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In his 52nd career start, Takuma Sato would run away from the field at the end of the race to score his first career victory. It marks the first victory by a Japanese driver ever in the IndyCar Series.

“The team did a tremendous job,” Sato said. “The car was great. Pit stops were perfect – great call. Just an incredible feeling.”

 

Sato would grab the lead with just over 40 laps left in the event and never look back, leading the rest of the way despite some late race restarts.

“I think it was really perfect,” he added. “I think the way the say this is it is an easy win. Can’t believe that it came together like it did. It’s just a day where everything fell together.”

It also marks the first road course/street course victory for A.J. Foyt Racing since 1978.

Graham Rahal would bounce back from his early season bad luck to finish second while Justin Wilson avoided trouble to complete the podium after problems during practice on Friday.

“Just a little bit of luck, circumstances and the team did a good job with the strategy,” he said. “We came in five six laps and put on the reds and pushed hard the entire race and I think that helped. It was great to get the result. Everybody worked hard to put the car back together on Friday.”

Looking to get back into the championship hunt after some early season struggles, Dario Franchitti would finish fourth.

“You never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “We were good for that first stint, had a bad pit stop which cost a few spots. We adjusted and then there was Charlie (Kimball) there that was just going for glory. I lost some track position there, but good result for the Target team after the first couple of weeks.”

J.R. Hildebrand rounded out the top five. Oriol Servia finishes sixth, followed by Marco Andretti, Simon Pagenaud, Simona de Silvestro and points leader Helio Castroneves. Castroneves now leads Sato by only eight points as the top six are within 28 points following the third race of the season.

Several Championship favourites ran into problems throughout the day. Scott Dixon’s day started ugly after he had a flat tire on the first lap due to contact with rookie Tristan Vautier. Vautier would recieve a penalty of “avoidable contact”.

Following his last place finish at Barber, James Hinchcliffe was looking to bounce back. However, he would sustain heavy damage in a crash on the restart with 35 laps to go. Teammates E.J. Viso and Ryan Hunter-Reay also collected damage in the incident.

“From my point of view, Tony (Kanaan) got a killer start and while we were in the break-zone, he just turned in on me,” Hinchcliffe said after the race. “I was trying to defend on Pagenaud and I got squeezed. I guess it’s just one of those racing deals. Restarts here are tough as you are always on top of each other. It sucks. I thought we had played the right tire strategy and were going to be there at the end.”

Defending series champion Hunter-Reay would have more problems when he ran into the turn eight tire barriers while trying to make a pass on Ana Beatriz.

“I just started getting desperate,” he admitted. “We just couldn’t go anywhere we just missing grip in corners. I just got desperate and started trying things. We were in the back there. I had to try something. I got inside of Ana there and there was no grip. Just made a bad day worse. We definitely have to bounce back in Brazil.”

Penske Racing driver Will Power ran into problems on pit road with contact between himself and Vautier.

Sebastian Saavedra would run into problems early in the race, hitting the wall in turn three.

Coming off of a good run at Barber, Charlie Kimball was hoping to carry his momentum forward. However, he would get tagged by Alex Tagliani on lap 31. He would run into more problems, hitting the turn one tires with 25 laps to go while battling for the lead.

A.J. Allmendinger was also looking for a good run as he prepares for the Indianapolis 500 in May, though would stall in turn five with 29 laps to go.

With two laps to go, Tony Kanaan looked like he’d score a solid finish within the top five, however contact between himself and Oriol Servia with two laps to go ended those chances.

In his 52nd career start, Takumo Sato would pick up his first career victory at the Honda Grand Prix of Long Beach.

 

Lap 1 Dario Franchitti grabs the advantage as Hunter-Reay tucks in behind him. Right rear flat on Scott Dixon’s car as Vautier gets into the back of him. “He needs a penalty. I have no idea what he was thinking.”

Lap 2 Franchitti leads Hunter-Reay Sato Power Conway Hinchcliffe Castroneves Kimball Kanaan Rahal

Lap 3 Sebastian Saavedra makes heavy contact with the wall in turn 9. Full course caution. He carried too much speed into the corner. Marco Andretti pits to fix tail end damage and get a new nose cone. Vautier accessed penalty for contact with Dixon. Drivers make pit stops under yellow.

