IPS: Homestead: Guthrie Racing race notes

SEAN GUTHRIE FINISHES 20TH AFTER GETTING TAKEN OUT IN LAP 46 ACCIDENT; WIERINGA RUNS SOLID 12TH

Guthrie was eliminated from competition on lap 46 after an accident took him out of the race while running 6th. He was checked at the infield care center and cleared to drive -- he was not injured. Description of the accident:

Multi-car accident involving #10 Perez, #4 Guthrie and #54 Gilbert in Turn 2. Perez and Guthrie were racing side-by-side and made wheel-to-wheel contact. Guthrie made contact with the SAFTER Barrier. Perez became airborne and made contact with the catch fence. Gilbert was collected by debris from the initial contact. Guthrie climbs from car without assistance from the Delphi Safety Team. This incident caused officials to shorten the race by 10 laps in order to allow catch fence repair before additional events could be run.

GUTHRIE POST-RACE QUOTE:
"It was just a really unfortunate thing to happen after our car had been so perfect all day. I want to send my best thoughts to Pablo (Perez) and his team. I don't really know exactly what caused the accident. We were both racing pretty aggressively, side-by-side, and got together - I'll have to check out some video to see exactly what happened. But I'm really proud of the whole Guthrie Racing team. They gave me an awesome car today, and I was confident that if we could get some more green flag laps in, that I'd be moving toward the front. It's a bad way to start the year, but the good news is we'll head to St. Pete next week and get another chance to run up front again."

TOM WIERINGA RACING UPDATE

WIERINGA POST-RACE QUOTE:
"This was only my third start, and I'm still getting used to the race craft. I was getting into the groove slowly, and later was able to do a few different things to improve the car. The car came in and really wasn't that bad, but was still pushing later in the race. I just wish we could have had more time to run and try to move up."

* Guthrie Racing and drivers Sean Guthrie and Tom Wieringa will be staying in the Homestead area for a few days after the "Miami 100" in order to participate in the Indy Pro Series open test, to be held on Homestead's road course on Tuesday, March 27th.

NEXT INDY PRO SERIES RACE FOR GUTHRIE RACING
"Grand Prix of St. Petersburg" -- Two separate races through the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., next Saturday, March 31st, and Sunday, April 1st.

-credit: gr