Long Beach, CA (17 April
2007)—Conquest Racing Champ Car Atlantics rookie Giacomo
Ricci finished sixth in Sunday’s Long
Beach Grand Prix as teammate and fellow Long Beach first-timer Matt
Lee came home eleventh in the second round of
Cooper Tires Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship
Powered by Mazda competition.
The thirty-car field is packed with a field full of hungry,
talented drivers looking to take the $2 million dollar
Championship prize with them up to Champ Car, and many
of whom have experience on the difficult, wall-lined Long
Beach circuit. Both Ricci and Lee proved to be undaunted
by the track as they improved their times throughout the
weekend and continued to work on their championship positions.
Italian native Ricci, who won both the European F3000 championship
in 2006, qualified sixth for the fifty-minute race and
his sixth place finish moved him to ninth in the overall
championship.
“I think that sixth position is good and I am quite
happy,” said Ricci. “Each week we are making
more improvements to the car and I think we are on the
right path. I had a good start, but I did not want to risk
much in the first corner where others were taking huge
risks. I think things are looking great for next week in
Houston and I look forward to hopefully getting a pole
position soon.”
Fellow Atlantic Rookie Lee, who finished second in the
2006 Formula BMW USA Championship, also avoided trouble
in the streets through the thirty-one lap sprint race in
his first run on the 1.98-mile temporary street circuit.
Lee will enter round three from twelfth in the championship
standings.
“I was held in twelfth position for almost the entire
race but I was trying to put pressure on the guys ahead
of me but they would not crack,” said the high school
senior Lee. “My car had a few understeer problems
so it was hard to get a good run on the straights to pass.
However I kept my car on-track today so I was able
to keep my cool.”
“Giacomo and Matt both did a good job in their first
visit to Long Beach,” said team owner Eric Bachelart. “This
is a track that is pretty easy to get yourself in trouble
on, and they both drove smart races today and avoided any
problems. We will look for more of that in Houston and
hopefully we can show a little more speed with both our
cars and keep progressing in the championship.”
Round three of the Cooper Tires Presents The Champ Car
Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda will take place
next weekend at the JAGFlo Speedway at Reliant Park in
Houston, Texas.