Maybe it was the full moon. Maybe it was the fact that 13 years had passed since Indycars last raced at the one-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway. But the Izod IndyCar Series put on an action-packed race at the track with fierce competition and passing galore as well as a wild, much-disputed finish.

Ryan Hunter-Reay scored his first win of the year in Sunday’s race. He beat Oriol Servia and Scott Dixon, while championship rivals Dario Franchitti and Will Power were eliminated in separate accidents on restarts. Franchitti qualified on pole and dominated the first half of the race, running away on his own before he was hit by Takuma Sato on a restart, spinning into the wall. Sato later apologised to Franchitti, admitting he got too close to Dario (below) because he had some debris and tears in one eye.

Power was eliminated after Danica Patrick spun in front of him on a late-race restart in slippery conditions and registered his disgust with IndyCar officials by waving his arms and a pair of raised fingers at them. A gaggle of cars were involved in the collision, leading to a red flag. After a delay the stewards set the results to before the final restart, handing Hunter Reay the win. Power’s gesture was just a small part of a gale of disgruntled drivers and team owners seething in the pitlane at the end of the race. Servia and the Newman/Haas team disputed Hunter-Reay’s win, while everyone questioned the wisdom of the final, disastrous restart.

Third-placed Dixon said: “Obviously everybody’s a little confused with what went on during the day, but the racing was good. There was lots of passing. For me, at about lap 200 it felt like we were 500 miles in already. I thought it was a hell of a race.”

Hunter-Reay agreed: “Man, the racing was so difficult with the traffic. You had to time it just perfect. This track is a lot of fun. If I had it my way we’d be coming back here for many years to come. All the drivers really respect this place. They’ll tell you this is one of the toughest ovals they’ve been on in their life.”

IndyCar’s president of competition and racing operations Brian Barnhart (below) admitted he had erred in calling for the final restart. You have to tip your cap to Barnhart for his uncommon candour, remarkably unlike anything one might hear from the FIA.

“It was a challenging day for us from the get-go with the late start we had for television and knowing we had bad weather coming in,” said Barnhart. “Then we had to make some difficult calls from a race control point of view, when you have indecisiveness about what the weather is doing and whether you have safe conditions to continue racing. When it rains hard your decision is a pretty easy one to make, but when you have light moisture like we had today it’s tough to make that call.

“Obviously, towards the end of the race with the attempted restart we made the wrong one. It just makes you feel sick to your stomach because you know after the fact that you chose poorly. It was clearly my fault.”

A messy day then, but without doubt an old-fashioned motor race of the first order.

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Last weekend’s Edmonton IZOD IndyCar race was exactly what Will Power needed following collisions in Toronto two weeks earlier with Dario Franchitti and Alex Tagliani. Power rebounded from that unhappy day to score a clean victory in Edmonton, his fourth of the year. The Australian led most of the race after passing polesitter Takuma Sato and held on to win by 0.8 seconds from Penske team-mate Hélio Castroneves and championship rival Franchitti. Thus did Power pull himself to within 38 points of the Scot with seven races to go in this year’s championship.

“We really needed to come here and win, just to get the confidence back in the team,” said Power. “That was so hard at the end, certainly under braking trying to keep Hélio behind. Man, I’m really, really happy. I thought I had to be more aggressive in the race because we can’t lose any more points to Dario. A good day – I just drove every lap like qualifying. We’ve got to keep chipping away, just like Dario did with us last year.”

Following the race Power and Franchitti talked for the first time since their collision in Toronto. “I just went up and said ‘Good job’ to Will and then we talked about the race,” said the Ganassi driver. “For me, Toronto is in the past. I totally screwed up the last restart today and that got us back to 10th. But when I got into clean air I went a second a lap quicker and caught the five seconds up on Will and Hélio. But once I got there I couldn’t do anything with them.”

Castroneves enjoyed his best result of the year so far. He and Power ran into each other in this race last year and Hélio was fined for physically assaulting race officials. But this year the Brazilian kept his nose clean. “I had a chance to do something with Will but it was a bit tough,” he said. “I needed a solid result and we got it.”

