Sam Schmidt Motorsports

Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Race Report

Alex Tagliani finishes fourth at Mid-Ohio

Lexington, Ohio (August 8, 2010) —FAZZT Race Team driver Alex Tagliani collected his best race finish of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season with a fourth place finish on Sunday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The Canadian driver led 30 of the 85-lap Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio event to collect a bonus point for most laps led helping to earn 34 points for the day. It is the second time this year that Tagliani has led laps in a race. Back in early June, he led 33 laps on the Texas Motor Speedway oval. Tagliani’s luck turned his way this weekend when General Manager Rob Edwards called him in on lap 22 for his first stop while he was running 15th. Two laps later a full course yellow was caused when EJ Viso and Justin Wilson collided. This sent all the drivers to dive into the pits for their first stop of the race. Tagliani took over first place on lap 26 after being one of the first cars to take their initial stop.

The FAZZT Race Team’s strategy played out well earning their first top five finish of the season. Dario Franchitti held off Will Power in the final laps to cross the finish line with a lead of 0.5234-second over the second-place Penske driver. Helio Castroneves finished third and 2009 Mid-Ohio winner Scott Dixon finished fifth. For Tagliani, this was his fifth top-10 finish at Mid-Ohio in five races. His previous best finish was sixth in 2003 when racing for Rockesports

Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Qualifying Report

FAZZT Race Team Pleased with Progress During Qualifying at Mid-Ohio

TAGLIANI QUALIFYING RESULTS AT THE HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO
TAGLIANI POSITION: 14th on the grid (7th in group 2 qualifying)
TAGLIANI BEST TIME & SPEED: 1 m 07.1997 s - Average speed of 193.010 km/h

HONDA INDY 200 AT MID-OHIO FRONT ROW LINE-UP
1st Will Power, Team Penske; 1 m 07.1997 s (194.674 km/h)
2nd Dario Franchitti, Chip Ganassi Racing; 1 m 07.2846 s (194.428 km/h)

Lexington, Ohio (August 7, 2010) - FAZZT Race Team driver Alex Tagliani was happy with the progress the team has made so far this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as the gap between them and the leading teams seems to be shrinking every time they go on track. In Saturday's qualifying for Sunday's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, Tagliani miss moving onto round 2 of qualifying by a mere two hundredths of a second. Still, the Canadian driver was pleased on how the No 77 CV Logistics car was handling. He will start round 12 of the IZOD IndyCar Series from row seven on the grid after qualifying 14th. Tagliani paced the 3.634-kilometer Mid-Ohio road course in 1 minute 07.1997 seconds for an average speed of 193.010 km/h.

"We are quite pleased with the way the team has improved the car this weekend, Tagliani said. "Unlike the other teams, we did not come to the series test session. So we had a tall order when we arrived at Mid-Ohio this weekend as our engineers brought different packages to test during practice on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Let's be frank, we have had our share of problems lately on road course, but the radical changes to our suspension packages improved the car. We did step up our program and it is paying off so far. We finally got back to the point where we only have to make minor adjustments rather than go from one extreme to the other. The whole team is happy about the way the car is responding positively to these changes.

Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Friday Report

Lexington, Ohio (August 6, 2010) — FAZZT Race Team driver Alex Tagliani finished 22nd overall in Friday’s practice leading to Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Tagliani’s quickest lap was posted on the 19th of 22 laps he completed today, when he went around the 3.634-kilometer Mid-Ohio road course in 1 minute 09.2814 seconds for an average speed of 188.824 km/h. Tagliani was the last driver to post a lap within a second of Newman-Haas driver Graham Rahal who topped the chart in the only practice session of the day. The Ohio-born driver traveled the track in 1:08.3061 second for at an average speed of 191.520 km/h. second quickest of the day was Penske Racing driver Will Power with a lap time of 1:08.3301, only two hundredths of a second off Rahal’s time. Power’s teammate Helio Castroneves was third fastest with a track time of 1:08.3779. Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) and Ryan Briscoe, the third member of the Penske team, round up the top five. Twenty-seven drivers took part in Friday’s session.

