By Amy Konrath
EDMONTON, Alberta (Sunday, July 24, 2011) — Will Power got the break he was looking for on Lap 19 of 80 in the Edmonton Indy. He didn’t need another.
Power, who started second in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, led teammate Helio Castroneves across the start-finish line by 0.8089 of a second for his second victory in Edmonton and his fourth of the season.
Dario Franchitti finished third (1.1735 seconds back) and remains the IZOD IndyCar Series championship points leader by 38 (cut from 55 following the Honda Indy Toronto). Ryan Briscoe was on track to finish fouth, but a late splash for fuel gave the position to Tony Kanaan. Justin Wilson was a season-best fifth and Sebastien Bourdais also posted a season high in sixth.
Ryan Hunter-Reay and Andretti Autosport teammate Mike Conway, both of whom received avoidable contact penalties from Race Control early on, recovered to finish seventh and eighth, respectively. Danica Patrick, another Andretti Autosport driver, was ninth and Briscoe finished 10th. Rookie JR Hildebrand, who started 24th, came in 11th.
Also on July 24, Josef Newgarden earned his fourth victory of the season by a comfortable margin over Andretti Autosport’s Stefan Wilson in the second Edmonton Twin 100.
Ironically, Newgarden’s good fortune came when he was passed by teammate Esteban Guerrieri, who overtook pole sitter Newgarden in Turn 5 on the 2.224-mile, 13-turn course. In the process, the front wing assembly was damaged. Guerrieri continued until Lap 22, when the endplate of the wing began cutting into the right-front tire.
Newgarden overtook his teammate for the lead — and inherited a 10-second advantage over Wilson — when Guerrieri pitted to have the Sam Schmidt Motorsports crew switch front wings. All Newgarden had to do the remaining laps was stay out of trouble and enjoy the ride in the No. 11 Copart/Score Big/Robo-Pong/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car.
Andretti Autosport’s Peter Dempsey, who wound up on his top in a Race 1 crash, finished third and and Victor Carbone posted a season-best fourth place in the No. 3 Nevoni/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car. Oliver Webb, making his Firestone Indy Lights debut this weekend, was fifth in the No. 12 Jensen MotorSport car.
DAY 3 NOTEBOOK:
Anders Krohn had a disappointing day on the Edmonton City Centre Airport circuit on Saturday, but his disappointment didn’t compare to the heavy heart he carried for the people who lost their lives in attacks in his home country Norway the day before.
Krohn, driver of the No. 9 Firestone Indy Lights car for Belardi Auto Racing, found out about the attacks on the Norwegian capital of Oslo after he had left the crcuit on July 22. He said spent most of the afternoon and evening reading about them and checking on his friends and family.
“It’s terrible to see what’s happened,” said Krohn, who hails from Stavanger, Norway – about 450 kilometers from where the attacks occurred. “I started reading Norwegian newspapers as soon as I could. The fact that people are out there that could do this is horrendous.
“Being for Norway and having family still there, it affects me. I’m glad that (my family) is OK, but obviously I share in the grief that all Norwegians have today. So many people were killed and I guess the numbers keep rising. It’s a terrible tragedy.”
As the only Norwegian in the INDYCAR paddock, Krohn hoped to help take the tragedy off the minds of some Norwegians by having a good result in Edmonton 100 Race 1, but his car suffered a broken suspension piece while battling for fifth position midway through the race.
Still he was able to set fourth-fastest lap and will start there in Race #2 on Sunday.
“A good result may mean something, but when you have a disaster like this, that is the only thing that matters,” he said. “We’re going to be pushing for Norway in the races, and trying to make it happen, but my thoughts and prayers are definitely with the people who have been struck. It’s just sad all around and I hope that stuff like that never happens in Norway again.”
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It’s been a busy year for Edmonton native Johnny Boychuk. The Boston Bruins defenseman hoisted the Stanley Cup on June 15 and was married in town on July 9.
He was the grand marshal of the Edmonton Indy — his first public appearance since the wedding and Hawaii honeymoon.
“They asked me to do this, it’s great,” he said. “All I know is I have to say, ‘Start your engines!'”
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Danica Patrick’s ninth-place finish upped her streak of races running at the finish to 44. … Helio Castroneves led one lap, so now he’s 24 laps behind all-time Indy car leader Paul Tracy (4,238). … Former Indianapolis 500 and Firestone Indy Lights driver Phil Giebler has been working with Team Moore Racing’s Gustavo Yacaman as a driver coach. … Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport received the Firestone Tire-ific Move of the Race Award for Toronto. Vote for the Tire-ific Move of the Race driver after each event on www.indycar.com.
