BACK AT THE GLEN

After suffering some bad luck in the 2009 Camping World Grand Prix, the de Ferran Dragon Racing Team returns to Watkins Glen hoping that better luck and a year of experience can propel them into a race with the leaders in 2010. Raphael Matos was able recover from a poor starting position (18th), a lap one spinout and a malfunctioning fuel sensor to improve six positions and finish a respectable 12th in the team’s first ever race at The Glen. “It was a top 10 car for sure,” Matos said. “We just had some refueling problems that kept us from finishing higher. It was too bad because it really was a great effort by the team.” The faulty fuel sensor would allow only 21 gallons of fuel to load instead of the full 22 gallons, which caused the team to pit a lap earlier than everyone else on each stint. Even though the team’s pit stops were flawless from a timing and execution standpoint, the shorter stints cost Matos as many as four positions in the pits late in the race.

SPIN CYCLE

Before rallying to finish 12th at Watkins Glen last year, Matos overcame a scary chain reaction incident on lap one that sent him into a 360-spin. He avoided a collision with Helio Castroneves, which caused Ryan Hunter-Reay to contact the #2 car from behind, sending Matos into the spin. He avoided further contact, recovered and continued to race. “I just caught my breath after the spin and went flat out,” Matos said. “I was very lucky.”

WINNER AT WATKINS

2009 was the first Watkins Glen appearance for the de Ferran Dragon team, but not for Matos, who raced twice at the Glen and finished first and second in the Firestone Indy Lights races in 2008. Matos led 26 of the 28 laps to win the first of two Corning Duels races by over two seconds. In a random drawing to determine starting positions for the second race, Matos drew sixth but climbed his way into second before being held off late by Richard Antinucci.

RAFA ON WATKINS GLEN

“I love Watkins Glen. First, it’s a beautiful place on top of a mountain and the 4th of July always makes it special. It’s one of my favorite tracks and fits my style well. It’s a fast flowing track with some 90-degree corners, which I really like. I won the Indy Lights race there in 2008 and I’m excited to get back. When we raced there last year it was our first time as a team with no testing. We had no baseline at all and that makes it very difficult. You have to have a good baseline because it’s so hard to catch up when you start slow.”

TESTING TESTING

The de Ferran Dragon Racing team will get some additional road work in when they test at Mid Ohio on Wednesday June 30. “That’s an important test for us,” Matos said. “We need to make some positive steps in Ohio because there will be some things we can learn and carry over to the Watkins Glen setup.”

GIL ON MID OHIO TEST

“We only have last year as a reference for what the team did at the Glen. We are hoping to hone our Road Course set up and test a few development items during this week’s mid Ohio test. Ideally, this should not only help our performance in Mid Ohio, but also at all the up coming road courses, such as the Glen.”

AT THE TURN

Watkins Glen represents the halfway point of the season and the de Ferran Dragon team finds itself in 14th. It’s also how team president and managing partner Gil de Ferran assesses the team’s performance thus far. “It is easy to grade the team, we just have to look at the Championship table, that is the only grading that counts. In reality, I feel we have been unable to capitalize on our full potential. In various races we did not execute well on race day and therefore didn’t bring as many points as we could have. Looking ahead we need to execute better on race day as well as try to improve our speed on a consistent basis.”

DE FERRAN IMPRESSED BY MATOS

While the team looks to improve heading into the second half of the season, de Ferran has been impressed by Raphael Matos’ skills. “Rafa is becoming quite an effective driver in all types of circuits. Even though he came from a road course background he is proving to be an excellent oval racer, as we could clearly witness in Indy. There is always room for improvement in every count, team, driver, etc. As I cast my mind back to my driving days, I felt I was getting better at what I did until the day I retired, so the sky is the limit for Rafa.”

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

After four consecutive oval races, the series now shifts back to the road at Watkins Glen, where the de Ferran Dragon team hopes to get back on track. Matos was ranked ninth after the first four road/street course events, but has since fallen to 14th. Matos has averaged 21 points on the road/street courses and just 14.5 on the ovals this season. “I always feel like I have a chance to win, but on road courses, if we do a good job and take positive steps I believe we can be a top 5 team,” Matos said. “And if you are consisitently in the top five you will have a chance to win.” The next five races will be on road and street courses.

IOWA RECAP

For Raphael Matos and the de Ferran Dragon Racing team, the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway was like déjà vu all over again. For the second consecutive race, the team delivered a stronger racecar than qualifying car and Matos used it to improve seven positions to finish 14th, but had even bigger gains derailed by problems in the pits. Starting 21st, Matos had steady improvement from the start and jumped to 16th by the 37th lap, but trouble lurked when he came in under yellow on the 53rd lap. A leak in the team’s air bottle wiped out the air pressure for the jack and three of the tire guns. A quick bottle change fixed the problem, but cost Matos a lap and three positions.

