SAO PAULO, BRAZIL — Canadian 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.
IZOD IndyCar Series- Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300
SAO PAULO – Results Sunday of the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 2.536 mile Sao Paulo Street Circuit, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (5) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 75, Running
2. (12) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
3. (10) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 75, Running
4. (13) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Chevy, 75, Running
5. (25) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
6. (2) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 75, Running
7. (3) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
8. (8) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Chevy, 75, Running
9. (23) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
10. (17) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
11. (1) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, 75, Running
12. (15) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
13. (18) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 75, Running
14. (7) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 75, Running
15. (11) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Chevy, 75, Running
16. (21) Tristan Vautier, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
17. (24) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
18. (6) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 75, Running
19. (20) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 75, Running
20. (9) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 73, Running
21. (4) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 72, Running
22. (19) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 71, Running
23. (14) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 71, Running
24. (22) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 17, Mechanical
25. (16) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 6, Mechanical
Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 88.070
Time of Race: 02:09:34.7383
Margin of victory: 0.3463 of a second
Cautions: 7 for 19 laps
Lead changes: 9 among 7 drivers
Lap Leaders:
Hunter-Reay 1 – 9
Kanaan 10 – 20
Bourdais 21 – 33
Sato 34 – 37
Hunter-Reay 38 – 44
Kanaan 45
Andretti 46 – 52
Hildebrand 53 – 56
Sato 57 – 74
Hinchcliffe 75
Point Standings: Sato 136, Andretti 123, Castroneves 116, Hinchcliffe 112, Dixon 101, Hunter-Reay 94, Wilson 91, Servia 89, de Silvestro 86, Kimball 80.
From: Amy Konrath / IndyCar
{fcomment}
Discussion about this post