News for the Week of April 20, 2015 – April 26, 2015
Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama Links:
Weekend Schedule – Circuit Map – Entry List – Spotter Guide – Pit Lane Assignments
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Newgarden wins at Barber – Josef Newgarden grabbed his first career Verizon IndyCar Series win on Sunday at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Graham Rahal used a plethora of late moves to grab P2 and was joined on the podium by Scott Dixon. Full results here. – INDYCAR – (4/26/15)
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Miller’s IMS driver/car scoop – RACER’s Robin Miller updates on what he’s hearing for the missing driver spots for the two races at IMS. He calls for Daly/Davison as the DCR combo for the GP of Indy and for Coyne’s drivers in the 500 to be Davison/Legge. Interesting note here: “Eric Bachelart had originally hoped to run Tagliani in a KVSH spin-off but said he could not get an aero kit confirmation in time, so Tag had to look elsewhere.” – RACER – (4/26/15)
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Pigot sweeps at Barber in Race 2 Lights win – Spencer Pigot won Race 2 of the Indy Lights weekend at Barber in a dominant performance just a day after his first Lights win. Former championship leader Ed Jones suffered an early flat tire (due to contact from Kaiser) and could only finish P11. Pigot now leads the championship by seven points. Full results here. – NBC Sports – (4/26/15)
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Hamilton, Jr. set for Lights debut? – TrackSide Online reports that Davey Hamilton, Jr., son of Davey Hamilton, will test McCormack Racing’s IL-15 at Putnam Park next week. Hamilton, Jr. is 18 and has tested the old Lights car before. One to watch. – TrackSide Online – (4/26/15)
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Dixon fastest in race day morning warmup – Scott Dixon was fastest in a frantic morning warmup session on Sunday at Barber. Dracone brought out a late red flag with a spin and stall coming out of the last turn prompting nearly the whole field to come on track in the last couple minutes. Full results here. – OW33 – (4/26/15)
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Will Power at Barber in INDYCAR In-Car Theater – As a precursor to today’s IndyCar race at Barber Motorsports Park, take a lap around the fast and sweeping track with Will Power on this edition of INDYCAR In-Car Theater. – INDYCAR – (4/26/2015)
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Davey Hamilton to drive during IMS oval test – Due to 500 driver Townsend Bell being unavailable because of another racing commitment, Davey Hamilton will drive the DRR/Kingdom Racing No. 24 Chevy Dallara entry in next week’s IMS oval open test. “We have the car and we have the test day to use,” Hamilton told MotorSportsTalk Saturday afternoon. “It’ll be my first time in the DW12. It’s my first time in the car since 2011. We figure we should be out there.” – NBC Sports – (4/25/15)
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Helio wins the pole at Barber – Helio Castroneves held off Will Power for the pole for Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday. Each driver posted times in the 1:06’s during Round 2 but Helio’s 1:07.1925 was enough in the Firestone Fast 6 session. Pagenaud, Dixon, Newgarden, and Kanaan complete the Top 6. Our live blog of Saturday’s activity is at the main link. Full results here. – INDYCAR – (4/25/15)
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Pigot grabs first Lights win in Race 1 at Barber – Juncos Racing’s rookie Spencer Pigot grabbed his first Indy Lights win in Race 1 of the Indy Lights weekend at Barber Motorsports Park. Pigot quickly ran away from second place finisher Jack Harvey. RC Enerson did well to hold off championship leader Ed Jones for P3. Max Chilton settled for P5. Full results here. – Indy Lights – (4/25/15)
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Power leads the way in IndyCar practice 2 at Barber – Will Power set the fastest lap of the weekend for the Verizon IndyCar Series in Practice 2 at Barber Motorsports Park with a 1:072913. Power did have a spin during the practice but kept his car on the track and avoided damage. Gonzalez and Filippi brought out red flags with no contact spins. Full results here. – OW33 – (4/25/15)
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Dixon fastest in IndyCar practice 1 at Barber – Scott Dixon posted the fastest lap of Practice 1 for the Verizon IndyCar Series at Barber Motorsports Park with a 1:07.7754. Power, Filippi, Pagenaud, and Bourdais completed the Top 5. Josef Newgarden went off track and struck a barrier with the front left of this car and ended his session early. He’ll be good to go for Practice 2. Full results here. – OW33 – (4/25/15)
