Last race, first row

By indycar.com staff
JOLIET, Ill. - Firestone Indy Lights title contenders Raphael Matos and Richard Antinucci enter the SunRichGourmet.com 100 at Chicagoland Speedway separated by four points.
They'll be separated by eight positions (four rows) in the winner-take-all 67-lap race Sept. 7.
Matos, driving the No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers Inc. car, earned his third SWE Pole Award on an oval this season with a two-lap average of 190.250 mph (57.5243 seconds) on the 1.5-mile oval. Antinucci, the penultimate of 24 qualifiers, posted an average of 188.242 mph (58.1378 seconds) for ninth on the grid in the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car. Matos picked up a point for the pole run.

"It's another point that we definitely needed," said Matos, who finished sixth and eighth in his previous oval races from the pole. "We have a four-point lead now, and we'll see what happens tomorrow. We're 67 laps away from the title. There's a lot of work and hard racing tomorrow.
"I feel great about my car. I feel great about the opportunity. We've been good all year long. We've had some ups and down this season, but we've found good momentum. Hopefully, we can carry this momentum into tomorrow."

Ana Beatriz posted her third front-row starting spot of the season with an average of 189.316 mph (57.8081 seconds) in the No. 20 Healthy Choice/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car. Beatriz, who won at Nashville Superspeedway from the front row in mid-July, also has third in the standings and the rookie of the year award in her sights.

"It's my first time here at Chicagoland and we were really focused this morning on race setup," said Beatriz, who has an eight-point lead over fourth-place J.R. Hildebrand in the standings after 15 events. "After second practice, we focused on qualifying. I think my Healthy Choice Sam Schmidt crew did a really good job. I was really wishing I could stay in the top three, so the second position is pretty good.

"Matos went really, really fast. I don't know what he did but I'm very confident for the race."

Hildebrand will start 19th in the No. 25 Allied Building Products car (186.528; 58.6723).
Arie Luyendyk Jr., driving the No. 26 Targus/Automatic Fire Sprinklers Inc. car (189.195; 57.8451 seconds), will join Mike Potekhen (189.143; 57.8611) in the No. 43 SWE Lucas Oil XFR car on Row 2.
Antinucci, who started from the pole but finished 13th at Kansas in April, will share Row 5 with Logan Gomez (188.087; 58.1858) in the No. 23 Menards Guthrie Racing car

Two Infineon and Beyond

Photo: Jim Haines

A Road Course Win For Bia?
For the first time in series history, a female driver could walk away with the Firestone Firehawk Cup. Brazil's Ana Beatriz, who is fifth in points, became the first female driver to win in the Firestone Indy Lights on July 12 at Nashville Superspeedway. Beatriz, benefits from the championship experience of Sam Schmidt Motorsports, which has won two of the last three races at Kentucky.

Schedule (local time):
Aug. 22
10-10:45 a.m. - Firestone Indy Lights practice
11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - IndyCar Series practice
1:45-2:30 p.m. - SWE Pole Qualifying
2:45-3:45 p.m. - IndyCar Series practice

Aug. 23
9-9:15 a.m. - Firestone Indy Lights warm-up
9:30-10:30 a.m. - IndyCar Series practice (two groups)
11:15 a.m. - Carneros 100 pre-race
11:45 a.m. - Carneros 100 (30 laps/67.35 miles)
1:15 p.m. - PEAK Motor Oil Pole Award Qualifying presented by Pep Boys

Aug. 24
9:45-10:15 a.m. - IndyCar Series warm-up
11 a.m. - Valley of the Moon 100 pre-race
11:30 a.m. - Valley of the Moon 100 (30 laps/67.35 miles)
1:05 p.m. - PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma County pre-race
2:30 p.m. - PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma County (80 laps/180 miles)

A hard night at Kentucky

That´s what Bia said after the race at Kentucky.

