2012 Road to Indy - Indy Lights, Star Mazda, USF2000 - Page 4

NaBUru38 · 8 Jul 2012, 00:02 (Ref:3103580)

Hey, there wasn't a single American driver at the Indy Lights race! Of course, most have graduated already (Newgarden, Hildebrand). But Clauson and Wagner could do more Indy Lights.

W.A Trichlorostyrene · 8 Jul 2012, 14:17 (Ref:3103778)

Quote:

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Hey, there wasn't a single American driver at the Indy Lights race! Of course, most have graduated already (Newgarden, Hildebrand). But Clauson and Wagner could do more Indy Lights.

I don't know... Clauson and Wagner are clear oval specialsts. With the amount of road/street courses in IndyCar right now, their chances of climbing the final step of the ladder are rather small.

One could argue that staying on the sidelines won't improve their road racing skills. But "forcing the issue" and pulling out a road program in Lights could be a money and reputation killer.

Ed Carpenter is there to prove that the transition can be very hard, and take a lot of time.

But anyway, back to the car count problem. One thing that surprised me at Toronto: 21 cars in Star Mazda, 11 in Lights. Is the difference in terms of budget that big between the two series?

Good spot on the lack of American drivers in Lights, I noticed that too. But this might change very soon, there are a few bright talents in Star Mazda right now. Conor de Philippi and Sage Karam in particular. Maybe Ashley Freiberg could graduate too thanks to TrueCar money.

kobefly · 9 Jul 2012, 00:48 (Ref:3103988)

IndyLights - Season 2012 - Driver Standings

Pos	Driver	Nat	Team	Points	R01	R02	R03	R04	R05	R06	R07	R08	R09	R10	R11	R12
1	Guerrieri, Esteban		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	316	40	35	52	50	26	35	50	28
2	Vautier, Tristan		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	295	53	40	35	30	30	53	35	19
3	Saavedra, Sebastian		AFS Racing /Andretti Autosport	284	35	53	41	30	28	40	17	40
4	Yacaman, Gustavo		Team Moore Racing	269	28	32	20	23	50	24	40	52
5	Carbone, Victor		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	253	30	30	32	30	32	28	35	36
6	Munoz, Carlos		Andretti Autosport	218	16	16	30	40	40	30	26	20
7	Webb, Oliver		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	196	32	17	28	15	38	18	18	30
8	Ostella, David		Team Moore Racing	178	15	22	24	12	17	32	30	26
9	Juan Pablo, Garcia		Jeffrey Mark Motorsports	176	26	24	26	19	22	19	16	24
10	Goncalvez, Jorge		Belardi Auto Racing	159	19	20	22	18	8	22	28	22
11	Day, Alon		Belardi Auto Racing	154	18	28	19	24	24	26	15
12	Ebrahim, Armaan		Fan Force United	97	24	18	18	17	20
13	Horto, J.V.		Juncos Racing	69	17	26		26
14	Dempsey, Peter		Younessi Racing	67				16	19			32
15	Larrison, Mike		Belardi Auto Racing	58				22		17	19
16	Wills, Darryl		Hillenburg Motorsports	54	20	19	15
17	Austin, Chase		Juncos Racing	44				20			24
18	Clauson, Bryan		Fan Force United	40						20	20
19	Castaneda, Troy		Bryan Herta Autosport	37	22	15
20	Krohn, Anders		Bryan Herta Autosport	34				12			22
21	Younessi, Rodin		Younessi Racing	32	14				18
22	Andries, Nick		Tbolt BHA	17			17
23	Jones, Alex		Brooks Associates Racing	16	0		16
24	Wagner, Brandon		Team E	14				14
25	Newton-John, Emerson		Fan Force United	13				13

NaBUru38 · 9 Jul 2012, 15:06 (Ref:3104240)

Star Mazda standings after Toronto:

1. Jack Hawksworth, 197
2. Connor de Phillippi, 158
3. Gabby Chaves, 150
4. Martin Scuncio, 141
5. Juan Piedrahita, 140
5. Sage Karam, 140
7. Petri Suvanto, 133

Next races are Edmonton and Trois-Rivières.

