Indy Lights Team News - Team E Rookie Sixth At IMS Open Test

INDIANAPOLIS, May 14, 2011: On Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Team E reminded Firestone Indy Lights fans that when it enters a race, it’s always a contender.

After all, the team’s No. 17 holds the record for the fastest lap ever run during the Firestone Freedom 100 with a speed of 191.466 miles per hour in the 2008 race.

On Friday Team E, which is based in the Tampa Bay, Fla., area, and its rookie driver, Rusty Mitchell of Midland, Texas, recorded the sixth-fastest time during a four-hour Firestone Indy Lights test in preparation for this year’s Firestone Freedom 100, which will be held at IMS on Friday, May 27.

The event will be broadcast live on VERSUS starting at noon Eastern time.

Mitchell’s best lap came on lap 84 when he covered the 2.5-mile oval at an average speed of 189.183 miles per hour. He and Jorge Goncalvez tied for the most number of laps turned by the 18 drivers testing, as they both recorded 88 laps.

Mitchell did not compete in the first two races of the year due to a lack of sponsorship. However, with support from Motorola and Petro Communications, he made his series debut April 17 and finished 11th at the street race in Long Beach, Calif.

(Team E also competed in the season opener at St. Petersburg, Fla., with the Skip Barber Racing School as a sponsor and Joel Miller driving. Miller was involved in an accident and finished 13th.)

Prior to the excellent showing in testing on Friday at IMS, Mitchell’s previous oval-track racing experience consisted of only four Star Mazda races at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, the Milwaukee Mile and Iowa Speedway (twice). He never finished out of the top 10 in any of those races, however, and he was fourth in two of them.

He had only tested a Firestone Indy Lights car on an oval track twice previously — in February at Phoenix International Raceway with another team and on Tuesday at Chicagoland Speedway, where he passed his oval-track test in the car he drove Friday at IMS.

With each lap Mitchell got more confident.

“The biggest thing we accomplished today was for me to feel confident in the car, including when we pulled a lot of aero off it,” Mitchell said afterwards. “We were really quick.”

As is often the case, it was hard for the rookie to find a drafting partner, however.

“A lot of guys wouldn’t let me draft with them,” he said. “I did draft a little with the two Belardi cars — Anders Krohn and Jorge Goncalvez — but that was pretty much it. Other than that I was out by myself a lot, or towing someone else around.”

He never turned a wheel wrong.

“Once when I was running in a little pack the right-rear tire started to chunk a little and it was oversteering coming out of Turn 1, but I didn’t really have any moments,” he said. “The car was really stable and fast. I really have to thank everyone at Team E, as well as our sponsors, Motorola and Petro Communications.

“Turn 1 was strange to me at first, but once you get it down it’s fine,” he added. “Getting into and out of the turns, scrubbing off the least amount of speed you can, is the key.”

The fact that he now has driven at speed at a facility many consider to be the finest racetrack in the world was not lost on the 28-year-old Texan.

“It has always been a huge goal and dream of mine to drive at Indy since I started racing karts as a kid,” he said. “Today it actually happened.

“At first you’re just concentrating really hard on what you’re doing, but by the second or third session you start to look around a little and realize how fortunate you are,” Mitchell said. “You know that a lot of other people would like to be in your position.”

Indy 500 winners Rick Mears, Al Unser Jr. and Johnny Rutherford serve as driver coaches for the series.

“I listened to everything they said; you’d be foolish not to,” Mitchell said. “Their overall approach to everything was helpful, especially Johnny Rutherford’s. We’re both from Texas so we spoke the same language. He took us around a few extra laps in a pace car, which was helpful.”

On May 27 Mitchell hopes to become the latest driver to make a name for himself with Team E, which strives to give talented young racers the opportunity to shine. In addition to Motorola and Petro Communications there was a Skip Barber Racing Series decal on Mitchell’s bright blue No. 17 as a salute to another rising star, as 14-year-old R.C. Enerson, son of team owner Neil Enerson, is competing in that series this year.

The Firestone Indy Lights drivers will sign autographs at IMS from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Community Day, Wednesday, May 25. The following day there are two 45-minute practice sessions at 9 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. prior to time trials at 3 p.m. The 40-lap Firestone Freedom 100 is slated to get the green flag at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, May 27, Miller Lite Carb Day, which is just two days before the 100th anniversary running of the first Indy 500.

In addition to VERSUS’s live coverage, live timing and scoring of all the on-track sessions will be carried on indycar.com. Additional information can be found on the team’s Web site at TeamERacing.com and at Mitchell’s Web site at RustyMitchellRacing.com. Updates can also be found on Team E Racing’s Facebook page.