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Difficult Wednesday At Indy For Castroneves
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At 11:45 a.m. yesterday, IndyCar officially announced Helio Castroneves had been docked eight championship points for “avoidable contact” at the start of last Saturday’s Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Castroneves, starting third, ran into the back of second-place starter Scott Dixon.
Less than one hour later, the penalty was the least of Castroneves’ concerns as the Team Penske driver spun in turn one and the rear of his Chevrolet lifted off the ground sending the Brazilian driver airborne. The car flipped, landed upside-down and then bounced back on all four wheels.
“The car was really good and I am very blessed,” Castroneves said after he was examined and released from the IU Health Infield Care Center at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “Unfortunately I still do not understand what happened. I got loose in Turn one and spun out. The good news is the impact wasn’t very strong and the landing was smooth as well.
“In all aspects, I have to say I was very lucky there was no big shunt. The accident was most impressive, but the good news is I am feeling very good. This just set us back one day since it is Wednesday. The good news is we still have Thursday and Friday before qualifying. I’m counting on my guys, my boys, to put the car back together and go back to work.”
Because Chevrolet and Honda introduced Aero Kits this season it has created a “law of unintended consequences” situation. This is the first time the superspeedway kit has been used in IndyCar action this season after the first five contests have been on street and road courses.
“We’re playing with new areas from an aerodynamic standpoint, and of course going backwards at that speed, you don’t know what kind of lift it had, but obviously it got airborne, which we were surprised, so we’re going to take a good look at it,” team owner Roger Penske said.
Castroneves, however, didn’t have to wait until Thursday to get back on track. His Team Penske crew prepared the backup Chevrolet and he was back at speed with less than 20 minutes left in Wednesday’s practice session.
“The car was very fast—we even were taking off,” Castroneves said. “But that’s not the way we want to take off. I have to thank the messages from the fans for the encouragement. I’m here today because of those prayers and the safety and the track. I have to pay a big respect to my guys at Team Penske, just to be able to put a car together and be back again. That was impressive. You cannot be scared. When you go out there you are more confident because of all these guys.
“I’m super happy now we were able to run. I didn’t want to wait until Thursday so now we focus on Thursday and Friday.”
Castroneves did not expect to flip backwards but was surprised by the soft landing.
“It’s like I spun out any other race track,” said Castroneves, who has had just one other crash in the Indy 500 in 2006. “This new Aero Kit we are trying something different and even the most experienced guys get surprised. For me looking at the data I know exactly what happened so I have no issues. It’s understanding the car and it’s limits. To come back like this is great.
“Now, we can focus on the next two days.”
Castroneves believes the setup from Tuesday worked but the new sidepod the team is using pushed the limit under Wednesday’s weather conditions, which was clear, sunny and cool.
“It’s the risk that we are involved,” Castroneves said. “When I lost it in Turn 1 I lost it and I expected it to win but when it took off it was surprising. I was expecting a big shunt and it didn’t happen.
“My life flashes by me every day so that is nothing new to me.”
Castroneves was able to end his day with a smile on what could have been a very difficult time for the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner.
“Things happen here so fast you can’t predict them and when you do you have to handle the situation and that is what your guys did here today,” Penske said. “You are always concerned when a car gets backwards the way the car went up and went over but you can only test so much in your simulations and wind tunnel. This is something that is good to know now and look at it and try to help all of the cars on the track. The whicker on the front of the car pinned the front down as it was sliding and the rear end went up in the air and the holes in the floor exacerbated that.”
Castroneves’ saga overshadowed Carlos Munoz posting the fastest speed of the week at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when the Honda driver turned a lap at 230.121 miles per hour for Andretti Autosport.
Munoz’s fast lap came with just six minutes left in Wednesday’s practice.
“Really, we were not looking for a tow, we just made a change and said, ‘OK let’s go in the group and see if we can just cop a tow and feel the car in traffic a little bit,’” Munoz explained. “I went back to the pack and it’s practice, so whoever gets the best tow is the one who is going to finish first. The positive thing is that I feel really comfortable with the car, the car feels OK. In traffic and by my own, I feel fast. We have to continue working, we have still two days of testing so we have to try some stuff.”
Townsend Bell’s Chevrolet was second at 223.969 mph followed by 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan’s 228.172 mph in a Chevrolet. James Davison’s Honda was fourth at 228.043 mph followed by second-year driver Sage Karam’s Chevrolet at 227.822 mph.
Thirty-three drivers ran 2,146 laps in Wednesday practice. There is more action Thursday with practice running from 12 noon to 6 p.m. Eastern Time.
“We’re staying in a tight little box, being a single-car program, only event of the year so far with the team,” said Bell, driving the No. 24 The Robert Graham Special Chevrolet entered by Dreyer & Reinbold-Kingdom Racing. “Trying to be pragmatic and just stay focused on the fundamentals. So far, so good. We hit the track pretty reasonable, thanks to (team managing director and former Indy car driver) Davey Hamilton for shaking down the car (on opening day May 3), I was in Monterey for a (sports car) race. Davey did a nice job to just work out the bugs for us and we were able to hit the ground running when we got here.”
