Getty Images The only confirmed rookie for the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series, Tristan Vautier, tested at Sebring International Raceway last week with less pressure than his first IndyCar outing.
The 2012 Firestone Indy Lights champion made his IndyCar test debut in December also at Sebring, in what was an audition for several teams.
Since that point, Vautier raced at the Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car race in a Mazda6 and got his IndyCar contract signed, sealed and delivered with the renamed Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Vautier’s teammate is his French countryman and 2012 IndyCar rookie-of-the-year, Simon Pagenaud.
“It’s a good start, but I have a lot to improve,” Vautier told RACER.com after the test. “There are many new factors once you get to the races. It’s two good tests at one track, so you have to be careful to think it has a bigger meaning.”
Vautier is the second straight Indy Lights champion to advance into IndyCar the next year after Josef Newgarden, and fourth in the last five years (Raphael Matos in 2009, and JR Hildebrand made his debut in 2010).
The expectations shouldn’t be too high for Vautier this season, as he gathers experience and laps. But he’s already proven quick out of the gate in his formative years in the American open-wheel ladder system, and has championships in back-to-back years.
No rookie has won an IndyCar Series race since Justin Wilson at Detroit in 2008. That’s a technicality as Wilson was classified as a rookie in the merged IndyCar series due to minimal oval experience, but he had four prior years in the Champ Car series.
Robert Doornbos (Champ Car, 2007) and Marco Andretti (IndyCar, 2006) were the last first-year drivers to win a race in their rookie seasons.
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Daytona International Speedway to get major facelift, eliminate 46,000 seats
Jun 18, 2013, 4:43 PM EDT
Illustration courtesy of Daytona International Speedway.
Big changes are on the way for NASCAR’s most famous racetrack, Daytona International Speedway, with the most significant facelift since the track opened 54 years ago in 1959. Home of the season-opening Daytona 500 and the early July Coke Zero 400, the track will undergo a multi-phase update that will break ground July 5, the…
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Forget driving or flying to Sonoma NASCAR race: take the train
Jun 18, 2013, 3:59 PM EDT
AP
You’ve heard of the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, the Orange Blossom Special and the Wabash Cannonball. Now you can add the NASCAR Express to the list, as fans attending this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/SaveMart 350 race and activities at Sonoma Raceway will have a rather unique way to say they’ve arrived — at the racetrack,…
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Sonoma Raceway to honor memory of late PR chief John Cardinale
Jun 18, 2013, 3:17 PM EDT
Sonoma Raceway will honor its late public relations director, John Cardinale, during this weekend’s 25th Toyota/SaveMart 350 activities. Cardinale passed away in March after a two-year fight with stage IV gastric cancer. He had worked at the track since 1998 and was promoted to Vice President of Media and Community Relations in 2003, a post…
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Pirelli World Challenge: Duncan Ende highlights dangers of distracted driving
Jun 18, 2013, 3:00 PM EDT
Living in Los Angeles, Pirelli World Challenge driver Duncan Ende is constantly reminded of the dangers of distracted driving. “It’s bad when I’m driving in my car and sometimes really scary when I’m on my road bicycle, and drivers on the road are speaking on the phone, looking at the map on their phone, or…
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Force India’s 2013 performance thanks to car working with tires
Jun 18, 2013, 1:30 PM EDT
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Force India’s pair of drivers has made the most of the Pirelli tires this year, as evident by their performances in Canada. The validation for the prime medium compound tires came via Paul Di Resta, who ran a 56-lap opening stint in Montreal before switching to the supersofts for the finish. He ultimately finished seventh…
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As Chicago temperatures crept close to 90 degrees on Monday, NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers Regan Smith and Travis Pastrana cooled off in a unique way — and did a good deed in the process. Making several stops around the Windy City, Smith, who won Saturday’s NNS race at Michigan, and Pastrana sold ice cream bars…
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Lotus stake sale to Infinity creates a more tangled web of names
Jun 18, 2013, 12:15 PM EDT
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Sooner or later, it seems every team in the Formula One paddock might be interconnected by way of similar names or branding. The latest chapter came Tuesday, as Lotus announced a 35 percent sale to an investment consortium called Infinity. And now we begin our six degrees of Kevin Bacon to describe the tangential relationships…
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Lotus F1 Team had been wholly owned by Genii Capital, but on Tuesday the Enstone-based squad announced a sale of 35 percent stake of the team to a new investor group called Infinity Racing Partners Limited. Noting the spelling, this Infinity is not at all related to Infiniti, the car manufacturer that sponsors Red Bull.…
