Sato provides Foyt a home pole for Houston Indy race 1

By Oct 5, 2013, 1:25 PM EDT
0 Comments

After a brutal stretch of races, A.J. Foyt Enterprises has a bit of home luck on what’s been a challenging weekend for the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Takuma Sato scored his third career pole (2 in 2011 with KV Racing Technology) and first for Foyt’s team since 1999 at an Indy Racing League event in Atlanta with driver Billy Boat, in qualifying for the first race of the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston doubleheader (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN).

Sato had the advantage of going in the second group – the first was shortened due to an accident by rookie Tristan Vautier – and laid down a flier of 1:00.4535 to capture the spot.

“It’s a great achievement for the team. The team has made huge strides. A.J. had to miss Long Beach where we got the first win. It’s been difficult of late. Team did a tremendous job and I was able to push,” Sato said.

Team director Larry Foyt added, “I think we won ‘happiest team winning a pole award.'”

And from A.J. Foyt: “It’s great to be in your hometown and win the pole, so I’m real happy and real thrilled. Just as long as we finish up first.”

Will Power led the first group, shortened by the incident, and will start second for Race 1.

“We literally had one lap on blacks and one lap on reds,” Power said.

“You’re running to the very left. I think they need to do a bit more grinding honestly. But we can race,” he added, regarding the new surface on the front straight and how to handle the “jump.”

The qualifying for Race 1 shifted from the Firestone Fast Six format to one that mirrored qualifying for Race 2 at the Detroit and Toronto doubleheaders. The field of 24 cars were split into two groups of 12, each getting 12 minutes of track time to set laps.

The rest of the grid was set by group order, with those in Sato’s group to start on the inside and Power’s on the outside.

Scott Dixon will start third in his quest to close the championship gap to Helio Castroneves. Sebastien Bourdais qualified fourth in pursuit of his third straight Houston race win.

Fifth through 10th in qualifying order are Simon Pagenaud, Simona de Silvestro, James Hinchcliffe, Luca Filippi, E.J. Viso and Dario Franchitti. Castroneves starts 22nd after a troubled session.

In Group 1, Vautier walled it exiting the left-handed Turn 10, which cost him his two fastest laps for causing a red flag. His fastest of 1:01.7544 had been second before the incident.

Group 1 ended, as it turned out, with only 5 minutes of green flag time. Group 2 had a full session with no major incidents. Ed Carpenter lost a piece of bodywork but other than that, nothing affected the session.

Bourdais, Franchitti and Rahal have 10-spot grid penalties coming for unapproved engine changes.

Both races will feature a standing start. It has not yet been determined whether races will have single file restarts, but it is under consideration.

IZOD IndyCar Series – Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston Race 1
Unofficial Starting Lineup

Row 1
14-Takuma Sato
12-Will Power

Row 2
9-Scott Dixon
77-Simon Pagenaud

Row 3
78-Simona de Silvestro
27-James Hinchcliffe

Row 4
98-Luca Filippi
5-E.J. Viso

Row 5
16-James Jakes
25-Marco Andretti

Row 6
18-Mike Conway
19-Justin Wilson

Row 7
11-Tony Kanaan
7-Sebastien Bourdais*

Row 8
1-Ryan Hunter-Reay
83-Charlie Kimball

Row 9
67-Josef Newgarden
3-Helio Castroneves

Row 10
6-Sebastian Saavedra
10-Dario Franchitti*

Row 11
4-Oriol Servia
20-Ed Carpenter

Row 12
55-Tristan Vautier (R)
15-Graham Rahal*

*Denotes 10-spot grid penalty for unapproved engine change

With throaty roar, NASCAR Next Gen Camaro is taking Le Mans by storm on global stage

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT
Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Chris Graythen/Getty Images
5 Comments

LE MANS, France — The V8 engine of the NASCAR Chevrolet Camaro has a distinct growl that cannot go unnoticed even among the most elite sports cars in the world at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

When the Hendrick Motorsports crew fired up the car inside Garage 56, NASCAR chairman Jim France broke into a huge grin and gave a thumbs up.

“The only guy who didn’t cover his ears,” laughed seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson.

GARAGE 56 SPECS: Full comparison of NASCAR Cup car to Le Mans car

BUTTON’S BIG MOVE: Hendrick drone tour was NASCAR entryway for F1 champion

France has been waiting since 1962 – the year his father, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., brought him to his first 24 Hours of Le Mans – to hear the roar of a stock car at the most prestigious endurance race in the world.

