2012 IndyCar Series (The Open-Wheel Revival)

The 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series was the 17th season of the IndyCar Series, and the 101st season of American open wheel racing. Its premier event was the 96th Indianapolis 500, held on Sunday, May 27. The series was sanctioned by IndyCar, and took place in three countries on two continents. Chevrolet returned to the series for the first time since 2005 while Porsche and Lotus debuted, with the later leaving the IndyCar Series after the 2012 season due to poor performance.
Three-time defending IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti entered the season seeking his fourth consecutive championship and fifth overall. Meanwhile, two-time championship runner up Will Power sought his first title. Heading into the final race of the season, Power led Ryan Hunter-Reay by 17 points in a two driver fight for the championship. After Power wrecked on lap 55, Hunter-Reay was able to finish 4th, and claimed the championship by 3 points.
Among the numerous stories going into the season was the departure of Danica Patrick, who left IndyCar to compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Joining the series was former Formula One driver Rubens Barrichello. Several new teams arrived in the series from the Rolex Sports Car Series, which also saw a large bumper crop of rookies. A highlight of the season was the introduction of a new chassis and engine package.
It was a triumphant return for Chevrolet after returning from 6 years absence, and an average year for Honda topped by an unexpectedly good performance at the 500 after poor qualifying and thus Chevrolet ending Japanese engine manufacturer nine-year supremacy. In the constructor's championship, all chassis were highly-competitive, with Dallara edging out Lola for the constructor's championship by a single win; Dallara took nine wins, Lola eight wins, Swift six wins, and Panoz two wins.
== The ICONIC Project ==
The 2012 season saw the implementation of IndyCar's new ICONIC Plan (Innovative, Competitive, Open-wheel, New, Industry-relevant, Cost-effective), the biggest change to the sport in recent history. The car used through 2011, a 2003/2007-model Dallara IR-03, and normally aspirated V8 engines (required since 1997) were permanently retired. The ICONIC committee was composed of experts and executives from racing and technical fields: Jeff Dahnert, William R. Looney III, Brian Barnhart, Gil de Ferran, Tony Purnell, Eddie Gossage, Neil Ressler, Tony Cotman and Rick Long. IndyCar accepted proposals from BAT Engineering, Dallara, DeltaWing, Lola and Swift for chassis design. On July 14, 2010, the final decision was made public, with organisers announcing a balance of performance (BoP) system to allow multiple chassis constructors to compete, these being Dallara, Lola, Swift, and Panoz; Dallara had been building chassis for IndyCar since 1997, Lola and Swift were both CART constructors, and Panoz had built chassis for both IndyCar and Champ Car (the former being inherited from G-Force Technologies).
=== New chassis ===
Under the new ICONIC regulations, all teams will compete with one of four core rolling chassis, called the "IndyCar Safety Cell", developed by Dallara, Lola, Swift, and Panoz. Teams will then outfit the chassis with separate body work, referred to as "Aero Kits", which consist of front and rear wings, sidepods, and engine cowlings. Development of Aero Kits is open to any manufacturer, with all packages to be made available to all teams for a maximum price. ICONIC committee member Tony Purnell gave an open invitation to car manufacturers and companies such as Lockheed Martin and GE to develop kits.
The IndyCar Safety cell will be capped at a price of $349,000. Aero Kits will be capped at $70,000. Teams have the option of buying a complete safety cell/aero kit for a discounted price.
On May 12, 2011, Dallara unveiled the first concept cars, one apiece in oval and road course Aero Kit configuration. Lola revealed its first concept cars on May 19, followed by Swift on June 8, and Panoz on August 20.
On April 30, 2011, IndyCar owners voted 15–0 to reject the multiple Aero Kits, citing costs. Owners expressed their desire to introduce the new chassis/engines for 2012, but have all participants use the default aerodynamic package in 2012, and delay the introduction of multiple aero kits until 2013. On August 14, 2011, IndyCar confirmed that the introduction of multiple Aero Kits would be delayed until 2013 for "economic reasons". Chevrolet and Porsche had already announced their intention to build aero kits for the Dallara and Lola chassis. Lotus, meanwhile, designed its own chassis to the new ICONIC regulations, the T129, unveiled on October 14 in the lead-up to the ill-fated Las Vegas race.
2011 Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon carried out the first official test of the Dallara chassis at Mid-Ohio in August 2011. Following Wheldon's death at the season-ending race in Las Vegas, Dallara announced that the 2012 chassis would be named the DW12 in his honor. Lola's chassis, the B12/00, was first tested at Sebring several days later, followed by the Swift 012.i chassis at Laguna Seca in September, and the Panoz GF12 chassis at Willow Springs later in September; Lotus kept all testing for the T129 secret.
Despite the generational change of chassis and engines, the wheel rim and Firestone Firehawk tire sizes would remain same until at least 2024 season.
==== Fuel cell capacity ====
The fuel cell capacity of the new cars was reduced from 22 US gallons (83 litres) to 18.5 US gallons (70 litres) in an effort of fuel efficiency.
=== Engine formula ===
Turbochargers returned to the IndyCar Series for the first time since the IRL 1996 and Champ Car 2007 seasons respectively after one-year delay. The newly-revolutionary third generation fuel-efficient engines are single and twin-turbocharged engines, effectively a return to the old CART regulations with turbocharged V8 engines, with a maximum displacement of 2.65 liters, and a horsepower range of 740-850 horsepower. All engines will run E85 fuel; from 2007 to 2011, the series utilized 100% fuel grade ethanol. The turbochargers are provided by BorgWarner. The third generation of IndyCar Series engines will be used until 2026 season.
=== Suppliers ===
On November 12, 2010, Chevrolet was confirmed as an engine supplier for 2012 with a turbo V8 derived from the Ilmor-Chevrolet 265-A engine used in CART from 1986 to 1993. The initial list of potential suppliers included Ford, Cosworth, and Mazda. Honda announced a 2.65-liter turbo V8 developed fully by Honda Performance Development, and also derived from Honda's old CART engine. On May 27, 2011, Ganassi and Honda announced their partnership renewal for 2012. On August 19, 2010, Cosworth announced their interest in providing an inline-four engine, however, the plan was eventually scrapped. The Chevrolet engine is built in a joint effort with Ilmor who last time partnered Chevrolet in 1997–2002 (1997–2001 as Oldsmobile) and Honda in 2003–2011, and was introduced in full-works partnership with Penske Racing. On October 12, 2010, Porsche announced a turbo V8 derived from their CART engine used between 1987 and 1990.
The fourth engine supplier was announced November 18, 2010 at the LA Auto Show, just prior to the league deadline. Lotus announced a twin turbo V6 engine and a chassis. built in a partnership with John Judd and Jack Brabham (Engine Developments Ltd.) Judd engines were used in the CART series and at the Indy 500 from 1987 to 1992, as well as in sports car racing and F1. Lotus suffered difficulty in both power and delivery of engines, as well as aero efficiency with its chassis, and pulled out of the sport at the end of 2012.
==== Confirmed engine suppliers ====
* Chevrolet
* Honda
* Lotus
The arrival of Chevrolet, Porsche, and Lotus as IndyCar Series engine suppliers marked the return of multiple engine suppliers since 2005 season when Chevrolet, Toyota, and Honda were engine competitors.
== Rule changes ==
* Any engine changes for an engine that has run less than 1,850 miles will result in 10-place grid penalty at the next race. Further, full-time entries are limited to 5 engines per season. There will be two exceptions:
** If an engine fails during a race, in which a new engine may be installed for the next event without penalty.
** At Indianapolis, all engine penalties will be served at the next race at Detroit. Further, all full-time season entries will receive a new engine penalty-free between Bump Day & Carb Day.
* Beginning at Long Beach for all remaining road/street course events, the pits will remain open throughout non-emergency full-course cautions periods. Previously the pits immediately closed upon the display of the caution flag. The series hopes this will shorten caution periods to as few as two laps.
* Also beginning at Long Beach for all remaining road/street course events, cars that are not on the lead lap during an upcoming restart in the final 20 laps will peel off and drive through pit lane on the speed limiter and cycle back to the end of the line. The rule was later expanded to oval races as well, where lead-lap cars will simply drive to the front in position order instead. This is similar to NASCAR's restart procedure, where all lapped cars must move to the rear of the field.
* For the races at larger ovals, restarts will revert to single-file in response to safety concerns.
