Franchitti Snags Pole for Milwaukee Indyfest

Photo Credit: INDYCAR/ LAT USA

Returning to the Milkwaukee Mile oval last season after a race promoter fiasco cancelled the 2010 activities at the track, there was questions whether the IZOD INDYCAR Series was going to appear at the complex in 2012. A less-than stellar track audience and TV audience put open wheel racing in doubt until Michael Andretti rescued the Wisconsin state spectacle. Still occurring on Father's day weekend, there is a change to the 225-lap event from the previous year. As opposed to the 2011 race, the 2012 Milwaukee Indyfest was event scheduled early on Saturday afternoon.

In Friday afternoon qualifying, Honda-engined IZOD INDYCAR competitors continued to show force with the 2012 Dallaras. Accomplishing a two-lap speed average of 168.737 miles per hour, Dario Franchitti took pole for Saturday's Milwaukee Indyfest for the Target Chip Ganassi Racing team. After qualifying the #10 car on pole, Franchitti expressed some surprise from the fast effort after practice."Practice is one thing, qualifying is another and then there is the race. For as warm as it it people are fighting the car and everyone wants the same line. I expect tomorrow is going to be tough, especially at the end of a full - stint on those Firestone tires." said Dario Franchitti.

Perhaps on the momentum of the Texas Motor Speedway upset win, the #18 Dale Coyne Racing car piloted by Justin Wilson continues to impress on ovals. "The confidence has helped a lot." said Wilson adding, "I feel like we've made some progress in understanding this car and what it's looking for, so we'll keep chipping away at it and making the car better and better." While qualifying 2nd, Justin Wilson will fall to 12th on the start of the 2012 Milwaukee Indyfest because of an unapproved engine change after the Texas race. Will Power's #12 Team Penske car, the #67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing car of Josef Newgarden, the #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing vehicle of Takuma Sato and the Mike Conway driven #14 AJ Foyt Enterprises machine have also been handed grid position penalties of 10 spots.

Promoting the race through his sports event business arm, Michael Andretti's three-car team had mixed fortunes in qualifying. While Ryan Hunter-Reay's #28 car was the fastest Chevrolet-engined competitor presented as 3rd on the time sheet, James Hinchcliffe tied his worse starting spot of the season with a 13th place grid position. Marco Andretti will start 15th on the 1-mile oval with the #26 Chevrolet-powered Dallara. 

Visiting the Milwaukee mile for the first time, 2012 IZOD INDYCAR freshman Rubens Barichello place his #8 KV Racing Technology car 5th fastest between two Team Penske machines. Josef Newgarden for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing also had a very respectable 7th quickest time but will forfeit 10 grid positions Saturday. "Knowing that we had the penalty coming here wasn't too bad because it's been a cycle this year. Everyone's had to go through it at some point and it's just our turn." said Newgarden.

A race with 25 cars, the 225-lap Milwaukee Indyfest main event is scheduled for a 12:30pm Eastern time start. According to weather forecasts, a slight chance of thunderstorms could threaten the race on Saturday.


2012 IZOD INDYCAR
Milwaukee Indyfest
Milwaukee Mile
Qualifying Results


Blue denotes vehicles serving grid position penalties

	Car #	Driver	Driver Nationality	Race Team	Engine
1	10	Dario Franchitti	Scotland	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
2	18	Justin Wilson	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
3	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
4	12	Will Power	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
5	8	Rubens Barrichello	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
6	3	Helio Castroneves	Brazil	Team Penske	Chevrolet
7	67	Josef Newgarden	United States	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda
8	5	EJ Viso	Venezuela	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
9	2	Ryan Briscoe	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
10	11	Tony Kanaan	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
11	9	Scott Dixon	New Zealand	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
12	77	Simon Pagenaud	France	Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports	Honda
13	27	James Hinchcliffe	Canada	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
14	15	Takuma Sato	Japan	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
15	26	Marco Andretti	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
16	4	JR Hildebrand	United States	Panther Racing	Chevrolet
17	38	Graham Rahal	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
18	98	Alex Tagliani	Canada	Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian	Honda
19	6	Katherine Legge	England	Dragon Racing	Chevrolet
20	19	James Jakes	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
21	83	Charlie Kimball	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
22	22	Oriol Servia	Spain	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Chevrolet
23	20	Ed Carpenter	United States	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
24	78	Simona de Silvestro	Switzerland	Lotus-HVM Racing	Lotus
25	14	Mike Conway	England	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Honda

