2012 IndyCar silly season

[Jacques Rabbit]

Anders Krohn is focusing on sports cars; won't pursue an IndyCar ride.

Appears that AFS Racing was really just Sam Schmidt ordering a second chassis under a different name so he could take delivery of two at once for Pagenaud. So, don't count on AFS actually being on the grid, or a second SSM car beyond Indy. SSM just being crafty.

Davey Hamilton Racing looks very unlikely.

[Paradise City]

I had wondered why Bourdais did his 180 on leaving Indycar. He must've had advanced warning of Peugeot's withdrawal.

[Peat]

Yeah, according to Nic Minassian, Pug started getting a bit cagey towards the end of last year when he was trying to pin them down on a contract renewal and it set alarm bells ringing.

I imaging Seabass had the same information.

Unless he finds another ride in WEC, i expect him to be slightly stronger in the DW12. More time to focus on the nuances of the car etc. Must have been hard jumping from state-of-the-art LMP to a ancient understeering tank.

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

Hi. Anyone up for some light-hearted silly season predictions?

1. Who will win drivers' championship:
2. Who will win Indy:
3. Who will win Rookie of the Year?:
4: How many cars will show up at St Pete for round 1?:
5. How do you think Sebastien Bourdais will do in 2012 (rate 1-10):
6. How do you think Katherine Legge will do in 2012 (rate 1-10):
7. How do you think Josef Newgarden will do in 2012 (rate 1-10):
8. How do you think James Hinchcliffe will do in 2012 (rate 1-10):
9. Will Lotus get a win in 2012? And if you think so, who will get it?:
10. Do you think Castroneves will win at least one race in 2012?:
11. How many cautions at Indy?
12: How many DNFs due to contacts for EJ Viso?:
13. Most DNFs in a race?:
14. Will Jean Alesi qualify for Indy? If he does, where will he finish?


My predictions:

1. Who will win drivers' championship: Power
2. Who will win Indy: TK
3. Who will win Rookie of the Year?: Pagenaud if he's eligible. Guerrieri if he isn't.
4: How many cars will show up at St Pete for round 1?: 29
5. How do you think Sebastien Bourdais will do in 2012 (rate 1-10): 9
6. How do you think Katherine Legge will do in 2012 (rate 1-10): 5
7. How do you think Josef Newgarden will do in 2012 (rate 1-10): 7
8. How do you think James Hinchcliffe will do in 2012 (rate 1-10): 7
9. Will Lotus get a win in 2012? And if you think so, who will get it?: Yes. Servia.
10. Do you think Castroneves will win at least one race in 2012?: No.
11. How many cautions at Indy?: 8
12: How many DNFs due to contacts for EJ Viso?: 5
13. Most DNFs in a race?: 11 at Toronto
14. Will Jean Alesi qualify for Indy? If he does, where will he finish? No

[Mystery]

My predictions:

1. Who will win drivers' championship: Power
2. Who will win Indy: Dario
3. Who will win Rookie of the Year?: Legge
4: How many cars will show up at St Pete for round 1?: 29
5. How do you think Sebastien Bourdais will do in 2012 (rate 1-10): 7
6. How do you think Katherine Legge will do in 2012 (rate 1-10): 6
7. How do you think Josef Newgarden will do in 2012 (rate 1-10): 4
8. How do you think James Hinchcliffe will do in 2012 (rate 1-10): 6
9. Will Lotus get a win in 2012? And if you think so, who will get it?: Nope
10. Do you think Castroneves will win at least one race in 2012?: No
11. How many cautions at Indy?: 10
12: How many DNFs due to contacts for EJ Viso?: 6
13. Most DNFs in a race?: 16 at Indy
14. Will Jean Alesi qualify for Indy? If he does, where will he finish? DNQ

[Paradise City]

1. Who will win drivers' championship:
2. Who will win Indy:
3. Who will win Rookie of the Year?:
4: How many cars will show up at St Pete for round 1?:
5. How do you think Sebastien Bourdais will do in 2012 (rate 1-10):
6. How do you think Katherine Legge will do in 2012 (rate 1-10):
7. How do you think Josef Newgarden will do in 2012 (rate 1-10):
8. How do you think James Hinchcliffe will do in 2012 (rate 1-10):
9. Will Lotus get a win in 2012? And if you think so, who will get it?:
10. Do you think Castroneves will win at least one race in 2012?:
11. How many cautions at Indy?
12: How many DNFs due to contacts for EJ Viso?:
13. Most DNFs in a race?:
14. Will Jean Alesi qualify for Indy? If he does, where will he finish?