Restart lap 8 Hunter-Reay grabs the lead on the restart, yet Franchitti retakes it in the next corner.

Lap 9 Franchitti leads Hunter-Reay Sato Power Hinchcliffe Kimball Rahal Kanaan Viso Conway

Lap 13 Castroneves heads down pit road for fuel, tires and a new nose.

Lap 18 Franchitti leads Hunter-Reay Sato Power Hinchcliffe Kimball Rahal Kanaan Viso Conway

Lap 19 Pagenaud pits as the fuel window is open.

Lap 20 Franchitti leads Hunter-Reay Sato Power Hinchcliffe Kimball Rahal….Tagliani pits.

Lap 23 Sato passes Hunter-Reay for second. Conway pits.

Lap 27 Allmendinger and Servia both hit pit road.

Lap 31 Full course caution. Tagliani and Kimball make contact in Turn 8. Tagliani tagged Kimball. Sato grabs the lead ahead.

Restart lap 35 Hinchcliffe and EJ Viso wreck. Hinchcliffe heavy contact with the wall – full course caution is back out. Hunter-Reay collects damage, changing his nose cone. Hinchcliffe tried to made a move that has no room. Conway on pit road with electrical issues. Sato leads Franchitti Rahal Power Kanaan

Restart lap 39 Sato leads the field into turn one as Rahal passes Franchitti for second on lap two

Lap 40 Sato leads Rahal Franchitti Vautier Kanaan Pagenaud Power Wilson Servia de Silvestro

Halfway

39 laps to go Sato leads Rahal Vautier Franchitti Pagenaud Kanaan Wilson Power Servia de Silvestro

37 to go Wilson passes Kanaan; Servia passes Power

31 laps to go Pagenaud hits pit road. Sato leads Rahal Vautier Franchitti Wilson Kanaan

30 laps to go Ryan Hunter-Reay hits the tires in turn eight while trying to make a pass on Beatriz. Full course caution. Sato makes his way down pit road. Rahal and Franchitti make their way down pit road. Most of the leaders are on pit road. Vautier and Power make contact on pit road. Power stalled it on pit road.

29 laps to go Allmendinger has stalled in turn five

“I just started getting desperate. We just couldn’t go anywhere we just missing grip in corners. I just got desperate and started trying things. We were in the back there. I had to try something. I got inside of Ana there and there was no grip. Just made a bad day worse. We definitely have to bounce back in Brazil.” – RHR

Restart 25 laps to go Sato and Kimball battle for the lead into turn one. Kimball gets into the tire wall in turn one. Sato holds on to the lead.

24 laps to go Sato leads Rahal Wilson Franchitti Kanaan Servia Pagenaud Andretti de Silvestro Hildebrand. Kimball on pit road for another new nose.

23 laps to go Pagenaud has tire smoke off right rear due to contact with Andretti. Andretti makes the pass.

20 laps to go Sato leads Rahal Wilson Franchitti Kanaan Servia Andretti Pagenaud Hildebrand de Silvestro

16 laps to go Sato leads Rahal Wilson Franchitti Kanaan Servia Andretti Pagenaud Hildebrand de Silvestro

15 laps to go Hildebrand passes Pagenaud

8 laps to go Hildebrand passes Andretti

2 laps to go Servia and Kanaan make contact resulting in Kanaan getting into the tire wall. Local caution.

Final lap. Full course yellow. Servia receives a 30 second penalty for the contact.

Takumo Sato wins his first career victory. Rahal. Wilson. Franchitti. Hildebrand. Andretti. Pagenaud. De Silvestro. Castroneves Dixon

Last year, Charlie Kimball completed the IndyCar season with one podium finish – second at Toronto, and six top 10s in 15 races. After their season, Kimball and team went and did their homework, doing an intensive self-evaluation on the team.

“From driver, to management, to engineering, to mechanics,” he said. “And we all came up with ideas and started to put those in practice. We went testing before the Christmas break, and then coming out of Christmas and coming out of the winter, when we went to the open test at Barber, we went with a pretty decent car and continued to make it better, so that the momentum carrying from Barber into Long Beach is better than it’s ever been.

“We’re really proud of the progress we’ve made as a team, and I think that there’s no reason why we can’t continue to build positive results through the rest of the season.”

