German GP supports, F3 Masters, Pocono IndyCar
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Checkered flag
IndyCar - Pocono: The final lap is meteor-free, and Scott Dixon leads Kimball and Franchitti across the line for a Ganassi 1-2-3. Extraordinary: that's Ganassi's first 1-2-3 in any form of racing.
Will Power was fourth ahead of Josef Newgarden, who came on strong over the final stint. Marco Andretti finished up 10th, and then ran out of fuel on the slowing-down lap.
Will Power was fourth ahead of Josef Newgarden, who came on strong over the final stint. Marco Andretti finished up 10th, and then ran out of fuel on the slowing-down lap.
IndyCar - Pocono: Power has passed Pagenaud for P4, and Franchitti is 0.4s ahead in third. But barring a meteor strike, it's looking very much like a Ganassi 1-2-3.
IndyCar - Pocono: Panther is about to pit Briscoe for a splash-and-dash. He last stopped on the same lap as Andretti, so it really is down to the wire as to whether the polesitter can make it to the line.
IndyCar - Pocono: Kimball actually managed to get back out of the pits and retain the lead, but it was short-lived - Dixon quickly displaces his team-mate. Franchitti and Pagenaud both passed Power, and all of a sudden it's a Honda 1-2-3-4. Who saw that coming? Andretti is behind Power in sixth.
IndyCar - Pocono: Power pits from the lead. Charlie Kimball, who has very quietly been having a good afternoon, is showing as race leader, but he'll be making his own stop in the next lap or so.
IndyCar - Pocono: Andretti stops, and is going to try to cover the last 33 laps with the fuel that he has on board. That's do-able - but whether he can do it while running fast enough to get back up front is another matter.
IndyCar - Pocono: How's this for contrast: yesterday, Carlos Munoz won the Lights race by over 6.0s. Right now, the top 10 is covered by 2.8s.
Power has retaken the lead, and Dixon has moved up to second. Andretti is now third. Worse for the American, he's a couple of laps lower on fuel than the cars ahead.
Power has retaken the lead, and Dixon has moved up to second. Andretti is now third. Worse for the American, he's a couple of laps lower on fuel than the cars ahead.
IndyCar - Pocono: Kanaan pits for a new front wing, and in the meantime, Will Power has taken the lead ... or at least, he did. Andretti has just gone past the Australian.
IndyCar - Pocono: Kanaan has passed Dixon for the lead, but in the process he clipped the rear of Dixon's car with his front wing. The wing is loose - he's going to have to come in. In Triple Crown terms, that one misjudgement could prove to be a million dollar mistake.
IndyCar - Pocono: Wow, a later stop and perfect service from Ganassi has paid off - Dixon now leads from Kanaan, ahead of Power, Andretti and Pagenaud.
IndyCar - Pocono: We're still cycling through the stops, but there's been one significant development already - Pagenaud outdragged Kanaan off pit road.
IndyCar - Pocono: Kanaan has taken another 0.1s out of Andretti. While that goes on, we're trying to remember whether there has been another race this year where both Penskes and all three Ganassis were in the top 10.
Oooh, Andretti has just pitted from the lead.
Oooh, Andretti has just pitted from the lead.
IndyCar - Pocono: Kanaan is stalking Andretti for the lead - the gap between them is about 0.6s. A little further back, Dixon has got ahead of Power to take P5 and is now chasing Pagenaud.
IndyCar - Pocono: Not that long ago Justin Wilson was about to fall off the lead lap. Now, he's ninth and has just done his fastest lap of the race. Nice recovery.
Meanwhile, Andretti Autosport is about to send Hunter-Reay back out, 18 laps down. No sign of Sato's car yet.
Meanwhile, Andretti Autosport is about to send Hunter-Reay back out, 18 laps down. No sign of Sato's car yet.
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IndyCar - Pocono: Takuma Sato:
"I just misjudged it. I came in too fast. I apologise to Andretti Autosport, and to my guys. It was my fault."
"I just misjudged it. I came in too fast. I apologise to Andretti Autosport, and to my guys. It was my fault."
IndyCar -Pocono: Wow, four-wide into Turn 1. Andretti reclaims the lead from Kanaan, and Pagenaud briefly stole third from Castroneves. The Brazilian has taken the place back.
Green flag
IndyCar - Pocono: Restart.
IndyCar - Pocono: Andretti Autosport is going to try to fix Hunter-Reay's car and get him back out, a la Penske and Will Power at Fontana last year.
In the meantime, the current top five is Kanaan, Andretti, Castroneves, Pagenaud, and Power. In sixth: Scott Dixon, which is solid considering that he started from 17th. Similarly, Franchitti has gone from 20th to eighth.
In the meantime, the current top five is Kanaan, Andretti, Castroneves, Pagenaud, and Power. In sixth: Scott Dixon, which is solid considering that he started from 17th. Similarly, Franchitti has gone from 20th to eighth.
IndyCar - Pocono: Just to clarify - the cars that stopped while the pits were closed were only permitted to do so if they were critically low on fuel, and they were not allowed to take on tyres at the same time.
IndyCar -Pocono: Pits are open and almost the entire field, including new leader Will Power, dive in. They must be running on fumes. Tony Kanaan has gotten ahead of Andretti and is now P1 - a significant development when you take the Triple Crown into account.
IndyCar - Pocono: Lots of damage to Hunter-Reay's car, while the Foyt team is looking over Sato's. It's not clear yet whether there was a problem with Sato's car, but he was well over the pitlane speed limit at the time of contact.
The pits are closed, but Kanaan and Castroneves managed to get a stop done just before the yellows. Several other drivers are making brief stops for splashes of fuel, as the incident happened just as the leaders were due to stop again.
