WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Heading into the historic
return of IndyCar racing to Watkins Glen
International, Sam Schmidt wanted his rookie drivers
to enjoy The Glen Experience as he has many times,
all the while staying focused on the championship
points battle. Schmidt's regulars Jaime Camara,
Chris Festa and Travis Gregg qualified in the top
10, while Rocco DeSimone, joining Sam Schmidt
Motorsports for this weekend, qualified 12th.
Gregg and Camara are in the battle for the series
title heading into the Corning 100.
Camara, 24, a Brazilian native living in Miami, set
a high mark early in qualifying, enjoying the pole
position for a while before his lap time of
1:41.5943 (119.416 MPH) eventually put the #1 CELG
Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry fourth on the starting
grid. Festa took the eighth position in the #19
SpacePak/CareCentric Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry
with a lap time of 1:42.8624 (117.944 MPH). Gregg,
put the #7 Lucas Oil Special Sam Schmidt Motorsports
entry 20th on the grid with a time of
1:46.9541 (113.432 MPH), while Rhode Island's Rocco
DeSimone put the #11 Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry
12th on the grid with a lap time of
1:52.1316 (108.194 MPH).
Points leader Wade Cunningham will start on the pole
Sunday.
Gregg, of Camden, Ohio, enters the Corning 100
second in points. He is enjoying the circuit at
Watkins Glen International, even radioing his crew
to tell them how much fun the track is.
"Friday we were quicker and we lost a lot of speed,
I don't know how, so it really wasn't too fun
(Saturday) morning - we went backwards. We've got
to finish Sunday, hopefully we can finish the way
we've been finishing on the road courses, and I've
got to hope that Wade doesn't win. If he does,
it'll be bad (for our points chances). The car and
the track were a lot more fun Friday than
(Saturday)," Gregg said.
Jaime Camara, fifth in points heading into the
Corning 100, he is the last of five drivers still
eligible for the Menards Infiniti Pro Series points
championship.
"My run, it was alright. We had a problem (in
practice) that caused us to not have new tires to
make a run in practice. That kind of hurt us
because this was my only run with new tires, I
didn't know what to expect," Camara said. "It was a
good run, the car is good, we're good. We're going
to change small details on the car for the race. I
think the car is constant for the race and we are
just going to be there for the end."
Festa, the 19-year-old driver fresh from his classes
at Florida State University, is sixth in the
championship points race.
"As far as qualifying, I messed up turn one pretty
bad which cost us about a second. I take full
responsibility for that," Festa said. "Other than
that, we have made the car a lot better throughout
the weekend. We still need to get it better than
what it is, but we've made some real strides with
it. We just need to go out (Sunda) morning in the
warmup and see what we have (for the race)."
DeSimone, of Rhode Island, has been among the
fastest this weekend. He looked good in qualifying
before he spun coming out of the bus stop around
turn seven.
"The lap was going really great up until I did a
half-spin after the bus stop on the hairpin going
back, the loop," DeSimone said. "I just turned in
good, got in the gas too early and got the rear end
of the car around. I fought it halfway through but
couldn't save it. I ruined the lap. I'm not sure
where I'll finish (Sunday) but the car's pretty
good. There will be a lot of cars to pass and race
with, for sure. It should've been a top five car,
but we'll see what happens."
Owner Sam Schmidt is hoping for a smooth race on
Sunday for his four rookies.
"All in all, I think we qualified about where we
expected we would, and now we need to just get out
there and race," said Schmidt. "I think it's great
Jaime picked up a lot in qualifying. I know Chris
wanted a better lap and he's pretty frustrated about
his bobble in turn one and Rocco is pretty upset
about throwing his lap away in turn seven. The guys
are all enjoying the track, which is nice. We're
just ready to race to see if we can leave here with
either Travis or Jaime still in the points race."
Sunday's 20-lap race begins at 1:10 p.m. (EDT), and
will be televised on a tape-delayed basis at 3 p.m.
(EDT), on Thursday, September 29th on
ESPN2.
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