Three in a row at Sao Paulo! Congrats @12WillPower! #saopauloindy twitpic.com/9fau1g - Image Credit Penske Racing via TWEET

A Rough And Tumble Round 4 Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 Presented By Nestle 

The morning of the fourth round in the IZOD IndyCar Series in Sao Paulo, Brazil started in having the DW12 IndyCars warm-up in light showers with the drivers finding dryer areas of the track to run and post the best times. When this happens in Sao Paulo, people begin to understand why this part of Brazil is known as the “Land Of Drizzle”.

The start time was moved up about 15 minutes in order to account for the weather on the Anhembi temporary street circuit (the fourth street/road race course of the 2012 season), which has turned sunny, with the starting grid of the 26 car field to reflect this starting order:

Event: Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 – Round 4

Track: Sao Paulo Street Circuit 2.536 mile(s)

Report: Starting Line Up IZOD IndyCar Series – Tire Designation for Race April 29, 2012

SP — Car — Driver — Name — C/E/T — Start Tire

1 12 Power, Will D/C/F Alternate

2 10 Franchitti, Dario D/H/F Alternate

3 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F Alternate

4 27 Hinchcliffe, James D/C/F Alternate

5 28 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/C/F Primary

6 38 Rahal, Graham D/H/F Alternate

7 14 Conway, Mike D/H/F Alternate

8 67 Newgarden, Josef (R) D/H/F Alternate

9 2 Briscoe, Ryan D/C/F Alternate

10 26 Andretti, Marco D/C/F Primary

11 11 Kanaan, Tony D/C/F Alternate

12 8 Barrichello, Rubens D/C/F Alternate

13 5 Viso, EJ D/C/F Alternate

14 4 Hildebrand, JR D/C/F Primary

15 83 Kimball, Charlie D/H/F Alternate

16 77 Pagenaud, Simon (R) D/H/F Primary

17 19 Jakes, James D/H/F Primary

18 3 Castroneves, Helio D/C/F Primary

19 25 Beatriz, Ana D/C/F Primary

20 20 Carpenter, Ed D/C/F Alternate

21 78 de Silvestro, Simona D/L/F Primary

22 7 Bourdais, Sebastien D/L/F Primary

23 22 Servia, Oriol D/L/F Primary

24 6 Legge, Katherine (R) D/L/F Primary

25 15 Sato, Takuma D/H/F Primary

26 18 Wilson, Justin D/H/F Primary

(R) Rookie

Pursuant to Rule 14.14.6.4.1, Cars 4, 6, 7, 18 & 19 will start on Primary Tires.

(ht: IICS PDF Report)

NOTES: Qualifying lap times for the No. 18 Sonny’s BBQ car have been voided by INDYCAR following post-race technical inspection. Pursuant to Rule 14.4.13.3 of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series rulebook: As requested by INDYCAR each Car must run either the cameras or dummy equipment as supplied by BSI/INDYCAR.

Justin Wilson, who had qualified sixth in the Dale Coyne Racing car, will start from the rear.

Not exactly what you want to see between warmup and race, 2nd engine change in 12 hours! Ayayay! Our guys working hard. Image Credit: Oriol Servia via TWEET

Unapproved engine changes, which incur 10-grid spot penalties, were made to the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car of Takuma Sato (did not participate in qualifying), the No. 7 Dragon Racing car of Sebastien Bourdais (qualified 19th), the No. 22 Lotus DRR car of Oriol Servia (qualified 24th) and the No. 6 TrueCar Dragon Racing car of Katherine Legge (carried over from Long Beach; qualified 25th).

GREEN Flag starts the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 -

Everyone gets off to a great start with Will Power maintaining the first position. On the first lap, Newgarden and Hinchcliffe battle hard with Newgarden taking the position.

End of the first lap saw Conway taking the position from Hinchcliffe and Dario Franchitti staying tight on Will Power’s wing.

The long, nearly one-mile straight-away featured on this circuit really lets these new DW12′s stretch their legs, so much so that during qualifications, Will Power, who won the two previous races here, set a new track record with a lap of 1 minute, 21.4045 seconds at about 3 minutes left in the Firestone Fast Six qualifications round.

At Lap 4 of 75 – The engine wars have been invigorated with the change to the turbo design on the Honda engines – the top six positions are Power-Chevy, Franchitti-Honda, Dixon-Honda, Newgarden-Honda, Rahal-Honda, and Conway-Honda!

Lap 7 of 75 – AJ Foyt’s Mike Conway is all over Sarah Fisher Racing’s Josef Newgarden to try at taking away the spot as KVRT’s Tony Kanaan passes team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

Announcement Note: Bryan Herta Autosport stayed behind from the race in order to prepare for the INDY500. The team has left the Lotus Legion and will be running the Honda engine the rest of the season.

