IPS: St. Pete: Guthrie Racing race two notes

SEAN GUTHRIE FINISHES 23rd AFTER BEING FORCED INTO TURN 2 WALL WHILE PASSING FOR 9TH; WIERINGA RUNS 21ST WITH MECHANICAL ISSUES

GUTHRIE POST-RACE QUOTE: "Our car was really fast today right from the start. I moved up two spots on the first lap, and by lap 12 I was in 10th when I got pushed into the wall by another driver, damaging our car too much to continue. I was making a pass for 9th going into turn two when he just moved over on me. I gave him plenty of room but had no where to go. It's just a shame because, the way we were moving up, and with as much time as we had left, I was putting us in a position to at least get a podium finish here in St. Pete. The crew guys worked really hard all weekend and I want to thank them for giving me such a great car today."

WIERINGA POST-RACE QUOTE: "It was the same problem we had during this morning's warmup -- I couldn't downshift when it got hot. We had the situation fixed after this morning, and the car worked fine in the beginning, but I just could not race with it like that through the second half of the race. It's too bad, because, once again, my team put in such a tremendous effort for me this weekend, it would have been great to give them a better finish. We'll look at the gearbox and the data and see how we can improve the car for the race in Indy."

* #40 Tom Wieringa was involved in a first qualifying session crash on Saturday, forcing him to start 23rd in the first race of the weekend. Wieringa was attempting to pass a slower #51 Richard Antinucci when Antinucci suddenly turned into him, sending Wieringa into the wall. The Guthrie Racing team once again went to work and started fixing the broken and bent machine -- and even teammate Sean Guthrie put aside preparing his own #4 to help wrench on Wieringa's car. The team got the car repaired and race-ready for the 2:50 pm start of Saturday's main event.

NEXT INDY PRO SERIES RACE FOR GUTHRIE RACING

"Freedom 100" -- Held at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval on Friday, May 25th (the same day as "Carb Day" during the Month of May "Indy 500" activities). The team plans to participate in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway open test for the Indy Pro Series racers on Friday, April 27th in preparation for the "Freedom 100."

-credit: gr