DPR Sports & Racing News

FRANCHITTI WINS ON FATHER'S DAY AT MILWAUKEE

Photo By Dan Peters

Dario Franchitti inherited the race lead on Lap 200 when Helio Castroneves had to guide the No. 3 Guidepoint Systems Team Penske car into the pits for a quick change of a tire losing pressure and went on to 1.4271-second victory in the Milwaukee 225 at the Milwaukee Mile.

Photo By Dan Peters

"That was a hell of a run today," said Franchitti, who tied Rick Mears with 29 victories  (ninth on the all-time list). "The first part of the race I thought I had a bit of an advantage on everybody. Very tough, as usual here. Tough on your own just balancing the car, but then you get in traffic and it gets really difficult. It's the same for everyone.

Kanaan's Luck Runs out and crashes in turn 4

Photos By Dan Peters

"Then Tony (Kanaan) came marching along and he looked really, really strong, and he gave me a hard time as usual. Great day. To win here at Milwaukee is always special. It's such hard work and a such a hard race. It's a delight for the Target Team and we got the Downy colors in Victory Lane."

Photo By Dan Peters

Graham Rahal #38 finished second and Oriol Servia #2 recorded a season-high third place. Will Power advanced from the 17th starting position to finish fourth and Danica Patrick posted her first top five of the season.

Photo By Dan Peters

Franchitti Now Tied with Power for Points Lead

Franchitti, by virtue of three bonus points for earning the PEAK Performance Pole Award and leading the most laps, tied Power for the IZOD IndyCar Series championship points lead heading into the race under the lights at Iowa Speedway on June 25.

"A couple double file restarts were good for me, a couple were bad," Power said. "I'm pretty happy to get the Verizon car up there. I guess we are equal on points now. Good job by Dario.  He came back after Texas to teach us a lesson, so I guess we will have to be quick at Iowa.

"We just have to keep fighting away, keep having good days like this and make no mistakes and we'll be good."

Victory Lane Photo By Joe Paolella



IZOD IndyCar Series Milwaukee 225 WEST ALLIS, Wis. - Results Sunday of the Milwaukee 225 IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 1.015 mile Milwaukee Mile, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1.  (1) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
2.  (12) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
3.  (10) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
4.  (17) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
5.  (15) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
6.  (16) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
7.  (3) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
8.  (5) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
9.  (2) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
10.  (13) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
11.  (8) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
12.  (20) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
13.  (9) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
14.  (21) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 224, Running
15.  (23) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 223, Running
16.  (25) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 223, Running
17.  (11) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 222, Running
18.  (19) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 196, Running
19.  (4) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 194, Contact
20.  (6) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 163, Contact
21.  (18) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 120, Contact
22.  (14) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 79, Contact
23.  (24) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Honda, 78, Contact
24.  (22) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 69, Mechanical
25.  (26) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 11, Handling
26.  (7) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 0, Contact

Race Statistics
Winners average speed:  117.390
Time of Race: 01:56:43.5877
Margin of victory: 1.4271 seconds.
Cautions: 6 for 62 laps
Lead changes: 5 among 3 drivers
Lap Leaders: Franchitti 1 - 115, Kanaan 116 - 134, Franchitti 135 - 153, Kanaan 154 - 167, Castroneves 168 - 198, Franchitti 199 - 225
Point Standings: Power 271, Franchitti 271, Servia 198, Dixon 195, Rahal 176, Kanaan 171, Briscoe 165, Tagliani 147, Sato 142, Patrick 141.

Next up for the IZOD IndyCar Series, the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway on June 25.



FRANCHITTI HITS MILESTONE

WINS POLE FOR MILWAUKEE 225

WEST ALLIS, Wis. After a year away, Franchitti is right back at home.

Dario Franchitti's 25th Indy car pole, tying Paul Tracy for ninth all time, could be the most direct path to retrieving some of the points he lost to IZOD IndyCar Series leader Will Power in last week's Firestone Twin 275s.

Franchitti, who earned one point for the PEAK Performance Pole Award by topping the 26-driver field with an average speed of 170.841 mph on the Milwaukee Mile oval, is 20 points arrears of Power heading into the Milwaukee 225. Power, who topped the speed chart in the initial practice session June 17, will start a season-low 17th in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car.

"I am glad to be back at the Milwaukee Mile and this is a great place to start from for tomorrow's race," said Franchitti, who won the first IZOD IndyCar Series race at the historic track in 2004 by charging from the seventh starting position. "It is going to be a tough day because it is like a one-lane track out there with the marbles on side and the black asphalt lane. I think the double-file restarts will work well here at the Milwaukee Mile and the fans are in for a hell of a show."

Power's teammate, Helio Castroneves, will join Franchitti on the front row (169.999 mph) in the No. 3 Guidepoint Systems entry. Scott Dixon, who won the 2009 race from the second row, will be on the inside of Row 2 (169.582) in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car.

The KV Racing Technology-Lotus group of Tony Kanaan, Takuma Sato and E.J. Viso made waves. They'll start in that order fourth through sixth.
 

Simona de Silvestro during morning practice on Saturday.

During her second warm up lap during qualifying, she backed her car into the turn four wall, then hit the inside retaining wall hard. She walked out under her own power, but was taken to a local hospital for observation.

Crash Photos By Roy Schmidt

_______________________________________________

Guerrieri claims pole for Indy Lights race with record run Saturday.

The Sam Schmidt Front "Three" For the David Hobbs 100

Photo By Joe Paolella

Esteban Guerrieri set a Firestone Indy Lights track qualify record of 149.005 mph at the Milwaukee Mile to claim the Sunoco Pole Award for the David Hobbs 100 on June 19.

It is the third pole start this season for Guerrieri, driver of the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car who has been the runner-up the past two races. He also delivered the 40th earned pole for Sam Schmidt Motorsports in Firestone Indy Lights.

Josef Newgarden in the No. 11 Copart/Score Big/Robo-Pong/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car will make his second consecutive front-row start after averaging 148.175 mph over the two laps. He started second and won the Firestone Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 27.

Bryan Clauson, the reigning USAC National Drivers' Championship title-holder who is making his second Firestone Indy Lights start, will start from the inside of Row 2 in the No. 77 Mazda Road to Indy/Curb Records/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car. He averaged 147.258 mph.

The Noblesville, Ind., driver, who celebrated his 22nd birthday on June 15, also competed in the 100-mile USAC Traxxas Silver Crown race and the 25-mile USAC Mopar National Midget feature later in the day.

Gustavo Yacaman, driving the No. 2 TMR-Tuvacol-Xtreme Coil Drilling car, recorded a season-high fourth starting spot (147.169).

It’s a busy day at the Mile this Sunday.

After a year off , The cattle moves out and race cars move back in

The IZOD IndyCar Series will compete in the Milwauke 225, a 225-lap race  at 3 p.m. (CT) Sunday. Firestone Indy Lights will compete in the David Hobbs 100, a 100-lap race at 12:30 (CT) Sunday. Mazda Road to Indy series, the Star Mazda Championship and USF2000 National Championship, also race on Sunday.

This is the seventh IndyCar Series event at the Historic Milwaukee Mile. Scott Dixon won the race in 2009. Helio Castroneves holds the single-lap qualifying record with a lap of 21.1854 seconds, 172.477 mph set in July 2006. Past winners Ryan Briscoe (2008), Scott Dixon (2009), Tony Kanaan (2006-2007) and Dario Franchitti (2004) are entered in the event. Ryan Hunter-Reay has also won at Milwaukee, winning the Champ Car-sanctioned race in 2004.



HUNTER-REAY WINS MILWAUKEE INDYFEST PRESENTED BY XYQ

Photo By Joe Paolella

The Milwaukee Mile is back, and better than ever. New Cars, New Engines and new race promoter proved to be a winning combination this Fathers Day Weekend….and the Chevy Bow-Tie was back in Victory Lane.

Ryan Hunter-Reay made team owner and race promoter Michael Andretti very happy on a day that started out rather damp with rain just prior to the start. The sun would shine bright and cast a “Ray” on Hunter ray as he passed Helio Castroneves for the lead with 84 laps to go and held on to win the Milwaukee IndyFest at the famed Milwaukee Mile.

Hunter-Reay, who started second, led Tony Kanaan across the start-finish line by 5.1029 seconds.

"It's amazing. First of all, thank you to all of the fans for coming out, filling a great number of seats in here. What a race. I know we would all have liked to see a little more passing, but from the car it was so busy, just trying to hang on to it. But getting a win for DHL and Sun Drop, it's unreal. Hanging on to those last few restarts were too much.

