Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 Hinchcliffe does a 225.062 with a very, very, very slight tow. Looks quick to me. Andretti is on top at 225.916. That was with a tow. Beatriz doing 224.899 with a very, very, very slight tow. What I'm trying to say: watch for these Andretti cars. They're really strong. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 224.877 for Hunter-Reay all alone. 210.901 for de Silvestro. Only 14 mph off the pace, not a safety hazard at all! Seen at the track: Buddy Lazier. Get him in a T car! Do it do it do it do it please. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 225.243 for Hunter-Reay. Very minor tow. Guy can probably break 225 in qualifying. Andretti brought it this year. They had to, after what happened in 2011. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 Andretti in clean air. No tow. All alone. Does four laps, simulates qualifying. 225.052 225.230 225.307 225.273 I have a feeling Marco Andretti will be on the pole, and Ryan Hunter-Reay will be on that first row with him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 Jourdain in smoke on the back stretch. A little fire. Jourdain's the first engine failure of the month, and probably not the last today with the extra boost. Jourdain was in the 221.3 range. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 Waiting to hear from Servià and Bourdais...the latter didn't really get to practice at all yesterday. You would think with a late start, that team would be desperate to get running. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 It seems to me that de Silvestro just doesn't have it in her to run oval races. Maybe she's better off in sports cars. I say that as nicely as possible. I'm not discrediting Alesi at all, but a 47-year-old rookie with a team formed a week ago shouldn't be faster than someone in her third 500 with a team that's been in the sport for decades. He has been, every day. If we get one T-car, de Silvestro FTQs, Alesi races. If we get two, they're both out, but just one, Alesi's still in the 500. I just don't think de Silvestro has the confidence or the courage to be a racing driver in a series that includes ovals. Nice person, can't cut it. No excuses this year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 If five of the nine cars in the pole shootout tomorrow evening are from Andretti Autosport, don't be surprised. Saavedra does a 224.661 all alone and that's slow compared to his teammates. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 This is what rookie orientation sounds like. Thanks guys for working so hard, this is awesome! http://www.16thandgeorgetown.com/2012/05/inside-rop-katherine-legge.html Legge passed phase three today. That's the 500. Unloading a car at 3:30 AM and getting **** done. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 Power on the track all alone: 224.931 224.732 224.520 224.285 That's a top nine time for sure, though not pole pace. Bryan Clauson: 222.436 222.854 222.320 221.789 I'd like to see a little more speed there. Ryan Briscoe: 220.142 222.880 223.147 222.880 None of those times are good at all for a Penske guy. Something's missing in the 2 camp. Charlie Kimball: 221.197 221.291 221.247 220.977 Looked better in race trim. Ed Carpenter: 221.290 220.437 224.114 224.400 I have no idea where the jump in those final two laps came from. Did Ed find the gas pedal? Alesi can trim the car out more and go faster, according to his team. Won't matter; he's already gotten as far as he can go, which is faster than the other Lotus. I know Alesi's getting on in years but you know...if someone invited him back next year to drive a real car with a real engine...I think he'd do alright. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 Fidel Castroneves: 224.375 224.118 224.125 224.221 Not bad, a little underwhelming. James Hinchcliffe: 225.815 (HOLY ****) 225.652 225.716 225.667 I haven't seen anything like that. Marco Andretti: 225.802 (WHOA) 225.946 (WHOA) 226.017 (NO WAY...NO WAY...THERE IS NO WAY...) 225.892 (WHOA) No tow, none at all. That's pole. That car is going to win the pole. What a car. What an engine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 Marco did 227.540 with a hgue tow from Tony Kanaan. Where's Oriol Servià? Engine trouble. Takuma Sato: high 223s alone. Bit of a disappointment, though RLL may be playing it conservative today after losing Jourdain's motor. Sato was super fast yesterday and I'd think he'd be doing high 224s. However, it seems like the team is hitting the limiter. Wade Cunningham's ball cap is covering his ears. Is that cool in New Zealand? What I observe, maybe someone who understands cars like Craig can help: it seems like with higher boost (such as on the road/street courses, and today/this weekend at Indy), the Chevrolet twin turbo is dominant. With the lower boost (like the rest of this month and the Indy 500 itself), the Honda single turbo is on equal footing. Is there a reason for that? Chevrolet may have a reliability and fuel efficiency advantage. That's huge. Huge huge huge. Very much so. Engine competition is cool when it's actual competition. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 I don't like to link to Robin Miller articles but I like quotes and this is an interesting subject. This was an even playing field, you started from scratch and it was fair game. This place has always been about building a car or engine and you were stuck with it for the month so I don’t feel sorry for anybody. Thank you, A.J. I bet if they gave Lotus extra boost, A.J. would send out his T car to knock them out anyway. He gets it. Usually. Either boost them up or don’t let them run. How about we do the latter? Sorry to say Simona will still be a chicane even with boost. Either that or she'll have too much power and find the wall. But the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and at least one INDYCAR official doesn’t like the idea of no bumping on Sunday and supposedly there was a move afoot to get Jay Howard, Vitor Meira, Alex Lloyd or Pippa Mann in a Dale Coyne or Foyt car on Sunday to knock at least one of the Lotuses out.Well, there are enough spare cars but evidently no engines. Chevy says it is tapped out with 16 drivers and ditto for Honda at 15. They would help their existing teams in the event of an accident, but no new clients. Give me Meira and give me Lloyd and let's go! http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/miller-help-or-heave-lotus-at-indy/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 NT = no tow. Tagliani: 223.456 NT. Not a bad time, though certainly not a frontrunner. For a Honda, that's a decent time (I saw Sato do a little better than that. Chevrolet has gained a lot more with the boost than Honda). Jimmy Jakes: 221.749 NT. Dixon: 224.032 NT. That's the best Honda time I've seen, though I didn't see Newgarden's laps today, so maybe he was NT as well. Falls down to 223.875 on the second lap, still NT. Weird feed now. They're overlaying the radio broadcast on the track feed. Female interviewer in the image, male voice for audio. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 Bourdais Bourdais Bourdais, Bourdaaaais, Bourdaaaais...it's like olé but that's hard to gather from that. He's on it. So is some kid named Marco. 225.496 right off the bat for Andretti. 226.264! No tow! 226.264 this guy is fast. Bourdais is the slowest non-Lotus. He's NT; Legge did have a tow. 226.362 for Andretti. Bourdais stuck in the 218s. Wade's out doing a 216, then a 209. I wonder if he's having an issue? 226.324 for Andretti. Three 226+ laps without a tow. Bourdais and Wade both in...hmm...226.387 for Marco now... Marco pits. I bet he's the pole winner tomorrow. Best guess I have. 211.211 for Alesi. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 224.224 for Clauson. 225.387 and 225.146 for Briscoe. Not sure if there was tow involved but those are the best of the day for both. Track is packed. Look for tows and fast times. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 225.021 NT fro Newgarden. Best Honda I've seen. High 224s. Track's very calm for Happy Hour. Bobby Rahal doesn't seem too optimistic about Jourdain getting to go out and qualify tomorrow. Says Sato's among the top Honda guys, but Chevrolet won't be beaten. Confident about race trim. Bourdais, Dixon, and Clauson out now. Purple for Bourdais: 219.627. Moves past Legge, who is the slowest non-Lotus. Mid- and high-223s for Clauson. Same for Dixon. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 Servià: the problem wasn't the engine. They're putting the engine back in. No running today. How...what...I...no...huh? You take an engine out and find nothing wrong? I'm lost. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 1991: It was Penske versus Andretti. Great battle between Rick Mears and Michael Andretti for the win. That year, they both had Chevrolet engines, just like Penske and AA do this year. Mears was driving the #3, just like Castroneves does now, and went on to win his fourth Indy 500, exactly what Castroneves wants to do next weekend. You think we're going to see a repeat of that for 2012? It's entirely possible. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 I guess Honda might try to figure out the gearing for tomorrow and resolve that rev-limiter problem. Hopefully that takes them back up the field. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 Going by non-tow laps, I have a rough fast nine from today (not a prediction for tomorrow necessarily...unless it's correct ): 1. Andretti 2. Hunter-Reay 3. Hinchcliffe 4. Castroneves 5. Briscoe 6. Beatriz 7. Power 8. Newgarden 9. Dixon Also note that positions 1-24 are filled tomorrow. You qualify 25-33 tomorrow? You have to go out again on Bump Day. I expect Lotus won't even attempt tomorrow. Why risk wrecking it when there's no chance to get locked in? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 Tomorrow we qualify... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2012 So what about Tomas Scheckter? He's fast at Indy, put him in a T-car... Not quite. Scheckter was in the U.S. under a sports visa. However, he doesn't compete in anything anymore, so the U.S. took his visa away. Scheckter now lives in England has retired from auto racing. Buddy Lazier it is. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massa 0 Report post Posted May 19, 2012 This is why Wade doesn't have regular gainful employment. Disappointed with the day. Going home to self harm. Time for A.J. to get the hammer...though A.J. probably isn't on the Internet much and won't see Wade's tweet. I'll make a formal prediction for the top 24 locked in tomorrow: 1. Andretti 2. Hunter-Reay 3. Castroneves 4. Hinchcliffe 5. Power 6. Briscoe 7. Dixon 8. Hildebrand 9. Newgarden 10. Franchitti 11. Beatriz 12. Saavedra 13. Wilson 14. Kanaan 15. Carpenter 16. Sato 17. Servià 18. Rahal 19. Kimball 20. Tagliani 21. Viso 22. Jakes 23. Cunningham 24. Clauson Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HandyNZL 1 Report post Posted May 19, 2012 So I'm sitting in me car at the end of the pitlane, waiting on the motorbikes to finish their controlled testing so I can go out on track, and a marshal comes over to talk and we get talking about the Indy 500 and he reckons Scotty hit 238....like what? Don't think so sonny Jim...but if he did, he's taking pole Share this post Link to post Share on other sites