2009 IRL Team Reports: Dale Coyne Racing

IRL Team reports for the 2009 IRL season

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2009 IRL Team Reports: Dale Coyne Racing

Post by mlittle » Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:58 am

~~~Justin 2nd quickest in first practice for 2009 IndyCar Series

Justin got his 2009 IndyCar Series campaign off to a strong start when he posted the 2nd quickest time in the opening day of practice for Sunday's Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. After testing for Dale Coyne Racing at the Homestead-Miami oval and at the Sebring road course, Justin was immediately on the pace around the challenging 1.8 mile Florida street circuit on Friday. He posted the 3rd fastest time in morning practice in the team's #19-Sonny's Bar-B-Q entry and went one better in the afternoon. His quick time of 1:03.588s (101.906 mph) was less than two tenths of a second behind his former team-mate Graham Rahal (Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, 1:03.407s).

"I think we had a pretty good day," said Justin. "The Sonny's Bar-B-Q car was working well and we were able to keep working on getting the ride quality even better to absorb some of the bumps out there."

Friday afternoon's session was punctuated by a number of red flags for spins and contact. "This afternoon is probably not a true reflection of our form or everyone else's, because it was pretty messy out there at the end," reflected Justin. "With 22 cars, everyone's eager to get the season started and there were lots of little incidents. But I'm very pleased with the progress we've made and I think we're in good shape for qualifying tomorrow. Hopefully we can stick it in the top six and challenge for pole position."

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Post by mlittle » Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:33 am

~~~Justin takes Dale Coyne Racing to new heights in St. Pete

Justin was 2nd quickest in qualifying for Sunday's Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg (1:02.460s, 103.746 mph), a nail-biting five hundredths of a second off Graham Rahal's pole position for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (1:02.411s, 103.828 mph).

The result was one that Justin and the team could hardly have dreamed of and the achievement was Dale Coyne Racing's best ever open wheel starting position. Yet Justin felt robbed of pole position after his #19 Sonny's Bar-B-Q car was held up on a significantly faster lap by another car.

"It's great that we're second," said Justin. "The Sonny's Bar-B-Q team have worked hard to get to this point and the guys have done a great job. So I'm very pleased, but at the same time I'm very competitive. Getting this result against the big teams makes this a small victory, but I want to be on pole. We had the chance today, but unfortunately we got held up and that ruined our best two laps. We know there's still a lot of potential in there."

Justin had saved his softer, red Firestone tyres from the first qualifying run so that he could use them in the crucial Firestone Fast Six shootout for pole. The softer compound gave a small but significant advantage, but Justin was unable to capitalise on it. "Someone backed off right in front of me, right at the end of the lap, and it ruined two of my best laps," he explained. "I came in, refuelled and managed to go a tenth quicker on the same tyres, but it's pretty hard to do any more on the second run. But I'm pleased for Graham. He's a nice guy and he's had a great day. Hopefully we can have a great day tomorrow."

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Post by mlittle » Sun Apr 05, 2009 1:20 pm

Dale Coyne Racing
St. Pete Qualifying Report


~~~Front Row Starting Position for Justin Wilson is Dale Coyne Racing's Best

St. Petersburg, FL (April 4, 2009) -- Dale Coyne Racing driver Justin Wilson placed the #19 Sonny's Bar-B-Q in the front row for tomorrow's first race of the 2009 IndyCar Series season.

"I'm very pleased with the showing for the first time working together with Dale Coyne Racing," said Wilson. "We've been quick all weekend and actually think we could have had pole, but unfortunately we were held up and that ruined our best two laps."

Justin ran third and second, respectfully, in yesterday's two practice sessions. Justin moved up through today's qualifying procedure into the Firestone Fast Six. The final 10 minute session for the Firestone Fast Six cars showed Justin climbing to first place. On what would have been his fastest lap, Dario Franchitti slowed right in front of Justin. This cost Justin his final two laps on his alternate Firestone tires. The team came in for a splash of fuel to go back out on the same tires where Justin was able to improve his time only slightly before being bumped to second by Graham Rahal. Justin will start second, less than five hundredths of a second from winning the pole.

