Indycar Honda Grand Prix of Alabama

Ready to go! I just clicked over to live timing and scoring (http://racecontrol.indycar.com/) to get the link for my post, and saw that they're already into the last group (12:00 cdt). I'll wait for the broadcast, so if anyone here posts results before then, please use 'Spoiler Alert' in the title.

Practice results (link below) are once again interesting, with Penske leading the way (ballroom dance champion Helio), but followed in order by perennial Indy 500 position buyer Alex Tagliani, rookie of the year shoe-in Tristan Vautier, and everyone's pick to win a race Simon Pagenaud. Those guys have Honda power, who maybe got some of the issues resolved that caused lots of early season bitching (shut up and throw your wallet at it, Chip). Dinger was 8th in combined practice times, so he must be getting comfortable in one of the most well-prepared cars in the field.
http://media.indycar.com/pdf/2013/indycar-results-pcomb_Day_1_BAR.pdf

Barber Motorsports Park always looks like a cool place to go see a race, and with us here in the upper midwest finally shaking off the icicles, would be a great destination race to get ready for The Greatest Spectacle. I just wish there was an oval before May so I could bet more familiar with who's in what, you know what I mean?
 
Hinche is mad at Power.
 
that type of qualifying is a mess, they could run them one at a time, not like it would take much more time, they try to have a clear track anyway, just give them one.
 
Another mistake as a result of them trying to copy F1. If you want to have multiple tire compounds, that's fine, but 'knockout qualifying' needs to go away. Especially at Indy, otherwise someday the driver who does the fastest four laps on Saturday won't be on the pole. And that would just be wrong.
 
All right, looks like it's going to be a great day for a race. I'll post links to the good stuff instead of making a jumbo post:
http://www.indycar.com/News/2013/04/4-6-Barber-race-setup
http://racecontrol.indycar.com/
http://www.wunderground.com/weather-forecast/US/AL/Birmingham.html

There was some NASCAR-style complaining after qualifying yesterday, with drivers accusing each other of intentionally blocking. Hinch pretty much said 'karma will occur at some point'.

So, who do ya'll got? It's hard to pick against the top dogs, especially with the Honda's back to form, so I'll go a little outside the box and pick Charlie Kimball, with Justin Wilson as my dark horse.
 
Yeah, not the most exciting race of all, but that's how it goes sometimes. It looked to me like it was hard to pass, unless a driver tried to 'dive-bomb' through the downhill esses. Oh well, on to the venerable Streets of Long Beach. Talk about hard to pass! Qualifying is going to be really important!
 
I thought it was a good race. Some exciting moments. I was told once that Barber was designed with the superbikes in mind, hence why it's so narrow, but don't know that for sure.

Did they change the rules regarding re-entering the track after a car has come off? Seemed like Hinch and Franchitti were purposefully staying in the car, even when they were off the track. I remember last year at Fontana when Power wrecked, he was out of the car and re-entered the track.
 
KevinWI said:
I thought it was a good race. Some exciting moments. I was told once that Barber was designed with the superbikes in mind, hence why it's so narrow, but don't know that for sure.
Click to expand...

Went there for the first time this weekend. That track was definitely designed with motorcycle racing in mind, way too narrow for Indycar and Grand-Am. Obviously the owner of the track is way into motorcycles, much more than 4 wheel racing. They have a museum at the track, I think I heard them say over the announcement that their museum is "the largest motorcycle museum in the world". As a spectator at the event, I really liked that you could see almost the entire track from the grandstands, that is so rare with road courses. Definitely not the best IndyCar race i've seen, but it was pretty entertaining.
 
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