Sunday, May 5, 2013

2013 Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle - Tweet-By-Tweet

Will Ryan Hunter-Reay break into the top five in season championship points lead or will team-mate EJ Viso have his own designs to try and vault into the top ten without knocking RHR out with a crash? Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2013)

2013 Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle - Tweet-By-Tweet

Round four of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series (IICS) sees its fourth in a succession of road/street courses to kick-off the season before going on with the month of May festivities at IndyCar's home city and the grand-daddy of all left-turn only (do we need to say it - oval) races, the Indy 500.

The Mayor of Sao Paulo, Gilberto Kassab, fought hard to bring the IICS to South America and race here. He even went to the point of declaring Sao Paulo the South American Indianapolis in 2009, or maybe a better characterization might be that they were establishing itself as capital of motor racing in South America - no other city could rival the tradition and race that have defined a city ever since the 2.5 mile track was first laid out in 1909.

Welcome to an internet based exercise that this author/editor calls Tweet-By-Tweet. It is a form of New Media reporting on an event from the perspective of mostly well informed and rabid followers of a particular discipline that happen to be communicating LIVE at the same time, sharing their reactions to the happenings of an important event.

The following "Tweets" (entries from Twitter social media portal) come from those who have an account on Twitter and become followed by people of similar interests plus specific #hashtag searches. Contributors who "Tweet" (create an entry made on Twitter) come from many backgrounds such as racing team communications personnel, writers, drivers from other series, bloggers, and just plain fans.

This excerpted and edited from Twitter with entries added from IndyCar, Race Control, and the author -

To start the race, it is always a good thing to have the initial balance of perspective of how the field will line up to take the Green Flag to start the race.

Qualification Results
Sao Paulo Indy 300 - Sao Paulo, Brazil
Pos. Driver Best Time Round
1 Ryan Hunter-Reay 1:20.4312 Firestone Fast Six
2 EJ Viso 1:20.7380 Firestone Fast Six
3 Dario Franchitti 1:20.8922 Firestone Fast Six
4 Tony Kanaan 1:20.9812 Firestone Fast Six
5 James Hinchcliffe 1:20.9893 Firestone Fast Six
6 Scott Dixon 1:21.1183 Firestone Fast Six
7 Sebastien Bourdais 1:20.8210 Round 2 / Top 12
8 Simona de Silvestro 1:20.9390 Round 2 / Top 12
9 Justin Wilson 1:21.0570 Round 2 / Top 12
10 Marco Andretti 1:21.1716 Round 2 / Top 12
11 JR Hildebrand 1:21.2961 Round 2 / Top 12
12 Takuma Sato 1:21.3618 Round 2 / Top 12
13 Oriol Servia 1:21.7963 Round 1 / Group 1
14 Ed Carpenter 1:24:0203 Round 1 / Group 2
15 Alex Tagliani 1:21.8636 Round 1 / Group 1
16 Ana Beatriz 1:24:8864 Round 1 / Group 2
17 Charlie Kimball 1:22.2482 Round 1 / Group 1
18 Helio Castroneves 1:25:1734 Round 1 / Group 2
19 Graham Rahal 1:22.2998 Round 1 / Group 1
20 Sebastian Saavedra 4:00.2612 Round 1 / Group 2
21 Tristan Vautier 3:20.5417 Round 1 / Group 1
22 Will Power 4:05.5886 Round 1 / Group 2
23 Josef Newgarden No Time Round 1 / Group 1
24 Simon Pagenaud 4:23.1097 Round 1 / Group 2
25 James Jakes No Time Round 1 / Group 2
(ht:indycar)

It's interesting to note that no Penske Racing team car made it to the Firestone Fast Six. This was because the group Will Power and Helio Castroneves were qualifying in, suffered an interruption from an accident caused by Rahal Letterman Lanigan's James Jakes and this cut the time short for a clear run. Power will start from P22 and Castroneves from P18.

Also, former Lotus Dragon Racing team-mates, Sebastien Bourdais and Simona de Silvestro, will be starting next to each other in the fourth row ... just outside of the Firestone Fast Six.


IndyCar Teammates @RyanHunterReay & @EJVISO start on the front row in the #IndySaoPaulo at 11a ET on @NBCSN! #IndyCar pic.twitter.com/NkEJ9zre1m

- The Official Twitter page of the IZOD IndyCar Series. Keep up w/ the latest from drivers, fans &

- Both KV Racing Technology Drivers Qualify In The Top-Eight

- Only five cars are starting on the Alternate tires today:Franchitti, Kanaan, Dixon, Carpenter and Vautier.