EDMONTON INDY POST-RACE NOTES:
* Will Power of Verizon Team Penske won the Edmonton Indy. It is his fourth win of the season and the 13th of his Indy car career. He previously won in 2011 at Barber, Sao Paul and Texas 2.
* Power is now a two-time winner at Edmonton. He previously won at the track in 2009 driving for Team Penske.
* This is Power’s sixth podium finish of the season.
* Helio Castroneves of Team Penske finished second, his best finish of the 2011 season. His previous best finish this year was fourth at Texas 1.
* Dario Franchitti of Target Chip Ganassi Racing finished third, his seventh podium of the 2011 season.
* Justin Wilson of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing finished fifth, his best finish of the 2011 season. His previous best finish this year was seventh at Sao Paulo.
* Sebastien Bourdais finished sixth for the second-straight race to match his season-best finish from Toronto.
EDMONTON INDY POST-RACE QUICK QUOTES:
WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske, Edmonton Indy winner): “It was so bloody hard there at the end with Helio (Castroneves) and Dario (Franchitti) pushing me along. I just couldn’t gap them. It’s good for Verizon and also good for Team Penske. To finish 1-2 is really good.” (About the final pit stop): “When I came out I had on reds (alternates) and thought I have to look after them so I will really be gentle. Then Helio was right there and I’m like, “Man, I’ve got to go.” I had to ask Tim (Cindric) if that was for the lead. He said, “Yeah, go!” I just held on there at the end.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Penske Truck Rental, finished second): “This is a great result. I wanted to win so bad but at the end of the day, after the season we’ve been having this is like a victory. We had awesome pit stops and everything went smoothly. We finally fixed the brakes because I was quite busy in Turn 1 during our practice sessions. Once we had good balance in the car, then I knew what I needed to do. I was able to avoid a lot of accidents. It was just fantastic to be up at the front in the end.”
DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, finished third): “My car was very strong today. I was trying to make a pass on EJ (Viso) and he comes over towards me. I thought he was way too far behind the guy in front of him to make a move, and sure enough he speared into him. I was very lucky there because I clutched it and I waited for somebody to ram me. I got very lucky at that point in the race, but then I screwed up the restart. I had it in my head that I couldn’t pass the car in front of me on green until the start/finish line and I lost out on that one. The Target car was quick in clean air and we moved from tenth to third. It could have been better but Will (Power) and Helio (Castroneves) drove clean races. I think the Target car was quicker but they had the track position and they didn’t screw up when I did. I was going as quick as I could behind Helio but he was very strong on the brakes right behind Will. Not a bad day for the Championship and the EJ incident could have really screwed the whole thing up, so I am pleased with my finish.”
EDMONTON INDY POST RACE QUOTES:
TONY KANAAN (No. 82 GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus, finished fourth): “It was a good result, it was a good race and it’s great for the Geico KV Racing – Lotus crew. If felt good being out there with those guys, you know, all guys that know what they are doing like Justin, Ryan and Dario. We had some great battles and finishing fourth after starting eleventh and on top of that having a bad pit stop is pretty rewarding, especially considering that I got back to fourth spot in the championship. I feel bad for my teammates because I know that all the three KV cars were supposed to be on the top five.”
JUSTIN WILSON (No. 22 Z-Line Designs/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, finished fifth): “I think we had a great race. The Z-Line Design car was pretty quick and we were trying to pick our way through all the incidents out there and stay out of trouble. We had some good racing with Tony. I think it’s a great race track. I prefer the old one because it was a driver’s race track a lot more fun to drive. It’s tough out there.”
TAKUMA SATO (No. 5 KV Racing Technology – Lotus): “It is disappointing finishing in the back like this. The start was very exciting. I had a good feeling leading the race. Then I had a little problem with the balance and lost some positions. After that there was a caution and we changed tires. On the restart I regained most of the positions and was running in second. Everything was looking good and I was comfortable with the pace, but unfortunately Hunter-Reay hit me and damaged my car and put me a lap down. It was a long race after that and very difficult to stay motivated. I feel very bad for all the crew. They worked so hard all weekend. It was a positive weekend for us until the middle of the race. I am just so disappointed.”
