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Race report

Bia’s stellar weekend cut short in Brazil

Ana Beatriz was moving up the grid through the first five laps of the race until her No. 18 Ipiranga Honda suffered a broken exhaust thus ending her day early.

Ana Beatriz, Dale Coyne Racing Honda

Ana Beatriz, Dale Coyne Racing Honda

IndyCar Series

Sao Paulo, BRAZIL – Race day started on high note for driver Ana Beatriz. Beatriz was ninth quickest in the morning warm-up session on Sunday, making her the fastest Honda car and fastest Brazilian driver in the field.

She was following up on two good practice sessions from the day before and was looking to bring her No. 18 Ipiranga team a good finish to cap off the weekend.

Ana Beatriz, Dale Coyne Racing Honda
Ana Beatriz, Dale Coyne Racing Honda

Photo by: IndyCar Series

Beatriz started the fourth annual Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil in 16th position, which was her best qualifying performance of the season.

She was moving up the grid through the first five laps of the race until her No. 18 Ipiranga Honda suffered a broken exhaust thus ending her day early.

"I’m disappointed that we couldn’t have had a better finish for our sponsor Ipiranga today,” said Beatriz. “Things were going really well this weekend and we thought we were going to have a good result today in the race.

The exhaust broke on the car and ended our day way too soon. I’m excited to be running again in the Indy 500 for Dale Coyne Racing and hopefully we can produce a good result there for Ipiranga.”

“What a heart breaker for Bia today,” commented Team Owner Dale Coyne. “Bia, Ipiranga, and all involved have put a great effort to get to this place today and then to be let down by a exhaust part that had less then 500 miles on it is extremely disappointing. She has done a great job and we look forward to showing the world her talents at Indy.”

Justin Wilson started ninth and was running in seventh position for most of the race, until he locked his brakes trying to overtake E.J. Viso going into turn five and ended up in the tire barriers. The team repaired the car and Wilson ended up finishing the race in 20th position.

"I was trying to trying to pass Viso and I just locked up the brakes coming into turn five,” said Wilson. “The front wing got wedged into the tires and we needed to be pulled out. That ended up putting us two laps down.

I just feel bad for the No. 19 Boy Scouts of America team as they gave me a very competitive car today. Now we will focus on Indy for the next three weeks and hopefully bring the team a good finish.”

Wilson is currently seventh overall in the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series Championship point standings. The IZOD IndyCar Series next heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 97th running of the famed Indianapolis 500 on May 26th. The track opens for practice on Saturday, May 11th with pole qualifying on Saturday, May 18th.

Dale Coyne Racing

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