The first qualifying session of the 2013 IndyCar season ended with some surprising results—a lot of the heavy hitters swung and missed, and some drivers who hadn’t been regulars in the final qualifying session ended up on top.
IndyCar uses a knock-out qualifying system, where the grid is split into two groups, and the fastest six from each group advance to the next round, whence the fastest six advance again to contest the pole.
This final group—the Firestone Fast Six—sometimes take it easy in the last session; after all, these drivers are guaranteed to be in the first three rows, and sometimes teams will opt to save a set of soft, sticky Red tires for the race instead o fusing them up trying to gain a couple of places on the grid.
That didn’t happen in qualifying for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Because Firestone had develop new compounds for both the regular (Black) and soft (Red) tires, teams had to try various set-ups. Some were quickest on scuffed Blacks, or new (“Sticker”) Blacks; some were quickest on the Reds but found they only lasted two laps.
Because of the tire uncertainty, every driver went all-out, both to learn about the tires and to secure the best possible starting position for the race.
Penske’s Will Power won the pole, his fourth in a row at St Pete; no surprise there. Takuma Sato, driving his first race for A.J. Foyt, took second, ahead of Simona di Silvestro, who hadn’t advanced past the first qualifying session in over a year.
James Hinchcliffe got a fourth-place grid spot for Andretti Autosport, followed by three-time St. Pete Grand Prix winner Helio Castroneves, who started fifth in 2012 and finished first. Last in the Fast Six was rookie Tristan Vautier, qualifying an IndyCar for the first time in his life.
Will Power mentioned how hard his engineers had to work to find the best set-up: “I’ve never made so many changes to a car through qualifying in between each round.
“It was kind of hard to find a balance all weekend, but it seemed very nice on used tires. Going into the final round was kind of straightforward; just go out there and give it everything I had.”
Verizon, Power’s main sponsor, also started sponsoring the pole award this season. Power joked that if he didn’t win the first Verizon Pole Award, “I would be fired, so I made sure I got it.”
Takuma Sato was quite happy to be up front in his first outing for Foyt Racing. “It’s great,” he said. “First of all I’m really happy, not only for the qualifying, but I gave him [Foyt] my best effort. He’s a happy guy to work around, and it’s really good. It’s made the whole team really motivated.
“The team obviously worked really hard over the course of the winter test program. We came here for qualifying and we trained really well. The first segment, second segment and third segment, in the end to hold P2 was a really perfect result for the team, and I’m really pleased to get it done.”
Simona di Silvestro, shackled with an underperforming Lotus engine through 2012, had to adapt to going fast again.
“It was pretty exciting to make the Fast Six. I’ve never been in this position, and I was pretty nervous before qualifying because I haven’t done a qualifying run like this in a long time, so it was a little bit nerve racking,” she explained. “Each session went better. We made a few changes every [session], and we’re really happy with P3. It’s kind of a huge relief to be in this position.
“I'd like to thank all the people who supported me through the difficult years we’ve had. To be starting third is pretty awesome.”
Di Silvestro described how she had to work to maintain her confidence though the off-season.
“After last year, you really didn’t know where you were. And after a few tests it was kind of like, okay, it’s kind of all right. But after you get to a race weekend and you feel the pressure a little bit from the outside and know where you are, I think it’s really rewarding for me and also for my team to kind of show where we can be.
“I think it’s kind of a big relief to know that we can be up front and be running up front. I think it’s just going to make it easier now going forward because I know I can be fast and I know I have the tools to be fast.
“Yeah, definitely I was pretty nervous going into qualifying and things like that, but the weekend so far I’ve been kind of letting it come to me and working pretty well so far.”
“I’m glad to get it out of the way, to be honest,” said James Hinchcliffe. “It was sort of the big first challenge for the weekend for us was our first qualifying of the year.
“To go out there and get a [good] start for the GoDaddy car, we’re pretty pleased. I would have liked to have seen a few more of my teammates in the Fast Six, but we'll get together tonight and put our heads together and try to make a good race car, because, obviously, we didn’t quite have enough in qualifying.
“Will [Power] was outrageously quick to get on the pole. It’s a good group up here for the Fast Six. So just happy to be in the first two rows of the first race.”
Helio Castroneves had to overcome some set-up issues but his crew pulled it all together just in time. “Certainly the Hitachi car and Hitachi boys did a great job because during the practice we didn’t have much of a comfortable set up, and we were having some issues, unfortunately,” he said.
“At the end of the day, in qualifying we were able to get back in the groove and the Red tires were [good] at that point.
