The 2011 IndyCar Series review

The 2011 IndyCar Series was a fascinating one, right up until lap 11 of its season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when Dan Wheldon lost his life doing what he loved and did best: racing hard.

The tragic ending will serve to define the season in years to come, as US open-wheel racing lost one of its most gifted oval racing talents and well-loved personalities, yet perhaps we should remember Wheldon for his incredible against-the-odds Indianapolis 500 success in May rather than the horrible accident that claimed him.

Before Vegas, Penske driver Will Power was 18 points behind title rival Dario Franchitti of Ganassi - five races earlier it had been 62 - yet Power actually jumped ahead of his nemesis with two races remaining, thanks to an incredibly strong streak of results.

But then he was struck in the pits by wayward midfielder Ana Beatriz while dominating at Kentucky, and the title race swung 180 degrees again. With Vegas called a non-event, the title was Franchitti's once more. His fourth, in five years, marks him out as a true giant of the sport.

Power won six times, but still just came up short of Franchitti... again © LAT

During their on-track battles there were some heated moments: a collision at Toronto cost Power dearly, and his response was to label Franchitti a "dirty" driver.

Then there was the downright bizarre event in New Hampshire, when Franchitti crashed out of the lead with Takuma Sato in one of the new-for-2011 double-file restarts, and Power ended his race giving a 'double-bird' salute to race control after the pack restarted when it was raining, causing him to spin out of a chaotic finish.

Power outscored Franchitti six-four on race wins, but he couldn't out-point him where (and when) it mattered most in the standings. Chip Ganassi Racing claimed its fourth title on the trot, and Penske's last success, with Sam Hornish Jr in 2006, seems quite some time ago.

Wheldon's last-corner Indy 500 success came when longtime leader JR Hildebrand misjudged a lapping manoeuvre and slammed into the wall, giving the chasing Briton, who was in the hunt for victory all day, a memorable second win at the Brickyard with Bryan Herta's tiny team.

With what transpired at Vegas, seldom have the highs and lows of this sport featured greater contrasts.

The top 10 IndyCar drivers in focus

1. Dario Franchitti (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Points: 573
Wins: 4
Other podiums: 5
Poles: 2
Fastest laps: 3

There's no denying it, the Scot is officially an Indycar all-time great. He might have suffered a frustrating Month of May, with fuel issues in qualifying and the race blighting what would have been a third victory at the Brickyard, but his fourth title in five years puts him in the elite.

Rival Power might have branded him "dirty" in Toronto and "lucky" elsewhere, but the second accusation is from the man who drew third in the Texas race two starting grid lottery - a woeful idea - while Franchitti got 28th.

As for his accusations that Franchitti gets favouritism from race control, perhaps he should reconsider making rude gestures at them...

See below for the reasons why Power didn't win this championship, but the bottom line is that Franchitti beat him because his performance barely ever deviates from outstanding. Bet against a fifth title, or more, at your peril.

2. Will Power (Team Penske)
Points: 555
Wins: 6
Other podiums: 3
Poles: 8
Fastest laps: 2

Six wins and eight poles is usually the kind of record that wins you championships, but yet again the Australian fell short of his goal.

Consider last year's tally too, and that makes it 11 wins and 16 poles - some would give their right arm for career stats like those, never mind just two-seasons' worth.

In the final analysis, three moments were his downfall: his Toronto clash with Franchitti (Alex Tagliani finished the job properly a few laps later), and two pitlane clashes - one with Charlie Kimball at Iowa and one with Beatriz at Kentucky.

Then there was the Penske-inflicted reducers: releasing him with only three wheels attached at Indy and the time when his team-mate Helio Castroneves fired him into a spin at Long Beach.

Four times this year he scored every point on offer - at Barber Park, Sao Paulo, Sears Point and Baltimore. And still it wasn't quite enough.

3. Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Points: 518
Wins: 2
Other podiums: 7
Poles: 2
Fastest laps: 4

Now he IS someone who was unlucky in 2011. It seemed if there were any unguided missile on track, it would somehow head in his direction. That wayward KV drivers EJ Viso (Edmonton) and Sato (Milwaukee) compromised races was no surprise. That his own Ganassi squad contrived to ruin his day at the Indy 500 with its fuel strategy was.

