Postado por Mad Lari em 30/03/2008 17:38
O primeiro passo
Neste último sábado, a piloto Bia Figueiredo (Healthy Choice/Webmotors/Bardhal) estreou na Indy Lights em Homestead na Flórida. A brasileira largou em sexto e logo no início de prova pressionou seus adversários para ganhar posições. Bia chegou a ocupar a terceira posição durante a prova, enquanto Richard Antinucci e Raphael Matos brigavam pela ponta.
Apenas sete voltas para o fim da prova, o Safety Car entrou na pista, no instante anterior, Bia disputava com Raphael Matos a terceira colocação. Depois da bandeira verde, os brasileiros perderam várias posições, com Bia terminando em sétimo e Matos em oitavo. "As relargadas, quando estávamos todos juntos, era uma loucura. Se você perdesse alguma coisa, você perdia posições. Foi o que aconteceu no final. Foi realmente muito competitivo", afirmou a piloto.
A vitória ficou com Dillon Bastinini seguido por Richard Antinucci (companheiro de Bia).
A próxima etapa acontece nos dias 5 e 6 de Abril nas ruas de St Petersburg, Flórida.
Miami 100 - Homestead - Resultado Final
Os dez primeiros
1 Dillon Battistini
2 Richard Antinucci
3 Brent Sherman
4 Arie Luyendyk Jr.
5 Chris Festa
6 Andrew Prendeville
7 Ana Beatriz
8 Raphael Matos
9 Wade Cunningham
10 J.R. Hildebrand
****
By Dave Lewandowski
indycar.com
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Ana Beatriz heeded the advice of her manager, former Indy-car racing driver Andre Ribeiro, before making her oval-racing debut with Sam Schmidt Motorsports in the Miami 100.
"I was really calm before the race," she said. "My manager has a lot of experience on ovals and he just asked me to be really relaxed because ovals take a lot of patience."
It was one of the multiple good moves that the Firestone Indy Lights rookie made in the season opener. Beatriz, who turned 23 on March 18, started sixth and finished seventh in the No. 20 Healthy Choice/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car on the 1.5-mile oval. The finish was the highest by a female driver in series history.
"I was really happy with my position at the beginning and in the middle of the race," she said. "Just at the end I lost a couple of positions. The car was really good, the team worked really hard. I learned a lot."
Beatriz was running fourth when the first of the race's two caution flags flew for debris in Turn 3. She was fourth again on a Lap 60 restart after teammate James Davison's car made light contact with the SAFER Barrier, but dropped to seventh on the white flag lap.
"The restarts, when we were all together again, it was crazy," Beatriz said. "If you missed something, you just lose positions. That's what happened in the end. It was really competitive."
It also was an oval learning experience. Last year, Beatriz competed for team Brazil in the A1 GP series. In 2006, she finished fifth in the South America Formula 3 series. In 2005, Beatriz finished third in the Formula Renault Brazil series.
Ribeiro said she'll quickly find her way around the varied set of ovals on the Firestone Indy Lights circuit.
"She is on a great team and they know everything about the cars and the series," he said. "I raced Indy Lights so long ago, the most capable people to give her technical directions on the car are those guys. They have been proving the last four years how capable they are.
"The best support I can give to Bia is how to approach this environment – the engineers, the team, the series and sponsors. I was very impressed to see this first race; it is very competitive."
Next up is a doubleheader race weekend on the narrow streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.
"I like street circuits, so let's get to the track and try to be as fast as possible," she said.
Watch the Miami 100 at 4 p.m. (EST) April 3 on ESPN.
Comentários (0):
