Firestone Indy Lights: Drive Smart Buckle-Up Kentucky 100

Topics:  Drive Smart Buckle-Up Kentucky 100

Pippa Mann
September 4, 2010

SPARTA, KENTUCKY

THE MODERATOR: James, JK, congratulations on the podium. We'll see you guys in a few weeks at Homestead.
We are now joined by our race winner, Pippa Mann. This is Pippa's first Firestone Indy Lights victory. Her previous best finish in the series was actually last weekend at Chicagoland. Pippa has been dubbed the "Bionic Woman." She missed mid-Ohio this year to have surgery, and ever since then she comes back getting career-best finishes and now her first win. She is the second woman to win in Firestone Indy Lights history joining Ana Beatriz on that list. Talk about your first win here at Kentucky.
PIPPA MANN: Well, if anybody is going to wish for the first win to come a certain way, I think that was kind of the way I wanted it. I joked in here yesterday that I hoped to run away and hide today in the race, but I was actually joking. I didn't think that was going to happen. I thought it was going to be a really tight, close race up front, but I just got my legs underneath me and started running and started pedaling and I guess nobody could catch me, so I'm really pleased about that.
I had a great car underneath me today, and I'm just really, really pleased and really pleased for the team, as well. They did such a fantastic job for me this weekend.

Q. Does this take some of the sting out of not winning last weekend?
PIPPA MANN: Oh, yes. Winning like this takes a -- after last weekend, I was really disappointed, but you know, Hinch beat me fair and square, and I was like, okay, this weekend I'm going to come back and I'm going to beat you, and in testing it didn't look like I had anything for him, so I was like, oh, God, here we go again. Then I was just able to run away, and I guess this weekend the tables were reversed, and I was able to get away from him.
It totally takes it away, and the other thing people have been asking me is does it make up for Indy. Yeah, it actually does. To have a second and then a first, it does make up for Indy.

Q. What was the difference?
PIPPA MANN: I think it was the track. Chicago is such a big, open, wide track it promotes awesome racing. We can run two wide, three wide pretty much all day around there. This is much more of a handling track and you have to have a really good handling car underneath you to run the fastest line around here, and we really focused on that. I knew if I got back into deep traffic my car wasn't going to be perfect. We took a little bit of a gamble on the setup, and it paid off.
THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and wrap it up. Congratulations on a great win, and best of luck in Miami.