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[/media-credit]Newton, IA – June 22, 2012 – Alex Tagliani hit the track on Friday evening for a brand-new, heat race format qualifying session to determine the starting grid for Saturday night’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 race at Iowa Speedway, where he will start in P9.
The IZOD IndyCar Series entrants were divided into three groups based on the results of the second practicesession earlier in the day. Tagliani and his Team Barracuda – BHA crew were P11 in practice, placing them in the second heat race.
The Canadian driver battled his way to the front, setting the fastest lap of any heat race, and held on until only a few laps were left. The team looked at the heat race format as another opportunity to practice under race conditions. It allowed Tagliani and his engineers to analyze the proper setup for Saturday night’s race under the lights.
“For Team Barracuda – BHA, this was a good way of learning what the car is going to need to be quicker tomorrow,” said Tagliani. “If we want to run up front tomorrow night, we’re going to have to make some changes but I think we’re on the right track.
“The new qualifying format seems like a lot of work for our guys. We spent a lot of the day in Tech. I think the IZOD IndyCar Series has been putting on some great qualifying runs, from Indy to Texas to Milwaukee, so I would stay with that. When you have a car that can steal the pole because of a good run, it gets the fans up on their feet. We’ll see what the fans say – obviously we want to make it interesting for them. It’s a good learning curve.”
The estimated green flag for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 will take place on Saturday, June 23 at 9 p.m. CST (local). The 250-lap race will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network, preceded by the taped qualifying broadcast and pre-race activities. The entire broadcast starts at 6:30 p.m. CST. Fans can also listen to the radiobroadcast on IMS Radio Network and Sirius (XM 94 and Sirius 212).
About Bryan Herta Autosport
Founded by veteran driver Bryan Herta and noted race engineer and team manager Steve Newey, Bryan Herta Autosport (BHA) has been a race-winning team in Firestone Indy Lights competition since 2009 and recently won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with driver Dan Wheldon in only its second IZOD IndyCar Series start. The Indianapolis, Ind.-based squad made its IndyCar debut in 2010 contesting the Indianapolis 500. New for 2012, BHA has formed a joint venture with Bowen and Bowers Motorsports, Inc. (BBM) to field a full time entry in the IZOD Indycar Series for Canadian driver Alex Tagliani. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Bowen and Bowers Motorsports, Inc. is the coming together of leading sports and entertainment property development professionals, Chris Bowers and David Bowen, along with the financial managementexperience of Trapeze Asset Management Inc. For more information, please visit www.bryanhertaautosport.com.
About Barracuda Networks Inc.
Barracuda Networks combines premises-based gateways and software, virtual appliances, cloud services, and sophisticated remote support to deliver comprehensive content and network security, data protection and application delivery solutions. The company’s expansive product portfolio includes offerings for protection against email and Web threats as well as products that improve application delivery and network access, message archiving, backup and data protection. Coca-Cola, FedEx, Harvard University, IBM, L’Oreal, and Europcar are among the more than 150,000 organizations protecting their IT infrastructures with Barracuda Networks’ range of affordable, easy-to-deploy and manage solutions. Barracuda Networks is privately held with its International Headquarters in Campbell, Calif. For more information, please visit www.barracudanetworks.com.
