2011 IndyCar silly season

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by cos

No...it was announced earlier this year that the 2011 Motegi race would be the last IndyCar visit.

I see Katherine Legge is hinting on her Facebook page that she will be making her IndyCar debut soon...

So Motegi won't be on next season's calendar; that's a shame.

[cds_uk]

Pleased to see that Jay Howard has got another crack at it with Rahal, he did a decent job at Indy and the crash was hardly his fault.

[cds_uk]

Any idea who Katherine might get her drive with?

[Yannick]

Originally Posted by cds_uk

Pleased to see that Jay Howard has got another crack at it with Rahal, he did a decent job at Indy and the crash was hardly his fault.

These are good news for Jay and the RLL/Schmidt entry.

I agree with my forespeaker that the drive of Bertrand Baguette in the #30 Rahal/Letterman/Lanigan entry was impressive. After all, for winning it, he was only a few laps short of fuel.

Team Rahal definitely deserve to be back with a full time entry.

[kurski]

Originally Posted by marcostraz

The italian journalist talk about Hinchcliffe, not Servia...

Where race Pantano will possibly replace Hinchcliffe?...

[cds_uk]

Not sure Giorgio will end up with a drive, hope he does as he has always been one of my fav drivers and he is well worth a seat but i haven't been able to find any news of it anywhere, UK or Italian press.

[HJJ]

Tags needs a new engineer and maybe a car for Legge later this year

Allen McDonald, who engineered Alex Tagliani's pole winning car for Sam Schmidt Motorsports at Indianapolis, is heading back to Andretti Autosport.

It's believed McDonald will be paired with Mike Conway, the Long Beach Grand Prix winner who missed qualifying for last month's 95th Indianapolis 500.

The native of England is regarded as one of the best in the INDYCAR paddock and among his accomplishments are guiding Dario Franchitti to the 2007 Indy 500 and IRL titles.

It's a blow for Tagliani, who bested Scott Dixon for the pole in the shootout and SSM, which also leased Dan Wheldon's Indy-winning car to Bryan Herta Motorsports.

"It's a setback obviously because Allen was a big part of our little group's success and we'll miss him a lot,'' said Rob Edwards, the general manager for SSM. "We'll regroup and try to build a better mousetrap and we'll likely have to go outside and get somebody."

Edwards said SSM was looking at running a second car later in the season and it's thought to be former CART regular Katherine Legge.

More.

Indianapolis 500 pole winner Alex Tagliani is losing his engineer but not his ride.

A ton of chatter around the Izod IndyCar Series had Tagliani's No. 77 car out of funding, but Sam Schmidt said Monday that's not so.

In fact, Schmidt said he is working to field a second car after the upcoming stretch of three oval races. Schmidt said the car will be "an experimental program" for 2012, a chance to try different drivers and build another crew.

As for Tagliani's engineer, Allen McDonald, who led the Indianapolis 500 effort, is moving back to Andretti Autosport. The group of cars under the Schmidt umbrella qualified first (Tagliani), fourth (Townsend Bell) and sixth (Dan Wheldon). Wheldon won the race as the Bryan Herta Autosport driver. Tagliani and Bell drove for Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

McDonald engineered Dario Franchitti's car when it won the 500 and the IndyCar title in 2007.

In related news, Jay Howard, another Schmidt driver on loan to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, will have his season extended. After driving in the 500, Howard will compete in this weekend's doubleheader at Texas Motor Speedway.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Originally Posted by Jonerz

no visible Telemundo badging.

Telemundo were on the top of the sidepod, so it was hard to see, but they were the same-sized logos that used to be on the side. CDW replaced them on the side and the wings, obviously, but they were still there. In fact, they were finally on ServiÃ*'s uniform; first time all year they had the patches.

It was nice to see sponsorship on Oriol's car, and good to see him on ESPN. Sadly, the TV coverage of the race couldn't make much of a story out of his good day, since their NASCAR commentators only knew two facts about him: he's a Spaniard, and he's from Spain.

Originally Posted by HJJ

Tags needs a new engineer and maybe a car for Legge later this year

What he really needs is funding to get him past Edmonton. After that, his ride is uncertain.

[Yannick]

Sam Schmidt Motorsports need Tagliani to keep continuity in the team with running all those part time efforts as well. Schmidt staged an incredible team effort at Indianapolis. After all, it was Schmidt who provided the winning chassis for the #98 Herta entry and Tagliani, Bell and Wheldon worked as team mates.

I guess I'm a fan of Schmidt's team. I'm sure they will be FAZZT, pardon me, fast again at Mid-Ohio.

[cds_uk]

Just found an interview with Pantano on an Italian site (motorinside) from March this year where he says he is 90% certain that he will have an indycar drive sorted, he also mentions that he will have to bring no money, make of that what you will but as its three months down the line and we have yet to hear any more i guess it didn't work out for him.

[marcostraz]

Originally Posted by cds_uk

Just found an interview with Pantano on an Italian site (motorinside) from March this year where he says he is 90% certain that he will have an indycar drive sorted, he also mentions that he will have to bring no money, make of that what you will but as its three months down the line and we have yet to hear any more i guess it didn't work out for him.

I dont' know how is realistic...it's several years that in the winter Pantano said that Pantano is close to a deal to run in IndyCar...

[Jacques Rabbit]

Pantano rumors, huh?

They ought to make it easier on us and just combine the ones we know are going to surface one day. Give us a sweeping "Pantano to purchase Indianapolis Motor Speedway, relocate it to China and re-brand as a Green Prix race" every May and be done with it.

[Jonerz]

I love how they called Legge a CART regular. She go to Rockingham as a kid or something? Makes me laugh about the open-wheel confusion that still exists, even within IndyCar and its partners it exists... sad. What a bipolar post this is.

