 34.2111s - L1: 213.581mph, 33.7108s - L2: 213.871mph, 33.6652s
13. #8 Rubens Barrichello KVR (C) 213.527mph 1:07.4389s + 0.7934s
W/U: 213.204mph, 33.7704s - L1: 214.013mph, 33.6428s - L2: 213.042mph, 33.7961s
14. #6 Katherine Legge Dragon (C) 213.308mph 1:07.5080s + 0.8625s
W/U: 212.833mph, 33.8293s - L1: 214.225mph, 33.6096s - L2: 212.399mph, 33.8984s
15. #77 Simon Pagenaud * Schmidt (H) 213.282mph 1:07.5164s + 0.8709s
W/U: 210.779mph, 34.1590s - L1: 213.476mph, 33.7274s - L2: 213.087mph, 33.7890s
16. #15 Takuma Sato * Rahal (H) 213.222mph 1:07.5354s + 0.8899s
W/U: 209.772mph, 34.3230s - L1: 213.433mph, 33.7342s - L2: 213.010mph, 33.8012s
17. #28 Ryan Hunter-Reay * Andretti (C) 212.773mph 1:07.6778s + 1.0323s
W/U: 207.770mph, 34.6537s - L1: 212.747mph, 33.8430s - L2: 212.799mph, 33.8348s
18. #22 Oriol Servia Panther/DRR (C) 212.533mph 1:07.7541s + 1.1086s
W/U: 209.577mph, 34.3549s - L1: 212.818mph, 33.8318s - L2: 212.250mph, 33.9223s
19. #10 Dario Franchitti Ganassi (H) 211.999mph 1:07.9247s + 1.2792s
W/U: 206.655mph, 34.8407s - L1: 212.180mph, 33.9334s - L2: 211.819mph, 33.9913s
20. #83 Charlie Kimball * Ganassi (H) 211.531mph 1:08.0751s + 1.4296s
W/U: 210.764mph, 34.1615s - L1: 212.280mph, 33.9175s - L2: 210.788mph, 34.1576s
21. #17 Sebastian Saavedra Andretti (C) 210.619mph 1:08.3699s + 1.7244s
W/U: 211.826mph, 33.9901s - L1: 210.656mph, 34.1790s - L2: 210.582mph, 34.1909s
22. #5 EJ Viso KVR (C) 210.134mph 1:08.5276s + 1.8821s
W/U: 206.866mph, 34.8052s - L1: 209.972mph, 34.2903s - L2: 210.297mph, 34.2373s
23. #14 Wade Cunningham * AJ Foyt (H) 209.526mph 1:08.7265s + 2.0810s
W/U: 210.538mph, 34.1981s - L1: 210.444mph, 34.2134s - L2: 208.616mph, 34.5131s
24. #19 James Jakes Dale Coyne (H) 208.056mph 1:09.2120s + 2.5665s
W/U: 208.245mph, 34.5746s - L1: 209.794mph, 34.3194s - L2: 206.347mph, 34.8926s
25. #18 Justin Wilson * Dale Coyne (H) No time
26. #78 Simona de Silvestro * HVM (L) No time

www.crash.net/indycar/results/183963/1/fontana_qualifying_times.html

Starting Grid for the 500 mile race:

The IZOD IndyCar Series race director has issued the official starting grid for Saturday night's MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championship season finale at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

The official starting grid line-up for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season finale has been published, confirming that Marco Andretti will lead off from pole position with Ryan Briscoe lining up alongside him on the front row.

Will Power, the driver leading the championship going into the title deciding Saturday night race by a slender 17pts over Ryan Hunter-Reay, qualified in third position but takes a grid penalty for changing an engine during the week which means he will start from 13th place.

The back row of the grid will be formed by Justin Wilson and Simona de Silvestro, as not only did both cars have penalties for engine changes but neither took part in qualifying as their teams were still repairing their cars from accident damage and engine failure respectively.

Power is just one of 14 drivers to be penalised, with Hunter-Reay also taking the same ten-spot grid going into Saturday night's MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championship race under the floodlights of Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

Hunter-Reay ended qualifying in 17th place - 14 spots behind Power - but after all the penalties have been shuffled through he will close up to nine spots behind Power by starting from 22nd place on the starting grid.

IndyCar chief executive Randy Bernard defended the current system of having starting grid penalties for team and drivers that are using too many engines too quickly during the season, despite much criticism especially after it has resulted in 14 of the 26 cars on the Fontana grid being penalised.

"I flew all over the world two years ago and talked to engine manufacturers and one of the first things they said was, 'We've seen what engines can cost you there, and we don't want any part of that,'" he explained."We had to come up with a type of rule that allowed it very fair to let everyone have equal opportunity and the way we did it was a way to keep costs down. You can't build tons of engines.

"Does it work to our fans that are confused? No," he admitted. "But does it work to keep the cost of our engines down and keep our competition thriving not at the expense of the engine manufactures, yes it does that."

