Baltimore, MD (September 4, 2011)-
It was a day of unfortunate circumstances for Dreyer &
Reinbold Racing at the Inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix. The team
made their first appearance at the 2.04-mile temporary street
course with DRR drivers, Ana Beatriz (No. 24 Ipiranga), Tomas
Scheckter (No. 07 SH Racing/Team Redline Extreme), and Giorgio
Pantano (No. 22 Roll Coater).
Staying clear of all the mayhem on the starts and
re-starts was the name of the game, and that's exactly what Ana
Beatriz did today as she earned an 18th place finish. As the green
flag dropped, the Brazilian had a good, clean start, gaining two
positions, going from 22nd to 20th place. For the entire first
stint the whole field settled into a groove as they saved fuel. Bia
came into the pits on Lap 23 for fuel and tires.
Things began to change a little bit as the yellow came out
on Lap 31. The first re-start came out on Lap 37, but unfortunately
the yellow came out again and the strategy would get a little bit
mixed up for the rookie. She filtered out to P10, but when the
green flag waved on Lap 48, Bia would be unable to make it to the
end and she would have to pit for fuel and tires on Lap 52. Beatriz
brought the Ipiranga car home safely in 18th position.
Today was an interesting day for Tomas Scheckter as well.
He started the day in 24th position and on the start immediately
gained two positions putting him in 22nd place. The team opted for
an alternate strategy and Scheckter came in on Lap 10 for fuel and
tires. Scheckter tried to make a pass on Marco Andretti on the
inside, but that was the beginning of the end for the South
African. He spun on Lap 13 and had to be re-started, and as a
result he lost positions. It would get more complicated for
Scheckter as he caused the first caution on Lap 31. From that point
on, it was a matter of hanging on. He finished in 22nd position.
It was a disappointing day for Giorgio Pantano as well.
The Italian had a great start as he went from 15th to 13th position
on the first lap. For the first stint he went into fuel save mode
before pitting on Lap 20 for fuel and tires, gaining three
positions. Pantano would filter out to 10th place. The caution came
out on Lap 31 and unfortunately things would change for him on the
Lap 37 re-start.
Pantano was in the wrong place at the wrong time as he
found himself with nowhere to go when the mayhem unraveled in front
of him. It was a multiple car pile up going into Turn 3, and as a
result, Pantano got tangled up in the mess. He would come in
multiple times to try to repair the car, but on Lap 43 he had to
call it quits due to a broken front wishbone. Pantano finished the
day in 26th place.
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will be head back to
Indianapolis for a weekend off and to prepare the cars for Japan.
For more updates on the team, please visit www.dreyerreinboldracing.com.
What they have to say...
Tomas Scheckter, No. 07 Redline Xtreme
Machine: "Our day ended when I tried to pass
Marco Andretti around the inside. After the first stop I knew that
I had to push really hard to make up time and he came out with cold
tires. I tried to go on his inside and it didn't work. I was just
hanging on from there on and hoping that people would get in
incidents."
Giorgio Pantano No. 22 Roll
Coater: "We were having a good race. On the
re-start, when we got to Turn 3, I had nowhere to go. I had Ryan
Briscoe on one side and Vitor Meira and Scott Dixon on the other
side. We damaged our bottom front wishbone and that ended our day.
It's very disappointing."
Ana Beatriz, No. 24 Ipiranga:
"It was a tough day. I think that we may have had a chance
with strategy to move up front, but it didn't work out. I think
that yellow went too long and we couldn't really get anything out
of it and after the re-start I just couldn't keep up with the pace.
I didn't have traction and everyone started to pass me and it was a
mess, so we decided to pit. The team did a great job, we tried
everything that we could, let's go to Motegi."