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Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications
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E-mail: LindaKMansfield@cs.com
Andersen Racing's Daly Finishes Second
While Team's Other Drivers Are All in Top Seven
In Friday's Star Mazda Race at Road Atlanta
BRASELTON, Ga., Sept. 25 - Andersen Racing's Conor Daly finished second to
record his sixth podium finish of the season while his teammates all
finished in the top seven Friday at Road Atlanta in Round 12 of the Star Mazda
Championship presented by Goodyear.
The other three drivers representing the Palmetto, Fla.-based team were
Joel Miller, who finished fourth; Richard Kent, who placed sixth; and Denis
Navarro, who was seventh after 33 trips around the 2.54-mile road course in the
45-minute allotted time span.
Polesitter and point leader Peter Dempsey led every lap. With only one
early yellow, Dempsey enjoyed a healthy margin of victory over Daly, who
registered his second consecutive runner-up finish despite several tussles with
lapped traffic.
Daly, a MAZDASPEED Motorsports-backed driver who hails from Noblesville,
Ind., started second and ran in that position the entire distance in his No.
22, which is sponsored by Indeck, Cytomax, College Network and Merchant
Services. Daly had a 3.434-second advantage over the third-place finisher, Adam
Christodoulou, at the checkered.
Miller, of Hesperia, Calif., started third in the Andersen Racing No. 2,
which is sponsored by Fader Higher Productions, eSoles Custom Footbeds, Doug
Mockett & Co., Burns Truck & Trailer and Brazos Bend Energy Services. He ran
in third place for most of the race, but dropped to fourth with just 8
minutes remaining when Christodoulou got around him with 26 laps in the books.
Miller stayed in fourth place the rest of the way to post his eighth top-five
finish of the season.
Kent, of Clifton Reynes, England, started fourth in the Andersen Racing No.
33, which is sponsored by Traka and Allied Interior Products.
Christodoulou got around him on lap one but he passed him back to regain fourth with
three laps completed.
Kent was able to maintain fourth place from that point until unlucky lap
13, when an altercation with a lapped car sent him through a gravel trap off
Turn 3. Christodoulou and Alex Ardoin were both able to get by him while he
was off course, relegating him to sixth place with 20 minutes gone, and
that's where the two-time winner went on to finish in Georgia.
Although he'd never even seen Road Atlanta until testing started on
Tuesday, Denis Navarro of Sao Paulo, Brazil came from 14th to finish right behind
Kent in seventh place with his No. 21, which is sponsored by Navarro
Medicines Distribution and Allied Interior Products.
Navarro vaulted from 14th to 11th on the first lap when Anders Krohn and
David Ostella ran into problems and he was also able to pass Michael Furfari.
Navarro broke into the top 10 for the first time with three laps down when
both he and Rick Rosin passed Jorge Goncalvez. That put Navarro behind Rusty
Mitchell, whom he followed for seven laps until he passed him with 10 laps
and 15 minutes gone to advance to ninth.
Passing Rosin was his next goal, and he accomplished that about 11 minutes
later with 18 laps down to take eighth place. At that point Caio Lara was
between Navarro and his teammate, Kent. Navarro passed his fellow Brazilian
with 10 minutes remaining in the race and 24 laps complete to move into
seventh, and that's where he finished in the 20-car field.
Dempsey set the fastest race lap but Daly set the second-fastest lap on lap
10 with a time of 1:20.681 and an average speed of 113.335 miles per hour.
Kent had the fourth-fastest race lap on lap 18; Miller posted the
sixth-fastest lap on lap 12 and Navarro had the seventh-fastest lap on lap 22.
Unofficially the driver point championship is now down to just Dempsey and
Christodoulou at the season finale Oct. 10 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in
Monterey, Calif. Again unofficially, Dempsey would become the driver
champion with a sixth place or better finish even if Christodoulou would win the
pole and the race.
Again unofficially, the top 11 in driver points are Dempsey (444 points),
Christodoulou (429), Daly (382), Miller (370), Ardoin (361), Kent (347),
Krohn (343), Lara (339), Furfari (302), Goncalvez (297) and Navarro (292), with
45 points up for grabs at the season finale.
JDC Motorsports has a 19-point edge over Andersen Racing in the unofficial
team standings, 330 to 311.
Allied Building Products Corp. and Lafarge North America sponsor Andersen
Racing, the development team of Rahal Letterman Racing. The team's Web site
is located at andersenracingteam.com. Information on the team's 1-mile road
course test track at its headquarters in Palmetto, Fla. can be found online
at andersenracepark.com. Information on its karting program can be found at
andersenkarting.com.
The series' Web site is at starmazda.com.
Post-race quotes follow:
Conor Daly: "Peter's car was very good; I just couldn't quite get him
today. I tried to pull a gap on the cars behind me, which I did, but I couldn't
get Peter.
"Traffic was really irritating today. It was also very hot; I don't think
I've ever perspired that much in my life, but I felt OK throughout the race.
"I like the track. I'm really thankful to the team; they worked very hard
and gave me a good car, and I'm glad we were able to finish on the podium."
Joel Miller: "Adam got by me going into Turn 1 when I had a lapped car
ahead of me. He was faster than I was so it was only a matter of time, but I
kept him behind me for quite a while.
"My car was well-balanced, especially at the start, but I believe we had a
fourth-place car this weekend, and I did the best I could with what I had.
Now we'll just move on to Laguna."
Richard Kent: "I was in fifth place on lap one and then after the safety
car got off I was able to get Adam back in Turn 3. I was about three car
lengths behind Joel at that time, and we were able to run like that for quite a
while.
"Later the lapped car of Walt Bowlin turned into me and I went off into a
gravel trap in Turn 3. I was very lucky not to spin out completely. I just
went off and on the course, but it was enough to let Adam and Alex get by.
From that point on I just played catch-up."
Denis Navarro: "It was a fun race. The car was as good as it had been all
week; I just wish we'd qualified better. There was no sign of the fuel pump
problem we had in qualifying, so that was good."
Friday's stats:
Round 12 (5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.):
1. Peter Dempsey
2. Conor Daly
4. Joel Miller
6. Richard Kent
7. Denis Navarro
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.