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  • Scott Dixon and Team Ganassi Make Indy History at Pocono with Win; Podium Finish

    Scott Dixon and Team Ganassi Make Indy History at Pocono with Win; Podium Finish

    Scott Dixon, driver of the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, made history at Pocono Raceway in the IZOD IndyCar Series as the eighth different winner in eleven races, scoring his 30th career win, as well as the 200th win for Honda and the 100th team finish for team Target.

    “Going into this morning, I was not thinking we could win,” Dixon said. “The team definitely hasn’t given up and you’ve got to hand it to Honda as well.”

    “The fuel mileage was the key today and we still had speed up front without having to save all the time.”

    “I don’t know what to say,” Dixon continued. “It’s the 100th win for Target as well which is just so fantastic.”

    “It’s been a long drought, almost a year, so it’s fantastic to be back in winner’s circle.”

    With the return of IndyCar Racing to Pocono Raceway for the first time since 1989, Team Ganassi also made history, finishing one, two, three for the first time ever in any form of competition, including IZOD IndyCar Series, CART, NASCAR or GRAND-AM.

    With teammate Scott Dixon in Victory Lane, Charlie Kimball, behind the wheel of the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Honda for Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing, finished second, and teammate Dario Franchitti, behind the wheel of the No. 10 Energizer Honda for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, finished third.

    “The whole Chip Ganassi Racing crew, as evidenced by the 1-2-3 finish, was focusing on race day knowing that’s when it mattered,” Kimball, who matched his career best finish of second, said. “Throughout today, the guys made it better on each pit stop and the car just got quicker and quicker.”

    “A lot of credit to Honda, they gave us the fuel mileage and speed today.”

    “The Honda today, it’s so good on fuel mileage and that really, really helped us,” Franchitti, the third place finisher, said. “We went for a very aggressive downforce so every lap was an adventure.”

    “It was a good day.”

    “I had no idea we’d finish one, two, three after coming back late from Daytona,” Chip Ganassi, team owner, said. “When I got out of bed this morning, I wouldn’t have guessed this.”

    “I actually forgot that the next win would have been our 100th; it’s been so long since we’ve had a win,” Ganassi continued. “It’s a really great place to do it – in Pennsylvania, my home state.”

    “It’s great for the Series to have a 1-2-3 finish,” Ganassi said. “Honda needed a boost.”

    “The drivers did a great job and the team did a great job,” Ganassi continued. “Hopefully we’ve turned the corner.”

    Will Power finished fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. This was Power’s third top-five finish of the season.

    “I didn’t realize Charlie (Kimball) was for position,” Power said. “It was quite tough to pass.”

    “It was physical but a lovely track,” Power continued. “There was a good crowd and it was a good race.”

    “But it was an awesome day for Verizon.”

    Josef Newgarden, driving the No. 67 SFH Racing/Rotondo Weirich for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, rounded out the top-five, matching his best IndyCar Series finish of fifth in Sao Paulo.

    “We had a great day,” Newgarden said. “To get representable results, I’m super pleased for all our guys.”

    “Pocono is incredible,” Newgarden continued. “I wasn’t even born that time they had the last race here.”

    “We’ve got to come back here because it’s an IndyCar track,” Newgarden said. “I’m super pleased for our group.”

    The race was not without drama as James Hinchcliffe, driver of the No. 27 GoDaddy Chevrolet, wrecked on the very first lap.

    “I’m not entirely sure what happened,” Hinchcliffe said. “We’ll have to take a look at it.”

    “The car just snapped loose on me,” Hinchcliffe continued. “We went a bit aggressive on setup because we had an understeering car all week, and we didn’t want that in the race.”

    “Maybe we overstepped it a bit; I’m not quite sure,” Hinchcliffe said. “It’s a 400-mile race so to go out on Lap 1 is just devastating.”

    “It’s really unfortunate.”

    Another pair of unhappy campers was Ryan Hunter-Reay, driver of the No. 1 DHL Chevrolet, and Takuma Sato, behind the wheel of the No. 14 ABC Supply Co/A.J. Foyt Racing Honda, who collided on pit road.

    “I think I misjudged it,” Sato said. “Extremely sorry.”

    “It was my fault.”