DE FERRAN DRAGON PIT CREW ASSIGNMENTS

Jay Penske – Race Strategist/Radio
Gil de Ferran – Assistant Strategist
Steve Luczo – Assistant Strategist
John Cummiskey – Team Manager
Eric Zeto – Race Engineer
Scott Raymond – Engineer/Fuel Hose
Carlos Gutierrez – Engineer/Fuel Deadman
Casey Eason – Data engineer/Stop sign/Front hose pull
Albert Gray – Front tire pass
Scott Simpson – Tires/Rear tire pass
Matt Cummings – Helper

Over The Wall
John Piccinotti – Chief Mechanic/outside front tire
Jason Hurless – Inside front tire
Josh Junge – Outside rear tire
Tim White – Inside rear tire
Shawn Ford – Airjack
Rick Campbell – Fueler

]]> http://www.deferrandragon.com/603/de-ferran-dragon-racing-notes-camping-world-grand-prix-at-the-glen-watkins-glen-international-sunday-july-4-2010/feed 0 http://www.deferrandragon.com/575/after-promising-start-to-may-in-indianapolis-de-ferran-dragon-racing-suffers http://www.deferrandragon.com/575/after-promising-start-to-may-in-indianapolis-de-ferran-dragon-racing-suffers#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:22:50 +0000 team_deferran http://www.deferrandragon.com/?p=575 After promising start to May in Indianapolis De Ferran Dragon Racing suffers two crashes in 2010 Indy 500

After enjoying a successful month of May heading into the 2010 Indianapolis 500, the de Ferran Dragon Racing team had its fortunes spoiled when both HP cars, the #2 and #21, were knocked out of the 94th running of the race, before the half way mark.

Davey Hamilton spun out and made contact with the wall as he tried to avoid an incoming Tomas Scheckter on the first lap of the race, while Raphael Matos had a promising day end when he hit the wall in turn two on lap 73.

“Whoever said racing is a predictable sport was not in our shoes today,” de Ferran Dragon managing partner and president Gil de Ferran said. “It was unfortunate what happened to Davey at the start. Rafa clearly showed his quality as a driver and how fast our car was, running a genuine third and keeping pace with the leaders. But then fate intervened.”

Matos, who started 12th, climbed into the top 5 on the 13th lap and jumped up to third on the 44th lap. He remained a solid third for the next 22 laps when the misfortune kicked in. The inside rear tire came off the car as Matos fired out from the team’s second pit stop. He dropped into 24th place after the mishap and spun into the wall seven laps later trying to make up ground.

“I’m very disappointed the way it ended,” Matos said. “We had some trouble in the pits and I was trying hard to recover. I got into the marbles and that was it. I am disappointed for the team because we had a really good car.”

Hamilton never had a chance to find out what kind of car he had because trouble found him almost immediately. Scheckter was charging hard into turn 2 and forced Hamilton to take avoiding action to prevent contact with Scheckter, but the maneuver sent him spinning into the wall.

“It’s just hard to believe that we went out on the first lap,” Hamilton said. “I’m very disappointed with Scheckter. I know you can’t win on the first lap. It’s unfortunate for the team and sponsors who worked so hard to put me in this race to not make it through turn two of the first lap. We didn’t even get to race.”

NEWTON, IA (June 20, 2010) – For Raphael Matos and the de Ferran Dragon Racing team, the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway was like déjà vu all over again.

For the second consecutive race, the team delivered a stronger racecar than qualifying car and Matos used it to improve seven positions to finish 14th, but had even bigger gains derailed by problems in the pits.

“The HP car ran well and we improved our position,” de Ferran Dragon co-owner and race strategist Jay Penske said. “Rafa ran a good, smart race. Our finish might have been a bit better if we hadn’t suffered the problem during one of the pit stops, but we had a good race.”

Starting 21st, Matos had steady improvement from the start and jumped to 16th by the 37th lap, but trouble lurked when he came in under yellow on the 53rd lap. A leak in the team’s air bottle wiped out the air pressure for the jack and three of the tire guns. A quick bottle change fixed the problem, but cost Matos a lap and three positions.

“The car ran well most of the race and we collected points, which is important,” Matos said. “There is still a lot of the season to go.  We had a mechanical issue during an early pit stop that hurt us a bit, but it was a good race overall.”

Matos collected 16 points and remains 14th in the IZOD IndyCar Championship standings. Tony Kanaan won the race that featured 16 lead changes.

Though he struggled in qualifying, Matos predicted he would have a much more competitive racecar and the team delivered.

“The change we made to the car yesterday after qualifying really helped and we moved in the right direction,” Matos said. “We are continuing to understand the data and improve the car, which is important for the future.”

After four consecutive oval races, the series now shifts back to the road at Watkins Glen on July 4. The next five races will be on road and street courses.

