IndyCars at Sonoma Raceway 2017
A look back at the IndyCar race at Sears Point, Sonoma Raceway 2017
A Report By David Harbey
With the continued Corona virus lockdown, I have been looking through my archives and happened upon my photos from two back to back races in California in 2017. I’d been a regular visitor to San Francisco for work during the first decade of the new century but these were typically two or three night mid-week stays only. In July 2001, however, I managed to arrange to be in the Bay Area for the American Le Mans Series race at Sears Point.
I’d seen many of the same cars racing in April at Donington – when it was cloudy, cold and with intermittent rain. Sears Point for the ALMS was on the other hand – gorgeous – blue sky, temperatures in the 80s and Audi R8s dominant.
Sears Point is, like some of the other classic American road courses, a sort of “Oulton Park on steroids” following the natural contours of the hills. I’d been keen to get back there but it was to be 16 years before we returned to Sears Point as part of a holiday (our holidays tend to have a common theme).
The IndyCar race at Sears Point, or Sonoma Raceway as its officially called these days, was the first weekend of the holiday. It was also the last race for the somewhat visually challenging Mk 2 version of the Dallara DW12 in IndyCar.
The plan was straightforward. We’d head down Saturday to take in IndyCar practice and qualifying plus a couple of GT races and then return on Sunday for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma and support races. The track is very accessible – it’s possible to walk pretty much all the way round and with NASCAR being the BIG event of the year, there is extensive terracing available for the rather smaller crowd.
Saturday morning was spent at Turn 9a as the races were using the bus-stop right / left, rather than the gentler right and left curves that NASCAR uses. There’s fencing, but the usual advice applies – take a step if you can.
The light is fabulous, although it can be very bright with deep shadows. I was using my Nikon D610 and Nikkor 70-300 f/4.5-5.6. Whilst this is a decent lens, I’d like to go back with my 70-200mm and 200-500mm zooms !
When the IndyCar Mk 2 body kits were introduced in 2015, the first race was littered with yellows with body work falling off the cars as the limits were pushed in the tight confines of the St Pete’s street course.
By the time we saw them, the drivers seemed to have got the hang of the old maxim – “to finish first you must first finish”. The car remains, to my eyes at least, an ugly duckling.
The main action in the morning session was at Turn 9a, but there is a great shot back to Turns 7 and 8. For the photo of Conor Daly (#4), there’s been some judicious cropping of the fence on the right and this is where the super zoom and / or a taller step would have been really useful.
Some kerb hopping as the cars get airborne is always likely at a tight corner.
Later in the day we headed to the grandstand overlooking pitlane. In common with most US tracks, pitlane is an open affair giving a good view of the action in between the re-fuelling rigs and E-Z-ups.
Champion elect Josef Newgarden and Takuma Sato seen here. There’s strong UK connections for both – Sato dominated the 2001 British F3 championship and Newgarden won the 2008 Formula Ford Festival
The World Challenge GTs were supporting the IndyCars – regular readers will know that I am a sucker for a GT field – so we stayed in the grandstand to enjoy the action.
Careful timing was required to get the car positioned just right against the Sonoma Raceway signwriting …
Sunday morning dawned very misty – but this soon burnt off as the sun warmed things up for another hot, sunny day. Bearing in mind where the sun was we headed back to Turn 9a for the morning. First up was the second GT race.
Again, there is a good shot back to Turns 7 and 8.
The IndyCar warm up was a generous 30 minutes.
The GT3 Porsches then were let loose for their second race.
We started to work our way round the track heading for the terrace above Turn 2 where we knew there would be shade from the afternoon sun.
We reached the downhill run from Turn 3 to 4 for the GTS race.
We were in our seats in good time for the 3.30 pm start of the main race which was preceded by a flyover from the Patriots Jet Team.
Thereafter the flag arrived, there were fireworks and the usual enthusiastic singing of the national anthem.
Soon enough, the call to start engines was made and we were underway with a typically busy first couple of corners.
Turn 2 offers a variety of shots and, in action, it has to be said that from most angles the cars didn’t look too bad. Head on with a bit of Dutch Tilt is pretty good.
The race was a little processional with not a great deal of overtaking. Sato was an early casualty getting a puncture and fighting back until engine problems intervened. There was also a close encounter between Helio Castro Neves and Graham Rahal
At the front, Simon Pagenaud went on to win (yes, he does look like Jean Girard in Talladega Nights !) and Newgarden took the Championship.
We headed back to the grandstands overlooking pitlane for the podium featuring Pagenaud, Newgarden and team owner Roger Penske.
I definitely want to get back to Sears Point some time – the location and light are fabulous. Then it was off to part two of our double header. Coming soon !
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