INL Pro Cup :: Round 9, "Fisher 200" . Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Qualifying results:

1. #33 A. Schokin: 47.363s.
2. #113 S. Anti :48.291s.
3. #25 D. Borisoff: 49.088s.
4. #01 O. Driver: 49.744s.
5. #23 A. Chistov: 1:06.615s.
6. #74 Tik: 1:07.897s.
7. #98 Johny: 1:14.078s.
8. #24 E. Mozgunov: no time
9. #46 Рab: no time
10. #5 RacerX: no time
11. #89 D. Isaenko: no time
12. #1 A. Shurikus: no time
13. #3 KAN: no time



The race at the “old Brickyard” went by fairly quietly. Over the whole race its participants made only two trips to the pits (the first under caution due to #98 Johny's crash, the second under green flags roughly 20 laps from the finish).

Race winner #33 Schokin held an overwhelming advantage over his rivals, leading for 79 laps. Perhaps, had #3 KAN not flopped in qualifying, starting from last place, he could have managed more than second place.

But the fact that he managed to get past #113 Anti, who started second, is an achievement in itself. Then again, in races with cautions those who qualify poorly always have a shot at victory — as you will be able to see for yourself by reading our article on the upcoming 10th round of the Pro series, which will run at insane speeds at Talladega on November 14.

Race results:

1. #33 A. Schokin: 80 Laps
2. #3 KAN: -28.89s.
3. #113 S. Anti: -42.56s.
4. #74 Tik: -1L
5. #25 D. Borisoff: -1L
6. #01 O. Driver: -1L
7. #46 Рab: -5L
8. #5 RacerX: -7L
9. #98 Johny: -56L (Accident)
10. #24 E. Mozgunov: -78L (Retired)
11. #23 A. Chistov: -79L (Retired)


Interviews with the race participants:


#33 A. Sсhokin (LICH) – 1st place.

Turnout was low. Of those who raced, half apparently guessed wrong with the setup. Pab even forgot to pick a setup for the race.



At the start I just played it safe and dialed the settings a little toward understeer, but at the pit stop under caution I switched everything back. After that I drove on autopilot. I tried to save the tires so I would not have to change all four at the last stop, and kept an eye on the engine.

And that is how I made it to the finish.

LICH on his car's setup:

For the race start I raised the wedge to 120, since I was not sure how the car would behave in the aero-loose condition. Turned out I did not need to... . In the race, by the way, to save the car before T1 and T3 I would fully lift off the throttle already between the last two markers and coast in — did not really lose any time. For the first couple of laps I turned into the corners later, since I did not know what pace the others would run, then backed off a little.

Overall I tried to hold a pace of around 48.4 seconds (for the first half of the fuel run); for that you needed to carry somewhere around 170+ through the apexes of T1 and T3 (a bit more in T3) and two or three mph more in T2-T4 for a good exit. All told, that worked out to roughly a medium 48.

The only hard part was holding that pace on fresh tires, so the first laps on new rubber came out around 48.2. I pick my brakes to suit myself, so that if I have to brake mid-corner the car feels comfortable — at least with my technique.

I rarely use throttle and brake at the same time on ovals, and when I do, it is without fanaticism, so a low brake bias (66 points) is not quite my thing.

#113 S. Anti – 2nd place.

I tuned the setup not for speed but for stability — I could not run fast anyway. Good track; a shame so few people showed up.

#25 D. Borisoff – 5th place.

The original Indy track is one of those that suit my taste. And although we raced on the “revamped” version, I immediately felt the same “love” for it as for the original. My setup (fine-tuned with the help of Alex Arzamasov) let me achieve stability and reliability. So, taking the start of the race, I was confident I would not make any driving errors.

Over the first 18 laps three drivers got past me. I had no intention of holding up Tik, KAN and Johny. Their experience and speed exceed mine, so battling them was not part of my plan. Far more important for me was to prevent any passes by Pab, Driver and RacerX, who, on this track, were my main rivals. As the laps went by it became clear that of those, only Driver would be a dangerous rival for me.

After the race's only yellow flag (#98 Johny's crash), #01 O.Driver started piling the pressure on me. From lap 30 to lap 40 he tried with all his might to pass me, and he pulled it off at the end of the main straight. I will not deny he was good in that moment, but the pass went through so “smoothly” only because I lifted off the throttle well before the entry to Turn 1.

At that moment it was the most sensible decision. Ten laps of relentless pursuit could have pushed him into an unjustified risk, and my “letting” him pass sort of defused the situation. The built-up steam was released. Driver got what he wanted, but the game of cat and mouse was only just continuing.

Driver made a fine cat, but what kind of mouse he would be once I became the cat — that is what the next 10 laps showed.

Now sitting behind him, it was my turn to torment him at every convenient moment. Cruising along calmly together and the chance to pull away from #5 RacerX did not concern me. Even though the #5 began closing in on us, I did not consider him capable of much in this race and paid no attention to the shrinking gap between us.

Those 10 laps with Driver ahead of me were spent in constant rivalry. From the outside it might look like all I wanted was to take fifth place back. But that was not quite it. In reality, I was probing for weak spots in Driver's driving and trying to “knock him off his stride” with my attacks. I wanted to make him doubt his own abilities and his car. In a word — I was forcing him to get nervous.



Finally, on lap 50, picking up speed thanks to the slipstream down the back straight, I pulled even with #01 Driver. We took the next two corners side by side. Me on the inside, him on the outside. On the main straight, denying him the chance to cross over my line, I took fifth place back for good.

Driver spent the remaining ten laps before the pit stop close behind me, but not close enough to pass me again. On lap 61 I “silently” ducked into the pits, while my rival spent one more lap on worn tires. If barely a second separated us before the pit stop, afterwards it was something like four — in my favor.

Over the remaining laps I simply managed the gap between us, because nothing else of interest happened all the way to the finish.

#01 O.Driver – 6th place.

The racing began after the only (!) yellow flag. #5 RacerX, as per tradition, let everyone go, hoping to save his tires and catch up afterwards — but no such luck! Borisoff and I kept pulling further and further away from him in the draft. It was all decided by the unexpectedly quick pit stops of Borisoff and Pab (had I not gotten stuck behind him, I would definitely have caught Borisoff's draft), and then, who knows….

#98 Johny – 9th place.

Not an interesting race. At first it was more or less tolerable. I passed two rivals and started chasing down #74 Tik. But constant disconnects kept getting in the way — not critical ones, though. Indianapolis brings some kind of drowsiness over me. In the end I started to “kunyat” (untranslatable — nodding off), smashed up the car and decided to retire.


HG Highlights !!!

“The Duel”

For the lengthy battle, full of inner tension, between #01 O.Driver and #25 D.Borisoff for a spot in the top-5.