Easy 5th Place Finish For Newman Wachs Racing At The Grand Prix Of Indianapolis Presented By Royal Purple Supporting The Lupus Foundation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Indianapolis, IN (May 12, 2017) The Newman Wachs Racing headquarters is just a few hours from Indianapolis, so the Team considers this race to be sort of a local race for them. Hence, even the overcast skies at the beginning of the weekend could dampen the Team’s enthusiasm of being at the beautiful historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The weekend got off to a very good start with driver Dakota Dickerson scoring the second fastest time in yesterday’s first test session of the day. And, on the very last lap of this morning’s qualifying session, Dickerson clinched 5th position for today’s USF2000 race on the 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
At the beginning of the race, the green flag was waved off, as the USF2000 drivers all got a little too anxious and did not line up properly. It seems that when the visor goes down, the kids just want to go for it. Second time around, when the race was set in motion, it was a clean start, but on that same lap, a full-course yellow was thrown because of contact between cars #34 (Kris Wright) and #11 (Kory Enders), at Turn 7. It took quite a while for these cars to be removed and by the time the re-start happened, only 10 minutes remained in the already shortened 30-minute race. From then on, it was basically the same order for the top five as they paraded to the finish exactly as they started.
Aside from Dakota Dickerson’s 5th place finish, the young Californian also earned the third fastest lap of the race. Dickerson stands fifth in the points, just two points away from fourth place.
DRIVER QUOTE:
Dakota Dickerson (car #36) – “Overall, looking at the results, I think we had a pretty positive day. It’s our best result so far. But, looking at the potential that we had, I think it was quite disappointing. First qualifying session went pretty decent, P5 without the draft, so that was pretty good. The second qualifying, it just seemed like nothing went to plan. I kind of screwed up my drafting partner a little, and got a little too far back, and that put us pretty late in the session for a second tire change, and so I wasn’t able to optimize those tires because I only had a few laps on them. And, then, during the race today, I got a good start, kept it in P5, and then I was pacing around after an incident in Turn 7, and we lost a lot of track time. Unfortunately, on the re-start, I was warming the tires and the brakes when the leader left quite early and that sent us probably about 15 car lengths behind Ricky Donison who was P4. I was just trying to play catch up from there, and I think I got pretty close to him at the very end, but just didn’t have enough to get him, and fight for podium. Tomorrow, we start P7, and hopefully, we’ll get a podium.”
Tomorrow’s Round 6 of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis Presented by Royal Purple Supporting the Lupus Foundation is scheduled for 10:05 am, ET.
###
About the Newman Wachs Racing Team:
Newman Wachs Racing (NWR) is a racing team owned by Eddie Wachs and, until his death, American actor and racer himself, Paul Newman. NWR is based outside of Chicago, in Mundelein, Illinois. Newman and Wachs shared the same passion for racing and met when they both competed in the Can-Am Series in the mid-1970’s. They raced together for 15 years in Trans-Am, Can-Am, and many other SCCA professional venues. Over the years, they talked about joining forces to create a driver-development race team. They put together a Champ Car Atlantic team for the 2006 season to meet their objectives. In 2009, John Edwards won the Championship for NWR, beating teammate Jonathan Summerton in a tiebreaker.
About the USF2000 Series:
The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda debuted in 2010 and is a continuation of the highly regarded USF2000 series that ran from 1990 through 2006, launching the careers of many of today’s top drivers. Sanctioned by INDYCAR, the series is the first official step on the Mazda Road to Indy. In addition to providing a vital training ground for rising stars, the series champion will earn a scholarship package from Mazda to advance to the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, the next step in the ladder system.
Aside from being one of the most successful driver development programs in the world, the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system has attracted competitors from all over the world, while providing a unique, scholarship-funded path to reach the Verizon IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500.
