Power Plugs to First Baltimore Grand Prix Pole

Photo Credit: Shawn Gritzmacher

Deciding the IZOD INDYCAR Series field for the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix, Saturday afternoon time trials on the 2.04-mile street course gave 28 cars the chance to claim supremacy ahead of a 75-lap event on Sunday.

Preserving an advantage asserted in the both practice sessions ahead of qualifying, Will Power in the #12 Penske Racing car took pole in the Firestone Fast Six session. Emerging with a 1 minute, 20.2447 second lap to take the top position for the Baltimore Grand Prix, Power's speed around the 12-turn road course was 91.520 miles per hour the performance bests the effort of fellow front row starter Graham Rahal by a little less than 9/100ths of a second.

Winning the two of the last three road course events held on the 2011 IZOD INDYCAR circuit, Will Power has mounted a significant rebound in the overall series points. Scoring more points than current points leader Dario Franchitti in three of the past four races, Power accumulated 29 more points than the #10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver. The #12 Penske Racing car driver Will Power sits 26 points behind Franchitti intending to use the new temporary street course of Baltimore as another opportunity to close the gap.

Driving his #38 Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing car to a the 2nd fastest time during IZOD INDYCAR qualifying for the Baltimore Grand Prix  Rahal's 4th time netting a top-5 qualifying result in the 2011 season, this front row start will be the Ohio native's best grid position in the season with his new expansion team. "I had a good run going and my team told me where Will Power was on the tracker and they thought he would jump ahead of us. I let the tires cool off and tried to take a lap to get it back where we wanted it." Graham Rahal commented in a post qualifying interview.

Will Power's corporate teammate with Penske Racing and fellow Australian Ryan Briscoe slotted third in the #6 car providing an important buffer between Power and Franchitti. Dario Franchitti will start 4th on the streets of Baltimore race. The last time the IZOD INDYCAR Series visited a street courses (the Honda Indy Toronto), Franchitti sailed to victory driving his #10 car for Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

Cracking the Firestone Fast Six, was the Dale Coyne Racing #19 car driven by French driver Sebastien Bourdais. Signed only for the road courses for the 2011 IZOD INDYCAR Series tour, the past multiple time champion of the Champ Car series has been enjoying some steady improvements with the Acorn-sponsored #19 car. Starting the year with some rough finishes uncharacteristic the drives Bourdais used to capture 31 wins in just 5 seasons of Champ Car racing. Fortunes for the Frenchman changed with a 6th in the Toronto street race for Bourdais and the Dale Coyne Racing team. Currently, the pairing have finished top-10 in the past 4 IZOD INDYCAR road course races.

Completing the Firestone Fast Six was Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay. The leader at Baltimore in qualifying, the driver who continues to receive the most attention in the Andretti Autosport is Danica Patrick. Moving full-time to NASCAR next season, the street courses like that of Baltimore will be a driving experience the popular driver may or may not miss. Through 7 seasons in INDYCAR racing, Danica Patrick top finish on a temporary street course was 4th in the 2009 Grand Prix of Long Beach. Patrick and the #7 car will start deep in 25th spot for Sunday's Baltimore Grand Prix. The remaining Andretti Autosport drivers starting Sunday's race has Mike Conway 8th on the grid while Marco Andretti will be positioned 23rd.

Other notable qualifying efforts in prelude to the first Baltimore Grand Prix includes Scott Dixon starting 10th and Tony Kanaan in 11th place. Back to the IZOD INDYCAR Series after missing the past race at Sonoma due to travel issues, Swiss driver Simona de Silvestro brought the #78 HVM Racing car to a 12th place result in qualifying. Speaking about the incident on the HVM Racing team website, de Silvestro stated, "This whole experience was frustrating, but I really want to thank my fans and sponsors for their support. It was also great to see that my team was able to persevere and post a good result with Simon Pagenaud last weekend. Now it's time to focus on the Baltimore Grand Prix and the rest of the season. We're setting our goals high for a solid finish." Behind de Silvestro's #78 car, the second Dale Coyne Racing entry of James Jakes posted a solid 13th fastest worthy of honourable mention.

Racing for 75-laps around the 2.04-mile temporary street course, the 2011 Baltimore Grand Prix race for the IZOD INDYCAR Series will receive its green flag at 2:45PM.