1. Dario
2. Dario
3. Dunno
4. 24
5. 8th-10th in championship. Some sparklers of drives but mired by accidents.
6. 16th-20th in championship.
7. As above
8. 12th - 15th in championship
9. No but might get lucky if the new car is fragile. It's a race against time to get that engine up to the mark.
10. No, the new car transition will be very painful for Helio.
11. Maybe 15.
12. 7
13. 15
14. He'll defy God by qualifying despite having no business to (Herbert & Co) but raceday will be a complete flop for him, so, dnf.

I expect great things from Dunno this year.

Making predictions is nearly meaningless until we see a race with this new car and we can take on board its relative reliability.

[Jacques Rabbit]

1. Champion: Sébastien Bourdais
2. Indy: Marco Andretti
3. Rookie of the Year: Simon Pagenaud (who really is not a rookie, but he is counted as one under the Indy rules)
4: Car count: 28
5. Bourdais: 10, champion. The Lotus engine will be a real sleeper.
6. Legge: 4. Her only redeeming quality will be Bourdais' setups.
7. Newgarden: 4. Overrated by inflated numbers in a weak FILS field with a team that gets to make their own rules. SFHR's a cute team, but not a strong one, either.
8. Hinchcliffe: 7. Not going to set the world on fire, might beat RHR if he does enough RHR-esque bonehead moves.
9. Lotus: Yes. Bourdais and Tagliani will win for Lotus. Servi�*, love the guy, predicted he'd win Loudon last year and he nearly did...but he has one career win, and D&RR aren't so great. So just Bourdais and Tagliani for now.
10. Castroneves: Winless, again, behind Power and Briscoe in the standings.
11. Indy cautions: Too damn many. 11?
12: Viso: 4
13. Wreckfest: 11 again.
14. Alesi: He'll qualify on the strength of the glorious Lotus engine, do nothing on race day, retire early.

[Mystery]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

He'll defy God by qualifying despite having no business to (Herbert & Co)

Explain? What had Herbert done wrong? He was easily fast enough during early May and would have been in but for rain.

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by Mystery

Explain? What had Herbert done wrong? He was easily fast enough during early May and would have been in but for rain.

I got that impression from Herbert's own account. I can't remember if it was in the back end of Autosport or Motorsport Magazine.

[marcostraz]

I think it's hard t make prediction, because a lot of things could change depending from the engine strenght...beyond this, these are my predictions:

1. Who will win drivers' championship: Will Power
2. Who will win Indy: James Hinchcliffe
3. Who will win Rookie of the Year?: Josef Newgarden
4: How many cars will show up at St Pete for round 1?: 28
5. How do you think Sebastien Bourdais will do in 2012 (rate 1-10): 6,5
6. How do you think Katherine Legge will do in 2012 (rate 1-10): 4
7. How do you think Josef Newgarden will do in 2012 (rate 1-10): 8
8. How do you think James Hinchcliffe will do in 2012 (rate 1-10): 8
9. Will Lotus get a win in 2012? And if you think so, who will get it?: It's possible, and I think with Servia...
10. Do you think Castroneves will win at least one race in 2012?: Yes
11. How many cautions at Indy?: I think not so much...nothing extraordinary...
12: How many DNFs due to contacts for EJ Viso?: 4
13. Most DNFs in a race?: 15, in a raining day...
14. Will Jean Alesi qualify for Indy? If he does, where will he finish?: No...

PS: I think it was better to have a topic for the predictions separated from this...

