Round 4: Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, April 28 - 30

[joeb]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Power maybe but further back not likely

Pato has had no pace since the last stop. Not sure why, fuel savings?

[bjohnsonsmith]

IndyCar Radio are saying Power has 22 secs of P2P and Ro Gro none but Power is on the reds.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Scotty Mac, Ro Gro just can't seem to get that first IndyCar win.

[joeb]

I enjoyed that race, and still wonder what could have been without that single yellow. Good bunch at the top heading into Indy month. I think Romain may win the Indy road course given his current form.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

First FCY. Looked like Sting Ray with a mechanical issue.

NOOOOO! He can't get the breaks. Only driver with a mechanical.

Grosjean - 2nd!

I enjoyed it too. Just a motor race, but one with some good racing.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Race Result:

I enjoyed that, some really good racing.

Chevy got the better of Honda, with two cars finishing on the podium and Roger Penske will be pleased with the team's overall result. A good result for Andretti Autosport, with Romain Grosjean on the podium and Alex Palou in the top six but Grosjean just misses out on that elusive first win.

That was good result for RLLR and much needed, with Christian Lindgaard in 6th but otherwise the rest of the team is struggling, as are Meyer Shank Racing.

[Adam43]

At least Sting Ray can joke about it.
https://twitter.com/sting_ray_robb/s...yWILSZ0DMY7C-g

[fergus_r]

A thoroughly enjoyable race on a wonderful but criminally under-used race track. No unnecessary dramas, just one quick FCY, multiple strategies and some great (genuine) battles on-track.

Grosjean’s move was sublime but hats off to Scotty for leaving just enough room. Lessons have been learnt from St Pete.

I thought the three-stoppers were ambitious but after Newgarden pitted just before the FCY, I was anticipating him to be at least a podium contender before his car (suspension) issues?

Special mention to Marcus Armstrong who had a quiet race from the back to finish 11th.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Barber has had it's contract extended through 2027.


https://racer.com/2023/04/30/indycar...-through-2027/

[mstets]

Originally Posted by joeb

I enjoyed that race, and still wonder what could have been without that single yellow. Good bunch at the top heading into Indy month. I think Romain may win the Indy road course given his current form.

Thinking that the results would have been different. The yellow played into the hands of the 3 stoppers (Penskes, Rossi, Felix). Guessing it would have been Romain, Pato, and Palou for the win without the yellow. Seems to me that Romain managed the reds really well and likely would have come out on top.

[mstets]

Originally Posted by fergus_r

A thoroughly enjoyable race on a wonderful but criminally under-used race track. No unnecessary dramas, just one quick FCY, multiple strategies and some great (genuine) battles on-track.

Grosjean’s move was sublime but hats off to Scotty for leaving just enough room. Lessons have been learnt from St Pete.

I thought the three-stoppers were ambitious but after Newgarden pitted just before the FCY, I was anticipating him to be at least a podium contender before his car (suspension) issues?

Special mention to Marcus Armstrong who had a quiet race from the back to finish 11th.

Josef's early contact may have caused some damage but I have not seen any explanation so far. All the Ganassi drivers had good runs but I wonder if they might have had better results with more yellow flag laps. Wondering how much fuel saving was required for the Honda camp. This was a Penske race points wise, with them racking up 113 points to Ganassi's 95, Andretti's 85, and McLaren's 78.

[fieldodreams79]

After being at an Historic racing event all weekend, I tried to come back and watch Sunday evening. Needless to say I was in and out of consciousness. From what I saw up to the last 20 laps was decent, but the end race was intriguing. Agree with others that Romain is right there; they just need to finish one off!

With that said, was there an issue with Romain's PTP or was the issue with Romain being trigger happy? Seemed odd for him to be out and he seemed genuinely surprised. Not his first race so curious

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

After being at an Historic racing event all weekend, I tried to come back and watch Sunday evening. Needless to say I was in and out of consciousness. From what I saw up to the last 20 laps was decent, but the end race was intriguing. Agree with others that Romain is right there; they just need to finish one off!

With that said, was there an issue with Romain's PTP or was the issue with Romain being trigger happy? Seemed odd for him to be out and he seemed genuinely surprised. Not his first race so curious

He used up his P2P, while Scotty Mac had some 20 secs. eft, so maybe he is trigger happy.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

He used up his P2P, while Scotty Mac had some 20 secs. eft, so maybe he is trigger happy.

