March 28, 2005
FAST FACTS - GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG
Sunday, April 3, 3:30 p.m. ESPN
St. Petersburg, Fla. street circuit
100 laps on the 1.8-mile street circuit for 180 miles
TOYOTA LOOKS FOR THIRD WIN IN LAST FOUR RACES – Fresh off a one-two finish at the XM Satellite Radio Indy 200 at Phoenix, Toyota will look for its third win in the last four races at the inaugural Grand Prix of St. Petersburg this weekend. In addition to Sam Hornish Jr.’s win at Phoenix, Helio Castroneves earned the top honors at the 2004 season-ending race in Texas. Overall, Toyota-powered entries have won 14 of the 34 IRL races since joining the IndyCar Series in 2003.
ON THE ROADS AGAIN – The race in St. Petersburg will be the first road course event in IRL history, but certainly not the first for Toyota in open-wheel racing. In fact, the manufacturer won its final road course event in Champ Car racing when Target Chip Ganassi Racing was victorious in Mexico City in 2002. Half the cars in this weekend’s field will be campaigned by teams that competed in that race.
SAM’S THE MAN – Sam Hornish, Jr. (Marlboro Toyota) has kicked off the 2005 season as the hottest driver on the IndyCar Series circuit with a second at the season-opening Toyota Indy 300 and a victory in the most recent event in Phoenix. The IRL’s all-time winningest driver currently leads the series point standings by six points heading into St. Pete. He will have one additional obstacle to overcome this weekend. St. Petersburg will be Hornish’s first course event since he won the Toyota Atlantic Championship Rookie of the Year honors in 1999.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT? – Heading into the series’ first road-course event, many of the drivers competing this weekend will be forced to polish off their road racing skills after racing in the previously all-oval IRL. One thing is certain, nobody in the series has logged more miles on road courses over the past few years than rookie Ryan Briscoe (Target/Pioneer Toyota). The 23-year-old Aussie spent the past two seasons testing for the Toyota Formula One team. In the process, he’s logged thousands of testing miles. Prior to beginning his testing role, Briscoe won the 2003 Euro F3 championship with eight wins. He also won the 2001 Italian Formula Renault title and was signed to the Toyota Driver Academy that season. Briscoe also won karting Formula A titles in both North America (1998) and Italy (1999). Briscoe is one of four current Toyota-powered drivers to have tested in Formula One with Darren Manning (BAR), Scott Dixon (Williams) and Helio Castroneves (Toyota F1) all having seen seat time in the world’s most prestigious road racing series.
GETTING COMFORTABLE – Despite the adjustment to a new team in a new series, Patrick Carpentier (Red Bull Toyota) has climbed into seventh-place overall after two races. The affable French Canadian placed seventh at Homestead and then registered an impressive ninth at Phoenix, despite having to start the race from the back of the field after missing qualifying due to a practice crash. Heading into St. Petersburg, Carpentier holds the distinction of being the most recent driver in the field to win a road course event as he earned the top honors at the Laguna Seca Champ Car race last year. He won a total of four Champ Car races on road courses.
FOUR TOYOTA-POWERED DRIVERS RANK IN TOP SEVEN – Four Toyota drivers currently rank in the top seven in points after the season’s first two races. Sam Hornish Jr. sits on top with 90 points, while Marlboro Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves is third with 70. Darren Manning (Target Toyota) is fifth and Patrick Carpentier is seventh.
TOYOTA ATLANTIC GRADS OFF TO FAST START – A pair of Toyota Atlantic Championship graduates have earned the first two victories of the IndyCar Series season as Dan Wheldon won at Homestead and Sam Hornish Jr. at Phoenix. The duo currently sits one-two in the point standings with Hornish holding the advantage. A year ago, TAC grads won seven of the 16 races run. In total, seven TAC grads are expected in the field at St. Petersburg.
