Power Dances to Sao Paulo INDYCAR Race Pole

Photo Credit: INDYCAR/LAT USA

For the third time in the first four races of the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series, the open wheel tour is running on a temporary street course. While each of those road circuits come with their own charm, the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presents the series’ first trip outside of the United States this season to race on the streets of Brazil. Presented with a 2.536-mile, 11-turn course, the 26 cars of the IZOD INDYCAR Series readied for their 2012 appearance in the major Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.

Qualifying for Sunday’s main 75-lap event went off without a major hitch under cloudy skies and a 74-degree Fahrenheit ambient temperature. Without the confusing drama that proceeded the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach race, the Chevrolet engine and the Honda engines (now operating with a more powerful turbocharger unit thanks to the manufacturer‘s appeal to the sanctioning body), The Firestone Fast Six grouping featured three cars from each manufacturer.

After the final 10-minute session in qualifying, it was a familiar competitor that owned the day. The dominance of Team Penske in the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series rolled into South America. As Team Penske remains undefeated in qualifying for 2012, the #12 Dallara-Chevrolet piloted by Will Power topped the time charts on the Brazilian streets. Lapping the racetrack in 81.4045 seconds, Power held off the strong fight of defending IZOD INDYCAR Series champion Dario Franchitti and the Scot’s Honda-powered #10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing entry. The pole for the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 totals 26 times Will Power would start from the preferred spot on the IZOD INDYCAR Series starting grid. Post-qualifying, pole-sitter Power said, “It's good to put the Verizon Chevrolet on the pole. It was satisfying, especially knowing that Honda seems to have an advantage on the straights at the moment, so being on pole is a good start to the weekend.”

Ending the Firestone Fast Six session in his highest position of the 2012 season, Dario Franchitti is still searching for a solid race result in order to begin mounting a title defence in 2012. “We've obviously had a difficult start to the season and a lot of things go wrong in the last couple weeks. We off-loaded with a good car of the truck and made some improvements to it. I'm a bit disappointed in qualifying, especially because the time is in the car.” said Franchitti. Heading into Sunday’s main event, Dario Franchitti and the #10 car have achieved no better than 10^th place in the finishing order of an IZOD INDYCAR Series race. Franchitti’s teammate for Target Chip Ganassi Racing Scott Dixon showed solidarity by taking two of the three top positions starting the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300.

As well as the Target Chip Ganassi Racing team posting a strong effort in qualifying on the streets of Sao Paulo, the Andretti Autosport pair of James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay are continuing to be mainstays in the Firestone Fast Six. For Canada’s Hinchcliffe, the Brazilian qualifying session extends his undefeated streak for making the final top-6 time trial grouping for 2012 IZOD INDYCAR events. "I guess four is the number of the day: fourth place, fourth time in the Firestone Fast Six. It's certainly not a bad starting spot to be on the first two rows, but we had a competitive car in (the second qualifying session) and were hoping for a little bit higher up. I need to get a better handle on how to make these tires work better on the second run.” said James Hinchcliffe still searching for his first race win in the series on Sunday.

Returning to Dale Coyne Racing in 2012, British driver Justin Wilson proved himself to be a significant force again for an longer-shot victory. Leading laps at Long Beach in the #18 Honda-powered Dallara, the momentum continued to Sao Paulo where Wilson qualified 6^th for the street race. Commenting post-qualifying on his chances on Sunday, Wilson stated, “We're starting sixth, we're in a good spot and we'll see what happens in the race."

Just outside of the Firestone Fast Six, Graham Rahal drives a Chip Ganassi Racing #38 car to 7^th on Saturday ahead of the #14 car piloted by Mike Conway. In 9^th, rookie Josef Newgarden will again get a chance to start in the top-10 of an IZOD INDYCAR Series race for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing making it his third time in four events this season. Rookie contender and series standout following the near-win in Long Beach Simon Pagenaud starts the race deep in 17^th spot.

