The Alessandro Zanardi IndyCar Thread

[F1000X]

I'm a little sad the Grand Shitshow of Baltimore is off the calendar.

[nome66]

it wasn't a shite-show, though. it's just the skeptics were louder than the people that actually made points for it.
yes, the railroad. complain about it. just be happy Andretti knew not to get rid of the chicane(or at least put it back) and effectively turn the front straight into downtown san jose. remember that horrifying nonsense?
otherwise, the track was awesome. people said there were only 2 passing corners, but there were passes made throughout the track, not just turns 1 and 3. it was a street circuit with character, unlike most of them nowadays. the pit lane being at the halfway point of a lap made strategy interesting. i blame the "shite-show" on the long cautions that plagued the 2013 race(one pretty lengthy PRE-START caution just ruined the ALMS race in 2013). that was driver error, plus will power being a douche.
the track was a mix of surfaces, which is common, but the concrete in baltimore was particularly tricky compared to say Houston or belle-isle. the track also had praises all around from indycar, indy lights, Star-Mazda(2011), USF2000(2011), Porsche Cup Challenge, and ALMS drivers.

another big problem,that anyone here living outside of maryland probably never heard about, was the first race there. the old promoters didn't pay any of the locally-based vendors participating in the concessions, which led to a big legal fiasco, plus the eventual switch to Andretti Sports Marketing taking over for the second and third year.

overall, amazing event for both times i went, being only the first and last years. the paddock setup was great, by the way. food stand right by the trucks and teams. ate lunch with a porsche cup challenge driver.

[Yannick]

In spite of living in an area without official TV coverage of the Verizon IndyCar Series, I have seen all 3 Grand Prix of Baltimore on a webstream, and they all turned out to be very good races. Talk about a street course with a good-natured American character. That's what Baltimore is. And with the railroad chicane, it had that special twist, too, which makes a track unique. Plenty of overtaking happened into Turns 1, 3 and someplace else in the 2nd half of the lap. It's too bad the city officials don't want IndyCar to return. I've missed this track this year, and I hope it will be back once the IndyCar CEO finally realizes that ending the season as early as the last day of August was a really bad idea by the Boston Consulting Group and their suggestion of staging a street race in Boston, Massachusetts, would have been a much better idea instead.
IndyCar most likely will have both September and October to fill with new events for the 2017 season. Maybe then, Baltimore can make a comeback.

[Wallio]

National Guard has announced its not sponsoring anyone next year, and while Dale Jr. over in NASCAR will be fine, I imagine this will be the nail in Rahal's coffin.

[Yannick]

Here's hoping Team Rahal can find new sponsorship for next season so they can run at least one car, even if it's for a pay driver. Team Rahal have already come back once from sitting out a year due to lack of sponsorship when they lost their Ethanol sponsor after 2008 so they know how to do it. In this situation, hiring a pay driver to complete the budget for a one-car effort is better than to try to run Graham and not have the budget. I guess Graham would understand. Maybe, this is even the only scenario in which somebody else than Graham Rahal would run for Team Rahal.

[Londoner]

I on the other hand, am quite glad to possibly see Graham Rahal out of the series, even if it is only temporarily. The bloke's an utter liability.

[Onxy Wrecked]

I on the other hand, am quite glad to possibly see Graham Rahal out of the series, even if it is only temporarily. The bloke's an utter liability.

The problem is he's proving to not be a liability on road courses now. On ovals? He's probably the worst driver on an oval given his experience level and is a liability there to the point of Ed Carpenter being bad on road courses which was an utter disaster.

[Londoner]

Short Bus Ed and Sarah Fisher are merging their teams for next season

If this means Newgarden keeps his seat, and we still get the Conway/Short Bus Ed combo in the other car, it's fantastic news.

