IndyCar 36 with Tony Kanaan, as aired on NBC Sports, pretty good watch IMO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq3fI389MEo

Quote from Storm_Cloud :

Could be age I suppose with Dario. I think I heard he was hampered in preseason testing with the pedals on the new car as he still right foot brakes, so perhaps he is just a little behind the curve on getting to grips with a car that has new characteristics. The tyres are different aswell aren't they?

Yes, the tyres are different too. Wilson and Coyne are struggling hard with them, could be a bit of the same for Dario.

Overall I think it's mostly the car not fitting with Dario's driving style, and having to deal with the pedal issues in pre-season testing didn't help him very much. Of course age and Dan's loss could very well be important factors too.

If Dario doesn't up this game during the season I wouldn't be surprised if Chip put Rahal in the car for 2013. And I can't see Dario searching for a new team at 40, especially since, as a 4th time champion, he's probably not gonna put himself in a "paying driver" mentality(look at Bourdais).

Slightly off topic but I just hope TK doesn't fall in a bad loop too, just like Dario he's ageing, he's had an awful season start(although mostly down to technical failures in his case) and he suffered from Dan's death, let's hope he still has the fire. The way Indy will go for him will be an important factor, me thinks.

Quote from Gougoodthing :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... BqyB9R5DHdW6ssa6RZvjSe6o=

Not really a "race rewind." Just highlights.

Thanks exactly what I was looking for

Looked much better than St. Pete. I'll be watching again at Long Beach thanks to the Sprint Cup race being a Saturday night race in Texas .

Same applies to Brazil (Richmond that Saturday night for Cup).

Actully the only races that I will miss the rest of the year (short of real life interfering) will be Detroit on June 3rd (I'm going to be at the Sprint Cup race in Dover at that time) Mid-Ohio (Pocono Cup race at the same time), and Sonoma (Will be on the way back home from the Bristol Night Race that day).

Work and Umpiring baseball games might get in the way of Saturday day races, but I'm glad I'll be able to seriously watch the series this year for the first time in a while

Quote from Cornys :

Actully the only races that I will miss the rest of the year (short of real life interfering) will be Detroit on June 3rd (I'm going to be at the Sprint Cup race in Dover at that time) Mid-Ohio (Pocono Cup race at the same time), and Sonoma (Will be on the way back home from the Bristol Night Race that day).

On one hand it sucks a little bit to miss 2 of the 3 natural terrain course races, but on the other hand Detroit, Mid-Ohio and Sonoma all provided some of the least exciting races of the last few years, so you're lucky

Alesi racing with NHR at Indy: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98606

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

Alesi racing with NHR at Indy: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98606

What a comeback I hope they finish good, just to have Newman-Haas back for good

Quote from TFalke55 :

I hope they finish good

Don't hold your breath, they're on Lotus...

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Don't hold your breath, they're on Lotus...

hope dies last

Quote from TFalke55 :

hope dies last

"Hope" is a foreign word in the american open wheel world

Seriously, it's great to have Newman-Haas, but Alesi plus Lotus seems to be a perfect mix for bump day tears. Especially in this season where driver input has a big importance, with the new cars. OK, as far as I understand they have a partnership with Dragon, but Dragon will be quite busy too, having to deal with another rookie(Legge).

I just hope he's not taking someone else's seat. Put Junqueira, Schekter, Rice, Meira, Baguette or Lloyd in a Newman-Haas car(with a proper engine while we're at it) and I would have something to root for. Nevermind, I'm just daydreaming

What are Lotus trying to achieve anyway? I know they're masters at throwing silly money out of the window. But who cares about Alesi these days? Americans have little patience with F1 wash-outs messing around with their big race. Europeans have long forgotten about him, and won't be very interrested at watching him cruising 3 laps down(if he's not sent home come bump day). So, what's the point? It can't be that they're caring THAT much about the French market, they already have Bourdais after all.

