The 2.536-mile, 11-turn street circuit for the Itaipava São Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle is challenging for drivers and teams. It features the longest straightaway on the IZOD IndyCar Series schedule at nearly a mile, which is a prime overtaking zone. Image Credit: IICS
Sao Paulo Indy 300 Round 4 Qualifications Notes
[ALERT: @curtcavin: Word to all #indycar Sunday Broadcast TV watchers: Start time is being moved up 30 minutes. Green flag now about 11:10 a.m. EDT.]
Why does IICS management insist on placing the most competitive drivers in the same group (1 or 2) during the initial rounds of “Knock-Out” qualifications?
Group 1 Qualifications – Event: Sao Paulo Indy 300
Rank Car Driver Engine Diff. BL LL Gap TL BL#
1 25 Ana Beatriz Chevy Logo 0 1:26.0364 1:26.0364 0 1 1
2 12 Will Power Chevy Logo 0.0000 0 0 0 0 0
3 9 Scott Dixon Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 27 James Hinchcliffe Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 18 Justin Wilson Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 77 Simon Pagenaud Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 26 Marco Andretti Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 8 Rubens Barrichello Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
9 4 JR Hildebrand Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 11 Tony Kanaan Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 78 Simona de Silvestro Lotus Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 7 Sebastien Bourdais Lotus Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 6 Katherine Legge Lotus Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
This situation happens more often than not and in Sao Paulo … Group 1 has the drivers that graced the podium at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (Power, Pagenaud, and Hinchcliffe), Dixon, and Barrichello – but also all three of the last remaining Lotus Legion cars of Bourdais, Legge, and de Silvestro.
Group 1 Qualifications – Event: Sao Paulo Indy 300 – Top 6 Transfer Drivers To Round 2
Power, Dixon, Hinchcliffe, Wilson, Kanaan, Andretti advance to next round. Pagenaud, Barrichello, and all Lotus Legion – OUT.
Group 2 Qualifications – Event: Sao Paulo Indy 300
Rank Car Driver Engine Diff. BL LL Gap TL BL#
1 10 Dario Franchitti Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 2 Ryan Briscoe Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 14 Mike Conway Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 67 Josef Newgarden Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 5 EJ Viso Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 3 Helio Castroneves Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 38 Graham Rahal Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
9 19 James Jakes Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 83 Charlie Kimball Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 15 Takuma Sato Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 22 Oriol Servia Lotus Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 20 Ed Carpenter Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
With Group 2 it shows Oriol Servia still running a Lotus engine but this is a dead-man walking since they will run a different yet to be determined engine for the rest of the season. Takuma Sato is late to show up on the track having to penalized 10 places on an engine change. Newgarden may be the biggest news if he transfers – either that or it maybe those of the most established drivers not being able to join the Top 6 out of this Group 2.
Group 2 Qualifications – Event: Sao Paulo Indy 300 – Top 6 Transfer Drivers To Round 2
Castroneves OUT / Taku never takes a lap – Franchitti, Hunter-Reay, Newgarden, Conway, Briscoe and Rahal advance to Round 2.
Round 2 – 12 cars are able to post times with the top 6 able to compete for the Firestone Fast 6.
Qualifying – Round 2 for the Sao Paulo Indy 300 at the Sao Paulo Street Circuit
Rank Car Driver Engine Diff. BL LL Gap TL BL#
1 2 Ryan Briscoe Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 9 Scott Dixon Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 10 Dario Franchitti Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 11 Tony Kanaan Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 12 Will Power Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 14 Mike Conway Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 26 Marco Andretti Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 27 James Hinchcliffe Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
9 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Chevy Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 18 Justin Wilson Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 38 Graham Rahal Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 67 Josef Newgarden Honda Logo 0 0 0 0 0 0
The engine wars for Round 2 show that 6 Hona and 6 Chevy are able to take the Checkered Flag. The tires seem to have reduced inflation as the cars are showing a lot of sidewall flex through the corners. With less than 2 minutes left Power sits at P7 – oops, P2, Hinchcliffe catches P1 knocking Power to P3, 40 seconds remain … RHR gets to P6. Kanaan at P12, seconds remain and Checkered Flag flies – Power finishes at P1, Hinch at P2, Dixon, Franchitti, Wilson, and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Kanaan, Rahal, Conway, Briscoe, Andretti … and Newgarden OUT.
The Firestone Fast 6 starts – Power, Hinchcliffe, Dixon, Franchitti, Wilson, Hunter-Reay. TWEET – IndyCarPR | Power’s lap of 1:21.2718 is fastest lap recorded at #SaoPauloIndy. #ItsANewTrackRecord – GREEN Flag!
Three Chevy and three Honda engines represent the FF6 so no real news except the Lotus is still nowhere to be found.
Team Penske – Power, Andretti Autosport – RHR & Manica, Target Chip Ganassi – Dario & Dixon, and breaking the template … Dale Coyne Racing – Justin Wilson are the teams represented in the FF6.
Scott Dixon does not turn in a time and runs off the track causing a local Yellow Flag.
2 minutes remain: Power, Franchitti, Hinchcliffe, Hunter-Reay (RHR), Wilson, and Dixon. Dixon and RHR improve dropping Wilson.
Checkered Flag – Will Power, Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Justin Wilson finish off the Firestone Fast Six.
Tweet - IndyCar .@12WillPower with the check! Will he win his 3rd race? Find out at 11 a.m. ET on @NBCSN! #saopauloindy #indycar2012 pic.twitter.com/gQMePmgq
Chevy, Honda, Honda Chevy, Chevy, and Honda for the Firestone Fast Six.
Pos — Driver — Team/Car — Time — Gap
1. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevy 1m21.4045s
2. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m21.4485s + 0.0440s
3. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m21.8545s + 0.4500s
4. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevy 1m21.9956s + 0.5911s
5. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevy 1m22.2408s + 0.8363s
6. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 1m22.2681s + 0.8636s
7. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m23.0972s Round 2
8. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 1m22.7082s Round 2
9. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda 1m22.7301s Round 2
10. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevy 1m22.4404s Round 2
11. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevy 1m22.8320s Round 2
12. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevy 1m23.1766s Round 2
13. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevy 1m22.1404s Group 2
14. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m22.1973s Group 2
15. James Jakes Dale Coyne DW12-Honda 1m22.3840s Group 2
16. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevy 1m22.3939s Group 1
17. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevy 1m22.4143s Group 2
18. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevy 1m22.4321s Group 1
19. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda 1m22.4354s Group 1
20. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevy 1m22.9424s Group 2
21. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Lotus 1m23.1331s Group 1
22. Ana Beatriz Andretti DW12-Chevy 1m23.2692s Group 1
23. Oriol Servia Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus 1m23.4509s Group 2
24. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 1m23.6762s Group 1
25. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Lotus 1m24.6042s Group 1
26. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda Group 2
(final grid ht: autosport.com)
Photo Caption In Home Page Display Banner: A hard hit for Helio Castroneves on the exit of turn 2 after jumping across the kerbing into a concrete wall put paid to the Brazilian racer’s participation just 20 minutes into the the hour-long second practice session in Brazil ahead of the Sao Paulo Indy 300. Castroneves managed to do heavy damage to his front wing and suspension, and it took the race officials some ten minutes to collect up the pieces before running could resume. The incident was the second red flag stoppage of the session, after an early brief pause following Castroneves’ Penske team mate Ryan Briscoe going for a spin on the exit of turn 11. Image Credit: Marshall Pruett
… notes from The EDJE
