BIRMINGHAM, AL E.J. Viso of Venezuela, No. 59, and James Hinchcliffe , No. 06, wreck during the IndyCar Series Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park on April 10, 2011 in Birmingham, Alabama.Kevin C. Cox
After missing the first race of the 2011 season trying to finalize a deal to run in the IndyCar Series, Oakville's James Hinchcliffe didn't exactly have the debut he hoped.
Although he started a strong eighth, the rookie made a mistake on the opening lap of the Alabama Grand Prix, spun his car two corners into the race, and looked to be out of contention even before things got going.
Instead, Hinchcliffe dusted himself off, put the bit between his teeth and began to climb back up the leaderboard from the tail end of the 26-car field.
"We got off to a rough start," he admitted after the race. "I was hoping to not make too many rookie mistakes and on Lap 1 we went around and fell to the back, but the team got me back on a great strategy."
The No. 06 Sprott Dallara-Honda driver fought hard and climbed to 12th before disaster stuck in the form of E.J. Viso just past the halfway point in the 90-lap race. Following a restart on Lap 41, the Venezuelan tangled with another driver and ended up pointing the wrong way in Turn 6 ahead of Hinchcliffe who went to the outside to avoid the incident. Unfortunately, Viso decided to spin his car back into position just as Hinchcliffe tried to slip past.
So after looking like he'd recover to score a top-10 finish, Hinchcliffe's day ended with a broken left rear suspension and he was classified 24th.
"I think Simona [De Silvestro]got into E.J. and that wasn't his fault, but Day 1 of racing school you learn that when you are spinning you hit the brakes and the clutch and he just hit the gas," a frustrated Hinchcliffe said.
"He pinned it and the back end whipped around and took us out."
The good news is that Hinchcliffe has apparently attracted additional sponsorship that will see him compete in the May 1 street race in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The 24-year-old's deal with backer Eric Sprott, chairman of Sprott Asset Management, included only the North American stops on the IndyCar calendar and left the Canadian looking for more support to drive in the two fly-away races in Brazil and the mid-September stop in Motegi, Japan.
Penske's Will Power took the win at the Barber Motorsport Park with an impressive lights-to-flag performance that left little doubt that he will be a championship contender again this year after finishing second overall in 2010.
Power leads the points standings with 94 after two races, seven ahead of Dario Franchitti who crossed the line in third. Franchitti took the victory in the season opener two weeks ago in St. Petersburg, Fla. Tony Kanaan, who signed a deal to race with the KV team just days before the season began, is third in points with 63. Drivers get 50 points for a win.
Hamilton gets off easy
In Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix, McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton proved that some drivers never learn.
At the end of Lap 44, Hamilton changed his line four times going down the start-finish straight trying to shake the pursuing Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, who was trying to get past in a fight for third. The action delivered a 20-second penalty to the 2008 world champion, who breached a rule prohibiting more than one move to defend a position.
It should have brought a more severe penalty since similar actions by Hamilton a year ago forced the sport's governing Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) to clarify F1's rules to forbid the practice. Amazingly, he pulled the same stunt last year in the same place at the same track last season when defending a position against Renault's Vitaly Petrov.
In the 2010 incident, the McLaren driver was given a warning for unsportsmanlike driving by the stewards but left Malaysia without a penalty. Following the 2010 race, his fellow drivers were not exactly pleased with the tactic and complained publicly about Hamilton's driving, which forced the FIA to act.
Unfortunately, he obviously did not learn a lesson since he reverted to the weave when a similar situation presented itself on Sunday. The 20-second penalty dropped Hamilton one place in the final classification from seventh to eighth. Considering that his actions prompted the rule change, the FIA should have leaned a bit harder on the McLaren driver.
Edwards says 'Hi Mom!'
NASCAR driver Carl Edwards might want to buy his mom an extra special present on Mother's Day next month. The Sprint Cup driver publicly called out his mom for bad cooking following digestive tract troubles that hit him during Saturday night's Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
After finishing third despite the tummy trouble, Edwards told reporters his mother served him a dish she'd never tried before and he thought maybe she mucked it up.
"I hate to throw my mom under the bus, but she cooked something last night that I don't think was too good," he said after the race.
Jeff Pappone