MotoGP returns for its only round in the United States for the fourth Grand Prix of the America from Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. This is the third round of the 2016 MotoGP season after the series raced under the lights in Qatar in March and last week in Argentina. This is the final round before the start of the 11-round European portion of the schedule.
Marc Márquez took the championship lead after his victory in the Argentine Grand Prix last week. He is the only rider to have stood on the podium in each race this season after he finished third in Qatar. Márquez has won all seven of his MotoGP starts in the United States and is undefeated at Circuit of the Americas. Including his 125cc and Moto2 statistics, Márquez has won his last nine starts in the United States and has eight pole positions in the United States.
Valentino Rossi is second in the championship, eight points behind the Honda rider. He has finished fourth and second this season. Rossi has not won in the United States since the 2008 United States Grand Prix at Laguna Seca. He finished third in last year's Grand Prix of the Americas, his best finish at Austin. Dani Pedrosa sits on 27 points after a fifth and third in the first two races. Pedrosa missed last year's Austin race due to an arm injury. He finished second in his other two Austin starts. After falling in Argentina, Jorge Lorenzo's victory at Qatar has him fourth in the championship. Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso was set to be second in the championship, a point behind Márquez as he entered the penultimate corner and was then hit by his teammate Andrea Iannone. Instead of having 40 points, Dovizioso is fifth with 23 points. Dovizioso finished second last year at Austin and finished third in 2014.
Tech3 Yamaha's Pol Espargaró sits sixth in the championship on 19 points, one ahead of Avinita Racing Ducati of Héctor Barberá. Aspar Ducati's Eugene Laverty is eighth in the championship with 17 points after he scored a career-best fourth in Argentina. Prior to that, Laverty's best MotoGP finish was 12th, which occurred at the prior round in Qatar and at Barcelona last year. Tech3's Bradley Smith has two eighth-place finishes and is on 16 points. The Suzuki riders Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaró are tied for tenth, each with ten points.
The Aprilla riders Stefan Bradl and Álvaro Bautista both have nine points from the first two rounds. Rookie Tito Rabat has scored points in his first two MotoGP starts and the Marc VDS Honda rider has eight points. Pramac Ducati riders Scott Redding and Michele Pirro are 15th and 16th in the championship with six and four points respectively. The last rider classified is Marc VDS' Jack Miller on two points.
Loris Baz, Cal Crutchlow, Andrea Iannone and Yonny Hernández are the four riders who did not score any points from the first two rounds.
In Moto2, Thomas Lüthi leads the championship after a win in Qatar and seventh in Argentina with 34 points. Defending Moto2 champion and winner of the most recent round in Argentina, Johann Zarco trails Lüthi by five points. Last year's Austin Moto2 winner Sam Lowes is two points behind Zarco with Malaysian rider Hafizh Syahrin on 23 points. Dominique Aegerter rounds out the top five with 22 points.
Brad Binder finished second and third in the first two Moto3 rounds and he leads the championship with 36 points, five ahead of Qatar winner Niccolò Antonelli. Jorge Navarro is third on 29 points with Argentina winner Khairul Idham Pawi on 25 points. Francesco Bagnaia is fifth on 16 points.
The 2016 Grand Prix of the Americas will take place at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday April 10th.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
Friday, April 8, 2016
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
2016 FIA World Endurance Championship Preview
The 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship begins in just over a week in a half and Porsche will look to defend its title and Le Mans victory against Audi and Toyota. Meanwhile, LMP2 enters its final season under the current regulations and features teams from around the globe. In GTE, the big news is the arrival of the Ford GT program to battle with Ferrari, Aston Martin and Porsche.
All eight rounds from the 2015 season return for 2016 but the schedule has grown by one race. The Six Hours of Silverstone returns as the season opener and will take place on April 17th with the European Le Mans Series season opener taking place the day prior. Just under two weeks later, the FIA WEC will head to the Six Hours of Spa-Franchorchamps, the traditional precursor to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Le Mans Test Day is scheduled for June 6th with the 84th 24 Hours of Le Mans scheduled for June 11-12th. The Six Hours of the Nürburgring moves up a full month to July 24 and will close the European portion of the calendar.
The new round for 2016 is the Six Hours of Mexico City, scheduled to take place on September 3rd from Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. A fortnight after the inaugural race in Mexico City, the series will head to North of the Border to Circuit of the Americas for the Lone Star Le Mans doubleheader with the IMSA SportsCar Championship on September 17th. After the two North American rounds and a month off, the FIA WEC will wrap up its 2016 season with three rounds in Asia. Fuji will host the series on October 16th. On November 6th, Shanghai will host the penultimate round. The season will conclude under the lights at the Six Hours of Bahrain on November 19th.
LMP1
Porsche returns with two cars to defend its world championship. Defending champions Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber and Brandon Hartley will drive the #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid. The trio won four of eight races last season and also won four pole positions while finishing second at Le Mans to the one-off entry of Nick Tandy, Nico Hülkenberg and Earl Bamber. The #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid retains the same three drivers as Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb all return. They won the season finale at Bahrain last year and finished second on five occasions in 2015 while picking up three pole positions along the way.
Audi has made no changes to its driver line-up. André Lotterer, Benoít Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler will be back in the #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro. They finished second last year in the championship by five points to Bernhard, Webber and Hartley. The #7 Audi finished on the podium in every race in 2015 after winning the first two races and scoring two seconds and four thirds in the remaining six races. The #8 Audi R18 of Lucas di Grassi, Loïc Duval and Oliver Jarvis had only one podium in 2015 (third at Austin) and finished fourth in the championship. All three drivers return for 2016.
Toyota has introduced a new car for the 2016 season after scoring only two podiums in 2015, a third at Silverstone and a third at Bahrain. The Toyota TS050 Hybrid features a 2.4 L V6 twin-turbo engine instead of a 3.7 L normally aspirated V8 that was in the TS040 Hybrid. The hybrid system has also changed from a super capacitor hybrid system to a battery hybrid system. Unlike its LMP1 rivals, Toyota has made an alteration to its driver line-up. While Sébastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima will return in #5 Toyota TS050, Kamui Kobayashi will replace the retired Alexander Wurz in the #6 Toyota and be joined by Stéphane Sarrazin and Mike Conway.
