media release

26 July 2010
GC ENTRANTS LOCK OUT EDMONTON INDYCAR TOP FOUR

Armor All Gold Coast 600 entrants Scott Dixon, Will Power, Dario Franchitti and Ryan Briscoe have swept the Honda Edmonton Indy IndyCar Series event with a clean sweep of the top four positions at the City Centre Airport Circuit.

Dixon, who will compete for Jack Daniel's Racing at the October 22-24 event, lead home pole-sitter and championship leader Will Power (Ford Performance Racing), Dario Franchitti (Jim Beam Racing) and Ryan Briscoe (Toll Holden Racing Team).

The race was frantic in the final stages, with Castroneves overtaking Power in turns 1 and 2 of lap 78, going on to pull a 1.5 second gap.

When a full course caution was called on lap 89 when another car ran out of fuel, Castroneves led the field into turn one at the restart, with Power making a bid to regain the lead he had held for 76 laps.

He wasn't successful, but on a lap 92 restart, Power tried again - this time on the outside. Dixon took advantage of the battling leading pair to slip through into second while Castroneves was served with a black flag penalty for blocking.

While Castroneves crossed the line first, he was relegated to 10th due to not serving his penalty before race-end, leaving Dixon to take the win ahead of Power, Franchitti and Briscoe.Fellow Gold Coast entrant Alex Tagliani (Kelly Racing) finished 23rd after a race marred by contact.

The IndyCar Series wasn’t the only place Gold Coast entrants were competing at the weekend, with Jacques Villeneuve (Bottle-O Racing), David Brabham (IRWIN Racing), Gianni Morbidelli (Triple F Racing) and Fabrizio Giovanardi (Brad Jones Racing) also in action.

In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Villeneuve joined Juan Montoya as the only drivers to compete at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in three major motorsport series by qualifying for the weekend’s Brickyard 400. The former Formula 1 World Champion went on to finish 29th after starting from 43rd position.

In the American Le Mans Series, Brabham and team-mate Simon Paganeud looked set for a fourth consecutive event win however a late race tyre puncture saw the team finish 2nd at their home track Lime Rock Park. They retain their championship lead.

After starting from pole only to battle with straight-line speed, Brabham was closing on the leader Klaus Graf with 15 minutes to go before the team was alerted to the deflating tyre.

The slow leak didn’t hinder the progress of Brabham at first, who made a move for the lead with 10 minutes to go however contact was made in the fight sending both leader Klaus Graf and Brabham onto the grass and both into the pit lane – Brabham to fix the now fully deflated tyre and Graf for a stop-go penalty for the contact. While both had to head to pit lane, Brabham’s slow in-lap due to his tyre cost the team the win, seeing them finish second.

In the Italian SuperStars Series, Giovanardi joined the grid for N.Technology at the Mugello event at the weekend and took a maiden win for his team in race one, ahead of Morbidelli in second place. Morbidelli then went on to finish race two in third position, while Giovanardi finished 9th. Taking the race two win was Max Pigoli.

All of the international drivers for the Armor All Gold Coast 600 are set to arrive on the Gold Coast on the Sunday before the event and will be involved in a week of activity, including a full-day test at Queensland Raceway on Wednesday, October 20.

The Armor All Gold Coast 600 will include two 300km races on Saturday and Sunday of the event, with the international drivers required to complete a minimum of 30% of each of the races.

Tickets are now on sale for the Armor All Gold Coast 600, with Friday admission tickets starting from just $49 and three day passes from just $136, with each ticket providing admission to not only the day’s racing but also the same night’s entertainment line-up at 600 Sounds. Visit ticketek.com.au or call 132 849 for more information or to purchase.

International Drivers
Please see below for a full list of the 18 international drivers for the Armor All Gold Coast 600. For the two-car teams with one international driver, expect confirmation of which car the international will compete in following the Bathurst endurance event over October 7-10.

- Sebastien Bourdais – France – Dick Johnson Racing
- David Brabham – Australia – IRWIN Racing
- Ryan Briscoe – Australia – Toll Holden Racing Team
- Scott Dixon – NZ – Jack Daniel’s Racing
- Dario Franchitti – Scotland – Jim Beam Racing
- Heinz-Harald Frentzen – Germany – Wilson Security Racing
- Fabrizio Giovanardi – Italy – Brad Jones Racing
- Patrick Long – USA – Fujitsu Racing
- Alain Menu – Switzerland –Brad Jones Racing
- Tiago Monteiro – Portugal – Centaur Racing
- Gianni Morbidelli – Italy – Triple F Racing
- Yvan Muller – France – Paul Morris Motorsport
- Will Power – Australia – Ford Performance Racing
- Andy Priaulx – UK – TeamVodafone
- Scott Pruett – USA – Lucas Dumbrell Racing
- Mika Salo – Finland – Bundaberg Red Racing Team
- Alex Tagliani – Canada – Kelly Racing
- Jacques Villeneuve – Canada – The Bottle-O Racing Team

For biographies of the international drivers, please (URL: http://bit.ly/bvNbhd)

For more information please contact:
Amanda Cobb – BAM Media
Media Manager – Armor All Gold Coast 600
Phone: 0421 378 789
Email: amanda@bammedia.com.au

Brett Murray – BAM Media
Director of Communications – Armor All Gold Coast 600
Phone: 0418 760 066
Email: brett@bammedia.com.au

Scott Dixon

Former Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve

Will Power and Ryan Briscoe