IPS: Indianapolis: Chip Ganassi Racing race notes

FESTA SECOND IN INDY PRO SERIES FREEDOM 100 AT INDIANAPOLIS

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Friday, May 25, 2007)- >From his eighth place starting position, Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Indy Pro Series driver Chris Festa posted a second place finish with the No.9 CareCentric Target car in Carb Day's Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The race ended under caution due to moisture in Turn 2 and without the restart that could have given Festa a final run at the checkered flag against eventual race winner Alex Lloyd.

Festa's podium matches the career best second place finish he had in the 2007 season opener at Homestead Miami Speedway, where his efforts to challenge Lloyd for the win were also cut short when the race was red-flagged due to an accident.

TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING POST-RACE QUOTEBOARD:

Chris Festa: "I think we could have caught Alex. We had a really good race car today. It was sticking pretty well in all four turns, even in traffic. Both of our cars in clean air looked pretty evenly matched. He wasn't pulling away but I wasn't catching either. If we would have gotten that one lap in, it would have been pretty close to last year's finish."

"We made a lot of changes to the car versus yesterday because yesterday in warm-up, it was definitely not where we wanted it to be. So we spent a lot of time last night coming up with a different game plan for today, and it really paid off. The car was much easier to drive today. So it wasn't quite where we wanted it but it was still pretty good, and it was fast enough to keep up with Alex. If I had started up a little further, I probably would have been able to draft with him for most of the race. We also wanted that one last lap, just that one last lap, we know we could have challenged him. But that's the way it goes, and congratulations to Alex."

-credit: cgr