HINCHCLIFFE SCORES THRILLING WIN ON STREETS OF SAO PAULO

 

 

HINCHCLIFFE SCORES THRILLING WIN ON STREETS OF SAO PAULO

SAO PAULO (Sunday, May 5, 2013) -- James Hinchcliffe led the final 300 yards of the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle, which is all that was necessary.

Hinchcliffe overtook Takuma Sato in the final turn of the final lap to win by .3463 of a second, preventing A.J. Foyt Racing from earning consecutive victories.

Hinchcliffe, who won the season-opening race in St. Petersburg, Fla., and did not finish the past two races because of contact in the No. 27 GoDaddy.com car, earned his second career victory and the third for Andretti Autosport this season. He is the first Canadian to win in Brazil since Greg Moore at Rio on May 10, 1998.

Marco Andretti finished on the podium in the No. 25 RC Cola car for the second time (and his fourth consecutive top 10) and Oriol Servia placed fourth after starting 13th in the No. 22 Panther/DRR car. It was his best outing since finishing fourth at Milwaukee last June.

Josef Newgarden, who was running .5285 of a second behind Sato on Lap 70 of 75, finished a career-high fifth after making up 20 spots relative to his starting position.  

"There's no cooler way to win a race  -- in the last corner of the last lap," said Hinchcliffe, who led the four Andretti Autosport cars finishing in the top 11. "Takuma was making that race car really wide and he was defending the inside pretty well, almost too well a couple times. He just outbroke himself just a little bit and I was able to do a high-low (pass) and got the win."

Sato takes a 13-point lead over Andretti in the championship standings heading into the 97th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 26. Helio Castroneves, who led in points through three races, is third (20 points behind) after placing 13th on the 2.536-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit. Hinchcliffe moved to fourth (24 points back).

Pole sitter Ryan Hunter-Reay finished 11th. Will Power, who had won the previous three races in Brazil, had gained 12 spots from his 22nd starting position. But a fire in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car on Lap 19 ended his day.

DAY 2 NOTEBOOK:

Andretti Autosport had to adjust the over the wall crews for #1 Hunter-Reay, #25 Andretti and #27 Hinchcliffe after two regular over-the-wall crew members were unable to travel to Brazil.

Tony "Boomer" Houk - usually the inside rear tire changer for #1 Hunter-Reay, will change outside rear for #27 Hinchcliffe.

Doug Bradley - usually the inside front tire changer for #1 Hunter-Reay, will change inside rear for #1 Hunter-Reay.

Rollie Kirby - who is usually not over the wall for the team will be the inside front tire changer for #1 Hunter-Reay (Kirby was a member of the Hunter-Reay crew in 2012).

Jeff Grahn usually airjack #25 Andretti will change inside rear on 25 car.

Jim Wirey, a member of the team for #5 Viso who does not go over the wall, will operate the airjack on 25 car.

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES WARMUP

At 8 a.m., the ambient temperature was 72 degrees with a relative humidity of 75 percent. Skies were overcast. The track temperature was 76 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.

8 a.m. - GREEN.

8:30 a.m. - CHECKERED.

FASTEST TIMES/SPEEDS OF SESSION:

Pos.	Car	Name	Time
1.	15	Will Power	1:21.2494
2.	5	Josef Newgarden	1:21.2920
3.	9	Sebastien Bourdais	1:21.3284
4.	4	Dario Franchitti	1:21.3911
5.	67	JR Hildebrand	1:21.4902

Takuma Sato received the well-wishes from Brazilian soccer team Corinthians via a No. 14 jersey with his name that had been signed by the club, which is the most popular club in Sao Paulo. Sato became a fan of the club when it traveled to Japan for the FIFA World Club Championship.

TAKUMA SATO (No. 14 A.J. Foyt Racing): "When the Corinthians won the (World Club) championship in Japan, it was a great accomplishment. It's great they made these jerseys and I am so happy to receive one. I always enjoy watching football (soccer) and hope to meet the team next year.

***

The following car will have a 10-grid spot penalty for today's IZOD IndyCar Series race: #67 Newgarden (unapproved engine change).

