3rd RBR 500

The 3rd Red Bull 500 was the 3rd running of the Red Bull Indy 500 Megarace. It took place between March 30, 2010 and April 4, 2010.

Entry List

 * All teams used a Dallara chassis, a Honda engine and Firestone tyres.

Qualifying Report
Blue skies greeted the 2 and a half mile speedway on practice day, and everyone was out there to get a setup for the old and dusty Dallara chassis that everyone uses. After everyone got their runs done, it was time for pole day. 4 laps, one after the other, to determine the starting positions for the race.

Steve Beare had a torrid run, struggling to find pace, and would line up 13th and last, just under 7 and a half seconds off the pace. Fozzy Forbes had a steady qualifying, and would line up 12th, just over six seconds off the pace, and an average speed of 220.4 mph. Bondarenko set the sixth fastest lap of the session, but errors on two other laps demoted him down to eleventh, 5.7 seconds off the pole. Dave Scott couldn’t get into a rhythm on his last lap, and found himself in 10th. Zan Mazgon was set for a brilliant first lap, until he very nearly threw it all away, and then being way off the pace on lap three found the Vision Racing rookie down in 9th.

Chris Vella had three bad laps, but was fast enough to get 8th, just over three seconds off pole. Caamen Soukup was next, he was on course for a front row start until lap three, where he had a problem with the car. He lines up 7th, alongside Vella and Mazgon. 6th belonged to Graham Mercer, who overdrove his car on two laps, and found himself at the back of row two, next to Paul Mcadam. Mcadam set the second fastest lap of the session, but a slow first lap put pay to his chances of pole, and ended up in the middle of row two. Purvis was 4th, with a consistent and fast set of laps found himself just 0.9 seconds behind the polesitter.

Paul Smart got third with the fastest lap of the session, a 38.718, but his tyres went off on his last lap, and only got third, just under 0.8 seconds behind the pole. John Wilson did a good job, and was on course for pole until a last lap drama where he failed to set a good lap, which gave the pole to James Morris. He may have locked a wheel on his third lap, but he didn’t lose much time at all, and with three consistent laps, he got the pole by a margin of 0.6 seconds, and an average speed of 229 miles an hour, just 2 mph slower than the last time the series came here

With so many fast laps set out there, it looks like it will be a very competitive and quick race. It sure looks to be a great race, and I personally can’t wait for the green flag to drop and watch the field get going.

Race Report
As the pace car comes out of turn number three, it will peel off the track, and down the access road, and then the 13 Indycars will charge their way down the front straight, and the green flag is waved, so it’s go, go, go for the RBR 500. Smart’s got past Wilson, Mcadam’s had a bad start, and has been passed by Mercer and Vella who’s also passed Soukup. Scott’s had a slow getaway, he’s down in last behind Bondarenko. So it’s James Morris who leads the field at the end of lap one of two hundred.

Lap 5, and Paul Smart is being passed by Purvis, and now Mercer gets past him as well, so Smart drops two places in one turn. Out front and it’s still James Morris, 3.3 seconds clear of John Wilson, Purvis is third.

Morris is on a charge here, it’s lap 15, and he’s broken the fastest lap three times in a row now. Purvis is on the soft tyre, and his gamble isn’t paying off, he’s being passed by Mercer right now.

Lap 19, and there’s trouble in turn two. I think it’s Chris Vella who’s hit the wall, the damage doesn’t look terminal, but it’s certainly going to be a trip into pitlane for him. He’s in, and the pitstop takes, 26 seconds. Purvis has lost another spot, this time to Wilson, his tyres can’t last much longer, surely.

Lap 24 and Purvis, and Forbes is in as well. Derek switches to the hard tyre, and doesn’t put much fuel in the car, so this is an interesting strategy from him. Forbes put quite a bit of fuel in his car, but I think he stayed on the soft tyre.

