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2016 ABC Supply 500

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United States 2016 ABC Supply 500
Race details
13th round of the 2016 IndyCar Series season
DateAugust 22, 2016
Official nameABC Supply 500
LocationPocono Raceway
CoursePermanent racing facility
2.5 mi / 4.0 km
Distance200 laps
500 mi / 800 km
Pole position
DriverMikhail Aleshin (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports)
Time1:21.6530
Fastest lap
DriverWill Power (Team Penske)
Time41.1901 (on lap 151 of 200)
Podium
FirstWill Power (Team Penske)
SecondMikhail Aleshin (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports)
ThirdRyan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport)

The 2016 ABC Supply 500 was the 13th round of the 2016 IndyCar Series. The event took place at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. It was the fourth consecutive year that the Verizon IndyCar Series had visited the track. The race also marked roughly one year since the fatal accident of Justin Wilson in the previous year's edition of the event. The race was originally scheduled to be run on Sunday, August 21, but heavy thunderstorms forced it to be moved to the following day.[1]

Report

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Practice

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Practice began on Saturday morning with a 90 minute session beginning at 9:00 a.m. local time. Early in the session, defending Pocono 500 champion, Ryan Hunter-Reay crashed at the exit of turn one. The car spun 180 degrees, and impacted the wall with the left side. Hunter-Reay was uninjured, but the chassis, the same one he used to win the 2014 Indianapolis 500, was damaged and the team went to a backup car. Later, Charlie Kimball spun at the apex of turn one and hit the wall with the rear of the car. Near the end of the session, Juan Pablo Montoya's car got loose in turn two, he corrected, and impacted the wall with the right side at the exit of the corner. Mikhail Aleshin was fastest with a speed of 221.932 mph. He was followed by his teammate James Hinchcliffe at 220.290 mph. Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, and Carlos Munoz rounded out the top-five. [2]

Qualifying

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Qualifying took place on Saturday, August 20. Mikhail Aleshin surprised the field by securing his first pole position start with a two lap time of 1:21.6530, at an average speed of 220.6 mph (351.0 km/h); this marked Pocono as the third fastest oval on the IndyCar calendar, behind Indianapolis and Texas, respectively. This result also marked the first time a driver from Russia started on pole in an IndyCar Series event. Josef Newgarden qualified alongside him on the front row. Takuma Sato, Hélio Castroneves, and Carlos Muñoz rounded out the top five. Ryan Hunter-Reay did not participate in qualifying after sustaining heavy damage to his car in a practice accident earlier in the day, relegating him to a 22nd and last place start.[3]

Final Practice

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A 30-minute final practice was held at 5:00 p.m. Helio Castroneves set the fastest speed at 218.824 mph. Carlos Munoz was second at 218.043 mph. Simon Pagenaud, Sébastien Bourdais, and Scott Dixon completed the top-five. Juan Pablo Montoya and Ryan Hunter-Reay made laps in backup cars after their morning crashes, with Montoya sixth fastest and Hunter-Reay 13th. There were no incidents.[4]

Race

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After being postponed from its original Sunday date, the race was held on Monday, August 22, with clear but windy weather. The race began with a botched start, as Mikhail Aleshin appeared to jump too early. The race began cleanly on the second start, though, and Aleshin was able to jump into the lead into turn one. However, Josef Newgarden was able to pass him entering turn three, giving him the lead. Behind them, Ryan Hunter-Reay managed to jump up a large number of positions with an outside move in the first turn. As the field made their way through turn three on the first green flag lap, Takuma Sato lost control of his car and hit the outside wall hard, bringing out the first caution period of the day. Scott Dixon suffered a punctured tire from the debris from the incident, forcing him to pit and sending him to the rear of the field.

Racing resumed on lap nine, with Newgarden still leading. After a few moments of battling, Aleshin was able to move by Newgarden on lap 11 and maintain a lead. Alexander Rossi, Carlos Muñoz, and James Hinchcliffe battled for position just behind them. Ryan Hunter-Reay continued his charge through the field and managed to get into the top five by lap 30. At this time, the first round of pit stops occurred. Aleshin remained the leader after all drivers pitted, but Hunter-Reay moved into second. On lap 49, Hunter-Reay passed Aleshin to give him his first lead of the day. Aleshin reclaimed the lead only a few laps later on lap 54. A few laps later, Ed Carpenter retired from the race with engine failure.

Green flag pit stops came around again around lap 60. Aleshin, Hunter-Reay, and Newgarden all made their pitstops without incident. Others, though, were not as fortunate. On lap 64, Alexander Rossi was released from his pit stall into the path of Charlie Kimball. Rossi's car was launched into the air and came back down on the front nose and part of the cockpit of Hélio Castroneves who had just been released from his own pit stop. Rossi and Castroneves were forced out of the race on the spot, while Kimball was able to continue after losing a lap for repairs. All involved emerged without injury. Caution flew for the second time of the race[5]

Racing resumed again on lap 71. Mikhail Aleshin maintained his lead over Ryan Hunter-Reay, while Will Power moved into the top 10. On lap 90, Hunter-Reay managed to pass Aleshin again, once again handing him the lead. Pit stops followed shortly thereafter. Scott Dixon and Will Power were able to stay out on course significantly longer than anyone else, but after stops cycled through, Aleshin once again emerged the leader. Aleshin, Hunter-Reay, and Josef Newgarden remained the top three. further back, Power began to slowly move his way forward, taking seventh position away from Graham Rahal. By lap 120, Power had moved into the top five.

By the end of lap 134, another round of pit stops cycled through, with the top three positions remaining the same. Power, though, jumped to fourth during the sequence, continuing his steady march to the front of the field. Up front, the handling on Aleshin's car began to give way, allowing Hunter-Reay to move into the lead and begin pulling away. Aleshin continued to drop back, and by lap 142 had lost positions to both Newgarden and Power. Power moved past Newgarden a few laps later and began his pursuit of the leader. Pit stops came again during this battle, and on lap 157 Power was able to have a pit stop quick enough to move him into the lead of the race. Two laps later, caution flew for the third time of the race when points leader Simon Pagenaud drifted wide in turn one a hit the outside wall, bringing his day to an end and setting up a potentially huge points gain for his teammate and championship rival Power.

Racing resumed on lap 163 with Ryan Hunter-Reay passing Will Power to move back into the lead. However, going through turn two, Hunter-Reay suddenly lost power, forcing him to pit lane. While he managed to get his car restarted, he fell off of the lead lap due to incident. The lead was handed back to Power, who then began to pull away from the battling duo of Josef Newgarden and Mikhail Aleshin. On lap 176, caution flew for the fourth time of the race, as one of the rear-wing winglets came off of Tony Kanaan's car and fell onto the race course in turn one. This allowed for the final round of pit stops to occur under the caution flag. Power retained the lead of the race, while Sébastien Bourdais jumped into second after electing not to change tires during the stop. Newgarden emerged third and Tony Kanaan fourth. The caution period also allowed Hunter-Reay to get back onto the lead lap.

The final restart of the day came on lap 180. Kanaan managed to jump to second on the start, but was quickly passed by Newgarden and Aleshin by the end of the lap. Further back, Hunter-Reay began to tear through the field, and was already fighting for ninth by lap 182. Lap 183 saw Aleshin, with the handling back to his liking again, pass Newgarden and begin his pursuit of Power. With less than 10 laps to go, Aleshin managed to close the gap down to less than half a second. However, it was not to be, as Power pulled back out to just over a second to take his fourth victory of the 2016 season. In an impressive performance, Hunter-Reay managed to charge back up to take the final step of the podium. Newgarden came across the line fourth, while Bourdais was able to hold on with his aged tires to secure a top five finish. Rookies struggled heavily in the race, with Max Chilton's 13th being the highest amongst the rookies.

Power's victory was the fourth oval victory of his career and his first during the 2016 season. Due to Simon Pagenaud's crash, Power was able to close the points gap between himself and Pagenaud to only 20 points. This in turn, tightened the championship significantly with only three races remaining in the season.[6][7][8]

Results

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Key Meaning
R Rookie
W Past winner

Qualifying

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Pos No. Name Lap 1 Time Lap 2 Time Total Time Avg. Speed (mph)
1 7 Russia Mikhail Aleshin 40.7901 40.8629 1:21.6530 220.445
2 21 United States Josef Newgarden 40.8518 40.8938 1:21.7456 220.195
3 14 Japan Takuma Sato 40.9058 40.8873 1:21.7931 220.067
4 3 Brazil Hélio Castroneves 40.9709 40.9288 1:21.8997 219.781
5 26 Colombia Carlos Muñoz 40.9870 40.9628 1:21.9498 219.647
6 5 Canada James Hinchcliffe 41.0076 41.0109 1:22.0185 219.463
7 98 United States Alexander Rossi R 41.0480 41.0216 1:22.0696 219.326
8 12 Australia Will Power 41.0872 41.2487 1:22.3359 218.617
9 10 Brazil Tony Kanaan 41.1550 41.1849 1:22.3399 218.606
10 20 United States Ed Carpenter 41.3041 41.1045 1:22.4086 218.424
11 15 United States Graham Rahal 41.2689 41.2228 1:22.4917 218.204
12 41 United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth 41.2919 41.2576 1:22.5495 218.051
13 27 United States Marco Andretti 41.2426 41.3217 1:22.5643 218.012
14 22 France Simon Pagenaud 41.2078 41.4667 1:22.6745 217.721
15 2 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya W 41.2793 41.5614 1:22.8407 217.284
16 83 United States Charlie Kimball 41.4946 41.4865 1:22.9811 216.917
17 8 United Kingdom Max Chilton R 41.5076 41.5606 1:23.0682 216.689
18 11 France Sébastien Bourdais 41.6428 41.5892 1:23.2320 216.263
19 9 New Zealand Scott Dixon W 41.8258 41.7642 1:23.5900 215.337
20 88 United States Conor Daly R 41.9102 41.9056 1:23.8158 214.757
21 19 United Kingdom Pippa Mann 42.5995 42.6006 1:25.2001 211.267
22 28 United States Ryan Hunter-Reay W No Time No Speed
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

