Round 15 Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Gateway Motorsports Park. Madison, Illinois.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 15 Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Gateway Motorsports Park. Madison, Illinois. August 23-24.


This Saturday's race will be the second IndyCar race at Gateway Motorsports Park, since the Indy Racing League held the Emerson 250 in 2003, which was won by Hélio Castroneves, driving for Team Penske in a Dallara IR03-Toyota Indy V8.

Gateway Motorsports Park was originally called St. Louis Raceway and in 1967 was developed by Wayne Meinert as a 1/8 mile drag strip. Four years later and With the purchsase of more land, St. Louis Raceway over the next four years, expanded into a full quarter-mile drag strip and renamed St. Louis International Raceway. Drag racing remained the main form of motorsport throughout the '70s and '80s but with increasing demand from road racers, a new 2.6-mile course was built and opened in 1985, incorporating the drag strip. The venue was renamed Gateway International Raceway and hosted Can-Am, Sports Car Club of American (SCCA) and Trans Am events.

In 1995, the venue was purchased by former Long Beach Grand Prix promoter Chris Pook, who had plans to create a new oval course, to host IndyCar and NASCAR races. The original track was demolished and a new oval and infield road course were built and opened in 1997.

The venue's inaugural race was the Motorola 300, the sixth round of the 1997 CART season, held on Saturday May 24 and won by Paul Tracy, driving for Marlboro Team Penske, in a Penske PC-26 - Mercedes-Benz IC108C. Rather than holding a race that conflicted with the Indy Racing League's Indy 500, as had been the case in 1996 with the U.S. 500, CART scheduled the race the day before the Indy 500 to serve as their Memorial Day weekend race. After a couple of years, track management grew increasingly dissatisfied with its use, which was seen by some, as a political pawn or statement by CART. The event had poor attendance, as fans generally chose to travel to the Indy 500 for the weekend instead. In 2000, the race was moved to the fall, Autumn but with spectator attendance of only 25,000, it was dropped from the CART series calendar in 2001 and switched to the Indy Racing League. Spectator attendance continued to be an issue and the event was dropped after 2003.

In 2010 Dover Motorsports, Inc., who had purchased the venue from Pook, hosted two Nationwide Series races at Gateway However, following their closure of Memphis Motorsports Park. Attendance figures were disappointing and the Dover group, citing their inability to run the operations with acceptable returns, officially announced Gateway was officially closing and ceasing operations as of November 3, 2010.

Less than a year later, Curtis Francois a retired racing driver who raced in Indy Lights at Gateway in 2002 and now real estate developer, purchased the 160-acre venue, investing $20 million and opened it in 2012. Key to reopening Gateway was the commitment to drag racing and the partnership with the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). Francois signed a long-term deal with the NHRA starting with a signature event in September 2012 and subsequently adding NASCAR truck events.

Some Trivia:
The team with the most wins. Team Penske, 1997, 2002, 2003 and 2017

Track Layout:

The 1.25-mile (2.01 km) oval has a unique egg shape, with different degrees of banking. Turns 1 and 2 have characteristics similar to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, while Turns 3 and 4 are similar to Phoenix International Raceway, while the track's egg shape mimics the legendary Darlington Raceway. There is also a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) infield road course. Alongside would be a separate NHRA-sanctioned drag strip. Today, Gateway has undergone an $11.5 million revitalization project.

1985-95 full course layout:


1997 to date:


Track length: 1.25-mile (2.01 km)
Turns: 4

Lap record:
Will Power, May 25, 2017. 23.721, 189.642 mph (224.447 km/h).
Team Penske
Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndYCar V6
Verizon IndyCar Series.

Last year's race:
Qualifying was cancelled due to rain and the grid was decided by the points table, which gave Scott Dixon Pole.