[tbz]

preliminary entry list:

A.J. Foyt – Dallara Honda
Mike Conway

Andretti Autosport - Dallara Chevrolet
Marco Andretti
James Hinchcliffe
Ryan Hunter-Reay
TBA

Byran Herta Autosport – Dallara Lotus
Alex Tagliani

Chip Ganassi Racing – Dallara Honda
Scott Dixon
Dario Franchitti
Graham Rahal
Charlie Kinball

Conquest Racing – Dallara TBA
TBA

Dale Coyne Racing – Dallara Honda
Justin Wilson
TBA

Dragon Racing – Dallara Honda
Sebastien Bourdais
Katherine Legge

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing - Dallara Lotus
Oriol Servia
TBA

Ed Carpenter Racing – Dallara TBA
Ed Carpenter

KV Racing Technology – Dallara Chevrolet
Tony Kanaan
E.J. Viso
TBA

HVM Racing – Dallara Lotus
Simona de Silvestro

MSR Racing (Mike Shank) – Dallara TBA
TBA

Panther Racing – Dallara Chevrolet
J.R. Hildegrand

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing – Dallara Honda
TBA
TBA

Sam Schmidt Motorsports – Dallara Honda
Simon Pagenaud

Sarah Fischer Hartman Racing – Dallara TBA
Josef Newgarden

Penske Racing – Dallara Chevrolet
Ryan Briscoe
Helio Castroneves
Will Power

[Jacques Rabbit]

Solid list. New information coming out...figured I'd update mine. New things are in italics.

A.J. Foyt Enterprises (Honda)
14. Mike Conway (ABC Supply Co)
Still working on a second car; could be a part-time effort with Bertrand Baguette. Have also heard Bryan Clauson running all the ovals with this team.

Andretti Autosport (Chevrolet)
26. Marco Andretti (RC Cola)
27. James Hinchcliffe (GoDaddy.com)
28. Ryan Hunter-Reay (Sun Drop/DHL)
Fourth car not likely.

Bryan Herta Autosport (Lotus)
x. Alex Tagliani (Barracuda Networks)
Second car for Indy. Bryan Clauson, Townsend Bell, and Buddy Rice all mentioned; Bryan Herta would consider doing it himself as well.

Chip Ganassi Racing (Honda)
9. Scott Dixon (Target)
10. Dario Franchitti (Target)
38. Graham Rahal (Service Central)
83. Charlie Kimball (Novo Nordisk)
Had been rumors of a fifth car for Takuma Sato, but not strong ones.

Conquest Racing (Lotus)
They insist their LMP2 effort is in addition to their IndyCar one, but I'm less than convinced. Ride-buyers like Gustavo Yacamán etc. will flock to this ride if it exists; could easily be a rotation of many.

Dale Coyne Racing (Honda)
18. James Jakes (Acorn Stairlifts)
19. Justin Wilson (Boy Scouts of America - which is not actually a sponsor, but rather a tax write-off for Mr. Coyne)
Earliest Coyne has ever gotten his driver lineup settled.

Davey Hamilton Racing
Nothing concrete here, but some type of limited schedule with Brandon Wagner is talked about from time-to-time. Really, really doubtful that they'd run.

Dragon Racing (Lotus)
6. Katherine Legge (TrueCar)
8. Sébastien Bourdais (???)
Microsoft and McAfee branding on the cars to some extent.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (Lotus)
22. Oriol Servi�* (???)
Second car exists, and will either be for Tomas Schectker, Ana Beatriz, or Pippa Mann. Maybe all three at various points in the season.

Ed Carpenter Racing
20. Ed Carpenter (Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka)
Could have a second car for Indy, but so could anyone else if they had the right ridebuyer. Combined effort with Tony George's Vision Racing and Derrick Walker's team. New livery is green, gold, and white, which implies Lotus.

HVM Racing (Lotus)
78. Simona de Silvestro (Entergy Nuclear)
Second car for Jean Alesi at the Indianapolis 500 possible.

KV Racing Technology (Chevrolet)
11. Tony Kanaan (GEICO...maybe)
x. E.J. Viso (CITGO/PDVSA)
x. Esteban Guerrieri (Argentina)
Not super official on Guerrieri, but close. Vitor Meira as an alternate there.

MSR Indy (Lotus)
60. Paul Tracy (ARMA Energy)
Expect confirmation soon.

Panther Racing (Chevrolet)
4. J.R. Hildebrand (National Guard)
Second car for, you guessed it, Indianapolis.

Team Penske (Chevrolet)
2. Ryan Briscoe (various)
3. Hélio Castroneves (various)
12. Will Power (Verizon Wireless)

RLL Racing (Honda)
Takuma Sato is a leading candidate. Jay Howard has some type of a ride, #66, with Service Central sponsorship. No word if full-time or part-time, but it may have something to do with RLL. Buddy Rice had been linked prior; that died off. Pippa Mann has something pending, could be RLL again.

