Race Report: Camping World Grand Prix at Watkins Glen
WATKINS GLEN, NY July 4—Watkins Glen International is
the most historic road course on the IZOD IndyCar Series
schedule and at 3.4 miles, it is also the longest. It is a
track at which Vitor Meira and the ABC Supply team have
fared well and this weekend, they had hoped to have their
best finish yet! That would have been a victory because
Meira and the ABC Supply No. 14 car have both finished
second at the Glen but not together.
Despite the positive momentum of two straight top-10
finishes going into the July 4th weekend, the ABC Racing
team came away from the Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen
with a 19th place finish. Meira slipped back to 13th in the
standings.
The problems for the Foyt team started on Friday when the
car’s initial setup was not as strong as it’s been as it has
since the Long Beach race in April. Despite only an hour of
scheduled practice on Friday, the ABC Supply team made
significant progress in getting the car more to Meira’s
liking.
In Saturday’s practice before qualifying, there was a fuel
pump failure which cut that hour-long practice down to 40
minutes for Meira. To replace the fuel pump, the team had to
pull the Honda engine which they had planned to do after
qualifying because it was on schedule to be replaced for the
race.
With two options for qualifying still on the table, they
decided on one and sent Meira out to qualify. The car was
better but Meira’s best lap of 132.722mph put him 17th on
the grid. Following the Sunday morning warm-up where he’d
wound up 13th and happy with the ABC Supply car, Meira was
optimistic about another top-10 finish for the race.
Meira worked his way up to 14th by the first round of pit
stops on lap 18 during a full course yellow because of Dan
Wheldon’s spin. The crew had a problem with the new fuel
probe (this was its debut race) and Meira had to pit a lap
later because the car only took seven gallons. When it took
only seven gallons again, the crew replaced the fuel probe
with another which worked fine for the rest of the race. But
their fate was cast and Meira sped around the track half a
lap behind the pack despite running laps on pace with the
leaders.
Hope came in the form of another full course yellow on lap
40 for Simona DeSilvestro. Meira pitted and took on a set of
slightly used red alternate tires. Meira knew after two laps
he was in trouble because the car had too much push so he
soldiered on, finishing the race without incident.
“Not a very good day for Foyt Racing, ABC and me,” Meira
said. “We had a good car – not the best car of the season
but it was a good car. We unloaded and made a lot of
progress during the practices but there was not enough time.
Then we had troubles on the pit stops which didn’t help.
It’s been hard to pass here so it’s a weekend to take what
we have and learn from it and go for the next one. There’s
not much else positive you can get out of this weekend.
Still, it’s one race, one battle, and we have the whole
war.”
Pole winner Will Power won the race for Team Penske with
teammate Ryan Briscoe and Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti
sharing the podium. The next race on schedule is the Honda
Indy Toronto on Sunday, July 18th which will be televised
live on ABC-TV starting at 12:30 ET.
Meira To Start 17th at the Glen
WATKINS GLEN, NY July 3--Vitor Meira will start 17th
in the Camping World Grand Prix at Watkins Glen
International.
In round one, Meira qualified ninth quick this afternoon in
his group with a speed of 132.722mph. Because only the top
six in each of the first two groups of 12 cars advance to
the next round, Meira will start on the inside of row nine.
“I think the lack of practice this morning because of the
fuel pump problem hurt us a little bit maybe and any little
bit you give up in this series means positions. I think
we’re one step behind because of that. Not only that, we
didn’t unload like we have been unloading this year. We
unloaded with the car far from where it needed to be and we
made huge improvements from yesterday to today but we needed
that little bit of track time because we needed to learn so
much. It was unfortunate but A.J. and ABC have started here
out of the top 10 and made great races, I have started here
out of [hesitates then says with a laugh]—well actually I
have not started here out of the top 10—but we can make good
things happen no matter where we start.”
Team Penske took the first three spots on the grid with Will
Power claiming the pole over Helio Castroneves and Ryan
Briscoe. Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti, former Formula
One driver Takumo Sato and last year's race winner here
Justin Wilson rounded out the Firestone Fast Six.
The ABC Supply team will get a final practice tomorrow
morning from 10:15 to 10:45. The 60-lap race will be
broadcast live by ABC-TV starting at 3:30pm with the green
flag set to wave at 3:55pm.
