Chevrolet clinched the first IndyCar manufacturers' championship battle in six years, after Ryan Briscoe won the GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma with his Team Penske Dallara-Chevy. Chevrolet supplied 15 of 27 engines to the starters in the 85-lap race on the 2.385-mile, 12-turn road course. It has won nine of the 13 IZOD IndyCar Series races.
“We congratulate Chevrolet on clinching the 2012 Manufacturers' Championship,” IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard said. “In a year that saw the debut of a new car, the return of engine competition and some of the fiercest racing this sport has seen in decades, our hats are off to Chevrolet, its teams and drivers on a job well done.”
Jim Campbell, Chevrolet's U.S. vp of performance vehicles and motorsports, said Indy car racing is integral in Chevrolet's continuing efforts to define itself as a global automotive leader. Its IZOD IndyCar Series engine, featuring direct injection, turbocharging and renewable E85 fuel, are key technologies in several Chevrolet production cars on the streets and in the design phase.
"Chevrolet is proud to race in the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2012 and honored to win the Manufacturers' Championship," Campbell said. "The key to developing the best combination of power, durability, fuel economy and driveability in the Chevrolet Indy V6 has been teamwork with the drivers, crew chiefs, team owners and our engineering partners. There is still more racing to go this season, and the team remains 100 percent focused on finishing strong.”
"This IZOD IndyCar Series Manufacturers' Championship for the Chevrolet IndyCar V6 engine is the culmination of a great team effort,” added Mark Kent, Chevrolet Racing director. “From concept to racetrack, Chevrolet Racing engineers, Ilmor, Hitachi, Borg Warner, our Chevy teams and others put a race and championship-winning product in place in just over a year. To reap the rewards of this dedicated effort in our first season back in IndyCar is gratifying. We are very proud of this achievement and thank everyone involved for their contributions."