Pit Stops begin on Lap 10 of 75. Pagenaud is in early and has an adjustment to his front wing for more downforce.

Takuma Sato came into the pits too hot and incurs a drive through penalty … needs a third wing replacement for the weekend.

Lap 13 of 75 – Justin Wilson is one of the big movers starting at the back of the field at P26 up to P18 – Drizzles are beginning to fall so those who waited may be able to have one less stop for rain tires.

Marco Andretti in the pits from P14 and takes on Firestone Reds – drops to P25.

TWEET – The EDJE @theedje -18 laps. 3 commercial breaks. 1 pre-taped segment. Missed passing and pits tops. Awful.

Lap 20 of 75 has Power leading the field by 3.2 seconds ahead of Franchitti, Rahal, Conway, Hunter-Reay, Briscoe, Viso, Barrichello, Carpenter, and the Lotus Dragon Racing of Bourdais.

The Lotus and team-mate to Bourdais at Dragon Racing, Katherine Legge, slaps the wall and damages the right rear of the car.

A wet spot has Ryan Briscoe bringing out the Yellow Flag while under pressure from Rahal.

Full Course Yellow Lap 23 of 75 – Castroneves at P8 is listed as the biggest mover up 10 positions from his start.

TWEET – Formula 1 @F1grid – Sonny’s BBQ car has a gearbox clogged with cornbread problem. #IndyCar

TWEET – F1 Fanatic Live @f1fanaticlive – Under caution it’s Power, Franchitti, Hunter-Reay, Dixon, Conway, Rahal, Pagenaud, Castroneves, Newgarden and Barrichello. #IndyCar

Lap 25 of 75 – Ryan Briscoe’s DW12 is on the flatbed truck and is out of the race – storm clouds are gathering with the winds stepping up a notch.

A two stop strategy seems out of the question given the potential of rain and the timing mix of yellows the race is having.

GREEN Flag – Lap 26 of 75 Side-By-Side – Franchitti spins in turn #1 as he was tapped by Mike Conway – Franchitti’s car is dead – Full Course Caution!

Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay was strong again (as he was in Round 3 in Long Beach) and kept toward to top of the running order all day during this very entertaining race. Image Credit: Marshall Pruett via SPEED

The shake-out has Power leading RHR, Dixon, Castroneves, Barrichello, Kanaan, Viso, Hildebrand, Hinchcliffe, and Sato round out the top 10. The cheers are going up around the track as the three favorite sons in the race are Helio-P4, Rubens-P5, and TK-P6 in the top 10.

Franchitti is able to get restarted, gets checked out in the pits, and rejoins the field.

Side-By-Side restart Lap 29 of 75 – Everyone gets through Turn 1 but several cars 4-6 collect themselves in Turn 3.de Silvestro taps Newgarden and causes a blockage – two cars are damaged and in the pits – Newgarden and Jakes.

Newgarden rejoins the race – the DW12 is a much stronger and resilient chassis and aero-package. Simona de Silvestro stalled on track.

Top six positions are Power, RHR, Dixon, Kanaan, Barrichello, and Viso. A favorite daughter Ana Beatriz occupies P7.

GREEN Flag on Lap 33 of 75. Everyone through Turn 1, 2, and 3. RHR is all over the back of Power but the string of cars seems stable.

TWEET – Donna Lingley @MissLingley – Finally, we’re racing again. Double file restarts on street circuits don’t work. #IndyCar

TWEET – Brian J. Wiggins @brian_wiggins – Aussie, American, New Zealander, Brazilian, Brazilian. #Diverse #IndyCar

Lap 37 – SeaBass goes off in the run-off area and needs assistance – a rough day for Lotus Dragon Racing.

Lap 38 – Crossed Flags signify that this race is official … no matter what happens from now on, if the race is stopped, it counts.

Franchitti is on a charge as Franchitti passed Castroneves for P8. KVRT cars are P4, P5 and P6 (TK, Rubens, and Viso).

Lap 40 of 75 – Top 10 are Power (leading all laps) by 1.6 seconds over Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dixon, Kanaan, Rubens, Viso, Beatriz, Franchitti, Helio, and Sato with the biggest move of the day up 15 positions!

Tony Kanaan goes to the pits (last stop) so everyone moves up one. Franchitti giving fits to Beatriz and loosess a couple of positions. Castroneves has damage to his front wing but continues on after passing fellow country-person, Beatriz.