Race Results

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Pos No. Driver Team Engine Laps Time/Retired Pit Stops Grid Laps Led Pts.1
1 12 Australia Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet 200 2:46:28.9856 8 8 55 51
2 7 Russia Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 200 +1.1459 8 1 87 44
3 28 United States Ryan Hunter-Reay W Andretti Autosport Honda 200 +5.9076 9 22 31 36
4 21 United States Josef Newgarden Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 200 +7.0750 8 2 15 33
5 11 France Sébastien Bourdais KVSH Racing Chevrolet 200 +7.5285 9 18 3 31
6 9 New Zealand Scott Dixon W Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 200 +7.8896 9 19 3 29
7 26 Colombia Carlos Muñoz Andretti Autosport Honda 200 +11.5938 8 5 26
8 2 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya W Team Penske Chevrolet 200 +13.4345 9 15 24
9 10 Brazil Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 200 +13.7988 8 9 1 23
10 5 Canada James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 200 +14.2235 9 6 20
11 15 United States Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 200 +14.3471 9 11 19
12 27 United States Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Honda 200 +16.3334 8 13 18
13 8 United Kingdom Max Chilton R Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 200 +17.1907 10 17 17
14 41 United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth A. J. Foyt Enterprises Honda 200 +18.5585 9 12 16
15 83 United States Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 199 +1 Lap 11 16 15
16 88 United States Conor Daly R Dale Coyne Racing Honda 198 +2 Laps 10 20 14
17 19 United Kingdom Pippa Mann Dale Coyne Racing Honda 197 +3 Laps 10 21 13
18 22 France Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Chevrolet 157 Contact 7 14 1 13
19 3 Brazil Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Chevrolet 63 Contact 4 4 11
20 98 United States Alexander Rossi R Andretti Herta Autosport Honda 63 Contact 4 7 4 11
21 20 United States Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 57 Mechanical 4 10 9
22 14 Japan Takuma Sato A. J. Foyt Enterprises Honda 1 Contact 0 3 8
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE
Notes

1 Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.

Source for time gaps:[9]

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included.


Broadcasting

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Qualifying and a final practice session were streamed live on the IndyCar YouTube channel.[10]

The race was broadcast by NBCSN. Booth announcers were Brian Till, Townsend Bell, and Paul Tracy. Due to other commitments, Tracy was replaced in the booth for Monday's rescheduled race by Robin Miller. Reporting from the pits were Kevin Lee, Jon Beekhuis, and Katie Hargitt.

The broadcast on Monday attracted 143,000 viewers.[11]

References

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  1. ^ Miller, Robin (August 21, 2016). "INDYCAR: Pocono postponed until Monday". Racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  2. ^ "SCHMIDT PETERSON MOTORSPORTS DUO PACES OPENING ABC SUPPLY 500 PRACTICE". IndyCar.com. IndyCar Series. August 20, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  3. ^ Robinson, Mitch (August 20, 2016). "Aleshin's first career pole leads international run up front in Pocono qualifying". IndyCar Series. Long Pond, Pennsylvania: INDYCAR. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
  4. ^ "CASTRONEVES ATOP SPEED CHART IN FINAL ABC SUPPLY 500 PRACTICE". IndyCar.com. IndyCar Series. August 20, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  5. ^ Pruett, Marshall (August 22, 2016). "INDYCAR: Three cars in scary pit lane crash". Racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. Archived from the original on August 23, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  6. ^ Malsher, David (August 22, 2016). "Power wins Pocono and Pagenaud crashes". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network, LLC. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  7. ^ Glendenning, Mark (August 22, 2016). "INDYCAR: Power tops Aleshin for Pocono win". Racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. Archived from the original on August 23, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  8. ^ Robinson, Mitch (August 22, 2016). "Power wins ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway to tighten championship". IndyCar Series. Long Pond, Pennsylvania: INDYCAR. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  9. ^ "Indycar 2016 Pocono". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network, LLC.
  10. ^ Saturday at Pocono Raceway
  11. ^ "'TV ratings for Monday August 22, 2016'". SportsTVRatings.
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2016 Honda Indy 200
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2016 Firestone 600
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2015 ABC Supply 500
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2017 ABC Supply 500