Less than 2 months before St Pete.

Big news this year is of course Montoya returning to open wheels for Penske. Monty lost a lot of weight in a pretty short amount of time so he's not there to screw around. Will he blitzkrieg the whole field like in CART in 1999, probably not, but you can bet he'll be entertaining to watch. Team dynamic should be interesting to follow with Castroneves and Power. The 3 guys seem to get along well so far but you never know what may happen in the future.

Other storylines are Honda going to twin-turbo, Ganassi moving to Chevy and Andretti back to Honda. TK and Briscoe at Ganassi, new Rolex-owner Bourdais at KV, 2013 Indy 500 sensation Carlos Munoz full-time at Andretti, Conway part-time at ECR, and Aleshin making his IndyCar debut at SSM.

Silly season was frantic in the early days, but it has been very quiet in the last 2 months. Still a lot of drivers looking for rides.

With as many as 11 cars lined-up by the "big 3", it might be a tough year for the little guys. But count on Pagenaud for more giant killing action. Same for Justin Wilson at Coyne, though it is not sure how the team will cope after having some of its key personal poached by Rahal?

Looking forward to see how Aleshin does, should be a good season either way. Hopefully they can gain TV viewership from angry NASCAR fans

Quote from JackDaMaster :

Looking forward to see how Aleshin does

So am I because it's quite obvious he'll be shit, but I need to watch the races to get the confirmation of this to maintain my erection.

We will see, you never know he might be ok

Quote from BlueFlame :

So am I because it's quite obvious he'll be shit, but I need to watch the races to get the confirmation of this to maintain my erection.

most blueflame post ever.

Turn 4 seats for the Indy 500, with a view directly down the front straight.

Aleshin has been quite an unpredictable driver in WSR, so how he'll do in a series as unpredictable as IndyCar(well, bar from the big 3 winning the championship most of the time at least), is very hard to say 2 months before the start of the season.

How newcomers react to oval racing in particular, especially when coming from outside Road to Indy, is anyone's guess.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Aleshin has been quite an unpredictable driver in WSR, so how he'll do in a series as unpredictable as IndyCar(well, bar from the big 3 winning the championship most of the time at least), is very hard to say 2 months before the start of the season.

How newcomers react to oval racing in particular, especially when coming from outside Road to Indy, is anyone's guess.

Well stated

Quote from Rappa Z :

Turn 4 seats for the Indy 500, with a view directly down the front straight.

Never been at the track, but if I had to pick a seat it would be there as high as possible

Hoping to see what Luca Filippi can do with a full season.

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

Hoping to see what Luca Filippi can do with a full season.

Agreed. He was very fast at Houston, and pretty much got robbed of a well deserved podium by a caution/closed pit at the end of his second stint.

Problem is, BHA missed on the leader's circle pay-out last year, so they might have to take someone with money in order to keep going.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Problem is, BHA missed on the leader's circle pay-out last year, so they might have to take someone with money in order to keep going.

That's not true anymore. BHA was recently included to get money.

It does worry me that BHA is taking so long to annouce however. You'd figure if Bryan was so keen on signing Luca he'd have done it already

Quote from lizardfolk :

That's not true anymore. BHA was recently included to get money.

Indeed. Panther didn't apply for for leader circle money, so BHA inherited a contract as they were next in line.


In other news, Jacques Villeneuve to drive in the 500 in SSM's 3rd car, according to RACER. While it's fantastic news for IndyCar, it also makes me smile sarcastically a little bit. I remember well that almost 8 years ago, Jacques said in an interview for F1Racing magasine that the only motorsport series he'd consider outside F1 was NASCAR, because it was the only move that didn't represesent a setback in his eyes. And here he is, a few years later, threading waters in so many different series at the same time, with various degrees of success.

apparently Cosworth has an engine in the works

Kyle Larson wants to as well (if Chip lets him)

Quote from JackDaMaster :

Kyle Larson wants to as well (if Chip lets him)

Lol Carlos Munoz's stockcar counterpart... I see this going badly

Kurt was very VERY quick in his rookie test last year

So he's in an AGR car he has 4 team mates....

Just one or two issues? Penske and Ganassi

Herta signs Jack Hawksworth. Filippi out of a ride. :[

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

Filippi out of a ride. :[

WTF... wtf..... wtf..... wtf....

I hope maybe a 2nd Coyne seat can go to him... but god dang...

Quote from dekojester :

Kurt Busch will try "The Double" this year

"The 300 lap stock car race..."

It's 400 laps on a 1.5 mile track to make 600 miles in the Coke 600.

I was hoping to see this happen. He is a great driver. When he's not out of control angry

Onboard with Josef at Barber.

Very impressive footage, you really get to see how fast this place is, despite the non-stop turns and huge elevation changes. Something you do not always realise from the outside shots. Very underrated track IMO.

