Race Report: Honda Indy 200
LEXINGTON, OH Aug. 9, 2009—Starting seventh, Ryan
Hunter-Reay and the ABC Supply team set the stage to score
their best finish of the season in the Honda Indy 200 at
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Sunday afternoon.
Everyone played their part and Hunter-Reay drove the wheels
off the No. 14 ABC Supply car to finish fourth in front of a
huge crowd that included over 600 ABC Supply guests! It was
the team’s best start and finish of the season to date.
“We just rolled off the truck with a good setup and from
there we did what we thought was smart,” said Hunter-Reay
afterwards. “I put it together on the track and the guys put
it together on pit lane and that’s what it takes. We didn’t
make any mistakes. A lot of guys that are making a lot of
money—veterans--made a lot of mistakes today so it’s awesome
for ABC Supply and A.J. And a big thanks to ABC Supply for
their support.”
On the start, Tony Kanaan squeezed by Hunter-Reay for
seventh but the next lap Kanaan went off the track and
Hunter-Reay was back to seventh behind Helio Castroneves. He
began conserving fuel as did Castroneves. When it came time
for his first pit stop on lap 30, the ABC Supply team took
off the faster Firestone alternate tires (red-rimmed) and
slapped on four sticker primary (black) tires. They got him
out in short order and he kept his seventh place position.
Ten laps later he moved into sixth when Castroneves went off
the track in turn 9, bringing out a full-course yellow for
three laps. The second full-course yellow came out a couple
laps later when Danica Patrick was punted off course by Mike
Conway who drew a drive-through penalty for avoidable
contact. Once the track went green on lap 49, there were no
more full-course yellows.
The team had one more stop and had to decide between a set
of slightly used ‘red’ tires that had six laps on them from
qualifying or a new set of black primaries. Foyt decided on
the blacks because he was concerned how the heat cycle
(tires get hot and then sit for a period—in this case 22
hours—and cool down) may have affected them.
“He was running such a good race and he didn’t seem to lose
that much with the blacks speed-wise so we gambled that he
could still keep up the pace and he did. He drove a helluva
race!” said Foyt.
When Hunter-Reay pitted, he slipped to seventh because of
the different fuel strategies in play but soon moved into
sixth when Justin Wilson, who was running second after
leading the early stages of the race, ran short of fuel and
coasted into the pits.
In the final fuel stint, Hunter-Reay was battling hard with
Hideki Mutoh who had put on a new set of the faster ‘red’
tires on his final stop. Maintaining his cool, Hunter-Reay
capitalized when Graham Rahal went off course ahead of him
allowing the No. 14 to move into fifth. He moved into fourth
place when Marco Andretti had to pit for fuel with 10 laps
to go. It was during those final ten circuits that Hunter-Reay
drove his fastest lap of the race while holding off Mutoh to
the checkered.
Visibly dehydrated after climbing out of the car, Hunter-Reay
was congratulated by Foyt and the entire ABC Supply team.
Reflecting on the race afterwards, Hunter-Reay said, “That
was a hard race, especially knowing Hideki Mutoh was on reds
[tires] because he’s been fast all weekend. Mid-Ohio has
always been known to be a very physical race track. It’s
known to provoke a lot of mistakes and with the heat
[90-plus degrees] that we had today, it definitely did that.
Man I was qualifying there towards the end and there was no
margin for error. I was one lock-up away from going off,
that’s how hard I was driving. I was just real proud for all
of us, A.J. on the radio with me there counting down the
laps and we brought it home fourth. It was a really good
day.”
Also having a good day was Scott Dixon who won his fourth
race of the season, easily outdistancing Ryan Briscoe and
Dario Franchitti. Dixon set a new record in the Series with
his 20th career IndyCar Series triumph.
Hunter-Reay and the ABC Supply team head to Sonoma,
California this week to test at Infineon Raceway on Thursday
along with several other teams. Following the test, teams
have a weekend off before returning to Sonoma for the
IndyCar race there Sunday, August 23rd. It will be televised
live on VERSUS at 5pm EDT.
Hunter-Reay Posts Best Start of ‘09 for ABC Supply Team
at Mid-Ohio
LEXINGTON, OH Aug. 8, 2009 – Ryan Hunter-Reay
qualified seventh for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports
Car Course today to give the ABC Supply team its best start
ever at the 2.25-mile road course. It is also the best start
for Hunter-Reay and the team this season.
Hunter-Reay was in the top-10 in the morning practice
session, an improvement over yesterday afternoon’s session
in which he was 13th. In qualifying, he turned a lap of
120.899 mph (1:07.23) to claim the inside of row four.
