From Amy Konrath Ron McQueeney Photo
SONOMA, Calif. – Will Power felt like Infineon Raceway owed him one after he suffered season-ending injuries in an accident at the track last year.
He capped a picture perfect return to the track by becoming the sixth different winner at Infineon Raceway in as many IZOD IndyCar Series races on the 2.303-mile, 12-turn natural-terrain course. Power held Scott Dixon of Target Chip Ganassi Racing by 0.7432 of a second in the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma.
Power, the pole sitter in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, increased his series championship points lead over third-place finisher Dario Franchitti to 59 with four oval races remaining in the season. Power was also officially crowned the first Mario Andretti Road Champion by the award’s namesake, racing legend Mario Andretti, in Victory Lane after the event.
Franchitti finished third, with Team Penske teammates Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves next across the line. Justin Wilson was sixth and Tony Kanaan finished seventh. Ryan Hunter-Reay, Graham Rahal and Alex Lloyd (season-best road/street finish) completed the top 10.
Also on Aug. 22, J.K. Vernay recorded his fifth victory of the season (all on road/street courses) to increase his Firestone Indy Lights championship points lead to 71.
Vernay, the pole sitter in the No. 7 Lucas Oil/CJ/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, held off Charlie Kimball in the No. 26 Levemir FlexPen car for AFS Racing Andretti Autosport over the final 10 laps to win the Carneros 100 by 3.4245 seconds.
James Hinchcliffe finished third in the No. 2 TMR-Xtreme Coil Drilling car. The final three races of the season are on 1.5-mile ovals.
DAY 3 NOTEBOOK:
Stanley Houtz says he might be wearing a smile all the way back to Cleveland after riding with Mario Andretti in the IZOD two-seater that led the field on pace laps of the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma on Aug. 22.
Houtz was the grand prize winner of “The Fastest Seat in Sports Sweepstakes” at www.shophonda.com, which included an all-expenses-paid trip to the race at Infineon Raceway, $1,000 of IZOD gear and race credentials in addition to the ride of a lifetime on the picturesque (for fans) but physically demanding (for competitors) 2.303-mile, 12-turn natural-terrain course.
“I’ll tell you, (Andretti) put the power down out there,” Houtz said. “It was an incredible experience. The whole program is excellent and the weekend has been unbelievable.”
Andretti, happy to be behind the wheel of the car, said his goal was to drive two laps as if he was competing in the 75-lap race.
“I think what you try to accomplish is give the rider a taste of what the (IZOD IndyCar Series) drivers experience on the racetrack,” said Andretti, who had 23 road course victories in his distinguished career. “Thanks to Honda and IZOD, this program is fantastic and it gives the individual a chance to enter our world.”
The sweepstakes also is being held for the races at Chicagoland Speedway (Aug. 28) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (Oct. 2) through www.shophonda.com.
“Everybody should sign up. I know I will again,” Houtz said.
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After qualifying 12th in the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing car, Dan Wheldon was approaching the green flag when the car was struck from behind before reaching the start/finish.
The car flipped onto its roll hoop in the middle of the track in front of pit lane. Wheldon was uninjured.
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Andretti Autosport’s Danica Patrick set an IZOD IndyCar Series record with the 29th consecutive race in which she was running at the finish. Scott Dixon held the record at 28. Started 23rd, she finished 16th after running in the top 10 in the middle of the 75-lap race.
“That was a frustrating way to end a tough weekend for the GoDaddy car,” Patrick said. “I had a solid car throughout the race and really thought that I was going to finish in the top 10, but I got caught up with (Takuma) Sato at the end. It’s hard when you have a good race but the result doesn’t show.”
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Rev. John Crews of the Hanna Boys Center gave the command to start engines. … A C-17 from the 21st Airlift Squadron from Travis Air Force Base created some “Oohs” and “Aahs” from the crowd on the flyover. … Will Power has led a lap in 12 of the 13 races (none at Kansas).
