2009_IndyCar_Series_season

2009 IndyCar Series

2009 IndyCar Series

14th season of the IndyCar Series


The 2009 IndyCar Series was the 14th season of the IndyCar Series. The 17-race season began on April 5, and its premier event, the 93rd Indianapolis 500 was held May 24. All races were broadcast on ABC[1] or Versus in high-definition. It represented the 98th recognized season of top-level American open wheel racing.

Quick Facts IndyCar season, Season ...
Dario Franchitti (left) won his second Drivers' Championship while Scott Dixon (right) finished second in the championship.

On July 30, 2008, the 2009 schedule for the IndyCar Series was officially released.[2] New to the schedule were Long Beach and Toronto, with Nashville having been removed to make way for the new events.

Dario Franchitti won his second IndyCar Series championship, putting a disappointing foray into NASCAR in 2008 behind him. Franchitti took his Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara-Honda to victory at Long Beach, Iowa Speedway, Toronto and Infineon Raceway in a season long battle with his Chip Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon and Team Penske driver Ryan Briscoe. Dixon led the series heading into the final round, but Franchitti's win at the series finale at Homestead pushed the British driver eleven points clear at season's end.

Dixon, who took five wins, held second place by a solitary point over Briscoe. Briscoe, with three wins, had his best ever season leading Team Penske after Hélio Castroneves's abbreviated start to the season from his tax-evasion trial. The Brazilian recovered by winning his third Indianapolis 500 before taking a win at Texas Motor Speedway a month later.

The Ganassi and Penske teams dominated the season, only two race victories were taken by drivers other than the four regulars from these two teams, and one of them, at Edmonton, was claimed by part-time Penske driver Will Power. The only other winner was Justin Wilson, scoring Dale Coyne Racing's first victory at Watkins Glen.

The Andretti Green Racing team had their first ever season without a win. Drivers Danica Patrick, Tony Kanaan and Hideki Mutoh each scored podium finishes, and Patrick finished fifth in the season points, setting a new record for highest points finish by a female driver.

Brazilian racer Raphael Matos claimed rookie of the year honors for the Luczo-Dragon Racing team, finishing thirteenth in the season point score, 29 points clear of Robert Doornbos with a season best result of sixth at Milwaukee.

Originally Honda was supposed to end their IndyCar Series single engine supplier after 2009. But on September 23, 2009, it was confirmed that Honda renewed their single engine supplier until the 2011 season.[3]

2009 IndyCar Series schedule

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 O  Oval/Speedway
 R  Road/Street course

Schedule details

Confirmed entries

All entrants competed in Dallara IR-05 chassis, powered by Honda HI9R V8 engines, and utilize Firestone Firehawk tires.