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Daly to compete in the Indy 500 with SPM – Schmidt Peterson Motorsports has officially announced American Conor Daly as the driver for the team’s third entry in the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. Conor will drive the No. 43 Honda powered Dallara. “I am ecstatic to partner with Schmidt Peterson Motorsport for the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500,” said Daly. “I have had a great relationship with Sam Schmidt since driving for him in Indy Lights and I’ve always wanted a shot with his Verizon IndyCar Series team. It’s an honor to make my second attempt at running the Indy 500.” – SPM – (4/25/15)
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Pigot wins the pole for Lights Race 1 at Barber – Juncos Racing’s Spencer Pigot won the pole for Race 1 of the Indy Lights weekend at Barber Motorsports Park and will start on the front row next to Jack Harvey. Carlin’s Ed Jones, who has won all three Lights races this season, will start third. Full results at the link. – Indy Lights – (4/24/15)
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Daly/SPM Indy 500 deal to be announced on Saturday morning – Per Dave Furst, Sports Director at Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV-6, Conor Daly will be announced as the third driver for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports on Saturday, 4/25. – Dave Furst – (4/24/15)
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Jones leads the way in Lights Practice 2 at Barber – Carlin’s Ed Jones finished with the quickest lap of the second session of Indy Lights practice at Barber Motorsports Park on Friday afternoon. Full results at the link. – Indy Lights – (4/24/15)
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Pigot tops the charts in Lights Practice 1 at Barber – Juncos Racing’s Spencer Pigot turned the fastest lap in Practice 1 for Indy Lights at Barber Motorsports Park. Pigot’s lap of 1:12.9373 easily shattered the series record of 1:13.8509. 8Star Motorsports’ Sean Rayhall was P5 in his Lights debut. Full results at the link. – Indy Lights – (4/24/15)
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Cavin Q&A 4/24/15 – The Indianapolis Star’s Curt Cavin’s fan Q&A covers questions on speed records at IMS, INDYCAR officiating, the upcoming oval aero kit test, and more. – Indianapolis Star – (4/24/15)
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INDYCAR’s Barber preview – INDYCAR’s Barber weekend preview is posted with all the pertinent information and special rules for this weekend’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Always worth a read. – INDYCAR – (4/24/15)
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RHR wants more scrutiny from the stewards – The Indianapolis Star’s Curt Cavin reports that Ryan Hunter-Reay wasn’t happy with the stewards decision making (or lack of) during the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach after suffering a penalty himself for his role in the final caution of the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana. “I just don’t understand it,” said Hunter-Reay. “I kind of went through that with them and we talked about a bunch of things, and I let them know how I feel about it. I think they opened up a bit of a can of worms there because it puts them in a tough spot here in the future, and we’ll see things that are very similar to that they have to call now.” – Indianapolis Star – (4/23/15)
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Long Beach “In-Car Theater” – RACER/INDYCAR’s popular “In-Car Theater” feature is posted from the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Entertaining as always, you can see it at the link. – RACER – (4/23/15)
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Mario Andretti Interview on The Ride with JMV – As May quickly approaches and the GP of Indy is nearly two and a half weeks away, the local Indianapolis media have already ramped up their IndyCar coverage, which we will try to relay along as interesting interviews occur. Today Mario Andretti was interviewed on The Ride with JMV on 1070 The Fan. The two discussed racing, vineyards, and two seater rides. – 1070theFan – (4/22/2015)
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INDYCAR announces Long Beach penalties – “INDYCAR announced the following post-event infractions from the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, which was held April 17-19 on the Streets of Long Beach, Calif:
• INDYCAR officials fined a crew member of KV Racing Technology $500 for violating Rule 1.2.7.2(f) (fueling without visor down).
• INDYCAR officials fined crew members of A.J. Foyt Enterprises a total of $1,500 for violating Rule 7.9.6 (failure to attend equipment during pit stop), Rule 7.10.1.11 (crew member not wearing proper attire) and Rule 7.10.1.12 (too many crew members over pit wall).
