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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Power, Chevy Win Action-Packed Barber Race
It was Power’s 16th win of his career, the second for his team and Chevrolet in as many races and the third victory for the Penske organization at Barber.
Heat, humidity and a packed house greeted the 26 IZOD IndyCar Series for Sunday’s 90-lap Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama and after Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon looked like the win was in their grasp, Team Penske’s Will Power snatched the lead on the final round of pit stops and held it to the end.
For fans that were less than impressed with how Round 1 was depicted on TV, Round 2 offered just what the series needed, delivering action, heated battles and passing on almost every lap.
When it was over, Power took the 16th win of his career, the second for his team and their engine supplier Chevrolet in as many races and the third victory for the Penske organization in three events at Barber.
Target Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon finished second for the second time in a span of seven days, and Castroneves, who earned the win last weekend at St. Pete, rounded out the podium in third.
“That was an awesome race,” said Power. “Tim Cindric (Power’s strategist) kept putting us in such a good position. To get the Verizon 12 car in victory lane with the Chevy engine was awesome.”
The Chevrolet-Honda-Chevrolet top 3 gave IndyCar fans something to look forward to as Dixon had plenty of speed and a shot to win until a slow final stop handed the lead to Power. With the two cars somewhat evenly matched, Power inched forward during the 16-lap blast to the checkered flag.
“Team Target did a good job all day, but I’m kind of angry because it was our race to lose and we lost it today,” said the visibly frustrated Dixon.
Castroneves worked his fading tires to their last inch of grip in the run to the finish, and also used IndyCar’s newer, friendlier defending rules to his advantage.
“To be honest, it was very difficult. Unfortunately, I locked [up] a little bit too much, slid a bit too much. That’s why [Rahal] was able to catch [me]. In the end of the day, I think it was a great battle.”
Rahal was hoping to pass Castroneves and came close on more than one occasion, but had to settle for fourth, improving from a 12-place finish at St. Pete.
“With the blocking rule the way it is, if you move once, which he did, you can’t pass,” he said, while also admitting he had no issue with the Brazilian’s tactics. “I’m very happy with a fourth place, but we should be sitting on that podium.”
Simon Pagenaud has made the small, single-car Schmidt Hamilton team a force to be reckoned with in the span of two races, improving his sixth-place result at Round 1 with a fighting fifth at Barber.
“The HP car was probably the fastest out there today,” he said. “Shame we didn’t get to put a lap in qualifying because the car was hooked up today. We’re looking good heading into Long Beach. At the end of the day, I’m happy with fifth.”
Other notables included James Hinchcliffe in sixth, who had a horrible time in the pits, losing a top 4, and Rubens Barrichello, who took eighth and seemed to find his groove in the latter stages of the race.
"I first need to say thank you to the crew and thank you for my first top-10 finish," he said. "It's hard to be happy with a top-10, but starting so far back and at some points in the race even further back, I think it was a positive that I was able to work my way back through the field. By the end of the race, I had one of the fastest running cars, so I think it was enjoyable to watch and for me to race. People race hard over here, but they were fair."
In the end, the victory could have gone to a number of players, but Power's march from ninth to victory lane would not be denied. all three engine manufacturers were competitive, including a stunning drive by Sebastien Bourdais who stormed from 17th to take ninth for the Lotus-powered Dragon Racing team.
"It was a really good race," said the four-time Champ Car champion. "I honestly didn't believe we were going to hold off Justin [Wilson], [James] Jakes and [Dario] Franchitti and all these guys and race them this close because we know we're at a big power disadvantage. Our car held its tires very well and that put us in that position. We passed a lot of people and it was a pretty exciting day."
Oriol Servia also starred for Lotus, hauling his Dreyer & Reinbold car from 26th--dead last--to 13th after forcing the issue at every opportunity in the latter half of the event.
Reigning champion Dario Franchitti also overcame a poor starting position, rallying from 18th to 10th with a last lap, last corner pass sealing his comeback.
I had fun when I had new Firestone Reds," he said. "I felt semi-invincible. I didn’t feel so invincible on Blacks. Never been so happy for a 10th-place finish. We made a lot of progress with the car today. We can go from there. I hope the fans enjoyed the racing as much as I did!”