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Series news

  • 2009 started a 10-year TV deal with the Versus TV network. Versus agreed to broadcast at least twelve IndyCar Series events a year in HD, as well as pre-race coverage, a one-hour preview show the day before each race including qualifying highlights, qualifications for the Indianapolis 500, a Firestone Indy Lights weekly telecast, replays of all series races a week after original broadcast, and at least ten hours of ancillary programming.[12] Bob Jenkins, Robbie Buhl, and Jon Beekhuis made up the broadcast team along with Jack Arute, Robbie Floyd, and Lindy Thackston in the pits. Emmy Award-winning auto-racing producer Terry Lingner produced the coverage.[13] Versus will air commercials using IndyCar Non-Stop. In 2011 Versus was renamed NBC Sports Network.
  • Firestone supplied two sets of tire compounds beginning in 2009 on road and street courses for the IR5 chassis. Alternate tires would be marked with red sidewalls and would be made of a softer compound. They contain more grip and allow for faster times, but do not last as long as the regular tires. Each team received six sets of the regular tires ("the blacks") and three sets of the new alternate tires ("the reds") for the race weekend. The cars were required to run at least two green flag laps with the alternate tires during a race. Oval races used the primary tire only.
  • A new private testing policy was put into place for team for 2009, provided they participate in the TEAM revenue-sharing program.[14] Teams were permitted:
    • 800 miles (1,300 km) or six days of testing, whichever comes first, along with eight sets of tires.
    • Two-car teams may conduct 1,200 miles (1,900 km) of testing with 26 sets of tires.
    • Additional team cars gained 200 miles (320 km) and four sets of tires per car.
    • No testing at any track within seven days of a race.
    • Teams could earn additional test days by providing opportunities to Firestone Indy Lights drivers.
  • Bonus practice time for rookies and teams outside the Top 10 in points were added starting at Long Beach. The bonus session lasted from 30 to 45 minutes at each venue before the first practice sessions of the day for all cars. The policy was intended to promote competition, allowing teams a chance to close the gap on the Top 10 teams without paying for expensive private testing, and provided more opportunities for rookie drivers, particularly those moving up from Indy Lights.[15]
  • Slight changes were made to the points system in 2009, the number of points awarded for leading the most laps in a race was reduced from three to two. A point was awarded for winning pole for a race.
  • On December 26, 2008, IndyCar Series introduced a new exhaust design to reduce noise of Honda Indy V8 engines.[16]
  • IndyCar Series officials have banned formerly optional 118 and 120 inch wheelbases, requiring teams to uniformly adopt 122 inch wheelbases. This will provide cost savings for the teams as well as greatly enhancing competition on the oval tracks.[17]
  • On July 28, 2009, the IRL approved "push to pass" buttons on all the cars. This gave a driver a 20 hp boost for 12 seconds with a 10-second recharge time. This was available for use only 20 times during a given race. This feature debuted at the event at Kentucky Speedway on August 1, 2009.[18]
  • Due to several IndyCar Series teams opting for Dallara IR-05 chassis, Panoz discontinued their IndyCar Series involvement after the 2008 season.
  • With the series undergoing a development freeze until the 2011 season, IndyCar Series teams carried over chassis and engine from 2008 season but modified due to new exhaust design. The series was concentrating on 2012 new car development to save costs.[19]

Team and driver news

Testing

The following open tests were held.

Race summaries

Round 1: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

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Round 2: 35th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

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Round 3: RoadRunner Turbo Indy 300

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Round 4: 93rd Indianapolis 500

  • Report: 2009 Indianapolis 500
  • Sunday May 24, 2009 – 12:12 p.m. CDT / 1:12 p.m. EDT
  • Indianapolis Motor SpeedwaySpeedway, Indiana (2.5 mile oval)
  • Distance: 200 laps / 500 miles
  • Race weather: 83 °F (28 °C), sunny
  • Television: ABC (Marty Reid, Scott Goodyear, Eddie Cheever, Jack Arute, Jamie Little, Brienne Pedigo, Vince Welch)
  • Nielsen ratings: 4.2
  • Attendance: TBA
  • Pole Position winner: #3 Hélio Castroneves, 2:40.0967 sec, 224.864 mph (361.884 km/h) (4-lap)
  • Race Summary: Dario Franchitti made the move at the start, passing Ryan Briscoe on the first lap and polesitter Hélio Castroneves at a restart on the eighth lap. Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan, starting fifth and sixth made short work of Graham Rahal and joined the top three. Castroneves lost out to Briscoe and Dixon in the first round of stops. Briscoe, now second took the lead from Franchitti on lap 53. Graham Rahal crashed from sixth on lap 56 which brought out the caution. Another poor stop for Castroneves got him behind Kanaan as well, while the two Ganassi cars of Dixon and Franchitti switched places. The race turned green on lap 64, and it was evident that Briscoe had a bad set of tires. He lost many places immediately, and Castroneves also lost out to Raphael Matos and Danica Patrick. Meanwhile, Briscoe had to pit again, and rejoined 24th. The top three pulled away, while Castroneves passed Patrick on lap 81. During the third round of stops (after another caution), Franchitti got ahead of Dixon, and Castroneves got in front of Matos. There was the green flag on lap 91, and Dixon used Franchitti's slipstream to take the lead. Kanaan, running third on lap 98 had a huge impact with the wall at Turn 3 after a mechanical failure. He was okay except for some bruises, and the caution was brought out again leading to the fourth round of stops. The top two retained order, while third placed Castroneves again lost out, this time to Will Power and Matos. Danica Patrick had a bad stop as well, dropping from sixth to tenth. During the next restart, Castroneves made short work of Matos, and had a go at Power, but Power kept the place. The order remained the same until lap 131, when Nelson Philippe crashed, bringing out the fifth caution. This led to another round of stops. While Dixon maintained his lead, Franchitti had a slow stop, dropping from second to eighth, and Castrineves got the jump on power. The order after the stops is Dixon from Castroneves, Power, Paul Tracy and Dan Wheldon. The green flag came out on lap 142, and it was Castroneves who immediately was on sond, taking the lead from Dixon even before they had reached the first turn. Tracy started dropping back, quickly passed by Wheldon and Townsend Bell. Franchitti, frustrated after his bad stop, further dropped down to 12th after running wide when trying to pass Ed Carpenter. On lap 159, Power passed Dixon for second. The next caution came after Justin Wilson crashed. This led to one more round of stops. Power and Dixon, running second and third had bad stops, and Danica Patrick got in front of Townsend Bell during this time. Ryan Briscoe did not stop, and was in second. There were no changes at the restart. There was one more caution, during which Briscoe pitted from second. He rejoined 16th. At the last restart with twenty laps to go, Patrick had a go at Wheldon but Wheldon defended well. Castroneves pulled away and won, with Wheldon, Patrick, Bell and Power making the top 5.
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Round 5: ABC Supply Company A. J. Foyt 225

