April 17th 2011 – This Sunday, Ana Beatriz Figueiredo who drives for car no. 24 of Ipiranga Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will start from the 26^th position on the grid aiming to complete the 85 laps and the 3.186 meters of the street circuit of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, in California. It will be the sixth race of the Brazilian female driver in the IZOD IndyCar Series, the second one in her debut season for an entire championship, the third one in a mixed circuit.

The penultimate position she will take in Long Beach it’s Ana Beatriz Figueiredo’s worst start position in IZOD IndyCar Series. But it’s not just that. She will compete with the right hand - fractured three weeks ago, in Saint Petersburg – still on a recovering stage from a surgery, protected by a carbon fiber bracelet which makes impossible a full contact of her hand with the steering wheel and also compromised her qualifying performance. And she knows that she’ll leave the car feeling pain similar to the fracture one, like already warned her Tony Kanaan.

It will be the first time Ana Beatriz will drive with a bone still in a calcification process after a fracture and surgery for insertion of a pin. But she already drove twice with a broken bone. In the first time during the first round of the 2011, in St. Pete, when she completed 93 laps of almost 3 km with the scaphoid bone fractured and only discovered that after the race, and in a kart competition with a broken bone of the wrist – the radius – in an qualifying of the final race for the 2001 Paulista Championship.

“I finished the race on the 4^th place and on 3^rd in the championship. I felt a lot of pain. But a kart weights 20kg and an Indy car weights 770kg”, compares the driver of Ipiranga Racing. “In the practice here in Long Beach I only felt pain in the hand when passing over the kerbs and on the track’s bumps. In the qualifying, for being just some laps I was able to be more aggressive because this is very important in Long Beach. For the race which is very long, it must be different, but I am ready”.

During the third free practice Ana Beatriz tested two sets of black tires, the harder ones and worked in some set-up changes in the car for the qualifying that she participated with the red tires. On Saturday she and her team worked to improve the protection bracelet that restricted a lot of the movements of her right hand on Friday’s practices.

And they also worked on the car set-up to make her feel more comfortable with the driving. There is a possibility that the protection bracelet – used to avoid problems with the bone in calcification in any case of possible touches with other cars – may release it from her arm during the race. That’s why the team will have spares in the pit.

“My hand is a bit limited with the protection bracelet. At some turns, I hold the steering wheel only with the left hand. This is complicated. We did some adjustments with the protection bracelet to increase as much as possible the contact area of my hand with the steering wheel. We were able to improve 1.2 seconds. To be fast in Long Beach you have to keep your both hands in the steering wheel, holding very tight, this counts a lot for the aggressive driving which is so characteristic of this circuit”, she explains.

In the race Ana Beatriz’s strategy is to be prudent aiming to avoid accidents and to take advantage from other accidents gaining some positions. “We are going to start with the black tires because in the beginning I will be stuck in the traffic with all the cars very close. From the middle of the race to the end of it, the rhythm of the race must be stronger and then we are going to use the red tires”, tells the driver.

Competing at the rookie’s category in the IZOD IndyCar Series because she only did four races in 2010, Ana Beatriz is fighting for the ‘Rookie of the Year’ title, which is considered very important in the United States. At the moment she has a disadvantaged because she didn’t participated in one of the two races already held until now, once she suffered a hand fracture. But she had impressed the people in the IZOD IndyCar Series circle and also in the racing field with her demonstrations of overcoming limits.

“I’m living the chance of my life. I always wanted to be here in the top, racing in the IZOD IndyCar Series. To have the opportunity to compete for the entire championship and not being able to race in Alabama left me very upset. And I couldn’t stay away from Long Beach. If there is no risk to my health, I want to use all the time I have to learn more, to improve as a driver. Anyway I will leave the race with much more experience, more self-assured and with more points in the championship”, concludes Ana Beatriz Figueiredo who intends to complete the race that will be disputed today at 17:30

PICTURES

Ana Beatriz Figueiredo and Chris Houg, her mechanic chief in the garage of Ipiranga Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in Long Beach – credit: Elizabeth Cannon / DRR

Ana Beatriz Figueiredo prepares herself to go to the racetrack in Long Beach - credit: Chris Jones / IndyCar