Welcome to the DVRed notes for three paid programs and a 21 day fix infomercial!
—Prerace—
Ok, round two for round one
Power, Montoya and Briscoe in the back. Have the wrongs been righted? Not sure
Drivers are strapped in. Excellent. I don’t need any more breakdown after yesterday
THAT IS A COMMAND!!!
PT: long day ahead. That is the first understatement of the day
I wonder if we will have fewer commercial breaks considering the channel switch and preplaced programming
Standing start moved to race two. One stop race and everyone is on dry tires. Still looks like there are damp areas around the track
—Race—
GREEN… Finally
Clean start.
YELLOW
Pags around blocking the track. Total traffic jam with Conway, Sato and Newgarden taking damage as well
Well, that didn’t take long
RED
During the commercial break. Probably not a bad idea. You don’t really want half of the field to go down a lap before completing the first lap of the dang race
Sarah Fisher complaining about not being able to work on the car during the red. “I just want to know what the rules are” I understand why they allowed Power to work on the car yesterday but not today
Sato out. My fantasy team has really taken a hit with this crash. Maybe I get bonus points for lowest race score ever?
I agree with Luca. Pags definitely squeezed Luca down. He entered the kink very wide and should have left the inside lane open
Fisher starting work on the Newgarden car. After having no luck getting a response from race control, they started work once they heard the penalty on the broadcast. Why don’t these teams know the rules?!
The delay is due to the inability of race control to decide the order. What?
Cars fired
YELLOW
GREEN
Great outside move by RHR
4
Bourdais is already disappearing into the distance!
8
Feels like a fuel save party. Confirmed as we here a radio transmission saying as much
I really hope Bourdais can pull this off
Lock step. I have a feeling this first race is going to be slightly follow the leader
HCN and RHR fighting very cleanly
12
No. There are no fewer commercials
14
Conway making the outside T3 move work. Signature side by side move of this track for sure
17
Filippi crabbing down the track while Huertas inserts himself into the tire barrier
YELLOW
Stands are starting to fill
I have no opinion on Filippi. He seems like a nice guy and is clearly fast, but he has made some mistakes during his part-time campaign this year
Ah, I almost forgot about the front of the field
21
GREEN
RHR looks like he’s not going to let Bourdais pull the same gap as he had before
Rahal cutting through the field. How long until he does something ridiculous?
23
Andretti giving Saavedra the chrome horn
Montoya giving street racing lessons to Newgarden
25
Power around the outside. T3 is working today
Montoya is clearly on a mission today
27
No. RHR has not been able to stay with Bourdais. Same 2+ second gap
31
Power is violently working the car. Maybe coming in soon
33
RHR losing pace as HCN takes P2 into T1.
34
RHR lost another two to TK and Dixon
Power clips a hose on the way out
The entire field is cycling during these two laps
35
Bourdais in
The bumps are starting to take rubber
Replay of Power hitting the hose
Pit lane exit definitely looks awkward, but we really haven’t seen an issue with it today
36 RHR takes a spot back from Dixon
No action taken on Will Power. Why? He hit pit equipment. You’re lucky Mr. Power
41
RHR and TK tangle sending Hunter-Reay into the wall. Out of the race
Two mentions of “calamity corner” by Bell in two laps
Bourdais cycles to the lead, but not before hitting RHR’s wing left in the racing line
43
Huge evasive maneuver from JPM to miss the wounded RHR
44
Dixon gives Rahal a kiss. The boys aren’t playing nice anymore. It’s game on for these last 20 laps
46
Looks like RHR may be able to come back out in a few laps
Bell is irritating me with the red/black crossover talk. It’s very clear that the reds aren’t that far off the blacks today
49
We should extend the track through the Princess Gate
Aleshin not letting Newgarden get by without throwing an elbow
Aaaaand Bob Varsha ruins it for Bourdais by mentioning “if he can hold on…”
JPM falling
Josef around Hawks. Showing very good pace today after the lap one scrum
55
Bourdais and Castroneves can’t even be filmed in the same shot
Bourdais may be rocketing ahead, but the mid-pack action is really heating up
Varsha mentions if he wins again and is quickly followed by another crossover mention from Bell. Dude, what are we doing?
58
I don’t assign any blame to either TK or RHR for their incident. Encyclopedic definition of a racing incident
60
Rahal and Andretti sit atop the “Longest drought since last win” stat column. Ha
Wilson expertly defending the onslaught from Power
Varsha is looking ahead way too much. I want you guys to break down the race, not telling me ‘as they run’ crap
62
Newgarden clips the jersey barrier after cooking T3
64
Bourdais puts JPM a lap down allowing HCN to close
“No pressure from behind”
CHECKERS
Bourdais wins!!! Hell yes!!
This really solidifies the skill he showed during the ChampCar era. It looked like a carbon copy of his early years; piloting a pushy car to a dominating win.
BEAUTIFUL DONUTS FROM BOURDAIS!!!
Screw the race engine, these are donuts
Bourdais gets out of the car in pit lane. Not the usual pomp for him. There are a ton of excited people swarming Bourdias. This is how a team should react to a race win.
Bourdias: “It went perfect” amen
OK. Enough with the interview. A slow and challenging start that turned into a hell of an event. Excellent morning of racing
I will see you again in a few hours for race two!
Eric Hall
anotherindycarblog 