DeltaWing, Mazda teams overachieve versus expectations

By Jan 30, 2014, 10:00 AM EST
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Two of the relative underdog teams in the Prototype field at this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona – the DeltaWing Racing Cars and SpeedSource Mazda teams – overachieved compared to expectations.

In the 18-car field, these two along with the all-gentlemen Highway to Help squads were probably the longest shots to win entering the week. But while the Highway team used a standard Riley DP with Dinan power, both the DeltaWing and Mazda used this year’s Rolex 24 as a testing opportunity for new technologies.

The lightweight, radical DeltaWing was back in its first 24-hour race since the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans, the race the open-top version of the car made its official debut. But the difference this time around was drastic: an entirely new operating team, crew, car (a coupe version) and tire partner (Continental) made for several new elements as the team took to Daytona for the first time.

The team’s two 2013 full-season drivers, Andy Meyrick and Katherine Legge, were joined by Caterham F1 reserve Alexander Rossi and 2013 Indy Lights runner-up Gabby Chaves in the distinctive, chrome coupe. Rossi commented on the driveability of the car compared to his usual F1 chassis.

“To get the performance out of it, you have to drive it different than a normal car,” Rossi told MotorSportsTalk at Daytona. “The visual references and the like aren’t difficult, but to pull a lap time out, yeah, you have to be a bit creative.”

Rossi, a former Formula BMW champion, was making his first U.S. race start in five or six years. Legge qualified the car eighth overall – ahead of all the P2 chassis – and top of the ALMS 2013 cars making the switch into the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

Myriad issues plagued the team throughout the race, notably gearbox, a fuel pump and a small off by Chaves, but in more than 16 hours the car ran 288 laps and more than 1,000 miles. It was the longest outing yet for the Élan-powered prototype, in the team led by managing partner Don Panoz and president/COO Al Speyer.

“First of all, the crew did a terrific job to keep the car going,” Legge said. “This is the longest we’ve ever gone and when I was out on the track, the car was great. Very balanced, very good in traffic. It’s hard not to finish but we know that we are heading in the right direction and it’s just a matter of continuing what we’re doing.”

Mazda could also take positives away from its debut with the Multimatic-built pair of SKYACTIV-D diesel P2 coupes, in a purely learning exercise and something where pace was not going to be achieved from the off.

source: Getty Images
Getty Images

The two coupes – driven by Mazda veterans Sylvain Tremblay, Tom Long, James Hinchcliffe, Joel Miller, Tristan Nunez and Tristan Vautier – plugged away for more than 2,800 miles between them and came up just short of finishing. It represented a major step forward compared to the GX-run Mazda6 diesels that raced Daytona last year, when all three cars retired within the first six hours.

The No. 07 (Miller/Nunez/Vautier) car came within an hour of the finish before an oil-pump belt failure caused a loss of oil pressure.  The No. 70 car (the other three) covered over 1,300 miles before it was retired due to overheating caused by a clogged radiator.

Where the car succeeded was in efficiency, with a 35-percent advantage in range from the SKYACTIV-D engine.  The car also has a high “clean factor,” using a renewable synthetic diesel fuel supplied by Dynamic Fuels.  Mazda Motorsports engineers will now address the radiator and belt issues that sidelined their cars this weekend, and turn their attention to dialing in even more speed as the season progresses.

“Given the limited time we’ve had to develop the new Mazda SKYACTIV-D Clean Diesel prototype, we are very satisfied with the progress our team has achieved,” said John Doonan, Director, Mazda Motorsports. “That said, this is a multi-year development program and we won’t be happy until we start winning.”

Of note here, the Élan engine in the DeltaWing is Mazda MZR-R based, but is not a Mazda block. Either way, both teams press ahead, and seeing development between them will be interesting to monitor as the rest of the TUDOR Championship rolls on.

Marcus Ericsson says timing of final red flag produced an unfair finish to the Indy 500

By May 28, 2023, 8:30 PM EDT
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INDIANAPOLIS – Marcus Ericsson was beaten at his own game by Josef Newgarden, but that’s not why the runner-up to Josef Newgarden felt the finish of the 107th Indy 500 was unfair.

“I think it wasn’t enough laps to go to do what we did,” Ericsson said after falling 0.0974 seconds short of earning a $420,000 bonus from BorgWarner as the first repeat Indy 500 winner in 21 years. “I don’t think it’s safe to go out of the pits on cold tires for a restart when half the field is sort of still trying to get out on track when we go green.

“I don’t think it’s a fair way to end the race. I don’t think it’s a right way to end the race. So I can’t agree with that.”

IndyCar officials threw an Indy 500-record three red flags to try to ensure a green-flag finish Sunday, and the last came with one lap remaining after a restart wreck caused the fifth and final yellow flag on Lap 196 of 200.

Three laps were run under yellow (with the field dodging the crash involving Ed Carpenter and Benjamin Pederson before the race was stopped. Cars were sent to the pits while the running order was reviewed (resulting in Newgarden being moved from fourth to second).

In an unusual procedure, after the cars were back on track, the white and green flags then were waved simultaneously for a one-lap shootout. Other sanctioning bodies (such as NASCAR) that try to guarantee green-flag finishes usually run at least two laps of green before the checkered flag.

