Day by Day At The Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Race Week

Helio Castroneves and Team Penske win the Tag Heuer Pit Stop Challenge.  [Russ Lake Photo]

by Mary Champion

 

Friday, May 22 – It was a Carb Day, one of the busiest days at the track prior to the Indianapolis 500.

The day opened with vintage race cars making laps on the track. That was followed by a one-hour final practice session for the IndyCars.

Following IndyCar practice was the Freedom 100 Indy Lights race. After the race, the annual pit stop competition was held and, to wind up the day, three concerts were held in the track infield.

This morning it was announced that Carlos Huertas, who had qualified for the 18^th starting position for the “500” had not been cleared medically to drive in the race. He is suffering from an inner ear condition and will have to undergo further testing before he can be cleared to compete in any Verizon IndyCar Series events.

Tristan Vautier, who had qualified the car James Davison is driving in the race, has been named to replace Huertas for the race.

Vautier, who had qualified Davison’s car on Sunday, was scheduled to race in England this weekend but his plans changed at the last minute.

He discussed the change today.

“I was meant to race in Europe in the Blancpain GT Series in Silverstone. We just got a call (from Coyne) and they (the sports car team…Team Akka ASP) said I could race, seize the opportunity that opened up. They would find a replacement driver so I could race in the 500. That’s really cool from them to let me do that. But, yeah, I was meant to be in England today. I was in Chicago O’Hare (on a layover to England) when I had to come back…I put my luggage out, went to Alamo and rented a car and just drove back,” explained Vautier.

Both Davison’s and Vautier’s cars are owned by Dale Coyne Racing.

This driver change means that the entire 11^th row now will be comprised of cars that had been qualified by different drivers than are now going to drive them in the race.

Ryan Briscoe, who is filling in for the injured James Hinchcliffe, will start 31^st, Vautier will start 32^nd and Davison will start 33^rd.

The one-hour IndyCar practice session began promptly at 11:00 a.m. There were no incidents in the practice session in which all 33 qualified cars ran a total of 1195 laps.

Will Power, who will start in the middle of the front row posted the fastest practice time of the day at 229.020 mph while polesitter Scott Dixon was second fastest today with a speed of 228.585 mph.

Chevy’s domination of the speed charts continued, as only the Honda-powered cars of Takuma Sato and Gabby Chaves were in the top ten on the speed charts.

Following the IndyCar practice session it was time for the Freedom 100 Indy Lights race.

The race started one car short as Max Chilton, who was scheduled to start seventh, did not make it to the grid for the start of the race.

Front row starters, Ethen Ringel and Jack Harvey put on a spirited battle for the lead trading the front position back and forth with Ringel leading 30 laps and Harvey credited with leading 10 laps.

The race was run under the green flag until, with three laps to go, when Ed Jones spun and hit the Turn 4 SAFER Barrier bringing out the caution.

Jack Harvey was leading when the caution came out and stayed out front until the end of the race.

Under the caution, Harvey took the win by 1.2127 seconds over Ringel.

Scott Anderson was third, RC Enerson fourth and Kyle Kaiser rounded out the top five.

This was Harvey’s sixth career Indy Lights victory. He won the first of the two Indy Lights races during the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, becoming the first driver to win both on the IMS oval and the road course.

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb Agajanian swept the top four positions in the race. It is the eighth time Schmidt-owned cars have won the Freedom 100.

The final on track event of the day was the Tag Heuer Pit Stop Challenge. In this event, two pit crews go head to head in elimination rounds.

The driver drives into the pit box, then the team completes a four-tire change and a simulated fuel hookup before the car exits the pit box and crosses the finish line. The clock when the car enters the pit box and stops when it crosses the finish line. Penalty times may be added for infractions including loose wheel nuts and running over hoses.

Twelve teams participated in the contest and the final two were the crews of Charlie Kimball and Helio Castroneves with Castroneves’ crew taking the win and the $50,00 first place check.

This was the end of on-track activity until the 99^th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 24, 2015.

 

Thursday, May 21 – There was on track activity at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time since Monday.

The Indy Lights series presented by Cooper Tires, the top rung of the Mazda Road to Indy, was on track in practice and qualifying sessions for tomorrow’s Freedom 100 40-lap race.

