Plainfield, IL (April 19, 2016) – The Verizon IndyCar Series moves to Birmingham, AL this weekend where Dale Coyne Racing and drivers Luca Filippi and Conor Daly will be taking part in their first road course race of the season at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on Sunday, April 24th.
Italian Luca Filippi will be making his second appearance at Barber Motorsports Park. The driver of the Boy Scouts of America car finished 11th last season after starting ninth with CFH Racing.
Conor Daly will be taking part in his first IndyCar Series event at the 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course which will also be his first road course race aboard an Indy car. The rookie finished 11th in Indy Lights at the Alabama track back in 2011.
The Dale Coyne Racing team tested earlier this season at Barber Motorsports Park, logging important miles that will serve as a starting point heading into the weekend.
After disappointing results in the first three rounds of the year, despite solid performances by both drivers, the Illinois-based team is looking to come out of Alabama with satisfying results that finally match their on-track performance.
The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama weekend will kick off with two practice sessions on Friday, April 22nf, with the first session being broadcast live on NBCSN starting at noon ET. Qualifying will take place on Saturday, April 23rd which will also be broadcast on NBCSN from 4pm ET.
The 90-lap/207-mile race will go green at 3:45pm ET, Sunday, April 24th, with the race broadcast starting at 3pm ET on NBCSN.
Live timing and scoring will be available at racecontrol.Indycar.com for all sessions. Live streaming will also be available for all non-televised sessions.
Dale Coyne Racing Driver Quotes
Conor Daly – #18 Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality & Restaurant Group
“We have to keep making progress overall, it’s what we’ve done so far. We’ve moved ourselves up in qualifying and we just have to keep working on gaining that track position in qualifying. Barber is a really tough place. Our test there was interesting and we were able to learn some things. Things to do and to not do and hopefully we can use that as efficiently as possible and have another strong race. The track is really cool, very physical, difficult to pass on occasions though. I hope that tire wear comes into play so we can take advantage of that. We seem to have good tires on long runs, so hope to be able to make up positions like that. In general, just can’t wait to see how the race there goes.”
Luca Filippi – #19 Boy Scouts of America
“The Barber Motorsports Park event is the first road course race of the season so it will be interesting to see how we can perform there. Also, after a disappointing weekend, it’s good to have a race the weekend right after and to already be focused on a new race. Barber is a place I like. I had a good weekend there last year. It’s a very technical track so I think we will have to do fine-tuning work for the qualifying car and the race car. It’s going to be very important to be focused from the beginning to work in the right direction. My favorite part of the track at Barber are the blind corners, there are two. One is a right-hander that becomes kind of like a chicane going down the hill and the other one is actually quite fast before the final section of the circuit. You go up hill and you don’t see the exit so you have to place yourself in the right position, but you don’t really see where you’re going. It’s actually very challenging. It’s a nice corner, quite unique and I like it very much.”
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