Carpenter Takes 22nd in Edmonton, Now The Only IndyCar Driver to Finish Every 2012 Race

Carpenter Takes 22nd in Edmonton, Now The Only IndyCar Driver to Finish Every 2012 Race

Topics: Ed Carpenter, Edmonton Indy

Carpenter Takes 22nd in Edmonton, Now The Only IndyCar Driver to Finish Every 2012 Race

Tom Blattler
Ed Carpenter Racing
July 22, 2012

Carpenter Takes 22nd in Edmonton, Now Only IndyCar Driver to finish every 2012 race

July 22nd 2012 - EDMONTON, Alta., CANADA – A gear change strategy before Sunday’s Edmonton Indy made for a long day for team owner/driver Ed Carpenter and the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet.

After working with the DW12 Dallara chassis in the morning warm-up, Carpenter and his Ed Carpenter Racing engineering team made the decision to lengthen the first, second and third gears in hopes of getting better traction off the City Centre Airport tarmac. Unfortunately, the strategy didn’t work as planned in the 75-lap caution-free IZOD IndyCar Series event, the 11th stop in the 15-race tour.

Carpenter started 22nd in the 25-driver field and moved to 20th early under the sunbaked 2.24-mile, 13-turn temporary course near downtown Edmonton. But the long gears made it difficult for Carpenter’s machine to come off the slow speed corners and hindered his chances to gain any advantage over his competition.

The race marked the first time the Edmonton Indy went the entire distance without a full-course caution period. The last time an IndyCar Series race completed the rain distance without a yellow flag was the second Texas oval contest last year when Will Power took the victory. The last road course event to go without a caution period was at Portland in 2007.

Carpenter finished the race in the 22nd position and kept his finishing record intact during the 2012 campaign. The ECR/Fuzzy’s team is the only squad to finish every IndyCar Series race this year.

There will be no slowing down for the ECR.Fuzzy’s crew as the team heads to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this Thursday for an open testing session. The team will be preparing for the Aug. 5 IndyCar Series round at the popular Ohio permanent road racing facility in Lexington, Ohio.

“It was a long race for us,” said Carpenter, who is in his first year at a team owner with the Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet. “We made a gear strategy change before the race, and it just didn’t work. We changed first, second and third gears and they were just too long. I could get the power down early but the car was slow getting out of the corners. So it took a long time to get up to speed from the corners. That dictated the race pace for us today. There wasn’t much we could do about it then. Just take the Fuzzy’s car to the finish.”