2008 IRL Rd. 9--SunTrust Indy Challenge

[mlittle]

With the season at its' midway point, the stars of the IndyCar Series now head towards the 3/4-mile Richmond International Raceway, home of the SunTrust Indy Challenge........one of the series' toughest ovals, this track places an emphasis on mechanical grip and close-quarters racing. Drivers must stay at 10/10ths' the entire race; traffic is always a concern here, and with the higher car counts, it becomes even more of a concern.

Event Schedule........................
note....all times US EDT, -4 hrs GMT
~~Practice Session #1, 4-7 pm 26 June 2008
~~Practice Session #2, 12-1:45 pm, 27 June 2008
~~Practice Session #3, 3:15-5:15 pm, 27 June 2008
~~PEAK Motor Oil Qualifying, 7:30 pm, 27 June 2008
~~SunTrust Indy Challenge, 8 pm, 28 June 2008

[mlittle]

Track Facts............................
~~RIR is a 3/4 asphalt-paved oval
~~frontstretch is 1290 ft. banked at 8 degrees
~~turns are banked at 14 degrees
~~backstretch is 860 ft. banked at 2 degrees


Past Winners...........................
~~Buddy Lazier, 2001
~~Sam Hornish, Jr., 2002 and 2006
~~Scott Dixon, 2003
~~Dan Wheldon, 2004
~~Helio Castroneves, 2005
~~Dario Franchitti, 2007

[mlittle]

~~each team will receive 8 sets of Firestone Firehawk tires; former ChampCar teams participating in Thursday's 1st session will receive an extra three sets
~~the tire compounds to be used are the same ones that were used from a Firestone tire test in mid-March involving TGR's Scott Dixon and Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe; the tires were previously used at Milwaukee earlier this month
~~the tire stagger for Richmond is 0.60 inches, the largest amt. of stagger of any oval venue on the IndyCar Series calendar

Al Speyer, Executive Director, Bridgestone Motorsports:

Richmond completes the run of all three IndyCar short ovals in a four-race span. The drivers say these tracks, while similar in length, are very different to drive. That's quite apparent from the Firestone tires as well, as we are using differing tire specifications for (all three short ovals). The Firehawk spec for Richmond combines part of the Milwaukee spec along with a new right-side confirmed at the Richmond tire test in March. We could have given the teams and drivers one spec for all three short ovals, but that's not how we do things at Firestone. Our race tire development staff is constantly working to make our products better, even if it means developing different tire specifications for each short track. The Richmond race is always exciting; with the new Firehawk tires, a larger field and 50 extra laps, it will only be more exciting this year.

[mlittle]

SunTrust Indy Challenge Entry List...........................


A.J. Foyt, IV, #2 Vision Wellness/CardioChek
Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske
Vitor Meira, #4 National Guard/Delphi
Oriol Servia, #5 Plantronics
Ryan Briscoe, #6 Team Penske
Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola
(R)Will Power, #8 Aussie Vineyards
Scott Dixon, #9 Target
Dan Wheldon, #10 Target
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11
Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co.
Buddy Rice, #15 RollCoater
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #17 Ethanol
Bruno Junquiera, #18 Z-Line Designs
(R)Mario Moraes, #19 Sonny's Real Pit BBQ
Ed Carpenter, #20 Menards/DirecTV
Townsend Bell, #23 Rigid Building Systems
John Andretti, #24 1-800-Las-Vegas
Marty Roth, #25 Cirrus Aircraft
Marco Andretti, #26 Blockbuster
(R)Hideki Mutoh, #27 Formula Dream
(R)Ernest0[E.J.] Viso, #33 PDVSA
(R)Jaime Camara, #34 Sangari
(R)Enrique Bernoldi, #36 Sangari
(R)Justin Wilson, #02 McDonald's
(R)Graham Rahal, #06 Hole in the Wall Camps

[mlittle]

12 drivers' took to the track this afternoon and early evening to start the weekend's activities; all rookies entrants(expect AGR's Hideki Mutoh) took part along with veterans Oriol Servia, Marty Roth, John Andretti, Townsend Bell and Ryan Hunter-Reay..........


1} Oriol Servia, KV Racing Tech,.........................16.139 sec/167.295 mph
2}(R)Will Power, KV Racing Tech,.......................16.345 sec/165.185 mph
3}(R)E.J. Viso, CTE-HVM Racing..........................16.377 sec/164.870 mph
4}(R)Enrique Bernoldi, Conquest Racing..............16.569 sec/162.956 mph
5}(R)Jaime Camara, Conquest Racing.................16.573 sec/162.920 mph
6} Townsend Bell, Dreyer & Reinbold..................16.666 sec/162.011 mph
7}(R)Graham Rahal, NHL Racing.........................16.693 sec/161.744 mph
8} Ryan Hunter-Reay, Rahal-Letterman...............16.696 sec/161.713 mph
9}(R)Justin Wilson, NHL Racing...........................16.888 sec/159.879 mph
10}(R)Mario Moraes, Dale Coyne Racing.............16.921 sec/159.566 mph
11} John Andretti, Roth Racing...........................17.120 sec/157.710 mph
12} Marty Roth, Roth Racing..............................18.099 sec/149.180 mph

