VICS 2018 At St. Pete - Funny Thing Happened On The Way To A Champion's Coronation

The nose graphic that appears on the wasp-like livery on the Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan - No. 18 Team Sealmaster Honda Dallara of the first winner of the first race of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series today at Saint Petersburg -  Sebastien Bourdais. Image Credit Edmund Jenks (2018)

VICS 2018 At St. Pete - Funny Thing Happened On The Way To A Champion's Coronation

The tenth edition of the best carry-over (non IMS) race from the original schedule of the Indianapolis Racing League (IRL), the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, featured twenty-four very capable cars and drivers filling the field packed with seven past Indy Car champions representing thirteen season championships riding along side seven rookies where three of them made it into the 3rd Round Firestone Fast Six in Knock-Out qualifications is a really, really big deal. Last year's winner of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (replay) was 4-Time IndyCar season champion, Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais.

The Verizon IndyCar Series, in order to make racing more competitive and in control of the driver in this top level of American motorsport, tightened up the body skin specification on the Dallara DW12 chassis by introducing the two year project now known as the Universal Aero Kit (UAK).Welcome the age of the UAK on the DW12 Dallara.

2017 Verizon IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden describes the 2018 Universal Aero Kit on stage during the 2018 INDYCAR unveil at the North America International Auto Show in Detroit. Image Credit: Joe Skibinski

The past Verizon IndyCar Series season champions include Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay (2012), AJ Foyt Racing driver Tony Kanaan (2004), Chip Gannasi Racing driver Scott Dixon (2003, 2008, 2013, 2015), Team Penske drivers Will Power (2014), Simon Pagenaud (2016), Josef Newgarden (2017), and the aforementioned Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan driver Sebastien Bourdais (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) - 7 series champions covering 13 season titles.

The rookies entering into the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season's first race are Firestone Grand Prix P1 Verizon Pole Award winner, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Canadian driver, 29 year old Robert Wickens, Firestone Fast Six P3 Qualifier AJ Foyt Racing Brazilian driver, 19 year old Matheus Leist, Firestone Fast Six P4 Qualifier Ed Carpenter Racing British driver, 24 year old Jordan King, Andertti Autospot American driver, 23 year old Zach Veach, Michael Shank Racing/Schmidt Peterson Motorsports British driver, 24 year old Jack Harvey, Dale Coyne Racing Canadian driver, 19 year old Zachary Claman DeMelo, and Juncos Racing Austrian driver, 26 year old René Binder.

The traditional first race of the season, for nine years now (since 2009, the race has served as the season opener, with the exception of 2010, when it was the second race of the season), held around the airport, streets and harbor of Saint Petersburg, Florida proved to all what everyone had suspected. A different kettle of fish from most of the Dallara DW12 era racing - less downforce, great body strength, very fast in a straight line. The UAK is very pleasing to drive - from the opinion of most all of the drivers.

Most observers assumed that experience held within championship winning teams, the teams with the greatest financial backing, history, testing, and experienced drivers would hit this opening opportunity with suffocating domination.

To nearly everyone's surprise this was not the case when the rookies, took the Verizon P1 Pole Award (Wickens became the third rookie in 25 years to win the pole for his IndyCar debut), and two additional positions in the Round 3 Firestone Fast Six in road/street format Knock-Out qualifications. Left out to watch from the sidelines were such impressive champion drivers as Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Simon Pagenaud, and last year's champion Josef Newgarden.

Robert Wickens affixes the Verizon P1 Award emblem on his car after winning the pole position for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Image Credit: Chris Jones

The cars slip and slide ... the in-car camera shots show that the steering wheel gets as much a workout as peddles in a spinning class. More driving is required from all of the drivers in this series making the product on the track more entertaining than it has been in recent history. And, to be honest, the racing has been very good since the introduction of the first Dallara DW12 platform.

EXAMPLE - Opening Laps:

On the first lap of the race, Will Power attempted a Turn 1 pass and through Turn 2 became lose and spun without contact, Tony Kanaan gets lose in Turn 5 and as he straightens out, taps Zach Veach with wing parts flying. Lap 2 has RHR coming out of the pits ahead of traffic after a quick controller change because the one installed did not allow for accelleration and Charlie Kimball becomes unsettled after bouncing on the curb entering Turn 13 and comes to a stop off of the track at Turn 14 - Full Course Yellow.

Restart on Lap 6 has three rookies leading in P1, P2, and P3 - King, Wickens, & Leist - Beginning Lap 7 Spencer Pigot spins going into Turn 1 bringing out a Full Course Yellow.

Restart Lap 11 has Jordan King leading the field to the third start of racing at St. Pete, followed by Wickens, Rossi, Leist, and Hinchcliffe ... not a champion in the bunch - and only one fully established driver of over three seasons in the series.

Wickens passes in Turn 1 as King goes wide ... Rossi loses a place back to P4. The first Champion is settled in at P7 with Scott Dixon  ... now at Lap 13.

So the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season begins on the temporary street circuit at St. Petersburg.

To give one additional insight on just how busy, or as Eddie Cheever on the broadcast put it ... CHAOS filled, the events of the Firestone Grand Prix of Saint Petersburg race were, just take a look at the video shot list released as a usable media asset by the Verizon IndyCar Series after the race.

Shot List:
Aerial of St. Petersburg
Fans
Grand marshal Helio Castroneves gives the start command
Green flag
No. 12 Will Power spins
Power replay
No. 14 Tony Kanaan spins
Restart
No. 15 Graham Rahal and No. 21 Spencer Pigot incident
Replay of Rahal and Pigot incident
No. 23 Charlie Kimball goes off track
No. 6 Robert Wickens leading
No. 4 Matheus Leist incident
Team owner A.J. Foyt reaction
No. 18 Sebastien Bourdais leading
No. 9 Scott Dixon and Sato incident
Replay of Dixon and Sato incident
Wickens passes Bourdais for the lead
No. 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay on-board view of No. 60 Jack Harvey going off track
Harvey parked in the last turn
Wickens leading with No. 27 Alexander Rossi in pursuit
Wickens passes Rahal
Rossi gets wide in Turn 4
Slow-motion replay of Rossi wide
No. 32 Rene Binder incident
No. 59 Max Chilton incident
Final restart, Rossi and Wickens incident, Bourdais takes the lead
Replay of Rossi and Wickens incident
Checkered flag, Bourdais wins, crew reaction, Bourdais does donuts

Sebastien gives race winning TV interview before he exits the car in the Victory Circle. Image: INDYCAR (2018)

Bourdais pulls into pit lane and gets congratulated
Bourdais sound

Almost covers it except the race was really even more eventful than the shot list would indicate.

