June 2007

INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY – ROUND 5 & 6 – QUALIFYING

Rookie Gutierrez Scores a Record Fifth and Sixth Pole Positions

Indianapolis, Ind. – June 15, 2007… Esteban Gutierrez (Autotecnica), of Monterrey, Mexico, stayed as hot as today’s bright summer sun and scored a record fifth and sixth consecutive pole positions in today’s qualifying for Rounds 5 and 6 of the 2007 Formula BMW USA Championship at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Gutierrez’s best two laps of 1:38.406 and 1:38.597 minutes around the 2.605-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway Grand Prix circuit bested the 18-car field in the 30-minute session. 15-year old Gutierrez won Round 2 and leads the Rookie point standings.

Maxime Pelletier (HBR Motorsport Team USA), a second-year Formula BMW USA driver, will start Rounds 5 and 6 second for the 16-year old Canadian’s career best Formula BMW USA qualifying effort.

Daniel Morad (Eurointernational), the 2006 Formula BMW USA Rookie champion and winner of three of this year’s previous four races, will start third in both races. Morad, who has never qualified less than third this year, leads the Overall point standings.

Ricardo Favoretto (HBR Motorsports Team USA) will start from his best qualifying this season in fourth in Round 5 and Philip Major (Autotecnica) took fourth for Round 6.

In Round 5, the first 10 cars of the 18-car field qualified within one second of Gutierrez’s pole time, with three Rookies in the top-10.

“Since I started karting in Mexico I was coached to find the limit of new tires as quickly as I could and that is why I believe I qualify so well,” said Gutierrez. “I like this track, but in many of the corners you have to go from the inside to the outside and not from the outside to the inside like most other circuits. Drafting did not seem to make me faster in qualifying, but I know it will be much more important in the race.”

“The beginning of the session was pretty good, I think I was at the top of the chart until midway through when I got bumped back to fifth or sixth and by then I started concentrating and tried to click off fast laps,” claims Morad. “It is unfortunate because I did not get a drafting partner, which I think was a big factor here especially with the long straights. I am looking forward to the race, Esteban has been doing a great job in qualifying and we have been racing clean so it is going to be exciting.”

Round 5 Qualifying – Results

1 Esteban Gutierrez (R) Team Autotecnica 01:38.406

2 Maxime Pelletier HBR Motorsport Team USA 01:38.863

3 Daniel Morad EUROINTERNATIONAL 01:39.019

4 Ricardo Favoretto (R) HBR Motorsport Team USA 01:39.041

5 Alexander Rossi Hearn Motorsports 01:39.067

6 Philip Major Team Autotecnica 01:39.111

7 Adrien Tambay (R) EUROINTERNAITONAL 01:39.131

8 Jordan Dick JD Racing 01:39.179

9 Steven Guerrero HBR Motorsport Team USA 01:39.329

10 Sebastian Saavedra EUROINTERNATIONAL 01:39.432

11 Robert Thorne Team Apex Racing USA 01:39.492

12 Jeffrey Petriello (R) Team KMA Racing 01:39.518

13 Timothy Hollowell Team KMA Racing 01:39.592

14 Yannick Hofman EUROINTERNATIONAL 01:39.714

15 Mike Hill Team KMA Racing 01:39.885

16 Julia Landauer Team KMA Racing 01:40.401

17 Lindsey Adams Team KMA Racing 01:41.525

18 Eric Morrow* Hearn Motorsports Penalized

*Car 12 moved penalized for taking 2 checkered flags during Qualifying Session

Round 6 Qualifying – Results

1 Esteban Gutierrez (R) Team Autotecnica 01:38.597

2 Maxime Pelletier HBR Motorsport Team USA 01:39.097

3 Daniel Morad EUROINTERNATIONAL 01:39.109

4 Philip Major Team Autotecnica 01:39.170

5 Alexander Rossi Hearn Motorsports 01:39.173

6 Adrien Tambay (R) EUROINTERNATIONAL 01:39.293

7 Jordan Dick JD Racing 01:39.325

8 Ricardo Favoretto (R) HBR Motorsport Team USA 01:39.342

9 Robert Thorne Team Apex Racing USA 01:39.495

10 Steve Guerrero HBR Motorsport Team USA 01:39.532

11 Jeffrey Petriello (R) Team KMA Racing 01:39.575

12 Sebastian Saavedra EUROINTERNATIONAL 01:39.604

13 Timothy Hollowell (R) Team KMA Racing 01:39.621

14 Yannick Hofman EUROINTERNATIONAL 01:39.716

15 Mike Hill Team KMA Racing 01:40.063

16 Eric Morrow (R) Hearn Motorsports 01:40.152

17 Julia Landauer Team KMA Racing 01:40.402

18 Lindsey Adams Team Apex Racing USA 01:41.587

Courtesy of formulabmwusa.com