Despite a feisty field of Brazilian drivers in the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series, the Saturday qualifying session ended on a bit of a down note for the drivers running in their home country. 12^th fastest on track during time trials, Tony Kanaan was the fastest of the Brazilian contingent who starts just ahead of former Formula 1 driver Rubens Barrichello. Sunday’s 75-lap race will be Barrichello first IZOD INDYCAR start in front of his hometown crowd. For Team Penske, Helio Castroneves starts 20^th ahead of fellow Brazilian Ana Beatriz who will be starting his first race as a fifth Andretti Autosport car.

The 74 laps on the Sao Paulo start course is set for noon Eastern time with a probability that rain and thunderstorms could affect the Brazilian race for a third year in a row.


2012 IZOD INDYCAR
Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300
Qualifying Results

Pos #	Car #	Driver	Nationality	Race Team	Engine
1	12	Will Power	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
2	10	Dario Franchitti	Scotland	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
3	9	Scott Dixon	New Zealand	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
4	27	James Hinchcliffe	Canada	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
5	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
6	18	Justin Wilson	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
7	38	Graham Rahal	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
8	14	Mike Conway	England	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Honda
9	67	Josef Newgarden	United States	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda
10	2	Ryan Briscoe	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
11	26	Marco Andretti	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
12	11	Tony Kanaan	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
13	8	Rubens Barrichello	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
14	5	EJ Viso	Venezuela	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
15	4	JR Hildebrand	United States	Panther Racing	Chevrolet
16	83	Charlie Kimball	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
17	77	Simon Pagenaud	France	Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports	Honda
18	19	James Jakes	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
19	7	Sebastien Bourdais	France	Lotus-Dragon Racing	Lotus
20	3	Helio Castroneves	Brazil	Team Penske	Chevrolet
21	25	Ana Beatriz	Brazil	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
22	20	Ed Carpenter	United States	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
23	78	Simona de Silvestro	Switzerland	Lotus-HVM Racing	Lotus
24	22	Oriol Servia	Spain	Lotus-Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Lotus
25	6	Katherine Legge	England	Lotus-Dragon Racing	Lotus
26	15	Takuma Sato	Japan	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda

Katherine Legge and Takuma Sato will be assessed 10-grid position penalty for unapproved engine changes. 

Vettel Takes Brazilian Grand Prix; Red Bull Clinches Manufacturer's Title

Photo Credit: Andrew Ferraro/ LAT Photographic

The penultimate round in the 2010 Formula 1 tour, the Brazilian Grand Prix started with four drivers in contention for the season's world driver's championship. Suffering a massive meltdown during the Korean Grand Prix, the Red Bull Racing duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber left without scoring championship points. With Webber parked, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso cleaned up racing to victory on the wet Korean race circuit propelling himself into 1st place with an 11-point advantage.

Contrary to the Korean Grand Prix, the weather for the Brazilian Grand Prix was an absolutely bright, sunny day. However, Saturday qualifying did present a watered-down Autódromo José Carlos Pace track. As the track transitioned, Williams F1's Nico Hulkenberg surprised many by claiming pole ahead of Red Bull Racing and McLaren.  

Hulkenberg's honour was quickly disregarded by the Formula 1 field as the Williams-Cosworth was simply no match for the Red Bull-Renaults off the standing start. With Sebastian Vettel using a superior start to out-drag his fellow German native into the first corner, Mark Webber got by the Williams on the track's third turn. As Nico Hulkenberg continued a gradual drop down the running order to settle within the bottom end of the top-10 for the duration of the event, the Red Bull Racing cars installed themselves into Brazilian Grand Prix's top race positions.

Formula 1 current driver's points championship Fernando Alonso weaved his way into third place but his Ferrari lost touch with the Red Bull-Renaults. By mid-way through the 71-lap grand prix, the gap between 2rd place and 3rd was over 16 seconds. Unable to fight for the front, the McLaren-Mercedes race cars of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button ran competitively but were unsuccessful in preserving the team's chances for the manufacturers championship.      