The result of the successful Barber test marked a fourth place finish for Kimball in the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama two weeks ago. Kimball is now looking to take that momentum forward to Long Beach this weekend, a track in which he has now failed well at in his two starts due to mechanical issues.

“You have to take the positives, learn from the mistakes, and move forward,” he said. “The first practice at Long Beach, anything we did at Barber is irrelevant, as far as where we are on the timesheet. We have to take that, forget that and move forward. But also understand when we get, hopefully, into the Fast Six again in qualifying and racing up front when we learn from the strategy and weaknesses we’ve shown at Barber. I’ve learned about how to race up front a little bit better. So I think you take those lessons, remember them, and apply them, and that’s how you build that momentum.”

He added that in building momentum and continuing to run up front, you get comfortable with running up front in getting to know those from runners better and understanding risk vs. reward.

Kimball went on to say that he is more so looking back on the previous street-course event of the season at St. Petersburg where he finished 12th. He feels they were quicker than 12th, but had to work on some things. Therefore, he feels he can take the knowledge that he learned with running up front at Barber and apply that while growing stronger on the street courses as a driver.

Ganassi Racing went from a four car team to a three car team for 2013 and that has benefited Kimball. He says that it allows him to have a better opportunity to learn from his teammates Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti.

“Between sessions, if you have four‑car data to look at or only three‑car data, you have the same amount of time,” he said. “So to be able to pull highlights from Scott and from Dario, and have a little more time to talk to them individually, the communication has been a little easier definitely starting the season. I think the more that the 83 team is able to run up front, the more we’re contributing back to the 9 and 10 cars.”

However, with that said, he is looking forward to having Ryan Briscoe as a fourth teammate for the Indianapolis 500 in May.

“To have somebody of that caliber, to have last year’s pole sitter, the guy who won the race, and the guy who finished second last year to learn from, it’s definitely ‑‑ Chip Ganassi has built a very strong stable heading into the Month of May,” Kimball commented.

In his experience with working with Dixon and Franchitti so far, he says it’s not just one thing that they’ve taught him – but looking at how a team can work together to get better.

“I think that’s what Chip Ganassi Racing does best,” he said. “It’s got great people with all the tools that we need to go in, and sometimes you don’t know how best to use those tools. And watching Scott and Dario, they are masters at making the most of whatever the situation is.”

Kimball also recognizes that his time is now and he needs to perform.

“It’s my third year,” he said. “I’m not a rookie. I’m not a sophomore anymore. We have the experience as a group. We have the capability to run up front. So it’s time we did that.”

The race at Barber Motorsports Park turned into an exciting one with a dramatic start to the race and Ryan Hunter-Reay, Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves running each other hard at the end. However, lost in the race was two rules that had an effect on the outcome of the event.

 

Qualifying Procedure and Blocking

IndyCar qualifying procedure has the drivers go out into groups, in which slowly trickles down into the Firestone Fast Six. With multiple drivers on the track, sometimes they can cross paths with each other, messing up each other’s laps. If done deliberately, officials have the option to penalize the driver who blocked.

Takuma Sato was removed from the Firestone Fast Six after his penalty for blocking Justin Wilson.

However, another driver was accused of blocking, though not penalized. James Hinchcliffe accused Will Power of blocking his lap.

“It is a frustrating situation,” Hinchcliffe said. “I saw Will in front of me … he caught another driver (E.J. Viso) so he had to back off and that’s fair play. But he backed off again and had a gap with no one in front of him. I know exactly what he was doing. And it is just a joke.

“Tires only last for two laps and my second lap was sacrificed as a result. With the times this close all I needed was a tenth to get into Q2. It disappointing that guys are out there playing these games but it’s a long season and that will come back and bite him.”

Power said that Hinchcliffe was wrong in his accusation.

“I don’t think I blocked him, actually,” Power said. “Viso checked me up. Those guys checked up in front of me. Yeah, I don’t know what he’s talking about. Blocking? Have to take a look at the video. He’s just whining because he didn’t get through, I think.”

This begs to ask the question – should there be a change in procedure so that way officials don’t have to make these judgement calls? Should drivers be sent out individually for a couple of laps and then started in the order they lap the track?

With starting position being so important, you would think that it would be the option of choice. However, all that does is lengthen the session and remove the excitement that is unique to qualifying trim.

