IZOD IndyCar Series - Edmonton Indy Preview
From The Sports Network
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| DATE: Sunday, July 22nd |
| SITE: Edmonton City Centre Airport -- Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |
| TRACK: 2.224-mile, 13-turn temporary street/airport course |
| ANNUAL: 5th |
| TELEVISION: NBC Sports Network, TSN2 |
| ANNOUNCERS: Bob Jenkins, Jon Beekhuis, Wally Dallenbach |
| RADIO: IMS Radio Network/ SIRIUS XM Satellite |
| START TIME: 2:45 p.m. (ET) |
| DEFENDING CHAMPION: Will Power |
| RUNNER-UP: Helio Castroneves |
| POLE WINNER: Takuma Sato (Finished 21st) |
| LAPS: 75 |
| MILES: 166.8 |
| QUALIFYING RECORD: Will Power, 2010 (116.991 m.p.h.) |
| RACE RECORD: Will Power, 2009 (109.498 m.p.h.) |
| 2011 Finish |
| Finish | Driver | Start | Finish | Driver | Start |
| 1 | Will Power | 2 | 6 | Sebastien Bourdais | 12 |
| 2 | Helio Castroneves | 9 | 7 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 7 |
| 3 | Dario Franchitti | 4 | 8 | Mike Conway | 20 |
| 4 | Tony Kanaan | 11 | 9 | Danica Patrick | 22 |
| 5 | Justin Wilson | 15 | 10 | Ryan Briscoe | 6 |
| 2011 Edmonton Indy Facts and Figures |
| AVERAGE SPEED: 90.949 m.p.h. |
| TIME OF RACE: 1 hour, 57 minutes, 22.5177 seconds |
| MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.8089 second |
| CAUTION FLAGS: 2 for 8 laps |
| LEAD CHANGES: 6 among 5 drivers |
| POLE WINNER: Takuma Sato (101.971 m.p.h.) |
| FASTEST LAP: Sebastien Bourdais, 101.399 m.p.h., Lap 80 |
| Past Edmonton Indy Winners (Starting Position) Car -- Speed |
| 2011 -- Will Power (2nd) -- Dallara-Honda -- 90.949 m.p.h. |
| 2010 -- Scott Dixon (3rd) -- Dallara-Honda -- 101.666 m.p.h. |
| 2009 -- Will Power (1st) -- Dallara-Honda -- 109.498 m.p.h. (race record) |
| 2008 -- Scott Dixon (4th) -- Dallara-Honda -- 96.967 m.p.h. |
| NOTE: Formerly called Rexall Edmonton Indy (2008-09), Honda Indy Edmonton |
| (2010). |
| Past Edmonton Indy Pole Winners (Finish) |
| 2011 -- Takuma Sato -- 21st |
| 2010 -- Will Power -- 2nd |
| 2009 -- Will Power -- 1st |
| 2008 -- Ryan Briscoe -- 6th |
| Last Race Results |
| RACE: Honda Indy Toronto (July 8th) |
| SITE: Streets of Toronto -- Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| MILES: 148.75 |
| LAPS: 85 |
| WINNER: Ryan Hunter-Reay |
| RUNNER-UP: Charlie Kimball |
| THIRD: Mike Conway |
| FOURTH: Tony Kanaan |
| FIFTH: Oriol Servia |
| POLE WINNER: Dario Franchitti (Finished 17th) |
| AVERAGE SPEED: 95.787 m.p.h. |
| TIME OF RACE: 1 hour, 33 minutes, 26.5096 seconds |
| MARGIN OF VICTORY: Under Caution |
| CAUTION FLAGS: 3 for 8 laps |
| LEAD CHANGES: 5 among 5 drivers |
| LAP LEADERS: Dario Franchitti 1-5; Will Power 6-25; Simon Pagenaud 26-48; Ryan |
| Hunter-Reay 49-55; J.R. Hildebrand 56; Hunter-Reay 57-85. |
| Edmonton Indy Entry List |
| Car | Driver, Hometown | Car/Name |
| 2 | Ryan Briscoe (Sydney, Australia) | Hitachi/Team Penske |
| 3 | Helio Castroneves (Sao Paulo, Brz) | Penske Truck Rental/Team Penske |
| 4 | J.R. Hildebrand (Sausalito, CA) | U.S. National Guard/Panther Racing |
| 5 | E.J. Viso (Caracas, Venezuela) | Citgo/PDVSA/KV Racing Technology |
| 7 | Sebastien Bourdais (Le Mans,France) | TrueCar/Dragon Racing |
| 8 | Rubens Barrichello (Sao Paulo, Brz) | BMC/Embrase/KV Racing Technology |
| 9 | Scott Dixon (Auckland, New Zealand) | Target/Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 10 | Dario Franchitti (Scotland) | Target/Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 11 | Tony Kanaan (Salvador, Brazil) | GEICO/KV Racing Technology |
| 12 * | Will Power (Toowoomba, Australia) | Verizon/Team Penske |
| 14 | Mike Conway (Bromley, England) | ABC Supply Co./AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 15 | Takuma Sato (Tokyo, Japan) | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 18 | Justin Wilson (Sheffield, England) | Sonny's Bar B-Q/Dale Coyne Racing |
| 19 | Jamie Jakes (Leeds, England) | Boy Scouts America/Dale Coyne Racing |
| 20 | Ed Carpenter (Indianapolis, IN) | Fuzzy's Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 22 | Oriol Servia (Pals, Spain) | Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold |
| 26 | Marco Andretti (Nazareth, PA) | Dr. Pepper/Andretti Autosport |
| 27 | James Hinchcliffe (Toronto, Canada) | GoDaddy.com/Andretti Autosport |
| 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay (Boca Raton, FL) | DHL/Sun Drop/Andretti Autosport |
| 38 | Graham Rahal (New Albany, OH) | Service Central/Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 67 | Josef Newgarden (Nashville, TN) | Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing |
| 77 | Simon Pagenaud (Poitiers, France) | Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports |
| 78 | Simona de Silvestro (Switzerland) | Nuclear Clean Air Energy/Lotus-HVM |
| 83 | Charlie Kimball (Camarillo, CA) | NovoRapid Flex/Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 98 | Alex Tagliani (Lachenaie, Canada) | Team Barracuda/Bryan Herta Autosport |
| Leading Contenders (Finish the last four years) |
| Driver | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | | | | | |
| Will Power | --- | Won | 2nd | Won | | | | | |
| Helio Castroneves | 2nd | 2nd | 10th | 2nd | | | | | |
| Dario Franchitti | --- | 5th | 3rd | 3rd | | | | | |
| Tony Kanaan | 9th | 21st | 12th | 4th | | | | | |
| Justin Wilson | 3rd | 8th | 21st | 5th | | | | | |
| Ryan Hunter-Reay | 8th | 17th | 5th | 7th | | | | | |
| Ryan Briscoe | 6th | 4th | 4th | 10th | | | | | |
| J.R. Hildebrand | --- | --- | --- | 11th | | | | | |
| Marco Andretti | 17th | 10th | 11th | 14th | | | | | |
| James Hinchcliffe | --- | --- | --- | 15th | | | | | |
| Alex Tagliani | --- | 13th | 23rd | 17th | | | | | |
| Oriol Servia | 5th | --- | --- | 22nd | | | | | |
| Scott Dixon | Won | 3rd | Won | 23rd | | | | | |
| Graham Rahal | 26th | 7th | --- | 25th | | | | | |
| Simon Pagenaud | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | |
| Rubens Barrichello | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | |
| Mover of the Week |
| James Jakes - Started 24th on the grid and finished 8th |
| Sports Network Selections |
| Pick to Win - Will Power |
| Darkhorse - Graham Rahal |
| Last Week's Pick to Win (Dario Franchitti) - Finished 17th |
| Last Week's Darkhorse (J.R. Hildebrand) - Finished 7th |
| NOTES: |
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Will Power captured this race for the second time in three seasons
last year, as he clipped Helio Castroneves by less than a second for one of six
wins in 2011.
Power, a three-time winner this year, grabbed the lead from pole sitter Takuma
Sato on lap 19, and then led 57 of the remaining 80 laps on the newly
configured 2.256-mile, 13-turn Edmonton City Centre Airport course.
The Australian had to fend off challenges from teammate Castroneves and Dario
Franchitti from Chip Ganassi Racing during the closing laps for his 13th
IndyCar win.
Bizarre and controversial are two words that come to mind in regards to
the 2010 running of the Edmonton Indy race.
Castroneves held the lead for the final restart with four laps remaining, and
Castroneves and his Team Penske teammate Will Power ran side-by-side for the
top position as they entered the first turn. Castroneves then moved from the
outside lane to the inside and interfered with the progress of Power.
IndyCar official Brian Barnhart charged Castroneves for blocking and issued a
drive-through penalty to the Brazilian driver.
Officials black-flagged Castroneves for failing to serve his penalty and
placed him at the end of the lead lap in 10th at the finish of the race.
Castroneves was furious with the decision, and at the conclusion of the 95-lap
race at Edmonton's City Centre Airport course, he confronted IndyCar officials
along the pit area and grabbed the shirt of one of the officials. The change in
status enabled Scott Dixon to win this race for the second time.
Will Power became a first-time winner in the IndyCar Series with a dominating
performance in 2009. Power started on the pole and led 90 of 95 laps,
relinquishing the top position only when he pitted. He held a one-second lead
over his Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves before the race ended under
caution for an incident involving Tomas Scheckter with less than two laps to
go.
Starting from the fourth position, Dixon finally took the lead on lap 62 and
held on for the duration of the 2008 race, as he defeated Castroneves by
5.9237 seconds. Dixon led the final 30 laps for the 15th of his 27 career
IndyCar titles. Pole sitter Ryan Briscoe led the first three laps, but
finished sixth.
Power and Dixon are each two-time winners of this race, having alternated wins
the first four years. Castroneves has been a hard-luck loser, finishing second,
three of the four races. After winning the first race of the 2012 season,
Castroneves has posted seven additional top-10 finishes in nine starts.
Edmonton is no stranger to auto racing, as this track was the previous host to
the ChampCar Series for three seasons. Sebastien Bourdais was a two-time
champion of that race, while Justin Wilson, now racing in IndyCar, captured
the checkered flag in 2006. All previous winners at this track are expected to
start this week.
After a so-so start to the season, Ryan Hunter-Reay has moved to the top of the
standings, thanks to three straight wins. In those starts, Hunter-Reay has led
135 of the 560 laps. Prior to the wins, Hunter-Reay led just four total laps in
the previous seven races. In doubling his career win total, he has created a
34-point gap between himself and Power. A win this week will enable him to
become the first driver in six years to win four straight IndyCar titles.
The 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule continues with the August 5th running of
the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Scott Dixon won last year's
race there.
07/17 14:32:52 ET
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As of July 17, 2012, at 02:33 PM ET
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