IndyCar 2018

Ghost Train

Rain delayed at the moment

On hold until 14.30 EST (19.30)

donspeekinglesh

Holy crap. Hinch is out.
And gutted for Mann. Not the quickest driver out there, but a great ambassador for the race.

Missed it, what happened?

Charlie-Bravo

35 entries and only 33 for qualification. Pippa Mann just didn't have the speed and Hinch had a vibration so aborted his last effort. He didn't have time to go again. The speed wasn't really there for Hinch TBH in previous attempts.

All that effort and two cars/drivers don't get to race the Indy 500.

TheChrisD

Last row - #64 Servia (225.007), #17 Daly (224.874), #33 Davison (224.798)
Bumped - #63 Mann (223.343), #5 Hinchcliffe (224.784 - withdrawn)

Such fine margins at the end of the field. Pippa's first run was her fastest but only 224.360.

And now the circlejerk will roll on for the next week and a bit wondering things like: should SPM have pulled Hinch's time to put him in the fast lane earlier, did ABC forcing quali to end at 5:50 screw the pooch, will he take another SPM or Honda ride or just tough it out since they're only points after all?

Infoanon

I would expect Hinch to replace one of his teammates as Indy is a double points race - at Indy it's the car not the driver that is qualified.

Faugheen

Yeah, I'd be surprised if Hinch isn't in the race as a full-time driver in the series itself.

Ghost Train

Looks like a different sort of race than usual with the current aerodynamics, very spread out. Hopefully will be close fight at the end but seems unlikely

Ghost Train

More of a challenge with the cars more unstable. Sato and Danica both out

H3llR4iser

Mmm...the "faster means worse racing" mantra seems to be striking once again. Very odd to see Indycars being unable to follow each other into corners, not to mention DOWNSHIFTS TO 4TH in the middle of the corners!

Ghost Train

Pity to see Boardais out. Just lost it behind a car

Not sure if these cars are any safer than the pack racing last year. Feels like there are more crashes

Probably more about car performance and fuel saving this year

Charlie-Bravo

These cars are completely on the aero limit. Once they go over it, good luck with trying to recover it.

Ghost Train

Debate on btsport whether he has a mechanical problem or just lost it coming out of the corner

Looked like it was just lack of down force from car in front

I think maybe just taking more downforce off during the pit stop and went too far to try and compete for the win

Ghost Train

Another crash, probably won't be the last

Lucky he didn't hit end of pit wall

Charlie-Bravo

Pretty mad, real lack of aero grip through the corners.

Ghost Train

I suppose they're all pushing the limit

donspeekinglesh

Other than Sato/Davison every accident has been a car losing out on its own.

Charlie-Bravo

So tyres got a bit dirty off line in previous corner for Castro.

Shaping up to be an interesting finish. I'm wondering if Rossi has saved plenty of fuel and can now challenge for the win.

Charlie-Bravo

Another one lost into the wall.

Rossi backed out of that corner cause he could see trouble ahead. He dropped a place due to it. Sensible.

Ghost Train

Rossi has been very impressive but very risky, hopefully he finishes

The three and four wide racing looks scary

Charlie-Bravo

Kansan loses it this time. Maybe tyres getting on a bit. 12 laps left.

Ghost Train

was hoping Wilson might have had it. Looking like Power to win it now

Cool_CM

Ghost Train wrote: »

was hoping Wilson might have had it. Looking like Power to win it now

Same - that would have been class!

TheChrisD

Ghost Train wrote: »

Not sure if these cars are any safer than the pack racing last year. Feels like there are more crashes

There are more in number, yes; but all bar one were down to single-car incidents. Much different to the past few years that have had multi-car crashes - particularly last year's pileup towards the end.

Infoanon

It was great to see someone enjoying their win and the raw emotion that was on display and the congratulations from other drivers was awesome.

The racing was not as good as eg Montoya/Power side by side but the tension was as high as fuel gambles came into play - for me the right driver won this year.

To add Penske have already confirmed that Helio will be back in 2019

Faugheen

Any time I see Rossi racing I've been impressed by him. Genuinely think he couldn't do any worse than Grosjean for Haas.

Charlie-Bravo

I think Grosjean would be great in Indycar. I know he did very well in GP2, but I think F1 is quite restrictive and if you don't have a seat in a top team you won't score well. Yes, he has made some poor racing decisions, but I do think Indycar is a bit more spreadout and I believe if Grosjean went there, he could emulate what Bourdais has achieved.

Are BT pushing the start of coverage back because of baseball?

Charlie-Bravo

It looks like it. Coverage was supposed to start at 1am.

Sake, one of the best races of the season