"We are excited and disappointed," commented Dale Coyne. "Obviously we are ecstatic to start on the front row, but we legitimately had pole position within our reach today."

Justin Wilson joins Dale Coyne Racing after a strong career in Champ Car and IndyCar Series racing. The team has worked hard over the winter expanding its technical staff and personnel. Those efforts have shown through today as the team outpaced their previous best qualifying position of fourth and first front row starting position.
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Post by mlittle » Tue Apr 07, 2009 4:15 am

Justin scores podium on his Dale Coyne debut at St. Pete

Justin and Dale Coyne Racing celebrated a 3rd place finish in the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg on their first outing together. Starting from 2nd on the grid, Justin led the race from the first corner, took the honours for most laps led and posted the fastest lap of the race. But a full course caution at one third distance negated his advantage and despite a spirited fightback to re-take the lead, he was outgunned on a restart by race winner Ryan Briscoe (Team Penske) and second place driver Ryan Hunter-Reay (Vision Racing).

Although unable to bring home what would have been a stunning victory, Justin was quick to recognise the significance of the achievement this weekend, both for himself and the whole Dale Coyne Racing team.

"It's a great result for the #19 Sonny's Bar-B-Q team," said Justin. "Having led the most laps and been so fast, I'm disappointed not to get the win. But under the circumstances I'm very pleased with third place. We've been working hard all weekend, we've got some good people and the great thing about this series is that on tracks like this, that's what allows you to compete."

Justin took the race lead from polesitter Graham Rahal (Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing) going into Turn 1 on the opening lap and built up a six second advantage over the rest of the field before a pivotal full course caution on Lap 33. Briscoe and Hunter-Reay had completed their first pit-stops by then, but Justin had saved enough fuel to stay out for longer. Pitting under yellow on Lap 35, he slipped back through the order as a result.

"It was nice to get the jump on Graham into Turn 1 and from that point on we were just pushing hard, trying to save fuel and do the best we could," explained Justin. "Unfortunately the yellow came out just at the wrong point and that put me back in the pack. I had to work my way back through to have a chance of winning the race."

Justin fought back to 3rd place and then re-captured the lead in thrilling style, leapfrogging Briscoe and Hunter-Reay by the tiniest of margins as he exited the pits after his second and final pit-stop on Lap 70.

"As I came out of the pits, I saw how close it was going to be," recalled Justin. "My tyres were cold, but I knew if I could get through the next couple of corners I'd be able to hold onto it. The tyres just came up to temperature and we were able to hang in there."

It looked as though Justin might be able to give Dale Coyne Racing its first open wheel victory, but on a Lap 86 restart Briscoe had better straight line speed into Turn 1 and Hunter-Reay managed to get by later in the lap. Despite several subsequent full course cautions and re-starts they finished in that order.

"Overall it's been a great weekend," concluded Justin. "With any luck we can get a few more like this."

Hopefully Justin and the team will be able to carry their momentum forward to Long Beach in a fortnight's time.

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Post by mlittle » Tue Apr 07, 2009 4:15 am

Most Laps Lead, Fastest Lap, Fastest Car, Rewarded with Third

St. Petersburg, FL (April 5, 2009) -- If a podium finish of third can ever be bitter sweet, then today's showing by Dale Coyne Racing and its new driver Justin Wilson was that day. After starting in the front row, grabbing the lead at the start and leading the field at a blistering pace, the Sonny's Bar-B-Q car nearly dominated the entire race.

But the fortunes of racing had a very mixed day of events. On lap 32 several teams pitted and had the good fortune of a full course yellow on lap 33 which would relegate Wilson back to ninth. But the seasoned team strategy forged ahead running at a pace necessary to keep in touch with the leaders.

