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FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS: VALLEY OF THE MOON 100

August 24, 2008

SONOMA, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: We have been joined by the second- and third-place finishers from today's Firestone Indy Lights event. Logan Gomez finished second today for Guthrie Racing. This is his best finish of the season. And Ana Beatriz finished third for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. This was her eighth top five of the season.
Logan, maybe talk about your race today and how things went.
LOGAN GOMEZ: Yeah, it was pretty good. With the inversion we started forward today. Got up the hill, was pretty tight. I was able to pass Bea, I believe, for third, and get a good run up the hill. There was a quick yellow for I think a car overturned. We were able to on the restart get another driver for second place.
Chasing down Pablo, he was quick. We were about the same speed. I'd be able to gain on him in braking zones. I used up the tires quite a bit, so mid-race I was letting them cool off. Then towards the end I started charging and it was just -- the track had gotten a little slippery and I wasn't able to pull back up to him.
But it was a good race. I'm happy to be here in second place. I've got to thank IZOD, Menards and Guthrie Racing for their support and help. We have the people from IZOD here this weekend, my cheering section, and it was great to have them here.
THE MODERATOR: Ana, how did things go for you today?
ANA BEATRIZ: Well, with the inversion we started third. The lead just decided to push the throttle a little bit later than I expected, and so I got a good run on Donoso but then I was stuck behind him, and then I have to lift a little bit and Gomez just was able to pass me. After that I was just behind Herrington. I was, I think, a bit faster, but it's so hard to pass here.
Then he did a mistake, and I was able to pass and stay in third and just focus on finishing the race in third position. I'm so happy to finish third, another podium in the season for us. It's my first year and my first time here at Infineon, so my Healthy Choice Sam Schmidt team has to be really proud of the result this weekend. It's great.

Q. Most of the drivers that have been on the podium or qualified have all said pretty much the same thing, going up the hill into 7 into that turn is very slippery. Is that the same situation you guys both ran into?
ANA BEATRIZ: There's a bit of inclination. Actually the corners 1 and 2 are just amazing. I think it's one of the best of the track, it's just a big uphill. And after the change of the track, the inclination part, the rear seems to be sometimes to get some over-steer, so we have to control a lot. I think it's not slippery, I think it's just because of the inclination.
LOGAN GOMEZ: Corner 7 going into that new hairpin that they have, going up the drag strip, underbraking is pretty slippery in that new section. It's a such a tight corner that you get a little hot, and that's one of the probably three passing zones on this track unless the person in front of you makes a mistake. I like the layout this way better than last year.

Q. From an observer's standpoint, watching the race, it seems like the top ten cars were all the same speed because unless somebody made a slip you got by, but you're running and nothing happened; everybody was running about the same. Seems like everybody in this series is as fast from 1 to 12 or 15.
ANA BEATRIZ: I believe this track is hard to pass. That's why it's so important to start up front, because if the guy in front of you is just like half a second slower than you, you have to stay in the same pace. It's really hard to pass.
But what I think is the guys, Matos and Perera that was behind us, they couldn't really get us. So I think today was really lucky.
LOGAN GOMEZ: Yeah, I think being the end of the year the teams are meshing together and everybody is hitting their setups a little more on. We had the open test before this weekend and everybody was pretty happy with the car. We didn't change much from yesterday's race to today.
THE MODERATOR: We'll let you guys go. Thank you very much. We're just waiting for Pablo Donoso to join us, and he will be in shortly.
We have been joined by race winner Pablo Donoso for Team Moore Racing. This is his first Indy Lights victory of the season -- his first-ever Indy Lights victory and the first victory for Team Moore Racing. He led all 30 laps of the race today, and an interesting note, he also continues to set the series record. He is the ninth different driver to win this season, which is an Indy Lights Series record, so congratulations to you, Pablo. How did the race go for you today, and what were your thoughts?
PABLO DONOSO: Well, today was great, you know? Winning is the best thing ever. It was really nice. It's my first victory, like you said, in Indy Lights, but it's my second victory on this track. I won in 2005 here running in Mazda Series. So I think I'm loving this place. I really love this track, and the team gave me an awesome car, so I was pushing hard during the race and made some gap and I was able to keep that gap and finish the race in first place, which is the greatest thing ever.

