IndyCar: 2010 Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway [SPOILERS]

2010 Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway – Click above for high-res image gallery

The IndyCar Series moved on to the plains of Iowa for the eighth round of the 2010 Championship with a new points leader – Indy 500 Champ Dario Franchitti. Ryan Briscoe had moved up in the standings too, having won the last round in Texas – the race that had seen Penske return to Victory Lane and had almost seen the immolation of Simona de Silvestro. Fortunately Simona was extricated quickly enough to avoid major injuries and was in fact back in action in Iowa.

Qualifying on Saturday had seen early season dominator Will Power at the top of the charts, but he was one of the first drivers on course and had to play a long game of sit-and-wait to see if his time would stand. Follow the jump to see how the rest of qualifying played out, and to read all about the race – the 2010 Iowa Corn Indy 250 from Iowa Speedway.

[Images: Chris Trotman/Getty Images, Conrad Schmidt/AP]

Power’s four-lap average at this young short-track was 181.377 miles per hour, a seemingly quick time right off the bat, but it seemed even quicker as driver after driver failed to challenge him for pole, most clocking in well below 180 mph. Will himself said that he figured his toughest competition would come from his own Penske teammates, but it was actually Target Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon (No. 9) who came closest to unseating him. After four circuits of this 0.875-mile oval, Dixon was just .002 seconds slower than Power, and had to settle for second.

Just behind them on the starting grid were Marco Andretti (No. 26 Team Venom Energy Andretti Autosport), Helio Castroneves (No.3 Team Penske) and Dario Franchitti (No. 10 Energizer Target Chip Ganassi Racing), Franchitti having won in each of his previous two starts here in Iowa. Rounding out the top ten were Alex Tagliani (No.77 FAZZT Race Team), Takuma Sato (No. 5 Lotus-KV Racing Technology), Ryan Briscoe (No. 6 Team Penske), Danica Patrick (No. 7 Team GoDaddy.com Andretti Autosport) and Dan Wheldon (No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing).

With Mike Conway still recovering from his terrible crash in the Indy 500, Graham Rahal was once again filling his seat in the No. 24 Dad’s Root Beer/DRR Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara. The second-generation IndyCar driver struggled with the car’s setup and only managed to qualify in 17th, while Simona de Silvestro (No. 78 Team Stargate Worlds/HVM Racing) seemed to be back to top form, posting a speed quick enough to qualify 20th. Fellow female driver Milka Duno wasn’t so lucky. Duno slid up into the wall after bouncing over a series of bumps between 1 and 2 and failed to post a time. The team was hopeful they’d have a car for her on race day, though, and indeed made it to the grid on race day.

On the Sunday of the race, the track showed no ill effects from the area’s severe weather the day before, but one car was missing from the grid. There was a gaping hole where the No. 9 Ganassi car was supposed to be and Scott Dixon’s team was working feverishly to get his car out where it belonged on the front row. They made it out there with plenty of time to spare and from the drop of the green Dixon showed that the car didn’t seem to have any lingering problems. Dixon diced with Power all the way around on the first lap until Justin Wilson’s No. 22 Team Z-Line Designs/DRR Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car lost traction coming around Turn 3 and spun up into the wall, unfortunately collecting Mario Moraes (No. 32 KV Racing Technology) in the process and ending both of their days way too early.

When the field went back to green, Marco Andretti started a charge to the front, quickly picking off Scott Dixon and honing in on Power for the lead. Would this be the day Marco would get his first win? Only time would tell. A split second later we almost had our answer as the lead duo were about to lap the dangerously slow Duno. The two drivers split to either side of her but rather than maintain her line as they passed, Milka shifted up track, right in front of Marco. That caused the young driver to check up, almost allowing Dixon back past him into second.

Just nine laps later the leaders were again going past Duno, prompting just about everybody watching the race to scream in unison for the stewards to black flag her. Thankfully they heard our pleas and Duno’s day was done. It’s not that she’s a bad driver – well, maybe a little – but her car was clearly underperforming and perhaps she was still a little gun-shy from her qualifying crash.

On Lap 40, Hideki Mutoh (No. 06 Formula Dream/Panasonic Newman/Haas Racing) was the latest rolling chicane for the front two, but this time Andretti got the best of the situation and claimed the race lead. He didn’t hold it for long though. Dixon whipped back past a few corners later, but even he was under threat from a new challenger now. Within a handful of laps, Dario Franchitti was whizzing by both Andretti and Power.

Lapped traffic was quickly becoming a problem for just about everybody, and Will Power seemed to get the worst of it. He actually made contact with the back end of the loafing Bertrand Baguette’s No. 36 Conquest Racing machine, but was able to back out enough that it didn’t seem to cause a lot of damage. It did, however, drop Power back several spots in the running order and brought out the second yellow of the day. It was the perfect time for the first round of stops.

Almost everyone came in besides Graham Rahal, who inherited the lead. There was quite a bit of excitement coming out, as Tony Kanaan booted Helio Castroneves who then got clipped by Scott Dixon as they exited pit lane. It didn’t look like there was any damage to any of their cars, thankfully.

