The 2011 IzodIndyCar Series season is the 100th season of American open wheel motor racing. The season will consist of seventeen events over the course of a seven month season. Its premier event will be the 95th Indianapolis 500, scheduled for Sunday, May 29. The season will take in events in Canada, Brazil and Japan and twelve states of the United States.
Series news
The 95th Indianapolis 500 will be the third race of the three–year long Centennial era, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the 100th anniversary of the first Indianapolis 500-mile race.
Sunoco will become the official fuel of the series starting in 2011 and running through 2014. Sunoco will work with APEX–Brasil and UNICA to provide ethanol for the series.[1]
On January 11, the series made several announcements with regards to the upcoming season:
The name of the governing body, formerly "Indy Racing League," has been renamed IndyCar.
The "restart zone" on ovals will be moved from turn 3 to just before the start/finish line.
Restart procedures will mimic those of NASCAR, including double-file restarts, separate pitting for lead lap and non-lead lap cars, and the waving around of lapped cars that did not pit. The "free pass" rule will not be implemented.
Pit stall selection for each race will be determined by the qualifying order of the previous round at the track of the same type (e.g., road course or oval). Exceptions to this will be the season opener at St. Petersburg, which will be set by final entrants' points from 2010, and the Indy 500, which carries its own pit selection process.
On March 6, the series announced that the maximum field size for every IndyCar event this season would be limited to 26 cars, except for the Indianapolis 500 (which remains at the traditional 33) and the Las Vegas finale (30 cars).[2]
Firestone has signed an extension to remain as the series' sole tire supplier through 2013.[3]
2011 IndyCar series schedule
The series schedule was announced on September 10, 2010, with the season finale and start times released on February 22.
The Octane Racing Group, who promotes the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Canada and the NASCAR Nationwide race at Circuit Gilles Villenueve, will take over as promoters of the Honda Edmonton Indy, having agreed a three-year extension. The race was announced as "cancelled" on November 3, 2010 due to an impasse in negotiations between the race promoters and the city of Edmonton.[12] However, negotiations to revive the race restarted the next week.[13] On November 26, 2010, the Edmonton, Alberta city council voted to restore the Honda Edmonton Indy using extra funding from private sources and new parking revenue.[14] INDYCAR officially announced the race's return to the schedule on January 11, 2011.[15]
This chart reflects confirmed participants only. All drivers will compete in Honda-powered, Firestone-shod, Dallara chassis. (R) reflects an IZOD IndyCar Series rookie.
Indy 500 only - Junqueira qualified car, but after negotiations with Andretti Autosport, was replaced by Hunter-Reay after the latter failed to qualify.
Indy 500 and Las Vegas only. Carpentier attempted to qualify the #20 at the Indy 500 after Speed couldn't get the car up to speed in time for Pole Day.
Team Penske: Shell will join the team as an associate sponsor for all three cars in 2011, replacing Mobil 1 and will sponsor the #3 car.[27]Hélio Castroneves is signed to a multi–year contract that covers the 2011 season, and Will Power re–signed with Team Penske in September 2010. Roger Penske confirmed on November 12 that Ryan Briscoe would also be returning to the team.[28]Izod was announced as being the primary sponsor on Ryan Briscoe's car and an associate sponsor on the other two cars.[29]
Andretti Autosport: Tony Kanaan was signed to a multi–year deal with Andretti Autosport before the 2009 season, and his contract was supposed to run through to 2012. On the October 3 it was confirmed that sponsor 7-Eleven would not return in 2011, rendering Kanaan a free agent. Marco Andretti will is in the second year of a four–year contract with the team in 2011 along with his sponsor Venom Energy.[30][31] It was announced on October 29 that Ryan Hunter-Reay would return to Andretti Autosport through to the 2012 season.[32]DHL has signed a multi-year deal to sponsor Hunter-Reay's #28 car.[33]Mike Conway was announced on February 2 as the team's 4th full-season driver.[34] The team has confirmed John Andretti in the #43 for the Indy 500.
Sam Schmidt Motorsports: Driver Alex Tagliani is in the second year of a four–year contract with the team. The team will also run cars for Townsend Bell and Jay Howard at the Indy 500, and for Wade Cunningham in three events.[35] The team is committed to running a second full–time car in 2011,[36] according to manager Rob Edwards. On March 1, 2011, it was announced that Sam Schmidt Motorsports had purchased the assets of FAZZT. Some FAZZT personnel would be retained for the 2011 season and Alex Tagliani will continue to contest all seventeen races.
