Round 10: Rev Group Grand Prix at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. June 21-23.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 10: Rev Group Grand Prix at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. June 21-23.

The 2016 Kohler Grand Prix, was the first major AOWR event to be held at Road America since the Champ Car Generac Grand Prix of Road America in August 2007. With the exception of 2005, when the race was dropped due to sponsorship issues, it was a perennial event on the CART/Champ Car calendar from 1982 - 2007, with Héctor Rebaque winning the innaugural Road America 200 in 1982, for Forsythe Racing, in a March 82C-Ford Cosworth DFX and Sébastien Bourdais, winning the Champ Car Generac Grand Prix of Road America, for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, in a Panoz DP-01-Cosworth XFE, in 2007. With the merger of Champ Car and the IRL in 2008, the race was dropped from the calendar.

The very first race to be held at Elkhart Lake was in 1950 and organized by the Chicago Region and Milwaukee Region of The Sports Car Club of America. It was the first of three races from 1950 - 1952, which were held on courses layed out on public roads. However, after a fatal accident at Watkins Glen in 1952, it was decided to discontinue motor racing on all public roads and the event was moved to a private, purpose built course. Highway engineer Clif Tufte, got together with local citizens and the Chicago Region of the Sports Car Club of America to develop and build a permanent racecourse. On September 10, 1955, Road America held its first SCCA national race weekend.

Since then, the track has hosted many major American motorsport's series, including the American Le Mans Series, CART, NASCAR and the United States Road Racing Championship. During this time the layout has hardly changed, apart from a chicane that was installed for AMA motorcycle competitors at The Kink.

Some trivia:
The driver with the most wins: 3.
Mario Andretti: 1983, 1984, 1987.
Emerson Fittipaldi, 1986, 1988, 1982.
Michael Andretti: 1991, 1992, 1996.

The team with the most wins: 10.
Newman/Haas Racing: 1983, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2007.

Original track layout:


Current track layout:


Length: 4.048 miles (6.515 km)
Turns: 14

Lap record:
Dario Franchitti, August 19, 2000. 1:39.866, 145.924 mph (234.84 km/h).
Team Kool Green,
Reynard 2KI-Honda HRK.
CART FedEx Championship Series.


Last year's race:
Newgarden took Pole for the second race in a row, making a great start. However, Team Penske teammate Will Power, who was in the second spot on the front row of the grid, dropped down to the back of the field with engine issues, needing to pit at the end of a very slow first lap.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was able to jump up into second, while teammate Rossi had to muscle past Robert Wickens at Turn 5 on the opening lap, in order to take third place, with Wickens dropping to sixth.

The previous year's winner Scott Dixon was seventh, ahead of Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti. Spencer Pigot passed Simon Pagenaud, running primary tires. Tony Kanaan also made excellent progress, going from 18th to 12th in the opening two laps.

Newgarden increased his lead over Hunter-Reay, to over a second on Lap 8 and by lap 10, Newgarden, Hunter-Reay, Rossi and Sato were running around 0.9 seconds apart.

Sato, Rahal and Pigot were the first of the top 10 runners to pit at the end of Lap 13. The following lap Newgarden, Hunter-Reay, Rossi and Wickens all stopped for primary tires, leaving Dixon out front for one lap. However, the extra lap didn’t help Dixon as he emerged in sixth behind Wickens. The top four continued to run ine astern, saving fuel, while Wickens worked hard to close the gap ahead, joining the tail of that group, with Dixon completing the top six.

Rossi had fallen 3.5sec behind the Newgarden vs Hunter-Reay battle by the second round of pitstops, which began with Sato, Rahal, Pagenaud, Pigot stopping on Lap 27, with Rossi and Wickens pitting on Lap 28, followed by Newgarden, Hunter-Reay and Dixon on Lap 29.

Rossi and Wickens had pulled out of the pits in front of Sato but the Japanese driver dived down the inside of Wickens into Turn 3. Sato then tried to squeeze around the outside of Rossi at Turn 5 but lost momentum on the rumble strip. Both drivers stayed level up to Turn 6, where Rossi ran Sato out of road. Sato’s trip across the grass allowed Wickens to get passed him. All three trailed behind Dixon, who had a very strong second stop and by Lap 30 Rossi closed in on Dixon. Just a couple of seconds ahead, Hunter-Reay, now on primaries, was putting pressure on Newgarden who was reds.