Image 1) Alexander Rossi cooks it in Turn 4 and hurts his attack - Robert Wickens in the foreground. Image 2) Rossi rejoins the hunt and passes Charlie Kimball in Turn 5. Images: INDYCAR (2018)

With the laps winding down, and Canadian driver Robert Wickens in the lead, being chased down by third year American driver and 2016 Indy500 winner Alexander Rossi, it looked as though the race was comfortably in hand, especially when Rossi, who was reducing the distance between Wickens and himself, slid and overshot the apex point at Turn 4, losing and attacking advantage (depicted above). 

"It was going to be pretty hard to reel him back in there," Alexander Rossi said - except the chaos wasn't over.

That is, until Rookie Rene Binder with 10 laps to go brought out a FULL COURSE Yellow (FCY) after his car went into the tires to set up one uneventful restart.

Max Chilton stalled moments later to set up a second FCY with two laps to go. Bourdais, sitting comfortably in third and happy to start the year on the podium, wasn't that happy; he thought someone would make a risky maneuver and wreck the field.

"Normally they don't allow push-to-pass on restarts," added Alexander Rossi at the post race media conference. "You'd normally have to do a timed lap before you did it, but because of the late call to go green that lap, they allowed it, and I actually got the call when I was in the middle of Turn 13 and 14. So I had a big jump on Rob (Wickens), and he got to the push-to-pass pretty late. The run was perfect for me going into Turn 1, and I knew there wasn't going to be many other opportunities. Obviously (Wickens) had a good car all day, and they did a great job. I made the pop. He defended the position, which he has the right to do, but in doing so, in moving the reaction, he put me into the marbles pretty late into the corner." Image: INDYCAR (2018)

Sure enough, Rossi contested the lead, hit Wickens going into Turn 1, and ended both of their victory hopes. Rossi recovered to finish third, while Rookie Wickens got stuck and finished 18th in the 24-car field.

Lost in all of this was the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver and past winner of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (2008) Graham Rahal, who had one of the worst performances in Knock-Out Qualifications for a road/street race. Graham Rahal ended up starting the race dead last in the No. 15 United Rentals Honda, had a strong race with good strategy with clean pit stops and ended up on the podium in P2!

"The United Rentals guys did a great job out there," said Graham Rahal in a post race interview. "Certainly, yesterday wasn't what we expect of ourselves, isn't what we hoped for. Last night, what can you do. Put your heads down, you work hard. Even this morning the car wasn't phenomenal in practice. With Tom (German, engineer) and the boys, they made great changes. Our guys had good pit stops and frankly good strategy. We had the pace when we needed it, we could save a lot of fuel when we needed it, we could make passes if we needed to. It just kind of all played out for us. We will take second (place) any day. It's the best start to a season I have had since I won here in 2008. Thank you to all the fans, the turnout was great this weekend. I hope you guys enjoyed the new car. We are going to put on some great shows this year as you can see."

For a coronation to happen, one needed aggressive racing, sliding cars, just a bit of side-to-side bumping along the way - the crown is then served to a four-time series season champion and, to add insult to injury, repeat Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg winner, Sebastien Bourdais.

The Verizon IndyCar Series is beginning its Southwest United States spring swing with back-to-back races at ISM Raceway with the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Phoenix Grand Prix (Friday April 6 - Qualifications 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM PT / Saturday April 7 - Race 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM PT) and then the rites-of-spring 44th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (Thursday April 12 - Long Beach Motorsports Walk Of Fame honoring Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves - 11:00 AM PT / Sunday April 15 - Race 1:00 PM PT).

... notes from The EDJE




TAGS: Alexander Rossi, Sebastien Bourdais, Graham Rahal, #INDYCAR, Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, @StPeteFL, @IndyCar, #FirestoneGP, #VICS, Verizon IndyCar Series, The EDJE

A Kinder, Gentler Sebastien Bourdais - Interview With Three 2015 IndyCar Races Left

KVSH Racing, Hydroxycut Hardcore® Elite, Mistic® electronic cigarettes, Chevrolet-powered and aerodynamically outfitted Dallara Verizon IndyCar Series driver Sebastien Bourdais as he gets instruction from the pit box during the MAVTv 500. Always improving, SeaBass finished the race as the last car on the lead lap - started at P15 and finished P11. Image Credit: Ken Manfred (2015)

A Kinder, Gentler Sebastien Bourdais - Interview With Three 2015 IndyCar Races Left

BEGIN INTERVIEW SCRIPT
Sebastien Bourdais, who currently races for a person he competed against in ChampCar, Jimmy Vasser at KVSH (formally KV Racing Technology), is one of the most successful championship drivers currently competing in the Verizon IndyCar Series with four season championships.

Between 2004 through 2007, he beat out the likes of Bruno Junqueuira, Oriol Servia, and Justin Wilson as runners-up for the ChampCar season title ... while Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon, Sam Hornish, Jr., and Dario Franchitti were becoming champions in the separate Indy Racing League.

Bourdais re-joined the fight in open-wheel racing after the merger between the IRL and ChampCar by joining Dragon Racing and driving, the new Dallara DW12, outfitted with the short-lived Lotus Engine effort, but proved that the Lotus Power was up to competition on street and road races courses that featured a lot of corners.

In his second year with KVSH, driving the Chevrolet-powered and aerodynamically outfitted Dallara, Bourdais has two wins, one on the road/street - Race 2 at the Dual of Detroit, and one at the world's oldest racing course, the Milwaukee Mile oval. With 34 wins, Sebastien ties Al Unser, Jr. for seventh on the all-time list of American open-wheel career wins.

Also, in 2015, Sebastien Bourdais has a win at the Mobil 12 Hours of Sebring in the Tudor United Sports Car Championship with team drivers João Barbosa, and Christian Fittipaldi driving the #5 Action Express Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype.

KVSH Racing, Hydroxycut Hardcore® Elite, Mistic® electronic cigarettes, Chevrolet-powered and aerodynamically outfitted Dallara Verizon IndyCar Series driver Sebastien Bourdais at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. A good outing where SeaBass was able to qualify 9th and finish 6th. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)

Welcome Sebastien Bourdais ...

1)   Last weekend, during the race broadcast of the INDY Corn 300 in Iowa on NBCSN, we were treated to a video package that reviewed the tumultuous competitive relationship between you and Paul Tracy, that at times looked to almost come to physical blows on and around the track.

The two of you were shown being reflective and chummy, cruising around the Iowa countryside in a beautiful Corvette – one question, were you able to drive the Corvette that the two of you were taking a ride in?

2)  3-time champion Scott Dixon, after the Indy500, said the trailing turbulence, when one is behind 3 or more cars, makes it nearly impossible to charge toward the front - whereas, former team-mate Graham Rahal mentioned after the MAVTv500 at Auto Club Speedway, that the Chevy Turbulence was unpredictable but the Honda trailing turbulence was smoother and allowed for a better draft.

What has been your experience on the issue of trailing turbulence?

Is there a difference between Chevy to Honda?

What happened at the Milwaukee Mile and trailing turbulence? ... it appeared that since you had lapped the field at one point, this was never an issue as it may have been for others.

