IZOD INDYCAR SERIES
GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH INDY
STREETS OF LONG BEACH
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE QUOTES
APRIL 21, 2013
JR HILDEBRAND, NO. 4 NATIONAL GUARD PANTHER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 5th: ON HIS RACE: “I’m really proud of the run we had and the pit crew guys did such an awesome job, because we made up three or four of those spots in the pits on our last stop. We struggled in the first stint and were going backwards, but we had a great strategy and ended up on the sticker reds in the end and I was able to pass several guys there at the end just using the overtake. I didn’t see (the incident between Oriol Servia and Tony Kanaan) because I’d let those guys go a little bit while we were saving to make sure we had enough fuel. I saw some tire smoke as I approached Turn One and was able to split through the middle. Really happy to get another Top Five here for the second year in a row, but we’ll make sure we put the work in to make sure we’re ready to rock-n-roll next week. If we continue to make gains like we have we’ll be running up front with the big boys a lot more often.”
ORIOL SERVIA, NO. 22 PANTHER DRYER & REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6TH: ON THE RACE: “I had the best car probably of the whole season in the race. It was awesome. On one restart, I don’t know what happened to Simon [Pagenaud] but he slowed down in the straight and I broke the front wing but even with that we were one of the fastest cars on track. I was saving fuel but I was flying. I was so happy!”
ON THE INCIDENT WITH TONY KANAAN: “With two laps to go, I had a run on Tony [Kanaan]. I was on the push to pass, I don’t think he saw me coming. I got in his inside and he closed the door. I was there – I cannot disappear! There’s no way I should get a penalty – neither should he – it was one of those deals where you both want the same space in the corner so you crash. I’m angry with him, he’s angry with me. That’s what happens in racing. But I shouldn’t get a penalty.” NOTE: Upon Further Review, IndyCar Officials Rescinded Penalty
MARCO ANDRETTI, NO. 25 RC COLA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7TH: ON HIS RACE: “Going into this, I knew that this would be about the best we would finish. I am definitely pleased with how we climbed our way through the field and how we stayed consistent throughout the day. We knew that if we just stayed in the race and didn’t make any mistakes, we would be good. I had some front wing damage and a lot of understeer the whole race.”
SIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 78 NUCLEAR ENTERGY AREVA KV RACING TECHNOLOGY CHEVROLET, FINISHED 9TH: ON HER RACE: “I think it was a good recovery from where we started. The car was really fast and the guys did a really awesome job in the pits. When we had clean laps we could move forward and made up some positions, so I think P9 is really good for us. Hopefully next time we can start a little more up front and make life a little bit easier. But, I think it was a great weekend for us.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 AUTO CLUB TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10TH: ON HIS RACE: “Tough day for the Auto Club Chevrolet, but my team did a great job getting me back out after our incident with the nose. I was trying to be careful but got bunched up and broke the front wing. At the end of the day the lemon became the lemonade with our finish. We are very happy to come out of here still leading the points and now we have focus on what we need to do to improve.”
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 7 MCAFEE DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 15TH: ON HIS RACE: “Well a lot of things happened today. We started in the middle of the pack and that ended up being our result. The yellows didn’t fall at the right time for us and we struggled with two of our pit stops. The last restart I couldn’t stay in front of Helio, and that was terminal for us at that point. I am disappointed because the team worked so hard to give me a good car, and should have been in the Top-10.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 16TH: ON HIS RACE: “Frustrating day out there for the Verizon car, we had a car that we thought was good enough to win today. Sato was very strong and he really dominated out there. Obviously we didn’t have the start out there that we wanted and broke traction which hurt us. We didn’t lose much in the points which is a good thing but certainly we could have had a much better day.”
ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 FUZZY’S VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 18TH: ON HIS RACE: “I think we should have had a better finish today. We had a 10, 11 or 12th place car today. We had a tough first stop, but the car was very good in the middle stint and I did get up to P12. Then later I tried to make a pass on (Sebastien) Bourdais and broke too hard and locked up the right front. The tire was junk after that. So I didn’t have the race car that we had in the middle. We are making progress with the Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevy but we aren’t getting the results right now. The team working well together and I feel good going to Brazil.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 11 HYDROXYCUT KV RACING TECHNOLOGY SH RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 20TH: INVOLVED IN SINGLE-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP 79 OF THE RACE – ON WHAT HAPPENED: “We had a good race going and I was set for a fifth-place finish until (Oriol) Servia took me out with half a lap to go. It’s really frustrating… I was the leading Chevy car out there and it was looking like a good points race for us. I’m really disappointed on how it turned out.”
