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Brake Problem Strikes RLR/Andersen Racing, Saturday at St. Petersburg
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03/31/2007
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By Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications
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 ST.
PETERSBURG, Fla., March 31 - A brake problem
with both of the RLR/Andersen Racing cars in
Saturday's Indy Pro Series race at the Honda
Grand Prix of St. Petersburg caused drivers
Andrew Prendeville and Joey Scarallo to finish
13th and 15th, respectively.
Just minutes after the cars were back in the
paddock after the 40-lap/72-mile race,
RLR/Andersen Racing engineers Dominic and
Nicholas Cape discovered that both cars' brakes
had been hanging up. The team immediately got to
work to fix the problem and now hopes are high
for a better finish in the second half of the
doubleheader here at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow.
Prendeville, of Morristown, N.J., started 15th
and Scarallo, of Smithtown, N.Y., took the green
flag in 20th position out of 24 drivers
Saturday. The finishing positions from
Saturday's race will determine the grid for
Sunday's race, with the exception of inverting
the top six cars, so they'll start 13th and 15th
on Sunday.
Prendeville got off to a great start with his
No. 5 Dallara, which promotes the Best Friends
Animal Society. Phil Giebler, who started
second, and Matt Jaskol, who started fifth, made
contact and spun in Turn 1 on the first lap to
give Prendeville two spots. Bobby Wilson was
supposed to start 13th but he didn't start on
the grid, so that gave him another position.
Prendeville also passed CR Crews and Chris Festa
to improve five positions, from 15th to tenth,
by the end of lap one.
The yellow came out with two laps down when
Jaime Camara made contact with the tire wall in
Turn 8. The green didn't wave again until lap
seven. Prendeville was in tenth for that
restart, sandwiched between Logan Gomez and
Chris Festa, and he remained in tenth through
another yellow with 11 laps down to tow in Ken
Losch's car. He held tenth on that restart on
lap 18 too but then fell to 12th on the next lap
and to 15th by lap 21. He moved back up to 14th
due to attrition on lap 23 when Richard
Antinucci and Gomez had contact in Turn 1.
Prendeville stayed in 14th until the last lap,
when Sean Guthrie spun and dropped from tenth to
16th, and he took the checkered in 13th.
Someone ran over the right-front wing of
Scarallo's GroupAWheels.com No. 15 at the start
of the race, much to the dismay of not only him
but also various members of the congregation of
the Christian Family Outreach Center in Tampa.
Scarallo had put the church's name on his car's
front wings in honor of his family members,
including his grandmother, who attend that
church and were on hand to cheer him on. Even
the minister was in attendance to offer moral
support.
Their prayers must have kept him off the wall in
the fracas, and he was able to dip into the pits
on the lap two yellow flag to replace the car's
nose and continue on. He didn't lose a lap and
he restarted in 21st place when the green waved
on lap seven. He was up to 18th by lap nine, and
stayed in that spot under the yellow from lap 11
through 17. He passed Jon Brownson on lap 18 to
move to 17th, and he was 16th due to attrition
by the next yellow with 24 laps down. He
couldn't advance any more due to the brake
problem, but he did move up one spot on the last
lap when Guthrie fell back.
Alex Lloyd won the race over Hideki Mutoh and
one of Andersen Racing's Star Mazda drivers in
2005, Jonathan Klein.
Prendeville is in eighth place in points after
Saturday's race and Scarallo is 20th.
Live streaming video coverage and live timing
and scoring are planned for indycar.com
tomorrow, as occurred Saturday.
Tape-delayed TV coverage of both races will air
on ESPN2 from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET on April
6.
Andersen Racing is the official Indy Pro Series
development team of Rahal Letterman Racing.
Andersen Racing is committed to offering a
program that gives up-and-coming drivers the
proper training to reach open-wheel racing's
major leagues. It fields multiple cars in the
Hankook Tires F2000 Championship, the Star Mazda
Championship presented by Goodyear, and the Indy
Pro Series. More information on the team is
available on its Web site at
andersenracingteam.com.
More information on the Indy Pro Series can be
found at indycar.com/pro.
Driver quotes follow:
Andrew Prendeville: "I had a
better start than five other guys and I was up
to tenth by the end of the first lap. Two guys
spun, and that caused a full-course yellow. I
ran in tenth but I fell back because of the
problem with the brakes. I wasn't able to hold
the draft down the straight-aways because of the
problem.
"The car handled great; the RLR/Andersen guys
did a good job with the set-up.
We kept improving our lap times. We ran the
fastest we've run here so far during the race,
so we're getting quicker.
"People spun in front of me twice in Turn 1, but
it wasn't close. I can tell you there was a lot
of blocking going on.
"I think the course is fun. St. Pete is only the
second street course I've ever done. It's very
physical."
Joey Scarallo: "We'll fix the
problem with the brakes and maybe trim it out
more and do something different with the
gearing.
"Somebody ran over my right-front wing at the
start. I have no idea who.
Then when the yellow came out, I came in and we
changed the nose. They did that really quickly
and under caution, so I didn't lose a lap.
"The balance of the car didn't feel too bad. I
thought it was pretty consistent.
"I love street courses. This is a good one too.
"My grandmother and a bunch of other relatives
are here and a lot of people from their church,
the Christian Family Outreach Center in Tampa. I
had the church's name on my front wing until it
got run over at the start. We'll fix the problem
with the brakes and try to do better tomorrow."
Go to the Photo Gallery for this race
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