Barber test day 1:

1. #12 Will Power Team Penske (C) 122.396mph 1:07.6492s (48 laps)
2. #2 Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske (C) 122.274mph 1:07.7170s (55 laps)
3. #3 Helio Castroneves Team Penske (C) 122.266mph 1:07.7214s (51 laps)
4. #9 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing (C) 122.083mph 1:07.8225s (40 laps)
5. #14 Takuma Sato AJ Foyt Racing (H) 122.012mph 1:07.8619s (39 laps)
6. #8 Ryan Briscoe NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing (C) 121.974mph 1:07.8834s (44 laps)
7. #19 Justin Wilson Dale Coyne Racing (H) 121.969mph 1:07.8863s (31 laps)
8. #77 Simon Pagenaud Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (H) 121.643mph 1:08.0682s (35 laps)
9. #27 James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport (H) 121.474mph 1:08.1629s (32 laps)
10. #28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport (H) 121.195mph 1:08.3194s (30 laps)
11. #83 Charlie Kimball Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing (C) 121.193mph 1:08.3209s (41 laps)
12. #10 Tony Kanaan Target Chip Ganassi Racing (C) 121.185mph 1:08.3254s (42 laps)
13. #20 Mike Conway Ed Carpenter Racing (C) 120.923mph 1:08.4734s (42 laps)
14. #15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (H) 120.892mph 1:08.4907s (37 laps)
15. #67 Josef Newgarden Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (H) 120.735mph 1:08.5798s (25 laps)
16. #17 Sebastian Saavedra KV AFS Racing (C) 120.605mph 1:08.6539s (50 laps)
17. #25 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport (H) 120.579mph 1:08.6688s (28 laps)
18. #7 Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (H) 120.472mph 1:08.7296s (28 laps)
19. #98 Jack Hawksworth Bryan Herta Autosport (H) 120.135mph 1:08.9223s (36 laps)
20. #34 Carlos Munoz Andretti Autosport - HVM Racing (H) 120.122mph 1:08.9299s (42 laps)
21. #16 Oriol Servia Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (H) 119.625mph 1:09.2164s (7 laps)
22. #11 Sebastien Bourdais KVSH Racing (C) 118.851mph 1:09.6668s (11 laps)

Day 2

Encouraging for Wilson

1. #12 Will Power Team Penske (C) 123.47mph 1:07.0608s (62 laps)
2. #19 Justin Wilson Dale Coyne Racing (H) 123.463mph 1:07.0646s + 0.0038s (51 laps)
3. #9 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing (C) 123.436mph 1:07.0791s + 0.0183s (59 laps)
4. #14 Takuma Sato AJ Foyt Racing (H) 122.974mph 1:07.3314s + 0.2706s (57 laps)
5. #8 Ryan Briscoe NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing (C) 122.902mph 1:07.3705s + 0.3097s (48 laps)
6. #3 Helio Castroneves Team Penske (C) 122.848mph 1:07.4004s + 0.3396s (54 laps)
7. #28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport (H) 122.759mph 1:07.4495s + 0.3887s (56 laps)
8. #27 James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport (H) 122.732mph 1:07.4639s + 0.4031s (60 laps)
9. #2 Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske (C) 122.710mph 1:07.4764s + 0.4156s (61 laps)
10. #77 Simon Pagenaud Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (H) 122.624mph 1:07.5235s + 0.4627s (72 laps)
11. #10 Tony Kanaan Target Chip Ganassi Racing (C) 122.462mph 1:07.6126s + 0.5518s (59 laps)
12. #98 Jack Hawksworth Bryan Herta Autosport (H) 122.387mph 1:07.6542s + 0.5934s (64 laps)
13. #83 Charlie Kimball Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing (C) 122.293mph 1:07.7064s + 0.6456s (73 laps)
14. #11 Sebastien Bourdais KVSH Racing (C) 122.283mph 1:07.7118s + 0.6510s (67 laps)
15. #25 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport (H) 122.134mph 1:07.7942s + 0.7334s (71 laps)
16. #34 Carlos Munoz Andretti Autosport - HVM Racing (H) 121.866mph 1:07.9437s + 0.8829s (79 laps)
17. #17 Sebastian Saavedra KV AFS Racing (C) 121.812mph 1:07.9736s + 0.9128s (50 laps)
18. #67 Josef Newgarden Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (H) 121.629mph 1:08.0757s + 1.0149s (47 laps)
19. #15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (H) 121.616mph 1:08.0833s + 1.0225s (62 laps)
20. #7 Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (H) 121.413mph 1:08.1970s + 1.1362s (15 laps)
21. #20 Mike Conway Ed Carpenter Racing (C) 121.378mph 1:08.2169s + 1.1561s (70 laps)
22. #16 Oriol Servia Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (H) 121.063mph 1:08.3943s + 1.3335s (51 laps)

Close times up at the front there. Wilson in good company too