***

The following cars: #10 Franchitti, #11 Kanaan, #9 Dixon, #20 Carpenter and #55 Vautier will start on the alternate red tires. All cars must use a new set of alternate red tires for two green flag laps in today's race, unless rain tires are used due to weather.

ITAIPAVA SAO PAULO INDY 300 PRESENTED BY NESTLE RACE SPECIFICS:

•The race is 75 laps, 190.2 miles on the 11-turn, 2.536-mile street course.

•The race will become a timed race of two hours if there are wet conditions.

•The pit road speed limit is 50 mph.

•Pole sitter Ryan Hunter-Reay will grid drivers' left.

•The green flag to start the race will be show the second time by the start-finish line.

•Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford will drive the Honda Civic Safety Car.

•The race leader will accelerate at his discretion to determine the restarts.

•There will be no tow-ins or returns from the garage within 15 minutes of the checkered flag.

•Lapped cars will be waved around the pace car in the final 10 laps.

ITAIPAVA SAO PAULO INDY 300 PRESENTED BY NESTLE PRE-RACE:

At 12:30 p.m., the ambient temperature was 82 degrees with a relative humidity of 53 percent. Skies were sunny. The track temperature was 116 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.

12:33 p.m. - Brazilian journalist Johnny Saad, the race grand marshall, gave the command "Drivers, start your engines." All 25 cars have started and are rolling on the grid.

ITAIPAVA SAO PAULO INDY 300 PRESENTED BY NESTLE RACE RUNNING:

Lap 1: GREEN. #1 Hunter-Reay leads the field into Turn 1. #10 Franchitti passes #5 Viso for second in Turn 1. #11 Kanaan passes #5 Viso for third heading into Turn 11.

Lap 3: #1 Hunter-Reay leads #10 Franchitti by .9050 of a second. #3 Castroneves is 17^th, 13.9254 seconds behind the lead. #12 Power is 19^th, 14.5112 seconds back.

***

#1 Hunter-Reay is leading is Sao Paulo for the second time in his career.

***

Lap 5: #1 Hunter-Reay leads #10 Franchitti by 1.1780 seconds.

Lap 7: FULL COURSE YELLOW. #18 Beatriz has stopped on the track in Turn 7. Crew reports gearbox issue on the car. Several cars have stopped for four tires and fuel. #67 Newgarden also made nose change.

Lap 9: GREEN. #1 Hunter-Reay leads the field into Turn 1.

Lap 10: #11 Kanaan passes #10 Franchitti for second in Turn 1. #27 Hinchcliffe passes #5 Viso for fourth place in Turn 1. #11 Kanaan passes #1 Hunter-Reay for lead in Turn 11.

Lap 11: #11 Kanaan leads #1 Hunter-Reay by .4212 of a second.

***

#11 Kanaan is leading at Sao Paulo for the first time. He last led at Auto Club Speedway in 2012.

***

Lap 14: #11 Kanaan leads #1 Hunter-Reay by .5431 of a second.

Lap 15: #9 Dixon passes #5 Viso for fifth-place in Turn 11.

Lap 17: #11 Kanaan leads #1 Hunter-Reay by .5431 of a second. #12 Power is 11^th, 7.7210 seconds behind the leader.

Lap 19: FULL COURSE YELLOW. #12 Power slows on course. Car pulls off course with a fire on board. Pits are closed. Leaders under caution are: #11 Kanaan, #1 Hunter-Reay, #10 Franchitti, #27 Hinchcliffe and #9 Dixon.

Lap 21: Pits are open. Top 12 cars pit. #7 Bourdais, #98 Tagliani do not pit and assume lead of the race. #1 Hunter-Reay wins race off pit road followed by #9 Dixon and #11 Hunter-Reay. They are 10^th, 11^th and 12^th.

***

WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "Obviously burned something with the gear shift because it stopped shifting, so I was looking for the automatic shift or the manual shift, but yeah it was a fire. We don't know what happened, I had no real warning, unfortunately. I had such a good car man, I was passing a car a lap."

***

This is the first time Bourdais has led since Mexico City in 2007.

With his retirement today, #12 Power has failed to finish a road/street course race for the first time since Toronto 2011.

