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Ana Beatriz Drives into IRL Record Book |
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July 12, 2008 – What Ana Beatriz and Danica Patrick had in common today at Nashville Superspeedway was that they both qualified 2nd on the starting grid for their IRL races.
What they did not have in common was that Danica had won her first IRL race earlier this season and Ana had not won yet.
Ana changed all of that when she moved into the lead in her 100-mile race on lap 33 and stayed there until the checkered flag waved as she crossed the start/finish line on the final lap. She then became the first female driver to win an IRL Pro/Lights race.
The next best thing for Ana was that she received the famous Gibson guitar trophy. And the bonus for her? She moved up into 3rd in the driver season points.
Sitting on the pole next to Ana at the start of the race was one of her teammates on Sam Schmidt Motorsports, James Davison. When the race started, Davison kept the lead with Ana right behind on the first lap. But she dropped back on lap 2 into 3rd, replaced by Dillon Battistini. Then on lap 6 she dropped down to 4th for the next 8 laps. As she said after the race, that was to just be sure her car was set up and had the right feel and handling. Then, as the track went green on lap 14 after being yellow for 3, she stood on it.
So did Jeff Simmons, who was running 3rd. When Simmons made contact with the rear end of Battistini’s car he, Dillon, was essentially done for the day. Simmons was then 2nd and Beatriz 3rd. That lasted for 2 laps, when the damage to Simmons’ front wing caused him to drop back and Ana took over 2nd again on lap 16.
Then it was just a matter of catching up on Davison, setting him up and passing him for the lead. Her first attempt to pass him did not work out. But the second time she set him up she pulled it off to perfection on lap 33 and pulled away from him. She saved her fastest lap of the race for lap 63 when she clocked 176.044 mph. [That compared to Arie Luyendyk Jr. whose fastest race lap was 176.468 mph.]
Ana comes from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Her racing career started in karting. When she moved into the Brazilian Formula Renault Series she was the 2003 Rookie of the Year. Then in 2005 she finished 3rd in that series and had 3 wins. By 2006 she finished 5th in the South American Formula 3 Series. In 2007 she drove for the Team Brazil in the world A1GP Series. And this year she is a Firestone Indy Lights rookie – who just won her first race.
Bobby Wilson, driving the Team E Patriot Bank car, finished 2nd. Having had accidents in each of the races at The Glen last weekend Wilson was the model of patience today on the track. He started 8th , grabbed 7th on the first lap and then worked his way up to 6th on lap 5, then to 5th on lap 14 on a restart, to 4th on the following lap, then up to 3rd on lap 21 and finally into 2nd on lap 45 when Davison was involved in an accident. He said later that he just didn’t have the speed to pass Ana even though his car was fast and handled well.
Arie Luyendyuk, Jr. [AFS Racing/Andretti Green Racing ] was the other podium finisher with his 3rd place finish after a 5th place start.
As for last week’s stars, Antinucci started 14th and finished 12th. Matos started 4th and finished 5th. As for Dillon Battistini, who started 3rd, and had hoped to regain the season points lead, 19th is where he ended up after the Simmons incident. As for Jeff, he finished 15th. Dillon is now 4th in the season points, with Ana 10 points ahead. Richard and Raphael are still 1st and 2nd.
Next weekend is the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course double header on Saturday and Sunday. The delayed ESPN2 delayed broadcast is Thursday, July 24. Last year Antinucci won that race. Can he repeat? But don’t forget, Ana Beatriz had podium finishes at St. Pete and at The Glen, and now she knows what it takes to win a Firestone Indy Lights race!
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