[IndyCar] #11 Met maar 32 auto's aan de start van de Indy 500?

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IZOD IndyCar Series award winners

Championship driver (Astor Challenge Cup): Ryan Hunter-Reay
Jostens Championship Driver Award (ring): Ryan Hunter-Reay
Championship team (Astor Challenge Cup): Andretti Autosport
Championship team sponsors: DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda
Championship team manager: Kyle Moyer (Andretti Autosport)
Chief Mechanic of the Year Award: Josh Freund (Andretti Autosport)
Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award ($50,000): Simon Pagenaud
Second place championship driver: Will Power
Second place championship team: Verizon Team Penske
Third place championship driver: Scott Dixon
Third place championship team: Target Chip Ganassi Racing
Tony Renna Rising Star Award: Charlie Kimball
Manufacturers Championship: Chevrolet
Mario Andretti Road Championship ($50,000): Will Power
A.J. Foyt Oval Championship ($50,000): Ryan Hunter-Reay
Indy Family Foundation Giving Back Award Presented by Firestone ($1,000 given to charity of winner's choice): Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing

Firestone Indy Lights award winners

Championship driver (mini Firehawk Cup): Tristan Vautier
Jostens Championship Driver Award (ring): Tristan Vautier
Championship team (mini Firehawk Cup): Sam Schmidt Motorsports with Curb Agajanian
Chief Mechanic of the Year: Jason Robb
Second place championship driver: Esteban Guerrieri
Second place championship team: Sam Schmidt Motorsports with Curb Agajanian
Third place championship driver: Gustavo Yacaman
Third place championship team: Team Moore Racing
Firestone Painting Award: Tristan Vautier
Firestone Indy Lights Rookie of the Year ($15,000): Tristan Vautier
Greg Moore Legacy Award: Tristan Vautier
Gregory & Appel "Securing Tomorrow" Award ($3,000): Tristan Vautier

Mazda Road to Indy award winners

Jostens Championship Driver Award (ring): Jack Hawksworth (Star Mazda); Matthew Brabham (USF2000 Championship)
Gregory & Appel "Securing Tomorrow" Award: Jack Hawksworth (Star Mazda/$2,000); Spencer Pigot (USF2000 Championship/$1,000)

twitter:

f1fanatic_co_uk twitterde op vrijdag 07-12-2012 om 15:31:01 #IndyCar Lotus quits after disastrous single year of five-year contract: http://t.co/l82udXGg reageer retweet

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Op vrijdag 7 december 2012 15:34 schreef Tarado het volgende:

twitter:

f1fanatic_co_uk twitterde op vrijdag 07-12-2012 om 15:31:01 #IndyCar Lotus quits after disastrous single year of five-year contract: http://t.co/l82udXGg reageer retweet

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SPEED.com has confirmed through multiple sources that Formula One veteran and 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series rookie Rubens Barrichello has accepted an offer to race full time in the Brazilian Stock Car series in 2013.

Along with countrymen Tony Kanaan, left, and Helio Castroneves, Barrichello, right, raced in the Brazilian Stock Car finale last weekend and will call the series home in 2013. (Photo: Brazilian Stock Car)

Prior to that decision, Barrichello had been working to raise the funds to return to IndyCar with a Honda-powered team.

Sam Schmidt Motorsports and Rahal Letterman Lanigan were the leading candidates to sign the 11-time grand prix winner, but the Brazilian struggled to find all of the multi-million-dollar budget that was needed to land a competitive drive. He was also linked to a possible return to F1 with the Caterham team.

Barrichello declined to comment on his future plans when reached Tuesday in Brazil.

Although a formal announcement is expected in the coming days, his friend and former KV Racing teammate Tony Kanaan says that time and financial constraints have forced Barrichello down the path he’s pursuing.

“He got a proposal there (in Brazilian Stock Cars) because right now people aren’t giving him many options (in IndyCar),” Kanaan remarked. “They’re asking him for money to keep racing in IndyCar, and he doesn’t have all the sponsors. I know his heart is still in IndyCar, but he’s not going to sit and wait. It’s a shame, but it’s the reality of racing right now. It’s really sad. He has to look out for his own interest.”

