Race Report: INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. Sept. 4, 2016—Takuma Sato’s philosophy of “No attack, no chance” did not serve him well at the end of the INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen at Watkins Glen International.

Starting 20th in the No. 14 ABC Supply Honda, Sato was never higher than 15th until race strategist Larry Foyt and his team made the bold call to stay out during the caution period on laps 39-41. He vaulted from 15th to second. When the race restarted, he set his sights on leader Carlos Munoz, but could not complete the pass. He went off track and lost four spots, coming back out in sixth spot.

As fuel strategies came to the forefront in the last third of the race, Sato had moved  up to  fifth when Foyt pitted him with 12 laps remaining. Sato went from fifth to 16th but was able to push hard as the rest of the field was saving fuel to make it to the end of the 60-lap race. He carved his way through the field to eighth with less than two laps to go.  Setting up Simon Pagenaud, who was running seventh, Sato took a wide entry into Turn 7 to position himself to pass Pagenaud in Turn 8.

Unfortunately, he miscalculated the entry, lost traction in the marbles and spun, much to the dismay of his ABC Supply team as he was on point to finish in the top six and possibly the top five. When he was able to gather up the car, he’d slid back to 18th. He gained one position on the final lap and finished 17th when James Hinchcliffe, who was second, ran out of fuel.

“Quite an eventful and exciting race,” the dejected driver said. “The yellows made us decide on a good strategy. At one stage it was a mixed strategy but the team made a good call on the last one. We had a couple good battles, and in the end, we were able to charge when everyone else had to save fuel. We attacked our way through the field. With two laps to go, I tried to set up Pagenaud and I approached the turn wider than usual to make a good exit but I got in the marbles and lost grip in Turn 7. I lost it and screwed up—I have no words for that. I feel really sorry for the sponsors and the mechanics. It could have been a strong result but I couldn’t put it together.”

Jack Hawksworth, who started ninth in the No. 41 ABC Supply Honda, gained two spots by the completion of lap one but lost three the next lap while trying to pass rookie R.C. Enerson. Hawksworth was running 11th on lap 9 when he pitted for fuel pursuing an alternate fuel strategy like his teammate Sato. Hawksworth dropped to 20th. When the cautions came out on laps 15-17 (for Mikhail Aleshin’s spin) and again on laps 20-22 (for contact between Charlie Kimball and Graham Rahal), Hawksworth was again 11th.

Pitting at nearly the halfway mark, the lanky British driver dropped back to 16th and then 17th as he began saving fuel in earnest. He pitted again when nearly the entire field pitted on lap 41. Hawksworth came out in 16th but was saving fuel so he didn’t have to pit for a splash of fuel at the end. He placed 15th.

“The car was really good and I was very happy with it the whole race especially with the black tires,” Hawksworth said. “I wish I could have done Takuma’s strategy and pushed. That would have been a lot of fun. The guys did a nice job with the car – it was fast all weekend. I made a mistake on the second lap and lost a couple positions and then we had some issues with the stops. A shame about the result, nothing really worked out.”

Pole winner Scott Dixon won the race in a dominant fashion –leading 50 of the 60 laps. Second through fifth were: Josef Newgarden, Helio Castroneves, Conor Daly and Sebastien Bourdais.

The ABC Supply team will be testing at Sonoma Raceway this Thursday along with most of the other IndyCar teams as they prepare for their final race of the season on September 18th. The GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma will be broadcast live by NBC Sports Network starting at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Qualifying Report: INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. Sept. 3, 2016—Driving the No. 41 ABC Supply Honda, Jack Hawksworth continued to pace the Honda-powered contingent in qualifying today for the INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen. Hawksworth will start ninth in tomorrow’s 60-lap race around the picturesque 3.37-mile Watkins Glen International road course in New York’s Finger Lakes region.

“It was an interesting qualifying session, there was a lot of drama obviously in the first one,” said Hawksworth, who posted a time of 1 minute, 23.6392 seconds (145.052mph). “We did the one lap on reds and then we were on our second lap when the red came out [ironically for Sato’s accident]. “We crossed the line and we thought we were through [to the next round] and then we were out. Earlier in the session, when I was on a flyer on my first set of reds, Graham [Rahal] stopped in the middle of Turn 10, so he drew a penalty as he should. We obviously then transferred. It was pretty decent but again maybe we were just on the wrong place on the track. Power just kept backing up a little bit, and perhaps we could have gone a couple tenths quicker and got P-7. Overall a pretty decent day. The car was good and we’ve been pretty competitive all weekend so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

Takuma Sato, who was in the same Round I qualifying group, was on his first hot lap when he spun in Turn 7 and hit the tire barrier. The No. 14 ABC Supply Honda sustained some damage to its right side but it can be repaired in time for tomorrow morning’s final warm-up session. Sato will start last in the 22-car field, and as A.J. Foyt told him, “You’ve got a long hard day ahead of you.”

