FAZZT Race Team driver Alex Tagliani was forced to retire from Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach following a contact on lap 65 of the 85-lap event. Starting from the fourth row, Tagliani and Marco Andretti made contact on the opening lap, but both continued.
Tagliani held steady in 8th place throughout the first stint and made his first stop on lap 29. During his stop, there was a fuel flow issue. Still running eighth, the team pitted a second time on lap 49. Tagliani returned to the track in 20th place, hoping for a full course yellow in order to make their final pit stop. The yellow came on lap 60 and the team decided to make its final stop. On the restart on lap 65, the Canadian driver had a contact, damaging his front suspension.
"We just had a tough day today and it's just a shame for the team," said Tagliani. "We had contact on the first lap with Marco Andretti in the hairpin but we recovered and stayed up front, running with the leaders. Unfortunately, on our first stop, we had an issue with our refueling. I think the butterfly was stuck, and we didn't get enough fuel into the car."
"From that point on we realized we were in trouble. We had to make a second stop that we hoped we wouldn't have to make, and then when we came in on the last yellow to get fuel and they put us in the back of the pack," he said. "On the restart, I was trying to make my way up and I got tangled up, and damaged the front suspension. The team is doing well though and we have the speed in qualifying so this little glitch was unfortunate today and we're going to try and fix it and make sure we don't put ourselves in a trouble situation again."
Hunter-Reay Wins Long Beach
Ryan Hunter-Reay ended Team Penske's three-race win streak with a win in Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The Andretti Autosport driver led the final 55 of the 85-lap race to cross the finish line ahead of Justin Wilson. His win ended a streak of 29 races without a win for Michael Andretti's team. Will power, winner of the first two races of the season and winner of the pole in Long Beach, finished third. The Team Penske driver led the first 30 laps before a driver mistake that saw both Hunter-Reay and Wilson go by him on lap 31. Scott Dixon finished fourth ahead of Tony Kanaan. Fifteen of the 25 starters finished on the lead lap.
Tagliani Third in the Warm-Up
In the morning race warm-up Tagliani was third quickest with a lap time of 1:10.9262, only three tenths behind session leader Scott Dixon (Ganassi Racing). Second fastest was Brazilian Helio Castroneves of Team Penske. Dario Franchitti and Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded up the Top-5.
Team Manager Rob Edwards on the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
"It's very disappointing. We had a good weekend up to the race and a good first stint. Alex did a super job of running good fuel mileage and good lap times in the first segment but unfortunately we had a problem on the first pit stop and didn't get all the fuel we needed in the car. Therefore, we didn't have enough to get to the end on one more stop. We gambled to try and do that and went as long as we could with the fuel we had on board and we were trying to go to the end. On the yellow, based on how many yellows there were in the early part of the race, we decided to come in, take a splash of fuel and put red tires on and let Alex get racy for the last 20 laps and unfortunately on the restart we had contact and that was the end of our day. But overall, it was a good weekend, good qualifying and now we're going to look forward to the ovals at Kansas and Indianapolis."
Power Still Leads The Point's Race
In the driver standings, Will Power maintains first place with 172 points, 42 more than his Penske teammate Helio Castroneves. Following his Long Beach win, Hunter-Reay jumps from seventh to third place with 129 points, only one behind Castroneves. Justin Wilson stays in fourth with a total of 125 points. Tagliani is 14th overall with 72 points. Round 5 of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season will be held Saturday, May 1 with the ARoadRunner Turbo Indy 300 from the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
To learn more FAZZT Race Team, log on at www.fazztraceteam.com
GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH RESULTS
TAGLIANI STARTING POSITION: 7th
TAGLIANI POSITION AT FINISH: 21st, contact
Media contact: Jana Watt
FAZZT Race Team
(317) 709-3855
janaw@fazztraceteam.com
Max d'Orsonnens
For FAZZT Race Team
(514) 990-4988
maxdo@videotron.ca
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