2009 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing // Press Release

Sunday, July 05, 2009
Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen –
Watkins Glen International
Round 9 of 17 in the IndyCar Series

DOORNBOS FINISHED NINTH IN THE CAMPING WORLD GRAND PRIX AT THE GLEN; McDONALD’S DRIVER RAHAL 13TH

McDonald’s driver Graham Rahal utilized an alternate pit strategy to attempt to move up from his 15th place start but the timing of the cautions in the 60-lap Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen on the 3.4-mile permanent road course contributed to a 13th place finish. Rahal had qualified fifth but series officials dropped him 10 starting positions because his car failed a post qualifying inspection for being underweight. At the start of the event he took over 14th place from eventual fourth place finisher Helio Castroneves. He moved up two more places on Lap 5 when EJ Viso and Marco Andretti came into contact and dropped back. After passing Danica Patrick on the following lap he held 11th place for two laps before the team called he and his teammate Robert Doornbos in for an early pit stop on an alternate pit strategy. He returned to the track in 16th place and steadily climbed back into 11th as others made their first stops. Race leader Justin Wilson was able to pit before the first of four cautions came out for Richard Antinucci who was making his IndyCar Series debut but had crashed. Second place runner and polesitter Ryan Briscoe was schedule to pit so he had to make a stop for a splash of fuel in the closed pit and come back in when they opened. By the end of that three lap caution Rahal was in third place when the race went green but the caution immediately came out again when Mario Moraes and Ed Carpenter made contact and continued but the action sent Dario Franchitti into the gravel trap. Rahal had passed Mike Conway for position prior to the caution and ran in second place for one lap before the team elected to bring him in for a second stop on Lap 24. He returned to the track in 13th place behind Doornbos but was passed by Viso on the restart on Lap 25. Viso also got by Doornbos and Rahal moved back into 13th by Lap 30 when the third caution came out for Paul Tracy who crashed in The Boot and backed into the Armco barrier. Once the race resumed, Rahal closed on Doornbos but was not able to pass. He moved into 12th when Hideki Mutoh pit on Lap 40 and climbed into fifth by Lap 43 before his final stop on Lap 44 and returned to the track in 14th place. Mutoh brought out the final caution from Laps 52-53 and he moved into 13th. He temporarily passed Raphael Matos after the restart for two laps but Matos regained the position with four laps to go and Rahal finished 13th. He collected 17 points for a total of 197 to maintain his ninth place rank and is 41 points out of fifth place. Former NHLR driver Justin Wilson earned his sixth Champ/Indy car win and first for Dale Coyne Racing. Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe finished second while Scott Dixon finished third to take over the series points lead after Round 9 of 17. Following are Rahal’s post race comments:

“The McDonald’s team got a pretty good start, we were moving forward quite a lot and got up to 11th. Then we came in and stopped earlier than others which was our strategy but I’m not sure it was right now after the way the race played out just due to the fact that if we would have just stayed where we were we would have come out a lot better. We kept taking steps backwards unfortunately. I had a ton of fast laps there in a row and really got a nice gap ahead of everybody and that was working out for us but then when the two consecutive yellows came out and hurt us. We needed to get one run there where we could get some space and that just didn’t happen because the yellows came out. It just didn’t play out for us and we had to pit under yellow and go to the back of the pack. It’s frustrating.”

Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing driver Robert Doornbos matched his IndyCar Series best finish of ninth place in today’s 60-lap Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen on the 3.4-mile Watkins Glen International road course after starting 17th. One the opening lap 16th place starter Ryan Hunter-Reay and 18th place starter Raphael Matos made contact as the field bunched up going up the hill and Hunter Reay spun and brought out a local yellow in the Inner Loop area of the track. While in 16th place, Doornbos radioed the crew to say he might have made contact with one of the cars involved and asked for the team to inspect the front wing when he drove past the pits. On Lap 5 contact between EJ Viso and Marco Andretti forced a pit stop for each and Doornbos moved into 14th. Due to their starting position, the team had previously discussed making an early stop and both drivers were called in on Lap 8. Doornbos exchanged his black Firestone tires for the softer “alternates” and took on fuel and a new front wing which had been damaged on the opening lap. He returned to the track in 19th place but took over 18th from Milka Duno on Lap 12. The first of four full course cautions came out from Laps 19-21 to remove the crashed car of Richard Antinucci who was making his first IndyCar Series start. Doornbos attempted to close the gap to the front runners but Ed Carpenter, who was immediately in front of him, was off the pace and he lost valuable time getting to the pits on Lap 20 for fuel. Because he lost valuable track position due to Carpenter’s slow pace and was now at the back of the field, the team elected to call him back into the pits for new tires and a splash of fuel on Lap 21. The race was restarted for one lap before points leader Dario Franchitti spun to avoid Mario Moraes and Ed Carpenter, who had made contact, and Franchitti landed in the gravel trap which brought out the second caution from Laps 23-24. Doornbos climbed to 12th place but dropped to 13th behind Viso who passed him for position. On Lap 30 Paul Tracy crashed and brought out the third caution from Laps 30-32 which moved Doornbos to 12th immediately ahead of Rahal. After the restart Doornbos and Rahal ran together for many laps and Rahal closed the gap for passing attempts but was unable to get by. As the field began the next pit cycle he climbed as high as fifth before his fourth and final stop on Lap 43. He returned to the track in 12th but gained a position when teammate Rahal made his final stop. Three laps later he passed Danica Patrick for 10th and for the next seven laps he closed on Dan Wheldon and passed him on Lap 54 for ninth place. He held his position until the checkered flag and collected 22 points for his finish to move from 14th to 12th in series standings with 163 points. He now leads the Rookie of the Year battle with one point more than Raphael Matos. Former NHLR driver Justin Wilson earned his sixth Champ/Indy car win and first for Dale Coyne Racing. Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe finished second while Scott Dixon finished third to take over the series points lead after Round 9 of 17. Following are Doornbos’ post race comments.

“The race was the best part of the weekend for us,” said Doornbos. “We ran the whole day and I saw the checkered flag. Ninth place is not what were working for here but we’re trying to get things turned around and have the luck going our way. Obviously yesterday was a disastrous day and since it was a two-day weekend, your weekend is gone because this weekend is about track position. There are good drivers out here and it’s hard to pass. The start was nasty. This place it’s probably known that people going up the hill on cold tires is quite tricky. Somebody down the back straight lifted and then it was a chain reaction so the closing rate was enormous and I hit the ABC car I think and he hit Matos again. I asked the boys to check for front wing damage when I went by because I had a lot of understeer. I did have damage so it was a good call by the team to change it. That obviously messed up the race a bit but we got P9. After the problem we had a different strategy that everybody else. The two Newman/Haas/Lanigan cars pitted early and tried to go out of sequence. I had some fast laps and we were closing up and then the yellow came out which was in our favor but the 20 car of Ed Carpenter was just not closing up and was driving really slow. I’m not allowed to overtake or I will get a penalty so I was shouting on the radio because that was a loss of maybe 10 seconds and that’s why we had to pit again. Everybody needs to listen up in the drivers briefing. You have to push and close up even if you want to save fuel. I did enjoy myself in the race. Let’s regroup and get a mega result in Toronto.”

The series will travel north of the border for the Honda Grand Prix of Toronto. Michael Andretti has won the most races in Toronto and he won five of those in a Newman/Haas Racing entry. In total NHR/NHLR has won seven races, five poles and 16 podium finishes in our previous 22 races here and have been in contention for wins, poles or podium finishes even more times. McDonald's driver Rahal competed in the Atlantic race in Toronto in 2006 and started from pole but was hit by Raphael Matos on L1. He also raced there as a rookie in the 2007 Champ Car race for NHLR and Doornbos drove for Minardi Team USA there. Doornbos had an on-track battle with our then-driver Sebastien Bourdais and Bourdais failed to finish the race due to contact with Doornbos, who took over the points lead from Bourdais after the Toronto race. Bourdais went on to reclaim the points lead and earn a history-making fourth consecutive title.