Barrichello spent 19 years in F1, placing second in the championship on two occasions before switching to the IndyCar Series in 2012.

Driving for team owners Kevin Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser, Barrichello’s deal came together relatively late in the off-season, and despite his lack of experience with the car, circuits and oval racing in general, earned seven top-10 finishes and a best of fourth at Sonoma on the way to securing 12th in the final standings.

The 40-year-old contested last weekend's Brazilian Stock Car season finale at Interlagos with the Medley Full Time Sports Peugeot team, and with a lucrative offer to remain in the series, it's believed Barrichello had until the end of the weekend to accept the proposal.

With no scheduling conflicts in place, the door appears to remain open for Barrichello to contest next year’s IndyCar race on the streets of Sao Paulo, but another run at Indianapolis could be tricky as Round 4 of the Brazilian Stock Car series is being held on the same weekend as qualifying for the 500.

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1: Will Power (Penske), 52.84
2: Tristan Vautier (Sam Schmidt), 52.85
3: Alex Tagliani (Bryan Herta), 52.91
4: Josef Newgarden (Sarah Fisher Hartman), 52.93
5: Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne), 52.94
6: Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi), 52.94
7: Helio Castroneves (Penske), 53.00
8: Simona de Silvestro (KV Racing), 53.01
9: Oriol Servia (Panther/DRR), 53.02
10: JR Hildebrand (Panther), 53.04
11: Tony Kanaan (KV Racing), 53.13
12: Conor Daly (AJ Foyt), 53.29
13: Charlie Kimball (Chip Ganassi), 53.31
14: James Hinchcliffe (Andretti), 53.34
15: Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan), 53.48

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Takuma Sato has signed a deal to contest the 2013 IndyCar Series campaign for A.J. Foyt Racing. The Japanese driver, who finished 14th in the standings with Rahal Letterman Lanigan last year, replaces Britain's Mike Conway at the squad.

"I am extremely excited to be a part of A.J. Foyt Racing and working with ABC Supply for the 2013 season," said the ex-F1 driver. "I have seen the potential of the team last year on a number of occasions. I think the team has one of the best engineering staffs in the paddock led by Don Halliday. I can’t wait to start testing next month."

Team owner A.J. Foyt is equally pleased with the agreement, explaining that Sato's experience and relentless desite to succeed made him the obvious choice for 2013.

"There were a lot of question marks when the season ended, but I’m happy to put an end to all that now," explained Foyt. "We chose to go with Takuma Sato because he brings a lot of experience to our team but he has the hunger of a rookie.

"He’s certainly proven he has the desire to win. I think he has learned quite a bit in the short time he’s been over here and I look forward to working with him this year."

Sato, who will contest all 19 rounds of the 2013 IndyCar season, is set to be joined at the team by rookie Chase Austin for the blue riband Indianapolis 500 event in May.

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Mike Conway doesn't regret walking away from last season's IndyCar finale, a decision made when he realized he simply wasn't comfortable racing on ovals.

The Englishman just doesn't want that choice to mark the end of his IndyCar career.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is the first team to give Conway another chance, announcing Monday a one-race deal for the April 21 race on the street course at Long Beach. Conway, who scored the only IndyCar win of his career at Long Beach in 2011, will drive a second Honda for RLL.

''I'm very excited - it's a track I know well, and a place I've won before and I'm really looking forward to competing again,'' he told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

Conway has been trying to put together a program of street and road course races in IndyCar, the series he still wants to be part of despite his decision to give up his seat at Fontana last September. He walked away after a day of testing at the 2-mile oval, telling A.J. Foyt Racing he was too uneasy to continue.

Conway missed most of the 2010 season with serious injuries to his back and leg suffered in a last-lap crash at the Indianapolis 500. He was in the 2011 finale at Las Vegas when Dan Wheldon was killed, and was involved in a wreck at Indianapolis last season in which his car turned on its side against the fence.

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Sam Schmidt and new partner Ric Peterson now have the two-car expansion they wanted, Honda now have the teammate for Simon Pagenaud it sought all last season, and the rest of the IndyCar paddock now have a reason to be concerned.