“It was a disappointing session for us,” Sato said. “After today’s practice we made some changes and the car was pretty good but on edge. We had a little issue with the HANS device which wasn’t in place correctly so I had to pit and that made us a little bit hassled. Then on my hot lap, I just simply lost it in Turn 7. I feel bad for the boys because they made a good car. Hopefully we have a good performance tomorrow.”

There will be a special motivation for the AJ Foyt Racing team to have good results tomorrow as the cars and helmets of the team and its drivers will carry a decal which reads “In loving memory - Mr. B” who passed away this week after a long illness. Bob Barnhart, nicknamed Mr. B years ago, was the tire specialist for the team as far back as 1988 when A.J. Foyt was still driving.

“Mr. B was a real good friend of mine and an important part of our team for a long time,” said A.J. Foyt. “I trusted his judgement and he was someone we could count on year in and year out. I know he’s been sick the last couple of years but he was a fighter, and I think he stuck it out longer than his doctors thought he could. He has a great family and I’m really sorry for their loss—and ours.”

Scott Dixon won the Verizon P-1 award with a time of 1 minute, 22.5259 seconds for a record-setting speed of 147.008mph. Will Power was a close second with a speed of 146.922mph. Completing the Firestone Fast Six were: Sebastien Bourdais, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Max Chilton.

The INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen will be broadcast Sunday afternoon on NBC Sports Network starting at 2 p.m. ET.

Practice Report: INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. Sept. 2, 2016—Jack Hawksworth set the pace for the Honda-powered contingent as the Verizon IndyCar Series returned to the super-smooth and super-fast Watkins Glen International road course for the first time since 2010.

Hawksworth, who had never seen the track before his track walk yesterday, made a big leap from practice 1 (where he was ranked 19th) to practice 2 where his No. 41 ABC Supply Honda clocked in as sixth fastest and the first among the Honda-powered Dallaras. His quickest lap of 1 minute, 23.4463 seconds (145.387mph) was almost three seconds and four miles an hour faster than his first session (1 minute, 26.0642 seconds, 140.965mph).

“It was a fun day,” Hawksworth said climbing out of the car after the two-hour practice session. “We hadn’t tested here so we worked our way into it and ran through our plan. It was good because we worked systematically. By the end, I think we had a decent understanding of the track. Really nice conditions, a really cool track, incredibly fast, I’ve never been to a track like this in my entire life. Literally…Never! So, so fast and the grip level is incredible. I mean it’s a three and a half-mile track and we’re doing 1:23s, I don’t know what the average speed is but it’s insane. Really enjoyed it and we did some good work, so we’ll try to continue that tomorrow and see if we can put it together in qualifying.”

Takuma Sato was 12th quickest in the No. 14 ABC Supply Honda and third fastest among the Honda-powered cars. He posted a quick time of 1 minute, 23.7894 seconds for a speed of 144.792mph.

“It’s good to be back in Watkins Glen, such an outstanding track, very high-speed flows,” Sato commented, having run at the track in 2010 in his rookie season in the IndyCar Series. “They’ve done a great job with the re-surfacing, the track has good grip and is lots of fun. We had a very productive day for a first day since we missed the test. We had quite a lot of work to be done so I think today was a very good day.”

Scott Dixon was the fastest in practice with a time of 1 minute, 22.8740 seconds (146.391mph). He was the only driver in the 22-second bracket.  Second through fifth were: Helio Castroneves, Will Power, Tony Kanaan, and Juan Pablo Montoya.

The teams have a 45-minute practice session tomorrow morning before qualifying gets underway tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. ET. The session will be broadcast on a tape-delay that evening from 6 – 7:30 p.m. ET.

