IRLblog.com

photo: Chris Jones

Today was a beautiful day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  I hope that this weather stretches on into race day Sunday.  I had the pleasure of meeting a few IRLblog.com readers as well as Jeff from MyNameIsIRL.  Jeff is a great individual and if you don’t already read his site you should head over there and check it out.

Today was a day dedicated to the Firestone Indy Lights.  They were given a morning practice session and then went out on the track one by one for their qualifying session at 3 p.m.  22 drivers took to the track to qualify for the Firestone Freedom 100.

You know what they say, records were meant to be broken.  Sebastian Saavedra broke the track qualifying record with a two lap average speed of 190.023.  His record holding run proved to be short lived when Wade Cunningham of Sam Schmidt Motorsports qualified with an average two lap speed of 190.177 mph. Cunningham stated:

(The pole) is a byproduct of the track conditions and the new engine package.  I’ll take the track record, but the pole is what I’m interested in.”

Wade Cunningham was the Firestone Indy Lights champion in 2005 and won the Firestone Freedom 100 in 2006 where he won from pole.  He is going to be a tough one to get by tomorrow.  He needs to hold off 21 other drivers for 40 laps.  With a field of drivers that we have this season that will be no easy task.

Junior Strous who won both races on the Streets of St. Petersburg will be starting 14th (186.942 mph). 

The Firestone Freedom 100 is tomorrow with Versus network broadcasting live at 11 a.m. followed by the pit stop challenge

Stefan Wilson, younger brother of the IRL’s Justin Wilson has signed with FIRST Motorsports and will be racing in the Indy Lights Series this year. 

“We are very proud that Stefan has chosen to join our team and we are looking forward to a very successful season this year,” said team owner, Jon Lewis. “Stefan’s program currently will include all of the road course events as we work together to increase the funding to enable him to drive the entire schedule.” (Indycar.com)

Hopefully for Stefan the funds will be available. If he is planning on being successful in the Indy Lights League he needs to do well on ovals as well as on street courses. It’s necessary  because it will make him a well rounded driver and will better his chances to be moved up to the IRL.

Stefan has three wins last year in the British Formula 3 Championship. Not to mention four wins in the 2007 season as well. Stefan’s history has shown that he can win on big stages. Brendon’s reporting down in Miami has proven that a lot of young talent is creeping into the Indy Lights/IRL scene. If Stefan is able to contend like his brother has we might see him on IRL circuit sooner rather than later.

Well, it would seem that my speculations on this recent posting were correct.  Firestone held a private test for the Firestone Indy lights on the 2.034 mile 11 turn road course at Palm Beach International Raceway on January 26th and 27th.  Among the teams that tested were Genoa Lights with Richard Phillipe, Sam Schmidt Motorsports with Charlie Kimball and Ana Beatriz, and Panther Racing with Pippa Mann and Martin Plowman.  The teams were turning in times around the 1 minute 7 second range on the new road course which was just recently completed in the later half of 2008.  Perhaps we will see the IndyCar Series here for testing sometime in the not so distant future.

These teams along with AFS/Andretti Green Racing drivers J.L. Hildebrand and Sebastian Saavedra will resume testing at Homestead Miami Speedway On January 28th and 29th.

from IndyCar.com

Matos, who won two of four Firestone Indy Lights starts for Guthrie Racing in 2006, returned to the series this season as one of the drivers to beat. The 2007 Atlantics champion quickly showed his speed by winning the pole for his first oval race at Homestead-Miami Speedway and the following week on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.

Raphael Matos has continued to show that he is a force to reckoned with when he is in a race car.  Matos has a pretty distinguished racing background driving in the Champ Car Atlantic Series for Sierra Sierra Enterprises along with driving for Speed Source inc. in the Rolex Series.  He raced in the then IndyPro Series for Guthrie racing earning them 2 wins with him in the seat in 2006.  He currently races for Andretti Green Racing in the Automatic Fire Sprinklers sponsored car.  Matos shows much promise and is definitly a driver that IndyCar Series team owners will be looking at if a seat becomes available in the 2009 season.  Being that he is also a test driver for Andretti Green’s IndyCar Series team has made him familiar with the IndyCar Series cars.  Perhaps he will stay with Andretti Green Racing and graduate into their IndyCar Series program.  I know I will be keeping my eye on this rising star.

from IndyCar.com

Franck Perera will audition for a potential 2009 IndyCar Series ride at Chicagoland Speedway this weekend in the No. 41 ABC Supply Co. Honda-powered Dallara for A.J. Foyt Racing.

It is definitely good see that The IndyCar Series teams are looking into the Firestone Indy Lights Series for drivers. After all, it is the “feeder” series for the ICS. I think Larry Foyt made a good decision in suggesting Perera. Perera is a talented young driver who has an impressive resume. The fact that A J Foyt plans on fielding two cars next season is also a display of how the series is growing and attracting more opportunities for big name sponsors to step up. I wish Franck Perera the best of luck this weekend.