The reconfigured Edmonton track left most drivers cold. The old track was much faster and challenging, but the new layout is littered with slow corners resulting in a number of incidents although they were fewer in number than in Toronto. Pole-winner Sato fell to fourth after he was passed in one fell swoop by Power, Franchitti and Scott Dixon before he was hit and spun by Ryan Hunter-Reay. But the biggest loser from these incidents was Dixon who looked like a top-three finisher until IndyCar’s resident wild man EJ Viso drove into him. Dixon lost five laps while his car was repaired and although Scott retains third in the championship he’s now 108 points behind team-mate Franchitti.

“You get sick and tired of people doing bonehead moves,” said Dixon. “I saw it coming in the mirror but I had nowhere to go. Coming from six cars back and taking out somebody – I don’t know if [Viso] was looking at somebody in the stands or not really paying attention. It ruined a good day for us. We had a great car that I think had possibilities to win as long as everything went right, but unfortunately this has been the way our season goes this year. We’ve been qualifying well and been up front but it hasn’t been going our way.”

So this year’s championship battle is a repeat of last year’s duel between Franchitti and Power, although this time the situation is reversed with the Australian playing catch-up. Can Franchitti win his third title in a row and fourth consecutive crown for Chip Ganassi? Or will Power come through to take Penske’s 13th title and the first since Sam Hornish in 2006?

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Dario Franchitti led most of the IndyCar Series race in Iowa on Saturday night, but a slow late pitstop dropped the Scot down the order and opened the door to an impressive win for Marco Andretti. The 24-year-old has struggled in recent years and again this season as one of four drivers in father Michael’s Andretti Autosport’s team. In fact, Marco had not won a race in 79 starts, since his first IndyCar victory at California’s Sears Point road course in 2006 – his rookie season.

Tony Kanaan chases Iowa winner Marco Andretti

So it was good to see Andretti score a deserving win on the 7/8ths-mile Iowa oval as he chased Franchitti through the middle of the race and battled back and forth with Tony Kanaan in the closing stages. Andretti clung resolutely to his lead over the last 19 laps despite Kanaan’s best efforts. “Knowing TK,” said Marco, “I knew he would do exactly what I did to him. He’d make his car very wide. I didn’t want to wait until two [laps] to go because he was just going to chop me and I would have been done. I knew I had to get it done earlier and make my car wide.”

Andretti was by far the most competitive of his father’s four cars in Iowa with Ryan Hunter-Reay finishing eighth, Danica Patrick 10th and Mike Conway taken out by Ana Beatriz in an early accident. Kanaan enjoyed another competitive race, and plainly his presence at KV Racing this year has helped push the team to new heights. Kanaan qualified third in Iowa while team-mate Takuma Sato took pole position and led the opening laps. Sato became the first Japanese driver to take an IndyCar pole and ran well in the race until losing control and crashing on the Iowa track’s notorious Turn 2 bump.

Dario Franchitti congratulates Michael Andretti on his son’s win

Championship leader Franchitti set the pace through the first two-thirds of the race but came out of the pits from his second stop behind Andretti. In traffic Dario’s car wasn’t as good as in clean air and he slipped back as the car got more and more tail-happy. He finished fifth but continues to lead the championship after Will Power crashed in Iowa. Franchitti’s Ganassi team-mate Scott Dixon drove well, coming through the field to finish third after qualifying a disappointing 23rd.

Power qualified fifth but damaged his car in a collision in the pits with Charlie Kimball. Later in the race the Team Penske driver crashed, losing valuable ground to Franchitti in the title chase. After eight of 17 races Franchitti leads with 303 points to Power’s 283. Dixon is third with 230 points followed by Oriol Servia (214) and Kanaan (211).

Polesitter Takuma Sato is pursued by team-mate Kanaan

Iowa was the last of three consecutive weekends of racing on oval tracks for IndyCar. The series has next weekend off before a pair of Canadian races in July at a street track in downtown Toronto and an airport circuit in Edmonton. It will be interesting to see if Power and Team Penske can put any pressure on Franchitti and Chip Ganassi’s team, and whether the likes of Andretti, Kanaan, Dixon or Servia can pull themselves into the championship hunt.

