Sonoma, CA (August 28, 2011)- Dreyer & Reinbold
Racing had an extremely strong weekend as they had two great
performances.The team proved that their hard work throughout the
last two days had paid off as Giorgio Pantano, pilot of the No. 22
TranSystems machine finished 6th and Ana Beatriz, pilot of the No.
24 Ipiranga machine earned a 13th place result.
Giorgio Pantano really impressed and showed his true talent at
Infineon Raceway today. The Italian, who substituted for Wilson for
today's event, started 11th and as the green flag dropped, had a
clean start as he gained one position passing his teammate Ana
Beatriz for 10th place. The field quickly settled into a groove and
Pantano maintained his position as he saved fuel. On Lap 21, he
came into the pits for fuel and tires and he filtered out to P6.
During the second stint, Giorgio stayed focused and maintained his
position as he came in on Lap 48 for the final pit stop of the
day.
As the laps continued to wind down Pantano did an incredible
job. However it got a little interesting for the Italian and DRR as
the yellow came out on Lap 65, with 10 laps remaining in the race.
On Lap 69 the green flag waved and Giorgio battled for position. He
brought the car home safely in 6th place.
Today was a similar story for Ana Beatriz. The Brazilian proved
again that she is graduating from rookie status. As the green flag
dropped, Beatriz, who earned a career best starting spot of 10th
position, had a clean start and stayed out of trouble. She lost one
position to her teammate, Pantano, moving her back to 11th, where
she would stay for the remainder of the first stint.
Unfortunately, just before Beatriz was supposed to pit, she was
running out of fuel and had to reduce her speed to make it to the
pits. As a result, she lost some momentum and positions. She came
in on Lap 25 for fuel and tires. Bia filtered out to P20 and just
saved fuel before she would come into pit for the final time on Lap
50 for fuel and tires. Luckily, after the last stop she regained
her momentum and brought the Ipiranga machine in 13th position.
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will head straight to Baltimore to
prepare the cars for next weekend's next round in Baltimore. For
more updates on the team, please visit www.dreyerreinboldracing.com.
What they have to say...
Dennis Reinbold, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Co-Owner: "We know that we were penalized, but we are just
considering that as hot air. On the re-start the League put the
lapped No. 18 car in front us randomly with no explanation as to
why they did that. As a result we had to battle between lapped
cars. Whatever they say we are not going to acknowledge it."
Giorgio Pantano No. 22 TranSystems: "We did a great
job today and had a well deserved 6th place finish. The TranSystems
car worked really well. The entire team did a fantastic job. The
last time I was here was in 2006, so after six years of not driving
an IndyCar I think it's an amazing thing. To be able to be up front
with Will Power, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti
and Ryan Briscoe was just a fabulous opportunity. I really enjoyed
it. I have to say thank you to the team and all of the sponsors
because I would not be here if it weren't for them."
Ana Beatriz, No. 24 Ipiranga: "We had a good start.
We lost one spot to Giorgio, but we were able to hang in there. I
think what really hurt us was when we ran out of fuel before the
first pit stop. I had to really over slow on that last lap before
we pitted and we lost a lot of time. When I went back out on track
we had lost a lot of positions and we got behind a group of cars
that were fighting each other hard. After that, we got back into a
good rhythm after the second pit stop. Track position is so
important here and all of those things really hurt us. Now we move
on and get ready for Baltimore next weekend."