For the first time since 2000, Bruno Junqueira did not compete in a single major American open-wheel event last year. He looks to change that this year with the FAZZT Race Team, which will be competing in its first Indianapolis 500.
Junqueira did not race in the 500 last year, though he qualified a Conquest Racing car for the event. In a last-minute ride assembled not long before Bump Day, Junqueira put his No. 36 Dallara-Honda a solid 30th in the 33-car field, with about half a mile an hour advantage over last-place Ryan Hunter-Reay. Junqueira was never in question of being bumped by any of the other cars - though his team was a different story.
When Conquest lead driver Alex Tagliani missed the race, Junqueira vacated his seat to allow his teammate to compete. Tagliani, moved to the back of the field due to the driver chance, fought his way up to 11th place by the final lap and won race rookie of the year. FAZZT part-owner Tagliani will pay Junqueira back by giving him a solid ride for the 500 this year.
FAZZT has been good everywhere they've run thus far this year, almost always qualifying and running towards the front of the pack. In five races, Tagliani has three top-10s, was running up front at Brazil before being taken out by Dan Wheldon, and qualified seventh at Long Beach, where mechanical failure took him out with 19 laps to go. These good runs have been a surprise to most, as the equipment came from former backmarker Roth Racing.
Indy practice has not been kind to FAZZT thus far, as the team's best lap was nearly a second off leader Helio Castroneves' pace on Sunday; overall, in veteran practice, Tagliani has only been the 27th fastest driver (35th counting drivers who have turned laps in multiple cars). Junqueira has not yet turned a lap in his No. 33 Dallara-Honda. FAZZT will certainly have to find some speed with Tagliani in order to live up to its name, and not have to make the same bait-and-switch move that Conquest did last year.
Chances of winning the Indianapolis 500: C-
Chances of leading the Indianapolis 500 specials: B
Showing posts with label Indianapolis or Bust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indianapolis or Bust. Show all posts
Monday, May 17, 2010
Indianapolis or Bust: Graham Rahal
Both Graham Rahal and Rahal Letterman Racing have fallen from the peaks of IndyCar racing. A lack of sponsorship has put the driver's immediate future into question, and limited the team to Indianapolis 500-only entries for each of the past two years. In a way, both view a chance at winning Indy as redemption after some tough times.
Rahal, seventh in points last year, lost his McDonald's sponsorship at Newman/Haas Racing, and the team kept him hanging on a thread in the offseason as other rides filled up. He turned down an opportunity at Dale Coyne Racing, instead running a limited schedule with Sarah Fisher Racing at the beginning of the season.
Last year, neither driver nor team had much success at Indianapolis; while Graham Rahal qualified fourth, he crashed coming out of turn 4 in the race for the second year in a row, and finished 31st. Meanwhile, Rahal Letterman's lone car, which had been qualified 26th by Oriol Servia, finished 25th after a fuel pump failed just before the halfway mark.
The one-race dream team of father and son will get a chance to show their stuff. Team owner and father Bobby Rahal has always wanted son Graham to establish his own identity as a racer instead of driving the family equipment (a la Marco Andretti and Ed Carpenter), but the combination of Graham's unemployment and Bobby's need for a driver who can attract sponsorship dollars made perfect sense. Indeed, the team signed dietary supplement Quick Trim to back them before even unloading for the first practice on Saturday; last year, many teams had to wait until later to attract sponsorship.
Rahal's driving talent has never been brought into question, even if he's failed to finish both Indianapolis 500s he's started, crashing the same way in both events. This is still the same driver that won his first IndyCar race, finished fifth in points in the final season of Champ Car, and improved tremendously as a driver last season, securing all of his top five finishes on ovals. As far as Rahal the driver goes, nobody should have anything to worry about.
Rahal the team, however, is a different story. It's important to note that Rahal Letterman has never found much success with the Dallara chassis. Its Indianapolis 500 win with Buddy Rice in 2004 came with a Panoz G-Force chassis, and since the team's switch in the middle of 2006 it has only won one race, with Ryan Hunter-Reay at Watkins Glen in 2008.
Add to this the fact that Rahal's is obviously old equipment, perhaps even the car that experienced mechanical failure last year, and the team will enter this year's 500 with some major question marks. While the car has been solid thus far in practice, turning a hot lap good for 10th in Sunday's veteran practice, it remains to be seen if the car will have the durability to go 500 miles.
Chances of winning the Indianapolis 500: C+
Chances of leading the Indianapolis 500 specials: B+
Rahal, seventh in points last year, lost his McDonald's sponsorship at Newman/Haas Racing, and the team kept him hanging on a thread in the offseason as other rides filled up. He turned down an opportunity at Dale Coyne Racing, instead running a limited schedule with Sarah Fisher Racing at the beginning of the season.
Last year, neither driver nor team had much success at Indianapolis; while Graham Rahal qualified fourth, he crashed coming out of turn 4 in the race for the second year in a row, and finished 31st. Meanwhile, Rahal Letterman's lone car, which had been qualified 26th by Oriol Servia, finished 25th after a fuel pump failed just before the halfway mark.
The one-race dream team of father and son will get a chance to show their stuff. Team owner and father Bobby Rahal has always wanted son Graham to establish his own identity as a racer instead of driving the family equipment (a la Marco Andretti and Ed Carpenter), but the combination of Graham's unemployment and Bobby's need for a driver who can attract sponsorship dollars made perfect sense. Indeed, the team signed dietary supplement Quick Trim to back them before even unloading for the first practice on Saturday; last year, many teams had to wait until later to attract sponsorship.