Lap 45 of 75 … 30 laps to go:

TWEET – Allen Wedge @AllenWedge – ALmost all of the field is throwing down their fastest laps of the race right now #indycar

Franchitti has moved up plus 16 after restarting from the back of the field. Dario now running at P8. Team-mate Scott Dixon in the pits for his assumed last stop.

Dreyer and Reinblod’s Lotus driven by Servia in for final pit-stop, comes out at P17 … will be running Chevy for the rest of the season.

TWEET – AJFoytRacing @AJFoytRacing – How come Franchitti can improve 10 spots under yellow by ducking into pits before green & no one notices? #saopauloindy #indycar

Sounds like … sour grapes?

TWEET – F1 Paddock @Formula1Paddock – Rubens Barrichello up to 5th now! #IndyCar

TWEET – Bruno Tarulli @BrunoTarulli34 – 50 vueltas cumplidas en Brasil! #IndyCar

Twenty Laps to go – Power by 2.6 seconds over RHR, Franchitti (oh, yes), Castroneves, and Sato. Pit-stops by leaders and Power has a great stop – Power on cold tires as Dixon takes the position away from Power in Turn 11.

Franchitti – good stop … does Dixon need to come in?

Hichcliffe and Hildebrand battle with Manica taking the position. Ed Carpenter is running strong in P5 – very good.

Everyone is waiting on Dixon to see if he needs to come in.

15 laps to go and Castroneves goes off into runoff area and drops from lead to P7. The pit-stops continue as the order continues to change.

TWEET – Donna Lingley @MissLingley – Hmmmm, Brazilian tv director cuts away from Helio making a mistake. Helio is Brazilian. Useless! #IndyCar

TWEET – Magnificent Geoffrey @MagnificentGeof – Credit to the TV director, the coverage of this race has been outstanding(ly questionable) #IndyCar

TWEET – Christopher Estrada @estradawriting – Less than 20 laps to go here at #SaoPauloIndy. 9-Dixon leads 12-Power, 28-HunterReay, 5-Viso and 10-Franchitti. #IndyCar #SaoPauloIndy

Viso in the Pits – Good stop. Dixon has a 2.8 second lead but … needs a splash of fuel?!

Great track action all race long – just great racing all around. Rahal takes P12 away from the Fuzzy’s car of Ed Carpenter – big difference between Reds and Primary compound tires.

Josef Newgarden was racy throughout the event but his day came to an end when he got mixed up in a late race multi-car incident. Pictured here, he is followed by Brazilians Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan. Image Credit: Marshall Pruett via SPEED

TWEET – Ross Bynum @therossbynum – Newgarden with fastest lap in race so far…wow. #IndyCar #SaoPauloIndy @SFHRindy @SarahFisher

Lap 60 of 75 has Dixon by 3.1 seconds over Power, RHR, Dario, Helio, Rubens, Sato, Manica, Conway, and JR Hildebrand.

Carpenter spins – Full course caution – Pits currently closed – All cars on Lap 63 track behind caution car – Pits OPEN!

TWEET – Danielle Asphall @DannieAsphall – Man, I’m a ball of nerves right now. #IndyCar #saopauloindy

Scott Dixon in … fuel … and out in P13 which sets up a RESTART with Power, RHR, Dario Franchitti, and Helio Castroneves on the front two rows – WOW!!!!!

TWEET – F1 Fanatic Live @f1fanaticlive – Looks like a disaster for Dixon – he gambled on staying out but his lead has been destroyed now. #IndyCar

TWEET – IndyCar Mom @IndyCarMom – I have to say how bad I want @rubarrichello to win so we can gain some #F1 fans. #callmedesparate #willbegforfans #iloveindycar #IndyCar

TWEET – Tim Moran @golic_2004 – Another car hits the wall. Looks like Newgarden… Caution #Indycar

This is the 12th consecutive race that Power has led. Newgarden pulls into the pits – broken, out of the race.

TWEET  – Ivan Renko @Ivan_Renko – Is the IZOD #IndyCar Series called “Formula Indy” in Brazil? I kinda like it.

Lap 67 of 75 RESTART – GREEN  Flag – Side-By-Side – A bunch of cars get balled up in turn 2 – a ton of chassis are just a mess – Full Course Caution!!!

Eight cars involved – Conway hits the wall in Turn 2 as he runs out of room – A call for all of the flatbeds in Sao Paulo to come to the track is put out – RED ALERT In Red Corner!

TWEET  – Tom Rowell @senorsoupe – That restart is why we love banzai Takuma Sato! He seemed to use the force just to get his car slow enough to get through turn 1 #indycar

New top 10 are Power, Hunter-Reay, Sato, Franchitti, Castroneves, Hinchcliffe, Hildebrand, Kimball, Viso, and Barrichello.