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Round 6: Bombardier Learjet 550

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Round 7: Iowa Corn Indy 250

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Round 8: SunTrust Indy Challenge

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Round 9: Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen

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Round 10: Honda Indy Toronto

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Round 11: Rexall Edmonton Indy

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  • * Race finished under caution.

Round 12: Meijer Indy 300

  • Report: 2009 Meijer Indy 300
  • Saturday August 1, 2009 – 8:30 p.m. EDT
  • Kentucky SpeedwaySparta, Kentucky (1.48 mile oval)
  • Distance: 200 laps / 296 miles
  • Race weather: 76 °F (24 °C), overcast
  • Television: Versus (Bob Jenkins, Robbie Buhl, Jon Beekhuis, Kevin Lee, Robbie Floyd, Lindy Thackston)
  • Nielsen ratings: 0.14[71]
  • Attendance: 48,000
  • Pole Position winner: #9 Scott Dixon (qualifying cancelled; field set by owner points)
  • Race Summary: Series officials implemented a mid-season rules change on oval races to encourage increased competition. A push-to-pass system was added to the cars, along with various aerodynamic enhancements. The changes were well-received, and the race became the most competitive oval race on the circuit in almost two years. In the final 50 laps, Ed Carpenter of Vision Racing led Ryan Briscoe and Tony Kanaan, with Hélio Castroneves lurking amongst the top 5. In the final ten laps, Carpenter and Briscoe raced side by side, swapping the lead several times each lap. On the final turn, Briscoe edged ahead, and denied Carpenter his first career victory by 0.0162 seconds. The race's average speed, only slowed by a single caution flag for a second straight race, was over 200 mph (320 km/h), making it the second fastest IndyCar Series race held.
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Round 13: Honda 200

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Round 14: Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma

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Round 15: Peak Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300

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Round 16: Indy Japan 300

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Round 17: Firestone Indy 300

  • Report: 2009 Firestone Indy 300
  • Saturday October 10, 2009 – 5:00 p.m. EDT
  • Homestead-Miami SpeedwayHomestead, Florida (1.485 mile oval)
  • Distance: 200 laps / 297 miles
  • Race weather: 89 °F (32 °C), fair
  • Television: Versus (Bob Jenkins, Robbie Buhl, Jon Beekhuis, Jack Arute, Robbie Floyd, Lindy Thackston)
  • Nielsen ratings: 0.24
  • Attendance:
  • Pole Position winner: #10 Dario Franchitti, 1:40.5378 sec, 212.696 mph (342.301 km/h) (4-lap)
  • Race Summary: The championship battle came down to a three-man race between Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti (5 points behind), and Ryan Briscoe (8 points behind). In what became the series' first oval race to run caution-free the full distance, the three title contenders dominated and were the only cars to finish on the lead lap. In the final 50 laps, fuel strategy became key, as Dixon and Briscoe ran 1st–2nd, with Franchitti trailing some 25 seconds in third. Both Dixon and Briscoe were forced to pit for fuel in the final 8 laps, while Franchitti stayed out and stretched his fuel to the finish. Franchitti's race victory clinched his second IndyCar Series title.
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Season Summary

Race results

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Final driver standings

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  • Ties in points broken by number of wins, followed by number of 2nds, 3rds, etc., and then by number of pole positions, followed by number of times qualified 2nd, etc.

See also


References

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