2011 IZOD INDYCAR
Baltimore Grand Prix
Baltimore, Maryland
Starting Line-up

1. 12 Will Power/Australia/ Penske Racing
2. 38 Graham Rahal/United States/Chip Ganassi Racing
3. 6 Ryan Briscoe/Australia/ Penske Racing
4. 10 Dario Franchitti/Scotland/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
5. 19 Sebastien Bourdais/France/Dale Coyne Racing
6. 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay/United States/Andretti Autosport
7. 3 Helio Castroneves/Brazil/ Penske Racing
8. 27 Mike Conway/England/Andretti Autosport
9. 59 EJ Viso/Venezuela/ KV Racing Technology
10. 9 Scott Dixon/New Zealand/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
11. 82 Tony Kanaan/Brazil/ KV Racing Technology
12. 78 Simona De Silvestro/Switzerland/ HVM Racing
13. 18 James Jakes/England/ Dale Coyne Racing
14. 14 Vitor Meira/Brazil/ AJ Foyt Racing Enterprises
15. 22 Giorgio Pantano/Italy/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
16. 2 Oriol Servia/Spain/ Newman/Haas Racing
17. 06 James Hinchcliffe/Canada/ Newman/Haas Racing
18. 83 Charlie Kimball/United States/ Chip Ganassi Racing
19. 4 JR Hildebrand/United States/ Panther Racing
20. 17 Martin Plowman/British/ Sam Schmidt Motorsports
21. 77 Alex Tagliani/Canada/ Sam Schmidt Motorsports
22. 24 Ana Beatriz/Brazil/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
23. 26 Marco Andretti/United States/ Andretti Autosport
24. 07 Tomas Scheckter/ South Africa/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
25. 7 Danica Patrick/United States/ Andretti Autosport
26. 34 Sebastian Saavedra/Columbia/ Conquest Racing
27. 67 Ed Carpenter/ United States/ Sarah Fisher Racing
28. 5 Takuma Sato/Japan/ KV Racing Technology

Rahal, Kimball to Drive for New Chip Ganassi Team in 2011

Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney

At the season finale race for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series in 2010, orphaned driver Graham Rahal received multi-year support from auto parts service business TBC Retail Group heading into 2011. As financial support (knowing the adage that money buys speed) serves as a vital ingredient in obtaining a major league ride.  In a major announcement with superstar car owner Chip Ganassi, it was announced that Rahal and the TBC Retail Group has found a home in a new team accompanied by American Indy Lights stand-out Charlie Kimball.

Running just a partial 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule last year driving for four separate race teams, 21-year old Graham Rahal was undoubtedly happy with the development between himself and a champion-proven team owner. “This is the kind of opportunity every driver dreams of. I have been working diligently, specifically over the past several months, to get into one of Chip’s Indy cars, and now that dream has become a reality with the help of Service Central, and many others.” Rahal said.

To pilot a new #38 machine starting at the season opener of St Petersburg, Graham Rahal will be joined by rookie series teammate Charlie Kimball driving the #83 car. A California native driver will competed in the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights Series, 25-year old Kimball drove for AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport consistently to 4th place in the final points standings. The #83 car will be sponsored by diabetic product provider Novo Nordisk which holds special meaning because Charlie Kimball is personally diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

Assembling an all-new IZOD IndyCar Series team for 2011, this Chip Ganassi-owned operation will run largely autonomous to the current Target Chip Ganassi Racing team helmed by drivers Scott Dixon and 2010 IZOD IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti. This team will operate out of a large shop owned by drag racing legend Don Prudhomme who himself has indicated an interest in future IndyCar Series involvement. With Rahal and Kimball together, this team will serve as a much-needed bolstering of American open wheel drivers. As a series which is primarily run in the United States, a call his beckoned for a long-time to see a stronger, more populated American driver contingent on a regular basis.

As part of Chip Ganassi's statement on his new team venture, the 2010 Indy 500 and 2010 Daytona 500 winning car owner said "This should create some excitement for the series both on and off the track”.

