MÜNTER DAZZLES VETERANS IN INDY PRO DEBUT AT KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
SPARTA, Ky – On Saturday night, Leilani Münter had an impressive Indy Pro Series debut at the Kentucky Speedway driving the #57
SMART Papers/Lucas Oil car for Sam Schmidt Motorsports in the Kentucky 100.
To start off the weekend, Münter surprised many by qualifying fifth in her first attempt at open wheel racing.
Butch Meyer, the technical director of the Indy Pro Series, said, “She did very well to qualify fifth quick with the
competition level that we have in this series. That shows how much talent she does have.”
Münter dropped a few positions on the initial start and lost several more on a subsequent restart. By lap 19, she found
herself in 13th position. However, the “rookie mistakes” on the restart allowed the spectators to see a dazzling display
of her race craft as she moved from 13th to sixth in just nine laps.
On lap 20, she began her charge by turning the second
fastest race lap to that point. One by one, she picked off several cars without hesitation,
including sticking her car out in the outside lane to pass cars three-wide through the corners.
Her passes amazed her crew, the fans, the officials, her spotter, and even fellow competitors. Jaques Lazier said, “There were sections in there where people were shrugging their shoulders and wondering, ‘How does she know she could go three-wide right there?’
I said, ‘Hey, she’s a racer!’”
Those watching the live stream on IndyCar.com also heard her praises from the voices of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network.
“Leilani Münter is flat hooked up,” Mark Jaynes said. “Make no mistake about it – she’s a pretty good racer.” Kevin Lee added, “Leilani Münter impressed a lot of people here.”
After racing her way all the way to sixth position, she quickly caught the #38 of Ryan Justice and #9 of Chris Festa who were racing for
fourth position. Her run came to an abrupt end as she got tangled in the misfortune of one of her teammates, Ryan Justice.
As Münter was setting up to pass Festa and Justice to take over the 4th position, Festa touched Justice’s right rear tire, causing the tire
to deflate. Justice lost a lot of speed, and Münter had nowhere to go but into Justice’s car, sending
her into the safer barrier and ending her night just 27 laps from the finish line.
“I think she’s run a phenomenal race, I had all the spotters up
there in the spotters’ stand that were bummed afterwards but knew there
was nothing she could do, but man, she was running a heck of a race," said Lazier,
“To be honest with you, I didn’t have a huge amount of expectations. She
was a rookie. Obviously, she was going with one of the best teams out
there – I knew that she was going to be pretty good, but I had no idea
that she was going to have the race that she did."
"I am disappointed with the finish but very happy with my performance. I was picking off cars and working my way to the
front," said Leilani,"I had a top five car tonight, and I showed that I was going straight to the front. Next stop Chicagoland!"
Though an incident out of her control took her out of the race, many at the event were impressed with Münter’s run and feel she’ll have a great future in the Indy Pro Series.
Even four time Indy 500 champion Rick Mears was impressed with the rookie, “Leilani did a great job. She got up to speed quick and was very smooth, ran a very good pattern, a good line. In the race, she did what she needed to do.
At the start, she took her time, was patient, and got up to speed. She lost a couple of positions, but once she got acclimated and comfortable running in
traffic, she started moving back up. Leilani’s wanting to learn and do so as quickly as she can. She asks a lot of questions and gives a lot of good feedback. I’m looking forward
to seeing her race some more.”
Lazier echoed those comments when he said, "I think she impressed not only me, but I think she impressed everybody at
Sam Schmidt Motorsports. She also impressed a lot of people at the IRL. She had a phenomenal race going. I think she was a victim of
circumstances."
Münter’s next scheduled race event will be the Indy Pro Series season finale at the Chicagoland Speedway on September 9th.
Besides Mears, many that Münter has surrounded herself with are looking forward to taking part in her next event.
“I did have a lot of fun working with her. She’s a quick study for sure. She was open and willing to listen to anything I had to say,
said Lazier, "I really wasn’t expecting much, and she absolutely floored me with her overall professionalism.”
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For more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with a member of Sam Schmidt Motorsports, please call Kaaveh Akbari at (317) 727-6957 or kaaveh@kaavehakbari.com.
TV ALERT: Watch Leilani's impressive open wheel debut on ESPN2 Thursday August 16, 530pm EST.
INDYCAR TIMING & SCORING: KENTUCKY 100 - QUALIFYING RESULTS (AUG 10)
INDYCAR TIMING & SCORING: KENTUCKY 100 - RACE SPEEDS (AUG 11)
INDYCAR TIMING & SCORING: KENTUCKY 100 - RACE RESULTS (AUG 11)