Toyota IndyCar Series Driver Line-Up and Position Entering Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
Car # Driver Car Current Point Standing (wins)
#6 Sam Hornish Jr. Marlboro Toyota (Dallara) 1st (Phoenix)
#3 Helio Castroneves Marlboro Toyota (Dallara) 3rd
#10 Darren Manning Target Toyota (Panoz) 5th
#83 Patrick Carpentier Red Bull Toyota (Dallara) 7th
#51 Alex Barron Red Bull Toyota (Dallara 11th
#14 A.J. Foyt IV A.J. Foyt Toyota (Dallara) 12th
#9 Scott Dixon Target Toyota (Panoz) 14th
#91 Paul Dana Ethanol Toyota (Dallara) t14th
#20 Ed Carpenter Vision Racing Toyota (Dallara) 18th
#33 Ryan Briscoe Chip Ganassi Racing Toyota (Panoz) 20th
March 19, 2005
HORNISH, CASTRONEVES GIVE TOYOTA 1-2 SWEEP AT PHOENIX
- Sam Hornish Jr. (Marlboro Toyota) led teammate Helio Castroneves across the finish line to give Toyota a one-two finish at Saturday’s XM Satellite Radio Indy 200 at the Phoenix International Raceway. Toyota-powered cars took four of the top nine spots today.
- Today’s Toyota victory by Sam Hornish Jr. is the first of the season for Toyota, its second in the last three IRL races and the manufacturer’s 14th in 34 IRL events.
- Today’s victory is Sam Hornish’s first of the season and an IRL record-13th career win. It’s his second since joining Marlboro Team Penske last season and his second with Toyota power. The victory also is Hornish’s second victory here at PIR after winning in 2001. He also placed third here in 2002.
- With his win today, Sam Hornish Jr. moves into the series points lead with 90 points after finishing first and second in his first two races this season. He leads second-place by six points and holds a 20-point lead over third.
- With his second-place finish, Helio Castroneves (Marlboro Toyota) has now finished first or second in three of his four events here at PIR – winning in 2002 and finishing second in 2003 and 2005. He also had a sixth-place finish here a year ago.
- Helio Castroneves’ second-place showing marks his 15th top-10 finish in his last 18 IRL races.
- Darren Manning (Target Toyota) earned his second consecutive top-10 finish with an eighth-place today after placing sixth in the season-opening Toyota Indy 300. It also marks his second consecutive top-10 here at PIR with a fifth-place finish here last season.
- Patrick Carpentier’s (Red Bull Toyota) ninth-place finish gives him a second consecutive top-10 finish in his initial two IndyCar Series races. His performance was all the more impressive after being forced to start 20th after a practice crash yesterday forced him to miss qualifying. The former Champ Car stand-out was making his first start at PIR.
Driver, Start/Finish
Sam Hornish 6/1
Helio Castroneves 3/2
Darren Manning 11/8
Patrick Carpentier 20/9
Scott Dixon 8/12
Alex Barron 16/13
A.J. Foyt 17/14
Ed Carpenter 19/16
Ryan Briscoe 14/19
Paul Dana 22/21
Quotes:
Sam Hornish, Jr. # 6 Marlboro Toyota: “I just picked my lane and kept with it, just like you do on the high-banked tracks. I picked the bottom coming off the corner and took it right down the front straightaway. It’s hard to pass on the outside of Turn 1. I tried to go on the outside of Dario (Franchitti) a couple of times before, so I knew that when he went on the outside of me, he’d have a hard road to go. These Marlboro Team Penske guys did an awesome job for me in the pits today. We just had a lot of fun out there. We bided our time and made it to the end.”
Darren Manning, #10 Target Toyota: “We were right there at the end, but when I dashed in for a splash of fuel at the end we had a slight problem and that cost us few spots. Other than that, it was a fun, a good clean race and we’ll build on it. I’m really looking forward to hitting the streets of St.Pete in two weeks.”
Patrick Carpentier, #83 Red Bull Toyota: “Today we had a good day. We passed some people and moved up. Iain Watt, my engineer, had a fantastic strategy. We saved a lot of fuel and stayed out of the pits longer. Two races in the top ten. We learned so much this weekend. We are going to move forward and we will get it.”
