Honda Racing Report – Texas Motor Speedway

Honda Racing Report
Saturday, June 6, 2015

Firestone 600
Circuit: Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval) Fort Worth, TX
2014 Winner: Ed Carpenter (Ed Carpenter Racing) 178.301 mph average
Weather: Clear, warm, 88 degrees F

Top 10 Race Results:

Fn. St. Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Average Speed/Notes
1. 7. Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 248 191.940 mph average
2. 8. Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 248 +7.800 seconds
3. 3. Helio Castroneves Team Penske Chevrolet 248
4. 5. Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske Chevrolet 248
5. 11. Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Honda 248
6. 4. Carlos Munoz Andretti Autosport Honda 247
7. 8. Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 247
8. 19. Ryan Briscoe Schmidt Peterson Motorsport Honda 247
9. 12. James Jakes Schmidt Peterson Motorsport Honda 247
10. 20. Gabby Chaves-R Bryan Herta Autosport Honda 247

Other Honda-powered Results:

15.     6.Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda 243 Running
16.    13.Takuma SatoA.J. Foyt Racing Honda 243Running
17.    22.Pippa Mann Dale Coyne Racing Honda 242Running
18.    21.Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda 241Running
20.   16.Tristan Vautier      Dale Coyne Racing Honda 156Did not finish – suspension
23.   17.Jack Hawksworth  A.J. Foyt Racing Honda 62Did not finish – suspension

Andretti, Munoz Head Honda Results in Texas
Four-stop pit strategy comes up short for Andretti Autosport drivers
Career-best oval finish for James Jakes, who also finished on four pit stops
Honda drivers claim five of top 10 finishing positions

A four-stop pit strategy for Marco Andretti, Carlos Munoz and James Jakes failed to pay off Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway, as the Honda drivers were forced to conserve fuel to make the finish and dropped down the order in the closing laps of the Firestone 600.

The first Saturday night event of the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series ran at a blistering pace, slowed only by one caution – for debris on the track – to become the 12th fastest race in Indy car history. Andretti and Jakes both briefly led portions of the 248-lap event – and Detroit race winner Munoz was constantly a part of the lead pack – but all three had to turn down their fuel mixtures in the final 20 laps as Scott Dixon took his second victory of the season with a new race record average speed of 191.940 mph.

Andretti finished fifth, just ahead of his sixth-place Andretti Autosport teammate, Munoz. Also saving fuel, Jakes fell to ninth in the closing laps – still a career best oval finish for him – and followed his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammate Ryan Briscoe in eighth place at the checkers. Driving for Bryan Herta Autosport, Gabby Chaves continued to solidify his hold in the series Rookie of the Year standings with a 10th-place run.

Video recaps from this weekend’s Honda activities at Texas Motor Speedway are being posted on the “Honda Racing/HPD” YouTube channel. Produced by the Carolinas Production Group, the video packages can be found in the 2015 HPD Trackside Video Playlist at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.

Indy car’s run of consecutive May-June races concludes next week, as the series heads north to Canada for round 10, the Honda Indy Toronto on Sunday, June 14.
Verizon IndyCar Series Drivers’ Championship (after 9 of 16 rounds):
1. Juan Pablo Montoya 348 points (2 wins) 6. Marco Andretti 255
2. Scott Dixon 305 (2 wins)                              7. Sebastien Bourdais 244 (1 win)
3. Will Power 303 (1 win)                                 8. Josef Newgarden 215 (1 win)
4. Helio Castroneves 276                                  9. Charlie Kimball 214
5. Graham Rahal 261                                         10. Simon Pagenaud 213

Manufacturers’ Championship:
1. Chevrolet 863 (7 wins)
2. Honda 840 (2 wins)

Carlos Munoz (#26 Andretti Autosport Honda) started 4th, finished 6th: ““I think I gave 100 per cent, everything I could. We needed to save a little bit more fuel than the other guys – we did one less pit stop. It was hard to save fuel, so we lost some positions there. We finished sixth – a great position, and I think I did quite good with our stops and pushing hard. It was good for experience, another top 10, and now we’re looking forward to Toronto.”

James Jakes (#7 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda) started 12th, finished 9th: “We said we wanted to get top tens until the end of the year, but honestly, I’m a little bit disappointed with ninth. I felt we had a better car than that. The crew did a great job all night and we just came up a bit short by going off strategy and then having to save fuel to make it to the end. We can still count it as a good finish and add some points. Now we move on to Toronto.”

Art St. Cyr (President, Honda Performance Development) on today’s race: “After our strong performances last weekend in Detroit, winning Saturday’s race with Carlos Munoz and taking eight of the top 10 finishing positions on Sunday, we were looking for another good result here in Texas. As we saw the various race strategies develop mid-distance, the Andretti and Schmidt Peterson teams made the worthwhile call to complete the race with just four pit stops, but unfortunately having to save fuel at the end – along with the usual tire fall off – cost them positions at the end of the race. We’ll take what we’ve learned here and apply it to the remaining oval races later this year, and meanwhile focus our efforts for next weekend’s Honda Indy Toronto.”