[ADx_Wales]

This week's Autosport magazine had an entire section dedicated to the era of Indy/Champcar from 1993-2001, basically the time when Nigel Mansell arrived after (driving a Williams that basically gave him) the F1 title in 1992, up until the last year of Penske in the series (Before they were the first to Jump ship to the Indy Racing League, the other half of the series after 1995 that the magazine didn't go into great detail with).

Alex Zanardi was made guest editor, Jeremy Shaw (Ben Edward's Eurosport co-commentator during the golden era) also wrote an article.

One of the articles contained a select list of "F1 Refugees", but not all of them, for instance Nelson Piquet (the three time world champion, not the wallflower) was given a small paragraph, even though he only attempted the Indy 500, whereas Teo Fabi, the ex-benetton guy, who was nearly an Indycar champion at one point, was completely overlooked (that being said, his better days were before the years featured in the magazine, although I will never forget his Pennzoil Lola when Mansell was there in 1993).

[Londoner]

And that's RHR's title hopes gone.

EDIT: Someone please ban Marco Andretti. Blue flags mean you get the bathplug out of the way.

[Dj_bereta]

Hard race for the leaders. A lot of traffic and people ignoring blue flags. At least this made the race better.

Power is with one hand in the title. RHH is out and Helio... you know, this guy will not be a champion in indycar. Penske 1-2 in the race and Helio finished in 10th position. That's why he don't have a title, despite driving many years with a winning car. He can't make a season without making a lot of mediocre races. He is one of the best drivers in the Indy 500, but this isn't the only race of the season. The best for Penske is to fire Helio and hire someone like Pagenaud or Hawksworth, or at least, give a car for Helio in the Indy 500.

[Salamander]

Hard race for the leaders. A lot of traffic and people ignoring blue flags. At least this made the race better.

Power is with one hand in the title. RHH is out and Helio... you know, this guy will not be a champion in indycar. Penske 1-2 in the race and Helio finished in 10th position. That's why he don't have a title, despite driving many years with a winning car. He can't make a season without making a lot of mediocre races. He is one of the best drivers in the Indy 500, but this isn't the only race of the season. The best for Penske is to fire Helio and hire someone like Pagenaud or Hawksworth, or at least, give a car for Helio in the Indy 500.

Yeah, but the thing is, Helio is still ahead of JPM in the standings. There's really no reason to drop any of them - so what if Helio doesn't win the tile, only one of the three is gonna win it anyway.

[nome66]

JPM is old, Helio is fumbling about with being the most famous of the three, and Will.... *sigh*
i always have him as a pick, he does quite well, the points chase boils down, then the final 3 races happen.... and Will isn't the subject of any toasts at the post-season banquet.

i want Penske to prove me wrong. this will be the first season ever where i root for them as the underdogs.

last year i wanted RHR to win because i knew he was a contender, but some failings after mid-season made that an issue.
but this year, with all the new big-money sponsors, the money flooding in from event promotion, and some money stuff, i kind of steered away from rooting for them.

[Salamander]

i want Penske to prove me wrong. this will be the first season ever where i root for them as the underdogs.

Underodgs?

They've been clearly the best team all year.

[Yannick]

Congrats to Will Power for a well-deserved victory at the Milwaukee Mile. Here are the updated points standings in the Verizon IndyCar Series' A. J. Foyt Oval Track Trophy:

1 5 J. Montoya 275
2 2 H. Castroneves 266
3 1 W. Power 240
4 4 R. Hunter-Reay 221
5 8 C. Munoz 212
6 3 S. Pagenaud 201
7 23 E. Carpenter 191
8 6 S. Dixon 186
9 10 M. Andretti 184
10 11 R. Briscoe 177
11 16 J. Newgarden 176
12 7 T. Kanaan 165
13 15 M. Aleshin 148
14 12 J. Hinchcliffe 140
15 9 S. Bourdais 130
16 14 J. Wilson 107
17 18 G. Rahal 106
18 21 S. Saavedra 106
19 13 C. Kimball 105
20 17 J. Hawksworth 100
21 20 T. Sato 91
22 19 C. Huertas 84
23 25 K. Busch 80
24 26 J. Hildebrand 66
25 27 S. Karam 57
26 29 J. Davison 34
27 24 O. Servia 33
28 30 J. Villeneuve 29
29 31 A. Tagliani 28
30 32 T. Bell 22
30 33 P. Mann 21
31 35 B. Lazier 11
32 34 M. Plowman 6

