Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Mid-Ohio Race Report

DREYER & REINBOLD RACING FINISHES STRONG IN MID-OHIO; SIMON PAGENAUD EARNS 13TH PLACE RESULT AND ANA BEATRIZ FINISHES 17TH

Lexington, Ohio (August 7, 2011)--This weekend took an unexpected turn for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Justin Wilson, driver of the No. 22 Roll Coater machine, was involved in a single-car incident in yesterday morning's practice for the Honda Indy 200.

Wilson was transported from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course to MedCentral Hospital in Mansfield, Ohio by ground transportation. He has an anterior compression fracture of the fifth vertebra and was kept overnight at MedCentral Hospital in Mansfield, Ohio. Wilson was transported to Indianapolis today to meet with Dr. Terry Trammell.

Simon Pagenaud qualified the No. 22 Roll Coater entry and substituted for Wilson for today's event. The Frenchman filled in for Ana Beatriz at Barber Motorsports Park this past April. Fortunately, he tested at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course last week, which helped in his qualifying effort and in the race. Pagenaud started 18th and as the green flag dropped, had a clean start. The field quickly settled into a groove and the Frenchman maintained his starting position as he saved fuel. On Lap 21 the full course caution came out. Pagenaud came in on Lap 23 for fuel and tires and he filtered out to P17. During the second stint, Simon made a lot of ground, but unfortunately he ran off on the exit of Turn 1, and as a result he went back to P19.

Ana Beatriz, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

Photo by: Ted Rossino

Things started to look better on Lap 40, as Pagenaud had the pace, but unfortunately it was difficult for him to pass. He came in on Lap 53 for fuel and tires, which was a good call as the yellow came out on Lap 56. As a result he moved up to P14. For the remainder of the race, he worked diligently and gained another position, moving him up to P13. Pagenaud brought the car home safely in 13th position.

Today was a similar story for Ana Beatriz. The Brazilian proved again that she is graduating from rookie status. As the green flag dropped, Beatriz, who earned a 25th starting position, had a clean start and stayed out of trouble. She gained one position, moving her up to 24th, where she would stay for the remainder of the first stint. The caution came out Lap 21, and Bia came in for fuel and tires on Lap 23. After the restart on Lap 26, Beatriz worked her way up the grid as she picked people off.

For the duration of the second stint, Bia settled into a groove, and like her teammate, came in before the yellow flag flew on Lap 56. As a result she filtered her way up the grid to P15. Beatriz held that position for most of the race. The Brazilian did an amazing job of holding off Will Power and Ryan Briscoe until the very end. Unfortunately, they caught her in the end and, as a result, she finished the day in 17th place.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will head home to Indianapolis to prepare the cars for next weekend's round in New Hampshire. For more updates on the team, please visit www.dreyerreinboldracing.com.

What they have to say...

Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 Roll Coater: "Considering that I was thrown into the car yesterday morning, I think that it was a good weekend. Obviously qualifying was a bit of a roller coaster for me with getting in the car quickly and trying to do my best. We started at the back in 18th position. It's difficult to pass here, so we finished 13th. We had a really good racecar, but it's just frustrating because I didn't have the chance to run by myself and show the pace of the car. I think that the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/ Roll Coater car was one of the fastest out there today. We just needed to qualify up front and we would have been okay. All in all, considering the bad luck that the team had all weekend, the team should be glad about that. Bia did a great job and we should all be proud. We will see what happens next."

Ana Beatriz, No. 24 Ipiranga: "I think it was a good race. I was trying to stay on pace and pass people. It's a really hard track to pass, but we were able to make some passes and gain some positions. Unfortunately, I made a mistake on one of the restarts and stayed behind a driver that was really slow at the end of the race and that cost us a bunch of time and at the end we lost two positions to the Penske cars. I think it was the best part of the weekend and we got some important points to wrap around our racing. Now we need to look to New Hampshire."