I don't need that. That was grey area, for sure. (About winning an Andretti event): The script is perfect. This is an Andretti Sports Marketing event. (Team owner) Michael (Andretti) loves the sport and does a lot for it. Milwaukee and INDYCAR go hand-in-hand. This is the oldest racing facility in the country and we just won. It's awesome.

James Hinchcliffe was third and Oriol Servia jumped from the 20th starting position to finish fourth. E.J. Viso, who led his first laps since June 2011 at Texas, finished fifth (his first top five since Iowa in 2010).

"It's Milwaukee, man. That's why we love coming here, it's always a good show. And you know the rain delay through us for a bit of a loop. That first ten was a bit stale, there was no two grooves. We had to take some time to build that, but after that first stop it went good ol' fashioned Milwaukee. It was great short track racing, cars were falling off, guys were having to drive it. Great stops by the Go Daddy guys, and great car in clean air. A little bit rough in traffic, but when we needed to we could pick them off on some of those restarts, and just super happy for the team. Obviously Ryan here in winner's circle and another crop on the podium in a race that Michael took over and brought back to life, it means a lot for everybody.” said Hinchcliffe.

Kanaan looked strong today.. but not enough for Reay.

"I didn't have anything at the end for Ryan (Hunter-Reay), but great event, man. I love to see the stands as full as I've ever seen here. Thanks to Michael (Andretti) and his people who put this event back together. I love this place, hopefully the fans like it and great result for us." (About working through the field): "It was a long day, but this is typical Milwaukee. That's why I love this place. You've got to drive it. If you don't drive it, you never get it, so I'm extremely happy."

The Chevy Bow Tie is Back

The Chevy Bow-Tie made it a podium sweep, ending Honda’s three race winning streak. With Oriol Servia #22 finished a strong fourth and E J Viso’s fifth place run, Chevy’s swept the first five spots.

"It was a good car, I have trust in my guys they always give me a great car. These two-day weekends are tough. You have to unload, but (we) not with the right set-up. The car wasn't even that bad. We had to change to car completely overnight. But we qualified 20th and moved up sixteen spots, not too bad." (About racing in Milwaukee): "Track was always like it is at Milwaukee, at first there was doubts about if we could pass here, but it turns out to be an awesome race at least from our perspective. I hope the fans are happy and they come back.” Said Servia.

From Winner To Toast..

Last week’s winner at Texas Justin Wilson saw his race go up in smoke… and fire. "It was a disappointing end to the day for the Sonny's Bar-B-Q Honda team. We had a great race car and we were making good progress during that first stint, picking guys off one by one. 

Then we got caught out with that yellow and after that we were trying to come back through, but on that last restart I lost second gear, which is why I dropped to the back. We found third gear eventually, but having to use that for the restart made it tough. I was still able to pass guys, so I'm just disappointed that we're out of the race. I thought we had a great chance to pick up some good points today."

If it’s Indy Car there must be some kind of Controversy

After the race, INDYCAR officials acknowledged an error led to a drive through penalty against Scott Dixon, who had moved from 21^st position into the top-10 before the call.

"Due to a glitch in technology, there was a discrepancy between the official race clock and the clock on the replay machine," INDYCAR President of Competition and IZOD IndyCar Series race director Beaux Barfield said. "Therefore the review of the jumped start was one lap off, leading Race Control to make the call on the wrong lap. We have informed the Ganassi team of this error and Race Control is taking every step necessary to address it going forward. The Race Control team will be meeting first thing Monday morning to review the issue and explore remedies in advance of the race at Iowa."

"I really don't know what happened on the restart where we got penalized. I think the one they waved off was the one we got out of line when EJ Viso was trying to restart at 20 mph. I was in first gear and when it went green, I went. I don't know what the issue was but I'm really looking forward to the explanation from INDYCAR. It's a shame for the Target team and that punishment is pretty harsh.” Dixon Said.

Next Year is now…

Michael Andretti drew the loudest spontaneous applause from soggy spectators at the Milwaukee IndyFest Presented by XYQ when he announced that the IZOD IndyCar Series will be back at the Milwaukee Mile in 2013.

Tickets for the race -- scheduled for June 14-15 -- go on sale Sunday. Reserved ticket-holders may renew their seats before July 16 at http://www.MilwaukeeIndyFest.com. Tickets will also be available June 18 at the Wisconsin State Fair box office, and by phone at 414-266-7100.

Andretti Sports Marketing announced Feb. 10 that it was assuming promotion of troubled event at the facility on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Fair Park, which has played host to Indy car racing since 1933. Tickets went on sale March 1.

