Homestead: O2 Racing race report

Another Top Ten for the #36 Quamtel / DataJack Entry in Season Finale at Homestead

October 5, 2010. Indianapolis, IN

The O2 Racing Technology #36 Quamtel/DataJack car concluded the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights season with a 7th place finish at Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka 100 at Miami Homestead Speedway Saturday October 2nd. Overcoming a poor qualifying position, due in part to lost track time diagnosing a broken right front shock in the second practice session; Daniel Herrington drove an outstanding race. Herrington charged through the field, earning the event Hard Charger Award to provide the team with a momentum heading into the 2011 season.

After falling back several spots to 16th at the start of the race, Herrington steadily marched through the field. Climbing as high as 6th place, we eventually settled into 7th place, immediately behind a 3-way battle for 4th behind Plowman, Mann, and Campos.

While eventually the 4th place battle slowly drew away from us to a 2 to 3 second lead, Herrington reported on the radio that he had a great handling car, and that he was going to take care of his tires in case we got a chance to go for the win at the end. This race strategy turned out to be a good one, even if it didn't play out as scripted. Near the end of the race, one could visually see that the #36 car was one of the best (and fastest) cars out there. Many of the other cars were looking a bit ragged and were sliding up the track all the way to the wall, but the #36 Quamtel / DataJack car was on rails and was gaining significant ground on the group ahead.

"We had a great handling car all race long with excellent tire life which allowed us to pass a lot of cars in the early going and to finish a strong 7th place. After struggling a bit in qualifying, it was great to give O2 Racing a good run at the end of the year and for me to get back in a car and be competitive", said Herrington. "I feel confident that with a little off-season testing this team will be a top competitor."

"Homestead was a great event for us. We finished right where we expected to ... competitive with all the other top teams and ahead of most. You can't hide compromise, poor planning, or inadequate preparation on the field of battle, so I'm very proud of everything the team accomplished.", said team owner, Mark Olson. "Make no mistake; if there had been a late caution, we had a car that could have won the race."

-source: O2 racing