Here’s the latest added insight from our NBC Sports Network IndyCar analyst Townsend Bell, the Mid-Ohio edition of “Ten with Townsend.”
Busy as always, Bell will be in action in this weekend in the American Le Mans Series’ race at Road America in the No. 23 Team AJR/West/Boardwalk Ferrari F458 Italia in the GT class. Before he races though, some great nuggets to digest from the IZOD IndyCar Series’ Honda Indy 200.
Previous editions are linked here.
– General race overview: Did you think three stops and flat out was going to work with the 5 added laps or did you think two could work? 2013 better or worse than a typical Mid-Ohio race?
We really expected everyone to have to 3 stop but we were way off on our fuel mileage projections. But obviously when RHR made his first stop on lap 30 we knew it was on.
– Your biggest surprise and disappointment from Mid-Ohio weekend.
My biggest surprise was that we went caution free again! Unreal.
The biggest disappointment was that I was not driving the NSX in the GoPro Course Preview! I’ve had a soft spot for that car since I was 17.
– Charlie Kimball’s growth and maturation, we’ve seen it over a three-year period and particularly on the road courses. What are some elements that he’s improved that have allowed him and the team to raise their game.
I think he has taken a very surgical approach towards improving every facet of his game. I’m most impressed that he never took off more than he could chew like most of us did when we started out as rookies. Frankly, I don’t see any reason why he can’t finish top-five in the championship at his point. Thats why I will now refer to him as “Super Chuck.”
– Rank the likelihood of the actual first-time winners going into this year, Hinchcliffe, Sato, Pagenaud and now Kimball. Who was most likely and least likely to you out of that group?
Tough question. I would say Pagenaud most likely. I was actually most surprised by Hinch. (least likely)
– More surprising: those four plus Conway winning races in 2013, or Will and Dario not winning?
Definitely Will not winning. Statistically you would say that was just about impossible based on prior years form.
– What did you make of Helio’s race minimizing damage and actually increasing points lead?
I think it shows how prepared and committed he is to winning his first championship. Taking maximum points from what’s available and not trying to force more. I’m very happy to see him closing in on that dream. He has analyzed himself and his approach a lot over the last few years and has made improvements to what was already a very strong approach.
– Do you think Marco Andretti’s team should make a strategist change? It seems every race, despite Marco’s definite improvement and pace this year, the strategy just seems off (started on blacks here).
I think I would just copy what RHR does at this point with setup, strategy, etc. On balance, that seems to be easily the best path. Sometimes you just have to bolt on what’s clearly working and go out-drive your teammate.
– Do you have any idea what is going on with Graham Rahal? Engineering change needs more time, just out to lunch on setup?
I have no idea. I can only imagine how frustrating it is for Graham, especially at his home track of Mid-Ohio. You can see how “Super Chuck” has thrived within the Ganassi system, where Graham last raced, aided by so much setup experience and data to draw from the Target program.
When I watched practice at Mid Ohio in Turns 4,5,6, it was clear to me that Graham was trying to force the car to do what he wanted. In a way, I wonder if the process that Marco employed to improve this last off season would serve Graham well? It’s easy for me to critique from the outside, without knowing all the details, but something has to improve soon. There is too much pride and money on the line to accept anything less. Bobby Rahal will continue to turn over every stone to get it right. You can point to the excellence of his ALMS BMW program to see they know how to win.
– Your brief thoughts on the two series debutantes, Luca Filippi and James Davison.
Amazing job from both of them. They each are the embodiment of desire, really working their tails off, for years, to secure that one chance. I wish James would have defended a little more on his final out lap, he could have finished even higher. He was too nice, but you can’t blame him in his first start.
Luca’s qualifying mistake was so costly, but he showed great pace and the Herta team gave him high marks on every level. I hope we’ll see both of them again soon in IndyCar.
– Lastly, you’ve raced against him, so how did Ryan Briscoe fare in the booth and for your GoPro Course Preview?
Ryan was excellent. You would think he ‘pillow talks’ for practice every night with a veteran broadcaster. Oh wait…
It was a little embarrassing trying to impress/scare him in the pace car but he was a good sport, as always. Will be interesting to see where he lands for next year. It’s amazing he is still only 30 years old after so much experience in F1, IRL, sports cars and IndyCar.
