photo: Bret Kelley

The weather could not have been better for Carb day.  The sun was shining.  Light clouds rolled in here and there but most important of all, NO RAIN!  If you remember last year, Carb day was a wash.  The IndyCar Series were on the track for about 15 minutes before the rain came ending practice, canceling the pit stop competition, and postponing the Firestone Indy Lights race to Saturday.  This was not the case this year.

The Firestone Freedom 100 proved to be an eventful one.  Martin Plowman of Panther Racing lost control of his car in turn one causing team mate Pippa Mann to head up into the wall.  Their appeared to be no damage to her car other than the the two right side tires being flat.  She limped the car to the pits and the crew found other probems with the car.  This was definitely an upset for Panther Racing and Mann’s and Plowman’s first Firestone Freedom 100. 

Ana Beatriz went into the wall hard missing the safer barrier on lap 16.  She sustained minor injuries and was later released.

Wade Cunningham went on to win the race after passing JR Hildebrand with a lap and a half left.  Wade Cunningham did start from pole position and despite the many lead changes stayed up front.  

The whole race was to and fro. I got to the front early and knew I couldn’t lead all 40 laps, so I fell back because I didn’t want to be leading at the end. I knew I had a fast car, and it was a matter of being at the right place at the right time.  The last lap I was yelling at my car to keep going like a jockey on his horse

JR Hildebrand’s P2 finish placed him first in the points standings.  Andretti Green has shown that they have a good oval and road/street course setup this year.

It was great that we were able to have the pit stop competition this year.  Helio Castroneves and Team Penske won this year showing that they are having and excellent month of May.  I believe he was also the fastest at the final practice.  If they win the race, they will be the first since Buddy Rice driving for Rahal Letterman Racing in 2004 to get the pole win the pit stop competition and the race.  A task that does not happen often.

But wait… It gets better for Helio.  News reports also stated that the IRS has dropped the last charge pending against him. 

Coverage of the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500 begins tomorrow at noon on ABC.

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

photo: Dan Helrigel

The Firestone Indy Lights double header and IndyCar Series opener were less than uneventful this weekend in St. Petersburg.  With the exception of Friday morning the weather was stellar and the race conditions were optimal.  Versus did a great job of showcasing downtown St. Petersburg during the race coverage and showing off the location of the course.  They really sold the town to the viewers.

The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was full of surprises.  Graham Rahal, who seemed to be one of the favorites amongst the locals won the pole.  Unfortunately when the IndyCar Series took the green flag Sunday afternoon, Rahal was involved in a turn one incident as the field of cars, 3 and 4 wide in some places, had to bottle neck to make it from the runway onto the city streets.  That incident ended the day for rookie Mike Conway of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.  That is a tough start to the 09 season with Dad’s Root Beer on board as a sponsor.

Danica and Raphael Matos got into each other headed into turn 12 on lap 31.  Everyone in the stands waited for the drama to unfold.  A what appeared to be calm and collective Danica Patrick emerged from the car.  As Matos and Danica waited for the safety vehicle to give them a ride back to pit lane.  They CALMLY voiced their point of views of what had just taken place.  The fans were waiting to see Danica catch a tantrum or throw a fit, but to everyones surprise it was just the opposite.  

One of the big stories of the race had to have been Ryan Hunter-Reay.  Here we have a driver who lost his ride last season and was out of the seat up until about a week ago.  He recorded Vision Racing’s best finish ever finishing 2nd.  That is great for someone who had to jump in and set up a street course car in 3 days.  I am for one anxious to see how he does at Vision this season.  

Who is Junior Strous?  That’s what everyone was asking over the course of the weekend.  That was of course until he won both races of the Firestone Indy Lights double-header.  Strous is a rookie from the Netherlands that used to run in the Champ car Atlantic Series.  He ran a strong and consistant two races.  He is proved that himself along with The Winners Circle Group should be a force to be reckoned with on the road and street courses.  I would not count him out on the ovals either.  Strous was 6th fastest at the Homestead-Miami open test in February.  I am excited to see how this Firestone Indy Lights rookie does this season.

You can watch the Firestone Indy Lights highlights tonight on Versus at  6p.m. and a re-air of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg at 10 p.m.

Before the lunch break today Panther Racing’s Pippa Mann found the extra speed in her car to propel her to the top of the speed chart yet again.  She seems to be setting the pace for the Firestone Indy Lights rookies as well as the veterans.  It is definitely media day here at the Speedway.  As I walk around the garage areas I am starting to see more and more drivers being interviewed by members of the media.  It is not as lax as it was yesterday in the garage area and on pit row.   You have 5 Firestone Indy Lights drivers that have best speeds today at 187 mph with the rest of the field trying to catch up.  Jay Howard is on track in the Palm Beach International Raceway car (PBIR).  PBIR is the slowest on the track today despite having the 2006 Firestone Indy Lights champion in the cockpit.  The top five in the speed charts currently are Pippa Mann, Ali Jackson, Sebastian Saavedra, Martin Plowman, and Mario Romancini.  We will see how the rest of the day plays out with Firestone Indy Lights testing wrapping up at 3:45 p.m.  You can continue to watch the live timing and scoring by clicking the link below:

Firestone Indy Lights live timing and scoring

Good Morning from Homestead Miami Speedway where we are on day 2 of open testing.  The rookies and veterans of the Firestone Indy Lights took to the track at 9 a.m. and are scheduled to run up until 3:45 p.m.  Then it will be time for the IndyCars to take to the 1.5 mile oval.  Rookie Pippa Mann is continuing to show she has what it takes to run in the Firestone Indy Lights She is currently running the second fastest speed of the day behind Ali Jackson  of Guthrie Mayer Racing.  Bruno Junqueira might make a surprise visit at Dale Coyne driving at tonights IndyCar open test.  Members of Dale Coyne Racing could not confirm at this time.  The IndyCar teams are hard at work preparing the cars to run at tonights test.  They will join Robert Doornbos, Mike Conway, Raphael Matos, and Stanton Barrett who tested late into the evening last night.  Check back to IRLblog.com during the course of the day for more updates from Homestead.

photo: Stanton Barrett getting ready to head out onto the track

It has definitely been an interesting day at Homestead Miami Speedway.  As you saw in my previous postings.  Pippa Mann was the fastest rookie on the track during the Firestone Indy Lights session.  There has also been speculation amongst the blog community that Milka will not be testing Tuesday and Wednesday night.  I had the oppurtunity to talk to Milka Duno and she stated to me that she will be behind the wheel tommorrow and Wednesday night.  The Vs. livery car prepped by Vision Racing will not be running.   According to our fellow open wheel blogger furious wedge, the Vs. car will be used during a promo video shoot for the Versus network and will be piloted by AJ Foyt IV.  Stanton Barrett started his transition into an open wheel car this evening with the IRL giving the rookie oval drivers some seat time.  Although slow out the gate, team owner Steve Sudler has assured me that the team is very optimistic and positive that they will catch up with rest of field over the course of the 2009 season.

photo: Pippa Mann getting ready to take to the track

Yes…  You read the title correctly.  IRLblog is on site covering the IndyCar and Firestone Indy Lights testing at Homestead Miami Speedway.  Today the rookies of the Firestone Indy Lights are on the track.  Teams did not waste any time this morning getting the ball rolling.  With more rookies than veterans scheduled to test over the course of today and tomorrow, I don’t see why they would have.  Drivers such as Brandon Wagner of Davey Hamilton Racing,  Martin Plowman and Pippa Mann of Panther Racing, Mario Romancini of RLR / Anderson Racing, and Junior Strous of ASR-Nelan Motorsports have been turning laps since 9 a.m.  Team PBIR, although a new team has put no stranger to American open wheel racing Jay Howard behind the wheel.  PBIR will not test today but will be on track tomorrow along with the rest of the Firestone Indy Lights teams.

Pippa Mann is the fastest rookie on the track thus far with a best speed of 187.582 mph around the 1.5 mile oval with the majority of the field just 1 mph slower.  You can watch live Firestone Indy Lights Scoring by following the link below.

Firestone Indy Lights live timing and scoring

photo: AP

Next week the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy lights return to Homestead Miami Speedway for open testing.  The Firestone Indy lights will run Monday and Tuesday during the day with the IndyCar Series running from the late afternoon into the early night Tuesday and Wednesday.  This test usually preceeds the season opener in Miami, but this year Miami will crown the 2009 IndyCar Series Champion on October 10 under the lights.  IRLblog will be on site covering the test sessions.

The testing schedule for Homestead is as follows:

Monday February 23

9 a.m. – 5 p.m. — Firestone Indy lights rookies

Tuesday February 24

9 a.m. – 3:45 p.m. — Firestone Indy lights

4 p.m. – 10 p.m. — IndyCar Series

Wednesday February 25

4 p.m. – 10 p.m. — IndyCar Series

For a complete entrant list you can click below
Firestone Indy lights participant list
IndyCar Series participant list

This test is open to the public and is free of charge to attend.  Viewing is from the club level seats of the grandstands only and free popcorn and hotdogs will be served.

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.

It looks like the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights might have a new testing place in Southern Florida.  Palm Beach International Raceway, formerly known as Moroso Motorsports Park has completely renovated their facility.  Vision racing tested their Daytona Prototype on the old road course a week prior to the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona with John Andretti, Vitor Meira, AJ Foyt IV, and Ed Carpenter behind the wheel a year ago.  The new 2.034-mile, 11-turn, 6/10t -mile straightaway road course is boasting to have some of the fastest and most challenging corners, elevation changes and straightaways offered by any track in North America.  It makes sense since their are not many places in the country where the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights can test in the winter.  I am thinking this will be the potential replacement for Sebring this off season.  The road course is still currently waiting FIA approval.  This might be the second test location other than Homestead Miami Speedway.  According to Homestead Miami Speedway’s web-site The IndyCar Series is set to test there February 23-26.

Video of Kyle Petty in Daytona Prototype at the new PBIR road course