The Indy Lights cars took to the track for a three-hour practice session this morning. All 12 cars at the track were out for a total of 556 laps in an incident free session.

Quickest in the session was Sean Rayhall who won the second Indy Lights race at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis two week ago. Rayhall turned a lap at 199.452 mph.   Felix Serralles turned the second fastest lap at 199.318 mph, while Jack Harvey was third quick at 199.187 mph.

After a break, the Indy Lights went out to qualify.

When qualifying was completed, rookie driver Ethan Ringel sat on the pole with a speed of 197.684 mph. Jack Harvey was alongside him in the front row for tomorrow’s race with a speed of 197.551 mph.

Following his run, Ringel was excited and somewhat surprised at his accomplishment.

“I’m still kind of in disbelief I’m here. I knew the car was pretty quick and I felt pretty good. I’m very surprised with myself,” Ringel said.

“I’ve never run an oval race before. It’s a whole new experience for me. The buildup, waiting in line is nerve wracking,” he added.

The Freedom 100 will be run tomorrow following the IndyCar Carb Day practice session.

This morning, Ryan Briscoe was named as the replacement driver for the injured James Hinchcliffe.

This will be Briscoe’s first time in an IndyCar this season.

Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports co-owner, Sam Schmidt, was happy Briscoe was available.

“We tried to put Ryan in a third car earlier in the year but it didn’t work out,” he said.

“We have high expectations for him. Everything is as good as it could be considering the situation,” Schmidt added.

In the break between the Indy Lights practice and qualifying sessions, Briscoe took a refresher test and had some limited track time.

Tomorrow, Carb Day, Briscoe will be able to run while there are other cars on the track and get the feel of how the car handles running in traffic.

Although Hinchcliffe qualified for the 24^th starting position, Briscoe will start the “500” from the 32^nd position.

James Davison, whose car was qualified by Tristan Vautier, will start from the 33^rd position.

Following Indy Lights qualifying, a number of vintage Indy Cars were out on the track.

The 50-plus vintage cars at the track range from a 1913 Puegeot to a 1988 Lola. All have been painstakingly restored and are cars that ran in at least one Indianapolis 500.

Friday is Carb Day, one of the busiest days of the entire month. The day starts off with an hour of final IndyCar practice, followed by the Indy Lights Freedom 100.

After the Freedom 100 will be the annual Pit Stop competition and a concert.

 

Monday, May 18 – A post qualifying practice day was interrupted by a serious crash in which James Hinchcliffe suffered injuries to his pelvic area and upper left thigh. He underwent surgery on Monday afternoon and is recovering at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

Prior to the IndyCars taking to the track, the Indy Lights had the first of three practice sessions on Monday. The Indy Light practice was in preparation for practice and qualifying sessions on Thursday, May 21 and the Freedom 100 Indy Lights Freedom 100 race on Friday, May 22.

The Indy Cars took to the track at 12:30 pm. and was scheduled to last until 4:00 p.m. However, at 1:21 p.m. Hinchcliffe’s car suffered a suspension failure and the right side of the car hit the outside SAFER Barrier coming out of Turn 3, did a half spin and flipped on its side while sliding through the short chute and slid across the track coming to rest at the inside of Turn 4.

Following the incident, practice was suspended while INDYCAR officials investigated the accident.

Because of the delay, the teams were given an additional practice session later in the afternoon.

After track repairs following the accident, the Indy Lights returned to the track while the INDYCAR crash investigation was underway.

INDYCAR practice resumed at 3:15 p.m. with the only other problem in practice being a yellow caused when Jack Hawksworth’s car was trailing smoke on the backstretch and came to a stop in Turn 4.

After the practice sessions ended the top three practice speeds belonged to Sage Karam at 227.831 mph, Indy 500 polesitter, Scott Dixon was second at 226.542 mph and JR Hildebrand was third quick at 226.308 mph.

Jack Harvey set the fastest Indy Lights speed of the day in their first practice session at 195.981 mph.

There will be no more track activity until Thursday when the Indy Lights take to the track for practice and qualifying for Friday’s Freedom 100.

Related Posts

• 
  Sebring 2024
• 
  Giuseppe Victorious
• 
  Car or Driver