Wilson Whips INDYCAR Superteams with Texas Win

Photo source: Michael L. Levitt. LAT Photo USA

The IZOD INDYCAR Series trip to the Texas Motor Speedway has always been one a fan favourite. While last year's race featured much of the drama within the twin-race experiment, many believed the reversion back to the single 228-lap formula in addition to the new 2012 race cars would amount to a better quality race at Texas for the Firestone 550. Fortunately, the result for this Saturday night contest among the open wheel racing stars of the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series was everything fans wanted. Race-long competition, a few harmless crashes and a late lap fight between two hungry drivers.
When the 25-car field took the field at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway, pole-sitter Alex Tagliani led the Firestone 550 for 20 laps. The #98 Bryan Herta Autosport car's presence at the front was disturbed by the charge of the #9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing piloted with the hands of Belle Isle race winner Scott Dixon. Dixon took the lead from Tagliani through turn 3 coming on the 20th lap. 
The race's first caution came on lap 31 with Charlie Kimball crashing his #83 car slammed the turn 4 wall. Kimball left out of his vehicle unhurt but expressed displeasure with the driver of the #5 KV Racing Technology driver EJ Viso. "It's disappointing. The car was going to get better and better, especially in clean air. I had really good pace but the No. 5 car of Viso was all over the road in front of me. I had no idea what he was going to do for five laps in a row. I'd go low and then he'd chop me, and I'd take off toward the fence." said Kimball.

leaders of the Firestone 550 would pit on lap 36 making use of the caution period ahead of a restart on lap 40 where Scott Dixon continued to lead the early stage of the Texas oval race. Between lap 62 and lap 65, the Firestone 550 saw two potential front-runners fall to the waste side during the Saturday night race. Started with the souring of the Chevrolet engine inside the #28 Andretti Autosport of Ryan Hunter-Reay, Takuma Sato lost control of his #15 car in turn two drawing the race's second yellow flag.

Photo Credit: INDYCAR/LAT USA

During the Firestone 550's first 173 laps, Oriol Servia, Mike Conway and James Hinchcliffe would lead on occasions but the race was dominated by the #9 car of Scott Dixon. The New Zealand driver Dixon was at front for 133 of the laps Saturday night but would not finish the Texas Motor Speedway. After a fantastic performance, the Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver spun out in turn 4 and made slight contact with the wall. "I turned in and the rear just started to slide and I kind of dipped down onto the apron and shut around again." said Dixon who would wind up in 18th place.

Following the clean-up of the Dixon caution, the plot thickened to the Firestone 550 as the new leader of the race Will Power made contact with the #11 car of Tony Kanaan during a three-way battle for the lead. Resulting in minor damage to the #11 KV Racing Technology car, the #12 Team Penske car of Power was charged with a violation relating to blocking on lap 194. "I had (Ryan) Briscoe on the outside and Tony (Kanaan) took me by surprise. I feel bad for him. I ruined his day because he had to come in and change the front wing, and we ruined our own day by getting the penalty." said Will Power who ended up 8th in the event.

Will Power's teammate Ryan Briscoe inherited the lead of the Firestone 550 on lap 194 but would lose the position 6 laps later to Graham Rahal's #38 Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara-Honda. Through the final 28 laps, the story was about the leading car of Rahal and the charging #18 Dallara-Honda under the Dale Coyne Racing banner. Reeling in the leaders, British driver Justin Wilson in the #18 car focused on providing the first win to his race team since his 2009 victory at the Watkins Glen INDYCAR event. Into the final laps, Wilson caught Rahal and Briscoe for a final two-lap showdown among three cars. Through turn 4, a bobble by Graham Rahal's #38 car opened the door for the #18 of Justin Wilson to pass and win the Firestone 550.

