MÜNTER QUALIFIES 5TH UNDER COACHING OF JAQUES LAZIER
Source: Tim Harms, IndyCar.com
It's not an accident that Sam Schmidt Motorsports drivers have won two of the last three Indy Pro Series championships and one is in line for another. The team is known for its outstanding preparation and professionalism.
The attributes showed again Aug. 10 when Leilani Münter qualified fifth in her open-wheel debut at the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway.
Münter, whose primary racing experience has come in Late Models, spent the two practice sessions - 52 minutes and 75 laps - working with six-time Indianapolis 500 starter Jaques Lazier.
"The first session was all about getting her comfortable back in the car," Lazier said from pit lane before Münter went out to make her qualifying attempt in the No. 57 SMART Papers/Lucas Oil car. "After the first session, it was all about now let's get ready for qualifying. We did a couple of mock qualifying runs to get her up to speed on that, what that's going to take, what that's going to feel like. We did some stuff to try and shorten up the track.
"She seems to have pretty good feedback on what the car feels like. She's still very green, but the more time we can spend with her in developing a good relationship between her and her teammates the more the knowledge base will grow, and she'll start being able to give feedback not only in what the car is doing but what she wants in it as well. She's a quick study."
Having Lazier in her ear from the spotter's stand and in the transporter made gave Münter confidence.
"I didn't draft at all in the first session, and we were 15th, so I was a little bit worried about that," Münter said. "But, they told me, 'Don't worry about your times. Actually, for running by yourself, you're not too far off.' It's hard to not get that number stuck in your head - 15, 15 - why am I so far off. A lot of the guys were drafting, and I didn't really do that.
"The second session I tried to keep in mind that we're all going to be running alone I'll have a better idea of where we're at. We were eighth. When we came in and looked at the data and talked to Jaques (Lazier), he told me places on the track where I was losing a little bit of time compared to my teammates. I tried to fix those things in qualifying, and I guess it worked."
TV ALERT: Watch Leilani's open wheel debut on ESPN2 Thursday August 16, 530pm EST.
INDYCAR TIMING & SCORING: KENTUCKY 100 - QUALIFYING RESULTS (AUG 10)
