IndyCar Series 2008

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The 2008 IndyCar Series season is the 13th season of the US IndyCar Series . Originally it was to be held in 16 races. Due to the short-term "merger" of the IndyCar Series and the Champ Car World Series in February 2008 ( ChampCar insolvency ), there were some changes. The season was supplemented by three former ChampCar events. The following races have been added to the calendar: Long Beach , Edmonton and Surfers Paradise . In Long Beach, however, only the old Champcar teams drove , while the day before the old IndyCar teams were out on the Twin Ring Motegi . The main reason for this was that the IRL couldn't get out of the contract originally signed by ChampCar and had to host a race. Points were awarded in full for both events. The race in Surfers Paradise took place at the end of the season; However, no points were awarded because Joliet had a written promise from Tony George that he could choose the master.

Teams and drivers

This season all riders again took a Dallara - Honda and unity tires Firestone . The exception was the race in Long Beach , in which only the old Champcar teams started with the Panoz-DP01 - Cosworth .

As of October 16, 2008

team No. driver Remarks
Vision racing 2 United StatesUnited States AJ Foyt IV
20th United StatesUnited States Ed Carpenter
22nd United StatesUnited States Davey Hamilton Indy 500 only
22nd CanadaCanada Paul Tracy Edmonton only
Penske Racing 3 BrazilBrazil Helio Castroneves
6th AustraliaAustralia Ryan Briscoe
Panther Racing 4th BrazilBrazil Vítor Meira not Surfers Paradise
4th United KingdomUnited Kingdom Dan Wheldon only Surfers Paradise
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 23 VenezuelaVenezuela Milka Duno 11 races (alternating with T. Bell, Indy both)
23 United StatesUnited States Townsend Bell 7 races (alternating with M. Duno, Indy both, there as # 99)
15th United StatesUnited States Buddy Rice
Andretti Green Racing 7th United StatesUnited States Danica Patrick
11 BrazilBrazil Tony Kanaan
26th United StatesUnited States Marco Andretti
27 JapanJapan Hideki Mutoh (R)
Rahal Letterman Racing 17th United StatesUnited States Ryan Hunter-Reay
16 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Alex Lloyd only Indy 500, car used together with Ganassi
Chip Ganassi Racing 9 New ZealandNew Zealand Scott Dixon
10 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Dan Wheldon not Surfers Paradise
10 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Dario Franchitti only Surfers Paradise
AJ Foyt Enterprises 14th United KingdomUnited Kingdom Darren Manning not Surfers Paradise
14th BrazilBrazil Vítor Meira only Surfers Paradise
41 United StatesUnited States Jeff Simmons Indy 500 only
41 FranceFrance Franck Perera (R) only chicagoland
Roth Racing 25th CanadaCanada Marty Roth in Nashville as # 24
24 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Jay howard (r) all races to Kansas, Watkins Glen
24 United StatesUnited States John Andretti from Indy 500 up to and including Richmond
Newman / Haas / Lanigan Racing * 06 United StatesUnited States Graham Rahal (R) from St. Pete
02 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Justin Wilson (R)
Conquest Racing * 34 FranceFrance Franck Perera (R) Homestead, St. Pete and Long Beach
34 BrazilBrazil Jaime Camara (R) from Kansas
36 BrazilBrazil Enrique Bernoldi (R) to Sonoma
36 CanadaCanada Alex Tagliani from Detroit
KV Racing Technology * 8th AustraliaAustralia Will Power (R)
5 SpainSpain Oriol Servià
12 United StatesUnited States Jimmy Vasser Long Beach only
Luzco Dragon Racing 12 South AfricaSouth Africa Tomas Scheckter Kansas, Indy 500, Texas, Sonoma, Detroit, and Chicagoland
Sarah Fisher Racing 67 United StatesUnited States Sarah Fisher Indy 500, Kentucky and Chicagoland
Dale Coyne Racing * 18th BrazilBrazil Bruno Junqueira
19th BrazilBrazil Mario Moraes (R)
HVM Racing * 33 VenezuelaVenezuela Ernesto Viso (R) because of a mumps disease not present in Nashville
Beck Motorsports 77 United StatesUnited States Roger Yasukawa Motegi, Indy 500 (there as # 98 and failed in qualification)
Sam Schmidt Motorsports 44 ItalyItaly Max Papis only Indy 500 (failed in qualification)
Pacific Coast Motorsports * 96 MexicoMexico Mario Domínguez Irregular missions due to sponsorship problems
29 United StatesUnited States Alex Figge Long Beach only
Hemelgarn Racing 91 United StatesUnited States Buddy Lazier Indy 500 only
American Dream Motorsport 88 United StatesUnited States Phil Giebler Start at Indy 500 planned, but withdrawn after an accident in training