Justin Wilson's first oval victory in an Indycar-type machine (counting INDYCAR and Champ car competition for the British driver), this memorable win with Dale Coyne Racing was a significantly treasured triumph against the heavyweight teams in the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series that ruled the season. Wilson returned to Dale Coyne Racing in 2012 after two seasons signed with the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing organization. "I just can't believe we managed to pull this off. The car was fantastic. And on the long runs, it just got better and better. I saw people sliding around and knew I just had to hit my marks." said the winning driver of the Firestone 550.

Photo source: (c)2012, Phil Abbott. LAT Photo USA

Despite the late-race mistake, Graham Rahal held onto 2nd place ahead of Ryan Briscoe. After being the victim of a degrading Detroit race track on the previous race weekend, the #27 Andretti Autosport driver James Hinchcliffe rebounded to finish 4th. The Canadian driver Hinchcliffe was elevated back to third in the overall driver points standing with Will Power still holding on to the top spot.

The euphoria of that win was dampened slightly away from victory lane as the #18 Dale Coyne Racing Dallara-Honda was sent through inspection. An forbidden aerodynamic adjustment on the winning race machine resulted in a fine of $7,500 and the deduction of 5 points earned through the Texas Motor Speedway win.



2012 IZOD INDYCAR
Firestone 550
Texas Motor Speedway
Race Results

	Car #	Driver	Driver Nationality	Race Team	Engine
1	18	Justin Wilson	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
2	38	Graham Rahal	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
3	2	Ryan Briscoe	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
4	27	James Hinchcliffe	Canada	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
5	4	JR Hildebrand	United States	Panther Racing	Chevrolet
6	77	Simon Pagenaud	France	Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports	Honda
7	3	Helio Castroneves	Brazil	Team Penske	Chevrolet
8	12	Will Power	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
9	98	Alex Tagliani	Canada	Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian	Honda
10	19	James Jakes	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
11	11	Tony Kanaan	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
12	20	Ed Carpenter	United States	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
13	67	Josef Newgarden	United States	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda
14	10	Dario Franchitti	Scotland	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
15	6	Katherine Legge	England	Dragon Racing	Chevrolet
16	14	Mike Conway	England	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Honda
17	26	Marco Andretti	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
18	9	Scott Dixon	New Zealand	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
19	5	EJ Viso	Venezuela	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
20	22	Oriol Servia	Spain	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Chevrolet
21	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
22	15	Takuma Sato	Japan	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
23	83	Charlie Kimball	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
24	8	Rubens Barrichello	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
25	78	Simona de Silvestro	Switzerland	Lotus-HVM Racing	Lotus

Dixon Successfully Dices to Mid-Ohio INDYCAR Pole

Photo Credit: LAT Photo USA

 

Leaving the improvised race courses of the Honda Indy Toronto and the Edmonton Indy, the 2011 IZOD INDYCAR Series arrives at only their second permanent road course for the season. Consisting of challenging turns and high speed stretches, the 49 year old Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course welcomed 27 competitors from North America's top open wheel racing series for the Honda Indy 200 race on Sunday.

 

During Saturday's qualifying for the Mid-Ohio 85-lap event, The Chip Ganassi Racing cars demonstrated the strength shown in practice as the lowest starting driver will be rookie Charlie Kimball in 10th place. Entering into the Firestone Fast Six for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, 3 of the 6 runners in contention sported Ganassi ownership. Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Will Power and Graham Rahal made up the top-6 drivers granted the final 10-minute session.

 

Able back up his speed on Friday, Graham Rahal posted a 6th quickest result in Mid-Ohio qualifying. Rahal will be starting in the outside third row with the Saturday morning practice's fastest Andretti Autosport car piloted by Ryan Hunter-Reay. In the second row, the main IZOD INDYCAR Series title fight is paired together with Dario Franchitti finding just short of 2/100th of a second advantage over Will Power. Expect the #10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing and #12 Verizon Penske Racing cars to crave a great separation after the end of 85 laps of Mid-Ohio competition Sunday.

 

Taking pole for the first time in his 2011 IZOD INDYCAR Series season is New Zealand's Scott Dixon. Lapping the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1 minute, 8.0776 second to take top spot, the #9 Target car took a rather sizable 25/100th of a second advantage over the #6 Penske Racing car of Ryan Briscoe. Seeking his first victory this year after four runner-up finishes, Dixon possesses some favourable history at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in IZOD INDYCAR Series racing. Scott Dixon has won the 2007 and 2009 winner at the 2.258-mile road course.