Lap 30, and Morris pits. He can take it nice and easy here, his lead was all the way out at 13 seconds. A fast stop for James, another 30 laps of fuel go onboard, and rejoins right behind Mcadam. I think there’s more trouble at turn two though, it’s Mazgon who’s hit the wall this time, that car has hit the wall hard, and it’ll be a long stop for him. It sure is, 2 and a half minutes stuck in pitlane to fix the car up.

Lap 40, and the battle for the lead with Mercer and Bondarenko goes to the pitcrew, 1.6 seconds separated them before they made their stops, but Bondarenko is well clear of Mercer, and looking at the pit times, it’s quite clear. Mercer’s stop was 3 seconds longer than Aaron’s, so out front, it’s Paul Smart who leads

Morris gets past Smart on lap 42, and Mcadam gets past his teammate five laps later. Mcadam stops on lap 48, and it’s a clean stop, and gets out behind Wilson. Smart pits two laps later, and rejoins 4 seconds behind Mcadam. But there’s problems down at Ganassi, Mercer has a transmission problem, and out comes the safety car for the first time on lap 50.

Morris, Beare, Mercer and Mazgon all pit under this yellow, which gives the lead back to Bondarenko. Lap 59 and the SC is about to pull in, with the order being Bondarenko-Morris-Wilson-Mcadam-Smart-Purvis-Beare-Scott-Soukup-Vella-Forbes-Mercer and Mazgon.

Purvis is on a charge now, he’s gone from 6th to 1st in the two laps after the restart. Nothing too much is happening now, Mazgon’s just got past two cars, and Smart’s just dropped two spots, but everyone is taking it easy right now, and staying out of trouble.

Lap 73 and Purvis makes another stop, and again will be on the soft tyres for this stint. Mcadam leads us now by just over three seconds. Lap 78 and Mcadam’s in, and rejoins ahead of Purvis. Lap 80 and Bondarenko surrenders the lead to Morris after pitting.

It’s now lap 90 and Morris and Vella both pit. James had a gap of 8 seconds over Smart, and should rejoin ahead of Purvis, and does. Vella goes from sixth to eleventh. Five laps later, and Mazgon pits from P1, and gets out four seconds behind Morris, so James has lost a bit of time somewhere.

Just over the halfway mark, and we have a safety car, and we believe that Paul Smart has spun coming off turn 4. That’s going to be a long stop down pitroad, and will hope that it’s a long SC. Morris leads Mazgon, Mcadam, Bondarenko and Wilson as the green flag comes back out on lap 110.

On lap 120, Morris and Bondarenko pit from the lead and 3rd. Mazgon leads at 3/5 distance. Two laps later, and I think Mcadam has a problem. He made an error at turn 2, and will be pitting in next time around. This drops him to last place now, he had only just made a scheduled stop.

Lap 130, and Mazgon relinquishes the lead to Graham Mercer, and gets back on track without any dramas. Five laps later, and it’s Zan’s turn to have a problem again, he’s made a mistake at 1, and will need to stop. And unbelievably, Smart needs to stop as well, he’s touched the wall at three. What terrible luck for all three Vision drivers, all making unscheduled stops within 12 laps of each other. Mazgon closed up two seconds on Smart after he rejoined, but out front, it’s Dave Scott who leads us.

Lap 139, and I think John Wilson has a transmission problem with his car, that’s going to put him down the order, and again, Mazgon has hit the wall at 1. The safety car will have to be deployed, and it does. Mcadam takes advantage of this and stops as well. We’re now under yellows, and Derek Purvis stops. Why he didn’t do this when the SC first came out I don’t know, but this will have hurt him on the track, he was running 4th.

The green flag comes back out on lap 148, and Morris shoots into the lead, passing Scott and Beare, and Vella has had a slow getaway, he’s dropped 4 places. But it’s clear to see why he was so quick, he only had two laps of fuel in the car, but Smart’s on a mission now, he’s setting some very quick times, but he’s coming in one lap after James. Scott’s in as well, but Smart’s made an error on the entrance to the pits, and that is going to be costly.

Dave Scott’s back in pitlane, I haven’t seen what’s happened there. Looking at a replay, he hit the wall coming out of the pits, just lost it, and that’s going to cost him another two laps or so.

With just 40 laps remaining, it is Graham Mercer who leads us, four seconds clear of Zan Mazgon. Paul Mcadam runs in third, while Purvis is fourth, Bondarenko fifth after pitting, and Fozzy Forbes is up to sixth. Wilson’s 7th, Morris 8th, Beare 9th, Smart runs in tenth. While at the back of the field, Chris Vella is running in eleventh spot, Soukup is twelth, and Dave Scott is two laps down in thirteenth.

40 laps remain, but in the last two races, there has been plenty of action this part of the race. With some drivers able to get home without another stop, and some needing to pit at least once, and add in the safety car somewhere, and everything is completely jumbled around

Mcadam pits on lap 161, and it’s a short stop, so he’s obviously praying to get a caution, otherwise this gamble won’t pay off. We’re now onboard with Mercer, he’s really pushing this car along now, he knows he needs to get as much of a gap as he can get, but he’s lost it in 4. The race leader is in trouble. Mercer, Mazgon, Forbes and Morris all pit under this yellow.

The green flag is out again on lap 169, and Mcadam is on a charge, he takes the lead off Purvis, he needs to be as fast as possible over the next ten laps if he wants to have a shot at victory, but another safety car could help him.

And just as we were talking about a safety car, there is one. It’s Scott who’s hit the wall again, this time at the first turn. So, the safety car will peel off the track now, and Derek Purvis will lead the field in what hopefully is a 22 lap sprint. Everyone’s pitstops are done, now it’s just keep your tyres in good shape, and go for it.

Morris, Mercer and Mcadam all pass two cars each, while Soukup and Forbes drop two spots. Lap 182, and Mercer’s in the wall. That won’t bring out the yellow again, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to pit for repairs. It looks driveable from the TV cameras, but he’ll be earning his money today if he wants to get any further up the order. He’s already dropped two spots, from what was looking to be a good result ends up like this.

Purvis is in the pits, I didn’t realise he was on that strategy as well, but he made the stop under green. It’ll help laptimes at the end, but now, he’ll be struggling down in 13th. It’s not exactly paying off for him either, he’s not gaining much ground on the race leaders.

Ten laps to go now, and it’s Zan Mazgon who leads us, but Bondarenko is just a second behind, and Mcadam is really on a charge now, and Morris is right on his tail as well. This is going to be a cracker of a finish. But I can see a slow car in the short chute, and it looks like it’s Forbes. He’s definitely got transmission problems, and the safety car is out. This will take a while to clean up, hopefully the race gets underway again.

We’ve just received word from race control that the pace car will pull in at the end of lap 198, so it will be, a green, white, checkered. Mazgon will be doing everything he can to keep Bondarenko behind for the next minute and a half, and remember about the second Vision car of Paul Mcadam, he’s still there in third. So, here we go, two laps to decide the winner of the 3rd RBR 500, who’s it going to be?

There’s some movement down the back of the grid, but it’s all stable in the top five. Mcadam’s having a look at Bondarenko coming off turn 4, but Aaron just moves over a bit, and Mcadam has to lift off the throttle, and that is his chances of victory over. But out front, Mazgon has two car-lengths over Bondarenko, but that’s closing down the back straightaway, and coming through turns three and four, it’s closer still, but I don’t think the 96 has enough. He has a look down the front straight, but Mazgon gets the checkered flag by just over a tenth of a second. Mcadam is third, who keeps Morris behind him, while Steve Beare had a bad last lap, he dropped down to eighth after starting it in fifth.

James Morris led a race high of 69 laps, but only managed fourth, while our race winner led just 33 laps. Dave Scott set the fastest lap, at an amazing speed of 231 mph, but only achieved 7th. It’s all just about being in the right place at the right time at Indy, and Mazgon, after losing 4 laps at the start bounced back with some good calls and it resulted in a well deserving victory.

Lap Leader Breakdown

 * 25 Lead Changes among 10 Drivers

Pace Car Breakdown

 * 6 Pace cars for a total of 44 Laps