***

Lap 24: GREEN. #7 Bourdais leads the field into Turn 1. #3 Castroneves is through the runoff in Turn 1. #16 Jakes hits tires in Turn 1 and continues. #20 Carpenter makes contact with the barrier in Turn 1 and #15 Rahal is stopped on course. FULL COURSE YELLOW. Both cars continued with assistance of Holmatro Safety Team. Pits are open.

Lap 27: GREEN. #7 Bourdais leads the field into Turn 1. #67 Newgarden makes contact with #7 Bourdais in Turn 1. #3 Castroneves spins in corner. Car continues on track.

Lap 29: #7 Bourdais leads #67 Newgarden by 1.1726 seconds.

Lap 32: #77 Pagenaud on pit road for four tires and fuel. #7 Bourdais leads by 1.7008 seconds.

Lap 34: Leaders #7 Bourdais and #67 Newgarden on pit road for four tires and fuel. Pit report: #7 Bourdais overshot his pit. New leader is #1 Hunter-Reay. #14 Sato takes lead in Turn 5.

Lap 36: #14 Sato leads #1 Hunter-Reay by 3.0922. #15 Rahal has made contact with the wall in Turn 2.

Lap 37: FULL COURSE YELLOW. Debris from #15 Rahal is on course in Turn 2.

***

This is the second time that #14 Sato has led at Sao Paulo. He led 23 laps in 2011, which were his first laps led in INDYCAR.

***

Lap 38: #14 Sato and #4 Hildebrand on pit road for four tires and fuel. New leader is #1 Hunter-Reay.

Lap 40: GREEN. #1 Hunter-Reay leads the field into Turn 1. FULL COURSE YELLOW. Multi-car accident. Cars involved are: #7 Bourdais, #4 Hildebrand, #3 Castroneves, #83 Kimball and #77 Pagenaud. Leaders under caution are: #1 Hunter-Reay, #11 Kanaan, #10 Franchitti, #22 Servia, #26 Andretti.

Lap 45: GREEN. #1 Hunter-Reay leads the field into Turn 1. #25 Andretti gets around #22 Servia for fourth in Turn 4. #11 Kanaan makes move for lead in Turn 11 and completes the pass for the lead.

Lap 46. #25 Andretti takes lead from #11 Kanaan in Turn 11.

Lap 47: #1 Hunter-Reay on pit road with a flat tire. Crew changes four tires and fuel.

Lap 48: #25 Andretti leads #22 Servia by .6603 of a second.

Lap 50: #55 Vautier and #9 Dixon on pit road for four tires and fuel. #25 Andretti leads #22 Servia by .6582 of a second.

***

#25 Andretti is leading for the first time this season. He last led on a road/street course in 2010 at Barber.

***

Lap 51: #22 Servia on pit road for tires and fuel. #11 Kanaan is slowing down on course.

Lap 52: #10 Franchitti, #5 Viso, #83Kimball, #19 Wilson, #98 Tagliani, #3 Castroneves, #7 Bourdais pit. Full Course Yellow for #11 Kanaan stopped course on front stretch. Pits are open. Leaders

Lap 53: Leader #25 Andretti, #27 Hinchcliffe, #16 Jakes, #67 Newgarden, #14 Sato, #77 Pagenaud on pit road for four tires and fuel. New leader is #4 Hilderbrand.

Lap 54: #9 Dixon on pit road for four tires and fuel.

Lap 55: GREEN. #4 Hildebrand leads the field into Turn 1. #2 Hinchcliffe completes pass for second. #14 Sato passes Hinchcliffe for second in Turn 11.

Lap 56: #19 Wilson makes contact with the tires in Turn 5. FULL COURSE YELLOW. Pits are open.

Lap 57: Leader #4 Hildebrand on pit lane for four tires and fuel. New leader is #14 Sato.

Lap 60: GREEN. #14 Sato leads the field into Turn 1. #67 Newgarden passes #27 Hinchcliffe for second in Turn 1.

Lap 62: #14 Sato leads #67 Newgarden by .5483 of a second.

Lap 64: #14 Sato leads #67 Newgarden by .9121 of a second.

Lap 66: #14 Sato leads #67 Newgarden by .5401 of a second.