== Schedule ==
Rnd	Race Name 	Track 	Track Type 	Date 	TV
1 	Cafés do Brasil Indy 300 	Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Florida 	Intermediate Oval	March 4 	NBCSN
2 	Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg 	Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida 	Street Course 	March 25 	ABC
3 	Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama 	Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Alabama 	Road Course 	April 1 	NBCSN
4 	38th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach 	Streets of Long Beach, California 	Street Course 	April 15 	NBCSN
5 	Jimmy Bryan Memorial 	Arizona State Raceway, Avondale, Arizona 	One-Mile Oval 	April 22 	NBCSN
6 	Itaipava São Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestlé	Streets of São Paulo, Brazil 	Street Course 	April 29 	NBCSN
7 	96th Indianapolis 500 	Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, Indiana 	Superspeedway 	May 27 	ABC
8 	GoDaddy.com 225 	Pennsylvania International Speedway, Nazareth, Pennsylvania	One-Mile Oval 	June 3 	ABC
9 	Firestone 550 	Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas 	Intermediate Oval	June 9 	NBCSN
10 	Milwaukee IndyFest presented by XYQ 	Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wisconsin 	One-Mile Oval 	June 16 	ABC
11 	Iowa Corn Indy 250 	Iowa Speedway, Newton, Iowa 	Short Oval 	June 23 	NBCSN
12 	Michigan 500 	Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan 	Superspeedway 	July 1 	ABC
13 	Honda Indy Toronto 	Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 	Street Course 	July 8 	ABC
14 	Edmonton Indy 	Edmonton City Centre Airport, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada 	Airport Course 	July 15 	NBCSN
15 	RoadRunner Turbo Indy 300 	Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas 	Intermediate Oval	July 21 	NBCSN
16 	Honda Indy 225 	Pikes Peak International Raceway, Fountain, Colorado 	Intermediate Oval	July 29 	NBCSN
17 	Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio 	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio 	Road Course 	August 5 	NBCSN
18 	MoveThatBlock.com 225 	New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, New Hampshire 	One-Mile Oval 	August 12 	ABC
19 	O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 	Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Illinois 	Intermediate Oval	August 19 	NBCSN
20 	GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma 	Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma, California 	Road Course 	August 26 	NBCSN
21 	Grand Prix of Baltimore 	Streets of Baltimore, Maryland 	Street Course 	September 2 	NBCSN
22 	Indy Japan 300 	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi, Tochigi, Japan 	Intermediate Oval	September 16	NBCSN
23 	Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen 	Watkins Glen International Raceway, Watkins Glen, New York 	Road Course 	September 30	NBCSN
24 	Kentucky Indy 300 	Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, Kentucky 	Intermediate Oval	October 7 	NBCSN
25 	Dan Wheldon Memorial 	Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nevada 	Intermediate Oval	October 14 	NBCSN
26 	California 500 presented by MAVTV 	California Speedway, Fontana, California 	Superspeedway 	October 21 	ABC
=== Schedule development ===
==== Existing race contracts ====
* The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will continue through 2013. City officials look to extend the contract through 2014.
* Barber Motorsports Park signed a three-year deal through 2012.
* An agreement has been signed with the city of Long Beach to extend the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach to 2015 with an option through 2020.
* The São Paulo Indy 300 has a contract through 2019.
* The Honda Indy Toronto has renewed its contracts through 2014.
* The Edmonton Indy has a contract in place through 2013.
* The contract for the Baltimore Grand Prix runs through 2015. However, an issue with the promoter has been in dispute and a new promoter was scheduled to be announced in mid-February. In May 2012, it was announced that Race On LLP and Andretti Sports Marketing had reached a five-year agreement with the City of Baltimore.
* Michael Andretti has been announced as the new promoter of the Milwaukee 225. The race, not originally on the INDYCAR schedule, was announced February 10, and is now known as the Milwaukee IndyFest.
==== Potential races ====
* A fifteen-race calendar was announced in December 2011; however, amid speculation of a race being organized in Fort Lauderdale, it was reported in January 2012 that the series needed sixteen races in order to fulfill obligations to sponsors.
* After the cancellation of the China race, it was believed that IndyCar would need to replace it to fulfill sponsorship obligations. Road America, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Atlanta, and a second race at Texas were considered. However, on June 25, IndyCar announced that the schedule would remain at 26 races.
==== Cancelled race ====
* The series was supposed to visit China for the first time; the Indy Qingdao 600 was to be held on a 3.87-mile street circuit in Qingdao over the weekend of August 19, with plans to build a permanent road course for future seasons. However, this race was cancelled at the demand of the Chinese Communist Party over comments made by SCCA President Jeff Dahnert regarding the country's human rights violations.