"We weren't kidding ourselves; we knew this wasn't something that was going to change overnight," said Andretti, CEO of Andretti Sports Marketing and Andretti Autosport. "We felt like if we did a really good event this year and displayed it well that the skeptics are going to be the ones who hear how great the event was and we'll get them to come the next year. Year 2 should be bigger, hopefully, that Year 1. This is a building year."

"There was a huge crowd this morning and long lines coming in," Andretti said. "We heard this was a late (ticket-buying) crowd and I can understand. They want to see proof, and I think all the buzz that's been going around the past week with the block party, the autograph sessions and the drivers in the community has brought people out (race) morning.

"(Similarly) the sponsors, some of whom got burnt in the past, wanted to see how well this event came off. I expect a lot more corporate interest for next year."

2011 Indy Lights Race

Guerrieri wins David Hobbs 100 with “Flag-to Flag” domination

Race Photos By Dan Peters

Esteban Guerrieri led every lap to win the David Hobbs 100 Firestone Indy Lights race. Guerrieri led teammate Josef Newgarden across the start-finish line by 5.5012 seconds in becoming the fourth different winner in five races. He also closed the championship points gap on the front-running Newgarden to 14 entering the Sukup 100 at the Iowa Speedway on June 25.

"It wasn't a big challenge, only on the start with Josef (Newgarden). The car was really awesome for the whole race. We just had to keep going at the same pace. I'm really pleased for Sam Schmidt Motorsport and Lucas Oil. They make a big effort to bring the car to victory lane. This my first win so I'm really happy."

"It was a great points scoring weekend for the whole team, especially for us. We've talked about being consistent every weekend here throughout the rest of the year. It's great for the team to get a win with Esteban.  He did a great job so I'm really happy for the team. We just got to keep doing this every weekend.  Hopefully we can get back up to the top step but if we're scoring points and getting podiums, we're in good shape." Said Newgarden.

Jorge Goncalvez advanced from the seventh starting position to finish third in the No. 4 Belardi Auto Racing Special -- his first podium and the team's first.

Bryan Clauson overtook the No. 2 TMR-Tuvacol-Xtreme Coil Drilling car of Gustavo Yacaman on Lap 87 to finish fourth. Clauson, competing in his second Firestone Indy Lights race, qualified third in the No. 77 Mazda Road to Indy/CURB Records/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car on a busy day at the track for the Noblesville, Ind., resident

Victory Lane Photos By Joe Paolella

Firestone Indy Lights David Hobbs 100 WEST ALLIS, Wis.  - Results Sunday of the David Hobbs 100 Firestone Indy Lights Series event on the 1.015 mile Milwaukee Mile, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1.  (1) Esteban Guerrieri, 100, Running
2.  (2) Josef Newgarden, 100, Running
3.  (7) Jorge Goncalvez, 100, Running
4.  (3) Bryan Clauson,  100, Running
5.  (4) Gustavo Yacaman,  100, Running
6.  (9) Victor Carbone,  99, Running
7.  (6) David Ostella,  99, Running
8.  (8) Stefan Wilson,  95, Running
9.  (5) Anders Krohn,  0, Mechanical  

10. (10) Victor Garcia,  0, Contact                                               

11.  (11) Brandon Wagner,  0, Contact                                              

12.  (12) Duarte Ferreira,  0, Contact                                             

13.  (13) Peter Dempsey,  0, DNS


                                       

Race Statistics
Winners average speed:  130.236
Time of Race: 00:46:45.6824
Margin of victory: 5.5012 seconds
Cautions: 1 for 5 laps
Lead changes: 0
Lap Leaders: Guerrieri 1 - 100

Next up for the Firestone Indy Lights is the Sukup 100 at Iowa Speedway



Milwaukee 225 Photo Gallery From Fathers Day 2011 June 19, 2011

Charles Woodson, grand marshal of the Milwaukee 225 and a Pro Bowl defensive back for the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, received a replica Packers helmet (race car version) that was signed by all the drivers in the race.

Woodson gave the command to start engines from "The Fastest Seat in Sports" -- the two-seater that paces the field to the green flag. It was driven by two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr.

"I took it easy on him," Unser laughed as Woodson climbing from the car.

"Really? It was great. What an exhilarating feeling to go that fast and be in a car that small holding onto the roll cage," Woodson said. "What a great day."

Photo Gallery From Saturday June 18, 2011

Photos By Dan Peters