NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Move over, Danica Patrick, the Indy Racing League has another female race winner.
Ana Beatriz of Brazil became the first female driver to score a victory in the IRL-sanctioned Firestone Indy Lights Series with a win in Saturday evening’s Sunbelt Rentals 100.
Beatriz started second and passed Sam Schmidt Motorsports teammate and polesitter James Davison on lap 33.  She led the remainder of the race.
Five other women have competed in Firestone Indy Lights events since the series began in 2002, including Mishael Abbott, Sarah McCune, Veronica McCann, Leilani Munter and Cyndie Allemann.
Beatriz’s previous best finish was third, three times this season.
“I just can’t be more thankful for Healthy Choice/Sam Schmidt Motorsports for bringing me to the U.S.,” she said. “I thought I would win at St. Pete; we were almost there. It’s hard work. I’m with the best team and they have so much information on ovals. I won my first race on an oval. It’s amazing.”
It was the 25th win for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, including its third this season. Richard Antinucci won at St. Petersburg and Watkins Glen.
“We had the rain this afternoon, so the track was green again, and I wanted to make sure it was fine,” Beatriz said. “It was great, and I was able to have a car that was really, really good, catch my teammate and pass him. . . I was two- or three-tenths faster than my teammate, but I was very deliberate to get good exits to pass him. I was able to do that perfectly and pull away from him.”
It is also the fourth victory for Sam Schmidt Motorsports at Nashville.  The team won with Thiago Medeiros in 2004, Jaime Camara in 2005 and Alex Lloyd in 2006.
Beatriz was brought to the United States by former CART driver Andre Ribeiro, who serves as her manager.
“It’s hard work, but Sam Schmidt has taught me everything about ovals and I was able to win my first race on an oval,” Beatriz said. “I’m really, really happy to win as a driver, not so much as a driver of my gender.
“I look forward to having a great career in America.”
Bobby Wilson finished second with Arie Luyendyk, Jr., third.
“I was trying to work on Ana there lap after lap, and stay out of trouble,” Wilson said. “I tried not to make any mistakes, and that got us up to second. It was all about timing for me. That’s how I made the passes. I didn’t have much of a problem with that. It was a scorcher out there.”
The high heat and humidity made Luyendyk’s third-place finish harder work than his runner-up finish at Iowa last month.
“We had a downforce package that wasn’t great in traffic, but it was in clean air,” Luyendyk said.
The finish:
Showing driver, laps completed, money won: 1. Ana Beatriz, 77, $32,500; 2. Bobby Wilson, 77, $25,000; 3. Arie Luyendyk, Jr., 77, $21,000; 4. J.R. Hildebrand, 77, $17,000; 5. Raphael Matos, 77, $16,000; 6. Logan Gomez, 77, $15,500; 7. Franck Perera, 77, $15,000; 8. Sean Guthrie, 77, $14,500; 9. Andrew Prendeville, 77, $14,000; 10. Pablo Donoso, 77, $13,500; 11. Brent Sherman, 77, $14,000; 12. Richard Antinucci, 75, $11,500; 13. Cyndie Alleman, 75, $10,500; 14. Robbie Pecorari, 75, $10,000; 15. Jeff Simmons, 73, $9,500; 16. James Davison, 44, $9,000; 17. Jonny Reid, 43, $8,500; 18. Chris Festa, 39, $8,000; 19. Dillon Battistini, 23, $8,500; 20. Micky Gilbert, 9, $5,500.