On Lap 35, Wickens was bumped back to seventh as Rahal made it two RLLR cars in the top six, and closed on teammate Sato who had to lean on his push to pass to keep his teammate behind him. It now became a battle for fourth, as at the start of Lap 38, Rossi slowed with a left-front puncture and lost a camber shim. Both the RLLR cars and Wickens passed him before the Rossi pulled in the following lap as the pit crew made repairs. Rossi resumed the race in 19th.

Sato, Rahal, Wickens, Pagenaud and Pigot all pitted at the end of Lap 41, though Pagenaud was delayed as Wickens was released from his stop into Pagenaud’s path. It was enough to drop Pagenaud behind Pigot and eventually lost ninth place to Ganassi's Ed Jones. Wickens gained from his stop, emerging fifth ahead of Rahal and splitting the RLLR cars.

Dixon hit pitlane on Lap 42 to pick up a set of fresh reds, while Newgarden was able to stretch his lead over Hunter-Reay to 2.2 seconds before they both pitted at the end of Lap 43. As the two leaders emerged from pitlane, Dixon bore down on them, with the benefit of much warmer tires but Dixon had a major moment at Turn 14, which gave Hunter-Reay the reprieve he needed as he chased down Newgarden, soon cutting Newgarden's lead to half a second, before Newgarden started pulling away once more, as Dixon now closed on Hunter-Reay.

Newgarden took the 10th win of his career, winning by 3.4 seconds over Hunter-Reay, who beat Dixon by 2.1sec. Sato was 9 seconds down on Dixon but a similar distance ahead of Wickens, who in turn was about 9 sec in front of Rahal, who finished sixth. Rossi was eventually classified 16th.

The results now left Dixon in the lead in the driver's championship, with 393 points, followed by Hunter-Reay 348, Rossi also on 348, Newgarden 343, Power 328, Graham Rahal 278, Robert Wickens 274, Simon Pagenaud 255, Sebastien Bourdais 235 and Marco Andretti 232.

Pole:
Josef Newgarden, 1:43.2026, 140.020 mph (225.340 km/h).
Team Penske,
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6.

Last year's winner:
Josef Newgarden,
Team Penske.
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6.

Laps 55
Distance 222.64 Miles (358.30 km)
Race Time 1:40:16
Speed 132.101 Mph (212.595 km/h)

Cautions: 0

TV Broadcast NBCSN, Jun 23, 12:00pm ET.

[Last2LiftOff]

Thank you for the intro. as ever BJ, it's much appreciated.

I note the race is also live on plain-ole NBC - and a delayed broadcast on Sportsnet One in Canada (i.e. 3PM PT) - for what it's worth.

[JHamilton]

RLL are racing in Bobby's old MGD livery, which is pretty cool!

[joeb]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

RLL are racing in Bobby's old MGD livery, which is pretty cool!

that is sweet, I'd buy some MGD if it was still around.

[fieldodreams79]

Hooray for IndyCars at Road America!!!

Originally Posted by JHamilton

RLL are racing in Bobby's old MGD livery, which is pretty cool!

Nice! The black and gold is sweet!

I got this at an auction for a going out of business bar in town. Cool mirror and the MGD livery is cool. Too bad the beer is complete shyte.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying

It looks like Colton Herta's luck has changed, as he beats Rossi to take his first IndyCar pole.

Edit: Colton Herta also becomes the youngest driver to take pole in IndyCar history.

Andretti, Bourdais and Dixon failed to make it into the top six, being bumped out late-on in the second qualifying session. In Dixon's case he had an engine issue and will start 12th.

1 Colton Herta, Harding Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m42.9920s
2 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m43.1693s. 0.1773s
3 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m43.3749s 0.3829s
4 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m43.6036s. 0.6116s
5 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 1m43.8076s. 0.8156s
6 Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 1m43.8790s. 0.8870s
7 Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m43.2989s. 0.3069s
8 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m43.3083s. 0.3163s
9 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1m43.3814s. 0.3894s
10 Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 1m43.3945s. 0.4025s
11 Ed Jones, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m43.5162s. 0.5242s
12 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda - -
13 Patricio O'Ward, Carlin. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m43.6061s. 0.6141s
14 Zach Veach, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m43.4488s. 0.4568s
15 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m43.6980s. 0.7060s
16 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m43.4764s. 0.4844s
17 Marcus Ericsson, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1m43.8913s. 0.8993s
18 Felix Rosenqvist, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m43.5038s. 0.5118s
19 Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m44.6179s. 1.6259s
20 Matheus Leist, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m43.8570s. 0.8650s
21 Santino Ferrucci, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m49.3060s .6.3140s
22 Max Chilton, Carlin. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m43.8745s. 0.8825s
23 Tony Kanaan, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m44.4183s. 1.4263s