With his P2 at Milwaukee, Juan-Pablo Montoya gets into the lead in the AJ Foyt oval points standings. I guess his experience on ovals which he expanded on during his NASCAR Sprint Cup days is very beneficial for him here, just like AJ Allmendinger's recent IndyCar experience helped him win the recent Watkins Glen road course race in NASCAR Sprint Cup. Allmendinger really should consider competing the Indy 500 again as part of a "Double" next year.

On another note, one has to wonder what's up with Sato and the Foyt team this season, when looking at those points standings.

[nome66]

i want Penske to prove me wrong. this will be the first season ever where i root for them as the underdogs.

Underodgs?

They've been clearly the best team all year.

Penske's going to choke themselves out again.



i want to be wrong.

may i remind you that Penske hasn't won an IndyCar Championship since 2006?

[Salamander]

i want Penske to prove me wrong. this will be the first season ever where i root for them as the underdogs.

Underodgs?

They've been clearly the best team all year.

Penske's going to choke themselves out again.



i want to be wrong.

may i remind you that Penske hasn't won an IndyCar Championship since 2006?

I'm perfectly aware. That doesn't mean that there isn't a difference between choke-artists and actual underdogs.

[Yannick]

Penske's going to choke themselves out again.

How? How might they do that? It's basically Power vs Castroneves at this point. Hunter-Reay looks effectively out of the championship hunt since Milwaukee.

So how do you think Simon Pagenaud could win the championship, with the 500 mile oval race at Fontana being the final event? Winning Sonoma is not going to be enough.

I like the Schmidt team and wish them all the best for this championship. Yet, on countback, Power vs Castroneves is most likely, going into the season finale at Fontana. Both Power and Castroneves have won at Sonoma before. At Fontana, Power is your previous winner whilst Castroneves has not won there before. So statistically, Power is more likely to win the championship.
Team Penske has been in the championship hunt many times before and they will make sure that the two garages work together when it comes to setting up the cars, in spite of battling for the championship out on the track.

Here's looking forward to some good, clean racing. I cannot watch Fontana, though. It's way too far out of my time zone.

[Salamander]

Penske's going to choke themselves out again.

How? How might they do that? It's basically Power vs Castroneves at this point. Hunter-Reay looks effectively out of the championship hunt since Milwaukee.

So how do you think Simon Pagenaud could win the championship, with the 500 mile oval race at Fontana being the final event? Winning Sonoma is not going to be enough.

Exactly - Pagenaud is my favourite driver and I would like nothing more than for him to win the title, but I really don't see that happening unless something disastrous happens to Penske during Fontana, and Pagenaud has the oval race of his life.

[girry]

Remember it's the Indycar thread. Anything can happen in Indycar. Especially if we're talking about Will Power, Helio Castroneves, Team Penske and title hunt.

[Onxy Wrecked]

Congrats to Will Power for a well-deserved victory at the Milwaukee Mile. Here are the updated points standings in the Verizon IndyCar Series' A. J. Foyt Oval Track Trophy:

1 5 J. Montoya 275
2 2 H. Castroneves 266
3 1 W. Power 240
4 4 R. Hunter-Reay 221
5 8 C. Munoz 212
6 3 S. Pagenaud 201
7 23 E. Carpenter 191
8 6 S. Dixon 186
9 10 M. Andretti 184
10 11 R. Briscoe 177
11 16 J. Newgarden 176
12 7 T. Kanaan 165
13 15 M. Aleshin 148
14 12 J. Hinchcliffe 140
15 9 S. Bourdais 130
16 14 J. Wilson 107
17 18 G. Rahal 106
18 21 S. Saavedra 106
19 13 C. Kimball 105
20 17 J. Hawksworth 100
21 20 T. Sato 91
22 19 C. Huertas 84
23 25 K. Busch 80
24 26 J. Hildebrand 66
25 27 S. Karam 57
26 29 J. Davison 34
27 24 O. Servia 33
28 30 J. Villeneuve 29
29 31 A. Tagliani 28
30 32 T. Bell 22
30 33 P. Mann 21
31 35 B. Lazier 11
32 34 M. Plowman 6

With his P2 at Milwaukee, Juan-Pablo Montoya gets into the lead in the AJ Foyt oval points standings. I guess his experience on ovals which he expanded on during his NASCAR Sprint Cup days is very beneficial for him here, just like AJ Allmendinger's recent IndyCar experience helped him win the recent Watkins Glen road course race in NASCAR Sprint Cup. Allmendinger really should consider competing the Indy 500 again as part of a "Double" next year.

On another note, one has to wonder what's up with Sato and the Foyt team this season, when looking at those points standings.

Taku can't into ovals anymore.

[nome66]

Congrats to Will Power for a well-deserved victory at the Milwaukee Mile. Here are the updated points standings in the Verizon IndyCar Series' A. J. Foyt Oval Track Trophy:

1 5 J. Montoya 275
2 2 H. Castroneves 266
3 1 W. Power 240
4 4 R. Hunter-Reay 221
5 8 C. Munoz 212
6 3 S. Pagenaud 201
7 23 E. Carpenter 191
8 6 S. Dixon 186
9 10 M. Andretti 184
10 11 R. Briscoe 177
11 16 J. Newgarden 176
12 7 T. Kanaan 165
13 15 M. Aleshin 148
14 12 J. Hinchcliffe 140
15 9 S. Bourdais 130
16 14 J. Wilson 107
17 18 G. Rahal 106
18 21 S. Saavedra 106
19 13 C. Kimball 105
20 17 J. Hawksworth 100
21 20 T. Sato 91
22 19 C. Huertas 84
23 25 K. Busch 80
24 26 J. Hildebrand 66
25 27 S. Karam 57
26 29 J. Davison 34
27 24 O. Servia 33
28 30 J. Villeneuve 29
29 31 A. Tagliani 28
30 32 T. Bell 22
30 33 P. Mann 21
31 35 B. Lazier 11
32 34 M. Plowman 6

With his P2 at Milwaukee, Juan-Pablo Montoya gets into the lead in the AJ Foyt oval points standings. I guess his experience on ovals which he expanded on during his NASCAR Sprint Cup days is very beneficial for him here, just like AJ Allmendinger's recent IndyCar experience helped him win the recent Watkins Glen road course race in NASCAR Sprint Cup. Allmendinger really should consider competing the Indy 500 again as part of a "Double" next year.

On another note, one has to wonder what's up with Sato and the Foyt team this season, when looking at those points standings.

Taku can't into ovals anymore.

[Londoner]

Newgarden's staying with the Sarah Fisher/Short Bus Ed team for next season

[Londoner]

Shame Helio's spending this race choking even harder than Power. But still, what the hell was that spin all about?!

Mike Conway currently leads in the Short Bus.

[Alextrax52]

I've been looking at the timing screens for most of the race and to someone actually watching the race did Pagenaud and Conway tangle because Conway was 3rd on lap 84 but fell to 14th when the race finished?

[Dj_bereta]

What a finish. Drivers running out of fuel, just like in F1 80s.

Power could be punished for passing under yellow flag just meters of the checkered flag.

My ROTR goes to Helio Castroneves, for making a worse race than Power which made a poor race.

I've been looking at the timing screens for most of the race and to someone actually watching the race did Pagenaud and Conway tangle because Conway was 3rd on lap 84 but fell to 14th when the race finished?