Justin battled his way back to third when Briscoe and Wheldon, the first and second place runners, pitted and Wilson had three more laps to go before his stop. The talented Englishman gave it everything he had after the team performed a blistering pit stop. That enabled Justin to squeeze past, gain those two coveted positions back and into the lead.

Things were looking good as Justin again began to pull away from the field with a clean run to the end of the race. A caution came out with 15 laps to go and it was that yellow restart that was to be the undoing of what could have been the team's first win in IndyCar.

"Everything was perfect all weekend," commented Wilson. "Qualifying, the race, the pit stops were all perfect. That last restart the two cars behind got a very good run off turn 14 and I didn't, allowing a couple cars to pass going into turn one. I can't say enough about Dale and the guys. This is a great place for me after long, tough winter."

"I never thought I would be disappointed with a podium finish," reported team owner Dale Coyne. "But we truly had the best car of the weekend and certainly had a well deserved win in our sights. The team is coming together very nicely and we certainly look forward to the next IndyCar® Series race in Long Beach."

"I'm very pleased with our first showing working together with Dale Coyne Racing," said Wilson. "We've been quick all weekend and I actually think we could have had pole, but unfortunately we were held up and that ruined our best two laps."

The team now prepares for the 35th Annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach being held on April 19th.
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Post by mlittle » Fri Apr 17, 2009 2:28 pm

Justin upbeat about Long Beach chances

Justin returns to the track this weekend with Dale Coyne Racing for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Although it is the IndyCar Series' first event on the famous California street circuit, it will be Justin's sixth race around the 1.968 mile track.

A year ago Justin dominated qualifying and took pole position for what was the final race of the former Champ Car World Series, but he was forced to retire early from the race with an engine failure.

After their strong performance two weeks ago in the 2009 season-opener at St. Petersburg, Justin and the team are hoping that their collective experience will see them fighting for a podium finish with the #18 Z-Lines Design entry.

"I'm really looking forward to this weekend," said Justin. "I love the Long Beach circuit and the whole event has a great atmosphere. I think the entire Dale Coyne Racing team will build on our strong finish in St Petersburg and hopefully we can run at the top of the field. As last year's pole sitter, I'll be doing my best to start there again this year."

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Post by mlittle » Sun Apr 19, 2009 12:27 pm

Justin qualifies 5th for Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

Justin and Dale Coyne Racing made it through to the final qualifying round for Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, posting the fifth fastest time in the Firestone Fast Six (1:10.268s, 100.825 mph). Justin will head up the 3rd row on the grid in the #18 Z-Line Designs entry alongside sixth fastest qualifier Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing). Will Power took pole position for Team Penske (1:09.7107s, 101.631 mph), ahead of Dario Franchitti (Chip Ganassi Racing) who will start from P2.

"Anytime you make it through to the Firestone Fast Six you're happy," said Justin. "The Z-Line Designs car was working very well and we set a really quick time in the second session. I was very happy with that, but we just couldn't repeat it in the final session."

Justin was fastest in his group during the first round of qualifying and was P2 in the second round on the alternate, softer (red-sidewalled) Firestone Firehawk tyres. His final qualifying result came on the prime, harder tyre compound.

"There's a pretty big difference between the prime and softer compounds here," Justin explained. "The softer tyres definitely have a lot more grip and that's a cool feeling, but when you put the prime tyres back on you're slipping and sliding a lot. We just didn't quite have the balance that we'd had before and though we made a few small changes as the final session went on, it wasn't enough. All in all we're very happy and I think that gives us a good chance for the race. We can definitely aim for another podium, if not win this thing."

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Post by mlittle » Tue Apr 21, 2009 3:00 am

Z-Line Designs Enters Second Year of the IndyCar® Series with Dale Coyne Racing

April 19, 2009 (Long Beach, California) -- Z-Line Designs, Inc., the nation's leading manufacturer of ready-to-assemble office and home entertainment furniture, is returning to the IndyCar Series as primary sponsor of Dale Coyne Racing and driver Justin Wilson. After a successful 2008 inaugural season with the Illinois-based racing team, Z-Line Designs will return for a full season effort in 2009.