NOTES & QUOTES: INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen

Takuma Sato: No. 14 ABC Supply Honda

Jack Hawksworth: No. 41 ABC Supply Honda

•Takuma Sato On:

oWatkins Glen International: "Watkins Glen is an outstanding track. I'm very happy to hear this venue is returning to the series. I’ve raced there only once in my debut season in IndyCar in 2010 but I really enjoy this challenging road course. Unfortunately we couldn't come to the test here unlike everyone else, so we will face a big challenge but I trust we can catch up quickly and have a strong weekend."

oWhat he likes about the track: “Watkins Glen has lots of flowing high-speed corners with elevation changes. It is just a beautiful track. I enjoy street courses a lot but this road course is an amazing one so I'm very excited.”

oWhat the differences will be with the different chassis: “The DW12 with the Honda aero package is lighter, has more downforce and more power, so it's going to be fast. On top of that, I've heard there was a lot more grip than before because of the recent track resurfacing, so I'm sure it's totally different speed-wise from 2010. The racing line should be the same as long as the corners are the same, but we’ll be braking later, on the power sooner and we’ll have more apex speed.”

oHis first US Open: “I had an opportunity to visit the US Open after Texas. Kei Nishikori, the best Japanese tennis player who collected a medal at the Olympics, and I knew of each other through a mutual friend who is a professional tennis coach who comes to see me race in St. Pete every year. After Kei and I missed meeting each other a couple of times, I was finally able to see him this week and we had a great dinner together in N.Y. I watched his first match in the US Open and he won. I was inspired a lot from all the professional tennis players and very motivated for this weekend. It was a great way to relax and but also get back to business.”

•Jack Hawksworth On:

oWatkins Glen International: "Watkins Glen is a proper race track from what I have seen. A variety of corners and very unforgiving in terms of run off. I look forward to hanging it out there myself on Friday."

oHow he will prepare for this event: “I like to watch onboard video and visualize laps. This helps to prepare the mind.”

oWhat he has heard about the Glen: “It is very quick and the grip level with the new surface is extremely high. I have no idea how it will race.”

oHow long it takes to learn the track: “Four laps and I will be on it I would imagine. A session or two to start to pick at the little details and extract the last couple of tenths.”

oOn how he’s feeling (after Texas accident): “I am fine, I just caught my knee on the side of the chassis but it's all good and I'm ready to go.”

•Past performance at WGI: In his only race here, Takuma Sato qualified 5th and finished 15th. Jack Hawksworth has never competed or tested at the 3.4 mile road course. The Foyt team competed six times. Darren Manning gave the team its best start of 8th in 2008 and its best finish of 2nd the same year. The team finished in the top-10 twice more: 9th with Manning in 2007 and 5th with Felipe Giaffone in 2006.

•This season’s performance: Takuma Sato’s best start is 3rd (Pocono) and his best finish is 5th (Long Beach and Toronto). Hawksworth’s best start is 4th (Grand Prix of Indianapolis) and his best finish is 11th (St. Petersburg and Elkhart Lake).

•ABC Supply Co. is in its 12th season as marketing partner of AJ Foyt Racing: ABC Supply began sponsoring the AJ Foyt Racing team with the 2005 Indianapolis 500, and is the second longest active team sponsor in the Verizon IndyCar Series. With this season, the company ties U.S. Tobacco’s Copenhagen brand in length of sponsorship of Foyt’s team.  ABC Supply has leveraged its involvement by sponsoring races at Milwaukee (in the past) and now at Pocono Raceway with the ABC Supply 500, and by entertaining over 75,000 associates and customers during the past 11 racing seasons. Over 250 guests will be entertained this weekend.

•ABC Supply roofing customer, Boghosian Bros. Construction & Development, located in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., won the ‘Your Name Here’ contest for this weekend. The company name will be atop the sidepods of the No. 41 ABC Supply Honda. Guests will receive the VIP treatment plus a Meet and Greet with Jack Hawksworth.

•Headquartered in Beloit, Wis., ABC Supply was founded by Ken and Diane Hendricks in 1982. The company operates over 600 branches in 49 states plus the District of Columbia and is dedicated exclusively to serving professional contractors.  ABC Supply has distinguished itself by following a simple guiding principle – take care of contractors better than any other distributor.  It remains an “employee-first” company that treats its associates with respect and gives them the tools they need to succeed.  As a 10-time winner of the Gallup Great Workplace Award, which recognizes the best-performing workforces in the world, ABC Supply is one of only three companies in the world to have earned this honor every year since its inception in 2007.  More information is available at www.abcsupply.com.

•The INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen will be televised live Sunday, Sept. 4, starting at 2:00 p.m. ET on the NBC Sports Network.