Chevrolet IndyCar V6 Teams and Drivers Ready for Unique Weekend of Racing at Iowa Speedway
DETROIT (June 19, 2013) – The oval tracks on the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule have produced great racing, as well as success for the Chevrolet IndyCar V6 teams and drivers. Three of Chevrolet’s six 2013 victories have come on the first three oval tracks on this year’s schedule beginning with Tony Kanaan’s Indianapolis 500 win. Helio Castroneves followed with the victory at Texas Motor Speedway, and defending Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay captured the win last weekend at the Milwaukee Mile.
As a result of this success, Chevrolet heads to Iowa Speedway leading the Manufacturers’ Championship points, and Team Chevy drivers holding the top-three positions in the driver standings led by Castroneves with Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti second and third respectively.
But as the half-way point of the season approaches, the popular .875-mile banked oval located just east of Des Moines, Iowa, will present a new format and the corresponding challenges as the battle for the championship continues.
The field for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 will be set through three 50-lap heat races on Saturday. The heat race fields will be determined by single-car, single-lap qualifying. The top two finishers of each heat will transfer to heat race three, and start in positions seven through 10. Race three will consist of positions one through six from single-car qualifying plus the first- and second-place finishers from heat races one and two to determine the Verizon P1 Award and the first five rows of the starting grid. The format will reward 12 starters with points – from nine points for the pole winner and descending by one point each position to one point for 11th and 12th.
“Team Chevy returns to the 0.875-mile Iowa Speedway tri-oval next weekend on a two-win streak with the hope of repeating the win at the high banked short oval from 2012,” said Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager IZOD IndyCar Series. “This year, the heat race qualifying process involves driver points through the 12th starting position. This is an important opportunity that many drivers will try to take advantage of on their journey to the driver’s points championship. The Chevrolet IndyCar twin turbo V6 is up to the task, but physical and mental fatigue of the teams and drivers could be a factor since this race will be the 8th consecutive weekend at the track for the IZOD IndyCar Series contingent. Reliability and durability apply to more than just the physical hardware in this sport!”
Before heading to their seats for all of the on-track action, fans can stop at the Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Midway at Iowa Speedway. In addition to registering for a free Chevy IndyCar t-shirt, posing for a photo in the display, interactive games for fans of all ages; fans can see several of the great vehicles from the Chevrolet line-up including Silverado Crew, Silverado Extended, Silverado 3/4 Ton Crew, Silverado 1/2 Ton Crew All Star, Traverse, Equinox, Camaro SS, 2013 Malibu, Cruze LT, Tahoe, Cruze LTZ, Corvette GS, 2014 Impala, Volt and Sonic.
The Premier Chevy Dealers will be serving breakfast sandwiches to the first 1500 fans that stop by the Chevy Racing display on Sunday morning starting at 9:00 a.m. Stop by to pick-up breakfast and check out the Chevy Display – breakfast will be served on a first come, first served bases.
In addition, fans can see live on-stage several Team Chevy IndyCar drivers including Helio Castroneves and Will Power on Saturday at 1:30 PM followed by Oriol Servia at 1:45 PM and on Sunday Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay will be in the display at 11:35 AM.
Streaming video of the three 50-lap heat races to determine the starting lineup for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by DEKALB will be broadcast on www.indycar.com and the INDYCAR 13 app at 6:45 p.m. (ET) June 22. Video will be augmented by the IMS Radio Network broadcast and real-time Timing & Scoring. Practice (11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. ET) and qualifying also are featured on indycar.com and INDYCAR 13 with Timing & Scoring and the IMS Radio Network call.
The 250 laps/218.75 miles is scheduled for Sunday, June 23 at Iowa Speedway. The race will be televised live at 2:30 p.m. (ET) ABC and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius and XM Channels 211, www.indycar.com and the INDYCAR 13 App for most smartphones and tablets.
CHEVROLET IN THE IZOD INDYCAR SERIES – FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT:
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, POINTS LEADER (ONE 2013 WIN): “I’m excited to race at Iowa this weekend in the Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. The fans are always great there and I really like the Iowa Speedway track. With the IndyCars racing on the short, banked oval, it always means lots of action and there’ll be even more of it this weekend with not only qualifying but the heat races on Saturday night. That should be fun. We’ve been doing a great job as a team and we need to keep this run going if we want to stay in front in the championship. The No. 3 car guys have given me great setups every weekend and we’ve been really consistent on race day so we’ll look to build on that in the Hitachi Chevy at Iowa.”
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, 2nd IN STANDINGS (TWO 2013 WINS): “The Iowa Speedway oval is one of a kind, a very unique track that makes for some of the closest racing of the year. Last year’s race came down to the wire and I expect the same this year. The strategy is certainly different this time around with the heat races paying points, so we need to focus on not only being fast at the end of the race, but coming right out of the box strong. Iowa last year was the second win in our three race streak, so we need to operate at our full potential to gain maximum points for DHL and Chevy in the title fight.”
