Conquest Racing Atlantic Team of Ricci and Lee Both Finish in Top Ten

Giacomo Ricci able to finish sixth while Matt Lee finishes in tenth place

For the first time in the 2007 season, both of Conquest Racing’s Atlantic Team drivers finished in the top ten with Giacomo Ricci (#18 Banca Italease / Lotto / Global / Mazda-Cosworth) in sixth and Matt Lee (#44 Integrated Solutions / Mazda – Cosworth) in tenth place.

	Matt Lee

Unfortunately, Ricci had originally been running for a third place podium finish when he suffered from a fuel pick-up problem just a few laps from the checkered flag and was dropped back to sixth place. Matt Lee, who was only able to participate in qualifying on Saturday, began the race in twelfth place but through a strong standing start and yellow flag restart, was able to climb into the top ten and hold onto his position.

Giacomo Ricci performance this weekend helped him to climb to sixth place in the Atlantic Championship points race. He is just 14 points away from being in the top five and remains just one point away from a top three position in the Rookie of the Year race.

“I was running such a great race that it was a very frustrating finish for both myself and the rest of the team,” said Ricci. “I had qualified well yesterday and had a great start of today’s race. I had set the team up for our first podium but it just didn’t happen for us today. We found out about our fuel problem about seven laps from the end of the race and had hoped that we could make it but in the end we were about half a lap short on luck. Hopefully Toronto will be better for us and we’ll get that elusive first podium.”

“I think that we ran a very steady race this weekend,” began Matt Lee. “We were able to achieve a good start and move up a few places, the same for the restart after the yellow flag. I ran a very consistent race with fast lap times throughout the entire event. I didn’t feel that I could compete for ninth place so my focus was on maintaining my lap times to hold off the eleventh place car.

Steve Ragan, Conquest Racing Atlantic Team Manager

“We ended today’s race with a fuel pickup problem in the #18 car during the last few laps of the race,” said Steve Ragan. “I feel sorry for Giacomo and the entire crew because that was a difficult way to end the event. The cars are running really well and we’re ready to take Matt and Giacomo to dual podiums.”

Event Information

The eighth round of the 2007 Champ Car Atlantic Championship will be held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto on Sunday, July 8th at 10:00 a.m. EST. The race will be broadcast on ESPN2 on Wednesday, July 11th at 5:00 p.m. EST.

Source: Conquest Racing Atlantic News