Sato Slays Power's Qualifying Streak for Edmonton Indy Pole

Photo Credit: LAT Photo USA

For the second time in three races, Japanese driver Takuma Sato will lead a 2011 IZOD INDYCAR field to green. Adapting quickly to the new 2.556 mile, 13-turn Edmonton City Airport road course, the #5 KV Racing Technology car rounded the circuit in 1 minute, 18.5165 seconds in the Firestone Fast Six final qualifying round. Delighted with the top effort, Sato commented in the post-qualifying press conference saying "It's a very special moment for me and for the team, as well. I mean, like you said, Iowa was another great moment. My first pole. To be able to do the same thing here, it means a lot."

The result of Takuma Sato's first pole IZOD INDYCAR on a road circuit comes with the end of Penske Racing driver Will Power's pole streak on road courses. Winning 8 consecutive poles on street or permanent road courses on the IZOD INDYCAR Series, Power's streak ironically started last year at the Edmonton Indy race. In qualifying, Will Power made a valiant attempt to extend the consecutive pole run but came a little more than 5/100th of a second short. The Australian driver of the #12 Verizon Penske Racing Dallara-Honda will start 2nd place for the Sunday race. Though Will Power lost the first place starting streak on road courses, this 2011 Edmonton Indy start will be his 13th straight IZOD INDYCAR qualifying session the #12 car collected a front row position.

Starting on the second front for Sunday's 90-lap main event, the Target/Chip Ganassi Racing cars both desire to finish one row ahead on race day to repeat their Honda Indy Toronto success two weeks ago. The New Zealand driver Scott Dixon topped the overall series points leader and teammate Dario Franchitti for the 3rd place standing spot.

Along with Sato's pole-winning performance in the Edmonton Indy qualifying session, a second KV Racing Technology car collected a top-5 starting position. The #59 of EJ Viso supplied a season-best effort during the Firestone Fast Six time trial to take 5th over Penske Racing's Ryan Briscoe. The routine vanguard of the KV Racing Technology team, Tony Kanaan starts in 11th place. Last year with Andretti Autosport, Kanaan finished 12th on the old Edmonton City Airport circuit.

This year in qualifying, Ryan Hunter-Reay will lead the four-car Andretti Autosport effort from the start of the Edmonton Indy. Qualifying 7th, Hunter-Reay starts well ahead of his teammates who struggled to come to terms with the new track. Oriol Servia, Helio Castroneves and Canadian's James Hinchcliffe round out the top-10 in the IZOD INDYCAR qualifying session.

Scheduled for a 2 PM Eastern start, the Edmonton Indy will air live on Versus in the United States and TSN for Canadian television viewers.

2011 IZOD INDYCAR Series

Edmonton Indy

Starting Lineup

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

2012 INDYCAR Engine Shuffle in Full Swing

Photo Credit: Christopher Nagy/XSL Speed Reporter

Big technical changes announced little over a year ago for the IZOD INDYCAR Series is quickly coming to reality. An all-new race car will be christened with the season opening race connecting the series to the advanced technologies utilized in the modern automobile industry. Among many changes upcoming to the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR season is completely revised engine specifications. Regulated to twin-turbocharged 2.2 liter V-6 powerplant, the series entrants will be presented with a choice of manufacturers for the for time since the sanctioning body's 2005 open wheel racing season. As the current 2011 season has just past its halfway point, several major INDYCAR Series teams have already decided on the powerplant choices for 2012. After powering the IZOD INDYCAR Series through the past 6 years as the sole engine supplier, Honda will remain one of three manufacturers which now sees direct competition from Chevrolet and Lotus.
The first race team to announce their 2012 powerplant choice was Penske Racing. Prior to the new year, Ilmor Engineering confirmed involvement with the Chevrolet brand's return to open wheel. A long-time partner with Ilmor, team owner Roger Penske was present at the introduction ceremony. Absent from open wheel racing since the end of 1993, Chevrolet's history with Penske Racing included three Indianapolis 500 victories and a 1988 championship on the CART World Series.

