Race Report: Detroit Indy Grand Prix
DETROIT Aug. 31, 2008—Darren Manning and the ABC Supply team
recovered from a couple of errors to finish 12th in the Detroit Indy
Grand Prix at Belle Isle Sunday afternoon.
Starting 15th, Manning drove the No.14 ABC Supply car into the top
10 before his first pit stop as teams were employing different fuel
strategies to improve their track position. When their air jack
failed, the crew hooked up the spare but it became a 16-second stop
instead of eight seconds. He lost several positions but gained some
of them back two laps later with the accident involving Vitor Meira,
Danica Patrick and E.J. Viso which brought out a full course yellow.
Viso was done, Meira lost three laps with repairs and Patrick lost
one.
Manning was running 11th after that caution but was penalized for
blocking Bruno Junquiera; Manning was ordered by IRL officials to
let Junquiera pass which dropped Manning to 12th. Six laps later
Manning was pushed up into the marbles by Mario Moraes and as
Manning gathered it back, Hideki Mutoh also slipped by. Moraes
crashed several laps later and Manning was back up to 13th.
A slightly slow pitstop on lap 56 cost him a spot to Ryan Briscoe.
As the race neared its end and the fuel strategies played out,
Manning was back up to 12th which is where he finished.
“I’m pretty happy considering everything,” said Manning afterwards.
“We had an airjack failure on our first pit stop which cost us a few
positions on track and then I got held up by slower cars which
compounded the problems. But we got some good direction for some new
parts we’re trying so it wasn’t all bad.”
Helio Castroneves was leading the race when he blatantly blocked
Justin Wilson twice. IRL officials ordered Castroneves to let Wilson
by. After several laps, Castroneves obliged, giving Wilson the lead
which led to his first IRL IndyCar Series victory. Castroneves
finished second and was followed by Tony Kanaan, Oriol Servia and
Scott Dixon.
Wilson’s victory vaulted him from 16th in the standings to 11th and
subsequently dropped Manning to 15th in the standings.
The final point race of the season takes place at Chicagoland
Speedway next Sunday. It will be televised live on ABC-TV starting
at 3:30 pm ET.
Detroit GP Qualifying Notes
DETROIT Aug. 30, 2008--Darren Manning qualified 15th in the
ABC Supply Dallara/Honda for the Detroit Indy Grand Prix Saturday
morning.
After the early morning practice session (which was delayed for a
half hour due to fog), the team was 17th quickest overall (7th
quickest in the first group). They made some changes to the car
before qualifying but they weren't the right ones.
During qualifying, the team changed the No. 14 car back to the
morning set-up but by the time Manning returned to the track, he had
only one hot lap in before the track went yellow for a spin by Alex
Tagliani, a last minute replacement for Enrique Bernoldi. It was
Tagliani's first ever time in an IRL Indy car.
Manning did post his quickest time of the day (1:14.34) but it
wasn't quick enough for the top six in his group. Scott Dixon won
the pole in the Firestone Fast Six. He was followed by Helio
Castroneves, Oriol Servia, Justin Wilson, Ryan Briscoe and Graham
Rahal.
There is a half-hour final practice on race morning before the race
gets underway at 3:30 ET. It will be televised live on ABC.
Friday Practice Notes
DETROIT Aug. 29, 2008--Darren Manning and the ABC Supply team
started off the Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle weekend practice
sessions in the top-10 today.
Manning was ninth quickest in the morning session with the fewest
amount of laps (eight) as the team decided to wait until track
conditions improved as several cars had gone off. His time of
1:16.04 translated into a speed of 97.99mph around the 2-mile street
circuit on Belle Isle in the Detroit River.
Manning improved to eighth in the afternoon session, clocking in
with a time of 1:14.71 for a speed of 99.74mph. His lap total of 30
laps for the day, signified there is room for improvement in
tomorrow's morning session before qualifying.
"After the hard weekend at Sonoma, it's good to come back to a track
where we have some good memories and more importantly, good
information from last year," said Manning. "We rolled off strong so
now we can just fine-tune the car to make it better which we've been
able to do. There's still more speed in the car so that's good."
The top five for the day were Helio Castroneves (1:13.20;
101.79mph), Scott Dixon (1:13.69; 101.11mph), Vitor Meira (1:13.98;
100.72mph), Ryan Briscoe (1:14.13; 100.51mph) and Danica Patrick
(1:14.44; 100.10mph).
Notes & Quotes: Detroit Indy Grand Prix at Belle
Isle
Darren Manning: No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda
· Darren Manning on Detroit: “Belle Isle is an interesting
track. As with all street circuits, it’s pretty bumpy but that’s to
be expected. We had a good finish here last year so hopefully we can
do better than that the second time around.”
· Last Race: Manning and the ABC Supply team struggled to
find the optimum set-up for Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. He
started 21st and finished 22nd after an alternative fuel strategy
didn’t work out as they had planned. He is still 14th in the
standings.
· Past performances at Detroit: Manning finished fourth at
Detroit last year which had tied his career best finish in the
IndyCar Series until his second place performance at Watkins Glen
International earlier last month. Prior to 2007, A.J. Foyt’s team
raced in four Detroit Grands Prix at Belle Isle: 1992 - Brian Bonner
started 20th, finished 10th; 1993 – Robby Gordon started 8th,
finished 8th; 1994 – Bryan Herta started 18th, finished 9th and in
1995, Eddie Cheever started 20th, finished 25th having made contact
with Alessandro Zampedri on lap 14.
· Lagrow Roofing and Siding, located in Bangor, Mich., is
this weekend’s winner of the ABC Supply Your Name Here Promotion for
its customers. The company name will be put on the top of the
sidepods of the No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda. Joe Lagrow will
receive selected merchandise, race tickets, hospitality and garage
passes, plus a Meet and Greet with A.J. Foyt and Darren Manning. The
“Your Name Here” promotion selected winners by random drawing from a
pool of entries sent in by ABC Supply customers earlier this year.
· Following the race at Infineon, A.J. Foyt’s team stayed in
California until Wednesday when they departed for Detroit. Larry
Foyt and A.J. Foyt IV and their girlfriends toured several wineries
in Napa. They met up with Manning and his girlfriend and his cousin
for dinner one evening (Manning flies to Detroit Thursday). The
senior Foyt and a couple team members took a ride down to San
Francisco and came back on the Pacific Coast Highway, a twisty,
turning road with vistas on the Pacific Ocean. “I got a real
work-out with all of the switchbacks and esses. I might send my
driver there before next year’s race. It was alright until I almost
ran out of gas, the light came on about 20 miles before there was a
town with a gas station. I was coasting as much as I could. It cost
$4.30/gallon but I was glad to fill it up. Of course the station two
blocks down was selling it for $3.85/gallon but I didn’t know that.”
The Detroit Indy Grand Prix will be shown live at 3:30 p.m. eastern
time Sunday afternoon, August 31 on ABC-TV. |