The pits are closed, but Kanaan and Castroneves managed to get a stop done just before the yellows. Several other drivers are making brief stops for splashes of fuel, as the incident happened just as the leaders were due to stop again.
Yellow flag
IndyCar - Pocono: We were just about to tell you about how fast Sato was when he caused one of the weirdest accidents we've ever seen. The Japanese driver rammed into the back of Ryan Hunter-Reay in the pit entry, putting the Andretti car into the wall and bringing out the yellows.
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IndyCar - Pocono: Graham Rahal is struggling in 18th, and has been on the radio to the RLL team:
"I can't lift. If I lift I lose all momentum and I can't get it back."
He was saying similar things after Texas, so perhaps there's some sort of set-up trick that his crew is yet to crack.
"I can't lift. If I lift I lose all momentum and I can't get it back."
He was saying similar things after Texas, so perhaps there's some sort of set-up trick that his crew is yet to crack.
IndyCar - Pocono: Interesting that of the six cars that changed engines, four are currently placed 18th or lower. The only two making any headway are the Ganassis of Scott Dixon (P8) and Dario Franchitti (P12). You'd have thought that Justin Wilson and Alex Tagliani would be making more progress.
IndyCar - Pocono: Andretti is 4.0s clear in front at the moment but the fight just behind him is getting interesting, with Hunter-Reay, Sato and Kanaan covered by 1.0s.
IndyCar - Pocono: Everyone has stopped now, and despite the delay, Andretti retains the lead. The big loser through all of that was Kanaan, who has fallen to fourth.
Further back in the field rookie Tristan Vautier managed to miss his pit box completely, lost a ton of time being dragged back to the right spot, and then stalled. He's now two laps down.
Further back in the field rookie Tristan Vautier managed to miss his pit box completely, lost a ton of time being dragged back to the right spot, and then stalled. He's now two laps down.
IndyCar - Pocono: Andretti pits from the lead, perhaps a lap or two earlier than we might have expected. He loses a bit of time as his crew struggles with the fuel nozzle. Sato is also pitting from fifth.
IndyCar - Pocono: Andretti is looking pretty comfortable in front at the moment, maintaining a gap of about 0.6s to Kanaan. Hunter-Reay is a similar distance behind in third, and has been on the radio to his team to report understeer.
Meanwhile, the race telecast has just informed us that Helio Castroneves is scared of rollercoasters, Dario Franchitti doesn't like snakes, and Hunter-Reay gets spooked by cockroaches.
Meanwhile, the race telecast has just informed us that Helio Castroneves is scared of rollercoasters, Dario Franchitti doesn't like snakes, and Hunter-Reay gets spooked by cockroaches.
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IndyCar - Pocono: We've just heard from James Hinchcliffe.
"It just snapped; we got loose. We were battling understeer and it's a hot day. I don't know if we were too aggressive on set-up, but for the downforce we were running and the set-up we had, there's no way I thought we'd be taken out like that on the first lap, especially with the tyres being fresh. It's devastating, man."
"It just snapped; we got loose. We were battling understeer and it's a hot day. I don't know if we were too aggressive on set-up, but for the downforce we were running and the set-up we had, there's no way I thought we'd be taken out like that on the first lap, especially with the tyres being fresh. It's devastating, man."
Green flag
IndyCar - Pocono: Restart. This time, everyone has made it through the first corner safely, and Kanaan has passed Hunter-Reay for second. Also on the move is Sato, who has taken fifth from Castroneves.
IndyCar - Pocono: Meanwhile, Sebastian Saavedra has failed to take the start. The Dragon car is experiencing throttle problems.
IndyCar - Pocono: It's going to take a few minutes for Hinchcliffe's car to be mopped up, but as it stands the current order is Marco Andretti leading from Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan, Will Power and Helio Castroneves. Takuma Sato is first of the Honda-powered drivers in sixth.
IndyCar - Pocono: We've seen a couple of replays of Hinchcliffe's crash, and it's hard to tell what happened - he didn't seem to be all that high up the banking. He's out of the car, but is limping a little.
Yellow flag
IndyCar - Pocono: Yellow flag! First blow for Andretti Autosport as James Hinchcliffe loops up into the outside wall at Turn 1.
Green flag
IndyCar - Pocono: Green flag!
IndyCar - Pocono: We've had the command to start engines, and the cars are on their first formation lap.
Fuzzy truck
IndyCar - Pocono: Spotted in the Pocono fan area: this little city runabout. Cheap to run, and easy to park.
As a guide, your correspondent is just over 5'11, and the top of my head is roughly level with the bottom of the 'Fuzzy's' logo on the door.
IndyCar - Pocono: Tony Kanaan has an extra incentive to do well today: this is the second race in IndyCar's Triple Crown, and as the Indy 500 winner, Kanaan is the only driver with a chance at claiming the million dollar bonus for winning all three. If he fails, all is not lost - there is a $250,000 bonus for a driver who can win two out of three. The third Triple Crown race is the finale at Fontana.
IndyCar - Pocono: Among those on hand for IndyCar's return to Pocono today is NASCAR star Jeff Gordon, which is impressive considering that he was racing at Daytona last night. Why is he here?
"220 mph around this place ... that's why I'm here. I can't fathom that kind of speed."
"220 mph around this place ... that's why I'm here. I can't fathom that kind of speed."
Graham Hill 1968 Gerhardt
IndyCar - Pocono: Spectators at Pocono get an extra treat this weekend, with several historic IndyCars on hand to turn a few demonstration laps. All eras between the 1950s and the 1990s are represented, including this ex-Graham Hill 1968 Gerhardt.
By: Matt Beer, Charles Bradley, Gary Watkins, Mark Glendenning, Dan Cross
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