June 2007

INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY – ROUND 5 – RACE

Polesitter Gutierrez Finishes Third, Collision Puts Major Out Early

Indianapolis, Ind. – June 16, 2007… Canadian Daniel Morad (Eurointernational) climbed the Indianapolis Motor Speedway fence in front of the United States Grand Prix front straight crowd after winning Round 5 the 2007 Formula BMW USA Championship today. Besting the 18-car field, he finished .790 seconds ahead of Maxime Pelletier (HBR Motorsport Team USA) in the 15 lap race around the 2.605-mile Grand Prix circuit. Esteban Gutierrez (Autotecnica), today’s polesitter, finished third and continues to lead the Rookie points.

At the race start, it was a surprisingly strong Pelletier who took the lead from his outside front row starting position. Gutierrez took over the point on lap three as the drafting battles down the long front straight began. By lap five Morad had the lead and shared almost a two second gap with Gutierrez back to Pelletier, now in third. A local yellow flag in turn 1 for a collision between Ricardo Favoretto (HBR Motorsport team USA) and Philip Major (Autotecnica) froze the first three in their positions for the next three laps. Pelletier was back in the lead on lap nine while Morad battled Gutierrez. On lap 13, just after Rossi finally cleared Tambay for fourth, Morad took the lead from Pelletier heading into turn 1. The final two laps did not see a change in the top-five finishers.

The top-finishing Rookie drivers today were Gutierrez (P3), Tambay (P5), Jeffrey Petriello (P8), Eric Morrow (P12) and Timothy Hollowell (P13).

“I’m certainly on a big high right now, said Morad. “I had a decent start, but with the long straights I knew we would trade the lead many times. I slowed the pace to allow Maxime to get by me as I thought I needed another driver to help me break the draft with Esteban. When we had developed a gap to him I felt confident to go back by Maxime with two laps to go. It might have been a risk to pass that early but the car was flawless today.”

Pelletier said, “I had a much better start than I expected and led for a few laps. When Daniel and Esteban passed me I knew it would be hard to get back by them. I don’t know why they slowed, but I led again. Daniel passed me again and I thought I could catch him, but the car developed an understeer in the last corner so I focused on maintaining my position. To have my best race here is a great feeling and I can feel my confidence growing.”

Gutierrez added, “It was a tough, competitive race. Daniel and Maxime did a very good job and I see that I have a few things still to learn about drafting on these long straights.”

Round 5 – Results (15 laps)

1 Daniel Morad EUROINTERNATIONAL 25:05.398

2 Maxime Pelletier HBR Motorsport Team USA 25:06.188

3 Esteban Gutierrez (R) Team Autotecnica 25:06.845

4 Alexander Rossi Hearn Motorsports 25:09.547

5 Adrien Tambay (R) EUROINTERNATIONAL 25:09.635

6 Steven Guerrero HBR Motorsport Team USA 25:14.295

7 Jordan Dick JD Racing 25:16.424

8 Jeffrey Petriello (R) Team KMA Racing 25:17.970

9 Sebastian Saavedra EUROINTERNATIONAL 25:18.407

10 Yannick Hofman EUROINTERNATIONAL 25:19.987

11 Mike Hill Team KMA Racing 25:20.373

12 Eric Morrow (R) Hearn Motorsports 25:24.406

13 Timothy Hollowell (R) Team KMA Racing 25:32.384

14 Julia Landauer Team KMA Racing 25:33.552

15 Lindsey Adams Team KMA Racing 25:44.349

16 Ricardo Favoretto (R) HBR Motorsport Team USA 26:37.207

17 Robert Thorne Team Apex Racing USA not running

18 Philip Major Team Autotecnica not running

Championship points after 5 of 14 races:

1. Daniel Morad (EUROINTERNATIONAL, 220), 2. Esteban Gutierrez (Team Autotecnica, 191), 3. Alexander Rossi (Hearn Motorsports,143), 4. Jeffrey Petriello (Team KMA Racing, 142), 5.Sebastian Saavedra (EUROINTERNATIONAL, 141), 6. Yannick Hofman (EUROINTERNATIONAL, 126), 7. Steven Guerrero (HBR Motorsport Team USA, 125), 8. Jordan Dick (JD Racing, 122), 9. Robert Thorne (Team Apex Racing USA, 120), 10. Maxime Pelletier (HBR Motorsport Team USA, 114), 11. Ricardo Favoretto (Team HBR Motorsports USA, 100), 12. Philip Major (Team Autotecnica, 95), 13. Tim Hollowell (Team KMA Racing, 82), 14. Eric Morrow (Hearn Motorsports, 74) 15. Mike Hill (Team KMA Racing, 72), 16. Lindsey Adams (Team Apex Racing USA, 70), 17. Julia Landauer (Team KMA Racing, 42), 18. Adrien Tambay (EUROINTERNATIONAL, 32), 19. Felipe Polehtto (Team Apex Racing USA, 28), 20. Matt Ferris (Gelles Racing, 26), 21. Keenan Schmitke (Gelles Racing, 24), 22. Michael Vincec (Jensen Motorsports, 24)

Rookies: 1. Esteban Gutierrez (191), 2. Jeffrey Petriello (142), 3. Ricardo Favoretto (100) 4. Tim Hollowell (82), 5. Eric Morrow (74) 6. Adrien Tambay (32), 7. Keenan Schmitke (24), 8. Michael Vincec (24)

Courtesy of formulabmwusa.com