"We are pleased to return in 2009 and work with Dale and his winning driver, Justin Wilson," said Jim Sexton, Z-Line Designs founder and CEO. "We have some bold plans to expand our program not only for 2009, but into the future."

Z-Line Designs enjoyed a successful partnership in the Nationwide Racing Series with Joe Gibbs Racing and championship driver Kyle Busch. Z-Line Designs and Dale Coyne's joint efforts will expand the racing program in both marketing performance and on track performance.

"We are excited to have Jim aboard this season to grow our program in 2009 and beyond," said team owner Dale Coyne. "We have several initiatives to expand sponsorship involvement that will make all of our efforts more successful."

The #18 Z-Line Designs car will take to the streets of Long Beach for this weekend's first unified race at the historic southern California event. Justin Wilson will be behind the wheel after a stellar season opener at St. Petersburg two weeks ago. Justin started on the front row, took the lead in the first corner, led the most laps and set the fastest lap only to have a late race restart relegate the talented Englishman to a podium third place.

"Z-Line Designs joining our efforts is great news," commented Wilson. "They have been committed to winning programs and we all welcome their participation and efforts."

The #18 Z-Line Designs entry will be participating in the full 2009 IndyCar Series schedule, including the famed Indianapolis 500 on May 25, 2009.

About Z-Line Designs
Formed 10 years ago by its founder Jim Sexton, Z-Line Designs has become the nation's leading import manufacturer of ready-to-assemble furniture for home office, garage storage systems, home entertainment, premium flat panel wall mounts, HDMI and a variety of high-end audio video cables and accessories.

Z-Line Designs' award-winning furniture has set the trend and the standard for quality and unique designs in its market. For more information on Z-Line Designs please visit www.z-linedesigns.com.

About Dale Coyne Racing
Dale Coyne Racing, based in Joliet, IL, has been fielding Indy cars for more than 25 years. For the 2009 IndyCar Series, Dale Coyne Racing's driver Justin Wilson will be driving the #18 Z-Line Designs entry for all events, including the famed Indianapolis 500 on May 25, 2009. For more information, please visit www.dalecoyneracing.com.
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Post by mlittle » Tue Apr 21, 2009 3:08 am

Tough times at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

April, 19, 2009 Long Beach, CA -What started out as a great battle for the #18 Z-Line Designs Indycar Series team quickly turned into what amounted to a freeway pile-up.

Justin Wilson was fired up at the start and passed two cars into the first turn to gain third place. Justin was running a strong fourth place when the full course caution flag came out on lap 17. Nine cars stayed out under yellow which put the Z-Line designs team back in the field. Justin was patiently waiting for the field to cycle through when trouble started on lap twenty four.

"There was a lot of traffic in close quarters going into the hairpin and someone tried to pass about three cars ahead of me which caused everyone to check-up," Wilson explained. "I got hit pretty hard in the rear which caused me to hit Maraes in front of me. I'm very disappointed for the team and for Z-Line Designs which just announced their return to Dale Coyne racing".

"We are disappointed at what could have been the best start in the first two races of the season," noted Dale Coyne. "The day started out well and we wanted to put on a good performance here at this historic race".

The team will regroup and head to Kansas for the first run on an oval this season.
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Post by mlittle » Tue Apr 21, 2009 3:21 pm

Contact ends Justin's race in Long Beach

Justin’s hopes of another podium at Long Beach were dashed early on in the race when he suffered rear suspension damage in a four car pile-up in the Turn 11 hairpin. Dario Franchitti (Chip Ganassi Racing) and Will Power (Team Penske), with whom Justin had been battling in the early stages, were first and second, while Tony Kanaan (Andretti Green Racing) rounded out the podium.