**gomick** · 10 Jul 2012, 10:58 (Ref:3104555)

Wasn't there only 11 lights cars at Toronto? What's going on???

FordCosworthPanoz · 11 Jul 2012, 13:21 (Ref:3105116)

Quote:

Originally Posted by gomick

Wasn't there only 11 lights cars at Toronto? What's going on???

In 2007 you had a solid 23-26 car grid in Atlantics in addition to 15-18 in the IPS. Star Mazda had a solid grid and you had plenty of young American drivers throughout these series. In Atlantics you had Indycar and Ferrari driver Raphael Matos, current Indycar driver James Hinchliffe, current Indycar driver J.R. Hildebrand and current Camaro factory driver John Edwards with guys like Wickens, Strous and Perara also in the field. Something is seriously wrong when only 11 cars show up with no young Americans in the field, hopefully Connor De Phillippi and Sage Karam (Sage is with Andretti) could be in Lights next year. But I see many of the other guys going off to Europe.

mountainstar · 11 Jul 2012, 16:18 (Ref:3105208)

Quote:

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

In 2007 you had a solid 23-26 car grid in Atlantics in addition to 15-18 in the IPS. Star Mazda had a solid grid and you had plenty of young American drivers throughout these series. In Atlantics you had Indycar and Ferrari driver Raphael Matos, current Indycar driver James Hinchliffe, current Indycar driver J.R. Hildebrand and current Camaro factory driver John Edwards with guys like Wickens, Strous and Perara also in the field. Something is seriously wrong when only 11 cars show up with no young Americans in the field, hopefully Connor De Phillippi and Sage Karam (Sage is with Andretti) could be in Lights next year. But I see many of the other guys going off to Europe.

Well it is pretty simple, when there is nothing to feed to, there is no point in having feeder series. There are very few that make a decent living in the irl once they pay their expenses. So why spend millions of dollars going through the junior formulas and then invest in buying a ride in the irl, when you can spend the same in Nascar and get a better return and maybe find actual sponsors? It's a no brainer.

I remember one of the criticisms why tony george split from CART was too many foreigners running around and now here we are in the middle of his "vision" and the junior formulas are plugged with some rich south americans and euro formula rejects and few or no Americans. Wow.

ptclaus98 · 14 Jul 2012, 14:00 (Ref:3106356)

Quote:

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

In 2007 you had a solid 23-26 car grid in Atlantics in addition to 15-18 in the IPS. Star Mazda had a solid grid and you had plenty of young American drivers throughout these series. In Atlantics you had Indycar and Ferrari driver Raphael Matos, current Indycar driver James Hinchliffe, current Indycar driver J.R. Hildebrand and current Camaro factory driver John Edwards with guys like Wickens, Strous and Perara also in the field. Something is seriously wrong when only 11 cars show up with no young Americans in the field, hopefully Connor De Phillippi and Sage Karam (Sage is with Andretti) could be in Lights next year. But I see many of the other guys going off to Europe.

2007 was a completely different economic atmosphere, with both series getting great TV time. And both top series were arguably doing better than IndyCar is today.

W.A Trichlorostyrene · 15 Jul 2012, 15:03 (Ref:3106679)

Speaking of Sage Karam...

Here's a video of him going from 21st to 3rd. At Toronto.

He gained them all on track. No pitstops or significant attrition involved.

Not a mean feat. Especially in a close spec-series like Star Mazda.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW5Dt5qmLYA

kobefly · 20 Jul 2012, 18:18 (Ref:3109183)

Edmonton - Free Practice 1

Pos	#	Driver	Nat	Team	Time	Dif	Laps
1	26	Munoz, Carlos		Andretti Autosport	1:22.7544	0	0
2	27	Saavedra, Sebastian		AFS Racing /Andretti Autosport	1:23.0507	0.2963	0
3	77	Vautier, Tristan		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	1:23.12	0.3655	0
4	9	Dempsey, Peter		Younessi Racing	1:23.3812	0.6268	0
5	11	Guerrieri, Esteban		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	1:23.4711	0.7166	0
6	7	Webb, Oliver		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	1:23.5413	0.7868	0
7	3	Carbone, Victor		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	1:23.9531	1.1987	0
8	2	Yacaman, Gustavo		Team Moore Racing	1:34.0023	11.2478	0
9	76	Juan Pablo, Garcia		Jeffrey Mark Motorsports	1:24.4544	1.7	0
10	4	Goncalvez, Jorge		Belardi Auto Racing	1:25.5396	2.7852	0
11	22	Ostella, David		Team Moore Racing	1:26.5427	3.7883	0