• INDYCAR officials fined a crew member of CFH Racing $500 for Rule 7.10.1.11 (crew member not wearing proper attire).” – INDYCAR PR – (4/22/15)
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Barber Lights entry list is out – The entry list for Rounds 4 and 5 of the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires championship is out and features the return of 8Star Motorsports with new driver Sean Rayhall and the subtraction of Andretti Autosport’s Matthew Brabham. See the full entry list at the link. – Indy Lights Entry List – (4/22/15)
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Doug Boles starts IN support tour – IMS President Doug Boles has started a “barnstorming” tour of Indianan to drum up support for the Speedway and the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. “I want to visit 10 cities this spring and then go to a whole bunch in the fall,” Boles said. “We’ll continue these statewide visits leading up to the 100th Indianapolis 500 [held in May, 2016]. As we build this initiative, it’s something that will definitely become bigger.” – IBJ – (4/22/15)
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Chilton unsure of his Lights plan – RACER reports that Max Chilton is undecided of where his future focus will lie between sports cars or moving to the US and INDYCAR full-time. Chilton will drive for Carlin this weekend at Barber but is uncommitted for the rest of the season as he prepares to start with his Nissan LMP1 commitments. “I’m enjoying [Indy Lights], although it hasn’t gone to plan at the moment,” he told AUTOSPORT. “But I’m not here to win the championship, I’m here to do the first few rounds and see how it goes. I’m looking forward to seeing whether Trev [Carlin] wants to do Indy next year. But I like what I see. It’s just hard mixing it with the LMP1, because that’s my main focus and I have to miss a couple of [Lights] races.” – RACER – (4/22/15)
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Cavin Q&A 4/22/15 – The Indianapolis Star’s Curt Cavin’s fan Q&A today covers Scott Dixon, Long Beach, and more. – Indianapolis Star – (4/22/15)
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Rayhall to drive Lights at Barber for 8Star – “8Star Motorsports is pleased to announced a partnership with Sean Rayhall for the Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire championship races at Barber Motorsports Park. The 20-year old from Atlanta, GA will be making his debut in the Indy Lights championship with the new Mazda powered Dallara IL-15.” – 8Star Motorsports – (4/22/15)
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Miller’s Mailbag 4/22/15 – RACER’s Robin Miller’s weekly fan Q&A is a great read as always. – RACER – (4/22/15)
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Practice and Qualifying Streaming Confirmed for Barber – INDYCAR has confirmed that streaming video will be available for the practices and knockout qualification this weekend (April 25th) at Barber Motorsports Park. Streaming can be accessed on racecontrol.indycar.com at 10:00AM for 60 min. practice, 45 min. practice at 1:40PM and qualifying at 4:55PM (all times Eastern). – INDYCAR – (4/21/2015)
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Long Beach Race Highlights – Weather was not an issue this past week, nor were yellow flags… in fact there was only one, an early flag for debris. From that point on it was the Helio and Dixon show. After the No. 3 was held up on the second round of pit stops, Dixon made the most of the situation, took the lead, and never looked back. Check out the rest of the race highlights below via INDYCAR. – (4/21/2015)
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4/21 Indy 500 entry update – MotorSportsTalk’s Tony DiZinno recaps the current teams, drivers, TBA’s, and more as we get closer to the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. The hottest rumor out right now is that Alex Tagliani will soon be confirmed to run a third car for Foyt for the 500. – NBC Sports – (4/21/15)
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Dixon to run Coca-Cola livery at Barber – Long Beach champion Scott Dixon will once again have his Target colors this weekend at Barber but will have Coca-Cola on the sidepods. Picture at the link. – RACER – (4/21/15)
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Gonzalez in DCR No. 18 for Barber – Venezuelan Rodolfo Gonzalez will drive the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing machine in this weekend’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama according to INDYCAR’s entry list. See the entry list at the link. Spotter guide here. – Barber Entry List – (4/21/15)
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Dixon wins at Long Beach – Scott Dixon won the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in a dominant performance on Sunday. Castroneves, Montoya, Pagenaud, and Kanaan completed the Top 5. The race had only one early caution after a calamitous Grand Prix of Louisiana last week. Full results here. – OW33 – (4/19/15)
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Jones takes Long Beach for third straight win – Carlin’s rookie Ed Jones won an exciting race on Sunday to grab in the Indy Lights win at Long Beach. Full results here. – Indy Lights – (4/19/15)
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Bell confirmed for DRR at the 500 – “Dreyer & Reinbold – Kingdom Racing announced that Townsend Bell will drive the No. 24 Robert Graham Special in the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500.” “We are extremely pleased to have Townsend back in our car for the Indianapolis 500,” Dennis Reinbold said. “Townsend has proven to be contender at Indy for many years, including last year’s event when he was running second with 10 laps to go. With the Robert Graham brand, we feel Townsend and No. 24 Chevrolet-powered machine will be right in the thick of things when the checkered flag is in the air on May 24.”- INDYCAR – (4/19/15)
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Daly replaces injured Moran at DCR for Long Beach – Due to Rocky Moran Jr. breaking his thumb in a crash on Friday, Conor Daly will drive the No. 18 for Dale Coyne Racing on Saturday and Sunday in Long Beach. It’s Daly’s first Verizon IndyCar Series experience since Indianapolis in 2013. – NBC Sports – (4/18/15)
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