The Alessandro Zanardi IndyCar Thread

Post by **Londoner** » 04 Jun 2017, 08:26

I think Lewis Hamilton is going to regret the day he slagged off this series...

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 05 Jun 2017, 03:59

Crazy to think this season had 7 winners in the 7 first races and the last one, Rahal, was the first to break it winning two in-a-row.

Dixon is leading the championship with Castroneves in second. Both winless. Consistency is going to be key of this season. Also, Sato's good form and Munoz/Daly struggling are a strong proof something is wrong with Foyt. The team's revamp isn't working.

Post by **Londoner** » 06 Jun 2017, 13:19

Gutierrez will have to wait a little longer to make his oval debut, as IndyCar won't approve him for Texas this weekend.

Sensible decision really, as Texas is going to be stupidly fast this year with the track having been recently repaved. They'll only be a few MPH slower than speeds set during the infamous CART debacle in 2001. Texas is probably the worst possible place to make your oval debut.

Oriol Servia is being lined up as a stopgap for Gutierrez. He really is the modern-day Robert Moreno.

Post by **Ataxia** » 08 Jun 2017, 09:35

East Londoner wrote:Gutierrez will have to wait a little longer to make his oval debut, as IndyCar won't approve him for Texas this weekend.

Sensible decision really, as Texas is going to be stupidly fast this year with the track having been recently repaved. They'll only be a few MPH slower than speeds set during the infamous CART debacle in 2001. Texas is probably the worst possible place to make your oval debut.

Oriol Servia is being lined up as a stopgap for Gutierrez. He really is the modern-day Robert Moreno.

Instead, we've ended up with Neville Longbottom Tristan Vautier. Would be surprised if anyone's reaction was anything other than "oh".

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 08 Jun 2017, 14:36

Ataxia wrote:
East Londoner wrote:Gutierrez will have to wait a little longer to make his oval debut, as IndyCar won't approve him for Texas this weekend.

Sensible decision really, as Texas is going to be stupidly fast this year with the track having been recently repaved. They'll only be a few MPH slower than speeds set during the infamous CART debacle in 2001. Texas is probably the worst possible place to make your oval debut.

Oriol Servia is being lined up as a stopgap for Gutierrez. He really is the modern-day Robert Moreno.

Instead, we've ended up with Neville Longbottom Tristan Vautier. Would be surprised if anyone's reaction was anything other than "oh".

My reaction is more pure disdain. I despise Tristan for making Rahal sympathetic after taking him out at Pocono.

Yannick · Post by **Yannick** » 10 Jun 2017, 10:05

Takuma Sato has always been good at Indianapolis, even on the road course when he was racing in F1. Congrats to him for now winning the Indy 500.

Congrats to Graham Rahal, too, for winning both rounds at Detroit in dominating fashion.

Here's wishing Sebastien Bourdais all the best for his continuing recovery process.

May the remainder of this IndyCar season be safe and interesting.

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 11 Jun 2017, 15:30

The Texas race last night was berserk. Tony Kanann easily left as the most hated man in the paddock. He caused 2 debatable accidents the second of which wiped out both Schmidt cars, both Dale Coyne cars and badly damaged the Ed Carpenter cars as well as knocking RHR and Munoz out too. My view is that TK was responsible as him moving higher squeezed Hinch and made him hit both TK and Aleshin. Takuma Sato went from hero to zero by knocking Scott Dixon and himself out while fighting for 2nd and through it all came Will Power to win and do his title hopes a world of good

Put simply the race was so crazy we had Gabby Chaves come 5th and Marco Andretti finished 6th

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 25 Jun 2017, 19:21

Takuma Sato reverting to his old self binning it for the second race in-a-row.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 28 Jun 2017, 08:55

Nice piece on Janet Guthrie

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-40417286/indianapolis-500-racing-into-the-history-books

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 28 Jun 2017, 09:48

Dj_bereta wrote:Takuma Sato reverting to his old self binning it for the second race in-a-row.

