RICHARD ANTINUCCI CLAIMS TOP 3 FINISH IN FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS ROUND 11 AT MID-OHIO SPORTSCAR COURSE
RACE 1 WINNER RAPHAEL MATOS GRABS POINTS LEAD, BUT SAM SCHMIDT MOTORSPORTS DRIVER IS STILL CLOSE, 3 POINTS BEHIND THE BRAZILIAN. THE PAIR WILL START FROM ROW 2 TOMORROW
Saturday, July 19, 2008
SATURDAY'S NOTES
LEXINGTON, OH. — Richard Antinucci picked the fourth spot at Mid-Ohio in the European-style Qualifying, with everybody on track at the same time. The opening lap offered him the opportunity to grab P3 from Jonny Reid on the inside of Turn 8, which the Italian-American did successfully. An uneventful race — which stayed green lights-to-flag — followed. Pole sitter Raphael Matos stayed in control throughout the race, always keeping at bay Franck Perera who had started from the front row. Antinucci's third place always looked safe from any challenge from the rest of the field, but the Top 2 spots looked out of reach, as at the half-race mark the San Diegan was trailing the Brazilian by 7.7561 and the Frenchman by 4.9337. In the closing stages Antinucci improved his pace, chipping away at the edge of the rivals up front before the chequered flag. Matos, who has a 363-360 advantage over Antinucci, will start alongside the Sam Schmidt Motorsports driver tomorrow morning, from Row 2, with the Italian-American moving from the outside.
RICHARD'S TAKE
"The track was quite bad at the beginning, and we've managed to improve at the end. We had the pace to be third I think today, and that's what we got. But I'm happy. We've been improving all weekend. We were one of the only teams who didn't attend the test about a month ago. So to come here and get on the podium for race one, and Matos drew a pretty good number for us, which means we're starting outside front row for the second race, so we're looking forward to another podium, maybe something even better. I'm pretty happy with the 35 points we've picked up, these help to stay close in the big picture."
|
FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS - Mid-Ohio 100 Race 1 - Saturday, July 19th, 2008 : | ||
|
1. |
Raphael Matos, 40 laps, 51:00.9047 Avg. Speed 106.227 mph | |
|
2. |
Franck Perera |
+ 4.2603 |
|
3. |
Richard Antinucci |
+ 11.0992 |
|
4. |
Jonny Reid |
+ 30.3922 |
|
5. |
JR Hildebrand |
+ 32.2972 |
|
6. |
Jeff Simmons |
+ 43.3716 |
|
7. |
James Davison |
+ 45.6621 |
|
8. |
Arie Luyendyk Jr |
+ 46.1877 |
|
9. |
Andrew Prendeville |
+ 55.9601 |
|
10. |
Pablo Donoso |
+ 56.4073 |
|
11. |
Bobby Wilson |
+ 1:00.7012 |
|
12. |
Wade Cunningham |
+ 1:08.9204 |
|
13. |
Sean Guthrie |
+ 1:11.9459 |
|
14. |
Ana Beatriz |
+ 1:15.8462 |
|
15. |
Mitch Cunningham |
- 1 lap |
|
16. |
Brent Sherman |
+ 43.0492 |
|
17. |
Cyndie Allemann |
- 2 laps |
|
18. |
Dillon Battistini |
+ 31.2361 |
|
19. |
Mark Olson |
- 3 laps |
|
20. |
Logan Gomez |
- 14 laps |
|
21. |
Daniel Herrington |
- 25 laps |
|
FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS - Mid-Ohio 100 - Saturday, July 19th 2008: | ||
|
1. |
Raphael Matos, 1:13.1434, average speed 111.135 mph (162.897 kph) | |
|
2. |
Franck Perera |
+ 0.5071 |
|
3. |
Jonny Reid |
+ 0.5259 |
|
4. |
Richard Antinucci |
+ 0.5539 |
|
5. |
Arie Luyendyk Jr. |
+ 0.6801 |
|
6. |
Bobby Wilson |
+ 1.0008 |
|
7. |
Wade Cunningham |
+ 1.0017 |
|
8. |
Daniel Herrington |
+ 1.0936 |
|
9. |
JR Hildebrand |
+ 1.0977 |
|
10. |
James Davison |
+ 1.1681 |
|
11. |
Robbie Pecorari |
+ 1.2024 |
|
12. |
Jeff Simmons |
+ 1.2732 |
|
13. |
Andrew Prendeville |
+ 1.3238 |
|
14. |
Logan Gomez |
+ 1.5185 |
|
15. |
Dillon Battistini |
+ 1.6381 |
|
16. |
Pablo Donoso |
+ 1.6598 |
|
17. |
Sean Guthrie |
+ 1.7036 |
|
18. |
Cyndie Allemann |
+ 1.8290 |
|
19. |
Ana Beatriz |
+ 2.0238 |
|
20. |
Mitch Cunningham |
+ 2.6942 |
|
21. |
Brent Sherman |
+ 3.4675 |
|
22. |
Mark Olson |
+ 6.8901 |