Chevrolet enjoyed an amazing weekend of racing, earning another IndyCar victory, the first win for its Corvette Daytona Prototype during Saturday's GRAND-AM Rolex Series race at Barber, Friday night's NASCAR Crafstsman Truck race at Martinsville and Sunday's Sprint Cup race at the same track.
Barber Motorsports Park announced its three-day crowd at 81,000, with 52,000 coming out to watch Sunday's feature race.
The action resumes in two weeks at the Long Beach Grand Prix where Castroneves holds a two-point lead over Dixon in the standings.
RACE
Helio Castroneves took the lead at the start, with James Hinchcliffe in close pursuit, but the stalled Team Barracuda BHA Lotus car of Alex Tagliani brought out the caution before the end of the lap.
The big movers on Lap 1—in just over a half-lap of green—found Simon Pagenaud making a daring pass on the outside of the Turn 5 hairpin, improving from 10th to eighth, and Graham Rahal who improved from eighth to sixth.
Back in the field, Dario Franchitti, who started 18th alongside fellow four-time champion Sebastien Bourdais, moved past the Frenchman to hold 17th.
The Lap 4 restart saw Scott Dixon trying to take second from James Hinchcliffe on the inside of Turn 1, but Mike Conway, who was on the outside of Dixon, was pushed wide falling from fourth to seventh.
Graham Rahal picked up two more spots, jumping to fourth in tow behind Ganassi teammate Dixon.
By Lap 8, Bourdais was mounting a charge from the rear, passing Franchitti on the restart and taking Rubens Barrichello at Turn 5 for 16th. Up front, Castroneves led a Chevrolet 1-2 on Lap 10, holding .61 seconds over Hinchcliffe, 1.24 seconds over Dixon, 3.28 seconds over Rahal and 6.04 seconds over Tony Kanaan. Takuma Sato passed Marco Andretti for 12th on Lap 10, up from his 16th starting position.
After the Lotus engineers plugged in and took a look at the data, Tagliani hopped out of the car and shared what took him out of the race.
“Just took the green flag, went into Turn 1 and the engine died,” he said. “Seems to be a pretty heavy mechanical failure from what they told me.”
PHOTOS: Click Here or on the image below to view INDYCAR: Barber Motorsports Park 2012
Pagenaud finally got by Conway for seventh on Lap 13 after stalking the Englishman for many laps. Oriol Servia made the first pit stop on Lap 14, shifting to an alternate strategy to overcome the 10-spot grid penalty he received after changing engines on Friday.
Marco Andretti followed Servia on Lap 15, dropping from 13th to 24th as Castroneves maintained a 1.08-second lead over Hinchcliffe.
Justin Wilson stopped to pit on Lap 16, the same lap Simona Pagenaud ran long at Turn 8 and ventured across the grass without losing seventh place. Dario Franchitti and teammate Charlie Kimball pitted on Lap 17, with the Scot changing to the stickier Firestone Reds.
Ryan Hunter-Reay, Simona de Silvestro and Takuma Sato pitted on Lap 18, with JR Hildebrand pitting from sixth the following lap along with Ryan Briscoe. Mike Conway and E.J. Viso waited until Lap 20 to make their first stop, with most teams reckoning 26-27 laps were the absolute maximum.
Will Power make his first stop on Lap 21 as Marco Andretti and E.J. Viso, on cold tires, touched as Andretti hounded the Venezuelan from behind. With Viso holding his ground, his teammate, Rubens Barrichello, pitted on Lap 22, falling to 14th.
Castroneves extended his lead over Hinchcliffe to 2.06 seconds as Bourdais pitted on Lap 23 after making it all the way up to seventh as cars cycled through the pits. Kanaan surrendered fifth on Lap 24 as he pitted, with his countryman Castroneves handing over the lead to Hinchcliffe on the following lap.
Pagenaud also pitted on Lap 25, losing a bit of time as he struggled to pull away, and both Hinchcliffe and Dixon pitted simultaneously, with the Kiwi leapfrogging the Canadian thanks to a rocket-fast stop by the Ganassi team and a delay by the Andretti squad.
Graham Rahal took over the lead, but it lasted barely a lap when he pitted on Lap 26. When it all shook out, Dixon led Castroneves by .99 seconds on Lap 28, followed by Hinchcliffe, Rahal and Kanaan.
Power, up to sixth, had his sights set on Kanaan, and a pass looked inevitable. Behind Power, Conway held seventh, Pagenaud ran eighth, Hildebrand was ninth and Briscoe completed the top 10.