 

Qualifying Procedure and Quick Time

The other element of qualifying that can be interesting to watch is a driver may set the quickest time of the session, but doesn’t get the pole. So what does that mean? Scott Dixon had the quickest time of the test session at Barber Motorports Park during session two, however would not get the pole as Ryan Hunter-Reay and Will Power were timed fastest in the Firestone Fast Six. Meanwhile, Dixon would have to start behind them as a result of a slower time during that final session.

Should be there a change in the format to honor the driver that has the quickest lap?

One idea could be to keep the format as it is for qualifying, but change it so the driver with the quickest time would get the pole. Your quick time carries you through the sessions and if you manage to improve upon it in a later session, then that is the time used to determine starting position. Kind of like you can work to improve your time, but won’t lose the hard work done at the beginning.

Or, as previously suggested, change the format completely so the drivers go out one at a lap time with quick time taking the pole.

 

Race Procedure and bringing drivers to the pits

While the focus was on the top finishers in the race, there was also questions asked about James Hinchcliffe’s day.

Hinchcliffe sustained damage on the first lap incident, which caused one of the tires to fall off under caution. Series officials began to toe Hinchcliffe back, however stopped and said they would try under the next yellow, not wanting to cause further damage.

“At the same time we were getting ready to go green as the track was clear so Race Control made the decision to leave the No. 27 car, and try to bring it back during the next yellow, which never happened,” IndyCar said.

As IndyCar stated, a second yellow never happened, which meant Hinchcliffe was stuck out, sitting in the corner, for the entire race.

“It was just shockingly painful and frustrating, because we were only four corners from pit lane,” Hinchliffe said. “I mean, I could almost see pit lane. And you’re watching everybody else just palling around and having a great time. You never want to watching, especially when you’re sitting in a car right beside the race track watching.”

This isn’t the first time this has happened to a driver as Scott Dixon had it happen to him last year at Long Beach.

“The rules state, they will tow you back till the last 10 laps of the race, so I don’t know what the deal is with that,” Dixon said. “I know I was (mad) when that happened to me, and Hinch should be as well. There’s a whole lot of the race to go. I thought they were going to tow him back, but we already had a yellow … I think they get worried about these yellows being too long.”

If they’d extended the caution at least a lap, maybe even two, they could have brought Hinchcliffe to the pits and allowed his team to repair the damage so he could go back out and race.

While this may not be something to dwell on, here’s a question to ask – what if the points lost here are what cost Hinchcliffe the championship?

 

With questions amongst the rules, they become the focus and fans will begin to discuss them, rather than the drivers and the competition. That is not something the series needs. The series needs consistency amongst the rules and focus on what matters – drivers and competition – if they want to remain in the forefront.

This past weekend, Penske Racing announced that they have added Long Beach later this month to A.J. Allmendinger’s 2013 IndyCar schedule.

Originally, he was only scheduled to run at Barber Motorsports Park (he finished 19th) and then the Indianapolis 500 in May. However, Tim Cindric, president of Penske Racing, felt it was important to give Allmendinger more seat time before Indianapolis.

“As the emotions get into it and Roger (Penske)’s commitment to the organization, we don’t want to go into Indianapolis any less prepared than we can be,” Cindric said. “AJ has continued to gel with the team and it’s worth the investment for us to have him run at a place where he’s already run. (Barber) is a whole different place for him, and the effort you need to find that couple of tenths (of a second) is maybe different than a place like Long Beach where he’s already comfortable and it’s just a matter of learning the car. He’s learning the car here and he’s learning the track.”

Allmendinger is looking forward to racing at Long Beach as it means more time in the car practicing pit stops and all that jazz.

“It’s exciting; I’ve always missed that race since I left,” Allmendinger said. “Being a California native it was always a fun race to go to. Just to have another race under my belt at a place I’ve fairly familiar with I’m looking forward to it.”

They do not have a sp0nsor for Long Beach, however Cindric says they are open to sponsors. If no sponsor comes, it will be something Penske affiliated on the car.

Beyond Indianapolis, they may be the possibility of more races added to the schedule. Cindric says they will evaluate things after Indy.

The deal with Penske Racing came after last year’s disappointment on the NASCAR side of things. Allmendinger failed a drug test mid-season, after taking a drug that was given to him by a friend. The friend told him it was an energy supplement, but it was actually Adderall.

