For more information:
Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications
Cell: (317) 201-0729
E-mail: LindaKMansfield@cs.com
Despite Blurred Visor,
RLR/Andersen's Romancini Records
Another Top-10 Finish Sunday at Infineon
While Jackson Places 15th
SONOMA, Calif., Aug. 23 - RLR/Andersen Racing's Mario Romancini only had
one practice session, qualifying and a warm-up session to learn Infineon
Raceway's 12-turn, 2.303-mile road course before Sunday's Carneros 100 Firestone
Indy Lights race. Somehow he was able to remember the lay of the track,
turned when he needed to, kept his speed up and didn't hit anything, even though
he couldn't see very well most of the race.
The car of a competitor ahead of him leaked oil so badly that Romancini's
vision was seriously compromised, as he ran out of tearoffs and was forced to
squint through a badly soiled visor for most of the race. Still, he
recorded another solid top-10 finish when he persevered to place ninth in the
40-lap/92-mile contest.
With the strong finish, the Sao Paulo, Brazil-based driver sponsored by
Andersen Racing, Revita Recycling, Win Brazil Marketing, Allied Interior
Products and Lafarge North America remains in sixth place in the point standings
with two races remaining.
His teammate, Ali Jackson of Moyvalley, County Kildare, Ireland, improved
three positions from his 18th-place qualifying spot to finish 15th. It was
Jackson's third finish in that position in the seven races he's competed in
as a member of the Palmetto, Fla.-based team. He's also currently 15th in the
point standings.
Jackson, who like Romancini is a rookie in this very competitive series,
drives the No. 9 sponsored by the Moyvalley Golf and Hotel Resort and Allied
Interior Products.
Both RLR/Andersen drivers actually started one spot higher than they
qualified after the second-place qualifier, Sebastian Saavedra, was forced to
start last due to an engine change after quals. That put Romancini in seventh
and Jackson in 17th when the green flag dropped on the 19-car field.
Romancini remained in seventh place for the first 17 laps, running between
the driver of the car that was leaking oil, Richard Philippe, and Charlie
Kimball. The latter got around Romancini with 18 laps down to push him to
eighth, while Wade Cunningham tried to close the gap behind him.
Cunningham spun in Turn 11 with 25 laps down, which cost him four positions
on the track and helped Romancini in the point standings, since Cunningham
is fifth to Romancini's sixth in points. Cunningham was able to continue
without bringing out a yellow, while Romancini kept chasing Kimball with
Saavedra now right behind him.
Romancini stayed in eighth until Saavedra passed him for that position with
32 laps down. Romancini was still in ninth, 1.3294 seconds behind Kimball
and 1.7010 seconds ahead of Martin Plowman, when the checkered waved.
Jackson persevered too.
Saavedra got around him at the start but then the action slowed almost
immediately after Gustavo Yacaman, who started right in front of Jackson, hit
the wall in Turn 11 after contact with Daniel Herrington's car. Yacaman was
done for the day but Herrington continued. Jackson was able to get around
Pippa Mann in the early going and the driver who started beside Jackson, Juan
Pablo Garcia, dropped back, so that vaulted Jackson to 15th by lap three. The
event's lone full-course yellow was displayed from laps two through seven
due to Yacaman's crash.
Mike Potekhen dropped from 13th to 16th with 16 laps down, which advanced
Jackson to 14th place, but Mann repassed him with 21 laps complete to push
him back to 15th. He was still in that spot, 3.5700 seconds behind Mann and
0.8867 of a second ahead of Potekhen, at the checkered.
Local favorite and polesitter J.R. Hildebrand had a whopping 15.8918
seconds margin of victory over Felipe Guimaraes at the end. James Davison was
third, an additional 7.6485 seconds back. More than 13 seconds further back
was Philippe, who somehow had enough oil left to be able to finish fourth. Ana
Beatriz, who was about 3 seconds behind Philippe, rounded out the top five.
Romancini's fastest lap of the race was lap 13, which he did in 1:24.9454
for an average speed of 97.602 miles per hour. Jackson's fastest lap was lap
12, when he was timed in 1:25.4719 for an average speed of 97.000 mph.
VERSUS's telecast of the race is scheduled for 4 p.m. Eastern time on
Monday.
More information on the series, including the 13-race 2010 schedule, can be
found at firestoneindylights.com.
The next Firestone Indy Lights race is this coming Saturday, Aug. 29, at
Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.
Andersen Racing's multi-car Star Mazda team will be in action this coming
Saturday too, as that series is part of a program headlined by the American
Le Mans Series at Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ontario,
Canada. Joel Miller, one of Andersen Racing's Star Mazda drivers, is scheduled
to be interviewed on RaceFanRadio's "The Next Level Presented by PitFit"
this Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern. For more information see racefanradio.com.