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – March 14, 2010 – With close to 40,000 fans at the first ever IZOD IndyCar Series race in Sao Paulo Brazil, native son Raphael Matos delivered a career-best finish by piloting the HP Luczo Dragon car to a fourth place finish in the rain-shortened Sao Paulo Indy 300. It was the best finish in Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Motorsports history.

In a race that featured unpredictable weather and a 36-minute red flag delay due to thunderstorms, Matos started 12th, jumped into sixth on the first lap and remained in the top 10 for the entire day.

“It was a long and very physical day, but I’m very proud of the HP team, especially with our pit stops. They did a great job,” Matos said. “We all feel good about the fourth place finish. We wanted the podium, but we started 12th and made a lot of progress. Overall, it was a great day.”

It was also a day that started early with an 8:00 a.m. practice run and the 8:30 qualifying session that was postponed a day due to track repairs. It was the first time that an IZOD IndyCar Series event held qualifying and race on the same day.

The race shifted to a timed format after the red flag, ending at the two-hour time-limit with only 61 of the 75 scheduled laps completed on the 2.6-mile, 11-turn Anhembi temporary circuit. Team Penske’s Will Power won the race followed by Ryan Hundter Reay in second and Vitor Meira in third.

Matos, the 2009 Apex Brazil IndyCar Rookie of the Year, moved into sixth by avoiding a first lap crash that collected three cars, including Takuma Sato, Marco Andretti and Mario Moraes. Matos, the Belo Horizonte native, climbed as high as second and was third with under 10 laps remaining, but was passed by fellow Brazilian Meira shortly after the final restart of the race. With more than 40 friends and family in attendance, the second year driver was focused on delivering a big finish.

“This week was like a dream come true racing in my home country and in front of my friends and family,” Matos said. “There was a lot of tension and pressure but we kept everything together and brought the car home. It was extremely important to finish this race and to get my best finish in Brazil was very rewarding.”

The fourth place finish was Matos’ career-best and also the highest finish in team history, topping the fifth place Ryan Briscoe delivered at the 2007 Indianapolis 500. Matos’ previous IZOD IndyCar series best was sixth at Milwaukee in 2009. He earned 32 points with his fourth place run and moves the HP Luczo Dragon team into a more favorable pit position.

“We proved that we have a lot of potential to improve this car,” Matos said. “Moving up in pit lane will be very important, especially on the street courses. We just need to keep working hard and finding new ways to improve the performance of the car. We’re definitely heading in the right direction and will be ready for St. Pete.”

FORT WORTH, TX (June 5, 2010) – Raphael Matos bounced back from a tough finish in the Indianapolis 500 by climbing seven positions to finish 16th in the IZOD IndyCar Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway. But it could have been better.

Matos, starting 23rd, climbed as high as 11th before trouble in the pits late in the race spoiled a potential top 10 run.

“It’s always tough when you’re starting 23rd, but Rafa ran a smart race,” de Ferran Dragon co-owner Jay Penske said. “We had a tough night in the pits that cost us a few positions, but it was still a positive finish for the team. We look forward to the next race so we can start moving up the grid again.”

Matos was running 12th when he came in for what was expected to be his final stop on lap 188, but he had to return to the pits on the following lap to check the right rear tire as a precaution. He fell a lap behind and dropped to 18th.

“We didn’t have good speed in qualifying but I knew we would have a much better racecar,” Matos said. “We were running in the top 15 all night and even though we lost a few spots in the end it was still a good comeback for the team.”

Matos proved to have a competitive car right from the start as he improved two spots on the first lap, jumped to 18th on the 11th lap and was top 15 by lap 34. He made it as high as 11th on the 53rd lap and remained in the top 14 until the final stop.

“After that huge hit in Indy we needed to finish this race, that was the goal,” Matos said. “We proved to be very competitive all night. You always want to finish higher, but overall I’m happy.”

KANSAS CITY, KS (May 1, 2010) – Raphael Matos continued to display his maturity as a driver from rookie season to year two by managing his way with a struggling car and windy conditions to a 16th place finish at the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway.

It was the first time for Matos and the Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Motorsports team to complete the race in Kansas. Scott Dixon captured the checkered flag to record his first win of the season.

“We missed the setup today, but Rafa did a great job keeping things together and finishing the race,” Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Motorsports race strategist and co-owner Jay Penske said. “Rafa has shown a lot of maturity this season. We didn’t have a great car today, but he continues to finish and keep us in the top 10.”

Starting 13th, Matos climbed as high as 10th on lap four but saw the early improvement slip away as quickly as he captured it as he struggled with the back end of the car.

“We thought we would have a car that could be competitive in the race, but it was just one of those days,” Matos said. “The car had a certain behavior in the beginning of the race and even though I was able to adjust some things in the cockpit it never was right. I had many close calls, many moments, but I was focused on bringing the car home. That was very important because we haven’t finished here before and we had to have two perfect cars heading to Indy.”