    “I couldn’t believe it,” Hunter-Reay said. “I thought a plane crashed in there.”

    “I didn’t expect it would have been Sato,” Hunter-Reay continued. “We had a great car to challenge for the win and then get creamed from behind.”

    “He unplugged his brain entirely,” Hunter-Reay said. “It’s just so frustrating when someone comes from nowhere completely unglued.”

    Hunter-Reay admitted that the hard hit on pit road exacerbated an injury with which he has been struggling.

    “I have to go get my thumb x-rayed now,” Hunter-Reay said. “That made it worse than it was before.”

    “It is what it is and we’ll deal with it.”

    The most upset driver, however, was hometown hero and third generation driver Marco Andretti. The driver of the No. 25 RC Cola Chevrolet for Andretti Autosport finished tenth after leading a race high 88 laps and sitting on the pole.

    This was the fifth race this season in which Andretti led and the fourth oval race he has led. Yet he still remains winless for the 2013 season.

    “I’m so frustrated right now,” Andretti said after the race. “We were so dominant.”

    “I’m just absolutely gutted,” Andretti continued. “I just sat there and watched the lead go away from me and it ripped my guts out.”

    Helio Castroneves, driver of the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, finished eighth and extended his points lead to 23 over Ryan Hunter-Reay after the Pocono IndyCar 400 Fueled by Sunoco.

    “For us getting a lot of points in the championship is fantastic,” Castroneves said. “It was a tough race.”

    “It was a lot of thinking and I’m terrible at thinking!” Castroneves continued. “It’s one of those races that nobody knows what to do.”

    “It was crazy and quite exciting,” Castroneves said. “At the end of the day, it was a great day for championship and that’s what we’ve got to think.”

  • Marco Andretti, Dario Franchitti and Takuma Sato Take on Tricky Triangle

    Marco Andretti, Dario Franchitti and Takuma Sato Take on Tricky Triangle

    Although legends the likes of A. J. Foyt, Rick Mears, Al Unser and Mario Andretti have raced there, it has been since 1989 that an open-wheel race occurred at Pocono Raceway.

    But on this July 4th holiday weekend, the IZOD IndyCar Series returns to Pocono with drivers like Marco Andretti, Dario Franchitti and Takuma Sato, who hope to add their names to the list of winners at the track known as the ‘Tricky Triangle.’

    “So far, so good,” Marco Andretti, driver of the No. 25 RC Cola Chevrolet for Andretti Autosport, said after the first test session at Pocono. “I have to give credit to IndyCar for the aero and Firestone for the tire choice.”

    Andretti, a third generation racer who considers this is ‘home’ track, will make his first start at Pocono and his 125th career start.

    Although Andretti admits that he does go to his grandfather for advice, especially with his familiarity with the ‘tricky’ track, he said that this time he had to make it his own.

    “At this level of the sport, we have to learn by driving,” Andretti said. “My grandfather is supportive…but only if I’m quickest.”

    Andretti said that so far the triangle has been a bit ‘tricky’ from his perspective. But he is loving every minute of it, at least so far.

    “The trickiest part is getting the balance between turns one and three,” Andretti said. “You can make the car good in one corner and then not the others.”

    “That’s the cool part about this track.”

    Fellow competitor Dario Franchitti, driver of the No. 10 Energizer for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, echoed Andretti’s excitement at racing returning to Pocono, in spite of being on ‘Scotland time.’ He had been up bright and early at 6:00 am at Pocono after visiting his homeland for a weekend of rest and relaxation.

    “It’s great to be here at Pocono,” Franchitti said. “It’s a great rack.”

    “These cars are bloody quick right here.”

    Franchitti also agreed with Andretti that the triangle is a bit tricky, especially trying to negotiate the three very different corners.

    “It’s a tough place to figure out,” Franchitti said. “The tunnel turn – I don’t know what it will be like with ten cars in front of me.”

    “But I really hope there will not be ten cars in front of me.”

    Franchitti admitted that his season has been one of struggles, both on the road courses and the ovals. And when one of the media followed up with a question about his brief stint in NASCAR, Franchitti said that was equally as painful as his season so far.

    “I went to the dentist and had work without anesthesia and I broke my back,” Franchitti said. “It was less painful than NASCAR.”

