EMU AUSTRALIA CARS OF DREYER & REINBOLD RACING READY FOR ACTION DOWN UNDER
Buddy Rice and Townsend Bell have arrived in Australia and kept busy with
activities on and off the track
SURFERS PARADISE, Australia -- Buddy Rice and Townsend Bell, along with the
EMU Australia crews of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, have arrived in full force
in Surfers Paradise for this weekend's exhibition race on the city streets,
the Nikon Indy 300.
This is the first IndyCar Series race in Australia, though the event is no
stranger to fans of open-wheel racing as CART/Champ Car had held races in
Surfers Paradise since 1991.
The week began early for Bell who flew in a day before the main group of
passengers left the U.S. He participated in two days of media activities,
including making a visit alongside team co-owner Robbie Buhl on behalf of
Racing for Kids at the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane on Wednesday.
Later that evening, teammate Rice participated with AJ Foyt IV, Ryan
Hunter-Reay, and Alex Tagliani, among others, in a media poker tournament at
the Conrad Jupiters Casino.
Also at the casino, on Thursday morning, Rice and Bell took part in the
event's traditional driver's breakfast with the other 22 IndyCar Series
drivers. While seated on stage, the event allowed the participants to field
questions from both the media and fans in attendance. As a gift, each
driver was presented with an authentic Aboriginal Didgeridoo.
Meanwhile, the mechanics and crew of the Dreyer & Reinbold team used their
limited free time away from the track to check out the beach, shops, and
restaurants of Surfers Paradise. The team quickly learned the hot spots and
prime locations for scenery that members of the league's transitional teams
became familiar with over the last several years.
The media activities concluded on Thursday afternoon when the EMU Australia
crews and drivers took part in a photo shoot in the garage area. Both cars
were on display with the crew and drivers sporting their new EMU boots. The
event brought much awareness among the locals of their "home team" to
support.
On Friday, Rice and Bell took their Emu Australia Honda machines onto the
streets for the first two official practice sessions. As this will be their
first time racing in this event, Rice and Bell used the sessions to
acclimate themselves to the racing circuit.
At 9:50 on Saturday morning, Rice and Bell will have one more practice
session before qualifying later in the day at 1:10 p.m. These sessions can
be seen live via streaming video on indycar.com.
The race itself begins at 12:40 p.m. on Sunday. All times for sessions
noted are listed in local time (GMT +10:00). Live coverage of the event in
the U.S. can be seen on ESPN Classic on October 25th at 10:30 p.m. ET.
QUOTES
No.15 EMU AUSTRALIA/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Honda Dallara Driver Buddy Rice
"It's great down here in Australia. It's nice to see a different part of
the world. It's very beautiful down here. It reminds me a bit of
California back in the 70s. The track is fantastic. It's really narrow,
but we'll see how it all plays out. I'm looking forward to carrying the
colors of Emu Australia on our car this weekend, and hopefully we can have a
good result."
No.23 EMU AUSTRALIA/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Honda Dallara Driver Townsend
Bell
"It feels great to be here in Surfers Paradise. I've been here before but
have never had the chance to race. It's a great place with great people. I
can't wait. It's nice that myself and Buddy will be rocking the local
colors here on our Emu Australia cars. They're a great partner, and it's
just going to be exciting to have a local flavor to our race weekend."
-credit: drr
