News for the Week of August 11 – August 17, 2014
Milwaukee Links:
Weekend Schedule – Spotter Guide –
Circuit Map – Pit Lane Assignments
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Results: P1 – P2 – Qualifying – Race
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Will Power Wins in Milwaukee – Will Power has won the 2014 ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 at Milwaukee IndyFest. WP had a little difficulty working his way through traffic in the last 20 laps, but lucky for him so did Montoya. “I love winning on ovals!” said Power after winning. This is Will’s first win at Milwaukee. Unofficial Results below via IndyCar Race Control. (8/17/14)
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We we see a new star rise at Milwaukee? – Over the past 10 years the winner at the Milwaukee Mile has been conquered by IndyCar legends, RHR twice, Dario Franchitti twice, TK twice, Sam Hornish Jr. once, Ryan Briscoe once, and Scott Dixon once. Will today continue the trend, or will a new star rise? The Green Flag will fly within the hour and after 250 laps we will see who the winner is! (8/17/14)
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Power Earns another Verizon P1 Award – Power went fastest today in qualifying for the ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 at Milwaukee IndyFest. His qualifying speed was 169.262 mph and this is Power’s 3rd pole of the season. “It’s just a great start to the three-race chase you could say for the championship finish,” said Power Tomorrow’s race will be available live via NBCSN’s telecast. – INDYCAR – (8/16/14)
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Ed Carpenter and Sarah Fisher to join forces – More details are sure to come, but it appears that ECR and Sarah fisher Hartman Racing will be joining forces starting in 2015. It is currently not known who will be driving in the current two team slots, whether another car will be added, or even what engine manufacturer will be utilized by the new team. – RACER – (8/16/14)
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Dixon and Hinchcliffe to test IL15 – Scott Dixon and James Hinchcliffe will assist in the development of Dallara’s new Indy Lights car by testing it on the IMS road course on September 5th and 6th. “I’m excited to see the new car and the direction the series is taking,” said Dixon. “It’s a very important stepping-stone on the road to the Verizon IndyCar Series. I look forward to driving the new car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and hope to help with the ongoing development.” – Indy Lights – (8/15/14)
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Carpenter does ALS Ice Bucket Challenge at IMS – With the help of a “yellow shirt” costumed James Hinchliffe, Ed Carpenter accepted an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge invitation from the Indianapolis Colts’ Matt Overton. Great pictures at the link. “My phone started blowing up last night when Matt Overton threw a challenge my way,” said Carpenter. “I don’t know if mine was a cool as his, but my venue is way cooler.” – INDYCAR – (8/15/14)
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Marco breaks down Milwaukee – Great work from Marco Andretti detailing what it takes to be fast at Milwaukee. “If you get it really wrong, you can definitely get loose off the corners, but where a loose car will really bite you around Milwaukee is on corner entry. From that perspective, it’s like any oval where you want it tied down on corner entry and then you dial out or deal with the understeer in the middle. It’s a fine line.” – RACER – (8/15/14)
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Brabham hoping to make the jump out of Lights – While his first season in Indy Lights hasn’t gone as well as he’d hoped, Matthew Brabham is hoping he can find a ride in the Verizon IndyCar Series next year. Brabham believes the current Lights car doesn’t reward his driving style as much as the DW12 would. “My feeling if I’m ready or not, I just look at the people that have done the same thing I have and gone into IndyCar like Jack Hawksworth,” said Brabham. “Obviously, he’s done really, really well. And I compare myself to him a lot because, obviously, he won the Mazda Championship in the same similar fashion as I did and then he didn’t have a very good season in Indy Lights.” – RACER – (8/15/14)
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Karam update from RACER – RACER’s Marshall Pruett spoke with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Mike Hull on what the future holds for Sage Karam. “He’s proven that he’s capable of driving high-horsepower racing cars, and we have the challenge in front of us to provide him with that somehow,” Hull told RACER. “We need to find a solution to that because – I don’t know if star power is the right word, but his future, and the ability he has combined with his age deserves the opportunity in the present tense. That’s how I look at it.” – RACER – (8/13/14)
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Milwaukee driver appearance list – Comprehensive list of driver appearances in the Milwaukee area ahead of this race weekend. Good reference for those in the area. – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – (8/13/14)
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Verizon IndyCar drivers to serve as bartenders in Milwaukee – “Thursday, Miller Time Pub & Grill will host the second annual Bartender Challenge from 5-6PM. IndyCar drivers Justin Wilson, Josef Newgarden, Jack Hawksworth, Simon Pagenaud, and Mikhail Aleshin will tend bar, competing for tips that will go to Racing For Kids—Official Charity of Milwaukee IndyFest. Also joining them will be Molly Menard of NVL Pro Beach Volleyball and Sue Black of the Milwaukee Wave.” Full details at the link. – Milwaukee IndyFest website – (8/13/14)