    “This season has been tough,” Franchitti continued. “We haven’t got it together on road courses and we have struggled on the ovals.”

    “We went down the wrong development path with parts and it’s been a difficult year so far.”

    Takuma Sato, driving the No. 14 for A.J. Foyt Racing, echoed the excitement of his fellow drivers in making his first appearance ever at Pocono Raceway. And he even had an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful scenery on his way into the track.

    “I’m very excited to be at Pocono,” Sato said. “It’s always interesting to be in a new venue, especially with the long history here.”

    “On the way to the track, it took me a half hour but it’s a nice drive,” Sato continued. “I like the nature.”

    Sato agreed with his fellow competitors that the three-cornered race track is indeed one of the most ‘tricky’ that he has ever experienced.

    “It’s quite a challenging track,” Sato said. “Quite tricky in Turn One.”

    “It took me awhile to get the right lines and figure out how to do it.”

    “Turns One and Three are challenging for both the driver and the engineers,” Sato said. “By myself I’m doing a good job but I’m not sure about in the pack.”

    “There is a huge balance shift between those two conditions.”

    Like Andretti, Sato has a mentor who has vast knowledge of the track in A.J. Foyt. So, did he garner any advice from him prior to taking to the track at the ‘Tricky Triangle?’

    “We talked about it knowing he is a master here,” Sato said of his mentor and owner Foyt. “But it’s a different time.”

    “He did give me tips about setting up the car,” Sato continued. “I’ll speak to him later today and tomorrow.”

    Sato was also incredibly analytical when it came to breaking down each of the three turns at the ‘Tricky Triangle.’

    “Turn One is like Fontana because of the banking and that you have to go through all the seams,” Sato said. “In Turn Two, you have to be careful because it is easy and flat.”

    “Turn Two is like a little kink for me and there is no need to count it as a corner,” Sato continued. “Turn Three is Milwaukee-style, with no banking and a high speed.”

    “There is a sensation of the cars that feels weird and challenging too,” Sato said. “It is a good corner.”

    Two of the three drivers were also asked to react to another change just announced by INDYCAR race director Beaux Barfield, the return of the three-wide start to the race. So, what did they think of that change?

    Marco Andretti definitely had some thoughts on the three-wide start, the types of which have been utilized for the Indy 500 since 1921 and also at Pocono Raceway in the 1970s and 1980s for the ‘triple crown’ legs.

    “That one is really for the fans,” Andretti said. “I’m all about tradition so I love it.”

    “I’m just hoping we can get it sorted out by Turn One.”

    Dario Franchitti agreed that the three-wide race start may be quite interesting at the ‘Tricky Triangle.’

    “Three wide won’t be an issue at first because it’s so wide,” Franchitti said. “But Turn One narrows up quickly, so that will be the tricky part.”

    Probably the driver with the highest expectations placed upon him at the ‘Tricky Triangle’, however, is hometown ‘son’ and hero Marco Andretti. While he feels a win would be spectacular at his home track, he really just wants to get that ‘W’ in the worst way.

    “The monkey is on my back anyway for a win,” Andretti said. “We’re on the right track.”

    “But a win here would be extra special.”

  • Briscoe Claims Toyota Grand Prix Pole, But Franchitti to start from first

    Briscoe Claims Toyota Grand Prix Pole, But Franchitti to start from first

    [media-credit name=”INDYCAR/LAT USA” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]At the end of the Firestone Fast Six 10-minute Shootout, Ryan Briscoe claimed the pole for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The record lap of one minute, 8.6089 seconds earned Briscoe his first pole of the season, one bonus point and $10,000. This is Briscoe’s first pole since Chicagoland in 2010.

    However, he will be starting 11th because of a 10-grid spot penalty after changing his engine due to an advisory from Chevrolet.

    “We’ve only done short stints so far, but I feel like the first step is having the pace, and we know we’ve got that, so that’s definitely going to be a big help to us starting from 11th tomorrow,” Briscoe said yesterday. “Last year we started 12th, and through strategy ended up leading a lot of laps in the race. So we’re going to look at all of that. It’s going to be tough – it’s a really hard track to pass on, so we’re going to have to do our best and see what we can do to get to the front.”

