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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Chevy Closing In On Manufacturers’ Title
With eight wins from 11 rounds so far, Chevrolet can sew up the prized engine manufacturers championship at Mid-Ohio in two weeks.
The Bowtie has been dominant on its return to open-wheel racing. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
With eight wins from 11 rounds so far this season, Chevrolet can sew up the prized engine manufacturers championship in two weeks when the IZOD IndyCar Series visits Mid-Ohio.
After starting off its return to open-wheel competition with four consecutive victories, Chevy's Ilmor-built 2.2-liter, twin-turbo V6 engine lost the next three races--the Indy 500, the street race at Detroit and on the 1.5-mile Texas oval--before rebounding to win the four most recent races.
Aided by three straight victories by Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay and Sunday's win at Edmonton by Team Penske's Helio Castroneves, Chevy has essentially moved the championship beyond the reach of its rivals at Honda.
For Chevy to lose the title, it will need to produce a collapse of epic proportions--in addition to winning the last four races, Honda would also need Lotus to finish ahead of the top Chevy-powered car in three of those events.
With HVM Racing's Simona de Silvestro serving as the sole remaining Lotus-powered car in the field, the odds of that scenario paying out in Honda's favor are exceptionally slim.
Speaking with SPEED.com just after the Chevy team celebrated Castroneves' win, Wayne Bennett, Ilmor's Racing Director, said he's pleased with where Chevy stands in the championship hunt, but isn't quite ready to start spraying the champagne.
"Obviously, we're quietly pleased, but we won't start celebrating until it's mathematically assured," he said. "But it was a great result today."
Bringing the new-for-2012 turbocharged IndyCar engines to life and developing them in a relatively short span of time was a Herculean task for all three engine manufacturers, which makes being on the cusp of winning the engine title even more rewarding.
"It was hard, especially with the manufacturer test program included, but with the help of our teams who were integral in that process, it has been pretty cool," said Bennett. "It was hard, and then beginning the season with back-to-back races and through June it was exceptionally hard, but now we can take a breath now and again and enjoy things for the moment."
After starting off its return to open-wheel competition with four consecutive victories, Chevy's Ilmor-built 2.2-liter, twin-turbo V6 engine lost the next three races--the Indy 500, the street race at Detroit and on the 1.5-mile Texas oval--before rebounding to win the four most recent races.
Aided by three straight victories by Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay and Sunday's win at Edmonton by Team Penske's Helio Castroneves, Chevy has essentially moved the championship beyond the reach of its rivals at Honda.
For Chevy to lose the title, it will need to produce a collapse of epic proportions--in addition to winning the last four races, Honda would also need Lotus to finish ahead of the top Chevy-powered car in three of those events.
With HVM Racing's Simona de Silvestro serving as the sole remaining Lotus-powered car in the field, the odds of that scenario paying out in Honda's favor are exceptionally slim.
Speaking with SPEED.com just after the Chevy team celebrated Castroneves' win, Wayne Bennett, Ilmor's Racing Director, said he's pleased with where Chevy stands in the championship hunt, but isn't quite ready to start spraying the champagne.
"Obviously, we're quietly pleased, but we won't start celebrating until it's mathematically assured," he said. "But it was a great result today."
Bringing the new-for-2012 turbocharged IndyCar engines to life and developing them in a relatively short span of time was a Herculean task for all three engine manufacturers, which makes being on the cusp of winning the engine title even more rewarding.
"It was hard, especially with the manufacturer test program included, but with the help of our teams who were integral in that process, it has been pretty cool," said Bennett. "It was hard, and then beginning the season with back-to-back races and through June it was exceptionally hard, but now we can take a breath now and again and enjoy things for the moment."
INDYCAR BRAZIL
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