Peak Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma

[DanicaFan]

Well, I figured I would start a discussion thread on this weekend's race at Infineon.

Today in practice, Danica was 8th fastest overall. Not bad at all. She is starting to master these road courses.

Look for her on the pole tomorrow and a win on Sunday!! :up:

[pits4me]

Not likely. She'll finish further back than she qualifies.

[Easy Drifter]

Wherever he gets it it is pretty powerful stuff. :s mokin:

[EagleEye]

Danica was 8th fastest overall. Not bad at all. She is starting to master these road courses.



No doubt better, but starting to master the road courses? You could use that label after sarting no lower than fourth for five straight races, and three wins.

Until then lets just say she is a bit better this weekend.

[SUBARUTEAM]

most teams would have been testing in race setup - look for the quick times tomorrow when they change to qualifing setups.

[F1boat]

Would you like to see Dixon winning the championship on Sunday?

[BobGarage]

Look for her on the pole tomorrow and a win on Sunday!! :up:


not likely. more like she will... spin on pit lane taking out a tire changer for another team. Then recovering and getting back in the race only to take out a team mate.

:p

[Lousada]

A thread about the race and the only posts so far are off topic bashes on Danica :rolleyes:


No doubt better, but starting to master the road courses? You could use that label after sarting no lower than fourth for five straight races, and three wins.
So in your opinion all the drivers except Scott Dixon are road-course clowns :rolleyes:

[F1boat]

Probably some CC fans are angry that the AGR prefers Danica to the unknown pay-drivers from Europe...

[harvick#1]

A thread about the race and the only posts so far are off topic bashes on Danica :rolleyes:


well, you first have a biased fan starting a race thread and only talks about his/her favorite driver instead of actually telling us whos actually running well this week. some of the members can't help it anymore, they are tired of this ****

I know am.

[DanicaFan]

Would you like to see Dixon winning the championship on Sunday?
I have to say he already won it.


And it looks like the transporter fire didnt hurt Team Penske so far. Helio Castroneves was the fastest overall in practice yesterday.

[F1boat]

For those who knows the score system in the Rolex series - can Ganassi actualy win both championships - Grand-Am and Indy Car - this weekend?

[SUBARUTEAM]

i actually think that helio will win pole and the race this weekend as passing on the track will be impossible. and dixon will win the championship next weekend

[DanicaFan]

Well, after the practice today, its Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves on top of the speed charts, with both over 108 mph on this road course. They are looking primed for the front row today.

You guys, the championship race is in reality over. Unless Dixon DNF's the next couple races, he will win it.

[DanicaFan]

Qualifications are over. Here is the starting grid..

1. #3 Helio Castroneves
2. #6 Ryan Briscoe
3. #8 Will Power
4. #11 Tony Kanaan
5. #9 Scott Dixon
6. #5 Oriol Servia
7. #02 Justin Wilson
8. #17 Ryan Hunter-Reay
9. #7 Danica Patrick
10. #26 Marco Andretti
11. #96 Mario Dominguez
12. #19 Mario Moraes
13. #18 Bruno Junqueira
14. #33 EJ Viso
15. #06 Graham Rahal
16. #10 Dan Wheldon
17. #12 Thomas Scheckter
18. #4 Vitor Meira
19. #23 Townsend Bell
20. #27 Hideki Mutoh
21. #14 Darren Manning
22. #15 Buddy Rice
23. #20 Ed Carpenter
24. #2 AJ Foyt IV
25. #25 Marty Roth
26. #34 Jaime Camara
27. #36 Enrique Bernoldi

[jackmart]

mutoh was leading on the first practice I missed qualifying, what happen to him and did marco crash?

[Easy Drifter]

Thank you Danica Fan.

[DanicaFan]

You are welcome Easy Drifter.

Jackmart, Hideki spun and went off track during qualifying and lost his 2 fastest laps so thats why he didnt qualify better. And no Marco didnt crash. They had to adjust his car to his liking but ran out of time to make a faster qualifying time.

[Chamoo]

And no Marco didnt crash. They had to adjust his car to his liking but ran out of time to make a faster qualifying time.

Isn't that more or less what practice is for? I guess TK didn't have enough time to run over and set his car up for him.

[jackmart]

thanks for the info danica fan. glad to know I'm not the only dp fan here! :)

[F1boat]

I hope that Helio will finally win a race.

