Andersen Racing's Jorda Takes First Laps At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Andersen Racing's Carmen Jorda took her first lap at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday and then completed 44 more circuits of the world-famous speedway during a test session in preparation for Firestone Indy Lights' biggest race of the year, the Firestone Freedom 100 here on Miller Lite Carb Day, Friday, May 28.

Carmen Jorda Credit: Chris Jones/Indy Lights

Jorda, who is from Alcoy, Spain and Miami, will turn 22 the same day.

The 40-lap race on the 2.5-mile oval will be the rookie's first oval-track race. She drives the Andersen Racing No. 4, which is sponsored by ASAP Sports, NTGS.es, iHOLA!, Air Europa, pepetravel.com and Allied Building Products Corp.

Jorda ended up 13th-fastest for the day during Friday's test. Her best lap occurred on lap 8, when she stopped the clocks after only 47.8441 seconds had elapsed for an average speed of 188.111 miles per hour. That was only 0.6028 of a second slower than the fastest lap of the day, which occurred when Gustavo Yacaman was running in a multi-car draft. Jorda's best lap occurred when she was in a one-car draft with Dan Clarke.

In the recent past most rookies got their first look at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway while aboard a bus on the Hall of Fame Museum tour, but that has all changed with the availability of video track simulation programs. Jorda prepared for Friday's test by practicing on one of those systems and by conferring with four-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears, one of the series' driver coaches and consultants.

"Before the test I didn't want to think about all the history here and the fact that this is my first oval race," Jorda said. "For me, the simulator was more difficult. After I practiced on it, today actually racing on the track was easier. After a couple of laps, I felt good.

"I had to get used to running with a pack of cars and on an oval without much banking," she added. "I focused on trying to be consistent. An oval is all new to me, but I like it. I think it's going to be a good race."

After the test was over Jorda was able to appreciate the accomplishment of being one of only a handful of women who have driven a race car at speed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "The Indy 500 is a wonderful event," she said. "For years I watched it on video at my home in Spain."

Jorda is scheduled to appear on Don Kay's Internet show on Tuesday, May 25. It will be broadcast live from McGilvery's Pub and Eatery, 3009 North High School Road, Indianapolis. The program can be heard around the world starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Autosportradio.com.

Jorda will sign autographs on Legends Row at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Community Day, Wednesday, May 26.

Then it's back to business. Two 45-minute practice sessions at 9 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. on Thursday, May 27 are slated before time trials are held at 3 p.m. that afternoon. On Friday, May 28 the pre-race activities begin at 12:15 p.m. and the race will start at 12:30 p.m.

Previous winners of the race are Ed Carpenter, Thiago Medeiros, Jaime Camara, Wade Cunningham (a two-time winner who is also entered in this year's race), Alex Lloyd and Dillon Battistini. Cunningham holds the series' track qualifying lap record here with a time of 47.2549 (109.456 mph) set last year, although Bobby Wilson ran a faster lap during the 2008 race with a time of 47.0189 (191.412 mph).

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