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The 2012 “Bump” Day is in the books, and the only bumping that actually happened was allegedly done behind the scenes as Pippa Mann and Jay Howard, who both had funds and deals secured for a car and a Honda engine, had their engine deals withdrawn unexpectedly. The rumor is that Lotus, in exchange for releasing Dragon Racing from its engine contract, were guaranteed two spots on the grid, and that the league ordered teams to not bring out their backup cars. The league has denied the rumor, but there’s no getting around how slow the Lotus cars are nor the amount of angst there in the paddock over Lotus’s failure to follow through on its obligations. It’s doubtful that they’ll last the season, especially now that Dragon Racing has filed a $4.6M lawsuit against Lotus for contractual fraud. We here at OpenPaddock have been talking for a long time about how we felt Lotus was overreaching with their motorsports spend given their very limited production car sales volume. Its no surprise to us, then, that we’re seeing the Lotus IndyCar program implode. The only real questions about the Lotus programs now are how many more races will they make before failing completely, and how quickly will they get lapped next Sunday? I’m setting the over/under at Lap 8.no images were found
The good news from Bump Day is that Ed Carpenter Racing got their backup car tuned, up to speed, and in the field. Of course it wasn’t as if they had to worry about being bumped, but it had to feel good to be out running competitive speeds after that nasty hit on Pole Day.Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing also had to scramble after Bryan Clauson hit the wall on Pole Day. They didn’t have a backup car at the ready as Ed Carpenter Racing did, so the team busted tail to piece Clauson’s car back together. While painting wasn’t complete, with many of the rearward body panels still being bare carbon fiber, the car was mechanically sound, and Bryan will be racing in his first Indianapolis 500 Mile Race next Sunday!
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Photos from Qualifying Weekend
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