Alex Tagliani finishes fourth at Mid-Ohio

Lexington, Ohio (August 8, 2010) -FAZZT Race Team driver Alex Tagliani collected his best race finish of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season with a fourth place on Sunday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

 Driver: ALEX TAGLIANI

Entry:   No. 77 CV Logistics FAZZT Race Team Dallara/Honda/Firestone

Event:  Honda Indy 200 presented by Westfield Insurance – 85 laps/ 308.890 kilometers

4th IRL sanctioned race at Mid-Ohio

Track:  Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course; Lexington, OH; 3.634-kilometer road course

Race:   12 of 17

TAGLIANI HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO RACE RESULTS

TAGLIANI STARTING POSITION: 14th

TAGLIANI POSITION AT FINISH: 4th with a 5.6423-second gap to the winner

TAGLIANI LAPS COMPLETED: 85 of 85

HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO PODIUM

1st Dario Franchitti, Chip Ganassi Racing; 85 laps; average speed of 161.806 km/h

2nd Will Power, Team Penske; 85 laps; 0.5234-second gap

3rd Helio Castroneves, Team Penske; 85 laps; 4.0883-second gap

The Canadian driver led 30 of the 85-lap Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio race to collect a bonus point for most laps led. It is the second time this year that Tagliani has led laps in a race. Back in early June, he led 33 circuits on the Texas Speedway oval. Tagliani’s luck finally turned his way this weekend when team engineer Allen McDonald called him in on lap 22 for his first stop while he was 15th on board. Two laps later, a full course yellow caused when EJ Viso and his teammate Justin Wilson collided, saw all the drivers dive into the pits for their first stop, and Tagliani was promoted to first place on lap 26. Being the first of the regulars to stop the first time, Tagliani had to come in one lap early, but that was enough for three of his pursuers to run a qualifying lap, make their stops, and come out ahead of the FAZZT driver.

 

The FAZZT Race Team race strategy played well into Tagliani’s fine results after he had qualified 14th. However, Dario Franchitti’s final pit stop was a tad quicker, as were those of the two Penske Racing drivers Will Power and Helio Castroneves and they all came out of the pits ahead of Tagliani who had to settle for fourth place at the finish. Franchitti held off Power in the final laps to cross the finish line with a lead of 0.5234-second over the second-place Penske driver. Helio Castroneves, Power’s teammate, finished third ahead Tagliani and 2009 Mid-Ohio winner Scott Dixon. For Tagliani, this was his fifth top-9 finish at Mid-Ohio in five races. His previous best finish was a sixth-place finish his last time at Mid-Ohio in 2003 with Rocketsports.

 “Well, we’ve had our share of bad luck these last few weeks, so I guess someone was saving all the good luck for today,” Tagliani said. “Full credit goes to the guys in the timing stand. It was a good race strategy coming in early and we had a huge amount of luck when the yellow came out. However, I think we showed by leading the most laps in the race and by running up front for a long while in the race after the first pit stop that we belong up front. We did have a fast car, and we were able to hold our own with the Penskes and Ganassis and I think on occasions this year, we’ve shown that we can be as competitive as anyone here and this was one of those days. We’re very excited about the results. It’s the right reward for all the guys on the team and for all the hard work they’ve been putting in this year. We’re looking forward to Sonoma now.”

Rob Edwards, FAZZT Team COO on Sunday’s race

“I’m very happy with the result for the team; it was a long time coming. We have a great group of guys. Obviously, we’ve been struggling on the road courses but this weekend the boys did a great job on the car and it paid off. We now have a much more competitive car on the road course. I think it was a good race and it was a very good call from everybody. I think that we called it right since we had such a fast car and we were able to stay in the lead and pull out on every lap. The result is well deserved especially for the boys; they’ve been working hard all year. It’s great for Andre, for our new sponsor CV Logistics, and for Bower & Wilkins who have been with us since the beginning of the year. I’m just so happy with today’s race and for all of our guys.”

The IndyCar Series is now moving on to the West Coast for Round 13 of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series race scheduled to take place the weekend of August 20-22, 2010 at Infineon Raceway in California.

The image is courtesy of IndyCar Series / Ron McQueeney

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