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After crashing during Saturday’s practice session, Dario Franchitti bounced back to drive a perfect race at St Petersburg on Sunday. The double IndyCar champion took the lead from pole winner Will Power early in the race and drove away to win the IZOD IndyCar Series season-opener in the streets of the Florida city. Once the race got underway nobody could match Franchitti’s pace and the Scotsman – a recent Motor Sport Hall of Fame inductee – won comfortably from Power and Tony Kanaan. It was the first time Dario has won the opening race of the season and the 27th victory of his IndyCar career, pushing him into a tie with Johnny Rutherford for 10th on the all-time winners’ list.

“I want to thank the Target team for keeping fighting,” said Franchitti. “They definitely taught me never to give up. What a brilliant team! Anybody who questions their fire and motivation to go for it saw what we did today. The will to win goes right through the team.”

Power was Franchitti’s primary championship rival last year and is expected to play the same role this season. “Dario was so quick,” he said. “I didn’t have the car for him. He was just crazy fast.”

A multi-car melee at turn one on the opening lap seriously delayed Franchitti’s team-mate Scott Dixon and Power’s team-mates Hélio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe. The collision also eliminated Andretti Autosport’s drivers Marco Andretti, Mike Conway and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Young Andretti appeared to be the culprit.

It took a few more tries to get the race going and among those to profit from a series of early accidents were Tony Kanaan and Simona de Silvestro. In his first race with KV Racing Kanaan came through to finish third, chasing hard after Power for much of the distance. But in the closing laps he was fully occupied keeping de Silvestro behind him. The Swiss woman drove a great race for Keith Wiggins’s little HVM team to finish hard on Kanaan’s tail and well clear of fifth-placed Takuma Sato.

So Franchitti has cast himself once again as IndyCar’s title favourite. Can he win a third consecutive crown and a fourth in a row for Chip Ganassi’s team? It’s a tall order, but the erudite Scotsman clearly is up for the challenge.

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The season of goodwill and peace among men has begun. Readers of Autosport magazine have named Japanese Grand Prix driver Kamui Kobayashi ‘Rookie of the Year’. Well now, there’s a nice surprise for fans of feisty racing drivers.

But should we be surprised? No, not really. He’s a cool guy; he speaks his mind and drives accordingly. Flick through the overtaking moves of 2010 and a white, barely-sponsored car with a Ferrari engine features strongly.

It has been said that Japanese racers would not make footballers because they can’t take corners. Yes, they have shown flashes of brilliance, but never consistently. But because they are brave they are flat out where others fear to tread, and this is exciting – as Kobayashi showed at the Spoon corner on many occasions during this year’s Japanese Grand Prix. Suzuka is not a place for the faint-hearted and Kamui was on fine form, staking his claim to be the first truly successful Japanese Formula 1 contender. Many have tried – we know who they are – and some thought this honour would go to Takuma Sato, who was also brave and feisty in a mid-grid car.

What is surprising is Kobayashi’s honesty and humour in a world that appears not to encourage such traits. How about this in a recent missive from the Sauber headquarters in Hinwil? Asked about his apparent ability to overtake other cars during a race, he said: “Because I am Japanese I have small eyes, so I cannot see the other guys. It was an interesting race at Suzuka, very nice for me, and for the Japanese fans. If I feel I can overtake, then I just do it, there is no secret.” I’ve never met Kobayashi, but I’d like to.

Rookie of the Year then, and a winter to work on his game. But first he’s off to Bali for a couple of weeks in the sun. Methinks this guy has what is known these days as a ‘work/life balance’. His ultimate wish, had he a magic lamp, is also interesting.

“In Japanese Mangas they have a ‘where do you want to go to door’,” he says, “and when you go through this door you are where you want to be. I’d like to find that.” So, all he has to do is find the door to, say, McLaren or Ferrari and through he goes. In his dreams. Would he be as quick as a Hamilton or an Alonso? I have no idea, but his way of racing has certainly won him a great many fans.

You will remember that people asked the same question of drivers like Rosberg, Mansell and Webber. Given a great car, would they get the job done? In modern times, more so than ever before, a keen intelligence is vital, an ability to do many things at once while travelling at high speeds.

