Race Report: Kentucky Indy 300
SPARTA, KY Sep 4—Hope was dashed against the
walls of Kentucky Speedway Saturday night.
Vitor Meira’s run for another strong finish in the ABC
Supply car ended when he tangled with Simona DeSilvestro
while lapping her in the Kentucky Indy 300.
Meira, who had started 12th, was running in the top 12
in the early stages of the race, saying the car was
running a little free or loose. Around lap 35, he began
moving forward, saying the car’s balance was good and
his lap speeds increased from 215mph to consistent 217s
and 218s. By the end of the stint, he had advanced to
eighth and as the green flag pit stop cycles began he
was sixth.
Pitting a lap or two earlier than the leaders, Meira’s
crew serviced the No. 14 car in 7.7 seconds. When the
pit stops had cycled out, he was ninth and edged past
Ryan Briscoe for eighth. They came upon DeSilvestro on
lap 80 and split around her going down the backstretch
with Meira taking the inside groove. As they approached
turn three, DeSilvestro moved to the inside hitting
Meira and both cars spun and hit the wall, collecting
Briscoe in the accident. No one was injured but all
three cars sustained heavy damage.
“First of all I want to point out the good things,” said
Meira afterwards. “The car was good, we were running
strong and moving to the front and we were trying to
take our time. But unfortunately that is oval racing.
When I had to choose a side, I chose the inside hoping
that the car in front of me that I was passing – Simona--knew
I was there. The last third of the straightaway I was on
the inside and was hoping that Simona would get the
message [from her spotter]. The first thing I asked her
got into the car to head to the care center was if she
heard from her spotter that I was there on the inside.
It seems really strange that I was there completely and
wheel to wheel with her car and she kept coming and
coming to the inside. I don’t know if it was
communicated to her or not.
“It was an unfortunate day for AJ Foyt and ABC Racing
because they gave me a good car. It drafted real good
and it handled real good. By the end of 20 laps of each
stint I think we had to be one of the fastest cars. It’s
unfortunate we got taken out at that stage of the race
by a lapped car. I would have understood if it was for
position but it was a lapped car. And I think she was
more than one lap behind so it was a misfortunate. But I
choose to look at the good things. The car was very good
and we’re going to have two good races ahead of us so
it’s my job to make the best of it.”
Helio Castroneves, who was running 10th with seven laps
to go, won the milestone 200th IndyCar race through fuel
strategy as the leaders had to pit for a splash of fuel
at the end. Second through fifth were: Carpenter, Dan
Wheldon, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti.
The ABC Supply team will head to Indy to pack up the
cars and equipment to be shipped to Twin Ring Motegi in
Japan. The Indy Japan 300 takes place in Japan on
Sunday, September 19th but due to the time difference,
it will be broadcast live in the U.S. at 10 pm Saturday
evening, Sept. 18th on Versus.
Vitor Meira to Start 12th in Kentucky Indy 300
SPARTA, KY Sep 3—Vitor Meira will line up 12th
for tomorrow night’s Kentucky Indy 300 at Kentucky
Speedway. Meira posted a two-lap average speed of
216.434mph in the No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda.
It is the best qualifying run since his sixth place
start at Kansas Speedway in April, and one spot better
than his 13th place start at Iowa Speedway. Meira
finished in the top-10 in both of those races.
“The run wasn’t so bad with the wind,” Meira said
immediately after his run, when he was only the sixth
car out on the track. “Because of the wind maybe we
weren’t in the best optimized gear. The balance on the
car was good and for the race, it’s very good.”
“Twelfth is a position that we can at least keep our
nose clean on the start,” Meira said after qualifying
ended.” Things are getting better – we definitely
improved on qualifying especially with the competition
getting as tight as it is. I think the ABC Supply/AJ
Foyt Racing team did a very good job so we can go racing
with our nose clean.”
Meira, whose right wrist was sprained in an accident
with Alex Tagliani and Hideki Mutoh at Chicagoland
Speedway last weekend, said his wrist will not be an
issue in tomorrow night’s race. “I can feel it but after
a couple laps in the car, I forget about it. It won’t be
a problem for tomorrow night.”
