Marlboro Team Penske teammates Sam Hornish Jr. and Helio Castroneves know what they’re capable of doing Sunday at Pikes Peak International Raceway: winning.
It hasn’t been often the twosome has felt that way, given the gap that has developed between Indy Racing League engine manufactures Honda, Chevrolet and Toyota.
Toyota, for the first time in its three-year affiliation with the IRL, is the weakest of the three. That concerns Penske on big ovals, but not at places such as the 1-mile PPIR, where car handling is most important.
Hornish and Castroneves have combined to win all three short ovals this season, and they’ve started 1-2 in the past two races.
Hornish led a 1-2 Penske finish at the 1-mile oval in Phoenix, a similarly flat 1-miler like Pikes Peak.
“That’s probably our last oval to be in victory circle,” Castroneves said of PPIR, the final short oval of the season. “I’m not trying to be a pessimist, only a realist. We know we can be strong. But it’s not going to be easy there.
“Seems that Honda and Chevrolet has been very strong in those other ovals. Toyota has worked extremely hard as well. But short ovals isn’t about power as much as balance of the car, and we seem to have a lot of that at places like Pikes Peak.”
A year ago, Chevrolet was the IRL’s throwaway engine partner. Panther Racing was the only full-time team to stay with Chevy to begin the season. Now some of those teams that parted ways with Chevy to go with Toyota or Honda likely wish they hadn’t switched.
“That’s part of the game,” Castroneves said of engine partners and their changing strength. “Nothing you can do about it.”
Hornish, on the strength of his victories at Phoenix and Milwaukee, is second in the standings. Castroneves, who won at the three-quarter mile Richmond International Raceway, is sixth.
Honda-powered Andretti Green drivers Dan Wheldon, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti are first, third and fourth, respectively.
Franchitti won at Pikes Peak last year, and Kanaan has started from the pole in Colorado the past two years.
Andretti Green drivers have won seven of the nine big-oval races this year, and Honda won its eighth last weekend with Scott Sharp of Fernandez Racing. Honda can win its second consecutive manufacturer’s title with a victory Sunday.
“On the bigger tracks, for sure, we haven’t had as much success,” Hornish said. “But at places like Pikes Peak it’s about momentum and having a good-handling car in traffic. With 22 cars on a short oval, you’re going to be in traffic all day long.”
PPIR schedule
Schedule of events at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain this weekend:
SATURDAY
8 a.m. – Spectator gates open
8 a.m. – NASCAR West practice
9:45 a.m. – Infiniti Pro Series practice
10 a.m. – IndyCar Series practice
11:45 a.m. – Infiniti Pro Series practice
12:30 p.m. – IndyCar Series practice
2:15 p.m. – NASCAR West practice
3 p.m. – Infiniti Pro Series qualifying
4 p.m. – IndyCar Series qualifying
5:10 p.m. – NASCAR West qualifying
SUNDAY
8 a.m. – Spectator gates open
9 a.m. – Infiniti Pro Series Series warm-up
9:30 a.m. – IndyCar Series practice
11:15 a.m. – Infiniti Pro Series Pre-race
11:45 a.m. – Pikes Peak 100 IRL Infiniti Pro Series race (100 laps)
1 p.m. – IndyCar Pre-Race
1:45 p.m. – Honda Indy 225 IRL IndyCar Series race (225 laps)
4:15 p.m. – NAPA Auto Parts 150 NASCAR West Series Race
