Romancini Indy Lights Photo – Finish Victor At Homestead

By Joe Jennings
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Updated: October 9, 2009

Homestead, Fla. – Mario Romancini scored a photo-finish victory over newly crowned Firestone Indy Lights champion J. R. Hildebrand, to win the Homestead-Miami 100 on Friday evening.

Going into the final lap, Hildebrand held a .06 second advantage but heading for the finish line, Romancini forged to the outside exiting the final turn to upend end the new champion by a mere .0057 of a second, for the second-closest Firestone Indy Lights finish in history.

Entering victory lane, the look on Romancini’s face told the story – the Brazilian was totally drained and seemingly in a daze. He stared ahead for a long while in disbelief of what he had just been a party to.

“We started at the back but knew the car was good,” said the victor. “By the time I got to the front, I knew it was going to pretty hard to pass, so I worked with others. I tried to pass J. R. (Hildebrand) but couldn’t do so because we had the same pace. I thought if I would have one chance it would be on the last lap. It was really, really close and I think I won by a nose. This was a great way to end the season.”

The winner drove the Revita/Win Brazil/Allied/RLR fielded by Andersen Racing.

Hildebrand grabbed second place for his 10th podium finish of the season.

“I didn’t think we had the speed to run up front so long, and I think Mario (Romancini) was biding his time,” Hildebrand. “He tried several times to pass me and toward the end when I was fighting my car, I made several changes to the car but not enough to hold Mario off at the end.”

Sebastian Saavedra finished third, his seventh podium of the season.

Mike Potekhen took fourth followed by James Davison.

Three hard crashes slowed the action. The first came on the fifth lap when Brandon Wagner slammed the inner and outer wall, sliding through traffic in doing so. Midway through the race Gustavo Yacaman struck a wall and 13 laps from the finish, Rodrigo Barbosa slammed into the SAFER Barrier with the rear of the car.

No injuries were sustained in the wrecks.