Saturday, June 15, 2013

Morning Warm-Up: Milwaukee 2013

Andretti Autosport looks to sweep the weekend at Milwaukee IndyFest and they are starting on a good note today with Marco Andretti on pole and the other three IndyCar teams starting in the top five. Not to forget mentioning Zach Veach is starting second in the Lights race and Carlos Muñoz rolls off fourth. Matthew Brabham, grandson of triple World Driver's Champion Jack Brabham, son of overall 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Geoff Brabham, won the Pro Mazda race Friday evening driving for Andretti Autosport.

Marco Andretti is also looking to take the points lead today from Helio Castroneves and starts seventeen positions ahead of the Brazilian. James Hinchcliffe looks to pick up his third win of the season and join fellow Canadians Greg Moore and Paul Tracy as winner at the Milwaukee Mile. Will Power starts third as he looks for his first win of the season. Ryan Hunter-Reay looks to win back-to-back at the Milwaukee Mile and looks to take the points lead from Helio Castroneves and jump his teammate Marco Andretti in doing so. EJ Viso starts fifth as he looks to pick up his first career victory. He'd be the first driver to win their first career victory at Milwaukee since Michel Jourdain Jr. did it a decade ago.

Sebastián Saavedra starts a surprising sixth, a career best as he looks for his first career win as well. Tony Kanaan is going for his third career win at the Mile and second win of the season. Josef Newgarden starts on the outside of Kanaan. Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Racing occupy row five with Simon Pagenaud and Tristan Vautier. Scott Dixon looks to avenge a penalty last year for jumping an aborted restart that cost him a shot at victory. He starts eleventh. James Jakes starts twelfth as he continues an impressive 2013 season. Sébastien Bourdais starts fourteenth in his first start at the Milwaukee Mile since his win there in 2006. Takuma Sato starts fifteenth. His car owner AJ Foyt will not be able to attend the race due to pain in his leg. Alex Tagliani starts sixteenth and looks to get his second career victory. His first came in 2004 at Road America.

Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves start on row nine. Castroneves is looking for his first career win at Milwaukee. Ryan Briscoe starts nineteenth as he looks to repeat his winning efforts of 2008. Ana Beatriz starts twentieth after missing the last three races. Mike Conway and Pippa Mann drove in replace of Beatriz the last two weeks. Americans Ed Carpenter and Charlie Kimball start on row eleven ahead of Graham Rahal and Simona de Silvestro.

Update: Both Dario Franchitti and Graham Rahal made engine changes prior to Milwaukee IndyFest and will start twenty-third and twenty-fourth respectively.

Today's forecast at Milwaukee calls for scattered thunderstorms and a high of 75 degrees Fahrenheit and a sixty percent chance of rain. However the chance of precipitation drops to thirty percent around the time of green flag. NBCSN's coverage starts at 4:00 p.m. ET.