Honda Indy Edmonton

[DanicaFan]

Here are the results of this morning's warm-up session..

[Last2LiftOff]

Originally Posted by DanicaFan

Time & TV Schedule - 5:00PM Eastern -Green Flag -5:55PM Eastern -Versus

Just bringing this forward. Carry on.

[Stefvh]

That's after the motogp, great

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Stefvh

That's after the motogp, great

Yes. Very well timed indeed.

I see some guy named Power at the top of the charts...there's a surprise



EDIT:
Just looked down the order in detail and...Great start for Simona!

[fieldodreams79]

Good stuff, Milka. Good stuff.

Glad to see the turn 1 cameraman keep Milka in the opening corner shot.

[fieldodreams79]

I hate to see a blocking call decide the finish. Seemed a bit harsh and silly, but Helio was out of bounds at the end of his tantrum.

[DanicaFan]

I am absolutely stunned. That call for blocking on Helio was complete BS!

[Flyin Ryan]

Completely borderline call. Think I'd've let that go. Last couple of laps of the race and just for entertainment purposes it should always be last resort to pull off the leader on the track. I agreed with the Belle Isle decision because that was entirely blatant on a circuit difficult to pass on but this one you have this huge frontstretch where you're crossing over the width to make the next turn, and both were going that general direction.

Being a Penske driver though and the whole "team first" concept that is preached there, Power throwing Castroneves under a bus saying "yeah, he blocked me" surprises me. You think Cindric or whoever would've gotten a hold of Power and for the sake of trying to get Helio reinstated the victory tell Power if interviewed, "he didn't block you".

[broadrun96]

It really seems like the IRL has changed the meaning of blocking from an active movement to put your car in front of another to moving sideways in a corner. Didn't look like Helio maintained his line tightly and slide over some to make the corner, but everyone else crossed to the left side of the track (right side of screen in the overhead shot) earlier on the front straight. Dixon and everyone behind him moved over closer to start-finish and Helio & Power didn't move until later in the corner but it wasn't like Helio blocked or obstructed Power's line into 1. If anything it could be called a dirty line for a professional driver, a non-precise dirty not one with malicious intent, and Helio could maybe be talked to by IRL officials with the video to explain what they want to see but to issue a drive-through that it seemed like the on-the-ground officials didn't want to enforce is excessive.

[DanicaFan]

The decision is being reviewed at this time so it may not be final.

[broadrun96]

What's the best place to find their decision, and how fast will they decide if they want to listen to Helio?

[dj4monie]

I have two thoughts -

1) I didn't see any issues with Helio's move, no reason to call for blocking.

2) Not sure how that would have changed the outcome, UNLESS, he heard he was going to get called in for a stop-n-go. Both him and Power got off-line slightly and wasn't able to put the power down in the apex.

Dixon was able to get around them both.

I DVR everything and I'll have another look but I think that's what happen.

Helio should be hot, but maybe mad at himself. It wouldn't be the first time somebody lost a race in the closing moments.

[Steevp]

F1 decided off track, Indycar decided off track.. I feel like I wasted a Sunday..

(also annoyed that the Indycar announcers ruined the nascar result for me)

[Flyin Ryan]

Tweets (courtesy of the ESPN Racing page http://espn.go.com/racing/ ):

Graham Rahal:

I guess that was some excitement. Congrats to Ganassi again. Helios definitely blocked i'd say. Fun end to the race though.

Ed Carpenter:

If Helios gets a good restart, he would not have had to defend...

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by Steevp

F1 decided off track, Indycar decided off track.. I feel like I wasted a Sunday..

(also annoyed that the Indycar announcers ruined the nascar result for me)

All in all, I'm disappointed with the weekend -

1. #62 punted by #3 @ Lime Rock
2. Jeers to Brian Pattie For LOOSING Brickyard 400 for JPM
3. Questionable finish @Edmonton, shouldn't be like that.
4. Team Tactics which are ILLEGAL in F1 happens yet again and with Ferrari, should we be surprised?

And on top of that LOTS OF EMPTY seats at the Brickyard, Auto Racing is in trouble and really needs to clean up its act.