== Confirmed entries ==
Team 	Chassis	Engine 	No.	Driver(s)
A. J. Foyt Enterprises 	Dallara	Honda 	14 	Mike Conway
A. J. Foyt Enterprises 	Dallara	Honda 	14 	Wade Cunningham (R)
A. J. Foyt Enterprises 	Dallara	Honda 	41 	Wade Cunningham (R)
Action Express Racing 	Panoz 	Chevrolet	1 	Jacob Dunn (R)
Action Express Racing 	Panoz 	Chevrolet	13 	Jason Stanley (R)
Andretti Autosport 	Lola 	Chevrolet	26 	Marco Andretti
Andretti Autosport 	Lola 	Chevrolet	27 	James Hinchcliffe
Andretti Autosport 	Lola 	Chevrolet	28 	Ryan Hunter-Reay
AFS Racing / Andretti Autosport 	Lola 	Chevrolet	17 	Sebastián Saavedra
Andretti Autosport / Conquest Racing	Lola 	Chevrolet	25 	Ana Beatriz
Chip Ganassi Racing 	Dallara	Honda 	9 	Scott Dixon
Chip Ganassi Racing 	Dallara	Honda 	10 	Dario Franchitti
Chip Ganassi Racing 	Dallara	Honda 	38 	Graham Rahal
Chip Ganassi Racing 	Dallara	Honda 	83 	Charlie Kimball
Chip Ganassi Racing 	Dallara	Honda 	83 	Giorgio Pantano (R)
Dale Coyne Racing 	Panoz 	Porsche 	18 	Justin Wilson
Dale Coyne Racing 	Panoz 	Porsche 	19 	James Jakes
Dragon Racing 	Lotus
Swift	Lotus
Chevrolet	6 	Katherine Legge (R)
Dragon Racing 	Lotus
Swift	Lotus
Chevrolet	7 	Sébastien Bourdais
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Lotus
Lola	Lotus
Chevrolet	22 	Oriol Servià
Ed Carpenter Racing 	Swift 	Porsche 	20 	Ed Carpenter
Extreme Speed Motorsports 	Lola 	Honda 	03 	Raphael Morgan (R)
Extreme Speed Motorsports 	Lola 	Honda 	04 	Theo Patrick (R)
Extreme Speed Motorsports 	Lola 	Honda 	04 	Tim McBride (R)
KV Racing Technology 	Dallara	Porsche 	5 	E. J. Viso
KV Racing Technology 	Dallara	Porsche 	8 	Rubens Barrichello
KV Racing Technology with SH 	Dallara	Porsche 	11 	Tony Kanaan
Lotus–Fan Force United 	Lotus 	Lotus 	64 	Jean Alesi (R)
Lotus–HVM Racing 	Lotus 	Lotus 	78 	Simona de Silvestro
Panther Racing 	Swift 	Chevrolet	4 	J. R. Hildebrand
Predator Performance 	Lola 	Honda 	01 	Marino Franchitti (R)
Predator Performance 	Lola 	Honda 	02 	Gideon Boyle (R)
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 	Dallara	Honda 	15 	Takuma Sato
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 	Dallara	Honda 	30 	Michel Jourdain Jr.
