The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998
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mail your links to editorthegrid@yahoo.co.uk Firestone Indy Lights BATTISTINI BARRELS TO FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY WIN Panther Racing driver Dillon Battistini jumped from sixth to third in the Firestone Indy Lights championship standings by scoring his fourth win of the season in the "Kentucky 100" at Kentucky Speedway. The Englishman started fourth, seized a race lead he wouldn't surrender from second-place starter Ana Beatriz on Lap 2, safely navigated his way through four race caution periods, hugged the low line in his No. 15 car and held off second-place finisher James Davison at the line by .0814 of a second in the fourth-closest series finish in track history. "Really, I won that race at the start. My starts have been one of my great strengths this year. I gained three places at the start, which isn't unusual, but on this occasion it won me race because it's hard to pass here. All I had to do was hold the low line, which is pretty much the quickest way around anyway," Battistini said. The 67-lap sprint saw several three-wide battles during the final jaunt to checkered flag set up by a Lap 60 restart. "That wasn't easy; they were all over me like a rash. I was getting constant updates from my spotter, but I had a pretty good idea how close they were because all I could see in my mirrors were cars," Battistini added. Tonight's victory gives Battistini, who averaged an 18th-place finish in the last five races, renewed hope toward earning his first series championship. He gained 20 points on leader Richard Antinucci, who took his eighth top-five finish of the season with a fourth-place run tonight. Battistini will stand 57 points behind Antinucci when the drivers start the first of two straight races at Infineon Raceway Aug. 23. "A top-four, it's very good. I'm very thankful, it was just awesome. The car felt so good, I could go inside, outside. I had the best car, it was just that Davison and Battistini made it hard to get around them. With two cars, it was a two-lane race. I was trying to help James and almost got both of them at one point. "We've still got the points lead. We're first, it's awesome. I'll just go to Sonoma and look to build on our points lead there. I had a lot of success on that track last year," Antinucci said. Arie Luyendyk, Jr., snared third and took his third top-five and fifth straight top-10 finish at the track. Former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and ARCA RE/MAX Series driver Brent Sherman placed fifth in his Firestone Indy Lights debut at the track. The race closed out the 2008 Kentucky Speedway season.
Davidson wins in Mid Ohio It was one of the most bizarre scenes at a race track Sam Schmidt Motorsports' James Davison motored down the final quarter mile beneath a waving chequered flag while race-leader Jonny Reid of Integra Motorspors, in error, cut short his sure victory by entering pitlane, apparently thinking that a flag-station on the backstretch at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course that relays the green flag from the actual start/finish marked the end of the race. The result was a surprise win for Davison who only one week before had been eliminated from contention on the oval at Nashville after winning the pole and while leading after being struck by Reid. "If it's the racing gods way of evening things out," said the beaming Davison from the podium, "I'll take it!" The race was delayed for over an hour when thunderstorms swept through northcentral Ohio, washing the grip away from the surface of the 2.258 mile road course outside Lexington, Ohio. When racing commenced the track was slick as waxed glass and multiple drivers, including Davison, went off into the grass or trackside gravel pits; either unable to see through the roostertails of puddled water spun by the speeding cars ahead or simply unable to find traction and stay put on the racetrack. Wade Cunningham, driving this week for Alliance Motorsports, and Pablo Donoso of Team Moore won second and third in the event, with American Spirit's Cyndie Allemann fourth ahead of Sam Schmidt Motorsports' Ana Beatriz. Championship points leaders Raphael Matos and Richard Antinucci failed to finish the race, both victims of the slick conditions. Matos finished sixteenth and yielded the overall 2008 points lead (toward the Firestone Firehawk Cup) to Antinucci (who finished fourteenth) by a single point. Beatriz remains third, with J R Hildebrand of RLR Andersen and Matos' AFS Andretti Green teammate Arie Luyendyk Jr on fifth with four races remaining on the schedule
BATTISTINI WINS SPIRITED FIRESTONE FREEDOM 100 Antinucci takes points lead with second-place finish Dillon Battistini won the sixth Firestone Freedom 100 at Indianapolis from pole, leading 38 of 40 laps to record his second career victory in Firestone Indy Lights. Battistini was challenged throughout the race, never leading by more than half of a second. James Davison led Lap 4, and 2006 race winner Wade Cunningham led Lap 7. Richard Antinucci finished second, 0.2458 of a second behind Battistini. Antinucci's third second-place finish of the season was good enough to help him regain the series points lead, 179-176, over Battistini. Cunningham finished third, Robbie Pecorari finished fourth and Ana Beatriz finished fifth. Jeff Simmons, who raced in Sunday's Indy 500, finished eighth after starting 10th. It was his fourth top-eight finish in as many starts in the Firestone Freedom 100. Al Unser III, Sean Guthrie and Arie Luyendyk Jr., all sons of past Indianapolis 500 competitors, finished 11th, 12th and 14th, respectively, all improving at least four positions during the race. J.R. Hildebrand, who entered the race as the points leader, started 21st and moved up as high as third on Lap 26. However, he and Davison were forced to pit for flat tires after they made contact on Lap 30 as they battled three-wide with Antinucci for third. Hildebrand finished 24th.