    The pole for Briscoe gives Team Penske their third consecutive of the season and fourth consecutive pole at Long Beach.

    Briscoe’s Team Penske teammate Will Power qualified second, 0.0984 seconds behind Briscoe. However, he will be starting 12th due to also being effected by the penalty.

    “It was a battle in the Fast Six for sure, that was everything I had and we threw down a mega lap,” Power said. “Qualifying was important because we didn’t want to end up 15th or 16th, but yeah so I’m sure we’re going to make the best out of the situation and see where we can end up. Days like tomorrow will end up being really important for the championship, just trying to get as many points as possible and work hard at strategy.”

    Andretti Autosports Ryan-Hunter Reay qualified third, however will start 13th due to the penalty.

    “It was OK, I expected a little bit more grip out there today but with only one session and 2 laps at a time here and it was tough to know what we really wanted out of the car, but it was the same for everybody,” he said. “So tired of being that couple hundredths off of the Penske guys here, three years in a row now. Definitely wanted the pole despite the penalty we’re going to take, and that was as good a chance as I’ve ever had, and we’re going to start 13th I believe. So yeah it was a good day, but we wanted a lot more today and I’m pretty bummed about that.”

    The pole sitter for the event will be Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dario Franchitti, who qualified fourth will start on the front row as he was the first driver not affected by the engine rule change penalty.

    “In the Firestone Fast 6 we knew where we’d be starting regardless of what time we did, but we kind of wanted to earn it,” Franchitti said. “We didn’t quite have it in the car. So we’ll go back tomorrow and we’ll see what happens.”

    E.J. Viso and James Hinchcliffe qualified fifth and sixth, though will start further back due to both changing motors. Franchitti would be joined on the front row by Josef Newgarden, who qualified seventh.

    The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is set to take place on April 15th at 3:30pm EST. The race will be telecast live by NBC Sports Network. The IMS Radio Network will also carry the race live on XM Channel 94 and Sirius 212.

  • Target Chip Ganassi Racing Leads IndyCar Spring Training at Sebring

    Target Chip Ganassi Racing Leads IndyCar Spring Training at Sebring

    [media-credit id=4 align=”alignleft” width=”266″][/media-credit]It may be a new chassis, but the dominance of Target Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske will look to continue in the IZOD IndyCar Series following testing. At the end of the four day test, the two teams shared the top of the chart with Target Chip Ganassi having the upperhand.

    After all four days, it was Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon leading the field with a time of 51.7932 seconds at a speed of 116.077 mph.

    “Overall it was a good day for Team Target,” Dixon said. “We got started late because of some issues, and probably didn’t get accomplished what we needed to in the first part of the day. We made a big suspension change at lunch time, and I actually didn’t like all of that stuff, but we came out around 3 p.m., and didn’t have time to go back on those things, so we stuck with it. We made steering changes and damper changes and seem to find a bit of a compromise for what we had. Today was more a day of learning about the new car and trying to soak up as much as we can before St. Pete.”

    Dixon’s quick lap, which saw him be the only driver under 52 seconds, came near the end of the last practice session.

    “We did the work on the car and as the sun went down a bit and the clouds came in, the track picked up some time,” he said. “We definitely worked to make the car better as well. I was good to do something for the lads at the end and it worked out.”

    Dixon’s teammate Dario Franchitti would be second on the charts with a time of 52.0157 seconds.

    “The team always does a good job, they’re very, very good,” Franchitti said. “We’re trying to learn these new cars. We’re trying to learn the new car, what might break on them, where the weak spots are, how to make them go fast. Honda is learning very quickly too so we’re just trying to get through all of this stuff just now. I’m very happy with the two days we’ve had, obviously the first two days for me right from break-in, we had a lot of questions coming in to this test and we got answers to most of them, so hopefully we can put the pieces together for St. Pete and onwards.”

    Penske Racing driver Helio Castroneves would end the session in third at a time of 52.1413 seconds.

    “Overall it was a good day for the Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet,” he said. “Chevy did an incredible job. We are still developing the car. Still making little bits here and there. But, for Spring Training, I thought all of the Chevys are in good shape. Overall Team Penske is in good shape. We have to just keep pushing each other. Hopefully we can get what we want for the first race of the season.”

