THREE SAM SCHMIDT CARS FINISH IN TOP-TEN IN LONG BEACH; HINCHCLIFFE EARNS SECOND PODIUM

Sunday, 19 April 2009 18:12

Sundays Firestone Indy Lights Long Beach 100 proved
to be a quiet day for the Sam Schmidt Motorsports teams as James Hinchcliffe
brought his car home in third, Ana Beatriz finished fourth, and Gustavo
Yacamán was ninth.

The teams fourth driver, Wade Cunningham, retired from the race early due
to an alternator failure. J.R. Hildebrand won the event from the pole
position. With the tight confines of the downtown Long Beach street
circuit, passing proved to be difficult based on out-right speed. Most
moves in the race were preceded by a driving error of some sort.

Such an error cost Hinchcliffe a position in the race. While leading,
Hildebrand smacked the inside wall in the tracks final hairpin turn, and
when Hinchcliffe saw this, he backed off expecting to avoid an incident. No
incident ever occurred, but the loss in momentum allowed Richard Philippe to
sneak by Hinchcliffe and finish the race in second.

Beatriz and Yacamán both drove smart races in bringing their cars home in
solid finishes. They both gained two positions from their respective
starting spots.

Cunningham was also moving up through the field from his starting position,
but an alternator issue, which has plagued a couple of cars in the first few
events this year, forced the team to retire early. Cunningham and his crew,
along with the rest of the Sam Schmidt Motorsports bunch, are chomping at
the bit to race this years first oval event at the Kansas Speedway next
weekend. Practice and qualifying will take place on Saturday with the race
on Sunday. Live video from the event will be available on indycar.com.

For those that missed the live feed on indycar.com of the Long Beach 100,
the tape-delayed broadcast can be seen on VERSUS HD on Monday, April 20th,
at 4 p.m. EDT.

NOTES & QUOTES

#7 HINCHTOWN.com/Sam Schmidt Motorsports Driver James Hinchcliffe

Finished race in third.
Qualified second with fastest lap of 1:15.4928.
Practiced ninth overall on Friday with best time of 1:16.3164. Total of 41
laps practiced.
Leaves Long Beach fourth in points standings.
In three previous races at Long Beach (Champ Car Atlantic), three top-10s
with best finish of third.
This weekends races marks the third for Hinchcliffe in Firestone Indy
Lights.
One win and five additional top-five finishes en route to fourth in 2008
Champ Car Atlantic Championship.
Recently re-launched website, hinchtown.com version 2.0 Now with 10% more
Hinch.

It was a solid effort for us today. I dont think any of us had anything
for J.R. (Hildebrand) today. He was pretty quick. I think that at the end,
he could just sort of control the pace and do anything he wanted. For me,
good start. I was second off the start. I dont know if it was the second
or third lap, but J.R. plowed into the wall coming into the hairpin with the
inside rear. I thought for sure he was going to spin. I backed out of it
to avoid the wreck. Somehow, he managed to get it back and keep going. I
had already lifted and lost enough momentum to let Richard (Philippe) by,
and its too bad because I think that for sure we could have been second
today.

#11 LUCAS OIL/Sam Schmidt Motorsports Driver Wade Cunningham

Finished race in 20th (alternator failure).
Qualified 15th with fastest lap of 1:16.1857.
Practiced 17th overall on Friday with best time of 1:16.8002. Total of 43
laps practiced.
Leaves Long Beach 16th in points standings.
2005 Firestone Indy Lights Champion.
2006 Freedom 100 Winner.
36 top-tens in 49 career starts, including five wins and seven poles.

On my dash, there was an alarm saying that there was an oil pressure
problem, and then the car just lost all power. Under caution, the car would
die, come back, and then die again. The ECU has a safe-mode that kept
shutting the engine down. The guys think that it was an alternator problem
that was causing an electrical problem. Its unfortunate because that took
us out of the race. I had gained three or four positions, and I was quicker
than the two cars in front of me. Just bad luck I guess.

#20 HEALTHY CHOICE/Sam Schmidt Motorsports Driver Ana Beatriz

Finished race in fifth.
Qualified seventh with fastest lap of 1:15.9663.
Practiced 14th overall on Friday with best time of 1:16.5122. Total of 40
laps practiced.
Leaves Long Beach ninth in points standings.
First female to win in Firestone Indy Lights (Nashville, 2008).
12 top-10s in 18 career starts, including 10 in the top-five and 62 laps
led.
Finished 3rd in 2008 Firestone Indy Lights standings and named the
Firestone Rising Star.

It's good to finish in the top-five again. It's important for the points.
We struggled a little bit here at the beginning of the weekend. The Healthy
Choice/Sam Schmidt Motorsports team improved our car for qualifying. For
the race, we made sure we picked up some positions, kept it safe, and
finished in the top-five. Im happy, and now lets move on to the next
one.

#44 CREPES & WAFFLES/Sam Schmidt Motorsports Driver Gustavo Yacamán

Finished race in ninth.
Qualified 11th with fastest lap of 1:16.0988.
Practiced 11th overall on Friday with best time of 1:16.4409. Total of 47
laps practiced.
Leaves Long Beach 11th in points standings.
Youngest driver in Firestone Indy Lights; this weekend marks his third start
in the series.
Missed the March open-test at the HomesteadMiami Speedway due to being
under-aged.
Spent 2007 and 2008 in Spanish Formula 3 and became the youngest race winner
ever in that series.
Won 2005 Stars of Karting Championship in Junior ICA class; won 2005 Florida
Winter Series in Rotax Junior.

Im okay after this race. The car was difficult. I wasnt quite happy
with the balance. We were struggling in the entry of the turns, and we
couldnt get too much power down. Its not fun to struggle on the entry of
the turns on a street course with the walls so close to you. It was a long
race, but in the end, we ended up in the top-ten. I guess I should be
happy. I have to thank my crew for their hard work this weekend, and Ill
look forward to moving on to Kansas.

Team Owner, Sam Schmidt Motorsports, Sam Schmidt

2004, 2006, and 2007 Firestone Indy Lights champions.
Team has acquired 27 race wins and 32 pole positions since entry in the
series in 2003.
As an IndyCar Series driver, started 27 races between 1997 and 1999.
Earned 10 top-10 finishes, six top-fives, and one pole position (Las Vegas,
1999).
Won VEGAS.com 500 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1999.

Excellent job for (James) Hinchcliffe again. For a rookie, hes showing
the maturity of a veteran. He just keeps giving what the car and track will
give him; sometimes a little more. I think we saw experience play out
today. Four out of the top-five finishers had prior race experience here.
I think that helped them.

Moving on to Bia (Ana Beatriz), she was obviously first among the drivers
that had never raced here before. She drove a smooth and consistent race
which is her way of going about her business. Its her usual way of going
about the process. This was a points race for her. She hadnt been here
before. I think she got the best finish out of the car she could. If not
for the second race in St. Pete, she could be leading the points right now.
I think shes going to be tough all year.

Big kudos to Gustavo (Yacamán). He almost had an eighth out of the deal
from 11th. Thats the second solid top-ten for him. He was really fast in
qualifying. Without the incident, he probably would have qualified in the
top-five and ran there all day, but again, to run 45 laps incident-free with
all four corners still on the things, I think thats what he needs to keep
doing.

Wade, unfortunately in that situation, we started 15th and made it up as
far as 11th. We were having a pretty good day with him, but I guess an
alternator bracket broke for him. Thats been a problem for a number of
teams this weekend. Its unfortunate for us that it happened in the race
instead of in practice. We know hell be real strong at Kansas and
Indianapolis, and thats basically where we hope to start our season with
him.