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Texas IndyCar: Graham Rahal beats James Hinchcliffe by 0.08s

Graham Rahal snatched a last gasp victory from James Hinchcliffe to claim his first IndyCar win of the 2016 season in the rescheduled completion of the Texas Motor Speedway race

Hinchcliffe had been leading when the original race was red-flagged after 71 laps on June 12, as a result of persistent rain.

The Canadian started the rescheduled second portion from the front, and managed each of the first three pit phases with a car he described over the radio as "purring like a kitten".

But a trio of yellow flags at the end left Hinchcliffe defending from the other four cars remaining on the lead lap - Rahal, championship leader Simon Pagenaud, Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves.

After the third yellow, it was a seven-lap sprint to the chequered flag. Hinchcliffe seemingly had done enough before Rahal squeezed his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara-Honda past on the final lap to win by 0.008 seconds from the Canadian.

Kanaan finished third, despite a late decision to take fresh tyres 10 laps from the end.

Pagenaud claimed good points for his championship in fourth ahead of Penske team-mate Castroneves.

Ed Carpenter was the main challenger for Hinchcliffe throughout the race, but was involved in two of the three cautions.

First an uncharacteristic clash between Scott Dixon and Carpenter put the Ganassi driver out, before a loose moment for Carpenter a handful of laps after the restart left Castroneves ploughing into the back of him.

Carpenter was forced to retire while front and rear wing changes for Castroneves allowed the Brazilian to continue.

The final yellow was caused by Mikhail Aleshin spinning and collecting Jack Hawksworth, the latter gingerly walking away from his car.

Conor Daly and Josef Newgarden were not allowed to take part in the race's second attempt after a huge shunt in June put both drivers out, and caused Newgarden to suffer a broken collarbone and wrist injuries. But with the race restarted from its 72nd lap, they were still included in the classifications as retirements on Saturday.

RESULTS - 248 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 2h29m24.8886s
2 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 0.0080s
3 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 0.0903s
4 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 0.4773s
5 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 9.3424s
6 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1 Lap
7 Carlos Munoz Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1 Lap
8 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1 Lap
9 Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 2 Laps
10 Sebastien Bourdais KVSH Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 2 Laps
11 Alexander Rossi Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 2 Laps
12 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 3 Laps
13 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 3 Laps
14 Gabby Chaves Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 3 Laps
15 Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 5 Laps
16 Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda Contact
17 Jack Hawksworth AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda Contact
18 Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet Contact
19 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet Contact
20 Takuma Sato AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda Mechanical
21 Conor Daly Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda Contact
22 Josef Newgarden Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet Contact

LEADING CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Pos Driver Points
1 Simon Pagenaud 529
2 Will Power 501
3 Tony Kanaan 416
4 Helio Castroneves 415
5 Josef Newgarden 406
6 Scott Dixon 397
7 Graham Rahal 394
8 Carlos Munoz 382
9 James Hinchcliffe 367
10 Charlie Kimball 361
11 Ryan Hunter-Reay 348
12 Alexander Rossi 346
13 Juan Pablo Montoya 345
14 Sebastien Bourdais 334
15 Mikhail Aleshin 301
16 Takuma Sato 275
17 Marco Andretti 273
18 Conor Daly 263
19 Max Chilton 219
20 Jack Hawksworth 191

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