E.J. VISO, NO. 5 TEAM VENEZUELA ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT HVM CHEVROLET, FINISHED 22ND: NOTE – WAS INVOLVED IN A MULTI-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP 35 – ON WHAT HAPPENED: “A very tough weekend for the team. It was looking like a good weekend for me after our very difficult beginning. It was a very tough Friday, a bit better Saturday in qualifying – we were able to qualify in the top 10 – and then in the race I really had a good, good recovery with some changes for the race which were in the right direction. The team gave me a car that was very competitive with new and old tires. I was able to have a very good rhythm and good pace with fuel. I believe we had a car that was able to win this race. I feel bad for the outcome of the team: one driver took three Andretti cars out – it’s a shame. Now to Brazil.”
A.J. ALLMENDINGER, NO. 2 PENSKE AUTOMOTIVE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 23RD: ON HIS RACE: “I thought today was going to be a good day for the Penske Automotive Chevrolet, we were posting lap times that were consistent with those up front. Unfortunately we just couldn’t get the track position we needed and having the gear box break in Turn 5 ended the day. But it’s another step in the learning process and should make us better for Indy.”
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, NO 1 DHL ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 24TH: NOTE – WAS INVOLVED IN A SINGLE CAR ACCIDENT ON LAP 50 – ON WHAT HAPPENED: “We just weren’t going anywhere sitting in traffic like that. We missed it today – just didn’t have any grip and the corners that were my best over the weekend, were now my worst. I just had to start trying things and we were just sitting in the back of the pack. I started going and I couldn’t get around anywhere else and dove down to the inside. Got inside but there was no grip in there and just got into the tires. Completely my fault, but at that point we were just trying to make a bad day a little bit better.”
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE, NO. 27 GODADDY.COM ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, FINISHED 26TH : NOTE – WAS INVOLVED IN MULTI-CAR INCIDENT ON LAP 35 – ON WHAT HAPPENED: “Two in a row (not finishing due to contact) – what a kick in the pants. It’s really unfortunate because I think the Go Daddy team had done a good job giving us a great race car. If you look at the first stint we performed pretty well; we
picked up spots on the start and the first restart. We thought we were taking a bit of a gamble on the black tires there, but I think that might have been a really good strategy call seeing the way that the reds were falling off. We knew we had to protect them the second stint – I was excited to see how that was going to play out for us. A few guys jump us there with pitting a bit early but we were comfortable with the pace of our car. And on the restart… I didn’t get the best restart and Tony (Kanaan) had a smokin’ one and I was trying to keep, I think it was (Simon) Pagenaud, behind me on the inside and as we got down to Turn 1. I haven’t seen a replay so I don’t know if Tony was trying to do a last minute pass or if he was getting squeezed by someone else, but he moved in the brake zone and I just had nowhere to go and day done. So really tough break for the GoDaddy guys because I genuinely think we were podium contenders today and it was going to be a good comeback from not the strongest of weekends. But one thing I love about this team is they pull out on Sundays – they do Sunday as well as anybody, and often better, and I think today was going to be one of those days. But we’ll get our momentum back and move on to Brazil.”
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 6 TRUECAR DRAGON RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 27TH: NOTE: INVOLVED IN A SINGLE CAR INCIDENT ON LAP THREE OF THE RACE: ON THE WEEKEND: “It’s been a weekend to forget as a whole. We struggled from the beginning of the weekend and our result today wasn’t where we wanted to end up with the #6 TrueCar. We really were looking for a good finish because we had the car figured out. We knew there were going to be a lot of yellows today and we were going to do our best to stay out of them, which unfortunately did not happen. I am really sorry for my team because they have worked so hard all weekend and we leave today with a disappointing result.”
