2015 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

2015 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Racing data
4th of 16 races of the IndyCar Series 2015
Surname:	Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
Date:	April 26, 2015
Place:	Birmingham , Alabama , United States
Course:	Barber Motorsports Park
Length:	333.134 km in 90 laps of 3.701 km
Pole position
Driver:	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske
Time:	1: 07.1925 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport
Time:	1: 09.7188 min (lap 16)
Podium
First:	Josef Newgarden	CFH Racing
Second:	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Third:	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams

The 2015 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama took place on April 26th at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham , Alabama , United States and was the fourth race of the 2015 IndyCar Series .

Reports

background

After the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach , Juan Pablo Montoya led the drivers' standings with three points ahead of Hélio Castroneves and with 26 points ahead of Tony Kanaan .

There were two driver changes in the starting field. Sage Karam returned to Chip Ganassi Racing after a race break and took over the car from Sebastián Saavedra . The two drivers shared the cockpit this season. Rodolfo González made his debut in the IndyCar Series at Dale Coyne Racing . He took over the car that Conor Daly had driven in the previous race .

With Will Power , Ryan Hunter-Reay (twice each) and Castroneves (once), all former winners competed in this Grand Prix.

training

There were two training sessions on Saturday. In the first practice session, Scott Dixon set the fastest lap ahead of Power and Luca Filippi , who was driving this track for the first time.

In the second practice session, Power took the lead from Castroneves and Dixon. In both training sessions, the Chevrolet cars were superior to those from Honda . The second training session was interrupted twice. First González spun and stopped on the track. His engine was restarted and he resumed racing. The second interruption occurred five minutes before the end when Filippi turned and stopped.

Qualifying

The first part of the qualifying was held in two groups according to the usual qualifying system for street courses. The six fastest drivers in each group came into the second segment. The remaining starting positions were determined from the result of the first qualifying segment, with the drivers in the first group being assigned the odd positions from 13 and the drivers in the second group the even positions from 14. In the first group, Simon Pagenaud drove the fastest lap, in the second group Dixon was the fastest driver. In the second group, Francesco Dracone stopped Hunter-Reay. Both were eliminated, with Dracone finishing last and Hunter-Reay 18th.

In the second segment of the qualification, the six fastest drivers qualified for the final section. Power achieved the fastest lap time. Beside him, Castroneves, Pagenaud, Dixon, Kanaan and Josef Newgarden made it into the third part of qualifying, the so-called Firestone Fast Six . So no Honda rider made it into the last section. The best Honda driver was Graham Rahal in eighth place.

In the third part, Castroneves finally set the fastest time and achieved pole position in front of his team-mates Power and Pagenaud. It was Castroneve's 43rd IndyCar pole position. Most of the qualifying took place on a dry track. A minute before the end it began to rain and thunderstorms along the route.

Final training

In the final practice session, Dixon set the fastest lap ahead of Power and Pagenaud.

run

At the start, Castroneves kept the lead. Power hindered his teammate Pagenaud and received a warning for this. Newgarden improved from fifth to third behind Pagenaud and Castroneves at the start. Castroneves pitted on lap 18, so Pagenaud took the lead. Castroneves had a problem with the right front wheel, so the stop was delayed and he fell behind Newgarden, who also stopped. Shortly afterwards there was a yellow phase, as debris was lying on the track in the fourth corner. In this Pagenaud pitted and Newgarden took the lead. Power collided with Takuma Satō on his first stop while driving back on the track and received a drive-through penalty for it. Both drivers drove on.

Newgarden kept the lead at the restart. On lap 34, Stefano Coletti and James Jakes collided in the fifth corner. Both pilots drove on, but there was a yellow phase to recover the vehicle. Many drivers - including Newgarden - pitted in this. Rahal fell by the wayside and took the lead he kept at the restart. Rahal pitted twelve laps in Newgarden. For a short time, James Hinchcliffe , Sébastien Bourdais and Montoya led the race before Newgarden took the lead again. In order for his strategy to work out, Newgarden saved tires and fuel in the second half of the race.

