Round 10: Rev Group Grand Prix at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. June 21-23.
The 2016 Kohler Grand Prix, was the first major AOWR event to be held at Road America since the Champ Car Generac Grand Prix of Road America in August 2007. With the exception of 2005, when the race was dropped due to sponsorship issues, it was a perennial event on the CART/Champ Car calendar from 1982 - 2007, with Héctor Rebaque winning the innaugural Road America 200 in 1982, for Forsythe Racing, in a March 82C-Ford Cosworth DFX and Sébastien Bourdais, winning the Champ Car Generac Grand Prix of Road America, for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, in a Panoz DP-01-Cosworth XFE, in 2007. With the merger of Champ Car and the IRL in 2008, the race was dropped from the calendar.
The very first race to be held at Elkhart Lake was in 1950 and organized by the Chicago Region and Milwaukee Region of The Sports Car Club of America. It was the first of three races from 1950 - 1952, which were held on courses layed out on public roads. However, after a fatal accident at Watkins Glen in 1952, it was decided to discontinue motor racing on all public roads and the event was moved to a private, purpose built course. Highway engineer Clif Tufte, got together with local citizens and the Chicago Region of the Sports Car Club of America to develop and build a permanent racecourse. On September 10, 1955, Road America held its first SCCA national race weekend.
Since then, the track has hosted many major American motorsport's series, including the American Le Mans Series, CART, NASCAR and the United States Road Racing Championship. During this time the layout has hardly changed, apart from a chicane that was installed for AMA motorcycle competitors at The Kink.
Some trivia:
The driver with the most wins: 3.
Mario Andretti: 1983, 1984, 1987.
Emerson Fittipaldi, 1986, 1988, 1982.
Michael Andretti: 1991, 1992, 1996.
The team with the most wins: 10.
Newman/Haas Racing: 1983, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2007.
Original track layout:
Current track layout:
Length: 4.048 miles (6.515 km)
Turns: 14
Lap record:
Dario Franchitti, August 19, 2000. 1:39.866, 145.924 mph (234.84 km/h).
Team Kool Green,
Reynard 2KI-Honda HRK.
CART FedEx Championship Series.
Last year's race:
Newgarden took Pole for the second race in a row, making a great start. However, Team Penske teammate Will Power, who was in the second spot on the front row of the grid, dropped down to the back of the field with engine issues, needing to pit at the end of a very slow first lap.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was able to jump up into second, while teammate Rossi had to muscle past Robert Wickens at Turn 5 on the opening lap, in order to take third place, with Wickens dropping to sixth.
The previous year's winner Scott Dixon was seventh, ahead of Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti. Spencer Pigot passed Simon Pagenaud, running primary tires. Tony Kanaan also made excellent progress, going from 18th to 12th in the opening two laps.
Newgarden increased his lead over Hunter-Reay, to over a second on Lap 8 and by lap 10, Newgarden, Hunter-Reay, Rossi and Sato were running around 0.9 seconds apart.
Sato, Rahal and Pigot were the first of the top 10 runners to pit at the end of Lap 13. The following lap Newgarden, Hunter-Reay, Rossi and Wickens all stopped for primary tires, leaving Dixon out front for one lap. However, the extra lap didn’t help Dixon as he emerged in sixth behind Wickens. The top four continued to run ine astern, saving fuel, while Wickens worked hard to close the gap ahead, joining the tail of that group, with Dixon completing the top six.
Rossi had fallen 3.5sec behind the Newgarden vs Hunter-Reay battle by the second round of pitstops, which began with Sato, Rahal, Pagenaud, Pigot stopping on Lap 27, with Rossi and Wickens pitting on Lap 28, followed by Newgarden, Hunter-Reay and Dixon on Lap 29.
Rossi and Wickens had pulled out of the pits in front of Sato but the Japanese driver dived down the inside of Wickens into Turn 3. Sato then tried to squeeze around the outside of Rossi at Turn 5 but lost momentum on the rumble strip. Both drivers stayed level up to Turn 6, where Rossi ran Sato out of road. Sato’s trip across the grass allowed Wickens to get passed him. All three trailed behind Dixon, who had a very strong second stop and by Lap 30 Rossi closed in on Dixon. Just a couple of seconds ahead, Hunter-Reay, now on primaries, was putting pressure on Newgarden who was reds.
On Lap 35, Wickens was bumped back to seventh as Rahal made it two RLLR cars in the top six, and closed on teammate Sato who had to lean on his push to pass to keep his teammate behind him. It now became a battle for fourth, as at the start of Lap 38, Rossi slowed with a left-front puncture and lost a camber shim. Both the RLLR cars and Wickens passed him before the Rossi pulled in the following lap as the pit crew made repairs. Rossi resumed the race in 19th.
Sato, Rahal, Wickens, Pagenaud and Pigot all pitted at the end of Lap 41, though Pagenaud was delayed as Wickens was released from his stop into Pagenaud’s path. It was enough to drop Pagenaud behind Pigot and eventually lost ninth place to Ganassi's Ed Jones. Wickens gained from his stop, emerging fifth ahead of Rahal and splitting the RLLR cars.
Dixon hit pitlane on Lap 42 to pick up a set of fresh reds, while Newgarden was able to stretch his lead over Hunter-Reay to 2.2 seconds before they both pitted at the end of Lap 43. As the two leaders emerged from pitlane, Dixon bore down on them, with the benefit of much warmer tires but Dixon had a major moment at Turn 14, which gave Hunter-Reay the reprieve he needed as he chased down Newgarden, soon cutting Newgarden's lead to half a second, before Newgarden started pulling away once more, as Dixon now closed on Hunter-Reay.
Newgarden took the 10th win of his career, winning by 3.4 seconds over Hunter-Reay, who beat Dixon by 2.1sec. Sato was 9 seconds down on Dixon but a similar distance ahead of Wickens, who in turn was about 9 sec in front of Rahal, who finished sixth. Rossi was eventually classified 16th.
The results now left Dixon in the lead in the driver's championship, with 393 points, followed by Hunter-Reay 348, Rossi also on 348, Newgarden 343, Power 328, Graham Rahal 278, Robert Wickens 274, Simon Pagenaud 255, Sebastien Bourdais 235 and Marco Andretti 232.
Pole:
Josef Newgarden, 1:43.2026, 140.020 mph (225.340 km/h).
Team Penske,
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6.
Last year's winner:
Josef Newgarden,
Team Penske.
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6.
Laps 55
Distance 222.64 Miles (358.30 km)
Race Time 1:40:16
Speed 132.101 Mph (212.595 km/h)
Cautions: 0
TV Broadcast NBCSN, Jun 23, 12:00pm ET.