Don't get me wrong, it's great to have Newman-Haas for a one-off, but, while I'm usually a tad sentimental on this kind of come backs coming from nowhere, I just can't get hooked on that Alesi story.

Generally Lotus' motorsports program seems to be unfocused. They are doing much and everywhere. LMP, IICS, GT, not to forget all their sponsoring in F1 and its feeder series.

I hope that the Indy500 appearance will get enough money into NHR wallet, sothat they can do a 2013 part or even full time season.

EDIT: Nevermind about the Lotus sponsoring in F1 as they stopped it. They didn't pay the money lately and to pay the bills they allowed Genii to continue to use the name "Lotus". - Not looking too well at all for Lotus, tbh.

Bia will race for Andretti at Sao Paolo and Indy http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98626

On one hand it's pretty cool that the girl gets a (golden) 2nd chance because it seems that last year's DRR's 2nd car effort was a bit of a joke, but where does this leave John Andretti?

Quote from TFalke55 :

EDIT: Nevermind about the Lotus sponsoring in F1 as they stopped it. They didn't pay the money lately and to pay the bills they allowed Genii to continue to use the name "Lotus". - Not looking too well at all for Lotus, tbh.

Yes, Proton sold Lotus during the winter, and all the bank accounts were frozen in the meantime. Hence why they have so much problems with reliabilty and engines supply in IndyCar, with the money issues they are like 1 month late on their super-tight initial program.

This is why it is quite surprising to see that they didn't can the Alesi deal with all those issues.

I just hope another company takes over the Judd engines if/once the Lotus house of cards falls down.

Little Al's got caught again

http://msn.foxsports.com/nasca ... eads-guilty-to-dwi-041112

Quote :

ALBUQUERQUE, NM (AP)

Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. pleaded guilty Wednesday to driving while intoxicated and racing on a New Mexico freeway.


The retired racer entered the plea a day before he was set to go to trial on aggravated DWI, drag racing and reckless driving charges. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, but a judge deferred that in favor of 364 days of supervised probation.

Unser was arrested in September after he was accused of racing another car in his Suburban and driving over 100 mph near Albuquerque. Authorities say Unser smelled of alcohol, his speech was slurred and his blood-alcohol content was twice the legal limit of 0.08.

He was charged with reckless driving and aggravated driving while intoxicated, and later released on released from jail on his own recognizance.
His attorney, Sam Bregman, told the court that his client completed 30 days of inpatient treatment for alcohol abuse.
''Al Unser Jr. is truly sorry for the poor mistake he made last fall,'' Bregman told The Associated Press. ''He's taking steps to make sure it doesn't happen again.''
The arrest wasn't Unser's first encounter with the law. In 2007, he pleaded no contest to a driving under the influence charge stemming from a January 2007 crash on a Nevada freeway.



Nevada authorities said Unser's blood-alcohol content was three times the legal limit and he failed field sobriety tests. As part of the plea deal, Unser lost his driver's license for 90 days, was fined $1,000 and had to attend a drunken driving school, a victim-impact panel and undergo alcohol abuse evaluation.


His lawyer at the time said Unser had stopped drinking and was attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Unser also performed more than 100 hours of community service on alcohol treatment-related causes.


In 2002, Unser also underwent treatment for alcohol abuse after his girlfriend said he hit her in the face while he was drunk in Indianapolis. Prosecutors didn't file charges.


Unser, who is retired, is the son of four-time Indy 500 champion Al Unser, and the nephew of three-time Indy winner Bobby Unser. Al Unser Jr. won the Indy 500 in 1992 and 1994, and won two CART points titles and two IROC championships.

All Chevy engines have to be changed du to some failures they experienced during testing, so all will recieve a 10 place grid penalty. I still search for a second source though.

Heres an article to confirm it:

http://www.google.com/hostedne ... 4df9b4ac1a439b6e98cefc759

Well, that's gonna create some good midpack racing at the start of the race.

All the Chevrolet's will be backed up behind Dario - he looks worryingly slow again in FP3

Quote from Storm_Cloud :

All the Chevrolet's will be backed up behind Dario

That bit is true.

