Sam Schmidt Motorsports

Twin Ring Motegi Race Report

Alex Tagliani moves up the field to finish 13th in Japan

Starting in the back of grid in 23rd position, Canadian driver Alex Tagliani moved up the field in the penultimate race of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar schedule to finish 13th in the Indy Japan 300 held Sunday at the 2.414-km Twin Ring Motegi oval located 130 kilometers north of Tokyo in Japan. The FAZZT Race Team driver flirted with 10th place during the race following his final pit stop on lap 150. Fifteenth coming into the pits, he came back out on track in 11th place following excellent work by the FAZZT Team. Unfortunately, Tagliani was unable to fend off Dan Wheldon and Takuma Sato who respectively went by him on laps 170 and 171.

"Yeah it was a good race for the Bowers & Wilkins/TorcUP machine," Alex Tagliani said. "We recovered well from qualifying although obviously it would have been really better to start in the top 10. It was a good race, the strategy was good, and the boys did a great job in the pits. We had a quick car and considering the track is known to be a very difficult place to pass, I think we can be very happy with the fact that we gained ten positions during the race. We come away very proud with what we accomplished. We finished in front of the drivers we are battling with in the championship, and we made up one spot. We'll go into Homestead-Miami to do better than we did here and wrap up the season doing the best job we can."

Twin Ring Motegi Qualifying Report

Race 16 of 17

Qualifying Results:

Position: 23^rd

Speed: 195.483 mph

Pole Winner/Speed: Helio Castroneves, Team Penske/201.992 mph

Alex Tagliani on Motegi Qualifying:

“Today’s results were not quite what we were looking for in times. We were struggling a bit with understeer in the first practice session and although we made some positive changes for the second session we still needed to free up the car. The guys worked really hard to try to get the car to where we thought we wanted to be for qualifying but, unfortunately, we went too far. We just have to work that much harder tomorrow to make sure we have a good result for Bowers & Wilkins and TorcUP.”

Kentucky Speedway Race Report

Brake problems hamper the FAZZT Race Team in Kentucky

Sparta, Kentucky (September 4, 2010) - Brake problems hampered the FAZZT Race Team during Saturday night's Kentucky Indy 300 held at the 2.414 km tri-oval Kentucky Speedway. Starting 13th on the grid, Canadian Alex Tagliani ran as high as 10th place before the situation occurred around the halfway mark. Tagliani had to make two extra stops under a full course yellow to try and correct the problem, but to no avail. He finished in 15th place.

Against all odds, Brazilian Helio Castroneves won the race crossing the finish line more than 13 seconds ahead of polesitter Ed Carpenter. Team Penske's race strategy worked its magic during his fuel economy run near the end of the event as all his opponents had to pit for a splash of fuel in the closing moments of the 200-lap affair. Dan Wheldon finished third ahead of Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti. Marco Andretti came in sixth, followed by Scott Dixon and Will Power.

"Again I'm very proud of the team I think they did a great job on the car," Alex Tagliani said. "We had a really good solid car to finish in the top 10 easily. When we were in traffic, the car was fast. We seem to be quicker than Dario; definitely in turbulence, the car was good really. At one point, we started to have brake problems, and every time I came in the pits, I really had a hard time slowing down as I came into my box. It was the same to get onto the speed limiter entering pit lane. With this problem, we kept losing a lot of positions. We've had a good car for the last two oval races, and I'm pleased with the way the car is set up. It's just unfortunate that we didn't have a good clean race. Every race is a big learning curve for the team, but the team is progressing well at every race. This is also my first time here in Kentucky. A year from now when we come back here I think it's going to be totally different."

