SCHMIDT PETERSON TEAMMATES POST 1-2 FINISH

HOUSTON – June 30, 2014 – Simon Pagenaud and Mikhail Aleshin turned heartbreak in Race 1 of the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston presented by the Greater Houston Honda Dealers into celebration in Victory Circle following an exhausting 90-lap battle in Race 2.

The Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammates finished 1-2 on the 1.634-mile, 10-turn temporary street circuit in the second of three doubleheader events this season.

Jack Hawksworth, a Verizon IndyCar Series rookie like Aleshin, leaped from qualifying last to finishing a season-high third. Charlie Kimball finished fourth and Sebastien Bourdais, who overcame a broken front wing sustained in contact on Lap 49 with the car of Helio Castroneves, recovered to finish fifth.

It was the first 1-2 finish for the Indianapolis-based team co-owned by Ric Peterson and former Indy car drivers Sam Schmidt and Davey Hamilton.

“We thought we had the class of the field (in Race 1), but it didn’t work out that way,” team manager Rob Edwards said. “This is much better.”

Pagenaud earned his first Verizon P1 Award for Race 1, but the Frenchman was relegated to a 16th-place finish after struggling on the rain-soaked track at NRG Park. Aleshin’s Race 1 ended on Lap 33 after contact with Takuma Sato in Turn 6 after starting a then-best 10th. He started on the front row for Race 2.

“Awesome race. The car was just beautiful,” said Pagenaud, who earned his second victory of the season. “That’s why I was so disappointed yesterday. We had such a fast car this weekend. We regrouped after Detroit (22nd and 6th-place finishes) and then came up with this package.”

Following the Lap 49 caution, Pagenaud found clear sailing through a Lap 63 pit stop and three more full-course cautions. Aleshin, who drove 40 laps on one set of Firestone primary tires and 18.5 gallons of E85, slid into second on the pit stop.

All four full-season rookies posted podium results this weekend (Carlos Huertas winning and Carlos Munoz placing third in Race 1). Four different teams were represented in the top five.

“I can’t really explain my feeling. I just have so much emotion,” said Aleshin, the first Verizon IndyCar Series driver from Russia. “We had a great qualifying today and had a great race. I had contact with Graham (Rahal) after his pit stop and at this moment I felt like, ‘That’s it.’ But I had a great strategy and had the same pace as the leaders. I was able to catch up and overtake some of them. Because of the strategy we were up there. And then can you imagine? In the end, I (was losing tire pressure). I was really lucky to finish, actually. The team did an amazing job. I don’t have enough English words to thank the team.”

Castroneves, the Verizon P1 Award winner, lost an opportunity to slice into Team Penske teammate Will Power’s championship points advantage in the incident with Bourdais. The No. 3 Pennzoil Ultra Platinum Team Penske was overtaken for the lead in Turn 3 by Pagenaud and then made contact with Bourdais’ No. 11 Mistic KVSH Racing car on the high-speed run-up to Turn 6.

“I had no idea that he was there,” said Castroneves, who tied Rick Mears for fourth all-time with 40 P1 starts. “When I’m attacking I can’t have eyes in the back of my head. I am upset because we had a great car and there were 40 laps to go and I wasn’t panicking to get the lead back.”

Castroneves led a field-high 47 laps to pick up two bonus points, but they were too few. Power, who made contact with a tire barrier on the white flag lap to fall from running third to finish 11th, takes a 39-point lead into the Pocono INDYCAR 500 fueled by Sunoco on July 7. That’s the margin he enjoyed entering the Houston doubleheader. Ryan Hunter-Reay, who finished seventh and sixth on the weekend, closed to 41 points behind. Pagenaud is 59 points back in fourth.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who was runner-up to fellow Columbian Huertas in Race 1, was overtaken by Hunter-Reay for sixth and Ryan Briscoe gained seven positions to finish eighth. Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan completed the top 10.

“It feels good to come out of this doubleheader in Houston with a top-10 finish,” said Briscoe, who secured his third consecutive top 10 and fifth of the season. “This series is just so competitive and it’s a fight to the finish at every race.”

 

 

NEWGARDEN PREPARED FOR HUMID HOUSTON DOUBLEHEADER

INDIANAPOLIS June 25, 2014 – The second of three Verizon IndyCar Series doubleheaders heats up this weekend for the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston presented by the Greater Houston Honda Dealers, where surviving the high temperatures and heavy humidity is vital.

Josef Newgarden of Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (SFHR) spent time during the Verizon IndyCar Series two-week break from competition to train for the warm climate.

“The heat is a challenge all around,” Newgarden said. “It’s the humidity that gets you in Houston. Hydrating is absolutely crucial, especially in between races. We’re going to be running Sunday as well so Saturday night you have to make sure that you’re ready to go for the next race. The pit crews are out on their feet working 10-hour days, so hydrating and staying cooled off is crucial for them as well.

“I tried to do a lot of cardio training outside over the last week, acclimating myself to what I’m going to be dealing with inside the car. You can’t simulate exactly what it’s going to be like. It’s even hotter with all of your racing gear and being inside an Indy car with the heat that it produces. Running and cycling are my two favorite things to do outside when I train.”

In 2013 SFHR left Houston with fifth and 13th place finishes. Newgarden, 23, is currently 18th in the Verizon IndyCar Series championship point standings, after leaving multiple tracks in the first half of the season with subpar results that stemmed from situations out of his control.

“I’d like to leave Houston with a couple of really strong results,” Newgarden said. “Looking at Detroit’s doubleheader, we didn’t have a good weekend. We had good pace, but we weren’t able to leave the weekend with good results. We could definitely use a break. We’ve been close this year, we just have to try and catch that break. We’re hoping to make Houston the place to do it.”

Humidity aside, Houston’s pair of 90-lap races on the 1.683-mile, 10-turn temporary street circuit will not be an easy task, according to Newgarden.

“It’s a challenging course because the concrete is a little different than places like Detroit and Toronto,” he said. “There’s some places where there’s a lot of grip and some places where there’s zero grip. Trying to figure out where you need the car to work on the concrete areas that have no grip is a test.”

Strike, LLC will again back SFHR’s No. 67 entry. Strike is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, right outside of Houston.

“It’s great to have Strike back on for Houston,” Newgarden said. “They’re partnering with us for the whole Texas campaign. Dallas was fun, but we didn’t finish as high as we wanted to. I think Strike would appreciate having even better results in Houston because it’s their home base. Everyone loves the Strike livery and I love showing up to a weekend where I get to drive the Strike car.”

To catch Newgarden in the Grand Prix of Houston doubleheader, tune into NBC Sports Network at 3 p.m. (ET) Saturday, June 28, and Sunday, June 29. Both races will air on the IMS Radio Network, broadcast on the Sirius 213 and XM 209 channels. For the latest trackside updates from the Strike car, follow @SFHRindy on Twitter and Instagram, and like Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing on Facebook.