 

Other notable qualifying results during the Saturday afternoon session is the all-Canadian 4th row for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Starting 7th place is the #06 Newman/Haas Racing car of James Hinchcliffe and the #77 Sam Schmidt Motorsports car driven by Alex Tagliani seated in 8th place. Also collecting good starting positions for Sunday's IZOD INDYCAR event is Sebastian Bourdais in 11th and Simona de Silvestro in 14th place.

 

Deep down the grid after struggling to find speed all weekend is three of the four Andretti Autosport cars. Mike Conway will start 17th while the #26 of Marco Andretti collected an 18th grid position. The slowest car of the Andretti Autosport stable at Mid-Ohio has proven to be the #7 of Danica Patrick. Patrick will start 23rd of the 27 cars competing in the Honda Indy 200 Sunday.

 

After posting some impressive speed on day one, Justin Wilson and the #22 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team faced a challenging Saturday following a crash in practice. A car that was 5th fastest in Friday practice, the #22 car was handled by transitioning sports car driver Simon Pagenaud in substitution for Wilson in qualifying. Word after qualifying from Dreyer & Reinbold Racing his Pagenaud remaining in the in car for the Mid-Ohio Honda Indy 200 race on Sunday as Wilson will sit out for the event.

 

The IZOD INDYCAR Series Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio will start at 2:50 PM on Sunday.

 

 

2011 IZOD INDYCAR Series
Lexington,Ohio
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Starting Grid

 

1. 9 Scott Dixon/New Zealand/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
2. 6 Ryan Briscoe/Australia/ Penske Racing
3. 10 Dario Franchitti/Scotland/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
4. 12 Will Power/Australia/ Penske Racing
5. 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay/United States/Andretti Autosport
6. 38 Graham Rahal/United States/Chip Ganassi Racing
7. 06 James Hinchcliffe/Canada/ Newman/Haas Racing
8. 77 Alex Tagliani/Canada/ Sam Schmidt Motorsports
9. 5 Takuma Sato/Japan/ KV Racing Technology
10. 83 Charlie Kimball/United States/ Chip Ganassi Racing
11. 19 Sebastien Bourdais/France/Dale Coyne Racing
12. 59 EJ Viso/Venezuela/ KV Racing Technology
13. 4 JR Hildebrand/United States/ Panther Racing
14. 78 Simona De Silvestro/Switzerland/ HVM Racing
15. 3 Helio Castroneves/Brazil/ Penske Racing
16. 82 Tony Kanaan/Brazil/ KV Racing Technology
17. 27 Mike Conway/England/Andretti Autosport
18. 26 Marco Andretti/United States/ Andretti Autosport
19. 2 Oriol Servia/Spain/ Newman/Haas Racing
20. 14 Vitor Meira/Brazil/ AJ Foyt Racing Enterprises
21. 22 Simon Pagnaud/France/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing *
22. 34 Sebastian Saavedra/Columbia/ Conquest Racing
23. 7 Danica Patrick/United States/ Andretti Autosport
24. 18 James Jakes/England/ Dale Coyne Racing
25. 24 Ana Beatriz/Brazil/ Dreyer & Reinbold
26. 17 Martin Plowman/ England/ Sam Schmidt Motorsports
27. 67 Ed Carpenter/ United States/ Sarah Fisher Racing

 

* 22 Car driver is subbing for Justin Wilson following Saturday practice crash

Will Power Finds the Motion in Delayed Grand Prix of St Petersburg

Photo Credit: Chris Jones

Demonstrating some stewing aggression as the green flag dropped, the Honda engines of 24 IZOD IndyCar Series cars awoke at 10AM Monday for the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg after hard rain silenced the mechanical race beasts on the scheduled Sunday.

As the field took the green, the postponed event set course for a 100 laps distance around the 1.8 mile St Petersburg temporary street course. However, the racing action the first lap as Dario Franchitti and Mike Conway spun through turn 2 drawing the caution

Early on in the start of the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg, race hungry drivers were eager to lead the event. With the Penske Racing #12 of Will Power benefiting from the pole position, a charge from Marco Andretti allowed the Andretti Autosport car to lead on lap 5. The young Andretti's lead would be short-lived as the #9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing of Scott Dixon overhauled the #26 Venom Energy car one lap later.

