IndyCar 2015 - The Farse and the Furious

Okay, first off I'd like to apologise for the lateness of some of these race reviews. This is mainly down to the fact that, being a college student, life is incredibly busy! Also, in the case of IndyCar, I didn't feel I should waste my time reporting on NOLA, as it was a terrible race but I shall summarize this one, and Long Beach, before reviewing a thriller at Barber Motorsports park.

James Hinchcliffe leads the way in the latter stages of the race at Nola (Copyright: IndyCar)

After a race that was shortened drastically due to multiple cautions and the weather, and ended under caution thanks to a 3 car collision between Ryan Hunter-Reay, Simoan Pagenaud and Sebastian Bourdais, James Hinchcliffe took his first win for the Schmidt Peterson team, after an alternative strategy bumped him to the front of the field, ahead of Helio Castroneves and James Jakes.

Scott Dixon on his way to victory at Long Beach

At Long Beach, Scott Dixon put his demons there to rest, with a brilliant win, after Helio Castroneves was held up during the pitstops by Tony Kanaan. Dixon finished ahead of Castroneves and a great fight for third between Penske team mates Juan Pablo Montoya and Simon Pagenaud. However, it was at the following race at Barber Motorsports park. that the action really hotted up.

Josef Newgarden leads Helio Castroneves (Copyright: IndyCar)

The Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park proved to be the race that Josef Newgardern finally took his breakthrough first win, and he did it in dramatic style! Newgarden qualified 5th in his CFH Racing DW12, and at the start made his intentions pretty clear, diving down the inside of Pagenaud and Bourdais into turn 1, to go 3rd, behind leader Castroneves and 2nd place man Will Power.

Castroneves leads the field at the start of the race (Copyright: IndyCar)

It was an incredible move and he soon set about catching and passing the two Penskes infront of him. He then got infront of Castroneves during the first pit stops, as a runaway wheel nut ruined his stop. Power removed himself from contention leaving the pits, not understanding how to merge smoothly, swiping and spinning round Takuma Sato, bringing out the first full course caution for debris and earning himself a drive through penalty, which for some reason he was perplexed by. 'Typical' he shouted over the radio as he cruised through the pitlane. Might wanna watch the replay Will.

Rahal on track during the race (Copyright: IndyCar)

All of this left Graham Rahal out infront, ahead of Hinchcliffe, as they did not pit with the others during that caution. Whilst Newgarden and Castroneves were still the net leaders, Hinch and Rahal were still on for a very good result. Both had closed in on Newgarden and Castroneves after the first round of stops, and were doing a solid job out front.

Josef Newgarden leads Scott Dixon in the latter stages of the race (Copyright: IndyCar)

During the second round of stops Castroneves retook the lead from Newgarden, but the strategy didn't work out for him, as he soon ended up behind a recovering Will Power (who was doing a great job it must be said) and an equally impressive Ryan Hunter-Reay, who had gone off strategy in the early stages after qualifying way down the field. At the final stops, Newgarden retook the lead from Scott Dixon, but both would be under pressure in the final stages from Graham Rahal, who had used a different strategy to brilliant effect, able to push right up until the end thanks to having enough fuel to do so, whereas Dixon and Newgarden were saving their fuel, and their tyres. Despite being with Rahal early on, Hinchcliffe sadly didn't have the pace to fight like Rahal did.

Graham Rahal charges after Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden (Copyright: IndyCar)

Rahal was on a charge, setting fastest lap after fastest lap, regularly lapping two seconds faster than both Dixon and Newgarden. He had already monstered past Castroneves, Hunter-Reay and Power and now had his sights on Dixons Chip Ganassi machine. Sadly for him, Newgarden was out of reach but on the final lap, Rahal made his move and took 2nd place away from Dixon, and even though he couldn't catch Newgarden, he still closed that gap even further on that final lap. Newgarden however had driven brilliantly all weekend and capped it off with one hell of a drive in the race, earning him his first ever IndyCar victory and first trip to Victory Lane in IndyCar. Rahal was a fine 2nd and Dixon an equally impressive 3rd, with Power 4th, and Hunter-Reay 5th, Castroneves running out fuel on the final lap. The full results are below.

The result also gives a very interesting drivers championship...

Josef Newgarden takes the checkered flag

After a disastrous race at NOLA, IndyCar bounced back at Long Beach, but went even better at Barber Motorsports Park. Josef Newgarden finally managed his breakthrough first win. Can he fight for the title this season? Lets wait and see. Until next time folks. Ciao.

The start of the race (Copyright: IndyCar)