[mlittle]

Richmond Practice Session #1 top-5.......................
1} Ryan Hunter-Reay, Rahal-Letterman Racing, 16.200 sec/166.664 mph
2} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing, 16.220 sec/166.463 mph
3} Buddy Rice, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 16.269 sec/165.962 mph
4}(R)E.J. Viso, CTE-HVM Racing, 16.271 sec/165.932 mph
5} Oriol Servia, KV Racing Technology, 16.276 sec/165.887 mph

Richmond Practice Session #2 top-5.........................
1} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing, 16.237 sec/166.291 mph
2} Buddy Rice, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, 16.327 sec/165.369 mph
3} Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske, 16.364 sec/164.993 mph
4} E.J. Viso, CTE-HVM Racing, 16.367 sec/164.966 mph
5} Bruno Junquiera, Dale Coyne Racing, 16.412 sec/164.519 mph

[mlittle]

SunTrust Indy Challenge Starting Grid.............................


1} Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11........................................167.876 mph
2} Marco Andretti, #26 Blockbuster.....................................167.795 mph

3}(R)Graham Rahal, #06 Hole in the Wall Camps.................167.250 mph
4} Scott Dixon, #9 Target...................................................167.120 mph

5} Buddy Rice, #15 RollCoater............................................166.804 mph
6} Dan Wheldon, #10 Target...............................................166.768 mph

7}(R)Hideki Mutoh, #27 Formula Dream...............................166.518 mph
8} A.J. Foyt, IV, #2 Vision Wellness/CardioChek...................166.126 mph

9} Bruno Junquiera, #18 Z-Line Designs..............................166.032 mph
10} Oriol Servia, #5 Plantronics..........................................165.815 mph

11} Ryan Briscoe, #6 Team Penske.....................................165.643 mph
12} John Andretti, #24 1-800-Las-Vegas..............................165.275 mph

13} Ed Carpenter, #20 Menards/DirecTV..............................164.963 mph
14} Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola..........................................164.396 mph

15} Marty Roth, #25 Cirrus Aircraft.....................................164.326 mph
16}(R)Will Power, #8 Aussie Vineyards................................164.321 mph

17} Vitor Meira, #4 National Guard/Delphi............................163.849 mph
18} Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske..............................163.353 mph

19}(R)E.J. Viso, #33 PDVSA................................................163.170 mph
20}(R)Mario Moraes, #19 Sonny's Real Pit BBQ....................162.566 mph

21} Townsend Bell, #23 Rigid Building Systems....................162.517 mph
22} Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co............................160.616 mph

23}(R)Justin Wilson, #02 McDonald's...................................159.652 mph
24}(R)Jaime Camara, #34 Sangari......................................158.884 mph

25} Ryan Hunter-Reay, #17 Ethanol...............................no posted speed
26}(R)Enrique Bernoldi, #36 Sangari..............................no posted speed

[mlittle]

It had been a little bit of a drought for Andretti-Green Racing's 'elder statesman', 2004 series champion Tony Kanaan, who last won on the streets of Belle Isle in 2007............that all went away as he survived "the Crashfest at Richmond", a/k/a the SunTrust Indy Challenge and notched his first win of 2008.

You could tell things were going to get very ugly(crashwise) very quickly when RLR's Ryan Hunter-Reay spun on the start, bringing out the first of a total of nine cautions totaling 105 laps, prompting some in the media to wonder "why are we racing here again?"[read ar1.com's take on the topic in paragraph three of their race report.......think "Mickey Mouse track"........ ]

Even with all the cautions, it was an AGR night most of the time as both Kanaan and teammate Marco Andretti led the lion's share of the laps(Kanaan w/166 laps and Andretti w/90); while a late pitstop ended Marco's chances at victory, TK held off late challenges by TGR's Scott Dixon[who finished 3rd] and Team Penske's Helio Castroneves[runner-up]. Meanwhile, the Iceman continues to lead the points standings, now 43 markers in front of Spiderman and 52 ahead of Wheldon.


Top-10 from "the Crashfest at Richmond"..................
1st} #11 Tony Kanaan..............................300 laps
2nd} #3 Helio Castroneves........................-4.769 sec
3rd} #9 Scott Dixon..................................-6.650 sec
4th} #10 Dan Wheldon..............................-7.727 sec
5th} #5 Oriol Servia..................................-10.771 sec
6th} #7 Danica Patrick..............................-10.919 sec
7th}(R)#02 Justin Wilson...........................-16.309 sec
8th} #23 Townsend Bell............................-17.518 sec
9th} #26 Marco Andretti............................-1 lap
10th}(R)#33 E.J. Viso................................-2 laps