IndyCar – Hunter-Reay repeats Milwaukee Mile victory (2)

Hunter-Reay repeats Milwaukee win (Photo by Lesley Ann Miller for Chevy Racing)Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay, whose victory last year in Milwaukee provided the springboard to claiming his first IndyCar championship, repeated the achievement Saturday at the historic Milwaukee Mile.

 

The 32-year-old from Fort Lauderdale, Florida overtook then race leader Takuma Sato on Lap 198 of 250 and went on to win by 4.809 seconds over Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves.

Will Power finished third to take his first podium of the year, E.J. Viso and James Hinchcliffe also finished in the top five. The last back-to-back winner at Milwaukee was Tony Kanaan in 2006-07, when he was driving for the Andretti team. It was the 47th IndyCar victory for the team and the fifth at Milwaukee.

Third in the standings entering the weekend, Hunter-Reay now heads into the June 23 Iowa Corn Indy 250 sixteen points behind championship leader Castroneves. Hunter-Reay also won at the Iowa Speedway last year, and made it three wins in a row at Toronto two weeks later.

RHR celebrates win with doughnuts (Photo by Lesley Ann Miller for Chevy Racing)An electrical issue on the No. 25 RC Cola car ruined the day for pole sitter Marco Andretti, who entered the race second in the standings and led 61 laps early on. Following repairs, Andretti re-entered the race on Lap 137 and soldiered on to not lose any additional points and is now third in the championship (50 points behind) after finishing 20th.

Video highlights from the Milwaukee Indyfest  race can be seen here: http://youtu.be/5_WHLCTMJIo

Video, podium interviews,  http://youtu.be/axH6VKarLUE

Video feature, Simona De Silvestro,  http://youtu.be/8kFjCM2pB9M

WEST ALLIS, Wisconsin – Results Saturday of the Milwaukee IndyFest IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 1.015-mile Milwaukee Mile, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (4) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, 250, Running

2. (17) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 250, Running

3. (3) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 250, Running

4. (5) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 250, Running

5. (2) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 250, Running

6. (11) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 250, Running

7. (15) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 250, Running

8. (23) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 250, Running

9. (13) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 249, Running

10. (7) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 249, Running

11. (8) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 249, Running

12. (9) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 249, Running

13. (6) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 248, Running

14. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 248, Running

15. (18) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 248, Running

16. (24) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 247, Running

17. (21) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 246, Running

18. (12) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 245, Running

19. (19) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 242, Running

20. (1) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 176, Mechanical 

21. (10) Tristan Vautier, Dallara-Honda, 173, Mechanical 

22. (14) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 152, Mechanical

23. (16) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 146, Mechanical

24. (22) Simona De Silvestro, Dallara-Chevy, 69, Contact                                                                              

Race Statistics:

Winners average speed:  136.848

Time of Race: 01:51:15.2962

Margin of victory: 4.8059

Cautions: 4 for 29 laps

Lead changes: 11 among 6 drivers

Lap Leaders:

Andretti 1 – 61

Hunter-Reay 62 – 66

Power 67 – 68

Sato 69 – 90

Wilson 91

Viso 92 – 99

Sato 100 – 156

Hunter-Reay 157 – 163

Viso 164 – 165

Power 166 – 167

Sato 168 – 197

Hunter-Reay 198 – 250

Point Standings: Castroneves 299, Hunter-Reay 283, Andretti 249, Sato 223, Dixon 221, Kanaan 215, Pagenaud 212, Wilson 207, Hinchcliffe 206, Franchitti 192.

Manufacturer post race quotes.

Chris Berube, Chevrolet Racing Program Manager, IZOD IndyCar Series:

“Following a strong command of qualifying, Team Chevy added another win to the season tally. Ryan Hunter-Reay drove a solid race starting 4th to take the win for the second year in a row here at the Milwaukee Mile. Congratulations to Ryan and Andretti Autosport, as well as Team Penske for Helio and Will completing the all-Chevy podium!  Team Chevy is working well together and this second consecutive sweep of the podium moves Chevrolet to a 9 point lead in the manufacturers’ battle. We shift our focus now to Iowa for the unique qualifying format and short oval excitement.”

Roger Griffiths, Technical Director, Honda Performance Development:

“During the middle stage of the race, Honda was looking pretty strong with Takuma Sato and the A.J. Foyt team. We thought they were in a good position to score their second victory of the season. But unfortunately the team got caught out by the last yellow flag, right after their final pit stop. We had no engine reliability issues this weekend, which is good, but we have to be disappointed with the outcome. Now we go on to Iowa Speedway, another short oval, and do it all once again next week.” By james Foreman

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