The result was bitterly disappointing for Justin and the #18 Z-Line Designs team after Justin had translated his strong qualifying pace into early front-running form. Starting from fifth on the grid, he passed two cars into the first turn and was running comfortably in fourth before pitting under a full course caution on Lap 19. A number of drivers stayed out on track on alternative pit strategies, but Justin emerged a long way down the order in 17th. Before he could start moving forward again, trouble started on Lap 24.

“There was a lot of traffic in close quarters going into the hairpin and someone tried to pass about three cars ahead of me which caused everyone to check-up,” Justin explained. “I got hit pretty hard in the rear which caused me to hit Moraes in front of me. I’m very disappointed for the team and for Z-Line Designs who just announced their return to Dale Coyne Racing.”

The team will regroup and head to Kansas next weekend for the first run on an oval this season.

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Post by mlittle » Fri Apr 24, 2009 12:57 pm

From streets to ovals: Justin prepares for Kansas Speedway

With the 2009 IndyCar Series now fully underway, Justin and Dale Coyne Racing are preparing for their first oval race of the season at Kansas Speedway. Sunday's Road Runner Turbo Indy 300, a flat-out blast around 200 laps of the 1.5 mile track, marks the first of six consecutive oval events on the schedule.

Justin makes his second Kansas Speedway appearance this weekend and he's hopeful that the #18 Z-Line Designs team can be fighting in the pack come race day. It's an important opportunity for Justin and the team to build on their pre-season test at Miami-Homestead as they look ahead to the month of May and the upcoming Indianapolis 500.

"I'm looking forward to going back to Kansas," said Justin. "Last year I finished 9th and this year I hope to have another strong run. We haven't had much time to work on the setup for the ovals yet, so I expect us to start off pretty conservatively and improve over the weekend. Everyone at Dale Coyne Racing has worked hard to improve the car since our test and I'm confident that we will have a good race car."

Practice and qualifying take place on Saturday and the race begins at 4pm CT (5pm ET, 10pm BST) on Sunday. For fans in the US there is a qualifying show on Versus at 6pm ET on Saturday, and live TV coverage of the race on Sunday. For fans in the UK the race will be shown (with a tape delay) on Sky Sports 2 at 11pm BST on Sunday night. As always there will be live timing and scoring and a video feed on www.indycar.com.


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Post by mlittle » Sun Apr 26, 2009 7:23 pm

Justin disappointed with 17th in Kansas qualifying

Justin qualified 17th for Sunday's Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway as he struggled with understeer in the #18 Z-Line Designs car around the 1.5 mile oval. His four-lap qualifying speed of 207.971 mph was over 3 seconds off the pace of Graham Rahal (211.283 mph) who took pole for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.

"Although I'm not pleased with where we qualified, I'm happy that we made a great deal of progress today in practice," said Justin. "We'll continue to work on our race set-up and hopefully advance our position during the race tomorrow."


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Post by mlittle » Wed Apr 29, 2009 12:23 am

Justin finishes 14th at Kansas Speedway

Justin and Dale Coyne Racing finished 14th in the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway after running a determined race at the same time as working on the set-up of the #18 Z-Line Designs car. Scott Dixon won for Chip Ganassi Racing, with Helio Castroneves (Team Penske) and Tony Kanaan (Andretti Green Racing) taking 2nd and 3rd respectively.

After the Speedway's evacuation on Saturday evening because of a nearby tornado, the rain that had threatened this event held off on Sunday. The race was largely uneventful from Justin's perspective, but somehow the grey skies and strong wind set the mood for the afternoon, when it was a question of digging in and making changes at each of the four pit-stops to improve the car's performance.

"Obviously we'd love to have finished higher," said Justin. "But today's been a learning process and we were still testing and developing the car throughout the race while the other cars around us could just get on with racing. I'm pleased with the progress we've made and by the end of the race I was very happy with the driveability of the car. We've got development parts in the pipeline and a direction we want to go in; it's just going to take a little bit of time to get there."