The most impressive driver just shy of the one-third distance mark was Bourdais who help 11th after suffering a drive-by-wire electronics issue in the morning warm-up, limiting his learning curve for the race.
Kanaan held off Power until Lap 30, but a late-braking move by the Aussie took fifth at Turn 5. Sato and Franchitti continued an ongoing battle for 15th, with the Scot using the popular Turn 5 to pass the Japanese driver under braking. On Lap 35, Franchitti picked up another spot, diving under E.J. Viso for 14th and Simona de Silvestro also improved to 21st, taking a gripless Justin Wilson with ease.
Running his stint on Firestone Blacks, Pagenaud saw his gap to Conway in sixth extend with Ed Carpenter, on Reds, separating the two. Despite his fist waving, Pagenaud had no immediate answer for Carpenter and was forced to deal with the disparity in grip between the two cars.
Lap 39 saw Dixon’s lead over Castroneves stretch further, with 4.19 seconds splitting the Honda/Chevrolet battle. Hinchcliffe was a distant third, 8.44 seconds back. Charlie Kimball lost 17th-place after running off the track at Turn 9, followed by a pit stop for fresh tires. Simona de Silvestro, Will Power, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Sebastien Bourdais, Marco Andretti and E.J. Viso also stopped on Lap 41.
A problem with the left rear wheel change doubled the length of Hunter-Reay’s stop, compounding a frustrating day. Conway stopped on Lap 42, as did Hildebrand.
Dixon’s dominance at the front continued as he pushed the lead to 7.24 seconds by Lap 43 as Franchitti and Kanaan pitted on the same lap. Barrichello and Hinchcliffe, who was running third, paid a call to the pit on Lap 44, with a slow right rear tire change also striking the Andretti team.
Graham Rahal made his second stop on Lap 45, leaving only Dixon, Castroneves, Pagenaud and Newgarden left to make their second stops. Kimball’s day came to a conclusion on Lap 47 as pulled off course.
Dixon finally pitted on Lap 47 and in a familiar theme on Sunday, had a slow rear tire change. He returned to the track directly ahead of Power who had hot tires and plenty of motivation.
Castroneves pitted and received a flawless stop on Lap 48 and Pagenaud, the last to stop, came in on Lap 50.
With one stop left for the rest of the field and no fuel concerns for most cars, the contenders were at maximum attack.
For fans that were less than impressed with how Round 1 was depicted on TV, Round 2 offered just what the series needed, delivering action, heated battles and passing on almost every lap.
When it was over, Power took the 16th win of his career, the second for his team and their engine supplier Chevrolet in as many races and the third victory for the Penske organization in three events at Barber.
Target Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon finished second for the second time in a span of seven days, and Castroneves, who earned the win last weekend at St. Pete, rounded out the podium in third.
“That was an awesome race,” said Power. “Tim Cindric (Power’s strategist) kept putting us in such a good position. To get the Verizon 12 car in victory lane with the Chevy engine was awesome.”
The Chevrolet-Honda-Chevrolet top 3 gave IndyCar fans something to look forward to as Dixon had plenty of speed and a shot to win until a slow final stop handed the lead to Power. With the two cars somewhat evenly matched, Power inched forward during the 16-lap blast to the checkered flag.
“Team Target did a good job all day, but I’m kind of angry because it was our race to lose and we lost it today,” said the visibly frustrated Dixon.
Castroneves worked his fading tires to their last inch of grip in the run to the finish, and also used IndyCar’s newer, friendlier defending rules to his advantage.
“To be honest, it was very difficult. Unfortunately, I locked [up] a little bit too much, slid a bit too much. That’s why [Rahal] was able to catch [me]. In the end of the day, I think it was a great battle.”
Rahal was hoping to pass Castroneves and came close on more than one occasion, but had to settle for fourth, improving from a 12-place finish at St. Pete.
“With the blocking rule the way it is, if you move once, which he did, you can’t pass,” he said, while also admitting he had no issue with the Brazilian’s tactics. “I’m very happy with a fourth place, but we should be sitting on that podium.”
Simon Pagenaud has made the small, single-car Schmidt Hamilton team a force to be reckoned with in the span of two races, improving his sixth-place result at Round 1 with a fighting fifth at Barber.