The "Formula IndyCars" get all piled up when Mike Conway runs out of room running on the outside of turn 2 and crunches the wall. One car after another had their nose cones collect under the car in front of them until eight cars were stopped and unable to continue. Image Credit: Sini Salminen via TWEET

TWEET – Sini Salminen @SiniF1 – RT @lightmasf1: ooooops! #IndyCar twitpic.com/9fagpq

Lap 71 of 75 – TWEET – Chris Tansley @ChrisTansley – Does the safety car have enough fuel? #Indycar

TWEET  – Austin Brauser @austinbrauser – What are the odds? An 8 car pile up and EJ Viso is not involved! #indycar #saopauloindy

Lap 72 RESTART – GREEN Flag Side-By-Side – Sambadrome turn 1 everyone safely through – Power out positions RHR!

Sato in the mix – tracking RHR – Castroneves being chased by Dario Franchitti. Chevy, Chevy, Honda, Chevy, Honda in top five!

2 Laps to go – Will Power looks strong and may only be beaten if he makes a mistake – no drizzles, clear track, Paul Blevin waves the White Flag!

TWEET – Dan Takyi @D4NT4KY1 – Final lap now! Sato will be third! Sadly Rubens is only 10th after being 3rd at one stage #IndyCar

Helio Castroneves was the highest placing driver of the hometown contingent at P4. He was able to hold off Dario Franchitti and survive a practice crash and a couple of on-track incidents to come back to P2 in season championship points. Image Credit: Marshall Pruett via SPEED

Checkered Flag – Will Power Three-Peats the Sambadrome!!! Wins third race on the season – Dixon, nearest in points, drops positions.

TWEET – IZOD IndyCar Series @IndyCar – It’s @12WillPower again! AAR’s Hunter-Reay and RLR’s Sato finish on podium, Sato’s first one! #saopauloindy #indycar2012

TWEET – Matt White @MattW1986 – Good recovery from @dariofranchitti to 5th #indycar

TWEET  – Dave Furst @DaveFurst – If it’s a non-oval, its Will Power. It’ll be interesting to see how the #IndyCar dynamic changes during the month of May. #Indy500

TWEET – lookingspiffy @lookingspiffy – Good stuff from the #BrazilianMafia today. Most vexed by that last restart, though. #IndyCar

Will Power jumps off of the front nose of his Verizon Team Penske #12 – in interview says he is happy that it did not really rain on the race all day.

Ryan Hunter-Reay – “Will runs such a clean race. I tried to jump him but he was able to keep the position on the restart.”

TAKU – “We had a nice race, really – I’m really excited for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing – Fantastic. We finally got a good result going into Indianapolis.”

Helio Castroneves started in P20 and ends up P4 as the highest placing Brazilian! “In the end, Takuma made a kamikaze move and was able to hold until the end.

The Twitter, the people were supporting me saying nice things.”

Oriol Servia (#22 – for the last time – Lotus DRR): “We almost didn’t make the start of the race. The guys did an amazing job. They were working until the last second putting the engine together and we didn’t think that we were going to make it. Somehow we picked up the best result of the year and we’ll take it.”

Sebastien Bourdais (#7 – Lotus Dragon Racing): “You just need to look at the splits from the race: We have three fastest sectors (corners only : Turns 1 & 2, then T5 and T6) but it is not enough when we get in a pack of cars for a restart or a straight fight. We could have finished in the top 10 if we had not been collected in a multi-car incident that put us a lap down, but that’s racing.”

TWEET – NBC Sports @NBCSports – Will Power earns his third consecutive #indycar win, taking the Sao Paolo 300. See the stats here: scores.nbcsports.msnbc.com/nascar/leaderb… @IndyCar

IZOD IndyCar Series YouTube Race Highlights>>

Engine Wars Update: Chevy, Chevy, Honda, Chevy, Honda, Chevy, Chevy, Honda Chevy, and Chevy … Lotus just misses out of a top 10 finish with Wix Filter Dreyer and Reibold Racing’s Oriol Srevia posting up at P11 in this team’s last race for Lotus this season (will be using Chevrolet-power in their DW12 for the balance of the season). The next closest running Lotus-powered DW12 was McAfee Dragon Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais at P18.

It is now on to the season’s first oval race at the “Greatest Spectacle In Racing” with the month of May’s INDY500!

… notes from The EDJE

** Article first published as “A Rough And Tumble Round 4 Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 Presented By Nestle” at Technorati **

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