IndyCar

IRL: Phoenix: Firestone Racing race report

Fuel only, please: Firehawks last and last and last. As the action in today's Purex Dial Indy 200 was heating up in the Arizona desert, the Firestone Firehawks turned in one cool performance - as evidenced by the top three finishers. Andretti ...

Edited: Mar 27, 2008, 5:32 AM

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Fuel only, please: Firehawks last and last and last.

As the action in today's Purex Dial Indy 200 was heating up in the Arizona desert, the Firestone Firehawks turned in one cool performance - as evidenced by the top three finishers. Andretti Green Racing's Tony Kanaan had 90 laps on the last set of Firehawks on his winning car; second place finisher Helio Castroneves with Marlboro Team Penske had 118 laps on his final set, while third place finisher Felipe Giaffone with Mo Nunn Racing had 110 laps on his last set. The performance was so good that many teams opted to fuel only on their last stops, knowing there was plenty of good grip left in their Firestone tires.

"The tires were great," Kanaan said. "They worked well all the race; they were really consistent the whole time." Those comments were echoed by Castroneves, who said "I have to thank Firestone for making those tires so durable that we didn't have to change tires on our pit stop."

Quote from Al Speyer, Firestone Racing Executive Director:
"Congratulations to the entire Andretti Green Racing organization. In just their second race of IRL competition, Tony Kanaan drove one of the three team cars to a well-deserved victory. We're delighted for Michael Andretti and the rest of the team. They've always been super supporters of Firestone Racing. We're also equally pleased with that the updated tires our engineers designed for this event drew universal praise. The proof is in the performance, and the fact that the top three finishers ran close to half the race distance or more on one set of tires validates the wear and durability improvements that our engineers achieved."

Firestone Performance Award: Because he was leading at lap 73 in the Toyota Indy 300 today, Mo Nunn Racing driver Felipe Giaffone will earn a $10,000 bonus check from the Firestone Racing program. The award celebrates Firestone tires being in all 73 Indy Racing League events conducted since the first competition in 1996. The check will be presented in pre-race ceremonies at the April 13 IRL event in Japan.

Ambient temperature was a steady 82 degrees (F) in today's race while track temperatures ranged from 116 to 120 degrees (F).

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