[mstets]

Youngest pole winner in history, beating Graham Rahal's previous record from St. Pete 2008. It's hard for me to believe that Herta's team is on top of things to the point that their car is the best in the field. I've always believed the car was the main factor in qualifying, given a driver capable of top 10 or so qualifying pace. Herta's pace has me wondering about that theory.


Impressive effort by RLL to get both cars into the top six. Always hard to guess what teams are doing in the practice sessions, but they seemed to be going well on the blacks.

[mstets]

I haven't checked the forecast lately, but strategy is surely going to be a factor. Last I looked, rain was a possibility. Given the threat of rain it will be interesting to see the choice of tires at the start (assuming dry start). I think most will start on blacks with the assumption of rain at some point.

[broadrun96]

Nice, I'd buy that model

[JHamilton]

In car from Rossi around this great track: https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1142205391184519168

They don't stick around the carousel for long, do they?

[fieldodreams79]

Good hard, clean start from Rossi and Herta. RHR and Dixie as well as Taku and The Mayor come together. No penalty for anyone and correctly so.

Going to enjoy what I can until I have to go do things....on Sunday

Edit - maybe I'll just stop now and catch the YouTube replay later. 2 laps of green flag coverage between the same commercials, including some fireman talking about his ingrown hairs and people talking about Diabetes, that ain't Wilford Brimley.


NBCSN, I used to like you....

[mstets]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Good hard, clean start from Rossi and Herta. RHR and Dixie as well as Taku and The Mayor come together. No penalty for anyone and correctly so.

Going to enjoy what I can until I have to go do things....on Sunday

Edit - maybe I'll just stop now and catch the YouTube replay later. 2 laps of green flag coverage between the same commercials, including some fireman talking about his ingrown hairs and people talking about Diabetes, that ain't Wilford Brimley.


NBCSN, I used to like you....

As a Type 1 diabetic, I find this post pretty offensive.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by mstets

As a Type 1 diabetic, I find this post pretty offensive.

As Mod for the IndyCar forum, I'm sure no offense was intentionally made. People do need to be mindful of what they post. I'm not advocating Political Correctness but something like Type 1 Diabetes is not uncommon, as are other medical conditions. Therefore a little forethought should be considered, before one posts their comments and in future, avoid touchy subjects like medical conditions.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by mstets

As a Type 1 diabetic, I find this post pretty offensive.

My brother is type 1 too! My entire life I've tried to keep at least an arms distance from him so that I don't come down with the illness myself. When he gets fed up with it, he makes fun of my lymphoma.

Surely you're not offended at a 15 year old internet meme that started from a joke off a late night talk show, are you? I don't think so. Nevertheless, I see you, empathize with you, am genuinely sorry for the bs that you go through on a daily basis. Life is not fair, that is for sure.

However, maybe because I re-read 1984 recently or because I'm a libertarian, but I refuse to cede on this point. Intent matters. The rules of most internet forums have been, generally speaking, no talk of politics, no talk of religion, and attack the post not the poster. The post in question was in reference to how many times NBC showed the same damned diabetes medication commercial and clearly not a condemnation of diabetes itself.

I've known fieldodreams for 20 years and can assure you there is no ill will intended. But it isn't his or any poster's job, as long as it follows forum rules, to make sure no one is offended by their every post. If that were the world we lived in, no one would attempt a joke, and that's not a world I'm willing to live in.



What I came here to post was that I'm ****ed that there are no Youtube replays available! You have to watch all the same commercials. Terrestrial TV STILL doesn't get it! Amazing.

Overall, although it wasn't 'edge of your seat' entertainment, it's always wonderful to watch Indycars around RA.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

My brother is type 1 too! My entire life I've tried to keep at least an arms distance from him so that I don't come down with the illness myself. When he gets fed up with it, he makes fun of my lymphoma.

Surely you're not offended at a 15 year old internet meme that started from a joke off a late night talk show, are you? I don't think so. Nevertheless, I see you, empathize with you, am genuinely sorry for the bs that you go through on a daily basis. Life is not fair, that is for sure.

