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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.”

  • IndyCar: Will Power Victorious in Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

    IndyCar: Will Power Victorious in Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

    [media-credit name=”Team Chevy” align=”alignleft” width=”292″][/media-credit]On the final restart with 16 laps to go, Will Power held Scott Dixon off to win the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama for the second year in a row.

    This marks the 16th career IndyCar victory for Power and the first of the 2012 season.

    “That was an awesome race,” Power says. “(Team Engineer) Tim Cindric kept putting me in such a good position so we could use our speed. That last restart was kind of hairy. I knew Scott (Dixon) was going to be really quick and hounded me for a couple laps there. It’s good to get the Verizon 12 car in victory lane with a Chevy engine. It was awesome.”

    Power started the race in the ninth position, making a daring three-wide pass on lap one. He consistently worked his way through the field, getting the lead from Dixon following a round of pit stops.

    “(My crew was) on the money today,” he says. “Without these guys, there’s no way we could have won today.”

    Power’s win kept the Team Penske seal on Barber Motorsports Park going as Penske has won all three races there. They won the last two years with Power and won in 2010 with Helio Castroneves.

    Dixon would come second for his 27th second place finish of all-time after leading the most laps.

    “I think today we did a good job,” Dixon says. “We got caught up there in some traffic in the pit, the pit sequence kind of got us there. All in all, Team Target did a fantastic job with Honda, I think we’re starting to get on something with this car, so hopefully in the next few races we might be looking at the top spot on the podium.”

    Pole sitter Castroneves would finish third to keep the points lead.

    “First I want to thank AAA, Shell/Pennzoil, Verizon, SKF—those guys give us great support,” Castroneves says. “To be honest it was very difficult. Those are my tires from qualifying. Unfortunately, I locked a little bit too much, I used them a little bit too much. I mean it paid off starting from the pole position, but certainly hurt me a little bit, actually a lot, in the race. That’s why (Scott Dixon) was able to go off of Turn 2, good run but I was just staying in the middle and not do too much. But in the end, I thought it was a great battle, I think that’s what [racing’s about], and I want to apologize as well to (James) Hinchcliffe. My car was already bad with those reds and as soon as we restarted the race it pushed so bad that we kind of squeezed him and I felt terrible. We were having a great race, hopefully we’ll have a better one next time”

    Graham Rahal would finish fourth for his first top five finish this year, while Simon Pagenaud finished fifth for his best IndyCar finish since a fourth place finish at Edmonton in 2007. Pagenaud now leads the Sonoco Rookie of the Year Standings, 26 points over Josef Newgarden. Newgarden finished the race in 17th.

    After starting on the front row, James Hinchcliffe would finish sixth, followed by Mike Conway, Rubens Barrichello, Sebastian Bourdais and Dario Franchitti.

    Castroneves now leads the points leading, two points over Dixon and nine points over Power.

    With back-to-back wins to start the season, Chevrolet leads the Manufactures Championships six points over Honda.

  • Helio Castroneves Scores Pole Position at Barber Motorsports Park

    Helio Castroneves Scores Pole Position at Barber Motorsports Park

    [media-credit id=4 align=”alignleft” width=”266″][/media-credit]Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves won the IZOD IndyCar Series pole for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park for his first pole in more than a year. Last week’s race winner got the pole with a best time of one minute, 10 seconds during the Firestone Fast Six session.

    “The AAA Team Penske crew did a great job, and it will keep us in good shape,” Castroneves says. “Unfortunately, we were the first ones out there because of no practice this morning. The red tires gave us a lot of bonus, so I apparently made it. We made some changes and that put us good for second qualifying. In the end, Will (Power) and some other competitors not making it was tough, but it is better to be lucky than good. (Strategist) John (Erickson), (race engineer) Ron (Ruzewski) and I were just going through the stuff and The Firestone red tires were great and have a lot of grip. The Firestone tires were able to give me Top 6 and thanks again Firestone.”

    The last pole for Castroneves came at Motegi in 2010 as this marks the 37th pole of his career and the third consecutive pole at Barber for Penske.