[Flyin Ryan]

Originally Posted by dj4monie

All in all, I'm disappointed with the weekend -

1. #61 punted by #3 @ Lime Rock
2. Jeers to Brian Pattie For LOOSING Brickyard 400 for JPM
3. Questionable finish @Edmonton, shouldn't be like that.
4. Team Tactics which are ILLEGAL in F1 happens yet again and with Ferrari, should we be surprised?

And on top of that LOTS OF EMPTY seats at the Brickyard, Auto Racing is in trouble and really needs to clean up its act.

It's racing. Racing has always been a dirty business. Comes with the territory. "Thieves ain't honest and neither are racecar drivers. You take what you get when you can."

Actually, the Indycar finish was a "letter of the law" ruling, so that would be "cleaning up its act". I just don't think the law was busted as much as it was in Belle Isle.

Surprised all the drivers we've heard from have gone against Helio on this: Dixon (but obviously he would), his teammate Power (this one surprises me, I think Roger is going to have a sitdown and stern lecture with him), and Rahal and Carpenter as viewers like the rest of us.

[DanicaFan]

Here are the final results...

1. #9 Scott Dixon
2. #12 Will Power
3. #10 Dario Franchitti
4. #6 Ryan Briscoe
5. #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay
6. #15 Paul Tracy
7. #32 Mario Moraes
8. #8 EJ Viso
9. #5 Takuma Sato
10. #3 Helio Castroneves
11. #26 Marco Andretti
12. #11 Tony Kanaan
13. #2 Raphael Matos
14. #36 Bertrand Baguette
15. #7 Danica Patrick
16. #14 Vitor Meira
17. #06 Hideki Mutoh
18. #19 Alex Lloyd
19. #24 Tomas Scheckter
20. #4 Dan Wheldon
21. #22 Justin Wilson
22. #78 Simona De Silvestro
23. #77 Alex Tagliani
24. #34 Mario Romancini
25. #18 Milka Duno

[Flyin Ryan]

Make that 5 drivers, Scheckter's reaction:

only thing made my day better whilst sitting in car trying to get out, seeing helio go insane on everyone

[rich07]

Did Helio go nuts at the end of the race? I want to see video of that!

[broadrun96]

Oh yeah, he went more ballistic than anyone I have ever seen on a race course. Thought he was going to be held back by the team and then suddenly he appeared marching toward the start-finish flag stand, yelling at who I can only assume was Tony Barnhardt (sp?) and I thought he was going to take out the stand himself and rip it to the ground.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Oh yeah, he went more ballistic than anyone I have ever seen on a race course. Thought he was going to be held back by the team and then suddenly he appeared marching toward the start-finish flag stand, yelling at who I can only assume was Tony Barnhardt (sp?) and I thought he was going to take out the stand himself and rip it to the ground.

If anyone finds that vision somewhere please post a link, it would be appreciated.

[JagtechOhio]

Wow, some of you guys have a different perspective.

The big news today is that Will Power attempt to lock down the inaugural Mario Andretti Road Course Championship was DENIED!!!

Now all of that excitement can build until the next race. And with the IRL income from Helio's fines, there may be something to pay Power for the accomplishment.

[Aloysius]

Travesty of a day. I hate these anti-blocking rules. They have no place in racing. Brian Barhardt should be fired and never allowed near a race course again. You know, I've never been an Helio fan, or Penske, but they were robbed today. Helio had every right to react like he did, and I would really have liked to see him take a swing at Barnhardt. These blocking calls have to stop.

[cptkablamo]

Originally Posted by rich07

If anyone finds that vision somewhere please post a link, it would be appreciated.

It can be seen at the Versus site here - http://www.versus.com/blogs/indycar/...st-recent/i/2/

[6157]

The call, as applied by the rule, was correct.

The rule, in principle, is questionable.

The current rule is designed to open up passing lanes to increase passing attempts and yes, it clearly spells out YOU CANNOT DEFEND YOUR LINE. As a "leading" car, you must drive the "common racing line"

The rule comes from CCWS and Cottman, and someone can help me with the specifics of this, from the San Jose race where they literally painted white lines down the center of the braking zone and said cars being passed could not cross the line to defend. I believe it only lasted one race because of driver complaints.

That's the story. That is IT.