Toronto: Panther Racing race notes

Firestone Indy Lights Drivers Martin Plowman and Pippa Mann Finish 12th and 16th

TORONTO - (July 11, 2009) - The team's Firestone Indy Lights duo of Martin Plowman and Pippa Mann finished 12th and 16th, respectively, in the Grand Prix of Toronto.

In the Indy Lights race, Panther driver Pippa Mann ran into trouble early when she discovered an issue with her brakes during the pace lap and had to pit before the green flag came out. She returned to the field quickly, but was already three laps down. Plowman, like other competitors in the field, started on wet tires and stopped to pit for dry tires early as the weather conditions improved. He returned to the field in 12th position and remained there for the remainder of the race.

Plowman moved to 12th position in the Indy Lights championship with his finish, while Pippa is in the 16th position overall.

Martin Plowman, No. 15 Firestone Indy Lights

"Man, it was a crazy race. Everyone started on wet tires and as the track dried we switched to slicks. Even racing on dry conditions with the wet setup the car felt fairly decent until the brakes started to show the same problem that we had in practice. Well, we finished 12th but I got to say that on every practice we were competitive. We didn't had a chance to bounce back from the unfortunate accident on the second practice and that hurt us during the race."

Pippa Mann, No. 16 Firestone Indy Lights

"We had a brake issue in the warm-up lap and I had to bring the car in to get it fixed. We got the problem fixed but when I finally got back the track was already dry and unfortunately we had the car on a wet track setup. That cost us a lot."

-credit: pr