To be fair, Sato had neck issues and probably shouldn't have been driving at all at Road America.

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 08 Jul 2017, 21:19

Gutierrez getting consistently beaten by Ed Jones who was consistently beaten by Bourdais until the Frenchman crash. I have a feeling Dale Coyne is receiving some money from his sponsors to make this move, considering how well Davidson and Vautier were at #18.

Dale Coyne is living the 1982 Ferrari season. Promising start and quick downfall. And talking about Gutierrez, he is becoming a strong contender for IndyCar ROTY in this year (along with Marco Andretti) and will be one of the first drivers to be elected the ROTY in two different series.

Post by **Londoner** » 08 Jul 2017, 22:04

Dj_bereta wrote:Gutierrez getting consistently beaten by Ed Jones who was consistently beaten by Bourdais until the Frenchman crash. I have a feeling Dale Coyne is receiving some money from his sponsors to make this move, considering how well Davidson and Vautier were at #18.

Dale Coyne is living the 1982 Ferrari season. Promising start and quick downfall. And talking about Gutierrez, he is becoming a strong contender for IndyCar ROTY in this year (along with Marco Andretti) and will be one of the first drivers to be elected the ROTY in two different series.

Yes, because he's definitely a contender for ROTY when this is his first ever oval race. Definitely. :roll:

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 08 Jul 2017, 22:32

East Londoner wrote:
Dj_bereta wrote:Gutierrez getting consistently beaten by Ed Jones who was consistently beaten by Bourdais until the Frenchman crash. I have a feeling Dale Coyne is receiving some money from his sponsors to make this move, considering how well Davidson and Vautier were at #18.

Dale Coyne is living the 1982 Ferrari season. Promising start and quick downfall. And talking about Gutierrez, he is becoming a strong contender for IndyCar ROTY in this year (along with Marco Andretti) and will be one of the first drivers to be elected the ROTY in two different series.

Yes, because he's definitely a contender for ROTY when this is his first ever oval race. Definitely.

I'm considering his other races, as well, like in the Detroit double round. I'm not saying this without knowledge.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 09 Jul 2017, 01:11

Dj_bereta wrote:
East Londoner wrote:
Dj_bereta wrote:Gutierrez getting consistently beaten by Ed Jones who was consistently beaten by Bourdais until the Frenchman crash. I have a feeling Dale Coyne is receiving some money from his sponsors to make this move, considering how well Davidson and Vautier were at #18.

Dale Coyne is living the 1982 Ferrari season. Promising start and quick downfall. And talking about Gutierrez, he is becoming a strong contender for IndyCar ROTY in this year (along with Marco Andretti) and will be one of the first drivers to be elected the ROTY in two different series.

Yes, because he's definitely a contender for ROTY when this is his first ever oval race. Definitely.

I'm considering his other races, as well, like in the Detroit double round. I'm not saying this without knowledge.

Gutierrez has been in the car for three weekends, was drafted in at short-notice and has never driven either these tracks or these type of cars without power steering before. All things considered, he's doing an alright job not to get absolutely blown out of the water, so it's harsh to rate him lower than the likes of Marco, Hildebrand and the entire Foyt squad

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 09 Jul 2017, 07:33

Wizzie wrote:Gutierrez has been in the car for three weekends, was drafted in at short-notice and has never driven either these tracks or these type of cars without power steering before. All things considered, he's doing an alright job not to get absolutely blown out of the water, so it's harsh to rate him lower than the likes of Marco, Hildebrand and the entire Foyt squad

Not to mention former champion and Andretti team leader Ryan Hunter-Reay who has driven like a complete doofus or been completely anonymous all but 3 times this year, to the point where he's behind Marco Andretti who hasn't had a single good race all year. It says a lot about the drivers at Andretti that Takuma Sato is their only hope for a championship this year.

