Today’s IZOD IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights and Mazda Road to Indy headlines:
1. Hunter-Reay hopes for another springboard performance at Milwaukee
2. Andretti drivers top Open Test
3. Beatriz returns to Coyne for Milwaukee
4. Of note
1. Hunter-Reay hopes for another springboard performance at Milwaukee: Every IZOD IndyCar Series champion has a key moment – a race result that served as a springboard to their season-long accomplishment.
Reigning series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay singles out the 2012 Milwaukee IndyFest.
The victory and bonus point for leading the most laps in the eighth race of the season vaulted the Andretti Autosport driver from seventh in the standings following the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway to fourth.
“It was an important win for so many reasons,” said Hunter-Reay, who led Tony Kanaan across the start-finish line by 5.1029 seconds on the one-mile oval.
Hunter-Reay gained additional traction with successive victories at Iowa Speedway and Toronto, and added a victory on the streets of Baltimore in September to remain the protagonist to Team Penske’s Will Power. With a fourth-place finish in the finale at Auto Club Speedway, Hunter-Reay clinched the title by three points.
The top five in the standings are separated by 65 points (front-runner Helio Castroneves to Takuma Sato), so with the depth of competition (seven different drivers representing five different teams have won) the 250-lap Milwaukee IndyFest on June 15 again will be a marker in the championship chase.
“(The season has) been amazing. Any weekend it could be any driver in this series,” said Hunter-Reay, who posted a victory at Barber Motorsports Park in mid-April and was runner-up in the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 8. “I would say 15 to 20 drivers any weekend could be theirs, which is a great thing.
“You go into every race thinking you can win it. There’s not a whole lot or other any series out there that’s like that. It’s great to see all the change-ups, but I’d like to make a move.”
Hunter-Reay is ahead of last year’s standing – in third place, 27 points behind Castroneves and two behind Andretti Autosport teammate Marco Andretti. Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan, who vaulted to fourth in the standings with third place at Texas, is a two-time winner at Milwaukee and the 2012 runner-up. He could easily be the eighth winner of the season.
“I don’t think you’ll see anybody dominating,” said Kanaan, the 2004 series champion. “Consistency is going to be the key. You have to maximize winning; but if you didn’t, you’ve got to finish in the top five, that’s because what’s going to play down at the end.
“We have seen a lot of inconsistency. That’s why we have it bunched up the way it is. The next two tracks (Milwaukee and Iowa Speedway), we finished on the podium the last three years; so it’s hard not to think that we are going to have a shot. But, having said that, I’d be very confident at two places one year to the other and been nowhere, so there’s no guarantee.”
Predicted Hunter-Reay: “I think (the title chase is) going to come down to the end, the last race like it always does. There will probably be three drivers in it this year again for the last race, and hopefully we are one of them.”
TOP FIVE IN POINTS AT MILWAUKEE:
• Helio Castroneves (12 races) — 0 wins, 2 top fives, 3 poles. Best finish of second.
• Marco Andretti (6 races) — 0 wins, 1 top five, 1 pole. Best finish of fifth.
• Ryan Hunter-Reay (7 races) — 2 wins, 2 top fives, 1 pole.
• Tony Kanaan (13 races) — 2 wins, 6 top fives, 0 poles.
• Takuma Sato (2 races) — 0 wins, 0 top five, 0 poles. Best finish of eighth.
2. Andretti drivers top Open Test: Andretti Autosport drivers Carlos Munoz and Zach Veach were fastest in two Open Test sessions as Firestone Indy Lights drivers tuned up for the Milwaukee 100 on June 15 at The Milwaukee Mile.
Munoz, the series championship points leader heading into the fifth race of the season, was fastest in the morning on the one-mile oval with a lap of 145.707 mph (25.077 seconds) in the No. 26 Dialy-Ser car. Veach topped the speed chart in the afternoon at 145.619 mph (25.0929 seconds) in the No. 12 K12 entry.
Eight drivers logged 1,040 laps. They’ll return to the track for the first practice session 10 a.m. (ET) June 14. Qualifications are at 4:30 p.m., with the race at 2 p.m. (ET) June 15.
“The Andretti Autosport cars are working really well, right now,” said Veach, who earned his first pole two years ago at The Mile while competing in USF2000. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us for the race, but the K12 guys have done a great job, so far. I’m excited to see how we are tomorrow. We just need to go back tonight and look at what we have for practice and qualifying.
“The team and I have been working very hard in preparing for this weekend. We had a successful test there last week and took a lot away with us that’s going to carry into the race and hopefully allow us to start one step ahead of everyone else. With our race being just one day before Father’s Day, I’d love to be able to celebrate with my dad having our first Firestone Indy Lights win.”
Sage Karam, driving the No. 8 Schmidt Peterson with Curb-Agajanian car, was third overall (144.505 mph; 25.2863 seconds). Teammate Gabby Chaves (144.035) was fourth and Juan Pablo Garcia (143.013) was fifth in the No. 2 TMR-International-Euclid Chemical car.
3. Beatriz returns to Coyne for Milwaukee: Ana Beatriz, who competed in the first five IZOD IndyCar Series events for Dale Coyne Racing, will drive the team’s No. 18 car with support from her longtime sponsor Ipiranga.
Beatriz recorded a season-best finish of 14th at Long Beach in the No. 18 Honda and finished 15th in her last start at Indianapolis. She will be making her second start at Milwaukee where she qualified 11th and finished 17th in 2011.
4. Of note: Kimberly-Clark North America will be the primary sponsor of the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car driven by Dario Franchitti in the Milwaukee IndyFest. The company is based in Neenah, Wis. Franchitti has two wins (2004, 2011), two poles (2011, 2012), six top-five and 10 top-10 finishes at The Milwaukee Mile. … Dads competing in the Milwaukee IndyFest on this Father’s Day weekend: Sebastien Bourdais, Ed Carpenter, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan, Takuma Sato and Justin Wilson. … Since 1993, three drivers scored their first win at Milwaukee: Ryan Briscoe 2008, Michel Jourdain Jr. 2003 and Greg Moore 1997. … IZOD IndyCar Series driver James Hinchcliffe, USF 2000 driver Andrew Hobbs and Pro Mazda driver Anders Krohn visited patients at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin on June 13.
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The next IZOD IndyCar Series race is the Milwaukee IndyFest on June 15 at The Milwaukee Mile. The race will be televised live at 4 p.m. (ET) by the NBC Sports Network (Verizon FiOS 90/590, DirecTV 220, DISH 159 and AT&T UVerse 640) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius and XM Channels 211 and www.indycar.com. The next Firestone Indy Lights race is the Milwaukee 100 at 2 p.m. (ET) on June 15 at The Milwaukee Mile. The race will be televised by NBC Sports Network at 3 p.m. (ET) on June 15.
