2009 IndyCar Series

Robert Doornbos is looking forward to the IRL season-opening race of 2009 in St. Petersburg on Sunday. The Dutchman, who elected to join the series for the first time this year, is excited over the prospect of racing in America once again.
"I have been looking forward to driving for NHL Racing for a while now and it's exciting that it is finally time to start the season," the 27-year-old newcomer said. "My desire to get back to open wheel racing in the US was mega, it was really big. Even though I had a couple of opportunities to go back to Formula One as a test driver, I really wanted to race because I had such a good time in 2007. Obviously the success was nice as well, and really motivated me to be here and be able to fight for wins and championships in 2009."

He has already been on the pace in testing this year, coming out of Barber with the fastest time. "I am quite happy with the testing and preparation we have done to get ready for the season, because we have been quite competitive," he continued. "I've had a mix of both types of track with my oval debut being at Homestead, and was obviously quite happy to go to road courses at Sebring and Barber to work on our setups for the first two race weekends."

Robert, who in 2008 competed in the Superleague Formula in Europe, knows that elements of his driving style will have to change to be able to adapt quickly - especially for oval racing - but is thinking most about the one-lap dash to decide the starting order. "I'm really looking forward to the qualifying process," he said. "The single-lap flyers are something I am used to from racing in Europe - I have done them in Formula One, A1GP and in Superleague. It's a great thing for a driver, to try to get the most out of the car - and yourself - over one lap. It's a huge adrenaline rush, and having the Firestone alternate tyre will be good for the championship. I think it will mix it up as it did in Champ Car. In Formula One last weekend the tyre difference was quite big, so it shows that it can definitely add some spice to the championship."
By GP Update:
http://irl.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/04/01/doornbos-excited-ahead-of-irl-season-opener/

GPUpdate TV will cover the training and the race

RTL7 for Dutch TV will cover the race Sunday April 5 at 20.30

It's gone be a busy race day

Hans
 
  • Kyle Evers

Damn, so much racing to watch this weekend....

F1, BTCC, IndyCars....

I know! I don't think I'll be able to get the IndyCar race on TV, but I'll be watching all F1 and ALMS racing this weekend. Or I'm trying to at least.
 
Qualify St Petersburg

Graham Rahal has once again rewritten the history books by, not only claiming pole position for 2009's season-opener at St. Petersburg, but becoming the youngest ever driver to do so. Twenty-year-old Rahal lines up on the front for tomorrow's opening race of the season ahead of Britain's Justin Wilson, with Kanaan and Australian Brisoe behind them.

Contact with the wall at Turn 14 looked to have ended Rahal's afternoon but the NHL driver remained unscathed: "We knew we were fast yesterday, but I'm a little surprised today," he said after the session. "A lot of other guys ran reds and but we didn't have any left, so I ran blacks." His colour references relate to the types of tyres used, with 'reds' being the softer and 'blacks' the harder Firestone rubber. "I hit the wall," he recalled, "trying to get the power down a little bit earlier because I thought there was a little more in the car; I just tried a little too hard, but to pull off the pole is obviously a special moment."

Champion Scot Dixon struggled somewhat by coming home eighth, with 2007 title winner Dario Franchitti rounding out the top five on his return to the IRL-run series. The session saw a nasty accident for Britain's Mike Conway as his Dreyer & Reinbold car lost control and hit the wall at Turn 9. "I'm very disappointed and very sorry for the guys," Conway said after the crash. "We had the pace to make the top six, but it was my mistake and my fault - I'm sorry for the team, and I need a good run tomorrow."

Some big names to be eliminated in the first part of qualifying included Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick, who were joined by Dutch newcomer and ex-Formula 1 driver Robert Doornbos. "We started strong this morning, up in the top three in practice," he explained. "Qualifying on alternate tyres caught us out a bit - with the balance shift - then I came in after the last lap in fourth place but got bumped down the order by Tony Kanaan. It's a long race tomorrow and I'm sure we will be strong - it's very competitive, but that's why it's so great."

By GP Update

Hans
 
Uitslag St Petersburg

121662.jpg

Ryan Briscoe has won the opening round of 2009's IndyCar Series for Penske after a dramatic 100 laps of the St. Petersburg road course. The Australian led home Ryan Hunter-Reay and Will Power, with Franchitti and Kanaan rounding out the top five in a race which featured no less than six caution periods.

St. Petersburg kicked off the season for the first time and, despite a strong breeze, Florida provided the 22 drivers with beautiful conditions to start the season with. Graham Rahal made history on Saturday by becoming the youngest ever pole winner as the Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver looked to repeat his win of last season.