On lap 62, Newgarden pitted again and Dixon took the lead for two laps before falling back behind Newgarden. Rahal then led for five laps until he pitted for his last stop. Rahal fell back to sixth place, 20 seconds behind the again leading Newgarden. Since Rahal didn't have to save fuel and had better tires, he quickly made up a few positions by passing Power and Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay had been ousted by Karam in the early stages, and with an off-sequence strategy came into the top group.

On the 82nd lap, Newgarden overtook Castroneves and took third position behind Dixon and Newgarden. Castroneves miscalculated the fuel consumption and pitted again on the last lap, so that he fell out of the top 10. Newgarden, on the other hand, continued to catch up and passed Dixon on the last lap, who was having trouble with his front tires.

Newgarden finally won 2.2 seconds ahead of Rahal. It was Newgarden's first IndyCar victory and also the first for his racing team CFH Racing , which was only created at the beginning of the season from a merger of Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing . With a total of 46 laps in the lead, Newgarden was ahead in more than twice as many laps as in his previous career. Dixon finished third and was once again on the podium at the sixth Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. He did not succeed in winning again. Power finished in fourth, Hunter-Reay in fifth. Carlos Muñoz , Hinchcliffe, Bourdais, Pagenaud and Marco Andretti completed the top 10 . With that, five Chevrolet and five Honda drivers each made it into the top ten, after eight Chevrolet and two Honda were at the top of the field in qualifying. As in the previous race, all 23 drivers who started crossed the finish line.

In the drivers' championship, Montoya, who damaged his front wing twice in the race and finished in 14th place, kept his lead over Castroneves. Dixon improved to third place, while his teammate Kanaan dropped to seventh.

Registration list

All teams and drivers used the Dallara DW12 chassis and Firestone tires .

team	No.	driver	Aero kit / engine
Verizon Team Penske	01	Will power	Chevrolet
Team Penske	02	Juan Pablo Montoya
	03	Helio Castroneves
	22nd	Simon Pagenaud
KV Racing Technology	04th	Stefano Coletti	Chevrolet
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	05	James Hinchcliffe	Honda
	07th	James Jakes
Chip Ganassi Racing Teams	08th	Say Karam	Chevrolet
	09	Scott Dixon
	10	Tony Kanaan
	83	Charlie Kimball
KVSH Racing	11	Sébastien Bourdais	Chevrolet
AJ Foyt Enterprises	14th	Takuma Satō	Honda
	41	Jack Hawksworth
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15th	Graham Rahal	Honda
Dale Coyne Racing	18th	Rodolfo González	Honda
	19th	Francesco Dracone
CFH Racing	20th	Luca Filippi	Chevrolet
	67	Josef Newgarden
Andretti Autosport	26th	Carlos Muñoz	Honda
	27	Marco Andretti
	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay
BHA with Curb Agajanian	98	Gabby Chaves	Honda

Source:

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	team	vehicle	Group 1	Group 2	Top 12	FF6	begin
01	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara - Chevrolet	1: 07.2631	-	1: 06.8790	1: 07.1925	01
02	Will power	Verizon Team Penske	Dallara - Chevrolet	-	1: 06.9973	1: 06.8050	1: 07.3833	02
03	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Dallara - Chevrolet	1: 07.1072	-	1: 07.0586	1: 07.6383	03
04th	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams	Dallara - Chevrolet	-	1: 06.9406	1: 07.0940	1: 07.6938	04th
05	Josef Newgarden	CFH Racing	Dallara - Chevrolet	1: 07.2853	-	1: 07.2251	1: 07.8922	05
06th	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams	Dallara - Chevrolet	-	1: 07.6242	1: 07.2059	1: 07.9426	06th
07th	Sébastien Bourdais	KVSH Racing	Dallara - Chevrolet	-	1: 07.3141	1: 07.2462	-	07th
08th	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Dallara - Honda	1: 07.5198	-	1: 07.3903	-	08th
09	Luca Filippi	CFH Racing	Dallara - Chevrolet	1: 07.5023	-	1: 07.6302	-	09
10	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Dallara - Honda	-	1: 07.4708	1: 07.6626	-	10
11	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams	Dallara - Chevrolet	-	1: 07.3842	1: 07.8405	-	11
12	Say Karam	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams	Dallara - Chevrolet	1: 07.5355	-	1: 07.8930	-	12
13	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Dallara - Honda	1: 07.6295	-	-	-	13
14th	James Jakes	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Dallara - Honda	-	1: 07.9671	-	-	14th
15th	Juan Pablo Montoya	Team Penske	Dallara - Chevrolet	1: 07.7235	-	-	-	15th
16	Stefano Coletti	KV Racing Technology	Dallara - Chevrolet	-	1: 07.9947	-	-	16
17th	Gabby Chaves	BHA with Curb Agajanian	Dallara - Honda	1: 07.8191	-	-	-	17th
18th	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Dallara - Honda	-	1: 07.9984	-	-	18th
19th	Jack Hawksworth	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Dallara - Honda	1: 08.0082	-	-	-	19th
20th	Takuma Satō	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Dallara - Honda	-	1: 08.2541	-	-	20th
21st	Rodolfo González	Dale Coyne Racing	Dallara - Honda	1: 08.5259	-	-	-	21st
22nd	Carlos Muñoz	Andretti Autosport	Dallara - Honda	-	1: 08.3533	-	-	22nd
23	Francesco Dracone	Dale Coyne Racing	Dallara - Honda	-	1: 10.1133	-	-	23

Swell:

run

Item	driver	team	vehicle	Round	time	begin	Leadership laps
01	Josef Newgarden	CFH Racing	Dallara - Chevrolet	90	1: 55: 53.0630	05	46
02	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Dallara - Honda	90	+ 2.2061	08th	17th
03	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams	Dallara - Chevrolet	90	+ 4.8371	04th	02
04th	Will power	Verizon Team Penske	Dallara - Chevrolet	90	+ 19.4903	02	00
05	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Dallara - Honda	90	+ 22.0663	18th	00
06th	Carlos Muñoz	Andretti Autosport	Dallara - Honda	90	+ 24.0595	22nd	00
07th	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Dallara - Honda	90	+ 24.6529	10	01
08th	Sébastien Bourdais	KVSH Racing	Dallara - Chevrolet	90	+ 25.4534	07th	02
09	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Dallara - Chevrolet	90	+ 30.6139	03	03
10	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Dallara - Honda	90	+ 33.4777	13	00
11	Luca Filippi	CFH Racing	Dallara - Chevrolet	90	+ 34.1607	09	00
12	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams	Dallara - Chevrolet	90	+ 34.6792	11	00
13	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams	Dallara - Chevrolet	90	+ 35.3334	06th	00
14th	Juan Pablo Montoya	Team Penske	Dallara - Chevrolet	90	+ 36.6361	15th	01
15th	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara - Chevrolet	90	+ 39.4194	01	18th
16	Gabby Chaves	BHA with Curb Agajanian	Dallara - Honda	90	+ 45.8965	17th	00
17th	Takuma Satō	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Dallara - Honda	90	+ 50.8442	20th	00
18th	Say Karam	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams	Dallara - Chevrolet	90	+ 55.1372	12	00
19th	Stefano Coletti	KV Racing Technology	Dallara - Chevrolet	90	+ 55.4160	16	00
20th	Rodolfo González	Dale Coyne Racing	Dallara - Honda	90	+1: 07.9855	21st	00
21st	Jack Hawksworth	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Dallara - Honda	90	+1: 13.1828	19th	00
22nd	James Jakes	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Dallara - Honda	89	+ 1 lap	14th	00
23	Francesco Dracone	Dale Coyne Racing	Dallara - Honda	89	+ 1 lap	23	00

Swell:

Guide sections

section	Round	driver
01	1-18	Helio Castroneves
02	19-21	Simon Pagenaud
03	22-34	Josef Newgarden
04th	35-46	Graham Rahal
05	47	James Hinchcliffe
06th	48-49	Sébastien Bourdais
07th	50	Juan Pablo Montoya
08th	51-62	Josef Newgarden
09	63-64	Scott Dixon
10	65-69	Graham Rahal
11	70-90	Josef Newgarden

Swell:

Yellow phases

No.	Duration	Round	Reason for yellow phase
1	20-23	4th	Debris in curve 4
2	34-38	5	Contact: Stefano Coletti (# 4) and James Jakes (# 7) in turn 5

Swell:

Score after the race

Driver ranking

The allocation of points is explained here .

