24 Hours of Le Mans: First Impressions

After sleeping through only 5 of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, I have plenty of first impressions but I will cut it down to main ones for the sake of time.

1. This is the first major victory for a hybrid vehicle of any kind. Was today a turning of the page in motorsports? Great job by Audi. They are a truly outstanding operation led by Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich.

1b. I feel terrible for Allan McNish but after seeing what he has done in the past you have to feel that he will return to Le Mans next year hungrier than ever before.

2. For their first race, the Toyota team and the TS030 were very impressive. Given another year of development, they should become a formidable rival for Audi.

3. For their first race and with probably only about 1/20 of Toyota's $50,000,000 budget for the TS030, the DeltaWing was holding it's own until being driven off the road. Like the TS030, the DeltaWing needs more time for development and hopefully it will run at some ALMS races and other World Endurance Championship races before the year is over. As I said in a previous post, the future of the DeltaWing is unknown and it is not clear if it will return to Le Mans with the Garage 56 spot for 2013 already been given to the GreenGT H2

4. We have got to get rid of the GTE-Amateur class. If were going to have a top LMP1 car getting into a nasty accident every year because of these teams, than something has to be down. Mike Rockenfeller was very banged up after last year's accident and we had Anthony Davidson break two vertebrae in his back yesterday. We don't need a class specifically fir gentleman drivers. There are plenty of more qualified and experienced professional who deserve a ride more than these guys. With that said, not all gentleman drivers are hazards. Seth Neiman and Tracy Krohn have proven they know what they are doing and that they are qualified. Others, though, need to either race more or get out of the race car because we don't need an accident involving a LMP1 and a GTE-Am killing somebody. I am all for one, big GT class but let's just get rid of a class meant for teams with one of three drivers being amateurs.

5. Does anyone else find it odd that the Audi Sport North America entry (the #4 Audi) does not have a North American driver?

6. Tough race for the American teams of Corvette Racing, Flying Lizard Motorsports and Level 5 Motorsports, but great races for American teams Starworks Motorsports who won the LMP2 class and Krohn Racing who got on the GTE-Am podium with a third place finish.

7. Not all bad for Corvette, as the customer French Corvette entrant of Larbre Competition and drivers Pedro Lamy, Patrick Bornhauser and Julien Canal won the GTE-Am class.

8. Hats off to Adrian Fernandez and the Aston Martin with their podium finish in the GTE-Pro class.

9. Disappointed that the United States has as many rounds in the World Endurance Championship as Bahrain and China. It would be nice to Petit Le Mans, maybe even Road America added to the WEC.

10. It would be nice to see the Factory Corvettes enter the WEC as well.

11. Wish SPEED did not leave Le Mans to cover certain qualifying and "special" practice sessions. The biggest sports car race in the world is interrupted for a "special" practice. Ridiculous.

12. With that said, SPEED still does a much better job than ESPN would if they had the rights to Le Mans. They would have shown the first two hours on ESPN2 with a half-hour pre-race, then the middle twenty-one hours on ESPN3.com, with the final hour on ESPN2 and no post-race coverage.

13. Hopefully, more manufactures come to Le Mans and they bring new innovations for the LMP and GT classes with them like Audi and Toyota has. I know Porsche is returning in 2014, but more would be nice.

14. The podium celebration at Le Mans is one of the greatest sights in all of motorsports. Every race should allow the fans to swarm around he winning team.

Milwaukee: First Impressions

1. Great job by ABC. Race didn't stay on ABC but it was put on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app, unlike Belle Isle.

2. Because of the rain, IndyFest may have lost it's advantage on TV. Didn't start until around 3:00pm EST, as we know, got bumped by the Nationwide Race, went head-to-head with two Euro 2012 matches, the Nationwide race and the U.S. Open.

3. But it was still a great race, with a fair amount of passing.

4. Was the place packed? No, but Milwaukee drew way better than last year and Michael Andretti and IndyFest will return in 2013.