Besides the three manufactures, there are three privateer LMP1 entries. Simon Trummer, Oliver Webb and James Rossiter will drive the #4 ByKolles Racing Team CLM P1/01 at Silverstone and Spa-Franchorchamps with Pierre Kaffer replacing Rossiter at Le Mans. Rebellion Racing returns with two Rebellion R-Ones. Nick Heidfeld and Nicolas Prost return in the #12 Rebellion R-One and will be joined by defending Formula E champion Nelson Piquet, Jr. for the first three races with Mathias Beche waiting in the wings after Le Mans as he will race in ELMS and at Le Mans for Thiriet by TDS Racing in LMP2. Swiss driver Alexandre Imperatori and Mathéo Tuscher and Austrian Dominick Kraihamer return in the #13 Rebellion R-One.
LMP2
Eleven cars are entered in LMP2 for 2016. The #26 G-Drive Oreca-Nissan returns to defend its championship with Romain Rusinov but the team has made some changes. Julien Canal and Sam Bird are and the team has switched from the Ligier chassis. Nathanaël Berthon and René Rast will replace Canal and Bird. Defending GTE-Am champion and 2014 LMP2 champion SMP Racing will leave GTE-Am and return to LMP2 with two BR Engineering BR01-Nissans. The team ran the BR01 chassis in ELMS last year. Maurizio Mediani and Nicolas Minassian will drive the #27 BR01-Nissan. Vitaly Petrov, Viktor Shaitar and Kirill Ladygin will drive the #37 BR01-Nissan.
After a difficult debut season in 2015, Extreme Speed Motorsports returns in 2016 with two Ligier-Nissans are fresh off of victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring. Scott Sharp, Ed Brown and Johannes van Overbeek will drive the #30 Ligier-Nissan. Ryan Dalziel moves over to the #31 Ligier-Nissan with Pipo Derani and Chris Cumming joining the team, replacing David Heinemeier Hansson and Jon Fogarty.
Signatech Alpine has entered two cars. One will be the Baxi DC Racing #35 Alpine-Nissan for Asian Le Mans Series LMP3 champions David Cheng and Ho-Pin Tung with Nelson Panciatici rounding out that line-up. The #36 Alpine-Nissan will have a whole new driver line-up. Nicolas Lapierre returns to FIA WEC full-time after running three races last year for KCMG, which included a class victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. American Gustavo Menezes moves up to LMP2 after two seasons in FIA Formula Three. GP2 and Blancpain Sprint Series race winner Stéphane Richelmi will be the third driver in the #36 Alpine-Nissan.
Strakka Racing has entered the #42 Gibson-Nissan for Nick Leventis, Danny Watts and Jonny Kane. The team finished third last year at Silverstone, its best finish in 2015. Ricardo González moves from G-Drive to form a partnership with Morand Racing. Joining González in the #43 RGR Sport by Morand Ligier-Nissan will be Bruno Senna and Filipe Albuquerque. Manor Motorsport is a new team on the LMP2 grid. The team has two cars entered full time, the #44 and #45 Oreca-Nissans. However the #45 Oreca-Nissan will not be entered for the 24 Hours of Le Mans due to being a late entry to the FIA WEC season. Tor Graves, James Jakes and Will Stevens are confirmed in the #44 Oreca-Nissan. Matt Rao, Roberto Merhi and Richard Bradley are confirmed in the #45 Oreca-Nissan.
GTE-Pro
The factory-back Porsche Team Manthey will not return in 2016 but Porsche will have a competitor in the professional GTE class. Dempsey-Proton Racing will move up to GTE-Pro and field the #77 Porsche 911 RSR for defending World Endurance Champion for GT Drivers Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen. Wolf Henzler will join Lietz and Christensen for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Porsche won four races in GTE-Pro last year, all coming after the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
AF Corse entered two Ferraris in class but there will be a change in the driver line-up. Gianmaria Bruni will be paired with James Calado in the new #51 Ferrari 488 GTE as Toni Vilander will focus on the IMSA season driving with Giancarlo Fisichella for Risi Competizione. Calado spent the last two seasons paired with Davide Rigon and the two drivers scored ten podiums in 15 races together. Rigon returns in the #71 Ferrari and will be joined by last year's LMP2 champion Sam Bird. Bruni won twice in 2015 with Vilander and had two second-place finishes.
After winning only one race in GTE-Pro in 2015, Aston Martin has shaken up its driver line-up. Darren Turner returns in the #95 Aston Martin V8 Vantage but will be joined by Danes Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen. The #95 Aston Martin's lone podium was a third in the season finale at Bahrain. It was Turner's first winless season in FIA WEC. Richie Stanaway and Fernando Rees were two of the drivers responsible for Aston Martin's lone victory in 2015 at Spa-Francorchamps. They will drive the #97 Aston Martin and 2015 British GT Champion Jonathan Adam will replace fellow British driver Alex MacDowell.
The big additions to the FIA WEC grid are the two Ford GTs run by Chip Ganassi Racing. Stefan Mücke moves over from Aston Martin and will be joined by former Nissan LMP1 driver Olivier Pla in the #66 Ford GT. American and IMSA Continental Tires SportsCar Challenge regular Billy Johnson will join Mücke and Pla for the first three rounds of 2016. Johnson won the CTSCC opener at Daytona with co-driver Scott Maxwell and finished second at Sebring. In the #67 Ford GT will be an all-British driver line-up with Marino Franchitti being joined by Andy Priaulx. Another former Nissan LMP1 driver, Harry Tincknell will be the third driver in the #67 Ford at Le Mans.
GTE-Am
A half a dozen cars are entered for the full season in GTE-Am. The top returning GTE-Am team from 2015 is the #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Emmanuel Collard, François Perrodo and Rui Águas, who won one race and finished on the podium in seven of eight races. The worst finish for the #83 AF Corse Ferrari in 2015 was fourth in the season finale. The #98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda won three races in 2015 and finished second in three other races.
Three Porsches are entered in GTE-Am. KCMG will field the #78 Porsche for Christian Ried, Joël Camathias and Wolf Henzler for at least the Silverstone season opener. Gulf Racing moves to FIA WEC after racing in ELMS last season. Adam Carroll and Michael Wainwright will move up to FIA WEC as well and be joined by Ben Barker in the #86 Porsche. Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing has entered the #88 Porsche for Khaled Al Qubaisi, David Heinemeier Hansson and Patrick Long. Long will miss the season opener due to commitments to the Pirelli World Challenge in Long Beach. Klaus Bachler will substitute for Long at Silverstone.