“The HP car was probably the fastest out there today,” he said. “Shame we didn’t get to put a lap in qualifying because the car was hooked up today. We’re looking good heading into Long Beach. At the end of the day, I’m happy with fifth.”
Other notables included James Hinchcliffe in sixth, who had a horrible time in the pits, losing a top 4, and Rubens Barrichello, who took eighth and seemed to find his groove in the latter stages of the race.
"I first need to say thank you to the crew and thank you for my first top-10 finish," he said. "It's hard to be happy with a top-10, but starting so far back and at some points in the race even further back, I think it was a positive that I was able to work my way back through the field. By the end of the race, I had one of the fastest running cars, so I think it was enjoyable to watch and for me to race. People race hard over here, but they were fair."
In the end, the victory could have gone to a number of players, but Power's march from ninth to victory lane would not be denied. all three engine manufacturers were competitive, including a stunning drive by Sebastien Bourdais who stormed from 17th to take ninth for the Lotus-powered Dragon Racing team.
"It was a really good race," said the four-time Champ Car champion. "I honestly didn't believe we were going to hold off Justin [Wilson], [James] Jakes and [Dario] Franchitti and all these guys and race them this close because we know we're at a big power disadvantage. Our car held its tires very well and that put us in that position. We passed a lot of people and it was a pretty exciting day."
Oriol Servia also starred for Lotus, hauling his Dreyer & Reinbold car from 26th--dead last--to 13th after forcing the issue at every opportunity in the latter half of the event.
Reigning champion Dario Franchitti also overcame a poor starting position, rallying from 18th to 10th with a last lap, last corner pass sealing his comeback.
I had fun when I had new Firestone Reds," he said. "I felt semi-invincible. I didn’t feel so invincible on Blacks. Never been so happy for a 10th-place finish. We made a lot of progress with the car today. We can go from there. I hope the fans enjoyed the racing as much as I did!”
Chevrolet enjoyed an amazing weekend of racing, earning another IndyCar victory, the first win for its Corvette Daytona Prototype during Saturday's GRAND-AM Rolex Series race at Barber, Friday night's NASCAR Crafstsman Truck race at Martinsville and Sunday's Sprint Cup race at the same track.
Barber Motorsports Park announced its three-day crowd at 81,000, with 52,000 coming out to watch Sunday's feature race.
The action resumes in two weeks at the Long Beach Grand Prix where Castroneves holds a two-point lead over Dixon in the standings.
RACE
Helio Castroneves took the lead at the start, with James Hinchcliffe in close pursuit, but the stalled Team Barracuda BHA Lotus car of Alex Tagliani brought out the caution before the end of the lap.
The big movers on Lap 1—in just over a half-lap of green—found Simon Pagenaud making a daring pass on the outside of the Turn 5 hairpin, improving from 10th to eighth, and Graham Rahal who improved from eighth to sixth.
Back in the field, Dario Franchitti, who started 18th alongside fellow four-time champion Sebastien Bourdais, moved past the Frenchman to hold 17th.
The Lap 4 restart saw Scott Dixon trying to take second from James Hinchcliffe on the inside of Turn 1, but Mike Conway, who was on the outside of Dixon, was pushed wide falling from fourth to seventh.
Graham Rahal picked up two more spots, jumping to fourth in tow behind Ganassi teammate Dixon.
By Lap 8, Bourdais was mounting a charge from the rear, passing Franchitti on the restart and taking Rubens Barrichello at Turn 5 for 16th. Up front, Castroneves led a Chevrolet 1-2 on Lap 10, holding .61 seconds over Hinchcliffe, 1.24 seconds over Dixon, 3.28 seconds over Rahal and 6.04 seconds over Tony Kanaan. Takuma Sato passed Marco Andretti for 12th on Lap 10, up from his 16th starting position.
After the Lotus engineers plugged in and took a look at the data, Tagliani hopped out of the car and shared what took him out of the race.
“Just took the green flag, went into Turn 1 and the engine died,” he said. “Seems to be a pretty heavy mechanical failure from what they told me.”
PHOTOS: Click Here or on the image below to view INDYCAR: Barber Motorsports Park 2012
Pagenaud finally got by Conway for seventh on Lap 13 after stalking the Englishman for many laps. Oriol Servia made the first pit stop on Lap 14, shifting to an alternate strategy to overcome the 10-spot grid penalty he received after changing engines on Friday.