“That’s the way you want to do it, make your quickest laps
come in qualifying,” said Hunter-Reay afterwards. “We worked
well together as a team this weekend, and made the ABC
Supply car better from yesterday to today. We made the right
changes on it. I did the driving and A.J. did the right
changes and together we got it up to 7th. I wish we could
have made the Fast Six cause it was close but that’s how it
goes. We’re glad to get the team its best start this year
and now we can work on getting its best finish.”
Ryan Briscoe set a new track record en route to winning the
pole with a speed of 121.905 mph (1:06.6814). Trailing him
were Justin Wilson, Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal, Helio
Castroneves and Dario Franchitti. Rounding out the top-10
behind Hunter-Reay are Tony Kanaan, E.J. Viso and Paul
Tracy.
Hunter-Reay, who replaced Vitor Meira (injured at Indy),
posted the best finish for the ABC Supply team to date this
year when he placed seventh in the Toronto Indy. Meira, who
made his first trip to a race (since being injured) in early
July, is here as an advisor. He had gone to Indianapolis
this past week where he was re-evaluated by orthopedic
surgeon Dr. Terry Trammell. Trammell advised Meira that he
will be cleared to drive for the Homestead-Miami race in
October but the race in Japan is still in question.
NOTES & QUOTES: Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car
Course
Ryan Hunter-Reay: ABC Supply No. 14 Dallara/Honda/Firestone
· Ryan Hunter-Reay on Mid-Ohio: “Mid-Ohio is a really
special place to me because I grew up racing Skip Barber
there when I was 16, 17, 18 years old. I had my first
pro-race series race there--the Barber Dodge Pro Series
race. I love that place – it’s like the heart of road racing
in America. In my rookie year in champ car, I started on the
front row next to Paul Tracy which was a big deal in my
career at the time. I finished third that weekend which was
an awesome result for what we did. I’ve run well there in
the past and I really enjoy driving there; it’s a fun track.
I went there when I was 12-years-old to watch an Indy car
race and it’s pretty cool that I’m in Indy cars now driving
there. It’s always been a special place—really looking
forward to going back.”
· Hunter-Reay on the key to Mid-Ohio: “It’s a natural
terrain road course so it’s not incredibly bumpy. You need
to have the front of the car working very well because it’s
a lot of corners; you’re in the corners a lot. It’s similar
to Watkins Glen with less straights. Getting the front to
work aerodynamically is very important there.”
· ABC Supply roofing customer L & S Roofing and Sheet Metal
of Toledo, OH won the ‘Your Name Here’ contest for the
Meijer Indy 300. The company name will be atop the sidepods
of the No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda. Sam Laas will
receive selected merchandise, race tickets, hospitality and
garage passes, plus a Meet and Greet with Ryan Hunter-Reay.
The “Your Name Here” promotion selected winners by random
drawing from a pool of entries sent in by ABC Supply
customers earlier this year.
· ABC Supply will entertain over 500 guests in their
hospitality tent this weekend.
· IZOD spokesman Ryan Hunter-Reay will be appearing at the
Macy’s Polaris department store in the shopping mall in
Columbus, OH to meet fans and sign autographs from 4:45 –
7:00pm on Thursday, August 6.
· Hunter-Reay performance at Mid-Ohio: In his first IndyCar
start at Mid-Ohio in 2003, Hunter-Reay qualified second and
finished third. His next start came in 2007 when he replaced
Jeff Simmons in the Rahal Letterman car. He qualified 10th
and finished seventh. Last year he qualified 15th and
finished 10th.
Past performance for Foyt Racing at Mid-Ohio: Last year,
Darren Manning started 21st and capitalized on changing from
the rain tires to slicks immediately after the green flag
flew as did 11th-starting Vitor Meira. Meira and Manning ran
one-two until the first full course yellow. Manning
eventually finished eighth (Meira was sixth). In 2007,
Manning started eighth and finished sixth after running as
high as third in the first stint. He was running in the
top-five for most of the race, dropping to sixth on a
restart snafu and then popping up to fourth before a dash
into the pits for a splash of fuel dropped him to sixth with
10 laps to go. The Foyt team competed in eight CART events
at Mid-Ohio in the years 1988-1995. The team’s best
start—14th--came in 1991 with Mike Groff, who dropped out
with electrical problems. Robby Gordon gave the team its
best finish—second--after starting 15th in 1993.
· The Honda Indy 200 will be shown live at 1:00 p.m. EDT
Sunday, Aug. 9 on VERSUS.
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