Lap 67: #27 Hildebrand passes #77 Pagenaud for third around the outside of Turn 11.

Lap 68: #14 Sato leads #67 Newgarden by .5139 of a second.

Lap 70: #14 Sato leads #67 Newgarden by .5285 of a second. #27 Hinchcliffe is third, 1.8393 seconds behind.

Lap 71: #67 Newgarden makes bid for lead in Turn 11. #14 Sato leads #67 Newgarden by .0861 of a second.

Lap 72: #27 Hinchcliffe passes #67 Newgarden for second in Turn 11 and completes the pass. #14 Sato leads #27 Hinchcliffe by .6815 of a second.

Lap 73: #14 Sato leads #27 Hinchcliffe by .2180 of a second.

Lap 74: WHITE: #14 Sato leads #27 Hinchcliffe by .1957 of a second.

Lap 75: #27 Hinchcliffe makes bid for the lead on the outside of the Turn 11. He goes underneath at the apex and completes the pass. CHECKERED: #27 Hinchcliffe wins Sao Paulo Indy 300 by .3463 of a second over

ITAIPAVA SAO PAULO INDY 300 PODIUM QUICK QUOTES:

 

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 27 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet): "There's no cooler way to win a race -- in the last corner of the last lap. Takuma was making that race car really wide and he was defending the inside pretty well, almost too well a couple times. He just outbroke himself just a little bit and I was able to do a high-low (pass) and got the win."

TAKUMA SATO (No. 14 ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt Racing Honda): "Hinch did a great job and the guys did a good job. Today we started from 12^th so it was a really solid day for us. It was a great, great race, and we're carrying good momentum into Indianapolis. "

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 25 RC Cola Chevrolet): "It was a lot of fun. It was dicey at some points. Really it was just about conserving the push-to-passes for when it counts. At the end I was kind of using it when people weren't expecting me to use it so I could kind of snooker them. Looking from practice 1, I'm quite pleased with where we ended up today. Congratulations to the Go Daddy crew. The RC Cola car is looking good in points now."

ITAIPAVA SAO PAULO INDY 300 POST-RACE NOTES:

·         This is James Hinchcliffe's second win of 2013 and the second win of his Indy car career. He won at St. Petersburg in March.

·         Andretti Autosport has won three of the four races in the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season. In addition to Hinchcliffe's wins at St. Peterburg and Sao Paulo, Ryan Hunter-Reay won at Barber.

·         Hinchcliffe led only the final lap of today's race. The last driver to win leading only the final lap of the race was Dan Wheldon, who won the 100^th Anniversary Indianapolis 500 in May 2011. Hinchcliffe is the 13^th driver to accomplish the feat since 1946.

·         The margin of victory of today's race was .3463 of a second. It's the closest finish in four races in Sao Paulo and the 13^th closest road/street course finish in Indy car history.

·         Takuma Sato finished second, his second consecutive podium finish in Brazil. He finished third last season.

·         Marco Andretti finished third, matching his season-best third-place finish at St. Petersburg. Andretti is the only IZOD IndyCar Series driver to finish in the top 10 at every race this season.

·         Oriol Servia finished a season-best fourth. It was

·         Josef Newgarden finished fifth, his first top-five finish in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

·         James Hinchcliffe is the first Canadian to win an Indy car race in Brazil since Greg Moore won at Rio on May 10,1998.

 

ITAIPAVA SAO PAULO INDY 300 QUOTES:

MICHAEL ANDRETTI (Owner, Andretti Autosport): "That's IndyCar racing. That's what it's about. It seems that so many of these races go down the last turn of the last lap. That's what makes this such a great sport. I'm glad we came out on the good end of the stick for sure. It's awesome to have two cars on the podium. Ryan was on pole but unfortunately had bad luck with a flat tire, which if not for that, I think he would have been on the podium as well.  All-in-all it really was a great weekend for the whole Andretti Autosport group.  (Strategy for James heading to the end): Finish ahead of the cars in front of you (laughter). That was basically it, and that's what he did."

