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IndyCar News
Castroneves wins from pole at Infineon
25/08/2008
After completing 29 races without a win, Helio Castroneves has put himself back in contention for the IndyCar Series championship by claiming victory at the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma County on Sunday 24 August.
Castroneves won from pole position at the curvy Infineon raceway road course putting the Brazilian closer to Scott Dixon in the race for the IndyCar championship title. Dixon finished 12th on Sunday allowing Castroneves to cut 35 points from his lead. Dixon now leads by 43 points with just two races remaining, Detroit and Chicago.
The Team Penske team had little hope for a win at the weekend after the transporter carrying both their primary road-racing cars caught fire in Wyoming on Wednesday. Both cars and most of the equipment in the transporter were destroyed and the team was forced to piece together two back up cars already located at Sonoma after a recent test session.
From Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
"For me, the car was just fantastic on the tyres. My team kept telling me to 'push, push' and I could push it to the limit on my Firestone Firehawks. My tyres were able to stick with me, and we were able to hold on. It was a great win for Team Penske."
From Al Speyer, Executive Director, Firestone Racing:
"That was an absolutely amazing weekend for Team Penske. To see them bounce back from their difficulties earlier this week to qualify and finish the race one-two is a true testament to the merits of teamwork and a driver like Helio who always remains positive, no matter what. Helio said yesterday after qualifying that he hoped his Firestone Firehawk 'Magic Ring’ tyres would be magical for him in today’s race, and that’s just what happened. The tyres did their job today so that the drivers could do theirs. We’re looking forward to a newly-tightened championship battle continuing to unfold next weekend in the Detroit Indy Grand Prix presented by Firestone."
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