For immediate release:
March 15, 2003 – Sebring, Florida
D’Agostino competes in his first National Championship Event.
Joe D’Agostino competed in the 1st round of the Formula Dodge National Championship this past weekend. It was held in conjunction with the famed 12 Hours of Sebring Race. " When I got to the circuit I could not believe my eyes", D’Agostino said, "the crowd and the amount of racing cars that I saw was amazing and I am really excited to be here".
D’Agostino had to start the race weekend missing the first practice day because of commitments at school. Not worried, D’Agostino worked hard the next day looking poised and fine tuning his driving. After the first practice session D’Agostino felt something was wrong but was not sure what it was. He elected to change cars and have an official test driver take his primary racecar out to see if there was a problem. It was the first qualifying session and D’Agostino struggled with the car change and managed an 18th starting spot. As it turned out there was a problem with his primary chassis and the RT2000 crew went to work to repair it.
The next day gave D’Agostino a chance to improve his qualifying position and he was in second to third position overall half-way through the second qualifying. D’Agostino decided to come in for a change to see how his car would react. After the change D’Agostino could not better his time and ended up 7th. "I made a mistake coming in but I needed to see how the car reacted to a change as it was totally different from what I first drove".
For the race D’Agostino said "the car is good and now I can feel what is going on and we should be fine for the race".
The race was a wild one and cars were all over at the start. D’Agostino kept his nose clean and was running sixth staying patient as drivers in front of him started blocking and chopping at every corner. After a full course caution D’Agostino had moved into 5th with only three laps to go.
On the restart cars once again were all over and someone crashed coming onto the front straight bringing out the second full course caution of the day. The officials were trying to decide if they should go green for a one lap shoot-out.
As it turned out the starter waved the green and white flag together for the final restart. D’Agostino was in excellent position for a possible podium finish. As he approached the Water Tower turn the driver in front made a mistake and D’Agostino tried to capitalize on it going inside. The driver saw D’Agostino and drove down hard to the inside forcing D’Agostino to the outside. As they approached the corner D’Agostino was alongside but was once again forced out of position and could not hold position under braking causing him to go off course. D’Agostino would have to settle for 10th place in his first Skip Barber National.
After the race D’Agostino was pretty upset but realized that he put himself in that position and had this to say, "I had a fast car and thought I was capable of a podium finish, but I need to learn how to get by drivers who drive with their mirrors. It was my fault that I went off so I have to accept this result even though I’m very disappointed".
Penalties were handed out to several drivers and D’Agostino is 9th in points after round one. The next National event will take place at Virginia International on April 26, 2003.
Joe wishes to thank all of his sponsors, Arai, Corsa, Kart Mini, Dodge, Michelin, Skip Barber Racing School and all of his personal sponsors.