The Six Hours of Silverstone will begin at 7:00 a.m. ET on Sunday April 17th.
All eight rounds from the 2015 season return for 2016 but the schedule has grown by one race. The Six Hours of Silverstone returns as the season opener and will take place on April 17th with the European Le Mans Series season opener taking place the day prior. Just under two weeks later, the FIA WEC will head to the Six Hours of Spa-Franchorchamps, the traditional precursor to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Le Mans Test Day is scheduled for June 6th with the 84th 24 Hours of Le Mans scheduled for June 11-12th. The Six Hours of the Nürburgring moves up a full month to July 24 and will close the European portion of the calendar.
The new round for 2016 is the Six Hours of Mexico City, scheduled to take place on September 3rd from Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. A fortnight after the inaugural race in Mexico City, the series will head to North of the Border to Circuit of the Americas for the Lone Star Le Mans doubleheader with the IMSA SportsCar Championship on September 17th. After the two North American rounds and a month off, the FIA WEC will wrap up its 2016 season with three rounds in Asia. Fuji will host the series on October 16th. On November 6th, Shanghai will host the penultimate round. The season will conclude under the lights at the Six Hours of Bahrain on November 19th.
LMP1
Porsche returns with two cars to defend its world championship. Defending champions Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber and Brandon Hartley will drive the #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid. The trio won four of eight races last season and also won four pole positions while finishing second at Le Mans to the one-off entry of Nick Tandy, Nico Hülkenberg and Earl Bamber. The #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid retains the same three drivers as Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb all return. They won the season finale at Bahrain last year and finished second on five occasions in 2015 while picking up three pole positions along the way.
Audi has made no changes to its driver line-up. André Lotterer, Benoít Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler will be back in the #7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro. They finished second last year in the championship by five points to Bernhard, Webber and Hartley. The #7 Audi finished on the podium in every race in 2015 after winning the first two races and scoring two seconds and four thirds in the remaining six races. The #8 Audi R18 of Lucas di Grassi, Loïc Duval and Oliver Jarvis had only one podium in 2015 (third at Austin) and finished fourth in the championship. All three drivers return for 2016.
Toyota has introduced a new car for the 2016 season after scoring only two podiums in 2015, a third at Silverstone and a third at Bahrain. The Toyota TS050 Hybrid features a 2.4 L V6 twin-turbo engine instead of a 3.7 L normally aspirated V8 that was in the TS040 Hybrid. The hybrid system has also changed from a super capacitor hybrid system to a battery hybrid system. Unlike its LMP1 rivals, Toyota has made an alteration to its driver line-up. While Sébastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima will return in #5 Toyota TS050, Kamui Kobayashi will replace the retired Alexander Wurz in the #6 Toyota and be joined by Stéphane Sarrazin and Mike Conway.
Besides the three manufactures, there are three privateer LMP1 entries. Simon Trummer, Oliver Webb and James Rossiter will drive the #4 ByKolles Racing Team CLM P1/01 at Silverstone and Spa-Franchorchamps with Pierre Kaffer replacing Rossiter at Le Mans. Rebellion Racing returns with two Rebellion R-Ones. Nick Heidfeld and Nicolas Prost return in the #12 Rebellion R-One and will be joined by defending Formula E champion Nelson Piquet, Jr. for the first three races with Mathias Beche waiting in the wings after Le Mans as he will race in ELMS and at Le Mans for Thiriet by TDS Racing in LMP2. Swiss driver Alexandre Imperatori and Mathéo Tuscher and Austrian Dominick Kraihamer return in the #13 Rebellion R-One.
LMP2
Eleven cars are entered in LMP2 for 2016. The #26 G-Drive Oreca-Nissan returns to defend its championship with Romain Rusinov but the team has made some changes. Julien Canal and Sam Bird are and the team has switched from the Ligier chassis. Nathanaël Berthon and René Rast will replace Canal and Bird. Defending GTE-Am champion and 2014 LMP2 champion SMP Racing will leave GTE-Am and return to LMP2 with two BR Engineering BR01-Nissans. The team ran the BR01 chassis in ELMS last year. Maurizio Mediani and Nicolas Minassian will drive the #27 BR01-Nissan. Vitaly Petrov, Viktor Shaitar and Kirill Ladygin will drive the #37 BR01-Nissan.
After a difficult debut season in 2015, Extreme Speed Motorsports returns in 2016 with two Ligier-Nissans are fresh off of victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring. Scott Sharp, Ed Brown and Johannes van Overbeek will drive the #30 Ligier-Nissan. Ryan Dalziel moves over to the #31 Ligier-Nissan with Pipo Derani and Chris Cumming joining the team, replacing David Heinemeier Hansson and Jon Fogarty.
Signatech Alpine has entered two cars. One will be the Baxi DC Racing #35 Alpine-Nissan for Asian Le Mans Series LMP3 champions David Cheng and Ho-Pin Tung with Nelson Panciatici rounding out that line-up. The #36 Alpine-Nissan will have a whole new driver line-up. Nicolas Lapierre returns to FIA WEC full-time after running three races last year for KCMG, which included a class victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. American Gustavo Menezes moves up to LMP2 after two seasons in FIA Formula Three. GP2 and Blancpain Sprint Series race winner Stéphane Richelmi will be the third driver in the #36 Alpine-Nissan.
Strakka Racing has entered the #42 Gibson-Nissan for Nick Leventis, Danny Watts and Jonny Kane. The team finished third last year at Silverstone, its best finish in 2015. Ricardo González moves from G-Drive to form a partnership with Morand Racing. Joining González in the #43 RGR Sport by Morand Ligier-Nissan will be Bruno Senna and Filipe Albuquerque. Manor Motorsport is a new team on the LMP2 grid. The team has two cars entered full time, the #44 and #45 Oreca-Nissans. However the #45 Oreca-Nissan will not be entered for the 24 Hours of Le Mans due to being a late entry to the FIA WEC season. Tor Graves, James Jakes and Will Stevens are confirmed in the #44 Oreca-Nissan. Matt Rao, Roberto Merhi and Richard Bradley are confirmed in the #45 Oreca-Nissan.