A path finally opened when NASCAR developed its Next Gen car, which debuted last year. France worked out a deal to enter a car in a specialized “Innovative Car” class designed to showcase technology and development. The effort would be part of NASCAR’s 75th celebration and it comes as Le Mans marks its 100th.

Once he had the approval, France persuaded Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear – NASCAR’s winningest team, manufacturer and tire supplier – to build a car capable of running the twice-around-the-clock race.

The race doesn’t start until Saturday, but NASCAR’s arrival has already been wildly embraced and France could not be more thrilled.

“Dad’s vision, to be able to follow it, it took awhile to follow it up, and my goal was to outdo what he accomplished,” France told The Associated Press. “I just hope we don’t fall on our ass.”

The car is in a class of its own and not racing anyone else in the 62-car field. But the lineup of 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button and Johnson has been fast enough; Rockenfeller put down a qualifying lap that was faster than every car in the GTE AM class by a full three seconds.

The Hendrick Motorsports crew won its class in the pit stop competition and finished fifth overall as the only team using a manual jack against teams exclusively using air jacks. Rick Hendrick said he could not be prouder of the showing his organization has made even before race day.

“When we said we’re gonna do it, I said, ‘Look, we can’t do this half-assed. I want to be as sharp as anybody out there,” Hendrick told AP. “I don’t want to be any less than any other team here. And just to see the reaction from the crowd, people are so excited about this car. My granddaughter has been sending me all these TikTok things that fans are making about NASCAR being at Le Mans.”

This isn’t NASCAR’s first attempt to run Le Mans. The late France Sr. brokered a deal in 1976, as America celebrated its bicentennial, to bring two cars to compete in the Grand International class and NASCAR selected the teams. Herschel McGriff and his son, Doug, drove a Wedge-powered, Olympia Beer-sponsored Dodge Charger, and Junie Donlavey piloted a Ford Torino shared by Richard Brooks and Dick Hutcherson.

Neither car came close to finishing the race. McGriff, now 95 and inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame in January, is in Le Mans as France’s guest, clad head-to-toe in the noticeable Garage 56 uniforms.

“I threw a lot of hints that I would like to come. And I’ve been treated as royalty,” McGriff said. “This is unbelievable to me. I recognize nothing but I’m anxious to see everything. I’ve been watching and seeing pictures and I can certainly see the fans love their NASCAR.”

The goal is to finish the full race Sunday and, just maybe, beat cars from other classes. Should they pull off the feat, the driver trio wants its own podium celebration.

“I think people will talk about this car for a long, long time,” said Rockenfeller, who along with sports car driver Jordan Taylor did much of the development alongside crew chief Chad Knaus and Greg Ives, a former crew chief who stepped into a projects role at Hendrick this year.

“When we started with the Cup car, we felt already there was so much potential,” Rockenfeller said. “And then we tweaked it. And we go faster, and faster, at Le Mans on the SIM. But you never know until you hit the real track, and to be actually faster than the SIM. Everybody in the paddock, all the drivers, they come up and they are, ‘Wow, this is so cool,’ and they were impressed by the pit stops. We’ve overachieved, almost, and now of course the goal is to run for 24 hours.”

The car completed a full 24-hour test at Sebring, Florida, earlier this year, Knaus said, and is capable of finishing the race. Button believes NASCAR will leave a lasting impression no matter what happens.

“If you haven’t seen this car live yet, it’s an absolute beast,” Button said. “When you see and hear it go by, it just puts a massive smile on your face.”

For Hendrick, the effort is the first in his newfound embrace of racing outside NASCAR, the stock car series founded long ago in the American South. Aside from the Le Mans project, he will own the Indy car that Kyle Larson drives for Arrow McLaren in next year’s Indianapolis 500 and it will be sponsored by his automotive company.

“If you’d have told me I’d be racing at Le Mans and Indianapolis within the same year, I’d never have believed you,” Hendrick told AP. “But we’re doing both and we’re going to do it right.”

Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Fans gather around the NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that is the Garage 56 entry for the 100th 24 Hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe (Chris Graythen/Getty Images).

General Motors is celebrating the achievement with a 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition and only 56 will be available to collectors later this year.

“Even though Chevrolet has been racing since its inception in 1911, we’ve never done anything quite like Garage 56,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “A NASCAR stock car running at Le Mans is something fans doubted they would see again.”

The race hasn’t even started yet, but Hendrick has enjoyed it so much that he doesn’t want the project to end.

“It’s like a shame to go through all this and do all this, and then Sunday it’s done,” Hendrick said. “It’s just really special to be here.”