Itaipava Streets of Sao Paulo IZOD Indy Car Series Race Preview

Sao Paulo, Brazil has roughly 19,700,000 citizens, most of whom are avid Formula 1 fans. But once each year the IZOD Indy Car Series travels south of the equator for the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy Car 300; the fourth race of the 2013 schedule.

Run on the 2.6 mile, 11- turn, concrete street course, Penske-Chevrolet pilot Will Power has won here all three times that the event has been conducted.

But Power, who hasn’t won a series event since Sao Paulo 2012, lies 8th in the IICS point standings with just one top-five finish at Barber to his credit, while finishing 16th at both Long Beach and St. Petersburg.

Even more puzzling, Power’s Penske team, dominant in the series for years, has yet to win in 2013. Will this be Will’s return to victory lane?

Also missing from the top of the podium stairs in 2013 has been the Target Chip Ganassi Honda team featuring Scott Dixon and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti.

Dixon has yet to lead a lap in 2013, but is 3rd in points (89) behind Helio Castroneves (99) and Takuma Sato (93). Franchitti is 20th (44), having finished just one of three races.

So, who’s been winning in 2013? James Hinchcliffe (Andretti Autosport Chevrolet @St. Pete), Ryan Hunter-Reay (AA @Barber) and Takuma Sato (AJ Foyt Honda @Long Beach), have given the series a new look on the podium so far in 2013.

With owner Foyt in the hospital for back surgery, Sato scored an upset win in California as Honda won for the first time this season. Will Honda make it two-in-a-row in Brazil, or will Chevrolet make it three of four as we prepare for the Indianapolis 500 in three weeks?

Castroneves, who has podium finishes in two of the three events, would love to win in front of his home crowd, but so would fellow Brazilians Ana Beatriz and Tony Kanaan.

The unique Sao Paulo street course runs in front of the Sambadrome grandstand and has been modified for the 2013 race, in part to try and prevent traffic jams as the cars enter turn1.

The curbing in turns 1-2 has been moved to the drivers’ right to make that area 10 feet wider. The curbs have also been lowered to make the corners quicker and hopefully improve things for double-file restarts.

Andretti Autosport team driver Marco Andretti is fourth in the points (87), having scored three top-10 finishes for his father’s teamin 2013; all on road courses. Andretti is happy with his season so far and hopes to continue to be successful on the unique Sao Paulo circuit.

“This is what used to be the weakest part of the schedule for me. And I find myself just a few points out of the points lead. I’m super thrilled about my progress in the off season. Working on those weak points (over-driving on road/street circuits) I think has definitely helped, but it’s good to see the results traveling through,” said Andretti, who worked with a road course coach over the off season.

“The biggest challenge in Brazil is staying clean. Qualifying plays a big role (here) because of stack-ups in turn 1. If you’re ahead of that, that will help.

“Turns1-2 was a decent passing zone, but we didn’t have enough room to get it done. There was no way two cars were passing through there. Now I think it will make the passing a bit better.”

So, who will win in the land of the Samba?

Power is hungry to make it four-in-a-row in Brazil, but going a year without a win may put too much pressure on him.

Look for Helio to thrill the Brazilian crowd with his, and Penske’s, first win in 2013.

Marco Andretti could sneak in for the win if Castroneves encounters any problems along the way.

NOTES:
• Watch for rain to interfere again this year as the Sao Paulo race was shortened in 2010 and then the following year the race was postponed until Monday.
• CART ran five races in Brazil from 1996-2000 on an oval in Rio.
• Missing from the event this year is F1 veteran Rubens Barrichello who ran with Indy Car in 2012, but is driving stock cars in Brazil this season.
• Penske will have just Castroneves and Power on Sunday’s grid as AJ Allmendinger won’t be available to return to IICS until the Indianapolis 500.
• The NBC Sports Network will telecast the race at 11:00 AM (ET) on Sunday, May 5.The IMS Radio Network will broadcast the event on SiriusXM channel 211.
• The race will be 75 laps/190.2 miles.
• The entry list includes 25 cars, with rookie Tristan Vautier the only driver who hasn’t run on the Sao Paulo street course.

Paul Gohde

Paul Gohde heard the sound of race cars early in his life.

Growing up in suburban Milwaukee, just north of Wisconsin State Fair Park in the 1950’s, Paul had no idea what “that noise” was all about that he heard several times a year. Finally, through prodding by friends of his parents, he was taken to several Thursday night modified stock car races on the old quarter-mile dirt track that was in the infield of the one-mile oval -and he was hooked.

The first Milwaukee Mile event that he attended was the 1959 Rex Mays Classic won by Johnny Thomson in the pink Racing Associates lay-down Offy built by the legendary Lujie Lesovsky. After the 100-miler Gohde got the winner’s autograph in the pits, something he couldn’t do when he saw Hank Aaron hit a home run at County Stadium, and, again, he was hooked.

Paul began attending the Indianapolis 500 in 1961, and saw A. J. Foyt’s first Indy win. He began covering races in 1965 for Racing Wheels newspaper in Vancouver, WA as a reporter/photographer and his first credentialed race was Jim Clark’s historic Indy win.Paul has also done reporting, columns and photography for Midwest Racing News since the mid-sixties, with the 1967 Hoosier 100 being his first big race to report for them.

He is a retired middle-grade teacher, an avid collector of vintage racing memorabilia, and a tour guide at Miller Park. Paul loves to explore abandoned race tracks both here and in Europe, with the Brooklands track in Weybridge England being his favorite. Married to Paula, they have three adult children and two cats.

Paul loves the diversity of all types of racing, “a factor that got me hooked in the first place.”

racingnation.com

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