GTE-Pro
The factory-back Porsche Team Manthey will not return in 2016 but Porsche will have a competitor in the professional GTE class. Dempsey-Proton Racing will move up to GTE-Pro and field the #77 Porsche 911 RSR for defending World Endurance Champion for GT Drivers Richard Lietz and Michael Christensen. Wolf Henzler will join Lietz and Christensen for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Porsche won four races in GTE-Pro last year, all coming after the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
AF Corse entered two Ferraris in class but there will be a change in the driver line-up. Gianmaria Bruni will be paired with James Calado in the new #51 Ferrari 488 GTE as Toni Vilander will focus on the IMSA season driving with Giancarlo Fisichella for Risi Competizione. Calado spent the last two seasons paired with Davide Rigon and the two drivers scored ten podiums in 15 races together. Rigon returns in the #71 Ferrari and will be joined by last year's LMP2 champion Sam Bird. Bruni won twice in 2015 with Vilander and had two second-place finishes.
After winning only one race in GTE-Pro in 2015, Aston Martin has shaken up its driver line-up. Darren Turner returns in the #95 Aston Martin V8 Vantage but will be joined by Danes Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen. The #95 Aston Martin's lone podium was a third in the season finale at Bahrain. It was Turner's first winless season in FIA WEC. Richie Stanaway and Fernando Rees were two of the drivers responsible for Aston Martin's lone victory in 2015 at Spa-Francorchamps. They will drive the #97 Aston Martin and 2015 British GT Champion Jonathan Adam will replace fellow British driver Alex MacDowell.
The big additions to the FIA WEC grid are the two Ford GTs run by Chip Ganassi Racing. Stefan Mücke moves over from Aston Martin and will be joined by former Nissan LMP1 driver Olivier Pla in the #66 Ford GT. American and IMSA Continental Tires SportsCar Challenge regular Billy Johnson will join Mücke and Pla for the first three rounds of 2016. Johnson won the CTSCC opener at Daytona with co-driver Scott Maxwell and finished second at Sebring. In the #67 Ford GT will be an all-British driver line-up with Marino Franchitti being joined by Andy Priaulx. Another former Nissan LMP1 driver, Harry Tincknell will be the third driver in the #67 Ford at Le Mans.
GTE-Am
A half a dozen cars are entered for the full season in GTE-Am. The top returning GTE-Am team from 2015 is the #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Emmanuel Collard, François Perrodo and Rui Águas, who won one race and finished on the podium in seven of eight races. The worst finish for the #83 AF Corse Ferrari in 2015 was fourth in the season finale. The #98 Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda won three races in 2015 and finished second in three other races.
Three Porsches are entered in GTE-Am. KCMG will field the #78 Porsche for Christian Ried, Joël Camathias and Wolf Henzler for at least the Silverstone season opener. Gulf Racing moves to FIA WEC after racing in ELMS last season. Adam Carroll and Michael Wainwright will move up to FIA WEC as well and be joined by Ben Barker in the #86 Porsche. Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing has entered the #88 Porsche for Khaled Al Qubaisi, David Heinemeier Hansson and Patrick Long. Long will miss the season opener due to commitments to the Pirelli World Challenge in Long Beach. Klaus Bachler will substitute for Long at Silverstone.
The Six Hours of Silverstone will begin at 7:00 a.m. ET on Sunday April 17th.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
The IndyCar Qualifying Format Change Proposal You Are Going to Hate... Or Like
Talking about qualifying seems to be all the rage in 2016. From Formula One having no idea what it is doing with its qualifying format to Chevrolets dominating qualifying in IndyCar, all anyone wants to talk about anymore is qualifying. And to think NASCAR was revolutionary and got all its talk about qualifying done last year. All we need is FIA World Endurance Championship or IMSA to know something interesting like changing it so qualifying is two laps with a driver change occurring at the end of lap one.
While everyone else talks, I think and something occurred to me. IndyCar fans seem discontent with the Chevrolet dominance. Some just aren't happy because it makes the race seem predictable. When half the field is at a perceived disadvantage, people are discouraged from even watching. However, as much as people hate total dominance, people hate just as much leveling the playing field. You suggest making it even and people get upset because it's not laissez-faire. They hate that Chevrolet is dominating but they hate it even more if Honda's gain on Chevrolet comes because of concessions made by IndyCar.
It is a double-edged sword and IndyCar always ends up shedding blood even if Honda had a chance to improve its aero kit and failed to make up any ground. Formula One is trying to mix up its grid while IndyCar are kind of in the same boat but not willing to admit it.
With IndyCar's next three races being Long Beach, Barber and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, the qualifying format will be the three-round, Fast Six knockout format to line-up the grid. IndyCar was the first series to come up with the knockout format and whoever came up with the idea should be paid a million dollars because Formula One copied it a year later and NASCAR followed suit a decade later. It is a great format.
However, what if that format could be used to mix up the IndyCar grids? Formula One made its qualifying changes this year hoping to mix up the grid and lead for more interesting races and that has not been the case. After Chevrolet took the top ten starting positions at Phoenix, maybe IndyCar should be trying to do the same.
Here is the proposal:
Keep the current format for road and street courses and adopt it for all oval races that aren't the Indianapolis 500.
For round one, one group will feature all the Chevrolet entries and the other will feature all the Honda entries. The top six from each group advances to round two.
For round two, instead of having a combined 12-car session, have one group for the six Chevrolets advancing from round one and the six Hondas from round two. Each group will get seven minutes and the top three from each group advances to round three.
Round three would stay the same with the top three Chevrolets and the top three Hondas combining for the final six-minute session to set the first three rows of the grid.
That would mix up a grid and give Honda a better shot at competing without allowing the manufacture to make more adjustments to its aero kits or allowing the Honda to run a little more turbo boost and getting into the murky waters of Balance of Performance.
One Chevrolet and one Honda would be on each row from row four to the last row on the grid. There would definitely be passing and the Hondas would be given the opportunity to compete at the front. There would be a drawback. If the aero kits are one rabbit hole, this change to the qualifying format would be another. What would happen if IndyCar changed and broke down groups by manufacture and then went back to groups set by up practice speeds and Hondas end up taking eight of the top ten? Chevrolet will be expecting the same type of treatment. What if a third manufacture ever enters IndyCar? The entire format would have to be thrown, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because with a third manufacture the chances of one engine manufacture sweeping the top ten would be lower than with two manufactures. Of course, a third manufacture entering IndyCar is like the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series: We keep waiting for it to happen and it never comes to fruition.
I think most will hate this idea but I am sure there are some who will like it. After all, in a series where drivers don't have to worrying about failing to qualify for 15 of 16 races, why not have it so the field is a little mixed up at the start? Keep the Indianapolis 500 the way it is because it is the one race a driver could fail to make but for the other 15 races, why not make it interesting without penalizing drivers for being successful or setting the field by Ping-Pong balls?