Eddie Cheever Jr., Red Bull Cheever Racing team owner: “Patrick recovered very well from a bad accident yesterday. He has two races under his belt now. One on a mile-and-a-half oval and a difficult short oval. He did well on both of them . Our cars are still not quick enough, but we improved over Homestead. I am happy to see Toyota win today. We are working hard to be a part of that party very soon.”
Scott Dixon, #9 Target Toyota: “All in all it wasn’t that bad of a day I suppose. We were really loose at the first part of the runs. And the car seemed to come around after that when we got some laps under our belt. We really got caught back under the second to last caution period because of the gap in front of us, but that’s the way it goes. The Target team did I great job. It was just a combination of things that didn’t allow us to contend with the frontrunners today.”
Ryan Briscoe, #33 Target/Pioneer Toyota: “I was as low as I could get on the track when (Tony) Kanaan chopped down on me and broke the wing and that upset the rest of the race for us. I fell a lap down but the car really was awesome. I really felt like I had the best car out there. I felt so confident with it that we stayed out when everyone pitted to try to make up our lap, but staying on old tires ended up working against us. I definitely learned a lot more out there today and we’ll build on that.”
Point Standings
1. Sam Hornish Jr. 90
3. Helio Castroneves 70
5. Darren Manning 52
6. Patrick Carpentier 48
11. Alex Barron 41
12. A.J. Foyt IV 38
14. Scott Dixon 32
14. Paul Dana 32
17. Ed Carpenter 26
19. Ryan Briscoe 24
Next Race: St. Petersburg Grand Prix, April 3, ESPN 3 p.m.
March 18, 2005
CASTRONEVES’ THIRD PACES TOYOTA IN PHOENIX QUALIFYING
- For the second consecutive race, Marlboro Team Penske drivers Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish Jr. led the Toyota contingent in qualifying for Saturday’s XM Satellite Radio Indy 200 at the Phoenix International Raceway. Once again, Castroneves was the highest Toyota-powered competitor in third, while Hornish was sixth.
- The Target Toyota of Scott Dixon gave Toyota three cars in the top 10 in today’s qualifying. Dixon, who finished second here a year ago, placed eighth. His Target teammates Darren Manning and Ryan Briscoe were 11th and 14th, respectively.
- Sam Hornish Jr. and Helio Castroneves both will be looking for their second career Phoenix wins this weekend. Hornish won the event in 2001, while Castroneves was victorious in 2002.
- Neither Patrick Carpentier (Red Bull Toyota) or Paul Dana qualified today after suffering damage in two separate practice incidents. Carpentier’s incident occurred in the second session, while Dana made contact in the first session and did not practice in the afternoon.
Toyota-powered drivers qualifying for the XM Satellite Radio Indy 200
Car # Driver Car Qualifying
#3 Helio Castroneves Marlboro Toyota (Dallara) 3rd
#6 Sam Hornish Jr. Marlboro Toyota (Dallara) 6th
#9 Scott Dixon Target Toyota (Panoz) 8th
#10 Darren Manning Target Toyota (Panoz) 10th
#33 Ryan Briscoe Chip Ganassi Racing Toyota (Panoz) 14th
#51 Alex Barron Red Bull Toyota (Dallara 16th
#14 A.J. Foyt IV A.J. Foyt Toyota (Dallara) 17th
#20 Ed Carpenter Vision Racing Toyota (Dallara) 19th
#83 Patrick Carpentier Red Bull Toyota (Dallara) 20th
#91 Paul Dana Ethanol Toyota (Dallara) 22nd
March 15, 2005
FAST FACTS - XM Satellite Radio Indy 200
March 19, 3:00 p.m. EST on ABC
Phoenix International Raceway
200 laps on 1-mile oval for 200 miles
TOYOTA LOOKS FOR FIRST PHOENIX WIN - After finishing second in each of the past two years, Toyota will look for its first victory at the Phoenix International Raceway this Saturday at the XM Satellite Radio Indy 200 presented by Argent Mortgage. A year ago, it was Scott Dixon (Target Toyota) who earned Toyota’s runner-up finish. In 2003, Helio Castroneves (Marlboro Toyota) took second-place honors with Dixon dominating the early portion of the race before mechanical difficulties ended his day. Toyota has one Phoenix win under its belt – when P.J. Jones won the IMSA GTP finale on the Phoenix road course in a Toyota AAR Eagle for Dan Gurney’s All American Racers.