Last year, Matos failed to finish four of the first seven races, including Kansas where he struggled with the wind and made contact with the wall on lap 98. Determined to change that trend, he has now finished 15 consecutive races, the third longest current streak in the IZOD IndyCar series.

“We’re in the top 10 and we have finished every race this season and that’s a big accomplishment, especially after the tough start last year.” Matos said. “It’s only my second year and seat time is very valuable. I’m getting great experience, learning every race and gaining more and more confidence as we finish these races.”

Matos is now tied for 10th in the series standings with 98 points heading into the Indianapolis 500. He will be joined by a second car and teammate Davey Hamilton at the pre-Indy test in Kentucky May 4.

LONG BEACH (April 18, 2010) – For the first time during the 2010 IZOD IndyCar season, Raphael Matos was unable to make up any track positions during a race and finished 20th in the 36th running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Ryan Hunter-Reay posted his first win of the season, topping Justin Wilson and Will Power.

Starting 18th for the second consecutive race, the Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Motorsports team tried to shake things up by coming in early during the first pit window, but with only one caution flag the entire 85 laps the strategy was unsuccessful in moving Matos up.

“It was a disappointing day for the #2 HP Luczo Dragon car,” co-owner and race strategist Jay Penske said. “Rafa ran a smart race and we were pleased to see him run some of the fastest laps in the race. There just weren’t enough passing opportunities or yellows for us to take advantage.”

During the last 20 laps of the race, Matos kept pace with the leaders, turning in the fourth fastest lap of the day at 1:11.0052 on lap 79. Only the top three finishers had better lap times throughout.

“It’s really a shame that we struggled in qualifying because we had a very competitive car, especially in the end,” Matos said. “The track really came to us and we were running with the leaders. When you start in the back here you have to take strategic risks because it’s just so difficult to pass. Unfortunately our strategy didn’t work, but that’s how it goes.”

Despite qualifying a career-best third in Long Beach last year, the LDR/DFM team struggled to land the proper balance Saturday for the qualifying session and started 18th. In an attempt to make up some ground, Matos made his first pit stop on lap 22, seven laps before leader Will Power came in, then hoped for an early yellow. It didn’t come. Only one yellow flag waved all day and that came on lap 60 with the field already settled.

“We were definitely expecting something to happen,” Matos said. “We figured there would be at least one more yellow, but today was a little unusual.”

Despite the low finish, Matos lost only one position in the championship standings and now ranks ninth with 84 points.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL (March 29, 2010) – A back row start did nothing to distract Raphael Matos or the Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Motorsports crew from producing a stirring rally and 15 spot improvement to finish eighth in the rain delayed Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Will Power, of Penske Racing, took the checkered flag to win his second consecutive race.

By rallying from 23rd to eighth, Matos not only delivered a second straight top 10 finish, but the 15 place improvement was a career-high for Matos and the best in team history. He also led the race for three laps for the second time in his career.

“I’m so proud of Rafa’s maturity and development,” Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Motorsports co-owner and race strategist Jay Penske said. “From where we started the guys on this team really put together a car that could compete with the race leaders and Rafa ran a very smart race.”

By coupling the eighth place finish with the fourth place run in Sao Paulo, the second year driver now sits fifth in the IZOD IndyCar Series standings with 56 points. Power is the leader with 103 points.

“After starting 23rd it really was a great day for us,” Matos said. “The crew was flawless. I really believe we have the best crew in the paddock, I trust them completely and I just knew they would put me in the front.”

The dramatic turn around was evident from the start when Matos moved up four positions on the first lap. He continued his climb all the way to the top, jumping into third on lap 27 and surging into the lead on lap 34 and holding it for three laps until coming in for the team’s second stop.

“We were really strong in the first stint,” Matos said. “It was exciting being in the lead. The car had really good balance and I was able to really push it hard.”

Matos’ strong run received quite a scare on the 65th lap when Mike Conway tried to squeeze out a daring pass in turn five only to clip the front wing of the #2 HP LDR/DFM car. The contact eliminated Conway, but Matos survived with minimal damage.

“The incident with Conway was unfortunate,” Matos said. “He was just overly aggressive and the contact did something to the alignment of our car. We stayed in the race, but we paid for it in the end because I couldn’t push it like before.”

Matos did have enough to hold off Graham Rahal and Tony Kanaan to clinch eighth and record the 10th top 10 finish of his career. He collected 24 points for the effort. The 56 points after two races is the best two-race output in team history, topping the 46 points Matos produced back to back in Milwaukee and Texas last season.

The race was completed a day later than scheduled after rain washed away Sunday’s start time. The green flag dropped under cloudy skies and 65 degrees, but dry conditions. The 100 laps were completed in just over two hours.