Brothers Mark and Mat Pombo had an outstanding race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, giving Freedom Autosport fourth in the ST class of the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race. Their No. 25 Mazda MX-5 was the highest-finishing Mazda in the class.
Mark started the race after qualifying 11th, but the first half hour of the race was filled with on-track incidents and full-course cautions. After the second race restart, Mark was able to move from 11th to fourth before pitting to hand the No. 25 Mazda over to Mat.
As the ST cars cycled through their regular pit stops, Mat found himself still inside the top ten. He caught up to the lead pack of cars and was able to stay near the front, making advantageous use of the team’s strategy and the MX-5’s fuel efficiency. He crossed the finish line in fourth.
“It was great to be at Indy; it’s an icon of American motorsports,” said Mark. “We’ve always wanted to get on the podium there, and we were just one step away, but it was a great day and we turned the fastest lap of the race.”
“Overall, it was a good finish and I felt like our car was really competitive. We had a great car and a great strategy. We’ve struggled with handling this year, but we found a competitive setup this weekend and moved forward,” said Mat.
Unfortunately, Randy Pobst and Andrew Carbonell had a very different outcome in the No. 26 Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5. Contact from another car early in the race caused wheel damage and, as the race progressed, drivetrain damage. The team was forced to retire the car.
Freedom Autosport fans can see the Pombo brothers in action during the race broadcast on August 3. It airs at noon ET on Fox Sports 1.
