Dempsey Second at Utah
Peter Dempsey finished second in the third round of the US Star Mazda Series at Miller Motorsport Park, Utah on Saturday.
The reigning Dunlop Motorsport Ireland Young Racing Driver of the Year made the most of his opportunities to score his second podium in succession, adding 40 points to his season total to lie just five points off the series lead.
Dempsey was consistently quick throughout the weekend and, despite slipping to fifth towards the end of Saturday morning qualifying, was able to battle his way back into contention in the 22 lap race that afternoon.
Despite missing the pre-event official test day, Peter was able to find a good set up with his AIM Autosport run car and was in the groove from the start of free practice on Thursday.
That wasn’t too bad considering we had to fight back after qualifying,” he said afterwards. “We scored good points for the championship and we’re still right there chasing for the title. The team and all my supporters have worked hard to get me here and I’m glad I’m able to give them something back for their faith in me.”
Peter played himself into the weekend, working on the car’s set up in Thursday’s free practice sessions without concerning himself with lap times.
“The weekend went well considering we missed the series test and we were limited on tyres all weekend,” he said afterwards. “On the first day of running I had no new rubber and just worked on mileage and car setup.
“On to the second day it was my first time to run on new tyres and the car felt good, even though I wasn't driving to the limit as I didn't want to risk giving the guys any extra work.
“Into qualifying and I knew I had to up my game to get to the front which I did with my fastest ever lap of Miller Motorsport Park, 1.44.16, just three tenths off the pole lap. This was good enough for second and I stayed there right until the final lap of qualifying when I got bumped back to fifth which was a bit frustrating.
“Just six hundredths of a second would have put me second on the grid but I knew I would have a good race car so we were satisfied with the result.
“When the lights went out at the start of the race I made a good start and got up to P3 by the end of the lap. On the next lap I was passed on the main straight. Then we had a full course yellow from which I got a good restart but I didn't want to risk getting taken out so I settled for fourth.
“By lap seven I was back up to third and chasing down the leaders. I got to within 1.5 seconds of them until I pushed too hard and made a mistake at turn three. This cost me three seconds and I knew then that the best thing to do would be to finish on the podium.
“Eight laps from the end the leader hit a mechanical problem and this promoted me to second which is where I finished and I picked up good points for the championship. All in all, a satisfactory result.
“I would like to thank The Irish Sports Council, Motorsport Ireland and Dunlop for all the support they have given me. AIM Autosport did a great job to give me the car I needed to get the result.
“I would like to say a special thank you to all the people that assisted me and making round three happen, I am very lucky to have so much support.”
Peter’s next outing is a double header of races at New Jersey Motorsports Park from June 12th to 14th.
Results:-
1. Adam Christodoulou 22 Laps
2. Peter Dempsey
3. Joel Miller
4. Richard Kent
5. Caio Lara
6. Alex Ardoin
Star Mazda Series 2009 Points Standings after three rounds:-
1 Adam Christodoulou 119 Points
2 Peter Dempsey 114
3 Joel Miller 106
4 Alex Ardoin 98
5 Caio Lara 92
6 Jorge Goncalvez 84
Add our news to your Google homepage!
Add our news to your My Yahoo! homepage!
Subscribe to our RSS news feed
