2012 GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma

The GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma was an open-wheel IndyCar motor race and held as the fourteenth and penultimate round of the 2012 IndyCar Series season. It took place on Sunday, August 26, 2012. The race was contested over 85 laps at the 2.303-mile (3.706 km) at Sonoma Raceway, California, United States.

The race was won by Australian racer Ryan Briscoe racing for Team Penske. Briscoe finished 0.4 seconds ahead of Australian team mate Will Power with British driver Dario Franchitti finishing third for Chip Ganassi Racing. It was Briscoe's first win since the 2010 Firestone 550. Brazilian driver and Formula One veteran Rubens Barrichello finished fourth in his best result since joining IndyCar. Power's second place, coupled with Ryan Hunter-Reay finishing 18th expanded Power's lead in the championship. Power led Hunter-Reay by 36 points.^[2]

The event marked a notable change in the course layout. The cars used the inner loop at the back hairpin instead of the outer loop in order to open a passing zone. The exit of the bus stop was widened to allow for more room. Another passing zone was established by using a part of the hairpin instead of cutting it off altogether.

Classification

Race results

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Laps Led	Points1
1	2	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	2:07:02.8248	2	27	50
2	12	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	+ 0.4408	1	57	43
3	10	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	85	+ 1.0497	6	0	35
4	8	Rubens Barrichello	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet	85	+ 8.8529	11	0	32
5	38	Graham Rahal	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	85	+ 9.4667	13	0	30
6	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	+ 11.2575	4	0	28
7	77	Simon Pagenaud (R)	Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports	Honda	85	+ 12.3087	9	0	26
8	4	J.R. Hildebrand	Panther Racing	Chevrolet	85	+ 22.8121	15	0	24
9	98	Alex Tagliani	Team Barracuda – BHA	Honda	85	+ 39.6868	8	0	22
10	11	Tony Kanaan	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet	84	+ 1 lap	16	0	20
11	18	Justin Wilson	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	84	+ 1 lap	20	0	19
12	19	James Jakes	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	84	+ 1 lap	24	0	18
13	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	84	+ 1 lap	5	0	17
14	14	Mike Conway	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Honda	84	+ 1 lap	14	0	16
15	17	Sebastián Saavedra	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	84	+ 1 lap	23	0	15
16	5	E.J. Viso	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet	84	+ 1 lap	17	0	14
17	78	Simona de Silvestro	HVM Racing	Lotus	84	+ 1 lap	27	0	13
18	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	84	+ 1 lap	7	1	12
19	22	Oriol Servià	Panther/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Chevrolet	84	+ 1 lap	18	0	12
20	20	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	84	+ 1 lap	25	0	12
21	83	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	82	+ 3 laps	21	0	12
22	7	Sébastien Bourdais	Dragon Racing	Chevrolet	63	Contact	3	0	12
23	67	Josef Newgarden (R)	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda	62	Contact	22	0	12
24	6	Katherine Legge (R)	Dragon Racing	Chevrolet	48	Mechanical	19	0	12
25	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	46	Mechanical	12	0	10
26	27	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet	35	Mechanical	10	0	10
27	15	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	2	Mechanical	26	0	10
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE [3]

Notes

¹ Points include 1 point for pole position and 2 points for most laps led.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship Pos Driver Points 1 Will Power 422 2 Ryan Hunter-Reay 386 3 Hélio Castroneves 381 4 Scott Dixon 368 5 Simon Pagenaud 337

Manufacturers' Championship Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 105 2 Honda 90 3 Lotus 52 Note: Only the top five positions are included for the driver standings.

References

External links