Post Fast Friday Indianapolis 500 Grid Prediction

Here is my Post Fast Friday Indianapolis 500 Grid Prediction.  I will start with the heart brake of who doesn’t make it.  The easy ones are the #57 (which will never make an attempt even if it does some practice laps on Sunday.)  The #20 (was going to be hard to make it anyway but now with this extra drama that is going to be even harder.)  The #18 (Jakes just does not seem to have the speed so I am saying go ahead and write him off.)  Finally I hate to say it but I am calling the #78 an easy call to not make it (unable to make even an install lap today with the back up car I think they just have too much work and too little time to put a fast enough qual run in *very sad face*).  The others DNQ’s are much harder to pin down but here is what I came up with:

Position	Car #	Driver	Team
DNQ	57		Sarah Fisher
DNQ	20	Scott Speed - R	Dragon
DNQ	18	James Jakes - R	Dale Coyne
DNQ	78	Simona de Silvestro	HVM
DNQ	8	Ho-Pin Tung - R	Dragon
DNQ	43	John Andretti	Andretti / Petty
DNQ	88	Jay Howard - R	Rahal-Letterman/Sam Schmidt
DNQ	41	Bruno Junqueira	Foyt
33	34	Sebastian Saavedra - R	Conquest
32	27	Mike Conway	Andretti Autosport
31	11	Davey Hamilton	Dreyer & Reinbold/Kingdom
30	36	Pippa Mann - R	Conquest
29	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport
28	17	Raphael Matos	AFS
27	59	E.J. Viso	KV Racing Technology
26	19	Alex Lloyd	Dale Coyne
25	24	Ana Beatriz - R	Dreyer & Reinbold
24	23	Paul Tracy	Dreyer & Reinbold
23	83	Charlie Kimball - R	Chip Ganassi
22	07	Tomas Scheckter	KVRT/SH Redline
21	5	Takuma Sato	KV Racing Technology
20	82	Tony Kanaan	KV Racing Technology
19	98	Dan Wheldon - W	Bryan Herta Autosport
18	22	Justin Wilson	Dreyer & Reinbold
17	44	Buddy Rice - W	Panther
16	38	Graham Rahal	Chip Ganassi
15	06	James Hinchcliffe - R	Newman-Haas
14	7	Danica Patrick	Andretti Autosport
13	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport
12	14	Vitor Meria	Foyt
11	30	Bertrand Baguette	Rahal-Letterman
10	99	Townsend Bell	Sam Schmidt
9	4	J.R. Hildebrand - R	Panther
8	67	Ed Carpenter	Sarah Fisher
7	77	Alex Tagliani	Sam Schmidt
6	10	Dario Franchitti - W	Target Chip Ganassi
5	6	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske
4	2	Oriol Servia	Newman-Haas
3	12	Will Power	Team Penske
2	9	Scott Dixon - W	Target Chip Ganassi
1	3	Helio Castroneves - W	Team Penske

If you remember last year Helio put up a time in his first Fast 9 qualifying attempt that nobody could touch even in practice with a tow!  So I see no reason not to go with him again for P1.  Predicting speed however is going to be harder as it is more of a weather forecast then anything else.  My weather forecast this morning (I have not seen any newer data) was for higher winds (with incoming storms) around happy hour.  So While I think will see at lease a mid 227 before 4 o’clock after the times reset for the fast 9 pole speed will drop to a 227.059

Pre-Practice Indianapolis 500 Grid Prediction

Here it is I have made my Pre-Practice grid prediction for the “2011 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race”.  This what quite challenging as there hasn’t been a single car on any oval nor less IMS but that kind of makes it fun too.  I will make a 2^nd grid prediction after Fast Friday which I am sure would be much more accurate and will include a pole speed.  You are welcome to join me in making your prediction but there will be two pools to get in the pre-practice pool you have to summit your grid before opening day.

