For media information:
Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications
Cell: (317) 201-0729
E-mail: LindaKMansfield@cs.com
Andersen Racing's Jorda
Finishes 11th in Her First
Firestone Indy Lights Race
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., March 28 - While some of the veterans were making
wild moves that didn't work out or becoming victims of the wild moves of
others, Andersen Racing's Carmen Jorda successfully finished her first Firestone
Indy Lights race ever Sunday on the St. Petersburg street circuit. She
survived difficult weather conditions that made the track very slippery and turned
a 15th place starting position into an 11th-place finish.
With sprinkles of the rain that postponed the IZOD IndyCar Series race
until Monday already beginning to fall at the start of the Firestone Indy Lights
race, the track conditions were challenging. James Winslow spun before the
35-lap race on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street course even started. Turn 1 on
the first lap was disastrous for polesitter James Hinchcliffe and Philip
Major, who were both out early due to contact. A little further up the track,
Turn 8 to be exact, Adrian Campos Jr. slammed into a tire barrier and was
also forced to retire.
That moved Jorda into 11th place.
She advanced to tenth when the other woman in the race, Pippa Mann, spun on
lap three under a full-course yellow. Two laps later Jorda was up to
eighth after Sebastian Saavedra, Martin Plowman and Charlie Kimball came together
in Turn 3.
At that point the officials red-flagged the race so the crews could change
their Firestone Firehawk slicks to rain tires.
Jorda slid off into a run-off area in Turn 1 with 12 laps down to cause a
local yellow flag, but she was able to continue. That dropped her to 12th
place. She ran in that position until lap 26 when Saavedra hit the wall
between Turns 8 and 9, which put her back into 11th position.
An official weather advisory was issued to the crowd with 29 laps down,
recommending that the fans take cover. Rodrigo Barbosa and Jonathan Summerton
went off the track later due to the adverse conditions but Jorda kept her
car pointed in the right direction and was rewarded with an 11th place finish
at the end for herself, her team and her sponsors: NTGS, Hola!, ASAP
Marketing, Air Europa, Pepetravel.com and Allied Building Products Corp.
The young driver from Alcoy, Spain earned $13,000, including a $1,000 bonus
from Firestone.
"I'm glad I finished the race," Jorda said afterwards. "I had a difficult
time with my brakes in the rain, but I'm happy I stayed on the track and
finished."
"We're very pleased to finish a race held under very nasty conditions with
no accidents," added team co-owner John Andersen. "This was Carmen's first
race ever in this car. She finished and she had no damage. It was a good
day."
J.K. Vernay won Sunday's race over Jan Heylen and Stefan Wilson.
The next Firestone Indy Lights race is Sunday, April 11 at Barber
Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala.
Andersen Racing, which is sponsored by Allied Building Products Corp.,
competes in karting, Star Mazda and Firestone Indy Lights. A sister company,
Andersen Promotions, administers the newly revived USF2000 National
Championship, which is presented by Cooper Tires and powered by Mazda. USF2000, Star
Mazda and Firestone Indy Lights were all on the card at St. Petersburg this
weekend.
For more information see the team's Web site at andersenracingteam.com.
Jorda's Web site is at Carmenjorda.com. Information on the series can be found
at indycar.com/indylights.
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 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.
A sister company, Andersen Promotions, administers the USF2000 National
Championship presented by Cooper Tires and powered by Mazda. It is part of
both the Indy Racing League's Road to Indy program and the MAZDASPEED
Motorsports driver development system.
Andersen Racing is sponsored by Allied Building Products Corp. 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, andersenkarting.com, andersenracepark.com and usf2000.com.