Schmidt–Hamilton Motorsports 	Swift 	Honda 	77 	Simon Pagenaud (R)
Schmidt–Hamilton Motorsports 	Swift 	Honda 	99 	Townsend Bell
Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing 	Lola 	Porsche 	39 	Bryan Clauson (R)
Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing 	Lola 	Porsche 	67 	Josef Newgarden (R)
Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing 	Lola 	Porsche 	67 	Bruno Junqueira
SunTrust Racing 	Dallara	Porsche 	23 	Logan Roman (R)
Team Barracuda – BHA 	Lotus
Dallara	Lotus
Honda	98 	Alex Tagliani
Team Penske 	Dallara	Chevrolet	2 	Ryan Briscoe
Team Penske 	Dallara	Chevrolet	3 	Hélio Castroneves
Team Penske 	Dallara	Chevrolet	12 	Will Power
== Results ==
Rnd	Race 	Pole position 	Fastest lap 	Most laps led 	Winner 	Team 	Chassis/Engine
1 	Homestead 	J. R. Hildebrand 	Will Power 	Simon Pagenaud 	Simon Pagenaud 	Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports 	Swift/Honda
2 	St. Petersburg	Will Power 	Will Power 	Scott Dixon 	Hélio Castroneves 	Team Penske 	Dallara/Chevrolet
3 	Barber 	Hélio Castroneves	Will Power 	Scott Dixon 	Justin Wilson 	Dale Coyne Racing 	Lola/Porsche
4 	Long Beach 	Ryan Briscoe 	Tony Kanaan 	Simon Pagenaud 	Will Power 	Team Penske 	Dallara/Chevrolet
5 	Phoenix 	Takuma Sato 	Logan Roman 	Jason Stanley 	Jason Stanley 	Action Express Racing 	Panoz/Chevrolet
6 	São Paulo 	Will Power 	Josef Newgarden 	Will Power 	Will Power 	Team Penske 	Dallara/Chevrolet
7 	Indianapolis 	Ryan Briscoe 	Marco Andretti 	Marco Andretti 	Marco Andretti 	Andretti Autosport 	Lola/Chevrolet
8 	Nazareth 	James Jakes 	Mike Conway 	Dario Franchitti 	Reubens Barrichello	KV Racing Technologies 	Dallara/Porsche
9 	Texas 	Alex Tagliani 	Ryan Briscoe 	Scott Dixon 	Justin Wilson 	Dale Coyne Racing 	Lola/Porsche
10 	Milwaukee 	Dario Franchitti 	Ryan Hunter-Reay 	Ryan Hunter-Reay 	Ryan Hunter-Reay 	Andretti Autosport 	Lola/Chevrolet
11 	Iowa 	Dario Franchitti 	Ed Carpenter 	Hélio Castroneves	Ryan Hunter-Reay 	Andretti Autosport 	Lola/Chevrolet
12 	Michigan 	Scott Dixon 	James Hinchcliffe 	Jason Stanley 	Jason Stanley 	Action Express Racing 	Panoz/Chevrolet
13 	Toronto 	Dario Franchitti 	Josef Newgarden 	Ryan Hunter-Reay 	Ryan Hunter-Reay 	Andretti Autosport 	Lola/Chevrolet
14 	Edmonton 	Ryan Hunter-Reay 	Josef Newgarden 	Alex Tagliani 	Hélio Castroneves 	Team Penske 	Dallara/Chevrolet
15 	Kansas 	Josef Newgarden 	Reubens Barrichello	Jason Stanley 	J. R. Hildebrand 	Panther Racing 	Swift/Chevrolet
16 	Pikes Peak 	Justin Wilson 	Mike Conway 	Will Power 	Mike Conway 	A. J. Foyt Enterprises 	Dallara/Honda
17 	Mid-Ohio 	Will Power 	Oriol Servià 	Will Power 	Scott Dixon 	Chip Ganassi Racing 	Dallara/Honda
18 	New Hampshire 	Dario Franchitti 	Raphael Morgan 	Ed Carpenter 	Ed Carpenter 	Ed Carpenter Racing 	Swift/Porsche
19 	Chicagoland 	Will Power 	Tony Kanaan 	Ryan Briscoe 	Tony Kanaan 	KV Racing Technologies with SH 	Dallara/Porsche
20 	Sonoma 	Will Power 	Ryan Hunter-Reay 	Will Power 	Ryan Briscoe 	Team Penske 	Dallara/Chevrolet
21 	Baltimore 	Will Power 	Will Power 	Will Power 	Ryan Hunter-Reay 	Andretti Autosport 	Lola/Chevrolet
22 	Indy Japan 300	Mike Conway 	Jason Stanley 	Takuma Sato 	Takuma Sato 	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 	Dallara/Honda
23 	Watkins Glen 	Jason Stanley 	Takuma Sato 	Marco Andretti 	J. R. Hildebrand 	Panther Racing 	Swift/Chevrolet
24 	Kentucky 	Alex Tagliani 	Scott Dixon 	Oriol Servià 	Oriol Servià 	Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Lola/Chevrolet
25 	Las Vegas 	Tony Kanaan 	Logan Roman 	Tony Kanaan 	Simon Pagenaud 	Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports 	Swift/Honda
26 	California 	Marco Andretti 	Dario Franchitti 	Ed Carpenter 	Ed Carpenter 	Ed Carpenter Racing 	Swift/Porsche
Category:The Open-Wheel Revival