News:

4-2-2005
Sam Schmidt Cars Solidly In St. Pete Field
Front row streak ends; three teams ready for Sunday

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The front row streak for Sam Schmidt Motorsports and Travis Gregg came to an end but all three Schmidt cars are solidly in the field for Sunday’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Menards Infiniti Pro Series race.

Jamie Camara took the fifth starting spot for Sunday’s race in his #1 CELG/Goias, Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry, turning a lap of 1:10.4015 (92.043 miles per hour) around the St. Petersburg street course. Chris Festa will start sixth in his SpacePak/CareCentric, Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry after a lap of 1:10.6947 (91.662). Gregg starts ninth in his Lucas Oil Special, Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry with a qualifying lap of 1:12.8648 (88.932).

Marco Andretti won the pole with a lap of 1:09.3253 (93.472 miles per hour).

For Gregg, who turned 27 years old Monday, it will be the furthest back he has started in an Infiniti Pro Series race. Then again, the Camden, Ohio, native, who is making his sixth career start in the series’ third race of 2005, has never started behind the front row.

“Nothing lasts forever but I guess if I had to pick a place it would have ended, my first street course race would make the most sense,” he said. “It’s a tough course. And it’s tough to run a good lap without making any mistakes. I did go through one corner a little worse than I had hoped, and that cost me some time too.”

Camara, a 24-year-old Brazilian native living in Miami, seemed disappointed with the results of his lap.

“The course was a little slick,” Camara said. “The tires were pretty difficult to get heated too. I did everything I could to warm them up but they did not get to where I wanted them.”

For Festa, the 19-year-old driver from Atlanta who is a freshman at Florida State University, his starting position was one built from adversity. His car had problems with the water system in Friday’s first practice session, and the spilled water underneath his own tires caused him to crash.

“We had a mishap (Friday) in practice and I wasn’t able to get out at all in the second (Friday) session,” Festa said. “Considering that, we’ve come a long way. We haven’t had enough laps to get the car where we want it to be. We just need to get some more time on the track and I think we’ll be fine.”

Sunday’s race begins at 11:30 a.m. (EDT), and will be televised on a tape-delayed basis at 3 p.m. (EDT), Friday, Apr. 8.