Manning Runs Strong on Streets of St. Pete;
Late Race Miscue Dashes Hope for Strong Finish
 St.
Petersburg, FL – Darren Manning appeared to be headed for his career
best finish in the IndyCar Series with a strong performance in the
Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Sunday afternoon. However a
miscue with less than 25 laps to go in the 100-lap event dashed
hopes for a top-three finish.
From the start of the weekend, Manning
served notice that he will be a force to be reckoned with,
especially on the twisty street and road circuits. He was in the top
half of the practice sessions in the No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda.
Manning lined up fifth on the grid, a result
of his efforts in the Firestone Fast Six qualifying session Saturday
afternoon. The six fastest drivers in the single lap qualifying
session enter a second 10-minute session which determines their
starting position on the grid based on their single fastest lap
time.
 In
the race, Manning was soon fourth, having capitalized on a first lap
accident in turn four that saw Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan spin
out, with Kosuke Matsuura and Jeff Simmons also coming together and
collecting A.J. Foyt IV and Sarah Fisher.
When the race restarted six laps later,
Manning was keeping pace and battling with fifth place Sam Hornish
when Marco Andretti, who’d been running second, began to fade.
Manning passed him for third position on lap 28.
A pitstop four laps later saw Manning emerge
in seventh position as the team made a front wing adjustment for
handling. He moved into sixth on the restart and claimed fifth when
Vitor Meira hit the wall, due to clutch problem. Manning then moved
into fourth when Marco Andretti, who was on a different pit
strategy, pitted on lap 39 during the yellow for Meira’s accident.
Under the green on lap three laps later, the
plucky Brit battled with Hornish for third spot. A caution on lap
lap 47 for an accident involving Ed Carpenter and teammate Foyt IV
lasted three laps. Manning finally passed Hornish for third on lap
63. Pitting under green three laps later, the ABC Supply team got
him out in 8.3 seconds. As the stops cycled out, Manning was fourth
behind eventual winner Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon and Dan
Wheldon who was on a different pit strategy. Manning was running
hard to fend off Tony Kanaan and posting his fastest lap of the
race on lap 72.
Unfortunately, Manning spun on lap 75 and by
the time safety workers got him restarted, he’d lost a lap and his
chances for a top finish. He finished 12th, a lap down.
“The toughest thing I’d driven lately was an
hour-long race in A1 GP and that was a piece of cake compared to
this,” said Manning, whose last race on a road course in an Indy car
was in June, 2005. “All that green flag running and the pace at
which I was running, I was probably running at 110% and everyone
else was running at 90%, and I was running with them. So I just have
to make myself so that I can run that pace all the time. I think
that will come next time and my hands will have more calluses. I was
fit enough, I was hardly out of breath…but your race muscles—a
two-hour race on a street course—it’s tough. If it was an hour and a
half race, I’d have killed them and I’d have been up there. The last
30 minutes, my feet were numb and my hands were in such pain, and I
was trying to keep ahead of Tony. The steering went so heavy on full
tanks and new tires—man, I got so much grip out there with the good
track conditions… it was tough to hold onto the thing. I nearly
caught it, but nearly’s not good enough. We’ll get there.
“The weekend was fantastic--a one car
effort--just a testament to the team spirit of this team…A.J., Len,
Larry and myself, and all the guys pulled so hard to make sure we
made the right changes. It showed we’ve got something for these top
guys—just scratching the surface in our performance.”
Team director Larry Foyt said, “It was an
exciting day for the ABC Supply team. We didn’t get the results we
wanted but we showed the potential. Running up front is a great
morale booster for the team but running with the top teams also
shows your weaknesses and the areas we need to improve and we will.
“I’m proud of our guys. We had a strong
qualifying effort and we were able to back it up in the race. Darren
gave us a great drive and it shows that we’ll have some exciting
things ahead of us this year.”
Team owner A.J. Foyt echoed his son’s
sentiments, saying, “It was good to run competitively on a street
circuit. We were disappointed on how it turned out because Darren
drove a helluva race, but at least they knew we were there.”
