THE LINE

April 14, 2010

(Ron McQueeney/IndyCar)
Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske Honda-powered Dallara shown above in qualifying) won for the first time on a road/street course race (since August 2008), taking the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by Legacy Credit Union at Barber Motorsports Park last Sunday. Castroneves inherited the lead when Marco Andretti (No. 26 Andretti Autosport Team Venom Energy), who had dominated the race up until that point, had to pit for fuel eight laps from the end of the 90-lap race. Castroneves then held off Scott Dixon (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing) by .5703 of a second for the win.  Dario Franchitti (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Suave) finished third. Pole-sitter Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske) finished fourth but retained his championship points lead by 32 over Castroneves (104). Franchitti is third with 94 points as the series heads to the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 18. The race will be broadcast live in High Definition at 3:30 p.m. (ET) by VERSUS. The race will air live on the IMS Radio Network, XM channel 145 and Sirius channel 211. The race also will be carried on www.indycar.com.

(Dan Helrigel/IndyCar)
Rookie J.K. Vernay started from the pole in the No. 7 Lucas Slick Mist/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car and won the Firestone Indy Lights portion of the  inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on the 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports Park. Charlie Kimball (No. 26 Levemir FlexPen) finished second, 1.1542 seconds behind Vernay, while Sebastian Saavedra (No. 29 William Rast/Bryan Herta Autosport) was third. Vernay picked up a $5,000 bonus from Firestone for winning two Firestone Indy Lights races in a row. Vernay leads Kimball by 33 points in the Firestone Indy Lights championship standings heading to Long Beach. The 2010 Firestone Indy Lights season continues with the Grand Prix of Long Beach April 18 on  the streets of Long Beach, Calif. The race will air live on indycar.com.

(Grand-Am)
Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas (No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW Riley) dominated Saturday's Porsche 250 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race at Barber Motorsports Park. Pruett took the checkered flag 6.870 seconds ahead of Ozz Negri (No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Crown Royal XR Ford Riley), which was started by co-driver John Pew. The Ryan Dalziel/Mike Forest No. 8 Starworks Motorsport BMW Riley entry finished third. After three of the 12 races, Pruett and Rojas lead Dalziel by 11 points (102-91).

(Grand-Am)
The Jeff Segal/Emil Assentato No. 69 SpeedSource FXDD Mazda RX-8 won the Rolex Series GT class at Barber, with Mazdas sweeping the podium. Jordan Taylor and Todd Lamb (No. 30 Racers Edge Motorsports Mazda RX-8) finished second, and the Sylvain Tremblay/Jonathan Bomarito No. 70 SpeedSource Castrol Syntec Mazda was third. It was the third consecutive victory for Speed Source in the Rolex Series GT class. Segal and Assentato have now won four of the last seven races dating back to last season.

(Grand-Am)
Dean Martin (No. 52 Rehagen Racing Products/bizrate.com Ford Mustang GT) held off a charging Billy Johnson over the final half-hour of Saturday's Barber 200, the third round of the 2010 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, at Barber Motorsports Park, to win with co-driver Bob Michaelian. Johnson, with co-driver Jack Roush Jr. (No. 61 ROUSH Performance Products Ford Mustang GT), took second.

(Grand-Am)
In the Street Tuner (ST) class of Saturday's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, Tom Long made a late-race pass of 2007 race co-winner Jamie Holtom to win his second consecutive class event with Derek Whitis in the No. 25 Aventura Technologies/Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5.

(BMW)

BMW Group has just become the first car manufacturer to take on the infamous Nürburgring-Nordschleife circuit at race speed with an electrically-powered car. The modified version of the standard MINI E - the MINI E Race - completed a lap of the legendary 20.8 km “Green Hell” in a time of 09:51.45 minutes, hitting a top speed of 187 km/h. “The aim of this unique undertaking was to provide an impressive showcase of the great potential of the MINI E and its environment-friendly drive concept,” said the BMW Group’s Peter Krams, who headed up the project. DTM racing driver Thomas Jäger from Munich was at the wheel for the lap. The MINI E Race was fitted with a special lightweight body, a roll cage and various other components and the suspension, brakes and tires were also modified to racing specification. Beyond that, however, the car relied almost exclusively on the standard technical make-up of the MINI E with the same 150 kW/204 hp electric motor, supplied with energy from 5,088 lithium-ion battery cells. The control electronics and the software were reprogrammed to achieve an optimal driving performance for the Nordschleife and the power was channeled to the front wheels via a single-stage helical gearbox with a lengthened gear ratio. You can see the video on the MINI E Race’s lap of the Nordschleife, by going here.

 Guitar Hero. Watch as this slide guitar player provides the soundtrack for Fernando Alonso's 2010 F1 Ferrari for one entire lap at Bahrain. It's freaky brilliant and well worth the two minutes. Click here.

(Mark Weber/SCCA)
Brian Schofield (No. 61 PM Racing Spec Racer Ford), of Lakeland, Fla., swept the opening weekend doubleheader of the revived SCCA Pro Racing Spec Racer Ford Series, April 10 -11 at Road Atlanta. Tray Ayres (No. 7 Ayres Racing Ford), of Woodstock, Ga., ran as the runner-up to Schofield in both races, followed by Richard Spicer, of Laurel, Md., on Saturday and Jean-Luc Liverato, of Alpharetta, Ga., on Sunday.

Publisher's Note: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is introducing a new qualifying format for the Indianapolis 500 this year. Here's what they had to say in a release: "The top 24 spots in the 33-car field will be available through traditional four-lap attempts from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. (ET) on Pole Day, Saturday, May 22. Each car will have up to three attempts during that time. The times of the top nine drivers from the first segment of qualifying will be erased at 4 p.m., with all of those competitors guaranteed to start no worse than ninth in 'The Greatest Spectacle in Racing' on Sunday, May 30. 'The Fast Nine' then will be required to make at least one four-lap qualifying attempt between 4:30-6 p.m., with one additional, optional attempt if time permits. Each driver’s best run during the 90-minute session will set their position within the top nine spots on the starting grid. If bad weather prevents the 90-minute shootout for the 'Fast Nine,' their times from the opening session will determine starting positions. The winner of the PEAK Performance Pole Award presented by AutoZone will earn $175,000, an increase of $75,000 from 2009. The second-fastest qualifier will earn $75,000, with the final front-row starter earning $50,000. In a departure from the other 16 IZOD IndyCar Series races, in which the PEAK Performance Pole Award winner earns one bonus point, all 33 starting drivers will receive championship points. The pole winner will receive 15 points, with the other front-row starters earning 13 and 12 points, respectively. Drivers in Rows 2 and 3 will receive, in descending order, between 11 and six points. Positions 10-24 receive four bonus points, and 25-33 earn three points. On Bump Day, Sunday, May 23, the final nine spots in the field will be earned through traditional four-lap qualifying from noon-6 p.m. Bumping will begin once 33 cars have qualified." - PMD

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