Update from Mid-Ohio
08/06/11
Moving on to final round:
Scott Dixon
Dario Franchitti
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Graham Rahal
Will Power
Ryan Biscoe
Not moving on:
James Hinchcliffe
Alex Tagliani
Takuma Sato (who spun entering the front stretch)
Charlie Kimball
Sebastien Bourdais
EJ Viso
08/06/11
Group 2 –
Advanced
Scott Dixon
Dario Franchitti
Graham Rahal
Ryan Briscoe
Takuma Sato
Sebastian Bourdais
Did not advance
Simona de Silvestro
Tony Kanaan
James Jakes
Martin Plowman
Sebastian Saavedra
Oriol Servia
Simon Pagenaud
Ed Carpenter
08/06/11 Group 1 — All 4 Andretti cars in this group, but only 1 advances…..
Advancing:
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Will Power
Charlie Kimball
James Hinchcliffe
EJ Viso
Alex Tagliani
Eliminated:
JR Hildebrand
Helio Castroneves
Mike Conway
Marco Andretti
Vitor Meira
Ana Beatriz
Danica Patrick
08/06/11 Official word just given – Simon Pagenaud will qualify the Justin Wilson (Dreyer and Reinbold) entry. No word yet on who drives it tomorrow. Of course, we knew this a couple of hours ago.
Rain is moving through mid-Ohio, but appears to be a bit away, and on track to barely miss Mid-Ohio. Then again, a bit of rain would make the ALMS race a lot more fun.
Group 1 qualification just beginning…. more in a few minutes!
08/06/11 Justin Wilson took a ride through turn 1 at Mid Ohio this morning, becoming airborne when he put two wheels off of the track and hit the cut-off road. When he came down he apparently hurt his back. Wilson, who is 6-foot 200 or something, obviously just barely fits in the car. He was transported to the local hospital for evaluation, and his status is uncertain for the rest of the weekend.
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Before Justin took his wild ride, he had a good day going. In the last practice he was 4th to 5th fastest before he crashed. Ryan Hunter-Reay was fastest, followed by Scott Dixon, Takuma Sato, Will Power and Ryan Briscoe. Even with the shunt, Wilson was 11th fastest.
Andretti Motorsports might be celebrating Hunter-Reay’s speed, but Conway is in 20th, Danica in 21st, and Marco in 15th, showing why many people say RHR is the best driver on that team by far.
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The start of the Pirelli World Challenge uses a standing start. Within seconds, the crowd was amazed that small cars can actually get airborne from a standing start, when a stalled car caused quite a stack up. Everyone appeared to be okay, but the day was over for 3 cars.
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No, Dario hasn’t seen the working prototype of the 2012 Indy car. Nor has his good friend, Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon, offered any information. According to Dario, Dan has been sworn to silence, which has to be quite a painful thing for someone as outgoing as Dan. Tim Wohlford reporting from Mid-Ohio