The results after nineteen races on sixteen weekends determined the 2013 IndyCar Champion. The series opened in late-March at St. Petersburg and ended at Auto Club Speedway in mid-October. The Championship had a good mix of ovals, temporary street circuit and road courses.

The series continued to use the Dallara DW12 which was introduced in 2012 to replace the Dallara IR5. The philosophy behind a spec car was to control costs ($349,000/chassis). The DW-12 also incorporated many new safety features – most obvious was the bodywork surrounding the rear tires. The DW designation was in honour of the late Dan Wheldon, who had performed much of the testing on the new car.

There were two manufacturers providing engines for the season – Chevrolet and Honda. The twin-turbocharged engines produced approximately the same horsepower – 550-700-hp depending on the turbo boost.

There were some changes for 2013:

  • A point was awarded for leading a lap and two-points were given to the driver leading the most laps

  • Points earned for positions nineteen through twenty-five were no longer flat – there would be a one-point difference between each of these finishing positions

  • The season included a return to Pocono Raceway and Houston’s Reliant Park

  • Also, returning was the Triple Crown which paid a $1-million bonus to a driver that won at Indianapolis, Pocono and Auto Club Speedway

  • Three venues would host double-header race weekends – Detroit, Toronto and Houston

    In April, teams travelled to Long Beach for round-three of the 2013-season. This was the thirty-ninth running of the Long Beach Grand Prix around the 1.968-mile eleven-turn temporary street circuit.

    • In 2013, Takuma Sato switched from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to drive for A.J. Foyt Racing. It appeared that the change agreed with Sato as he won his first IndyCar race. This also marked the first IndyCar victory for a Japanese driver. The ex-F1 driver qualified fourth and took a lead on lap-50. He did relinquish first place for the remaining thirty-laps.
    A driver that moved through the field was Graham Rahal. Rahal started eleventh but after eighty-laps, he was second in the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda-powered Dallara DW12. During his racing career, Graham’s father, Bobby, had four second place finishes at Long Beach.
    Another team making tremendous progress during the race was the Dale Coyne Racing Dallara DW12 Honda driven by Justin Wilson. Wilson qualified a lowly twenty-fifth but captured the final spot on the podium. This was accomplished through a unique pit strategy which resulted in the Coyne team being out of sequence with their competitors.
    Defending series champion, Ryan Hunter-Reay in the No. 1 Andretti Autosport Dallara DW12 Chevrolet started second. The winner of round two at Barber Motorsport Park was the quickest of the Andretti Autosport drivers. Hunter-Reay’s race ended on lap-49 when his overly aggressive driving caused him to hit the tire barrier a turn-eight.
    Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver Dario Franchitti started from the pole position. This was Franchitti’s thirtieth pole in his Indy car career. With the exception of lap-7, he led the first twenty-eight laps. A combination of poor pit-stops and bad restarts during the event dropped him to a fourth place finish.
    Just prior to the 2012 season finale at Fontana, California, Mike Conway, made a decision to no longer compete on ovals. As a result, he did not have a full-time ride in 2013 but his road racing skills were recognised by many teams. At Long Beach, he drove for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and started fifth but retired on lap-38 with an electrical issue.
    Son of team principal, Marco Andretti, was penalized for interference during qualifying. The Andretti Autosport driver started his Chevrolet powered Dallara DW12 third last - the twenty-fifth position. However, it came together for Andretti during the race and he worked his way up to a seventh place finish.
    In 2013, Andretti Autosport was expanded to a four car team with included defending champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, E.J. Viso, Marco Andretti and James Hinchcliffe. Canadian, Hinchcliffe replaced Danica Patrick in the No. 27 GoDaddy sponsored car. At Long Beach, he qualified seventh but contact with Tony Kanaan on lap-34 in turn-one forced Hinchcliffe to retire.
    Team Penske driver, Helio Castroneves led the championship standings on the basis of podium finishes at St. Petersburg and Barber Motorsport Park. He started sixth at Long Beach in a Chevrolet powered Dallara. During the race, Castroneves dropped down the order after an incident which damaged the nose of the car and was tenth at the checkered flag. Despite this result he left the event with his points lead still intact.
    At Long Beach, Scott Dixon was not as successful as his Target Chip Ganassi teammate Dario Franchitti. The 2008 IndyCar champion started in the twenty-sixth position – the result of a brake problem during qualifying. Dixon had an incident on lap-1 with Tristan Vautier which dropped him down a lap. Despite the damage, he improved on his position and took the checkered flag in eleventh and left Long Beach third in points.
    J.R. Hildebrand drove a Chevrolet powered Dallara for Panther Racing. At Long Beach, Hildebrand started twelfth and had his best result of the season when he improved seven spots and was fifth at the checkered flag.
    The podium finishers are taken for a lap to celebrate their results with the fans. On the left is Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver Graham Rahal and Justin Wilson of Dale Coyne Racing is on the right. In the center is Takuma Sato enjoying his first IndyCar victory after fifty-two starts.

    FIN.STARTDRIVERCARENTRANTLAPSRETIREMENTS
    14Takuma SatoDallara DW-12 / HondaA.J. Foyt80-
    211Graham RahalDallara DW-12 / HondaRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing80-
    324Justin WilsonDallara DW-12 / HondaDale Coyne80-
    41Dario FranchittiDallara DW-12 / HondaChip Ganassi80-
    512J.R. HildebrandDallara DW-12 / ChevroletPanther Racing80-
    618Oriol ServiaDallara DW-12 / ChevroletPanther DRR80-
    725Marco AndrettiDallara DW-12 / ChevroletAndretti Autosport80-
    817Simon PagenaudDallara DW-12 / HondaSchmidt Hamilton Motorsports80-
    919Simona de SilvestroDallara DW-12 / ChevroletKV Racing Technology80-
    106Helio CastronevesDallara DW-12 / ChevroletRoger Penske80-
    1126Scott DixonDallara DW-12 / HondaChip Ganassi80-
    1213James JakesDallara DW-12 / HondaRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing80-
    1316Josef NewgardenDallara DW-12 / HondaSarah Fisher Hartman Racing80-
    1422Ana BeatrizDallara DW-12 / HondaDale Coyne80-
    1515Sebastien BourdaisDallara DW-12 / ChevroletDragon Racing80-
    163Will PowerDallara DW-12 / ChevroletRoger Penske80-
    1727Tristan VautierDallara DW-12 / HondaSchmidt Peterson Motorsports80-
    1823Ed CarpenterDallara DW-12 / ChevroletEd Carpenter80-
    1921Alex TaglianiDallara DW-12 / HondaBHA/Curb-Agajanian79-
    208Tony KanaanDallara DW-12 / ChevroletKV Racing Technology78Accident
    219Charlie KimballDallara DW-12 / HondaChip Ganassi78-
    2210E.J. VisoDallara DW-12 / ChevroletAndretti Autosport53-
    2314 A.J. AllmendingerDallara DW-12 / ChevroletRoger Penske51Gearbox
    242Ryan Hunter-ReayDallara DW-12 / ChevroletAndretti Autosport49Accident
    255Mike ConwayDallara DW-12 / HondaRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing38Electrical
    267James HinchcliffeDallara DW-12 / ChevroletAndretti Autosport34Accident
    2720Sebastian SaavedraDallara DW-12 / ChevroletDragon Racing1Accident

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