2007 IRL Rd. 12--Honda Indy 200 @ Mid-Ohio

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:25 am

Set amongst the woodlands of Central Ohio, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course has seen lots of close, exciting open-wheel action from F5000 to CART to the various SCCA open-wheel formulae(F. Mazda, F. Atlantic, F. Continental, etc) to even the Atlantic Championship..........that tradition returns this weekend as the stars of the IndyCar Series travel to Mid-Ohio for the Honda Indy 200 @ Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance.

Event schedule...........................
note.........all times are U.S. EDT; -4 hrs. GMT
Practice Session #1} 9:30 am-11 am, 20 July 2007
Practice Session #2} 3 pm-4 pm, 20 July 2007
Practice Session #3} 9 am-10 am, 21 July 2007
Single-Car Qualifying} 11:50 am-1:20 pm, 21 July 2007
Firestone Pole Shootout} approximately 10 minutes following SCQ
Final Practice Session} 9:50-10:20 am, 22 July 2007
Race...........................1:30 pm, 22 July 2007
--Domestic TV, ABC Sports
--Domestic AM Radio courtesy of the IMS Radio Network
--Satellite Radio, XM Satellite Radio Ch. 144, XM Sports Nation and Ch. 145, IndyCar Racing

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:08 am

Event: Honda Indy 200 @ Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance
Where: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio
When: 1:30 pm, 22 July 2007

Track Distance} 2.258-miles, 13-turns
Race Distance} 85 laps, 191.3 miles
Pit Straight} 1200 ft.
Main Straight} 3000 ft
Track Width} 40 feet

Entry List....................................
Tomas Scheckter, #2 Indy Vision on Joost
Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske
Vitor Meira, #4 Delphi/Skyfi
Sarah Fisher, #5 AAMCO Transmissions
Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Team Penske
Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola
Scott Sharp, #8 Patron Tequila
Scott Dixon, #9 Target
Dan Wheldon, #10 Target
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11
Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co./EverGuard
Buddy Rice, #15 RollCoater/A1 Team USA
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #17 Ethanol
Ed Carpenter, #20 Hitachi Power Tools
A.J. Foyt, IV, #22 Indy Vision on Joost
Marco Andretti, #26 NYSE Group
Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club
Kosuke Matsuura, #55 Panasonic/ARTA/TPR

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:04 am

~~Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is owned and operated by Truesports, Inc., which was created in the late 1950's by the late Jim Trueman; the track, designed by Trueman and Les Griebling, opened in 1962 and has hosted or is currently hosting the following motorsports series...........
--(1980-2003)CART
--IRL IndyCar Series
--IRL Indy Pro Series
--AMA Pro Racing(AMA Superbike, Supersport, etc.)
--(until 2006)SCCA National Runoffs
--American LeMans Series
--Grand Am Rolex Series
--Grand Am Koni Challenge Series

~~Past winners at Mid-Ohio from 1980-2003
1980--Johnny Rutherford
1983 & 1989--Teo Fabi
1984--Mario Andretti
1985 & 1986--Bobby Rahal
1987--Roberto Guerrero
1988, 1992 & 1993--Emerson Fittipaldi
1990 & 1991--Michael Andretti
1994 & 1995--Al Unser, Jr.
1996 & 1997--Alex Zanardi
1998--Adrian Fernandez
1999--Juan Pablo Montoya
2000 & 2001--Helio Castroneves
2002--Patrick Carpentier
2003--Paul Tracy

~~The Honda Indy 200 @ Mid-Ohio is the third of five road/street course events on the IndyCar Series schedule; those events are..............
--Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg(1 April 2007)
--Camping World Indy Grand Prix(8 July 2007)
--Honda Indy 200 @ Mid-Ohio(22 July 2007)
--Motorola Indy 300 @ Sonoma(26 Aug. 2007)
--Detroit Indy Grand Prix(2 Sept. 2007)

The Week's Storylines..............................
1} 2-way points battle.............With six races left on the calendar, the battle for the championship appears to be a 2-way fight btwn. Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon; can the Scotsman stretch out his 34-pt. lead some or will the Iceman shrink it down more?

2} Local connections............For IndyCar Series drivers Sarah Fisher and Sam Hornish, Jr., Mid-Ohio is a home race as both hail from Ohio(Fisher from Commercial Point, OH and Hornish, Jr. from Defiance, OH); for Rahal-Letterman Racing, Mid-Ohio's their home race as the team is based out of Hilliard, Ohio, just outside the state capitol of Columbus.