Kentucky Speedway Qualifying Report

"From where we are starting for Saturday's race we can definitely make it to the front." - Alex Tagliani

Driver:
ALEX TAGLIANI
Entry:
No 77 Bowers & Wilkins/TorcUp FAZZT Race Team Dallara/Honda/Firestone
Event:
Kentucky Indy 300 - 200 laps/ 483 kilometers
11th IndyCar race at Kentucky Speedway
Track:
Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, Kentucky - 2.414 km tri-oval
Event Dates:
Race on Saturday, September 4 at 7:45 p.m. ET;
Tape delay broadcast on TSN2 at 11:00 p.m.
Live Timing & Scoring and Video is available at www.indycar.com
Race:
15 of 17

Sparta, Kentucky (September 3, 2010) - On his first-ever visit to the 2.414-km Kentucky Speedway tri-oval, Canadian Alex Tagliani placed his No 77 Bowers & Wilkins Dallara in 13th position in Friday's lone qualifying session. Tagliani will start Saturday night's Kentucky Indy 300 from the inside of row seven next to rookie Takuma Sato. The FAZZT Race Team driver averaged 348.247 km/h during his two-lap qualifying run (49.2443 s), only 348 thousandths of a second from pole winner Ed Carpenter (48.8958 s). Carpenter, who averaged 350.728 km/h, edged points leader Will Power by only 23 thousandths of a second to score his first-ever IndyCar pole. For the first time in his IZOD IndyCar Series career, Carpenter will lead the field of 27 cars on the opening circuit of the 200-lap round 13 of the 2010 season schedule. Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon will share Row two, while the cars of Hideki Mutoh and rookie Bertrand Baguette will fill the next row.

"It was a good effort from everyone. The car was a little bit loose in qualifying but we were faced with gusts of wind, which was very different from the conditions we experienced in the morning," Alex Tagliani said. "Our first qualifying lap was a P9 lap but we dropped off on lap two as I got loose and lost momentum. Overall, it was still very good. The car was a little closer to what we are looking for than it was when we first got to Chicago last weekend, and eventually we had a really fast car for that race. From where we are starting for Saturday's race we can definitely make it to the front."

Chicagoland Speedway Race Report

Joliet, Illinois (August 29, 2010) - During a race restart on Saturday night's PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300 held at the 2.086-kilometer D-shaped tri-oval Chicagoland Speedway, Canadian driver was punted out of the race following an incident between Brazilian Vitor Meira and Hideki Mutoh of Japan. An off course excursion by rookie Ana Beatriz had caused the second full course yellow on lap 78 of 200, and as the cars were ready for the restart on lap 86, Meira bumped Mutoh's car which collected Tagliani's FAZZT racecar causing left side pod and left rear suspension damage. While Tagliani retired in the pits in 25th place overall, Meira would go on to finish ninth and Mutoh 12th.

Tagliani pitted early in the race following the first caution and returned to the track in 20th position. He steadily moved up the field to eventually take command of the event on lap 58. As he was entering pit lane for his second stop, he ran out of fuel on, losing a lap to the leaders. He was soon back on the leaders lap, but the fuel incident had put him in a situation where he was near the tail-end of the field, were race incidents often occur on race restart.

Rapport de la course au Chicagoland Speedway

« Je pense que nous étions l'équipe à battre » - Alex Tagliani

Joliet, Illinois (29 août 2010) - Lors d'une relance du PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300 disputé samedi soir sur l'ovale du Chicagoland Speedway, le pilote québécois Alex Tagliani a été littéralement sorti de la course à la suite d'un incident impliquant le Brésilien Vitor Meira et le Japonais Hideki Mutoh. Une excursion hors-piste de la recrue Ana Beatriz avait provoqué cette deuxième neutralisation au 78e des 200 passages de la 14e des 18 étapes de la série IZOD IndyCar 201, et alors que les voitures se préparaient à reprendre le combat au 86e tour, Meira a heurté l'arrière de la voiture de Mutoh qui a été poussée sur celle de Tagliani, endommageant la suspension arrière gauche et le ponton gauche. Tagliani terminera sa course dans les puits au 25e rang, tandis que Meira finira en neuvième position et Mutoh 12e.

À la suite d'un premier arrêt aux puits au neuvième tour alors que la course était neutralisée, le pilote de l'équipe de course FAZZT s'est retrouvé en 20e place, mais il a remonté le peloton pour prendre la tête au 58e tour. Alors qu'il entrait aux stands pour son second ravitaillement, il a manqué de carburant dans la ligne des puits, ce qui lui a fait perdre un tour sur les meneurs. Même s'il a éventuellement repris son tour perdu, cette situation dans les puits l'avait placé dans le dernier tiers du peloton, là où les incidents sont fréquents lors d'une relance de la course.

Sam Schmidt Motorsports - IndyCar Team

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