While everyone else talks, I think and something occurred to me. IndyCar fans seem discontent with the Chevrolet dominance. Some just aren't happy because it makes the race seem predictable. When half the field is at a perceived disadvantage, people are discouraged from even watching. However, as much as people hate total dominance, people hate just as much leveling the playing field. You suggest making it even and people get upset because it's not laissez-faire. They hate that Chevrolet is dominating but they hate it even more if Honda's gain on Chevrolet comes because of concessions made by IndyCar.
It is a double-edged sword and IndyCar always ends up shedding blood even if Honda had a chance to improve its aero kit and failed to make up any ground. Formula One is trying to mix up its grid while IndyCar are kind of in the same boat but not willing to admit it.
With IndyCar's next three races being Long Beach, Barber and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, the qualifying format will be the three-round, Fast Six knockout format to line-up the grid. IndyCar was the first series to come up with the knockout format and whoever came up with the idea should be paid a million dollars because Formula One copied it a year later and NASCAR followed suit a decade later. It is a great format.
However, what if that format could be used to mix up the IndyCar grids? Formula One made its qualifying changes this year hoping to mix up the grid and lead for more interesting races and that has not been the case. After Chevrolet took the top ten starting positions at Phoenix, maybe IndyCar should be trying to do the same.
Here is the proposal:
Keep the current format for road and street courses and adopt it for all oval races that aren't the Indianapolis 500.
For round one, one group will feature all the Chevrolet entries and the other will feature all the Honda entries. The top six from each group advances to round two.
For round two, instead of having a combined 12-car session, have one group for the six Chevrolets advancing from round one and the six Hondas from round two. Each group will get seven minutes and the top three from each group advances to round three.
Round three would stay the same with the top three Chevrolets and the top three Hondas combining for the final six-minute session to set the first three rows of the grid.
That would mix up a grid and give Honda a better shot at competing without allowing the manufacture to make more adjustments to its aero kits or allowing the Honda to run a little more turbo boost and getting into the murky waters of Balance of Performance.
One Chevrolet and one Honda would be on each row from row four to the last row on the grid. There would definitely be passing and the Hondas would be given the opportunity to compete at the front. There would be a drawback. If the aero kits are one rabbit hole, this change to the qualifying format would be another. What would happen if IndyCar changed and broke down groups by manufacture and then went back to groups set by up practice speeds and Hondas end up taking eight of the top ten? Chevrolet will be expecting the same type of treatment. What if a third manufacture ever enters IndyCar? The entire format would have to be thrown, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because with a third manufacture the chances of one engine manufacture sweeping the top ten would be lower than with two manufactures. Of course, a third manufacture entering IndyCar is like the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series: We keep waiting for it to happen and it never comes to fruition.
I think most will hate this idea but I am sure there are some who will like it. After all, in a series where drivers don't have to worrying about failing to qualify for 15 of 16 races, why not have it so the field is a little mixed up at the start? Keep the Indianapolis 500 the way it is because it is the one race a driver could fail to make but for the other 15 races, why not make it interesting without penalizing drivers for being successful or setting the field by Ping-Pong balls?
Monday, April 4, 2016
Musings From the Weekend: S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!
IndyCar's return to Phoenix was good. Formula E wasn't the only series that had competitors switching machinery mid-race this weekend. A championship leader fell. Andrea Iannone took out his Ducati teammate Andrea Dovizioso when both were in position for podium finishes. An Irishman scored his best career finish. Two drivers won their first races with new teams this weekend. Someone had a grand slam. A few grandfather clocks were given away to the same person. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!
I kind of brought it up last week but this past weekend wasn't the greatest for the Phoenix IndyCar race. The Final Four of NCAA Tournament took place simultaneously with the IndyCar race and it's not a great idea to go against one of the most popular events in American sports.
Phoenix International Raceway wanted to hold the IndyCar race on a Saturday night and I can't blame them. Everyone likes a night race and it probably drew more fans than a day race thanks to cooler temperatures. However, perhaps the event should move from this weekend in April to avoid going against the Final Four. Had Arizona made the Final Four, race attendance would have suffered. Had Indiana or Purdue or Butler made it, TV ratings would have suffered a big hit from what is IndyCar's biggest market. For both the track and the series, it would make sense to move away from the Final Four weekend.
But where could it move on the calendar? Phoenix can't be held during the summer and NASCAR races are held during the middle of March and early November. There was three weeks between this year's NASCAR race and the IndyCar race. The race can't simply move back a week because NASCAR typically runs at Texas the second weekend in April and that is a Saturday night race. IndyCar should avoid going head-to-head as much as possible, and NASCAR is on a Saturday night, IndyCar definitely shouldn't race on a Saturday night. Next year, Easter is April 16th. Racing on Easter weekend is never a good idea.
Another solution could be a date swap with Barber Motorsports Park. Barber is set for the final weekend of April but when it first was added to the IndyCar schedule in 2010 it was held in early-April, in fact the 2012 race was held on April 1st. NASCAR goes to Richmond the last weekend in April but NASCAR has moved that race from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, which would allow for an IndyCar race Saturday night.
The ideal April 2017 schedule for IndyCar should be Barber on April 2nd and Long Beach on April 9th (the weekend NASCAR races Saturday night at Texas) with Phoenix on April 22nd. It would put the Phoenix IndyCar race six weeks after the Phoenix NASCAR race, which would get the race off Final Four weekend and could allow more fans to attend both the NASCAR and IndyCar race.
Hopefully Phoenix is on the IndyCar schedule for the rest of eternity but that can only happen with a more comfortable date and a better aero package, but that's another story.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Scott Dixon but did you know...
Nico Rosberg is two-for-two in the 2016 Formula One season after a victory at Bahrain.
Lucas di Grassi won the Long Beach ePrix and, unlike Mexico City, he wasn't disqualified afterward.
Marc Márquez won the MotoGP Argentine Grand Prix. Johann Zarco won in Moto2. Malaysian rookie Khairul Idham Pawi won in his second career Moto3 start.
Kyle Kaiser won the Indy Lights race at Phoenix, his first Indy Lights victory. He won from pole position, led every lap and scored fastest lap.
Kyle Busch swept the NASCAR weekend at Martinsville by winning the Truck race Saturday and Cup race Sunday.