HELIO AND PHOENIX – Despite never having raced at Phoenix before moving to Indy Racing League competition, Helio Castroneves has finished sixth or above at PIR in his three full seasons of IndyCar Series competition. The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner won in the Valley of the Sun in 2002, placed second in 2003 and sixth in 2004.
ALSO SHINING IN THE SUN - Three other Toyota-powered drivers have earned top-five IndyCar Series finishes at PIR. Sam Hornish Jr. (Marlboro Toyota) won at Phoenix in 2001 for Panther Racing and finished third to Penske Racing teammates Castroneves and Gil de Ferran in 2002. In addition, Alex Barron (Red Bull Toyota) and Cheever Racing notched one of their top performances of 2004 at PIR with a fourth-place finish. Darren Manning (Target Toyota) also scored a top-five last season when he placed fifth right behind Barron.
PHOENIX NEWCOMERS – Patrick Carpentier (Red Bull Toyota) and Ryan Briscoe (Ganassi Toyota) will make their Phoenix racing debuts during the XM Satellite Radio Indy 200 this weekend. Both drivers have experience testing at PIR, but have never had the chance to race there. While a newcomer to the IRL ranks, Carpentier has shined on one-mile ovals throughout his career – particularly at the Milwaukee Mile.
STARTING STRONG – Both Patrick Carpentier and Paul Dana had strong starts to their IndyCar careers at the season-opening Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead. Carpentier, who placed third overall in Champ Car last season, overcame some first-race adjustments to lead four laps and earn a seventh-place finish.
Dana, last year’s IRL Pro Series runner-up, registered a top-10 finish in his first IndyCar Series start as well. The 10th-place showing moved the St. Louis native into an early lead in the Rookie of the Year standings in Ethanol Hemelgarn Racing’s return to the IndyCar ranks.
TOYOTA ATLANTIC GRADS TAKE THE TOP TWO SPOTS AT HOMESTEAD – Toyota Atlantic Championship graduates continued to show well in IndyCar Series competition in the season-opening Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead with the race’s top-two finishers both having come from the Atlantic ranks. Dan Wheldon, the 2000 TAC runner-up, gained the victory, while 1998 TAC Rookie of the Year Sam Hornish Jr. was second. In addition, 1996 series champion Patrick Carpentier was seventh, while 1997 TAC champion Alex Barron placed eighth. Three other former Toyota Atlantic grads also competed at Homestead; 2004 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice joining rookie Danica Patrick and Roger Yasukawa.
Toyota IndyCar Series Driver Line-Up and Position
XM Satellite Radio Indy 200
Car # Driver Car Current Point Standing (wins)
#3 Helio Castroneves Marlboro Toyota (Dallara) 5th
#6 Sam Hornish Jr. Marlboro Toyota (Dallara) 2nd
#9 Scott Dixon Target Toyota (Panoz) 16th
#10 Darren Manning Target Toyota (Panoz) 6th
#14 A.J. Foyt IV A.J. Foyt Toyota (Dallara) 9th
#20 Ed Carpenter Vision Racing Toyota (Dallara) 12th
#33 Ryan Briscoe Chip Ganassi Racing Toyota (Panoz) 20th
#51 Alex Barron Red Bull Toyota (Dallara 8th
#83 Patrick Carpentier Red Bull Toyota (Dallara) 7th
#91 Paul Dana Ethanol Toyota (Dallara) 10th
March 06, 2005
HORNISH’S SECOND LEADS WAY AS SEVEN TOYOTAS FINISH IN TOP 10 AT TOYOTA INDY 300
- Sam Hornish Jr. (Marlboro Toyota) finished second to lead seven Toyotas in the top-10 in Sunday’s Toyota Indy 300 in front of an estimated 40,000 fans at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.
