SIXTH FASTEST LAP FOR RICHARD ANTINUCCI AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY IN FIRESTONE FREEDOM 100 QUALIFYING

THE ITALIAN-AMERICAN DRIVER EFFORT HINDERED BY MINOR MISTAKE IN TWO-LAP QUALIFYING AT THE BRICKYARD YESTERDAY. 100-MILE RACE WILL AIR LIVE TODAY AT 12:30PM ON ESPN2.

Friday, May 23, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS — Englishman Dillon Battistini will start from pole today in the Firestone Freedom 100, recording a two-lap qualifying average of 188.397 miles per hour (303.195 kph). Driving the #7 Sam Schmidt Motorsports Lucas Dallara, Antinucci was 13rd in the qualification order at Indianapolis Motor Speedway yesterday, and posted his aggregate time at 1:16.486, good for an average speed of 187.551 miles per hour. His time was then 4th fastest, but later on Wade Cunningham and Raphael Matos recorded faster averages, and the latter will take the start next to the San Diego-based driver in Row 3, with the Brazilian sitting on the inside spot.

The pole sitter is currently trailing Antinucci in the Firestone Indy Lights standings, whilst series' leader JR Hildebrand, who has a 3-point edge over the Sam Schmidt Motorsports driver, will start from Row 11. The Italian-American was pretty confident of a rebound at the famed Indiana venue after the lackluster Kansas round :"My crew has worked a lot after Kansas to give me a car that suits my driving style and I think the team has made a good job. Sam has cars on front row, second and third, and without a mistake shifting gear I could have got a Top 4 or Top 3 spot. I made a little mistake between the two laps, and therefore I could not carry momentum going into the last one. That probably hurt both of them. Being an average, you have to have your best form on both of them and I think I made a small mistake, but you just have to go with the moment and with the wind. Today to post as many points as possible is my main goal. Of course wininning the race would be awesome, because this is such a big event. But it's gonna be tough: this year is faster than last year, and the faster pace means that more strain will be put on the tyres. Yesterday morning in free practice I had a first-hand sample of tyre wear here at the Brickyard: my rear tyres were worn through to the canvas, and I barely managed to avoid to hit the wall. We tweaked the set-up before the race and hopefully all the pieces will fall in place."