Round 13--Honda Indy 225

[mlittle]

After what turned out to be a very interesting, and action-filled round at Kentucky, the IndyCar Series heads back west to the southern end of the Front Range, Colorado Springs, Col., home to the nearby Pikes Peak Hill Climb, the United States Air Force Academy, and one of the more challenging 1-mile ovals on the schedule, Pikes Peak International Raceway. With 10-degree banking in the turns, and 7 & 3 deg. banking on the front/back-straights, this track would appear to be a bigger version of Richmond, i.e. a bullring. But, it's a bullring nearly 1 mile above sea level. Translation....forget horsepower, because it won't help you here. If your car is handling well, though, you'll make it to the front soon enough. In last year's race, Scotsman Dario Franchitti(#27 ArcaEx Dallara/Honda) won, mastering the high-altitude, sometimes bumpy tarmac track to take his second short-oval victory of the year. With five races to go, everyone's feeling the pressure to have a successful close to the 2005 campaign, and that run starts here.

Here are the mid-week storylines floating around the Front Range....

1--GM Racing to return in 2006? While Chevy still shows no inclination of returning for 2006, General Motors has begun to warm to the idea of possibly keeping its' foot in the IRL, most likely with a Pontiac-badged engine. Whether it is badged onto a Cosworth or an Ilmor-built engine remains to be seen.

2--King of the short-ovals. Since Franchitti's win at the Milwaukee Mile in July 2004, he's went on win 2 more(PPIR in 2004, and Nashville this year) and has finished no worse than 4th in the seven short-oval races since Milwaukee. If you have a short list of drivers who could win here on Sunday, he should be at the top of the list.

3--Will anyone stop the AGR juggernaut? Short answer...doubt it. In 12 races this year, AGR's won 7(4 by Wheldon alone), and teams normally at the sharp end of the spear(Rahal-Letterman, for instance) are still winless. But this track has seen plenty of surprises, from fuel-economy runs to hailstorms to the fastest race in series history(2001-the then 200-mile race was won by Buddy Lazier in 1 hr., 14 mins, and 57.172 secs), so anything is possible. Count on it.

The race is scheduled for 3:30 PM(19:30 UTC 21 August) on ABC Sports, with radio/webcast on the IMS Radio Network and over XM Satellite Radio. As always, I'll provide qual. and race summaries, plus commentaries and observations where needed.

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According to speedtv.com, former Jordan F1 driver and current GP2 driver Giorgio Pantano has been tapped by Target/Ganassi Racing for the two natural-terrain road course races on the IndyCar Series schedule, Infineon next week and Watkins Glen in late Sept.,...at least that's what his manager(and Super Nova team boss) David Sears. If so, Pantano would take over the ride for Jaques Lazier, who was brought in when TGR fired driver Darren Manning prior to Michigan.

Sears, according to Autosport magazine, said, "I'm renting out Giorgio to my old mate Chip for Sonoma and Watkins Glen. He's going to follow in the footsteps of (Juan Pablo) Montoya, (Nicolas) Minassian and (Bruno) Junquiera. We'll see where it might lead for next year." He also said that, "Giorgio is also looking at oppontunities in (Formula) 1 and ChampCars next year. He's been unlucky in GP2 with a lot of mechanical problems, so this is a chance for him to prove himself again at the top level."

All I can say is, stay tuned. I wonder, though, if this is a fill-in for those two races or the start of a long-term ride?

Here's the link if anyone wants to read the article...
www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/indycar/18917/

[JayVee]

Pantano's drive in F1 was ordinary and I can't see him being back in F1. He had his chance!

Footsteps of Montoya ?? Montoya didn't drive in F1 first then go to Indy then back, what is this guy smoking

Lets hope Patrick does well

[mlittle]

Best guess...Ganassi needed to fill that third seat for Infineon and Watkins Glen, and he bought the best driver he could find. Your right, I don't recall Pantano doing well in his F1 stint; perhaps things will be a little different on this side of the pond.

[mlittle]

2 notes of interest concerning this weekend's race at Pikes Peak...

1--Should any Honda-powered racer win, Honda will clinch its' second engine manufactuers' award in the IndyCar Series. Since entering Indy-style racing in North America in the early-1990's, the Japanese-based company has won 4 CART titles(1996, 1998, 1999 and 2001) and an IndyCar title in 2004. Comparatibly, Chevy has won, since 1996, 6 engine awards, all in the IRL(1997-2002), while Ford-Cosworth has won in both series(1995, 2000, 2003-,CART/ChampCar, and 1996-IRL) and Toyota has a few titles to their credit(CART-2002, IRL-2003).

2--It was 10 yrs. ago, on Aug. 20, 1995, that Honda won its; first Indy-style race, at New Hampshire International Speedway, Loudon, NH. Andre Ribiero drove a Honda-Swift for Tasman Motorsports that day, and both Ribiero and the then-team's owners, Steve and Christine Horne, will be honored by Honda during the race weekend.

[Julian Mayo]

M,fer, construction has begun in Surfers Paradise for the Lexmark Indy 300 to take place on Oct 20-23.
The 4:47km street circuit will take shape over the next two months.
it will require the building of 26 bridges, installation of 2,515 concrete barriers, the rolling out of 100kms of electrical cabling and 6000 man hours on electrical reticulation. 10kms of debris catch fencing will be erected, including 610 double height panels, and 16kms of security fencing will be installed. Construction includes 26 grandstands, and more than 140 corporate suites. And that is just some of it.

[mlittle]

I think, julian, I read somewhere about everything it took to build the street circuit there in Surfers Paradise. Its' become one of ChampCar's signature events, if not the signature event(next to Long Beach, of course)!

[Julian Mayo]

I think, julian, I read somewhere about everything it took to build the street circuit there in Surfers Paradise. Its' become one of ChampCar's signature events, if not the signature event(next to Long Beach, of course)!

They do all that with little disruption, quite a feat. Are you going?

[mlittle]

Now, if they could have only taught the geniuses in San Jose how to build a street circuit. I mean, you should have seen the air those ChampCars were taking crossing the 1-2 chicane, what, with the light rail tracks in the center of it.

[Julian Mayo]

Now, if they could have only taught the geniuses in San Jose how to build a street circuit. I mean, you should have seen the air those ChampCars were taking crossing the 1-2 chicane, what, with the light rail tracks in the center of it.

I am sure the Surfers guys would build a rail line if it is wanted

[mlittle]

They may end up having to come over to the States' and showing them how to do that.

[mlittle]

Now that we're back on-track...here's the weekend track schedule for the Honda Indy 225.

Saturday Practice #1--12:00 to 1:30 PM
Saturday Practice #2--2:30 to 4:00 PM
Qualifying Session--6:00 PM to 7:00 PM(est.)
Sunday Final Practice--11:30 AM to 12:15 PM(est.)
Race--3:30 PM(tv coverage begins, green flag to drop about 15 mins. after)

Summaries and observations to follow after qualifying and the race itself.

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While the dominant IndyCar Series team this year has been Andretti-Green Racing, there have been some exceptions, especially on the short(1-mile or shorter) ovals, and today's qualifying session was no exception, as Marlboro-Team Penske swept the front row, led by Spiderman himself, Helio Castroneves(#3 Marlboro Team-Penske Dallara/Toyota), who took the pole with a time of 20.522 secs. (175.423 mph). His teammate, Sam Hornish, Jr. qualified 2nd w/a time of 20.524 secs.(175.404 mph). In the second row are Andretti-Green drivers Bryan Herta(#7 XM Satellite Radio Dallara/Honda) and Dario Franchitti(#27 ArcaEx Dallara/Honda), while the third row features series rookie points leader Danica Patrick(#16 Argent/Pioneer Panoz/Honda) and 2004 series champion Tony Kanaan(#11 Team 7-11 Dallara/Honda). Rounding out the top 10 are the Panther Racing duo of Tomas Enge and Tomas Scheckter, with Vitor Meira and Scott Sharp in 9th and 10th each. For some on the qualifying line, including Patrick, the wait for a shot at the pole was mixed with the occasional glance upwards; had the qualifying session been cancelled due to weather, Patrick would've gotten her third pole of the year, since she had set the fastest time in the two practice sessions.

As for the race itself...the Honda Indy 225 is scheduled for 3:30 PM EST(19:30 UTC 21 August) with TV coverage on ABC Sports, while the IMS Radio Network will provide radio/webcast coverage, along with domestic satellite radio coverage from XM Satellite Radio. Observations and commentaries to follow later in the evening.

[mlittle]

Yeah, I know we're on the southern end of the Front Range, but it's still the Front Range. Here are some Saturday observations from the Peak....

1--Practice, boys, practice. When the skies began to darken like it was going to rain(or worse, rain and hail), everyone headed to the paddock...except Roger Penske and his team, whereupon drivers Sam Hornish, Jr and Helio Castroneves got in a couple of dozen clean laps of needed practice, which they put to good use qualifying P2 and P1, the third time this year that the red-and-white liveries have started on Row 1.

2--Rain dance, anyone? Of the 22 drivers on the grid for Sunday's race, try to guess who was the most disappointed over the fact that qualifying wasn't rained out? Franchitti? No. Scheckter? Maybe? Patrick? Yes. While rookie points leader Danica Patrick will start 5th on the grid, had the rains came and washed qualifying out, care to guess who would've been P1 instead of Spiderman? Under IndyCar Series rules, when qualifying is cancelled due to weather or any other reasons, the grid is set according to the combined practice chart, and she was P1 there. When asked whether she was disappointed it didn't rain, her reply was, "Sure was."

