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IndyCar
INDYCAR: 2011 Plans Coming Into Focus
A lot has changed since SPEED.com previewed the 2011 IndyCar grid. Review the known, likely and newly-discovered driver and team pairings.
Marshall Pruett  |  Posted March 03, 2011   Fremont, CA
A lot of changes within the IZOD IndyCar Series paddock continue to take place with the season opening race at St. Pete just around the corner. (LAT)
The first race of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series race isn't far away, and since our last update in early December on what the 2011 field might look like was published, a much clearer picture on the upcoming season has emerged.

While most teams have confirmed their lineups, driver signings and sponsorship levels remain rather fluid for portions of the field.

After a second round of calls and inquiries to IndyCar team owners and drivers, here's the latest on what SPEED.com has learned about the upcoming season (new items are in italics):

1: Target Chip Ganassi Racing

Staffing at Ganassi’s ‘G2’ operation for Graham Rahal and Kimball has been finalized. Rahal’s car will be led by Matt Swan, who moves over from Dario Franchitti’s championship-winning program, and Rahal’s former engineer at Newman Haas, Martin Pare, will now assume those duties at Ganassi. Kimball will have Mark Sampson in charge of his car, who moves over from Scott Dixon’s entry, and veteran Ganassi man Brad Goldberg acting as his primary engineer.

Dario Franchitti: The reigning two-time IZOD IndyCar Series champion will be back for a third season of open-wheel racing with Ganassi. His most recent title was much harder to earn after rivals Team Penske made a major leap in speed and competitiveness compared to 2009. Knowing how TCGR operates, look for the team to work tirelessly in their efforts to claw back a small advantage over the Penske trio. The Scot is primed to earn his third championship at TCGR in 2011.

Scott Dixon: The Kiwi is poised to return for his 10th season with Ganassi—a record for current IndyCar drivers—and it could be his most important year to date as a Ganassi pilot. It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to know his stock will drop if Franchitti ends up on top in the championship again. These two operate in rarified air; the difference in talent and execution is almost imperceptible, but even a megastar like Dixie understands that he can’t afford to go 0-and-3 against Dario in identical cars. Look for the best Scott Dixon we’ve ever seen this year.
Charlie Kimball, left, will have Dario Franchitti, right, as one of three veteran drivers to apprentice under in 2011. (LAT)

Chip Ganassi Racing

Graham Rahal: Rahal, after months of speculation, was confirmed as the driver of the No. 38 Service Central Indy car. With Rahal about to start his fifth year as an Indy car driver, Swan in charge of his car, Pare doing the engineering, Franchitti and Dixon in place to mentor him and all of TCGR’s setup data at his disposal, the 22-year-old has all of the tools to win.

That could work in his favor as much as it could prove to be problematic. Other than needing time to jell with his new team, Rahal has no excuses—something he’s very happy about—but with the last three championships having been won by Dario and Dixie, establishing a fair level of performance for the young Ohioan could be a challenge.

If he beats the Target drivers, Rahal will be achieving what many believe he’s capable of. If he doesn’t, he’ll feed the doubters. Looking at the situation from somewhere in the middle, if Team Penske’s three-car effort was unable to topple the TCGR effort over the past three years, expecting Rahal to do so in his first season with the team might be a bit much to ask.

Whatever, how Rahal deals with the Catch-22 will serve as an interesting sub-plot this year.

Winning at least one race would go a long way to silence his critics.

Charlie Kimball: If Rahal carries an elevated level of expectations, California’s Kimball is fortunate to enter the 2011 season with the bar set much lower. The Firestone Indy Lights graduate is clearly talented, but to what degree?

The 2011 IndyCar grid is primed to be the most competitive in series history, making Kimball’s rookie season an even greater challenge.

Earning Rookie of the Year honors could be a possibility depending on how J.R. Hildebrand fares at Panther Racing, but it’s hard to predict where he stands in terms of development compared to his fellow rookies.

He’ll be expected to do well on ovals, thanks to TCGR’s wealth of setup knowledge, but the real test for Kimball—the place where his talent can be properly evaluated—will be on the twisty tracks.

Unlike Rahal, Kimball will be starting from scratch with his engineer. Their progress as a unit will be most evident as they look for speed at tracks like St. Pete and Sonoma, but as a whole, the driver of the No. 83 Novo Nordisk entry will receive a pass this year.

Any positives to come from 2011—from top-10s to making the second or third rounds of qualifying—will be an added bonus.

2: Team Penske

Rumors of a fourth, part-time entry for Team Penske continue to circulate, which team officials have denied. If Penske does run a fourth car, and that’s a big IF, look for it to happen at Indy.

