Bruno Junqueira To Replace Josef Newgarden At Baltimore

Former-ChampCar driver, Bruno Junqueira, has been drafted in to replace Josef Newgarden at this weekend’s Grand Prix of Baltimore, after Newgarden broke his left index finger during a violent crash during the GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma last weekend.

Josef Newgarden was collected on lap 63 by Sebastien Bourdais, who was rejoining the circuit after momentarily running wide. Newgarden then made violent contact with the retaining wall, in a incident with so much ferocity that it destroyed the tyre and concrete barriers. After undergoing surgery on Monday after the incident, the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing team announced plans to see Newgarden return for the season finale at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.

“We look forward to a healthy and speedy recovery for Josef,” explained Sarah Fisher. “I know Josef is disappointed in the circumstances, as we all are, but this team is being built around him and his seat will be ready for him when he’s ready.”

With Josef Newgarden sidelined due to his injury, Sarah Fisher has called upon decorated ChampCar veteran Bruno Junqueira, who made his debut in the now defunct Series back in 2001 for Chip Ganassi Racing. Junqueira won eight races throughout his ChampCar career, and was runner-up in the Series for three seasons between 2002 and 2004. The Brazilian driver partook in his first full IZOD IndyCar season in 2008, racing for the Dale Coyne Racing outfit. However, he failed to enjoy similar success in comparison to his ChampCar career, and continued to only partake in the Indianapolis 500 on a yearly basis thereafter, just as he had done prior to the 2008 season.

“I am very happy to be back in IndyCar with SFHR for the Baltimore race weekend,” said Bruno Junqueira. “Sarah’s team is very organized and has been fast all season. They have done a great job with Josef and I hope to give them a good race weekend in Baltimore while Josef is healing.”

This weekend’s Grand Prix of Baltimore is the penultimate race of what has been a thrilling 2012 season, with Will Power entering the weekend in an extremely commanding Championship position after yet another competitive race finish at the Sonoma Raceway. Another competitive finish at Baltimore will set the Australian driver up perfectly to take his first ever IZOD IndyCar Series title when the season comes to its conclusion at Fontana in several weeks time.

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Ryan Briscoe Takes Surprise Victory At Sonoma

Ryan Briscoe has taken his first victory of the season in a surprise twist during the closing stages of the GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma, leading home a Penske 1-2 finish ahead of Championship leader Will Power. Reigning Series Champion Dario Franchitti came home 3rd, only just behind the Penske of Power.

Will Power continued his IndyCar dominance as the race got underway, with the Australian driver opening up a considerable lead at the front. One of Power’s many Championship rivals, Scott Dixon, was dealt a huge blow on the opening lap as the Kiwi came together with the Penske of Helio Castroneves, who is also a Championship contender. This subsequently saw Castroneves issued with a drive-thru penalty, thus ruining his race early on.

Takuma Sato became the first retirement of the race, pulling off the track and coming to a halt due to an engine related issue on his car. Whilst many drivers continued to jostle for position throughout the field, further ahead saw Will Power in total control of the proceedings. With the top three very evenly spread out at the front, action on track was difficult to find throughout the opening few laps.

By lap 14, the first scheduled pit stops where carried out as Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves and Oriol Servia entered the pits for fresh rubber. Power made his first pit stop on lap 19, thus handing the lead of the race to team-mate Briscoe. However, the Penske driver only led for one lap, before he too entered the pits for his first scheduled stop. This enabled Alex Tagliani to take the lead, as Bourdais and Franchitti also pitted.

Championship contender Ryan Hunter-Reay assumed the lead once Tagliani made is stop, before Hunter-Reay also pitted thus completing the cycle and handing the lead back to the Penske of Power. James Hinchcliffe became the next retirement of the race, after the Canadian driver was tipped into a spin by Oriol Servia. This created a suspected loss of oil pressure on Hinchcliffe’s car, and saw the Andretti Autosport driver limp back to the pits to eventually retire. Sebastian Saavedra was then issued a drive-thru penalty for speeding in the pits, with the Firestone Indy Lights star showing potential in only his second IndyCar appearance.

Whilst the action occurred throughout the pack, race leader Will Power returned to the pits for his second stop. This once again handed the lead down to Briscoe, before the Australian driver also pitted several laps later and handed the lead back to Power. Dixon’s race suffered another blow on lap 45, as the Ganassi driver miscalculated an overtake on Hunter-Reay as the pair negotiated turn 9 and damaged his front wing. Marco Andretti and Katherine Legge became the latest retirees as the race progressed, both suffering from mechanical issues on their cars.