Chris

[skells22]

staying on the subject of lady racers Pippa Mann has got a 3 race deal with Rahal.

[NaBUru38]

That's very good news for her and for Rahal.

Also, Raphael Matos got sponsorship for a remaining road/temporary course races. This time, the team will be AFS, now without Andretti backing.

[NaBUru38]

A.J. Foyt Trophy standings after Milwaukee:

1. Dario Franchitti (Ganassi), 117
2. Scott Dixon (Ganassi), 111
3. Will Power (Penske), 103
4. Graham Rahal (Ganassi), 94
5. Oriol Serviá (Newman/Haas), 88
6. Danica Patrick (Andretti), 72
6. Tony Kanaan (KV), 72
8. JR Hildebrand (Panther), 68
9. Helio Castroneves (Penske), 65
10. Marco Andretti (Andretti), 64
10. Ryan Briscoe (Penske), 64
12. Takuma Sato (KV), 62
13. Alex Tagliani (Schmidt), 62
14. Dan Wheldon (Herta), 59
15. James Hinchcliffe (Newman/Haas), 54

Only Power and Serviá seem to be abled to beat the Ganassi drivers on ovals.

[Yannick]

Last year, the 2nd Panther Racing entry with Fuzzy Zoeller's sponsorship ran several races additionally to Indy. How about this year? Panther only seems to be a force when they have the data from 2 cars. Here's hoping JR Hildebrand can win a race this year.

Oriol Servia has been impressive so far this season. 3rd in the championship is no mean feat with this kind of competition. He is another contender from the non-Big-3 teams hoping to get a win.

And the same can be said of Tony Kanaan who got close in Milwaukee. Sadly, it was too close to the wall, too.

If you'd ask me which team that is not Ganassi (A&B), not Penske and not Andretti will win next, I'd guess it would be Sam Schmidt Motorsports with Tagliani at the wheel.

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by skells22

staying on the subject of lady racers Pippa Mann has got a 3 race deal with Rahal.

It's good to see her get a go. She should not have qualified for Indy in that car but she went and did it.

[Yannick]

As far as the Fuzzy sponsorship is concerned, what has happened with Scott Speed's intention to run at Vegas? Does he still want to give it a try, having not found a good setup at Indy all month?

[NaBUru38]

A.J. Foyt Trophy standings after Iowa:

1. Dario Franchitti (Ganassi), 149
2. Scott Dixon (Ganassi), 146
3. Will Power (Penske), 115
4. Marco Andretti (Andretti), 114
5. Tony Kanaan (KV), 112
6. Graham Rahal (Ganassi), 109
7. Oriol Serviá (Newman/Haas), 104
8. J.R. Hildebrand (Panther), 100

The crash hurt Power's chances of Power and got caught by 1-2 finishers Andretti and Kanaan. New Hampshire is next in August 14, then just Kentucky and Las Vegas.

Mario Andretti Trophy standings after São Paulo:

1. Will Power, 168
2. Dario Franchitti, 154
3. Oriol Servia, 110
4. Mike Conway, 102
5. Ryan Briscoe, 101
6. Tony Kanaan, 99
7. Alex Tagliani, 85
8. Scott Dixon, 84
9. Graham Rahal, 82
10. Takuma Sato, 80

With Motegi now a road course, six races are left, so anyone might yet catch up Power and Franchitti. But I doubt it. Toronto is next in two weeks.

[Yannick]

What's happening with all those possible additional entries?

I know Wade Cunningham will return at Las Vegas and another oval (I think it was Kentucky) in the #99 car for Sam Schmidt.

Katherine Legge will be nice to have around, too, at Sam Schmidt's team. But hopefully, Alex Tagliani keeps his #77 ride because a great team such as Schmidt needs some continuity. So it would be nice if Legge would get to drive the #99 on road courses as teammate to Alex.

Now what happens at Jay Penske's Dragon Racing? So far, Paul Tracy will be in the #8 at Toronto and Edmonton. Will Scott Speed be back at Las Vegas or has he had enough?

I can only hope that Panther Racing can get together a deal for the #44 car to run Buddy Rice again, at least at Kentucky where the team was absolutely fabulous last year. At Indy they have shown that the benefits of having data from 2 cars instead of just one are really big and make the difference between a potential winner and a midfielder. So here's hoping that this team will turn into a 2-car effort rather sooner than later.

And what about Indy 500 winners Bryan Herta Autosport and Dan Wheldon in the #98 car? Here's hoping they can fit in the Kentucky oval and the Las Vegas season finale into their new car testing schedule and convince their sponsors that this makes sense. They won the Indy 500 so they are capable of winning any other oval race this year, too.

[NaBUru38]

Most teams are saving money for 2012's new cars, right?

[kurski]

Former F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has ruled himself out of appearing in the IndyCar series season finale at Las Vegas in October, despite the lure of a $5 million prize fund that is being offered to any non-series driver who can come in and take the win from under the noses of the regular drivers.

[NaBUru38]

Yeah, he says IndyCar drivers are too aggressive (can't find the source), and then he pushes Papis aside at Road America.

[kurski]

Yesterday rumours AutoRacing1.com:

Newman/Haas to be Lotus team? Chevrolet previously announced Team Penske as its lead team and Honda announced the 4-car Ganassi team. Lotus has not announced a lead team. Its officials are believed to be shopping to buy an existing two-car team, and it might be a team other than KV Racing Technology, which currently has Lotus sponsorship. Rumor has it Newman/Haas may become the lead Lotus team. Would Lotus but them? Well Carl and Bernie Haas are way past retirement age, so you decide.....We hear KV Racing may go with Honda.