CARNEROS 100 (Firestone Indy Lights) POST-RACE NOTES:
· This is J.K. Vernay’s fifth Firestone Indy Lights win this season. Vernay previously won at St. Petersburg, Barber, Watkins Glen and Toronto.
· This is the third time that Vernay has won from the pole with flag-to-flag victories (Barber, Toronto, Infineon). This is the sixth Firestone Indy Lights race at Infineon Raceway that has been a flag-to-flag victory.
· Charlie Kimball finished second, his eighth top-five finish of the season. Kimball has finished outside the top-five only twice this season.
· James Hinchcliffe finished third, his fifth podium finish of the season.
· Gustavo Yacaman finished fourth, his third top-five finish of the season
· Pippa Mann finished fifth, a career best Firestone Indy Lights finish. Her previous best finished was eighth (2010: Long Beach, Iowa and Toronto, 09: Homestead). Mann did not run the previous race at Mid-Ohio due to surgery on left hand.
· Today’s DNF ends Martin Plowman’s streak of 14 consecutive top-10 finishes and 19 consecutive races that he was running at the finish.
CARNEROS 100 (Firestone Indy Lights) POST-RACE QUOTES:
J.K. VERNAY (No. 7 Lucas/CJ/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, winner, Carneros 100): “Just a great weekend. After such a disappointing weekend at Mid-Ohio, I really wanted to win here. My family came for this race, so it’s beautiful for everybody. I’m really happy.” (About final restart): “We had a good car, maybe he was a bit faster. I wanted to take care of my tires and wasn’t really pushing. We did the fastest lap at the end. You always worry when you have a Safety Car because you never know what will happen, but we won and it’s fantastic for the team.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 26 Levemir FlexPen, finished second): “It’s great to be on the podium, especially here in California. We had a lot of support this weekend. We were quick from the green flag, but I had to fight my way past (James Hinchcliffe). Once I did that I didn’t have enough to go after J.K. (Vernay) up front.”
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 2 TMR-Xtreme Coil Drilling, finished third): “We started third and finished third. It was a pretty standard day. We managed to get ahead of Charlie (Kimball) at the start. He didn’t get a great start. I didn’t do anything particularly good to be honest. But it was clear that those two guys, J.K. (Vernay) and Charlie were the class of the field today and we were best of the rest. I was struggling with rear grip a little bit and just trying to hold on to it. Once Charlie got by and he did it with a pretty clean move, it was to consolidate third place and get on the podium.:
GUSTAVO YACAMAN (No. 10 Cape Motorsport with Wayne Taylor Racing, finished fourth): “I felt like I had a fourth-place car and probably could have gotten a third-place finish out of it. (Charlie) Kimball lifted on the straight and that could have cost me that spot. It’s difficult racing without teammates”
PIPPA MANN (No. 11 Sam Schmidt Motorsports, finished fifth): “I’ve had a lot of bad luck with Indy then the broken hand. This is the potential we thought we had with our best finish so far. I flat spotted the tires early on, but the Firestone Firehawks hung on. My hand was beaten up, so we sat out most of the morning’s practice. The crew has been working really hard, so it was good to be able to give them a good finish.”
INDY GRAND PRIX OF SONOMA POST-RACE NOTES:
* This is Will Power’s fifth victory of the 2010 season. He previously won at Sao Paulo, St. Petersburg, Watkins Glen and Toronto.
* This is Power’s third win from the pole this season.
* Power is the sixth different winner of an IZOD IndyCar Series race at Infineon Raceway. There have been no repeat winners in the series’ history at the track.
* Scott Dixon finished second, his seventh top-five finish of the season.
* Dario Franchitti finished third, his 10th top-five finish of the season.
