INDYCAR NEWS AND NOTES – June 24, 2013

Today’s IZOD IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights and Mazda Road to Indy headlines:

1. Iowa affirms Andretti drivers among championship favorites

2. Teams take on tests before off weekend 

3. Inside the box score: Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by DEKALB

1. Iowa affirms Andretti drivers among championship favorites: The competitiveness of the IZOD IndyCar Series is reflected in seven teams represented in the top 10 of the championship standings and seven different drivers having won the 10 races.

Andretti Autosport happens to have won half of the events as the season rolled to the second half with the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by DEKALB on June 23.

Third-year driver James Hinchcliffe, who had never won on an oval, added that accomplishment to the two street course victories from earlier this year. He led teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay, who’s recorded the other two wins, to the finish line by 1.509 seconds through 250 fast and furious laps on the .875-mile track.

It was the second consecutive year for an Andretti Autosport 1-2 finish, and the fourth successive year an Andretti Autosport driver has hoisted the gas pump trophy in Victory Circle. Overall, the team has won five of the seven races in the heart of Iowa.

The magic, team owner Michael Andretti reveals, is in the details. Debriefings, engineering meetings, driver input and openly sharing data between the four – all the things conducted after the spectators leave the grandstands.

“Getting information is very important, and you need to get good, accurate information, and you need to have information that you can trust,” Andretti said. “That’s what we have with all four cars that are out there running all the time. We are getting four cars of data, and the four drivers and four engineers all work together and trust each other, and so we are getting four times the work done than if you had one car out there.

“I think that’s the biggest thing. I don’t think we have any tricks. It’s just good, hard work and good teamwork.”

It’s paying off, with reigning series champion Hunter-Reay only nine points behind front-running Helio Castroneves of Team Penske in the drivers’ championship. Marco Andretti is third (-55 points) and Hinchcliffe vaulted five positions to fourth (-66 points). E.J. Viso, who earned his third consecutive top 10 on three distinctly different ovals, is 11th in the standings.

“Hopefully all four continue to finish races and continue to get points,” Andretti continued. “Races like (Iowa) where Marco didn’t have a great car but he still came home ninth and got some important points, that’s what it’s going to take. I think one of them has a chance at winning the championship.

“Having said that, guys like Helio, with his experience and everything, it’s going to be really difficult. He’s going to make it go right down to the wire. But it’s always nice to have more than one bullet in the gun, and right now we have three real legitimate shots at winning the championship.”

2. Teams take on tests before off-weekend: Following eight consecutive weekends of on-track activity, there’s one more point of business for most IZOD IndyCar Series teams this week before personnel grab a few days off. Manufacturer/private testing is scheduled for three venues – two of which are approaching on the schedule.

“Pocono is our next big challenge; we need to turn our attention to that and try and be as fast as we can there,” Graham Rahal, driver of the No. 15 Midas/Big O Tires car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, said about the 2.5-mile oval where he and teammate James Jakes will log laps June 25. “That’s the goal right now.”

Open Tests during the week leading into races at Pocono Raceway (July 4; race July 7), Mid-Ohio (July 31; race Aug. 4) and Sonoma Raceway (Aug. 21; race Aug. 25) also are scheduled.

The Pocono INDYCAR 400 Fueled by Sunoco (noon ET on ABC) will be the first Indy car race on the triangular oval since 1989, and is the second leg in the Fuzzy’s Triple Crown that will award the winner of all three races on the superspeedways $1 million. Tony Kanaan, the Indianapolis 500 winner, has a leg up. If a driver wins two of the three (the third leg is the season finale at Auto Club Speedway on Oct. 19), they’ll receive a $250,000 bonus.

“The more testing you can do, the better it is going to be for everyone on the team,” said Jakes, driver of the No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts car. “I think it was a good to change from Mid-Ohio to Pocono as we only have one test there before the race, and having never been there before it could take a little bit of learning. Also if the pre-race test is rained out then it could have been very difficult so, for me, it was a good decision.”

June 25 at Pocono (closed to the public)

Andretti Autosport (Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay and E.J. Viso)

Dragon Racing (Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Saavedra)

Ed Carpenter Racing (Ed Carpenter)

Panther Racing (Ryan Briscoe)

KV Racing Technology (Simona De Silvestro and Tony Kanaan)

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (James Jakes and Graham Rahal)

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (Josef Newgarden)

Team Penske (Helio Castroneves and Will Power)

June 25 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

Dale Coyne Racing (Justin Wilson)

June 26 at Sebring International Raceway

Target Chip Ganassi Racing (Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti)

Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing (Charlie Kimball)

“It will be hot down there, which will be good for (street course races at) Toronto, Baltimore and Houston,” Kimball said.

Also on June 26, Power will participate in a straight line test at the GM Proving Grounds in Milford, Mich., in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car.

Additionally, Simon Pagenaud and Bourdais will continue racing this weekend. Pagenaud will drive a Honda Odyssey in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, while Bourdais will travel from Pocono to Watkins Glen, N.Y., to compete in the Grand-Am race at The Glen.

“(Racing) is what I love to do,” said Bourdais, who will drive his motor coach from Iowa to Watkins Glen (with a stop at Pocono for testing).

3. Inside the box score: Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by DEKALB: Some numbers to note from the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by DEKALB, the 10th race of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season.

1.23 – Average running position of race winner James Hinchcliffe during the 250 laps.

2 – Consecutive front-row starts for Will Power … Consecutive Firestone Indy Lights wins for Sage Karam.

3 – Wins for James Hinchcliffe since the start of the season, most of any driver … Positions gained by Ed Carpenter in the final 25 laps of the race.

5 – Podium finishes for Sage Karam during the Firestone Indy Lights season.

6 – Consecutive top-10 finishes for Helio Castroneves.

8.55 – Average running position of second-place finisher Ryan Hunter-Reay during the 250 laps.

9 – Points separating Helio Castroneves and Ryan Hunter-Reay in the IZOD IndyCar Series standings.

10 – Positions improved by Ryan Hunter-Reay, the most gained in the race.

30 – Laps that Ryan Hunter-Reay improved his position over the 250 laps of competition, most of any driver.

48 – Wins as a car owner by Michael Andretti, which ranks fourth all-time among Indy car team owners. Andretti is third among Indy car race winners with 42.

148 – Consecutive Indy car starts for Scott Dixon dating to the 2004 race in Michigan. Dixon ranks seventh on the all-time list.

206 – Consecutive Indy car starts for Tony Kanaan dating to the 2001 CART race in Portland. Kanaan is second to Jimmy Vasser’s 211 straight starts.

226 – Laps led by James Hinchcliffe, more than twice the number of laps he had led in his career entering the race (99).

1,423 – Laps completed by Helio Castroneves. He is the only driver to complete every lap of every race.

***

The next IZOD IndyCar Series race is the Pocono INDYCAR 400 Fueled by Sunoco on July 7 at Pocono Raceway. The race will be televised live at noon (ET) by ABC and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius and XM Channels 211, www.indycar.com and the INDYCAR 13 App for most smartphones and tablets. The next Firestone Indy Lights race is the Pocono 100 at 4 p.m. on July 6 at Pocono Raceway. NBC Sports Network’s coverage of the Sukup 100 from Iowa Speedway will be telecast  at 11 p.m. (ET) on June 28.