In his second season with Team Penske, 32-year-old French driver Simon Pagenaud has taken home the IndyCar Championship for 2016. The last race of the season, the Sonoma GoPro Grand Prix at Sears Point CA, was totally about Simon and his dominance of the series this year. Pagenaud was fastest in practice and won the pole. Starting next to Pagenaud was his teammate, Australian driver Will Power, age 35, the only other driver who had a mathematical shot at taking the title from him. Double points are awarded to the winner of the last race of the season. Last year Juan Pablo Montoya lost the title to Scott Dixon at Sonoma after leading the series in points all season long. Dixon won the race and Montoya finished sixth. They were tied with 554 points, but because Dixon had won three races and Montoya only two, Dixon was able to claim the championship title.
In this year’s GoPro GP race, Power would have had to win and Pagenaud finish outside the top five for Power to take the title. As the green flag fell Pagenaud took the lead and looked formidable. Power developed clutch trouble early and fell out of contention. Pagenaud had the title no matter what, so the race between Helio Castroneves and Josef Newgarden for third place in the final standing was the focal point of media attention. The two battled for position throughout the race. Eyes were on Alexander Rossi, the Indy 500 winner and 2016 series Rookie of the Year. Rossi was driving a really competitive race for a podium finish. The bad luck bug continued to bite Scott Dixon. As dominant as he had been in winning Watkins Glen two weeks before, he was a total non-factor at Sonoma. Electrical problems and suspension troubles kept him down. Pagenaud easily took his fifth victory of the season. Graham Rahal was the most competitive of the Honda drivers and took second. Juan Pablo Montoya in his last race driving for Team Penske, took third. Ryan Hunter-Reay slipped around Rossi on the last lap and got a fourth and Rossi was a solid fifth. Josef Newgarden held off Castroneves for sixth but still finished two points behind him to finish fourth in the final championship points standings.
Simon Pagenaud dominated the race and it was a fitting end for his 2016 IndyCar run. Team Penske had ten wins this season: five for Pagenaud. four for Power, one for Montoya. Castroneves had four podium finishes during the season. Chevrolet easily won the Manufacturers Championship with fourteen victories to two for Honda. Josef Newgarden was the oval track point champ collecting 288 of his 502 points on the oval tracks.
Team Hoping in the 2017 IndyCar Series
The 2016 series is just now over and already there is lots of speculation about the 2017 season which is six months away. Most all of the talk centers on Josef Newgarden. The twenty-five-year old Tennessean’s contact with Ed Carpenter has expired and he is a free agent. The word is that the Captain, Roger Penske, wants Newgarden to take the vacated seat left by Juan Pablo Montoya. Newgarden is handsome, charming, courageous, and a real showman. He is also a very skilled race car driver — aualities that Roger Penske admires. He also has sponsor funding, something Montoya lacked. Racing analyst Paul Tracey claims that this is a done deal and Penske will have Newgarden under contract very soon.
Montoya will drive for somebody this year. He may take Newgarden’s place at Ed Carpenter Racing. Montoya has a reputation for being temperamental and unwilling to play up to potential sponsors. Carlos Munoz will most likely leave Andretti Autosports. Alexander Rossi is being mentioned as a possible replacement. Tony Kanaan’s contact is up at Ganassi Racing. He does have sponsor funding. He could stay with the team; however, several other teams would welcome him. Munoz has been mentioned for Dale Coyne, KVSH Racing, and Carpenter Racing. He doesn’t have funding, however. Foyt Racing had a disastrous season and their 2017 drivers haven’t been announced. Jack Hawesworth was the 2014 Indy Lites Champ but his two year tenure at Foyt was notoriously unproductive. Takuma Sato hasn’t been much better but he brings Sony Electronics money to the team, but after five successful years even that may not be enough. Sebastien Bourdais is apparently leaving KVSH Racing. He could wind up with Ganassi or Andretti. It’s anybody’s guess as to how the drivers will finally be paired up with teams at this point in time.
Lord Help Our Colts
After their performance at Denver Sunday afternoon, it can now be said the offense is playing on the same incompetent level as the defense. Poor Andrew Luck was personally responsible for two of the Bronco’s three touchdowns. Right now the Horseshoe is counted among the three of four worst teams in the league.