Less than one hour later, the penalty was the least of Castroneves’ concerns as the Team Penske driver spun in turn one and the rear of his Chevrolet lifted off the ground sending the Brazilian driver airborne. The car flipped, landed upside-down and then bounced back on all four wheels.
“The car was really good and I am very blessed,” Castroneves said after he was examined and released from the IU Health Infield Care Center at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “Unfortunately I still do not understand what happened. I got loose in Turn one and spun out. The good news is the impact wasn’t very strong and the landing was smooth as well.
“In all aspects, I have to say I was very lucky there was no big shunt. The accident was most impressive, but the good news is I am feeling very good. This just set us back one day since it is Wednesday. The good news is we still have Thursday and Friday before qualifying. I’m counting on my guys, my boys, to put the car back together and go back to work.”
Because Chevrolet and Honda introduced Aero Kits this season it has created a “law of unintended consequences” situation. This is the first time the superspeedway kit has been used in IndyCar action this season after the first five contests have been on street and road courses.
“We’re playing with new areas from an aerodynamic standpoint, and of course going backwards at that speed, you don’t know what kind of lift it had, but obviously it got airborne, which we were surprised, so we’re going to take a good look at it,” team owner Roger Penske said.
Castroneves, however, didn’t have to wait until Thursday to get back on track. His Team Penske crew prepared the backup Chevrolet and he was back at speed with less than 20 minutes left in Wednesday’s practice session.
“The car was very fast—we even were taking off,” Castroneves said. “But that’s not the way we want to take off. I have to thank the messages from the fans for the encouragement. I’m here today because of those prayers and the safety and the track. I have to pay a big respect to my guys at Team Penske, just to be able to put a car together and be back again. That was impressive. You cannot be scared. When you go out there you are more confident because of all these guys.
“I’m super happy now we were able to run. I didn’t want to wait until Thursday so now we focus on Thursday and Friday.”
Castroneves did not expect to flip backwards but was surprised by the soft landing.
“It’s like I spun out any other race track,” said Castroneves, who has had just one other crash in the Indy 500 in 2006. “This new Aero Kit we are trying something different and even the most experienced guys get surprised. For me looking at the data I know exactly what happened so I have no issues. It’s understanding the car and it’s limits. To come back like this is great.
“Now, we can focus on the next two days.”
Castroneves believes the setup from Tuesday worked but the new sidepod the team is using pushed the limit under Wednesday’s weather conditions, which was clear, sunny and cool.
“It’s the risk that we are involved,” Castroneves said. “When I lost it in Turn 1 I lost it and I expected it to win but when it took off it was surprising. I was expecting a big shunt and it didn’t happen.
“My life flashes by me every day so that is nothing new to me.”
Castroneves was able to end his day with a smile on what could have been a very difficult time for the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner.
“Things happen here so fast you can’t predict them and when you do you have to handle the situation and that is what your guys did here today,” Penske said. “You are always concerned when a car gets backwards the way the car went up and went over but you can only test so much in your simulations and wind tunnel. This is something that is good to know now and look at it and try to help all of the cars on the track. The whicker on the front of the car pinned the front down as it was sliding and the rear end went up in the air and the holes in the floor exacerbated that.”
Castroneves’ saga overshadowed Carlos Munoz posting the fastest speed of the week at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when the Honda driver turned a lap at 230.121 miles per hour for Andretti Autosport.
Munoz’s fast lap came with just six minutes left in Wednesday’s practice.
“Really, we were not looking for a tow, we just made a change and said, ‘OK let’s go in the group and see if we can just cop a tow and feel the car in traffic a little bit,’” Munoz explained. “I went back to the pack and it’s practice, so whoever gets the best tow is the one who is going to finish first. The positive thing is that I feel really comfortable with the car, the car feels OK. In traffic and by my own, I feel fast. We have to continue working, we have still two days of testing so we have to try some stuff.”
Townsend Bell’s Chevrolet was second at 223.969 mph followed by 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan’s 228.172 mph in a Chevrolet. James Davison’s Honda was fourth at 228.043 mph followed by second-year driver Sage Karam’s Chevrolet at 227.822 mph.
Thirty-three drivers ran 2,146 laps in Wednesday practice. There is more action Thursday with practice running from 12 noon to 6 p.m. Eastern Time.
“We’re staying in a tight little box, being a single-car program, only event of the year so far with the team,” said Bell, driving the No. 24 The Robert Graham Special Chevrolet entered by Dreyer & Reinbold-Kingdom Racing. “Trying to be pragmatic and just stay focused on the fundamentals. So far, so good. We hit the track pretty reasonable, thanks to (team managing director and former Indy car driver) Davey Hamilton for shaking down the car (on opening day May 3), I was in Monterey for a (sports car) race. Davey did a nice job to just work out the bugs for us and we were able to hit the ground running when we got here.”
