For their first time on a high-banked oval track both Dale Coyne Racing drivers Bruno Junqueira and Mario Moraes gave all-star performances Saturday evening under the lights in the IndyCar® Series Bombardier Learjet 550k at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, TX.

Junqueira drove his #18 Z-Line Designs car to a 15th- place finish in a crash filled race.  The 31-year-old veteran gained 11 positions in the race, which was the third most on the night.

“The team did an excellent job giving me a great race car tonight,” said Junqueira.  “They have worked hard all weekend trying to find the right setup.  I think by gaining 11 positions in the race is a credit to their hard work.”

He managed to lead the race on two occasions when he led on laps 13-17 and 42-46.  This is second time this season that Junqueira has led an IndyCar Series race.

On lap 56, 19-year-old rookie Moraes spun across the frontstaight grass that separates the track from the pits after making slight contact with the #12 car of Thomas Scheckter coming out of turn four on the fourth re-start on the night.

Despite the spin, Moraes avoided doing any damage to his #19 Sonny’s Bar-B-Q machine and drove to an 18th-place finish.

“It was a little scary when I went sliding across the grass,” said Moraes.  “Luckily we didn’t do any real damage to the car and were able to finish the race running at the end.  This was probably the most demanding race I have had to drive this season.”

“I am very proud of the performances of both Bruno and Mario tonight,” said team owner Dale Coyne.  “Bruno had a great start running up with the leaders and Mario finished off a great learning weekend from the first session to the end of the race just shows great promise.”

The IndyCar Series next heads to the Iowa Speedway June 22 in Newton, IA for the running of the Iowa Indy Corn 250 presented by Pioneer.  The race can be seen live on ABC-TV starting at 1 p.m. (EDT).