Unlike the Korean Grand Prix which resulted with a sizable casualty list, the Formula 1 race at Brazil ended with one official retirement. That solitary vehicle not finishing the Brazil Grand Prix was the Force India-Mercedes of Vitantonio Liuzzi that ended the race with a collision into the turn 2 pit road wall at lap 50. As the wreckage of the Force India-Mercedes littered within the narrow off-track area, safety car period was necessary to clean up the turn 2 portion of Autódromo José Carlos Pace circuit.

Under the brief period behind the Mercedes SLS AMG safety car, some teams used this opportunity to take on fresh slick tires. McLaren and the Mercedes GP pitted while the top-3 maintained its composition. As the race was sent back to green on lap 56, the restart had a collection of slower race cars separating the 3 top Formula 1 cars aiding in Vettel's defense of the lead over Mark Webber.

While Liuzzi's crash was the only race-ending collision, their was no shortage of contact on the Brazilian race circuit. Ferrari driver Felipe Massa ended his home country's grand prix in 15th place after no fewer than two incidents of contact with other race cars. The latest incident occurred between Massa and Renault's Vitaly Petrov in turn one as they were fighting for position late in the grand prix. Both drivers continued to finish the race. Other Brazilian drivers including Rubens Barrichello and Bruno Senna were also presented with disappointing results in their home grand prix wanting to impressive the country where their careers were first stoked.

Despite some minor drama regarding fuel mileage concerns on the final laps, the Red Bull-Renaults rolled down the track's front stretch with Sebastian Vettel taking the victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Mark Webber's second place run guaranteed Red Bull Racing their first constructor title in Formula 1 with a 48 point cushion over McLaren heading into the final race at Abu Dhabi.

Playing follow the leader throughout the event, Fernando Alonso settled with 3rd gaving up points to both of his main drivers title opponents. Moving from 11 points behind to a tighter 8 point gap behind Alonso, Webber closes along with teammate Vettel now 15 points away from lead. Finishing 4th in the Brazilian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton barely holds onto F1 World Championship contention but would need an awful amount of trouble to plague the forward three in the points at Abu Dhabi in order to gain the McLaren driver's 2nd F1 title.

Other qualifying on pole, Nico Hulkenberg's race resulted with a respectable 8th place run improving two spots thanks to the pitting during the safety car period.


2010 Formula 1
Brazilian Grand Prix
Race Results

 

1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
5. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP
7. Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP
8. Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth
9. Robert Kubica Renault F1
10. Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari
11. Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari
12. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes
13. Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari
14. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth
15. Felipe Massa Ferrari
16. Vitaly Petrov Renault F1
17. Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber-Ferrari
18. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth
19. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth
20. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth
21. Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth
22. Christian Klien HRT-Cosworth
23. Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth
24. Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes

Hulkenberg's Hulking F1 Upset: Williams Driver on Brazil GP Pole

Photo Credit: Glenn Dunbar/ LAT Photographic

The second to last grand prix remaining for the 2010 Formula 1 season, 24 drivers along with teams realize these final races of the year as the final opportunity to score power and glory. Some drivers like Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton the Formula 1 world driver's championship is at stake making every on-track session precious time.

As predicted, rain swept over the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in time for Formula 1 qualifying Saturday. However, a break in the wet weather presented itself during the timed session allowing for tire strategy to figure handsomely into the team's planning for Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying. Fernando Alonso led Q1 with 1 minute, 1.987 seconds while Mark Webber's Red Bull-Renault would top Q2 with 1 minute, 18.516 seconds.

As weather improved into the Q3 session, the option of running the Brazilian circuit on slick tires was actually a viable option. When drivers were chanced on the dry weather tire, lap times plummeted to nearly 4 seconds under the Q2 fastest times. With times under the 1 minute, 16 second range coming from Lewis Hamilton's McLaren-Mercedes, Fernando Alonso's Ferrari as well as the Red Bull-Renault pairing of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, a 2010 Formula 1 rookie beat all of them to start the Brazilian Grand Prix in the top spot.