5. Not sure about the Dixon penalty. I think it was because he was lingering back on the car in front of him and then getting on the gas.

6. Great race by Ryan Hunter-Reay. Well deserved win. Tony Kanaan had a great day coming in second and James Hinchcliffe bookends the podium for Andretti Autosports at an Andretti Marketing event.

7. Can we add about 100 horsepower to these cars for ovals?

8. Great top ten finish for Rubens Barrichello. He held his own all day and I don't think he was outside the top ten all day.

9. I like the blue walls.

10. If Oriol Servia ever gets a top ten start, he will win. He has passed more cars in eight races than about four current IndyCar drivers have in their entire careers.

11. Chevrolet took 8 of the top 10 and got their first victory since Sao Paulo. Not really sure who has the edge.

12. I am looking forward to Iowa and the heat races.

Morning Warm-Up: Milwaukee 2012

Dario Franchitti took the pole for the second straight year at Milwaukee as he looks to get back-to-back wins at the Milwaukee Mile. Justin Wilson qualified second but has to serve a 10 grid spot penalty after an engine change. Will Power, Josef Newgarden and Ryan qualified fourth, seventh and ninth respectively but will all have 10 grid spot penalties as well. Due to the penalties, Ryan Hunter-Reay will start second, Rubens Barrichello will start third in his first race at the Mile and Helio Castroneves will start fourth. The other KV cars of EJ Viso and Tony Kanaan start fifth and sixth with Simon Pagenaud, the only other Honda in the top ten, starting seventh. James Hinchcliffe, Marco Andretti and JR Hildebrand round out the top ten. Scott Dixon qualified eleventh but will drop to twenty-first after his engine failure at the Iowa test during the week between Texas and Milwaukee. Takuma Sato and Mike Conway also have to serve penalties for engine changes and will start twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth.

A lot of hope surrounds this event. Michael Andretti has made this year's race has to draw a decent crowd if he is to promote again next year. The Milwaukee Mile has seen it's fair share of promoters take over this event but it appears this could really be the Mile's last shot of saving it's place on the schedule.

While this is the Morning Warm-Up for Milwaukee IndyFest, I can't help but mention that the 24 Hours of Le Mans will begin in the hours leading up to the IndyCar race. Audi swept the front row with the #1 diesel-hybrid Audi R18 e-tron quattro on pole and the #3 diesel powered Audi R18 ultra second. In it's first race, the #8 Toyota TS030 Hybrid will start third. The #2 diesel-hybrid Audi will start fourth ahead of the #7 Toyota TS030 Hybrid and the #4 diesel Audi is in sixth. Current IndyCar driver, Sebastien Bourdias is in the #17 Pescarolo Team Dome S102.5-Judd and will tenth. The DeltaWing will start twenty-ninth out of fifty-six cars. The factory Corvettes start third and fifth in the GTE Pro class.

Here is a list of notable past and present IndyCar drivers and American teams and drivers racing at Le Mans.
LMP1
#15 OAK Pescarolo 01-Judd: Bertrand Baguette (Belgium)
#17 Pescarolo Team Dome S102.5-Judd: Sebastien Bourdais (France)

LMP2
#28 Gulf Racing Middle East LolaB12/80-Nissan: Stefan Johansson (Sweden)
#33 Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX-03b: Scott Tucker (USA), Luiz Diaz (Mexico)
#44 Starworks Motorsports HPD ARX-03b: Ryan Dalziel (Scotland)

LMGTE-Pro
#73 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6.R: Antonio Garcia (Spain) Jan Magnussen (Denmark), Jordan Taylor (USA)
#74 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin and Richard Westbrook (England), Tommy Milner (USA)
#80 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 997 GT3-RSR: Patrick Long (USA)
#97 Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Vantage GTE: Adrian Fernandez (Mexico)

LMGTE-Am
#57 Krohn Racing Ferrari 458 GTC: Tracy Krohn (USA)
#61 AF-Corse-Waltrip Ferrari 458 GTC: Robert Kauffman and Brian Vickers (USA)
#75 Prospeed Competition Porsche 997 GT3-RSR: Bret Curtis (USA)
#79 Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 997 GT3-RSR: Seth Neiman and Spencer Pumpelly (USA)

Unclassified
#0 Highcroft Racing DeltaWing-Nissan: Marino Franchitti (Scotland), Michael Krumm (Germany), Satoshi Motoyama (Japan)

Indy Lights Edition- Milwaukee: First Impressions

I sat down to listen to the Lights race and a few things came to mind. Mind as well do a first impressions page for it.

