IndyCar Recap: June 2017 Pt.2 – Texas and Elkhart Lake

2017 Verizon IndyCar Series

The 600km oval race at Texas – just one week after the Dual in Detroit – then a week off followed by the Grand Prix at Elkhart Lake’s Road America.

Rainguard Water Sealers 600

7th June 2017 – Race 9 of 17 – Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas, USA

Video: Full Race (3h12m video, race starts after 30min)

Charlie Kimball started from pole and led a close-fighting Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon in the early running. Ed Carpenter gained 7 positions in 6 laps.

Tristan Vautier took Sebastien Bourdais’ car and was very quick all day, even challenged for the lead, not bad for not racing in IndyCar for 2 years! By lap 35 the Penskes were marching forward, Newgarden and Power cutting through.

On lap 36 Rossi was in the wall after being pinched between the two Ganassi cars of Dixon and Kanaan. Three-wide doesn’t work, or wasn’t working yet, none of them wanted to back out, something we’d see again later. In this yellow James Hinchcliffe spun leaving the pits, hit Helio Castroneves who was knocked into Takuma Sato. Hinch got a green-flag drive-through penalty, while Newgarden was moved to the back of the restart for pitlane speeding.

We had a long phone call on the TV coverage from Fernando Alonso live from Montreal! I’m not really sure the point of that, it kind of got in the way.

Lap 91, Castroneves hit the wall. Tyres were struggling at the end of a 50 lap stint, several cars generating blisters, it seems this was the cause. At the restart Carpenter went for a wild spin which he saved!

At lap 124 – halfway – darkness fell. This is when it got tense! Night racing under the lights, temperatures falling, the race turned into one we haven’t seen at Texas since 2011, with the old cars – tight packs, not always as close as the old packs, but still incredibly tense and nervous.

At lap 153 there was 3-car crash – Kanaan moved up into Hinchcliffe who happened to have team-mate Aleshin on his outside. I don’t think TK knew they were 3 wide at the time, and Aleshin as the last man in probably ought to have backed out of it first. Happened so fast and with 2 of 3 drivers sharing blame it can only be a racing incident in my eyes, but it was Kanaan given a 20-second stop/hold penalty dropping him 2 laps, probably because Hinch and Aleshin were out.
Also out of the race were Vautier, Jones, Munoz and Hunter-Reay. Carpenter and Hildebrand were also damaged but were able to resume delayed after repairs. An expensive incident, especially for Coyne Racing who have suffered a lot of damage this year.

After a 30 minute red flag the race resumed with a mandatory competition caution for every 30 laps of green due to the tyre blisters, just 11 cars left in the race, 13 once the Carpenter boys resumed. Incredibly this didn’t matter, the show they put on was unreal!

Newgarden pitted a lap before the yellow but the series insisted he pit again along with everyone else. Not that it mattered, 10 laps after the stop he tried to go 3-wide through the last corner and he hit the wall. Safety car and another restart.

Cars side by side, passing, re-passing. Sounds fun but it was intense, really. At any moment the pack could’ve wiped itself out. Still, watching Power versus Dixon for the lead, Sato versus Pagenaud for 3rd… you couldn’t take your eyes off it.

Sato could’ve won, he actually made the 3-wide pass work twice in two laps! As he was going for 2nd or 3rd, with 5 laps to go he just put a wheel on the grass which sent him into the wall, taking out Dixon and delaying Chilton and Daly. There weren’t enough laps for a clear up so the race finished behind the safety car.

Worth watching? Yes, an event-filled race but watch the last hour between your fingers! Texas produces incredible action but the margins are so tight it is a scary watch.

1. 12 Will Power (Team Penske Chevy);
2. 10 Tony Kanaan (Ganassi Honda);
3. 1 Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske Chevy);
4. 15 Graham Rahal (Rahal Honda);
5. 88 Gabby Chaves (Harding Group Chevy);
6. 27 Marco Andretti (Andretti Honda);
7. 4 Conor Daly (AJ Foyt Chevy);
8. 8 Max Chilton (Ganassi Honda);
9. 9 Scott Dixon (Ganassi Honda);
10. 26 Takuma Sato (Andretti Honda);

Just 10 cars running at the end, officially Dixon and Sato were out of the race (DNF) with the last runners being the repaired Carpenter entries of Ed Carpenter (11th, 24 laps down) and JR Hildebrand (12th, 33 laps down).

Kohler Grand Prix

25th June 2017 – Race 10 of 17 – Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, USA

Video: Full race (2h18m video, race starts at 35 minutes).

A very different race! This time we saw IndyCar’s best attempt at a Formula 1 Grand Prix. Championship contenders up front racing different tyre and fuel strategies. Still something to enjoy albeit in a totally different way to Texas, showcasing the strength of IndyCar that it can do both types of racing inside 2 weeks. A thrill to see these cars flat out one of the best tracks in North America, and to see such a crowd out to see them.

Helio Castroneves started from pole, Power was 2nd but had a bad start such that Newgarden passed him into turn 1. Graham Rahal make a bold move on the outside to move up, but got penalised 1 place for blocking. Team Penske ran 1-2-3 with Dixon 4th.

At just lap 7 drivers came in early to try a 4-stop fuel strategy. Later, among the 3-stoppers, Newgarden and Dixon ran a lap longer than other 3-stoppers and gained time.

