Race #6 Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix – Preview

The race this weekend is a come back to the Belle Isle street course. INDYCAR had not raced here since 2008 due to economic reason in the Detroit market. With a renewed economy and Roger Penske’s helping hand with General Motors, we are racing once again in this beautiful island scenery.

The storylines are as follows:

• Chevrolet Engines – will the Chevy engines bounce back on their home court as they were outperformed at Indy on the 2nd half of the race? I think they will, but they may not get the win, yet dominate the podium.
• The Rubens Barichello Watch – Rubens is poised to hit the Top 5 any time now. This race will be his proven ground.
• The Sebastien Bourdais Watch– Well this is awkward…this was supposed to be the grand season for Sebastien’s full time ride on IndyCars since 2007 yet the Lotus engine issues have relegated the team to change to Chevrolet…great move for the team but now they will have only one lease…and Bourdais will do only Road/Street Courses. He will make the most of it. I’m tempted to have him on podium but he’s still learning the Chevy powerplant capabilities. A Top 10 is very doable…Top 5 is pushing it…a win…almost a miracle with lots of attrition.
• TV Partner and Ratings – We are going back-to-back on National TV and coming from arguably the best Indy 500 ever, the momentum is there. Belle Isle has always been a well-attended venue and this should be good on TV. St. Pete’s rating was a 0.9 which was not as expected. ABC could probably hit 1.0 rating due to Detroit’s anticipated comeback and the word-of-mouth carryover from the Indy 500.
• Will There Be Some On-Track Passing? – as the Barber AND Long Beach races showed, the DW12 chassis is quite good in creating passing and the sturdiness and should be able to give drivers plenty of passing opportunities. Belle Isle has mostly been parades but based on the practices videos there seems to be a lot of handling problems. This could be a thriller for the 1st time!!!

As in every race, we should pick a winner, just for the sake of trying to be the guru of INDYCAR knowledge (which I’m far from it, but let’s do it anyway!):

Race Winner: Takuma Sato…YES, he will make the passes stick on this one and will win ahead of Will Power and Helio Castroneves. He will show that Indianapolis was no fluke and he should have been the Indy 500 Champion.

Engine Winner: Honda should make this a 2-race winning streak!!!

Highest Rookie: Simon Pagenaud will be the highest on my list until Josef Newgarden can master the RC/SC venues.

Courtesy of Phillip Abbott LAT Photo USA

Well, tune in TODAY at 3:30pm on ABC (Channel 20 on Dish Network) to the pre-race show. The green flag should drop at 3:45pm… Enjoy!

Race # 3: Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach – Recap

I gotta tell you, this Long Beach race was the best I have seen! Really, we had all we hoped for…including a bump in ratings and uncertainty even in the final laps. Just Awesome!

The storylines are as follows:

• Chevrolet Engines – this time, for the wrong reasons, the Chevy engines are on the microscope BIG TIME. ALL teams with Chevy engines were ordered by the manufacturer to change their powerplants incurring ALL in a 10-grid penalty, thus basically awarding the Top 5 rows to Honda and Lotus when the green flag drops. If Honda does not win this race, they will not win any Road or Street course this season! // WHAT A WHIPPING Chevy gave Honda…unbelievable after Honda had the first 9 spots on the grid and they could muster ONLY a 2nd place as Chevy took 6 of the first 7 spots. Honda is in big trouble on the road and street courses if this trend continues. We’ll see about the ovals at Indy.
• The Rubens Barichello Watch – as I predicted, Rubens improved beautifully in Barber with an 8th place finish and Top 10 in the Championship standings. The engine penalty of his Chevy powered DW12 chassis will make his efforts quite hard yet I expect him in the Top 10 once again. // As I have predicted, Rubens will keep learning and mastering the IndyCar strategies and nuances. He should be a Top 5 in his home country of Brazil for the next race (April 29th).
• The Sebastien Bourdais Watch– Yes sir, this man has gain a fan in me. I did not watched (or cared at one point!) when he raced and won championships at Champ Car but he has made aware to EVERYONE that he has skills. He managed a Top10 at Barber with his apparently under-powered Lotus engine. I’m rooting for Bourdais to finish in the podium. // Well, this one did not go very well…he started strong but faded quickly apparently by his under-powered Lotus engine doing. I still believe SeBass will have a podium before the year ends. Count on it!
• TV Partner and Ratings – Although it was very, very good programming and broadcast by NBC Sports Network, the ratings did not improve. Still, the network, which re-branded itself from Versus Channel, is having an identity crisis as usually happens with all new brands. There should be only one way to go and that is up. The race has history on its side but it still is a street race and some casual fans don’t stay tuned long, but… // Once again NBC Sports Network did their job and had a terrific broadcast…some misses here and there but nothing major…the TV crew was on top of the stories all day…and there is indication there was a bump in  ratings, nothing fancy but you need to move upward!
• Will There Be Some On-Track Passing? – as the Barber race showed, the DW12 chassis is quite good in creating passing and the sturdiness it has provide some cushion when bumping others. Long Beach has its tendencies to be a parade but we are wishing to see a repeat of the last race. The grid penalty on ALL Chevy-powered cars will have a lot of fast cars in the middle and back of the field. Lots of fireworks expected!!! // Was there some passing or what! We had all the carnage we missed the 1st 2 races. It was clear people came to race hard and that is what made this event better. I think the 10-grid penalty was what spiced EVERYTHING in this race. Sensational!

Race Winner: Mike Conway has all the tools, as defending champion of the race, to dominate from the front of the field. This should be his shot once again and bring AJ Foyt its 1st IndyCar victory since probably 1999. // Missed this one badly as Conway was never a factor. Will Power just demonstrated he should be at the Mount Rushmore of INDYCAR when his career is over. He already has 18 wins and he has just started his prime. I predict he will clear 40 wins when all is said and done!

Engine Winner: Honda should be on the scoreboard as Chevy won the 1st two races. If they don’t win this race with the penalty advantage, it is going to be a LONG season!!! // The joke of the week as Honda could only muster a 2nd place in the Top 7 positions. WOW!

Highest Rookie: Until Simon Pagenaud fades he will be my pick until the ovals start at the Indy 500. // If Josef Newgarden is not clipped by Dario Franchitti (yes, Dario should have been penalized!) maybe a Top 5 or better for Josef was in store but Simon still was ahead of class although he should have been penalized for hitting a tire in pit lane. Overall great job by Simon, Josef and Katherine who managed a Top 20 again.

Courtesy of Phillip Abbott LAT Photo USA