paulsimery: IndyCar set for dramatic yet poignant finale

IndyCar set for dramatic yet poignant finale is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

The 2012 IndyCar championship will be decided in a final-race showdown at the Auto Club Speedway on Saturday night.

Heading into the penultimate race Will Power’s position at the head of the points table looked comfortable.

But victory for Ryan Hunter-Reay in a tense, rain-hit race on the streets of Baltimore has set up a fascinating season finale.

This year’s champion will be crowned after a 500-mile race at the two-mile superspeedway in Fontana, California.

Hunter-Rear puts Power under pressure

Hunter-Reay’s fourth win of the year trimmed Power’s points lead to 17. This is the third year in a row he has come to the final race in contention for the championship, but he was beaten by Dario Franchitti on the last two occasions.

Power’s vulnerability heading into the final race is clear to see: of his 15 IndyCar victories, just one of them have come on an oval, and that was in a half-distance race at which several of his closest rivals had compromised starting positions.

So far this year Hunter-Reay has four wins to Power’s three, and two of those have come on ovals. Power is yet to finish higher than eighth on an oval in 2012.

There is the possibility of team mates coming into play in the title decider as well. Hunter-Reay has James Hinchcliffe and Marco Andretti alongside him, but neither of them have won races this year, unlike Power’s Penske team mates Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe.

It promises to be a spectacular end to the season. It will be a long, race hard race over 250 laps which will put an especially high strain on the engines – 14 drivers have taken engine change penalties to start with fresh units.

A poignant finale

The dreadful circumstance of last year’s IndyCar’s season finale cannot be overlooked. Dan Wheldon lost his life following an appalling crash during the race at Las Vegas. Power was one of several other drivers involved and injured in the crash.

Since then IndyCar has introduced a new chassis which Wheldon played a role in developing. It has helped reduce the ‘pack racing’ which had become dangerously prevalent in IndyCar, which created the circumstances for Wheldon’s crash.

But the memory of the crash, which happened almost 11 months ago, will inevitably hang heavily over the race weekend.

Before the weekend began Mike Conway announced he no longer wished to participate in oval racing, saying he was “not comfortable” driving on them. Wade Cunningham has taken his place.

Championship standings

Here’s how the top ten drivers are placed in the championship heading into the final race:

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/charts/2012indycardrivercolours.csv

		St. Petersburg	Barber	Long Beach	Sao Paulo	Indianapolis	Detroit	Texas	Milwaukee	Iowa	Toronto	Edmonton	Mid-Ohio	Sonoma	Baltimore
Will Power	0	27	77	127	180	200	232	256	274	286	301	336	379	422	453
Ryan Hunter-Reay	0	35	53	81	121	143	169	181	233	283	335	362	374	386	436
Helio Castroneves	0	50	86	103	135	164	177	203	231	261	289	339	353	381	401
Scott Dixon	0	42	84	96	109	153	206	220	239	271	281	301	351	368	400
Simon Pagenaud	0	28	58	100	118	136	171	199	216	246	264	276	311	337	372
Ryan Briscoe	0	30	46	73	83	128	142	177	193	205	217	241	267	317	357
James Hinchcliffe	0	32	60	95	123	164	176	208	243	256	268	286	316	326	341
Tony Kanaan	0	10	22	54	71	113	141	160	200	235	267	279	307	327	339
Dario Franchitti	0	17	37	52	82	136	176	192	205	216	230	258	271	306	323
Graham Rahal	0	18	50	62	76	97	109	149	171	193	205	237	256	286	305

Here’s how points are awarded in IndyCar:

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18-24	25-33	Pole	Most laps led
Points	50	40	35	32	30	28	26	24	22	20	19	18	17	16	15	14	13	12	10	1	2

Starting grid

Marco Andretti starts from pole position for only the second time in his career, averaging 347.7kph (216mph).

Ryan Briscoe joins him on the front row. Rubens Barrichello starts sixth, his second-best qualifying performance of his first IndyCar season.

But the championship contenders are well back in the field following engine change penalties: Will Power 13th and Ryan Hunter-Reay well back in 22nd.

Row 1	1. Marco Andretti Dallara/Chevrolet
		2. Ryan Briscoe Dallara/Chevrolet
Row 2	3. Tony Kanaan Dallara/Chevrolet
		4. JR Hildebrand Dallara/Chevrolet
Row 3	5. Ed Carpenter Dallara/Chevrolet
		6. Rubens Barrichello Dallara/Chevrolet
Row 4	7. Katherine Legge Dallara/Chevrolet
		8. Oriol Servia Dallara/Chevrolet
Row 5	9. Dario Franchitti Dallara/Honda
		10. Sebastian Saavedra Dallara/Honda
Row 6	11. EJ Viso Dallara/Chevrolet
		12. James Jakes Dallara/Honda
Row 7	13. Will Power Dallara/Chevrolet
		14. Josef Newgarden Dallara/Honda
Row 8	15. Scott Dixon Dallara/Honda
		16. Alex Tagliani Dallara/Honda
Row 9	17. Helio Castroneves Dallara/Chevrolet
		18. Graham Rahal Dallara/Honda
Row 10	19. James Hinchcliffe Dallara/Chevrolet
		20. Simon Pagenaud Dallara/Honda
Row 11	21. Takuma Sato Dallara/Honda
		22. Ryan Hunter-Reay Dallara/Chevrolet
Row 12	23. Charlie Kimball Dallara/Honda
		24. Wade Cunningham Dallara/Honda
Row 13	25. Justin Wilson Dallara/Honda
		26. Simona de Silvestro Dallara/Lotus

Baltimore race highlights

Watch how Ryan Hunter-Reay put himself back in the championship reckoning after an opportunistic win in the previous race at Baltimore:

F1 Fanatic Live: 2012 IndyCar World Championships at Auto Club Speedway

Join F1 Fanatic live as we follow the final round of the 2012 IndyCar season.

The race starts at 1am UK time on Sunday 16th September with live coverage on Sky Sports 1.

Over to you

Who’s your tip to clinch the IndyCar championship? Have your say in the comments.

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IndyCar set for dramatic yet poignant finale is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.