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

photo: Shawn Payne

Conditions are currently notlooking good.  The IndyCar Series was able to fit qualifying.  Kansas is currently being pounded by rain and heavy winds.  The truck race has been canceled until Monday morning at 10 a.m.  I as well as everyone else hopes that the weather will clear over night so the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights can run tomorrow. 

The big story of the day has to be Newman Haas Lanigan Racing taking the front row.  Graham Rahal had the fastest qualifying speed at 211.311.  Doornbos had the 4th fastest but was bumped up to row 1 after Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves qualifying times were disqualified due to them dipping below the white line.  Danica who was 5th fastest at 210.470 will now start in P3. 

Wade Cunningham will start on pole tomorrow for the Firestone Indy Lights.  He had a best speed of 187.458.  Roudning out the top 5 are Sebastian Saavedra, Ana Beatriz, J.R. Hildebrand, and Pippa Mann.  Junior Strous who is the current points leader will start P17.

You an watch the IndyCar Series in the Kansas Speedway Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 tomorrow at 4 p.m. on VERSUS and VERSUS HD

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.