Paul Tracy Drives For Five with DeFerran Dragon in 2011

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy/XSL Speed Reporter

Despite the popularity of Paul Tracy in the North American open wheel racing circuit, the 2003 Champ Car World Series champion has been without a full-time presence in the reunified INDYCAR Series. Able to pick up rides for the Indy 500 as well as the Canadian rounds in Toronto and Edmonton (tracks where his fanfare is at an understandable height), Tracy appearances through the rest of the IZOD INDYCAR schedule depended largely on substitution of other drivers. For 2011, the 42 year-old open wheel favourite will be making a few more scheduled appearances in the 17-race IZOD INDYCAR Series.

Running at least five races for the 2011 IZOD INDYCAR Series season, Paul Tracy will join the DeFerran Dragon Racing team. Debuting with the team at the Toyota Grand Prix at Long Beach, The double race at Texas Motor Speedway and the road course of Infineon Raceway at Sonoma sandwiches the two Canadian rounds of the INDYCAR tour. For the first time, Paul Tracy will also be driving the Honda Indy of Toronto and the Edmonton Indy for DeFerran Dragon Racing after competing with KV Racing Technology in 2009 and 2010. No sponsors have been announced relating to the driver/team partnership but expect the DeFerran Dragon Racing car to wear one or several prominent corporate names.

Sitting on the sidelines for the IZOD INDYCAR season opening round in St Petersburg and the upcoming race at Barber Motorsport Park starting 2011, the driving deal for Paul Tracy reactivates DeFerran Dragon Racing. Competing through 2009 and 2010 with Raphael Matos as a driver, DeFerran Dragon Racing had made plans prior to the new year after collaborating with 2003 INDYCAR champion Tony Kanaan. The deal between Kanaan and the team fell apart a month ahead of the IZOD INDYCAR season opener in St Petersburg when sponsorship prospects did not materialize. Due to the lack of finances to start the 2011 tour, team owners Gil de Ferran and Jay Penske elected to suspend operations laying off their employees.

In addition to the de Ferran Dragon Racing ride, Tracy will attempt the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with Dreyer and Reinbold Racing. Wix Filters will sponsor Paul Tracy through the month of May activities at the Brickyard.

Duno Finds Fulltime IndyCar Ride with Dale Coyne Racing

Photo Credit: IndyCar Media


For 2010, a second female racer will compete in the full 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule. After three season's of part-time competition amounting in 27 race starts, Venezuelan driver Milka Duno has signed on to wheel the #18 Dale Coyne Racing ride. Making her adventure into running the entire IndyCar calender in 2010, Duno will be competing within several events for the first time in her career including the Twin-Ring Motegi and the Streets of St Petersburg rounds. Within the release announcing Milka Duno's plans, the driver deeply looks forward this opportunity with Dale Coyne Racing becoming a career builder. "For the past three seasons I’ve only run partial schedules and I’m anxious to be competing in all the races this year. Doing so builds momentum and maintains consistency that I feel is a key factor to good results." Duno responded.

Having started her career at a somewhat late 24 years old, Milka Duno in the United States for the first time with the Barber Dodge 2000 Series. Duno's racing career hit a high-note through sports car racing in Grand Am, American Le Mans Series and the Ferrari Challenge where she became the first woman to win that race in the US. From 2001 to 2006, Duno's highlights included co-driving the LMP675 class winning car at the Petit Le Mans and involvement with 3 Daytona Prototype victories in Grand Am competition. Stepping away from sports car racing in after the 2006 season saw Milka Duno once again competing in open wheel racing. Entering the IndyCar Series with Venezuela oil company CITGO funding Duno's effort, her first season involved SAMAX Motorsport before moving to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing where she spent the past two seasons.

A long-time fixture in American open wheel, Dale Coyne Racing breakthrough victory in 2009 at Waltkin Glen has earned the race team an honourable mention in the IZOD IndyCar paddock for the upcoming season. Naming Milka Duno to the #18, team owner Dale Coyne is going to announce a driver next week for the #19 car.

Duno's addition to the 2010 IZOD IndyCar series race in the streets of Sao Paulo will bring the total of female drivers to 3 for the series opening weekend. With Danica Patrick rejoining Andretti Autosport's effort, Duno's former team Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is fielding an extra car for Brazil's Ana Beatriz.

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.

Day 2 of IndyCar Test at Barber Motorsports Park: Power Boosted to Front

Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney/IndyCar

In the second day of the IZOD IndyCar Series open test, contenders in the 2010 open wheel racing circuit left the Barber Motorsports Park with full notebooks (perhaps more laptops at this time in auto racing) containing their gains and shortcomings. Averaging approximately 140 miles a piece through the two days, 20 Indy cars have attacked the 2.38 miles road course for what was the third and final session for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar series teams.


Taking on Barber Motorsports Park complex on a cool, sunny Thursday afternoon, speeds in two day testing showed significant pace increases. In session 3 runs, 9 IndyCar drivers posted times faster than the session 2 effort of Ryan Briscoe. As the IndyCar times dropped, Penske Racing's dominance from Wednesday spilled over to the Thursday IndyCar test session proving that the rest of the IZOD IndyCar has a reason to be concerned heading into 2010. On Thursday, Penske Racing cars swept the top 3 positions. However, a change came as Will Power took the lead. In fact, Power's fastest time was the only lap in the 2 day test that a driver was able to clock under the 1 minute, 10 second mark at 1:098724 lap time.

