Retrospective – 2014 Grand Prix of Sonoma Practice (August 23)

The beautiful Sonoma Raceway is located at Sears Point in the Sonoma Mountains in California. This road circuit is about 2.5 miles in length, with 12 turns, and elevation changes of about 160 feet. Even though the on-track action was exciting, the weekend would be remembered for the earthquake that occurred. Despite this intervention by “Mother Nature”, the race went ahead as scheduled. Scott Dixon won the race, with Ryan Hunter-Reay placing second, and Simon Pagenaud coming third. Hope you like the photos.

For the Saturday morning practice session, started at the inside of Turn 10, then worked my way up the track. Here’s Sebastian Saavedra in the #17 KV AFS Racing (Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II, 70mm, f/6.3, 1/800, ISO 100)

Out of Turn 10 with Mike Conway in the #20 Ed Carpenter Racing (Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 500mm f/4L, f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 100)

Over the Turn 9 to 10 ripple strip with James Hinchcliffe in the #27 Andretti Autosport (Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II, 180mm, f/6.3, 1/1000, ISO 100)

Continued my walk up the inside part of the track. What I really liked about this road course were the elevation changes. I think this shot gives you an idea of what I experienced at Turn 6 with Ryan Hunter-Reay in the #28 Andretti Autosport (Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II, 200mm, f/16, 1/1000, ISO 640)

To the right on the other side of the track is Turn 8. This is a great location to photograph the cars speeding through this “S” curve complex. Simon Pagenaud in the #77 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II, 130mm, f/16, 1/1000, ISO 100)