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| June 21, 2012 |
| Indy Lights: Sam Schmidt Motorsports Looks to Extend Winning Ways in Iowa |
NEWTON, IOWA (June 20, 2012) - When Tristan Vautier pulled into The Milwaukee Mile’s victory lane last Friday night after winning the Firestone Indy Lights race, it was the 50th time that a Sam Schmidt Motorsports car had been driven into victory lane after an Indy Lights race.
If Vautier or one of his three Sam Schmidt Motorsports’ teammates have a say, they will start on Schmidt’s next 50 win’s Saturday night at the Iowa Speedway by winning the Sukup 100. History is on SSM’s side at Iowa.
There have been five Firestone Indy Lights races on the 7/8-mile Iowa Speedway oval, and three have been won by SSM drivers. Vautier, Victor Carbone, Esteban Guerrieri and Oliver Webb will be racing each other and a tough Indy Lights field to get SSM’s 51st overall and 4th win at Iowa Speedway.
The following is the list of 17 drivers who have won Firestone Indy Lights races for Sam Schmidt Motorsports: Alex Lloyd (8), Thiago Medeiros (6), Josef Newgarden (5), J.K. Vernay (5), Esteban Guerrieri (5), Wade Cunningham (3), Travis Gregg (3), Ana Beatriz (2), Richard Antinucci (2), Jay Howard (2), Jaime Camara (2), Tristan Vautier (2), Victor Carbone (1), Conor Daly (1), Pippa Mann (1), James Davison (1) and Logan Gomez (1).
The Sukup 100 Indy Lights race will be aired in its entirety on NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus) at 11:59 p.m. ET Saturday night (June 23), which is immediately following the Iowa Corn 250 IndyCar race. Live radio coverage, as well as timing and scoring, of all on-track activity can be heard at IndyCar.com.
SSM is the most successful team in Indy Lights with 50 race wins, 51 race poles and five championships. Vautier leads the 2012 Indy Lights points with 241. He is followed by Guerrieri with 238, Andretti Autosport’s Sebastian Saavedra with 227 and Carbone with 182. Webb is seventh with 148. Carbone, Guerrieri and Vautier have completed all 310 laps of competition so far in 2012. Vautier has finished in the top-five in every race in 2012. Guerrieri hs five top-five finishes this year, while Carbone has four top-fives. All four of the SSM Indy Lights drivers have led laps in 2012. Vautier is the series’ leader with 156. Carbone and Webb are tied in third with 25 laps led, and Guerrieri has led nine laps. Guerrieri’s back-to-back wins at Long Beach and Indianapolis were his fourth and fifth race wins of his Firestone Indy Lights career. Guerrieri has six Indy Lights career poles. Both Carbone and Guerrieri have 20 consecutive Firestone Indy Lights series starts. Vautier’s pole at Milwaukee, was the 51st pole won in that series by an SSM driver. Sam Schmidt Motorsports was established in 2001, and is owned by former driver Sam Schmidt, who was paralyzed (quad) in 2000 after a testing accident at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Fla. As a car owner, Schmidt fields cars in the IZOD IndyCar Series, including the Indianapolis 500, and the Firestone Indy Lights championship. |
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