E.J. VISO (No. 59 PDVSA – KV Racing Technology – Lotus): “This for sure was not the result we could have achieved. I started up at the front and on one of the restarts I made contact with Dixon, which I feel bad about as he finished the race some laps behind. It was a pretty messy corner and I got too close and braked on the inside and we hit. I then lost a lap waiting to be restarted and from then on there was not much else we could do. We had a pretty fast car, during the race, I think I got the second fastest time and we showed we were strong as a team all weekend. I want to thank everyone who is part of KVRT – Lotus who has helped make us stronger and also my sponsors PDVSA. I really feel bad, I thought we had a chance for a podium.”
JR HILDEBRAND, No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing): “The thing for me that’s encouraging, and encouraging for everybody on the National Guard Panther team, is we had a really fast race car out there. We rolled out this weekend and thought we were looking OK and then kinda lost track of it in the second practice and in qualifying, but made some changes this morning and started to get it back and, man, during the race I felt like I had as quick a racecar as lot of the guys that were running up front. As far as temporary circuits go, I feel like this is the best racecar I’ve had in all of those events. That’s good and it definitely and it allowed me to be aggressive and allowed me to make some good passes on-track; setting guys up, braking late and getting by them and pull aways – so that always makes your day a lot more exciting.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 Levemir and NovoLog Flex Pen): “All day we struggled; I don’t know if it was horsepower, gearing or just overestimating the track grip. Off all of the hairpins we were losing car lengths and time to everyone. The Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing crew did an awesome job today; all of the pit stops were right on. Even when I came in with a flat left rear, they recovered and gave me a chance to do as many laps as I could and learn. The last couple of races with strategy we got a yellow when we didn’t need one and today we didn’t get a yellow when we needed one. It’s a bit of a shame, but we’re looking forward to going to Mid-Ohio.”
GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 38 Service Central): “It was a really tough day for the Service Central team. We had a really good car and we were really promising in warm-ups. I thought we were going to have a really good run today. We had better tires than others do to the unfortunate fact that we didn’t make it to the second round of qualifying. I thought we’d have a good run; I knew the No. 38 Service Central car was fast and I was playing it safe on the first lap of the race. I was just inside of James Hinchcliffe, trying to protect the inside and Alex Tagliani was in too deep and just went straight through me. We’re going to have some work to do before we head to the test at Mid-Ohio next week.”
SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing): “It was a tough day for the No. 9 Target team today. We had a good start and I think we had the pace to contend for the win. Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to show that speed. I’m not sure what Viso was doing but he took us out and almost took Dario out as well. It was one of those deals where I could see it happening in my mirror but couldn’t get out of his way. We just can’t buy a break I guess.”
ALEX TAGLIANI (No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins/Sam Schmidt Motorsports): “We had a lot of things happening today. The team did a good job. Unfortunately, our car was horrible on (Firestone) reds in qualifying, and again, it was horrible on reds at the end. We basically were tearing the tires apart at the end. I had no more rear tires. They were down to the chords. We were just going backwards. It’s a shame. We were running strong on blacks, and it seems like our setup is not very suitable for the red tires.” (About Lap 1 crash): “It was just congestion in Turn 5. I was on the inside and trying to give as much room to the guys in front, but everyone was turning and I was trying not to touch anyone on the outside. I was looking on the inside when my wing touched Rahal’s inside rear and cut his tire, I guess.”
DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Team GoDaddy): “We had a really solid race. We had some strong restarts and my crew was fantastic in the pits. Near the end of the race, I just didn’t have the speed to hold my position. At the end of the day, it was a good top-10 finish for the GoDaddy.com car, which is great momentum heading into Mid-Ohio.”
RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 Team DHL/Circle K/Sun Drop Citrus Soda): “We had a really good car today. I fought through it; we had some great restarts and good passes. With Sato, I broke early and went for it. It was totally my fault, and I apologized to Sato. I apologize to the team too; we had a podium car for sure. But that’s me going for it. I’d rather go for it in a race than sit in a line. We’ll take this top-10 and see what we can do next time.”
MIKE CONWAY (No. 27 @FollowAndretti): “We had a good start at the beginning, but lost everything in turn five. After that, it was just picking off people, passing where I could. I came in a bit earlier, which worked out well with red tires as I seemed to be passing people quickly. On the restart, I just didn’t see the green flag; it’s just something I’ve got to learn when up front. In turn five again, I got caught up on the outside and lost some positions then lost a lot of time with the drive-through penalty. From there I just treated it like qualifying, lap after lap. Overall, not a bad finish considering where we were. I’m looking forward to Mid-Ohio.”
MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Team Dr. Pepper): “It just wasn’t our day. We had some problems at the beginning that affected the Dr Pepper car – we ended up stopped on the track for a bit and had some problems with the engine cutting out on the front straight. After that cleared we just didn’t have the speed we needed and our strategy ended up on the wrong side of a couple yellows. Disappointing but we’ll march forward.”
ORIOL SERVIA (No. 2 Telemundo Newman/Haas Racing): “It was probably the worst race I can remember in a long time. We missed the boat on the set up philosophy. I was struggling a little bit to keep my position but we were still going to be in the top six I think. It seems like drivers are losing judgement lately and finally I see some penalties so that’s a good start. I’m really sad that we couldn’t at least salvage some points for the Telemundo team like we were going to. (Mike) Conway came and apologized. He tried to find a hole; I left him space but we had cold tires and I think he just carried too much speed and just hit me. It’s unfortunate and it cost us a position in the point standings.”
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 06 Sprott Newman/Haas Racing): “We were in trouble right from the drop of the green flag. We lost a couple of spots in the first start and I wasn’t too, too worried about that at first. Once we got back going I realized that we were really struggling for front grip – bad. Then we lost a few more spots and were just trying to hold station and the yellow came out before we were about pit. And then as everyone was lining up to dive into the pits everybody starting jacking around down at the hairpin, trying to brake-check everyone to get a good run into the pits to create a gap but all it does I create an accordion effect. Unfortunately I didn’t see it soon enough and got into the back of Danica. Because we are only going 10 mph at that point, as soon as I touched her, the car stalled. Obviously we got put to the back so on that next stint we were thought the black tires would be a bit better for the balance but they were worse so we really struggled to make the number that we wanted in terms of when to pit and had to pit a bit early and unfortunately that meant that we had to do a splash at the end there when there were no yellows. We battled the car all day which is unfortunate because the Sprott team felt so strong this morning. We’re not quite sure what happened. That’s racing; we’ll regroup and just try to be strong in the next round.”
ANA BEATRIZ (No. 24 Team Ipiranga/DRR): “I think that it was a good race. It didn’t start the way we had hoped, but it ended really well. Unfortunately, I got involved in an incident on the second re-start in Turn 5 and broke my nose when we made contact with the right rear of Charlie Kimball’s car. We had to stop to replace the nose and it took forever and the race was still green so we lost a lot of time. After that, we were right on pace and catching some people. We also clocked one of the fastest laps of the race, which was great. Overall, it was a good day and it keeps us confident to keep working and we’re ready for Mid-Ohio. I would also like to thank the Ipiranga crew. They did a great job on all of the stops and changing my nose and we had a fast car.”
RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Penske Truck Rental): “It was great racing out there today and a great result overall for Team Penske. We had some awesome battles with Helio (Castroneves) and (Justin) Wilson. It’s just a little disappointing that we had a top-five car but we finished 10th. We didn’t get a full fill on the yellow stop so we ran short on fuel and had to pit at the end. We really needed a yellow flag to make it and we just didn’t get it. It’s too bad but the Penske Truck Rental car ran great all weekend.”
EDMONTON 100 RACE #2 POST RACE NOTES:
* Josef Newgarden of Sam Schmidt Motorsports is the winner of the Edmonton 100 Race #2. This is his fourth win of the season. He previously won at St. Pete, Indianapolis and Iowa. Newgarden extends his Firestone Indy Lights championship standings points lead over Esteban Guerrieri to 63.
* Stefan Wilson of Andretti Autosport finished second, his fourth podium finish of 2011.
* Peter Dempsey of Andretti Autosport finished third, his fifth top-five finish of 2011.
* Victor Carbone of Sam Schmidt Motorsports finished fourth, his best finish of 2011. His previous best finish was sixth at Milwaukee and Long Beach.
EDMONTON 100 RACE #2 POST RACE QUOTES:
JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 11 Copart/Score Big/Robo-Pong/SSM, winner Edmonton 100 Race #2): “You can talk about it all day long, what you’re going to do but you don’t know actually what is going to happen until you get in the race. You’ve got to be heads up at all times. And certainly between Esteban (Guerrieri) and me, everyone has been asking about it. Especially this weekend it seems like everyone is interested in the dynamics between us two. We’re good friends. The reason we’re so quick is that we’re working so hard together. We’re pushing each other and I think that’s why we’re doing such a good job. The team has given us an incredible amount of good equipment. It’s a tribute to all the guys we have on the staff. Sam has brought in the right people to help us. We have the people around us so we can push each other.”
