CGR's Kimball Baltimore race report

Kimball Finishes 21st in the Inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix

Charlie Kimball, Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

BALTIMORE (September 4, 2011) – Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing (NNCGR) driver Charlie Kimball finished 21st in the Inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix.

The IZOD IndyCar Series added a new venue to the 2011 schedule for Round 14 as drivers and teams prepared to compete on the streets of Baltimore for the first time using a new street circuit that incorporates many of the city’s most popular attractions. After Kimball turned his first laps on the 2-mile, 14 turn track, he and his competitors described the new course as exciting and extremely challenging while racing among landmarks such as Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The Novo Nordisk team qualified 18th for the 75-lap event, but would find themselves lining up 16th on the starting grid after two cars moved to the back of the field due to an incident during the morning warm-up session. The green flag flew for the Inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix and Kimball swiftly moved up to 12th before the window closed during his first stint. A large pile-up on lap 37 involving multiple cars caused a caution, but the No. 83 Levemir and NovoLog FlexPen made it through the carnage unscathed and jumped to 7th. The Novo Nordisk team maintained their top-10 run until another car would make contact with Kimball, causing him to make an unexpected pit stop to change the toe link and go two laps down. The incident resulted in a 21st-place finish for Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing.

Up next for Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing is the Indy Japan at Twin Ring Motegi on Saturday, September 17, 2011 (11:30 p.m. ET, VERSUS).

NNCGR Quoteboard

Charlie Kimball: “It's a disappointing result for what was a pretty good day. The No. 83 Levemir and NovoLog FlexPen car was quick; we were definitely quick enough to be in the top 10. I under-performed a little bit during qualifying, but the Novo Nordisk team gave me a great race car. If it wasn't for the contact with (Tony) Kanaan at the end, I think we had a good shot to finish in the top 10.”