 

LARRY FOYT (Team Director, A.J. Foyt Racing): "It's been a great turnaround for our team for sure. We struggled for speed actually this weekend in Brazil, we struggled to find a set up. Takuma just drove another good race and the guys had a good pit stops. It was funny the way the yellows were falling. It was kind of a gamble on what we did and we got lucky it worked out. We had a chance to win it and Takuma had a chance to win it, we just ran out of tires at the end. The guys, our engineers and Takuma just never gave up.  (On momentum going into Indy): I don't think I've ever come down Gasoline Alley and had to take a left to our pit box. This team is really doing a fantastic job. Takuma is driving just amazingly. It's been good so going into the month of May, obviously this is a long month and anything can happen, but always a positive to have good momentum going into Indy.

 

JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda): "I thought we had a really strong race. Good solid points, top five is really good going into Indy, especially considering where we started. And that's exactly what we wanted to do coming out of here is to score solid points and get good momentum going into the 500, and I think we have that. A little bit of a disappointment, I think we had a better car than fifth, but you've got to take what you can sometimes. I'm pleased for all the hard work that gets put in for everyone here and that's been put in for the last year, and it's good to get representative results. We will try to take this momentum and do well at the 500."

ORIOL SERVIA (No. 22 Panther DRR Chevrolet): "It was a great car today. The last two races I had a great car in qualifying. The way the wrecks in qualifying have gone, we have started at the back, but we have gone through the field twice today and finished fourth. I really thought we had a podium; really we had a car to win. It's just I don't know what is going to happen in the future. We just announced that the team is out of money after Indy so we are hoping we can put it together. We work so hard to have the car and the team we have. We are contenders. We just need to find a little more money to continue, but I'm very happy today. We are working well we are doing our jobs right and something is going to happen."

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet): "The Hitachi car was pretty good all day and for most of the race we were getting the breaks we needed with the caution flags to move up the field. Unfortunately things got a little anxious on the restart and we got some damage to the front wing and rear tire. Even then, I thought we could make a move but it was tough to talk strategy with the lack of radio communication in many places. But we are happy to still be in the top three in points and hopefully we can now turn to page to what should be a great Indy 500"

 

SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda): "It was a tough day at the office today. We had a good recovery from qualifying to finish in the top 10, which is hard to do when you start at the back of the field. The team did a fantastic job at the strategy to put our car as high as third. Our recovery was good, but it was a really difficult race. We struggled here but we're working at it and we learned a lot. It will be good for the future." (About moving on to Indianapolis): "

"I'm looking forward to going to the ovals now since we've been struggling on the street circuits. We have a strong oval package that we've been working on all winter. It will be nice to be back home for sure and see what we can do at the biggest race of our year."

 

E.J. VISO (No. 5 Team Venezuela-Andretti Autosport-HVM Chevrolet): "Finishing sixth is not really what we expected. It was a race full of surprises, and unfortunately that last stop was not for us. Luck was not on our side; we pitted right before the yellow came out and it didn't play in our favor. Going from ninth after that to come to sixth after passing some cars, we knew we had the pace, and we are here to win races. I'm very happy for James' second win and Marco's podium. It's something that only gives us confidence as a team to keep working hard for the next races."

 

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 1 DHL Chevrolet): "Extremely disappointing today. Absolutely had the car to win. The guys gave me a great, great car…the pit stops were awesome. Definitely needed to capitalize on this opportunity, but we got a flat tire about halfway through the race which pretty much sidelined us. We pit super early on the last stop, had to save fuel the remainder of the race. I was lifting halfway down the straightaway so… we were wounded and stayed that way. Happy for the teammates - James on the win and Marco on the third."

 

TRISTAN VAUTIER (No. 55 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports): "It was a rough day. Our pace was ok and we had a good strategy. The first part of the race was great because I made up a lot of positions. The last caution threw off our strategy though, and we lost a ton of positions. To top it off we ran out of fuel on the big straightaway of the final lap and lost two more spots. We put ourselves in a tough situation yesterday with my qualifying mistake, and then things didn't go our way today in the race. The crew did a fantastic job getting the car back together though and we're looking forward to Indy with rookie orientation in just five days."