Friday Practice
WATKINS GLEN, NY July 2--Vitor Meira wound up 22nd
after the hour-long practice today at Watkins Glen
International. Meira cautioned that the car wasn't quite
that far off and that they were able to make improvements by
the end of the session. Due to traffic, however, he never
got a clean lap to show how much the car improved
speed-wise.
"This first session we did a lot of changes but couldn't
take advantage fully of the changes because of traffic but
we did understand the changes. So we'll analyze the data
tonight to come up with the best solutions. We couldn't put
a decent time down but we went through a lot of things and
made improvements for tomorrow," Meira said.
When Meira was here in 2009, it was as a spectator and was
in fact his first race since being injured and hospitalized
in Indianapolis. He likes the view much better from the
cockpit than he does from the pit wall.
"This is a very cool track," said Meira, who finished second
here in 2006. "When I was out of the car it wasn't a good
feeling even though it was good to be back at a race track,
it wasn't fulfilling, and now it's fulfilling. It's our
first race here together, I learned some things from
watching last year but it's a completely different from the
driver's seat and I like it much better!"
Notes & Quotes: Camping World Grand Prix at Watkins Glen
• Meira on racing at The Glen: “I like racing there a
lot—it’s been a good track for me. It’s more European in
design with long corners where you have to carry speed into
them. Europe is where all of my background is on the road
courses--the road courses in Brazil are like Europe’s too.
They’re different from street courses—my first street course
was here in America (as well as the ovals) so I had a lot of
catching up to do on them. Also, the Glen has a lot of
history—Formula 1 raced there--so I really like it. Being
that it’s on the 4th of July, that is a cool weekend to do
well, especially for A.J. and ABC Supply!”
• Meira on the key to the car’s set-up: “Setup wise,
it’s all about the combination, but the key is carrying
speed into the corners. Unlike street courses where you have
to break and have good traction, at the Glen you don’t have
to brake as deep every time but you do have to carry speed
and come out of the corner fast.”
• Best place to pass? “Definitely turn 1, no doubt
about it. It’s the only hard braking area after a long
straight, also turn 8 which is the second gear hairpin
turn--those are the best places, but there are other places
to pass so it’s a fairly good track for overtaking. To
overtake on road courses you have to brake at the same place
or later than the car in front of you. But you must come out
of the previous corner a bit faster so on the straight you
can place your car alongside the other and then brake later
to pass.”
• Testing at Mid-Ohio: The team is testing at
Mid-Ohio this Wednesday on their way to the Glen. Meira
says, “We’re looking at trying some things that we want to
test before Watkins Glen. It will be good as we get in shape
for the second series of road courses this season. Iowa was
pretty physically demanding but road courses are so every
time. I changed my training a little bit to focus more on a
strength workout because you need strength to turn that
wheel.”
• Past performance at The Glen: Meira says, “I’ve run
well here but it was hard to come out with a good result.
Sort of like it was for me in Iowa, but it seems this year,
things are changing so I hope to finish and get a good
result. The team’s done good at the Glen, so we can combine
our experience and get a good result together.”
Meira qualified in the top-10 in his four starts there and
finished second in 2006. In 2005, he had electrical problems
and placed 18th, in 2007 he ran out of fuel, finishing 17th
and in 2008, he placed 22nd after E.J. Viso ran Meira off
the track while vying for sixth. Foyt’s ABC Supply Racing
team’s string of top 10 finishes since 2006 ended last year
with Ryan Hunter-Reay’s first lap shunt into Raphael Matos—a
chain reaction to someone missing a shift heading into the
Esses. The no. 14 has finished in the top-five twice (5th
with Felipe Giaffone - 2006; 2nd with Darren Manning - 2008)
and top-10 once (9th with Manning - 2007).
• Del’s Vinyl Siding, located in Cheshire, CT, is
this weekend’s winner of the ABC Supply Your Name Here
Promotion for its customers. The company name will be put on
the top of the sidepods of the No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda.
Del Levasseur and his guest will receive selected
merchandise, race tickets, hospitality and garage passes,
plus a Meet and Greet with A.J. Foyt and Vitor Meira. The
“Your Name Here” promotion selected winners by random
drawing from a pool of entries sent in by ABC Supply
customers earlier this year.
• The Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen will be
broadcast live Sunday afternoon, July 4 at 3:30 p.m. ET on
ABC-TV.
• For more information on the Foyt Racing program,
please check out: www.ajfoytracing.com . For information on
ABC Supply Co., go to: www.abcsupply.com.
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