2008 IRL Rd. 15--PEAK Sonoma Indy Grand Prix

[mlittle]

With three races remaining in the year's schedule, the teams and stars of the IndyCar Series "go West", to the challenging Infineon Raceway in the heart of California wine country. Built in the late 1960's, the track hosted a USAC National Championship race in 1970[won by legend Dan Gurney], but it wouldn't hear the roar of Indycars' until 2005, and the series has made a home on the Left Coast[oops......I meant, the West Coast..... ......] ever since. All eyes are on Target/Ganassi's Scott Dixon; can he seal the deal and win the series championship in California, or will he have to wait until Belle Isle?


Event Schedule.....................
note....all times US PDT; -3 hrs US EDT/-7 hrs GMT
~~Practice Session #1, 11am-Noon, 22 August 2008
~~Practice Session #2, 2:45pm, 3:45pm, 22 August 2008
~~Practice Session #3, 9:30-10:30am, 23 August 2008
~~PEAK Knockout Qualifying, 1:15pm-2:45pm, 23 August 2008
~~Final Practice, 9:45am-10:15am, 24 August 2008
~~PEAK Sonoma Indy Grand Prix, 2:30pm, 24 August 2008

[mlittle]

PEAK Sonoma Indy Grand Prix Entry List......................


A.J. Foyt, IV, #2 Vision Wellness
Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske
Vitor Meira, #4 National Guard/Delphi
Oriol Servia, #5 Plantronics/i-Rise
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
Tomas Scheckter, #12 Symantec 360
Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co.
Buddy Rice, #15 Tran Systems
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #17 Ethanol
Bruno Junquiera, #18 Z-Line Designs
(R)Mario Moraes, #19 Sonny's Real Pit BBQ
Ed Carpenter, #20 Menards/CardioChek
Townsend Bell, #23 WilliamRast
Marty Roth, #25 Men's Warehouse
Marco Andretti, #26 STAR WARS--The Clone Wars
(R)Hideki Mutoh, #27 Formula Dream
(R)Ernesto[E.J.] Viso, #33 PDVSA
(R)Jaime Camara, #34 Sangari
(R)Enrique Bernoldi, #36 Sangari
(R)Mario Dominguez, #96 Pacific Coast Motorsports
(R)Justin Wilson, #02 McDonald's
(R)Graham Rahal, #06 Hole in the Wall Camps

[mlittle]

~~Event: PEAK Sonoma Indy Grand Prix, round 15 of 17 in the 2008 IRL IndyCar Series season
~~Where: Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, Ca.
~~When: 24 August 2008, 5:30pm US EDT
~~Broadcast Coverage.....
--domestic TV, ESPN2
--domestic radio, IMS Radio Network
--satellite radio, XM Satellite Radio, Chs. 144-145
--international simulcast(shortwave, radio, TV) courtesy of the United States Armed Forces Network

Firestone Tire Info............
(1)each team will be issued 10 sets of Firestone Firehawk racing slicks; the 6 teams that make it to the Firestone Pole Shootout on Saturday will receive one additional set of tires
(2)in the event of rain, teams will receive 5 sets of grooved wet-weather Firestone Firehawk tires
(3)the tire compounds used will be the same compounds used at Infineon the past two years

Al Speyer, Executive Director, Bridgestone Motorsports:

With just four drivers in contention to win the IndyCar Series championship, the pressure is on. In order to help fans and viewers at home identify those four contenders, Firestone will debut a now look for the eligible teams; while these tires will be the exact same specification used by all IndyCar Series competitors, they will make the top four contenders really stand out . Based on our (past) experiences with this particular specification, we are confident that our Firestone tires will help drivers navigate the twisting Infineon track and all of its' elevation changes. So, as the championship battle reaches its' conclusion, drivers will have the confidence in their Firestone tires needed to focus on the task at hand.

[mlittle]

Infineon Practice Session #1 top-5................
1} Tony Kanaan, Andretti-Green Racing, 1:17.392 sec/107.127 mph
2} Helio Castroneves, Team Penske, 1:17.849 sec/106.498 mph
3} Danica Patrick, Andretti-Green Racing, 1:17.885 sec/106.449 mph
4}(R)Will Power, KV Racing Tech., 1:18.030 sec/106.252 mph
5} Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske, 1:18.071 sec/106.252 mph

[mlittle]

Infineon Practice Session #2 top-5....................
1} Helio Castroneves, Team Penske, 1:17.170 sec/107.453 mph
2} Oriol Servia, KV Racing Tech., 1:17.471 sec/107.018 mph
3}(R)Will Power, KV Racing Tech., 1:17.585 sec/106.861 mph
4} Vitor Meira, Panther Racing, 1:17.736 sec/106.670 mph
5} Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske, 1:17.733 sec/106.657 mph

[Southernman]

I don't think that Dixon will be the champ after this weeks race. The difference between the top teams and the rest is too big. All he needs to do is have a good finish. 78 points lead with three races remaining will mean that all he needs to do is shadow Castroneves in strategy.

[mlittle]

I don't think that Dixon will be the champ after this weeks race. The difference between the top teams and the rest is too big. All he needs to do is have a good finish. 78 points lead with three races remaining will mean that all he needs to do is shadow Castroneves in strategy.

The way Dixon's season been, I won't be surprised if he clinches after today's race........Max points for each race is 53(50 for a win + 3 for most laps led); the fewest number of points that can be won are 10 or 12(depending on number of entrants; there's 27 entrants for today's race, so the low number is 10 for this race). In other words, if Dixon can finish 8 points or better ahead of Spiderman after today's race, he wins the title. You're right, though...all he has to do is shadow Castroneves, that's all.

[mlittle]

.....apologies for not getting the starting lineup on the boards.......



(1)Prior to qualifying, drivers were divided into two groups...........
~~Group 1} Servia, Kanaan, Scheckter, Manning, Hunter-Reay, Junquiera, Moraes, Carpenter, Roth, Bell, Andretti, Dominguez, Rahal
~~Group 2} Foyt, IV; Castroneves, Meira, Briscoe, Patrick, Power, Dixon, Wheldon, Rice, Mutoh, Viso, Camara, Benoldi, Wilson

(2)These drivers made it into round 2............
--Group 1: Servia, Kanaan, Hunter-Reay, Andretti, Dominguez, Moraes
--Group 2: Power, Briscoe, Castroneves, Dixon, Patrick, Wilson

(3)After round 2, these drivers made it into the Firestone Pole Shootout..........Castroneves, Kanaan, Briscoe, Dixon, Servia, Power

(4)Following the Shootout, Team Penske starts 1-2(Castroneves, Briscoe), followed by Power, Kanaan, Dixon and Servia. In positions 7-12 were Wilson, Hunter-Reay, Patrick, Andretti, Dominguez and Moraes. All remaining drivers were slotted into positions 13-27, odd-numbered spots going to the drivers from group 1 that failed to qualify for round 2; even-numbered spots, likewise, went to those from group 2 that didn't advance out of Q1.

[mlittle]

Top-10 from Infineon...................
1st} #3 Helio Castroneves, 80 laps
2nd} #6 Ryan Briscoe, -5.293 sec
3rd} #11 Tony Kanaan, -16.603 sec
4th} #10 Dan Wheldon, -17.720 sec
5th} #7 Danica Patrick, -25.846 sec
6th}(R)#33 E.J. Viso, -29.347 sec
7th} #4 Vitor Meira, -29.986 sec
8th}(R)#06 Graham Rahal, -40.458 sec
9th}(R)#02 Justin Wilson, -42.036 sec
10th}(R)#19 Mario Moraes, -50.011 sec