IndyCar Series drivers Ed Carpenter, Ryan Briscoe and Indy Racing League President of Competition and Racing Operations Brian Barnhart participated in teleconference ysterday, discussing last weekend's race at Kentucky Speedway and the upcoming event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Below are selected quotes from the call.
Ryan Briscoe
· 27-year-old competing in his third full season in the IndyCar Series
· Drives the No. 6 Team Penske entry
· Leads the point standingss with two wins and nine top-five finishes in 12 starts.
Ed Carpenter
· 28-year-old competing in his sixth full season in the IndyCar Series
· Drives the No. 20 Menards Vision Racing entry
· Ranks 12th in points, after recording his career-best finish of second at Kentucky
***
Q. Brian, as I mentioned earlier, this marked the debut of three aero options for the remaining 1.5 mile ovals we'll compete at this season. Give us your thought on the first race with the new package.
BRIAN BARNHART: Overall I think I was very pleased with it. It's good to give the team some tools to use and to give them some choices to make. And based on the results from Saturday night, I think you have got to take a little bit into consideration because of the uniqueness of the event. It ended up being a one‑day show with one 75‑minute session of practice beforehand. No qualifying.
That adds an additional challenge to the teams, obviously. And when we dropped the green, it was pretty evident, because we started without qualifying, we started with the points determining the order.
And it was really evident quickly how good Ed's car was in coming to the front and making the passes. The No. 5 car, KV Racing, Mario Moraes, had a very good car and was heading to the front. Unfortunately he got collected in a pit road incident. But it certainly seemed to enhance the product on the racetrack Saturday night in giving them choices to make and trying to add even more to that with the Honda press‑to‑pass overtake button, which is not a new concept.
It clearly was ‑‑ in Champ Car with the turbo charged engines, it certainly had the ability of having more effect than it does with our normally aspirated engines, but I do have to commend Honda for their work and their desire to help give options and tools to the drivers and the race car as well, because it's not a simple thing to do with a normally aspirated engine.
And I think it's something that can be continued to be developed and be an important part of our racing, whether it's on an oval or a road course. So I think combined with the aero and the push‑to‑pass button, I think it's pretty good. I think when we get on a road course, the red tire/black tire issue from the Firestone, primary and alternates combined with press‑to‑pass can make for an improved product on the road courses as well.
Q. You brought it up. But looking ahead this week at Mid‑Ohio, what do you think the overtake assist button on a natural touring road course will do? Where do you think teams will use it more? On straights?
BRIAN BARNHART: Again, I think it's just another tool that the driver can be thinking about in the car. Another challenge for the team from a gearing standpoint to make sure you've got it to maximize its benefit for you. So the team's got to be smart about their gearing and their planning for it. And the driver's got to have some strategy as to when to be pushing the button and how many pushes to leave with it, where to use it on the race track so they do it. And of course its effect is dictated by what fuel setting you're in, because it's somewhere between five and 20 horsepower depending on your fuel mapping.
So I think it can be an interesting aspect. As I said, combining with the Firestone reds and blacks, it should help on a road course as well.
***
Q. Ryan, even though the changes that were made to the cars were to enhance competition, were sort of eagerly anticipated and got good reviews this weekend, from a selfish point of view, where you are at points and with the strong team you're on that's been producing very good results for you, is there any selfish part of you that just wishes that everyone could have stood with the status quo for just a couple more months?
RYAN BRISCOE: No. Look at the results. I thought it was great. And I think it might have gotten the Ganassi guys into a little bit of trouble Saturday night. I don't think they ran enough down force in the cars. When they got into traffic they started having trouble. And I think exactly what we're looking for from a package, between being able to run the right amount of down force or maybe getting a bit greedy and not running enough.
I think that's exactly what we were looking for. I've got to really thank Brian for taking the initiative halfway through a racing season to try to improve the series. I think it was a great move. And, you know, we saw Ed out there as well I think also prior to the changes and enabled him to come from mid‑pack on the start, come through the field and be aggressive and make lots of passes.
So all in all I'm really happy about it. And anything that makes our racing more exciting is better for me.
***
Q. One last thing, you're sitting there Saturday night and your whole team's fired up. And you're pretty happy. But I would think on the other side you were so close to a victory. Has that haunted you a little bit over the last couple days how close you got? And can you get there again? I think you said after the race you feel like now you can win a race. Is that the biggest thing you got out of this more than anything else?
ED CARPENTER: I thought for a long time I could win a race. Having the result we did the other night just reaffirms that. When you look at the photos, people asked me if I was pumping my fist. I wasn't so much pumping my fist, I was kind of putting my hand on my face, saying: Man, we were so close.
So I wasn't just happy to finish second. I was definitely disappointed that we got so close and couldn't pull the win out of there. But I can't wait to get to Chicago and Miami, because I think we'll have a chance to repeat that performance.
***
The 2009 IndyCar Series season continues Aug. 9 with the Honda Indy 200 presented by Westfield Insurance at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The race will be telecast live in High Definition at 1 p.m. (EDT) by VERSUS. A one-hour qualifying show will be telecast by VERSUS at 6 p.m. on Aug. 8. The race will air live on the IMS Radio Network, XM channel 145 and Sirius channel 211. The radio broadcast also will be carried on .indycar.com. The 2009 Firestone Indy Lights season continues with the Mid-Ohio 100 on Aug. 9 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The race will be telecast at 4 p.m. (EDT) on Aug. 10 by VERSUS.