- In three season-opening Toyota Indy 300s, Toyota-powered engines have now registered two victories, three seconds and a third.
- Four different Toyota-powered teams finished in the top-10 today with Marlboro Team Penske, Target Chip Ganassi Racing, Red Bull Cheever Racing and Ethanol Hemelgarn Racing all represented.
- Sam Hornish’s (Marlboro Toyota) second-place is his fourth top-two finish in five Homestead starts. The Ohio native won here in 2001, 2002 and 2004.
- Helio Castroneves’ (Marlboro Toyota) fifth-place showing marks his 14th top-10 finish in his last 17 IRL races. Castroneves joins Sam Hornish Jr. in giving Marlboro Team Penske two cars in the top-five today.
- Darren Manning (Target Toyota) placed sixth today, his best finish since a sixth-place finish at Nazareth last season.
- Patrick Carpentier (Red Bull Toyota) not only placed 7th in his first IndyCar start today, but also led his first IRL laps while taking the top spot for four laps beginning on Lap 35.
- Alex Barron (Red Bull Toyota) gave Red Bull Cheever Racing two cars in the top eight with an eight-place finish directly behind teammate Patrick Carpentier.
- A.J. Foyt IV earned his best career finish with a ninth-place showing today.
- Paul Dana (Ethanol Toyota) earned a top-10 finish in his first career IndyCar start with a tenth place finish
- Two Toyota-powered cars – Scott Dixon (Target Toyota) and Ed Carpenter (Vision Toyota) were both eliminated after getting caught up in an eight-car crash on a Lap 159 re-start. Rookie Ryan Briscoe was eliminated in an early one-car incident.
Driver, Start/Finish
Sam Hornish 8/2
Helio Castroneves 7/5
Darren Manning 12/6
Patrick Carpentier 19/7
Alex Barron 17/8
A.J. Foyt 18/9
Paul Dana 21/10
Scott Dixon 16/16
Ed Carpenter 20/18
Ryan Briscoe 22/20
Next Race: XM Satellite Radio Indy 200 presented by Argent Mortgage, March 19, ABC
March 05, 2005
PRUETT, DIAZ COMBINE TO PUT LEXUS IN TOP FIVE AT MIAMI GP
Scott Pruett and Luis Diaz combined to drive their CompUSA Lexus-Riley to a fifth-place finish to lead the Lexus-powered contingent at Saturday’s Miami Grand Prix at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Stefan Johansson and Cort Wagner drove the New Century Mortgage Lexus-Riley to a seventh-place finish to give Ganassi Racing two of the top 10 finishing cars for the day. Matteo Bobbi and Fabrizio Gollin rounded out the three Lexus-powered entries with an 11th-place finish in their Doran Racing Crown Royal Lexus-Doran. A day earlier Bobbi had earned Lexus’ highest qualifying position as he started in second on the outside of the first row.
“We were plagued again by the Homestead-Miami Speedway you could say,” said Pruett of his run of bad luck at the 2.3-mile Miami circuit. “I think it came down to some electrical problems in the CompUSA car today. We’re optimistic though. I’m happy with the championship points and looking forward to Fontana.”
After wet conditions contributed to a 20th-place qualifying effort for the Wagner/Johansson entry, things were looking up quickly in the race as they climbed up to sixth-place by the mid-way point. Unfortunately, a radio problem factored into a lengthy pit stop that would take the team out of contention for the victory.
“We lost two laps on our pit stop and that pretty much set the tone for us for the remainder of the race,” said Johansson. “Our speed was right there with the leaders, as well as the pace we were able to maintain. We got pinned back when we had to change out the radio during the pit and that cost us a lot of time. I hate to say that’s just motor racing, but I guess it sums up what happened to the New Century car today.”