Q. I've got two questions. Number one is has Eliseo called yet? He hasn't called?
PABLO DONOSO: No, I don't have the phone. Probably he's calling me now, but he couldn't come for this race. He's in Pittsburgh. But like I said on the other race, when I did the podium at Milwaukee the other day, it's great to have him and have somebody with a lot of experience pushing you and helping you and giving me a good ride because he negotiated with the team, so it's great to have him.

Q. You've won here before in 2005 and they changed the track this year, but everybody is saying it's hard to pass, and I thought the idea of changing the track was to make another passing area, but obviously it's still difficult.
PABLO DONOSO: You know, it's difficult to pass, but it's possible when you have a good run. Yesterday I passed. The area on the back straight, I think the change of the track is better. I think you're going to see passes for sure today on the IndyCar. This is part of racing. There's tracks easy to pass or hard tracks like this one, and you have to deal with that.
Yesterday I improved two positions which gave me the pole today, and today I was able to keep my position. But I think people was fighting hard behind me. I think the track is great.

Q. It's interesting, three years ago Marco sat in pretty much the same seat that you are having done two championships, winning two different races in two series, and he said he marked his calendar for this race, he likes the Infineon, but that was the beginning of the next step, was, of course, winning here in the IRL. Is that the direction you want to go in?
PABLO DONOSO: You know who beat Marco Andretti on this track? I did, in 2005. He came in second in a really good race. When I saw this track was on the championship, I was expecting, I said in my head, I beat Marco Andretti here, and he won in Indy Lights, he won in IndyCar, so probably I can win in Indy Lights here. Probably if I go into IndyCar and I have a good ride, who knows, maybe I can win, either.
This track is great for good drivers, and obviously we have really good drivers. The times are pretty close. I hope to in the future -- I don't want to push my career, nothing, but if I have a good ride in IndyCar maybe, who knows. I'm going to try to win.

Q. Going into the race, how confident were you that you could score this victory today? And secondly, when you took the checkered flag, what was going through your mind about this victory?
PABLO DONOSO: Well, when I came here I came with a lot of confidence. I knew it, and I believe in my team, I believe I can have a good result. So yesterday when they told me you have the pole for today, I said, okay, I'm going to fight this race. Maybe I don't have the fastest car, but I'm going to fight hard because it's hard to pass here.
I told TMR we need to improve some little things on the car, and we did and the car really improved, so today the car was pretty fast. When I first start the race I saw the car was better in those places where yesterday it was hard.
So I guess I was calm and waiting, and when I crossed the finish line, I screamed, vamos todo al dÃa, meaning, come on, let's go for more. I was pretty calm and focused into the race, and we did it.

Q. Some of the guys who have a lot of road racing experience like Dillon Battistini has won four times, all on oval. Your last race of the year is on an oval. Is it your turn?
PABLO DONOSO: Now I'm in a hard position for Chicago because I'm supposed to run with Brian Stewart, but the other day we crashed pretty hard, so the car was broke. I don't have a contract racing with TMR Racing for the next race, so I have to work and see what happens for the next race. I'm not sure if I'm going to run.
But I really love ovals. I moved to Silver Crown for two years to learn the technique, to be smooth, to be good.
I think I'm pretty fast. I did my first pole this year on ovals, so who knows? I hope if I can have a pole in Chicago it would be great. I really like that track. I ran the last two years there, and it's an awesome track. It's pretty fast, and it's great. So I have a lot of confidence if I have a good car for there.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Pablo. Congratulations.

End of FastScripts

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