Runner-up Antinucci blames traffic

Antinucci had been closing dramatically on Conway after moving up to second on lap 12, but lost time when the backmarker did not move over for him a few laps from home.

Although the American got back to within 1.6 seconds of the lead on the penultimate lap, he gave up the chase on the final tour when he suffered a wild slide and decided to settle for second.

"I had a lapped car that was ridiculously slow going up the mountain," said Antinucci. "He cost me quite a bit. In fact he didn't see me actually, but I was just going for a win.

"On the last lap I had a big slide, and then I said, 'okay, we've come from ninth and have come to second and we've made a good point.'"

Antinucci also reckons that the qualifying penalty he was handed for ignoring a yellow flag in practice, which saw him demoted from fifth to 15th on the grid, played a factor in derailing his efforts to win.

"Sometimes you don't reach your potential," he said. "I knew the team were going to give me the best car, but I needed a smooth weekend.

"I didn't get that smooth weekend but I guess despite the misfortune we had at the beginning, which I don't like to call misfortune but it was, we paid it all back almost in full with second place.

"I had everything to lose but after the penalty I got from Thursday I knew I was just going to be flat out and extremely aggressive and take every opportunity to pass that was possible, which I did.

"I actually hit the wall twice and I had a collision with (Adrian) Sutil which was on the limit."