Penske Racing intention to run Chrevrolet engines in 2012 was followed almost six months later by powerplant confirmation from rival Chip Ganassi Racing. For the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR season, the Target/Chip Ganassi Racing and rookie Chip Ganassi Racing team has elected to remain faithful to Honda power. Winning the past three IZOD INDYCAR driver titles titles with Honda engines, Target/Chip Ganassi Racing became a powerhouse combination on the CART World Championship during the late 1990s.

On July 19th, long-time series team AJ Foyt Racing confirmed their #14 car will remain powered by Honda Racing Development through the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series season. In response to the race team making an agreement with the Japanese-born auto company, president of Honda Performance Development and vice president, corporate planning and logistics, for American Honda Erik Berkman responded, "A.J. shares many traits with Soichiro Honda, the founder of our company. Passionate, dedicated men, their names became synonymous with racing in their native lands, and each has served as a symbol of his country’s passion for motorsport around the world. Today, we consider A.J. to be a venerable member of the Honda ‘family,’ and we look forward to our continued association with both the man and his team." On the side of AJ Foyt Racing, the four-time Indy 500 driver turned team owner AJ Foyt stated "I am really looking forward to working with Honda next year,".
There has yet to be a confirmation for teams opting for the Lotus engine. Expect KV Racing Technology, a current technical partner with Lotus Motorsports, to officially declare the usage of the British sports car company's engine. Perhaps one of the last remaining superteams still in play for their 2012 engine decision is Andretti Autosport and Newman/Haas Racing.

Photo Credit: Christopher Nagy/XSL Speed Reporter

Yet to confirm their choice, Andretti Autosport is equally as likely remain with Honda as it is with taking a chance with Lotus or Chevrolet. Building a close-knit reputation with Honda, the Andretti family also has a history connected to each of the other auto manufacturers competing on the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR circuit. Michael Andretti won the 1991 INDYCAR/CART World Championship with Chevrolet power while Mario Andretti became the 1978 Formula 1 World Championship driving for Colin Chapman's Team Lotus. A wild card decision for 2012, expect Andretti Autosport to choose what is best for both sponsors and for the team's competitiveness in the future IZOD INDYCAR Series.

In the case of Newman/Haas Racing, staying with Honda could be a likely decision but other engine suppliers are not completely out of the equation. With Honda power in the IZOD INDYCAR season, Newman/Haas Racing has two team victories in 2008 but has not won a race for almost 3 years. Newman/Haas could select Chevy power for the 2012 season marking a return to a powerplant the team used from 1987 to 1991.

With a chance to completely shake up the front-runners to the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series, engine manufacturers choices could affect the balance of competition for the anticipated new car season.

Friday Adventure at the 2011 Honda Indy Toronto Part 3

Photo Credit: Christopher Nagy/ XSL Speed Reporter

While the warm weather and outdoor spectacles such as the Honda Indy is quite agreeable, my long-time spent under the sun again fought my skin. Yes, for the three year in a row, I'm reporting how I have burnt myself after spending a day at the Honda Indy. However, I'll note that this year I was able to greatly minimize my sunburn after learning through past visits the measure I need to take in protecting my skin. One of the obvious measures for beating the extended periods of direct sunlight was to go inside. The Direct Energy Centre, the Media Centre as well as a Honda display set up behind the circuit's Gold grandstands served as not only shelter but two existed as spotlights of entertainment.

Assembled in a temporary building, the Honda display featured a large assortment of automobiles. From a first-generation Honda Civic dating back to 1973 inside, the newest ninth-generation 2012 Civic sat. Embracing the outside with the 2012 Honda Civic, a fleet of modified late model production cars that included Acura NSX models were found around the sheltered area.