I wonder if it is a knee-jerk reaction on his part from his P2P experience at Long Beach at the previous race. IIRC he finished the race with 'heaps' of P2P left that he had been saving to use at the end but transpired he was unable to use it because the team put him on fuel saving strategy at the end of the race. So that sort of counters the generally trigger happy notion, and perhaps suggests Alabama was a case of Im going to make sure I get to use it all this week.

Edit: I found the article I remembered reading re his comments after Long Beach re having a heap of P2P he had saved....

“We had a great strategy, did a very good job. Had a very fast car. Because the way the race turn out, I had to save a lot of fuel on the last stint. I had 188 seconds of push to pass left, but I was not allowed to use it. For once I saved too much, I guess.

“It sucks. I just wanted to push the button and I wasn't allowed to. I would lie if I said I wouldn't have loved to be on the top step of the podium today, and I thought I had a chance. Just the way the race turned out and the fuel situation was, it wasn't possible.

More on that here: https://au.motorsport.com/indycar/ne...pole%20in%20St.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

After being at an Historic racing event all weekend, I tried to come back and watch Sunday evening. Needless to say I was in and out of consciousness. From what I saw up to the last 20 laps was decent, but the end race was intriguing. Agree with others that Romain is right there; they just need to finish one off!

With that said, was there an issue with Romain's PTP or was the issue with Romain being trigger happy? Seemed odd for him to be out and he seemed genuinely surprised. Not his first race so curious

Ole Romain had almost 2 min left when he pitted and it lasted about 5 min after that stop. Last race he had about 2 min left as well when they wrecked.

[Born Racer]

It'll happen for him. He's right there on pace and at a range of circuits, but Grosjean's always been a bit mistake-prone, so it's not a surprise to see it not quite come together yet.

Fantastic moves at the last corner. Love this circuit.

[steve_r]

Just coming to this party quite late, as I only just noticed a day or two ago that this had recorded on my TV box from the free Sky Sport channel. It was a good race, went a bit mental with multiple overtakes about halfway though, and a good battle for the lead.

But my main takeaway is - what an absolutely great track that is. I cant remeber seeing any races around there before.

[numbnuts]

the grammar of the name of this event defeats me .
perhaps an edumacated person can explain it to me .

[Adam43]

Children’s (hospital) of Alabama.

https://www.childrensal.org/about-childrens/history

[numbnuts]

thank you adam43 . wow , 40k posts !

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by steve_r

Just coming to this party quite late, as I only just noticed a day or two ago that this had recorded on my TV box from the free Sky Sport channel. It was a good race, went a bit mental with multiple overtakes about halfway though, and a good battle for the lead.

But my main takeaway is - what an absolutely great track that is. I cant remeber seeing any races around there before.

It's decent for TV but it's a pretty horrendous place to watch in person. There are 3 places to watch. The reserved area at the museum, T2 and at the end of the back stretch. The latter being the best as you can see the flag stand at start/finish, going into and out of the hairpin and them coming out of the coaster, through the high speed kink and into the left/right at the end. Which is great, but everyone and their brother is just jammed in there. And let's talk about the trams....

Sorry, Road Atlanta has also completely spoiled me. Barber is a beautiful facility and I want to go back just to see the museum, if nothing else.

[justracing]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

It's decent for TV but it's a pretty horrendous place to watch in person. There are 3 places to watch. The reserved area at the museum, T2 and at the end of the back stretch. The latter being the best as you can see the flag stand at start/finish, going into and out of the hairpin and them coming out of the coaster, through the high speed kink and into the left/right at the end. Which is great, but everyone and their brother is just jammed in there. And let's talk about the trams....

Sorry, Road Atlanta has also completely spoiled me. Barber is a beautiful facility and I want to go back just to see the museum, if nothing else.

Wow, that's really surprising. It really does see a super circuit for driving and certainly makes for great tv viewing. The race was worth watching just for the Grosjean overtake alone, makes F1 look a bit silly. i love watching all the permanent road races, love to see them race Watkins Glen.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by justracing

Wow, that's really surprising. It really does see a super circuit for driving and certainly makes for great tv viewing. The race was worth watching just for the Grosjean overtake alone, makes F1 look a bit silly. i love watching all the permanent road races, love to see them race Watkins Glen.

IndyCar did race at the Glen from 2005-2010 and again from 2016-2017. It would be great if the series were to return.

[justracing]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

IndyCar did race at the Glen from 2005-2010 and again from 2016-2017. It would be great if the series were to return.

I thought perhaps they had raced there, back then I was still working full time and didn't have the facility or the time.