Briscoe got power to get the pole, but seeing as they have penalties the ACTUAL front row will be Dario and Josef.

1. Ryan Briscoe* Penske DW12-Chevy 1m08.6089s
   
2. Will Power* Penske DW12-Chevy 1m08.7073s + 0.0984s
   
3. Ryan Hunter-Reay* Andretti DW12-Chevy 1m08.7163s + 0.1074s
   
4. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m09.0327s + 0.4238s
   
5. EJ Viso* KV DW12-Chevy 1m09.0634s + 0.4545s
   
6. James Hinchcliffe* Andretti DW12-Chevy 1m09.2109s + 0.6020s
   
7. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda 1m09.0697s Round 2
8. Helio Castroneves* Penske DW12-Chevy 1m09.0846s Round 2
   
9. Justin Wilson Coyne DW12-Honda 1m09.0910s Round 2
10. Tony Kanaan* KV DW12-Chevy 1m09.1987s Round 2
    
11. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda 1m09.2078s Round 2
12. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m09.3658s Round 2
    
13. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 1m09.9000s Group 1
    
14. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 1m09.8868s Group 2
    
15. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m09.9796s Group 1
    
16. JR Hildebrand* Panther DW12-Chevy 1m10.3794s Group 2
    
17. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m10.0188s Group 1
    
18. Marco Andretti* Andretti DW12-Chevy 1m10.5939s Group 2
    
19. Rubens Barrichello* KV DW12-Chevy 1m10.0651s Group 1
    
20. Oriol Servia* Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus 1m10.6835s Group 2
    
21. Alex Tagliani BHA DW12-Lotus 1m10.8168s Group 1
    
22. James Jakes Coyne DW12-Honda 1m10.7579s Group 2
    
23. Ed Carpenter* Carpenter DW12-Chevy 1m11.4519s Group 1
    
24. Sebastien Bourdais* Dragon DW12-Lotus 1m10.8154s Group 2
    
25. Katherine Legge* Dragon DW12-Lotus 1m12.1142s Group 1
26. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 1m12.0590s Group 2

And actual grid (according to radio)

1. Franchitti
   
2. Newgarden
   
3. Wilson
   
4. Pagenaud
   
5. Dixon
   
6. Sato
   
7. Conway
   
8. Rahal
   
9. Kimball
   
10. Tagliani
    
11. Briscoe
    
12. Power
    
13. Hunter-Reay
    
14. Jakes
    
15. Hinchcliffe
    
16. Viso
    
17. di Silvestro
    
18. Castroneves
    
19. Kanaan
    
20. Hildebrandt
    
21. Barrichello
    
22. Andretti
    
23. Servia
    
24. Carpenter
    
25. Bourdais
    
26. Legge

Quote from Storm_Cloud :

All the Chevrolet's will be backed up behind Dario - he looks worryingly slow again in FP3

FP3 was quite an oddball session, only dry practice session of the week-end, many red flags...

Just speculating, maybe they tried something that didn't work in FP3, and switched back to Dixon's set for qual? Because he looked pretty good in quali. Sure, Dixon's problems made the task of being the fastest Honda even easier, but he still had pace, and went to the fast 6 on merit.

Maybe - I just saw the times for the session. I hope for him that qually told the truth.

Pretty fun race. Nice broadcast and officiating again.

Feel bad for Sato and Barrichello.

Great drive by Pagenaud.

Yeah that's the first IndyCar race I've watched in ages and it was pretty good! Nice chase at the end but so sad for Sato

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

Pretty fun race. Nice broadcast and officiating again.

Feel bad for Sato and Barrichello.

Great drive by Pagenaud.

Turns out they still ended up finishing in the top 10, didn't they?

Ryan got a 30s penalty for spinning Sato, correcting his result from 3rd to 6th. I already start to love Beaux!

Quote from Yuri Laszlo :

Turns out they still ended up finishing in the top 10, didn't they?

Yeah, loved that traffic jam at the end