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MEDLAND: One year on from his crash, Bourdais moves forward

 
By: RACER Staff | 2 hours ago
By Chris Medland


I came to Indy for the first time last year to see how some guy called Fernando Alonso would get on trying to tame the 500, and I knew that IMS could bite. But in Saturday qualifying, Sebastien Bourdais showed just how hard.

When the No.18 Dale Coyne Racing car hit the wall exiting Turn 2, there was no doubting the risks that the drivers are taking and the damage that can be done when it goes wrong.

Fortunately (in a sense), Bourdais was able to return to racing by the end of the year and was back at Indianapolis this month. But watching him put it all together yesterday to reach the Fast Nine was mighty impressive given what had gone before.

Today actually marks an exact year — May 20 — since the crash, so after the Frenchman delivered the best Honda performance of qualifying with fifth place for the 102nd running of the Indy 500, I had to ask him: Just what was going through his mind when he was about to go out and fight for pole?


Image by LePage/LAT

Bourdais breathes out, deeply.

“Oh man it was so much harder this year, so much harder!” he says with a wry smile.

“The car has felt on top of the track all week and with the thinner air and a bit of wind and track temps up there it really got on top of the track. I really wish we had put some downforce on it.

“That lap three there I got into Turn 1 and man oh man… I don’t know if I got a gust or something but that thing got awful light and I didn’t feel like turning the way I should have and I didn’t pick up the apex and I had to roll off of it. Not the greatest feeling after what happened last year…

“I go from one end to the other like loose and then understeer a little bit, it was pretty hard. So I’m glad it’s over. I’m glad I’m not going to visit Dr. Scheid [IndyCar orthopedic consultant Dr. Kevin Scheid] and we can move onto the next one.”

To be able to pull out such a performance, you’d imagine Bourdais can just shut out the memories of 12 months ago once he puts the helmet on. Racing drivers are a rare breed after all…

“No! In qualifying last year I probably would have stayed in it and pinned it down and not really thought much about it. But I owe it to myself, my wife and the crew to not put myself in that same position again, especially since this year we’re not even going to be fighting for pole. We knew that. It was missing a mile an hour and there was nothing we could do about it.


Image by LAT

“The guys at HPD did a great job; they were the class of the field for the last three years and this year [Chevrolet] fought back hard and they came strong. That’s the game, everybody’s chasing each other and someone’s going to have the upper hand. But I’m glad we’re carrying the Honda flag.

“I had a little mishap there, I’d say lost a mile an hour on lap three which equals a quarter of a second on the average lap, but if you look at it it doesn’t even change anything on the classification, so nothing to really overthink. It’s a non-event pretty much except that I was wise and sensible and didn’t hang it out when it would not have mattered!”

You can sense the two sides of Bourdais in conflict with each other this weekend. He wants to go as quick as the car possibly can when he’s in it, but when he analyzes the grand scheme of things his crash is telling him to leave just that bit more of a margin.

While he wrestles with himself, it’s a draining situation emotionally and means even such an impressive qualifying run doesn’t result in delight or pride once it’s over.

“The overriding feeling is relief, for sure. It’s a very high-stress weekend, qualifying always is. But especially after what happened last year. I could sure use a drink right now. And at the end of the day the worst of it all is that all of this is completely meaningless. You had people going and winning the race from dead last. It’s just for show.

“That’s what at some point, especially when you go through what I went through last year you kind of put things in perspective. Yeah, you owe it to your boys to put it up there but is it worth the risk to take the ultimate chance? Probably not. So definitely this year was a bit of a transition. But we’ll go back, go through the race, score some big points and keep plugging away.”

Despite his outlook, Bourdais is still starting in the middle of the second row and in a strong position to run at the front from the start of next week’s race. So does his mindset now at least change to dreaming of victory? The sensible part of him insists not, but then the racer that makes him so quick has the final say…


Image by LAT

“I mean honestly I don’t think very much like that. I just try to give myself the best chance at performing the best I can. We struggled all week in race trim, in traffic, and it’s been tough. To me it almost feels like the reason that thing is so quick in qualifying is because it just doesn’t seem to make anywhere near as much downforce as everybody else!