This is all part of the excitement, the intrigue of sport. And it is this continuing curiosity that carries us from season to season. You never know precisely what will happen, and 2011 looks like being as thrilling as ever. Winter testing won’t provide the answers; the drama will unfold in its own time. And even then, there may be an own-goal in the final minute of extra time. Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber will be mindful of this. Maybe M Schumacher will be back with a dominant car. Now that would be interesting…

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Group Lotus CEO Dany Bahar announced at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Thursday that Lotus would build engines for the IZOD IndyCar Series’ new 2012 formula. Few details were revealed at the announcement, including who will design and build the engine, although Bahar’s comments suggest Lotus would do the work on its own without a partner like Cosworth.

“What we’re trying to do with the Lotus brand is leverage our heritage, which is all about motor racing,” he said. “We’re taking racing seriously. We don’t just want to put a sticker on a car that we did not have an interest in building. We want to fight with the big guys.

“We started this year with a very small activity with Takuma Sato in the KV Technology team. It was just one car to understand Indycar racing. It was an opportunity for us to become a real contender. The series is developing well and I think it fits perfectly with our abilities and strategy in the US, which is our biggest market.

“So we took the decision to build our own engine. By doing that we are going to be the underdogs fighting Chevy and Honda. But that’s fine. It’s all about competition.”

Bahar confirmed that Lotus would develop its own ‘aero kit’ for 2012. “We will be designing our own chassis and own aero kit,” he said. “We want to compete by designing our own cars and hope other teams can profit from our design. We’ve started already investing in developing the right aero kit and engine for 2012.”

Bahar also said that as many as four Indycars will run in Lotus colours next year. “We’ll be expanding our activities in IndyCar with our partner KV Technology. There will probably be three or even more cars in our livery.”

Kevin Kalkhoven owns the KV team with former driver Jimmy Vasser. He also owns Cosworth in partnership with Jerry Forsythe. Kalkhoven was conspicuous by his absence from Thursday’s Lotus engine announcement and did not respond to requests to comment on the news. So we await further details with interest.

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So the European season has begun. Almost all 22 cars completed the two Friday practices without incident and the Ferraris look like they are the pace setters at the moment. The Scuderia occupied the top two spots in the opening practice and were just under half a second quicker than Hamilton. Massa managed (after I had said that his ‘moments’ would become less frequent from Bahrain onwards) to spin twice, once at the chicane on his flying lap and then on the exit of turn 8 later on in the first practice.

The most interesting part of the two opening practice sessions? Well in the first, a second covered the first 4 cars and in the second, it covered a quite remarkable 12 cars. Indeed, if you ignore the Super Aguris, all the cars were within two seconds of Räikkönen’s fastest time. It may surprise you even more that in the second Friday practice in the French Grand Prix last year, the top 15 cars set times within 1 second of each other. And they say Formula 1 isn’t interesting…

On the subject of Super Aguris, it is great to see them on track as up until today they were still in talks with Honda over whether or not they could actually compete this weekend. With the rule changes next year, the Japanese manufacturer has made it quite clear that they aren’t prepared to keep shelling out inordinate amounts of money to keep Aguri Suzuki afloat. After one possible backer dropped out at the last minute the team is again looking for a sponsor. Let’s hope that they find one otherwise this may well be one of the last times we see them on the Grand Prix circuit.

I was actually quite surprised to see them leave the garage this morning as competing over a race weekend amounts to what us mere mortals would consider a cash bonfire. Of course, they don’t want to miss out on the money they receive for competing in a Grand Prix.

As for the rest… The Renaults certainly looked quick in the second session but watching the onboard footage it looked as though both drivers were pushing pretty hard. Whether they can keep that sort of pace up over the whole weekend, I doubt. Force India, after saying mid-week that they are ready to get into Q3, have taken another step forward with strong finishes in the second session.

Whether all the teams were actually trying to set quick times, I am not convinced. I suggest that the Ferraris are going to be hard to beat come Sunday and the McLarens seem to have the edge over the BMWs for the time being.