3)  It is good to see you at #6 in the 2015 championship points race after 13 races, with just three races left - the road course at Mid-Ohio, the superspeedway tri-oval at Pocono, and the double-points finale on the road course at Sonoma Raceway. Please tell us your planning and anticipation for these three races beginning with;

Mid-Ohio -

Pocono -

Sonoma Raceway near San Francisco -

4)  We believe we know how difficult it is to form a winning combination of sponsors, team mechanics/engineers, ownership, and driver testing. Will you be able to keep what has worked for you this year, in 2016?
What element do you think you could use more of, or would like to modify in any way?

5)  On a personal level, the folks at IndyCar put the word out that unlike a lot of competitors in the series; you enjoy driving your own coach to the racing venues. It stated in the public relations document that sometimes you are known to travel with wife Claire and two children, Alex and Emma, in tow. What do you enjoy most about traveling from race to race in a motorcoach?
What are you and Claire able to teach your kids?

Well, Sebastien Bourdais ... good luck for the rest of the season and we hope to see you on the podium again soon.
ENDS

... notes from The EDJE


TAGS: Sebastien Bourdais, Verizon IndyCar Series, KVSH, Jimmy Vasser, Bruno Junqueuira, Oriol Servia, Justin Wilson, Tony Kanaan, Dan Wheldon, Sam Hornish, Jr., Dario Franchitti, The EDJE, Race Talk Radio, Hydroxy Cut, Mistic

Racing Datsuns - The Happy Coincidence Of Adam Carolla And Paul Newman

Banner on the back wall of Adam Carolla's Picture Lab Entertainment and garage facility in Glendale, California - Adam Carolla and Nate Adams recently held a private screening of the documentary WINNING: THE RACING LIFE OF PAUL NEWMAN. Much of the archive footage and images have never been in wide release of seen in public and through interviews with those people closest to Paul Leonard Newman exposes a very personal insight to the little-known side of this very public life of an iconic actor and brightest stars of Hollywood. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)

Racing Datsuns - The Happy Coincidence Of Adam Carolla And Paul Newman

Adam Carolla, who bounded onto the entertainment scene (for many) when he partnered with Jimmy Kimmel for the cable broadcast television show "The Man Show" (1999-2004) and as his career progressed, became noted for finding, restoring, and racing historic race cars, has put together a compelling and entertaining documentary about the automobile racing life of iconic actor Paul Leonard Newman.

Adam Carolla discusses one of his current restoration projects - 1988 Trans-Am 300ZX 2+2 - with those gathered at the pre-release screening of the new documentary about Paul Lenard Newman's racing life. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)

At a recent pre-release screening of the documentary, WINNING: THE RACING LIFE OF PAUL NEWMAN, Adam Carolla shared that his interest in restoring winning Datsun/Nissan race cars became the "Happy Coincidence" (stated by Adam at 15:15 in the Q&A) that led him to discover this somewhat unknown life about how Paul Newman, after becoming one of the brightest stars in Hollywood through his acting, in his late forties ... late in life for a race car driver, focused his pursuits at being a standout race car driver and top level racing series team owner.

The Paul Newman raced, Bob Sharp built, and Adam Carolla restored #33 IMSA GTX 300ZX Twin-Turbo. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)

The following sixteen minutes is what Adam Carolla and co-producer Nate Adams had to say in a post-screening Q&A about their film effort involved in the making of WINNING: THE RACING LIFE OF PAUL NEWMAN.

Adam Carolla & Nate Adams Q&A Audio File

Movie poster of WINNING: THE RACING LIFE OF PAUL NEWMAN leaning against the studio wall. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2015)

WINNING: THE RACING LIFE OF PAUL NEWMAN

Release Date:
VIDEO ON DEMAND – Release Date – May 22, 2015

Directed by:        Adam Carolla and Co-Directed by Nate Adams

Produced by:         Nate Adams, Adam Carolla and Mike August

Exec Producers        Norm Pattiz, Matt D’Andria

Edited By:        Simon Sandquist

Cinematography By:    Mårten Tedin

Runtime:    83 Minutes

MPAA Rating:    Unrated

Distributor:    FilmBuff

Paul Leonard Newman as a team driver at 24 Hours of Le Mans as seen in the Documentary #newmanracingfilm #awesome

A photo posted by Edmund Jenks (@the_edje) on May 12, 2015 at 9:20pm PDT

Starring:    Paul Newman (archive footage), Robert Redford, Patrick Dempsey, Mario Andretti, Jay Leno, Robert Wagner, Joanne Woodward (archive footage), Arthur Newman, Tom Cruise (archive footage), Michael Andretti, Bob Sharp, Sam Posey, Sebastien Bourdais and many other racers,

Synopsis:    The world knows Paul Newman as an Academy Award winning actor with a fifty-plus year career as one of the most prolific and revered actors in American Cinema. He was also well known for his philanthropy; Newman's Own has given more than four hundred and thirty million dollars to charities around the world. Yet few know the gasoline-fueled passion that became so important in this complex, multifaceted man's makeup. Newman’s deep-seated passion for racing was so intense it nearly sidelined his acting career.

His racing career spanned thirty-five years; Newman won four national championships as a driver and eight championships as an owner. Not bad for a guy who didn't even start racing until he was forty-seven years old.

Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/NewmanRacingFilm 

Twitter:            @NewmanRaceFilm
#:            #NewmanRacingFilm, #PaulNewman, #WinningMovie

For additional information please contact:

New York
Lee Meltzer – Lee.Meltzer@pmkbnc.com – 212.373.6142
Nina Baron – Nina.Baron@pmkbnc.com  – 212.373.6150

Los Angeles
Tiffany Olivares – Tiffany.Olivares@pmkbnc.com – 310.854.3272
Jazmin Sanchez – Jazmin.Sanchez@pmkbnc.com – 310.854.3267

UPDATE - Movie Link Free On-Demand - Pluto TV:

WINNING: THE RACING LIFE OF PAUL NEWMAN >>>

... notes from The EDJE



TAGS: Documentary, Adam Carolla, Nate Adams, #NewmanRacingFilm, #PaulNewman, #WinningMovie, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Patrick Dempsey, Mario Andretti, Jay Leno, Robert Wagner, Joanne Woodward, Arthur Newman, Tom Cruise, Michael Andretti, Bob Sharp, Sam Posey, Sebastien Bourdais, The EDJE

#GPofNOLA Could Have Been Named The NOLA Mudder 47 (Laps)

Tony Kanaan goes off course during the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana at NOLA Motorsports Park. Image Credit: Joe Skibinski for IndyCar

#GPofNOLA Could Have Been Named The NOLA Mudder 47 (Laps)

The inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana was ushered in with great anticipation and hype for a 75 Lap affair. This great uplift was to be dampened (literally) by a track that suffered from the improper, or unplanned for, wick-ing of pooling water caused by rain in several key places.

