Castroneves Takes Canny Barber Win

[Mark H]

Helio Castroneves took his first victory since Texas last June as he played a canny fuel strategy game to win the IndyCar Series' inaugural round at Barber Motorsports Park. Ganassi's Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti followed the same two-stop plan to complete the podium, while Will Power's run of wins came to an end as his choice of three stops left him fourth for Penske.

 

But the race could easily have seen Marco Andretti win for the first time in nearly four years, as he led for much of the distance before his fuel conservation bid failed and he had to make a late pitstop, dropping him to fifth.

 

With passing extremely difficult at the undulating Alabama track, the race soon became a tale of pit tactics.

 

Some drivers, led by Andretti Autosport's eighth-placed Tony Kanaan, chose to make their first of three stops at the earliest opportunity in the hope of vaulting to the front later.

 

Early leaders and front row partners Power and Mike Conway (Dreyer & Reinbold) were among a group who pitted when the first yellow came out on lap 11, caused by Takuma Sato's seventh-placed KV car grinding to a halt with a throttle problem.

 

But Castroneves, Andretti and the Ganassi duo decided to stay out and stretch their fuel mileage as long as possible in the hope of making just two pitstops during the race, a strategy that turned out to be ideal.

 

Castroneves therefore led away at the green flag after the Sato yellow - but only as far as Turn 5, where Andretti muscled past him and into first place.

 

The American edged clear initially, which ultimately proved his undoing, for Castroneves, Dixon and Franchitti were throttling back and saving more fuel.

 

When Andretti had to come in for his second and final pitstop with 34 laps to go - four more than even the frugal Castroneves had managed on a single fuel load - it was obvious that Andretti's only hope of winning was for a yellow to come out. He drove as conservatively as possible, hanging back behind midfielders Graham Rahal and Raphael Matos for lap after lap while defending from Castroneves and Dixon, but gave up and pitted eight laps from the end.

 

That dropped Andretti to fifth behind Castroneves, Dixon, Franchitti and Power, who emerged as comfortably the top three-stopper, and ironically just three laps later the yellow Andretti required came out when Simona de Silvestro spun her HVM car at Turn 5.

 

A two-lap shoot-out followed at the green, with Castroneves able to hold off Dixon and ensure that while Power's winning streak ended, Team Penske remains undefeated in the 2010 IndyCar season. Dixon was left frustrated that race control had adjudged that he had passed Andretti and Castroneves before the line at the start and ordered him to relinquish the positions - a decision the Ganassi driver felt cost him a win.

 

Behind Franchitti, Power and Andretti, Ryan Briscoe completed the top six in the third Penske entry. Justin Wilson (Dreyer & Reinbold) set the fastest lap and put determined moves on Conway and Kanaan as he made up ground from his disappointing grid slot to take sixth.

 

Alex Tagliani's early first stop helped him to come through from 21st to 10th for Fazzt, ahead of Dan Wheldon (Panther) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti).

 

Pos Driver Team Gap

1. Helio Castroneves Penske

2. Scott Dixon Ganassi + 0.5703s

3. Dario Franchitti Ganassi + 8.1590s

4. Will Power Penske + 8.6639s

5. Marco Andretti Andretti + 9.7410s

6. Ryan Briscoe Penske + 10.9611s

7. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold + 11.5478s

8. Tony Kanaan Andretti + 12.8533s

9. Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold + 13.3162s

10. Alex Tagliani Fazzt + 14.8450s

11. Dan Wheldon Panther + 15.2007s

12. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti + 15.6727s

13. Mario Moraes KV + 16.7242s

14. Raphael Matos Luczo Dragon de Ferran + 1 lap

15. Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 1 lap

16. EJ Viso KV + 1 lap

17. Graham Rahal Sarah Fisher + 1 lap

18. Vitor Meira Foyt + 1 lap

19. Danica Patrick Andretti + 1 lap

20. Bertrand Baguette Conquest + 1 lap

21. Simona de Silvestro HVM + 1 lap

22. Mario Romancini Conquest + 1 lap

23. Alex Lloyd Dale Coyne + 1 lap

24. Milka Duno Dale Coyne + 4 laps

 

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82828

25. Takuma Sato KV + 22 laps