Newgarden made a brilliant pass on the outside of Castroneves on lap 20! Staying out longer meant he had more fuel to burn. Meanwhile you could see Dixon closing in, 5 laps later and Scott was on Helio’s tail.

At the 2nd stops Dixon jumped Castroneves. It looked like a 3-stop strategy but staying out longer than your competitor was preferable. But right after this the Safety Car came out for Sato off course at the kink – I have no idea how he missed the wall.

At the restart, Scott Dixon swooped into the lead around Newgarden! A lead he would hold to the flag. At the same time Hinchcliffe and Power touched, Hinch’s front wheel damaged. Castroneves also passed Newgarden.

At lap 44, just after the last stops, Tony Kanaan was into the wall hard at the kink, not a place you want to go off. He and Rossi had got together as TK overtook, just a glancing touch which was enough to damage TK’s wing and send him to the wall. The second race in succession these two hit each other..

1. 9 Scott Dixon (Ganassi Honda);
2. 2 Josef Newgarden (Team Penske Chevy);
3. 3 Helio Castroneves (Team Penske Chevy);
4. 1 Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske Chevy);
5. 12 Will Power (Team Penske Chevy);
6. 83 Charlie Kimball (Ganassi Honda);
7. 19 Ed Jones (Coyne Honda);
8. 15 Graham Rahal (Rahal Honda);
9. 8 Max Chilton (Ganassi Honda);
10. 7 Mikhail Aleshin (Schmidt Peterson Honda);

Finally Dixon gets a win this year! And look at it, this was supposed to be a Penske domination.

Points Scored at TMS & RA

	Tex	RA	JUNE Pt2
Will Power	53	30	83
Scott Dixon	23	53	76
Josef Newgarden	28	41	69
Simon Pagenaud	35	32	67
Graham Rahal	32	24	56
Tony Kanaan	41	9	50
Helio Castroneves	10	37	47
Max Chilton	25	22	47
Conor Daly	26	15	41
Marco Andretti	28	12	40
Charlie Kimball	11	29	40
Ed Jones	13	26	39
Mikhail Aleshin	15	20	35
JR Hildebrand	18	14	32
Takuma Sato	20	11	31
Carlos Munoz	12	19	31
Gabby Chaves	30		30
Ryan Hunter-Reay	11	16	27
James Hinchcliffe	16	10	26
Alexander Rossi	8	17	25
Ed Carpenter	19		19
Spencer Pigot		18	18
Tristan Vautier	15		15
Esteban Gutierrez		13	13

• Power made the best of these two races with a win and a 5th. Dixon scored a win and a 9th.
• Newgarden and Pagenaud also continued their good seasons.
• Kanaan’s Road America DNF cost a potentially great swing.
• Rossi had a poor couple of races.
• Hunter-Reay’s year isn’t improving.

Points Total To June 30th

Pos	Pre	+/-	Name	Pre		Total	Wins
1	1	0	Scott Dixon	303	76	379	1
2	4	2	Simon Pagenaud	278	67	345	1
3	2	-1	Helio Castroneves	295	47	342
4	5	1	Josef Newgarden	259	69	328	1
5	3	-2	Takuma Sato	292	31	323	1
6	8	2	Will Power	233	83	316	2
7	6	-1	Graham Rahal	251	56	307	2
8	9	1	Tony Kanaan	223	50	273
9	7	-2	Alexander Rossi	246	25	271
10	11	1	Ed Jones	215	39	254
11	12	1	Max Chilton	204	47	251
12	10	-2	James Hinchcliffe	216	26	242	1
13	14	1	Marco Andretti	182	40	222
14	15	1	Mikhail Aleshin	177	35	212
15	13	-2	Ryan Hunter-Reay	183	27	210
16	16	0	JR Hildebrand	173	32	205
17	17	0	Carlos Munoz	168	31	199
18	19	1	Charlie Kimball	132	40	172
19	21	2	Conor Daly	114	41	155
20	20	0	Spencer Pigot	124	18	142
21	18	-3	Sebastien Bourdais	136		136	1
22	22	0	Ed Carpenter	105	19	124
23	23	0	Juan Pablo Montoya	93		93
24	25	1	Gabby Chaves	53	30	83
25	24	-1	Oriol Servia	61		61
26	26	0	Fernando Alonso	47		47
27	29	2	Esteban Gutierrez	27	13	40
28	27	-1	Sebastian Saavedra	33		33
29	28	-1	Pippa Mann	32		32
30	30	0	Jay Howard	24		24
31	31	0	Zach Veach	23		23
=	32	0	Sage Karam	23		23
33	33	0	James Davison	21		21
34	34	0	Jack Harvey	17		17
35	36	1	Tristan Vautier		15	15
36	35	-1	Buddy Lazier	14		14

• Dixon’s win increases his points lead to 34, this time over Simon Pagenaud who moves up to 2nd from 4th. Castroneves drops to 3rd, now the only one in the top 7 without a win.
• Newgarden is up to 4th at the expense of Sato.
• Power’s win moves him to 6th from 8th after Detroit.
• Rossi dropped 2 places to 7th.

Points graph (click to open):

Next Month

The next post in the series covers July, continuing IndyCar’s relentless run of races with another 3 in 4 weeks, starting at Iowa’s oval, immediately followed by Toronto’s street race, with Mid-Ohio road course finishing off the month.