True, the track facility (2.74-mile, 13-turn road course) was reclaimed from low ground swamp area near the city of New Orleans which is what characterizes the geography at the end of the Mississippi River. With this in mind, why wasn't the facility better prepared for the track to become a race-able surface in a more even way around the track.

Gabby Chaves (No. 98 Bowers & Wilkins Brian Herta Autosport Honda) comes off course due to degrading track conditions during the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana at NOLA Motorsports Park. Image Credit: Bret Kelley for IndyCar

So full course YELLOW Flags (FCY) filled the air as much as the wet spray from the turbulent backsides of the second race-testing of the Chevy and Honda aero kits. This left (from notes) a total of 47 Laps completed of a scheduled 75 Lap race (called a 105 minute timed race on Lap 28 due to delays caused by FYCs) with only about a total of 26 Laps actually raced in anger. This left 21 laps upon which strategy and fuel conservation could be applied to the race day equation.

Bravo to Schmidt Peterson Motorsports who race with Honda engines and aerodynamics and were able to place both of their drivers on the podium. James Hinchcliffe was able to notch his first win in 2015 and his fourth overall IndyCar career victory while British born James Jakes finished third, his first podium finish since he finished second at Belle Isle-2 in 2013 - his second career top-five IndyCar finish.

Of the 47 Laps logged, Hinchcliffe did not go in for fuel during the last 34 laps that were run ... keeping clean and fuel management were the keys to his success.

The mudder part of the race was on display as cars left the track and hit ARAMCO barriers, slid off the track on corners then kept the tires spinning, flailing grass and chunks of mud while creeping back to a paved surface to soldier on.

One of the most controversial incidents happened on Lap 44 which turned out to be the last GREEN Flag restart - after cruising around the track another three laps on FCY.

The final full course YELLOW Flag came from a massive incident between Sebastien Bourdais, Simon Pageneud, and Ryan Hunter-Reay as the drivers attempted to go three-wide in turns 3 and 4.

Pageneud slid off the track into the mud, and then back on the track in the next right-hand corner, collecting Hunter-Reay and Bourdais sending all three cars across the grass.

Bourdais slides to the tire wall and hits broadsides cracking the hull of his No. 11 Dallara (all preceding crash images by Bret Kelley for IndyCar).

Post Race Incident Quotes:

Simon Pagenaud (No. 22 Penske Truck Rental Chevrolet): “Really too bad about the finish because the Penske Truck Rental Chevy was really fast. It handled great in traffic and we looked like we were heading toward a good result. I'm not sure what Hunter-Reay was thinking there. He just drove us off the track and I'm just glad everyone is OK. I want to thank the fans for staying with us this weekend despite the weather. I think the No. 22 Chevy team will be able to come back strong at Long Beach.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay (No. 28 DHL Honda): “We had a great race going, had some good clean racing there with (Graham) Rahal, (Will) Power — even (Simon) Pagenaud, we went side by side through Turn 10 there, it was some good racing. Then we got down to Turn 3… I’m peddling the car all the way out, it’s loose, there’s just no more room for (Pagenaud) to be out there.  (Sebastien) Bourdais, is on my left, I don’t know where to go at that point. I’m using my regular racing line – (Pagenaud) stuck his nose out there (and was off the racing line)… And just cleans us all out. I’m happy all three of us are uninjured. (Pagenaud) said I ran him out of room, but there just was no room in the first place. I don’t know what to say to that — it’s certainly a racing incident but there wasn’t a whole lot of room there to begin with. Disappointing way to end the day, we were looking for a strong finish with the DHL Honda.”

Sebastien Bourdais (No. 11 Team Mistic E-Cigs-KVSH Chevrolet):  “It was a weird race obviously. We held our own throughout the race getting as high as fourth. The Mistic-Circle K car ran good in the wet and ran good as the track transitioned. Then the race just became a succession of cautions with restarts after restarts during which I made a couple of spots and lost a couple of spots. Because of all the cautions there were different strategies and as they played out we ended up having to pit when everybody behind us had already done so. The guys in back cycled to the front and we cycled to the back with the leaders. Then with all the cautions, the guys in back were able to stretch their fuel and on the last restart I was on the inside and Ryan (Hunter-Reay) came up and made it three wide with Simon (Pagenaud). Ryan pushed Simon into the grass, he then came back on track with no control and could not avoid collecting me ending our race. It was never going to be a good day, but now with the damage to the car it is a shame because this was going to be my Indy 500 car.”

The #5 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda front wing aero kit of James Hinchcliffe bathed in New Orleans purple, green and gold, Mardi Gras style, winner's circle confetti at the Verizon IndyCar victory podium. Image Credit: Chris Jones for IndyCar

The race also had its share of missing and damaged aero kit parts, but through it all, drivers that kept their cars clean, advanced during restarts, and stayed away from the mud were rewarded with great results.

Pos   Driver                      Team/Engine         Time/Gap
1      James Hinchcliffe     Schmidt/Honda     1h47m19.4896
2      Helio Castroneves     Penske/Chevrolet     +0.4279
3      James Jakes     Schmidt/Honda     +0.8452
4      Simona de Silvestro     Andretti/Honda     +1.2924
5      Juan Pablo Montoya     Penske/Chevrolet     +1.7564
6      Tony Kanaan     Ganassi/Chevrolet     +2.2638
7      Will Power     Penske/Chevrolet     +3.0958
8      Graham Rahal     Rahal/Honda     +4.3495
9      Josef Newgarden     CFH/Chevrolet     +5.7352
10      Luca Filippi     CFH/Chevrolet     +7.2115
11      Scott Dixon     Ganassi/Chevrolet     +7.8421
12      Carlos Munoz     Andretti/Honda     +9.0899
13      Marco Andretti     Andretti/Honda     +9.7817
14      Charlie Kimball     Ganassi/Chevrolet     +15.7221
finished the race, above - retired from the race, below
15      Gabby Chaves     Herta/Honda    
16      Carlos Huertas     Coyne/Honda    
17      Stefano Coletti     KV/Chevrolet    
18      Sage Karam     Ganassi/Chevrolet    
19      Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti/Honda    
20      Simon Pagenaud     Penske/Chevrolet    
21      Sébastien Bourdais     KV/Chevrolet    
22      Takuma Sato     Foyt/Honda    
23      Francesco Dracone     Coyne/Honda    
24      Jack Hawksworth     Foyt/Honda
(ht: motorsport.com | nextgenindy.com)

The return of  Simona de Silvestro for a second race (in a race by race commitment) to an Andretti Autosport seat gave the accomplished female driver and the team its highest finishing order in this young 2015 season. A commitment to have a car ready for her this next weekend for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, a track where she has won at and performed well, has not been announced. It would be a shame a deal can not be made by race time April 17 - 19 - Race Broadcast, Apr 19 4:00 PM ET.

