Beatriz Earns Second Career Firestone Indy Lights Victory

Ana Beatriz earned her second career Firestone Indy Lights victory, passing Sam Schmidt Motorsports teammate Wade Cunningham with nine laps to go in the Miller Lite 100.

Ana Beatriz celebrates her victory at the Miller Lite 100 at Iowa Speedway Credit: Jim Haines/Indy Lights

Cunningham, who finished second at Iowa in 2007 after leading 105 of 115 laps, passed pole sitter J.R. Hildebrand for the lead on Lap 4 and led the next 103 laps. He and Beatriz caught up to Sebastian Saavedra on the backstretch on Lap 107, and Beatriz was able to get past on the high side while Cunningham was forced to slow.

The night was a success for team owner Sam Schmidt as his drivers recorded the first 1-2-3 finish by teammates in series history. James Hinchcliffe was third.

SAM SCHMIDT (Owner, Sam Schmidt Motorsports): "I think that is our first 1-2-3. It is a great effort for the team. It was a brand new car they had to build up the last few weeks. This made up for all those hours."

ANA BEATRIZ (No. 20 Healthy Choice/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, first): "I was thinking and wanting to finish the race today. We qualified sixth, but it was great at the start of the race and it was very competitive. I was fortunate to find the right time to pass Wade (Cunningham). There was a lot of lapped cars out there when that happened. It was all about momentum. Wow, I can't believe I got first and Sam Sch midt got a 1-2-3. It is unbelievable. At the finish, I was thinking it was just unbelievable. I nearly crashed there at the end right there around the flipped car. This team deserves it. I really want to celebrate with them tonight. The last couple of weeks have been tough missing out on sponsorship and then finding a way to come back."

WADE CUNNINGHAM (No. 11 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, second): "Sebastien Saavedra is 25 laps down, running flat out because he has good tires. The team said, 'Hey, just let him go; he's just going to keep driving forward.' I was just saving my tires, so I just let him go. The minute he got in front of me, he slowed down half-a-second a lap because he knows I'm fighting him for the championship and he was out of the race. It's probably the most unsportsmanlike thing I've ever seen on the racetrack, apart from shunting someone into a wall. I hope the stewards do something because if they don't, I will."

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 7 Hinchtown/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, third): "What a night. First of all, with the delays it was tough. Everyone was in the wrong frame of mind heading into tonight and it was tough to stay focused. We had a pretty good car at the start, running fourth there behind Daniel (Herrington) and then just sort of started losing it when I got side-by-side in traffic. I did a lot of work in the cockpit with the weightjacker and front bars trying to get it back. Slowly the car started coming back to us. Then it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time. It's tough to stay out of trouble at a short track like Iowa. I had contact with Daniel at one point and nearly took out both of my teammates at one point. There was some great wheel-to-wheel racing. I'm glad that the weather held off, and congratulations to Sam Schmidt Motorsports on the great race."

MARIO ROMANCINI (No. 5 Revita/Win Brazil/Allied/RLR Andersen, fourth): "I'm very happy with the finish, because we didn't have a good qualifying and started (13th). It's good for the championship because we scored good points, and let's go for the next one now. It's a very tough track and it's difficult to pass, and that's why I'm happy with our finish and scoring good points."

GUSTAVO YACAMAN (No. 44 Crepes & Waffles/Tuvacol/SSM, fifth): "It was a very hard race. The car was really hard to drive because we had a lot of push. I just let the race come to me and kept four tires on the car."

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