Friday, May 22, 2015

Indianapolis Mega-Post

Hey there, Internet!! It's Guido here with another Scoring Indy update. This week, we'll look back at the Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis; we'll look forward to the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500; and we'll have some fun with this year's field for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Let's get to it!

Angie's List GP of Indianapolis Scorecard

Here's how things shook out on one of only two FIA Grade 1 road courses in the USA a couple weeks ago:


FinishDriverGridLedCompletedA.R.PRace Score







1Power165821.6192.28
2Rahal179822.9586.39
3Montoya40824.7660.33
4Bourdais70824.0062.67
5Kimball1418210.5061.07
6Castroneves308211.5641.92
7Kanaan608211.0143.98
8Coletti100828.6549.80
9Sato2208213.1157.19
10Dixon218216.8723.25
11Hunter-Reay1908214.2846.29
12Hinchcliffe1348210.7142.02
13Munoz2108213.6744.44
14Filippi908214.1025.20
15Chaves1608211.6635.12
16Andretti2408218.833.59
17Saavedra808220.107.87
18Jakes2028112.5731.79
19Huertas2308115.8427.98
20Newgarden1208123.251.09
21Hildebrand1508110.5619.11
22Dracone2508021.7114.81
23Hawksworth1106923.41-6.55
24Wilson1806817.685.24
25Pagenaud50574.043.15


There are more than a couple interesting things to look at here in the scorecard, while we're still on the road course:

- Both Rahal and Power had transcendent drives. Some races don't have ave single driver weigh in at a Race Score of over 85. This time, we had two.

- You can also see respectable scores scattered throughout the field, with Hunter-Reay, Munoz, and Hinchcliffe (#GetWellSoonHinch) giving us a cluseter of 40+ Race Scores outside the Top 10.

- Also, you can put me down as officially 1 for 2 with my "pet drivers" declaration before the GP. Rahal owned it. Saavedra did not.

- Finally, all hail his Overlordship. I'm sorry I ever doubted you, Will.


RSWC Update

Let's also take a quick look at the table for the Race Score World Championship:


DriverSTPNOLALBHALAIMSTotal







Montoya885
425
Power102
21024
Rahal
3
8821
Castroneves448

16
Dixon

104
14
Hinchcliffe
10
3
13
Newgarden
1210
13
Bourdais1
31611
Kanaan6
4

10
Pagenaud2
6

8
Hunter-Reay


617
Jakes
6


6
de Silvestro
5


5
Hawksworth5



5
Munoz


5
5
Kimball



55
Sato



33
Coletti



22
Andretti

1

1


- The fluky nature of this year's Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis is fully on display here, with the GP of Indy having fully three unique points scorers. That's far more than any other race.

- Only three people have notched points in all but one race this year: Juan Pablo Montoya, Will Power, and Sebastien Bourdais. In my book, that's a testament to Bourdais. He might finally be figuring out this whole unified IndyCar series thing. And, that's a VERY good thing.

- Finally, we're going to clean up the the RSWC Table after the Indy 500. Starting next week, to be classified on the table, a driver will need to have scored points in multiple races in order to be shown on the table. That'll jump up to needing points in three races after Fontana, and four after Pocono: heading into the season finale. Then, after Sonoma, we'll show the whole table again.


2015 Indianapolis 500 Preview


FinishDriverGridLedCompletedA.R.PRace Score







1Hunter-Reay19562004.8690.29
2Castroneves4382003.4171.58
3Andretti6202004.0667.92
4Munoz902008.3761.24
5Montoya10162008.4862.79
6Busch12020014.3554.19
7Bourdais17020013.7457.84
8Power3222007.6651.49
9Karam31020016.1565.51
10Hildebrand902009.3348.16
11Servia18020018.2846.18
12Pagenaud5020015.134.24
13Tagliani24320021.8745.08
14Villeneuve27020023.7143.73
15Saavedra32020023.3147.16
16Davison28020022.9441.47
17Huertas21020025.1230.19
18Briscoe20020025.0427.23
19Sato23020016.0137.37
20Hawksworth13020021.2819.92
21Aleshin15119821.8119.49
22Wilson14019814.1523.97
23Plowman29018627.9422.44
24Mann22019327.2214.76
25Bell25019010.9031.26
26Kanaan16117723.268.89
27Carpenter1261754.7713.72
28Hinchcliffe2141756.459.48
29Dixon1131675.5614.28
30Newgarden8015615.990.90
31Kimball26014921.858.41
32Lazier3308730.164.15
33Rahal2004430.25-1.05


Here are my thoughts about the 2014 500 in lists of three things:

- Surprising results: Servia, Karam, and Bourdais

- Saddening results: Rahal, Carpeter, and Dixon

- Better than the car: Busch, Bourdais, Karam

- Even better than the car: Villeneuve, Tagliani, Saavedra


Some Fun with the 2015 Field of 33

So, since this is a Mega-Post I figure I should take a little time to do some more with the 2015 Indy 500 field. So, here it is. I'll take the eleven rows of three, and give each row a nickname, and pick a winner from that row. That way, I get 11 chances to be right.

Row 1: Dixon, Power, Pagenaud
Nickname: The Usual Suspects
Winner: Scott Dixon

Row 2: Kanaan, Castroneves, Wilson
Nickname: The Land of the Unexpected Honda
Winner: Helio Castroneves

Row 3: Bourdais, Andretti, Newgarden
Nickname: The Outsiders
Winner: Marco Andretti

Row 4: Hildebrand, Munoz, Carpenter
Nickname: The Hard Luck Gang
Winner: Ed Carpeter

Row 5: Servia, Kimball, Montoya
Nickname: One of these Things is not Like the Others
Winner: Juan Pablo Montoya

Row 6: Hunter-Reay, Rahal, De Silvestro
Nickname: Where the Hondas Went
Winner: Graham Rahal

Row 7: Jakes, Tagliani, Karam
Nickname: The B Team
Winner: Sage Karam

Row 8: Daly, Bell, Sato
Nickname: The Expected-Betters
Winner: Townsend Bell

Row 9: Mann, Chaves, Saavedra
Nickname: The Hopefuls
Winner: Pippa Mann

Row 10: Hawksworth, Coletti, Clauson
Nickname: The Longshots
Winner: Stefano Coletti

Row 11: Briscoe, Vautier, Davison
Nickname: The Replacements
Winner: Ryan Briscoe


Stay Tuned

Well, there it is. Get excited, the 500 is upon us! Be sure to follow me @ScoringIndy on Twitter. I've already made one "carburetor" joke today! See you next week!

-- Guido