**gomick** · 23 Jul 2012, 08:18 (Ref:3110176)

Camilo Schmidt & Jack Hawksworth get the race wins...
Star Mazda Standings after Edmonton...

kurski · 6 Aug 2012, 10:51 (Ref:3116586)

Tristan Vautier closed right in on Indy Lights championship leader and Sam Schmidt team-mate Esteban Guerrieri by taking his third victory of the season in Trois-Rivieres in Canada.

Top5 points positions:

Quote:

1. Esteban Guerrieri, 383 points
2. Tristan Vautier, 376
3. Sebastian Saavedra, 346
4. Gustavo Yacaman, 335
5. Carlos Munoz, 306

kobefly · 6 Aug 2012, 13:53 (Ref:3116668)

IndyLights - Season 2012 - Driver Standings

Pos	Driver	Nat	Team	Points	R01	R02	R03	R04	R05	R06	R07	R08	R09	R10	R11	R12
1	Guerrieri, Esteban		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	383	40	35	52	50	26	35	50	28	35	32
2	Vautier, Tristan		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	376	53	40	35	30	30	53	35	19	28	53
3	Saavedra, Sebastian		AFS Racing /Andretti Autosport	346	35	53	41	30	28	40	17	40	40	22
4	Yacaman, Gustavo		Team Moore Racing	335	28	32	20	23	50	24	40	52	26	40
5	Munoz, Carlos		Andretti Autosport	306	16	16	30	40	40	30	26	20	53	35
6	Carbone, Victor		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	301	30	30	32	30	32	28	35	36	24	24
7	Webb, Oliver		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	258	32	17	28	15	38	18	18	30	32	30
8	Ostella, David		Team Moore Racing	226	15	22	24	12	17	32	30	26	20	28
9	Juan Pablo, Garcia		Jeffrey Mark Motorsports	218	26	24	26	19	22	19	16	24	22	20
10	Goncalvez, Jorge		Belardi Auto Racing	204	19	20	22	18	8	22	28	22	19	26
11	Day, Alon		Belardi Auto Racing	147	18	28	19	24	24	26	8
12	Dempsey, Peter		Younessi Racing	116				16	19			32	30	19
13	Ebrahim, Armaan		Fan Force United	97	24	18	18	17	20
14	Horto, J.V.		Juncos Racing	69	17	26		26
15	Larrison, Mike		Belardi Auto Racing	58				22		17	19
16	Wills, Darryl		Hillenburg Motorsports	54	20	19	15
17	Austin, Chase		Juncos Racing	44				20			24
18	Clauson, Bryan		Fan Force United	40						20	20
19	Castaneda, Troy		Bryan Herta Autosport	37	22	15
20	Krohn, Anders		Bryan Herta Autosport	34				12			22
21	Younessi, Rodin		Younessi Racing	32	14				18
22	Andries, Nick		Tbolt BHA	17			17
23	Jones, Alex		Brooks Associates Racing	16	0		16
24	Wagner, Brandon		Team E	14				14
25	Newton-John, Emerson		Fan Force United	13				13

W.A Trichlorostyrene · 7 Aug 2012, 09:08 (Ref:3116995)

7 points gap with 2 races to go. Should be interresting isn't it?

NaBUru38 · 8 Aug 2012, 13:15 (Ref:3117576)

Because of the points scale, it depends more on retirements than wins.

W.A Trichlorostyrene · 31 Aug 2012, 16:34 (Ref:3127948)

Lam Park will be happy... Adderly Fong is racing in Lights this week-end.

kobefly · 1 Sep 2012, 21:37 (Ref:3128524)

Vautier on pole, Guerrieri second. Now the championship difference is only 6 points in favour of Esteban Guerrieri.

W.A Trichlorostyrene · 2 Sep 2012, 09:34 (Ref:3128837)

The interresting part is that Guerrieri is pretty much forced to make a move on Vautier if he wants to go to the finale as the championship leader.