    Castroneves is one of the drivers driving a Chevrolet powered car this season, and commends Chevrolet on their efforts so far.

    “Chevy is on-board,” he said. “Took the bull by the horns as they say. It is a very good commitment from everyone. Right now we are still working; still developing.”

    Ruben Barrichello of KV Racing Technology ranked fourth with a lap of 52.1615 seconds. Barrichello is trying to learn as much as he can as he makes the transition from Formula 1 to IndyCar.

    “We were able to run a good amount of laps again today and look at some different setups,” he said. “We also practiced pit stops which will served me well. I was able to see how the car reacts coming in on warm tires and leaving on cold tires and seeing where to position the car, all things that are very different to what I am used to. Overall though we have had a very good two days of testing.”

    Team Penske’s Will Power rounded out the top five with a lap of 52.2059 seconds.

    “It is clear that it is pretty even so far,” Power said. “The moment of truth is going to be St. Pete. Everyone is going to have what they’ve got. There is no sandbagging or anything. We shall see there.”

    Power added though that it’s hard to see where everybody is at due to how unique Sebring is.

    “It is so hard to tell this track, to be honest,” he said. “It is a very strange circuit for testing, because I don’t think there is any place we go that is like it. Turn 4 is probably the most representative corner of a street course. Everywhere else has way too much grip, so the car always feels pretty good. I’m not sure what we get out of these tests, but we certainly push the car to the limit I would say.”

    JR Hilderbrand was sixth, followed by Ryan Briscoe, Mike Conway, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Takuma Sato.

  • Dario Franchitti Leads First Practice For MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225

    In the first practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 on Thursday, Dario Franchitti led the way with a lap of 21.5665 seconds (171.099mph).

    “My first order of business today was to learn the track and the first run felt good,” Franchitti said. “It is definitely a lot easier to learn a place when the car is doing what you want it to. I think we are in good shape now and we will be chasing the track a little bit. We’ll see if we can continue this form into the weekend.”

    His lap is only a tenth off of the record at New Hampshire, which was set by Andrew Riberio in 1995 at a lap of 21.466 seconds. Ribeiro is now the manager for series driver Ana Beatriz.

    Franchitti’s Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon was in second (21.6204 seconds), followed by Graham Rahal (21.6644).

    “The car felt good today,” Dixon said. “We struggled at the beginning of the day with a few set-up changes we had to go through. Traffic is chaotic here because it seems like some cars are very slow and you catch them fast. So must of the challenge is dealing with that. We spent a lot of time on working on the race car and I feel pretty comfortable now. The Target cars were quick today and so was Graham (Rahal) so we are in good shape for now but we will see what happens Saturday and Sunday.”

    KV Racing Technology-Lotus teammates Tony Kanaan (21.7368) and Taku Sato (21.7713) rounded out the top five. The top 10 in the 27-car lineup were separated by less than four-tenths of a second.

    “We had a pretty solid day today,” Kanaan said. “We took our time to go out in the morning practice, but we were fast right away and kept improving the car during the afternoon run. I think that there are some minor tweaks that we can try on Saturday before qualifying to see if we can get the car a little bit faster, but overall I’m happy with how the day went.”

    “It was a good first day,” Sato said. “We ran a lot of miles and I learned a lot.  This track is quite unique, but we were up to speed very quickly and worked on various things.  It was a very productive day.”

    During the session, Pippa Mann made significant contact with the wall, however was cleared to drive for the rest of the weekend by medical staff.

    “We worked very hard throughout the morning on making the car better and the RLL guys made some really good changes to the car that felt like they were going to help us,” she said. “We found some grip and some stability and were working on gathering speed over the bumps when we had our incident. I am disappointed but I know that the whole team will work very hard to get everything where we need it to be for Saturday’s qualifying!”

    The race on Sunday August 14th marks Team Penske’s 1,300 start in open-wheel racing and Helio Castroneves is set make his 200th career Indy car start for the team.

    “Our Guidepoint Systems Team Penske car still needs a little something,” he said. “We me made a lot of changes today and we learned a few things. Now we just have to sort through the data and take the next step. We will be ready to go on Saturday.”