INDY GRAND PRIX OF SONOMA POST-RACE QUOTES:
WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske, winner, Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma): “What a perfect weekend. It was an awesome race. (Scott) Dixon certainly had a good pace at the end there but I had a bit of pick up on my tires. I just have to thank the Verizon guys and Roger (Penske) and Tim (Cindric) for giving me this opportunity. A year ago I was lying in the hospital after taking a ride in a helicopter and watching the race in there, so to come back and win it from the pole is just fantastic. I’ve said it all season, I wanted to come back here and win this race. (About going to ovals): “I’m going for it. I want to win the championship and I want to win an oval before the year is out and this overall championship.”
ROGER PENSKE (Team owner, Penske Racing): “Will and the Verizon team did a terrific job today and they have been great all season long. To win here at Sonoma after last year is a testament to Will’s toughness and his determination. We were able to wrap up the Mario Andretti Road Course Championship and both Will and the Verizon team are focused on winning the overall title this year as well.”
SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing finished second): “The unfortunate part is that we really only get one set of stickers for the race with the red tires. They were night and day quicker so we had to take used at the end. It’s a big day for Team Target. Second and third is a great result. We really needed to be ahead of the 12 car, and I pushed it as hard as I could at the end. I just couldn’t even get close enough to have a look. He was definitely hooked up and saving his tires earlier in the day. It’s still a good result. We’re happy to come from sixth all the way to second.”
DARIO FRANCHITI (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, finished third: “We did the best with what we had today. We took a gamble on blacks at the end and it didn’t work for us, unfortunately. Scott (Dixon) was definitely quicker on reds and I let him go there, hoping he was going to hunt down Will (Power). Scott really tried to get past him. There was such a speed difference on the blacks that we couldn’t get close to them at the end.”
ALEX TAGLIANI (No. 77 FAZZT Race Team, finished 14th): “It was a tough day; unfortunately the first set of tires went away more quickly than we anticipated. We lost a few positions and then coming into Turn 11 on lap 18, I’m not sure who punted me, but I got hit and got a flat right rear tire. After that we were just trying to recover. We got back up to P15, and then I was punted by Mutoh in Turn 7 which put us to the back again. I’m really proud of our team that we fought back to get a 14th place finish which helps us for the championship. Three incidents in one race left us too much to do to get the result that we wanted which is unfortunate.”
MARIO ANDRETTI: (About Power’s title): “Right now, he’s on a roll and God bless him. It’s wonderful to see.” (About the overall title): “Even though he has the points lead, you don’t rest. And that’s the beauty of IndyCar. To win the overall championship, you have to be proficient on all sides of what it has to offer. That’s what I really enjoy about the series since it started having the mix (in 2005) of ovals and road courses. As a driver, that always was the ultimate challenge.” (About the award named in honor of him): “It’s special that the fans voted on it and it’s a real compliment at this stage of my life. It’s wonderful that the oval trophy is named in honor of A.J. He was the yardstick for so many years and when I came on the scene that’s the guy we were gunning for. That was the man. If you can’t beat him, you’ll never win a race. In the future, I will certainly enjoy watching young drivers in pursuit of this trophy. Throughout my career, there was a thrill in knowing and feeling that fans were connecting with me.”
RAPHAEL MATOS (No. 2 de Ferran Dragon Racing, finished 21st): I’m very disappointed. We had a top-10 car, but the tires really went off really bad on the last stint. It got very difficult to hold off Sato and he was able to pass me inside on turn 11. When I moved in behind him (Bertrand) Baguette dive bombed me and broke my suspension. We were in a position to collect some points, but that’s how it goes some times.”
RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 37 Team IZOD, finished eighth): “Qualifying really seals your fate at this track. This race just doesn’t feature a lot of passing. In the car today, it was pretty monotonous. Hopefully, the fans got a good show at some point. But, we’re getting out of Sonoma with a top 10. We really wanted to give all our guests here this weekend a performance worthy of their great support. We’re capable of it, but it just wasn’t meant to be this weekend.”
TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven/Dr Pepper Cherry, finished seventh): “We started on a different strategy, so I started with an older set of tires and I suffered for it big-time on the first stint. But, I knew it was going to pay off, having a brand new set for our last stint, and it did — probably not as much as I wanted it to, but we did what we were supposed to do. Ryan and I worked really well here this weekend and while I can’t say it was an awesome day, it was a good day. We’ll take what we know now for the road courses and get better for next year.”
GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 02 NHR/Quick Trim, finished ninth): “The race went pretty well for the Quick Trim team. We certainly had our ups and downs. I thought the first stint was really promising for us when we got up in the top-10 in one stint. I think we were probably the quickest of the group that we were in at that point but we went to blacks and really started to struggle and couldn’t get it sorted out. We struggled through that stint but got out of it okay. Then we put the red Firestone’s on and I thought it would be a lot like the first stint. I thought that even though we didn’t have the ultimate pace of (Ryan) Hunter-Reay, (Tony) Kanaan and some of those guys, I thought that at the end of the day when everybody else started to fall out of the saddle we could catch up. Unfortunately it just didn’t work out that way. The guys did a good job in the pits and everybody worked extremely hard. This was definitely not an easy weekend. I think we all have to be pretty pleased with the end result. Now we’ve got Chicagoland next week and it’s a place that we know we could have potentially won the race last year. There’s no reason we can’t do it this time.”
RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske, finished fourth): “Will Power is a machine. Congratulations to him for bringing Team Penske another victory. Our No. 6 car was really good today. We were able to make up a position and we fought hard with the Ganassi cars all day long. I had a great afternoon here at Infineon today – the stands were filled and the fans were great, so thanks to them too. Again, good job to Will.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske, finished fifth): “Awesome day for Team Penske and Will Power is incredible. My hat is off to him. He did a great job of managing his tires and staying in front of the Ganassi guys. The No. 3 car was fantastic until the tires started to go away towards the end of the run. My guys gave me great stops and as usual it was a solid run for us. Once again, how about that Will Power?”
MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Team Venom Energy, finished 12th): “It was a long day for the Venom car. We decided early to go off sequence and we were running second for a while. I think it would have been an interesting day if our strategy had been able to work out. The caution came out a few laps earlier than we would have liked and we had to start over with a new plan. Then I made contact with a couple of cars later in the race; there was no major damage but it affected the car’s handling for sure. Things just didn’t go our way today.”
DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Team GoDaddy.com, finished 16th): “That was a frustrating way to end a tough weekend for the GoDaddy car. I had a solid car throughout the race and really thought that I was going to finish in the top 10, but I got caught up with (Takuma) Sato at the end. It’s hard when you have a good race but the result doesn’t show.”
MARIO MORAES (No. 32 KV Racing Technology, finished 11th): “It was a very hard race today. The whole weekend we didn’t have the car we wanted. My KV Racing crew worked really hard this weekend and, in the end, we nearly had a Top 10. We tried to gamble with an early pit stop. But the yellow flag came a little too late for us. I was trying to get some impossible fuel mileage today. So I was about three seconds a lap slower to save as much fuel as possible. Finally, I had enough fuel to go to the end and I could push. With that, I was able to overtake six cars in the final five laps. I was hit several times today and I was glad we could finish 11th. Now, we go to the oval tracks again next week at Chicago. I finished third there last year. So I am ready to go.”
HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 06 Formula Dream/Panasonic, finished 17th): “The car was good at the beginning and I managed to keep my position but after 15 or 16 laps I struggled with tire wear and it was getting harder and I couldn’t keep pace. I came in early and put black Firestone’s on. During the last stint I had contact with (Alex) Tagliani and lost many positions there into Turn 7. And on a restart I had contact with (Mario) Moraes into Turn 7 again and lost some positions. I feel bad for the team. The car was capable of a top-10 finish but I just couldn’t make it happen.”
