The third round of the 2012 Izod IndyCar Season takes place on the streets of Long Beach. Chevrolet and Penske Racing have won the first two races of the season with Helio Castroneves taking St. Pete and Will Power driving up from 9th position to hold off Scott Dixon at Barber two weeks ago. This will be the first race where the pits will not automatically close when a full-course caution occurs. The pits will only close if it is an emergency. Beaux Barfield announced the change on Monday along with sending lapped cars to the rear of the field on any restart in the final 20 laps of a race. Both these rule changes only apply to road and street circuits.
Last year'race at Long Beach is remembered for Helio punting his teammate Will Power out from the lead and ruining both their chances at podiums. After that Mike Conway drove past both Dario Franchitti and Ryan Briscoe to lead the closing laps and get his first career victory in the Izod IndyCar Series.
News
Ana Beatriz will drive the #25 Ipiranga Chevrolet for Andretti Autosport in partnership with Conquest Racing at Sao Paulo and the Indianapolis 500. Beatriz will join her fellow Brazilians, Rubens Barrichello, Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves as the 27th entry for her home race in Sao Paulo. The signing of Beatriz, along with Sebastian Saavedra for Indianapolis only, appears to end the chances of John Andretti returning to Andretti Autosport for the Indianapolis 500. John has raced for his cousin Michael's team the past two seasons as a joint effort with Richard Petty Motorsports at the Speedway.
Also, reported late last week for the month of May is Jean Alesi driving for Lotus-Newman-Haas Racing. Newman-Haas Racing returns after announcing earlier this year their intentions not to run a car full-time. Last year at the Speedway, Newman-Haas Racing had a good month with Oriol Servia who started third, led eighteen laps and finished sixth, while then rookie James Hinchcliffe started thirteenth and retired from the race after only completing 99 laps. Alesi will be the sixth and believed to be the final Lotus driver for the Indianapolis 500.
Bryan Clauson tested for Sarah Fisher-Hartman Racing at Texas Motor Speedway on April 5th, along with fellow rookie drivers Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud. All three completed their rookie oval program and will be allowed to participate in IndyCar oval races. Clauson won the USAC National Driver's Championship last year and for the second straight year was awarded the Road to Indy scholarship. Clauson looks to use that money to fund a car to attempt the Indianapolis 500.
Adding to the full-time field of 26, Saavedra, Luca Fillipi, who will run all the races from Indianapolis onward, Beatriz and Alesi bring the unofficial entry list for the Indianapolis 500 to 30. Lotus is believed to have filled their allotted amount of engine combinations for the race at 6. It is believed both Chevrolet and Honda will power 14 teams apiece and the additional two cars from Andretti Autosport brings Chevrolet's total to 13 as of now. Clauson to SFHR would be the 12th Honda team and with reports of a possible Townsend Bell/Schmidt-Hamilton combination would bring Honda to 13 entrants. If those two deals become true the total would be 32 entries. Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing have been looking to add a third car, most likely for Michel Jourdain Jr., Davey Hamilton might run a third Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports entry, AJ Foyt seems to always bring a second entry to the Speedway, Mike Shank is still a possibility and a few other teams are rumored to be looking at adding a second or third entry for the Indianapolis 500. I think we will easily see 33, maybe even 34 or 35 cars attempt to qualify.
Nick Andries (right) tweeted he will race for Bryan Herta Autosports in the Lights race this weekend. Andries finished third last year in the Star Mazda Championship behind Tristan Vautier and his 2011 teammate Connor De Phillippi after racking up 7 podiums for Team Pelfrey.
Final Points
Track opens on Friday for IndyCar with two practice sessions (1-2pm EST and 5:15-6:15pm EST). Final practice before qualifying will be at 1:25pm EST on Saturday and will run one hour. Qualifying will be at 5:00pm EST and can be seen on NBC Sports Network at 6:00pm EST. The race it self can be seen at 3:30pm EST on Sunday with green flag being sometime around 4:10pm EST. The American Le Mans Series is racing on Saturday at Long Beach and the Indy Lights race will be before the IndyCar race on Sunday.
Predictions
Ryan Hunter-Reay will be victorious this weekend. He won at Long Beach two years ago, last year he started second, was up front all race long until a mechanical failure ended his day. The Chevrolet's have shown their strength and all three Andretti Autosport cars have been quick at the first two rounds. I think Will Power and the Honda's of Dixon, Rahal and Pagenaud give Hunter-Reay a run for his money but he holds on. Dario Franchitti will have a solid weekend and finish in the top five and the Lotus of Sebastien Bourdais will again race his way into the top ten. Rubens Barrichello will make the Firestone Fast Six and run in the top ten all day. Josef Newgarden will qualify in the top twelve. Tony Kanaan will run every lap and get a top ten. Sleeper: Mike Conway.