Sam Schmidt Motorsports (Honda)
77. Simon Pagenaud (Bowers & Wilkins)
May run a second car of rotating drivers, at least part-time, but they could do that under the AFS Racing banner.

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing
67. Josef Newgarden (???)
Had an event at Walgreens. Deal was that if they could get enough people to show up for the grand opening of a Walgreens in Indianapolis, they'd get the sponsor. Had a mock-up livery on the old Dallara and all that. See where that goes.

[Jacques Rabbit]

By my count:

Full-time: 27 confirmed; up to 30 if Newgarden/SFHR go full-time (likely), RLL bring a second full-time car (possible), Conquest answer the bell (I have no idea)

The one downside to the high number of cars? Lotus were only prepared to supply about six teams. The factory cars (Bourdais, Servìa, de Silvestro, Tagliani) will all get their engines/parts, as will their two teammates (Legge and the other D&RR). The rest of the Lotus teams (MSR, Conquest, apparently ECR) will have to wait until the parts shortage is resolved...which could be tomorrow, could be the weekend of St. Petersburg.

I'd also consider it possible to have to send cars home. Every track has a limit based on pit stalls (and every track should have a limit based on safety but let's not go there in this thread), so if you got too many cars (and the DW12 is a bit larger, isn't it?) entered at some tracks, you couldn't start them all.

[Deleted]

http://forums.autosport.com/index.ph...post&p=5492801

John Oreovicz:
If Rubens Barrichello promised his wife he wouldn't race Indy cars, why is he reportedly doing a seat fitting today at KV Racing?

Interesting to say at least...

[Deleted]

Just listening RLM, apparently Rubens will be testing at Sebring.

Also:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...llo.test.0153/

[DS"]

Should be good for Rubinho and very good for the series, although Rubens won't probably do the ovals, which I can understand.

Come to think of it, who was the last F1 Grand Prix-Winner to switch to IndyCar? Must have been Nigel Mansell if my memory serves me correctly.

[Down F0rce]

Surely Rubens will do Indy as well... would be like signing up for Toyota's new sportcar team but skip Le Mans.

[DS"]

Originally Posted by Down F0rce

Surely Rubens will do Indy as well... would be like signing up for Toyota's new sportcar team but skip Le Mans.

While Indy is one of the safer ovals, he has promised to his wife that he won't do oval races. But it's Indy after all, and he sort of knows the track already. Well, let's see what the next weeks bring.

[Jacques Rabbit]

I know there had been talks with a Brazilian sponsor for Vitor Meira; I wonder if Meira could do ovals, with Rubens doing the other races? Pure speculation on my part.

He may just want to drive some fast cars for a bit of fun and his buddy Tony Kanaan set him up.

He'd be very welcome in IndyCar, though.

[JohnMiller]

Originally Posted by DS"

Should be good for Rubinho and very good for the series, although Rubens won't probably do the ovals, which I can understand.

Come to think of it, who was the last F1 Grand Prix-Winner to switch to IndyCar? Must have been Nigel Mansell if my memory serves me correctly.

Johnny Herbert?

Michele Alboreto?

[GTRMagic]

A DCR Honda... And a 2nd car coming..

[Mekola]

Hope Barrichello's chances to be in IndyCar won't spoil Guerrieri's ones.

[Down F0rce]

Out of interest Jacques Rabbit, where did you hear that Bryan Herta would consider driving the second car? I'd love to see it happen but just don't see it myself...

[thebear]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

I know there had been talks with a Brazilian sponsor for Vitor Meira; I wonder if Meira could do ovals, with Rubens doing the other races? Pure speculation on my part.

He may just want to drive some fast cars for a bit of fun and his buddy Tony Kanaan set him up.

He'd be very welcome in IndyCar, though.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97180

[Jacques Rabbit]

Originally Posted by Down F0rce

Out of interest Jacques Rabbit, where did you hear that Bryan Herta would consider driving the second car? I'd love to see it happen but just don't see it myself...

Mr. Herta said it himself, but not before saying he'd like to hire someone like Townsend Bell or Buddy Rice. It certainly isn't something I'd expect, though I'm sure that somewhere, deep down, having won Indy as an owner, he so badly wants to do it again. Reason and age will probably get the better of him...