P	Car #	Driver	Hometown	Car Name	Entrant
Row 1
1	3	Helio Castroneves (W)	Sao Paulo	Shell V-Power/Pennzoil Ultra Team Penske	Team Penske
2	6	Ryan Briscoe	Sydney	IZOD Team Penske	Team Penske
3	9	Scott Dixon (W)	Auckland, New Zealand	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Target Chip Ganassi Racing
Row 2
4	10	Dario Franchitti (W)	Edinburgh, Scotland	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Target Chip Ganassi Racing
5	0.6	James Hinchcliffe (R)	Toronto	Sprott Newman/Haas Racing	Newman/Haas Racing
6	12	Will Power	Toowoomba, Australia	Verizon Team Penske	Team Penske
Row 3
7	82	Tony Kanaan	Salvador, Brazil	GEICO – KV Racing Technology – Lotus	KV Racing Technology - Lotus
8	26	Marco Andretti	Nazareth, Pa.	Team Venom	Andretti Autosport
9	67	Ed Carpenter	Indianapolis	Dollar General/Sarah Fisher Racing	Sarah Fisher Racing
Row 4
10	2	Oriol Servia	Pals, Spain	Telemundo Newman/Haas Racing	Newman/Haas Racing
11	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Boca Raton, Fla.	Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda	Andretti Autosport
12	4	JR Hildebrand (R)	Sausalito, Calif.	National Guard Panther Racing	Panther Racing
Row 5
13	7	Danica Patrick	Roscoe, Ill.	Team GoDaddy	Andretti Autosport
14	38	Graham Rahal	New Albany, Ohio	Service Central	Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing
15	27	Mike Conway	Bromley, England	Team GoDaddy.com	Andretti Autosport
Row 6
16	77	Alex Tagliani	Lachenaie, Quebec	Bowers & Wilkins/Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
17	78	Simona De Silvestro	Thun, Switzerland	Nuclear Clean Air Energy HVM Racing	Nuclear Clean Air Energy HVM Racing
18	59	E.J. Viso	Caracas, Venezuela	PDVSA – KV Racing Technology- Lotus	KV Racing Technology – Lotus
Row 7
19	44	Buddy Rice (W)	Phoenix, Arizona	Panther Racing	Panther Racing
20	99	Townsend Bell	San Luis Obispo, Calif.	Herbalife Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
21	0.7	Tomas Scheckter	Cape Town, South Africa	Team REDLINE Xtreme – Circle K	KV Racing Technology – SH Racing
Row 8
22	5	Takuma Sato	Tokyo	KV Racing Technology - Lotus	KV Racing Technology - Lotus
23	36	Pippa Mann (R)	England	Conquest Racing	Conquest Racing
24	83	Charlie Kimball (R)	Camarillo, Calif.	Levemir and NovoLog FlexPen	Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing
Row 9
25	23	Paul Tracy	Scarborough, Ontario	WIX Filters/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
26	22	Justin Wilson	Sheffield, England	Z-Line Designs/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
27	24	Ana Beatriz	Sao Paulo	Team Ipiranga/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Row 10
28	17	Raphael Matos	Belo Horizonte, Brazil	Automatic Fire Sprinklers, Inc.	AFS Racing
29	19	TBA	TBA	Boy Scouts of America	Dale Coyne Racing
30	14	Vitor Meira	Brasilia, Brazil	ABC Supply Co A.J. Foyt Racing	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
Row 11
31	11	Davey Hamilton	Nampa, Idaho	HP/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
32	98	Dan Wheldon (W)	Emberton, England	Bryan Herta Autosport	Bryan Herta Autosport
33	34	Sebastian Saavedra	Bogotá, Colombia	Conquest Racing	Conquest Racing
Did Not Qualify
	18	James Jakes (R)	Leeds, England	Acorn Stairlifts	Dale Coyne Racing
	43	John Andretti	Indianapolis	Team Window World	Richard Petty/ Andretti Autosport
	30	Bertrand Baguette	Verviers, Belgium	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
	8	Ho-Pin Tung	China	Dragon Racing	Dragon Racing
	TBA	Bruno Junqueira	Belo Horizonte, Brazil	A.J. Foyt Racing	A.J. Foyt Enterprises
	88	Jay Howard (R)	Basildon, England	Service Central Schmidt-RLL Racing	Sam Schmidt – RLL Racing
	16	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
	57	TBA	TBA	Sarah Fisher Racing	Sarah Fisher Racing
	89	TBA	TBA	China Racing	China Racing

Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle Review and Reaction

My main concern going into the Sao Paulo race was the track surface.  Not knowing that they have already done exactly what I wish they would do.  Which is repaving the track with FIA approved pavement and they repaved it with the same formula of pavement that surfaces the Interlagos Circuit (The Formula One track in Brazil); which makes me love this circuit even more.  There were still reports of bumps but they were inconsistent some drivers saying that it was still very bumpy and Will Power saying it is the smoothest street circuit they go to all year.  The answer I do not know I was not there but there was a huge noticeable bump right in the middle of the braking zone for turn one that needs to be fixed for next year.  Other then that, it is the perfect circuit!  If we could just catch a dry weekend, we would see just how great this circuit is.

As for my predictions Power got the pole but that is as good as I got as Helio was stuffed in the wall and James was stuck on the outside of a spinning car.  The story of the race other then the rain I would say is Sato.  Yeah he ended up eighth but had a much better race then that, whoever made the call to stay out under the yellow better hope he has good job security.  As that was just a really bad call!  I predicted Vitor to be the story but he had a brake line failure so he was unable to back up his podium from last year.  The “Legend in His Own Mind” award I picked EJ oh how wrong I was on that one as he a great race, until he was called for blocking (which by the IndyCar rules he with out question did.)  I will go on record as saying I hate that rule but that is the rule.  He went off the prefer line to prevent from being passed.  I think as the car in front he has earned the right to choose his line and as long as he stay in that line then he is not blocking but if you want to play in IndyCar you have to play by IndyCar rules which says you have to stay in the preferred line.

Over all I would say this weekend was a disappointment.  There is no blame to pass out as it was the weathers fault but as weather is a part of road / street racing lets look to see if there is any room for improvement.  I say yes, there is.  First and I said this on Saturday, painting the run-off areas looks cool but a run off area is there to help run-a-way cars stop and in the wet (when you are likely to have more need of such areas) paint is as bad a ice.  There are ways around this, see the Singapore F1 circuit, but it is just easier not to paint the whole thing.  Have nice defined lines but then let the cars brake on a surface that well help the car stop.  Somewhere else where IndyCar could use some improvement is on the rain tires.  If you really look at these tires you would see that they are not even as good as the Formula 1 intermediate tyre.  If you want to keep the current tire in IndyCar then fine but call that an intermediate rain tire (which IndyCar currently doesn’t have) and then make a real rain tire which would allow them to run in real rain!  I know IndyCar has no control over the weather but I believe IndyCar has a duty to the fans to be as best prepared as possible and limiting the painted areas around a track as much as possible and having a better rain tire would be a huge step in the right direction.