Chaz Davies swept the World Superbike races at Aragón. Kenan Sufuoglu won in World Supersport.
Shane Van Gisbergen and Will Davison won the V8 Supercars races from Symmons Plains.
Rob Huff and José María López split the opening weekend of the WTCC season at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Ryan Dungey won the AMA Supercross race from Santa Clara.
Coming Up This Weekend
MotoGP makes its lone trip to the United States to Circuit of the Americas.
NASCAR will race at Texas on Saturday night.
The Blancpain Sprint Series opens its 2016 season from Misano.
Super GT begins its 2016 at Okayama.
AMA Supercross will be in Indianapolis.
S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!
I kind of brought it up last week but this past weekend wasn't the greatest for the Phoenix IndyCar race. The Final Four of NCAA Tournament took place simultaneously with the IndyCar race and it's not a great idea to go against one of the most popular events in American sports.
Phoenix International Raceway wanted to hold the IndyCar race on a Saturday night and I can't blame them. Everyone likes a night race and it probably drew more fans than a day race thanks to cooler temperatures. However, perhaps the event should move from this weekend in April to avoid going against the Final Four. Had Arizona made the Final Four, race attendance would have suffered. Had Indiana or Purdue or Butler made it, TV ratings would have suffered a big hit from what is IndyCar's biggest market. For both the track and the series, it would make sense to move away from the Final Four weekend.
But where could it move on the calendar? Phoenix can't be held during the summer and NASCAR races are held during the middle of March and early November. There was three weeks between this year's NASCAR race and the IndyCar race. The race can't simply move back a week because NASCAR typically runs at Texas the second weekend in April and that is a Saturday night race. IndyCar should avoid going head-to-head as much as possible, and NASCAR is on a Saturday night, IndyCar definitely shouldn't race on a Saturday night. Next year, Easter is April 16th. Racing on Easter weekend is never a good idea.
Another solution could be a date swap with Barber Motorsports Park. Barber is set for the final weekend of April but when it first was added to the IndyCar schedule in 2010 it was held in early-April, in fact the 2012 race was held on April 1st. NASCAR goes to Richmond the last weekend in April but NASCAR has moved that race from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, which would allow for an IndyCar race Saturday night.
The ideal April 2017 schedule for IndyCar should be Barber on April 2nd and Long Beach on April 9th (the weekend NASCAR races Saturday night at Texas) with Phoenix on April 22nd. It would put the Phoenix IndyCar race six weeks after the Phoenix NASCAR race, which would get the race off Final Four weekend and could allow more fans to attend both the NASCAR and IndyCar race.
Hopefully Phoenix is on the IndyCar schedule for the rest of eternity but that can only happen with a more comfortable date and a better aero package, but that's another story.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Scott Dixon but did you know...
Nico Rosberg is two-for-two in the 2016 Formula One season after a victory at Bahrain.
Lucas di Grassi won the Long Beach ePrix and, unlike Mexico City, he wasn't disqualified afterward.
Marc Márquez won the MotoGP Argentine Grand Prix. Johann Zarco won in Moto2. Malaysian rookie Khairul Idham Pawi won in his second career Moto3 start.
Kyle Kaiser won the Indy Lights race at Phoenix, his first Indy Lights victory. He won from pole position, led every lap and scored fastest lap.
Kyle Busch swept the NASCAR weekend at Martinsville by winning the Truck race Saturday and Cup race Sunday.
Chaz Davies swept the World Superbike races at Aragón. Kenan Sufuoglu won in World Supersport.
Shane Van Gisbergen and Will Davison won the V8 Supercars races from Symmons Plains.
Rob Huff and José María López split the opening weekend of the WTCC season at Circuit Paul Ricard.
Ryan Dungey won the AMA Supercross race from Santa Clara.
Coming Up This Weekend
MotoGP makes its lone trip to the United States to Circuit of the Americas.
NASCAR will race at Texas on Saturday night.
The Blancpain Sprint Series opens its 2016 season from Misano.
Super GT begins its 2016 at Okayama.
AMA Supercross will be in Indianapolis.
Saturday, April 2, 2016
First Impressions: Phoenix 2016
1. Scott Dixon puts himself in the record books. He is the first driver to win an IndyCar race in 12 consecutive seasons. Three drivers had won in 11 consecutive: Bobby Unser, Emerson Fittipaldi and Hélio Castroneves. Dixon benefitted from Penske tire issues but no one could catch him. He didn't pull away but no one could pass him, which is another story entirely. Dixon is now tied with Al Unser for fourth all-time in IndyCar victories with 39 victories. The Andrettis are just ahead of him. Michael Andretti could be dropped in the record book before this season is over.
2. Simon Pagenaud was nowhere for the first 200 laps and then a great final pit stop vaulted him to second. He never challenged Dixon but because of the aero package he came home comfortably in second and with two second-place finishes, he now leads the IndyCar championship heading into Long Beach.
3. Will Power passed nobody on the track all night. He made up five spots on one pit stop and benefitted as a few drivers had issues in the pits or tapped the wall. Not a bad race for Power in his return. He is going to need all the points he can get if he hopes to get a second championship in 2016.
4. Tony Kanaan picked up right where he left off the last time IndyCar raced at Phoenix. He was up front all night and after he was caught out by the penultimate caution, he worked his way to fourth. He made a few questionable moves, such as squeezing Josef Newgarden entering turn three, but overall Kanaan deserved a fourth place finish.
5. From 19th to fifth. Graham Rahal made passes on restarts, passes on the outside and he did catch a break on one caution that vaulted him into a contender for a top five. Honda struggled this weekend but Rahal was one of the few bright spots tonight.
6. Josef Newgarden overcame being chopped by Charlie Kimball and being caught out by a caution to finish sixth. Who knows where he would have finished had he not been snake bitten twice. Newgarden is great on the short ovals. He raced well at Milwaukee. He races well at Iowa. I am sure he hopes Phoenix stays for many, many years and perhaps another short oval or two are added sooner rather than later.
7. In his first IndyCar oval race, Max Chilton finished seventh. He made a few bold moves but more importantly he kept his nose clean and completed all the laps. This is a huge step forward for him and a huge boost of confidence heading into the rest of the season, especially the Indianapolis 500.
8. Sébastien Bourdais grazed the wall and finished eighth. He benefitted as he went slightly off strategy because of the contact and ended up in the top ten. Sometimes that happens.