- Talladega and Sao Paolo in the same day, quite a tongue twister for American motorsports fans

- Won't be able to see live today per other commitments, so gonna have to stay off social media and avoid spoilers!

- Recuerden hoy el vzolano arranca en 1ra fila en lo que será la 4ta fecha de la temporada de la en las calles de Sao Paulo

- “: Two Drivers and are top 10 in every practice session! Go Guys! ” Thanks Teri!

- My prediction for is: 1.Kanaan 2.Hunter-Reay 3.Franchitti... The lovely Brazil: Boa sorte a todos e boa corrida!!!

- The race in Sao Paulo will start soon. Sato should win again.

- Gonna be a long day in front of screens. in 30mins then, hopefully, they'll get Talladega off the ground i.e. green flag.

- Waiting for the text/call from the wife when she realizes I am recording BOTH races today over her shows. Love the DirecTV app.

- What time does that race start, trying to catch the British GT Quali, but I think it clashes with the :-\

Edmund Jenks @TheEDJE - @jamesf40 - Ahhhhhh! Choices, Choices, Choices ...

- @TheEDJE - Lol! I'm not complaining, its been an epic weekend of motorsport so far, even without the :-)

- GAORAでINDY CAR第4戦を見るために風呂ってきまーす(^o^)《明日は早番ですが^^;》

- Weather seems to be clear for this race for the first time - Internet Radio Broadcast begins -

- Interesting tire choices for start of : all but 5 drivers on primaries (black sidewall) Firehawks.


- [News] Statement on the Future of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing after INDY500

Sad to hear that we may lose a team for the balance of the season - Oriol Servia (starting P13) has to be really unhappy between last season's messed up run with Lotus and now this DRR suspension of race operations.

- Aww "weather isn't a problem". What kind of grand prix in São Paulo is this? No rain? No Interlagos?!

GREEN, GREEN, GREEN - the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle begins

- Green flag has been shown, 75 laps to be run

- Ready to go in we need a fifth country win this year, Brazil or Switzerland would be nice.

- GREEN! Viso gets passed for P2 by Franchitti. Clean start.

- Have we had a lap 1 at Brazil yet with zero contact? My gut says no. 's changes responsible? Thumbs up.

- Power up to three positions in two laps. Now in 19th.

- Tristan moves from P21 to P17 in first 2 laps of

- Clean start and everyone's running. TK and Simona moved up one place each :-)

YELLOW Flag - 7 of 75 LAPS - Dale Coyne Racing's Ana  Beatriz - transmission!

- Ana Beatriz has stopped on track, caution is out.

GREEN, GREEN, GREEN -Lap 9 of 10

Great jumps by RHR and TK!! - Crowd goes crazy!

- Alright back to green we go. WHAT A LAUNCH BY KANAAN! Into P2! Now to track down RHR!

- TK goes to 2nd, blows by Franchitti on the Sambadromo!

10 of 75 LAPS - Top 10 - TK, RHR, Franchitti, Hinchtown, EJ Viso, Dixon, TAKU, Wilson, SDS, TAKU, and JR Hildebrand

- Pretty cool to hear the crowd going nuts when took the lead

- Kanaan is flying , despite damaged hand, amazing!

- I've never tried Itaipava is it good beer?

- Will Power is not going to finish this race. He's driving way too aggressively and way over his head, in my opinion. Has no choice.

- Multiple chargers right now. Sato 12th to 7th, Rahal 19th to 11th, Power 22nd to 14th.

TK represents the 9th driver to lead a race - Scott Dixon is not one of them in 2013 at this point.

- Love the shot of gridlocked traffic right next to race track

YELLOW Flag - Will Power's car is in flames - his day is finished - he will not gain points or become a driver to win four races in a row at a single track - those who were able to complete this feat? AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, Rick Mears, and Al Unser, Jr..

20 of 75 LAPS - Top 10 - TK, RHR, Franchitti, Hinchtown, Dixon, TAKU, EJ Viso, SDS, Wilson, and JR Hildebrand

PITSTOPS under YELLOW - Lap 21 - TK loses two positions.

- Sato moves up to P4 after cars pit under caution

- Kanaan falls to third after a fuel delivery problem. He gets jumped by Dixon, & RHR takes the lead. Sato P4!

- Is it too early to say that Will Power is out of contention for the title?