Piloting his Williams-Cosworth, Nico Hulkenberg rose from 9th place in Q2 to ripple a shockwave through the Formula 1 paddock with his first career pole at a 1 minute, 14.470 second lap time winning the spot by nearly a second over second place Sebastian Vettel. Hulkenberg and the Williams F1 team top qualifying effort marks the first time since the French Grand Prix in 1999 that a Formula 1 pole sitter drives with Cosworth power.  It is also worth remembering that the Brazilian Grand Prix was the site of Cosworth's last glorious victory. In the 2003 race, Jordan F1 team's Giancarlo Fisichetta drove a Ford-badged Cosworth to what was than a remarkable top podium spot.
 
Having owned the top of the speed charts on Friday, the Red Bull Racing pairing settled behind the Williams-Cosworth with Vettel taking 2nd and Mark Webber placing 3rd fastest. The Red Bull-Renaults were separated by little more than 1/10th of a second. One of the first drivers to brave the Brazilian track with slick tires, Lewis Hamilton slotted his McLaren-Mercedes into 4th place ahead of title leader Alonso's Ferrari.
 
Set for Sunday at 11 P.M. Eastern time, we'll see whether the 2009 GP2 champion Hulkenberg will hold off the currently more elite Formula 1 outlets through the Brazilian Grand Prix.
 
 
2010 Formula 1
Brazilian Grand Prix
Qualifying Results

Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
Fernando Alonso Ferrari
Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth
Robert Kubica Renault F1
Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP
Felipe Massa Ferrari
Vitaly Petrov Renault F1
Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes
Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari
Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP
Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari
Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari
Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber-Ferrari
Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes
Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes
Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth
Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth
Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth
Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth
Christian Klien HRT-Cosworth
Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth

2010 IZOD IndyCar Indy Series Sao Paulo Indy 300 Entry List

Photo Credit: Chris Jones/ IndyCar

Composing the field of the San Paulo Indy 300 road race for the IZOD IndyCar Series, 24 cars and drivers will suit up for the open wheel series' first event in South America. Unleashing two dozen Dallara-Hondas for Sunday, March 14th, the IndyCar Series eagerly embraces the piping hot Brazilian weather as they compete on a 2.6 mile, 11 turn street course.

Preparing to be a grand spectacle in a country dominated with the memories of Aryton Senna and the success of modern drivers such as Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan, the latter 2 drivers will be 7 Brazilian born competitors on Sunday. In all, open wheel challengers from 11 nations will run the first race of the 2010 season. Diversity for the IZOD IndyCar Series will also spread amongst genders with a record 4 female drivers will prepare for the Indy 300 on the streets of Sao Paulo.

The one notable team not competing in the inaugural Sao Paulo Indy 300 is Sarah Fisher Racing. Similar to last season, Sarah Fisher and company are not slated to run any IndyCar races outside of the United States for 2010.

Car # | Driver/Home Country | Team

06 Hideki Mutoh/ Japan Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
2 Raphael Matos/Brazil Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Motorsports
3 Helio Castroneves/Brazil Penske Racing
4 Dan Wheldon/England Panther Racing
5 Takuma Sato/Japan KV Racing Technology
6 Ryan Briscoe/Australia Penske Racing
7 Danica Patrick/United States Andretti Autosport
8 EJ Viso/Venezuela KV Racing Technology
9 Scott Dixon/New Zealand Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
10 Dario Franchitti/Scotland Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
11 Tony Kanaan/Brazil Andretti Autosport
12 Will Power/Australia Penske Racing
14 Vitor Meira/Brazil AJ Foyt Enterprises
18 Milka Duno/Venezuela Dale Coyne Racing
19 Alex Lloyd/England Dale Coyne Racing
22 Justin Wilson/England Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
23 Ana Beatriz/Brazil Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
24 Mike Conway/England Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
26 Marco Andretti/United States Andretti Autosport
32 Mario Moraes/Brazil KV Racing Technology
34 Mario Romancini/Brazil Conquest Racing
37 Ryan Hunter-Reay/United States Andretti Autosport
77 Alex Tagliani/Canada FAZZT Race Team
78 Simona De Silvestro/Switzerland HVM Racing