[jackmart]

missed practice this morning did anyone catch it? how did it go?

[ChicagocrewIRL]

Good riddance to ESPN and its shoddy treatment of the IndyCar Series. LPGA golf running over into IndyCar coverage on ESPN2. This will never happen again once ICS is on Versus. I see now WHY the IRL FIRED ESPN !!

[garyshell]

It would be nice if the IndyCar website video was in synch with the audio??? What's up with that crap?

Gary

[Easy Drifter]

It seems no Cdn. coverage on Satellite of the race. TG had better sort this out and quick!

[Old3Fan]

Well, I figured I would start a discussion thread on this weekend's race at Infineon.

Today in practice, Danica was 8th fastest overall. Not bad at all. She is starting to master these road courses.

Look for her on the pole tomorrow and a win on Sunday!! :up:

NO on your first point. NO on your second point and NO on your third point. Currently she is a middle of the pack driver and next year when the additional new X-Cart teams get their cars up to speed she will be a back packer. Face it, she ain't got it.

[Old3Fan]

Good riddance to ESPN and its shoddy treatment of the IndyCar Series. LPGA golf running over into IndyCar coverage on ESPN2. This will never happen again once ICS is on Versus. I see now WHY the IRL FIRED ESPN !!

If the IRL wants to start on schedule they NEED TO BUY THE TV TIME.

[FORMULA-A]

OK so I would like the intelligent and insightfull to explain how DANICA passes no one but finishes ahead of Justin and DIxon. She was 12th then there are no yellow pit stops except for the one that she and a group of others made and then Dixon and Justin and others cycle down to 9th 12th etc:

WHA HAPPENED

thanks

[ozrevhead]

pit stop stratagy mainly

Well done to the Penske team after having that fire the other day :D Loved Helio's reaction and another great ride for Flyin Ryan :D

[NickFalzone]

If the IRL wants to start on schedule they NEED TO BUY THE TV TIME.

The IRL has never had to "buy" tv time, and they shouldn't simply because ESPN lets earlier events run long. How about this - move LPGA over to "classic" when IRL preshow starts. It's not like anyone was watching that playoff anyway.

[DanicaFan]

Congrats to Helio and Team Penske.

Now all you Danica bashers were proved wrong. She finished 5th and ran a good race! Im so proud of her. Now its on to Belle Isle where she is gonna win!

[garyshell]

Well, I figured I would start a discussion thread on this weekend's race at Infineon.

Today in practice, Danica was 8th fastest overall. Not bad at all. She is starting to master these road courses.

Look for her on the pole tomorrow and a win on Sunday!! :up:


Congrats to Helio and Team Penske.

Now all you Danica bashers were proved wrong. She finished 5th and ran a good race! Im so proud of her. Now its on to Belle Isle where she is gonna win!


Excuse me, but who was proven wrong? I have another $5 that says she does not win Belle Isle. Care to put your money where you mouth is again?

Gary

[jackmart]

Congrats to Helio and Team Penske.

Now all you Danica bashers were proved wrong. She finished 5th and ran a good race! Im so proud of her. Now its on to Belle Isle where she is gonna win!

I was so happy too. That was her best roads course finish besides last year when she had that extra tool to help her.

Gary why are you so anti-Danica? She held her own and strategy is part of the race?

[F1boat]

If the IRL wants to start on schedule they NEED TO BUY THE TV TIME.

The wet dream of fans of a dead racing series.

[dataman1]

The IRL has never had to "buy" tv time, and they shouldn't simply because ESPN lets earlier events run long. How about this - move LPGA over to "classic" when IRL preshow starts. It's not like anyone was watching that playoff anyway.

Maybe the LPGA bought TV time and their contract covered going over the time slot?? Just a guess.

[dataman1]

It would be nice if the IndyCar website video was in synch with the audio??? What's up with that crap?

Gary

I agree Gary. TV coverage gets punted and the website is messed up. Not a real professional look to this event's start.

[garyshell]

I was so happy too. That was her best roads course finish besides last year when she had that extra tool to help her.

Gary why are you so anti-Danica? She held her own and strategy is part of the race?


Who said I was anti-Danica? I am calling out Danicafan's delusional claims, that's all. I am no fan of the princess, but that does not mean I am anti-Danica. Sounds like you have a case of what is wrong in politics today, "you are either for us or you are against us".

Gary

[Rex Monaco]

Where were the fans in the stands? Does anyone know how many people Sears Point holds? If those stands were at 10% of capacity, I'd be very surprised.

[Rex Monaco]

Who said I was anti-Danica? I am calling out Danicafan's delusional claims, that's all. I am no fan of the princess, but that does not mean I am anti-Danica. Sounds like you have a case of what is wrong in politics today, "you are either for us or you are against us".

Gary

I'm with you on this.

[bblocker68]

So I guess 5th place counts as a win????????

D'oh!!!!!!!!!!!

[garyshell]

Where were the fans in the stands? Does anyone know how many people Sears Point holds? If those stands were at 10% of capacity, I'd be very surprised.


Which stands? The ones near the pits seemed rather full. The ones up the hill were quite sparce.

Gary

[Rex Monaco]

Which stands? The ones near the pits seemed rather full. The ones up the hill were quite sparce.

Gary

I was only able to watch the last 20 laps. So the only time I saw the pit stands was at the end when Helio climbed the 'fence' and it seemed to be about 70% of capacity. Maybe those people left early?

[garyshell]

Which stands? The ones near the pits seemed rather full. The ones up the hill were quite sparce.

Gary


I was only able to watch the last 20 laps. So the only time I saw the pit stands was at the end when Helio climbed the 'fence' and it seemed to be about 70% of capacity. Maybe those people left early?


I meant relative to the other stand the pit ones seemed rather full. Never got a full view of the pit road ones, so I can venture a guess there. The ones up the hill though (terrace stands???) were in full view a few times and they were sparce at best. Damn near a ghost town.

Gary

[Hoss Ghoul]

I was at the race yesterday, and the crowd was good, far better than when I saw the ALMS there in 2001, and 2005. It is hard to guess at crowd size as spread out as things are there, but my guess would be in the neighborhood of 40K or so. I know there was still a line of traffic leaving the track even at 7:30pm when I left.

As to the race itself...not much to write home about. It was interesting to see how pit strategy played out, but it was pretty clear it was the Ryan and Helio show. Danica had good pace all race until the last stint when Wheldon came out of the pits ahead of her and steadily increased the gap. Prior to that Danica had held him at bay fairly easily. I imagine the 60+ lap green flag run had her sucking wind towards the end of the race.

[usgrandprix]

Three thoughts:

Way to go Spiderman. Now go get Detroit.

Can't quite place my finger on it but there is something about that track I've never liked. Seems boring and second class.

Danica drove a very strong race and was lapping nicely with Servia for an extended stretch. Not perfect, but certainly professional and deserving of being there. There are two crowds out of touch about Dancia.

[elis]

Great job HVM & EJV. Worked their way up the field to finish a strong 6th, & EJ earned The Hard Charger Award :)

Great to see Helio get another long overdue win.. he's a breath of fresh air in the paddock... always has been, even since his BF3 days. Hopefully he can repeat in Detroit... if Viso can't take the win that is ;)

[Old3Fan]

The IRL has never had to "buy" tv time, and they shouldn't simply because ESPN lets earlier events run long. How about this - move LPGA over to "classic" when IRL preshow starts. It's not like anyone was watching that playoff anyway.

Probably more watching the LPGA then the IRL but asside from that, Whoever buys the time slot and runs over gets to run over.

[nigelred5]

Can't quite place my finger on it but there is something about that track I've never liked. Seems boring and second class.



It's a great drivers track, but it sucks for TV. A good friend of mine I grew up with used to be an instructor there so I've had the opportunity to drive the track a few times. It looks like what it is, basically holding a professional race on a driving school track. All the different configurations and dirt everywhere just looks bush league. Sure, maybe it's great for the primary use of the place, but it just looks like they can't decide where they should run. Maybe if the great state of California would allow them to use a little water here and there, they could plant some grass around the place. I know it's basically at the mercy of the local climate, but compare it visually to somewhere like Watkin's glen, Barber MSP or Road America. I'd also like to see them decide on one or two configurations and stick to it, then remove all of the old unused tarmack. Preferrably, I'd rather see them just move the race to Laguna Seca. Same problem with lack of moisture for the landscape , but worlds different visually in my opinion.