Photo Credit: Christopher Nagy/XSL Speed Reporter

With production cars in the open of daylight, ironically two race cars resided inside the Honda Indy display. Two cars relating to Canadian open wheel racing great Paul Tracy, a replica of the #8 Make-A-Wish Canada-sponsored Dragon Racing Indy car the 'Thrill from West Hill' had been wheeling around the 11-turns of the Toronto street course in 2011 sat. Beside the modern Dallara chassis, a Lola chassis wearing the Players livery and the #3 represented the latest Forsythe Racing car Paul Tracy drove in 2003 to a commanding flag-to-flag victory in the now-defunct Champ Car series. Though the show car was presented in speedway trim (note the smaller, flatter wing pieces), I was not entirely sure if this car was the exact Lola chassis Tracy won the 2003 Toronto race. Another detail I noted on the car was the absence of the Ford Blue Oval badges. Though it is sensational for Honda to bid honour to Canadian racing history, I feel it is a bit of a 'tsk-tsk moment' for Honda to display the vehicle with elements of its authentic livery deleted.

Photo Credit: Christopher Nagy/XSL Speed Reporter

Concluding their morning practice session, the IZOD INDYCAR teams and drivers lead themselves back to their paddock area. In the early track time for the 2011 Honda Indy of Toronto, the Target/Chip Ganassi Racing #10 car of Dario Franchitti posted the early benchmark time of 1 minute, 1.5676 seconds. Only 6/100th of a second ahead of Penske's Helio Castroneves, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Justin Wilson and Will Power rounded out the top-5 in the morning practice. The crews as well the drivers accompanied Indy cars being commuted back to the IZOD INDYCAR paddock area. Almost every driver rode motorized scooters seeking a quick travel back to debrief with their teams prior to lunch. Reassembling myself along Gasoline Alley, I watched as several drivers such as Graham Rahal, Marco Andretti and the fastest driver in practice Dario Franchitti rush back to their team haulers. I even caught 7-time Toronto race winner, now IZOD INDYCAR superteam owner Michael Andretti proceeding back to the pit road area.

Photo Credit: Christopher Nagy/ XSL Speed Reporter

In my closest experience following the first IZOD INDYCAR practice at the Honda Indy was with #78 HVM Racing driver Simona de Silvestro. Simona de Silvestro was racing in Toronto two weeks after missing the Iowa Speedway round due to failing a post-concussion test following a crash at the Milwaukee Mile. Catching her quickly as she proceeded to her team's hauler lot, only getting a few seconds to talk with Simona de Silvestro, I simply expressed how it was great to see her competing at Toronto understanding the way the last half of June went for the Swiss driver. She said “thank you” but seemed more preoccupied with finding speed in her HVM Racing Dallara-Honda. 23rd of the 26 cars that logged speeds on the Toronto race track after the first practice, its easy to assume de Silvestro had the pursuit of speed on her mind. A quick meeting, it was nonetheless eventful for a person who has difficulty engaging in conversation; such as myself.

Photo Credit: Christopher Nagy/ XSL Speed Reporter

Immediately following practice, a large portion of the wonderfully immense crowd positioned themselves politely alongside one of the IZOD INDYCAR team's paddock work stalls. Standing outside of temporary fences and barriers, the race fans's most ideal scenario is to capture a look at their favourite driver. As can be expected at this first of two Canadian races, Alex Tagliani garnered a gigantic crowd outside of his #77 Sam Schmidt Motorsports team paddock area. The fastest Canadian driver in the first practice at the Toronto track, Tagliani returns to Canada after gaining international attention as the Indianapolis 500 pole winner earlier this year. In a related story inside the IZOD INDYCAR Fan Zone, Hot Wheels finally released the diecast version of the blue Hot Wheels-sponsored car Tagliani drove last year. For whatever reason, I did not buy the 1:64 scale replica vehicle and I'm continuing to regret it weeks after the Honda Indy.  

Photo Credit: Christopher Nagy/XSL Speed Reporter

As the morning completed, my first camera battery chose a most convenient time to give up its juice. With hotter weather and some pivotal action upcoming, I prepared to reload for the afternoon action at the 2011 Honda Indy of Toronto.