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 11 Jul 2017, 13:40

Salamander wrote:
Wizzie wrote:Gutierrez has been in the car for three weekends, was drafted in at short-notice and has never driven either these tracks or these type of cars without power steering before. All things considered, he's doing an alright job not to get absolutely blown out of the water, so it's harsh to rate him lower than the likes of Marco, Hildebrand and the entire Foyt squad

Not to mention former champion and Andretti team leader Ryan Hunter-Reay who has driven like a complete doofus or been completely anonymous all but 3 times this year, to the point where he's behind Marco Andretti who hasn't had a single good race all year. It says a lot about the drivers at Andretti that Takuma Sato is their only hope for a championship this year.

Looks like he heard you with his performance at Iowa. However the big story was Helio winning for the first time in 3 years

Looks like it's Scott Dixon taking on the entire Penske stable for this year's title

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 13 Jul 2017, 05:06

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:Looks like it's Scott Dixon taking on the entire Penske stable for this year's title

i mean when has that ever happened

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 13 Jul 2017, 16:53

I'm going to give some kudos for Gutierrez for his decent race at Iowa. Lets see what he can do in the next rounds. ROTR to Aleshin and another rookie mistake. No wonder he was replaced for Toronto.

Pretty happy to see both Helio and Leist winning in the same weekend. I can't remember when was the last double Brazilian win in IndyCar and Indy Lights.

Post by **Ataxia** » 13 Jul 2017, 17:59

Saavedra in for Aleshin at Toronto...

...'scuse me while I have a cry.

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 17 Jul 2017, 03:12

What a bold move from Helio in the start of the race in Toronto. He is back. If he keeps pushing, I think he definitely has a chance of winning this title. Will be very rewarding for him retiring with the title after so many close calls.

And this is probably the unluckiest season for Power.

Going to give my ROTR for Tony Kannan for crashing alone into the barriers of turn 1. Things not looking good for TK on this season. He needs to improve.

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 17 Jul 2017, 22:18

Rosenqvist is going to participate in the testing session with Ganassi along with Dixon. I'm starting to feel the TK days at Ganassi are numbered.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 18 Jul 2017, 14:48

Dj_bereta wrote:What a bold move from Helio in the start of the race in Toronto. He is back. If he keeps pushing, I think he definitely has a chance of winning this title. Will be very rewarding for him retiring with the title after so many close calls.

Rumor is, this is Helio's last year. Allegedly The Captain wants him to head up the LMP team. Old Helio realizes he needs to win something before its too late.

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 19 Jul 2017, 13:13

Dj_bereta wrote:And this is probably the unluckiest season for Power.

Definitely but even without it we all know that he'd probably lose the title anyway. He is the universal choking sign after all

Post by **Londoner** » 19 Jul 2017, 13:59

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:
Dj_bereta wrote:And this is probably the unluckiest season for Power.

Definitely but even without it we all know that he'd probably lose the title anyway. He is the universal choking sign after all

Did someone call?

As much as I desperately want Castroneves to secure the title, it's hard to see past Dixon getting title #5, given we've still got Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen to visit this season. Mind you, anything can happen in IndyCar (other than Marco Andretti ever winning a race again it appears :pantano:

) and realistically everyone in the top 6 still has a shot at the title. The wheels have well and truly come off Sato's season though.

Meanwhile, it looks like Andretti are hankering for a tie-up with the, er, bowtie.

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 20 Jul 2017, 12:42

East Londoner wrote:
Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:
Dj_bereta wrote:And this is probably the unluckiest season for Power.

Definitely but even without it we all know that he'd probably lose the title anyway. He is the universal choking sign after all

Did someone call?

As much as I desperately want Castroneves to secure the title, it's hard to see past Dixon getting title #5, given we've still got Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen to visit this season. Mind you, anything can happen in IndyCar (other than Marco Andretti ever winning a race again it appears ) and realistically everyone in the top 6 still has a shot at the title. The wheels have well and truly come off Sato's season though.

Meanwhile, it looks like Andretti are hankering for a tie-up with the, er, bowtie.

That image will never get old

If it is to be Helio's last Indycar season then no one would begrudge the man the title

Post by **Londoner** » 24 Jul 2017, 19:41

IndyCar have just launched their 2018 aerokit.

Now that is a beauty. :dance:

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 25 Jul 2017, 17:08

So pretty. For the first time since 1994, the future looks.....decent actually.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 26 Jul 2017, 03:38

those sidepods and that roll hoop really make the car.
in my opinion the nose is getting a little old, but it's an ok compromise to retain the DW12 safety tub

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 30 Jul 2017, 18:39

Watching the second Indy Lights race and Herta spun out from the lead in the second lap. :facepalm:

watka · Post by **watka** » 30 Jul 2017, 19:59

That 2018 design...so sleek at the back. Looks like the tail will be swinging all over the place on that thing.

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 12 Aug 2017, 22:01

Aleshin fired from Schmidt Peterson. Moving to Sportcars.

To be frank, the Russian struggled in this season and gave a big repair bill to his team (not entirely his fault).

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 15 Aug 2017, 14:05

So with Pocono being this weekend, and with me living a mere 25 minutes or so from the track, there was a nice surprise yesterday. Mario took the two-seater through town. Even drove past my office 3 times. Of course my office is closed Mondays.....

Here's the real gripe I have with it. My wonky schedule aside, I would have come into work had I actually KNOWN ABOUT IT. Indy did no advertising whatsoever, trying for a "viral" or "flash" marketing idea. What did they get? Mario driving around, waving at no one, with a highly disinterested police escort. smdh

Post by **Londoner** » 15 Aug 2017, 17:37

All aboard the hype train, next stop Watkins Glen. :dance:

Guess either Saaaaavedra or Veach will drive the #7 this weekend and at Gateway.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 15 Aug 2017, 21:44

Wallio wrote:Here's the real gripe I have with it. My wonky schedule aside, I would have come into work had I actually KNOWN ABOUT IT. Indy did no advertising whatsoever, trying for a "viral" or "flash" marketing idea. What did they get? Mario driving around, waving at no one, with a highly disinterested police escort. smdh

That's how I felt about F1's demo a few weeks ago. 24hours didn't give me enough time to rearrange my schedule to attend...

Post by **Ataxia** » 15 Aug 2017, 22:45

dr-baker wrote:
Wallio wrote:Here's the real gripe I have with it. My wonky schedule aside, I would have come into work had I actually KNOWN ABOUT IT. Indy did no advertising whatsoever, trying for a "viral" or "flash" marketing idea. What did they get? Mario driving around, waving at no one, with a highly disinterested police escort. smdh

That's how I felt about F1's demo a few weeks ago. 24hours didn't give me enough time to rearrange my schedule to attend...

There were many valid reasons for the short notice, however; it was planned well in advance but City Hall and Liberty decided to keep it under wraps for as long as possible.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 16 Aug 2017, 07:14

dr-baker wrote:That's how I felt about F1's demo a few weeks ago. 24hours didn't give me enough time to rearrange my schedule to attend...

That was the intention because whilst you wouldn't have any nefarious plans for the day other than hoping for a glimpse of Clare Williams bending over or whatever there are plenty of people who may have.

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 21 Aug 2017, 21:25

The lady luck dodged Power in this season until this race. Winning after getting a lap down was pretty awesome.

And Kannan is out of Ganassi for the next year. It's a shame because the Ganassi + Kannan combo looked so promising, especially after TK dragging the KV to the top several times.

Post by **Ataxia** » 23 Aug 2017, 22:58

Gutierrez is now out of a drive, as Sebastien Bourdais will make his return to the VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES for Gateway!

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 23 Aug 2017, 23:27

Esteban Gutiérrez Gutiérrez wrote:¿Ay, donde esta mi tequila?

Kimi Räikkönen wrote:*burp*

Post by **Ataxia** » 31 Aug 2017, 21:51

And after much deliberation, a few flirtations and a flick of a domino, Andretti Autosport have an engine deal in place with a hard-to-please supplier.