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 1:06 am

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 5:22 am

Change is in the air at Mid-Ohio as nearby-based Rahal-Letterman Racing has replaced driver Jeff Simmons, effective immediately with former ChampCar and Grand-Am driver Ryan Hunter-Reay. Here are some links to the announcement..........................

Switch in the No. 17

Ryan Hunter-Reay Joins Rahal-Letterman Racing IndyCar Program

Hunter-Reay Bio..................
DOB/Location........17 Dec. 1980, Boca Raton, Fla.
Current Residence.............Boca Raton, Fla.

~~Prior to 1998, competed in numerous karting events, winning several WKA and CIK-FIA titles
~~1998, Barber Dodge South Region Rookie Award Winner
~~1999, won both Barber Dodge Eastern Region and National Championship
~~2000, competed in Barber Dodge Pro Series; won rookie honors w/five top-5 finishes(including 4 podiums)
~~2001, finished 5th in Barber Dodge Pro Series w/wins at Lime Rock and Toronto
~~2002, competed in Toyota Atlantic Championship for Hylton Racing, finishing 6th in points; won various awards, including those for most poles, most fast laps, most laps led........also won the BBS Rising Star award and WorldCom Fastest Driver Award
~~2003, competed in Champ Car World Series competition for American Spirit Racing; finished 14th overall(2nd in rookie standings); became first American rookie driver to win in ChampCar competition w/a win at Surfers Paradise
~~2004, competed in Champ Car for Herdez Competition; won from the pole at the Milwaukee Mile; recipient of the Greg Moore Legacy Award
~~2005, competed in Champ Car for Rocketsports w/best finishes of 6th at Denver and Toronto
~~2006, competed in Rolex Sports Car Series, making 2 Grand Touring starts w/SAMAX Motorsports and 1 Daytona Prototype start for SunTrust Racing; also participated in General Motors(a/k/a Chevrolet) NASCAR Driver Development program
~~2007, competed in Grand-Am Rolex Series, making 3 Daytona Prototype starts for Riley-Matthews Motorsports; competed in A1GP at New Zealand for Team USA and worked w/NASCAR's Robby Gordon Motorsports' on their Car of Tomorrow program

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:15 am

Mid-Ohio Practice Session #1 top-5..........................

1st} Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing...........................1:07.548 sec/120.342 mph
2nd} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing............................1:07.789 sec/119.913 mph
3rd} Helio Castroneves, Team Penske................................1:08.035 sec/119.480 mph
4th} Marco Andretti, Andretti-Green Racing.........................1:08.057 sec/119.441 mph
5th} Dario Franchitti, Andretti-Green Racing........................1:08.093 sec/119.378 mph

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:18 am

Mid-Ohio Practice Session #2 top-5............................

1st} Dario Franchitti, Andretti-Green Racing.......................1:07.363 sec/120.672 mph**
2nd} Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing.........................1:07.568 sec/120.306 mph
3rd} Helio Castroneves, Team Penske...............................1:07.690 sec/120.089 mph
4th} Sam Hornish, Jr., Team Penske.................................1:07.755 sec/119.973 mph
5th} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing............................1:07.978 sec/119.580 mph

**--fastest after Friday's two practice sessions

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:12 am

Mid-Ohio Practice Session #3 top-5......................

1st} Sam Hornish, Jr., Team Penske................................1:06.832 sec/121.631 mph
2nd} Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing.......................1:06.906 sec/121.495 mph
3rd} Dario Franchitti, Andretti-Green Racing.....................1:07.029 sec/121.273 mph
4th} Helio Castroneves, Team Penske.............................1:07.329 sec/120.733 mph
5th} Marco Andretti, Andretti-Green Racing......................1:07.345 sec/120.703 mph

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:24 am

Honda Indy 200 @ Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance starting grid......................