Putting a damper to a fine race, Marco Andretti suffered a punctured tire after lap 31 restart. The time loss getting back to pit road as well as the track position given up on a pit stop dropped Andretti from contention for victory. Marco Andretti would bring his #26 Andretti Autosport car past the finish lane 12th at the end behind teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay.

A spinning #4 National Guard Panther Racing car of Dan Wheldon on lap 46 collected #32 KV Racing Technology's Mario Moraes rendering both drivers out of the event listed 20th and 21st in the final race standings. While some blamed Wheldon for the accident, Panther Racing personnel conveyed that a right rear suspension problem was actually the culprit of the #4 car's spin.

At the point of this third full-course caution, Ryan Briscoe led after Dario Franchitti brief 3 laps on 1st place. The Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing #06 Hideki Mutoh was running a strong 2nd place behind Ryan Briscoe. While that position was lost through a pit stop during the full-course caution, Mutoh's run would be spoiled later in the St Petersburg race by stalling the #06 car on a future pit service. Finishing on the lead lap, 14th place was the result of the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing backup car driven by the 3rd year IndyCar Japanese driver.

As the race neared a climax, Will Power found his way back to the front in his Penske Racing #12 car leading 45 of the final 51 laps to take victory at Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg. Following Power was the Z-Line Designs-sponsored #22 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing machine driven by Justin Wilson. Both Power and Wilson were aided with track position as their vehicles required one fewer pit stop than the rest of the field.

With Australian Will Power making the most of his first full season with Penske Racing, the prestigious race team enjoyed a strong effort overall. Ryan Briscoe, who started the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg in 19th place, vastly improved on his qualifying effort with a 3rd place run. Rounding out the new look black and white Penske cars, Helio Castroneves 4th place allowed the team colours to be shown in 3 of the top-4 finishing spots.

Overcoming first lap difficulties, Scot Dario Franchitti rounds out the top-5 for the Cottonelle-backed #10 Target/Chip Ganassi Racing car. Scott Dixon in the #9 team car would not see the end of the St Petersburg race as the Target car ended lap 73 in the turn 9 wall.

Having also playing the same strategy game as Power and Wilson, IZOD IndyCar's leading lady Danica Patrick emerged from deep in the starting field for a Andretti Autosport team best finish of 7th place.

Stepping away from the established race organizations of the IZOD IndyCar Series, younger teams FAZZT Race Team and Sarah Fisher Racing also recorded some positive results. Coming home 6th at Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg is the #77 of Alex Tagliani. Just missing out on a top-5 finish with a handful of laps remaining, Tagliani and the first year FAZZT Race Team ran competitively throughout the event. Sarah Fisher Racing's #67 car of Graham Rahal came 9th across the lane in the team's first outing for 2010. Gaining 7 positions over his qualifying run, Rahal's run was not entirely clean. On the same lap that Scott Dixon retired, Rahal and #78 HVM Racing's Simona de Silvestro made contact. Spun out, de Silvestro received the worst end of the contact but was still able to finish the race 16th overall.

Taking a one-race break from the temporary street circuits, 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series drivers and teams prepare for their


2010 IZOD IndyCar Series Honda Grand Prix of St Peterburg Final Results

1. 12 Will Power/Australia Penske Racing
2. 22 Justin Wilson/England Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
3. 6 Ryan Briscoe/Australia Penske Racing
4. 3 Helio Castroneves/Brazil Penske Racing
5. 10 Dario Franchitti/Scotland Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
6. 77 Alex Tagliani/Canada FAZZT Race Team
7. 7 Danica Patrick/United States Andretti Autosport
8. 2 Raphael Matos/Brazil Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Motorsports
9. Graham Rahal/United States Sarah Fisher Racing
10. 11 Tony Kanaan/Brazil Andretti Autosport
11. 37 Ryan Hunter-Reay/United States Andretti Autosport
12. 26 Marco Andretti/United States Andretti Autosport
13. 34 Mario Romancini/Brazil Conquest Racing
14. 06 Hideki Mutoh/ Japan Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
15. 14 Vitor Meira/Brazil AJ Foyt Enterprises
16. 78 Simona De Silvestro/Switzerland HVM Racing
17. 8 EJ Viso/Venezuela KV Racing Technology
18. 9 Scott Dixon/New Zealand Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
19. 24 Mike Conway/England Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
20. 4 Dan Wheldon/England Panther Racing
21. 32 Mario Moraes/Brazil KV Racing Technology
22. 5 Takuma Sato/Japan KV Racing Technology
23. 19 Alex Lloyd/England Dale Coyne Racing
24. 18 Milka Duno/Venezuela Dale Coyne Racing

