Delight for the de Ferran, Disappointment for da Matta

In two different series at two different tracks, two drivers were making a return to racing. Gil de Ferran making his first completive start since 2003, had a spectacular performance. He and teammate Simon Pagenaud quickly moved up through the back of the field and even took the lead for a while, de Ferran eventually finished third in his Acura behind the two Penske Porsches. "It really was a great day for us. To get on the podium and finish so close to the leader is a fantastic result.
"I had to be careful coming from the back of the pack but the car certainly had good speed. The first yellow was a little too early for us but the end result is outstanding --- I couldn't be more pleased�, de Ferran said. "Simon did a brilliant job at the finish, but for me, sitting on the pit wall, the final 10 minutes seemed to take forever. We now have a large break before the next race at Lime Rock so we will have plenty of opportunity to regroup, take a breath and put some more testing miles under our belt to be even better prepared for our second race. Thanks again to Acura, Panasonic and all our guys on the crew -- everyone is delighted with the day."

Meanwhile in Laguna Seca, a different return was taking place with Christiano da Matta making his first return to racing since his heavy crash in 2006 at Road America. Da Matta teamed up with Jimmy Vasser started 6th and soon enough da Matta took the lead, but unfortunately their day came up short due to engine troubles. Da Matta fought hard though driving with a case of food poisoning. "Man, it felt like I had a cat in my stomach," said da Matta, who was wearing a cool suit for the first time in his career and didn't have a heat-related illness. "It started feeling bad right when I got in the car on that very first yellow, but just a little bit, a very little bit. Under green, it was fine, but with all of the yellows, my stomach just started feeling worse. It was very strange. I am fine now, but I know we could have done much better, not just me getting sick, but some of the other things we did. It's just all part of racing, but for a comeback race, it went very well. It is important that I could see the performance is there now and for the future."

Bob Stallings Laguna Seca Race Report (Motorsport.com)

De Ferran Motorsports Utah Race Report (Motorsport.com)