Unless Tristan makes a mistake, of course.

NaBUru38 · 2 Sep 2012, 13:58 (Ref:3129000)

That's cool. Let's see how it goes.

W.A Trichlorostyrene · 3 Sep 2012, 09:24 (Ref:3129703)

Funny how the Fontana finale have such similar scenarios for both Lights and IndyCar.

The mighty fast road course specialist, chased by the more complete driver.

kobefly · 3 Sep 2012, 11:26 (Ref:3129790)

IndyLights - Season 2012 - Driver Standings

Pos	Driver	Nat	Team	Points	R01	R02	R03	R04	R05	R06	R07	R08	R09	R10	R11	R12
1	Vautier, Tristan		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	429	53	40	35	30	30	53	35	19	28	53	53
2	Guerrieri, Esteban		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	418	40	35	52	50	26	35	50	28	35	32	35
3	Yacaman, Gustavo		Team Moore Racing	375	28	32	20	23	50	24	40	52	26	40	40
4	Saavedra, Sebastian		AFS Racing /Andretti Autosport	366	35	53	41	30	28	40	17	40	40	22	20
5	Munoz, Carlos		Andretti Autosport	325	16	16	30	40	40	30	26	20	53	35	19
6	Carbone, Victor		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	310	30	30	32	30	32	28	35	36	24	24	9
7	Webb, Oliver		Sam Schmidt Motorsports	286	32	17	28	15	38	18	18	30	32	30	28
8	Ostella, David		Team Moore Racing	258	15	22	24	12	17	32	30	26	20	28	32
9	Juan Pablo, Garcia		Jeffrey Mark Motorsports	240	26	24	26	19	22	19	16	24	22	20	22
10	Goncalvez, Jorge		Belardi Auto Racing	230	19	20	22	18	8	22	28	22	19	26	26
11	Day, Alon		Belardi Auto Racing	147	18	28	19	24	24	26	8
12	Dempsey, Peter		Younessi Racing	146				16	19			32	30	19	30
13	Ebrahim, Armaan		Fan Force United	97	24	18	18	17	20
14	Horto, J.V.		Juncos Racing	69	17	26		26
15	Larrison, Mike		Belardi Auto Racing	58				22		17	19
16	Wills, Darryl		Hillenburg Motorsports	54	20	19	15
17	Austin, Chase		Juncos Racing	44				20			24
18	Clauson, Bryan		Fan Force United	40						20	20
19	Castaneda, Troy		Bryan Herta Autosport	37	22	15
20	Krohn, Anders		Bryan Herta Autosport	34				12			22
21	Younessi, Rodin		Younessi Racing	32	14				18
22	Newton-John, Emerson		Fan Force United	31				13							18
23	Fong, Adderly		Brooks Associates Racing	24											24
24	Andries, Nick		Tbolt BHA	17			17
25	Jones, Alex		Brooks Associates Racing	16	0		16
26	Wagner, Brandon		Team E	14				14

**gomick** · 13 Sep 2012, 05:44 (Ref:3135171)

Star Mazda Standings...

Jack Hawksworth & Gabby Chaves win at Laguna Seca - 1 round to go at Road Atlanta on October 20...

W.A Trichlorostyrene · 13 Sep 2012, 09:05 (Ref:3135266)

Quote:

Originally Posted by gomick

Star Mazda Standings...

Jack Hawksworth & Gabby Chaves win at Laguna Seca - 1 round to go at Road Atlanta on October 20...

Jack Hawksworth has clinched the championship. He won a $600.000 scholarship for IndyLights.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...setting-style/

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...h-on-the-rise/

kurski · 15 Sep 2012, 22:50 (Ref:3136588)

Tristan Vautier is new Indylights champion, little annoying that Esteban Guerrieri not won the championship.

W.A Trichlorostyrene · 16 Sep 2012, 04:47 (Ref:3136660)

Second (rookie) title in 2 years for Vautier. Even with Lights' pretty bad current state, this is damn impressive.

It's a bit embarrassing that Guerrieri managed to lose again to someone not even half experienced as he is... Esteban is a guy who was already racing F3000s in 2004, mind you.

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