Two races in the books where Carbon Fiber and Terra Firma have played a major role at bringing out full course YELLOW Flags. Let's hope we all can be treated to a competitive full run through the streets of Long Beach and see for ourselves if the new aerodynamics of the cars limit the potential of passing because of low mushroom cloud "muddy air" turbulence placed on the trailing car.

If this is the case, IndyCar will be taking a big step backwards toward a lack of fan enjoyment due to IRL style nose-to-tail railroad car racing that was prevalent during the Dallara "Crapwagon" era.

... notes from The EDJE

Castroneves Gains A New P3 Chaser At #GPoB With Pagenaud Win

Helio Castroneves gets ready to keep the IZOD IndyCar Series championship points lead as the only driver to complete every lap of every race of the season so far. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2013)

Castroneves Gains A New P3 Chaser At #GPoB With Pagenaud Win

Ever go to a hockey game and have a fight break out? How about go to a late season open wheel championship points chase and have a massacre and a bunch of vehicle carnage pop up?

Many who follow and witnessed the last IZOD IndyCar Series championship race probably felt they were treated to both type of events at the race in the streets, the Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT (Twitter hashtag - #GPoB).

James Hinchcliffe as he launches off of the chicane that begins the front straight-away. The IZOD IndyCar DW12 cars reach a high speed of around 180mph with the chicane ... maybe over 200mph without. Image Credit: John Cote via motorsport.com

With only four races left in the 19 race season, the bumpy, uneven-surfaced, chicane and tight hairpin element-ed 2.04 mile 12-turn temporary street track delivered a tough championship test for all men, a woman, and Dallara DW12 machine which seemed to be shaping up to deliver an eleventh new winner in a season, tying a record that had been standing for over a decade (2000 and 2001 CART/ChampCar seasons).

Going in, four-time ChampCar World Series season champion Sebastien Bourdais felt he could be the upset winner this weekend in Baltimore. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2013)

In the morning warm-up, Dragon Racing's four-time past ChampCar champion Sebastien Bourdais was very quick after damaging his car by hitting the corner tires in the chicane during qualifications. Bourdais started the race from P22 of a 24 car field and through skillful and aggressive driving managed to work his way through the many YELLOW Flags (six full course cautions with almost every car sustaining some damage) on restarts to lead the race for 19 laps. "SeaBass" ended up on the podium at P3 ... but not without a fight. "We had a fast car. We had a fast car all the way to the end of the race. That car got beat up pretty good, so by the end it was pretty ragged. I am just really happy for the guys. Yeah, it would have been awesome to win and in so many ways I guess we should have or would have. But you know, it’s the podium………another one, and its really important for the group. For the spirits, for Jay, for the sponsors: McAfee, TrueCar, and Chevy. Still pretty happy because when you start nearly dead last and you make it to the podium, pass a bunch of people and make it stick at the end – its pretty sweet."
(ht: rpm2night.com)

Simona de Silvestro scored her best finish of the season by taking the checkered flag in fifth place behind the wheel of the No. 78 Nuclear Entergy Areva KV Racing Technology Chevrolet to give Team Chevy two of the top-five finishers. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2013)

Another triumph performance was delivered by the only female pilot in the 24 car field. After qualifying P17, KV Racing Technology's Simona de Silvestro driving the #78 Nuclear Energy Areva Chevy managed to stay out of trouble and get past some pretty capable drivers, including the Indy 500 winner and team-mate Tony Kanaan finished at P5. "I'm definitely really happy with P5. It was kind of a crazy race. I don't think we had the fastest car out there, but we had a pretty good call on the pits when we got stuck in one of the wrecks. After that we were able to move forward and had some pretty good restarts. The Nuclear Clean Air Energy car was really good at the end, so I'm pretty happy with it for sure. Not a bad way to celebrate my birthday."
(ht: rpm2night.com)

What really marked this race was the IZOD IndyCar Series championship fight and the held over controversy from the previous race at Sonoma Raceway about pitboxes and pitbox etiquette. Clear yellow paint and dotted 45 degree outer edge lines defined the smaller pitboxes all throughout pitlane. A new rule was added to the rule book that clarified the movements of pit workers during competition so as to make the racing safer for everyone.

All eyes were on Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon and Penske Racing's Will Power since Dixon had lost points in his effort to chase down Will Power's team-mate, Helio Castroneves, after having to serve a drive-through penalty during the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma for hitting a Penske Racing crew member working in Power's pit located just in front of Dixon. With the pitboxes being 2 feet shorter, and the pitbox locations being reversed - Dixon in front of Power, many thought there would be an opportunity for Power to possibly graze a crew member in Dixon's pit.

On the track, however, is where a miscue by Will Power ended both Dixon's chances at gaining championship points and Power's race.

On a race restart, Will Power was sizing up then race leader, Sebastien Bourdais, for a pass not aware that Scott Dixon had the same exact design on Power's car just in front of the #9 Target sponsored Honda Dallara. Dixon popped out to the right, next to the wall, then Power popped out to the right and touched Dixon's front wing sending both cars into the inside trackside wall ending their race and bringing out another of the six full course cautions of the race.

Scott Dixon started the race 38 points behind after gaining a point for capturing the Firestone Fast Six pole award, but lost another 11 points leaving him down 49 points with three races left. Disappointing after starting the #GPoB P1 just to finish P19.

As for the championship points leader, Helio Castroneves started his PPG Team Penske Chevy from a P7 qualifying position but lost many positions and had to adapt to a different pit strategy due to an early race black flag stop and go penalty for a safety violation. He slid his car in his pitbox and hit a crew member.

With Scott Dixon being forced out of the race after getting collected by Will Power, and Ryan Hunter-Reay suffering a power outage in his car - stalling on the track ... Castroneves was able to distance himself from his top two competitors with a respectable P9 finish.

"Towards the end, I noticed that my main competitors were out," said Castroneves, who is seeking his first series title. “I know it could have been a bigger risk trying to finish further ahead. I felt that I had a target on my back. So I said, ‘I’m just going to take what I get,’ and that’s what I did. Sometimes it’s better to have only a few points instead of having a big accident and not even getting a point. So now we’re 49 ahead, and that’s what we’ve been doing the entire season."
(ht: The Baltimore Sun)

Castroneves now leads the IZOD IndyCar Series with 501 points. Dixon is still second. Hunter-Reay, the reigning series champion, dropped from third to fifth with 427 points.

The Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT from left to right - Josef Newgarden P2, Simon Pagenaud P1, and Sebastien Bourdais P3. Image Credit: Chris Owens via motorsport.com

In the end, the survivors came across the stripe after 75 hard fought laps with Frenchman Simon Pagenaud - #77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda leading the final seven laps (Will Power led the most laps with 31) after aggressively passing Marco Andretti on a race restart to win his second race of the season and overtake Ryan Hunter-Reay for third in the championship points behind Dixon, Tennessean Josef Newgarden - #67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda in P2 to notch his best finish in IndyCar as his brakes were fading, and Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais - #7 McAfee Dragon Racing Chevy in P3.