The ABC Supply team’s next race is the Japan
Indy 300 at Twin Ring Motegi on Saturday, April 21. It will be
televised at noon on ESPN.
DARREN MANNING POSTS BEST QUALIFYING EFFORT ON STREET COURSE
FOR ABC SUPPLY NO. 14 TEAM
 St.
Petersburg, FL - Darren Manning used his considerable street course
experience to drive the No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda into the
Firestone Fast Six at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
Saturday afternoon. When the secondary qualifying session for the
top six fastest cars finished, Manning had notched a fifth place
starting spot. It is the best start for the team on a road/street
course in the IndyCar Series and the best since 2004 when A.J. Foyt
IV qualified sixth at Chicagoland Speedway. "Our ABC Supply team has been working hard and it's good to see the
hard work pay off," said Manning afterwards."I'm delighted to be at
the sharp end of the grid. A lot of these teams have worked together
for a while and we're still in the infancy of our relationship.
We're having a lot of fun together." "I'm glad we're starting up front on a street course-it makes it a
lot easier to stay up front," said team owner A.J. Foyt.
Manning posted a 62.4-second lap which was good for 103.76 mph
around the 1.8-mile circuit. Helio Castroneves won the pole with a
time of 61.6 seconds or 105.05 mph. "The race pace will slow a bit
and we'll try to be consistent in our lap times and then go for the
big sprint at the end. I'll race with those boys for sure," said
Manning.
It is Manning's second race with the Texas-based team which is the
only single car team on the starting grid. The team was in the top
six for all but one session (when they were 10th) during the
weekend.
Notes & Quotes: Honda Indy Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
Darren Manning: No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda/Firestone
 On
Testing at Sebring: The ABC Supply team tested at Sebring on
Tuesday along with several other teams that were also working with
new drivers this year. The team was pleased with the results.
Manning said, “The testing went really well. Firstly, because we
were fast of the eight cars that were there—it was a good start. “We definitely learned a lot about the car and how I like it. The
changes we made --going backwards and forwards, making it better or
worse-- but learning all the time, it was good. We were able to get
everything good on the car that I like—we’ve got a really good car
for St. Petersburg. Sebring is slow and bumpy and has higher grip
than St. Pete but it’s still relevant. I’m pretty happy—we still had
a set of tires left so we didn’t get the absolute best out of the
time but we were still fastest. “I said before I was looking for a win but now it seems more
realistic, the more we run. The team’s gelling more and more –me,
Len [Paskus, team engineer] and A.J.—we are understanding each other
a lot more on the engineering side. They are understanding a lot
more what I like on the car and they’re understanding the quantities
or degrees of what I’m talking about compared to what they think I’m
talking about.” Manning on St. Pete: “The street courses have no margin for
error. Hopefully, my experience on the street courses will help out.
Unlike the road courses where you can horse a car around, on the
street courses you must be very precise—know how to drive the
cambers, bumps and manhole covers. It suits my style of driving.” Manning has competed at St. Pete twice. His first time on the street
course was in 2003 driving for Walker Racing in the CART Series
where he started 11th and had climbed to sixth. Midway through the
race he lost the clutch on a pitstop and was finished for the day,
placing 13th. In 2004, he drove for Ganassi Racing, where he was
third quickest in practice sessions, but a sticky throttle hampered
him in qualifying so he started 16th. In the race, he climbed to
second and then on his final stop, he took fuel only allowing him to
lead three laps. He was running second when Tony Kanaan made contact
with Manning, dropping him to eighth. He ran out of fuel on the
final lap and finished ninth. Last race: At Homestead, Manning started 15th and was up to
11th when he was lapping a slower car and slid into the marbles.
Losing traction, he brushed the wall with the right rear and damaged
the suspension, ending his night. He was credited with 13th place.
The Honda Indy Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be televised live
on ESPN Sunday afternoon starting at 2:30pm. |