Rahal's chances of victory took a major knock immediately as fast-starting Kanaan, attacking on the inside of Turn 1, tapped the pole man's car into a spin at the very first corner, with Graham narrowly being avoid by the rest of the field. As fellow front row started Wilson moved into the lead, British rookie Mike Conway become the first retirement of the season with a spin on cold tyres.
Bobby D Finished on place 11

More information on the race to follow…

By GP Update

Hans
 
Indy Light series

filwinner-cvr-04042006.jpg

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The move paid dividends for Junior Strous a day earlier on the 1.8-mile temporary street circuit so why not attempt it again? Great idea.

Strous became the third Firestone Indy Lights driver to sweep the St. Petersburg doubleheader, joining Raphael Matos (2006) and Alex Lloyd ('07), by beating Sebastian Saavedra to the checked flag by 0.4428 of a second. James Hinchcliffe finished third, Jonathan Summerton fourth and Daniel Herrington fifth.

Race 2 box score

Strous, who started second in both races in the No. 18 Shell V-Power Knaus HTP car for the Winners Circle Group, overtook Saavedra in Turn 2 coming out of a Lap 32 restart and held on in the 40-lap race. In Race 1, he made an inside move on J.R. Hildebrand in Turn 1 following a Lap 22 restart and went on to beat Summerton by 0.7205 of a second.

"The team has done an amazing job," said Strous, one of the 15 rookies competing in the season-opening weekend. "We're a new outfit so this gives us a lot of confidence for our next race at Long Beach. We saved our tires in qualifying, so for both races we had a new set of tires while the other guys ran used tires. Both races it was hard to get the temperature in, but after about ten laps the Firestones really gave me enough grip to win the race."

filwinnerrace2-cvr-04052006.jpg

By www.Indycar.com

Hans
 
Points standings

Standing after 2 races ( Strous won both races!)

Rank Driver Points Behind
1 Junior Strous 100 Leader
2 Jonathan Summerton 72 -28
3 James Hinchcliffe 63 -37
4 Daniel Herrington 56 -44
5 Jay Howard 54 -46
6 Mario Romancini 50 -50
7 Sebastian Saavedra 47 -53
8 J.R. Hildebrand 47 -53
9 Charlie Kimball 46 -54
10 Gustavo Yacaman 40 -60
11 Ana Beatriz 39 -61
12 James Davison 37 -63
13 Wade Cunningham 33 -67
14 Richard Philippe 31 -69
15 Ali Jackson 29 -71
16 Martin Plowman 29 -71
17 Andrew Prendeville 28 -72
18 Sean Guthrie 26 -74
19 Stefan Wilson 25 -75
20 Rodrigo Barbosa 24 -76
21 Brandon Wagner 22 -78
22 Pablo Donoso 20 -80
23 Jesse Mason 20 -80
24 Sergey Mokshantsev 19 -81
25 Pippa Mann 18 -82
26 Logan Gomez 11 -89
27 Duncan Tappy 8 -92

From www.Indycars.com
Hans
 
Uitslag St Petersburg Follow UP

Wilson led from returning 2007 champion Franchitti, but Rahal was the man on the move and was back into the first 15 with a quarter of the race completed, following Tony Kanaan gradually through the field.

On lap 32 Vitor Meira contacted with the back of Tagliani's Conquest, resulting in a puncture and off for the latter, followed shortly by a big shunt between Danica Patrick and Raphael Matos as Patrick attempted to force past; with the track turning left, the pair became interlocked and went sharp right, slamming into the barriers. Ryan Briscoe's earlier pit stop resulted in the Australian sliding to the front as the leaders pitted under caution. During the mayhem, team-mate and reigning champion Scott Dixon's race was compromised in the pits as the Penske of Will Power overshot his box, leaving Dixon to be pushed into position by his team.

Making his first appearance at St. Pete was stuntman Stanton Barrett, whose temporary off resulted in the next caution. The restart saw no changes at the front, Briscoe led at half distance from Wheldon, Viso, Wilson and Hunter-Reay. Justin Wilson had passed E.J. Viso for third, which became the lead as he emerged from his last pit stop ahead of Briscoe and Wheldon, both being help up by a lapped Graham Rahal. Dan Wheldon soon ran wide at Turn 1 and dropped three places to sixth, with Kanaan moving ahead of Franchitti for fourth place.

Reigning champion Scott Dixon's title defence started in the worst possible way as contact with Hideki Mutoh in the battle for eighth place resulted in broken suspension for Dixon, who lost control and hit the barriers just two corners later at Turn 3.

Franchitti had repassed Kanaan for fourth as a dramatic restart saw Briscoe almost hit the back of leader Wilson, before passing the Englishman for the lead at Turn 1, with Hunter-Reay following through to second. A chain reaction then resulted in rookie Robert Doornbos tapping Dan Wheldon into the wall, who had given the Dutchman as much space as possible. His spinning car was then clipped by Will Power as Mutoh's race was also over by piling into the side of it.

