Kanaan Finishes Fourth at Firestone Indy 200
Source: Andretti Green Racing
Jul 14, 2008 - 9:05:26 AM
|
|
LEBANON, Tenn. (July 12, 2008) – Tony Kanaan drove the Team 7-Eleven car to a fourth-place finish at Saturday’s running of the rain-shortened Firestone Indy 200.
Scott Dixon recorded the victory at Nashville Superspeedway. He was followed across the line by Dan Wheldon and Helio Castroneves. Kanaan’s AGR teammate Danica Patrick finished fifth. The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course hosts the next IndyCar Series event on Sunday, July 20, with the Honda Indy 200. ABC Sports will provide live broadcast coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. (EDT). The race will also be heard on XM Satellite Radio, channel 145, the official home of the IndyCar Series.
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
“I support my team 100 percent. It was the right call to come in on lap 148. Who can predict the rain? Unfortunately, the rain and I don’t get along too well. But, the 7-Eleven guys have great momentum and the guys at the front know we are coming. I’ll take fourth place today. When it is your year, it is your year. You have to get a little lucky to win the championship and I got my share of the luck in 2004.”
George Klotz, Race Strategist, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
“It is bad luck again. Each time it rains, we never seem to go the right way. It just didn’t work out for us. Scott (Dixon) and Dan (Wheldon) were three to five minutes away from having to stop and they would have been in big trouble. It worked their way and unfortunately that is the way this game is played sometimes. We’ll take our fourth-place finish. Tony is still right there in the championship.”
Patrick Finishes Fifth
Motorola driver Danica Patrick drove to a fifth-place finish in Saturday’s running of the Firestone Indy 200.
Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
“The Motorola car was definitely good tonight. It is frustrating when you are dealing with a situation like the weather. Dixon and Wheldon were just a few laps short of having to pit. We needed something like ten laps of yellow for them to run out of fuel. From that perspective it is tough, but that is a gamble that they took and it worked out in their favor. But we had a top-five finish tonight and we will take it.”
Kyle Moyer, Race Strategist, #7 Motorola Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
“The Motorola car was very strong tonight, and Danica did a great job in the opening stage of the race. Unfortunately, we lost a couple of spots when Dixon and Wheldon stayed out. Otherwise, we finished on the podium today.”
Mutoh Finishes 14th
Formula Dream driver Hideki Mutoh finished 14th at the Firestone Indy 200.
Hideki Mutoh, #27 Formula Dream Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
“It was a tough race for the Formula Dream team. We missed the timing of the first pit stop so it took longer than we planned. Because of that, I don’t think we had a chance to finish in a good position even though the race was shortened by the rain. All-in-all, we were able to learn a lot from this race and we will be ready for the next weekend at Mid-Ohio.”
Kim Green, Race Strategist, #27 Formula Dream Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
“Rain obviously affected our result. The Formula Dream car was pretty good, but unfortunately, we lost position on the first pit stop. We also had to pit under green after getting back to the lead lap so that put us back to a lap down. We learned a lot from the mistakes we made today and we had a good qualifying car, so we will keep learning from each race.”
Wreck Ends Andretti’s Night
Marco Andretti was involved in an accident on the third lap of Saturday’s Firestone Indy 200 and finished 24th.
Marco Andretti, #26 oso*fresh Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I just got loose and ran into (Ryan) Briscoe. I feel bad for the oso*fresh team but obviously for Briscoe, too. I might have been able to save the car if he wasn’t there. It was a long day, for sure, but I don’t think that had anything to do with the incident. It was simply my mistake.”
|