Rahal's driving talent has never been brought into question, even if he's failed to finish both Indianapolis 500s he's started, crashing the same way in both events. This is still the same driver that won his first IndyCar race, finished fifth in points in the final season of Champ Car, and improved tremendously as a driver last season, securing all of his top five finishes on ovals. As far as Rahal the driver goes, nobody should have anything to worry about.
Rahal the team, however, is a different story. It's important to note that Rahal Letterman has never found much success with the Dallara chassis. Its Indianapolis 500 win with Buddy Rice in 2004 came with a Panoz G-Force chassis, and since the team's switch in the middle of 2006 it has only won one race, with Ryan Hunter-Reay at Watkins Glen in 2008.
Add to this the fact that Rahal's is obviously old equipment, perhaps even the car that experienced mechanical failure last year, and the team will enter this year's 500 with some major question marks. While the car has been solid thus far in practice, turning a hot lap good for 10th in Sunday's veteran practice, it remains to be seen if the car will have the durability to go 500 miles.
Chances of winning the Indianapolis 500: C+
Chances of leading the Indianapolis 500 specials: B+
Indianapolis or Bust: Paul Tracy
This series will highlight the Indianapolis 500 chances of some of the one-race "specials" in the field. These teams are defined as limited-race enterprises with Indianapolis as their focus and any other races as a bonus. Indianapolis has always brought together interesting pairings of drivers and teams, and this year's event will be no different. First in the series is Paul Tracy.
Paul Tracy competed in his first Indianapolis 500 since 2002 last year, his first of six starts for KV Racing Technology and A.J. Foyt Enterprises. Unlike the 2002 event, where Tracy contended for a victory, he was never a huge factor in 2009, but did manage to salvage a ninth place finish.
Tracy was actually KV's second best driver in the event, as Townsend Bell, another driver with a one-race deal, pulled off a very impressive fourth place finish. As far as Indy 500 specials went, however, KV had the two best, and even put both in the top 10. Only a first-turn incident on the first lap that took out Mario Moraes put a damper on KV's day.
Tracy will have his former team owner, Barry Green, on board as race strategist this year. Keep in mind that the pairing nearly won the 2002 event, only to have the victory kept away from them after an unsuccessful appeal regarding the timing of Tracy's pass of Helio Castroneves in relation to the caution lights.
Tracy is still a monumental talent, who posted some decent finishes last year for KV - three top 10 finishes, including a sixth at Edmonton. Though Tracy hasn't won a race in nearly three years, dating back to the 2007 Champ Car event at Cleveland, he still believes he can win the 500. "I'm going to Sport Clips to get a hair cut," Tracy wrote on Twitter. "Need to look my best to put my face on the Borg Warner." He also told the press that he has lost a substantial amount of weight, an important factor that can give the car an extra tenth of a second around the track, according to team owner Jimmy Vasser.
As for KV, it is widely recognized as having some of the better cars in the sport, although some of the other drivers on the team are not yet up to par with Tracy's skill. Moraes' two top-10s are the best results for the team thus far in 2010, though new driver Takuma Sato has had some strong runs before bad luck ended his days. If anybody can put a KV car in victory lane at Indy, though, it should be Tracy - he has the discipline to win races, something no other KV driver has done yet.
Chances of winning the Indianapolis 500: B
Chances of leading the Indianapolis 500 specials: A-
Paul Tracy competed in his first Indianapolis 500 since 2002 last year, his first of six starts for KV Racing Technology and A.J. Foyt Enterprises. Unlike the 2002 event, where Tracy contended for a victory, he was never a huge factor in 2009, but did manage to salvage a ninth place finish.
Tracy was actually KV's second best driver in the event, as Townsend Bell, another driver with a one-race deal, pulled off a very impressive fourth place finish. As far as Indy 500 specials went, however, KV had the two best, and even put both in the top 10. Only a first-turn incident on the first lap that took out Mario Moraes put a damper on KV's day.
Tracy will have his former team owner, Barry Green, on board as race strategist this year. Keep in mind that the pairing nearly won the 2002 event, only to have the victory kept away from them after an unsuccessful appeal regarding the timing of Tracy's pass of Helio Castroneves in relation to the caution lights.
Tracy is still a monumental talent, who posted some decent finishes last year for KV - three top 10 finishes, including a sixth at Edmonton. Though Tracy hasn't won a race in nearly three years, dating back to the 2007 Champ Car event at Cleveland, he still believes he can win the 500. "I'm going to Sport Clips to get a hair cut," Tracy wrote on Twitter. "Need to look my best to put my face on the Borg Warner." He also told the press that he has lost a substantial amount of weight, an important factor that can give the car an extra tenth of a second around the track, according to team owner Jimmy Vasser.
As for KV, it is widely recognized as having some of the better cars in the sport, although some of the other drivers on the team are not yet up to par with Tracy's skill. Moraes' two top-10s are the best results for the team thus far in 2010, though new driver Takuma Sato has had some strong runs before bad luck ended his days. If anybody can put a KV car in victory lane at Indy, though, it should be Tracy - he has the discipline to win races, something no other KV driver has done yet.
Chances of winning the Indianapolis 500: B
Chances of leading the Indianapolis 500 specials: A-
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