Ericsson believed the race should have ended under yellow.

“It is what it is,” he said. “I just have to deal with it. I think I did everything I could. I did an awesome last restart. I caught Josef by surprise and kept the lead into 1, but it wasn’t enough, so for sure it’s hard to swallow.

“Yeah, I think it was just not enough laps. If they wanted red they should have called red earlier. I think when they kept it going, then I think they should have called it. But I’m sure Josef doesn’t agree with that and thinks that way, but that’s just the way I thought. I thought it was too tight to do the last red.”

Indeed after Team Penske’s record 19th Indy 500 victory, Newgarden, car owner Roger Penske and strategist Tim Cindric saw no issue with how the ending was managed by race control.

As the owner of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar, Penske goes to lengths to avoid any involvement with competition and officiating decisions but noted that “we want to see a checkered flag, not a yellow flag.”

“I’m happy they did it to give a good finish,” Newgarden said. “Obviously if I was in Marcus’ situation, I would have said, ‘Yeah, just end it.’ That’s great.

“I’ve also been in a lot of races where you get ahead of somebody like that and the yellow just comes out, and you’re going back to the timing line of Turn 4. And I’m like, what are you talking about? We’ve been sitting here for about 5 seconds where I’m in front of this person.

“There’s so many different ways that this could have played out and you could have said this is fair or that’s fair. I’ve seen it all. At this point I’m just really thankful they did it the way they did. I’m glad I had the car. I don’t really care. I’ve seen a lot of situations where it didn’t go our way. Today went our way, and I’ll take it. I’ll take it all day.”

Said Cindric: “Each restart could have played out a different way, and when you look at the fact that we lost the lead on one of the restarts, it can kind of go either way, and that’s kind of the way this place is now. I think somebody has got to win and somebody doesn’t. We’ve been on the other side of that, too.”

IndyCar officials often remind drivers in meetings that it’ll do everything in its power to ensure a green-flag finish, and that’s become particularly evident at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The red flag first was used to help ensure a green-flag finish at the Brickyard in 2014. Tony Kanaan’s first Indy 500 victory had come in the 2013 that ended with three laps run under caution and much fan outcry.

“The biggest complaint we have every year was we shouldn’t finish a race under the yellow,” Kanaan said Sunday after finishing 16th in the final start of his IndyCar career. “Could have they called (the red flag) earlier? Yes. Could have, should have, would have, but we ended under green, and that’s what the fans kept asking us every time.

“I mean, look at this place. Do we really want to finish under yellow with all those people out there? For me, it was the right call.”

An estimated crowd of more than 300,000 was treated to a similarly memorable finish to last year when Ericsson used a move dubbed “The Dragon” to fend off Pato O’Ward.

After getting a good jump on the restart in his No. 8 Dallara-Honda, Ericsson used the same weaving maneuvers to break the draft of the trailing car.

But Newgarden still picked up enough of a tow to swing around Ericsson and into the lead on the backstretch.

The Team Penske driver began taking weaving countermeasures in his No. 2 Dallara-Chevy.

Coming off Turn 4, he dove below the white line (followed by Ericsson) and pulled just above the attenuator at the beginning of the pit lane wall on his way to the checkered flag.

“Yeah, I was about driving through pit lane,” Newgarden said. “It was legal is all I’m going to say. They were very clear that they are not enforcing that line, and they didn’t enforce it last year.

“I’m coming to the checkered flag, and I’m going to do everything I can to win this race, and I had to be as aggressive as possible, because the tow effect to just the first car was even more difficult than last year. You were just a sitting duck if you were in the lead.”

Ericsson also said a bevy of aerodynamic tweaks (intended to increase passing this year) had an adverse effect on “The Dragon.”

“The cars with the aero spec we had this month was a bit harder to lead,” he said. “I think last year was just a little bit less drag, and it was a little bit easier to be in the lead than today.

“I knew for that last restart it was going to be almost impossible to keep the lead. I did a great job there on the restart of catching him by surprise and getting a jump and not get overtaken into 1, because every restart it felt like P1 was going to P5 on every restart.

“I think I aced that restart, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”

Newgarden lobbied for IndyCar to make further changes that would make it harder to catch the leader (and thus help eliminate the weaving that had become “imperative because of this style of racing”).

“I think the cars should be more difficult to drive here,” he said. “It’s a terribly difficult balance for the series to walk because you want to have a good show. You want everybody to be as close together as possible and you want it to be difficult for someone to win this race, and I agree with that.

“But I think it’s not difficult in the right way. We’ve got to find a different formula where we can trim the cars out and they’re easier to follow in the pack. Basically all this downforce that we’ve added has only made it easier and easier for the first two cars, so when you’re the third car you’re still just stuck in that tow line where no one is really going anywhere. We’re all closer, but it’s only the first two that can really do something.

“So we’ve got to change that formula where it’s easier to follow in the pack, but you can also be rewarded if you’re better at driving the car with less downforce. I want to see the drivers that really excel get a better advantage. That’s why they pay us to be in the seat. That’s why they pay the engineers, to find the perfect setups that we can make an advantage. Not so we can win by two laps, but I just think the dynamic of the race, the complexion could look a little differently.”