Indy Lights - Dempsey Brings Car Home In Sixth In Freedom 100

Indianapolis, May 28, 2011: In his debut at the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, rookie Firestone Indy Lights driver Peter Dempsey battled with weather, car and driver to ultimately bring his No. 36 O2RT/Pulse/Microbiology International/Motorsport Ireland car home in sixth for the Firestone Freedom 100 race. Thanks to a very rainy start to the weekend, Thursday’s qualifying session was cancelled, resulting in a starting grid based on the drivers’ current championship points. Though Dempsey both started and finished yesterday’s race in sixth position, the in-between moments were a rollercoaster of events.

With less than 30 total minutes of track time before the green flag fell, Dempsey spent the first several laps of the race growing accustomed to his oval setup. He had progressed up to fourth position, but then he unexplainably started to fall back through the field, nearly dropping to the very back of the pack. During the first full course caution, Dempsey discovered he had made a small mistake while adjusting the car that had caused him to lose speed. After fixing the problem, the Irishman soared back towards the front with a racecar that was really starting to come in nicely.

Unfortunately, Dempsey’s Irish luck didn’t last too long; he spun under a subsequent caution which caused him to lose positions yet again. Dempsey did not let the setback hold him back, however. He determinately raced his way back up as far as the remaining time would allow him to, avoiding major incidents along the way, and after many yellow flags and restarts, the 40-lap Firestone Freedom 100 finally ended under caution, resulting in a sixth place finish for Dempsey and the No. 36 O2 Racing Technology car.

“First of all, it was a huge achievement for me to race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Firestone Indy Lights series,” said Dempsey. “It was a great weekend to be involved in, and one of the most exciting weekends on the motorsports calendar in the world. To be a part of this with a great team of people around me was a fantastic experience.

“It was a very difficult weekend of racing. We had so little track time due to the weather conditions, so it made it very difficult for us to really be comfortable with the car setup we had going into the race. After the practice on Friday morning, we realized we didn’t have a car that was good in traffic which definitely wasn’t what we wanted. So, we made big changes going into the race which meant I had to learn how to drive a different car. Fortunately, the car was very good.

“At the start, I had worked my way up to fourth and was challenging the lead pack. Unfortunately, due to my mistake, I hindered my progress by tweaking the car the wrong way. Luckily I realized my mistake under the first caution and was able to adjust the car and start working my way back to the front. The car felt really good in traffic, and at one point I was able to pass three wide in turn one on the outside; not many cars were able to do that. Unfortunately again, I made another mistake under a yellow flag which forced me to go back to the back. I raced as hard as I could from there to bring the car home in one piece and make sure I gave the guys the best possible finish I could after my mistakes.

“I would like to thank my team, O2 Racing Technology, for their huge support over the weekend. I’d also like to thank their friends and sponsors Pulse and Microbiology International for their continued support. I moved up to fifth in the championship after this weekend which is great. Now, we need to focus on winning races so we can put ourselves in a good position for the second half of the season.”

After four races, Dempsey now lies fifth in the driver’s championship. Yesterday’s Firestone Freedom 100 race was the first of three consecutive oval races on the Firestone Indy Lights calendar. Coming up are the races at Milwaukee Mile the weekend of June 16 and Iowa Speedway the weekend of June 26 with some oval testing in between now and then.