Round 4: Desert Diamond West Valley, Phoenix Grand Prix. Phoenix International Racewa

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 4: Desert Diamond West Valley, Phoenix Grand Prix. Phoenix International Raceway, Avondale. April 28-29.

Last year, after an 11 year absence, IndyCar returned to Phoenix International Raceway and it was the only 1 Mile oval on the 2016 calendar as will be this year's race.

The first race to be held at Pheonix was in 1915, on a dirt oval at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. In 1950 the American Automobile Association revived the race and when the United States Auto Club became the sanctioning body, the race was added to their calendar in 1956. In 1964, the race was moved to the newly built Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, on the outskirts of Phoenix.

During the USAC era, two races a year were held, the Jimmy Bryan 150 in Spring and Bobby Ball Memorial in the Fall/Autumn. Both races were named after local race drivers who were killed at Phoenix. After the split with USAC, the race became a CART event from 1979 to 1995. The track continued to hold two races a year, with the spring race often serving as the season opener but in 1987 the track dropped the Fall race. In 1995, after a dispute between the track owners and CART series officials, the event was dropped from the 1996 CART calendar and immediately switched to the IRL for that year.

Last year's race was won by Scott Dixon, with caution periods, 6 in total and tyre wear playing a major part. Penske team mates, Hélio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya suffered tyre failures while leading the race; Castroneves on lap 39 and Montoya on lap 95, having inherited the lead from Castroneves. Dixon took the lead on lap 95 from Montoya and led the remaining laps of the 250 lap race, taking the chequered flag. Like last year, this year's race will also be a night race.

Some trivia:
Phoenix was the last career win for Mario Andretti, in 1993.
The only drivers from the current crop to have won at Phoenix are Hélio Castroneves in 2002, Tony Kanaan in 2003, 2004 and Scott Dixon 2016.

The driver with most wins: 6, Al Unser Sr, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1976, 1979, 1985.
The Team with most wins: 8, Penske Racing/Team Penske, 1979, 1982, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2002, 2005.

Track layout:
The track has both road course and oval configurations. The original road course ran both inside and outside of the oval but was replaced in 1991 with an infield course. The oval gets its unusual layout with the "dogleg", due to a combination of the terrain, the original road course and a drag strip. In 2011, the oval underwent significant changes, the most notable were to the front stretch, widened to 62 feet (19 m) and the "dogleg" being moved outward by 95 feet (29 m), as well as its radius being increased to 500 feet (150 m).



Length: 1.022 Miles (1.644 Km)
Turns: 4

Lap record old configuration: Arie Luyendyck, March 23, 1996. 19.608, 183.599 mph (295.474 km/h), Treadway Racing, Reynard 96i-Ford Cosworth XB, Indy Racing League.

Lap record new configuration: Hélio Castroneves, 1 April, 2016. 19.0997, 192.631 mph (310.01 Km/h) Team Penske, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6. Verizon IndyCar Series.

Last year's race:
Pole:
Hélio Castroneves. 19.0997, 192.631 mph (310.01 Km/h)

Winner:
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6

Laps: 250
Distance 255.5 Miles (411.186 km)
Race Time 1:49:39
Average Speed 139.822 (225.022 Km/h)
Caution periods: 6
Caution laps: 55

Race Broadcast:
NBCSN. 9:00pm, ET

[Yannick]

Last year, it appeared as if the changes that ISC have made to the track in recent years have made it virtually impossible for drivers to get a drifting IndyCar back in control before hitting anything. I find this observation to be rather worrying: track owners should make track modifications to lessen the risk of crashing - not vice versa. I know the reason for those changes was to make stock cars go faster around the place and the last thing ISC had on their mind at the time was IndyCar. But if the "Phoenix Grand Prix" is supposed to become a successfull event, this issue must be adressed in some way rather sooner than later - even if it's by IndyCar's aero regulations (which after the test at Phoenix earlier in the season are not going to change from last year) - because a) it's just too dangerous for the drivers if nobody can catch a car and b) it's expensive for the owners.

I'm sorry to be a naysayer but count me out for this race. It's way out of my timezone CET anyway. I'll visit some friends this weekend instead and will only read the race results next week.

Anyway, here's wishing everybody a good, clean and safe racing weekend at Phoenix.

Still, I have another question: is this going to be the last IndyCar race to have the start/finish line on the side of the track opposite to the dogleg?

[D.R.T.]

Impressive by Castroneves and the rest of the Penske drivers.

Hildebrand very good in 3rd place

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying:

Just like last year Helio Castroneves claims pole and breaks the lap record in the process. His second lap of the two lap average, was at an eye watering 18.8701 seconds, 194.975 mph (313.781 km/h); a two lap average of 194.905 mph. An impressive performance from J.R. Hildebrand, having recovered from the broken hand he sustained at Long Beach. Not too sure what happened or is happening to AJ Foyt Enterprises.

1 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet/ 194.905
2 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 194.017
3 J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter. Racing Dallara/Chevrolet. 193.912
4 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 193.676
5 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 193.414
6 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 192.539
7 Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 192.327
8 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 192.050
9 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 191.387
10 Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 191.349
11 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 191.194
12 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 190.799
13 Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 190.768
14 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 190.565
15 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 190.405
16 Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 190.029
17 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 189.786
18 Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 189.779
19 Carlos Munoz, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 189.301
20 Conor Daly, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 188.536
21 Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 186.360

[Formulahistory]

I really hope Castroneves also can win the race. Or Aleshin...