There were several surprises in the top 10, chief of
which was Ed Carpenter winning his first pole of his
career in only his third appearance this year. Carpenter
and teammate Dan Wheldon qualified first and third with
Will Power, who appeared on the verge of tying A.J.
Foyt’s record for poles won in a season until
Carpenter’s run, held on for second.
Ryan Hunter-Reay had the only incident when his car got
loose in turn two and he spun and hit the wall. He was
not hurt but he will have to start last in the 27 car
field. Teammate Tony Kanaan will be starting 26th
because he narrowly escaped brushing the wall during his
qualifying run and posted a speed of 210.831 mph.
The top 15 qualifiers:
1. Ed Carpenter (217.933), 2. Power (217.829), 3. Dan
Wheldon (217.700), 4. Scott Dixon (217.533), 5. Hideki
Mutoh (217.374), 6. Bertrand Baguette (216.988), 7.
Mario Moraes (216.879), 8.Helio Castroneves (216.857),
9. Ryan Briscoe (216.600) 10. Tomas Scheckter (216.599),
11. Dario Franchitti (216.533), 12. Vitor Meira
(216.434), 13. Alex Tagliani (216.391), 14. Takuma Sato
(216.265), 15. Marco Andretti (216.173).
The Kentucky Indy 300 will be televised live on Versus
Saturday night with cove
NOTES & QUOTES: Kentucky Indy 300
Vitor Meira: ABC Supply No. 14 Dallara/Honda/Firestone
· Vitor Meira on the key to Kentucky: “The car
needs to be good in traffic but most of all it needs to
be good over the bumps. The track surface at Kentucky
keeps changing every year and new bumps appear. They fix
it, they shave it, but still new bumps appear—it is a
very ‘live’ track. A setup that was good last year
doesn’t mean it will be good for sure this year because
it might be bumpy or it might not—it depends on how much
work they’ve done on the track. It’s a track that keeps
changing every year and we have to make sure the car is
good over the bumps.”
· Meira made his IndyCar debut at Kentucky in 2002.
He remembers: “I have very, very good memories of
Kentucky. It was my first oval track race. The learning
curve was just so steep and I had so much to learn. It
was the first time I raced on an oval, the first time I
did pit stops, my first time for wheel-to-wheel racing,
so I had a lot to learn. We had 25 cars and I ended up
finishing 13th which was good and the reason is, I
learned a lot. I remembered in the last 50 laps passing
Raul Boesel! I used to watch him when I was in go karts
and he was in Formula 1 and Indy cars so it was a cool
feeling and from that point on, things took off.” [For
the record, Boesel passed Meira back as Boesel finished
11th that day].
· The IZOD IndyCar Series will run its 200th race
this weekend. Meira on the changes he’s witnessed:
“I’ve seen so many changes and most of the changes are
for the better. We saw cars with self-manufactured
engines, instead of having factories involved, each team
would do their own engines. We saw very different cars
and very close racing. Then the racing stretched out and
it wasn’t as close anymore. It went from just ovals to
street and road courses, and now at least half the
series is street and road courses so it changed a lot.
But what changed the most is what is making IndyCar what
it is today: the level of competition. Before on an
oval, we would have 25 cars but the field would be
within two seconds or so and cars would be lapped right
and left. That doesn’t happen anymore. The
competitiveness is so big and it’s so professional out
there that I think that is the greatest change in
IndyCar since I started. I feel we’re gaining
sponsorships, crowds and momentum in a tough economy, so
as long as we keep doing what we’re doing when the
economy gets better, we’ll have a bright future.”
· ABC Supply roofing customer A Southern Roofing
in Louisville, KY won the ‘Your Name Here’ contest for
the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300. The company name will be
atop the sidepods of the No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda.
Randall Waldman will receive selected merchandise, race
tickets, hospitality and garage passes, plus a Meet and
Greet with Vitor Meira and A.J. Foyt. The “Your Name
Here” promotion selected winners by random drawing from
a pool of entries sent in by ABC Supply customers
earlier this year.
· Kentucky performance: The team’s best finish in
10 races was fifth in 2001 with Donnie Beechler and
their best start was second in 2000 with Eliseo Salazar.
In six races, Meira’s best finish was second in 2005
with his best start of second coming in 2008.
· The Kentucky Indy 300 will be shown live at 8:00 p.m.
ET Saturday night on Versus.
|