However, maybe because I re-read 1984 recently or because I'm a libertarian, but I refuse to cede on this point. Intent matters. The rules of most internet forums have been, generally speaking, no talk of politics, no talk of religion, and attack the post not the poster. The post in question was in reference to how many times NBC showed the same damned diabetes medication commercial and clearly not a condemnation of diabetes itself.

I've known fieldodreams for 20 years and can assure you there is no ill will intended. But it isn't his or any poster's job, as long as it follows forum rules, to make sure no one is offended by their every post. If that were the world we lived in, no one would attempt a joke, and that's not a world I'm willing to live in.



What I came here to post was that I'm ****ed that there are no Youtube replays available! You have to watch all the same commercials. Terrestrial TV STILL doesn't get it! Amazing.

Overall, although it wasn't 'edge of your seat' entertainment, it's always wonderful to watch Indycars around RA.

The IndyCar channel on YouTube has highlights and the full race is available here but the commentary is in Portuguese.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV_k3zhnDOw

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

The IndyCar channel on YouTube has highlights and the full race is available here but the commentary is in Portuguese.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV_k3zhnDOw

That will do just fine! As always, you're the man bjs!

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

The IndyCar channel on YouTube has highlights and the full race is available here but the commentary is in Portuguese.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV_k3zhnDOw

I started that last night but just couldn't get through it so I did the NBC SN replay

[fieldodreams79]

I enjoyed the race. It was a runaway but great track and good cars.

Originally Posted by JHamilton

My brother is type 1 too! My entire life I've tried to keep at least an arms distance from him so that I don't come down with the illness myself. When he gets fed up with it, he makes fun of my lymphoma.



Surely you're not offended at a 15 year old internet meme that started from a joke off a late night talk show, are you? I don't think so. Nevertheless, I see you, empathize with you, am genuinely sorry for the bs that you go through on a daily basis. Life is not fair, that is for sure.



However, maybe because I re-read 1984 recently or because I'm a libertarian, but I refuse to cede on this point. Intent matters. The rules of most internet forums have been, generally speaking, no talk of politics, no talk of religion, and attack the post not the poster. The post in question was in reference to how many times NBC showed the same damned diabetes medication commercial and clearly not a condemnation of diabetes itself.



I've known fieldodreams for 20 years and can assure you there is no ill will intended. But it isn't his or any poster's job, as long as it follows forum rules, to make sure no one is offended by their every post. If that were the world we lived in, no one would attempt a joke, and that's not a world I'm willing to live in.







What I came here to post was that I'm ****ed that there are no Youtube replays available! You have to watch all the same commercials. Terrestrial TV STILL doesn't get it! Amazing.



Overall, although it wasn't 'edge of your seat' entertainment, it's always wonderful to watch Indycars around RA.

I appreciate that. It should be more offensive that people are getting filthy stinking rich off others and their disabilities.

Apologies for starting a "whole thing".

[joeb]

Just posting now, but I really enjoyed this race. No yellow flags was a big factor, and we got to see just how much better Rossi was today than anybody else.

I have no idea what the strategy was for Herta by starting on old tires, but it didn't work. The fuel issue on the first stop set him back, and then finishing on the reds which would fall off was also questionable to me. Herta was involved in a couple turn 5 incidents with contact that he was lucky to get away with.

The tires falling off for Herta, and Hinch at the end made for some fun to watch, but those guys did great not to crash. Dixon was fantastic to come back from a lap one incident.

Rossi really reasserted himself here into the championship fight. We know the winner will be Rossi or Newgarden, but it seems that Rossi really put in a statement drive here and the rest of the field has to feel that too.

[NaBUru38]

So do we make fun of less common diseases then?


- o -



Back to Wisconsin, Rossi was just too fast, and the Penskes just waited for a yellow rather than attack.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

So do we make fun of less common diseases then?

I would just avoid anything like that.

[Purist]

Yeah, after the first 5 races, I've been having to go with either Spanish or Portuguese commentary.

On the bright side, I've watched a number of TC/TC2000/TRV6 races, as well as a number of old F1 races with the Globo or Band commentary. I've also watched a fair bit of Super GT (prior to Nismo TV on YouTube), so I'm used to non-English broadcasts to some extent.

NBC doesn't seem to be making too many friends over in the IMSA camp, either.