Although the starting grid is official following the final on-track practice session of the weekend on Friday evening, any teams and drivers making engine changes in the intervening 24 hours before the start of the race will still pick up a ten grid penalty.

Official starting grid

1. #26 Marco Andretti (C) Andretti Autosport
2. #2 Ryan Briscoe (C) Penske
3. #11 Tony Kanaan (C) Penske
4. #4 JR Hildebrand (C) Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing
5. #20 Ed Carpenter (C) Ganassi
6. #8 Rubens Barrichello (C) Barracuda Racing
7. #6 Katherine Legge (C) KV Racing
8. #22 Oriol Servia (C) Panther Racing
9. #10 Dario Franchitti (H) Ed Carpenter Racing
10. #17 Sebastian Saavedra (C) Penske
11. #5 EJ Viso (C) Ganassi
12. #19 James Jakes (H) Andretti Autosport
13. #12 Will Power * (C) KV Racing
14. #67 Josef Newgarden * (H) Dragon Racing
15. #9 Scott Dixon * (H) Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports
16. #98 Alex Tagliani * (H) Rahal Letterman Lanigan
17. #3 Helio Castroneves * (C) Andretti Autosport
18. #38 Graham Rahal * (H) Panther-Dreyer & Reinbold
19. #27 James Hinchcliffe * (C) Ganassi
20. #77 Simon Pagenaud * (H) Ganassi
21. #15 Takuma Sato * (H) Andretti Autosport
22. #28 Ryan Hunter-Reay * (C) KV Racing
23. #83 Charlie Kimball * (H) AJ Foyt Racing
24. #14 Wade Cunningham * (H) Dale Coyne Racing
25. #18 Justin Wilson * (H) Dale Coyne Racing
26. #78 Simona de Silvestro * (L) HVM Racing

* denotes ten place stating grid penalty applied for engine changes

www.crash.net/indycar/results/183966/1/fontana_starting_grid.html

[HDT05]

POWER HAS CRASHED!!!! NOOO!!

All by himself ad he almost took out Hunter-Reay in the process after they were battling for 13th or so...looks like Hunter-Reay will win the title if he finishes in the top 6 positions infront of Power, this is terrible for Power.

[HDT05]

Ryan Hunter-Reay has a problem! - It's something like a shock that's gone wrong...he putted but didn't fix the issue as the team are hoping that he cab ride it out otherwise they'd likely go a lap down.

And looks likely that Will Power will miraculously be able to finish the race...the team has done a brilliant job to fix the car. Will is going to get into the car soon, he's getting his ear plugs in right now, about 90% of the car is finished.

[HDT05]

Power is back out!!! - other crews from teams are hi-giving team Penske after getting the job done. Great work.

ATM Power is leading the championship by 3 points!!

Power though pulls back into the pits because he must be within 105% of the front runners pace to be eligible to continue.

Power is again back into the pits just to get put of traffic.

[HDT05]

Will power is now in 24th and RHR is in 8th...which means with 90 laps to go, Will Power is leading the championship by 5!

[HDT05]

8 laps to go and RHR is leading the points by 6 in 3rd He needs to finish 5th or better to win the title with now only 8 cars on the lead lap, I think he'll win it.

[HDT05]

RYAN HUNTER REAY WINS THE 2012 CHAMPIONSHIP!!!


Great job from Ryan Hunter - Reay he did deserve it considering Power is now the man for giving away the championship.

Sato again has a shocker, like at Indiapolis he again crashes out on the final lap after running in 4th. What a useless driver he is.

Power, you suck big time.

[Bundy]

Devastating for Power...he seems to be the perennial bridesmaid...Ryan Hunter Reay really won it off the back of that incredible mid series surge of wins where he appeared unbeatable...always next year I suppose

[HDT05]

Sept 18, 2012 0:18:55 GMT 10 Bundy said:

Devastating for Power...he seems to be the perennial bridesmaid...Ryan Hunter Reay really won it off the back of that incredible mid series surge of wins where he appeared unbeatable...always next year I suppose

I can't see Power winning EVER, he is a useless driver on Ovals and he had the cherry ripe with all the Road Courses which are his bread and butter and still lost.

[Bundy]

Sept 18, 2012 0:27:12 GMT 10 HDT05 said:

Sept 18, 2012 0:18:55 GMT 10 Bundy said:

Devastating for Power...he seems to be the perennial bridesmaid...Ryan Hunter Reay really won it off the back of that incredible mid series surge of wins where he appeared unbeatable...always next year I suppose

I can't see Power winning EVER, he is a useless driver on Ovals and he had the cherry ripe with all the Road Courses which are his bread and butter and still lost.

Yep seems as if the other drivers are latching on to him better and his advantage that he used to have on the road courses is being washed away!

[HDT05]

Yep seems that way, RHR was on a massive roll and would've won by more if he didn't get taken out by Tagz at Sonoma.

Was good to see though that my second Fav team won, and it was a Chevy team!!

But not the result I wanted, considering I do go for PENSKE.