Once Allmendinger was cleared to return to the track, he began racing for Phoenix Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as Roger Penske and team had already put Hornish Jr. in their Nationwide Series car with Logano plagued as Allmendinger’s replacement in Cup.

Allmendinger is still running some NASCAR races this year, though with only scheduled to run a small amount, the opportunity came about with Penske for Indy.

 

“Everything I’ve said about (Roger Penske) probably is the biggest understatement,” Allmendiner said. “I just feel fortunate to have a guy like that care about me so much. I’m not going to ask him why, because I don’t want him to question his own mind, but I feel very lucky.”

In his return to IndyCar racing on Sunday, Allmendinger was running just outside of the top 10 when he stalled in the pits on the final stop. As a result, he finished 19th.

“All around, I thought that day went fairly well – up until that stop,” he commented after the race. “I knew that going to two sets to those guys three would hurt us. Trying to learn how this is going. Fell like we’d finish 11^thor 12^th but stalled in the pits. Don’t know why. It wouldn’t rev up and as soon as I put the clutch in, it just stalled. At the end, we pitted so early that we had to save fuel that whole stint. Proud of Penske for all of their hard work. Thanks to Roger for this opportunity.”

Allmendinger has previous open wheel experience, having ran the Champ Car series from 2004 to 2006. In 40 starts, he had five wins and 14 podiums. Now, it’s all about getting reaccumulated with the open-wheel car.

“I’m still learning it,” he admitted. “I’m nowhere where I want to be when it comes to being competitive. I want to go out there and contend to win races. It’s been tough, and this series, especially in the IZOD IndyCar Series, there’s no hacks out there. The men and women that drive in this series, it is so competitive now, it’s by far ‑‑ at that point when I used to race Champ Car, obviously the two series were split, so you had some of the best drivers split amongst two series, and now that it’s one series and everybody in the series is so fast, it’s competitive.”

Allmendinger was supposed to get his first look at Indianapolis behind the wheel with rookie orientation this week, but that was postponed due to the weather forecast. There were concerns that possibly Allmendinger’s NASCAR schedule would interfere, but Allmendinger says that won’t be the case.

“The IndyCar thing, especially with everything that comes to (the) Indy 500 in general, that’s the most important thing,” he said. “The good thing is that Phoenix Racing has worked with me, and Roger and James Finch, especially, to make sure that everything kind of lined up, and James knows that the Indy car, just everything that comes along with it whatever race, not just Indy but anything that comes up on the schedule, that takes priority.”

Rookie orientation has been rescheduled for the Friday right before the start of the two weeks at Indy, which Allmendinger says maybe is a good thing. He says he can now focus solely on Indy right after that orientation instead of having orientation and then a couple Sprint Cup races in between.

When asked about what his expectations are moving forward, Allmendinger said it’s simple – he want to win races.

“As I stated many times now, I don’t want to waste Roger’s time,” he said. “I don’t want to waste IZOD’s time, I don’t want to waste anybody’s time at this organization to go out there and just go run around laps and try to learn. I want to go out there and compete right away.”

He added that getting laps in the car at Barber and now at Long Beach is all about winning at Indy.

“That’s why I’m there,” he continued. “That’s why Roger hired me is to have the expectations to win. Like I said, the good thing there is you get a lot of time to go out there and learn the racetrack and go through the days of practice and go into qualifying and then get the race setup.”

For Allmendinger, the pressure is high and there because he considers the Indianapolis 500 as the biggest race in the world.

“It’s the Indianapolis 500, and for me to get to run it first of all is just a dream come true,” he said. “I always wanted to run the race and just never got a chance to, and secondly, to be able to do that with Roger Penske and walk out of Gasoline Alley and be introduced wearing an IZOD Penske Racing suit is something special, and no matter what happens during the race obviously I want to go out there and try to win the race, but no matter what happens just to be able to say that I was there as a Penske driver at the Indianapolis 500, it’s pretty special and I’ll always hold that with me.”

Before he goes to Indy, he will run the NASCAR race at Richmond after the Indy event at Long Beach.

“For me it’s just trying to race as much as possible, whether it’s in IndyCar or a stock car or anything that goes with that, just as much as I can being inside a race car,” he said. “I feel like it just keeps helping me get better and better no matter what car I’m in.”