[bjohnsonsmith]

Looking at the TV pictures, there are not a lot of spectators in the grand stand. I sometimes think holding a race on Saturday night is not such a good idea.

Edit: I think I stand corrected, the stand on Turn 1 seems pretty full.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Not a clean start, a lot of cars off at the end of Turn 1. Championship leader Bourdais is out. Looks like Aleshin lost it.

[bjohnsonsmith]

The restart became a no start but finally the race gets going second time round.

[tux]

This is pretty poor, looks like passing is as good as impossible unless you do it in the pits

[fieldodreams79]

Yup. Cars are insanely quick around PIR but this is a procession.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Sato into the wall and the 2nd FCY.

[fieldodreams79]

Well, leave it to Takumasan to throw a wrench into the race during green flag pitstops.

Simon is up a lap on the field...

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Well, leave it to Takumasan to throw a wrench into the race during green flag pitstops.

Simon is up a lap on the field...

Paul Tracy was saying he'd never seen a tyre come off the rim like that. I think he said something about a possible puncture.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Paul Tracy was saying he'd never seen a tyre come off the rim like that. I think he said something about a possible puncture.

I've seen Taku do some things I've never seen before. While that's possible, I think it was similar to Rossi and just got into the marbles on cold tires.

The result is still the same.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

I've seen Taku do some things I've never seen before. While that's possible, I think it was similar to Rossi and just got into the marbles on cold tires.

The result is still the same.

True. He is accident prone.

[fieldodreams79]

We at least had some racing after the restart. Settling back in to an extremely fast game of follow the leader.

[fieldodreams79]

JR made it interesting.

Well done Simon! First oval win. That's hard to believe but good for him.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Pagenaud on his first oval win. Congrats to J. R. Hildebrand; a podium finish with 3rd place and broken hand.

[D.R.T.]

Tough night for the Andretti team with 4 retirements.

JR was super impressive and a great return to form from the Californian.

A rather processional race thanks for the combination of high aero, yellow flag pit stop rules and the lack of blue flags all contributed to a hamstrung race.

Definitely something that Indycar needs to look at for future races but in particular Pheonix in 2018

[champcarman]

Crowd estimated at about 3000. So many places would love to have an Indycar race (Australia, NZ?) so why race at places where a small crowd is sure to happen. Roger Penske said an Indycar would lap a NASCAR in 2 and half laps at Phoenix, obviously that doesn't impress the residents of Phoenix, Arizona.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Result:

That was a rather dull affair. A bit like an F1 race. Lots of incident at the start of the race, then settling down to a procession, with a bit of action after the second FCY. Then settling down again and picking up in the last 5 laps. The high downforce, generated by the aero-kits doesn't lend to good racing on short ovals. Otherwise the pendulum swings in favour of Chevrolet. However, Honda lost 5 cars, including Bourdais on the opening lap crash and for the second race this season, none of Andretti Autosport's cars/drivers finished.

1 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1:46'24.9473
2 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 9.1028
3 J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 9.3417
4 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 16.5864
5 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1 lap
6 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1 lap
7 Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 2 laps
8 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 2 laps
9 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, Dallara/Chevrolet. 2 laps
10 Carlos Munoz, A.J. Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 3 laps
11 Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 3 laps.
12 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 4 laps
13 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 30 laps. Suspension
14 Conor Daly, A.J. Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 70 laps
15 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 109 laps. Contact
16 Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 115 laps. Contact
17 Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 250 laps. Contact
18 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 250 laps. Contact
19 Sébastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 250 laps. Contact
20 Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 250 laps. Contact
21 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Dallara/Honda. 250 laps. Contact

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by champcarman

Crowd estimated at about 3000. So many places would love to have an Indycar race (Australia, NZ?) so why race at places where a small crowd is sure to happen. Roger Penske said an Indycar would lap a NASCAR in 2 and half laps at Phoenix, obviously that doesn't impress the residents of Phoenix, Arizona.

This exact same 'discussion' was had last year about PIR, with 3,000 being the exact same number I threw out as an estimate, based on the overhead shots showing the sparse grandstands. Where'd you get your estimate?

And there appeared to be more interest in the forums over this one last year than present. Quite frankly, I was looking forward to it but was rather disappointed.

[Paradise City]

JR is back. I was entertained enough without necessarily being overwhelmed with excitement, lol. That first corner accident was quite hair raising.

The grandstands looked very conspicuously empty.

[NaBUru38]

It was less boring than last year's race.

I support Power's proposal to increase engine power and reduce downforce.

I hope that Gateway gets to break the rule that non-Indy ovals get minimal crowds.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by champcarman

Crowd estimated at about 3000. So many places would love to have an Indycar race (Australia, NZ?) so why race at places where a small crowd is sure to happen. Roger Penske said an Indycar would lap a NASCAR in 2 and half laps at Phoenix, obviously that doesn't impress the residents of Phoenix, Arizona.

Estimated by whom?

Short ovals and American venues are a strategic priority for Indycar - they need to persist with this most definitely ahead of Australia and NZ.