FAZZT Team-Homestead-Miami Pre-Race Report

FAZZT Team Looking for a Strong Finish Heading Into Season Finale

Driver: ALEX TAGLIANI

Car:      No 77 FAZZT Race Team Dallara/Honda/Firestone

Entry:   Bowers & Wilkins /La Capsule Sportive /TorcUp

Event:   Cafes do Brasil Indy 300 – 200 laps/ 483 kilometers

10th IndyCar race at Homestead-Miami Speedway

Track:  Homestead-Miami Speedway, Florida – 2.414 km oval

Event Dates:  

Two practice sessions on Friday, October 1

Qualifying on Friday, October 1 from 4:45 to 6:00 am (Eastern Time)

Race on Saturday, October 2 at 7:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)

Live broadcast Saturday, October 2 on TSN starting at 6:00 p.m.

Live Timing & Scoring and Video is available at www.indycar.com

Race: Final race of 17

Indianapolis, Indiana (September 30, 2010) – This is it, the finale event of the 2010, 17-race IZOD IndyCar Series schedule that will take place this weekend at the 2.414-kilometer Homestead-Miami Speedway oval. For FAZZT Race Team driver Alex Tagliani, this will be his second race at the South Florida oval track, but his first since 2000 when he qualified fourth and finished ninth as a rookie in the Champ Car Series. The 200-lap race, which will decide the IZOD IndyCar Series championship, will also decide Tagliani’s final position in the standings. Tag and the first-year FAZZT Race Team will be looking for a strong finish to maintain their 12th place in the standing ahead of Vitor Meira, Raphael Matos, and Mario Moraes. With 286 points, Tagliani, who is only four points ahead of Meira and nine ahead of the other two, needs to finish ahead of this trio.

The FAZZT Team will have only one 60-minute practice session on Friday to set Tagliani’s car for the lone qualifying session scheduled for 4:45 p.m. later that day. The two-lap qualifying round will set the grid for Saturday’s 10th edition of the Cafes do Brasil Indy 300.

 “I’m very excited to go back to Homestead; I have really good memories there,” Alex Tagliani said. “Our current design engineer, Alex Timmermans, was my first engineer and with his help, I qualified fourth on my first oval race in open wheel. I was leading the race just past the half way point when I made the mistake of passing the pace car coming into pit and was penalized a lap. I still managed to finish ninth. I’m really looking forward to going back and putting up a good result.”

The Fazzt Race team is ready to start the final race of its rookie season. With great highs and a few lows, the team has learned over the year and is really looking forward to one more exciting event to finish off the season. FAZZT has had great support from owner Andre Azzi, and sponsors Bowers & Wilkins, Honda Indy Edmonton, TorcUP, Sennheiser, and Service Central. The team is really looking forward to another great season for 2011. At Homestead-Miami, FAZZT will be going “green” in the pits with the help of Hannan Customs, a custom bicycle builder out of Quebec, Canada. These choppers are human and battery powered topped off with great style. Hannan has made a special Bowers & Wilkins chopper for the Miami race that driver Alex Tagliani will be sporting in the paddock to show his green.

“I can’t believe it’s already the last race of the year. The season has gone by so fast it’s unbelievable. We were a bit worried going into our first season as a new team but after breaking the ice in both the first two tests and the first race, we were the talk of the paddock. I am proud of what we’ve achieved and how much we’ve been able to accomplish. We have had so much fun competing with the Penskes and Ganassis, especially at Indy and Mid-Ohio. We qualified so well in Brazil and Sonoma; I definitely think we’ve exceeded the expectations of everyone. I just want to go into the final race and finish the season on a good note as we start to prepare for our second year.”

For the fifth consecutive year and the 11th time in the 15 years of IndyCar competition, the series finale will decide who will be champion and only two drivers still contend for the coveted title. Will Power leads the standings with 587 points, 12 ahead of Dario Franchitti. With fifty points awarded to the race winner and 40 to the second place finisher, each driver controls his own destiny. Will Power’s strategy in the race is simple, though not necessarily easy: Keep rival Dario Franchitti in his rearview mirrors. As for defending series and race champion Franchitti, he needs to finish at least two positions ahead of Power in order to clinch his third title in four years, but with at least a dozen wins of ovals compare to none for Power, Franchitti has an edge over his Aussie rival

Round 17 of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar schedule is a 200-lap, 483 kilometers race that will be broadcast live Saturday night September 18 on TSN2 at 11:00 p.m., Eastern Time. Live Timing and Scoring as well as video coverage of all practice sessions, qualifying, and the race are available at www.indycar.com.

October 1 & 2, 2010 Schedule (Eastern Time)

– Friday Practice: 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. (Eastern Time)

– Friday Qualifying: 4:45 – 6:00 a.m. (Eastern Time)

– Friday Final Practice: 7:45 – 8:15 p.m. (Eastern Time)

– Saturday Race: 200 laps for 483 kilometers with the green flag at 7:00 p.m. ET

© RIF | FAZZT Race Team -Max d’Orsonnens