Mutoh Grabs Another Top Five Finish at St. Pete
Super Aguri Panther driver Hideki Mutoh continued his impressive run in his third start in the Indy Pro Series, where he finished fourth today in the 40-lap race. Mutoh, who finished second in yesterday s event, collected in third consecutive Top Five finish Sunday, which was his first non-podium result of the season. After starting in the fifth position – the Top Six finishers from yesterday s race were inverted for the start – Mutoh climbed as high as third before settling on his fourth place result.
The 24-year-old Japanese driver remains in second place in the championship standings, just 48 points behind points leader Alex Lloyd, winner of each of the series first three races.
Panther s Pro Series team has finished in the Top Five in 13 of its 14 career starts, the only non-Top Five result came at Gateway in 2003 when Mark Taylor was involved in an accident, but we still able to finish ninth. The Pro Series team has never had a result outside the Top Ten.
The next Pro Series event will be the Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 25th.
Vitor Meira:
“This weekend doesn t really show how good and how competitive this team is. We fixed a wing and a gearbox in three laps and from there the car was competitive. If we wouldn t have had the gearbox problem we would have finished Top Five again. This team is known for its ability to come back, and that s what we re going to do in Motegi. ”
Kosuke Matsuura:
“I am very upset about Jeff Simmons hitting me again today, it s two weeks in a row and not apologizing for what he did. I think it is very unfair and disrespectful. If it was my fault then I would apologize to him right away but it clearly was not my fault. All the driver should have respect for each other and I am disappointed in how he responded to me when I went to talk to him after the race. Overall, I am very thankful to my mechanics and all the team members for fixing my car so quickly and supporting me to finish the race. I want to refresh my mind and do my best in the next race in Japan. “
Hideki Mutoh:
“I am little disappointed in my result since I planned to move up more positions but I learned a lot from this weekend. It is still the second race event so I want to keep concentrating on learning the track and keep trying to move up the position in the race. I would like to thank my team for giving me a great car and support. Looking forward to the next race and do better. “
Panther Tracks:
Both Panther Racing and primary sponsor Delphi are entering their 10th season in the IndyCar Series, the sponsor and team combined for 30 victories and three championship in the Indy Pro and IndyCar Series …. Panther Race Engineer Bill Pappas was an Engineer with Juan Pablo Montoya when he won the Indianapolis 500 in 2000. Pappas joined Panther after spending the past seven seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing. During his tenure there, Pappas engineers cars that led the Indy 500 in every race from 2000-2004, and also engineered 2002 pole winner Bruno Junqueira … Matsuura s Race Engineer Brent “Woody” Harvey helped engineer former Panther driver Mark Taylor to the Indy Pro Series Championship in 2003, when the team won seven of the 11 races in which they competed … Panther has a total of 15 IndyCar Series victories and seven Indy Pro Series victories …. Panther Racing won back-to-back IRL Championships in 2001 & 2002 and the Indy Pro Series Championship in 2003 … A total of thirteen drivers have started a race for Panther: Sam Hornish Jr. (44), Tomas Scheckter (33), Scott Goodyear (30), Vitor Meira (16), Tomas Enge (14), Townsend Bell (11), Buddy Lazier (6), Mark Taylor (6), Kosuke Matsuura (2), Dave Steele (2), Dan Wheldon (2), Billy Boat (1) and Robby McGehee (1).
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