Dixon made a good start from Pole but Alexander Rossi’s wasn't so good and Will Power, perhaps mindful of how Penske teammate Josef Newgarden zipped past him on the outside of Turn 1, on Lap 1 last year, did the same to sweep around the outside of Newgarden and Rossi to take second place. The third Penske of Simon Pagenaud moved into fifth, while Marco Andretti shot up from 10th to claim sixth ahead of teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay and the sole Schmidt Peterson car of James Hinchcliffe. However, there was an incident in the middle of the pack, Sebastien Bourdais losing control of and swerving up into the wall exiting Turn 2.

The race restarted on Lap 7. Newgarden got past Rossi for third, who tried to fight back but couldn’t make it happen. Further down the field, as the green flag fell, Hunter-Reay moved up to fifth ahead of Pagenaud and Ed Jones in the second Ganassi car. Andretti lost out and was relegated to eighth ahead of Hinchcliffe and the fourth Andretti car of Zach Veach, who was up from 16th.

Up front, Dixon had a 1.1 second lead after 20 of the 248 laps, Both he and Power were the only drivers, to get through the 177mph lap barrier. Rossi probably could have done the same, but he was backed up behind Newgarden, who down over four seconds behind the lead pair.

Dixon caught the first of the backmarkers, the Carlin of Max Chilton, by Lap 32 but had a cushion of 1.7 seconds over Power and cautiously made his way through but Power who lost time, dropping 2.3 seconds behind. Pietro Fittipaldi, battling with Charlie Kimball, was less accommodating and now Power was able to close to within 0.5 seconds of Dixon.

On Lap 49, Rossi overtook Newgarden off Turn 4. Coming onto the pitstraight, he quickly flicked to the left and pulled alongside Negarden and went ahead going into Turn 1.

Rossi who was now lapping at 175 mph, in relatively clear air, meant he was able to start reeling in the leaders, who were still stuck behind backmarkers.

Andretti and Kanaan made the first scheduled stops on Lap 58, with Newgarden, Rossi and Dixon pitting on the following lap, while Power led until he pitted on Lap 62. He emerged alongside Dixon but with the Ganassi driver on warmer tires, he resumed the lead. Rossi's pitcrew kept him ahead of Newgarden but their fellow pitcrew, couldn’t quite keep Hunter-Reay ahead of Pagenaud and so there were now three Penskes in the top five.

By Lap 85, Dixon was catching traffic again and had Power and Rossi stacked behind him, as he couldn’t get past Ed Carpenter and instead took the opportunity to save fuel. The front three were now lapping at 170 mph and that allowed Newgarden to come back into the frame.

The second round of stops for the leading drivers saw Hunter-Reay in on Lap 116, Pagenaud on 117. Two laps later, Power had a moment as he tried to pass Dixon around the outside of Turn 1. It didn’t work and Power slid up the track, as Rossi easily pulled past him into second. The next lap, Dixon stopped, as did Power, while Rossi went two laps longer but that wasn’t enough to get him ahead of Dixon but it did keep him ahead of Power who had lost third to Pagenaud, who stopped earlier. Though on Lap 143, Pagenaud made a slight error through Turns 3 and 4 and suddenly Power was on him down the pitstraight, passing Pagenaud for third, who now tumbled down the order to ninth.

Power was now on a charge and now on the tail of Rossi, diving down the inside at Turn 1, on Lap 146. Rossi made a miraculous save, to keep his car off the wall he lost third place to Hunter-Reay. Three laps later, Power homed in on Dixon and this time went to the inside, along the pitstraight, to take the lead into Turn 1, rapidly pulling a four-second advantage over Dixon.

The second full-course yellow flew on Lap 173, when Hunter-Reay’s race came to an abrupt end, as his power apparently cutting out, leaving him crawling back to the pits, almost at walking pace and needing a tow, into his pit box.

Pitlane opened on Lap 177 and the top seven cars stopped. The order was, Power, Dixon, Rossi and Newgarden but Veach’s crew did a great job to get his car up into fifth ahead of Jones, Pagenaud, Sato, Pigot and Rahal.

