Four For Dreyer & Reinbold at Indy

For the second year in a row, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing will campaign a quartet of Dallara-Hondas in an Indianapolis 500, with the announcement of fourth driver Ana Beatriz.

Beatriz, who drove the team's No. 23 car in the season-opening event on the streets of Sao Paulo, will return to the team in its No. 25 for Indy. Tomas Scheckter will drive the No. 23 with backing from Mona Vie. Justin Wilson and Mike Conway will be at the helm of their usual rides, the No. 22 and No. 24 cars. Only Conway returns to the team from last year's 500.

Last year, the team provided rides for Conway and Milka Duno, with partnerships with Kingdom Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports providing funding for Davey Hamilton and John Andretti, respectively. All four cars struggled heading up to the race, with only Hamilton qualifying before Bump Day. Conway started 27th, Andretti qualified 28th, and Duno began the race in 30th.

The race itself was not much better for the team, with Conway, Andretti, and Duno placing 18th, 19th, and 20th. Conway and Andretti were the final cars on the lead lap, while Duno was the first car to finish a lap down. Hamilton placed 29th after a single-car accident 79 laps into the race ended his day.

Undeterred by last year's struggles, however, DRR will attempt to qualify four cars without any team-to-team partnerships this year. Hamilton and Andretti have taken their personal sponsorship packages for the month of May elsewhere, to de Ferran-Luczo Dragon Racing and Andretti Autosport, respectively, allowing Scheckter and Beatriz to step in.

Unlike last year's ringers, Scheckter and Beatriz are quite familiar with DRR. Scheckter's season began at Indy for another team last year, where he qualified 26th and finished an impressive 12th with Dale Coyne Racing. But that result led DRR to snap him up for a ten-race schedule over the rest of the year, with a best finish of sixth coming at Iowa. Scheckter hopes that another strong Indy run will do the same for him this year.

Beatriz finished 13th at Sao Paulo following two successful seasons in Firestone Indy Lights with Sam Schmidt Motorsports. She won one race each year, finishing third in points in 2008 and eighth last year. She finished fifth at the Freedom 100, Indianapolis' Lights race, in 2008, but was injured in a crash there last year.

This year, Wilson sits 6th in points through five races, while Conway ranks 15th. Wilson's highlights of the year have been runner-up placings at St. Petersburg and Long Beach, while Conway has three top-10s, with a best run of eighth at Sao Paulo. Conway's improvement has been marked; through five races last year, his only finish came at Indy, but thus far this year he has only one DNF, after a daring move on Rafa Matos at St. Pete put him in the wall.

Rookie orientation, which Beatriz must pass to attempt to qualify for the race, will take place May 15-16, with IZOD IndyCar Series teams beginning practice on those days as well. Qualifying will take place the following weekend, May 22-23.

IndyCar Season Preview: de Ferran Luczo Dragon Racing

Raphael Matos won the 2009 IZOD IndyCar Series rookie of the year award, following his 2008 Firestone Indy Lights and 2007 Atlantic Championship titles, in a Luczo Dragon Racing car last year. The season was a modest success for both, as Matos kept his trophy streak alive and Luczo Dragon proved reasonably competitive in their first full-time IndyCar season. Matos even had a shot at winning the Indianapolis 500 before a crash in turn one ended his day.

Despite a hard crash at St. Petersburg (that launched a spectator out of a porta-john outside of the retaining wall) and three other DNFs in his first seven races, Matos completed all of the last ten races on the schedule in 2009, and scored eight top-10s on the year. His best finish was a sixth place run at Milwaukee. While he did not approach his 2008 Indy Lights success, he still managed to establish himself as a consistent driver who could bring the car home in one piece.

This season, however, more will be expected out of Matos and the team. Luczo Dragon Racing merged with former sports car team de Ferran Motorsports, and former Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time CART champion Gil de Ferran will now be Matos' driver coach. De Ferran, who nearly won the American Le Mans Series championship last year as an owner/driver, will attempt to move his Brazilian countryman up the ranks.

The team also has a better sponsorship package this year, with Hewlett-Packard, McAfee, and Bell Micro all signed on. As part of the HP deal, Davey Hamilton (who has carried their sponsorship for a few years now) will run a limited schedule for the team in a second car. That will allow the team to gain even more information at Indianapolis, Texas, and another oval to be announced, information that will hopefully make Matos' car even faster at those tracks. Hamilton will also attempt to complete a race at Texas for the first time since a career-threatening crash in 2001 that required 21 operations to reconstruct his feet. (Coincidentally, Hamilton's car will carry No. 21 this year.)

Anything short of a top 10 in points for Matos and DFLDR this year will be a disappointment, especially considering that all parties involved have seen some success in the past few years. Matos should score his first top five finish this season, at the very least, and score more top-10s, although a win might require a little luck.