Crashes, controversy, Canadian wins.
How’s that for a four word summary of round No. 4 of the Izod IndyCar series on the streets of Sao Paolo, Brazil this past weekend.
I’d better elaborate a little for those that may not have seen the race that had fans shouting with excitement at their televisions as they watched.
Andretti Autosport continued to be the dominant team in the early part of the weekend as three of the four team cars started in the top five. Marco Andretti would line up 10th and, as we’ve seen already this season, he smartly moved his car forward during the race and grabbed third spot at the finish.
Both Penske drivers were caught out in qualifying when a red flag situation didn’t allow them to put in a fast enough lap to advance in the session putting Helio Castroneves 18th at the start and three-time winner of this race Will Power in 22nd.
Castroneves would struggle to a 13th place result while Will Power drove brilliantly, passing competitors at an incredible rate, and by lap 16 was closing in on the top 10. Suddenly, his car began to slow and would not shift and fire appeared from underneath the bodywork. Power pulled to the side of the race track, his day over.
Bad luck yet again for the Aussie. Perhaps Power might consider carrying a black cat under a ladder on his way to break a mirror in hopes of changing his fortunes.
The early laps were also marred with drivers attempting to navigate the tight corners on the course and either running out of room, talent or both. While that slowed the momentum of the race, it did offer the opportunity for teams to use different strategies.
Both Long Beach winner Takuma Sato and St. Pete victor James Hinchcliffe would find themselves near the back of the pack in the middle stages but it all worked out and the two battled for the top spot right to the end.
After all drivers had completed their final pit stops, Sato was out front but under a late race challenge from Josef Newgarden who had used strategy and driving skill to climb all the way from dead last at the start to put the pressure on Sato. As those two fought for the top spot, Hinchcliffe was closing the gap on the leaders from third position.
Newgarden attempted to gain the top spot a couple of times but Sato made his car very wide and used the entire width of the street course and kept Newgarden behind him. The Fisher-Hartman driver would slip back to fifth at the end.
The fight came down to Hinchcliffe and Sato in the final laps and once again the leader used every tactic he could to maintain the top spot. On the final lap Hinch positioned his car on track so as to force Sato to drive deep into the final hairpin turn. Hinchcliffe then ducked under Sato on exit to take the lead and capture his second victory of the season. It was a spectacular pass, one of the best racing moves in any series in a long time. The Oakville, Ont., driver led only one lap, but it was the only one he needed.
IndyCar officials reviewed Sato’s actions on both Newgarden and Hinchcliffe’s attempts to pass for the lead but ruled not to take further action. Perhaps the way to put it best is they didn’t have to impose a penalty because the right car won. Sato’s actions were clearly in violation of the rulebook definition of blocking and he could have been penalized.
Now with street circuits finished for a while, the series heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indy 500. The first oval track race of the season and the greatest spectacle in racing.