Rocketsports Racing Mexico City Report - Sunday
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Heather Haupt ▪ cell: (517) 927-8472 ▪ e-mail: heatherh@rocketsportsracing.com ROCKETSPORTS RACING’S GLOCK FINISHES IN THE TOP FIVE AS THE TOP ROOKIE FOR THE SIXTH TIME THIS SEASON IN MEXICO CITY MEXICO CITY, Mexico (November 6, 2005) – Rocketsports Racing came very close to wrapping up the 2005 Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season on the podium with 2005 Rookie-of-the-Year Timo Glock as Michael McDowell successfully completed his second Champ Car event today in Mexico City’s Gran Premio Telmex-Tecate Presented by Banamex. On Lap 46, Glock made his second and final pit stop of the day and came out running sixth thanks to a great effort by the #8 DHL Global Mail/Rocketsports crew. On Lap 51, the German passed Oriol Servia for the fifth spot and moved into fourth place when he passed Sebastien Bourdais who was in the pits. Glock began closing in on Mario Dominguez, who was running in the third spot, and made a move to obtain another position on Lap 58. When heading into the first turn, he ducked down to make the pass inside of Dominguez. Dominguez started to slide a bit then locked up his tires, which caused the two cars to make contact. Glock was able to continue with no major damage and claimed the third spot on the timing and scoring charts. A yellow flag would cost the German a podium finish because he had used up all of his Power-to-Pass. He lost two spots on the restart because of that, but did bring the #8 DHL Global Mail Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone car home in the top-five, finishing fifth overall after starting on the grid in the 12th spot. He was the best finishing rookie of the day, marking the sixth time Glock finished a race as the top rookie. Glock also moved up a spot in the championship standings this afternoon, earning a total of 202 points to finish the season in the top ten of the standings in the eighth spot. His teammate McDowell, who won the Grand Am Rolex Series event yesterday afternoon co-driving with Memo Gidley for Finlay Motorsports, proved once again that he has what it takes to run in the Champ Car World Series. McDowell drove a clean race and did his part of the job on the track, while his #31 Rocketsports crew gave him two quick pit stops and his engineers developed a race strategy that helped him run a good race. Starting from the 16th spot after matching his debut qualifying position, the American brought the #31 Rocketsports Racing Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone machine home in the 11th spot, just missing a top-ten finish in only his second event. Quotes Timo Glock #8 DHL Global Mail/Rocketsports Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone “We had a very good race car today, accompanied by great pit stops from my crew and a good race strategy thanks to my engineers. As for the incident with Mario (Dominguez) he had been blocking me a little bit, and then when we were heading into Turn 1 I saw the opportunity to try and make a pass on him from the inside. He slid while I was moving in then locked up his brakes and we made contact. I am sorry that had to happen for Mario and all of the fans in Mexico City, we were just racing and I did not mean for that to happen what so ever. After the last restart when I was sitting P3, I had no Power-to-Pass left but (Paul) Tracy and (Oriol) Servia did, so they were able to get around me. Overall, it is a good finish to the weekend and the season for the Rocketsports team. I am sorry I wasn’t able to finish on the podium for them, but I am happy that we were able to finish in the top five.” Michael McDowell #31 Rocketsports Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone “The #31 Rocketsports car was really good in the middle of the race when we were running on black Bridgestone tires. For some reason, we were not running very quick on the reds this afternoon. We had some great pit stops, gaining a few spots, so I want to thank the Rocketsports crew for doing such a great job for me. At the end of the race, we were in a good battle with Will Power fighting for the tenth spot, but things just didn’t work out for us. Even though we finished about the same as we did in Surfers Paradise, I feel much better in the car and it was a very positive experience for me. I am very happy with how this weekend wrapped up, despite not finishing in the top ten.” Paul Gentilozzi, Rocketsports Racing Team Owner “Timo did a good job today. He was racing and tried to make a move on Dominguez; it was unfortunate that they had to make contact, especially for all the fans in Mexico. But he was blocking Timo a bit, and Timo did the right thing trying to get around him. You could see that Dominguez was sliding around when Timo was trying to make the pass on the inside, and then he locked up his brakes and the two of them made contact. Fortunately, Timo was able to continue from the contact, but that last yellow hurt us. He had no Power-to-Pass left and the cars behind him did, so they were able to overtake him on the restart. However, there is nothing wrong with a fifth place finish, so I am very happy for the entire #8 car team. Michael continues to impress, and did another great job this weekend being only his second event. He is a very hard worker and very determined, you can see that in him when he is out there. He had a great fight at the end of the race with Will Power and almost finished in the top ten. He brought the car home in one piece and gained the confidence and experience that he needs to be competitive in this series and that is all I can ask for right now.” Subscriptions: [Champ Car Press Releases] Change subscriptions: http://rocket.cmagic.com/index.php?option=com_mamml&Itemid=&action=unregistered&type=unregistered&userid=1029&test=6a5e400455253ffe31d6baa62f1590c7