Test at Barber Motorsports Park Ignites Spark for 2010 IZOD IndyCar Season

Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney/IndyCar


With various changes shaping the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series (the first of which being the IZOD title sponsor), the race teams of the upcoming season are eager to determine how their off-season structuring measures up to their rival competitors. Barber Motorsports Park, braced to hold their first IndyCar Series race on April 11th, played host to the most significant open test for the open wheel racing teams before the green flag falls on the 2010 IndyCar series on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil. With the number of road courses exceeding the ovals for the first time since the IRL-based open wheel tour was founded in 1996, the mastery of left and right turning will prove pivotal to the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series Championship.


Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney/IndyCar


Of course, the powerhouse teams of Penske Racing and Target/Chip Ganassi Racing are the likely benchmarks for the field after dominating the IndyCar tour last season. Only Dale Coyne Racing's broke through the superteam stranglehold in 2009 when Justin Wilson's pulled off the upset win at Waltkins Glen. At Barber Motorsports Park, the Penske Racing team appears more even more prepared than their best efforts of 2009. Unveiling their new look livery, the 3 Penske pilots of 2010 were among 3 of the top 4 cars residing on the peak of the time charts. In two practice sessions, Ryan Briscoe was the fastest car in the first day of testing blistering around the 17-turn, 2.3 mile complex in 1 minute and 10.5052 seconds. With a top time just two-tenths of a second slower than Briscoe is Penske Racing teammate Helio Castroneves. Besides posting fast speeds, both Penske runners ran more than 60 laps in shaking down their Dallara-Honda race cars. Completing Penske's triple threat to the 2010 championship, Will Power was 4th quickest overall in the first day test. Planted 3rd in the test time sheet surrounded by the Penske Racing machines is Justin Wilson, readying his debut with the #22 Dreyer/Reinhold Racing car in just a few weeks.

On this first of two days of testing for the IZOD IndyCar teams, Target/Chip Ganassi Racing with defending series champion Dario Franchitti are running respectable though not excellent times. Franchitti's best time was only good enough for 9th on the day but Scott Dixon rode a quarter of a second quicker clocked 5th overall.

Showing some serious promise with drivers who were signed just under a week ago, KV Racing Technology cars fared favourably so far. Led by EJ Viso recording a 6th fastest time, IndyCar rookie Takuma Sato was only one position behind has KV Racing teammate. Sato also tied in recording the most laps completed in the test with 70 laps (Conquest Racing's rookie Mario Romancini also ran 70 laps).


Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney/IndyCar

A continuance of a trend through this winter season which played a factor in the 2010 Speedweeks action in Daytona, climate in the usually more temperate south have led to lower than average temperatures. In the Birmingham area, low temperatures were beneath the freezing mark and only peaked at 47 degrees Fahrenheit. In comparison, the 2010 Olympic Winter Games weather in Vancouver, British Columbia were pegged at just degrees lower than the high at Barber Motorsports Park. The colder than normal temperatures that were forecasted for Birmingham, Alabama provoked FAZZT Race Team to decide in favour of sitting out the open test altogether. With the second test session being faster in the slightly warmer afternoon weather, all cars set their fast times during the 2nd practice with exception to Mike Conway. Setting 4th fastest time in the earlier practice session, Conway's run in the #24 car was only 17th for the day.


Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney/IndyCar

The more practice sessions for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar series runners are scheduled for Thursday at Barber Motorsports Park with weather conditions mirroring the Wednesday session.

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.