    There are two practice sessions Aug. 13 prior to two-lap qualifications with no practice planned for Friday August 12th.

  • Dario Franchitti Scores 30th IZOD IndyCar Series Win in Honda Indy Toronto

    Dario Franchitti Scores 30th IZOD IndyCar Series Win in Honda Indy Toronto

    [media-credit id=4 align=”alignleft” width=”100″][/media-credit]

    After taking the lead on lap 71, Dario Franchitti led teammate Scott Dixon to the checkered flag for his third win in Toronto and the 30th IndyCar Series win of the year for the points leader.

    “I was pretty happy just be in the company of Rick and J.R., and to get my 30th win today means a lot, especially here in Toronto,” Franchitti said. “I got my first pole here in 1997. I love racing in Canada. We had that incident with Will. He out braked himself to out brake me and opened up the door, I went down the inside, I held the wall and Will came down. I put my nose in there, I was trying to get my nose out, but ultimately he closed the door and paid the price.”

    The incident, in which Franchitti spoke of with pole sitter and points rival Will Power, happened on lap 56 when they were battling for fifth in turn three. Power kept soildering on, till hitting the tire barrier on lap 66 in turn five after contact with Alex Tagliani.

    “It’s just a really disappointing finish for the Verizon car today,” Power said. “My team did a great job in the pits and we were working our way back toward the front and we got past (Dario) Franchitti. We went into the corner and I gave him room and then he just drove into me. I understood he was going to get penalized but then there was no call – I just don’t understand that. After that we were just trying to get the best result possible before Tag (Alex Tagliani) hit me from behind. It’s very tough to have two DNFs (did not finish) in a row. All I can say is we’ll keep working hard and hopefully come back strong at Edmonton.”

    “The contact with Will was also a shame,” Tagliani said afterwards. “Will was on blacks. I tried to pass him a couple of times in turn three. He was blocking a bit, and then I made a move on the inside in turn eight and it got tight.”

    Meanwhile, it was Franchitti’s teammate Dixon who came home second for his fourth podium finish in the last five races.

    “It’s frustrating because these street races are part luck, you know,” Dixon said. “Will and I were one and two, then he comes out like 18th or something like that, so it’s—and the 10 car gets it everytime, so I’ll call back on the radio and say, ‘Let me guess who’s leading. The 10 car.’ Which, is good on him, they make good strategy, and obviously Dario is quick as well and we all had to pass a lot of cars, but it’s frustrating. We were getting into a nice rhythm there, car was quick and good, and then the strategy throws it all off.”

    Ryan Hunter-Reay finished third for his best finish of the season.

    “I got third and now we just have to go win one,” he said. “The Ganassi boys did a great job.  Congrats to Dario.  Those cars were the class of the field today.  The two red and white cars – they just took off.”

    Hunter-Reay’s day wasnt’ totally clean, however, as he made contact with Graham Rahal on lap 80 in turn three, though no caution was brought out due to the incident.

    “Unfortunately,  it  is a bit of a product of Toronto,” Hunter-Reay continued. “I feel really bad for Graham on that. When Dixon went by him,

    [media-credit id=4 align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Graham kind of chopped him on the straight. Dixon went by him and really ran him wide in the corner into turn three.  There’s a football field worth of real estate there and I went for it and Graham slid across so. I’m not going to blame it on him and I certainly did not deliberately do that.  That was just part of Toronto.  As you can see, what we had out here today was a little bit of a crash test unfortunately. I hope the fans enjoyed it and I am just really happy to get DHL, Circle K and Sun Drop on the podium.  It was a hard fought day.  It wasn’t a straight forward podium that’s for sure.”

    Marco Andretti and Victor Meira rounded out the top five.

    The race was halted by five full course yellows throughout the 85 laps this afternoon.

    The first caution was on lap three when Ryan Briscoe and Tony Kanaan made contact in turn three, causing Kanaan to go airbourne, but he’d be okay.

    “I gave Briscoe plenty of room and he still took me out,” he said. “It was too early in the race to be doing stupid moves like that. I had a good car and was moving up the field,  I guess I overtook four cars in the first lap, so I was going to the front.  It’s a shame for the GEICO KV-Lotus guys.”