    Andretti Autorsport driver James Hinchcliffe qualified second for his career best start in IndyCar.

    “Obviously a great start for us to be on the outside of the front row,” he says. “It’s my best start and it’s a great result after the way practice went yesterday and being rained out, then being fogged out this morning. We only had 14 dry laps coming into qualifying. We knew we had to take a little bit of a swing at it, and give it to the Andretti Autosport guys because that green Go Daddy guy was quick. As soon as we pulled out and we got into the Fast Six and we had only done I think one quick lap on those tires and two before the red came out.”

    Target Chip Ganassi driver Scott Dixon qualified in third, followed by Mike Conway and Tony Kanaan.

    Will Power scored the best lap of the session in round one for a record lap of one minute, 9.8529 seconds. He would transfer to round two via that lap, but didn’t get to round three and Firestone Fast Six, as he ended up in the ninth at the end of the season. Last year, Power won the event after starting on the pole.

    “”It’s a pretty frustrating qualifying result,” he says. “Man, we had a great Verizon car today. We had a good first session and we were ready to fight for the pole. I know INDYCAR threw the red flag there but I’m not sure why they didn’t allow our fast lap. It’s definitely going to be tough starting ninth tomorrow, but we know we’ve got a fast car. We have to have a good start and be strong on the restarts and hopefully work our way up front.”

    The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama 90-lap event is set to take place on Sunday at 2p.m. ET and will be shown live on NBC Sports Network.

  • Indianapolis 500: Helio Castroneves Tops The Speed Chart on Friday

    While Penske Racing driver Will Power led Thursday’s session, it was his teammate Helio Castroneves taking the top spot today with a speed of 228.611mph on the day before pole qualifying.

    “Anything is possible,” Castroneves said. “Right now Shell V-Power is working really well in not only the race setup but also the qualifying setup. Qualifying tomorrow will be very tight. I can see that my teammates will be strong ones, and there are other guys doing fast times out there, too. It will be interesting to see what happens in the Fast Nine. I think we will see speeds in the 228 range tomorrow. It is going to be similar weather as today, but if it is a little bit humid, we may lose a little bit of power. I think everybody has something more.

    “Today was a fast Friday. Everybody started laying out the wings and going fast. I’m very happy with my boys with the Shell V-Power Pennzoil Ultra car. It was very smooth, especially in the race trim, so I was very happy. We did a lot of laps today, and I wanted to make sure I was happy with the race car. It will probably be the last chance before we go into the race to run in those kinds of conditions. All of my boys were on the same page. As soon as we felt happy with the race trim, race setup, we decided to change and go for it. We had some moments out there. I’ve got to keep moving forward and have a good lap out there tomorrow and have a good day for the entire Team Penske.”

    If Castroneves can pull off the pole, it’d be his third Indianapolis 500 pole in a row.

    “Just starting pole position would mean a lot,” he said.” This place is fantastic. It’s awesome and tough. It would be great. Records are made to be broke, so I’m not going to focus on that. I’m going to focus on what I need to make it work so we can put the Shell V-Power in the number one spot.”

    Alex Tagliani kept up in the charts as he was second fastest at 228.327mph.

    “Our team continues to rise every weekend,” Tagliani said. “When we are in the window when we roll off the truck, we have a great group of people who make it easy to fine-tune the car. Being a one-car team, when we are off the window, it’s not easy, but this week, the car has been strong. With a few aerodynamic changes from last year, the car has been very consistent. It’s been nice just to fine-tune and not reinvent the wheel on our setup. I need to take my hat off to the guys. They have been very meticulous in preparing the car and on a track with high speed like this, it’s crucial. As a driver, you need to be comfortable in the car, and you need to drive it well, but you need to have the car, but if you don’t there’s nothing you can do.”

    Tagliani feels that he has a little bit left to give Castroneves a run for his money.

