Mechanical Issue Frustrates Franchitti at Pikes Peak
If the following text-only file is not easily readable, particularly any tables of numbers, try enlarging this window since every line has a forced end and there is no word-wrap. Otherwise, this report will look and print better from the following PDF file: http://www.sportssystems.com/applib/PDFload.cfm?file=/email/filehost/RK299.pdf&id=BC299RK9EC574 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For Immediate Release www.andrettigreen.com MECHANICAL ISSUES FRUSTRATE FRANCHITTI AT PIKES PEAK FOUNTAIN, Colo. (Aug. 21, 2005) - A malfunctioning clutch slave cylinder kept ArcaEx driver Dario Franchitti from a potential victory and led to a seventh-place finish in Sunday's running of the Indy Racing League® IndyCar® Series Honda Indy 225 at Pikes Peak International Raceway. In what has been repeated numerous times this season, Franchitti appeared to have the car to beat, taking the lead on lap 90 and holding it until preparing to make his second and final pit stop on lap 154. Everything appeared to go smoothly as the ArcaEx team serviced the car. But, as the car was lowered from the jack and the refueling process was nearing completion, the slave cylinder began to fail resulting in a stalled engine. By the time the crew could re-fire the machine, Franchitti was in 10th place, two laps down to the leaders. He managed to gain one lap and three positions back by the end of the race. Dan Wheldon earned his fifth victory of the season with Sam Hornish Jr. second, Tony Kanaan was third, followed by Helio Castroneves in fourth and Vitor Meira fifth. Franchitti remains fourth in the driver points standings with 371 points through 13 events, 134 points shy of leader Wheldon and 14 points out of third place. Next up for Franchitti and the rest of the IndyCar Series teams is the Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix at Infineon Raceway on Sunday, Aug. 28. The event will be televised live by ESPN, beginning at 3:30 p.m. (EDT). It can also be heard live by XM Satellite Radio subscribers by tuning into Extreme XM, channel 152. Dario Franchitti, #27 ArcaEx Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "I was waiting for the ArcaEx car to fill with fuel, I had the clutch pedal depressed but the car slowly started to creep forward and the engine stalled. So another mechanical problem took us from a race that I feel we had the car to win. Dan had a fast car, but I think we could have raced with him at the end. I guess we'll never know." Kyle Moyer, General Manager, Andretti Green Racing: "Today it was a different game, same story. We had the fastest car on the track and didn't get the job done. AGR had great cars all around the team today and it was great to see Dan win and extend his points lead. Now we are going to figure out how we can get second in the championship." Honda Indy 225 Results Pos. Name Laps Pos. Name Laps 1 Dan Wheldon 225 12 Bryan Herta 222 2 Sam Hornish Jr. 225 13 Kosuke Matsuura 222 3 Tony Kanaan 225 14 Tomas Scheckter 221 4 Helio Castroneves 224 15 Roger Yasukawa 220 5 Vitor Meira 224 16 Scott Dixon 220 6 Tomas Enge 224 17 Jimmy Kite 219 7 Dario Franchitti 224 18 Alex Barron 219 8 Danica Patrick 223 19 Ed Carpenter 216 9 Scott Sharp 222 20 Ryan Briscoe 76 10 Patrick Carpentier 222 21 A.J. Foyt IV 38 11 Buddy Rice 222 22 Jaques Lazier 0 Contact: Kent Johnson, (317) 872-2700 ext 241, kent.johnson@andrettigreenracing.com Al Larsen, (317) 872-2700 ext. 239, alan.larsen@andrettigreenracing.com