IndyCar: 2010 Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma [SPOILERS]

2010 Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma – Click above for high-res image gallery

Just five races remain on the 2010 Indy Racing League IndyCar schedule, and only one of those is a road course. The final four rounds of the championship will all be contested on ovals – but this weekend the drivers will be taking on Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Last race at Mid-Ohio, series points leader Will Power saw his lead shrink a bit when second place Dario Franchitti took the win. Still, Power clinched the inaugural Mario Andretti trophy for being the road course champ. Not a lot of drivers have a shot at catching the seemingly invincible super Power, but Franchitti has a better track record at Sonoma…and on ovals.

In fact, Power had a pretty nasty crash at Infineon just last year, while Franchitti claimed victory, so it was going to be interesting to see if 2010 would bring a reversal of fortune for the duo. Heading into qualifying, Power was looking to extend his consecutive pole position record and secure enough points to give him a bigger buffer going into the ovals, which haven’t been as lucky for him to date. Follow the jump to see how things played out at Infineon.

[Images: Donald Miralle, Christian Petersen/Getty Images | George Nikitin, Rich Pedroncelli/AP]

While he made it through the first round of qualifying with no problem, Power seemed to be struggling a bit in round two and looked like he might actually be outside the Firestone Fast Six for the first time in a very long time. On his next-to-last lap, however, Will cranked off a lap good enough for best time of the day. That same speed carried over into the final round and Power succeeded in stretching his record Peak Performance Pole Position count to eight overall in 210. Amazing. Teammate Helio Castroneves was second followed by rival Target Chip Ganassi’s Dario Franchitti, setting up an interesting run into Turn One.

When the green flag flew, the field started to string out, but everybody was quickly back down to pace car speeds as Dan Wheldon didn’t even make it to the start-finish line before he was upside down on track. It appeared that he drifted a bit wide coming out of the last corner and clipped the right front tire of Bertrand Baguette’s car, launching his racer into a barrel roll. The safety team righted the car and Wheldon was shaken up but apparently fine otherwise.

The first five laps were run under yellow, but that didn’t take anything away from the fact that Will Power had officially led 12 of the 13 races this season – the only blemish on an otherwise perfect record coming at Kansas. There were several good battles all the way down the running order, with cars going three wide at times into the Carousel. Up towards the front, Dario Franchitti managed to get past Helio Castroneves for second, but nobody looked to be making a serious move on Power who was lapping a full second faster than anyone else at one point.

Will was out front at Lap 25 too, the race moving quickly following that opening lap shunt. As the cars completed their first round of pit stops around Lap 30, it was Power, Marco Andretti, J.R. Hildebrand, Ryan Briscoe, Franchitti, Scott Dixon, Castroneves, Justin Wilson, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal in the top ten spots, although Andretti and Hildebrand were on a different pit strategy.

The first full-course caution since the opening lap came out on Lap 33 when Milka Duno spun in Turn 7 and came to rest in a precarious position. Simona di Silvestro pitted under yellow to replace a damaged nosecone, while Andretti and E.J. Viso finally made their first stops. As the field went back to green on Lap 35, Power’s lead had shrunk back to nothing, but his Penske teammate, Briscoe was now between him and Franchitti.

A couple of laps later, Marco Andretti got a run on J.R. Hildebrand, but locked up his tires and clipped the rookie, spinning both of them. There wasn’t a lot of damage to Andretti’s car, but Hildebrand would be out for the day once he was brought back to the pits. Although not a major impact, it was still enough to bring out the third caution of the day.

The next restart on Lap 41 was clean, and everybody looked to be on their best behavior for the run to the finish. Although Power was once again drawing away from the pack, the other top runners were tightly bunched, with Franchitti and his Target Chip Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon all over Ryan Briscoe who was running in second. The final round of stops started around Lap 52 and with just about 23 laps to run, almost everybody chose to run the grippier red striped Bridgestones to the checkers. With the possibility those softer tires might go off before the finish if the race went green the rest of the way, however, Dario decided to try the blacks. When Dixon decided to stay out as Power pitted, it was the first time in the race that Will hadn’t led.

Dixon had to stop again though, and with 15 laps to go, it was once again Power out front, followed by Franchitti, Dixon, Briscoe, Castroneves, Wilson, Tony Kanaan, Hunter-Reay, Rahal and Rafael Matos in the top ten. The decision to go with the blacks seemed to cost Franchitti a few laps later as his teammate, Scott Dixon, easily slid past and started a charge at Power. Dixon caught a bit of a break a couple of laps later too, as E.J. Viso, Rafael Matos and Takuma Sato tried to make a Baguette sandwich going into the Carousel. Bertrand got the worst of it, but the field was once again bunched for a final sprint to the finish.

On the restart with just six laps to go, Scott Dixon made a move on Power but wasn’t able to get close enough to pull off the pass. He stayed tight on Power’s tail, though, looking for his shot. It looked like they might get another yellow with just two to go, as Takuma Sato couldn’t quite slow enough to avoid Danica Patrick, breaking her front wing and sending Sato into the pits. A few turns later, the victory was sealed for Power, however, when Francesco Dracone spun in the final turn, bringing out the white and yellow together. So, a year after leaving the track on a stretcher, Will Power was taking home the win and extending his points lead in the championship. That was the sixth different winner in six races at Sonoma, but also Power’s fifth win of the season.