1. There is  big gap from the top to the bottom. Sam Schmidt Motorsports and Andretti Autosports have got the field cover by far and I can not wait for a new car. In junior formula racing, I believe the drivers should be the key factor and I feel that currently in Lights the car has been developed to the point where unless you are with one of the two top teams you don't have a great shot.

2. Lights need more teams. Six teams fielded the 13 cars. Schmidt, Andretti, Belardi Auto Racing, Fan Force United, Team Moore Racing and Jeffery Mark Motorsport. Bryan Herta Autosport is gone from Lights, the Juncos guys are gone. 2007-2009 were some good years for Lights and teams such as Guthrie Racing, Anderson Racing who had a partnership with Rahal-Letterman, Panther Racing, Walker Racing, Vision Racing and Brian Stewart Racing are all gone. Those three season produced drivers Alex Lloyd, Hideki Mutoh, Wade Cunningham, Dillion Battisini, Richard Antinucci, Raphael Matos, Ana Beatriz, J.R. Hildebrand, Sebastian Saavedra, James Hinchcliffe, Mario Romancini, Charlie Kimball, Pippa Mann and Martin Plowman and those are only the guys who got a shot in IndyCar. Some of those drivers deserve a better shot at IndyCar than just one race or two. A few other talented drivers still have not gotten a shot at IndyCar and most probably never will. A few of those guys are James Davison, Jonathan Summerton, Daniel Herrington, Logan Gomez and Robbie Pecorari. Lights fields have to be in the 25-30 range to show off more young talent and the IndyCar teams need more involvment in Lights, whether that is running a car of their own or creating an alliance with another team.

3. Bring double file restarts to Lights. If these drivers are eventually moving up to IndyCar than have them run double file restarts at the tracks that IndyCar runs double file restarts. It would make the race a little more interesting as well.

4. The crowd in this picture tweeted by Justin Wilson doesn't look too bad for a Lights race on a Friday evening. I hope tomorrow's race is a great draw and Milwaukee IndyFest is a massive success.

Track Walk: Milwaukee 2012

Milwaukee IndyFest is the eighth round of the championship. After uncertainty following last year's Milwaukee race, Michael Andretti stepped-up and decide to promote this year's IndyCar race at Milwaukee. The two day event begins Friday and general admission is free. Infield activities include a Ferris wheel, zip lines, a snake pit (just like the one at Indianapolis) as well as a stage where there will be a battle of the bands on Friday night and a Smash Mouth concert on Saturday after the IndyCar race.

How Well Will Milwaukee IndyFest Be Attended?
Last year only saw about 15,000 people show up for the race but moving the race from Father's Day to the day before is believed to help attendance numbers. The race will start at 12:30 local time after last year's race started at 2:30pm. Andretti does have his back to the wall in the sense that he had far less time to promote this race but he and his colleagues have worked hard to get a decent crowd. Tickets are at a very reasonable price. Two day infield admission is $29 for adults and grandstand tickets for Saturday's race start at $26 until the 15th when the price will increase to $31. Tickets in the north terrace start at $19 pre-race weekend, with an increase to $24 on Friday. The Family Fun Zone, IndyCar Fan Village, Snake Pit and Smash Mouth concert are all included with the purchase of a ticket. IndyCar drivers Graham Rahal and Alex Tagliani both set-up bus trips to the race from Indianapolis.

