MONTERREY, Mexico (May 23, 2003) - Alex Figge dominated Round 2 of the Toyota Atlantic Championship Presented by Yokohama at the Monterrey Grand Prix Sunday, earning his first career Toyota Atlantic victory. Figge (No. 69 Pacific Coast Motorsports), who started sixth, avoided a first-lap tangle in turn one, led every lap and beat Rocky Moran, Jr. by 2.050 seconds. Danica Patrick, Ronnie Bremer (No. 10 Port-A-Cool) and Jonathan Bomarito (No. 8 Dixien/Omnisource) completed the top five.
“We had a pretty rough start and I got banged around a little bit,” said Figge. “We had a little bit of damage, but my engineer did an awesome job. Rocky did put a little pressure on me and I had to dig a little deeper at the end, but we held on at the finish.”
“This is a great place,” said Moran, driver of the No. 9 Healthcare Privileges car. “We put something together in the warm up. The start was pretty crazy. Smoke was everywhere. From then on out, it was just Figge for the rest of the race. We tried to keep the pressure on early on. I think we got a little bit of a run on him. We had an awesome race. It was a good battle.”
Patrick recovered from damage suffered in the first-lap accident and made up seven positions to finish third, recording her third career podium. Patrick moves to second in points, six markers behind championship leader Ryan Dalziel, who finished eighth after spinning off course on the first lap. Bremer is third in the championship chase.
“I am still not sure what happened on the start,” said Patrick, who pitted just after the incident to replace the nose on her No. 24 Argent Mortgage Company mount. “I just think everyone underestimated the grip level on the outside and they just went off. This is a slippery track.
“So much of racing is confidence and being assertive,” added Patrick. “I had to yell at myself a few times, but I was simply determined to make up for what we had lost. We have worked too hard this weekend to let a solid result slip away. I feel that first win coming. We are making progress, but we just aren’t there yet. Everyone has been working so hard and I know it is only a matter of time until we win.”
The race ran in 49 minutes, 58.717 seconds at an average speed of 80.828 miles per hour. The race was slowed twice by the caution flag for six laps. The race will air on a tape-delayed basis on SPEED, Sunday, May 30 at 1 p.m. EDT.
Round 2 Driver Quotes: Alex Figge (No. 69 Pacific Coast Motorsports): Winner of the Monterrey Grand Prix, Earns his first Toyota Atlantic victory: “We had a pretty rough start and I got banged around a little bit,” said Figge. “We had a little bit of damage, but my engineer did an awesome job. Rocky did put a little pressure on me and I had to dig a little deeper at the end, but we held on at the finish.”
Rocky Moran, Jr. (No. 9 Healthcare Privileges): Finishes Second “This is a great place. We put something together in the warm up. The start was pretty crazy. Smoke was everywhere. From then on out, it was just Figge for the rest of the race. We tried to keep the pressure on early on. I think we got a little bit of a run on him. We had an awesome race. It was a good battle.”