Favorite Tweet? ... Shane Rogers @upshifted - Random Stat: All 5 of the cars with the digit 7 in them, finished in the top 7. #indycar #GPoB.

How they finished the Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT (75 Laps):

Pos  Driver               Team/Engine           Time/Gap
 1.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt/Honda    2h16m32.3443s
 2.  Josef Newgarden      Fisher/Honda          +4.1592s
 3.  Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon/Chevy          +7.9588s
 4.  Justin Wilson        Coyne/Honda          +10.7598s
 5.  Simona de Silvestro  KV/Chevy             +11.6017s
 6.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi/Honda        +21.4160s
 7.  James Hinchcliffe    Andretti/Chevy       +22.8422s
 8.  Sebastian Saavedra   Dragon/Chevy         +25.5377s
 9.  Helio Castroneves    Penske/Chevy         +29.3117s
10.  Marco Andretti       Andretti/Chevy       +40.5499s
11.  Tristan Vautier      Schmidt/Honda           +1 lap
12.  Oriol Servia         Panther/Chevy           +1 lap
13.  EJ Viso              Andretti/Chevy          +1 lap
14.  Ed Carpenter         Carpenter/Chevy         +1 lap
15.  Tony Kanaan          KV/Chevy              +2 laps*
16.  Stefan Wilson        Coyne/Honda            +3 laps
17.  Graham Rahal         Rahal/Honda           +7 laps*
18.  Will Power           Penske/Chevy           +8 laps

* Not running at finish

Retirements:

     Scott Dixon          Ganassi/Honda          52 laps
     Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti/Chevy         42 laps
     Dario Franchitti     Ganassi/Honda          22 laps
     Luca Filippi         Herta/Honda            12 laps
     James Jakes          Rahal/Honda             5 laps
     Takuma Sato          Foyt/Honda              4 laps

All drivers use Dallara DW12 chassis
(ht: autosport.com)

The next scheduled events in the IZOD IndyCar Series 2013 championship season are a doubleheader weekend at the temporary road circuit near Reliant Stadium (home of the NFL Texans) in Houston on October 5 and 6 - similar to the two-race weekends in Detroit and Toronto this year, the Shell/Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston could result in another wild, DW12 rubbing affair - and the season finale, MAVTV 500, is again at the superspeedway oval of Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., on Oct. 19.

... notes from The EDJE

Honda Indy Toronto's Tale Of Two Races With One Result

TCGR's three-time IndyCar Champion wins race #32 in his career to mark a strong three race charge to challenge for the 2013 Championship. Image Credit: Honda Indy Toronto (2013)


Honda Indy Toronto's Tale Of Two Races With One Result

With a strong potential of a major points swing in the offing, the thrill of a first-time Standing-Start in IndyCar (ChampCar used them), Push-To-Pass (P2P), two tire compound (Reds/Blacks) strategy, and the 24 year history of exciting temporary street races as a backdrop, the double-header weekend of the 2013 Honda Indy Toronto did not disappoint.

Okay, so the first race of the weekend really was disappointing to not have the Standing-Start as advertised. Josef Newgarden's car failed on the grid sequence which created a 'called' ABORT of the Standing-Start. The cars were rolled off and the formation lap counted as a race lap with the Rolling-Start GREEN Flag which began Lap 2. It was ruled that the Standing-Start would replace the planned Rolling-Start for Race 2 for the second race on Sunday.

Honda Indy Toronto's Race 1, itself, was one of the most entertaining and competitive temporary street course races this season, and what seems to be happening more often than not, the driver to lead the most laps did not win. Marco Andretti comes to mind.

Dragon Racing's Sebastien Bourdais, four-time ChampCar Champion, qualified in P2, right next to four-time IRL/IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti for Honda Indy Toronto Race 1. SeaBass eventually ended up on the podium at P2 next to the two Target Chip Ganassi drivers Scott Dixon in P1 and Dario Franchitti in a confusing P3. Image Credit: More Front Wing via Twitter

In Race 1, Will Power was able to take over control of the race after Power took the lead from Sebastian Bourdais on Lap 32 shortly after the first cycle of green flag stops ended. Bourdais had managed to keep his advantage through the cycle, but was unable to stop Power from pulling off a tail-twitching inside pass in Turn 1 on the 1.75-mile Exhibition Place street circuit.

A full-course yellow on Lap 35 for contact between Tristan Vautier and Graham Rahal erased a two-second edge for Power, but he was able to hold off Bourdais on the next restart at Lap 40. Will Power went on to lead the most laps in the race when he was able to keep the lead until Lap 60 when he gave it up during Green Flag pit-stops to Sebastien Bourdais.

Soon after the Lap 40 restart, Scott Dixon was able to pass Bourdais in Turn 3, moving to P2 on the course. Through the same round of pit-stops where Power gave up the lead, to Dragon Racing's Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon came in last, extending his fuel run ... and filed in behind Bourdais and ahead of both teammate Dario Franchitti and Will Power. With Bourdais on the softer Reds, and Dixon on the Blacks standard compound tires, the showdown of tire wear and P2P began. Bourdais had no P2P left and Dixon had about 3 or 4 pushes left. After a couple of set-up attempts, on Lap 78 using one of the two remaining P2Ps while Bourdais was powerless on used-up Firestone Reds and without a Push-To-Pass to use in defense of the Target Chip Ganassi Honda. Dixon overtook race leader and held off the four-time ChampCar champion on a Lap 84 single-file restart to earn his 31st victory to tie Bourdais, Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy for seventh on the all-time Indy car list.

"These doubleheaders are tough; we got through Race 1. Just a crazy day," said Dixon, who earned the Verizon P1 Award with the fastest lap in qualifications for Race 2 earlier in the day. "This is what we need to get the momentum going."

As far as the Championship race within a race - In Race 1, Helio Castroneves extended his championship lead from 23 points to 41 with a fifth-place finish in the 12th event of the season, combined with Ryan Hunter-Reay's 18th-place result. Hunter-Reay encountered a myriad of problems, including stalling the No. 1 DHL Chevrolet twice leaving his pit stall and making contact with the Turn 3 tire barrier on Lap 79.

Honda Indy Toronto's Race 2 saw a ruled 'do-over' of the Standing-Start with the caveat that if the first attempt did not take for any reason, there would be at least one additional attempt. This ruling was not the only change in the interpretation of the rules by substitute, and former, Race Control head, Brian Barnhart. In Race 1, Barnhart first assessed a late race penalty on Dario Franchitti for blocking on Will Power as Power attempted a pass causing Power to tap the inside wall and miss Turn 3. This post-race penalty ruling was then later rescinded and everyone then knew that Race Control was not being headed by the current IICS Race Control captain, Beaux Barfield (who was unable to attend the Honda Indy Toronto weekend for personal reasons).

