Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Qualified For The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

Long Beach, CA - (April 18, 2009) Today was bittersweet for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing as they qualified for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The team proved they have quick cars and have been working hard all weekend, but unfortunately time and traffic was not on their side.

Pilot of the No. 24 Dad's Root Beer machine, Englishman, Mike Conway showed his speed right out of the box, but time stood in his way. The rookie was in the second qualifying group and ran in the top three most of the session. With a couple of minutes left to go, Conway came in after catching traffic and made it back out before the checkered flag, but didn't have time to complete a fast lap. The 25 year-old will start 16th on the grid for tomorrow's race after clocking a time of 1:10.6059.

Darren Manning qualified his No. 23 machine eighteenth on the grid for tomorrow's race with a time of 1:11.2411. The Brit was in the second qualifying group and struggled with under-steer for most of the session. Manning ran into some problems in the second stint. After putting on his Firestone Alternate (red-sidewall) tires, he unfortunately caught EJ Viso coming out of the pits and it kept him from being able to get an adequate number of warm-up laps in. Luckily, experience is on Manning's side, as he competed on the streets of Long Beach in 2003.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will be on track for tomorrow's practice at 8:40 a.m. PST and then again at 1:30 p.m. PST for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach which will be live on VERSUS.

What they have to say...

Mike Conway

"I'm disappointed really. We did that one good time and then I was catching people in front of me and was trying to back off and do another lap, but we just couldn't get another one in. It's a shame really. I thought that we would have easily made it through this one even though it was a tough group and a lot of quick guys. I think the guys that weren't quick earlier on kind of popped up with the Firestone Alternate (red-sidewall) tires. Now we'll go back and just concentrate for tomorrow."

Darren Manning

"Disappointing, we still have a lot of under-steer in the car, which is stopping me from going any faster. We made the rear better, better and better, but it was too good for the front to keep up. You don’t want to risk too much going into qualifying with changes, but maybe we should have done a bit more than what we did. On my Firestone Alternate (red-sidewall) tires, I caught EJ Viso coming out of the pits and it kind of messed up a couple of my warm-up laps, which should have found me a few tenths, really. I only got one hot lap at the end of the checkered, but I don't think that would have been fast enough to make it in the fast six. I think we can risk changing a few things for morning warm-up and roll the dice some on strategy. We'll do better for tomorrow."

Dennis Reinbold

"We are disappointed with where we qualified overall. We felt like we had a bit more time. We had some good laps going, but things like that happen in qualifying and we will just have to work harder in the race, but that's okay we are ready for that."

About Dreyer and Reinbold Racing

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing enters its 10th season of full-time competition in 2009, making it one of the longest-tenured teams in Indy Racing League competition. Current co-owners, Dennis Reinbold and Robbie Buhl, first teamed in full-time competition at the Walt Disney World Speedway in January of 2000. With Buhl behind the wheel, the two owners tasted victory in their debut race. The 2009 IndyCar Series season-opener on the streets of St. Petersburg on April 3-5 will mark Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's 200th series start. In its history, the team has boasted a championship list of alumni drivers. Besides Buhl, the team has run Indianapolis 500 winners Al Unser Jr., Buddy Lazier, and Buddy Rice, along with IndyCar Series race winner Ryan Briscoe. The team has one of the longest lines of heritage in American open-wheel racing and the Indianapolis 500 as Dennis Reinbold's grandfather, "Pop" Dreyer, built leading roadsters that raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

More information on the team can be found at www.dreyerreinboldracing.com.

More information on the IndyCar Series can be found at www.indycar.com.