Race Report: Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
LONG BEACH, CA April 19, 2009—Vitor Meira and the ABC Supply
team weathered a frustrating weekend in sunny southern California,
finishing 14th in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Meira, starting 20th, began the 85-lap race on the red-rimmed
alternate tires which he was able to run until the team’s first fuel
stop window which came on lap 26 during the race’s second full
course yellow. The team executed an efficient stop in 8.2 seconds.
Now on the more durable, black-rimmed primary tires, Meira came out
in 16th position, having gained a position, and had moved into 14th
by lap 33. He moved into 13th on lap 41 but then slipped to 15th by
lap 46. As the pit stops cycled through, he moved into 11th on lap
53 when another full course yellow was called, allowing Meira to pit
under caution on lap 55.
Another efficient fuel stop, which included an adjustment to the
front wing, and the No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara was set for the rest
of the race. He emerged in 13th and ran there until another full
course yellow came out on lap 73. He moved up two spots into 11th
when Ryan Briscoe ran into Scott Dixon on the restart, causing Dixon
to spin out and lose a lap.
Both of those cars restarted at the rear of the field; Briscoe was
charged with a 30-second penalty stop. The race was restarted on lap
78 and Alex Tagliani passed Meira on the back part of the course and
Graham Rahal also snuck by as Meira gathered up his car. Meira was
digging in the final laps to regain 12th position from Rahal to no
avail. With just two turns to go in the race, however, the No.14 car
slid into the turn 10 tire barrier, damaging the front wing and
right side suspension. He placed 14th.
Notes
& Quotes: Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
Vitor Meira: No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda/Firestone
· Meira on His Preparation for Long Beach: “Well, I’ve never
even seen the track before so I’ve been playing the video games and
talking to people like Christian Fittipaldi and Mario Habersfeld who
drove there before. They sent me their track maps and notes which
I’ve been studying. Basically I’m looking for where the bumps are
and which corners are off camber. I’ll also walk the track with my
chief engineer Adam [Schaechter] who has been there with the Champ
Car Series plus I’ll try to ride the track too before I get in the
race car. By the time the first practice session is over, it won’t
be an issue.”
· Expectations for Long Beach: “My expectation is to be as
competitive as we were at St. Pete but to capitalize more than we
did there. We had a lot of coulda, shoulda, wouldas there—it seemed
like there was always something going on.”
· Learned from St. Petersburg: “I’m not sure learned is the
right word, I would say it reinforced what I already knew: one that
qualifying is extremely important on a street course and that we
have to be better at predicting what the track will be like for
qualifying and set the car up for those track conditions.”
· Reflections on St. Pete: “Qualifying 17th there really made
it difficult because it is so hard to pass on street circuits. You
have to use strategy but then you also have to race harder and take
more chances than you would if you qualified in the top 10. With so
many cars in front of you, the probability that something is going
to happen becomes greater because it becomes a chain reaction
effect. Also, you can be faster than the car ahead of you but the
closer you get to that car, the less downforce you have on the nose
and the more understeer (push) you get. You get too much understeer,
and you struggle more. Then you can’t come off the turns as fast as
the guy in front of you because of the lack of downforce. My fastest
laps came after I slowed down to save fuel opening the gap from the
car ahead of me. When I closed the gap, that’s when I’d run my
fastest laps of the race.”
· A.J. Foyt’s last time at the Long Beach Grand Prix was in
1995 when Eddie Cheever drove for him. A.J. only drove in the race
three times (1988, ’89 and ’90) with his best finish—11th--coming in
1988. “It was real hard for me on the street courses because the
cars were so little back then, my shoulders barely fit in and I
didn’t really have room to shift the gears,” said Foyt. “And that
track was really bumpy on the back straight. I think they’ve made
the new track much better.”
ABC Supply roofing customer, Clary Roofing, of Riverside, CA
won the ‘Your Name Here’ contest for the Honda Grand Prix of St.
Petersburg. The company name will be atop the sidepods of the No. 14
ABC Supply Dallara/Honda. Lonnie Clary will receive selected
merchandise, race tickets, hospitality and garage passes, plus a
Meet and Greet with Vitor Meira. The “Your Name Here” promotion
selected winners by random drawing from a pool of entries sent in by
ABC Supply customers earlier this year.
· The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will be televised live April
19th, Sunday afternoon starting at 1:30pm Eastern time on Versus
(VS).
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