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, 3rd IN STANDINGS: “Both on the No. 25 side and as a team we’ve traditionally been strong in Iowa, and we need to continue that this year. Milwaukee didn’t go as planned for the RC (Cola) Chevy so we really need to make up some points and get the lead back – this as good of place as any to do that. We’re coming for a win but definitely would like to at least keep the consistency going. With the heat races paying extra points… well… we’re aiming for total domination and maximum points.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 SUNOCO “TURBO” KV RACING TECHNOLOGY – SH RACING CHEVROLET, 6th IN STANDINGS (ONE 2013 WIN): “I am really looking forward to racing at Iowa Speedway this weekend. This is a track I’ve had success at in the past with a win there in 2010, a second in 2011 and a third place finish last year. We’ll be racing in the Sunoco “Turbo” car for the second time this season. We got off to a good start two weeks ago in Texas where we finished third in the car and I’d sure like to be on the podium with them again, but this time up on the top spot – P1! Iowa Speedway is the shortest track we race at all year and is very demanding and precise for the drivers and teams. The fans have been great each year we’ve raced there and they are very knowledgeable. I feel confident that we’ll put on a good show for them and hopefully have the Sunoco “Turbo” up at the front of the field at the end of 250 laps.”
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, 9th IN STANDINGS (TWO 2013 WINS): “Looking forward to going back to Iowa. Obviously the team had a great result there last year, and we should have been a part of that… we were running well up until our accident. I really like short-track racing in this series; the cars are fun on that track which leads to some really good
racing. I wish it was a night race again – I really enjoyed that format, but we’ll see how it goes in the day. It’s a big race for GoDaddy as they have an office in the area, so I hope to bring home a good result.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, 11th IN STANDINGS: “It should be an interesting weekend at Iowa Speedway. The Verizon team is coming off two good oval results at Texas and Milwaukee and we’re looking to continue to build our momentum at Iowa. The track is pretty unique and very fast, especially for a short oval. I think it will be good racing for the fans to enjoy and hopefully we’ll have the Verizon Chevrolet running up front. With the heat races on Saturday, it should add some more excitement and it will be a good challenge for the teams with championship points on the line.”
E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA PDVSA CITGO ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HVM CHEVROLET, 12th IN STANDINGS: “I’m very excited we’re heading to Iowa. I had my best result in IndyCar there in 2010 (third). I believe with the momentum that we keep building race after race, finishing in the top five last week at Milwaukee, we just have a lot of energy. I have a lot of faith in what we are able to do as a crew… Iowa is a place we’ve done well in the past.”
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA/ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, 16th IN STANDINGS: “We should have won that race last year. We were fast enough to win it. We started off the weekend not very good. We didn’t qualify well. The car wasn’t very good in the heat race. We got it figured out by the time the race came around, but we lost a lap due to bad track position at the start of the race. In the end we just ran out of race.(Carpenter finished eighth.) There’s still that fine balance on the setups. We saw that at Texas. If you are a little too light, as we were in the heat races at Iowa last year, it gets strung out and was very hard to pass. When the sun went down we got more grip and we put on a good show, so hopefully the show doesn’t suffer from running in the daytime. As long as we keep it in balance. I am looking forward to going back to Iowa this week.”
SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, 18th IN STANDINGS: “I’m looking forward to the short-oval at Iowa. We had a pretty good race there last year. I think it was one of my best finishes all season. It’s been a tough couple of weeks for the Nuclear Clean Air Energy car, but I’m pretty confident that we can turn things around this weekend in Iowa.”
ORIOL SERVIA, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET, 20th IN STANDINGS: “I’m definitely excited about getting back in the National Guard car, and for us this is another great opportunity to go win the race.Since I’m out of the championship it puts us in an interesting position where we can just go out and focus on winning. I’m with a great team at Panther, and we’ve both been good at Iowa in the past, so we’re excited to get after it. The way we’re doing these races one at a time, I never know when I’m going to be back in the car, but it’s great to be back with the forces at the National Guard, and we’re going to go out there and do the best we can.”
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, 21st IN STANDINGS: “I have never been to Iowa, so it will be a new challenge for me and the McAfee/TrueCar number 7 powered by Chevrolet. After a great start in Milwaukee, moving from 14th to 9th, we looked pretty good to finish in the top 10 so I really hope we can repeat that kind of performance, and get a result in the end.”
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, 23rd IN STANDINGS: “Heading to Iowa, I think we’re building great momentum these past races. We’ve actually shown great competition from the side of Dragon Racing and that gives a lot of motivation for the team. We need to keep up the good work. There are plenty of races to go and there are lots of things we still want to prove out there. Iowa is going to be interesting with the introduction of the heat races. I personally think it should be very fun. It is trying things differently for the fans to watch. Of course it is more events during our weekend that will bring more interest for people to watch. I think, for us drivers, it will also be quite challenging knowing the little track time that we are going to have to set up the cars and make them race fit. I’m looking forward to a good show and another good finish. I feel like we are getting there and I’m very excited to show what we can do.”