*) Former ChampCar team that now drives in the IndyCar Series.

Some of the former ChampCar teams competed again in Long Beach. There were some duplications in the start numbers.

team No. driver
Rocket sports 9 BrazilBrazil Antonio Pizzonia
10 FinlandFinland Juho Annala
Minardi Team USA 4th FranceFrance Nelson Philippe
14th BrazilBrazil Roberto Moreno
Forsythe / Pettit Racing 37 MexicoMexico David Martínez
3 CanadaCanada Paul Tracy
7th FranceFrance Franck Montagny
Walker Racing 15th CanadaCanada Alex Tagliani

Race results

Homestead-Miami Speedway
As expected, there were "two worlds" at the opening race in Miami. While the "old" IndyCar teams were relatively close together, the former ChampCar teams largely formed the end of the field. However, three of the experienced IndyCar drivers had to start from behind: Vision drivers Ed Carpenter and AJ Foyt IV because of irregularities on the rear wing and Dan Wheldon, because he had to start in the replacement car after an accident. Graham Rahal did not even start because of an accident during the test in Sebring, after a new car could not be rebuilt. The comparatively uneventful race was won by Scott Dixon; only four drivers were in the lead in the end.

Saint Petersburg
The second race in Florida started under yellow after heavy rain and there were a lot of incidents in the further course, so that the race was ended after the 2-hour rule. The ChampCar teams were absolutely competitive here, so that Graham Rahal even won one of them - his first IndyCar race ever.

Twin Ring Motegi
The Japan race was also accompanied by a lot of rain, which meant that there was no qualifying practice and the race itself had to be postponed. The starting grid was therefore based on the championship status, with only the established IndyCar teams at the start. Guest starter was Roger Yasukawa for Beck Motorsports , who was, however, consistently the slowest. The former ChampCar teams, however, held their farewell race one day later. Full points were awarded for both races. Danica Patrick won the race with a clever pit strategy. In order to save another pit stop, she had consciously accepted significantly worse lap times. While she was "only" half a lap behind the leaders, everyone else had to stop again, which cost at least a full lap.

Long Beach
The farewell race of the ChampCars took place one day after the Japan race only with the former ChampCar teams. Since there were also a few teams at the start that did not compete in the IndyCar season, a field of 20 vehicles was created; more than most of the time at the end of the ChampCar series. Will Power won the race, which was carried out entirely according to the old rules.

Kansas Speedway
The race in Kansas was largely uneventful. Here, too, the established teams dominated again, with the gap slowly narrowing. The winner was Dan Wheldon. In preparation for the Indy 500, Tomas Scheckter and Luzco Dragon Racing competed for the first time.

Indy 500
see Indianapolis 500 2008

Milwaukee Mile
In Milwaukee, a week after the Indy 500, as in Kansas, 27 cars were at the start, which required some adjustments in the pit lane; the route is actually only designed for 26 IndyCars. This time the guest starter was Mario Domínguez for Pacific Coast Motorsports . The race itself ended under yellow due to a collision between Marco Andretti, Ed Carpenter and Vitor Meira shortly before the end and was won by Ryan Briscoe, who was the fourth driver in the seventh race to celebrate his first ever IndyCar win. Overall, this was the 300th victory for Penske Racing across all racing series combined.

Texas Motor Speedway
In Texas, the field grew again to 28 cars; Scheckter and Dominguez as guest starters. The television broadcast on ESPN2 was the most successful that the station had with the IndyCar Series to date. This race also ended under yellow after an accident with Marco Andretti; this time he had clashed with Ryan Hunter-Reay. The winner was Scott Dixon.

Iowa Speedway
In Iowa it had rained very heavily for the entire week before the race, so qualifying training had to be canceled. The rather small grandstand was still sold out. During the race, a thunderstorm moved in the direction of the racetrack, so that a constant crash had to be expected, but this did not happen. For a long time Tony Kanaan looked like the sure winner until he landed in the wall. The race was won by Dan Wheldon

Richmond International Raceway
The race in Richmond had a comparatively large number of incidents, but only of minor importance for the outcome of the race. One of the most noteworthy moments was a few laps in the lead by Jamie Camara, who was even able to defend himself against the eventual winner Tony Kanaan at times in the Conquest car, which is otherwise more common for the last rows of the grid. Oriol Servia is the first and so far only driver of one of the former ChampCar teams to achieve a top 5 result on an oval.

Watkins Glen
The race on the traditional track saw mostly unhappy top drivers. Castroneves had technical problems, Wheldon collided with Darren Manning and fell out (Manning, however, was second), Dixon picked up second Briscoe while in the lead in a spin, Vitor Meira ended after he was pinched by EJ Viso, in the tire wall and AJ Foyt IV had similar bad luck with Milka Duno. There were also various departures from ex-Formula 1 driver Enrique Bernoldi. In the end, Ryan Hunter-Reay (the season's fifth premier winner) won ahead of Darren Manning and Tony Kanaan.

Nashville
The bumpy concrete oval in Nashville had its last IndyCar race in mid-July. After just a few laps, Marco Andretti got to know the bumps and picked up Ryan Briscoe. Aside from an accident involving Ryan Hunter-Reay, however, the weather was more of an interruption. Initially, the race between laps 139 and 152 was neutralized due to rain and then stopped after 171 laps. Scott Dixon was the lucky winner; he was the only one who had not made the pit stop during the last interruption due to a communication error. If the race had been restarted, Dixon would have had no chance. With only 24 starters, the race had the smallest field of the season: The second Roth Racing car has not been at the start since this race and HVM had to take a break due to Ernesto Viso's mumps.

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
In Mid-Ohio, most of the field went on wet tires for the first few laps after it had rained heavily hours earlier. But after just a few corners it was clear that the rain tires were only partially suitable for the quickly drying track and up to lap six all drivers switched to slick tires. When restarting after a yellow light phase, triggered by a spin by Milka Duno on lap 39, Mario Dominguez touched Justin Wilson's rear wheel, which triggered a chain reaction in which Dan Wheldon, Marco Andretti and AJ Foyt IV were involved. At the front, Ryan Briscoe was able to extend his leading position and finally won seven seconds ahead of his teammate Hélio Castroneves.

Edmonton
In Canada, Scott Dixon won ahead of Hélio Castroneves, but the real star of the race was a guest starter. Paul Tracy was at the start with a third Vision car and Subway as sponsor and took an impressive fourth place; the other two cars in the team, however, ended up in 12th and 13th place.

Kentucky Speedway
During the oval race in Kentucky, Vitor Meira, who was able to work his way up to the top, caught the eye for a long time. The lead alternated several times between various top drivers, but in the end the result from Edmonton was repeated: Dixon ahead of Castroneves. Behind them Marco Andretti, Meira and Oriol Servia. Guest starter was Sarah Fisher in her own team, with whom she has already competed in the Indy.

Infineon Raceway
The race in Sonoma would have been the first chance for Scott Dixon to win the championship. Penske Racing, whose driver Hélio Castroneves is the only serious competitor, had also lost an entire truck with equipment and two vehicles in a fire. However, the two Penske cars dominated both qualifying training and the race impressively: 1st and 2nd place on the grid and a double victory. Dixon, on the other hand, failed with rank 12.

Detroit
Dixon, who started from pole position, did not look happy after an early pit stop in Detroit either, but ended up fifth. Hélio Castroneves dominated the race, but had to let Justin Wilson pass shortly before the end due to a controversial decision by the race management, as he had blocked it. Wilson was the sixth premiere winner of the season. It was the last Newman / Haas / Lanigan Racing win that Paul Newman could experience himself.

Chicagoland Speedway
At the season finale again 28 cars were at the start, including Scheckter, Fisher and Frank Perera (for Foyt). Castroneves was stripped of qualifying time after he was the only one to cross the white line on the inside and thus shortened it. This meant he had to start from the very back, but was able to work his way up to the front very quickly in the race. The race developed extremely closely, so Castroneves, Brisoe and Wheldon drove three laps side by side for three laps with time intervals in the range of 1/1000 of a second. Castroneves and Wheldon continued this together for some time; sometimes with four or five leadership changes in one round. In the places behind it was hardly any different, practically the entire field drove in rows of two and three. At the end there was a fitting photo finish: Castroneves won with a margin of 0.0033 seconds over Dixon in the second closest finish of all time.

Surfers Paradise
The race in Australia had to do without championship points; the starting field was still full, with the exception of Marty Roth, who has since closed his team. In addition, Vitor Meira, Dan Wheldon and NASCAR returnees Dario Franchitti already drove for their new teams, for which they will also be at the start in 2009. All training sessions were dominated by Will Power - at times he was over a second faster than the rest of the field. The race began in a similar way, in which Power had a lead of four seconds on Ryan Briscoe. However, he later made a driving mistake that damaged the suspension and failed. As a result, Briscoe won the race ahead of Scott Dixon. In addition to the three "locals", two drivers in particular made a positive impression: Dario Franchitti with fourth place in qualifying training and a few laps in the lead and Alex Tagliani, who achieved the best result of the team in the entire season with fourth place and also a few laps in the lead - apart from two successes at the beginning of the season was otherwise 14th place the highest.

Tabular

date route Art 1st place place 2 place 3 Pole position Fastest lap
1 March 29 United StatesUnited States Homestead oval Scott Dixon Marco Andretti Dan Wheldon Scott Dixon Ryan Briscoe
2 April 6th United StatesUnited States St. Petersburg city Graham Rahal Helio Castroneves Tony Kanaan Tony Kanaan Tony Kanaan
3 April 19th JapanJapan Motegi oval Danica Patrick Helio Castroneves Scott Dixon Helio Castroneves Helio Castroneves
* 20th of April United StatesUnited States Long Beach city Will power Franck Montagny Mario Domínguez Justin Wilson Antonio Pizzonia
4th April 27 United StatesUnited States Kansas City oval Dan Wheldon Tony Kanaan Scott Dixon Scott Dixon Scott Dixon
5 25. May United StatesUnited States Indianapolis oval Scott Dixon Vítor Meira Marco Andretti Scott Dixon Marco Andretti
6th June 1st United StatesUnited States Milwaukee oval Ryan Briscoe Scott Dixon Tony Kanaan Marco Andretti Scott Dixon
7th June 7th United StatesUnited States Fort Worth oval Scott Dixon Helio Castroneves Ryan Briscoe Scott Dixon Dan Wheldon
8th June 22 United StatesUnited States Newton oval Dan Wheldon Hideki Mutoh Marco Andretti Scott Dixon Ryan Briscoe
9 June 28th United StatesUnited States Richmond oval Tony Kanaan Helio Castroneves Scott Dixon Tony Kanaan Tony Kanaan
10 July 6th United StatesUnited States Watkins Glen Street Ryan Hunter-Reay Darren Manning Tony Kanaan Ryan Briscoe Ryan Briscoe
11 July 12 United StatesUnited States Nashville oval Scott Dixon Dan Wheldon Helio Castroneves Helio Castroneves Tony Kanaan
12 20th of July United StatesUnited States Lexington Street Ryan Briscoe Helio Castroneves Scott Dixon Helio Castroneves Ryan Briscoe
13 July 26th CanadaCanada Edmonton Street / airfield Scott Dixon Helio Castroneves Justin Wilson Ryan Briscoe Will power
14th August 9 United StatesUnited States Sparta oval Scott Dixon Helio Castroneves Marco Andretti Scott Dixon Ed Carpenter
15th August 24th United StatesUnited States Sonoma Street Helio Castroneves Ryan Briscoe Tony Kanaan Helio Castroneves Helio Castroneves
16 August 31 United StatesUnited States Detroit Street Justin Wilson Helio Castroneves Tony Kanaan Scott Dixon Justin Wilson
17th 7th of September United StatesUnited States Joliet oval Helio Castroneves Scott Dixon Ryan Briscoe Ryan Briscoe Justin Wilson
** October 26th AustraliaAustralia Surfers Paradise city Ryan Briscoe Scott Dixon Ryan Hunter-Reay Will power Dario Franchitti

* Carried out by former Champ-Car teams with Champ-Cars, but the full points will be awarded to the teams that take part in the IndyCar Series.

** No points were awarded in this race because Joliet had the promise to hold the end of the season.

Driver ranking

space driver team HOM
United StatesUnited States
STP
United StatesUnited States
MOT
JapanJapan
LBE
United StatesUnited States
KAN
United StatesUnited States
IND
United StatesUnited States
Mil
United StatesUnited States
TEX
United StatesUnited States
IOW
United StatesUnited States
RIC
United StatesUnited States
WAT
United StatesUnited States
NAS
United StatesUnited States
MID
United StatesUnited States
EDM
CanadaCanada
KEN
United StatesUnited States
SON
United StatesUnited States
DET
United StatesUnited States
CHI
United StatesUnited States
Points
1 New ZealandNew Zealand Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 50 12 38 - 38 53 43 50 32 35 19th 50 35 50 53 18th 30th 40 646
2 BrazilBrazil Helio Castroneves Penske Racing 32 40 40 - 32 32 30th 43 19th 40 14th 35 40 43 40 53 43 53 629
3 BrazilBrazil Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing 24 35 30th - 40 10 35 30th 12 53 35 35 26th 22nd 24 35 35 32 513
4th United KingdomUnited Kingdom Dan Wheldon Chip Ganassi Racing 35 18th 32 - 50 18th 32 32 50 32 12 40 13 26th 30th 32 12 28 492
5 AustraliaAustralia Ryan Briscoe Penske Racing 12 12 22nd - 26th 12 50 35 26th 15th 21st 12 53 28 26th 40 22nd 35 447
6th United StatesUnited States Danica Patrick Andretti Green Racing 28 20th 50 - 12 12 22nd 20th 28 28 16 30th 18th 12 19th 30th 14th 20th 379
7th United StatesUnited States Marco Andretti Andretti Green Racing 43 10 12 - 30th 35 12 12 35 22nd 30th 12 10 13 35 16 12 24 363
8th United StatesUnited States Ryan Hunter-Reay Rahal Letterman Racing 26th 13 26th - 12 28 15th 12 24 14th 50 12 20th 24 22nd 12 28 22nd 360
9 SpainSpain Oriol Servià KV Racing 18th 26th - 30th 19th 19th 28 10 14th 30th 12 14th 30th 30th 18th 15th 32 13 358
10 JapanJapan Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green Racing 12 28 19th - 28 26th 18th 28 40 17th 22nd 16 22nd 10 12 17th 19th 12 346
11 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Justin Wilson Newman / Haas / Lanigan Racing 15th 22nd - 12 22nd 10 26th 10 18th 26th 10 12 19th 35 12 22nd 50 19th 340
12 AustraliaAustralia Will power KV Racing 10 24 - 53 10 17th 16 17th 22nd 10 15th 19th 32 12 10 10 24 30th 331
13 BrazilBrazil Vítor Meira Panther Racing 20th 12 14th - 12 40 12 26th 15th 12 12 28 28 12 32 26th 13 10 324
14th United KingdomUnited Kingdom Darren Manning AJ Foyt Enterprises 17th 17th 24 - 12 22nd 17th 10 12 18th 40 22nd 24 20th 12 12 18th 26th 323
15th United StatesUnited States Ed Carpenter Vision racing 30th 12 28 - 20th 30th 12 22nd 12 19th 13 24 15th 17th 28 12 16 10 320
16 United StatesUnited States Buddy Rice Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 19th 15th 18th - 12 24 20th 24 12 12 32 26th 12 19th 20th 19th 12 10 306
17th United StatesUnited States Graham Rahal Newman / Haas / Lanigan Racing - 53 - 17th 18th 10 10 19th 20th 12 24 18th 14th 10 10 24 17th 12 288
18th VenezuelaVenezuela Ernesto Viso HVM Racing 13 32 - 22nd 16 10 24 16 17th 20th 20th - 12 15th 17th 28 12 12 286
19th United StatesUnited States AJ Foyt IV Vision racing 22nd 19th 15th - 24 12 13 18th 30th 12 12 12 12 18th 12 12 20th 17th 280
20th BrazilBrazil Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 12 12 - 18th 15th 12 12 15th 5 12 28 15th 17th 16 16 13 26th 12 256
21st BrazilBrazil Mario Moraes Dale Coyne Racing 14th 14th - 12 13 12 12 12 12 13 26th 20th 12 12 13 20th 15th 12 244
22nd BrazilBrazil Enrique Bernoldi Conquest Racing 12 30th - 32 10 15th 14th 12 13 10 12 12 10 14th 12 12 - - 220
23 BrazilBrazil Jaime Camara Conquest Racing - - - - 12 10 12 12 12 16 12 12 16 12 14th 12 10 12 174
24 CanadaCanada Marty Roth Roth Racing 12 5 13 - 10 10 5 12 5 12 - 17th 12 12 12 10 5 14th 166
25th VenezuelaVenezuela Milka Duno Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 12 - - - 14th 12 - 13 12 - 12 13 12 - 12 - 12 16 140
26th United StatesUnited States Townsend Bell Dreyer & Reinbold Racing - 12 20th - - 20th 19th - - 24 - - - 10 - 12 - - 117
27 MexicoMexico Mario Domínguez Pacific Coast Motorsports - - - 35 - - 10 12 - - 17th - 12 12 - 14th - - 112
28 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Jay Howard Roth Racing 12 16 17th - 17th - - - - - 10 - - - - - - - 72
29 FranceFrance Franck Perera Conquest Racing 16 12 - 28 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 15th 71
30th United StatesUnited States John Andretti Roth Racing - - - - - 14th 12 14th 19th 12 - - - - - - - - 71
31 South AfricaSouth Africa Tomas Scheckter Luzco Dragon Racing - - - - 12 12 - 10 - - - - - - - 10 12 10 66
32 CanadaCanada Alex Tagliani Conquest Racing - - - 26th - - - - - - - - - - - - 12 18th 56
33 CanadaCanada Paul Tracy Vision racing - - - 19th - - - - - - - - - 32 - - - - 51
34 United StatesUnited States Sarah Fisher Sarah Fisher Racing - - - - - 10 - - - - - - - - 15th - - 12 37
35 United StatesUnited States Roger Yasukawa Beck Motorsports - - 16 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 16
36 United StatesUnited States Davey Hamilton Vision racing - - - - - 16 - - - - - - - - - - - - 16
37 United StatesUnited States Buddy Lazier Hemelgarn Racing - - - - - 13 - - - - - - - - - - - - 13
38 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Alex Lloyd Rahal Letterman Racing - - - - - 10 - - - - - - - - - - - - 10
39 United StatesUnited States Jeff Simmons AJ Foyt Racing - - - - - 10 - - - - - - - - - - - - 10
40 FranceFrance Franck Montagny Forsythe / Pettit Racing - - - 0 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0

1 Franck Montagny finished second on Long Beach but received no points because he was not a regular driver in the 2008 Indy Car Series.

Rule changes

In the 2008 season there will be new qualification systems for the oval races as well as on the city and circuit tracks. The traditional Indianapolis rule has been adopted on the oval courses. The calculation is now based on the average of four flying laps in a row, which ultimately decide on the starting grid. On all circuits and city races, two groups will fight for the fastest times for 20 minutes on Saturday afternoon. The best six in each group move into the second segment, all others are sorted based on their best lap time from 13th place. The remaining twelve vehicles take part in a 15-minute second session. After the time has run out, the top six have qualified for the last ten-minute qualifying section, in which the pole position is determined.

Web links

Commons : IndyCar Series 2008  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files