IndyCar Series, Go Uri! Opciones

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Luego de varios años de desavenencias que provocaron la división de el más importante campeonato de monoplazas estadounidense, finalmente se llegó a un acuerdo para fusionar este año la Champ Car a la Indy Racing League (IRL), acuerdo en el que sin duda se beneficiaran los aficionados a estos bólidos.


Los dirigentes de las series de automovilismo de monoplazas estadounidenses Indy Racing League (IRL) y Champ Car anunciaron un acuerdo para fusionar ambos circuitos con vistas a la temporada 2008, 12 años después de haberse separado.


Video: Rueda de prensa de la unificación 27/02/08

El acuerdo se encamina a incorporar tres carreras de la Champ Car al itinerario original de la IRL, que contaba con 16 pruebas, con los grandes premios de Long Beach en California, Surfers Paradise en Australia y Edmonton en Canadá. El resto del calendario de Champ Car fue cancelado. A comienzos de la década de 1990, la serie CART, que luego cambió de nombre a Champ Car, era un destino habitual para pilotos europeos y sudamericanos, y tenía gran respaldo de los aficionados.

La CART fue fundada en noviembre de 1978 por Roger Penske, Pat Patrick, Dan Gurney y otra serie de dueños de escuderías.

La IRL comenzó a operar en 1996, con intención de dar espacio a los jóvenes pilotos estadounidenses, y CART tomó su propio rumbo hasta que se declaró en bancarrota en enero de 2004.

George realizó la mejor oferta por las acciones de CART, pero un juez se las otorgó a Kalkhoven, Forsythe y Paul Gentilozzi porque el comprador había mostrado intenciones de clausurar la serie, lo que hubiera dejado a muchas personas desempleadas.



Monoplaza.

Los coches de las series IndyCar son monoplazas de al menos 1525 libras de peso y 192 pulgadas de longitud, con chasis monocasco y construidos con fibra de carbono y composite. Son coches con cambio de 6 velocidades secuanciales por palanca (no por levas) y sin dirección asistida.
Los equipos pueden elegir entre 2 modelos de distintos fabricantes, bien sean los italianos Dallara o los americanos Panoz.





El Motor de 3.5 litros V8 turboalimentados desarrollados por Honda (y construidos por Ilmor Engineering, compañía constructora de los motores Mercedes-Benz en F1 hasta 2005), capaces de transmitir más de 650 CV usando como combustible Etanol-Metanol.







Los neumáticos son gomas son slick, con una grosor de la goma como el deaproximadamente 2.5 milímetros de espesor. Las dimensiones son 25.8 las delanteras pudiendo llegar hasta las 28 en las ruedas traseras. Los anchos: 28 centímetros alante y 38 atrás.

Cada piloto dispone segun el tipo de circuitode 8 sets para Urbano/permanente y 7 sets para Ovales. En Indy 500 dispone de 35 sets.



Street Tire / Race Tire



Hay dos tipos de Frenos dependiendo de si corren en un óvalo o en un circuito urbano. En el caso del óvalo, los frenos son de carbono con cuatro pistones, y son más bien pequeños. En el caso del circuito urbano, los discos son de acero, más grandes y de 6 pistones.









IndyCar Series. Puntuación.

1st - 50
2nd - 40
3rd - 35
4th - 32
5th - 30
6th - 28
7th - 26
8th - 24
9th - 22
10th - 20
11th - 19
12th - 18
13th - 17
14th - 16
15th - 15
16th - 14
17th - 13
18th>24th - 12
25th>33th - 10


Se otorgan 3 puntos extras a aquel piloto que consiga el mayor número de vueltas en cabeza durante la carrera.


Repostajes.



Las paradas en boxes son también obligatorias en las IndyCar Series. Sin embargo, no se podrán realizar cuando la condición de la pista esté en "peligro", es decir, haya banderas amarillas y un coche de seguridad en el circuito, salvo que el dirigente de la carrera de la orden de "Pits Open". Todo aquel que haga una parada en esta situación será penalizado.

En una parada de boxes podemos encontrar a 11 mecánicos. 4 se encargarán de sustituir las ruedas, 2 de ayudarles, uno sujetará el "chupete" o cartel de indicación de estado, 1 del respostaje junto a su ayudante y 1 mecánico se encargará de elevar el coche.
El último, quizás el más curioso, es el que hace de "apagafuegos". Tras un respotaje, una vez retirada la manguera, él inyectará un chorro de agua sobre la boca del depósito para aplacar las posibles llamas. Recordemos que el metanol se apaga con agua y su llama es completamente invisible (de ahí que se realice siempre este procedimiento, tanto si hay llama o no).