I am praying this race is attended well but I can understand if this isn't far better than less year. 25,000, while still low, would be good enough for me. I think Michael Andretti should give IndyFest at least another year, if not two to build up a fan base. It takes time to bring fans back and Andretti and IndyCar should not give up after just one year. If they had more time to promote this event I think it could easily sell out.

Another Oval
After a great Texas race, that may have saved the race from falling off the schedule, IndyCar is on another oval. Five former winners at Milwaukee will be in this year's race. Unlike Indianapolis and Texas, Milwaukee is a flat mile. Honda had the advantage on the two previous ovals but it will be interested to see how the Honda engine does here. Drivers are off the throttle more here than the previous two rounds (even after all the downforce reductions at Texas). The Honda single turbo had more time to wind up where it will not have nearly the same about of time at Milwaukee. Chevrolet and the twin-turbo engine could have the advantage at Milwaukee like they had at the first four rounds on road and street courses.

Bryan Clauson Returns To Lights
After a decent month of May, Bryan Clauson returns to the Firestone Indy Lights Series for Milwaukee and Iowa with Fan Force United. Last year, Clauson finished 4th at Milwaukee and 3rd at Iowa. Clauson is joined by Mike Larrison of Belardi Auto Racing as the only two Americans in the Lights field. Last year's Milwaukee Lights winner, Esteban Guerrieri currently leads the Lights standings ahead of Tristan Vautier and Sebastian Saavedra.

What I Learned From An IndyCar Driver
I learned that Ryan Hunter-Reay never actually saw the Ansan Circuit in South Korea during his 2005 visit to promote the ChampCar race that eventually never happened. I could not find any proof that circuit was ever built or if they even started construction. Until now. I have found of video on YouTube of a man doing a lap of the Ansan Circuit.

Prediction
After a tough second at Texas, Graham Rahal takes Milwaukee in front of a good crowd and all the fans that took his bus trip to the race. The Chevrolets, however will take six of the top ten, which will include Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe and Will Power. I see Scott Dixon rebounding with a top ten. Last week's winner Justin Wilson has a good run but nothing too spectacular. Sleeper: Oriol Servia.

American Open-Wheel's Long, Tumultuous Histroy In Asia And Today's Search For A Plan B

What finally seemed to actually be happening, even though the majority had to see it to believe it, looks as it will not be happening after all. Many expect that the Indy Qingdao 600 will not happen and American open-wheel racing's bid to race in China has failed yet again.

American open-wheel racing's history with Asia dates back to 1966 and a non-championship race at Fuji Speedway. America's best along with Grand Prix drivers Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and Chris Amon went to take part in the race but it ended up a few big names would not start the race. Clark was one of the many drivers with a DNS next to their name for this exhibition race, along with Mario Andretti, Gordon Johncock, Al Unser, Wally Dallenbach and Cale Yarborough was actually replaced by Amon for the race. Jackie Stewart and Bobby Unser were the only two drivers to complete all 80 laps and Stewart took his only win in American open-wheel win in this exhibition event. AJ Foyt was one driver who did not make the trip to Japan.

American open-wheel would not go back to Japan until 1998, but this time they raced on an oval at Twin Ring Motegi. CART ran five races on the oval with Adrián Fernandez winning the first two races at Motegi. Michael Andretti, Kenny Bräck and Bruno Junquiera won the final three races before the Motegi race switched over to the IRL. Scott Sharp took the first IRL sanctioned at Motegi with Dan Wheldon taking the following two. Brazilians Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan would also claim victories in the land of the rising sun. The 2008 race was won by Danica Patrick, the first win by a female driver in American open-wheel history. While 18 cars raced in Motegi, 20 cars were lined-up to race the "final ChampCar race" and the final race for the Panoz DP01 chassis. From 2009-2011, the Motegi race was moved from the middle of spring to mid-September. 2009 was a race that factored heavily into the championship. An accident exiting pit road by Ryan Briscoe opened the door for Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon and Franchitti would end up taking the championship that year. The final race in Japan was moved from the oval to the road course at Twin Ring Motegi due to damage that resulted from the Tohoku earthquake that March. Scott Dixon won the last race at Motegi in dominating fashion.

