ANDREAS WIRTH OF GERMANY ESTABLISHES NEW ATLANTIC LONG BEACH COURSE
RECORD ON WAY TO SECURING FIRST POLE OF SEASON
LONG BEACH, California (April 8, 2006) -- One day made a big
difference for Atlantic racer Andreas Wirth (#37 INDECK/Wirth Solar) of
Germany.
The 21-year-old series sophomore earned his second career pole Saturday
in the Yokohama Presents the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by
Mazda, harnessing the speed that he's shown through the first two
days of competition at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Wirth clocked
a top time of 1:16.082 (93.121 mph) with about six minutes remaining in
the 30-minute qualifying session and just two minutes later rookie Luis
Schiavo (#8 Asfaltadora Maracay/Energy Freight/UP Racing) made contact
with a tire wall on the Long Beach street circuit. The incident and the
ensuing cleanup brought a premature end to the qualifying session as
Wirth emerged with the top time among all 29 Atlantic drivers this
weekend and will start on the point in tomorrow's Atlantic season
opening race in Long Beach (tape-delayed on SPEED on Sunday, April 16 at
1 p.m. ET).
The blistering lap also established a new series one-lap record at Long
Beach, surpassing the mark of 1:16.267 (92.895 mph) set by former series
champion and current Champ Car driver AJ Allmendinger in 2003. The result
marked a sharp contrast to Friday when Wirth crashed halfway through
qualifying after running among the top drivers, eventually finishing 16th
overall.
Raphael Matos (#6 Pro Works) was in hot pursuit of Wirth for the top time
of the day as the first-year Brazilian Sierra Sierra Enterprises pilot
wound up with the second-fastest time overall of 1:16.149 (93.039 mph)
-- a mark that also topped Allmendinger's previous course
record. Matos led the morning Atlantic practice session at Long Beach and
battled for the fastest lap throughout the course of the day.
Frenchman Simon Pagenaud (#15 Team Australia/Location U/Cons. Gen.
Vienne) will start second in Sunday's race after claiming
Friday's provisional pole. The Team Australia rookie carded the
third-fastest lap in the second round of qualifying, getting around the
1.968-mile circuit in 1:16.575 (92.521 mph).
After finishing third in Friday qualifying, American Jonathan Bomarito
(#23 Miracle Sealants/Dynacor) will start on the outside of the front row
Sunday, claiming fourth in the qualifying order with a lap of 1:16.583
(92.511 mph). Wirth's Forsythe Championship Racing teammate James
Hinchcliffe (#3 Emexis/INDECK) completed the top-five qualifiers after he
carded a time of 1:16.589 (92.504 mph).
The youngest driver in the largest Atlantic field in seven years
competing this weekend, 16-year-old Richard Philippe (#33 INDECK) of the
Forsythe team, posted a time of 1:16.775 (92.280 mph) for the
sixth-fastest lap. American Graham Rahal (#18 Gehl Company) was seventh
in the order at 1:16.843 (92.198 mph) while South Africa's Stephen
Simpson (#14 Western Union/Diamon-Fusion/Gelles Racing) was eighth at
1:16.862 (92.176 mph).
With a lap of 1:16.871 (92.165 mph), Norbert Siedler (#10
Palfinger/Sonax/Remus) of Austria qualified ninth while British racer Tim
Bridgman (#2 Epson) rounded out the top 10 after posting a time of
1:17.052 (91.948 mph).
The top 10 drivers in qualifying posted times that were separated by less
than a second while 27 of the 29 drivers topped their qualifying times
from Friday.
Sunday, the Atlantics will hit the track at 8:35 a.m. PT for a 15-minute
warm-up session. The first green flag of 2006 will fly for the Imperial
Capital Bank Atlantic race on the streets of Long Beach at 10:35 a.m. The
race is scheduled for 32 laps (62.976 miles) or 50 minutes. Follow all of
the action from Long Beach on the Internet through the live timing link
on the official web site of North America's top open-wheel
development series, www.champcaratlantic.com.
ATLANTIC QUALIFYING NOTES:
* Nine of the top 11 drivers in the final qualifying rundown are series
rookies. Only Wirth and Bomarito among the top runners are series
veterans.
* American veteran and 1997 Atlantic series champion Alex Barron (#21
The Room Store) not only qualified 12th for tomorrow's season opener,
he also raced himself on Saturday. The native of Menifee, California
competed in the Grand-Am Rolex Series race at Long Beach on Saturday
evening as he stepped in to the #19 Playboy/Uniden Racing car for
injured driver Memo Gidley. A former Atlantic driver himself, Gidley
suffered multiple back injuries after a warmup accident in Turn 1 this
morning. Barron finished 21st in the race.
Quotes from the top three drivers in qualifying follow:
Andreas Wirth (#37 INDECK/Wirth Solar) of Forsythe Championship Racing:
"I'm very happy. Yesterday I was pissed with myself because I tried
too hard. We had problems with traffic, but it's the same for everyone
and we just tried to put a lap together. We have 30 cars and it's a
street course, it will happen the same on other street courses. I still
had some time left in my fastest lap and I think we look good for
tomorrow."
Simon Pagenaud (#15 Team Australia/Location U/Cons. Gen. Vienne) of Team
Australia: "The car was pretty good this morning and I thought we
might get the pole position. I struggled with traffic and I did not find
a clear lap, but I think we will be competitive in the race. We're
looking for a win."
Rafael Matos (#6 Pro Works) of Sierra Sierra Enterprises: "After
this morning, we were pretty confident. We made some minor changes in the
car and it felt really good, even with cold tires in the beginning of the
session. We struggled a little bit at the start with traffic. I just
couldn't find a good spot on track. I have a really good race car, but
I'm a little disappointed because we couldn't show all the speed we
had."
-atlantic