    The second caution was on lap 30 when Helio Castroneves and Tagliani made contact in turn three, halting Tagliani to a stop in turn three on the course. He’d get the car restarted and carry on.

    The third caution was on lap 39 when James Jakes stopped on the course.

    The fourth caution came out on lap 48 for a multi-car wreck involving Paul Tracy, Victor Meira, Charlie Kimball and Sebastain Bourdais.

    The fifth caution came on lap 56 for the incident involving Franchitti and Power, while the sixth caution came out on lap 71 for a multi-car accident involving Danica Patrick, Jakes and Tagliani.

    “It was just a really frustrating day,” Patrick said. “I thought we had a good race car. After we would pit for new tires, it would feel really good, but we kept getting caught out by the yellows. I have to thank the GoDaddy.com crew for working so hard all weekend.”

    The last caution was on lap 76 for another multi-car wreck involving Justin Wilson, Oriol Servia, James Hinchcliffe, Charlie Kimball, Mike Conway and Marco Andretti.

  • Dario Franchitti and Will Power Lead IZOD IndyCar Practices at Honda Indy Toronto

    Dario Franchitti and Will Power Lead IZOD IndyCar Practices at Honda Indy Toronto

    [media-credit id=4 align=”alignleft” width=”150″][/media-credit]In preparation for the Honda Indy on July 10th, the IZOD IndyCar Series hit to the streets of Toronto for a pair of practices.

    In the first practice, it was Dario Franchitti leading the way with an average speed of 102.619 and was followed by Penske Racing driver Helio Castroneves with a speed of 102.51.

    “Overall, it was a good day for the Penske Truck Rental team,” Castroneves said. “Right off the bat, the car had good balance and good speed here in Toronto. We didn’t put on new tires at the end of the last practice – I wanted to, but my new strategist (John Erickson) is already working on trying something different so I listened to him! I love the yellow car and the yellow suit of Penske Truck Rental. It reminds me of Dancing With the Stars. Let’s hope we have the same kind of result this weekend.”

    Team Penske put Erickson in place as the strategist for Castroneves for the first time this weekend in Toronto. Erickson was working with Will Power, who will now be teamed up with Tim Cindric. Finally, Clive Howell will continue to focus on his duties as team general manager.

    Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the top three at an average speed of 102.458mph.

    “We were third-quick in the first session, so we had a good morning – and I think we were having a good afternoon,” he said. “The DHL/Circle K/Sun Drop car was feeling pretty good; we were in the top five until we decided not to take new tires like most of the top 10 did. But, we’ll just save those for tomorrow and hopefully it will pay off for us.”

    Justin Wilson and Power was fourth and fifth, followed by Scott Dixon was sixth, followed by Alex Tagliani, Takumo Sato, Tony Kanaan and Mike Conway. James Hinchcliffe, who calls the Honda Indy his hometown race, was the quickest rookie in 11th.

    The first practice saw no on track incidents.

    In the second practice, Power led the way with an average speed of 104.330.

    “The Verizon car is good, but we are still not quick enough,” he said. “We put tires on there at the end of the second practice and no one else did. We are just a bit off the pace. We still have a few things in mind to improve the car. It is great to be in Toronto, though, and relaly good to see all the fans.”

    He was followed by Ganassi Racing driver Dixon with a speed of 104.145 as the top 15 cars were quicker than Franchitti’s first session quickest lap.

    “It’s definitely cool to be back at a street course, especially Toronto,” he said. “It’s a fun circuit. It’s definitely different than the last four races with all left hand turns and now coming back to a bumpy circuit. The track seems to be a little bumpier, especially going into turn 1 and maybe down the back straight as well. It’s created a few new issues that we haven’t had before. The times actually seem surprisingly quicker. Even on the primary tires, we only seems to be five-tenths off the quick times of the options.”

    Franchitti was third in the session, followed by Hinchcliffe and Kanaan. Wilson was sixth, followed by Oriol Servia, Ryan Briscoe, Castroneves and Danica Patrick.

