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Justin Wilson Picture Perfect At Watkins Glen

Watkins Glen, NY – On a picture-perfect day at the historic Watkins Glen International road course, Justin Wilson drove a picture-perfect race to win the Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen, the ninth IndyCar Series race in 2009.

Driving Dale Coyne’s Z-Line Designs Honda, Wilson led 49 of the 60 laps around the 3.4-mile, 11-turn road circuit. His laps led were the most in the history of the event.

“This is the most important win of my career, and it is hard to explain,” Wilson said. “And it feels fantastic to get Dale Coyne his first win. It is hard to explain this win. On the last lap, I was grinning ear to ear. It is an amazing deal. Our team had excellent pit stops and it was a great team effort.”

For Coyne, the victory marked his first in some 25 years of race ownership. And the win came in his 558th attempt as either an owner or a driver-owner combination. “It is fantastic to win,” Coyne said. “I remember being here in 1978 with a Super Vee team and that was a long time ago. You have a passion for racing, and you just keep going. You have lean years, and you just have to try harder. To win a race means you just keep moving forward from here.”

Asked whether he was nervous during the race, he answered, “I wasn’t nervous all day, except during the final laps.”

Until today, the first eight races of the year were won by either the well-funded Penske Racing or Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

Regarding the pass of runner-up Ryan Briscoe for the lead, Wilson said, “I asked my team to tell me when the green flag come out, as I was going to go for the lead. I lost the (season opening) race in St. Petersburg because I was too nice on the track. That wasn’t going to happen today. I caught Ryan (Briscoe) going up the hill, pulled out and got by him.”

Coyne’s team was one of two teams to have two full sets of red tires available, and they made good use of them. “Those tires worked well for us, and we ran two full stints with them. It was good to know they were underneath me.”

For Wilson, it marked his second IndyCar win in 25 races. His first win came a year ago at Belle Isle. Today’s triumph gives him his second top-five of the season.

Wilson’s margin of victory was 4.9906 seconds.

Fast qualifier Ryan Briscoe led the early laps in the Team Penske car before yielding to the flying Wilson and then he fell back after getting caught out on the track during a caution period, which took place just after Wilson pitted under green-flag conditions. Briscoe pushed on and with canny driving and excellent pit stops, the Australian native caught the leaders and while he couldn’t approach Wilson, he gave it his all.

“It was an exciting race for me,” Briscoe said. “I got caught out when a yellow (flag) came out, and I had to work my way back. “We had some great pit stops, and it was pretty exciting at the end with everybody (but me) on the softer compound. I had my hands full defending them.”

A fast qualifier has yet to win an IndyCar Series race at The Glen.

Driving the Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, Scott Dixon started third and finished third, hounding Briscoe in the closing laps. He, too, lost track position due to getting caught out by a caution period. “It wasn’t a bad for us, but it was a tough one. We lost a spot at the start when I didn’t shift down enough gear, and Mario Moraes got by us. It was a huge day for Justin and I am very happy for him. He was unstoppable today.”

He took over the point lead 19 markers ahead of Briscoe and previous leader Dario Franchitti, who was involved with an incident with two other cars. He lost a lap but came back to finish 15th.

Helio Castroneves battled from his 13th starting position to finish fourth in the second Team Penske car. “We had a fantastic day,” the colorful driver said. “I knew the car was better than 13th. If you had told me at the beginning of the race we would finish fourth, I would have told you, ‘No way, you don’t know what you’re talking about,’ but it turned out to be a great day.”

Marco Andretti lost a lap early in the race but battled back to gain fifth place.

Rookie Mike Conway drove well to gain sixth place, which was a career-best for him.

Seventh through 10th were E. J. Viso, Tony Kanaan, Robert Doornbos and Dan Wheldon.

Eighteen of the 21 starters were running at the finish.

Paul Tracy, making his debut at The Glen, crashed out of the race after 29 laps. 2008 race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay suffered the same fate on the opening lap.

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