1st} Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske............................1:06.838 sec/121.620 mph
2nd} Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola.......................................1:07.126 sec/121.098 mph

3rd} Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11.....................................1:07.176 sec/121.008 mph
4th} Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club.............................1:07.393 sec/120.618 mph

5th} Marco Andretti, #26 NYSE Group.................................1:07.404 sec/120.599 mph
6th} Scott Dixon, #9 Target...............................................1:07.474 sec/120.473 mph

7th} Sam Hornish, Jr., #6 Team Penske..............................1:08.369 sec/118.895 mph
8th} Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co./EverGuard.........1:08.700 sec/118.323 mph

9th} Buddy Rice, #15 RollCoater/A1 Team USA...................1:08.810 sec/118.134 mph
10th}(R)Ryan Hunter-Reay, #17 Ethanol.............................1:08.874 sec/118.024 mph

11th} Dan Wheldon, #10 Target.........................................1:09.227 sec/117.422 mph
12th} Tonas Scheckter, #2 Indy Vision on Joost..................1:09.247 sec/117.388 mph

13th} Kosuke Matsuura, #55 Panasonic/ARTA/TPR..............1:09.605 sec/116.785 mph
14th} A.J. Foyt, IV, #22 Indy Vision on Joost......................1:09.801 sec/116.456 mph

15th} Scott Sharp, #8 Patron Tequila.................................1:10.231 sec/115.743 mph
16th} Ed Carpenter, #20 Hitachi Power Tools......................1:10.747 sec/114.900 mph

17th} Sarah Fisher, #5 AAMCO Transmissions....................1:11.060 sec/114.394 mph
18th} Vitor Meira, #4 Delphi/Skyfi.....................................no posted time

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:18 am

~~One bit of good news for the IndyCar Series came yesterday, as Aguri-Panther Racing will field a third IndyCar for current Indy Pro Series driver Hideki Mutoh at the ICS season finale at Chicagoland, joining drivers Vitor Meira and Kosuke Matsuura. Driver lineups for the team will be IIRC,

Vitor Meira, #4 Delphi
Kosuke Matsuura, #55 Panasonic/ARTA/TPR
Hideki Mutoh, #60 Honda Formula Dream Project

~~Another storyline going into the race was the return of Andretti-Green Racing to the front of the field, as all four drivers placed in the top-6 for the Firestone Pole Shootout.........Care to guess who led the AGR train?
--Dario? Nope!
--TK? Nope!!
--Marco? Nah.....
--Who's left.......oh, Danica!!

Yeah, that would be correct. After a not-so great race at Watkins Glen a few races back, Patrick put the #7 Motorola car on point during SCQ, then put the car squarely on the front-row in the Shootout. Hopefully, the confidence-building performance in qualifying will give the Motorola team a boost and possibly put Danica in victory lane today.

~~Throttle problems? Twice this weekend a bit of a problem has developed, first with the IPS car of Jonathan Klein Saturday and then in the final warm-up w/Ryan Hunter-Reay's IndyCar. Both crashed when, during braking, the throttles stuck and sent them flying into the tirewalls at different parts of the circuit. Series officials and officials with Dallara have been looking at the problem and think they have a handle on it. What's happening is that, for some reason, if the brakes suffer a failure(brake pedal brakes or a master cylindeer goes bad, for instance) it can send the brake pedal right to the floor and, if the throttle's close enough, can take the throttle w/them. Series tech officials have sent a technical bulletin to all the ICS and IPS teams to check the throttle and brake assemblies throughout the weekend; thankfully, there is an off-week next week, so IRL officials should have a handle on this.

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:01 am

Cars away and they will see the green the second time by on the backstraight leading into turn 4.............

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:03 am

Beginning to form up in rows of 2 for the start; due to the layout of Mid-Ohio, the finish line is on the pitstraight, but the race will start on the long backstriaght past the kink prior to turn 4

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:06 am

Passing the finish line, preparing to start....................cars formed up, entering the Keyhole(turn 2)

GREEN FLAG! GREEN FLAG!!!

And we have a caution!! Full-course caution!
Looks like Patrick went off-course to the outside; she's back on, but down a few spots; Marco's flipped over, second time this year he's gone over this year(including Indy)

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:08 am

Looks like Kanaan clipped the right-rear of Patrick's car; Patrick goes off-track for a moment.....then Kanaan spins and clips Marco, which sends him over; he is okay, but it will be a very animated post-race debrief in the AGR paddock this evening.

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:11 am

Top-3 at the moment are Castroneves, Dixon and Manning; all three have prior experience at this track from their CART days(Castroneves has 2 wins from CART races in 2000 and 2001)

Pits are open now........looks like Kanaan's team are setting up for a stop

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2007 IRL Rd. 12--Honda Indy 200 @ Mid-Ohio

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Firestone Fast Facts..........

Mid-Week News and Notes.........

Change at RLR.....Simmons out, Hunter-Reay in

Pre-race news and notes...............