Another Andersen Racing Star Mazda driver, Conor Daly, appeared on the same
program on Aug. 4.
For more information on Andersen Racing, which is sponsored by Allied
Interior Products and Lafarge North America and offers programs in karting in
addition to Firestone Indy Lights and Star Mazda, see its Web site at
andersenracingteam.com. For more information on its 1-mile road course test track in
Palmetto, Fla., see andersenracepark.com. Its karting team's new Web site
is located at andersenkarting.com.
Post-race quotes follow:
Mario Romancini: "I had a good start and was able to hold my position. But
then the car of the driver in front of me, Richard Philippe, started to
leak oil. I ran out of tearoffs and my visor got very dirty, and basically I
couldn't see anything all race long. It was hard.
"But I had a good car. We made some improvements after qualifying that
helped, and I was able to do similar lap times to some of the drivers who
finished in the top five, so that was good."
Ali Jackson: "The race went OK. I got up into P14 from 18th, but then I
locked the rears going into Turn 7 and lost a place. My race pace was OK, but
Sonoma is a very hard place to pass.
"I've been struggling this year with learning new tracks on the race
weekends. With only 40 minutes practice before qualifying, it was very
challenging."
Sunday's stats:
Warm-up (8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.):
1. Richard Philippe, 1:23.1970, 99.653 mph, lap 16 of 18.
9. Mario Romancini, 1:24.1293, 98.548 mph, lap 11 of 16.
17. Ali Jackson, 1:25.0204, 97.515 mph, lap 17 of 18.
Race (11:15 a.m., 40 laps):
1. J.R. Hildebrand
9. Mario Romancini
15. Ali Jackson
About Allied Building Products Corp.:
Allied Building Products Corp., headquartered in East Rutherford, N.J., is
one of the largest roofing and siding distributors in the United States.
Founded in 1950 with five employees and two trucks, today it is a $1.8 billion
building material distribution company with over 3,500 employees, more than
200 branches in 30 states, well over one million square feet of office and
warehouse space, and an inventory of approximately 85,000 products, from
residential roofing and siding to doors, windows, waterproofing, manufactured
stone, interior products and commercial roofing systems. For more information
see alliedbuilding.com.
About the Lafarge Group:
The Lafarge Group is the world leader in building materials, with
top-ranking positions in all of its businesses: cement, aggregates and concrete, and
gypsum. With 83,000 employees in 78 countries, the Group posted sales of
19.0 billion Euros in 2008.
Lafarge North America Inc. ("Lafarge North America" or "Lafarge"), a
Lafarge Group company, is the largest diversified supplier of construction
materials in the United States and Canada.
In 2009 and for the fifth year in a row, the Lafarge Group was listed in
the "Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World." With the
world's leading building materials research facility, the Lafarge Group places
innovation at the heart of its priorities, working for sustainable construction
and architectural creativity.
For more information about Lafarge North America, go to lafarge-na.com or
contact Louise Muth, director of external communications, at (703) 480-3707.
About Andersen Racing:
Andersen Racing strives to provide the best and most comprehensive training
possible for future open-wheel superstars while giving its marketing
partners media exposure and hospitality opportunities at some of the most
prestigious events in North America. It provides a unique program utilizing multiple
entries in three different platforms: karting, Star Mazda and Firestone
Indy Lights (televised on VERSUS). In 2008 it fielded multiple entries in 42
races in 18 states and provinces at some of the best facilities on the
continent, including the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Andersen Racing won the team championship for 2008 for both the F2000
Championship Series presented by Hoosier Racing Tire and the Star Mazda
Championship presented by Goodyear. Two of its drivers finished first and second in
the F2000 driver point standings, while another was sixth. Three of its Star
Mazda drivers placed third, fifth and sixth in that series' driver
standings. RLR/Andersen Racing finished sixth in the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights team
standings, while one of its drivers placed fifth in that series' driver
point standings.
Andersen Racing's principals, brothers Dan and John Andersen, have
extensive experience in series administration as well as team management. They've
worked with many of today's top open-wheel stars, including several Indy 500
winners.
Andersen Racing is sponsored by Allied Building Products Corp. and Lafarge
North America. It is the official development team of Rahal Letterman
Racing. The team is headquartered at Andersen RacePark, an 18-acre facility in
Palmetto, Fla. that includes a 1-mile road course test track. For more
information see andersenracingteam.com, andersenracepark.com and andersenkarting.com.