9. Juan Pablo Montoya was the second of Penske's tire failures. It was just a Penske thing as no one else had tires go down. Montoya looked like a contender for the victory in the first 100 laps. What could have been?
10. Ryan Hunter-Reay earned a test with McLaren-Honda for tonight. He passed five drivers on the initial start and passed at least two drivers on every restart tonight. If only he could have caught a break with cautions. Twice he pits and the caution comes out a lap later. He should have finished in the top five and perhaps he could have stolen a spot on the podium. Frustrating but encouraging as Hunter-Reay knows he can run with the Chevrolets even when it is an up hill battle.
11. Hélio Castroneves cut a tire while leading and never really recovered. Castroneves and Montoya both did great jobs not getting into the barriers when entering turn one at about 190 MPH.
12. Quick run through the rest of the field: Charlie Kimball was 12th after his penalty for chopping Newgarden. Marco Andretti ran just outside the top ten all day. Alexander Rossi nearly had a top ten but he had to pit to top off on fuel when the pits were closed and was sent to the back of the line. Then Rossi tapped the barrier to bring out the final caution but he ends up 14th. Takuma Sato did nothing but ended up 15th. Conor Daly did nothing but ended up 16th. Mikhail Alehsin nearly had a top ten but spun entering the pit lane under caution to make his final stop and he settles for 17th. James Hinchcliffe's oval return sees him final 18th. Jack Hawksworth was never a factor. Other than his lazy spin, Luca Filippi ran 243 laps in his oval debut. Ed Carpenter had another top ten on an oval taken away from him because he got into the marbles. Carlos Muñoz had what was probably the worst weekend of his IndyCar career.
13. It was a good race. It was interesting to see when a driver would make a move and it took a lot of skill to make a pass. I think IndyCar should listen to Will Power though and take downforce out of the cars and increase the horsepower a little bit. That and Firestone should bring a tire that is more like the Texas tire and falls off gradually but significantly over an entire stint. Dario Franchitti and J.R. Hildebrand seem to feel the same way about taking out downforce. I hope IndyCar considers it.
14. Rick Allen did a really good job in the booth on his IndyCar debut. The race went so fast that Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy lost track of how many laps were left when the final caution came out with two to go. Other than that, a solid broadcast for NBCSN in its first race of 2016.
15. On to Long Beach and I guess the championship picture is jumbled up. I didn't see the championship table after Phoenix. I know Pagenaud is leading but with Montoya having a first and ninth from two races and Dixon having a seventh and first and Hunter-Reay with a third and tenth I would guess that it is pretty close from first to fifth. There are a lot of races to go. Long Beach is in two weeks. Sleep tight boys and girls.
Morning Warm-Up: Phoenix 2016
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| Phoenix will have an all-Brazilian front row. |
Championship leader Juan Pablo Montoya qualified in third position, nearly a mile per hour behind Castroneves. This will be Montoya's first career start at Phoenix in an IndyCar. The Colombian made 14 Phoenix starts in the NASCAR Cup Series. His best finish in NASCAR at Phoenix was fifth. Charlie Kimball qualified on the outside of row two. This matches Kimball's best career starting position when he qualified fourth for the 2013 Fontana race. Kimball is going for consecutive top ten finishes for the first time since he finished fifth and third in the two Indianapolis races last year. Ed Carpenter will start fifth. Two of Carpenter's three career victories have come from fifth on the grid and he had won the last two races he started fifth (Fontana 2012 and Texas 2014). Scott Dixon will be on the outside of row three. Dixon is attempting to set a record for most consecutive seasons with at least one victory. Dixon has won a race in 11 consecutive seasons.
Josef Newgarden was the final driver to qualify above the 190-MPH average and he will start seventh. He finished second last year at Iowa from seventh on the grid. Newgarden has finished in the top five in the last four short oval races. Max Chilton will start eighth in his first career IndyCar oval race. Chilton finished sixth and first in his two Indy Lights oval starts last year at Milwaukee and Iowa. Will Power and Simon Pagenaud will start on an all-Penske row five. Power has won five races when starting outside the top five (Toronto 2007, Barber 2012, Long Beach 2012, Houston 2 2013, Belle Isle 1 2014). Pagenaud has never won an oval race and the furthest back he has won from was sixth at Belle Isle 2 in 2013.
Marco Andretti was the top Honda qualifier in 11th and he has gone 77 starts since his last victory at Iowa in 2011. Ryan Hunter-Reay makes it an all-Andretti Autosport row six. Hunter-Reay has won three races when starting outside the top ten and two of those have come at ovals (Indianapolis 2014, Iowa 2015). Only Scott Dixon has more victories from starting outside the top ten amongst active drivers with four. Mikhail Aleshin qualified 13th in his first oval appearance since Fontana 2014, where Aleshin was injured in a practice accident. Aleshin finished eighth at his last oval start at Milwaukee in 2014. Alexander Rossi will make his oval debut from 14th on the grid. Phoenix has been the site to the first IndyCar victory for seven drivers: Gary Bettenhausen, George Follmer, Swede Savage, Kevin Cogan, Roberto Guerrero, Robby Gordon and Jim Guthrie. It was the only victory for Follmer, Savage, Cogan and Guthrie.
Sébastien Bourdais was the slowest Chevrolet qualifier and will start 15th. Bourdais has failed to finish in the top fifteen in the last four races, the longest drought in his IndyCar career. He did finish first and ninth in the two short oval races last year. Luca Filippi will make his oval debut from 16th on the grid. Teo Fabi is the only Italian-national to win at Phoenix and Fabi was the first foreign driver to win at Phoenix in the fall of 1983. Filippi also started 16th at St. Petersburg. Jack Hawksworth qualified 17th. Hawksworth has started 17th in his only two top ten finishes on ovals. He went from 17th to tenth at Milwaukee in 2014 and from 17th to tenth last year at Fontana. Conor Daly qualified on the outside of row nine. His father Derek's best Phoenix finish was 12th in 1989. That was Derek Daly's final Phoenix start.
Graham Rahal will start 19th. He won from 19th last year at Fontana. His father Bobby won at Phoenix twice. Carlos Muñoz will start 20th after his accident in qualifying. This matches Muñoz's worst start on an oval since he started 20th at Milwaukee in 2014. Takuma Sato and James Hinchcliffe will start on the final row after both drivers suffered accidents in practice.
The 2016 Phoenix Grand Prix can be seen at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN with green flag scheduled for 9:15 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 250 laps.