    “We have a couple of things left,” he said. “I think we were conservative this afternoon. We made some changes on the car without pushing the limits aerodynamically. I think it’s going be very difficult to do a 228.3 (mph), but it will have to be up there for a one lap go. It’s all about how consistent you can be and what’s your draw. We feel that we are strong, but on the charts, there are a lot of cars that are strong. It’s very difficult to have a good read. We ran very few laps this week, and we tried to run by ourselves to evaluate the right gearing and right downforce and make the right call on ride heights and all of that. I think we can go to bed tonight feeling we have a strong car, but the Ganassis and Penskes look tough. Hopefully when we pull everything out that we think we can, we’ll be right there with them.”

    Scott Dixon, meanwhile, was third (228.181) while Castroneves’ teammate Briscoe was fourth at 228.029.

    “We worked a lot on race setup, and we concentrated the last few hours today on speed,” Dixon said. “I think we’re looking good for tomorrow, and you should see the usual suspects coming to the top soon.”

    “Today was a good day for the No. 6 IZOD Team Penske crew,” Briscoe said. “We completed a lot of laps. We mostly ran race setups, which we needed after all the time we lost earlier in the week. We trimmed out the car at the end of the day and got good speed out of the car, but we haven’t found the limit yet. I’m happy where we finished the day, and we’re excited about tomorrow. It should be a really good day on Saturday for Team Penske.”

    Bertrand Baguette rounded out the top five with a speed of 228.028mph.

    Simona de Silvestro was at the track on hand after her accident yesterday, though has not been cleared to drive after suffering second-degree burns on her right hand and superficial burns on her left hand.

    “Something broke on the rear suspension, and when that happens, you’re just a passenger,” she said. “You can’t really do anything about it, especially when you’re going about 220 mph. I hit the wall and it took forever to land, it seemed, and then it started getting pretty hot out there (because of flames). It was pretty shocking, actually, especially to be on fire. It’s kind of weird because the fuel is splashing on you and you don’t really know what to do. A lot of things go through your head, but you want to get out of the car as quickly as possible. Everyone is working hard to get me back in the car, and I think it’s important for me to get back in the car quickly.

    “It just shows how safe the car is. I don’t think a crash like that in any other car I would be standing here. When I got out of the car, I couldn’t believe it because it was so crazy being along for the ride and being on fire – again. I was pretty shocked, but it was nice to be standing. I don’t think I was a good patient in the infield medical center because I was in a lot of pain and I was screaming for water to cool my hands down. They took good care of me and then we went to the hospital, where they said it was second-degree burns. We took the bandages off (this morning) and they were really blistered, and tonight we’re going to check them again and see what they say. They don’t look pretty, so I don’t want to look. I can say I’m pretty lucky to be here.

    “It is my goal to get back in the car as quickly as I can. It will be (INDYCAR’s medical team) decision and also mine because it’s pretty shocking. I can move my hands, but it is pretty tight because it pulls the skin. We’ll get some gloves that can fit.”

    The day will start tomorrow with a brief practice from 8a.m.-10a.m., followed by qualifying at 11a.m.

    During qualifying tomorrow, the top 24 spots in the 33-car field will be available during the traditional four-lap attempts from 11 a.m.-4p.m. with each car having up to three attempts and bumping will begin when the 24 spots are filled. The times from the top nine drivers will be erased at 4pm, though those drivers are guaranteed to start no worse than ninth. Those nine drivers, dubbed the “Fast Nine”, will be required to make at least one four-lap qualifying attempt from 4:30-6pm to set their exact starting spot on the grid.

    On May 22nd, positions 25-33 will be available on Armed Forces/Bump Day as bumping will begin once 33 cars are qualified.

  • Penske Racing Dominates Testing at Barber Motorsports Park

    The IndyCar Series spent March 14th and 15th testing at Barber Motorsports Park, where Penske Racing assured their spot on top of the IZOD IndyCar Series. It also previewed another season of a Penske Racing-Target Chip Ganassi Racing battle for the championship.

    On the first day of testing, Penske driver Will Power topped the charts at 114.198mph, with a lap of 1 minute, 12.5056 seconds. Target Chip Ganassi Racing Driver Scott Dixon was second (1.12.5538) with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Justin Wilson third (1.12.6791).

    On the second day of testing, Helio Castroneves led the field at 1 minute, 11.943 seconds with teammate Power second at 1.11.9636.

