Pre-Season Champ Favorites Ascend to One-Two in Standings
by Allan Brewer
allan@indyproracer.com
 Sam Schmidt’s Richard Antinucci. Photo: DanaGarrettIRL
|
Richard Antinucci of Sam Schmidt Motorsports and AFS Andretti Green’s Raphael Matos moved to the front of the Firehawk Cup championship chase on Saturday (July 5th) as the sixteen-race 2008 Firestone Indy Lights season moved past its halfway point.
Antinucci retook the points lead in the quest for the Cup by virtue of victory in Corning Duels Race 2; and Matos inched closer to his own championship aspirations by winning Race 1. Both drivers benefited from a decidedly “off” weekend of racing by Panther Racing’s Dillon Battistini, who crashed out of both events and recorded uncharacteristic seventeenth and nineteenth place finishes.
Antinucci’s win in Corning Duel Race 2 was his first triumph since St. Petersburg Race 2 on April 6th. His four runner-up finishes in the interim allowed him to survive the mostly-oval first half of the series’ calendar in excellent position to take advantage of the upcoming feast of road course events ahead (four of the last seven races) in the red and white No. 7 Dallara.
"We were good on cold tires,” he said afterwards of his race-deciding move past teammate Ana Beatriz on an early-laps Race 2 restart. “We had a really good car. We had new tires while Matos and (Team Moore’s Jeff) Simmons had scuffed tires. That might have helped us with the hotter temperatures. In the long run it hurt us, but it was enough at the end to win."
In Race 1 it was Matos who took the advantage when pole-sitter Franck Perera of Guthrie Racing opened the door of opportunity. The likable Brazilian racer knifed past the Frenchman on the green flag with Antinucci in tow, then stretched to a comfortable gap that let Rafa circulate the beautiful 11-turn, 3.37 mile Watkins Glen International circuit in relative cruise-control comfort.
The result was Matos’ second victory of the 2008 season, a triumph that puts him right with pre-season prognosticators who foresaw his chances of winning the season-long championship challenge in this hyper-competitive league of young racers equal as or better than Antinucci’s.
"I knew I had to get by Franck (Perera) in the beginning of the race because he was running more down force than me,” said Rafa later. “That was definitely the most important pass. It worked out pretty well, and I was able to get by him. At the end of the race, my car was good enough that I could make a big enough gap so I was comfortable in the lead, and I could bring the AFS/Andretti Green Racing car to victory lane."
 Raphael Matos leads Indy Lights at the Glen. Photo: RonMcQueeneyIRL
|
For every step forward taken by Antinucci and Matos, however, was a damaging misstep trod by the luckless Battistini. The Brit surrendered his lead in the Cup championship race when misfortune snowballed from the earlier practices (which saw him sidelined for gearing issues and led to a disappointing qualifying effort) into race-day disaster: two crashes and costly DNF’s from both starts.
Race One Recap
The start was delayed after a pace lap stall by James Davison and spin by Matt Lee. When racing got under way on Lap 2, Franck Perera led the field into Turn 1 but was soon overtaken by Matos and Antinucci. Perera spun, bringing out yellow as Bobby Wilson and J R Hildebrand both retired from the race with damage.
Lap 10 found Battistini spinning into the grass exiting Turn 10 before colliding with the Armco barrier and damaging the right side of his car.
Matos cruised at the front with Antinucci 3 seconds-plus to the rear as the time-limited race concluded on the 28th of a scheduled 29-lap run. The final margin of victory was 2.1290 seconds.
Team Moore’s Jeff Simmons came home third, followed by Antinucci’s SSM teammate Ana ‘Bia’ Beatriz and Chilean Pablo Donoso.
Race Two Recap
The field was inverted through the first six positions for the start of race two, putting Guthrie Racing’s Logan Gomez on the point. At the green flag Beatriz took the inside line from her spot on the inside of row two, and moved past the leaders into the lead going through Turn 1.
On Lap 7 Battistini again was off, this time in Turn 7 after colliding with Wilson. Both retired.
The Lap 10 restart found Antinucci smoothly ducking inside Bia for the lead at the end of the long front straightaway of the Glen. Bia lost another spot a lap later to Matos as he duplicated Antinucci’s move past her going into Turn 1.
Antinucci drew the lead out to three-plus seconds before finally winning by a margin of 0.7202 seconds over the full 29-lap, 100 mile distance.
Beatriz earned her second podium in three races (she took third at Iowa two weeks ago) with a run to third place; while Gomez and Donoso rounded out the top five.
Antinucci Resumes Championship Points Lead
The double-podium finish by Richard Antinucci lifted him back into the lead for the Firestone Indy Lights championship with 307 points. Matos trails by twenty-seven points, while Battistini fell to third (265 points) ahead of Arie Luyendyk Jr (238 points) and J R Hildebrand (235 points).
Next up: Nashville SuperSpeedway in tiny Lebanon, Tennessee where the Indy Lights season continues with the Nashville 100 on Saturday, July 12th.
Firestone Indy Lights Corning Duels Race One Results
Comments