As they went back to green flag racing, the front runners quickly gobbled up Rahal and soon the running order was Dixon, Franchitti, the hard-charging Kanaan (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven Andretti Autosport), the newly re-sponsored Ryan Hunter-Reay (No. 37 Ethanol USA – IZOD Andretti Autosport), Rahal, Takuma Sato, Castroneves, Andretti, E.J. Viso (No. 8 PDVSA-Jet Aviation-KVRT KV Racing Technology) and Power in the top ten slots.

Another yellow flew on Lap 96 when Sarah Fisher (No. 67 Dollar General/Sarah Fisher Racing) couldn’t quite collect it after drifting up into the marbles. On Lap 98 the pits opened and just about everybody was back in for stop number two. No extracurricular activities this time as everybody came back out, although one of Simona de Silvestro’s crew members ended up with an injured ankle and she ended up serving a penalty for it. Back to green on Lap 115 it was Dario and Dixon fighting for first, followed by Kanaan, Hunter-Reay and Castroneves in the top five, but T.K. was on a mission.

Kanaan was in the lead by the halfway point, the first time he found himself leading an IRL race since Chicago last year. He had moved up from 15th at the start and was now looking like the best chance for Team Andretti Autosport to claim victory. Dario was having none of it though and after a dozen laps running behind Tony, the points leader moved back to the head of the class. On Lap 147, Simona was parked, her first short track race ending early following a problem that grew out of her run-in with her right rear wheelman.

Out front, Kanaan wasn’t letting Franchitti pull away, but the duo had distanced themselves from Dixon who had briefly moved up to join the battle, with Hunter-Reay and the surprising Takuma Sato right behind. It was Sato’s first short-track race ever coming just weeks after his very first career oval track race of any kind. Sadly, the former Formula 1 pilot lost it on Lap 178, the air being taken off the front of his Lotus-sponsored car by rookie Alex Lloyd (No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Dale Coyne Racing) forcing him high.

Another round of stops and Team Penske seemed to be clicking on all cylinders, managing to get Helio Castroneves out in second, right between Franchitti and Kanaan. That put the top three teams in the top three spots with 65 laps to go. As the field got back up to speed following the green, Helio moved past Dario for the lead, but Franchitti fought back, the duo just ahead of Kanaan. It looked to be an epic battle to the checkers, but suddenly Dario slowed, an apparent gearbox problem ending his hopes of going three-for-three in Iowa.

After serving a drive-through penalty for clipping a stacked tire in the pits, Ryan Hunter-Reay had dropped out of contention, but moving up was E.J. Viso, who had started way back in nineteenth. With 28 laps to go the leaders had to thread through some lapped traffic, which happened to include some former front-runners, making passing a bit more difficult due to the closely matched speeds. As they came through, Castroneves was well ahead of T.K. who was a bit further clear of third place Viso as well.

Kanaan still had a couple more push-to-pass actuations more than Helio and with 11 to go he timed one perfectly, flying past Helio and into the lead. He never looked back, claiming his first win in Iowa, a track he has struggled with in the past. Castroneves held on for second followed by Viso who scored his best finish ever, Briscoe, Power, Dixon, Vitor Meira (No. 14 ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing), Hunter-Reay, Rahal and Patrick in the top ten.

Will Power finds himself back atop the points lead following his best oval finish of the year, followed by Dixon, Franchitti, Castroneves, Briscoe, Kanaan, Hunter-Reay, Wilson, Andretti and Wheldon as the Izod IndyCar Series moves off of the ovals and onto a string of five road courses in a row beginning with Watkins Glen on Independence Day. See you then.

Qualifying:

QP	Car	Driver	Sponsor	Team	Time	Speed
1	12	Will Power	Verizon Team Penske	Verizon Team Penske	1:10.9925	181.337
2	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	1:10.9945	181.332
3	26	Marco Andretti	Team Venom Energy	Andretti Autosport	1:11.1230	181.005
4	3	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	Team Penske	1:11.1706	180.884
5	10	Dario Franchitti	Energizer	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	1:11.1805	180.859
6	77	Alex Tagliani	FAZZT Race Team	FAZZT Race Team	1:11.1835	180.851
7	5	Takuma Sato (R)	Lotus-KV Racing Technology	KV Racing Technology	1:11.2541	180.672
8	6	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	Team Penske	1:11.2541	180.672
9	7	Danica Patrick	Team GoDaddy.com	Andretti Autosport	1:11.4863	180.085
10	4	Dan Wheldon	National Guard Panther Racing	Panther Racing	1:11.5591	179.902
11	22	Justin Wilson	Team Z-Line Designs/DRR	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	1:11.5696	179.875
12	37	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Ethanol USA – IZOD	Andretti Autosport	1:11.6531	179.666
13	14	Vitor Meira	ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	1:11.6733	179.615
14	19	Alex Lloyd (R)	Boy Scouts of America	Dale Coyne Racing	1:11.7727	179.366
15	11	Tony Kanaan	Team 7-Eleven	Andretti Autosport	1:11.8758	179.109
16	32	Mario Moraes	KV Racing Technology	KV Racing Technology	1:11.9300	178.974
17	24	Graham Rahal	Dad’s Root Beer/DRR	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	1:12.1972	178.312
18	67	Sarah Fisher	Dollar General/Sarah Fisher Racing	Sarah Fisher Racing	1:12.2485	178.185
19	8	E.J. Viso	PDVSAJet AviationKVRT	KV Racing Technology	1:12.2867	178.091
20	78	Simona de Silvestro (R)	Team Stargate Worlds/HVM	HVM Racing	1:12.3565	177.919
21	2	Raphael Matos	HP Luczo Dragon	Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Mtrsprts	1:12.3878	177.842
22	36	Bertrand Baguette (R)	Conquest Racing RACB	Conquest Racing	1:12.6403	177.224
23	34	Mario Romancini (R)	Conquest Racing	Conquest Racing	1:12.9647	176.436
24	06	Hideki Mutoh	Formula Dream/Panasonic	Newman/Haas Racing	1:14.2129	173.468
25	18	Milka Duno	CITGO	Dale Coyne Racing	No time	No speed

Finishing Order:

FP	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Status	Points
1	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Autosport	250	01:42:12.4036	Running	50
2	3	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	250	01:42:16.6066	Running	40
3	8	E.J. Viso	KV Racing Technology	250	01:42:17.6574	Running	35
4	6	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	250	01:42:21.4572	Running	32
5	12	Will Power	Team Penske	250	01:42:21.9938	Running	32
6	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	250	01:42:27.6719	Running	28
7	14	Vitor Meira	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	250	01:42:29.2739	Running	26
8	37	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	249	01:42:22.6725	Running	24
9	24	Graham Rahal	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	249	01:42:23.3604	Running	22
10	7	Danica Patrick	Andretti Autosport	249	01:42:28.6017	Running	20
11	4	Dan Wheldon	Panther Racing	249	01:42:29.1377	Running	19
12	77	Alex Tagliani	FAZZT Race Team	248	01:42:28.0245	Running	18
13	19	Alex Lloyd	Dale Coyne Racing	248	01:42:30.0354	Running	17
14	2	Raphael Matos	de Ferran Dragon Racing	247	01:42:14.4497	Running	16
15	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	244	01:42:19.5646	Running	15
16	34	Mario Romancini	Conquest Racing	244	01:42:20.5938	Running	14
17	36	Bertrand Baguette	Conquest Racing	237	01:42:20.9844	Running	13
18	10	Dario Franchitti	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	212	01:38:56.3371	Running	14
19	5	Takuma Sato	KV Racing Technology	177	01:13:27.0456	Contact	12
20	06	Hideki Mutoh	Newman/Haas Racing	131	01:02:50.1732	Handling	12
21	78	Simona De Silvestro	Team Stargate Worlds/HVM	128	01:01:54.4420	Handling	12
22	67	Sarah Fisher	Sarah Fisher Racing	92	00:39:22.0567	Contact	12
23	18	Milka Duno	Dale Coyne Racing	31	00:16:22.4803	Handling	12
24	22	Justin Wilson	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	0	00:00:01.0238	Contact	12
25	32	Mario Moraes	KV Racing Technology	0	00:00:01.5126	Contact	10

Driver’s Standings:

CP	Driver	Champ Lead	Oval Lead	Road Lead	Points	Gap
1	Will Power	X		X	274	0
2	Scott Dixon		X		263	-11
3	Dario Franchitti				260	-14
4	Helio Castroneves				251	-23
5	Ryan Briscoe				240	-34
6	Tony Kanaan				229	-45
7	Ryan Hunter-Reay				225	-49
8	Justin Wilson				191	-83
9	Marco Andretti				184	-90
10	Dan Wheldon				183	-91
11	Danica Patrick				178	-96
12	Vitor Meira				160	-114
13	Alex Tagliani				156	-118
14	Raphael Matos				142	-132
15	E.J. Viso				138	-136
16	Alex Lloyd				136	-138
17	Mario Moraes				131	-143
18	Hideki Mutoh				118	-156
19	Mario Romancini				113	-161
20	Mike Conway				110	-164
21	Simona De Silvestro				109	-165
22	Takuma Sato				95	-179
23	Graham Rahal				95	-179
24	Milka Duno				80	-194
25	Bertrand Baguette				77	-197
26	Sarah Fisher				53	-221
27	Tomas Scheckter				36	-238
28	John Andretti				35	-239
29	Ana Beatriz				33	-241
30	Jay Howard				20	-254
31	Ed Carpenter				20	-254
32	Townsend Bell				18	-256
33	Sebastian Saavedra				15	-259
34	Davey Hamilton				14	-260
35	Bruno Junqueira				13	-261

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