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2005 INDYCAR IRL - CHICAGOLAND

2005 INDYCAR - R14 of 16, Sept. 11, 2005 Chicagoland Speedway

CIRCUIT:

• CHICAGOLAND Speedway,
• 1.5 MILE oval
• RACE:
• 200 lap ; 300 mile race
• 2004 winner: Adrian Fernandez
• 2003 winner: Sam Hornish Jr
• 2004 RACE RESULT:
• 1 Adrian Fernandez , 200 laps
• 2 Bryan Herta +0.07
• 3 Tony Kanaan +0.1
• 4 Dan Wheldon +0.2
• 5 Vitor Meira +0.4
• 6 Sam Hornish Jr. +0.5

RACE RESULT

• 1 Dan Wheldon , 200 laps
• 2 Helio Castroneves +0.01
• 3 Sam Hornish Jr. +0.06
• 4 Tomas Scheckter +0.2
• 5 Tony Kanaan +0.22
• 6 Danica Patrick
• 7 Vitor Meira
• 8 Scott Sharp
• 9 Patrick Carpentier
• 10 Buddy Lazier
• 11 Foyt IV 12 Franchitti 13 Rice 14 Herta 15 Yasukawa 16 Lazier 17 Carpenter 18 Kite
• DNF: Dixon, Barron, Matsuura
• Briscoe crashed heavily and taken to hospital

RACE REPORT:

• DAN WHELDON, WINNER: WHELDON ADDS TO RECORD-SETTING INDYCAR SERIES SEASON; RECORDS SIXTH WIN OF 2005 AT CHICAGO
• JOLIET, Ill. (Sept. 11, 2005) - Dan Wheldon drove his Honda-powered Klein Tools/Jim Beam car to victory at Sunday's Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway. With the win, only Wheldon and AGR teammate Tony Kanaan are eligible for the Indy Racing League® IndyCar® Series championship. The win was Wheldon's sixth in 2005, breaking the record for most wins in a season held by Sam Hornish Jr.
• Wheldon started the race in the fifth position and had a strong car from the beginning despite suffering a shifting malfunction that persisted throughout the race. Less than halfway through the event, Wheldon brought the car in for tires and fuel. However, he was cited for a pit lane speed violation and sent to the back of the field and into 17th position.
• As the final 100 laps cycled away, Wheldon moved up through the field and dominated the last 50 laps to capture his fourth career victory on a 1.5-mile oval.
• The win gave Wheldon nine for his career, tying him with Scott Sharp for the second-most victories in history. Wheldon reached nine wins in his 47th career start while Sharp has nine wins in 113 starts.
• Following Wheldon across the finish line were Helio Castroneves and Hornish in second and third, respectively. Tomas Scheckter and Tony Kanaan rounded out the top five.
• After a weekend free of racing, the IndyCar Series resumes Sunday, Sept. 25, at Watkins Glen International. ABC will provide live coverage of the final road course event of the season at 3:30 p.m. (EDT).
• Dan Wheldon, #26 Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "The Klein Tools/Jim Beam car was very, very strong, there is no doubt about that. You have to have good power on a 1.5-mile oval and Honda certainly provides us with that. I'm extremely happy. It was a very, very good day for the entire Andretti Green Racing team."
• John Anderson, Team Manager, #26 Klein Tools/Jim Beam Dallara/ Honda/Firestone: "We had a good feeling about this race. There was so much talk about the championship but we don't care about a championship right now. We came here to win a race. The Klein Tools/Jim Beam car was fast today and Dan got to the front. Dan just drove a tremendous race."
• CASTRONEVES, 2ND: "I can't believe it. To lose (a race) that close, I don't what to feel, to be honest right now. Should I be happy? Should I be sad? I don't know. It's a weird feeling to finish second in this kind of situation, so close. We got ourselves back a little bit into the championship, and moved up into fifth. Let's keep moving. We gave it all we had, but we just couldn't push ahead on the final lap. Being realistic, Dan (Wheldon) is probably going to win the championship, but it would be a great goal to have two Marlboro Team Penske cars finish in the top five in points."
• DANICA PATRICK, POLE, FINISH 6TH: "We finally led the first lap from the pole, so I'm happy about that. In a lot of ways, it was a typical super-speedway race for us -- at times we'd drop back, but we were always able to come forward through the field again. On the last restart, we were running fourth, and I thought I heard [my spotter] say 'green green', so I got on the gas, but it was too early, so I had to get back behind [Tomas] Scheckter or get a penalty. Sixth is a good result for us. It's the first time we've finished near the front after starting from the pole, so that's real progress and I'm pleased with that."