“So we’ll see. But I’ve struggled very much in traffic and we really haven’t found anything that made a big difference, so unless we can fix that I don’t see us being in the mix.

“But we’ll give it our best shot and that crew time and time again has proved never to count them out because we’re in it to win it.”

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Danasnji program u Indijanapolisu:

 

 

Danas ce se raditi na vracanju bolida na setap za trku, plus jos i Indi Lajt ima svoj prvi slobodni trening pred kraj dana.

 

Ostatak nedelje je rezervisan za Indi Lajt do petka, kada je "Karb Dej" - poslednji jednosatni trening i poslednja prilika da se usteluju bolidi za trku. U petak se takodje vozi i Indi Lajt trka na 100 milja, a tu je i takmicenje za najbrzi pitstop.

 

U subotu je parada veterana, prezentacija kolekcije bolida iz muzeja IMS.

 

U nedelju je Indi 500.

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Udes Vikensa, on je OK, bolid ce biti popravljen. Treci incident ovog Meseca Maja.

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Wickens's day cut short by crash



By: Marshall Pruett | 1 hour ago


Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ brutal month of May took another turn for the worse on Monday when Robert Wickens made hard contact with the Turn 2 wall.

The Canadian rookie’s No. 6 Honda brushed the wall, then hooked hard right and hammered the barrier with the car’s nose before eventually coasting to a stop on the infield grass.

“I caught it, then just ran out of track and brushed the wall,” he said. “It was suspension damage on both sides and I was just trying to slow down and get it under control, and the car just pretty violently went to the right and went head on into the wall halfway down the back straight. It’s a bummer, obviously, no one wants it, especially this close to the race. Lesson learned I guess; it just happened out of nowhere.”

The 29-year-old climbed from the car unhurt and was cleared to resume racing activities once the lengthy repairs are completed.

“Yeah I am fine, I mean these cars are super-safe,” he added. “First crash in an Indy car, so I guess it had to happen eventually.”

With practice set to conclude at 4 p.m. ET, Wickens need to wait until Friday’s Carb Day activities before getting another chance to work on his race day setup. The No. 6 had turned three laps before the incident. Wickens qualified 18^th for his first Indy 500.

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INSIGHT: ECR, Indy's giant-slayer



By: Robin Miller | 32 minutes ago


With Roger Penske’s experience and budget, you always expect The Captain to be up front at Indianapolis. But the story of qualifying this month was Ed Carpenter Racing.

And, yes, we always expect Carpenter to have a good starting spot each May because he’s one of the best oval racers in the series. But what his team accomplished in the past week was damn impressive.

Ed snared the third pole position of his career by 1mph over Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud, and threw down the only 230 mph lap of the weekend in his Fuzzy’s Chevy.

That brought the fans to their feet at IMS, but almost as cheer-worthy were the performances of Spencer Pigot and Danica Patrick.

Pigot qualified sixth and Patrick seventh in the other two ECR entries as the little team blew away Andretti Autosport and Chip Ganassi Racing. Yes, having the Chevy engine certainly helped, but the overall effort and package merited an extra big thumbs-up from the team.

“I’m as proud of what this team did as I am winning the pole,” said Carpenter on Monday morning in Gasoline Alley. “It’s one thing to build one fast car here and it’s a whole other to build three fast cars, especially with one of them not being a full-time crew.

“Tim [Broyles, team manager] and all the crew prepared great cars for myself, Spencer and Danica, and equal chances to be in the Fast 9. That’s all you can ask for as a driver and a team owner.

Patrick hadn’t been in an IndyCar for seven years so getting the right team for her finale was very important.

“I pretty much worked out the deal myself and called Ed and told him how much I wanted to do it [Indy], and he already knew that,” said the 36-year-old veteran who has finished third, fourth and sixth during her previous seven starts. “I just knew it was going to be a good car and that’s what mattered to me.”

“Ed has put together an incredible team of really good people and I’m very grateful.”

Despite her long absence, Patrick immediately got comfortable, thanks in part to veteran engineer Don Halliday.

“I thought Don would be perfect because he’s so even-keeled and he’s been great,” said Carpenter. “And so has Danica’s team.”


Carpenter hugs Pigot after his pole run. Image by IndyCar

When Ed hired Pigot to be the full-time driver of his No.21 car, he put his longtime engineer Matt  Barnes with the former Indy Lights champion, who has shown flashes of brilliance the past couple years but is still looking for that breakthrough performance.

“I have improved massively from every other time I’ve run this race and I’m excited about our potential this Sunday,” said Pigot, who started 29th in his previous Indy starts. “ECR has done a great job this year and it’s great to be part of this team.”

Carpenter hired Allen McDonald, who engineered Dario Franchitti’s Indy win in 2007 and Alex Tagliani’s Indy pole in 2011.

“I think Allen and I started clicking after the Phoenix test and he’s been a great addition,” said Carpenter.

It was a popular pole for the Butler University grad, who has two personas according to his wife, Heather. “There’s Driver Ed and there’s Owner Ed, and it’s two different people,” she said with a smile.

But Carpenter has been able to concentrate on driving this month because everything is under control at ECR.

“The beauty is I don’t have to worry about it,” he said. “The team put up a sign at the beginning of May that said you’re not the boss anymore. And I adhere to the rules. So I’m here to drive race cars. And I can’t wait until Sunday.”

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Ovako - nakon danasnjeg treninga mislim da cemo biti OK za trku. Price da ce preticanje biti nemoguce mi na osnovu vidjenog deluju neosnovano - u finisu danasnjeg dana imali smo skoro kompletan grid na stazi "u vozicu" i preticalo se bez problema. Seviji i Honde deluju ravnopravno u trimu za trku, tako da je svaka prilika da cemo u nedelju gledati dobru trku.

 

Danas najbrzi Karam (Sevrolet) ispred Kanana (Sevrolet), Hanter-Reja (Honda), Kimbala (Sevrolet) i Rosija (Honda).

 

Najvise se naradio Pauer koji je izvezao 120 krugova, za njim Kastroneves 118, pa Vilson i Rehol po 115.

 

Sada pauza do petka!

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Vremena od ponedeljka:

 

[/13/Ален Шмит/]

U jbt

 

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Hinchcliffe confirms end to Indy 500 ride search



By: Marshall Pruett | 20 hours ago


James Hinchcliffe has confirmed the inevitable: The Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver will not participate in the 102nd Indy 500.

As documented by RACER, efforts by the team to secure a car that had been qualified by another driver have been fruitless, leaving the Canadian to concede his what has been expected since Bump Day.

“Barring unforeseen circumstances I will not be racing in the Indy 500 this year,” he said in a message on his social media accounts. “The decision was made to stop pursuing options to get us into the race. There really aren’t words to describe how missing this race feels. At the end of the day we simply didn’t get the job done. No excuses. This is our reality and we will face it head on, we will use it as motivation and we will come back stronger.

“We have a great team, incredible partners, and the best fans, all who have been so supportive through this. I’m sorry we can’t be on track for you on Sunday, but we will be pushing hard for the wins at Detroit. I wish all 33 drivers a fast and safe race. I’ll be watching and cheering on my SPM teammates. See you in Detroit.”

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Danas se vozi Lajt trka:
 

Kellett earns first career Indy Lights pole for Freedom 100

 

By: MRTI | 14 hours ago


Dalton Kellett has developed quite an affinity for the ovals, and especially the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After finishing third in each of his two previous starts in the biggest event of the year for Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, the Indianapolis-based Canadian this afternoon secured his first-ever Mazda Road to Indy pole position when he posted the fastest two-lap average of 195.027mph for Andretti Autosport during qualifying for tomorrow’s Freedom 100.

Kellett, 24, who hails originally from Toronto, Ontario, has worked his way steadily up the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires, starting in 2012 when he entered his first season in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda. He secured a best-ever finish of second in a Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires event at Iowa Speedway in 2015. Kellett also finished third when the Indy Lights series visited Iowa Speedway last year.



Kellett also posted the fastest speed at 198.005mph during a rain-affected test day on Monday, and carried that form over into today when, in warm and sunny conditions, he edged out Andretti Autosport teammate Patricio “Pato” O’Ward to the coveted pole position by a scant 0.0601 of a second over two laps of the historic 2.5-mile oval.