STEFAN WILSON (No. 5 Andretti Autosport, finished second): “Peter (Dempsey) and I work really well together and push each other hard and that is what teammates are supposed to do. We have a lot of mutual respect for each other which is good. I had a good weekend in Toronto and it is too bad that we couldn’t repeat that same success here. I think some of that is due to the amount of track time. We didn’t have a lot of time to get our car set up. I had to miss a half hour of practice because I made a mistake in practice and crashed in a turn. It took me out of the practice and cost me a lot of track time. Track time is so vital here especially with the two races here this weekend. I am pleased to have come back though after starting thirteenth yesterday and being able to start third today and racing to get second. Something I really enjoy about racing is getting to pass cars and the overtake.”
PETER DEMPSEY (No. 26 Andretti Autosport, finished third): “Hats off to the Andretti Autosport team for staying here all night and getting my car ready for today after my incident in Race #1 yesterday. I really appreciate all they did to get me ready for today. I don’t know what Esteban was doing there the last couple of laps after he was already two laps down. I think we should all hard and push each other as much as possible but he really hurt me at the end when I was trying to get a second place. I am happy to be on the podium with my teammate.”
VICTOR CARBONE (No. 3 Nevoni/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, finished fourth): “It was a good race for me. I had a good, clean start. I took my time, like yesterday, to overtake Anders. From there on, I just focused on not making any mistakes and to open a gap that was comfortable. I’m happy. This is my best weekend so far in the Firestone Indy Lights Series. I want to thank the Sam Schmidt guys for all their hard work. I hope to do the same in the next race.”
OLIVER WEBB (No. 12 Jensen MotorSport, finished fifth): “The race was not too bad. The start was the biggest thing. We were struggling in second and third gear and mid sector, we were great, which is where we struggled yesterday. On the start we lost three places. Good overall with a third and a fifth for my first-ever time and I’m happy.”
ESTEBAN GUERRIERI (No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports): “It was an aggressive move on Josef. It was the closest I had been to him since the start. I was very good on the breaks. I dived in and didn’t think there would be contact, but I knew it would be difficult for him to open the door. I understand that. It was an aggressive move, as I say, unfortunately the bad luck came my way. I broke the front wing. I knew it was failing. My engineer told me it was damaged, and I could feel no downforce in the front. Eventually, the wing cut my front left tire. It was a bit unlucky, but I don’t regret it. I had to be aggressive and that’s what I did.” (About the black flag): “The team told me that when I overtake those guys, try not to effect the outcome of the race, but ‘keep racing because there are two guys in front of you that are on your same lap.’ If I listen to that and I am a second and a half faster a lap than them, I had to try, you know. Dempsey got a bad exit from Turn 1, and I passed him in turn five. But then they black flagged me and it’s a shame.”
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The next IZOD IndyCar Series event is the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Aug. 7 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The race will be televised live at 2 p.m. (ET) by VERSUS and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network. The next Firestone Indy Lights race is Grand Prix of Trois Rivieres on Aug. 7 at the streets of Trois Rivieres. It will be televised on tape delay by VERSUS.
IZOD IndyCar Series
Edmonton Indy
EDMONTON, Alberta – Results Sunday of the Edmonton Indy IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 2.224 mile Edmonton Airport Circuit, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (2) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
2. (9) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
3. (4) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
4. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
5. (15) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
6. (12) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
7. (7) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
8. (20) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
9. (22) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
10. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
11. (24) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
12. (14) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
13. (23) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
14. (19) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
15. (10) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
16. (26) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
17. (17) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
18. (18) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
19. (21) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 79, Running
20. (5) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 79, Running
21. (1) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 79, Running
22. (8) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 76, Running
23. (3) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 74, Running
24. (16) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 54, Mechanical
25. (13) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 0, Contact
26. (25) Paul Tracy, Dallara-Honda, 0, Contact
Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 90.949
Time of Race: 01:57:22.5177
Margin of victory: .8089 of a second.
Cautions: 2 for 8 laps
Lead changes: 6 among 5 drivers
Lap Leaders: Sato 1-18, Power 19-26, Conway 27-28, Power 29-53, Castroneves 54, Franchitti 55-56, Power 57-80
Point Standings: Franchitti 388, Power 350, Dixon 282, Kanaan 253, Servia 244, Briscoe 239, Andretti 232, Rahal 218, Castroneves 212, Hildebrand 212.