Round 4: Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 4: Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, 24 - 26 April, 2015

This Sunday will be the 6th running of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. The race was first held on April 11, 2010 and was won by Hélio Castroneves driving for Team Penske, in a Dallara IR5-Honda. Prior to that, Barber Motorsports Park hosted a testing session in October 2007, the success of which led to a full-field, three-day testing session in March 2009. An open date became available in the 2010 season's race calendar and Barber Motorsports Park made a successful bid to hold the race, over Cleveland (Burke Lakefront Airport), Houston, Baltimore, Nashville, Charlotte and Portland.

Hopefully this year's race won't be marred by bad weather, like last year's was, with the start delayed by lightning and heavy rain. The result was a 100-minute timed race, eventually finishing under caution after rookie, Russian driver Mikhail Aleshin crashed heavily into the tire barrier, littering the track with carbon fibre.

Track layout:


Length: 2.38 Miles (3.83 Km)
Turns: 15
Lap record: Scott Dixon, 6 April 2013. 1:06.7750, 123.999 Mph (199.557 Kmh), Chip Ganassi Racing, Dallara DW12-Honda, Izod IndyCar Series. 2.38 Miles (3.83 Km)

Last year's winner:
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Andretti Autosport
Dallara DW12-Honda
Laps: 69 - race shortened due to time limit
Distance: 164.22 Miles (264.286 Km)
Race Time: 1:40:43
Average Speed: 94.537 Mph (152.142 Kph)

TV Coverage:
NBCSN
Green flag at 3:00pm ET.

[D.R.T.]

Despite the delayed start - I enjoyed last years event in the rain. More racecraft etc.

[BudLightJaguar]

Who's going to break the lap record this time?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by BudLightJaguar

Who's going to break the lap record this time?

And by how much? The two Bourdais records that were broken, St. Pete and Long Beach, were set during the CCWS and that says something about the cars they were racing at the time.

[Nikki Katz]

I see that Gonzales is in at Coyne. I'd like it if they gave Daly a proper chance some time, though it seems that the team is currently just taking the highest bidder.

[10TENTHS]

Originally Posted by Nikki Katz

I see that Gonzales is in at Coyne. I'd like it if they gave Daly a proper chance some time, though it seems that the team is currently just taking the highest bidder.

So like the CART era then...

[Nikki Katz]

Originally Posted by 10TENTHS

So like the CART era then...

Heh, quite. Though in the last years they did at least put a proper driver in one of their cars. At least it's just the one team really doing this in IndyCar at the moment.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Nikki Katz

Heh, quite. Though in the last years they did at least put a proper driver in one of their cars. At least it's just the one team really doing this in IndyCar at the moment.

Pay to drive's been around for years, unfortunately that's how some teams survive. It's happens in F1.

[Nikki Katz]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Pay to drive's been around for years, unfortunately that's how some teams survive. It's happens in F1.

Of course, but all of the drivers currently in F1 are good enough to be in F1 (though Mehri's been a bit disappointing to date). Dracone isn't good enough for IndyCar. Gonzales is probably only borderline acceptable given his form in other series. I'm not really to fussed about Huertas either to be honest. The other teams may have drivers that are not as good as those you'd like to see in the car, but they're not out of their depth.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Nikki Katz

Of course, but all of the drivers currently in F1 are good enough to be in F1 (though Mehri's been a bit disappointing to date). Dracone isn't good enough for IndyCar. Gonzales is probably only borderline acceptable given his form in other series. I'm not really to fussed about Huertas either to be honest. The other teams may have drivers that are not as good as those you'd like to see in the car, but they're not out of their depth.

No too sure about that, Maldonado leaves a lot to be desired. Otherwise yes, Dracone shouldn't be there at all.

[bjohnsonsmith]

IndyCar are streaming Qualifying.

http://racecontrol.indycar.com/

[bjohnsonsmith]

Castroneves gets pole and Power's back on form, but not too sure what happened to the A.J. Foyt cars. Both Hawksworth and Sato are right back there in 19th and 20th, respectively. R H-R doesn't seem to have faired much better down in 18th.