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AP
NASCAR driver Mike Harmon has turned himself in to authorities after warrants were issued for him and a business partner. Rowan County (N.C.) Sheriff’s deputies said warrants were issued on Monday, while Harmon and his business partner are charged with breaking and entering and larceny after breaking and entering. It’s the latest turn in the…
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AP
Ferrari has crunched the numbers from the first seven Grands Prix of the 2013 Formula One season and determined it has been one of the top overtaking teams this year. That highlights the team’s qualifying gap to Red Bull and Mercedes this year – Ferrari is yet to take a pole position – but nonetheless…
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Shank’s team takes second huge hit in as many Rolex races (VIDEO)
Jun 17, 2013, 6:00 PM EDT
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Ex-Indy Lights driver Gustavo Yacaman has made a name for himself in the last two GRAND-AM Rolex Series races, albeit I’m guessing not in the manner he or his team would like. Two weeks ago in Detroit, Yacaman attempted a pass on Memo Rojas’ No. 01 Cessna-sponsored Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates BMW Riley…
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Murray Walker (right, with 1964 World Champion John Surtees), the iconic Formula One broadcaster, has been diagnosed with a mild form of cancer. The 89-year-old will undergo chemotherapy to attempt to cure the form of lymphatic system cancer, according to the BBC. Last month, he fell and broke his pelvis and the cancer was diagnosed…
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AP
Something weird happened at the IZOD IndyCar Series’ weekend at The Milwaukee Mile. It was just a pure race that went down as smooth as a cold Spotted Cow. IndyCar is in a mad stretch of six races in five weekends. The Indianapolis 500 kicked it off, followed by the doubleheader in Detroit, the lone…
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The team now known as Mercedes heads to this week’s FIA Tribunal having been in hot water with the FIA before, but not as Mercedes. They’ve had to accept rulings from the FIA under an earlier guise of British American Racing, in that team’s first (1999) and last (2005) year on the Formula One grid.…
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With Team Penske breaking through at Texas and Will Power scoring his first podium of 2013 at Milwaukee, the onus is now back on Target Chip Ganassi Racing to deliver the results it’s been accustomed to in the IZOD IndyCar Series: winning. It was another tough day at the office for Scott Dixon and Dario…
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First tests for two drivers this week at Caterham, Marussia
Jun 17, 2013, 10:19 AM EDT
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A pair of Formula One feeder series drivers will have their first runs in F1 cars this week. Caterham will provide its GP2 Series driver, 27-year-old Spaniard Sergio Canamasas, a chance to perform an aero test on Thursday in the Caterham CT03. That will be held in France, and he’ll be at the team’s base…
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Denny Hamlin‘s already slim margin for error in his quest to overcome an early-season back injury and make the Chase for the Sprint Cup may now be down to zero. On Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, Hamlin ran a paint design that fallen driver Jason Leffler drove with for Joe Gibbs Racing when he debuted…
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64 years after earning its first victory in what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the Ford Motor Company has 1,000 wins in America’s most popular form of motorsport after Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle triumphed in today’s Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. “I am just super excited for Ford,” said Biffle,…
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Harvick plays it safe in final laps, gets runner-up finish
Jun 16, 2013, 6:45 PM EDT
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Kevin Harvick knew that a win wasn’t going to be in the cards for him on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway – even when Jimmie Johnson (running second at the time) suffered a flat tire with three laps left, popped the wall and went to the pits. “My car started to shake really bad,” he…
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It’s not very often that the Hendrick Motorsports juggernaut collectively suffers like it did on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. Want proof? All four Hendrick drivers – championship leader Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon – ran into trouble in the Quicken Loans 400 and all finished outside the Top 25…
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Video: Hunter-Reay celebrates win in Milwaukee
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Video: Highlights: Hunter-Reay wins Milwaukee Mile again
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Video: Andretti Autosports dominates
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Video: Andretti makes it look easy in Milwaukee
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Video: Indy Car Series: Fast forward Texas
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Video: A recap of Pagenaud's first career IndyCar victory
