RacingNation.com
Home / IndyCar Series / Hinchcliffe Wins Iowa Corn Indy 250

Hinchcliffe Wins Iowa Corn Indy 250

Newton, IA – Second-place finisher Ryan Hunter-Reay said that to the fans, “we must look like a bunch of nuts.”

But it was the squirrel, James Hinchcliffe who outsmarted them all in heavy traffic Sunday to win the IZOD Indy Car Series Iowa Corn Indy 250 at the tight Iowa Speedway short oval.

Hinchcliffe who started second next to Will Power, lead from the green flag, and in the process captured his first career oval win after two road course victories earlier in the season.

“We didn’t know about the tires or the track after all the rain,” he said. “We had to go on experience. We have a good record here and our sponsor Go Daddy started here.”

Hunter-Reay, who captured his second straight Iowa podium, fell behind after having to pit to replace a front wing that came off when he brushed Graham Rahal’s machine. He thought he had a car capable of winning, but coming from so far behind was difficult.

“It was hard to catch back up to James (after pitting on lap 40) and then there was lapped traffic to deal with. I only had a clear track twice all day. It was like I was on vacation.” said Hinchcliffe’s teammate.

“We came back from being the last car on the lead lap to finish second. I just made a mistake trying to get by Graham. The front just had no grip when I popped out to pass him.”

Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan who started fifth also found his way to the front after two early-race problems slowed his progress.

“On our first stop our weight jacker failed on the car. Then we got into a little bit of a problem with a high temperature. We lost a few spots in the pits when we had to pull an inlet out of the side pod and remove some debris so the engine could breathe better,” said the Brazilian who had to race Rahal hard for third.

“We were fighting for that last podium spot and he made his car extra wide. It’s traffic that makes this race exciting.

“When we fell behind there were only three cars behind me so we stopped to get tires off sequence so they were better than the others. That helped us at the end.”

Hinchcliffe lead four times for 226 laps and credited his team, Andretti Autosport for their preparation on short ovals.

“We put on an aggressive set up that was good in traffic. We didn’t have problems on restarts except one time with Graham,” “The Mayor” noted.

“We’re good on short ovals like Iowa and we were good here even before the DW12 chassis came out last year. We’re good here at night and today even better during the daylight.”

Chimed in RHR: “We figured out our short track package. Our cars go to the front when everyone else has their tires go away.

And car owner Michael Andretti concurred regarding their success.

“It was another great day in Iowa. Our focus is on the team and its hard work. I hope they never take this track off the schedule.”

Ed Carpenter and Rahal rounded-out the top five in a race that averaged 148.559 mph, slowed by three caution flags for 29 laps.

IOWA NOTES:
• Milwaukee Mile promoter/team owner Michael Andretti reported that Andretti Marketing is working to keep the Indy Fest race on the IndyCar schedule for next year. “We’re working on it but we’re not there yet. We’ve got several irons in the fire. There are some potential sponsors for the race; that’s really what we need. If we can do that we can keep it on the schedule. I was a little disappointed with the turnout, but rain hurt the walkup sale. Our pre-sale was quite good.”

• Responding to an article that appeared in the Des Moines Register, Indy Car CEO Mark Miles reported that the series expects to return to the Iowa Speedway in 2014 and that they are hopeful a multi-year contract extension can be worked out. Stories that appeared in the Register and on the AP responded to comments by driver Graham Rahal that the series was planning to leave Iowa after this year’s Iowa Corn-sponsored event. Miles was reported to have called the race a “cornerstone” of the series, but that a change from the traditional late June date is possible.

• Citing “better mileage” as their reason, Team Penske chose to change the engine in the pole-winning Hitachi Chevrolet of Helio Castroneves. The Brazilian who “sort of” leaked to the media that something big was about to be announced Saturday after capturing Heat #3, started eleventh and finished eighth in the race. Also choosing to change motors were the teams of: Scott Dixon, James Jakes and Josef Newgarden.

• The Target Chip Ganassi team was shut out again today as Scott Dixon finished 16th and Dario Franchitti 20th-four laps down. They have yet to win in 2013.

Team Penske didn’t fare much better with Castroneves 8th and Will Power 17th.

Castroneves leads the points chase by nine over RHR; the same amount that he gained by winning his qualifying heat Saturday night.

• Only two Hondas, Rahal and Simon Pagenaud finished in the top ten.

SUPPORT RACE:
Eighteen-year-old Sage Karam took the lead on lap 49 from early race leader Jack Hawksworth and went on to win the 115-lap, 100-mile Sukup Firestone Indy Lights race Saturday night at the Iowa Speedway.

Karam, the Pennsylvania high school senior-to-be, fought off teammate Gabby Chaves during the final 25 laps, winning by 0.266 sec., with Hawksworth, who got loose while in traffic, holding on for third.

“I saw the opportunity, took it and that was it,” said the victorious Schmidt/Peterson driver. “That definitely goes down as the best drive I’ve ever had.”

Karam, who averaged 154.274 MPH, captured his second series win (second in a row after winning at Milwaukee last week), and his fourth consecutive at Iowa; counting Lights, USF 2000 and Pro Mazda.

Today’s win moved Karam into the series’ points lead over Carlos Munoz (-9) and Chaves (-30).

Share Button