Baltimore, MD (Sept. 2, 2011) -
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing hit the pavement in Baltimore,
Maryland today, marking the first time that the team's drivers,
Giorgio Pantano (No. 22 Roll Coater), Tomas
Scheckter (No. 07 SH Racing/Team Redline Extreme),
and Ana Beatriz (No. 24 Ipiranga), would run laps around
the 2-mile temporary street circuit. The trio was 14th, 15th, and
27th respectively.
After a very impressive showing at Infineon Raceway last
weekend, newcomer to the team, Giorgio Pantano, proved today that
he was ready to get back in the cockpit again. It didn't take long
for the Italian to learn the circuit. Unfortunately, he was unable
to get a clean lap time, but he feels confident for tomorrow.
Pantano clocked the 14th quickest time of 1:23.7320.
Tomas Scheckter had a good solid day in practice. This
weekend will be the South African's first time back on a
road/street course since Edmonton last year. Scheckter had the
opportunity to test two weeks ago at Infineon Raceway and he proved
that he is ready for the weekend. He was 15th fastest
in today's practice session with at time of 1:23.7668.
Ana Beatriz proved that she is ready to conquer the new
Baltimore circuit. The Ipiranga crew got the No. 24 machine in the
ballpark and tomorrow can be all about perfecting it. The rookie
clocked the 27th quickest time in today's practice session with a
time of 1:25.8943. Beatriz, secured her best IZOD IndyCar career
qualifying result in Sonoma last weekend with a 10th place starting
spot. In July of this year, she earned her best IZOD IndyCar result
in Toronto, Canada when she brought the car home in 11th
place.
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will be on track for The
Inaugural 2011 Baltimore Grand Prix in Baltimore, Maryland on
September 4th. The qualifying broadcast will air live on Saturday,
September 3rd at 2:00 pm (EDT) on VERSUS. The race telecast will
air live on Sunday, September 4th at 2:00 pm (EDT) on VERSUS. The
race will air live on the IMS Radio Network, XM channel 94, and
Sirius channel 212.
What they have to say...
Tomas Scheckter, No. 07 Redline Xtreme
Machine: "Today was good. Unfortunately, we
didn't get as much track time as we would have liked. The set-up
seems to be decent and we'll see what happens for tomorrow.
Overall, I think it was pretty positive day for my first day
back."
Giorgio Pantano No. 22 Roll
Coater: "I'm very happy with today. The Roll
Coater car seems to be okay. Right now, we are working on fixing
some things. With the cars that we had today we weren't able to get
a good lap time. Tomorrow, I'm sure we will be at the
top.
Ana Beatriz, No. 24 Ipiranga:
"I think this track is one of the roughest tracks that I have
ever been to. It's so bumpy and in some of the corners my hands
come off of the steering wheel because it's very, very bumpy. We
just need to keep working on it. We will push hard tomorrow so that
we can get closer, and I'm sure that we will."