Everything came together for RLR/Andersen Racing Sunday afternoon at Kansas Speedway. After a year and a quarter of competing in IndyCar's development series, the Palmetto, Florida based team led its first lap in the series and then 46 more to achieve its first Firestone Indy Lights victory ever. Behind the wheel of the team's Allied Building Products No. 25 Dallara, series rookie J.R. Hildebrand of Indianapolis posted the victory in the 67-lap/100-mile Kansas Lottery 100. It was only the second oval-track race ever for the 20-year-old native of Sausalito, California. Coupled with Hildebrand's second-place finish in the last race, held in St. Petersburg, Fla. on April 6, he is now leading the point standings going into the series' biggest race of the year, the Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 23. Robbie Pecorari, a former Andersen Racing Star Mazda driver, finished second to Hildebrand on Sunday, just 0.0553 of a second behind for the eighth-closest finish in series history. He started next-to-last and improved 21 positions to post the greatest advance from start to finish in series history. Rounding out the podium finishers was Arie Luyendyk Jr. RLR/Andersen's Andrew Prendeville of Las Vegas topped the charts in the morning practice session after SWE Pole Qualifying was cancelled due to cold temperatures. He took the green flag in 11th place with his Best Friends Animal Society No. 5 and vaulted into eighth right away. Unfortunately Cyndie Allemann spun right in front of him with 25 laps down. Prendeville did everything he could to miss her, but he clipped her car, sending him into the Turn 2 wall of the 1.5-mile trioval. His car then careened across the track right in front of a pack of cars that miraculously missed him. Prendeville escaped uninjured, but his car was done for the day. He ended up 23rd in the final rundown with 25 laps completed for his Racing Laps for Best Friends program. Hildebrand started fourth and ran in fourth or fifth for the first 14 laps. He passed Luyendyk for third on lap 15, and then got by Dillon Battistini for second on lap 19. His winning move came on the next lap when he overtook polesitter Richard Antinucci at the start/finish line. Luyendyk and then Pecorari did everything they could to make a pass stick, but Hildebrand was not to be denied the rest of the way. Pecorari was extremely close for the last eight laps after the final restart, but Hildebrand persevered to become the first American to win in this series so far this year. There were five caution flags in all for a total of 30 laps. The first one was for a spin but the other four, including the one Prendeville was involved in, were for contact. In addition to winning the race, RLR/Andersen Racing received the $1,000 Firestone Image Award as the team that best represented Firestone through its use of patches and decals on its cars, transporter, pit equipment and uniforms. Earlier that day Hildebrand is scheduled to attend the second annual Developmental Preschool "Mini 500" at Pleasant Grove Elementary School, 5199 W. Fairview Rd. in Greenwood, Ind. His visit is intended to show support to these children, who are working hard to overcome physical, social and behavioral obstacles. A parade and a race are planned for the event, billed as "The Greatest Spectacle in Pre-School Racing." The media is encouraged to attend. J.R. Hildebrand: "I'm so happy! It feels so good for the team; everybody has worked so hard. To be able to come away with a win in just the fourth race has put us in a really good spot in the championship. I didn't think our first win would come on an oval, but we'll take it and keep going with Indy coming up and the height of the season. "I can't thank everyone at RLR/Andersen Racing enough. We've progressed and improved our finishing position with every race, and now I'm on the top step of the podium! "My car was working better up high at first. I was able to go around the high side pretty easily. I had a big push behind other cars down at the bottom. With other cars around me, I was able to stick up on the high line and keep it flat around the top. I think Antinucci was having trouble staying low. So I tried to kind of pin him down there so he couldn't use any more of the track. Then I was able to kind of truck by on the outside, and then a caution came out. "Once I was on my own, it seemed like being on the bottom is where it was going to happen. It makes it easier to keep people in check behind you if you're on the bottom, so that's why I was sticking it down there. [About the laps after the last restart]: "I was probably looking backwards more than I was looking forward. Robbie raced me clean. The Allied Building Products car was good right at the bottom, so I was able to stay there and keep him behind me. We ended up pulling it off at the line." Andrew Prendeville: "It happened in Turn 2. "My car was inconsistent before that. It was pushing and then it was randomly loose. I got a good start, but then I struggled to stay close to