E.J. VISO (No. 8 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology, finished 19th): “It was one of these races where too many things can go wrong. At the start of the race, we changed our strategy from the rest. We wanted to get some open track and push hard to gain time. But we has some issues that hurt our chances to make a charge today. The black tires were not as fast as the reds and we lost a lap to the leaders. That really hurt any chances we had. The track was pretty consistent today but we didn’t have a good day overall. We learned a lot this weekend. Now, we can move on to Chicago and race on the ovals again.”
TAKUMA SATO (No. 5 Lotus – KV Racing Technology): “It was a difficult weekend for our team as we couldn’t find the speed we wanted. However, in the race, we were able to start getting things together. I had many exciting side-by-side moments and with 15 laps to go I was running 10th. However on the final restart, it looked like we had a mechanical problem causing me to lose over two seconds a lap. I had to run wide and tangled with Danica causing me to do a quick pit stop. It was a shame we had to end like this, but overall we can take some positives with us from this race.”
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The next IZOD IndyCar Series race is the PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300 on Aug. 28 at Chicagoland Speedway. The race will be telecast in high-definition by VERSUS at 5 p.m. The race will also be broadcast by the IMS Radio Network and on XM Satellite Radio 145 and Sirius 212. The next Firestone Indy Lights race is the Chicagoland 100 on Aug. 28 at Chicagoland Speedway.
SONOMA, Calif. – Results Sunday of the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 2.303-mile Infineon Raceway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (1) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
2. (6) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
3. (3) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
4. (5) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
5. (2) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
6. (7) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
7. (9) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
8. (8) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
9. (16) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
10. (22) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
11. (20) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
12. (18) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
13. (11) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
14. (4) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
15. (21) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
16. (23) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
17. (14) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 74, Running
18. (17) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 74, Running
19. (15) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda, 74, Running
20. (25) Francesco Dracone, Dallara-Honda, 71, Contact
21. (10) Raphael Matos, Dallara-Honda, 67,
22. (24) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda, 67, Running
23. (13) Bertrand Baguette, Dallara-Honda, 65, Contact
24. (19) J.R. Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 38, Contact
25. (12) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 0, Contact
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 92.063
Time of Race: 01:52:34.1915
Margin of victory: .7432 of a second
Cautions: 4 for 10 laps
Lead changes: 2 among 2 drivers
Lap Leaders: Power 1-55, Dixon 56-57, Power 58-75
Point Standings: Power 514, Franchitti 455, Dixon 419, Briscoe 384, Castroneves 370, Hunter-Reay 360, Kanaan 330, Wilson 290, Andretti 284, Wheldon 269.
Firestone Indy Lights
Carneros 100
SONOMA, Calif. – Results Sunday of the Carneros 100 Firestone Indy Lights event on the 2.303-mile Infineon Raceway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (1) J.K. Vernay, 40, Running
2. (2) Charlie Kimball, 40, Running
3. (3) James Hinchcliffe, 40, Running
4. (4) Gustavo Yacaman, 40, Running
5. (7) Pippa Mann, 40, Running
6. (12) Juan Pablo Garcia, 40, Running
7. (8) Adrian Campos Jr, 40, Running
8. (13) David Martinez, 40, Running
9. (11) Joel Miller, 40, Running
10. (15) Giancarlo Vilarinho, 40, Running
11. (10) Philip Major, 40, Running
12. (16) Rodrigo Barbosa, 40, Running
13. (5) Dan Clarke, 37, Mechanical
14. (9) Alex Ellis, 26, Mechanical
15. (6) Sebastian Saavedra, 10, Contact
16. (14) Martin Plowman, 6, Contact
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 88.638
Time of Race: 1:02:21.4252
Margin of victory: 3.4245 seconds
Cautions: 2 for 5 laps
Lead changes: 0
Lap Leaders:
Vernay 1 – 40
Point Standings: Vernay 412, Hinchcliffe 341, Kimball 327, Plowman 320, Saavedra 284, Clarke 241, Wilson 234,Yacaman 234, Major 223, Campos 219.