Also, the Standing-Start came off without a hitch, in that every car got rolling but Dario Franchitti suffered front wing damage and came in at the end of the first lap, took off his minimum two lap Firestone Red alternative tires, and put on the standard Blacks which he used for the balance of the 85 Lap race. Barnhart was an influence to the end of this race as well. He ruled that due to the fact that this was a two-race weekend, and that Red alternative tires were in short supply, Dario Franchitti would not be penalized for using Reds for only one lap as opposed to the mandatory two lap minimum as stated in the rule book. Most are having trouble with this typical Brian Barnhart autocratically-interpretable Race Control attitude. Question: Why does this Race Control captain always seem to make the race become more about Race Control decisions than the race itself?

Back to Race 2 which ran without any full course cautions for 64 of 85 laps. This has to be a Green Flag running record for the tight and treacherous 1.7-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit. In 24 years, the Honda Indy Toronto has never seen a race without at least one Yellow Flag full course caution.

Scott Dixon went on to win a most convincing race and many would consider, save the Standing-Start, was just a continuation of the race ran the day before. The Target Chip Ganassi driver put on a clinic of driver and car domination in Race 2 that had him leading every lap except for Lap 24 and 25 when Helio Castroneves stayed out during the first set of Green Flag pit-stops. All other pit-stops, Scott Dixon kept the lead due to his lead on the track - that's domination.

A second Yellow Flag full course caution was called when Ed Carpenter lost it in Turn 5 and slammed the wall on Lap 77, this had another restart incident happen on Lap 83 where the driver who was the pre-race P2 in the Championship points, Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay try to make a three-wide pass on the outside of Turn 1. As the middle car, which squeezed down on the inside corner car of Will Power, cleared, Power applied the pedal and his rear end twitched, tapping RHR's car and this sent the Yellow DHL DW12 into the wall to finish the race in P19.

As far as the Championship race within a race - Helio Castroneves was able to finish Honda Indy Toronto's Race 2 on the podium in P2. Scott Dixon ended up by winning three races in a row with his win at Pocono, moving him up three positions in the Championship points to P4, the win in the Honda Indy Toronto Race 1 moving him to P3 ahead of Andretti Autosport's Marco Andretti, and this last win in Honda Indy Toronto Race 2 moving him to P2 ahead of Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay.

In a post race interview, Dixon was informed that he had also won the $100,000 SONAX Perfect Finish Award for winning both races of the Honda Indy Toronto. Dixon Quote - "$100 Grand is good but I'd rather have the points. Points ... is why were here." 

Before the weekend, Helio had a 23 point margin between him and all other drivers. Helio Castroneves now leads all drivers by 29 points for a net gain of 6 points - not a huge shift. The biggest shift in the standings has to be the movement up the championship points ladder of Target Chip Ganassi's three-time IndyCar Champion, Scott Dixon who moves 5 point's positions in just three races.

The biggest loser for the Honda Indy Toronto double-header weekend was Andretti Autosport who have had chances to lock up the championship points race due to their qualification's performance in recent race weekends, but have not been able to convert their most laps led or front-row owning qualification performance by their drivers to Championship points.

More Front Wing's Stephanie Wallcraft caught up with Andretti Autosport's James Hinchcliffe and he let her know in no uncertain terms that he is not a fan of double-header weekends. Said Hinch:

“I don’t think anybody likes them. Scott Dixon gets 100 points. How come we don’t have two races at Iowa (where Hinchcliffe not only won but dominated in much the same way the Target Chip Ganassi driver did in Toronto this weekend)? That would have been awesome for us.

“You have to have double-headers at all of them or none of them. I’ve said that since they announced these things. It’s not a fair way to do it. We as a team didn’t have particularly strong cars here, and we get penalized twice as much. And we’re going to go to Houston, and somebody’s going to nail it and have a really good day. It’s unfortunate that that’s how it works.

” Nobody in the series will ever warm up to these. They’re too hard on the drivers, they’re too hard on the teams. You get so little practice, it’s so tough to get the car set up right.”

After 12 of 19 races in the 2013 season, it looks as though this season will end as many of the last several season's have ended (not 2012) with a shootout between a Penske Racing and a Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver for the season's driving Championship.

Two races in one road/street course weekend seems like the IZOD IndyCar Series might be stretching the performance rubber-band a little too far. This weekend, while being a crowd-pleasing event for those in Toronto, sucked all of the attention off of the supporting World Challenge and Road to Indy races.

In the end, the two days of races paid double points to Scott Dixon for what translated to be a single tour de force 170 lap race through the streets of Toronto.

... notes from The EDJE

IndyCar’s Dual In Detroit On ABC Is More Than Just Racing

E.J. Viso was second (1:19.5572) in the No. 5 Team Venezuela/PDVSA/CITGO car for Andretti Autosport to tie his best qualifying effort in Brazil in May. Joining him on the front row will be Mike Conway, driving the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing car in the two races this weekend. Conway has qualified for the Firestone Fast Six in both of his events this season.. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2013)

IndyCar’s Dual In Detroit On ABC Is More Than Just Racing

The IZOD IndyCar Series (IICS), after holding one of the most exciting and flawless INDY 500′s in its record-breaking 97th edition, move into Detroit’s Belle Isle for back-to-back temporary street course races where the points race can be shuffled.

The “Dual” double entendre for two races (one on Saturday, one on Sunday) and a (duel) street fight for championship points will be shown on general broadcast television … a rarity in this modern cable/satellite broadcast feed age. Any modern digital television, or a CRT television with a digital signal converter box can dial up the general broadcast signal for the local ABC Network station and watch Dual in Detroit – American open-wheel racing, with pitstops for fuel and tire changes for changing weather conditions, YELLOW Flag cautions, and push-to-pass at its absolute best.

For the two races in Belle Isle, P2P will allow the driver to utilize Detroit give a power boost for 10 total engagements that last 15 seconds per push for a total of 150 seconds of “up-time” during the running of each race.

In hosting the inaugural IZOD IndyCar Series doubleheader in the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans, there are several new features to the street circuit for the race weekend **Extended the circuit to create more overtaking opportunities. A half-mile straightaway between Turns 2 and 3 has been added **More than 100,000 square feet of road surface has been refurbished **Curbing at Turns 3 and 4 has been reworked or removed to create tighter turns and, consequently, more overtaking opportunities. Image Credit: IICS

To quote from an article published by IICS -

Push-to-pass, which was introduced to the new engine-chassis package last July on the streets of Toronto, will have parameters for each of the road/street course events, including doubleheader races at Detroit, Toronto and Houston. The option gives drivers a turbocharger boost from 21.7 Psi to 23.2 Psi and additional 200 RPM with the push of a button located on the steering wheel.

There’s no delay in activation or refresh time.