The team also replaced long-time team manager Tom Wurtz with Jon “Myron” Bouslog. Celebrating his 25th season with the Penske organization, Bouslog managed the team’s sub-assembly and driveline department in 2010.

His history also includes managing Team Penske‘s testing program and serving as crew chief for Penske’s championship-winning Porsche ALMS program.

Will Power: The 2010 championship runner-up returns for his third season with the team—his second as a full-time pilot. He will have the same engineering team around him for 2011, which will make for another intense fight with Franchitti. A change in Team Penske’s team manager is the only major difference for the new season. Power is a fast learner, and last season was a 17-round class in how to win/not win a championship. Look for DJ Willy P. to fill in the cracks in his game and make an even stronger run at the title.

Helio Castroneves: The longest team/driver combination in open-wheel racing continues in 2011, as Castroneves and Team Penske embark on their 12th season together. Like Power, the Brazilian will have the same staff to support his efforts, and after drinking from the Fountain of Youth in 2010, 2011 could mark Helio’s (last) best chance to score his first championship.

Ryan Briscoe: It’s season number four for Briscoe as a Team Penske IndyCar driver. The Aussie’s place in the team was in doubt after a rather disappointing 2010 season. After nearly claiming the 2009 IndyCar championship, Briscoe took a step back last season, and not only did Will Power leapfrog Ryan as the team’s top driver, Castroneves also moved ahead of Briscoe on the depth chart. Roger Penske’s relationship with Briscoe—as close to a father/son scenario as you’ll find in the series—was always going to keep him in the team for 2011—and Briscoe is indeed signed on and will get another crack at earning Team Penske’s first title since 2007. How he overcomes his teammates (and four Ganassi cars) to earn that championship is a puzzle he and Penske need to solve ASAP. The talent is there--now it's time to deliver.

Click Here for 2012 IndyCar News


3: Andretti Autosport

Mike Conway was confirmed as the fourth and final member of Andretti Autosport’s full-season program on February 1st, leaving only the announcement of his funding package and the complete roster of sponsors for Ryan Hunter-Reay’s program as the only bits of housekeeping left for the team.

(DHL was announced as RHR’s co-primary sponsor on Tuesday, leaving the identity of the other co-sponsor as the final TBA.)

Conway’s father owns one of the largest construction companies in England and is expected to carry similar levels of self-financing for 2011.

While running a fifth car again for John Andretti at Indianapolis is a strong possibility, the team’s practice of fielding a fifth entry at select road courses—as they did in 2009 for Franck Montagny and in 2010 for Adam Carroll—is said to be highly unlikely this year.

Ryan Hunter-Reay: Ryan Hunter-Reay is signed to return for his second season with the team, and funding has now been secured for the full season. In the span of one year, RHR has gone from a part-timer at Andretti to standing as the top driver and most serious threat they have to offer. Good things do indeed happen to good people.

Marco Andretti: Marco Andretti is back for his sixth season with the family-run team. The complete picture for Andretti’s sponsorship is unknown (after a few of the most substantial associate sponsors withdrew at the end of the season) but rest assured: Marco will be well taken care of in 2011.

Danica Patrick: Danica Patrick will return for her fifth season with Andretti. 2010 marked her worst performance in the championship since her rookie season, placing 10th. Patrick’s split efforts will continue in 2011, and we’re told her open-wheel and stock car calendar will look very similar to what she ran in 2010.

Patrick recently fueled speculation about her plans for 2012, stating that her decision whether to stay in the IndyCar Series or to move to NASCAR on a full-time basis will be made by a variety of factors that are hard to define.

Mike Conway: In some ways, 2011 will mark Conway’s first opportunity for major growth as an IndyCar driver. As the lone full-time entry as a rookie at Dreyer & Reinbold in 2009, the revolving door of teammates in DRR’s second entry gave the 27-year-old Briton little chance to learn from a seasoned veteran. He had the perfect opportunity to mentor under Justin Wilson last year at DRR, but his infamous crash at Indy shortened a promising season.

Now, as the defacto replacement for Tony Kanaan, Conway has a great opportunity to form Andretti’s best one-two punch alongside Hunter-Reay. The real question surrounding Conway is how well he can deal with any of the intra-team strife and drama that will surely appear at some point during the year.

He’s known for being level-headed, but that’s not hard to maintain at a relatively peaceful team like DRR. If things heat up inside Andretti, and provided he and RHR remain close, Conway is a perfect candidate to earn IndyCar’s (non-existent) ‘Comeback Driver of the Year’ and ‘Most Improved Driver’ awards.

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