2016 Verizon IndyCar SeriesOpen Wheel 

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GTPorsche
Was there a signing of a new driver to the series within the last day or so?

Stefan Wilson is complaining on twitter about something.... but I have a slight suspicion that's he's somehow confused Jean-Eric Vergne's arrival to Andretti Autosport's Formula-E team for something completely different..... Maybe he's just complaining to complain.

Stefan Wilson@stef_wilson10m
Who needs a ladder system or feeder series when you can be in any series in the world, bottom out and decide you wanna be an IndyCar driver.

Stefan Wilson@stef_wilson2m
Just bothers me when guys commit there life to IndyCar, go through the ladder & then others think of IndyCar as a backup & bypass the system.

I know Daniel Abt was testing for Andretti, but I doubt he'd get an Indycar seat if Luis Razia, who was above and beyond the better talent in GP2, had to go through the Indy Lights Series first.

Edit: Think I found it but I can't find a source. Apparently Rodolfo Gonzalez has a contract for 2015 with a team he has not yet named in the Indycar Series. That would fit what Stefan is complaining about.

Edit2: Found it. Needs to be translated into English though. http://www.noticias24.com/venezuela...habla-sobre-los-retos-que-le-esperan-en-2015/

To sum it up, he's been invited to test at Barber Motorsports Park for Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports.
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Definately not about Vergne.

Stefan Wilson ‏@stef_wilson
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for international drivers. It's great to have variety. Just think anyone outside of F1 should go via the ladder
 
Has he forgot what business/sport he's in? F1 is not much better with their feeder system. Di Resta got an F1 seat and he didn't take part in GP2 while Valsecchi won the championship and got to sit in the Lotus garage.
 
Justin
It sounds like sour grapes to me. Although I do like the backtracking so he didn't discredit his own brother's career path.:lol:
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He's got a ride in Indycar for this year, so I don't think it's sour grapes as much as it is pointing out how flawed the system is if a feeder series failure can make it to a top series.

spacecowboy73
Has he forgot what business/sport he's in? F1 is not much better with their feeder system. Di Resta got an F1 seat and he didn't take part in GP2 while Valsecchi won the championship and got to sit in the Lotus garage.
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Di Resta was DTM champ, so Mercedes gave him a shot at F1 with Force India. Though, that turned out as well as Indycar drivers trying NASCAR....
 
GTPorsche
He's got a ride in Indycar for this year, so I don't think it's sour grapes as much as it is pointing out how flawed the system is if a feeder series failure can make it to a top series.



Di Resta was DTM champ, so Mercedes gave him a shot at F1 with Force India. Though, that turned out as well as Indycar drivers trying NASCAR....
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Yeah, my main point was that DTM isn't in the F1 feeder system.

And I'm not saying I don't see his point, but the system will remain flawed when a driver can buy his way into a team, and I don't see that changing any time soon.
 
Will be attending the Pocono race once again if I manage to get off of work.
 
GP2 isn't that important in regards to F1. Di Resta went through Formula Renault and Formula Three, both are feeder series to F1.
 
FireEmblem10
Will be attending the Pocono race once again if I manage to get off of work.
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That's the race I'm hoping to attend this year. I was in that area before Halloween and had to go see the track, since I'd never been there before. Already looking forward to it!
 
GTPorsche
GP2 isn't that important in regards to F1. Di Resta went through Formula Renault and Formula Three, both are feeder series to F1.
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Wasn't GP2 supposed to be though? Since if you win the championship you can't stay in the series, and since they are the main support race for a lot of F1 races?
 
spacecowboy73
Wasn't GP2 supposed to be though? Since if you win the championship you can't stay in the series, and since they are the main support race for a lot of F1 races?
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Hasn't been that way in a few years now. Most of the F1 rookies come from Formula 3.5 now.
 
GTPorsche
He's got a ride in Indycar for this year, so I don't think it's sour grapes as much as it is pointing out how flawed the system is if a feeder series failure can make it to a top series.
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I still see it as sour grapes as Fan Force United is a new team (that I don't see making it the whole season) while SPM is an established team with some success.

As for the feeder series issue, the only fix I could see is making it mandatory for a driver to spend time in Indy Lights, but that would be and insanely dumb move.
 
I think anyone who is is front/midpack Runner GP2 or F3.5 level is good enough to go straight into indy, the cars are definetely alot different to European open wheelers with the lack of power steering but you will get the idea of where they are pretty quick.