QUALIFYING

GRID

• *Ryan Briscoe
• 1 Danica Patrick , 25.337
• 2 Buddy Rice +0.02
• 3 Tomas Scheckter
• 4 Sam Hornish Jr.
• 5 Dan Wheldon
• 6 Bryan Herta
• 7 Buddy Lazier
• *Scott Dixon
• *Jaques Lazier
• 8 Tomas Enge
• 9 Scott Sharp
• 10 Dario Franchitti
• 11 Castroneves 12 Matsuura 13 Kanaan 14 Foyt IV 15 Yasukawa 16 Carpentier
• 17 Kite 18 Barron 19 Carpenter 20 Meira
• 21 *Briscoe 22 *Dixon 23 *Lazier
• * Chip Ganassi cars disqualified and will start from back of the grid

QUALIFYING REPORT

Rahal Letterman Racing

• PATRICK AND RICE SWEEP THE FRONT ROW AT CHICAGOLAND
• JOLIET, Ill. - Danica Patrick and Buddy Rice swept the front row of qualifying for Rahal Letterman Racing for Sunday's Peak Antifreeze Indy 300. The fifth front row sweep in RLR history wasn't without drama. Chip Ganassi Racing's Ryan Briscoe appeared to have stole the show when as the final qualifier he eclipsed Patrick's fast lap of 215.970 mph. However, Briscoe's car failed post qualifying technical inspection and his fast lap was thrown out securing the pole position for Patrick.
• Patrick ties the IRL IndyCar Series record for pole positions by a rookie. Tomas Sheckter set the mark in 2002 and Patrick has tied the mark with the pole at Chicagoland with two races remaining. Patrick has won all three of her pole positions this season on 1.5 mile tracks (Kansas, Kentucky, Chicagoland).
• "It is a great feeling to win the pole here at Chicago in front of so many friends and family," said Roscoe, Illinois native Patrick. "We really focused on running by ourselves in practice and because we didn't have a tow we weren't at the top of the charts. We knew with a Honda engine we would be in the hunt for the pole. It proved to be the right decision. Three poles in a season is a great accomplishment for any driver and I am especially proud to have done it as a rookie. All poles are great, but the reason we come to the track is to win the race."
• Buddy Rice will make his second front row start of the season. Rice enters tomorrow's race fresh off a season best second place finish in the last IndyCar Series race at Infineon Raceway.
• "The car was flat out all the way around and that is all it had," said Rice. "It definitely helps that we tested here for Honda last week and the team was able to pick some additional information. I know we are fast, but I think we have a pretty good race car too. This is a tricky track and the race is always crowded and busy throughout the 200 laps. We haven't had the best luck this year, but the Sonoma race was a confidence builder for the No. 15 Argent Mortgage/Pioneer Honda team. In the race, everyone seems to be right on top of each other, similar to Texas, but this track is smooth and it seems to have more grip. That is why you have two and three wide racing all of the time. You are going to have to play the chess game on Sunday and be in position to run for the lead at the end."
• RLR's Vitor Meira will be forced to start at the back of the field after his crew made an engine change in the No. 17 Rahal Letterman Team Menard/JohnsManville Honda/Panoz/Firestone. The IRL IndyCar Series has had a long standing rule that an engine change for an entry during a two-day race weekend requires that that entry start from the back of the field. Meira will start twenty-second one spot ahead of the disqualified Briscoe.
• "We had a vibration with the car after the second practice today," said Meira. "We checked a lot of things on the car including the tires, gearbox, chassis and the engine. Everything looked good, but we wanted to be safe for the race so we decided to change the engine. That way we are ready for warm-up and the race. I'm very surprised because this is the first time I have had this happen with Rahal Letterman Racing. We can work out some more things in warm-up and the car will be set to go. The car felt very good in traffic in the practice. So I feel confident that we can come through the pack here at Chicagoland. Some other tracks you couldn't do, that but here it is possible."
• The Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 will be seen live on ABC on Sunday afternoon beginning at 1:30 pm Eastern.

Chip Ganassi Racing

• IRL Disallows Team Target Pole Position; Cars Ordered to Grid at Rear of Field at Chicagoland
• Joliet, Illinois, September 10, 2005-- Following the IndyCar Series qualifying session at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday, Indy Racing League officials disallowed the times of the three Target Chip Ganassi Racing entries after ruling the cars did not meet the necessary guidelines set forth in post-qualifying technical inspection. The Target team will grid the no.10 car of Jaques Lazier in 21st, with Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe starting 22nd and 23rd, respectively, based on entrant points.
• Prior to the ruling, IndyCar rookie Briscoe finished the qualifying session on top, scoring his second straight pole position with a top speed of 217.133 mph (25.2011 seconds). Target teammate Dixon set a lap time of 25.4072 seconds (215.372 mph) which would have placed the no.9 Target Toyota in ninth place while Jaques Lazier, pole and race winner at Chicagoland in 2001, was due to start from 10th place after posting a time of 25.4340 seconds (215.145 mph).
• Target fans can tune in to watch the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 presented by Mr. Clean on ABC Live at 1:30 pm (EDT) on Sunday, September 11. Fans can also listen to the IndyCar broadcast live on the IMS Radio Network at 1:00 pm (EDT). The IMS Radio broadcast will also be available on XM satellite Radio Channel 152 "Extreme" and web cast on Indycar.com.

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