- Maybe - 4 road/street races down and the ovals are coming on strong

1m - Pitstop sob bandeira amarela / Pitstop under yellow (by Benito)
- Seb is now leading the race! // Seb est maintenant en tête de la course!

RESTART - LAP 23 of 75 - Team-mates James Jakes and Graham Rahal get together and bring out the YELLOW Flag

- Wow, bummer for . Got screwed by banzai move by his teammate.

At 3rd YELLOW Flag of the day, the order is - Top ten on LAP 26 of 75 - SeaBass, Tags, Newgarden, Kimball, Pagenaud, RHR, Helio, Dixon, TK, and TAKU

- Tough day for , , #25, just squeezed past a major wreck on restart. Fast start now.

GREEN Flag RESTART - Drivers try three-wide - Helio spins and tucks it back in and pits for flatspots - Kimball picks up a couple of spots - not a good day for Penske racing.

- : With his DNF today, has failed to finish a road/street course race for the first time since Toronto 2011.

30 of 75 - Top Ten - SeaBass, Newgarden, RHR, Pagenaud, TAKU, Kimball, TK, Dixon, Franchitti, and Hildebrand

- That doesn't hurt TK as Kimball is on different strategy

- Remember, Bourdais and Newgarden pitted early. RHR basically has lead, although he's leaning back on fuel right now.

TK passes RHR for P3 - Pitstop flurry - the field is shuffling

- Even with the curbing removed, turn 1 is still a kicker

TAKU passes RHR for position ... due to pitstops was fot the LEAD of the race!

- Wow, Sato's looking pretty damned racy again this week!

- Takuma foi o primeiro japonês a ganhar uma etapa da Indy e hoje está ganhando boas posições, atualmente em 1º!

-  Sato not intimidated by anybody!! Lap 34/75 takes the lead!!!!


- Sato in for service at Lap 38. Stays with the reds, gets fuel.

- Pits are open, full course yellow for debris that fell from No. 15 car of Rahal after contact with the Turn 2 wall.

- That corner where smoked it really needs changing, would've been 2 less cautions and more racing

- was that of his own doing? or did he hit / get hit by someone?

40 of 75 - Top Ten - RHR, TK, Franchitti, Servia, Marco, Dixon, Viso, SDS, Hinchtown, and Wilson

- Based on my calculations, only needs to pit one more time this race. ;-)

- Am I the only one who noticed Ethanol is spelled Etanol on engine cover? Is it a brazil thing?

IndyCar Race control: Nos. 77, 3, and 7 must pit next time by for entering a closed pit. #IndySaoPaulo #IndyCar

Matt@MotoM4TT  - Interesting, the international feed immediately showed RED FLAG after the accident....

- Think Taku could be on for decent result if doesn't need another stop considering how many yellows > 1 yellow/10 laps

Marco Andretti has four less laps on his tank than the cars in front of him - Fuel strategy same a Danica Patrick's in Japan - same strategist.

GREEN, GREEN, GREEN -Lap 44 of 75

Two-wide restart - Marco up to P4


OUTSIDE move by TK past RHR for P1 - crowd goes crazy again!! Superb racing side-by-side

Marco up to P3 then to P1 and becomes the 10th driver to lead a race - passing at the front as RHR has car trouble and fades

- Kanaan does the over under on RHR for the lead. Very nice. Now Marco picks up 2nd then gets around TK. Good stuff!

- Drag race down the backstretch goes to Marco Andretti, who takes the lead from Tony Kanaan. 29 to go.

IZOD IndyCar Series@IndyCar  - . moves into the lead on Lap 47! Hunter-Reay has a flat tire.

- This is freaking awesome racing. who needs

Woodsie@WoodsiesGarage  - RHR supposedly has a tyre going down, so he'll be coming in if he can. Now Marco looks under Kanaan & gets him!

50 of 75 - Top Ten - Marco, Servia, Franchitti, Viso, TK, Hinchcliffe, Wilson, SDS, Vautier, and Dixon

Pit activity - TK may have run out of fuel - WOW!

YELLOW Flag - sixth full course caution - Marco takes advantage and can go the distance

IndyCar - Full course yellow to retrieve Kanaan from the front stretch. Pits are open. #IndySaoPaulo #IndyCar

ForTheLoveofIndy@4TheLoveOfIndy  - Terrible break for Kanaan. At home in his 200 consecutive race.

JR Hildebrand has the lead with the pistops - may have enough fuel to make it to the end - only car at the front that is running on Firestone Blacks

GREEN, GREEN, GREEN -Lap 55 of 75

Two-wide restart - JR Hildebrand was able to get away clean - Graham Rahal cloggs up the restart and gives JR a big break being five laps down

Christopher Estrada@estradawriting  - Sato slams the door on Hinchcliffe out at Turn 11, takes back third...

YELLOW Flag - 7th of the day - James Jakes and Justin Wilson get together and bring out a caution

-This race is FUN but hard to keep up with strategy-glad our ABC can!

Top ten on RESTART - LAP 59 of 75 - TAKU, Hinchtown, Newgarden, Marco, Pagenaud, RHR, Servia, Viso, Franchitti, and Tags

Hinchcliffe drops to fourth as Newgarden and Marco take advantage.

- How the heck did Pagenaud get back up into third?!

TAKU, Pagenaud, and Newgarden as Simon takes P2

-   helluva race going on in Sao Paolo! I'm pissed I didn't schedule to be down there this week.

- Zero Penske or Ganassi cars in the top 5. The only Andretti is Hinch.

- Pagenaud started 23rd and Newgarden 25th and running 2nd and 3rd

Jon@JFDT33 - really is going down hill having Avis sponsoring how to go round a corner, what next, how to drive straight sponsored by KFC?

65 of 75 LAPS - It's TAKU, Newgarden, Pagenaud, Hinchcliffe, and Servia in the top 5 positions

- Look how loose that rear bumper is on Pagenaud. That can't be fun to drive with...

- Newgarden chasing Sato for the lead, hunting Pagenaud for 3rd, this is gonna be a great finish!

Servia off of the pace but the cars in front are racing very hard

- Josef Newgarden is your biggest mover of the day, starting 25th and currently running 2nd.

- Top10 1 Sato 2 Newgarden 3 Pagenaud 4 Hinchcliffe 5 Servia 6 Andretti 7 Franchitti 8 9 Hunter-reay 10 de Silvestro

Hinchcliffe passes Pagenaud and is 2.5 seconds behind Newgarden

Ases del Volante!!!@Ases_DelVolante -  Hinchcliffe pasa a Pagenaud y sube al 3er lugar.

- Hinch to 3rd, Newgarden 2nd and Sato leads, can Sato do it again?

LAP 69 has Newgarden dogging TAKU who is on old Blacks - 1.5 stints

- The margin between 1st and 2nd is .02776 with five laps to go.

Hinchcliffe is pulling back into contention - Newgarden is filling all the mirrors he can find as the GoDaddy car are covered by a blanket

- Battle for the win, Sato VS Newgarden ! 5 laps to go !

Two laps remain and Hinch gets Newgarden and TAKU get a little room - Hinch is pulling in TAKU - WOW, WOW, WOW!

Hinch gets tapped by Sato and may be called for blocking

- NO ACTION from Race Control on Sato for moving in front of Newgarden down the backstretch.

One and a half laps remain and Marco joins the train - Three-Wide for second in the Sambadrome - more WOW!

TAKU remains in the lead through the corners - Hinch is almost a part of TAKU - TAKU blocks Hinch but James is persistent and gets past TAKU


Andretti Autosport's James Hinchcliffe wins the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle - TAKU, if there is no penalty, will come away with the season points lead going into the INDY500

- Wow that was a BADASS move by Hinchecliffe!! Very cool!

- WOW!! What a finish at ! Now, THAT, is what racing is all about! It doesn't get any better in IndyCar, congrats !

In four races this season, James Hinchcliffe was P1, P26, P26, and now P1. Hinchcliffe Tweeted from his Mayor of Hinchtown account - @Hinchtown - I don't always finish races, but when I do, l prefer to win - ala "the most interesting man in the world" commercials. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2013)

IndyCar The margin of victory for today's race is .3464, the closest at #IndySaoPaulo and the 13th closest in #IndyCar Road/Street Course history.

It's FEAST or FAMINE for who has a P1, P26, P26, and now a P1 in four races

IndyCar Takuma Sato is the new #IndyCar points leader. Marco Andretti is in second, just 13 points behind.

At LAP 75 of 75 - Top 10 finishers were Hinchcliffe, Sato, Andretti, Servia, Newgarden, Viso, Franchitti, de Silvestro, Pagenaud, and Kinball!

- Race control says no action to be taken on Sato. Agree?

- Congrats@Hinchtown you rock. Best racing action I've ever seen. Final lap final turn FTW; at it's finest!!!


... notes from The EDJE

[Originally posted as - 2013 Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle - Tweet-By-Tweet - at Motorsports Unplugged]

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