After the race a “Rookie of the Year” award will be given to the best rookie driver in the 2010 field. Of the 11 registered rookies at the moment, HSO admins will nominate who they consider to be the five bests, with a poll among all HSO members then deciding who the recipient of the award will be among these five candidates.
The all Indianapolis performance must be taken into account to evaluate a rookie’s performance : qualifying position, pure speed, final race result, behaviour on track should all be important factors in your final decision. To help you make your choice I will put a summary of each rookie driver’s performance in qualifying and the race.
Here are the 11 nominated rookies so far :
Carlo Pozzi [Italy | #3 Lesovsky-Offenhauser | Racing Associates]
One of HSO’s fastest drivers, Carlo has to be one of the favourites for the Rookie of the Year honours. He is seasoned oval racer and proved his skills by winning the HSO Phoenix 200 USAC Stock Car race last week. He was the second fastest rookie qualifier just behind Nicolas Diard and will start on the inside of row 4 on race day.
Qualifying : 7th – 4mn04s35 (2nd Rookies)
Race : **********************************************************
Yannick Lampure [France | #10 Salih-Offenhauser | George Salih]
As Carlo, Yannick is one of HSO’s anchor members, competing in nearly all of our races and championships. He only has limited experience of oval racing in general, but his usually consistent and safe pace often is rewarded with good placings in long races such as this one. A worthy outsider.
Qualifying : 16th – 4mn07 s15 (6th Rookies)
Race : **********************************************************
Olivier Mathieu [Belgium | #14 Meskowski-Offenhauser | Bill Forbes Racing]
A frequent visitor to HSO races, Olivier also is a league owner himself, whose interesting races with historic cars such as the Group C prototypes have attracted number of HSO drivers. He did not show up on Pole Day and as yet to confirm his participation to the race…
Qualifying : Absent
Race : **********************************************************
Luis Garcia [Spain | #18 Trevis-Offenhauser | Jim Robbins]
Another well known HSO regular, being active in most of our rFactor races. Although a tad behind Carlo and Nicolas on pure speed, Luis nevertheless returned a very good qualifying run which gave him a neat 9th place on the starting grid. A Top 5 contender for the race, and as such a potential Rookie of the Year recipient.
Qualifying : 9th – 4mn05s15 (3rd Rookies)
Race : **********************************************************
Ben Paulet [France #19 Kurtis-Offenhauser | Grant Donaldson]
A rookie not only to Indy but to oval racing in general, Ben also still is (despite his age) a young padawan of simracing. This race is a sort of birthday for him, as in fell in love with simracing and HSO while watching last year’s live broadcast of the race ! His progress since then have been remarkable and he recently won his first HSO race, the GTU class in the opening round of the 1976 IMSA championship in Daytona. Ben missed qualifying but is a confirmed starter for the race.
Qualifying : Absent
Race : **********************************************************
Mario Gassner [Liechtenstein | #23 Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser | Grant Donaldson]
Ben’s team mate in the team of car owner Grant Donaldson is Liechtenstein’s Mario Gassner. Well known for his prowess in our 1979 F1 series, he is an unknown quantity on ovals and with the Gasoline Alley cars. His absence in qualifying makes it even harder to make any predictions. Still, provided he does enough practice Mario should be a Top 10 contender and could very well make it to the five nominated rookies for the award. He has yet to officially confirm his participation to the race.
Qualifying : Absent
Race : **********************************************************
Antoine de Mautor [France | #32 Kuzma-Offenhauser | Ansted-Thompson Racing]
The only HSO admin who was not driving in the race last year (he was doing the live TV comments), Antoine will this year be part of the on track action. While his overall level and oval experience should put him right up there with Carlo and Nicolas, Antoine has not touched a wheel since months and only really discovered the mod during qualifying. His 14th grid position is therefore encouraging and with sufficient practice before the race he will certainly play a front-running role during the 500. He also is very accustomed to long races.
Qualifying : 14th – 4mn06s44 (5th Rookies)
Race : **********************************************************
Ludovic Tagli [France | #44 Meskowski-Offenhauser | Peter Schmidt]
A rookie in the race and at HSO, Ludovic only recently joined us via the 1979 Formula 1 series. His first race at Donington with the Renault was very promising and calls for a successful career around here. He did not attend the Pole Day session though, and has yet to confirm he will start the race…
Qualifying : Absent
Race : **********************************************************
Serge Boucheron [France | #56 Christiansen-Offenhauser | Ernest Ruiz]
Also a HSO rookie overall, Serge is due to debut in our league for this race. He was not present at qualifying and has not yet confirmed his participation to the race.
Qualifying : Absent
Race : **********************************************************
Thomas Cazorla [France | #73 Kurtis-Offenhauser | Russ Babcock Racing]
As his pal Nicolas Diard, Thomas is an oval racing specialist, having competed in literally hundreds of NR2003 races, and is one of the cornerstones of the big French LFNSC league. His rFactor experience is much more limited though, and his first rF Stock Car race on the Phoenix oval last week left him hugely disappointed. At Indy he struggled at first with his setup and crashed out in his first attempt. He made up for that with a great second run and was on his way to 9th place on the grid when a big slide in the very last turn cost him a full second and a handful of places. Could very well be the surprise of the race.
Qualifying : 13th – 4mn05s87 (4th Rookies).
Race : **********************************************************
Nicolas Diard [France | #76 Ewing-Offenhauser | Joe Hunt]
As already mentioned, Nico is an oval NASCAR racing veteran, who came 3rd in last year’s LFNSC Sprint Cup series, arguably the biggest NR2K3 league in France. The 1960 Indy 500 will be his first ever HSO race. Still getting to grips with the mod and the car, Nico took his two allowed attempts on pole day and followed his initial 4mn05s15 with an excellent 4mn04s04 good enough for 4th on the grid and the unofficial "rookie pole". Most observers predict a Nico / Carlo duel for the Rookie of the Year honours this year.
Qualifying : 4th – 4mn04s04 (1st Rookies).
Race : **********************************************************
Check out for updates about each driver in this post. The final poll with the 5 nominated drivers will be published after the official final standings of the race have been published. The poll will be open for seven days, after which the Rookie of the Year award will be awarded to the driver with most votes. Ties will not be broken.
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Subject: 2010 Rookie of the Year Award 
Mon 31 May 2010 - 16:23
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Bravo Carlo !