As SPEED.com has recently chronicled, interest has grown in reigning Firestone Indy Lights Series champion Tristan Vautier after he made an emphatic IndyCar testing debut in early December with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Prior to the test, Vautier had dreams of joining the IndyCar Series, but it was his performance at the Sebring test that accelerated an interest in his services by SPM and Dragon Racing.

Dragon Racing looked like it was in pole position to sign the open-wheel phenom as teammate to 4-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais, but as I learned late last week, Vautier opted to sign for SPM, which will be formally announced Tuesday during a teleconference.

Not only has the 23-year-old come to terms with the team that carried him to the 2012 Lights title, but he'll also complete an all-French lineup for SPM with an incredible arsenal of engineering and mechanical support behind him.

The team's recent re-acquisition of championship-winning engineer Allen McDonald has been the biggest move among IndyCar personnel during the off-season, and coupled with the driving and mentoring talents of Pagenaud and the technical wizardry of his engineer Ben Bretzman, Vautier is stepping into the strongest scenario for an IndyCar rookie in recent memory.

Completing the funding to run Vautier has been an ongoing process, with a multitude of public and private backers stepping up to ensure the Mazda Road To Indy poster child becomes an IndyCar driver.

Along with Josef Newgarden, Vautier is now the second consecutive Lights champion to graduate directly into a full-time IndyCar Series ride, which can only help the ladder series as it looks to bolster its declining grid.

The series also confirmed Vautier will receive the full $1 million advancement prize due to signing to drive for a team that does not have a Leader Circle contract for the second entry he will pilot.

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Details were still being finalized Monday, but Andretti Autosport is expected to announce later this week that veteran IndyCar driver EJ Viso will join its program.

Viso has started 82 races with two different teams (HVM Racing and KV Racing Technology). He has not won a race.

If signed, Viso will join a stable that includes reigning series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti and James Hinchcliffe.

Viso finished 20th in last year’s standings. He finished a season-best fifth in Milwaukee.

The Venezuelan spent the past three seasons with the KV team. He will be 28 when the season begins in late March.

Michael Andretti’s team is expected to field five cars at the Indianapolis 500, the last one for Firestone Indy Lights driver Carlos Munoz.

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Op dinsdag 5 februari 2013 12:16 schreef Funzel het volgende:
Opmerkelijk, vind ik nou niet echt een hoogvlieger. Naja zal wel geld meebrengen.

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Number Entrant Driver
1 Andretti Autosport Ryan Hunter-Reay
3 Team Penske Helio Castroneves
4 Panther Racing JR Hildebrand
7 Dragon Racing Sebastien Bourdais
9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Scott Dixon
10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dario Franchitti
11 KV Racing Technology Tony Kanaan
12 Verizon Team Penske Will Power
14 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Takuma Sato
15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Graham Rahal
18 Dale Coyne Racing TBA
19 Dale Coyne Racing TBA
20 Ed Carpenter Racing Ed Carpenter
22 Panther DRR Oriol Servia
25 Andretti Autosport Marco Andretti
27 Andretti Autosport James Hinchcliffe
67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Josef Newgarden
77 Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports Simon Pagenaud
78 KV Racing Technology Simona de Silvestro
83 NovoNordisk Chip Ganassi Racing Charlie Kimball
98 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Alex Tagliani
TBA HVM Racing TBA

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AJ Allmendinger’s career is coming full circle – albeit making left and right turns.

Allmendinger, 31, will test an IndyCar for Penske Racing at Sebring International Raceway on Feb. 18 and 19. If the test is successful, Allmendinger will make his open-wheel debut for Penske Racing at Barber Motorsports Park on April 7.

Sources told FOXSports.com that if everything goes according to plan and sponsorship can be acquired, Allmendinger will also run at Long Beach in preparation for the Indianapolis 500.

“The first test is just to see how things go at Sebring,” Allmendinger said late Wednesday by phone. “It’s been seven years since I’ve been in one of those cars – and they’ve changed quite a bit. I know it won’t be easy. But I know I’ll be in the best possible equipment and I’ll have Will Power there – one of the fastest guys in the sport – to help me get up to speed. I’m really looking forward to it. At least Sebring is a track I know.