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Hinchcliffe Wins a Wild One at Chicagoland

Joliet, IL (August 28, 2010) – The hunter became the hunted. Early during the Firestone “Chicagoland 100” Firestone Indy Lights race, Pippa Mann stalked early leader Martin Plowman. Mann dipped and dived and tried to pass the pole winner to no avail. However after contacting the Andretti Autosport driver’s right rear tire with her front wing, Plowman lost a lap replacing the shredded right rear tire, thus thrusting Mann into the lead.

A bit earlier on lap five, Charlie Kimball got loose in turn two and pushed into Gustavo Yacaman. The impact caused Kimball’s car to lift and flip onto its top and slid to a stop upside down. Yacaman’s car also damaged came to a stop in turn three, both drivers escaped injury. Kimball remarked, “It’s really disappointing to have that happen. I was just sort of settling into the race pace. The car was pretty good. We were going to be really good, it was just tight up front. We just caught out with the #2 car out front and I had to check up with the #7 on the outside. I got a little loose just in the dirty air and #26 Levemir? FlexPen? car just stepped out. I caught it but the #10 car was outside between me and the wall. That collected me and sent me up in the air.”

Mann led 35 laps as J.K. Vernay and James Hinchcliffe all tried to past the quick Englishwoman in the latter stages. However, on the last lap, after being pushed wide by Mann, the well spoken Canadian pulled alongside and took the win by a scant 0.0159 seconds over Mann. Hinchcliffe commented in victory lane, “I wasn’t sure I would have enough.” He added, “Pippa was super strong. At the drop of the green, we had to make up from 13th to first. I sort of went for it with two laps to go and I thought I may have gone a lap too early but I had a really good run off of Turn 2. I was able to get alongside Pippa and side-draft her a bit. She pushed me kind of high and that may have hurt her momentum a bit. Then the same thing off of Turn 4 and we were able to use the angle to run down to the start/finish line. That’s Chicagoland racing.” Incidentally, the top five finished within 0.206 seconds of the leader.

It was a wild race which saw three-wide racing and most of the field in a 12-car pack. Hinchcliffe added, “Very clean race, guys were holding their lines, everybody played very well today.”

Hinchcliffe who only led one lap, the most important one was candid in his post race interview. He said, “Very difficult racing, after starting 13th we had a lot of cars to get around. He added, “Very clean, guys were holding their lines, everybody played very well today. It was tough to make a pass all the way, all day long.”

This was Pippa Mann’s best career finish in Indy Lights, the top five finished within 0.206 seconds of the leader. The popular Brit remarked altruistically after the race, “Hinch and I did some side-by-side racing today and he had an awesome car,” she said. “When he was right behind me on the last restart, I thought this is the last person I want to see in my mirrors and I mean that in the most complimentary way. I had something for everyone out there today but the guy that crossed the line first. My team did an amazing job, but at the end of the day the better guy won the race. I thought I was heartbroken after Indy (when she started from the pole but was eliminated in a early crash not of her doing). I’m kind of a little bit heartbroken now. I think I’ll wake up and be proud of this run tomorrow maybe.”

Hinchcliffe closed the gap on Vernay to 53 points with two races left on the Firestone Indy Lights calendar including next week in Kentucky.

Chicagoland 100
JOLIET, Ill. – Results Saturday of the Chicagoland 100 Firestone Indy Lights Series event on the 1.52 mile Chicagoland Speedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (13) James Hinchcliffe, 67, Running
2. (2) Pippa Mann, 67, Running
3. (4) Philip Major, 67, Running
4. (5) J.K. Vernay, 67, Running
5. (11) Dan Clarke, 67, Running
6. (10) Stefan Wilson, 67, Running
7. (14) Arie Luyendyk Jr., 67, Running
8. (12) Adrian Campos Jr., 67, Running
9. (9) Dillon Battistini, 67, Running
10. (15) Rodrigo Barbosa, 67, Running
11. (3) Sebastian Saavedra, 64, Running
12. (8) Brandon Wagner, 64, Running
13. (1) Martin Plowman, 58, Contact
14. (6) Charlie Kimball, 5, Contact
15. (7) Gustavo Yacaman, 5, Contact

Race Statistics
Time of Race: 42:30.9080
Winners average speed: 143.723
Margin of victory: .0159 of a second
Cautions: 4 cautions for 17 laps
Lead changes: 4 among three drivers
Lap Leaders: Plowman 1-29, Mann 30-59, Hinchcliffe 60, Mann 61-65, Hinchcliffe 66-67
Point Standings: Vernay 444, Hinchcliffe 391, Kimball 343, Plowman 338, Saavedra 303, Clarke 271, Wilson 262, Major 258, Yacaman 249, Campos 243.

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