HUNTER-REAY SCORES WIN AT NEW HAMPSHIRE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
LOUDON, N.H. (Sunday, Aug. 14, 2011) — Ryan Hunter-Reay was the race leader when moisture on the racing surface at New Hampshire Motor Speedway brought out the yellow flag. About 20 minutes later and after much confusion, he was in Victory Circle for a muted celebration for winning the MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225.
The finish order was set based on the Lap 215 running order under caution — before a Lap 217 restart that went awry because of a slick racing surface.
“It will be an aborted restart. It was a mistake on Race Control’s part and the only right thing to do and the fair thing to do is to go to the running order before the restart,” said INDYCAR president of competition and operations Brian Barnhart, the chief steward of the IZOD IndyCar Series.
As cars exited Turn 4 of the 1.025-mile oval for the double-file restart, Danica Patrick’s car spun to start a chain reaction of light contact that involved four other cars on the lead lap.
Hunter-Reay, who started fifth in the No. 28 Team DHL/Circle K/Sun Drop car for Andretti Autosport and inherited the lead on Lap 190 when Takuma Sato pitted for fuel, earned his first IZOD IndyCar Series oval victory. He’s had podium finishes in three of the past four races.
Oriol Servia finished a season-high second in the No. 2 Telemundo Newman/Haas Racing car and Scott Dixon earned his second consecutive podium finish (he won at Mid-Ohio a week earlier) in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car. Rookie James Hinchcliffe tied his season high in fourth place in the No. 06 Sprott Newman/Haas Racing car.
Will Power, who started 13th in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, finished fifth and Patrick was sixth. Power’s result sliced 15 points from Dario Franchitti’s series championship points lead. That gap is now 47 heading to Infineon Raceway for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma on Aug. 27.
Franchitti appeared to be on the way to a big day until Lap 118. That’s when the race leader was involved in a tire-to-tire collision with Sato’s No. 5 KV Racing Technology-Lotus car on a restart that spun the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car into the inside wall near the start/finish line.
Franchitti, who earned the three bonus points for the pole and leading the most race laps, had been running at the finish in 43 consecutive races.
Also on Aug. 14, Pole sitter Josef Newgarden didn’t have any issues controlling the race pace following a Lap 1 spin of Sam Schmidt Motorsports teammate Bryan Clauson’s car exiting Turn 2.
Following a Lap 69 caution for a spin of another teammate, Esteban Guerrieri, Newgarden didn’t have any challengers.
By Lap 65, Newgarden had put all cars but the No. 7 Lucas Oil entry driven by Guerrieri a lap down in the New Hampshire 100 on the 1.025-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway and went on to his fifth victory of the season.
Newgarden increased his Firestone Indy Lights championship points lead over Guerrieri, who was the runner-up for the third time this season, with three races remaining.
Jorge Goncalvez, who started a season-high fifth in the No. 4 Belardi Auto Racing Special, finished a season-best second (his eighth top 10 in 11 races). Duarte Ferreira was third in the No. 28 Bryan Herta Autosport car — also a season high — and Gustavo Yacaman advanced seven positions to finish fourth in the No. 2 TMR-Tuvacol-Xtreme Coil Drilling car.