Scott Dixon finally pitted for a new nose cone on lap 58, but was then issue a drive-thru penalty for running over a piece of pit equipment upon exiting his pit box. This added yet another blow to the Kiwi’s disastrous race, as other drivers up and down the field began to make their third pit stops of the race.

On lap 64, the race was turned upside down as Power entered the pits for his third and final scheduled pit stop of the race. The stop in question didn’t run as smoothly as usual, as team-mate Briscoe once again assumed the lead. Whilst the leaders pitted for the final time, Sebastien Bourdais and Josef Newgarden brought out the first full course caution since Toronto back in July, after a violent incident through turn 8.

After making his third pit stop only moments earlier, Bourdais ran wide on the exit of turn 8 and upon rejoining the track collected Newgarden. This smashed Newgarden violently in the wall, destroying his car, the tyre wall and the retaining concrete wall due to the high speed nature of the impact. As the field slowed due to safety car conditions, Power lost out as the Championship leader was left stuck in traffic. This enabled Briscoe to make his final stop under caution, and return to the track still leading the race.

The race returned to green flag conditions on lap 74, as Briscoe defended his lead from team-mate Power throughout the first few corners. However, the race once again returned to safety conditions, as Alex Tagliani tipped Championship contender Ryan Hunter-Reay into a spin as the field negotiated the tight apex of the revised turn 7. The Andretti Autosport driver was unable to continue racing, after stalling his car. Tagliani was naturally issued a drive-thru penalty, with Hunter-Reay understandably furious with the Canadian.

As the race once again returned to green flag conditions on lap 77, the same incident was ironically caused by Ryan Hunter-Reay as he tipped EJ Viso into a spin. The race stewards then issued Hunter-Reay a drive through penalty for the incident, ruining his race further. Luckily for Viso he was able to continue racing, albeit further down the order.

With the race back under green flag conditions, Power was unable to find a way around Briscoe as the race drew to a conclusion. The Championship leader allegedly suffered an issue with his push-to-pass device, thus enabling Franchitti to pressurize the Penske driver in the closing stages.

However, it was Ryan Briscoe who crossed the line after 85 laps to take his first victor since Texas back in 2010. With the Australian driver still without a drive for next season, the victory will be most welcome for the 30 year-old. Although Will Power failed to take his hat-trick of victories around the Sonoma Raceway, he was still able to extend his lead atop the Drivers’ Championship mainly thanks to the misfortune of others. The IZOD IndyCar circus now heads to the streets of Baltimore, for the penultimate round of 2012 season.

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Will Power Storms To Sonoma Pole Ahead Of Ryan Briscoe

Championship leader Will Power has asserted further authority over the IZOD IndyCar Series, after storming to his third successive pole at Sonoma ahead of Sunday’s GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma. Ryan Briscoe completed a Penske front row, with Sebastien Bourdais a highly competitive 3rd for Dragon Racing.

Will Power has enjoyed great success at Sonoma in recent years, and has started this weekend in similar fashion as the Australian driver continues to fight at the top of the Championship. Power’s nearest Championship rival, Ryan Hunter-Reay, could only manage 7th on the grid. However, Hunter-Reay remains positive despite his disappointing qualifying result, with the American driver having already won twice from 7th on the grid this season. The three remaining Championship contenders of Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon and James Hinchcliffe qualified 4th, 5th and 11th respectively.

“It’s good to back on the pole here in Sonoma in the Penske Verizon Chevy #12 car.” Explained Will Power, “It is important to start up front here and we are very happy to once again be on the front row, which is where we want to start. The wind really made the car unstable the last two days, so it will be interesting to see what the wind is like tomorrow and it will also be interesting because the race is an extra ten laps.”

Sebastien Bourdais enjoyed an exceedingly competitive qualifying session, as the former ChampCar Champion ended the session in 3rd, only +0.4788s off Power’s pole time. This is the Frenchman’s best qualifying result of the season, and couldn’t have come at a better time for the Dragon Racing outfit. Bourdais’ team-mate, Katherine Legge, makes her return to the track this weekend and will start the race from 21st on the grid.

With the track layout modified slightly to try and increase overtaking for this year’s race, the 2012 GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma has all the ingredients to be yet another thrilling addition to this highly entertaining season. As the season finale at Fontana draws ever closer, competitive results for the five Championship contenders is a necessity.