The next restart was short-lived after an optimistic manoeuvre by Alex Tagliani saw Marco Andretti tipped into a spin and out of the race on lap 97. The race restarted for the last time to present a two-lap sprint to the flag as Hunter-Reay's Vision Racing chased Briscoe. The Australian was more than satisfied to come out on top for Penske in the first race of the season, ahead of Hunter-Reay with Justin Wilson on the last step of the podium having led more laps than anybody, and therefore picking up two bonus points in the process. Returnee Franchitti was fourth with Tony Kanaan rounding out the top five.

With the IndyCar Series of 2009 getting off to a brilliant start, be sure to return to GPUpdate.net to review the race on GPUpdate TV, as well as following all of the aftermath as the championship heads towards Longbeach in a fornight's time
GP Update

Hans
 
Result St Petersburg

1 R. Briscoe Team Penske no time
2 R. Hunter-Reay Vision Racing + 0.461
3 J. Wilson Dale Coyne Racing + 0.949
4 D. Franchitti Target Chip Ganassi Racing + 1.523
5 T. Kanaan Andretti Green Racing + 2.321
6 W. Power Team Penske + 3.432
7 G. Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing + 4.067
8 D. Manning Dreyer & Reinbold Racing + 4.728
9 V. Meira A.J. Foyt Racing + 5.955
10 A. Tagliani Conquest Racing + 1 laps
11 R. Doornbos Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing + 4 laps
12 S. Barrett Team 3G + 4 laps
Did not finish
13 M. Andretti Andretti Green Racing + 6 laps
14 D. Wheldon Panther Racing + 14 laps
15 H. Mutoh Andretti Green Racing + 14 laps
16 S. Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing + 20 laps
17 E.J. Viso HVM Racing + 25 laps
18 E. Carpenter Vision Racing + 29 laps
19 D. Patrick Andretti Green Racing + 69 laps
20 R. Matos Luczo Dragon Racing + 69 laps
21 M. Moraes KV Racing + 69 laps
22 M. Conway Dreyer & Reinbold Racing + 99 laps

GP Update
Hans
 
  • Wido Rossen

Weldon had to move over for Bobby D.....currently in 14th.

Nice move from Doornbos on Hunter-Reay for 3th place.
 
  • Wido Rossen

Results Longbeach indy

1 Dario Franchitti
Target Chip Ganassi Racing 10 D/H/F 2 101.403 85 2 51 Running 52


2 Will Power
Team Verizon Wireless 12 D/H/F 1 101.631 85 1 16 Running 41


3 Tony Kanaan
Team 7-Eleven 11 D/H/F 11 100.775 85 1 7 Running 35


4 Danica Patrick
Motorola 7 D/H/F 22 98.859 85 0 0 Running 32


5 Dan Wheldon
National Guard Panther Racing 4 D/H/F 14 100.422 85 0 0 Running 30


6 Marco Andretti
Andretti Green 26 D/H/F 19 99.463 85 1 6 Running 28


7 Helio Castroneves
Team Penske 3 D/H/F 8 101.047 85 1 3 Running 26


8 Raphael Matos
Luczo Dragon Racing 2 D/H/F 3 100.917 85 1 2 Running 24


9 Robert Doornbos
Newman/ Haas/ Lanigan Racing 06 D/H/F 15 99.845 85 0 0 Running 22


10 Alex Tagliani
Rexall Edmonton Indy 34 D/H/F 9 101.027 85 0 0 Running 20


11 Ryan Hunter-Reay
Vision Racing 21 D/H/F 12 100.588 85 0 0 Running 19


12 Graham Rahal
McDonald's Racing Team 02 D/H/F 7 101.171 85 0 0 Running 18


13 Ryan Briscoe
Team Penske 6 D/H/F 10 100.905 85 0 0 Running 17


14 Vitor Meira
ABC Supply Co. AJ Foyt Racing 14 D/H/F 20 99.159 84 0 0 Running 16


15 Scott Dixon
Target Chip Ganassi Racing 9 D/H/F 6 100.631 84 0 0 Running 15


16 Darren Manning
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 23 D/H/F 18 99.448 84 0 0 Running 14


17 Stanton Barrett
CURB/ Agajanian/ Team 3G 98 D/H/F 21 95.115 84 0 0 Running 13


18 Ed Carpenter
Menards/ Vision Racing 20 D/H/F 23 98.527 82 0 0 Running 12


19 Mario Moraes
KV Racing Technology/ Votorantim 5 D/H/F 13 100.003 71 0 0 Contact 12


20 Hideki Mutoh
Formula Dream 27 D/H/F 17 99.621 60 0 0 Running 12


21 Mike Conway
Dad’s Root Beer Dreyer & Reinbold 24 D/H/F 16 100.343 51 0 0 Contact 12


22 Justin Wilson
Z-Line Designs 18 D/H/F 5 100.825 24 0 0 Contact 12


23 E.J. Viso
PDVSA HVM Racing 13 D/H/F 4 100.890 16 0 0 Contact 12

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