#20 HEALTHY CHOICE/Sam Schmidt Motorsports Driver Ana Beatriz On race: "In the race, the car started to develop under-steer in turns three and four and over-steer in one and two. I started to be a little bit slower than the other guys. Hildebrand got a run on me and stayed on the outside. Suddenly, he just ran into me in the middle of the front straight, and we crashed. It was the stupidest thing I've ever seen in my life. I'm not sure if he has a death wish, but I'd wish he'd leave me out of it. We're both fighting in the championship, and someone fighting in the championship shouldn't do something stupid like that. I have to thank the Healthy Choice/Sam Schmidt crew for their hard work. It's just a pity that someone took a good result away from us." On championship: "I don't know where we are in the points. We probably got passed. It's just do disappointing. Let's take a step back, look at everything, hope this situation doesn't happen again, and score as many points as we can from here on out." Finished 16th

Video from indy500.com

http://www.indy500.com/videos/watch/1308-Ana_Beatriz_And_J_R__Hildebrand_Make_Contact_At_Kentucky

Video from press conference at Nashville

Gooo! Biaaa - First Victory!

It was a great day, a great race! And that video below we would like to watch every race, last lap and Bia leading! Well done Bia!

>> Video: Bia wins in Nashville

Last Lap at Nashville

- More about the race, please go to: www.torcidabiafigueiredo.com.br



Photo: Ron McQueeney

Nashville Speedway - First Row

LEBANON, Tenn. - Ana Beatriz received the radio transmission that she tentatively held the pole for the Sunbelt Rentals 100 at Nashville Superspeedway, which would have made her the second female to pace the field in a Firestone Indy Lights race.

Before she could exit the No. 20 Healthy Choice/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, James Davison, the final qualifier, upstaged the fellow first-year driver and teammate.

Davison recorded a two-lap average of 180.401 mph (51.8844 seconds) to secure his first SWE Pole Award. Beatriz will join him on the front row after posting an average of 180.368 mph (51.8939 seconds) on the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway.

It's the first pole - third top-five start - in nine races for Davison, driving the No. 11 Lifelock/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car. It's also the 28th pole won by Sam Schmidt Motorsports, and first this season.

Beatriz, seeking to join Sarah McCune (2005 Chicagoland) as pole winners, had topped the overall speed chart in two practice sessions (179.139 mph; 26.1249 seconds on 91 laps) preceding the qualifications. Davison (175.477 best of 92 laps) was 18th.

"I just want to thank my team so much for persevering with me," said Davison, who has one top-five finish. "I maintained before qualifying that it only matters from qualifying onwards. Here we are, starting on the front row. We have a great balance on the car and as Sam reminded me, they aren't awarding prize money for practice."Beatriz's previous best starting position on an oval was fourth in the Firestone Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - in which she finished fifth.

"There were no mistakes with my laps," said Beatriz, coming off three consecutive top-five finishes. "Unfortunately, James just did a better job. Now I just need to sit down with my engineer and work on the best setup for the race. I believe that we'll be able to contend with the Sam Schmidt/Healthy Choice car."

Starting third will go a long way to erasing the memories of last weekend's doubleheader results at Watkins Glen International for Panther Racing's Dillon Battistini. The first qualifier recorded a two-lap average of 180.278 mph (51.9197 seconds). He started 17th in both races on the Watkins Glen road course and finished 17th and 20th.

Raphael Matos, who had an average of 180.252 mph (51.9273 seconds) in the No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers Inc., will join him on the second row. Teammate Arie Luyendyk Jr. will start fifth (179.726) and Jeff Simmons sixth (179.569) in the No. 2 TMR/Xtreme Coil Drilling car.

"We were a little bit conservative with the setup," Matos said. "We found a lot more speed in qualifying than we had in practice. The AFS Racing/Andretti Green Racing car is running good so I think we have a very strong car. Starting in the top five is always good."

Firestone Indy Lights points leader Richard Antinucci, driving the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, will from the outside of Row 7 (176.439; 53.0494). Matos is 27 points behind and Battistini third in the standings.

Brent Sherman (179.100) and J.R. Hildebrand (178.459) will share Row 4. Last year's race winner, Robbie pecorari, qualified 16th.

From: indycar.com
Photo: Ron McQueeney