Con una pista mojada, el joven piloto estadounidense Josef Negarden ganó por segunda vez en la temporada y por segunda vez en su carrera, batiendo a su compañero de equipo Luca Filippi por 1.4485 segundos, para otorgar al equipo la primera victoria, luego del cambio de propietarios.
“Estoy muy contento por haber logrado la victoria, pero obtener el 1-2 es increíble, porque Luca Filippi es una gran estrella”, dijo Newgarden al finalizar la carrera. “Estoy super contento con el equipo. Fue un esfuerzo enorme del grupo, y aún no puedo creer que hayamos conseguido el 1-2”.
El segundo lugar fue lo mejor hasta el momento para Filippi, quien largo su carrera número 16 en IndyCar este domingo.
Tercero culminó Helio Castroneves con el equipo Penske, siendo capaz de recudir su distancia con respecto a los que le preceden en el campeonato. Uno de ellos es Will Power, quien finalizó cuarto, justo por delante de Sebastien Bourdais, que completó el top 5.
El líder del campeonato y ganador de las 500 de Indianápolis el pasado 24 de mayo, Juan Pablo Montoya, finalizó en la séptima posición. Octavo culminó el tercero del campeonato, Scott Dixon.
Posiciones
1. Josef Newgarden (USA/CFH Racing)
2. Luca Filippi (ITA/CFH Racing) à 1.4485
3. Helio Castroneves (BRA/Penske) à 3.9027
4. Will Power (AUS/Penske) à 4.776
5. Sébastien Bourdais (FRA/KSVH) à 6.7215
6. Tony Kanaan (BRE/Chip Ganassi) à 7.8160
7. Juan Pablo Montoya (COL/Penske) à 8.7242
8. Scott Dixon (NZL/Chip Ganassi) à 9.5397
9. Graham Rahal (USA/Rahal Letterman Lanigan) à 11.8704
10. Takuma Sato (JPN/A.J. Foyt) à 18.9723
11. Simon Pagenaud (FRA/Penske) à 20.6315
Chevrolet drivers swept the top eight positions. Graham Rahal was the highest-finishing Honda driver in ninth place followed by another Honda driver, Takuma Sato of Tokyo.
Power led the most laps in the 85-lap race when his No. 1 Chevrolet was out front for the first 30 laps before he pitted to take off the rain tires and add the faster racing slicks. Newgarden also led 30 laps including the final the laps.
“They are doing a great job and put themselves in the right place at the right time,” Castroneves said of CFH Racing. “People say they are very lucky but sometimes it’s better to be lucky than be good. I haven’t won a race yet so I’d like to be that lucky. It makes a statement that in the Verizon IndyCar Series that if you work hard it will pay off.”
There were seven lead changes among six drivers and the race was slowed two times for nine laps.
The race started on a wet track but the 23 drivers in the field were able to race cleanly with the first yellow flag coming on Lap 29 when James Jakes spun off in Turn 5.
The beauty of a rain race on the streets is how the strategy can change allowing some drivers to make a gamble on stretching their fuel window. That is what helped determine the outcome of this contest as CFH Racing had the best rain-day plan.
It was also the first race that injured driver James Hinchcliffe has attended since the Toronto native suffered life-threatening injuries in a brutal crash at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 18. Hinchcliffe served as the Grand Marshal and gave the command, “Drivers, Start Your Engines.”
“How amazing his quick recovery,” Castroneves said of Hinchcliffe. “It shows his amazing determination. When I bump into him I want to tell him to worry about his health first. I’m extremely happy that he is on it and the way he is recovering hopefully he will be racing soon.”
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