On a scorching Southern California Saturday, the stars and cars of the IZOD IndyCar Series had their work cut out for them due to the triple digit temperatures. Track temps soared to 140° F and added extra concern for all the competitors and teams running in the Firestone Indy Lights and IZOD IndyCar Series. Fortunately, for all involved, the Firestone tires performed flawlessly and exciting racing was the main order of the day.
Firestone Indy Lights
It all came down to the final race to decide the championship between French rookie Tristan Vautier and sophomore driver Esteban Guerrieri. Meanwhile, Sebastian Saavedra was pulling double duty this weekend racing in both events. He certainly proved his competitiveness by earning the pole position for Andretti Autosport; unfortunately a gearbox issue saw him retire on the pace lap. That put his teammate Carlos Muñoz on the point and he took full advantage to lead the field to the green flag as well as the checkered flag. Vautier was close, but couldn’t get close enough to grab the win and had to settle for second until lap 28 when he was passed by David Ostella. The championship contenders meanwhile staged their own battle for third place but on lap 39 Guerrieri demoted Vautier to fourth. That’s how they finished and that was all Vautier needed to make it back-to-back championships in two different series.
Vautier won the Star Mazda Championship in 2011 and now the Firestone Indy Lights Championship. Besides being grateful to Mazda for their ladder system that he was able to reap the rewards, his future in the sport is open at this point. He wants to move up to the IZOD IndyCar Series. This year he stayed focused on winning the Firestone Indy Lights Championship. By virtue of doing so he gets scholarship money to bring to an IZOD IndyCar team. The amount of money depends on which team he goes to. If the team is not in the leaders circle program then he gets more money to bring to the team. Of course his team owner is also fielding an IndyCar team so that's always a possibility.
It was a great learning experience for him in the race. He explained, “You could run different lines. Some guys were running higher lines than in practice. I had to make it work on the high line and used my front tires more than expected. It was hard to stay flat. I tried to be smart. I tucked in behind Carlos but the car was understeering a lot. It’s a tough oval.”
IZOD IndyCar Series
If you had to script a movie with ups and downs, personal triumph and hard luck, all you had to do was watch this race and report what you saw. The race was highly competitive with multiple lead changes amongst different teams and drivers. Of course there were the requisite shunts and mechanical breakdowns, but they didn’t give the championship away until the checkered flag fell.
Will Power came into the event having been in title contention for three straight years. Coming in with a couple of goose eggs, he was determined to finally get the championship that kept evading him. All he had to do was finish in front of Ryan Hunter-Reay. RHR, who’s had more ups and downs than a roller coaster this year, knew what he had to do – finish way ahead of Power. On lap 55 Power spun his title hopes into the SAFER barrier narrowly avoiding a crash into RHR along the way. The championship was still not decided though as Power had a 17 point advantage heading into Fontana. RHR still had to finish sixth or better to clinch.
Well, that is until the Penske perfect crew gathered the remains of Power’s Dallara and immediately set forth to repair it. Sure enough, about 45 minutes later, they had replaced everything from the gearbox back, front suspension, undertray and bodywork to get Power back on track. Since EJ Viso, had dropped out, if Power could get at least 12 laps in, then RHR would have to finish fifth or better. Power did, and the pressure increased on both men. Power, while watching in his motorcoach, and RHR while battling with numerous headaches on the track each had their own ways of dealing with the stress. For RHR his biggest headache came mostly in the form of Josef Newgarden for a while as Newgarden was six laps down yet going side by side and slicing and dicing with RHR. After a while, Newgarden got the hint and let RHR go, but there was still a long way to run.
Up front, guys like Target Chip Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti took turns leading the field as did, Tony Kanaan, J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter, and second qualifier Ryan Briscoe. Pole sitter Marco Andretti led early, but dropped like a rock as his handling went away.
As the laps ran down, RHR was able to get in championship position although a red flag due to a Kanaan crash with eight laps to go put another twist in the plot. Could RHR get a good enough re-start to hold off Power’s teammate Helio Castroneves who had run in the top five for much of the race and was now on fresh tires? Would there be any engine maladies pop-up due to flat-out running and then sitting due to the red flag? Would the high oil and water temps on RHR’s car be helped or hurt by the stoppage. With the re-start clean and RHR in position to clinch, there was one more close call. In a scene similar to Indy, Takuma Sato went down the inside of RHR on the last lap and lost it. Just like Franchitti didn’t get taken out by Sato at Indy, neither did RHR. Unlike Indy, Franchitti got beat to the finish line by the only car owner/driver in the field – Ed Carpenter who took his first win of the season and celebrated in his sponsor’s “Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka 19th Hole Victory Lane.”
RHR meanwhile was agog with his championship and reassured with his decision to re-sign with Andretti Autosport for the next two years as opposed to going with Team Penske. After the tragedy that befell last year’s finale, this race was one to remember for all the right reasons.
Tristan Vautier sits in the media center pondering an IZOD IndyCar Series future. Photo by Larry Mason
This is what was left of Power’s gearbox and rear suspension. Photo by Larry Mason
Ryan Hunter-Reay celebrates his championship. Photo courtesy of Steve Himelstein
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