Dragon Racing: Tony Kanaan was announced as the new driver of the #2 car during a December 20 press conference in Brazil,[37] however failure to secure sufficient sponsorship meant that Kanaan was unable to secure the drive.[38] The team officially announced that they were shutting down on February 24, 2011[39]; however following a restructuring, Jay Penske announced that Dragon Racing would continue with Paul Tracy for a limited schedule, as well as an Indy 500 entry.[40] On May 3, 2011 the team confirmed Ho-Pin Tung will be the driver of the #8 Dragon-Schmidt Racing entry.[41]
SH Racing: On July 28, 2010, VPX Sports announced a partnership with newly–formed SH Racing, run by James Sullivan and T.J. Humphreys, for an entry into the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with the driver yet to be named.[42] The team will be partnering with KV Racing Technology.[43] On March 29. 2011 the team announced, South African veteran Tomas Scheckter will drive the #07 entry at the Indy 500.[44]
KV Racing Technology – Lotus: On September 28, 2010, it was announced that Lotus will provide sponsorship to two KV Racing Technology entries in 2011.[48] On February 4, 2011, KV Racing confirmed that Takuma Sato and E. J. Viso would compete for the team for the 2011 IndyCar Series season.[49] On March 21, 2011, it was reported that Tony Kanaan will join the team in a 3rd full-time entry.[50]
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing: On November 11, Justin Wilson announced he will continue racing with the team in 2011. On March 3, 2011, the team announced Ana Beatriz will be joining Wilson full–time as the pilot of the #24 entry.[51] The team also confirmed Paul Tracy for the Indy 500, prior to his signing to drive part-time for Dragon Racing.
Sarah Fisher Racing: SFR has signed Ed Carpenter for the 2011 season, who will compete in nine events. In addition, team owner Sarah Fisher has announced her retirement from driving to focus solely on team ownership.[52]
HVM Racing: Team owner Keith Wiggins has secured sponsorship to return with Simona de Silvestro for the 2011 season.[53] The team announced a three–year deal with Entergy Nuclear to sponsor an entry.[54]
Dale Coyne Racing: The team announced two new drivers for the season: rookie Englishman James Jakes, who will run the full season; and Sébastien Bourdais, who will run at all road and street courses only owing to his Le Mans Series commitments. The team will still be fielding a second car at Indianapolis. On May 5, 2011, it was confirmed that Alex Lloyd will compete on all the oval races, as Bourdais won't.
Conquest Racing: On March 14, 2011, the team confirmed that Sebastian Saavedra will race for the team full–time during the 2011 season. On April 19, 2011, Conquest signed Indy Lights race-winner Pippa Mann to pilot the team's second car at Indianapolis.[56]
AFS Racing: On January 13, 2011, AFS Racing announced that Neil Micklewright will be joining the team as General Manager and Vice President of Operations. On March 12, 2011, the team announced that they will run an entry at St. Petersburg,[59] and on March 17, announced that series veteran Raphael Matos will drive.[60]
Summary: The first race featuring the new double–file restarts takes a toll on the field as drivers adjust. On the first lap, a big collision involving several cars saw Marco Andretti flip over in turn 1, a crash he blamed on Hélio Castroneves.[65] Several other drivers experienced contact on restarts, thinning the field. Dario Franchitti stayed in front for most of the race and won the season opener. Simona de Silvestro garnered the most attention of the later stages of the race, as she hotly challenged Tony Kanaan. Kanaan, who had landed his ride with KV Racing just days earlier, held her off over the final few laps for a surprising third place finish.
Pole position winner: #12 Will Power, 1:11.4546 sec, 115.878 mph (186.488 km/h)
Most laps led: #12 Will Power, 90
Summary: Will Power led wire–to–wire to take the victory. Twice Ryan Briscoe was involved in contact, first with Dario Franchitti, and later with Ryan Hunter–Reay. Following the race, second place finisher Scott Dixon complained about Power "crowding" him on the restarts, but no penalty was assessed.
Summary: With less than 20 laps to go, Mike Conway charged into third place on a restart. He quickly powered past Dario Franchitti and Will Power to take the lead. Conway pulled out to a six–second advantage, and led the final 14 laps en route to his first Indy car victory. For the second time this season, Hélio Castroneves was blamed for a collision, this time taking himself and teammate Will Power out of contention late in the race.
Extra points awarded for qualifying at Indianapolis based on drivers performance.
Texas is split into two races on the same day.
Ties in points broken by number of wins, followed by number of 2nds, 3rds, etc., and then by number of pole positions, followed by number of times qualified 2nd, etc.
Any driver who qualifies but does not start (DNS), earns half the points had they taken part.
1 After qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 had concluded, Junquiera was replaced by Hunter-Reay, who did not qualify for the 500. Junquiera will receive full qualifying points (4) and half points (2) for a 33rd place finish. Hunter-Reay will not receive any qualifying points.
St. Petersburg
Will Power
Hélio Castroneves
Dario Franchitti
Scott Dixon
Simona de Silvestro
Alex Tagliani