1. 3 Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.1925, 123.228.
2. 1 Will Power, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.3833, 122.879.
3. 22 Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.6383, 122.416.
4. 9 Scott Dixon, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.6938, 122.315.
5. 67 Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.8922, 121.958.
6. 10 Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.9426, 121.868.
7. 11 Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.2462, 123.130.
8. 15 Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda. 1:07.3903, 122.866.
9. 20 Luca Filippi, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.6302, 122.431.
10. 5 James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda. 1:07.6626, 122.372.
11. 83 Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.8405, 122.051.
12. 8 Sage Karam (R), Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.8930, 121.957.
13. 27 Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda. 1:07.6295, 122.432.
14. 7 James Jakes, Dallara-Honda. 1:07.9671, 121.824.
15. 2 Juan Pablo Montoya, Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.7235, 122.262.
16. 4 Stefano Coletti (R), Dallara-Chevrolet. 1:07.9947, 121.774.
17. 98 Gabby Chaves (R), Dallara-Honda. 1:07.8191, 122.089.
18. 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda. 1:07.9984, 121.768.
19. 41 Jack Hawksworth, Dallara-Honda. 1:08.0082, 121.750.
20. 14 Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda. 1:08.2541, 121.311.
21. 18 Rodolfo Gonzalez (R), Dallara-Honda. 1:08.5259, 120.830.
22. 26 Carlos Munoz, Dallara-Honda. 1:08.3533, 121.135.
23. 19 Francesco Dracone (R), Dallara-Honda. 1:10.1133. 118.095.

[rwintle]

Hm. I missed quali - what happened to Montoya? Anything obvious? He seems rather off the pace considering his recent form.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

No too sure about that, Maldonado leaves a lot to be desired. Otherwise yes, Dracone shouldn't be there at all.

You mean the Grand Prix winner Maldonado? Who beat Alonso wheel to wheel in 2012?

He might not be the most consistent racer but he definitely deserves to be there

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

You mean the Grand Prix winner Maldonado? Who beat Alonso wheel to wheel in 2012?

He might not be the most consistent racer but he definitely deserves to be there

Spain 2012 was the exception, otherwise it's been puntuated by penalties and reprimands and he's managed to accrue three penalty points on his licence already this season but we digress, .

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Spain 2012 was the exception, otherwise it's been puntuated by penalties and reprimands and he's managed to accrue three penalty points on his licence already this season but we digress, .

2012 in general was an exception! And he's a massive improvement on Dracone and Gonzalez, even if he appears to be missing a brain...

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

2012 in general was an exception! And he's a massive improvement on Dracone and Gonzalez, even if he appears to be missing a brain...

Dracone and Gonzalez are just plain out of their depth but at least they don't crash quite as often, so far.

[codename_47]

So by how much will helio be allowed to jump the start this time and what disgracefully low amount of cars lined up side by side be deemed acceptable by race control to throw a green for?

The start will need serious work this week after long beach.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by codename_47

So by how much will helio be allowed to jump the start this time and what disgracefully low amount of cars lined up side by side be deemed acceptable by race control to throw a green for?

The start will need serious work this week after long beach.

That was a ragged start at Long Beach, I was surprised they didn't wave them round.

Otherwise it's a very sunny day at Barber.

[BudLightJaguar]

Weather looks gorgeous. This time the national anthem was kind of outlaw version.

[MoMedic9019]

Originally Posted by BudLightJaguar

Weather looks gorgeous. This time the national anthem was kind of outlaw version.

If by "outlaw" you mean terrible... you'd be spot on.

[bjohnsonsmith]

That was a better start than at Long Beach. Newgarden's on a bit of an early charge, up to second.

[BudLightJaguar]

Originally Posted by MoMedic9019

If by "outlaw" you mean terrible... you'd be spot on.

No, don't worry. Outlaw country version instead of typical NFL'ish r&b phrasing.

[MoMedic9019]

Originally Posted by BudLightJaguar

No, don't worry. Outlaw country version instead of typical NFL'ish r&b phrasing.

Ah....ok

It was still terrible.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Split screen. They should do that more often.