Right from the word go, with disasters at St Petersburg, Long Beach and Sao Paulo, his title bid looked doomed. In truth, he was never in the hunt after giving Franchitti and Power such a headstart. Dominant performances at Mid-Ohio and Motegi were the proof of what might have been.

Surely, he's the only driver in this field who can legitimately lay claim to being able to take a championship fight to Franchitti and Power next year.

4. Oriol Servia (Newman/Haas Racing)
Points: 425
Wins: 0
Podiums: 3
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 0

The Catalan dragon scored a brace of runner-up spots in the second half of the season, at New Hampshire and Baltimore, but was one of the most consistent challengers all season.

It was great to see the Newman/Haas squad back at the sharp end on a regular basis, and its powerful brain farm seemed closest to cracking the Ganassi/Penske stranglehold on the series. With the sad news it won't be back next year, we'll never know if that would have come to pass.

When you consider Servia had barely raced for the past two seasons, the way he led the team - and guided impressive rookie James Hinchcliffe - was to his immense credit. He deserves another chance to shine elsewhere.

5. Tony Kanaan (KV Racing)
Points: 366
Wins: 0
Podiums: 3
Poles: 1
Fastest laps: 0

An amazing start to the season - even more remarkable given the last-minute nature of his drive with KV - just couldn't be sustained.

His Milwaukee exit, when well placed, was unfortunate, but he bounced back immediately with second at Iowa. And if you ever doubted his resilience, you got your answer at Baltimore where he finished third in a spare car after suffering a high-speed brake failure in morning warm-up.

Kanaan is a class act, and given the right machinery he will deliver race wins, but he'd make his own life easier by qualifying better - six times he started from outside the top 20.

6. Ryan Briscoe (Team Penske)
Points: 364
Wins: 0
Podiums: 4
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 0

One of the most tenacious drivers on the grid, he scored four podiums but fell a point short of pipping Kanaan for P5.

Was very unfortunate to be taken out by Ryan Hunter-Reay at Barber and Townsend Bell at Indy, which sandwiched a runner-up spot at Long Beach and third at Sao Paulo.

Things were so bad at one point that it looked like he might be jettisoned from the Penske line-up, should it have reverted to a two-car team in 2012, but those fears were allayed with improved form, and Castroneves having far more of a 'mare. Led five times for 45 laps, but just couldn't turn that into a win.

7. Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport)
Points: 347
Wins: 1
Other podiums: 2
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 0

Had the dubious honour of winning the season's most bizarre event at Loudon (although his Victory Lane celebrations were somewhat overshadowed by Power's two-fingered semaphore) and was robbed on the streets of Long Beach by a gearbox gremlin.

He was guilty of a couple of clumsy lunges - his move on Briscoe at Barber was particularly lame-brained - which affected his early-season events, but led the line at Andretti Autosport having finally secured that full-time drive he so deserves.

8. Marco Andretti (Andretti Autosport)
Points: 337
Wins: 1
Other podiums: 1
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 0

You could hear the sighs of relief in the Andretti household, as Andretti finally nailed his second win at this level after a five-year drought. As good as he was at Iowa, winning through in a furious wheel-to-wheel dice with Franchitti and Kanaan, he was wretched elsewhere, sometimes all at sea on road courses.

No longer can he be considered the rookie, it's time for him to deliver far more regularly for his father's team, and flashes of brilliance - of which he is quite clearly capable - simply aren't enough. Daft shunts in the pits in Long Beach and Kentucky don't help his cause either.

9. Graham Rahal (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Points: 320
Wins: 0
Podiums: 3
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 0

Difficult to say whether this second-generation racer, who clearly possesses a raw talent similar to his father Bobby, under or over-achieved. If you compare him directly to the Ganassi's A-cars, of which his machine was affiliated to, you'd say the former. If you consider that his a car really being run by a start-up team, then the latter. The truth probably lies somewhere in between.

His season was streaky to say the least: excellent at Indy and Milwaukee, but failing to deliver after excellent qualifying performances elsewhere - including a couple of front-row starts.