Marco Andretti followed Servia on Lap 15, dropping from 13th to 24th as Castroneves maintained a 1.08-second lead over Hinchcliffe.
Justin Wilson stopped to pit on Lap 16, the same lap Simona Pagenaud ran long at Turn 8 and ventured across the grass without losing seventh place. Dario Franchitti and teammate Charlie Kimball pitted on Lap 17, with the Scot changing to the stickier Firestone Reds.
Ryan Hunter-Reay, Simona de Silvestro and Takuma Sato pitted on Lap 18, with JR Hildebrand pitting from sixth the following lap along with Ryan Briscoe. Mike Conway and E.J. Viso waited until Lap 20 to make their first stop, with most teams reckoning 26-27 laps were the absolute maximum.
Will Power make his first stop on Lap 21 as Marco Andretti and E.J. Viso, on cold tires, touched as Andretti hounded the Venezuelan from behind. With Viso holding his ground, his teammate, Rubens Barrichello, pitted on Lap 22, falling to 14th.
Castroneves extended his lead over Hinchcliffe to 2.06 seconds as Bourdais pitted on Lap 23 after making it all the way up to seventh as cars cycled through the pits. Kanaan surrendered fifth on Lap 24 as he pitted, with his countryman Castroneves handing over the lead to Hinchcliffe on the following lap.
Pagenaud also pitted on Lap 25, losing a bit of time as he struggled to pull away, and both Hinchcliffe and Dixon pitted simultaneously, with the Kiwi leapfrogging the Canadian thanks to a rocket-fast stop by the Ganassi team and a delay by the Andretti squad.
Graham Rahal took over the lead, but it lasted barely a lap when he pitted on Lap 26. When it all shook out, Dixon led Castroneves by .99 seconds on Lap 28, followed by Hinchcliffe, Rahal and Kanaan.
Power, up to sixth, had his sights set on Kanaan, and a pass looked inevitable. Behind Power, Conway held seventh, Pagenaud ran eighth, Hildebrand was ninth and Briscoe completed the top 10.
The most impressive driver just shy of the one-third distance mark was Bourdais who help 11th after suffering a drive-by-wire electronics issue in the morning warm-up, limiting his learning curve for the race.
Kanaan held off Power until Lap 30, but a late-braking move by the Aussie took fifth at Turn 5. Sato and Franchitti continued an ongoing battle for 15th, with the Scot using the popular Turn 5 to pass the Japanese driver under braking. On Lap 35, Franchitti picked up another spot, diving under E.J. Viso for 14th and Simona de Silvestro also improved to 21st, taking a gripless Justin Wilson with ease.
Running his stint on Firestone Blacks, Pagenaud saw his gap to Conway in sixth extend with Ed Carpenter, on Reds, separating the two. Despite his fist waving, Pagenaud had no immediate answer for Carpenter and was forced to deal with the disparity in grip between the two cars.
Lap 39 saw Dixon’s lead over Castroneves stretch further, with 4.19 seconds splitting the Honda/Chevrolet battle. Hinchcliffe was a distant third, 8.44 seconds back. Charlie Kimball lost 17th-place after running off the track at Turn 9, followed by a pit stop for fresh tires. Simona de Silvestro, Will Power, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Sebastien Bourdais, Marco Andretti and E.J. Viso also stopped on Lap 41.
A problem with the left rear wheel change doubled the length of Hunter-Reay’s stop, compounding a frustrating day. Conway stopped on Lap 42, as did Hildebrand.
Dixon’s dominance at the front continued as he pushed the lead to 7.24 seconds by Lap 43 as Franchitti and Kanaan pitted on the same lap. Barrichello and Hinchcliffe, who was running third, paid a call to the pit on Lap 44, with a slow right rear tire change also striking the Andretti team.
Graham Rahal made his second stop on Lap 45, leaving only Dixon, Castroneves, Pagenaud and Newgarden left to make their second stops. Kimball’s day came to a conclusion on Lap 47 as pulled off course.
Dixon finally pitted on Lap 47 and in a familiar theme on Sunday, had a slow rear tire change. He returned to the track directly ahead of Power who had hot tires and plenty of motivation.
Castroneves pitted and received a flawless stop on Lap 48 and Pagenaud, the last to stop, came in on Lap 50.
With one stop left for the rest of the field and no fuel concerns for most cars, the contenders were at maximum attack.
INDYCAR BRAZIL
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