Indy race @ Barber - Sunday, 4/1/2012

[jsmyle1%...]

BIRMINGHAM, March 31, 2012: Helio Castroneves won an IZOD IndyCar Series pole position for the first time in more than a year, topping a wild qualifying session at Barber Motorsports Park.

Castroneves set a best lap of 1:10.4768 in the Firestone Fast Six to claim the pole position for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Castroneves was the 2010 winner at Barber and the race winner at this season's opening race at St. Pete.


Starting lineup, team, car, time

1. Helio Castroneves, Team Penske, Chevrolet, 1:10.4768.
2. James Hinchcliffe, Andretti Autosport, Chevrolet, 1:10.5222.
3. Scott Dixon, Ganassi Racing, Honda, 1:10.5291.
4. Mike Conway, A.J. Foyt Racing, Honda, 1:10.8791.
5. JR Hildebrand, Panther Racing, Chevrolet, 1:11.0759.
6. Tony Kanaan, KV Racing Technology, Chevrolet, 1:11.3740.
7. EJ Viso, KV Racing Technology, Chevrolet, 1:11.5257.
8. Graham Rahal, Ganassi Racing, Honda, 1:11.5841.
9. Will Power, Team Penske, Chevrolet, 1:12.0098.
10. Simon Pagenaud, Schmidt Hamilton Racing, Honda, 1:14.2839.
11. Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport, Chevrolet, no time in Round 2.
12. Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske, Chevrolet, no time in Round 2.
13. Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport, Chevrolet, 1:10.6512.
14. Rubens Barrichello, KV Racing Technology, Chevrolet, 1:10.5664.
15. Josef Newgarden, Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, Honda, 1:10.6851.
16. Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda, 1:10.6111.
17. Sebastien Bourdais, Dragon Racing, Lotus, 1:10.7255.
18. Dario Franchitti, Ganassi Racing, Honda, 1:10.6749.
19. Justin Wilson, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda, 1:11.5524.
20. James Jakes, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda, 1:10.7526.
21. Simona De Silvestro, HVM Racing, Lotus, 1:11.5721.
22. Charlie Kimball, Ganassi Racing, Honda, 1:11.3594.
23. Alex Tagliani, Bryan Herta Autosport, Lotus, 1:12.5778.
24. Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet, 1:11.8672.
25. Katherine Legge, Dragon Racing, Lotus, 1:13.6457.
26. Oriol Servia, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Lotus, 1:13.3349.

[Mk1Racer]

What is w/ Indy Car qualifying? Cars 13-20 faster than cars 5-12. The cars in 13-20 are covered by <.5 seconds, and some of the cars in 5-12 are multiple seconds slower. How is that not a recipe for disaster?

[jsmyle1%...]

I believe the Indy car series has adopted a qualifying format similar F1...in that there are separate qualifying sessions....However, I believe there are also separate GROUPS....and the slowest drivers of each respective group get eliminated at the end of each session.

I guess its entirely possible that the slower drivers of one group may actually post faster times than the fastest drivers of different group.....

[mx5er]

Overall a great race. Lot of passing

I think the announcers were a bit off on Barirchello. Yes, he was right-foot braking 4 lyfe. But I believe he made the switch to left foot braking a couple of years ago b/c he basically had too. The way F1 cars were evolving, basically there was no room if I recall.

[rrr rr]

Overall a great race. Lot of passing

I think the announcers were a bit off on Barirchello. Yes, he was right-foot braking 4 lyfe. But I believe he made the switch to left foot braking a couple of years ago b/c he basically had too. The way F1 cars were evolving, basically there was no room if I recall.

In the Haynes manual for the RB7, it says the steering column prevents right foot braking, and on bumpy tracks like Monaco, the pedals conform to the driver's shoes with a fence on the outside to keep his foot in place. I assume most current F1 cars are like that.