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                   Time        Gap
 1.  Will Power           Penske Dallara-Chevy       1m17.2709s
 2.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske Dallara-Chevy       1m17.4347s  + 0.1638s
 3.  Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon Dallara-Chevy       1m17.7497s  + 0.4788s
 4.  Helio Castroneves    Penske Dallara-Chevy       1m18.1090s  + 0.8381s
 5.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m18.2126s  + 0.9417s
 6.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m18.3462s  + 1.0753s
 7.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m18.3355s  Round 2
 8.  Alex Tagliani        Herta Dallara-Honda        1m18.4168s  Round 2
 9.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt Dallara-Honda      1m18.4334s  Round 2
10.  Justin Wilson        Coyne Dallara-Honda        1m18.6258s  Round 2
11.  James Hinchcliffe    Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m18.7885s  Round 2
12.  Rubens Barrichello   KV Dallara-Chevy           1m18.9788s  Round 2
13.  Sebastian Saavedra   AFS/Andretti Dallara-Chevy 1m18.8918s  Group 1
14.  Marco Andretti       Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m18.8925s  Group 2
15.  Graham Rahal         Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m18.8981s  Group 1
16.  Mike Conway          Foyt Dallara-Honda         1m18.9048s  Group 2
17.  JR Hildebrand        Panther Dallara-Chevy      1m19.0931s  Group 1
18.  Tony Kanaan          KV Dallara-Chevy           1m18.9475s  Group 2
19.  EJ Viso              KV Dallara-Chevy           1m19.3953s  Group 1
20.  Oriol Servia         Panther/DRR Dallara-Chevy  1m18.9672s  Group 2
21.  Katherine Legge      Dragon Dallara-Chevy       1m19.6414s  Group 1
22.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m19.0262s  Group 2
23.  Josef Newgarden      Fisher Dallara-Honda       1m19.7468s  Group 1
24.  Takuma Sato          Rahal Dallara-Honda        1m19.2821s  Group 2
25.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM Dallara-Lotus          1m20.2295s  Group 1
26.  James Jakes          Coyne Dallara-Honda        1m19.5152s  Group 2
27.  Ed Carpenter         Carpenter Dallara-Chevy    1m19.6837s  Group 2

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IndyCar Once Again Adjusts Push-To-Pass

The push-to-pass device has once again been adjusted by IndyCar officials ahead this weekend’s GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma, with the delay between the drivers’ pressing the button and the activation of the device shortened from 5 to 3.5 seconds. This comes after the delay was first introduced last time out at Mid-Ohio.

The delay in question has been implemented to add a degree of surprise, so as drivers can’t respond by activating their own push-to-pass device in an attempt to defend their position. Each driver will start the race on Sunday with a total of 90 seconds, with a maximum of 15 seconds per activation at their disposal. The device will not recharge once the 90 seconds has been used up, which will undoubtedly see some drivers with more time remaining than others towards the end of the race.

“All parameters of the Push-to Pass system can be tailored to fit any circuit that play host to IZOD IndyCar Series races,” explained IndyCar Director of Engine Development, Trevor Knowles. “Sonoma has shorter straightaways than what we had at Mid-Ohio, so we’ve adjusted the parameters of Push-to-Pass to fit this particular circuit. But the principles for use that were in place for Mid-Ohio have remained the same for Sonoma.”

Push-to-pass was first introduced to the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2009, although it was initially removed ahead of the 2012 season. However, the device was reintroduced at Toronto and will be utilized at the remaining street and road courses this season. The device has already provided many overtaking maneuvers in the last couple of races, and will undoubtably continue to do so as the IZOD IndyCar fraternity prepares to take to the tough Sonoma Raceway this weekend.

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GoPro Announced As Title Sponsor For Indy Grand Prix Of Sonoma

GoPro has been announced as the title sponsor for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma, which will take place in August around the Sonoma Raceway in California. The company, which produce small wearable, waterproof and shockproof camera/camcorders have signed a three year deal to sponsor the event.

The GoPro business is heavily involved in the action-sports industry, being the official camera of the 2012 Global RallyCross Championship as well as a sponsor of IndyCar driver JR Hildebrand, who drivers the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing car. As title sponsor, GoPro will become the “Official Wearable and Gear Mountable Camera of the Raceway in Sonoma,” and will naturally receive signage and hospitality packages from the raceway throughout the IndyCar race weekend.

“GoPro is a dynamic young company with a foot in some of the most exciting sports and entertainment entities in the world,” explained Sonoma Raceway president and general manager Steve Page. “We are delighted to welcome GoPro as sponsors of our IndyCar weekend and look forward to some terrific potential cross-promotional opportunities that could grow from this relationship.”

Will Power won last year’s race, in a Penske 1-2-3 finish. This was the first time the dominant team had achieved this result since Nazareth 1994, where Paul Tracy won ahead of team-mates Al Unser jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi. Another dominant result would naturally be well received by Roger Penske, in this highly competitive IndyCar season.

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