Alabama GP – Race: A First for Newgarden

Josef Newgarden, CFH Racing, wins a surprising race on a track known to be difficult for overtaking. The American is ahead of his compatriot Graham Rahal. It is the consecration of young American hopes. It’s the first victory for Newgarden, the 2011 Indy Lights champion and driver for the small team Sarah Fisher Hartman for the past three seasons.

« It’s the way I wanted to do it. I didn’t want to win due to incidents or by chance » indicates the winner, « the team deserves it. They gave me an incredible car. »

This incredible car allowed the American to quickly jump from 5th position on the grid to 2nd place behind the poleman Helio Castroneves.

The wrong ticket for the French

Sébastien Bourdais took the gamble of starting with the hardest tires, unlike all his direct competitors. Right from the start he managed to get the better of Tony Kanaan on the braking of the first corner, then overtook Scott Dixon by taking the outside line in the next corner.

Unfortunately, Bourdais and his compatriot Pagenaud, both very strong at the beginning of the race, got caught out by the Safety Car on the 20th lap. While the other leading drivers had already refueled, the two Frenchmen were forced to make their pit stop during the race’s neutralization. They logically found themselves in the middle of the pack.

The safety car is caused by Will Power. The Australian squeezes Takuma Sato at the inside of the first turn exiting the pits and is surprised to receive a drive-through: « I didn’t even see what happened with this penalty because I felt a hit from behind. I thought [the track] was clear. I looked in the mirror and it was hard to see, but that’s racing. »

At the restart, the top 3, Newgarden, Castroneves, and Rahal are on hard tires, followed by Hinchcliffe and Power on softs. Ryan Hunter-Reay, who started 18th after a failed qualifying, is in 7th place.

Rock on!

The 2015 Barber race is undoubtedly the most surprising in the circuit’s history in IndyCar. The performance differences between the cars, due to the teams’ staggered strategies, led to great battles and impressive overtakes.

After an incident involving James Jakes being harpooned by the Monegasque Stefano Coletti, Rahal finds himself in the lead ahead of Hinchcliffe (the winner of New Orleans) and Kanaan. The French drivers temporarily move up the standings: Bourdais is 4th ahead of Pagenaud. The latter gets jostled in the pack, and Filippi takes the opportunity to pass him. Further back, Juan Pablo Montoya tries to overtake his competitors. The Colombian missed his qualifications and finds himself behind slower drivers. The nature of the “bad boy of Bogota” comes rushing back; he passes Charlie Kimball by force, NASCAR-style, in a part of the circuit where overtaking is theoretically impossible.

The Blunders of Dracone

The rookie Francesco Dracone is making headlines again with blocking maneuvers against much faster drivers. The Italian stated after the race that he had fun in battles when he was in the middle of the pack. In fact, he blocked the path of drivers who were lapping him, such as Hinchcliffe, Coletti, and Bourdais.

The Frenchman also remained stuck behind Dracone’s teammate, Rodolfo Gonzalez, for several laps. The Venezuelan, logically defending his position, performed a questionable maneuver on Bourdais, forcing him onto the grass at high speed. Moments later, Pagenaud, in an intimidating move, made contact with the Dale Coyne Racing driver, without any impact on both cars.

Rahal Festival

During the last pit stops 20 laps from the finish, Graham Rahal puts on soft tires while Newgarden retakes the lead ahead of Dixon and Castroneves.

Rahal, unleashed, leaves the pits in fifth position and begins a strong comeback; he is the fastest man on the track. He gains between 2 and 3 seconds per lap on his opponents. He overtakes Hunter-Reay on the outside, then Castroneves to take 3rd place. He then overtakes Scott Dixon on the final lap, after a fierce battle to climb to the second step of the podium.

The championship standings

Juan Pablo Montoya maintains the lead in the IndyCar championship by 3 points ahead of an unlucky Helio Castroneves. The latter was forced to refuel on the last lap and missed out on significant points.

Josef Newgarden climbs to 4th place thanks to his feat. For Graham Rahal, 26, it’s one of the best season starts of his career. The son of legend Bobby Rahal, within Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, is finally meeting the expectations of the American public, with a consistency that he had been lacking since his debut in 2008.

The Frenchmen Sébastien Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud once again finished wheel to wheel in 8th and 9th places. They drop in the overall standings to 9th position for Pagenaud and 10th for Bourdais.

The official results: