2012 IndyCar Series

Thilo Falkenberg · Oct 6, 2012

When Nigel was in IndyCar he was just at the top of his performance, winning the Formula 1 World Championship a year before. If you compare that to others who moved from Formula 1 to IndyCars (including ChampCars) this was different. In the time Rubens could have been at the top of his performance I fear he was the clear number two in Ferrari. It is very difficult to judge though, since he raced against rookies in the Williams years. When he was in the BrawnGP however, he was not really on one level with Jenson. And, of course, Nigel was in a Newman/Haas, who cashed in the IndyCar driver's championship already in 1991.

I also think the current IndyCar has a pretty high density of talent, which can be seen by the number of drivers who had the potential to win a race when Genassi or Penske had their problems. Also the talent level in IndyCar is easier to be compared within the series than this is the case in Formula 1. The clear structures of how well a team performs vanished with the late drastic rule changes. Now you have different drivers in different teams on essencially the same speeds.

Bjorn de Haas · Oct 15, 2012

October the 16th 2011 Las Vegas,

Dan Wheldon is starting on the last row of the last indycar race of 2011.
Dan wanted to win this race from the back and therefore took up the challenge to start from
the back and work his way up the field.
Sadly Dan would not win this race, instead there was a horrific crash in lap 11 and Dan Wheldon
was involved in it. The bad news came shortly after the race was red flagged. Dan Wheldon had passed away.
A total shock of disbelief hit us all and it was hard to believe and to accept what just happened.

Now 1 year later we remember Dan as a great person and racingdriver. From our perspective as a sim-racer we would like
to reflect back at this. Nowadays the sim-race community is closely connected to the real racing world, because many drivers
practise on race simulators and also are very active during the period they dont race.

We all know that racing is a very dangerous sports and that accidents happen. Dan was one of the people who was involved in
developing a new indycar together with Dallara. This to increase the safety of the sport and for example prevent cars from going
airborne after wheel to wheel contact. Dan was not given the oppurtunity to race this cars in the 2012 indycar season, Dallara
would call the car the DW01 named after Dan.

During this years month of May and the Indianapolis 500 there was a feeling of emptiness and a gap Dan left. The race was won by his
close friend Dario Franchitti and it was emotional for erverybody, knowing the fact that Dan was looking at us from above and have
that remarkable smile.

The TBR team would like to take a moment and remember Dan for who he was and for what he did for the sport.
Goodbye Dan Wheldon we miss you.

Bjorn de Haas,

Thilo Falkenberg · Oct 25, 2012

2007 there have been 2 of them in Assen and Zolder, 2008 3 of them were planned adding Jerez but later cancelled due to the reunification of the IRL IndyCar Series and the ChampCar World Series. Between 2001 and 2003 American Open Wheelers already raced at the Eurospeedway Lausitz, Rockingham UK and Brands Hatch. However one of the first American Open Wheeler races in the old world was the "Race of the two Worlds" also known as the "500 Miglia di Monza" or "Monzanapolis", a 500mi event at the Monza Oval, held in 1957 and 1958. Jimmy Bryan, the 1958 Indy 500 winner, and Jim Rathmann, the 1960 Indy 500 winner, won these two events.

In one way the circle closes again. As rumoured over the past couple of weeks, 2013 will see an IndyCar race in Italy. No decision was made yet about the venue, but Imola, Mugello and, of course, Monza are the candidates. Autosport print magazine quoted Dr. Paola Mannetti, who confirmed that the race will happen in September 2013. IndyCar did not confirm the race yet, however it is expected to be confirmed from beyond the big pod by the time the decision for a venue fell.

Ryan Briscoe twittered: "Rumours about a potential IndyCar race in Italy next year are getting me excited! Mugello is one of the best tracks I've ever driven!"

Bram Hengeveld · Oct 25, 2012

If they could only restore the old 10K track on Monza for this. Wow.

Reik Major · Nov 13, 2012

...or bring them to the Nords

Eric Parker · Nov 16, 2012

Considering F1 isn't going to the GP circuit at the Nurburgring, it is a possibility Indycar might go there.

Marian Zelenka · Dec 23, 2012

I've just finished watching the whole season and Sato had some good performance. But what's wrong with all those crashes? Real shame. Bobby Rahal should really talk with him. He needs to be more patient. Barrichello's performance, especially on ovals was impresive.