Graham Rahal Finds Full-time IZOD IndyCar Backing for 2011 and Beyond

Photo taken at 2010 Honda Indy Toronto

As 2010 IZOD IndyCar season closes this weekend, plans for 2011 for many drivers are in varying states of construction. For Graham Rahal, his 2011 season prospects have gotten a major shot in the arm as the 21 year-old driver and the TBC Retail Group announced partnership into  The largest supplier of replacement tires in the United States, TBC Retail Group consists of the National Tire and Battery, Merchant Tires and Auto Centers as well as the Tire Kingdom chains. The company had sponsored Jay Howard for Sarah Fisher Racing for 5 races in 2010 and maintains motorsport support within NASCAR along with prominently placing in the NHRA.

Sidelined from starting this season due to lack of funded full-time rides, Rahal's partial schedule in 2010 involved competing in four different teams. The 21 year-old in the more enviable position to have full-season sponsorship backing.

With no team component announced as of this time, the American driver and company appear to shopping around his sponsorship. Certainly Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing is a possibility for Graham Rahal in 2011 but there might be some sore feelings about how his team since the Champ car tour was unable to fill him until late this season. The performance of Newman/Haas/ Lanigan Racing this team has also been spotty. Sarah Fisher Racing is another likelihood as the TBC Retail Group has previously doubt with the team but the fact this group has no experience running a full-time effort.

Before this sponsorship announcement, Graham Rahal was name was connected to a potential third car for Target-Chip Ganassi Racing. An excellent situation for Rahal and TBC, a similar rumour of a third car Target car swirled last year just before Danica Patrick resigned with Andretti Autosport. A final possibility could be the formulation of a new team or perhaps the reactivation of Rahal/Letterman Racing in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Graham Rahal Driving Limited Schedule for Sarah Fisher Racing: Will miss Sao Paulo Opener

Photo Credit: IndyCar Media

As many participants of the IRL IZOD IndyCar Series were heading to Sao Paulo, Brazil for the 2010 season opening race, one team sitting out the inaugural IRL trip to the South American country is Sarah Fisher Racing. Nonetheless, the part-time race team attracted some considerable attention on Thursday presenting Graham Rahal as a driver of the Sarah Fisher Racing #67 Dallara/Honda for upcoming St Petersburg and Barber Motorsports Park rounds of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar schedule. The official statement arrived today but media reports leaked shortly after Graham Rahal indicated on his Twitter account that a big announcement was planned.

Driver/owner Sarah Fisher indicated through the official team release that she contacted team sponsor Dollar General after realizing Rahal was unsigned and arranged this deal for the 21 year old American driver. "We are all very enthusiastic about having Graham in the seat for the two road course races that start off our season". With Sarah Fisher herself dedicated to only a part-time schedule in 2010 for US oval races in the #66 Indy car, her team also added a #67 car which will be driven by Jay Howard for 4 IndyCar events and now Rahal for 2 races. As Rahal was named to Sarah Fisher Racing, Rahal stated "I can't wait to get behind the wheel of the Dollar General No.67 car and hopefully contribute to the success of SFR."

A talented second-generation driver, Graham Rahal has come into he own through a short career which includes 5 Atlantic Championship wins and a victory on the IndyCar tour in 2008's running the road course of St Petersburg. Moving with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing from the defunct Champ Car series into IndyCar, the 2009 season ended with less than spectacular on-track results and the departure of McDonalds as a team sponsor. Rahal spent the entire IndyCar series pre-season in the rumour mill as a return to Newman/Haas/Lanigan in 2010 was judge highly unlikely. Rahal's name has been pegged to both Gil de Ferran's attempt to build an IndyCar team and Dale Coyne Racing's second car. However, rides in the series soon filled up and Graham Rahal remained a free agent. Some sources alleged that Rahal was casting feelers to NASCAR but there were no major teams expressing interest.

While economics in auto racing have stuttered a multitude of racing efforts, the effect on young American open wheel talent is risking to erode future interest in homegrown IndyCar drivers. Tony Stewart, AJ Allendinger, Scott Speed and Sam Hornish Jr are a few American racers lured by the more abundant corporate funding in stock car racing. However, even this pathway for rideless open wheel drivers has dried up (well, with the exception of Danica Patrick).

As only two races are currently planned between Rahal and Sarah Fisher Racing for 2010, Graham Rahal's plans for the rest of the year will likely depend on the outcome in the St Petersburg and Barber Motorsports Park road races for whether he'll have backing for more races in the IZOD IndyCar Series in the future.