2012 Indianapolis 500 entry list

[NaBUru38]

It's 8 weeks until the 2012 Indianapolis 500, so it's time to discuss the entry list.

Randy Bernard said to Autoweek that Honda and Chevrolet will supply 14 cars each and Lotus 6, so that would be 34 cars.

According to this Autoweek article, the possible entries added from the current 26 so far are:

o- Andretti: 2 cars for Sebastián Saavedra (with AFS) and Ana Beatriz Figueiredo.
o- Rahal: 1 car for Luca Fillipi, who would keep the seat for the rest of the season.
o- Schmidt Hamilton: 1 or 2 cars are possible, including one for the team owner Davey Hamilton.
o- Dreyer & Reinbold: 1 car supposedly for Jean Alesi, since it's the only is the Lotus team who wants an extra car.
o- Conquest would team with Andretti to race for the first time of the season, perhaps for Bia.
o- MSR Indy lacks money and engine.
o- Foyt wants a second car.
o- Carpetenter would field one if asked.

That's a total 6 or 7 realistic extra entries, which added with the current 26 total 32 or 33.

[Down F0rce]

Bryan Clauson has a scholarship to cash in for the Indy 500, most likely to be with Foyt.

33 cars will be in the race, for sure. Tong George managed to get 33 cars at Indy, and failing to achieve something that TG pulled off is something that Randy Bernard will NOT want on his CV. He'll make it happen.

[HaydenFan]

http://www.indystar.com/article/2012...t|IndyStar.com

From the sounds of it, Alesi is out.

I also recall Davey Hamilton calling it quits after the Vegas race last year.

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

Originally Posted by HaydenFan

http://www.indystar.com/article/20120331/SPORTS01/203310367/Will-Indianapolis-500-33-cars-?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|IndyStar.com

From the sounds of it, Alesi is out.

I also recall Davey Hamilton calling it quits after the Vegas race last year.

Davey said on Trackside 2 weeks ago that he might have another go in a 3rd SSM car, but not if it hurts the team's focus(I'm paraphrasing of course).

Let's not give too much credit to the article's title also, Cavin must have been in a very doom and gloom mood that day. Too early to jump on the usual "there will not be 33 cars" bandwagon.

[dyewat808]

Bit off-topic, but I can't believe this is round the corner again. Sometimes I can't believe how quick time goes!

[thebear]

Lotus' engine supply problems.

[Yannick]

Judd who are manufacturing the engines for Lotus surely have the capacity of producing them but Proton, the company to which Lotus belongs, was sold recently.

How likely is it that the 5 Lotus teams are already secretly looking for different engine deals for next year?

It's almost as if Lotus would not care at all about bad publicity.

[Canada ALMS fan]

Originally Posted by Yannick

Judd who are manufacturing the engines for Lotus surely have the capacity of producing them but Proton, the company to which Lotus belongs, was sold recently.

How likely is it that the 5 Lotus teams are already secretly looking for different engine deals for next year?

It's almost as if Lotus would not care at all about bad publicity.

I hope Lotus stays but hopefully Ford comes in next year too... We are finally getting bump day coverage in Canada and it might not mean anything this year.

[cos]

Alesi will race with Newman/Haas. Glad to see the team hasn't disappeared completely.

[NaBUru38]

It's great!

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by cos

Alesi will race with Newman/Haas. Glad to see the team hasn't disappeared completely.

What a combo. I wonder what Newman would've made of Alesi.

[Flyin Ryan]

Always liked Alesi.

Curt Cavin said on Trackside Tuesday night that it's not 100% and hasn't been announced yet, but Townsend Bell will almost certainly be in a Schmidt car at Indianapolis.

So throwing in Clauson (Cavin says Sarah Fisher), Saavedra (Andretti), and Filippi (Rahal) that brings us to 31.

Teams that were at the Indianapolis test: Castroneves for Penske, Kanaan for KV, Marco for Andretti, Carpenter, Hildebrand, Dixon for Ganassi, Sato, Conway, and Wilson for Dale Coyne.

Cavin clarified his car position a bit saying he personally expects 33 and he thinks there may be 34. It's more him just thinking Chevy and Honda are both committed up to 14 and that Lotus has to hold up their end and if they have issues they may not be able to.

[Down F0rce]

Ana Beatriz will be in a fifth car at Indy for Andretti Autosport. She will also drive for the team at Sao Paulo.

http://www.indycar.com/en/News/2012/...etti-Autosport

[Yannick]

It's good to see Bia back. I hope the Andretti/Conquest combination will perform more like the 5th Andretti car at Indy than like the Conquest cars of previous years. Her oval expertise, most of which she gained in Indy Lights, certainly is welcomed with open arms by Andretti Autosport.

Now when looking at the car count, the one team which has decreased in entries most significantly is D&R with only one entry this year as opposed to how many have they had actually? 4 last year? They surely would be capable of fielding more cars if they had more Lotus engines.

What about Davey Hamilton? Has he effectively retired, now that he's a co-owner of Sam Schmidt's team, the former FAZZT organisation? This team has quickly become a favorite of mine after they joined the IndyCar series fulltime. I hope they can at least win one race this year. With the calendar leaning towards non-oval tracks, it has been a wise decision to hire a road course expert in Simon Pagenaud. There are many oval specialists available at the time so for their 2nd entry at Indy, they could hire one of those to help Pagenaud find his way around the ovals.

How about a 2nd Panther entry?

It's great to see Newman/Haas has not given up on IndyCar racing yet. Here's hoping they come back full time next year.

[Down F0rce]

There was plenty of ancient Dallara's kicking about last year, though. Bryan Herta Autosport's tub was from 2003! With the brand new cars, a small team looking for a cheap one isn't a possibility. Lotus being on the back foot isn't going to help of course... I think the Newman/Hass car will probably be their only extra entry.