Conway ran out of fuel in the last lap. He still managed to cross the finish lap.

[Yannick]

Congrats to Scott Dixon for the win at Sonoma. Here are the Verizon IndyCar Series final standings in the Mario Andretti Road & Street Course Trophy for 2014. And it's not even Labor Day yet.

1 1. W. Power 390
2 3. S. Pagenaud 344
3 5. S. Dixon 337
4 4. R. Hunter-Reay 313
5 2. H. Castroneves 309
6 8. S. Bourdais 307
7 7. T. Kanaan 278
8 14. C. Kimball 261
9 12. J. Hinchcliffe 255
10 16. J. Wilson 254
11 22. M. Conway 252
12 6. J. Montoya 244
13 10. M. Andretti 240
14 17. J. Hawksworth 236
15 11. R. Briscoe 232
16 9. C. Munoz 223
17 18. G. Rahal 217
18 15. M. Aleshin 216
19 19. C. Huertas 212
20 20. T. Sato 203
21 13. J. Newgarden 190
21 21. S. Saavedra 159
23 24. O. Servia 55
24 28. L. Filippi 46
25 34. M. Plowman 12
26 36. F. Montagny 8

[F1000X]

Very interesting race to watch unfold. A shame Pagenaud didn't have a shot at beating Dixon, that would have set the stage for an even more better final race.

So how does Power lose it this year? Does he finish second, or third? I want him to win, but I know he won't get it done.

[Rocks with Salt]

Those last few laps more than made up for the rest of the race! That's how I want to see a strategy race end! Drivers limping home out of fuel, three-wide across the finish line, and Conway running out of gas just feet after crossing the line. That was an awesome race.

[Dj_bereta]

Power only needs a 6th place to get the title. For Pagenaud wins the title, he needs to win the race, Power finishes in 21st or below(without scoring bonus points) and Helio needs to finish 4th place or below. In other words, almost impossible for Pagenaud to win the title.

For Helio is a little less difficult. For example, if the Brazilian wins and get all bonus points, Power needs to finish 7th or below (without scoring bonus points) for him get the title.

The major problem for Helio and Pagenaud isn't Power, but the other drivers.

[Aerospeed]

Power only needs a 6th place to get the title. For Pagenaud wins the title, he needs to win the race, Power finishes in 21st or below(without scoring bonus points) and Helio needs to finish 4th place or below. In other words, almost impossible for Pagenaud to win the title.

For Helio is a little less difficult. For example, if the Brazilian wins and get all bonus points, Power needs to finish 7th or below (without scoring bonus points) for him get the title.

The major problem for Helio and Pagenaud isn't Power, but the other drivers.

Well, Power finishing below 21st is simple enough, and Pagenaud has what it takes to win the race, but it will have to be a good performance. Helio finishing below 4th isn't out of the ordinary as of late either.

[W12]

According to some sources, Conway has signed a contract with CFH for 2015. Also, Bryan Clauson will possibly drive the Byrd car at Fontana, as well.

[Salamander]

Pagenaud has what it takes to win the race

No, he doesn't. Pags is awesome, but he doesn't have the ovals nailed enough yet to win one. I really hope I'm wrong though...

[Wallio]

NBC is reporting that Cosworth is in deep negotiations with 2 OEMs about partnering in an Indycar engine for next season. An announcement is due within a few weeks.

[nome66]

ehem. gentleman....




i have positive-leaning emotion toward this topic.

[Miguel98]

So qualifying for the season finale just ocurred and Castroneves starts on pole, with Will Power starting a very good... 21st place on the grid. Pags didn't do too shaby, starts safelly in the mid pack.

[go_Rubens]

That was one huge crash for Mikhail Aleshin...

[andrew]

He is a serious but stable condition

[Dj_bereta]

Aleshin was very lucky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFerodPNpvM

[dr-baker]

Aleshin was very lucky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFerodPNpvM

It was good to see the safety/medical team get there so quickly.