The good news for all of you is that Nigel Roebuck is getting ready to write his first www.motorsportmagazine.co.uk Grand Prix Report and will share his views with us, here, after the race on Sunday. For a far more insightful and interesting read… log back on, Sunday evening and go via the ‘Grand Prix Reports’ link on the homepage to read it.

Practice 1

Practice 2

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Well, Massa needed a win, or at the very least a strong performance with all four wheels staying firmly on the Tarmac, and he delivered. From when the red lights went out he dominated a fairly uneventful race for the two Ferrari cars and finished over three seconds ahead of his Finnish team-mate.

He has a good record in Bahrain, having won there last year ahead of Hamilton and Raikkonen, but the fact that he managed to drive such a dominant race after so much criticism was a testament to his mental and driving ability. I am not saying he is cured of his moments – but if he can drive like this for the rest of the reason, they will be forgotten by many.

As for the McLarens, Hamilton had yet another disastrous race. He was extremely slow off the line, his car looking as though he tried to draw away in 3rd, and dropped back to 10th place. He then slammed into the back of Alonso and consequently had to pit for a new nose cone. With the rest of his race hampered by a heavy fuel load and traffic he came home a disappointing 13th.

His team-mate, however, drove an undramatic race to finish 5th. It is obvious that the BMWs are quicker than the McLarens now (or at least in Bahrain) and hopefully for the Woking-based squad they will have found more speed from somewhere, come the European season. If not, they will be the ‘BMWs of 2008′ – the team that is relying on others not to finish in order to score good points and finish on the podium. Something that none of them would accept.
But well done Kovalainen, he may not have the raw pace of Hamilton but his lows are much higher than Hamilton’s when things go wrong. Something that, come Australia, may well count towards beating his team-mate in the Championship standings.

The BMWs both looked strong with Kubica finishing 3rd, and Heidfeld only three and a half seconds behind him. They have had a remarkable start to the season – lets hope they can continue competing for the podium. They certainly have one of the strongest driver line-ups on the grid.

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Massa looked very much the strongest driver all weekend until Robert Kubica took the first pole of his career in Q3. Whether he was carrying a much lighter fuel load or not, we won’t know until tomorrow. If this is the case or not – he drove a remarkably good lap.

At the front of the grid, it was business as usual. The Ferraris still seem to have the measure of the McLarens and, as predicted, Hamilton managed to qualify ahead of Raikkonen, (I have to point this out as all my other predictions are so far off I have promised myself never to bet on Formula 1).

Again, the ‘Don’ of one lap pace – Trulli – finished well in 7th and for the first time this season Button made it into the third session. Having been bold enough to say that the Toyotas just don’t have the race pace to finish in the points earlier this season, I stand corrected. Having been the only team that started with a clean sheet of paper for their 2008 car they seem to be consistently capable of scoring points. Add to that the fact that they are one of only two teams to test in Bahrain – expect more of the same tomorrow.

It was good to see Button finish the day 9th on the grid. The Honda is improving and I suggest it will continue to do so. Brawn has made it clear that he has the ability to make on-the-spot decisions which before had to go through days of committees. With the capacity to move forward unhindered by delays (in the right direction) they really should be scoring points sooner rather than later.

However, if there was one driver with ‘less luck’ than Webber – you’d probably have to say Button was up there with the ‘best’ of them. Lets just hope that’s not the case on race day.

Predictions for tomorrow? Well, if Massa stays on the track and his Ferrari engine doesn’t decide to pack-up then I am sure he will finish on the podium. Whether he can keep Raikkonen behind him or whether Kubica has the pace to challenge the Scuderia over a long distance I am not sure, but the Pole is certainly in the right position to fight for his best finish yet. I don’t think the McLarens have the speed to trouble the two teams on the front row so I doubt whether they’ll be on the podium. Who knows… knowing my predictions, the podium will consist of McLarens and Red Bulls.

Qualifying

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For the first time I decided to watch the two practice sessions on the ITV site with their ‘live feed’. This was, without a doubt, my worst Formula 1 viewing session ever. The fact that there isn’t any commentary is brilliant. An hour and a half of unrelenting, unmolested noise is wonderful.

