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Another Solid Climb for Barracuda Racing at Barber

Topics: Alex Tagliani, Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Another Solid Climb for Barracuda Racing at Barber

Monica Hilton
Bryan Herta Autosport
April 7, 2013

Birmingham, AL – Alex Tagliani lead his Barracuda Racing crew to a P11 finish at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on Sunday afternoon.

Early in the race Tag was hit from behind, damaging part of the bodywork on the back of the No. 98 car and forcing the crew to pit on lap 15 to remove the damaged bodywork. Without a follow-up yellow to change the rear wing, the team was able to make the necessary adjustments to rebalance the car and Tagliani had a solid recovery.

“I’m really proud of the Barracuda Racing team today,” said Tagliani. “We were hurt by the qualifying position but I think our car was good. We had a P5 lap time in the race, so that was great.

“The piece that got broken in the beginning of the race made us loose when we lost a lot of downforce in the rear. That stint hurt us, but we dialed down the front aero by taking some wing out and rebalanced the car. I think P11 is a good result overall and we earned some more points. As long as we keep doing that, we’re building momentum for the championship.”

Team owner Bryan Herta added, “It’s a shame we got hit early and had some damage. We had to pit and tear some of the bodywork off the car, so we lost some downforce from then on. Alex held on though, and did a good job.

“I think from that point on, we had a pretty good pit strategy and Alex ran some good laps in the middle of the race when it counted. He was able to jump a few guys and got another solid finish in the books. Now we’ll move onto Long Beach and try to do it all again.”

In two weeks, the IZOD IndyCar Series travels to California for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 21 at 4 p.m. ET. The race will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network in the United States, and SportsNet and TVA Sports for fans in Canada.