Keep in mind Power came to Champcar straight from F3.5.

With the Current Depth of Talent in Indy right now it's certainly in the Middle between the top Tier Feeder series for F1 and F1 itself.
 
mustafur
Keep in mind Power came to Champcar straight from F3.5.
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And that went well. Granted it took some time (and broken bones), but it was all up from there.
 
Kinda figured once Toyota signed him, he wasn't coming back. There's also the fact that he won't ever see an oval ever again.
 
What I meant was he can do a whole season without being all concerned about an oval since there are none in the WEC.
 
its annoying seeing 2 events at Indy, they ruined the road course there, why can't they go to Laguna, Road America, Portland, COTA, Mexico? Heck they even made such a fuss about Indycar coming back to the gold coast because chicago? paid so much for it to be the finale, bring em back to australia! heck 2 rounds and take them to Bathurst!
 
TDZdave
its annoying seeing 2 events at Indy, they ruined the road course there, why can't they go to Laguna, Road America, Portland, COTA, Mexico? Heck they even made such a fuss about Indycar coming back to the gold coast because chicago? paid so much for it to be the finale, bring em back to australia! heck 2 rounds and take them to Bathurst!
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From what I've gathered IndyCar has their sanctioning fees rather high. I know Road America was in talks with them, but IndyCar was asking too much. I don't think Laguna Seca would work currently unless one of the other California races ended up off the schedule (or they came to their senses and spread the season out more).
 
TDZdave
its annoying seeing 2 events at Indy, they ruined the road course there, why can't they go to Laguna, Road America, Portland, COTA, Mexico? Heck they even made such a fuss about Indycar coming back to the gold coast because chicago? paid so much for it to be the finale, bring em back to australia! heck 2 rounds and take them to Bathurst!
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I agree it's annoying, there's a quite a few better tracks that could be used, but if I remember right it comes down to money once again: less travel costs since they'll already be at Indy.

Wasn't the first race deemed a success overall? If so, it's probably not going to be off the schedule anytime soon. But then again this is Indycar and they messed up the Baltimore race. Even though the track wasn't the greatest, the crowds were good.
 
spacecowboy73
I agree it's annoying, there's a quite a few better tracks that could be used, but if I remember right it comes down to money once again: less travel costs since they'll already be at Indy.

Wasn't the first race deemed a success overall? If so, it's probably not going to be off the schedule anytime soon. But then again this is Indycar and they messed up the Baltimore race. Even though the track wasn't the greatest, the crowds were good.
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The Baltimore track was manly. Same goes for Houston. Much better than the smooth, bumpless F1 circuits. :sly:
 
Yeah, I remember after the first race in Baltimore Will Power said it was the hardest race of his life. :lol:

I actually think the Houston track wasn't that bad either, especially after the races this year. I just wish it wasn't in what looked like the middle of a parking lot.
 
spacecowboy73
I agree it's annoying, there's a quite a few better tracks that could be used, but if I remember right it comes down to money once again: less travel costs since they'll already be at Indy.

Wasn't the first race deemed a success overall? If so, it's probably not going to be off the schedule anytime soon. But then again this is Indycar and they messed up the Baltimore race. Even though the track wasn't the greatest, the crowds were good.
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Carbonox
The Baltimore track was manly. Same goes for Houston. Much better than the smooth, bumpless F1 circuits. :sly:
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Didn't know you found Railroad tracks in the middle of a Street Circuit "Manly"


Also I'm sorry, but they both at just as bad as most F1 street circuits (excluding Monaco) because despite the bumps, they follow the same idiotic copy-paste formula of 2 Straights and a series of unnecessarily tight corners.
 
GTPorsche
Well, it was in the middle of the parking lot for Reliant Stadium.
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I wasn't sure if it was an actual parking lot or just using the roads around it and parts of it. I hope they don't ever do that kind of course again.

RACECAR
Also I'm sorry, but they both at just as bad as most F1 street circuits (excluding Monaco) because despite the bumps, they follow the same idiotic copy-paste formula of 2 Straights and a series of unnecessarily tight corners.
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I agree, the track could have been a lot better, my point was more to the attendance figures. I remember after the first Baltimore race, I think it was Robin Miller who said something like leave it to Indycar to have a sold out race and lose money on it. :rolleyes:
 
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