The restart, on Lap 183, was an uneventful but Veach got a run on Newgarden, grabbing fourth place, while Pigot got around Sato to claim eighth. On Lap 195, Jones went down the inside of Newgarden at Turn 1 to snatch fifth and a lap later Jones passed Veach for fourth.

The pace of the leading cars was 167-170 mph, suggesting they were trying to make it on three stops but Jones clearly wasn’t. He swept past Rossi for third and closed on Dixon. Veach also passed his teammate Rossi.

It seemed Roger Penske and Power had decided to commit to another stop. Power pulled away from Dixon, amassing a 6 second lead. Rossi, meanwhile, appeared to be sticking to the plan to not stop again. He let Pagenaud and Pigot, who had not only stopped for fuel but had topped up under the previous yellow, pass him, with Newgarden doing the same.

Power pitted on Lap 231 for a splash and dash, without new tires emerging behind Rossi. Between them was Andretti but he did nothing tricky to protect his teammate and soon enough Power was past them both. As the cars ahead pitted, Power resumed the lead on Lap 240, while Rossi’s economy drive had paid off, jumping him ahead of Dixon who had been held up by Fittipaldi, on his in lap, as he encountered traffic.

Power crossed the line to score his 35th career victory and third of the season. Dixon ran out of laps, trying to catch Rossi crossing the line 1.5 seconds behind him. Pagenaud came home fourth, ahead of Veach and Pigot who both gave excellent performances.

Pole position:
Will Power
Lap 1. 23.7206
Lap 2. 23.7373
Combined time 00:47.5. Average speed 189.642 mph (305.199 km/h)
Team Penske,
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet IndyCar V6

Last year's winner:
Will Power
Team Penske,
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet IndyCar V6

Laps: 248
Distance: 310 Miles (498.897 km)
Race Time: 1:59:30
Average Speed: 155.644 mph (250.484 km/h)

Cautions 2
Laps 16

TV Broadcast:
NBCSN, August 24, 8:00pm ET.

[NaBUru38]

Felix Rosenqvist is cleared to drive at Gateway.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Felix Rosenqvist is cleared to drive at Gateway.

That is good news.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying:

1 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 186.508
2 Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 185.927
3 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 185.896
4 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 185.143
5 Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 185.050
6 Santino Ferrucci, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 184.830
7 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 184.452
8 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 184.293
9 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 184.206
10 Felix Rosenqvist, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 184.130
11 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 184.070
12 Colton Herta, Harding Racing. Dallara/Honda. 183.399
13 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 183.211
14 Marcus Ericsson, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 183.180
15 Zach Veach, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 182.547
16 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 182.065
17 Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 181.334
18 Conor Daly, Carlin. Dallara/Chevrolet. 179.399
19 Charlie Kimball, Carlin. Dallara/Chevrolet. 178.982
20 Tony Kanaan, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 178.974
21 Matheus Leist, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 178.290
22 Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 175.192

[broadrun96]

I know Marco owns his car but this is crazy, consistently at the rear of the field. Hopefully some time soon his dad sits with him and they come to an Indy program and sell the ride.

It does sound like Andretti is going to expand and HSR won't survive the off-season. One idea floated was Marco moving over, with his crew, to the HSR program and Andretti adding 2 cars. I think we will see at least 5 Andretti cars with HSR, or its remnants, being a "sixth" next season as a customer Andretti program. I wouldn't be surprised to see it as Shank racing effort.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Great start by Newgarden but the first FCY is flying.

[broadrun96]

Crowd looks crazy tonight at St Louis, there are empty areas but I don't think they sell those areas for Indy. Looks like a great Saturday night race scene.

Decent race start with a prob unneeded caution

[bjohnsonsmith]

2nd FCY as Power goes into the wall.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Dixon pits but it looks like a major problem, as the engine cover is taken off.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Ferrucci takes the lead.

