SPEEDWAY (May 24, 2022) – The Dreyer & Reinbold Racing duo of Sage Karam and Santino Ferrucci returned to the famed 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval Monday for another practice round before this Friday’s “Carb Day” in preparations for the 106th Indianapolis 500 set for Sunday (May 29).
With sunny and breezy conditions, Karam, entering his ninth Indy 500 start, recorded 86 laps Monday in the No. 24 DRR AES Indiana/500 Festival Chevrolet with a top speed of 226.699 miles per hour, placing him ninth fastest overall in the 33-car field.
Ferrucci, with his fourth Indy 500 this Sunday, ran 85 laps in the No. 23 Screamin’ Sicilian Pizza/Barrett-Jackson Chevrolet with a best speed of 225.075 m.p.h. for 16th overall. In addition to the practice laps, both DRR drivers worked on pit stops with their crews respectively as they prepare for the popular “Carb Day” Pit Stop Challenge set for 2:30 p.m. this Friday.
In Sunday’s 200-lap “Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” Ferrucci will start in the 15th starting slot (outside of Row 5) and Karam is scheduled to begin in the 22nd starting position (inside of Row 8) when the green flag drops at 12:45 p.m. EDT.
“We were back in race trim today and the car was good,” said Karam. “We were purely working on the car’s handling in traffic. We ran first with full tanks and getting a balance reading. After a few changes, the car felt even better. We ran over 80 laps today and learned even more about our race car. We were able to do some strong pit stops as well. Those strong stops have been a key for our DRR team for many years. We can pick up five or so spots on each stop and get right in the mix with the contenders. Being in the top-ten with race trim is very encouraging and I’m ready for Sunday.”
“Today was a solid learning day for our team,” said Ferrucci. “We made a bunch of long stints with race setup, and I feel pretty confident in the car. We made a slight change in the rear, and we’ll make another change in the front for ‘Carb Day.’ I feel like our car is just getting better and better. We didn’t even get close to using much downforce today, but we expect a hotter day on Sunday. So, we’ll make the proper adjustments for the race.”
The next on-track action at IMS will be Friday (May 27) with the annual two-hour practice round (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.) for the famous Carb Day activities followed by the Pit Stop Challenge at 2:30 p.m.
About Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing was founded in 1999 by Indianapolis car dealer Dennis Reinbold. The legacy of the Dreyer and Reinbold family dates back to the 1920s with Reinbold’s grandfather, the legendary Floyd “Pop” Dreyer, a former factory motorcycle racer. Dreyer served as a crewman and mechanic on the famed Duesenberg driven by Benny Shoaff and Babe Stapp in the 1927 Indy 500. Dreyer went on to build Indy 500 cars in the 1930s many of which started on the front row. In addition, Dreyer constructed championship-winning sprint cars and midgets as well as quarter midgets called Dreyerettes. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing captured its first win in 2000 with driver Robbie Buhl at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Fla., and has fielded a variety of drivers including Buhl, Buddy Lazier, Sarah Fisher, Buddy Rice, Al Unser Jr., Sage Karam and J.R. Hildebrand. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has successfully qualified all 42 drivers for the Indy 500 in its history. DRR, who competed in Rallycross for the first time in 2015, captured the 2016 Lites rallycross championship. In 2021, the team campaigned Tanner Foust and Cabot Bigham in the Supercar division of Nitro Rallycross. Additionally, the team ran a selection of lites cars that included drivers such as Sage Karam, Conner Martell, and Lane Vacala.
