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Hunter-Reay Wins Second Consecutive Milwaukee IndyFest

West Allis, WI – To say that there is Andretti magic at the Milwaukee Mile is an understatement. Fourteen wins between Michael Andretti with five, his father Mario Andretti with four and the five more wins for Andretti Autosport drivers proves the existence of something. Ryan Hunter-Reay, who returned to victory lane with his second consecutive Milwaukee IndyFest win is continuing the tradition. Along with Hunter-Reay’s win today, Andretti Autosport also placed three drivers in the top five in today’s 250 mile race at the historic oval.

“It’s great to do it again in Milwaukee,” Hunter-Reay said about his repeat victory. “What a race track. The oldest racetrack in the world still producing such great racing. Everytime I had the opportunity to race here I feel blessed. It’s such a challenging place and when you get it right, there is no better feeling in IndyCar then at the Milwaukee Mile. This place is very special”

Marco Andretti started on the pole and led the first sixty one laps of the race, but a green flag pit stop issue started turning his day in the wrong direction. The fueling of Andretti’s car slowed the stop and Andretti found himself running in seventeenth when he returned to the track. Thirty laps later an electrical issue doomed his shot for a win. “The clutch didn’t work, dash didn’t work, it was obviously electrical,” said Andretti. The team replaced all the electronic boxes in the car and he returned to the track to collect points finishing in twentieth, seventy-four laps down.

Hunter-Reay took the lead away from teammate Andretti on lap sixty-two. From that point on it was a battle between Hunter-Reay and teammate EJ Viso versus Takuma Sato and Helio Castroneves as the two groups were on slightly different pit-stop sequences. When one group would pit, the group of the other two would battle for the lead.

AJ Foyt Enterprises driver Sato took over the lead on lap sixty-nine when the leaders pitted. Sato led the next twenty one laps until he needed to hit the pits. Viso was up next as race leader until Andretti brought out the caution with his car’s electrical problems. Again, the leaders pitted and Sato assumed the lead on the restart and held the point for the next fifty-seven laps. When Sato pitted, Hunter-Reay assumed the lead. After ten laps it was time for Hunter-Reay to pit and, same old story, Sato was back in front.

“Who were the players for the win? You really never had an idea,” Hunter-Reay explained. “You had to keep your head down and go 110% the whole time, it was a lot of fun.”

Sato was getting everything he could out of his car and his pit crew performed quick pitstops keeping him just in front of his closest rival in his pit sequence, Castroneves. Building up a lead of four seconds went away quickly when Sato slid up the track into the marbles. Sato was able to regain control and retain the lead but had lost three seconds of the gap between himself and Castroneves.

Hunter-Reay made his final move to the front, passing both Castroneves and the struggling Sato to take the lead.

The dirty tires and handling forced Sato in to make his final pit stop early and that proved to be fateful. The final caution flag flew on lap 211 when Ana Beatriz made contact with the wall in turn four catching Sato a lap down to the leaders. Sato gained the lap back as the leaders pitted but he restarted back in seventh place where he would eventually finish. It was still a great day for Sato and the entire AJ Foyt Enterprises team. Sato led a race high 109 laps which is the most laps led by an AJ Foyt Enterprises driver at Milwaukee since AJ Foyt ran in 1982 when he finished second.

With the exception of Sato, the final round of pitstops put the leaders all on the same sequence again. After the pitstops, Hunter-Reay resumed the lead followed by Castroneves, Will Power, Viso and Scott Dixon. Hunter Reay quickly pulled away on the restart, checking out from the field to a 4.8059 second margin of victory.

“I think we just had a really good car in traffic,” Hunter-Reay explained. “I was able to choose lanes that I wanted. They seemed to be handcuffed to one lane. That was the difference for me. I was able to move around . When I saw what they liked, I just switched up and went the other way and got by them. It was a lot of fun around here today.”

Hunter-Reay’s back to back win was the first time there was a repeat winner at the track since Tony Kanaan won in 2006 and 2007. Team Penske drivers Castroneves and Power rounded out the podium and Andretti Autosport teammates Viso and James Hinchcliffe completed the top five.

Whether the series returns to the Milwaukee Mile in 2014 is up for speculation. The prevailing thought is that all parties want it to return, it is just a matter of getting it done. “We are working on getting a title sponsor,” said Michael Andretti. “No decision has been made yet. This is a race that we cannot lose.”

The IZOD IndyCar championship race moves to Iowa Speedway in Newton Iowa next weekend, June 22-23, for the Iowa Corn Indy 250.

Karam Captures First Firestone Indy Lights Win

Earlier today, the Firestone Indy Lights Series took to the one mile oval of the Milwaukee Mile to race the Milwaukee 100. Sage Karam won the pole but Zach Veach led early. Karam took over the lead from Veach on lap 57. Carlos Munoz raced into second and closed to within a second of Karam as the leaders picked their way through traffic with ten laps remaining in the race. A caution flag at lap ninety-five when Peter Dempsey made light contact with the wall bunched up the field and erased Karam’s advantage. But Karam, a series rookie driving for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, restarted perfectly and pulled away to take the win by a margin of 1.0808 seconds. The victory was the first career Firestone Indy Lights for Karam. Munoz held on to second place over rookie driver Veach in third.

Brabham Victorious In Pro Mazda Championship Series

On Friday evening Matthew Brabham won round six of the Pro Mazda Championship Series presented by Cooper Tires race at the historic Milwaukee Mile. Series point leader Brabham started on the pole and led every lap on his way to capturing his fifth consecutive victory in the series. The nineteen year old victor is the grandson of three-time Formula One World Champion Sir Jack Brabham.

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