Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Milwaukee IndyCar: Ryan Hunter-Reay takes victory

Ryan Hunter-Reay took the win and moved to second in the points with a controlled performance in the IndyCar race at the Milwaukee Mile

Hunter-Reay, whose 2012 championship campaign was kick-started by his victory in last year's Milwaukee race, was a threat right from the start, although the race was given a twist when several cars took advantage of an early caution to pit under yellows and go off-sequence.

Those included Takuma Sato and Helio Castroneves, and for Sato, the strategy worked well enough for the Japanese driver to lead almost half of the race.

A big moment late in his penultimate stint prompted Sato to pit under greens, and when the rest of the lead group were able to pit under caution and retain the lead lap a couple of laps later, he was knocked out of contention.

All the motorsport action as it happens with Race Centre Live

Castroneves, on the other hand, was able to take advantage of the final yellow to get back onto sequence with Hunter-Reay, although he never looked fast enough in the final stint to pose a threat to the Andretti car.

In the final laps his main concern was keeping Penske team-mate Will Power behind him, and the pair had a fright late on when a speculative lunge from Power almost ended in contact.

They escaped unscathed, and Castroneves' pleasure at climbing from the rear of the field to second was given a further boost by the fact that Marco Andretti, who came into the weekend placed second in the championship, lost a tonne of time in the pits after suffering an electrical problem and finished 74 laps down.

Power's third place represented the Australian's first podium finish of the season, with EJ Viso and James Hinchcliffe rounding out the top five.

First of the Honda-powered drivers was Scott Dixon, whose sixth place, coupled with an eighth for Dario Franchitti, represented a decent return for the Ganassi team on a day where both started from the rear of the field and were forced to rely on strategy rather than pace to make any headway.

Results - 250 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Engine           Time/Gap
 1.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti/Chevy   1h51m15.2962s
 2.  Helio Castroneves    Penske/Chevy         + 4.8059s
 3.  Will Power           Penske/Chevy         + 5.3920s
 4.  EJ Viso              Andretti/Chevy       + 6.2511s
 5.  James Hinchcliffe    Andretti/Chevy       + 6.4632s
 6.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi/Honda       + 16.5292s
 7.  Takuma Sato          Foyt/Honda          + 23.3828s
 8.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi/Honda       + 23.8041s
 9.  Justin Wilson        Coyne/Honda            + 1 lap
10.  Tony Kanaan          KV/Chevy               + 1 lap
11.  Josef Newgarden      Fisher/Honda           + 1 lap
12.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt/Honda          + 1 lap
13.  Sebastian Saavedra   Dragon/Chevy          + 2 laps
14.  Ed Carpenter         Carpenter/Chevy       + 2 laps
15.  Ryan Briscoe         Panther/Chevy         + 2 laps
16.  Graham Rahal         Rahal/Honda           + 3 laps
17.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi/Honda         + 4 laps
18.  James Jakes          Rahal/Honda           + 5 laps
19.  Ana Beatriz          Coyne/Honda           + 8 laps

Retirements:

     Marco Andretti       Andretti/Chevy        176 laps
     Tristan Vautier      Schmidt/Honda         173 laps
     Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon/Chevy          152 laps
     Alex Tagliani        Herta/Honda           146 laps
     Simona de Silvestro  KV/Chevy               69 laps

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Milwaukee IndyCar: Marco Andretti claims pole
Next article Sidelined Hildebrand wants to prove himself on road/street courses

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe