INDYCAR NEWS AND NOTES – Aug. 13, 2013

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

1.      Ultra-competitive season closing in on winners mark

2.      Briscoe returns to wheel at Sonoma test

3.      Hildebrand, Filippi to share Barracuda Racing ride

1. Ultra-competitive season closing in on winners mark: Of the nine drivers to win races in the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season, four have been first-time winners (James Hinchcliffe, Takuma Sato, Simon Pagenaud, and most recently, Charlie Kimball).

Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon are also among the nine winners this season. Castroneves, who leads Dixon by 31 points entering the Aug. 25 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma, was also a winner in 2000 and 2001, in which there were a record 11 different winners, while Dixon was a race winner as a 20-year-old rookie during the 2001 CART season.

“It was a shock,” said Dixon, who at 20 years, 9 months, 14 days was then the youngest winner in Indy car history (a record which was eclipsed by 19-year-old Marco Andretti at Sonoma in 2006 and later broken by Graham Rahal in 2008). “We had set goals of maybe winning a race later on in the season.”

There have been seven different winners in the eight IZOD IndyCar Series races on the 2.385-mile, 12-turn Sonoma Raceway, and a 10th different winner this season is plausible.

Yet to score a race victory this season are Will Power – a two-time Sonoma winner and runner-up to Team Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe in 2012; Dario Franchitti (31 career wins), who has three podium finishes in the past four races; and Ed Carpenter, the 2012 Auto Club Speedway race winner.

“You really don’t know who’s going to win any race; it’s a mystery every weekend and you really have to be on top of your game to make sure you score maximum points. It’s a lot of fun and typical INDYCAR,” said reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, who has recorded two victories and is third in the standings.

DIFFERENT WINNERS THIS SEASON AND IN THE RECORD YEARS:

2013 SEASON

2001 SEASON

 2000 SEASON

2. Briscoe returns to wheel at Sonoma test: Ryan Briscoe, who suffered a fractured wrist in Race 1 of the Honda Indy Toronto in mid-July, returned to the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing car Aug. 13 during a manufacturer/team test at Sonoma Raceway in preparation for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on Aug. 25.

Eight teams tested at the 12-turn, 2.385-mile road course, including Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing with full-season driver Josef Newgarden and Lucas Luhr getting his initial seat time in an IZOD IndyCar Series car. Luhr, a five-time American Le Mans Series champion, has been confirmed to race in Sonoma in the No. 97 Honda-powered car.

Also seeing his first track time was 2012 Japanese Formula 3 champion Ryo Hirakawa in the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing car. Hirakawa has been competing in the Super Formula (formerly Formula Nippon) series this season. Full-season driver Justin Wilson is driving the No. 19 car.

Also on the track were 2006 race winner Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay and E.J. Viso (Andretti Autosport), Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Saavedra (Dragon Racing), Ed Carpenter (Ed Carpenter Racing), and James Jakes and Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing).

Briscoe is the defending race winner at Sonoma and has finished in the top five each of the past five visits to Sonoma. He started on the front row last year next to then-Team Penske teammate Will Power, who has won the past three poles at the track.

3. Hildebrand, Filippi to share Barracuda Racing ride: JR Hildebrand, who made his second IZOD IndyCar Series at Sonoma Raceway in 2010, returns to the road course for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma in the No. 98 Barracuda Racing car.

The team owned by Bryan Herta and Steve Newey announced that Hildebrand would drive the Honda-powered car in the Aug. 25 race and in the season-ending MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway on Oct. 19, and that Luca Filippi would compete in the Grand Prix of Baltimore on Sept. 1 and the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston doubleheader on Oct. 5-6.

Filippi made his series debut Aug. 4 in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, advancing eight positions to finish 16th.

“I’m really excited to join Barracuda Racing this year, and have to give a big thank you to Bryan and the team for the opportunity,” said Hildebrand, 25, of nearby Sausalito, Calif. “Sonoma is where I got my racing start, so it’ll be great to have another new experience there with a new team, and one that I’ve heard nothing but great things about.

“The Sonoma racetrack is not only in my backyard, but Barracuda Networks’ also, so we’ll be working hard to make it a good one all around. I can’t wait to get started.”

Hildebrand, the 2009 Firestone Indy Lights champion, will participate in an IZOD IndyCar Series Open Test on Aug. 21 at the track.

Hildebrand has 12 top-10 finishes in 39 IZOD IndyCar Series starts, with a high of second in the 2011 Indianapolis 500. After making his series debut at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2010 with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, Hildebrand returned to his home track (finishing 24th after contact).

He placed eighth in the race at Sonoma last August in the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing car. Hildebrand was released by the team after the Indianapolis 500 in May. He had a best finish of fifth at Long Beach in five races this season.

Hildebrand led 56 laps last year on the 2-mile Auto Club Speedway oval in the season finale and finished 11th.

“JR is an exciting prospect for us,” Herta said. “He’s a talented driver and it made sense for him to be able to compete at his ‘home’ races in Sonoma and Fontana.”

Filippi, 28, of Italy, will get extensive seat time on temporary street circuits at Baltimore and Houston. The Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston is the third and final doubleheader of the season and will include a standing start for Race 1 on Oct. 5.

“We were very impressed with Luca and happy to give him two more outings,” Herta said. “He made a good impression on everyone, and this will allow him the chance to race on American-style street circuits.”

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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 on the streets of Baltimore. The race will be televised by NBC Sports Network at 1 p.m.