2016 was all Simon

                                   Crew Helmets on Pagenaud's Car at Indy 2016

It was only fitting for the championship to play out the way it did in 2016.

With a dominating drive from the pole position, Simon Pagenaud won the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma and earned his first Verizon IndyCar Series championship.

Pagenaud led 76 of the 85 laps in the No. 22 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chevrolet to score his fifth win of the season and wrap up the title. It secured Team Penske’s 14th Indy car championship in its 50th year of operation.

“It’s unbelievable. I think I will realize it more tomorrow,” Pagenaud said. “What a race!”

Pagenaud’s win was the 10th by a Team Penske driver in the 16 races this season and the 187th all-time in Indy cars for the revered racing organization.

“There is so much emotion right now, to be honest,” said Pagenaud, fighting back tears. “I can’t find the words. My whole career has been about this, about today and getting to this point and to this level.”

Pagenaud is the first Frenchman since Sebastien Bourdais to win an Indy car championship. Bourdais won four successive championships from 2004-07 under the sanctioning of Champ Car.

“What I'm thinking about right now is it's been a long career,” said Pagenaud. “You start, 7 years old. You go through a lot. I remember my first race in France in a go-kart. It was raining. I had my visor open because I had the wrong helmet. I still have that picture at home. The ground I covered since is quite incredible.”

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal (No. 15 Steak ‘n Shake Honda) crossed the finish line 3.2523 seconds adrift of Pagenaud, with Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet), Ryan Hunter-Reay (No. 28 DHL Andretti Autosport Honda), and Sunoco Rookie of the Year Alexander Rossi (No. 98 Castrol Edge/Curb Andretti Herta Autosport Honda) rounding out the top five in the 2016 season finale on Sonoma Raceway’s 2.385-mile permanent road course.

Pagenaud held a 43-point advantage over teammate Will Power heading into the weekend and added a point by winning the Verizon P1 Award in qualifying Saturday. Power started fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet and moved into second place behind Pagenaud after the first round of pit stops. But a clutch malfunction on Lap 36 forced Power to stop on track and bring out a full-course caution. The Australian finished the race in 20th place to secure second in the championship for the fourth time in his career, 127 points behind Pagenaud.

“Yeah, it was obviously disappointing to have that gearbox problem,” said Power, a three-time Sonoma winner. “It's a 1-2-3 for the team (in the championship), which is really good, considering how it finished last year. I think the team is really strong now.

“I’ve raced (Simon) for 10 years and I’m happy to see him win a championship,” Power said, “even though I finished second to him.”

Helio Castroneves finished the race in seventh place in the No. 3 Hitachi Chevrolet to wind up third in the championship. It gave Team Penske its second 1-2-3 sweep in the standings, after also accomplishing the feat in 1994 (Al Unser Jr., Emerson Fittipaldi, Paul Tracy).

“It was a great run,” said team owner Roger Penske. “I just take my hat off to the whole team, and what they’ve done all season long. And to cap it off with another win, 10 wins for these guys, certainly Pagenaud dug deep all year and came up with a win for the team.”

It was all Pagenaud, all race long. The Frenchman put on a championship drive en route to stamping his name in the history books as the champion. Rahal pushed him over the closing laps, but was never able to attempt a pass for the lead.

“Good day, good way to end it,” Rahal said. “I wanted to get Pagenaud, but when I’d get behind him, I’d get massively loose. I thought at one point it was best I salvage a second place rather than do something stupid.”

Josef Newgarden (No. 21 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka/ECR Chevrolet) finished sixth in the race to claim fourth in the championship. Rahal’s runner-up result in the race scored him a fifth-place championship finish, tops among the Honda drivers. Chevrolet clinched the manufacturers’ championship for the fifth straight year – each season since engine competition resumed in 2012.

Rossi ran out of fuel coming out of the last turn of the last lap, allowing teammate Hunter-Reay to overtake him for fourth place in the race. Still, Rossi, the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner when he also coasted across the finish line, clinched Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors for the season.

Not the best of days for outgoing Champ kiwi Scott Dixon who fell from 3rd in the standings to 6th and a back half of the season that could have been better apart from the massive performance at Watkins Glen. Never one to be out of the mix Dixon and the team will be one to watch yet again next season.

The 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season – a total of 17 races with all the same venues as this year and the addition of Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis – kicks off March 12 with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

                                            Media supplied Quotes from Indy Car Media.

                                               Photos ex the David Turner collection

Looking to 2017.

IndyCar announces and aero kit development freeze for 2017 and a universal car in 2018.

News last week from Indianapolis when it was announced that IndyCar  has placed a freeze on aero kit development for manufacturers Chevrolet and Honda that will take effect immediately in preparation for the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season. 

Manufacturers will run their current aero kit specifications next season as the series and IndyCar prepares to introduce a universal aero kit for the start of the 2018 season.