Huge potential here, and he's not a million miles away from being the genuine article at this level.

10. Danica Patrick (Andretti Autosport)
Points: 314
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Poles: 0
Fastest laps: 0

The 'princess' has signed off from IndyCar to rule the affections of the fans elsewhere (NASCAR, to be precise). Her final season pretty much mirrored those that have gone before: mediocre in the main, but with odd moments of pure inspiration.

Always a factor on the ovals, her best result came with a fifth place at Milwaukee. Sixth at Baltimore was her best road course effort, backed up by a seventh at Long Beach.

We'll miss her, because she was great for IndyCar's profile, but not that much for her outright speed on the track.

Any other business...

At the time, the 2011 Indy 500 went down as perhaps the most memorable finish to a motor race in living memory, but now it stands as the most fitting memorial to Dan Wheldon's stellar career. Don't assume that Wheldon merely lucked into a rookie error by Hildebrand; Dee-Dub was giving chase at absolutely flat-chat, and his Panther Racing rival knew it.

That must have played some part in Hildebrand's ill-considered attempt to lap a car around the outside of Turn 4 on the last lap of a 500-mile race, as the chequered flag was being raised a few hundred metres down the following straight.

Wheldon's Indy 500 win was the season's highlight; his death, its low point © LAT

That said, we shouldn't lambast him for it either, as he was in the hunt for honours quite legitimately, and an American rookie victor would have been a great story in itself.

But after what happened at Vegas in October, it should rightly be remembered as Wheldon's crowning glory - a second Brickyard triumph to go with his 2005 thriller.

He told Franchitti afterwards that he just had to win it for a second time, so he could give each of his sons the pace cars that come as part of the prize. That very much summed up the man.

Those who won rounds, but didn't make the top 10 in points (apart from Wheldon) were Mike Conway and Ed Carpenter, each of whom won at this level for the first time. Conway inherited his Long Beach victory from his Andretti team-mate Hunter-Reay, but there is no denying his street race brilliance, as he added the Californian classic to his roster of success at Monaco, Macau and Pau.

Carpenter's win at Kentucky was the feel-good story of the season. Driving for the minnow outfit Sarah Fisher Racing, he used all his oval guile to sneak past Franchitti in a barnstorming finish. It seems like we'll see him in the series full-time (and with his own team) next season, and he deserves it.

In terms of the best of the rest, there was some major talent having a tough time in 2011. Hinchcliffe was the pick of the bunch, putting in some sterling drives in the second Newman/Haas machine despite being plagued by financial worries and missing out on some vital testing miles. His trio of fourth places was well deserved.

Castroneves had a woeful season, characterised by several blunders - notably when he managed to take out his Penske team-mate Power at Long Beach.

Sato showed good progress and took his first IndyCar poles during 2011 © LAT

Ex-F1 racer Sato looked far more settled this season at KV Racing, and should have won the season opener at Sao Paulo but for an epic strategy fail.

Tagliani's FAZZT team was rescued by Sam Schmidt, and the paralysed former racer enjoyed his finest hour when Tag put his car on pole for the Indy 500 - and then again straight away at Texas.

Sadly, the team's season would end in tragedy, as it was this very car that Wheldon was driving at Vegas. Tag also fell out with the team, and will drive elsewhere next year.

Rookie Kimball was average in the second Ganassi satellite car, while Justin Wilson suffered a nightmare season with Dreyer & Reinbold, classified 24th in the standings - with fifth at Edmonton (and fastest lap at Toronto) his best result - and ended the season prematurely with a broken back.

Speaking of road course stars, Sebastien Bourdais drove Wilson's former Dale Coyne-run ride to some decent results - albeit not the dizzying heights that Wilson achieved with it a couple of years back. Alex Lloyd drove for the squad on ovals, but could not reproduce the magic of Indy 2010.

Don't forget too that IndyCar has split its championship into two sub-divisions: Dixon won the AJ Foyt Oval Trophy, while Power claimed the Mario Andretti Road Course Trophy. Do you think that gave them any comfort after playing second fiddle to Franchitti overall? Nah.