Other than Japan, American open-wheel racing has had no success running in Asia. ChampCar tried year-after-year to race in South Korea. First was an attempt at a street race around the capital city of Seoul in 2004. In 2005, ChampCar was scheduled to race at a permanent facility in Ansan, South Korea in October but that race was postponed until 2006. When 2006 rolled around, the race as cancelled once again. ChampCar gave up on South Korea after 2006, but they weren't done. In 2007, a race was scheduled for May 20th in Zhuhai, China. That race would also be postponed but eventually cancelled after the promoter and the FIA failed to agree upon a replacement date. When unification occurred in 2008, all talks of racing in China faded away.

Until now. What seemed to be a done deal with Qingdao, China is now on the verge of not happening. The new mayor of the city is against the race that his predecessor had agreed upon. The positive in China is the sanctioning fee they would pay and how that would help the series. If IndyCar had a sign deal with the city, which it seems they do, then China has to buyout the contract and pay IndyCar race or no race. But things don't always work to logic and it would terrible for the series if they end up getting nothing for all this work.

With China on the fence, the term "plan B" has been thrown around. The American Le Mans Series is at Road America the weekend that China was scheduled for and majority thinks it makes perfect sense for IndyCar to race with them that weekend. However many believe that the series will not head to Road America in fear it may effect the Milwaukee IndyFest scheduled for this weekend. Another thought is a race could be added after the Fontana race in late September. Many see Phoenix as a possibility to become the season finale. Other "plan B's" mentioned are Pocono and Laguna Seca. It will be interesting to see what happens but it's just another page in the book of American open-wheel racing's attempts to race on the continent of Asia

The Future and Innovation of Auto Racing

Next Saturday, the long journey of the DeltaWing comes to fruition as the car will take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. What started as a project given to Ben Bowlby by Chip Ganassi to design a new IndyCar, the DeltaWing was shown at the Chicago Auto Show in 2010 and it was the design that got the ball rolling for the ICONIC Committee. Eventually, what is now known as the DW12 chassis was selected to be used in IndyCar. Many were uncertain what the future held for Bowlby and his design after not being selected but Bowlby did not accept the defeat and give up. During the year after the ICONIC Committee's decision, Bowlby went to meeting after meeting with the likes of Don Panoz, sanctioning body of the 24 Hour of Le Mans, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest and Duncan Dayton of Highcroft Racing. At the 2011 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it was announced that the DeltaWing would be the Garage 56th entrant, an entry reserved for innovative race cars, for the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. With additional help from Dan Gurney's All American Racers, Bowlby's design is finally going to be on a race track. Other partnerships include those of Michelin and Nissan.

A few weeks ago, it was announced that the 2013 Garage 56 entry will be given to GreenGT and there hydrogen-electric race car, the H2 that will release no emissions. The car will use hydrogen to power two electric engines and the goal is to have the car under 1000kg for 2013, as well as run the car in the full 2013 World Endurance Championship.

This year's 24 Hours of Le Mans will see two diesel-hybrids Audi R18 e-tron quattro and the first race ever for the Toyota TS030 hybrid. Clearly, innovation is present at Le Mans and manufactures are willing to try new technologies to evolve the sport into a more efficient product. One can only wonder what else is being discussed by engineers across the globe as each looks for a great advantage over the competition.

After Le Mans, the future of the DeltaWing is unknown. It is an unclassified car for this year's race meaning it does not belong to either the Le Mans Prototype or Grand Touring class. With no other races schedule for 2012, it is uncertain if the ACO will allow the DeltaWing to return to Le Mans in 2013 and it is uncertain where the car will be racing, if at all in 2013. Many think the American Le Mans Series makes perfect sense for the DeltaWing but is it all possible that the DeltaWing ends up where it originally meant to be and IndyCar? Innovation was once a major part of the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar racing and if the ACO says no after this year, IndyCar should capitalize on this opportunity.