The next race in Chicago will start the final chapter of the 2010 season, with four consecutive oval races finishing off the schedule. Power hasn’t had as much luck on ovals as he has on road and street courses, unlike his closest challengers who usually strong on ovals. Power looks strong, but Dixon and Franchitti still have a chance to catch him. Join us on August 28th for the Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 from Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois – and don’t forget to check out the full results and standings below.

Qualifying:

QP	Car	Driver	Sponsor	Team	Time	Speed
1	12	Will Power	Verizon Team Penske	Verizon Team Penske	1:16.5282	108.337
2	3	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	Team Penske	1:16.5652	108.284
3	10	Dario Franchitti	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	1:16.9437	107.752
4	77	Alex Tagliani	FAZZT Race Team	FAZZT Race Team	1:17.2068	107.384
5	6	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	Team Penske	1:17.2109	107.379
6	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	1:17.3470	107.190
7	22	Justin Wilson	Team Z-Line Designs/DRR	Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Mtrsprts	1:16.9447	107.750
8	37	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Team IZOD	Andretti Autosport	1:17.1317	107.489
9	11	Tony Kanaan	Team 7-Eleven/Dr Pepper Cherry	Andretti Autosport	1:17.3181	107.230
10	2	Raphael Matos	HP de Ferran Dragon	de Ferran Dragon Racing	1:17.3710	107.156
11	78	Simona de Silvestro (R)	Team Stargate Worlds/HVM	HVM Racing	1:17.7429	106.644
12	4	Dan Wheldon	National Guard Panther Racing	Panther Racing	1:17.8280	106.527
13	34	Bertrand Baguette (R)	Conquest Racing RACB	Conquest Racing	1:17.5239	106.945
14	06	Hideki Mutoh	Formula Dream/Panasonic	Newman/Haas Racing	1:17.5187	106.952
15	8	E.J. Viso	PDVSA KVRT	KV Racing Technology	1:17.6825	106.727
16	02	Graham Rahal	NHR/QuickTrim	Newman/Haas Racing	1:17.5284	106.939
17	5	Takuma Sato (R)	Lotus-KV Racing Technology	KV Racing Technology	1:17.7112	106.687
18	26	Marco Andretti	Team Venom Energy	Andretti Autosport	1:17.6216	106.810
19	24	J.R. Hildebrand (R)	Trans Systems/DRR	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	1:17.7659	106.612
20	32	Mario Moraes	KV Racing Technology	KV Racing Technology	1:17.7533	106.630
21	14	Vitor Meira	ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	1:17.9149	106.408
22	19	Alex Lloyd (R)	Boy Scouts of America	Dale Coyne Racing	1:18.0423	106.235
23	7	Danica Patrick	Team GoDaddy.com	Andretti Autosport	1:18.3995	105.751
24	18	Milka Duno	CITGO	Dale Coyne Racing	1:22.2980	100.741
25	36	Francesco Dracone (R)	Halkin Jet/LaPasta.biz	Conquest Racing	1:21.2262	102.071

Finishing Order:

FP	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Status	Points
1	12	Will Power	Team Penske	75	01:52:34.1915	Running	53
2	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	75	01:52:34.9347	Running	40
3	10	Dario Franchitti	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	75	01:52:40.8047	Running	35
4	6	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	75	01:52:42.0522	Running	32
5	3	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	75	01:52:44.6509	Running	30
6	22	Justin Wilson	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	75	01:52:45.1010	Running	28
7	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Autosport	75	01:52:45.7161	Running	26
8	37	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	75	01:52:46.0853	Running	24
9	02	Graham Rahal	Newman/Haas Racing	75	01:52:51.6934	Running	22
10	19	Alex Lloyd	Dale Coyne Racing	75	01:52:52.3984	Running	20
11	32	Mario Moraes	KV Racing Technology	75	01:52:54.4326	Running	19
12	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	75	01:52:54.8674	Running	18
13	78	Simona De Silvestro	Team Stargate Worlds/HVM	75	01:52:56.0154	Running	17
14	77	Alex Tagliani	FAZZT Race Team	75	01:52:56.6773	Running	16
15	14	Vitor Meira	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	75	01:52:58.4794	Running	15
16	7	Danica Patrick	Andretti Autosport	75	01:53:20.3254	Running	14
17	06	Hideki Mutoh	Newman/Haas Racing	74	01:52:37.9202	Running	13
18	5	Takuma Sato	KV Racing Technology	74	01:52:41.5137	Running	12
19	8	E.J. Viso	KV Racing Technology	74	01:52:48.0343	Running	12
20	36	Francesco Dracone	Conquest Racing	71	01:50:23.0449	Contact	12
21	2	Raphael Matos	de Ferran Dragon Racing	67	01:40:15.663	Contact	12
22	18	Milka Duno	Dale Coyne Racing	67	01:53:22.4818	Running	12
23	34	Bertrand Baguette	Conquest Racing	65	01:36:41.9458	Contact	12
24	24	J.R. Hildebrand	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	38	00:58:45.5712	Contact	12
25	4	Dan Wheldon	Panther Racing	0	00:00:15.5776	Contact	10

Driver’s Standings:

CP	Driver	Champ Lead	Oval Lead	Road Lead	Points	Gap
1	Will Power	X		X	514	0
2	Dario Franchitti				455	-59
3	Scott Dixon		X		419	-95
4	Ryan Briscoe				384	-130
5	Helio Castroneves				370	-144
6	Ryan Hunter-Reay				360	-154
7	Tony Kanaan				330	-184
8	Justin Wilson				290	-224
9	Marco Andretti				284	-230
10	Dan Wheldon				269	-245

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