"The announcement follows an extended dialogue with Chevrolet, Honda, our teams and stakeholders - this decision focused on what is best for the future of the Verizon IndyCar Series," said Jay Frye, IndyCar  president of competition and operations. "This is an integral component to INDYCAR's long-term plan to continue to produce the highest quality of on-track competition while also positioning ourselves to add additional engine manufacturers."

Aero kit regulations were initially announced in 2013 and introduced into on-track competition in 2015. The kits featured aerodynamic bodywork components that were designed, manufactured and supplied by Chevrolet and Honda for road/street/short oval courses and a separate kit for superspeedways.

"The 2018 car is a tremendous opportunity for INDYCAR and the design collaboration is already underway," Frye continued. "The goal of the universal car is to be great-looking, less aero dependent, have more potential for mechanical grip/downforce and to incorporate all the latest safety enhancements." 

Simply Dixon Magic.

Dixon's perfect drive nets 40th career win, fourth at Watkins Glen.

                                                 

WATKINS GLEN, 

Upstate New York Sunday 4th September. Scott Dixon capped what can only be called a perfect weekend on Sunday in a faultless drive to win the IndyCar Grand Prix at The Glen as the IndyCar Series made its  return to Watkins Glen International  and the beautiful yet mega demanding raceway.

The No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver led 50 of 60 laps to collect his fourth triumph on the 3.37-mile permanent road course steeped in open-wheel racing history. It was also the 40th victory of the 36-year-old's Indy car career, breaking a tie with legendary Al Unser for fourth on the all-time list.

Dixon, the four-time series champion, nursed his final tank of Sunoco E85R ethanol for 19 laps (64.03 miles) to cross the finish line 16.5308 seconds ahead of Josef Newgarden in the 10th Verizon IndyCar Series race at Watkins Glen and first since 2010. It was also the 102nd Indy car win for Chip Ganassi Racing Teams.

"I just love being back here," said Dixon, who won three straight at the track from 2005-07. "I think we should have a double-points race here and probably race two or three times (a season) at The Glen.

"These are the weekends that you definitely don't forget, just in the sheer fact of we had such a smooth one. The car was just fantastic and the track, I love. I love coming to upstate New York and this track is one of the old-school great American tracks that we're lucky enough to come back here and race."

Despite the outcome, Dixon and five other drivers were eliminated from Verizon IndyCar Series championship contention with only the 2016 season finale. The GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on Sept. 18 that pays double race points - remaining on the schedule. Team Penske teammates Simon Pagenaud and Will Power are the two drivers still eligible, with Pagenaud holding a 43-point advantage.

Pagenaud, in the No. 22 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chevrolet, finished seventh in today's race. Power finished 20th after making contact with Charlie Kimball and crashing the No. 12 Verizon Chevy into the Turn 5 barrier. Power was examined by the IndyCar medical staff and released from the Watkins Glen care center, but has not been cleared to resume driving pending further evaluation of concussion-like symptoms.

"It was a pretty eventful day," Pagenaud said. "The last caution made it so the guys in front had to save a lot of fuel, and we didn't save enough at the start of the stint and were very slow. We made it back in seventh and, for the championship, the day was very good. We collected a lot of points and we have a bit of a cushion going into Sonoma. We still have to race hard, but it's going to be a lot more comfortable."

Starting from pole position after leading all four practice sessions during the weekend, Dixon - who donated his $40,000 weekend winnings to the Justin Wilson Children's Fund to support the family of the late Indy car driver - was the class of the 22-car field. He built a lead of more than 14 seconds prior to the last of three full-course cautions for the incident with Power and Kimball on Lap 39.

Dixon made his final pit stop on Lap 41 and took the Lap 42 restart in fourth place behind Carlos Munoz, Takuma Sato and Marco Andretti - each electing not to pit under the caution but forced to do so within the next seven laps.

Once back in front, Dixon managed his fuel while others behind made late stops for a splash or ran out altogether. Newgarden also completed the last 19 laps on one tank in the No. 21 Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka/ECR Chevrolet, overtaking James Hinchcliffe, who ran out of ethanol on the last lap, for second place.

"I think we had a great car in the race," said Newgarden, a podium finisher for the fourth time this season. "Wasn't as good as Scott's; I think he was just clearly ahead of everyone this weekend."

Helio Castroneves finished third in the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske, his best performance in seven Watkins Glen races.

Earlier race incidents saw Mikhail Aleshin back into the Turn 4 barrier on Lap 15 and Graham Rahal hit the barrier in Turn 1 on Lap 20 after making contact with Kimball. Neither Aleshin and Rahal nor were injured.

This continues to prove that even if he is not in the final championship race battle year after year Dixon is one to never be counted out and he remains in the battle for the second place in the championship making him just a stand out driver again the series.

  

Quotes ex Indy Car Media Services and Photos ex the David Turner collection.

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