Today’s IZOD IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights and Mazda Road to Indy headlines:
1. Mid-Ohio technical penalty update
2. Ganassi team closing in on team-record win streak
3. Manufacturer standings tied up
1. Mid-Ohio technical penalty update: There were no technical penalties issued following the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Aug. 4.
2. Ganassi team closing in on team-record win streak: Charlie Kimball’s first IZOD IndyCar Series victory at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio was the fifth in a row for Chip Ganassi Racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and fourth in a row this season.
The current streak has been accomplished on a 2.5-mile superspeedway (Pocono Raceway), temporary street course (Toronto, doubleheader) and a 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course (Mid-Ohio) by Scott Dixon and Kimball. Next up is Sonoma Raceway, where both Dixon (2007) and Dario Franchitti (2009) have won.
“When you’re consistently running close to the top five you’ll get podiums,” Kimball said. “When you’re (on the podium) every now and again, then you’re going to pick up a win. And we have sort of taken that next step, not just me as a driver, but us as a team. I think we came into the weekend ready to win, and when the situation arose, we took advantage of that.”
The Ganassi team record for consecutive victories is six from May 26 to July 19, 1998, by Jimmy Vasser and Alex Zanardi, who went on to win seven races and the CART championship.
The last team with a four-race winning streak was Team Penske to start the 2012 season (Helio Castroneves at St. Petersburg followed by Will Power at Barber, Long Beach and Sao Paulo).
The Indy car record is seven by Ansted-Thompson Racing in 1964 (A.J. Foyt winning the first seven races during his USAC championship year) and matched in 1994 by Marlboro Team Penske (Emerson Fittipaldi starting it at Phoenix, followed by three consecutive victories by Al Unser Jr., a victory at Belle Isle by Paul Tracy and two more wins by Unser).
At Mid-Ohio, Dixon missed on being the first IZOD IndyCar Series driver to win four in a row. The last to do it was Sebastien Bourdais to start the 2006 Champ Car season. The record is seven in a row by Foyt (Phoenix on March 22 to Springfield on Aug. 22) during that ’64 season in which he won a record 10 races (matched by Al Unser in 1972).
3. Manufacturer standings tied up: With its teams posting a podium sweep at Mid-Ohio, Honda tied Chevrolet in the manufacturer standings (105 points) with five races left. Both manufacturers have seven victories, while Chevrolet has won nine of the 14 pole positions in 2013.
“We are still pushing; and we still want more, and I think we have seen it,” Dario Franchitti of Target Chip Ganassi Racing said. “When we make a step, Chevy makes a step and that’s what this competition is. I think that’s one of the reasons that Honda and Chevy are around in the sport.”
Chevrolet won the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma in 2012 with Ryan Briscoe of Team Penske and took six of the top-10 finishing spots.
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The next IZOD IndyCar Series race is the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on Aug. 25 at Sonoma Raceway. The race will be televised live at 4 p.m. (ET) by NBC Sports Network 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 Baltimore 100 on Sept. 1 at on the streets of Baltimore. The race will be televised by NBC Sports Network at 1 p.m.
