The second of our twelve-part, team-by-team preview for the 2014 IndyCar season takes a look at our first Honda-powered team and that would be Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing.
2013 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Review:
Wins: 0
Best Finish: 2nd (Baltimore).
Poles: 0
Best Start: 5th (Baltimore).
Final Championship Position: 14th (Josef Newgarden). 36th (Lucas Luhr).
2014 Driver:
Josef Newgarden
The Tennessean returns for his third season with SFHR. After a rookie season that showed a lot of promise but little results in 2012, Newgarden made great strides in 2013 by scoring his first career podium, top five and top ten finishes. The 2011 Indy Lights champion was in contention for a few race wins with two races that stand out being São Paulo but an aggressive Takuma Sato and hard-charging James Hinchcliffe prevented Newgarden from getting his first career win and Baltimore where he battled Simon Pagenaud but ultimately the Frenchman had the better car, pulled away and took victory. Newgarden was able to finish fourteenth in the final championship standings ahead of the likes of Ed Carpenter, race-winner Takuma Sato and both Rahal Letterman Lanigan drivers, Graham Rahal and James Jakes.
Numbers to Remember: 51 and 25. The amount of career IndyCar starts Newgarden will have should he start all 18 IndyCar races in 2014. The amount of drivers who took more than 51 starts to score their first career victory. This includes the likes of Ed Carpenter, Oriol Servià, Eddie Cheever, Bryan Herta, Scott Pruett, Maurício Gugelmin, Roger McCluskey, Max Papis, Buddy Lazier, Jimmy Vasser, Scott Goodyear and Takuma Sato.
Prediction/Goals: The goal should be top ten in points. It's going to be difficult considering the depth of the IndyCar grid and the loss of chief engineer Nathan O'Rourke to Andretti Autosport. The one place Newgarden has to improve on is qualifying. He had only three top ten starts in 2013 and while he has shown the ability to go from the back to the front (22nd to 9th at Barber, 25th to 5th at São Paulo, 24th to 7th at Belle Isle 1, 15th to 5th at Pocono, 18th to 5th at Houston 1) common sense tells you starting up front puts you in better position for finishes up front.
I don't see Newgarden winning a race in 2014 but he will be in contention for a top ten finish in the championship entering Fontana.
Alex Tagliani
Announced this morning, 2011 Indianapolis 500 pole-sitter, Alex Tagliani will drive the #68 SFHR/RW Motorsports Dallara-Honda for the Indianapolis 500. Tagliani lost his Bryan Herta Autosport ride midseason in 2013 after a rough season. The French-Canadian driver was brought in at the end of the 2013 season to substitute for an injured Dario Franchitti at the Fontana season finale for Ganassi Racing where Tagliani qualified thirteenth, started twenty-first after a penalty for an engine change and led five laps before retiring after a spin off of turn two.
Number to Remember: 12.2. Average starting position for Tagliani in five Indianapolis 500 starts. And if you drop the 33rd starting position in 2009 after he took over Bruno Junqueira's ride, his averaging starting position is 7th.
Prediction/Goals: One goal would be for Tagliani to turn this one-off into more races and at least the Toronto doubleheader. SFHR has had fast cars at Indianapolis the last few years and Tagliani has a good track record qualifying for the Indianapolis 500. He will start in the first four rows and complete every lap.
Keep an eye out for the third team preview tomorrow. A hint: The team owner is an IndyCar race winning driver. Remember, the first round of the 2014 IndyCar Series season is the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and can be seen live March 30th at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
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