“If the driver chooses to use one, they can’t cancel it. It’s use it or lose it,” INDYCAR vice president of technology Will Phillips said. “That in itself makes it more difficult to choose to use as a defense mechanism rather than as an overtaking opportunity. You’ll have to be careful because there are only 10 opportunities to use it during a race. The length of each push of the button should cover the longest straight, if that’s where they choose to use it, of each circuit.”
(Reference Here)

The “Firestone Fast Six” (FF6) three round format of qualifications became a little dodgy due to weather and a major miscue by Helio Castroneves when he spun off-track and could not get his Chevy-powered Dallara DW12 into reverse which brought out a RED Flag that effectively ended the Round #2 group of twelve transfer effort. This allowed @RyanHunterReay @dariofranchitti @Mikeconway26 @tagliani @EJVISO @JamesJakes to advance to the FF6 leaving behind Rookie Tristan Vautier, P2 in the IICS points – Takuma Sato, Simon Pagenaud, Penske’s Will Power – who is having a terrible year, Sebastian Saavedra, and Helio Castroneves.

Dario posted the fastest time in the FF6 receiving the points – the money – and the sticker, but due to an earlier engine change at the INDY 500, had to give the P1 position to start the race to the second fastest qualifier E.J. Viso, No. 5 Team Venezuela PDVSA CITGO Chevrolet … his first P1 start in American open wheel racing.

“Very excited,” said the ChampCar ex-patriot. “It will be my first pole start in IndyCar. I’ve been on pole in other car races, but being on pole in IndyCar is definitely one of my targets… my aims that I wanted to accomplish. And little by little, working with this group, things are starting to come together. I am very proud of all this hard work that we have been doing as a team, as a crew. I am very excited about this year.”

About being at the front for a street race:

“It is good. I think it has given me some good chances to stay in the front and be sure I’m going to have a competitive car. We have proven that so far. And I’m really looking forward to it.”

Race 2 qualifications in the FF6 three round format are set for 9:15 a.m. June 1: Round 1 – all cars will participate in one of two groups for 12 minutes each, with five minutes of guaranteed green-flag time. Group 1 will consist of even-numbered positions on the practice time sheet, while odd-numbered positions will comprise Group 2. Round 2 – the top fastest 6 cars from each of the 2 groups in Round 1 transfer for a 12 car qualification session where the Firestone Fast Six are taken from the fastest six cars. Round 3 – the “Firestone Fast Six” compete for the top six positions (first three rows, side-by-side) to start the race.

Four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais marks his 100th Indy car start this weekend at Detroit, which was acknowledged by the IndyCar Series Friday morning <

Weekend broadcast schedule as communicated by the IZOD IndyCar Series -

ABC will televise both IZOD IndyCar Series races at Belle Isle — the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans — at 3:30 p.m. (ET) June 1 and 2.

Chief announcer Marty Reid will be joined in the broadcast booth by Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever Jr. The network also has coverage of the Firestone 550 on June 8 at Texas Motor Speedway — its first prime time IZOD IndyCar Series race broadcast.

TV broadcast: ABC (3:30 p.m. ET June 1 and 2)
… Chief announcer: Marty Reid

Radio broadcast: IMS Radio Network affiliates, Sirius and XM 211, American Forces Network, INDYCAR 13 app, indycar.com
… Chief announcer: Mike King

Timing & Scoring: INDYCAR 13 app, Race Control on indycar.com

Twitter: @IndyCar (#indycar), @detroitgp (#DetroitGP)

Track layout: 2.346-mile, 13-turn street circuit … Race 1 and 2 length: 70/164.22 miles

Verizon P1 Award winner: Dario Franchitti, No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car

Championship points: Full points for both races, including bonus points for earn the pole (one for Race 1) and quickest qualifying lap (one for Race 2)

Start: Rolling … Restarts: Double file

Losing positions: The entries for Franchitti, Charlie Kimball, Josef Newgarden and Graham Rahal will incur 10-grid spot penalties for the first race at Belle Isle because of unapproved engine changes at Indianapolis.
(Reference Here)

The Dual in Detroit weekend is more than just racing because having two points-paying races in one weekend, broadcasted on free general broadcast television is a welcomed modern day rarity – one that should be repeated many more times in order to re-kindle the interest in the most competitive top level automotive speed competition that exists in the world today. It’s all about access!

Weekend UPDATES:

Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans Race 1 Winner – Dale Coyne Racing’s Mike Conway driving the Sonny's BBQ No. 18 Dallara-Honda DW12.

Mike Conway at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach as he sits in his Rahal Leterman Lanigan prepared Dallara DW12. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2013)

Dual in Detroit Race 1 post race Tweets:

@TheEDJE
Dale Coyne Racing nets a P1 Conway and a P3 Wilson for a double podium finish after waiting 25 years for first win #DetroitGP #IndyCar

@joselomacias
RT @indycaraldiaweb: #IndyCar Carrera 1 (Detroit): 1Conway 2RHR 3Wilson 4Dixon 5Castroneves 6Franchitti 7Newgarden 8Power 9Rahal 10Jakes

Penske Racing's Helio Castroneves by finishing 5th captures the season points through six of nineteen races!

Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans Race 2 Winner – Schmidt Hamilton Racing’s Simon Pagenaud driving the Hewlett-Packard No. 77 Dallara-Honda DW12.

After multiple cautions that jumbled the running order and ruined the weekend for many drivers on Belle Isle. After multiple pit stop and tire strategies seeking to gain an advantage on the 2.346-mile, 13-turn street circuit. After multiple battles and high drama, let alone tempers, stood Simon Pagenaud in Victory Circle. The French driver was as exhausted as the push-to-pass operations available in the No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports car over the 70-lap race but smiling broadly after earning his first (1st) IZOD IndyCar Series victory. Caption Credit: Dave Lewandowski | Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2012)

Dual in Detroit Race 2 post race Tweets:

@therossbynum
At this point the circus clowns just tumble out of the clown car. Exhausted. Clown union preparing strike as we speak.  #IndyCar #DetroitGP

@mfriedman_63
A podium of Schmidt/Peterson, RLL, and Coyne??!! Are you kidding??!! #Indycar #DetroitGP

@scottaltimaman
Oui Oui! Pagenaud wins! #IndyCar

@CrashGladys
BEST DRIVERS IN THE WORLD! 6 winners in 7 races, from 6 different countries. It doesn’t get any better than THAT, race fans! Epic

@AutoweekRacing
Pagenaud wins #DetroitGP ahead of Jakes and Conway, but Conway was the undisputed star of this race and the weekend. #IndyCar

@BaronVonClutch
.@simonpagenaud Wins Race Two at the @detroitgp! Pagenaud also banked the fastest lap of the race. #IndyCar

@TheEDJE
First win for proven sportscar series winner Simon Pagenaud.

@ScottManifold
What a wacky year! Someone predicted that right? Nice job podium! Pagenaud, Jakes, Conway #indycar #detroitgp

@TheEDJE
Honda-power captures the top 5 positions with more horsepower than Chevy-power … in DETROIT!!!

 … notes from The EDJE


**Article first seen as "IndyCar’s Dual In Detroit On ABC Is More Than Just Racing" at Motorsports Unplugged**