    The second practice saw two full course yellows. The first was eight minutes into the session when Tagliani spun mid corner in turn 8, making contact with the outside retaining wall. He was then struck by Graham Rahal, briefly lifting the car off the ground. Due to the wreck, Tagliani suffered rear wing damage while Rahal had front wing damage. The second incident was when Sebastian Bourdais stopped on course in turn 8. After being re-fired by the Holmatro Safety Team, he was able to make it back to pit lane. There was also local caution, which saw Ana Beatriz spin in turn 2.

    Qualifying will take place Saturday afternoon at 12:50pm EST, with the race taking place on Sunday July 10th at 2pm ET.

  • Dario Franchitti Takes IZOD IndyCar Series Points Lead into the Honda Indy Toronto

    Dario Franchitti Takes IZOD IndyCar Series Points Lead into the Honda Indy Toronto

    This season so far for Dario Franchitti has gone great, even despite the bad luck that he had at Indianapolis. Going into the Honda Indy in Toronto, Franchitti sits first in points, 20 points ahead of Will Power with three wins this year. The Ganassi Racing driver from Scotland is ready to do battle on the Exhibition Place temporary-street course, where he won in 2009 and finished second last year to Power.

    [media-credit name=”hondaindytoronto.com” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]Before the cars took the track on Friday for practice, Franchitti answered some questions about the season so far and more.

    Ashley McCubbin: How’d you originally get with Chip?

    Dario Franchitti: Well, Chip and I talked for a number of years about doing a deal, going back as far as 2001. We never got anything down, until we started talking about the deal in NASCAR with him back in 2007. Luckily for me, that didn’t happen. Then after winning the 500 and the championship in 2007, he asked me to come run with him in Nationwide, which I did for six months. That didn’t go according to plan, so he asked me at that point to come and drive for him for the IndyCar team so that was a very fortunate situation for me to go away from IndyCar Series and come back with Team Target.

    AM: What are some of your thoughts on the season?

    DF: The season is in a lot way has been good with the three wins so far and with the championship lead, [but still as a team, we’re looking at Indianapolis; we’re still upset with the missed opportunity. I felt that myself, Scott or I should’ve won that. Indy was quite a tough one this year.

    AM: What are some of your thoughts on having the points lead this early?

    DF: Its nice to have the points total, but having the points lead at the end of the season is what counts. We have done well like I said, but we gotta keep scoring those points and keeping winning those races for me. Right now, its about trying to win whatever race we’re doing and then the points will take care of themselves.

    AM: What are some of your thoughts heading into Toronto?

    DF: Toronto’s a difficult track, there’s no doubt it’s a challenge. It’s very bumpy, which is part of the charm of the place, very narrow, the brakes are punished pretty hard and its got the new restarts for the first time. It’s going to be an interesting weekend. I love coming to race in Canada. Hopefully I can have a good result here.

    AM: Having driven the Rolex Sports Cars and in NASCAR, what are some of the biggest differences that you’ve seen in comparison to the IndyCar?

    DF: Well, IndyCar is a different. I’ve driven the Champ Cars of the late generation to the current IndyCar, then the American Lemans Series Grand Am, then NASCAR. The way I would explain it is the IndyCar is one extreme of performance with acceleration and power-wise, the Grand-Am is somewhere in the middle, and then you have the dirt car, with lots of power and no grip. Each one is a little different, requires a different driving style and also skills, so that’s why you see some guys are good in one form of racing, but not another.

    AM: What are some of your thoughts on the new IndyCar coming in 2012?

    DF: Well, the new car is very new right now because we’re seeing some examples, which are very much concept cars. Nobody has really seen what they’re actually going to look like so we’re waiting to see what they’re going to come up with. I’m very excited that we’re going to have multiple engine manufactures next year with Chevy, Lotus and certainly Honda. I’d like to see the body kit as well. I think the car is going to be great for the series. This car has been great, but to have something new, we’re all excited about it.

    AM: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in racing?

    DF: I think you learn something in racing every week. It’s just like life; I think you learn something new in life everyday. I think you’re on an accelerated course in racing. It’s just like normal life, but more in the extreme sense so there’s not just one thing. There’s probably a lot of things I’ve learned.

    AM: What’s your most memorable win?

    DF: I think one of the wins at Indianapolis is got to be pretty memorable. I think the first one at Indy was really special, but the second one felt really good too.