Friday, April 1, 2016
Independent Aero
The aero kits have been anything but a slam dunk for IndyCar. From frustrating drivers to draining the wallets of car owners, many want to see them gone and it is understandable. However, what if some of these issues could have been avoidable? Hindsight is 20/20 and this is another case.
It made sense that each manufacture would develop its own aero kit but that has led us right to where we are today. It's not that Honda teams can't compete because the Honda engine is vastly inferior to the Chevrolet power plant. Honda teams are stuck with the Honda aero kit. There is no alternative and because of that each race has been an uphill battle for half the grid.
What if IndyCar had made it so aero kits had to be independent from the engine manufactures? The Honda aero kit was developed by Nick Wirth and Wirth Research. The Chevrolet aero kit was developed by Pratt & Miller. What if instead of billing the aero kits as Honda and Chevrolet, they were billed as Wirth and Pratt & Miller? Pratt & Miller is a company with a deep alliance with General Motors but for this example, let's say that wasn't a factor. If the kits were labeled "Wirth" and "Pratt & Miller," they could be open to all the teams. A Honda team could have gotten a Pratt & Miller and Chevrolet teams could have gotten a Wirth.
This could have created more diversity in the field. Instead of being focused on the difference between Honda and Chevrolet, we could be pinning the difference on Wirth and Pratt & Miller but what if the horsepower of the Chevrolets could overcome the aero deficiency in the Wirth kit? Then the difference might not be as noticeable and we might not be heading into each race wondering how far behind half the field would be to the other half.
However, no Chevrolet team would take a Wirth aero kit at this point. They know it is garbage and the teams aren't going to handcuff themselves just so two or three Honda teams can take a step forward. We are so far down this rabbit hole and there is no turning back.
I think we were all hoping a few independent aero kit manufactures would have stepped in and made it a little more interesting but that hasn't happened and it appears it won't be happening. As much as people want innovation and differences between the cars so we don't have two dozen of the same looking cars on the grid, a series like Super Formula has no problem with all the cars looking the same and the racing being fast and exciting. So maybe aero kits aren't needed. But something needs to dress the DW12 chassis.
Many want to throw the aero kits out and it makes sense but what are they going to use? Are the teams going to go back to the underdeveloped Dallara aero kit and sacrifice some speed or would Pratt & Miller or Wirth become the sole aero kit supplier?
There must be a way to compromise. Here is what I have thought of: For 2019, IndyCar should find at least two companies to develop aero kits that are independent from the engine manufactures. Because I am a dreamer, let's say those companies are McLaren and Saleen. We could see McLaren-Hondas and McLaren-Chevrolets and Saleen-Chevrolets and Saleen-Hondas. The field could be a little more jumbled up. There would be no more worrying about Chevrolets sweeping the top ten. Maybe it changes and now the worry is McLarens are sweeping the top ten or Saleens are but hopefully that wouldn't be the case.
I like aero kits. They leave the door open and I want the door open. I want the possibility of someone coming out of left field and stealing the show. IndyCar keeps the door closed on a lot of things and the possibility for some company to enter and stir the pot is intriguing.
IndyCar needs to get a few independent aero kit manufactures or IndyCar needs to find a big automotive company such as McLaren or hire Adrian Newey to design and develop the aero kits for all the cars. Regardless of what is done, IndyCar needs to figure out the aero kit issue and sooner rather than later.
It made sense that each manufacture would develop its own aero kit but that has led us right to where we are today. It's not that Honda teams can't compete because the Honda engine is vastly inferior to the Chevrolet power plant. Honda teams are stuck with the Honda aero kit. There is no alternative and because of that each race has been an uphill battle for half the grid.
What if IndyCar had made it so aero kits had to be independent from the engine manufactures? The Honda aero kit was developed by Nick Wirth and Wirth Research. The Chevrolet aero kit was developed by Pratt & Miller. What if instead of billing the aero kits as Honda and Chevrolet, they were billed as Wirth and Pratt & Miller? Pratt & Miller is a company with a deep alliance with General Motors but for this example, let's say that wasn't a factor. If the kits were labeled "Wirth" and "Pratt & Miller," they could be open to all the teams. A Honda team could have gotten a Pratt & Miller and Chevrolet teams could have gotten a Wirth.
This could have created more diversity in the field. Instead of being focused on the difference between Honda and Chevrolet, we could be pinning the difference on Wirth and Pratt & Miller but what if the horsepower of the Chevrolets could overcome the aero deficiency in the Wirth kit? Then the difference might not be as noticeable and we might not be heading into each race wondering how far behind half the field would be to the other half.
However, no Chevrolet team would take a Wirth aero kit at this point. They know it is garbage and the teams aren't going to handcuff themselves just so two or three Honda teams can take a step forward. We are so far down this rabbit hole and there is no turning back.
I think we were all hoping a few independent aero kit manufactures would have stepped in and made it a little more interesting but that hasn't happened and it appears it won't be happening. As much as people want innovation and differences between the cars so we don't have two dozen of the same looking cars on the grid, a series like Super Formula has no problem with all the cars looking the same and the racing being fast and exciting. So maybe aero kits aren't needed. But something needs to dress the DW12 chassis.
Many want to throw the aero kits out and it makes sense but what are they going to use? Are the teams going to go back to the underdeveloped Dallara aero kit and sacrifice some speed or would Pratt & Miller or Wirth become the sole aero kit supplier?
There must be a way to compromise. Here is what I have thought of: For 2019, IndyCar should find at least two companies to develop aero kits that are independent from the engine manufactures. Because I am a dreamer, let's say those companies are McLaren and Saleen. We could see McLaren-Hondas and McLaren-Chevrolets and Saleen-Chevrolets and Saleen-Hondas. The field could be a little more jumbled up. There would be no more worrying about Chevrolets sweeping the top ten. Maybe it changes and now the worry is McLarens are sweeping the top ten or Saleens are but hopefully that wouldn't be the case.
I like aero kits. They leave the door open and I want the door open. I want the possibility of someone coming out of left field and stealing the show. IndyCar keeps the door closed on a lot of things and the possibility for some company to enter and stir the pot is intriguing.
IndyCar needs to get a few independent aero kit manufactures or IndyCar needs to find a big automotive company such as McLaren or hire Adrian Newey to design and develop the aero kits for all the cars. Regardless of what is done, IndyCar needs to figure out the aero kit issue and sooner rather than later.
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