El Volante

1. OVERTAKE BUTTON: Changes the fuel map to 100 percent rich for a set amount of time, allowing the engine to produce the extra power needed to complete a pass or hold off another driver.

2. PI DASH: Displays warning lights and information the driver needs during the race. That information includes lap times, oil, water and gearbox temperatures and fuel mileage.

3. RPM SHIFT LIGHTS: LED lights that go from green to red and indicate engine RPM. When the red lights are on the driver shifts gears.

4. PIT LANE SPEED LIMITER: Used on pit lane by the driver to activate the engine control program limiting the cars speed to the pit lane speed limit, which is usually 60 miles per hour.

5. PULL-TO-TALK (BEHIND THE CARBON): Activates the microphone in the drivers helmet so he can communicate over the radio.

6. RESET: Used during the race. During a pit stop the driver pushes this button to reset the fuel reading on his display.

7. FUEL MAP SWITCH: Allows the driver to adjust the fuel mapping of the engine to increase fuel mileage or to increase power. There are a number of settings available including full rich, where the engine produces maximum power but uses more fuel. There is also a lean setting which uses less fuel but produces less power. During caution periods the drivers will switch to the leanest mixture to increase fuel economy.

8. DASH SCROLL: Allows the driver to scroll through the different pages available on the dash board, including the race page, qualifying page and practice page.

9. WEIGHT JACKER: Adjusts the cross weight on the car from left to right. The weight jacker allows the driver to make fine-tuning adjustments as the car begins to handle differently during the race.

10. DRINK (BEHIND THE CARBON): Allows the driver to get a drink of water during the race. It activates a pump connected to a water bottle on the car which pumps water through a hose installed in the drivers helmet.

[BITTER]

Franchitti dominates the Indy 500

By Matt Beer Sunday, May 30th 2010, 20:21 GMT

Dario Franchitti, Ganassi, Indy 2010Ganassi's Dario Franchitti claimed his second Indianapolis 500 victory with a commanding drive for Ganassi in the 2010 edition of the IndyCar Series' premier race.

Dan Wheldon finished in second place, as a late fuel stop meant Tony Kanaan had to relinquish the runner-up spot with just four laps to go after an epic drive from the back of the grid.

Alex Lloyd took a remarkable third place for Dale Coyne Racing - completing an all-British top three, although his position could come into question with Marco Andretti alleging he was passed under yellow.

Having dominated qualifying, Penske's race went awry due to pit incidents and strategy miscues, and the polesitting squad came away with just eighth and ninth.

The race ended under yellow as Mike Conway made contact with Ryan Hunter-Reay and had a massive accident. The Dreyer & Reinbold car rode over the back of Hunter-Reay's Andretti Autosport entry and flew into the fencing, where its back end was ripped off before it crashed back down onto the track. Conway is being flown to hospital with an injury to his right leg.

The yellow for that accident secured Franchitti's victory, for he went into the final lap marginal on fuel as all the frontrunners tried to stretch their final tank-load over nearly 40 laps.

Franchitti had been the fastest man throughout the race, leading the vast majority of laps and heading the field by a margin of up to 10s at times.

He moved from third to first within the opening turns of the race, and apart from a brief battle with Penske's Will Power early on, he only lost the lead to strategy vagaries.

With several drivers gambling on alternate strategies at the end, Franchitti was back in fifth going into the last 20 laps - but aware that none of those ahead had much chance of reaching the finish on their current fuel loads without a miraculously long yellow.

When Helio Castroneves (Penske) pitted eight laps from the end, Franchitti hit the front with Kanaan chasing him down. The Brazilian had flown through the field from his 33rd place start, but had not conserved sufficient fuel and had to pit with just four laps to go.

His stop moved Panther driver Wheldon into second after a quietly impressive surge up through the field. Marco Andretti looked set to at least salvage third for Andretti Autosport, but dropped to sixth in the confusion as the late yellow was called. The American was adamant that he was third when the caution happened and that the results should be amended.

But for now at least, Lloyd holds an incredible third position. The young Briton had been creeping towards the top ten with a very competitive race car, and as others backed off or pitted with fuel worries in the closing laps he gained place after place and found himself a shock third.

Scott Dixon (Ganassi) was never a victory threat and lost a lot of ground when he lost a front wheel in the pitlane, before finally recovering to fourth.

Danica Patrick looked set for a top 12 finish at best, until she too gained huge ground amid the late fuel and yellow confusion and crossed the line in fifth to become Andretti's top finisher.