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing):  "The start was okay, the pace was good. We were saving fuel and keeping pace with the others pretty good, hoping that we would run the full-course of the first stint and maybe go a few laps further and jump a few people. We had the caution and the first restart, where we were fine, second restart, got into Helio and broke the front wing. After that, it was real easy to lock the front tires so we slipped back. I think strategy-wise it might have been better to start on blacks, like everybody else, and run the course that way but it's just one of those days where the car initially had good speed but once the stuff started rolling downhill it started rolling pretty good."

CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing):  "It was a really solid day for the No. 83 Novo Nordisk car. I really can't say enough about the Chip Ganassi Racing guys, not just help from my teammates but these guys in pit lane were rock solid. We had great pace; we were able to get quicker all-day long, pass cars and move forward. We were able to take advantage of a pretty aggressive strategy. I'm happy to leave here with another top-10. Heading into Indy we needed another good result. Another top-10 will really help our momentum and confidence as we head toward the big one."

DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 10 Lexar Honda):  "The Lexar car was very quick today. Unfortunately, there were pretty disastrous pit stops where we lost a lot of stops both times. I used my overtakes to get back through, so it was a shame, because the car was a lot better than that today. I think the boys in engineering boys did a great job to get here with a good car. We have to have perfect days, and we didn't there, so it's back to the drawing board."

ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Fuzzy's Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet): "We were running some very competitive laps in the middle of race and, but on a restart, I got pushed into the outside wall in Turn 1. I thought I was going to make through the incident OK, but then someone slid into me and I nipped the wall. At the end, we were playing the fuel strategy pretty well but I clipped the wall with the left rear. It bent the toe link, so we pitted for a few laps. It was a good exercise for the crew but it cost us some positions. Overall, the results don't show how well the Fuzzy's car worked today. But we have to get back home now and get ready for the 500. Everyone on the team is excited about going to IMS including me. I think we are well prepared for the 500 this year."

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 blu eCigs Honda):  "At the start, we kind of faded a little bit and I don't know why. I couldn't initially get by many people then all of a sudden the blu eCigs car came to us a few laps in and we started to charge back up through the field. We got lucky with the one yellow and barely made it into pit lane. Then unfortunately got hit by James on the one restart and went from probably looking at a sure-bet podium to last place. We were first at the time and that would have put us first when it all thorough. At the point I had been struggling with brakes a little bit and I drove into Turn 1 and locked the right front and I couldn't get it unlocked. I don't know what else to say I couldn't get it unlocked, I tried to center the tire to have a lane and it didn't work. I am very frustrated. The car was quick. Was it the quickest? No, but it was quick enough so I am pretty disappointed."

SIMONA DE SILVESTRO (No. 78 Nuclear Entergy Areva KVRT Chevrolet): "I think it was a really good race. We had to save fuel on the strategy we ran and with the yellows we got stuck behind slower traffic. The last stint we could go hard and we passed a lot of cars. That was a lot of fun. I wish the whole race would have been like that. I think it was good, but I think it would have been better if we had come in and got some more fuel to run harder. The car was on rails on blacks and on reds, so that was a lot of fun. It was a pretty good ending even though I think we had a chance to finish a little higher. I'm happy with my second straight top-ten finish." 

JAMES JAKES (No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts Honda):  "The start went pretty much as planned really. Everyone stayed in position for a little bit but then as the tires went off we managed to move the Acorn Stairlifts car up the grid a little bit. Then we had the restart after not pitting and I made a mistake, just got the brakes too hot. I wasn't able to stop the car and pushed Graham wide. Then we had to pit for a new wing. From then on, we were at the back but managed to pick people off again and were pretty aggressive. We got into the top six, a good position. It was difficult out there with the Chevy's being so strong in a straight line. You really had to be aggressive in your maneuvers. I was behind Marco and I tried to set him up for one of the corners and I just ran wide and hit the wall and had to come in for a new nose. That put us in the back again and we moved up a couple of spots from there. It was a tough weekend and we just wanted to get some solid points. They guys worked hard to switch over to the second chassis but it just wasn't to be. We will move on to Indy. Everyone is looking forward to going there. "

ANA BEATRIZ (No. 18 Ipiranga Honda): "I'm disappointed that we couldn't have had a better finish for our sponsor Ipiranga today. Things were going really well this weekend and we thought we were going to have a good result today in the race. The exhaust broke on the car and ended our day way too soon. I'm excited to be running again in the Indy 500 for Dale Coyne Racing and hopefully we can produce a good result there for Ipiranga."