In hot pursuit of the Roger Penske 3-car team, Scott Dixon ran 4th fastest on the day in the #9 Target/Chip Ganassi Racing car. As for Target/Chip Ganassi Racing's reigning IndyCar Series Championship driver Dario Franchitti, the Scotsman's Thursday run equated to a second to last fast time. Limiting himself to a 3 lap shakedown on the second two, Dario Franchitti ran the second-fewest laps amongst all participants in the IndyCar test.

Continuing the prove Dreyer/Reinbold Racing as a force to be reckon with for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series, Justin Wilson made his third consecutive appearance amongst the top 5 on the time chart. While Wilson's speed seems to indicate a stronger Dreyer/Reinbold Racing during the two-day open test, teammate Mike Conway's performance in test session 3 showed true gains. Having left Wednesday with a speed nearly one and a half seconds slower than day's leader Briscoe, Conway top time in day two was only 0.38 seconds off the new IndyCar pacesetter.


Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney/IndyCar

Taking a break from her much-publicized NASCAR Nationwide Series endeavours, the very busy Danica Patrick returned to her familiar #7 Indy car. While Patrick had trouble finding front-running speed, this lack of speed plagued the whole four-car Andretti Autosport team. Team newcomer Ryan Hunter-Reay is still traveling the learning curve in the #37 car, recording a 14th overall fastest time around Barber Motorsports Park. Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti reminded situated in the middle of test time sheets throughout the three IndyCar practice sessions. After two days, Marco Andretti showed the quickest speed of the four-car team averaging 117.621 miles per hour within a single 2.38 mile lap.



Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney/IndyCar

Providing an impressive two day of testing after showing some early speed on Wednesday, Formula 1 veteran Takuma Sato best time placed the Japanese driver 5th on the overall test chart in his #5 KV Racing Technology car. Running more laps than any other driver in the three IZOD IndyCar test sessions at Barber Motorsports Park, Sato appears well-prepared to enter his first year of competition in the North American open wheel racing series. Running almost as many laps as Sato, Conquest Racing's rookie driver Mario Romancini also used the Barber test to gain as much pre-season seat time in the #34 car.

As the test wrapped up, there were IndyCar veteran drivers noticeably absent from the activities at Barber Motorsports Park, Graham Rahal and Mario Moraes. Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing brought only one car to the test for their newly-acquired driver Hideki Mutoh leaving guesses for whether the team will even run two cars in 2010. Speculation has also mentioned Rahal considering a venture into NASCAR (historically, not a particularly smart move for open wheel drivers). As for Moraes, KV Racing Technology appears not to be giving up hope in campaigning the driver. Mario Moraes would no doubt want to see a deal formulated for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series opener. Sao Paulo, Brazil which is his birthplace.

Like every test, it will remain to be seen if the success or struggles of a few laps will be truly telling of the 2010 season for the IZOD IndyCar Series tour.

IZOD IndyCar: Justin Wilson has a new ride for 2010

Photo Credit: IndyCar Series


Coming as a surprise to IndyCar racing observers, Justin Wilson left the #18 Dale Coyne Racing car for a second-car with the Dreyer & Reinbold team for 2010. Set to drive the #22 car, Wilson will be joined by office furniture company Z-Line Design which sponsored the British driver through the 2009 schedule. With fellow Brit Mike Conway remaining in the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing organization after his 2009 rookie campaign, team co-owner Dennis Reinhold expressed optimism about the team's 2010 efforts. "We're excited to have Justin and Mike join us, Mike back for his second year, and obviously Justin has been in the league with a high degree of success for a long time." Reinhold said also adding that a third team could be brought to life with the right funding and driver.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has been in the IndyCar Series ( through earlier years known as the Indy Racing League) since 1999 and has sported driving talents such as Robbie Buhl, Sarah Fisher, and Al Unser Jr. The race team also played a part in Ryan Briscoe's career before he joined Penske Racing IndyCar operation in 2008.


Last season's IndyCar series schedule was dominated by the collective efforts of Target/Chip Ganassi and Penske Racing. Justin Wilson and the Dale Coyne Racing team were the only team succeeded in breaking the superteam stranglehold on the series winning in an upset at the Watkins Glen road course. Finishing 9th overall in the 2009 IndyCar standings, it appeared that the pairing was set to remain the same in 2010

In a teleconference, Wilson shared his thoughts on leaving his 2009 team. "It was a pretty tough call to leave Dale and move on with my career. That's not an easy decision. I just got to thank Dale and Gail (Coyne) for everything they've done. It was a great year. I have really fond memories."

With the departure of Justin Wilson and Z-Line Designs, Dale Coyne Racing is still in prime position for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season. In early January, Dale Coyne Racing announced securing sponsorship from the Boy Scouts of America for 2010 for what was believed to have been a second car for the team. Graham Rahal, who has been teetering on resigning with Newman/Haas/Lanigan or entertaining other interested teams, is Dale Coyne's personal pick to fill his team's vacancy for a driver.

With the 2010 IZOD IndyCar series set to start on March 14th in Sao Paulo, Brazil, this late season game of musical chairs is occurring against a rapidly approaching green flag.