RICHARD ANTINUCCI 7TH IN 21-CAR INDY PRO SERIES OPEN TEST AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI

THE ITALIAN-AMERICAN DRIVER PUTS IN THE BULK OF HIS MILEAGE AFTER THE BREAK, IN WARMER TRACK CONDITION THAN THE DAY'S FASTEST LAPS, AND COMES TO GRIP WITH SPEEDWAY TRAFFIC

Friday, February 29, 2008

HOMESTEAD, FL. — 21 cars took the track today at Homestead-Miami oval for the Indy Pro Series Open Test. The seven hours of track time available to the 2008 IPS field went on pretty smoothly, with only four cautions throughout the session. Rapahel Matos monopolised the top spot for most of the day, topping the charts immediately in a brisk morning and leaving the lead spot to American Bobby Wilson whose 28.5926 was good for 1st place from 10:37 to 11:11. Then the Brazilian posted a fairly impressive 28.5528 and went back in the lead, the lone driver to break the 187mph barrier at the Florida track.

Richard Antinucci in the #7 Sam Schmidt Motorsports Dallara had been lying 14th in the morning (0.3s adrift of the fastest lap), putting in 42 laps before the break. Afterwards the San Diego-based driver was able to squeeze some consistent stints, and with 15 minutes to go an inspired 96th lap helped him to vault into the Top10. The 28.6611 effort was nearly 1 tenth of a second off the day's fastest lap.

Although the 118 laps Antinucci put in did not allowed him to post a Top5 spot, the Rome-born driver felt that his learning on ovals is well ahead of the point he was at this time 12 months ago on Indy Pro Series road-courses --the only type of venue he took on last season-- and this leaves plenty of room for further improvement, as he confirmed: “It was a very productive day for us. I learned 200% of what I had known before about ovals. It was my first real day of running in traffic, my first day of driving the 2008 car, and really, it was just an exciting day to work with the Sam Schmidt Motorsports crew. The guys do such a good job. It feels really good to be here. Today we were able to gauge how competitive the series will be: our team is reigning champion but in spite of this there's no hint of Sam's drivers in the Top5. But today there was no point to score and we'll keep in mind that we have to be humble and work hard to be back on top.”

1 Raphael Matos
lap 46 = 28.5528 average speed 187.232mph (301.320 kph)
2 Bobby Wilson + 0.0361
3 Logan Gomez + 0.0412
4 Sean Guthrie + 0.0716
5 Matt Lee + 0.0720
6 James Davison + 0.0991
7 Richard Antinucci + 0.1083
8 Jon Brownson + 0.1337
9 Cyndie Alleman + 0.1594
10 Ana Beatriz + 0.1642
11 Chris Festa + 0.2209
12 Andrew Prendeville + 0.2236
13 Brandon Wagner + 0.2367
14 Brent Sherman + 0.2392
15 Mike Potekhen + 0.2760
16 Ken Losch + 0.2869
17 Juan Manuel Polar + 0.3366
18 Nathan Freke + 0.3595
19 Micky Gilbert + 0.6462
20 Jake Slotten + 0.6818