Item driver Points 01.  Juan Pablo Montoya 136 02.  Helio Castroneves 133 03.  Scott Dixon 123 04th  Josef Newgarden 119 05.  Will power 112 06th  James Hinchcliffe 110 07th  Tony Kanaan 110 08th.  Graham Rahal 103 09.  Simon Pagenaud 96

Item driver Points 10.  Sébastien Bourdais 91 11.  Carlos Muñoz 84 12.  Ryan Hunter-Reay 81 13.  Marco Andretti 81 14th  Luca Filippi 69 15th  James Jakes 62 16.  Charlie Kimball 58 17th  Jack Hawksworth 57 18th  Gabby Chaves 56

Item driver Points 19th  Takuma Satō 50 20th  Simona de Silvestro 44 21st  Stefano Coletti 41 22nd  Say Karam 35 23.  Francesco Dracone 30th 24.  Sebastián Saavedra 20th 25th  Carlos Huertas 20th 26th  Conor Daly 13 27.  Rodolfo González 10

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Honda Indy GP of Alabama - Results of Session - Practice 1. imscdn.com, April 25, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
2. ^ ^{A b} Mario Fritzsche: Kick-off in Birmingham: Chevy dominance continues. April 25, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
3. ^ Dave Lewandowski: If it's dry, the barber track record will fly. indycar.com, April 25, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
4. ^ Mark Glendenning: Barber IndyCar: Scott Dixon leads first practice for Ganassi. autosport.com, April 25, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
5. ↑ Honda Indy GP of Alabama - Results of Session - Practice 2. imscdn.com, April 25, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
6. ^ Dave Lewandowski: Power's practice lap a half-second off record. indycar.com, April 25, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
7. ^ Mark Glendenning: Barber IndyCar: Will Power tops practice two for Penske. autosport.com, April 25, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b} Mark Glendenning: Barber IndyCar: Penske's Helio Castroneves beats rain for pole. autosport.com, April 25, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
9. ^ Dave Lewandowski: Castroneves makes it two Verizon P1 Awards in row. indycar.com, April 25, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
10. ↑ Mario Fritzsche: Faster than the rain: Barber-Pole for Castroneves. Motorsport-Total.com, April 25, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
11. ^ Honda Indy GP of Alabama - Results of Session - Practice Final. imscdn.com, April 26, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
12. ^ Dave Lewandowski: Could it be Dixon's time on the Barber road course? indycar.com, April 26, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
13. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Mario Fritzsche: Premiere: First IndyCar victory for Josef Newgarden. Motorsport-Total.com, April 26, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
14. ↑ ^{a b c d} Mark Glendenning: Barber IndyCar: Newgarden withstands late Rahal charge to win. autosport.com, April 26, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
15. ↑ ^{a b c} Dave Lewandowski: Homegrown victory: Newgarden wins first. indycar.com, April 26, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
16. ^ Dave Lewandowski: Stat pack: More race records fall at Barber. indycar.com, April 27, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 . 
17. ↑ “Entry List - Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama”. (PDF) indycar.com, April 21, 2015, accessed on May 21, 2015 . 
18. ↑ Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama - QUALIFYING RESULTS. (PDF) indycar.com, April 25, 2015, accessed December 5, 2015 . 
19. ↑ Honda Indy GP of Alabama - Official Starting Line Up. (PDF) indycar.com, April 26, 2015, accessed December 5, 2015 . 
20. ↑ ^{a b c} “OFFICIAL BOX SCORE - Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama”. (PDF) indycar.com, April 26, 2015, accessed December 5, 2015 . 
21. ↑ “Honda Indy GP of Alabama - Unofficial Lap Report”. (PDF) indycar.com, April 26, 2015, accessed December 5, 2015 .