[broadrun96]

Ferrucci is driving away from everyone this stint, that car is hooked up

The track doesn't look like this is the right tire choice. A line and a bit up is all marbles not even half distance

[bjohnsonsmith]

Pigot into the wall.

[broadrun96]

Piggot looked a bit optimistic there with a poor handling car, inside on the curbing and up to the outside wall. Kimball didn't give any room but he was in front and didn't have to, Piggot needed to check up

[broadrun96]

You CAN'T run high with new tires this evening. Bourdais in to the wall right after the pit stop. It looks like Cindric again is full of crap over the radio and setting everyone including the TV crew up to think he had no clue, Newgarden looking to be in perfect position with yellows to hit the fuel number and one more stop while a lap ahead

[bjohnsonsmith]

4th FCY, as Biurdais loses it.

[broadrun96]

Ferrucci is FLYING this evening, passed Newgarden like he was nailed to the track.
Sato, TK and Ed Carpenter top 3 this late?? But I think all but Sato are fading late.

[broadrun96]

That was a hella ending of an Indy car oval race. Sato ends up holding on over Ed coming fast, .04 second difference. Ferrucci blocked HARD by TK, prob too aggressive shutting the door. And Newgarden throwing away 8 points on the curbing and spinning to anti-stall mode to coast across start finish

[bjohnsonsmith]

What the hell is wrong with Newgarden?

[broadrun96]

That was a stupid pointless move, let Ferrucci take the points and relish the 46 point lead. Instead you try to take the pass in a gap that wasn't there in a cup car never mind Indy car. And now you lost 8 points on track in one corner.

Wow, Newgarden is full of crap and sorry but hope you lose the championship. You're full of **** and hope Penske shows you the video and shuts your mouth. He was loose and you tried to pass. YOU ARE THE IDIOT. His interview lost me as a fan of his in any way. They overlaid the video while he talked and just showed he is taking the Cindric attitude on the track. I don't mind Penske but hate that it's always ours attitude from Cindric, and his jackass son, and now Newgarden.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Sato and to Ed C on a worthy second place.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

That was a stupid pointless move, let Ferrucci take the points and relish the 46 point lead. Instead you try to take the pass in a gap that wasn't there in a cup car never mind Indy car. And now you lost 8 points on track in one corner.

Wow, Newgarden is full of crap and sorry but hope you lose the championship. You're full of **** and hope Penske shows you the video and shuts your mouth. He was loose and you tried to pass. YOU ARE THE IDIOT. His interview lost me as a fan of his in any way. They overlaid the video while he talked and just showed he is taking the Cindric attitude on the track. I don't mind Penske but hate that it's always ours attitude from Cindric, and his jackass son, and now Newgarden.

A little harsh.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

A little harsh.

Nope, fully deserved.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Nope, fully deserved.

I don't think so. I thought Newgarden had cocked it up again, like he did at Mid-Ohio but no. Ferrucci got loose on the marbles, dived back down onto the racing line, where Newgarden was and almost took him out.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Result:

1 Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 2h15m53.4687s
2 Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 0.0399s
3 Tony Kanaan, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 2.2459s
4 Santino Ferrucci, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 4.1935s
5 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet. 6.2741s
6 Conor Daly, Carlin. Dallara/Chevrolet 8.0200s
7 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 13.8050s
8 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 14.9394s
9 Colton Herta, Harding Racing. Dallara/Honda. 17.1010s
10 Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 18.4657s
11 Felix Rosenqvist, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 19.8590s
12 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
13 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
14 Zach Veach, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
15 Charlie Kimball, Carlin. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1 Lap
16 Marcus Ericsson, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
17 Matheus Leist, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 2 Laps
18 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. Mechanical
19 Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. Contact
20 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. Mechanical
21 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. Contact
22 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. Contact

[joeb]

I just watched the race on delay and it was fantastic! I was talking to wife and missed how Sato got to the front but still a crazy race. Really happy to see Sato get another win, especially after last race.