Mario Moraes Added to KV as Last Minute Addition to 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series

Photo Credit: IndyCar Media

KV Racing Technology has resigned Brazilian Mario Moraes just in time for the Sao Paulo, Brazil street race proceeding this weekend as the 2010 IZOD IndyCar season opener. Assigned to drive the #32 Banco Panamericano for the full 2010 schedule, a joyous Moraes commented in the team release saying "Being in the car to start the season is very important for me especially since the first race is in my hometown. KVRT is one of the best teams in the IZOD IndyCar Series and I am looking forward to working with everyone on the team again. Hopefully we can continue the success we enjoyed at the end of last season.".

A student in world racing at a young age, Mario Moraes' not so distant youth consisted of experience in British F3 and FTR 1600. Spending two seasons in the IndyCar Series driving first for Dale Coyne Racing in 2008, Moraes found his competitive footing during the last part of the 2009 schedule with KV Racing Technologies. Garnering 3 top-5 finishes in the final 4 races of 2009, Mario Moraes prospects in the IZOD IndyCar Series appeared promising following the Homestead-Miami Speedway finale with KV Racing Technology rumoured to resign him for 2010. However, as months went by, KV Racing Technology added some confusion to Moraes situation by hiring EJ Viso and Takuma Sato last month. To the relief of Moraes, KV Racing Technology added a third car as team General Manager Mark Johnson explains. "Mario showed last season he can be very competitive and is in the process of becoming one of the top talents in the series."
The 11th hour announcement regarding Mario Moraes is the 5th driver to be named to a full-time IndyCar ride through the past 11 days. With IZOD IndyCar practice and qualifying for the inaugural Indy 300 on the streets of Sao Paulo scheduled Saturday, expect the field for the open wheel driver/team lineup to be well-established for 2010.

Indy Lights Driver Ana Beatriz Making IndyCar Debut in Series Opening Sao Paulo Race

Photo Credit: Christopher Nagy/XSL Speed Reporter

Not to be confessed with the supermodel, Brazilian race car driver Ana Beatriz will become her home country's first female to compete in the IZOD IndyCar Series. Entered in a third car supplied by Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Beatriz's first IndyCar start will be extra special coming as part of a healthy Brazilian contingent at the inaugural Streets of Sao Paulo round for the IZOD IndyCar series. Ana Beatriz first race start in the major league open wheel series comes after two successful seasons in the Firestone Indy Lights Series where the talented 24-year old accomplished several significant feats.

Winning the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights Rookie of the year honour with a 3rd place overall points finish, Ana Beatriz also took victory in her first season of series competition winning at Nashville driving for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. The first female to clinch both of these auto racing goals, her 2008 season is more impressive since it would be a landmark achievement for any Indy Lights rookie. In 2009, Beatriz added a second win to her short career at the oval of Iowa Speedway. The win at Iowa Speedway in 2009 came after the Milwaukee Mile round which she was unable to participate in when her #20 Sam Schmidt Motorsports car was severely damaged in the Firestone Indy Lights Freedom 100 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Lacking finances through 2009, this was the chief reason why Beatriz needed to sit out at Milwaukee as well as the Firestone Indy Lights season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Despite the two lost opportunities to compete in 2009, Ana Beatriz did place 8th in Firestone Indy Lights Series final points standings thanks to scoring 6 top-5 finishes for the season.

Hiring Ana Beatriz for this current one-race commitment, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has a storied past showcasing women in motorsports spending four seasons with driver Sarah Fisher.