Monday, July 21, 2014

Toronto Scores

Hello Internet! It's Guido here with another Scoring Indy update. This week the races were shorter, and so the scores come out quicker. No need for more flowery language up here, let's just get to it:


2014 Honda Indy Toronto Race 1 Scores

FinishDriverGridLedCompletedA.R.P.Race ScoreRSWC Points
1Bourdais158651.1896.1410
2Castroneves21652.6063.418
3Kanaan50653.6862.796
4Pagenaud466510.7751.241
5Dixon90655.6359.964
6Rahal110657.0857.863
7Kimball180659.6661.365
8Hinchcliffe80658.4245.77
9Power2306513.1457.772
10Wilson70657.8239.40
11Aleshin1906512.6546.89
12Briscoe2106517.0240.56
13Hawksworth1506510.6538.19
14Huertas1706515.7530.79
15Conway1306517.3719.75
16Andretti2006514.3231.42
17Munoz1406518.9713.09
18Montoya2206416.5225.08
19Saavedra1606415.3115.36
20Newgarden1006316.132.81
21Hunter-Reay30393.216.78
22Filippi60176.003.66
23Sato1201023.00-0.78



Observations

- I made mention of Bourdais getting the "Scoring Indy Bump" after grabbing the pole. That is to say that I gave Bourdais props for his excellent 2013 run at Toronto (on the podium in both races) in my "Predictive Observations" section of the Race Preview. Well, Ole Sea Bass sure proved me right, as he took that Scoring Indy Bump and rode it all the way to a win. They tell me that this win from the front, controlling the whole race, is reminiscent of his days in Champ Car from '04 to '07. I must confess that I watched very few races during that span that weren't Indy 500s. But, that was dominant stuff.

- And, if Bourdais got the Scoring Indy Bump in Race 1, then Takuma Sato was the victim of the Scoring Indy Slump. I said I wasn't sure that Sato's 2014 would be better than his 2013. And the early carnage in Race 1 made it seem like I was going to be a good Sunday for AJ Foyt Racing. Another rough showing for Sato.

- Enough patting myself on the back for predictions. Let's look at the general tenor of the race. This was a race where the dominant cars were, well dominant. Bourdais' winning score of 96.14 is evidence of that on some levels. But, a better indicator is to note that there is not much disparity between Average Running Position and Race Finish. The notable exception here is Pagenaud, but he suffered from damage that shunted him to the back of the field early, negating a good qualifying effort. Without that damage Pagenaud's A.R.P. to Finish ratio would look very similar to the other drivers' numbers near the top of the field.


2014 Honda Indy Toronto Race 2 Scores

FinishDriverGridLedCompletedA.R.P.Race ScoreRSWC Points
1Conway1175610.2571.9210
2Kanaan90568.2164.915
3Power25563.0562.324
4Kimball1605610.1866.416
5Sato2205613.2567.758
6Hawksworth1805614.9556.603
7Dixon70566.0550.651
8Andretti805610.8242.29
9Bourdais1005611.0042.03
10Wilson1555610.0050.802
11Briscoe120567.8843.66
12Castroneves132563.2750.54
13Newgarden1775610.7945.06
14Hunter-Reay40569.6320.83
15Huertas2005613.9334.89
16Filippi2305612.7138.10
17Munoz605213.319.73
18Hinchcliffe1305218.0010.04
19Montoya505216.92-2.07
20Rahal1905013.1418.56
21Saavedra2104915.6514.93
22Pagenaud304720.09-15.45
23Aleshin1401111.732.38


Observations

- If Bourdais got the Scoring Indy Bump in Race 1; Mike Conway, Destroyer of Worlds got that bump for the second race. Conway has been a little hot and cold this year, but he has two wins. There certainly seem to be some tracks that suit him better than others, and they seem to be tight street circuits.

- Takuma Sato, however, shook of his Race 1 Scoring Indy Slump to finish P5 in Race 2, with a VERY good score of 67.75. As far as I'm concerned (and as far as the numbers are concerned, as well) this was Sato's best performance of the year.

- On to the general tenor of this race. If Race 1 was a "racer's win" for Bourdais, wherein the best car ran the best and finished the best; then Race 2 was a "gamer's win" for Conway. A smart strategy call to go to slicks when he did led let Conway "out-finish" his car. That's the sort of effect that strategy can have on a race, and I (for one) am glad that you can get either a racer's or a gamer's win in IndyCar racing.


Hall of Averages

These numbers will be the focus of this weekend's off-week Friday post. So, take some time to mull them over before then:

Here are the average scores for the full-timers:

DriverAverage Score
Power60.77
Castroneves52.80
Kanaan49.11
Dixon44.30
Hunter-Reay44.26
Pagenaud43.79
Kimball41.00
Briscoe39.99
Wilson39.33
Montoya38.43
Bourdais36.34
Andretti35.88
Hawksworth35.54
Munoz31.05
Hinchcliffe30.93
Aleshin29.97
Huertas29.47
Rahal29.13
Newgarden27.07
Saavedra24.05
Sato20.52


Here are the part-timers:

DriverAverage ScoreRaces
Karam65.511
Hildebrand48.161
Carpenter47.414
Tagliani45.081
Villeneuve43.731
Davison41.471
Servia40.234
Conway31.7510
Bell31.261
Plowman25.362
Filippi18.354
Mann14.761
Montagny12.751
Lazier4.151


And, the Carpenter/Conway Voltron:

DriverAverage Score
The 20 Car36.23


Finally, here's the updated RSWC Table. Note the differences between this and the Average Score table.

DriverPointsDifference
Castroneves60--
Power51-9
Hunter-Reay47-13
Dixon36-24
Montoya35-25
Kimball34-26
Pagenaud32-28
Kanaan31-29
Munoz20-40
Conway20-40
Bourdais20-40
Hinchcliffe18-42
Hawksworth18-42
Wilson17-43
Aleshin16-44
Carpenter15-45
Andretti14-46
Newgarden14-46
Rahal13-47
Huertas12-48
Sato9-51
Briscoe8-52
Karam5-55
Saavedra3-57
Servia2-58
Busch1-59



Stay Tuned

That's all for this mid-week score post. Join me on Friday, when we'll delve into the averages. And, as always, be sure to follow me @ScoringIndy on Twitter for blog updates, extraneous gushing about all the worlds that Mike Conway destroys, and updates on my Australian Overlord, Will Power. See you Friday!!

-- Guido