The Crown Royal Doran team suffered through a roller-coaster weekend of ups and downs. After qualifying second on Saturday, an over-rev in the final practice resulted in the team being forced to change engines and the car being relegated to the back of the grid for Saturday’s green flag. More misfortune hit the team early on as they attempted to move back through the field and had contact with another car while passing for a position. The team eventually lost a lap early in the race, but ran strong the remainder of the day to place 11th.
"It was a chaotic race for us,” said Bobbi. “We were involved in two incidents immediately and fell back, but then the car was very good and we set some very good lap times. It's a big shame we had the problems early because we had the speed to have a good result.
The Rolex Sports Car Series will resume action in the Grand American 400 at the California Speedway with live SPEED coverage.
PENSKE DRIVERS LEAD TOYOTA IN TOYOTA INDY 300 QUALIFYING
- Marlboro Team Penske drivers Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish Jr. qualified seventh and eighth, respectively, to lead Toyota in qualifying for Sunday’s Toyota Indy 300 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.
- The seventh in qualifying ends a streak of four consecutive pole positions for Helio Castroneves. He tied an IndyCar Series record by taking the final four pole positions during the 2004 season at Nazareth, Chicago, Fontana and Texas.
- Toyota will be looking for its third consecutive Toyota Indy 300 victory tomorrow. Scott Dixon won the 2003 race after qualifying 12th, while Sam Hornish Jr. moved up from the 7th spot a year ago to win – both coming with Toyota power.
- Sam Hornish Jr. can make it four victories in five races at the Homestead-Miami Speedway if he can win tomorrow’s Toyota Indy 300.
- Three Toyota-powered drivers are set to make their IndyCar Series debut tomorrow as Patrick Carpentier, Paul Dana and Ryan Briscoe will be making their first starts in the series. After making light contact with the wall in the morning practice, Briscoe did not attempt to qualify and will start tomorrow’s race in the back-up #33T Target Toyota.
Toyota-powered drivers qualifying for the Toyota Indy 300
Car # Driver Car Qualifying
#3 Helio Castroneves Marlboro Toyota (Dallara) 7th
#6 Sam Hornish Jr. Marlboro Toyota (Dallara) 8th
#10 Darren Manning Target Toyota (Panoz) 12th
#9 Scott Dixon Target Toyota (Panoz) 16th
#51 Alex Barron Red Bull Toyota (Dallara 17th
#14 A.J. Foyt IV A.J. Foyt Toyota (Dallara) 18th
#20 Ed Carpenter Vision Racing Toyota (Dallara) 20th
#83 Patrick Carpentier Red Bull Toyota (Dallara) 19th
#91 Paul Dana Ethanol Toyota (Dallara) 21st
#33 Ryan Briscoe Chip Ganassi Racing Toyota (Panoz) 22nd
March 04, 2005
LEXUS ON FRONT ROW IN MIAMI GP QUALIFYING
Overcoming damp track conditions, Matteo Bobbi put his Crown Royal Lexus-Doran on the outside of the front row in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. It’s just the second Rolex Sports Car Series race for Bobbi, the 2003 FIA GT champion, who will team with Fabrizio Gollin in Saturday’s race.
“We’re very happy,” said Bobbi. “To start second in only my second Rolex Series race is very good. We're really happy for Lexus and (team owner) Kevin Doran. They did a great job. Tomorrow will be a very tough race. We will have to push hard all the way. It should be great race for the fans.”
Luis Diaz made it two Lexus-powered cars in the top four with a fourth-place showing in the CompUSA Lexus-Riley. A late qualifying caution cost him a chance to finish a run for the team’s record ninth consecutive pole position. It will be just the second time in 14 races since entering the series last year that the team will not start on the pole. Diaz and teammate Scott Pruett, the 2004 series champion, will combine on Saturday.
The #02 New Century Mortgage Lexus-Riley of Stefan Johanssen and Cort Wagner was the fastest in the first practice session, but qualified only 20th after Wagner slid off course in Turn One in the wet conditions.
The green flag for Saturday’s Miami Grand Prix is set for 3:00 p.m. (EST) with SPEED providing live coverage.