Tag: Edmonton Indy

At the end of the Honda Indy Toronto, Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (SFHR) team co-owner Sarah Fisher said that her team needed to focus on one thing for the remainder of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season: finishing every lap of every race.

In Sunday’s Edmonton Indy SFHR driver Josef Newgarden came one step closer to accomplishing the goal set out by his team owner. He completed all 75 laps of the race and finished 17th.

Newgarden started in 13th position and struggled with low-speed understeer in the first stint of the race. The SFHR crew worked diligently to improve his car throughout the day, but the caution-free race made it difficult for Newgarden to make up tack position.

“No one really made much progress on the track,” Newgarden said. “You kind of had to get lucky cycling through the pits to pass people.”

The No. 67 team was further hindered when Newgarden was issued a pit speed violation on lap 52.

Once back out on track however, Newgarden put the hammer down and turned the quickest lap of the race on lap 68 at 103.491 mph.

“After I served the drive-through penalty, I just focused as hard as I could on laying down the best possible laps to make up my lost ground,” he said.

On the final lap of the race, Newgarden chased down and passed Tony Kanaan for 19th position. An incident in the final corner on the last lap between Charlie Kimball and Simon Pagenaud bumped Newgarden up to his finishing spot of 17th.

“I think we really lost the battle for today’s race in qualifying,” Newgarden said. “We just didn’t have the right combination, which is all part of the learning curve. Some weekends we’re going to get it right and some weekends we’re going to get it wrong. I’m learning a lot with the way you need to set cars up though.”

Helio Castroneves won the Edmonton Indy to claim his second victory of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Season. Castroneves led 22 laps and managed to keep Takuma Sato at bay in second position.

Will Power, Graham Rahal and Alex Tagliani completed the top-five.

Ryan Hunter-Reay remains the points leader after the Edmonton Indy with 362. Helio Castroneves gained ground on Hunter-Reay in the championship chase with his Edmonton Indy victory and now trails by only 23 points.

The next round of IZOD IndyCar Series action is the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on Sunday, August 5.

Heading into qualifications for the Edmonton Indy, Josef Newgarden knew the field would be tight and the most minute of details would be the difference between advancing through the IZOD IndyCar Series’ knockout-style qualifying and being stuck on the outside looking in.

With the top 18 cars separated by less than one second in the last practice session before qualifications, Newgarden knew it would be tough to make the cut.

As rain inched closer to the Edmonton City Centre Airport circuit, Newgarden rolled out in his No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (SFHR) Dallara/Honda/Firestone car in the first group of cars. Despite a run that he felt was strong, Newgarden narrowly missed advancing.

“I feel like I put in a solid lap,” Newgarden said. “I don’t think I left much out there on the table. I had good stability and great depth in the brakes.”

Newgarden ended up 15th with a top lap speed of 104.313 mph.

“If the crew had told me that my last lap was good enough for P1 in that first session, I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised,” Newgarden said. “It wasn’t good enough though. Everyone’s just really close out there this weekend.”

The revamped temporary street circuit at the Edmonton City Centre Airport has plenty of zones for passing and Newgarden and his SFHR team plan on being fully prepared to take advantage of them on race day.

“We’ll put our heads together tonight and see what we can come up with for the race tomorrow,” Newgarden said. “We’ve got passing zones so we should be able to make something happen.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport captured the pole for the Edmonton Indy with a lap speed of 103.664 mph. Hunter-Reay is coming off of three consecutive victories at the Milwaukee Mile, Iowa Speedway and the Streets of Toronto.

The top-five in qualifying for the Edmonton Indy were represented by five different teams. Dario Franchitti of Ganassi Racing, Ryan Briscoe of Team Penske, Takuma Sato of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Alex Tagliani of Bryan Herta Autosport will start second through fifth in the Edmonton Indy.

The green flag drops on the Edmonton Indy at 2:47 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 22. The race will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network, formerly known as Versus, live beginning at 2 p.m. ET.

Being the new kid on the block isn’t always easy, so rookie IZOD IndyCar Series driver Josef Newgarden is hoping he’ll find a small taste of comfort and home this weekend when he drives the No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (SFHR) Dallara/Honda/Firestone car in the Edmonton Indy.

Newgarden, a 21-year-old Nashville, Tenn.-native, recently found out that his hometown is a sister city to none other than Edmonton, Alberta.

“I had no idea that Edmonton was a sister city to Nashville,” Newgarden said.

While Newgarden didn’t know he would be entering Nashville-friendly territory for the Edmonton Indy until very recently, he is fully prepared to be embraced as Edmonton’s hometown driver.

“Probably the fact that they are both cities is the only thing I can see Nashville and Edmonton having in common,” he said. “But they both have really friendly people, so I’m excited to meet the Edmonton race fans.”

Newgarden also knows that to truly be embraced as one of Edmonton’s own, he will need to visit West Edmonton Mall, which is the largest shopping mall in North America.

“I didn’t get to go to the giant mall last year while I was in Edmonton for the Firestone Indy Lights race,” he said. “I saw it from a distance though, and I’ve been told by many, many people to go there. I’m going to try to make it this year.”

As for on-track action at the Edmonton Indy, Newgarden will be seeking his first podium finish in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

He was running fourth at the Honda Indy Toronto race when he attempted a pass for third with less than five laps to go and tangled with fellow rookie driver Simon Pagenaud. Newgarden spun around and lost a lap to the leaders before he could re-start his car, settling for a 13th-place finish.

Newgarden is ready to chase down his first podium at the Edmonton Indy with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, and it would be an added bonus to do so in front of his “hometown” Edmonton fans.

Newgarden will take to the streets of the Edmonton City Centre Airport for IZOD IndyCar Series practice on Friday, July 20. The green flag drops on the Edmonton Indy at 2:47 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 22. The race will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network, formerly known as Versus, live beginning at 2 p.m. ET.

Quotes:

JOSEF NEWGARDEN (Driver - Nashville, Tenn.)

On the Edmonton Circuit:

“I like Edmonton a lot. It has a lot of big braking zones so it should provide for good passing, especially with the new car this year. The chassis promotes more passing than in previous years. I think the track configuration combined with the new chassis will provide a great racing event in Edmonton.”

On the second Canadian race in a row:

“I love the races in Canada. There were a lot of great fans at the last Canadian race in Toronto. They’re very knowledgeable and passionate about IndyCar, which is very refreshing. I think the same is true for fans in Edmonton. I think in general Canadian IndyCar fans are very knowledgeable about the sport and that makes it fun for us to come to the tracks and interact with them. Getting to see those fans is what I enjoy most about the Canadian stint of the schedule."

Notes:

Josef Newgarden has been to victory circle once already at the Edmonton City Centre Airport and has never finished worse than second on the circuit. In 2011 for the Firestone Indy Lights Edmonton Twin 100s, he finished second in the first race and won the second race.

SFHR, No longer just oval specialists: The 2012 Edmonton Indy will be SFHR’s first appearance at the circuit. On the surface that would appear to be a disadvantage, but SFHR has found speed at each of the five street circuits on the schedule prior to the Edmonton Indy, despite having limited experience at each track. Highlights of the team’s success on street courses in 2012 include starting on the front row for the Long Beach Grand Prix and racing for a podium late in the Honda Indy Toronto race.