The unfortunate Conway and his Dreyer & Reinbold team-mate Justin Wilson had both led in the closing stages as the squad tried an alternate fuel strategy, and while Conway's race came to a sad end in the crash with Hunter-Reay, Wilson was elevated to seventh as the mayhem unfolded.

Power and Castroneves were Franchitti's main rivals in the early stints, only for Power to pull away from a pitstop with his fuel hose still attached, and Castroneves to stall in the pits later on, which left them eighth and ninth in the end. The Brazilian briefly reappeared in the lead after pitting out of sequence but needed a lot more laps under yellow to make it to the finish. Ryan Briscoe crashed the third Penske entry just before three quarter distance.

Fazzt's Alex Tagliani ran in the top four at first, faded later and tumbled to 16th, before recovering to a fine 10th place ahead of the unfortunate Kanaan.

Qualifying stars Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman) and Ed Carpenter (Vision) had frustrating races. Rahal pitted out of sequence to attend to handling problems, charged back into the top ten, received a penalty for blocking Wheldon, then got back up to third on a strategy gamble before having to pit on lap 189 as the yellow he needed failed to appear. He finished 12th, while Carpenter was a top five contender until a lack of fuel forced him to stop illegally in a closed pit.

A blocking penalty also dropped Townsend Bell (Ganassi/Schmidt) out of the top ten, while Tomas Scheckter led for a while thanks to a well-timed pitstop and looked capable of a top four finish for Dreyer & Reinbold before losing ground in the final stops. Both needed late splash and go stops too, dropping them to 15th (Scheckter) and 16th.

HVM's Simona de Silvestro was ultimately the highest-placed rookie in 13th, just beating Conquest's Mario Romancini as both all but ran dry on the last lap.

Several of the stars of the month were out before half-distance. There would be no fairytale for Bruno Junqueira, who crashed his Fazzt car after just seven laps. But he was not the first retirement - that unhappy honour falling to De Ferran Dragon's Davey Hamilton, who spun at Turn 2 on the very first lap and hit the inside wall.

His team-mate Raphael Matos showed excellent pace, charging up to third behind Franchitti and Castroneves before things went horribly wrong at his second pitstop, when a rear wheel became detached as he accelerated away, causing him to spin. The crew retrieved the car and Matos rejoined, only to crash heavily soon afterwards.

Top ten qualifier Hideki Mutoh struggled with handling problems from the outset and eventually parked his Newman/Haas car. Andretti Autosport's John Andretti crashed shortly after becoming the first man of the afternoon to be penalised for blocking Wheldon, debutant driver and team Sebastian Saavedra and Bryan Herta Autosport were just one lap down until a lap 159 crash, while Mario Moraes (KV), owner/driver Sarah Fisher and Vitor Meira (Foyt) saw their races ended by relatively minor impacts with the barriers. With EJ Viso stopping with handling issues, Takuma Sato was KV's only finisher in 20th after a difficult race on his Indy debut.

Pos Driver Team Gap
1. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 200 laps
2. Dan Wheldon Panther + 0.1536s
3. Alex Lloyd Dale Coyne + 20.9876s
4. Scott Dixon Ganassi + 21.4922s
5. Danica Patrick Andretti + 21.7560s
6. Marco Andretti Andretti + 23.5251s
7. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold + 25.9761s
8. Will Power Penske + 30.2474s
9. Helio Castroneves Penske + 33.0137s
10. Alex Tagliani Fazzt + 34.2482s
11. Tony Kanaan Andretti + 59.5957s
12. Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman + 59.9739s
13. Simona de Silvestro HVM + 1m01.6745s
14. Mario Romancini Conquest + 1m05.0219s
15. Tomas Scheckter Dreyer & Reinbold + 1 lap
16. Townsend Bell Ganassi/Schmidt + 1 lap
17. Ed Carpenter Panther/Vision + 1 lap
18. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti + 2 laps
19. Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold + 2 laps
20. Takuma Sato KV + 2 laps
21. Ana Beatriz Dreyer & Reinbold + 4 laps
22. Bertrand Baguette Conquest + 17 laps

Retirements:

Sebastian Saavedra Herta 159 laps
Ryan Briscoe Penske 147 laps
EJ Viso KV 139 laps
Sarah Fisher Sarah Fisher 125 laps
Vitor Meira Foyt 105 laps
Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas 76 laps
Raphael Matos De Ferran Dragon 72 laps
John Andretti Andretti 62 laps
Mario Moraes KV 17 laps
Bruno Junqueira Fazzt 7 laps
Davey Hamilton De Ferran Dragon 0 laps

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/84054

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Espero que Conway se recupere pronto. La semana que viene hay carrera en Texas, a ver si hay suerte y alguien se acuerda de Serviá para reemplazarle...