Former Champ Car World Series champion (and current Twitter enthusiast) Paul Tracy will get another crack at his first Indianapolis 500 win — or his second, depending on your point of view.
The Canadian star will return to the Brickyard next month with KV Racing Technology in the No. 15 GEICO machine that he drove in last year’s “500” and several other races in the 2009 IZOD IndyCar Series championship. His addition will make for a four-car KVRT squadron with Takuma Sato in the No. 5 car, E.J. Viso in the No. 8 car, and Mario Moraes in the No. 32 car.
“It is great to go back to the Indianapolis 500 with GEICO and KV Racing Technology,” said Tracy in a team press release. “I want to thank Kevin Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser of KVRT and GEICO for the opportunity to return to the world’s biggest auto race. I have won races and championships at the top level during my racing career, but what I am missing is a win at Indy. I feel I have some unfinished business at the Brickyard and with the support of GEICO and an outstanding team like KV Racing Technology, I feel good about our chances at this year’s ‘500.’”
Tracy finished ninth last year at Indianapolis and it is believed that despite the announcement of an Indy-only program yesterday, he will also run the two IZOD IndyCar Series stops at Toronto and Edmonton this year as well.
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The Team Penske ride control controversy isn’t going away.
Curt Cavin of The Indianapolis Star is reporting that officials from other teams are blaming IRL officials for not disclosing the allowance of the system and that team owners sent a written complaint to the league on the matter. The other teams don’t seem to be going after Penske for cheating, but are more upset about what they see as a failure by the League to explain gray areas in the rulebook.
For his part, IRL president of competition Brian Barnhart told Cavin that the league was doing “a pretty good job of providing a level playing field,” citing the closeness of practice times amongst the top 12 drivers.
The media began to catch wind of the controversy shortly before the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg weekend. SPEED Channel’s Robin Miller reported that Penske had been accused of running a third spring to control ride height that weekend, but that it turned out the spring was actually a roll bar — and it was legal according to the League. The matter has seemed to bother the Target Chip Ganassi Racing camp in particular, with managing director Mike Hull stating that TCGR was denied the chance to create their own version of ride control.
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James Hinchcliffe will lead a field that’s out to stop J.K. Vernay’s early string of success in Firestone Indy Lights today. Hinchcliffe will start from the pole in this afternoon’s FIL event, slated for a 1:40 p.m. ET green flag on the streets of Long Beach.
The Canadian pilot stuck his No. 2 Team Moore Racing machine at the front of the grid with a time of 74.6261 seconds, besting Vernay’s best time of 74.7829 seconds in the No. 7 Sam Schmidt Motorsports car. Vernay, a native of France, has started his FIL career with back-to-back victories at St. Petersburg and Barber Motorsports Park. He leads American driver Charlie Kimball by 33 points in the standings.
Kimball starts third on the grid, with Sebastian Saavedra to the outside of him on Row 2. Martin Plowman and rookie Philip Major make up Row 3.
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Scott Dixon led today’s final warm-up session for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach with a time of 70.6794 seconds in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing machine.