Honda Indy Edmonton RACE Report

DISAPPOINTING END OF DAY FOR FAZZT AT EDMONTON INDY

Driver: ALEX TAGLIANI
Entry: No 77 Bowers & Wilkins Hot Wheels FAZZT Race Team Dallara/Honda/Firestone
Event: 3rd IRL sanctioned Honda Indy Edmonton — 95 laps/ 299.659 kilometers
6th Indy Edmonton since its launch in 2005 (with Champ Car)
Track: Edmonton City Center Airport circuit, Alberta — 3.154 km temporary street course
Race: 11 of 17

TAGLIANI HONDA INDY EDMONTON RACE RESULTS
TAGLIANI STARTING POSITION: 19th
TAGLIANI POSITION AT FINISH: 23rd
TAGLIANI LAPS COMPLETED: 52 of 95

HONDA INDY EDMONTON PODIUM
1st Scott Dixon, Target Chip Ganassi, 95 laps
2nd, Will Power, Team Penske 95 laps; 2.6688-second gap
3rd, Dario Franchitti, Target Chip Ganassi; 95 laps; 3.2831-second gap

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (July 25, 2010) — It was disappointing end to the 2010 edition of the Honda Indy Edmonton for the FAZZT Race Team driver Alex Tagliani who started the race from a 19th grid position on home soil and had made up six positions by the halfway point of the race. Following a caution period, Tagliani saw an opening on the lap 52 restart to make a pass on Andretti Autosport’s Tony Kanaan in Turn 1 of the 3.154 -kilometer temporary airport circuit. Contact between the two competitors following the overtaking maneuver quickly brought the race to an end for the no.77 Bowers & Wilkins Hot Wheels machine when secondary contact with Mario Romancini caused damage the Fazzt car’s front left suspension.

FAZZT & Tagliani Lend Support to One Drop

FAZZT & DRIVER ALEX TAGLIANI LEND SUPPORT TO
CANADIAN BASED “ONE DROP”

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (Saturday, July 24, 2010) - IZOD IndyCar Series FAZZT Race Team and Canadian driver, Alex Tagliani are proud to lend their support to Montreal-based non-governmental organization ONE DROP. The ONE DROP logo has been on display on the No.77 FAZZT Bowers & Wilkins Hot Wheels entry starting with the Canadian races on the IZOD IndyCar series circuit at the Honda Indy Toronto (July 17-19) and Honda Indy Edmonton (July 23-25)

Established in October of 2007, ONE DROP—an initiative of Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil®—fights poverty through its projects aimed at supporting access to water in developing countries and raising each and every one’s awareness of water-related issues worldwide.

“As CEO of Fazzt Race Team, I am so proud to be associated with ONE DROP,” said André Azzi, team owner. “It's sad to know that in 2010, people around the world still lack access to safe water. Our hope is to help raise awareness and get race fans in both Canada and the United States, as well as our International followers, to support water for all.”

“Our goal is to use our team, the sport we love and our visibility amongst IndyCar fans to help bring attention to this vital issue and make the world just a little bit better for everyone,” says Tagliani. “We’re blessed to be able to go racing or enjoy it as a fan, but it’s also nice to have the opportunity to do something important for others as well. We hope to an impact even just by educating people and letting them know about what ONE DROP is all about.”

“We very much appreciate the support of the FAZZT Race Team in spreading our message and supporting safe water for all,” said ONE DROP Executive Director Lili-Anna Pereša. “Water and poverty are closely linked. When populations have easy access to water, they have more time to devote to activities that enable them to improve their living conditions. Health, equality between men and women, a decent income and food security all depend on having access to water.”

Honda Indy Edmonton Saturday Qualifying

CHALLENGING QUALIFYING RESULT FOR FAZZT AT EDMONTON INDY

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (July 24, 2010) - It turned out to be difficult day at the Honda Indy Edmonton for the FAZZT Race Team driver Alex Tagliani who qualified 10th in his group session and will start the race from a 19th starting position on the grid in Sunday's race on home soil. The team has been working to find a set up that would work on the bumpy 3.154 -kilometer temporary airport circuit but wasn't able to improve past their competitive group session after posting a time 1 minute 02.6257 seconds for an average speed of 182.6605 km/h aboard the no.77 Bowers & Wilkins Hot Wheels machine.

"It wasn't so much that the group one draw was so competitive it's that we just weren't competitive like we should be. It's no secret that we've been struggling to find a set up all weekend. We're a bit lost at the moment with a car that has a lot of understeer, is very nervous with some push. I just feels really unstable and just doesn't have any bit even with the Firestone red tires on. The way the car feels on the track, I would have been very surprised if we had made it out of our group to battle for the Firestone Fast 6. We're not going to give up. The Fazzt guys will keep working to find something to make the no.77 Bower & Wilkins Hot Wheels car better and we'll also try to be creative with our strategy for the race. Until that checkered flag drops we're going to fight."

Sam Schmidt Motorsports - IndyCar Team

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