O’Ward, 18, from Monterrey, Mexico, will start from the outside of the front row as he bids to defend a slender one-point championship lead over Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing’s Colton Herta, who will start sixth.

Indy Lights lineup

Ryan Norman, from Aurora, Ohio, qualified third fastest in another Andretti Autosport Dallara-Mazda IL-15 at an average speed of 194.070 mph. Norman also established the fastest speed during two 30-minute practice sessions this morning at 197.548 mph.

Norman will be joined on Row 2 by Brazilian Victor Franzoni, who carries the distinctive Mazda Soul Red colors on his Juncos Racing Dallara by virtue of winning last year’s Pro Mazda championship – the middle step on the unique Mazda Road to Indy, which offers scholarships for young drivers to progress all the way from the grassroots of the sport to the Indianapolis 500.

Uruguayan Santiago “Santi” Urrutia, who has finished second in the Indy Lights championships in each of the past two years – and in 2017 earned the Tilton Hard Charger Award for the Freedom 100 after charging from 12th on the grid to fifth – will start fifth tomorrow for Belardi Auto Racing. He will be joined in Row 3 by Herta.

Second-generation racer Davey Hamilton Jr., from Boise, Idaho, will start seventh for Team Pelfrey after posting a two-lap average of 193.302 mph. Even before the session had been completed, Hamilton was seen rushing to the infield, where a helicopter was waiting to whisk him away to Anderson, Indiana, where he was due to complete another qualifying session for the Little 500 at Anderson Speedway.

Aaron Telitz, who finished second in last year’s Freedom 100, will start eighth tomorrow for Belardi Auto Racing.

The 16th annual Freedom 100 will start at 12:30 p.m. ET tomorrow, with live television coverage provided by NBCSN beginning at 12:10 p.m. Coverage can also be found on a series of platforms including Road to Indy TV, the Road to Indy TV app and dedicated broadcast channels on demand via Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku and, most recently, the Xbox One official app as well as live streaming and live timing on promazda.com and racecontrol.indycar.com. Indy Lights is also featured on the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network broadcasts on Sirius 214, XM 209, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and on the INDYCAR Mobile app.

 

Indy Lights’ annual ‘Crazy Finish Day’ is here

 

By: Marshall Pruett | 46 minutes ago


It’s my second-favorite day of the year at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Indy 500 will always hold the top spot, but a new Carb Day tradition where the top step of the Mazda Road to Indy- – the Indy Lights series — has come to produce the closest finishes of all time at the Brickyard.

And not just the closest for the Verizon IndyCar Series’ primary development series; we’re talking the closest of any race held on the oval since the first Indy 500 was held in 1911.

If we skip 2015 when Jack Harvey won under the caution flag, the Indy Lights insanity is becoming a regular feature on Carb Day with the 50-lap Freedom 100 event.


2013 Indy Lights Freedom 100 finish

In 2013, Peter Dempsey beat Gabby Chaves by .0026 seconds as Sage Karam and Carlos Munoz went four-wide across the yard of bricks. Even at .0026s, it only ranks as the second-closest margin of victory in IMS history, but that image of four drivers fanned out beneath the checkered flag will never lose its intensity.


2014 Indy Lights Freedom 100 finish (Image by Walt Kuhn/IMS Photo)

Chaves, ready to correct the outcome in 2014, took a comparatively large win of .0050 seconds over Matthew Brabham. It continues to hold third on the all-time list.

Last year was an outright disappointment as Matheus Leist cruised home to a 0.776-second victory over Aaron Telitz. In a rare nod to the Indy 500, Takuma Sato’s win over Helio Castroneves was more impressive — just 0.2011 seconds.

But the mother of all Indy finishes — surpassing the unforgettable 1992 dual between Al Unser Jr and Scott Goodyear — stands from 2016. Dean Stoneman, Ed Jones, and 0.0024 seconds (pictured, top) giving the former the distinction of capturing the closest finish in Indianapolis Motor Speedway history

Whether it’s eight Indy Lights cars or 80, only so many can fit side by side as the finish line approaches. Let’s hope that 2016 record falls today.

 

https://racecontrol.indycar.com

[Rad-oh-yeah?]

Upravo zavrsen poslednji trening pred Indi 500, TK najbrzi ispred Diksona i Andretija.