Fontana MAVTV 500 Pre-race

The season finale is lined up and ready.
Helio Castroneves on pole
(gaining him a valuable extra point for the championship),
Juan Montoya 2nd,
and Josef Newgarden will start on the outside of the front row. (a qualifying podium is what Alex calls it.)
 

 

 

Championship leader Will Power struggled in qualifying, after having been fastest in practice and is starting second last. 

 

 

Helio Castroneves has to finish 3rd or better if Power finishes last if he wants this championship. 
If Simon Pagenaud were to win it, he has to win the race, and Will Power and Helio Castroneves have to finish last-18th. 

 

We're hoping that guys like Josef Newgarden, Ed Carpenter, and Takuma Sato can finish off the season on a high note.

Final Practice was shortened by an accident involving Mikael Aleshin.  Aleshin is not able to race tonight, wish him well.

 

Helio Castroneves has 41 poles, now 5th all time.

 

Watch the race at 9:00 PM Eastern Time on NBCSN


Final Practice:

Unfortunately, Mikhail Aleshin crashed in the final practice session on Friday evening and is in the hospital with fractured ribs, a broken clavicle, a concussion and chest injuries.  Charlie Kimball was also involved in the crash but was uninjured and will still race on Saturday night.


 

We will be keeping Mikhail in our prayers for a good recovery and hope to see him back at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in 2015.

 

 

 

 

Pro Mazda Championship

The Pro Mazda season is over, and it had plenty of excitement.

 

Spencer Pigot won the championship with 309 points,
and Scott Hargrove, a rookie, came second with 298 points. Third was Neil Alberico, another rookie, with 239 points.
 

Pigot was on the Juncos Racing team.

 

 

Fun Facts:

 

* There were 17 rookies in the 2014 Pro Mazda season

 

* 5 rookies finished in the top ten in the championship.

 

 

Check out Spencer Pigot's blog! (and his website)

 

Josef update GP of Sonoma

 Josef Newgarden had a very good showing at Sonoma. 

After starting 2nd, he kept up there most of the race to finish 6th.

Go to the 1:46 mark to see Josef

 

 

- Josef Newgarden has signed a 1 year contract CFH Racing for 2015.  Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing joins with Ed Carpenter Racing to form Carpenter Fisher Hartman Racing, now a two-car team.  This means data to share for Josef, Ed, and possibly Mike Conway.  Josef has never been on a two car team.

 

-Josef has had a very steady last half of the season.  After dropping back to as far as 20th, Josef made a comeback and now has a chance to get a top ten finish in the championship.  He has had 4 top tens in the last 7 races, an 8th, a 2nd, a 5th, a 6th, a 20th, a 13th, and a 12th.  He has had two 2nd place starting positions, and two 4th place starting positions.

Don't miss Josef in the MAVTV 500 Indycar Season Finale on NBCSN at 10:00 PM Eastern Time on Saturday

 

 

 

USF2000 Championship

Florian Lattore, the 17-year old Frenchmen, won the USF2000 Championship, beating out RC Enerson by just 4 points.

 

 

1st

Florian Lattore


2nd

RC Enerson

3rd

Jake Eidson
 

Grand Prix of Sonoma 2014

Sonoma was a crazy race!
 

 

Ninth, 10th and 11th place went three wide to the line, while Mike Conway ran out of fuel and barely coasted across the finish line.   Will Power and quite a few other fuel-less cars stopped all around the track after they crossed the finish line. 
In the end, Scott Dixon, the fuel saving master, took it home.

 

 

 

 

 

-Very impressive comeback by Will Power.  Leading the race, spinning out, restarting last with 30 laps to go and making it up and finishing 10th shows skill...and some daring passing at the end.

 

-Great run by Scott Dixon.  Yet again, he shows his skill in saving fuel.  After doing it at Mid-Ohio, we thought it was partially luck.  Turns out, its anything but luck.

 

 

 

 The Top Ten:

 

1. Scott Dixon - 2nd win this year unfortunately too late for him to repeat as Indycar champ.
 

2.  Ryan Hunter-Reay - Came on strong at the end for the podium.
 

3. Simon Pagenaud - In the championship closed the gap to 2nd place Helio to 30 points.
 

4. Takuma Sato - A good day after a not so good season.
 

5. Juan Montoya - Led 4 laps, continues to finish strong every race.
 

6. Josef Newgarden - 2nd race having led in the last 3 races. A win has to come soon.
 

7. Mikael Aleshin - Holding second in the rookie standings.
 

8. Marco Andretti - His 9th top ten this season.
 

9. Justin Wilson - His 15th race running at finish this season, unfortunately he just hasn't had good results.
 

10. Will Power - Has led most laps this year. Can he hold onto his 51 point lead to win his first Indycar Championship this year???