Delphi Panther Racing driver Vitor Meira was able to avoid the crash-fest that was the Iowa Corn Growers Indy 250 Sunday afternoon at Iowa Speedway, but a suspension failure late in the event cost Panther what would have been a guaranteed podium finish. Meira, who led 71 laps in the race, lost his left-front suspension as he was braking to enter pit lane for his final pit stop. He finished ninth.
The day for Kosuke Matsuura was equally frustrating. Coming off his best finish of the season at Texas, Kosuke was running in ninth position as the race was nearing its mid-point when he was collected in an accident after a restart on Lap 99. Matsuura was behind the initial accident, but was hit by a stray car and spun into the outside retaining wall just before the first turn. Along with Matsuura, drivers Danica Patrick, Sam Hornish Jr., A.J. Foyt IV, Ed Carpenter and Helio Castroneves were all part of the accident.
Matsuura finished 15th after he qualified in the 16th position.
Meira took the day extremely hard because his Delphi car was as good as it’s been all season. Despite qualifying 13th for the race, he had moved pasted Foyt IV, Scott Sharp, Marco Andretti, Jeff Simmons and Carpenter for sixth position and was sniffing at the gearbox of Hornish before the first caution period. Vitor pitted on Lap 73, just moments before a caution flag and his No. 4 car had moved into the lead.
A brief problem with the fuel probe during a Lap 147 pit stop forced Meira to drop from first to fifth, but two laps later he was in third position, just behind eventual race winner Dario Franchitti and Andretti. It was shortly thereafter, when he prepared for his final stop, that the suspension failure ended a strong run.
Vitor is now tied with Danica Patrick for eighth position in the IndyCar Series championship standings. He led the race twice today for a total of 71 laps, second to only Franchitti. He has collected Top Ten finishes is six of his eight starts this season.
The IndyCar Series will travel to Richmond International Raceway next Saturday night for the SunTrust Indy Challenge, a race where Meira finished second last season. Vitor has had the Richmond date circled on his calendar for the entire year, since he felt had the 2006 event not finished under caution he would have won the race.
He’ll get another chance next Saturday night.
Vitor Meira:
“The Delphi Panther car was the best car on the track today, period. We might not have had the fastest car, but we had the best one. (On the DNF) We had a suspension failure. I was coming into the pits on my last stop and when I hit the brakes my left-front suspension folded. The Panther team needs a break and we thought today was it. The Delphi Panther guys have been working too hard and we all deserved better. ”
Kosuke Matsuura:
“After the green flag I was concentrated on the restart, and I saw a bunch of people going two- and three-wide and I tried to avoid it. I thought I was through it but somebody hit me and I ended up in the wall. I am really disappointed. I felt the Panasonic Panther car was as good as it’s been all season. I’m looking forward to the next race. ”
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 team owner John Barnes has worked with four members of the Andretti family; as a mechanic for Mario in 1973; a team manager for Jeff in 1993; a team owner for Michael (2001) and a team owner for John (2007) …. 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 fourteen drivers have started a race for Panther: Sam Hornish Jr. (44), Tomas Scheckter (33), Scott Goodyear (30), Vitor Meira (22), Tomas Enge (14), Townsend Bell (11), Kosuke Matsuura (8), Buddy Lazier (6), Mark Taylor (6), Dave Steele (2), Dan Wheldon (2), John Andretti (1), Billy Boat (1) and Robby McGehee (1).
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