Talking IndyCar

After some time off without blogging (sorry for no Chinese GP report, did not have time to see the race). I am back and talking about the IRL with a preview of tonight's non-championship race in Australia as well as some news and rumours.

Will Power will be on pole for the Surfer's race, on a track that rewards experience and Road Course skill. The Surfer's track is very fast for a Street course with some high speed chicanes that leave no margin for error. This is also an event that usually features rain and surprise winner, in fact the only driver to win at Surfer's more than once is Sebastien Bourdais, who won there twice, more on Mr. Bourdais later. The starting grid highlights the experience and road course skill required with drivers like Alex Tagliani qualifying very well in 7th while the oval specialists like Danica Patrick, AJ Foyt IV, and Ed Carpenter were in all sorts of trouble and start near the back. This is a street course where passing is possible, rewarding the bravest and most talented drivers, thus I think that we will probably see a Ganassi victory tonight, with Dario Franchitti as my favourite, although he starts fourth as opposed to Dixon's second. Dario has won here in the past (1999) and has made a total of six starts at surfers. He appears not to have missed a single beat in Open wheelers after his unfortunate foray into NASCAR and has looked very strong. The Aussie pair of Will Power (1st) and Ryan Briscoe (3rd) will be the crowd favourites and also have a real good chance of winning this, as does dark horse Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2003 winner here, who lines up 5th. This could be a very interesting race, unfortunately here in Canada we won't be able to watch it live as TSN2 has decided to re-air a CFL game that they just finished showing on TSN instead of showing something live, thanks TSN.

The Rumour mill
The Rumour Mill starts turning in the French directon of Sebastien Bourdais. His future at Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One is up in the air, despite some really good performances recently and the four time Champ Car champion is pressuring team boss Gerhard Berger to clarify his future sooner rather than later. He is also looking for alternatives and has said he would want to come back to North American if he loses his job. Whether this means a return to Indycar remains to be seen, but in this hack's opinion it is not bloody likely he will be in a Dallara full time next year. For starters there are very few good seats available unless a top team decides to expand and I can't imagine Bourdais wanting to drive for Dale Coyne or Dreyer and Reinbold. Newman/Haas/Lanigan have yet to formally confirm Justin Wilson in the 02 car for next year and some people are suggesting that they are waiting on Bourdais for a decision, but I still don't see Bourdais replacing Wilson. I think the most likely scenario for Bourdais is the ALMS. He is a Le Mans boy through and through and desperately wants to win the famous 24 heures. He also has close ties to the Ambitious Peugeot Sports Car team who are rumoured to be interested in running some ALMS races next year. Bourdais will probably race for Peugeot in these select ALMS races and in the European LMES for them with maybe an appearance in the Indy 500. It would be great for the IRL to have Bourdais in a third NHL car, but not necessarily at the expense of Justin Wilson.

There are rumours of yet another small Indy Only team moving up to full time for next year. The team is Jason Priestlay's Rubicon race team who, according to Curt Cavin, have lined up somewhere around $6.5 Million dollars from 19 companies and are looking to run full time next year. $6.5 Million is a decent chunk of change, but still would be tight for a one car team and close to impossible for two cars. No word on who might be the drivers, but their 2008 Indy 500 drover Max Papis is planning to run some NASCAR races next year and with the money they have they will be hard pressed to pay an establised veteran like a Paul Tracy the money he will want. If this materializes I hope that they bring in someone from Indy Lights or Atlantics like a Richard Antinucci, an Ana Beatriz or Atlantic driver Jonathan Summerton. Many fans are clamouring for more American drivers in the series and small team are ideal to bring these young talents into the top flight. Although hiring drivers out of Europe may help the international exposure of the series, a lack of North American stars and drivers coming out of the feeder series sort of defeats the purpose of having a feeder series at all. The team may be able to snag an unemployed veteran like Tomas Scheckter or Darren Manning, but the series would be better off with new young talents.

Surfer's Paradise appears closer to a full time stay on the IndyCar schedule, although nothing is confirmed. Race Organizers have been quoted as saying the race will happen, but others are saying that a decision will be finalized within a few weeks or so. The stumbling block is the date. The Australian organizers want the race to be run in late October, but the IRL wants it in late September. The problem with September is a conflict with the Aussie Rules Football playoffs, which the organizers fear will sap fans from the race. The IRL wants to twin the event with the Motegi race, which is scheduled for September 19, making the 26th the most logical date for the Australia race. The Aussies want the race as the season finale, but the IRL wants the title showdown on an Oval in the United States and have promised that honour to Homestead-Miami speedway on October 11th. Theoretically they could push Homestead back by two weeks and run Motegi on October 4th and Surfer's on the 11th, but it may be too late for that as it could come into conflict with other events at those tracks, particularly Homestead which has a NASCAR race in early November. Hopefully an agreement is reached as Surfer's is a great event, but bickering and complication is what the IRL is all about so I will only believe any news that is officially confirmed as there is alot of negotiation still to come.