Justin and the Dale Coyne Racing team head to Indianapolis the week after next to start their preparations for the Indy 500.

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Post by mlittle » Sat May 09, 2009 11:16 am

Justin prepares for his second Indy 500

The famed Indianapolis 500 may be more than a fortnight away, but the month-long preparations for the event's 93rd running are already well under way. After sitting out a wet day on Wednesday, Justin and Dale Coyne Racing got down to the business of working on set-ups yesterday in the #18 Z-Line Designs car. They are hoping for more good weather today as they prepare for qualifying this weekend.

"It's great to be back here again," said Justin. "Unfortunately we lost quite a bit of practice time due to the rain on Wednesday. On Thursday, we started on set-ups with enough downforce to get comfortable through the turns. Today we'll start to trim the car out for qualifying. The trick is to get to that knife-edge point where we're running with very little downforce. It's a bit uncomfortable, but that's what it takes to qualify well at Indy."

Check out Justin's thoughts on the 2.5 mile oval in the track guides section of www.justinwilson.co.uk. The website also has a new JW TV video where Justin talks about his and the team's preparations for the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing".

Saturday's Pole Day will set the first 11 positions on the grid, while the second day of qualifying on Sunday will lock down positions 12 to 22. For those who fail to qualify this weekend, Saturday 16th May will provisionally set positions 13-33 on the grid, with the risk of these drivers being bumped off the grid on the final qualifying day, Bump Day on Monday 17th. Justin's aim is to qualify this weekend so that he and his engineers can turn their attention to race set-ups during next week's practice sessions. The race itself is on Sunday 23rd May.

We'll have a further report after this weekend's qualifying sessions. All of the on-track sessions can be followed in full through the timing and scoring and video features at www.indycar.com.


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Post by mlittle » Tue May 12, 2009 1:08 pm

Justin Wilson Qualifies 15th for the Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis, Indiana (May 10, 2009) -- The Indianapolis 500 is steeped in history, and qualifying can be as prestigious as running the race. Tradition runs deep in Indianapolis as teams and drivers ready themselves for running on the edge for four laps.

Indianapolis always seems to bring out a flair for the dramatic during qualifying, and this year was no exception. The #18 Z-Line Designs car was first out of the gate on Saturday and accepted the time. A decision was made to withdraw the car and attempt for a better four-lap average when the winds subsided in the afternoon. Justin's late afternoon attempt just as the closing gun sounded was just two tenth of a mile per hour shy of placing the car in the top 11 spots for the day.

Sunday continued the stellar performance for Dale Coyne Racing driver Justin Wilson in the morning practice as he posted his fastest speed of the month at 223.830, second quickest of the day. At 12:30 p.m. in windy conditions, he posted a four-lap average qualifying speed of 222.903 mph quickest speed of the day, 12th in the overall field. Justin stayed in the 12th position fastest car of the day, until the wind finally died down enough for 3 cars to edge by. The team capitulated withdrawing that time and going back out at 5:30 p.m. but decided against risking a guaranteed position to jump up one row. The 30-year old Brit has secured the 15th starting position (outside row 5) in the running of the 93rd Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 24.

"I was pleased with how the #18 Z-Line Designs car ran today," said Justin Wilson. "I'm happy to be starting in the 15th position and think that I can make a solid run in the race. My team has done an outstanding job this week and the changes we made to the car were all positive. I'm really looking forward to the race."

The Dale Coyne Racing team will now concentrate on setting up the car in race mode. "I think qualifying on the first weekend was a big advantage for us," Wilson said. "We are comfortably in the race and can now start concentrating on working on simulated race runs."

"I'm very proud of Justin and the team's performance today," said owner Dale Coyne. "Every adjustment we made to prepare for qualifying went in the right direction and we were rewarded today with an excellent starting position for Justin."
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