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| June 01, 2012 |
| Indy Lights: Sam Schmidt Motorsports Looks to Continue Winning Ways in Detroit |
DETROIT, MICH. (May 31, 2012) - Sam Schmidt is a car guy. He loves all types of cars and has a collection he maintains near his home in Henderson, Nev. Much of his collection focuses on Detroit muscle cars, especially the Camaro.
One of his favorites is a 1967 Indy 500 Pace Car Camaro in which he enjoys cruising around Las Vegas.
This weekend, Schmidt will be bringing some ‘muscle’ back to Detroit in the form of the Sam Schmidt Motorsports Firestone Indy Lights team. When the SSM Indy Lights transporters roll into Detroit, they will be bringing the big muscle of INDYCAR’s Road to Indy Development Series.
SSM is a five-time Firestone Indy Lights Championship-winning team. It’s most recent champion, Josef Newgarden (2011), now drives in the IZOD IndyCar Series.
The team arrives in Detroit flexing its muscles again. Last week, SSM driver Esteban Guerrieri won the Firestone Freedom 100 Indy Lights race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the Indy 500 weekend. It’s the biggest race for that series, and SSM has won it seven times, including the last four runnings.
On the strength of that win and a victory in Long Beach, Guerrieri leads the Indy Lights points championship. But, he is closely followed by his teammate Tristan Vautier. Both drivers have finished on the podium in every race this year with Guerrieri winning two races and Vautier winning one.
In his second year driving for SSM, 19 year-old Victor Carbone is coming into his own in 2012. The Brazilian has been hovering in the top-five in every race and his fourth-place spot in the points proves that. Carbone won the last race of the year in 2011.
Britain’s Oliver Webb is Schmidt’s fourth driver and sits eighth in points. A string of bad luck has kept Webb off the podium, but he does have one top-five finish so far. Webb would like nothing more than to add some bulk to the Sam Schmidt Motorsports’ muscle this weekend in Detroit.
The Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix weekend could be extra special for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. The Indianapolis-based Firestone Indy Lights team currently sits with 49 series race wins and 49 series poles.
Carbone, Guerrieri, and Vautier are among the 17 drivers who have won Indy Lights poles for SSM. Thiago Medeiros won eight poles in the 2004 season, while Travis Gregg won SSM seven poles. Guerrieri scored six poles in 2011.
The list of race winners for SSM includes 15 names. They are Richard Antinucci, Ana Beatriz, Carbone, Wade Cunningham, Conor Daly, James Davison, Guerrieri, Logan Gomez, Jay Howard, Gregg, Alex Lloyd, Pippa Mann, Medeiros, Josef Newgarden, and JK Vernay. |
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