the lead pack. I backed off to let my tires cool down to see what I could do in the next half of the race, but then someone spun in front of me and I couldn't miss it. Luckily no one hit me when I came back down off the wall and across the track. "I'm very happy for our team. We've worked our tails off for the last year, and today it paid off; just not for me right now." John Andersen (RLR/Andersen Racing co-owner): "It's the team's first victory in this series, so it's a nice reward for all the hard work and all the money we've been spending. "We came into this series with good, experienced people but we were new to these cars and we were new to most of these tracks. Now that we've learned some things about these cars and we have experience at most of the tracks, I think we'll be very competitive going forward. I should note though that Kansas Speedway was new to us, as today was this series' first race here since 2004. "Winning is an unbelievable feeling; it's the ultimate high. But I feel bad for Andrew, who got caught up in another driver's accident. We have the good and the bad of racing all under the same transporter here, but hopefully Andrew's day will come soon too."
Panther Wins Firestone Indy Lights Race with Dillon Battistini;
Sherman Third
Just eight days after turning his first laps on an oval circuit, Panther Racing newcomer Dillon Battistini took his No. 15 Dallara all the way to victory lane in the Firestone Indy Lights season-opening Miami 100. Panther's race was fulfilled when fellow rookie Brent Sherman drove his No. 16 entry from a starting position of 13th into third place on the podium, a run that included passing four cars in the final two laps. For Panther, the victory was their 10th in Indy Lights and second at Homestead. Ironically, the last time the team won the first race of the season, it was at Homestead's 1.5-mile oval with a little-known British driver raised outside of London. That driver, Mark Taylor, went on to win seven of 11 races en route to the 2003 championship. Now Battistini follows the same script as his countryman in Panther's car and his expectations have him set on a run at the league championship. But his biggest challenge might come from teammate Sherman, who likely would have been battling with Battistini for the victory if it had not been for a disappointing qualification effort on Friday night. Sherman, looking to transition from NASCAR into an open-wheel star, was patient as his No. 15 car continued to improve, and saved his best for the final two restarts of the race. Sherman took the final restart of the race on Lap 60 in eighth place, and climbed two positions to sixth as he blew past the white flag. Then, as he entered the first turn, he stuck the nose of his car in the marbles, passing another pair of cars, earning him a podium finish in his first career Indy Lights start, and his first open-wheel race in the past eight years. Battistini drove hard from the start of the race, and despite falling back as far as sixth, moved back towards the front of the field. Listening to spotter Pancho Carter, who coached the Englishman through the field, Dillon moved back into second when he passed pole sitter Raphael Matos on Lap 43. Two late-race cautions looked as though they could spoil Battistini's victory chance, but a late eight-lap sprint to the finish was enough, as Panther's new pilot blew past Richard Antinucci with four laps remaining and pulled away for the win. Both Panther drivers will test Monday at Sebring International Raceway before a double-header weekend on the Streets of St. Petersburg. Dillon Battistini: "This is surreal. I can hardly believe that I won my first oval race here, but when you have a great team like Panther it makes my job easy. I had my hands full at the start for a bit, but the car just kept getting better and better. This oval racing is a true challenge, but when the Panther car was as good as it was today, I knew I could have an incredible day. I can't say enough about my spotter Pancho Carter, he was unbelievable in helping me around the track. I could tell by listening to him that he knows how to win an IndyCar race. This is a special day for us and it's great that Brent ran well too, but we both have a long season ahead and together we hope to win a lot of these Indy Lights races." Brent Sherman: "The car was unbelievable, it just kept getting better. I don't want to say that we were saying our tires, but we thought there would be some cautions that we would be able to gain some track position on, and before I know it, it's two or three laps to go. Obviously, Dillon had a great run. I'm just happy to be on the podium. I mean, I'm sitting back in eighth, thinking about how I'm going to get past all this traffic? But it was the car, it stuck on the last lap as good as it did on the first. I appreciate the opportunity the Panther guys have given me. A podium on my first Firestone Indy Lights start; I'm pretty excited about it."
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