“For us it was a good effort. John Diuguid, my engineer, actually a new engineer, and we’re very happy that we were able to find the issues. A good job by him and a good job by the whole entire team.
“Qualifying was tough. We start in the same position as last year and that worked out, so hopefully we'll do that again.”
Tristan Vautier comes into the St. Pete Grand Prix with a lot of expectations on him. This young driver won his first race in each of the ladder series leading to IndyCar, Pro Mazda and Indy Lights, and then went on to win the championships. Would he repeat this feat in the premier series?
“I was a little nervous before qualifying because the last practice was not quite good, and I didn’t really know what to expect from the qualifying format and the red tires,” he said. “I really tried to take it one step at a time, first off, getting in the top 12. Then once I was there, okay, make it to the top six.
“The red tires were a little different, but not too much. I feel like there is a lot of fighting this weekend to get a lot of time out of the car. Everybody has to work really hard, and I try not to make a mistake and get some laps in. It worked well. I think we have a very good car, and I feel good about the work with my engineer Allen McDonald and the whole team. So that’s really cool.
“I think we have to improve on all the tires. I have to get more consistent, and really got to focus tonight on how we’re going to be able to save the tires tomorrow and be consistent on longer runs and improve my pit stops as well, make sure I avoid the mechanics and tires when I park and then we should be fine.”
Simona was asked about being a woman and a race car driver; unlike some other female drivers, she has never tried to capitalize on her gender, and instead focused on her performance.
“I think when we wear the helmet, we all look the same and just try to do the best job we can out there,” she said. “It’s a difficult sport in IndyCar. But, for me, it’s always been really important to get the results and being a female is second.
“I always wanted to be a really good race car driver, and that’s what I’m aiming for. I’m really lucky also to have people around me who saw this that way too, that I wanted to be really competitive and try to win races and be running up front.”
James Hinchcliffe and Will Power were asked why some of the regulars were not in the Fast Six, while some relative strangers made it.
“I don’t think there’s one reason in particular. Certainly just being the first one of the year, and these red tires—they are just such an unknown.
“I think a lot of people found it was sort of one lap was the magic lap. With the exception of Will, you didn’t usually go quicker after that. If you made one little mistake or caught a guy in traffic or something like that, your next lap was significantly slower.
“I think what you see here is the people that did the best job of finding the gap and putting the sectors together. That’s not to say there are not going to be quick cars a little further down the grid tomorrow, so could make for a really cool race.
“It’s always like that in IndyCar” Power added. “You can never predict what’s going to happen. We don’t know who is going to win, but that is the excitement of it.
“[IndyCar has] never had so much depth in the field of drivers. There are no bad drivers. You go to the field, and you have 20 guys there, and all of these guys can win. Given the right equipment and day, they can win races.
“I hope IndyCar gets that out there, how difficult this series is. I think they need to. I don’t think enough people know about it, you know, how many good drivers there are in this series.”
James Hinchcliffe and Tristan Vautier, both of whom earned their IndyCar rides through good performances in the Road to Indy ladder series, were asked what they thought of only nine cars being entered in Indy Lights for the first race.
“Like Tristan, I ran Pro Mazda and then Indy Lights, and if you look back from 2008, ‘09, ’10, ‘11 and now ’12, at least one Lights driver has graduated to a full-time IndyCar ride, and other guys have gotten part-time deals,” Hinchcliffe replied.
“How the GP3 grid over in Europe for more money is full and Indy Lights has nine cars, it’s unbelievable. It’s shocking how narrow-minded some of these young drivers are that they can’t see such an incredible opportunity over here in the Lights series. It trains drivers well. Tristan is proof of that.
“Five years in a row, somebody’s graduated to a full time IndyCar. There is no other series that can boast something like that. It’s nuts. I just don’t get it.”
“There are only nine cars, but of those nine cars, there are seven or eight really quick drivers, so it doesn’t make the level of the series lower, so I think that’s important to underline,” Vautier added.
“You can see drivers graduating, and the chances of the drivers coming from the American ladder. So I don’t know why people don’t want to come drive it—maybe because it doesn’t have paddle shifters or the car doesn’t look as fancy the same as GP3.
“I think more drivers should definitely try it because, especially for drivers who have less financial support, the scholarships can really make it happen. I would not be here today without that system. So I think it works and more people should try it.”
The IndyCar Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg starts at 12:40 p.m. on Sunday March 24. Tickets are available at the gate or through the IndyCar Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg website.
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