    “I was expecting something different from the car because it kept changing throughout the day based on the track,” Castroneves said. “I was expecting the car was going to push but it went the opposite way. The good news is that nothing was damaged.  The field is so competitive; we have some new teams up at the top giving us a hard time.   Also my teammates, they are two great talents – Ryan (Briscoe) and Will (Power) – pushing each other but I’m glad we were able to put the No. 3 up at the top at the end of the day.”

    “This was a really good couple of days of testing and our Verizon car was very good,” Power said. “We did a lot of work and learned tons of valuable information about our car here at Barber. Today we practiced pit stops, which are every bit as important as speed on the track with how tight the competition is in this series. I am definitely ready to get this season started.”

    Dixon, Penske’s Ryan Briscoe and Newman/Haas Racing’s Oriol Servia rounded out the top five on the second day.

    “Team Target had a good couple of days with lots of big and good changes,” Dixon said. “The No. 9 Target Honda has been decent, remaining in the top-3 both days. We’re just going through the motions and making necessary adjustments before we start the season in St. Pete.”

    “It was a really good couple of days here at Barber for the No. 6 IZOD Team Penske car,” Briscoe said. “We are very happy with the car we finished with today. We even did a long run, which compromised our chance to do a sticker tire run for time, but we did a lot of great race prep and we should be in good shape for the race here in a few weeks. This is an exciting track and I’m very happy to be back in an IndyCar.”

    “I’m so happy!” Servia said. “Obviously it’s great to be in the top-five, but I’m just so happy. When you are running in the top-five, there is a reason. I felt good in the car, with the team. I was a blast when I looked at the scoring board an hour before the end and we were one and two. That’s the way Newman/Haas has always been, and that’s the way it has to be and it just felt great that we got there with two days of testing. There is still a lot to come from myself and the car. We progressed big stages to get where we are and there is still more. I feel very happy; everybody is super motivated. James was super helpful all day yesterday and today with him knowing the track and I really hope we can be teammates. The two cars worked together really well and we made a lot of progress together. I’m very happy with the team and myself. When you are a year out of the car, of course you still think you can drive but it is just so great knowing it is true.”

    The test sesson was set to prepare for the season opener at St. Peterburg’s on March 28th, but also the Grand Prix of Alabama, which is set to take place on April 10th at Barber.

    The test didn’t go totally uneventful free as on the second day, Mike Conway made contact with the tire barriers.

    “The car handled a little differently than it did yesterday, and it just caught me out,” Conway said. “I got on the grass coming out of (Turn) 15 and it was so wet, it took me straight into the barrier. It’s a shame, but fortunately, it’s just a test day.”

    Dario Franchitti, last year’s champion, made some recommendations to track owner George Barber, but also had some compliments.

    “I asked him if the curbs could stand out more when they paint them — red and white as opposed to gray and white,” he said. “I also told him I wouldn’t mind borrowing the guy who cuts his grass because he does a hell of a job. If my wife sees what he’s doing here, planting trees and stuff, it will be very expensive for me. It’s a pretty special place.”

    Last year was a special year for Chip Ganassi as not only did he win the IndyCar Championship with Franchitti, they also won the Indianapolis 500 together. Ganassi also added a Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 victory to his resume with Jamie McMurray, along with the Grand-Am Championship. With his accomplishments, Ganassi is nominated for Executive of the Year, while his team Chip Ganassi Racing is nominated for Team of the Year in the Sports Business Journal Awards. The awards are set to be presented in New York on May 18th.

    “It’s great to be recognized for all the hard work the teams put in,” Ganassi said. “You have to remember that motorsports is one of those businesses that as great a year that 2010 was, and it was an unbelievable year and one that any car owner dreams about, that was last year and this is this year. It’s a zero-based game.

    “We’re starting back at zero and the points are all tied for all the championships. It’s a new year and no one is going to forget about last year faster than our competitors that want to beat us. It’s going to be a lot of hard work and to accomplish anything close to what we did last year, but that’s why we are back here. That’s the kind of challenge that we like and what attracts us to the sport — the challenge.”

    Ganassi has already started leaving his mark this year with a victory in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.