  June 5, 2010 |
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IndyCar Series
Round 07: Texas |
Briscoe Bests Patrick for Texas Victory |
Qualifying >> |
Starting on the pole, Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe also finished first in Saturday night’s Firestone 550k IZOD IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, but it was quite an adventure getting there.
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Ryan Briscoe(Team Penske) |
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Danica Patrick(Andretti Autosport) |
In another thrilling Texas battle that featured “pack racing” throughout the night, Briscoe first had to give
way to early race leader Dario Franchitti, then battle late-race contender Danica Patrick before securing
his first IndyCar Series victory of 2010. In addition, Briscoe at different times had to fend off challenges
from his own Team Penske teammates – Will Power and Helio Castroneves – and from a resurgent
Andretti Autosport team, including Patrick, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Following the last round of pit stops on Lap 190, the battle for victory came down to Patrick and Briscoe.
While Patrick swept around Briscoe as the latter exited the pits for the final time, Briscoe returned the
favor one lap later and squeezed out a narrow 1.5-second margin that he maintained to the finish.
For the seventh consecutive race weekend in 2010, all 26 drivers completed the race weekend without a
single failure for the Honda Indy V-8 engine. This weekend, drivers and teams logged a total of 10,828
trouble-free miles around the high-speed Texas oval. Tonight also marked Honda’s 101st IndyCar Series
race victory since joining the series in 2003.
Behind the lead pair, Andretti followed up his third-place finish at last week’s Indianapolis 500 with
another podium result tonight, his best results of 2010. While never a threat for victory, Scott Dixon
posted yet another consistent, strong run to finish fourth. Teammate and Indy 500 champion Dario
Franchitti led 88 laps and was very strong while out front. Handling issues in traffic during the final third of
the race dropped him to a fifth-place finish, but he still takes over the championship points lead after
seven of 17 events.
The IZOD IndyCar Series now takes a one-week break before resuming on Sunday, June 20, with the
fourth oval-track race of the season and the only short-track on the 2010 schedule: The Iowa Corn Indy
250 at Iowa Speedway in Newton, IA.
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Marco Andretti(Andretti Autosport) |
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Hideki Mutoh(Newman Haas Racing) |
Ryan Briscoe (#6 Team Penske Honda) Started 1st, finished 1st, 1st win of 2010 and sixth career
IndyCar victory, 4th win of 2010 for Team Penske:
“This is unbelievable. I wasn’t very happy with our
car after the final practice last night, so this one goes to my engineer Eric [Cowdin]. He made a lot of
changes to the car for tonight’s race and they were all the right calls. Danica [Patrick] was very quick
tonight, but I was able to get a pretty good run at her after our final stops, used the ‘push-to-pass’ at just
the right time and got the lead. Once I was in front, our car was so good in clean air that it was just a
question of making a mistake-free run to the finish. After the problems we’ve had earlier this year and at
Indy last week, this victory definitely means a lot to me.”
Danica Patrick (#7 Andretti Autosport Honda) started 8th, finished 2nd, her best result of 2010:
“I can’t
believe I’m disappointed to finish second, but that’s how good our car was tonight and how badly I want to
win another race. Everyone on the Andretti Autosport team did a fantastic job this weekend, and that’s
reflected in the results, with all four cars in the top seven. Our car was really good, both out front and in
traffic, and when we left the pits in front of Ryan [Briscoe] at the last stop I had hoped we could hold him
off, but he was just too strong for us tonight. But thanks so much to all my guys, I’m happy to be smiling
at the end of a race tonight.”
Jack Spurney (General Manager, Honda Performance Development) on tonight’s race:
“It was another
exciting night race here at Texas Speedway, with 12 cars on the lead lap at the finish and a great win for
Ryan Briscoe and Team Penske. There was a frightening moment when Simona de Silvestro had her
crash, and we’re happy to see that she’s okay after the crash and resulting fire. The late-race duel
between Ryan and Danica Patrick had the crowd on it’s feet, and Marco Andretti’s third place was
deserved and a welcome result for him. It was another successful race for the Honda Indy V-8 engine,
and now our engineers can finally get a well-earned break after four consecutive weekends in
Indianapolis and Texas.”
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IndyCar Series
Round 07: Texas
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| 1 |
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Ryan Briscoe(Team Penske) |
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| 2 |
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Danica Patrick(Andretti Autosport) |
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| 3 |
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Marco Andretti(Andretti Autosport) |
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| 4 |
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Scott Dixon(Target Chip Ganassi) |
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| 5 |
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Dario Franchitti(Target Chip Ganassi) |
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| 6 |
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Tony Kanaan(Andretti Autosport) |
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| 7 |
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Ryan Hunter-Reay(Andretti Autosport) |
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| 8 |
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Alex Lloyd-R(Dale Coyne Racing) |
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| 9 |
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Dan Wheldon(Panther Racing) |
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| 10 |
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Vitor Meira(A.J. Foyt Racing) |
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| 11 |
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E.J. Viso(KV Racing Technology) |
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| 12 |
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Hideki Mutoh(Newman Haas Racing) |
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| 13 |
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Tomas Scheckter(Dreyer & Reinbold Racing) |
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| 14 |
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Will Power(Team Penske) |
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| 15 |
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Sarah Fisher(Sarah Fisher Racing) |
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| 16 |
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Raphael Matos(Luczo Dragon/DeFerran) |
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| 17 |
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Mario Romancini-R(Conquest Racing) |
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| 18 |
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Alex Tagliani(FAZZT Racing) |
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| 19 |
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Justin Wilson(Dreyer & Reinbold Racing) |
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| 20 |
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Helio Castroneves(Team Penske |
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| 21 |
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Mario Moraes(KV Racing Technology) |
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| 22 |
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Alex Tagliani(FAZZT Racing) |
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| 23 |
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Bertrand Baguette-R(Conquest Racing) |
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| 24 |
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Milka Duno(Dale Coyne Racing) |
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| 25 |
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Takuma Sato-R(KV Racing Technology) |
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| 26 |
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Jay Howard-R(Sarah Fisher Racing) |
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Ryan Briscoe(Team Penske) |
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Related Links
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