JUSTIN WILSON (No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda) : "I was trying to trying to pass Viso and I just locked up the brakes coming into turn five," said Wilson. "The front wing got wedged into the tires and we needed to be pulled out. That ended up putting us two laps down. I just feel bad for the No. 19 Boy Scouts of America team as they gave me a very competitive car today. Now we will focus on Indy for the next three weeks and hopefully bring the team a good finish."

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA (No. 6 Dragon Racing Chevrolet): "It's a very tough, to be honest. Starting in the back we made progress going towards the front, but in the end unfortunately, the fuel numbers didn't match up and we ended up doing another stop which destroyed us. So we'll learn from here and now we're on our way to Indy. It's been a tough start of a season, but we have the speed and we have the potential. We just need to put things together."

JR HILDEBRAND (No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet): "The definite good thing was that the National Guard Chevy was really good. We were really good in the tight sections of the track, and we tried hard to make for a neutral car, because we thought we'd be saving fuel. And it was working well for a while, and I was able to make up a lot of time in the infield sections where you're not saving fuel anyway, which allowed me to save a lot on the straights. Then the teamlost telemetry, and when we lost it, we didn't have a clear understanding of where we were on fuel, so we ended up pitting at an inopportune time, and ended up behind everybody and still had to make as many stops as everybody in front of us. It was frustrating because we were going fast enough up front to hang with anybody. But, despite that, the last two weekends I don't think we've made a change to the car that hasn't made us better, so we're looking forward to Detroit and Toronto later in the year, which is something I haven't said in years past. But now it's time for Indianapolis - and that's our wheelhouse. Next week is as important as the first week on the racetrack to get prepared, so we'll be smart about that like we have in the past and we'll be hauling ass when we get there."

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 7 Dragon Racing Chevrolet): "Overall it was a black and white day. There were some very good things and some very, very bad things. We made a mistake at the start, just touched James (Hinchcliffe) and unfortunately it was just enough to separate the end plate from the main plane.  The wing just went like a parachute. So I made it to the fuel window that we could make it on three stops pretty easily, but it was just one of these things where everything went downhill pretty fast. We thought it was going to be a really good day after we cycled to the front.  But my guys and the Sarah Fisher Hartman guys looked very much alike in black firesuits, and I didn't get anything on the radio saying they were laying out at the same time. I just got ready to pull in their box, and we were in the next box, so I came around but couldn't get back in.  So we basically lost like six positions. Then there was another pile up that we ended up being a part of because we weren't where we were supposed to be.  We had to put the old wing back on, which was broken. We were just going to try to make the best out of it and we had a very fast car. It's very frustrating for the guys at Dragon, but that's the way it is. We did the best we could with the circumstances."

ALEX TAGLIANI (No. 98 Barracuda Racing Honda): "The team made great improvements considering we weren't here last year, and we didn't know the track from a car and setup perspective.  So with a two-day weekend and a quick turnaround, I think we had a good car for the race. We had good strategy and we were running up front. And then on the second restart, I got hit from the back. I came in to change a tire and then when we went back out we had to pound some fast laps to make it back up. The other yellow flag then came at the right time for us so we didn't improve as much as (Josef) Newgarden, who had a similar strategy as us. So a bit of bad luck there."

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES POINT STANDINGS

Sato     136

Andretti           123

Castroneves     116

Hinchcliffe      112

Dixon  101

Hunter-Reay    94

Wilson             91

Servia  89

de Silvestro      86

Kimball            80       

 

IZOD INDYCAR SERIES MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP

Chevrolet         33

Honda  27

***

The next IZOD IndyCar Series race is the 97^th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 26 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race will be telecast live at 11 a.m. (ET) by ABC. The IMS Radio Network will also carry the race live on Sirius and XM channels 211. The next Firestone Indy Lights race is the Firestone Freedom 100 on May 24. It will be telecast live by NBC Sports Network during its coverage of Carb Day.

Media Contact: Amy Konrath, INDYCAR, 317-331-7437, akonrath@indycar.com