TIRE STRATEGIES – LET THE GAMES BEGIN • RHR FASTEST FINALLY

Sunday is bright, sunny, warm and crowded around the street track of the 38th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Very nice weather. Lots of people checking out the merchandise, taking the ubiquitous pit tours which abound in the IZOD IndyCa garage, taking pictures, getting autographs and just generally taking it all in.

The morning schedule includes warm-up for Firestone Indy Lights and IndyCar, and the Indy Lights race.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY didn’t get the pole position he wanted, but he was fastest Sunday morning at 1:09.4724, making him fastest in all of the practice sessions.

Pit Lane was busy as the teams would slap on one set of tires, drivers take a lap for scuffing in the tire, and come back in and repeat as necessary.

The lineup has been released along with the tire choice for the drivers, who can opt for either the black primary or the red option. One reason drivers commented Saturday that MARCO ANDRETTI/Andretti Autosports Chevrolet was a wild card, the driver to watch, is that he qualified on Primary/blacks, leaving him more of the Alternate/reds (softer/faster) tires for the race.

Overall, it appears that all but one of the front running Hondas (except TAKUMA SATO/Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) will start on Alternates. The reverse is true for the further back running Chevrolets, with ten of the 11 running Primary tires and JR HILDEBRAND/Panther Racing starting on Alternates. The top Lotus is ALEX TAGLIANI/Bryan Herta Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian will start tenth on Alternates, as will Rookie KATHERINE LEGGE/Lotus Dragon Racing starting last. The other three Lotus drivers will start on Primary tires.

STARTING LINEUP

1 DARIO FRANCHITTI/Honda/Alternate
2 JOSEF NEWGARDEN/Honda/Alternate
3 JUSTIN WILSON/Honda/Alternate
4 SIMON PAGENAUD/Honda/Alternate
5 SCOTT DIXON/Honda/Alternate
6 TAKUMA SATO/Honda/PRIMARY
7 MIKE CONWAY/Honda/Alternate
8 GRAHAM RAHAL/Honda/Alternate
9 CHARLIE KIMBALL/Honda/Alternate
10 ALEX TAGLIANI/Lotus/Alternate
11 RYAN BRISCOE/Chevrolet/PRIMARY
12 WILL POWER/Chevrolet/PRIMARY
13 RYAN HUNTER-REAY/Chevrolet/PRIMARY
14 JAMES JAKES/Honda/Alternate
15 EJ VISO/Chevrolet/PRIMARY
16 JAMES HINCHCLIFFE/Chevrolet/PRIMARY
17 de SILVESTRO, SIMONA/Lotus/PRIMARY
18 HELIO CASTRONEVES/Chevrolet/PRIMARY
19 TONY KANAAN/Chevrolet/PRIMARY
20 JR HILDEBRAND/Chevrolet/Alternate
21 MARCO ANDRETTI/Chevrolet/PRIMARY
22 RUBENS BARRICHELLO/Chevrolet/PRIMARY
23 ORIOL SERVIA/Lotus/PRIMARY
24 ED CARPENTER/Chevrolet/PRIMARY
25 SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS/Lotus/PRIMARY
26 KATHERINE LEGGE/Lotus/Alternate