However, as soon as it lulls you into a V8-induced slumber the sound is taken over by what can only be described as ET on speed. The picture then decides to pack up its bags and go home, leaving you in a suspended state, watching… well… nothing. Everyone in the office thought that I had finally lost the plot and was lost in a photo of the F1 ITV logo.

At first I thought it was something our end but with the latest Macs, this is utter rubbish. I understand that a ‘live stream’ is never going to be perfect but this was an utter waste of time. Raikkonen lost it at one point, and someone else did but I can’t for the life of me tell you who. They were using Bridgestones though. That was what the screen decided to freeze on anyway.

There is something quite eerie about the Bahrain circuit. There are no landmarks to speak of on track and the tarmac is so wide it looks like the cars have all been bought by Corgi. A fascinating place as Rob Widdows will tell you in the next issue of the magazine.

As for the racing, the Ferraris look like the ones to beat with Massa finishing the second practice nearly a second quicker than his team-mate Raikkonen. However, the Ferrari garage isn’t all sunshine and smiles as Raikkonen lost it in both practice sessions, needing to return to the pits in the first to get sand removed from his car. The dusty nature of the circuit does seem to be causing problems as many drivers were struggling for grip in the opening laps of the first session. If Massa can keep his pace throughout the weekend and stay on track it will certainly silence a few of his critics.

Hamilton ran well but lost it at turn 7 late in the second practice sending him sideways into the barrier. His car is badly damaged but we have heard that he is fine. As he said on Top Gear, he does occasionally enjoy a “good shunt”.

The Williams are back on form after Malaysia and the McLarens are biting at the heals of the Ferraris. What will happen in qualifying? Well, as long as everything goes according to plan, I suggest Massa will get pole, with Raikkonen making up the front row. Hamilton may well be able to beat Raikkonen to it but looking at the speed of the Scuderia’s cars he will have to carry much less fuel. Time will tell.

The rest? Well, the Toyotas don’t seem to be as fast here as they were in Malaysia. And five teams have finished with times that put their drivers next to each other on the time sheets. You may well ask; how much difference does the driver make? Quite a bit I think and that’s why I am sure that Kimi is going to push Massa all the way, even if his time sheet does look as good as the Brazilian’s so far.

Practice 1

Practice 2

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Well the season has officially started… At 10am Australian time, the first of three practice sessions began.

What was interesting was just how competitive the Force India cars were – Fisichella finished the first practice in 12th and the second in 9th, which is certainly an improvement on last year. Whether he was on a particularly light fuel load and whether the times will remain as low throughout the weekend remains to be seen.

Having topped the first practice, Räikkönen could do no better than 6th in the second. Afterwards he was far from amused at how well the car was going which does seem a little strange after praising the speed of the 2008 Ferrari after every pre-season test. He did explain that they struggled with the set-up in the afternoon session – I expect that, being Ferrari, they will have no such problems come tomorrow.

The Super Aguris were understandably well off the pace, it is no surprise that after a winter of not knowing whether they were actually going to grace the track or not, they have missed out on valuable development time. While finishing second to last and last, over 4 seconds off the pace, Sato was keen to point out that he’s happy to just be racing. What more could he say?

What was disappointing was not to see the true pace of the Williams cars; Rosberg spent much of the first session stuck in the garage with gearbox problems. The second session was slightly more productive and the German finished it in 8th, while his team-mate Nakajima could only manage a 1:29.077 leaving him in 16th.

The Red Bulls were surprisingly quick. I had a suspicion that they would be fast but Webber’s 2nd place finish in the second practice was, although 0.9 seconds off Hamilton, certainly a good time. Lets hope that the cars stay in one piece for long enough to get a result – last year Webber and Coulthard failed to finish 14 races between them.

It’s difficult to draw any firm conclusions from the opening two tests but it is clear that the McLarens and Ferraris are a cut above the rest. The most interesting battle over the weekend? Well… Räikkönen/Hamilton will certainly be worth watching closely but watch out for the Renaults, Red Bulls, BMW Saubers and Williams’ as there is little more than a second separating them all.

Practice 1

Practice 2

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