3--No GM in 2006. General Motors Friday made it official...Chevy will not be returning to the Indy Racing League in 2006, and GM Racing will not allow Cosworth to use a Pontiac-badged engine that year either. This doesn't bode well for 2007, because next year in Toyota's last dance, leaving Honda alone. The problem's further exacerabted by the fact that the 2007 engine specs haven't been finalized yet, meaing that Cosworth, Ilmor, and Honda don't have any idea what to expect. Like I've said in an earlier commentary, the IRL's facing some choppy waters ahead, and I guess they've arrived a little early this year.

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While the first 95 laps belonged to Marlboro-Team Penske drivers Sam Hornish, Jr. and Helio Castroneves, the last 130 belonged to Andretti-Green Racing as Dan Wheldon, by a 12+ sec. margin, tied Hornish for most wins in a season(5) with his win at the Honda Indy 225. As the race began, both Castroneves(#3 Marlboro/Team Penske Dallara/Toyota), Hornish, and AGR driver Bryan Herta(#7 XM Satellite Radio Dallara/Honda) fought for 1-2-3, with Helio and Sam exchanging the lead before Hornish(#6 Marlboro/Team Penske Dallara/Toyota) began to pull away early on. Meanwhile, several of the front-runners diced and dueled in 3-and-4 wide formations behind the leaders. One example was when the cars(starting on the outside) of Jimmy Kite, Tomas Scheckter, Scott Dixon and Danica Patrick around lap 70 enter turn 1 sidepod-to-sidepod, inches from a potential disaster. Seconds later, Patrick, on the inside, squeezes by to make a 3-car pass for position.

The caution came out for the first and only time on lap 80, when the Target/Ganassi car of series rookie Ryan Briscoe(#33 Target Panoz/Toyota) spun in turn 4 and hit the outside wall. Top 5 at the restart:Hornish, Franchitti, Castroneves, Kanaan and Wheldon. When the green flag fell on lap 90, it took just 5 laps for the AGR drivers of Franchitti and Wheldon to take the point. Franchitti(#27 ArcaEx Dallara/Honda) would stretch out his lead over the Emberton, England native, Wheldon, to over 3 seconds. Eventually, Wheldon would chip away at the lead until the final round of pitstops. As the leaders cycled through, Franchitti's car stalled, and after failing to get a push-start, they brought the ext. starter out, but by then, the Scotsman's hopes of winning had gone away like a cloud over the Rocky Mts. By the time everyone had pitted, Wheldon(#26 Jim Beam/Klein Tools Dallara/Honda) had build an insurmountable 10+ second lead on Hornish, and it was all said and done.
The Englishman would almost-literally cruise to victory, winning by 12.476 secs, or over a half-a-lap, over Hornish. AGR stablemate Tony Kanaan(#11 Team 7-11 Dallara/Honda) was third, followed by Castroneves in 4th, and Rahal-Letterman's Vitor Meira(#17 Johns Manville/Menards Panoz/Honda) ended up 5th.

Ironically, it was a pretty good day for the oft-times snakebit Rahal-Letterman Racing team, as all three of the team's drivers finished in the top-half of the field. Meira finished 5th, while series rookie pts. leader Danica Patrick(#16 Argent/Pioneer Panoz/Honda) finished 8th, and the second Argent/Pioneer car, driven by 2004 Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice, finished 11th.

On the flip side, it was another dreadful day for Target/Ganassi Racing. First, Jaques Lazier crashed in the Sunday warm-up and was unable to race. Then Ryan Briscoe crashes out during the race in a one-car crash. Finally, 2003 series champion Scott Dixon had the usual miserable race, and finished 16th, 5 laps off the pace.

In the overall points standings, Dan Wheldon now holds a 97-pt. lead over Sam Hornish, Jr., with Tony Kanaan in 3rd, 120 pts. back. In 4th place is AGR driver Dario Franchitti and, tied ofr 5th place are Helio Castroneves and Scott Sharp. In the battle for the Bombardier Rookie of the Year award, Rahal-Letterman's Danica Patrick now has a 51-point lead over Target/Ganassi's Ryan Briscoe, while Panther Racing's Tomas Enge actually gained a little ground on Patrick, and is now 81 pts. back.

Next up for the IndyCar Series is the Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix, at Infineon Raceway in the Sonoma Valley of California, August 28th. I'll have a mid-week preview, qual. and race summaries, and commentaries and/or obseervations as needed.