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Miller’s Mailbag 8/13/14 – RACER’s Robin Miller’s weekly fan Q&A is great as always. Even with a rare break in IndyCar action there’s plenty to talk about. – RACER – (8/13/14)
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Aleshin focused on racing while in US – Great profile of SPM rookie Mikhail Aleshin by Dave Kallmann of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Focuses on the “business” side of the young Russian. “I say to my friends, I’ve seen a lot of tracks around the world, but not a lot of the world, myself,” Aleshin said. “There’s not a lot of time off, but I’m here to work, not to chill on the beach.” A must read. – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – (8/13/14)
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Cavin Q&A 8/13/14 – Curt Cavin’s fan Q&A covers the Texas/Toronto date scuffle, IndyCar’s tentative Brazil race in March, MotoGP at IMS, Paul Tracy, and more. – Indianapolis Star – (8/13/14)
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IL15 testing continues this week – Tristan Vautier tested the Dallara IL15 on the IMS oval on Tuesday and Conor Daly will do the same on Wednesday. Here’s what Tony Cotman said of the project yesterday: “The car is obviously very fast, so that’s good. As I have said all along, it is important for us to get the car in a position that, when the teams get it, all the bugs are sorted out and we can give them a pretty good baseline. It was a lot of work to get the car put together the last couple of weeks and all the partners have done a fantastic job and given us a good starting point.” Video of yesterday’s IMS test can be seen here. – INDYCAR – (8/13/14)
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Testing changes coming to IndyCar in 2015 – RACER’s Marshall Pruett wrote a nice article on the changes coming to testing procedures for the Verizon IndyCar Series. Full details at the link but here is the highlight: “The current testing rules allow for 18 total days of open, private and engine manufacturer testing, and Firestone tire tests are not included in that figure. For 2015, a reduction to 12 days of testing is on the cards, and tire tests would now count towards each team’s 12-day limit as the series aims to reduce costs and complexity during within its compact domestic schedule.” – RACER – (8/12/14)
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Newgarden and Wilson to “race” for charity – Josef Newgarden and Justin Wilson will race against each other via Xbox in Forza 5 to raise money for Teen Cancer America. The race will take place on August 28th at 4PM PT. Full details at the link. – Race Against Cancer – (8/12/14)
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Spotter guide released for Milwaukee – New liveries for this weekend for Kanaan (Huggies) and Rahal (new National Guard camo livery). Other highlights: Montoya – PPG, Castroneves – Hitachi, Bourais – Mistic, Newgarden – Direct Supply (on sidepod, same livery), and Hawksworth – Charter. – Milwaukee Spotter Guide – (8/12/14)
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Newgarden picks up a win in SCCA Formula F – SFHR’s Josef Newgarden picked up a win in an off-week for the Verizon IndyCar Series. Newgarden raced in Sunday’s SCCA Summer Speedfest Formula F 45th Anniversary event at Barber Motorsports Park and grabbed the feature race win. “This is the most fun I’ve had this racing season,” Newgarden said. “You just can’t race any better than this. You can drive the car sideways. You can go three-wide into the brake zones. You can race the guys for two- to three-corners at a time. It’s just the most fun you can have in an open-wheel car.” – RACER – (8/11/14)
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8Star Motorsports to join Lights in 2015 – 8Star Motorsports will expand beyond sports cars next year as owner Enzo Potolicchio’s team will join the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires field in 2015. “It’s a natural step for 8Star Motorsports, which has the expertise and state-of-the-art facilities to extend its operation. And with the new Indy Lights cars coming for 2015, this is a perfect time for us to take up the challenge,” said Potolicchio. Drivers and number of cars for the team are unknown at this time. – NBC Sports – (8/11/14)
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MotoGP likely to return to IMS in 2015, IMSA will not – Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star reports than the MotoGP event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is likely to return next year but sports cars will not be a part of the track’s NASCAR weekend as they have the past few years. The IMSA event is not on the 2015 schedule that the series just released. – Indianapolis Star – (8/11/14)
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INDYCAR provides more details on manufacturer aero kits – “Separate aero kits are being designed by each manufacturer for road/street courses/short ovals and superspeedways. The manufacturer testing window for up to six on-track days opens Oct. 6 and closes Jan. 18, 2015. Verizon IndyCar Series teams will take delivery of the street/road course aero kits March 1, with on-track and wind tunnel testing opening March 13 depending on the 2015 racing schedule…Examples of areas open for development by INDYCAR-approved aero configuration manufacturers include sidepods, engine cover, rear wheel guards, front and rear wing endplates, speedway front wing main plane and the Indianapolis 500 rear wing mainplane.” – INDYCAR – (8/11/14)
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Dallara IL15 on board from Mid-Ohio – Here’s some on-board footage of Tristan Vautier in the Dallara IL-15 from testing at Mid-Ohio this week. Looks great and sounds even better. – MRTI TV – (8/8/14)
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